lol

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

~ Amanda

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave..."

eventually being able to do whatever you want whenever you want gets really really boring compared to being able to give out footrubs when you're feeling mushy, having someone make dinner when you're too lazy/tired, and a financial partner

the kids thing i still don't get really, though sometimes i think about having one just to make more decent people in the world and balance out one of the assholes being born right now

lol

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

My 10 year was OK- not great but not horrible.  Strangely, very few of my classmates were married with children by then.  It was fun reconnecting with some of the people I knew, but only 1 of my really close friends showed up.  My HS girlfriend was there, and it was actually nice to hang out with her, although I had to hang out with her friends since basically none of mine showed up, and that was a little awkward. She was still smart, funny, and attractive, so it was kind of validation that I had good taste. :)

 This probably says more about me than about the reunion, but one of the highlights was getting to see two of my favorite science teachers.

lol

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

J, it definitely is a bit odd "reconnecting" with people you barely said boo to in high school. Then again, reconnecting with people you actually spoke to can be weird as well. We had two guys show up specifically to be assholes to everyone. One guy was our big class nerd and yeah, he had a bit of a bone to pick with one or two people, but get serious. It's been ten years. Get some counseling and move on. The other guy though...he was always well-liked by all the cliques. Just an all-around good guy. And he showed up with this massive stick up his arse playing like he was the cock of the walk. He was nice to only two people...my friend Christina who is 4ft 7 and wouldn't hurt a fly, and me. In fact, he spent most of the night trying to get in my pants. Told me he used to jerk off to thoughts of my rack in HS. (Dude.) Thought he was suave. Went around insulting everyone in every way possible. It makes my skin crawl thinking about it now.

~ Amanda

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave..."

lol

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

Hehe. I got one of those on myspace. The funny part was, he told me he really thought at one point I was going to put out for him. I thought and thought about it and remembered I told him once in a computer lab we should get together-- but I was joking in a way I thought was obvious. And then I remembered that during that conversation he invited me to a party, where I went and gave someone else a blowjob in his room. (I asked him permission first, even.) Ah, the selective memory.

My parents play catch-up with my old friends parents, too. It is disgusting. (Mind your own, old folks!)

My 10 year was two years ago.  It was interesting to say the least.  You know those people, the jocks, cheerleaders and their friends, they were all the same.  One even came in a gorilla mask and hands which was just dumb.  One chick that I went to school with is a runway model.  She was on that MTV show, Idiot Savant, years ago as one of the "Vanna" girls.  Anyway, she kept bragging how she has lived all over the world but when asked what she has to prove that she has lived a stellar life besides the material things, she couldn't answer.  

It was still broken up in clicks.  I am glad that I went because a lot of people said that I wouldn't do anything with my life and I proved them wrong.  It was kind of nice.  

 This reminds me of an Onion article somewhere along the lines of "After 20 years, so-and-so finally figures out how to impress high school girls" (fake edit for laziness- it's here )

So sad, but so true.

Luckily people had actually matured, and I was more confident with myself, so I actually didn't mind talking to some of the people I rarely talked to in h.s.  HS seemed to magnify the differences between people, but by 10 years you had common things to talk about like appts/houses/cars/travel. 

Our reunion was more informal too, and I think that helped mix people around more- our reunion started off at school then moved to a rented out restaurant/club, so it wasn'tt like HS when we would stand around in uncomfortable dweeb clumps in our blue blazers and kahkis while a lame dj spun hits from the 80's.

lol

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

Nominating for the Awesome Award.

I went through high school in a meh sort of existence. I was neither popular nor unpopular. In a school of 800 kids total, 95% of whom I had grown up with, it was easy to slide in and out of cliques and social circles. I was a band geek, a Thespian, on the yearbook (where I told our editor to go fuck herself...yay!), a Mathlete, on Academic Decathlon, in every AP class available, a cheerleader, a DJ, and a Goth, amongst other things. I was across the board. So my high school experience encompassed both good shit and (a lot of) bad shit.

This is probably why I had an easier, more pleasant reunion experience than many are reporting. It's probably why I also look back at high school with some measure of fondness. Granted life wasn't easy then, and I wouldn't trade anything in the world to have to relive my senior year, which was literally the worst year of my life ever. But all in all, it was decent times. Of course, I still approached my reunion with a healthy dose of cynicism, because I couldn't stand most of the people in my own class and I anticipated some of the same antics they'd been engaging in since we'd last been together. But I'm glad I planned it and I'm glad I went. I wasn't ashamed of my life, I didn't care what people thought of me, and it gave me something to blog snarkily about the next day. :D 

~ Amanda

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave..."

That's a good way to look at it, John. I can't even think about the sadness of a 30 year reunion. So much mortality to reckon with. So existential. (It's a good feeling just knowing I split before graduation, while my aforementioned ex and enemy never even left the street they grew up on to marry and breed. They'll probably die there.)

In the spirit of Dorian Gray, I like to imagine people still find me interesting enough to continue to talk (read: lie) about. My notoriety increased wildly in the few years after I skipped town. My fabricated life was always far more exciting than anything I ever really did, anyway. I should never have let it get to me. But I've likely been forgotten, which has it's merits, too.

Amanda, I remember reading that blog. Is it easy to find? I want to again.

~ Amanda

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave..."

lol

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper