Write About Begin Sixteen
Sixteen was a strange year for me. I would imagine that a lot of people are kind of settled in to the whole being-a-highschoolers thing.
Trying to think of the best way to tie all of these things into a bit of a bundle.
School
Sixteen saw me start my fourth-different school in four years. Trying to figure out how different districts’ curricula mapped was frustrating, but they managed to stitch it all together. I ended up being about a half a year ahead of the other people entering my class in Bad Newz. Because of that, I knew I was going to have a somewhat-strange senior year.
I started getting prepared for college applications. My first shot at the SAT wasn’t great, but good enough to get me into most state schools that might be of interest. My first test would have been mid-fall. I took it again in the spring, and saw something like a 90-point increase in my score. Most of that increase was on the math side.
Computers
i was still really enthralled with Linux. Various telnet talkers, Usenet, email. I’d gotten somewhat proficient with elm early in my use of email, but there was this program floating around that was much easier to use. It also allowed for easy NNTP access allowing me to read and write messages about various topics. I’d also gotten pretty adept at reassembling, then decoding binaries from various Usenet groups. Mix of warez and pr0n; I was sixteen, after all. I think I started doing things to network around the house. Mainly RS232/SLIP. I didn’t have the money for any hardware. I think I set up a few personal websites, and assisted with setting up email.
Cars
I was scouring around for one, but there was only so much money I could raise bagging groceries at the Commissary a few days a month. Much to my amazement, after I did something, my parents bought me a Jeep. I would go on to put something like 150,000 miles on that Jeep. 4.0 I-6. 5-speed. The first owner had been an Army diver, so it was kind of set up for exploring sandy environments.
Human Stuff
I had a lot of the typical sixteen-year-old stuff going on. Too-long/unkempt hair. Acne. Bad teeth. Being the mid-90s, I had more than my fair share of flannel. Kind of my typical outfit was jeans, a black T-Shirt, a flannel, and usually combat boots. I met my longest-friend at the new student orientation at school. Fellow Army brat, but his, and his parents’ path was completely different than mine. His dad was stationed at a different post, and they were living off-post near the school. While we’d go on to interact quite a bit junior and senior years, our friendship really became a thing after high school, after he’d gotten back from a not-so-good fit at a different college. I wasn’t playing any sports, really, but I’d started doing things like JROTC. Stag to various events on color guard. I do kind of remember dancing with a girl at the dance where we got our high school rings, “Ring Dance,” but really not much on the relationship front. Where I was was temporary. My dad was still on active duty, and I figured I’d be leaving for college where life would begin. So, in the meantime, listen to the radio, mess around with computers, and take care of my Golden Retriever buddy. Watch football, etc.
And that’s about enough for today.