MAGGI PICAYUNE

OK, I totally missed the deadline of yesterday. You have to admit the birth of the Gordons’ new child is a pretty solid excuse! Onward since the next two will mark the finale, then I can find something more interesting next Holiday Break.

Christmas got a two-peat in the Nineties, first was the spectacular 1995 gift-giving and travel. However, 1996 was on its way toward being a good yet not great sequel. If those years were movies, I would go with the analogy of Star Trek II and III. Contrary to some critics, The Search for Spock is a good film, it just isn’t great and nowhere close to being as awful as Star Trek I and V.

How so? Financially, I was in even better shape thanks to my permanent position at PowerComputing. Owning a car assisted in the shopping department too; Sonia tagged along with me to San Marcos for the Silders’ gift. Post-Christmas plans were going to rock because I was spending New Year’s in Orlando at Jose’s house! What were the odds of Florida’s weather being suckier than Austin’s? Slim. I regret the Silders not attending, I think the cold climate has damaged their brains! Solid gifts and cards were shipped, none were memorable when I’m pressed to state them.

The hospitalization days before the break didn’t sour my checkbook or mood until later. Florida was on my brain too much!

Sadly, it all started feeling like a Pyrrhic victory without my Austin-based friends. Lee moved to Japan, Eiko moved to Houston (we weren’t close anyway and the married guy she was seeing didn’t help), and Gabe disappeared. I had some friends from work, none were close though. Only Sonia remained…she drove me to the emergency room! In 1994, Sonia extended an offer to join her and her extended family in Houston. I had to decline but regretted not going, it could’ve brightened a rather gloomy time. I received another opportunity from her for 1996 and I pounced on it. From then, I always try to visit Houston mainly to hang with the extended Marroquin Clan due to their generosity at many levels.

The celebrating got a semi-start about a week before Christmas. Sonia had completed her finals at UT and asked if I could give her a ride home the preceding weekend. There was some matchmaking plans as well, I was going to be introduced to a Salvadoran woman around my age. Why? A couple months earlier, Sonia told me she a goal to have me “married off” in five years. I replied facetiously to this statement with “Why do you hate me?” The bigger thrill for me was meeting Sonia’s new boyfriend (now husband) Philippe, a real French dude she recently met. I think we hit it off. I certainly liked him better than the ex-fiancé Charles. Philippe didn’t find any of my questions regarding France or his current stint in their Army stupid or annoying. Years later I told Sonia, “Marry this guy, I like him. He’s cool and when you’re not around we have conversations longer than an exchange of pleasantries!”

Once the pre-Christmas weekend wound down, I left Sonia at her sister’s house with plans to return for Christmas Eve. After meeting all four children belonging to Sonia’s two sisters, the gears in my mind began turning. Actually I was probably more stoked about buying presents for two pre-teens and two teenagers. It would make me a rotten guest if I showed up empty-handed too. Here I totally remember. The teenagers Alex and Tony got CDs: Sheryl Crow’s latest and Green Day. The younger kids Jeremy and Sofia received a Fisher-Price toy bus and Theresa doll respectively; Theresa is Barbie’s brunette friend.

Gifts prepared and work concluded on Christmas Eve, I hauled ass to Houston. It’s a miracle I arrived at a decent hour without the assistance of GPS, an iPhone or Sonia in the passenger seat to navigate.

Everybody congregated to the dining room around mid-evening. Ianus (Sonia’s brother-in-law, pronounced Yawn-us) led us all in a toast to the season and upcoming year. I tried to dodge having to drink the shot of anise (or was it ouzu) because unmixed hard liquor and me don’t get along after my first hangover in 1986. No dice. I managed to hold it in without blowing chunks all over the table. Nothing ruins Christmas dinner like a Yankee guest spewing on one’s parents!

Gifts were exchanged before or after the meal. I think I was a success with the children. Last week, Alex (now an adult and married) mentioned those CDs! Sonia’s family gave me a couple things yet I was basking in the hospitality more, especially after her mother Adela invited me to visit Salvador. This did require Sonia to translate.

On Christmas Day, we lounged around the house, snacked and I was introduced to Sonia’s little custom, watching Steel Magnolias. It must resonate with her for some reason, like Slapshot does at the Silders’ home or The Princess Bride with me. Philippe dropped by. He rode his bicycle numerous miles to see Sonia! Now there was an early sign of his dedication. Good thing the weather in Houston was solid and the traffic was low. Philippe’s parents’ house on the way back to Austin so I was I happy to give him and his bike a lift.

Yeah, it was a bummer we had to go home on Christmas Day, no opportunity to have another relaxing evening eating too much. Our jobs beckoned, mine at PowerComputing and Sonia’s with the optometrist. At least I had a short workweek, two days! Then I was off to Orlando. Sonia also had permission to borrow my apartment (the stereo namely) and car while I was partying with Hoser. You could say she had something to look forward to, wheels!

As I wrap up 1996, I think it was unfair to call it lesser sequel to 1995. Sonia and her family pulled what could’ve been a really blech! (or in French, berk!) day out of the fire, made it an enjoyable reflective celebration. Not a time killer as I was awaiting the sunnier weather and amusements of Central Florida.

When I had my first lonely Christmas in Milwaukee the previous year, one thing I vowed to do was go to the movies. I followed through on this promise and it continued mostly through the Nineties, either by attending or working at a theater. I think the only year which broke the streak was 1996 (up next). Why this activity? It was my original plan when I was living in Milwaukee; with Carrie away at her family’s place, I could see something she didn’t like and continue working until her return for New Year’s. By the Fall of 1991, Milwaukee and Carrie were gone. At least I could catch a flick in Bloomington-Normal’s vast selection.

Let me pull back a couple weeks though. The solitary nature of Christmas wasn’t 100 percent in 1991.

My parents came out from San Diego earlier in the month, took us to dinner at Jumer’s, exchanged gifts and then took Brian back to Southern California (I could be wrong this one). I didn’t go with them due my new gig at GDW (deadlines), nor did I want to. The grandparents refused out of their stubbornness.

Beyond work and the holidays, there was the pre-occupation of getting settled into a new apartment. This guy named Greg I had become friends through our mutual acquaintance Phil. Sadly, Greg was renting a room in a craphole and when he was burglarized, that was the final straw. Being a nice (or naive) person, I scored a place on the nicer east side, invited him to be my roommate. We were roomies for about 18 months before he dicked me over but I got the last laugh, I moved to Austin a few months later. Don’t worry, I bear no ill will toward Greg, he was a good person to share the place.

Once the swinging bachelors pad was established, I did what I could to enjoy the bleak week (Christmas was in the middle). I dropped by Grandma’s house to make sure everybody present was alive and functional. She had plans to spend the day with another family for the big meal, and probably talk crap about her family being away. Next, I spent a couple hours working on some book for GDW. The office was freezing so I probably accomplished very little. Then I hit the local multiplex to see Beauty and the Beast with my feast of overpriced popcorn and soda. There must’ve been nothing else to see. I recall being skeptical about Beauty, CBS had a weekly show while I was in college, why was Disney trotting out this tired story. I ended up enjoying it more than expected; the Princess formula was relatively new, by Mulan it was predictable and dull.

Post Christmas was the greatest time! Phil returned from his folks’ place to play D&D during his holiday break and when New Year’s Eve rolled around, we headed to Chicago to ring in 1992 at the Silders’! I hadn’t seen them since graduation. The several years I spent at their house made New Year’s the tradition I preferred. Said celebration entailed drinking beer, hitting the nearby cop/fireman bar, Nerf battles (William Tell is a favorite game), eating chili, watching Slapshot and cheering against Notre Dame, back when the bowl games weren’t dragged out over a month.

The Silder Party was the greatest ending to the Pyrrhic victory 1991 turned into: I landed an interesting job (GDW) yet lost my girlfriend (Carrie) and current home (Milwaukee). Too bad I was too blind to all the other warning signs on the horizon for 1992: Mythus, GDW’s legal problems, an alcoholic co-worker, ISU being a lame scene and the real cost of living in Central Illinois.

As per the song, I technically have until January 6, 2012 to complete this series and since it’s my last run of it, I do want to finish. There’s just so many other things jumbled up to bang out too. It’s definitely the downside of having the best holiday break I’ve ever had in 15 years; there will be stuff regarding the recent trip too. I’m going to mix in other things to keep my site from being filled with too much navel gazing.

To the Wayback Machine, set it to 1986!

Somehow I felt a cautious optimism when I completed my first semester of university. No idea why. The holiday break had been a dreadful two weeks in high school (1982-85) with a few high spots. How was college going to be any different? Well, I thought that maybe absence made the heart grow fonder between parents and their college-age offspring. No dice when it came to my parents.

I had been to Grandma’s over Thanksgiving, had the traditional stuff-your-face meal and then headed back by Saturday morning out of boredom. The ennui I experienced was a major reason why I never told the RA (resident advisor) when I completed my last exam; dorm policy stated you had to vacate within 24 hours. I don’t think Marquette really cared if stuck around, worked some extra hours in the cafeteria and took afternoon naps. Besides, I weaseled a ride to O’Hare from Paul’s family (now my neighbor) and they would be picking us up Sunday.

I covered the last day of finals celebrations five years ago, so I’ll jump to the days following the return to my interim home.

Once I recuperated from the first of what would be many hangovers, I started enjoying the downtime (more sleeping, eating and watching cable when Grandma wasn’t hoarding the remote). I remained nervous about how my grades would pan out because Philosophy 001, CoPA 003 and CoPA 001 had relatively difficult exams. History 001 and Speech 012 were a breeze for me yet only worth five hours.

Brian was still in high school, I saw him during the evenings or when he wasn’t hanging with the friends he made at Central Catholic. Despite our differences, Brian was cool enough to discuss my dyed hair in private. I figure he experienced enough drama from our grandparents on a weekly basis.

Dyed hair? Me? It’s a short story and it wasn’t an outrageous color. I used to be (and still am) a huge Berlin fan. I decided to color it a red shade. When the goop was applied to my hair, it came out more like bronze. Ergo, it wasn’t a huge shift like Blonde or Jet Black. What does dyed hair have to do with Berlin? Especially with that crappy hit they had for Top Gun? Very little. I was enthralled with Terri Nunn’s earlier look for Love Life.

Anyway, it would grow out, life would go on. Maybe I’d do it again.

This changed the evening the ‘rents showed up from North Dakota. I think I was mentally ill because I was excited to see them, something I would never be again throughout college; cautiously optimistic was the best mood afterwards. What happened? I greeted Mom at the door anticipating a hug, an exchange of pleasantries and offering to help bring in the luggage. What I got was, “What the hell did you do to your hair?!” Not, “It’s great to see you,” or something nice. I should’ve hopped on a bus to Milwaukee the following day. The remaining time was dreadful, except for one evening.

Cindy (a Beulah friend) convinced her family to stay in Bloomington (they were headed to some other state for Christmas) one night so the two of us could catch up. We must’ve talked past midnight in the hotel’s indoor pool area. I think I was starved for the peer-level company and I can easily say, seeing Cindy was a brief respite of sunshine.

Once Brian was on his school’s holiday break, the ‘rents took us with them to go shopping in Chicago. I’m confident arguing ensued. The good news I did learn was Dad’s possible job lead near Philly. We could finally escape North Dakota altogether! I would have a real city to spend the upcoming Summer of 1987 in, not eeking by on minimum wage while living at Grandma’s.

Christmas Day happened. Gifts were exchanged, food was eaten, naps taken and boredom ensued. Dad flew back to North Dakota while negotiating his new gig around Philly. Mom and Brian took a road trip to the Philly area to scope the region. I stayed behind to secretly buy the present I really wanted…a CD player. Seems rather funny now. CD players are ubiquitous in computers, cars and cheap boomboxes. Plus they’re on their way out thanks to downloadable music and MP3 players.

I received enough money from everyone to get a decent model. However, my parents were set against it. They felt the dough should’ve been put away to pay for textbooks or other college expenses, as if they were contributing; Grandpa, Grandma and my scholarship covered Marquette, not them.

With the naysayers gone, I spent practically a whole day using Bloomington-Normal’s bus lines to travel between K’s Merchandise Mart, the Normal public library, the bank and Apple Tree Records. The first CD I bought was Split Enz’s True Colours and I checked out Duran Duran’s Rio and Lone Justice’s debut. Listening to that music through the headset was awesome. No hissing, no popping, no skipping or the alleged warmth vinyl provides. Playing an album from start-to-finish didn’t require flipping over at the half-way point. (I somewhat miss those days.) I only got to enjoy the new toy for a couple days. Brian and Mom returned by New Year’s, forcing me to hide the player in my luggage until I went back to school.

What else happened? I read the novel version of Alien by Alan Dean Foster. I probably couldn’t find Aliens. The book matches the movie pretty closely and the deleted scenes were present: Ripley finds Dallas while escaping from the Nostromo. I always retained the trivial fact of where the doomed crew found the creature, Zeta Reticuli, a mere 39 light years from Earth.

The four weeks finally came to an end and Mom took me back to Milwaukee. I’m sure there was a lecture about loose women, drinking and studying harder; my 3.4 wasn’t good enough. I don’t know about her but even I knew Animal House was a movie, not a documentary.

Hunter’s gift of a D&D Basic Set coincidentally happened on the 30th anniversary of when I got into it. We really bought it because Paizo finally made something equivalent and he is now 12; giving him the $50 rule book would be overwhelming, impractical and possibly a waste. The Basic Set these days starts off like a board game which is smarter approach…help lay down the core mechanics, then if he truly enjoys playing, Hunter can let us know he wants to continue, he won’t get any resistance from me.

This dovetails to the last Christmas I spent in Springfield, IL. None of us knew it would be though, Dad’s offer to Houston happened four months later and I don’t think he was actively looking. I don’t think there was any sign of layoffs with his governmental department yet, a couple Summer shutdown days without pay courtesy of St. Reagan and Big Jim (the Illinois ex-governor who should be in jail but isn’t). What the near future held didn’t matter, it was Christmas Break! No school for two weeks. I could work on D&D crap all I wanted, listen to WDBR-FM, watch the limited fare Cable TV offered and maybe the ‘rents would take me to the mall for some Aladdin’s Castle action.

How I wish I remembered what I gave Brian or anybody else. I do recall my primary loot: a D&D Expert Set and some minis, back in the day when these were made of lead, not post-1993 pewter or plastic.

Looking back, the two weeks do appear to be an unmemorable blur. I don’t recall any movies or meals, not even knock-down, dragged-out arguments.

In my self-centered, pre-teen brain, Springfield was the end of the line. This is where I would live, attend Griffin High School and whatever. College seemed far away at 13.

With every night being a “Saturday,” I found myself stay up very late and discovering David Letterman’s new show. Everyone was still jeering NBC’s decision to dump Tom Snyder for this failed talk-show host; Letterman’s first attempt failed because it was a daytime program aimed at the wrong audience. I was likely to be on this negative bandwagon yet I had no clue about Tomorrow. Letterman’s goofiness and offbeat bits swayed my opinion. He was a Johnny Carson for my age group with mix of things I was more familiar with: Monty Python, SNL and spontaneity. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always liked Johnny, the man had incredible timing, he just belonged to my grandparents through his more subtle approach to comedy.

Maybe it’s a good thing we did move to Houston if all I can solidly remember from Springfield ’81 was late-night television.