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Thursday, July 7, 2011

Rubbernecking into the past

Yesterday, while doing the daily crossword puzzle {I like to think it keeps my brain from turning to useless mush], one of the clues was 'rubberneck' {the word for the puzzle was 'gawk'..not really pertinent to this story but I know some of y'all would want to know}.

My ADD brain took off and I started thinking about the first time I ever heard the word rubberneck. It was in the seventh grade, during choir class. The choir class room was tiered so when you came in the door you were actually at the top of the risers. You had to walk down the stairs, stash your backpack, and make your way to your spot on the built in risers {short girls in the front..holla}. This left the door to our backs and anytime anyone would come in everyone wanted to turn and look. Well, our choir teacher would have none of that. She didn't want to lose our focus for a second and so she would reprimand us and tell us to stop 'rubbernecking'.

And that had me thinking about my seventh grade choir teacher. She was actually very cool. She told us a story about her trip to Paris. For some reason, she ended up staying on the ground at the Eiffel tower, while her travel companions went up. Maybe she was afraid of heights? Anyway, a man tried to ask her for directions in french {duh, they are in Paris under the Eiffel tower}. Problem was, she didn't speak fluent french..and neither did that man. But he didn't speak english either..his native language was German, which she didn't know. However, the both could speak Spanish. So, there she was, in Paris, under the Eiffel tower..an American who couldn't speak french or German..talking to a German who couldn't speak french or english...speaking spanish.

I also thought about that years UIL competition. Don't ask me what UIL stands for..I don't know. But, all the choirs in the area get together to compete against each other. We were performing 'All Things Bright and Beautiful' and found out while waiting our turn that there were two other groups that performed this song and received poor ratings. The pressure was on but our teacher didn't seem concerned. Now, I know I have mentioned..maybe once or twice..that I have terrible stage fright so as we lined up to head on stage my knees starting shaking and I felt the tears start to prick my eyes. I didn't want to be a baby about this, but I was very, very nervous. My choir teacher came to calm me down. She pulled from her pocket a little black velvet bag and told me she had her lucky charm with her and she would bring it out and put it on top of the piano to help make me feel better. We made our way onto the stage and as I stood there trying to remember to breath, she placed her lucky charm on the piano and turned to catch my eye..and she winked at me. I made it through the song without passing out. And, we received top marks for our performance.

Yes! One crossword puzzle hint can send my thoughts scattering like this. You think I'm playing about the ADD...but I'm not.

4 comments:

  1. Haha, I love this. I have ADD too and this is sooo me.

    So I got your package yesterday! I was so excited. They are super cute! I don't think we can get them in Canada yet so I'm going to wait til I'm out camping and don't have a toothbrush or something where I need it to use them. They are in my purse.

    I was also so excited about the cute card so I took some pics and will make a post on my blog about it later. It's my first time winning anything through blogs, can you tell?

    Have a great weekend! :)

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  2. OH, and by the way I did a quick Google search and UIL is University Interscholastic League.

    I'm sure you didn't care that much, but I had to know. haha!

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  3. I do the same thing wit the "thought train" So you are not alone! Thanks for sharing the story about your teacher in France speaking Spanish with a German. I am going to bookmark that in my brain to pull up when my kids fuss about having to learn a foreign language in school. You really never know when it will come in handy. :)

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  4. How sweet! Isn't it funny how the brain works - hopping from one topic/event to another? I love the story about the lucky charm.

    I think UIL stands for University Interscholastic League. My husband is from Oklahoma and began teaching in Texas in 2004 and I had such a hard time explaining what UIL was exactly. I don't know that other states really have anything like it.

    Rubbernecking makes me think of traffic. The traffic girl on channel 5 always says there are "onlooker delays" from people rubbernecking when there's a wreck or something.

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