It was kind of cold this morning; algid if you will. In Texas, it's rarely really damn cold. After stepping into the bracing air, I recalled an actually cold morning.
The year? 1999. It was the end of the year creeping towards Christmas break. It was a cold, cold morning in the town of Drexel Hill. The previous night brought a few inches of snow and the much more dangerous ice. I hadn't taken the bus that morning so I was walking the short distance from the car drop-off point to the high school's main entrance. I was carrying my clarinet case and my tenor sax case in addition to a pair of music folders and my heavy schoolbag. I saw ahead of me two upperclassmen joking around. Mid-laugh one of the two guys stepped onto ice and promptly fell on his ass. His friend stopped and then erupted in laughter. Mid-laugh, he lost his balance on the ice and promptly fell on his ass. I immediately started laughing. Mid-laugh, I stepped onto some ice, slipped, lost my balance and promptly fell on my ass. It hurt, yeah. It was also pretty cold, so it made the hurt much more noticeable. None of my bones were broken and neither was any of my stuff. But yeah, it was funny, even to me then. However, another upperclassman had been walking behind me and he continued walking. As he walked over me he said to no one in particular, "Man ... I ain't even gonna laugh." He didn't. After about a minute I picked myself up and saw that the first pair of upperclassmen were gingerly picking themselves up as well and the one that passed me had made it into the building.
To do it all again, I'd still have laughed.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
A Memory a Day
Keeps the Alzheimer's at bay.
Working as a substitute teacher in the district I went to high school has me running into people directly or tangentially related to the past. So working the other day reminded me of a distant memory.
The year was 2002. The iPhone was 5 years away and mankind itself was eating away at itself without its presence.
I was walking through the halls on my way to class, desperately trying to avoid acknowledging the existence of a few people that had been my friends. I struck up conversation with another senior. We were shooting the bull about being screwed over. He eloquently quantified it as it being a cosmic wheel that we all take turns being crushed by. Asshole that I was (am), I had found an out: switch places with someone further down the wheel to delay the crushening that I was due.
We shared a laugh and collectively dubbed it, "Kyle's Kosmic Wheel of Komeuppence" or KKwoK for short.
I've brought up this wheel in later conversations but hadn't thought about it again until recently, walking those halls. Well, big wheel keeps on turning. And I've got some trading places to catch up on.
Working as a substitute teacher in the district I went to high school has me running into people directly or tangentially related to the past. So working the other day reminded me of a distant memory.
The year was 2002. The iPhone was 5 years away and mankind itself was eating away at itself without its presence.
I was walking through the halls on my way to class, desperately trying to avoid acknowledging the existence of a few people that had been my friends. I struck up conversation with another senior. We were shooting the bull about being screwed over. He eloquently quantified it as it being a cosmic wheel that we all take turns being crushed by. Asshole that I was (am), I had found an out: switch places with someone further down the wheel to delay the crushening that I was due.
We shared a laugh and collectively dubbed it, "Kyle's Kosmic Wheel of Komeuppence" or KKwoK for short.
I've brought up this wheel in later conversations but hadn't thought about it again until recently, walking those halls. Well, big wheel keeps on turning. And I've got some trading places to catch up on.
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