Unlike junior high, elementary school is positively bursting with happy memories for me:

- Advancing to State in Odyssey of the Mind in spite of a submarine that looked more like a mobile home for paraplegic tin-foil fetishists. (Mom, you've got to send me scans of the pictures you no doubt have of our dubious vessel so I can back this Completely True And Thus Not Quite So Offensive Statement up.)

- Discovering the joy of the Scientific Method through mealworms, creatures so ridiculous that even hypotheses of basic, well-known biological principles, e.g. "mealworms will eat in order to continue living", were promptly discredited.

- Classmates almost breaking their necks after snowtubing/sledding off of the Haystack Hill jump (hand-built by legendary PE teacher Tim French - that guy knew what gym was all about!).

- And of course, Henrik Hudson humping Meredith Fox during recess.

I'm hoping to see a similar degree of mayhem during my monthlong stint at various elementary schools (nine of 'em, for those of you keeping score)! Today was a bust in that regard. Though some 3rd graders did make me the most hideous sandwich I've ever seen, and I used to be a Subway regular. Cabbage, ketchup, mayonnaise, and something resembling incredibly curdled milk which was apparently potato salad. Couldn't look at the thing, much less take a bite, without getting nauseous. So I guess it's good to see that kids' sense of taste hasn't changed much.

Anyway, if I survive, I'll try to post some supa-cute pictures.

Aside: on "[sic]". I don't really know why I'm surprised that there exists a literary element whose meaning is, effectively, "I am a fucking arrogant cock who delights in pointing out the mistakes of others", but still, I am.

OMG!! I was in the same OM contest! We had a submarine that looked like a sandwich. We placed third in regions and didn't get to go on. We made it to World in junior high though...

Wow. Small world.