Nobody From High School Recognizes Me: is that such a bad thing?

Christmas means many things: no parking at the mall, lights around random trees, that dude jingling a bell in front of half the stores in town, and most of all, punk ass classmates you vaguely remember who are in town visiting their family.

I used to get pissed when nobody remembered me. It’s not like I was the guy who didn’t do anything. Lots of people knew me so I knew it wasn’t a matter of not knowing me when I graduated. I then thought about it and realized that I grew since high school, I cut my hair, and I now dress differently. From what I’ve been told though, my face looks exactly the same . . . but Asian guys in Hawaii are about as plentiful as thongs on the beaches of Rio.

I also have a better than average memory of people in high school, so maybe I remember people better than other people remember others.

After much contemplating, I said “fuck it, let people not recognize me.” I just didn’t care. Later, I learned I could have fun with it. For one of my reunions I purposely did not wear a name tag so I could laugh as people racked their brains trying to remember me. (yeah I have a warped sense of humor).

I then realized that when someone doesn’t remember me, it allows me to start fresh. In their eyes, I’m like a person they just met instead of the nerd I was in high school. But from my perspective, I have decent idea of what the person is like, who they are, and what they’ve done. I have the knowledge-advantage of a stalker, but without being an actual stalker. Most of the time though, I just act like I don’t know anything about my old classmate because I’m afraid getting anywhere near stalker territory.

So don’t view the “hot girl” from high school not remember you as a bad thing. Think of it as a positive, a positive that she doesn't see you as the geek you used to be and that you probably look better and have matured. Then, take the opportunity to start fresh with her.