day 83...

a picture of myself with 15 facts about my past (yikes)...

Since school is starting soon, I'm going to have a themed fact list. Each number will be matched with something that has to do with learning and education (minus the first one, which is just me entering the world). Deal? I think yes. :)

(Sorry if this post sounds SUPER self-centered and arrogant. Not trying to be that.)

1. I was born in the wrong year. Really. I was supposed to be born on December 31, the last day of the year. But I was late. It's funny, because I hate being late.
2. I said my first words when I was 6 months old. Mom had put me on the kitchen table in my carseat carrier thingy so she could bring the groceries in. When she came inside, I said, "Hi, Annie." That's why my dad called my mom. So I skipped the whole "momma" and went straight to first name basis. Weird kid.
3. When I was in preschool there was nothing better in the world than the life-size playhouse in the backyard. Seriously. It was amazing.
4. The first time I ever "got in trouble" in school was halfway through kindergarten. My teacher called my mom in for a conference because I hadn't done a single reading assignment the whole year. My mom didn't even know I had reading assignments. Mrs. Belliston asked me what I had done with all of the reading pamphlets (your basic I am Sam type of thing). I told her they were all under my mattress at home. She asked me why. "They're boring and I don't want to read them." The school psychologist was called to give me a reading exam...two days later I was given a library card. Best day of my LIFE.
5. In first grade I hit a boy on the head with a pair of scissors because he called my friend Melissa a name. Mrs. Reese was not pleased. I was also given a sparkly blue crayon by a boy named Weston. He was very cute, and very well liked by all of the girls. He had a sparkly blue crayon that everyone was jealous of. One day a gang of girls surrounded him and said that he had to give the crayon to the girl he liked the best in the class. He walked over to where I was sitting on the steps (which is what I usually did at recess because I hated recess more than anything in the world) and gave me the crayon. I still have it somewhere, in my Writing Utensil Box of Doom. It's huge.
6. In second grade, I didn't go to public school. That year was spent going on adventures (to museums, the zoo, trips to coal mines or canyons, you name it) and hands-on learning. It is also the reason why I struggled in public school with math for so long: I did next to no math the whole year. Just didn't want to, and my mom gave up on me ever trying. She had other battles with me to deal with that were probably more important.
7. Third grade was the best year of elementary school. I went to a different school with the kids from my neighborhood, instead of out of area to the school I'd gone to before. It was the first year I had legit friends to play with, and it was the only year that I loved recess, because I actually had people to play with. My teacher was incredible, Miss Aldrich. She read to us every day after recess, books like The BFG and Matilda, and she made up different voices for every character. She also had us write and illustrate our own books, and share them with the class. She taught us all of our multiplication tables to music, had the best geography/geology/wildlife lessons ever, and a box of candy in her desk. I loved her.
8. Fourth grade, 9/11 happened. That day was horrible. But the year was pretty good. That was the year that I learned that when I sang a different note in a song than what the artist was singing, I was harmonizing. Apparently I'd been doing that for years. I just didn't know it until Mrs. Louder pointed it out.
9. Mrs. Long was the best teacher ever, like Miss Aldrich. Mrs. Long read to us every day, too, books like Holes and one about a raccoon that I can't remember the name of, and Stone Fox. Then she'd have us act out scenes from the books in front of the class. That was also the year that people started making fun of me a lot. Fifth grade was the best of times and the worst of times. Best because of my teacher and my best friend Coty. Coty and I are still friends. It's the longest lasting friendship I've ever had, and I love that girl to death!
10. Mrs. Baker. Mrs. *dramatic pause* Baker. She didn't like me because I homeschooled part time (which I did every year after third grade). She told me that one time in class, that I was "different" and "odd" and "swam against the current" and that I "would never, ever fit into normal society". Needless to say the teasing got much worse, and Mrs. Baker blamed it on me. Yeah. Sixth grade sucked. Except for Coty. She pretty much saved everything.
11. Junior high. *shudder* *VIOLENT shudder* Really, who didn't hate junior high? However, I did meet some pretty incredible people. The GT class, taught by Mrs. Hacken, was pretty legit. History Fair happened those two years, as did some wonderful people crossing my path. Then ninth grade opened up East Shore High School, where I could work ahead doing packets. I also found out that I was good at English and was reminded that I was horrible at math. As in dreadful. Which is why ESHS came in handy...haha.
12. My sophomore year started off with a nervous breakdown. Yep. If anyone was ever wondering why I disappeared for a whole term and a half, that's why. I was recovering and doing packets at ESHS. That was the year that I learned that my body loves lifting weights and other heavy things, and that it hates to run. It was also the year that I was accepted into UVU, first through the college itself (it was then called UVSC) and then through the high school, after the college told the high school that they were going to let me in, and the high school was going to have to work with it. I went on my first date (with Kai, who is adorable, because I originally asked him to Preference but ended up not being able to go because the dance date got moved up before my birthday so he took me to a movie instead), and my second date (with Kevin, to Sweethearts, the memory of which still gives me butterflies) and my third date (with Kirt, who asked me to Prom using puppets of Han Solo and Yoda, and the dance where I wore my red dress that I still love and is now a little too big). So I discovered I loved college, and I discovered boys. Yay tenth grade!
13. Junior year: 31 college credits. I felt like Hermione, because I had to get special permission to take that many credits. I also dated several seniors that year, which was very fun. Fun date fact: that year Jordan asked me to Homecoming. I was his first date--and while we were at the dance the zipper on my dress broke. Luckily his tux jacket had tails! Junior year my history teacher told me not to take the AP exam because "you'll more than likely fail it", but I took it and got a 4. Triumph much? It felt amazing. More dates, more college.
14. Class of 2010, baby! That year I finally did extracurricular stuff, and got involved in the fun stuff at school. Choir (Ariosa, Concert Choir, and A Cappella), ballroom, drama, clubs, friendships. Mhmmm, that was the year I finally let myself really have friends. I mean, I'd had friends, but I never let people very close. Too scared to. And I missed out because of it. But senior year was the year I finally started to have fun. And you know what? Having fun is FUN. Fact: I did not know what fun was until twelfth grade. Some of my friends will agree with that 100%. I loved my senior year.
15. Class of 2011: my second graduation in less than a year. I earned my AS degree. I sold my life away to the LDC choir (which I don't regret for a second because it's worth it). My friendships of the past were strengthened, and I gained new friendships that I treasure. Last year was less about the grades and the studying and knowing the right answers. The Hermione part of me kind of chilled out (or so I hope). People became the important thing. Yes, school is still important. But what is school if you have no one to share the experience with? It's just books and papers and computers and teachers giving assignments. It's kind of boring, honestly. People make the place, no matter what you're doing. And that is a fact, one I've had to learn.

That's my school past. Long, long, long. It was like writing a paper for sociology or psychology, when we had to write about milestones in our lives and what it meant for us based on the perspectives of the class. Maybe Hermione is still in there...ha. No maybe about it!