Blog 20 The End Of High School, The job of being a lifeguard , the tricks for getting ‘A’s

  ( The Tricks for getting ‘A’s)

        It was a known fact that teachers had to meet a quota of so many A, B, and C students to keep their jobs. Each one had special ways of  involving the certain signals to help us pass. I am going to tell the secrets without giving names. I loved Math and Science and they were true teachers, but many others had tricks that if you paid attention, an ‘A’ was easy.

         One teacher would give you a practice test the day before the real one. He said it was not required to turn it in. The trick was that many of the practices ended being the Real test, or almost the test. It was very easy to figure out.

        Another teacher was known to use a light projector for us to write the notes down. During the writing, anytime there was something that was going to be on the test, she would make some kind of noise to signal us to remember this. It was every test. She did this the entire year.

      There was a teacher who for an entire year only had us read and study the same two chapters. He never made us take tests, but he would just have us read or respond about those chapters. 

         Somehow, I got put in a class as the only student as a senior on a teacher’s class break. On top of that, she had two student assistants that happened to be two of my best friends. The teacher would give me my assignment and then leave to the teacher’s lounge. The assistants would be working with the earlier classes work and somehow, I would find a copy of an ‘A’. I would do my work and then we would sit around and talk. This happened with the tests, as well.

        The best thing about this class was that it was the one that we always had fire alarm drills. We would close all the window skirts and hide in the farthest corner of the class that could not be seen by the hall monitor. When the drill was over and students started back down the hall, we would open back the windows and put the room back in order. We did not participate in a single fire drill that year!  Many times the teacher would bring us back cold drinks.

(How did you spend your last day of school?)

        If you had an ‘A’ or ‘B’ you did not have to take finals. So Vanessa and I were asked to drive around Dallas looking for the record or background music for our senior class song. This was the day before finals, we were suppose to be there. The teacher wrote a note that our grades had already been computed and to please excuse us to do this. For some reason, we decided to spend the entire day away from school, even though we had bought the song within the first 30 minute. (Now, looking back, I wish we had come back to school.) 

(The time as a lifeguard at the swimming pool.)

        Four and a half years as a lifeguard at the city pool was such a great job. I got paid to hang around the pool getting tanned and having a good time on my break or when I worked up front. At first, it created a problem because I wore these real tight yellow shorts when not on the stand and I would take them off when on the guard stand or tanning. I wore my racing swim suit under the shorts. They were very revealing and some people were offended. I said that I had races after work sometimes and I had to be ready. I, also, had them look at swimmers world magazine and it showed only the same suits. I won, but still had times when people opposed. But, I think I got more compliments of my tan and swim body than what I wore. After the first year, it really never mattered. 

        It is true that you get noticed more when you are a lifeguard. I was one of the nice guards who would let swimmers break rules as long as they asked me first so I could keep an eye on them. Sometimes I would get change out of the register and have people play songs. But, the pool had a small building that we would do our cleaning and flushing of the pool. It was not unusual for us to get down in the drain area and take showers while the fresh water was filling the pool. I will mention that in the time I worked there, other things happened in there also, but I do not need to go into details. (Use your imagination!)

(Camping at the Guadalupe River)

          Both the swim team and the Explorers liked camping in New Braunfels on the Guadalupe River. Instead of regular tents, we had tent hammocks to sleep in. We set up two regular tents for my mom, our food, and emergencies. We would go down the river in inter-tubes and camped right at a bridge that had a small waterfall. At night, we would take bath/showers there. All of us were very close both in swimming and explorers, so it was not uncommon that we would skinny dip. Of course, only under the bridge in the deep water. If we showered under the waterfall, we had our swimsuit on.

        One Easter break my best friend on the guys swimming team and I decided to camp at the river for the week. Instead of a tent, we decided to camp under a small cave made from rock. It was just deep enough for us to have shelter because it was suppose to rain during the week. The only other people that were there was a couple camping in their truck. They invited us over one evening for a small party, I had just turned 18, but my friend was still 17. ( I guess I should admit that it was the same friend that got drunk at the National Olympics.)

          They offered us Wild Turkey whiskey. The next morning, we both were sick and had horrible headaches, but when our new friends asked us to take a raft down the river, we were ready and went along. On the way to the top of the river, they told us the girl did not know how to swim and he had already started drinking beer. I insisted that the girl wear a life preserver. I was right, we did not even make it over the first falls and got sucked under and our boat flipped. (Ice cold water sobers you up very quickly). I came up and immediately went for the girl, while my friend went for the raft and paddles. The guy was coasting along on top of his beer cooler.

            The couple decided they better not go again, but they would bring us back our tubes so we could go on. It did rain the night before, so the gates to the river were slightly opened and the water was going fast. It was a blast. What usually took four hours to do, only took forty minutes. Even so, the sun was out and we were lobsters. Our friends had left, and it started raining very hard. There was a tree swing that we played on and the current would send us down the river.

           A park ranger appeared and told us that we could stay in the cave, but the car would be flooded in if we did not move it immediately. My friend got in the car and the ranger and I stood in water where the road was so he could maneuver the car in the right direction. As we were talking, we suddenly heard a car honking because my friend was barreling straight at us. To be dramatic, I say that I grabbed the ranger, which I think we grabbed each other, and leaped out of the way. As my friend went past us, he drowned us with a wave of water. I considered it hilarious but I do not think the ranger was as delighted! To get back to the cave, we were going to have to stroll through water, so we decided to move our things to the front of the park. We realized that the rain was not going to end, so we decided to leave.

          However, the car was flooded and would not start so we had to wait a day. We were out of food and had to sleep in the car. Our ranger came by the next morning to check on us and thoughtfully brought us a slab of venison jerky. It was so nasty that we both chose to starve instead. That morning, his car started and we decided to leave. Our first stop was a restaurant for breakfast and coffee. It was then that my friend realized he had lost his glasses when the raft flipped, so I had to drive home. It was the best AND worst camping trip at the river.

        I am sure everyone is ready for me to move on to stories after high school. But, Blog 21 is going to be a smorgasbord of a few details I failed to mention. I have been good about not telling sad stories, so I am going to talk about a few. (Blog 21 on its way) 

• 31st Oct 2017
• mylife
• 4 Comments
• Uncategorized