Things never change

Yesterday, I bumped into one of my old high school friends at the gym. Thankfully, the reunion lacked the awkwardness that so many of the "hey, I haven't seen you in a long time" conversations are plagued with. Other than just catching up, we spoke about what the rest of the old high school crew are doing with their lives -- ordinarily an interesting subject because the stories often resemble the best the tabloids can come up with. This time, however, the conversation focused more on the realities of getting older rather than the misbehaviors of growing up.

According to him, most of the guys seem to have either purchased a house or condo, or are on the verge of doing so. While I'm impressed with the maturity evident in such a move, it depresses me that most of these people don't plan to live anywhere else but here. Now don't get me wrong; Solano County is a great place to settle down. But for people our age -- mid to late 20s -- the area offers little in the way of entertainment (as I've repeatedly emphasized). Some of the guys, including my good friend Scotland, are moving to Sacramento, which certainly provides more of a big city-type experience, but that's only when you compare it to Fairfield. I guess one explanation could be that some of us suffer from wanderlust more than others. Or perhaps they've grown up and I have yet to do so.

Although I believe that to some extent they are missing out by not living somewhere else, at the same time I am somewhat envious of the bonds that they've cultivated over so many uninterrupted years. Living and hanging out with the same group of people for the large majority of your collective existence makes for some damn good friends. These guys know each other like the back of their hands and, as a result, never cease having fun.

For instance, their newest joint venture was the purchase of a Humboldt County school bus -- yes, a gigantic, yellow traditional school bus. If everything goes as planned, the bus is destined to give up its usual role -- ferrying kids to school -- and become a "party bus" -- ferrying adults to parties. So far, they've removed the back half of the seats, leaving about 6 rows, and fitted couches in the empty space. A Keg-erator is next on the list. What the future holds for this bus remains to be seen, but you can be certain that it will involve an unprecedented drinking and driving penalty.