Flashback time...

So yesterday, out of the clear blue lonesome, I get a message on my answering machine from Mike Spenard, and old high school friend whom I've heard nothing from in almost eleven years. After several minutes of repeating, "Oh...my...GOD..." I got up the nerve to ring him back. (As much as I love reunions, and as much as I've wanted to get in touch with him over the years, making that initial call is still deeply scary for me.) I knew I was going to end up being envious of him in one way or another, and we hit that point within 30 seconds: when I asked what he was up to, he said, "Well, I'm sitting on the porch, looking out at the ocean..." Damn.

It turns out that he's in the Ft. Lauderdale area now, on a sabbatical since his promised job fell through. He's been fairly nomadic since college, including a relatively long stint back in Illinois. He says he shaves his head now, and has a beard, mostly gray; I absolutely cannot extrapolate this from the preppyish fella I knew way back when. He's had a rocky time of it, losing a fiancee in a car crash eight years ago, being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease (which he brought up almost as casually as his mention of his four cats). But he insists he's happy, with a girlfriend and some decent money and a film and television production company on the side. (I remember some fo the TV work he did while in college. He is extraordinarily good at what he does.)

We also got caught up on what we've heard about our classmates. Neither of us has really been in touch with anyone from back then (if anyone knows an Aaron Brand who originally hails from Park Forest, Illinois, tell him to CALL ME), but we both get bits and pieces of rumors and allegations: We have friends who are stay-at-home mothers, high-ranking business executives, Presbyterian ministers, employees at VH1 and DC Comics, wunderkind theatre directors, rumored AIDS patients, TV and B-movie actors, career military people, morticians. It's all very strange. High school is a segment of my life that I've put far behind me, but I still have a fascination with it, or rather, with the person I used to be, and the life I used to live. Plus, I'm a little bit surprised that someone from back then was looking for me; I sort of figured I'd be the forgotten one.

Anyroad, we've swapped phone numbers and addresses, and promises to keep in touch. Keep your fingers crossed.

On an unrelated note: The new Games World of Puzzles is out. [plugplugplug] I've got a standard cryptic in there, which actually didn't turn out too badly. My ratio of clues they keep to clues they completely rewrite is improving every time, so I think I might be getting the hang of it. *pats self on back*

It pays to enrich your word power

I can't imagine how I've gotten along this far without the word "squick" in my vocabulary. Thanks to shadesong, kimberly_a, and countless others.