An interview with myself about my childhood:

Question 1: Who influenced you most during your school years?

Writers and teachers have always had the most influence on me--no wonder I have aspired to be both. I was always the class pet and I enjoyed learning that there was no way I wouldn't have been affected by my teachers. However, I did not begin reading seriously (obsessively) until I was in 5th grade. I had been enrolled in a gifted and talented program and I was clueless about what was expected to me. My teacher, who I didn't like very much, introduced me to their bookshelves. I had basically read everything in the regular school library, and books had just been a part of my life--like tv is for other children. But at that point I was introduced to the great children's authors of the day, especially my favorite, Madeleine L'Engle. I can remember when the Challenger explosion happened and my sitting in front of the tv reading my Swiftly Tilting Planet.

Another person at school who influenced me a lot was not a teacher, but the school nurse. Her name was Melissa Bendickson, and she was very progressive. She taught us about AIDS in 1984, after Rock Hudson died. She pushed for sex education before it was a big deal. She allowed me to lay on her cot in her office whenever I felt ill, or sick to my stomach, as I often did. I would look up at the ceiling where there were posters of cats (which we both liked) that would comfort me. She was young, in her thirties, and more active in the education of children than most school nurses are. In fact, she is still the school nurse at the elementary school I went to.

Another teacher I had that was influential was my music teacher, Mrs. Kidd. From age three or four I had wanted to be a song writer, and I was encouraged musically by this young teacher. She was also a friend to my mother's best friend, also a music teacher, and so we had some kind of a bond. She was the first person to notice that I needed glasses, when she asked me to read music on the wall to play a song on the piano. When I couldn't do it, she noticed I was squinting horribly, and she marched right to the school nurse who gave me a vision test. I was taking piano lessons afterschool, and Mrs. Kidd supplemented my music education by taking a special interest in me. Additionally, I would wake up early every day in order to be in the school choir. She encouraged me to go to the school of performing arts, and coached me for my audition. I was accepted, but I before I could attend, we moved away to California. For three months I fantasized about what it would have been like to have gone on to a music intensive school, feeling like I had some how let down Mrs. Kidd.

In high school, I was influenced by my swimming coaches, who weren't teachers, and in some cases, were only a few years older. I had practise early in the morning and after school, and many swim meets in the evening. The coaches were always very kind and understanding when I would pull myself out of the pool and dry heave or run to the bathroom to vomit pool water. They watched me cloself, in order to see what events would be best for me, and cheered whenever I made any improvement. The thing I learned most from my swim practises was discipline. Every morning, every afternoon, after lunch swim class or weight room, and every swim meet, I dreaded getting in the water. We had to swim in cold rain in a heated pool, and in the dark at night. When we couldn't swim due to the weather we had to do weights, or do swimming excersises on the ground like fish struggling outside of water. I would swim so much, I couldn't eat, because of having swallowed too much chlorine. The smell of chlorine was always in my hair, which was very long and was always wet. I took four showers day, to wach out the chlorine. I would fall into bed at night, and dream of swimming, and do visualization techniques to improve my times. I paid attention to every sound that came out of my coaches mouth. Like a ballet dancer does with her teacher, I struggled to make the slightest change in my posture, position and stroke in order to cut one or two seconds off of my times.

background music:
Offspring's "She's Got Issues"

I haven't written in awhile, and I wanted to do something a little bit different for my first entry of the month. I am very upset about the "guilty' verdict that the Federal courts found against Microsoft. I think it will only end up hurting the consumers. It seems like there have been a lot of unjust court decisions being made lately, such as the rejection of nude dancing as a form of speech! Of course, I think the issue should be argued on the grounds of rights, and not free speech, but the result is the same: the curbing of our freedom. And it also looks like the Microsoft judgment might lead to computer/internet regulations, which would really suck eggs. In my "investment challenge" game on yahoo, you can already see the stock market being affected by this judgment. Microsoft's stock when down 15 percent! And the NASDAQ (which is heavily tech oriented) was down 300 points! Of course, that doesn't help out my stock earnings, and just makes me want to pull out of tech stocks--like millions of others are doing!

On Sunday, I went to a meeting to discuss my trip to Europe this summer, and I have been thinking about it a lot since then. I think that I will get a big dose of cultural reality when I visit, and see how different America is from other countries. However, it stil hasn't sunk in really that I am actually going! Today I stood in line to turn in the paper work for my passport, which was like standing in line to get your driver's license. I am really excited about getting my passport--it is one more step towards actually going on my trip! It turns out the flight is only 7-9 hours long. My trip to Hawaii was longer! So, I am not as worried about that as I was before. I have gotten over my fear of flying, but sometimes my body still rebels, and I get sick on a plane. The way for me to avoid that is if I can sleep on the plan--and no matter what 9 hours gives me enough time to actually sleep. I like the idea of becoming a world traveler.

This weekend my mom's cousin Janet visited from Boston, and we went to see High Fidelity. It was a good movie, and it had a great soundtrack, which I definitely want to get. Also, there was a BIG storm here in Houston the past few days. I was asleep on Sunday night when all of the sudden I was woken up by the house shaking and thunder and lightning that seemed right on top of the house. I opened my eyes I looked up and I still saw my dream, almost burnt into my retina, in front of my eyes. I was confused by the shaking and lightning and thunder that was going on at the same time of my dream. I had a hard time knowing what was going on, like it might have been an earthquake--so I ran for the doorjam! Of course, when I got up, I figured it out, and went back to sleep. As I will now...

night,
Melissa

04/04/00 05:36:59 AM