Hmm, my kids are mostly self-taught, although they may also have had lessons at summer camp. At least, they both swim pretty well, and I’m struggling to remember any classes we arranged for them.
(We did take them to ponds a lot when they were little, and they both loved splashing in water with supervision. They really may have just learned in their own.)
I have never been inside the Pentagon, or particularly contemplated it from the outside. I can’t remember whether I’ve ever been near enough that I could have seen it briefly from a plane or car window. I used to have relatives in the general area, and was in the general area for several days about 40-some years ago, but I was thinking about my dying uncle and about assorted family relationships, and don’t remember what we may have driven or flown past.
ETA:
Your parents had a bigger kitchen sink than my parents. I may well have been bathed in mine; but I can’t imagine actually swimming in it, even while too young to remember.
I was in the Pentagon once for a tour in 1985. Don’t remember much about it.
I forget my pocket calendar just today when I went to work, as it happens! I’ve forgotten my ID card, which opens some secure doors, a few times before, and had to ask others to let me in. It’s a PITA.
We haven’t had pizza delivered to our house in a lonnnnnnng time. Our favorite pizza place isn’t far away - we usually just order for takeout, or go there and eat.
That’s why my wife won’t let me order pizza delivered. (Although she has no problem with Amazon coming to us almost daily). I guess she has a bias against pizza delivery drivers. (and she doesn’t mind sending me out to pick it up)
Oof. My husband makes fun of me for how mad I still get about various academic injustices I suffered in high school. That was my whole life back then. We had the crap Valedictorian who was your typical spoiled rich stereotypical jock who got away with all kinds of shit and took easy classes, and then there was my friend who exceled at everything she touched and had research experience in chemistry for god’s sake, and went to Yale. If I were her I would have been so pissed to share a podium with that guy. He was really the worst.
I was Salutatorian because of an A- in English which was my best subject but I had trauma going on at home the night before our midterm exam, and I did not do well on it. BUT that same incredibly bright young woman was unfairly awarded the AP English Award when I deserved it. She too was set to receive an A- in English, but her parents pressured the teacher into changing it to an A. I was the only student in the history of the school who received the top score on my AP exams the first year of testing, and I did so well they told me not to take AP English for year two, so I did a college course instead. And then my friend’s fucking parents bitched and moaned that I didn’t deserve the award because I didn’t take it for two years. I was so mad. The teacher straight-up told me and the rest of the class that I deserved it but the decision was over her head. Years later I touched base with my friend on Facebook and I didn’t even bring it up, but she told me how much she thought I deserved the AP English award and her parents were stupid. She had no small amount of trauma from all the pressure on her to excel at everything.
Yes, I remember all of this. Vividly. LOL.
I had and have no idea who was valedictorian or salutatorian at my high school. I was asked to speak at graduation.
IIRC we had two Valedictorians and two Salutatorians and all four of us spoke at graduation. I read a poem that I wrote for the occasion. It was pretty cheesy.
Oh yeah! And I subtly worked the word “emancipation” in there which pissed my Mom off so much. That alone was worth it. She had told me she wasn’t going to bother to show up, but then she did go, and then she solemnly presented me a signed book about near-death experiences, apropos of nothing.
I skipped all three of my graduations. I didn’t care, my parents didn’t care, and it just didn’t seem worth the effort.
Man, and I thought I could hold a grudge! 
Not as bad as my sister, who will still bring up the 1972 Munich Olympics men’s basketball final.
I went to my high school graduation, because my friends and I had plans immediately after. I didn’t go to my college graduation, first, because I finished a quarter early, and, secondly, because this was UCLA.
I’m only like this with academics, I swear! I’m normally not very competitive. I’m glad my academic days are behind me because that shit’s exhausting.
My undergrads and colleagues were always stunned when I revealed that I was a B student. It was much more restful.
I mean, I meant this as a compliment! 
As I recall, our valedictorian ended up dropping out of Community College. But I didn’t know her too well and don’t know what her story was, so I can’t judge. I’ve seen her on Facebook and she seems to be doing just fine.
I was 64th in a class of 660, so I felt happy just to be in the top 10%. I was never very competitive and didn’t worry too much about grades, as long as I passed.
One of my favorite quotes from an ADHD coach is: B- work can change the world.
Ehhh, I don’t think a “grudge” is the right term (the term the other guy used to describe your fixation), I think “intense focus/concentration on a specific goal/thing” is more apropros here. You weren’t being hateful or vengeful, so it’s not a negative behavior.
I’m going to assume that pig Latin and ubby dubby speak don’t really count as other constructed languages, but if they do, I can go back and change my vote.
Re: giving up on family members.
I’ve never done so (or even considered doing so) for my immediate family members / blood relations. That said:
I’ve never given up on a family member. My mom and dad were both only children, and they’re both gone. I have one brother and one sister. My sister has three sons, my brother has one son, and I have one son and one daughter.
Everyone is cool.
I haven’t given up on a family member, but I have a family member who has given up on all of us (other than her own children.) I think I was just collateral damage in a problem between her and other people, but as she won’t speak to me it’s hard to be sure.
I’m not leaving the country willingly even if the Opposition takes over everything; but I might find myself evicted. Or possibly shot. Even if I don’t get shot (or otherwise murdered), I’d probably die sooner than I’m likely to otherwise because I suspect the medical coverage and other benefits I’m getting would disappear.
For family members, I selected the ‘not quite’ option, but actively avoid interacting with them. Two in fact, although one has since passed, so it’s back to one.
The first is/was my maternal grandfather. I did love him, and think he was a great person, but the woman he married during my childhood was out and out poisonous, and she largely prevented him from interacting with my mother and uncle, to keep him entirely focused on her. She was also likely certifiable, and was on multiple medications, and often went on ‘trips’ with a ‘friend’ who paid for everything but was never seen.
Before dying, she saddled him with incredible debt that only became clear once my mother and uncle tried to settle his estate during his final illness, and in fact prevented him (or so says my mother) from coming to my wedding (his first and eldest grandchild) and that of my brother. So I never really considered her family, the ‘not quite’ applying to my grandfather.
The second is my step-father. Who was a deeply angry man. He was verbally abusive and manipulated both my mother and half-brother, is a barely functional alcoholic, and has followed various conservative media down the JAQ path of not believing anything told by people he doesn’t personally consider trustworthy, and always ‘doing his own research’. Which ended up leaving him quite ill and alone during COVID, as he has long since separated from my mother and my half-brother also wants to have nothing to do with him.
The last time I saw or interacted with him was at said brother’s wedding, where he was constantly drinking Walker out of a flask.
-sigh-
But I understand it hurts, although more for my brother than me. And you never want to give up on someone who you have good memories of.
As for the even more depressing political uni-party scenario, I voted for a lower life expectancy, because I see that scenario as the Xtian Supremacy party winning, and I’m a (secular) Jew, so hate crimes would be normalized if not promoted. And I doubt I’d relocate, as what’s happening in Israel is likely on a similar path to a militant Theocracy. Then again, my wife finished her PhD and is now working in a related field… she might qualify to emigrate somewhere vaguely safer, but at our age and limited wealth, it would be very hard.