Tag: Bruce

What are we up to… take 47?

Posted on January 15, 2023 by Bruce

It’s been a long while and many things have changed since I last posted anything. So let’s try this whole thing from the beginning…

Hi! I’m Bruce, sometime cartoonist, most of the time stressed out elementary school teacher “happily” living with my wife, two cats and a stuffed monkey trying to figure out the meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything or at least trying to figure out what 42 has to about it. I like to draw (but don’t do it that much) I like to motor (that’s the MINI term for driving aimlessly around), I build LEGO sets, I play games, read comic books, and I stress about all the adulting I should be doing.

During the week I teach Robotics & Design to grades 1-6 in a public school. I coach the robotics team (yes, it is a sport) and try to figure out how to prepare elementary kids for a future I may never see. I’m glad I read science fiction as a kid, but somehow that isn’t helping since we didn’t colonize the Moon in the 1980’s and aliens have not made their presence known, yet. Also… flying cars?!? I know I was suppose to have one by now. The current view of the future is grim.

I have tried to do a blog in the past and end up figuring out that what I have to say isn’t that important- I’m not a celebrity. I’m not too controversial (teachers learn to hide that side, if they like to stay employed). I’m just a geek traveling through life trying to make sense of it all, and learning that failing is all part of the process. So for today this was a start… we’ll see what tomorrow brings.

So I made it through middle school without any romantic entanglements (not difficult at all) and headed off to high school, the time in every geeks life when everyone (even the geekiest guys) are dating… or at least that’s what happened in all the popular films of the day (so it must be true). Here is where I jumped in with both feet and did… nothing. Sure I tried and failed once, maybe twice – I think the highlight was sending a girl (who I had a crush on) a box of chocolates for Valentine’s Day not realizing that she was getting over the stomach flu.

What? You are shocked that I didn’t have a wonderful social life in high school? You see I worked… My parents owned a t-shirt shop. One of those places that you could have a design (or your own message) imprinted onto a shirt. I started working there before they owned it (at 13) and stopped just before they sold it (at 18). If I wasn’t working on Friday night (mmm… ordering pepperoni & meatball pizza) it seemed that I was baby sitting my little brothers while my parents played bridge- therefore very little social life.

I did go to my Junior Prom (not my Senior), and had a nice time. My mother did try to suggest people for me to ask. In celebration of my actually going out with a girl she decided to host the post prom party (Which is why I really dislike the Smurfs). Weeks and a few dates later, when my prom date decided to move on, (“Let’s just be friends”) I was crushed… I kind of became a hermit (not too difficult) until college when things changed- but that’s a story for another day.

So the young geek grows up and enters middle school… Ah, yes, middle school.  Talking to girls was a bit “scary.”  What do you say?  What happens next?  It was easier to just ignore the conflict.  So for me while I held a torch or two during those years I never really spoke to any of the young ladies.  I’d guess afraid of rejection (like most geeks) or just beaten down over the years (self esteem was not something parents tended to build up in those days).  I just remember finally getting up the nerve to actually give a girl a card (with a gift certificate to the place I worked) at the end of the school year.  So what happened next?  Not much, if the gift certificate was redeemed it was done so when I was not working, and the girl was going to the other high school so I never saw her again. Lesson learned- you might actually need to have a conversation to learn something about someone… go figure!  Who knew?  Next time- High school & parents.
This week I’m going to go back in time and examine “geeks in love” through the various stages of life.  Today we start in the kindergarten years (a long time ago- before email, skype, texting, etc.) that first girl (her name was Amy) and that first kiss (don’t remember much about it, except that it happened).  Yes, we did move across the country shortly afterward- young love lost.  As you could tell, while I remember it, I was a typical guy & didn’t understand until much later the importance of this event on a young geek.  We didn’t communicate much afterwards- I was still having problems with penmanship (I didn’t know how to make a lot of the letters) and I didn’t know her address. So who was your first “kiss”?  Take a few minutes this week and recall with me the fumbling times of insecurity as a young geek searches for love…