How Cool Were You?

[bentmike]

I wasn't that cool back in high school. Today I'm much more cool!

 

[orionpyoung]

@bentmike, great response and a beautiful triumph you got there!
Cool? Not me. In high school they nicknamed me grandpa, as I always wore a button up shirt, slacks and a cardigan. Now I'm 27 and still being called grandpa despite moving to a new town. I never really expected to be cool as I've always been a book worm and a homebody. I don't fit in with my own age group, but get along great with the old guys at the coffee shop, so I suppose they think I'm cool?

 

[crpntr1]

I drove a 79 Chevy truck usually covered with mud, linebacker on friday nights, bullrider on saturday nights, girls dig bullriders so they werent much problem, most everyone around knew me, never had the standard teenage attitude, never cared about being cool, still dont. The kids that tried hard to be cool made me laugh, now the grown men that try hard to be cool make me laugh.

 

[crpntr1]

I think my biggest problem is that I was born in the wrong century. I'd be happy if you gave me a pipe and baccy of course, a horse, dog, and a mountain range. If I could chunk this laptop and cellphone in the lake I would.

 

[lankfordjl]

In high school, I was as cool as mud. Since what was consider "cool" was defined by the "popular" kids and since I thought the "popular" kids were as dumb as a sack of manure, I did as much as I could to be the polar opposite of "popular". Strangely enough, when I meet someone that attended high school at the same time as myself, they always remember me - I ended up standing out (We had a large graduating class and I was only close to a small group.) For the most part, I was right about the popular kids... many of them flunked out or quit college and presently struggle to-make-ends-meet at minimum-wage retail jobs. It's sad when kids have potential and are given opportunity and then waste them both.
@chris

me too!

 

[colcolt]

I remember the "social climbers" who always ran around with the geek cliques, word the latest and best clothes and the girls wore those so called "virgin pins" on their collar and had an A average in every subject. Some did good later in years and others ended up the entire opposite. The last class reunion I attended you could still see the same cliques there as you did in high school. Some of it was just plain sickening.

 

[numbersix]

colcott - lol - my avatar is cool, but I was not. Actually though, I never tried to be or wanted to be actually 'cool'—but I really enjoyed your story. Sounds like you had the ultimate 50s-60s high school experience.
Bentmike - that is absolutely the coolest bike I've seen. I used to ride a Suzuki 850 in my younger days (similar lines of your Triumph actually), but even when I was just a kid, I never wanted a Harley, I dreamed of owning a Triumph.

 

[crpntr1]

I went to one reunion, felt as out of place there as I did when we were in school, ducked out 10 minutes into it and havent been to another

 

[colcolt]

I'd love to be able to drive a "hog" but I wouldn't know how to start it. I've always loved the sound of a Harley. Too many idiots on the road for me even if I did know how to drive one.
Yep, numbersix-I did enjoy that time. It was a good time to grow up in and the experiences were priceless.
Chris-I felt pretty much the same way my last reunion. Most everyone had somebody with them. some had been married over 40 years to the same one and several married their high school sweetheart. And, there I was a nomad in a land of strangers with five formers under my belt!! I felt like a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. There won't be another reunion for me.

 

[hunter]

Well I graduated in 05, and after talking to a lot of people I went to school with they kept asking me why I never went to a lot of parties or asked out a bunch of girls that apparently had huge crushes on me. Since I have a fantastic skill of being oblivious I never knew so many people wanted to hang out with me since I usually was reading in the library or hanging out with my really nerdy friends. Oh well live and learn, I am looking forward to the 10 year reunion in a few years though, since a good majority of the people I went to school with I get along with whenever I see them when I go home.

 

[scurvydog]

I think I was cool…but my kids seem much more popular. I was a jock, graduated HS in 87’, was big 6’2” 260lbs as a senior, always had a very pretty girlfriend, drove an old Toyota land cruiser and played college football after HS. Was classified as “good ole boy”..yes I’m from the south. My kids seem to be one step above me when it comes to coolness, both exceptional athletes, honor students and on-and-on.

 

[dochudson]

'67 HS grad.. total class of 62 folks. at least 40+ had started 1st grade together. we were all pretty cool and we still get together every 5 years and sometimes in between just cause.

 

[colcolt]

Having moved out of state back in 1974 I never see anyone I went to grade/high school with. Since my parents and kid brother are gone there's little reason to go back "home". We've lost a little over 30 from our class of about 295. Some to VN and others to cancer, etc.

 

[yohanan]

Not Cool at all, and didn't try to be. I had a hard enough time just being myself. ::

 

[crpntr1]

total class of 62 folks

our class of about 295

WOW!!! I wasn't possitive so I went back to check, our grad class of '94 had 1,107!!

 

[ghost]

WOW!!! I wasn't possitive so I went back to check, our grad class of '94 had 1,107!!

Crikey, my entire high school was around 750 or so. 8O
Class of '93, although in Ontario at that time we had Grade 13.

 

[mrgunnar177]

graduated class of 2012 we had 184 people graduate. I was cool I guess lol Iv never had a problem finding dates and Iv had quite a few girlfriends I drive a chevy 2000 4 door truck. nothing fancy haha, Clothes are in style and so is my music taste. I played football and soccer and did track in high school as well as band.

All the best

Gunnar

 

[crpntr1]

On wiki I could go back to '07 only, it says total enrollment then was 5,130, that's probably about the same as when I was there. I'm proud to have attended there and played ball there too, last year they went 14&1, the last year I played we were 13&1 knocked out by our "rivals"

 

[seanavan]

Graduated class of '91. There were 103 of us (~550 in the school, my year was the smallest by far). 'Cool' is in the eye of the beholder, right? To my small group of friends, maybe I had some degree of coolness. To everyone else, probably not. I lived in a farming town and commuted 40 miles each way everyday to an all-boys (Jesuit) high school in the city. Not difficult to see where I was not part of the in-crowd. That being said, there wasn't a lot of attitude in my class and I honestly got along with everyone. By senior year I had had conversations with everyone at some point. I did not go to parties (too far and not much interest), did well grades-wise, played some basketball, and finished less naive and very prepared academically for college.
Am I cool now? I suspect most people would say no, but I'm happy so who cares? Family, friends, dogs, woodworking, motorcycles, pipes, cigars, good scotch, Jack&Coke, and great dark beer make the days good ones most of the time.

 

[madmick]

Well I'm a Tombstone High grad,(yes Tombstone, AZ). We had a small graduating class so no one was "cool" or a "nerd" per say. We all had been in the same classes since kindergarten for the most part. So we all knew who was capable of what and when someone would make a dash for something to far out there, we would all bring them back to reality quickly. Most of us are still in the same town and we tend to see each other often so we still can't get to out of line without an old friend reeling you back in.