Back in the summer, I did a review of one of the greatest decades I can remember: the 1980s! Actually I did the 70s as well, though my memories of that decade get fainter as times goes on, so the entries were not as detailed.
In short, the 80s were spectacular because that was quite a period of growth...I was growing, after all, physically and emotionally. I also met probably the greatest number of people in those years than any other, many of whom I maintain at least a social media connection with to this day.
Now we come to the 90s, which were, to put it mildly, CHAOTIC! In terms of residences alone, the 80s contained 3, excluding a few nights hotel stay in November 1980 while waiting for our things to arrive at a rental house. In the 1990s, I was in 2 houses, 3 dorms, and 3 apartments...actually 4 apartments if counting the many nights I spent at my mom's place...but that comes later! For now it is time to close out the Pennsylvania period of my life with...1990 to 1991...actually I will toss in a short burst of 1992 as it fits the theme.
1990
I was starting the second half (roughly) of 11th grade. Also I was getting more and more into the church I and my family had begin attending. I was enjoying the services led by the quite tall Reverend Bill Miller and his henchman, er...assistant pastor Tom Johnston.Tom actually ran a lot of the youth activities including the monthly snack n yaks (bulimic conventions they were not). The church had a lot of remaining Christmas holiday activities going even after we were back in school, including a 50s dance.
There was a girl I really liked at the time (quite a 1-sided situation) whom I got to dance with on that occasion and I think that got a few notions going in my head that I didn't really research before proceeding, absolute nerd that I was. Come Valentine's Day I proceeded to take advantage of the school carnation sales and send her a quite affectionate message she couldn't reciprocate...she let me down quite nicely, but I had built up a LOT in my head...kind of like betting a lot of money on an uncertain poker hand. As a result my heart felt quite busted and it really was all on me. I continued to like her for quite a while, though I didn't make as much of an ass of myself in future occasions both church and school...the key words being "as much". This is ME, after all!
The rest of that school year was proving to be a downer for me both because of that situation and separate from it. My school work was not the best I could put out, especially in terms of a research paper in English class. My journalism teacher was really seeing my bad moods and referred me to some special counseling...the real problem was I needed to get my head out of my ass, straighten up and fly right. Eventually I got the grades back to a decent place and ended the year on a good note.
On a separate note, my friend of 10 years, Jeremy Bitz, had been having headaches for quite some time and was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. It was a shock to us all, I distinctly remember the church service where Reverend Miller told everyone and got choked up...actually it did not take much to get Reverend Miller choked up both negatively or positively. However, Jeremy and his family were a strong unit and one diagnosis wasn't going to get them down. He got a second opinion and that one indicated the tumor was benign and could be treated. By golly it was and after a successful surgery, he was good as new!
In May I also got my braces off at last!
One thing I was starting to do more was ride my bike on longer jaunts. No longer was it in just Whitfield and Drexelwood, I was riding up into Gring's Mill and on the path to Reber Bridge and then back, and finally Lower Heidelberg as summer dawned. On one particularly nice early summer morning, my buddy Derek and I took a ride up State Hill Road. That could be a dangerous road a ttimes, especially as Pennsylvania was not known for bike lanes on rural byways. One car came aroudn a bend pretty fast and he had to swerve pretty quick to avoid it...as a result his bike tire blew. We tried a few places to see if it would pump up but the tire was dead. We eventually camped outside some girl's garage (yes that one) waiting for Reverend Johnston to rescue us. While waiting, my friend and her mom came home and offered us lemonade as we told this funny tale....I told you I didn't make AS MUCH of a fool. Happily, that summer was filled with more bike rides to other places and I was getting in decent shape.
In July, my grandma was getting remarried, so we traveled to Michigan once more. I was recruited to act as usher. My grandma had put us up at the near to her condo Red Roof Inn, though it was not the nicest of places. Soon, however, we were at my Grandma's where we met her finace Bob's son Dave. He seemed pretty cool but as time would go on (after this visit) we'd learn he was pretty shifty and dishonest. On this first occasion, though, he helped make arrangements to transfer to a nearby Marriott...a MUCH better place to stay. One other thing I remember about this visit was that it was the last time I saw many people, including family friend Gerry Matter. On the way back, we stopped at a college I was considering...Indiana University of Pennsylvania. It was ok, but not very exciting. Luckily I did not end up there.
In August, I decided it was time to get myself some more money, so I took a job at the Ponderosa Steakhouse as a server. It was at this job that I discovered the joy of making tip money...a lot of it! I actually ended up working there all of senior year. Speaking of which...
In September I began the final experience in the Wilson School District, my senior year. One great thing was not having to take another damn year of French, 4 were quite enough for me. Instead of astraight out English class I took Mass Media with Mr Bob Weirich...a teacher whom my sister had not had a good experience but we got along fine. It was a class all about movies and TV and print and whatever other media was around. I also took drama, physics with one of my favorite teachers Gary Williamson, as well as another year of journalism with Mark Wiz! There were alos a couple of social studies courses, one being US government with Grant Mahon. Plus trigonometry with Russell Rudy. He really tried to help me understand it all, but senior fever was upon me and my efforts were not quite as strong. I also became involved with TV studio activities, often helping to film the Wilson news weekly reports. I even co-anchored one night, but it wasn't the smoothest.
Also around this time, Saddam Hussein had invaded Kuwait and aroused the anger of U.S. oil interests, so for the first time in years, gas was on the rise and Operation Desert Shield had begun. This was the hot news topic for months.
With some of my tip money, I had bought a videotape of one of my favorite series Star Blazers I had seen an ad for in a magazine my friend Zach had lent me. That was a prize possession for a while.
In November I finally obtained my driver's license using my dad's Volvo...hey, a car is a car. I was also signed up to go on a tirp with a bunch of people to London later in the year.
Now, I had said my efforts in school were not as great, but efforts in general sucked. I can't really explain it, but I was getting a bit jerky with people, especially my closest friends. I haven;t really thought much about this period for a while, but I tend to think that I was going through one of my first depression periods, and a long-lasting one at that. One positive was with church and getting involved with choir.
With having my license, I was allowed to use my dad's car here and there to get to work and occasional church functions. For the most part they were fine...for the most part. Tehre was one function that involved getting somewhere on an icy morning and instead of being smart and just going home, I proceeded to try to get there...and ended up getitng into an icy spin and hitting a stone wall. This was my dad's prized Volvo so I wasn't about to tell the all-out truth. I admitted to hitting something, but instead of revealing the rural location I said it was a wall close to church. Needless to say, my head wasn't in the game.
My dad and I took a trip around my 18th birthday to West Virginia University to chekc it out as I had applied there. We foudn out I had been accepted...quite a nice present! Or so I thought at the time.
For Christmas that year, I got a new set of luggage for the England trip...all for naught as it would turn out.
I had mentioned I was getting jerky with several people. Well, one night celebrating my friend Derek's birthday, I was getting a little obnoxious and he gave me a nice shot to the gut. Now, for this guy to have that kind of reaction takes a LOT, so I was probably being pretty bad. Funny thing, years later we talked about that and he felt pretty bad. I told him I probably had it coming at the time, so no biggie.
1991
I think the best thing I can say about 1991 is that...it eventually ended. There were some nice moments here and there, but really it was not one of my banner years.
The first bummer to come was that the England trip had been canceled due to a possibility of terrorist activity due to the Iraq-Kuwait situation.
And then comes the famous fire hydrant incident. Possibly one of my parents' biggest miscalculations was that I was responsible enough to have a car of my own. That said, they were smart enough to get me a clunker...a 1980 Chevy Citation. With an AM only radio and a transmisison that shook whenever the car got up to 55...it was not precisely a chick magnet. The best thing I can say about it is that I got to hear Rush Limbaugh a lot...case closed!
Now, I do not remember the exact details, but I know I was driving with friends with me, breaking one of my dad's rules. Another likely broken rule was being distracted and I ended up hitting a hydrant ("fire plug" as we called them there). Now, a smart kid would have stoped to assess damage. That wasn't me. I just kept going, dropped my friends off, and went home to tell my parents...another damn lie, that it had happened in the school parking lot before I even got out of school! The cops showing up at our door that night pretty much tore that lie apart. The next morning, Jeremy's dad had also told my folks the truth about the wall that was hit with the Volvo in December.
In some ways, it was a relief to have it all laid out and let me take my lumps. For sure there was going to be a money payback system for the auto repairs as well as the (luckily light) fine for hit and run of public property. I knew my parents were angry and disappointed, and rightfully so. I had royally fucked up, but some pressure had been eased. I was allowed to keep about $10 of tip money a week and the rest went into the repayment plan.
The rest of the year in terms of school went ok. I was really just going through the motions at this juncture. The high point was the movie we were making for mass media (of which I still have a copy)
In May a lot of end-of-year activities were taking place, including a day trip to Great Adventure in New Jersey. I ended up hanging with Eric Wanner that whole day, a guy I hadn't spent much time with the entire 10 years I knew him. We had a pretty good time that day. I also graduated from confirmation class at church, that was a pretty good moment.
There was also senior prom. I asked my nice coworker Carla Vojtasek at Ponderosa if she would go with me and she accepted. We had a pretty good time. She had a boyfriend so there was no typical pressure to "put on the moves"...we went as friends and that was good for me then.
Near graduation (like 2 days before), I had another little car fiasco, this time accidentally hitting another moving vehicle in a sort-of blind intersection. This time I had learned my lesson and fessed up immediately. My dad of course was furious and I thought it was going to be a bummer graduation day, but I think either my mom or grandma got his attitude more positive. Later he also found out about a ticket I had gotten (which I took care of myself). Sadly, I had accumulated some impressive (and not in a good way) points on my driving record and had to take a course to remove a few if I was to keep my license. I took it later and passed with no problem.
Following graduation, I was done with Ponderosa Steakhouse. I had developed a bad habit of eating the food and getting a lot of soda. I had started my school day many times with a can of Sunkist. My weight was starting to become a problem. Once again, I attribute that to depression.
I actually went right from that job to working where my dad worked. Well, I didn't work at the same company, I worked for the division that handled the outdoor maintenance, including weeding, watering, mowing, and all sorts of other tasks. The boss was a pretty tough but nice guy named Mark. I was nicknamed L.B. (Little Bryan) as there was another Bryan working there who was older. I didn't mind...it was a fun environment to work in. I got a lot of sun and good exercise that summer.
A few weeks into that job I finally got my car damage repayments finished, so my money was mine at last.
In July I went with my parents to orientation weekend at West Virginia. It was nice, but I had a growing fear of what was coming. I know I had been away to scout camp a few times, but this was quite different.
For the rest of the summer, I worked and occasionally hung with friends in the evenings for movies, dirves, or just hanging out somewhere. You know there are some movies where there are short scenes near the end that kind of wrap things up? That's pretty much how late July through mid August went. Many of us were going to different colleges, others going to senior year in high school, others going a different direction.
Then it came, the "move" to West Virginia University. I look back on that now and realize that if I had not being going through that depression, I would have had a much better time of it. There were a lot of good things about the place. I was in a nice dorm with a decent roommate. His name was Charles Crimmel, a West Virginia native from near Charleston. The dining hall was decent, there was a room where they showed movies and had comedians come in. A monorail took us form the dorms to downtown Morgantown where the majority of classes were. The student union had some good eateries along with a bowling alley, arcade, and a cheap second-run movie theater.
Really, I could have had a lot of fun.
Instead I got homesick and fast. I ended up watching a lot of TV...which earned me the nickname TV Man...I preferred LB, but that would have instigated more than I could handle. Classes were ok, though I ended up skipping my night math class a lot...which probably earned me that D at semester's end. English with Donald Mason was decent. There was also a poli sci class, journalism class, U.S. history class and some orientaiton to college pass/fail.
My parents came about a month later for a visit, but at the end I was still homesick...though not as bad as before. I just kept to myself a lot. It was a huge university and I wasn't really in that league. The guys in the dorm regularly went out dirnking Thursday through Saturday night and came back loud and obnoxious. If I'd had a brain I would have joined them. I did go to a WVU Mountaineers game but didn't get a lot out of it. I mostly stayed in my dorm listening to music, going to see the cheap movies, seeing comedians on Thursday night, or hiding out in a nook of the Creative Arts building reading or studying.
I did find some friends, if fleeting ones, on another floor and ended up hanging with them the rest of the year, the main one being Craig Caes form Canton, Ohio. There was also a girl in a class that I liked named Julie...and it felt good to be interested in someone else for a change besides the girl in high school. Even if it was unsuccessful, it was a change and any positive change was a feel-good.
In November, I was getting ready to go home for Thanksgiving break, which was a week long. I had, after 2 tries, grown a pretty decent beard and was ready to "unleash" it upon old friends. My dad came to pick me up and we enjoyeda good ride home. We stopped at a Big Boy on the PA Turnpike for dinner where he told of the Moore family future...he was interviewing for a job in San Diego. His current workplace was low in morale and very low in keeping personnel.
That trip home was pretty good for my soul. I got to reconnect with Derek, Zach, Tris, Jeremy, and others. I also got to celebrate my 19th birthday at home. Derek got me a James Bond novel (of which I was reading a lot that fall). I distinctly remember my mom advising me to limit my car activity to keep my driving record copacetic that week.
There were only 3 weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks. I made the best of them as I could. My roommate Charles was decent but I hadn't connected well with the other guys on the floor. That was on me, they were actually a good group of guys just enjoying time away from home.
Coming home again in late December was good, but it was not exactly fun-filled. It was official: we were moving to San Diego. If I had known that was happening at all, I would not have gone to West Virginia, I would have just continued the outdoor maintenance job until we moved.
As a result, I had to close the book on an old life, all while keeping the house clean for people coming to look at it to potentially buy. I stayed out of the house as much as possible, while meeting up with friends as much as possible. We also had the final Christmas Eve get-together with the Kirkners. We got rid of the Chevy Citation...it probably had grown in value with the tpae player my sister's then-boyfriend Chaz had given me for high school graduation, but I pity the fool who had to deal with the shakes it got at fairly mild speeds!
And then one fine Sunday morning in early January 1992 I set off for my seocnd and final semester at West Virginia.
I have not really reflected on this period of life for a while, aside from fire hydrant jokes at my expense (I love them now and hope to use them as a learning experience for Natalie). The depression angle had not been considered until later bouts with it were contended with, and evne then I didn't really piece it together until I began writing today....and that particular bout was not over.
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