SONICFROG DOT NET

High School Reunion VS. San Diego Gig.

OK. Here’s the deal. I need to decide if I should do one or the other.

I have an opportunity to play a gig with my San Diego band RareForm on July 26, but this is the same day as my 25th high school reunion. I have said I am going to go. There are a few people I would like to see…
BUT

I may do the gig instead. You see, I was meek, a loner in high school. I spent a lot of time with my older sister and her friends. I had some good friends, but was never very close to anyone in high school – never had the super-best-friend-forever type thing. I was very introverted. Dan, the drummer of Rareform probably remembers how reserved I was when I first moved to San Diego in 1984. Amplify that by eleven, and that was me in high school. High school wasn’t really all that bad, but they were definitely not (thank god) the best years of my life. People did like me because I was a good diver, and I could imitate birds, seals, dogs and frogs, the latter providing the basis of the self anointed “Sonicfrog” title, and providing countless variations of the “frog” nomenclature as a nickname. But because of that unique talent, I felt a bit like a freak. OK. Not a freak, but not normal. Plus I didn’t have many girlfriends, as I was wrestling with the gay thing (I won.. I think). Anyway, I did get to hang with a lot of different people a nerd like me would normally not have had access to; the jocks, the stoners, the pretty people, etc…

But I never felt like I fit in anywhere. And though I have grown to be, learned to be, or maybe just pretend to be, outgoing and extroverted, sometimes that isolated feeling still lingers. Funny how you never quite escape the demons of your youth.

I went to both the 15 year reunion and the 100 year Lemoore High anniversary . In each case I did see some old friends, which was nice. But I still didn’t connect with anyone. The highlight of the 15 year thing was watching David Arrant getting smashed and falling off a bar stool. But after a while, at both events, it just got boring. It reminded me of how things used to be, how I used to be. Maybe it will be different this time. Who knows.

Meanwhile, my band in San Diego might as well be family. They are not only great musical foils to my bass and vocal hackery, but they are great people – I love being around them. I love to play music with these guys, and I haven’t been able to do that much because of the student teaching thing. Oh, I will get paid for the gig, but will have to shell out a hundred smacks for the reunion.

So, the question is – do I Reunion, or do I Gig?