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

[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 :)