My grade 3 class at Earnscliffe Public School. Me: top row, 4th from left (I used to have a crush on the guy on my left). Karen: bottom row, 4th from right. Cathy: bottom row, far right. (click on image for larger version)

A while back, I discovered that my someone from my old high school had set up a message board for alumni. I normally have little interest in high school reunion message boards and spam, but this one intrigued me because it was free of ads and free of charge.

I posted a brief message about my brother and his wife in the "In Memoriam" forum. As a result, I started receiving e-mails from old friends of Jim as well as my old school friends and acquaintances. Mostly acquaintances, since I didn't have many close friends in high school. Some of them also responded to the bio I posted in the profile section, only accessible if you're an alumni.

Here is what I wrote (forgive me if I omit the links and photos I included with the entry):

Since graduating from BSS, I went to the U of T (B.Sc.), worked as a programmer/analyst, published a book, sold my Web site, am now a fulltime freelance writer working on magazine articles, novels for young people, and online columns for Writing-World.com and WritersMarket.com (Writer's Digest). You can find links to some of my writing projects at Inkygirl , my weblog for writers.

MY HOBBIES: my online comics ( Waiting For Frodo ,My Life In A Nutshell ,Inkygirl ), writing songs for and performing with my band, Urban Tapestry . My songs have been aired on CBC radio and Dr. Demento. We have two albums already out, and a new one coming out this fall (" Sushi and High Tea ") which is a compilation of songs recorded during our concerts in the UK and California.

WHAT I WAS LIKE AT BSS: Quiet, shy, bookish, definitely on the side of nerdy. Never went on a date, never went to the prom. Then again, I wasn't particularly interested in boys until university, where there were technonerdboys aplenty; I ended up marrying one. :-) No kids, no plans to have kids.

MY SIBLINGS WHO ALSO ATTENDED BSS:
Ruth (now a children's book illustrator, see her Web site )
Jim (died in a car accident with his wife in Aug/93, see this In Memoriam entry )

If you're still curious, check out my personal homepage ,my autobiographical comic (see sample below) or my online journal .

One of my favorite letters came from my old childhood friend Karen from early grade school, who now lives in Saskatoon. She used to live across my house in Bramalea, in the house on the corner; I still remember playing double dutch and other games with her as kids, how we used to hang out at each other's place all the time. We are now corresponding by email, and are comparing our experiences, school retrospectives, and current lives.

Survey: Did you enjoy high school? What were you like back then compared to now? Would you go to a high school reunion?

Feel free to answer in your own journal if you prefer, but I'd appreciate you posting a link so I can find your entry, thanks.

(This entry was written with ViaVoice, a voice recognition program, which sometimes has its own sense of humor. Please forgive any spelling or grammar quirks which Debbie has missed while editing. Thank you. )

Permalink | TrackBack (0)

Rice Bowl | Photogenic

Copyright © 2007 Debbie Ridpath Ohi. Base URL: http://www.blatherings.com
Many thanks to Samurai Consulting. Reproduction and/or distribution of the whole or any part in any form is forbidden unless prior permission has been granted.