Checking out the Facebook of the brother of the classmate who died. Bought (and possibly planted) a tree in his memory in the park. That's nice, I guess. If it helps them, why not?

But this guy is surprisingly intelligent. He was in the lowest academic group. Same with his brother. But he writes well, makes witty comments, and is clearly a bright guy.

So even with all the drug use, he stayed sharp. His brother was the same. And I've seen this with other guys I went to school with too.

Only the people who went to private (tuition-based...I think "private" and "public" mean the opposite things in the UK) grade school, though. Grade school is grades one through eight. So I'm thinking that it has a big effect. Good early schooling. Learn the fundamentals.

Conversely, I see the people who went to public (free, government-run) grade schools and I can't think of a scholar among them. The valedictorian was possibly the guy who was also the captain of the football team and did a bunch of activities in school but he wasn't a bright guy. He just did a lot of shit.

I'm reminded of my attitude to "extra credit" assignments. I NEVER did them. Because they're optional. Why bother? But everybody else did. There was even a time in university where the professor went around the room asking people questions about the extra credit assignment and when it came to me, I just gave a vague answer that she didn't like because I didn't do the assignment. But it was just assumed that everybody did. And indeed, everybody did. Except me.

And you know what? I proved who was the smartest one in the class. These people wasted their time on that shit. We all got the same degree. Assuming that they graduated. There's no distinctions in the US like I think there is in the UK. Everybody who graduates gets the same degree whether they get all C's or all A's.

But I digress. Yeah, this guy who was brothers with this classmate who died. I also find it interesting that his interests have stayed the same since high school. Art and heavy metal music. He paints a lot of Dungeons & Dragons miniatures. Same as he did in high school, probably. I didn't know him that well. But he was big into art and heavy metal and according to Facebook, still is.

That seems weird to me. I mean....what was I into in high school? Comic books. Video games. Star Trek.

But what kind of boobarian man child would I hsve to be to still have these interests? I lost interest in comic books by the time I was 18, in video games by the time I was 21, and Star Trek by the time I was 15. Not in a knowing effort to cultivate more adult interests but just naturally.

I see this in many of these classmates, though. Still fond of comic books and whatnot. Wonder if they still play tv tag and enjoy throwing the old Nerf football around too.