A few memories…

When I was born, it was in Austin Texas. I was born at Seaton Memorial, which is no longer there. It has been torn down. We lived in campus housing there at UT and some apartments on North Lamar Blvd. They are still there. Soon afterward, we moved to Kirbyville Texas where I lived until my 8th grade year then I moved to Jasper to live with my mother and I graduated from Jasper High school in 1989.

Throughout my whole life I always wanted to live as far away from there as I could, I even said that I wanted to live in New Your City, I got very close to there, Massachusetts was about 5 hours from there. I also felt this incredible draw to Austin Texas. I did make it back to Austin, but it was not what I expected.

I was a big partier when I was about 18 years old until I was 29 and I decided to get my life straightened out. All the while, I always had the vision or dream if you will about if I was able to go and live in Austin that my life would be complete. I would have the friends that I wanted to have and the job that I needed, the girl, bla bla bla and so on and so forth. I can still picture that scene with me and my friends walking down a street in Austin laughing and joking with each other. I can still remember the clothes and hair that I would have as strange as that is.

Looking back on this dream, I can tell that I was part of my addiction manifesting itself at an early age. I was never really comfortable in my own skin even at an early age; I had friends and had what I wanted, but it was more than that. I was an unrest that I could never put my finger upon until later in my life after I got clean and sober. I have been clean and sober for over 5 years now. I did make it to my promise land, Austin, and the things that I sought after for so many years did not come to fruition. I was deeply in the throes of my addiction at that time and was miserable with myself and everyone around me.

Some good did come out of me moving to Austin, I did get clean and I did get married to a very special and wonderful person whom I love and admire. I have a wonderful daughter. I have a family of my own and even though at times it might be hard, I would not trade it for anything in the world. We have done more in the last 5+ years together then I could have ever have hoped for when I was out there suffering with my disease. My life has turned out well, better that I could have hoped for thanks to my wife who has stood there for me when times were bad.


With that, I bid you a good night…


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Music Memories...

Isn’t it funny how certain songs can tie you to a time period or person? The other day I was driving down the road listening to a band called Revenge. The song was called "State Of Shock" and it was a new version released on an album called "One True Passion V2.0" I have the original version called "One True Passion" and the next album called "Gun World Porn" that the song came from. Any way, I am rambling with back information.

So, anyway, I was driving down the road and was listening to the song and it reminded me of when I lived in Nacogdoches Texas in Wind Hill apartments. I had a friend, Jason Rhame, and he loved that song and we would play the hell out of it all the time. He moved away as did I and we kept in touch for several years and then we lost touch. I moved around a little and so did he. Well, I decided to try to find him and I tried to get his parents number in Nacogdoches and called them, no answer, so I went to www.zabasearch.com and did a search for his name and I found it in Houston.

There were several of the name. I called a few and left messages to call me and low and behold I received a call last week from him!! It was good to hear from an old friend from long ago and to catch up on recent times. We talk about once a week and are going to keep up with each other. It is just funny how music can spark memories of events and time…



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Another realization of the end of summer...

As I wrote the last post, it got me to thinking about other memories.  One was that with the end of summer, there would be more order at the house. All of the kids have been out for the summer and have been able to say up all night and watch TV or surf the net.  They would sleep all day and repeat this again.  I was not real bad about this; perhaps only when I had a friend over and we would watch movies, o net was available back then. With the advent of school approaching, kids have to go to sleep at a descent time.  Our time for daughter is 10.30pm to be in bed and asleep. Not to be up asking questions and saying I forgot or I need to tell you something. Growing kids need their sleep and rest and this is an issue that we try to make daughter understand.  I was really never that bad about sleep.

 

Another realization is that there are no more real holidays until Thanksgiving and Christmas. Yes it is a long stretch until then.  Halloween comes around, but that is not a  holiday unless you are a pagan then you might try to get the day off. I can remember when I was in college having to go to football games during that weekend with the band.  When I was younger, I would go skiing with my father to Colorado. So that was something to look forward to during that long stretch between September and November.  After that, Christmas comes very quick so I would make my Christmas list and give it to all concerned…

 

Perhaps more later as I think about things.

 

RMStringer

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood

over questions of reality and illusion.

I know this: if life is an illusion, then I

am no less an illusion, and being thus, the

illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I

love, I slay, and I am content.

(Robert E. Howard, Queen of the Black Coast, Weird Tales, May 1934)

 

The End Of Summer...

Well my friends, another summer has come to a close.  Labor Day has come and tomorrow it will have gone the way of all other holidays of yesteryear.  With the closing of summer, all the kids will be going back to school with their mothers not believing that they have advance to another grade and they have grown another 2 inches!  One might say “ We just bought you jeans in March, I can’t believe that you have outgrown them.”  I have heard my wife say that many times.  With the closing of summer, people scurry around to get last minute items on the school list that their kids need. 

 

I always hated the last day before school started because the realization was there that school will start tomorrow.  Understand though, I did not dislike school. The Jerry Lewis Telethon that plays all day Labor Day long was always a final reminder to me that summer is officially over.   I always had a friend over that day and we would play but they had to go home because school was the next day.  I would always look forward to the weekends so I could go or have company at my house or stay with a friend on Friday night.  Another sign in the finality of summer is the fact that the day are starting to get shorter and the night longer.  With a hurried pace, kids will be going to school and getting assignments to take home and projects to work on.  With the Labor Day weekend nearly finished, families will finish up their last minute vacations and will return home to get things in order for the new school season.  But with the ending of summer, some things come anew. 

 

I always anticipated the starting of a new Television Season as the ending of summer always marked a new season of new shows and the continuation of old TV series.  Yes, the summer season of reruns is nearly over with the ending of summer. I can remember me eagerly awaiting the newest episode of Saturday Night Live or way back in the day, Miami Vice. With the ending of summer, the Big Networks will do Labor Day Marathons of the big TV hits from the last season so as to let everyone that did not get to see them the last year or missed a few episodes to catch up and get ready for the shocking conclusion that left you hanging in May of that year. Labor Day was always bitter sweet for me.  It meant that most of my Friday Nights were tied up with Football Games and performing with the band and long trips to away games.  They were hot trips as in Texas “winter” never really hit until December or January and the band uniforms were wool. It was also a time to make new friends that might have moved into the town and reunite with old friends that you lost touch with over the summer. 

 

The end of summer also meant that it was time to get new clothes for the upcoming school year.  I always love to go to the mall and get the latest fashion for men and getting a few new pairs of shoes. I was always a coat man and I love to be able to get a new one for the new year and I could not wait until it was cold enough to wear it! Yes my friends, the end of summer is and always will be a bitter sweet time for us all…

 

God Bless!

RMStringer

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood

over questions of reality and illusion.

I know this: if life is an illusion, then I

am no less an illusion, and being thus, the

illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I

love, I slay, and I am content.

(Robert E. Howard, Queen of the Black Coast, Weird Tales, May 1934)

 

Back at work...

Yesterday was basically my "day off" I got home around 8.15am, ate breakfast, showered and went to sleep. I got up around 3.30pm, drank a Full Throttle and the preceded to mow the lawn. It was hot and I also had to rake the grass off our hill.

I have been in a very reflective mood over the past few days and thinking about old long gone friends that I used to have. I have moved around a lot and made friends around the country. Through the years, I have lost several long time friends.

One friend that I lost I met in High School when I was in 11th grade. He had some issues and left dropped out from his other school He came to our school from another one. As it turned out, we had many things of interest, mainly music and partying and had some common friends. As the years followed, he moved to College Station (A&M) and I went to Nacogdoches (SFA) for college. We stayed in touch and got together when we could on Christmas and Thanksgiving breaks and during the summers.

I moved back home and attended Lamar Institute of Technology and he moved to Galveston to attend UTMB. He got his PHD in Genetic Chemistry and I got a Tech degree for LIT. During this time we both got heavily into drugs and did so for many years going to Houston and visiting a friend and all forms a debauchery ensued for many years. A long a bout 2001, while he was living on the East Coast, I was in Austin, I got clean and sober which was a good thing! He and I continued to talk and chat, share music and stuff like that via the internet. As fate would have it, we ended up living on the East Coast as well and visited a few times. He had become a research scientist for a government agencies and became all mature...

He tried to enforce his morals on me and we had several arguments and did not speak for some time (we are not speaking at the present and have not for over 6 months) He wools call out of the blue, drunk or so it seamed, and want to send me gifts, Very strange behavior. And then want to act like my Dad and enforce his morals again. His behavior became very eradiate and strange while my life had become very "normal" with being married and hopping about the country with my fire and daughter. It appears that all we really ever had in common was drugs and that when that was taken away; there was really no fiber as it were to sustain a friendship. With his erratic behavior we are no longer on speaking terms. He, several months ago, wanted me to come up and visit him and go to his girlfriend’s house. I was very uncomfortable with this idea and did not.

To this day, I do not know how or where he is and I guess that is for the best. Some chapters in your life need to be closed and kept closed. This is one in my life. I now have other friends that I do much more meaningful things with like ride mountain bikes and go to movies with. Life is nice here in Midlothian if only for a fleeting moment...

Time will tell.



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Beaumont Texas...Circa 1994

I lived in Settler's Cove Apartments in Beaumont Texas in 1993 and 1994. We called it Suckers Cove. It was Beaumont's premier dysfunctional community back then. They were close to Parkdale Mall which was nice.

During my stay there, I was a writer for a Public Press magazine in Beaumont called Image Magazine. I did music reviews for it. A friend named Cliff Lofton ran the mag and he also did promotions at Phaze 2 dance club like Trash Disco, Starz Reunions (which still go on in Beaumont) and various other things around the "Golden Triangle"

It was fun during those times. I was attending the Lamar Institute of Technology for at that time, computer robotics. That later became nothing as I left school, got engaged, and moved to Tempe Arizona. That will be another story for another day. We always went to the club and over to Houston to Numbers Club. I knew the owner and he also owned Record Rack (RIP). His name was Bruce Godwin. I used to purchase massive amounts of music from him at Record Rack back in the day. Needless to say, those were heady times back then running the roads from Houston to Beaumont to Louisiana at any time during the day or night. It is a wonder that I am still alive...

I have come a long way since then. It is nice to revisit old memories, but that is all, never go back down them and learn from them...
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