Stuff.......

I remember when I was younger, I used to say "When I grow up, I want to...." and I would have all these things I said I wanted to do. I also had a alot of career change ideas. Like when I was 4 all the way up until I was 10, I wanted to be a doctor, but after I found out about all the schooling it required and about the additional schooling for certain fields in medicine like podiatry or pediatrics, I quickly changed that one. And after that, I wanted to go into forensic science like on CSI. But when I found out that no school around where I live offer that as a course, there goes that. And after that, I wanted to go into police work and become a police officer because police work has always held a strong interest for me, but when i found out there was a high fatality and divorce rate for cops/firemen and firewomen, that went out the window before anyone knew it! So now I'm going to school for art. Hopefully, if possible, maybe I can go into Video Game Design, CD Cover Design, Advertising, or maybe Screen Printing, you know, making T-shirts for businesses and stuff. I love to be creative and Screen Printing sounds really fun! It' really funny how things ebd up, huh? When you're younger, it seems like you could conquer the world when you grow up, and before you know it, adulthood is knocking at your door.

The Scent of a New School Year

I went to school in a uniform for 12 years. It would have been 13, but Kindergarten didn't have a uniform, so I had blue plaid first through eighth grade, Donegal tweed Freshman and Sophomore years, and green herringbone Junior and Senior years. School meant regulation clothes, regulation shoes, and, well, regulations.

It also meant new pens and notebooks -what writer doesn't love those???- folders, filler paper, erasers, and, because I was/am neurotic, a ruler.

But what it really meant was certain smells. Think about it. Do you remember what your grade school smelled like? Do you? I went to Catholic school, so my school smelled like floor polish (especially when the doors first opened in August), mimeograph paper, starch (the nuns still wore habits), blackboard cleaner, and frequently, wet wool. There were other nastier smells, but we won't go there right now!

My high school smelled of a good 18 different varieties of cologne, floor polish (gotta love those cleanliness is next to godliness nuns!), metal lockers, new carpet (some office was always getting a new carpet), the third floor smelled like the gym, and the fourth floor like the cafeteria. I went to an all-girls high school. Did I mention the 18 varieties of cologne? Also nail polish, nail polish remover (gotta have something do to at the back of the classroom), and the occasional whiff of hair spray.

When I encounter a constellation of smells like those I just described in the above paragraphs, there is no stopping the mental jolt I get as I am transported back to either grade school or high school. In fact, it can happen when I enter a school now for an author visit or for Young Authors' Night. They say the sense of smell is the most evocative of all senses. When you walk into a school, what memories do the smells evoke for you?

Back-To-School Nightmares!

Back to school, known in my book as night terrors! Admit it. You've had these awful nightmares, too where you're sitting in class – whether it be high school or college – you're faced with the big exam and you haven't opened a book in days. Weeks! Or, in my case, Years!!

This is how the Dream Dictionary interprets this dream (nightmare):

This dream may be interpreted on several different levels. If you are the student you may be feeling inadequate or lack self-confidence.

Ya think? Isn't that the nature of all authors? My school nightmares are always the same. I'm sitting in class, happy, confident, no worries until I realize I'm staring at an opened textbook and have no clue what it contains.

The class is always some terrifying subject like Near Eastern Languages and Civilization, or Applied Physics. I start to squirm, sweat and try to sort out how I got away with skipping class for a whole year...or ten years, and begin to madly cram for a semester exam. Dire consequences await if I don't pass. I won't graduate! I'll be publicly humiliated! (see above - inadequate, lacking self-confidence) Worse yet, although I'm a full-grown adult, I'll be grounded by my parents!

Have you had a back-to-school dream? Leave a comment below.

'Tween author, Mary Cunningham writes the award-winning series, Cynthia's Attic. Look for Book Four, "The Magician's Castle" DEC 2009 from Quake (Echelon Imprint). While you're waiting, look for the series on Amazon

Mary Cunningham Books

Cynthia's Attic Blog

FREE SCHOOL SUPPLIES?

Want to win
FREE SCHOOL SUPPLIES?
Just visit the
QUAKE
web site and register
for AfterShock, our
Newsletter.

We'll draw one lucky
name to receive a box
of school supplies

valued at $25.00!

Drawing to be held
August 6, 2007!