In the time since I joined MySpace, besides being bombarded with messages and friend requests from girls who might have ulterior motives, I have regottenintouchwith (!?) with several old friends from school and early life. During December I was contacted by a girl I was friends with in high school, through whom I got back in touch with one of my best friends from high school. Also during December I hooked back up with an old ex-girlfriend, who I lost contact with during the several years she lived in Germany, which led to a "date*", ostensibly so we could catch up with each other. The "date" turned out to be quite pleasant, for me at any rate.

Kellye, the first girl mentioned above not the ex, has sent me several pictures she had taken back in high school that featured me. I thought they were interesting and funny, so I asked her permission to post them here to go along with the high school pics I have put up at flickr.

David and Jay

This first one is from a day that I did not remember until seeing the picture. I forget why, but there was a day--from several clues in the picture I guess this is 10th grade--where we all dressed up or tried to dress up in the fashions of the '60s. David looks fairly passable, but my ensemble is bizzare. What's with the aviator sunglasses? The lazy peace sign I am making looks more like one half of an "air quote". And the bandanna around the lower thigh? I do remember making that tye-dye shirt at home with my mom, which was a pleasant memory that I had lost until seeing this picture.

The Gang - l-r. Stu, Nadine, David, Pandora, me

What a motley crew we were. Looking back now, it's easy to see that the primary reason we were all friends with each other was that none of us really fit in anywhere else. Parkway was small (if I had stayed my graduating class would have been about 20-25 I think), so there were not enough people to have the standard--and likely over-mythologized by Hollywood--groups of jocks, nerds, hipsters, artsy kids, et al. So those of us who marched to a slightly different drummer bonded together, even if our own drummers were not always playing exactly the same time signature.

Not to say that we did not actually like each other and that we did not have things in common, but sometimes I think the impetus was more of necessity than anything else. Or maybe all groupings of friends during our formative years are that way, and I am just being my normal, over-analytical self.

Jay and Pandora

When I received this picture it prompted me to reply back thusly: "Ye Gods! What the hell is going on with my hair?". This was apparently during my long forgotten days of experimenting with the lesbian folk/country singer look. It's gonna make a comeback, any day now, mark my words.

*She said she originally considered it to be a date, but that her friends at work convinced her it wasn't.