mikao's world

My Favourite Element

When I was in high school, I was a bit of a geek, and I took all three science classes (i.e. Chemistry, Physics, and Biology).

I took Chemistry and Physics becaue Mr. Verbowski taught them and he was the coolest. We always called him "Ernie" when he wasn’t around. My friend Jessica, another teacher's daughter, once accidentally called him Ernie to his face and we all almost died...

I used to come into class every day and ask Mr. Verbowski if I could make a bomb, and he would laugh every time (because it really was the most ridiculous notion thinking of me making a bomb).

Unfortunately Mr. Verbowski didn’t teach Biology, Ms. Mackenzie did, but she always had donut and cake days and brought the whole class donuts or Sara Lee cakes, so that was enough of an incentive to sit through two years of Bio and dissect worms and frogs and sheep eyeballs (even though they all made me nauseous). Luckily, donut and cake days were never the same days as dissection days.

Something about Mr. Verbowski made Physics the funnest class in the world, and I loved it. I would have taken Physics in university if he had taught it. I would have been a physicist if he would have been my boss. But, in grade 12 we got a new Physics and Chemistry teacher.

Physics just wasn't as fun any more. It was horrific. Learning in that class sucked. I dropped the class early in February (it started in the third week of January). I didn't tell my parents for a week.

It was the most rebellious thing I ever did.


Ode to my favourite element, from The Most Beautiful Periodic Table of Elements in The World, link via Que Sera Sera.