39 of 45 - Prehistory 2: Freshman Year
Continuing the Emosnail Prehistory series...
I had been in the United States for about a month when we got a Swedish exchange student in the summer of 1997 (Tony). I'd be in the United States for 13 months before I'd leave again to spend a year in Sweden. But first, I'd have freshman year (9th grade) at Mission Viejo HS.
Back then the world was new and Alberto still dressed and acted preppy (fig. 1). Because of this lamesauce requirement that you be in a physical education class both semesters freshman year, I did cross-country & track, along with Tony and the Australian exchange student, Chris Kemp. I ran the 100 and the 200 in track (and high jump). Once after I'd finished my events and drank a liter of pepsi, the coach came up to me and said they needed another runner for the 4x400 relay. I groaned but did it. They ran frosh/soph, JV and Varsity all at the same time and I passed the varsity runner I ran against. I think coach said I ran the fastest 400 of the relay and "I think you're gonna be running 400s now!" 400s are the most painful track distance there is (along with 800), since you're running flat out for an entire lap. Fortunately I managed to avoid this fate and never again ran a 400 during a meet.
The ladies all swooned over Tony with his Tony looks and his Swedish accent. A similar level of swooning went on over Chris Kemp. Back then I could still put on the Irish accent if I wanted to (whereas now I have no control over it), so just for kicks I kept this one cheerleader, Cheyenne (sp?), convinced I was an Irish exchange student. She ended up asking me to homecoming (well her friend did while she stood next to her and smiled politely). Unfortunately I was already going with a Brazilian exchange student.
At my first Model UN conference I represented the United Kingdom. The first note I got passed, after my first speech, read "nice accent, wakes things up," followed later by "I hope thats not your real accent, then I'd feel embarressed." Yeah about that.
Later on in the year a met a girl in committee named Nidia Gonzalez, who sent me a note after I spoke saying I sounded like a used car salesman. She called me like an hour after I got home from that conference and I was like "uhh... so whats new?" But then the next day she joined a cult-like group of "reborn christians" that kept her brainwashed for the next four or five years. Eventually she'd recover and become a bitter atheist, and we're still pretty good friends.
That summer I started working as a lifeguard at Wild Rivers even though I hate swimming. Despite being one of the first few people to finish the lifeguarding class (accomplishing all the CPR and other skills trainings on the first try) I was given the lowest of the five ranks that existed at the time, "Island Guard," because the instructor didn't like me. On the first day of work I got promoted to "Shallow Guard." Promotions would later prove to be completely arbitrary, depending on who was in front of them at the time the needed to fill a higher position, essentially. I think thats still how they promote people to supervisor.
And then I left for Sweden.
Picture of the Day
More relevant to previous posts than this one, I got this image from google.earth (special thanks to rote for bringing it to my attention). In this picture you see the abandoned wild animal park I'm always talking about, as well as Wild Rivers, and the Verizon Wireless Amphatheatre (formerly Irvine Meadows) I mentioned the other day. One can hear concerts at the amphatheatre very well from the top of the Wild Rivers towers.
Note also the hills behind the amphatheatre in which Mike got lost the other day. The road in the upper right hand corner is the Laguna Canyon Rd (the 133), and I've never seen that resevoir before.
See also: the map of the area, and a rough picture of Kilkenny. Basically the latter will just give you an idea of the greenness. Nearly all those green squares are cow paddies. I lived in the lower right hand corner. The river is the River Nore.
In Other News: citizene updated recently and when that happens one should take notice. Absinthe.
Previously on Emosnail
Year Ago Today: All Your Vampire Slaying Needs - fun with warehouses
Previously in the Prehistory Series: Ireland - Kilkenny, 1997