i spent my lunch break helping sohei remember things for his bar application. i love reminiscing. because for every address and every time period, i had a story. and a lot of my recollections relied on things that weren’t really all that memorable. for example, he couldn’t remember whether he was still doing the externship for Seminole electric when we first met. And I told him he definitely was, because we used to use that as an excuse to skip school. His externship was during the last class period, and he’d leave campus for it. My last class period was remedial algebra, and then I’d have tennis practice after school. One day, when he didn’t have to go to his externship, I skipped math and tennis practice and we went to masaryktown. (it’s a hick town near land o’ lakes.) anyway, we were just friends then, but we started skipping all the time. And it was all thanks to that externship. So I remembered all these random little things, and even made a timeline of every place he lived or stayed (however short) from the time he was 16. And I could remember it all down to the month.

In case you care, here’s the timeline:

? – June 1995: Odessa
June 1995 – August 1995: Land O’ Lakes (my parents’ house)
August 1995 – May 1996: Gainesville (Sledd Hall)
May 1996 – June/July 1996? (call your mom to confirm): Tampa (your mom’s hospital apartment)
July 1996 – August 1996: Gainesville (my parents’ house)
August 1996 – August 1998: Gainesville (studio)
August 1998 – June 1999: Gainesville (Prairiewood)
June 1999 – January 2004: Clearwater
January 2004 – August 2006: Pinellas Park
August 2006 – present: Tallahassee

Anyway, it was a neat way to spend my break. I’m proud of my ability to remember useless stuff. And look things up. (I found all our old houses/apartments and some workplaces.) I still feel like crap, but at least I’m in a decent mood.

p.s. – if you have dysentery, like I apparently do, even water and orange juice aren’t safe.