I wrote the other day that I was sixteen when I learned to dribble. That was just after the school year ended. I was playing basketball at a friend's house (the same friend across from the lot where those hockey kids played), and suddenly it just clicked. This is how you palm it and cradle the ball.
A few days after that, I worked at a summer camp. I played basketball almost everyday. The first week was orientation and training and setting up, and it was great. We got to fool around and swim and overall just had a great time. Summer. Fun in the sun. And the next week, the kids came. I seriously forgot that's what we were there for. But we still had fun during breaks, and we had this big staff lounge cabin where there were no campers allowed.
Anyway, there were about three or four sessions. In between, it would just be the counselors and staff just getting a reprieve from the chaos. One particular day, we all just played basketball almost all day.
I drank a lot of Sunkist that year. Can't really remember exactly why but I just got into it. If I remember correctly, they installed vending machines at our high school back then and I may have bought some. It's kinda vague. But at that summer camp, we were given three free snack choices at the staff lounge. We would line up at the counter and tell the worker what three things we wanted. Nothing healthy. There were candy and chips and of course, soda. I would sometimes go up to the guy and say, "Let me get a Sunkist. A Sunkist. And a Sunkist." I was a funny guy.
So that day when we were playing basketball, I was waiting for my turn, watching the current game and enjoying my Sunkist. The court was surrounded by a short wooden fence (a wood split rail, according to Google image search), and I was on the outside leaning against it. In between sips, I would place my Sunkist on the wood.
One of the guys who were playing, Keith, comes over to me and asks, "Can I have a sip?" Before I could even say no, he takes the can, puts it to his mouth and drinks out of it. Not even an air sip. And then just as quickly, the puts the can down, says thanks and goes back to the game.
I was just like, "Eh". And I then I drank out of the can myself. I didn't give it a second thought. (I gave it a first thought though.)
That is something that will probably not happen today. Or even in the near future. That was a moment that lasted a few seconds that I hardly ever think about anymore. But now it is a legendary tale for my kids. Why, back in my day, we used to just share germs all the time!
Even worse was when I used to hang out with skaters. I never got into doing tricks and rails and all that stuff. But my friends were into it. They would go all over Jersey City and the surrounding area to find good spots to skate. They would videotape themselves doing tricks. I would just follow along, and they probably tolerated my presence because I knew video and would sometimes give advice.
During breaks we would share a drink. A two liter bottle of soda. They would just pass it from one to the other. I can't remember if they would even wipe the rim. But there was a sense of pride and camaraderie around this act. It was almost insulting if you wiped it. Even worse if you air sipped. They would just share those germs, and they were proud of it. I can't remember specifically if I participated, but yup, I probably did.
When I first came to America, I attended sixth grade at this Catholic school in Queens where most of my classmates were white. I spoke English, but I quickly realized my way of speaking was not the Americanized way. I spoke English like, you know, Filipinos speak English. Very formal and with the accent even. So mostly, I kept quiet. Generally I would only speak when spoken to or when the teacher called on me.
One time at lunch, this boy asked me if he could take a sip from my soda. I can't remember what brand it was. Somehow I'm thinking it was a Hi-C in a can. I probably said yes or just nodded. But I indicated he was welcome to it. He asked, "Did you backwash?" He said this loud enough for all the boys to hear. As though he was okay with sharing my germs, but not that much of my germs. That was the first time I heard that term, so I said, "What is backwash?" He explained. And then I said no. And that was enough for him. And then he drank out of my can.
That is probably not something that kids these days will experience. At least not for a while. And then, of course, there's "Are you gonna eat that?" "Are you gonna finish that?" "Can I have a bite?" Sometimes I watch movies or shows or even home videos, and I'll be like, "They're not social distancing! Where are their masks?!" And then I realize, oh yeah, this was before. Before "the current situation".
I stopped drinking soda years ago. Sometimes we get free soda when we order Chinese food, and I just pour them down the drain. I don't think about soda at all anymore but "the current situation" has activated my memory gland. As they would say in Hawaii, this past year has been soda kine.
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