Saturday, January 31, 2004
I remember "Cuatro Supremas Blancas".
I remember going to the carpet store with some friends one night in college and telling the store manager that we needed a large cardboard tube that they roll carpets onto for a school project. They gave us a 12-foot tall pole, which we somehow fit into the tiny hatchback car the 4 of us were driving. We brought it back to the dorms and made a "Carpet Person" to stand in our dorm window. 
I remember a blind date in college (my first and last blind date, by the way) where my date spent the entire car ride to the restaurant talking about "Isn't this Sting song great? Can you hear how he goes between 7- 8 and 4 -4 meter?" I don't know if he thought he was impressing me with his musical knowledge or not, but I was so bored that I asked him to take me home after dinner instead of going to the movie he wanted us to go to afterward.
I remember that my college boyfriend used to tell me that he was going to "die a virgin."
I remember a cook out where someone gave my cousin and I big balloons. We ran around with them and mine popped. I was heartbroken, and I picked up all the little pieces and tried to figure out how I could reattach them so I could have my balloon back. There was a lot of crying involved in my plan.
I remember the refrigerator boxes my Grandpa would bring home from work (at the Roper appliance factory). My cousin, sister and I would make a maze of houses and stores out of them in my Grandparent's basement and play in them for hours.
Thursday, January 29, 2004
I remember passing out at the rehearsal we had for our eighth grade graduation practice. Someone told me later that the kid next to me started to catch me as I keeled over, but I started shaking, and he got freaked out and dropped me on the floor.
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
I remember the day my dad started up the car engine and the cat was sleeping inside the car motor. It broke her arm and she lost a piece of an ear. Our regular vet was out of town, so the quack vet that treated her put a CAST on the CAT's arm. A few nights later, we had a babysitter over, and the cat went bezerk, bouncing off all the walls and furiture, trying her hardest to bite and scratch the cast off. The next day our regular vet put a metal rod in her arm to hold the bone in place without the cast.
I remember going to Great America with my eighth grade class. Up until that trip I was terrified of all amusement park rides, even the ones at the local carnivals. When we walked into Great America, my friends headed straight for the "Shock Wave" roller coaster. Scared out of my mind, but not wanting to miss out on whatever my friends were doing, I forced myself on the ride. That began my love affair with roller coasters.
I remember one year when I was about 9 or 10, my mom was traveling over Easter, so my dad was on his own with my sister and me. He decided, for some reason, to take us out to Sully's, an upscale restaurant near our home, one night while mom was gone. Natalie spent the entire meal with her head down on the table because she was tired. I also remember that my dad bought us pre-packaged easter baskets from Woolworths, and that the candy in them was not good.
I remember that my first real kiss was at a church youth group retreat, and my mom, who was the youth group leader, was in the next room. Also, the boy was not a good kisser.
I rememeber going through the "Counselor In Training" program at Camp Shaw-wa-na-see. Apparently, being able to undo the "human knot" was imperative to being a camp counselor, because our grow sucked at it, and they would let us break for lunch, then re-knot us and make us continue to try to solve the puzzle all afternoon.
I remember sitting in algebra class when the friend sitting behind me reached into his pocket and got the starfish leg he had saved from the science dissection in our previous class. Then he decided it would be high comedy to put the severed starfish leg in my hair.
I remember finding out that my junior high science teacher was also a belly dancer.
I remember a science class that I took in college where I sat in the same seat near the window every morning. Every morning a kid in one of the dorm rooms would come back from the shower and do a naked towel dance in front of his dorm room window that was visible to me. It wasn't the nakedness that I was interested in watching, it was just funny to me that this kid would do this day after day, and not seem to notice that he was drawing quite an audience.
I remember rolling my eyes a lot at the musical theater majors in my music classes. I think people have a notion that music majors get into music because it's easy or they're lazy, but many of the classes are actually quite challanging, and I found that 90% of the people who majored in music education, music performance, and music composition were actually very intelligent focused people. Music theater majors, however, lived up to the steriotype. Most of them didn't play an instrument, didn't "get" theory or history classes, and basically seemd to be in our music classes just to take up oxygen. I remember one professor who actually threw some music theather students out of our music theory class quite a few times, because all they would do was sit in the back and screw around while he talked. I can't recall anyone else getting thrown out of my college classes.
I remember Grandpa Ollie asking me if I was going to learn some "real" music at college. He played guitar in a band that specialized in standards, so "real" music meant "Moon River" and "Stardust". He didn't understand the art songs and classical music that I would send him tapes of from my concerts and recitals.
I remember my first job interview. I set it up withouth telling my parents that I was looking for a job. They hired me on the spot after I interviewed. Actually, the next two jobs I had after that (waitress at Chi-Chi's and a telemarketer for Met P & C Insurance) hired me on the spot at the interview, as well. Even with the teaching job I accepted out of college, the principal and superentendant that I interviewed with offered me the job at the interview, though they insisted that I think about it and call them back the next day. Am I that good, or do I just apply for jobs where they desperately need someone now?
I remember wondering why my parents allowed my sister tobuy sexy underwear when she was 14 or 15. Because, as I saw it, you don't need sexy underwear if no one should be looking at your underwear.
I remember when my cousin and aunt announced that they were moving to Florida. I was devistated because I worshipped my cousin when I was younger. I was really upset that they were leaving, but I remember being concerned most about whether she was going to give me her Barbie Townhouse before they left. (It was big, and I thought they might not have room to pack it.)
I remember having a very vivid dream about standing in front of someone's house taking pictures with two guys and a girl. I had never seen the place in the dream before, but I thought maybe we were going to a wedding because we were all dressed up. About 6 or 8 months later, I met my boyfriend, Jason W, and he asked me to go to a school dance with him. He couldn't drive yet, so he and his brother picked me up then drove out to his brother's girlfriend's house. When we got there, his mom took us outside and started taking pictures of us. While I was standing there, I realized it was the house and the people from the dream I had months ago.
I remember the time Katie and I were driving around town with the plan that we would go to friends' houses, put on our heavy coats and ski masks, ring the doorbell, and take their picture before running away. While we were driving, I got pulled over (I didn't have my headlights on at 10:00 at night.) While the cop was pulling us over, Katie was absolutely freaking out because she was convinced that he was going to arrest us because we had big coats and ski masks in the car in the middle of summer. As I remember, he didn't even look in the back seat.
I remember the afternoon Trisha and I were driving around. I looked down to adjust the radio dial and rear ended the person in front of me, who had stopped abruptly on the 4-lane highway we were traveling on. I was going about 40 mph when we crashed, so I was amazed that there was no visible damage to either car. I didn't mention that collision to my parents until years later.
I remember the smocked Easter dress my mom made me when I was 8. It was a plain ankle-length pink dress with puffy short sleeves and lace at the hem and sleeves. It had a ruffled white apron with smocking at the chest that went over it. I thought it was the most beautiful garment a person could ever hope to wear, and I wanted to wear it ALL THE TIME. My mom said I could wear it to school once as a special treat, and I was SO excited the day I did. One little boy in my class decided to call me "Coloniel Girl", but he must have said it jokingly, because I don't remember being mad about it. My mom still has the dress in her hope chest, and I'm sure one day my own daughter will either wear it or at least use it as dress-up clothes.
I remember walking out to my date's car to go to Winterball, sitting down in the car, and hearing a "rrrrrrip!" My very fitted dress had split up the back. I hurried back inside and my mom went to work sewing me up. She had up on our way in about 10 minutes. Go Mom!
I remember video-taping myself lip-synching to Madonna and Bjork.
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
I remember cotton ball people.
I remember the lifeguard that my cousin had the hots for at the high school swimming pool. I was maybe 12 and she was 15, so I didn't really get it.
I remember the boy in my neighborhood who spent most of his young life battling brain tumors. I think he was about 12 when he finally passed away.
I remember being mad because my parents wouldn't let me watch Poltergeist.
I remember being terrified of the dead woman under my bed. I was convinced that she would grab my ankles and pull me under the bed with her if I walked too close, so I would take a runnig leap from my bedroom door to get into bed. (This lasted until I was about 12.) When I was about 4 or 5 I saw a movie on tv (I'm guessing that my Dad was supervising me at this time :) ) where a man and his wife were on a cruise ship. The man killed his wife and stuffed her under the bed. When the ship hit bumpy waters, the dead lady rolled out from under the bed. That was the woman I was convinced was under my bed for the next 8 years.
I remember the time my Grandma sent my cousin and I to Kentucky Fried Chicken, about 3 blocks from her house, to pick up dinner. We were maybe 9 and 12 years old. On our way back, we heard a mob of people chanting. As they came into our sight, we saw maybe 50 men wearing white robes and hoods, some carrying torches. We had no idea what was going on at the time, but we knew it was not a place we wanted to be, so we ran back to Grandma's as fast as we could. Years later, the only explaination I can think of for the mob was some sort of Klan march.
I remember buying Garbage Pail Kids at Mae's Place.
I remember getting lost on Prom Night while my date and I were looking for a restaurant in Chicago that he had made reservations at. We knew that we were too far north, so we kept looking for an exit for "South Lake Shore Drive" to get back towards downtown. It took us about 2 hours to realize that the name of the road was "North Lake Shore Drive" regardless of whether we were traveling north or south on it. We finally got home at about 4 am and ended up ordering Domino's pizza.
I remember spending the night at my Grandma's house with my sister and my cousin, who is three years older than me. We were sleeping in an attic room that had a separate entrance from the rest of the house. My cousin got the idea to put pillows in our sleeping bags, sneak out, go over to the Little League fields near Grandma's house, then sneak back in. Always the good girl, I thought that sounded like a good way to get in a lot of trouble if we were caught. My 13-year-old cousin convinced my 7-year-old sister to go with her. So I pretended to be asleep, while flanked by two pillow-stuffed sleeping bags, wondering all the while what I'd say to my Grandma if she came up to check on us.
I remember the ice cream truck that went through my grandma's neighborhood in Bradley.
I remember that my 2nd and 3rd grade teacher was about two inches taller than all the kids.
I remember taking the SATs in junior high. I don't remember why they were giving us a college entrance exam then, but they did.
I remember listening to the Stray Cats and Duran Duran with Heather.
I remember the time I was jumping on my bed, and I got a darning needle stuck all the way through my heel. It was on the bed (hazard of being a crafty kid) and it went diagonally in through my heel, and out the side of my heel. Somehow, my comforter was attached to the needle, so I had to trudge through the house dragging my wounded foot and a bed comforter to find my mom. Looking back, I'm sure she could have just passed out from the thought of having to pull a giant needle out of her daughter's foot, but like all good mommies, she held it together to get through the crisis. The whole experience was taken in by my friend, Kerri, who was jumping on the bed with me, and who was probably pretty happy that it wasn't her with the needle through her foot.
I remember that my mom put up wallpaper in the late 70s that was burnt orange, olive green and rust colored in the kitchen. It had stripes and fruit on it. She liked it so much, that when we built our new house about a year later, she bought the same wallpaper to put in the kitchen. She had that wallpaper until about 1995.
I remember wading around in the creek that ran through our neighborhood. It was really just a drainage ditch, something I would never touch now, but back then my friends and I would walk through it, try to catch crawdads and get all muddy in it.
I remember being at the Skating Rink for some sort of school skating night in 7th grade. A girl in our grade who had a heart condition had a heart attack while we were all there. They cleared all the kids off the skating floor and some adults ran out and held up towels and blankets around her, because the paramedics tore her clothes off so they could work on her. I don't remember if she died at the rink or later at the hospital, but she never recovered from the heart attack.
I remember bringing our kitten, Tigerlilly home when I was 10. My mom said she looked lonely, so the next day we went back to get her sister, Cally.
I remember when my dad bought the insurance business he worked at and we had no money for a couple years. I was 15 when he bought it, and my I think my parents started to recouperate financially just in time for me to go off to college and suck all their money for tuition.
I remember my dad laying on the living room floor when we had no furniture in there. He was in his early 30s, and was listening to "Lady" by Kenny Rodgers and singing along. It was a moment I'd expect more to witness if he was a lovelorn teenage girl.
I remember playing "traffic" in the cul-de-sac on our bikes. We would ride around and one of us, playing the cop, would randomly pull people over for various made-up infractions. If we got in too much trouble, we ended up in "jail" which meant we had to stand by the basketball hoop. The only way to escape from jail was to climb the pole and touch the top of the hoop, an impossibility for someone with no upper body strength, like myself.
I remember that Kerri's little brother was terrified of talking to strangers, even at age 6 and 7.
Monday, January 26, 2004
I remember wishing I could get a perm so curly that I would basically have a giant long afro. Luckily, the home perms my mom gave me were never that curly!
I remember having hair so long that I could sit on it.
I remember Grandma Shirley giving us $50 to spend on school clothes at the beginning of each grade. She used to give us money and take us shopping for Christmas presents, too.
I remeber calling Kerri's little brother "Daddy Warbucks" when he got a super-short buzz haircut. He was about 6 years younger than us, and it would usually make him cry.
I remember Grandma Shourd's super-good cream puffs. I also remember that she tried to serve angel food cake with grape jelly on it. Ick!
I remember going to my aunt's first house when I was about 6. I think we were there to help her pack her stuff after she and her first husband got divorced, because it seems like there was very little furniture or stuff around. The only thing that made an impression on me that day was a Lone Ranger Halloween mask that Natalie found. She was very concerned about who was going to get custody of this mask.
I remember walking from high school to Robert Frost after school before I could drive. I hated those walks because I would get cat-called at least 3 times during each 20-minute walk.
I remember frozen dough cookies.
I remember our vacation to Florida in January, 1986. My parents were out in the yard of my aunt's house, where we stayed, one morning in late January up the rest of their roll of film. They took a few pictures of a weird smoky cloud that was overheard. My uncle was inside that morning watching the news when he heard that the Challenger just blew up. I remember my sister running into the bathroom where I was in the tub, telling me to come outside and look at the cloud left by the space shuttle. We were about 45 minutes away from Kennedy Space Center, and my Dad and sister had visited it the day before. I still have the fake gold Challenger necklace charm they brought me as a souvenir.
I remember that the Bears were in the Super Bowl the year I was in fifth grade. The "athletically performed" "Super Bowl Shuffle", recorded by the football players themselves, was being played on the radio that winter. For somre reason, our music teacher (or was it our classroom teacher?) thought it would be a good idea for us to make up our own "Class Shuffle". We each had to sing/speak our part of the rhyme. I think our fifth grade class sounded at least as good as the Bears did on their recording.
Saturday, January 24, 2004
i remember the clown face 2-sided swing at the park behind my house.
I remember hanging out in the annex when my class was up to "2 bells" because if you weren't in the classroom when bell #3 rang, sometimes you didn't have to write the lines.
I remember that my parents would not let me go on the field trip to the airpost in first grade. They were nervous about me riding down the Dan Ryan without a seat belt. Back then, it was the most unreasonable decision they could have made. Now as a parent, it's the exact same decision I would make for my first grader.
I remember having a friend over to play, she got hungry and opened up our fridge, looking for a snack. My mom was appalled and reprimanded my little friend, telling her that, "You don't just go looking in people's refrigerators without asking." I didn't really get what the big deal was then, and now that I think about it, I still don't get it now.
Friday, January 23, 2004
I remember the health food store in Kankakee. My mom was a health food nut when I was a child, to the point where she would make whole wheat spaghetti and spinach casserole. The health food store was a wooden building that had a balcony all around the inside. When we went there, it was a real treat to get some carob balls. (Like malted milk balls, but made from the healthier fake-chocolate, carob).
I remember when the Super WalMart opened in Bradley. People would just go there to hang out and kill some time.
I remember the day that my Grandpa Claude died, my dad picked me up from school. It was report card day, so 10-year-old me had decided that he anxious to see my good grades, and that's why he decided mid-day to pick me up from school. I remember him telling me that Grandpa died, and that he had tears in his eyes. I think that day and at my Grandpa's funeral are the only two times I have ever seen my dad cry.
I remember when Natalie had a loose tooth that she didn't want anyone to pull on. My Grandpa Claude pulled out his dentures to tease her about how easy it would be to pull her tooth out and my sister totally freaked out. She was about 5 or 6 and had no idea that my grandpa's teeth were fake.
I remember the haunted classroom we created on Halloween in 4th or 5th grade. We all dressed up and recited different spooky rhymes while other classes toured our haunted house. The thing that made the biggest impression on me was the fact that we got to use real dry ice!
I remember "The Loft".
I remember my friend, Kerri, going through a "cheerleader phase". She cheered for the little boy footbal league and would practice her cheers constantly using a weird loud voice that was very unlike her normal voice. I never went through the cheerleader phase, and didn't get what was so exciting about standing beside a football game yelling and moving one's arms around.
I remember a music program in kindergarten or first grade where we sang "Five Little Speckeled Frogs". Mrs. Hopkins, the music teacher let 5 of us be "the frogs" and sit at the edge of a plastic baby pool while the class sang the song. At the end of each verse, at the "one jumped into the pool" part, one of us frog-kids would jump into the baby pool and wait for the rest of the frogs to join us by the end of the song.
Thursday, January 22, 2004
I remember bringing my favorite doll to kindergarten for show & tell. A mean kid (probably in 7th or 8th grade) on the bus called my doll "Baby Bonehead" (it had a plastic head with no hair), and kept telling me that he was going to rip it's head off. I can't remember if he grabbed the doll from me or if he was just taunting me with words, but I came home bawling that day. And henceforth, the doll was always referred to as Baby Bonehead.
I remember getting up before the sun was up, so my whole family could drive my Dad to work at the wire company. He worked 7am to 7 pm and we only had one car at this time. After we dropped him off, we would come home and get ready for school. I still remember dozing in the backseat on cold winter mornings under a big pile of blankets while my mom drove my dad to work.
I remember my dad's mustard yellow Century 21 blazer.
I remember crying and wanting to go home from my cousin's sleepover birthday party. I was about 8 or 9 and she and her friends were all 11 or 12. They were all listening to music and dancing, and I was embarassed because I didn't know how to dance. I thought faking homesickness would be much easier than telling them that I didn't know how to dance.
I remember my aunt and older cousin painting clown faces on me and my friends at my 6th birthday party.
I remember sitting inside my closet at about age 6 telling Brandy that "My mom lets me draw on my walls all the time," as I drew big stars with a pencil on the inside of my closet. Later that evening, my mom came upstairs, saw the drawing, and made it very clear that, "no, we do NOT draw on our walls."
I remember being at Bebe's house with Shirley and Brandy on the evening of my 9th birthday. There was a tornado that touched down in St. Anne, so Brandy and I wrote up our wills in Bebe's basement, just in case. I think my will just made sure that all my Barbie stuff went to Kerri. We rolled the wills up and stuffed them inside the basement stairs banister, where they probably remain to this day.
I remember my Grandpa Claude smoking in his basement. He would smoke one-half or one cigarette a day. If we called downstairs in the middle of his cigarette, he would stub it out in his old-fashioned furnace, and smoke the other half the next day. After he died, there were still cigarette butts inside the furnace door for years and years.
I remember $1 for A's and 50 cents for B's.
I remember the time Natalie ate almost an entire bottle of Contac cold pills. My mom called poison control, who told her to give Nat ipecac syrup. I had to ride next to Natalie in the back seat and hold her barf bowl the entire way to the pediatrician's office.
I remember that the empty fields behind my house used to freeze with big ice puddles in the winter. We're talking very big puddles. So big, in fact, that we once decided to play a game where Heather pulled me around the ice puddle on my sled. Christy, a tough girl who lived down the street was supposed to throw snowballs at me and try to knock me off the sled.
She must have gotten frustrated because I wasn't falling off, so she packed one snowball with a hunk of ice in the middle. It hit me square in the back of my head, and, like all head wounds, bled like there was no tomorrow. I put my hand over the wound and hiked back up to my house.
When I got inside, I started calling for my mom, all the while touching walls and doors and leaving a trail of bloody handprints everywhere. It really wasn't a bad injury, but by the time my mom caught up with me, she must have thought I was bleeding to death.
I remember Heather got to stay over for a long time that day. Her job was to make sure I didn't fall asleep, in case I had a concussion.
She must have gotten frustrated because I wasn't falling off, so she packed one snowball with a hunk of ice in the middle. It hit me square in the back of my head, and, like all head wounds, bled like there was no tomorrow. I put my hand over the wound and hiked back up to my house.
When I got inside, I started calling for my mom, all the while touching walls and doors and leaving a trail of bloody handprints everywhere. It really wasn't a bad injury, but by the time my mom caught up with me, she must have thought I was bleeding to death.
I remember Heather got to stay over for a long time that day. Her job was to make sure I didn't fall asleep, in case I had a concussion.
I remember the time we had a new babysitter. She was watching me, my sister, and my friend, Heather. Heather and I decided it would be funny if we made up the spare bedroom as if we had another sister who lived there. Somehow we actually convinced this poor babysitter that we had another sister, named Brianna, and that she would be coming home any minute.
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
I remember being the Queen in "The King and Queen Who Would Not Speak." I probably got the part because I could read clearly and with some expression, which is fairly rare in a first grader (we were reading our lines out of the Weekly Reader during the "performances".) I got to bring my mom's Homecoming Queen crown to school to wear with my costume, and somehow I broke part of the tiara.
I remember doing Math Counts worksheets in junior high and hating every minute. Just because I am fairly intelligent does not mean I want to be on a competitive math team.
I remember jamming my pinky finger in eighth grade p.e. class. It was in a stupid game of dodgeball. The real horror of the situation was not the fact that my pinky finger was sticking out at a 90 degree angle to the rest of my hand, but that I had to go to the hospital in my p.e. uniform.
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
I remember going into my parents' room late one night when I was 5. I told them that my chest hurt right here. The x-ray at the doctor's the next day showed my lungs filled with gunk from pnemonia at the spot I pointed out to my parents the night before. I also remember bringing those x-rays to school when I got better for Show & Tell.
I remember eating popcorn with sugar on it because "that's how the Germans eat it."
I remember being a candy striper and having old men who couldn't even feed themselves try to grab my ass as I walked by them.
I remember refusing to dissect a frog in eighth grade and telling my teacher that it was because it was "against my religious beliefs". Actually it was against my belief of being grossed out by a dead frog being cut open.
Monday, January 19, 2004
I remember believing that the music teacher was having an affair with the p.e. teacher, which is pretty silly, becuase neither of them was married.
I remember recitals at Mrs. Lemon's house where we passed around a glass candy dish filled with Trident gum before we all took turns playing.
I remember nights of following the Red Jeep. I also remember the night we followed the wrong red jeep, one of the men in this wrong jeep mooned us, and everyone in the car I was in screamed and covered their eyes except me. That included Katie, who was supposed to be driving.
Sunday, January 18, 2004
I remember Mrs. Denton saying to me, "Do you know that YOUR mother is beautiful?"
I remember publishing the "Village Meadows News" with kerri when we were 10 or 11. I also remember someone yelling at us because we put it in people's mailboxes without putting a stamp on it.
I remember actually jogging for fun & exercise.
I remember the night the Wreckless Pennsylvanians sang "Silent Lucidity", "Pressure", and "More Than Words" and Mr. McLish cried.
I remember being late getting back to school after Rachael and I were out "selling ads" in the middle of the day (code for going to the candy store). We thought we'd take a short cut where there was only one small place where the road wasn't finished. We were 3 minutes from school and....our car got stuck in the mud. I can't for the life of me remember how we got out of that situation, all I remember is being stuck.
I also rememebr a game of truth or dare in the auditorium where Tony ran down the entire flight of stairs, stood right behind Mr, Turner who was playing his guitar for some kids who were sitting around onthe stage, and mooned the entire group of us who were wtill witting at the top of the balcony.
I remember worm fights in the Auditorium after Arsenic & Old Lace.
I rememebr writing the names of boys I had crushes on in code in my diary when I was 8 or 9. When I read those diaries now, I have no idea who I ws talking about, so I guess the code worked.
I rememebr thinking that getting a perm was a good idea.
I remember swinging on the playground swings in first grade with Karla. We were singing "I'm Squishing Up My Baby Bumblebee".
I remember the written test to be a Cootie Interceptor.
Saturday, January 17, 2004
I remember the year we went to Minoqua for a week's vacation and it was 50 degrees and rainy the entire time. I guess you never know about the weather in northern Wisconsin, even in July. The activity I remember most about that week was sitting in my aunt & uncle's cabin coloring a giant fairy tale themed poster or watching The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
I remember reading "Anna to the Infinite Power" when I was about 10. It was about a girl who was a clone who lived in the future where people could check their computers to find out how traffic was running and see what time the movie they want to see is playing. I was fascinated by the very idea of the world being so full of technology.
I remember sleeping upstairs at Bebe's house in the giant bed that my son now sleeps in. For breakfast, she would always make us french toast cooked in a frying pan full of Crisco (or "lard" as she referred to it.)
I remember when I thought being smart was as good as being wise.
I remember seeing E.T. at the theater with my mom & sister. What made the biggest impression on me about the whole experience was the fact that my mom was bawling when we came out of the theater.
I remember playing "Decimator" at recess in 4th or 5th grade. This game consisted of lining up a bunch of friends against the fence, and the decimator would count everyone off until he got to 10, then #10 would pretend to be shot. Then, counting would start over and the fun would continue.
Friday, January 16, 2004
I remember that the teacher I had for fourth and fifth grade owned a watch that had a collection of different colored rings that snapped on the watch around the face. Every day her watch matched her outfit exactly.
I remember a voice lesson in college that turned into a therapy session. It was in the midst of the worst health problems I had ever had, so I was feeling weak and had just been diagnosed with a chronic disease. I was worried (needlessly so, I know now) about being able to have a normal life. I was singing something or other and it wasn't coming out right, and my voice teacher made one little kind suggestion, and I lost it and started bawling. Thankfully he realized that the problem was me and not his suggestion. We ended up talking for the rest of the lesson, and he forever earned my respect.
I remember I was going to get contacts a few weeks after 8th grade started. I thought I might be able to get away with not wearing my glasses those first couple weeks of class so that everyone might forget that I ever had them. Also, I was trying very hard to display the bright blue eyeshadow that I had just been allowed to start wearing. I didn't last long in the world of the blind though. Good vision won out over fashion for me, and it always will.
I remember the lists I posted on my parent's door to get what I wanted. A few titles were "10 Reasons Nicole Should Get Contacts", "10 Reasons Nicole Should Wear MakeUp", and "10 Reasons Nicole Should Get Her Ears Pierced".
I remember being home alone one night when I was 12. I was terrified because I was upstairs in bed, and I was sure that someone was trying to break into the house. I barricaded myself into my parent's room and called them. They were at a friend's house down the street and my mom told me that they would be home in a little bit and to not worry because no one was trying to break in the house. I hid in their room scared to death while they said their goodbyes, then STOPPED BY THE STORE before coming home.
I rememeber the first time I ever babysat. I was 10 and I was watching a 1-year-old boy. I'm sure I was a very responsible 10, but I would NEVER leave my own 1-year-old alone with a 10-year-old babysitter, so I wonder what this mother was thinking.
I remember making beaded christmas ornaments out of a styrofoam ball, glass beads and stick pins with my Grandma Bebe. She had a drawer full of supplies for them year-round.
I remember "cookie jambouree". "You bring the cookies, and I'll bring the jambouree".
I remember lots of sleepovers where we would sleep in front of the tv and stay up until all hours playing "Legend of Zelda".
I remember dressing up in Linda's old bridesmaids dresses and dancing around to "Disco Mickey Mouse" while Kerri shined a flashlight on me.
I remember when our p.e. teacher fell down in the middle of class, clutching her knee. She had twisted or sprained it and was hurting pretty badly, and the entire class of 2nd or 3rd graders just stood there, not knowing what to do. Finally a few kids ran to the office next door to get help. The rest of us just stood there staring at her.
I remember that I loved a neighborhood friend names Priti, but that I hated going to her house because it smelled so strongly of the indian spices her mom used to cook.
I remember not understanding why our junior high choir teacher gave all the solos to the same soprano, especially when I didn't think her voice was anything special. A few years later it because public knowledge that our choir teacher was a lesbian and that her lover was none other than the "special soprano's" mom.
I remember Valentine's Day when I was 16 ir 17, a group of my dateless friends and I went to toilet paper the house of our only friend who had a boyfriend, while they were out on their Valentine's date. We did quite a job on the house, threw dog biscuits in the yard along with some bubble bath in the driveway and on the sidewalks. We were ready to make our getaway, so Katie started up the engine to her Bronco, pulled up to the house to get us, and promptly ran out of gas. The 5 or 6 of us sat in the car and waited until our friend and her boyfriend came home, helped them clean up the yard, then her boyfriend drove one of us to the gas station to get a container of gas.
I remember dressing up as a can-can dancer for Halloween when I was 13. My dad had a big problem with me wearing the fishnet stockings that went with the outfit, because he thought they were "too sexy". I'm not sure how orwhy, but I wore them anyway.
I remember four-square.
I remember being convinced for about a year that I had breast cancer. I was about 10 or 11 and didn't even HAVE breasts yet, but the little bump that I felt (which was actually the very normal first stage of development) convinced me that I had a tumor. After about a year, when I decided I must be mistaken because I wasn't dead yet, I told my mom what I thought. She laughed and said that when she was young, she thought she had a brain tumor for awhile, until she noticed on her balding father, that it's perfectly normal to have a bone that sticks out a bit in the back of your head.
Thursday, January 15, 2004
I remember when Jennifer Brown announced to our girl's p.e. class that she was pregnant. A couple girls and I were fairly sure that she was either being sexually abused or was just plain crazy that we told our p.e. teacher about it.
I remember the bizarre way I would eat Grandma's fudge brownies at the Shamblin's house. It involved licking the thing to death. I also have weird eating habits when it comes to Kit Kats.
I remember telling my parents that I was going to see a movie with my boyfriend, Geoff, when really we were driving to the state park to make out in his car.
I remember knowing I was REALLY sick when I didn't even want to stop and get french fries to eat. I think my mom thought I was exaggerating, but turns out I had mono.
I remember when my cat, Angel, died from getting run over by construction equiptment. My dad told me that she was in a shoebox and I gave him a blanket of mine to wrap her up in because he said he was going to bury her in the backyard. He went out and dug a hole and buried the shoebox, and we marked the cat's grave. It wasn't until I was in college that he told me it was illegal to bury animals in your backyard, and that he had taken the cat's corpse to the vet to dispose of.
I remember getting a booster shot that made me very sleepy. I spent the rest of the day dozing on the couch while watching "Freaky Friday". I was gaining and losing consiousness so much during that movie that I remember it as feeling like I was drugged.
I remember the day in 2nd or 3rd grade that I wore a skirt to school on P.E. day. The teacher had everyone in a circle around the vault, and she asked me to demonstrate how to properly bounce up and down on the springboard. Since there wasn't any actual vaulting involved, I went ahead and bounced. Of course, my stiff, corderoy skirt flew up and David pointed and yelled, "Care Bear underwear!" and the class cracked up. My hero, the p.e. teacher, said to him, "Well, don't YOU wear underwear?"
I remember how embarassed I was that after I found out I got a lead role in our high school musical, I looked down the list to see who I was going to have to kiss, and "Ewwww, Chad!" slipped out of my mouth. The reason it was embarassing was that he was standing right behind me.
I also remember that Jessica, who everyone assumed would get the part that I ended up with, went home "sick" the day the cast list was posted.
I also remember that Jessica, who everyone assumed would get the part that I ended up with, went home "sick" the day the cast list was posted.
I remember acting out this little drama before bed each night for quite awhile: I was severely injured and in the hospital. Three boys (I was about 10 at this time) took turns coming to my bedside, professing their love for me, and asking me to marry them. I wrestled with the decision of which one to marry night after night.
I remember learning how to make my Apple 2E write NICOLENICOLENICOLENICOLENICOLENICOLENICOLENICOLENICOLENICOLENICOLENICOLE
all over the screen. I also remember thinking, "This is dumb. Why would I want a computer to write the same word over and over?" Thus began my tolerance/hate relationship with technology.
all over the screen. I also remember thinking, "This is dumb. Why would I want a computer to write the same word over and over?" Thus began my tolerance/hate relationship with technology.
I remember the summer Kerri and I turned her backyard clubhouse into "Refreshing Refreshments". The scam was for the two of us to ride our bikes to the convenience store, buy candy, then ride back and inflate the prices before selling it to the neighbor kids who were too young to ride their bikes to the convenience store. Most of the time though, we just stood on the clubhouse balcony coming up with ideas for advertising jingles for our business venture.
I remember "The Look" from my biology teacher.
I remember when they gave us The Talk in junior high. They explained all about how our bodies are going to start changing, blah, blah, blah. After they handed out the Extra-Large Maxi Pads, all the girls were in a tizzy about when and where we would start our periods. It was decided that it would be awful to start either while wearing white pants or while somewhere that you couldn't get to a bathroom quickly to take care of things. Turns out, I was on a tour bus driving back from seeing a play a couple hours away AND wearing white shorts.
I remember Nirmal, a little boy in my first grade class, who used to crawl on all fours at recess and let me pretend that he was my dog. I had a big crush on him and my parents used to call me "Mrs. Shanbag".
I remember hiding in the minivan with Kerri because we didn't want to go to Sunday School. The funny thing was, we were in the minivan playing "Bible Trivia".
I remember the "Dirty Romance Novel" a group of friends and I co-wrote when we were in 7th grade. Each person would write something totally inappropriate for 7th graders to be writing about, then pass it on to the next person for their addition. I am #1 shocked that we had the nerve to be passing something like this around at school, and #2 mortified at the thought that it could have gotten read by the teacher, the principal, or worst of all, shown to our parents!
I remember crawling out on the roof of Rachael's house to sunbathe one day when we were about 13 or 14. Her parents weren't home, and we thought we were hot stuff, until the neighbor came outside and saw us, and Rachael was terrified that the neighbor would tell her parents what we were up to. I'm not sure how we thought we wouldn't get caught, since we were on the front roof of the house blasting "Joy & Pain" (or was that song called "It Takes Two"?)
I remember hanging out in Trisha's room, listening to Def Leppard, I believe, listening for some sort of subliminal anti-christ message that was supposedly at the end of one of their songs.
I remember our one and only dog, King, and how he used to be down the street at his brother's house every day when we came home. He would pull the giant metal leash anchor out of the yard and run down the street. He was less than 6 months old when we got rid of him.
I remember Katie and I analyzing our non-existent love lives. We always came to the same conclusion, that anyone who I had a crush on that didn't return my affections must be gay. Turns out we were right about 90% of the time.
I remember a college roommate threatening to beat me up because I didn't rinse my dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. Actually, her exact words were, "If Jason wasn't here, you'd be SO LOW!!" She was also mad that I didn't spend more time with her and the other roommates. My answer to her (and this is the ONLY time I have ever said anything like this to anyone) was, "If you weren't such a bitch, then maybe I'd spend time with you!"
I remember watching the Cosby Show at my grandparent's house and my Grandpa saying, "What are those colored people doing on my tv?" And I remember consiously thinking for the first time that my grandparents were wrong.
I remember my friend Katie's mom saying to my mom (in front of Katie and I) that "Katie has always been the biggest one out of all her sisters. Katie might have weighed 105 soaking wet, and it wasn't until much later that I found out my friend had been anorexic throughout high school.
I remember breaking out in hives the night before a music contest because I knew I wasn't prepared. I also remember crying in the bathroom stall the next day after I perfomed because I was still mad at myself for not practicing more.
