I came home from the anniversary dinner to find that Jose had tagged me. I’m not a big meme fan, but this one is interesting. I have enjoyed reading other people’s admissions to this point, so I don’t mind sharing a few myself.
1. When I was younger, much younger, I was a bit of a performer. I was the lead role, Billy, in the school play, “Billy goes to the Circus”, in the second grade. In the sixth grade I had a couple of singing solos in the school Christmas program. In the sixth grade I was also a member of the All City Sixth Grade Choir. Interestingly enough, my wife was too, though she wasn’t my wife then! In the eighth grade I was a pirate in the school musical, Peter Pan.
2. I scored an 1150 on the SAT (english and math) without studying … in the seventh grade. I was part of a “gifted student” program and we got to take the tests to see how we scored. Ironically, I never took the test again. For some reason I turned into an underachiever in high school and never even considered attending college.
3. I scored well on my Armed Forces ASVAB test and was given the opportunity to choose any job in the Army I wanted. Being a young, foolish idiot I chose to be a grunt - an Infantryman. I loved it and have never regretted my decision - I had the time of my life. I served 6 years in the Army (and came close to making it a career), leaving with the rank of Sergeant. During Desert Storm I was stuck in Germany guarding Patriot missile installations, but my son was born in Nurnburg and the Berlin wall fell while we were there so it was a memorable stay. I did make it into a war zone during Operation Just Cause in Panama, January 1990, though. However - the operation was downgraded to Operation Protecting Freedom (or something like that) six hours after our arrival so luckily I never faced any live fire.
4. After my Army enlistment I started my college career at Miami University. I got four A’s and one B (in Theatre Appreciation) my first semester. I went the next four years getting all A’s, finally getting another B in my senior year in an Accounting class where I knew my grades were high enough that I could skip the final project (a big report). I ended up with a 3.92 GPA. The best advice I can give a smart student starting college - get a B in one class your first semester! It takes all the pressure off so you can concentrate on learning rather than keeping that 4.0.
5. Because I was a “nontraditional” student, starting college at 25 and because I had decent grades, it was very easy to get small scholarships, grants, awards, etc. The summer before my junior year I spent time writing essays, checking in with the financial aid office weekly for announcements of new awards, etc. Because of this I got enough award money to completely pay my tuition, books, expenses and then some for my junior year.
Bonus: at various point in my life I have considered starting my biography titled, “People’s Exhibit A”.
Those are five pretty good points. I could go on and on, but you’d have to share a beer or two with me to make it worth my while.
To continue the Five Things theme I’m nominating a mix of co-workers, compatriots, friends and local bloggers: Kyle Beyer, Jim Holmes, James Avery, Michael Eaton and Dustin Campbell.