I've officially abandoned Myspace in favor of Facebook for quite some time now. But it wasn't just because Facebook possessed all kinds of neat features that Myspace didn't. It's because unlike Myspace, the majority of my Facebook friends are people I know in my offline life. And the majority of THOSE are old high school classmates. People I haven't seen in over 15 years. People with whom I've enjoyed reconnecting. Of the classmates I've added so far, roughly half were at the 10-year reunion (which had a rather small attendance). So I'm hoping the 20-year reunion will have a bigger turnout, at least twice as big :-D
Last night I spent some time chatting with an old classmate I've known since junior high-- so, going on 20 years now. Of course, we never really talked back then. Hell, I'm surprised he (along with many others I've added to my friends list) even remembered me! But talking about our perceptions of each other back then was interesting. I'd always viewed him as one of the cool kids, talented and stylish and in with the "popular" crowd-- he was on the Homecoming court and voted for multiple most/bests senior year! I offer our yearbook as proof ;-) Despite that, he apparently saw things a bit differently then :-P
And me? I was the loner, the outcast. I was the girl who didn't go to senior prom because the guy she finally worked up the nerve to ask to go with her said "no". Oh, I had my little group of friends I hung out with every day-- we weren't popular, we weren't "in", we didn't blend in with any of the other stereotypical cliques. We were the band of "misfits". But he didn't see that, either. He saw me in a much more positive light than I would ever have.
Which all just makes me wonder exactly how we all really viewed each other in those days.
Still, I have to say that my high school experience was fairly pleasant. If anything, it was my time in junior high that was a bit more trying. Probably because kids were still at the age when they were blatant and merciless about teasing others who were different. And I, with my boyish short hair, overbite, zero sense of fashion, compounded by my shy and reclusive nature, made an easy target. Fortunately I have a pretty thick skin (to my detriment at times, though), and I managed to survive adolescence and teenhood intact :-)
Anyway... that's in the past. We've all since grown up and moved on. But it's amazing how one little chat can bring back a lot of memories. Now I'm REALLY looking forward to the next reunion. Although I guess with everyone active on Facebook, we'll be all caught up on each others' lives before then, anyway! ;-)
How about you? What were your high school days like?
High school bored me. I read through half my classes and slept through the other half, and yet still graduated with a 3.4 GPA.
ReplyDeleteLisa is SUPER cool because she uses facebook all the time. I am only semi cool because I only remember to check it about once a week. In the past couple weeks, however, several of my old classmates have sent me friend requests too. These are people that I never spoke 2 words to in high school, and still haven't on fb, LOL. Oh well, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
I wasn't a member of ANY group in high school--it was the group of ME! And my one or two good friends of course, but we mostly did our own thing, didn't conform, and certainly didn't follow the cliques or cave to the peer pressure!
@7537687859056848254.0
ReplyDeleteEh, you'd be surprised. It was the same with me-- most are people I hardly spoke to in high school. Like I said, I was surprised half even remembered who I was. And now most of us are interacting fairly regularly-- one thing I love about Facebook's ability to comment on every last little detail :-)
Things really do change once you've grown up and moved on :-)