Rhymes with "Base Hook"

Please welcome our first Guest Observer, Pete Babb.

Pete Babb, also known as DJ Enki, was right there with Missy and Jill when they came up with the concept for Just a Casual Observation, though he contributed nothing to the concept, with the possible exception of some sarcastic jokes. He's kind of like the crazy cat lady, except with records instead of cats and with slightly better personal grooming habits. In case you couldn't tell, he's got a nice little cynical streak.


Rhymes with "base hook."

Recently, I was hit with a friend request on a social networking site that shall remain nameless, but the name rhymes with "base hook," and it's Facebook. I blithely accepted, happily unaware of two things:

1. The person I had just befriended was somebody I went to middle school with (she was going by a different name than the one she used in middle school), and

2. She wanted to start up a group all about our middle-school class, complete with scans of yearbook pages, old photos, the whole magilla.

Pardon me, lady, but what the fuck is wrong with you? What kind of deranged individual is brimming with nostalgia for fucking middle school?

Nostalgia for elementary school I can understand. It's your formative years, it's more cutesy than difficult, and it's fun (and funny) to see yourself as a wee little'un. I'm not much for high-school nostalgia personally, and I think people who peaked in high school and continue to cling to that faded glory are kinda sad, but at least it makes sense--it's an important part of growing up, your decisions take on much bigger ramifications for your future, all that stuff.

But middle school?

Who the hell wants to unironically take a sepia-toned look back at the most awkward part of their lives? Who actually wants to re-live those tween years when you're getting your ass kicked by puberty and all the unfortunate things that come with it?
Above: Missy of JCO (@ left) and Ms. J. Cook, Esq. a future contributor to JCO and in house lawyer. 6th and 7th grade respectively. We are only comfortable with this picture because we turned out okay (see below right).


And to move from the general to the specific, why did she want to pull me into her ridiculous back-in-the-craptacular-ol'-days project? We weren't friends back then. We never really spoke as we moved in different social circles. I can't even recall having any classes with her--we were just in the same grade. And yet here she is like, "Hey, remember when we were all gawky-ass, pizza-faced doofuses? Wasn't that the best?"

Criminy.

There's a good reason why today I'm not friends with anybody from middle school (save one guy, who I've been friends with since the first grade): middle school sucks. Pretty much by definition, it sucks. Why anybody would want to fondly recall it is well beyond me.

Above: Jill of JCO (far right)looks alarmingly well adjusted for Jr. High. Rare, like a unicorn.