Everyone grew up

[captain_slinky]

Was up till the wee hours of the morning lamenting that everyone I knew has grown up. Talking with Jeremy over e-mail really drove it home for me. He went ahead and traveled around the world for a few years. Now he's living in a down-town condo, wears suits every day, and "cringes" every time he thinks of the person he was back in High School.

This was the tall, gangly twitch-biscuit of a lad who:

• Spent a day at my comic book shop talking customers out of buying "Team Titans" because it was a betrayal to the original "TEEN Titans".
  
• Had an elaborate Baptisimal Ceramony for his new dice bag wherein he would douse it with Crystal Pepsi and sing the National Anthem of his made-up kingdom.
  
• Would build Magic: The Gathering decks based on how he thought the characters on the cards would get along in real life, and argue combat results based on what the pictures looked like. "C'MON! You're trying to tell me that my Scryb Sprites woul be KILLED by an Ironroot Tree Folk? How is that POSSIBLE?!?! Trees move very slow!"
  
• Tied for second place in the Comic Book Trivia contest I ran in the school newspaper.

And now he's a grown-up.

ALL my friends from back then grew up and grew out of all the stuff I'm still in to today. What the hell is wrong with me? Why didn't *I* grow up? Am I missing something by NOT growing up? Is there some sort of cool bennefit to being grown-up and serious that I'm just not seing?

I'm not sure if this is making me sad or just pissing me off. Somewhere balanced between the two, I reckon.

***EDIT***

The reason it's got me so pissed off/sad is because of all the Geeks and Freaks I hung out with, Jeremy was the one I thought would ALWAYS be as big a nerd as me. Alex, Penny, Sarah, Greg, Andy, Matt P., Matt A., Tyler, Andrew, Colin, Scott, Gary... I knew all of them had the potential to grow up, and seeing them (with the exception of Andy) I have taken in stride. But JEREMY?!?!? "Et tu, Jeremicus?"

Comments

[spazzychic.livejournal.com]

I don't think there is anything wrong with growing up... but only if that's what your into. He probably takes power lunches on things mere mortals cannot pronounce.

I'll tell you a secret too... those grownups? They revert sometimes. I've seen it happen.

I know there's nothing wrong with laughing and playing with friends, enjoying some meat on a bun, and making sure the dice are mystically oriented in my favor. :)

To each their own.

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

I guess... The reason it's got me so pissed off/sad is because of all the Geeks and Freaks I hung out with, Jeremy was the one I thought would ALWAYS be as big a nerd as me. Alex, Penny, Sarah, Greg, Andy, Matt P., Matt A., Tyler, Andrew, Colin, Scott, Gary... I knew all of them had the POTENTIAL to grow up, and seeing them do so (with the exception of Andy) I have taken in stride. But JEREMY?!?!? "Et tu, Jeremicus?"

[spazzychic.livejournal.com]

Some people seem to strive to become opposite of who they were. Take for example, someone I know was proudly and flamboyantly gay until he found jesus... now he's straight, married, and professional. :/

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

But *that's* the fault of a moraly corrupt religious organization! I'm fairly sure nobody is standing on Seattle street corners handing out pamphlets about how you must renounce Comic Books or burn in the fiery pits of damnation for all eternity.

Well okay, maybe one or two of them ARE pamphlets of that nature.

But he did this freely and of his own free will! No one threatened him with the ire of a zombie carpenter.

Thank you for trying to make me feel okay about it, by the way... I appreciate it! I'm just really bad at accepting things :)

[spazzychic.livejournal.com]

Here's the thing. You don't NEED someone to be screeching about Fire and Brimstone for this to happen.

Take for example, I just saw the "40 Year Old Virgin". It was a pretty good movie. But one of the major themes in the movie is that the main character didn't get around to getting laid because he collecting action figures, painted miniatures and played video games. While they did not come out and say that it was one of the reasons for his lack of social life, it was implied, and then tied it up in a neat package by him finding true love and SELLING OFF HIS ACTION FIGURE COLLECTION.

Ah ha. It ended up being a bit like the movie Grease. I enjoyed the dance numbers but hated the message.

There is pressure to conform to the Survivor Culture, where comic books just aren't cool enough next to REAL PEOPLE doing pretend drama.

This probably doesn't make you feel better, but it's an obervation.

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the turd; it'll look great in our punchbowl :)

And yes, that's EXACTLY what I'm getting at! It *is* forced down our throats that you just CAN NOT enjoy simple pleasures like action figures or RPG's and be a grown-up. And I HATE that! If I want to succeed in life, I apparently have to stop liking comic books and instead focus on Sports, a big-screen TV and my lawn.

I don't like that. And I don't care how pathetic I may look in the eyes of society, but I REFUSE to grow up! So nyeagh!

Thank you :)

[zannah.livejournal.com]

Just for the record, it's possible to grow up and lose the childishness while still retaining the fun/wacky/carefree attitude of youth. It's possible to be mature and responsible while still being silly and geeky and playful.

[dotgirl.livejournal.com]

No livejournal! Get back to work! Those boutiques aren't going to write their own code!

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

BAH! GROWN-UP! RUN AWAAAAAAAY!!!

You're supposed to be one of the .1% of my friends who retained some childlike qualities! I DEMAND that you go waste some time RIGHT NOW, dammit!

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

Yes, it is *possible*, but not very common :( Of all the people I know (past and present) that have grown up, I'd say les than .1% have retained any fun/wacky/carefree/geky attributes.

And that's the point, i guess... I thought I had surrounded myself with a bunch of Peter Pans, but they all ended up being Wendy's :(

[nani-ka.livejournal.com]

Christ. Remind me never to read your posts before finishing my coffee. You started a spiderwebbing thought that STILL hasn't run itself through yet, and i've been sitting here for a good 5 minutes....

The whole growing up thing.... I have a personal little thought sitting in the back of my head (spawned from the bit where I read every piece of celtic & northern european mythology/archaeology I could lay hands on) That the Crazy ones - the priests & druids, the old prophet living in the forest who threw half eaten apples at your head, the blissed out chick spouting divine riddles while sitting on a volcanic fume-vent... the craftsmen who thought, I wonder what'll happen if I mix this tin... with this copper... Oh Shit! and made bronze weapons for centuries of Agean RTS games... that everyone in the village thought was ODD but they made the best dyes/herbal remedies/pottery whatever. Or they sat around waving paper covered in math at each other, trying to prove the earth was flat. round. Triangular, except on opposite tuesdays when it popped out for a quick Ouzo at the local greek bar.

Its occured to me that the "freaks & geeks" fall into this little group WAAAAY too easily. Because when you take a look around, where have these people gone? Where are the apple-chucking loonies telling you the neighboring clan is coming to steal your cattle next week? The craftspeoples doing things they don't know they can't do & discovering that you really CAN do that & make it work?

Not everyone who starts out wired this way finishes up this way. (good thing, too, too many of 'em & we start running out of apples.) And, on top of that, the people who do retain this...... divine insanity? (fishing for a term here, help me out) don't always find a place for themselves. Lots hiding in Academia, lots becoming "starving artists", lots going into stealth mode where they hide their geekyness until you've proven safe. (lots working night shift.)

I'm guessing you were lucky enough to have a crowd of fellow geeks all through high school. But, hey. The "Normal" kids who were the ones I ran with all ended up making odd, 180-degree choices once they were out of the purgatory known as the public school system... Ended up in places they never considered when they were doing the considering. I'm also guessing some of them (especially among the Jehovah's Witness contingent) strayed REALLY REALLY far in their travels... But that's okay. I spend my time watching for the geeks & freaks hiding in the woodwork - which, its always fun to look at someone, and ask, "Gamer?"

And be right. Really awesome... almost makes up for the rest of the crap.

This spiralling web of little thoughts brought to you by the letter "C", for coffee.

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that about covers it. Now stop chucking apples at my head, dammit!

I see where you're coming from, but there's a difference between the "Gnerds" (Ooh! Hybrid Geek/Nerd!) and the people you're talking about. You're talking about those who Kermit The Frog refered to as "The lovers, the dreamers and Me". Aristotle, Joan of Arc, Emily Dickenson, Einstein... sure they were misunderstood outcasts, but were any of them really known for their bitchin' collection of Indiana Jones Burger King Glasses?Any of them know the origin of the Silver Age Gren Lantern? COuld any even name all seven castaways from Gilligan's Island?

But I'm off topic. Forgot what I was typing about. Your lack of caffiene has spread!

[agelesseuridice.livejournal.com]

dammit now I'm going to have to sing that stupid song until I get all 7. So then what about the actors?

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

Forget the actors... that's kids stuff! I can give you the real-life character names of The Professor AND The Skipper (Roy Hinkley and Johnas Grumby, respectively)!

My roll in life is to be a depository of useless pop-culture information :)

[agelesseuridice.livejournal.com]

Capt. Jonas Grumby
Professor Roy Hinkley

[nani-ka.livejournal.com]

There's still that element of insane passion behind all of it. I mean, WHY would you decide to collect all the Indiana Jones Burger King Glasses? Why bother remembering the origin of the Silver Age Green Lantern, or all 7 Gilligan's Island castaways? I've noticed theres still that intensity behind it all, and you CANNOT tell me someone who works all year to put together a WORKING battlemech (precicely modeled after the mecha of Battletech or Voltron fame) to wear to a Sci-Fi Convention (yes, they're up in Canada somewhere & the guns are loaded with water) doesn't qualify for both.

AAAND! I've also noticed, the hard core gnerds, (yourself included, buddy, i've noticed your desk at work) exibit the same wild creativity as ANY of the "Lovers, Dreamers & Me"- they just work in materials that don't qualify as "Artistic" because of some equally screwed up definition of Art. I'm sorry, your dioramas of battling Ninja and Other Various Action Figures are just as "Artistic" as a diorama of the Naitivity made from clay, or blown glass, or artfully arranged eggshells. Or, in much sadder cases, they have all the intensity & passion, but life/circumstances/public school/parents have bludgeoned that creative urge into cringing submission, leaving a very frustrated - but still painfully creative - person behind.

Okay, enough of this. I'm off to bed, I get to move all my large wordly posessions tomorrow.