DM2K6 vs. DM1996

This Saturday the 8th, out in Ft. Wayne, around 40 Snider High School graduates, Class of '96, will celebrate their 10 year reunion. I won't be there.

According to the reunion website, only 36 graduates have paid to attend. Since the graduating class was around 375, it hardly seems to me like much of a reunion at all. I'll give the reunion committee the benefit of the doubt. They're nice people, and I hardly think that there's a single thing I still hold against any of them after 10 years (if there was anything to hold against them in the first place).

Since I am unable to attend and my ego tells me that EVERYONE will be asking about me, allow me to skip the ten years in between and compare/contrast Dan Marrero 1996 to Dan Marrero 2006 for you.

Physical:
After some fluctuation, DM2K6 is about 40 lbs lighter and has substantially less hair (male pattern baldness) than the '96 version. I don't part my hair much anymore and prefer to comb it with a bath towel.

Advantage: DM2K6. I still have choices in the hair department, but the new svelte Dan is much healthier.

Professional:
I had a job when I was 15, acting in a murder mystery, but in '96 I was still sucking the parental teat. Everything was paid for by someone else leaving me as much time to pursue acting for free. Ten years later, I'm scraping by in an embarrassing retail job (I'm a singing cupcake decorator, in case you haven't been reading these blogs) and doing little "here-and-there" jobs on the radio or from my desk at home just trying to make ends meet so that I can afford to continue to pursue that acting career. (And I have done some professional acting, but remember, I said I was skipping the ten years in between. If you don't believe me, just ask Jennie Miller or Mrs. Twite.)

Advantage: DM2K6. Yeah, the retail stuff and the hand-to-mouth paycheck sucks, but it keeps me motivated. If I give myself any other options, I'll take them...and then I'll be stuck doing something I really hate. Plus, I am much more skilled now than I was then and am better able to express myself through my art.

Personal (friendships): Most of my closest friends in 1996 were not of the class of 1996, but I still keep in touch with many of my friends from back then. My best friend since then I also met in 1996, though not until I went off to college. Most of my friends with whom I have semi-regular contact are from the past 5 years.

Advantage: 1996. Old friends are still the best.

Personal (romances):
You never saw me walking around with many girlfriends back in 1996 and you don't see any of that today either. Surprise: I am NOT gay. Just in case you were wondering. I am, perhaps, a little overly selective and that's why I am single still.

Advantage: 1996. At least back then I still had hope. And hair.

Personal (familial):
Back in '96, it was me and my parents living in a big old house in Lake Forest. One brother was off at school and the other was in the Air Force while my sister was somewhere in Fort Wayne, doing something.

In 2006, my family is separated by thousands of miles (I'm in Chicago and I've got family in Seattle, St. Petersburg, and Ft. Wayne), but it's possible that this is the closest we've been in years! You can read previous posts to hear all about my nieces and nephews that I love so VERY much. I miss them all a lot and I'm not too selfish to realize it.

Advantage: 2006. The family that stays apart grows together, or something like that.

In What Other Ways Have I Changed?:
Well, let's start with the easy ones. I will drink alcohol now and I do smoke the occasional cigar, but nothing else. I am able to use someone else's glass or fork or bottle without getting too grossed out (depends on the person, really). There are greater peaks between my "outgoing" side and my "reserved" side...that is to say, I can be even more outgoing or even more reserved. I'm not more opinionated, probably, but have a better grasp of my opinions and how to advance them. I've switched from 2% to skim. I attend church regularly as opposed to whenever my parents make me. And I can do a back hand spring. No kidding. It hurts like hell, but I can do it!

Advantage: DM2K6. Change is good as long as you don't lose sight of what is inherently right and wrong.

Winner: Dan Marrero 2006 has it all over the '96 model. And I've learned that time not only heals wounds but breaks down the walls we formed around us. I have friends now that I never would've (or could've) been friends with in high school...had I known them, then. Cliques disappear with time. And I also have fewer enemies now. It's really easy--if I don't like you, I don't have to pretend that I do.

What else can I say? Dan Marrero 2006 is pretty damn kick ass!

**Dedicated to the memory of Jason Douthat.

*photos: Left, Christina Schaab and me, graduation night. Right, me today, messing with my hair.