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A New Beginning …

Do you remember being in elementary school and getting your report card? There’s this time between first and third grades that getting report cards isn’t all that bad. I mean, how can you fuck up bad enough to get an “unsatisfactory” mark on your report care, unless you have some kind of learning disability. During those years, the grading system wasn’t based on percentages or the letter grade system, but on words like “outstanding achievement”, “satisfactory”, “unsatisfactory” and “needs improvement”.

I always did fairly well. Not to toot my own horn, but I got quite a few “outstanding achievement’s” in my time. Of course, the only subjects we really studied were reading and math.

Reading consisted of books like Ted and Jane. Lines like “Run pug run”, “Jane ran up the hill”. Ugh. Those were the days.

Math, on the other hand, consisted of adding everything to one or adding up coins. Easy shmeezy. That’s why I can pay in change at McDonalds. All that change addition.

And then there was the social aspect. Being social wasn’t my strong-point but I tried. I certainly wasn’t going to screw up my report card with a “satisfactory” in playtime. And so, I’d do my best to join in on duck-duck-goose and the school-sponsored dodge ball. Ugh.

Duck-duck-goose was simple enough. You just hope and pray that no one will ever choose you. However, if you did get chosen, then it was a game of strategy. Who do you choose? Do you choose someone you have a crush on, or do you choose someone you don’t like, or do you choose someone that hasn’t gotten chosen in awhile? I don’t remember what I did, but I can guarantee that I didn’t enjoy it.

Dodge ball, on the other hand, was a scrawny kids worse nightmare. Ugh. It’s not like I was one of the bigger kids in class and so when the ball would come my way, I’d hit the deck. Flat as a pancake, hoping it wouldn’t hit me. Only because I knew that if it did, I’d die. There were some big kids in my class. I’m sure some of you can relate. We’ve all seen those kids that look like they’ve stayed back a couple times and look REALLY big compared to the others. Well, they were in my class and they LOVED dodge ball.

Regardless, I did my best to join in on the social games and for that I’d usually get a note at the bottom of my report card that read “plays well with others”. I guess you can’t really screw it up, but playing well with others was something I always did … well.

And not only, in elementary school, but in life. I think I still “play well with others”. I’m not a confrontational person. I’m a good listener. I don’t interupt when people are talking. I just sort of get along with everyone.

And so, with this new beginning, I’ve renamed the site to give you more a sense of me. It’s funny. Out of everything I’ve learned in my life, the thing that sticks with me most, the thing that describes me best is that little note at the bottom of my first grade report card — plays well with others.

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