10 years passed...

This was weekend was my ten year college reunion.

I missed my five year ostensibly because I was in Brazil or California at the time and could not break away. But lets be honest, the idea of connecting back to where I went to school is not really something I do naturally. I loved my college experience. Many of my best friends in the world were made right there on campus. So when a flurry of texts came encouraging me to hit a party at the Steps on Campus I was hesitant but considering it. I was leaving a birthday dinner at Wolfgang’s and was debating going home and passing out. This was the first time I ever debated going to a reunion of any sort. I relented, hailed a cab, and proceeded north.

In the cab I thought it through, if Sparkes had committed to coming or some critical mass of the larger crack pack had agreed to attend I would have been more excited. Still, aside from a flurry of emails marking the 10th anniversary of the Mr. Shoulder-Birthday-Party-Stripper-Party-Gang-Violence-Extravaganza there was not much momentum for meeting up in NY. Dr. Orgy was in, but the Dr. is in for pretty much anything, thus the nickname. J was also in, but who could guarantee he would show up. That dude doesn’t get anywhere before 1 in the morning.

I found them on the lower steps drunk amongst others who I either could not remember or had chosen to forget. I sighed and braced myself for the worst. Thankfully, my fears were dumb. This was the greatest experience ever.

The first face to jump out at me and greet me was Mich…Mich is awesome. We randomly became fairly good friends in the late 90s. The only time we would ever be friends was the late 90s in NYC as people in the early twenties and even then it was mostly because she was dating my roommate. Her enthusiasm in seeing me was genuine. That felt good. I had not seen her in like 8 years. She’s such a sweet, fundamentally good person. We had this fun conversation. After a while I started counting the hugs we exchanged over the course of the evening. We stopped at 9.

Next, an attractive redhead walked up to me and asked if we had ever been friends. She phrased it like “I am pretty sure we hung out a lot”. We had. I struggled to remember her name but we talked for a solid 20 minutes. Not knowing what to do, I invited her to coffee. She’s married. Her husband was 5ft away. He was a dude I knew. Awkward, J was walking by so I latched on to him and made a quick get away.

J fondled my back (odd) and started yelling about how I never come out and also suck. I had a drink with him like 2 weeks ago. How much of me does this guy want exactly?

I found Dr. Orgy fuming. Our senior year, we organized a spring break cruise and ended up going with a bunch of really “cool” girls. Everyone on this trip agreed that the girls got the raw end of the deal, no one should be stuck on a boat with a mid 90s version of the Crack Pack. We got that name for a reason. How many gas pedals does one need to witness anyway? The Dr. had just walked up to these women to say hello. No response. When I found him he said hollowly “Wow, it feels just like ten years ago, we suck again don’t we”. I felt for Orgy and was glad that an hour later as we made our exit he yelled about how they sucked at the top his lungs as they crossed the street. Sparkes put this all in perspective via text by suggesting I remind Orgy that he’s married and it just doesn’t matter any more.

But before we got to that, I thought it would be funny to show Orgy that it was just him and that I in fact did not suck. I looked over at them congregating. In the crowd was the U. The U and I were friends; I hung out with her quite a bit right up till we went to b school. I walked over and said hello. She feigned enthusiasm then walked away promising to come back…Never happened. Woah! It really is 10 years ago.

The richest guy I know cruised over and amused me in two ways
 He laughed and pointed as Dr. Orgy forced his email on someone “you’re man’s email is actually oorgy1…”
 He suggested, rather loudly, that I do something untoward to alum that he casually referred to as a “horny librarian”.

I got an ego boost when a woman walked up to me and asked what I did for a living and what I drove. This was exciting. Watching her hastily walk away, I wondered if I need to come up with a better answer/career.

Lastly, a very attractive Asian girl walked up to me and said hello. It took me a moment but I recognized her as JLim. She was a dorky but really funny girl I used to work on Computer Science projects with. We used program to Cure records. (btw, how strange was I?) She was really cool and suddenly she was amazing looking. Like in that movie where Rachel Leigh Cook is the ugly girl because she wears glasses. I thought for a second that maybe I could be Freddie Prinze. She was married too…bummer... but it was great to see her. Great to here she was doing well. Great to hear she loved teaching. Just like it was great to see that everyone else was well.

It was all great, really. At the end of the night I found myself at Coronets watching J and Dr Orgy spill pizza grease on themselves and I smiled. Most of my friends are married and happy, including these guys. Lately, I have spent a lot of time wondering if I should shake up my life. I am so dissatisfied with so many parts of it. But really what do I have to complain about? I’m healthy. I never stop learning. I enjoy NY the way I always wanted to - checking out concerts, going to museums, watching people all day. I have these awesome friends. Apparently even at my least confident moments I left some sort of lasting impact on the people I have come across. Most seemed really happy to see me.

I was all smiles the rest of the weekend…