Friday Five - Back to School

1.  My best friend was Jodi but we didn't stay friends for long.

2. Ms. Stinton was my favorite teacher in 7th and 8th grade.  She was very nice and we got to do a lot of creative writing.  Mr. Marlette was my favorite teacher in High School.  Grade 10 honors English.  He really introduced me to academic thinking and academic rigor.  Also, he gave me some great feedback for the school magazine I contributed a story to.

3.  Western Canada Redmen.  I heard the mascot has since changed.

4. Art class until my art teacher told my parents that I have a lot of creativity but not a lot of artistic talent.  Ouch.

5. Have never attended a reunion.  I never finished High School in the regular way.  I didn't graduate with my class.  For my senior year, I went to a small college, finished grade 12 in the first semester and then started college courses in the second.  I don't feel connected to the people I went to school with.  There are a couple of people that I wouldn't mind meeting up with but for the most part I'm not interested.

1. Who was your best friend in the sixth grade?

Maria Hernandez. She barely spoke any English and we both had to repeat what we said to each other many, many times. LOL.

2. Who was your favorite teacher? What made them your favorite?

Mrs. Johnston. She was a bit of a hippie, and just very emotional and nutty and passionate. Most everyone (students, parents, faculty) hated her and gave her crap but she always really listened to me and encouraged me.

3. What was your high school mascot?

Pirate. Arrrgh.

4. What is your best high school memory?

Dunno. Maybe Halloween my senior year. The girls dressed up like M&Ms (sweatsuits in solid colors with Ms on the top) and Adrian let me do his make-up like the Crow. We took pillow cases and trick-or-treated, and ended up having a massive whipped cream and shaving cream fight all over town.

5. Have you or would you attend a high school reunion?

We didn't have one for our 10. Really small graduating class. I would attend if it was at a time that I was available and I didn't have to travel really far (I was in Hawaii when we would have had ours).

1. Who was your best friend in the sixth grade?  Jackie Daniels

2. Who was your favorite teacher? What made them your favorite? Mr. Miller, He made me feel smart. 

3. What was your high school mascot? a Tornado

4. What is your best high school memory? Probably the football games

5. Have you or would you attend a high school reunion?  I have not.  I think it might be fun.  My sister just went to her 20 and said it was still cliqueish just like high school. 

1. David Wittingham - Wit for short.

2. Ray Fotenote. He was calc and analyt teacher (and I do love math), but he was also funny, supportive, and sarcastic - what more could an adolescent kid want?

3. Which one? I went to 3 (Yea, I was a bad boy. ) The last one was an Eagle

4. Streaking

5. No and no. My high school is no more.

It's almost back to school time! 

1.  Who was your best friend in the sixth grade?

Vicky Turner was my best buddy ever,   sadly she died from leukemia related health problmes,  in 7th grade.

2.  Who was your favorite teacher?  What made them your favorite?

I had many awesome teachers,  hard to choose just one...Mr. Boyer was a love of a man,  elderly,  humorus,  easy-going and sensitive to students' feelings.

3.  What was your high school mascot?

Cardinal

4.  What is your best high school memory?

The senior homecoming rally,  game and dance,   although....we had an exchange student from Oslo,  Norway...we went out for pizza and a movie once.  He was TERIFFIC,  such a sweet guy!

5.  Have you or would you attend a high school reunion?

I haven't cause I didn't know when they were,  NOW I don't know...my highschool sweetheart committed suicide back in Dec. of 2006 I think it was,  a very sad,  sad,  situation there....would have to fence all the questons from classmates..although it would also be a chance to connect with them too...prolly would.

1.  Russell Trusty...yep...Rusty Trusty.

2.  Mr Zumwalt--wore wild colored ties and bright checked sports coats every day except "Crazy hat and tie day" when he wore a very conservative gray flannel suit and fedora. He was a great teacher, too.

3.  El Capitan Vaqueros, Radford Rams, Granite Hills Eagles.

4.  Cruising (the old school kind, in noisy fast cars with boys and girls, not what cruising is today!)  Drive in movies; sittiing in the quad watching the girls with my buds.  Sitting on the roof with the Chief's bridge glasses watching the movies at the Aero drive in (on a quiet night you could almost hear the sounds, too.)

5.  Almost went to the twentieth, But we came up on a mission to support the '84 Olympics so I had to take a pass.  Would I today?  Probably not...the first time around was painful enough.  Bunch of old folks standing around not knowing who I am.

Damn! I did not know we had to list all of them. Mine were Tamalpias Hawks, Norview Pilots and Frankfurt Eagles. (I actually had to look up Norview as I only went there one semester).

1. Who was your best friend in the sixth grade?

Oh gosh...Rachel Abraham or Kathy Lenius. And I still talk to both of them on a semi-regular basis.

2. Who was your favorite teacher? What made them your favorite?

Hmmmm...so many teachers were wonderful. And it's not what they TAUGHT me necessarily, but its how they treated me. I really liked Mr. Leno in 4th grade, Mrs. Windschitl in 6th, Mr. Bergman actually made Algebra make sense. I loved Mr. Carlson for history and government, and he was also our Knowledge Bowl coach. Mr. Williams was world history and some other social studies elective I took. I could go on and on... And its nice that I live in a relatively small town and still get to see some of these teachers.

3. What was your high school mascot?

Frazee Hornets, baby. Go green! My high school is most widely known for our wrestling program.

4. What is your best high school memory?

We had tons of fun in knowledge bowl. I remember getting lost at one of the colleges we had a meet in and sitting in a big lecture hall with Kathy Lenius and Joe Hass just talking for an hour or so. I think the funnest memories weren't the things we did in school, but out. I remember driving around Detroit Lakes like a moron and putting my car in a snowbank with Rita and Melinda. Melinda was the skinniest so we made her drive while Rita and I pushed it out and the people inside the house that owned the snow bank laughed hysterically. I think that was also the night we almost got into a fight with some girls from the 'Rez at KMart. And there was going to the wrestling meet with the buddies, too.

5. Have you or would you attend a high school reunion?

My 10 year reunion was just a couple of weeks ago. I helped plan it with a friend and classmate via Facebook, but I was teaching summer school and wasn't able to go. They had a GREAT turnout. And it's nice that our class is small and we all generally got along okay. And now that we're older the whole popularity thing doesn't mean jack squat. I can't wait for our twentieth. Hope I can go to that one!

1. Who was your best friend in the sixth grade?  My best friend then and still one of my closest friends is David Ryan.  We travelled Australia together, he managed a band I was in, he introduced me to my wife and was best man at our wedding. 

2. Who was your favorite teacher? What made them your favorite?

I had numerous favourites as my father was in the Services.  I guess the one who sticks out was my high school biology teacher.  He was the first person I heard talk about the environment and our responsibility to look after it.  His teachings are still with me today.

3. What was your high school mascot?

Didn't have one.  Australian schools rarely do.

4. What is your best high school memory?

Probably performing an original song in front of the school at a talent night and winning a prize.

5. Have you or would you attend a high school reunion?

I attended my 25th reunion a couple of years ago.  It was an interesting night, to say the least.  I think I might have even blogged about it here.