Now I am at the third installation of what is known as memories from my boring little life.
Middle School.
Good Lord in Heaven - now that was interesting.
My family moved to a new place in the southwest side of Macon known as Crystal Lake. It was a neat little place: big lake, over 7 playgrounds, a volleyball court, big pool - tons of great things to enjoy as a kid. Our home was fairly large - 2 stories, with three very large bedrooms, two balconies - it was nice.
My sister and I discovered something very quick - she and I would go walking (I was in the 5th grade and she was much younger) - and lo and behold - guess what we came upon? MEAN GIRLS. Yes - the kind you read about. But these girls were not the "uppity" mean girls - these were the trashier version. I won't share their names, because I believe one has since requested my friendship on Facebook (the irony) - but we will call them "Skinny Bitch" and "Big W". Needless to say, they caused weeks and maybe even months of terror for my sister and I. We could not go anywhere without them threatening to.. and I quote.. (you are going to love this.. it is sooo classy..) "Kick my butt." *sigh*
Why in the world - would two little girls get terrorized by these trashy little hooligans is beyond me. But that is the world I entered.
One day there was a stand off of sorts. If you know anything about my personality - it is this -I will only take so much. It was a later summer afternoon, my sister and I had two cane poles and we decided we were going to go fishing. LOL Yeah - we didn't actually catch anything - and these girls - Skinny B and Big W made an appearance. I saw them coming, and I told my sister to just look the other way. Ignore them. But they decided to approach. Apparently, they considered the entire neighborhood their territory. I was done - at 11 years old, I had enough - I told them to just leave us alone, we are not bothering anybody.
Then - Skinny B - noticed we were a little younger, asked our ages, and where we went to school. That was it. Seriously - after weeks of them yelling obscenities and threatening my livelihood - it came down to me telling them to back off.
Life Lesson learned at 11.
Soon there after I had to go to middle school. ahahahahaha. I just had to break with a laugh - because this was what I would call a serious culture shock. I left Union elementary school for Ballard A Middle School. Looking back, I am soooo glad I experienced all that I did - but then - it was sooooo scary.
I must have been a target for mean girls - because my first day - one singled me out. Her name was Lori. I will leave it at that - she won't ever read this - I seriously doubt she ever even learned how to use a computer. ;-) Well - this girl decided to get a message to me - she wanted to "beat me up." lol (again - now i find it all hilarious - but I really want to express how BAD these kids were.) I was beyond confused why people - for no apparent reason - felt the need to prove how tough they were. I guess because I was like the "new kid" - perhaps that is what was happening.
Needless to say - nothing ever came of that. I am also sure this young lady probably is hooked on meth and has 5 kids by several different fathers by now...... but you needed to understand the severity of the kids at this school.
Here's the deal - we had kids with money - all the way down to kids in the projects. We were very diverse. Now before you even think anything, it was never the kids in the projects that gave me any problems - seriously. Many became my dearest friends - it was the lower income white kids that caused problems.
I got exposed to many things that year. Kids who were sexually active, did drugs, quit school - things that seemed so foreign to me. No, I did not participate in any of those activities. I continued take Ballet, I performed in community theater, I was a member of my church's youth group - I was very normal. Amazing that I could stay that way.
I enjoyed one class in particular - my 7th grade social studies class. Mr. Reinerth taught this. Turns out, I have a knack for geography and memorizing every capital in the world. I loved this little trivia game we would play as a class. It was sooo much fun. When I was a little girl, I was obsessed with maps. My dad and I would look at maps and he would explain the world to me. It was like traveling on my personal little magic carpet ride. Anyway - the point is - we were finally being taught more specifics about all of the countries I was fascinated with - and at 13, I became a dork when it comes to geography.
I also had another monumental moment - I met a person who would become my very best friend - Wendy. I was walking through the library at school - still did not really know anyone - and this red-headed girl (pretending to read a book) stops me and says, "Hey - I notice we are in all the same classes. My name is Wendy - Who are you?" I think I breathed a sigh of relief - I made my first friend in a new school. She and I became inseparable. She came from a good family - normal - and she had two really close friends - Jill and Jennifer. Jennifer was in a different cluster (with my old friend Dedra) - so Jennifer and Wendy drifted apart. Jill was friends with Tara - so the four of us became (what we called in our 13 year old minds) "The Fabulous Four." We ate lunch together, chilled out on the bleachers before school together. Finally - middle school was working out. The trashy kids continued their trashy little threats - but no one could penetrate our little circle.
I met so many new people that year - many of you may be reading this. Facebook reconnected so many of us. So for fun - here are some highlights from those years:
1. Bear Crawl. Do you remember Mr. Mills making people do the bear crawl. What an odd form of punishment for talking out of turn. I think I escaped that.
2. Basketball relays. How fun!! Turns out - I can actually shoot a ball pretty good - at 5'1. I never missed.
3. Mr. Lewis - the man who loved to call everyone a Jack Ass. I actually LOVED his class. I made the coolest "what not" stand. I think I missed my calling to be a carpenter.
4. Mrs. Flick. OMG. Single worst english teacher I ever had. I don't know if she was a bad teacher - I just know she gave us hell.
5. Pep rallies between the clusters. Good Times.
6. Waiting for the bus out front. This was serious socializing time.
7. Mr.Jones.. Looking back - Mr. Jones was FLAMING - he always made me laugh. I just never picked up on the fact that he was "on fire"
8. Outside of school - Volleyball at Crystal Lake. Everyone would meet by the pool and just hang out for hours. Good times.
9. I was actually in the advanced class at Modern Dance Academy. Yep - toe shoes, solos and all. I did well!
10. Theater - I got super-involved with the Community Children's Theater of Macon. I enjoyed my classes with John Jones, Sylvia Haynie and Robin. Good times.
11. I knew I wanted to be in tv. Yep. I loved my acting classes and was dying for a way to do that for a living. I knew, even at that age, making money in theater would be impossible (almost.) So - I decided, okay - what else can I do. I remember seeing Tina Hicks reading the news on 13WMAZ and I thought to myself.. oh heck, I can do that! And so - the legacy began.
12. Well.. here is something interesting.. I had my first kiss the summer before the 8th grade. Yes, I was a late bloomer compared to the other "very promiscuous" kids. It was at a teen night club called Guidos. hahahahah It doesn't get any cheesier than that.
12. I had my first boy friend. His name was Joey. It last 4 weeks. That was a serious relationship back then.
13. I got involved with my church's youth group - I ended up representing them at a teen conference. It was very cool.
14. We still just had one cat - Aires. Man - that cat was mean.
15. I began writing poetry.
16. I became obsessed with pink flamingos. Everything in my room had to be pink and black. Oh yes - it is the 80s.
17. I went to my first concert - Duran Duran. *heart beating wildly* I will never love another band like i loved Duran Duran.
18.I put the barbies away and began buying records. If I was not at school, I was at dance class. If I was not at dance class (several days a week), I was dancing and singing in my room. If I were not there - I was rehearsing for another play with the community theater.
19. Here is a list of the popular "clothing items" - jams (remember the Hawaiian shorts); jelly shoes, jeans with prints, over sized sweaters that you wore a tank under, leggings, granny shoes
20. Let's not forget - WINGS for your hair.
Ahhh.. sweet.. twisted memories.
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