Facebook

During my college years I used to say that “fatigue is the best drug.” It was a tongue-in-cheek remark that reflected upon my constant lack of sleep and the experimenting that I saw go on around me. But there was a lot of truth to it because I found that some of my best ideas and best days were those that came on less than three hours of sleep.

At least I thought that was the case. In the years that have passed I have sometimes wondered what I was thinking. Or maybe it is more a case of wishing that I could still have the benefits of my 19 year-old body and metabolism. Eat anything, stay up all night, run all day and have plenty left in the tank. None of this, “my back is sore in the morning” or better not eat that chili-cheeseburger at 3 am for fear of repurcussions crap.

Last night I found myself completely out of sorts and unable to sleep. So I headed over to check out Facebook and see if any of my friends had anything witty or interesting to say. As I perused the different profiles I was dumbfounded to see how many people from my past had suddenly shown up there.

There were connections between people that made me wonder what the crossover was. As far as I knew they hadn’t grown up together, went to different schools and wouldn’t have ever met through me. So I scratched my head and sort of shrugged it off.

And let’s not ignore that in some cases they are connected to old girlfriends. I am not still carrying a torch for any of these women. I don’t spend any time wondering what could have been. Those days are done, but I think that I sort of preferred having those days relegated to memory.

As nostalgic as I may sometimes be I don’t want spend chunks of time looking back. No doubt that those were some of the best and worst times of my life. Experiences that helped shape and turn me into the slightly deranged fellow I am today.

Side note. While I stared at tiny profile pictures trying to see what they looked like today I had this momentary urge to send off a few messages to them, truly ridiculous messages like:

“Dear Kathy,

It is Jack. Not sure if you remember me, but we had that thing second semester of our sophomore year. You broke up with me because you said that you just didn’t see a future for us. Well I stumbled onto your Facebook profile and thought that I’d tell you what has happened since that time.

I became an entrepreneur and inventor. Not sure if you are familiar with any of my inventions, but just to give you a sense of what I have done since then I am the person who invented a pill that has improved life for millions of people.

When I sold the rights I had to agree to not use my name in conjunction with the drug. Since I always honor my agreements let’s just say that it rhymes with Niagra. I took the money I made from that agreement and spent some time traveling the world.

Since then I have been a part of a number of different ventures. These include being a silent partner on various movies, like “Titanic, Forest Gump, Return of The King and The Departed.”

I also helped fund The Make a Wish Foundation. That has been one of my favorites. I always get such a warm feeling helping those kids.

Anyway, you were right to tell me that there was more to school than wild parties. I have to go know. I am meeting with Barack Obama to discuss my role as special adviser in his administration.

Write me sometime and tell me how life is.

-Jack

I know. It is totally ridiculous. But that is the thing about fatigue, it makes the ridiculous sound almost believable. Anyway, I didn’t send any letters. Didn’t try to friend any of the “ex” crowd because sometimes the past is best left behind. You can’t go back, so might as well focus upon now and the future.

Still, it would have been kind of fun to send off that note.