I'd met Ross over a decade ago. We were both from the San Francisco Bay Area. He in the far North Bay, and I out East.
At the time he had started singing for what I considered a half joke band called Hammertime. They had an energy that was pretty palpable. It was hard to deny the fact that Ross exuded something that hardcore punk kids could latch onto.
Soon after he and a few other of my buddies started the Hardcore/Punk/Indie powerhouse band Ceremony. They were incredible, and they haven't slowed since their inception. They're incredible, and if you're reading this, you probably know or have known someone in the band of heard of the band. If you haven't, do yourself a favor get to YouTube.
Although our lives have diverged quite over the last ten or so years, I've tried to keep an eye on what Ross, and Anthony from Ceremony have been doing on the side. Ross recently has taken to studying literature, which I thought was just incredible and I secretly really wanted to start reading his work.
Anthony started a new small run press company called First Letter Press. The first two items published were works by Anthony and Ross respectively. I bought both of the books because I had toyed with the idea of writing more, and doing something like this for myself and loved the concept completely.
Both written pieces are incredible, and for many different reasons, but most specifically. They both remind me of my old friends Anthony and Ross.
I specifically want to point you towards the story called "Fear Of Weeding Out." by Ross Farrar.
If only so you can enjoy an extremely well crafted retrospective on the idea of missing out on something. Not just a night out with your friends, or an excellent outdoor desert music festival, but the concept of actually mis-understanding someone, something or some place.
Although I'd beg to argue with Ross that maybe missing things is ok, because a person's unique interpretation of reality is exactly what makes us human. The task for me personally is that I'd like to understand my interpretation of reality, and then try my best to understand other's perception's of reality. Thus trying to comprehend reality from all view points. Yes, this is exhausting, but to be completely honest. I've tried to do this since I was very young. I think that's why in college I gravitated towards sociological courses, and have found myself interested in non-fictional story telling and filmmaking. These things fall right in line with my desire to want to hear an argument, hear a counter argument. Hear a response to counter-arguments and then finally come to my own opinion on the subject.
So I don't necessarily worry about missing out, or weeding out because I know that we are all on different path's with different perceptions of reality. I just try to live the best I can in that day. Whether it be great, good, bad or terrible. Or, maybe I missed the point entirely. Either way, go and read Ross and Anthony's work and form your own opinion on it.
