Famous By Association

So hey, I know someone who was on TV (other than myself). Not just TV, but American Idol. Anyhow, just if you were curious, I went to high school with this guy:

I changed the dimensions of that picture a little bit...just to blow your collective minds, and to make his faux-hawk look even faux-ier.

Anyhow, his name is Blake Lewis. I can't remember the context in which I knew him (you'd probably remember him as the "beat-box guy" if you saw the episode), but it probably had something to do with acting...or choir...or something. He was far too "hip" for me to know in any other context.

But it got me thinking about those crazy days I like to call "1995-1998." (which most people would call "high school"). Those were some wacky times; not close enough to the year 2000 to be memorable, but not tacky enough to be in the early 90's.

Now, I didn't consider myself a social pariah in high school (because I didn't know what the word "pariah" meant...hell, I still don't), but I remember being incorrigibly arrogant. I don't know if it was just me -- I think all high school kids are arrogant -- I don't think there's anything wrong with that...it's a phase we all go through...but I digress...

The point is, I found that, in high school, I was always more comfortable in the company of the "less-than-poopular" kids (I said "poop"). Whilst the "in" crowd was out-'n'-about being dumb teenagers, I was sitting on my couch slogging through the latest installment of Final Fantasy.

I didn't go to a single "party" that didn't revolve around board games or video games of some kind. At the time I considered myself to be fairly mobile in the social strata of high school...but always ending up near the "Magic The Gathering" crowd (never actually playing the game, mind you...just near them).

So now, being the incredibly cool, hip, happening, balding, late-20-something that I am, I look back and think, "Was I 'not cool' in high school?" It's a sobering thought. I look at the evidence: my two main activities were "theater" and "band." Of the 161 members of my class on MySpace, 5 of them are on my "friends" list. Pretty grim...

But I don't know, really. I guess it doesn't make that much of a difference now -- my fiancee is a former high school cheerleader, so my revenge is completely realized at this point. However, should I ever get the chance to see a 16 year old Tyler in action...about the town...I wonder if, looking back through the prizm of experience, I'd be dismayed at my socially oblivious nature.

Now this post seems to be verging on the cusp of a pity party, thrown for myself in my apartment, that no one shows up to, and I end up spending half of the night cradling my phone while looking hopefully out the window at the passing cars, and the rest of the night weeping quietly on my couch, eating a bowl of burnt microwave popcorn and watching "Gilmore Girls." No, I beg of you to "holster" your pity, in case you were considering drawing.

In fact, I think this whole post is bordering on solipsism, and I think it's best to wrap things up before I get too self-indulgent. I didn't enter blithely into the "blog" business just to bare my soul for all to see. I came to use big words, and write about bears mauling monkeys. Time to get this bad boy back on track...