Alan Ilagan

The year, according to the sign, was 1982 B.M., and this was Mrs. Loomis’ second grade class at McNulty School. (If you click on this one, it gets bigger. If you’re going to embarass yourself, you might as well go all the way. Yes, that’s me, second from the left in the bottom row. Always the bottom row, always on the floor, because when you’re short, they always want to make you shorter.)

I suppose it serves me right that my old classmate Bill P. put this up on FaceBook last night, as I posted a sixth grade class picture a few weeks ago. (In the sixth grade version at least I had an argyle sweater on. I have no idea what I’m doing in this striped polyester one-step-shy-of-a-pantsuit ensemble. Thanks Mom.)

It’s strange, but I can clearly and distinctly recall every single one of the kids in this photo, and name them too. In some ways I feel like I know them better than most of the people I went to college with, and that is far more recent in my memory than 1982. These are the people who shaped and molded me as a child, setting the stage for the person I was to become. I remember thinking how much they meant to me, each in the their own way, and I always felt like I somehow didn’t mean as much to them. But even then, I was adept at hiding such doubt.

Looking back after everything, I may have underestimated myself.

After ignoring and fighting against the tide of Twitter, I decided to give in to the masses and join. I have no idea how to use it, but I assume it’s similar to FaceBook with the 140-character limit. To be honest, if anyone has anything that important to say, I would hope that it would be worth more than 140 characters, but this is a new year, a new decade, and a new way of seeing the world. Who am I to deny?

You can find me (I assume) on Twitter with my username of alanilagan. Once you find me, I’m not sure what happens. This is the sort of shit that goes on when I am sick and alone at home while Andy and our  families celebrate New Year’s Day without me. I now Twitter.

In the words of a Garfield bookmark that I had while in grade school, ‘Big Fat Hairy Deal.’