Meet Chi Le
For some reason, I thought of Chi today. So now here's a post in her honor.
I can't remember the first time that I met Chi, which saddens me because I pride myself upon my phenomenal memory (although lately, I've come to realize it's not at all as phenomonal as I have thought). I do remember her signature though, and can still copy it to this day! Here are some things about Chi:
In 4th grade, I had the biggest crush on Gerald Genna, a 6th grader who played the drums (even at 9 years old I was a sucker for a musician). One day Chi looked up Genna in the phone book and lo and behold, there was only one. She gave the number a call and sure enough, it was Gerald's number. He hadn't a CLUE as to who we were and come to think of it, I have NO idea how I even came to hav the biggest crush on him in the first place. Well after a few afternoon conversations (of course they were 3-way calls and I was completely silent on the other line), she arranged a meeting at the flag pole for one day after school. On the day of THE MEETING, Chi and I both slipped out of Mrs. Kreinbell's (I can't, for the life of me, remember how to spell her name) class and met in the bathroom where Chi French braided my hair and I put some purfume on. We made our way to the flag pole after school and guess what?! Yes, Gerald Genna SO stood me up. Chi was there for me every disappointed step of the way.
In 5th grade, we had to invent something for this G.S.P. project called Invent America. I remember fondly my invention: The Rabbit Catcher. I also remember some of my classmates' inventions too. Jenny Prentice invented the Bird Hand (a stuffed glove used to get her bird, Screech, out of the cage) and Jeff Johns invented the Sunvisor Exteder (he was rather short and so the sunvisor never really shielded his eyes from the sun, so his invention, when attached to the visor, worked to keep the sun out of his eyes). Well, Chi invented a Video Game Protector (and I have no idea why she chose to invent this because she was an only child and she didn't have a problem fighting with a sibling over Nintendo). Anyway, we each had to film a commercial and when it was her turn...she froze. So, being the best friend that I was, I instantly rushed to her rescue (which meant that I rushed on camera and helped her out with demonstrating her invention). In turn, she ended up being my life-size rabbit to test out my invention. I wish I had the video of our commercials. Good times.
So 6th grade was pretty awesome. It was the year of the card board chair, volunteering in the handicap room, the solar oven which successfully cooked a hot dog, our play with Jeff Johns about Cassiopea (played by ME), the math team, the future problem solving team, paper clip flipping, and the year of her crush on Frankie McGuire. One G.S.P. day, when Mrs. Flynn's class was at recess, Chi and I snuck into her class and began to look through Frankie's desk. I stood guard at the window making sure to stay out of sight as I spied on Mrs. Flynn watching her class on the field. Chi looked through his inclass journal hoping to see that he wrote something about her. He did not. Sad. We felt pretty cool though having pulled off our mission without getting caught. We weren't so lucky when it came to the paper clip flipping incident with The Killer Thorn (our G.S.P. teacher). We took the big paper clips, opened them up a smidge, and flicked them at the chalkboard when she wasn't looking. Eventually she caught on, called
In junior high we continued our adventurous best friendship, of course with some difficulties. You see, we both experienced some jealousy when we made some new friends, but we always ended up working through it. We had a blast in Mr. Lee's geography class and we suffered through Mrs. Bonsteel's classes for three years! We never thought the end would come. But, the most fun we had was in Odyssey of the Mind. Chi and I were Spontaneous Queens (Spontaneous is something only Omers will understand and I don't quite feel like going into detail about it now, sorry). We partnered together in English class to do a project on Children of the River which was great fun. We cooked some Vietnamese dish for our class...but actually, her mom cooked it while we just kind of goofed off at her house.
Sadly, we kind of broke up once we hit high school. 10th grade was the beginning of the fade out. We had our Algebra 2 and Chemistry block class together. Her last name is Le, mine is Mix, so we really didn't get a chance to be Chemistry lab partners (mostly I was stuck with Chris Manning who called me Jenny Jones because apparently I am the spitting image of her, YEAH RIGH!). However, we were math partners one 9 weeks, which was fun. We sat in the back of the class right behind this racist boy, James Fulks, who invited us to join him in the Klan...YEAH RIGHT! One time, our teacher was passing papers back to us and James didn't realize they were sitting on his desk so Chi yelled, "You are SO slow! Are your parents from West Virginia?!" (No offense to anyone reading this who might be from West Virginia.) We laughed pretty much all year about that one!
By 11th grade our frienship was pretty much a bunch of wild and crazy memories and I don't think we even saw each other at all during our senior year. College came and went. She went to UF, I went to UM, we probably wished each other well at graduation, but if we did, I can't remember. I don't have my picture taken with her on the big day, and my mom pretty much took a picture of me with EVERY SINGLE person who I talked to (including Officer Byrd, the resource officer). But then, about 3 years ago, I got back in touch (I think because Kevin, another friend from high school, was in touch with her and he told me she was pregnant). Yep, Chi had gotten married and now she has (I think) a 3 year old son, Alex. I still think of her every September 28 (her birthday).
Well, that's all for now. I WON'T be seeing Finding Neverland because apparently it only opens in LA and NYC today. Stupid.
I can't remember the first time that I met Chi, which saddens me because I pride myself upon my phenomenal memory (although lately, I've come to realize it's not at all as phenomonal as I have thought). I do remember her signature though, and can still copy it to this day! Here are some things about Chi:
- She's Vietnamese and came to the US when she was 3. She learned English by watching cartoons.
- We met in the 4th grade and she instantly filled the best friend void that was left when Selina Lugtu moved away (she was mentioned in a previous post).
- We got into LOTS of mischief in G.S.P. together.
- She never grasped the difference between saying pant or pants and overall or overalls. This drove me crazy as I would constantly tell her that she is not wearing a pant, but a pair of pants, likewise, she was not wearing an overall, but overalls! Big source of frustration for me.
- She was probably one of the funniest friends I've ever had and someone who I laughed a lot with.
In 4th grade, I had the biggest crush on Gerald Genna, a 6th grader who played the drums (even at 9 years old I was a sucker for a musician). One day Chi looked up Genna in the phone book and lo and behold, there was only one. She gave the number a call and sure enough, it was Gerald's number. He hadn't a CLUE as to who we were and come to think of it, I have NO idea how I even came to hav the biggest crush on him in the first place. Well after a few afternoon conversations (of course they were 3-way calls and I was completely silent on the other line), she arranged a meeting at the flag pole for one day after school. On the day of THE MEETING, Chi and I both slipped out of Mrs. Kreinbell's (I can't, for the life of me, remember how to spell her name) class and met in the bathroom where Chi French braided my hair and I put some purfume on. We made our way to the flag pole after school and guess what?! Yes, Gerald Genna SO stood me up. Chi was there for me every disappointed step of the way.
In 5th grade, we had to invent something for this G.S.P. project called Invent America. I remember fondly my invention: The Rabbit Catcher. I also remember some of my classmates' inventions too. Jenny Prentice invented the Bird Hand (a stuffed glove used to get her bird, Screech, out of the cage) and Jeff Johns invented the Sunvisor Exteder (he was rather short and so the sunvisor never really shielded his eyes from the sun, so his invention, when attached to the visor, worked to keep the sun out of his eyes). Well, Chi invented a Video Game Protector (and I have no idea why she chose to invent this because she was an only child and she didn't have a problem fighting with a sibling over Nintendo). Anyway, we each had to film a commercial and when it was her turn...she froze. So, being the best friend that I was, I instantly rushed to her rescue (which meant that I rushed on camera and helped her out with demonstrating her invention). In turn, she ended up being my life-size rabbit to test out my invention. I wish I had the video of our commercials. Good times.
So 6th grade was pretty awesome. It was the year of the card board chair, volunteering in the handicap room, the solar oven which successfully cooked a hot dog, our play with Jeff Johns about Cassiopea (played by ME), the math team, the future problem solving team, paper clip flipping, and the year of her crush on Frankie McGuire. One G.S.P. day, when Mrs. Flynn's class was at recess, Chi and I snuck into her class and began to look through Frankie's desk. I stood guard at the window making sure to stay out of sight as I spied on Mrs. Flynn watching her class on the field. Chi looked through his inclass journal hoping to see that he wrote something about her. He did not. Sad. We felt pretty cool though having pulled off our mission without getting caught. We weren't so lucky when it came to the paper clip flipping incident with The Killer Thorn (our G.S.P. teacher). We took the big paper clips, opened them up a smidge, and flicked them at the chalkboard when she wasn't looking. Eventually she caught on, called
In junior high we continued our adventurous best friendship, of course with some difficulties. You see, we both experienced some jealousy when we made some new friends, but we always ended up working through it. We had a blast in Mr. Lee's geography class and we suffered through Mrs. Bonsteel's classes for three years! We never thought the end would come. But, the most fun we had was in Odyssey of the Mind. Chi and I were Spontaneous Queens (Spontaneous is something only Omers will understand and I don't quite feel like going into detail about it now, sorry). We partnered together in English class to do a project on Children of the River which was great fun. We cooked some Vietnamese dish for our class...but actually, her mom cooked it while we just kind of goofed off at her house.
Sadly, we kind of broke up once we hit high school. 10th grade was the beginning of the fade out. We had our Algebra 2 and Chemistry block class together. Her last name is Le, mine is Mix, so we really didn't get a chance to be Chemistry lab partners (mostly I was stuck with Chris Manning who called me Jenny Jones because apparently I am the spitting image of her, YEAH RIGH!). However, we were math partners one 9 weeks, which was fun. We sat in the back of the class right behind this racist boy, James Fulks, who invited us to join him in the Klan...YEAH RIGHT! One time, our teacher was passing papers back to us and James didn't realize they were sitting on his desk so Chi yelled, "You are SO slow! Are your parents from West Virginia?!" (No offense to anyone reading this who might be from West Virginia.) We laughed pretty much all year about that one!
By 11th grade our frienship was pretty much a bunch of wild and crazy memories and I don't think we even saw each other at all during our senior year. College came and went. She went to UF, I went to UM, we probably wished each other well at graduation, but if we did, I can't remember. I don't have my picture taken with her on the big day, and my mom pretty much took a picture of me with EVERY SINGLE person who I talked to (including Officer Byrd, the resource officer). But then, about 3 years ago, I got back in touch (I think because Kevin, another friend from high school, was in touch with her and he told me she was pregnant). Yep, Chi had gotten married and now she has (I think) a 3 year old son, Alex. I still think of her every September 28 (her birthday).
Well, that's all for now. I WON'T be seeing Finding Neverland because apparently it only opens in LA and NYC today. Stupid.
posted by alisa beth at 3:58 PM
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