Getting to know the kid in me

I was thinking about some goofy things I did when I was a kid.

When I was about 6 years old, my parents took my sister and I to Bodie, CA. which is a ghost town in the High Sierras. It was pretty darn cool and I got some really interesting vibes while we were walking around. There was a camp ground nearby and we stayed a night there in our camper. We did quite a bit of camping during those next few years and it was really fun. Anyway, somehow my dad got one of those old-fashioned straight razors and an old shaving cream brush. I don't remember if he found them, or bought them, but my sister and I were explicitly told NOT TO TOUCH THE RAZOR!!! EVER!! Let me tell you, that thing made me so darn curious, but I stayed away from it and every once in a while I'd ask my dad to show it to me. Fast forward a couple of years... my parents weren't home one day and I went and got that darn razor from it's spot on the top shelf of the bookcase. I opened it up and pretended to shave my face. I then reasoned that it was really old so therefore it couldn't be sharp anymore, so I didn't know what the big deal was. Since it was old (and not sharp), for some unknown reason, I decided to test it out...ON THE ARM OF THE COUCH! Well, it cut right through and I liked how it did that so much that I cut 2 more times. Reality then set in and I freaked out. Of course my mom saw the damage not long after she got home, and I thought about blaming my little sister, but I'm a terrible liar and got in huge trouble for cutting the couch... with the razor I wished I'd never seen. I got the belt for that one.

Another classic moment is the time when we were camping in the High Sierras, and I snuck a match out of the box in the camper. All I wanted to do was find out if matches lit if they were struck on something other than the thing on the box. Of course we were told NOT TO TOUCH MATCHES!! EVER! Anyway, I went over to a tree and thought I was hidden behind it, but in reality I wasn't fooling anyone and was in perfect sight of my dad, whom I hadn't noticed. I tried to strike the match a couple of times on the bark, and my curiosity was satisfied when it didn't light. I turned around and my dad was standing there. Of course I got the "What are you DOING?" question... a lecture, and the belt again.

One day I was at my grandma's house and I picked up a stick to see if it would make a mark on the shingles on the side of her house. May I add that she just had the whole house painted dark brown a week earlier. Ok, well I proceeded to make (count 'em) four lines on the shingle that showed up just fine. As usual, I couldn't stop at just one before that dang reality set in. The problem was... I made the lines on the front of the house in plain sight of anyone coming in the driveway and house. I went running around looking for paint (surely there was some left over somewhere), and couldn't find any. I gave up and went in the house to waited to be found out. We were watching my grandma's house for her at the time, and my parents were out running errands. When they got back, I could see them get out of the car, walk toward the house, stop, back up and stare at the shingle. You guessed it, belt again.

I was in Jr. High and it was the Friday before Easter Vacation, also known as: The one-solid-week-of-fun-with-my-cousins-extravaganza! Unfortunately, report cards were sent home a couple of days before, and mine wasn't exactly what my parents expected of me. I told my sister to hide hers (she got all A's and B's), and I would hide mine until after Easter vacation. So we did. Apparently, my stupid sister hid hers under her bed. My mom found it while vacuuming. My sister was home sick that day so I can only imagine the lecture she got before I got home. Well, I come bouncing up the sidewalk to our front door like Tigger, I was on Cloud 9 that Friday!!! I can only say it's a long fall back to Earth from that particular cloud. My mom opened the door, holding my sisters report card, and said "WHERE'S YOURS". Not a question, a demand. Of course I got put on restriction for the whole vacation, and had to do 3 hours of homework whether I had it or not every night for the 2 months. Sheesh.

Note: This last story I have doesn't involve me getting in trouble, for once. It's just about me being a dork and my bizarre reasoning.
I was in in Jr. High and in LOVE with Donny from Sha-na-na. I watched the show religiously every afternoon (it was in syndication by then), and I decided to write him a letter in care of the TV station. I asked him if he was married, what he liked to do for fun, and how old he was. I was 13 at the time, but told him I was 14 (like that would make a difference), and told him I loved him. I also sent a school picture which was very unflattering with my braces and feathered hair that didn't work out well that day. I can only imagine his reaction to this whole thing. I waited months and months and gave up. On the day of my sister's birthday sleep-over I got a letter from Donny... we were all crazy for Sha-na-na and completely lost our minds! He wrote me a very nice letter and autographed picture (which I framed and put on my nightstand). He mentioned that his wife said he was too old for a 14 year-old girl.
Oh, the heartbreak! What on earth was I thinking anyway? LOLOLOL