Who Do I Think I Am??

This one's about reunions and glasses.

30DBC PROMPT: "Have you ever attended a school, class, or military reunion? Write about the experience of seeing people you once knew well but haven't talked to in years. Were they the same people now as then? Were you? Did you find yourself falling back into your old role from that time?"

Hey y'all, what's up? Lotta questions to get to in today's prompt there. Do you really wanna pull that thread today? Sure you do. Ok.

I've never attended an official class reunion. I remember debating strongly with myself about going to my tenth. I really didn't want to; I hadn't seen or spoken to most of those people since graduation day, and I knew my best friend from high school wasn't going. I felt like I had no reason to go. There were only a handful of people I was really curious about, but I was sure the curiosity wasn't mutual.

After talking it over with a few people, I decided to go. Why not? It was only a town over. I had nothing to lose really. Until I lost my job and my bank account was somehow frozen. I remember getting a letter in the mail asking if I would still be attending, and I had to say no. What was I gonna talk about? It seemed pointless.

Then Facebook comes around and, all of the sudden, people you were never friends with want to be "friends" with you. That whole charade is weird. People post things because they want someone to care, but don't get too friendly or personal with them. I've never quite understood it. But whatever. I did manage once to get myself invited to a casual get-together once at a bar...maybe 20 of us or so were there. Only a few I would've considered myself friends with in high school. And I'll be damned if it basically was just like then...all the cliques shot off to their separate sides, co-mingling was random and fleeting, and more often than not I was staring at the tv and talking to my ex, who didn't go to school with us and knew no one. If I kinda already didn't see it coming, I'd say it would've been awkward, but it can't be awkward if you know what to expect.

This year will be the 20-year reunion. I haven't heard a word about it, and I wouldn't go even if they sent a homing pigeon to find me. Again, I find myself unemployed. And this time, I live three hours away. It makes no sense for me to go. Why would I want to try to hang out with a group of people that included 90% of people I wouldn't hang out with anyway, and vice/versa? I could spend 10 minutes a day on Facebook and know roughly all I need to know about everyone I care to know about. Sorry to be such a Debbie Downer, but really, what's the point? High school's over. I'm not the same kid that didn't fit in. I'm a different kid who got in where he fit.

BCF PROMPT: "Are you a person who considers their glass half-empty or half-full?"

I had to consult a few experts for this, the quintessential question of what your existence means to the world. Again, due to Windows 8 and I not getting along, this rendering of imagery is on the side that sucks, so bear with me:

"The glass is either half empty or half full? False. The glass is 50% full of air and 50% full of water, therefore it is 100% full."- Dwight Schrute

It is my contention that, while the glass may be half empty or half full, I never got a glass to start with. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-7NHX1bRYs

This is not to say whether I'm pessimist or an optimist, but rather a realist. It's not for me to debate, but to understand. And while all y'all are debatin' this or that, I'm drinkin' your water.

I do my fair share of daydreaming and analyzing and reacting and overreacting, but the end result is realizing what we have and treating it as what it is. Fair or not to us, we just have to accept it...if we can do better, we will, and if we can and don't then there's usually no one else to blame. And if you can't do anything about your glass, you have to learn to live with it. For all the complaining I've done from time to time, I think I've done ok with the realization thing.

But don't be mistaken...this doesn't make me any bit more grown up.

MUSICAL BREAK!!

This might be the most pessimistic song ever to be titled "Optimistic".

VITAL STATS:

I understand that I waited 'til almost the last minute to do my taxes this year, but shouldn't I have my refunds by now? This is why I tell myself every year not to wait until the last minute, and for some reason, every year, it's the last minute before I do them. But I don't ever recall waiting this long for a return...usually it's two, maybe three weeks tops. And it's not like the government's makin' crazy gains on my piddly return by banking off the interest or anything. Jerks.

That's about all of the bellyachin' I can handle for one afternoon. 'Sabout time I roll on and see what else is goin' on around here. Peace, keep your chin up, and GOODNIGHT NOW!!