Sunday, July 1, 2007

High School Phrases

I created a facebook account this weekend and let me tell you...it's trouble. I am finding it WAY more addictive that myspace has ever been. Part of the reason is that nearly every single person I know through Young Life and college are on facebook and it is really funny to see how high schoolers want to be known and be seen by people. My favorite item right now is how people will leave you a minute by minute detail of where they are all day long. One of my friends literally had this on her facebook page, "sleeping at Sarah's tonight, church at 10, home for lunch then to work by 1." Seriously? Who needs that much information?

But it brought me back to some funny memories from high school. Remember, I went to high school on Staten Island at New Dorp High School, so all of memories really are like a Saturday Night Live skit.

We used to use the phrase, "sweatin'" to describe if we "liked" a guy. We would say, "I'm so sweatin' him." or "He's totally sweatin' her."

I also remember my first week of high school where my biology teacher, Mrs. Spinelli (with the most unbelieveable New York accent you could believe) cussed out Angelo who sat behind me. No lie. She actually said, "You gonna call me a f-n b--ch in front of the class Angelo? This is gonna be one long f-n year." Yes, everything in that paragraph is true. Mrs. Spinelli. Angelo. the sentence. And yes, it was a very long year.

I remember Iris, the Samoan who wanted to fight me. And all I could do was run. I mean she was a Samoan and I was fast. Very fast.

Ahh high school. It is so fun to be a Young Life leader again and to walk alongside high school girls as they navigate the nonsense that goes on during the day to day in high school. I truly do feel like I just survived high school rather than having fond memories. It is hard to know whether that is due to my nut-job high school, if it was just me that felt that way or if my memory is skewed by time.

Nonetheless, I am so glad that I am not in high school any longer.

What memories do you have from high school that have endured???

2 comments:

Michelle said...

This entry is dedicated to Jasper Kump. In 8th grade (which was High School for us with grades 8-12), I was crazy about my best friend's brother, Jasper.
I was enchanted from the very first time we met. He was 2 years old (a Sophomore!) and very popular. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time sleeping over and hanging out at Linda's house. He didn't quite notice right away but I must have been in his face enough that he finally took an interest. This is an actual quote from my 8th grade journal on Feb 25th, 1985: "Jasper Kump is a very special guy in my life. He fulfilles almost every dream I've ever had--and I'm serious! He's sweet, very funny, good looking, gentle, and very intelligent! I've always liked him and I guess he's always liked me--so finally we 'clicked' and are going together!"
Re-reading this entry makes me giggle. In Berlin, where we lived, the big thing to do was to post news of your relationship status in the Sun Hut by the Duck pond--a little picnic area. That's where all the cool people wrote "LH & KC"...so, you can only imagine how cool I thought I was the day that I saw in the biggest handwriting of them all "JASPER (hearts) SHELLIE".
Guess what? That was put there in 1985 but STILL remains in the Sun Hut to THIS very day. I know because my friends visited the site last summer. P.S. Jasper is now a well-adjusted, openly gay man.
I loved high school but the drama with the highs and lows of my relationships took its toll. I wish I had spent more time enjoying my friends and less time thinking about boys.

Michelle said...

Quick edit...Naturally, I meant to write that Jasper was 2 years oldER and not 2yr old!