Trips Down Memory Lane
September 4^th, 2003
11:40 P.M.(yep, that's when I started this thing!)(And I re-edited it @ 11:52 P.M. on September 6^th. Spell checker can only do so much and I tend to be a bit lackadaisical when I proofread.)

I’m facing my High School’s ten year reunion this month. I’m not going, though. The brilliant folks who we elected to our student council (let’s face it…it was just a popularity contest) decided to have it at an expensive club of some kind in downtown. Folks who have children cannot bring them to this reunion. I honestly must say that meeting my former classmates’ children would have been a major bonus. But, this little gathering (It is little, because the last I heard, the response has not been all that great) is also a dress-up kind of affair. Well, not so much as it was originally planned…I mean, they did ‘downgrade’ it to khakis and casual shirts for men, comfortable skirts for women—but let me stop this description here and start a new one.
My High School was a t-shirt and jeans kind of place. We were mostly from poorer neighborhoods. Some of us haven’t left those neighborhoods, and those of us who have still have a preference for jeans and t-shirts! Those of us who have children now…I haven’t seen any of my former classmates who do have children, so I may not know what I’m talking about here…might actually like to bring their children along!
I mean, come on!!! My father went to the same High School I did. I went to his 20^th, and it was at a local park for crying out loud! Not at some high brow downtown social club. And the tickets to this thing!!!! $35 per person, $70 per couple! Ludicrous! I’ll have to ask my dad what he paid to get the four of us into the park. But, heck…children did get to go!!! There were all kinds of children there!! I was one of the oldest (at seventeen), but I had a blast anyway! There were grills going, games of tag football, all ages were playing volleyball…that’s my idea of a good time right there!

/rant (as Wil Wheaton would say…does anyone else have trouble stopping after typing only one ‘l’ in ‘Wil’)?

With that off my chest, I have been going back in my head over the things I did while I was in High School. What comes to mind is all the plays I was in back then. It all started about … oh … maybe a month or two into my sophomore year. I was going between classes one day and I passed by the auditorium. On the door something caught my eye; there was a poster there that had something about auditions being held for a play that would be shown near the end of the semester. Right then and there…completely spur of the moment…I decided I would stay after school and try out for this thing, If I got a part, fine, if I didn’t, fine also. I would at least have the experience of going for a **snicker** real audition.
I went into the thing with previous experience…In 1984 I was in a musical in elementary school called What’s New? About five years later, in Junior High School (yes Junior High…Middle School wasn't around as a concept in our district until after I became a sophomore) I was not only a part of the Drama Team performing monologues for contests/festivals, I also hosted the talent show that year (1989-90). Throughout this whole time period (1982-1991) I was in every chorus of every school I attended. I was no stranger to the stage by the time I reached High School. The stage had, in fact, already become a friend of mine. I loved performing…no matter what happened (check back starting Monday to see what happened surrounding plays in which I starred in High School!!! The posts will be there, I promise; I’ve already started writing them!)

And here are the post titles to look for;


Monday:
The Dining Room by A.R. Gurney(1990-91 Spring)
Tuesday:
The Curious Savage by John Patrick(1990-91 Fall)
Wednesday (with the weekly feature “Humpday Quote of the Week”):
Rumors by Neil Simon (1991-92 Spring)
Thursday:
Someone Waiting by Emlyn Williams (1991-1992 Fall)
Friday (with an actual Friday Five included):
Wait Until Dark by Frederick Knott (1992-93 Fall)