What was your worst experience in middle school or high school? Did it have a lasting effect on you? Do you think you learned anything positive from it?
I think, for the whole, middle school and high school were equally miserable. There's not a particular incident that stands out to me, but I know I dreaded waking up and going to school each day and often tried to skip out of going. I had fun and liked being around friends and learning, I just felt there was a better way to employ my time. I think I'd be more social if I had the chance to go back. I just wasn't too keen on myself back then. Come to think of it, not a lot has changed...
Hmm. Well, let's see. I could break down my experience my grade level, the small things I can remember. They're funny to try and remember.
Middle School
6th grade-- I just remember being chubby and awkward. I even scribbled out my yearbook picture from that year. That was when we finally started going to different class periods. I felt very grown up. I hated dressing out for P.E.
7th grade- I sang for the first time in the school talent show and cracked on the last note. That was pretty horrible because it was the first time I had performed in public. My mom continued to show the video of the performance for years after. I was still chubby. To make matters worse, I was dressed in a pretty horrible homemade costume. :/
8th grade- I got a really bad perm at the beginning of this school year. It's not that the perm was bad. I just didn't like taking care of it and wasn't used to having to style my hair. Insert brush. Insert MAJOR poof. Awkwardess, acne, friend drama, anxiety of going to high school the next year. I HATED 8TH GRADE! Started voice lessons...
9th grade- Freshman year was a disappointment because I was of the mindset that I would magically be different by the time I entered high school. When I visualized my high school self, I didn't see the awkward kid that was there the previous year. I envisioned a glamourous, worldly sort of person. I would achieve all that I hadn't in middle school It was to be the land of opportunity! I developed a crush on a guy that year and spent the entirety of the year pining away for him. I made him a totally embarrassing poster for his graduation and delivered it to him with my mom playing amateur photographer in the distance as I assaulted him. I developed a pretty mighty ego from being cast as the lead in the fall musical only to have my dreams shattered when I was cast as an extra in the spring musical! This was the year that someone called me caterpillar brows. I remember this because it started the pluckfest of 2000. Oh yeah, I was still chubby, only I handled it better because I was doing theatre and chorus and all sorts of other artsy things.
10th grade- I don't remember this year much at all. I was probably doing Latin translations and pining over the one that got away... definitely still chubby.
11th grade- AP History and Honors Geometry. That was miserable. I probably wanted to die. It was a dark year. Lost weight due to it being such a dark year. I don't think I had time to eat with all the homework.
12th grade- My parents wouldn't let me drive until I was eighteen. I smoked, rebelled, dated an idiot, cried a lot during my voice lessons because I wanted a vocal scholarship and just didn't feel good enough for anything. DRAMA.
It said to document your worst experiences. Keep in mind this wasn't the whole of my middle/high school experience. Anyhow, definitely don't want to go to any high school reunions now...
Aww Jami. I would NOT want to relive my schooling experiences because they were just awful. You want awful? Try being cast in a big role in a musical in community theatre, but being cast as a lowly extra in a high school play. I was so saddened that popularity was really that important to casting.
ReplyDeleteI too had a perm in 8th grade, *shudders*, it was bad.
Maybe I'll do this as well. I have a ton of pent up frustration/anger from h.s. :)
I know, right? My senior year we did Wizard of Oz. By that time, all of the popular kids had decided that they were interested in theatre or that they wanted to go out with a bang. Most of the senior drama class was cast in lead roles. I got Aunty Em/ stage manager, and I could actually sing and act. It's fun to get worked up over that stuff now when it's absolutely meaningless. There will never be anything quite like the drama that stems from community theatre or theatre of any kind, and I don't mean the stuff that happens on the stage! That's why I had to gracefully bow out. I just couldn't deal with my inner snark being on display!
ReplyDeleteYou should do this. It's quite therapeutic.
Haha, my perm was so bad! I had a chubby face, HUGE Bert and Ernie brows, and all of that hair. My face was smushed. I think I looked like a pug dog. I would provide evidence, but I can't stomach going through my old yearbooks.
I stopped doing community theatre when I came to college. I was singing so much that I didn't have time and then I got tired of singing. I was too afraid to try out for any college productions.
ReplyDeleteSide note: I did The Wizard of Oz as well. I was just an ozian though, since it was a community theatre production. I did try out for Dorothy and even taped my boobs down for the audition but the director put in two girls that were like 12 each. He made it up to me later on by casting me as Edith in Pirates of Penzance. :)
Dude, our perms sound almost the same, it was right before I discovered tweezing so yeah, TOTAL Bert and Ernie eyebrows going on.
Those pictures are hidden at my parent's house, maybe next time I go I'll try to find some. :)