Except...

Just before I sent the previous post, as I began retracing my steps east along the Sunset Strip, I saw a familiar face. Not a famous face or anything like that. It was a face I hadn't seen in 9 years; a face I was sure I'd never see again. The face was that of Brian Manning, an eccentric guitar genius who became my very close friend the last year I lived in Vegas. Out to see a band with a lady friend, Brian could only talk for about 5 minutes, but he gave me his number and we talked for a while today. --> I cannot accurately tell this story in 1,000 characters, but when I met him, Brian was an ex-junkie, clean for two years. Months later he relapsed. When I left Vegas, he was still struggling with his heroin/methadone demon. A few years later, I heard he had moved to Long Beach and was still battling that demon. Having often worried about him and even wondered if he was still alive, you
can't possibly understand how good it was to see him. And best of all, he's off the junk!