Bringing Up Names...........................

[85 Day Jerk]

As we get closer and closer to the Conference, I will be bringing up names of people that went thru the program the same time I did.  I have been holding back for quite some time now.  I used to post these snippets awhile back on Don Smith's Straight Alumni Yahoo site, but Chris Poole dominates the site to the extent now, that I look for signs of intelligent life, like the Viking Explorer, and then move on (made sightings of a Metalgod and a Mo recently)if I come up empty.  Without further adieu, tonights episode:



                 TROY & JOY WHEELER

Troy Wheeler was a tall thin guy of 15, the same age as I was.  His sister Joy was older.  They came in about 4 days after I did.  Troy looked like a young hippy version of Charles Bronson.  His sister had blonde hair and was pale and bug-eyed.  I think they had different mothers or something.  While Troy never acted like a jerk, he did rebel a little, during one of the times I was acting right, one of the Staff Trainees, I think it was Jimmy Cassidy, asked if any of us guys could do any crazy dances.  I told him I could do that crazy Russian thing, and Troy pipes up that he could do it too.  Next thing ya know, we are up in front of group, squatted with our arms folded, hopping from one outstretches leg to the other, while the group is singing "Fiddler on the Roof" at the top of their lungs!!  Man that was sure a trip, and it got to be a favorite that summer.   They even made it into a contest one Saturday and we went up against the higher phasers.  Me and Troy put about 9 guys back in group on that one.  As soon as a guy lost his balance, or unfolded his arms he was disqualified.  Finally all that was left was a guy named Winston Pitman, and his 4th phase ego carried him through as the new house champ.  I was just too damn tired, so I fell over on my side and let him have his victory.  Troy had a very animated face when he related.  He could bring a shitty rap to life just with his enthusiasm.  Halfway through his fourth phase, his sister pulled herself and that was the end of it.  His father was suckered in by the goddamn staff, and would stand up and beg for Troy to make progress faster.  He was not the only kid that had to endure this humiliation every week, but I'll just stick to him for right now.  His father simply did not catch on, that it was all just a game to get more of his money.  Finally Troy was pulled on a Wednesday and he actually came in after school, stood up in a rap and said his goodbyes to everyone.  I believe the rap was held by Steve Howe, Senior Staff and John Legg, Staff Trainee.  It was unheard of for something like this to occur, and was also one of the last times I saw Steve Howe. I guess Steve had words with Executive Staff about how he must have felt about the whole mess.  Troy's dad came and picked him up during dinner and that was that.  I never saw him again.

But wait!  20 years later, I am working as a child care worker for the YMCA and I got to meet and care for his two children.  His son's name is Tony and he is very high strung and hyper just like his dad.  His eyes even have that same Charles Bronson hook in the corner.  His daughter Sandy was a joy to work with, a real sweet heart. I told his kids that I new him when he was a teenager, but did not go into details.  All that I found out was that he lived in New York and that him and his wife had divorced over issues of alchohol and his temper.  I never got the chance to meet him, but his son did give me his telephone number.  I never had the nerve to call him and I was afraid of losing my job over it because his wife became very angry at me for talking to her children.  This is how it ended up with him.  Maybe he will get in touch, maybe not.  That's all for one night.  See you all again soon.

[ This Message was edited by: 85 Day Jerk on 2003-05-23 21:20 ]

[Froderik]

I used to post these snippets awhile back on Don Smith's Straight Alumni Yahoo site, but  Chris Poole dominates the site to the extent now, that I look for signs of intelligent life, like the Viking Explorer, and then move on (made sightings of a Metalgod and a Mo recently)if I come up empty.

Actually, Chris hasn't posted for at least a  few days over there. I know the guy likes to 'get into it' with people sometimes, but don't you like his posts otherwise? I enjoy reading most of what he puts on that board...
While MG8 and Mo certainly are 2 signs of intelligent life, I wouldn't say that they are the only people with brains over there. C'mon back, Bob! We miss you. At least I do...good story, BTW.

Who is this "Viking Explorer?"

 - Alex from Baltimore

[85 Day Jerk]

HI Alex,  I wrote a post called "Us & Them.  Go to my posts in this forum and look it up under that title.  I post more in this forum, because I get more feedback and that it is set up better.  This forum is more user friendly, and it is easier to keep track of the threads and history of discussions.  The Yahoo site is more like the National Enquierer.  It contains alot of stuff I don't really need to know, yet might spark my interest from time to time.  The poolman simply takes up alot of space over there on a day to day basis, and it is very distracting and disheartening to pour out alot of care and empathy on someone only to see 20 posts on "Let them Eat Beans" or whatever completely knock your well thought out post the hell off the page.  If anyone gives a damn, Carrie AKA bombshell left a message on the yahoo forum one late night, and I e-mailed her.  The next morning the page was filled with meaningless ramblings about some crap from "Clockwork Orange" and I had to go back 2 whole pages to find Carrie's entry.  Since the page will only hold so many posts before it changes to a new page, Carrie came and went like a ship in the night.  I find shit like that extremely irritating and I hope I am not the only one who feels that way.  At least on this forum, someones post has at least 2 days to be viewed before it is "cancelled due to poor ratings."  I will post again on Don's forum when I have something to say and when I feel people are paying attention to what's important instead of killing time waiting for the laundry to dry or whatever.   Thank you for your concern though, I really do appreciate it and I like your posts as well.  See ya later.......Bob in St. Pete


p.s.   The Viking Explorer was the first deep space probe launched by NASA.  It was launched in 1971 and contains a gold plated phonograph record of various earth music as well as anatomic drawings of both a man and a woman.  They even left directions on how to get to Earth.  It left orbit of Neptune in 1996 and its signal became too weak to pick up sometime in the summer of 1999.  It was picked up again on radio telescope in the spring of 2002 heading for deep space near the constellation of Orion

[ This Message was edited by: 85 Day Jerk on 2003-05-24 18:43 ]

[Froderik]

I went and read the "Us & Them" post. I remember reading that a while back...funny stuff at the end there. I know what you mean about the threads here as opposed to there. And yes, Chris can tend to monopolize that board at times.

Interesting and bizarre about the Viking Explorer...'directions to earth', lol.

PS - What kind of (electric) guitar do you play?

[METALGOD8]

You know, the US has come up with some pretty strange ideas over the years. One of my sons was telling me about the plan in WW2 that the US tried using bats and little incendiary devices. The plan was to release around 500,000 of these bats in cities, etc... when the bats would make their nest in the nooks and crannies of the buildings, POOF, up goes the bat and the building in a raging fire. Hmmm, maybe the person that thought of that idea was in on the Viking trek.  :smokin:

PS: the bat plan was scrapped due to several accidental deaths involving bats flying into general smart dude's jeep and a couple other screwups. They elected to use nukes and firebombing instead.

[LeighBright]

My vote is you should call Troy. Take a risk; step out of the box 85-day. Do it!

[85 Day Jerk]

Thanks for the concern Leigh, but I gave the phone number back to his son in front of his mother the next morning when she brought them in because I was afraid for my job.  She was visably upset and asked that I did not mention her ex-husband any more in front of her children.  :flame:

[METALGOD8]

Good call Bob, maybe one day there will be a time that you can meet again. I have had similar experiences since that reunion last summer. Hope alls well down there in sunny FL. It's raining semblers and newtons here, all cold and rather dismal. We are expecting to get at least one building full of water before it's all finished. That sucks.  :smokin:

[ehm]

You're so awesomely weird Bob.
I luv U.
*MWAH* ::kiss::