I guess my best stories come from memories of high school. At the time I'm writing this I graduated about a year and a half ago; this upcoming June will mark two years already. It's impossible to wrap my mind around. For me personally nostalgia hits me like a shot to the gut. When I think about the past I usually get emotional inside thinking about how good life was back then compared to now, and how I desperately wish things could be the way they used to.
I wouldn't say I was like everybody else when I was in high school. I barely hung out with anyone outside of high school until about junior year once I got my license and could drive. All of my memories of high school come from online. They stem from hours upon hours upon hours of sitting at my family computer with Facebook open in one tab, music open in another (usually Spotify's then-working web player or on iTunes), and the homework I should've been doing on a third tab. Or hours upon hours of playing Call of Duty 2 on the PC as well. All that stuff happened almost entirely during my freshman year (2012/13). I'd always come home, plop myself on the computer, open up everything I was going to "need" (
) , and then spend the majority of my time scrolling on Facebook trying to find anything to amuse myself or messaging friends. I had gotten into Linkin Park that year as well, so most of the music I listened to while I scrolled through Facebook was them.
A lot of the content on my feed back then was sports, Linkin Park posts (I was really obsessed with them back then - still am now but it's different), memes to entertain myself, and of course everything my classmates were up to. But 2012 and 2013 were a different time -
much,
much different than today. There were hardly anything back then that resembled the "dank memes" of today (which I frankly detest). The memes I saw on my feed back then were genuinely good, funny stuff about football teams or dumb pictures of dumb things occurring lol. People were different back then as well. 2012/13 was a time when girls actually put effort into their profile pictures on Facebook (as opposed to today), and when people posted literally anything on Instagram and didn't really care (now it's all about appearance). Back then I was restricted to using my first phone by my parents, and I'd get it for two hours at the end of the night before I went to bed. I have so many fond memories of text conversations I'd have with friends on that phone (which I still have and which still works and has everything saved on it). I have fond memories of the new friends I had made then - I met my best friend named Nicole and towards the end of my freshman year I became good friends with a distant cousin of mine at perhaps the most unlikely of places: a funeral! My cousin and I would text so much over the next month or so, but unfortunately our friendship began to dissipate by the end of 2013 and by the end of sophomore year I couldn't really say she and I were friends anymore.
I have fond memories of my best friend and I from that first year of high school. Our first and last names are very similar and as a result we'd always be right next to each other in every class we'd have together. Our lockers were side by side too. That first year we had health and gym together - great memories. Those two classes are so memorable to me simply because we became such good friends during them. It's unfortunate to say that now, 5 years later, my self-consciousness and anxiety are getting the best of me and causing me to fear that our friendship is falling apart now that we're in college. And in case you're wondering, yes, I have had stronger feelings for her ever since I knew she was my best friend.
I guess that's just some of it, and I apologize that this write up isn't really concise - everything's jumbled up, really. It's been now 5 years since I started high school, and I'm now in my second year of community college. In all honestly college has lowered my self esteem significantly since I graduated high school, largely because I miss my friends and am seeing everyone else succeed while I slowly figure out what I want to do with my life. One thing is for sure: high school was the greatest four years of my life and I'm convinced they will remain as such for the rest of my life. The in-school memories I made between 2012 and 2016, and of course the people I met, I hold very, very close to my heart. Thinking back on those memories brings me mixed emotions of both extreme happiness and extreme sadness.
These are the best stories I have, and it feels good to be able to get them off my chest and share them with people. Thank you to all who read this.
*An honorable mention: The summer of 2012, between when I graduated middle school and began high school. I got my first phone for my birthday in May of that year, and that summer is when I first discovered Dogfight. I played it a lot that summer, along with the Minecraft and Brothers In Arms apps as well. About a month or so before I started high school I tried out for the football team, although it never got any farther than that. I couldn't understand much of what was going on, and I dropped out after a few weeks.