5 year reunion
OK, I tried to talk myself out of going to my 5 year class reunion all day and almost was successful. I always do a good job of rationalizing why it's perfectly normal that I am sitting at home while I have friends who are meeting up for a night on the town. The usual excuse is that I live about 70 miles from everyone else and that if we go to a bar I'll have to just watch everyone get hammered instead of taking part in the debauchery. Last night my brain played a trick on me and said, "hey, I'll stop in after work(I get off work at 6), I'll say hello to everyone, have a beer, and go home." That didn't seem like too much to ask, so I decided I'd go. I work in Fairview, New Jersey and the reunion was being held in Hoboken, NJ (aka the trendiest, coolest place to live for people my age, but I digress) at Trinity (http://www.hobokentrinity.com/). A little NJX70 history for you: My school's mascot was a Gael aka Gaelic Warrior. It's basically a Viking. Now this bar is a "Gaelic" bar... Coincidence... You decide.
Here is the invitation I received via classmates.com. Please let me know when you would have arrived:
Roxbury High School Class of 1999 Reunion
Organizer
Heather Fink
When
Nov 26, 2004 08:00 PM ET
Duration
all night long
Details
Hey! We (me and Dara) heard that nobody was planning our damned 5 year reunion, so we decided to plan our own party! So, class of 99, bring yourself down to party for a fun night in Hoboken, and make up some kind of cool story about what you are up to now so you can impress everyone! Get to thinking, hire an escort to play your significant other, hurry there isn't much time! Just get your ass to Trinity on the night of Friday, November 26, the day after Thanksgiving. Oh yeah, and tell anyone and everyone from the RHS class of 99 you can get in touch with. Forward this invite! Oh yeah, and get there early cause this bar gets pretty packed. PS- this isn't a REAL reunion, just a date, time and place to go- so there's no freebies or cool stuff like that.
OK, so I was planning on being there early just like the invitation said, but just as I was leaving work my boss calls me up and says that he REALLY needs me to pick up some stuff from the office and drop it off at our new retail location. Just another one of the perks of being the only guy in the office who drives a pickup truck. So I grab one of our part timers and we load up my truck with cell phone accessories and I am off to Lodi. I get there, unload, and plan on leaving right away, but the store was just finished and was looking really nice, so my boss wanted me to hang out and check out his new place. I ended up helping a few customers, chit chatting, and wasting a good hour in the store. I didn't leave until quarter to 8 and I was panicking. I don't know Hoboken too well, and for those of you who don't know about the town it can be a little confusing. It's like a younger, trendier, Manhattan and right across the Huson river from NYC. People fresh out of college with big paychecks and bar tabs like to move there because of the night life and the convenience of a train that drops you off right in the city from the middle of town. I know I haven't posted many times and if you don't know who I am when you're reading this you don't realize how uncomfortable places like this make me. I have lived most of my life in New Jersey, but I have always been in a rural setting and am originally from the Appaliatian mountain region of Kentucky. If you ever hear about programs where they go into the poor regions of Appaliatia and help the poor backwards people find God and build houses, you know where my life started out. I love trucks, dive bars, doing things outside, and quiet nights just having a few beers with friends... None of which are even a possiblilty in a place like Hoboken. When I dress up it's a sweater with jeans and boots. At the bar last night ever other guy was wearing a trendy blazer and had their hair all teased up like they were in some boy band.
Anyways, I get some directions from a friend who lives in the town and I get going. Luckily I have almost no trouble finding the place, find a parking spot about a mile away and walk back. I was FREEZING for the whole walk back but it didn't' stop my mind from running through all the bad things that could possibly happen once I got there. I was a popular kid in high school. I was the captain of the football and basketball team, played lacrosse, was a member of the honors choir, played in the concert band, and was in the jazz band. The problem was always that growing up I was a good foot taller and 100lbs heavier than everyone else and I never was comfortable with myself enough to just relax and be myself. I was always a clown to try and fit in and it bit me in the ass. I was the big goofy kid and took more than my fair share of shit growing up. Even in high school I was always having to stand up to some kid half my size that was making fun of me. Now I could have easily destroyed these people, but that is not what you do when you are big. Everyone always says, "if I had your size I wouldn't let anyone fuck with me." Well, if you had my size you'd realize how self conscious you always are about using your size to your advantage. It's like you have some super power that you have sworn to use only for the powers of justice, only not anywhere near as cool. I had plenty of friends in school, but I KNEW if the "popular" kids showed up that there was that chance that I would feel shunned again just like I did in high school. But this wasn't what I was thinking about once I got into the bar.
When I got into the bar it was just me and a few groups of 30 somethings that were out for the evening and NOT ONE person from my class. OK... Now what? I looked at my cell and realized it was 8:30 and I was alone. My mind started racing. Did they decide to go to a different bar? Am I the only one that even cares enough to show up? Am I at the right place? Is today the day after thanksgiving... Yeah, I had turkey last night. Did I have the right time? Did something change on the invitation last minute? Should I call someone and give them my password to check it out? How long should I wait? Is this just another time I am going to be made to look like an asshole? Why did I come here alone? Why didn't I call someone to ride in with me? Who do I know in town that I can get down here NOW? Why did I even talk myself into coming to this stupid reunion? Do I really know that these people aren't from my class?
I realized that a 6'3" 325lb guy with a beard and a shaved head standing in the middle of an empty dance floor alone was looking a little strange, so I decided I'd sit at the bar and have a beer just to look like I had a reason to be there and then make a decision on what to do. There weren't enough people there to make an exit without everyone realizing I walked in, looked at the time, looked around like a lost retarded boy and then walked out, so I stayed. Almost and hour went by and my beer was just as warm as the hand I was holding it with, but I didn't bring much money and I had a long ride ahead of me so I didn't want to start banging them down. Then a little stocky fellow comes up and orders a beer. I look down, and I had never been so happy to see Lee in my whole life. The 5'2" 220lb powerlifting troll was there! Huzah! I am not alone! We played football together and it was someone to talk to. We never got along as athletes, but he's a great kid dealing with a lot of the same things I deal with being huge because he's short. Lee can throw a punch that would level a building and is the single strongest person I know, but he gets shit on even more than I do because instead of the "shutup, asshole" they get from me, he goes right back at them. He was full of stories of beating the dog shit outta guys that we knew from high school over the past 5 years and for the next hour I felt like I gave him too rough a time growing up. I let him know that for the 10 year reunion we'd just meet half way to save gas and we laughed and just had another beer.
I was ready to head out at that point, but Lee was determined to find others from our class. We walked around a bit and ran into a couple more from our class that really weren't that into the whole "what have you been up to" thing (it was so loud in there that it really took a lot of effort to tell your story, and neither of us were close enough with either of them to really put out that kinda effort). Then the night turned around. I had a friend in high school names Lauren. My sister named her Bad Lauren because I used to date another girl named Lauren from Australia and for some reason my sister Angela thought that instead of using their last names she would just call one good Lauren and one bad Lauren. I have never been so happy to run into someone in my life. I have sheepeshly tried to look her up over the past few years, but because one month turns into one year turns into 5 years so quickly I felt like it would be wierd to give her a call... and I couldn't find her number. She is without a doubt, the funniest girl I have ever known and was an awesome friend who I really wanted to keep in touch with after high school but failed horribly. Just hanging out with her for a few minutes made the whole night worth it. And after I ran into her and we chatted for a while I started seeing more and more of the people I really liked in school and I ended up having a great night. 2 am came around quickly and I was back on the hike to my truck. I ran into so many people and have so many great stories, but can tell that I am rambling on and should just close this post. The most important thing is that I gave Bad Lauren my card (I was so proud of it even though my job is an average job. Plus it was a good way to give people my contact info) and put the ball in her court. I was an ass after graduation and should have kept in touch with her and didn't, so I'll totally understand if she never calls/writes me, but I let her know that I missed the hell out of her and want to hear from her again. She is almost done with her training to join the CIA (perfect job for her) and will be based out of Washington DC, which means that I'll problably not see her often, but I just hope that I got across my desire to keep in contact. We'll see what happens.
I only took one picture with my stupid phone and it came out like crap, so I'm not even going to bother posting it. Tonight I'll try and get a bunch of photo's at my friend Tom's graduation party and post something here.
Oh, I totaly forgot! I ran into Capt. Redface (my college roomate) at the bar right as I was leaving! Talk about one shocking moment! I was like, "Holy shit! Redface! What the fuck are you doing here?" Neither one of us lives anywhere near Hoboken, so it made it that much more strange. OK, I'm done.
Here is the invitation I received via classmates.com. Please let me know when you would have arrived:
Roxbury High School Class of 1999 Reunion
Organizer
Heather Fink
When
Nov 26, 2004 08:00 PM ET
Duration
all night long
Details
Hey! We (me and Dara) heard that nobody was planning our damned 5 year reunion, so we decided to plan our own party! So, class of 99, bring yourself down to party for a fun night in Hoboken, and make up some kind of cool story about what you are up to now so you can impress everyone! Get to thinking, hire an escort to play your significant other, hurry there isn't much time! Just get your ass to Trinity on the night of Friday, November 26, the day after Thanksgiving. Oh yeah, and tell anyone and everyone from the RHS class of 99 you can get in touch with. Forward this invite! Oh yeah, and get there early cause this bar gets pretty packed. PS- this isn't a REAL reunion, just a date, time and place to go- so there's no freebies or cool stuff like that.
OK, so I was planning on being there early just like the invitation said, but just as I was leaving work my boss calls me up and says that he REALLY needs me to pick up some stuff from the office and drop it off at our new retail location. Just another one of the perks of being the only guy in the office who drives a pickup truck. So I grab one of our part timers and we load up my truck with cell phone accessories and I am off to Lodi. I get there, unload, and plan on leaving right away, but the store was just finished and was looking really nice, so my boss wanted me to hang out and check out his new place. I ended up helping a few customers, chit chatting, and wasting a good hour in the store. I didn't leave until quarter to 8 and I was panicking. I don't know Hoboken too well, and for those of you who don't know about the town it can be a little confusing. It's like a younger, trendier, Manhattan and right across the Huson river from NYC. People fresh out of college with big paychecks and bar tabs like to move there because of the night life and the convenience of a train that drops you off right in the city from the middle of town. I know I haven't posted many times and if you don't know who I am when you're reading this you don't realize how uncomfortable places like this make me. I have lived most of my life in New Jersey, but I have always been in a rural setting and am originally from the Appaliatian mountain region of Kentucky. If you ever hear about programs where they go into the poor regions of Appaliatia and help the poor backwards people find God and build houses, you know where my life started out. I love trucks, dive bars, doing things outside, and quiet nights just having a few beers with friends... None of which are even a possiblilty in a place like Hoboken. When I dress up it's a sweater with jeans and boots. At the bar last night ever other guy was wearing a trendy blazer and had their hair all teased up like they were in some boy band.
Anyways, I get some directions from a friend who lives in the town and I get going. Luckily I have almost no trouble finding the place, find a parking spot about a mile away and walk back. I was FREEZING for the whole walk back but it didn't' stop my mind from running through all the bad things that could possibly happen once I got there. I was a popular kid in high school. I was the captain of the football and basketball team, played lacrosse, was a member of the honors choir, played in the concert band, and was in the jazz band. The problem was always that growing up I was a good foot taller and 100lbs heavier than everyone else and I never was comfortable with myself enough to just relax and be myself. I was always a clown to try and fit in and it bit me in the ass. I was the big goofy kid and took more than my fair share of shit growing up. Even in high school I was always having to stand up to some kid half my size that was making fun of me. Now I could have easily destroyed these people, but that is not what you do when you are big. Everyone always says, "if I had your size I wouldn't let anyone fuck with me." Well, if you had my size you'd realize how self conscious you always are about using your size to your advantage. It's like you have some super power that you have sworn to use only for the powers of justice, only not anywhere near as cool. I had plenty of friends in school, but I KNEW if the "popular" kids showed up that there was that chance that I would feel shunned again just like I did in high school. But this wasn't what I was thinking about once I got into the bar.
When I got into the bar it was just me and a few groups of 30 somethings that were out for the evening and NOT ONE person from my class. OK... Now what? I looked at my cell and realized it was 8:30 and I was alone. My mind started racing. Did they decide to go to a different bar? Am I the only one that even cares enough to show up? Am I at the right place? Is today the day after thanksgiving... Yeah, I had turkey last night. Did I have the right time? Did something change on the invitation last minute? Should I call someone and give them my password to check it out? How long should I wait? Is this just another time I am going to be made to look like an asshole? Why did I come here alone? Why didn't I call someone to ride in with me? Who do I know in town that I can get down here NOW? Why did I even talk myself into coming to this stupid reunion? Do I really know that these people aren't from my class?
I realized that a 6'3" 325lb guy with a beard and a shaved head standing in the middle of an empty dance floor alone was looking a little strange, so I decided I'd sit at the bar and have a beer just to look like I had a reason to be there and then make a decision on what to do. There weren't enough people there to make an exit without everyone realizing I walked in, looked at the time, looked around like a lost retarded boy and then walked out, so I stayed. Almost and hour went by and my beer was just as warm as the hand I was holding it with, but I didn't bring much money and I had a long ride ahead of me so I didn't want to start banging them down. Then a little stocky fellow comes up and orders a beer. I look down, and I had never been so happy to see Lee in my whole life. The 5'2" 220lb powerlifting troll was there! Huzah! I am not alone! We played football together and it was someone to talk to. We never got along as athletes, but he's a great kid dealing with a lot of the same things I deal with being huge because he's short. Lee can throw a punch that would level a building and is the single strongest person I know, but he gets shit on even more than I do because instead of the "shutup, asshole" they get from me, he goes right back at them. He was full of stories of beating the dog shit outta guys that we knew from high school over the past 5 years and for the next hour I felt like I gave him too rough a time growing up. I let him know that for the 10 year reunion we'd just meet half way to save gas and we laughed and just had another beer.
I was ready to head out at that point, but Lee was determined to find others from our class. We walked around a bit and ran into a couple more from our class that really weren't that into the whole "what have you been up to" thing (it was so loud in there that it really took a lot of effort to tell your story, and neither of us were close enough with either of them to really put out that kinda effort). Then the night turned around. I had a friend in high school names Lauren. My sister named her Bad Lauren because I used to date another girl named Lauren from Australia and for some reason my sister Angela thought that instead of using their last names she would just call one good Lauren and one bad Lauren. I have never been so happy to run into someone in my life. I have sheepeshly tried to look her up over the past few years, but because one month turns into one year turns into 5 years so quickly I felt like it would be wierd to give her a call... and I couldn't find her number. She is without a doubt, the funniest girl I have ever known and was an awesome friend who I really wanted to keep in touch with after high school but failed horribly. Just hanging out with her for a few minutes made the whole night worth it. And after I ran into her and we chatted for a while I started seeing more and more of the people I really liked in school and I ended up having a great night. 2 am came around quickly and I was back on the hike to my truck. I ran into so many people and have so many great stories, but can tell that I am rambling on and should just close this post. The most important thing is that I gave Bad Lauren my card (I was so proud of it even though my job is an average job. Plus it was a good way to give people my contact info) and put the ball in her court. I was an ass after graduation and should have kept in touch with her and didn't, so I'll totally understand if she never calls/writes me, but I let her know that I missed the hell out of her and want to hear from her again. She is almost done with her training to join the CIA (perfect job for her) and will be based out of Washington DC, which means that I'll problably not see her often, but I just hope that I got across my desire to keep in contact. We'll see what happens.
I only took one picture with my stupid phone and it came out like crap, so I'm not even going to bother posting it. Tonight I'll try and get a bunch of photo's at my friend Tom's graduation party and post something here.
Oh, I totaly forgot! I ran into Capt. Redface (my college roomate) at the bar right as I was leaving! Talk about one shocking moment! I was like, "Holy shit! Redface! What the fuck are you doing here?" Neither one of us lives anywhere near Hoboken, so it made it that much more strange. OK, I'm done.
posted by NJX70 at 4:32 PM
2 Comments:
Isaac, I love your take on things, so glad to see you. I love Lauren too- she's just so funny and more laid back than any other human in the world. It's funny the way everyone has something they are worried people make fun of them for. I didn't realize there was a downside to being a big guy.
I used to get made fun of a lot in younger grades, but then realized there was really nothing special to the "popular" kids, so I decided to disrespect their artificial social boundaries and talk to whoever I wanted whenever- which worked well for me cause I talk a lot. I mean, sure, that backfired for me sometimes. All the cute boys were downright scared of me- and I'm sure all my fellow graduates still are weirded out- but it's all good cause I had fun doing it, ya know? I just got sick of being made fun of- so I guess when you show that you don't give a fuck, people don't bother you.
Thanks, Heather. I didn't know if anyone would read this or find it even remotely ammusing. I like my blog because it gives me a chance to air things that I wouldn't bring up in conversation to people that I most likely will never see in my life. It really feels good because it's like I'm telling people how I really feel, but I don't have to look them in the eye while I do it.
Again, thanks for reading my blog and having nice things to say.
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