Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Memory Day: 1990 - 1991

It's been over a year since this BU origin story series atrophied into nonexistence, so I thought I'd try to revive it. I'm switching to school years instead of real years, since that's how my memories are chunked together until I left grad school.

In the 1990 - 1991 school year, I was an 11-year-old 7th grader. Francis C. Hammond was a Junior High School with grades from 7 to 9 (so I was there at the same time as my 9th grade sister) and while everyone else in the 7th grade was a hormonal mess, I was much younger and just wanted to play games all the time. I didn't understand or subscribe to being cool (as evinced by the fact that I was that kid who ran through the halls between classes) although I was plenty arrogant and a know-it-all. This wasn't helped by the fact that I was the only trumpet player in the 32-member band program which added even more unnecessary spotlight on me.

I had a pretty typical class schedule, with band being my single elective in the year:

  • Ms. Landrum had neat, cursive handwriting and laughed when I volunteered to bring the film projector down from the A/V room. I did it anyways even though it weighed more than me.
  • Gym was notable because we had a bowling alley across the street and actually bowled during the Bowling unit. I had a custom-engraved 6 pound Mickey Mouse bowling ball (which I finally gave to the son of the neighbours across the street, two eras of neighbours ago) because all of the others were too big for me.
  • I spent most of Life Science drawing fantasy sketches with pen and ink, but also managed to squeeze in the science project, Global Warming - How Will It Affect the Agricultural World?, in which I briefly talked about statistical signifiance using words that only my dad would have used, and I finally concluded that global warming would have more of a negative effect than a positive one.
  • My band director was Mr. Randall, who also took me aside and gave me free private lessons in the early morning until I could finally hit the G above treble clef in "Somewhere Out There" from An American Tail.
  • I brought large quantities of Quaker Chewy granola bars (from the Price Club) to math class and handed them out so kids would like me more.
  • Mrs. Hamberger's English class was unmemorable, although she got in a car accident halfway through the year and was replaced by a sub.

When not playing cutting-edge new PC games like The Secret of Monkey Island or King's Quest V, I was busy stalking my second crush, the girl a grade higher that also played computer games, in cringe-inducing ways such as leaving notes in her locker, biking past her house all the time, and walking home near (but not next to) her like a moth near a porch light. Not surprisingly, none of these embarrassing actions led to romance.

Other posts in this series: 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1990 - 1991 | 1991 - 1992 | 1992 - 1993

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