Twenty-seven questions about high-school, shamelessly stolen from Craige. Actually, I should say that I enjoyed reading her answers so perhaps she might enjoy mine just as well. Returning the favour, if you will. At least this sounds a lot nicer than shameless theft!
1. Who was your best friend?
Thinking about this question surprised me. I thought back, expecting a name and a face to pop immediately to mind. It didn’t happen. High school was odd because I didn’t have a few very close friends. This is usually the way my friendships work, but not in high school. There, I had many more friends, none of which were as close as the friends I had after leaving school. Not that there was anything wrong with my classmates! No, those who I chose to associate with were good people. I think it’s got at least something to do with the huge changes we go though at that age.
2. What sports did you play?
The closest I came to sports was when I took pictures of other people being sporty.
3. What kind of car did you drive?
A two-door 1971 Chevelle. Lovely machine. Unfortunately it wasn’t the SS or even the 350. No, just the six-cylinder 307 for me, but I really loved that car. My parents sold it to my brother when the repairs started to become too frequent. He sold it to his sister-in-law, and the car died an unceremonious death when she hit a patch of icy road, panicked and bailed out of the still moving vehicle, leaving it to pile into a ditch. I kid you not.
4. It’s Friday night, where were you?
You sound like my mother. But Friday? Probably playing Dungeons & Dragons. We averaged two gaming sessions a week and if the frequency varied, it was likely to be more rather than less.
5. Were you a party animal?
Ummm, did you not see my answer to the previous question?
6. Were you considered a flirt?
Not likely. I didn’t know what girls were at the time.
7. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir?
Okay, I was a nerd, and I admitted it. Let’s not go overboard, okay?
8. Were you a nerd?
You seem to be skipping my answers to every third question.
9. Did you get suspended/expelled?
Nope.
10. Can you sing the fight song?
Craige spoke for me when she answered, “We had a fight song?” Actually, come to think of it, we might have had a fight song. Something having to do with red men I think, because our school colours were red, black, and white.
11. Who were your favourite teachers?
Mr. Prentis taught history and he was cool. He brought in a World War I veteran Remembrance Day. That was really interesting. I’m amused to this day that he still called the Germans “Jerrys.”
I also liked Mr. Moss. He was the physics teacher and if you expressed any interest, he would take extra time to foster your interest and talk about anything you wanted. One year he set off a thermite reaction for each of his two classes. He must’ve messed up the recipe for the other class because their experiment actually exploded. More than a few people had clothing ruined because of hot bits of whatever melted holes in them. The bits were very small and no one was injured, but we still referred to him as Mad Man Moss afterwards.
12. Where did you sit during lunch?
The weird thing is, I’m not really sure. I know I didn’t go to the cafeteria very often. Even though I lived fairly close-by, I didn’t often go home for lunch either. So where did I go for lunch, exactly?
14. School mascot?
No freaking idea. I’m not even sure I knew at the time.
15. Did you go to Prom?
No. Big nerd, remember? I had no interest in going based on how all the girlie-girls were building these mountainous expectations. Not only wasn’t I really interested, but it seemed pretty ridiculous.
16. If you could go back and do it over, would you?
It depends.
Would I have to be a teen again? In a school full of other teens? Probably not under those conditions. It’s easy to forget exactly what a disaster that age is for most people. In a lot of ways I think I had it pretty easy, but I still wouldn’t easily go back into that mess.
17. What do you remember most about graduation?
Ummm, I’m not sure I went to graduation either. Jeez, am I getting old or what?!
18. What was your fav. class?
No doubt about it: welding! I didn’t take many shop classes, but that one was a heck of a lot of fun.
19. Where were you on senior skip day?
Yea, I’m not sure what the hell you’re talking about. Sure, I can figure it out based on the name, but this is the first I’ve heard of it.
20. Did you have a job your senior year?
I did work toward the end of my high school years, but it was limited to the summer. I didn’t work nights or on weekend while I was in school. Then again, I may have put in some weekend hours at the camera store in the mall. Not a lot of fun.
21. Where did you go most often for lunch?
You’re repeating yourself.
22. Have you gained weight since then?
Sure I have, and thank goodness. I’ve gained thirty pounds since then and now look somewhat normal. Back in the day, I couldn’t gain weight to save my life.
23. What did you do after graduation?
Worked for the summer and went to college. Is that what you were after? Or do you mean right after the ceremony … the one I already told you I’m not sure I even went to.
24. When did you graduate?
Nineteen-eighty-six. <shudder> I thought perhaps writing out the year would lessen its impact. Not so much, really.
26. Are you going to your 10 year reunion?
If there was one, I seemed to have been left off the invitation list. It’s just as well because I already keep in contact with most of those I want to associate with … and it’s a damned short list. Really, how much fun would it be to go and meet people you haven’t seen in twenty years, with everyone trying to pretend they’re not older and fatter?
What a bore. Even worse would be the people who think they need to impress everyone else with what they’ve done in the interim. But really, who cares? It wouldn’t nearly be worth the five hour drive I’d need to make to attend.
27. Who was your home room teacher?
Mr. Collard was our home room teacher one year, and the only reason I remember him in particular is his class had a chalkboard all the way down one side wall that he never used, so I got into the habit of writing a quote on the board in the morning. They were often from music, but not always. He told me that in addition to his looking forward to what I’d write, others in his classes would also read what I wrote each morning. Besides him, I have no idea who my home room teachers were.
Vix
I also enjoyed reading Craige’s high school meme and yours! Brought back high school memories. I also graduated in 1986. I also did not go to my prom, I didn’t know much about it, plus no one asked me to go, either. I didn’t go to my graduation because I was too scared and nervous and shy to go. My parents made me go to my college grad because some relatives flew down especially for it (2 years later), but that wasn’t scary, it was something like an entire college graduation ceremony at the NAC, and no one even noticed me, I was a tiny dot on the stage! Huge audience. I had one best friend in high school, Chloe, whom I haven’t seen in a little over a year. I never learned how to drive, and never owned a car. I’ve never sat behind the wheel on my current vehicle, a van, yet, but I have put my own copy of the van’s key in the ignition to actually turn it on a few times, that was so thrilling! I’m too chicken to learn to drive so I doubt I ever will 🙂 I can’t remember the name of one of my teachers (who was homeroom for grade 11 and my art teacher for 2 years, but Chloe always called him “Mr Carbarf” or “Mr Carburator”, so it was something like that. I didn’t have a favourite teacher, but that could have been my favourite class. I liked art, actually learned how to draw — er, to copy stuff, I can’t use my own imagination to create drawings. I learned that anyone can learn to draw if you take a class! I didn’t go to my reunion, I almost did, would have gone with Chloe if she’d wanted to go. I only knew about the reunion from checking out http://www.classmates.com and then checking my high school’s website.
Jennifer
I’m glad I’m not the only one who does those high school memes!
And just for future reference, down here in the lower 48, there is a thing that 12th graders participate in called “senior skip day”. If you take the last 2 digits of the year of graduation and count backwards from the last day of school that many days, then that will be the senior skip day for that given school year. For example, I graduated on May 27, 1992. If I started at May 27th and counted back 92 days, then I would arrive at my senior skip day. It was supposed to be a day when the entire senior class skipped school and had a good time on the beach instead, while the teachers and administration looked the other way, even going so far as to not count the day as an absence. In more recent years, schools have started cracking down on the whole event and some even punish any student who missed school that day.
And now you know!
Garnet
Yes, we were nerds/geeks. But I still am and proud of it.
6 months ago I started playing DnD 3.5 with a bunch of 30-something guys once a week. best fun I’ve had in years, and glad to be back gaming.
you ate your lunch in the library, because we spent all of our time with Jan “Chopper” on the Commodore 64.
cheers,
Garnet