It struck me recently why I have such happy memories of high school. I had a lot of friends. Some were "best" friends, and some were just friends, and some were just acquaintances, but regardless, I got to see those people every day. As a grownsed-up person, the idea of having lunch with all my best friends, all together, every day of the week, is pretty much the coolest thing ever. And pretty much impossible, unfortunately. I don't remember any really significant problems or bad times in high school... just a lot of fun times with good friends.

After work on Friday, I met Diana at her school and we went out to dinner and killed some time before heading over to the Torrey Pines Homecoming football game. Just the week before, we were driving by TPHS and stopped in and walked around the campus, and it brought back a flood of memories. Going to the football game that night was a lot of fun. Not only did TP kick butt, but it's fun to watch the kids be kids, and to revel in my own nostalgia. I loved going to the football games back in the day, and cramming into the stands with all my friends. We'd do silly cheers, and have a million inside jokes, make fun of cheerleaders, and generally be self-centered jerks (which is actually a really fun thing to be until you develop a consciousness that is bigger than yourself... after that, it kinda sucks). Anyways, Diana and I stayed until about half-time, and then bailed out.

And speaking of good friends, I had a great night on Saturday night. A whole group of us got together pretty spontaneously on Saturday night for dinner. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood. Eryn had just gotten back from a torrid Brazilian vacation, and was the fuel for a lot of "over-under" wagering and general joking around (I hope he didn't think this joking was at his expense, because I don't think it was intended that way at all!). After dinner, we headed back to Little Buhr's pad and played some games. The first was a game where a trivia question is asked, and everyone writes down an answer. Everyone reveals their answer, and then wagers can be played, roulette-style, on the various answers, and the correct answer wins you money. A nice, light game. We then played a game of RoboRally, which is possibly the nerdiest game ever, involving "programming" a robot (by playing cards on it), and trying to maneuver through an environment, touching flags in order. With 8 robots all trying to touch the same flag, chaos ensued. I think everyone was having fun, but the game was dragging a little and it was getting late, so we threw in the towel. All in all, though, my cheeks were sore from laughing and smiling all night, and it was from nothing more than being around some folks that I enjoy (half a dozen drinks spread out through the night didn't hurt, either! :) I just felt giddy the whole night. If I had my way, my friends who are outside of San Diego would all move back, and we'd all get together every day for lunch and games... But until that happens, I'll take what I can get when I can get it.