Scratching the itch

I recently started scratching a nostalgic itch that I have been avoiding for some time. I went on to facebook and when I entered my high school information, it brought up a bunch of people who it said I should know. I knew a couple of them. Most of them I didn’t. So I contacted a few, and then a few more, and thus started scratching that itch.

I went to high school in AZ, but I haven’t lived there since I graduated. And every time I have gone back, I have dreaded the thought of running into anyone who knew me in high school.

Why?

Vanity, mainly. I don’t like the extra weight I’m carrying.

But mostly it's because I was such a cocky SOB in highschool – the star of my own private sitcom -- and it embarrasses me to think how others might remember me.

I have a video somewhere – I’ll have to dig it up – that illustrates this point perfectly. On the last day of school my senior year, I shoved a video camera in everybody’s face and said “tell me that you love me.” I can barely watch it now – it’s just too painful. One of the reasons I like “The Office” so much is because those main characters (David Brent/Michael Scott) are so unabashedly ego-driven and so completely unaware of the effect they have on the people around them. They think they are Mr. Hilarious, the world's funniest guy, when really they are just making an ass out of themselves and annoying everyone in the process.

That was me. When I look back at that last day of school video, I can see the rolling eyes and the disgust and almost pity in the eyes of the people responding to my cocky, desperate plea. Ugh.

But still, I have a lot of good memories from high school (and Jr. High and Elementary school for that matter), and made some friends that I would like to re-connect with. And I remember a lot of stories that just make me laugh.

Like the one about the guy who very boldly told the teacher who was accusing him (without evidence) of drinking at a school function that when you “assume” you make an “ass” out of “u” and “me.” That was the first time I ever heard that expression, but it was not the last, because he tape-recorded it and played it for all his friends afterwards. Funny.

Or the one about the guy running for student counsel who had to be rushed to the emergency room for testicular surgery the night before elections and returned to the school with a new slogan: “have a ball” and “go nuts.” What a great sense of humor.

Or the two guys who went roller-skating with a group of friends and dressed up like boy scouts just for a laugh. One guy propositioned a roller-rink hottie with the line, “you ever skate with an eagle scout?” Hilarious.

Those are the kinds of stories I want to remember, despite any embarrassment I might have about who I am now or who I was then. So I’ve got that nostalgic itch, and I’m just going to scratch away.