A High School Questionnaire

See, I have a sense of humor. I just can't help it I don't like looking back at high school....

Got this from MySpace...I figured I'd share it with all of you!

Fill this out about your SENIOR year of high school! The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be!! REPOST with name of high school and graduating year

Did you date someone from your school?
Yeah, Kyle Beth Bailey, the last few months I was there.

Did you marry someone from your high school?
Not yet :)

Did you car pool to School?
Nah, noone ever took me.

What kind of car did you have?
1990 Ford Escort

What kind of car do you have now?
2005 Chevrolet Cavalier

It's Friday night...where are you? (then)
Sitting in my room, playing guitar, avoiding confrontation with my step dad. Only sort of wishing I was at the football game.

it's friday night..where are you? (now)
Working the front desk at the Homewood Suites

What kind of job did you have in high school?
I was a cashier at Country Fair in McKean

Were you a party animal?

Hardly! I think I went to a few parties...Couldn't stand to watch all my drunk friends act like idiots for more than a half hour.

Were you considered a flirt?
If flirt means someone who dressed awkwardly and cared too much about how high his grades were in robotics class, then HELL YEAH

Were you in band, orchestra, or choir?
None of the above; the closest I came to band was playing electric guitar on lunch break one day with Randy English, and Mr. Marsalek came in and bitched me out for being in "the musicians room".

Asshole.

Were you a nerd?
Looking back I sure felt like I was, but I am told that I really wasn't, just sort of hard to pidgeonhole. So, yes...yes I was.

Did you get suspended/expelled?
No...worst trouble I got into was shoving Gomer Williams out of the bus door when he was picking on my brother (back when Adam was smaller than me). I had to sit in the front of the bus.

Yes, the same Gomer Williams that held a girl at knifepoint and tried to rape her in the Tinseltown bathroom. And no, the bus wasn't moving.

I wouldn't have cared.

Can you sing the fight song?
The Fight Song? There was one?

Who was/were your favorite teacher(s)?
Mr. Kozuchowsky, Mr. Way, Mr. Kieffer...yeah, I was a computer boy.

Where did you sit during lunch?
Most of the time I actually sat with the computer geeks, but once in a great while (probably when Charlie Bannister was out sick) I was invited to the cool "weekend warriors" table that I played street hockey with.

Can you smell the self esteem I have for my past?

What was your school's full name?
General McLane High School

When did you graduate?
1999

What was your school mascot?
The Lancer

If you could go back and do it again, would you?
Of course not. High School wasn't ever a good time for me, to be honest. I was always awkward, cared too much about schooling that ended up meaning total jack shit now...home life was on and off fun, thank god for guys like Joe Michael and the rest of the hockey crew that liked me when we were playing hockey (but probably talked about me behind my back)

...self pity session, over!!!

Who was your Senior prom date?
Kyle Beth Bailey

Did you have fun at Prom?
Yeah, it was a good time, thats for sure.

Do you still talk to the person you went to Prom with?
Occasionally online; I've seen her in person three times in the last year when I hadn't seen her in five years.

Do you still talk to people from school?
Well, Amanda and I had Matt Paszko over with Allison Hendrich a little while ago, had a party at Allison's with Brandie there too....but other than that I never really see anyone. Gary Barbour always ends up walking by with two pitchers of beer whenever we're out in Edinboro...

Volume 2, Issue 13

Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time, but regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable. Sydney Harris

Open Mic Night Soon: Last night I played my new song for Amanda, even though it wasn't REALLY completed, and she agreed with what I had been thinking, that it was missing something. So I'll continue working on it. I do, however, have plans to go check out an open mic night soon. Possibly the Docksider tomorrow night.

I'm thinking of possibly trading two guitars for a new acoustic/electric; if anyone knows anyone who's looking to buy a Fender Telecaster or Washburn ES335 copy, let me know. I'd like to get a low-end Martin acoustic; the Ibanez one I've had for a few years needs some fretwork I think.

Spinning Out Of Control: The Pirates have to go 36-27 over their next 63 games to finish AT .500... this means they have to basically win 3 out of every 5 games til the end of the season; they're 2-8 in their last ten games.

I know a few weeks ago I wrote up a post that said that I'd be abandoning my fanship at the end of the season if they don't spring a 50/50 season. The more I started to think about it, the Pirates are sort of like our economy has been...not the best, actually kind of crappy. We're gonna have to give the next president at least a years time to fix it. So I might be 'flip-flopping' with my decision to go onto the free agent list. We'll see.

Nine Years Later: Just got a phone call from dad: "Well, its the end of an era." The cat that he's been taking care of for me for nine years (story will follow) ran off tonight while he was sitting outside on the phone. It is a big, fat calico cat that has threatened to run away the last few summers, and apparently it has finally made the break.

Nine and a half years ago, approximately, I was up at the mall with a girl I was dating and we stopped in the pet store. This little tiny kitten kept meowing at her and she begged me and begged me to buy the cat, so I did. She kept it at her place for a little while, but finally her parents made her get rid of it so I gave it to my dad to 'watch' for a few months until we got an apartment together. Well, obviously, things didn't work out and my dad ended up keeping the cat, who he finally named "Miss Kitty" a few years ago.

A couple summers ago, I was there for one of the cat's jailbreak moments. I was in the backyard and the cat took off across the mostly fenced in yard. She took off into the area of the property where we could corner her and force her to come after us or be caught. She ended up getting back to the front door, nearly, and dad reached his arm down to grab her from underneath a tree branch...the cat bit him across his wrists and he bled pretty good. I, of course, went into "screw that shit" mode and grabbed a shovel and tried to smash it...from what I remember, it was that that scared it back into the house.

So today, Dad was on the phone talking with a friend and kept watching the cat crawl out of the doorway and onto the paved driveway; a 'safe spot' that he let her go to. He turned his back for a few minutes and the cat was gone. He looked all over the place near his house and around the neighborhood and she's just gone.

I feel bad, and I could sense that Dad does too, even though he probably wouldn't admit to it. He's had her a long time, but he says he has no plans to replace her.

Lets hope she comes back!!!

Evening, 7.21.08

Why would someone call for information about the hotel, ask for SPECIFIC directions to the hotel, haggle a price, AND NOT BOOK A RESERVATION!??!?! Argh!!

Got a new song today, its called "I Can't Help It". About some social demons I'm trying to shed. Sounds alot like one of my older ones, "I Try". Probably cuz the chords are almost the same. *smirk*

Its pretty gross, however, pulling hairs out of the dirty laundry at work. Starting to turn my stomach.

McGarrey's Oakwood Cafe has a great chicken parmesan melt.

Tried to recharge Amanda's air conditioning this morning. I parked the car in the yard (softest for laying down, instead of right on Liberty Street) and peeled apart the wheel well cover to get to the air conditioning valve. I undo the valve and green flourescent dye spits all over the place.
.... Uh, anyone want to fix that for me?

Maybe Karaoke Isn't So Bad

Amanda and I have been going out to a club alot lately that features two days of karaoke. I, myself, have semi-retired from singing, because every time I have gone on stage it has ended up being bad. Amanda is actually a good singer so she can continue on.

But thats not the point of this post; I found this video on the Erie SeaWolves website. Gotta be one of the worst things I've ever seen.

Makes me wonder if I've seen this pair at the club.

Tearing Off "The Black Patch"

I'd like to discuss a forwarded email I received from my mom called, "The Black Patch"

First of all, I would like to make sure people understand that, yes, I'm against the Iraq Conflict, but I'm not against the soldiers, and all that. I know that close friends of mine all showed up for duty in the National Guard and Air Force when we left high school and some of then ended up in this conflict that hopefully will end soon and these folks can come home.

That being said, I'd like to point out something about this "Black Patch".

There's alot of emails flying around that declare "THIS SHOULD BE ON THE COVER OF ALL THE MAJOR NEWSPAPERS" and all that.
Well, newspapers do have a right to publish real material, and not computer generated material.

Lets take a look at the picture of the 'renegade' who apparently had these patches all made up on his uniform:

Great, huh? A classic soldier shot...but lets take a closer look at those "patches"

It'd be a safe bet to assume these patches would be sewn the same way as the ol' Stars and Stripes would be, correct? But upon closer inspection, these patches almost look...*gasp* computer generated!!!

Whoever did make this picture did spend alot of time shading those patches, and they did a pretty good job, but seriously, its a fake. THATS WHY YOU DONT SEE PICS LIKE THIS IN THE MAJOR NEWSPAPERS...

Do you really want a picture that belongs in the major newspapers?

This was from a bicycle race in Mexico a few months ago, where a drunk driver avoided a roadblock and ran into this group of racers, at least killing one of them and seriously injuring (obviously) several others. Yet this picture wasn't in the major newspapers either.

I get it --- these Military forwards are supposed to be a morale booster for the public --- I don't want anyone getting the wrong idea about the purpose of this forward --- it just is really silly to send around things that are fake.

These are the sort of things that start to create all the ugly things that are starting to define us as Americans...

Before sending these around, make sure they're real, Mom!!!!

post it note: 7.19.08

So I'm here at the hotel, its around ten pm, and you'll never guess who is sitting right in front of me: Ashley Sterrett's parents, here visiting a guest in the hotel.

Yeah, the same Ashley I left for Amanda last spring. And I'm sitting here ashamed of myself. Not as much ashamed for leaving Ashley as much as how I did it.

Quick refresher -- I left her after seeing Amanda for a little bit before I left her. She had no idea it was going on, and I broke up with her over the phone, and cold turkey too. No text messages, no phone calls... I even left a $100 Penguins jersey at her place, knowing it was there.

When Amanda broke up with her ex, she kept talking to him once in a while for a month because her conscience couldn't let herself do what I did to Ashley.

So fast forward...I'm sitting here totally embarrassed of myself, and for the first few minutes I'm sitting here extending a two minute phone call into a ten minute call. Her dad keeps looking up at me and I try my best to look away, praying they'll leave before I get off the phone.

Within a few minutes, a guest comes down and asks for some coffee to be made, which requires me to walk right past the little group that has extended their legs at the couch and chairs near the front desk. Suddenly...

Father: Hey champ, how you been?
Me: Uh, doing fine, funny seeing you here, I guess.
Father: How've you been?
Me: As good as you can do on a busy Saturday.

He then extended his hand and shook mine. I had so many questions: How's Cody? How's Ashley? I heard she was dating someone she is really happy with...

But before I could ask, he gave me a big smile. Was it a knowing smile? Who knows...but I felt something I'd never felt before right there...unneeded shame. Here I am, almost thirty, and I'm worried about a confrontation that most likely wasn't going to happen! Now other than that initial little greeting, they've continued their conversation and have said nothing to me since then.

I thought back to all those girls I broke up with in that same chicken way; Kyle, Vicki, Kim... and I thought it was the end of the world at the time, that my life was going to be forever haunted by their memories and, sure enough, I still talk to Kyle and Vicki online from time to time. We're still friends, albeit electronic, but we're still friends.

Its very strange, all of this.

I'm going to go back to standing here and trying hard not to be ashamed of myself. After all, its the most I can really do, now.

Volume 2, Issue 12

And So It Begins: I'm sorry I've been so lax on writing blogs lately; as you've noticed, I don't like to write sometimes. I've been spending alot of time just enjoying the outside, playing alot of guitar, writing and recording music, and, well, working morning shifts at the hotel.

The Ravine Flyer!!: 15 years ago, Waldameer starting chatting about replacing the old Peninsula Drive traversing wooden coaster from back in its early years (1920's/1930's) with a new updated coaster. Environmentalists and politicians blocked its progress for years, but owner Don Nelson pushed and pushed and never gave up on it...and now its finally here!!

Earlier in the week, Amanda and I finally had the chance go to Waldameer and experience the Ravine Flyer II, the biggest wooden coaster being built in the United States this year. And let me tell you, it is a rush. No joke, when I finally got off of it, I looked around and said to myself, is this real? Am I actually at Waldameer?! Two trips later, I was convinced this is one of the coolest coasters I've been on as well as one of the fastest. The thing rips through the air. Unreal how fast it goes!

The twenty dollar Ride pass was definitely worth it. Then of course, Amanda and I both almost got sick riding the Spider. Yeah, I don't want to talk about that.

The Songs Are Coming, The Songs Are Coming!: I've been recording and writing new songs all the time for a new CD full of some good material and a few covers. I know I keep writing about this, but its really already on the fire, just needs some new vocals laid down and a couple other surprises. Amanda will be singing on it too, once we get around to getting her silly self in 'studio' mode. :) I wrote a new song I'm very excited about, called "Put Your Hands On Me" that is very John Mayer/Stevie Ray Vaughan style, probably the closest to a gosh honest blues-rock song that I've ever done. Very proud of it.

Hotel Blues: It turns out that we will not be finding out the fate of our employments here at the ol' hotel until the very first day of the new ownership, which is a real bummer, but thats how it works, I suppose. Finally had that long talk with the boss about the second job, to which she was totally supportive of if thats what I felt I need to do to get by.

Then I find out that back at Sears, an old compatriot of mine, Kevin Pollock, got promoted to the Assistant General Manager, Home Improvement Division. I was told through an email I recieved a few hours ago....I'm trying not to be bitter about it, because Kevin is a decent guy and all, most likely deserves it, its just hard for me to swallow knowing that I knew that job inside and out and was passed over for a guy from Giant Eagle. Still hard to get over that.

Not that the hotel isn't doing its wonders on me, we have good days and not so good days, but I'm learning a lot of things, especially one big thing, patience. Each day my patience gets thicker and thicker, little by little. I know good things are on the horizon for me career wise, I just need to be more patient. I was always grabbing at Sears, always punching underwater, never getting as much as i "felt" that I deserved. I looked back and knew that I deserved that promotion; I may have not been totally ready for it, but I knew I deserved it more than some produce guy (who ended up quitting before my two week notice was out last fall).

Anyway, I'm happy where I am; ten years out of high school, I've had many things I thought I was going to be - a tech ed teacher, a convenience store manager, a radio DJ, a journalist, a music critic, a retail manager, a studio guitarist, a traveling hotel manager....

Now, I don't know where I'm going. Who knows where I'll be next year. But I do know that life is good right now...I have a steady group of friends who, although I might not be the closest with them as I wish I was, I know would still be there for me and I would be there for them. My family seems to get bigger and closer each and every day, and I have the greatest woman of my life to share it all with.

I'm just staying where the light is...

photo of the day

"Yeah, your team might finally win a World Series for the first time in a hundred years, but MY team is gonna...hey, are you paying attention?"

Volume 2, Issue 10

"There is a paradox in pride: it makes some men ridiculous, but prevents others from becoming so." Charles Caleb Colton

Getting Ridiculous: Decided yesterday I'd do some laundry, since its been about a week or so since I took care of it. Balled some up around noon, headed downstairs, threw it in the washer. Went down to check it out and to put some more in about a half hour later...and I realized I didn't put soap in the load. So I ran it again, with soap this time. Once its finished, I took it and put it in the dryer and went for a bike ride.

Came back, went downstairs, and the dryer is in the same spot it was before. Clothes still wet. I realized that now that the air conditioning works, its got the same problem we'd been having all the time we've been here: the furnace is on the same breaker as the dryer. So when you have the furnace/ac on, it trips the breaker...and you have to shut off the offending heating and or cooling system JUST to dry your clothes.

I flipped the breaker, turned on the dryer, headed up the stairs back to the apartment, flipped off the AC. Went back down forty minutes later, and still wet. I forgot to flip off the AC first. Christ! So I run back downstairs, flip the breaker again, turn on the dryer.

Went downstairs a third time now to check this laundry, and for some reason, it STILL isn't working. It works for the ten seconds or so that I'm downstairs, so what the hell gives?

DOES ANYONE KNOW AN ELECTRICIAN!?!?!

Karaoke, Pt. 2: Went out again last night to the karaoke bar with Amanda and her friend Lori; enjoyed it as usual. We played darts for a couple games (I really want a dartboard now!) and I won one of them, yay! Didn't expect me to be that good. After a while Amanda wanted to sing a song again, but I always like singing with her. She picked "Proud Mary" by Ike and Tina Turner (you know, the fast version) and I hadn't really heard much of that song before but I figured I'd give it a shot.

We got up on stage and started the song really slow together, and in the middle of the first verse I realized that there's no guy part it in other than the really low voice that goes "roooollllin' on a riiiiiverrrr" and I don't have a low voice so I was sort of screwed. But we made it through, we both forgot lyrics and things so we danced around like idiots, it was a good time.

Photo Of The Day

"Its easier for him to pee if we aren't looking at him."

Today's "Captured By The Cell"

Talk about subliminal messages, huh?

Volume 2, Issue 9

"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil,
but because of those who look on and do nothing." Albert Einstein

Seven Years of Anger: I called my Dad this morning right after Amanda left for work and he offered to take me out to breakfast. We went to our favorite little restaurant, Lorie's Wildridge, out on route 20 (West 26th Street). We both saddled up to a cup of coffee and one of our normal waitresses, Beth, came up to us for our order. I ordered a short stack of pancakes, bacon, and homefries, and Dad ordered some sort of breakfast smile thing with eggs and toast, I dunno, wasn't paying attention.

What I was paying attention to was the blonde lady who was pouring coffee across the way. No, she was not attractive...she was an old boss of mine. "Say Beth, is that Lori Gadley?" Beth gave me this strange smile and said, "Why, yes it is...do you happen to know her?"

A few years ago, I was a shift manager at Country Fair in McKean. Actually, seven years ago, to be exact. And Lori was an Assistant Manager there. In the early spring, the Store Manager, Mark, who had been there for almost two years, decided it was time for him to move on, and they hired this lady, Terese, as the head of the store. At the time, Lori was going through a divorce and was a total bitch all of the time...never had time for your questions, had no patience for anyone.

For some reason, her and Terese hit it off really well...and over the next few months they forced out or fired all the male associates working there. I'm not kidding. One by one they either snapped or quit altogether. After only a few short months, I was only one of three guys working there, and long story short (long enough already), we finally had it one night and we pulled some shenanigans. The next day I was demoted (upon which I quickly quit) and the other two guys were fired.

So back to breakfast...I sat there in that booth with my dad and my blood was just boiling. I'm almost positive she had no idea who I was this morning, but still...isn't it amazing that after such a long time you can have such animosity to someone that hasn't been a part of your life for an extremely long time?

The Ol' Reliable Corner Gas: Amanda's car has never had proper air conditioning or heating while we've dated. We've never really been able to figure it out. The fan works on high, but the AC doesn't work at all. The heat worked through the fan but it only worked in super high gear. So while I was out with Dad, I questioned him about how to fix this. He, of course, only is a gearhead for pre-1990 vehicles (although he has performed admirably on my vehicles in the past, I love you dad :-D ), but he mentioned that he had a buddy who could take a look at it.

After breakfast, we went to the Sunoco station just east of Peninsula Drive. I honestly thought that it was some hole in the wall like the rest of the "stations" that litter the Erie landscape. Sure enough the guy comes out and he's like "Hey Freddy!" He took my car immediately in and called around for the part (which turned out to be a switch located deep in the heart of the dashboard). While we were waiting he shot the breeze with us, extremely nice guy who knows his stuff; his son was pretty cool too. Their owner (who they interrupted on his LUNCH BREAK to get the part!!!) returned with the switch, they installed the part and we were out of there (for a small fee, of course :-D) in no time.

Turns out they are one of (if not the oldest) family owned corporate sponsored gas stations left in Erie. I told the guy I didn't even think they actually sold gas anymore, but I will definitely stop back for gasoline (actually priced only two cents higher than the nearby Country Fair). Dad says that he actually gets better miles per gallon with the gas there. Its just nice to be able to go to a place that has decent people working there...who don't screw you in prices.

Boy, lots of parentheses there ... geez. Moving on...

The County Seat: Just so my Ferraro contingency is well aware, Amanda and I are planning on coming down to Ridgway on Saturday, July 26th. We will be bringing Townsend with us, and as far as plans go, my Mom will be going along with us. I'd like to have Amanda and Townsend meet all of you down that way while we're in the area. We also may be taking a trip to Kinzua Bridge and probably the Kinzua Dam on the way down. Any input on the visit would be greatly appreciated!!

Its been over a year I've been living with Amanda...finally might be time to bring her around to the clan!

PHOTO OF THE DAY

"Ugh... help? I think ... I'm ... broken."