February 6, 2004
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My 10 Year Reunion will be Tubs o’ Fun
Have you wondered what ever happened to that failure from high school? My dad said he was a complete “slacker” during his adolescent years. But now he owns a multi-million dollar pharmaceutical factory. With 4+ years of university, even you can avoid being a loser!
I was reunited with an old high school friend in Tokyo last weekend. I hadn’t seen nor communicated much with Cherie since graduating at the notorious Dangerous Mind’s school… aka Carlmont High School. No joke, this movie was actually based on my school… but that’s a totally different story. Anyway, before seeing my long lost friend, I began to reflect on my times in high school… High School – the age of teenage angst and confusion. High School - the realization that life isn’t the Cinderella story we hoped it would be. HIGH SCHOOL - the all encompassing dramatic bullshit one gets caught up in… feeling stifled, suffocated, jaded. I loved it. So much I could fist myself.
As the weekend approached, I looked forward to escaping from the middle of butt-fuck nowhere to the largest city in Japan. Yet, my thoughts toward seeing Cherie was one of excitement… but nervous excitement… You know, the kind that gives you mild diarrhea.
Looking back, we were never really all that close with each other. Sure, we shared moments such as the all important student government and the occasional high school party. I think the only thing that we could pinpoint as a ”breaking through” moment was one of those cheezy team-building activities we were involved with. We actually cried together… It almost needed a Full House soundtrack in the background. In other words, we’ve only known each other during a time when we were so unsure of ourselves… making mistakes whilst everyone being completely aware of our immature decisions. Although I was aware that four years of university comes with challenges, maturity, and growth, my idea of Cherie remained frozen in time as the extremely cute 3/4 Japanese gal who cried when I was going to submit a bad picture of her in the yearbook.
Some things never change… or do they? I met her and her friends at Starbucks (out of all places) in Shinagawa station. She looked exactly the same… still that extremely cute, playful, bubbly girl that I knew in high school. We hugged, filled with nervous tension and uneasy eye-contact, and began our conversation about old high school friends and the gossip that came along with it. ”‘So and so’ is now married… but in a way, everyone is sorta still the same,” Cherie said, slightly rolling her eyes. I agreed in a way… maybe she was still the same girl who would cry if I posted an ugly photo of her on the internet (not that it’s really possible, Cherie 
… I’m just being facetious 
).
Every winter for the past four years I would get together with a bunch of old high school friends and do a pot luck thingamadilly. But after some time, I began to think, “Dude, this guy is a bigger shmuck than he was last year. And this crazy ho? She’s a bigger ho now than she ever was. Man, I’m so fucking glad I’m no longer in
high school.”
Five tequila shots can totally change one’s perspective. After downing some alcohol at a club called “Pure” located in Shibuya, Cherie and I were completely free and uninhibited - dancing dirrrty amidst the sea of awkward stepping Japanese (they just stand there). Our all encompassing high school world suddenly exploded into the mind-boggling universe. There was something different between the two of us… Maybe it was seeing each other outside of our hometown context, but once we moved on from our high school convo, we talked about things that mattered…. We were more at ease… we were more ourselves.
Perhaps we are still ultimately the same immature, hormonal teenagers of yesteryear with a slight weight fluctuation and a different hairstyle… but for the better, we have grown up, have had life experiences, and blossomed into the doe-eyed young adults we are today. Although we will never truly understand each other’s personal journey the years during or after college, things ultimately change… most of the time, for the better. As Cherie said in her post, “when I think about high school, i have mixed feelings. besides a few really good friends and a lot of hilarious memories, i walked away with the knowledge of exactly what kind of person i did NOT want to be, or be around.”
I like Cherie… not that I didn’t like her before. I just like her more.
It seems as if we tend to view things/situations/people where we left off. But for better or for worse, people change. Actually, I don’t really like the word “change.” Although we sometimes unknowingly hold onto an image or an idea of someone in our past, people tend to grow from the last time you saw them. It’s just even better when two long lost friends end up growing in the same direction… And who knows, maybe that loser in high school with the bad acne and the choking BO will have grown into a multi-millionaire Rico Suave. Hmm… on the second thought, probably not. But one can always hope and wonder, “What ever happened to…?”
Cherie… thanks for making me feel like “home” in a crazy little place we call “Japan”
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Comments (10)
Sometimes on lonely, snowy, dark nights with nothing but the blue din of my computer to light my life (and let me tell you.. that NEVER happens. never i tell you…), your blogs FLOOR me.
Oh how you make me think. Oh how you make me laugh. and OH how wish i could be wisked away to this happy land you call japan. just to be with you.
onward ho (not THAT kind of ho..), young cousin, ONWARD HO.
ah, shibuya… that pic was in front of the hachikou exit! haha… natsukashii ne…
i am but a grasshopper to your sageness. i appreciate all that you have and continually have given to me over this thing we call the internet. despite never having met you i feel as though you are someone i can confide in and someone who will make me think. something i oddly dont do very much of in this “institution” we call a university.
its odd how i longed evermore to leave the high school life for the wonders of college: the freedom, the intellect, the wonder, the adventure. and somehow i now long to be back in high school when i was more at ease. but perhaps my current state of non-comfort is a sign that im growing.
who knows. all i know is that im waiting for that day when i finally meet my virtual “sen-sei”. how appropriate.
cheers mate.
p.s. pictures are good. more of them are desired.
OMG, my post got deleted for the 3rd time. argh.
i’ll try to re-create. there should be a save function here. damn. ke ke.
wow. i’m jealous of your japan experiences. what are you doing there? natsukashii~~~ nihon ni modoritai zettai ni.
so it’s interesting you posted this topic on your xanga. my mom just called me up this week and asked me if i wanted to go back to my 10 yr HS reunion.
while hs has it’s jovial experiences where you wish you could always be in high school and never leave, it also had those trite moments where you thought you wish you could get out of this hell hole, but in my case it would have been off the island (oahu that is.)
so when you’re faced with the reality of meeting up with people you have not seen for a couple of years, i do think it’s filled with a mix of emotions, part being nervous anxiety the other genuine excitement to see change.
i had first hand experience this past dec when i went home for xmas break. i went back to a high school function where i met up with people i remember well, and people i don’t recall all too much. it was mixed for me.
you know there are always going to be those people that never grow out of the HS mentality and still remain there, never leaving the comforts of their parents home and experiencing growing pains. i for one have seen tremendous value in living on my own for the past 10 yrs and trying to survive without the quick rescue of my mom or dad helping out.
but then you have the other people who are like you, experience and growing up in college away from home and loving it. they seem different from what you remember. i think it’s these people that you can relate to, carrying the same drive you have and passion for life and exploration. it’s always fun to compare notes on what you’ve learned and how you’ve been, and what the other person has been up to. i’m not saying i’m a foremost expert on this sort of thing, which by far i definately am not. i just can relate and very recently relate to this posting a lot.you hope to see people you haven’t seen in a long time and hope that they’ve grown up for better and not for worse.
reading ur previous blog… “that’s gay” isn’t really that offensive, but i guess i come from a liberal background. my friends and i use things like “that’s so white” or “you’re so local” or “you’re such a korean mom” without any offense meant or taken~
full house was good…mary kate and ashley moving on from there to create what they have now become is bad.
my ten year reunion will be awkward and quiet. with a graduating class of 21 people, we’d would barely fill two tables at a restaurant even with our teachers.
I agree no one should live in a hostile environment, but in Korea, as she hinted to me gives women in such situations very little options. She is not being abused, but the fact that such sad instances do exist is alarming and sad.
On a side note, its good that u r enjoying yourself. Considerate a blessing to have people in your life to share the good times with—hey I am going to Japan…lets meet up
thanks jas . . . love you!
but what is this “crying because of a yearbook picture” business?? that never happened!! haha. but i guess it sounds like something i would do – and then block from my memory.
take care of yourself gangsta.
muaaa!
“u right good” muahaha. no really
whats this about cherie crying over a yearbook picture? hmm i’ll have to clown on her some more.
hope all is well in the boon docks. come out and play again! save some of that JET money!
hahaha.
im happy that japan has been a good experience for you. And it’s nice to meet up with friends as well. As for your 10 year reunion, have a rocking time