So...

Last night was my 10 year high school reunion.

As noted previously, I was looking foward to it, but also not looking forward to getting stuck in situations making small talk with people that I really didn't care about. Luckily, that didn't happen much, and the evening was a good success.

First, Diana and I headed over to Eryn's, where we met up with him and Liz. We shared nervousness and wondered what the evening had in store for us. We headed over and arrived right when the thing was supposed to open it's doors, so we took the opportunity to hit the bar and partake in some, as Liz put it, liquid courage.

We soon went to the ballroom and claimed a table in the corner. With us, other people were filing in, and the reunion got under full swing.

*Focus-dissolve to high-school Adman*

I definitely wasn't in the popular crowd in high school, but I'd go out on a limb to say that I was relatively well known and reasonably liked. I didn't drink or do drugs, so I wasn't invited to many parties by the more, uh, outgoing students. But I feel I was respected athletically, academically, and socially. I was never bullied by anyone, and was generally friendly to people in different social strata. I was certainly geeky, though, and I had an unusual flair of self-confidence (some people said "egotistical". I'm not sure I can disagree, looking back). I didn't really care if people thought it was weird that I played Smashball at lunch. Smashball is fun, so bite me. So, if anyone thought I was a lame geek, they did so behind my back.

I had a solid group of maybe 10 really good friends, which was probably enough of an established group to be it's own niche in the high school ecosystem and we were affored the protection that gives. I affectionally think ofl us as The Misfits, although I don't think that's entirely accurate. We weren't Jocks, Drama Freaks, Nerds, Stoners, Skaters, or Surfers. Leftovers, maybe. Although I guess that could describe the majority of students.

*Fade back to last night*

So, last night, I was pleased to run into old friends (Bob and Dax, especially). Other folks I ran into ranged anywhere from "very nice to see and catch up with" to "muh, I really don't care about you". Some people who were annoying in high school seemed to have grown up a lot, and changed for the better. Some didn't. A couple people who would have never really talked to me in high school came up and seemed generally interested to hear what I was up to, which was nice. I'm afraid I can't name any names, though, which brings me to an important point.

A couple of people already knew that Diana and I were married, and sited this blog as a source of that information. This was somewhat terrifying, but another reinforcement to the lesson that I shouldn't badmouth anyone by name (unless, of course, I want them to find it). So, if you saw me at the reunion, and are trying to classify yourself with the above, you'll have to take your best guess at it. By the way, if you're reading this and you were at the reunion, go ahead and drop a comment! I'd love to take a poll of who's actually reading this thing (which is often said but rarely accomplished).

The best part, though, was that it was very easy to disengage from conversations. Just a quick "Well, it was good to see you again", and that was that. Only had to use it once or twice, but it worked like a charm.

Eric Cheng couldn't make it, unfortunately, but had a friend bring down a lifesize cardboard standup figure (like you'd see at a movie opening or something) of himself to stand up in the corner and have people sign. It was really creepy, actually, to catch out of the corner of your eye. Of course it wasn't long before someone drew fake genatalia (both sexes represented) and so forth. Bunch of savages in this town...

Rich showed up, and protested the entire event by not paying the $80 ticket fee (per person!) and hung out in the bar with his lovely wife Christa. He didn't miss anything by paying the rediculous amount, and eventually got into the ballroom anyways. For our $80, we got an airplane food meal (with inedibly bad cheesecake for desert), and a lame-ass "memory book". Dumb. Oh well.

Finally, I should note that it would have been not nearly as much fun to go without Eryn and Liz and, of course, Diana. Diana and I had so much fun sharing so many memories and predictions from our shared high school experience. Eryn was the source of a lot of humor over the night as he might have been the least known student at the whole school. I really don't know Liz very well at all, but the few times I've hung out with her, I've always found her refreshing real and down to earth, both funny, but not afraid to laugh with others, which are qualities that I look for in all my friends. My favorite part of the evening, by far, was just hanging out with those three before the event in the bar, joking around in nervous anticipation of what was to come.

After a couple hours, we'd seen the people we'd wanted to see, and talked to the people on our lists of people we'd wanted to talk to, it was time to vamoose. And like that (*poof*), we were gone.

Will I be at my 20 year high school reunion? It's hard to say, at this point. We'll see, I guess.

Oh yeah, one last thing.

Eryn took his video camera and shot some various footage through the event. At some points, when it was too dark in the room, he turned on his 'night vision' setting in his camera. This sets the mode of the camera to some sort of infrared setting or something, which allows vision in the dark, but skews colors and so forth. Skin tones turn a sickly green, and black pupils turn bright white. It's really eerie.

Another side effect is that, depending on the fabric, it can see through clothes. And not in a subtle sort of way. *Right through*. We only found this out afterwards when reviewing the footage the he'd shot. There's a shot of the dancefloor with people dancing, and everything looks generally normal except one girl looks like she's just wearing a bra and panties.

So, just thought I'd mention that li'l tidbit.