High School Senior

from Lisa

1. What year was it?

I graduated in 1982. Oh God, it's long time ago!

2. What were your three favorite bands?

Styx, Bee Gees, and Bob Seger (do you know how hard this was to answer?!).

3. What was your favorite outfit?

Jeans, buttoned shirt, sneakers. Not much has changed. I recall wearing skirts more often, and I had saddle shoes. Long story there....really long...really embarrassing to mention....so I won't. But it makes me smile.

4. What was up with your hair?

In my senior picture, I have a "Lady Di" haircut. Remember those? I think I grew my hair out over the course of the year, but I don't remember exactly.

5. Who were your best friends?

Laura, Beth, Annie, Teri, Michelle, Ann. And Warren, I guess, though that was mostly about having a huge crush on him....

6. What did you do after school?

Homework. I had been working, but I think I stopped before senior year--yeah, that was the Drama of Junior Year, all tied up with my dad's heart attack while Mom was overseas--so I don't know what I was doing with my time. Watching TV, probably.

7. Did you take the bus?

I only rode a school bus on field trips. I had friends with cars, occasionally parents (not mine!) drove me to school, and I walked. My parents built our house in the perfect confluence between grade school, junior high, and high schools: no more than a 15-minute walk to any of them. No excuse to need a ride, just laziness!

8. Who did you have a crush on?

Who didn't I?? Warren, mentioned above. I was still dating, off and on, the guy I'd been dating my sophomore and junior year...I think. Ron M. still flickered through my consciousness a lot. John F., bigtime. It's still a little freaky for me to talk to John. I had gone to school with a lot of my classmates for 12 years; they weren't doing a lot for me by this time!

9. Did you fight with your parents?

Just my mom. Though I think we'd reached a sort of entente/detente with each other for the most part by this time.

10. Who did you have a CELEBRITY crush on?

I was crushing on lots of people, and I can't remember specific years/specific people, so this is just a conglomeration of those I remember: Barry Gibb, Erik Estrada, Larry Wilcox, Tom Wopat, loads of others I can't remember.

11. Did you smoke cigarettes?

Nope.

How interesting that there's no question that says "Did you drink?" or "Did you do drugs?"

12. Did you lug all of your books around in your backpack all day because you were too nervous to find your locker?

Nervous? As a senior? No. Somehow I made it down to the bandroom at least three times a day.

13. Did you have a 'clique'?

I guess, though we thought we were The Unpopular Ones: the brainy-geeky-Band-kids.

14. Did you have "The Max" like Zach, Kelly and Slater?

There were no Zachs or Slaters at my high school and most of the Kellys were girls. (i.e., I have no idea what this means)

15. Admit it, were you popular?

In the big picture, no, but I had a fair-sized circle of good friends.

16. Who did you want to be just like?

Lisa said, "No one at my school." Fair answer. I just wanted to GET OUT. I was marking time till I LEFT for college!

17. What did you want to be when you grew up?

Anything but living with my parents. I had no idea at all, and frankly the guidance counselors weren't very helpful: "Your scores show that you are relatively equal across all the areas of interest." Fuck; no help there.

18. Where did you think you'd be at the age you are now?

I never thought I'd ever be 42. I couldn't really see past 26 or 27. My sister was 38 when I was in high school and she was SO OLD.