i grew up in a pretty rough area, i guess. i was telling my wife last night how shocked i was to learn in college that most people DIDN'T go to a school where fights broke out regularly and kids showed up to school drunk. i really figured it was the norm; it was a podunk shitheel high school in the ass end of lewis county, washington -- surely other folks have had similar experiences at super smalltown schools. i've had my car shot up by yokels from a rival football team; i've been arrested (and let go because my dad was a medic for the fire dept) for mip; and i've been chased for 30 miles by a crazy hick whose truck we sprayed with piss. and to top that: my classmates were a lot WORSE than me! i can never seem to decide if i really liked high school or hated it, which is probably why i don't have any real nostalgia for it -- it was just a baffling, distinguished mentally-challenged, hilarious and freaky time.
i'm a bit of a rabble-rouser at times; maf definitely is not a chronic boat-rocker, and tvc operates a little more subtly. when you really raise my ire, i tend to put decorum aside, although as i've aged i've learned a deep and abiding appreciation for working within the status quo instead of against it.
the marine cadet thing started with a squirtgun fight -- our dorm versus the rotc dorm. the cadet that threatened me was named "big mac" or something because he was just that: a huge fuckin' hick with a hair-trigger temper. he was kinda well-known because he was drunk all the time and loud as hell, and used to come into our dorm's common room to hit on girls and play the stud. anyway, me and my roommate got him cornered in this dumb squirtgun battle and were just hosing him off and mocking him a bit -- nothing really mean, as i recall -- and he just fuckin' went bozo. my roommate bailed and i was all "come on, dude, it's just a game" and he was FUCK YOU LOSER and tried to hit me with his gun, so I sucker punched him, and not even that hard -- it only made him REALLY pissed, and he started trying to grapple with me. one or two of the other cadets saw him trying to get me in a headlock -- and i was in total flight mode at this point, 'cuz I ain't so good when I'm surprised -- and ran over. i got away, but i slipped in the wet grass and they kicked the shit out of me cuz i guess MOB TIME. i felt like so much shit, and to make matters worse, my gf at the time blamed ME for it and dumped me two days later, although i think it was more due to how snobby me and my roommate were about, well, everything. fuck.
the frat hick? i had that coming. i'd mention more details, but suffice to say, i wasn't in a state to be thinkin' super-clearly, but even i had been AND still been distinguished mentally-challenged enough to start a fight, there's no guarantee i woulda won. martial arts is half-psychology, and if you don't have a clear adventage in surprise and environmental knowledge/awareness, even a black belt can lose for any reason. i vaguely remember him being kinda imposing when he stood up and thinking something along the lines of "ah hell, why did i just do that" and then OW.
