When I was in school, the only classes I always aced were music and physical education. Could be that these were the only classes I really looked forward to and even in my middle age, the same activities still ring true. I love to watch, listen, and participate in both endeavors and hope to do them for years to come. I also love to cook, entertain friends, and play with the dog, not very academic but always very enjoyable.
A funny thing happened to me during my sophomore year in high school. Somehow in tenth grade, I ended up in an advanced geometry class with a lot of very smart students. Now when it comes to algebra, trigonometry, and calculus, I cannot figure out anything worth a darn. Not good in chemistry, foreign language, or American literature either.
Turned out that year, we were all required to take the all-city geometry test. It was a two hour exam of lines, spaces, geometric objects, theorems, and postulates. Somehow, I did the whole test in less than fifteen minutes. When I looked around the room everyone was still on the first or second page so I decided to go over the whole thing again. The second pass went faster than the first and so I thought to myself ‘maybe I have the wrong test papers’ but went ahead and turned it in. To me, it just seemed way too easy but what else could I do.
About a month later our teacher Mrs. Brough announced the results and declares that there were two students in our class that scored the highest in the state of Washington that year. The first name she called was Alan Miyauchi which was no surprise to anybody as he is smart for sure. When Mrs. Brough called out my name as the other high scorer about half of the class said “what?” I didn’t take it personally as I was part of the shocked chorus saying “what?”
[Editor’s Note]
Deems Tsutakawa is a local Sansei musician. He can be reached at deemst@deemsmusic.com.
