As angsty and pretentious as possible
Sep 10, 2009Well hey there.
Yesterday was my first ever first day of eighth grade – ever. Our school was renovated-ish (they just put up a SmartBoard, really – and replaced the 100 billion year old boiler that’s been heating the building since.. a long time) over the summer so everythang is all dusty and moved around and different. My class is at the end of the hallway right next to all the other Junior High classes as opposed to last year when we were alone on another floor. The new 7th graders* are aight. We’re just missing that one kid who wears designer shoes and who’s dad looks like some actor (Dennis Miller?) or something. But the fact that my teacher plays Pavement in class and is awesome makes up for just about everything.
* it’s a Montessori (make sure you read Montessori like an elitist yacht-owning snob) school so we have 7th and 8th graders in our class.
Our first lesson was about keeping a journal (we have to make one entry per week) and how it is important we learn to “express our feelings through writing” and how a journal is a good way to let “other people see through your lens.” I kind of wanted to say DUDE I ALREADY BLOG but that hasn’t quite, uh, “caught on” in the social spectrum of junior high. Not that I care about what any other kids think…
(photos – André Paul Princes on Booooooom)
By the way, I’M GETTING ZITS GUYZ. Not really okay. Luckily they’re just like, on my chin. And nose. MY CHEEKS SHALL REMAIN UNTOUCHED, you damn puss bubbles. Actually I have a theory that pimples are filled with angst and that’s why teenagers have zits because they’re filled with angst and teenagers are typically angsty. So as logic would dictate (I just typed “dicacte.” I’m a closet dyslexic, apparently) I may experience an increase in angst now as there are pimples on my face. BE WARNED.
Yeah. Today I met a blog reader from Germany to which my dad and I talked about the Cathedral and the return of vinyl and other deep stuff like that. Oh also I found out that lots of parental units from my school read this blog, as a matter o’ fact – something I did not know of. Whoops better go delete those posts where I TALK ABOUT YOUR CHILD in an offensive manner :/ brb.
love those photos. for some reason the one of the boots strikes me the most. something so dark and serene there. maybe the serene part is the sign that says “Thank you” in the background…I dunno.
hopefully you can get past the zit thing – my son is a freshman in college and has a horrible time with acne – he has to sign this complicated waiver to not have “relations” while using the medicine he was prescribed – they even give a card and such – like he took a prescription class or something.
Raymond Carver’s Cathedral? anywho..i am addicted to your blog. It always just gives me this really estranged feeling… It’s like you live in bizzaro-world. i mean, PAVEMENT?!! how could a teacher play that ! it is simply bizarre. I also just enjoy reading yourthoughtz.they are very interesting and well, thoughtful (I won’t even say ‘for your age’). p.s. you should pitch the idea of wilco coming to hawaii.
p.s.s.- or maybe not.i would feel too guilty if there wasn’t a good crowd because people are generally not into music that omits the word ‘zion,’ or doesn’t mention ‘jah love.’
p.s.s.dlkf-not that those are bad things….I really wish i liked that music so i could relate to people more
paspdlfkasjd;lfk- sorry i rambled, that tangent i was on got out of control.
>Whoops better go delete those posts where I TALK ABOUT YOUR CHILD in an offensive manner
Ahahahahaha!
I really LOVE your blog, Spencer!!! First time I post a message though… It looks like you’re going to have fun in school!! Take care!
Only cool people have zits. I should know. I’ve had them for 20 years. Awesome.
Now I will never think of zits in the same way – angsty puss bubbles… maybe that is a good reason to have your face covered with them. The more you have, the more angst you’re getting rid off (thankful thoughts as you look in the mirror rather than disgust).
PS – have been searching out more of The M’s thanks to you – I really like them a lot.
Your school’s too cool for school! :)
I hate my pimples.. but now I’m going to think of them as angsty puss bubbles along with K Wild.
That’s so cool that your teacher plays Pavement!
I always play music for the class but my classmates seem to find it inaccessible and “weird”.
ProActiv is really good for zits, but they make you buy it in a stupid way. Be mindful of not touching your face or leaning your chin on your armpit or anything like that. The More You Know!
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yes, smart board.. FTW
we can’t do anything seriously with smart boards.. anything the teacher does, everybody in class clap their hands… it’s like hogwarts..
Hey man, you write really well for someone of…any age, actually. Keep it up! You transported me back to the first day of school; well done. That dug up an old memory of 10th grade English (a tangent, I know). I can’t believe this actually happened.
Sometime early in that year we walked into class and our grizzly, white-bearded teacher was standing there holding an ancient-looking rifle, with the butt on his desk. A full-on, three-foot-long, no-kidding rifle. In the classroom. As we all sat down, he slowly panned it around the room, just above our heads, saying nothing. Everyone looked at each other like “WTF?”, afraid to say anything. He lowered the muzzle momentarily at the really obnoxious know-it-all, then lifted it. Back in 1993, there was no Columbine, or cell phones, or text messaging, so we really couldn’t do anything but sit there and shrug and hope this wasn’t Our Day. Our reading had been Henry Reed’s poem “The Naming of Parts” (http://www.solearabiantree.net/namingofparts/namingofparts.html). The silence seemed to go on for an hour. Finally our teacher spoke, taking apart the rifle to show us the different pieces described in the poem.
This was only LAST DECADE. I can’t even imagine the national headlines this would make now. Wow, thanks for helping unearth this memory.
P.S. This actually happened.