The guy at the bottom of the pic now teaches today's youth. Be afraid....[and] all those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain." Yes, I've watched Blade Runner fairly recently. That quote is a bastardisation of Rutger Hauer's famous speech, which supposedly he ad libbed on the spot.
And maybe it was the copious amounts of takeaway consumed (damned MSG's), but I got to thinking about shifting perceptions. And decided to stare, yet again, at my navel (there wouldn't be much to this blog if I didn't do that, let's be honest).
So much has happened in the last couple of years. Mid 2005, I was worrying about how my dissertation on Milton would be received (pretty much as well as any dissertation comparing Milton and Hobbes before did, so that was ok), about what sort of job I'd end up doing, and what my friends would be getting up to.
I also helped organise my best mate's 21st party (he's the one in the front, with the plastic sheep). And it was trawling through Facebook that got me thinking about how the goalposts have really shifted for all of the people in that picture - myself included.
By now, some will be thinking, I'm sure, 'well, of course - it's part of growing up'. Try telling that to a 21 year old who thinks he knows exactly what he is going to do. And I thought I knew then. And it's funny (especially when keeping in touch via Facebook) to find out what other people do.
Everyone's got people in their friendship groups who they believe are going to do x or y career, and they inevitably do - but it's strange how that's (at least in my experience) begun to unravel, even just two years down the line. Some of my friends are questioning just their place in the world, wondering just where they fit in. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't had doubts in the past couple of years. Happily, this seems to correspond with Jon Steel's account of how he got into the business.
I look back to what we all thought then; just how shockingly naive we were. But I wouldn't change a damn thing (especially the T Shirts - classics that they are). Being like that got us to piss about, enjoy our time at University, drunkenly sing along to Aladdin's soundtrack and James Bond themes (after all, nobody does it better) and generally have a great time in each other's company.
And yet I've not met up with some of these people for years. I know we have gone through the inevitable divergence, but I'm buggered if I'm letting it all get lost like tears in the rain, reduced to a once the year drinks event.
It wouldn't be surprising if we all just slotted back into our University roles as well. People's behaviours don't change that much. All I can say is thank God most of them live in and around London. Now, where did I put my T-Shirt?
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