My first expulsion

2005-08-30T19:52:00.000-07:00

Well, I was chatting it up with a buddy at work today. He loves to hear my stories. You could say I have a few. In particular, he loves to hear about my school days. Not college. Elementary. You see I was what they call a "trouble maker".

My mother had pulled me out of public school and put me into private school for my 4th grade year as I had been having troubles in my other school. This was the 4th school in as many years I had attended in this town of 35,000. I had moved here in the middle of 1st grade, then bus routes changed, troubles at the 3rd, now private school.

I was a hyperactive, overly-imaginative kid. I loved to play and talk and run and do stuff, sitting in a desk was not my strong suit. Add to that my jumping around from school to school, I was a bit mis-understood.

To set the stage it was 1986, 5th grade, St. Mary's Catholic School. Bear in mind here, I am a protestant. To this day, I have a penchant for disregarding the rules. You name it, I can find a reason to break it.

In my 5th grade grammar class, we were given an assignment to correctly write several sentences, about 20, on a piece of paper. The teacher is a nun and as such, a stickler for the rules. We were told to stay inside the margins. However, I don't like to waste paper. I also push every boundary I have ever been faced with in my entire life, so I let a few single letters creep past the margins. Not words or several letters, but bits and pieces. If you saw my handwriting, you would understand.

Shortly after we hand in our papers, the recess bell rang. The teacher dismissed the class except a few kids who were either not done with the assignment or had errors. Low and behold, I was a error-maker. I was told I had to skip recess and re-write my paper.

WHAT? Are you friggin kidding me?

You can't keep a hyper-active kid away from his only release from the stressors of the 5th grade! Now here's what happened:

I popped up out of my seat said, "NO, I'm going to recess".

The teacher says, "Sit down and re-do your work!"

The following reaction is something I equate to lighting a firecracker and watching the fuse burn so fast you can't even react fast enough to drop it.

I yell, "I'M GOING TO RECESS!" and I pick up my desk and drop it, and storm out of the classroom. I only picked it up about 6 inches. I had no impulse control, it never really developed in me.

After recess, we went on to Geography, a class I really enjoyed and looked forward to. About 30 minutes in to class, the principal, Sister Mary Catherine, came to class and asked me to come with her. I had basically forgotten about the whole incident, as I often do. Then she says to grab my books, I'm like what? What's going on? And then to get my supplies from the cubby hole in geography class. Oh crap, something is really messed up.

She walks me down stairs, where there is a desk in the hall way. I had seen this before. I was once made to sit an entire week doing my classwork from this desk for all to see. It had no effect. I also see my mother in the office.

OH SHIT! This is really not good, she's crying, I am in deep shit.

I am told to sit, which I do. About 20 minutes later, I am summoned to the office. Where I am told I am being expelled and that I can no longer attend St. Mary's school.

I say, "Hey, what about my 3 strikes? I have only used 2, I have another chance, give me another chance to straighten up."

I was trying to talk my way out of it, which I had been getting pretty good at, but this time to no avail. Crap. I am really out of luck here and now I am going to be an uneducated fool forever!

When I got home, there was not the rash of beatings and lectures I expected. No, quite the opposite. No words, no nothing. I was left alone. What did happen was my dad started packing up his car. He was leaving us. He was leaving the entire family for something I had done. It was my fault.

This isn't one of those "No honey, it's not your fault daddy's leaving" kind of things, it was all my fault.

He was leaving because he though it was his fault I was demon-spawn (I am sure this is how I am still referred to at that school to this day, seeing as how I was the ONLY kid to have ever gotten kicked out of that school in its nearly 100-year history.)

So I was feeling a little guilty to say the least. I begged and pleaded with him not to go, I was sorry, won't do it again, blah blah blah. He didn't leave. To this day I don't know if he was seriously leaving or not. I have no clue, he's like that. Talk about a total mind fuck for a 10 year-old!

Anyhoo, I was left at home for the next eleven school days (yes, I counted and yes, I still remember) to watch tv and play with my Legos and GI Joes. Sure it was great, I was having a blast. Both parents worked, big house all to myself, no school. Of course, I had this huge boulder looming over me, with the idea of not getting to go back to school. Having to re-do 5th grade, that sucks! I was half way through, and I didn't want be held back.

My mom found a school that would take me. Yeah, it was getting pretty bad, the whole school system knew me by name. The school that would take me was the "poor school," where most of the low-income families lived. It also just so happened to be located a mere 2 blocks away from St. Mary's. So the neighborhood kids knew some of the St. Mary's kids.

Interesting thing, I became the "tough bad-ass who throws desks at teachers" kid. What the hell? Before I even got there, all the kids knew who I was and what I had done, albeit a bastardized, blown-up version where I threw the desk and hit the nun, putting her in the hospital (even killed her in a few stories).

I thought, I'm infamous, this is going to be awesome. Not the case. I was a freak who had issues with "authority."

I could have toned down the stories and told them what really happened, but I craved the attention. So I went along. Thus I entered my 5th school in 6 years.

My fiwst bwog entwee

2005-07-30T12:02:00.000-07:00

Welcome, Vilkommen, Bienvenue, Menudos, tacosburritos, etc etc.
hope you enjoy my blog. If you are anything like me, you will read this site, get interested for a couple of days and stop. Basically because I will be doing the same. enjoy your 1.5 minute read and move on.
Move along people, nothing to read here.......

Buicks R Us

My first expulsion

My fiwst bwog entwee