The Mike Haddad Show: This is relevant to my interests.

Ok, so I didn't actually write anything new. But I promise I will. I'm just tired.

Grade 8 was a little different without Matt, Chris or Chris. Like the beginning of grade 6, Andrew and I were on our own so to speak; it was near the middle of grade 6 that we really started talkign to Matt, Chris and Chris. So when grade 8 started we went back to doing our own little thing, with alot of help from Pokemon. There was no business selling bean bag babies this time; it sufficed in grade 6 when we wanted to take money from foolish classmates. God Bless Mrs Groves though for buying so many, and for somehow knowing that even though Kim was in love with me, and even though I was only in grade 6, that I was still a big fag. Pokemon became the big thing in our group of friends that was now spread at two different schools. For whatever reason, it picked up a lot. It was something that tied the group together just before we were split up. I remember by the end of grade 8 just being ready to go to High School and be done with Our Lady of Peace. So when I started at Loyola, I was extremely happy. I was somebody now, right? Hardly. I was shattered to learn that I only had one class with Andrew. Well, one class and lunch which made it bearable. Second Period Gym with Mr Aresenault. It was interesting to see who was in that class. One of the first people I saw was someone I hadn't seen in months. I was going to say four years, but it's not true. Andre was in my gym class. He came and said hi, and we did the regular pleasantries. I hadn't seen him since Appleby. I assume he didn't get in, since he was at Loyola. Although that's not fair. He could have been like me; scored high on the entrance exams, aced the interview, and didn't go. Although I find that hard to believe personally. The reason being that, before the extrance exam the last time I had seen Andre was in grade 4 and he wasn't in the best shape. I mean no offense by that, he had his reasons. Reasons that I will not go into because they are his business. We talked, then I went and sat with Andrew, displaying classic Carrots and Celery behaviour. I remember how on the second day of class, Andre and I got in trouble for not having gym clothes. There were a few of us who got in trouble, although he had totally said we could buy uniforms in class. We had to sit on the bleachers and not talk to anyone. So I sit on the bleachers up againt the wall, took 30 seconds to try and figure out the rest of my day, and homework I'd have to do. When I looked up, Andre was sitting down next to me and complaining. Before I could open my mouth and tell him to leave we were getting in trouble. Add 25 more pushups to the 50 we already had to do. Great way to have Andre reintroduced into my life.

I still remember how uncertain those first few lunches were. It was odd. The table was our same old group from elementary school, plus one more: Taylor. He was a friend of Matt's. I remember how quickly magic cards started with them, and how our table grew. I had never before seen magic cards. Like, ever. So it was interesting. I had to learn to play to have somethign to do with them at lunch. Boy, I will never let myself live that one down. It didn't take long before I stopped and would talk to people who I had class with while they played. I remember how Rob joined our group of friends. There was some disagreement on how this happened when I was talking to him. As far as I remember, Andrew and I were talking about Diablo II as we did our warm up runs in gym when Rob came over and started talking. Rob recently informed me he never played Diablo II. So I find it amusing that we argued about it. I'm sure he lied, and so is he. He was a quick addition to our table though. He played Magic Cards. So did Mike Yip.

Mike Yip and I had 4 out of 5 periods together in Semester Two. We had also gone to Mini-U together. He was in the same group as Matt, Andrew and Fly which allowed him to discover their common love of Magic Cards. His older sister Carmen was one of my Junior leaders. So Mike quickly joined the group. This is when I like to think the group was at it's best. It really was too. Well, with Andre. He was there too. Not that this was bad, I just think I forgot to mention that. He also played Magic Cards. Grade 9 was a good year. I still think Chrono Cross is a gorgeous game. We played it at Andre's house once, along with Xenogears. Unfortunatly, things would lead to disaster. Andre, Andrew and I all had the same personality faults to a certain degree. There was a certain point where we would do things to seek approval of each other. This lead to tension near the end of grade 9. Mike Yip and I were on the Reach team with Matt and Fly, so Andre and Andrew pulled closer together. After that, Fly, Mike and I went to EMC and when we came back Mike Yip and I were Mike Squared. I don't think it went over too well.

That's something that changed my a lot; when I went Mike Yip and I were the only grade 9s from Loyola. We roomed together, obviously. We stayed in McNeil residence, I still remember. The first night Mike and I weren't sure what to do, we hadn't met up with his friends from elementary school and couldn't find Fly. We walked down to the common room, to try and pass the time. It was so obvious that we were out of place. We were watching some of the grade 11s play card; we didn't play with them we were too scared to talk. Much music was on playing songs that I had never heard. One of the kids was being loud and obnoxious: "God damnit play some good music." Missy Elliot comes on the screen: "Thats more like it!" Now at this point my music exposure was almost entirely what Kiss 92 played; not Missy Elliot (which is probably why they later went bankrupt). It was a shock to me. The music, but more so the music video. For those of you who havent seen the music video to Get Ur Freak On, I suggest you watch it as soon as possible to try and understand what Iw as going through.

[ dear mike, don't forget: emc stuff (music, girls, keys, course) ]

Midway through grade 10, things had blown up. This was caused by the hiatus a few of us took from the group near the end of grade 9. By second semester, the group had seen the addition of James Hine as a friend, and Olek, Oscar and Gustabo as pawns for Andrew to try and control. I don't even remember what the boiling point was. I just remember Mike Yip left to sit with friends we had, and eventually Rob, Olek and I had left to walk to McDonald's for lunch with Andrea, Dan, Nick, Dave and Tim. At this point Rob and I were really close. Like, weekend sleepovers (the kind that Andrew and I used to have), Munn's Dance Chaperoning, Volunteer Hours Galore. By second semester I had no more contact with my original group of friends. The new group would go out every weekend and see a movie. The amount of movies I saw in in the six months before we went away to Holy Trinity.

[ dear mike, don't forget: emc stuff, mini u, etc ]

End Pre-Holy Trinity