Coastal Redneck
120cc
Well, the cats & I took another trip down Memory Lane today... I've been boxin' up stuff to take with me when I relocate, and some of these items have a whole heap o' history behind 'em. I also found some old letters written by my mom back when she was going through some grief... my dad abandoned us overseas and took whatever money he had with him, so we went through a bad time, which I got to relive all over again today as I read the letters. Over the course of a year, we literally starved, all of us losing heller weight in that ordeal. It's one thing to lose 30+ lbs. as an adult, especially if you weigh around 200 lbs., but to lose 30+ lbs. when you're a kid and you only weigh 80 or 90 lbs., tops??? Not so good. My dad may have been a good submarine commander, but as a father he wound up making some bad choices, and the rest of us went through heller grief as a result. He's dead now, same as my mom, so I'm over it, yeah?
On a more positive note, I also found some classic old photos which I will have to share with my best friend Tommy. One shot shows me as a 6-or-7-year-old, standing on the afterdeck of a Finnish steamer with a cool kid I met during a voyage which lasted several hours... turned out that kid was born on the very same day I was, in the very same year. His name was Harry, which I imagine was short for Harold rather than Henry; Harold is a fairly common name in Scandinavia. That kid and I had a blast roaming the decks of that steamer, exploring the ship together... my parents were still together then, and I reckon they figured we were safe enough, just as Harry's parents figured we were safe, since we had both voyaged aboard ships before. Hell, that kid and I poked our noses into just about every compartment aboard that steamer, checking out stuff as kids will do. Seeing that photo, I was immediately transported back through time to that merry voyage.
Then there's a shot of me riding my old Zephyr Rocker board at Movin' On Skatepark, wearing all the goofy safety gear required back in that era. It's a classic shot, it must have been taken during an early session there... that old Zephyr Rocker wasn't exactly the best board for riding that particular park, the later boards I rode there were far superior, being wider and all. But the old Zephyr stick was a classic, with what look like Bennett Trucks & Road Rider 4s, LOL. Hard to believe, but those Road Rider 4s were once state-of-the-art, and so were those Bennett Trucks, go figure. Tracker & Gullwing hadn't broken out their primo wider trucks yet, you understand. The whole skate scene was just ramping up when this photo was taken, and that Zephyr Rocker wasn't very wide. Fat 10" poolriding boards hadn't been developed yet... evolutionary progression would lead to badass poolriding sticks, fat boards with wide trucks and heller wheels that could handle all kinds of vertical terrain. Those were the glory days of skating, and I was fortunate to experience them.
A third shot shows me as a high school senior, wearing a suit and tie, go figure. I guess it's my yearbook photo, only this one is in its own small cover or folder or whatever. Not a bad shot, though my nose is sunburned and my hair was certainly longer then... I keep it pretty short now, and have ever since I served in the Infantry. Kind of a low-maintenance thing, as opposed to a style concept, LOL. Before I began cutting my own hair to save money, I used to joke with my friends about getting drunk and falling under a riding mower as a means of getting my hair cut, 10-4??? And that whole self-administered haircut scene wasn't easy to perfect, I botched several cuts before I figured out how to do it right. A hand can save heller money by cutting his own hair, and I highly recommend this procedure to families with kids, as those folks can save heaps by buying a set of clippers and attachments. Learning how to cut hair isn't rocket science, just use the tapered attachments at a certain level, and use the flat 1/8" attachment for everything below that level. Done. LOL.
The last shot I found shows me fresh out of boot camp (Basic & AIT), standing outside my house here in Coronado with a friend, the two of us on either side of my recently-purchased '72 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight. The photo was taken in '82, but I got a good deal on the Olds, or so I thought at the time, LOL. I think I paid $1200 for that rig, which was in immaculate condition and sported a Rocket 455 motor. Had a lot of good times in that car, including the trip down from Fort Lewis, WA, with that same friend in the photo. F___r still owes me $200, but that's a side issue, LOL, and I'm willing to write off the debt, as I wrote it off long ago. Better to remember the two of us taking an impromptu swim in Shasta Lake on the drive down to Dago, the weather glorious in early June and the two of us totally rigged for adventure, not to mention partying. In those days, the lake was full, not depleted as it is now due to drought and bad management. The Olds was nice too, gold exterior with a black top and black interior, radio and A/C blasting... a full-on pimpmobile before the term was even coined, LOL.
On a more positive note, I also found some classic old photos which I will have to share with my best friend Tommy. One shot shows me as a 6-or-7-year-old, standing on the afterdeck of a Finnish steamer with a cool kid I met during a voyage which lasted several hours... turned out that kid was born on the very same day I was, in the very same year. His name was Harry, which I imagine was short for Harold rather than Henry; Harold is a fairly common name in Scandinavia. That kid and I had a blast roaming the decks of that steamer, exploring the ship together... my parents were still together then, and I reckon they figured we were safe enough, just as Harry's parents figured we were safe, since we had both voyaged aboard ships before. Hell, that kid and I poked our noses into just about every compartment aboard that steamer, checking out stuff as kids will do. Seeing that photo, I was immediately transported back through time to that merry voyage.
Then there's a shot of me riding my old Zephyr Rocker board at Movin' On Skatepark, wearing all the goofy safety gear required back in that era. It's a classic shot, it must have been taken during an early session there... that old Zephyr Rocker wasn't exactly the best board for riding that particular park, the later boards I rode there were far superior, being wider and all. But the old Zephyr stick was a classic, with what look like Bennett Trucks & Road Rider 4s, LOL. Hard to believe, but those Road Rider 4s were once state-of-the-art, and so were those Bennett Trucks, go figure. Tracker & Gullwing hadn't broken out their primo wider trucks yet, you understand. The whole skate scene was just ramping up when this photo was taken, and that Zephyr Rocker wasn't very wide. Fat 10" poolriding boards hadn't been developed yet... evolutionary progression would lead to badass poolriding sticks, fat boards with wide trucks and heller wheels that could handle all kinds of vertical terrain. Those were the glory days of skating, and I was fortunate to experience them.
A third shot shows me as a high school senior, wearing a suit and tie, go figure. I guess it's my yearbook photo, only this one is in its own small cover or folder or whatever. Not a bad shot, though my nose is sunburned and my hair was certainly longer then... I keep it pretty short now, and have ever since I served in the Infantry. Kind of a low-maintenance thing, as opposed to a style concept, LOL. Before I began cutting my own hair to save money, I used to joke with my friends about getting drunk and falling under a riding mower as a means of getting my hair cut, 10-4??? And that whole self-administered haircut scene wasn't easy to perfect, I botched several cuts before I figured out how to do it right. A hand can save heller money by cutting his own hair, and I highly recommend this procedure to families with kids, as those folks can save heaps by buying a set of clippers and attachments. Learning how to cut hair isn't rocket science, just use the tapered attachments at a certain level, and use the flat 1/8" attachment for everything below that level. Done. LOL.
The last shot I found shows me fresh out of boot camp (Basic & AIT), standing outside my house here in Coronado with a friend, the two of us on either side of my recently-purchased '72 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight. The photo was taken in '82, but I got a good deal on the Olds, or so I thought at the time, LOL. I think I paid $1200 for that rig, which was in immaculate condition and sported a Rocket 455 motor. Had a lot of good times in that car, including the trip down from Fort Lewis, WA, with that same friend in the photo. F___r still owes me $200, but that's a side issue, LOL, and I'm willing to write off the debt, as I wrote it off long ago. Better to remember the two of us taking an impromptu swim in Shasta Lake on the drive down to Dago, the weather glorious in early June and the two of us totally rigged for adventure, not to mention partying. In those days, the lake was full, not depleted as it is now due to drought and bad management. The Olds was nice too, gold exterior with a black top and black interior, radio and A/C blasting... a full-on pimpmobile before the term was even coined, LOL.
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