Things I regret about high school:

-Not going to at least SOME dances!
-Not trying out for the musicals
-Not becoming better friends with Gina Fan
-Not taking Spanish V, Japanese I, and French I
-Not going to the beach often enough
-Not wearing clothes that actually fit me (I guess baggy was in?)
-Not taking the time to spark up a conversation with someone who looked down

Things I loved about high school:

-Structure
-Friends
-Church

Next year is my 10-year high school reunion. For some reason, I'm so excited about it. No plans have been made yet, but I'm looking forward to it. I'm sure many people hated their high school experience, but I liked it. I was very goody-two-shoes, played everything by the book, and never really got in trouble.

But there's just something about high school environment that separates you into distinct cliques. It's near impossible to go against this. You have your popular people, nerdy people, jocks, Christian club people, Key Club people, you name it. Very rarely do people try to break out of these socially-constructed group entities. I remember when my older brother had this idea to eat lunch with me and my little brother. He was an example of the lone soldier who tried to break free from the ranks. But it only lasted for one lunch period. The forces of high school peer pressure were too great even for our family bonds.

Anyways, the reason why I am looking forward to my reunion is that I finally get to rise out of the "high school rules" and befriend and connect with whomever I please, irregardless of social status. I say let the 'dungeons and dragons' people hang with the jocks. Let the swim people mingle with the Colorguard people. Let the "mean girls" exchange pleasantries with the math people. On the other hand, I have heard that people tend to go back to their high school ways at reunions, and gravitate towards their former clilques. That's unfortunate. I hope it's not like that for us.