I have a half formed thought that having clearly defined cliques is easier to have in a smaller school than a big one. We had over 500 students per graduating class. I remember us as being pretty jumbled up.
I certainly wasn’t in the cool guy club but those I hung out with didn’t have an overall feature that brought us together. Some were brains. Some were jocks. Some were nerds. Some were nerdy jocks. Other than maybe the football players I don’t remember being able to point to a group and say “Those are the ___”.
I took my only serious for-credit class in the summer between jr and sr years (US govt), so the only required class I needed to take was PE. I hated the stupid games they made us play so I ditched a lot. I ended up with a DUU grade which was enough to get my diploma and all I cared about. I was already enrolled in UCLA and taking classes there during my sr year.
There were no designated (formal or informal) smoking areas in my high school (graduated in ‘69). The teachers smoked in their lounge, and it was a standing joke about all the smoke pouring out when anyone opended the door.
This same flip happened with I was a sophomore, and it stayed that while for a long time. My clique (brains, politically active, nerdy, interested in the arts) ran the school with a benevolent hand.
The abortion question would depend on how well I knew the person and their personal situation. I’d still be reluctant to say anything.
ETA: on Top Chef this week one of the cheftestants said they used to put maple syrup on their ice cream when they were kids. That sounds wonderful to me, and I want to try it!
Usually a bowl of ice cream is plain. I think the only alcohol I’ve ever put over a bowl is creme de menthe; OTOH, if you’re talking mixing, there’s beer floats & alcoholic milk shakes like
I usually eat ice cream without a topping, but if I do want one, it depends on the flavor of the ice cream.
I’ve been looking at the ingredients list of many items at the grocery store, including ice creams. Now some of them are legally “frozen dessert” or “frozen dairy dessert” (less dairy than higher-quality ice cream).
I am a big fan of pouring heated (soft crack) maple syrup over ice cream, especially if there are pecans or walnuts too. As for alcohol, dark rum makes a good topper/mix-in for vanilla or coffee ice cream.
Interesting note: I almost never eat ice cream that has a chocolate base because an uncle of mine once worked for Breyer’s and told me that chocolate is where all the mistakes wind up. He wouldn’t eat it either.
The ingredient that’s never listed is air. That’s actually the one ingredient that really matters in terms of FDA requirements for calling something “ice cream” or “frozen dessert”.
Somewhat related: I read that you should never order a supreme/deluxe/“the works” pizza from chains like Domino’s or Papa John’s. Supposedly there are trays that catch fallen toppings from prepared pizzas, and toppings that gathered in the trays are tossed onto supreme pizzas.
I usually eat ice cream without a topping but if I’m topping it, i want chocolate chips, maybe some crushed nuts, lots of whipped cream, and some strawberry sauce. Raspberry sauce would probably be even better, but I’ve never been offered it.
But a lot of my friends like caramel sauce, butterscotch sauce, and marshmallow sauce. And sprinkles, of course.
I like good vanilla, with good chocolate syrup. But if it is something like Cherries Garcia, no toppings. In other words, toppings only on vanilla. (Hot fudge and whipped cream can be good, but not at home).
There were a lot of foreign exchange students at my high school and I found myself hanging out mostly with them, both during language classes and at activities sponsored by the French/German/Spanish teachers. It’s probably the reason I ended up moving to Europe 15 years ago.