Friends in Low Places

Rex

A little more than a year ago, I was invited to join a Twitter direct message group (‘Group DM’) with some people who thought I might fit in with them and their merry band of jokers. I hadn’t known before then that it was possible to have more than two people in a DM conversation. I was flattered, I admit. I was also intrigued, since I was already following everyone mentioned in the invitation. So despite my abiding misanthropy and general lack of enthusiasm for group dynamics, I agreed to join this troupe. And it is among the five best decisions I ever made. Fifth, but that’s still top five.

I’m a retired veteran of 23+ years in the United States Air Force. A wide variance in the makeup of a group is not a thing with which I am unfamiliar. Not that most of these slackers could have been military (save one other who was)… but I digress. SWIDT?

A brief time after I joined the DM group, the idea that we give ourselves a name was suggested. We are a decidedly mismatched grouping of people from all backgrounds and representing a wide range of age, geography, and social status. Given that, “Misfits” seemed to come to us naturally. The idea of a website was spitballed, and maybe someday a podcast. If you’re reading this, you know the website has become a really fun and (some might say) useful place to check in on regularly. And you may have seen rumors about the aforementioned podcast. On this, more in a bit.

Anyway, these people... these ‘Misfits’ have become family to me. I’ve never met any of them in meatspace (look up “Hackers” on Altavista kids). Most of us haven’t met each other, though there are a couple of exceptions. The point is, there are often arguments as to whether ‘twitter friends’ (or whatever other social media network) are real friends or just digital facsimiles. This is a point that can be fairly argued among reasonable people both online and off. I take people as I find them, wherever I find them.

But the Misfits? These people are my friends. We laugh a lot. We argue. We joke about stupidity. We even get pissed off at each other. Really pissed off sometimes. And we’re still friends. That’s how it is to be friends. If you have a friend who never disagrees with you or who never tells you ‘you are but a man,’ that person is a groupie. That’s cool, but it isn’t friendship.

​Yeah, we enjoy joking around. A lot. We also engage on issues of import (see www.misfitspolitics.com for details). But we’re mostly in this deal for the joking around. And the recipes.

Now, back to the podcast question: Back off, bro! We’re working on it over here already. Seriously, we’re working on it between bouts of paying gigs and resting up for the next paying gig. We’re working on the technical stuff (for a given value of “we”), and we will find time to make it happen soon. Even if we don’t, we’ll always have #MisfitMischief. Which is pretty damn cool, if I do say so myself.

The following is simple disclosure and in no way constitutes pissing or moaning: None of us are recompensed in any way for what we do with @MisfitsPolitics. We do it because we are having fun at it. Most of us have jobs and children and legal issues and MI-6 dossiers and / or Cosa Nostra contracts out on us… well, you get the idea. We’re busy. And we like martinis.

We came here to run a faro game and live off our former glory. Wait. Shit. I meant this:

#AlwaysMisfits,

Rex