guess who failed english in high school?

In which my not-so-stellar high school grades are revealed to my co-author...

Mark PeriniNow I am curious what exactly did you mean when you said, a while back, that you were less than studious before college??

10:28 AM me: Okay, evidence is best in these situations...sending you an email...got my high school transcripts for a speech

10:29 AM it doesn't have Freshman year because I went to a different school but that wouldn't have improved things. trust me.

10:31 AM Mark Perini: wow...you did not like math or science

  thats for damn sure

 me: notice in 12th grade the course listed FR ENG?

10:32 AM Mark Perini: yeah

 me: that's actually Freshman English. I failed it both semesters in 9th grade and had to retake it my senior year in order to graduate.

  so not just math and science...

10:33 AM Mark Perini: Having known you before seeing this report card I'm lead to believe that you just weren't trying at all because your really intelligent

  you're*

10:34 AM me: sometimes I tried and sometimes I didn't. I always wanted to do well, I'd start out a new marking period with the goal of getting better grades and doing all my homework and then I'd fail somewhere along the way

10:36 AM I also worked a lot and at the time I needed the money.

10:37 AM Mark Perini: Yeah I understand that...yeah that makes a lot of sense it's so hard to balance school and a job...did you like school?

10:38 AM me: no. In general school was just a big ball of anxiety for me. Especially moving from Ohio to Chicago after 9th grade. Big culture shock.

  I credit the band geeks in my high school for the fact that I even managed to graduate at all.

10:39 AM Mark Perini: yeah it's hard for kids to move to a new place and start over especially in high school...hahahaha did the band geeks motivate you or did you cheat off them?

10:40 AM me: hahaha...the story would be so much better if I cheated off the band geeks!

10:42 AM but no...my junior year I joined the flag team and everyone on the flag team was also in band (except me, I'm 100% NOT musical)...and it was like this little community that welcomed me and then yelled at me for getting D's and for cutting class

10:43 AM Mark Perini: You were assimilated into the borg...that was a smart move on your part, joining a community of people like that...

  I'm sure it became a kind of school family at that point

10:44 AM me: totally! And before that, I had been out the door as soon as I was allowed and off to work. I never even had a lunch period. I opted out to leave school early

10:45 AM but senior year, I vowed to be at class everyday, get better grades, take the ACTs, apply to college, go to homecoming, football games, prom ect...

10:46 AM Mark Perini: yeah well that's good that you finally got the high school experience senior year is always the best year anyway...

10:47 AM me: I'm really glad I did but still, my grades weren't quite there yet. There was a lot of on again, off again studying. Writing is truly the only thing I've ever been consistent with.

10:48 AM Mark Perini: Well school can only take you so far...The rest you have to do on your own and clearly that aspect is working out lol

  Some people just aren't school people they don't want to be constrained

  nothing wrong with that

10:49 AM me: I think I could do it now. But I've had years of being in charge, running a gymnastics program, being a mom...it might be nice to have someone tell me what to do for a while.

10:50 AM Mark Perini: I mean school's are always going to be there never too late if you feel like it's something you want to do...I got a lot out of college but it doesn't prepare you for everything there is in life that's for damn sure...

10:51 AM me: yeah, now you're writing a book with a high school failure who dropped out of college after one year and was a PE major...bet you weren't prepared for that, lol

10:53 AM Mark Perini: hahahaha that is probably the worst way to put it...I consider you to be a student of the world, an individual that the education system wasn't adequately prepared for...

10:54 AM me: thanks. you are too kind. Guess I should tell you the final chapter of my academic saga...

  so, after Charles was born...he's was about 8 months old...I went to community college here in my town for a year.

10:55 AM I got all A's and then decided that I wanted to keep coaching gymnastics and couldn't really improve in that area in college.

 Mark Perini: yeah that makes sense

10:56 AM I think it's really tough to do school when you have kids

10:57 AM me: it is but not impossible by any means. Some aspects became easier because it's all about your perspective and I'd overcome the challenges of raising an infant. those history tests suddenly seemed less difficult

10:58 AM Mark Perini: lol I never thought about it like that... you're completely right college is very much about keeping organized and keeping motivated....so if your on-board you can totally do it

10:59 AM me: Just that one year of doing well was all I needed, personally. It was something I had to prove to myself that I could do and then I moved on to what I really wanted to do at the time and that was coach high level gymnastics. I had a lot of learning/education on that subject from non-college sources Mark Perini: People lose sight of the fact that it's your life its not your parents life or your girlfriends/boyfriends life...you have to do what makes you happy and what's right for you

11:04 AM me: that's so true! I sometimes get nervous about telling my story because I don't want to negatively influence young people. I always try to add that life is much easier if you have a college degree and wait until you finish college to have kids.

11:05 AM But if you don't, it's not the end of the world. you an still be someone important  So what do you think about reading a book written by an author who failed a year of high school English? 
JC