Thursday, May 21, 2009

The Battle for Seattle

Remember in Sixteen Candles how Anthony Michael Hall's character claims to have had a girlfriend from Canada, near Niagra Falls? Embarrassing, but I have to admit I had a similar lie when I was about to start high school.

Between the 8th and 9th grades, I took math classes in summer school at Santa Teresa High School. I have no idea why, because I was keeping up fine. "Enrichment," I suppose. Now Santa Teresa wasn't my neighborhood high school. It was two schools to the south, which was two rings further from central San Jose. In other words, the students were two shades paler on the color spectrum.

I didn't know anybody, and just to throw my two cents into the before-class conversation about girlfriends, I made up a girl "from Seattle." I remember immediately wishing I could recant my words, they hung in the air and I couldn't turn back. So now I'm coming clean!

While browsing the photos of upcoming Frank Lloyd Wright Lego sets (here and here), I find myself more drawn to the Space Needle set. I still can't believe I didn't ride the elevators up the Space Needle when I made my one trip to Seattle. That's up there with EzraPounded staring at the Statue of Liberty without actually getting up close and personal.