Box number 6 is done.
Yesterday, Karen had a baby shower to attend to for our friends (Cass and Ellen). So while she was out, I took care of our baby daughter Briana. And by taking care of Briana, I mean I strapped her into an infant carrier and started cleaning up the house.
It's amazing how long it takes to vacuum a two story house with a baby strapped to you. Of course, it's also amazing how quickly the house falls back into disarray after being vacuumed. It's like a matter of minutes before the house is dirty again. That is very frustrating.
Cleaning the house with a baby is like working out: it takes forever to get the desired results, and it takes simply no time to fall back to square one. Add the fact that it seems like a vicious cycle... and there you go.
Anyway, following my hours of vacuuming, I decided to go through yet another box of stuff that my mother brought over after cleaning her attic. Now, I still suck at going through stuff. I believe this is the sixth box. The contents of the box were yet more junk from high school.
And junk there was. In addition to class notes, which were mostly in French, there were the usual things like report cards and homework assignments. I sometimes wonder if I ever went to class as well because there were a vast amount of signed passes in the box. The passes were signed by various teachers allowing me to go certain places. One of the passes was signed by my French teacher to go to her car to retrieve supplies. I thought that was funny.
There were also many of my old writing assignments which I had totally forgotten about. Apparently, my English class wrote poetry one year because I have a collection of poems from my classmates. It was that same English class where I also started my foray into screenwriting as one of the assignments in the class was to keep a daily journal... much like this blog. Of course, this was back in the day when we had to actually write our journal ideas in a book. Nevertheless, my daily entries into my journal included skits that I would write involving the day. And as usual, the skits would include my friends and people I knew.
Also in the box that made me chuckle were my designs for the yearbook. Being on the yearbook committee, my sole responsibility was to come up with a few designs for the yearbook. I apparently came up with four designs. Sadly, none of my designs were selected for the front cover. Instead, that honor went to my friend (Ngoc). One of my designs, however, did actually make the cut for the back cover.
It's too bad none of my designs were selected for the front cover. (Or conversely, it's probably a good thing that none of my designs were selected for the front cover because our yearbook was absolutely atrocious.) My favorite design that did not get selected involved a stick figure representation of our school mascot. I thought that design was pretty cute. Sadly, no one will ever know what it looked like (except for Karen whom I showed later).
I definitely kept a lot of junk from high school. If I didn't know any better, I could be a candidate for that show, "Hoarders". After all, I also had a collection of silverware in the box. The flatware was pilfered from various eating establishments while I was in high school. Why I thought I would need them? I have no idea. Crazy teenager...
Anyway, I had a good time looking through the stuff and reflecting on my days growing up. After all, those learning experiences whether good or bad have shaped me into who I am today. And perhaps maybe it is because the holidays are coming up, but it was nice to see that I have so many good friends to be thankful for.
Showing posts with label high school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label high school. Show all posts
Monday, November 22, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
I Still Suck At Going Through Stuff
I had the pleasure of listening to Katy Perry's latest album: Teenage Dream. And as much as I hate to say it, I love the album. All the songs are just so catchy. Naturally, as I am apt to do, I have been listening to "Teenage Dream" over and over again. In fact, I think I may have listened to the song way too many times because my baby daughter (Briana) seems to crack a smile every time the chorus comes on now.
(The video below is "Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry.)
Needless to say, I'm hooked on the album which is not surprising. And interestingly enough, while I was listening to the song on the continuous loop on Friday, I decided to go through box number 5 of junk that my mother has brought over while she cleans out her attic. It's interesting because the box of junk contained items I had kept from high school. And yes, I still suck at going through stuff.
On a side note, my mother cracks me up. Among the items that my mother brought over while she was cleaning out her attic was my old high school graduation gown. Knowing that I would most likely discard the garment (because what am I going to do with an old red graduation gown?), my mother asked to use it.
And no, my mother is not graduating from anything. My mother, who likes to sew, wants to create a bag, much like the ones used for grocery shopping, out of the graduation gown. I think she just wanted to see if she could create one. Personally, I thought that was a brilliant idea. And what cracked me up even more was that she asked to use my old high school varsity letter so that she could sew that onto the bag. Of course, I obliged. I am actually quite curious now to see if my mother can pull off this idea of hers.
Anyway, going through the box of old high school junk was a nice trip down memory lane. There were so many things that I had forgotten about. Heck, I even had old copies of our high school newspaper known as the North Star. Much like Jason Priestley's character from Beverly Hills 90210, I too used to write for the school newspaper. In fact, the school newspaper is where I first met the person whom I would eventually refer to as the Scourge of Evil.
Besides old copies of the school newspapers, I had some other random things like the student handbook, the school lunch menu, report cards, certificates, SAT and PSAT results, book covers, and of course some class notes which contained a lot of doodles. Apparently I doodled a lot in high school... especially in class.
As well, there were actually quite a lot of foreign language assignments in the box. If I knew French, which is an interesting statement since I was in the Foreign Language Honor Society, I probably could decipher those assignments.
This particular box also contained a lot of computer programming assignments, which I thought was interesting because the assignments were printed on those old dot matrix printers where there were perforations at the edges of the printed paper. I got a chuckle from seeing those simple programs, seeing as how it apparently laid the foundation to what I currently do today for a profession.
There were even some things in the box that I totally forgot that I did, like partake in the judging of Central Middle School's Science Fair. That was random. Although the most random of things may have been a mysterious locker number (4479) with the combination written on one of my book covers.
In fact, I thought the locker number was so random that I had to contact my friend (Aimee) about it to see if she remembered what it was for. Funny thing is... Aimee's memory is just about as bad as mine is these days. It turns out that the high school locker number belonged to my friend (Cass). And in case anyone is curious as to the combination, it was 15-5-44 at the time. As to how I came to acquire the locker combination, I have no idea.
And of course, the best part about the contents of this particular box were the notes that my friends and I used to pass to each other. I wonder if kids these days still fold their notes into tiny triangles. Truth be told, I'm not sure I could fold a note now into one of these triangles.
The notes cracked me up. The one note that actually had me chuckling the most of course was one that was not even written to me. The note was from Karen to my BFF (Kerry). Back in the day, Karen and Kerry were pretty inseparable. In the note, Karen was telling Kerry how cute I looked. And in typical high school fashion, Karen told Kerry not to tell anyone. Yet somehow, I ended up with the note. Classic.
All in all, I enjoyed reading the notes again. It made me happy to know that I had such great friends growing up.
(The video below is "Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry.)
Needless to say, I'm hooked on the album which is not surprising. And interestingly enough, while I was listening to the song on the continuous loop on Friday, I decided to go through box number 5 of junk that my mother has brought over while she cleans out her attic. It's interesting because the box of junk contained items I had kept from high school. And yes, I still suck at going through stuff.
On a side note, my mother cracks me up. Among the items that my mother brought over while she was cleaning out her attic was my old high school graduation gown. Knowing that I would most likely discard the garment (because what am I going to do with an old red graduation gown?), my mother asked to use it.
And no, my mother is not graduating from anything. My mother, who likes to sew, wants to create a bag, much like the ones used for grocery shopping, out of the graduation gown. I think she just wanted to see if she could create one. Personally, I thought that was a brilliant idea. And what cracked me up even more was that she asked to use my old high school varsity letter so that she could sew that onto the bag. Of course, I obliged. I am actually quite curious now to see if my mother can pull off this idea of hers.
Anyway, going through the box of old high school junk was a nice trip down memory lane. There were so many things that I had forgotten about. Heck, I even had old copies of our high school newspaper known as the North Star. Much like Jason Priestley's character from Beverly Hills 90210, I too used to write for the school newspaper. In fact, the school newspaper is where I first met the person whom I would eventually refer to as the Scourge of Evil.
Besides old copies of the school newspapers, I had some other random things like the student handbook, the school lunch menu, report cards, certificates, SAT and PSAT results, book covers, and of course some class notes which contained a lot of doodles. Apparently I doodled a lot in high school... especially in class.
As well, there were actually quite a lot of foreign language assignments in the box. If I knew French, which is an interesting statement since I was in the Foreign Language Honor Society, I probably could decipher those assignments.
This particular box also contained a lot of computer programming assignments, which I thought was interesting because the assignments were printed on those old dot matrix printers where there were perforations at the edges of the printed paper. I got a chuckle from seeing those simple programs, seeing as how it apparently laid the foundation to what I currently do today for a profession.
There were even some things in the box that I totally forgot that I did, like partake in the judging of Central Middle School's Science Fair. That was random. Although the most random of things may have been a mysterious locker number (4479) with the combination written on one of my book covers.
In fact, I thought the locker number was so random that I had to contact my friend (Aimee) about it to see if she remembered what it was for. Funny thing is... Aimee's memory is just about as bad as mine is these days. It turns out that the high school locker number belonged to my friend (Cass). And in case anyone is curious as to the combination, it was 15-5-44 at the time. As to how I came to acquire the locker combination, I have no idea.
And of course, the best part about the contents of this particular box were the notes that my friends and I used to pass to each other. I wonder if kids these days still fold their notes into tiny triangles. Truth be told, I'm not sure I could fold a note now into one of these triangles.
The notes cracked me up. The one note that actually had me chuckling the most of course was one that was not even written to me. The note was from Karen to my BFF (Kerry). Back in the day, Karen and Kerry were pretty inseparable. In the note, Karen was telling Kerry how cute I looked. And in typical high school fashion, Karen told Kerry not to tell anyone. Yet somehow, I ended up with the note. Classic.
All in all, I enjoyed reading the notes again. It made me happy to know that I had such great friends growing up.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
I Suck At Scare Tactics
Today has been a random day. With it being Prince Spaghetti day, Karen, our baby daughter (Briana), and I hung out with our friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea). On the agenda for the night: nothing.
Ever since Lost ended and Wipeout ran its course for the summer, we really have not found that next show to watch together as a group. That is totally fine with me because I get more entertainment out of just hanging out with everyone anyway.
Well, with nothing really planned, we decided to see what was on-demand. Eventually, we decided to give Scare Tactics a try. Now, I suck at Scare Tactics. Upon watching the show, however, I was laughing in stitches.
For anyone curious, Scare Tactics is a reality television comedy similar to the show Punk'd... or Candid Camera. Unsuspecting victims who are set up by friends and family are filmed as practical jokes are played out on them. The first two seasons of the show were hosted by Shannen Doherty (of Beverly Hills 90210 fame). Stephen Baldwin actually took over hosting duties midway through the second season. And from season three on, the show has been hosted by Tracy Morgan.
I was laughing so hard during the show. In fact, I think my infectious laughter had Andrea going for awhile as well. Needless to say, I had a great time watching the show with everyone.
And naturally, what kind of friends would we be if we didn't think it was a great idea to try and get one of our own friends on the show? In particular, we were thinking that it would be awesome to get our friend (Garv) on the show simply because Garv is a wimp. (And if you are curious, the process to suggest a victim for the show is by sending an email to stcasting@yahoo.com.) Just the idea of watching Garv poop his pants would be classic.
Perhaps I will suggest the idea to my friend (Aimee), who is better qualified at pulling off these types of pranks. Speaking of whom, I was digging through some old stuff that my mother brought and found something written by Aimee. My mother has been cleaning out the attic of late. In an effort to clean up her attic, she has brought loads upon loads of boxes that contain my belongings. Among those belongings: everything I kept from high school on.
I have only gone through one box thus far. In my defense, I just received the boxes today while my mom came over to watch Briana. She has assured me that more boxes will come. Great.
Anyway, the box I looked through today contained a random collection of things, but most of the items were my class notes from high school. The notes were all in binders. I had every note I ever took in class, which apparently contained a lot of scribbles and doodles of my name. I had every homework that passed in and got graded. I even had book covers that were used to cover books.
Interestingly enough, there was a note from my BFF (Kerry) on one of the book covers. She wrote "hi mike you are the classic nerd! saving your book covers! see ya kerry". And of course, Kerry's position was confirmed by another friend: "Hi Mike, Kerry is right, your a nerd. Are you gonna save the book cover? bye, Maryellen". I wonder if kids these days even cover their books with paper bags anymore...
Nevertheless, the book cover made me chuckle. I guess there was a reason why I kept that book cover after all. It's funny. At the time, I thought I would keep everything because I thought I could use the class notes or whatever as a reference later on in life. Oh how wrong I was, as evident from the fact that the box has done nothing but collect dust in my mother's attic.
Looking back now, it does seem ridiculous to keep everything from high school on. Heck, the box I went through today even had items I pilfered from the Holiday Inn when I spent the night there for a track event. I can only imagine what else is in the other boxes that my mother has waiting for me.
I know there used to be a box of stainless steel knives somewhere. I went through a klepto stage whereby I would take knives from restaurants that I ate at. Granted, most of those knives were from the Ground Round because that was were all of my friends and I generally ended up eating at. I had a track box that contained all of my running shoes and all of my track spikes. Yes, I'm insane. I can't wait to go through all of my crap now.
But also within the box was this letter written by Aimee on October 2, 1992. I loved getting things from Aimee because she just made me laugh. Her letter was actually from when I was in college. More specifically, it was during our first year in college. Heck, we were only a month into college. The letter was typed out on the computer. This was back when computer printouts looked cheesy.
The funny thing about the letter was that even though she printed it out, she never mailed it. At the bottom of the letter, she hand wrote that she didn't send the letter because she ran out of stamps. So I must have seen her, to which she gave me the letter. Classic.
The letter even brought back the memory of my scientology experience because Aimee sarcastically asked how that was coming along for me. Back when I was a lowly college freshman, I was approached while walking down the street of my college campus at the time, which was Northeastern University. The ever polite person that I am, I obliged the person who seemed normal enough. Let's just say, it was a complete waste of two hours of my life. Damn you scientologists!
Anyway, it was good to look back through my old stuff and cherish the things that made me... me... like my friends.
Ever since Lost ended and Wipeout ran its course for the summer, we really have not found that next show to watch together as a group. That is totally fine with me because I get more entertainment out of just hanging out with everyone anyway.
Well, with nothing really planned, we decided to see what was on-demand. Eventually, we decided to give Scare Tactics a try. Now, I suck at Scare Tactics. Upon watching the show, however, I was laughing in stitches.
For anyone curious, Scare Tactics is a reality television comedy similar to the show Punk'd... or Candid Camera. Unsuspecting victims who are set up by friends and family are filmed as practical jokes are played out on them. The first two seasons of the show were hosted by Shannen Doherty (of Beverly Hills 90210 fame). Stephen Baldwin actually took over hosting duties midway through the second season. And from season three on, the show has been hosted by Tracy Morgan.
I was laughing so hard during the show. In fact, I think my infectious laughter had Andrea going for awhile as well. Needless to say, I had a great time watching the show with everyone.
And naturally, what kind of friends would we be if we didn't think it was a great idea to try and get one of our own friends on the show? In particular, we were thinking that it would be awesome to get our friend (Garv) on the show simply because Garv is a wimp. (And if you are curious, the process to suggest a victim for the show is by sending an email to stcasting@yahoo.com.) Just the idea of watching Garv poop his pants would be classic.
Perhaps I will suggest the idea to my friend (Aimee), who is better qualified at pulling off these types of pranks. Speaking of whom, I was digging through some old stuff that my mother brought and found something written by Aimee. My mother has been cleaning out the attic of late. In an effort to clean up her attic, she has brought loads upon loads of boxes that contain my belongings. Among those belongings: everything I kept from high school on.
I have only gone through one box thus far. In my defense, I just received the boxes today while my mom came over to watch Briana. She has assured me that more boxes will come. Great.
Anyway, the box I looked through today contained a random collection of things, but most of the items were my class notes from high school. The notes were all in binders. I had every note I ever took in class, which apparently contained a lot of scribbles and doodles of my name. I had every homework that passed in and got graded. I even had book covers that were used to cover books.
Interestingly enough, there was a note from my BFF (Kerry) on one of the book covers. She wrote "hi mike you are the classic nerd! saving your book covers! see ya kerry". And of course, Kerry's position was confirmed by another friend: "Hi Mike, Kerry is right, your a nerd. Are you gonna save the book cover? bye, Maryellen". I wonder if kids these days even cover their books with paper bags anymore...
Nevertheless, the book cover made me chuckle. I guess there was a reason why I kept that book cover after all. It's funny. At the time, I thought I would keep everything because I thought I could use the class notes or whatever as a reference later on in life. Oh how wrong I was, as evident from the fact that the box has done nothing but collect dust in my mother's attic.
Looking back now, it does seem ridiculous to keep everything from high school on. Heck, the box I went through today even had items I pilfered from the Holiday Inn when I spent the night there for a track event. I can only imagine what else is in the other boxes that my mother has waiting for me.
I know there used to be a box of stainless steel knives somewhere. I went through a klepto stage whereby I would take knives from restaurants that I ate at. Granted, most of those knives were from the Ground Round because that was were all of my friends and I generally ended up eating at. I had a track box that contained all of my running shoes and all of my track spikes. Yes, I'm insane. I can't wait to go through all of my crap now.
But also within the box was this letter written by Aimee on October 2, 1992. I loved getting things from Aimee because she just made me laugh. Her letter was actually from when I was in college. More specifically, it was during our first year in college. Heck, we were only a month into college. The letter was typed out on the computer. This was back when computer printouts looked cheesy.
The funny thing about the letter was that even though she printed it out, she never mailed it. At the bottom of the letter, she hand wrote that she didn't send the letter because she ran out of stamps. So I must have seen her, to which she gave me the letter. Classic.
The letter even brought back the memory of my scientology experience because Aimee sarcastically asked how that was coming along for me. Back when I was a lowly college freshman, I was approached while walking down the street of my college campus at the time, which was Northeastern University. The ever polite person that I am, I obliged the person who seemed normal enough. Let's just say, it was a complete waste of two hours of my life. Damn you scientologists!
Anyway, it was good to look back through my old stuff and cherish the things that made me... me... like my friends.
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