Strange things I remember from School

So as I was listening to music while recovering from surgery, I realized something. I have a lot of weird, random things that I remember almost vividly from school. They can range from songs we played in band class to random words that just stuck with me. Without further ado, here are some random things I remember from school.

1. I remember in 5th grade, we had a competition to see who could find the longest word in the dictionary. Back then, I didn’t have a cell phone – my classmates might have, but I just didn’t. The word I found was pretty long, but just not long enough. If I recall correctly the winning word was Tintinnabulation, and the winner got to choose a pop from the teacher’s lounge as a reward. Well later on in life, in 7th grade I believe, I remember coming across the word tintinnabulation again analyzing a poem. It means “ringing of the bells”, and for whatever reason, this word has stuck with me for that long.
2. Another thing I remember from school is analyzing the song “American Pie” in one of my English classes. I remember this vividly since it’s a song I listen to and it’s in my Spotify playlist. It’s a good song, but have you ever thought of the meaning behind it? I remember discussing it and hearing the lyrics “The day the music died” was in reference to a band dying in a plane crash. There is apparently no official determination what the lyrics mean, however. An interesting read about the song lyrics is on the BBC website, incase anyone was curious.
3. The next thing I remember is actually a song played in driver’s ed. I remember the lyrics so well, and it honestly scared me a lot as a kid just learning how to drive. The song is shown below featuring a interesting set of lyrics and a unique music video.

4. One of the strangest things our school did during the year (homecoming and a dance in the spring that I forgot the name of) was a dress-up week, ending in a assembly at the end of the week usually. That’s not the strange thing though – our school has actually done “mattress races”, which is where everyone in the school lays down on the ground, in order by grade, and chooses one kid to surf on a mattress. Teachers would flock the students on either side to make sure the kid didn’t fall off or get stuck. And whoever was able to propel the mattress to the end the fastest would win. It was so cool as a kid, even now I don’t understand why.

5. The next thing I remember from school was playing a song called the Great Locomotive Chase by Robert W. Smith. I remember it being a really unique song for the brass instruments, as it features the trombones doing a specific technique to sound like a train whistle.

These are just 5 of the random things I remember from school.. I have a lot more that I could share, so let me know if you’d like a part 2!