Quotes from the Yearbook
Sometimes people Twitter quotes. I'm guessing it's because they find them to be super profound and want to share the wisdom with the masses. It reminds me of high school yearbooks.
I had a mini anxiety attack when I realized that I'd have to put a quote under my picture in the high school yearbook. What's that all about? Please come up with a pithy phrase that captures your adolescence and will explain to your future parole officer where it all went wrong. Of course you can't put something like "fuck you, stupid whores who made my life miserable by looking at me as though I had BO which I certainly did not because, hello, at this rate it doesn't seem like I'll even start to develop until I'm premenopausal. Have a great summer!"
So instead I settled for "may the happiest days of our past be the saddest part of our future!" And to this day it bothers me.
Because I get it. The happy days of our past, may that happiness pale with the happiness that we are still to experience in the future. And may it pale to such a degree, in fact that the past happy days will be sad in comparison. Makes sense. For the clinically insane. Otherwise it sounds like a curse. Let's say the happiest day of your past, when you're in high school, is when this boy you adore from afar looks at you and smiles. Pretty groovy, right? (Disclaimer, I did not attend high school in the 1960s). Now THAT is supposed to be my saddest day? Why, because he's stalking me now, right? Or am I in such a future state of constant euphoria that the black market Ecstasy market can't keep up with my demand?
Just weird.
By the way, I googled the "happiest days of our past be the saddest days of our future" quote and apparently it's a wedding toast. Jesus. What was I, thirty?
Do you remember what your high school yearbook quote was?
I had a mini anxiety attack when I realized that I'd have to put a quote under my picture in the high school yearbook. What's that all about? Please come up with a pithy phrase that captures your adolescence and will explain to your future parole officer where it all went wrong. Of course you can't put something like "fuck you, stupid whores who made my life miserable by looking at me as though I had BO which I certainly did not because, hello, at this rate it doesn't seem like I'll even start to develop until I'm premenopausal. Have a great summer!"
So instead I settled for "may the happiest days of our past be the saddest part of our future!" And to this day it bothers me.
Because I get it. The happy days of our past, may that happiness pale with the happiness that we are still to experience in the future. And may it pale to such a degree, in fact that the past happy days will be sad in comparison. Makes sense. For the clinically insane. Otherwise it sounds like a curse. Let's say the happiest day of your past, when you're in high school, is when this boy you adore from afar looks at you and smiles. Pretty groovy, right? (Disclaimer, I did not attend high school in the 1960s). Now THAT is supposed to be my saddest day? Why, because he's stalking me now, right? Or am I in such a future state of constant euphoria that the black market Ecstasy market can't keep up with my demand?
Just weird.
By the way, I googled the "happiest days of our past be the saddest days of our future" quote and apparently it's a wedding toast. Jesus. What was I, thirty?
Do you remember what your high school yearbook quote was?
posted by Marinka at
10:00 AM
45 Comments:
Mine was, "Live. Love. Laugh" or something just like it.
Apparently, I was a SAHM even back then. GAH.
christ I can't even remember what I had for lunch yesterday.
Mine was Albert Camus "In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me lay an invincible summer". Turns out that 1. he was clinically insane (didn't learn that until college) and 2. I don't so much have an invincible summer in me.
Ah, the optimism of youth.
Last night my daughter was telling me about a senior boy she knew that just got a tattoo, "LLK" for Lunch Lady Krew (the nickname for his group of friends).
Mmmm, I said, It's a pretty bad idea to think that something that seems forever and profound to you in high school will actually be so.
Unfortunately, I do. I won't say more than this, but I WILL say it came from a Cyndi Lauper song.
John Mayer- "I believe that my life's gonna see the love I give returned to me"
and I had four pictures. Because my school was baller and we got a lot of room.
I can't remember exactly, but I believe it was something like "Fuck you, stupid whores who made my life miserable."
Not positive but something a long the lines of: Why can't my parents drink like all the other parents. Good luck in college. Something deep like that
You're not seriously asking me to remember that far back, are you? My last year in high school sucked. Again why remember that far back. If you (and I) really want to know what I wrote, I would have to go dig up my yearbook. Perhaps another weekend because I'm out toying with my new camera this weekend.
So have a scent-sational time strolling down memory lane. me, I'm out capturing new memories.
Oh no - I was an angsty teen all the way. We were all about the song quotes. Mine was Cat Stevens and a real "thinker" - you know, just like me. I was really deep. And angsty. But I wasn't goth...so I guess I had my limits.
Oh, how embarrassing! Mine was, "I envision a day when chickens can cross the road without having their intentions put into question." How stupid!!
We didn't have to do quotes...they just listed all our clubs and achievements under our photos...so you knew who were the high achievers and who was under the bleachers making out or smoking instead of attending Yearbook staff meetings.
BTW...saw Pelham123 last night on date night and couldn't help thinking of your stuck on the subway!
Mine was "those were the days" so cheesy but my teen they just write HAGS-Have a great summer! I'm like come on you can't come up with something better!! She says WHATEVER!
ack! i had to go look it up: "it is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing." I think I found it in a book of quotes somewhere. cryptically i then go on to thank my hs boyfriend, so it's unclear if I'm referring to him or just making a general statement on the nature of high school.
oh, please don't let me fall into the pit of reading old yearbook entries. I'm going to put that thing away now.
I don't think we did quotes, but who knows. I too, cannot remember high school much. But today at the end of season soccer party the coach asked the kids what their favorite part of the season was. My son answered "when we lost to the red team 15-0" so he's a shoe in for having only happier memories from here on out.
Mine was something like...
ILVU4URAQT! BFF! MUSICMAN!PIPPIN!BYEBYEBIRDIE! GOT WSTD, GOTAWAYWITHIT
ouch.
Uh, I guess I got shafted. Our yearbook didn't offer us the ability to quote shit. Had I chosen something?
"This is not an exit."
not word for word but I can tell you that it equaled yours in dorkiness. Isn't it great that we can move past those little things to bigger and better ones?
We didn't have personal quotes in our yearbook, however, I'm pretty sure there's a picture of me getting an award for most flirtatious. Hmmmm ... I'm off to flirt with old highschool chums on FB.
See ya!
High school yearbook??? WTF? Even if I recalled that there was such a thing (which I doubt), what possible wisdom could it hold? :)
I didn't get to put a quote in my yearbook because I was out for a month for medical reasons and missed the deadline. I am still upset. Mine was going to be "a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle". I remember the quote from one of my friends (though can't remember the band/song) "the last's a lonely mile, I'll remember it for a while. You'll never speak to me unless it's to revile."
A yearbook?? I'm with Braja on this one. I knew what a yearbook was, something alien and very very American. My school did not do alien or American. Thank goodness, because I am sure my quote would have haunted me to this day.
I'm actually still fairly pleased with mine.
"So long and thanks for all the fish"
Mine said. "Oh sorry, I didn't know she was your girlfriend." I'm still pleased with it :) Love your stuff.
"The puff adder is not a puff, nor can it add. It is a snake."
No, I'm not sure what I was thinking. But oddly, "completely random" seems to be one of the less embarrassing categories after the passage of time.
Now I feel deprived - my highschool never gave us this wonderful opportunity to express our individuality. Maybe that was lucky, because I probably would have quoted Howard Jones.
Mine said: DUDE!!!!!!
It fit me pretty well in the moment.
OMG my maid of honor gave that same toast at my wedding and we were all charmed. Now it sounds weird.
PS We just got 2 kittens. I thought of you as I eyed the kitty condos at Petco
We didn't have quotes in our yearbook. We had a little 2 inch square block of space to write or draw whatever we wanted. I wrote a little letter to my then boyfriend in teeny tiny handwriting with veiled references to sexual activity and memories I would never forget, that I have since forgotten.
I should dig that thing out, I bet it would make a great blog post.
I remember thinking that I didn't want to sound stupid in 20 years when someone else looked back. We didn't have quotes but it was a big thing in my circle to sign the yearbook of good friends with some long and insightful or witty ramble. Sometimes we'd loan our yearbooks out for a night just so that the other person could think of something really great to say.
Turns out the bulk of the people signing my yearbook were baffled at my choice of boyfriend and chose to expound on it at length. The only one of my little messages I've gotten to read in the last year was the one I left for that boyfriend (and 12 years later, husband... so both our yearbooks are rotting in the attic somewhere).
I was so bland and careful so that he could read it in 20 years and not be embarrassed about his high school girlfriend when his kids saw it (because I'd gone through my parents yearbooks and wow that was awkward.) that it's hilarious to realize it's going to be our kids...
But I'd probably still be bland and boring if I had to go back and write it again.
"Where are you going now my love?
Where will you be tomorrow?
Will you bring me happpiness?
Will you bring me sorrow?"
by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and possibly Young
not bad, kind of boring, kind of sappy
I have no clue what I wrote in the yearbook, but I'm sure it was born of a drug-induced haze. I was so clever!
It's nice to be nice to the nice.
Frank Burns, M*A*S*H
How lame to quote a TV show!
PS,
I am so glad you were not asking for people to share their SAT scores. I would not do it even if you paid me!
I'm so old they did not do that in my day. My daughter had something, I'll ask her when she wakes up.
We didn't get to include a quote in my high school yearbook. However, in college, the department let each student write a little splurge to be read during the ceremony. If I could have written anything, I would have used Mos Def and said, "Now that this is over, all I want is 'Brooklyn, sex, love, and money.'" But I stuck with something simple, saying thanks, and all that generic stuff.
I had it in my head and then I started crying because John Mayer was alive when Molly C graduated high school.
"Too old to give up; too young to rest" from The Who song "Dreaming from the Waist" which is about mid-life crisis. I was very advanced for my age. And a bit of a dick.
Risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is too risk nothing. Only a person who takes risks is free.
They didn't make us do that in high school. Mine probably would have been "I will come back to haunt you fuckers." which would have most likely had me arrested. Good future blog fodder, but not good for the time.
Today was tomorrow yesterday;
Isn't funny how time can slip away?
God, what crap. I did a couple of yearbook posts after unearthing my yearbooks from junior high.
I would NOT go back to those years for any amount of money. There is not enough money in the universe to make up for the drama and the angst. Ugh.
"Kiss today goodbye, and point me towards tomorrow. I did what I had to do. Won't forget, can't regret what I did for love."
And they were shocked when I told them I was gay.
Go figure.
It ain't a party til something gets broke. Those words of wisdom came from "St. Elmo's Fire." That's right, the one with Demi Moore and Rob Lowe. Not only am I embarrassed by the quote and source, my sons and their friends seem to remind me of those words at every birthday party we host.
This post actually made me go look up the actual lyrics since I'm nowhere near my yearbook...
Steve Earle-country rocker with a heroin problem (back then not now, thanks wiki): There are those that break and bend. I'm the other kind.
I think it's still okay.
And now I need to own that song again because I JUST realised how much I miss it!
Thanks for that - oh and ingrid sent me over, she's clever.
I thought I was being all cool by quoting a lyric from a Clash song. Which is,"Are you a have or a have not, if you are a have not you probably had it, if you are a have, you probably got it and are going to give it away in the future".
Profound, huh? I'm still wondering if I am a have or a have not, ironically enough.
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