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It is half past one in the morning and I am blissfully tired. I should get off the couch and go to bed. Busy day at work tomorrow, followed by a busy weekend! However, there is a cat sleeping on top of my foot (not the one featured in the icon, though that one is also sleeping here on the couch), so it would appear that I am stuck for a bit. May as well write another LJ entry. If it seems only semi-coherent, now you know why...
Tonight, I received an e-mail invitation to my 15th high school reunion, which is next weekend. Attached to that e-mail was -- at last! -- the short write up about me assembled from the interview that I did with my class organizers about a year and a half ago. For archival purposes, that write up can be found here.
I've been thinking about high school a fair bit lately. I make no secret of the fact that I spent a decade being depressed, from age eleven through twenty. Somewhere along the line, I got the idea into my head that I was a loser in high school. True, my sexual prowess was... non-existent[*]. I was the epitome of the student who "does not live up to potential" -- my grades were somewhat less than spectacular, as I actually made a game of avoiding as much work as possible. I had nearly no friends in school; most of the friends that I did have (including the exceedingly awesome -- but internet challenged -- JW) lived elsewhere. Back in those days, getting out to southern New Jersey or Long Island was a respectable task... so I was often alone.
So, yes, the memory of depression and loneliness and continuous fighting with my biofam somehow became a recollection of being a loser. Well, between reading through the missive from my classmates and whatnot, I have concluded that this was a false impression. All the details in the last paragraph are quite true... but I was not a loser in high school -- I was a legend!
I was the kid who managed to turn the school clock tower into his own private hangout -- complete with chairs and a sound system -- by procuring my own personal set of keys. I was the kid who possessively locked middle schoolers in the tower[**] when I learned that they were sneaking in when I left the door unlocked -- years later, my brother found out that a couple of his friends were those selfsame kids. I was the kid who went to the Yale Mock UN Conference and ended up imitating Krushchev's famous shoe-banging incident when they refused to let us leave early. I was the kid who read comic books behind his Algebra II textbook -- while still managing to correct mistakes that the teacher made on the blackboard. I was the kid who solved every possible variant of tic-tac-toe in Algebra II one day, and had to move on to invent more intricate varieties -- culminating in the highly-addictive game of "Infinite Grid" tic-tac-toe. I was the kid who chased one of his friends -- who he had affectionately nicknamed "wench" -- into the girl's bathroom when she tried to escape there after-hours for refuge during a wrestling match[***]... and I had teacher's permission to do it, too! I was the kid who took naps beneath the stairs of the school library. I was the kid who assumed the senior privilege of leaving campus grounds ever since he was a freshman -- favourite getaway was to the comic book store on 86th street. I was the kid who assumed the senior privilege of cutting the lunch line from the middle of tenth grade. I was the kid who went back for unpermitted seconds (and thirds, fourths, fifths, and sometimes sixths) at lunchtime -- I had a flawless system for obtaining extra food. I was the kid who defied the dress code in every way possible, from flip-flops to mismatched sneakers to "homemade" flip flops (involves sneakers and a knife) to necktie antics that got special permission from the headmaster[****]. I was the kid who half stripped in front of the entire student body whilst campaigning for the presidency of the student body[*****] and made himself into a walking billboard whilst campaigning for the presidency of his senior class[*****]. I was the absentminded kid who jumped off the balcony, down one story, into the school pool after rehearsal one Saturday morning... without checking to see if the doors to the pool were unlocked. I was the kid who made his own Robin costume, then ran with it through the Fifth Form Room -- chasing criminals, of course! I was also the kid who sat in car windows, using![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
miss_tessa as a flimsy seatbelt whilst JW drove at 60 miles per hour. And all this is just what my sleep-deprived brain can remember at 2 o'clock in the morning!
Not all of these things were known to my classmates, of course. For instance, my possession of the tower relied on secrecy at the time. But enough of these things were known to create a legend that lived on for years after I left the school[******] and, judging by my recently received e-mail, seems to live on even now in the minds of my former classmates, too.
I have reason to re-think high school lately... and I now think that I have done myself a disservice. Was I happy? Certainly not! Did I have the joys that one normally expects from those adolescent years? Hell no! But I wasn't a loser, either... and I did have my share of joys unusual and unique.
And, on that note, cat and foot have now been separated... so it is time for me to get some sleep!
[*] An interesting footnote to my life is that I had my first BDSM relationship in high school, even if I didn't start dating until the summer after I graduated. Not too many people I know started in on the kink before the sex.
[**] The tower, not the Tower!
[***] Now that I think of it, the person in question here reminds me an awful, awful lot ofpolymorphism! Not that anyone but me knows both people to compare. Certainly the pummeling they both like(d) to visit upon me is(was) the same.
[****] There were several necktie incidents, including using my necktie as a bookbag strap and my bookbag strap as a necktie. On on occasion, I was stopped by a teacher who asked me if my tie -- then made with the short side 1/2 inch long and the long side down to my knee -- met the dress code. I claimed that it did, just as the headmaster was walking by. She said we should ask him. His reply: "For Nomad, that is okay. If anybody else tries doing it, though, it isn't.
[*****] I lost.
[******] I know this because my brother began there a year after I had graduated, and I was still well remembered by both teachers and students.
Tonight, I received an e-mail invitation to my 15th high school reunion, which is next weekend. Attached to that e-mail was -- at last! -- the short write up about me assembled from the interview that I did with my class organizers about a year and a half ago. For archival purposes, that write up can be found here.
I've been thinking about high school a fair bit lately. I make no secret of the fact that I spent a decade being depressed, from age eleven through twenty. Somewhere along the line, I got the idea into my head that I was a loser in high school. True, my sexual prowess was... non-existent[*]. I was the epitome of the student who "does not live up to potential" -- my grades were somewhat less than spectacular, as I actually made a game of avoiding as much work as possible. I had nearly no friends in school; most of the friends that I did have (including the exceedingly awesome -- but internet challenged -- JW) lived elsewhere. Back in those days, getting out to southern New Jersey or Long Island was a respectable task... so I was often alone.
So, yes, the memory of depression and loneliness and continuous fighting with my biofam somehow became a recollection of being a loser. Well, between reading through the missive from my classmates and whatnot, I have concluded that this was a false impression. All the details in the last paragraph are quite true... but I was not a loser in high school -- I was a legend!
I was the kid who managed to turn the school clock tower into his own private hangout -- complete with chairs and a sound system -- by procuring my own personal set of keys. I was the kid who possessively locked middle schoolers in the tower[**] when I learned that they were sneaking in when I left the door unlocked -- years later, my brother found out that a couple of his friends were those selfsame kids. I was the kid who went to the Yale Mock UN Conference and ended up imitating Krushchev's famous shoe-banging incident when they refused to let us leave early. I was the kid who read comic books behind his Algebra II textbook -- while still managing to correct mistakes that the teacher made on the blackboard. I was the kid who solved every possible variant of tic-tac-toe in Algebra II one day, and had to move on to invent more intricate varieties -- culminating in the highly-addictive game of "Infinite Grid" tic-tac-toe. I was the kid who chased one of his friends -- who he had affectionately nicknamed "wench" -- into the girl's bathroom when she tried to escape there after-hours for refuge during a wrestling match[***]... and I had teacher's permission to do it, too! I was the kid who took naps beneath the stairs of the school library. I was the kid who assumed the senior privilege of leaving campus grounds ever since he was a freshman -- favourite getaway was to the comic book store on 86th street. I was the kid who assumed the senior privilege of cutting the lunch line from the middle of tenth grade. I was the kid who went back for unpermitted seconds (and thirds, fourths, fifths, and sometimes sixths) at lunchtime -- I had a flawless system for obtaining extra food. I was the kid who defied the dress code in every way possible, from flip-flops to mismatched sneakers to "homemade" flip flops (involves sneakers and a knife) to necktie antics that got special permission from the headmaster[****]. I was the kid who half stripped in front of the entire student body whilst campaigning for the presidency of the student body[*****] and made himself into a walking billboard whilst campaigning for the presidency of his senior class[*****]. I was the absentminded kid who jumped off the balcony, down one story, into the school pool after rehearsal one Saturday morning... without checking to see if the doors to the pool were unlocked. I was the kid who made his own Robin costume, then ran with it through the Fifth Form Room -- chasing criminals, of course! I was also the kid who sat in car windows, using
miss_tessa as a flimsy seatbelt whilst JW drove at 60 miles per hour. And all this is just what my sleep-deprived brain can remember at 2 o'clock in the morning!Not all of these things were known to my classmates, of course. For instance, my possession of the tower relied on secrecy at the time. But enough of these things were known to create a legend that lived on for years after I left the school[******] and, judging by my recently received e-mail, seems to live on even now in the minds of my former classmates, too.
I have reason to re-think high school lately... and I now think that I have done myself a disservice. Was I happy? Certainly not! Did I have the joys that one normally expects from those adolescent years? Hell no! But I wasn't a loser, either... and I did have my share of joys unusual and unique.
And, on that note, cat and foot have now been separated... so it is time for me to get some sleep!
[*] An interesting footnote to my life is that I had my first BDSM relationship in high school, even if I didn't start dating until the summer after I graduated. Not too many people I know started in on the kink before the sex.
[**] The tower, not the Tower!
[***] Now that I think of it, the person in question here reminds me an awful, awful lot of
polymorphism! Not that anyone but me knows both people to compare. Certainly the pummeling they both like(d) to visit upon me is(was) the same.[****] There were several necktie incidents, including using my necktie as a bookbag strap and my bookbag strap as a necktie. On on occasion, I was stopped by a teacher who asked me if my tie -- then made with the short side 1/2 inch long and the long side down to my knee -- met the dress code. I claimed that it did, just as the headmaster was walking by. She said we should ask him. His reply: "For Nomad, that is okay. If anybody else tries doing it, though, it isn't.
[*****] I lost.
[******] I know this because my brother began there a year after I had graduated, and I was still well remembered by both teachers and students.
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