I have been playing with getting some videos off of old VHS tapes over the summer. I was especially trying to get some of our family videos from a competition we did during Madhatter 2000. That was a bit of a disaster… But it did eventually turn out. In the meantime, Angela decided I needed to remove all the VHS tapes from the house. We are not exactly in purge mode, but some of that stuff has been sitting around for 30 years doing nothing. Time to go!
Today, I put a tape in the player and found a semi-professional taping of my high school graduation. I don’t believe I have ever watched it before… I had to monitor the digital recorder throughout the session, so I saw enough to know it was VERY boring and clocked in over an hour! I think DeeMack does a better job keeping it flowing.
While I do admit to being bored and by the tape… I did notice a few other things. I had to watch when I made my entrance. Damn, my forehead is big, even in 1989. Also, we have lost so many people from my class. Seeing Gene Hoffman and Clint Friedman walking in with their smiles gave me pause about what hopes and dreams might have been going through the heads of those kids walking in?
Mortality weighs on my mind a lot and I think a lot about a “life well lived” with more urgency than most. Maybe I will get past that… But this is not the post for that.
Here is the video… If you were in the class of 89… Enjoy. If you were in band, you might see yourself in the back of the room. Have a fun trip down memory lane.