I was the type of kid that if I didn't want to do something I made a very big deal about it. And most of the time, after my parents forced me to do it because they knew better, I ended up loving it, forgetting that I was ever disinterested.

And my parents would have had a perfect record.

Except for Summer Jam.

The details of this whole Summer Jam incident are really hazy, I must have blocked most of it out.

I know it was the summer between 8th and 9th grade. We were sitting at the dinner table and my parents announced I was going to Summer Jam. I announced back that no I wasn't and they couldn't make me. They had already made arrangements.

Summer Jam was a week long event held at Rochester College (Michigan Christian College at the time). You stayed in dorms, ate in the cafeteria and did who knows what.

Besides the fact that I was going to be in the youngest category (age ranged from 13-18), I didn't even know anyone that was going. I DIDN'T HAVE ANY FRIENDS THERE! Who does that to a 13 year old?

We were to leave Sunday, right after church services. I still cringe thinking about it. I remember thinking "I just won't get in the car, they can't force me". Well, somehow I ended up in the car with my NKOTB sleeping bag (not that I was still a fan, but it was the only sleeping bag I had) and they drove me up and dropped me off and left me there.

The reason you can't attend Summer Jam until you are at least 13 is because it's "more mature". I guess you do "cooler" things there, I have no idea. But when they said 13 they meant the "cool" 13, not the I-wear-the-same-striped-denim-shorts-every-day-and-don't-know-how-to-do-my-bangs 13.

The college was on a tiny piece of land, with like, two run down dorms, one of which I stayed in.

Coincidentally, when I got to my room and met my new roommates, they were on the same level of cool as I was. I remember none of them wore makeup, or did their hair (I think I at least wore some eyeshadow and mascara), and we hung out all week. Not that that made the week awesome.

I can only remember the week in bits, and I remember hating every minute of it. I remember doing a car wash in a K-mart parking lot, having to walk alone in the dark on a dirt road in a forest to some devotion and feeling like it was dangerous (who knows if it really was), I remember wearing the same shorts every single day, and eating in the cafeteria and thinking how lame it was that we only got one option given to us from this tiny little window. I also remember some kind of tour of their library. I think. Like I said, it's a little hazy, but I hated it. And when my parents picked me up I let them know. Every. Day. Since. (okay, not every day since, but I bring it up a lot).

To this day, whenever they bring something up that they're "sure" I'll like, I'm just like "Summer Jam".

PS- I Googled Summer Jam and there is no record of it ever existing. No doubt because IT WAS SO LAME.