It would be extremely difficult to dictate every interesting thing that has happened to me since the last time I blogged. It's not because of any reluctance of mine to write it down though. It's just that many many things have happened, and I fear that I will be up until midnight writing nonstop. I will write about recent happenings and not-so-recent happenings, and as the days go on and my memory serves, I will try to find time to fill you in.
My first day of public school was, at the time, a nightmare. I now look back and see nothing but hilarity. My home room class was Music with Ms. B. I had no trouble finding the room, because I had been there before. Ms. B spent and hour and a half explaining the standard rules of public school along with providing schedules and locker combinations. She may have mentioned that the schedule on the first day of school was messed up, but I didn't take heed. I followed my schedule into all of the wrong classes, and after walking home on (what I thought was) a lunch break and then frantically rushing back to school in confusion, I decided to go to the guidance office. I entered the room and the first words that came out of my mouth were, "I need.... guidance." I wasn't trying to be funny, but they laughed anyway. They gave me a copy of the compressed schedule and set me straight. I spent the first week of Grade 10 hoping that nobody would "frosh" me. Froshing is a form of hazing that involves shaving cream, eggs and occasionally silly string. Because only a few people actually knew that I was in Grade 10, I was in the clear. Fast forward to Grade 11. As I approached the school during the frosh week of Grade 11, I was stopped by a skinhead who asked me to prove that I was in Grade 11. The conversation went as follows:
"What grade'r you in?"
"I am in Grade 11."
"How can you prove it?"
"Ask me a question that only a person in the 11th Grade would know."
"O.K, um, what is the square root of forty-nine?"
Now, I know what you're thinking. Was he being serious? The answer is, unfortunately, yes. It was pure coincidence that this IDIOT asked me for the square root of a perfect square. I couldn't pass up this opportunity to look like a genius in front of him and all of his goons:
"That would be seven, sir."
"YOUR WORD!!!!!!!" <---- (that is Spryfield lingo for, "are you serious?")
"My word." <---- (I am serious)
They asked for student identification, which I happily provided. I still do not know who left the conversation more surprised, me or them.
I seem to remember that in one of my old blogs, I discussed my supposed resemblance to Adam Sandler. It was weird when I was picked for the lead in the school musical, The Wedding Singer, simply because Adam Sandler is the lead in the feature film with the same name. I suppose my resemblance was a factor in my ability to be the character. School musical was a whole lot of fun. I learned how to sing, dance and act in front of crowds, and am proud to say that stage fright is no longer much of an issue for me. We did three shows for a general audience, a show for the high school, and a show for all of the junior high schools in the district. The play had a fair amount of swearing (for an example of what I had to sing, refer to this song), so we were quite surprised when we found out that the junior high audience also had a couple of elementary school classes thrown in. None of the teachers involved had any idea, so the parental complaints were most likely swallowed by the administration.
For those who have not seen The Wedding Singer, The male lead and the female lead have to kiss a couple times. Myself and G, the female lead, put it off for a while. However, as the date loomed closer, practice became necessary. We probably kissed ten times, give or take, during rehearsal. We received a lot of constructive criticism (mostly from girls, interestingly enough) and had a pretty solid kiss when showtime rolled around. The general audiences did not react too badly to the many kisses we had to perform (three per play). The junior high (+ elementary) schools were much more active in the whooping and cat-calling area. Nothing really prepared us for the high school show, however. We knew that the high school audience would be the loudest, but it still came as a surprise. We managed to perform it without losing our cool, but there was mention of it for weeks afterward. People said that it looked REALLY awkward, and thus hilarious, which didn't surprise me.
I have many more stories to write, just so long as there are people reading.
Take care now,
Dan