Being awkward in school was the norm for most of us, but some hid it better than others. There were definitely those that stood out of the crowd and marched to the beat of a different drum. These misfits and weirdos might have been teased, but at least they won't ever be forgotten.
u/mensaboy67 asks:
What is your 'weird classmate' story?
Her Favorite Class Is Purr-sian Hiss-tory
GiphyShe thought she was a cat. She crawled around on the floor, meowed, and purred. Teacher allowed this, and I didn't really care because she was still "normal" besides the cat thing. It got really weird when my friend suddenly screamed "Ow, F---!" followed by the girl going "mew" from under the table . She bit his leg. AFAIK, she has no problems, just likes being a cat.
It's All Greek To Me
GiphyWe had a guy at my high school who was...a little socially inept. He would walk through the hallway with a sharpened pencil extended in front of him like a spear and say "Make way, make way, mere mortals!" whenever he would walk to class. He also got in trouble for looking up "porn" on the library computer. Of course, actual porn sites were blocked, so he "researched" pictures of Roman and Greek statutes of nude women.
Hungry For...Knowledge
GiphyDear god. I have a great story.
I moved to a new state my sophomore year of high school. I, obviously, didn't know anyone so I had no idea what kids were considered weird. In my first couple of weeks, the kid that sat behind me asked if I could get him a tissue. The box of tissues was on a window ledge right beside me, so I oblige and hand him one. Then I hear super loud "NOM NOM NOM NOM". And this guys straight up, DEVOURS, this tissue. He just looked at me and smiled, I looked around the room and everyone was staring at him...
Bee All That You Can Bee
GiphyThis is actually less 'annoying-weird' and more 'I-am-in-awe-but-also-confused' kind of weird. In grade 4, there was this boy in my class, he was cool, he was obsessed with tanks, and loved to draw them from memory during class. I was a girl, and the other girls thought it was weird that I wanted to hang out with a boy, but the girls were jerks, so I didn't care.
Anyway, once during lunch time, he told me he was a bee whisperer, and told me to follow him. There was this big bush full of pink flowers in one corner of the school yard, and it was full of bees. He puts his finger near the bush, and one bee lands on his finger. He tells me the key is to be gentle, and make them trust you by not being afraid.
He then picks a flower that one bee was sitting on, and slowly folds the petals into the middle and pinches it between his fingers, essentially trapping the bee. He then puts the flower, with the bee, in his pocket, and we continue building stuff out of sticks.
Then recess is over, and in the middle of class, he taps me on the elbow, opens his pocket, and lets the bee crawl out. I just watch, as he lets the bee crawl over and between his fingers, until one girl nearby shrieks "James has a bee!"
The teacher looks up, and in a bit of a panic, demands he let the bee go outside. He does, just walks outside with the bee just sitting in the palm of his hand.
That was the first and last time he ever showed me the bee thing, and he moved away at the end of that year. I'm naturally skeptical, and maybe my childish wonder at that time distorted my memory somehow, but a part of me still believes that the King of the Bees is out there, somewhere.
Furry Weird, Indeed
GiphyA girl I went to elementary school with used to think she was a dog. She would act like a dog; panting, barking, licking her arms, etc. We were all kids and it wasn't frequent enough for it to be weird but one day she comes up to me as we're putting away our backpacks on the hooks and sticks her tongue out to reveal a glob of her own hair on her tongue. She then goes "shhhhh" and walks away. I will never forget this. We actually became closer acquaintances in high school later on but I was too embarrassed to ever bring it up, mostly for her.
Now That's A Plot Twist
GiphyI unenthusiastically attended my 5 year reunion because a few of my friends I hadn't seen in forever we're going. Several cocktails in, a bunch of people were sitting around swapping gossip about what had become of the oddballs from our year. This one guy says "I heard this one girl from our class got in to porn and is, like, a crackhead now". My interest was piqued, since hardly anyone from our small town ever did anything with their lives other than get married and have babies, so I asked for details. He told me that this girl had somehow gotten in to fetish bondage and stuff-and he knew it was true because someone sent him a link to a site once. I asked him if he could find it, and after some drunken phone searching he found the email and clicked the link. "Okay, well, I was close, it's just a picture not a link to the actual porn, but that's what he told me." I took the phone, enlarged the picture- a girl with an eyes-wide-shut style eye mask on, smoking a cigarette, wearing a leather corset and fishnet stockings, one stiletto heel placed in the back on a kneeling "slave". I sighed and gave him his phone back. "Josh, are you sure she's a crack whore porn star? And not just like, modeling in an essentially PG-13 fetish photo shoot? Maybe because she, I don't know, majored in Art like an idiot and couldn't get a real job right away???" He stared at me with dazed, drunk confusion...not connecting the dots. "Never mind. Cool story. Great seeing you!"
Forget Truth, Just Dare
GiphyThis guys at my school would literally do anything you dared him to do. Slap a kid with a slice a pizza? Done. Take a dump in the urinal? No problem. Take his shirt off in the middle of the cafeteria, pour milk on himself while screaming? Easy.
I talked to him a couple times in classes that I had with him and he actually seemed fairly normal. He doesn't have any social media so idk how he is doing currently. He was a strange anomaly.
His Art Was A Stroke Of Genius
GiphyThe weird kid in my graduating class always walked around with a sketchbook in his hand. He would draw graphic (yet very realistic) looking sketches of d*cks during class, and then somehow made them blend together into beautiful landscapes or works of art. It was like playing where's Waldo every time he showed you his sketches, except with d*cks. Other than that, he was quite a funny dude to be around and everyone in our grade liked him. Last I heard he got accepted into a well known arts school in the States, and is apparently flourishing there as an artist. I hope he's still walking the halls with his d*ckbook in hand and enjoying his little artistic life out there.
Nope, nope, nope.
GiphyI had just returned to public school after homeschooling for a few years (moved a lot during that time). First day in school and this skinny Grade 10 boy walks up to me and puts his finger on my arm, looking intently at me. I brushed his hand away, and he did it again, followed up by saying "I'm planting eggs in you". Nope. Nope. Nope.
Misunderstood But Still A Rock Star
GiphyI knew a guy who went to my college for a couple of years with Asperger's, who really liked rocks. He would occasionally approach me and start talking about them and I'd listen sometimes when I didn't need to go somewhere, but I also witnessed many times where people were unnecessarily mean to him.
There were some people that thought of him as a novelty and would feign friendship and feed him alcohol, just because they thought it was funny when he was drunk.
I wish I would've done more to help him out and stop them, especially right before he left. I went to the gym for a run and all the treadmills were taken, so I went to the indoor track that was hardly used. About 10 minutes into my run, he comes in with his mom and goes into the middle of the track with his mom. He starts showing her these various sword fighting techniques that he had learned, because apparently he was really into that too.
Then he notices me as I'm doing a lap and eagerly waves. I wave back and he motions me to come. So, I took out my earbuds and jogged over. He introduced me to his mom as his friend. I could tell it made her really happy to that he had a friend and he was really happy too. I had only briefly talked to him a few times, but I did my best to be as friendly as I could be. After a few minutes, I excused myself, saying that I had to get going, so I left.
That was pretty much the last time I saw him, because he left school shortly after. He was a really nice guy that most people just misunderstood and looking back I wish I had tried to get to know him better.
Eat It Up
GiphyHe ate his vocabulary book at a rate of one or two pages a day throughout the school year.
The teacher sent him to the office so many times, but next class he was back at it again. He was so determined. I wish I'd asked why.
Not So Perfect Mrs. Darcy
GiphyOlder lady, let's call her Darcy, in a lit class. Randomly assigned to do a group project with her and about three others. Our topic (given to us by the prof) was the Industrial Revolution.
We quickly realize we can't trust Darcy to do any actual work. She just twists herself in circles trying to (and not) understand the project.
At mandatory meeting with prof to discuss our progress, Darcy gets herself worked up because she "can't understand" the topic. Prof asks why.
"Because I don't even know which countries fought the industrial revolution! How can I present on it?"
I side eye the professor thinking, look what we've been dealing with for weeks. I've never seen such a perfect deer in the headlights look. Prof talks us through breaking down assignment and we agree Darcy should just do the intro--easy peasy, right?
Apparently not. Another partner made the mistake of giving out her phone number and Darcy calls her at about 2 am complaining about how hard the project is and she doesn't understand. She ranted for over an hour, Classmate thinks she was drunk--now in my mind I call her "Drunk Darcy."
Day of the presentation comes and we're ready to be done with stupid topic and Darcy. Her intro is about five minutes worth of information about how only Europe had the industrial revolution because only white people were smart enough to invent it. We were mortified, and we still had to get up and present our info. That presentation was the lowest grade I got in the class, but the prof stopped doing group presentations after that.
For as long as Darcy was on campus, if she saw anyone in the group she'd corral them and complain about the group presentation topic. I learned to stare at the ground if I saw her walking around so we wouldn't have to talk. I'm glad she was trying to get an education, but oh boy did she always seem confused and overwhelmed
Albert
GiphyI use to go to school with this really big. strong, ugly looking kid, we will call him Albert, who would just go into rage mode in the middle of class for no particular reason and also was just a general weirdo even for my standards. His problems included
Choking a kid out in middle school for calling him fat
Bringing weird bagged food that stunk up the entire cafeteria
Screaming at a girl in high school who didn't say a word to him accusing her of saying he smelled and telling the entire class what a whore she was while throwing and punching things
Wearing a dog collar and exclaiming he was a furry to the entire school on multiply occasions (no seriously)
Explaining what BDSM is in graphic detail
and asking me many times uncomfortable questions about what I preferred sexually and if I ever wanted him to tie me up (I politely declined)
Albert was bi and loved announcing it to everyone he met
All By Myself
GiphyWe had a weird girl who would walk around talking to herself. When we were 8/9 and asked what we wanted to be when we grew up she always said she wanted to be an astrophycisist when the rest of us couldn't even pronounce that. In high school she was definitely more of an outcast. Super nice, on good terms with everyone, but always always talking to herself. It was a little unsettling, because we were a super tiny town and sheltered school so we all thought she was mentally ill. Like, she was having full own conversations with herself but muttered so you just couldn't hear what was being said, but her face was extremely serious.
Turns out she was learning Mandarin in her spare time out side of school. So all those times she was talking to herself she was really just practicing conversational Mandarin. She's going to a top university right now and just a few months away from completing her PhD, after which I believe she's neurosurgeon. She's still nice as hell.
Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.