i am a giant coinstar machine

i pick people up.

and toss people away.

like the penny jar at your local gas station.

the sign says.

give a penny.

take a penny.

and that’s what i do.

i am deceptive – so much that i can even fool myself.

i am an open book.

if i meet someone, i will tell them anything.

if i meet someone, i will talk to them about anything.

i will answer any questions.

i will expose any fault.

but people don’t ask the right questions, and they don’t get the right answers.

so even tho it seems like they know me – even tho it seems like we’re best friends (even if we just met) - they don’t know me.

they don’t know me at all.

part of the problem is that i am multi-faceted.

what i am is a yeti.

and a couple chance meetings.

a couple drinks at the bar.

wont tell you who i am.

to see me in one type of environment is to see one side of me.

and one side only.

don’t get me wrong – its still me.

but its only one side of me.

to realize this, and to know m-e, you have to know m-e for a very long time.

a myriad of situations.

a plethora of variants.

ive known my best friends for eight years.

which is small fry compared to some of you who have best friends from grade school.

but to me it’s a big deal.

a big effin deal.

they KNOW me.

they know that i bite off the edges of pierogies because ‘that’s just the extra calories’.

they know that i used to not eat after midnight because that’s when you put on the most weight.

they know that i enjoy watching cheesy girly movies – and secretly they do too.

they know that i am sometimes not a nice person.

my friends in chicago don’t know this shit.

and they don’t care either.

give a penny.

take a penny.