Monday, April 12, 2004
When I was in junior high, I was on a Reach for the Top team. We competed against other nerds in one of the unused classrooms one lunch hour a week. Our team knew we were the best and we really cared about that. I think we liked the affirmation that we were smart. We were the best. I can say that because we won every game we played, except for one.
This is where it seems silly that I care about this event that transpired in grade nine and should be in the back of my mind now some 10 years later. Just chalk it up to my knack for remembering the trivial.
We competed in a playoffs against the second best team in the school. Whoever won the championship game would win the Reach for the Top championship for the year and would gain Reach for the Top bragging rights. Maybe you could say the victor had reached the top? Who knows?
I remember we had a pretty commanding lead that slipped due to our errors, calls that could have gone one way, but went the other etc. It all came down to one question...
"What animal is on the provincial emblem of Manitoba?"
The answer was Buffalo, but we didn't answer it.
We buzzed in too late and lost. We were mad at the other team and each other for weeks.
Right now the guy who did answer it right is seemingly having a breakdown in the upstairs reading room at the library. There have been 3-4 complaints about him in the last 10 minutes. People saying he's a freak, saying he's dribbling imaginary basketballs, walking around counting his steps, demanding to know what people are thinking, having conversations with himself. People are annoyed and they're laughing. I don't know what to do other than to feel sad.
One of the people on my team who was the most upset that we didn't win Reach for the Top supremacy committed suicide 3 years ago.
It's odd how recounting a story about losing a Reach for the Top game doesn't seem trivial anymore.
I haven't scratched the surface
This is where it seems silly that I care about this event that transpired in grade nine and should be in the back of my mind now some 10 years later. Just chalk it up to my knack for remembering the trivial.
We competed in a playoffs against the second best team in the school. Whoever won the championship game would win the Reach for the Top championship for the year and would gain Reach for the Top bragging rights. Maybe you could say the victor had reached the top? Who knows?
I remember we had a pretty commanding lead that slipped due to our errors, calls that could have gone one way, but went the other etc. It all came down to one question...
"What animal is on the provincial emblem of Manitoba?"
The answer was Buffalo, but we didn't answer it.
We buzzed in too late and lost. We were mad at the other team and each other for weeks.
Right now the guy who did answer it right is seemingly having a breakdown in the upstairs reading room at the library. There have been 3-4 complaints about him in the last 10 minutes. People saying he's a freak, saying he's dribbling imaginary basketballs, walking around counting his steps, demanding to know what people are thinking, having conversations with himself. People are annoyed and they're laughing. I don't know what to do other than to feel sad.
One of the people on my team who was the most upset that we didn't win Reach for the Top supremacy committed suicide 3 years ago.
It's odd how recounting a story about losing a Reach for the Top game doesn't seem trivial anymore.
I haven't scratched the surface
See, I had this moth. It was very pretty. I nurtured and cared for this moth until one day it fluttered against my eye and got that weird moth dust in it. In a fit of rage I tore off my moth's wings and ground it under my heel until all that remained was that damn fucking dust.
There was once this girl. I moved so I could be closer to her. She once told me "I can't picture myself with anyone else" and I replied "You mean you couldn't picture yourself being at this bar with anyone else?" "..." "Oooh. You mean like together."
She once beat me at Trivial Pursuit. The only person who has ever beaten me at that game. I lie now and claim I've never been beaten.
She once asked me to move to Regina. I wanted to and then she didn't want me to. I visited her once there and claimed I felt at home because everyone in the mall downtown wore either splash pants or sweat pants.
She once asked me to move to Japan with her. I was excited. They seem to have a healthy love of baseball as well as a good punk rock scene in Japan. I'm sure I could have grown to be a fan of the Seibu Lions.
She said "I couldn't see myself travelling with anyone else." I should have responded with something less naive than "Wow, that's pretty major. You know I still have strong feelings for you." Hindsight is twenty-twenty. She responded with "It's not a big deal. Maybe we shouldn't."
She was always good at popping in and out of my life and dropping huge announcements ("Let's move to Japan" "I'm driving 12 hours tomorrow to come see you") and then dropping out again for months.
I was eager to receive. Then I saw how ugly that was.
The moth didn't die, it just became something else.
There was once this girl. I moved so I could be closer to her. She once told me "I can't picture myself with anyone else" and I replied "You mean you couldn't picture yourself being at this bar with anyone else?" "..." "Oooh. You mean like together."
She once beat me at Trivial Pursuit. The only person who has ever beaten me at that game. I lie now and claim I've never been beaten.
She once asked me to move to Regina. I wanted to and then she didn't want me to. I visited her once there and claimed I felt at home because everyone in the mall downtown wore either splash pants or sweat pants.
She once asked me to move to Japan with her. I was excited. They seem to have a healthy love of baseball as well as a good punk rock scene in Japan. I'm sure I could have grown to be a fan of the Seibu Lions.
She said "I couldn't see myself travelling with anyone else." I should have responded with something less naive than "Wow, that's pretty major. You know I still have strong feelings for you." Hindsight is twenty-twenty. She responded with "It's not a big deal. Maybe we shouldn't."
She was always good at popping in and out of my life and dropping huge announcements ("Let's move to Japan" "I'm driving 12 hours tomorrow to come see you") and then dropping out again for months.
I was eager to receive. Then I saw how ugly that was.
The moth didn't die, it just became something else.
With friends like you, who needs friends?
Faith, our lovely New Zealand roommate, purchased a puzzle a few weeks ago at a fleamarket. Unfortunately Faith wound up with a jigsaw puzzle that has absolutely no edge pieces.
Faith has diligently tried to put the puzzle back together with some moderate degree of success even though she is not working from an actual depiction of the puzzle which is usually included on the puzzle box's cover. Faith is working entirely from memory which pretty much means she's brilliant.
The other night I was quite a bit drunk and I was quite open to suggestion. I was dared to eat part of Faith's puzzle. I ingested three pieces of her puzzle off the kitchen table where it was on display/disarray.
The next day I kept saying "I'm confused, I feel...I feel mixed up. I feel puzzled."
(p.s. Sorry, Faith)
Faith, our lovely New Zealand roommate, purchased a puzzle a few weeks ago at a fleamarket. Unfortunately Faith wound up with a jigsaw puzzle that has absolutely no edge pieces.
Faith has diligently tried to put the puzzle back together with some moderate degree of success even though she is not working from an actual depiction of the puzzle which is usually included on the puzzle box's cover. Faith is working entirely from memory which pretty much means she's brilliant.
The other night I was quite a bit drunk and I was quite open to suggestion. I was dared to eat part of Faith's puzzle. I ingested three pieces of her puzzle off the kitchen table where it was on display/disarray.
The next day I kept saying "I'm confused, I feel...I feel mixed up. I feel puzzled."
(p.s. Sorry, Faith)
