Cat + Foot = ???

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 15^th 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!

( The Legend of Nomad the Kid )

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!

( Footnotes )

Cat + Foot = ???

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 15^th 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!

( The Legend of Nomad the Kid )

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!

( Footnotes )