Lingering on High School makes me feel pathetic, but what the hell, it's Saturday night
For fucks sake, really? High school? My god, but Facebook has gotten sad. Or, has always been. I mean, it's not all bad memories or anything, but I've had better times since. Haven't we all?
Anyway, the instructions say, "Fill this out about your SENIOR year of high school! The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be!!" and frankly, no amount of exclamation points is going to make that any truer. I wasn't going to do this one, for obvious reasons, but Nay Nathan Garrettson's and Moose Matt Wolcott's answers made me eerily nostalgic.
(You know what to do, copy, paste, post in your note,change my answers, put in yours and tag your friends)
1. Did you date someone from your school? Not while I was in high school. When I was 19 and had graduated, I was dating Jessie, in her Senior year.
2. Did you marry someone from your high school? Nope.
3. How did you get to school? I walked. I was quite the walker then. I guess I still am.
4. What kind of car did you have? I didn't get my red Honda civic, Mr. Self Destruct, until after graduating. No car for me. Clint had a car, though.
5. What kind of car do you have now? Silver Honda civic. Anonymous.
6. It's Friday night...where are you (then)? God, probably board games with my few friends, or maybe getting a ride to La Luna for a concert.
7. It is Friday night...where are you (now)? Last Friday, out drinking with the very same Jessie. Most Fridays, boring old at home (9 blocks from where La Luna was) at the computer, writing, or watching a movie, or reading something.
8. What kind of job did you have in high school? I designed ads for a nationwide bus and trucking yellow-pages directory, the Bus Pages.
9. What kind of job do you do now? I am a video compression and dub jockey at Laika House, working in commercial animation.
10. Were you a party animal? Are you kidding? I was more terrified of crowds then than I am now.
11. Were you considered a flirt? Almost certainly not.
12. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? No, no, no. I did photography, writing, directed a little without ever being a thespian, and was president of the Mac High Japanese Club (which we founded as an excuse to hang out and do nothing), but nothing musical or, you know, productive.
13. Were you a nerd? Oh my, yes. Except my grades and social circles never showed it.
14. Did you get suspended or expelled? No, I was a good kid, except for some snarky papers for Mr. Nelson and a little skipping class. In middle school I got in a mild bit of trouble for writing some extremely raunchy "erotic detective stories" (I remember it was called Bill, and everyone in the story was named Bill, even the women) and bringing them to class, but nothing to warrant draconian measures.
15. Can you sing the fight song? I don't think our school had enough fight in us to have a fight song.
16. Who was/were your favorite teacher(s)? Dale Depweg, I'd say, who offered to help me with my creative writing over email the year he was on sabbatical in Belgium. Not only did he not give a shit if I read the texts in class, but he told me to keep copies of the books because he knew I would read them later on. (For the most part I did; I still haven't read Lord of the Flies, though...) I was also fond of Eric Oja and Mr. Saunders, my physics and history teachers, for treating students like adults and engaging me in subjects I had no passion for. And Mr. Nelson Sweet Nelly, just for putting up with us.
17. Where did you sit during lunch? I remember this. Arma and I made a conscious decision to confront the imagined heirarchies and take a table in the commons, despite having no clique. It took no time at all to meet other misfits -- 90% of whom were lowerclassmen -- and suddenly I had friends. Sad? Maybe. I wouldn't change a thing.
18. What was your school's full name? Jonathan Abernathy McMinnville High School, esq.
19. When did you graduate? After the rest of my class did, when I finished some class or other I was failing at the time. I remember then going to the office and paying for some lost textbook or something (perhaps refer to the "favorite teacher" answer). I remember they would not give me my diploma until I paid $11.00. I lost the diploma for a while, but I held on the $11.00 receipt, just in case.
20. What was your school mascot? Some kind of singing monkey, I think? No, wait, maybe it was the Grizzly.
21. If you could go back and do it again, would you? You know, high school was a gross, awkward, embarrassing time for me, three years spent sheepish and one year spent angry. There are so many things I did wrong. I wish I'd read more of the books they'd told me to, and I wish I'd accepted more of the invitations from other kids to be social, when they came. In the words of Mr. Garrettson, "I could have learned so much more if I'd gone to class less often." But then again, if I'd done it all differently, who would I be now? So fuck it, put your time machine away. Let's just move on, and never speak of this again.
crossposted from Facebook noteson 3/14, 3:38pm.
Anyway, the instructions say, "Fill this out about your SENIOR year of high school! The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be!!" and frankly, no amount of exclamation points is going to make that any truer. I wasn't going to do this one, for obvious reasons, but Nay Nathan Garrettson's and Moose Matt Wolcott's answers made me eerily nostalgic.
(You know what to do, copy, paste, post in your note,change my answers, put in yours and tag your friends)
1. Did you date someone from your school? Not while I was in high school. When I was 19 and had graduated, I was dating Jessie, in her Senior year.
2. Did you marry someone from your high school? Nope.
3. How did you get to school? I walked. I was quite the walker then. I guess I still am.
4. What kind of car did you have? I didn't get my red Honda civic, Mr. Self Destruct, until after graduating. No car for me. Clint had a car, though.
5. What kind of car do you have now? Silver Honda civic. Anonymous.
6. It's Friday night...where are you (then)? God, probably board games with my few friends, or maybe getting a ride to La Luna for a concert.
7. It is Friday night...where are you (now)? Last Friday, out drinking with the very same Jessie. Most Fridays, boring old at home (9 blocks from where La Luna was) at the computer, writing, or watching a movie, or reading something.
8. What kind of job did you have in high school? I designed ads for a nationwide bus and trucking yellow-pages directory, the Bus Pages.
9. What kind of job do you do now? I am a video compression and dub jockey at Laika House, working in commercial animation.
10. Were you a party animal? Are you kidding? I was more terrified of crowds then than I am now.
11. Were you considered a flirt? Almost certainly not.
12. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? No, no, no. I did photography, writing, directed a little without ever being a thespian, and was president of the Mac High Japanese Club (which we founded as an excuse to hang out and do nothing), but nothing musical or, you know, productive.
13. Were you a nerd? Oh my, yes. Except my grades and social circles never showed it.
14. Did you get suspended or expelled? No, I was a good kid, except for some snarky papers for Mr. Nelson and a little skipping class. In middle school I got in a mild bit of trouble for writing some extremely raunchy "erotic detective stories" (I remember it was called Bill, and everyone in the story was named Bill, even the women) and bringing them to class, but nothing to warrant draconian measures.
15. Can you sing the fight song? I don't think our school had enough fight in us to have a fight song.
16. Who was/were your favorite teacher(s)? Dale Depweg, I'd say, who offered to help me with my creative writing over email the year he was on sabbatical in Belgium. Not only did he not give a shit if I read the texts in class, but he told me to keep copies of the books because he knew I would read them later on. (For the most part I did; I still haven't read Lord of the Flies, though...) I was also fond of Eric Oja and Mr. Saunders, my physics and history teachers, for treating students like adults and engaging me in subjects I had no passion for. And Mr. Nelson Sweet Nelly, just for putting up with us.
17. Where did you sit during lunch? I remember this. Arma and I made a conscious decision to confront the imagined heirarchies and take a table in the commons, despite having no clique. It took no time at all to meet other misfits -- 90% of whom were lowerclassmen -- and suddenly I had friends. Sad? Maybe. I wouldn't change a thing.
18. What was your school's full name? Jonathan Abernathy McMinnville High School, esq.
19. When did you graduate? After the rest of my class did, when I finished some class or other I was failing at the time. I remember then going to the office and paying for some lost textbook or something (perhaps refer to the "favorite teacher" answer). I remember they would not give me my diploma until I paid $11.00. I lost the diploma for a while, but I held on the $11.00 receipt, just in case.
20. What was your school mascot? Some kind of singing monkey, I think? No, wait, maybe it was the Grizzly.
21. If you could go back and do it again, would you? You know, high school was a gross, awkward, embarrassing time for me, three years spent sheepish and one year spent angry. There are so many things I did wrong. I wish I'd read more of the books they'd told me to, and I wish I'd accepted more of the invitations from other kids to be social, when they came. In the words of Mr. Garrettson, "I could have learned so much more if I'd gone to class less often." But then again, if I'd done it all differently, who would I be now? So fuck it, put your time machine away. Let's just move on, and never speak of this again.
crossposted from Facebook noteson 3/14, 3:38pm.