The Good Ol Days Part II

I went into eighth grade having lost most of my friends because they were mostly ninth graders. So, I made new ninth grade friends, Amy Root (now Hale) being the primary focus.

With the departure of so many Drama Kids, I became one of the main players in the program. I was the dude who got to sit in the booth in the back and screw with the lights and microphone levels. It was awesome. I thoroughly enjoyed doing that.

Mrs. Peralta was the drama teacher. Bless her soul. She is one of the nicest and most understanding women ever, but she was a pushover at times and often found to be unorganized. Needless to say, I felt she leaned on me a lot for support of making sure our productions would come through.

For P.E. that year, I had Coach Humes. According to my brother Mark, he's a big joke. However, to scrawny, eighth grade me, he was intimidating with his bulging muscles and booming voice. I was scared he would actually hurt me if I didn't do everything he barked at us. He had us running countless miles and rolling all over the dead grass in that field doing exercises. He got me into, to that point, the best shape of my life.

I gotta admit, I felt pretty good. I felt like I could run forever without stopping and do one million push ups. It didn't hurt that I got to walk a pretty girl home everyday as well.

The second semester of that year I got into intramural wrestling. Partly because I wanted to be like Mark. Partly because one of my better friends, Alex Villapondo, was also doing it. I was nothing short of atrocious. I wrestled five matches and lost four. But that one I won, I DOMINATED that kid!! Also, I can honestly say I've wrestled with Anthony Robles and lived to tell the tale.