Talking to an old friend.

[melancholy]

Today I went to see an old friend from high school. It's been terribly hard trying to track him down, but I finally managed. I had to find him to keep a promise; that if either one of us got married, the other one would be the best man. Well although he will not be the best man, he is most certainly going to be a groomsmen. Anyway, I have not see this guy in 3 years. Today I found him.

We talk, catch up on life, tell our tales of what has happened the past three years. We also talk about old times and try to piece together what happened with old classmates. That's when he shared the story of our class valedictorian. My friend was friends with her so he tried to keep in touch with her after high school. She always wanted to go into politics, so I assumed that she was trying to do something with that. How wrong I was.

Apparently she went to college for one semester but then dropped out. She got a factory job but couldn't handle the work, so she went into fast food. She also got pregnant but had a miscarriage, so she hid it and pretended she was still pregnant so that people would give her special treatment. A few months down the road when she was overdue to have the child, people started asking too many questions about when she was going to have it, so she paniced and faked a miscarriage. After that, she missed the attention she was getting so she faked pregnancy again. Then faked miscarriage again. Then faked pregnancy again. She eventually broke down after people became severly suspicious of her and quit her job. That was almost a year ago. Since then, she stopped taking care of herself. She is currently unemployeed and lives under a tarp on a friend's front porch. She apparently let all of her front teeth rot out so she only has two left.

It's just amazing how much we change after high school. The smartest girl in our graduating class is now sleeping under a tarp. I'm not sure why I shared this story. I just felt like, ya know, it's amazing how a person's life can change, even the best of them. It just made me feel more important knowing that even the people that had it all back then are nothing now. That someday someone will tell my story, and I want that story to be of triumph and not of failure. I don't know, take it how you will. I just thought it was something worth sharing.

[Nick]

Moral of the story: Valedictorian does not mean you are the smartest person in your class. Not by a long shot.

[|darc|]

Moral of the story: Valedictorian does not mean you are the smartest person in your class. Not by a long shot.

Indeed.

[404NotFound]

Grade-wise, hard work makes the most difference in high school, even more than smarts. Someone who works their arse off in HS and gets good grades can then go off to college and find they can't hack it, no matter waht the work level.

[|darc|]

Grade-wise, hard work makes the most difference in high school, even more than smarts. Someone who works their arse off in HS and gets good grades can then go off to college and find they can't hack it, no matter waht the work level.

Yeah, I really can't wait to get to college so most of the idiots will be weeded out.

[Lunchbox]

Grade-wise, hard work makes the most difference in high school, even more than smarts. Someone who works their arse off in HS and gets good grades can then go off to college and find they can't hack it, no matter waht the work level.

Yeah, I really can't wait to get to college so most of the idiots will be weeded out.

It's a great feeling when you first enter college to see that all your classmates are willing to learn and want to be there. You never have to worry about partners slacking off on group assignments, there's always a study group, there are no douchebags taking up space whining about how they hate school, people don't bother you to let them copy your work, etc.

Granted you'll probably find that guy or two who skips class a lot and thinks college is a party experience, but they'll disappear by 2nd semester anyways.

[melancholy]

Grade-wise, hard work makes the most difference in high school, even more than smarts. Someone who works their arse off in HS and gets good grades can then go off to college and find they can't hack it, no matter waht the work level.

Yeah, I really can't wait to get to college so most of the idiots will be weeded out.

It's a great feeling when you first enter college to see that all your classmates are willing to learn and want to be there. You never have to worry about partners slacking off on group assignments, there's always a study group, there are no douchebags taking up space whining about how they hate school, people don't bother you to let them copy your work, etc.

Granted you'll probably find that guy or two who skips class a lot and thinks college is a party experience, but they'll disappear by 2nd semester anyways.

Can I come to your college? Most of the people here only come to college because their parents are making them and it is the biggest party school in Indiana. It's ridiculous the number of people that couldn't care less about being there but still keep going back semester after semester just to party on their parents money.

[Smiley]

I don't talk much to friends that I knew in middle school/high school. The one that I did know since middle school, has called the cops on me and ha me escorted from his property, and has called me an aquitance, not a friend while introducing me to others.

The other guy that I knew since middle school, I found out he got married right before I left for the army in 2003, and haven't heard from him since.

and a guy that I knew since elementary school, and who I used to write super maro bros related stories with, I saw for the first time in several years at my local target the other day. I remembered him right away, and we talked for about 3o minutes. Prior to that, I last saw him when I was taking the writter version of the asvab for the army. He said he just got out when I talked to him.

[Quzar]

Grade-wise, hard work makes the most difference in high school, even more than smarts. Someone who works their arse off in HS and gets good grades can then go off to college and find they can't hack it, no matter waht the work level.

Yeah, I really can't wait to get to college so most of the idiots will be weeded out.

It's a great feeling when you first enter college to see that all your classmates are willing to learn and want to be there. You never have to worry about partners slacking off on group assignments, there's always a study group, there are no douchebags taking up space whining about how they hate school, people don't bother you to let them copy your work, etc.

Granted you'll probably find that guy or two who skips class a lot and thinks college is a party experience, but they'll disappear by 2nd semester anyways.

Can I come to your college? Most of the people here only come to college because their parents are making them and it is the biggest party school in Indiana. It's ridiculous the number of people that couldn't care less about being there but still keep going back semester after semester just to party on their parents money.

Not exactly the same here. But same sentiment. College does a better job than high school, but by no means weeds out the idiots, or the world would be in a much better state than it is at present.

[Orange_Ribbon]

The validictorian from the year before me is a busboy making less than minimum across the street from my store. He was supose to be a doctor by now. We went to the same sunday school, and he use to make fun of me for being left back in normle school.

[Raijin Z]

Yeah, I really can't wait to get to college so most of the poor people will be weeded out.

Fixed.

I miss the internet of 1998. It was a much more... brilliant place.

[404NotFound]

Grade-wise, hard work makes the most difference in high school, even more than smarts. Someone who works their arse off in HS and gets good grades can then go off to college and find they can't hack it, no matter waht the work level.

Yeah, I really can't wait to get to college so most of the idiots will be weeded out.

Well, most of the idiots will still be there. The first few semesters are pretty much "weed out" semesters with classes that don't really go towards your major but are simulate the work required (like calc. I had to take up through calc3, that weeded out a ton of people)

[butters]

Not exactly the same here. But same sentiment. College does a better job than high school, but by no means weeds out the idiots, or the world would be in a much better state than it is at present.

It sure as hell doesn't. There's a guy in one of my classes that is taking senior level classes with tons of prereqs and hasn't done any work yet. He just pays others to do his work for him and fails (or cheats on) every test...

[MulletMan13]

Yeah, I really can't wait to get to college so most of the poor people will be weeded out.

Fixed.

I miss the internet of 1998. It was a much more... brilliant place.

Not necessarily true -- I'm poor and I go to a University. Granted, I'm taking out a ton of loans, but frankly almost anybody can get to some form of higher schooling.

[Smiley]

The validictorian from the year before me is a busboy making less than minimum across the street from my store. He was supose to be a doctor by now. We went to the same sunday school, and he use to make fun of me for being left back in normle school.

criminy! I failed kindergarten and I'm doing okay *sobs loudly*

*takes some medicine; I'm okay now*

*True story, btw. it was because I wouldn't talk or socialize with the others. bloody hell.

[ace]

The validictorian from the year before me is a busboy making less than minimum across the street from my store. He was supose to be a doctor by now. We went to the same sunday school, and he use to make fun of me for being left back in normle school.

No offense, but you work at UPS. You aren't doing that much better than him.

Again, no offense to you, or to anyone who works at UPS.

[Lunchbox]

Grade-wise, hard work makes the most difference in high school, even more than smarts. Someone who works their arse off in HS and gets good grades can then go off to college and find they can't hack it, no matter waht the work level.

Yeah, I really can't wait to get to college so most of the idiots will be weeded out.

It's a great feeling when you first enter college to see that all your classmates are willing to learn and want to be there. You never have to worry about partners slacking off on group assignments, there's always a study group, there are no douchebags taking up space whining about how they hate school, people don't bother you to let them copy your work, etc.

Granted you'll probably find that guy or two who skips class a lot and thinks college is a party experience, but they'll disappear by 2nd semester anyways.

Can I come to your college? Most of the people here only come to college because their parents are making them and it is the biggest party school in Indiana. It's ridiculous the number of people that couldn't care less about being there but still keep going back semester after semester just to party on their parents money.

Sheridan College in Ontario, come on over

I think a big part of the reason my classes have taken on that sort of attitude is because a lot of us find the subject matter to be genuinely interesting and there's a lot of hands-on stuff.

The people who didn't try figured they could play games on their laptops during class and scrape by the exams, but they didn't make it past first semester, which is a shame since I hung out with a few of them. I think that's what drives those of us who are left. We know that if you screw up an exam or assignment it can set you back months, and nobody wants to see that happen. Now that we're coming off of a college strike our workload has been increased to make up for the 3 weeks we lost. It's going to be harder from now until finals at the end of the month, so we're helping each other out to get through this.

[Orange_Ribbon]

The validictorian from the year before me is a busboy making less than minimum across the street from my store. He was supose to be a doctor by now. We went to the same sunday school, and he use to make fun of me for being left back in normle school.

No offense, but you work at UPS. You aren't doing that much better than him.

Again, no offense to you, or to anyone who works at UPS.

Gee there, one job makes more than double his with kick ass benifits plus the hope of getting raises, plus promotions, and the second job gets me free cds, and still more an hour than he makes. Yeah I am not really doing much better than him at all. Ohh and as a person I wasn't weak and quit college. Nope that much better off at all there buddy.

[Covar]

Yeah, I really can't wait to get to college so most of the poor people will be weeded out.

Fixed.

I miss the internet of 1998. It was a much more... brilliant place.

Not necessarily true -- I'm poor and I go to a University. Granted, I'm taking out a ton of loans, but frankly almost anybody can get to some form of higher schooling.

agreed. i'm paying for my schooling all on my own. bullshit statements like that are one of the reason's i had to get out of my english class. i'd give details but i don't wan't to derail the topic.

[Sir Savant]

Wow. Living under a tarp. Smart people can be so dumb sometimes.