The words "Sex Gorilla" will always remind me of a rather odd ski weekend in high school.
Two of my friends and I were talking about skiing one winter day in Physics class. The teacher came over and joined in the conversation. The teacher, Mr R, was young and on friendly terms with a lot of students. In retrospect, it was very unprofessional, but as students, he was our favorite teacher -- one of the few that was able to communicate to us effectively. So, my two friends were animatedly talking about going on a ski weekend up to one of the ski resorts. I joined in, even though I hadn't snow skied in years. False bravado (I can be pretty good at that).
It all seemed to be just talk, though, because we couldn't get around the problem of the expense of staying overnight at one of the resorts.
Then it hit me: I remembered my dad mentioning that he had a cousin that owned a cabin near Breckenridge. Maybe we could stay up there for free? As soon as I gave voice to the idea, Mr R jumped in and said he'd go, too. In fact, if I could get the cabin, he would drive us all up there.
The next day I came back with the news that the cabin was ours for the weekend. I was too excited to realize that my skill on the slopes were at the beginner level (at best).
The weekend came and we were on our way, all piled into Mr R's king-cab pickup. Once we got up near Breckenridge, we started following the directions to the cabin. The map was barely a step above pencil scratchings on a napkin, so, naturally, we ended up taking a wrong turn and getting stuck in deep snow. It took us the better part of an hour to dig out the big 4x4 truck.
About an hour later, we arrived at the cabin. Cabin... ha! It was a big, nice house. Hot tub, satellite TV... very posh. We settled in for the night and flipped through the satellite channels.
Now, this was when satellite TV was not commonplace, and the dishes were these huge monstrosities that moved around to point at different satellites. This one got precious few channels, and they all seemed to be crappy public access channels from Canada. Take off, you hoser! ("Strange Brew" -- the definitive movie on Canadian culture.)
We settled on watching a music video channel. The first song to come on was called "Sex Gorilla." Seriously. The video featured a rough-looking woman pole-dancing and shouting about how she wanted to be a sex gorilla. What the hell was this, the S&M channel?
Anyway, we thought it was just the funniest damn thing we'd ever seen (or heard).
The next day we hit the slopes at Keystone. We went straight to the top of the mountain. Fortunately for me, it was the top of a green run (School Marm), so I had less of a chance of wrapping myself around a tree.
The other three took off and left me to fend for myself. An older couple watched me for a few minutes before taking pity on me and providing a some impromptu lessons. It helped. By the end of the day, I could safely navigate a blue run without risking my life.
Back at the cabin, "Sex Gorilla" was on again. We had to be the only people on the planet watching this crap. Although, someone had to actually like this enough to play it more than once.
Another day of skiing, then it was back home. On the trip back, one of my friends bought a tape to listen to -- the Kentucky Headhunters. We listened to it over and over on the drive back. The songs were too damn funny. Not as good as "Sex Gorilla," but we couldn't find that tape.
A few months later, Sex Gorilla made a surprise appearance. In Physics class, we were making model rockets. Mr R made one along with the rest of the class. His rocket was dubbed the "Sex Gorilla" in big red lettering for all to see. I think it's safe to say that it's a good thing no other faculty came out to watch the rocket launches...
Note: "Sex Gorilla" is a song by the band National Velvet (Canadian, of course). Can't seem to find a link to any lyrics, though. No one's brave enough to host them, apparently.
Comments:
dockaos (August 11, 2007. 06:46pm)
Eddie,
Great story! BTW, I did find a link to the lyrics. Amazing how the song was changed from "Sasperilla" to "Sex Gorilla". Gonna have to find an MP3 of it now.
http://taki-fox.livejournal.com/3875.html#cutid1
kga245 (August 12, 2007. 12:18am)
I had a few teachers like that. I don't think it's unprofessional at all. It's essential that we have healthy, normal friendships with our mentoring types. It always seems to be physics teachers, though, doesn't it?
intrepideddie (August 13, 2007. 05:23am)
@dockaos: Oh man, you've <i>got</i> to let me know if you find the video! The video makes the song.
@Kelly: We sure didn't think anything of it at the time. I think the conservative, small town it took place in would have had a different opinion, though. This is the same town that ran out two lesbian PE teachers. Small towns... bit of a mixed blessing growing up in one.