Still conscious after all these years
 

Well shit.

When two different people email you wondering where you are, maybe it's time to show your grubby face.

Where have I been? Nowhere special. I've been carrying on with my life. I haven't intentionally been ignoring The Cellar, I just kind of stopped visiting. No particular reason. I probably needed a break--there were fewer and fewer threads that piqued my interest and more and more posts.

So what have I been up to? I would say there were three momentous events of the summer.

First there was a vacation to Boston, where we saw the Boston Pops on July 4. Here's a photo of Aerosmith on stage.

http://www.deathtongue.net/cellarpic...2_edited-1.jpg

Second, there has been a job search. I'm currently on the medium list for a job at a university that would require relocation to a different city. It is exciting and terrifying at once. Friday I should learn if I'm worthy of the short list.

Finally, I'm going to get all gushy... a rare occurence.

This past weekend I attended my high school reunion. My graduating class has always been somewhat close-knit. And this 20 year reunion was really special. Going to this reunion was in many ways like coming back to the US after spending several years in a foreign country and being back among your family, friends, and those who speak your language.

http://www.deathtongue.net/cellarpics/grads.jpg

You see, this was a public boarding school for "academically talented" 11th and 12th graders. We spent two whole years together, away from our families, in something of an academic pressure cooker. And while it seemed normal at the time, advancing age (and parenthood) have given me a greater appreciation of how gut-wrenching a step this really was. So it is, perhaps, no wonder that we all developed a special camaraderie. (Except that it doesn't seem to have happened as much for the other classes.)

Fast-forward 20 years. It was just amazing to see what everybody had turned into. (Even though at least some of us had seen each other at past reunions.) I can't imagine a more wonderful bunch of people. It was a time not only to renew old friendships, but also to discover that people you hadn't known well, or maybe hadn't liked, were actually nice, interesting, and fun. It was astounding to see the blurring of the cliquishness that had sometimes characterized the school's social life.

There was one other aspect of the weekend that made it extra memorable: the slide shows. You see, back in the early days of the school (it was started in the early 1980s) the art teacher got together some students before Christmas and put together a slide show from photos taken during the semester. It was fairly high-tech for the time (three slide projectors, with click track synchronized soundtracks). It was such a hit that a slide show has been produced for every semester since.

Well, so what? At each of the past reunions the year-end slide show from our senior year was shown. So we had seen it before a couple times. But we had not seen the year end show from our junior year. And nobody, literally nobody, had seen the two Christmas slide shows that had been shown once and boxed up in a closet somewhere. All these were restored, cleaned, fixed up, and digitized. And they were shown for the first time in twenty years.

It's difficult for me to describe the emotional impact these slide shows had on us as we saw long-forgotten people and events after so long. So I won't. But the whole business left me with a great deal to think about regarding my past life, my education, and the friendships I made or failed to make. I don't wish to belittle my universities, my various jobs, or my family, all of which I am truly blessed by. But it is increasingly obvious that my time at this school was truly "the best years of my life." It was both inspiring and painful to revisit these people and these experiences.

http://www.deathtongue.net/cellarpic...4_edited-1.jpg

Sounds like you have had an eventful summer ... in a good way!

You guys look like a buncha geeks ... which from me is high praise, as you should know.

Good to see that you're ok and having a great time there SD.

It's always interesting to me when people say that their high school or college years were "the best" years of their life.

What about the rest of your life? Don't you look back on those events with the same fondness?

Your marriage(s?), kids, first real job, first house..buying your first handgun...those sorts of things. Or are those things too recent for you to appreciate them in the same way?

Very nice thread in any case. Nice work with sizing the photos. :)

Oh, I thought we were rid of you and that damn clarinet. :p

Which one in the photo is you?

Green polo. Front row. Far right. With the name tag that says: "Hi, Lumberjim hasn't told me what my title is yet." :3eye:

That's what I was thinking, but I wasn't sure if I was remembering an old picture he'd posted or just convincing myself of things through sleep deprivation... Congratulations Steve, you're the fittest member of your graduating class! I guess clarinet playing can really give you a workout?

Now...take the real challenge.

Which one is SD in the old class photo?

Ooh, ooh I know! I'll hide my answer in this post. He's standing in the same position, front right as you look at the pic. I think they're all standing in the same place as in the old photo.
Well, am I right?

I won't tell yet in case anybody else wants to guess. (I suppose I should point out, though it ought to be obvious, that each picture has people who aren't in the other.)


Well, it's hard to explain. I suppose an easy criticism is that, "yeah, people who feel like that were the 'popular kids' and on top of the world and then never amounted to anything in the real world." Doesn't really apply here since I wasn't exactly Big Man On Campus. The smartass (but true) answer would be, "no I don't, I look back on those events with a different fondness."

At risk of drawing scorn for the comparison, we truly were a "band of brothers," and sisters to be sure. We were (or felt like we were) on our own to pull through. We made our mistakes, plenty of them, but when the dust settled, it turned out that we had supported each other through the experience in many ways large and small, and I have never since experienced that level of mutual support from a group of people. Chalk it up to adolescent bravado if you will.

My relationship with my family is altogether different, being more intimate and person-to-person.

As for professional achievements, my last big victory involved successfully maneuvering to get another full-time position approved for my department during a period of budget cuts. It's a good thing, but you'll have to pardon me if I don't get all moist over it.

As for the handgun bit, well, I'm still a virgin. Maybe it'd be a revelation; who knows?

Are you telling us there's a woman somewhere in the black and white picture??

These pics were the guys who lived in the particular dormitory we're standing on the steps of. There were girls at the school, but regrettably, they were in different dorms. ;)

[the]Just when you think you're out, they suck you back in.[mafia]
Welcome back!

Yeah, like Stacy said, it's the Hotel California.

Welcome back, SD. Missed ya.