Blogocentric Formulations

High School Reunion Tomorrow.

Hard to believe that in less than 36 hours, I'll be in a room full of my old high school classmates. I have no idea who or how many are going, although if the dismal response to requests for photos to put together a slideshow is any indication, there might not be that many there. It was interesting going to my wife's reunion a couple weeks ago, and hearing her talk beforehand about being worried about seeing people again and what she was going to say... and then afterward when she commented that she still largely felt the same way about people as she did in high school. She still thought jerks were jerks, nice people were nice, and smart people were smart. Although everyone was different, very few people had changed much, which I think surprised her.

Is it possible that people just don't change? Or that we don't perceive those changes because our impressions of them are already firmly cemented, so we expect a jerk to be a jerk ... and look for something he says to be offensive, rude, or insensitive? And why are we so concerned about what high school classmates think of us? Except for the chose friends we've kept, these are largely people who have their own jobs, their own homes, and their own lives, completely separate from ourselves. We see them for the occasional reunion, but other than that, really have no contact with them whatsoever.

So why do we care what they think? About the impression we're going to give?

I thought maybe it would be different for my reunion, since I'm a little more laid back and easy-going than my wife when it comes to social situations. Nope, I'm just as nervous and worried about what everyone will think of me as she was. Which is a strange experience because I don't mind being at networking events, conferences, meetings, etc. where I have to talk to strangers for a couple hours and make polite conversation until we all go our separate ways at the end of the evening.

Maybe it's because we knew these people when we were at our most awkward phase in life. Maybe it's because we want people to remember us from back then, look at us now and say, "Wow, they've really got everything together." Whatever the reason is, it's a fascinating dynamic, experiencing how people think and act when faced with the possibility of meeting people from their past at a reunion.

I guess we'll see how the reunion goes, huh?