18 to 50: 1992
1992 was the year I painted my bedroom. At the time, I had brown paisley sheets. I've been into paisley since forever, and these I'd gotten at 60% off when the local Montgomery Wards closed down. Lovely sheets. I wore the hell out of them, and I think I still have a pillowcase or two kicking around somewhere. Anyway, since I was on third shift and had been for the last three years, it seemed like painting the room a darker color would be condusive to sleep. So GK and I got together one Friday morning (I had a plum schedule, Sun-Thurs nights, Fri-Sat off) and painted my room. I wasn't trying for chocolate pudding brown (That's the color it turned out, I swear!), but that's what you get when a can of white and a can of brown get mixed together.
It's still that color. I'm heartily sick of it and would much prefer a light aqua-turquoise. But...no money for paint, and no GK. I'm screwed.
Did I mention I got fired four months later? Asshat who owned the answering service had bought out the competition, had a bunch of extra people, and canned me in favor of someone he could pay 70 cents an hour less. While it pissed me off, it didn't really surprise me.
You see, when Leroy's transmission went out,,I spent the next couple of months, ie December-February, riding my moped back and forth to work. It came time for my yearly review, and I went in and BEGGED for a raise or an advance or something so I could get another vehicle. I got 25 cents an hour, big whoop. The reason I'm so bitter is, the following year, sans begging, I got a 20 cent raise. So all that groveling was worth a nickel. Fucker.
Anyway, I haven't mentioned my constant automotive turnover in earlier posts. I went to a "buy here, pay here" place" and for $200 got, a Gremlin, which earned the distinction of being the shortest-lived car I've ever owned. It threw a rod during rush hour traffic at a major intersection about two months after I paid it off. After that came the $400 AMC Spirit, which cost me 4 starters in 16 months because it had a chewed up flywheel. Around the time of my firing, I was driving a Ford Escort, which I ended up replacing the flywheel on, but it was worth it. Despite smoking like a fiend, it had a sunroof, an excellent stereo and got decent gas milage. I called it Jinx, and drove it for several years.
I'm getting to the point where I have to think hard about what else was going on at any give time to remember when it happened. Funny how so much of the younger stuff is so vivid and this is so vague. Although it might have owed something to my vices.
.
It's still that color. I'm heartily sick of it and would much prefer a light aqua-turquoise. But...no money for paint, and no GK. I'm screwed.
Did I mention I got fired four months later? Asshat who owned the answering service had bought out the competition, had a bunch of extra people, and canned me in favor of someone he could pay 70 cents an hour less. While it pissed me off, it didn't really surprise me.
You see, when Leroy's transmission went out,,I spent the next couple of months, ie December-February, riding my moped back and forth to work. It came time for my yearly review, and I went in and BEGGED for a raise or an advance or something so I could get another vehicle. I got 25 cents an hour, big whoop. The reason I'm so bitter is, the following year, sans begging, I got a 20 cent raise. So all that groveling was worth a nickel. Fucker.
Anyway, I haven't mentioned my constant automotive turnover in earlier posts. I went to a "buy here, pay here" place" and for $200 got, a Gremlin, which earned the distinction of being the shortest-lived car I've ever owned. It threw a rod during rush hour traffic at a major intersection about two months after I paid it off. After that came the $400 AMC Spirit, which cost me 4 starters in 16 months because it had a chewed up flywheel. Around the time of my firing, I was driving a Ford Escort, which I ended up replacing the flywheel on, but it was worth it. Despite smoking like a fiend, it had a sunroof, an excellent stereo and got decent gas milage. I called it Jinx, and drove it for several years.
I'm getting to the point where I have to think hard about what else was going on at any give time to remember when it happened. Funny how so much of the younger stuff is so vivid and this is so vague. Although it might have owed something to my vices.
.