A questionnaire!
It's been so long since I've done an LJ questionnaire. I used to do them regularly when I was living in Istanbul. Takes me back. Plus, it's an LJ post. Hey LJ! I'm alive! And it appeals to me because, nostalgia, which is most of what LJ is for me these days.
So this is a questionnaire about Grade 12. (This is called "senior year of high school" in the States, but in Canada it is not. "Grad year" would be a recognisable thing to call it, I guess.)
The year was: 1997 - 1998
1. Did you know your spouse?
I am not married.
2. Did you car pool to school?
No, I walked or sometimes cycled.
3. What kind of car did you have?
I didn't have a car. I didn't want one, but I doubt we could have afforded one if I did.
4. What kind of car do you have now?
I don't have a car and I still can't drive and don't intend to learn.
5. It's Saturday night...where were you?
Babysitting, or at the home of Haisla, Nikki, Megan, or Blake, or out with Blake or with friends. Babysitting -- I had regular Saturday and Friday night jobs from Grade 8 onwards but I seem to remember this petered out by Grade 10/11 and my jobs became more ad hoc. Haisla's -- she used to have regular Saturday night parties at her father's house, but again, I remember this as more of a thing in Grade 10 and 11. Nikki, Megan -- were around, I went where they were a lot -- by this time Nikki had left home and was living with her boyfriend at his father's place. Blake -- we were a couple by December, so I was spending a lot of time with him, his brother Ehren, and Ehren's girlfriend (and later my best friend), Joanna, and Joanna's group of friends (who took some time to accept me, because I was of the freaks and they were not). To be frank, I actually don't remember clearly how often I was doing what, where, or with whom, but the above probably about covers it.
6. What kind of job did you have in high school?
I babysat.
7. What kind of job do you have now?
I'm a barrister.
8. Were you a party animal?
No.
9. Were you a cheerleader?
No.
10. Were you considered a jock?
No.
11. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir?
I was in choir.
12. Were you a nerd?
No, my GPA wasn't high enough. I didn't excel academically apart from in English (OK, maybe French also, I was in AP French, but never felt confident about it; and I had good enough grades to do AP History but didn't because it clashed with Acting 12). I was to a certain extent a "loser," as I had been dubbed in Grades 8-10, but to a certain extent an unknown quantity, and by Grade 12 I had a good group of friends.
13. Did you get suspended or expelled?
No.
14. Can you sing the fight song?
Oh God -- yes, I can! That's a bit disturbing!
"Hail Kitsilano
Hail Gold and Blue
(Rah, rah, rah!)
Sing we thy praises
All thy sons to thee are true
(Rah!)
Hail Kitsilano
We shout to the sky
Honour and glory, then, to
Kit-si-lano High!
(Rah!)"
15. Who were your favorite high school teachers?
Mme (Ros) Clark, sciences humaines.
Mr (Myron) Moxley, English.
Mr (Dave) Burger, music.
Sadly, Mr Moxley and Mr Burger have both now passed away.
It appears that Mme Clark (who was of course Anglophone, but fluent in French and taught in the French Immersion programme -- thus, "sciences humaines," not "social studies") is now Rosalyn Clark Best and is a counsellor! I guess she got married -- how nice. I bet she's a wonderful counsellor. Technically it's a cheat to include her because I didn't have her as a teacher after Grade 10, but she was still a teacher around the school and these are my three favourites from high school overall.
16. Where did you sit for lunch?
The north-west front corner or west side grassy verge outside school (where the freaks and hippies hung out), or the grad hallway (where most Grade 12 students had their lockers), or we ate outside somewhere (ah, Woodlands Natural Foods, your curry flavoured potato wedges and angel-hair vermicelli with tofu and vegetables call to me even now...).
17. What was your school's full name?
Kitsilano Secondary School.
18. What was your school mascot?
Blue Demon.
19. If you could go back and do it again, would you?
Oh no. Even with these rose-tinted spectacles.
20. Did you have fun at prom?
Yes, it was good, although I went with a female friend as my "date" because my boyfriend was in San Francisco and hers, a college student, disinclined to attend a high school prom! The graduation dinner/dance and boat cruise was better.
(The prom was a student-organised dinner/dance in a hotel in or around April, as best I remember. The graduation dinner/dance was a school-organised event following our graduation ceremony at the Orpheum Theatre, so that was in June. The boat cruise afterwards was, again, student-organised.)
21. Do you still talk to the person you went to prom with?
Although we're friends on Facebook, I don't speak to Megan really. She fell out with her family, moved to a northern town, and never comes to Vancouver anymore, so I don't even see her when I go home for visits, and we have less in common as the years go by.
I went to the grad dinner/dance and cruise with Blake, who managed not to repeat his going-to-San-Francisco-to-visit-his-dad-on-the-night-of-the-big-dance trick. We speak regularly on Facebook, usually to debate politics. Or Richard Dawkins, That Awful Man.
22. Are you planning on going to your next reunion?
Oh, I don't know. I haven't been to any yet.
23. Are you still in contact with people from school?
Yes, my closest friends. I recently did a Facebook cull and so I'm not still Facebook friends with people I wasn't either close friends with then, or haven't got to be closer to since.
24. What are/were your school's colours?
Did the lyrics of the school song not give it away? Gold and blue.
25. What did you do on senior skip day?
I don't remember. I seem to remember there was one? I would have the check in with someone to remind me if there was! If so, I expect I probably took part. Thinking about it I have a vague memory that there was supposed to be one, but it was quashed.
So this is a questionnaire about Grade 12. (This is called "senior year of high school" in the States, but in Canada it is not. "Grad year" would be a recognisable thing to call it, I guess.)
The year was: 1997 - 1998
1. Did you know your spouse?
I am not married.
2. Did you car pool to school?
No, I walked or sometimes cycled.
3. What kind of car did you have?
I didn't have a car. I didn't want one, but I doubt we could have afforded one if I did.
4. What kind of car do you have now?
I don't have a car and I still can't drive and don't intend to learn.
5. It's Saturday night...where were you?
Babysitting, or at the home of Haisla, Nikki, Megan, or Blake, or out with Blake or with friends. Babysitting -- I had regular Saturday and Friday night jobs from Grade 8 onwards but I seem to remember this petered out by Grade 10/11 and my jobs became more ad hoc. Haisla's -- she used to have regular Saturday night parties at her father's house, but again, I remember this as more of a thing in Grade 10 and 11. Nikki, Megan -- were around, I went where they were a lot -- by this time Nikki had left home and was living with her boyfriend at his father's place. Blake -- we were a couple by December, so I was spending a lot of time with him, his brother Ehren, and Ehren's girlfriend (and later my best friend), Joanna, and Joanna's group of friends (who took some time to accept me, because I was of the freaks and they were not). To be frank, I actually don't remember clearly how often I was doing what, where, or with whom, but the above probably about covers it.
6. What kind of job did you have in high school?
I babysat.
7. What kind of job do you have now?
I'm a barrister.
8. Were you a party animal?
No.
9. Were you a cheerleader?
No.
10. Were you considered a jock?
No.
11. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir?
I was in choir.
12. Were you a nerd?
No, my GPA wasn't high enough. I didn't excel academically apart from in English (OK, maybe French also, I was in AP French, but never felt confident about it; and I had good enough grades to do AP History but didn't because it clashed with Acting 12). I was to a certain extent a "loser," as I had been dubbed in Grades 8-10, but to a certain extent an unknown quantity, and by Grade 12 I had a good group of friends.
13. Did you get suspended or expelled?
No.
14. Can you sing the fight song?
Oh God -- yes, I can! That's a bit disturbing!
"Hail Kitsilano
Hail Gold and Blue
(Rah, rah, rah!)
Sing we thy praises
All thy sons to thee are true
(Rah!)
Hail Kitsilano
We shout to the sky
Honour and glory, then, to
Kit-si-lano High!
(Rah!)"
15. Who were your favorite high school teachers?
Mme (Ros) Clark, sciences humaines.
Mr (Myron) Moxley, English.
Mr (Dave) Burger, music.
Sadly, Mr Moxley and Mr Burger have both now passed away.
It appears that Mme Clark (who was of course Anglophone, but fluent in French and taught in the French Immersion programme -- thus, "sciences humaines," not "social studies") is now Rosalyn Clark Best and is a counsellor! I guess she got married -- how nice. I bet she's a wonderful counsellor. Technically it's a cheat to include her because I didn't have her as a teacher after Grade 10, but she was still a teacher around the school and these are my three favourites from high school overall.
16. Where did you sit for lunch?
The north-west front corner or west side grassy verge outside school (where the freaks and hippies hung out), or the grad hallway (where most Grade 12 students had their lockers), or we ate outside somewhere (ah, Woodlands Natural Foods, your curry flavoured potato wedges and angel-hair vermicelli with tofu and vegetables call to me even now...).
17. What was your school's full name?
Kitsilano Secondary School.
18. What was your school mascot?
Blue Demon.
19. If you could go back and do it again, would you?
Oh no. Even with these rose-tinted spectacles.
20. Did you have fun at prom?
Yes, it was good, although I went with a female friend as my "date" because my boyfriend was in San Francisco and hers, a college student, disinclined to attend a high school prom! The graduation dinner/dance and boat cruise was better.
(The prom was a student-organised dinner/dance in a hotel in or around April, as best I remember. The graduation dinner/dance was a school-organised event following our graduation ceremony at the Orpheum Theatre, so that was in June. The boat cruise afterwards was, again, student-organised.)
21. Do you still talk to the person you went to prom with?
Although we're friends on Facebook, I don't speak to Megan really. She fell out with her family, moved to a northern town, and never comes to Vancouver anymore, so I don't even see her when I go home for visits, and we have less in common as the years go by.
I went to the grad dinner/dance and cruise with Blake, who managed not to repeat his going-to-San-Francisco-to-visit-his-dad-on-the-night-of-the-big-dance trick. We speak regularly on Facebook, usually to debate politics. Or Richard Dawkins, That Awful Man.
22. Are you planning on going to your next reunion?
Oh, I don't know. I haven't been to any yet.
23. Are you still in contact with people from school?
Yes, my closest friends. I recently did a Facebook cull and so I'm not still Facebook friends with people I wasn't either close friends with then, or haven't got to be closer to since.
24. What are/were your school's colours?
Did the lyrics of the school song not give it away? Gold and blue.
25. What did you do on senior skip day?
I don't remember. I seem to remember there was one? I would have the check in with someone to remind me if there was! If so, I expect I probably took part. Thinking about it I have a vague memory that there was supposed to be one, but it was quashed.