About an exceptionally cool science teacher with a Nissan Exa
X for X marks the spot
I was in matric in 1988 and on Thursday, 5 May, the top 10 learners were announced. I wasn’t one of them. But I took pride in the fact that four of them were from my class (10 C). The other six were from our rival class, 10A. But the four from my class were at the top. How do I remember this? Well, I wrote it down in my diary.
My simplified journalling habit started the previous year when one of my aunts on my mother’s side (they were seven sisters and two brothers), gifted me a diary with a lock. It was A6 size, which meant you had to write really small if you had an exciting life full of juicy details to record. I was living a boring life, so I recorded the TV shows I watched, the books I read and all the homework I didn’t feel like doing.
The next year’s diary was bigger. A5. But without a lock. It had much more space, so I recorded – you guessed it! – TV shows, books, homework I didn’t feel like doing AND because there was space left, some extras. This is how I know that Thursday, 5 May 1988, was an extraordinary day. Because in addition to the top 10 announcement, I also got to ride in a Nissan EXA Pulsar. It was the science teacher’s new car – baby blue with the cutest pop-up headlights.
I can’t remember how it came to pass – I imagine we Ooh-ed and Aah-ed at the car and that we (probably my friend, I used to be extremely shy) asked whether she would take us for a drive.
Mrs. Strijdom was exceptionally cool and said yes! She drove us all the way from our school to the hypermarket in Boksburg – that’s about 30 minutes’ drive one way!). AND she treated us to milkshakes (mine would have been vanilla) and Cadbury’s Lunch Bars, before dropping us off at home.
Today, 36 years and 131 days later, I’m glad that the 1988 diary was big enough to record this event. What else would I have written about for this ✖️ article? 🤪
X is for Xenocrates and Malcolm X
“I have often regretted my speech, never my silence.” ~ Xenocrates
“Stumbling is not falling.” ~ Malcolm X
X is for X
[This pattern is from The new crochet stitch dictionary (Nele Braas and Eveline Hetty-Burkart)]
OK, I’ll be honest. The pattern is actually called Square with eyelet diagonals. But for all intents and purposes, it’s an X, OK?
Extras
Extraordinary: This is from Nike’s very first Just do it commercial (it came out in 1988). It featured the 80-year-old runner Walt Stack, who ran 17 miles every morning – that’s about 27 km and almost as far as my trip in the EXA! He says: “People ask me how I keep my teeth from chattering in the wintertime… I leave them in my locker!” 😁
Exploring: I always wondered whether people with blue eyes see differently from people with brown eyes. (My brothers and father had blue, blueish green or greenish blue eyes, while my mother and I had brown eyes).
I also wondered whether the blue I see, is the same as the blue you see? Seems I’m not the only one! You can now test your blue-green boundary with this online visual questionnaire, called Is my blue your blue? The test was developed by neuroscience researcher Patrick Nimeault. You’ll answer a series of questions and choose which colour you see as blue or green.
My boundary was at hue 173, greener than 57% of the population. For me turquoise is blue. What’s yours? 💙 💚
Extraterrestrial: Here you can watch, or rewatch, how E.T. goes home! Just because. 🛸
Hope you have an opportunity to go on a quest this week. Remember: X marks the spot!
XOXO
D