When I was fifteen, I fell in love with a girl who already had a boyfriend. She was on the verge of breaking up with him, and for a while she left him for me. Then he cried and begged her to take him back. I felt what it was like to be on his side when she left me. I learnt a lesson that day, don’t fall for a girl who’d leave her boyfriend for you.

I used to listen to Third Eye Blind, Matchbox Twenty and Collective Soul. 90s alternative rock is a great way to wean off boy bands and pop music. Eventually, I got annoyed by top 40 radio, and the music charts, which sounded more and more inane to me. It annoyed me that most people wouldn’t explore music beyond what’s on the charts. It annoyed me when people say “if everybody likes it, it must be good”. From that , I learn that what is popular, isn’t necessarily the best.

I was in form 3, which was the so called important year of the PMR (mid secondary exams). I put some effort into it, and I had straight As. I learnt that if I put my mind to something, I could do well. (I don’t know why I didn’t try as hard the next few years, cause good results would actually get me a scholarship and save my parents some money) I hate to admit it, but I now know my parents are right most of the time.

I was a librarian in school. I was in charge of playing the national anthem tape in the office, while everyone had to gather in formation in the school yard. That meant that I always skipped the checks they performed on each student for contraband (such as liquid papers, cigarettes or whatever). Which meant that I could smuggle things for my friends and also grow long hair and long fingernails.

Later that year, I met another girl in church camp. She was pretty, cute, charming and best of all, she’s so into me. Unfortunately, my best friend at the time was into her. It must have been horrible for him to see her treat me that way. It was pretty akward for me too, so I tried to talk to him about it. He said he didn’t care, but never really talked to me after that. Me and that girl never really worked out anyway, and I lost a best friend. Regretablly, I didn’t learn the lesson that day, and did the same thing 2 years later.

Yes, I was still going to church at the time. I tried very hard to believe, and prayed every night. Eventually, I realised that I was staying on in church because of my friends. Oh, and I got to play electric guitar with the band (that really got the girls). So after a few years I stopped going altogether, when the answers I seek couldn’t be found from the good book anymore.

Ten years ago, I would have been dissapointed in the person I am today. Responsible, risk-adverse, agnostic and I don’t fall so easily anymore. I look back at the boy I used to be, and I’d just smile and say:

“Boy, you have many more lessons to learn”

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 16th, 2008 at 2:29 pm and is filed under life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.