the mehallo blog. beta.

Illustration for my high school yearbook, 1985

Fill out this survey about your senior year of high school!

1. Did you date someone from your school?
No one would date me.

2. Did you marry someone from your high school?
Nope. Married someone whose father went to my high school. Suzanne Somers went to my high school. We all talked about that. Her father was my father’s drinking buddy. She married a guy named Allen. He didn’t go to our school. He was Canadian.

3. Did you car pool to school?
Was one of the first kids to get a car, so suddenly I had a lot of friends, then when they got cars, the friends went away.

4. What kind of car did you have?
74 Ford Maverick, orange with brown roof.

5. What kind of car do you have now?
Prius.

6. It’s Friday night  . . .  where are you in HS?
Watching the Dukes of Hazzard and Dallas – or – rolled up in a ball on the floor crying like a baby.

7. It is Friday night  . . .  where are you now?
Teaching a typography class and begging for baked goods from the culinary class next door.

UA Millbrae 3 staff portrait by mehallo, 1985

8. What kind of job did you have in high school?
All night answering service at a place called The Beehive. Usher at the now bulldozed Millbrae Theatre.

9. What kind of job do you do now?
All night graphic design in one of the rooms in my house. I’m also sort of a ‘bulldozer’ at two schools in the area.

10. Were you a party animal?
No. But looked great in a little cone hat. (joke stolen from high school friend Bob Gray)

11. Were you a flirt?
I was an incredible flirt. Except for that part where I’d have to talk to other people. Then, no.

12. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir?
No, no and no. Our band was one of the best in the nation, or universe or something like that. If I were in it, I’d have a higher sense of self.

Was in other creative on-campus, extra curricular things, which our principal would eventually shut down – one after another – because he hated anything that involved students thinking for themselves.

13. Were you a nerd?
No. Was a geek. Nerds are smarter than geeks. I had low grades.

14. Did you get suspended or expelled?
Nope. Did one hour detention once for being late 15 seconds to class. Still don’t think the sentence fit the crime. Being on the inside changed my world.

15. Can you sing the fight song?
They had a song to sing when fighting?? Wait, there was this taunting thing they used to sing  . . .  Really stupid sounding, not well thought out.

16. Who was your favorite teacher(s)?
Marty Smith. He let us call him Marty. School fired him because he was actually a good teacher. They did that a lot.

Mrs. Frasier was sooo HOT.

. . .  Did I just say that? She gave me an F and I loved every minute of it.

17. Where did you sit during lunch?
In the journalism classroom; or we’d try to drive to South City to get sandwiches at Little Lucca’s. Ended up missing 5th, sometimes 6th period. But used whatever pull we had to keep out of detention. Learned how that worked. Campus narcs really just want to think they’re cool. You could use that.

18. What was your school’s full name?
Capuchino High School Fascist State with Pool and Ample Parking

20. What was your school mascot?
Drunk cheerleader?
It was a horse. I learned to draw horses in art class.

21. If you could go back and do it again, would you?
No, that would change things in the time line, and I would have never happened upon what I do now by taking a journalism class. And I wouldn’t have this whole jaded thing going regarding high school that allows me a convenient place to store pent up hatred and anger.

22. Did you have fun at Prom?
Yes, I did. Didn’t think I’d go to the prom.

23. Do you talk to the person you went to Prom with?
Nope. Don’t know what happened to her. I think I drove her home though.

24. Are you planning on going to your next reunion?
There’s not going to be a reunion. There’s many reasons for this, but my money is actually on the former principal figuring out a way to cancel it.

25. Do you still talk to people from school?
One person, occasionally. A couple of old friends found me on Facebook. Some people I would like to contact, but twenty bucks on Classmates? Naaaah. I’ll take my chances with Google searches.

Trying to track down Marty Smith after all these years has led to some really interesting situations.

This survey was originally posted on Facebook, February 17th, 2009

tags: art, design, education, flom // 10 comments  . . .