Memoirs of Canadian Immigrant Kids in Junior High

This time we talk about two somewhat different junior high experiences. One of us was top of the class and just thriving. The other was insecure and struggling to navigate life. We're looking back at the awkward years - school dances, early crushes, bad decisions, and all the cringe moments we've spent years trying to forget, yet we remember ever so fondly when looking back. 

Transcript

Why Junior High Hits Hard

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome back to another episode of Catch Up with Kyle and Cohen. This is part two of our, I guess, our childhood series. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:11

Childhood slash school series.

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And today we're talking about moving on from elementary school and going up to junior high. Lots happened in junior high.

SPEAKER_02 0:22

How was your experience? Mine was weird. Yeah. And like definitely reflecting back on it, definitely the worst experience, I would say, out of like all the things we mentioned before in the first episode, which was elementary, junior high, high school, and college. Yeah. For a wide variety of reasons.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Okay, let's start at the very start of junior high. Yeah. So did it suck right away? No, it's like did did it already suck before it became a big thing.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

No, no, no, no. I think I I think I realized it was getting sucky throughout the years. I think, yeah, I'll start with this. Like start of grade seven, I started to become a lot more conscious about my appearance and my looks. Like what I wear, yeah, my fashion.

SPEAKER_03 1:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:03

I was so like conscious about it. Very uptight about how others may perceive me.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

And I think I was just overall very insecure in junior high.

SPEAKER_00 1:17

Were you like uh were you do you remember what you were watching back then? Like what kind of watching? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:22

Oh. Anime.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Just anime, nothing really.

SPEAKER_02 1:25

Really just anime. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

I thought maybe like you were watching some shows and maybe they were like affecting your you know mentality about certain things.

SPEAKER_02 1:32

Dude, I don't think I've watched like um show with human, like live humans in it until like way later. I was like purely into anime.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

Really? So like in junior high, you didn't watch like Disney Channel, Family TV. Oh, I'm gonna take that back. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

Yeah, but but that was an elementary actually.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

Oh, so like so it shows like Hannah Montana. Did you ever watch those? Do I love Hannah Montana? I fucking love Hannah Montana. I'm sure that had something to do with like your perception changing, though. No, no, no.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

That was an elementary though. Like Sweet Life of Zach and Cody, Zoe 101, Hannah Montana, all that jazz. Like I loved. Yeah. And like high school musical, like so integral part of my childhood. But that was an elementary.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

Really? I watched all those in junior high. Oh, really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

Yeah. In junior high. No, I don't think what I watched affected my insecurity. I don't know how it started, to be honest. Because in in an elementary, I gave no shits at all. No, I think that bad. In grade six, I think it started a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 2:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

And then it was got a lot more exponential in junior high. Maybe because I mean definitely a pubreating hormonal things are at play, but maybe it's because now I'm getting like romantically interested in girls. So I like I try I want to look good. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 2:39

You're like

Looks And The New Insecurity

SPEAKER_00 2:40

asking yourself what a girl's like. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

And then because I'm always in that thought of thinking, like being worried about how I look, I think that made my kind of mindset spiral.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

So did you have like a like a crush the whole time that you were like trying to impress?

SPEAKER_02 2:57

No, not the whole time.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

So if she didn't have a cr have a crush, were you just like trying to seem generally appealing?

SPEAKER_02 3:02

Yeah, I just want to seem cool. I just want to be like sick.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

Yeah, no, I totally get it.

SPEAKER_02 3:06

Yeah. And that was that started in junior high. It was very weird. Like, for example, like, oh man, I'd be so into like style styling my hair, like trying out.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

Yeah, like when you're in like Gatsby all the time.

SPEAKER_02 3:17

Yeah. And it's like so caked with Gatsby, it's like fucking glossy and shit, which is like so cringe. And then, like, I mean, I I I didn't get too much acne in junior high. I got a lot more in high school, but I got some in junior high. And I got like so self-conscious about that after putting cream on my face, and I'd come to school, like my entire face is white because I'm putting on too much cream. Ew. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, you do you have that experience?

SPEAKER_00 3:43

I mean, okay, so for acne, I was very lucky. I very, very rarely got pimples. And if I did, it would it would just be like one pimple. And I think I think I read somewhere. If it's like just one pimple, is it's usually like a hormonal thing, yeah. As opposed to like if you have like a bunch, it's like it's like an underlying issue or something.

SPEAKER_02 3:59

Yeah, like I didn't have much either. It was I just felt like when I got one or two occasionally, just I just got super self-conscious.

SPEAKER_00 4:06

Yeah, like I would just get like one and it would be like a massive one. It would be like right in the middle of my nose or like on my cheek or something.

SPEAKER_02 4:11

I also have braces too. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

Yeah, yeah. But yeah, I I never really got much much acne. But interesting you just say about like the girls thing. I think I think I was in a very, very similar mentality, not in grade six, but in junior once I got to junior high. And I think that's because at that time I started watching all these like shows with like humans in them.

SPEAKER_02 4:29

But how would that impact your like security?

SPEAKER_00 4:33

Well, because I was like looking, because like these kids, these guys, they dressed a certain way, their hair was a certain way, like cool people looked a certain way. Before before, I didn't have like a concept of cool, you know. It was just like doing me, yeah. But then, but then be there became this distinction of like you know, the the the cool kids dress a certain way, or they look a certain way, or they act a certain way, and I think that affected me.

SPEAKER_02 4:59

Yeah, I know I know what you mean. But mine wasn't like the Disney shows, it was more like uh pop culture, like Justin Bieber.

SPEAKER_00 5:05

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean he was in a bunch of Disney shows. He would like appear as like guest star and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 5:10

Yeah, like for example, like wearing skinny jeans, exactly like skater shoes. They wear skater shoes, like DC and shit like that.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

I wore like the the wave in my junior high was Lacoste.

SPEAKER_02 5:19

Yeah, Lacoste. Like I remember those like Lacoste shoes. Yeah, exactly. Puma's shoes.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Uh always gotta get those like fucking lacos with the strap on. Yeah, yeah, the strap on, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

Skinny jeans. I remember like Ed Hardy, true religion. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

Everyone like fucking all the guys were like true religions with like fucking the R on their ass cheeks or whatever the fuck. Yeah. So lame. Oh my god. But but I I definitely fell for it too.

SPEAKER_03 5:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

Yeah, I don't remember exactly when it was, but as I got older, like from seven, eight, nine, by grade nine, I was like it fully in the machine, you know. Like I was buying into everything that was that had to do with self-consciousness, pretty much.

SPEAKER_02 5:54

Oh, mine was straight from grade seven.

SPEAKER_00 5:55

Oh yeah?

SPEAKER_02 5:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

Yeah. It was a gradual buildup for me for sure.

SPEAKER_02 5:59

But yeah, it very weird times for me.

Academic Ranking And Self Worth

SPEAKER_02 6:02

But even like academics-wise, I was I was not that good. Like in my school, I went to an academic junior high school. Yeah. Dude, they did some so they they every term, yeah, they would have they would rank you like top grade lowest.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Like a numbered rating? Yeah. That's fucking crazy. Which is so fucked up.

SPEAKER_02 6:24

Yeah, and I was dead last.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

Damn.

SPEAKER_02 6:26

So that that affected me. I'm sorry, man. You guys deserve that. Yeah. I think I think that actually probably is what affected me the most, yeah, to be honest. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

I mean, I could easily see why. Like you that's like so fucked up by uh by that school to do. Yeah. Having like someone take up last place, that's so that's wild.

SPEAKER_02 6:45

Yeah. Like I was yeah, I was always last. So that was yeah, that was a bit.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

And you and you didn't want to be last, obviously.

SPEAKER_02 6:53

No, I think I would I thought that I was actually putting in the effort of studying. Yeah. But I guess I just didn't get it. Maybe it's because that everyone in my class was like really smart.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

I don't know, man. You got some dumbasses in your school because I've met a lot of them.

SPEAKER_02 7:06

But maybe it was like almost like a like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Like I knew, oh man, I'm so dumb compared to these guys. So that just like made me behave subconsciously in a way that would lead to my downfall.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

Like, you know, I feel like a lot of stuff like that is like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Yeah. Where like if you believe yourself to be a certain way, yeah, exactly. You kind of end up being that person.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

So at my school, it wasn't academics weren't like a nearly like as much of a push thing. Of course, academics were very important as they are in every school. Academics is the number one thing. But I'm curious what kind of how your system related to our system. So I know I'm sure you know about stuff like honors, honors with distinction, stuff like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So at our school, every semester there would be like the the postings for who has honors with distinction, who has honors, and whatever the we had we have that too.

SPEAKER_02 7:57

But within those categories, there was rank.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Yeah, so that's fine. So we just had like the categories, you know, like whoever made honors, whoever made honors with distinction, they would like have their name up there, but there was like no ranking. So having like a ranking in there, that's insane to be honest.

SPEAKER_02 8:09

Were you, you know, in the elementary episode, you're saying that you're you're like a killer in terms of grades and academics. Was that the same case in junior high?

SPEAKER_00 8:17

Yep. Always honors with distinction. I have one well one story about this, actually. So I got honors with distinction in grade seven easily, got honors with distinction in grade eight easily. We get the grade nine, and there's the awards ceremony. And you know, like before the award ceremony, I don't know if you guys had the same thing, but for us, like a couple days or maybe like a week before the award ceremony, all the students that were receiving an award, the teacher would like give you a paper and it would tell you, like, hey, you're receiving an award. Oh, you knew beforehand. Oh no, no, no. They just tell you you're receiving an award. Yeah, please come to the award ceremony. They're not saying what award you're getting. Yeah, they're saying you're receiving an award, please come to the award ceremony. So in grade nine, I I had honors with distinction still, but for some reason I remember I was worried that I was not going to finish the year with honors with distinction. Yeah. And I was really, really stressed about this. Like genuinely very stressed about this because I was I was that guy, you know. I'm like, I'm I'm that guy. If that guy doesn't, if Superman doesn't show up, like I know what you mean.

SPEAKER_02 9:19

Yeah, yeah. Like I'm like a lot of pressure, hey.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

Ton of pressure, yeah, you know. So I got that slip and it says I'm getting an award.

SPEAKER_02 9:26

Actually, I don't know what you mean because I wasn't I wasn't that alarmed. But yeah, you can't.

SPEAKER_00 9:30

You could see like where that pressure comes from. Yeah. So yeah, anyways, class day comes, everyone got everyone that's getting an award, they get their slip. I get my slip. It says I'm getting an award, doesn't tell me what award I'm guessing. And in my mind, I'm still thinking, I don't know if I got honors with distinction. What if I just got regular honors? Yeah. Which is actually so insane for somebody to be thinking like this, like, oh no, I only got regular honors.

SPEAKER_02 9:53

I mean, but like, but where did that anxiety come from though? Because for me, that anxiety came from my parents, you know what I mean? Like, because I got penalized if I weren't getting good grades. But for you, what was it? Why was it that case?

SPEAKER_00 10:06

It's not like so. I never really like had problems academically. So I I had never like gotten punished for for performance. So but it was still like it wasn't like I was worried about being punished. I just really didn't want to let my parents down. And I didn't I also didn't like want to let my friends down.

SPEAKER_02 10:24

But I wonder, but when you say that though, yeah, when you say you don't want to let them down, I feel like that's because they already put some expectations on you. You know, yeah, definitely. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Yeah, they probab they they definitely had put expectations on me. I mean, it's not like I was like some wonder child, it was like everyone in my family, like both my sisters were also very academically inclined. Yeah, they did very well in school as well. But yeah, it was the pressure was just because like one, I didn't want to disappoint my parents by not getting honors with distinction, and another, I I actually did feel like it was for me personally, it was embarrassing to not get honors with distinction.

SPEAKER_02 11:00

Because you already had some sort of like reputation, exactly. But not grade seven though, because you said you moved here in grade seven.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

No, always. I I always like since grade seven, like school was easy as fuck, I got honors with distinction, no problem. So like that had by by like grade nine, I already had like a I had built up a reputation at the end of like being like a smart kid. Yeah, um and on top of it.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

Yeah, like top grades, top grades until grade nine.

SPEAKER_00 11:22

Yeah, exactly. And on top of that, I was again like super involved extracurricularly. I was student council president in grade nine.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

So I I I felt these like expectations on me. But anyways, so I I'm thinking like, okay, I either got honors with distinction or I didn't, I just got regular honors. And if I did just get regular honors, that's too embarrassing for me. So that I decided to not show up.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

Damn, that's crazy, man.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

To this final awards ceremony of my junior high school year.

SPEAKER_02 11:50

Isn't that wild?

SPEAKER_00 11:51

That is wild.

SPEAKER_02 11:53

But then when you put yourself in your shoes to look back when you're junior high, it totally makes sense. Why'd you do that?

SPEAKER_00 11:58

You know what the worst part is? Yeah. So the worst part is at that award ceremony, not only did I get honors with distinction, I got this one award that's only given out to one student per year. It's like the biggest award.

SPEAKER_03 12:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

At my my junior high, and that was given to me, and I didn't show up to the award ceremony.

SPEAKER_02 12:18

That's crazy, man.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

That is so crazy.

SPEAKER_02 12:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

Cause um, and yeah, now if you go to I think I've told you this like a couple times, but if you go to my junior, my old junior high, yeah, you'll see a gigantic trophy, like a three-foot-tall trophy.

SPEAKER_03 12:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

And it has all the names of the past recipients of the of that award on it. You'll see my name on that giant trophy. Damn, really, eh? Yeah, and I wasn't I'm such an idiot. I wasn't there to on that date to like accept that award. Yeah. But I mean, I still got I still got like a like a plaque and stuff.

SPEAKER_03 12:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

And I remember at grade nine grad, uh obviously I went to that. And I'm like, I like see the principal, and the principal comes up to me and she's like, Oh, how come you didn't show up? Yeah. And I had to like lie to her. I was like, Oh, I was sick, sorry, good show up. And I also like lied to my friends because like they were like, Oh, why didn't you? Because like a lot of my friends went, and they were like, dude, they my friends were the ones that told me. They're like, dude, they they said your name for this award, like you weren't there. Like, what happened? Where are you? And I thought they were like, fuck up with me. Yeah, I was like, dude, yeah, yeah, right. Like, I didn't get this.

SPEAKER_02 13:17

Yeah, that's wild because like mine's like mine's the exact opposite. Like during awards, I wasn't even thinking I was gonna get anything. Yeah, like I already knew. I was like, you know what, there's no point of being being here. Actually, in grade eight or grade nine, I got an award in social studies because the teachers were so shocked about how much I improved. Like it wasn't because I had the top grades, but they were kind of baffled about how how much improvement I made from grade seven till grade eight or grade.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

So it was like a most improved award. Almost, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:53

Nice. They were like, what the fuck?

SPEAKER_00 13:54

And you didn't show up for it?

SPEAKER_02 13:55

Oh no, I was there. Like I was like, oh, but what's going on?

SPEAKER_00 13:58

Oh, like you got like the sheet and you were like, oh shit, I'm actually getting it awarded.

SPEAKER_02 14:01

I got a I got a coin.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

Yeah, I got it. No, but like, did they tell you beforehand to come to the awards ceremony because you're getting it? Not at all. Oh, why'd you go then?

SPEAKER_02 14:08

I mean, that was the Did you always go? Yeah, I mean, I I never skipped school in junior high.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

Yeah, the only time I never skipped school in junior high either. But the only time I actually skipped the one time was this final award ceremony. Yeah, it was all because of like I was so anxious about not receiving fucking honors and distinction.

SPEAKER_02 14:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:24

And turns out I missed out on an even bigger award.

Cliques Bullying And Regret

SPEAKER_02 14:27

Yeah. In junior high, was there was there like, you know, the popular kids? Was it like a hierarchy, social hierarchy in your in your school?

SPEAKER_00 14:35

I think there was somewhat, but it wasn't like super super apparent. I mean it was like there was like everyone was like in their clique, you know. No, there was like no singular, like, oh, that's the popular squad. Everyone just had like their their group.

SPEAKER_03 14:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

I guess I was the type of person that was kind of like involved in almost every group. Like I was friends with like everyone.

SPEAKER_02 14:55

Mine was like my mine's a very small school. Like my in my in each year, you'd only have like, I don't know, like 40 students.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

Yeah, because yours was like specifically like a pretty try-hard school. Yeah. And there was also another school like right next to your school.

SPEAKER_02 15:09

But then I was like, like I wasn't athletic in elementary, but I was athletic in junior high.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

What would you do?

SPEAKER_02 15:16

I play volleyball.

SPEAKER_00 15:17

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Right, right, right. How'd that go?

SPEAKER_02 15:19

And I did track. Like I went, like I went to cities for track every year.

SPEAKER_00 15:22

Yeah. Did you like doing that stuff?

SPEAKER_02 15:24

Yeah. Like I like I tried so hard, man. I was like training for cities.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

Really?

SPEAKER_02 15:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

Damn.

SPEAKER_02 15:30

Didn't medal or anything, but it was still fun.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

So yeah, yeah, it was just mostly mostly clicks and uh anyways. You were saying so you tried really hard for these uh this athletic stuff.

SPEAKER_02 15:41

Yeah, like in in my school, I don't think there was like popular kids, but I think I was like liked.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

So I I definitely wasn't bullied in junior high. Yeah. Like at all. But I did see it happening. And it was it was like kind of new to me. Um because like my past experience with bullying was like older kids like taking advantage of younger kids, you know, just like imposing their their like you know, they're they're stronger than us, they can like kind of just do whatever. But once I got to junior high, seeing kids of like the same age group not really being nice to each other, that was definitely like new to me. And at first I thought it was like like really weird. So it at the start of j of grade seven, I sat next to these two kids and they were part of like I said in the Elementary School episode, I I had I was in like an ESL class, but it was also for kids that had like developmental struggles. So there was also a class like this in junior high for kids that had like developmental struggles, but they would still be like you know, in like the regular classes for like a lot of the classes. So, anyways, I was sitting next to these two kids that were in these like extra classes, and for the first couple days, like you know, life was fine, things were fine. But then like after a certain point, some kids will like start talking to me like, Hey, are you friends with those guys? Why are you why are you friends with those guys? Aren't they weird?

SPEAKER_02 17:10

What did you say?

SPEAKER_00 17:11

Well, at first I was like, No, what are you talking about? They're just kids. Yeah, they're just kids like me and you. Yeah, but then after like getting you know, being put in that situation enough times, I unfortunately crumbled like a little bitch, and I was like, No, I'm not friends with those guys on quote unquote normal.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

I mean, well, it's not like you were friends with them in the first place, though, were you?

SPEAKER_00 17:33

Yeah, but but it's not like I wasn't not friends with them. Okay, I know what you mean. After I made at that point, I made the distinction that I was not friends with them. Yeah, and I still think about that like today. Yeah, I regret that so much. That's fair. And there's been like a a lot of situations in my life where I would see bullying and I would like stand up for it, but then there was a lot of situations where I wouldn't stand up for it. And I wish I did in those moments, you know.

SPEAKER_02 18:00

That's fair. Yeah. And that's hard though. I mean, as a kid, I mean you just want to be accepted, you just want to be liked it.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

It's hard, but I was in a position to do it. You know.

SPEAKER_02 18:08

Were you?

SPEAKER_00 18:09

Yeah. Because I'm I'm the I'm the smart kid, the liked kid, the athletic kid.

SPEAKER_02 18:13

Oh, I see.

SPEAKER_00 18:14

Like it's not like someone was gonna start bullying me. Like, what the fuck are you gonna say to me?

SPEAKER_01 18:17

You know? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:18

So so because of but like when I was obviously when I'm like 12, 13 year old, I don't realize that, you know. I don't realize that I have the power to stop this.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:28

Like as now now that I'm older, I I know that I did have the power to have more of an impact than I tried to make.

SPEAKER_02 18:35

Yeah. Yeah. Damn.

Malls Parks And How We Hung Out

SPEAKER_02 18:36

Would you uh wait, what'd you do in junior high to hang out? Because for me, what do I remember? We have this mall in our city, yeah, sick fucking mall. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

Would you just go there all the time?

SPEAKER_02 18:46

In junior high I would, yeah. Really? Yeah. I remember like going to going to the theaters, like um, there's an ice, there's a skating ring, skate there, chill there. Because that's like the true definition of malls being the third space to hang out. Yeah. Junior high for me.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:02

It was a good time.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Yeah, I uh funny enough, I only went to like movies and stuff for like dates. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:09

So what do you do with your friends then?

SPEAKER_00 19:10

With my friends. So a lot of it was like we would we we would bike a lot, like bike around, like and be like hooligans, go to parks, lots of going to parks, playing like soccer, just like yeah, regular boy, teenage boy stuff. That was pretty much it.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

That's so interesting. I I actually don't remember playing sports, I guess, for fun though, like outside of like school sports, like for fun. I don't remember really playing sports.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

That was like my main like for fun activity with my friends, would be yeah, most commonly would be like playing soccer, and then if it's not soccer, it's something like like biking around somewhere or like playing catch with a baseball or not a baseball, like a tennis ball or something. I remember like I got really, really good at so I got I got a fucking arm on me, bro. I got really good at throwing a tennis ball like straight up into the air. I could launch that shit so high, and then like after I launched it, we would all like try to catch it with our bare hands. Yeah, do like stupid stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 20:06

What else did I do? I mean, I'd I'd hang out in the park and stuff, just chill. But go to restaurants, actually.

SPEAKER_03 20:12

Really?

SPEAKER_02 20:13

Yeah, put you out the money for this. Like a group of friends. I mean, I was I had a job. Oh yeah, yeah. I was like, I was I was a YouTuber.

SPEAKER_00 20:19

Yeah, right, right, right, right, right. Yeah, yeah. So, like, I didn't really I mean how how do the people around you have money?

SPEAKER_02 20:24

That's a good fucking point. I don't know. Probably, probably. Yeah, did you have a job in junior high?

SPEAKER_00 20:29

No, I didn't have a job until uh until like the last year of high school or like second last year of high school or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 20:36

Yeah, I was super privileged. I had like a source of income. Like I bought, I was like, I was I was able to buy like iPod touches and clothes, like whatever I wanted. Yeah, but yeah, I mean, it was in junior high. I made like my best friend that you dude.

SPEAKER_00 20:48

You were kind of a rich kid without being a rich kid.

SPEAKER_02 20:50

I was, yeah. Yeah, and then and then people didn't know because they didn't know I had it. I they didn't know I was a YouTuber. Yeah, they're just that was fucking chilling or something.

SPEAKER_03 20:58

That's pretty sick.

SPEAKER_02 20:58

Yeah, but anyways, yeah, that was when I met my best friend, still to this day that you know. Yeah, we'd we'd we'd chill out a lot. I actually would chill at her place, I think in grade nine quite a bit. Yeah.

unknown 21:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:11

She was an awesome person.

SPEAKER_01 21:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:14

But yeah, other than that, I actually don't really remember too much what we'd do to hang out.

SPEAKER_00 21:18

Like, yeah, like I I I because well, because we didn't know each other back then.

SPEAKER_03 21:23

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:23

So this is like hanging out separately. But yeah, a a lot of my hangouts I know were definitely just like we really didn't go to the mall that often. Yeah. Well uh well, you said you did, but like for for me, we didn't go to the mall that often. And like that big mall, yeah. Honestly, uh I just went there for like for like dates with girls and stuff like that. Yeah, we'll talk about that in a bit, but yeah, yeah. But um, but like as for my friends, it would just it was just a lot of like like physical activity, like sports and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 21:49

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

Yeah, like like you know, you see my skin's skin tone now. I'm fairly light. Yeah, I was like so much darker when I was younger, just outside all the time.

SPEAKER_02 21:59

I don't think I ever Wore shorts in junior high. Other than me playing sports.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

Dude, funny you bring that up in elementary school. I had like some kind of stigma about like wearing shorts. So I would like wear jeans for everything. I like never wore shorts. Why did you wear shorts? I just didn't think they were that cool. Uh like skinny jeans, gang always.

SPEAKER_02 22:17

Yeah, I was like wearing skinny jeans. I was like, I was so into fashion journey. I was spending all my money on fashion and baby blades, because baby blades were my job. But yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:27

I was pretty into it too. I mean, not that I could afford fashionable things. Yeah.

Getting Ready And Sleep Chaos

SPEAKER_00 22:32

But like, dude, I was spending like that's when my obsession with waking up early in the morning to make myself look really nice for school. That's when it started.

SPEAKER_02 22:41

Me too, actually. Me too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:42

Sometime in junior high, I would start waking up like fucking two hours before school started. Yeah. To to to like take a shower, floss, brush my teeth, do my hair perfectly, put like moisturizer on and shit like that.

unknown 22:53

Damn.

SPEAKER_00 22:54

Yeah, crazy. Absolutely insane.

SPEAKER_02 22:56

Do you remember? Because like now, I'm old as fuck. You know what I mean? Like, I can't stay up that late. Like, I I I need my seven, eight hours of sleep. Yeah. But back then in junior high, I could pull all nighters like so easy. Easily. It was like a it was like a bra. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 23:12

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you remember that? Yeah, all the time. I mean, I dude, I would fall asleep so many times. So in junior high, my sister got her own PC and we shared a room. So, dude, when I was in elementary school, I shared one room with two sisters. Damn. The three of us were in the same room together. That was crazy. That was fucking awful.

SPEAKER_02 23:30

Do you think it was still awful if you look back on it?

SPEAKER_00 23:32

Yeah, that was shit. I don't know. Maybe you would have been like, oh, I I I missed those days. No, no, fuck that. I get no privacy. My sisters get no privacy. I mean, my middle sister, she stopped sleeping in her in a room altogether because she's like, because it's like three three kids in one room, that's too much. He started sleeping in like like downstairs on the couch, which I wish I'd did that instead, because that would have been that would have been nicer than fucking sharing a room with two sisters.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

And I remember like everything I had, like all the clothes that I had fit into like one one like cubby thing. Yeah. Like that's everything I had. Yeah. So but but but still I would put so much effort into trying to look as nice as I could with what little I had. Like I would be like blow drying my hair in the morning a certain way and like using like hair wax and shit like that. Oh man, yeah. Dude. And I would I in like grade eight, I could like barely grow facial hair. Just barely grow like two hairs on my mustache or something. And I would I would so religiously make sure I shaved that.

SPEAKER_02 24:28

Really?

SPEAKER_00 24:29

Had to make sure I had like no random ass fucking facial hair sticking out anytime.

SPEAKER_02 24:34

Isn't that crazy? That's such a such a crazy moment.

SPEAKER_00 24:37

That's super crazy. If I could go back and like talk to myself, I'd be like, yo, chill the fuck out, man. It's it ain't a big deal.

SPEAKER_02 24:43

Like, no, but I think you have to do that. You have it's like a ritual. It's right and passage.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

You have to experience it.

SPEAKER_02 24:49

You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 24:50

Like, yeah, I I got like some some emotional and mental damage from those times that it's like still here, you know. Like what's the damage? Don't you feel it too? Like, dude, just think about like all those times you stayed up early or you woke up early in the morning for bullshit that actually didn't matter at all.

SPEAKER_02 25:04

But it was a learning experience. Now you know it was doesn't matter at all.

SPEAKER_00 25:09

Maybe, but it was it was a very, very long learning experience. Yeah. Because I started that shit in like maybe even grade seven, to be honest. It might have been grade seven that's grade seven for sure. Yeah. I think some it was either grade seven or eight, and it went on until like like after high school. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 100%. Yeah. And now I'm like, I don't give a fuck at all. I'll like roll out of bed, take a shower, don't blow dry my hair. My hair's still wet. I just walk out of the house.

SPEAKER_02 25:33

Yeah. Yeah. So actually,

First Relationships And Big Feelings

SPEAKER_02 25:36

yeah. You were saying elementary, no romantic interest. How is that in junior high? So in elementary, I did have like crushes on people. Oh, yeah, yeah, crushes, but like not like a yeah, way explained.

SPEAKER_00 25:48

It was like innocent crushes, just like, you know, sweet. I like this girl. No idea what that what to do beyond that. Like, even if I told someone, I don't even know what would happen. But in junior high, I actually ended up having a couple girlfriends.

SPEAKER_02 26:00

How was that? How was that experience?

SPEAKER_00 26:03

I mean, it's funny thinking back because it was like the shittiest relationships ever. Yeah. Oh, dude, funny enough though, you remember. So when did you when did you get your phone again?

SPEAKER_02 26:12

Wait, hold on. Let's finish this story.

SPEAKER_00 26:14

No, because this matters.

SPEAKER_02 26:14

Okay, I got my first phone in grade six.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

So I I didn't, I'm pretty sure I didn't get my phone until like either grade eight or grade nine. I know I didn't have my phone at the start of junior high. And then so there was this girl that I had a thing with, and it ended up ended up like us like dating. What grade? I think this was before I had my phone. So I think it was grade eight, like start of grade eight or end of grade seven. Yeah. Either, yeah, one of those two. And because I did not have a phone, we communicated through email. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I would be like emailing her at not even like Facebook? No, not Facebook. MSN? Yeah. Oh, that's so weird. I don't remember why it wasn't Facebook or MSN, but it was actually through email that I would I'd be like fucking emailing her. It must have been grade seven then. Maybe I didn't have Facebook back then. But yeah, I would be like emailing my girlfriend, and I would be like having to like meet her at the movies.

SPEAKER_02 27:05

But like what how'd you ask her out? How'd you meet her? Like, how'd you develop feelings?

SPEAKER_00 27:09

Huh, that's a great question. I think she pushed for it. I don't think I was the one that pushed for it. Because thinking back, I she was just a friend for like the longest time. And then like suddenly we were dating, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 27:21

Yeah, but like, you know, what was that feeling like? You know what I mean? Like, I I because for me, because I had a girlfriend in grade nine, and the feelings were so intense, like so much angst, you know.

SPEAKER_00 27:33

I think it was like that for me too. It definitely wasn't it, it wasn't sexual at all from yeah, up until that point.

SPEAKER_02 27:39

No, I'm not talking anything about sexual, yeah. Just there was pure emotions.

SPEAKER_00 27:42

Yeah, there was uh I mean, I guess I liked her a lot, uh, or at least I thought I did at the time. And I don't know much about the emotions, but I can explain like the day to day. Like when we would be in school and it's like lunch or recess or whatever, we'd be like holding hands, walking all through the school. Yeah. It was so embarrassing thinking back on that because it's like, and uh kids would like see that and they would like basically cat call, you'd be like, ooh, while you're like walking around holding holding hands with your girlfriend. We didn't know what it was like we didn't know what else to do at lunchtime. Like, yeah, let's just keep walking the holding hands, didn't like go off somewhere to like talk together or something. I don't even remember what we talked about. Like, what the fuck were my interests back then? Definitely weren't the same as her interests.

SPEAKER_02 28:27

What were the dates like? Like you won't you you went on dates?

SPEAKER_00 28:30

Yeah, so we would go to like like a movie or or the amusement park. Damn, like how would you get there? Like you ask your parents to drop you off. No, it'd bust. Yeah, I think her parents would drop her off. Yeah. So I had a couple girlfriends. I think their parents would all her the girls' parents would always drop not the same time, obviously. Yeah. Girlfriends at different times. And I think their parents would always drop them off at whatever we were doing. But I would always bust. Because I didn't tell my parents I had a girlfriend.

SPEAKER_02 28:55

Yeah,

First Kiss Stories And Party Myths

SPEAKER_02 28:56

for sure, for sure. Did you uh did you share a kiss?

SPEAKER_00 28:59

I did. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 29:00

When was your first kiss?

SPEAKER_00 29:01

Do you remember your first kiss?

SPEAKER_02 29:02

I do actually.

SPEAKER_00 29:03

Oh my god, my first kiss was kind of embarrassing.

SPEAKER_02 29:05

Mine was weird. Okay, so my Oh wait, was this my first kiss? Like outside of like elementary, just I don't know, giving a kiss to someone's someone on the cheek, but like actual like Yeah, yeah, like like lips to lips kiss.

SPEAKER_00 29:19

Yeah, I I can't remember it which one my no, I think I remember which one my first kiss was. It was at a mall and not the big mall, just another mall. Walking around with my girlfriend, and I don't remember the exact situation, but I remember how it went down. Yeah. So she came to kiss me, yeah, and I turned my face. Yeah. So she kissed me on the cheek. I don't know why. I guess I was like scared to kiss on the lips. Yeah, I did. And then when I did that, I was like, oh my god, I'm so sorry. And then like I actually kissed her. Yeah. Like we had like a normal kiss. Was it like a like a makeup? No, no, it was just like like a quick little kids. But yeah, that was my first kiss. I dodged it the first time and then did it normally.

SPEAKER_02 30:05

Must have been grade eight. So this was with your girlfriend.

SPEAKER_00 30:07

Yeah, yeah. Only with girlfriends.

SPEAKER_02 30:09

Oh, okay. Mine was mine was not with a girlfriend. Oh, really? In grade seven, I was like, I was like a party, I would guess. Like no alcohol. No alcohol. We're playing a spin the bottle. Okay. And I was just kissing girls.

SPEAKER_00 30:22

Multiple girls. And they were all chill with it? Yeah. Damn. What the hell?

SPEAKER_02 30:26

And then I remember my buddy at that time back then, after the day after, he's like, yo, holy fuck, what if you get like herpes or something?

SPEAKER_00 30:36

Damn, herpes from the little fucking middle school kids. Yeah. Dude, so this was at the this was at the intense school, right? Yeah. Bro, I swear that's like a breeding ground for a breeding ground? Yeah, it's like a breeding ground for like kids doing like crazy shit.

SPEAKER_02 30:51

No, no, I I would confidently say none of them we're doing anything like wild.

SPEAKER_00 30:55

Really?

SPEAKER_02 30:55

Yeah, like no, like no drugs, no alcohol for sure.

SPEAKER_00 30:57

Yeah, but dude, you played spin the bottle. I never played that. I didn't play that until I got into like I don't know if I ever played spin the bottle in my life. Damn. Actually. Yeah. Yeah, because I'm a little uncomfortable with that, you know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:08

Yeah, that was wild, actually. But anyways, um, I've only I only had one girlfriend in junior high. Actually, that's like the only girl, technically like girlfriend I had before my wife. Yeah, so I was grade nine. Yeah. But yeah, I mean the emotions are like it was wild, man.

SPEAKER_00 31:23

That was you remember like how it was?

SPEAKER_02 31:25

Yeah, it was like almost like to the level of infatuation.

SPEAKER_00 31:28

Like you were like thinking about her all the time. Yeah, I was so intense.

SPEAKER_02 31:30

I was texting her, like talking about future and shit like that.

SPEAKER_00 31:34

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 31:34

You know what I mean? Yeah, that's intense. It felt like everything my world is was about her.

SPEAKER_00 31:39

I think I remember some some similar stuff, you know, thinking of like brazenly and like stupidly thinking about like the future you're gonna have with this girl in junior high.

SPEAKER_02 31:47

Yeah, like you think it's it's everything in your life back then.

SPEAKER_00 31:50

Yeah. Do you remember the breakup? Did you break up or did she break up? It was like mutual.

SPEAKER_02 31:55

Uh but we broke up in in grade 10 in high school. Uh how'd that go? Were you like chill with it? By that time, I think I was pretty done with it. So I was pretty chill with it. I see, I see, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I see.

SPEAKER_00 32:07

Yeah, I had a couple different girlfriends at the time, and not at the time, throughout junior high. And I think every single one, I like felt those same things again. Like, oh my god, I fucking I'm so into this girl.

SPEAKER_02 32:20

Like thinking about like the future with them and fucking Don't you miss like being able to feel emotions that strong?

SPEAKER_00 32:27

Well, to be honest, I still feel emotions that strong. Do you well when I have like I guess it's been a while, but when I think about like the girls that I've liked or like girls that I've wanted to talk about, I mean of course I wouldn't like start fantasizing about like life with them, but I still I still when I want to talk to someone, when I have a crush on someone, yeah, I still feel like quite strongly about those things, which which is what makes me like I think I I think I very often act on these feelings. Yeah, and I think it's because I feel these feelings so strongly. Yeah. So yeah, I I think in like in that sense, I think I still I'm still like that, to be honest.

SPEAKER_02 32:58

Yeah, I just find it so fascinating how you know when I loved kind of back then moments like those, it's like you think that's that's your life, that's that's your world.

SPEAKER_00 33:08

You think like everything's like yeah, you think everything's like coming crashing down. I remember when those relationships ended, it was like uh one of them was like so fucking dramatic.

SPEAKER_03 33:18

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:19

Yeah, it was like uh I had this one girl, this girlfriend uh in grade nine, where you know, high school is junior high is ending, and we're like going off to different schools and stuff. So it's like, you know, can't I guess we can't be together anymore. Wait, why? Well, because we were like gonna be going to different schools and it was gonna be it was gonna be too okay.

SPEAKER_02 33:36

But did you like you guys talk about like, oh well, we'll work it through, you know what I mean? Like we're we're gonna be together forever.

SPEAKER_00 33:41

Well, I th I th I was like on that boat. I was okay. So there was a couple couple things going on. So, first of all, this girl was actually this girl was a year older than me. Damn.

SPEAKER_02 33:53

It's going wild.

SPEAKER_00 33:54

So I was in so I was still in grade eight and she was about to finish grade nine. Yeah. So she was like about to start high school and I was still about to be in middle school. Yeah. So uh I don't know, maybe she felt like some type of way about that. Yeah. Yeah. I remember I remember um like our last date. We were like at the at like the big mall. Yeah. I like got her a rose and stuff. Damn, dude, dude, that's just so romantic. Oh my god. I got her a rose because I'm like, oh, we we can we can keep going, you know. We can yeah, we can work through this. And uh basically she was like, nah.

SPEAKER_02 34:27

What?

SPEAKER_00 34:28

Oh she was like, nah.

SPEAKER_02 34:30

Like she didn't accept the rose?

SPEAKER_00 34:32

No, so then I'm like, would the rose? I fucking uh like throw it in the garbage, dude. Bro, what? Yeah, that was uh it was like it was like straight out of like a fucking How'd you feel after? I mean I felt bad about it, but I Oh you weren't uncrushed? I mean I was pretty sad about it because we were like, dude, we were like playing Farmville together and stuff. Farmville, holy shit. And she was like tending my farm and I was like tending her farm, so it was like it got complicated, you know. I had to like split split things up in the divorce, shit like that. But I mean, yeah, I was I was um I was definitely hurt by it, but you know, new school year started, new girlfriend forgot about it pretty fast. At least I think I did.

SPEAKER_02 35:09

That's insane, eh? Yeah, yeah, like like whenever I look back on these things, it's insane how how dramatic life was.

SPEAKER_00 35:16

Yeah, yeah. Life was super dramatic. Yeah. Unnecessarily so. Yeah, quite literally, yeah.

Dreams Careers And Feeling Behind

SPEAKER_02 35:23

Did you have um did you have any aspirations in junior high? Like in your big dreams.

SPEAKER_00 35:30

I don't know. What did I want to do in junior high?

SPEAKER_02 35:32

Because you were obviously like uh like a top grades, top academic type of guy.

SPEAKER_00 35:36

Like I was, but but around that time, you know, we were going through puberty, so things were really, really changing for me. Like I I up until then, I really cared about I personally cared about my performance in school and performance in academics. Yeah. But then all of a sudden I started caring about these other things, like how I looked and about girls and you know, having fun and things like that. So academics were still very important, but I was thinking about it less. And I I don't know if this was still the case, but up until a certain point in my life, I know my goal was to be a pediatrician.

SPEAKER_02 36:12

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_00 36:13

Yeah, it was to be a pediatrician, yeah. And specifically to work with children with physical or mental challenges. So I don't know if I was still on that path up until then. At some point I got off that path, but uh maybe that's what uh what my aspirations were on the table.

SPEAKER_02 36:29

Yeah, dude, I had no aspirations. No? Because my grades were so low, I was like, well, fuck my life. I mean, that's it.

SPEAKER_00 36:35

What did you think? Were you thinking, like, oh, I gotta like be like a fucking musician or some shit like that?

SPEAKER_02 36:40

No, because back then I wasn't doing music. My YouTube was based on Beyblades, and then grade nine was definitely my worst year, I would say. Yeah, like I was like academics were low, like emotions were fucking intense. Yeah, I didn't know what I was gonna do. Yeah, like it was so bad. Like my my grades in French, it was so bad that I couldn't take it in high school. Oh, really? That was the reason why I had to take Japanese in high school. Uh okay. Yeah. So I was like, fuck. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:08

I mean but to be fair, I mean, even in grade nine, you don't need you don't really need to be that worried about uh no, yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_02 37:14

Like looking back on it, that's like it was so stupid.

SPEAKER_00 37:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:17

But then back then it was it was everything, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 37:19

Yeah. I mean, what was it that really changed? Because you said that you know, all of a sudden things just like kind of clicked. Have you thought about what it was that clicked in high school? Because your your academic performance changed significantly.

SPEAKER_02 37:30

Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I'll maybe I'll talk about it next episode after I recollect like re after I recollect my thoughts. But yeah, I don't know. Because junior high was was my lowest of the low, I I would say, interestingly.

Anime Identity And Finding Your People

SPEAKER_00 37:45

Did you did you find any new interests in junior high?

SPEAKER_02 37:48

I definitely like sports more. Like I re I really liked volleyball. That was a big thing. My love for anime actually even grew further.

SPEAKER_00 37:55

Yeah. Did you do anything with that?

SPEAKER_02 37:57

I mean, I went to like anime conventions. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:00

Really?

SPEAKER_02 38:00

Yeah, yeah. How was that? I I liked it. I think my favorite part of anime conventions are like like people selling stuff. Oh, like little cheap like merch and stuff like that. Like anything related to anime.

SPEAKER_00 38:12

Yeah. And and you had disposable income because of your fucking YouTube thing.

SPEAKER_02 38:17

And then once again, similar to elementary, I never shied away from my like liking for anime and manga. Like I was always proud of it. And I wasn't necessarily bullied by it either.

SPEAKER_00 38:30

So even even in junior high, you were like open about your anime stuff. Yeah. That's surprising to me.

SPEAKER_02 38:35

I think that's because I think that's because in junior high, I mean it's like an academic school. I think like they weren't gonna bully me.

SPEAKER_00 38:42

So uh yeah, I guess everything's like kind of nerdy.

SPEAKER_02 38:44

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, I mean, that was like my biggest interest for sure. Yeah. Because did you did you still like anime back then?

SPEAKER_00 38:53

I did. I think um I I probably like really got into anime around that time, like around grade nine, I think. Yeah. That's probably when I because like you know, none none of my friends were into anime in in junior high at all. Like, no one. And in in elementary school in grade six, I remember one kid, he was like into Naruto, and she he showed he showed me like Naruto Shapuddin.

SPEAKER_03 39:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:17

And that was like the only kid I knew that liked anime. Yeah. In junior high, like we hung out a little bit, but not like a whole lot. So I didn't really know anyone that liked anime, so I didn't have anyone to talk about about anime. So it was just like I would I would basically just talk to uh my older my oldest sister who was also into anime. So like we would watch like Pokemon, or not Pokemon, we would watch like Naruto to together, or maybe not together, like separately, and we would like talk about it and stuff. But um, I was pretty I kept my anime interests like pretty hidden up until then.

SPEAKER_02 39:47

I see. Yeah. Oh, that's fair. You because your school is a lot bigger too, right?

SPEAKER_00 39:51

Yeah, my school is was pretty huge actually in my my junior high. I don't remember exactly how many kids were, but like there was like three floors.

SPEAKER_01 39:58

Oh, three floors the whole time.

SPEAKER_00 39:59

Yeah, there was a there was a basement, then a main floor, then an upper floor.

SPEAKER_01 40:02

Damn, hey.

SPEAKER_00 40:03

Yeah, it was uh and I I had a great time in my junior high, to be honest.

SPEAKER_01 40:06

Oh, yeah, you had a good experience?

SPEAKER_00 40:07

Yeah, I think I had a pretty great time.

SPEAKER_01 40:09

Huh.

SPEAKER_00 40:09

Most of the teachers were pretty nice, most of the kids were pretty nice. And I think most of the problems that I had were a lot of them were self-inflicted, probably. Just like puberty and stuff, you know.

SPEAKER_02 40:22

Yeah, I think yeah, my I don't think my teachers definitely like me. You know, you don't think your teachers liked you? No. Damn. I think I think their perception was me as like, oh, it's a guy who's just like kind of a delinquent, cares about his looks, doesn't do good on grades with grades. So I don't think my teachers like me either. Which is fair. I can I can definitely see why they think like that. Yeah. So yeah, overall my my junior high high experience wasn't even that good.

SPEAKER_00 40:48

So oh yeah, I guess I you were gonna say it was the worst time, and I now I'm saying it's like one of the best times. I mean, I think it was a good time just aside from the from the puberty. I think puberty just made things hard.

SPEAKER_02 40:59

Yeah. Yeah, yeah,

School Dances And Peak Awkwardness

SPEAKER_02 41:00

yeah. Were there were there people like doing drugs and drinking in your junior high?

SPEAKER_00 41:04

If they were, I definitely didn't know about it. Actually, I didn't know about one of my friends. There was like a school dance, and she was talking about like getting drunk for the school dance, and I'm like, what the fuck are you talking about?

SPEAKER_02 41:14

Holy fuck, I just forgot about school dances.

SPEAKER_00 41:16

Yeah, yeah. Dude, you remember those? Yeah, of course. I went to like every single one. Dude, there was like it was like the last dance. So, so in in all throughout junior high, I had this one friend, and I had like a really big crush on her. Yeah. Like basically since like the start of like grade seven, there was this one girl that I had a huge crush on that I did I didn't date her in grade seven, didn't date her in grade eight. We very, very briefly dated in grade nine. Yeah, like it was like because we were like really good friends, yeah. Like we would talk like every single day, talk on Facebook like every single day. And then eventually, like I think I asked her out like three times before she said yes, or like two times or something like that. Like, I she definitely didn't say yes the first time. And then like we went on a date and it went like okay, but we decided like not to keep doing this. Yeah, but then like at the at the end of grade nine, it turned out she wanted to try doing it again, like being like dating, yeah. And one of my friends had told me that. And they were like, Yeah, like this is like real. Like, you know, I'm like, I'm not supposed to tell you, but like this is like legit. So it was the grade nine graduation dance, and she really liked Hey Jude by the Beatles.

SPEAKER_02 42:24

Oh, yeah, dude, that's it's a killer song.

SPEAKER_00 42:26

It is a killer song, yeah. So I like go to the the MCs and I'm like, Can you guys please, please, please play this? I'm about to ask her to go dance, and I'm like, you know what? You got it, sure. So they played the song, and I'm like going up to ask her to dance. And this other girl instantly like cuts in front of me, and she's like, Hey kind of, let's dance. Yeah, what? Yeah, yeah. She just grabs my hands and she just starts dancing with me.

SPEAKER_02 42:51

I'm like, Did you did you like that?

SPEAKER_00 42:53

No, I didn't like that. I liked another girl.

SPEAKER_02 42:56

So she must have had a crush on you.

SPEAKER_00 42:58

I I don't know if she did, but uh, but then like I I guess I was like a fucking bitch or something, but I I didn't like I didn't like it wasn't like a weird dance, it was like me and her were friends. Yeah, at least I thought we were friends. Yeah, it was like an innocent dance, like just dancing next to each other, and then the song ends, and my other friend, another swooped in. Yeah, no, no, no. So another friend who was like friends with me and the girl that I had a crush on, she was like, she like comes up to me, she's like, Where were you? I thought you were gonna dance with her. And I'm like, Yeah, I know I asked him to like put this song on, and I was gonna have to fucking ask her to dance, and then like this girl fucking came up and danced with me, and and then I like it didn't happen. And then like this girl, I don't know why I'm talking about like junior high drama now. But it's like my my friend who like was friends with a girl that I liked, she like started like bitching out the other girl that asked me to dance. Why? Because apparently because like I guess she like got between us or something like that. Oh, like, oh I can't believe you did this, like they were trying to do something. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, something like that. Crazy. I forgot what the point of the story. But basically, like there was like this girl that I had a huge crush on.

SPEAKER_02 44:02

Well, I asked you both dances, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 44:04

Right, right. And then yeah, we never had that dance.

SPEAKER_02 44:06

And yeah, I guess that's those dances are crazy though. Yeah, so cringe, it's so awkward. How much do you remember from them? Like pretty vividly.

SPEAKER_00 44:21

Yeah, I mean we would like it's like dark as well. Would you guys make dance circles? Yeah. Yeah, we make like dance circles.

SPEAKER_02 44:27

Oh, yeah, because I used to dance in junior high.

SPEAKER_00 44:29

I was I was fucking dancing in the so me too. I would like practice breakdancing in the in junior high. And I actually dude, I actually performed at my grade nine graduation on stage with like one other person. Did like a routine. But anyways, at uh at these dances, yeah. It was uh always trying to fucking bust some lame ass moves. Yeah. Dude, one of my one of my friends, one of my closest friends at the time, he got suspended for pelvic thrusting. But it was just like the air, he just like did a pelvic thrust, and like some there's this French teacher that got super pissed about it, and poor kid got suspended.

SPEAKER_02 45:06

Dude, those are the days, man. School dances, hey. Yeah, those I guess we don't have like proms like in in the states.

SPEAKER_00 45:12

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 45:13

I mean, did uh as as big of a deal, but were there dances in high school?

SPEAKER_00 45:16

Because I didn't go to any of them.

SPEAKER_02 45:18

Not in our school.

SPEAKER_00 45:19

Yeah. What about in Canada in general?

SPEAKER_02 45:21

Well, I guess we wouldn't know, but well, I know because other I went to another high school who had Right.

SPEAKER_00 45:26

Okay, but that was also like a special case, you know? Heavy emphasis on never mind. We'll talk about it in the next episode, but yeah, that was like a special case as well. But I think high school dances in Canada are not super probably not super common.

SPEAKER_02 45:41

I think they are common. Actually, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 45:42

No, because like remember in junior high, it's not like we had because like the high school you're talking about, they have one dance in the year.

SPEAKER_02 45:48

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:49

But in junior high, we had like multiple dances in the year, like three per year or something. Yeah, like for Halloween or something, I think maybe. Yeah, but probably a Christmas one, probably like a Valentine's one. Like there were multiple dances for sure every single year. Dude, do you remember dance curriculum in gym class? Yeah, dude, I was so good.

SPEAKER_02 46:07

You were dude. I was like, I was what was what they call like the drive or something like that?

SPEAKER_00 46:10

Oh, yeah. Uh yeah, a bunch of fucking dude. That was insane in dance. Dude, did you have to do was there a part of the curriculum where you had to like freestyle, make up with your own make up your own shit?

SPEAKER_02 46:20

Not not me, not for me.

SPEAKER_00 46:21

Dude, we were in like this group. This was like one of the activities for the dance class, and it was like a group of us, like five guys, and we had to like make our own like contemporary dance. Dude, I was so fucking nervous for that shit. Yeah, yeah. That was that was that was probably like one of the most mo nerve-wracking moments of my my junior high life.

SPEAKER_02 46:39

So then,

What Junior High Still Shapes

SPEAKER_02 46:40

as we come to a close to this episode, how do you think your wait favorite subject? Sorry, band.

SPEAKER_00 46:47

Banned? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:48

Would you play? Clarinet.

SPEAKER_00 46:50

Yeah. Why'd you like that so much?

SPEAKER_02 46:52

Oh, well, I just love music. That was the only thing I was good at.

SPEAKER_00 46:54

Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.

SPEAKER_02 46:55

Yeah. But, anyways, yeah, reflecting back on your junior high experiences, how do you think that's affected you throughout life till now?

SPEAKER_00 47:06

Well, all of the all of my not say like mental problems, but challenges, maybe started around that time for sure. Things like bec being uh self-conscious about the the way I looked, yeah, my interactions with not just the opposite gender, but even like the same gender, you know, like how I interact with my friends, the concept of cool and things like that. It was definitely uh for sure had a big impact on who I am now as a person. And you know, certain certain things like I'm trying to, you know, actively maybe not actively, but things that have changed, like for example, specifically that like being so self-conscious, I'm not really that person anymore. But yeah, it was it was definitely an important time in my life. How about you?

SPEAKER_02 47:54

Yeah, like I say it's my worst experience, but it was probably one of the most fundamental experiences that helped me who I am.

SPEAKER_01 48:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:01

Because it's a stage of experiment experimentation. Yeah. Helped me learn my what my insecurities were and how to overcome it throughout time, like in high school and post-secondary, was the foundation of my values, I think.

SPEAKER_00 48:12

Really? Yeah. What do you think started that?

SPEAKER_02 48:16

I think I think it started from my insecurities.

SPEAKER_03 48:18

I think I see I see.

SPEAKER_02 48:20

And then it helped me learn, I think. Like things aren't, especially towards the end of grade nine, it made me learn as I went into grade 10, things are not that serious. I mean, in high school, I would still say the drama and the intense feelings were still there, but much sort of less degree, I would say. And that helped me learn a lot more and overcome challenges that I experienced in high school, actually.

SPEAKER_00 48:42

Yeah. Yeah. I think getting to junior high, it was definitely it was like really clear step forward from being a kid.

SPEAKER_02 48:50

Yes, yes. Yeah, which is monumental.

SPEAKER_00 48:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:52

Like I think which is something that everyone should experience.

SPEAKER_00 48:55

Well, everyone's gotta experience, you know.

SPEAKER_02 48:56

It's inevitable.

SPEAKER_00 48:57

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:58

I mean, maybe for homeschooled. Oh, yeah, true, true, true, true. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:01

Yeah. Yeah. It was it was it was a massive change from elementary to junior high. And I wouldn't say it was as big of a change going from elementary from junior high to high school. Uh for me. I agree. Me too. Yeah. Me too.

SPEAKER_02 49:13

Going from But elementary to junior high, it's such a it's a big jump. It's a huge jump, actually. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:18

I guess I have a little bit different of an experience too uh as like everything in my life since I moved around so much. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:25

But um, yeah. Yeah. Well, that's it for today.

SPEAKER_00 49:29

How do we do for time for this one?

SPEAKER_02 49:30

Almost an hour too.

SPEAKER_00 49:31

Oh, let's fucking go. We're gonna go to this.

SPEAKER_02 49:33

Yeah, we just zoom by. Well, actually, I had a lot of fun talking about this episode because I think that I think the junior high was when I was the most vulnerable as well. So I think it was uh it was a good thing to talk about.

SPEAKER_00 49:45

Yeah, excited to finally reconvene and talk about our time together in high school.

SPEAKER_02 49:50

Yeah, I think no, I don't want to give it away.

SPEAKER_00 49:53

Yeah, but that'll be the next episode. We'll be uh going over much like how think how we've talked about our lives in our elementary and junior high years were, we'll be talking about high school in the next one, and maybe even a little bit after that. Yeah. Maybe our professional lives and university and things like that.

SPEAKER_02 50:10

And I hope this gives a little bit of information about who we are, yeah. About our interests and values, yeah, and what shaped us. And hopefully our listeners get to know us a bit more throughout these episodes. Which is really the purpose of these of the episodes.

SPEAKER_00 50:28

And we'll have many more like this in the future. So strap in. But thank you guys very much for listening once again this week. This has been catch up with Kai and Cohen, and we'll catch you guys next week. Ice.