I'm bummed. I missed my 20 year high school reunion tonight.

Yep. Somebody tell me I'm not crazy. My 20 yr reunion was tonight and I was planning on going, but when I took a close look at my books I realized at the last minute that it was not, shall we say, cost effective. Purely because if I did go I would have been turning away freelance work that was happening this weekend that I just could not afford to let go of. So it was a choice between working and making money OR not working and probably spending the same amount or more that I could've been making by sittting it out. Airline travel was involved, and other costs; admission to the reunion, hotel room, rental car, blah blah blah.

What made it kinda heart-wrenching was a buddy of mine that I have kept in close touch with since back in the day CALLS ME from the reunion itself and puts all these people on the phone. All old friends of mine, some I saw at the 10 year reunion, and some that I haven't seen in 20 years but have thought about since then. I was hearing stuff like, 'Miss ya man, love ya, why aren't you here?' and stuff like that. They all sounded pretty smashed too.

Bottom line is that I need to purchase some big ticket business items that in the long run will keep things chuggin' along smoothly around here, and the reunion had to be cut from the schedule.

Oh well....class of '84. So now here I am finished with my job for tonight playing (ironically) Devo "Freedom of Choice". Ain't that a bitch?!!

Man did I pick the wrong night to lay off the booze or what? :drink:

[ Edited by: donhonyc on 2004-08-07 22:32 ]

Sorry to hear you had to choose like that.

Congrats on having a good vision for the future, though!

Coincidence: I had to skip my 20th too. I had a big certification test to take on the Monday after my 20th. The test was only offered every two years, so I figured discretion was the better part of valor.

The hardest part is that my motto has always been, "Nobody ever died saying he wished he'd gone to work one more day," so it was a weekend of cognitive dissonance, for sure.

Ah, well.

Best wishes for your 25th!

Thanks Geeky-

That made me feel better. Your motto is funny and to the point. I'll definitely factor that philosophy in the next go 'round.

I also forgot to mention that another reason for me not going was that I had been out of town twice during July and had to let clients know that I wouldn't be around for work, so I took that into account. That's the sucky thing about freelance, the more unavailable you make yourself for work the more you're making the work available for SOMEONE ELSE, and trust me, there a alot of 'someone elses' out there these days that would be more than happy to take my spot. Paranoid? Yeah a little, but nonetheless very true.

Do they have 25 year reunions? Hmmm, I'll try to go to that one. At that point I'll be over 40. Jeez! How the hell did THAT happen!!?

[ Edited by: donhonyc on 2004-08-08 00:27 ]

I went to my 10th, but skipped my 20th. Recently I became aware of a website that has a bulletin board that graduates from my school can post their updates to: "Hey, now I am a computer analyst and a single parent with 2 kids..." It was kind of depressing. With their posts they include the senior yearbook picture. I saw all these faces that I recognized, but I absolutely couldn't remember most of the names. That surprised me, but should it have really? Heck, I have coworkers that I have spent more years with than I spent with kids in elementary, middle and high school!

I just didn't see the point in going to the reunion.

Yeah floratina, there is definitely that angle. I was flipping through my yearbook before since the reunion was on the mind, and there were photos of people in there that I don't even remember. What's even scarier is that there are autographs in there too from people I can't remember. That' wierd! This definitely crossed my mind in making the decision not to go. I guess if my friend didn't call me while he was there I wouldn't have been so bummed, but after he called I was like 'oh yeah...so and so is there? Frig!

that was very cool you got a call from your friends! i'd bet when you go to your 25th reunion there will be more folks there ~ thats a 'silver anniversary' type thing.

i've not gone to any of my class reunions, even when i lived in town ~ although once i went to the freebie happy hour before "the big event". luckily i'm still close with a core group of friends that i see often (here in seattle, and also in san diego) so out of a graduating class of 1000 people, i keep in contact with at least 50 of them, not bad, i'd guess.

i hope you're feeling a little less down about missing the party ~ at least you know you're remembered by your classmates :)

elicia
class of 19mumble

When I was in high school, I hung out with folks from different grade levels, and had relatively few friends in my own class. When I found out that these few weren't going to our 10 year reunion, I skipped it. Why go to hang out/eat/talk with folks now that I didn't hang out/eat/talk with back then? Same thing happened for my 20th reunion last summer, so I gave it the miss as well.

No big whoop.

I moved around quite a bit, so that by the time I graduated from High School, I had more friends here, there, and all over. I ended up graduating from a school I had been at only two years, and there wasn't a strong connection with any core group of friends. I guess my experience is similar to Dr Z in the respect that most of my friendships were outside of the graduating class.

Missing your reunion is not a bad thing, just think of it as another excuse to throw your own private party!

Cheers, donhonyc!

[ Edited by: Bamboo Dude on 2004-08-08 07:09 ]

sorry to hear about that man. But money is money, and honestly, would you have had a good time? I mean, was it worth looking at everyone fat and balding or worth more clams in the pocket?

I'm skipping my tenth year.. (next month).. I don't care to see any of them and honestly I don't think i can stand putting up with the false attitudes brought on by their new found religious experiance. Plus the ones putting this together want to show how much money they have made and are charging $60 a person for a Fajita buffett and DJ. No Thanks. I'll be out in the parking lot throwing empty beer bottles at patrons like the old days.

Hola, Uncle John.

I went to my tenth and had a blast.

I ran into people I hadn't known very well during high school and had some fun conversations and ended up feeling like I finished making friends with some people. We were all kind of embryonic in high school, some people turned out highly cool.

The one guy in high school I had the most disdain for - rich, out of control drug addict, cruel, boastful, conceited, you name it - came up to me and was asking about my perceptions of him back in high school. I was trying to give diplomatic answers and he interrupted to say what a dick he had been and how sorry he was. He was on step 8 of a 12 step program and of all the people I have ever seen go through that, he was the most sincere.

I never knew the personal horror of addiction at the most fundamental level until he very astutely described his high school experience. It was moving, and no born again stuff, either.

He ended up becoming a running buddy and we still stay in touch. I feel like I would have missed out on learning a great life lesson and gaining an unexpected friend had I not gone.

Anyway, didn't mean to get mushy, but the ten year reunion can really be cool.

i crashed my 20 year... the price was so ridiculous cause it was held in the banquet room of a fancy restaurant. so one the one girlfriend i had kept in touch with and i went to the same restaurant for a nice dinner and to catch up on old times and oh - just happened to wander into the private room afterwards...
once a rebel... always a rebel.

20 years can be a bit depressing, with everyone looking older (and wider), it just makes you feel older - even if you don't look or feel it yourself.

Thanks for all the great responses, people! Maybe there will be a 25 year reunion that I can go to.

Geeky, I hear you on the 10th reunion experience. I had similar conversations with people at my 10th that were 'unsavory' during high school. It just goes to show you that alot of that stuff your parents and others tell you is kinda true. (my turn to get mushy now..) Some people that are dicks to you in high school don't always mean it. They're just doing it to prove something to other people. I must confess I was on both ends of that stick. I was picked on, and sometimes I did the picking on too. No question about it. Nothing really bad, but I'm sure I was a nuisance to others here and there. Not good.

One of the guys that my friend put on the phone last night was one of those people I can't say I had a really great relationship with in high school. He was an okay guy, but he belonged to the most popular clique in school and could also be a real a-hole. When he got on the phone, he was all like 'dude, I wish you were here. It sounds like you're doing well, that's really good to hear' etc. I was a little surprised but glad to hear that from him too. Guess alotta people grow up and change for the better.

Yeah, Futura girl. My 20 year reunion was $120 admission, 'cause they had it in some fancy-ass hotel. So yeah, I'm thinking they probably will have a 25th...there's money to be made fer sure.

I missed my 10th year, because I was not invited.

Those bitches had my address, too.

I'll have to think of something appropriate to do for the 20th, to return the favor. Any suggestions?

The only reason I'd of gone to my 20th would have been for someone to tell me what the hell I did in High School. The end.

Well Crosby,...you probably were not in grammar class much!!!!!

My guess is that like me, you spent most of your time in shop class making two footers!!

I'm class of 1984 also! I went to my 20 year reunion last weekend. What a trip, many people I couldn't even recognize! Then I introduced my wife to my psycho high school girlfriend that I had sex with about 450 times. Very surreal. On a positive note, everyone there said I looked the youngest! Just like in the movies, there was a girl who was plain Jane in School and is wicked insane beautiful now. How could I have not seen it back then?? She must of loved seeing every guy looking at her with their jaw on the floor!!

holycow, tiki riviera..i thought you were about 25 years old when i met you..

guess you graduated early :)

Hey Tiki-riviera-

We must live on the opposite side on the class of '84 universe. I used to think there were tons of hot girls in my high school. When I look at the yearbook now I'm like 'what in the HELL was I thinking!!??' . There are a very select few women, and I mean very few, in my yearbook who's looks stand the test of time. And by the way no disrespect to the females here at Tiki Central, this same principal applies to the guys of the class of '84. Me included!! When I look at my graduating photos or any number of the other guys all I can say is 'nice mustache, dude!', if you knowhaddimean.

On the other hand, when I went to my 10 year reunion I was talking with a girl who wasn't that hot back in the day that turned out to be a pretty beautiful young woman. We were talking alot and I had the opportunity to um...hang out with her more, but I was being faithful to the live-in girlfriend I had at the time. Long story short...we broke-up three years later, and this girl I was talking with at the 10 year reunion vanished from my memory. All I can remember was that a) she was hot and b) I dropped the ball to be a nice guy to my relationship that dissolved anyway!! Don't you hate when stuff like that happens?? DAMN!

[ Edited by: donhonyc on 2004-08-10 00:43 ]

Hey Dogbytes,

Thanks for the compliment. Actually, I was a boy genius and I graduated High School at age 10. Unfortunately when I was 12 a large turtle fell on my head and the resulting injury lowered my IQ by 75 points. oh well....

WoooHooo! Last night I attended my 20 Year Class Reunion. (In fact, I was in charge of the entire Reunion. Two of my committee helpers bailed out on me so I did the entire Reunion by myself) Everyone had a Blast!! I felt like I was in a Time Machine. If anyone has a reunion coming up make sure you go to it. You'll regret it if you don't :)