The following writing was the most jarring in my book, but the most prophetic.
I was nearly flunking math for the 2nd year in a row but I got the highest math score on a schoolwide test, my best friend came in second, and he was severely pissed, for a long time.Courtney was not the best friend, but he was utterly sickened with jealousy & total disbelief.
Swim Team: I was the best at the local YMCA for several years, then in 9th grade I got thrown in with a bunch of near Olympians! Yeah, I was near dead last from then on. I also had a 100 customer, 3 mile paper route to do with my dog between class getting out and doing my half-practices in the pool. I swam 1750-2500 yards most days, but the winners were doing over 5000 yards a day at a much faster pace. I don't think I broke a minute for the 100 yard free, our winners were acing sub-50 seconds in that race. So I would get put in the 500 free (7:20! vs 5:00!) just for the laps, and maybe get the 100 backstroke (1:10), or get put in a second or third string relay race. My swim team owned the pool records (in our school, and in many other schools) dating back over 10 years, for several years in a row.
I can't believe the Coach wound up on my shoulders in this pic, I must have had some strength at one time, lol. My senior year swim team was the worst because a lot of strong upperclassmen graduated and a lot of weak underclassmen came in. It was a rebuilding year for sure, because we were decimated when the upperclassmen went even though we still had the strongest swimmer, Bob Beaudry & his diving brother Andy who spent their summers training just as hard if not harder day in & day out, their father was a college swim coach who pushed far too hard, OMG!
Most improved was James Broderick, who made stunning advances week after week in 11th & 12th grade from being at my level to being near Beaudry's level. He's a natural. His face is all messed up because he hit bottom at the Newark pool while diving, that's a very old pool, he should have checked the depth indicators.
http://www.paramore.net/photo/c3ad48-clearly-not-one-of-my-finer-moments/
Hyperactive - Thomas Dolby (1984)
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