I’m at my wife’s 30th HS reunion. About 10% of the class is attending and I am impressed with how good almost everyone looks (though I still think no one is outdoing us). At my own reunion last year, it was different, most people had either let themselves go or been hit hard by aging or ailments, and I had felt bad about that. But my reunion was better attended, more like 20% of my class. I guess the people who look best (relative to themselves at age 18) are most likely to come, so this may be a selection effect. I also observe a strikingly large blonde contingent, and they all happen to be female. And a lot more men than women have grey hair. What a coincidence!
I’m not judging — I admit to touching up my own hair last night to get rid of some gray streaks. Maybe it just shows that women are more likely to be vain than men are. Anyway I always enjoy the chance to dress up since I look good in suits. Just as I wrote that sentence a woman I didn’t know asked me to dance — no lie.
Polymath's Blog 
That was fun. 80’s music is easy to dance to, you just have to move around with a reasonable amount of rhythm and coordination. I’m embarrassingly ignorant of formal ballroom-type dancing, but I got compliments for my dancing just now (probably because most of the men here are at the bar watching football games).
Maybe it just shows that women are more likely to be vain than men are
perhaps.
more likely, it just shows the obvious positive correlation between female vanity and presence at see-and-be-seen social events. after all, when only 10% of the class is in attendance, you’re looking at some serious self-selection bias.
I never attend reunions, nor do I keep in touch with HS friends. And here in Denmark, HS is a MUCH bigger deal than in the US. It’s then that friendship’s for life is forged – the earlier a bond is created, the stronger it is, I’ve heard it said. Probably not true in all cases, but I have seen it often enough.
I’d actually like to see a video of your dancing skills, PolyMath. That could be fun.
FV, I can’t really dance, the compliments were more for looking good and making a social effort. And HS friendships are important here too, I stay in touch with more HS friends than college friends (Facebook has made this easy for everybody). When you’re just developing your adult personality it is easy to form close attachments, but most people find this harder when they get older, I think more because of attitude than incapacity.