Well after enough distractions lets get this thing cranked out shall we?

During last week I went out with Ex-Prego, little Baby G passed out in his baby seat in the back, to check out some apartments. With Dragonhawke working at the Casino up north they need to move to the town about half hour to forty minutes north of here to cut down on his commute each day.

This also happens to be the town I was born in and lived the first roughly nine, ten years of my life in. I have a lot of fond memories of this town along with the bad ones. From racing backs in the simple streets till the sun slowly sets in its vibrant reds, oranges, and purples. The days that felt like they lasted forever, but never lasted quite long enough once they came to an end. When your only worries where how much longer till summer vacation was over, how are you going to con your parents into buying this new toy, and what part of your world should you play in now.

The magical time that is being a child. It is so rich it makes you wonder where we forgot to live like that when we grow older.

Anyway we are cruising through town and nostalgia flows over me like a tidal wave as every little area we pass reminds me of something.

That field there oh I had so much fun playing baseball with my friends till curfew time. Of course we had a habit of forgetting what time that was and kept on playing till one of use panicked and ran home before being grounded for a week.

Oh man there is the church that I used as my personal play ground. I had no clue it was constantly open for people to come in and do there praying. Every time I went in there I couldn�t see a single soul around. The place was so large and majestic I�d run around marveling at the painted glass, the old oak pews, and just be in awe at how large it was. It overwhelmed my little mind just standing in there. Still that didn�t stop me my curious nature as I jumped into each confessional to see what it was like. Checking out the sparse kitchen in the back just waiting for a loud voice to call me down for being somewhere I shouldn�t be, but there never was that voice.

Oh god here is the place that fills the vast majority of my memories. The old theater that was practically my mother�s second home. I swear I spent more time in there playing then I did anywhere else. How could I resist with such playful people around, rooms full of toys and costumes, and just an air of creativity and free thinking in the air. Life was exciting there. Always on the edge as people prepared for each new show. Becoming a whole new person to entertain large crowds of people eagerly awaiting a show. In my own personal opinion every child at sometime in there level should roam free to play in an old theater. It just seems if you don�t you have missed out on something spectacular.

See that hill at the back of the High School? That was one of the most popular places to go sledding when I was a kid, before that shack at the bottom was built. See someone always managed to make a hump of snow about mid way down. All of us kids would aim our orange day glow sleds at that spot and scream with glee at the thrill you got for taking off in the air even if it�s only for a second. But of course this wasn�t the grand daddy of all goals any child who brought there sled there was seeking. No that would be the ice rink they always made down in the field below. If you got enough speed going you could just hope right over that snow barrier and onto the ice. Why I once got such a good speed going that I zoomed right over that barrier like it was nothing! Got half way across the ice before I took down a group of girls skating on the ice that didn�t see me coming.

Such good days�such marvelous days.

I actually feel sorry for Ex-Prego for taking me on that trip with here. I couldn�t help but blather on and on as nostalgia gripped me tight.

What made this worse, and tripped me out a bit, is the second apartment we went to take a look at. This house converted into an apartment build sat right behind the home I first grew up in. This apartment was even the place that my family�s �arch nemesis� used to live in.

See back then the house we lived in was one of the rare few houses this man didn�t own on the block. All the rest of the houses he had converted into apartments and become somewhat of a slum lord. A very angry, bitter, child hating slum lord who held a tight grip on that block. Well on everyone but my family and this pissed him off to no end.

I guess we got the house before he could and because of this he kept bugging my father to sell it to him. Well I guess we where quite happy living there, especially since it seems I was at the midst of my birth, so my father wasn�t willing to sell to him.

This old man never forgot about this and least of all never forgave us for not bowing down to him.

I remember him rushing out of his house to take our tennis ball we where using to play catch with when it landed in his yard. Him shaking a gnarly hand grasping that tennis ball and telling us kids, �if it lands in my yard then its mine!�

I remember the times of him screaming at me to �get off his lawn!� when I visited the old, friendly couple next door. I was completely clueless what I had done wrong and frightened that some adult had screamed at me for minding my own business. Never knowing he owned that building and despised our family.

Or event he day he went to far and extended his privacy fence to �keep us damn kids off his lawn.� Then sprawling something nasty about our family in paint on the new extension making sure to put it on the side our house was on so we didn�t miss it. To this day I don�t know what it said since I wasn�t able to read yet at that age. All I remember is my red faced brother angrily smearing dirt all over that fence, obscenities spewing from his mouth in such force that it would be all but coherent.

And there I was standing in the very living room this old man used to be in. It had been about twenty years since all that had happened, but I decided to ask the realtor anyways. Ask him who owned this building and how long has he owned it? Well him not being very old himself he didn�t have a clue, but judging by what he told me the person who owns it now isn�t the same old, bitter man of my childhood.

I can only assume that he is dead now and may he find peace in death that he could not achieve or allow others to have.

Now as much as that messed with my mind what truly sent me into the twilight zone was seeing my old house in the day light for the first time in over ten maybe fifteen years.

First off the outside of it is completely redesigned. I�ve actually mentioned this in a past entry when I visited late at night on my way back from the Casino. This time I got a full grasp at how it looked and despite logic telling me I was about four feet shorter back then it still shocked me at how absolutely tiny the lawn looked in comparison to my memory. I mean I�m looking at it and it can�t be more then about fifteen feet long. Yet back when I was a kid my brother, a friend of his, and I used to play pickle on it all the time.

Jesus it seemed like such a long distance to run before I could get tagged back then. Now I�m looking at it and I think I can get across it in five long steps easily.

So just standing there sends me tripping down nostalgia lane. Now after looking at all the rest of the apartments we could it turns out that one behind my old house was the best of the lot.

Now I might have good friends living behind my old childhood home. That kind of trips my mind out a bit. I can imagine going there and just getting the strongest of urge to see what the inside of my old home looks like now that it�s converted into an apartment building.

How much of it has changed? The outside looks almost completely different does that mean they tore down walls and put up new ones in such a way that it�s not recognizable? Will I end up standing outside starring at the house for so long that the current tenants will freak out and call the police on me?

How strange things can turn out sometimes.

It's about time - Wednesday, Jul. 07, 2004
An Honor for Chrome - Friday, Feb. 20, 2004
A great loss - Monday, Oct. 20, 2003
a terrible announcement. - Tuesday, Sept. 09, 2003
Chrome speaks: - Friday, Sept. 05, 2003