School Daze: Logan's 2nd Grade Class

When I was in 2nd Grade, I thought I knew a lot. I thought that I can be my own boss and that I am smart enough to do it all. Now I look at Logan in the 2nd grade and I think that while he is a bright kid, he don't know nothing!  He is just a kid!

I wish I had class pictures like this. I would have loved to remember the names of my fellow classmates.

What impresses me about my kid is that he will play with anyone in his class. It doesn't matter who they are, it doesn't matter what they look like, it doesn't matter what makes them different. I am extremely grateful for this, I know looking back in my life, I am glad that I grew up with lots of variety. Logan will even play with girls (and I told him that this will pay off...  ...more on that tomorrow) and he always has a good time.

He confided in me the other day (luckily he doesn't read my blog or else he would find out that most of what he does is blogged for everyone to see) that there are a couple of girls in his class that he thinks is cute. I asked him if he would marry a cute girl and he said he would and then I asked him what he thought "cute" was. And that is when he told me that there are two girls in his class that he thinks are cute. And then he told me, right at the last second (I was putting him to bed) that they think he is cute too. I have my suspicions on who they are but I may never know, he won't tell me.

I don't know whether to be proud of my boy or worry that this could be a sign of trouble for the future.

School Daze: Grade Eight

Day 312

This will probably be my last School Daze column devoting itself to a specific grade. I attended Sky View High School for grades 9-12 and I will probably blog about them in the future but I will combine them since they all seem meshed together anyway.

This was an interesting time in my life. There were some big changes happening. The biggest change being that I moved from Canada to the United States. My parents divorced and my mom and I moved down to Richmond, Utah and lived with my grandparents. I was used to a large city and now I was living in this tiny town. I had cows, real cows, as neighbors. This was something completely foreign to me.

And I had to attend a new school in less than a few weeks. I was going to attend North Cache Middle School (they call Junior High schools, Middle Schools) and I was going into the 8th grade.

I was an outcast. The predominantly Mormon community I moved into was filled with people that lived very sheltered lives. It is not to say that I was a wild child or "worldly" or anything like that but I was more experienced. I guess I was so experienced that some parents out there didn't like me hanging out with their kids since I was so "worldly". Yeah, I was a real hellion.

Since I was such an outsider I was picked on and bullied. Most of these jerkholes came from a neighboring city of Lewiston. I tried to fit in but I was the new guy. One of the lessons I learned while at my last school was to strategically get a girlfriend and get one that would place me with those "kewl" people. There was a cute girl that I liked named Liz Wheeler and I asked her to go with me. Unfortunately this backfired on me. While it did protect me from some of the bullies, it also caused the real jerkholes to double their efforts in picking on me. So I was accepted by the general student body, I was a bigger target to that select crowd of jerkholes. While I was at Killarney and going with Lori, you were supposed to hang out all the time and hold hands and stuff like that. I think that was a little much for the North Cache folk. My whirlwind romance with Liz quickly died out but at least I made some good friends.

I don't have my school pictures here so I had to snag this out of my yearbook.

I was still bullied and most of that came while in gym class. (How cliche!) I hated gym class with a passion and my gym teacher didn't help out. My teacher was named Mr. Lindley and he knew my family. He had lived in Edmonton before my parents moved up there and he knew my grandpa since my grandpa was a respected educator. My gym teacher had these fingers that were dislocated and broken from playing football but now they were hardened and unbending. He used to jab these fingers right in your chest when you did something stupid or wrong. He would line us all up to take roll and he would stop and ask each student. "Clean or dirty?" He was referring to our jock straps. You would have to pull out the strap so he could see that you were actually wearing a jock and not faking it. Only the stupid students would say "dirty". If you did he would jab those fingers right in your chest so hard it would leave a bruise. But I would rather deal with him than with my fellow students. What is really funny is that I could share some real horrific and embarrassing stories of what went on in the gym locker room. I could name names but I think I would be too embarrassed to actually say what went on in there Especially about the three jockholes who thought they were really all that.

Gym class is where I also got into the infamous Rock Fight with Mr. Forsgren.

Like I said, I made some very good friends back in the 8th grade. Most of them I am still in some sort of contact with. My first friend that I made was Casey. I would walk home with Casey (he lived on the other side of the highway in Richmond) and we became fast friends. His family was so nice to welcome me in and I spent a lot of time at his house playing around. Unfortunately he lived by some horrible neighbors that tried to bully him and of course they would bully me when I walked over to his house. The Bair brothers were the worst. They actually shot Casey's dog with a .22 and killed it. They were horrible people. I remember one night I was at Casey's with my other friend Bruce for a sleepover. We noticed that the Bair dad had left one of his beers out on the porch and we snuck over and stole it and then later poured it over the kid's jacket and bike and hid the bottle inside the pocket. Later on his dad smelled the beer on the jacket and really let them have it. We could hear the dad just cussing and beating those boys.  You know, it is not as funny now as it was then.

I also had some great teachers that I felt actually cared for me. A few of them made me who I am today. I also had teachers that had taught my Uncle Kurt when he attended North Cache. I'll let you decide if that is a good thing or not.

By the end of the school year I was feeling better. This year was hard but not as horrible as my last year in the 7th grade was. I got another girlfriend named Rochelle but we were really just friends towards the end. At the end of the year we got our yearbooks and we got to spend the day autographing and writing messages in them. That was a new experience for me too. Looking back, I would love to see what I wrote other people in their yearbooks. Hmmmm... I don't know if I would really want too, I bet I wrote some embarrassing things. I made sure that my yearbook was passed to all the cute and popular girls and there was one signature that made my day. And it really irked Bruce since he had a major crush on this girl.

I blocked out the phone number and the poor girl's name. If you think you have figured it out, please do not post it. I want to avoid further embarrassment!

She was one of the most popular girl's in school! And she thought I was sexy! (Like I really knew what that meant) She made such an impression that my friend and I walked all the way to Smithfield one hot summer day to visit her. I didn't walk 500 miles to be with this girl but I did walk six miles! Sadly she was not home but her cool mother gave us a ride home after giving us something to drink. She was impressed that I walked that far to see her daughter.

My 8th grade year was not as bad as I thought it was. It was still difficult but I think I was being a tad too harsh in my former columns.

School Daze: Grade Seven

Day 290

This had to be the worst school year I had while growing up. I was spoiled when I attended Sifton Elementary school. I had great friends and great teachers which was missing for the most part when I went to Junior High.

During the sixth grade we were visited by the three main Junior High schools recruiting sixth graders to attend there respective schools. I had a choice between Killarney, Balwin and Steele Heights. And I made the unfortunate decision to attend Killarney. This has to go down as one of the worst decisions I have ever made in life. I honestly don't know why I chose Killarney. None of my friends decided to go there and my sister went there and hated it. So I have no clue why I decided to go there.

Their mascot was a Leprechaun. It really should have been Lucifer.

Killarney was not fun at all. While there were a few bright spots, they were rare and didn't last very long. I have already blogged about some of the experiences I had.

I didn't know anyone in my class except for this girl that was in my class the year before and we were not friends. I hate to say this now that I am older but we didn't like her because she smelled and dressed in rags. I should have been nicer to her but honestly it was a relief when she was picked on since they were picking on her and not me. I didn't make any fast friends but I was fortunate to help this new guy with his homework. Rob turned into one of the cool guys and because I helped him with his homework I was not picked on as much.

There was Shelley. She was friends with some of the cool people (Rob's girlfriend) that ran our school and she liked me. I didn't really like her in return but I did like the meager protection my relationship with her offered. It protected me from quite a few altercations.

There was also the time when I was framed and almost killed for trying to be accepted. Most of the days I spent at Killarney I was in fear. Waiting for something bad to happen and typically something would. I was bullied most of the times and I didn't get along with many of my teachers. My grades suffered big time and I was failing most of my subjects. I just was not happy.

I did have a few good teachers, Miss Spicer and Mrs. Evans were always there to lend a hand and smile at me. If it wasn't for those teachers I would have probably died. But at least I wouldn't fear hell since I was already attending Killarney.

That is me on the left in my favorite Van Halen jersey. That was my only picture in the yearbook. I missed school pictures that year.

One of the few bright spots at Killarney was riding the bus to school. I would catch the bus and I would sit by this girl named Debbie. She was a couple of years older than I was but she remembered me from Sifton. So every time I would get on the bus she would move her school bag so I could sit down. If the bus was really crowded she would let me sit on her lap. Yeah, I took my small victories when I could!

My mom knew that I was not having a great time at Killarney. My mom worked at the Diet Center (which was across the street and down the block from my school) and I used to stop by every once in awhile to visit during my lunch hour. I remember fondly one day she told me not to go back to school. I didn't go back that afternoon and we went out and got lunch and mom took me to some comic book shops. Mom could always tell when I needed a break.

I even remember what comics I got when I went out with mom. This one was my favorite. It gave sneak peaks of upcoming titles.

Killarney had a Science Fair which I told my parents about the night before. We stood up way into the wee hours of the morning making a project. I chose the planet Mars and we made a very cool paper mache planet while my dad built a stand and poster boards. I got an A on the project. Good thing my family was there to help me.
I will say that Killareny was a place where I had some "firsts". Killarney is where I had my first major fist fight. It was at the Clairview Bus Station. This kid named Tyler was really picking on me and I had enough. I swung and punched him in the back of his head knocking him on his knees. He got up and quickly turned to me and went insane. He knocked me down and grabbed the back of my head and pounded it into the concrete multiple times. A couple of adults pulled him off of me and I caught the bus as normal. I was so full of adrenaline that I didn't notice the blood and cuts on my head. One kid saw that I was bleeding and asked what happened and I told him. This kid (who I didn't know) was friends with Rob and he gathered a few guys and they beat the crap out of Tyler. They really did a number on him. Looking back I feel bad that he really took a beating but that was life in the 7th grade. Better him than me, you do what you have to do to survive.

Killarney was also the first place where I was offered drugs. Across the street was a Mac's (like a 7-11 store) and we used to go over there during lunch. It was there I was offered hash. I politely said "no" and he asked if there was anything else I would like to try. I said "no" and moved on. Most of the kids in my class smoked and I tried my first cigarette. Funny thing about that is I didn't know you breathed in the smoke into your lungs. I did not inhale. I just drew the smoke into my mouth and blew it out.

Killarney was also the first time that I kissed a girl. It was on the last day of school and I kissed her on the cheek. Her name was Lori and she moved in halfway through the year. She was very cute and she made friends with cool kids and she liked me. So once again I got more protection but this time I had someone I liked on my arm. So at least my last month of the seventh grade was mostly peaceful. I pulled my grades up enough to pass the seventh grade.

But then I got some bittersweet news. The sweet news was that was my last year at Killarney. The bad news was that I was moving to another country!

School Daze: Grade Six

Day 270

I loved the sixth grade, not as much as I loved my fifth grade but still it was one of my favorite school years. I had a great set of friends that I would hang out with and I had my favorite teacher, Ms. Archer, for my second year in a row. Unfortunately this would be my last joyous school year until my sophomore year in high school. I get my fifth and sixth grade mixed up since I had the same teacher and I cannot remember when I got my ukulele. I think it was during my fifth grade but I cannot be sure. I will have to cover my uke days in a separate blog.

The last year of those good times. I am on the last row, 2nd from the right. Next to me is Neil. Alvin is the third from the left on the back row. Tammy is right below me in the white shirt and Eulilia was the second person from the left on the 2nd row. Alison, the girl I was cruel too is the fourth from the left on the front row.

Sixth grade impacted me quite a bit. There was stuff that I learned and did in the sixth grade that altered my life forever.

I had a new music teacher this year that was completely different from any other music teacher that I had before. Her name was Ms. Oskin and she was so kind and gentle but also very passionate about music. I remember listening to her intently since she had such a unique accent. I remember her class fondly, she would take each of us aside and teach us how to match notes with the piano. She told me many times that I had a natural talent in music, that I could easily follow music by ear. She also introduced me to the Beatles. We sang a couple of Beatles songs in class and she really showed why we should appreciate their music. It made me a fan and I was happy that my sister Jennifer had a tape of their greatest hits.

In the sixth grade I also flexed my writing muscles more and took my creative writing a lot more serious. We had various assignments but my favorite was "Teacher for a Day". We would write a story about us subbing our classroom for a day. I was already familiar with how it worked since I did one the year before. But this time I really wanted to knock this one out of the park. I worked hard on my story and Ms. Archer was very proud of my effort. She said it was one of the best stories she had read and was much better than last year's. It was the sixth grade where I really got the writing bug.

Ms. Archer was not afraid to tell me when I was too negative or a little out of hand. She mentions this for each of the three terms. I certainly don't see myself as being outspoken.

I also created my first comic book in the sixth grade. It was based on a DC character called Red Tornado, in fact it was a pure ripoff of the Red Tornado. I developed two six-panel pages and did an old-fashioned Flash Gordon-type ending. Ms. Archer liked them so much that she kept them so she could show them as examples to her new students the next year. Looking back, I wish I had kept them but I was very proud that she wanted to keep them. That character I created still exists although everything about him has changed except for his costume.

The Liberator!

One of the biggest influences on my life happened when I met Neil White. I had already been reading GI Joe and Transformers comic books but Neil introduced me to the X-Men and the larger Marvel Universe. Ms. Archer allowed us to read comics while it was reading time and we often would trade comics. Neil gave me a ton of comics to read including the Amazing Spider-Man, Uncanny X-Men and many others. And I was hooked for life. I still read these books.

My first issue of Uncanny X-Men. I had no clue what was going on but I knew I liked it. I quickly bought up a bunch of back issues all the way back to #177.

This is Uncanny X-Men #525. So that means I have 348 issues in a row of this series.

So if you want to blame anyone for my comic addiction obsession, blame Neil.

I read (Ms Archer would read to us) one of my favorite books during this year called the White Mountains. We enjoyed that book so much that we read the entire Tripod Trilogy in class. When I moved to the States years later I found these books sold as a set in Waldenbooks and I was so excited to sit down and read them again and it took me right back to the sixth grade. I really should dig those out again.

This was also the last year that I participated in the Canadian Fitness Program. I disliked the running portion so I purposefully sat out which didn't make Ms. Archer happy. I still was awarded the Bronze so at least I had the whole set.

I was also very oblivious to girls. Sure I had my usual crushes but I had no idea that girls would like me. One girl had a tremendous crush on me and I didn't like her back. I was very cruel to her and if my son Logan did this to a girl, I would smack the living crap out of him for doing so. I feel bad about it now but back then I was just trying to save my life.

Ms. Archer didn't like me chatting so much with Brad and Neil so she moved me in front of Tammy which was right in front of Ms. Archer's desk. She was another girl that had a crush on me and I of course, had no clue. We would talk all the time during class and we became good friends. Alvin and Eulalia joined us and we called our group Snausages. Don't ask why. We were really good friends and we did a ton of stuff together during recess. Tammy and I shared Soap Candies and oftentimes during reading time we would find dirty words in the dictionary and share them and giggle. Tammy and I each had a pet rubber mouse that lived in our desks.

Ms. Archer knew that Tammy liked me. When I got permission to move my desk back near Neil and Brad she told me in confidence that Tammy liked me quite a bit. I played stupid (which was not hard since I really was when it came to the female species) and ignored her. Why would Tammy ruin a friendship by liking me?

And sure enough I got this note a few days later.

The reason the note is crinkled is because I immediately crumpled it up and threw it away. But then part of my was intrigued. So I got it out of the trash can, ran home after school and called my best friend Alvin and told him everything. Even though the note in plain English told me not to tell Alvin. I guess I didn't read it that closely. I kept the note because this was the first time that a girl I liked admitted that she liked me too. There may have been other girls that liked me that I liked but they wouldn't admit it. As you can see, I never answered and I never went on that date. Looking back, I should've just gone. Tammy was a hoot to be around but I guess I was not ready. So not only am I a little stupid, I am also a little chicken when it comes to girls.

School Daze: The Bully

Day 242

I was bullied in school quite a bit, especially grades 7-9. Those grades were absolutely hell for me and part of me doesn't even want to cover those years in this blog. When grade 10 rolled around I was surrounded by good friends and most of those bullies that bullied me had either matured a bit or moved on to other things.

Remember what happened to this bully?

In the 11th grade I managed to fight off my last bully for good. For some unknown reason this stupid kid with his stupid permed hair started to pick on me. I did my best to ignore him but he just kept on going. I remember during the winter he would always tackle me and throw me in the snow. This constantly went on and I just learned to deal with it. It was humiliating that I was in the 11th grade and I was being bullied by this preppy sophomore. So I decided to fight back.

This unfortunately worked both ways. He liked that I would fight back, it made him more sneaky in catching me off guard. But when I got the better of him all it did was make him mad and the incidents felt like they doubled.

So I took the initiative. I was walking through the Student Center and I spotted him walking towards the steel doors to get inside. I knew that if he saw me I would get harassed so I decided to get him before he got me. I ran to the steel doors and timed opening them perfectly. He was about to grab the handles and open the door when I tossed the door open hard.

I hit him square in the face with the door. The force knocked him to the floor and he immediately grasped his nose which was spitting out gobs of blood. He got up angrily and looked like he was going to tackle me when my friend came from behind me laughing and said "You want Matt to give you more than that?" I stood my ground and stared him down silently. He backed off and went to the bathroom.

I have to admit that I feared for my life for the rest of the day but I never saw or heard him. And I never had to deal with him again. I had a couple of classes with him and he was still a bit of a jerkhole but he never touched me again.

Sometimes you just have to take a stand. Like Marty's dad did to Biff in Back to the Future.

School Daze: Grade 5

Day 236

Grade Five was probably one of my favorite grades of all my school years. Surprisingly I don't have that many memories of the fifth grade probably because it melds right into my sixth grade since I had the same wonderful teacher in Ms. Archer.

I don't think we had a class picture this year or at least I didn't get one. We only had a yearbook which is now very beaten up.

CONFESSION TIME: I had to alter these pictures with Photoshop because I ranked each one of my classmates with either a star, check mark or an "X". I don't want to offend anyone here.

What made this class so special was that it had one row of 6th graders and the rest was 5th graders. I really wanted to be a sixth grader and be like these guys. I thought they were so cool. It added a unique atmosphere to the class. What I enjoyed the most about having the sixth graders in my class is that I had a major crush on one of them. All I can remember about her is that she wore this awesome "Men at Work" t-shirt that I thought she looked so darn good in. Unfortunately that also led to one of my biggest regrets. I tried way too hard to get her to like me.

One of the things that I remember strangely enough is that Ms. Archer had a huge row of books above the cubbyholes. So if we didn't have a book to read during reading time we could get one of those. Towards the end of the 5th grade we would write and hide notes in one of the books on that shelf for other classmates. This was how we found out who likes who and how much. The problem with this system is that you would just watch to see who placed what note in what book. But it was way too much fun to stop and think about it.

Ms. Archer turned out to be my favorite teacher through Sifton. What I liked about her was that she was very patient, funny and was deeply concerned about her students. I have shared this story here on the blog but I think I will share it again. I felt that Ms. Archer cared more about me as a person than by just making sure I got good grades. Towards the end of the 5th grade I began to hang out with this other kid in my class and he was not the nicest kid. He would threaten other kids and bully some of them and threaten beatings but for some stupid reason I wanted to be like this kid. Ms. Archer noticed this too and saw that I was changing and not for the good. So she made the decision to move my desk away from him and back to some of my other friends. And she asked me to stay after school for a couple of minutes. She told me after school that I was not being true to myself and that I should stop trying to be like this kid. She then told me that I was not being nice and I would lose people's respect and friendship. At the time those words hurt since I liked Ms. Archer a lot. After walking home and thinking about it, I knew she made sense. So I eventually stopped hanging around this kid and went back to my normal circle of friends. What she did had nothing to do with school work, nothing at all with my grades but she was so concerned about me. What she did that day will stay with me for as long as I live.

I don't think it tastes like soap at all. More like Sen-Sens.

One thing that I remember about Ms. Archer is that the smell of Thrills gum made her sick. I love this gum and would chew it often after lunch but would always spit it out when I got back to class. One time I chewed it on purpose to make her sick and all it really did was make her mad. And she caught me and made me do a special essay.

One of the things she would do to make us quiet was institute the Traveling Essay. Whoever would speak last or make a noise last would get the essay. Fortunately I never got the Traveling Essay, unfortunately I didn't need to get the Traveling Essay since I got essays assigned to me on my own.

Now I know where Logan gets it from. I didn't know I was such a talker but so far all of my teachers have agreed. At least I was polite about it. It is really surprising that I never got that Traveling Essay.

We had a new principal of the school named Mr. Chester. And we didn't like him at all. He issued a rule that stated that all students were not allowed to pick up snow during recess. Of course we ignored this rule, how could you not ignore this rule when you had to go out for recess during the winter? We didn't throw snowballs at other kids but one time we were throwing snow outside. We were just seeing how far we could throw. One of our classmates saw us do this and she turned us in and he yelled at us like nothing else. His face got all red and looked like it was ready to explode. I thought for sure I was going to get the strap. He was such a jerk.

We were at the library one time and our Librarian was instructing us on what reference materials were. Ms. Archer told us what an almanac was and asked us to think of something we could look up. Michele (a nice girl but one we all thought was a bit off) asked Ms. Archer if she could look up sex. Ms. Archer didn't bat an eyelash. She opened the book and said she would see if there was anything new about sex we could find out. I remember looking over at Alvin and giggling about it. As if we knew what sex was anyway.

Our school had an indoor Floor Hockey League. We would have games before and after school and we would have a mix of 5th and 6th graders. We were named after the newest hockey team in the NHL, the New Jersey Devils. I really admired our Team Captain (I cannot remember his name, for some reason I want to call him Rusty) and we had a decent team but we were not loaded with talent like the Blackhawks were. I didn't think we could beat the Blackhawks but we did. And after a month or so, our team was in the school championship. The school decided to have the game at the end of the day and all the students were invited to attend. I was the only one in our class that was on one of the two teams fighting for the school championship. Ms. Archer was so cool enough that about an hour or so before the game she allowed us to make signs for the game to support me.

We won the game and I even scored a goal! We crushed our opponent 4-1. I usually played as a defender but my Team Captain wanted me to play Left Wing and so I did and that is when I scored the goal.

Every year in elementary school we would participate in the Canada Fitness Program and we would be awarded for how well we did. This year I was awarded the Platinum Canadian Fitness Award. The highest award you can get. The hardest part was the Endurance Run which we were all forced to do. Looking back that was probably what made me a fan of running. Still, I am glad that Canada made its students exercise.

One of the things that I really liked about Ms. Archer's class was creative writing. She usually had us write our own stories. One of my favorite stories to write was called "Teacher for a Day".  We would write what it would be like for us to substitute our own class. We could write serious or funny stuff, really whatever we wanted to write. She encouraged us to be as creative as we wanted to be. Writing was one of my favorite things to do in her class.

I was fortunate enough to have Ms. Archer again the next year. Which is why I am having a tough time remembering what happened in what year. I cannot remember if it was this year or the next that I joined the Ukulele club. I have a feeling it was this year since Mrs. Miller taught it and I had a different music teacher the next year. Hmmmm... I guess I will blog about that next time.

School Daze: Grade 4

Day 198

Ah 4th grade... ...one of my favorite grades and that is because I had a guy teacher. Guy teachers were not the norm at Sifton and I was lucky that I got a guy teacher this time in Mr. Swan.

I (2nd guy from right to left on the 2nd row) made some real good friends in this class. I was happy that I was in the same class as my best friend Alvin Tam (fourth guy going left to right on the 2nd row). I remember he was a super good artist and was very creative and we hit it off. I used to go to his grandma's house after school and play. I originally was not supposed to be in this class but something happened to my other class and I was sent a few days into the school year into Mr. Swan's class.

They added a desk to the row near the door and I sat in front of Carrie Huber. I had a pretty big crush on her throughout the year and I made every effort to make her laugh. Sometimes it worked and sometimes I went a little too far.

Even Mr. Swan agreed. Sometimes I tried to hard to be funny.

Mr. Swan was awesome. His class was a lot of fun. Reading and writing was his biggest drive and would constantly hone us in reading and writing. I remember he used to make us take Dictation and would really try to trick us. He would also read to us after lunch almost every day. And I totally remember some of the books he read to us during the year. He read "Island of the Blue Dolphins" and "The Secret of Shark Reef" to us and they instantly made an impact on me. It was in his class that I learned to love to read and to write stories.

As you can see he really drove us to read. A lot of my love for reading came from this man.

Mr. Swan was always proud of my creative writing abilities even though my hand writing was not that great. He told me that he looked forward to my stories since they were always so exciting and creative. That meant a lot to me. I wrote an Indiana Jones story called "Indiana Jones and the Lost Caverns" and even though it pretty much ripped off Raiders of the Lost Ark, Mr. Swan was impressed by my writing. I got my paper back and this was all that was on it was the word "Wow!!"

As you can see not only did Mr. Swan love my story but I had some kissing in it.

I loved learning about new things but I did struggle in one subject more than others. Surprisingly it was Art. I love Art and would take A.P. Art later on in high school but I was not a fan of construction paper-type of art. I wanted to draw, I wanted to paint, I didn't want to make cut-out snowflakes. I didn't mind doing the clay projects but everything else didn't interest me at all. I didn't know that my teacher picked up on this.

I wonder if I just sat at my desk looking blankly at the wall.

This year I also was awarded a Gold Fitness Award. The year before I got the Silver and I was so happy that I improved.

I later found out when I joined the Ukulele club that Mr. Swan could play the bass. He would bring in his huge bass and plunk along with us. He would twirl it and get fancy too. He was such a cool teacher and I remember wanting to be like him and teach also. I used to have a school desk and I would play school and I would pretend to be him.

Mr. Swan will always be one of my favorite teachers and I am thankful that he motivated me to try my hardest and get me to read.

List-Mania: Cool Teachers!

Day 174

So far most of my columns that I write about school have usually been about how I hated it or some of the funny things that happened or about how I didn't get along with authority figures. And so far my List-Mania columns have been devoted to more fun things that I enjoy in life but this time both columns (to be combined into one) will be much different. Looking back I have found teachers that I have had that had a positive impact on me and today, I am honoring them. They are not listed in any particular order.

Ms. Archer (Sifton Elementary School)

I was fortunate to have Ms. Archer for 2 years straight. I had her in Sifton for grades 5 and 6. Not only did I think she was an excellent teacher but I felt that she cared more for me than just making sure I got good grades. Towards the end of the 5th grade I began to hang out with this other kid in my class and he was not the nicest kid. He would threaten other kids and bully some of them and threaten beatings and I wanted to be like this kid. Ms. Archer noticed this too and saw that I was changing and not for the good. So she made the decision to move my desk away from him and back to some of my other friends. And she asked me to stay after school for a couple of minutes. She told me after school that I was not being true to myself and that I should stop trying to be like this kid. She then told me that I was not being nice and I would lose people's respect and friendship. At the time those words hurt since I liked Ms. Archer a lot but walking home and thinking about it, I knew she made sense. So I eventually stopped hanging around this kid and went back to my normal circle of friends. What she did had nothing to do with school work, nothing at all to do with my grades. But she cared enough about me to take the time to set me straight. Something I will never forget.

Mrs. Baugh/Letham (North Cache Middle School/Sky View High School)
After Killarney I moved to the United States and I had to start the 8th grade in a new school and a new country. I tried to fit in but unfortunately the U.S. also had its share of bullies. But this grade was much better than Killarney and I made some good friends but more importantly I had some good teachers. My favorite was Ms. Baugh, my English teacher. I had no problems in reading plays and characters in class which made me one of her favorites. But it was the writing assignments that I really liked and she knew I liked. One assignment that I had was to write about an invention. I thought about some sort of sorting vacuum cleaner and eventually the story morphed into something completely different. Something that I was really proud of. I handed it in and a few days later she wanted to speak to me privately. She handed me back my story and explained the assignment and I realized that I screwed up. My story was completely different from the assignment. I felt like such an idiot but she told me it was the best story she had read in years. Then she told me not to worry about the assignment, I wrote a story that I should be proud of and that she would reward me extra credit for going all out on a story. She asked if she could keep a copy of the story so she could read it to her 6th graders as an example of how to write creatively. I was honored. Later on I became her assistant my senior year and she still remembered my story and encouraged me to try to get it published. I still have that story and I have worked on it occasionally and I think it would make a great children's book. Ms. Baugh (later it became Mrs. Letham) really knew how to push me creatively and taught me to embrace it instead of shy away from it.

Mrs. Burningham (Sky View High School)
I had Mrs. Burningham for two classes my senior year in high school (it was her first year teaching at Sky View) and they were my favorite classes. I had her for Painting and also for AP Art and AP Art is where I learned the most. At this point I wanted to be a comic book artist and she really helped me understand that I need to know and learn all forms of art so I can be a complete comic book artist. But she really knew me as a person and understood when I was not feeling art. Every once in awhile I would just sit and talk quietly with my friends or do some reading and she never bugged me about getting my projects done. She knew it was more important to recharge batteries and she trusted me enough that I would get my stuff done.

Ms. Spicer (Killarney Junior High School)

I didn't have too many bright spots when I attended Killarney Junior High but she was one of them. She was a great teacher that tried her hardest to not only teach but also to help us form our own opinions. She appreciated what each student had to say and she went out of her way to make all of us comfortable so we would give our opinion. I was mostly a quiet student but in her class I felt like I could talk and add to the discussion. She cared about her students as well, I remember a couple of times where she could see that I was struggling and she would talk to me personally. There were many times that I was threatened to get beat up and she would always allow me to come to her class after school so I could escape. She made such an impression that she was a character in my first novel. She of course was a teacher that helped one of students choose a better life.


Mr. Churchill (Sky View High School)
I know a lot of people didn't like him but I really did. I had him for a variety of classes from Driver's Ed to Sociology to Weight Training. He demanded a lot from you in class and made sure you succeeded. I remember in Weight Training he gave me a goal of how much weight I could bench and he kept trying to add more weight and demand more from me. I eventually ended up going over my goal by 16 pounds because he kept driving me. What I respected about him the most was that he told it like it was. He himself was never disrespectful but when he was (or any of us) were disrespected he really would hit you over the head. One time in weight training some kid put in a tape (Guns and Roses Use Your Illusion II) for use to listen to when we were lifting. Now Mr. Churchill was not a fan of profanity and when a song came on that was loaded with it he stopped lifting and ran and got the tape and broke it in half and threw it outside. He did warn us in advance that he doesn't tolerate that sort of stuff. And he did exactly what he said he would do.

There were other teachers I had throughout my life that made an impact on me too but these teachers stood out the most. I appreciate that they took the time to be an example to me and taught me more than what was expected in the classroom.

School Daze: Grade 3

Day 165! Only 200 more to go!

I must have blocked out most of the 3rd grade since I had a teacher I was not very fond of. Not only was she a yeller but she was also mean. She would make you feel like a turd. But at times I think I deserved it.



Third grade was still a heck of a lot better than my Killarney and North Cache days that is for sure. It is here I met one of my best friends, Alvin Tam. He is the second kid from the left on the second row. I have fond memories of going to his grandmother's home (she only spoke Chinese) and eating these pink chips and playing in their backyard. We would break open rocks with other rocks and pretend we were searching for precious stones. We would also build snow forts and pretend that the AT-AT's were coming to blow up our secret base. And if you don't know what an AT-AT you live in a very sad world. Or you are pretty old.

If you cannot tell who I am in this picture, I am the one on the back row, first one from the left. The one with the goofy look on his face.

I do remember one instance where Mrs. Glenn really let me have it and I deserved it. It was during Art and we were supposed to draw Garfield (he was really big back then) and we got to pick out and share with another person a Garfield strip. When she showed one that I wanted she picked me and also a kid named Sun Park. I stuck out my tongue in disapproval to my friends and Mrs. Glenn caught it and she really let me have it. She said I was cruel and that everyone should treat me like I treated Sun. She didn't give me the Garfield strip and made me sit by myself. She then stuck out her tongue at me in front of the class and said something to the effect of "No one should draw with Matthew!" and I was crushed. My feelings were so hurt. But she nailed it, that is exactly how Sun must have felt. Lesson learned Mrs. Glenn.

I did make it up to him and Mrs. Glenn later in the year. That year I was part of the Christmas Choir. Mrs. Miller (the music teacher) thought I should join since I liked singing so much and there was a girl in the 6th grade that I had such a crush on. I once gave her a present, it was a jewelry box filled with coins, Bottlecap candies and a gold necklace which I am not sure how I ended up with. I might have got it from my sister. Anyway, I was happy to join the choir. During one of our rehearsals I was placed in the front row of the choir and was asked if I minded if Sun would stand by me. Now Sun had a problem with his legs, I am not sure what it was but he could not stand for a long time. He would need someone he could grab or hang on to so he could regain his balance. Ashamed for how I treated him earlier and wanting to make it up to him and Mrs. Glenn I told them I had no problem standing and helping Sun if needed. I loved singing in that choir!

In our class we had three girls named Tammy. Tammy R. (which every boy had a crush on at one time; she is the girl in red on the front row), Tammy M. (who sat right next to her, 3rd from the left) and Tammy S. (she is the girl with glasses on the front row). I don't think I know any other girls named Tammy. Tammy R. and Tammy S. moved away and I later became good friends with Tammy M. But that comes later on in the Sixth Grade.

Logan recently got a Spider-Man journal that has one of those cheap locks on it and it reminded me that I had a journal like that too. But mine was Garfield (told you he was big back then) and I started writing it during the 3rd Grade. One thing I noticed is that I liked a girl named Carmen and then suddenly I hated her.

That was my first entry. I love that I put my mom's words in quotations.
Anyway, back to Carmen. She came into the 3rd grade sometime after school started and I thought she was cute. She thought I was cute and we became friends. I cannot believe some of the stuff I am willing to admit here but I remember one time we were watching a film strip and I rolled up my sleeves on my shirt so she could see my muscles. *sigh* Puppy Love!

But then she wanted to take the relationship to the next level. During recess her and her friends would chase me and catch me and corner me against a fence or against the brick wall. And they would wait until the bell would ring and then kiss me! And that was too much. Which led to this funny journal entry:

In case you cannot read my handwriting: I HATE CARMEN. SHE IS A *BEEP*, SHE THINKS SHE IS HOT STUFF AND I HAD ENOUGH OF HER SHE IS DUMB YES SHE IS. I HATE HER SHE DRIVES ME UP THE WALL ALL THE WAY TO THE MOON. NOW I'M GOING TO MARS.
And this last journal entry I will share with you really made me laugh. I apologize in advance Jennifer!

I was commenting about another cute girl when I wrote this: CARMEN THE DUMBEST IN THE WORLD (I am sure I meant dumbest girl, who's dumb now right?) IS DUMBER THAN JENNIFER.
My grades were consistent and I was a pretty good student. Kristy should be proud that I raised my PE grades to a B! And I was awarded with a Silver Fitness Award!


It is hard to see what my teacher commented on my report card because of some water damage but she did note that I should have brought a helmet to our ice skating activity. I didn't really know how to ice skate and I cracked my head on the ice. It doesn't surprise me at all that Mrs. Glenn would make sure to make a note of that later on in my report card. It was not like my parents didn't know when I came home! It's like she had to take that final jab before I moved on to the 4th grade!

3rd grade was the worst one at Sifton but it was still a lot of fun. But the last 3 years at Sifton were the best!

School Daze: Stolen Hall Pass

Day 144

I was thumbing through my file cabinet to find things I can blog about and I came across this.

I forgot how this came in my possession but I know I used it all my Senior year at Sky View. Seeing that also reminds me that I had a whole pad of those blue papers that the office would use to get students out of class. Those certainly came in handy. I never got along with that lady that ran the Writing Center and I am sure that is one of the reasons why I have this.

Finding that also reminds me of that show Hoarders. I think I must be a Hoarder of some sort. I rarely throw anything like this away. I guess that is a good thing since I still have 221 days left to blog.

School Daze: Second Grade

Day 129

2nd grade had to be one of the strangest grades while attending Sifton Elementary School. I had a strange teacher who had a strange way of doing things but I it was also one of the most creative grades where I felt I was pushed to do more.

My teacher was Mrs. Bernard and I thought she was a tad bit off. And at other times I thought she was crazy. She would lose her temper and totally scream at us. Not raising her voice or yelling but literally screaming! We probably at times deserved it though. There were a couple of tough kids (between Jehad and Mark) to deal with in that class. Jehad is the one standing next to my in my class photo.

I hated Jehad. He was such a bully. Sifton had a great park which was a blast to play in. We also made a set of dirt holes in the ground so we could play marbles. Jehad tried to steal my marbles one day and we got into a pushing fight and I was the only one that got in trouble. I also remember a time when my friend Michael and I were at the park on a Saturday and him and his stupid brother was there. They grabbed me and tried to beat me up. Luckily I was able to convince my way out of it. My family and I found a missing kitten which we saved which ended up being Jehad's cat. I told him that he was lucky that I saved his cat and they let me go. In hindsight, knowing that it was Jehad's cat, I should have gotten rid of it.

There were a couple of cool friends that I liked to hang out with. I was friends with Kirk and Leanne from the 1st grade but I became friends with Mike, Alexis and Doug. And of course I had my share of crushes on girls. At some point I had a crush on Tracey (the blonde girl in the middle of the front row) but the 2nd grade is where I kissed my first girl on that fateful overnight trip to Calgary.

One of my favorite memories was when our class went to Calgary on an overnight trip. Now for those that may not know, I lived in Edmonton and Calgary was about three hours away. We went to Calgary by train and that was so much fun. Sitting with my friends and just having a ball. I can't imagine what it was like for Mrs. Bernard and those poor parents to be in charge with us. We did cool things though, we went and saw the Calgary Tower. We got to go up into the tower and see the view.

On the bus is where I managed to have my first kiss. I was standing next to Lori Egdar (the girl in red on the top row from the left) and I thought I was being extra sneaky. Every time we would hit a bump of some sort, I would pretend to run into her and I would kiss her. And it was mostly on the shoulder! I cannot believe I am admitting this.

That night we stayed at a school and we all slept in a gym, boys on one side with the girls on the other. I remember one kid, Brian Waritsky yelling across to the girls "We strike at midnight!"

And then he fell asleep! Not much of a plan Brian! Some of the kids wouldn't be quiet (I was one of them at one point) and so me and another kid (I cannot for the life of me remember who it was; I think it was Doug or Mike) went to find the teachers. We were so macho that we had our shirts off.

One day Mrs. Bernard just disappeared for the afternoon. We had no idea where she was, we assumed that she was just in the office. So we all went wild. I remember one girl (Shari) really going nuts. I thought she was already nuts but she flashed her underwear to everyone. And then when we told the teacher she denied it all and we got in trouble for making up such a terrible lie.

What I liked about Mrs. Bernard is that she was creative in teaching. We had a lot of stations where we would learn math by doing hands-on type of things. She also made us keep a diary where we could write whatever we wanted. I am sure I still have it somewhere at my mom's house. But we could draw in it and really be as creative as we wanted to be in it.

And I am much like my son Logan. He has the same "social" problem at school as I did. I would fly through my work when I had to so I had time to be social.

Second grade was one of my favorite grades.

School Daze: Dead Man Walking

Day 115

I was almost killed while attending Killarney Junior High school. I guess that wouldn't have been so bad. As far as I was concerned, I was already in hell.

But seriously, I thought I was dead man.


I hardly had any friends at Killarney and the few friends that I had were not the greatest either. I was lucky enough to help a kid in my grade with some work and he was one of the kewl kids and that offered some protection but I was still picked on. Every day was hell. I didn't know if I was one of the kewl kids and left alone or if I was to be subjected to harassment and brutality. And one day I got both.

The day started normal enough. I was teased but it was not too bad, in fact it was one of the good days. Towards the end of the school day I was invited to hang out with the kewl kids. So I thought my day was made. I was safe.

Then one of the other kewl kids named Bradley said he had something important for me. He said that one of the kewler kids named Mark needed to pass a note to his girlfriend Sylvia. Brad said he couldn't do it after school so he gave me the note and asked me to do it. And I happily (and stupidly) took the note wanting to prove that I can be counted on. After school I raced to the other side of the school and looked for Sylvia. I found her and handed her the note saying it was from Mark and I fled from the scene. And I was thrilled. This should now prove that I can be a kewl kid.

I never read the note and perhaps I should have. But the note apparently was not a nice one. Sylvia was horrified and told Mark. Mark was super angry and told everyone that he will kill the kid that gave her the note. Yup, that was me. I lived in fear for the next five days. And then we had an assembly and she came in with Mark. I thought this was it. I am a dead man.


She looked at me and I smiled nicely back at her. I am positive that she knew that it was me that gave her that note. But for some reason she never told Mark. I knew she didn't because Mark was a little psycho and no matter what she said he would have killed me. So Mark never found out and Brad's evil plan never came to fruition. But I was afraid for my life for the rest of the year until I met Lori. And suddenly I was safe again. At least for the time being.

School Daze: First Grade

Day 103

Later this afternoon I get to meet Logan's first grade teacher for Parent Teacher Conference. We'll see if Logan has improved since last time. He is a talkative little turkey and has been warned and got in trouble a few times because he would rather talk than work. Which is funny considering there was a point in his life where he was shy and wouldn't talk even to me! I am glad that he is social but it seems he goes a little too far at times.

Then it got me thinking. What was I like in the 1st grade? In going through my files I found an old booklet that I made in the 1st grade that is all about me and I also found my class picture and my report card.




Like any kid that grew up in the 80's, I loved Star Wars. I guess some things will never change. And I still love bunny rabbits!

I remember really liking my 1st grade. I had a small crush on my teacher, Ms. Job. And I remember being crushed when her husband came to class one day. She was married! Now what am I going to do? I had some good friends in 1st grade.



Can you see me? The first girl in the front row with the large bob haircut was named Amy. She had an exact twin in the other class and you know what her name was? Lamy. I am not kidding, Amy and Lamy. The middle girl on the first row was Jackie. I remember that she could color like nothing else. I used to get my work done quickly in class so I could scoot my desk next to hers and share my Star Wars coloring book with her and she would color with me. It was either her or Leanne that I would color with. Leanne is the girl in purple, 2nd from the right end on the first row. I know this totally sounds rude but the girl next to her (and you could see the space in between Leanne and her) on the end was Ruby. She would eat her boogers in class so everyone hated her. Kids can be so cruel! I hung out mostly with Kirk and Gary. They are the middle boys in the middle row. Gary would move away but I stayed friends with Kirk until I moved away.


I still have a collection of some of the short stories that I wrote back in the 1st grade. Even then I loved to write.


I had a different teacher for gym and music. I was not a huge fan of gym unless we were playing floor hockey or gymnastics. I liked music quite a bit but I didn't like the teacher Ms. Norenberg. I thought she was so mean. But as you can see from her comments, even at an early age I loved to sing.


This comment from my gym teacher makes Kristy's cry. I hated to run back then too!


Not that I am tooting my own horn but I was a pretty good kid in the 1st grade.

But just wait...

School Daze: Roll Call

Day 88

As you might have guessed it, authority and I have never really gotten along. Especially when the one in authority really gets his jollies by pushing people around. For the most part I got along with my teachers throughout my schooling but there were a few teachers that I did not see eye to eye with.

I admit it, I was never good at math, especially algebra. I struggled to learn the concepts and it was generally a hard subject. My teachers were no help either. I only had one good math teacher while I was in high school. But one teacher in particular I absolutely had problems with. Unfortunately I had this guy twice and the second time around was horrible.


Because I struggled with learning the concepts I didn't do that great on my tests, quizzes and homework. At first he tried to help but when I was not picking up on it, he decided that ridicule would be the best way to motivate me. He would pick on my on purpose during class time to humiliate me. I don't know if that was his true intent but at the time it sure seemed that way.

During my second class with me I decided that I have had enough. Every day at the beginning of class he did this annoying tradition. He would announce that he was going to call roll and then he would say "Here Roll!" for a cheap laugh. Now it may have been funny the first time but day in day out hearing him say this grated my nerves. So one day my friend Forrest and I decided it was time for some payback. When he made his little pun, Forrest and I laughed as loud as we could and then I tipped my desk over pretending to be laughing so hard.

He was not amused. Forrest and I were amused as were some of our fellow classmates but our teacher was not amused. He promptly kicked us out. He slammed the door behind us and we high-fived each other and laughed not knowing he was right behind us. And boy did he let us have it. When he was done I said, "Respect? It goes both ways. And have a nice day!" We left the school and treated us to some donuts. Surprisingly he was much nicer to me the next day. I found out a few years after I graduated that he lost his teaching license.