Pictures offer "a thousand words" that are, of course, 100 percent presumptive and are in no way indicative of reality. Even still, it seems like you can glean a good deal from a solitary photo.

Particularly if that photo is a head shot on Facebook. (After all those years successfully dodging the MySpace bullet, I did succumb to the Facebook siren song.)

And amid Facebook's virtual gifts, fan pages and pokes (which, thank heaven, have lost their original luster and are rarely used nowadays) I came across a group celebrating my junior high's graduating class of '92.

There are only a handful of folks I kept in touch with from those dreamy K-10 days. So naturally I started browsing the members. Ah, the memories!

There's Karen, who helped me crank call the gym teacher (pretending to be her Spanish-teaching pal, Senorita Glen). And Amy, who was there that Halloween night that I tried smoking a cigarette for the first time.

Knock Facebook if you will, but it really is entertaining to hearken back to those schooldays gone by. Maybe get in touch with old friends, maybe not. Either way, it's worth a gander just for the memories.

It's also fascinating to see what became of scrawny Tim or that shy girl from Home Economics who accidentally sewed her hair into a pair of shorts. (On a side note, is it any wonder I can't cook when the only thing I recall learning in Home Ec is how to prepare hot dogs and s'mores in the microwave?)

Sure, Facebook is a personally crafted snapshot of a person's life - a highly edited biography. But even the head shots seem to offer a wealth of information:

"I'm married" [Just an educated guess, of course]

"I have kids! And they're crazy adorable in a way that might make you feel apologetic about the cute factor of your own children." [That includes any current or future offspring]

"Who cares about being single. My heart belongs to happy hour" [Ain't no shame in that]

"My dogs are my life. And yes, they have a place at the dinner table while I make my 6-year-old son eat in the basement." [Rightfully so. Look at those li'l fellers]

"I remember the name of every person who picked on me back in school. And I've already googled their home addresses."

Ah, fond memories of schoolmates past. And gratitude for having been nice to that chick with the gun.