School Reunions - a question

[threemonkeys]

So have any of you geeky types been to your school reunions? What were your experiences? The reason I ask is that my old high school is having a major anniversary reunion at Easter this year. I wasn't even considering going, but over xmas down south I had a couple of conversations(1) where I was actively encouraged to attend. The thing is, I suspect that I have nothing in common with old school mates. My experiences whenever I've bumped into old fellow inmates is that the lingua franca of such encounters is children (and now grandkids) - a language which I do not speak. It doesn't help that I'm from a rural area and most people stayed in that environment when I didn't.

So are my concerns justified, or have you had good experiences? Of course I may not be able to go anyway - work commitments and money might get in the way (and if I had plenty of time and money, I'd be going to Swancon or Eastercon for sure).


(1)The two conversations were both with pairs of sisters who went to the same school. The older sister of each pair was called Bronwyn and the younger was in the same year at school as me. The fact that I find that worthy of note goes a long way to explaining why I suspect that I will be out of place at a reunion.

Comments

[fred_mouse]

I had a ball at my 20 year reunion. I'm one of the ones that moved out of the area (suburban, but in a fringe way). I tried to talk to everyone - there were a stack of people that I don't remember ever talking to at school who were really interested. Generally, we talked about work, and travel, although most people who had kids brought it up - I have kids, so I could do those, but I was much more interested in the people that they had all become.

I'm no longer the strange maths weirdo! Mind you, there were only a few people who really understood about the 'enrolled in PhD', one of whom was also doing one, and took some time to warm up to talking about her topic, which was fascinating, but I can see why she was reluctant - blood borne parasites in bovines is not something that many people are interested in!

[threemonkeys]

Thanks for your insights - that is exactly the sort of thing I needed to hear.

Oddly enough back in my home town, talking about bovine parasites is probably pretty normal conversation these days - the joys of coming from a farming community.

[fred_mouse]

Did you end up going? Of did you make it to one of SwanCon or EasterCon instead?

(why yes, clearing out email inbox going back over two years. How *did* you guess?)

[threemonkeys]

No, in the end the cost angle got me, as did the "really really busy" factor. Saving my time and leave to go to the two natcons at the beginning of june.

[fred_mouse]

two natcons? Which ones?

[threemonkeys]

New Zealand - http://unconventional2012.wordpress.com/
Australia - http://continuum.org.au/

[fred_mouse]

*envy*. I want to go to Continuum. But I could put the $1000 to a different purpose that I really really want to spend the money on (UWA graduates walk - I want to buy a stone for my grandma, who graduated in 1936). And I'm not sure that I could lob poor artisanat with all three kids for a whole weekend, at least, not for something that isn't work!

And I've seen the guests for Conflux next year - I'm seriously considering making that the one that I target.