$4 a gallon gas might have shut Straight down back in the day.

[85 Day Jerk]

I pumped my first $4 a gallon gas today before heading to Chattanooga to visit my dad.  Back in 1978 we had a gas crisis of sorts and gas rose I guess a whole dollar more a gallon.  I'm not sure because I was on front row.  I remember that it was around 85 cents a gallon when I went in on June 16, and by my 90th day it had gone up to about $1.79 a gallon and people were freaking out.  The clients that lived farthest away like Land 'O Lakes, Sarasota, and Tampa did not have to come in after school and the fringe clients had all sorts of priveleges.  The gas situation led to what was later to be known as the "Tampa Screw-Up."  We had unsupervised clients back on drugs and coming into group high on Saturdays.  Once it came out, we lost about 90 clients damn near overnight and it led to wonderful new inventions such as "Open Meeting Review" which was about as bad as it could get.

In the world of the here and now, I am sorry for being away for so long, but I have been pretty busy.  I got laid off from my part time job in May and have been collecting unemployment.  Being on disability, I did not take getting a new job seriously and then Social Security decided to pull the rug out from under me.  I lost my benefits due to purposely botched paperwork starting July 3rd.  This came as a total surprise to me, and right in the middle of an apartment move.
Needless to say, I had a damn relapse and about lost my fucking mind.  Thoughts of suicide surfaced for the first time since the early 90's, and I lost 15 pounds from the move and the stress.  I've been scraping by and have most of my bills for this month paid for as well as a kitchen full of food.  I feel fortunate that I was able to keep the phone/DSL the same and they even waived the reconnect fee.  Ditto with the Cleveland Utilities and they even waived the deposit and actually refunded the first deposit.  This is unheard of.  I attended church heavily out of fear and a sense of hopelessness and my faith has been made alot stronger by the whole experience.  When it comes right down to it, I have had it fairly easy for a little too long really.  This kick in the ass has really woken me up and gave me the resolve to get the hell off Disability and get back to relying on myself.  I even started a side business venture to sell way-out bumper stickers, buttons, and refrigerator magnets, but it has not taken off like I had hoped.  I just have to hang in there and keep on plugging.  Anyone interested in buying some of my stock for gifts/gags/personal use below retail price can e-mail me at chongo_spfl@yahoo.com and I will send you back an e-mail with some samples along with prices and you can go from there.  My business is called Trickbrain Gift Ideas and is licensed and I have a tax number.  I will only be making 50 cents or less profit per item, so please don't think I am using this forum for personal gain.  I made a sound business decision in some unsound times and its taken a huge bite outta my ass is all.  Thanks for your support,  Bob in Tennessee.

[Froderik]

Bob,

As always, it's good to see you're hanging in. Like the old saying goes, life's a bitch and then you die, so no need to rush things; we'll all get that payoff one day, like it or not! You still playing your guitar? Music (listening to it and/or playing it) has been about the only thing that has kept me sane at times. I've cut way back on the drinking, and despite what you may think of this, I must admit weed has helped with that. And who knows, maybe when I'm busy enough with something worthwhile I won't even bother with that as much...

No doubt these gas prices would have at least put a dent in Straight's profits....

Good luck with the business venture!

Take care,
F13

[85 Day Jerk]

Thanks Alex, as a matter of fact, I plugged my fat strat into my Frontman 25 and something amazing happened.  It played crisp and clean for the first time ever.  I mistakenly plugged the cord into the footswitch port and dislodged a stuck spring wire causing the switch to finally shut off all the way.  I had been playing it with an operating short for like the last two years and simply thought that the kids I bought it from had wore it out or something.  The amp was a steal at 35 dollars, and loud as hell and I had just put up with it as a simple quirk all that time.   I'm currently practicing a song for my church that's pretty cutting edge and was part of the movie called "Purgatory House"  a film about teenage suicide.

[85 Day Jerk]

I am litterally responding to my own post because I have absolutely nothing to say or comment or add to any of the other posts.  There was a protest at I guess was a KHK facility in some place called Milford Ohio, if I got it wrong it is because I don't even care enough to make sure I got it right.  Those kids do not affect me, I can't do anything to help them from where I am at.  They are going to have to get through it the same way that I got through it.  I mean, whats the point?  A few people carrying signs and yelling may have changed the way things are right there right now, but this
$4 dollar a gallon gas is changing much much more, in many many ways.

I notice there are far less one person vehicles on the road than just one month ago.  There are also less taxi's.  In the stores, especially grocery stores, people are leaving them pushing shopping carts that are filled to the brim.  You hardly see the harried husband type standing in line with just a box of Huggies and a gallon of milk anymore.  Now, people stock up because they wanna make their gas dollars count.  Where I live, the bullshit industries are hurting big-time.  The local Starbucks is changing it's hours, the tanning booth place is a ghost town.  The local L.A. Weight Loss center shut down and consolidated three counties worth of offices (5) into just one near Chattanooga.  Even the lonesome train whistles that used to sound so comforting late at night are happening with less frequency.  I personally feel that the remaining Straight Spin-Offs are gonna go the way of the old local Disco's.  They are gonna dry up and shut down, simply because people got more important things worry about than whether or not so and so's kid has a bad attitude.

[Anonymous]

I am litterally responding to my own post because I have absolutely nothing to say or comment or add to any of the other posts.  There was a protest at I guess was a KHK facility in some place called Milford Ohio, if I got it wrong it is because I don't even care enough to make sure I got it right.  Those kids do not affect me, I can't do anything to help them from where I am at.  They are going to have to get through it the same way that I got through it.  I mean, whats the point?  A few people carrying signs and yelling may have changed the way things are right there right now, but this
$4 dollar a gallon gas is changing much much more, in many many ways.

I notice there are far less one person vehicles on the road than just one month ago.  There are also less taxi's.  In the stores, especially grocery stores, people are leaving them pushing shopping carts that are filled to the brim.  You hardly see the harried husband type standing in line with just a box of Huggies and a gallon of milk anymore.  Now, people stock up because they wanna make their gas dollars count.  Where I live, the bullshit industries are hurting big-time.  The local Starbucks is changing it's hours, the tanning booth place is a ghost town.  The local L.A. Weight Loss center shut down and consolidated three counties worth of offices (5) into just one near Chattanooga.  Even the lonesome train whistles that used to sound so comforting late at night are happening with less frequency.  I personally feel that the remaining Straight Spin-Offs are gonna go the way of the old local Disco's.  They are gonna dry up and shut down, simply because people got more important things worry about than whether or not so and so's kid has a bad attitude.

Welcome to the rest of the world.

Many countries around the world have been paying well over $ 4.oo a gallan for gas for years now. Somehow they have all managed, but maybe they have just learned to manage better.

Everything has it's cycle. We move and adapt to it, or we don't.

[Froderik]

Somehow they have all managed, but maybe they have just learned to manage better.

Some of those other countries have (on average): better rail systems, smaller size vehicles, less travel distance to get places (smaller total space in area of country), etc..... but yeah, we will have to learn to adapt (use another source of energy or something) or kill off the Saudi royal family and fucking take their oil from them... 

[85 Day Jerk]

There is a 53 minute documentary currently on You Tube that really explains the situation fully.  As far as light rail transit goes, our country used to have more back in the 30's and 40's than the rest of the world has now.  What happened you ask?  Standard Oil, GM, and several tire companies got together and started strong-arming small local governments to switch over to bus service over trolley and street car service.

My old Northeast neighborhood in St. Pete is a perfect example.  There used to be electric powered trolleys there up until around 1943.  You can still see places where the old tracks were paved over, especially after a heavy rain.  Light rail used to move people from the central part of small cities, and connect to the surrounding neighborhoods.  Following WWII
the automobile was king and the light rail systems were torn down and removed to make way for wider streets to accomodate the heavy traffic flow.  For those unfortunate enough to not be able to afford a car, there was always the bus, which was initiated with sweetheart deals and low start-up costs to the various municipalities.  GM did little to design buses for comfort and ridability, because they were way too busy making it seem like your dick would fall off it you did not own a new Chevy by Christmas.  With more and more cars on the road, fewer and fewer people rode the bus lines and soon cities across the nation were floundering with fleets of aging beat to shit buses that nobody wanted to ride.  The good old U.S. Government stepped in and began subsidizing transit systems to fill in the gaps, but still the main drive of our Government was to keep up the supply of cheap gas, exploit the shit out of foreign countries for their oil resourses, sit back and put the pedal to the floor like there is now tommorrow.  Well tomorrow is here and you can see it at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3uvzcY2Xug                I hope you enjoy it.  It really showed me a thing or two.

see ya'll later, Bob in Tennessee

[Anonymous]

unfortunately, some of us out here suffer from modemnia at 56K per second and find it practically impossible to watch any video from youtube. ARGH!!!!!! Now, if the cable companies could come out here and hook me up, I'd gladly accept, but the county is stuck in 1878 and that won't happen in my lifetime.

What is it like to click and just be there at the website, enjoying the videos, pdf's, etc.? Must be nice. I yearn for such an experience.

Well Bob, I best be gettin back on that rusty ass bus now, LOL...


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