The Voices In My Head: My Leaky Air Conditioner and Slightly Leaky Eyes

The air conditioner in my room is discharging funky, pungent smells.

It smells like a sharp spike of chlorine or something. Makes me think of the summer of '91 when I used to live in Los Altos. As a rather rambunctious, rather stubborn child, my mom used to have to literally drag me to my swimming lessons back then since I would always put up a fight and flee for my closet whenever it came time for me to leave for the community pool. Obviously, the thought of possibly being engulfed by chlorinated water and drowning used to horrify me. Later, after I got past the kiddy pool and levels one and two, I eventually fell in love with swimming and would actually look forward to afternoons filled with chlorine mixed with wafts of Banana Boat sunscreen.

So I guess that that's why chlorine has always reminded me of the summer of '91.

I think I better get someone to take a look at my air conditioner soon. What if it's leaking freon? Does anyone know what freon smells like? Does it smell like chlorine? And if it does, can it cause brain damage if you inhale big whiffs of it for many hours on end? I can't afford to lose what precious few neurons I have left after 20 years of engaging in mindless, inane activities like counting the number of rust spots on the bench by my brother's school's soccer field as I wait for him to arrive from his weekend field trip. I'm not as weird as I may sometimes seem.

Honest.

So I went to pick up my brother from school today since he went on an 8th grade retreat to Supalai Resort Hotel over in Saraburi during the weekend. I ran into Mr. Olivier, my old French teacher, and he's still exactly the same. We used to call him Jelly Butt back in seventh grade because, well, his butt looks like it has the exact same consistency as gelatin since it actually wiggles and jiggles with great vigor whenever he walks. Okay, that came out bad, but really, just ask any other ex-RISians (Noi & Akira) and I betcha that they can vouch for me on that one, lol.

Mr. Olivier actually remembered me even after all this time. He was in a hurry, but he said Bonjour to me and I said Bonjour back. He asked me in French how I was doing and where I was studying now. Luckily my high school French hasn't gone too far down the drain and I was able to answer him (crappy accent and all). At one point he was all like, "Ah, Lynn, mon cherie!" Aww man, he's still such a sweetie.

As I waited for the busses to arrive, I walked around a bit and simply soaked in the quiet stillness of the big sprawling campus I used to spend many a day at during my middle school and high school days. It felt a wee bit eerie since it was so quiet, it being a weekend and all.

Big pangs of nostalgia hit me as I walked past the basketball court where my girlfriends and I used to spy on our crushes back in eighth grade. Hahaha. The library was a familiar sight since I used to spend many of my free periods back in high school perusing the bookshelves in search of something new and exciting to read. Seeing the Godbout Hall made me think of all the high school dances my girlfriends and I used to go to, as well as the excited makeup sessions we used to have in the PE locker rooms where we would primp like mad before dances. The Senior Lounge made me think of my senior year and how our fishbowl worlds used to be filled to the brim with nothing else but SATs, AP exams, IB diplomas, Prom, college, and angsty teenage frustration.

Corridor leading to Godbout Hall.

Middle school hallway and courtyard.

The Flag Pole.
I remember raising the flag one time with this guy during school assembly back in ninth grade. After Father Travis finished saying the "Our Father" prayer, the school choir began singing the national anthem and despite our persistent yanks, pulls, and tugs, the stupid flag still got stuck halfway to the top, lol.

The campus has expanded since I graduated nearly four years ago. There's a new church and enormous state-of-the-art Theater Arts building at the rear of the campus. The new sports complex that's currently underway is of olympic proportions and the Intensive Studies building that was recently constructed clearly shows where all those years of sky-high tuition went. Both the high school and elementary cafeterias have expanded, too, and the seating area now extends outwards towards this wide area that used to be the breezeway.

The new church.
The interior is a seamless fusion of Thai and western influences. I went to mass there once after graduation and found the overall atmosphere to be wonderfully serene.

The side of the church.

The huge statue of Jesus standing with arms wide open at the front of the school is still there, though. I'm not the most religious person who ever walked the face of the earth, but seeing the statue provided me with an odd sense of familiarity and solace in spite of all the other changes that have taken place since my days at RIS.