Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Eunoia]

(It'd be nice if we could choose multiple options...)

I know it's hard to pigeon-hole people, especially yourself, but just Who Were You in high school?

I was pretty Shy and Reclusive, and somewhat Geeky. I most definitely was too uncoordinated and scrawny to be a Jock but, somewhat ironically, I usually got my best grades in PE class. Most people thought I could've been The Brain but there was just too much tragedy surrounding me at that time, and I just didn't give a schiznit for school AT ALL. I had some tendencies towards Preppiness which I fully regret and I now formally apologize for wearing those Gawdafel pastel shirts (does that date me? ). I suppose I was a Slacker in many ways, and I think now I should've hung out with The Stoners (where's the emoticon for THAT?) a little more.

So. Who were YOU?

[Tiger Beer]

several of the above.

college-bound classes (but not really a prep).. involved in sports (but not really a jock).. got stoned with the best of them (but not really a stoner).

Overall, I think I had more Bart Simpson-ish like qualities. I was always told I had an enormous potential, but was said to utilize it just to the degree to figure out how to get something done with the least amount of effort involved.

Actually I was more of a jock while early in High School.. and turned more into a stoner later in High School.. but all along took college-oriented classes.

[crazylemongirl]

The Nerd / Geek.
I played cello in the school orchestra. I was a band geek.
The Brain.
I was in the 'brainy class.'
The Recluse / The Shy One.
I was very shy when I started high school as I had just moved cities so didn't really know anybody.
The Slacker.
My attempt to 'fit in' was to act stupid. It used to drive my teachers insane.

[mithridates]

I had long hair, liked heavy metal, almost all my friends were girls but I could never get a girlfriend until grade 12, she did a LOT of drugs, smoked and drank, I never did (and never have done) drugs or smoked and drank very little, never got bullied because I still got along with people from other 'factions,' and my marks were always very good. Teachers either really liked me or really hated me; the ones that liked me were the ones that appreciated students that were different from most, and the ones that hated me did so because I liked to question their authority a lot.
I went to two high schools though, and the one in grade 11 and 12 was a democratic high school where we called the teachers by their first names, and so all of the differences between factions and any conflicts of authority with the teachers (because their authority was based on being so-called 'mentors' as opposed to teachers) went out the window.
The last thing I wanted to do was graduate from there. I loved that school.

[SPINOZA]

I could get along with everyone - the tough kids, the losers, the geeks. That said, I never found a group I was totally comfortable with. I was too badly behaved to be fully accepted by the highflyers yet too brainy to be fully accepted by the losers and I aspired to both for different reasons. Blimey, who'd be a fookin teenager again?

[sjrm]

i was the class clown in high school. i got along with many types, except for the jocks. i tended to not get along with many of them, although i did get along with a few. then again, i went to a high school with many rich kids (i wasn't and still am not rich, or even close), but still found to get along with many different types. many of the jocks at the school i went to were the stereotypical jocks who thought they were better than everyone else, etc.

[jajdude]

I would say quite a few of the above applied to me.

People would ask me to help them with math or explain what something means. My family was considered clever in that one-horse town. I wasn't the sort to speak out much in class but classmates would want me to read Shakespeare out loud or answer questions which may have stumped most of the class. I got good grades without trying hard, unlike university, where i really bombed in some courses

I was kind of a loner, a shy guy (still am mostly!), as my main friends went to the other non-RC school (we had segregation based on religion then - as dumb as that sounds- it has been erased since). With my friends , who were damned to burn in hell for not being Roman Catholics, I was really quite a different, outgoing and funny character, and we had a great time.

I played some sports and was on a few teams. We went on some tournaments in other towns. That was usually fun. I wasn't a star player, just an average one.

I was also a slacker who was often late in the mornings and got in some trouble, but nothing serious. I'd skip off a bit. I usually walked to school, about 20 minutes from home, because I couldn't be bothered to make the bus. I felt arrogant, like it was too early for me.

Embarrassing to admit, but I was also quite a shoplifter. A few people learned about this, and a few others were into it too. Sometimes it was almost competitive, like who could rip off the most. Getting busted sucked of course. That happened a few times, but strangely I never got in any serious crap for being a criminal.

I got along with everyone, had no enemies, and would sort of befriend the poor guys who were disliked and bullied. I think everyone liked me, but just saw me as aloof.

Years later, say as 20-something, it was interesting to talk to people and get their impressions. I got the impression I might have done better socially if I had tried. Then again some of the females looked a lot better at 22-26 than they did at 16. Most of the guys were Ok and a few of us became better buddies in our 20s.
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Wow. This was a very interesting question, and certainly brought back some memories.

[skinhead]

Interesting topic. I went to a HS reunion of sorts a month ago and had the time of my life, to my complete surprise. Like CLG, I was shy/reclusive during my first few months due to being one of the new kids. I then graduated from wuss to smarmy geek after a fight with a glasses kid, and eventually worked my way up to geeky stoner until a glorious peak year as one of the cruiser / grog-soaks in year 12. I left there after that and went to town to seek my fortune.

My school didn't have 'jocks'. It wasn't really that kind of school.

[Demophobe]

I was the head / geek / musician in a really rough high school, but my incredible tolerance for any and all drugs, my talent on the drums and my penchant for computer trickery kept me in a kind of 'untouchable' position. Me and 3 other skinny guys pretty much had the run of things during high school.

Strange days indeed.

[JAWINSEOUL]

I played on the football team, hockey team and participated in the math club.

[Hyalucent]

I'd say brain rather than nerd because I never got picked on for getting the right answers in class, but my active participation in Air Cadets highly elevated my geek quotient in the eyes of many.

Geek/nerd it is.

[jacl]

TV = friend

[captain planet]

i was the brain, probably read 100 books a year, always in the top 1% of everything. i also was a jock. wrestling, rugby, even ran cross country one year. acted like a sociopath a lot n was known as the guy that beat up this douchebag in a complete bloodbath, which is ironic since i was a pacifist at the time, but he kept picking on me until i had to do something about it. after that everyone started being nicer to me, which is fvcked up, but people are just apes with thumbs, so what are ya gonna do. i was pretty unsocial. i worked two jobs, paper route starting at 14 and mcdonalds starting at 16 and kept them both until i was 18. yet, i was still high in the voting for laziest guy my senior year, since i didn't study or do homework. i was also a class clown and some of the more uptight teachers really hated me.
then in college i discovered that i really liked sex drugs and alcohol in a big way, and i've not been the same since.

[mole]

Funny. I gotta claim several.
Nerd/Geek/Brain/Prep: I was bussed across town to be in the brain middle school. My high school freshman year in the hick/thug school, was a total repeat,
and I was bored scholastically. I had a copy of the "Preppie Handbook." The Bible.
Shy: When it suited me. I was a year younger than my classmates and kind of a teachers' pet.
Jock: I was on the swim team, and 4-year varsity letterman, which saved my little butt from the true jocks.
Stoner and/or Slacker: absolutely not, though I did start drinking a lot my senior year.
Popular: Pretty subjective and hard to say. I maintained ties around the cliques, but was never the Big Man On Campus.

[VanIslander]

I went to a combined junior high and senior high, so high school was grades 8 through 12.

Multiple Transformations. Like Night and Day in many ways.

Grade 8: The Recluse / The Shy One.
Big shock going from oldest of elementary to being surrounded by giants several years older than me. Had a best friend to hang out with, but otherwise was as shy as ever in my life. (In contrast, in Grade 7 I'd been kicked out of Honours English for chatting too much.)

Grade 9: The Nerd / Geek.
The year of Dungeons & Dragons. 'Nuff said. Though Drama class helped me get rid of any lingering junior high shyness, had a secondary lead playing Reverend Parris in the school play, the Crucible. Drama Geek.

Grade 10: The Brain.
Halfway through Grade 9 I had two C's in math, due largely to lack of doing homework. But my best bud was headed for the new honours course going to be opening in grade 10 so I asked my math teacher if he could recommend me for Honours Math. He laughed. I asked if I aced the remaining two quarters whether he would, and he said two 'A's, okay he'd do it. I got an A and B+ and he recommended me anyways. I was middle of the pack in Honours Math but that class helped me crack down in my other subjects and I won an English Literary award at the school awards and was chess champion. Okay, still nerd, but called "brain" by several then.

Grade 11: The Jock.
High school football and soccer, my first marathon, hanging out in the gym, tanning booths, was in the clique, new to me. Threw the longest discus in the entire school, mere inches longer than our top athlete who kicks my butt in everything else. Third in shotput. Didn't make the track and field team, was a final cut despite the coach's extra effort to try to help, because I needed a third event, couldn't throw the javelin well, couldn't jump and was too slow for anything but long distance running, and that wasn't what the team was competing in.

Grade 12: The Prep
Dressed like a prep, we're talking pink dress shirt and sweater on shoulder, and was totally focused on dating, four different girls in the fall before meeting my 4-year sweetheart. Classes suffered big time. Was really a slacker that year but that wasn't my image.

I never really mixed with the "heads" and "stoners" though my best friend morphed into a headbanger by grade 11 and I had a classroom buddy stoner (only three guys in the French class, oh yeah) who was the funniest coolest guy I've ever met.

Through my brain and jock phases I had friends who were the popular ones, nice guys who only my D&D geeknerd Grade 9 friends didn't like.

A nice little journey down memory lane. Thanks.