I was never young, even as a child
Sixth grade was the first time we had to shower after gym class. This is a drag of the highest order. Being forced to shower with other boys who seem to span the entire range of puberty was unsettling. I was on the less developed end of the scale..hell still am. This practice would teach me the horrors of athlete's foot, and worse Scabies....ewwww, but that's another blog.
So the coaches were big on teaching responsibility, and they were total hard asses. For the most part this is a good thing 6-8th grade boys need a little discipline. What sucked about this approach was the military unwavering style they had. If you forgot or lost anything it was tough luck. No logic need apply.
The most critical item was a towel, you kept the towel in your 'basket' it was like a locker only with large holes to let the stuff breath. All of your belongings had to have your name in permanent marker on them. My mother, ever the prankster prepared my towel in a unique way. She took and old beach towel that just so happened to have the cartoon characters of the Beatles on it, drew a line pointing to the tallest Beatle Paul maybe? And wrote in huge letters ROBBIE? With a big arrow. I don't know why my mom felt that I had quit my job as a Beatle to infiltrate the sixth grade class at Wilson elementary school, but anyway. I honestly thought nothing of it, until Wednesday of that week. I went to my basket dripping wet, opened my lock to find...no towel...gone....
You get no sympathy from the coaches even when a crime is committed, so I was up a creek. You get dressed wet, and go to class.
I figured out pretty quick that the Beatles towel had some value. So the heist wasn't a random act, but a calculated strike. There were several Beatles fans in my class, and none of them are above suspicion. I took some heart knowing that my name was written across it in huge value sabotaging permanent letters.
So if you see a Beatles beach towel on ebay or elsewhere with Robbie written across the middle or with a hole where Robbie might've been written, it's rightfully mine.
Oh and Steve Huss, I know we were boys and all, but if I see you at the reunion just know that you are a person of interest in this case. My wrath knows no statue of limitations player...sleep with one eye open.
So the coaches were big on teaching responsibility, and they were total hard asses. For the most part this is a good thing 6-8th grade boys need a little discipline. What sucked about this approach was the military unwavering style they had. If you forgot or lost anything it was tough luck. No logic need apply.
The most critical item was a towel, you kept the towel in your 'basket' it was like a locker only with large holes to let the stuff breath. All of your belongings had to have your name in permanent marker on them. My mother, ever the prankster prepared my towel in a unique way. She took and old beach towel that just so happened to have the cartoon characters of the Beatles on it, drew a line pointing to the tallest Beatle Paul maybe? And wrote in huge letters ROBBIE? With a big arrow. I don't know why my mom felt that I had quit my job as a Beatle to infiltrate the sixth grade class at Wilson elementary school, but anyway. I honestly thought nothing of it, until Wednesday of that week. I went to my basket dripping wet, opened my lock to find...no towel...gone....
You get no sympathy from the coaches even when a crime is committed, so I was up a creek. You get dressed wet, and go to class.
I figured out pretty quick that the Beatles towel had some value. So the heist wasn't a random act, but a calculated strike. There were several Beatles fans in my class, and none of them are above suspicion. I took some heart knowing that my name was written across it in huge value sabotaging permanent letters.
So if you see a Beatles beach towel on ebay or elsewhere with Robbie written across the middle or with a hole where Robbie might've been written, it's rightfully mine.
Oh and Steve Huss, I know we were boys and all, but if I see you at the reunion just know that you are a person of interest in this case. My wrath knows no statue of limitations player...sleep with one eye open.
posted by Robert_M at 9:14 AM
3 Comments:
The absolute worst part of middle school PE was the 2 or 3 weeks when the girls PE had to join the boys PE for sqare dancing and folk dancing. Good Lord, it was excruciating.
Middle School PE was such a "Lord of the Flies" experiment. Showering wasn't required at North Junior High, but you did change into gym clothes and use deodorant later. And I clearly remember having my school clothes sabatoged while they were stored in the wire mesh lockers we stuffed our clothes in. Some jerk sprayed Rondo all over my terry cloth OP shirt while it was being stored. So I spent the remainder of the day sticky, smelling like a late 70's carbonated grapefruit drink.
I looked on ebay and google, but no luck. I found one close, but mine was white and pretty plain.
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