I am the King...

This one time at band camp…

OK, I was never at band camp, but the line always seems to inspire a humorous story from the past. In high school, my buddies and I used to TP the houses of the hot cheerleaders on the weekends and even some of the not-so-hot cheerleaders. I know childish, but we were in high school. Funny thing is we got caught twice doing it.

The first time we did not know we were caught. The mother of two cheerleaders saw us out the window and called her daughters over. One of the girls was about to let the dog out after us, when their mother stopped her and said “let them have their fun.” That is one understanding mother, I would have let the dog out.

The second time we got caught, we were in the middle of TPing a yard when we heard this booming voice coming from an upstairs window, “you hooligans better stay out of my flower beds.” We freaked out and took off running, but then I said, “Wait, he didn’t tell us to stop, just not to trash his flowers.” So we went back and finished.

The girls got us all back the last weekend of school. They got together to TP all of our houses, except mine. They didn’t want to venture into the ghetto and take a chance of never getting out, so they skipped my house. Good thing as I am pretty sure my dad would have let the dog out on them.

Now if this all sounds juvenile and childish, it was. If I sound like I was a geek in high school, I was. I am reminded of the movie Sixteen Candles. In high school, I basically was Anthony Michael Hall’s character in that movie – King of the Dipshits. My little group of friends and I were not in the popular crowd. We weren’t the nerdy smart kids. We were the outbackers (potheads). We didn’t fit into any particular click. That seemed like such a tragedy at the time, but as you get older, you realize that being different is a blessing, not a curse.

I didn’t particularly like high school, which should have been evident by the number of times I skipped it, but I do think it was a good experience. It taught me not to worry about what all the “normal” people thought about me. It taught me to stand on my own and think for myself. It might have been better if it taught me more about math or history, but I can’t be picky. Besides, if nothing else, it gave me a whole bunch of stories that start, this one time in high school…