Memories... of the times that passed us by...

"Where did our youth go?" - a question asked by a friend today got me reminisce about the simpler time of high school. The time when I actually had time for doing all those things I can't do now. You know, relaxing, reading for pleasure, eating, sleeping, the like. Together with those came all the memories of high school pranks, cheats, or 'hardcore' actions me and my friends did when we were in high school. So today, a bit less seriously, I take you with me on a sentimental journey to the fragile years. Not all are funny, but all are very dear to me.

10. Need to recite a poem, but had more important things to do? Stick the poem to the classroom wall. We did, right next to the cross, above the blackboard. As expected, the teacher had her nose deep in the book in order to find any mistake we would make, so a shy "Can I turn my back to the class? I feel stage fright" was enough to earn us all 5s. The teacher was very proud, and so were we.

9. We were walking through the schoolyard with our history teacher (a guy pushing 60), when the gym teacher (Ms Agnieszka, 24) appeared, walking in the opposite direction, straight at us. We stopped, the teachers exchanged greetings, and then the history teacher noticed some sign on her T-shirt (in the chest area, so to speak:) and shyly asked - Oh, I see you have a sign written on your garment. May I look closer and read it?. Sure - she said - though it's almost illegible. That didn't stop him from almost putting his nose between her breasts. Illegible - he agreed, and we went our separate ways. When she vanished from sight, he said - See boys? These are the ways an old man can look at young girls' breasts up close. Remember them when you are old.

8. Did you have a biology teacher who would throw your classmates notebooks at you if you misbehaved? We had. The ones with hard covers really hurt.

7. Our IT teacher was always surprised with our inability to write even the simplest of programs during class, but our great performance on tests. Well, maybe we didn't know much, but we did know how to send files through the local network.

6. The "global" biology test cheat. When somebody suggested that we swap the true questions with the ones we designed, I instantly knew we wouldn't be able to pull it off. But, as everybody claimed they would swap their tests, I said I would play along. Unfortunately, one person was caught. Nevertheless, most of us couldn't swap the tests back (having written on the original one things like "lalala, sky is blue, I'm writing so she sees I'm writing, bow-wow, little dogie") we just stuck to our versions, just accepting the inevitable 1s we would get. We also learned that some of the better students freaked out and handed in the originals. That sucked. So, the next class, the teacher comes into our classroom with her face flashing anger. She throws insults at us. She takes a test, reads the questions and asks - Do you think I'm so stupid I wouldn't realize you wanted to cheat me? I always give 5 questions, not 4! And what questions are they? What idiot designed them?... Do you know how hard it is to try and keep a serious face when every cell in your body wants to cry out laughing? Why? Because she was holding a test with HER OWN QUESTIONS, CALLING THEM DESIGNED BY AN IDIOT. She also didn't find it strange that poor students managed to get 5s and the best ones were punished with 1s for cheating... Eventually, the mistreated girls started crying, and the class wuss (there's always one) explained the situation. We got 1s with three exclamation marks. But the scene was priceless.

5. Giving results from chemistry tests was always the same for my friend.
- Robakowski, 1!
- Yes ma'am, thank you. The make up test's as always on Friday?
He would always get 4 from the make up test.

4. The last semester is one I have the best memories of. No studying whatsoever, playing pool after classes, and treating school as a social event, not place for education. One time, our 5 decided to have an aristocratic breakfast. We would bring fresh bread, home made butter, jam, honey, sausages (whoever had the connections to get those, would), tea, milk, juice and so on. Put it all on blankets on the schoolyard and eat to our hearts' content, the posh way. Wish you had seen the looks of jealousy on the faces of students and teachers alike:)

3. One time, we made a class Christmas, a 3 day long stay in a cottage in the woods. It was supposed to be a nice friendly way of integrating with classmates. As luck would have it, the guys persuaded me to bring my PS2 video game console. All the guys had a blast playing fighting and racing games, and all the girls wanted to rip my heart out.

2. Football is great! We would play it whenever we had time after school. One time, the teachers challenged us to a game. My experience: gym teachers aren't that tough, but priests kick you around mercilessly, even when you're down, explaining that "there's no mercy on holy war". O...K...

1. The biggest event we did was a school performance - the modern version of A. Mickiewicz's "Lilies". Words cannot describe it. A friend in a skirt, fighting another with 'lightsabers'(well, wooden poles, but the moves were all authentic - took me 5 days to design the fight scene they would perform), with stunts Jackie Chan himself would praise. Plot turns, multi-dimensional characters, filthy language (first sentences were something like: - Where have you been? - What the **** do you care, you ******* **** (all were beeped out, of course:P)) - we had it all. Anybody wants to look at the original script + pictures from the 3 performances we were begged to make, contact me.

That's all for me. Going back to the high school times was really nice. How about you? You're free to share your memories of youth in the comments.