Firsts
Oh, indeed firsts are what make our lives. Nobody really remembers the second man who walked on the moon or the second place in elections. Who wants to be Vice President, or get the silver medal? Lance Armstrong isn’t saying “I’m going to get second in my last Tour de France.”
Anyhow, that’s why I decided to sketch a couple of the firsts in my life.
Last year. My birthday. My first real stadium concert. I had been to Switchfoot at the Quest before, but this was t he first real one. I was embarassingly old for this to be my first time, but so it went. I sang my lungs out to Dashboard Confessional at the Target Center, learned how to push my way up through the crowds, and how to combat mosh pits. It was the best thirty dollars I ever spent, and the first time I ever got soaked by Ticketmaster fees.
Three weeks ago. Westbound I94. I’m grooving out to a song in the passenger seat and up pulls a gray 2004 Mustang Cobra convertible, and this black guy in sunglasses looks over, one hand on his steering wheel, big grin on his face, and gives me the “that’s right” nod. He hits the accelerator and is gone. And that’s the first time I got props from a black guy: awesome.
9th (?) grade. Trip to Chicago. First time I bought and wore cologne. Gap had a fragrance at the time that came in this cubic bottle: smelled nice, and had a reasonable price tag for a little unemployed kid. I grabbed it during a frenzy of packing the day before we left on the coach bus. See, there was a girl in that trip that I had a big crush on. There was going to be a dance. Ever the reasonable person, I never thought about how to make decent conversation with her, simply that I had better smell decent if I was ever going to be close to her. The dance never really occurred the way I thought it would. Sweet smelling yet nerveless, I never got the chance to talk with her, much less dance. There was one deadly strike against me: she knew I liked her. So we come to my first rejection; I asked her if she wanted to “do something sometime.” The answer was “no, thanks.”
A recent first. “Cooked” dinner for a girl for the first time. The girl’s name is Mykala. Yes, she did a lot of the work - we were in her kitchen and I needed to find my way about. Soon, I will cook a meal for her without assistance - this will be glorious. As for the meal, we made salmon with a potato chip sort of crusting, risoto, and green beans. Cooking went off without a hitch (unless you count the recipe that we, err Mykala, made up for green beans, involving margarine and salt … turned out well, thank you).
I’m going for my first “cooked a good meal without her having to do any work” next.
Comments
Mykala
Sounds like a good first to me.
And you never mentioned this girl/crush/dance/rejection thing to me when you were talking about this post. Hmmm… very interesting.
NIIIIIIIIIILLLLS
Oh man, talk about a trip down memory lane. The Chicago trip. That brings back memories. I also had a huge crush on someone during that trip. I was also looking forward to that dance that never really happened. And then the year after that I had a crush on the same girl you did during the trip. One that haunts me to this day. Ahh the drama of high school. By the way, good work with the posts, but now that they are all posted, I will have nothing else to read for another week or so. Post more soon. For the love of God, please.
Richard Roche
Ok, now i’m just curious about who this girl is. By the way, i had a crush on like 4 girls during that trip, but i’m not telling unless you guys spill.
Nils
I didn’t even know that the girl in question was a mystery to anybody. I don’t mind telling who it is, but to respect Alex’s anonymity ( I don’t know if he purposely didn’t name her) I won’t tell unless Alex does. I will say that the girl I liked during the trip (different from the mystery girl) was/is Maggie Cornwall. I thought she was so great. And she even had a boyfriend at the time. Ha. I was such a moron. She is pretty awesome though. Alright Richard, your turn to tell one of the girls you liked during the trip.
Alexander Micek
Lol. Think I hit a nerve here. Mykala, I still couldn’t think of that other first we were talking about so substituted this one on the fly …and yes Nils does know and I am surprised Richard does not but I would like to hear thoughts from Richard about one of the girls he liked. As for me, I’ll leave her name in a later comment.
Oh, and Mykala you are free to chime in with the person you liked at the time as well. :) Let’s open up this comment floor!
Mykala
Well, by freshman year I was actually dating boys as opposed to buying and wearing perfume for some hypothetical dance I might share with one of them. Let’s see… freshman year Dan Carlisle is the one that stands out most to me. He caught me a firefly at this party we were at and we named it and everything. Quite a nice, romantic gesture for a 15 year old boy. Ah, the good old days…
Richard Roche
hah, maggie for me too nils, pretty much every guy wanted her so no need to feel like a moran
Alexander Micek
Ahem, not “perfume,” it’s “cologne.” All I can say is, he was a lucky guy.
I was going to say you guys are lucky Maggie doesn’t know about this site, but then again she should be flattered to be liked by such cool people. And don’t write that off as fluff, you guys are good folk. Plus, you visit tumbledry, so you know what’s up/are hopelessly bored/both. I know I’m bored when I load tumbledry.
Mykala
Ahem, for me it would be perfume. And, yes, he was a lucky guy, but now you are a lucky guy :)
And I am a lucky girl.
Ryan Markoe
Buzz Aldren (sp?) ——-> second man on the moon!!
Alexander Micek
I am a lucky guy. looks up at sky Thanks, big guy!
Hahahah, Markoe you’re right! I suddenly remember some cartoon show with astronauts and they all called one another “Buzz.” I think it was Animaniacs.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105941/