The World's A Big Blue Marble

The social aspect of Middle School sucks, no matter where you live. Especially if you were a pimply-faced kid like me. I was weak. I got beat up.

I lived in Germany from 7th to part of 11th grade. Middle School was 6-8 grades. One thing about living in Germany was you could go work for tips on the weekends and after school at the grocery store, more commonly known in the military as "the comissary." I would go to the commisary on Saturday mornings to bag. A whole bunch of kids would show up. You had to put a button (and when I say button, I mean the kind that is usually circular in shape that you put on your jacket that has a goofy message or rock band logo and a safety pin back) in a paper bag and they would draw maybe 20. If your pin got drawn, you worked. If it didn't, you just got to the commisary at 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning for nothing. Sucker!

I had this HUGE Atari pin, it was yellow with the Atari logo on it and it measured 6 inches in diameter. I got express lane the first time out. I would have gotten two weeks in a row, but there was a rule against getting it two weeks in a row. Working express meant you were gonna make about $40 from 10 and 15 cent tips, bagging up people's little items, and you didn't have to haul one damn cart all day. I lasted about 4 weeks, until someone threw my Atari pin away.

But I didn't come here to talk about bagging groceries.

I wish I could remember who it was; I think her name was Michelle when we were in 7th grade. Michelle was this wirey, blonde, freckled, gap-toothed skinny girl. My best friend, Robby, thought she was hot. One day, she asked me in front of a whole bunch of people, "Are you the kid on the Big Blue Marble?" I briefly gave her a blank stare for a split second then said, "Yeah, that was me. They came to a mall near where I lived and I stood in line for two hours. But I guess it paid off."I never watched "The Big Blue Marble" on AFN, even though it was a TV show in a language that I could understand. So that day, I watched the beginning, and I see a kid that does sorta look like me, although obviously, it wasn't.

So, no, I never was on The Big Blue Marble, but I rolled with it. I think Michelle knew as well, but she told everyone about it. I think I told people I was on there as well. There was a curly-haired girl named Lisa with freckles who moved back to the states after 8th grade, who was totally into Scott Baio. My friend, Scott, probably remembers her entire name, because she was after him because he looked like Scott Baio, or at least he looked like him enough for Lisa. I told Lisa, that since I was on BBM, I had a chance to meet Scott Baio. Hung out with him for a day. Heh. What a dork I was.

So yeah, I was the Big Blue Marble kid. I actually forgot about that one.