Looking Back

As I was sitting at work today, breaking up the monotony of the day through talking with some friends from high school, we were talking about how those days were. Missy and I were talking and both of us felt compelled to blog about those days.

Now, I want to put this in perspective for all of the people that are reading this. I graduated high school in 1991, Now, I know some of you are going to say how I was in high school in the last century, there are even some people that will ask if I rode my dinosaur to school. Well, hardy har har, all of you people. Bring it on, as you will see in the below items, I can take it. And you will soon see why.

Where do I start?
Wow, what a good question. Let's see, I can start with the car I drove, the sports I played, the classes I took, the girls I dated or maybe even how I spent my weekend nights.

"Wow, Don, what a great start for your blog!"

But no, I choose to start with the thing that I felt was the curse I was meant to bear all of my days. It was simple, I was Don DICKHAUS. Now, I have come across people in my adult life that will comment that it can be that bad. Are you serious people? Can you really claim it is not that bad. We all know high school is harsh, kids are mean. Imagine that when your last name not only is a male body part, but implies it is the home of a male body part. My last name was another name for a penis domicile.

You laughed just there didn't you? Yeah, I know. I could not order a pizza, the first day of class was always riddled with giggling. When people mispronounce your name to make sure they don't feel uncomfortable, it's a bad one. In the modern day, when you have to call your employer's help desk and ask them to let your name come through the porn filter, it's a horrible last name. And that last name set the stage for the rest of high school.

My Friday Nights
Ahh, they were wild, I am telling you. I mean, standing, along your car at the McDonald's parking 'hanging out', fabulous. You might ask, well, what did you do standing at your car in the parking lot? And it's simple. You stood by your car in the parking lot. And that took a lot of work. I mean, we did it for hours. We apparently were horrible at it, we kept doing it. I wonder if we ever got it right? If you do, what next? Pizza Hut's parking lot? Yeah - did that too. Hey, I was international back then. Started American, ended up Italian. If I would have been in high school another year. might have made it to Taco Bell....

My car
I remember my first car well. a 1984 Dodge Charger. Do you know how we worked to improve the value of our cars? We doubled the value by putting a stereo in them that would get louder than anyone else's. Nothing like driving down the street in a glorified station wagon with the bass pumping to Vanilla Ice. That's right all, he was big when I was in school. It was either pop or big hair bands. And we listened to them on cassettes. What you ask? Wikipedia it, will you!

My car had no air, no power windows, can you even buy a car without air today? Do the 20 somethings even know how to manually roll down a window?

Sports
I was not a football player, did not play baseball. I wrestled. Not the WWE kind of wrestling that you see on TV. That would have been awesome. Wait, with my last name, there is not telling what my stage name would have been. See, what I did, I starved myself all well to make weight. Once I made it, I ate like I was never going to see food again, dressed into a tight outfit, got on a mat, and rolled on the floor with another bloated guy.

That lasted one year....

Technology
What? Technology for us was a walkman. There were no cell phones. Internet? Inter-what? I went to the library. Ohh, yeah, that's like a bookstore where you get to borrow the books. When I had a paper due, I had to type it. On a typewriter. There is not a delete key on a typewriter you know. What am I talking about, of course you don't.

Music, yeah we could buy a song at a time. It was called a 45, later to be replaced with a cass-single. I still remember the first one I bought. Was all of 12 years old, Olivia Newton John's "Physical"

I still remember the first time I listened to it. Wait, no I don't... My mom took it away from me. Apparently it was too suggestive. I won't even bring up the song my 8 year old sings. I kissed a girl....

Recap
But you know, I look back on it all and I loved every minute of it. OK, maybe not every minute. That time where I stood up to a senior as a freshman when they called me a name was not the highlight of my childhood, but at the same time it gave me one thing.

The ability to laugh and make fun of myself.

It is the best gift I received. I learned then, you can either be pissed off or give up and have some fun. I mean, look at me now. Good job, good family, all of the stuff I could ask for and more. Yet I am still named after a Penis Domicile, hell, I still listen to the shit music we have in the late 80's, early 90's.

OK, enough for now. So, Missy, how about that cup of coffee at the Waffle House??