1) Arriving as a 10th grader in Austin TX from Bamberg, Germany in November and the first semester final exams were in January after the winter break. The break was great but had the stress of fearing finals I had never experienced in the U.S. The week we were to go back to school to review for finals, it snowed. Now, having lived up north and in Europe all of my life - a few inches of snow that remained on the ground was no big deal to me, but for Texans - OMG. School was canceled for the entire 'review' week and thus, why Texas appeared to be the greatest state in the union to me was, final exams were canceled. WOW!
2) I was 17 and living on my own and I was finally able to purchase transportation - a Yahama 350 purple and white motorcycle. I was a senior, planning to graduate early, and was doing all I could to survive on my own. My motorcycle needed some repairs and I dropped it off at the Yamaha shop at the corner of Oltorf and South Lamar. When I went to pick it up, a friend dropped me off and I expected I could pay a little of the cost. When they told me I had to pay the entire amount, I did not have it - I had no credit cards or checks. I asked if I could go get some cash using my repaired motorcycle, they asked what collateral I could give. I mentioned my class ring and they stated laughing, "No, those are worthless." The only other thing I had with me was my sketchpad that I carried everywhere with me. That is what they took, stating, "You will come back for this." They were so right....
3) I was driving my motorcycle to work around 9:45 in the morning during the week. I arrived at the parking lot and tried to turn off my bike only to find the keys were missing. That caused me to panic - I was to open the store at 10:00 but couldn't turn off my motorcycle nor did I have the store keys! So I got on my bike and retraced my drive slowly. As luck would have it, when I approached the busy intersection at Cameron Road and (some street south of 51st street) I saw the glitter of my keys. But it was too busy for me to get them. I waited several anxious minutes off to the side - they where almost run over SEVERAL times- before I was able to run out and grab them. I learned my motorcycle keys could pop out and had to drive more carefully.
