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High School Confidential
Jul. 29th, 2010 08:55 amYou either love them or you hate them. High school reunion season is upon us. My high school years at Dartmouth High were three enjoyable years. I made lots of friends, was involved with the yearbook and generally just had fun. I got my first taste of the travel bug on a senior year tour to Rome, Paris and the French Riviera. I had some really good teachers and a couple of crap ones. No school bus for us, we were in inner city school and walked there mostly, though we could take a city bus. We never seemed to do that though. I worked part time at a department store in the local mall for my pin money. I even had a credit card for the store where i worked, though it had to be cosigned by my parents as i was under 18. I had a 300 dollar limit! I mainly used it for things like a new mattress and a new camera and school supplies and as i worked there, i could pay it off easily.
With the onset of Facebook, someone started a buzz about a reunion. It evolved into a reunion for anyone that went to DHS between 1970 and 1980 and we're now calling it That 70s Reunion (after the sitcom That 70s Show). All the organizing is done and it's all happening over the next few days. There's a golf tournament, a fun run/walk on Saturday morning, a harbour cruise tomorrow and tonight is a Monty Python night. There was a Monty club for a few years in the late 70s. Much mayhem ensued. The boys in our group started the club with a teacher sponsor who was not long out of university himself. He also coached the boys' (ice) hockey team and was nicknamed Mad Dog (Rick Swan). Perfect sort to be the staff sponsor for the Pythonites. The girls in our group joined the club to hang out with the boys of course! The boys put on skits in assemblies and were very good at it, too. I can remember stomachs aching and tears streaming, we laughed so hard. So tonight, a meet and greet, a few skits and then we'll watch Holy Grail and probably something else. I likely won't stay to the end as i do have to work tomorrow but it'll be good.
I'm also going on the harbour cruise tomorrow afternoon though the weather looks a bit iffy at the moment. The boat has an inside as well as an upper outside deck, though, so it won't matter if it rains a bit. I think we're getting the worst of the rain today. Saturday night is the finale, a big dance. I think they have over 400 going so far.
A lot of people don't like reunions, they feel self conscious about their appearance or their lives. Maybe they didn't have much fun in school and really hated it. Maybe they didn't get to know too many other people. There will be lots there i don't know but maybe i'll meet a few new people. Never a bad thing to make a new friend or two. And we all have at least one thing in common, we went to the same school and had a lot of the same teachers.
There's been a Facebook group set up for yonks and there have been a lot of diverse people posting there about their lives, their successes and their challenges. One man had a really rough time of it most of his life but seems to have come out the other side. Brave of him to talk about it and reach out, too. Most people have had similar experiences, one or more careers, one or more marraiges, one or more kids. Oh one recent claim to fame that i found out, the guy that produces the Twilight movies, Bill Bannerman is a DHS alumnus who has flown in for the reunion. He's also done a lot of directing as well. I think i went to school with his younger brother. Or at least he was at DHS when i was, though maybe he was a tad older.
I remember a lot more people than i actually knew. Being on the yearbook committee you see lots and lots of photos of people, classes, committees, clubs, sports teams. You feel almost like you knew these people when they weren't actually ever in your classes or clubs etc. There's always the people that everyone knew, of course, the school student council folk, the ones that organized and participated in all the social activities, the jocks, and the troublemakers too. Our school also put on a musical production every year and did it very well, too. Those artistic and musical folk would get well known also.
Anyway it all kicks off tonight.
Now where did i put my handkerchief? Just kidding. I only ever wore a knotted hankie once, to a hockey game and wouldn't you know it? That was the one time it was captured on film and put in the yearbook! Aggh!
With the onset of Facebook, someone started a buzz about a reunion. It evolved into a reunion for anyone that went to DHS between 1970 and 1980 and we're now calling it That 70s Reunion (after the sitcom That 70s Show). All the organizing is done and it's all happening over the next few days. There's a golf tournament, a fun run/walk on Saturday morning, a harbour cruise tomorrow and tonight is a Monty Python night. There was a Monty club for a few years in the late 70s. Much mayhem ensued. The boys in our group started the club with a teacher sponsor who was not long out of university himself. He also coached the boys' (ice) hockey team and was nicknamed Mad Dog (Rick Swan). Perfect sort to be the staff sponsor for the Pythonites. The girls in our group joined the club to hang out with the boys of course! The boys put on skits in assemblies and were very good at it, too. I can remember stomachs aching and tears streaming, we laughed so hard. So tonight, a meet and greet, a few skits and then we'll watch Holy Grail and probably something else. I likely won't stay to the end as i do have to work tomorrow but it'll be good.
I'm also going on the harbour cruise tomorrow afternoon though the weather looks a bit iffy at the moment. The boat has an inside as well as an upper outside deck, though, so it won't matter if it rains a bit. I think we're getting the worst of the rain today. Saturday night is the finale, a big dance. I think they have over 400 going so far.
A lot of people don't like reunions, they feel self conscious about their appearance or their lives. Maybe they didn't have much fun in school and really hated it. Maybe they didn't get to know too many other people. There will be lots there i don't know but maybe i'll meet a few new people. Never a bad thing to make a new friend or two. And we all have at least one thing in common, we went to the same school and had a lot of the same teachers.
There's been a Facebook group set up for yonks and there have been a lot of diverse people posting there about their lives, their successes and their challenges. One man had a really rough time of it most of his life but seems to have come out the other side. Brave of him to talk about it and reach out, too. Most people have had similar experiences, one or more careers, one or more marraiges, one or more kids. Oh one recent claim to fame that i found out, the guy that produces the Twilight movies, Bill Bannerman is a DHS alumnus who has flown in for the reunion. He's also done a lot of directing as well. I think i went to school with his younger brother. Or at least he was at DHS when i was, though maybe he was a tad older.
I remember a lot more people than i actually knew. Being on the yearbook committee you see lots and lots of photos of people, classes, committees, clubs, sports teams. You feel almost like you knew these people when they weren't actually ever in your classes or clubs etc. There's always the people that everyone knew, of course, the school student council folk, the ones that organized and participated in all the social activities, the jocks, and the troublemakers too. Our school also put on a musical production every year and did it very well, too. Those artistic and musical folk would get well known also.
Anyway it all kicks off tonight.
Now where did i put my handkerchief? Just kidding. I only ever wore a knotted hankie once, to a hockey game and wouldn't you know it? That was the one time it was captured on film and put in the yearbook! Aggh!
