Clockwork Chap

My Life Without A Jetpack - Olympic Spirit

http://nojetpack.thecomicstrip.org/comics/320



I've never been an athletic person, so combine that with the awkwardness of a teenager, and I was doomed. On top of that, I got my elementary education at a small public school in my neighborhood, then my parents sent me to a posh private school for junior high and high school (it's all high school here). Not only I was surrounded by hundreds of complete strangers (there were like 120 of us in the first year alone, and almost everybody else knew each other since preschool), the day of my first gym class two girls saw me in my tighty whities (https://nojetpack.thecomicseries.com/comics/117/), and soon afterwards I had to deal with vaulting boxes, pommel horses, high jump bars, long jump sandboxes, shot puts, etc for the first time in my life. Up until then, all those things were stuff I'd only seen on TV. My elementary school was a very good one in a good neighborhood, but we basically only had footballs (soccer balls), volleyballs, and a volleyball net.

Needless to say, I sucked at gym class that year, and the following three years, thanking the universe for that not being a subject in my junior and senior years. I suspect that I didn't fail the class that first year because I would have been the only one and the teacher did not want to do the extra work of preparing an exam and having me take it.

Music this time is Get Ready For This, from 2 Unlimited's 1992 album Get Ready!. Readers, I was not ready, at all:

https://youtu.be/iPOmFUid3vA

My Life Without A Jetpack - Mistaken Identity VII

http://nojetpack.thecomicstrip.org/comics/315



Yes, this happens to me all the time. It's cute when kids do it, but if you're an adult, don't make the Santa Claus joke when you see me. It's old, and not funny coming from you, please don't make unsolicited comments about other people's appearance.

This time, music is Christmas Time Is Here, the holidays classic by the Vince Guaraldi Trio from the Charlie Brown and Peanuts TV special. Happy holidays to you all!

https://youtu.be/YvI_FNrczzQ

My Life Without A Jetpack - Perfect Hearing.

http://nojetpack.thecomicstrip.org/comics/313



This is one of those strips where there's not much to write about. Parents will understand me, we're always talking about our kids, even (especially) good stuff. When my wife and I go out on a date, we always end up talking about our kid, who's already 20. And it's not because we don't have other topics, it's just that children are that important. There, sappy and short.

This time, music is David Bowie's Blackstar, from the album of the same name, because both my kid and I love Bowie:

https://youtu.be/kszLwBaC4Sw

My Life Without A Jetpack - Dark Secrets.

http://nojetpack.thecomicstrip.org/comics/311



In Uruguay, your final two years of high school you have to choose an orientation for your studies, to prepare for your chosen university career (if you're going to do one). The first of those two years, you choose a broad orientation, such as Humanities, Math, Arts, or Biological Sciences. Then, in the second one, you choose something more specific.

In my case, I wanted to be a veterinarian (yeah, that changed), so I chose Bio Sciences first, then Medicine, which would prepare me for Med School or Vet School, among other things. I did flunk most of my senior year subjects and ended up finishing the last two some 21 years later, but that's a tale for another time.

I did enjoy my biology classes; which on our senior year were all about the human body. We had to learn every bone of the body, all nerve insertions in the skull, etc. And for that, we were given a permission slip from the school to go pick up a skeleton from a public cemetery. The skeleton of someone who had no relatives, and that, after a certain amount of years, was going to be cremated and put in an urn.

It's a bit sad, if you think about it, this person's remains (which we had to boil in water with sodium hydroxide to clean up) were supposed to contribute to science and healing... and I ended up being a writer, journalist, and podcaster. The two other friends with which I studied did go into health-related carreers, so there's that.

My (supposed) senior year was in 1997, and at first the bag with the skeleton was being stored at one my friends' house, but then his mom dropped it off at mine. I kept in the closet (a literal skeleton-in-the-closet, nacht) for a couple more years before my girlfriend (now wife) found it and had the beejezus scared out of her. I did not take it with me when I moved out, and I think some years later it was given to a friend of the family's kid, who was also studying pre-med high school. I *think*.

Music this time is Clint Eastwood, from Gorillaz's 2001 self-titled album:

https://youtu.be/1V_xRb0x9aw