Random thoughts on a Wednesday night

I’m turning 27 years old this month. Wow. I graduated from high school 9 and a half years ago. If you had told me then where I would be right now, I would have laughed in your face. I was so much more depressed and optimistic back then. Oh well. Time to gear up for the home stretch of this phase.

I don’t understand society’s obsession with high school and its inability to let go of that time period in a person’s life. I wonder if it’s like that in other countries. Probably not. I bet it’s just an American thing. But it’s definitely there. Today an old friend of mine sent me an invitation for a group on Facebook that said something about keeping the Newark Memorial Class of ‘98 together. Why do we need a facebook group to do that? I mean the fact that we’re all on Myspace and Facebook kind of takes away the need for a specific online forum to serve that purpose. And why do we need to keep the class of 1998 together? What is it about graduating from secondary school in the same year that seemingly binds us together forever? I’ll tell you. Nothing. That’s what. Nothing at all. I ignored the invitation. I graduated high school with a little over 300 students that year. I didn’t talk to a majority of them. I was friends with even fewer of them. And I stay in touch with an even fewer number than that.

I suppose staying in touch with your graduating class has its advantages. In recent years I’ve established friendly terms with several people from my graduating class whom I didn’t talk to at all while we were in school together. But the possibility of future relations with people you didn’t talk to before doesn’t explain the obsession with high school at all. The same desire doesn’t exist with a graduating class from university. Why is that? Staying in touch with members of a graduating class in college sounds more practical, because you’re graduating with people who studied the same material you did and are likely to go down similar career paths. But it’s just not there. Songs are sung about graduating high school, but not college. Maybe because it signals the end of that innocent era in a person’s life. And I’m speaking strictly from the perspective of someone who had a pretty innocent high school experience. I never dealt with gang violence. I didn’t party. I didn’t drink. I didn’t smoke. I didn’t have to deal with teen pregnancy. Maybe innocence is the wrong word. I think I’m thinking more of being carefree, before the quest for gaining the almighty dollar begins.

I don’t feel the need to stay in touch with people from my graduating class in order to relive high school. There are a few things that serve that purpose already. Star Trek and X-Files reruns, 90s rap and R&B, and high energy music. Ahh high energy. I wish that shit was still popular now that I kind of enjoy going to clubs. I remember finding MG on Myspace. I sent her a message about how much I really liked her music in high school. She responded. I thought that was cool of her. Was it MG that Alex from Treasure Island Comics said he did a remix for? I think so. Hmmm. I’ll have to look it up again. That musical era was cool though. Back when Mexican and Asian chicks had popular dance songs on the radio. Where did they go? Jocelyn Enriquez, Jossette, Buffy, MG, and no other names are coming to mind.

I recently got a couple of seasons of The X-Files on DVD. Watching them reminds me more of high school than anything. In high school, The X-Files aired on Friday nights. It’s no wonder it became a favorite show of geeks and nerds. It was on the night that all the cool kids were out partying. I definitely was not one of the cool kids. I guess that’s why I don’t like reliving high school. I didn’t really like who I was then. I like my current self a lot better than I ever liked myself in high school.

Yeah, you won’t see me at the reunion. Sorry. It’s just not happening.

My ex still has one of my sister’s DVDs and two of my favorites. She also owes me 300 bucks. I wonder if I’ll ever see them again. She’s assured me that I’ll get them back, but it’s been 7 months. Hmm. Guess I shouldn’t hold my breath.

Queen Elizabeth enjoys playing the Wii. That’s awesome. She’s an old lady and she gets down to Wii Bowling. If Wii Sports was enabled for online play imagine how cool it would be to play with Queen Elizabeth.

I want some french fries. I miss the fries from Buck Fifty. Buck Fifty is this little taco and burger joint that was 1 block away from my apartment at UCLA. It was open late for all the people who would head home late from the bars. I think I want to go back to UCLA. I’m going to look into that. And it’s not just for the fries.

I’m going to see Russell Peters perform tomorrow night. I hope he’s funny. He’s usually not. Yeah I know that the Comedy Now performance was and still is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen, but I really think that the video’s viral nature hurt him more than helped him. Yeah he became really popular and started performing to sell out crowds, but I think it hurt his creative energy. All of a sudden his jokes weren’t a surprise anymore. Everyone had heard his jokes before he even got there. And with the knowledge that he’s selling out crowds, I think maybe he doesn’t really work as hard to entertain as he would have if no one knew who he was. It’s harder to please people who don’t know and don’t like you than it is to please people who know you well and like you. I know the guy is really talented and funny because that first show still cracks me up. But everything after that just hasn’t been funny. The clip of his show at some small club in NY wasn’t very funny at all. I think it had two funny moments. The Outsourced DVD was funnier, but not nearly as funny as the first show. And the joke about “somebody gonna geta hurt real bad” was really diminished by adapting the references for an American audience. “Child Services” doesn’t sound funny at all compared to “Children’s Aid.” “I’ll call Child Services!” vs. “I’ll phone Children’s Aid!” And I felt that the fact that he needed to specifically introduce the joke before reciting it really took away from its impact.

The new Wu-Tang Clan album is hot. Damn it. She’s got me saying “hot.” That word sounds more East Coast to me than it sounds like Paris Hilton. I hope I’m using it right. For some reason it doesn’t sound right to refer to legends like the Wu-Tang Clan as hot. Anyway, get the album if you like raw gritty hip hop. Oh nice! GZA just said “We keep it hot” in one of the songs, so I guess it’s OK to call the album hot. I love RZA’s production. He’s one of my favorite composers/producers.

I also just recently discovered M.I.A. That shit is hot. After one and a half listens, Arular made it into my top albums of all time list.

OK, that’s enough for tonight. Peace out homies.