Saturday, July 18, 2009

High School

Looking back (high school age and younger), what things in your past are you now most embarrassed about? Your hairstyle? Dress? Hobbies? Things you made a big deal out of that aren't that big of a deal anymore? Etc.

4 comments:

  1. Where to start...to sum it up there are probably two things that I am most embarrassed about when looking back. Being completely boy crazy (to the point where I would literally chase boys in elementary, write crazy love notes in junior high, and pretty much thought that school dances were bigger than life itself) and alway trying too hard (try to be older than I am, over-stressing about anything and everything, and ending up worse off than if I hadn't tried so hard to be someone I wasn't).

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  2. You know, it's kind of funny...but I know I've been embarrassed about lots of things in my school years, but I must block them out because I can't really remember any of them. The only embarrassing moment I remember is in sixth grade when I passed out while serving salad for school lunch. The lunch lady had to drag me to the sick room in the office and I went home early that day. That wasn't even the embarrassing part. The next day when I came to school, my mean teacher yelled at me in front of the entire class for not telling her before I left school the day before. Whatever! And, of course, there were years when looking back I was embarrassed about a hairstyle or outfit, but I don't know if there's anyone who doesn't have that. There are times when I wish I were more outgoing, but other than that, I'm kind of "low-key."

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  3. Looking back there could potentially be a lot of things I could be embarrassed about but I choose not to dwell on them much. The one thing that I would say is don't get yourself caught on video doing those embarrassing things. I will never live down the time I complained about not getting to "dance with the music on."

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  4. There are soooo many! When I was 2, I placed mom's prized glasses (Welch's Grape jelly jars) on the street in front of the house to watch cars run over them. I don't know if any were run over. I also put my hand into the rollers attached over the washing machine that squeezed out the water and mom rescued me when it got to my elbow. I tied a rope around JoDell's neck to swing her on the swing. Mom said JoDell was starting to turn purple. I put all of the socks in the clothes draw into the bathtub and turned on the water. When I was taking a bath, I climbed out of the tub and ran over the neighbor's house in the buff. I learned what is appropriate by trial and error. Hmmmm. I still do.
    At 8, I picked up a large rock and threw it with both hands to smash a bee on the concrete. The rock bounced and hit the 12 foot by 6 foot picture window and cracked it.
    In the new school in Centralia, I became the school tetherball champ by beating an eight grader by hitting the ball into his stomach and knocked the wind out of him. It rained a lot that winter and I was accustomed to walking down the street to the end of the school grounds and across the fields to our place. The street was covered in a foot of water, so I climbed onto the side of the chain-link fence and with fingers and toes into the fence went all the way to the end of the school. I got off on dry ground, but crossed the field newly plowed field in knee deep mud.
    Birthdays were stressful for me in grades 5-8 in Fountain Valley. In my sadness, I took a can of pork and beans to the fields, sat on the dirt by myself and ate alone.
    In Fountain Valley, I got interested in Judo. I was conviced I could flip JoDell onto her back. I told her to run by me. I stuck out my foot to trip her and get her momentum forward, but I missed her hand and she landed hard on her face and ended up with 2 black eyes. Had my plan worked, she probably would have broken her neck.
    I had no money, so one day I got a penny candy and left without paying. I felt guilty for a whole year every time I walked past the store on my way home. One year later, I left a penny on the counter and left.
    I was allowed to drive tractors on the streets back then. I had a friend on the tractor one day and we were talking. I was not going fast, but was not paying attention to the road. The tractor got off onto the shoulder. I cranked the wheel all the way left, but wheels only slid sideways on the gravel shoulder. I was headed straight for a telephone pole, so I stood on the clutch and brake and slid into the pole. The tie rod on the left side was bent slightly. A couple days later, dad asked if I had bumped into something with the tractor and I told him about it. He said he ruined two full rows of cabbage because he could not keep the tractor straight.
    My embarrassments became more complicated in high school after we moved to Huntington Beach. I rode a Pep bus to a football game. My friends said I could tell someone to yell "Here" during the roll call on the bus after the game and I could ride with them in a car. I got caught and went to see the vice principal. He gently said that he had never, ever had a Japanese American person get into trouble and have to see him. I walked out with my head down.
    In my sophomore year, I was bussed to Marina High School or "The Rock" because it was surrounded by moat. I often went to science class early and sat down. One day, I noticed some water balloons on the teacher's table. I handled them and one broke. Students were not allowed in the halls during break after that.
    As boys do, I was talking with a couple of friends about what girls we liked. I said I liked Lynn Aoki, a beautiful Japanese girl, in my English class. They tried to convince me to ask her on a date. I was too shy.

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