A trip down memory lane

I visited my old high school today, as part of my grad school requirements (not that they make you visit your old schools, but I was doing it as part of a class). It was strange to see my old teacher, and the old school. He did seem happy to see me and that was nice. He sounded pretty much the same as I remember him sounding, and looked exactly the same.

He reminded me of both the good and bad things I liked and disliked about him. And I took some of his teaching styles and mentally marked them down in the "no" pile and some in the "yes" pile of ways I want to teach.

Ok, once in the building, as I was walking towards the class (which is in the bowels of the school), it was funny to notice nothing at all had changed. Same tile, same paint mural, same point scheme, and same..well, everything. It was kind of neat to go down the stairways that the students use, thinking that if I was ever to make a movie about my high school years, I wouldn't have to change a single thing about the interior of the school (outside of the introduction of computers).

The stairs are exactly the same as they were when I was in school. Same railings, same tile, same toe-tips (or whatever the front part of the runners are called). I remember going up these same stairs (the ones close to the cafeteria, on what used to be the student store end) when a girl was gliding down the railing on her feet. See, most of us would slide down the railings on our asses. And if you did it right, you got a pretty good speed going. But she was different. She decided to jump up on the railing, and slide down on her feet (shoes or not, I don't remember). As she got towards the end, she jumped off.

A suave guy would've caught her as she jumped down and made a move. A dorky guy probably would've just thought "wow, that's kind of random" and went on with his day.

You'll never guess which one I did.

So after I spent the two periods in the class (architectural drafting), it was time for me to leave. As I was checking out in the office, I remembered how I always wanted to see if the school kept their old yearbooks. I asked the secretary if they had any of the old yearbooks and she said they did, and mentioned they were in the library. I inquired as to if I could venture up to the library, and she said I could. I took her up on the offer and went up to the library.

It was exactly, and I mean EXACTLY as I remembered it.

I went up to the librarian, and she asked me what I wanted. I said I wished to look at some old yearbooks, and if that was OK. She said "why of course, strange man who came into the library and asked me an odd question." She pointed them out, and off I went.

I browsed through a few yearbooks, checking out some pictures of kids I knew, and some I didn't. Read some "senior" quotes of kids I knew, and some I didn't. Found out that a kid I had in my math class was on a lot of pages during their senior year. I noted that was funny, and remembered how I was probably on 2 pages my senior year (the seniors pictures, and then the class picture, where we sat in the bleachers).

It was strange to see a yearbook I had never seen before (the two years after my year were cool looking..and another one had a weird spacey type theme to it). It's also funny to look at pictures of kids you knew, but don't really recall what they look like (or in some cases, didn't know what they looked like by the time they were a junior or senior), and when you see their pictures you think "what the hell? That looks nothing like I remember ***** looking like. That picture is not a flattering picture." or whatever (name censored to protect the innocent).

I must say that part of me, before this visit, wanted to teach at Wilson. Now it kind of seems funny to think of doing so. Of course, anywhere I can teach (within reason, I'm not keen on teaching in like Mesa, or Alamogordo. Although somewhere near the Grand Canyon, or Glacier, or Yellowstone might be nice) might be worth it, considering a job is a job.