What were you like in Primary/Elementary school?

[Seducer of the Homeless]

how did you behave, what did teachers say about you. what friends did you make, what was your outlook.

I was reading old school reports. up until about six i was a standard child. then i started acting like my self. questioning the teachers and students constantly and unable to accept the wrongful views of my peers. most teachers commented on my 'fantastic sense of humour', i don't recall this.

and every teacher said i was very inteligent and bright but i never achieved what i should have done, there was never any real effort going into it. this annoyed them
one teacher in my last year before High, said i was a complete mystery. i had two sides, one where i was polite and well mannered and if elaborated on i would 'achieve'. and another side in which i was arrogant and stubborn, a side which if i elaborated on she feared for my high school years.

but from age six i was who i am now, i had an identity. i always thought listening to punk from an early age helped, i believe pop music is the first step into fitting in and being the same as everyone else. but maybe it was my INTPness all along

 

[Carinthian]

Well my teachers say I'm grumpy, because they don't understand that I'm actually insulting them in a way they cant understand. And yes death to pop.

 

[FF]

and every teacher said i was very inteligent and bright but i never achieved what i should have done, there was never any real effort going into it.

That bit is pretty much the same for me, too. I knew my stuff, except I didn't really feel like doing any work.

Perhaps it's because they didn't offer computer programming in high school?

Anyway, when I was in elementary school, I was a fucking DEMON. I was sent to the principal's office at least once each year. I was a defiant little brat, bullying other kids I didn't like. Sure, I was weird. And they were making fun of me for not being as talkative as the other kids, or for being the tomboy I was.

And so I got angry.

And so I cursed at them, or even on some occassions, I hit them.

I don't do that anymore, though

 

[grey matters]

I was a horribly shy, space cadet tomboy who didn't quite fit in anywhere.

 

[Ermine]

Well, I had an interesting start. Before I started elementary school, I already learned how to read, and had bad ear infections that affected my speech development. So in school I was always academically bored, and I hardly ever talked unless I was talked to. I read to my kindergarten class, and was often correcting my classmates' spelling mistakes. I once got really frustrated when someone was spelling "three" as "there". I was an extreme bookworm. I also developed a very modest timid demeanor I'm still trying to outgrow. I was a teacher's dream, being both quiet and intelligent.

 

[Sugarpop]

In the middle years of elementary school, I came across as being an extremely defiant and talk-backish, yet erudite brat. I could be somewhat mean at times.

Things changed in secondary school when I got a chronic illness which effectively kept me out of school for two years. My personality also changed into something more timid and less outspoken, though perhaps wiser.

I resurfaced in prep school more antiscoial than ever. Now I'm in the latter half of the first year of the IB, getting more relaxed and accustomed to people. I'm probably seen as friendly, though socially inept and prone to idiosyncrasy.

All the time, I was a slacker who did unreasonably well.

 

[DynamicMind]

I was homeschooled, so my experience was a bit different. I loved learning but completely hated any sort of worksheets that went with my school. From age 5 onward (I taught myself to read at 3) my mother was constantly yelling at me to "Stop reading and get to school!".

I didn't really get along with most of my peers, though. I was the little tomboy who didn't like dress up and such, and never was really in the "cool" group. Fortunately, I had a friend who went out of her way to step out of the circle to hang out with me. Still, I constantly wanted to be accepted, and it bothered me that I wasn't accepted into the popular kids group.

I'm graduating next year, and nothing much has changed, other than that I've gotten better at knowing who I would really want to be friends with. I still don't really have many people that I would consider very good friends, but I have a lot of people that I'm at least midly comfortable interacting with. (Thank goodness for Civil Air Patrol)

 

[FacetiousPersona]

I burnt down my old elemntary school.

 

[Ermine]

From age 5 onward (I taught myself to read at 3) my mother was constantly yelling at me to "Stop reading and get to school!".

haha. That was my main motivation for learning how to read when I was 3. I kept begging my mom to read me stories to the point that she set a reading quota. And after I started reading, she had to force me to play outside. I just took the book out in the yard and kept reading.

 

[Minuend]

I was a violent child. I beat up anyone who annoyed me. I just didn't know how to use words, I guess. I had a terrible temper. I was very concerned with justice as well. I remember saying I would stand up for those who were bullied. But my perspectives were also very black and white. Did well in school. I learned math when I was about 5- 6. I liked problem solving. In school I was often praised for my intelligence (I wonder what happened to my learning ability). And I was very stubborn.

They didn't write any school reports in elementary. So I don't know what the teachers thought of me.

 

[Jordan~]

I was the same as Queen of Spades, as well as remarkably arrogant.

 

[Staywhatyouare]

I was the typical intelligent underachieving kid. Especially in reading and writing I was miles ahead of my peers and got a lot of praise from my teachers, but they would always be frustrated by my lack of motivation. I guess I was more social/outgoing than you might expect an INTP to be, but I think this was due to my ability to "chameleon". There was definitely a constant struggle between who I was and the illusion I put up in front of my peers. In general I was really laid-back and didn't really stand out in any way except I just sort of got along with everyone.

 

[Yossarian]

I remember getting pissed off at my reading group in 1rst grade because we couldn't graduate to the next level of books until everyone in your group could read the book you were on. I was like wtf, you can't read?! lol

Third grade, there was a contest to learn the multiplication table the fastest. I came back the next day and did them all (only through 12). Two weeks later, next kid finished.

After 4th and 5th it was downhill. Started slacking major and it carried over to mid and high school. No joke, 4th grade book report, went something like this:

Star Wars III (not even right, i meant return of the jedi)

Chewy saves them from some robots.

6 word summary, probably my best work ever.



But yeah, starting out I loved school. I thought getting the best grades was the most important thing ever. Now it's just relative.

 

[LucasM]

I was bright, but rude.

I didn't think I was rude at the time, but so is what I have been told in later years.

 

[wadlez]

In kindergarden I was extremly introverted, yet confident in my introversion as I would force other kids of the swing if i wanted it and chose not to be friends with anyone. I was pretty weird in primary school. In the early years I was basically friends with everyone and would just go from group to group out of interest to see what everyone was like. In the later years I was very popular and formed a little primary school gang which was responsible for everything bad that happened in that school, also dated two of the most popular girls at school at the same time.
Highschool was the begining of hell for me, I was the complete opposite of what i was like in primary school, struggled for friends, couldnt get girls, was picked on. bad times

 

[chocolate]

Very shy. I would hardly talk. My report cards always said the same thing "very bright, very quiet". Some teachers were worried about this, but I grew out of it in later grades.

I was always the 'smart' kid in the class (until high school when I started skipping classes that were boring but that's a different story...).

 

[Melkor]

Oh dear...

This might surprise you...but I was a little bastard...

Every year I was on a little report card....which would be marked for each day, including comments, usually for nasty things I had done...
At the end of my first year, my teacher presented my mother with a double sided a4 page which listed all the extreme things I had done...(she still has it )
These included things from destruction to in injury and mostly insults...

yeah....



No-one could control me, I was so very impulsive....


Sooooo many detentions...


and yet....

I was in top reading group, the top spelling group, and the top tables group.( or sums?/maths..I don;t know if you all called them tables...)...
and when the whole school did IQ test..I supposedly got the highest in the school....(although I am somewhat suspicous of this fact, because the results were suppossed to be confidential, I only foudn out because my sister was in the class of the teacher who organised it....so yeah..)
In addittion, every teacher remembers me, and some esp~ the first year, have gotten quite attached to me...

Actually, I was speaking to my year one teacher about a month ago,,it was odd.
I asked her if she'd had any demons like me...

She replied that 'I wasn't bad..just misunderstood'


Hahhahahaaaaaaa...

My mother spoke to ther the day after and she burst into tears...

saying that it was really sad when i said that....


(she's really odd...she still keeps a picture of the demon child me in her desk)

 

[lupejones]

I was shy in kindergarten to first grade, gained self-confidence in second, and wreaked havoc from third on. I made kids cry and beg their parents to let them stay home.
I was an okay student. I understood everything but homework was never important and that was the really big emphasis of my years. My teachers would always tell my parents that I wasn't doing homework but being the stubborn kid I was, it never really bothered me. Even though my mom did whack me a few times, I never changed.

As fun as it was, I wouldn't do it again. I was evil.

 

[Fukyo]

I remember being very much of a pushover in elementary school,I was very quiet,to the point of other kids calling me mute,I didn't like going to school because I was picked on often and didn't like having to interact and play with others.
I had excellent marks in pretty much everything and was often praised by teachers who only complained about my unwillingness to get involved in anything and being too quiet.
This went on until high school when the rebelliousness kicked in and I started to actively stand up for myself and my opinions,even aggressively so.I started to talk back to teachers and even got detention.And in high school I also lost interest in keeping my grades high,which gave way to me being called a lazy student by my teachers...who still can't stop complaining about my antisocial ways.

 

[Inappropriate Behavior]

I was excited about the prospect of going to school, for about 3 months into the first grade. I quickly got bored waiting for other kids to catch up. I began to develop rather lazy habits in regards to my schoolwork and that plagued me through high school. I pretty much decided I was going to learn what I wanted to learn and the rest be damned.

Socially, things were rather mixed. At first I did just fine and then my family moved half way across the country and right down the toilet things went. It's been an oddity throughout my life where in one environment I'll be well liked and in another, I'm either ignored or looked down upon.

 

[sagewolf]

I was... even weirder than I am now. I've normalised myself over the years, and I'm still the weirdest person in my class... no, year... no, screw that, I'm the weirdest student in the school. I learned to make acquaintances easily (although they would probably say 'friends'), because my family had this habit of moving every three years throughout my childhood. I never really had any close friends, though.

Other than that, I was the brightest student in my class: worked hard enough to get good grades, which wasn't very hard at all, really. Once I started questioning the worth and value of those grades, they started to go down, but not by much. School is just too bloody easy. Teachers have always liked me. The Quiet Smart One Who Doesn't Act Up.

(Because I am silently working out the details of a rather splendid aerial dragon fight.)

 

[Zezon Vice]

In my opinion i was a slightly arrogant goody goody. That all changed in middle school.

 

[sybyll]

Well, I remeber my mother coming home from a parent-teacher meeting at school. She sat me down and asked me why I didn't play with the other kids. The answer was that they only did boring things, which I could only put up with for so long. I'd go off to be alone a lot of the time, but I did have quite a lot of friends, thinking back.

Then we moved. I was a very, very angry little girl the rest of primary-school... Got into a lot of fights with some people. Years later, I heard they all thought I was crazy... I was always loud and rude when the teacher got something wrong (because, seriously, is there anything more annoying?), but pretty quiet the rest of the time. I had one good friend - we used to sit in a tree and talk through pretty much every break

In (junior?)high-school (I'm not sure this is the equivalent of the norwegian "ungdomskole", but something like that...), I completely changed. I think I pretty much kept quiet when not talked to for at least two years

I feel like, after puberty, I got back to who I was before, only a little more grown up. Does that even make sense?

 

[Chimera]

I got a lot of remarks like "If we had a class full of kids like you, it would be amazing" from my teachers. But even as a kid, I always thought that was a very inaccurate thing for them to say. A class full of child-me would be...ugh. And yet, every time I turned around, some adult was remarking on my maturity. I guess I was mature around the adults, because I've always identified more easily with them than people my age.

I was nice and polite to the teachers, always on my best behavior around them. I offered to help them out whenever I could, out of genuine caring. I wanted to make their jobs easier. I was eager to answer questions, and I wanted to participate in class as much as possible.

I was social too. Dear god. I remember always wanting to introduce myself to new kids in the class, and asking them to be my friend. I liked to be liked.

At the same time, I had a very nasty streak. I was bossy and very opinionated (though now I connect the opinionatedness to wanting to please my parents by following their examples). I was always out to show that I could do things better than other kids, acting modest but all the while reveling in the attention.

I was violent too. I had a habit of tripping people, stepping on the heels of their shoes in the hallways, pushing them ever so slightly so they lost their balance....I remember hitting my sisters a lot because I was constantly getting teased by them.

I started establishing the identity I have now around 4th grade, or somewhere around there. I shudder when I look back on how I acted as a child. I was so...malicious. Two-faced. I look back and see both a kind, warm, caring person...and a disgusting little brat.
​

 

[Minuend]

In (junior?)high-school (I'm not sure this is the equivalent of the norwegian "ungdomskole", but something like that...), I completely changed. I think I pretty much kept quiet when not talked to for at least two years

I feel like, after puberty, I got back to who I was before, only a little more grown up. Does that even make sense?

I'm a Norwegian INTP too. And I never remember what high school and all that is I should probably learn it once and for all... maybe tomorrow.

 

[saffyangelis]

Junior school XD

They used to make us sit on the carpet, and I always sat next to the bookshelf and read while the teacher was talking to us, but everytime they tried to catch me out, I always managed to repeat (word-perfect) whatever they'd just said =) I think they hated me.

Another time, when I was in year 2 (I think) we had two teachers, one of which I liked, the other of which I couldn't stand, because one time, we had all been drawing, and I'd drawn a really nice picture, but we were all being sent outside for break, and I was just finishing off the wing of a bird in the top-right corner, and she snatched the picture off me, crumpled it up and threw it in the bin =(

But the teacher that I did like read us Harry potter, and then we had a quiz on it. I'd been reading the book at home too, so I won by miles, and got a packet of sweets =)

And as for time times tables, I could never be bothered to learn them, to the extent that I still can't do my four, six, seven and eight times tables without counting on my fingers...

 

[Chimera]

And as for time times tables, I could never be bothered to learn them, to the extent that I still can't do my four, six, seven and eight times tables without counting on my fingers...

I can't do my six or seven times tables, and I'm not good at the twelves either. One of my teachers (5th grade?) forced us to keep our hands on our desks during math tests, and if he saw us using our fingers to count, we got points deducted from the test.
I got very good at tapping my fingers inconspicuously that year. :P
​

 

[Seducer of the Homeless]

is anyone else really quiet in some lessons and very loud in others.

this was always funny parents evening when talking to one teacher saying i need to speak and the one next to us overhearing, laughing in disbelief at how differently i behave.

it was always random (wait, nothing is random...)

 

[Thaklaar]

In Elementary School, my teachers would always say that I was obviously very intelligent, but never worked up to my potential. Whereas 25 years later, my boss tells me that I'm obviously very intelligent, but don't work up to my...oh. Oh my.

 

[owmyfetushurts]

i was quiet but verbally violent.
cussed like one hell of a sunavabitch when i was kid.

terribly shy, otherwise. couldn't bring myself to do class presentations or read out loud.
"class participation" grades fucked up my gpa.

 

[Kidege]

@Chim and Saffy: You too, huh? I forget the last bits of my seven and eight times table. I wonder why.

At school I was reserved, a bit of a tomboy and a bit of an erudite. I didn't give a damn about others opinions as long as they left me alone. I would politely correct the teachers' spelling or factual mistakes and sometimes I'd bring a book from home to entertain myself while other kids finished the class work. When the teachers didn't like that sort of thing, I got bored and would start games or talk in class.

There were times I liked playing with the boys more than with the girls, but that was mostly because the girls conversations got too stupid for my tastes (fashion, soap operas and make up versus who's your favorite fighter in Saint Seiya).

I had perfect grades, was way ahead of my classmates most of the time, and only got in minor trouble for talking in class or "not being sociable". This one time a teacher who hated me sent my parents a note saying I was prone to "improper games with the boys". I had kicked a boy in the shin during a cops and robbers game and my folks thought I was kissing them or worse.

Anyway, I mostly hated school, and my parents had to change me many times cause I'd often declare I wouldn't go back. Junior high was the worst and the best. The worst when I attended a school for rich kids where I was bullied. The best when I attended a school for kids of artists and intellectuals.

Thankfully I studied highschool at home.

 

[saffyangelis]

is anyone else really quiet in some lessons and very loud in others.

this was always funny parents evening when talking to one teacher saying i need to speak and the one next to us overhearing, laughing in disbelief at how differently i behave.

it was always random (wait, nothing is random...)

Haha yup!

In RS (religious studies, but it's more like PHSE, we talk about things like euthanasia and everything), I like the teacher and it's interesting, so I talk in that, add in my point of view, and pay attention and everything, but in other lessons, I keep getting told I need to talk more (like chemistry, english, and so on)

And I only had to learn up to my ten times tables, I can do 11, but 12 is awful....

 

[Seducer of the Homeless]

Religious Education is a lesson in which I enjoy Extroversion. i mean REAL Extroversion

 

[naberus]

Painfully shy and nearly a mute, in fact for many years my report cards consistantly said "too quiet" and in middle school I was voted "most quiet" in my class.

Now I'm the complete opposite...

 

[dwags222]

i was mostly just bored. i would always get in trouble for doodling or reading books that didn't have anything to do with class. it didn't matter that i was getting good grades, i had to pay attention too. this pretty much pissed me off so i learned how to irritate the hell out of my teachers at every opportunity.

socially i got picked on a lot in elementary school, but in middle school i learned to make friends by being funny and being somewhat of a class clown, even though this made my teachers dislike me even more. my teachers taught me how to hate education, which i didn't get over until i went back to school at 22.

 

[Weliddryn]

I remember walking into kindergarten for the first time. I was absolutely silent, both my teacher and my mom tried to get me to play with the other kids there, but I refused to go near them. When they cleared away from some toys (blocks) I went over to them and played with them by myself, becoming completely absorbed in them. I did not even notice how much time had passed until my mom told me I had to go. I believe I entered kindergarten late.

(I have vivid memories of somethings and of others, I have no memories at all.)

I was always very detached, never quite existed in the same world as my peers, it is difficult to explain. I always became absorbed into any projects I got into and always shut down the rest of the world when working on them. One major difference from when I was a child to the way that I am now is this; I was much happier back then. I still never fit in, but I was not the alien that I am now.

Even then, I was still pulled out of classes often for being so withdrawn- this type of thing nearly doubled after a particular event in my life.

I never took note of what my teachers or my peers said about me, I really never noticed. I never noticed a lot of things, I was always invisible, "as a ghost I wander from day to day."

I was also more talkative as a child, then I am now.

 

[echoplex]

I was a whiz at math. I remember being very good at the '24 Game' and stuff like that. I was also a bit lazy at times, and I often found myself misplaced in classes that didn't challenge me. I was often bored.

My behavior was, at times, very disruptive. I was too immature to see how annoying I was to my teachers. I would talk back to them, and then when I got 'in trouble' I usually had no idea why and so I felt like the victim. I can't tell you how many times I was sent to the principal's office without any clue as to why.

Socially, I was actually much more friendly than I eventually became. I was talkative, and made many acquaintances, although very few close friends. After puberty, I found it harder to make friends, and in many ways, my life was kinda ruined. I guess I wasn't ready to grow up yet. Looking back, I think I could've benefited greatly from some sort of mentor. I imagine those years would've been much easier if I wasn't so scared and confused.

Oh wellz, over and done with.

 

[QSR]

Well things started off well enough for me, at least I thought so. I remember the first day of Kindergarten and thinking how funny it was that my neighbor buddy cried when he got dropped off. First grade seemed okay... I played with Hot Wheels quite a bit and got along with everyone. I quickly moved into the top reading group. I did not, however, complete any of my assignments on time. I would sit around daydreaming and basically not very interested in completing the task in front of me. As a result I would often miss quite a bit of recess, so I ended up not growing as quickly socially as I should have. (this is really my Mom's theory, and she might be wrong about this.)

Everything seemed pretty normal up through 4th grade. I definitely remember being one of the worst 2 or 3 kids in the class at doing multiplication tables. In 5th grade I was putting on weight quickly and started really getting outcast for some reason. That was also the same year I started the gifted program and started riding a short bus to another school a couple times a week. In sixth grade I was the only kid in my grade to qualify for an advanced math program. The deal was that I got up at the butt crack of dawn to do this math class and in return I didn't have to do the "normal" math class with my peers.

I started getting bullied a bit in 5th grade. Everyone at my school played soccer, while I was much more interested in basketball. I even did Tae Kwon Do for a bit in an effort by my father to get me to toughen up. This really continued through about 8th grade, when I just became a non-factor. I had lost the weight (actually grew taller), so I wasn't a target for bullies anymore. I was basically invisible through high school, except to a few people from other grade levels. My grade was always very cliquish, while I wanted to float between groups because I couldn't just be one thing.

I don't know. I guess I always really have had a hard time reading social cues, and it's hard to say if that is all genetic or somewhat a product of the way I was treated by my teachers. My "punishment" for not being a good taskmaster was to be held out of social interactions. The fact that I was clearly the smartest kid in my class certainly didn't help things. I know kids from other schools who actually had peers that were on the same level, but for whatever reason my particular elementary school was a lot like Lake Wobegon--all the kids were above average, but none could think quite at the same level as me. (Sorry, this is an attempt at analysis of my childhood, not an effort to brag about anything. I def was not the smartest kid in my high school.)

 

[Fleur]

I was constantly bored reticent kid which weren't really interested in anything (and I still am), I wanted to get my things done as quick as possible - "Do it fast or don't do at all" was my motto - and in the easiest way I could find. Why should I learn something by head if I could find a way how to remember it in some other way/learn it as the time goes? Even if I sometimes slacked off, I could catch up with flying colors - perhaps this is the reason why I don't know how to learn. But with all the slacking my results were at same/highter level than those my classmates earned with a hard learning.

When something was forced on me, it made me turn into a spiteful brat. At home (for most of my childhood I was raised at home, if we don't count those two or three months in the kindergarden which I attended because my parents wanted to adjust me to the school routine and befriend with future classmates) I could to whatever I want and any way I want, and when teacher tried to make me do things in a particual way, in first I acted like I've accepted it, but, when the teacher turned her back, I returned to my manner.

And I've always hated to be edified. If somebody tried to, I got brittled and grumpy.

And I was quite violent when somebody insulted me (or simply stepped on my toes) - then I could turn into a complete monster. And it got worse at 7th and 8th grade (then I earned a nickname "The Mystical Beast"). Mostly I took my books and whacked the person upon hir head.
But there was a time when I started I fight only because of a pure boredom.
But the fun part was... the teachers never (almost) found it out.

For a long time my classmates (and some teachers too) saw me as a walking embodiment of a honesty - if I claimed something about an event, then it was taken as an undisputable truth. Perhaps it was kind of true...I never really lied, I just slightly twisted the truth (same went for the rules).

 

[Atriamax]

i was... normal. lol
now... eh not so much

 

[Mars]

I have a sister that's 13 years older than me, she taught me to read before I went to school and for that I am eternally thankful. A dad that taught me chess at such an early age that I only remember that I can play it and look at people weird if they say they can't play, I can't play well but I enjoy it. My mum I thank her for putting up with me and trying to get along well.

I remember my first day of school, my parents were more worried than I was. but i move through 3 schools in the first 4 years of primary school, generally I made friends really easily. However it got harder and harder to to as time went on, as the social clime changed. groups morphed, amalgamated and split up and so effectively in the primary/high school transition it was essentially another new school, took me 2 years to find a comfortable group of friends. still a group of misfits none the less, a fun bunch.

As for perceptions of teachers, I was threatened with expulsion for almost 5 years running, silly little things that stopped after one hell of a detention that lasted for almost 2 months every lunch and the weekly sport sessions were taken up with cleaning the science labs. proved to the staff that I could work reliably though. It was the result of accepting the blame for what some friends did in helping me, so not entirely able to claim i'm that bad ass. as that was happening I didn't consider the removal of socialising as such a little deal and so I ceased acting out like that. After that teachers openly regarded me with respect, which thankfully allowed me to get away with almost as much. liek showing up one day completely out of uniform and getting a whole uniform pass, still have the thing that they stapled to my collar. gonna frame it one day.

still, I was a bit of a loner and though I would chit chat with most people in the year level it was unfulfilling. I think somewhere along the way people stopped stimuating my brain as much as I would have liked, I suppose there was a vague sense of being cheated in school. there to learn and yet refinement was something that was out of reach in an educaitonal facility.

to top it off my mother is convinced that I am unable to make friend, that the computer stunted my social growth. I would wonder how suprised she would be to discover it is only an interest and the social lag would have occured anyway, me being the stubborn person I can be at times. I put it down to not enough adequate interaction to help opening up the channels of communication that most people employ and other people not having opened up the few channels that I employ.

funnily enough I managed to pass advanced maths as my best subject, standard maths being brain dead easy to batter through with a little intuition and paper. academicaly I was a straight A student until about year 8/9 when i didn't study enough for the material proovided, then it dropped until I managed to pull a bare minimum pass in final year.

wow, i wouldn't believe it if I didn't do this. my ability to ramble and pull tangents into a parambulating dialogue astonishes me.... hope you enjoyed it

 

[zxc]

I don't know or remember much about myself in kindergarten.

In prep, I was friends with a kid that liked to steal other kids' hats and put them in bins. I can't remember if I actually did it myself.

In grade one, I got really upset because I whispered 'fuck' to myself, and my 'friend' (different kid to prep) told on me. Some friend he was. I remember he got kept back in grade one the next year. I also started to show an aptitude for maths, or something. I fell from some steps and broke my nose as well. My uncle really helped with that - he told me that the throbbing was little men working to fix my nose. Nowadays, I go on photography trips with him, and we discuss topics as wide-ranging as investing, military strategy, philosophy, and the like.

In grade two, there was this 'number game', where the teacher would get two kids to stand up, and then he would call out a multiplication question. I was always the last one standing, and I can't remember ever losing a final. I remember one time he said a question, and I instantly said "I beg your pardon?". I honestly didn't hear it properly, but he was a bit suspicious. I still won after that though.

In grade three, we took a spelling test, and I miraculously scored 100% on it, which got me 'interested' in spelling. My teacher was known to be very strict among the kids, but he was never cross at me. We were all assigned numbers in the role, and we would all call out our number (in order) as fast as we could, and he timed it. That was a lot of fun. He was pretty strict to the class, but he often rewarded us with stories from 'Naughty Stories for Good Boys and Girls'. I got interested in WW2, and in particular tanks. I started to read a lot of non-fiction. I remember one day, my teacher was telling my mum that I should read some fiction, and less non-fiction. The teacher taught us good manners and general courtesy, which has been valuable I think. Later on in primary school, I decided that this was my favourite teacher of the lot.

We had regular spelling tests in grade four. I used to prepare for them last minute, but always got 100% (20/20). I told one of the parents helping out that I had never got a word wrong, and she said that sometimes it was good to make mistakes. I wasn't too happy with her. One day late in the year, I got a word wrong. I can't remember what it was, but I was devastated. We started to participate in national maths/English competitions and standardised tests. I always scored miles ahead for my age, in reading in particular, but also maths. I started to see myself as academically superior to my classmates (and still haven't stopped) for the very first time, but often tried to help them out with problems. I got into Animorphs by K.A. Applegate, and the Tomorrow, When the War Began series by John Marsden, which were the first fictional books that I had read (willingly). We had to record how many pages we read each night, and I honestly recorded 100+ each night. I did a project on D-Day: Operation Overlord, and I still have it somewhere. Grade four was the first time I paid any real attention to my report at the end of the year, and was the first time I got all E's (top mark) for each of the fields (there were at least 50). This would continue in grade five and six.

For grade five, I was in a mixed class with kids in grade six. I remember one time, when everyone was sitting down on the carpet, one of the grade six girls asked my best friend a trick question, and he got it wrong. She said to her friend, something like: 'Well if the smartest kid in the class can get it wrong...', but her friend said something like: 'No, the other one's smarter [referring to me]'. I had my back to them, but was listening all the same. I felt quite proud at that moment, but also a little sorry for my friend. I knew he was intelligent too.

In grade six, there were these thin strips of paper with 50 maths questions on them, to be filled out as fast as you can (while timed). I took it really seriously, and even did practise ones during lunchtime (whenever I wasn't playing battennis or footy with my best friend). I kept progressing until I could do the hardest ones in blazing time. I was by far the quickest at that game. Interestingly enough, there were also footy tipping competitions (ignore this section if you're not Australian). For some reason, I got almost every round 100% correct, and even picked the premiers for the year (1/16 chance) early on. Nowadays there's an entire gambling business built around footy tipping, and had I been as accurate today as I was in grade six, I would win BIG money. A good portion of the grade 5/6s liked to play gang-tiggie during lunchtimes, which was fun due to the strategy, deception, psychology, and running that took place. I knew all the best hiding spots, and I tried to avoid getting in a chase, although I was pretty fast. There was this awesome spot that kids seemed to miss, and there were small gaps in the bushes where you could see out all around the courtyard, while remaining hidden. I had two backup route plans ready, but I rarely had to use them. From grade six onwards, I got really interested in the epic fantasy novel genre (I think it was after I watched LOTR 1). To this day, it remains the only fictional genre that I read, and sorry if this offends you, but it's a whole lot better than whatever the hell you're reading!

Year seven was a very different experience for me. I was finally doing a bit of history in class, which had been my favourite subject since grade three. I mostly left things to the last minute, but I did a fair amount of work too. I took all my tests and assessments very seriously, and rarely got below ~100% for each. One day in maths, we got a test back, and I got only one question wrong. I was really annoyed, because I knew that I actually got it right, and the teacher had it wrong. In the parent/student/teacher interview later on, my maths teacher said that I was a perfectionist, and I got REALLY pissed off at her. I didn't mind getting a question wrong, but I hated losing marks for no reason.

Year eight was horrible. My marks were the same as year seven, in other words, perfect. However, a group of boys in my class seemed to have a real issue with the fact that I was quiet and timid. Most of the 'bullying' was verbal, but there were some physical incidents as well, involving 'noogies' (head lock + hard rubbing of knuckles against scalp). I absolutely hated it, and hated them, but I never retaliated. This was my worst year of life that I can remember. Nothing bad enough to make me 'depressed' however. I guess I'm lucky in that.

Year nine, I got placed in a class with absolutely noone that I knew. However, it so happens that all the boys were computer gamers (or nerds, whatever you want to call them). I started to open up a bit more, and I found so much common ground with them. Most of them were 'rebels', so I imagine it must've been an unusual sight for the teachers to see me, the teacher's pet, become friends with the most rebellious kids in the year level. However I always had a rebellious streak which I never nurtured. This year took care of that! I figured out a way to acquire complete admin rights to the school intranet, and I could access all the reports, secret reports, and confidential data of all the students. I was showing one of my new-found friends how to do it, when a teacher caught us in the act. It so happened that my friend was seated at the computer, and I next to him (on the left). He took full responsibility for it, and almost got expelled, while I was lying to the teachers for the first time in my life. The way that my friend took all the blame and denied that I had anything to do with it, made me respect him an enormous amount. I was completely dumbfounded by the way he smoothly denied that anyone else had anything to do with it, and told them that he was in fact showing me my report (with my consent of course). He has been one of my closest friends ever since. My marks immediately dropped from A+ to B+/A as I adopted a lazy/indifferent/rebellious attitude towards schooling. Only my Chinese marks were completely unaffected, and they remained the highest of the year level (after all, it's impossible to get above 100% in every test). I bet the Chinese teachers were shocked when their favourite model student decided to drop the subject the next year.

Year ten was more bludging than ever. This was when the 'lazy intelligent guy' image started to set in. I can't remember any particularly striking anecdotes for this year.

Year eleven was more of the same. Now that I'm getting closer and closer to the present, I'm remembering less and less it seems.

Year twelve was the final year of secondary school, and everything seemed to revolve around exams. Not that I noticed. The only studying I did was on the morning of a test. I took my essays and assignments seriously, but no regular homework for me. An amusing year, full of inside jokes and intellectual rebellion. Exams went fine, relative to the amount of study I did. I got an 87, while I needed an 85 to get into the course I wanted. This proves that I did not overwork. Good thing I didn't.

This year I'm at uni, doing a Bachelor of Science undergraduate course, probably to major in physics. So far it seems good, but the best part is the fantasy reading while in the Rowden White Library (a library with mostly fictional books, dvds, and fun stuff). As you could have probably guessed, I need to work on my two assignments, but I'm procrastinating!


Wow, longest post I've ever written. Go me. Yay.

 

[Kumori]

You should probably read zxc's post a bit up before you read mine.

Kindergarten was interesting for me. The first time I had ever really seen other children. I kept to myself more often than not as I found it more interesting to watch the other children than to play with them.

Primary school took a turn for the worse, intense bullying took place, I outlined it in another post. I'd really not like to get into it here. However there were some highlights. In prep-grade 1 I was a terrible student, never really paying attention at all, to anything the teachers said. I got terrible marks, they considered keeping me down a grade. And I am glad they didn't. We got to grade 2, and suddenly I could read, I don't know how it happened, but I could. I finished the entire reading program that was intended to last us from grades 1-6 in about a month, and I set on reading Lord of the Rings, which my brother was reading at the time. I finally finished it, reading other books and series' at the same time about halfway through grade 3.

Grade 3 was when my aptitude for math suddenly kicked in, we had the same number game as zxc, and after being one of the lowest ranked in the class, I became the top very quickly. I also became very apt at Japanese, and could read the entire hiragana alphabet by the time I was in grade 6, a skill I have retained to this day and I plan to work on it soon.

High school, looking back on it, some of my favorite years. I went to the same High School as zxc, for future reference. In year 7 I met a kid named Matt. I was sad, quiet and too lazy to keep up my intellectual facade, which I let drop until year 11. Matt was the most vocal kid in our class, the constant jokester. It really rubbed off on me, and I developed a rather good public facade, although it requires a lot of effort on my behalf to keep it in place. I met a few other kids, James and several others, not important enough to be mentioned by name. And I noticed zxc, but Matt didn't, and without him I was too shy to approach him. I started playing a few video games. Mainly with James, who became my best friend.

Year 8 took a turn from the better, through Matt and James I made friends with people who I still talk to on a daily basis today. I excelled at history and math in this year, even though I was very, very lazy. I met zxc for the first time, we discussed Diablo 2, and a few various other things, but never really started a friendship. James and I became inseparable, whenever anyone said Sean (My IRL name), they often added 'and James' or vice versa. We always climbed the roofs, play-fought and basically did everything together.

Year 9 was the greatest year of my life, probably. I forgot all about my previous woes and started learning things on the internet, a hobby which persists today. I really became friends with zxc in this year, we worked together on a few projects we were too lazy to finish. Instead we took the time discussing things, sharing what we've discovered about the world, and so on. When we just started talking, we ran into that incident with administrator area of the schools intranet. I was the other kid in zxcs story. I took the blame partly from morales influenced by James. I perceived it as my fault, as I was the one who asked him about it, so naturally I took the blame. Not wanting to injure his status as the teachers pet. The second half of the year gave birth to our gaming habits, and we developed lots, and lots of inside jokes. I was also introduced to anime at this point, by James, we often would go to each others houses, kick back and watch it for hours on end.

Year 10 was my last year as best friends with James. He took the 'freak' route rather than the 'nerd' route. The druggy/stoner route. We became distant as we developed different hobbies and life styles. And much to my dismay, this led to his crash in life, in which he now does nothing. My friendship with zxc and another INTP strengthened this year, as my other friendships declined.

Year 11 was when zxc introduced us to Chess, something we passed all our lunchtimes and spares, even skipping some classes to play. My depression hit a peak around this year, I missed out on a lot of prior knowledge in math, and thus couldn't solve some things, which made me frustrated and it led to me feeling very depressed. My outward appearance also changed from idiotic jokester to apathetic intellectual too.

Year 12 was great, zxc and I had so much fun. We never did any work, and always messed around. My friend James dropped out of school, to my dissapointment. He's now a drug dealer and doesn't work or even try to educate himself. I got the necessary marks for my University course and am sort of sad I moved on, but also very happy ;P.

This year I am studying Computer Science at a university called La Trobe down in Victoria. I am away from zxc, but we talk every day via Xfire. I met someone who is two years older than me. His story is exactly the same as James', but he decided he wasn't going to become a failure two years after year 12, and is now studying Computer Science also. I am tutoring him through all his math subjects because it feels like, I couldn't help James who helped me so much, but maybe I can help him through extension. In return he's going to teach me guitar, which will be awesome!

Anyway, that's a brief synopsis of my life so far, more to come.

 

[FacetiousPersona]

I smashed my headteacher's glasses and bit my teacher's arm. Fun times.

 

[polarmonk]

Didn't socialize with anyone. Played by myself in my imagination, and was happy that way. I was interested in prehistory/natural history, reading and not really the school curriculum. I preferred to talk to adults over people my age. Absolutely detested school and still do. I'm a lot more sociable now but I still prefer to be alone with my thoughts.
It's interesting to read about others' childhoods.

 

[cheese]

In the first few years of primary school I was mostly a good kid. The teachers liked me well enough. I was shy but had friends and got along with the other kids, and had a bit of a naughty streak. I took particular pleasure in ignoring rules I considered unnecessary, eg spending every science lesson standing up at the teacher's desk, just to demonstrate I could. I spent one recess splashing around in a mud flood and daring the boys to join in. I tried pulling a chair out from a kid once, but I mistimed it and he noticed, after which he gave me a wounded and slightly condescending look. I was a lousy bad girl. I remember our old method of passing notes in class seemed unnecessarily dangerous - the writer would run furtively all the way to where the intended recipient was sitting while the teacher stood at the front teaching! I suddenly realised one day that passing the note from hand to hand across the room would be far more covert and hence safer. Imagine my disappointment when I outlined this revolutionary plan to a friend and she, upon agreeing, took my note - and immediately commenced the usual self-sacrificial sprint across the classroom! Such a simple idea, too. Eventually it caught on of course. (How is it we didn't know how to efficiently pass notes? Strange.)
I was also a little entrepreneurial. I bought little notepads with pictures on the pages, then cut out the pictures and lined them with coloured paper, and tried selling them to people. Some kids actually bought them, the suckers.
In 3rd year I took one of those national testing things and got transferred to a gifted school. I remember my parents and I being rather amused at the way my old school suddenly tried bribing me into staying.

4th year was the new school. Here I exhibited more of my usual erratic extraversion - mousey in some areas, terribly loud in others (eg on the schoolbus, where I flirted outrageously with a 6th year). My teacher hated me because she used to teach my hell-ish, brilliant, cheekily stubborn and defiant brother, who systematically led all the kids astray. I suppose my not doing homework had something to do with it as well. In general I disliked her as well, but my angriest moment was when she suggested dishonesty on my part - she thought I had forged my father's signature on something because it didn't look exactly the same as all the others. I found this mind-numbingly stupid and questioned whether anyone's signatures were always exactly the same. I pointed out that none of his previous signatures had been. Silly woman.
I was rather bossy and unpleasant in some ways. (I was rather like how chimera described herself.) Up to this point I had made pretty good grades. Most of my teachers recognised I wasn't trying terribly hard. Almost all my reports have "is capable of more" or some other variant. It used to piss me off as well when this was juxtaposed with A's, simply because I seemed absent-minded. By far the most offensive ones were when my teachers seemed unaware I was capable of better. They reported good effort on my part and encouragement to try even harder. I had fears of stupidity. It's unfounded relative to the norm, but definitely has truth in the upper bounds, though of course worries of incompetency affect all INTPs.

In year 5 I moved to another academically and socially inferior school closer to home. They gladly accepted me in spite of lack of space because of my previous school I ended up doing quite well in the year 6 final exams, but in the two years before then I spent most of my time not doing homework and reading under my desk in class time. [It was Year 6 that started my career as "unprepared genius" (term provided by a friend recently for my ability to decently pull myself out of academic holes at the last minute) - my result at finals was quite disproportionate to the effort put in. This happened at every major exam throughout my school career, although the last one left a little to be desired! It was sufficient however.] It was around this time that I started developing Ne. I would bring interesting things to school to show to classmates, mostly during lesson time. We had a bit of fun with a whoopee cushion once. I also got a group of friends to join me after school with "movie-making" - we'd find an empty space somewhere in the neighbourhood and start making up silly stories while one of us played the director with that black and white snapping thing my aunt got me from Universal Studios.
I was quite loud during this time, partly due to my 100% E best friend of those years.

That's primary school. Extraversion and the associated traits continued to develop throughout the rest of school. School work was mostly easy, and I didn't understand why my friends had problems and took so long (not so much a marker of my brightness as an indication of their average-ness I think). I understood quickly and easily and could complete most work quite fast. I was described as a polite, friendly girl who had yet to reach her potential. This lasted throughout school. Of course the work got harder as school progressed and I could no longer depend on luck as much to get me through. I am not a genius. I did manage to make a few last-minute saves mentioned earlier, which alternately impressed/infuriated my teachers. Towards the end of my school career I was bogged down by crushing self-doubt and depression as well as spectacular failure, though I eventually salvaged a reasonable amount from the mire. It was from those last few years however that I lost all motivation to do anything.

Ok sorry, I've been rambling far too long! I suspect my story is quite similar to most people on this forum - unrealised potential/slacker "genius" - though my potential and success stories are more limited than most. I hope I answered some of the questions. It's fun thinking about the past.

 

[zephryi]

Wow... there's a lot of similarities in the stories. O.O

When I was little, I was a bit over-proud of my reading and academic skills, but otherwise I was described as "enthusiastic" "diligent" and "needing to give others time to think." I loved to know things and let others knew I knew them. However, my procrastination habits/ being easily distracted by personal interest came out really early- in first grade, my teacher tried to have me labeled as ADD. This pattern continued through most of my school career- I'm known for waiting until *the* very last minute, literally, to finish major projects and study for tests- one of my summer assignments was finished barely a minute before the bus ran the first day, while in pre-calc this year, I usually start looking at a chapter and taking notes the night before the test. I rely on my short term memory and a combination of intuition, thinking, and context clues (<3) to maintain grades that now hover between A's and B's after a brief stint of skipping school as much as I could last year.

Socially, I began loud, although not technically "sociable." I hung out mostly with the kids around my neighborhood. Although I couldn't be alone- I got bored really easily- I never really connected with most of my childhood playmates and actually ended up rather bored and mystified with things like the random popularity of unneeded glasses. However, by third grade, I was getting into trouble for reading in class- despite knowing how to read since I was three, I was too busy being kiddish to read a ton XD. I had no in-school friends that I really cared about, and two best friends at home. By seventh grade, I read through recess and my excuse for not knowing what the homework was was "I didn't hear what the teacher said because I was reading." My aunt started grounding me by taking away library privileges . High school, especially with marching band, I began to expand my social circle a ton. In eighth grade I had a lot of acquaintances, then it narrowed slightly to people I cared more about, to today's circle of three friends who I actually would confide in, which is a first for me. In general, I'm known now as an intellectual with a penchant for Japanese culture, a liking of cute things (struck by the kawaii bug! XD), editing people's papers with zeal, and dreadful procrastination.
--

Probably longer and more off topic than needed; sorry. XD

 

[EditorOne]

I was undersized and skinny to boot, emotionally a complete wreck, clumsy, insecure, and forced to keep rebellion at stupidity under close wraps for fear of parental wrath (this was back in the days and in a place where a whipping with a belt or a yardstick was considered routine as a parental tool and not completely out of the question for a teacher). I refused to not do as well as I could on the schoolwork even though that made me yet another kind of target for the stupider bullies.

What a mess. I am astonished at surviving without having become a serial killer or something.

 

[jiarem]

how did you behave, what did teachers say about you. what friends did you make, what was your outlook.

I began as a contented introvert. Well, I'll qualify this. At school, I was happy to roam the playground alone, lost in thought. At home, I was lonely since my parents were not present much, and I had no neighbors my age. Anyway, each year, I had a maximum of two friends, and in third grade, I literally had no friends. And that was okay with me. I seem to remember a comment from one teacher about my social skills and general lack of sociability. I wasn't particularly friendly to my peers, but I remember enjoying my teachers' company. Peers were never interesting. Oddly enough, I also remember writing a very different reply to a writing prompt. Given a choice of associating with younger students or older ones, which would we prefer, and why? I chose the younger students because I figured that, being their elder, I would be a more natural choice for leadership of the group. (I have no clue where that came from.) Another thing I remember was that I was very open about my crushes, and I think I relished the awkwardness it imposed on the targets. I later developed a theory that I was an alien or genetically engineered (oh, yes, I was arrogant), a theory which had roots in the feeling of not belonging with my peers even in the earliest days. I was not like the other girls, and in fact, I wasn't like any of the other students, period. This is kind of awkward to say, but I pondered the possibility that I wasn't a girl. This was before I understood what the physiological differences between boys and girls are (though I clearly had some understanding of the behavioral differences). Intuitively, I just understood that I was different.

I was in love with school. I had accelerated math, compliments on my art and French, beginnings of interest in acting and writing. Since we were allowed to choose the words for our spelling lists in third grade, I chose the toughest looking words in Dad's dictionary. I had a passion for a variety of things: dinosaurs, mythology (specifically ancient Greek), ancient Egypt, and medical cases. However, I learned to procrastinate early on. Being young also didn't stop me from having grandiose ideas. For the third grade science project, we had to create some device using our knowledge of simple machines. I wanted to create some brilliant new invention, so unique no one else would have even dreamed of it. That never happened. So I got a bad grade in science. Come to think of it, that was the problem of almost every year's science fair project every student had to do. For first and third grade, I had no clue what to do. (Second grade, I did something with crystals.)

This changed a great deal when I had to go to a new school. Suddenly, my confidence failed, and I was shy. Classes were a little more boring because my first school was a private school, where the teachers actually taught students according to their potential. Math and spelling were far behind what I was used to. My art got me attention and nomination for the gifted program, but for some reason, I wasn't accepted. My interest in art was declining anyway. The following year, I'd find myself at yet another school, and once again, my art was identified as precocious, or something, so I got into some enrichment class for that. I also got to join the gifted program at the new school.

At the third school, I was shier than ever, and the classes were worse than ever. Math was still boring, spelling and reading still far behind what I was capable of. People suspected that I was mute, and a few assumed that I was simply incapable of speaking English. I think those were the days I actually learned what race is. Still, after a few weeks, months, I had a reputation for being exceptionally bright, albeit awkward. I had some bizarre interests, by the standards of my peers, so while they didn't cast me out, they didn't usually invite me into their circles. Also, I never could get into boy bands. (At the time, I was a snob about classical music, and at some point during my elementary school years, I made a point of avoiding slang and colloquialisms. I used very formal English, which, combined with the monotone, halting voice I had in childhood, must have made me sound very odd indeed.) None of the girls believed me when I told them I don't care about Nsync or the Backstreet Boys, and nothing they could say would change my mind. I never could understand some of the things they did or wore.

All throughout my school years, I have never had more than two friends in a given year. I've always been considered "nice" and "smart." By everyone. Pretty boring.

and every teacher said i was very inteligent and bright but i never achieved what i should have done, there was never any real effort going into it. this annoyed them

Oh, how familiar. Actually, it has characterized my college years more than any others. It's standard fare from my adviser.
"Hi, Dr. xxxx..."
"Jiarem! You are not living up to your potential! This is embarrassing, I have students who aren't as bright as you getting Bs, and you're failing!"
Yup, nice to see you, too. =p

 

[Reverse Transcriptase]

Kindergarden: There were these awesome female twins two years ahead of me that I had a crush on. I would be silly... or pretend to be retarded? as part of our play and to make them laugh. I don't remember a whole lot from this time.

1st grade: We started doing worksheets, and I tried using "I don't know" as an answer. It seems like a legitimate way to a respond to a question! My first grade teacher explained "i don't know is not an answer", a mantra that has stuck with me for awhile. It's fantastic to think about that now, as I'm about to graduate with a bachelor's in biochemistry. "I don't know" is often the only reasonable answer we can put forth.

2nd grade: We had a multiplication contest, where two kids would face off, the teacher would give an equation, and the first kid to come up with the right answer would win. I went against Matthew Taylor, (a kid I bullied a little) who would say "um um um um" between his guesses. I'm not sure if he meant to do it, but saying "um" really wrecked my train of thought. I was annoyed at that.

3rd grade: Another girl and I would leave during Language class, because we both hated it so much. Unfortunately there was only one bathroom pass, and she had the gall to point out that I was using the bathroom pass too much during language class! Our individual plans for skipping language class were both crushed. Stupid wench.

4th grade: I transferred from my private catholic elementary school to the public elementary school that was within walking distance. The kids were a lot meaner, and I become very introverted and shy. Years later I learned that the teachers/administrators are the public school thought that I wasn't ready for elementary school. My parents were like "fuck that! Also we want this kid in accelerated math." In my 4th grade year I took the John Hopkin's test, to test some skills. My parents didn't tell me what was going on, but they were proving that I was a smart kid.

5th grade: The next year I was put in accelerated math, two years ahead. I was in with a handful of 5th graders and a lot of one-year-ahead 6th graders. My teacher really didn't like me. I was thinking about a HILARIOUS Calvin & Hobbes comic and I couldn't stop chuckling/laughing. When told to stop, and I couldn't, I was sent out of the class. I also started to learn how to procrastinate. I was walking home with the boys from my neighborhood and they decided to tease me, calling me a girl. I told them to stop, and they asked me what I was going to do. (I was going to punch Sean Gotter, but I certainly wasn't going to give him a warning!) They crossed the line that I had set in my mind, and I gave a punch to Sean's face. He knelt down, spitting blood & spit into the street, and cried. Victory. My friend John said Sean deserved it.

Looking back at my three fights in primary/middle/high school, they always happened the same way. A kid is teasing or degrading me, I tell them to stop, they don't, and then I'd punch with them no warning. I feel like I had to use that strategy, because every time the kids were fitter than me, or so I thought.

6th grade: I switched teachers to Ms. Wallace, who was awesome. She encouraged me to write more, and when we wrote a fictional short story about meeting a historical figure my story was one of the best three in the class. I wrote about meeting Mr. Houdini, and I was tricky enough to use a fake narrator name so that Ms. Wallace wouldn't give away who I was when she read it out loud to the class.

I also got Sean Gotter again. He would always demand to have a gusher from my package of gushers. I would reluctantly give it to him. But one day I took a gusher, extracted the fruit syrup, and put in tabasco sauce, and then resealed the gusher. And then I rolled it in paprika powder. I gave it to him the next day.

I started doing Judo in the 6th grade, something I would continue for four years. I wasn't doing well in team sports (they bored me a lot) and my parents wanted me to continue doing a sport, so my dad suggested Judo. He had done Judo in his youth, and he also mentioned it would be good for me if any kids bullied me.

Conclusions: Well, I guess I was just really telling stories, not actually saying how I was. In K-3rd I was happy and had some awesome friends, and everyone was forced to me nice by the catholic teachers! In 4th-6th life was shitty, and I wonder how much that terrible transition has had an effect on my social development. I think I've made a full recovery, but the effects still revibrate from my past.

And of course I read a ton. Robert Heinlein is awesome!