(In the wake of my 20-year high school reunion last month, my classmates began posting life updates on our class Facebook page. It's been some of the most compelling reading I've come across in a while. And naturally, I had to kick in an update of my own…)
Once upon a time
in the winter of 2002, with a two-year LDS mission to Chicago and a BS in
something or other from the University of Utah on my resume, I considered a
position as Utah’s Public Affairs Officer for the Natural Resources
Conservation Service.
I said to
myself, “Josh, dirt is a wonderful, wonderful thing. But you know this isn’t
your future, right?”
“Yes, I do,” I
replied. “And frankly, I’m getting a little concerned about this talking to
yourself in public thing. Your date looks awfully uncomfortable, and those
Chick-fil-A employees are starting to stare.”
And so, the next
fall, I found myself in grad school, writing seminar papers on Chicano cinema
and teaching fraternity pledges how to use MLA citation on their plagiarized
papers about marijuana legalization. I graduated just in time to attend my
10-year high school reunion unemployed, single, and living with my parents. The
world was my Vegas buffet quality oyster.
Things happened.
Stuff was done. Trips were taken. Then one day, my friend said, “Here is money.
Will you take pictures of my family in this idyllic public park?” and I said
yes. Then my buddy’s wife said, “Do you want to join this band and play loud music for a bunch of kids at a charter school?” and I said yes. And I met George Lucas in a mall.
The years went
by. Drums were played. Photos were taken. Speeding tickets happened. I taught
firefighters to use MLA citation on their papers about marijuana legalization,
and I spent an uncomfortable amount of time thinking about Fidel Castro’s beard.
Then one day my
lawyer friend said, “All this random stuff you do is going to get you killed on
your taxes. From this point on you shall become incorporated.” So I became
Wounded Mosquito Productions, because that was the best name I could come up
with on the phone. And taxes were paid.
Another day, a
different friend said, “will you come talk about movies and stuff on my TV
show?” and I said yes. Then a friend from another job said, “will you read
these words into this microphone so social workers can be trained in suicide
prevention?” and I said yes. The lady at the community college said, “would you
like to teach Salt Lake area students to add MLA citations to their papers on
marijuana legalization this semester?” and I said yes. And Howard Stern told me
I gave him a headache.
Then one day I heard
that my 20-year high school reunion had arrived, and I dismissed it as
government propaganda designed to trick me into enrolling in Obamacare. “There’s
no way The Man is going to convince me it has been two decades since I finished
high school,” I said. “Besides, I have to play a show for an empty bowery in
West Bountiful that night, so I cannot come.”
But I looked at
the pictures, and I read all the updates, and I thought to myself, “These old
people have done many things, and have given birth to many small children. I
will post too, but I will only include a current photo, because pictures of me
with hair are way too depressing, and my yearbook is in storage.”
Stay gold, class
of ‘94.
