What were your school years like?

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Storm Eagle

One guy I worked with at a summer job took it to a whole new level and thought I might be slow or retarded since I hadn't been talking to our female co-workers.

I worked in a cleaning job. The female co-workers tended to spend too much time talking to each other. They tended to be a bit distracted and cleaning stuff would get left around the building and then the company would leave complaints in the feedback log.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Stephen

We had to do that in PE classes. Since they did skins and shirts and it was during the winter months, it tended to be a bit cold running around the gym. Although preferable to the muddy outside sports such as football and rugby.

We also had trampolines for a few weeks. Those were quite fun.

Never played rugby in PE class. We played football, basketball, handball and volleyball.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

I got in huge trouble at High School party for being a part of a Counter-Strike LAN party in computer class

Basically, computer class was boring as all living hell and we didn't really care about grades in our junior year, so me and my friends used a USB version of Counter Strike to temporarily install the game on our school computers.

For like a week, we all sat at the back of the class and played against each other endlessly, only minimising the game when the teacher came nearby.

However, we came one day and were horrified to see our accounts having been blocked, followed by the head of department calling me and the other boys outside to have a talk.

We were shouted at quite a bit, and it was really scary at the time since we were threatened with expulsion (thankfully didn't happen though), but I do not regret the awesome memories that me and my friends (who I still keep in touch with) made in that week.

Me and my friends were also the sole cause of our class teacher recieving a second monitor next to his work computer, which he could use to monitor how we used the computers

[Storm Eagle]

Originally Posted by Prowler

I wasn't much into music until 12th grade, and I always found myself more attracted to metal and hard rock. Nowadays I also listen to jazz, synthwave and Korean Japanese pop music. Rap is definitely my least favourite of the major musical genres out there. Sure there's some songs I like but it's not something I really enjoy for the most part.

Some people have been surprised after I told them I like some Japanese pop music, since that's not really something people expect to hear out of a guy who's into metal music. People tend to have this image of metalheads being tough macho man guys, but tbh most guys I've met who are into metal all loved more stereotypical "nerdy" stuff and had intellectual interests overall. Some of the music is aggressive and all, but the listeners not so much... except when they argue about their favourite bands and genres. Metalheads are BY FAR the most elitist music fans you'll meet. Hence why metal has way more different sub-genres than any genre out there. It's madness, but at the same time makes the genre quite diverse.

While I may listen to rap, I'm not so hardcore about my interest as most rap fans are. I don't dress the part, and I've never really talked the talk either, and the same holds true for my interest in rock. I just know that I simply enjoy it, although I don't support the kind that glorifies violence or demeans women, just like how I don't support the kind of rock music that might promote anything Satanic.

In the black community, anything other than rap and R&B is basically considered taboo. So if you're black and you might tell other black people that you listen to other kinds of music that aren't those two things, they might think you're selling out, or "being white". So that's why I might say that I like rap, but hate the fans. I only really hate the fans who have a fascist attitude about rap anyway. I thought they were elitist, and then you went and said that metal fans can be elitist too. I have a friend who's Hispanic, and she attended a high school that might have been predominantly white, although rap was pretty big there too. She told me that at her school, you had to like rap, or else you were "cornball". She already did like rap, but said she rebelled against it since people made such a big deal about it, even though she still likes a little bit of it.

I may not be white, but I'm proud that I can enjoy many types of music, and I've met a lot of other black people who listen to rock. Some people just act like they're not aware that there are such things as diversity and versatility.

I might have met a lot of metal fans who are pretty cool. I remember having this one friend online who was into metal, and she was always pretty cool. One of my friends told me about being a fan of The Misfits, and told me about how the lead singer, Jerry Only, will encourage his young fans to stay in school, and how the members of the band are the nicest guys. So a lot of these people can surprise you.

Originally Posted by Stephen

I worked in a cleaning job. The female co-workers tended to spend too much time talking to each other. They tended to be a bit distracted and cleaning stuff would get left around the building and then the company would leave complaints in the feedback log.

Other than that, how did you find those girls to be in general? Did they seem nice at least?

In my case, I just never took the initiative to talk to the girls at the place I worked for some reason. Sure I liked girls, but I guess I just didn't feel as though I had anything to prove. I was just going with the flow and living my life. Besides, it's not like those girls couldn't have spoken to me. They had voices.

Originally Posted by FredWolfLeonardo

Basically, computer class was boring as all living hell and we didn't really care about grades in our junior year, so me and my friends used a USB version of Counter Strike to temporarily install the game on our school computers.

Apparently that's the year where you should care about your grades if you plan on going to college. I know my grades have always been hit-or-miss, and that was unfortunately the case with my grades in my junior year. So my mother wasn't happy about that at all. I think I'd have tried a bit harder if I even knew those were the grades that really counted though.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by FredWolfLeonardo

I got in huge trouble at High School party for being a part of a Counter-Strike LAN party in computer class

Basically, computer class was boring as all living hell and we didn't really care about grades in our junior year, so me and my friends used a USB version of Counter Strike to temporarily install the game on our school computers.

For like a week, we all sat at the back of the class and played against each other endlessly, only minimising the game when the teacher came nearby.

However, we came one day and were horrified to see our accounts having been blocked, followed by the head of department calling me and the other boys outside to have a talk.

We were shouted at quite a bit, and it was really scary at the time since we were threatened with expulsion (thankfully didn't happen though), but I do not regret the awesome memories that me and my friends (who I still keep in touch with) made in that week.

Me and my friends were also the sole cause of our class teacher recieving a second monitor next to his work computer, which he could use to monitor how we used the computers

LOL that sounds like a really funny story to look back to. The closest thing I did in computer classes was playing flash games on websites like miniclip and also talking on MSN Messenger with other people I knew.

Originally Posted by Storm Eagle

While I may listen to rap, I'm not so hardcore about my interest as most rap fans are. I don't dress the part, and I've never really talked the talk either, and the same holds true for my interest in rock. I just know that I simply enjoy it, although I don't support the kind that glorifies violence or demeans women, just like how I don't support the kind of rock music that might promote anything Satanic.

In the black community, anything other than rap and R&B is basically considered taboo. So if you're black and you might tell other black people that you listen to other kinds of music that aren't those two things, they might think you're selling out, or "being white". So that's why I might say that I like rap, but hate the fans. I only really hate the fans who have a fascist attitude about rap anyway. I thought they were elitist, and then you went and said that metal fans can be elitist too. I have a friend who's Hispanic, and she attended a high school that might have been predominantly white, although rap was pretty big there too. She told me that at her school, you had to like rap, or else you were "cornball". She already did like rap, but said she rebelled against it since people made such a big deal about it, even though she still likes a little bit of it.

I may not be white, but I'm proud that I can enjoy many types of music, and I've met a lot of other black people who listen to rock. Some people just act like they're not aware that there are such things as diversity and versatility.

I might have met a lot of metal fans who are pretty cool. I remember having this one friend online who was into metal, and she was always pretty cool. One of my friends told me about being a fan of The Misfits, and told me about how the lead singer, Jerry Only, will encourage his young fans to stay in school, and how the members of the band are the nicest guys. So a lot of these people can surprise you.

This is something that me and many Europeans always found strange about American society. How ethnically/racially segregated it is when it comes to apparently simple things like music. In Europe we don't really have this whole "acting white/black/wtv" thing. I've met some Black metalheads and rock fans in the past and they didn't seem out of place at concerts nor have I heard anyone accusing them of trying to be White.

It's hard to equate music genres to races, regardless of who originally created them, since all of the major musical genres are popular worldwide. I notice in USA Metal is mostly viewed as a White thing, but guess what, Metal is also quite popular in places like the Middle East, Japan and in Latin America, a part of the world that's very diverse racially/ethnically wise, and you have all sorts of people in countries like Brazil liking metal and being part of metal bands. As for hip-hop and RnB music, sure it might have started out as something primarily played by Black people in USA, but nowadays that type of music is popular worldwide among people of all walks of life. Funny enough it seems like jazz music isn't so popular among Black people in USA nowadays, or am I mistaken?

I guess that's what happens when a country has the type of racial history that USA does. Hard to completely move on from the past and to erase all of the consequences from it.

[Storm Eagle]

Originally Posted by Prowler

This is something that me and many Europeans always found strange about American society. How ethnically/racially segregated it is when it comes to apparently simple things like music. In Europe we don't really have this whole "acting white/black/wtv" thing. I've met some Black metalheads and rock fans in the past and they didn't seem out of place at concerts nor have I heard anyone accusing them of trying to be White.

It's hard to equate music genres to races, regardless of who originally created them, since all of the major musical genres are popular worldwide. I notice in USA Metal is mostly viewed as a White thing, but guess what, Metal is also quite popular in places like the Middle East, Japan and in Latin America, a part of the world that's very diverse racially/ethnically wise, and you have all sorts of people in countries like Brazil liking metal and being part of metal bands. As for hip-hop and RnB music, sure it might have started out as something primarily played by Black people in USA, but nowadays that type of music is popular worldwide among people of all walks of life. Funny enough it seems like jazz music isn't so popular among Black people in USA nowadays, or am I mistaken?

I guess that's what happens when a country has the type of racial history that USA does. Hard to completely move on from the past and to erase all of the consequences from it.

Have you only met black metalheads in your country, or would they have come from other countries as well? If it's just in your country, then like you said, anyone black who you might have seen attending those concerts wouldn't look out of place, or even get weird looks.

I've said that other black people might have made comments about me listening to rock, but the white people I've met who also listen to it don't seem to think anything of it. They haven't questioned me or anything. I imagine that they probably find it refreshing to meet a black person who doesn't think he's too good to listen to things other than hip hop and R&B.

A lot of black people would be surprised to learn that some of the rappers they idolize don't even limit their taste in music to just rap, or "black music" in general. Snoop Dogg once mentioned that he's a fan of The Doors, Jay-Z said once that he listens to rock, and Wyclef Jean mentioned having a rock band in college and said he loves metal. For the record, I heard that David Bowie was into hip hop, and I believe I remember hearing that Lars Ulrich from Metallica listened to NWA.

I don't think most black people (in the US anyway) care that metal or rock is popular in other countries. They're just in the mindset that it's a white thing, and they won't even touch it. So that's sad. If it's just simply not their cup of tea for other legit reasons, then that's fine. I know there are even some white people who don't care for rock, and some of them might even just stick to hip hop and R&B too.

While I may also listen to jazz, albeit mainly just in the car, I unfortunately don't follow it enough to know how popular it is among blacks nowadays.

[Voltron]

I used to teach in a predominately black neighborhood. My students had a very impressive knowledge and appreciation for metal. The newer stuff, mostly. That's not to say they were total and unwavering metalheads. They just got all excited about Disturbed and other bands that were big at the time. They even went to a few concerts.

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Never played rugby in PE class. We played football, basketball, handball and volleyball.

Since you seemed to get comments from people about your body, were you ever required to shower after PE classes? I did it a few times when I was 14 - was getting comments over lack of body hair, then stopped using them. I didn't sweat much, so it didn't really seem that necessary anyway.

Originally Posted by FredWolfLeonardo

Basically, computer class was boring as all living hell

Year 9 Music classes were like that. We had a different teacher to the one that we'd had in the previous two years. She couldn't control the class and people just messed around a lot.

This went on for a few weeks until the vice-principal came to our class and then forced everyone to apologise to the teacher.

We eventually ended up with the previous teacher again and the other teacher was given a year 7 class, since 11/12 year-olds were probably easier for her to handle than 13/14 year-olds.

Originally Posted by FredWolfLeonardo

However, we came one day and were horrified to see our accounts having been blocked, followed by the head of department calling me and the other boys outside to have a talk.

I had that in college. Me and someone else found a way to get Internet access. It was enabled, but there was no browser installed, so we were running Netscape from a floppy disk. We eventually get caught and ended up on restricted login for a while - where we could only login at certain times of the day.

A few years later, a lot of people also ended up with accounts disabled for a few weeks because they were messing around with IRC.

Originally Posted by Storm Eagle

Other than that, how did you find those girls to be in general? Did they seem nice at least?

They seemed Ok. We didn't really talk that much, since we were only there for two hours each evening and were cleaning in different parts of the building.

[Wesley]

One standout moment for me in my computer class was realizing one time that my mouse wasn’t working because the ball inside it was taken out and just then the principal demanding over the intercom that all the balls taken from the mice be returned.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Stephen

Since you seemed to get comments from people about your body, were you ever required to shower after PE classes? I did it a few times when I was 14 - was getting comments over lack of body hair, then stopped using them. I didn't sweat much, so it didn't really seem that necessary anyway.

No. Most of us didn't shower in the locker rooms, but at home. Tbh often the P.E. class was the last one in the morning. Meaning we could go home during the lunch break, shower, have lunch and then go back to school later for afternoon classes, if we had them that day.

Originally Posted by Wesley

One standout moment for me in my computer class was realizing one time that my mouse wasn’t working because the ball inside it was taken out and just then the principal demanding over the intercom that all the balls taken from the mice be returned.

Wtf? What a strange thing for someone to steal.

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Meaning we could go home during the lunch break, shower, have lunch and then go back to school later for afternoon classes, if we had them that day.

Did you get long lunch breaks? We'd barely have had enough time to go home, do other stuff, then enough time to get back to school.

[Wesley]

We used to have a special hour-long lunch break on Tuesdays. We needed lunch passes to be able to leave school during lunch.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Stephen

Did you get long lunch breaks? We'd barely have had enough time to go home, do other stuff, then enough time to get back to school.

Sometimes, yes. Also, a lot of kids lived about a 10-15 min walk or less away from school, so they definitely had time to go home during lunch break.

I dunno how it is in other countries, but here in Portugal pretty much everyone has lunch outside of school. Having lunch at the school cafetaria stops being a thing everyone does after 4th grade. By the time I was in 10th grade no one had lunch in school anymore. And even from 5th to 9th grade half of my classmates either went out to have lunch at the nearest mall or McDonald's or went out for lunch with their parents if they happened to work nearby and had lunch breaks around the same time.

I haven't lunched at school since 4th grade, seriously. When I went to uni it was my first time having lunch at "school" for the first time since like 1999-2000. And even then I didn't eat at the canteen per se, but just bought a sandwich or something at one of the small cafés there and had a quick bite before my next class.

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Prowler

I dunno how it is in other countries, but here in Portugal pretty much everyone has lunch outside of school.

Primary school had railings and locked gates to stop kids from "escaping".
The first secondary school that I went to (11-14 years-old) didn't generally allow people to go offsite during lunch, other than a few people that specifically had permission to go home. The second school (14-16) wasn't bothered if people did it. Some people would eat food in the cafeteria, others would go and walk around the local town.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Stephen

Primary school had railings and locked gates to stop kids from "escaping".
The first secondary school that I went to (11-14 years-old) didn't generally allow people to go offsite during lunch, other than a few people that specifically had permission to go home. The second school (14-16) wasn't bothered if people did it. Some people would eat food in the cafeteria, others would go and walk around the local town.

Up until 9th grade you need to have wirrten on your student card or booklet if your parents(or guardian) allow you to leave the school alone or not.Plus, if you're in school and want to cut class the janitor or whoever is checking at the entrance hall will check your schedule to see id you're nut cutting class. But once I got to 10th grade, none of that was required any longer. I could just leave school without anyone asking me any questions or me requiring permission from my parents written on my booklet or whatever. By the time you're 14-15 years old, it's a norm for kids to go to school and home alone.

Some of my classmates were already going home alone in 6th grade or going out during lunch break to go have lunch by themselves or with a few other classmates.. I believe the first time my mum let me go to school and home alone was in 9th grade.

I live in a big city so things could be different in smaller and safer towns and cities.. Also it depends how safe the area that your school is in is, I guess.

In Japan, for example, kids go to school alone and go home alone pretty early in their lives, since it's a pretty safe country and even juvenile delinquency is quite rare there. In many big urban areas in Europe and USA you're likely to eventually get mugged or have a delinquent harass you at some point if you're a teenager and walking alone outside.

[Andrew NDB]

There was a McDonald's across the street from my high school, so a lot of kids would go there at lunch. Nothing much else was close enough.

And we did have barbed wire fences around the school with security guards. Mostly they would just sneak around and bust kids smoking cigarettes.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

There was a McDonald's across the street from my high school, so a lot of kids would go there at lunch. Nothing much else was close enough.

And we did have barbed wire fences around the school with security guards. Mostly they would just sneak around and bust kids smoking cigarettes.

Huh? Was your school in a rough area or something?

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Storm Eagle

I might have had one or two opportunities to lose my virginity during my high school days by girls from the same school, but if I really did have a chance, then I'm glad it didn't happen.

What made you turn them down? Were they just looking for casual sex and not genuinely interested in you as a person?

[Storm Eagle]

Originally Posted by Stephen

What made you turn them down? Were they just looking for casual sex and not genuinely interested in you as a person?

With the first girl, we were going home from school and we were at a bus stop. I think she asked me if I was a virgin, and then said she'd be willing to "show me the way", but I didn't go for it. I guess I just wasn't up to it.

The second one happened on my sixteenth birthday at school. This one girl kept asking me if I was a virgin, and I just told her that I don't answer that question. She kept asking it anyway until I gave an answer, and I just lied and said I wasn't. I learned that she was asking because she was offering to be my first. I might have kicked myself for lying, but now I'm actually glad it didn't happen, and I've already explained why earlier.

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Storm Eagle

This one girl kept asking me if I was a virgin, and I just told her that I don't answer that question.

Did that sort of thing - with people asking questions, happen a lot in high school? I never got asked that, although did get asked personal questions a few times.