thoughtcrumbs

I loved R & M, mostly because they were in "my class" -- the class of '87, which means, frighteningly enough, that my 20th happens next year.

This comment is not really going to answer your question as much as it's a reflection on my 10th. I won't be going to my 20th because of my 10th.

It took place the weekend we were moving to Portland. K thought I was crazy to think we could drive from NC to VA and then to Oregon, and she was right. We didn't finish packing in time, so we had to return to NC after the reunion. It was a stressful 10 hour roundtrip before a stressful x-country journey with a deadline: a work start date a week later.

The lesson learned (besides trying to pack in too much) is that I've stayed in touch with the friends I wanted to, and I see them from time to time. Those friends can be counted on one hand. They were all there that night, but so were many of the other people I hadn't seen for ten years, most of whom I hadn't thought about for the same.

I won't go to my 20th, but I might call up a few pals and ask them to get together somewhere else, somewhere exotic. That's the best kind of reunion.

But if you'll be in Oregon anyway . . .

I don't know if it will reflect any better on my character, but I should clarify that I'm interested to go my reunion not really for schadenfreude, but for something more like, I guess, egotism. I think there's a decent chance I'll be the only one in my class of 200-something with a PhD. Perhaps I imagine getting some modicum of respect, which I never got in high school.

It's also a chance to check my judgements of people. Are they doing surprising things? How much have they changed from my conception? You don't usually get that kind of longitudinal feedback about people you encounter.

PS: If you can't find many reunion movies, another approach might be to watch (high school?) movies that came out when you were in high school.

It is exciting to be able to show off accomplishments you're really proud of--like getting a PhD--to a group that so heavily influenced your formative years. (And I won't have my degree yet, but still.) But I think everyone in the class will have a different metric for success. For some, having a family is what they're proud of, and they couldn't care less about all those extra years in school (in fact, they might think we're crazy). Others have MBAs. Others have wonderful, low-paying jobs that let them do what they love. So it might be the wrong audience to expect appreciation for a PhD.

But yeah, I do hope that some classmates are doing surprising things now. That would make the trip worth it.

Teen movies from the year I graduated: The Craft, Scream, Fear. (Apparently it was the year of horror teensploitation.) Mr. Holland's Opus and Clueless came out the year before. Josh, want to relive our high school days?

Alan, I'll be in Portland in August. Will you and K be in town?

The movies I remember from my last year of high school were a bunch of mid-60s spaghetti westerns... I wasn't so clued in to the whole pop culture thing.

Sadly, I missed my 10th, because I never heard about it. I have no evidence, in fact, that it ever happened. I'm curious about some of my classmates; I've even thought of contacting a couple of them. But sadly^2, they are acadians, and thus their name is common with about 5% of the population, so google is worthless.

Moira, that ugly orange color is back again. Just a reminder of its existence since we discussed the issue a few months back.

Ah, now I feel sorry for the poor orange color. Maybe I'll remove it one day . . . maybe . . . but maybe it's an ugly duckling color that will one day metamorphose into a more radiant persimmon or a subtle pumpkin. Let's not hurt the poor CSS skin's feelings.

Good point. Orange can stay if it is compatible with the overall feel of your design. The way it is, it is hard to justify its use. Also, there are millions of colors. By keeping Mr. Orange around for a job he's not *good* at, perhaps it is time to make someone who's more fit for the job. :)

i could wax poetic about "the tenth". but, as the night is aged, let me just give the highlights and lowlights of my ten-year high-school reunion.

+ seeing people outside my bubble
+ chatting with people who i never really knew in high school
- most of my close friends didn't go
- a lack of excitement in people's lives

to elaborate on the last point, very few people seemed to be doing interesting things, or even caring about that the fact that they weren't.

i suppose that's not entirely independent of the third point... people who i would consider as doing interesting things are likely to have been closer friends during school, and are also more likely to have moved away. because they've moved away, they're less likely to make it to the reunion.

at any rate, the combination of point 1 and the longitudnal thing that josh mentioned, made it worthwhile. (caveat lector: the reunion was conveniently scheduled around the time of a friend's wedding. if going home just for the reunion, your mileage may vary.)