The Story The Early Years
The Later Years
The High School Years
The College Years
Life After CollegeI was born on July 4, 1981 in San Francisco, California. My parents named me Benjamin Lewis Roberts after my great-uncle Bernard. I was extremely lucky that he hated that name and went by Ben, and even luckier that my parents didn't find out until they visited his grave when I was 2 years old.
We lived a block up from Height-Ashbury (probably the most prolific intersection in San Francisco) in a three apartment victorian house. Originally, we lived in the second apartment, but we eventually moved up to the top, two-level apartment. I don't remember living in the lower apartment. In fact, the first thing I remember about that house is the day we moved upstairs.
When I came home that day, I had somehow forgotten that we were moving. Where I was coming home from, I don't know, but I think it was the playground across the street or a friend's house. I walked up to where the doors were, the two of them side by side, and found both of them wide open. Fear swept over me as I glanced inside our apartement and saw everything gone. I started calling for my parents and eventually found my way upstairs where thay were moving, unable to hear my calls.
Like any time moving, getting to know a new house is tough and strange. It takes tiome to get used to living there. Sometimes it takes a week or a month and sometimes years. I started out on the 1st floor of the apartment and evetunally moved up to the attic, where I spent my formidable years.
Both of my parents worked full time, so we had live in au pairs. I don't know how they put up with me. I was such a bastard sometimes.
The worst thing I remember, is with my second au pair, Priska, I was pissed about something on the way home from school on the bus and I ran off of it. She got off and chased me down at which point I snagged her glasses and broke them. Then the police stopped me and threw me in the back of the van. I was sure I was going to jail, but all I got was a ride home. Then I got grounded.
I went to many schools, but spent Kindergarten through second grade at the French-American International School. Half the day we learned in French and the other half we learned in english. I was notorious for fighting there, and even had a mortal enemy. Good times, good times...
Both of the kids I fought with regularly ended up becoming my friend out of mutual respect by the end of 1st grade. In fact, Ruldolph joined me for my 7th birthday, by far the best.
For my 7th birthday we woke up early went to this convention center and saw all sort of George Lucas movie memorabilia. I even got my picture taken with C3PO, but god knows where that picture went to. We then went to a carnival for a while, followed by Sea World and the fireworks. Definitely a long but awesome day.
Sadly, though, we moved to Boston just after my 8th birthday.
We moved to Boston in August of 1989, right in the middle of the Battle of the Bay World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland A's (my favorite team at the time). I remember watching the earthquake on TV from Boston. Amazingly, our old house was barely damaged, which was good.
For a while, my Dad lived in a condo downtown while we waited to move into our house. I stayed with my Nana (another word for grandmother) in Brookline while my Mom drove with the moving trucks cross-country.
The house we moved into used to be owned by our next door neighbors, who had bought the other plot of land and built a new house there. Immediately I joined Edith C. Baker School for third grade. One of our neighbors' kids was in my class even.
I still feel extremely lucky that I had the same teacher for third and fourth grade, and I consider her one of the best teachers ever. In fact, I should probably go back and visit Mrs. Henry.
Fifth grade was probably the toughest year for me. In February, my best friend Adam Gelfand died of a brain tumor. He was easily the smartest kid in our class and arguably the nicest. I guess the saying the bightest stars burn out the quickest is true.
Two weeks later, I was supposed to go on a ski trip to Okemo with the New England Ski Club, but I didn't feel like waking up really early and stayed in bed instead. On that trip, one of my friends and ski partners, Todd Saker, hit a tree and died. I never really skied much after that, and when I did, I made sure it wasn't at Okemo
Even though I liked a lot of my teachers, I was such a slacker and got bad grades throughout elementary school. I nearly failed my math class in seventh grade (even though I was on the Math Counts team and people came to me for help). I think I slacked off because it wasn't challenging.
After seventh grade, my parents decided I should go to a private school where I could get more one on one attention. They also thought it beneficial that I repeat 7th grade, even though my intelligence had nothing to do with me failing. Luckily, I got to decide which school I went to. Unluckily, I chose Cardigan Mountain School in Canaan, New Hampshire.
Don't get me wrong, Cardigan and even repeating a grade did wonders for my work ethic, but socially, it stunted my growth. Cardigan is an sixth though ninth grade all-boys school in the middle of nowhere whose co-ed social activities were limited to the occasional dance with the local regional public school (whose girls could care less and were basically forced to go). I was shy already and missing out on two year of social ineptitude meant that I would have to experience another two years of said ineptitude after I left.
In 8th grade, my Nana died. She was integral in my choice of what school to go to in high school, and unfortunately I wasn't given the time to mourn becuase I needed to be back at school 3 days after the funeral.
At Cardigan, I was on the sailing team, the reserve basketball team, and the reserve baseball team. In 8th grade, I tried skiing, but decided it was too cold and the mountain sucked, so I went back to basketball.
And so I left after 8th grade. And so I came home expecting the world to open up and allow me a new life conceived in justice, in heterosexual activity, and in co-ed education systems. And so I was disappointed.
The one thing I expected coming into high school was that I would be Mr. Popularity because I was smart, athletic, and gosh darn good looking. What I found out was that I was kind of smart, not very athletic, and not very attractive to the opposite sex.
I guess I deserved that because of the school I chose. I went to Boston University Academy for my Freshman year, and if anyone is smart, it's the kids at that school. I was in nerd heaven and I really didn't want to be. I didn't realize that until after I was gone.
In my Freshman physics class, I set the record for most calories eaten in a 24 hour period. I took in just over 7000 calories and burned just over 13000. This is an accomplishment I pride myself in. Why? I don't know. I just do.
Other notable accomplishments my freshman year were making the basketball team but not getting to practice or play once because of grades, being late to detention hall because "I couldn't find my pants," hanging out at the now defunct Rat in Kenmore Square (which was just bought and refurbished by the Dropkick Murphies), and being the tallest kid in my class while my best friend was the smallest.
From Spring of Freshman year on until I graduated, I worked on weekends and some weekdays as an office assistant and teacher's aid at Temple Sinai. I also attended classes there.
After Freshman year, I went from BUA to Brookline High School (everything comes around, and I came right around and back into public school). BHS was a lot more fun. I took extremely easy classes in the subjects I didn't like (not the best idea) and played lacrosse in the spring because I got cut from the baseball team for not playing Freshman year. Amazingly, and happily, I snagged the starting goalie position on the varisty lacrosse team my first year playing since Newsport summer camp in Maine.
In addition, I played the fall season with the Ultimate Frisbee club team. We beat Brandeis University and Boston University, not bad for a high school team, eh? Unfortunately, only three players on the team, myself included, didn't graduate and the team disbanded after the spring season.
The other group I was involved in that fell apart was BHS' third newspaper, the Chronicle. I wrote maybe two article for the three issues released that year before it died.
All winter my Sophomore year, I played with the 18 and over group at the JCC. They just couldn't tell I was 16, and I will rub it in that I would run them every weekend.
The summer after my Sophomore year, I toured Israel with an all-jewish basketabll team in the Isreal Sports Spectacular program. I was the backup power foreward and we lost all but one game against the Israeli teams. Just seeing everything was mad cool and playing ball there was even better.
My junior year, I moved up in difficulty of my classes. Meanwhile, I bought a bass and started playing with Zak Andree and Jeff Hebert as Industrial Strength Rubber Chicken (ISRC). Eventually we changed our name to Illegal Seafood and then to Nutria. I joined the Wrestling team and went undefeated (1-0) before quitting mid-season to concentrate on my work and my music.
I switched over and began working with the Cadence, the secondary newspaper at BHS, getting a few things published, but not much. I also continued as a goalie on the lacrosse team.
I also worked in the Peer Leadership program and the SADD program (Students Against Destructive Decisions). I even won an award for it (which I still don;t think I deserved).
In the summer of 1999, I toured Europe with my family, which basically destroyed any chance of jamming or recording with the band. Europe was awesome (except for the sunburn) and it was definitely a good summer.
Senior year continued much like Junior jear. I spent a week with the wrestling with no matches, I took a French Video class which was a ton of fun, and I played lacrosse in the spring losing most of our games by one or two goals.
The one class I couldn't stand was AP Statistics. No matter how hard I tried in that class, I failed. Unless it was a makeup exam two weeks after the first one, I couldn;t get above a 50%. I failed the class, but I ended up acing the AP test. No matter how bad a student Ms. Gorman thought I was, I still want to thank her. A perfect AP score... go figure...
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