seriously!
before facebook, it went something like this:
you’d get back in touch w/someone after a long time who knew you way back when [say, oh i don’t know, high school or something? (wink wink/jersey shout-out to james caldwell high school graduating class of ’96! everybody say hooooo-oooooooooo say hoooo-ooooooooo now screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaam! whoooooooooooo!) *ahem* sorry], you know, when you weren’t wavin’ the ol rainbow flag every which way (ok, wait, i don’t really have a rainbow flag–wait, is that bad??) and marrying your same-sex partner of 7.5 yrs. back when you were closeted in north jersey. back before “will & grace” and tila tequila (love to hate it. hate to love it! gimme more!). before katy perry kissed a girl (ok wait, back before katy perry was even born. wait, what? haha kidding! kidding, ppl, totally kidding) and madonna & britney made out for 1.75 seconds on live tv (tho, admittedly, it was the very best 1.75 seconds of live tv ever). what i’m getting at is: when you didn’t know you were a homo. or you knew it (like me) but couldn’t talk about it.
fast-foward 10+ yrs later. enter facebook. there’s no awkward moments! there’s no vetting someone’s political and/or religious or cultural beliefs. there’s really no “coming out” anymore to old friends, at least online. it’s like, hey, yr friendin’ me? ok, sure. and bam. everything’s right on there. the “engaged to” (and, in a mere 2+ weeks, “married to.” omg. OMG WHAT?? omg nothing.) and then the couple-ly profile pics. then there’s this blog i’m always shamelessly promoting in my status msgs, which basically spills out my entire life story. a giant social networking site like facebook makes things so easy. it’s unbelievable.
all this occured to me in the past few days, b/c, for whatever reason, there seems to be a late 90s jchs (that would be north jersey’s own james caldwell high school, which i must follow by saying: EVERYBODY IN THE HOUSE SAY HOOO-OOOH. *ahem*) reunion going on! it’s actually really exciting, as we didn’t have a 10-year reunion and i’ve really wanted to catch up with ppl! of course this is happening at a time in life when i can barely stay focused for five minutes at a time, but, if you jchs ppl are reading this, i want to get to know all of you again. i mean, thinking back all those years ago, to high school and even before that, who were we, really?? maybe our core values are the same, but i’d bet a lot of us were just shells of our current selves. it’s so interesting to see what we’ve all become. (and we’re all so much cuter now, aren’t we? omg we are aren’t we. pls, you were totally thinking the same thing, too, so don’t even start)
my guess is that almost every entry following this will be wedding-related. and pls, don’t hate me if they’re sad (i’ve got a doozie up my sleeve; i can’t help it, this is a very emotional time in a person’s life!). in fact, with everything going on, i hope that i even get a chance to write. i just wanted to take this opportunity to say hi to all my old high school peeps and also give facebook a big ol gay shoutout. i’m going to go back to listening to ashlee simpson now. b/c i may have graduated high school a while ago, but i’m still pretty much 15. ttyl 😉
at a jersey diner? post semi-formal? circa...'95? '96? note the hair wrap (did you do that, michelle??) and the rad second-hand coat. (man i loved that coat! what the heck did i ever do w/it??)
why did so many of us think it was cool to wear brown lipstick? also, flannel? also, hello! eyebrows! thank goodness i learned how to manage those. can't believe i spent so much time in that locker room! haha. shout-out to su for these both these pics. also facebook.
lunch at 11:30 
OMG we might have been twins in high school…I had all the same accessories: hair wraps, flannel shirts, brown lipstick (which really took me a while to shake), eyebrows (thank you current waxer for taming them), and I am sure you had docs on under your ripped jeans too. Those were the days…can I wear brown lipstick to the wedding? xoxox see you soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!
maybe? i don’t know. but i have a copy (like, an actual developed photograph) of that first picture. because i think we actually paid for “doubles” back then.
you were cute then, too. and very put-together. you were the only person who could actually pull off wearing 4-5 beaded necklaces at a time (one being a pouch with punk-rock hair clippings inside!)
please please please share your story, do the interview on my blog?