Dallas is incestuous. As much as anybody talks about six degrees of separation, the moment you come to Dallas, two of those degrees will disappear. I'm going to attempt to show this. I could do a flow-chart, but it would just get too complicated. I'm going to start off with people I knew early on and take it from there.
Nic Climer- I went to pre-school with Nic at Kessler Methodist. We were in the same class until 5th grade (1984), when I left Rosemont Elementary and started going to Christ the King Catholic school. When I started at Arts Magnet, Nic was in my home-room. I car-pooled with Nic to school and he drove a BMW 2002--he same kind of car my husband drives. Nic's little brother met my little sister in home-room and became friends before they realized that Nic and I already knew each other. Nic married Heather, who went to prom with Brian (a guy I had a crush on in high-school). When Nic and I were car-pooling, we also picked up Victoria Semos, who I had gone to a theatre class with in 1984. We gave the Semos family a dog when they answered an ad in the paper my mom placed. Dad interviewed Mr. Chris Semos when Chris was city commissioner.
Dorian Snider- I met Dorian in high-school and he was my prom date. Dorian lived with Phil three years before I met him. Dorian's father worked with Jerry Hunt on several albums and Jerry had been friends with my father for god-knows how long. Dorian dated Melissa Wasowski, who was in my creative writing class and her parents and my father had worked together on a project concerning native Texas plants. Dorian worked at Comp USA with Phil, which is where H is working now and Dorian's also rather heavily involved with the local convention scene as is personally responsible for "Sailor Ogre". I lost contact with Dorian right after graduation from high-school, but was re-introduced when I started working at Stream in the LBJ location. Dorian knew Tim Smith from the convention scene, and Phil worked with Tim and Tim was friends with H. Dorian had bought an Opel just before he met Phil and Phil used to race an Opel in Ennis when he was in SCCA. I went to a clothes-swap and ran into Dorian's little sister, who asked if I wanted to buy a car when Phil had been talking about the Opel two weeks before and how he was pissed at Dorian not doing anything with it.
Rick Orwig- Rick was a friend of the Abodanzio brothers, and my friend Iris was dating Matt A. Rick and the Abo's had a friend named Curtis, and Curtis' older brother knew H and was involved in a breaking and entering insurance scam H told me about once. Both Matt and Dave Abo were fencing champs, and studied under a guy my mom used to spar with. The Abo's and Rick went to St. Mark's Episcopal school in north Dallas, which is where Iris' little brother Tony went to school (and how I suspect they met).
Somer Pyron- I've known Somer at least 10 years. Somer was two years behind me in high-school and two years ahead of my little sister. I met Somer through Nathan Klayman. Somer was involved in the Casa Linda production of Rocky Horror which is where she knew Dave Gurney and M (H's friend) from. She was also a member of the Virtual Village BBS, where M and H were both members (Somer was "Azreal" and H was "Saint"). In 1993-95, Somer was interested in Brandon McKinney and for almost a year in 1997, Juan Marcus Suistita lived with her. (I had a major crush on Juan in 1995 while I was being stalked by S). Somer started working at Stream before I did and was responsible for getting me in there. (It was at that time I realized that Stream was a dumping ground for everyone we knew, had known, and would know. I could go into a Denny's--any Denny's, in the Dallas Forth Worth area and shout out, "Who went to St. Ream's?" and have at least five people raise their hands. We used to say that Stream was full of 'Rennies and Trekies and Goths, oh my!') Somer now works at Nortel where her boss is "Classic Al". Al went to high-school with H and had to call Apple computers to get a part replaced. The field technician they sent out to do the job was H, which is how we know he works for Comp USA. In the summer of 1995, Somer was dating Scott Rose, whom she had met through Virtual Village. Scott works at Software Spectrum now, and we didn't know it until he started there, and Scott was a pilot at Virtual World, which is where Phil and Dorian worked for a while. Somer had expressed an interest in flying at Virtual World 2 years before the place closed down and Virtual World was across the way from Q-zar, which is where Cris was spending all his rent money while I was living with him.
Nathan Klayman- I went to school with Nathan at Arts Magnet and he went to school with Brandon McKinney and David Quevedo in junior-high. Nathan knew Somer from Rocky Horror. David Quevedo went on to marry Lisa Rothburg, who sat behind me in algebra at Mountain View Community College.
Brandon McKinney- Went to Skyline and was really into martial arts. Brandon wound up dating Michelle, who dated Judd Wylie, who lived with H and Kevin Truelove at the Ranch. Judd works with me at Software Spectrum now. Brandon met Michelle through Virtual Village and Brandon was working at Software Spectrum when I started. Brandon, Nathan, and Juan Marcus were all working at Stream right before I left. Kevin Truelove, who I met at Stream, was pissed of at H about something that happened while they were living together at the Ranch and I didn't find out he had lived with the man until right before I left Stream. Kevin works at Software Spectrum now as well.
David Daniel- I originally met him through Bea the kook. David knew our next door neighbor Kevin, who was going to the Dallas institute of Art with H at about the same time Gavin Klaxton was. I met H when David and I were sitting on the front porch with Kevin and H drove up to finish a project. Phil also knew David Daniel through Bea, but we didn't meet until a year and a half later. David wound up dating Chenin Kern, who was Loki's girlfriend when I first started at Stream. Chenin and her two sisters lived with their father in the same apartment complex where Phil and I lived for five years.
Robert "Loki" Ellis- I met Loki at Dan's Lakewood Cafe while I was writing a letter to H. I was working at Bookstop, had tried to quit smoking, and hadn't had a smoke in two moths, so when I gave in and lit up it got to me. Add to that, the letter I was working on was going to H, who had just left for Colorado. "You're very animated when you write," were the first words Loki said to me and we talked all night. Loki was working at Stream, but wasn't responsible for getting me there. Loki insisted I meet some friends of his at a local Denny's and one of them happened to be Dave Gurney, who I already knew from Rocky Horror. The group that met at the Denny's I named The Tribe Without Women because the only females were myself and Kristin. Loki joined the O.T.O. is August of '96, but quit going to meetings less than a year after he joined.
Kristin Wheiler- Loki and Kristin Wheiler were best friends for five years and I originally met Kristen and Frank Witt at Grinder's coffee shop on lower Greenville three months before I met Loki. Kristen and Gypsy had known each other in junior high and used to smoke on the balcony across form my apartment at Berkshire Square. Gypsy worked at Stream and had dated Zach, who I dated winter of '96.
William "Donovan" Acree- I met Donovan on the smoking porch at Stream Trinity Mills in Carrollton. Donovan was from Denison, Texas and used to drive a red Mustang. Denison is the sister city to Sherman, Texas, which is where Phil did a lot of growing up and the two of them used to race each other through most of high-school. Phil and Donovan didn't officially meet until autumn of '97, when I introduced them.
Frank Witt- A friend of Kristen's who oddly enough worked at Stream. I was trying to describe my little sister to Frank and showed him a picture from Oktoberfest, where Sylvia was performing. Frank recognized Sylvia's friend Kede in the photo and related how he had been at Scarborough Faire and had told a girl "You're an angel, don't ever change," right before she grabbed him and stuck her tongue down his throat. Sylvia and Kede danced for Isis and the Star Dancers at the Faire and Phil knew Sylvia by her stage-name "Vesta" (or the moniker faire regulars called her: "Jail-bait").
Gavin "Kaid" Klaxton- I met Gavin through Loki when I started at Stream. Gavin went to the Art Institute of Dallas at about the same time H did and had lived with Phil. Buddy had lived with Gavin for a period of time and eventually got his own place in the same apartment complex with the other members of the tribe. Gavin and Charles Vondra lived together at the Sunflower and Worked at Nation Tech Team which is where they met Jon Hopkins. Gavin moved to California and Jon lived with Phil and I for about two months. Gavin also drove a brown Mazda RX-7 which he could never keep legal. He'd buy the car and fix it up a bit, but before he could finish paying off the car, he'd get arrested for no insurance, inspection and registration and the car would be impounded. Chris and Ari from rotary performance would buy the car out of impound and as soon as Gavin was out and had enough, he'd buy the damn thing back.
Vernon "Buddy" Moore- A member of the Tribe Without Women, Buddy lived in the same apartment complex as the rest of the tribe and drove an RX-7. Buddy is a member of a certian secret society and asked me several times to join. The only problem was I had been asked before by "Safire" when she caught me doodling on a napkin at a bar. "Safire" was a member of a party I had gone to with Somer and most of them were either from Rocky Horror or Scarborough Faire. I met Buddy through Loki at the Denny's and car-pooled with him when I started at Stream LBJ site. I went to lunch with Buddy and Gavin my first day at Stream Trinity Mills and it was during that lunch I realized that Zach had professed undying love the night before. It was also the day after Juan Marcus moved in with me. Buddy Is now living with Dart and they run the Miskatonic University of North Dallas.
Wendy "Dartanyan" Hetrick- Was someone Phil met at a convention while she was walking around with Irene--Tim Smith's ex-girlfriend. Gavin had met Dart at a convention up north and he claims to have taught her how to jewel. Phil convinced Dart to move to Dallas and she lived with him for a while when she was supposed to be staying with Tim Smith. Dart dated Dave Mitchell who was a friend of Somer's from Virtual Village and who also lived with Donovan and Gypsy for a while and the whole lot of them worked at Stream Trinity Mills the same time I did. Dart, Gypsy, and Buddy were all very heavily involved with the creepy secret society (see above).
Richard Stanford- bought a season's pass to Scarborough and was familiar with my little sister and her dancing. Richard was H's roommate before me and used to order laser disks from the Blockbuster down the street where Phil's roommate Mike was working. Richard also knew Dave Lively, a member of the Tribe without Women who lived in the same apartment complex as the others and drove an RX-7. Richard gave me an amp with I traded to Paul Vaden for a car radio.
Paul Vaden- I met him at Dan's Lakewood Cafe by pure chance. I found out later, after I was with Phil, that Phil and Paul had gone to high-school together at Berkner. Paul's in a band called Pen15 and one of the members of the band was Russ's little brother.
Russ Sharek- Runs the Morpheus Company and lived with Cris, Judd, Kevin and everyone else at the Ranch. The red Honda bike that Phil used to drive was sold to him by Russ. Russ and Cris used to live in a back room rented to them by Dave Gurney's mom and Cris met his now-ex-girlfriend D at Russ and Caroline's wedding.
Caroline is not married to Russ anymore due to Russ being an insufferable ass who is afraid on "ninja" mice. She is now married to...
Paul Riddel who was married to a woman by the name of Liz when I met him. Allegedly, Liz thought Paul and I were having an affair, but we only hung out a couple of times. I met Paul at a convention when I was still dating Cris.
Zachariah Haynes Bowman- I dated Zach for about a month and a half in the winter of '96. He was common-law married to a Mona Massingill at the time, but they had an "open relationship". I only got involved because I saw it was a worry-free relationship where I couldn't get possessive. I turned in Zach's resume at Stream and he wound up working at the Stream LBJ site. Zach had first seen me at a Denny's when I was hanging out with Brandon--this would have been 93-94. Zach started going to the Denny's on a semi regular basis but stopped when I stopped going there. By then I was hanging out with Jay at KJ's--a coffee shop in Deep Ellum. Zach went there on a whim and was delighted to see me there. This was a year after he had first seen me at the Denny's and he still hadn't said hello to me. When KJ's shut down, I started going to Dan's Lakewood Cafe, and Zach had just moved to the area. The way he put it, "I just about choked on my coffee cup when I realized who was sitting behind me." I made some stupid joke that no-body got but him, and pointed it out in public when he laughed. As far as I know, Zach's still with Mona and living in Denton now. The entire Zach story only proves to me I should be more aware of my surroundings.
This document is still unfinished. I'm adding things as I remember them, as people remind me, and as we collect the information. It's getting pretty wild. If you have anyone to add to this strange and sordid ring, don't hesitate to mail me.