What were you like in high school?

[AlexBailey]

I was seriously confused in high school.

I was a bit of a geek, a bit of a hot rodder, athletic but not into team sports, I wasn’t in marching band but I played and sang in some garage bands. I was the school’s chess champion, a bit femme and a closet cross dresser,

I wasn’t “popular” but I was generally friends with everyone but the guy jocks.

I hung out with some of the devout religious kids, the foreign exchange students, the mods, the girl jocks, the stoners… I went to the prom with the captain of the cheer squad who pulled me out of the closet and encouraged me to cross dress in her uniform at school for the first time.

I hated my home life and spent as much time out and about as possible.

 

[Comshaw]

My dad only went to his 20th. He hated it, and all the popular people trying to act like everyone loved one another way back when, and even more so at the reunion.

I saw this ▲ too, which wasn't close to the truth. My high school was 10th to 12th grade. Going in as a sophomore I was shy, reserved, with only a very few close friends who had been friends for years. Also studious, a 4.0 student. Through a convoluted series of events at the beginning of that year (a long story), I got the undeserved reputation of being a badass. After that, because I was so quiet and reserved, the tough guys stayed away from me, the jocks were afraid of me, but the normal students were too because of that reputation. Not a pleasant place for a shy kid who has difficulty making friends. At the end of that year, my life changed. My family fell apart and I found myself on my own at 16. I went wild, skipped enough school to get thrown out, then went to work to try to support myself. I ended up getting a GED in basic training in the Army which, because of my high scores on it, I transmuted to a high school diploma later.

I went to my 20th and reconnected with some of those friends who had been friends since grade school. it was a blast. Fast forward to my 40th. The complete opposite. none of my friends attended. The only ones there were those who were trying to make out like high school was the best time ever and everyone loved everyone else. Yeah. I lasted a couple of hours and had to leave. I think I did cement that long-ago underserved reputation in their minds though, because I arrived riding in a sidecar with my wife riding the bike. I was wearing a well-worn brown leather motorcycle jacket and a bright Hawaiian shirt. My 55th is this year. I did get an invite letter to it. I'm sure most of those I count as friends won't be there and I really don't think I want to see the rest of those same people again.

Comshaw

 

[gunhilltrain]

"Not many people can say their Parole Officer is there best friend." Buddy, Night Court

John Astin is still alive at 93. Loved him, especially, in the original Addams Family. Night Court could be weirdly funny at times.

 

[Comshaw]

John Astin is still alive at 93. Loved him, especially, in the original Addams Family. Night Court could be weirdly funny at times.

Night Court was and is one of my favorite TV shows just because it was funny and weird.

Comshaw.

 

[Comshaw]

I was pretty much the same as I am now. A shy, timid boy. Socially awkward and didn't say much to people until I got to know them, then I became more gregarious around those people.

I didn't date and only went out on one date, and that was with a coworker.

Once I'm comfortable with someone that I like, I'm pretty outgoing and can be boisterous at times. But still with that undercurrent of social awkwardness.

I'm never really completely comfortable around people, and even with friends, can only take so much before I have to bug out.

How you ever taken the Keirsey Bates personality assessment? It's an interesting look into one's mental and emotional makeup.

If you are interested take a look here:
https://www.keirsey.com/

Comshaw

 

[MrPixel]

Somebody had to mention reunions. Damn you. I attended my 10th and 20th. The 10th was not a good feeling given that the ink was still wet on my divorce papers. I did connect with a girl I barely knew from HS (hung out with her younger sister then). She was also recently divorced and we briefly dated afterwards, but it was a long-distance thing and basically each of us getting our rocks off in our sudden loneliness.

20th was also not a good feeling. I was very well preserved at the time, and there were shouts from a gaggle of the ladies when I walked into the ballroom lobby, "Oh my God, it's ... and he hasn't changed a bit!" That was nice, but sort of bittersweet, too, because the tolls of aging had caught up with nearly everyone else. One bad part is I had to leave my (still gorgeous!) new wife at home since she just started a new job and couldn't get the week off for the travel involved, so I was lonely, again. Plus most of the attendees that year were not in my circle of friends, it was organized by the popular clique, and my exact thought was, "I don't like these people. Never did."

Fast forward to the 50th. Now it was being pulled together by a bunch of folks I liked and respected, and especially the informal pre-party was going to be loads of fun. I made plans to go and had hotel reservations... up until a stroke three months before. I recovered fine, but all involved on my end felt travel, either air or ground, was ill-advised, given the small window for treatment if there was a repeat. I have the "yearbook" they produced, so I didn't miss out completely.

...sigh...

 

[alohadave]

How you ever taken the Keirsey Bates personality assessment? It's an interesting look into one's mental and emotional makeup.

If you are interested take a look here:
https://www.keirsey.com/

Comshaw

I've taken various forms of them over the years. Usually come up INTJ.

 

[MillieDynamite]

John Astin is still alive at 93. Loved him, especially, in the original Addams Family. Night Court could be weirdly funny at times.

Binging Night Court now. I don't remember that one, so now I'm looking forward to that scene.

 

[Comshaw]

I've taken various forms of them over the years. Usually come up INTJ.

Yeah, mine has come up several times as an INXP. The X because it came up exactly halfway between a T and an F. Interesting though, yeah? I was skeptical the first time I took it. After I did I had my wife read the definitions for the types. When she was done she looked at me and said, "Did they write this specifically for you? Because it is you!"

Comshaw

 

[MillieDynamite]

There was a boy in school, a small guy, very timid and tender, who'd dress like a girl a lot. They'd send him home to change. The whole middle school called him chick-with-a-dick. He's a she now and very lovely. But she always was beautiful and one of my true friends.

 

[KalynDash]

I was an introvert with the majority of the school population but an extrovert with my friends. I listened to pop punk and played hacky sack with my guy friends, dressed like a sk8er girl but never actually skateboarded. On the weekends I hung out in the country and smoked weed and drank at the lake.

At the time, I thought everything was so boring but looking back, I wish I could re-live one of those summers with that group.

 

[plesmoreagain]

I was, and pretty much still, a nerd. Difference is I didn't get my period until late so kind of flat. Painful to watch my friends with blossoming boobs lol

 

[stickygirl]

Conflicted.
I was trans but autistic so had that strong sense of wanting to conform while knowing I was a girl. At school I presented as a boy but it was simply for school pr - everyone knew. Reactions ranged from hostile to curious amongst pupils and staff. To please my mum I worked hard, loved science and escaped. Like any bug I grew my true wings at university, finally me 24/7.
Good things about school - classical music, independence, routine, the library and mr Baker my fab physics teacher

Reunions? Ha! I don’t think so but I kept in touch with a couple of girls

 

[gunhilltrain]

Pretty much the same for me. Class of 72 here and have never been to one of my reunions.
hung out mostly with the class of 71 and really didn’t know many of my own peers.
I was 1 of like 900 kids so I wasn’t missed..
always joked that I’ll go to the 50th class reunion .. that came and gone too. Ha

If I remember correctly, high schools in New York were strictly divided by age cohorts. I don't think I ever met anyone in the class of '72 or '74. That was one of the problems with high school - you dealt with a very narrow age group. In fact, that's the way it is in most public schools, K through 12th grade. Everyone is more or less the same age in one's classes. It's a very artificial environment, but everyone has grown to accept it as normal. No wonder Carrie White eventually destroyed her school.

The weird thing is that Sissy Spacek was really senior-year homecoming queen at Quitman, Texas High School. Some great acting required to play the opposite so well. Actually, she was about 27 when she did the movie. (A "Hollywood teenager" like James Dean.)

https://snakkle.com/galleries/befor...cek-yearbook-high-school-young-1968-photo-gc/

 

[MillieDynamite]

With her accent, where else would she have been from but Texas? Maybe, Oklahoma in the Southeast area. But no, that's pure texas twang.

The weird thing is that Sissy Spacek was really senior-year homecoming queen at Quitman, Texas High School. Some great acting required to play the opposite so well. Actually, she was about 27 when she did the movie. (A "Hollywood teenager" like James Dean.)

https://snakkle.com/galleries/befor...cek-yearbook-high-school-young-1968-photo-gc/

 

[gunhilltrain]

There was a boy in school, a small guy, very timid and tender, who'd dress like a girl a lot. They'd send him home to change. The whole middle school called him chick-with-a-dick. He's a she now and very lovely. But she always was beautiful and one of my true friends.

That took a lot of - gumption, courage? - to show up dressed like that at that time and place. You said "a lot," which implies that he varied his outfits on various days. Well, I guess that really didn't matter. Doing it just once probably was enough to get yourself scorned.

 

[MillieDynamite]

She's a strong beautiful woman now. She got beat up a lot when she was a boy. Guys didn't like admitting she turned them on, but she did.

That took a lot of - gumption, courage? - to show up dressed like that at that time and place. You said "a lot," which implies that he varied his outfits on various days. Well, I guess that really didn't matter. Doing it just once probably was enough to get yourself scorned.

 

[Beholders_Eye]

Academically - very good grades
Athletically - one of starting five on varsity basketball team
Romantically -- had no clue...

 

[Omenainen]

I don’t know what high school corresponds exactly at our system, but I guess it doesn’t matter. I was obnoxious as a teenager. I think that’s the basic setting for teenagers, at least for me and my friends it sure was. We were energetic, fearless, self-centered assholes.

 

[gunhilltrain]

She's a strong beautiful woman now. She got beat up a lot when she was a boy. Guys didn't like admitting she turned them on, but she did.

I guess I was thinking that when I was in middle-school (we called it junior high school) Lyndon Johnson was still president. In that era, if I had been drawn to cross-dressing or other gender issues, I wouldn't have dared tried to express any of it in public. The consequences would have been too drastically bad. I'm sure that of all the hundreds of students in that school, there must have been some who were gay, bisexual, transgender, or otherwise "unconventional." I can be pretty sure when I say that no one knew who they were; whoever they were, they all hid it almost completely. That was the nature of being an adolescent in 1966-69. And this was in one of the most "liberal" cities in the country.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10219248246256693&set=gm.10164329883645074

 

[Rob_Royale]

A moron. There were girls that were into me and would have dated me, but I had my heart set on a Miss Unobtainable and pretty much ignored them. What I would give to go back and slap some sense into young Rob.

 

[Bisexguy70]

A nerd. If i only knew what i know now, id a been the best nerdy cock sucker in my whole school. Theres some guys when i look back that i think would have loved having naked fun together. I probably would have liked hooking up with older men too.

 

[gunhilltrain]

With her accent, where else would she have been from but Texas? Maybe, Oklahoma in the Southeast area. But no, that's pure texas twang.

I didn't notice it in Carrie, but it's been a very long since I've seen that movie. Maybe Badlands? Quitman is some ways east of Dallas.

 

[gunhilltrain]

A moron. There were girls that were into me and would have dated me, but I had my heart set on a Miss Unobtainable and pretty much ignored them. What I would give to go back and slap some sense into young Rob.

Have you ever seen Say Anything, which is sort of an adult fantasy of how adolescence should have been? In that, he does get Miss Unobtainable (in fact, she doesn't even know him at the start) in a rather unconvincing way.

 

[Seadog777]

I won't get into details on a forum.
It's not exactly a time of my life that I'm very fucking proud of, in an overall sense.