Donut.

I’ve always told people I’m not cocky, I’m confident where my abilities lie. I think I’ve always had this attitude and it usually grows until I get slapped down by something greater. Something to “take me down a few levels”. Back in 6th grade we had a different system for spelling. There was a 30 level system where when you passed the final test, you’d move on to the next level. To figure out where you started, you would take a test which would determine where you were at. Most kids in my class were put around level 5 or 6. I was one of the two kids in my class though to be put at level 11 which was the highest level you could test into. I read the words and to be honest, I should have tested around level 22 or 23. As the year proceeded, by December I was done with spelling for the year. I was allowed to do whatever I wanted during everyone elses spelling time. This usually ended up with me reading or playing my game boy.

Well as fate would have it, one day we had a substitute teacher who didn’t believe I could do whatever I wanted during spelling and since he didn’t have a good idea of what was going on, he had a spelling bee. Essentially he split the class into 2 teams and they would go word for word in an epic battle of spelling. Everyone was getting ready for the school spelling bee so he claimed it was good practice. I felt like I was wasting my time. I could spell better than these kids and I knew it. Essentially it broke down to you would go toe to toe with someone. You first picked either to spell either an easy, intermediate, or hard word. If you couldn’t spell a word you were out. If the person you were against could spell a harder word, you were out. Most of my team was knocked out and I still wasn’t worried. I kept picking hard words thinking nothing was going to stop me. Eventually it was down to just me and another kid. He was somewhere around level 10 or 11 in the spelling system. I knew it was my time to shine so I told him to give me a hard word. I was given the word doughnut. I heard it, thought in my head “this spelling bee is mine” and said.. “doughnut… D..O..N..U..T… doughnut”. Obviously I had spelled the word wrong. I always ate doughnuts, it’s the easiest word in the world to spell right?

To this day I still believe I was the best speller in my class, just too cocky. I went on to win the school spelling bee and was taken out by “unhygienic” which to this day my mom still gives me crap about it. “It’s I before E…” I probably could have paid more attention though and cruised through.

Life is supposed to be about bettering yourself and I think on a career level I’ve gotten better every year. I’ve worked really hard to better my career as an IT professional as well as a DJ and I think I’ve done really well. As a person I think I’ve developed but not nearly as much. I know I’m too cocky about some things and to be honest it bothers me that I’m that way. Also in uncomfortable situations I tend to tell people my life story. I need to work on listening better and asking more questions. So if I’m talking to you and I start talking about myself too much or something I’ve done, feel free to tell me to shut up.

Well this post didn’t go nearly the way I had planned. I had intended to go on about how every Friday is doughnut day here at work and how it goes against the way I’ve been trying to eat but I can save that for next Friday now.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 11th, 2005 at 9:13 am and is filed under Old Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.