What kind of kid were you in highschool?

[salsachinita]

In the tradition of all the recent 'Getting to know you' threads, I'd like to ask our DF members this:

What kind of kid were you in highschool....? Does it have any impact/influences to who you are today.......? Has dancing changed any of it.....?

Stories.....? Experiences.....? Let's hear some 8) .

[squirrel]

I was a bookworm... wasn't going out at all... had no boyfriend (if you don't consider Dostoievski one, that is)... and I was a nerd too... liked school, studies, didn't cut classes too much (just IT which I hated and some others)...

[Purr]

I was a total geek...voted most studious in my graduating class...member of Honor Society & Art Club...no boyfriend, or many friends for that matter.

[Sabor]

i was a wierd kid.. and it just kept getting worse from there :lol: 8) .. and as far dancing goes.. it has always been there for me so in a sense i take it sort of for granted :wink:

[cocodrilo]

Lots of boyfriends, lots of break-ups, was always working to support my hobby(going to rock concerts & jazz clubs). Went to ALL of the hot venues and saw everyone from the Grateful Dead & Led Zeppelin to Roxy Music and the Kinks. Camping in the hills near my house. In the winter I skied a lot & went to Tahoe/Nevada area to hang out!

[youngsta]

I loved High School! I was a two sport, three season athlete (Football, Winter and Spring Track), but I was also NHS, Boys State, Top 5% in my class so I was a nerd jock!! :lol: Loved every minuted of it. I was rather shy back then so the only way I got girlfriends was at dances. I was well known as being the dancer in the school.

[Laura]

I was very smart (top 10 in my class) but completely lacked self-confidence. I had a horrible body image and was anorexic and bulemic, but because I'm large framed and very very muscular I didn't look sick. I was depressed all the time and abused diet pills and sleeping pills. I was terrified of my father and very shy around boys; I really only had one boyfriend the entire time I was in high school and that was only for the first semester of Senior year. High School was not a good time for me. When I left I vowed I would never go back. My parents moved away from the town I went to high school in while I was in college, so that made it very easy.

20 years later and I'm still untangling myself from what I went through then. I'm doing incredibly better, my life now is utterly fantastic! I always believed back then that if I could make it to age 30 everything would turn out all right. And it did! My life really started turning around when I was about 27, and now there's nothing more I could wish for.

[salsachinita]

Laura, mine was somewhat similar to yours....except I matured very early so my issues really stared in Grade 4. Believe me, being a big frame, somewhat ethnic looking girl growing up in Asia during those days was a nightmare!

By the time I went to highschool in Melbourne, it was year 9, all the cliques had already been formed. It was somehow tricky for a new kid who didn't speak English :shock: .

I became a bit of a lone wolf, came & went as I pleased. Pretty soon I got enough recognition for being an individual & actually enjoyed it that way. I found comfort in knowing that I belong in the fact that I belong nowhere. This attitude I still carry today.

Of course, this is the short version......

[Sagitta]

Pretty smart, though introverted. Did play indoor field hockey socially. fast wicked game...Things changed when I left home and went to college thousands of miles and a couple continents away. :)

[TemptressToo]

I was tortured in high school. I was raised in private schools until high school where I was given the option to stay in private or go public. The moronic adventurer came out in me and I went public. There were many days after that I wished for the chance to re-think that decision.

Firstly, the kids noticed something different and I was. The guys tormented me and the girls hated me. I pretty much looked the same then as I do now. I didn't really know how to react to it all. So, I carried myself with a determined confidence no matter what they did to me. You see, my entire high school had not one minority present...no blacks, no Asians and no Hispanics. These kids were just plain mean and the little Asian boy that came my Freshmen year was gone in a month...they treated him that badly. It wasn't just a little teasing...it was an everyday occurance.

The popular jocks started with some fun nicknames. They called me "Church Girl" for a while because I was from a private Christian school. Then, they all started calling me B.A.T. This went on for some time before I found out what that acronym stood for and I really hated them after that. I've been thrown up against a locker and had my skirt pulled over my head, mocked, had my school books burned, and faced down just about any type of sexual harrassment they could dish. The girls weren't much better...although I was a virgin until 22...I was "by reputation" considered a slut.

Some of the guys that harrassed me so badly, I really admired. One who was part of the group but didn't really participate was both the football captain AND the class valedictorian. A veritable genius.

I was active in high school. I did color guard (rifle line) that included marching band in the fall and indoor guard in the spring. I was the graphics editor of the school newspaper, I was an alto in show choir (Purrfection), I did Spanish club and ski club. I was the mat maid (statistician) of the wrestling team (my little brother wrestled). I also took the heaviest course load possible with yearly staples that all had AP or CP in front of them. I read voraciously and was considered by my true friends to be wise, strong, trustworthy and a good listener. My senior year, I was nominated to Homecoming Court (but didn't make it) and was voted Most Feminine of my senior class. Essentially, I excelled at everything I touched.

It wasn't until after graduation that I found out that all of those guys that tormented me so much actually held secret crushes. I dated one of them for a while when I was in college. To this day, if I go home to Maryland and go out clubbing and run into them...they will all crowd around and actually tell me their innermost thoughts from high school days. I must admit...I had no idea and it is really FREAKIN weird. I had no idea that a person could admire me that much and make my life a living hell. You should really have heard what they had to say after I moved to Florida, finished a bachelors, and began modeling. They have all apologized (a little late) for what they did to me...again, really strange.

I do dwell on it from time to time. Surprisingly it made me a better person because these days, I can handle a lot...just letting it roll off. For the most part, I've forgiven them their cruelty. I moved on.

As for the girls...just wait until I walk through the door for my 10 year reunion looking fabulous. ;) I've run into many of them since 1996 and the years have not been kind. The partying caught up to them and none of them suffer from "hotty body" syndrome.

So you could probably consider me a preppy over-achiever in high school who detested jocks. ;)

[Genesius Redux]

I was a bookworm... wasn't going out at all... had no boyfriend (if you don't consider Dostoievski one, that is)...

Hey, wun't he da guy what wrote them true crahm books?

[salsachinita]

Anyone else like to share....?

I'm just wondering if dancers like ourselves fit into the 'tormented creative soul' category :lol: that may or may not have stemmed from the kinds of kids we were in highschool.

Thoughts......?

:wink: More enquiring minds at work........!

[ShyDancer]

I was the sports freak that hung out on the basketball court or oval with a footy or cricket bat, with my group of female friends sitting on the sidelines watching me sweat it out with the guys.
A few of the other girls hated me because of the attention their boyfriends or current crushes paid me, it was all friendship though, I was just one of the guys.
I didnt care at all, I still dont!

Im a take me as I am kinda girl.

[luh]

i'm the same one as I'm now - could be just coincidence that I'm still there :D
I'm in the computer science group, working all sorts of stuff, (changing system of the school from windows to linux, getting the homepage of our school to look nice, and be informative), in the schools newspaper (the punk history section is my part), trying to set up a swing club at our school (gonna be tough and fun at the same time)
luh

[mamboqueen]

My experience was similar to Laura's; only I wasn't anorexic, I was just thin and lacking any sort of figure. My best friend was voted "best body" in highschool (of course, that category hadn't been in the yearbook before she was on the committee!), so no one looked at me next to her. To make matters really worse, my parents were divorced and that wasn't all that common back then, so I had to fight/battle the stigma of that, along with all the crap that goes with not having a father around. It wasn't pleasant, and I was stoned on graduation day! *LOL* But, that's our little secret!

[dTas]

i was a loner but tied in with all the groups. was athletic but didn't do sports, i was on the local (non-school) cycling team instead. good grades, mixed well with the geeks but also competed with the jocks.

i mostly did my own thing. was respected but never a shining star.

[kansas49er]

Hmmm. Hard to characterize. Read all the time, yet outdoors and sports orientated.....football, baseball, track, horseback riding, hunting fishing. One of the class clowns, but not confident. Smart, but no interest in grades
or homework. ALso, not smart enough to know when to keep my mouth shut. No real dates until sr year, then with underclassmen. Never confident around girls or women, yet good friends with many. Fit in with many groups, but not quite. Mostly, smartass.

[chachachacat]

Up until high school, I was always the smartest one, perfect 4.0. Loved to read, always, still do. So I passed the test to get into this 6 year big-deal college prep high school. SHOCK of my little life - I wasn't the smartest anymore! I wasn't the creme de la creme! I lost my "identity."

I was good until about my junior year, then I started cutting class and stuff. All the requirements were tough - 3 years of Latin, plus 2 of another language, Chemistry or Physics, Algebra II, etc. Latin was fine until third year translations of Caeser and Ovid - $*#+@!

Dancewise- I begged for ballet in first grade, but didn't get lessons until
maybe sophmore year. I so wanted to be in the Pony Chorus in the yearly Talent Show. While warming up at the audition, I was in the splits, just an inch from the floor, so I pushed too hard, and tore my hamstring and blew the audition. :cry:

:) Happy dance story... I got cast in some play at school as a dancer.
Everyone had a crush on the choreographer, including me. So he asked us to find partners to dance with (boys), and said if anyone couldn't find one, he would dance with them. :!: Hah! So I didn't even look, and got to dance with the cute ballet boy! :D

[ReneeJoan]

Gosh. What an unhappy time of my life to have to think about again. I, too, was the shy bookworm. My family moved a lot, and I did not make friends easily. I was lucky if I had even one friend any where we lived. Usually, I didn't even have that. And after 2-3 years, by the time I had managed to make a friend, we'd move again. And then I'd have to start over. I was so shy, so lonely, that I lived in books.

I did extremely well in school, but was never able to parlay my academic success into social success. I think I only joined two clubs the whole time I was in high school -- French Club, and Math Club. But once I'd finished the Senior Level French class at the end of my sophomore year (at the age of 15), it was difficult to be in French Club anymore without being in French class, too, because once all my Senior class mates graduated, then I didn't know anyone.

Math Club, we just sat around doing math problems, so we really didn't do much socializing. Once, the President of the Math Club (a Senior, whom I absolute worshipped and didn't dare talk to he was so high up on Mt. Olympus) took me to the Opera, but I was only 13 or 14 (a freshman) and so lacking in poise or confidence that I really didn't know how to handle the situation and I think I just wound up embarassing him more than anything. I was in Choir, but again, I was too shy to really socialize much, and since my church didn't keep Christmas, I had to drop out of Choir for three months every year, and that made people look at me like I was some kind of freak.

Also, my church kept the Sabbath on Saturday, and was very strict about it, so any social or school activities on Friday Nights or Saturdays were out for me. And since most high school social activities were on Friday night or Saturday, that cut me off from 99% of all social interaction with my peers. And my church also forbade using make-up and required long "modest" dresses for the girls, which only made the girls hate me, and the boys only saw me as a challenge to try and "crack." As a result, I just retreated further and further away from people. I did have some sense of cameraderie with my chemistry class for some reason, but that ended with the school year. I moved the next year. My only bright spot in high school was my physics teacher, for whom I was teachers aide, and my English teacher. My English teacher I suspect now was gay, and maybe that's why we connected -- in that community he didn't dare "come out," and my being such a misfit I guess he sensed a kindred spirit. As you all have noticed, I have some facility with written words, which exhibited itself even then, so I guess that was another reason we really connected. But the joy of my life was my Physics teacher. He became friend, confidant, mentor, and romantic crush object. He accepted my affection for what is was without making any effort to act on it, or block it. He was completely comfortable with it, which made me feel pretty safe. He let me hang out in the lab, and when I became his teacher's aide, I practically lived there. And yet, he was the first one who made any efforts to push me out of my self-created little protected world, to teach me how to get along with people. In a lot of ways, he was to me then what my tango teacher, Felix, is to me now.

I played the piano, but again, that was a pretty solitary thing. And it didn't help my popularity rating any that I despised pop/rock music and preferred classical, orchestral music. Being so much younger than everyone else, boys didn't interest me, romance bored me (except in books), teen idols held no charm for me, and I couldn't stand any movie that wasn't a G-rated Disney flick.

I wasn't voted for anything, because nobody knew me.

I'm so far away from that person now, and yet it's pretty painful to have to remember those days. The only thing that kind of makes up for it is that I've made darned sure that my children have the tools and skills that I did not have at their age. They all three have lots of friends, and as near as I can tell, their lives are a lot more pleasant than mine was at their age, and I've encouraged them to try all the things I never did at their age -- clubs, school dances, sports, sleepovers, friends outside of church, etc. And they do these things and still get the same good grades I did, so it's not like you have to choose between being academically successful and socially successful. You CAN have both.

[gte692h]

The only thing that kind of makes up for it is that I've made darned sure that my children have the tools and skills that I did not have at their age. They all three have lots of friends, and as near as I can tell, their lives are a lot more pleasant than mine was at their age, and I've encouraged them to try all the things I never did at their age -- clubs, school dances, sports, sleepovers, friends outside of church, etc. And they do these things and still get the same good grades I did, so it's not like you have to choose between being academically successful and socially successful. You CAN have both.

its amazing how parents always want their kids to have what they couldn't as children. my whole childhood was spent studying, and excelling in school, mostly due to my dad's incessant, ruthless, relentless pushing. But now when I think about it, he never had the opportunity to study and excel, and so he pushed me instead. the devotion of a parent always amazes me.
I also agree that the more exposure a child has to art/sport, the more balanced and wholesome they become, without unduly affecting their grades.

[dancin_feet]

I guess I was the smart sporty loner type. Always either top of the class or close to it for most subjects. Always played sports, but was never confident enough to be social. Spent my lunchhours in the library or hiding out in the toilets. I was teased and bullied a lot by my so called "friends" at the time. Pretty much a loner and hated the world, including my parents.

Dancing was a big part of my life as a child, but again it did nothing for me socially. I'd go to class, stand around with everybody at break time and look like I fitted in, but never did.

[ArmySwingMan]

I went through my first two years of high school being a loner for hte most part. I did a lot of writing and was involved in music and drama. I think the foundations for dance were set during Freshman Gym class where Ballroom Dance was a subject that was taught. I got a strong 'A' and was the favorite subject of the athletic, young female gym teacher. Every 15 year-old male's dream. I left after two years for an Arts Magnet school where I wrote even more.

I fell in love with "Strictly Ballroom" and "Dangerous Beauty" and I'd catch anything that I could that seemed to fit those two genres. I wrote poems to girls and slipped the notes under doors, in lockers, between pages in a binder, or wherever I could. I was always very flattering toward them and they admitted that but nothing ever flourished. It wasn't until after I graduated that the maturity, writing, courting, and all of that stuff came into play.

[Rosa]

I was a swot! And I didn't dance - well, salsa was unheard of then, at least on my continent. And I went to an inner-city school in a run-down area where there were no dance classes and everybody thought I was weird for hanging around in the library. I was always last to be picked when they were choosing teams for hockey... :oops:

Things are different now! :D Oh, how good to be able to spill your heart out on the Internet... :D :D

Interesting topic... 8) :)

[Rosa]

I was very smart (top 10 in my class) but completely lacked self-confidence. I had a horrible body image and was anorexic and bulemic, but because I'm large framed and very very muscular I didn't look sick. I was depressed all the time and abused diet pills and sleeping pills. I was terrified of my father and very shy around boys; I really only had one boyfriend the entire time I was in high school and that was only for the first semester of Senior year. High School was not a good time for me.


Laura, I am now giving you a 'virtual' hug... :)

[ArmySwingMan]

Yes, definitely. Cheers to those that got a life much better when they moved beyond high school. The boot out the door was definitely a good thing when it happened.

[chachachacat]

I was a swot! :)

:?: Excuse, please, what is a swot??

[BobbySSDancer]

i was a cheerleader.... all through out high school as well as junior high and under..etc.....and i took dance and was in many dance activities...i mean i've been dancing hip-hop since i was 5..lol... i luv it...ect.... and i hung out with all the varsity football guys....and yes the snobby girls....but yet at time they would get jealous of me b/c of all the guys hanging out with me...lol...what can i say...lol...jp... i was krazy i got into alot of wild and krazy stuff...but i always got out of it...lol...i never cared what anyone thought.......and i actually think that the way i was in high school has affected my dancing...b/c it helped me to just go out there and audition and be krazy and not care what anyone thinks...and do my own style....and obviously it worked b/c...hey i'm a back-up dancer now for an upcoming pop/R&b male artist....who's doing really well....i mean i'm talkin bout many record labels wanting to sign him (sony, universal, j, etc...) and we're actually doing a video shoot with Paul Wall in march...so hey.....it all worked out...

[DWise1]

Complete and total outcast in high school. So thoroughly hated PE (which was run by the bullies) that 35 years later I still have absolutely no use for sports whatsoever (I used to hate sports with a passion but now I have lightened up incredibly to where it's merely extreme apathy). A friend at the time (I only had a couple) said that walking through the hallways at school I looked like some evil genius from a James Bond film planning some kind of large-scale villiany. No social life; I didn't even start to date until my second year in college (so now that I need to start dating again, I have very little past experience to draw on).

Everything changed with college, where I met the PE requirements while avoiding sports by taking skin diving and SCUBA and, when I had finally taken all that they offered, with two semesters of ballroom dancing. Unfortunately, I was unable to achieve the breakthrough of hearing and following the beat in the music and so those two semesters only served to create and perpetuate the myth that I was totally incapable of learning to dance, a myth that persisted for the next 28 years, until I started again nearly five years ago and finally had that breakthrough about three years ago.

[Swingolder]

A lot of unhappy stories, I guess that really surprises me. Either times were a whole lot simpler when I was in high school or I was just unaware of what was going on. I was smart, quiet, but a twin so got some attention anyway, had an average number of friends and boy friends, didn't get into trouble, got a scholarship to college.

I would descibe it as kind of boring but basically happy. I look forward to my high school reunions, even wound up marrying someone from my class 26 years after we both graduated.

[Rosa]

I was a swot! :)

:?: Excuse, please, what is a swot??

Sorry, I think the American translation is 'a grind' ... someone who studies all the time (excessively, in the opinion of the other students :!: )

[cocodrilo]

I was a swot! :)

:?: Excuse, please, what is a swot??

Sorry, I think the American translation is 'a grind' ... someone who studies all the time (excessively, in the opinion of the other students :!: )
A bookworm? A nerd, maybe? I thought a grind was something you did on the dance floor :shock:

[Rosa]

I was a swot! :)

:?: Excuse, please, what is a swot??

Sorry, I think the American translation is 'a grind' ... someone who studies all the time (excessively, in the opinion of the other students :!: )
A bookworm? A nerd, maybe? I thought a grind was something you did on the dance floor :shock:

Don't know! I got that translation from a web page which possibly didn't know what it was talking about! :evil:
Yes, bookworm is what I meant.

We don't use the expression 'grinding' in the dance sense in Europe, or at least not that I know of. (I've only found out what it means since joining DF.) Probably our nearest equivalent would be 'dirty dancing.' Unless any other DFer is able to put me right on that?

Rosa :)

[cocodrilo]

No, "dirty dancing" makes sense. Sounds like the movie, though...

[DWise1]

A "grind" is indeed slang for someone who always works hard and doesn't take time off for fun. Probably comes from the expression, to have one's nose to the grindstone.

It is an older expression and may not enjoy much current usage.

[Rosa]

A "grind" is indeed slang for someone who always works hard and doesn't take time off for fun. Probably comes from the expression, to have one's nose to the grindstone.

It is an older expression and may not enjoy much current usage.

Thanks, DWise1! :D

And to cocodrilo:

Yes, the term "dirty dancing" is derived from the movie of the same name. One of my all-time favourite movies (dance or otherwise...) 8)

Rosa :)

[la celia]

In the tradition of all the recent 'Getting to know you' threads, I'd like to ask our DF members this:

What kind of kid were you in highschool....? Does it have any impact/influences to who you are today.......? Has dancing changed any of it.....?

Stories.....? Experiences.....? Let's hear some 8) .

............I was a calm person!Study was not a problem! I loved to chat with my friends!A lot!But I think that this is the same for everybody!

[quartertothree]

well, i'm still in highshoold (age 17) but i'm gonna answer anyway.I have a lot of friends, but i'm not popular or anything. mostly really shy, but i have a few really close friends, and that makes things great. I do ok acedemically,but i dont have a4.0 or anything. I love movies, especially older ones, and i like reading alot, just not so much for school.

At the end of my freshman i got really depressed and that lasted a while. i dont feel like explaining it all though, but now things are going better. I am extremely self consious (majorly spelled wrong) and people i know say i have a fine figure, but i dont feel that way. I dont like the recent fashion trends, and i'de rather dress vintage any day. ( I just have to build up my collection).

I REFUSE to get into drinking or drugs or sex to fix my problems though, because i know they wont. art is what really keeps me in school. The only reason i'm still there is because i can take photography. its what i really love (and next year i get to take more classes) and then hopefully i'll be going to art school.

I dont listen to very much recent music, just old stuff, Frank Sinatra and swing music (and other older music). The thing that broke the depression was when i started swing dancing (a little over a year ago). honestly, its my whole life now. Its what gets me though the week at school, just keeping in mind that theres only a few more days till i get to dance. people think i'm wierd for swing dancing, but they are the ones missing out. There is NO ONE at my school that swing dances, so its kinda my thing. I find it alot easier and more productive to talk to the people in the dance community than petty b*tches at school! Dancings when i'm at my happiest anyway! -Maryam

[chachachacat]

well, i'm still in highshoold (age 17) but i'm gonna answer anyway.I have a lot of friends, but i'm not popular or anything. mostly really shy, but i have a few really close friends, and that makes things great. I do ok acedemically,but i dont have a4.0 or anything. I love movies, especially older ones, and i like reading alot, just not so much for school.

At the end of my freshman i got really depressed and that lasted a while. i dont feel like explaining it all though, but now things are going better. I am extremely self consious (majorly spelled wrong) and people i know say i have a fine figure, but i dont feel that way. I dont like the recent fashion trends, and i'de rather dress vintage any day. ( I just have to build up my collection).

I REFUSE to get into drinking or drugs or sex to fix my problems though, because i know they wont. art is what really keeps me in school. The only reason i'm still there is because i can take photography. its what i really love (and next year i get to take more classes) and then hopefully i'll be going to art school.

I dont listen to very much recent music, just old stuff, Frank Sinatra and swing music (and other older music). The thing that broke the depression was when i started swing dancing (a little over a year ago). honestly, its my whole life now. Its what gets me though the week at school, just keeping in mind that theres only a few more days till i get to dance. people think i'm wierd for swing dancing, but they are the ones missing out. There is NO ONE at my school that swing dances, so its kinda my thing. I find it alot easier and more productive to talk to the people in the dance community than petty b*tches at school! Dancings when i'm at my happiest anyway! -Maryam

Good for YOU! You know what makes you happy and you go for it! I felt the same way in college. There was one other girl into retro stuff! (ONE!)

Dance spans the vast acres of time.
Whatever era you relate to, just enjoy dancing and dressing
and doing your own thing and being yourself, and you will find
that there are others like you.
We find each other, and we join in our dance together and make each other happy!

Swing on, sister!

[Twilight_Elena]

Probably should answer this in the summer, but who gives a dime...
I was an outcast. I had a couple of friends but pretty much everyone else made fun of me. I had a rough time around 14-15, but for the past 2-3 years things have been much better. For the better part of my 17 years, I have been away from all sorts of sports and similar activities, till I started dancing last year. That was the end of my gymnastics-hating days. :P
I don't think dancers are necessarily people who had a rough childhood, just as I don't believe it takes a tortured soul to make an excellent artist. But hey! Might as well investigate it... EM's would like to know... :wink:

Twilight Elena

[Boynextdoor]

OH! I think this is neat-o! Okay, here goes...

In high school I was still agoraphobic/terrified of being near even a small crowd. I was VERY awkward. Most people thought I was ticked off or about to cry. (Had a dream someone nicknamed me Cryan...Cryin'+Ryan=Cryan) I never fit in with anyone. Too stupid for the smart kids, to smart for the dumb ones. I didn't even come close to having my own group of friends. I just went with anyone who paid any kind of attention to me. (Constantly had dreams about being a mutant a la X-Men and being oppressed, chased, and shunned.) And we were/are kind of poor, so that made things even worse. And I also didn't have a dad, and while it wasn't like everyone whispered about it when I walked by, I was/am very desperate for any kind of interaction/affection/validation/whatever with a male. And none of my (Male) teachers got it. I usually creeped them out, along with the other kids since I usually tend to be too affectionate, too quickly. But when I started becoming more distant, uncaring, and rather chilly because of that, I discovered a sarcastic talent that was waaaay beyond my years.

I hated sports. And we hardly did anything I liked. Very little badminton (SP?), only one day of track and field activities (I was one of the best shot putters in the class), and NO gymnastics. I was definitely not a jock.

I spoke to people, but never felt I connected to any of them. Even my "friends". I was always paranoid about being made fun of, and I usually felt that no one liked me, and no one would. I was constantly depressed and lonely. And I have always had a large build, and I seem to be a magnet for short, skinny people. So, I developed really bad posture as a means to try to make myself less noticeable.

I always was more into a fifties look. Punkers started doing their hair more like mine and wearing rolled up jeans, but I never was mistaken for one. I hung out with different groups but was often the silent big kid who was just uncomfortably standing near them.

I usually chatted it up with my teachers since I had so little in common with the other kids (until they got creeped out, see beginning). But I could almost always get along with people.

Never had a girlfriend, but after graduation some guy said he thought I was cute. (He's a chubby/cub chaser, not that I’m very cub-like…) One girl said a mutual friend liked me, but they never said anything about it, so it was REALLY awkward in our astronomy class!

Never once went to a dance. Not like they would’ve played anything I liked. (Always have been into oldies/swing)

Also, it seems like the typical teenager stuff comes in two forms: emotional, and physical. I had been battling the emotional part since about third grade. But the physical just seems to have started happening very recently. (Shoulders broadening, muscles becoming more easy to attain… And while not perfect, my calves have now never looked better) that’s another thing… You couldn’t tell who the jocks were at my school. They were short, tall, skinny, heavy, bot none were typical beefy guys… Except my friend who only did martial arts, and his buddy, a boxer. They could’ve beaten the carp out of the jocks, and were reasonably popular, but they were still so very nice, even to a weirdo like me.

Thankfully, I was 5’11” and a half in ninth grade. So while not popular, even among the outcasts, I wasn’t picked on exactly. Truly, God help the outcasts… Lonely at the bottom. Although at my school, other than the jocks needing some disgruntled nerd to push them over the second story balcony, I never saw or heard of anyone being constantly, brutally bullied. Quite like Survivor. All the popular folks were busy duking it out amongst themselves, so those of us lower on the totem pole were pretty much okay.

Sometimes I want to go back, just so I could be different, be more like I am now, and because then I’d be… well, younger.

Now, I’m still very much the same, only more secure with it. Sort of, if that makes any sense. If things were different I might not have met my very best friend in the whole world. So, I’d gladly suffer through the muck again. And I did have my mom there for me.

[fascination]

geez...I hate to even think back on it...I doubt that it is any different than now...i think people found me to be loud dramatic and confident...which couldn't be further from the truth...mostly I was just lonely...not much has really changed except that it doesnt scare me as much anymore

[Boynextdoor]

How come you were lonely? Was it hard to connect with people?

[fascination]

dunno...I guess because I didn't send out the right message...or try to do anything to alleviate it...and b/c probably no one would have imagined it, given what I was projecting...(shrug, pygmalion style)...not the end of the world...just what happened am old enough that I dont think about it much anymore (unless I see a thread on the subject)...but ya know, even though we all continue to grow...we're still kids in some ways inside...

[Twilight_Elena]

I always thought that other people had it hard to connect with me, not the other way around. *shrug* I keep them away, I suppose.

Twilight Elena

[Boynextdoor]

we're still kids in some ways inside...

Funny you should say that. A teacher recently said I need to stop thinking of myself as a delicate little child about to break....

But yeah, normals, who needs them?...

[Spitfire]

Wasn't a dancer; that's for sure.

[hepcat]

I was way too self conscious and high strung as a kid. I was a band geek, but I had a great group of friends which, despite bullies and getting shafted by the popular kids, made it an overall enjoyable experience. I didn't want to graduate. They were the closest friends I've ever had.

I've mellowed out quite a bit since then, although I'm still rather self-conscious and I stress about stuff more than I should. I'm still looking for friends I can connect with as well as I did back in school.

-Hepcat

[Boynextdoor]

Well, here I am!

I only didn't want to graduate because the teachers all kept trying to make each progressive year seem scary since kindergarten. Except my creative writing teacher, she grew up with that garbage, too, so she was cool.

[hepcat]

:) I never had much problem with most of the teachers. I was an A/B student, although I feel like I had to work harder than most to get there. I got along with most of my teachers great.

Although there was this one teacher (high school physics) whom I really despised. I'd characterize him more as an abbrasive gym coach than a physics prof. It was almost as if he was one of the ass**** popular kids. He'd even make fun of some kids. He was the best friend of the jocks. We'd spend the majority of some classes just talking about stupid social crap. I remember right before graduation, one of the studious girls dropped his class and would not graduate, he upset her so. I totally understood. I hated that guy. I knew it was his fault. I think the principal worked out some sort of thing for her, but I don't think she took the final. She was really smart too, perhaps one step down from valadictorian. I was glad someone finally put their foot down and rebelled.

I can't remember many specifics. I suppose I've blocked a lot of it out, but I do recall they had class on the roof one day (which may sound cool second-hand, but believe me it wasn't). I wouldn't go. Besides, he didn't actually teach anything out there. They were just goofing off as usual. Another class, one of the popular kids brought in an iguana and they spent the whole class time playing with it. I suppose all this stuff would've been OK, if it didn't have that exclusive popular/jock air about it. I have a vague memory of popular/jock kids sabotaging my experiments and the teacher turning a deliberate blind eye with a chuckle.

I'm pretty bitter about the whole experience.

[Boynextdoor]

Psh, I would be, too. Sounds like a loser. besides, the administration should have known something was up... Jocks in a physics class?.... Hahaha

[Shooshoo]

Teenage years were the toughest I must admit. Alot of confusion. But I did o.k. I guess compared to many of the experiences I've read above. I was alot like Shydancer.

I was the sports freak that hung out on the basketball court or oval with a footy or cricket bat, with my group of female friends sitting on the sidelines watching me sweat it out with the guys.


Many girls hung around to get the boys' attention. I just loved to challenge the guys, what a delight if I could run faster than the guys. And dancing....you must be kidding, wouldn't have gotten caught in a skirt or make-up. That was taboo.

But I did get my first heartbreak at that age, which wasn't that pleasant. But I had a great group of friends.

[Medira]

I was tormented and (literally) tortured throughout elementary school, to the point where I switched not only schools, but school boards. I was tall and turn-sideways-and-disappear skinny. Always the tallest in class, as well as one of the smartest. Yeah, I stuck out like a sore thumb. As a result, I spent a lot of my time pre-highschool reading, drawing and writing. I found extracurricular activities and hobbies that I could throw myself into and used that as a distraction from the fact that I didn't have any friends and ended up getting beaten up every day I was at school. For years, I would be sick to my stomach every morning because I was so afraid to go to school. When I changed schools (after being the target of a gang initiation that almost killed me) I wasn't as badly teased and actually developed some friendships. Never anything that was too close, but I did have people who would talk to me now.

When I got to highschool, I became the kid who knew everybody, but didn't really stick to one set group of friends. I drifted around the different social circles at my school, never really getting close to any one group and, with very, very, very few exceptions, never really getting close to any one person. I wasn't one of the popular people, but they never had a problem if I hung around with them a bit. I was never considered part of the sporty/jock crowd, but I was a cheerleader and on the swim team for all five years. I was a computer geek, even back then, and a permanent workaholic. (I never worked fewer than two jobs and I worked 5 jobs in my last two years of high school) I had my first boyfriend (who also acted as my first love, my first fiance and my first major heartbreak) at 18 and that relationship lasted for three years.

As far as dance goes, I was competitive in ballet, tap, jazz, musical theatre, lyrical, modern and hip hop...and picking up some extra fun classes, such as irish step dancing, country line dancing, hula, capoeira, acro and belly dance. I also trained and competed in gymnastics until I hyperextended my elbows...then took up competitive springboard and platform diving to replace the gymnastics when I couldn't do it any more.

To this day, I'm still wary of friendships and it takes a long time for them to develop into anything close...if they ever do. I still read a lot and can finish a regular sized novel in a day or two, depending on the size of the book. I'm still active and still working, though it isn't nearly as insane as it used to be.

[Sagitta]

Wow!! Medira! *Hugs* I was a shy kid when in school, probably got a little teasing, that almost everyone does, which affected me moer then others because of my personailty...but, now I'm thinking my lot was pretty good. When one is scarred it is tough to smoothen and heal those knotted and "garneled"(sp?) wounds. I've been through some tough relationships...but, by opening out and risking I ahve got so much more!! Danec definitely helps with that...and again danec was not something I ever did, though a few people who saw me when I was realexd and not self-conscious and just moving to the muisc tried to get me into doing something. I thinks better late then never. ;-)

[Shooshoo]

Wow, Medira what an active person you have been. I'm impressed.

Seems like most of us are/were shy. I used to be terribly shy and people would always think I was a snob, until they get to know me :p . But I've had to work on my shyness through the years. And I'm also most comfortable and relaxed when I'm doing activities.

I must say I've been quite lucky in the friendship and family areas (alot of love there), but a disaster in romantic relationships, but sometimes I think maybe one can't have it all? So I try to enjoy what I have.

I wonder if I had started to dance when I was younger if it would have changed anything?

[jaymz]

'fraid I was a swot at school too.

Being brought up in a not too well off family, I was determined to work my way up at a very young age.

I was bullied constantly at primary (Junior?) school, until I took rather sharp object and scarred the bully's face for life. No-one since that day has managed to get that sadistic streak out of me.

I was even more shy than M knows I am now, and I wanted to get into IT. The IT job market was starting to tail off in the UK a few years back, so I decided to go into my backup choice; Accountancy (mmmmm, interesting).

I have an awful lot of regrets, but then again I have some people in my life right now that I wouldn't swap for the world, and I can only think that it might not have happened if it weren't for some of that stuff.

I was never really into sports, though I had a forray as bleached-blonde haired, silver booted soccer referee that lasted for only a half-dozen matches. Dancing is something that I've only discovered last summer. I'd not danced at all in around a decade after an embarrasing incidient broadcast on television.

But hey, let's look to the future.

[chandra]

Interesting topic. Too me this is "Who are you in Highschool"
Background: just changed from a small private to large public school

In my last school, I was the class clown. Everyone liked me, and I made everyone laugh. My closest friends were never from my school, they were through activities like sports or dance... I was friends with everyone in my school, but not very close to them. Now, most of my friends have gone to college. (they were older.) At that school I wouldve have been voted Funniest, Craziest, and most essential to survive a day of school. (when the class as a whole decided what they were thankful for, I was on the list along with Food, sunny days, walking in the rain, and laughter)
At the new school, things are a little different. The social system is already so set up, halfway through junior year. And its a large school... Im used to only 16 people in my class. A couple hundred is a shocker... I havent made any friends at the new school yet, some how I dont think I will... Im just not really interested in friends. I dont go to school dances, I dont eat lunch at school, and Im not involved in any activities. I keep to myself.
Im in classes with the theatre people, whom I get on with the best, and also the geek geeks, (programming). Im as smart as them, but Im in no means a geek. Im the kid with all the AP classes, and Duel Credit classes... But the one who doesnt where glass, doesnt lisp, is actually funny, and can dance. I dont really stress about grades, although Id like to get into a good college, its never been a problem. Grades have come easily for me. Im a bit of a teachers pet, not by trying, adults just seem to like me. (I grew up in the equivalent of a convent, I didnt see any other children till I was 6... I went into elementary schools somewhat lacking social skills!)
Im the kid always drew attention to herself in class, and disappeared in the hallways. I make people laugh when I present, and I am amicable if someone talks to me, but I dont make an effort to talk first.
Dance is a huge part of my life, and I wouldnt have it any other way. I go to about a comp a month, and do as much private coaching as I can afford. I travel alot... I work only 1 job now, but I was recently promoted to manager, and I make more money than any teen I know. And work I believe on the edge, or above the legal limit for teen labor... :oops !
Sometimes highschool sucks, and sometimes its just blaze... Im not putting an effort into the whole social scene at all. As someone who has always been freinds with people in their early 20's at the youngest, HighSchool guys dont attract me, and Highschool girls just seem petty. IN a way maybe Im wasting this time of my life, just waiting for it to be over - but...

Too summarize: Im the class clown smart kid who dances, and just doesnt really give an sh** about highschool.

Im not hideous, but Ive gained alot of weight recently, Im the fat kid who might be pretty if she lost 60 lbs.

[pygmalion]

I wondered what decision you'd make about school, chandra. Good luck with the transition. IT's not easy, in the middle of high school, and, to make it worse, in the middle of the school year. :?

[Shooshoo]

and just doesnt really give an sh** about highschool.


I think it's a really tough time for most of us (even though the responsibilities are less), but the social pressure can be difficult. Anyway, it does gets better as one grows older and becomes more independant and understands himself more.

[cornutt]

I hated almost every minute of high school. Hated, hated, hated it. To the point where I've only been back to the school once since graduation, and I've never attended a class reunion and probably never will. And I've had no contact with anyone I went to high school with in at least 15 years. There are a few I wouldn't mind seeing, but most of them can go to h-e-double-toothpicks as far as I'm concerned. Beyond that, I cannot say more, because the words I'd have to use would melt DF's server.

I look back on high school now as merely a really bad movie that I saw. My life began the day I turned in my last final exam.

[Fretful_Porpentine]

For me as well, this is "who are you in high school."

I guess I'd be in the "smart kid" category, though not completely. I'm such a bookworm and not much of a social butterfly, but I'm not shy at all. I've actually gotten into a little trouble (suspended once, written up a couple times) and I've certainly made life a living hell for the school administration (I'm always trying to get around school rules - and I usually succeed). I'm a political activist, an athlete (track and soccer), and an awful musician. As far as extracurricular activities, I'm really a Jane-of-all-trades, mistress of none. I've had a couple boyfriends, a couple best friends, and a couple enemies. The nice thing about my high school is that there are SO many people (about 4000) that there is a friend for everyone. Also, everyone is pretty chill....mcuh better than middle school. I've never encountered any peer pressure or teasing or anything. Oh, also I lived in India junior year....that was a bit of a transition, but great fun. It was actually really weird, because in India I went to a private Christian school and at home I go to a massive public school. But whatev. In conclusion, I'm an ambitious, mildly obsessive compulsive, snotty teenager who regularly blows off calc homework to dance.

[fascination]

I hated almost every minute of high school. Hated, hated, hated it. To the point where I've only been back to the school once since graduation, and I've never attended a class reunion and probably never will. And I've had no contact with anyone I went to high school with in at least 15 years. There are a few I wouldn't mind seeing, but most of them can go to h-e-double-toothpicks as far as I'm concerned. Beyond that, I cannot say more, because the words I'd have to use would melt DF's server.

I look back on high school now as merely a really bad movie that I saw. My life began the day I turned in my last final exam.couldn't have said it better myself

[Twilight_Elena]

Not a really bad movie. More like a mediocre chick flick, in my case, where you get sometimes too worked up, then at some point you're bawling your eyes and after the movie ends you feels very embarassed because it was just a chick flick.
I just wish I knew it was a bad chick flick while I was watching it. I thought it was academy award material. :lol:

Twilight Elena

[SDsalsaguy]

I just wish I knew it was a bad chick flick while I was watching it. I thought it was academy award material. :lol:
:lol: I think I had the same delusion at the time myself... :shock:

[chandra]

Haha, my life is like a bad day time soap...

[Pathological Dancer]

A-student in school, almost juvenile deliquent outside of school.