Yearbook Memories--this might be really boring

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of graduating from high school, I went out to the barn to get my yearbooks. I had a good time sitting on a pile of cow feed (yes my parents have cows. Oh wait--see video art below.) looking through them, and reading what people had to say.

In my 9th grade yearbook titled "livin' on the edge," several things came to remembrance.

1. Do you remember how exciting it was when a boy would write their phone number? It is weird because several of these people were people I wasn't close to at all or had any communication with outside of yearbook-signing. What does the phone number mean?? I never called them but I am now wishing I had called them all. I feel so nostalgic when I look at these things.

2. Apparently the main themes of my 9th grade life were math, basketball, and band. Band makes me really geeky but basketball kind of negates that. Math would put me way over the edge of geekiness but my issue with it was how much I hated it. And apparently I did nothing but complain about it all day to my teacher because I am reading things from my classmates such as:

"Jennifer- It's been awesome having biology and math with ya! (they aren't exactly my favorite classes either)."

"Jennifer, Have a great summer and don't stress out in math. j/k"

one of my favorites:

"Jennifer, math was fun until you forced me to move to the other side." (I made him move because he was too fun/funny and distracted me from paying attention to the lesson. I'm kind of a jerk, aren't I.)

And then there is a proof:

math sucks..........given
geometry is math.....given
geometry sucks......transitive
proofs are geometry....def. of geometry
[therefore sign] proofs suck.....substitution

Man.. proofs DO suck.


The main quality of my physical appearance in my teenage years (other than my inability to do my hair or dress myself) was my prominent eyebrows. I've already discussed this so I don't need to go in depth but at the reunion Michelle and I were talking about the things we focus on about ourselves that others don't. Oh yeah, Michelle? Well in my yearbook, you said, and I QUOTE:

"Jennifer, I love your eyebrows. You are awesome! Have an awesome summer even if you're not going to be in marching band. See you in high school. -Michelle Proctor"

Was she mocking me? If so it doesn't matter because the following couple of lines deflate all insult. marching band? geek alert. ha, just kidding. I found my flute in one of those boxes. I almost whipped it out but then I remembered that I am cool. I think the cows would have liked it though.

(side note: no offense to any flutists out there. Let's be honest, it's not the coolest instrument when you're in jr. high but of course i love it now, when it is played properly, aka not how i played it.)

(i am now trying to think of what would be the coolest band instrument. Clarinet, no... saxophone, heavens no... trumpet, nah... yeah, ok. Band is just geeky. Um, maybe tambourine? Percussion for sure. )

In my junior year yearbook:

Ok, my friend Brooke and I sort of stalked a guy that we had a crush on. I don't know why but I thought he was the hottest thing alive. It was really sad the things we would do. But he wrote in my yearbook. I totally forgot. And here's what he said:

"Jen, you're a great girl. I think you're awesome. Thanks for talking to me every now & then."

Ha ha! I think what he meant to write was this:

"Jen, (i got your name by looking at other people's messages) you're a great girl. I think you're awesome. (also copying other people's messages because i don't know what to say to crazy people, nor do I want to say anything upsetting that might anger you) Thanks for stalking me every now and then."

Why on earth did he write in my yearbook?? I'll never know.

The best message was written by my english teacher for whom I was also an aide. What does this mean? That my BFF was my teacher? I could use this message on my resume:

"Dear Jen, I've thoroughly enjoyed you! You're the best- you're cute, nice, funny, and a good worker. I'm so glad you were my aide. Have a magical senior year."

So i had her as a teacher and was an aide for another period. This means she had me grade assignments from my own class. Nice. Mostly it was just read through & give everyone 30 pts if they completed the assignment. But you know what? I went the extra mile and wrote comments on everyone's paper in the most flowery handwriting i could muster. You know, comments to the side in the margins: "I really like this." "How fascinating!" "Quite poetic" Little things that make people feel good, because that is what I'm all about. Of course, my paper was absolute genius. A++

I took a sewing class. It was kind of a disaster.

from my friend (a boy): "Remember, I will always be a better sewer and dancer than you. You owe me for sewing on your buttons."

So true. I mean, "sew" true. (he was also my social dance partner--why was i taking these classes??)


Inside the yearbook there's a picture of me with a blurb:

"When asked what thoughts she had on the French club, Jennifer stated, 'French is a beautiful language. Learning to speak languages comes relatively easy to me. There is a lot to learn in French but I really enjoy doing it.'"

What i failed to mention at the end was, "and I'm also a little bit of a brat."
I am sooo good at French.

Well, that's all.