By Alan Sorensen
by Alan Sorensen
The Havre Daily News
Friday, May 14
Im not a smart man. Ive known that ever since my parents told me my IQ as measured in first grade was rounded up to 90 (from a liberal distance).
But that never stopped me from voicing my opinions.
Then about five years ago, I was retested. My motor skills IQ and mental IQ were nearly identical, the first coming in at 127 and the second at 128. Of course, they were age graded to account for the onset of Alzheimers.
Even those scores dont amount to much compared to my ex-wifes Mensa qualifying 148, or was that 184? She scored it in a Readers Digest quiz years ago. The quiz was limited almost exclusively to riddles. I managed to scrape together an IQ score in that test somewhere above 100 but well below 148 or 184. That, I think, was the beginning of the decline and fall of my marriage. Up until then, I think she really believed I was smart.
That reminds me of a quote my buddy George is fond of repeating: I dont believe that theres a God; I know theres a God.
Anyway, the point is oh, sorry, there doesnt seem to be a point.
Oh, yeah. Havre Public Schools has established 125 as the intelligence quotient cut off for students seeking admission into its expanded gift-and-talented programs.
Ill be keeping an eye on those programs, because like most old people, I really enjoy watching children surpass their elders.
Its kind of like the joy I got out of going to the District 9C track and field championships Wednesday at Havre Middle School. I was impressed by how well all the athletes did considering that none of the Class C contingent have quality training facilities to offset the effects of Montana spring weather. But I was particularly awed by the KG kids (Im always in awe of Roy Lackners Big Sandy girls teams).
Watching those KG kids, all bearing the genetic imprints that made so many of their parents quality athletes and academicians, was like watching a quality small college team.
Its little wonder that so many of them are going into college programs, whether at major universities, small liberal arts schools, Northern or Medicine Hat.
I missed watching Jake Stuart and Matt Antonich sling the spear, but I was there when Christin Smith, Travis Stehman, Rhett Crites, Antonich, Stuart, and Jennifer Jacobson crossed the finish line in their specialties. Stuart may be the fastest 200-meter runner in the state this spring, but he was disqualified from that race Wednesday due to false starts. I wasnt there to see it, but KG still finished first (Eric Marshall) and second (Matt Aageson) in that event.
I watched Crites win the long jump but missed seeing Joey Stuart win the triple. I was there when fans cheered the KG (and one Blue Sky) high jumpers even when they missed after the bar got to 6 feet. (You have to be a masochist to high jump or pole vault, because your last leap, even if you win the event, results in the bar beating you to the ground.)
So what did I do when the meet ended? I went jogging around Havre Highs track and threw my discs for a while in hopes of dropping some pounds, feeling healthier, and reliving some of my youth.
What I was when I got done was convinced that Im really done.
A couple of years ago I topped out at 250 and set a number of weight-loss goals. I targeted 235, 225, 215, 205, and 195 as a natural progression of slimness.
Within a couple of months, I was up to about 265. Then last October, I took my last chew and drag. Since then, I havent dropped below 270 and have on occasion surpassed 280 (after the occasional binge meal). Ive been trying to jog a mile each night and get in some throwing, but my weight wont come down.
I even gave a pint of blood Monday thinking that that one pound (16 fluid ounces) would work exponentially (or at least synergistically) on my weight. I had hoped that one pound of blood would equal about 5 or 10 pounds of total weight loss.
Didnt work.
Sure hope this column doesnt jinxed KGs hopes of winning its unprecedented fourth major state boys sport title in one year. Theyre such solid athletes, though, that it will impact them as much as it will my weight problem and intellectual deficiencies.
Now to get pumped for the Class A Central Division track and field championships here next Friday and Saturday Go Ponies!
