When I come here to update an entry, sometimes one of those banners for other diaries catches my eye and I check it out. I was reading this one, where the diary's owner mentions her 5-year high school reunion.

My 10-year reunion is coming up next year (though I'd love to see the class of '92 reunion this year, because I've lost touch with a ex-band mates that were a year older than me). But for the record I did go to my 5-year reunion. At any reunion, the question everybody asks is "So, what have you been up to?" I went to prep school, so most of the answers to this question were the same: it was usually either 1) "I finished college last year, and I'm working my first professional job." or 2) "I finished college, and I'm in grad school." My answer at the time was "I just finished grad school, doing the 5 year BS & MS combination deal, and now I'm looking for a job." I even printed up little slips of paper with all that information crammed on it, to give to people who asked me the question when I didn't want to talk to them. I didn't end up using any of them, though.

I was debating about going to that reunion in the first place. There were several people I'd like to see again, but a number of people that I never wanted to see again. But I said to myself "Wait a minute -- I bet those people who I don't want to see, are probably hoping *I* won't show up. Hey! I don't want to give them that luxury. I have to be there, for THEM!" And so I went. And the best part is, none of the assholes even showed up!

But high school, hmm. It was nothing compared to college, -- I loved college. But I didn't hate high school. It was an all-male, Catholic prep school. No uniforms, but it did have a dress code (collared shirt, no jeans or sweatpants, no sneakers). No restrictions on hair length. Actually, I think the only hair-related restriction was no letters shaved into the side of your head. That was a popular style around the turn of the decade. Looking back though, I'm much happier that I went there instead of the local public high school.

The faculty was great. Most of them barely went by the text book, because they really knew their stuff. Great lecturers. I can only think of one or two teachers I flat-out didn't like. Before I started freshman year, I was suspecting I'd get kicked out of my religion classes, but just the opposite happened. I ended up liking those classes and even all the teachers. They were "religion" classes, but the teachers had the intelligence to base grades not on so much WHAT you answered, but HOW you answered. The more honesty and thought you put into your answers, the better. There was nothing zealous about these classes. Hell, I had a biology class where we learned all about evolution, as a true science...from a Xavierian Brother. I still go back once in a great while to visit some of the teachers. Though last time I picked a bad day (Sept 11th). It seemed like a good idea at the time ("Hey, my office is closed, and it's a week day!"). But Mrs. Z was furiously on her cell phone to see if her husband, who was in NY, was OK.

Again, there were inevitably some assholes, but compared to my local public high school, we didn't seem to have that heavy emphasis on popular vs. unpopular stereotype & subculture bullshit. Maybe the fact that there were no girls had something to do with it. I would think that if both sexes were there, it would bring out more of the worst from both: gossip and macho crap. Besides, most of the assholes ended up dropping out before junior year. I guess guys who get enough validation in their lives from a good GPA and talent in extra-curricular things usually don't have the need to start shit with others. But inevitably, you did have all the metal fans sitting at the lunch table together. You did have a number of the jewish students at a table together. And there was that table with those guys who wore all black and listened to bands like "Sisters of Mercy" (the label "goth" didn't seem to be in use just yet). The most popular music there though wasn't metal nor rap. It was alternative. And keep in mind that this was in the early 90s, so "alternative" really was "college music" (Pixies, The Cure, The Church, Soup Dragons, U2, REM...stuff you'd see on Mtv's "120 Minutes" show), not "any new white band in the top 40" as the term later meant.

So was I "popular"? "Unpopular"? We simply didn't think too much in those terms. I was probably less of an outcast than I wanted to be though (yes, I had some of that teen-angst BS upon coming to a presumably conservative school). I always thought "popular" was a misleading term anyway. The students who are dubbed "unpopular" in schools seem to be just as well-known, at least by name, as the "popular" ones. As for those clubs and stuff, I was in the German Club (secretary junior year, president senior year), Jazz Ensemble, and had some stints in an after-school meditation class, literary magazine, and fencing.

And should you be a teen who can't stand those asshole jocks and stuck-up princesses in your high school, I say just wait it out until you get to college. If you're not a senior yet, and hate those seniors in high school who brag about being a senior, well you can please yourself by knowing that they'll be freshman next year when they start college. As for you, when college time comes, get out of your parents' place and into a dorm. If you have to take phys ed, it will be in a class full of students who, like you, just want to get the class overwith so they can get their damn credits. Gym can even be -- dare I say it -- FUN, when nobody takes it seriously. Whoever said "high school: these are the best years of your life" probably didn't go to college. Or high school, for that matter.

Remember, kids: there's a reason why they call college "college", and not "grades 13 through 16"! It's a new world where the tables can turn. A 4.0 valedictorian jock can end up an alcoholic who drops out after one semester, and somebody who never had a girlfriend before can end up having 5 before freshman year is over. If you're saving money to buy a C4 bomb to put in the high school boiler room, you may instead want to consider spending the money on a futon for your future dorm room instead. Not that you can't have sex on the issued twin mattress, but hey, it's just a safer suggestion. IMO, of course.