Weekend

I'm gonna wait until Monday before posting the rest of my First Kiss story. To tide you over, here's a funny conversation I had with my mom a few years ago. I found it on facebook the other day:

Mom: Your little brother just called.

Asia: Yea?

Mom: He got a really good deal on some corduroy pants and a shirt.

Asia: Is that what you came over here to tell me?

Mom: We don't have interesting lives.

Asia: That's true... thanks for telling me. Should I call Ace?

First Kiss Part IV: Senior Year (part I)

Are you ready for this?


Senior Year part I:
This is where things get crazy.

I came back from the summer to discover that Alex and I were in an economics class together. I was a bit more confident than the previous year so it wasn't long before we were chatting and laughing and sitting by each other in class, etc.

Then it was homecoming time. At my high school, people were really into homecoming. Every day of the school week preceding the game/dance was themed. The themes-of-the-day included stuff like "Career Day", "Disney Day", and "Crayola Day" with Fridays always being "Spirit Day".

Here's a picture of "Crayola Day". I was a crayon box and these were my crayons. Presh, eh?


This particular year, my birthday was during homecoming week and it happened to fall on "Famous Group/Couple Day". I mentioned this to Alex once during our econ class and he proposed that we go together, as a famous couple. I (of course) agreed and tried to think of tame, non-romantic ideas so as to not put any pressure on the situation. I suggested we go as Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. To this, Alex responded, "Well... that's not really a 'couple'." So instead we went as Robin Hood and Maid Marion.

It was one of the most wonderful days ever. Definitely the best day of my high school experience. (A:) It was my birthday, (B:) I was dressed up all couple-like with my high-school crush, (C:) Alex found out that he made varsity soccer that day, (D:) a couple of people put up banners in the courtyard wishing me a happy birthday and (E:) a couple of people brought me balloons, cookies and cupcakes. My hands were full and I could not stop smiling. It was for-reals awesome.

Alex and I continued to chat and flirt through our econ class. Then we started going on a few sporadic dates. He kept saying we were going to see Harry Potter 4 together, but would never commit to a time. When I told him I would just go see it without him, he got his act together and we went. That was where we held hands for the first time.

As the year (the year 2005, not the school year) came to a close, all my dreams were coming true. Right before Christmas break, Alex invited me over to his house because his neighborhood was lighting luminaries and he wanted me to meet his family. I told this to my high school friends and when they asked what we'd be doing, I said, "Um... luminary things." The ambiguity of that statement caused "luminary things" to become their favorite euphemism for sexual activity. But that is neither here nor there...

On December 23rd, the luminary things commenced. I came over and met his family. He and I went on a walk around his neighborhood with his arm around me. It was beautiful with all the lights in the street. When it was time for me to leave, he gave me my Christmas present. It was a necklace; his mom had helped him pick it out. He walked me to my car and said he'd call me the next day.

He didn't call.

First Kiss Part III: Junior Year

Today is Laura's birthday! She is excellent. She also has a super cool blog. Happy birthday to the girl who is so wonderful she even hung out with me when I wore those camo pants.

Side note: I texted Alex the other day to see if it was ok with him that I was posting all this random stuff about him... but I couldn't think of a way to ask this without sounding like a total creeper.

"How's life? So I have this blog..."
"Hey, can I publicly post a story on the internet about you and me in high school?"
"How am I? I'm doing well! Just trying to make people like me by telling them stories about you."

None of those seemed like acceptable options, so I just said "Hi, how are you?" and he said "Good how are you?" and I never responded. Hmmm....

I'm trying to be careful about how I represent the story, though. I feel like I'm being appropriately self-centered so I don't cause him any unease. So hopefully it's fine...?

Anyway... without further ado:


Junior Year:
The summer before Junior year, Laura and her parents moved to Australia. Rude.

So, junior year was an interesting one. I had no Laura and was therefore forced to be outgoing and social. Another interesting thing was my class schedule. I had AP US History every other day all year long. I think it was on B day. Ask Ally. Or ask Alex. He was in there too.

It was taught by a hip older dude named Dr. Milner. But no one called him that. His first name was James, so everyone called him Dr. J. Dr. J got annoyed with me a lot... but I think he still liked me. I just sometimes would share how my life was similar to that of our founding fathers. For example, we were talking about trains one day and I shared how one time I rode on a train to Washington D.C. (cool story, right?). Dr. J didn't think it was necessary for me to share all of my thoughts.

Alex and I became friends again. Unfortunately, by this point our high-school-niche-social-statuses were better defined and he was now a super cool JV soccer player. I was still the awkward Mormon girl (not much has changed...) and, I came to realize, I still liked him.

Junior year I turned 16.

This didn't seem to matter. Alex was out of my league.

There was, however, a moment I remember that stands out when I think back on my days in APUSH. Randomly one day someone said, "Asia, has anyone ever not liked you?" This was a nice thing to say, but I remembered someone in particular who, in the past, hadn't liked me much. I replied with something like, "Yea... I can think of someone..." then Alex chimed in with, "I know who it was. It was Kendra. She didn't like you because the whole time I was dating her, I couldn't stop talking about you." My knees started to feel a little like jell-o. I probably blushed and stared at the floor.

I continued to see him every other day for all of junior year. I continued to like him from 4 desks away. I considered asking him to hang out, but I knew it would have been a joke. We didn't have any friends in common. This was a big deal.

Summer came. I went to Australia to visit Laura and her family. It was great.

I came back to America.

I was ready for senior year. Kinda ready anyway...

First Kiss Part II: Sophomore Year

Dear dude who invented the drinking fountain,

Do you think everyone is 4 feet tall? Or do you think that only children and short people need hydration? Just wondering why all the short people get to have a lovely drink of water and the rest of us get to have back problems. Is this some kind of affirmative action for the vertically challenged?

Sincerely,

Asia

To those of you following the first kiss story, the second installment is below. I will warn you though... sophomore year was kinda uneventful. I tried to add in some funny stories to spice it up, but today's post is kinda juice-less. I will however say that starting tomorrow (or, if you will, starting junior year), things start to get interesting.


Sophomore Year:
I didn't have any classes with Alex sophomore year. I don't remember much about sophomore year except having the same exact schedule as Ally Palmieri.

Ally and I were in Spanish 2 with Mrs. White (who was black). Ally would annoy her by calling her Sra. Blanca. Whenever we did anything right, Sra. Blanca would give us a little coupon that said "2 points" on it. I have no memory of what we were supposed to do with these, but every time someone earned a coupon, the class would yell "Dos puntos!!" To this day, that is all the Spanish I remember from high school.


Here's a happy picture of me and Ally. We were seniors in this picture, so don't sue me for historical inaccuracy. I don't know if that's even possible, but if it is... please don't.



This was also the year that, one fateful morning in the band room (we went in there when it was cold outside), Laura poked the back of my knees while I was wearing a heavy backpack and I completely fell over.

I also fell asleep in English a lot and drooled through 16 pages of Great Expectations.

I saw Alex periodically from across the high school courtyard. I didn't think about him much. Our freshman year flirtation was over. I thought he was out of my life.

Then came junior year.

First Kiss part I: Freshman Year

So... it's getting colder. Please don't die of lack-of-bundling. Wear a scarf. Functional and fashionable. Win-win.

I've officially moved into the new BYUB Building on campus. There are windows! It's really exciting to be able to see the trees and know what the weather is. It's also handy to know whether or not a zombie apocalypse is occurring. In our old building, I was at an extreme disadvantage -- not knowing about a zombie attack until they were inside my dismal cave of a cubicle? What kind of secure feelings is that supposed to incur?

--

So one of my favorite stories of my life is the story of my first kiss. It's super precious. I'm a little conscious of who will be reading this, but whatev. It's a good story for all to enjoy. Like a for-reals chick flick.

I've decided to tell it in 6 short parts because the story is kinda long. Here's part one:

Freshman Year:
I was 13 when I started high school. I turned 14 during the year. During the last 9-weeks of my freshman year, I was in a PE class with my best friend Laura, some random people, and a cute boy named Alex. I liked Alex pretty much from the first time I saw him.

Now -- remember my 8th grade year? Well this is only one short year later. I was still uber awkward and poorly dressed, but I don't think I was aware of it. So it didn't really matter. I only knew I wanted New Balance shoes because Brittany Ferguson had New Balance shoes.

Somehow Laura and I started becoming friends with Alex. We started chatting and flirting during the boring lectures about fitness and calorie-intake. I used to pull on his leg hairs and giggle when he would grab my hand to make me stop. That was actually a pretty good tactic. Maybe I should give that a try now, see how it goes over. Alex started asking me when Mormons were allowed to date.

Much to his chagrin, I couldn't date until I was 16.

Much to my chagrin, this led Alex to get a girlfriend named Kendra.

Much to her chagrin, this didn't really stop Alex's and my flirtation.

But pretty soon the summer came and our relationship was put on hold. I went to girls camp and EFY and didn't think about Alex. He probably played soccer.


Then came Sophomore year.

1,000 views??

You guys... as of yesterday my blog has been viewed 1,000 times. That's so nuts! Thanks for finding me entertaining.

[I just felt a really strong desire to watch Homeward Bound. AHH DOES ANYONE HAVE IT??]



To celebrate the 1,000 views, I've decided to thank everyone for the great things they've done for me in life. Here are a few shout-outs:

1. Mom, thanks for being thebomb.com (I just looked up thebomb.com and it kinda scared me). But for reals, you're kinda wonderful and I feel so lucky to have you.

2. Guy who invented pop tarts, thank you for making the s'mores kind. They're delish.

3. Guy who invented the power strip/surge protector, I can't think of anything more useful to the universe than your superfly invention. Way to be.

4. Brothers, I super like you. Thanks for being the best ever. You bring the coolness of the male population WAY up.

5. Wikipedia, you know how I love you.

6. Creator of Are You Afraid of the Dark? (D.J. MacHale -- thanks wikipedia!).



Quality x infinity = Are You Afraid of the Dark?.


Thanks for everything, wonderful people of the world! My life would suck without you...

Public school, camo pants and the BUS

When I was 12, my family moved from Utah to Florida. (But don't think I'm from Utah -- because I lived in Florida until I was 6. Not that there's anything wrong with being from Utah, I just feel like being a Florida girl is a big part of my charm.) Up until the move back to Florida, I had attended fancy private schools where uniforms were worn and classes only had like 17 kids in them.

My first year in public school was 8th grade. It was the first year I could wear whatever I wanted to school. It was also the first year I had the opportunity to take the bus.

My mom was perfectly willing and able to drive me to my middle school each morning -- when she took my little brother to school, she actually drove past me as I waited at the bus stop -- but I wanted to have the bus experience. I had always seen it in movies and Disney channel shows so I was down to experience the nitty gritty.

My first day of middle school I was excited to choose my outfit. I chose vinyl camouflage pants that zipped off at the knee (to become vinyl camo shorts, naturally). I just googled these to see if there was a picture I could show you, but it turns out I was lucky enough to own one of the only pairs to have ever existed.

I walked to the end of my road to await my big yellow chariot (bus 637) and see what kind of characters I would meet. Maybe now is a good time to tell you that I only rode the bus for like a month. Here's what I remember:

There was a girl with red hair named Megan that was in the 7th grade (though older than me, I think). She had a 2-year-old daughter. She brought pictures of her baby and told us about her sexual exploits when we played Never-Have-I-Ever.

There was a blond girl named Cassie. I think after a few weeks she and Megan discovered that they were cousins or something.

There was a large handful of Jewish kids as well. They were intimidating, attractive and very tight with one another. Most of the kids at my bus stop were Jewish. This made Yom Kippur a cold, lonely morning at the end of my street.

Our bus driver's name was Ms. Rhodes (my brother affectionately called her Ms. Bus). She was cranky and gave us assigned seats because we were misbehaving. I tried buckling my seat belt once, but was verbally abused enough to never do it again.

I think I decided to stop riding the bus around the time that Megan invited me to her birthday party. She told me to bring a cross because her house was haunted by her grandmother. But her baby would be there and I would get to see her. I brought this up to my mother (cross and all...) and she frowned saying it was probably not a good idea for me to go.

Shortly after that, the kids on my bus figured out a way to make each other black out (by crossing your arms on your chest, holding your breath, and having someone push really hard on your arms...). It was on the news and stuff.

So I stopped riding the bus. I had my mom give me a ride to school for the rest of the year.

Middle school itself was a huge challenge. Coming from an experimental private school in Utah, I didn't know what "1st Period" meant. I didn't have one teacher leading me around -- I had to navigate my own class schedule. I had also never been exposed a locker and never had to work a combination lock. Big props to Jamie Talpalar for opening my locker for me daily and helping me understand what a locker was for... "omg! you mean I can leave my books here overnight??"

It was a party. I eventually got the hang of it and made some friends. I'd love to say I started dressing better, but I just don't know if I did. As a matter of fact, I just remembered that my camo pants had an elastic wasteband.

Classy.