Phil Drops Out

Phil (name withheld by request) is an admitted drug manufacturer, distributor, and abuser. His prolonged drug experimentations have left him unable to function in society, so he has resorted to growing psychedelic mushrooms in order to survive. Phil lives with his friend Andrew and (Andrew's) pregnant girlfriend Sam. Andrew offered to let Phil stay with them if he provided him a computer and helped him start a batch of Psilocybin mushrooms. Phil agreed to these terms and the arrangement lasted without incident for nearly four months. At which point Andrew became increasingly frustrated with Phil on account of his lazy demeanor and self loathing disposition. Phil expresses anxiety about taking responsibility for his life, and often points to past psychological trauma as the reason why he can't seem to get himself together. But while he appears somewhat out of touch with his own reality, he fully understands that his current living conditions are a physical manifestation of the consequences of his past behavior. He knows what he did wrong, and he knows how to fix his own problems, he just doesn't know if he can.
To add further tension to the situation, Phil's hedonistic lifestyle is becoming more and more at odds with the family friendly environment Andrew and Sam wish to create for their forthcoming child. Phil is also feeling more alienated by both Sam and Andrew, who never let their growing animosity toward him be known. To this day he remains blissfully unaware. To classify Phil as a loser or junkie is to severely misrepresent and misunderstand the individual, but it's also hard to sympathize with someone who doesn't really try. He has said on multiple occasions that he has never really grown up, that his dependencies have left him in a state of perpetual ignorance.
At the end of March, 2009, Phil moved out of Andrew and Sam's apartment and began living with another friend a short distance away. The mushroom arrangement remained operational at Andrew's apartment until he was incarcerated for three months after failing a drug test. It remains to be seen whether or not they will start another harvest when Andrew is released in June.

FREAK OUT!

Untitled from Chris Lamphere on Vimeo.

Gary “The Freak” Neeley is a professional wrestler who resides in the small town of Cadillac, Michigan. When he isn't pursuing his passion for big time wrestling, he works as a quality inspector for a local factory. On the evening of March 14, 2009, he performed a show in front of a moderately sized crowd at the civic arena in Roscommon, Michigan.
Before driving to the venue, Neeley ceremoniously packed his travel suitcase with some of the more vital necessities of his craft; face paint, hair die, burgundy tights, and custom tailored wrestling boots, along with some not so vital, yet equally important idiosyncratic effects ranging from a Bible to a picture of his young niece. Neeleys' charisma for wrestling is exemplified in the personas of the characters he creates in the ring. When asked what inspired him to develop “The Freak” moniker, he replied in so many words that it is merely an exacerbation of his own personality, proudly devoid of reservation, self-control, and social decorum.
Neeleys' scheduled bout for the evening was with long time associate, friend, and promotor Mike “Zero” Dombrowski. After meeting with Zero and discussing at length their respective ideas for the match, Neeley then spoke with his tag team co-conspirator for the day, James “Dillinger” Allred. Between the three, they devised a scenario which would result in a disqualification victory for the “babyface”, (babyface is a term pro wrestlers use for a crowd favorite), who in this case happened to be Zero. During the peak of Zero's heat, (heat is another euphemism for a series of progressively aggressive and successfully choreographed moves), Dillinger would intervene and force the disqualification win for Zero. After the forfeit victory, Neeley and Dillinger would proceed to beat Zero into a catatonic stupor, which would end in a staged kidnapping and high speed parking lot burnout with Zero captive in the trunk. Things went smoothly until they ran into Zero's sister outside having a smoke in the parking lot. Needless to say, she was concerned. After a brief moment of confusion, she realized what was happening and let the erstwhile escapees go about their business relatively unmolested. Neeley seemed disappointed with the results of the match because it didn't seem like they were in a hurry to leave the scene of the crime, but all in all, he was satisfied. After the match was over, they staged a drop off scene which entailed Neeley and Dillinger throwing Zero's body off a steep embankment. Simply Classic.

Mountain of Youth