Just spent the last two+ hours catching up on LJ after neglecting it for something like four days. First of all:



Better late than never, I hope.

Last weekend I went to my 40th high school reunion in Gainesville, Florida. (Yes, I'm THAT old.) It was fun... well, mostly. People were friendly. I even remembered a few of them beyond "Your name is vaguely familiar." (Graduating class of over 700 plus my shyness = I didn't know most of these people.) Spent most of my time with my two best friends from high school, and it was really nice to be with them again. Hadn't seen one of them for 30 years.


I know I'm not the only one who feels it - an odd mix of curiousity, obligation, hope, competitiveness, and utter horror at the idea of seeing those people you last knew at the age of 17. Maybe it brings back all the trauma of being a teenager (a trauma in itself) in the midst of a subculture that values physical appearances, athletic ability, and popularity over anything else, and consists of a complex of cliques and social pecking order that puts the caste system to shame.

But honestly, my high school experience wasn't exactly Armageddon. I had two best friends and several others, and many classmates I liked and who I hope liked me. By senior year I even liked most of my classes and was making good grades. I definitely wasn't one of the Cool Kids, but they left us alone. So what's the problem?

I went to the 10th reunion, and it was a LOT of fun. My BFFs K and C were there, and so were several others of my class friends, and it was nice to see them again. The 25th was another matter. K and her husband were there, but no one else I really knew. I stood around thinking about how I had nothing in common with these people anymore. This one was much better than that, even though I had stressed about having put on weight, but I was far from the only one. In fact that really wasn't on my mind at all.

I guess after 10 years or so, and certainly by 40 years, you're deep into the "What have I done with my life compared to everyone else" thing. Now, I think I've done fine, most of the time, but... It's kind of hard to look at the list of the class of '69 and see virtually everyone has married and most have kids, and here I am having done neither. (I was also a bit surprised at how many people bluntly asked me if I'd married and/or had kids, and at even C asking why I hadn't married my college boyfriend.)

There was also an uncomfortable moment or two after religion came up in the conversation and I mentioned that I'm an atheist. C is very religious, and now is sure I'm never going to heaven. While this shouldn't bother me, it does. I guess I don't understand why my friend should be fine with the idea that I'm supposedly destined for hell because I don't accept Jesus as my personal savior, never mind whether I'm a good, moral person or not.

Oh well. Not worth getting into an argument about, and to her credit she didn't say anything to me directly.


So. I arrived home last Sunday, and on Monday the shit started to really hit the fan at work regarding massive changes coming up. I haven't said much here, but I've been spending a lot of time on our impending move to another floor in our building, along with a move from our own locally run IT network to a centralized and much more regulated network. Let me just say, WE WILL BE ASSIMILATED. The people in charge of this project appear to be astonished by my whining about whether we'll actually be able to do our work under the new system.

Wednesday was my day off, and I spent two hours on a conference call from home. Argg.

Then, to make things perfect, Wednesday evening I came down with another cold/flu/whatever with fever, runny nose, sneezing, etc. Took Friday off and refuse to even look at my work email until tomorrow.

And I think I'm addicted to Sims 3.

All of which is kind of a long-winded explanation for why I haven't been around much.