How depressing it is...Cyndy e-mailed, and she's not having a good day either. Isn't that funny. It's been 30 years since I last saw Scott Simpkins and yet his face and lanky form and long blond disheveled hair come immediately to mind. And that coffee cup with the nipple on it. "My mom gave it to me," he said.
That's the thing about Scott. His humor was so dry, so esoteric, so intellectual. No wonder I felt dorky around him. He intimidated the less enlightened and less well read.
"Come one, let's do one before class!"
"I've never smoked pot before."
Scott glances over at me, disgusted and dismissive.
"Everyone knows you're one of the biggest potheads around. C[mon."
So Pat Geoghan and Scott Simpkins and I crowd into a film-loading room, close the door. It is claustrophobic. Scott or Pat pull out a single hitter, pack it, and then light it. They offer it to me. I inhale and hold my breath like I've seen stoners do.
I'm laughing to myself. I'll never get high. You never do the first time. At least that's what I heard. Minutes later, Scott and Pat hustle out of the room and out of the darkroom, on their way to class or the Cabin, or the Davies Center. Who knows.
I went back to my print developing tray. And then, everything gets really slow. Mellow. Crap, I think. I am high. How the hell am I going to get home? I can't even find my way out of the darkroom.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Well, it's begun. Classmates dying, either by disease like cancer--Karen Krebsbach, or suddenly of a heart attack like Steve Lucht, or by suicide, although no one knows what happened to Scott Simpkins and how he died. But it sounds like it was by his own hand as Cyndy said he'd been depressed lately.
It all comes home to me especially after this past weekend. Being in Marshfield for my 35th high school class reunion and out of a class of 59, only about 12 of us, plus our spouses, showed up. After not seeing some folks for some 35 years, you are immediately struck by how everyone has aged, some for the better, some for the worse, and how some people never change. Judy Hoff looked exactly the same. So did Allen Jicinsky. Eerie.
And then the ones who had to tell me who they were like Patty Carlson and Ken Schultz. How can people change that drastically? And then you recall that when we graduated at ages 17 and 18, some of us hadn't fully matured. Heck. I didn't get a growth spurt--albeit a small one--until college and even a few years after. I didn't get boobs until I was in my 20s, after all those years of praying every night "to develop."
I and my contemporaries...we're 52 years old...middle-aged...nearly everyone at the reunion has adult children and some have grandchildren...like Juleen with her five grandkids. Wow. My reality has really been completely different all these years.
...so lots of memories and thoughts about high school and the past, and then to hear, tonight from Cyndy Storm that Scott Simpkins has died. Dust to dust.
It all comes home to me especially after this past weekend. Being in Marshfield for my 35th high school class reunion and out of a class of 59, only about 12 of us, plus our spouses, showed up. After not seeing some folks for some 35 years, you are immediately struck by how everyone has aged, some for the better, some for the worse, and how some people never change. Judy Hoff looked exactly the same. So did Allen Jicinsky. Eerie.
And then the ones who had to tell me who they were like Patty Carlson and Ken Schultz. How can people change that drastically? And then you recall that when we graduated at ages 17 and 18, some of us hadn't fully matured. Heck. I didn't get a growth spurt--albeit a small one--until college and even a few years after. I didn't get boobs until I was in my 20s, after all those years of praying every night "to develop."
I and my contemporaries...we're 52 years old...middle-aged...nearly everyone at the reunion has adult children and some have grandchildren...like Juleen with her five grandkids. Wow. My reality has really been completely different all these years.
...so lots of memories and thoughts about high school and the past, and then to hear, tonight from Cyndy Storm that Scott Simpkins has died. Dust to dust.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Welcome
My first real blog...have one on Victoria Town Square called Embedded in the Suburbs, but my posts are few, far between and dull.
Maybe having my own Blog will kick start something creative and interesting to read.
Fingers crossed.
Maybe having my own Blog will kick start something creative and interesting to read.
Fingers crossed.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
The debut of my blogging life
This should be interesting. An online journal for all to see. Better start leading a more interesting life!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)