Was high school enjoyable or painful for you?

[RandomKoolzip]

It's funny; life is often just an extension of the social pardigms we learned in high school. There's the formation of cliques, ostracism, loneliness, etc. Even on DU, it can seem just like high school sometimes.

What I want to know is: does this make any of you uncomfortable because it brings back bad memories? When you see DUers act "cliquey" or friendly or see them "hook up," does it make you feel excluded or "uncool;" or do you try to join in; or do you just not care?

And if you do find it uncomfortable, did you also find those sorts of social interactions uncomfortable in high school? Or did you make friends easily?

In my own experience, high school was sort of lonely the first two years: I remember eating by myself in the cafeteria a lot or with the nerdy kids, and sitting in the library, alone. On weekends, I'd hang out with my family or a couple (just one or two) close friends.

The second two years, though, I really came out of my cocoon and started making friends; some of this newfound eagerness to mingle was caused by experimenting with drugs for the first time, which opened me up to new experiences and opened my mind to accepting others. Another thing was that I was in a band, and we played keg parties, so there was a social lifeline there.

So it was pretty 50/50 for me, which I think goes some way to explain why I don't participate in too many of the "clique" threads here unless they're threads with which I can talk with my very few trusted DU friends.

Anyway, I'm done yappin'. What do you think about all this and how do you think your high school experience relates to how you function socailly, in and out of cyberspace?

[drhilarius]

1. In high school I had a mixed bag.

My main clique of friends were the cool kids, but I also spent time with the goth kids, the trekkies, the ravers, the stoners, the artists,and basically anyone else who I thought was interesting. Whenever I invited one of my "weird" friends to a social function I caught heat for it from my "cool" friends. However, 8/10 times my usual clique ended up liking my weird friend. I suppose that's how I am now- if you don't bore me, then you're a friend of mine.

[Debs]

2. High School was great for me

I just had fun. Not to popular but accepted.

[bloodyjack]

3. Nobody liked me

I was the creep in the back of the class who occasionally volunteered unwelcome (and I guess sometimes unproductive) contributions to class discussions and the other kids either presumed I was "schizophrenic" or "genius" or fucked up on something.

Then I graduated and now I take notation for the one of the Bilderbergs and suck dick on the side

[iconoclastic cat]

4. I do find the DU cliques odd,

but I don't really give them much consideration beyond a passing curiosity. In high school, I was that skinny critter who only wore black. I had long black hair, and I usually wore black nail polish. I never spoke to a soul. All of my friends were at different schools.

[Dastard Stepchild]

35. Hated it...

but it was more the being trapped in a building for 7 hours that I hated. When I ditched and hung out at the local diner smoking with friends, I loved high school. I enjoyed my share of teen angst and melodrama, but loved the faux tragedramacomedy that was a young alterna-gal's life.

[Dastard Stepchild]

37. Whoops - wrong spot!

Though, I wore black too, so I relate anyhow :)

[AlFrankenFan]

5. We'll see - I start my freshman year August 25th

And I'm scared as hell :scared:

[JohnKleeb]

8. ahh dont be

and have fun too. I havent had the best of times but thats mostly because I say little, Ive had some great times as well too though, you'll have fun, its not that big of a deal.

[AlFrankenFan]

19. I'll try, but my schedule includes classes I wish I wasn't taking...

Like Advanced Alg. 2/Trig., Latin, Adv. English and Biology. I hear it'll be difficult as hell.

[JohnKleeb]

22. well thats true but youre also smart enough to handle it

Bio aint hard, and you know how miserable I am at science, you and the other chat regulars heard me curse my chem teacher on a regular basis, and I was an all right bio student. You'll probably do all right, now if I had that schedule, I'd do bad but there is a reason why I am going to community college, no? and that I have a learning disablity.

[iconoclastic cat]

11. Don't worry. All of your fears will be justified.

I'm kidding. You'll be fine. My advice to you is to do as much as possible in whatever field you are into: If you like music, start a band or a label. If you write, start a blog. If you are good at anything, start doing it out in the real world. By the time high school is over, you will have a good idea of where you want to go in life.

And for the love of dog, don't take all the gossip and BS seriously; just rise above it. You will be much saner in the end if you can ignore it.

Good luck!

[AlFrankenFan]

17. Thanks

I do have a blog, http://www.xanga.com/wellstonedemocrat but it's mostly political writings. I am going to go to a Young Democrats meeting down here and ask about chartering a chapter in my high school because this being Orange County, CA, there isn't one. I can imagine why, because there are f***ing big homes that cost $10+ million just four miles away.

[iconoclastic cat]

21. Cool! (or should I say, neat!) Do me a favor, though:

Boost the font size in your posts a notch or too; it's a bit hard on the eyes, especially with those greens.

Oh, jeebus, you're a young lib in Orange County? You really are hosed.

[sasquatch]

6. It progressivly got worst it seemed to me

I was a jock(football,wrestling) and was ostracized because my junior year I went to a tech high school where it seemed like critical thinkers were treated by their peers like they had the plague. If you were a critical thinker and a jock it was even worse. I was ostrisized by my home school peers too because I was a "JVS burnout" although I've never smoked pot. Now you see one of the many reasons why I'm in therapy:cry:

[RodneyCK2]

14. I HATED HIGH SCHOOL...

Every five years, I invent new things to do to my high school reunion invitation. My school was centered around sports and cliques, which was just a waste of time to me. Needless to say, I sat up shop in the library...with a scowl.

College on the other hand was the best time of my life, what a relief from all those years in the bowels of hell.

[BigBrother]

64. I hated HS too.

I was invisable and a loser. Although I work on being invisable, because after years of getting picked on in elementary and middle school being ignored was perferable. One of the problems was many of the teachers seemed to think I was stupid, because they always talked to me in a condesending manner. Basically like we know you are a little slow but try to keep up with us.

College on the other hand is great. Now if we could only get rid of the classes we have to go to college would be perfect. Seriously I have met some of the nicest people at the community college I went to and the 4 year I am going to now.

[XNASA]

7. Very painful. So painful, that I worked hard and got out early.

I went from being captain of the football team my freshman year, to being a tortured lonely soul by the time I was a junior. So I doubled my efforts and graduated a semester early.

I blew that pop stand before I turned 18.

[Race4Peace]

9. I am going to experience my first day of high school in 3 days.

OH! I'm going to be in HELL!

[JohnKleeb]

13. as I said to AFF, dont be

hell? dude HS aint hell, pretty girls everywhere, laughs, etc, I admit HS is kind of a downer when you're painfully shy like myself but even then, its still always an adventure from crazy gym teachers to cute girls to dumb shit some idiot said.

[iconoclastic cat]

15. No, you'll be fine!

Just remember: Nobody is scrutinizing your every action. Rise above.

[AlFrankenFan]

25. Howdy fellow almost freshman

My high school start August 25th. I really hope it goes well for you. Is your school as bad as mine and gives you your schedule and classrooms the first day?
Good thing is there's this thing called "Link Crew" and a day before school if we participate for four hours not only do we get our schedule, but we get an older high schooler to help us around.

[JohnKleeb]

27. its called raising freshman

I am sure you'll find your away around easy. Hope you all have a good time in HS, it really can be fun, it of course can be hell.

[AlFrankenFan]

30. I dunno it's a large campus

Not a single building but several large one story ones and I guess it's so overcrowded it's like Chicago O'Hare...gotten a few bruises trying to get to a flight there lol

[JohnKleeb]

31. whast the population? cant be larger than HHS

2200 people and the third most violent school in the county. Arent we special?

[AlFrankenFan]

33. Wow lemme see I believe we have 3000+

Cause our freshman class has like 929. Last year the school, according to the site, had 2890 kids.

[JohnKleeb]

34. jesus, mary, and joseph

well hope the lockers arent too crowded, I remember kids had to share lockers. I remember my locker combo, thank god and where it is, Ive had the same hall locker since freshman year, always remember your combo, write it down.

[AlFrankenFan]

36. No lockers

We have another set of books at home and one in the classroom but I think there's not a lot of alg. 2/trig ones so we have to carry it back and forth and it's ginormous.

[JohnKleeb]

69. christ that sucks

Hope your back doesnt go bad on you, I carry a lot around and people worry about me because of it.

[pacalo]

10. High school actually determines self-perception that lasts a lifetime...

I was a gawky teenager, though I've always been told I had a pretty face. My self-consciousness caused me to seek out quiet spots, too, away from crowds. Although Mother Nature has been kind to me in the post-high school days, I still have feelings of inadequacy & compliments don't seem to faze me. I wouldn't relive the high school years for anything!

[physioex]

23. Hello and Welcome to DU....

:hi:

[Snoggera]

12. it didn't bother me at all

I graduated when I was 16, and never looked back.

I had a few friends, and didn't expect more.

[libhill]

16. I always looked out

for the "underdog", befriended the kids the other jerks ostracized. Guess I did it just to piss the in crowd off, but it was just nuts to me. When some of the cheerleader chicks tried to get tight with me to figure out what made me tick, I got to put the shoe on the other foot, so to speak. Wouldn't have pissed on 'em if they caught on fire, and it drove `em nuts. What goes around comes around, I suppose.

[JohnKleeb]

18. It could be better

but that would require not being shy and reserved, now I dont mind being shy, though I wish I were more talkative, I am told I am an all right looking guy who has somewhat a nerdy side, I am a history whiz, fairly jocklite, I did pretty good in gym sports games and once considered trying out for freshman QB but was diagnosed with a heart condition, preppy because I dress well preppy, so I am a mixed bag with friends on all sides of things, my attiude is more indepedent. I wish I could be less shy but HS hasnt been hell for me, I wish I hadnt been so shy because well put it simple heh I am horny heh.

[physioex]

20. Ok...

I don't see it as a bad thing that people "hook up" if people can find happiness then we shouldn't be jealous. But I hope people aren't forming cliques here at DU, that's not what this organization represents nor is liberalism. We are all in this togethor and no one who wants to be apart of this family should be exculded.

[libhill]

24. I don't have time for cliques -

I stay too busy trashing Republicans. Just doesn't get any better than that.

[LibDemAlways]

26. High school sucked.

A person's social status at my school was determined by the neighborhood you lived in. Kids from my neighborhood were pretty much invisible. I had my own group of friends but we were completely ignored by the "popular" cliques who literally paid no attention to us.

I went to a couple of reunions at the insistence of a good friend, but even they were painful. Even 30 years after high school, the old cliques were still alive and well.

By the way Sen. George Allen (R- VA) was a classmate, and he was as much an asshole then as he is now. He'd never show up at a reunion. We all know too much.

[WindRavenX]

28. High School was ok...

...it certainly wasn't miserable by any means (the usual crap: I had major loves in HS that didn't give me the time of day); but it wasn't entirely fun either. Mostly, I was studying my ass off (Tons of AP and college classes) to get into a good college; I had dreams of getting into Harvard, but alas, due to stress, I didnt do well on the SATs, which probably prevented me from getting in.
All in all, I had a group of close friends that were also highly motivated and intelligent beings; we wanted to go to the best schools and have careers. It was still frustrating because HS wasn't challanging enough- no effort, straight As- even in college classes. Didn't drink much, didn't smoke. It was boring really.
College has been the life saver for me :)

[Feanorcurufinwe]

29. Like any other part of my life

at the time it seemed like a lot of stuff sucked, looking back, if I really think about it, there was good and bad, but mostly I just remember the good times.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

32. High School Was a BITCH

The people that didn't think so were the bastards that made it so. Fuckers. Best time of my life MY ASS. The classes were fine, I took Latin (for that poster up there who is starting it) and it was really cool. Really helped me on the SATs, so good choice. I think that guy from South Park said it best in Bowling for Columbine. When you're living it, high school seems like the end all and be all. But once you're out, you lose touch with everyone and you couldn't give a rats ass anymore. Also if you're smart they torment the hell out of you, use you, whatever. But the smart people are the ones that kickass after high school.
Hang in there froshies, unless you're willing to wail on the weaker, you can kiss the popular groups goodbye. Liberal values (help the weaker, accept all ideas equally, embrace diversity) have no place in high school. It's like one big Republican paradise.

[RodneyCK2]

62. HAHAHAHA..... I like this person, sort of reminds me..

of myself. Kudos for using "bastards" as well, one of my favorites. The only good thing about high school is that there is an end to it.

[Fleshdancer]

38. I HATED high school.

The students were all a bunch of superficial drama queens. Everyone was in everyone else's business and I thought most of my teachers were patronizing. Don't even get me started on that secretary bitch I had to deal with every time I was late for first period. She gossiped about the students just as much as the students did...how sad does your life have to be?

[AndyTiedye]

39. I Made It Through High School on Sheer Masochism

It wasn't much fun being a nerd in a place where all things social revolved
around sports (at which I sucked horribly no matter how hard I tried!).

> life is often just an extension of the social pardigms we learned in high school.

I hate to think what that would have been like :hurts:

Things got a LOT better in college.

I get on best with geeks, freaks, and ravers.

[Donkeyboy75]

40. There are cliques, but that's human nature, really.

You want to associate more with those you like/have more in common with.

I didn't like high school all that much. I got along with everyone, and had quite a few friends, but college was a lot better. Plus, I had the whole adolescent "Who am I?" crap going on, which wasn't fun for me.

The comparison between DU and high school is a stretch, though. This is just a message board. High school pretty much runs your whole life for four years, so cliques there can certainly be more harmful...

[alittlelark]

41. HS sucked.

I was the kid that everyone thought was more (someone else) than she was. I looked like a certain JV cheerleader who had the IQ of a small soap dish (she and I were in a study group together). I looked like Goldie Hawn. I looked like that girl at the party... I always looked like someone. But I was never that person, and had no interest in talking to someone who thought I was.

Graduated w/ a 1.9

Got an ACT in the top .5% and got a scholarship - from there life improved.

[Skarbrowe]

42. The class of 1969

Although I had my first major heartbreak in my junior year, I was so involved with clubs, band, dance band, pep band and pep club (geez I was peppy) every sport offered to girls at the time, softball, basketball, volleyball, track, GAA (Girls Athletic Association) went to all the boys football and basketball games, went to the dances, did the Talent Show thing,learned how to make extremely long run on sentences, THAT I have to admit my high school memories are fond ones. I went to a fairly well to do school very near Lake Michigan that had the usual cliques. My step-father did own his own airplane at the time but that was my only claim to any hint of middle to upper class. He was a mill worker and that was all there was to that.

Never let any of it bother me after actually seeing the cliqueyness (?) in eight grade. I once had a "high ranking" clique friend invite me to a party at her house that just happened to be across the street from mine and we had been kids together. She said I was the only person she knew that could easily slide from one social class to another. Then she told me it would be best for me to invite someone to come along with me to the party, uh, from my social class. Might make me feel better. Now that's what I call compassionate conservatism. :)

I'm a poster who doesn't really care about or even notice certain groups of people banding together on the boards. I post when something strikes my interest. I've been on boards for years and haven't made one friend. Sad thing is, it doesn't bother me. I just hope everyone is having fun and doing there thing.

Odd this post was brought up because I just went on a holy grail search for my high school annuals. Didn't know what relative up north still had them. I wanted to see my high school days for some reason. The clock is ticking I guess.

Another interesting post. Like someone reading your mind!

Skarbrowe

[dryan]

50. I was in GAA too....

was on the girls basketball team and deck tennis teams.

[Skarbrowe]

73. GAA! GAA!

heh heh I lived for GAA. So much fun and that one person I was crazy about. We were the largest organization in my very large baby-boom high school.

It's sad to read about all the HS horror stories listed here. I've always felt that high school needs to be at least a bearable time. But, I've seen and heard of many people having wonderful lifes even thought high school sucked for them. Yep, it's all in the attitude.

I realize now that I was much more looked down upon than I ever imagined during those years. I didn't see it at the time and that's OK. I still remember the fun.

Skarbrowe

[Magrittes Pipe]

43. My experience was kinda like yours, Koolzip.

I was pretty lonely my first couple of years, not many friends. Then I started hanging out with more people, partying, having a good time. I went from being one of the biggest "losers" in my freshman class to being one of the stars of my 10-year reunion last year -- of course, it didn't hurt that I was running for Congress at the time. ;)

I think the turning point came when I got my driver's license. I went to Catholic school, not a neighborhood school, so everyone lived all over the county. Once I could drive, I had a lot more freedom to get out and do things.

I was never one of the "popular kids," but I did hang out with them. I also hung out with the nerds. Social butterfly, I guess.

Of course, over the past decade, I have steadily become more misanthropic. ;)

[RandomKoolzip]

82. "Misanthropy" is just a euphemism for "honesty" anyways.

Yeah, you know, if it hadn't been for guys like Frank Zappa and D. Boon and Greg Ginn and Bob Mould who I admired from afar and gleaned inspiration from, the first two years of high school might have seen me go insane with loneliness. Having a band helped, too.

I never drove until AFTER high school; man, I coulda been so popular: my parents were going to bequeath me a 1969 VW van, but the damn thing got rusty in the backyard and we sold it for spare parts....

Reunions? I'd never go to one. What's the point? The people I liked I still keep in contact with (i.e. Chavez).

[Dees]

44. Sports, girls, cars and parties.

Was I supposed to be studying or something? Good times and bad times. It's was the nature of the beast. Jock crowd. What can I say. I actually had friends from many different circles. HS in the sixties was different than it is now. It would not be as enjoyable for me now as it was back then. I didn't feel any pressure to be a cool guy. I just was.
I spent two years in the military after HS before starting college. I grew up one hell of a lot during the the years in the Army. I had a totally different perspective on life's priorities as a 21 year old combat veteran college freshman.

[supernova]

45. High School was painful for me

I was very shy and very reserved and had a hard time making friends. I had a couple of friends my junior year but they moved away.

I was in the band and I did some theatre work, but I wasn't as wild as they wanted me to be to fully join their groups. I was sorta half-way in those groups.

Add in a couple of serious illnesses and high school really wasn't "the time of your life" for me that everyone, mostly grownups, told me it was supposed to be. And you can forget about dating and boyfriends. Boys didn't see me in the least.

I couldn't wait to get out and go to college.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

46. Ahh lets see here. Mr RKZ in highschool. I think I'm uniquely qualified

to comment. :)

I don't necessarily find it cliquey here. I do find it to be a jumble of people who look for others' posts because they have a history of being entertained in them. People do gravitate toward folks who they may know in person or those who share tastes (btw - why do I post in Hedges threads?)

It doesn't mirror highschool so much - much too little LSD for that :)

As our asteemed threadmaster knows, my experience in highschool was one of cliquery. We ran in a circle that was an unclassifiable one. We were sarcasticly funny and had our own special language of inside jokes so we appealed to all the classifiable cliques (the nerds liked us, also the jocks, and the cheerleaders, and the rebels - but they never could get close enough to really be down with us - we were way too weird.

Its not quite like that here - for me that is.

[Magrittes Pipe]

49. Wow...

We ran in a circle that was an unclassifiable one. We were sarcasticly funny and had our own special language of inside jokes so we appealed to all the classifiable cliques (the nerds liked us, also the jocks, and the cheerleaders, and the rebels - but they never could get close enough to really be down with us - we were way too weird.

It sounds like you and Koolzip would've gotten along famously with my friends and me!

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

52. I think that's why I gravitated towards your threads to begin with

that kindred spirit thing. You definately would have been apart of the crew. And I suspect SLB might too.

[Magrittes Pipe]

53. No, he is Scottish.

We would have beaten him up.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

54. Oh, that's right

Nevermind

:grr:

[RandomKoolzip]

79. Yeah, you know it's kinda strange....

Lots of people talk about high school as if it was hell on toast, but for me all the years BEFORE high school were torture. It was only after doing LSD for the first time that I started to loosen up and enjoy the people around me. Until the last two years, which I cherish, socializing was difficult and I felt a lot of darkness in myself. Oddly, Josh, the time I started coming into my own coincided with the time we got the news that my father was dying; it's almost mythic, you know? My father died so that I could become my own man or some shit like that (whatever.)

It's true, our group had tendrils dangling in all the other cliques, but the thing that united us was our shared sense of humor; there's no other way you, me, Steiwing, Drew, Motti, etc. would have ever become friends had it not been for this important side to our personalities. Well, maybe all you guys in Hotchkiss Grove would've, by dint of topographic convenience.


And music; we were all musicians, or at least hip musically, too (Squeb couldn't play an instrument, but he was big into hardcore, Beastie Boys, etc.)

That's why I always gravitate towards Hedges' threads, and Lord Byron's, and Dolo Amber's....and always feel like I'm talking to a friend (well, maybe not hedges.) I know they all woulda fit in with our little dog and pony show.

And maybe other DUers reading our threads wouldn't get it (just like when I read some DU clique threads and feel a little awkward....)

[eyesroll]

47. Ever see Freaks & Geeks?

I was Lindsay Wier in high school (but a decade later). Right down to floating between the Mathletes (although we were just the "math team") and my stoner friends. I was the resident brain in the freak clique.

I had plenty to do in high school. The class part was easy (school's always been easy), the social part got easier with time. I skipped my 10-year reunion, partly because it was very, very expensive and partly because I realized I really had no desire to see most of those people again. It's not that high school was awful or painful, just uncomfortable and it lacked anything resembling intelligent discourse.

I've always done better online than in person -- I had a Prodigy account in high school, and made quite a few friends there (one of whom I still talk to, 13 years later). I often seem to have a better time when I meet DUers or other online folks in person, than when I hang out with people I've known for decades.

[regularguy]

48. More or less sucked but I did have some good friends.

Being in a band really can help the social life. Sex , drugs, and rock and roll got me though. Well, the sex really wasn't happening so I just doubled up on the drugs and rock and roll. I'd rate my life during HS at about 2.5 compared to a 9.5 (at least) for the college years.

[dryan]

57. High School was semi-painful...

for me, but I survived. I went to Winter Park High School which is the high school in Winter Park, Florida -- one of the wealthiest communities in the United States. I came from a single-parent home which made it very difficult for me. My mother was the manager of a dry cleaners in town and frankly I don't remember anyone else's mother working. Many of the girls I went to high school with had coming out parties that were featured in Town & Country magazine that sort of thing. We shopped at the Salvation Army and Goodwill stores and one of the absolute low points for me was when a girl recognized and outfit I was wearing (a beautiful red and white striped suit) that her mother had donated to Goodwill. It even made the gossip column in the school newspaper! Another sad incident was in my sophomore year. My grandparents sent me money to buy a bicycle and I rode it to school. Actually, we didn't live in WPHS's district but I received permission to go there since I took voice lessons from a woman that lived across the street from the school and I would have had to stop if I went to Edgewater. Anyway, I rode my bike to and froms chool. Most of the kids drove their own cars--and I'm not talking about junkers either, MGs, BMWs, and even some Rolls were in the lot. Anyway, I came out of school one day and someone had attempted to stuff my beautiful new red bike (I like red) down the sewer. The tires were also flat. I was able to straighten out the front and fix the tires but I was really late coming home. My mother usually got home around 5:30 and she was late, and late, and late. (We couldn't afford a phone.) She finally got home around 8:00 PM. Some woman that I did not know was in the car with her and another woman was driving another car. The lady said my mother wasn't feeling well and had to go to bed. The whole thing was very bizarre. The two woman were from the Winter Park Hospital. They said that someone had called my mother at Sixty Minute Cleaners and said they were from the school, I had been in an accident--someone had hit me on my bike--and I was at Winter Park Hospital. My mother went over to the hospital and of course I wasn't there. The administrator called Orange Memorial and Orlando Hospital trying to find out if "I was there" and of course I wasn't. The staff finally realized my mother was the victim of a cruel hoax. The head of the Social Office and her asistant were the ones that brought my mother home.

Now, what happened: kids can't keep their mouths shut and soon the WPHS administration found out who the boys were that played this sick prank on my mother. The ring leader was the son of a prominent doctor in Winter Park. He insisted that his son couldn't be involved. The boys weren't punished. One of them was later elected Mayor of Winter Park. Funny, I didn't vote for him.

I got through high school on sheer willpower. I knew that I could get through anything if I could survive high school and you know what I was right.

[Mara Steele]

51. mmm.. awkward...

Is all I can think to say...

Not awful, not great.... it was just awkward! :)

[johnnie]

55. It was just a part of my life

I had a lot of friends from all the cliques, did a lot of partying, had some good times and some bad times. I was pretty popular because I was in a band, and not a lot of people were in bands in those days. I was a little punk ass who wore a biker's jacket, smoked, drank and played rock and roll, that had a football cheerleader as a g/f for balance.
They sent me to court for truancy, I hung out in the smoking lounge playing guitar and taking sips out of my flask that I hid in my jacket. The teachers let me hang out with them in the teacher's lounge and I would yap with them while having a smoke.
Life was good, except that life was just as good outside of school,before high school and after high school. Life is just life, good times and shitty times. I've had my share of both, and high school was just a few years of the whole thing.

[franmarz]

56. It was drudgery.

I wanted to get to hell out.

[Mike Niendorff]

58. living hell, but I was too naive to realize it.

Really, it's amazing the crap you can get used to putting up with at that age.


MDN

[tigereye]

60. I was queen of the nerds

I was smart, voted Most Studious and used big words all the time. I was an iconoclast who wore men's shirts, thrift store stuff at a time when that was unusual, and clothes my mom made as well. Things were hard at first, since I am kind of a shy person, but I gradually grew out of that, with drama, and the Yearbook, choir and Academic games and other activities. I had some loser/stoner friends, and the nerd guys and girls from my and another high school became my closest friends and people I dated. I was one of those people whom everyone told their problems to, and now I do that for a living.

So although I remember some of high school as miserable ( as I think it is for many people), there were a lot of good points to it. And I am not particularly shy anymore! When I got to college, I discovered punk and joined some bands, and that also changed my life in many ways.

[LWolf]

59. High school was not a social gathering for me.

I went to two different high schools. By the time I got to high school, they were schools 9 and 10 that I'd attended. I had long since learned not to get attached to anyone or anything at school. I had a social life outside of school. I only spent 3 months attending one of the schools, and I didn't bother at all. I did socialize with people at the the other school, at least until my senior year. They were all a year or two ahead of me, and I didn't bother with new people in my senior year. At that point, I showed up, did 4 classes before lunch, and went to work. I didn't even bother with graduation. I showed up in the school office a few weeks after graduation to pick up the diploma. It came with a silver tassle, never worn, signifying "with honors."

[flamingyouth]

61. I began not giving a shit what people thought of me

So, in that way, it was not a bad thing.

I spent a lot of time in the library reading The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, hating Duran Duran, listening to the 13th Floor Elevators, the Velvet Underground and adopting a Jackie Kennedy-, and later Edie Sedgwick-style of dress.

So, yeah, I fit right in in the mid '80s. :eyes:

A couple of years ago, my best friend commented that I was popular in high school, and I asked her to which alternate reality she was referring. I suppose I was popular in a curious kind of way, as an anomaly. I was voted "Most Individualistic" my senior year. And I continue to live up to my classmates' expectations.:D

[Fenris]

66. Twins born 15 years apart, Lisa

;)

[flamingyouth]

68. You must have looked so cute in your little twin sets, Fen

;)

[Fenris]

70. You'd better believe it. I was a fox.

;)

[flamingyouth]

71. I've heard the rumors

:D

[Fenris]

72. And seen the proof!

;)

[Red State Rebel]

63. I Generally Loved High School

You never get through 4 years like that totally unscathed, but I am one of those crazy people that believes any situation is what you make of it.

I was a cheerleader my Freshman and Sophomore years, did Gymnastics, Speech & Debate then Poms my Senior year. I had some good friends, but was never part of the "in" crowd. Grades were probably b-b+ but I didn't put much effort into it - I hated homework.

[BigMcLargehuge]

65. High School was a fantastic experience

I chose my high school, and later it chose me. My middle school years were the worst ever, lots of fights (I was bullied but fought back to the point of putting myself in danger). In 8th grade we had to choose whether to go to the local high school or the vocational HS in the neighboring city.

I chose the vocational school, found myself in an enormous place and enormous shop (Machine Shop) filled with people I'd never met before. Many of them were of ethnicities I wasn't familiar with. I made my first friends from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Vietnam in that shop. I learned to appreciate my Portuguese heritage too as we had so many ethnic Portuguese kids too.

The 20 freshmen in my shop cycle spent virtually all of our time together in shop (we were divided into 4 groups of 5 and farmed out to the four shop sections), ate lunch together, hung in the smoking area together, and many of us had the same academic classes on the academic cycle, and all of us had the same related classes on the academic cycle. As we got older we had carpools and afterschool football games in public parks. Kept in touch after graduation, and mourn when one of us passes on (We've lost several in the last few years to drugs, suicide, and commercial fishing accidents).

I am still proud to call my vocational high school home and smile whenever I visit home and drive past the granite sign at the front of the property.

[TheCentepedeShoes]

67. A mixture

The Good - got along OK with everyone (students and teachers), learned a lot, got mostly A's and B's, always had someone or a group to hang out with before school and at lunch. Even the cafeteria food was good. :)
The Bad - a really controlling mother (parents divorced, then Dad died). No dates, dances, ballgames, mixers, or movies. I think she was jealous of anything or anyone who would "take me away from her." I could go all summer vacation without seeing any of my classmates. I didn't get to know my classmates in the same way that other kids did and I regret that. I was very much a "loner" but not in the obvious sense of someone who is picked on or eats lunch alone. Resulted in a lot of social life problems when I went off to college.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

75. Similar to you

I had reasonable grades and teachers, but my mother and grandmother almost completely squelched my social life. I wasn't even allowed to go downtown with classmates or stay over their houses. Unfortunately, other kids didn't make any effort to get to know me, so I never saw them outside of school.

And you're right, that did make adjustment to college hard, although I was really, really happy to be out of the house.

[Nlighten1]

74. Highschool sucked.

So did most all of the rest of my public education. College was cool though.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

76. I had great hair.

But the acne was terrible.
I was pretty fucked up, but I got through. I did what I had to do and the scars healed up. I was really just waiting for my real life to begin, which it did.
I did used to back-comb my hair, so I deserved everything I got.

[RandomKoolzip]

77. You had hair?

Lucky scottish bastard.

Some of us were doing rogaine back then. I had a combover; I looked like Gordon Jump.....oh the shame....

[SarahB]

78. Not that interesting to say either.

I wasn't that popular, I wasn't that geeky. A lot of people thought I was "stuck-up". I dealt with a bit of sexual harrassment bullshit. How would you like being called "Tits" when walking down the hall? Gee, I didn't like it, so I was "rude" or "bitchy". (I don't mind if someone thinks my shape is nice, but don't be a pig about it.)
My main problem seemed to be that I never kissed anyone's ass. I was quiet mostly, but spoke my mind when necessary. I had a good core group of friends. I was involved in groups political in nature and did stuff like yearbook and plays. I had a few boyfriends, but only one who I was serious with.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

80. Mmmm

well high school was fairly miserable for me. Mostly because of my very very abusive neglectful parents. (One was alcoholic and one was mentally ill...)

So I stayed pretty isolated.

But I got tons of therapy and now am pretty normal and emotionally healthy.

And about DU, no, nothing that goes on here bothers me. Seriously. It's a web site, for crying out loud. I think people get too emotionally invested in web sites. If people want to make inside jokes on here, eh. Doesn't bother me. Hookups? Ok, no problem. I'm married anyway.

I just enjoy the absurdity of reading things like "fuck the Amish."

[RandomKoolzip]

81. Did somebody really say "fuck the Amish" on DU?!

If so, they're gonna get shunned. It seems some people don't WANT to go to the barn-raising......

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

84. Yep

and I will tell you who said it if you place $2200.00 in my paypal account in the next 24 hours.

Hint: I am married to him.

[RandomKoolzip]

85. You're married to a man who hates the Amish?

Is Tom Delay Amish or something? Did your husband get hit by a buggy?

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

87. No it's not Tom DeLay

and yes I think he DID get hit by a buggy.

Well, one thing he always says is that he's always trying to pull his barn down and they show up at 4:30 am. He posts here and loves hamsters.

[Obamarama]

83. I wrote this on my HS 20 year reunion area of Classmates.com:

The 20 years since I've seen most of you have been, without a question, more fufilling, interesting and meaningful than the 12 years I spent with you. So, I will not be attending this pointless nostalgia fest.

[St. Jarvitude]

86. So far, so good.

I'm content. I've had a lot of great times, and a couple bad ones, but overall I give it a B+.

[ChoralScholar]

88. I enjoyed it

but I had a good group of friends who I still am in contact with. I basically lived in the fine arts building where I had 3 classes and one teacher's aide period.