throwback thursday…kinda…but not really

i don’t miss high school…

…i really don’t.

not that it was a bad time, per say – i have several friendships that started there and have kept going to various degrees since. but it wasn’t a defining time in my life by any stretch. shit, far from. while certain elements of my high school self (more into various genres of music, skate and bike culture, etc) are still around i wouldn’t say i’ve really hung onto who i was or, for that matter, who other people were. we all grow older, upward or outward or both, and in theory wiser. we’re not the same people we were…

…or, at least some of us aren’t.

i ran into somebody i went to high school with at the gym the other day (name withheld). while it was nice to SEE somebody i went to high school with actually GO to a gym (a quick glance at the facebook pics from the last reunion, which was less than a mile from my house but i didn’t bother to attend due to some ridiculousness from the one i DID attend few years ago, shows that most of my high school classmates now look like they ATE their high school selves).

and instantly it was 1989 again…

“have you seen so and so lately? oh. my. god. i can’t believe they’ve hooked up after all this time! remember, she was a cheerleader and he was…well…nobody. and now they’re husband and wife? man, that’s gonna be such an interesting conversation at the reunion when his loser buddies finally get to sit at the popular table…”

and so on and so on. for FAR too long. i actually glanced at my wrist three times during this monologue i was being subjected to forgetting my watch was in my locker. i couldn’t get out of their fast enough. fortunately, half way through, one of her friends (who i also went to high school with) called in and she was starting “holy crap, you won’t BELIEVE who i just ran into at the gym…” part of her conversation i excused myself to run to the locker room “real quick” and when i came back out ready to leave the gym (i was done with my workout and heading that way when i got “headed off”) i didn’t see her so i split without incident.

i was still kinda blown away, though – and i’ve seen it more than once. here’s what i’ve gotten from it – if you weren’t popular in high school the universe did you a solid. a BIG one. because most of the people i’ve ran into that were part of the “in” crowd in high school haven’t changed in any of the right ways. sure, they’ve gotten older – but they haven’t matured. they haven’t moved on. their priorities in 1988 are still there. i bet if you had asked this in 1986 “where do you see yourself in thirty years” they wouldn’t have answered “still clinging to and talking about 1986!”

but they are.

*ironic side note – my apple music just randomly selected ‘alternative hits of 1986’ as the playlist to start…no bullshit!*

those were the best years of our lives. they peaked at sixteen. they weren’t tops for the rest of us, so we kept growing and evolving into the awesomeness we are now. don’t get me wrong – some popular kids did well from when i grew up. i’m still close to them as i was back then. but others? they think the same rules and cares exist. like when i ran into clark felcher (NOT real name) at planet k (real head shop) buying a bong (real purchase). he freaked out and told me NOT to tell anybody. my response? “clark, who the fuck will care?”. and that was in 1999 – only ten years after we graduated. but i’ll bet cash he still worries about his image among those folks like he did back then. why? because they were trained to. thank god we weren’t. move on.