Today is our 500th episode of JJ Meets World, and I'd like to mark the occasion by talking about one of my favorite dudes.

JJ and I became friends in 2001 over a McDonalds breakfast after we had camped out overnight with a group of friends for the movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. JJ, myself, and Dustin Buchanan had spent the night sleeping in my 1975 Ford Econoline conversion van in the parking lot of the movie theater. We woke up smelling like a gas and decided to let Dustin sleep while we grabbed some chow.

By the end of that meal I knew this was someone I needed in my life, and ever since then, JJ has been one of the most reliable, loving, and caring friends I could have ever hoped for. The amount of times this guy has stepped up, no questions asked, to help me out of a scrape is uncountable. Every movie I make, I want him in it. Every crazy idea I dream up, I want him to hear it. Every time I'm stuck in my head, being my own worst enemy, guess who it is I call.

When I approached JJ in 2018 with the idea of starting a podcast with him as the host, I was overcome with joy when he said yes, and ever since then we've been pumping out a podcast a week (we started with two episodes a week, and then we calmed down and became sensible, ha ha). And now, eight years later, we're celebrating our friendship and our shared project with our 500th episode.

JJ, I wish your parents were here right now so I could thank them for bringing you into this world. All of your successes stem from your luminous character. This world is better because you are in it, and I am better because I get to call you my friend.

I love you bud. Here's to the next 500.

-Tucker