> With most of the people, I'll probably never
find out. I was shy in high school, and I'd be
surprised if any of the people that didn't know
me fairly well even remembered me by now.
But still, I have to wonder...

I went to my five-year high school reunion back
in '98 and it was a very interesting experience.

It strikes me as very odd that you can go to the
same school with the same people for years
and years, and then a mere five years'
separation can turn everyone into almost
perfect strangers. Part of it had to do with the
fact that I had no really close friends in my
high school class; all my buddies were a year
ahead of me in school.

It was weird to see many these "kids" I went to
school with show up dragging their small
children, toddlers, babies, and spouses with
them. I wasn't married yet at the time, so I
guess I just couldn't identify with that yet. If I go
to the ten-year, maybe it'll be different.

I was both delighted and disappointed at my
high-school reunion. Delighted to see how
well people were doing; to hear about their
successful careers (that they were admittedly
just starting), their growing families; etc.
Delighted that I got to talk with some folks that
I hadn't interacted much with in high school
and found out that we had stuff in common
that I never knew before.

But disappointed to find that many of the
"popular crowd" were just as shallow as ever.
Maybe my position as a "nerd" made me
biased against them, but it seemed to me that
four years of college and a year in "the real
world" hadn't changed many people at all. The
old cliques were still there, and the folks in
them were still enjoying the same old insider
jokes. But the nice thing about it was that deep
down, I didn't really care anymore.

Anyway, my ten-year high school reunion is
coming up in 2003. I wonder if another five
years will make any more difference?

Gri"feeling cynical because he's tired?"shny