Those School girl, Urrrmmm ... I Mean, School boy Days ...

The kids started school yesterday and I know wifey will be relieved to have the boys out of her hair for a few hours ... LOL! They've been more than a handful the past 7 weeks of the holidays, practically running riot around the house (especially the younger fellow) and even more so when my cousins kids drop by for a visit which is quite often. That's when the house sounds and feels like a war zone!

We had to send the kids to school and meet their teachers, pay the fees, sort out the books and attend some briefing and orientation thingy. Since I've also started work, I dropped wifey off before heading to work cos the parents are supposed to be there by 9.00 am and told wifey I'll be back a little later to join her after I report in to work and sort out some stuff. I was thinking that by the time I get there, she would have settled everything but no such luck.

When I reached there, which was close to 11 am, she was still waiting her turn to see the class teacher to pay the fees and stuff. Apparently the thing started late, which was no surprise to me really. When our turn finally came to meet the class teacher, we ended up finishing everything in a matter of 5 minutes! And poor wifey had to wait it out for close to 3 hours or so. God, I hate inefficiency! And to top it all of, the free text books which were to be given to all children had some complications and my sons class ended up not receiving their share of the books. At least she did manage to settle the younger fellows stuff with no problems whatsoever. They're in different school sessions.

You know, back when I was in school I don't remember my mom having too come and see the teacher, pay the fees, attend briefings and all that nonsense. I still remember the first day I went to school. My mom sent me, waited till I was in the proper class and left before the break. I was scared to my bones by then ... LOL! I was afraid she wouldn't come back and who in heavens name would I get home. I'm sure you guys know how it is when you're 7 years old and in a place full of unknown kids, some of whom are crying their eyes out and your mom is no where to be seen!


Gosh, to tell you the truth, I hated school. I've always hated it and I was so blooming happy when the day came to finally leave school forever. It was like a dream come true. But that was before I discovered I hate working even more than school ... LOL! At least with school all you had to do was attend classes, pretend to pay attention (in my case anyway) and then head home after school and sleep, eat, play and watch TV with no cares in the world unlike all the responsibilities I have now. Now I wish I was back in school ... hehehe ...

I was never very good in my studies back when I was in school. I wouldn't even say I was an average student. I never did take studying seriously. When it came to exams I'd study for it one day before it started. I don't know how I even scraped through it. The only subject I ever loved in school was Art, English and Literature. It was the only time I would actually pay attention to what was being taught. The rest I'd just dream throughout the lessons. I had this math teacher who came up to me one day and said to me:

'Nicholas, I don't care if you don't want to study and decide you want to be stupid for the rest of your life but all I ask is for you pretend to pay attention in my class and don't disrupt it. You don't even have to do the homework I assign, just sit there and keep quiet!'

So, there I sat throughout his lessons and not doing a single page of homework. That probably explains why I think 1 +1 is 11 ... LOL! My mom didn't really have very high expectations of me (I wonder why!). When I actually sat for my final exams and got through it, she was shocked, and I really mean shocked! If I'm not mistaken, I think her first words when I told her I passed my final exams were:

'You cheated on your exams or what?'

LOL! Thanks mom for the 'confidence' you had in me ... well, who could blame her. Even I resigned myself to failing it. I even got myself stone drunk the night before I went to collect my results. We had our Christmas party in my place back then and they announced on TV that the examination results would be released the next day and that's when I decided to get stoned! LOL! I remember taking the bus to my school the next with this huge hangover the size of Gibraltar and heading to the school office to get the results. I was stunned speechless when I got the results. I stood there for quite a while with my head pounding like a bongo drum and couldn't believe that I passed. It wasn't the most outstanding of results but I passed! Till today I cannot figure that one out ... LOL!

Well, I'm not going to let that happen to my kids. My younger boy is a little like me now but the difference is, he's pretty sharp with his mind. In his exams last year, he did the very same thing of studying a day before the exam yet he breezed through it and even came out the top four in his class. So I'm quite pleased with him but this year I intend to crack the whip so to speak and make sure they start studying a little earlier. I've already warned them that this year I don't want no nonsense from them in their studies, not that they're afraid of me mind you, cos they see me more of a clown and a friend than a dad. Oh well, there's always mommy there to crack that whip ... hehehe ...