The High School Years

I have always been extremely shy. Being this way was a big factor in my choice of high school. Yup, I had a choice. I could either go to the public high school or go to the private high school. This was a no-brainer for me. There were only 120 people registered for school. I know you are asking yourself, 120 in the 9th grade? or the whole school? Let me clear that up right now. I'm talking about the WHOLE school. Very small. Everyone knows everyone else. Of course knowing who everyone was didn't make me any more popular. I would remain the geek for my entire 5 years of high school. Oh, yeah I said 5. There is not a failure in there anywhere ... this is Ontario don't forget and they HAD grade 13. (Grade 13 has changed at least once since I graduated, when my brother graduated it was OAC). So, yes I graduated from the same high school twice, once for grade 12 and once for grade 13.

Since I was not every outgoing (this hasn't changed) I only had two CLOSE friends. The only two people that actually came up to ME and said "hi" on the first day.

We did all sorts of geeky nerdy unpopular stuff together ... like ... SCIENCE CLUB!
Which, okay, really was kinda fun cuz ... we played with stuff that you would never get to play with in class ... if it burned or blew up ... that was what we did in Science Club. Yeah ok shut-up, I know I suck ... I'm just telling you how it was.

The first couple of years went by and were pretty uneventful. Oh yeah, the 9th grade was also the end of my acting career. In the 6th or 7th grade I had one of the LEAD roles in the school play. Very important. Each year was a lesser part, culminating with the part I got in the 9th grade play. We were doing Arsenic and Old Lace. I was the body in the window seat. Yup. That's the point where I decided Hollywood was probably NOT for me.

So, where was I? Oh yeah ... the year my brother started high school. He was always outgoing AND didn't care what anyone thought. He butted heads with the principal all the time over school rules. ie: no long hair on guys (collar length) and no earrings.
Just for spite he grew his hair long and got his ear pierced.
I don't know if it was just in support of my brother or I saw an opportunity to be "different" and be a "rebel". Whatever it was ... I also grew my hair long, and got my ear pierced too.

I actually ended up with a girlfriend that year ... (my first) ... again, don't look at me like that, I told you I was unpopular! She, however is a whole other story for another day! Probably a couple of stories.

I ended up with a few more friends although only a handful were close friends. Life really was pretty good. I never really got into too much trouble. I made it through school albeit uneventful. It is after I graduated that I turned into a moocher, a lazy @$$ and a criminal...

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