When Aqua Net Ruled: Class of 1988

Now that we have Facebook, every day can be a high school reunion, but a lot of people I know are within a few years of their real live-and-in-person 20-year reunions. Mine was last year, and because I couldn’t make it, I decided to remember the best parts here. I hadn’t thought about it since then, but last week friend mentioned she was planning for her reunion when she found all my posts. So I thought I’d round them up into one place. I wouldn’t want to go back, but weren’t the 80s fun? Read more

1988 – All About the Hair

Because my 20-year class reunion – the one I’m not going to – is this weekend, it’s time to wrap up this nostaligic trip down eighties lane. I promised a picture and today I deliver. Now, if you actually went to my high school, you may notice that there is no picture of me in the 1988 yearbook. In fact, this is actually my sophomore class picture. I had no senior pictures taken. I didn’t get to pose next to a tree or prop my foot on a ladder with splattered paint in the background. However, when I remember high school, it is this photo that sums it all up for me.

I especially like that the whole frame of the picture cannot contain my hair. That is what a serious Aqua Net habit will do for you. If you look closely, you’ll notice the earrings, which are the size of a Texas belt buckle.

And just to prove that I really was a senior, and that my hair maintained this level of largeness, I’m providing a bonus shot – the senior prom portrait. Note the unsteady posture and the squinty eyes. This too encapsulates my high school experience. Thank you, Andre Pink Champagne. And thanks BH for taking that mess to prom!

Virtual Classmates: Why Facebook is Better Than Your 20-Year Reunion

My 20-year high school reunion is coming up next weekend and I won’t be there. I have opted instead to venture down a virtual reunion road this summer. It’s been fun, don’t you think? I had hoped Classmates.com would have been a little more enlightening, but so far I’ve received more guest book signatures from random grads looking for what – I don’t know, than from actual classmates. I know I should have done this earlier, but since diving into MySpace and Facebook last week, I can honestly say that Facebook beats the face-to-face reunion any day! Here’s why:

- Everyone is more beautiful on Facebook
- Facebook lets you search for whoever you want, and they don’t even know it – do they?
- Once you get bored of Facebook, you simply log out – no excuses, no remorse
- It’s much easier to save face on Facebook when someone hasn’t a clue who you are
- The extent of Facebook communication is probably all you really need
- You can brag on Facebook without having to say anything out loud
- You don’t need to lose 10 pounds to log onto Facebook
- Your husband won’t come into contact with any of your old boyfriends on Facebook
- Your hustband won’t know you didn’t have any boyfriends in high school on Facebook
- Facebook saves you all the guilt you’d inevitably suffer when you realized you really didn’t want to keep keep up with all those old best friends ever who seemed even closer after that bottle of wine at the reunion, but who you realized as soon as the next day at the picnic you have absolutely nothing in common with (excepting of course the whole eighties nostalgia and the wine)
- There are no women in prom gowns looking for love on Facebook (that I’m aware of)
- You can’t be too catty about who’s had what done on Facebook

And best of all?

- You can exploit your Facebook adventure for the creative process! Hell yeah I cruise Facebook and call it research. Yay for Facebook. Friend me, would ya? I like *so* want to be in the popular crowd!

PS – Next week is the last post in this series. I recall promising a picture… ?

Class of ’88: Famous Sehome Alums

For this week’s intallment of the virtual high school reunion (aka I don’t really want to go), I decided to do a little research on our dear alma mater. Did you know we have page in Wikipedia?

We all know about Hilary Swank right? Not sure if she would have been a freshman in 1988 or not. So she’s a big deal, but did you know the conservative radio host Glenn Beck hails from Mariner pride as well? According to Wikipedia he graduated in ’86. So much for believing what you read. Let’s not forget Jon Auer and The Posies, who are going strong.

There’s another note on the timeline that I question: they say Iron Maiden played in the Sehome gym in appreciation for help with a broken down tour bus? Hmm. They say it was October of 1986. Anyone remember this?

I say we populate that wiki page with all our stunning accomplishments – what do you say?

What have you done that you’d brag about at the reunion?