Chance Bishop: me. I am the least successful, by any measure, of my peers.
the Friar: one of my very best friends, a true and generous spirit. I have been good friends with this man since 1986, when we were but foolish boys. He is a lawyer and a musical entrepreneur and drinks too much and is the living embodiment of loyalty. I love him like a brother.
Palfrey: his wife. She is an elementary school teacher. They have two kids.
74: another of my good friends from high school. As with all my HS buddies, we have been in constant touch since 1986. He works in computers.
Zaftig: his wife, a lawyer. They have two children, Nora, a girl in my class, and D, a boy.
The Maddening Angel: a girl I worked with at The Job. She was a very close friend at one time; everyone assumed we were sleeping together, though it was never the case. She is much younger than I am.
K: met through Maddening Angel, now no longer friends with her. A very fun bar buddy.
Deep Blue: the third of my closest friends from high school. He also works in computers and lives in Little Canada.
Cyan: his wife.
Auric: another high school friend, part of our inner circle. He is now a famous rock musician, with a solo and band career. He is married with children. Friar's best friend.
Flax: another high school friend I don't see very often. He teaches law. He got married in 2006.
T-Bone: another high school friend, or possibly just acquaintance. I mean, we get along and joke with one another now, but we were never friends back then. He's a stock broker or a banker or something. He is married with two terrific children, one of whom was in my class.
Courtney: his blonde, beer-guzzling, very Texan wife.
神圣: a friend I met while doing my graduate studies program; we both were taking a summer Chinese course. He's the son of a missionary and grew up in Asia. He's a broad-minded, pleasant Christian, married with three kids.
LD: a married woman who used to live in Europe.
Kraut: her ex-husband.
K Jr, Crab, and Cake: her kids.
Eyeball: a slightly hefty, well-read friend of Zaftig and LD.
C: Friar's high-paid lawyer boss/co-worker.
Sonar: a local musician and friend of mine. Extremely talented guy, and nice and unassuming as hell. I like to drool over his gorgeous wife, and she likes to poke gentle fun at me for it.
Diamond: a local musician and friend, currently in a country band.
Owens: another local musician, in a rock band; co-owns a bar with Diamond.
Spookytooth aka Spooky: a woman I dated during the summer of 2006. I think she was married. In any case a congenital liar and not to be trusted.
Ram: a friend I went on one date with once and became infatuated with despite myself.
Muffin: a friend of mine from high school. She lived in New York and is married. She moved back to my town in 2009.
Anacreon: a friend who graduated a year behind me in high school. He's the curator of a museum and married. He is Muffin's younger brother. He lives in town, but I don't see him very often.
Dram aka Skullfuck: a local comedian who has an antagonistic relationship with me.
Irish Pete: My landlord; lives in California.
Mr. Hangout: the part-owner of the Hangout, a bar I frequent all too often.
AL: a barfly I know. A person about ten years my senior, who prides himself on his vast musical knowledge. Slightly supercilious.
L: a friend of Friar's, sometime barfly. Tall, bearded fellow who considers himself a renaissance man.
Tall and Fat: two barfly buddies.
Waitress T: an acquaintance from TriviaBar and a former classmate at State School. Now teaches children with disabilities.
Epalg: very good-looking girl I hung out with for a bit in date-like scenarios.
the Ex: my ex-wife. The least said the better.
Joy: an ex-co-worker. Had a very brief and unsatisfying relationship with her for some reason.
Pureneck: an old tangential friend. Works in PR.
The Job: the old job.
Prestigius: Fancy private school where I work.
- Ms. Hatfield: K team member, older lady, extremely nice.
- Ms. Annoying a.k.a. Ms. Blah: K team member, very negative in tone.
- Ms. Yule - third language arts teacher.
- Ms. Sanguine - third math teacher; older lady.
- Ms. Tough - other third math teacher.
- Mr. Richard - science teacher.
- Fen: very good-looking admin assistant.
- Ms. Busty: ex-team member, now reading specialist.
- Assistant C: former assistant.
- Assistant T: third assistant.
- LN (Lesbian Nemesis): teacher who once seemed to have it in for me but we get along fine now.
- Ms. Helen: teacher noted for her attractiveness.
- Ms. DeWolf: teacher I had a disastrous, very brief fling with.
- Ms. Short - fourth teacher.
- Max: ex-admissions director.
- Ms. Kent: ex-team member, two kids, snarky but decent.
- Ms. N: ex-employee that I had a crush on.
- Mr. Todd - ex-third math teacher that no one liked.
- Ms. Bluestocking: young and extremely attractive whiplash-inducing former K team member.
