Go Skippers!

I'm joining in on Stasha's Monday Listicles again, this time on Tuesday. Actually, it's technically Wednesday. I need to get to sleep.

Sleep is something I rarely got in high school, especially in senior year, when I liked to stay up late to watch Conan O'Brien. My friends and I went to see a taping of his show after graduation, because we were such big fans and... oh yeah. The list.

Fun Facts About My High School Years

1. I attended North Kingstown High School in Rhode Island from 1990-94. We had a campus, with separate buildings for classes. This was great in the fall and spring, but quite a mess at times in the winter. It prepared me for college, anyway. Our mascot was a Skipper. You know, like the guy on Gilligan's Island.

2. I was shy, awkward and goofy. (Yes, nothing has changed.) But I was friendly with pretty much everyone. I had a group of friends who were the best friends anyone could ever ask for. We had a blast together, and a bunch of us still get together today. One of our favorite traditions was taking a trip to NH every Columbus Day weekend with my friend Cassie's mother. We had a reunion there this summer. We still have not had a class reunion, but I think this was better, anyway. ;) We do dinner every other month or so, as well. I actually just hosted this past weekend.

This summers' reunion

3. Many of my friends participated in chorus and Concert Choir with me. In my freshman year, I also made it into the RI All-State Junior Choir. That was a really fun experience. I love singing, and miss it. I sang in different choirs from first grade through my freshman year in college, plus a year of community chorus in NK after college. I keep saying I am going to join a church or community chorus again one of these days. Maybe when the little guy is older.

  

With my friends at our Concert Choir senior banquet

4. I also did a little acting. I was in the school production of "Alice in Wonderland," as well as some skits in a history class production called "45/95." I was probably terrible (see: shy and awkward), but it was fun.

  

With some friends from Alice in Wonderland

5. I attempted to take dance classes with a couple of my friends. Modern jazz, because I have no grace for ballet. It was an absolute blast, up until the part that they made me wear a really tight outfit for the recital. There are so many reasons why I'm happy I play hockey now.

6. High school is when I first started to love hockey, actually. The Providence Bruins came to town, and the "Mighty Ducks" movies were popular (hockey purists, don't judge me). A friend in my neighborhood would invite me and some others over for hockey games on the frozen swamp land in back of her house. My math teacher was also a huge hockey fan, and I was one of the few people in my school who followed the sport, so we used to have discussions in class sometimes. One of my favorite memories is of my friends and I piling into my parents' van and my step-dad driving us up to the P-Bruins games. We would have a blast singing and dancing and cheering for "John Bluuueee!" the goalie. He is actually immortalized in our yearbook, in my senior message. Goalies, represent! Oh, and I also loved playing street hockey in gym. I always wanted to be the goalie, and my friend Katie always got in trouble for checking.

7. I was pretty much obsessed with the New Kids on the Block and the new "Mickey Mouse Club." Some of my friends were, too, and we used to re-create MMC skits and tape them on video camera. Thank God we did not have You Tube or Facebook back then, or those things would be coming back to haunt me. It's bad enough that they still exist somewhere out there. My brother and I went to see a taping of the MMC the summer before my junior year, and I met some friends there that I still talk to today. Unfortunately, that does not include JC Chasez, who went on to 'Nsync fame. But he was a sweetheart. I met Tony Lucca -- the one I really wanted to meet -- many years later, and the 16 year old inside of me went squee! Luckily, the 30 year old on the outside was totally chill.  I think.

8. I had about 30 pen pals at any given time. To whom I wrote hand-written letters. And put in envelopes, with stamps on them! This, children, was the Flintstones' version of Facebook. Actually, I still keep in touch with some of them today. (Hi, Ronni, Dawn, Jenn, and Megan!) Jenn is one of the girls I met at MMC. She lives in CT and we still get together sometimes for parties, hockey games, etc. We went to the Big E together back in September. She is also a big reason why I got into hockey. She and those lovely autographs she used to send me from the Hartford Whalers. Hello, Geoff Sanderson.

9. We had a great youth group at my church during my high school years, as well. We went on trips to go skiing and work on a farm for the Heifer Project, helped with the Food Bank and Habitat for Humanity. It was definitely good for me.

10. Finally, let's talk about my obsession with the Kennedys and politics. Or not, because we'll be here all night. I participated in a program called Project Close Up, and went with a small group to Washington DC to take workshops and learn about our government and about leadership. I loved it, and ended up going into political science in college. Of course, that all didn't last too long and here I am today, a web developer. I guess sometimes you have to realize what you're actually good at, and take advantage of that. I still like reading books and articles about RFK, though. I like what he stood for, especially in regards to human rights. In fact, I won an award for an essay I wrote about human rights in high school. Equality and love for one another is something I am very passionate about.

 

Graduating 8th in my class. Nerd!