Facebook

I'm a bit of an ambivalent Facebook user. I only have about 59 friends, one of whom, is my Mom. (So that would be technically, 58 people who aren't otherwise obliged to be my friend...) I initially friended my close friends, and have been picking up additional friends and acquaintances as time goes by and as more people I have known join up. I've got law school friends, college friends, work friends and more and more high school friends.

This is where it gets interesting.

I really only ever kept in touch with two people from high school (Ana and Texas Jack) Even with Ana, we lost touch for a ton of years and then she found me through her supersaavy internet research skills (aided by a bad photo of me posted on the Job's website). If you stretch it, I kept in touch with another girl from High School-- who is now with the IRS in the ATL but even that "in touch" was only through a random assortment of holiday and wedding cards, etc.

So, when this whole Facebook thing comes along it appears that there is a whole little community of folks from my high school. First I reconnected with the former Captain of the Quiz Bowl team (I proudly succeeded to the honor once he graduated). Then more and more people started to join and at first it seemed like everyone linked to everyone else just because we went to the same school. This brought about friending former homeroom-mates (whom I would have liked to have known better at the time) and other folks in my former sphere of acquaintance, but who were "too cool" to be directly friendly to me in high school (for Ana's benefit: read our friend who prefers all her clothes to be "dry clean only".

If nothing else, I was interested to see pictures of these peoples' kids and spouses, since I never made it to my ten year reunion and they didn't appear to have one for our 15. Then I found MCM who always was a wacky chick and I'm glad to be back in touch with. Then there is the guy who I kind of went on a wacky date with and should have gone to the prom with, then there is the guy who I kind of went on a wacky date with (and apparently so did every other brainy-geeky girl in our class all while he was still dating his now wife...), then there are people who I was friendly with who I haven't friended and they haven't friended me (what's the deal people?) and I'm just not interested enough to be one of those people who friend everybody-- so I'll let them take the first step. Then there are people who have friended me who I either didn't really know, or in today's case-- never really liked to begin with.

Today I was friended by a fellow that I have known since I got to Georgia at the end of the fourth grade. He was in my gifted class and wore "sans-a-belt" shorts. He always looked a bit stuck up, or as my mom would say "looks like he's got a pole up his..." well, you know the expression. I never really liked this person. I guess I was never openly hostile enough to him though, because he, unlike some people I was actually friends with, friended me. It's not as bad as if I had been friended by the guy who always smelled like soup, but it's close.

It's strange because this fellow lives in Bozeman, Montana now, is building a house himself and has a very pretty, normal looking wife. In the pictures posted on his profile he actually looks like he's having a good time and would be someone who you'd want to be friends with. Totally contradictory to the image I had all growing up. Regardless. I still found it a random friending.