how bizarre

So the other day at that particular retail job I prefer not to admit having, I had a run in with an old middle school classmate (I prefer to use the term classmate as opposed to friend...I was never really friends with anyone in middle school). Considering that I'm in a completely different city and that I hadn't really seen or even talked to anyone from that particular class since we parted ways nearly 10 years ago, this was the last place I expected to run into any one of those people.

Okay, so I have seen a couple here and there either at the local Target or community college. But I'm not "local" anymore. Seems like wherever I go, I can't seem to escape these folk. The worst part was that I heard that there had actually been a facebook group that was created for the "Class of 2000 at St. Bede," (and for some strange reason I did join). What really got me was that not only were people reminescing about old teachers and lunches, but someone even put up some old pictures of our fine institution. I literally had a sick feeling in my stomach the moment I saw it. (Me? Bitter? No way.)

ugh.

Don't get me wrong, I don't actually hate these people. Like I mentioned before, I wasn't really friends with them per se. The few I did hang out with I lost touch with as soon as I got kicked out, and besides those good times I spent with those people, I've mostly blocked out most of those formative yet somewhat traumatizing years of mine (which is probably why I felt bad when the classmate I ran into started asking questions about my siblings whereas I didn't remember shit about her family). But kids can be so mean, and as 10-13 year olds going through puberty, sometimes we don't know where the hell our immature emotions are going to force us to feel or do.

So of course, the obligatory adding of each other on facebook as friends is the next step in re-establishing contact. Given the fact that I had no idea what half of these people looked like now (or even remembered that they existed), I was curious to see what they were(n't) up to nowadays. I mean, I know, alot can change in 9 years, especially since there was still high school (and college for some...maybe), but I was surprised to see that people were all over the place. Some were working and living in other states, some were in grad school, others were still in community college, and a surprising amount of them were already married and had kids (okay, so maybe that wasn't as surprising). 

Got me wondering...were these kids also checking out my facebook profile, looking through my pictures and where I was working and where I went to school, if I had kids? Are we all in that natural competition to see who has come the furthest since then? And given that I didn't entirely leave on good terms with them, have I come far enough and am I successful enough right now to amaze them? Did I prove my point that even though I was kicked out of the school, didn't get along with everyone, was kept out of the fancy private high school that everyone went to and was forced to go to the shitty high school on the other side of the tracks, that I still made it in the world?

Duh. 

for listening to my rants, you get to see me as an attractive 13 year-old

"absolutely divine? no, not the name of the chocolate. that's what mimi calls me after 12!"
-OO