Journal cyranoVR's Journal: High School 17
Found my old High School yearbook today. I had some difficulty getting through the pages...depressing.
Ya' know how mos' people can flip through photos of their old classmates and say things like "yeah, he a lawyer" or "he got his self a dry-goods store?" Naw, I can't do that.
Just about everybody from when I was a kid is dead or in prison.
Ok, ok. You got me. That was actually a verbatim Snoop Dogg quote, talking about his childhood peewee football team in a Rolling Stone article. The truth is: I went to a public, upper-middle class Texas high school, and most of my classmates are now either subcontractors, Dallas lawyers, Wal*Mart managers or - well - housewives.
Of course, I'm basing this statistical analysis on a limited sample - given that my classmates are overwhelmingly google-proof. Lemon70 is a doctoral student, our validictorian graduated from Yale Law, and another is a doctoral student at Cal Tech...but otherwise: a big nada.
Still, the thing that did occur to me was that my graduating class didn't have a single Black student. Well, there was one, but I suspect that he was only half; and furthermore, his distinguishing characteristic wasn't his ethnicity but his flamboyant personality.
ItsOk, who is staying over again, noticed the book and immediately aksed me to Point Out the Hot Girls [ed. note: he just graduated from high school himself]. Searching through the pictures, I couldn't find any.
Well, I suppose a few were "hot" - but only in the way that a mutated, diluted clone of Jessica Simpson would be.
Lesson Learned: I'm glad I moved to New York.
TAKE THAT, LIBERAL MEDIA!!!
Indeed (Score:2)
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Re:umm (Score:2)
I've been living here 10 years now: I know all about the difference between New Jersey and NYC.
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Re:umm (Score:2)
Well it's a good thing I don't have to make assumptions then! I have the benefit of having lived in both places and seeing for myself that people are different.
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Re:umm (Score:2)
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Re:umm (Score:2)
Regarding the difference between NY/NJ: I would point out that in New York and Northern New Jersey, racial/ethnic/economic groups are often separated by a mere 5-10 minute walk. This is true of both "swanky" Manhattan neighborhoods, as well as neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Hoboken - all places I have lived.
Compare, on the other hand, with metro areas of Texas, where racial, ethnic and socio-economic groups are se
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Pah (Score:2)
Right off the top of my head I can think of 5^W 6 dead classmates (counting the guy that shot himself. He was originally my classmate, but was held back a year for brining a 9mm to school in 9th grade). I can think of 3 that are jailed. The few people I've followed up with that graduated with me have either gone on to lucrative careers driving forklifts or become brainless strumpets for the forklift drivers.
I know of nobody from my class that became particularly successful. We were generally regarded as th
Re:Pah (Score:2)
That is all.
Re:Pah (Score:1)
Rmph?
That JE doesn't make any sense. The entire thing appears to be nothing more than a rambling complainer who's drawing an erroneous conclusion by comparing his immaterial life experience to the reader's unknown life experience. On top of that, they've thrown in a healthy dose of assumption that the reader's going to react, much less react in the manner they're expecting. In fact, if that's something that somebody actually wrote in seriousness and not as satire, I'd have to say that that person's entire
Explanation (Score:2)
2) The speaker is simultaneously a "he" and a "she." No, not a hermaphodite, but a "composite character."
3) Your observation that the speaker(s) user their Life Experience "as an excuse for a superiority complex that may not even have developed as a result of those experiences in the first place" is dead on.
4) Anybody that speaks or writes about a horrible experiece they suffered is guilty of this, to some extent. The only variable is the degree of guilt.
Re:Explanation (Score:1)
I think you misunderstand. Only one of those statements relates to an experience I actually had (3rd to last), and it's not being used in a context that attempts to explain, justify, or influence any behavior.
I don't have any justification for the way I think, speak, or act; nobody asked me to provide any; and I'm not going to even if they do.
1) I wrote that piece.
2) The speaker is simultaneously a "he" and a "she." No, not a hermaphodite, but a "composite character."
Heh heh. Well well - aren't you
I don't really understand your point (Score:1)
In my opinion, you had a crappy time at our high school. But instead of interpreting that for what it was, you've gone on to make blanket statements about Austin, Texas that are wrong.
You are entitled to your opinions, of course, but I think your readers should know that they are getting a skewed view of my hometown. For example, your recent "I'm no
Re:I don't really understand your point (Score:2)
Well, the two aren't related. That's a coincidence of proximity.
However, I will say that people I have met in NYC seem to be high achievers thoughtout their entire lives, whereas many of my former classmates - several whom I thought destined for greatness - seemed to have "peaked" in High School.
I would say that I'm happier in NJ/NY because the peo