Every year there was a battle of wits in the state of Utah called the
Geography Bee. It all started out with a teacher asking everyone in
their class geography questions to whittle down the winners and
losers. Strangely, the winners in this game were, in general
population, usually considered losers. I was in Mr. Blacks class when
they were culling the intellectual herd and the starting questions
were easy. When the unworthy were sat down one by one there were two
girls and another boy and I that went to the middle school final
where we faced the four students from the other class in front of the
whole school. Everyone was sat indian style in the hall and the eight
of us were at desks and I was excited based on the questions we had
been asked in the classroom round I was feeling confident. The
questions started at the other end from me and they were all pretty
easy. I was the last one to go in the first round and the kid next to
me was asked to name a phase of the moon. Oh, I wanted that one. The
boy answered and then it was my turn to show everyone how smart I was
and the teacher in charge asked me where the Kremlin was located. I
was crushed, I had never heard the word Kremlin and I feigned deep
thought to buy time but there was no info on that topic in my brain.
I answered badly wrong and was eliminated and had to go sit down with
kids of average and below average intelligence. It was like that
moment at a party when you think, 'Man only nerds come to things like
this.' The you realize that you are, in terrible point of fact, there
and ipso facto nerdy. Well I was sitting down with not the smartest
kids in the school which means that someone up their on the panel was
the smartest and it broke my heart. I had so little going for me
socially, in being cool, in having girlfriends, in having cool
clothes or stuff and now my one best thing I was not best at and it
hurt deeply. Because I am a jerk when I didn't win I just wanted the
winner to lose a quickly as possible in district competition,he did
and I was happy. Stupid Kremlin stealing my chance of geography
immortality.
