Weird Science Part III

After fainting 2 times in 9th grade Science class, I was looking forward to moving on to Senior High. However, I did have to take Biology in 10th grade. And you can imagine my excitement when the teacher announced that a frog dissection would be taking place in a few weeks.

You guys already know what's comin', doncha? Well, I was actually able to get out of it. I told the teacher that I get faint at the sight of blood, really at the mere mention of it. Not only that, but I was opposed to killing any living thing or participating in any way to its demise (To this day, when there are flies in the house, I don't swat them. I put them in a paper towel and then set them free). So the class did their thing in the lab while I twiddled my thumbs in the classroom portion of the class. High-five!!

I also had a sex-ed class in 10th grade. Those were always fun (I had had one in 7th grade as well). In 10th grade sex-ed, I got to sit near my friend from 9th grade Science, Brian Chadbourn. Everything was going fine. We were learning the specific parts of both the male and female anatomy. One afternoon, the teacher showed us a film about the fertilization of an egg. I watched with some interest. It was pretty innocuous, but it wasn't a computer simulation. It was actual sperm going on their merry way. I'm not exactly sure what precipitated it, but I began to get a bit woozy. I thought about getting up and asking to leave the room, but thought it would pass. It didn't, but I did. Brian said he was watching the video and out of the corner of his eye, saw me fall out of my chair. A couple minutes later, I was revived and taken to a different part of the room where the teacher could make sure I was OK. Needless to say, what happened that day spread like wildfire through the school. The people in that class told all their friends who told all their friends, etc.

Yes, indeed, I became known as the guy who fainted in sex-ed class. One morning, I was in my typing class and heard 2 girls talking in the back of the room. I heard one of them say, "Well, how is he ever gonna get married?" I knew from that line that they were referring to me. Another guy told me, in all seriousness, that I really should "get that checked out".

But time passed as time is prone to do and gradually the memory of it faded. I made it through the rest of that class and went on to 11th grade where I had one more "experience" waiting for me.