Thursday, November 13, 2008

Now that Scrabulous is gone, Facebook doesn't hold as many wonders for me. I've tried promoting events on there, and keeping up with organizations that I work with/volunteer for, but it really doesn't seem to serve that purpose, as I am not in high school.

The purpose it has served, however, is to render meaningless the phrase "whatever happened to?" I now know what happened to Greg, he with whom I had a tense hook-up one night in college. He was broody, smart as hell, little, and strange...so of course I was completely intrigued. Despite my pseudo-edginess, I was perhaps needy at the time, so you can imagine the scene both that night and the days that followed. My roommates nicknamed him "F.O.G.", for "Fear of Greg". His arrival in classes or the cafeteria was noted by their poking me and saying in a spooky voice, "The F.O.G. is rolling in...."

Last I saw Greg, his then-girlfriend was flinging his belongings out of a 2nd story apartment window whilst screaming obsenities. Now I know that he lives in a hip urban center, is into Mingus, the New York Dolls, A Confederacy of Dunces and Tristam Shandy, and is going to a birthday party this weekend. Granted, I knew about the music and books already, but did I need to be reminded?

I also now know what happened to Mark, and I'm happy about it: a fun and wry wit from high school, he has his PhD and teaches history at a nearby venerable institution. We're meeting for lunch next week. Mark would be the fellow that made our chemistry teacher, whom we called Mick Jagger (and for good reason) say, "Silver nitrate will turn your hands black, even you Mark!" I can't wait to ask if he remembers this moment.

I guess I just want some mystery to my past. I wonder if I'll ever again have those surreal moments of bumping into someone from your old life. I literally bumped into a guy I used to know once...in Manhattan! Pete had taken me to a fraternity dance in college. He was handsome, fit, smelled delish, and an amazing dancer. On the night of our date we enjoyed a super-long, very public, fantastic makeout session....and then we just resumed our friendship. When I ran into Pete many years later outside a Broadway theatre, he was thrilled to introduce me to his new boyfriend. He still smelled and looked great: he just had bigger muscles and gel in his hair.

I'm sure he'll friend me soon.

2 comments:

Lynn said...

U crack me up!

Anonymous said...

I love reading you - you write my thoughts so often!

Haley