Monday, October 27, 2008

If I Could Fit Time In A Bottle...

it would be one of these:
Let's talk about the Reunion, shall we?

I went to it. I put on a tag bearing both my name and my senior picture. I had my senior pictures taken about a month after I got back to America from being an exchange student in Denmark in 1997. I don't know if any of you have ever been to Denmark, but if you had you'd have eaten the food and you'd KNOW that your choices are pickled herring or fatty fatty fatty foods with even fattier sauces. I gained 20 lbs over there. I lost it by October of senior year, but it was too late. Immortalized forever as a chubalub. So that was nice to see again.

Immediately I was recognized and recognizing. Ok, I'll admit in some situations I had to squint a lot, but in my defense, I was three cocktails in and I'd only actually gone to high school for about a year and a half...so some of these fuckers were absolute strangers as far as I was concerned.

There's really not a lot to talk about here. I know, you're disappointed. I didn't dance on any tables...not even a one. Brendan was good arm candy...I made him wear fitted clothes. Poor boy, when he puts on any garment tighter than 3 sizes too big, he gets claustrophobic. But back to me. I drank, I ate some food, I talked to some people I was really pleased to see, I pretended to be pleased to see people I really didn't remember...I danced to Thriller. It was an event. Never was there a more horrible DJ, however...in that it was very much like high school. At least he didn't play Stairway to Heaven or Green Day's Time of Your Life. Yes, both were a concern.

Some people had gotten wider, some thinner...some purchased whole new body parts. If I'd gone with anybody other than the people I went with...it wouldn't have been worth it. As it was, being with my core gang again...thick as thieves as we used to be...it tugged at the heartstrings a moment or two. But then I knocked back another glass of wine, squelching my nostalgia thusly.

One is allowed to make up words whilst one is reminiscing.

But I'm over it now. There are some gloriously unattractive photos of me floating around on the Facebook, for those of you who are my "friend". They will not be posted here. I have a dying plant to deal with now. My plan is to look at it hopefully so as to inspire re-growth of all the bits that are browning and falling off. My life is very full. If nothing else, this weekend taught me that.

14 keep(s) me blogging:

Gorilla Bananas said...

So did anyone say: "Oh dear, what happened to you?". It happens, there's nothing to be ashamed of. And did any girls try and steal the missus from you?

Me said...

You really don't like Facebook, do you? Such hate.

Hey, at least you went. I know I wouldn't have.

Rachel said...

wow, Im impressed. I wouldnt be caught dead at any one of my reunions. Mostly cuz Im too far away and my body would likely be half decomposed by the time it got there.

d said...

i wasn't invited to my high school reunion. i bet that's supposed to mean something.

oh well... not to me.

and that time in a bottle thing - brilliant idea.

kara said...

goranas - no, thankyouverymuch...i got nothing overly alarming concerning my appearance. and no, no one tried to steal Brendan...that might be blamed on his dancing. oh his dancing. i loves it.

or - why wouldn't you have?

rachel - it took remarkably little cost and effort to get there. 20 minutes in a car...$25 for food and drinks. why the hell not, you know? i would've never gotten on a plane for it.

d - well that's what you get for trying to kill everyone once they poured pig's blood on you at prom. people who do that don't get invited back. duh.

AxAtlas said...

I envy you! I went to a private school (no religious affiliation) of 130 kids. At our 10-year everyone remembered me and I remembered them (in unbelievable detail), so I couldn't get drunk! Conversations with classmates were back-to-back so I couldn't even finish 1 beer. You're soooo lucky!

Bretthead said...

I was at a reunion this past weekend too. Likewise on much of what you said. Except I don't bother with live plants. Me buying one is the plant's death sentence.

Sarah said...

I have to agree. I am just now recognizing people that were there. In pictures on facebook. I have said aloud, "that was ....?" more than once as I'm reliving the reunion through others' photos. I never even took my camera out. Stupid.
We really should all get together more often though. Definitely been a nostalgic couple of days. I feel old.

Me said...

Because the person I was then and the person I am now are so completely different that I would be likely to make everyone feel terrible for not being nearly as awesome as me.

Seriously though, most of the people I have known from high school really haven't amounted to much, which is fine, if they were either miserable or drug addicts in denial.

I like to surround myself with the shiney happy people holding hands.

Mandy_Fish said...

I've got my 20th coming up next year.

theWaif said...

Super, now I've got Croce stuck in my head.

That sounds like way too tame of a reunion for your bunch. Bet there are some juicy details you're conveniently neglecting to mention. Chicken. I'll have to pry them from you later.

Hearing about yours makes me all the more glad I didn't go to mine. Seeing all those people I never really knew again just sounds so depressing and awkward. Except for the occasional perusal and ridicule of their yearbook photos, they can all just stay in my long-forgotten past, thank you very much.

Anonymous said...

I'm still waiting for my class to stop hating each other to see if anybody will plan a reunion. Who knew so much hatred could come from such a small school? Yikes.

nic said...

You go, girl. The last reunion I went to (5 years ago, it was my 10 year) I hadn't quite figured out that I had crowd anxiety. I was kind of afraid of just about everyone in high school, so it didn't take me long to fall back into my ultra paranoid role and generally feel like a freak by the end of the night.

I would really like to think I can rise above next time. Truthfully, it would be best if I went while invisible. Or drunk.

Anonymous said...

I didn't make it to my 10 year reunion. That was a massive shame. Really. I was heartbroken. Or not.

My final year of high school was MESSY. No way I want to be reminded of that era with the actual people who were there.