Thin Mints are my favorite

Oh yeah - I still have this thing.

I was perusing MySpace this evening (wow, now there's a line that will really reel in some readers) and decided to see what's going on with people that I went to high school with. Now, I've been out of high school for eight years and I feel as though I've kept in touch with the people that I wanted to keep in touch with. Also, I enjoyed high school and have no ill feelings about it.

So, things that I learned from being a MySpace stalker tonight:

• Apparently, I went to high school with someone named "Prom Headquarters" - awesome.
  
• A majority of people from my high school have children. They all seem very proud of being a single parent. Good for them and their kick-ass tax refund.
  
• A slightly lesser amount of people are married.
  
• Wow, I never realized how many people never left Eau Claire.

I love the advancements in bullet point technology.

Anyways, it just made me realize how much I would stick out at a reunion. Not only am I not named "Prom Headquarters", but I have no children and I'm certainly not married. I can't say I'm particularly interested in either experience, to tell you the truth. In fact, I'm so removed from children that I didn't even realize that it was Girl Scout cookie time. (Well, that was until the Girl Scouts showed up at the gym to peddle their wares - and they were on the other side of a glass wall from where I was doing crunches - every time I came up, I saw the cookies. It was all kinds of awful.)

Most people seem to be surprised by my discomfort around children. Don't get me wrong - I'm glad you have kids. I'm glad. No really, I'm glad. But I can probably count the number of times I've held a baby on one hand. Actually, probably on one finger. I can make conversation with 4-6 year-olds - they're still little and they don't get it when I say "So, did you read that article about those crazy North Koreans?! Can you believe they're breeding huge rabbits for food?" Okay, actually, that might disturb a child. But you get what I'm saying. And the kids under 4 just sort of hang out and I like that. I'm a big fan of hanging out. It's the 6-12 year-olds that I actively avoid. They're old enough that they think they have interesting things to say and as an adult, I am expected to pretend like they are little geniuses. Wrong. I only pretend to be listening when I'm talking with this age group. And while I'm nodding, I'm thinking about how I can leave the room without looking like a jerk.

So, this post didn't fit in with my recent Adventures in Consumerism theme, so apologies for that. But I suppose I could throw in a random consumerism-related story. I was at Herberger's on Sunday for Clinique Bonus Days and a saleswoman came up to me and asked if this was my natural hair color. I said "yes" (for those of you about to say "but didn't you have a cellophane treatment like six months ago?", I have this in reply: "yes, but that is all faded by now") and the saleswoman said "I hate you. I'm so jealous. I've always wanted red hair." I didn't know what to say back, so I thanked her.