Taking time to reflect on 21 years

I try to take time to reflect when milestones happen. Today is @Jessica and I’s 21st anniversary.

21 years ago we were a couple of young punk rockers from the east bay. We were in a vibrant punk scene where we came up with Green Day, Rancid, Jawbreaker, Operation Ivy, etc. It was a really fun time. We had nothing, we lived in what we called the shoe box, it was about 150 sqft and wasn’t in the best neighborhood (border of West Oakland and Emeryville.)

I’m not sure where Jessica worked, but it was probably a movie theater. I’m pretty sure I was between jobs.

My parents had a “cabin” (more like a really fucking fancy house) in Northstar (Lake Tahoe). We had about $200 in our checking account so we went there for a week. We bought groceries and cooked all of our meals. Our one outing was to stay for one night at The Silver Legacy hotel in Reno on my 21st birthday. That’s right, I turned 21 on our honeymoon. We played nickel slots for hours that night. Back then, you had to actually feed every nickel into the machine and then carry your nickels around in a cup, it was so visceral.

I don’t know if this all sounds romantic, but it was. It was a romantic time in life, we had nothing but we needed nothing. Life was simple and we were fucking happy.

For the next few years, I joined/started a few bands (The Criminals, Black Cat Music) which were on Lookout Records and we had the opportunity to tour the country for months on end. Driving around, 5 or 6 gross young men in a regular sized van. Touring the south in August this was was a particular kind of gross that you have probably never experienced, but it was amazing. It showed me the world, it put me into context. I was happy!

Around this time, I started teaching myself programming while in the punk van. 21 years later, I am the CEO of a tech company, which was cofounded by my Jessica.

I’ve got many friends who are still making music. Green Day continues to evolve to places we never expected them to go, others are still touring the country in vans. Life takes us in weird places.

I was happy then, I’m happy now. Life is a lot more complex now. I’ve got a bunch of employees who count on me to provide them with a salary and health insurance. I’ve got investors counting on my to make Imzy something great.

But all of this is done with a subtle undercurrent of punk. Whether we talk about it or not, we are trying to do this our way, caring about what’s important to us.

Last week I sat in a tattooist’s chair in New Orleans, getting a shrimp tattoo, and thought to myself, this is important. This is remembering who I am through all of this.