My Quest For Peace: Ryan Rado and Neural Training

My Quest For Peace Of Mind (Trailer) on Vimeo.

Take a minute and check out this video.  Ryan is one of my oldest friends and I seriously urge you to support him if you can.

I feel like I should write a bit more, even though my good friend Peanut (who wants me to call him Stephen for some ridiculous reason) has already said just about everything that needs to be said in his excellent blog.  [Side note: Peanut is both single and his bed is comfy.  Fact]

So, I met Ryan Rado a little over 10 years ago in Nashville when I returned from CT and he was just invading a city that had no idea what it was in for.  We became fast friends through music and our mutual friends who seemed to be inseperable for a few years there.  It took me a little while to figure Ryan out.  It took me less time to keep him from getting his ass handed to him due to his uncontrollable tics.

He ate all my fruit roll ups.  He would come over unannounced with multiple loads of laundry at odd hours of the night.  He never had more than $10 on him.  He used my computer more than I did.  He almost got me killed on I-65 more than once.  He hit me in the chest with a dart. Ask him about grafeejus.

I’m not kidding about the dart, right in the chest.  He introduced me to Twothirtyeight, Lucero, Hopesfall, Openhand, and As Cities Burn.  He also introduced me to Matt Melanson and the aforementioned Peanut “Stephen” Bohn.  He gave me a lot of free band shirts that were a size too big and the stomach was stretched out.  He’s let me sleep on his couch more than enough times to make up for the old days.  He married the kindest woman I have ever met in my life and loves her more than anything.  He’s listened to me bitch and whine about the most inconsequential things.

He was the vocalist for Colson, Ill Patriot, and Worker.  I’ve seen him kick a freezer door closed.  I’ve been in the car when he pulled the emergency break while going 70mph on the interstate.  He’s gotten me meals at Taco Bell for $2 that could feed a king.  I watched him throw a bowling ball about 20 feet down the lane in the air.  Every time I’m in Nashville I make it a point to see him.

The stories I have told of Ryan don’t hold a candle to what he’s really like.  He’s incredibly kind, caring, and passionate.  For as long as I’ve known him he has been fighting a combination of Tourette Syndrome, OCD, and ADD which affect him every single day of his life.  Just last weekend when I was in Nashville he told me about his plan to undergo a treatment called neural training.  It’s a new approach that I’m not nearly smart enough to understand but what I do know is that it’s expensive.

You know what friends are really for?  Times like these.

Any help that can be lent would be incredibly appreciated.  It doesn’t necessarily have to be money.  Simply linking to his blog, Peanut’s blog, or even my blog would be greatly appreciated.

More information and directions on how to donate can be found on his blog, http://ryanrado.wordpress.com/