Thursday, July 30, 2009

Things I Learned by Attending My High School Reunion

  1. People don’t change a whole lot when it comes to personality in the 30 years after high school graduation. The rich bitches are still rich and still bitches. The intimidating tough guys are still intimidating and still acting tough. The shy wallflowers are still shy and still don’t mingle much. The cliques pick up right where they left off oh so long ago.


  2. Kevin Spacey is a total prick. This I was sad to learn from someone entrenched in the entertainment business (behind the scenes, not on camera) and has had to deal with Mr. Spacey and his attitude first hand. I was sad because I’ve always liked Spacey as an actor, and somehow I always hope that actors I like would be the kind of people I’d like to call friends. Pfft. . .


  3. In women’s fashions the black/white color combination seems big this year if my reunion is any indicator. It was indeed the night of the “zebra people” as the great majority of women seemed to be wearing some version of the black/white theme, including me. (And honestly? I am never the fashionista and generally end up looking totally out of place at these things. Imagine my delight to find that, quite unintentionally, I was actually in style on Saturday night. I guess it happens to all of us at one time or another.)


  4. One of the guys upon which I had a major crush in high school (and who barely even knew I existed and certainly didn’t care I existed) is serving time in prison now for attempted murder after shooting his wife.


  5. More than 4% of our class have died from a variety of causes – cancer, suicide, murder, heart attack to name a few.


  6. While a few people look almost exactly the same as 30 years ago, most of us look enough different that it takes a moment to recognize us if you haven’t seen us lately, and a few people, no matter how long I looked at them, bear absolutely no resemblance to their teen selves leaving me to wonder if someone has stepped in to sub for them.


  7. Never assume that a small town motel, even one that’s part of a chain, will be able to deal with reservations made on that there new-fangled internet thing.


  8. Even people you count as friends can say very hurtful things behind your back. I was at the Evil Empire store (not many other options in ST2 so it was kind of unavoidable) when I overheard someone I’d seen the night before at the first night of the reunion festivities talking on the phone. What brought my notice at all was hearing him ask the person on the other end if they remembered me. Hearing my name immediately caused me to prick my ears and listen full on only to hear said “friend” say to the person on the other end, “She must weigh at least 400 lbs!” (I don’t weigh that much, but I am very overweight.) I had the option of walking over and confronting my “friend” or saying nothing and walking in the opposite direction. I chose the latter.


  9. One of my former classmates continues to lead the charmed life. She is the only person in the world that somehow has me so bothered. I'm not sure what it is, but I sure don't like it in myself. She brings out a competitive streak in me that borders on psychotic just like she did way back when. Just imagine my over reaction when BJ mentioned how cute she is.

9 comments:

Jen said...

As someone who has had the pleasure of meeting Mr Spacey on a number of occasions I have to say that, to me, this comment says more about the person you spoke with, then it does about Mr Spacey. Regarding his work, Mr Spacey is extremely professional, but unfortunately, the same cannot always be said for those he works with. He is polite, charming & a fascinating person to have a conversation with. May you be lucky enough to have such a conversation with him one day.

Fusion said...

I've never gone to one of my HS reunions. This reminds me why.
That and the fact my graduating class numbered around 1100 kids, and I was close to maybe about a dozen of them...

Jeni Angel said...

I, for one, am totally impressed that you even went.

My 10th reunion is next year and it TERRIFIES me. And the second to last paragraph is why. Because people could care less at what you've done with your life or how you've actually moved out of state and become successful and they've never even been on an airplane (kind of really talking about me now)-if you don't look EXACTLY the same (especially weight wise) you must be a failure.

UGH. Society today, I tell ya.

Anyway-kudos to you. You are my hero.

Trooper Thorn said...

Looks like you dodged a bullet by not ending up with your crush. The moral of the story is to keep those feelings inside and not admit them or you might find yourself married and dead.

Jeni Angel said...

Trooper-your comment was pretty hilar!

Val said...

ha - I went to my 20th; don't know if anyone's organizing a 30th???
If there is, surely the big topic of conversation would be the unsolved murder (drive-by shooting) of one of our best n' brightest... I heard about it on the radio - knew in an instant it had to be her w/her unique name...
But I wish to God you would have confronted the insensitive a$$hole & told him to kiss the absolute fattest part of your ass - he deserved no less!
(I LOVE that insult & just can't wait for the perfect opportunity to use it!)

Summer said...

Fusion, we must have gone to the same high school! :)
I've never gone to any of my reunions in 30 years. Maybe with such a large class no one would remember me. I admire you Tru for going to yours. As for the person on the phone, I wouldn't have said anything but would have made sure we made eye contact when I walked away.

Desmond Jones said...

Our class has only had three reunions (10, 20, 25; last year would've been our 35th, but it seems no-one was motivated to put a reunion together), and I've enjoyed all three of 'em. And maybe moreso as we've all gotten older.

I definitely know what you mean about the personalities, and the cliques. It was particularly sad to me, to watch the 'popular kids' playing the same old popularity games they played in HS, like they hadn't grown up. At all. And several of the 'quiet, unassuming' kids had jobs, and marriages, and kids, and were generally doing much better than the 'popular kids' were. . .

But yeah, it was funny to see how some folks, even in their mid-40s, looked virtually the same as they did at 18, and other folks were virtually unrecognizable. One guy, who'd been on the basketball team in HS, had been so skinny that his adams-apple stuck out, and his nickname was 'Chicken', was over 300lb at the 25th reunion (he'd missed the first two). Another guy, I only recognized because he'd lost enough hair that he looked like his dad, who'd been a good friend of my dad. . .

Another woman looked pretty much the same as she had in HS, except that her hair was snow-white. I walked up alongside her and quietly said, "I LOVE silver hair." I thought she might kiss me right there, in front of her husband and everybody else. . .

Bijoux said...

OMG - I TOTALLY AGREE ON #1. I said that on a message board recently and people acted like I was being ridiculous. But really...the players are still players (just divorced now, but still hooking up).