MineralMan: I Was a High School Band Geek.

[dutch508]

Star Member MineralMan (128,253 posts)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212967796

I Was a High School Band Geek.

When I was a skinny 6' tall 14-year-old, I agonized over that. In my Freshman year of high school, I could see who the popular kids were at my small high school, which had only about 500 students. The football players, the cheerleaders, the handsome and pretty kids. I was skinny, awkward, and wore clothes from Sears and J.C. Penney. I didn't think I'd ever fit in. I didn't think I'd ever be one of those fortunate kids who always seemed to be surrounded by smiling, laughing others. I was 14 and worried. I was just a band geek.

It was a difficult year. I couldn't find my way out of it at all, and was feeling sorry for myself.

But, the next year, something changed. It turned out I was a pretty good band geek, and I could sing, too. I got straight As in my classes. I began to recognize other kids like myself. We weren't great looking, nor were we very socially adept. We were just teenagers going through being teenagers. So, I started making friends with those kids - the kids in the band, the kids in the chorus, the kids in the academic honor society.

Pretty soon, I discovered that life was not so terrible. There were even girls among my new friends who were happy to go to a movie with me or to a school dance. They weren't the school cheerleaders, but they were still cute and fun to be around. I hung out with others who were not the obviously "popular" kids. We had fun. We had romances. We did goofy things together.

I gave up wanting to be one of the cool kids, and stopped feeling sorry for myself. I smiled a lot more. I did OK for the rest of high school. My friends did the same. By giving up on the need to stand out socially, we all enjoyed ourselves maybe even more. We went unnoticed by the popular kids, who had their own stuff to do.

DU, I suspect, is full of people like me. We're the political geeks. We're the ones taking stuff seriously that others never think about very much. We're concerned with weird things like equality, fairness, the environment, and other geeky things. We've found our group of like-minded people and people we get along with.

It's a good thing!

So, your life was like every other teen, ever, throughout the entire existence of mankind... 

Star Member MineralMan (128,253 posts)

6. I was a clarinet player for the first two years.

Then the band's oboist graduated, and the band director handed the school's oboe to me and said, "Learn to play this." Instantly, I became even more geeky, 'cause who plays the oboe, after all?

That turned out great, because nobody plays the oboe. I got good on it somehow, which led to spots on honor bands, including the state honor band, because there just weren't many oboists around, and I could play the music.

Sometimes, being the weird kid works out pretty well.

My third son played oboe and flute in school. He was good enough he played in the Omaha Symphony when he was 12. Not many play the oboe, that it true. It's not weird. It's just the fact that the oboe is a support instrument in most musical works...
(Boy No. 1 played Trombone. He had no ear for music, but by god he was enthusiastic about it. Boy No. 2 played saxophone. 1 and 2 later joined the army. Both had tours in the ME.... just like thousands of other kids growing up.)

Walleye (61 posts)

5. How many of us were in Student Council?

Star Member MineralMan (128,253 posts)

8. I was, for three years.

I was the parliamentarian, of all things. I learned Robert's Rules of Order thoroughly, for all the good that ever did me.

 

Star Member unitedwethrive (1,423 posts)

10. I can so relate...theatre and chorus geek here!

I was not as fortunate as you during high school, and I always felt a bit marginalized. Luckily, I was accepted to a great college and found myself suddenly surrounded by geeks of all kinds. It was heaven for me and the first time I really felt a sense of belonging.

Life is all about finding your people. I hope everybody eventually finds a place where they fit in.

Star Member MineralMan (128,253 posts)

11. The teen years are challenging, for sure.

I was lucky. I give a lot of credit to my mother, who suggested I stop worrying and make friends with people like myself.

Star Member redstatebluegirl (7,900 posts)

13. Another Band geek here!

And one whose mom took her to the "big town" to protest the war when I was 16 years old. My brother was serving at that time, but what he was fighting was just wrong and he could have died. I took that really seriously, it wasn't against those who fought, it was against the stupid rich white guys who sent him and not their own kids. So yes, I took things a little seriously . My senior thesis in 1973 was on Watergate.

 

On February 7, 1973, the United States Senate voted 77-to-0 to approve 93 S.Res. 60 and establish a select committee to investigate Watergate, with Sam Ervin named chairman the next day. The hearings held by the Senate committee, in which Dean and other former administration officials testified, were broadcast from May 17 to August 7, 1973.

So- you wrote your senior thesis (May 1973 at the latest)on an ongoing hearing in a Senate Committee that only started in the middle of May? 

 

[DUmpDiver]

And then MM joined DU and became even more of a weirdo.

[Ralph Wiggum]

And then MM joined DU and became even more of a weirdo.

And still pulling less wool than Steve Numbers.

[Zathras]

To all of the DUmbasses regaling the high water marks of their pathetic worthless existence. Nobody gives a shit about what you did in high school.

[USA4ME]

I'm betting Rockhead's parent are sad to hear he's coming and glad when he leaves.

Edit:

brokephibroke
61. You got the poo flinging primitive cave dwellers

All worked up again. LOL.

Anyone know why we strike fear into this primitive? They keep posting about us on the island.

.

[Zathras]

I'm betting Rockhead's parent are sad to hear he's coming and glad when he leaves.

Edit:

Anyone know why we strike fear into this primitive? They keep posting about us on the island.

.

Well they are too gutless to come here and engage us directly. The best they can do is try (and fail miserably as with everything they do) to fling poo in our direction.

[Skul]

 MineralMan

I Was a High School Band Geek.

When I was a skinny 6' tall 14-year-old, I agonized over that. In my Freshman year of high school, I could see who the popular kids were at my small high school, which had only about 500 students. The football players, the cheerleaders, the handsome and pretty kids. I was skinny, awkward, and wore dirtyclothes from Sears and J.C. Penney diving the Goodwill drop-off site behind or Buick *sob* . I didn't think I'd ever fit in. You still don't you fetid slab of Fumunda cheese. I didn't think I'd ever be one of those fortunate kids who always seemed to be surrounded by smiling, laughing others.You thunked rightly shitgibbon. I was 14 and worried. No matter how hard I tried, I still could not lick my testicles. I was just a band geekcreep. 

It was a difficult year. I couldn't find my way out of it at all, and was feeling sorry for myself. Rightfully so, your about as sorry as they go. Do something positive with your life ... end it.
,

Bad day Pebbles?  Go have a cold refreshing cup of hemlock. You'll feel better for it, trust me.

[jukin]

Remember this day.  A DUchebag told the truth.


I was co-captain of the water polo team and had a 4.0 GPA (before the BS of grades higher than 4.0).  I proudly made fun of the band members. Kind of like making fun of the DUmpmonkeys now.

[Old n Grumpy]

He got really popular when he started playing the skin flute.

He went from just a plain geek to a full fledged douche bag!

[fatboy]

I was quite active in Band/Chorus in HS and had my day in the sun for sure. My HS had about 1200 students, 100 of them were in the band so about 10%. Some of those were on the football team.

I had a friend who was also in the band, I say friend in a strictly guarded sense. From the first week of freshman year to graduation day, I always felt that I was his friend because no one else wanted the job. And it was a job let me tell you. In the 4 years I cannot remember him talking about or hanging around with anyone else besides me and my other friends. I had a car senior year and drove to school every single day and picked him up, I say this to confirm that I knew him well. Four years as a bandmate I cannot recall ever hearing him play anything on his instrument except a "C" tuning note. I always thought he was faking it.

About a year ago I friended him on facebook. He is today a full fledged member of the lefty political know-it-all class, posts 10 or more anti-trump messages a day. He posts on fb in personal terms as if he was Mr. Popularity in high school and has multiple graduate degrees in awesome when in reality he went trade school.

The interesting thing is we have mutual fb friends, some were obnoxious football players in HS and they, the football players and other very popular kids are now as conservative as I am and call him out on his revisionist BS all the time. So much fun!

[Ralph Wiggum]

Edit:

Anyone know why we strike fear into this primitive? They keep posting about us on the island.

.

No idea why that DUmmy has posted that several times recently.  A rather non-descript garden variety DUmmy.

[Zathras]

I've got some news for the DUmbasses in that thread reliving their glorious high school careers. I never did any of that crap you idiots are reminiscing about in high school and turned out to be a better person than any of you could dream of being.

[landofconfusion80]

I've got some news for the DUmbasses in that thread reliving their glorious high school careers. I never did any of that crap you idiots are reminiscing about in high school and turned out to be a better person than any of you could dream of being.

Thank you. I was 100% disconnected from all of that stuff in HS. Dont care, lost nothing from not participating.  Every 10 years somebody will pop up and ask if I'm coming to their reunion. I talk to those that matter, I couldn't care less about the rest and what they're doing

[Ptarmigan]

For some people, their whole life is one giant high school. They never left high school.

[Delmar]

I was surprised by how much restraint the primitives showed in this thread.  They mostly stuck to telling stories about being in the high school band and only a couple replies veered into bouncies about leftist activism from their high school days.  I was half expecting some primitive to spin a yarn about playing in a marching band on the Selma march in 1965.

Response to MineralMan (Original post)Sat Feb 8, 2020, 12:09 PM
Star Member redstatebluegirl (7,908 posts)
13. Another Band geek here!

And one whose mom took her to the "big town" to protest the war when I was 16 years old. My brother was serving at that time, but what he was fighting was just wrong and he could have died. I took that really seriously, it wasn't against those who fought, it was against the stupid rich white guys who sent him and not their own kids. So yes, I took things a little seriously . My senior thesis in 1973 was on Watergate.

Response to redstatebluegirl (Reply #13)Sat Feb 8, 2020, 12:21 PM
Star Member MineralMan (128,332 posts)
19. It always seemed to me that the band members were fairly

serious people, despite our reputation for being sort of weird. Some friends and I got together in 1960 and made up a small band to greet Bobby Kennedy, whose train came to town on a whistle-stop tour, campaigning for JFK. We played the train into town, got a thumbs up from RFK, and got hassled by the town's Republicans for showing up to support JFK.

There were complaints about using some school instruments for political purposes. I was teaching myself the tuba, so I took one of the school's sousaphones to meet the train. The band director just said, "Who cares what they think? Good job!"

[DUmpsterDiver]

>Star Member MineralMan (128,253 posts)  I Was a High School Band Geek.

BFD.  I was 2nd chair trumpet through Junior High and High School only because 1st chair was #1 in the state.   
Far from a "geek" with hallway paddle scars and a proclivity for noontime pyrotechnic anonymity.

I doubt you remember the bus rides back from games and shows when the lights went out while adolescence evaporates
with a cheerleaders care...