A long, long time ago

Not many people know that Joi and I dated when we were in 7th grade. It was a wild fling that has lived on famously in Granite City.

It first started when we had 7th grade Algebra and Speech/Acting together. As a side note, the speech teacher has apparently stolen her "Lion King" cd. I used to stare at her from afar and was never able to muster up the courage to speak to her. Actually that is a lie because in true juvenile male behavior I used to tease her and somehow thought that would bring us together. Believe it or not, it didn't work and I had to go to plan B.

It started in 7th hour (final period of the day) Algebra. We had time to work on our homework for the next class period and in true "me" fashion I decided to use that time otherwise. Otherwise in this case was a long sign with "will you go out with me" written on it. That's right, my plan B was public humiliation. It was important for me to get to her locker at the end of the day before she did. The bell rang and it was now time for a sprint to her locker, which was near mine so luckily I knew the best and quickest route. 4 things were working in my favor,
1. Joi is a painfully slow walker
2. I am a fast walker
3. Joi was popular so people wanted to talk to her, thus slowing her pace even more 4. I was not popular and nobody ever wanted to talk to me and I could keep my focus

I made it to her locker and unveiled plan B and a small crowd began to gather around her locker, which was necessary for this to work. Joi arrived and had a shocked (maybe partially disgusted) look on her face. Then a member of the crowd said the magic phrase, "You can't say no". After what seemed like an eternity (she was trying to figure out a way out of this mess) she finally agreed to date me.

What a magic run it was! We started dating the last school day before Easter/Spring Break and in typical 7th Grade dating style, we only talked on the phone for a few short minutes and that was the extent of our relationship. Then the Sunday night before our return to school I received a return to Earth: one of Joi's friends, in true 7th grade fashion, called me and dumped me. But the foundation was started for what would become an amazing house which has gone through a number of interior repaints, many of which you have seen right here. I'm talking literal repaints of course.