Should I go to my 30th high school reunion?

I fail to see any value in impressing, or trying to impress, people you despise and will likely not deal with again for decades, if at all.

The value of any kind of meeting or reunion is: do I want to meet or see the people who are attending? Or some of them anyway? If so, go ahead. If not, then maybe you shouldn't go.

I must admit some bias. Some. Since leaving highschool I've taken some pains not to meet any of my former classmates. This is in parts hard and easy. Hard because the local Jewish community is small, relative to the size fo the city, and rather tight knit. easy because I had no qualms about not dealing much with the local Jewish community.

Quote: Wizard

It isn't hard getting pictures with models in my business. I assure you they were all paid to do it. Yes, lots of people are familiar with my sites. However, my face is still seldom recognized. I would estimate that 2 or 3 times a year a stranger asks "Are you the Wizard?" What are the odds of that happening at my reunion? Yes, I did well for myself since graduation, but I'm not the type to brag about it.

Besides, after all the money I just lost in Cyprus, I've been feeling like quite the doofus in business.

My Spanish class was all gringos, as I recall. It was a very white school. I'd estimate: 94% white, 5% Asian, 1% other.

People know that models are paid to make the guy look good. It is still a great illusion.

It is sometimes surprisingly difficult to keep money. Some people find it more difficult than earning it. I was talking to someone today about a condo he is looking at near Wall Street above the W hotel. The payments on 750 sq ft for a $1.7 million condo with condo fee and taxes and utilities were about $400 per day. Since the condo was not much bigger than a hotel room, I said he might be better off with a hotel room. He of course said that it was an investment. A lot of people made similar investments in the last few years and ended up losing money.

If you get bored you can always talk to the wait staff in Spanish.

Quote: Pacomartin

If you get bored you can always talk to the wait staff in Spanish.

I'm at a point where I don't get as much pleasure communicating in Spanish. Just last January, when I went to Cabo, I was excited to communicate anything in Spanish.

I now expect myself to be able to hold a simple conversation, so I'm not proud of myself when I do. Instead, I just get angry at myself when I know the words for what I want to say, but my grammar is not good enough to put the words together. When communicating with somebody fluent in Spanish, and conversational in English, I will start things off in Spanish, but won't resist switching to English. That is probably what would happen with the Queen Mary waitstaff.

I've attended two reunions. But they weren't my own. I was the hired DJ.

I didn't go to my own reunions. Hell, I didn't even go to my prom. In high school, I was the nerdy loner who spent most of my free time (and cut class time) in the computer lab.

FYI: I graduated in 1977. The computer "lab" was a large closet with two teletype terminals that was hooked up via a 110 baud telephone line to the computer in the next town.


My experience from the two reunions that I worked was that during the cocktail hour, and after dinner, the classmates break off into groups: Male and female, and do their various catching up and gossiping. Male spouses of female classmates tended to hang around the bar and look miserable. Female spouses of male classmates tended to make the most of it and hit the dance floor.

Of course, I'm just assuming that's the content of the 4 groups.

Bottom line, it confirmed my decision to not go to my prom or be interested in my own reunions.


As such, I voted No.

I voted maybe, it's simply a question of opportunity cost.

What could you be doing other than going to the H.S. reunion, and it would it be either more productive or more enjoyable? In my case, I was at my old job when invited to our ten year reunion, but I would have had to burn a vacation day in order to go, so the opportunity cost wasn't there for me because there was plenty of stuff to do with a vacation day that I considered, "Better."

If I really had nothing better to do, then maybe I would have went. I apologize if I offend anyone with this, but it seems that the reunions are for three types of people:

A.) People doing so exceptionally well that have nothing better to do than to go there and compare themselves to others because they know that they will emerge ahead in most comparisons.

B.) People that have maintained friendships with some of their old high school friends, because they know that they will have people there with whom to associate should they not be able to strike up anything with those to whom they haven't spoken in awhile.

C.) People who are unsatisfied with their present social life and hope to rekindle old friendships because they are unsatisfied with their current roster of social contacts.

In my case, I don't fall into any of these categories. I get by, more or less comfortably, but I'm not anything special, I have no friends from the High School from which I graduated that I maintained, so no built in acquaintances for the event, and I am currently satisfied with my social circle, which is limited by design. So, not worth the vacation day.