Sword and Scale Host

Another big difference in 2002 is that we weren't all spying on each other.

No one was lurking nearby to film you on their phone, waiting to post it somewhere for the world to see.

Security cameras existed, but were reserved for big businesses.

No wonder Tom didn't wear a mask.

Not only was he too shit-faced to even think about a security camera, but he just wasn't expecting these tiny businesses to own one.

In 2002, voicemail was still a thing, and people actually checked it.

Tom felt like he'd been swallowed up by time, but it wasn't just the tech that had left him behind.

While he was on the inside, his world fell apart.

His mom died.

She was the family anchor.

There were some rough years between him and his stepdad, but his mom was always there for the kids.

Probably almost too much.

His sister took over the money and according to Tom, she mismanaged it.

She also failed to get the car Tom had wrecked from the impound because it was too much trouble.

Tom was pissed because the car belonged to his son Tommy and still had some of his personal belongings in it.

According to Tom, his sister helped raise Tommy and had been a good influence, but ever since their mother passed, she was all about herself.

His sister, of course, had a different story.

There was a time when they partied together as teens and acted more like friends than siblings, but then Tom got a girl pregnant when he was 19 and things changed.

His sister had lost a baby boy and now she found herself stepping in to parent Tom's son.

Tom continued to party and went to rehab at least once.