Let's start a new little series, shall we? We'll call it "Where Are They Now?" or WATN? It's where I pull out an old picture of someone, or, as in this case, a group of folks, who I once knew, and try to find out whatever became of them. Preferably, like in this case, I'll try to find examples going back at least a decade or more. Here, we have a photo, taken by me with, I think, a disposable Kodak camera, back in the fall of the year 2000. That's right kiddies, almost 26 whole years ago.
In it, from left to right, we have Suzanne and her husband Jason and Jay. Jay, you'll find many a reference to all over this blog as he was one of my best buds back in those days. Suzanne was a co-worker friend of Jay's from DM, which by this time I think we all had left, and Jay was, due to his financial situation, living with them sleeping on their couch.
We're all hanging out this weekend afternoon at CityWalk at Universal in Orlando for the first annual "Orlando Beerfest." For, I think, about $25, you had your IDs checked, got a clear plastic envelope thing with your ticket and placement for your ID on a lanyard and a little 4oz plastic beer glass and would be able to walk around CityWalk to the little kiosks set up that served various brews. These things are quite common and I think still popular but this event didn't last out the first decade of the new millennium for some reason. Likely it cut into the sales of the bars and restaurants already in place at CityWalk and they balked, especially at a time when, let's face it, CityWalk itself was only a few years old.
When I last posted this pic in this post a few years ago, I hadn't even been able to remember Jay's friends' names, but in my search today, I was reminded.
Here's pretty much one of the easiest processes I take when I want to look up a long lost soul on the interwebs these days. Just Googling their names isn't as fortuitous as it used to be. Too many obstacles. Why? Sometimes people have put up blocks to such attempts being more knowledgeable about such searches these days. Sometimes, especially with the folks I usually look for, they're either too old (thus uninterested in any digital media to make a noticeable dent), or, I have spotty info to begin with, or, they are entirely either too poor or too uninteresting to make a mark on the digital world (doctors, lawyers, realtors and politicians with the same or similar names come up readily), or, they're dead. Dead will get you deleted from the internet eventually, especially if you have no online or major publication obit, or it's been a good amount of time that's passed. The internet only cares about the new, the vogue, the interesting and the young.
Hit Google Maps and Street View. If you remember the address associated with your search, you're in a lot better place. Even if it's a former address sometimes. Today, my hits were somewhat the same or had some connection.
Next, check out voter roll websites like I have shown below. Amazing what they list. Not just the registered voter and what party they registered with but other residents in the house and associates, even ages, email addresses, and race. All free.
And of course, don't forget your ol' pal Facebook. Old folks like I'm looking for still at least have some kind of a presence there and some are still quite active, like Jay. That may give you links to other sources of info like in the case of Jay, his "business" website. (He fashions himself a photographer focusing primarily on Mardi Gras parade and krewe stuff but I'm not sure how much he actually earns a living from this. I think he may know about this forebearer of his name, shown below, who may or may not be an ancestor who was a noteworthy early photographer and wants to follow in his footsteps.)
So is this shit creepy, looking up old contacts, friends, family, and then posting about them? Maybe. I never said I wasn't creepy. But I've always been interested in digging up the past. Especially when it connects personally to me. Call it narcissistic macro-anthropology. And what's to come of it? Do I want to reconnect with these people or something? Hell no! I like things as they are. Just as long as I have a keyboard to surf on, I'll keep riding those bitchin' gnarly lurker waves.
I vaguely remembered where Suzanne and Jason's house was based on the proximity to the field/park on the right, across the street from their house. Fortunately, their neighborhood is kind of in the ghetto so it hasn't seen too much development over the past 25 years so it looks pretty much the same as I remember. I wonder if they still have the same, well, "problem" they did back in the day. Critters. Many, many, MANY critters. You know what kind I mean. They had "given up" and chose to just "live and let live" with them. I fucking spotted one this morning (dammed drought bringing them in looking for water) and that's what made me think of them. What a legacy, to have brief acquaintances remember you decades later by that. Ah well.
Here's the now completely shrouded front. I don't think it was this densely covered in foliage back in the day, but I totally see it since they are the "like their privacy 'cause they grow weed" types. I think the cars, an older Mitsubishi, what, Mirage?, and I think a PT Cruiser, are both from back in the day! I seem to remember them driving cars like that.
Here's the voter roll website I mentioned. There at the top of the list is Suzanne and the age is about right, and the next listing is Jason. But that's not her husband... too young. It's J.T., their son. It looks like Jason Senior isn't around anymore. Moved out? Dead maybe? Couldn't find anything more about him. Oh, that's another potential obstacle in searches... common-enough names. Jason Minor isn't too uncommon. Got thousands of hits, even with restrictions on location and age. Again, mostly a bunch of doctors, lawyers, etc. and many also incorrect hits out of state and such. Google ain't what it used to be.
Jay was a heck of a lot easier. I already follow him on Facebook. Note, I didn't say I'm his friend on Facebook. Got rid of all that a long time ago. I just lurk, remember. Above, notice the Wikipedia entry for the famous Jules Richard and, below, a recent-ish selfie, of the not-so-famous, yet quite festive, Jules Richard.
Above is a snapshot of his website (apparently designed using the same early 2000s HTML he learned back when I lived with him in N.O.) with all his various pictures of the many Mardi Gras parades. Did I ever tell you he and I actually rode in one once, sort of?
So as you can see in the list above, Raegan still lives in the house pictured below. Remember this place? Remember sweet, sweet Raegan? Well I don't know if Jay and her are still together as I gathered that Jay, who has a child, fathered as such with another black woman. But if you notice, there is a listing of a Phoebe Richard, around Jay's age, noted as a black woman, living with Raegan? Who the fuck is that? Is that Jay's wife and mother of his child, living with Jay's (former?) lover? Or is it him as his drag persona? You know what, I just don't want to know. I don't want to go there!
