decidedlyodd

Earlier today, I was unsuccessfully laying in bed trying to sleep and convalesce. Out of nowhere, I started thinking about my childhood (which by many measures was semi-unhappy) and how it ties into my social issues. One of my earliest memories is being in Kindergarten and having my mother and my teacher making me give up all my friends because they were girls. I guess you could see that I was going to be a homo for years. The thinking was that I would be picked on, but losing all the friends didn’t really change that :/ See, I don’t even need a therapist to blame all my problems on my mother and my childhood j/k

While searching for something interesting about my elementary schools, I came across this page about Walt Disney Elementary which is where I went for first grade through almost all of sixth grade (at which point my family moved to San Clemente).

One of the reviews reads,

5 out of 5 stars

Posted by a former student three years and two months ago

Walt Disney Elementary is an excellent school. This is where my lifelong love of learning began. Without the loving support of all of my old teachers (Mrs. Lacy, Mrs. Turner, Ms. St. Clair, Mrs. O’berle, and Mrs. Laird) I would not be where I am. I would never have enrolled in all the honors classes in Junior High and then High School. I would not have gone to U.C. Berkeley to study physics. I would not be going to Columbia for my graduate degree. Thank you for showing me how I can find my own future. Thank you for teaching me about the rewards of hard work.

- Damian Sowinski

I had all those same teachers (Mrs Turner taught 2nd and 3rd grade in a combo), then went to UC Berkeley to study Computer Science. Weird. I vaguely remember some trouble making kid named Damian who was a year or two younger than me. He would have to have come after me since I think Mrs Oberle was in her first year teaching when I had her. Or maybe it was the year before and he’s older. Wonder if it’s the same kid. Again, weird.