Reminesce - HS

I'm sitting in a conference room. Dark blue sweater, slim black fedora, my plaid Vans listening to a HR staffperson brief me on fire drills, evacuation protocols and lockdown procedures and in the back of my mind it brings me back to that one time at Milpitas High when we were on lock down.

Back to the huts built at the end of the overhangs that provided shelter from the sun, cover during the rain and zones for classes, from frosh to senior. It's funny now I remember this odd ends and knickknacks that are meaningless.

I recall a time when I hung out on the outskirts of the popular areas, in between academic buildings, in a stair way that was held in place by concrete barriers. There was a small courtyard in the middle of a set of descending and ascending stairs where we, our clique hung out.

One time I remember back in the day before cell phones were popular ppl used walkie talkies. And one time my friend was prank calling using his walkie and the funny thing is the person on the other line knew who he was. He demonstrated this by describing his clothes, build and so forth a couple miles away. We panicked, and hid in our concrete bunker, to avoid identification, lest the angry person on the other end wallow out some justice.

Or there was Vinny, a friend I remember from second grade who moved to the area and then transferred to my school. He was a quiet fellow, very sensitive and perceptive. Yet, he was full of a lot of pent up emotions. One time, he was quite upset and he used some wooden sticks and shredded quite a few inches of bark from the tree.

Pink in the face and screaming, that somehow allowed him to diffuse his anger, if not in a more holistic way.

But then he moved, down south to be with his mother. He told me that his mother could make peanut butter, from scratch, that the film of the oils and grounds formed a perfect texture on the bread that it was remarkable.

As time moved on people went different places. They went back to their home group. And I as well. It's funny how these memories come back in the most randomest times. One minute you could care less and would rather cue towards the end or credits yet in another you want to hold on and never ever forget. But that's life's moments. You are in the moment and out the next. You just have to keep going and be humble. As my friend told me, in a personal conversation "Humble, but hungry."

another side conversation with my self.