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]

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.