Math Team
Although some people may struggle with work from high school, I never found any of the concepts challenging enough. Many of the teachers were teaching material I had already learned back when I was five, and I found math class especially boring. As a young teenage boy with raging hormones, I'd rather look at the pretty girls in my class than waste my time listening to a lesson I learned ages ago. But that all changed when I discovered my school's math team. I joined without a second thought, and before I knew it, our team had qualified for nationals. The competition took place halfway across the country over the course of two days.On the first day, I remember each member of the team was placed in a separate room where we were all given several sheets of problems to solve. As the proctor raised his hand to signal the start, I felt my stomach quiver in excitement and my heart thunder wildly against my chest. It felt exhilarating, speeding through each problem one by one. Each answer was carefully hidden underneath the mass of words and numbers, but was easily revealed within seconds. Time ticked soundlessly by, and within seconds before the alarm rang, I had finished.
On the second day of the competition, I could feel the buzz of excitement jittering throughout the room. My own adrenaline echoed its excitement as it rushed through my veins. This time, we were competing against other teams as a team. Once again, we were given a packet filled top-to-bottom, back-to-back with math problems. Only this time, there were more problems and less time to complete all of them. Working together as a team, we managed to finish all the problems in time. It wasn't until the end of the day when the tension reached its peak. The announcement for the results was out. Each team leaned forward, straining to hear who won first place. Our school name was called, and cheers erupted from our team as we all passed enthusiastic congratulations to each other. Taking in the sight of my joyful teammates, I couldn't help but grin. This was definitely where I belonged.
When I returned back home, I showed my math tutor the trophy we earned. Completely moved by my mathematical talent, he was brought to tears, sobbing as he patted my back. I awkwardly smiled and tried to console him, but with no such luck. He only cried harder.
Babysitting
There was another time when I had stupidly taken up my friend's request on babysitting his son for two days since he'd be away on a business trip. With the mother of the child gone, my friend turned to me for help. And yes, although I am a genius, this was the most idiotic mistake I had ever made. While kids are definitely cute and fun to play with, this one was the devil itself. Now, don't get me wrong, the first five minutes weren't that bad. It was actually pretty good. The little kid was sitting on the carpet, playing with his toy trucks. It wasn't until the second his father left that the kid stopped playing, crawled over and bit me. Apparently, the kid had a habit of biting people and pulling down their pants. I am sorry to say that my pants were no exception. Dinner was quite the nightmare too. The kid refused to eat vegetables, preferring to spit it back out and throwing it at any face within his vicinity, namely me. Anything the kid actually ate was smeared all over his face. Needless to say, the kitchen looked like a warzone.The next morning, I was woken up by the wonderful feel of mud slapping on my face. The kid had somehow managed to go outside into the yard and played in a mud puddle before coming back inside. After another slap of mud hit my face, I lifted the toddler up into my arms and carried him into the bathroom. It was time for him to take a bath, but the kid was even worse in water than on land. The kid was constantly splashing the water in the tub while simultaneously trying to yank my pants down. I was left spluttering on the sidelines trying to keep my pants up. In the end, the bathroom was flooded with water and I wasn't surprised when I found a plug on the floor to drain all the water. The rest of the day was filled with more pant-pulling and food fights.
The next day, my friend returned from his business trip and asked whether his son behaved or not. I simply smiled and bid him goodbye. Kids aren't math. You can't solve them like equations. Which is exactly why I vowed to myself that I will never ever have a kid.
