Why am I so obsessed with Laguna Beach?

There's nothing I love more than watching other people's lives. Why is that? Why am I so fascinated by the trials and tribulations of people that I don't know? I think that's becoming the problem. I'm starting to believe I do know them. Ahh, the allure of reality TV.

Everyone can remember the super-popular-yet-a-total-bitch-girl from their high school. Laguna pegged this girl perfectly with Kristin. I just happened to be that girl's sidekick. I was the Alex H of my high school. I was this girl's tag-a-long. I used her to get to the popular table in the lunchroom, to get invited to some popular events, to be able to talk to the cute guys vying to get next to her. She used me for those times when you have to hang out with other girls.

No other girl in her right mind would have put up with the constant narcissism, the put-downs, the evil, the embarrassment that came along with being her sidekick. She constantly put me down, and I would bounce right back like a boxing bag to be her friend.

Of course we didn't stay in touch after high school. I'm sure she found someone else to use in college. I continued my sidekick ways in college, but the girls never had quite the evil bitchiness of my high school worst enemy/best friend.

One time when I was back home for the summer, I ran into this girl. She told me that she was dating one of the only guys she hadn't noticed (landed) in high school. This guy happened to be my huge senior year crush. She made sure to rub it in that I used to be obsessed with him and now she was dating him.

Time went by, and then I received the wedding invitation. Somehow she had tricked this guy into marrying her. Like a masochist, I went to the wedding. I went armed with a true friend from high school. It was a veritable high school reunion. I really felt sad for the groom. I don't think he knew what he was getting himself into.

Something good did come of my attending this blessed event though. It was at that wedding that my true friend from high school decided she should set me up with her boyfriend's best friend from high school. The rest is history--we're married.

I'd like to think that I've outgrown my sidekick ways. I think I choose friends wisely now. But, I still love to watch Laguna Beach and think about all the small characters--the ones whose names come on the screen with a qualifier, like, "Alex H. --Kristin's friend" That was me in high school. Maybe if I could go back and have a talk with myself I would say, "Be your own person, not a sidekick." I'd be an LC!!