@adeth: Geordi
"When I received notice of the tenth anniversary celebration, I opted to ignore it." He had, at the time, been serving aboard the Trieste and, outside of a yearly cybernetics conference at which he was always a sought-after keynote speaker, leave there had been a rarity. But, even had he managed to obtain the leave to attend, he doubted he would have taken it, for he had not, then, understood the reasoning behind a social gathering where the attendants' sole connecting attribute was that they graduated the Academy in the same year. Then, as of now, there were few of his classmates whom he found himself compelled to see again. Unlike the man standing before him, there were none among them he counted as friends. "It seemed likely that many of my former classmates would return to previous modes of behavior and their practical jokes often resulted in damage which was time consuming to repair. In short, I did not 'see the point'.
"It was my intention to ignore the invitation for the twentieth reunion also, however... Commander Riker has indicated that such occasions can present the opportunity to explore personal growth and demonstrate it to one's peers." He hadn't exactly phrased it like that - Riker had instead instructed that he 'show them up'. "I believe that I have made considerable strides in that area - which you have helped me with at many junctures, my friend - so I wanted to get your advice on the situation. Do you believe that I should accept the invitation?"
