I got a plaque.

And a few things changed since you last saw me.There is something comforting and uncomfortable all at the same time about Reunions. Last night was the annual Bronx DA Christmas party where they honor former employees who have left in the last year.

I got called first, which went as such:

“Gene Loui-” speaker rolls eyes, “Jean-Louis Cauvin, Three Years.”

I found it nice that the proper pronunciation is greeted with a certain amount of red state chagrin. The eye roll clearly indicating, “oh right, this snooty motherfu-ker with his French name.” Perhaps this will answer questions on why I choose to go by J-L a lot of the time. And yes that makes me a hypocrite when I complain about Indian guys who go by names like “Bobby” or “David” when their names don’t even share any of the same letters as their chosen nicknames.

Awkward moments 2 and 3 came when I was congratulated on my wedding. Those are those moments where you feel uncomfortable and can only find solace in the fact that the person who just congratulated you is about to feel even more awkward than you. Sort of like when Tom Cruise tells Jack Nicholson that his father has been dead for seven years when they first meet in A Few Good men. Jack’s response: Don’t I feel like the fu-king as-hole.

Awkward moment four when the DA spoke of Obama’s election and you could feel the blue collar detectives literally clinging to their guns.

All in all it was similar to many reunions – awkward, uncomfortable and a little touching (emotionally). Continuing that theme I will be seeing Doubt tonight.