I've been avoiding posting about the tsunami, because I have no original observations on the topic. I am saddened by the loss of life, and I want to contribute something to the rescue effort.
Wow, this is the first post of this new year. What should I do with it?
Let me tell you about my evening, before I got to work. I went out with some friends to catch a comedy show put on by an old friend from high school, whose fictitious blog name will be Roman. I haven't seen him in almost five years-- he's been in New York making a name for himself and getting engaged.
Roman was surprised to see me, as it has been a long time. One of the funniest and most talented people I met in that Theatre Arts class in high school, Roman hasn't changed a bit. And neither have I, apparently, as he recognized me right off the bat.
"We never age. It's that Asian gene," he said to me, half-joking. Roman is half Filipino, and I am a quarter Japanese.
Roman's act is to team up with his buddy Joey, wear leisure suits, and sing perverted songs on the guitar... like Tenacious D on Viagra. Having known Roman since the old days, when he cracked us up with his voices and impersonations, it was a joy to see him in his element, onstage, making people laugh and embracing the spotlight.
I think about all of my friends from that period, and how proud I am of all of them. None of them have given up the torch, even if they have had to put it on the backburner for a spell. They're all doing really good and keeping creative, no matter what. It means something to them, to pursue acting or music or comedy or whatever it is that they respectively pursue. None of us have become huge major stars yet, but we've all had our minor breaks here and there.
It's an inspiration to see my friends, still keeping in touch, still thinking about things in the same skewed manner, still goofing off even as marriages occur and payments on houses get pondered. Roman was half-right: the Asian gene helps us to look young, but it's in the heart where we are all eternally teenaged, adolescent, immature even. Thus, even as we all get a little fatter and a little older, we still have the fire inside of us, the desire to perform and transform, the will to put ourselves out there just for the love of it.
I had some great moments partying with those guys. It used to be me, Sharky, Roman, Mauzner, Bro Man and anyone else who was game, smoking weed at Roman's mom's house while she was out working the graveyard shift. We'd get high, sing songs on the guitar (prompting more than a few managers and landlords to hand us walking papers) and make up skits on my 4-track; we'd riff on old movies and lay on our backs looking at the stars while someone was being excruciatingly funny; we'd go to parties and clubs and bars and dance and drink and smoke and meet new people and we always had a blast, spending our cash on bullshit and sometimes doing the occasional all-night coke binge...
Good times, as the cliche goes.
I wish Eve had been there with me, but it's probably best that she and I take a break from each other right now. We've been spending way too much time together, and we need to breathe apart just for a few days. She was in Big Bear for the New Year's weekend, and she called me today and told me that she had left her house keys in the cabin! Luckily, her brother lives not that far away and she is able to stay with him until a trip back to the cabin can be arranged.
Eve would've been jazzed to see Roman, and Mauzner, and even Greg, the guy she was dating when I first met her. Greg is also engaged, and it just made me smile with optimism to see my friends, on the right path and loving every minute of it.
I was really shocked to see that they were all happy to see me. Not that I thought otherwise, but it's been so long since I've hung out with the crew that I didn't know what to expect. We all seem to have changed very little, maturing a bit but keeping our senses of humor intact. None of us are jaded or bitter, and we all look forward to meeting the next generation of artists when comes time for the kids to start popping out.
I can totally see a future where we all get together for special events, remininsce about the salad days and watch as our children grow up and become their own people. I can totally see that happening. I'm not saying that I want to settle down and have kids right this instant, but it's not that foreign of a concept for me anymore. It's an inevitability that I can accept now that I've had some perspective on life and what it all means.
Yes, whoever said that life begins after 30 was not lying... except that I think the saying is "Life begins at 40"... so I'm off by a decade-- so what?
The evening ended with karoake and alcoholic drinks. I am not drunk but I should be.
On a another note: very soon, I will have a link for the cartoon that I have been slaving over for the past six months. I can at least tell you the name of the cartoon, now that we have the copyright certificate in our possession and the first pages of the website have been constructed.
I will have the definitive link as soon as I figure out how to write HTML more efficiently.
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