Friendship

Living in New York, surrounded by amazing people, sometimes it's easy to forget just how remarkable many of my friends are. Then there are days like today, when their extraordinary talents are impossible to ignore.

Tonight, at 6pm, I'll be attending the world premiere of "Walker Payne" at the Tribeca Film Festival, a movie that was co-written by a good friend with whom I have drunk beer almost every Friday for the last 10 years. The movie features several notable Hollywood actors and, improbably, was partially filmed in the town in which my parents and brother now live -- Rock Hill, South Carolina.

I am proud of my friends and I love to support their creative endeavors in all forms. It is even more satisfying to see my friends succeed at those endeavors and to be rewarded for the skill, time and dedication put into them. It is rare enough for that to happen in this world, and when it does happen in such a visible manner, we should make sure to take the time to recognize it.

Tonight, after the premiere, I am 100% certain that we will drink. It's what we've been doing for the last 10 years and I think we're pretty good at it. We've been at it long enough to come up with our own rules for our home bar. While they are good general guidelines for life, they are also rules established out of comraderie and good times.

So in closing, I give you The Rules of Table 8, refined after 10 years of patronage during which Alex and I, and the rest of our crew, were often out of control. When we were in school, violation of any of these rules was punishable by a fine of 25 cents, which was added to the tip. Once we all graduated to the "real world", the fine was increased to a whopping $1 per violation.

Rules of Table 8
1. There's no mocking the Ale House.
2. There's no mocking the staff.
3. Mock the music all you want - it sucks.
4. Never mention an ex-girlfriend by name. You shouldn't be talking about your ex anyway.
5. Use of "finger quotes", "hand parentheses", "thumb commas" or any other type of body punctuation is not allowed because it is uber geigh.
6. Do not talk about how much money you make (this rule was instituted because, week after week, Alex used to say "I make $8,000 a year!").
7. Muscle-making is not allowed. Sam.
8. Removing your shirt is not allowed.
9. New rules can only be instituted if approved by at least 3 "O.G." members of Table 8.
10. In order to be O.G., you had to be here in 1996.