Oppo BDP-83 Back to School Contest  

My first car was a '78 Dodge Aspen.  The thing was a TANK on the outside but mostly a pile of junk under the hood by the time I got it.  On my first day of school the year I got it, I was sitting in an auditorium full of football players getting our first pep talk of the year from the coach when the intercom interrupts his speech, blasting out 'C B V FIFTY THREE V PLEASE REPORT TO THE PARKING LOT, YOUR HORN IS GOING OFF'.... 

I shrink down in my chair as my buddies start giggling.  Two minutes go by and the intercom bursts out again with an even more annoyed secretary 'CBV53V report to your car immediately'.  I consider harakiri.  Finally, the principal himself gets on and shouts 'IF CBV53V is your car get your ass out here NOW or it will be towed at your expense'... 

As I stand up the coaches just start shaking their heads and I don't even bother to ask to be excused.  I slump out to the parking lot with a million people watching me, open it up and start punching the wheel to get the short in the horn to right itself.  But it won't.  I try and try, and nothing I do will get it to stop its loan, mournful and loud drone.  After a while I could tell it was starting to affect the battery as it starts to falter just a bit, so finally I pop the hood and physically rip the wires to the horn out.  The horn faltered with a final whirring hoonnnnnnk like a dying goose and the crowd went wild.

That was my first day back.  I got plenty of razzing for it, but the legend of that car only grew a week later when in the same parking lot an elderly bus driver whipped out of her lane and into it and physically drug the aspen for 50' or more with her screaming in Italian so loud I could hear her through both of our closed windows.  When she finally had the sense to hit the brake I got out and looked and there was not a scratch on the car.  I shrugged at her with her still jabbering on, got back in and drove home.... 

I loved that car and don't miss that school.  Haven't been back except for a couple football games. 

So...I was a senior in high school (in Los Angeles, CA) researching my undergraduate college choices.  I narrowed my choices down to the University of Southern California (USC), University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), UC Riverside, UC Davis and the University of Arizona.  I went to visit every campus and ultimately just fell in love with the University of Arizona.  It felt like where I was supposed to be, and I could not explain why.  

You see...when I was younger, one of my first "visions" of what college would be like was from the movie Revenge Of The Nerds.  I had seen the movie dozens of times growing up in the late 80's.  I knew everything about it (so I thought).  I thought all college campuses had red brick buildings and sunshine drenched palm trees lining a long grass mall.  (I also, of course, thought that nerds would be persecuted by the jocks.)   Anyway I ultimately chose to go to college at the University of Arizona.  

When I arrived on campus at the U of A I literally said to myself, "this is what I always envisioned college would look like."  I was a trumpet player and was going to be in the band wherever I ended up and even the red and blue band uniforms at Arizona were the same as those at the bonfire at end of the movie.  The U of A even had a student run Spring Carnival every year.  So the U of Arizona became my college and despite leaving home for the first time and living in a state away from my family...I could not have been happier.  

It was not until 4 months into my freshman year that I learned the movie Revenge Of The Nerds was actually filmed at the University of Arizona campus.    

And thus, it all became clear.  My college choice was subliminally made by my fond memories of a 1984 comedy film.  

I always enjoyed my first days back in grade school (Kinder - Grade 8). You were always more inncent, no stress really, and no real responsibilities. No peer pressure either. High School was a 4 year blur to this day. College was tough and my Associates Degree has helped me get work in many places in Ontario, New Jersey, & Alberta. 

My kindergarden class friends are still with me to this day!! We are a close circle, and although with age we go in & out of contact, its good to you that they are there for you and you for them.

Have never kept in touch with high school or college folks. Just worked out that way.

Cheers,

joe

I started school in Marietta, GA in the early 70s.  And after partying too much in the second grade, and not quite getting the 2+2 thing or the whole Dick/Jane/Spot/ball deal, I was told I'd be repeating it all.  Mom told me that.  The teacher told me that, probably shaking her finger at me the whole time.  All the other kids probably knew it too. Even the janitor probably knew how stupid I was.  But on the first day of 2nd Grade-mach 2...?    I went to third grade!        I learned very little in that 10 minutes of my self-imposed first day of advanced learning before they pegged who was supposed to be in that empty chair in the 2nd grade... they came and got me.    Gotta love those stares as you're being led back to the second grade...like the death row walk. 

I got it right the second time, I'm proud to say.  Plus, I have 2 of the funniest 2nd grade class pictures you could hope for.  *picks nose*  *scratches butt*

I would not say favorite memories, but my unusual memories of the first day of school - and a day I would never forget.  In 7^th grade, I went from a small Catholic school with 1 classroom to a large public school where you changed classrooms for every course.  None of my friends went to the new school, so I was all by myself.  Things were going OK until lunch time, when I got into a pickup football game.  I think I overdid it in the game, and was not feeling too good when I went to my English class.  I started to feel sick so I raised my hand to be excused.  I had waited too long to realize this, and proceeded to vomit all over myself and my desk.  My mother had to come and pick me up, and I was called “Pukey” for the rest of the year – luckily a nickname that did not stick.

My memories of elementary school:  Waiting for the school bus to pick me up.  Listening to the radio on snowy days to see if the buses would be canceled.  Playing baseball, and "elimination" in the gym.  Taking second place in the chess contest.  Joining a science club.  Being the escort for the "princess" on prom night for the high schoolers.  Looking forward to the annual gift of Russell Stover candies and five dollars at Christmas.  Singing Christmas songs in the school auditorium before an audience of students and parents.  The most emotional moment for me was when my working mom took time off to bring me a white shirt to wear for the singing show.  All I could think of was how much she was doing for me.  One of the most gregarious singers in that school was a guy by the name of Mike Anderson.  He later went on to appear in movies and TV (Mulholland Drive,Twin Peaks, and Deep Space 9).

After the 7th grade, I moved to a much bigger school in a tougher neighborhood.  I was quite scared, but I managed to adjust.  To paraphrase The Road Warrior, Boettcher School exists now only in memories.

My memories of grade school revolve around baseball.

First, in 1969 I was in the third grade. Apparently we were a pretty good class one day as the teacher rolled a television into the room and asked what we wanted to watch. The two most popular requests were the 5th (and final, as it turned out) game of the '69 World Series (they were played during the day back then, even during the week) and a re-run of That Girl. So the teacher decided to take a vote for those two options. There were 15 boys in the class and 16 girls. That Girl won 16-15!   Not a single Tom Boy in the whole freaking class!

Second, In 1972 I was in class thinking I was sly for bringing a transister radio and ear plug to school so I could listen to the Oakland A's play the Detroit Tigers in the Playoffs. Thought I was the only one. I remember gasping in horror as Reggie Jackson breaks his leg sliding into Home Plate scoring a crucial run! But several other kids (all boys, of course) also gasped in horror at the same moment. We were all busted! Radios confiscated. Ah, the memories of youth.

I remember my first day of kindergarten in NJ. It was a Catholic school with a chain-link fenced in asphalt playground. I got off the bus and just stood there watching the other kids play basketball, chase each other, jump rope, etc... I didn't know anyone and didn't have a clue what to do. Nobody paid much attention to me and looking at how I was dressed in this picture, maybe that is why.  This is the actual 1st day of kindergarten picture my mom took.

My memories of high school revolved around music and movies. This was 1978 and the first VHS machines were hitting the market. I was in 11th grade and had one of those very first VHS machines that weighed about fifty pounds and loaded the tape on the top. Well, my 9th and 10th grades were not good ones because I had gotten into the wrong group of friends and smoked alot of pot, my grades fell and I did nothing socially but go to parties. In the summer before my 11th grade year, I decided enough was enough and went into treatment. I was there all summer. It was like magic, everything changed for me. So being a big movie and music fan, I treated myself to my first VHS machine and the first General Electric rear-projection television. This model was one of those that could only be viewed if you were sitting almost directly in front of it. I then started to buy my first video tapes from Magnetic Video, which was the first company to release movies on VHS. I ten started having movie nights in my parents basement, which was a huge room. I hooked the VHS unit (even though it was mono) up to my stereo, and played the sound through it. You could say I had one of the very first home theaters available on the market. I was able to pay for this by DJ'ing dances and on our local radio station, where I had the evening shift, and saved up enopugh to but this equipment.

I started to have friends over, and word got around. At around the same time, our cable system started showing movies on HBO, which was very new at the time, so I started taping those. Well, it turned out that 3 or 4 nights a week I had 10-20 people over from my class watching movies, and we had such a great time. Of course after that some of the other studios started releasing tapes, and I opened a video rental store here in town, even though only about 20 families had a VHS or Beta machine. It grew and for a few years I was very successful, running this while in my senior year (hiring a manager). But it was the movie nights at home that were so special. Bringing the family together with that 2-pack VHS version from  Magnetic Video of The Sound of Music (I still have it) and also on other nights bringing friends from school over and having very fun movie nights. In my 12th grade year, I would take my VHS machine to the school where in social studies once every few weeks our teacher would let us watch movies, of course historical like Patton.

Thus began my love (and very expensive journey) into home theater, and it all started in my high school years with my school friends. I became known in school as movieman:-).

Okay, I was going to enter this, but after that last entry I just can't beat that.

However, if you want to give the prize to someone less fortunate, I'll gladly take it :)  I remember the first home VCRs coming out and bugged my parents to get one, but they didn't, and I was much too young to afford one myself.

My fondest memories of the first day of school are from grade school. I always got the butterflies the night before, but I was excited and looking forward to the first day as well. My Mom would take me shopping for new clothes, new shoes, a new lunchbox, crayons, eraser, and one of those decorated cardboard pencil boxes to put everything in (do they still make those?) I attended grade school in Las Vegas in the mid-late 1970's, and we always started school after Labor Day, which is something that isn't done where I live now in Georgia and I think it's odd. Even though it was September when we started, it was still very hot in Vegas and the weather wouldn't start to cool off until October. So, for that first month of school it would be like an oven when we went outside for recess.

Popsicles were sold at my school during our after-lunch recess, which helped us cool off outside. My Mom would always put 50 cents in my lunchbox so that I could buy one. There was an elderly man who opened up one of the school's exterior doors that faced the playground, he'd set up a school desk in the doorway, and sell popsicles from the freezer that was in the hallway. I'm not sure if he did anything else at the school, he may have done some janitorial work, or he may have just been a volunteer. But, he'd always get a student-helper to take the popsicle orders out of the freezer while he took the money. It finally got to be my turn to help (I may have been in the 2nd grade, I'm not sure), and I was so excited because the "helper" got to eat as many popsicles as they wanted. I must have eaten at least four or five of them. My favorites were the Bomb Pops (red, white and blue), the Big-Sticks (cherry pineapple) and of course the 2-stick Twin Popsicles (root beer or banana) that the man would hold against the edge of the desk and hit with his hand to break them in half, if you wanted to split one with a friend. I remember the man was very nice, and very soft-spoken and patient with the kids. I wonder if he had any idea that he'd still be remembered so fondly after over 30 years.

Who knows if that still goes on at any school today, or if they're even allowed to sell popsicles at public schools anymore, but I'm glad I attended school at a time when it was allowed because it's one of my most pleasant memories. I don't know if it's just the taste of them, or the pleasant associations I have with them, but even as an adult, I still seek out the pops that were my favorites as a child. I managed to finally find the Big Sticks here on the East coast, but my hunt for the Root Beer Twin Pops goes on....

I went straight into the job market after completing my Associate's degree in 1989.  The thought of more school for a Bachelor's after already operating in my field as a professional through the excellent "Cooperative Education" program at my Community College was out of my head.  I took a few classes dabbling at completing my Bachelor's, but never took it seriously.  Then I was transferred to another city and the thought completely left my mind.

Years later I was involved in a horribly managed IT project, I used that as my inspiration.  I decided to turn my disadvantage, only having an AS in Computer Science, into an advantage, by getting a Bachelor's in IT Management.  I had seen so many IT professionals fall into management jobs and not be competent to manage because their background was in the details of computer science.

So I went back to school.  It took me years of part-time work, but I completed my Bachelor's in IT Management.  Best thing was I was a student at George Mason University for their historic 2006 run to the Final Four.  What an amazing place to be!

My first day of school story involves my son ... he was nervous about his first day in first grade and so was I. You see ... since starting my home theater consulting and installation biz - my son and I had been together every day for three years. That was a very nice change because while I was working long, thankless hours as video engineer for a large corporation during the first three years of his life I missed out on a LOT of his early development and milestones along the way - but we had been making up for lost time and were basically inseparable for the three years leading up to his first day in school -- working for yourself without a clueless suit/boss to answer to definitely has its advantages when it comes to sharing time with your family.

I still remember the tearful goodbye at his classroom like it was yesterday ... we both decided beforehand that we'd suck it up and be brave -- but when that day actually came we were both VERY apprehensive and when it came time to leave him with his new class we both were in tears. Walking away from his classroom that day was one of the toughest things I've ever done - and that covers a lot of ground there.... I had a lump in my throat that felt like I'd swallowed a watermelon and tears so thick I could barely see to find my way down the hall (I'm getting teary-eyed recalling it now) -- but I kept going and so did he as he's now in second grade.

BTW - This year his first day in 2nd grade wasn't nearly as hard on either of us -- but I still got a bit choked up again as we had been having a blast this Summer together. Dammit why is Summer break so short these days? When I was a kid it seemed like Summer lasted forever and now it's like Summer is over in just a few weeks!!??

My favorite memory of returning to school was actually starting my freshman year of college.  Only 17, with a 15-hour, 800 + mile drive, I left home, more than a bit nervous.  Most of my high school friends went on "en masse" to one of 2 other area schools.  That would have been the comfortable thing for me to do as well.  But electing to leave on an adventure, where there was no safe shelter or comfort of the familiar, made me more independent.  It strengthened my character.  It introduced me to people who remain good friends to this day.  It took me to experiences & places around the world, I would never had a chance to be a part of had I done what the majority of others from my home town did.  Arriving at 17 among thousands of strangers was an eye opening experience, but it became the most interesting "back to school" experience of all. 

For me, my favorite memories for back to school was the new clothing, book bags (back in the 70s, they were called book bags).  Still linked to the this memory is my anticipation of the new fall season for cartoons.  Mom allowed us to stay up a little later to watch the "sneak peak" shows till 8:30 p.m.  

I remember arriving at the U. of Miami for graduate school.  About 12 hours after I got to my dorm, Hurricane Andrew hit.  I was on the 11th floor of a concrete block building that had stairwells on the outside -- one of the doors leading to the stairs got messed up and a bunch of us tried to tie it shut with a long telephone cord.  The noise, all night long, was incredible.  Nobody slept.

Nothing like bonding with your new dorm mates by getting confined indoors for a week in late-summer Miami with no air conditioning or running water!  (DON'T ask me about the bathrooms!)

They ended up sending everyone home for a few weeks.  I'd graduated college a year early, so I spent the time attending parties at my old school with my friends who were then seniors.  :)

Which brings me to the first day of college. . .my room was on the 2nd floor, overlooking one of the main quads.  I rolled my 150 watt keyboard amp to the window, plugged in my CD player, and treated half the campus to Moving Pictures.  Awesome.

As long as I'm on a roll. . .on my son's second day of kindergarten, when my wife picked him up he said "Mommy, Mommy, I really like school and I want to go here FOREVER!!!"  I just hope he doesn't say the same thing on the second day of college. . .

My favorite back to school memory is when I transferred from a local community college to a 4 year school about an hour away. I moved all my stuff into a tiny 1-bedroom apartment that I shared with 2 other guys on a Friday. The sleeping arrangement was one twin bed and one bunk bed. To celebrate my moving in and the upcoming school year, we decided to go to a party at the apartment of a friend of my friend on Saturday night. We partied there from about 8 o'clock until 2 in the morning. We drank, ate, talked, watched movies and lived it up as 20 year olds can.

The best part of the weekend didn't involve me at all. My roommate, a life long friend, met his future wife at the party. They started dating that October and will celebrate 4 years of marriage this November.

The worst part? Throwing up a six pack of beer and 4 hot dogs into the bushes behind the apartment building that night.

The night before I started 8th grade a friend of mine and I got into his dad's liquor cabinet. No stumbling or puking, we simply toasted each other and bid farewell to another summer.

My  story is not about my to school, but rather what that day lead to. I returned to school the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology at age 28 enrolled in a course of Electronics Technologist Broadcast speciality. That lead to my being hired by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in my third year, working nights and weekends after school in The Western Canada Delay center, delaying the national Television signals to the Central, Mountain and Pacific regions .

During that period I was able to meet the director of special events for radio, and occasionally watch him work with musicians and actors.

After Graduation I applied to work in Radio as an operating technician.  After that I started to be able to meet with Musicians actors writers etc. and be able to interact as well as and work with them. I was able to interact with the likes of The Kings Singers, Canadian writers Farley Mowat, W.O. Mitchell. and Mordecai Richler etc.,also  Musicians and composers both performing  for concerts as well as doing Dramatic Cues for radio plays and documentaries.

I also met an announcer who returned home to work for CBC after having left the country in the 50s to work for both Pirate radio, and then the BBC, where he became friends with, amongst others, the Beatles and Roger Whitaker and then me. I obtained great satisfaction having been able to interact with these people who were, like me, involved in the entertainment industry and had expanded my world in a most pleasant way.

So a week ago Monday we were scrambling to get all the kids up and ready for the first day of school. For our youngest boy, Thomas, this was going to be his first day in kindergarten. He was so excited to finally be able to go to school with his older brothers. He got up and got dressed in his new little uniform, filled up his new backpack with things to take, helped put his lunch together, had Mom take his picture in front of the fireplace, and was the first one in the van ready to go with a big smile on his face.

I drove the boys down to the school on my way in to work, then took them inside and went to the school office to drop off some medical supplies for one of my boys who has a peanut allergy, giving instructions to my oldest to walk his little bro over to his classroom. After giving them hugs and sending them on their way, I talked to the school nurse, then left for work.

Sitting down at my desk about a half hour later, I get a phone call from the school.

"Mr. Whitlock? We've got your son, Thomas, down here at the office."

"Oh, what happened? Is something wrong?"

"Um, no, he's fine. But kindergarten doesn't start until next week."

Silence....

"I'll be right there."

Turns out the little guy got left in the hall and wandered around till he found his class, then waited alone till his teacher showed up to tell him kindergarten started next Monday and took him to the office. At least he wasn't completely devastated, and Dad did take him out to try and make up for it. So maybe there's some bad parent award out there somewhere for moms and dads who don't remember when kindergarten is supposed to start. It was a long week with him asking every morning, "Do I get to go to school today?"

We did the first day of school repeat for him yesterday, and all is now well.

I told Thomas about this contest this morning and asked him if I could share his story. He said, "Ok Dad, maybe if you win, I'll forgive you."

When I was about 6 years old, my mother noticed that I was limping. It hurt to walk, so she kept me out of school for a couple of days figuring that it would go away. It didn't, so she took me to the family doctor. He didn't know what it was so he referred us to an orthopedic surgeon. This was the start of being out of school for many months so my parents could keep taking me to all kinds of specialists.

It turned out to be a very rare bone disease called "Perthes"  that wears away the hip ball and socket. The treatment at the time was to wear a brace on the leg that was affected. I had to wear the brace for over 2 years and at night to go to the bathroom, I had to hop on my right leg, never using the left leg. This is how I had to go to school. I was not a happy camper!

During the second year, over summer vacation, my doctor took x-rays and told me I could take the brace off for short periods of time and walk around, slowly increasing the length of time.

That first day of school was the best I ever had. I was able to walk in without the brace and everyone cheered!

Here is a link on Perthes Disease.  Most people have never heard of it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legg%E2%80%93Calv%C3%A9%E2%80%93Perthes_syndrome

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parker Clack 

Jesse:

 

Go ahead and enter anyway. Who knows you might just win. Its like the lottery. You will never win it if you don't by a ticket.

 

This response implies a random winner (like the lottery) .... but that conflicts with "The best stories will be chosen from the group and a winner picked at random." .... which states that you must submit a "best story" to be eligble .... Which is correct ??

The best stories will be chosen (more than one) and then a winner will be picked at random from that group.

I don't completely remember, but I seem to think it was my first day of first grade, and I was scared shitless. I stepped off the bus and entered a classroom, where an adult told me where I was supposed to go, It was on the second floor, way at the end of the hallway. I remember scaling this daunting staircase, traversing this long ass hallway, and entered the room.

Two girls approached me, and asked me my name. One of them pointed to my lunchbox and said there it is. Back then parents would write their kids' names on a piece of masking tape and stick it to the lunch box so it wouldn't get lost in the sea of boxes that would eventually gather in the coat room.

Apparently, these two girls - Lisa and Laurie - became friends because their initials were the same. L.L. This memory is significant because when I started to notice girls, say, around fourth or fifth grade, I got a long standing crush on this Lisa. It lasted all the way up to, and through, eighth grade, where I would ask her to these dances the school had from time to time. And, surprisingly, she would say, yes, most of the time.

And, man, were those dances magical, for lack of a better term. Especially, those slow dances with her. Burned into my mind they are. That's why are first meeting is so memorable. 

Ok, I'll tell my tale............

My two roommates and I helped one of our art teachers and his wife, load a U-haul truck with all their stuff. They were moving to Florida for better jobs. His wife went to the next town, where something was still open, and got a bucket of KFC chicken, and a couple cases of beer. We ate and drank and got all their stuff loaded. I/we got pretty drunk. For every step forward I took, I'd take one to the side, and about two back. Since I was the soberest, I drove us home (just around the corner).

We rented the whole upstairs in a house. I had to crawl up the stairs, to my bedroom. My bed was just a single mattress on the floor. I fell on the mattress and rolled over on my back. I shut my eyes, and the room started spinning. I opened my eyes, and the room kept on spinning! We all know what that means. I crawled to the bathroom, and made a pretty long call to europe on the porcelain phone! I had never been that sick before, from drinking a few beers. I promised myself that night, that I would never be in that condition again, and I haven't been drunk since. That was 1972...........

Occasionally, I'll drink one ice cold beer, to be sociable. When someone asks if I drink, I say no.

My first day back in college for my sophomore year (1995) sticks out in my mind.  During the summer I decided it was not worth it to put my hard earned cash into a car stereo system anymore, since most of my time in college was either in class or my dorm room.  So I made the transition to a home theater system.  I'll never forget how my roommate's eyes got big the first day I moved in.  He was really into Star Trek the next generation and when we watched it in surround sound, he could not stop smiling at the sound of the enterprise's warp engines humming.  Neither one of us had a tv bigger than 13", but the surround sound made it something special.  When I think back to that sophomore year, I see how my love for home theater began.