Grosse Point Blank-related stress

Okay, been a long while since I updated this thing. Yeah, like that's a surprise. Anyway, this weekend I'm going to be attending a MCSEA meeting, which is just about the most exciting thing I could imagine doing. They've been restarted by a guy named David Bronstein and someone else whose name I can't remember. So beautiful. A bunch of other alums will be coming as well -- Eric, Mike, Tenley, maybe Candace, Lauren Moskowitz, Nathan.

It's interesting that it's happening on the first weekend of March. That's the 9th anniversary of MCSEA's first meeting (March 3rd, 1996, to be exact). I've already decided that next year, for the big 1-0, I'm going to host a biiiig alumni gathering. Like, as in track-down-people's-addresses-and-mail-invites sort of a deal.

That, in turn, got me thinking today about my 10-year high school reunion, which will be about 2 years from now. And thus, we have the title of this post:

John Cusack's character, Martin Blank, is going through a sort of crisis as he prepares to attend his ten year reunion. I know it's two years off, but I *really* don't live up to the image of a 28-year-old's life as represented in that movie. (Hell, I haven't even killed anyone yet!) Seriously though, my life as reflected by films is something of a disappointment. When I first saw Kicking and Screaming, the line "22? Wow, old man river," was funny and all, but it also seemed real old to me. Then I was 23, and still didn't have my shit together. Same thing with rewatching Singles a few years ago. Those characters are 23. 23?!? I'm nowhere near that grown up yet. And now we have the 10-year reunion, just 2 years off. Where will I be in 2 years? I predict the following...

-I'll be working on my dissertation, which will sound very interesting and hide the reality that I've managed to escape a normal job for a decade past high school.

-I will have probably just been elected to my second term on the Board. This will come as a surprise to absolutely no one who remembers me in the slightest. You know, I was given the "most likely to hug a tree" award at the senior banquet, and apparently it was a unanimous vote of the 400+ person senior class. This will also hide my personal conviction that, despite the titles, experience, and leadership development, I'm still nowhere near the environmentalist I was in high school.

-I will, in all honesty, still probably be single. I'll have a string of swing dance affairs behind me (assuming that I haven't had dance-ending knee surgery by then), and things will still be cloudy with a certain high school ex-girlfriend. That same high school ex will probably agree to be my date for said event, but then stand me up last minute for some inexplicably good reason.

-I won't, most likely, remember more than a handful of names. There weren't a lot of MCSEAns in my year, and my non-MCSEA friends only included about 8 or 9 people. It will likely be me and Michelle hanging out for most of the night. If AJ shows up (he probably will - he was always more into these things than I was), that will be a very nice reunion.

-If I'm lucky, I'll get really drunk and beat the shit out of every member of OAR. THAT would make for an exceptionally successful reunion. ;-)

In the end, I'll find the whole experience to be pretty anti-climactic. It won't occassion much personal reflection or even too many fond memories. Part of that will be because I never made my life at school so much as I did through MCSEA. Part of it will be, honestly, most of those people were totally lame then and probably still will be in two years. But part of it will be that, once again, life never seems to live up to its billing. And that's really too bad.

Anyway, those are my thoughts for the night.
DK