Is it wrong to be nostalgic on occasion?

The first time I heard the song I was staying up late for no particular reason.

It was well past 1 a.m. and I was beginning to nod off as the television continued to play music videos that appeared to have little point. I told myself I would endure one more song before calling it a night.

Then I heard the song that made so much sense. John Mayer’s “No Such Thing” was a song that made me eagerly anticipate my 10 year high school reunion even though I was still months away from graduating high school.

In a perfect world, I would have returned to Rockledge High School with a beautiful girl. I would possess a decent job, one that took me to a seemingly exotic place beyond the borders of Brevard County, Florida as well as a red car that would put people on notice that in the decade since graduation I was more than the dork I appeared to be in high school.

Admittedly, the song motivated me, all the while stroking my ego.

(As fate, and the good Lord, would have it, I am marrying a beautiful girl in December, live in South Texas and drive a red car that suits my lifestyle as a sportswriter perfectly.)

The first five lines and the chorus always spoke to me. Surely the pricked the consciousness of others, otherwise, Mayer, the former gas station attendant, wouldn’t have been given a record deal.

"Welcome to the real world", she said to me
Condescendingly
Take a seat
Take your life
Plot it out in black and white

That’s what I do. My life is literally written in black and white. Every day it begins on computer screens, before moving to sheets of paper that few my age bother to read.

I wanna run through the halls of my high school
I wanna scream at the
Top of my lungs
I just found out there's no such thing as the real world
Just a lie you've got to rise above

When the single was released in February 2002, I was the last person off the bench for the Rockledge High soccer team.

On those cool nights across Central Florida I would usually sit there and watch my friends win, while carrying on a conversation with a friend who was a student manager. We talked about a host of things, some of which were what we were going to do when we left Rockledge for college that fall.

I always got the sense from those conversations on the bench that we would not let the perceptions of others, define us, shape who we would become. To us high school was a journey with a lesson at every corner if we stopped to pay attention.

Of course our conversations were rarely that deep on the sidelines. I think she was grabbing water and keeping stats, while I was hoping we would blowout another hapless opponent so I could play.

They read all the books but they can't find the answers
And all of our parents
They're getting older
I wonder if they've wished for anything better
While in their memories
Tiny tragedies

Some classmates became larger tragedies than others. One sadly committed suicide. A few others wound up in jail. And, it’s not a stretch to say there are more that are 180 degrees away from the dreams they had as idealistic seniors in a quaint Central Florida town.

On the other hand, there are so many that have become spouses, parents, doctors, lawyers, teachers, nurses, soldiers, models and overall successes. As we all approach 30, some of us faster than others, Mayer’s final stanza applies to all of us.

I just can't wait til my 10 year reunion
I'm gonna bust down the double doors
And when I stand on these tables before you
You will know what all this time was for

 Laughs and liveliness,

-Wb

Are you a maverick

If someone mentioned the word Maverick and Dirk Nowitzki or John McCain were the first things that came to mind few would blame you.

Ah, but some South Africans would beg to differ. Late last year a gentlemen’s club in Cape Town, Mavericks Revue Bar started a unique line of fragrances for men. Titled “Alibis” these colognes were designed to give men, just that, after visiting this establishment.

Cape Town is a gorgeous city with a lot to offer tourists and residents alike.

A friend of mine lives there and the stories she has shared about her adopted city that are an amazing combination of colorful, vivid and strange. She warned me even the most exotic Americans would find some of the lifestyles and people in the city by the sea unique.

When I told her about Mavericks making news on the other side of the Atlantic, she responded with an email recalling an even zanier about her city. She surmised "so yes darling, we are a hell of a lot more sexually liberated then Americas Especially Cape Townians."

As for the fragrances, which are being sold for $40 to $50 depending on the exchange rate, well they are creative to say the least.

My Car Broke Down: with the scent of fuel, burnt rubber, grease and steel.
We Were Out Sailing: with the scent of fresh ocean spray, sea salt, aqua and cotton rope.
I Was Working Late: with the scent of coffee, wool suits, cigarettes and ink.

As a journalist that routinely works until midnight, the latter selection would be the most appealing to me. Of course I don't wear cologne, or drink coffee and abhor cigarettes, so obviously this is not a product for me.

(Just imagine how much someone would make if they created a cologne that masked the sky high HIV/AIDS rate down there. But, I digress.)

The most humorous part of the entire tale for me, however, was the location of this “gentlemen’s club.” It’s on Barrack Street, which is less than three blocks from the museum I tried to visit two years ago when I was in Cape Town.

No, the museum I wanted to visit did not feature naked women. It was collection of artifacts and memorabilia from District 6, a neighborhood inhabited by black and colored people in the 60s that was demolished because the government wanted to redevelop the land for whites.

From all I heard the District 6 museum is a treasure trove of local history. At least that is what the tour bus told me. What the tour operators did not mention was the museum was within walking distance a still-standing structure that is yet another excuse for South Africa to make the news.

Laughs and liveliness,

-Wb