FAN: Cyndi Lauper Memphis Blues at Keswick Theater

I'm getting kind of spoiled with the seats I've been getting for concerts lately and a lot of it has to do with going to much smaller venues. Last night Mrs. Fan and I saw Cyndi Lauper from the 5th row at The Keswick Theater which is only a short 25 minute drive from my house.

This started out being all about Mrs. Fan as I gave her the tickets months ago for our anniversary. Lauper is one of the few musical acts Mrs. Fan would even go to see live. I know two others would be Madonna and Alanis Morisette but I'm not sure there are too many others. I know she used to wear out 12 Deadly Cyns on long drives when we would alternate CDs before the advent of iPods. I grew to like and appreciate more than a few of the songs on that disc.

Maybe a month ago or more Lauper was on Howard Stern with Johnny Lang promoting her new cd Memphis Blues which she reminded us has topped the Blues charts for the past 5 weeks. She said this tour was more of a Blues show than a greatest hits show. Hmmmm, now I'm really interested. I told Mrs. Fan who SWORE I knew that when I bought the tickets. I did not!

After being bored by David Rhodes who is breaking out on his own I guess after years of playing for Peter Gabriel, Lauper came out in her.....pajamas. Her hair was crazy and two different colors but she looked superb for 57. On the way home Mrs. Fan asked me how old she was and I guessed 47 or 48 so she had me fooled by a decade.

Although Lang is touring with her on some dates I did not get to see him. Still A Dog said I'm not missing much. To get back to guitarists, my comment about Rhodes isn't totally fair. He shouldn't be opening for Lauper though. He she be on an experimental ambient guitar tour or something. I once saw Roger Fripp open for a G3 show and this dude would fit right in with him. I did feel bad that the crowd talked right through his set mostly. Anyway, Michael Toles played guitar last night and he did a good enough job. He played a few solos and Lauper had to actually push him to the middle of the stage the one time to get the attention he deserved. It was towards the end of "Waiting For A Change of Heart".

She played the entire cd I believe as a separate set and then hit the greatest hits. The Blues set was good, but she kept going on and on about how people should look up the original artists and stuff and it appeared to me that because she is just finding all this music, she assumed nobody else had. Whatever, it should be listened to so I shouldn't complain. The GH set got the crowd up and they rushed the stage as much as you can rush the stage at the Keswick. It was me, Mrs. Fan, 7 other hetero couples and an assload of gay people, both sexes, there. We noticed that as we ate dinner and got drinks across the street. No harm, no foul. I'm for 95% of gay rights and that's not too shabby for a boy born and raised in western PA. Don't try to convince me of the other 5%, go get people who are only at 5%.

My favorite moments of the show were when Cyndi played the sitar to True Colors and Time After Time. I'll give her credit - both were really heartfelt. She also had no issues jumping into the crowd if the energy sagged a bit. Numerous times she went out 10-15 rows deep and stood on the back of a chair. There were also a ton of hard core fans there. I had no idea they existed. An entire group had t-shirts made up for their nite. The guy next to us at the bar has seen her 13 times and he was only 25-30. He was seeing her tonight in Myrtle beach and then again in Orlando the next day. Crazy.

Would I have went to this concert without Mrs. Fan? No. Was I looking forward to the concert? Maybe. I was more interested in sitting in the 5th row to see everything going on and to check out the Blues band (Archie Turner (aka Hubbie Mitchell) was also very good on organ). Was I glad I went? We weren't doing anything else and I was entertained. If you are a fan of hers, I'm sure it was stellar. Mrs. Fan would give it a 9. I'm giving it a 6.5 as a casual fan of hers.

Dog, why does Archie Turner have two names?

DOG: Stiller Training Camp Underway!

Here We Go!!

Just some commentary on the beginning of Training Camp.

Maurkice Pouncey signed just before the deadline making it 6 years in a row that the Stillers have had everyone present and accounted for at the outset of Training Camp.

Max Starks already has responded to Chad "OchoStinko" Johnson's remark on his reality TV show that he hadn't see this many girls since the Pittsburgh game. Max says he wished he played defense so he could knock OchoStinko's gold teef out. But says he has the comments DVR'd and will be playing it back for (reminding) the defense on Nov. 8 and Dec. 12.

Nobody of any significance on the PUP list to start camp. Andre Frazier is the only player of any consequence listed. And there is an extremely good chance that Andre will be looking for a job elsewhere by Labor Day.

It was great to see the signing of Flozell Adams as a replacement for injured Willie Colon. Let's hope Flozell "The Hotel" still has some gas in the tank. And here's hoping that Maurkice Pouncey is a starter somewhere on that offensive line. I personally would like to see him start at Center but Tomlin seems set to try him at RG first. This may be because Goodell told the Stillers to make sure Roethlisberger "keeps his hands off the 20 year olds!" Keep in mind though, that the RG plan has some logic to it. As a collegian Pouncey was snapping to Tim Tebow who operated that Florida offense almost exclusively from the shotgun. There will be way more times when the QB is actually under center in the Stiller offense.

Nobody failed the physical preparedness test like at Redskins and Shitbirds camps. Tomlin did excuse "select veterans" from the test "as reward for their years of service."

Speaking of which, how did Mt. Cody suddenly pass his physical test just one day after failing it? Did he miraculously get into shape overnight? Or did Harbaugh cut him some slack? I think so. Why? Because Fat Albert Haynesworth who is in arguably much better shape than Fatass Cody still hasn't passed his in Washington. Down there, Shanahan is being a hard-ass with Haynesworth to make a point. Maybe Harbaugh doesn't have a point to make? Or does he think Cody can play Cornerback??

And the story that touches me most about Training Camp is this. It was announced that on Saturday, Aug. 7, Tomlin is taking the entire team on a bus trip to Canton, OH to be present for Dick LeBeau's Hall of Fame induction. This is a class move all the way. Congratulations to the Rooneys and Tomlin for making this decision. And most of all congratulations to Dick LeBeau who long ago deserved enshrinement in the Hall for his play if not his total contributions to professional football.

DOG: Some Football Stuff

With some teams training camps open and all others to be in full swing by the weekend the football news is heating up... finally.

Today the Shitbirds invaded my peaceful country town to spread their filth for the next few weeks. But as I always say, "It's July and the Ravens will be in the Super Bowl!" Every July and August the locals spew their football ignorance in barrooms, on the radio, and at the watercooler about the greatness of the Shitbirds. Then in December and sometimes earlier reality sets in and they whine and cry like bitches. I have grown used to it and know what to expect. They however, do not seem to.

So let's get down to the Good, the Bad, and the Fat & Ugly.

The Good: Jack Tatum died at age 61 today. I, for one, am glad he is dead. The world is a better place today because that piece of shit is no longer with us. You will recall that Jack "The Assassin" Tatum played many years for the Oakland Raiders. He is responsible for the paralyzation of Darryl Stingley during a preseason game back in the 70s. He also is the lying son of a bitch who said the ball never hit his shoulder pads as he decked Frenchy Fuqua during the Immaculate Reception. And he is also the instigator in the attempts to maim both Lynn Swann and John Stallworth at every opportunity within and outside the rules. I hated all the Raiders but I have a special venom for Tatum.

The Bad: Well, bad for whom is, I suppose, the question. Terrell Owens signed with the Bengals today. The Freak Show that will be OchoStinko and T.O. is going to be funny to watch. I got tickets to the 12/12/10 Bengals game @ Heinz. Gonna be like a football game and the circus all rolled into one. But seriously, word I got says T.O. signed an incentive laden contract. That can mean only one thing. T.O. will demand the ball on every down. I can see it now, Carson Cornholer in the middle with T.O. yelling in one ear and OchoStinko screaming in the other. And Marvin Lewis pretending like it's all OK. T.O. could make it bad for our secondary but chances are better that his team cancer attitude will be bad for the Bengals. But hell, after Chris Henry jumped to his death off a speeding truck, who was left in Cincitucky to fuck things up? Welcome to the AFC North, T.O.

The Fat & Ugly: Today in Westminster, MD, Terrance "Mount" Cody, 2nd round draft pick of the Baltimore Shitbirds and former DT at Alabama failed the physical test at Shitbird training camp. Who didn't see this coming besides Mel Kiper's butt-buddy, Ozzie Newsome? That fat bastard couldn't stay on the field for more than 2 downs in a row at Alabama, there is no way his fat ass will last long in the NFL. Coach Harbaugh said Cody will remain on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list until he can pass the minimum physical requirements. Shit, the snow will be flying in Westminster by then! Just look at that fat piece of lard. He makes Refigerator Perry look like Manute Bol. I bet your wives and girlfriends don't have tits that big either! And of course this is old news now, but the Shitbirds other 2nd round pick, LB Sergio Kindle, fell down 2 flights of stairs at 2AM cracking his skull and giving him a concussion. He'll miss all of training camp for sure. Was he sleepwalking or just drunk? I know which I'll put my money on.

DOG: Graduation BBQ

Mrs. Dog just officially became smarter than me. I know that's going to be hard for many to believe. But it's true.

She recently completed her goal of achieving a bachelor's degree before the age of 50. And she beat it with time to spare.

So we had a cookout with friends and family over to celebrate. Except we scheduled it months ago and little did we know it'd be on the hottest day of the year. It reached 103 at our house yesterday which caused some change of plans.

I spent days prepping the patio for an outdoor gathering. But in reality it would have been cruel and unusual punishment to make our guests sit out there for a meal no matter how shady or good the food was.

I was up at 2:30am to start smoking an 8.5lb Picnic Cut Pork Butt (shoulder). And let me tell you it was 89 degrees at 3:00am yesterday. I was sweating by the moonlight as I tried to stabilize the temp on my smoker to 225-235. Minding that smoker from 3:25 in the morning to 3:45 in the afternoon was brutal. But the pulled pork it yielded was worth it.

In my "down time" I made a huge pile of Mississippi Delta Coleslaw which surprisingly ended up being the star of the day. I had prepared a batch of Picnic Beans on Friday too. But by the time came to bake the beans on Saturday, we had already made the decision to move the party inside. So guess what? I ended up out on the patio cooking the beans on the grill so we didn't add extra oven heat to the inside of he house. Must've been easy on the grill getting to 325 when the air outside was already at 103!

While the grill was hot I put some sweet peppers stuffed with cream cheese and chives, and jalapeno peppers stuffed with cream cheese and garlic on the grill for appetizers. And yes, of course we smoked both Moink (beef) and Boink (bison) balls for a couple hours on the smoker too.

Whipped up a Watermelon-Vadalia Onion salad while Mrs. Dog made a punch bowl full of her famous Mountain White Spritzers (Linganore Mountain White wine + 7Up + blueberries, strawberries, blackberries and red raspberries).

We toasted Mrs. Dog's education and pigged out on pig served with raw onions and 6 different BBQ sauces. Chocolate cake and blackberry pie was served as dessert and topped of with some fine Port wine we brought back from Portugal last year.

At this point Mrs. Dog reminded me that she is now smarter than me. To which I responded that she is so smart she is morphing into Albert Einstein right before my very eyes! In fact, I said, "I can see your moustache coming in better already."

And that is proof of why she is smarter than me.

FAN: RIP Kaye Cowher

I was totally shocked today when I looked at Google Trending and I saw Bill Cowher at #2. Usually that means you just died. Well, close. I didn't even know Kaye was suffering from skin cancer but she died earlier today.

I feel terrible for the Cowher family. 54 is so young. My mother passed away when she was 47. I'm sure she'll be missed by Steeler Nation. She stayed out of the limelight while in Pittsburgh but I'll never forget when her and one of their three daughters met Bill at the tunnel entrance after losing Super Bowl XXX to the Cowboys. She was crying. Bill told his daughter everything would be OK. I'm sure a scene similar to that went down today as well.

FAN: Good News, Bad News

So we spent 4 hours today out in the 100 degree heat at a swim meet and to relax when we got home to the 72 degree house we watched a movie to kill time until we go to the pool when it's cooler this evening.

So yeah, we're bad parents because we dialed up Couples Retreat and it's PG-13, but she'll be 11 in a few weeks and she was on the laptop anyway.

The good news? She chimed right in early in the movie during a classic Vince Vaughn diatribe and said "That guy always reminds me of Daddy when I see him in a movie".

I was kind of proud until she added the bad news....."He always plays a loud mouth".

Hmmmmm. I know she didn't mean it quite the way it sounds, but there is a little truth in everything, isn't there?

FAN: Still A Rio Request

FAN: Prodigy

Just saw this clip online, pretty tight!

FAN: Mmmm Roaches

That's the tip of my size 12 very wide boxey Clarks right there for reference.

FAN: Fin

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

I painted the ceiling the last weekend in February and I still haven't put on the new doorknob. It's so hard to find the time to do things, I understand why people pay people to do things for them. This was a major project but I'm happy with the results, the shower doesn't leak and it only cost me about $3,500 instead of $11,000. Would it have looked better if a pro did it? Of course! More than $7,000 better? I think.........not.

FAN: Don't Let The Door Hit You

When did the practice of sending an email to the coworkers you liked when you leave a company start? Can I please go on record as hating it with a passion? I guess it's acceptable if you send one to your closest coworkers who you might not see for a while, but for the love of God, these people who you barely talked to in the first place who send out a 9 paragraph goodbye need to stop.

I first recall this happening at the end of my longest run with a company (13 years) circa 2003. A lot of people were leaving around that time and a lot of us had been with that company a long time. It's almost understandable when the same core group of 25 people are together 13 years in a company that only made it to 50 employees. What I'm noticing now though is a joke.

Someone who started 17 months ago at my newest place of destruction just left on Friday and sent out an email that was just plain bizarre. They all sound the same...I just want to say a heartfelt thank you to the people who actually tried to get to know me....puke, gag, hack. What's worse is then it becomes like high school. In a water cooler moment Jane Doe just has to say "did you get so and so's goodbye email?" when she knows who was on the list and who wasn't. Like Sally is going to give a flute that Mary didn't recognize her as someone who tried to get to know her. You know what, Mary? I don't get up at 5:30 every frikkin day to make new friends. I don't really want to get to know you. I'll be more than friendly to you and will never purposefully try to do you wrong, but let's end it there.

We had a consultant who was on for 3 months. 90 days came and went and we went to a monthly agreement with their rep. After about 6 months the work dried up and they were told we wouldn't be retaining their services. Of course, an email had to come out saying goodbye and thanking us for helping them LEARN more about yadda yadda yadda and they didnt know WHAT they did to not be retained....yadda yadda yadda....

Guess what? Nothing. You were fine. We ran out of work you could do. If a 1 means I hated you and a 10 means I love you and I must find a way to hire you, you were a good solid 5. I think at minimum you should have to work somewhere at least 5 years before you can send one of these emails when you leave. They are boring. They are awkward. If you were there 5 years and there are people you consider friends, you don't have to say goodbye because they will be emailing you or having you over for a cookout. Don't you only have to say goodbye if you don't plan on keeping in touch? That's what confusing to me about these things. They read like the person is moving to the other side of the world and there is no chance you will ever interact with them again.

I've been in the rat race since 1991 and you get over people leaving. I've made some long term friends out of former coworkers....a few who are reading this right now. If you've never been to my house, I've never been to yours, we've never once went out to eat lunch together or got it on in the empty room in the basement - please don't feel compelled to include me on your farewell speech. I don't care that your creativity is being held down by the man or that you can no longer continue to grow in this environment. My paycheck still clears from here and I really don't give a shit. Hrumph!

FAN: Mel Gibson - Celebrity Cock!

Ladies and gentlemen, there hasn't been a Celebrity Cock posting in over three years. I'm not sure why. Mostly I've forgotten about it, until now. I just listened to both of Mel Gibson's recorded phone calls to his ex and they are hilarious. He is totally out of control. Here's to you Mel.....enjoy.

Bravecock

We Were Cocks

What Cocks Want

Chicken Cock (my personal favorite)

Lethal Cock 4

Cock Weapon 1-3

Conspiracy Cock

Father's Cock

Mavercock

Forever Cock

The Man Without A Cock (too easy)

Pocockhontas

Air Cock

Cocklet

Cock on a Wire

Tequila Cock

Mad Cock Beyond Thunderdome

Appended: I must be getting old, I already had a Mel Gibson edition from 2006. Sigh. Oh well, I'll leave it. Not hurting anything.

FAN: I Blame Country Music

These kids are listening to country music and it distorts their decision making process.

DOG: City Chicken

Over on the Carpetbaggery blog there's a story about different kinds of foods that are popular and pretty much unduplicated anywhere in the country except for the places they're known for. Philly Cheesesteaks, Texas brisket, New Orleans beignets, Chicago hot dogs, and so on. So we're gonna take that theme and give it a Steel City Slant.

No we ain't gonna tout Vincent's Pizza or Primanti Brothers sandwiches. Shit, everybody knows about them. We gonna go back to a dish my mother made when I was a kid which I thought was a delicacy. That's right, I'm talkin' City Chicken my friends!

I don't know anywhere outside of Western Pennsylvania where 1) you can buy City Chicken packaged as shown above or 2) anybody has any idea exactly what in the living hell City Chicken even is! Heck, some Yinzers probably don't even know. So while no restaurant I know of serves City Chicken. I bring it home from Western PA and make it as often as I can, 'cause it's great!! And that makes it a regional specialty in my book.

So what is City Chicken and how do you make it? Basically it's a fried meat ka-bob. And there's not any chicken at all! You take the bunch of smaller-than-pencil sized sticks from the package onto which you alternate cuts of pork, beef, and veal. Once you got all your meat on all your sticks you roll them in whisked egg and then again in the breading of your choice. I usually use 4C Seasoned Whole Wheat bread crumbs. Then you stick them in a big frying pan full of healthy hot olive oil and fry until the meat is cooked and the breading crust is, well, crusty.
This is the finest regional cuisine I know of from "where I come from." I would like to know if any readers from any other parts of the world have ever eaten a dish like this, and if so, where. So please leave comments. From all the folks I've talked to in my life, City Chickens are strictly all-Pittsburgh. ...or perhaps they are even more limited to the butchershops of Fayette County?

Dog's New Friend

Luna Dog

Man is dog's best friend and vice versa. On 4th of July I made a new best friend and her name is Luna. She is a miniature Daschund and she is my niece of sorts so she has taken the Dog surname on the Slant.

She belongs to my sister-in-law who I also met for the first time on Sunday. My sister-in-law came to visit us at my house in Western PA because she's on assignment in the Pittsburgh area and Mrs. Dog invited her down. First thing she said was, "Can I bring my dog?" Why hell yes you can bring your dog. There is a whole sphere of our lives that revolves around dogs so another dog is just more dogs.

Introducing a new dog to my two Dalmatians is usually no big deal but Mrs. Dog always has trepidations about it. Well Luna came in and was not intimidated by the "big dogs" at all. She made friends right off the bat with all of us. Despite the fact they outweighed her by 50lbs and she could (and did) run right underneath them, she decided she was a big dog just like the dals. And furthermore, she could get into the ground hog holes to chase them out if one of the Dalmatians could just kill it when she flushed him. They had fun hunting ground hogs. Little Luna would be no match for the big ones that live nearby but my dogs have killed too many of them to give it a second thought. The ground hogs however stayed well put away while three dogs roamed the premises.

Luna was so much fun. She ran around the house like crazy. Tried to pick up Mattie Dog's frisbee. She tried to get the other dogs to chase her. She begged for carrots (which she rarely ate before). She ate what the big dogs ate, at the same time they ate. She asked for dog biscuits for dessert and ate big ones just like the other dogs. So when I took her to the grocery store with my dogs this morning I asked her did she want to ride in the back of the SUV with the big dogs. She looked at me and said, "I am a big dog too!" Then she hopped in the back seat with Mattie & Whisper. The three of them got along just great.

So now I have finally met my sister-in-law and her dog who is my new friend and has the sweetest personality. I hope we all can get together again soon.

As an aside, I hit and killed a ground hog crossing the road on my way back to Maryland this afternoon so I was the only one who bagged a ground hog this weekend, no help from any of my dogs. They were too busy having fun with their new friends anyway.

FAN: Home Depot Locations

I just needed to call my local Home Depot to ask a question and instead of looking up the number in a directory I went to their website and did the store locator. I popped in my zipcode and the number of miles was set to 20 and there are 14 Home Depots within 20 miles of my zip. Is that crazy? I checked the zip I grew up in and there are 2. I expanded it to 50 miles and then there are 24 Home Depots where I currently live. Each little town and area seems to have it's own. If you go by the assumption that there is a Lowe's for every Home Depot, does that mean there are 28 big box home improvement stores within 20 miles of my house? No wonder I buy multiples and different sizes when I'm there - I'm always close to one to take something back. I shudder to think how many Walmarts are nearby.

FAN: Still A Fan, The Early Years X

This is in the alley behind the house I grew up in. The wall is maybe 10 ft high and there are train tracks at the top. They used to rattle the house but it was cool. This was taken in February of 1984. I was 15. That's Still A Boomer on a visit from Connecticut. Look at the beautiful follow-thru on that "J". I'm sure I swished that. We had a sports filled day as I remember grabbing tennis gear and heading up to the High School courts after we played hoops. I spent countless hours in the alley throwing hard rubber baseballs off the wall and basically playing catch by myself. I devised a game where I pitched from a certain crack in the alley, and then I had to field the grounder, and make the throw to the first which was a perfect angle bounce and I had to be on the "bag" (another crack) when I caught the rebound. Instead of keeping an ERA I kept an EHA (Earned Hits Average) for my game. I know it wasn't accurate because if I gave up a hit (failure to catch the ball without having a foot on the bag) in the first 2-3 innings I would start over. The wall also served as the home run marker for whiffle ball games where the plate was basically right in front of the house. As we got older, hitting the ball onto the tracks was an out which forced you to hit line drives.
I put this picture in for several reasons. First and foremost, it's the only picture ever taken of me where it looks like I might have some kind of muscle definition....lol. This is June 1984 and I was lifting weights a little at this point and eating everything in sight. Yes, we're playing Hacky-Sak, and we all got pretty good at it. I still have that exact Sak somewhere in my house today. I could find it if you pressed me. That's Still A Colt on the left and Still A Fish in the middle, my cousins over for Still A Sis' graduation party. Check out our socks! All high and some with stripes. I'm wearing wristbands for the awful amount of sweat you generate when playing hacky-sak. I'm wearing a Mr. Bill shirt and a rising sun hat which was pretty popular right about then. Was Karate Kid out yet? I can't remember what started that trend. I even had a headband that you tied like that. Our shorts are all those Hill's specials too. Fun times.
This is my sophomore picture in High School from September 1984. Classic Op long sleeve T-shirt. My mom wasn't thrilled that I picked that out to wear. Oh well, she got over it. I see the beginnings of business in front, party in the back - here. I never really had a full-on Mullet. I had like a modified Mullet I guess. It was curly. Naturally. I wear my hair so short today, nobody would ever guess it would be like that if it was long. Trust me I liked the ladies previous to being in high-school but this is right around the time I remember thinking about them and it nonstop. I got through my awkward years Ok I guess, and at this age I was hanging out pretty much only with my boy Chipmunk and if we weren't in school we were cruising local hang out areas for girls. What's funny is I had already met my wife at this point. I didn't really know her yet, but we had absolutely talked at this point. It would be hilarious to go back in time and hear that first conversation. I'm sure it wasn't even one-on-one. I believe it was in a group.
There's a little more Mullet here, but not much. That's about as long as I let it go. I remember at one point I could touch the hair from both sides under my chin and I remember being proud of that for some stupid reason. Check out that leather tie! I'm sure I got this idea from Still A Colt who was older and we dressed up for Church (like you damn young'ins should do today) and we lit candles together every Sunday around this time. Either that or I saw it in Footloose...lol. I remember seeing that movie with Chipmunk and we both ran out and bought shoes like Ren wore in the movie. Huh? Sissies you say? If I learned one thing from Munk and Cornbread - dressing up only helps your odds with girls. To this day I would rather be overdressed at a function than under dressed. Yes, that's a Statler Brothers LP in the background. My mom loved them. To this day, if you put that LP on, I'm sure I would remember some lyrics from the songs. The big hit on that one I believe was "Do You Know You Are My Sunshine". I know much like I'm taking Mrs. Fan to see one of her faves Cyndi Lauper next month, Still A Dad took mom to the State Theater to see the Statler Brothers once. Not sure how he stayed awake...lol. This picture was taken before my band banquet and a date on that night meant sneaking out of the dance portion after the parents left and going down the hall to visit "Johnny Woodruff". There was a huge glass display down the hall and around a corner and I remember very clearly about 5-6 couples lined up against the wall on the other side of that display making out. I remember who I was with this particular evening but I'm not proud of it. Her name will not be spoken here, got it family and or friends? LOL.
Christmas 1985. I remember this picture well. I was going to a party at Still A Rio's house. Not sure where his units were, not even sure he was at this one as it was a couples party. I remember exactly who I was with and I remember exactly which base I ended up at. Is that a Cosby inspired sweater or what?
This is me arriving back home from a marching band trip to NYC where we won best band in class and best drum line in class and overall. Yes, I remember. That's a Don Johnson inspired look I think. We went to see "A Chorus Line" and I ate Chinese food for the first time on that trip in May 1986. I roomed with some crazy people..."Rio"'s older brother Ken, "Chipmunk" and my aunt's pseudo adopted son "Chico" . My aunt was responsible for us too. I probably owe her an apology for something...LOL. Those were long bus rides and fun bus rides. I remember sitting with two different girls but nothing really materialized from either. I hear some people say they hated high school and I just don't understand. I freaking LOVED high school. LOVED it. Would I do some things differently if I could go back? Yes. However, I met my life long friends there. I lost touch with Chipmunk for a while but I see him every once in a great while now and we fall right back into place. Cornbread and I see each other as often as we can and text each other all the time - especially during Steeler games. "Mats" is harder to hook up with as we are never home at the same time, but we email and text as well. I don't keep in touch with any college friends with the exception of "Heff", but I knew him in high school so the rule holds. I can only hope my daughter has a good experience in high school.