If I were writing a soap opera this is the part of my life that would get the best ratings. I began work at a TV station for nearly no money, played in a band and was one of two eligible guys in a group of twenty news women. While I would love to entertain all the bored house wives out there, I will save the good stuff for my deathbed memoirs.
The reality, when the buzz of year one on my own wore off, was broke, no longer in a band and engaged. Certainly the bright spot in this cold shower was Andee. If there is ever a story of love sneaking up from behind this was it. We had known each other for years and worked one desk away for seven months then one day we were crazy for each other. With the exception of a rough spot here and there it has been that way for thirteen years. And while she would have probably never signed on to what was to come if she had known, she didn't.
I first saw Andee (Andrea Wattelet) from a Freshman dorm window. I was watching football in the community tv room when we heard a bunch of girls yelling outside. "Someone tell those bitches to shut up!" one gentlemen suggested.
"No way," another replied. "One of them is hot."
That was enough to get everyone to the window. It turned out the hot one was my future wife.
We ended up declaring the same major and got to know each other briefly during a couple shared classes. We had a couple mutual friends but never got to know each other all that well until we both ended up working at the local ABC affiliate. The job was basically announcing every "hot deal" a local store came up with but we did get our pictures taken with a philandering Soap Star and party with some drunken sitcom folks who would have rather been dead.
After a couple weeks of dating we decided we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together wherever one of us found some other job.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Goldfish #4 "Finally Legal"
My parents and I had some pretty good luck with our extract batches and I developed a taste for quality beer. But it was now back to college in Kirksville where my appreciation for crappy beer, pool, darts and the ladies moved into the front seat. By this time I had also celebrated my 21st birthday, and while I loved the home-brewed beer it was now awfully tempting to take the quick 8 pack of Rhinelander off the Hy-Vee shelf.
It is around this time in my life that I would have fallen hopelessly into the "Sex, Bad Beer & Rock and Roll" phase of my life if a band shake-up hadn't resulted in my friend Brad joining my college band as the drummer.
I first met Brad Freshman year of college. He happened to be in my English class. The only thing I remembered about the class was that it sucked and there was a guy in the class that claimed to play drums (probably in a mandatory essay on hobbies.)
Later that year we decided we needed a new drummer in the band and I said I knew a guy we should ask. I had never spoken a word to Brad during the class, but I was sure if I looked him up he would play with us. I couldn't have been more right. I walked over to his dorm room one Friday night and introduced myself. He remembered I was in his class and invited me in. We talked about music for about five minutes and he said he would be happy to bring his drums up from home and join the group. At least I think that's what he must have said before offering me half of a gallon jug of his finest wine.
Brad turned out to be a great addition to our band but even better for my future career. It turned out Brad's brother was a crazy homebrewer with automatic temperature gauges and everything. Within a year of first speaking with each other Brad and I had turned part of our rental house into a brewery. Our other roommate Ryan, who hadn't discovered beer yet, wasn't thrilled but didn't complain too much when the house smelled of boiling hops or shards of glass exploded everywhere in summer. We still stuck to extract malt brewing but we experimented like crazy.
By the end of my time at Northeast Missouri State University in May of 1996 I was sure my music career was about to take off, brewing was still a hobby and in the meantime I would make commercials at the local television station.
It is around this time in my life that I would have fallen hopelessly into the "Sex, Bad Beer & Rock and Roll" phase of my life if a band shake-up hadn't resulted in my friend Brad joining my college band as the drummer.
I first met Brad Freshman year of college. He happened to be in my English class. The only thing I remembered about the class was that it sucked and there was a guy in the class that claimed to play drums (probably in a mandatory essay on hobbies.)
Later that year we decided we needed a new drummer in the band and I said I knew a guy we should ask. I had never spoken a word to Brad during the class, but I was sure if I looked him up he would play with us. I couldn't have been more right. I walked over to his dorm room one Friday night and introduced myself. He remembered I was in his class and invited me in. We talked about music for about five minutes and he said he would be happy to bring his drums up from home and join the group. At least I think that's what he must have said before offering me half of a gallon jug of his finest wine.
Brad turned out to be a great addition to our band but even better for my future career. It turned out Brad's brother was a crazy homebrewer with automatic temperature gauges and everything. Within a year of first speaking with each other Brad and I had turned part of our rental house into a brewery. Our other roommate Ryan, who hadn't discovered beer yet, wasn't thrilled but didn't complain too much when the house smelled of boiling hops or shards of glass exploded everywhere in summer. We still stuck to extract malt brewing but we experimented like crazy.
By the end of my time at Northeast Missouri State University in May of 1996 I was sure my music career was about to take off, brewing was still a hobby and in the meantime I would make commercials at the local television station.
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