Boy! Can i relate to that! in high school, i was the "designated joke idiot". The popular girls picked on me because i was tall, because i was a year younger (skipped a grade) and because i was a "scholarship" student. (based on aptitude). Oh, and i was the child of divorce (still looked down upon by southron catholics in the late sixties.) They perpetrated no end of mean maliciousness on me, which didn't help much, as i was already suffering from depression back then.  But then i started working the concerts, and all those mean bitches just had to choke on it when they'd see me hangin" with the likes of Alice Cooper or the Allman Bros.

i still used to come across some of em' when i'd go back to the ole hometown to work. i just never acknowledged any of em', They've come up to me before and asked,"do you remember me?" i'd just say "No, who ARE you?" and walk off.

What really destroyed me was when my "brothers and sisters" of the union turned against me. i'd spent a lifetime trying to get over those little bitches, just to have grown up "bitches" destroy my name, my business and my reputation. Now, alas, i occasionally have to go back and work with some of them. i HATE doin it, but it's the only work i can get. And aside from that, this is a RIGHT TO WORK state. i have a right to be there whether the unions workin or not. But, invariably, as soon as i show up the tittering and gossip starts. I AM NOW LEGEND!  i occasionally think about wearing Tshirts that say something like "RECOVERING PARIAH" or 'PAST THIS SHIT' or somesuch. It takes so much out of me emotionally, i have to literally fight myself just to show up, and after the shows been packed away, i go to my car and cry like a baby over what i lost, hell, over what i never obviously HAD in the first place.

i was doin some spec work for the show "CHICAGO" last year, standin on the dock listening to some alchohol reeking idiot bitchin about the call time. He says to the production mgr. for the house "if ida known it was gonna take this long, i'da stayed home and smoked another blunt". The company mgr. for the show walked past me and said , "Theres a reason they calls themselves COCKS isn't there?!" This was about a week or so before the whole "Governer and the Girl from Ipanema" thing kicked up.

 Some people don't even deserve the jobs they have. This idiot was gettin paid $16 an hour and time and a half after midnite. Thats alot of $ for down here.

No, reunions don't excite me at all.

Tru,

This is just my humble opinion. And if you don’t like it, and you ever meet up with me, you’re more than welcome to kick me in the shins.

My high school experience was similar to yours.  That was in the 60s. You know, tune in, turn on and drop out.  I did my best to meet the criteria but nevertheless I was lonely, without friends, isolated, angry, and eventually I dropped out, which was a good thing, because I’ve had a successful career. But I would never go to a high school reunion, because, pardon my language, they were all assholes.

My advice, risking a kick in the shins is, don’t try to bury the past. I happened. Shit happens, so turn the shit into sugar by realizing that the black coal of your past has produced the diamond that you are right now.  

David.

I admire your strength and keep it up. The only thing that matters is your family and their love. You have that and will always have that. Make a vow to yourself to forget the bitterness and hatred and move on from it, the hatred only holds us back. I have had mountains of hatred over the years and if you don't let it go, it will hold you back. Keep up the great work and your right, screw the reunion. You know who you are and what you have become and i see that you are very proud of that.