Red Monkey: Vacations and Photos Archives

October 24, 2007

The Reunion

Where to start? I should probably start from the beginning, which was the horrendous travel itself, but instead, I think I'll focus on the reunion today while it's still pretty fresh in my mind.

(If you didn't go to Lamar, some of this is likely to sound like a socialist's column for some socialites you've never heard of. But don't worry, there's good old fashioned story telling in here ... plus a lot of names.)

Lamar High School ... class of 1987 ... Arlington, Texas ... 20 Year Reunion

We missed the Friday night mixer at J. Gilligan's because of the horrendous travel, and that was too bad as apparently Jill Stewart was there that night and not at the Saturday dealio. I was disappointed to miss her, especially since my buddy Andy (with whom I was staying) said Jill had asked Andy if he was the father of my children. Ummmm, WTF? Andy started laughing and told me that back in college, that had been what most people thought ... Andy would donate childrens for me. When I head that, we started concocting some long and fanciful story about how Andy was the father of my five children, yadda yadda yadda. How dare Jill set up a great story like that and then leave the whole thing unresolved!! hehehehe

I also missed Amy Alexander that night and was sad about that as well. She used to draw some amazing stuff and I was so curious to see if she still works her art ... so hoping that she has continued that. I did run into Russ who'd been our leading man for darn near every play we ever did in high school ... and he was one of the people I'd really been hoping to see. He was a genuinely nice guy in a rather clique-ish and fake school and I was beyond delighted to see that he's doing well and he's still doing theatre both professionally and doing plays around town. And his wife, Shannon, was just a delight to meet. Makes me wanna move back to Texas just to make better friends with them! :)

Out of 22 people I really wanted to see ... I saw two.

However, there were a fair number of people whom I'd thought would hardly remember me, with whom I had a delightful time. Paul Oehler, Veronica Ordonez, Ben Yin, Cheree Stringer, Sherry Price, Kyle Lawson.

But the most "fun" for me was the fact that my partner and I were the only gay couple there.

I laughed so hard (on the inside ... it's not nice to laugh at people's faces). There were a select group of women who had once been friends, who:
1) could NOT stop staring at us
2) refused to speak to me after the initial "Hi" and introduction of my partner.

It was fun to see how long they'd stare, and then I'd try to catch their eyes, and suddenly, oh, but they were looking anywhere but at me. I'm guessing they thought you could catch gayness by eye contact. There were two women literally sitting directly across from me, not really socializing much with anyone except each other. (And they were each married to a man or I might have had fun poking buttons and asking them if they were an item. Well, providing they let me get close enough to ask them a question.) And they stared at me for over 45 minutes. Enough so that the other people at our table were noticing it ... and were appalled by the bad behaviour. I simply laughed. Apparently they'd never really seen queers up close before. Let them get an education. Let them learn, I told the others at my table, that I'm just as boring now as I was back in the day. I wonder if they thought their "mean" stares would be intimidating enough to make me leave? LMFAO ... if so, they really forgot what I was like.

Cindy Ritner was a delight to meet again. Still the same happy and outgoing young woman that she was back in school. She was one of the few women that I knew, but had not really hung out with outside of our shared sports and classes, who really seemed genuinely happy to see me. I'm so glad to know that she's doing well and is happy. She deserves it. A genuinely nice person that I'd always hoped life had been kind to.

But the really interesting part happened when Cindy re-introduced me to someone I'd known from junior high on. I'll call her "Linda."
Linda was an unbelievably sweet person as a kid. Quiet around new people, a little reserved. I can remember us playing together a few times and getting a wee little bit rowdy and just having a grand old time. Imaginative, playful, and above all, Linda was very kind. Concerned about others.

I cannot reconcile the Linda of then ... with the Linda of today. She underwent a transformation, as many of us have, but hers seemed to have changed her completely, inside and out. No longer a sweet face. It's narrow and pinched now. No longer wavy/curly black hair. It's that hideous shade of bleach-blonde that screams, "HEY! I'm a bleach blonde!" The severity of her muscle definition was not athletic looking. It looked like you could cut yourself on them. They weren't big muscles. It's not like she looked "manly" or like she constantly lifted weights. But, oddly enough, it didn't really look healthy either. The total effect of all the physical changes were enough to make her look, honestly, like a bitch.

But, I refused to judge a book by its cover. Looks can be deceiving. So, I happily introduced myself ... and my partner. Linda's face was somewhat guarded when she took my hand, but she was pleasant enough. When I introduced my partner, her face went completely blank. No smile. She took the hand proffered (so there is some memory of the girl she once was ... she wasn't completely rude) ... but then, she turned so fast on her heel, I'm surprised there's not a divot in the floor from her heel drilling down. I was steadfastly ignored for the rest of the evening.

Except.

Except, for about 30 minutes, she also, sat across from the table where I was sitting and glared at me. Refusing to make eye contact, if I turned to her, her head turned away immediately. I think she wanted me to know that I was being snubbed. If she thought it would hurt me, she was wrong. If she thought it would miraculously cure me, she was even more wrong.

What did hurt was not that she judged me without getting to know me again ... but the fact that she used to be such a genuinely nice person. I hurt for what has happened to her in her life to facilitate such a complete and utter change. What pain she must have endured at some point ... or perhaps ongoing ... to turn from such a warm and friendly person into such a cold bitch. I don't call her that because of how she reacted to me ... or I'd be saying that of half the girls there. I say that because I watched again and again and again, how she'd do the "sorority girl" or the "high society" greeting. The smile, the nod, the pleasantry. And then she'd turn back to her drink or her companion and all expression would drop from her face.

A teacher in junior high once told us that you can tell a real smile from a fake one by how long it stays on your face and the process by which it comes off. A fake smile appears instantly ... and it falls from your face just as quickly.
A real smile might burst onto your face, but it doesn't come off easily. Instead, the muscles slowly relax and the smile slowly becomes smaller until you're left with a twinkle in your eye and a still expression to your lips. I never saw a smile slowly come off of Linda's face. It was either "on" or it was "off." And there was no twinkle in her eyes at all.
It makes me sad to see.

I did buy the crappy spreadsheet of names into which Reunions by the Party People really put very little effort. Ten bucks of little information. However, I did get the married names of some of the friends I wanted to meet up with again. Hopefully now I can catch up with at least some of the people on my list. Of course, I have to do my own Google work to get everything together ... but still ... it'll be worth the time and effort if I can manage to find them again.

I do hold Minnie Huang in my thoughts ... I heard she has cancer, but I have every confidence that she'll beat it.

And that was my 20 year reunion that I'd looked forward to since the last day of high school. I was soooo curious to see where everyone would land, what they'd be like. Most of the people I've seen prior to the reunion or saw that night, they seemed to be doing well. And for that, I'm genuinely glad.

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October 19, 2007

Sacrifice

The last few months have been emotionally arduous with the closing of the company that I used to work for back in July. I always think that having a few months off sounds like a great idea ... and it is ... but for me, that looming threat of finding a job before the severance runs out is draining.

Yesterday, on the spur of the moment, inspired by the overcast one minute, sunny the next, day ... I decided to head out to Potato Creek to snap a "few" pictures. Okay, okay, so a few turned into 105 ... unlike someone else I could name, I'm just gonna post one for now. (Just kidding, AugieWan ... I don't have a nifty slideshow/thumbnail widget and I'm too lazy to go searching for one.)

I call this one, "Sacrifice" ... click for the larger picture.

After a three hour hike, which I hope to write about next week, I made it home, exhausted and content.

Tomorrow I leave for a quick jaunt back home to Texas for my 20 year high school reunion ... I'm excited. I really hope to meet up with some far-too-long-lost friends.

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February 14, 2007

Snow

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February 9, 2007

Not for the Weak of Stomach

You know ... it's bad enough that I felt like my stomach was actually an alien entity attempting to tunnel its way out of me (I know i felt at least four or five tunneling attempts and at least one grand explosion) ... but poor baby Scraps.

Apparently, despite being told about the cause and effect of eating Kleenex from the trash can, he decided to rummage around for a snack yesterday. My partner discovered that he'd been happily munching away for awhile before she realized what he was doing.

So, after I'd been asleep for perhaps just an hour or two, I was awakened in the most unpleasant manner. The sound of dog retching. I reached over, grabbed some Kleenex, dabbed, petted him, and went back to sleep. My partner, naturally, slept through the entire episode.

An hour or so later. Again. Only this time, I realize that he's just barfed to the left of where I sleep. Ewwww. I figure he's done. (Remember, I've been sick, too, and I simply wasn't very coherent.) Another sound. I roll to pat him and realize that he has retched to the right of where I sleep. And then that the blankets have a wet patch where he'd barfed whilst on TOP of the covers, this had soaked through, and I was now sleeping in bile.

That got me to get out of bed. I cleaned up as best I could, woke up the other half, got her to hold him whilst I attempted a better cleaning and to go get him some Pepto Bismol.

That seemed to fix him and I nodded off back to sleep in my recliner ... only to be awakened again about 20 minutes later. *sigh* Poor little guy. I didn't want to put him in his kennel if he was going to continue to be sick, so I set him up a nice little nest in the bathroom ... a water bowl, some puppy pads, a nice warm blankie next to the heater vent.

I tried to remind him that if he would just STOP eating nasty Kleenexes from the trash, he could avoid these things. But, of course, he just turned those big doleful eyes up at me in his "I'm-so-long-suffering" way.

Posted by Red Monkey at 10:01 AM | Comments (6) | Vacations and Photos | StumbleUpon Toolbar Stumble