High School Reunion

First, thanks for all the get-well wishes. Yesterday I wasn’t really sick. I was at work in fact. However, I wasn’t in the mood to write because I was told that in just two short weeks, I’ll be unemployed–unless I find something. I’m the second to go and two more will likely follow. Oh well. A weight has been lifted because now I don’t have to take that long ass ride ‘urryday’ wondering if today is going to be the day Iget pulled into the office.

Should I be sad?? I guess. But the truth is I expected it. Yes, there was drama with it. Some would be mad at how the boss has handled things. But I have watched him and how he’s behaved since he came. And I guess that’s why I can’t get mad at the foulness of it all. This is just how he rolls. I’ve always felt it was important to watch how people treat other people because it tells you exactly how they’ll treat you. I just hope my co-workers, not just the contractors, do the same.

Remember when I was looking at old pictures? Yesterday at work, as things went down, I witnessed some dynamics that reminded me so much of high school. And when I think about it, it wasn’t the first time I noticed these things. You can tell the guy who was the shyt in high school. He still thinks he’s the shyt. And a lot of times, much to the dismay of his less popular classmates, he grows up to still be the shyt.

Then there’s the fat girl. She’s desperate to be popular. She will bend over backwards to get the pretty popular girls to accept her. But behind their backs, she’s their biggest enemy. And when she grows up, she behaves the same way–even if she is thinner.

There’s usually a group on the second tier of popularity. They grow up and do well. These are often the kids who participate in student government, yearbook, and the such. They hob-nob with the popular kids but lack the charisma to be officially popular themselves. And they’re cool with that.

Lastly, there are the outcasts. They form their own group. But from high school on, much of what they do is to prove to other people that they are worthy!! These are the people who hope and pray that all the popular people will be fat and miserable at high school reunion.

I didn’t go to my reunion. Didn’t need to. There were only 163 graduates. And to this day I still keep in touch with my friends. Were we popular?? I don’t know. I guess. We got invited to all the parties. I remember running into a former classmate with her daughter in the airport. I had no idea who she was. But she remembered me and we exchanged some words and I was on my way. However, when she asked what I was doing in DC and I said I just stayed after graduate school, when I said that my two closest girls from high school have Ph.D.’s, I could tell this wasn’t what she’d expected. She was standing there, unmarried, with child, having gained too much weight in such a short time. I was supposed to be her. My friends were supposed to be her. It happens in all the movies right? The random chick grows up to be the shyt while the popular girl ends up fat, with a house full of kids, and still living off of the glory of her cheerleading days.

But in the work world, as I think about the cast of characters that I’ve worked with, I see all the complexes we developed in high school. The thing I learned from HS was that personality can get you over. My group wasn’t the prettiest or best dressed. Nor were we rich. And the boys we rolled with, they were all tall–and sometimes that compensates for not being the richest, best dressed or anything like that. They just had lots of personality. Still do.

When I was in HS, I was oblivious to the whole status thing. We may have, on occasion, just once, or ten times, called ourselves the Kool Kids. But we were mean to the other kids–that much.

Where was I going with this? Humh? I don’t know plus I’ve sorta lost interest. And someone say they saw parts of the Grammy’s? Beyonce ‘nem looked fab. I was entertained by Kanye and Jamie. If Kanye is so boo-on-college, why does he keep including college-y themes in his stuff. His ass needs to just go ahead and enroll and get over his complex. I like the Jay-Z ‘nem performance. Da hell was up with Slyy?? He looked like he’d just landed from the planet Zercon!

But back to HS. I think to some degree those that found success with their behavior in HS will continue that behavior later in life. And whatever complexes were developed in HS are evident later in life. The same obliviousness I displayed in HS is the same oblivious that I display now.

OK. I’m tired of writing. I just wanted to give y’all something so folsk wouldn’t start sending people over to my house to look for me.