Flashback Friday #247

Witnessing A No-Hitter



Hello to all. Any one who knows me in real life knows that I'm a sports fan. I enjoy football, baseball, hockey, Olympics, and Genesis 26:8. That being said.There are certain things that happen in the sporting areanas that take special notice. One of those things in the no-hitter in baseball. It is a special thing to have faced the opposing batting order several times in a game and watch as each one trudges back to the dugout without a hit. it take grat skill and lots of luck to do this on the profesional level. It take even more when you're talking about girls slow-pitch softball.

Toni played softball for the local "city league" team. You needed a minimum of nine girls to have a team. Theirs had ten. If Toni wasn't in right field, she was on the bench. She platooned with another girl in right. All the other positions were set, especially pitcher.

Gina Queen was our school's version of "Big Ethel Muggs". For those of you that are unfamiliar with Big Ethel, she was the homely, super-athletic, wanna-be girlfriend of Jughead Jones in the "Archie" comics.

Gina was on fire that day.In softball the idea is to loft the ball up toward the plate and let the batter hit it. I don't know if she was adding some back-spin or what, but the batters weren't hitting the ball. Those that did manage to make contact were put out by a sure fielding team. That is until the final inning.

At the top of the last inning, the first batter flies out to center. The next batter makes contact and lofts a ball to short right field. I really don't remember if it was Toni or Becky playing at that moment, but the ball hits right at the tip of her glove , then bounces out for an error. The opposing team has a baserunner for the first time. The next batter hits a grounder to short. The shortstop gobbles up the ball, flips the the second baseman who then throws to first to complete the double play. Game over.

Gina lost out on the perfect game, but she got the no-hitter.

What's Going On At The Castle?

The other day, my grandaughter, The Girl, wanted me to play with her. I have an Imaginext castle and she needed me to put it together for her to play with. She drug it out of the toy room and I dumped it out, sorted the pieces and commenced to build a castle. Once I had the castle built, she had some grand plans.

First off, she wanted visitors to come to the castle. So I rounded up some visitors. I came up with a giant and an ogre. The ogre needed help crossing the street, so the giant held his hand.

Then there was a ball in the castle. Cinderella and The Prince were dancing together.

But everyone knows the story. The Prince also had to dance with Cinderella's ugly step-sister. This step-sister could have had as much beauty sleep as Sleeping Beauty and still have been ugly.

You've got to love the imaginationof a four year-old little girl.

Flashback Friday #246

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same


Greetings to all who have ventured this way. I hope you came here on purpose, but if you didn't, you can read my drivel anyway.

Currently, in my storytelling, we pick up our story during the summer between 10th & 11th grades. During this summer I've (if you've been reading my blog, you already know this) taken Driver's Ed, Moved into a new house, and dated Kelly Stump (again, even though I told myself I wouldn't).

Another thing that happened during that summer was that Toni & I got back together.She rode over to my house one day on her bike and told me that she had to talk to me. She knew that I wasn't one to talk a lot on the phone, unlike Carol, who would call me and get mad because I wasn't talking. Hello, you called, you should do the talking. Anyway, she told me that all the other guys she dated after we broke up, none could hold a candle to me. I was unlike anyone she had ever met. Then she asked if we give it another try.

Of course, I said yes because I hated the fact that I didn't have a steady girlfriend. I also didn't have enough self-esteem to ask anyone else. Here was someone who was asking me. I'd be crazy to say no.

I learned later on, at my high school reunions, that there were some other girls that liked me but wouldn't or didn't say anything. In retrospect, if they had dropped a hint or two, I probably would have tripped over them and gone about my business.

The Economy is so bad that...

The economy is so bad that:

I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.

I ordered a burger at McDonald's and the kid behind the counter asked, "Can you afford fries with that?"

CEO's are now playing miniature golf.

If the bank returns your check marked "Insufficient Funds," you call them and ask if they meant you or them.

Hot Wheels and Matchbox stocks are trading higher than GM.

McDonald's is selling the 1/4 ouncer.

Parents in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and learned their children's names.

A truckload of Americans was caught sneaking into Mexico .

Dick Cheney took his stockbroker hunting.

Motel Six won't leave the light on anymore.

The Mafia is laying off judges.

Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen..

Congress says they are looking into this Bernard Madoff scandal. Oh Great!! The guy who made $50 Billion disappear is being investigated by the people who made $1.5 Trillion disappear!

And, finally...

I was so depressed last night thinking about the economy, wars, jobs, my savings, Social Security, retirement funds, etc., I called the Suicide Lifeline. I got a call center in Pakistan and when I told them I was suicidal they got all excited and asked if I could drive a truck.

Flashback Friday #245

It's My Party ad I'll...



Greetings to all. I have a special announcement to make. If you look in the "About Me" section, it no longer says that I am a 40 something year-old. Today, I hit the big 5-0. Since that is the case, I have a couple birthday stories to share with you that aren't long enough to make individual posts, but compiled, will do for today.

I could always remember when we moved into our big white house from the basement that we used to live in. I had gotten a birthday card that had a big 5 on it with a lion. I don't know what it was about that card, but I saved it for several years after. That means that we spent a total of 11 years in that house.

One year when I was fairly young. My paternal grandmother was going to make a birthday cake for me. She decided that she was going to make a coffee cake birthday cake (perhaps she didn't have the ingredients for icing?). All I knew was that I didn't like coffee, so having a cake that would taste like coffee wasn't appealing at all. I threw a fit until finally I got a real spanking for my birthday.

Lastly, on my 17th birthday, we had already moved from the house into the trailer. We were using the house for storage. Mom told me to go over to the house and get something (I don't remember what) out of her old bedroom. When I walked into that room. there stood a brand new ten-speed bike with a card on the seat with my name on it. Mom had bought a raffle ticket from a co-worker and won the bike earlier in the week. She figured that it would make a great birthday gift for me.

Doing the math, I've lived over 26 million minutes (not counting leap years). That sounds a lot older than 50 years.

Flashback Friday #244

Mr. Instructor's Favorite Story


In my last post, I discussed the Driver's Ed class that I was taking. My Driver's Ed teacher, Mr. Instructor, had a story that he like to tell all his beginning students. To set the mood, I need to tell you that the driving part of our class lasted two hours. Each of the four students in the car got 30 minutes of drive time. that means the other 90 minutes were spent riding with two others in the back seat. We were supposed to observe, not to chat and especially not to disrupt the driver. A ride like that could make someone sleepy, and that's where this story comes in.

Mr. Instructor had told the back seat kids to quietly observe & listen to what he was saying to the driver. One of the students observed all he could, then began observing the backs of his eyelids. His light snore gave him away to Mr. Instructor.

Mr. Instructor told the driver and those awake in the back that he was going to slam his brake on and scream "Whatch out for that tree!" The driver was told to expect the car to lurch and to make sure it was kept in control. Those in the back were advised to hang tight. At the count of three the plan was to commence.

1...2...3 "WATCH OUT FOR THAT TREE!" Skreech went the brakes. The guy in the back came awake rapidly and let out a scream. His scream was soon drowned out by the laughs of the others in the car.

He told us that story to advise us to remain alert while observing. None of us fell asleep during that class.

Flashback Friday #243

Driver's Ed



Hello. Care to take a stroll down memory lane with me? If you do, please make sure you look both ways before you cross seeing that there are some new drivers around here.

I told you back in Flashback Friday #219 getting my learner's permit to drive. One other thing that had to be done before I could get my driver's license was to take a driver's training course. My high school offered this class. I was put into a car with three other beginning drivers and an instructor that should have been awarded a medal of courage.

 His name was Mr. Instructor. He was a math teacher at the Junior High. He was also an assistant football coach. I had never had him for any classes while I was at in 7th or 8th grade. But he knew two of my fellow students.

Jeb Laton was a tall, lanky guy that had played football in Junior High so he was well known to Mr. Instructor. Lydia Duckling (whom Lady Nottaguy-TYG knew as Lydia Corridor when she worked with her) had not only been in Mr. Instructor's math class, but also in his home room. The other student driver was Cindy Sax. She had moved here about a year before. I knew her pretty well seeing that she was Toni's neighbor.

Seeing that I had never had Mr. Instructor for any classes, I figured he didn't know me. He said right off that he knew Jeb & Lydia. When he asked the names of his other two students, Cindy gave her's then I gave mine. A shock of revelation came across his face. He did know me, but he hadn't seen me since Junior High and I had lost twenty or so pounds since then. He said "I didn't recognize you". I had forgotten that near the end of my 8th grade year, I had wanted to play football, and got the physical sheet for the doctor to sign (see Flashback Friday #115). He must have done some scouting on those that had signed up. He would have been my coach if my parents would have allowed me to play. He was quite impressed with the shape I was in.

But I digress. This is a post about driving, not football. We each hade to do several laps around the school parking lot before we were ever allowed to go out onto the open road. Mr. Instructor wanted to make sure that we knew all the controls so he wouldn't have to use the brake petal on his side. Prehaps that's why he still had dark hair. That or he had a good suppy of Grecian Formula.

Flashback friday #242

Kissing Your Sister




Hello. Once again I will either enthrall you with tales of a wild upbringing or bore you to sleep. Either way, here goes.

As you have read in earlier posts (and if you haven't read any earlier posts, you really should), my love live in the 10th grade was erratic to say the least. When Toni broke up with me, instead of venturing to new and better adventures, I chose to walk a path that was familiar. And Kelly was there to facilitate my every step.

Kelly not only had been "around the block", she had been around the entire city. She dated several guys in several different towns at the same time. I knew this going in, but desperation make you do strange things.

One day we were going to a semi-large city that was about 40 minutes away. We were going to see a movie or something. We wound up doing the something. We met one of Kelly's friends on the way and went to her house. There we met a girl that knew that Kelly had a boyfriend in that town and knew him well. She wanted to know what she was doing with me in tow.

Kelly quickly made up the story that I was her brother. Her real mother (she had been adopted) had given her up because she felt she was too young to care for a baby. Shortly thereafter, she got pregnant again and once again gave that baby up for adoption (that would be me). We only had recently discovered that we were sister and brother due to a geneology project we had to do for Social Studies. Believe it or not, they took the story hook, line & sinker.

Later, I asked her "Does it feel odd, kissing your brother?" Her reply was "Shut up and kiss me again."

A Bit Of A Rant

Recently, our government has shut down because a compromise between the House and the Senate cannot be reached. What I don't understand is how something can be open 24/7 under normal circummstances but if there's a government shutdown, barricades and gaurds are brought in to keep people out? Wouldn't it cost more money to close something up than to leave it like it always is? Veterens monuments and parks are being locked up tighter than Fort Knox. Even if money is offered from outside sources to keep something open, the answer is "NO!". I really don't understand. I'm not sure I want to.

Flashback Friday #241

My Class Ring (Part III)


Greetings, one and all. It is highly unusual for me to have a post go into three segments, but this will be my third about my class ring. I described it in my first post (Flashback Friday #233) and told of what I did with it (Flashback Friday #234) but you have yet to see it.

The reason you haven't seen it yet, is because it wasn't where I thought it was. I recently came across it and took a few pictures to show you.

This is the first side view. It has my initals on a red and blue shield. Red and blue were our school colors.

This is the second side. It shows our school mascot. It's a "Fighting Scot". He looks a bit tipsy to me. Perhaps that's why he's fighting.

Finally, here is a good look at the stone. You'll notice that it's not my birthstone. I'm not a big fan of topaz.

This ring used to fit on the ring finger of my right hand. It now fits my pinky on the same hand. It must have shrunk.

Flashback Friday #240

An Overnight Guest



Welcome back for another helping of menutia.

The the last Flashback Friday post, I told you about moving into our new digs. We had moved in everything we had planned to move for the time being and evryone had gone their own ways. It wasn't dark yet, but dusk was setting in. As I was heading into the house from the trailer, I heard someone call out my name.

I looked up and one of the guys that I went to school with, was riding down the road on his bike. Jon coasted to a stop and we chatted for a few minutes. While we chatted, neither of us had noticed how dark the clouds were getting. Suddenly, a storm broke out and both of us headed for the trailer for shelter.

Mom didn't like the idea of Jon riding his bike home in the dark during a storm. His bike was too big to fit into the Pinto, so Mom asked him if he'd like to spend the night. He said he'd have to call home first. His folks were relieved to know that he wouldn't be riding his bike in the storm (he lived about four miles away).

I had never had anyone spend the night with me that I wasn't related to. Aunt Shelly's kids were over several times during the month to spend the night. Since my bed was now a bunk bed, there would be a place for a friend to sleep without sleeping with me or sleeping on the floor.

I always thought that it was funny that the very first night in our new home was spent with a visitor.

Failure At Parenting

Former NFL player Brian Holloway (no, not the former Ohio Bible quizzer) won't forget Labor Day 2013 any time soon. While he was at his home in Florida, 300 teens decided to break into his vacation home in upstate NY and party. Before the police could break up the party, over $20,000 in damage was done to the home.

It was bad enough that the teens nearly destroyed the house, most of the also posted pictures of themselves on social media sites while doing it. That's where Mr. Holloway became proactive. Armed with the social media evidence, he began to identify the teens and post their names along with the pictures they took. All that evidence is going to the Sheriff's department.

Here's the kicker. Several of the parents of the teens have threatened him. They're angered that he posted the pictures. Excuse me, didn't the kids post them first? I know if I had done anything like that, I would have been a senior citizen before I could sit down again.

He tried to be nice and posted an invitation to all the teens to come help him clean up. Zero showed up. However, six teens that weren't involved did. Perhaps there's some hope for the future generation.

You can read the full story here http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/23754594/teens-trash-home-of-exnfl-player-teens-parents-threaten-player

Flashback Friday #239

Move In Day


Greetings to all. It's nice to see you again (even though I really can't, but that's something completly different).

In my last few Flashback Friday posts, I told you of Dad buying a trailer and moving it onto our land. We had been living in a large, old house, but now it was time for a change. Dad worked on getting the water and electricity up & going every night after work.I don't remember why, but somehow I got out of digging the ditch to run the water & sewer. It was dug by hand.

Once everything was hooked up, we had the daunting task of trying to fit everything that was in our house into the trailer. I remember several of Dad's friends and many of Aunt Shelly's kids coming over to help us move. If it wasn't attached, someone was asking "Does this go?" or "Where do you want this?"

When I say "move", it's just a relative term. It was all of 30 feet or so from the front door of the house to the door of the trailer. My parent's bed was moved in and then set up in their room. The bed nearly took up the whole room. There was room to walk between the side of the bed and the built-in dresser, but you had to stand on the bed to get anything out of the closet. I don't remember too many things that were in the closet being worn very often.

My closet was a direct contrast to their's. I hung everything I could and you could readily get to it. Seeing that my new room was a fraction of the size of my old one, I had to do something. It also served as a shelf for my stereo. If you opened my far closet door, my stereo sat there on the closet floor (which was about level with the top of my mattress). My record albums (remember those?) stood up beside the stereo with the 8-track tapes (If you don't remember albums, you won't remember 8-tracks).in a box behind. There was about a two foot section between the end of my bed and the wall that became a "catch-all".

Once the bedrooms were decked out, work began on the living room. We had a sleeper sofa that weighed a ton, and it took several of Aunt Shelly's kids to move it. It went into the "pop-out" section of the trailer. Just lik Archie & Edith, Mom & Dad each had a favorite chair. They were mpved beneath the large mirror, facing the kitchen. The TV went in front of the cut-away section of the kitchen wall, on the back side of the sink counter. Mom said if she was cooking and talking to Dad, he would at least look like he was listening to her while he watched TV.

The kitchen was the last to be moved. As the kitchen table was being moved into place, two of Aunt Shelly's kids bonked their heads on the tiffany light that was to hang over table. The second knocked a piece of glass out and it went into a drawer, one day to be repaired. Once all the food, dishes and cookware was brought over, we were ready for our first night in our new place.

Where ya been?

I know of at least one person has asked this question. Ever since Google decided to "make improvements" on blogger, I've had a rough time getting a post up. As it was, it took me seven minutes from the time I put up the title until I could type what you're reading.

It's not only that, it's been really busy here. We've worked overtime (which is good for the checkbook, not so good for computer time), parked cars at the county fair, worked the sweetcorn festival and spent lots of time in the doctor's office (I had a nasty fall at work and sprained my shoulder and strained my neck, other shoulder, thorax, lower back and hips).

I know I've let you down with no Flashback Friday for two months, but perhaps I'll get my blogging mojo back and we'll pick it up again.

Voices In The Darkness

Early this morning, about 4:20 AM, there was a tremendous clap of thunder that absolutely shook the house. The house was shaken so much it activated a hand held Whack-a-Mole game that we have. So after the thunder boomed and woke everyone up, you heard "Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. Missed me!"

Flashback Friday #238

Were Moving? (Part II)



Hello. It's so nice to have you drop by again. Pull up a seat, grab a snack and lets get going.

In my last post, I told you that I'd give you the description of our new residence. Here comes. For starters, it was a 1972 model (but I can't remember the manufacturer). Since this was 1980, the trailer was only eight years old (I didn't even have to use my fingers for that). It was aqua & white and had a front enterance that led directly into the living room.

As you walk into the living room, the first thing that catches your attention is the orange shag carpet. The carpet in the old house was a gray berber, so this took some getting used to. The living room had a pop-out section that made it wider than the rest of the trailer. As you look up, and to the right, there is a series of small windows in a raised section of the roof, kind of like a small skylight. To the left, there's a huge mirror on the wall (to make it look bigger?)

The kitchen was on the left as you walked in. The same aqua that was on the outside is also on the inside on the refrigerator and stove. A tiffany lamp hangs from the ceiling where the table was to be. There was an air conditioner unit in the kitchen. This was the first time we had ever had air conditioning.

As you walked through the living room and entered the hallway, my bedroom was the first door on the right. It was less than half the size of my old room. I could extend my arms and touch the side of my bed and the other wall, which was a built in closet with two sets of two drawers beneath it. I would be going from a double bed down to a twin size. However, the twin size bed was actually a set of bunkbeds.

The next room on the right was the bathroom. Guess what? More aqua,. All the fixtures (sink, tub & toilet) were aqua. The washer & dryer also went here.

Across from the bathroom door was the "back door". I guess it was built like this in case someone fouled the bathroom so bad, that it needed to be aired out. Don't laugh, we actually did that a time or two.

Lastly came mom & dad's room. They had a series of built in shelves/dressers on one side and their clost on the other.There was also room for their double bed. A second air conditioning unit sat in their window. With both units on, that tin can stayed pretty cool. Seeing that they rarely slept with their door shut in the old house (seeing that they didn't have one), keeping thier door open at night wasn't a problem.

It was going to be a chore fiting all the stuff from our house into that trailer. It was going to be such a chore that it never was finished. The old house became a large "storage shed".

Happy 4th of July All You Science Geeks

Everyone like to watch  & set off fireworks on the Fourth. I figured if you're going to blow off your hand, you'd like to see the science behind it.

Flashback Friday #237

We're Moving?


Welcome all to another exciting post about my teenage yeras. It's almost as much fun as watching paint dry. Anyway, today's post deals with us moving.

All my life I had lived in the same place. I remember the brown house that we lived in before we built the basement to what would be Dad's "Dream house" That was directly behind the brown house. We lived in that for a year while the brown house was beind demolished. Plans were to add onto the basement until it became a whole, habital house. This never happened. The old man that lived next door died and Dad was able to buy his property at a really good price. We moved from the small basement with blankets serving as walls to a full house. Dad filled in the basement and covered it up.

Dad was forever making changes & inprovements on this house. Not all changes were improvements. Like George Baily's house in "It's A Wonderful Life", our house was an old, drafty house. During the winters, we normally hung a blanket in the doorway and spent most of the time in the living room. That way we didn't have to heat the whole house to a comfortable temperature. Needless to say, nobody stayed long in the bathroom (that is after a bathroom was installed, about five years after we moved in). Entry door locations were moved. Room locations moved. Changes all the time.

We lived in that house from the time I was five until the day Dad came home and told me we were moving. This was less than six months away from my 17th birthady. Moving? We can't move. All my friends are here. I've seen how the new kids at school acted. I didn't want to go through that. Would we be moving closer to Westerville so my folks wouldn't have such a long drive? Dad was very closed mouth about it.

No wonder he was closed mouth about it. Shortly after he told me we were moving, a semi-truck pulled up with our new house. We were going to move into a house trailer. Dad had purchased a trailer and pulled it in next to the house. He said as soon as he got the water, heat & electricity hooked up, we'd be moving in. He let us take a quick tour as soon as it was stabilized. A complete description of our new digs comes in my next post.

Flashback Friday #236

I Read It In The Yearbook (Part II)



Welcome back. I know you've all been waiting with bated breath for the conclusion to this saga. My question is, why have you been eating bait?

Anyway, I told you of a signature in my yearbook that caused me to pause and really wonder about a possible break-up. You saw in my last post that it wasn't the one from my girlfriend, Toni, that I was refering to. It came from my best friend Bart. It reads as follows:

"To (my real name), A very good friend of mine that I could do without for a while. Have fun with Toni as long as it last. You better make sure that's pretty long because she is a real sweet girl. Not as sweet as Dawn though (they hadn't broken up at the time of this writing)."

Oookaay. I'm not to sure about that first sentance. My best friend is saying that he could do without me for a while? What's up with that? I wonder if it has anything to do with him & his family getting all churchy or am I really that annoying? I really like Bart and I'd hate to lose him as a friend. What am I to do?

Flashback Friday #235

I Read It In The Yearbook



Greetings one and all and welcome to the online cure for insomnia.

There's an old Marvin Gaye song called "Heard It through The Grapevine" about a guy hearing from his friends about a coming break up. What does that have to do with my post? Glad you asked.

It's tradition that when the yearbooks come in, you have you friends sign it. I always had my named embossed on the cover to make sure I got mine back. The yearbooks came in while Toni & I were still dating, so you'll see that in some of the notations. Here are a few of the things that were written about me during my Sophomre year. All are actual quotes except for the "To (my actual name),".

"Your a real sweet guy who knows what your doing.Stay cool. Love ya!"

"A nice guy I like alot. Good luck in the future. Say HI to Mr. Magoo for you. I hope we will be friends always. Good luck always."

"To a real nice guy who is a lot of laughs.Good luck in life.I have a feeling you'll need it."

"To a neat nice far-out kid that I have know for a long, long time and hope we will always be friends. Good luck with whomever."

"To a super cool guy who's got taste cause we both like Cheech & Chong. Good Luck always."

"To a good friend. Good luck with everything and everyone you want!"

"A real cool guy & funny too. Good luck with Toni. Stay the way you are."

"To a real nice guy that is C-O-O-L."

"To a very nice guy. I hope that we will always be friends. Good luck always and with everything you do. Remember me always."

"To a very strange & weird person who is one of my friends."

And then there was this from Toni:
"To a very nice boyfriend who I really like & admire, you're the best as far as I'm concerned, you won't have to worry about me disappointing you cause I never will. When I leave next year, please keep in touch (if I decide to ) I never forget you.

OK, My girlfriend is talking about leaving. She didn't say anyhing to me about that. I read about it in my yearbook. However, that's not the really odd signage in my yearbook. More about that in my next post.

A New Accomplishment

If you were a member of The Cheezburger Network a couple years ago, you would know about the collectibles that they offered for going to different sites & pages in their network.When they made the announcement that they were discontinuing the collectible program, there was a scramble to complete sets of those that had missing collectibles. I completed all 82 set and gave away 902 to others in need. When this ended, on of the Cheezpeeps developed a site that offered four collectibles per week for those that enjoyed the chase. The difference being is that the member created the collectibles and voted which ones made the cut for the set.

What does this have to do with anything, you may ask. Recently I made a colletible and it was voted in as part of the set. It recieved the second most votes. It was the first one I made that made the cut. The category was Bad Hoomin (that's Bad Human for those that don't speak LOLspeak). Here it is:

Translation: Who is this "Work"? And why do you spend so much time with them?

That's my dad's dog Coco and, yes, he is sitting in Dad's briefcase.

Flashback Friday #234

My Class Ring (Part II)


Greetings friends. In my last Flashback Friday post I told you about ordering and receiving my class ring as a Sophomire. This week I'll tell of some of the things I did with it.

Firstly, Mom told me not to give it to a girl. She always asked if I was wearing it, so I found a way around her demand. When I got to school, I would give my ring to my girlfriend, who would then wrap yarn around the finger opening until it shrank the ring to her size. At the end of the day, I would retrieve it to do it all again the next day.

The way my stone wad cut, it refracted light well. If I was sitting in a chair in which sunlight was streaming in, I'd move my ring and watch the light beam across the room. It kind of made me feel like Green Lantern.

Lastly, my ring was used in self-defense or retaliation. Turn the stone to the inside of your hand, next to your palm and you could deliver a smack that would be remembered. I only had to do this once.The was a Junior High kid on my bus named Len. Len and his friends thought they were all that and a bag of Doritos. One day Len got the bright idea that flicking my ears would be a great past time. Anybody that knows me in real life knows that I HATE anyone flicking my ears because my brother used to do it all the time. I told him to stop. Flick. I told him to stop again with the glare. Flick. I turned to him and said "Len, stop or you will be very sorry." and turned back in my seat. As I turned, I also turned my ring stone palm side down. Flick. Like a panther pouncing on prey I turned, gave my wrist a quick flick and smacked the top of Len's head.

It made a sound like somebody kicking a watermelon. Len thudded back in his seat and his eyes glazed over. He didn't make another sound or movement until the bus got to his house. Mechanically, he got up and got off the bus. I never had another problem with Len or any of his friends after that.

Flashback Friday #233

My Class Ring


Hello. Welcome to another post of adventure and excitement or perhaps the cure for insomnia.

In the middle of my Sophomore year, a representative from a large jewlery company made a stop at our school with literature about ordering your class ring. Everyone was excited. The upperclassmen wore their rings with pride and getting ours would be a step closer to becoming said upperclassman.

I got my packet and took it home to discuss my options with my parents. Seeing that our finances weren't the greatest, getting a gold class ring was out of the question. Looking at the price of a silver ring showed us that it too was out of our price range. That left us with two other options. There were two "rare" metals that were offered. The first was "Lustrium". It was a faux gold. The other was "Astrium" which was a fake silver. In looking at the two options that were affordable to us, I decided to go with the Astrium.

OK. The ring base was settled on, now about the stone. My birthstone is topaz.I really didn't care for how that looked. To me, it reminded me of frozen urine. I decided on a blue stone. I don't remember the birthstone month, I just thought it looked cool. It also helped that if you got a red or blue stone, they didn't add any to the cost of the ring (since red & blue were our school colors).

I got a red  & blue shield on one side with my initals on it. The other side had a mean looking Scotsman on it (seeing that the Fighting Scots were our mascot). I also had my name put on the insideof the ring.

I was told by my mom that under no circumstances was I to give my ring to a girl. "She'll probably loose it and you'll be out of luck.", she said. I told her that I wouldn't. (Ha!)

When the order was put in, I was really excited. When they came in, I was even more so. More on this in next week's post.

Flashback Friday #232

My Girlfriend Pat


Hello, It's been a while since I last posted. I've been on vacation for the last two weeks. An experience to say the least. More on that later.

I've bored you for some time now regaling my love life in the 10th grade. After Toni dumped me, I was in a funk. Kelly sure didn't help matters. My friend Carol (who despised Kelly) decided to take things into her own hands. She talked to a girl that rode our bus, Pat, and asked her if she liked me. Pat was a year younger, so the thought of having a Sophomre for a boyfriend pleased her. Carol told her that she would see what she could do to get me interested in her.

Carol came to me and talked Pat up a lot. She also told that Pat liked me and would say "Yes" if I asked her to go with me. I really hadn't considered Pat. Pat really was a girl, but didn't look real feminine. She wasn't a tomboy or "butch", but there were times you had to look twice to make sure she was really a girl. Her very short hairstyle had much to do with it.

She put me in mind of child star, Robbie Rist, the kid that played cousin Oliver on "The Brady Bunch"

But I digress. Seeing that I didn't have a girlfriend, and there was a girl that was willing to be my girlfriend, I was for it. Carol made sure Pat kept the seat empty next to her on the bus, so I could sit with her and ask her to go steady with me.

We didn't get to see each other much during school (she even had a different lunch period than me), but we always got to see each other on the bus. She got on the bus before I did and sat at the outside of the seat until I got on. We got to hold hand on the way to school. One the way home, we were some of the last off. By the time she got off the bus, there was only nine more stops. When I got off, there were three.

Seeing that the bus was nearing empty, that gave us time to smooch. If you sit near the back and slouch down in your seat, the bus driver can't see you, which was good seeing that smooching on the school bus was a no-no.

Alas, after about three months, Pat decided to break up with me. She didn't say why. It sure was hard to keep a girlfriend.

Flashback Friday #231

                                                 

A Meeting With Mr. Gillette, Mr.Remington & Mr. Schick .

Welcome all. I tried to post this earlier using my phone. It didn't work, so here's the rest of the story.

One day I was approached in the school hallway by Mr. Tenpins, the principal. He informed me that I needed to have a meeting with Mr. Gillette, Mr. Remington & Mr. Schick. I thought I knew all of the teachers,but I didn't know who those men were. I must have had an extremely puzzled look on my face because Mr. Tenpins explained who those people were.

Our school dress code forbade facial hair of any kind. It causes a "distraction".These men that Mr. Tenpins mentioned were razor manufacturers. He was telling me that I needed to shave. I had a moustache that was slowly making it's presence noticed. He told me that if I didn't shave I would be looking at a suspension.

I told Dad about our conversation when I got home. He immediately picked up the phone and called the school to talk to Mr. Tenpins. When he got him on the line, he exploded. He said he didn't understand why a student's facial hair would be a distraction, but a faculty member's wouldn't (a picture of Mr. Tenpins can be found here). He called Mr. Tenpins "A bald-headed baboon" and threatened to go to the school and dry shave him. I told Dad to calm down, and that I'd shave to comply with the rules. He was still really mad.

The next day, Mr. Tenpins made sure to check to see if I met the dress code. I did. He asked if my dad would do the things that he threatened. I told him not to put anything past my dad.

Flashback Friday #230

I Didn't Tell Him


Hello. Welcome back for another serving of memories. One nice thing about them is no matter how many you enjoy, there's no calories.

Anyway, in my last post about my love life, I told you that I started hanging with Kelly Stump again. I think I should have beaten my head against a stump. I really wasn't too bright.I guess I didn't want to see the bad she emanated.

Sir Gattabout had come home on leave from the army. He had seen most of his friends and wanted to know if I wanted to go have some fun. He wanted to go to the skating rink. I should have turned him down flat. The skating rink was nothing but bad news for me ever since I fractured my ankle there.

Anyway, shortly after we decided to go, Kelly called and asked if I was doing anything later on. I told her that Gattabout & I were going to the skating rink. "Oh, Can I go too?" she asked. I hollered over at Gattabout and asked if it was OK with him. He had no problem, so I told her that we'd pick her up shortly.

When we got to Kelly's house, I found out that she hadn't asked her folks if she could go. When she asked her dad if she could go, he said "No. I don't want you in a car full of boys." (Looking  back, and as a dad with daughters, I now realize that he was a smart man) Well, we turned and headed back to the car and Kelly walked out with us.

She said to me after Gattabout got in the car "Your brother is really cute. I'm sleeping out in the front yard in a tent tonight. Tell him to stop by and I'll make it worth his trouble." Really? I don't think so. What is it going to take to completely figure out that Kelly is no good?

Kickalicious

An amateur rugby player put out a YouTube video of his trick kicking. This video lead to a contract by the Detroit Lions. Too cool.

Flashback Friday #229

A Real "Shock"-er Of A Season



Welcome back. I've got a treat for  you if you've ever been a fan of High School sports. I never played any sports (Mom was afraid that I'd get hurt), but I sure liked to root for those that played. Like the principal in "Grease" says "If you can't be athletic, be an athletic supporter".

My school always had a good basketball team. They had won several Mid-Ohio Conference titles. This year, the team was a lot better than normal. They finished the year with a 23-3 record. It was the best record ever. Coach Shock was voted as MOC coach of the year. Two of our players were voted to the MOC 1st team. Two others were named Honorable Mention MOC. One of them was named MOC player of the year.

With a record like that, of course they made the tournament. The first win was against the Utica Redskins. The next was a sectional win over The Big Walnut Eagles. The third tournament win was against the St. Charles Cardinals. Our team had never been this deep in tournament play before.

We played in the district finals against the Hebron-Lakewood   Lancers. The lancers were ahead by two. One of our guys lobbed a 15 foot jumper with one second left. Swish, nothing but net and the game was tied at the end of regulation. We won in overtime by 1 point.

This lead to a trip to Dayton to play the Dayton-Dunbar Wolverines. The wolverines were highly favored to win because they were an AA school that should have been AAA. Near the end of the game we were up by four points when a shower of cups. papers & other trash began to rain down from the stands. The referees called the game with two seconds left.

The regional finals were next. A victory here would send us to the Championship game. The opponent this time was the Hamilton-Ross Rams. Once again, at the end of regulation, the score was tied. In overtime the Rams won 59-57. They also went on to win the state championship.

Since I couldn't afford to travel all over the state to attend the games, I had to listen to them on the radio. Since we lived out in the country, the only station that we could tune into that carried the games was WMVO in nearby Mt. Vernon. However, the only radio that would pick up the station was a transistor radio that I had. To make it more difficult to listen to, the only place that the radio would pick up the game was in my parents bedroom. I had to sit on their bed to hear the games. I remember vividly listening to each & every game of the tournament and the feeling of disappointment over the two point loss.

Ain't That The Truth?

Flashback Friday #228

From The Yearbook


Welcome back. I don't have much time, so I thought you might enjoy a couple of pictures from my Sophomore yearbook. The first one is my High School Principal, Mr. Tenpins. His picture was "decorated" by the Senior class clown.

The next picture is proof that I had the nastiest hair growing out after a botched haircut. This is a month or so afterward. i did what I could to make it look presentable. I failed.

This is my WORST High School yearbook picture.

Signs

There have been some dandy signs around here recently. Here's a few of the more memorable.

This is at the High School. Is it any wonder kids are confused these days?

A prankster removed the three zeroes after the seven. I promise you that it wasn't me.

A local store was moving things around and I took this picture before they had a chance to change the sign. It looks like meat isn't the only thing that they were smoking.



We had a problem with the urinals at work, so they taped them off.
I don't know if you can read it,
 but the one on the left has
 "I peed in the sink" written on it. The one on the right has
"I peed on the floor" written on it.

 

Continuing with bathroom humor, this note was left on a stall in the men's room at work. It says "Out to work. Be back in 15 minutes. If needed, text me Doug.



Flashback Friday #227

Familiarity Breeds Contempt

Hello all. Welcome to another post filled with people you don't know. In last week's post my girlfriend, Toni, broke up with me. I don't know about you, but when I'm down, I look to something familiar to comfort me. That's exactly what I turned to after our break up.

I called Kelly Stump and asked if she wanted to go skating Friday night. If you are familiar at all with my Flashback Friday posts, you know that Kelly Stump is bad news. Add to the bad location of the skating rink set things up for real trouble.

Her drove us to the rink. He said he would pick us up at 9 PM when the rink closed. I didn't skate much, but Kelly did. She reminded me of a roller derby chick.When she would come in for a rest, she  sit close to me and whisper things in my ear.

When her dad picked us up, she nearly sat on my lap on the ride home. I could see her dad glancing at us in the rear view mirror. I wanted to make sure I didn't do anything to upset him. Kelly didn't care. I think she was trying to upset him.

When we got to my house. There was a note from Mom saying that she and Dad had gone to Westerville to work overtime on third shift. Dad was allowed to work on third shift, even though he wasn't a permanent Epro employee, because there weren't many who would. There were many things there he could do. This meant that they wouldn't be home until late Saturday morning.

Kelly saw this as a wonderful opportunity. She told he dad "This old house is really spooky. Would it be alright if I spent the night so he won't be afraid?" My jaw nearly hit the ground. I couldn't believe she had asked that. Obviously, neither did her dad. "No, you're not spending the night. Get in the car and lets go." was his reply.

I told myself that I really needed to be done with Kelly. Unfortunately, I didn't listen.

Flashback Friday #226

Is There Something In The Water?



Hello. I'm back to enthrall you with another tale of endless action & adventure. It's a good thing that I'm not Pinocchio because my nose would have gone through the monitor. Anyway, I'm back after taking last week off. I got hit with that nasty flu bug and it put me out of commission for a awhile.

In my last FF post, I spoke of my best friend and his girlfriend breaking up. This week it hist a little closer to home. This is about Toni breaking up with me.

In Flashback Friday #221, I told you of Miss Hubbabubba moving Toni to the other side of the study hall. She even had to sit with her back to me. She came up to me one day and told me that she was breaking up with me. She had gotten to know the guy Miss Hubbabubba moved her next to and he seemed like a great guy. They had been able to whisper since they were so close to the cafeteria, the food prep drowned out their conversations.

Raul (that was the guy's name) had a headful of unruly reddish brown hair. He also wore braces, so his lips protruded out a bit. He reminded me of one of the "Thralls" from the Star Trek episode "The Gamsters of Triskelion"

Ok, Here I am again, with no girlfriend. Oh, well. It's not like I had never been in that situation before.
(Just to let you know, I did start this post on Friday, but due to Bible Quizzing & Easter drama, I hadn't finished it until now.)

Let The Madness Begin

Yesterday, The brackets came out for the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Ohio State & Pittsburgh are in the West bracket. Duke & New Mexico State are in the Mid-West bracket. Michigan & UCLA are in the South bracket. UNLV & Colorado are in the East bracket. I'll bet the selection committee got a big, fat F in geography while in school.

Flashback Friday #225

Bart & Dawn Break Up



Welcome back to all those who have stumbled by this way again. If you're a first time visitor, pull up and chair and delve into the past with me. Currently were in 1980.

In Flashback Friday #200, I told you of my best friend, Bart, going steady with our chief antagonist, Dawn. I never in a million years saw this coming. Bart said he was serious about going steady only with girls that went to church. Ooookaaay, Am I missing something here, Bart. You had said that it was  your parents that had gotten all religious.

Anyway,  Bart & Dawn had been going steady for several months. At the Media Club overnight, Bart had confided with me that he thought that he & Dawn probably wouldn't be together too much longer. There was some friction (really? It's not like you didn't tease her for years) and things were getting tense.

One day at school, Bart told me that he had broken up with Dawn. Dawn didn't seem too upset about it because he said that she had immediately started dating another guy at their church (some of you know who that was). He then told me that he had taken a fancy to one of Dawn's cousins. Sherry also went to their church and to our high school. However, unlike Dawn, who was a Sophomore like us, Sherry was a Junior. My best friend, dating an upperclassman? Whoa, What's this world coming to?

Bart did ask Sherry and and Sherry said yes. I figured there would be some animosity between Dawn & Sherry but there was none. Now I'm really confused. What does Bart see in these girls? Is there something that I'm missing? The answer comes in a future post.

Ouch

It's said "That which doesn't kill you, makes you stronger." I'll bet it still really, really hurts.

Flashback Friday #224

The Media Club Overnight Field Trip



Hello, welcome to another edition of Flashback Friday. I've spoken before about the after school clubs & organizations that I was part of. The Media Club was one of my favorites. Needless to say, I was really pumped when we were told we would be going to a conference in large city an hour or so away. I don't remember the city, but I do know it wasn't Columbus. I'm thinking Dayton or Akron or the like.

We were to leave right after school on Friday. There were about 10 of us going. We brought our luggage to school and stored it in the AV room. At the end of school, we trooped out to the bus and loaded up. Ater 60 plus minutes on the bus. We got to the hotel and took our stuff to our rooms. Both librarians were ladies, and they both went. They were the girl's chaperon. The boy's chaperon was a senior member of the club. From there, we went to a conference center for supper and welcoming events.

After the preliminaries were done. There was a buffet. We were encouraged to sit with people from other schools. We ignored it. After supper, there was a dance and I tore up the dance floor.

After that night's festivities were finished, the head librarian asked if were wanted to go to a movie. Being teens, we said yes. Now to determine the movie. There was a nearby multi screen theater that we stopped at. Since there was only three chaperons, a maximum of three movies could be chosen. All the girls wanted to see a mushy love story, so the librarians went with them. Our senior chaperon suggested a horror flick. Seeing that I was really into horror movies at the time, I was all for it. So all the guy went to the scary movies that was being offered. It was "The Exorcist".

Looking back, that is a really frightening movie. However, I was in such spiritual oppression, I laughed hysterically through the whole movie. Things that should have scared the wits off of me, I found funny. My laughter must have been contagious because all the guys found themselves joking throughout the movie.

When we got back to the hotel room, the first thing our chaperon did was jump onto the bed and start bouncing up & down, hollering "Help me, help me." like the girl in the movie. After the laughter dies out, we choose our sleeping arrangement. The senior got one bed, a junior got the other. We three underclassmen slept on the floor.

The next morning, we went to the conference and it ended around noon. We piled into the bus and headed for home. I don't remember what the conference was about. The only thing I remember about this trip was that movie and my reaction to it. That was really scary.

My Hilarious Grandson

Driving home from school today, I had Sean Hannity on the radio. He mentioned that an official in the Obama administration "mispoke". I told "The Boy"that when a government official "mispeaks", he is really lying. He retorted with "I thought whenever anyone in government spoke, he's lying."  LOL and LTIC. I told him that he was wise beyond his years.

Flashback Friday #223

Scary Movies



Greeting to one & all. Thanks for stopping by. It might be a wise idea to read this post with the lights on.

In a previous post, I described the movie theater in the county seat. I saw many movies there as a teen. There was one genre that drew me to the theater more than any of the others. Horror flicks. I know this is odd, seeing the the problems with "The Tingler" . I had discovered that if you take a date to a horror movie, she will end up in your arms before the movie is over. However, the environment changed me.

I began my fascination with the grandfather of slasher flicks, "Halloween". I had heard several classmates rave on and on about this film, so I had to see it for myself. Believe it or not, the only time I actually jumped was when the branch breaks out the window.

If there was a horror flick, I was there to watch it. Seeing that it was the early 80's, and "Halloween" was such a blockbuster, all the movie companies started cranking out horror movies. There were movies about crazy individuals (Terror Train, Carrie), environmental disasters that spawned creatures(Day of the Animals, Food of the Gods), pollution that created mutated animals(The Beast) etc.
I even began reading the "scary" comic books like "The Witching Hour" and "Grimm's Tales". That lead to checking of scary books from the school library.

In short, the movies I saw and the books that I read were desensitizing me spiritually. I was currently in "My Dark Years", this was not a good thing. You will see just how desensitized I had become in the next Flashback Friday post.

Flashback Friday #222

The Really Bad Hair Cut


Greetings. Welcome to another edition of Flashback Friday. Yeah, I realize it's not Friday, again.
Anyway, this post is about the worst haircut that I ever had in my life.

Mom told me that I needed to get my hair cut. By the time my parents got home from work, the barbershop in Marengo was closed. Mom had an idea. If I got off the bus as it was going through Marengo, I could get my hair cut, then hang out in town until they came to pick me up. It sounded like a good idea.

I got off the bus in Marengo (I had to bring a note from home to do so) and walked over to the barber. There were three guys ahead of me. Seeing this was the only barbershop in town, you either waited or went to one of the many "beauty shops". I'll wait, thank you.

Well, I had heard the barber tell one of the customers that he was planning on leaving for vacation as soon as he finished out his day. He seemed excited about where he was going, but I don't remember the local. Once I got into the chair, he walked over and flipped the "OPEN" sign to "CLOSED". I was the only thing standing between him and his trip.

He asked if I parted my hair on the left. If you know me in real life, you know that I have trouble distinguishing left from right because of a teacher that really confused the entire class in kindergarten. So I said :Right". He didn't ask if I meant "correct" or "right side". He just started cutting away, even thought he could plainly see that it was parted on the left (the mirror didn't help matters, it only made it more confusing).

By the time he was done, it looked like he had taken a weed whacker to my hair. I paid him and he just about beat me out the door. All I had to do was to wait for my folks to pick me up.

When Mom got there, she said "My God, What did you do to your hair?" She told me to get in the car and she drove right over to her beautician to see if she could do anything with my hair. After studying it for a few minutes, she began to cut. By the time she was finished, my hair was a lot shorter than I had intended it to be. What was worse, it was only two weeks later that school pictures were taken. In my opinion, it was my absolute worse school picture.

Not Safe To Be A Buckeyes Fan Outside Of Ohio?

Being a big Ohio State Buckeyes fan, this article on Yahoo caught my eye. An elderly couple were pulled over in Tennessee because they had a buckeye leaf sticker (like the ones the Ohio State players wear on their helmets) on their back bumper. The police thought it was a marijuana leaf. They obviously were rusty on the 4th amendment and botany. You can read the full story here. BTW, while we were parking cars at the county fair, I spotted something that looked like a pot plant and called a deputy over. He took one look and assured me that it wasn't one.He said a pot plant has seven leaves, that only has five. It turned out to be mint.

Flashback Friday #221

The #1 Reason That I Disliked Miss Hubbabubba


Greetings to all. Welcome to another Flashback Friday. Surprise, surprise. I actually posted it on a FRIDAY!

Those of you that have read this blog for a while (and are still awake) know of Miss Hubbabubba. I said that there were three things that really set me against her. First, There was an unwarranted detention. Second, she stole my magazine. This last item is what really put me over the edge.

The class I had her for, wasn't choir (of which she was the choir director) but prison, er, study hall. If you have taken the time to read the two linked stories, you can see what a delightful person she was. Not only was she unpleasant, I think it was her calling to make the lives of those around her unpleasant as well.

On her seating chart, we were all listed alphabetically. It would have been nice to be able to sit where you wanted, but that would be pleasant, so not doable. However, My girlfriend, Toni & I had the same last initial. Even better, there was nobody between our names, so we got to sit next to each other. Uh, oh. Pleasant. This must not be.

Somehow, Miss Hubbabubba found out that we were going together. She even came right up to us and said "I heard you were going together. I'll have to find a different seating arrangement." She then moved Toni clear to the other side of the room. She even made sure she wasn't facing my direction. I think she may have been a cobra in a different life because she was totally venomous.

Well, that was the straw that broke the camel's back. That moved her to the very top of my list, with a bullet. If she was ever hit by a bus, I probably would have been the driver. Her actions had further ramifications  later on that proved to be unpleasant ( which she really enjoyed).