Like - My G's, My Dogs & My Goons

Guest Post by Dominic Marchese

There’s a realization around the age of 30 when you start to take a look at who your friends are. The close ones, the not so close ones, and adjustments are made or sometimes have to be made. By that point in life, you’ve probably come across some really really great people that you’ve become extremely close with. Going to parties, grabbing fancy or regular ass dinners, enjoying things in common, playing outside, taking trips together, celebrating something good that happened, calling that friend to cry about a girl or boy, meeting up with that friend to go cry about that girl or boy, rallying up all the good ones to go grab drinks or play some records, go for a skate, a bike ride, hit the river, or get tickets to the Lakers game (shoutout to all the Blazers fans). If these things are done many times by the same couple of 2-3-4-who cares how many friends, those are your Gs. They’re everything and they do everything with you, and vice versa. You share plans, interests, and feelings. Feelings are probably the most important, because if I FEEL like doing that one thing we both like doing together, then it’ll be enjoyable. For instance, I don’t like disc golf, so don’t ask me to come, don’t invite me, if you do end up forcing me into it, I’m not going to like it or have fun. Invite the other friend that actually likes doing that. Ya know? It’s like inviting someone to dinner that you know is allergic to the menu. You wouldn’t do that to your G. Now, here’s a step in a day to day situation when you just need to grab a coffee, some sando’s, or a sushi lunch special somewhere, and you want some company—these friends are your dogs. They’re always there for that daily check-in, where you both make sure the balances are good, catch up on each other but not enough to where you need hours or bottles of wine. And yes, the dog could also be the G but if they’re already your G, then they’ve been your dog. Now, when I was a kid, it was explained to me by my father that goons are basically security for the mafia. They do the dirty work. It’s an interchangeable title that's close to gangster now. But by no means am I referring to any of my friends as literally this. Let’s remix the term Goon. I think there’s moments in our lives when some shit happens and you need to exfoliate some verbal releases, let a cry out, let a rage out, because maybe some lines that shouldn’t be crossed, got crossed. Now when you pick up that phone and you need to call that somebody, they're your goon. That person will be at your door within the hour with beers. These aren’t scary people either, in fact they’re the opposite. They might even fall into the other two categories above, but the special thing about this person that separates them from the others is when shit actually goes down they get a twinkle in their eye. This is your goon.