Languish.org

My 25th high school reunion is coming up this August. I have a couple of old friends who have asked me repeatedly to go, but I'm really not sure I want to bother. I can't imagine that the expense and overall pain-in-the-assness of it is worth it. At the same time, there are a few folks that I went to school with that I wouldn't mind meeting up with again.

Do you all go to your reunions? Why or why not?

Fuck those people.  I graduated for a reason, and the diploma was a distant second.

I haven't, but when 25 comes up (in :o four years! :o) I'd go.  What the hell - I'm curious how people turned out.

And you might think "what is he worried about - he's a successful lawyer".  Well, I went to a pretty competitive Jesuit all-boys high school.  5 of my classmates (out of a graduating class of ~100) went to law school that I know of (so pretty sure there are more out there).  I'll hardly be the shining success in the room.

But really - what's the worst that could happen?  You have a boring evening and leave early.  Still worth it.

There are exactly two legitimate reasons to go to a reunion.  One, show off to your classmates how much better than them you are now.  Two, try to bang an old crush.

Quote from: Admiral Yi on January 03, 2013, 02:44:00 PM
There are exactly two legitimate reasons to go to a reunion.  One, show off to your classmates how much better than them you are now.  Two, try to bang an old crush.

Well I shan't be attending mine for the second reason. -_-

I went to my 10th reunion. It's nice to meet the people and see how things worked out for them. It's also interesting to see who doesn't turn up and speculate about the reasons why.

We finish high school too young so my 10 years was actually back when I was 26 years old so I didn't go. I might go to the next if they ever do one. It has to be in the actual school, I have no interest in meeting those people in a bar.

Fuck that noise.  Those people drove me mad.  I wasn't always this crazy.  I do miss Melody though. :blush:

If I still lived nearby, I might consider attending just for the hell of it.  But no way in hell I'm going to burn vacation time to go to a high school reunion... so no, definitely not.

Never came up. A relative though went to her 70th.

Everyone I'm interested in seeing, I've seen.

This thread just inspired me to send my old high school my contact info.  They had me listed as "lost".

Of course I fully expect to be hit up with fundraising requests, but whatever.  :)

Beeb, did it take anything special to get into your school?  Dad had to grease some palms, hypercompetitive entrance exam, etc?

I would feel out of place in that crowd. It's a small-city rustbelt place where the primary economic activities are selling shit to welfare recipients. Wal-Mart, CVS (90% of the town is on prescription drugs for mental issues or the effects of rampant obesity), fast food, medical people working at full speed to sell people drugs and bill medicare, drug dealers running heroin, etc.

The average graduate of my high school is probably going to look at me like I'm trying to be all better than them just because of the way I dress.

Quote from: Admiral Yi on January 03, 2013, 03:43:59 PM
Beeb, did it take anything special to get into your school?  Dad had to grease some palms, hypercompetitive entrance exam, etc?

I came in late (Grade 11).  As such there were some empty spots to begin with (few kids switched to public school or were expelled).  As such no entrance exam.   From what I remember I had to go in and meet with them, show them my grade 10 marks (mostly As), pay the tuition and I was in.

didn't go to high school.
wouldn't go to a college  reunion, that's  terrible and had no atmosphere.
May go to a comprehensive school reunion just to laugh....providing things work out to  me of course

I would definitely go to a law school reunion...

Haven't had a formal reunion and don't think I ever will as I don't think they're formally organized over here, but I'd definitely go to one if it came to be. Who is normally in charge of this kind of stuff? The school itself or some busybody in each promotion?

My 25th is this year too.  I doubt I'll go but there is a very slim chance I could grace them with my presence.

Quote from: The Larch on January 03, 2013, 10:32:24 PM
Who is normally in charge of this kind of stuff? The school itself or some busybody in each promotion?

Usually some busybody graduate.  Like Meri.  :P

No HS reunion to go even if i wanted to.

Quote from: CountDeMoney on January 03, 2013, 10:38:56 PM

Quote from: The Larch on January 03, 2013, 10:32:24 PM
Who is normally in charge of this kind of stuff? The school itself or some busybody in each promotion?

Usually some busybody graduate.  Like Meri.  :P

Oh HELL no! Not on your fucking life. :glare:

Quote from: CountDeMoney on January 03, 2013, 10:38:56 PM

Quote from: The Larch on January 03, 2013, 10:32:24 PM
Who is normally in charge of this kind of stuff? The school itself or some busybody in each promotion?

Usually some busybody graduate.  Like Meri.  :P

It must be hellish to try to reach the people. On my last year in HS we must have been around 200 people there, and I guess that even with the cooperation of the administration staff you could get at most the old phone numbers of our parents. You must have quite a lot of spare time just to get in touch with so many people.

Quote from: Barrister on January 03, 2013, 02:40:27 PM
I haven't, but when 25 comes up (in :o four years! :o) I'd go.  What the hell - I'm curious how people turned out.

And you might think "what is he worried about - he's a successful lawyer".  Well, I went to a pretty competitive Jesuit all-boys high school.  5 of my classmates (out of a graduating class of ~100) went to law school that I know of (so pretty sure there are more out there).  I'll hardly be the shining success in the room.

But really - what's the worst that could happen?  You have a boring evening and leave early.  Still worth it.

But how many of them have lawyered in the Yukon? :Canuck:

Quote from: The Larch on January 03, 2013, 10:48:02 PM
It must be hellish to try to reach the people. On my last year in HS we must have been around 200 people there, and I guess that even with the cooperation of the administration staff you could get at most the old phone numbers of our parents. You must have quite a lot of spare time just to get in touch with so many people.

Pretty much, if you're interested in reunions, you're expected to sign up with the alumni organization. My high school has a massive alumni organization. Even before the internet, you could easily sign up with them, where anyone interested in being on the reunion committee could then get the necessary information to send out invitations and additional information. There was even a fund for paying for mailing supplies, decorations, etc. that came from alumni donations and dues.

Given that my graduating class had 499 in it, it would be a nightmare to try to do otherwise. The internet has helped tremendously. At the 10-year reunion, there was something like 200 that were considered "lost". For our 25th, there's only something like 50 or so considered "lost".

Quote from: merithyn on January 03, 2013, 11:03:14 PM

Quote from: The Larch on January 03, 2013, 10:48:02 PM
It must be hellish to try to reach the people. On my last year in HS we must have been around 200 people there, and I guess that even with the cooperation of the administration staff you could get at most the old phone numbers of our parents. You must have quite a lot of spare time just to get in touch with so many people.

Pretty much, if you're interested in reunions, you're expected to sign up with the alumni organization. My high school has a massive alumni organization. Even before the internet, you could easily sign up with them, where anyone interested in being on the reunion committee could then get the necessary information to send out invitations and additional information. There was even a fund for paying for mailing supplies, decorations, etc. that came from alumni donations and dues.

Given that my graduating class had 499 in it, it would be a nightmare to try to do otherwise. The internet has helped tremendously. At the 10-year reunion, there was something like 200 that were considered "lost". For our 25th, there's only something like 50 or so considered "lost".

Well, that must be a reason why I haven't had a reunion, as we don't really have alumni organizations in schools over here, AFAIK at least not in public ones, I guess that private ones might.

I was only once in an informal reunion with the people from my primary school which managed to get something like 30 people out of 40, and it was only one guy who most of the work on his own. It helped that we weren't that many and that the group stayed together for a long time (we were roughly the same 40 guys in class for 8 years, so many families knew how to contact each other).

My high school is thousands of miles away, so not likely to go to any reunions anytime soon. Besides, most of my high school friends didn't graduate the same year as me.

It may be great for older people, but it is less of a "surprise" for the younger. Every twenty-something is now connected and updated daily through Facebook. We also "start life" later, ie career, family, college, etc., so many do not go to the reunion because they are not "ready" yet.

Since my parents still live in my hometown, I will attend a reunion if it is the same time that I am visiting family.

Yi mentioned old crushes, but many have not aged well, even in their 20's. :(

I voted nay, but I think I said somewhere that there are now 6 other people from my hometown now in New York (4 of whom I hadn't had any communication with since high school). Starting in the fall, we've now met up like once a month or so for drinks. Actually been fun which I wouldn't have thought.

High school reunions are not really a thing in Poland, but if I was invited to one, I would go and be obnoxious.

Back in high school, I was a small town sexually repressed shy nerd with no fashion sense (I wore black turtlenecks...) so I would really like to go to shit on their "still living in my shitty town and having two kids" boring stories.

Can you go back to the shy nerd plz.

Quote from: The Brain on January 04, 2013, 03:44:11 AM
Can you go back to the shy nerd plz.

Hell naw. People back then thought I'm... nice.*shudders*

Quote from: Martinus on January 04, 2013, 03:41:59 AM
Back in high school, I was a small town sexually repressed shy nerd with no fashion sense (I wore black turtlenecks...)

I thought you were in the closet in high school. :unsure:

Went to one three years ago, hated every second of it. Everyone who verbally bullied me still did. People who did worse in school all had better jobs than me, and it didn't help that I was briefly unemployed at that time!

Quote from: Brazen on January 04, 2013, 05:50:36 AM
Went to one three years ago, hated every second of it. Everyone who verbally bullied me still did. People who did worse in school all had better jobs than me, and it didn't help that I was briefly unemployed at that time!

What awkward ambiguous lines did you have to use?

Quote from: Peter Wiggin on January 04, 2013, 05:04:43 AM

Quote from: Martinus on January 04, 2013, 03:41:59 AM
Back in high school, I was a small town sexually repressed shy nerd with no fashion sense (I wore black turtlenecks...)

I thought you were in the closet in high school. :unsure:

Now I would go wearing my pink pin-striped shirt, my yellow trousers, my burgundy Hugo Boss jacket and my pink socks. Sure, I would still have no fashion sense but I would be different.  :cool:

I went to the first one purely because I thought it'd be hilarious to see how many people had devolved into true, c. 2005 Idealogue level white trashdom. I saw that many had. After that I haven't gone to any because once you see that the first time it's kind of less interesting, but I've said I'll probably go to another one or two just to compare the results from the first one I went to.

I've been to a couple, but I lived within a couple hours drive of my hometown back then.  Well, I took vacation time to go to them anyway, but my mom still lived there, so I even with being further away I could have stayed overnight with her, but now that she's moved away, I'd have to get a hotel room, and frankly I'm not sure I would want to go to that expense.  But the next reunion we'll likely to have is 7 years off, so who knows by then.

No interest.  I keep in touch with those I still want to keep in touch with.