[evolution]

there are several instances in my life i'd like to go back and drop the knowledge i've gained onto a younger version of myself. for example, i'd tell a very youthful "me" not to play with slingshots near the family car. or perhaps i'd go back to a when i first learned to drive and inform myself, car wash hoses should be aimed only at cars, and not at any part of the human body. just a few months ago, i would have gone up to a seventeen year old "me", and said,

"hey buddy, maybe it's not such a good idea to run for class president. i know your main reason for running is so you can be pictured first in the class photo and not fourth from last like you have been the past 13 years, but that's not really a great reason. it's also going to require a lot of work in the future, and you're probably not the best guy for the job. why don't you get your unorganized, geeky, camera toting self back to the yearbook room where you belong."

however, that's an impossibility, and for some reason my classmates voted me in. honestly, besides helping pick the class motto, and the graduation speaker, i don't remember doing much. i vaguely remember someone stating the fact that i would be responsible to coordinate all reunions for the rest of my given life, but i wasn't really paying attention. my feeble little adolescent mind found that fact to be unimportant.

then somehow, in a hazy mix of moving to college, late nights in studio and finding a job, 2009 found it's way to the calender page. this past january, i started receiving messages asking when and where our reunion was taking place. [my seventeen year old self was laughing hysterically at me]. realizing the time had finally come to fulfill my elected duties, i decided to surprise my seventeen year old counterpart and actually accomplish what he had signed me up to do. i came up with a few ideas, discussed them with a few classmates, and figured out a plan. being in the middle of a recession, it was decided to stay away from any event that might involve dj's and centerpieces, but rather, have a low-key, informal event. places were reserved, people were contacted, e-mails were sent out, and replies came in. to be honest, the whole process hasn't been that bad. luckily for me, my organization skills have improved over that last decade. also, a little thing called the internet really took off since high school, and with all it's social media magic it's been fairly easy to locate and inform the majority of people.

looking back, maybe i wouldn't have told myself not to run. in fact, i might even encourage it. and maybe i wouldn't have told myself about the possible dangers of a car wash hose, because that's just too funny of a story. i would, however, still warn myself about the slingshot. ain't nothing funny about a twelve year old having to shell out his savings to replace the back window of a station wagon.