On Friday evening I attended a friend's 40th birthday and while I was there I ran into an old friend that I used to go high school with. This person and I used to be school captains at one of the less reputable secondary colleges in Ballarat way back in the early 90's. After a few moments of chatting with him I realised that I have pretty much wiped most of the memories of that time well out of my mind. Why had I done that? Well, because I was a bit of teenage dirtbag when I was in high school, and so were most of the other people that attended our school, and although I cannot deny that I had some really fun moments along the path to adulthood, most of them I would prefer not to recall at all.
I was astounded by how much this old friend of mine had retained from our formative years, he could quickly recall names, events and people that I had totally deleted from my memory, and up until I had heard their names again I had almost forgiven myself for all of the crappy and stupid things that I had done when I was a teenage dirtbag.
Yes, I did some pretty crappy shit when I was in high school, particularly in my earlier years when I was really trying to discover myself. Some things I did for attention, some things I did because I was too young and stupid to know any better, some things I did out of spite and some things....well.... I don't really know why I did some of the things that I did to be honest, as most teenagers don't.
Anyway, it didn't take many moments of reminiscing to remember why I had long moved on from my high school experience and my generally confusing teenage years and happily buried those awkward and stupid years way down deep in the desperate hope that I would never have to relive them again.
When he started to tell me about a possible upcoming reunion on the horizon I nearly had a panic attack! Seriously, being in a room full of much older, fatter and hairier versions of my high school friends is not something that I need to put myself through. I don't want to see photos of people's babies and hear about how the last twenty five years have panned out for them because I don't even know them now, not at all. In fact I really didn't know them that well back then either, which is why I don't still see any of them these days.
I suppose that for some people (like this old friend) that have retained friends from their high school days, a reunion could seem like a really nice chance to get back to together with the old gang. For me, not so much. Don't get me wrong I didn't leave the school with a million enemies or anything, but I never really had a clique in high school. I was a bit of a square peg in a round hole at school, I just drifted about, talking to anyone but not really getting involved with anyone too much either. In the past, I had tried everything to run with the popular kids, but it just never really worked out for me because I always felt like I never really belonged or I had to try too hard or lie about myself to be accepted. I never felt like I could just be myself, and then in year 11 and 12 I just stopped trying to fit in and things got a lot easier.
I really enjoyed my final years of high school, but again, I didn't really have any friendships that lasted beyond graduation day. I was happy to leave it all behind me when I walked out of school on that very last day. Happy to let go of my teenage regrets, mistakes and embarrassments and just happy to be moving on. And that is the way that it is for millions of people when they leave high school; they just walk away and move on. You don't really spend too much time thinking about it after that; that is until you bump into someone that you used to know and it all comes flooding back in, swiftly reminding you why you put it all behind you so very long ago.
I was astounded by how much this old friend of mine had retained from our formative years, he could quickly recall names, events and people that I had totally deleted from my memory, and up until I had heard their names again I had almost forgiven myself for all of the crappy and stupid things that I had done when I was a teenage dirtbag.
Yes, I did some pretty crappy shit when I was in high school, particularly in my earlier years when I was really trying to discover myself. Some things I did for attention, some things I did because I was too young and stupid to know any better, some things I did out of spite and some things....well.... I don't really know why I did some of the things that I did to be honest, as most teenagers don't.
Anyway, it didn't take many moments of reminiscing to remember why I had long moved on from my high school experience and my generally confusing teenage years and happily buried those awkward and stupid years way down deep in the desperate hope that I would never have to relive them again.
When he started to tell me about a possible upcoming reunion on the horizon I nearly had a panic attack! Seriously, being in a room full of much older, fatter and hairier versions of my high school friends is not something that I need to put myself through. I don't want to see photos of people's babies and hear about how the last twenty five years have panned out for them because I don't even know them now, not at all. In fact I really didn't know them that well back then either, which is why I don't still see any of them these days.
I suppose that for some people (like this old friend) that have retained friends from their high school days, a reunion could seem like a really nice chance to get back to together with the old gang. For me, not so much. Don't get me wrong I didn't leave the school with a million enemies or anything, but I never really had a clique in high school. I was a bit of a square peg in a round hole at school, I just drifted about, talking to anyone but not really getting involved with anyone too much either. In the past, I had tried everything to run with the popular kids, but it just never really worked out for me because I always felt like I never really belonged or I had to try too hard or lie about myself to be accepted. I never felt like I could just be myself, and then in year 11 and 12 I just stopped trying to fit in and things got a lot easier.
I really enjoyed my final years of high school, but again, I didn't really have any friendships that lasted beyond graduation day. I was happy to leave it all behind me when I walked out of school on that very last day. Happy to let go of my teenage regrets, mistakes and embarrassments and just happy to be moving on. And that is the way that it is for millions of people when they leave high school; they just walk away and move on. You don't really spend too much time thinking about it after that; that is until you bump into someone that you used to know and it all comes flooding back in, swiftly reminding you why you put it all behind you so very long ago.
BACK TO THE FUTURE TRILOGY
Release Date: 1985, 1989 and 1990
Rating: PG
Running Time: 337 mins total
Three family friendly, fun filled, action adventures all about time travel to sink your teeth into. Written and directed by Robert Zemeckis, the trilogy follows the adventures of Marty McFly and his eccentric scientist friend Dr. Emmett L. Brown as they use a converted DeLorean as a time machine to travel around through different periods in time.
The first instalment was a huge international success, and sees Marty (Michael J. Fox) accidentally sent back in time to 1955, where he meets his teenage parents. Unfortunately, his teen mother falls in love with him instead of his father, which threatens to cause a paradox where Marty would cease to exist.
In the second movie, Marty goes forward in time to 2015 where his future family are in danger. However, whilst busy rectifying matters in the future, his arch nemesis Biff steals the DeLorean and creates a shift in the future, altering the 1985 that they return to when they are done.
And the final episode links harmoniously onto the ending of the second, with Doc being trapped in 1885, and Marty having to work out a way to save him in the wild west.
Bottom line, these are clever, entertaining and quite possibly the most fun sci-fi adventures to have ever been made. Personally I adored them, I grew up with the series being eleven when the first hit the big screen, and I avidly following them until the final was released when I was sixteen. Michael J. Fox is a perfect McFly and Christopher Lloyd is at his best as the zany and hilarious scientist Doc. The series still rates as the 13th highest grossing trilogy of all time, worldwide, and there is good reason for that, when it comes to intelligent family orientated sci-fi I doubt you could do better.
FINAL SAY: I need a nuclear reaction to generate the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity that I need.
4 Chilli Peppers
Release Date: 1985, 1989 and 1990
Rating: PG
Running Time: 337 mins total
Three family friendly, fun filled, action adventures all about time travel to sink your teeth into. Written and directed by Robert Zemeckis, the trilogy follows the adventures of Marty McFly and his eccentric scientist friend Dr. Emmett L. Brown as they use a converted DeLorean as a time machine to travel around through different periods in time.
The first instalment was a huge international success, and sees Marty (Michael J. Fox) accidentally sent back in time to 1955, where he meets his teenage parents. Unfortunately, his teen mother falls in love with him instead of his father, which threatens to cause a paradox where Marty would cease to exist.
In the second movie, Marty goes forward in time to 2015 where his future family are in danger. However, whilst busy rectifying matters in the future, his arch nemesis Biff steals the DeLorean and creates a shift in the future, altering the 1985 that they return to when they are done.
And the final episode links harmoniously onto the ending of the second, with Doc being trapped in 1885, and Marty having to work out a way to save him in the wild west.
Bottom line, these are clever, entertaining and quite possibly the most fun sci-fi adventures to have ever been made. Personally I adored them, I grew up with the series being eleven when the first hit the big screen, and I avidly following them until the final was released when I was sixteen. Michael J. Fox is a perfect McFly and Christopher Lloyd is at his best as the zany and hilarious scientist Doc. The series still rates as the 13th highest grossing trilogy of all time, worldwide, and there is good reason for that, when it comes to intelligent family orientated sci-fi I doubt you could do better.
FINAL SAY: I need a nuclear reaction to generate the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity that I need.
4 Chilli Peppers
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