Friday, March 18, 2011

Twentieth Century Boy

Thinking about the last post I made (regarding some of the things I experienced in the late 90's), I pondered on how grand it would be if I were able to talk to my 1997-era self, to be able to have a conversation with him, to ask for his thoughts on life and how they compare to my own in 2011.

That man is more overweight than I am, but has less gray hairs.



He likes to shave every other day, something I continue to do. He's only had sex for a few years and just got his drivers' license in the summer of '95. He's just read what he considers to be the best book ever: "Conversations With God" and is sky-high on the wisdom it has imparted to him. He's single, but looks to be getting married the following summer.

Does he imagine what life at 40 is going to be like? Would he shudder knowing that in five years, he'll have kidney stones, that having kids won't be in the cards? He would be fairly self-assured, though he has some interesting habits. When he's in his car and sees the person in front of him throw a cigarette out the window, he'll honk at them as if to say, "What the hell do you think you're doing, littering the roads of this beautiful town?"

He's been a big fan of country music since 1992 when he was first exposed to a show called VH1 Country, an hourlong program that showed past and present country videos. He felt so at home with the genre that he believed it would always be his favorite. Little does he know that in a few years, he'll be buying a number of 80's pop CD's. He now has well over a hundred such discs. He'll work a variety of different jobs in the 2000's, mostly consisting of telephone work.

I wouldn't tell him these things, of course. I'd just like to visit with him for a few hours in a place where he'd be most comfortable, perhaps at one of his favorite restaurants, Wendy's or Taco John's. Maybe we could hit one of the old-school theatres that existed back then, years before stadium-seating came to town. I'm sure he'd be glad to know that two films will rock his world before the end of the decade ("Titanic" and "American Beauty"). I wouldn't wish to allude to the Star Wars prequel trilogy being a bit of a disappointment or that the dog his fiancee' recently picked up wouldn't make it to 2001.

We could discuss favorite childhood memories, various anti-social things we'd done, and women we wished we'd fucked. When it came time to part, I would tell him to enjoy being young, to strive to be kind to all those he encountered (even those who are smokers), and to consider writing his thoughts into a journal so that I might post them one day.

6 comments:

Rocketstar said...

This reminds me of those movies where one gets a chance to go back and re-live change things/decisions they've made.

It woudl be a very interesting yet very scary experience.

Unknown said...

awesome!
read it twice...how about writing another book...might hit the bestsellers....:)

Unknown said...

oh btw...
"to strive to be kind to all those he encountered (even those who were smokers)"....wtf are ya doing with fay then???

Thomas said...

That it would, Rocket.

Glad to hear you enjoyed it, Fay. No question, the post would go into an updated version of my book.

Regarding the fact that you are/were a smoker, you've helped make me see that we're all doing the best we can.

Phats said...

I like this post! I would go back and live that year all over again in a HEARTBEAT I was just starting at Purdue, and college was one of the best times ever.

So what would you your present day tell your 1997 self?

Thomas said...

Thanks, Phats. I also like this post. The main thing I would say to my younger self is not to let anything get him bent out of shape. Now, he's not a Type A personality by any stretch of the imagination, but could stand to take a chill pill now and then. I'm sure many have similar issues.