Sitting at work still...
It's now 2:30 AM... 4 1/2 hours to go. Temperature is holding up, but seems to be dropping slowly. I think the furnace pilot light is out. If I knew how to light it we'd be set I think.
Anyhow... I was thinking about notable things that happened in the past year and I would go through some of the things that shaped 2004:
"Learning With Legends": In February, we brought in Les Thatcher, Harley Race and Ricky Steamboat to run a three-day seminar. It was not well-attended, but we were able to spend some serious time training with them and learning. Highlights would be meeting these guys, hearing Harley say "I put that sumbitch (stun gun) in the crack of Owen's ass". The best part was definitely all the time we got to spend listening to the three as well as Alice & BJ (Les & Harley's wives).
In April, I learned that in late may, I would become the residential director of the group home I started out working in nearly ten years ago. I was totally stoked and ended up getting a good solid raise.
In June, my wife and Kyle's wife threw us a great surprise party at D&B. Everyon from PWF and a lot of our family members were there. It was tres cool and we were speechless. This was one of the first times we really saw how close our wrestling family is becoming.
A few days after my birthday, we got a letter from our landlord that he was selling our house and we had to be out by July 21. We had already gotten the mortgage process underway through my long-time wrestling friend Scott King. We were just near the deadline of when we had to move, and found a house.. we wouldn't be able to close until late September.
The weekend of the 4th of July was one I will never forget. I was on a day off and received a call from one of my agency nurses that we would have to have one of my guys go to the hospital. I went in to prepare him for the admittance. During dinner, he began to choke in his weakened state. I did rescue breathing until the ambulence and EMTs arrived and relieved me. He was still alive at that point. Somewhere on the way to the hospital, he died. The doctors were not in the waiting room as they were supposed to be when his father arrived. I had to break the news. This was something I never hope I have to do again. I had to call the administrators of my agency and let them know as well. I spent the next few days in a state of shock and mourning. I would be fine, and then a song that the resident used to listen to would come on, or something like Queen "Who wants to live forever" would play and I would lose it. Still I look back and it is almost surreal. I got upset a bit the other night when there was a Trivial Pursuit question about the percntage of people receiving CPR that actually survived.
July 21st we were moved out of our home on Linton Street. All of our stuff was in storage. We moved into a tiny bedroom in my mother-in-law's place/. Our once happy cat became spiteful as he was limited to that small room. We slept on an air mattress. We were under a lot of stress and the cat would keep us up all night. We were not comfortable and not sleeping well.
August: Me, Kyle, Bad Boy & Blade drove to Missouri to go to a one-week seminar at Harley Race's school. With the events of the summer, I was in less than my best shape and did not participate as much as I had hoped. While I was away, Adrienne and I would have celebrated our second anniversary. I sent her an Anniversary Bear in the mail to work while I was in MO. She loved it. I did learn tons of stuff, however, and am a much better trainer as a result. I did get to meet some great guys in Ace Steel and Matt Striker (the RoH version). Also we worked out with Misawa and Ogawa from Pro Wrestling NOAH. Dr. Tom Pritchard was there and this was the first time he met Blade. This was a great connection fro Blade to make. We worked the WLW show that night. Blade had a great singles match, with great heat. I was in the battle royal and worked with Ron & Don Harris, which was also a neat opportunity. Those guys are fucking huge. We made it home in good time and I was exhausted.
At home (our little room), the cat decided that as I got home that he would get spiteful. He began to piss on the bed and even put two holes in the mattress. We dealt with nights of no sleep and being in a room that stunk of cat urine... I was on the verge of losing it. Then came September.
September 27: We closed on our house. Adrienne and I moved some of our light stuff in and planned on sleeping there before moving in the next day. Being in the new house for less than 2 hours, our cat was back to his old happy and sweet self!
September 28: We get a call saying that we had a problem with our closing and the money that we purchased the house with was subject to a government freeze and until it was available the house was not really ours. I was sick physically and even threw up. Paul (my mother-in-laws fiance) took me for a ride to a nearby yardsale where I bought a hella cool Claymore (sword). It was only $20 and a legit forged sword (rather than a casting). It got my mind off things and we headed back to find out the freeze was lifted and we were good to go. We began to leave with the truck and loaded at the storage unit. The people at the Storage unit parked their truck in a bad spot and because of it, I hit a pylon with the undercarriage of the truck. I did no damage to the truck, but tore the pylon out and buckled the pavement. We loaded the truck and began to move our stuff in. By the end of the move, it was pouring rain and we got soaked.. but we were home! We bought ourselves a new TV stand and a dining room table and chairs. My mom bought us a great couch. Home becomes better and better every day, as well get more settled in.
November: My parents announced that they were selling the house in Glocester. They bought one in Thompson, CT. It will allow my Dad to retire, which will make him much happier. Sounds weird though that they will sell the Durfee Hill House. It was built for us and my dog is even buried in the yard. We did a lot of the landscaping and built fish ponds and waterfalls throughout. We had my parent's wedding in the garden, and Adrienne and I had the reception for our wedding there. It appears that a friend of my parents in the one buying though. So I know it will be in good hands. Sorta sad too though....
December: I helped Kyle & Kim move to Florida. I got to fly home in first class... UPGRADE!!!! My parents started their move a week before Christmas. We had dinner there on Christmas Eve. Really nice place. The morning of Christmas Eve, I got a call from ne of my group homes that they had "water coming off the side of the house". I went to find out that the sprinkler system was not flushed out for the winter and the coupling had cracked. I got douched with icy water on a cold day. WTF! Anyhow that was resolved. Christmas day started at my Father-in-law's place. He and I are pretty close and it is always good going to spend time with him. My brother & sister-in-law were there with their significant others. We left after lunch and headed to my house. Luckily, downstairs is my mother-in-laws, where we were having dinner. Paul and I set up and deep-fried a turkey. This is the first time I've done this... and GOD IS IT FUCKING DELICIOUS!
Obscurus is entered in a big International Music Festival in March., Due to our singer being a bitch and not learning his shit over the course of more than a year, we gave him the boot. My friend Nicole is working on things now with the band... maybe she'll end up singing with us.
December 31st was a hella great party with the PWF family at Jose's place. Almost everyone was there and it was such a memorable time. It was also the day before my life would take another shitty turn at work... If you've read my previosu posts, you may have some insight. I won't get into it here.
The best parts of 2004: Another year of happiness with my loving wife is by far the best. Other things that were great were buying the house and being involved with the amazing people that make up the PWF Family.
Anyhow... I was thinking about notable things that happened in the past year and I would go through some of the things that shaped 2004:
"Learning With Legends": In February, we brought in Les Thatcher, Harley Race and Ricky Steamboat to run a three-day seminar. It was not well-attended, but we were able to spend some serious time training with them and learning. Highlights would be meeting these guys, hearing Harley say "I put that sumbitch (stun gun) in the crack of Owen's ass". The best part was definitely all the time we got to spend listening to the three as well as Alice & BJ (Les & Harley's wives).
In April, I learned that in late may, I would become the residential director of the group home I started out working in nearly ten years ago. I was totally stoked and ended up getting a good solid raise.
In June, my wife and Kyle's wife threw us a great surprise party at D&B. Everyon from PWF and a lot of our family members were there. It was tres cool and we were speechless. This was one of the first times we really saw how close our wrestling family is becoming.
A few days after my birthday, we got a letter from our landlord that he was selling our house and we had to be out by July 21. We had already gotten the mortgage process underway through my long-time wrestling friend Scott King. We were just near the deadline of when we had to move, and found a house.. we wouldn't be able to close until late September.
The weekend of the 4th of July was one I will never forget. I was on a day off and received a call from one of my agency nurses that we would have to have one of my guys go to the hospital. I went in to prepare him for the admittance. During dinner, he began to choke in his weakened state. I did rescue breathing until the ambulence and EMTs arrived and relieved me. He was still alive at that point. Somewhere on the way to the hospital, he died. The doctors were not in the waiting room as they were supposed to be when his father arrived. I had to break the news. This was something I never hope I have to do again. I had to call the administrators of my agency and let them know as well. I spent the next few days in a state of shock and mourning. I would be fine, and then a song that the resident used to listen to would come on, or something like Queen "Who wants to live forever" would play and I would lose it. Still I look back and it is almost surreal. I got upset a bit the other night when there was a Trivial Pursuit question about the percntage of people receiving CPR that actually survived.
July 21st we were moved out of our home on Linton Street. All of our stuff was in storage. We moved into a tiny bedroom in my mother-in-law's place/. Our once happy cat became spiteful as he was limited to that small room. We slept on an air mattress. We were under a lot of stress and the cat would keep us up all night. We were not comfortable and not sleeping well.
August: Me, Kyle, Bad Boy & Blade drove to Missouri to go to a one-week seminar at Harley Race's school. With the events of the summer, I was in less than my best shape and did not participate as much as I had hoped. While I was away, Adrienne and I would have celebrated our second anniversary. I sent her an Anniversary Bear in the mail to work while I was in MO. She loved it. I did learn tons of stuff, however, and am a much better trainer as a result. I did get to meet some great guys in Ace Steel and Matt Striker (the RoH version). Also we worked out with Misawa and Ogawa from Pro Wrestling NOAH. Dr. Tom Pritchard was there and this was the first time he met Blade. This was a great connection fro Blade to make. We worked the WLW show that night. Blade had a great singles match, with great heat. I was in the battle royal and worked with Ron & Don Harris, which was also a neat opportunity. Those guys are fucking huge. We made it home in good time and I was exhausted.
At home (our little room), the cat decided that as I got home that he would get spiteful. He began to piss on the bed and even put two holes in the mattress. We dealt with nights of no sleep and being in a room that stunk of cat urine... I was on the verge of losing it. Then came September.
September 27: We closed on our house. Adrienne and I moved some of our light stuff in and planned on sleeping there before moving in the next day. Being in the new house for less than 2 hours, our cat was back to his old happy and sweet self!
September 28: We get a call saying that we had a problem with our closing and the money that we purchased the house with was subject to a government freeze and until it was available the house was not really ours. I was sick physically and even threw up. Paul (my mother-in-laws fiance) took me for a ride to a nearby yardsale where I bought a hella cool Claymore (sword). It was only $20 and a legit forged sword (rather than a casting). It got my mind off things and we headed back to find out the freeze was lifted and we were good to go. We began to leave with the truck and loaded at the storage unit. The people at the Storage unit parked their truck in a bad spot and because of it, I hit a pylon with the undercarriage of the truck. I did no damage to the truck, but tore the pylon out and buckled the pavement. We loaded the truck and began to move our stuff in. By the end of the move, it was pouring rain and we got soaked.. but we were home! We bought ourselves a new TV stand and a dining room table and chairs. My mom bought us a great couch. Home becomes better and better every day, as well get more settled in.
November: My parents announced that they were selling the house in Glocester. They bought one in Thompson, CT. It will allow my Dad to retire, which will make him much happier. Sounds weird though that they will sell the Durfee Hill House. It was built for us and my dog is even buried in the yard. We did a lot of the landscaping and built fish ponds and waterfalls throughout. We had my parent's wedding in the garden, and Adrienne and I had the reception for our wedding there. It appears that a friend of my parents in the one buying though. So I know it will be in good hands. Sorta sad too though....
December: I helped Kyle & Kim move to Florida. I got to fly home in first class... UPGRADE!!!! My parents started their move a week before Christmas. We had dinner there on Christmas Eve. Really nice place. The morning of Christmas Eve, I got a call from ne of my group homes that they had "water coming off the side of the house". I went to find out that the sprinkler system was not flushed out for the winter and the coupling had cracked. I got douched with icy water on a cold day. WTF! Anyhow that was resolved. Christmas day started at my Father-in-law's place. He and I are pretty close and it is always good going to spend time with him. My brother & sister-in-law were there with their significant others. We left after lunch and headed to my house. Luckily, downstairs is my mother-in-laws, where we were having dinner. Paul and I set up and deep-fried a turkey. This is the first time I've done this... and GOD IS IT FUCKING DELICIOUS!
Obscurus is entered in a big International Music Festival in March., Due to our singer being a bitch and not learning his shit over the course of more than a year, we gave him the boot. My friend Nicole is working on things now with the band... maybe she'll end up singing with us.
December 31st was a hella great party with the PWF family at Jose's place. Almost everyone was there and it was such a memorable time. It was also the day before my life would take another shitty turn at work... If you've read my previosu posts, you may have some insight. I won't get into it here.
The best parts of 2004: Another year of happiness with my loving wife is by far the best. Other things that were great were buying the house and being involved with the amazing people that make up the PWF Family.