I am supposed to be at a wedding reception in about three minutes. It's for Todd Leskie, who is the former A&E Editor of the Phoenix and who now has my old job as Editor-in-Chief. (Ironically I have his old job as A&E Editor.) However I felt that I should arrive fashionably late, so as to suggest that I have a lot of other important and pressing matters to attend.
To suggest that I am cool beyond measure.
So the important and pressing matters that I am attending to are listening to Underworld's "Mmmm Skyscraper I Love You" on the iTunes and posting this entry.
"30,000 feet above the Earth,
it's a beautiful thing, a beautiful thing.
30,000 feet above the Earth,
it's a beautiful thing, everybody's a beautiful thing."
So after checking up my Friendster.com account, where I currently have a grand total of three friends, I noticed that Vanessa left me a testimonial. A testimonial is where one of the people who have signed up to be your friends on Friendster write something about you. Vanessa wrote a very nice little thing for me and it made me feel all warm and gushy inside like back in the days when dancing kitten flash animation was still popular.
So I did a little digging around, meaning I re-read her profile, and I found her latest blog and went to it and read it for a bit. And then got further mushy, kitten flash mushy, feelings. So I thought shit wouldn't it be good to see some people who I haven't seen for a long time?
"And I see Elvis! Elvis!
I hear God on the phone!"
This was compounded by the brief conversation I had with Graham "I Live In Japan" Taylor after work today. He's in Kelowna for a week or so, mainly for Ryan Corbett's wedding which I think is next Saturday. The only post high school friends I really have are Cass, Delme and Todd Leskie. I've got a few CUP friends like Don Iveson but they're scattered around the country.
So, since I want to appear super cool at this wedding reception, I am going to kill a little more time doing an update of the people who I called friends who graduated from OKM in 1997. So click below if you want to know what's up with the people I know.
Vanessa Melle: We'll start with Vanessa since she's got a website and you can visit it if you type in http://www.livejournal.com/users/thismostamazing/ . She's in Victoria and if I remember correctly she is a hair dresser now. She was in hair dressing school, I think she's done it now. I could be way off, but the entries of her journal that I've read tonight give me no real indication of anything.
Chris Sullivan: A natural to follow an entry about Vanessa. He should be done the bar exam now. I think. And now he's working at one the top law firms in Canada. Last I saw him was the Christmas holidays when he stopped by for a night of RISK gaming. You can see some pictures of Mr. Sullivan in my photo album that's titled Peoples.
Chad Barclay: Chad is my roommate and has been for over 10 months now. One day I'll actually stay overnight in the house, which will be amazing. Until then I'm glad he's in town because he's some kind of wonderful. You can see pictures of Chad in my photo album to the side as well.
Nathan Carter: Nathan moved and now is gone. I don't know where is is but I sent him an email today. I hope he reads all of it.
Doug Rasmussen: I probably misspelled Doug's last name. I do not know where my yearbooks are so umm... yeah I can't really check. Oddly enough even though Doug was at the RISK night I don't seem to have any pictures of him. He's married, has one or two children and lives in Edmonton.
Ryan Corbett: Works for a major oil / energy company in Calgary. Is getting married to his high school girlfriend Kelsey (whose name I also probably misspelled) and drives like an SUV/JEEP type thing with Alberta plates on it. He listens to hip-hop and let me copy his Outkast album.
Justin Hambidge: I sold Justin a cell phone, then it broke so I sent it away for service. It's going to be about another month Justin. Sorry. I also sold him my old iPod. At Nathan's wedding we were the only two single people. I don't know about him but I cried.
Ali Kakuno: I misspelled her name too. Was she a friend or someone I knew? I don't know. She kissed me at a school dance once, but I suspect she kissed pretty much everyone that night. Was she on drugs? Who knows? I hear she's a substitute teacher and married.
Karen Wilson: Karen showed up in Kelowna over the Christmas Holidays with Michelle Smith. They decided to show up at my place and we went to Denny's. It was nowhere near as dysfunctional as you might assume the evening would be. Everyone survived, nobody cried in public. We have all grown.
John Mayer: John went onto become an international best selling recording artist. You might have heard him singing his hit single, "Your Body Is A Wonderland". Well that's about me.
Jeff Weston: Jeff now works in Redmond Washington for Microsoft. He buys me cheap software, and hooks me up with money on the iTunes music store. He was here for Nathan's wedding and we hung out. I ate lunch with his brother Doug yesterday.
Graham Taylor: Graham teaches English in Japan where he's been for three years or so. He used to teach for Nova where Cass and Delme have both worked, but now teaches for an actual school. He makes less money than he used to but he enjoys it more. I think he might turn native, he's already got a long term Japanese girlfriend. He's in town as of tonight for Ryan's wedding and general tomfoolery.
Michelle Smith: Michelle lives in Toronto where she's enrolled in the York University music program. The last time I was in Toronto for the Campus Plus Board Meeting I met her at my hotel. That night while eating in the restaurant and waiting to hear from her, I had to evacuate the hotel due to a fire alarm. By the time she got off work at the Pickle Barrel the whole thing was sorted out and I was back in the hotel. We ended up going for a walk, and then sitting in the top level of the hotel lobby. We talked around the same things we always talk around, and she tried in vague terms to explain her breakup with her boyfriend. I explained that if we got married we wouldn't have to change any of the lettering on our monogramed linen. She laid down on the couch and put her head in my lap and seemed sad. I think for once I managed not to be a total dick to her, but you'll have to ask her for confirmation.
Aaron Peck: Aaron's also in Toronto and at York. I got an email from him around the time of December (I think). I then waited a few months and replied. I've heard nothing since. Nathan says he saw Aaron's name on IMDB associated with some kind of horror movie, but I don't know if that's the same person. I miss Aaron.
Curtis Seaman: I only really hear from Curtis when I talk to Ryan Pears. Curtis lives in the same building as Ryan in Vancouver. He's a massage therapist, in a band and wants to be a cop. He's currently working as a tele-marketer. I last saw Curtis a few years ago when he and Ryan were living in another apartment in Vancouver and I stayed over while going to see Radiohead.
Ryan Pears: I see Ryan regularly, probably the most of any of my high school friends who don't live in Kelowna. He lives less than a block away from my parent's Vancouver apartment with his girlfriends Ashley. They bought a dog named Archie Owen who they fed a live kangaroo to once. Both of them work at Rainmaker which can be found at http://www.rainmaker.com/ if you want to go look. I last saw Ryan at Nathan's wedding.
Jared Kitlitz: I probably misspelled his last name too. I'm sorry Jared. He works out and competes in body building contests. He works at a hardware supply store or something like that. He keeps giving me his business card and I keep loosing it. I last saw him at a Rockets game, and before that he and his girlfriend met Ryan Corbett and me for a drink.
John Saufer: John used to live at the motel that his parents owned. Last summer Nathan and I hung out with him a few times. He since moved on to go to school and get another degree. He lives in Vancouver and that's all I know. Oh, yeah he's still tall and still German.
That's about all the people I know off the top of my head. The trouble with these sorts of things is I know I'll be like, "Oh shit I forgot Blah Blahson and he was like my best friend." And that person will have yet another reason to hate me.
But now I'm fashionably late, and the Matthew Good Band's "Failing The Rorscach Test" is ending so it's time to end this. Take care everyone.
