Memories IV: Cruising Through the Dreams

Yeah

Oh, the first time I drove a car was probably in a parking lot. I always had to practice driving in the theater cliff. And the northern high school parking lots. I took driver’s ed in either the ninth or the 10th grade. I think probably the 10th grade instructor was David Perry. Star Trek fan also, I think double does the health, one of the health teachers but in any case, the first time I drove a car was probably in driver’s ed in one of the school parking lots a think during my teenage years.

My home life if anything I would have liked to have changed at the time was having more freedom. Amazingly, as a youngster, I had a lot living out in the country but once we moved I did, but eventually the divorce settled in and then I had more freedom than I probably knew what to deal with. So I’m not quite sure how to answer the question about what I would have wanted to change about my home life and why I worked a lot. So I don’t know those ever really hold that much to what much change satis memory from my youth was probably every time my cat died.

Those were sad times for me. Because my cats were very important to me, especially losing my first cat Sylvester. That was hard. Sylvester had an abscess, and it wasn’t gonna get any better. And surgery wouldn’t was too risky. So that cat had to be euthanized and that was probably the saddest memory for my youth was losing my cats.

The first major time I disagreed with my parents I think I was fighting for my preteen years is fighting for more bike time I actually had to have a counselor get involved in helping negotiate for for our bike rides. Nowadays you can’t get kids put down the screens or put down the video game things and all I wanted to do was ride my bike.

Ah, a friendship from childhood in which I grew grew apart. No, I think I remember my friend John from Ohio. I think we grew apart. I think there were some racial differences that we had, especially post 911 and those sort of things I could just never reconcile with him. Kevin Wagner would be another one. My next door neighbor I tried to get in contact with him through Facebook wasn’t really successful.

Kevin was my next door neighbor but he went off to Messiah college and I think that was the last time I ever heard. I’m sure he’s doing wow my appearance as a teenager was then in scrawny. ventually were flannels and jeans. I knew how I looked. I didn’t care. I was the last kid to be picked in gym class. That was just kind of the way it was. But I just don’t think I cared.

I don’t remember my first day at high school. Other than I think I was glad it was over. Obviously we have middle lockers in middle school lockers in high school. I don’t actually remember my first day of high school. I wish I did actually.

For word association. What memory comes to mind when you hear the word spontaneous? Not me. I don’t even think I had the ability to be spontaneous was pretty much a by the book high schooler. Everyone wants me to be smart. I wasn’t that smart. My sister was smart. I wasn’t smart. In fact, academically I was probably BS in a few ways.

If I got $4 in a My mom wasn’t going to go broke. Let’s put it that way. It was a slow learner. I think towards high school who was fighting much I passed as a classmate of mine and de la squids i i passed passing was a see I think I watched a lot of movies. I remember reading being assigned readings like Frankenstein, Lord of the Flies Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet Shogun Dr. Zhivago. A lot of times I watched the movies or rented the movies. So yeah.

My first crush was Sarah Chambers, and I think we’re gonna probably park here for a little bit. fall for her in the seventh grade. She was dating one of my friends Jason Leininger. Sarah was just cool. Bubbly, happy. Definitely rich kid drove a convertible eventually. Sarah was kind stuck up, but kind. I really liked her a lot but had about zero chance with her so in terms of crushed, definitely unrequited.

Wrote her little notes in school from time to time dropped him in her locker I’m sure pissed off her boyfriend. And he lost but she wrote me back and you know 20 years later, she was nice enough to reach out on Facebook and we connected I think she was probably in between marriages at that time. I wish I had been smarter than I then I that was even then to figure out that gee, you must be somewhere to respond to me after 20 years.

But in my book, Sarah was and is still awesome. She does. She advocates for I think some animal rescue stuff. She is a conservative can’t hold that against her. I think she was an art teacher and a nurse and all that good stuff. Married. Now twice. She looks happy. And that’s what matters, but definitely shaped who I became. definitely made me a better person. definitely made me try to be a better person. Definitely forced me to socialize a lot more.

My first heartbreak and it doesn’t necessarily have to be romantic. I don’t know my parents divorce was pretty heartbreaking. I think I’ve journaled on this before, but it was in my world became an unsafe place. It was when everything became broken. There wasn’t ever going to be a safe place. Again. family wasn’t safe. It wasn’t a safe institution. The world couldn’t be trusted. And I struggled to have control over things.

If it had to be romantic, I save rejection from Sarah would have been one in high school I shot down so many times if I were the Titanic, I would have sunk already. rejections just kind of piled up.

Outside school as a young adult, I was really good at working. I worked like any chance I had to work and make money I did. I didn’t care for mowing lawns I didn’t care for it was extra shifts that the French fry place. I didn’t care if it was the movie store. I didn’t care if it was Toys R Us.

I worked night shift at Toys R Us and went to high school in the daytime. They locked me out earlier than the rest so I could drive my car to school. I worked and I pursued work.

And then I went to work at Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance agency. I also worked in media play San Goody Suncoast eventually transferred Sam Goody to New York City than worked at TIAA CREF in New York City and then launch my own business really.

So yeah, I pursued the idea of working. I was a member of the Future Business Leaders of America. I competed in the in the local and then the state competition at Seven Springs. I still have my trophy for introduction to business. I remember owning stock a teacher’s probably passed away. Now Donald Matthews taught me a lot about business.

I remember taking personal selling in college so that was pursuing that. I wouldn’t necessarily say My Future Business Leaders of America, but business was important to me. And I did pursue it.

Read about your first experience losing someone you loved. That was my cat. And that was hard because my cat slept under my covers every night with me. needed my little puppet Sizemore my cat never abandon me. And that sucked.

I lost my grandfather and then my grandmother like as human beings and also losing my babysitter socked.

So as a teenager or young adult right about time and something turned out differently than what I expected to I think I think going to a Monica concert and meeting Christian artists and having experience with God during that concert definitely counts. I was not expecting that and my insights were scrambled after that, and definitely changed my path and my existence was young.

I think my biggest fear was the Twilight Zone. Some of them still are difficult to watch. talky Tina. The Lonely where the gentleman is imprisoned on another planet and is sent a robot to keep them company a companion on the national destroyer at the end because there’s too much weight to take them home.

Yeah, that it still creeps me out some Twilight Zone still creeped me out. No question. That would be my biggest fear. Actually. I’m sure it’s not what the question is asking. But that’s what it was.

Side note, I remember working in the mall and there’s a scrolling April she was a gold digger. She worked at the Kay Jewelers or whatever jeweler was in the mall. I remember buying a ticket for I still know what you did last summer and thinking that she would go to a movie with me.

I don’t know what I was thinking. But she turned it down and then go into the movie by myself which sucked.

Word Association. What memory comes to mind when you hear the word dare I think of Transformers The Movie 1986 The song dare Stan Busch sang it. And it was the theme is Hot Rod. Race to Ottawa city. And then at the end when hot rod went inside Unicron good versus evil classic stuff.

What did you do that your parents didn’t want you to do? And did you get caught? Well, I signed out of school a lot to go to another school. And eventually Yeah, I got caught. I was forging my dad’s signature and I got caught and I remember getting caught and I got detention for getting caught.

What story comes to mind when you hear the phrase rite of passage probably something I never had. Yeah, I will say that something I never had. How’s that?

Thompson 10 songs that he’s loved as a teenager. What memories stand out. Now this is where writing would be really handy. But we’re still going to try and work this out as a teenager because we’re in the like the young adult teenager section here.

Expose a say I’ll never get over you getting over me because my friend Shannon used to listen to that all the time. They stood out it’s like a post breakup song. New Order subculture and bizarre love triangle again Shannon played those in the car all the time.

So that those definitely stood out and those two songs together. Like the X Jose and the new order stuff. They both remind me of just nights of riding around with Shannon which was amazing. And we never actually did that again.

That was interesting as I did two or three appearances as an adult in her world, we never rode in a car again. So those were definitely memories and memories that we didn’t relive.

Hero Mariah Carey. I told that story previously just the night that I was down that song meant a lot. The whole music box album really anytime you need a friend meant a lot to me again because I had people like Shannon make it happen just because I was driven again.

Mariah Carey Sunday, just just because it was kinda like a frustration Mariah Carey frustration. belt out type of song. So yeah, that and then we’ll say from Transformers The Movie The touch and dare Dare we just talked about the touch was kind of the you know, Optimus Prime’s death song and Rodimus primes transformation song and Nike ending six film I Transformers The Movie.

And then a prophecy number 10. Power love from the Back to the Future soundtrack. Just I had that blaring in the car sometimes to

My personality as a teenager, probably nerd introvert, not a leader in the literal sense. I kept to myself, but as a hard worker as a teenager, like once I got a job I found my place in the world I think, because I was good at doing things.

Cleaning the fryer prepping the sandwich stuff alphabetizing VHS tapes alphabetized and cassettes. opening a store closing the store. I was always good at working. I would never turn down a shift. Working gave me purpose working up value and working gaping money.

And I think being raised around entrepreneurs like my grandfather and my father and my uncle, I think there was the value of work. I think my work ethic was very important to me. Yet remember I was raised by Reagan era, baby boomers, where work is valued and that it took me a long time.

To find a proper balance after that. Was High School. What did I want to be when I grew up? Well, I actually had a five year plan to either move to New York or Los Angeles and become an actor or singer or a singing actor or an acting singer.

Those were my goals. I wanted to go to New York and make it happen or go to Los Angeles and make it happen. I took voice lessons figured out I couldn’t sing. And I never even tried the acting thing.

So I’ve learned since then, after studying and watching biographies and reading biographies, I’ve read biographies of people like the actor, director, producer Michael Landon, Dick Van Dyke, I’ve seen a couple of different biographies.

Of him. Definitely learning a little bit about people like singers like Mariah Carey, and Irene Cara, just kind of learning that there is so much work that goes into it. Definitely. You know, learning from Michael Landon’s biography a lot of the money was in the writing and the producing and the directing.

It wasn’t the acting. Well, Michael Landon was recognizable in front of the screen. The money was on the back end. I think any singer can tell you that that the money’s in songwriting.

So it’s fine to me. I never pursued any of that I had chance in the entertainment industry to interview music artists on a regular basis, country music Hip Hop r&b. But never did it.

Took 10 weeks of singing lessons just to learn I couldn’t sing and I think I’ve destroyed this CDs. Thankfully speaking. They were just singing lesson CDs anyway, so I don’t think it worked.

On my relationships with my parents in high school changed because my dad walked out on us. He went to a foreign country and my mother hit the dating pole again. So no one really paid me much mine.

So if anything has shifted from having relationships to really non relationships, I was angry with my mother much through high school, reconcile before I moved to New York City. But High School and divorce they happen at the same time. So every single dynamic ended up changing so yeah, we all talk about my first kiss.

Other than it was the girl I dated. I think I was 20 years old. She was a little older than me like maybe 22. She was great. So I’ll just leave it there. Yeah, late bloomer, but she was fighting.

Well, she was an exotic dancer, right. I think she worked at a book place or publishing house during the day. But she was a dancer and I didn’t meet her like at a club or anything. I just met her because she lived near me.

I met her at a summer festival and she was great. But yeah, that was a that was her. Her name was Jennifer. She was great. I looked her up. She’s doing well in life.

Favorite high school teacher was definitely David Bowman. That was actually in seventh grade junior high because we had comic book club. He would open up the foosball table later.

But unless as a foosball activity or everyone would want to sign up, but he was good at grading comic books and he got he made us make good deals on not rip each other off.

I remember getting Amazing Spider Man number 10 with big man from him. I think he sold it to me directly but he had to approve all deals kind of parent note for that too.

But never stop collecting comic books. I don’t even know if he’s around anymore. But yeah, he was great because he did comic book club and that was that was important.

He also taught seventh grade science but he taught comic book club I started becoming romantically aware I think, obviously when I met Sarah, and yeah, that was an awakening. That was an awakening.

So that was important when it comes to like the first love and actual dating that was the girl named Jennifer. She ended up she lived catty corner from the street from me. We watched Simpsons together drank a lot together.

Spend a lot of time together. She took me to my parents and pick me up when I was blind. I don’t think I ever let them meet her though. But that was cool. That was the darling that was adulting one on one.

I don’t have much to say about that. Other than it was what it was. I dated an exotic dancer.

In my social circle, I was the one that had a car the quiet one, the strange one, I suppose as a teenager but most importantly I had the car and that’s where I fit I had the car there was there’s no other way around it.

Let’s go pick up Rick. Let’s go pick up Shannon. Let’s go pick up Lindsay let’s go pick up that person. That’s who I was. That was just the way that it was.

My favorite book as a teenager well I’ll go back to driving. I remember one time my mom really didn’t want me going out so I went out anyway. And then with Shannon the car we did tow nuts. We slip and slide in the snow in the car.

It’s just whenever it’s snow, just not going to go out. So I’m remembering that literally in Illinois, Pennsylvania by the police station just sliding down the road, scrubbing shin and sliding down or favorite bucket teenager was probably the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

This is just a wonderful story. I started on a couple of different versions of it. I’ve a leather bound as well. It was good just good. British humor I think and there’s something to be said for that

Some names have been changed in the content of this story.