Old friends

Well one thing that has plagued my mind of late is old friends. Back in my hey day, I was a Flinders Street goth and would congregate there on a Saturday afternoon, where we would have fun whiling away the hours chatting with the druggies and the homeless folk, or going to shoot pool where we had the Jukebox on repetitive Guns and Roses. I still can't hear Welcome to the Jungle or Paradise City without thinking of those fond memories, and our fabulous pool place, which now doesn't exist. Or some days we'd go to the Hare Krishna place and eat all this spicy food for like $3. It was a bargain and it was lots of fun. Good times, good times...

But unfortunately i've lost contact with those friends, and I find that kind of sad. I wondered what they were up to, and hoped they weren't dead. So I decided to do something about it. I'm hitting up friends for their Wesley yearbooks to see if I can at least figure out the surnames of two of my mates who were ex-Wesley, Cam and Hugh. I've googled some others, but the only available info is that they've written letters to the Age etc protesting this that or the other. My old email addresses for them are ancient and no longer work.

So I resorted to the White Pages. And it actually worked! Who knew old, pre-Internet methods were still valid? One of my mates, Avi, is listed in the phone book as his parents still live at their old house. The mum remembered me as Avi and I did our formals together, and gave me his mobile number. I called him, and i've now got his email address so we can organise coffee. I found out from him that he still sees another guy I knew who just got back from India, and the two Wesley boys i'm hunting have been backpacking or something through Laos.

I can't wait till I sit down at coffee and see and hear what he's like. I don't know about you, but I have changed heaps since my high school years, and I want to see what my old friends are like. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but I sure as hell hope it wont kill me. What's the worst that can happen?

On the same topic, I caught up with my Hoyts pals last night for dinner at the Lower Plenty hotel and drinks at the Eltham pub. I was lucky enough to see my old friend Adam, who has been in the army for the last 3 years. We've both decided we're going to the Hoyts Xmas party, as its only $10 and there's a huge tab on the bar! Apparently partners of current employees are allowed, but ex-Hoyts aren't meant to go? How does that work? You put in almost 10 years at a company and apparently you can't celebrate with old friends? Well several of us are going, includig friends who are ex Hoyts AND current partners of Hoyts ppl. It's on a Monday night, and we've vowed to get hammered, which will make the following Tuesday the first time I have EVER turned up to work with a raging hangover. I've got it covered - am gonna book my Period 1 & 2 classes into the video room so I can just sit back and let my eyes glaze over. Myeh, its after exams and we only have to while away the time with the kids anyway!

Had better go get ready to hit the town with Kateo and crew. It's 9.15 and i'm not even close to being ready!