I've been unpacking boxes in my computer room/office in our house ... OK, wait a minute! That's a lie! I get halfway through one box, find something I want, and then I'm done. At this rate, my office will be finished just in time for us to move again.
Anyway, the point is that I've been, on rare occasions, going through some boxes up here, and I've managed to come across an entire collection of my trophies/awards/ribbons from my school days. At the time, these all seemed very impressive, but in retrospect, it looks like a horrible museum exhibit: The Life of a Dork!Here's a small sampling of the things I've run across:
- First Place - 1990 La. Tech Fall Invitation Quiz Bowl trophy
- Participation trophy (That's right, I didn't even win anything!) from the 1992 Superconducting Super Collider Regional Science Bowl
- Youth Appreciation Week Citation from The Optimist Club
- Second Place ribbon from the 1982 St. Joseph Field Day relay (I'm pretty sure there were only two teams.)
- My "Bear" pin from my Cub Scout days
- Third Place ribbon in the 1992 Louisiana Academic Decathlon - Fine Arts division (Damn, I want to kick my own ass now!)
- The Perfect Attendance ribbon from my Army JROTC unit, with second year commendation!
- Second Place for the 1991 Math Quiz Bowl (Notice there's not a whole lot of victories indicated here.)
- Bronze medal - National Science Olympiad finals (No idea what the category or year was)
- Broadmoor Middle Lab Male Student of the Year - 1988 (The Heisman Trophy of 8th grade geek awards.)
- My Honor Guard Commander's shoulder cord (It's a hard job holding up the flag.)
I knew I was a geek, but sometimes I allow myself to be deluded. You know, maybe I was a little cooler than I remember. And then I stroll across evidence like this, and I am forced to wonder what the hell I was thinking!And it's not like I'm getting any cooler. That box of trophies is right now stacked in front of my bookshelf. A bookshelf, mind you, that is completely stuffed with comic books. And I didn't even start to buy comics until I hit 30 or so, so I can't even claim they're mere childhood remnants.
To be honest, I'm surprised I don't have somebody giving me a wedgie on a daily basis!
Until next time,
The Jim
6 comments:
Those. Photos. Are. Awesome! Seriously, I was there in the sidelines for your so-called geek days. I WAS the geek. You were too smart to even be geek -- everyone was in awe of you. All those second place and bronze medal awards just indicate you were so smart you didn't give a shit. I must agree with you on the JROTC business. WTF were you thinking?!?!?!
Oh, I forgot to say "pppfffftttt" on the over 30 and comic book thing. My husband and I still play Dungeons and Dragons once a week in our upstairs room devoted to roleplaying and miniatures. Can you say NERD?
I think your husband's status as a musician trumps the D&D thing, or at least offsets it. I, on the other hand, have no such counterbalance.
Jim,
Found your blog today through Will's blog and have laughed a lot this evening while taking a break from Christmas decorating.
What I want to know is who won BMLS's Female Student of the Year for '88? 'Cause it wasn't Molly or me and I want a recount.
Word,
Kerry
Dude,
You got lots of second-places because you were too cool to care. I still call you the smartest person I've ever known. And, as I usually consider myself the smartest person in the room (insert evil grin here), that's high praise.
Hey, you need to post something about Mrs. Lyles. I'd like to know a little about her.
The only thing that could have made that ROTC pic any more awesome would have been a mustache.
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