Wednesday, February 16, 2005
High School Interrogatory
I think this is cool. I'm told that such is called a "meme" -- I assume it's pronounced MEE-MEE, since it's "all about me." Feel free to copy, splain yourself and spread the love.
--ER
What year was it?
Late '70s-early '80s. Graduated in 1982.
What were your three favorite bands (performers)?
Merle Haggard. Beatles. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.
What was your favorite outfit?
Boots, jeans, western hat, long-sleeve shirt. (But I protest; men do not wear "outfits.")
What was up with your hair?
All I know is I had an adequate amount of it then.
Who were your best friends?
Tom, now a police detective; Kent, now an insurance executive; some bandies; and some kids at church
What did you do after school?
Worked at a truck stop; ran around the river bottoms drinkin' beer, drivin' a 1970 Dodge Charger way too fast and ocassionally shooting at birds and small animals; and always studied. (the genesis of the erudite in this redneck)
Where did you work?
Various truck stops along Interstate 40 in Sequoyah County, in eastern Oklahoma; did a short stint washing dishes at a cafeteria in Fort Smith, Ark., which did more to inspire me to go to college than anything; hauled hay some; first paying job was hoeing watermelons in the aforementioned bottoms.
Did you take the bus?
Until I could drive. Until then, I rode a bus 3 miles TO school and about 40 miles home in the afternoon, through the bottoms (me and the bottoms go way back; seriously, one of my historical research interests has to do with a town that no longer exists there).
Who did you have a crush on?
Crush? Most any girl who seemed accessible with adequate mammary capacity. I did have a girlfriend, who broke up with me because I wouldn't go all the way; she got together with -- or "hooked up," as they say now -- with a second-tier friend of mine; she got pregnant; they got married.
Did you fight with your parents?
Just a little. Until September 1981, when after consuming too much Oklahoma 3.2 Coors and pork rinds, I stupidly drove home, failing to go "the back way" as instructed by my friends, got stopped by the town cop, picked up, stuffed in the back of the cop car, taken to city hall. Busted. The cop, who was 21 or 22, sort of roughed me up; he was shaken to discover when he actually bothered to look at my driver's license that the big redneck he'd slapped around was just 17. Probably could've got him in some major trouble. Naaah. A young and foolish ER got what he deserved. Mama did not speak to me for two weeks. Much worse than any fight. My dad took a swing at me once -- he was sitting; he swatted my butt -- when we got into a Bible verse joust. "Children, obey your parents," he said. "Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath," I said. WHACK.
Who did you have a CELEBRITY crush on?
Debra Winger. Sally Field.
Did you smoke cigarettes?
Just a few. But I started dipping Skoal, then Copenhangen, at age 11. And I quit July 6, 2003. Damn Walt Garrison's hide.
Did you lug all of your books around in your backpack all day because you were too nervous to find your locker?
I never heard of or saw a backpack used to carry books until I went to Oklahoma State in 1984.
Did you have a ‘clique’?
Maybe, if kids who sneak around the bottoms drinking beer is a clique. I also went to church every time the doors were open (Southern Baptist), so was part of the youth group; and I had some bandy friends I knew through church.
Did you have “The Max” like Zach, Kelly, and Slater?
OK, I had to look this up to get the reference. Our main hang-out was Merrill's Drive-In. Pool tables, pinball machines, burgers, barbecue and great seasoned fries -- the whole nine yards. Later came the Beacon, a kind of Sonic. Later came the Sonic.
Admit it, were you popular?
No clue.
Who did you want to be just like?
Uh, "Bud" on Urban Cowboy. Sort of. I wanted to have a good-paying job and have a wife and kids, raise some cattle. I did not WANT to live in a trailer house; but I would not have objected.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
A husband, dad and cattle raiser. The real-life version of life with a white-picket fence. Just make mine barbed wire.
Where did you think you’d be at the age you are now?
I could not think past the year 2000, when I would be 36, which seemed incredibly old. Every year since has been a total unexpected adventure for me. Imagine how Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes) would feel if he woke up and in the night the cartoonist had drawn another panel onto the strip. That's sometimes how I feel. What? There's more? Bewildering.
END
--ER
What year was it?
Late '70s-early '80s. Graduated in 1982.
What were your three favorite bands (performers)?
Merle Haggard. Beatles. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.
What was your favorite outfit?
Boots, jeans, western hat, long-sleeve shirt. (But I protest; men do not wear "outfits.")
What was up with your hair?
All I know is I had an adequate amount of it then.
Who were your best friends?
Tom, now a police detective; Kent, now an insurance executive; some bandies; and some kids at church
What did you do after school?
Worked at a truck stop; ran around the river bottoms drinkin' beer, drivin' a 1970 Dodge Charger way too fast and ocassionally shooting at birds and small animals; and always studied. (the genesis of the erudite in this redneck)
Where did you work?
Various truck stops along Interstate 40 in Sequoyah County, in eastern Oklahoma; did a short stint washing dishes at a cafeteria in Fort Smith, Ark., which did more to inspire me to go to college than anything; hauled hay some; first paying job was hoeing watermelons in the aforementioned bottoms.
Did you take the bus?
Until I could drive. Until then, I rode a bus 3 miles TO school and about 40 miles home in the afternoon, through the bottoms (me and the bottoms go way back; seriously, one of my historical research interests has to do with a town that no longer exists there).
Who did you have a crush on?
Crush? Most any girl who seemed accessible with adequate mammary capacity. I did have a girlfriend, who broke up with me because I wouldn't go all the way; she got together with -- or "hooked up," as they say now -- with a second-tier friend of mine; she got pregnant; they got married.
Did you fight with your parents?
Just a little. Until September 1981, when after consuming too much Oklahoma 3.2 Coors and pork rinds, I stupidly drove home, failing to go "the back way" as instructed by my friends, got stopped by the town cop, picked up, stuffed in the back of the cop car, taken to city hall. Busted. The cop, who was 21 or 22, sort of roughed me up; he was shaken to discover when he actually bothered to look at my driver's license that the big redneck he'd slapped around was just 17. Probably could've got him in some major trouble. Naaah. A young and foolish ER got what he deserved. Mama did not speak to me for two weeks. Much worse than any fight. My dad took a swing at me once -- he was sitting; he swatted my butt -- when we got into a Bible verse joust. "Children, obey your parents," he said. "Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath," I said. WHACK.
Who did you have a CELEBRITY crush on?
Debra Winger. Sally Field.
Did you smoke cigarettes?
Just a few. But I started dipping Skoal, then Copenhangen, at age 11. And I quit July 6, 2003. Damn Walt Garrison's hide.
Did you lug all of your books around in your backpack all day because you were too nervous to find your locker?
I never heard of or saw a backpack used to carry books until I went to Oklahoma State in 1984.
Did you have a ‘clique’?
Maybe, if kids who sneak around the bottoms drinking beer is a clique. I also went to church every time the doors were open (Southern Baptist), so was part of the youth group; and I had some bandy friends I knew through church.
Did you have “The Max” like Zach, Kelly, and Slater?
OK, I had to look this up to get the reference. Our main hang-out was Merrill's Drive-In. Pool tables, pinball machines, burgers, barbecue and great seasoned fries -- the whole nine yards. Later came the Beacon, a kind of Sonic. Later came the Sonic.
Admit it, were you popular?
No clue.
Who did you want to be just like?
Uh, "Bud" on Urban Cowboy. Sort of. I wanted to have a good-paying job and have a wife and kids, raise some cattle. I did not WANT to live in a trailer house; but I would not have objected.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
A husband, dad and cattle raiser. The real-life version of life with a white-picket fence. Just make mine barbed wire.
Where did you think you’d be at the age you are now?
I could not think past the year 2000, when I would be 36, which seemed incredibly old. Every year since has been a total unexpected adventure for me. Imagine how Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes) would feel if he woke up and in the night the cartoonist had drawn another panel onto the strip. That's sometimes how I feel. What? There's more? Bewildering.
END
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I especially like the part about washing dishes as inspiration to go to college--lol--I'll have to pass that along to DS.
I don't know if want to tell ya'll that much about me, but I'll think about it.
I was curious and looked up "meme." AOL also has audio pronounciation, so I found out it's pronounced "meem." Presumably, the last "e" is silent and makes the first "e" long. :)
I don't know if want to tell ya'll that much about me, but I'll think about it.
I was curious and looked up "meme." AOL also has audio pronounciation, so I found out it's pronounced "meem." Presumably, the last "e" is silent and makes the first "e" long. :)
# posted by 
: 2:48 PM
: 2:48 PM
You're right. This is a fascinating set of questions. Funny thing, though. I know I used to know the answers to these questions, and now I'm having to struggle to remember! Am I really that old???? (DO NOT ANSWER THAT!)
No, Trixie, you just have many important issues to think about. That's all. Which is how it is with me. It has NOTHING to do with my age. Nothing ... :)
YEAR? Same.
FAVORITE BANDS, PERFORMERS: KISS, Van Halen, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Heart.
OUTFIT: Husky jeans ('cause that's what momma bought me) and whatever shirt.
HAIR: Feathered with a center-cut part.
BEST FRIENDS: Didn't really have any back then, but Bryant was pretty close. And Jeff.
AFTER SCHOOL: Football practice mostly. Even in the offseason. They take their football seriously in Texas.
WORK: Did gopher work for a constructor for one summer.
BUS: Yep, after I totalled one of the family cars tryin' to sneak out of school early for lunch. Momma made me do that, too.
CRUSH: Sabrina Sabo. She was F-I-N-E!!! Of course, there were hundreds of others.
FIGHT WITH PARENTS: With my father, but there were lots of reasons behind that. At one point when I got big enough my junior year in high school, he threatened to backhand me because I wasn't screwing in a screw right. I stood up, looked him in his eyes and told him to take his best shot. We've gotten along OK ever since.
CELEBRITY CRUSH: Solid Gold dancers, Bo Derek, all the girls from Hee Haw.
CIGARETTES: Nope
BOOKS: We had a good seven minutes between classes, so there was time to hit the locker.
CLIQUES: Oh, hell yeah. Then my senior year, I moved to a small town in Kansas from a big high school in Texas. I was welcomed by all, but there were plenty of cliques. I got razzed for dating an artsy girl.
HANGOUT: We cruised the streets in Texarkana, then went to the Hop 'n' Spot in WaKeeney. Drunk every weekend after football season was over.
POPULARITY: I wasn't popular, though when I moved, there was a stretch of popularity because of the big-city kid moving in to the small town -- Oh, and the fact I was now the biggest guy on the football team.
WHO DID YOU WANT TO BE LIKE: Get this. I idolized Jeff Pickett, one of the biggest dudes in my Texas high school who eventually became one of the first freshmen ever to start on the offensive line at OU. I thought he was a god.
WHAT I WANTED TO BE: I wanted to be the best radio guy in the world, eventually owning my own stations. That is after I finished my NFL career.
AT MY AGE NOW: I thought I'd be taking my millions I earned from the NFL and and getting into radio broadcasting, first doing sports games, then eventually buying stations.
FAVORITE BANDS, PERFORMERS: KISS, Van Halen, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Heart.
OUTFIT: Husky jeans ('cause that's what momma bought me) and whatever shirt.
HAIR: Feathered with a center-cut part.
BEST FRIENDS: Didn't really have any back then, but Bryant was pretty close. And Jeff.
AFTER SCHOOL: Football practice mostly. Even in the offseason. They take their football seriously in Texas.
WORK: Did gopher work for a constructor for one summer.
BUS: Yep, after I totalled one of the family cars tryin' to sneak out of school early for lunch. Momma made me do that, too.
CRUSH: Sabrina Sabo. She was F-I-N-E!!! Of course, there were hundreds of others.
FIGHT WITH PARENTS: With my father, but there were lots of reasons behind that. At one point when I got big enough my junior year in high school, he threatened to backhand me because I wasn't screwing in a screw right. I stood up, looked him in his eyes and told him to take his best shot. We've gotten along OK ever since.
CELEBRITY CRUSH: Solid Gold dancers, Bo Derek, all the girls from Hee Haw.
CIGARETTES: Nope
BOOKS: We had a good seven minutes between classes, so there was time to hit the locker.
CLIQUES: Oh, hell yeah. Then my senior year, I moved to a small town in Kansas from a big high school in Texas. I was welcomed by all, but there were plenty of cliques. I got razzed for dating an artsy girl.
HANGOUT: We cruised the streets in Texarkana, then went to the Hop 'n' Spot in WaKeeney. Drunk every weekend after football season was over.
POPULARITY: I wasn't popular, though when I moved, there was a stretch of popularity because of the big-city kid moving in to the small town -- Oh, and the fact I was now the biggest guy on the football team.
WHO DID YOU WANT TO BE LIKE: Get this. I idolized Jeff Pickett, one of the biggest dudes in my Texas high school who eventually became one of the first freshmen ever to start on the offensive line at OU. I thought he was a god.
WHAT I WANTED TO BE: I wanted to be the best radio guy in the world, eventually owning my own stations. That is after I finished my NFL career.
AT MY AGE NOW: I thought I'd be taking my millions I earned from the NFL and and getting into radio broadcasting, first doing sports games, then eventually buying stations.
Thanks fer playing, Teditor! Ain't it amzing, in retrospect, that Texarkana would be seen as "the big city"? I mean, my hometown had about 1,500 back in the day (about 2,500 now), so yeah. But there's a million screamin' Okies right around where we live now!
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