Leerbook ([Somewhat personal]Essay)

I did mention last post that I had received my school Year Book. It's the last thing I'll ever see from my year, which is a bit of a shame, but they're better off without me, anyway.

The book contents (i.e. the entries, written by pupils) were written mostly mid-early on in the year, so it's a shame that most people weren't in the mood to reflect or end more definitively than they clearly would be while the prospect of leaving was less in the fog. Still, this perhaps helps to reflect their personalities better, which is, I guess, what they'll marvel over when looking at the book in generations to come.

Still, what to say, what to say? My classmates mostly drifted away into maturity in the last year, so I didn't get much opportunity to remain as close-knit in the community as before (it's a shame, but I respect the reasons for this). Besides, my fear of the Common Room got quite in the way of that. Having said that, I wasn't sectioned off from the year, and we came together for various reasons (the talent show comes to mind).

Resultantly, to cut a long story short, 90% of entries in that book are incomprehensible to me, considering that I wasn't much part of the year that crucial year, and so stories are told and occasions are reminisced upon which just don't involve me. That's why I'm glad that I wrote my entry the way no-one else would - as what you might call the formal farewell, from within the pupils to the pupils. Mine's is the message which I wrote hoping that they'd look back on it and appreciate that we did have feelings of goodwill for each-other amongst the year as well. (It has to come across somehow, and I guess it's me it comes through. Since most others don't touch much on this 'we all care for each-other' message in the book, I'm glad I did! Besides, I couldn't think of anything else to say that they'd be interested in.)

But all this aside, I've barely seen anyone in my year, really, since I left school. That's not a bad thing, but I suppose they're all enjoying themselves. I certainly hope they are. What's scary is that I bet somebody decides to get us all scrambled back again with that Friends Re-united website, or whatever it is. As is worded on the front of the Year Book itself, it would be cheaper to simply view Crimewatch.

So, you likely don't want to hear all this. That's why I wrote '[Somewhat personal]' at the title - there's a small minority out there that might feel heart-felt to read something of this form, and I write this FOR THEM!!

But even so, I think it was the Americans that started the Year Book idea. It's a concept that works quite well, I'm sure, for when adults want to look back on younger years, from just a couple of years to a whole lifetime! But before such years pass, it's a book. Namely, a book which gets put somewhere and promptly lost for many years. But, perhaps, found again, to much nostalgia and glee. It's nice when you find something you weren't looking for and you like it anyway, isn't it? Take my old Rupert the Bear videos...

...em, wait, I, er, ah, on second thought, please don't.  ¶ 9:02 pm