"Your words have no power to alter the truth. Your perception does not affect any reality but your own... it is your words and deeds that cast your reflection. "

~Luna Jade, musician

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Not so fond memories of W Second St

W Second is where I was living with my folks before I met Jim. I guess I was a typically happy kid, considering most in school would rather not have much to do with me. I dont know if it was due to the way I dressed (the folks didnt really have a whole lot of money but we were clothed and had new clothes twice a year) or if they were threatened because my grades were always good. All I know is that I ended up hangin with the guys more because the gals didnt like me and as I got older it became practically no one but a select few. I dont think I gave off an arrogant vibe or anything, I thought I was pretty open to most. Maybe I was considered a friend but they just didnt say anything. I doubt there's many that would really remember me at all (unless they looked in their yearbooks and even then I was hardly memorable). I had my troubles...like any typical kid....especially sibling rivalry. He came second but always managed to best me on everything. Now if you go to the same school and ask if they remember us, the teachers will all remember him more than me. Kinda hard to forget my bro when he was on the front of the newsletter everytime it went home. *sigh*

Anyhow, I remember nights coming home really late with Jim and having to break into my own house. My room at the time had a window that led right out onto the porch. I learned in order to not disturb my folks to leave a ruler slightly wedged into the window so I could climb in and not use my keys to enter. Many times he wouldnt get me home until 2-3 am. Boy my parents hated that. Too old for a curfew but yet I was still under their roof but you really cant ground me as I was legal age to do as I like.

I remember him coming to meet my folks for the first time. Boy he won daddy over quick by showing interest in the old rifles dad was pulling out of the closet. He was always pleasant around my mom and never giving any hint of what was beneath. I remember one winter evening he showed up to take me on a date and I heard the truck pull in. I started to get up and mom told me to sit down and make him come to the door and if he so much as honked that horn she'd throw him out. When it got to be 10, 15 minutes I got up to look to see what was keeping him and there he was scraping the ice off the windshield. The idiot hadnt properly scraped the window clear before leaving his home. Sheesh. I give him credit for coming to the house when he was done and not honking the horn.

I remember one time he came over to bond with my brother. What a nightmare that was. They spent the evening playing Axis and Allies and my brother systematically started defeating Jim and wiping the board with him. Unfortunately, Jim's as poor a loser as my brother is a poor winner so the night was very long and stressful. Jim told me later he'd never play a game again with my brother because of his "attitude". Excuse me, Jim's attitude was just as bad and he is nearly a decade older than my brother. Of course bro is going to have that cocky attitude. Besides we're competitive, we were raised to be as such. Mom never *LET* us win anything. If we beat her it was fair and square. In fact, in the 30 years Ive played her Scrabble I've only beat her once and that's because we hadnt played in 15 years and she'd underestimated me. I saw poor sportsmanship on both sides that night. The worst coming from Jim as the only reason my brother gloated is because Jim bragged he was gonna whoop my bro's ass in the game....so basically Jim had it coming.

3 comments:

ChicagoLady said...

I had some of the same problems in school. In grade school I enjoyed hanging with the boys more, but in high school no one gave me the time of day, neither girls nor boys.

I will admit that as a child I was a very poor loser. I always lost to my sister at everything, and I hated it. It wasn't until I was an adult that I began to see the fun in playing, win or lose.

LadyStyx said...

I used to be a poor loser as a child too, but when I acted like that mom wouldnt play games with either one of us (board games were a huge staple of entertainment in the family). Daddy really didnt play games much so you really tried to be on youre best behavior when he chose to sit down and play. If you were a poor loser when DAD was playing, he may not sit down again for another month.

Intense Guy said...

As you probably can tell, I've very competitve brothers. Its kind of odd looking back at things. We never complimented each other but always tried to out-do the other... be it school (oldest straight Bs.. me A-Bs, youngest all As), golf, piano playing, swimming (oldest 1 mile, me 2 miles, youngest 4 miles), and on and on.

I hope we've all mellowed out some - I've really no idea what caused the competitiveness.