I Reorganize
or
How to Make New Friends
Posted 5/5/08
1 And so it happened that, at that time, I was summoned by one or more of my parents and 2 was made to sit in silence whilst they 3 pronounced upon me the decree that I should not be attending Balboa Jr. High School in my ninth grade year….
4 And, lo, I was NOT happy about it….
And then, 5 in the fullness of time, it was revealed unto me wither I wouldst be spending my ninth grade year…
6 And, again, I was NOT 7 happy about it…
8 “Thou shalt become a student at St. Bonaventure High School.”
9 And there was great wailing and gnashing of teeth…
“And further, 10 Thou shalt become a GOOD student at St. 11 Bonaventure High School.”
And at that moment, 12 all of the birds in the sky fell to the Earth and were slain and their foul carcasses were gulped down by the beasts of the fields. 13 And the beasts of the fields, having consumed the decaying flesh were poisoned by it and 14 succumbed to the rotting flesh of the birds of the sky. 15 And the corpses of the beasts of the fields were devoured by the insects and other vermin of the land…
16 And a great depth of darkness and a great storm of utter despair enveloped me, and I was alone…. 17 And the Earth ceased to revolve…
…Until it dawned on me that this could be a great way to meet new friends…. Friends who might be musicians, like myself…. Friends who might be in the market for a few other friends who might be in the market for a few friends who might be in the market for a spot in a band… one that actually wanted to play the same music at the same time and at the same rate of speed…
I became cautiously optimistic that this might not be a completely bad thing. The one possible caveat was the adjective “good” preceding the noun “student”… I had to take an entrance exam….
Historically, I was not a good student. I was an OK student. Barely. And it only went downhill when I got to High School. In fact, at dinner tonight, Judy and I were talking about high school, and the fact that I only did homework three times a year (the last week of any given quarter), and she came out with the statement “You know, it was really nice of St. Bonaventure to let you graduate.” And she was serious… (In college, I was actually a pretty good student most of the time…) Yet another topic for another biography…
But I had a few weeks to bone up on English and Math. The only issue there was that it would seriously cut into my guitar practice time. But I thought about it and decided that, if there was a chance that I could meet some guys with the same aspirations as me, it might be worth the effort to study up and pass the entrance exam. Besides, I could do some studying while I was babysitting, so it might not cut into my first priority that much.
I took the “long run” approach and managed to get into the school. I started the following September…
… And that’s where I met Bob Moraga. Then Scott McLane, Mike Kinart, Tim Redd, Al Gandy, Havert Sealy and Daamen Krall…
And not too long after that, I would loose my complete collection of Beach Boys albums…
Mary Alice Staggs Says:May 8, 2008 at 12:18 pm editHi, Bill, Pat and Judy Byrne are in our small faith sharing group, and we met last nite…..Pat was tellling us about your website and just emailed it to me. I just wanted to say hi, hope all is well, and I will enjoy reading your bio here!! take care, our best to your family….Mary Alice at IHM
Things With Six Strings 