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Time for a little history tour today! It's a nice day and not as bad a heat if you are up early enough. I swear, this place has two seasons, Hot and damn hot season! I hopped on the bike and thought I might run around to see all the schools I went to growing up. Keep in mind; I lived in the same house my entire life growing up until I moved away to California. I had one elementary school, one Jr high school, and one high school. Let's hope my grammar and spelling in this blog doesn't embarrass my old teachers! Thank God for spell check sometimes.
First stop, Skinner Elementary School. Well, that's a bust! This is now just an empty field with a few random pieces of concrete lying around. I guess they tore this down a few years back. This school is located right behind the house I grew up in. There used to be an empty lot between the house and the school with really tall weeds. Seeing as I have not attended this school in 40+ years, I guess there's a couple of things I can fess up about now! For starters, my dad made it a point to go with me to school on the first day of school if he could. He would always go to my teacher with a simple request "If he doesn't behave, give him the stick, and then call me. I have a bigger stick at home." He meant it because, if I ever got spanked at school, I knew I was getting it when I got home all over again. You have to remember, this was in the days of corporal punishment in school or as some of us remember them "damn near capital punishment!". The teachers had what looked like a plank with a handle sitting on their desks and they weren't afraid to use it! Most of these paddles had holes drilled in them to reduce wind resistance. I found out later that kids in junior high were known for making these paddles in shop for their old teachers. Brown nose jerks! This is also where I met my first love, Miss Rosa. Not my teacher but a friend of my sister Amelia's. They were both teachers and I was in second grade. I even asked Miss Rosa to wait till I grew up so I could marry her. Isn't puppy love grand? She tried to let me down gently by telling me I was a little boy and she couldn't marry a little boy. Not to be discouraged, I remember pulling a chair up next to her and climbing up on it. Now my hand was at the same level as hers. I told her "See, I'm not a little boy anymore. We're the same size now cause our hands are the same height!". Needless to say, Miss Rosa did not wait for me! Well, I upgraded lady and married someone better! No second chances for you!
I had a little problem with talkativeness as a child and Miss Caballero, my teacher knew how to deal with this. She would walk around the class and if you were talking, she would twist your ear hard and say "be still, be still". LOL, to this day I flinch when someone touches my ears suddenly! This is probably a little story I should never have shared with my wife because she will twist my ear every now and again just to remind me! I was also in Mr. Holcomb's fifth grade class. We won a contest that year for naming the cow used by the milk company Hygeia for their marketing. We came up with Protena! Get it? There’s protein in milk. My biggest offense though occurred early in my school years. I hated school and really didn't see much value in it except getting to see my crush, Miss Rosa. I had a spot in the field between my house and the school where some days, I would hide out the whole day playing with toys I had hidden there. I would go as if going to school, than spend the day playing and napping. When I heard the end of day school bell, I would go home. I have no idea how I got away with that, but I did until my mom caught me one day and that gig was over!
Well, off to Molina Jr High School. What the hell? Another pretty empty field! All that's left is a concrete parking pad and the old boarded up gym way in the back! Two years I spent at this school. Now, this school was also walking distance from home but there was one danger as I went from the park to the straight stretch headed to my house. The danger was that my brother Art now owned a motorcycle. I have to preface this story with the nickname I had for my brother, CRASH! Just like my younger son, he only had two speeds, full throttle and crash! I would peer around the corner to make sure he was nowhere before I hit the straight stretch heading down the street. To this day, I don't know where the hell he would come from but I would be half way down the street when I would here the motorcycle coming. There he was, chasing me down the street doing a wheelie! Used to scare the crap out of me but I have to admit, it was pretty damn funny!
I headed over to my old high school, West Oso High School. Another "what the hell moment"? I guess it is now the Jr High School and is known as West Oso Jr high. I pulled in and decided I would get a quick look. There was some kind of teacher conference going on and lots of people around. I figured I better do this right and went to the office, a place I went a few times during my days there. I told them I had graduated from here in 1978 and asked if it was OK for me to wander around a bit and take some pictures. They said that was OK and offered to have someone go down the hallways with me if I wanted. I said that was OK but most of what I remember from school was easily visible from where I was. I have lots of stories, good and bad, about my time here but too many to get into now. I could see across to the DECA classroom (Distributive Education Class of America or something like that). The teacher was a joke and we almost ended up in a fight my junior year. He never tried to control the class or teach us anything. The day he decided he would be a teacher was near the end of the year and I basically ignored him for the most part and told him to go to hell. Things escalated quickly. I spent the rest of that class in the principal's office just chatting. I didn't even get in trouble because they knew he was an ass! I was told not to worry about it since they were not bringing that teacher back next year. Even with that incident, I’ve got to say that my worst memory from high school, I actually owe to our counselor. Here was this guy who probably enrolled in a psychology class in college once and now thought he knew what was going on in our minds and was going to "help" us. I remember coming to school one day and as soon as I came through the door he approached me and stopped me. He said that he was there to help and that if I wanted to talk, he was available to help. I remember the confused look on my face as I kind of stammered and asked "help with what" thinking something bad must have happened. He told me that he was aware that I was self-conscious and we could talk. Again, confused, I said I was not self-conscious. He kept repeating that I was self-conscious till I asked what I was supposed to be self-conscious about. He said that he knew I was self-conscious about my "teeth". Side note here, I broke my front teeth a little when I was younger but I didn't think much about it and nobody had ever said anything about it until now! I again told him I was not self-conscious about it but he kept going on and on about it and how "I felt" that he ended up making me self-conscious about it for real! As a result, I never smiled in a picture for the next 4 - 6 years! I eventually got a good job with benefits that allowed me to get my front teeth capped but that feeling of being self-conscious about my smile persisted for a long time. I look back now and I think, I remember exactly how this bug eyed, fat, ugly son of a so and so looked like and he should have been the self-conscious, one! LOL. There, that rant is out and over with!
I went over to the trophy case for a picture. It didn't used to be a trophy case when I was there but it is now. We all had to have our graduation pictures taken against the wall mural there though. I saw by the entrance, they had put some barriers up to keep people from walking on our old floor insignia that still said high school on it. I was appreciative of the respect they showed. I had some good teachers here and some not very good ones but I guess we all did. I will say that I graduated number 7 in my class and the top male student. Take that Miss Caballero from Skinner Elementary! Of course, my graduating class was only 125 but so what, top ten is top ten! I went over by the football/track field and the memories came flying back. We had some good fun on this field watching the games. We didn't win that often as I remember but we always showed up for the games! After the games, there would be much excitement and sometimes a few fights in the parking lot between us and other schools over taunting each other. Nobody ever got hurt so no foul as far as anybody was concerned.
Off to find the new high school. Turns out it is right around the corner. This is a rather boring building if you ask me. I couldn't even bring myself to go inside. It wasn't familiar to me so no sense wasting my time on it.
I headed back to the waterfront for a cool breeze that always blows here. Stopped by Cole Park where we used to go at night sometimes just to hang out. We would play games on the grass and throw the Frisbee around. The beaches were pretty empty since it's a Monday. I parked the bike and walked the waterfront for a while. I even came up on the Selena tribute statue. She was big in this town as a crossover artist singing both English and Spanish songs. She had an older brother, Joe that I went to school with. Her family grew up a few blocks from my house. I had to laugh because I was watching folks there as they were rubbing Selena's butt. They all did it so I had to ask what that was about. They said it was for good luck........pervs! Before anybody asks, I did not rub the butt, not into bronze butts! LOL. Unfortunately, she was killed in her prime by her weird manager who was stealing from her. I remember my folks telling me the town went nuts. There were people talking about storming the courthouse to get the manager out so they could lynch her. I guess they had to have tons of extra security and had her behind bullet proof glass during the trial.
So, I decided that after all this touring, I needed a taste of heaven. Off to La Michoacana Mexican bakery! This has got to be the most awesome bakery in the world. They bake sweet bread all day and have an unbelievable assortment of bread, pies, cakes, and even flan. I walked in the door and the smell hit me. I had instant mouthwatering and eyes bugging out as I stared at the display cases. I thought about it and figured my chances of making it from one side to the other sampling would kill me so I chose carefully. Bought a few pieces of which a couple did not survive the ride home. Hell, they didn't make it out of the parking lot because I bought milk there too!
Its evening and time for another episode of let's get something I can't get in Alaska. Whataburger!!! These are the best burgers around. I don't say this because my brother Art works for their corporate headquarters but because you can't come up with an order they won't fulfill for you. Personally, I prefer my buns toasted on both side, that's hamburger buns. Loaded it up with jalapenos and everything else except onions! Now here is an interesting point, in this town, you order a burger and it comes with mustard, not mayo. When I finally left Corpus Christi and got my first burger and bit into mayo, I had to spit it out. I told them they made a mistake and they looked at me like I was nuts! I found that most everywhere else, burgers come with mayo instead! Imagine that! Whataburger makes the freshest burgers here. Whataburger owns their cattle ranch and processing plant so they control everything about the quality of the meat. This means that as a manager of one of their restaurants, you better know exactly how much meat you need per day cause they refuse to freeze the meat at all. They used to own their own farms for the veggies but no longer do that. Instead they contract out but regularly and uninvited show up for inspections on the farms they buy from. Quality is the key here and they are serious about it.
It has been a long fun day but off to bed to rest up for my next fun day!
Pic 1 - Elementary School: This is where my old elementary school was, Skinner Elementary. All that remains is an empty field and a piece of concrete or two.
Pic 2 - Jr High School: This is the site of my old Jr high school, Molina Jr High. All that remains here is the parking lot and the old gym building way in back.
Pic 3 - High School: So this was my old high school, West Oso High. It is now the jr high and they built a new high school. The lesson here is, if I attend a school, they either tear it down or re-purpose it once I leave!
Pic 4- Trophy Wall: Got permission to go in the old high school and take a couple of pics. They even offered to walk me down the halls. This used to be a huge mural on the wall of our mascot, the bear. It's now a trophy case. Go Bears!
Pic 5 - Respect: This is the only thing remaining that shows this was our high school. I’m actually surprised how well they take care of it.
Pic 6 -Football: The old high school football field. Lots of good old memories and lots of group fights happened here.
Pic 7 - New High School: The new high school. Looks smaller than the school I went to.
Pic 8 - At the Water Front: Cole Park. Where we would go hang out after dark and have fun. We used to do some decent fishing from the pier in the background.
Pic 9 - The Beach: This is the waterfront beach downtown. Since its Monday, it's pretty
empty but plenty of people on the weekends. There is beach from almost anywhere in town within 15 minutes.
Pic 10 - Selena: This is a bronze tribute statue of Selena Quintanilla. She was a huge Spanish and English singing star around here. There's even a movie about her. She was murdered at a young age by a manager she fired for stealing.
Pic 11 - The Tribute: Another shot of the Selena tribute. She was from the neighborhood. Supposedly, you should rub her butt for good luck but I'm not into bronze butts!
Pic 12- Heaven: La Michoacana bakery. This is the absolute best Mexican sweet bread around. I just had to pop in for a bite...........or two.
Pic 13 - Pig Out Time: Awesome selection! I just might have to work my way from one side to the other.
Pic 14 - The Best Burgers: Finally, a Whataburger! Damn good burger and fries. Just ask for the bun toasted on both sides for that extra something.
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