What where you really like in High School and what would you change

[Tom E]

I Guess I'll Start...


I graduated in 93 and high school was a good time. I was voted class flirt of my Senior class and played 3 years of Varsity Baseball...My Freshman, Sophmore and Senior year. My grades wheren't good enough my Junior year to play.

I wish I had done better in school, although I did go on to get a BA in English. My high school grades cost me a chance to play for Cal State Fullerton directly out of high school.

I also wish I was nicer to a lot of the girls who I banged...

[McSweeny]

that's a very hard question to answer. If i knew what i know now i'd probably be lots different. But at the time i didn't know a damn thing and was just feeling my way through life ya know? I certainly wouldn't have tried to be trendy and i wish i had picked up the guitar years earlier. I guess i also wish someone had really taught me how to pitch instead of just saying 'throw strikes damnit'

[Coffee Warlord]

I thoroughly despised high school, period. Spent as much time as possible away from it.

Did swim all four years, but that was about it. I had nothing in common with the vast majority of people there, and wasn't particularly interested in doing the stupid shit that most high school kids did.

[miked]

Played lots of sports, hung out with multiple crowds...

I wouldn't be nicer to the girls I banged, I'd just bang more. Seriously, how many times have you looked back and thought, @#$, I probably could've banged so and so, and so and so. Thinking about how "serious" life gets later on, I'd have probably partied more (if possible) and just been a ho.

[Chubby]

HS was a joke. So pathetically easy and a waste of time IMO.

#1 I'd change our goalie getting hurt my senior year. We would have won the state title if it wasn't for that.

#2 Like miked, I would have banged more chicks.

[TroyF]

I've already changed. In HS I was extremely shy. Went from 5'3" and 90 pounds my SO. year to 6'3" 110 pounds my JR. year. I played some hoops and hung out and had a few close friends that I have to this day.

If I were able to go back, I would have opened up sooner. I wouldn't have cared what others throught of me. I would have stood on my own two feet more.

Glad I'm not going back though. No need. Happier now than I've ever been. If you'd said "college", I might have wanted to go back for a few parties. :)

[MacroGuru]

High School to me turned into a big social party, and I played football.

I wouldn't have changed much, other than truly attend classes, since they graded on attendance (In an earlier thread I stated so. But I aced all tests, just never went to class).

That and going back with the final 2 games my senior year to play after the knee rehad rather than letting a coach get to me.

[jeff061]

Attend classes, maybe pass my junior year. Would of loved to pitch on the baseball team, as a 14 year old feshman had an 87 mph fastball(which qualified me as #2 on the team, behind the senior drafted by the Cubs), but they kept me at first base for some reason.

Probably should of been a bit more outgoing as well, no one could figure me out. Computer wiz, football and baseball player, hung out with the metal heads(all different cliques), i think i intimitaded people.

Everything's turned out good. Still should probably get out more though ;).

[Driftwood]

I would have popped less pimples and taken care of my face more.

[korme]

Troy- 6'3? 110 pounds? What? I am 5'10, fit and weigh in at 142.

[miked]

I also wish I was a little bit taller...

I wish I was baller...

[Ben E Lou]

Did JV basketball in 9th grade, and Varsity 10th-12th. Coach talked me into doing track in 11th because he needed someone to do the high jump due to an injured athlete. Was good enough that by 12th grade I didn't have to do any running...just practiced my approach for about 15-20 minutes every day and went home. ;) I was generally regarded as the top student at the school. (One of my good friends like to refer to himself as "the smartest white kid at Brookstone" ;)) Captain of the "quiz bowl" team for 3 years. A white kid on the b-ball team was an excellent beat-boxer, and I had a few rhymes to say as well. We recorded several songs, 3 of which got local radio airplay. We'd of course usually rap at some point at most of the parties, and also took the stage for a while at prom. I've always been pretty outgoing and self-confident, and HS was no different. Heavily recruited academically (black kid from the South with high SAT's, GPA, and heavy extracurriculars...) by Ivy League schools, service academies, etc. Ended up accepting full academic scholarship to Georgia Tech. I was a "moral" kid generally. (A good amount of athletic and academic success combined with being the most well-known teenage rapper in our town meant that I never "needed" alcohol/drugs to be "cool" or to stand out.) However, through most of HS I wasn't serious about faith at all. That came very late in my Senior year.

I'm not sure that there's anything I would change with the exception of one event: three days before the first game of my Senior basketball season, I landed on a teammate's foot getting a rebound in a drill in practice, partially tearing ankle ligaments, effectively causing me to miss my senior year. Some sophomore football player had to step in and start for me, little punk kid named Mack Strong. ;) At any rate, with my injury, then one later in the year to another guard, we didn't go nearly as deep into the playoffs as everyone expected. If I could change anything, I wouldn't have gone up for that rebound in practice. The whistle had already blown, but I was trying to be a leader, show hustle, all that Senior stuff. :(

[Leonidas]

I was a brainy jock that sometimes smoked pot and never fit in with the jocks, the brains, or the "heads" (as in potheads). We had our unique clique (2 q's back to back!) of four guys who hung out (with another 4-5 folks on the fringe). Then I actually got good in sports (track) and turned into a conceited ass. Luckily, life taught me a practical lesson or two within a few years and I managed to find some humility.

If I could change anything I would be a nicer guy. I was a total jerk to some folks and totally regret it. I will not allow my sons to treat some folks the way I did.

[TroyF]

Troy- 6'3? 110 pounds? What? I am 5'10, fit and weigh in at 142.


Yeah, I was always real skinny to begin with. In one year I put on 20 pounds, but grew a foot. I'm about 175 now (though I probably look thinner than that). I can eat anything I want and have no problems with cholesteral, blood pressure or weight gain. On the downside, I have a very difficult time gaining it when I want to. When I was really big into Tae Kwon Doe tournaments, I had a coach working with me to put more weight on (not for power, but to build up more muscle so I wouldn't take so much damage when getting hit). I used weight gaining supplaments and ate two and three times my bodies recommended calarie intake. Worked out daily. . . and I put on 3 pounds in a month.

[Sharpieman]

I would of cheated on my girlfriend and banged the school slut on New Years eve 2001. That girlfriend of mine broke up with me 4 days later. And I would have banged a lot more of the chicks from a grade below my grade. At the time, I was too obsessed with my image.

[MrBug708]

I would have not been a dork and cut my hair and got contacts a LOT sooner

I woulda told a few jerks to F off and then kicked their ass.

[Driftwood]

deleted stupid poem

[Flasch186]

I was so short my sFrosh and soph year that I made up for my low self esteem by picking on others. Then one day there was a girl that was really shy, conservative and I gave it to her hard...all the way home almost every day from the bus stop. Then about 6 months later, it hit me that she had completely changed...started wearing black, dressing gothic, hated herself.....and I was all of a sudden silent. It took me til the beginning of my senior year about another 6 months before I found out where she lived, drove to her house by myself, and rang her doorbell. She answered the door and was shocked to see me. I apparently was the last person she expected to see. I asked her to come outside and sat on her stoop and apologized for everything. I explained everything to her about why, how, made her look at herself. She Cried, I cried, we hugged. Her life changed and so did mine. From then on out, we smiled at eachother in the halls. She started to smile more all together. dressed more, well, not goth. It was awesome, at the end of the year she signed my yearbook and i didnt know it (she mustve grabbed it from someone that I had traded for the day.) She wrote "Thank you". Im getting goosebumps right now, just thinking about it. I hope she is doing well cuz I have become so good to people. I live my life by the golden rule. I truly have a contentment that I know that I have changed, and somewhat cuz of that moment. I love my family more, I love my friends more, and most importanly I love myself more. Im comfortable in my own skin now. Able to step out on a limb and try crazy shit. Why is this a High school thing. I wiah I would have been that guy earlier. Tried harder. Been nicer. I have a high school reunion coming up and I dont know if Im going to go. I feel that most people just go to compare judge "see how others turned out". Im not so sure that that goes with how I live my life now.

This is a great thread, BTW

[McSweeny]

that's a pretty awesome story Flasch

[Driftwood]

I think he copied it from Jayson Blair.

[Flasch186]

so true, i wish it wasnt, I wish I would have never set my target on here (i probably liked her)...her name was Alisha (i think spelled Alicia). driving away that day felt like a weight had been lifted. It was awesome. I cant recommend enough, to go back and apologize to those youve done wrong...even words at that age, can change the direction fo someone's Life I truly believe that and am living proof. You can choose to believe it or not, but the fact of the matter is that story is part of what makes me who i am today. Someone's self esteem at that age is EVERYTHING.

[Balldog]

I just wish I would have played football but I already played baseball and basketball, all the coaches and players on the football team "recruited" me to play before my junior season but I just didn't want to because I was already so busy with the other two. That and I wish I didn't have a girlfriend for most of the time.

[Suicane75]

I was a chubby social outcast, mostly because we lived on the outskirts of town and really never got into a "crowd", just kept to myself mostly, started drinking very young and eventually got kicked out for not showing up about 40% of my 8th grade year. Got put in a tard school and sort of just eased thru till 11th grade and dropped out altogether to work in a factory. If I could change one thing it would be the day our Baseball coach came up to me and asked me to DH for the Baseball team. I hadn't played in 2 years and didn't really think I was in shape to play at that level but the more I think about it as the years go on, i was so stupid.

[kcchief19]

It took me a long time, but I have largely come to grips with the decisions I have made in the past and I really have few regrets. I wish I had more knowledge than I did then, but that's a foolhardy wish.

By and large, the life I have today is the direct result of a bizarre combination of events that started in high school and continued through college. If any of the events had happened differently, my life would have taken a very different course. Would my life be happier? Honestly, I don't think so. But I believe the path I have taken has made a difference in the lives of others, and I hope for the better.

I do wish I had continued playing baseball in high school, but that would have precluded me from doing other things that I want. It continues to piss me off that two years in a row I was one spot away from going to nationals in speece and debate. I take some solace in the fact that the two people who knocked me out went to the national finals, but it still hurts, particularly my senior year when the speech that knocked me out was on whether or not we should abolish the Electoral College. My speech reasoned that we should because our reliance on it would eventually lead to a constitutional crisis. The judge who cost me a trip to nationals gave me the lowest score in the round because -- get this -- he said that I took the wrong side of the argument because what the scenario I proposed would never happen, with one candidate winning the popular vote and other the Electoral College or no candidate winning 270 votes. I would like to go back and kick that jackass in the nuts.

I also regret the torture two of my friends and I put this girl through in high school. Through the first three years of high school, the three of us rotated dating here before she dumped the last of us before our senior year. All four of us were in honors classes, so we had a bit of a rivalry. When she had been dating one of us, it was 2 against 2. But by senior year when she had dumped all of us, we ganged up on her. She couldn't open her mouth without us ripping here. Our teachers didn't do much to stop it because they thought it was pretty funny too. She eventually put it behind her and we get along now, but I do think at times we hurt her feelings and it went too far.

I also wish I had told the girl my college roommate was dating that he was cheating on her and she should dump his ass and go out with me, but that's it. :)

[JeeberD]

I would have tried to be not so shy, would have played football, and would have actually tried to study...

[ahbrady]

I made good grades in high school without really having to study, which I believe hurt my grades in college because I thought I could get by without studying. I was a decent athlete, slightly above average in basketball and track. I was a little bit of a class clown in several of my classes. I guess you could say I was with the "in" crowd, but most of the 54 kids in my class were, so it wasn't too big of a deal.

There are several things that I would change if I could go back. I would learn to study a little better. I would have played football, and in basketball I would play a little more carefree. I was always scared of screwing up in the games. I would be nicer to people. I would also have asked more girls out. Generally, I think I would have been a lot less scared. Most of my regrets have something to do with being scared of failure. The most frustrating part of teaching and coaching is to see kids doing the same things you did or didn't do that you now regret. It is sometimes impossible to get them to listen to you and learn from your mistakes, so you have to just see them make the same mistakes that you did.

[Neuqua]

From a psychological perspective, I just wanted to say a thread like this can really let loose some hidden stress that one might have, if he chooses to be completely honest.

It is a good idea to stop and just recap a period of your life every now and then and try to analyze some of your bigger decisions and decide whether they were the right ones or not.

Now back to your regularly scheduled thread at FOFC.....

[bbor]

I'd like to remember high school.....

[Cringer]

Wow, great topic. Not sure what I would actually change though, because if I changed any of the big stuff I would not be where I am now, and that just wouldn't be good.

I look back at high school with a giant smile. My friends and I, we partied more then most college kids. Parties, kegs, weed, acid, its almost a blur at times. My parents were gone a ton back then, so the parties were always at my house. Survived holes punched in the walls, cops showing up because of all the cars (but they left the keg, :) ), guys puking in my parents room. Good times, never got busted by my parents, not sure how.

Then when my dad split, I had free run of everything. I did what I wanted when I wanted, including going to school. My mom didn't notice much then, and the only thing that really kept me in school was playing football. Senior year hurt my back and missed the end of the season, so I didn't go to school for over a month. They (counselor) suggested I drop out and I did. I got my diploma 4 months later at alternative high school. If I changed that, if i took it more seriously, I would have gone on to play football at a small school somewhere, and I never would have gotten together with my wife, had my kid, and other stuff.....

I was a major screw up, and at the end of high school, and after high school I was always broke, with no one to help out with money because my mom had none either, i was even homeless at one point, going from place to place. This is nothing to brag about, but at the same time I wouldn't change it. Being that poor, counting change to go buy some Top Ramen and stuff, it sucked at the time but now I am glad I went through it. I am now 27, bought a house last year that I love, 2400 sq ft., good area......life is pretty good, and I don't need much more, don't want to be rich, although I would accept a lotto win.

So, a couple little things I would change....I would have read more. I learned around 19 or 20 that I love to read, would have been nice to have started that sooner.
BIG ONE*** I would not have broke off my date with Mindy for homecoming dance my senior year. She was cool and it was kind of mean to do, I didn't find out until the year after when I ran into her that she had her dress all ready and everything, I felt like crap then. I was not the smoothest of guys with the girls.

Also, I would have taken spanish instead of cheating my way through german, I live on the border now, I need to know spanish, everyone around me speaks it.

[duckman]

When I was in high school I was considered the outsider of the group. I wasn't "homegrown" like they were. I came from Oklahoma City in the second grade after my parents seperated and they didn't like that we didn't have much money. I went through school constantly being harrassed and humilated by sections of the "popular" crowd. I had lockers slammed on my hands, rocks thrown at me from cars, and my books soaked from water being poured into my locker. I wasn't a big person then (5' 9" 135 lbs) so I was always physically intimidated by others.

I considered myself a smart kid, but I didn't care about my school work. I did enough to graduated (after summer school, of course). I bought into the crap that was dealt to me. I had no self esteem and it was pretty obvious then.

In my junior year, I got tired of the crap and I got into fight with this guy I had no business fighting. He was 6' 4" 250 pounds and was going to a small college to play on the offensive line. I pulled back my fist and I let loose on him. I must have suprised him because he never threw a punch. I ended up giving him a black eye and bruised Adam's apple. when I hit him the throat. After that, I didn't get as much crap as I did before the fight. It was the beginning that changed my life around.

Now, there was one friend I had in school. He was and is my best friend. He came here when I was in the 9th grade. We immediately came good friends. As a matter of fact, we went and shot 18 holes yesterday before he went to see family.

I now see people that I knew in high school that put me through it and I go the other way. I don't talk to them and I will never talk to them. Everytime I see them that's all I think about. It still haunts me.

[judicial clerk]

I enjoyed high school more than disliked it. I was bright and did well in my classes without putting in the effort, I was friendly with almost everybody in school, from the janitors to the homecomming queen. I enjoyed sports quite a bit, including 4 years of football, 4 years of track, and 3 years of basketball. I was captain of the track and football teams and I was recruited to play college football. My parents were (and are0 together and they provided a stable, nurturing home. Other kids looked up to me and I was considered a leader.

What I disliked was that in my heart, I did not feal like I really fit in. The people I hung out with were mostly from the "in" crowd, but i did not fit in with them. They did things (drugs mainly) that my parents would not approve of. But if I did not subccomb to the peer pressure, then I would be left out of the social scene. i ended up walking a fine line that made me feel a lot of pressure. It also felt pressure because getting good grades was considered uncool. Apparently my parents did not get the memo, because they were very strict about me taking my grades seriously. I also was nice to everyone. There can be no "in" crowd unless some people are "out". I could not be rude to anyone and this created a friction with other members of the "in" crowd. Looking back, I wish I wouldn't have let the popularity issue bug me so much, but as a kid it seemed so important.

One thing I would like to change would be my awkwardness with the girls. I was so shy that I let one great opportunity after another go by. I also wish I would have played basketball senior year. I was not going to be a starter and I was feeling proud of myself for being recruited in football. (I was no great shakes in football in my opinion, but I was big and fast.) Finally, I wish I would have put in the maximum effort in everything I did, instead of just sports. Giving your best every time is such a good habit to develop and it is something I am still struggling with.

[Noop]

You guys have great stories... *Takes Note*

[Flasch186]

seriously if anyone in highschool or heading to high school hears our stories, take heed, you can change your life, your direction, and someone else's as well.

[Bubba Wheels]

I was really enjoying my trip back to high school, until Biff comes along and steals my sportsbook.

[Tom E]

[QUOTE=Tom E
I wish I had done better in school, although I did go on to get a BA in English. My high school grades cost me a chance to play for Cal State Fullerton directly out of high school.[/QUOTE]

FYI-It was as a recruited walk on, non scholarship.

Basically, it was a chance to be a 3rd string catcher and hope for injuries...

[Karlifornia]

If I could go back to high school, I would have spent more time doing the ridiculously easy work, and I would have the balls to ask out the hot, popular girl that obviously had a crush on me. Wow I still kick myself for not being able to pick up a clue. Believe me, if you even have a thought into your head that a girl may be into your shit, you're right.

[Huckleberry]

I would have been not so cool. You know, make others' lives less hopeless. Make being as cool as I was more attainable for the little people.

[Ksyrup]

I don't think I would change much, if anything. At least, not things that I could change, although there were some events that occurred, completely out of my control, that I wish hadn't occurred, but I don't think those types of things are part of the question.

I straddled the line between geek and cool - I was in band, but played sports; I got straight A's but listened to heavy metal. I was generally nice to everyone, although I never let many people get to know me. I stayed away from partying, drinking, drugs, had just one girlfriend...but honestly, I wouldn't change that even if I could - that just wasn't my scene and never was, even through college and into "real" life. More beer and chicks for the rest of you, I guess. :D

[condors]

was the best 6 years of my life :)

[heybrad]

I had to spend a Saturday in detention with a princess, a jock, some shy girl, and a criminal. We were supposed to write a paper on "Who we thought we were" and Vernon kept coming in telling us he was going to "Crack some skulls". We all ran around the school, smoked some pot and talked about really deep stuff, like, why my light wouldnt light when I pulled the elephants trunk which caused me to think about attempting suicide with a flair gun.

Did I forget to mention that I'm also in the math club and the physics club.

Dont you, forget about me.....

[rkmsuf]

I had to spend a Saturday in detention with a princess, a jock, some shy girl, and a criminal. We were supposed to write a paper on "Who we thought we were" and Vernon kept coming in telling us he was going to "Crack some skulls". We all ran around the school, smoked some pot and talked about really deep stuff, like, why my light wouldnt light when I pulled the elephants trunk which caused me to think about attempting suicide with a flair gun.

Did I forget to mention that I'm also in the math club and the physics club.

Dont you, forget about me.....

I assume in the physics club you talk about physics and properties of physics. Did you borrow your cousin Kendall's shoes for the yearly blowout at the Sheraton?

[Samdari]

The only change I would make would be to have been more aware of women, and the signals I later realized they had been sending about being interested (and some were rather obvious).

[sabotai]

In the same boat as Samdari. A lot of the times, though, I did pick up on the signals, I was just too chicken shit to do anything about it. If I could do high school over, I'd act on them, plus I would have played football more (I only played for 2 years).

But, if I did change anything, I might not have done college the way I did...now college was a blast. I think if I knew changing anything in high school meant changing college as a result, I'd keep it the same and have the time of my life in college again.