Remembering Funk Nu

I’ve always thought the quality of life is best gauged by the value inherent in the friends a person is surrounded by. I’ve written often enough about the sheer volume of luck I’ve been forced to endure/enjoy in my life.  It’s even better when family members are involved in the friendship equation – again blessed in that area.

I love Facebook for the connections with old friends it cultivates.  Pre-Facebook times saw old friends disappearing into the mists of time when there wasn’t a geographic or family connection.  A military career doesn’t help in the geographic department. One of the coolest Facebook finds was reconnecting with a group of guys from my junior year in college called Funk Nu.

Funk Nu Dinner - I'm on Far Right

We all lived on the same dorm floor and were an eclectic mix of jocks, brains, extroverts, introverts, and one very energetic Portuguese DJ/Cancer Survivor.  The survivor thing was a rare commodity back in the 1970s and he was the spiritual head of Funk Nu as well as my roommate. He seized life with a lot of “vigor” at the time, something I see he’s still doing in his transplanted home of the Philippines. 

My Roommate and Spiritual Leader of Fun Nu

Since we formed such an odd ball yet tight group of friends we decided to form our own fraternity and named it Funk Nu for reasons lost to the march of time.  The girl I was dating and almost married at the time joined a sorority and that set off a series of events that culminated with Funk Nu.  We even had a formal dinner celebrating our “brotherhood”. 

I haven’t talked with anybody from that group for nearly forty years but the bond established during that time is still there.  I know if one of them walked in the door right now we’d be sitting at a bar shortly thereafter trading war stories as if four decades worth of life hadn’t intervened.  Like I said – blessed and Lord Hall still rules!

Keene Friend's Ace in the Hole

I’m a little less blessed with our fantasy football matchup this week.  I’m taking on the Keene Friend who’s become something of a juggernaut in our league.  He’s ridden Andrew Luck’s incredible season to first place.  I’d hoped to catch him on the Indianapolis bye week but here he is when several of our best players are their bye.  So it goes; at least with Indy playing the Patriots I’ll have additional motivation.