Friday Fives

1. Bully, teacher’s pet, geek, shy kid in the corner, or something else

definitely not any of those.  I had long hair and a mildly bad attitude.  Though I didn’t get stoned, I absolutely looked like a proto-typical ‘stoner’.  Long hair, black concert t shirts, cigarette smoker, hookie player.  An all around douche-bag, really.  I regret I didn’t spend that time actually learning more.  At the time, of course, high school was prison.  Now, I realize I had limitless possibilities to learn and absorb.

I am reminded of a great sign my psychology teacher had up in his room.  it said “16 year olds:  leave home now, while you know everything!”  His name was Mr Camwell at Arcadia High, and I have awesome memories from him.  Here is my favorite Camwell story.  Dude had a good sense of humor, as do I.  So, one week we had a auditor person from the state observing the class.  On the auditor’s last day, I raised my hand and said “it is nice when you are here, sir.  Mr. Camwell doesn’t hit us when you are here”

2. What did/do you usually eat during lunch time at school?

oh man, I remember mostly chocolate milk and ding dongs.  How f’d up is that?  We weren’t allowed to go off campus.  I mean, we did… as a matter of rebellious principle.  However, we spent so much time and energy sneaking on and off campus for lunch that we didn’t bother to eat much.

3. What did/do you normally wear to school? Thinking back to what you wore(if you’ve already graduated), do you like it?

t shirts. tennis shoes, and jeans.  Still my preferred wardrobe… as is for most humans. Really, the only thing that has changed is ‘tennis shoes’.   Back when I was a kid (was born in ’72), any shoe that wasn’t a dress shoe was a ‘tennis shoe’.    Anything remotely athletic was white and it was called a tennis shoe.  Now, I think only rappers wear white shoes… and there a a bunch of types.  I think the shoes I have on now are called ‘cross trainers’ or ‘day hikers’.  20 years ago, they were called tennis shoes and my sandals were called thongs.

4. Any sports/activities/clubs you participate(d) in?

up until high school, I ran track.  In high school, i tried wrestling but failed quick.  The only sport I enjoyed was playing football every day at lunch on the football field… just an informal pick up game.  The school put the kibosh on it because we were full tackle and they were worried about insurance.  So, they posted a security guard on the football field full time after that.  What a bunch of a-holes!  We weren’t fighting, or smoking, and drinking.  We were exercising and competing as peers.  It was healthy and fun.  It was cause we all had long hair, so I think they suspected we were secretly dealing drugs or something.

I played safety (though I didn’t know the name at the time).  I was very fast.  I would cover the receiver, and under run him.  Make it look like he was wide open and I was over matched.  Once the qb launches the ball, I go into overdrive and intercept every one of them.   Being fast and short, I was touch to catch and tougher to tackle.  Plus, I was afraid of getting tackled by big dudes… so there is no better incentive to run than that.

5. Any worthwhile friends you did still keep up with after graduation?

from high school?  Regrettably not much.  I still talk with Jaime often, but that is about it.  Tough to find the others, where are they?  Tindall, DePrima, Kline, Paco, Kermit, Pantier… where are my boys?  I think they are almost all still in Phoenix, where I don’t get back to too often.  Well, I do, but we have SO much family there between me and the wife… we don’t really have leisure time.

in sum, they were absolutely worthy of keeping up.  After college, I moved away to start a fresh adventure.  back then, we didn’t have cell phones or  e mail.  The only way to find people was to track their parents.