I have been doing practice PSAT tests with Charlie since he is taking the test on Saturday, and it is really quite amazing how many I get wrong. I've never considered myself to be anything less than fairly intelligent, but if you base this on current standardized testing -- I appear to be semi-moronic!
Which I am perfectly cool with, because in my world it is the morons who design these tests, so it all works out. What I don't get is why they are trying to trip you up: Just make it a test to see if kids get things or not. They are so gawdawful boring that I lose my train of thought and can hardly get through 20 questions. I think the ones I get wrong are the ones I don't want to think about ... because who cares! Seriously.
So I snitched this off of my daughter's blog who snitched it off someone else's.
1. gone on a blind date? Yes, I was living in Boston and a co-worker asked me to go out on a date with him, his girlfriend and his friend. I didn't know him all that well and I was 22 and I discovered they were much older than me and we went to a nice restaurant and then a party at a really nice house that were friends of theirs. I was completely out of my comfort zone and couldn't tell you much about the guy. I can tell you in great detail what it felt like to be in the back of the car (it was a Saab) feeling totally out of my element and wondering how I could get out of the whole thing and get home! And then afterward getting phone calls from the guy and wanting him just to go away. Never did that again!
2. skipped school? I think I could write a novel based on skipping school escapades. Like the time a bunch of us were skipping school and hanging at Dana Fifield's house and the maids came, and we had to all hang in her closet for hours until they left. Or the time Heidi and I decided we were going to be rock stars and stayed home to practice our gig. Which consisted ENTIRELY of her playing "I'm leaving on a Jet Plane" on the guitar doing back up while I sang. We even told the vice-principal that when we did finally return to school. We were THAT serious.
3. watched someone die? No.
4. been on a plane? Oh yes, more than I can count. The first time was when I flew to Washington, D.C. with my father and grandmother. He was working with a senator at the time and needed to visit the Pentagon, and my grandmother's family all lived there. I had a fabulous time ... I think I was 12 maybe? I don't know, maybe younger. I can recall looking down at the clouds and thinking it would be the BEST THING to jump out of the plane and land on those fluffy beds of wonder.
5. been on the opposite side of your country? Yes -- I've dipped my toes in both the Atlantic and Pacific.
6. swam in the ocean? That's like asking me if I breathe air.
7. had your booze taken away by the cops? No, I don't like to share with anyone!
8. lettered in high school sport? Yes! volleyball, basketball and softball.
9. cried yourself to sleep? The first time was when my high school boyfriend left for school after we'd spent the entire summer on inseparable terms. I cried and cried, wrapped up in his sweater, and even woke up in the middle of the night sobbing. Now I know I was crying for something that would never happen again, though at the time I didn't understand the depth of my misery, since he was only a few hours away! But it was truly a first love, an intense summer romance, that we tried to keep alive for a few years beyond that, but it was never the same. I guess I knew all along that night.
10. played cops and robbers? Oh you betchya! Peter Henning lived up the road and he had GUNS to die for. He also had the most incredible treehouse, and instead of cops and robbers we played cowboys and Indians. I happened to be the latter, and I was trying to attack the cowboys in the treehouse, and I was climbing up the ladder, when they started to crank it up. (It had a chain that they could crank up at the top and pull the ladder flush to the floor of the tree house.) I kept going, they kept cranking ... and then they let go, and I fell to the ground and landed on a rock. My ankle was done in, but those damn cowboys didn't care one hoot. I had to crawl back to my teepee on my hands and knees and get the mother squaw to take me to the E.R. I don't think I ever had to be anything but a cowboy after that, high and dry in the treehouse!
11. sung karaoke? Well, not in public, but we've had karaoke machines for years, and there's nothing like singing at the top of your lungs for a few hours to release some steam. Oh wait! We had a party once and we DID sing to a crowd! I sang "It's my party and I'll cry if I Want to!" HAHAHAHA. That's right.
12. paid for a meal with coins only? This question is purely to find out how old you are! And the answer is yes, I come from a time when you could pay for a small meal with coins!
13. done something you told yourself you wouldn’t? Yes, like get married, have children, or eaten that last slice of pizza. I am crazy impetuous and clearly don't listen to myself!!!
14. cheated on an exam? Wrote the answers on my hand then was too afraid to look at my hand!!! Then spent a good portion of the time trying to get the answers OFF my hand! Crime just doesn't pay, too stressful. I'd rather flunk!
15. made prank phone calls Hello, is your refrigerator running? Oh, we thought so, it just ran by our window. Hello, do you have Prince Edward in a can? Well, you better let him out, he's going to suffocate. I tell ya, the demise of one of the greatest pastimes of childhood has been CALLER ID.
16. laughed until some sort of beverage came out of your nose? Yes, but only because I laugh a lot. It was bound to happen!
17. caught a snowflake on your tongue? Yes, and if you're wondering what happens, it melts.
18. watched the sunrise with someone you care about? My friend Heidi and I climbed Mt. Kearsarge in the dark once to see the sunrise. We cared about each other plenty, but all we REALLY cared about at the top of that mountain was water -- which we hadn't thought to bring with us. Oh, and a sunrise on top of a mountain looks much like a sunrise at the bottom of a mountain. I never repeated that particular exercise.
I also sat and watched the sunrise on a beach in Greece, but the guy was only a passing-by Australian and I never saw him again.
19. been kissed under the misteltoe? Do people actually hang that up? Can't say I've ever seen it.
20. ever been arrested? Well, yes and no. I was followed to the police station by the police in the get-away car (that clearly didn't get away) from stealing roadside signs. My friend Nancy was driving, and quite frankly I kept saying it was STUPID to drive around in a Chevette hatchback with the signs hanging out. We sat on chairs in the police station until our parents came to get us. I wasn't fingerprinted or put into the clink. So, what do you think? Somewhere in between I guess!
21. gone ice skating? Oh yes. Heidi and I (I think this was just before we were going to be rock stars) were going to be ice skating somethings. She lived on the lake, so we spent hours and hours and hours and hours perfecting our skills. Since then I've skated many times ... but clearly, I should have been an ice skating rock star!
22. been skinny dipping outdoors? Well of course!!!
23. had a nickname? Nothing I care to remember or put back into the ether.
24. been on TV? It seems hard to imagine that I haven't! I was on the Uncle Gus show when I was a kid, but that was a local station. Guess not!
2 comments:
I can believe you didn't count Uncle Gus. I would have...it was the first thing that popped into my head when I read the question. It was the only time I was ever on TV and I would count it as a YES!
Well, since you and I are probably the ONLY native New Hampshireite's we both know, then for us I say YES! I've been on TV -- AND I won the game where you stood in the corner and he threw rings and you caught them on your arm. Which was a relief, because I was so afraid I'd get hit on the head with the map!
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