Yikes! My yearbook pic!

Yikes! Check out my high school yearbook pic! That's when I had "Diane Chambers" (from the old Cheers TV show, of course) hair!

My powers had only begun to emerge. I couldn't fly yet, but I could leap real high. Landings? Don't even ask. I had the beginnings of super strength, and I had my share of accidently ripping car doors off their hinges. My super senses were also beginning to emerge, as I sometimes got confused by hearing conversations that I thought were nearby but were actually across the room. As if adolescence weren't hard enough to deal with, eh?

Even though I was invited to sports, and even though I could have excelled in anything I joined (and could have gotten a college scholarship), I declined - much to the chagrin of the coaches. But I knew I had an unfair advantage, plus I could have accidently and seriously injured other players if I weren't careful. So instead of getting a scholarship through sports, I got one academically. It was better that way in the long run, anyway, because had I gone into sports, the potential to cause real harm to other players would have increased even more, as I got stronger and stronger each year. That would have led to me holding back more and more to keep from exposing that I had super strength, and all that holding back would have only messed me up anyway.

In college, I worked on different ways to practice my powers in secret just in case I ever used them. Not an easy thing to do, but necessary if I was to stop doing stuff like ripping car doors off or accidently walking through pillars or walls (it happened one time. Fortunately, no one was around and the building was empty.) when I wasn't looking where I was going. I was also beginning to fly back then, and I had to go to open fields to practice, because my landings were AWFUL! Adjusting to the ground coming up real fast took the longest to get used to, and my timing for when I touched down had to be split second, or I'll land real hard or awkwardly and twist an ankle or stumble and hurt - or even kill - someone. It was not until my senior year in college before I was able to land right on a consistent basis.

This trip down memory lane has been fun. Maybe I'll do some more of this later. You know, I should ask the boss to make stories of my youth. It would be kind of fun! :-D

Okay, folks - I might have a Labor Day special next week, so stay tuned. Otherwise, we'll see you Tuesday. Have a great weekend!