The times I spent in early 1995 were unlike any other. Being in a relationship with Lisa - and out on our own - was a unique experience and I enjoyed nearly every minute of it. Our little, somewhat-crummy apartment at Woodman Park had been transformed into a rather respectable living location.
Of course, as always, I was going crazy with my hobbies. But I did begin to pinch my pennies a bit, so instead of renting dozens of laserdiscs each week to record onto videotape, I began borrowing some from George and renting less. I bought a huge number of CD’s from my pal Scott Howard early in the year at a very reduced rate (like $2 or $3 each) at a time when he needed some quick cash. Later that year when his financial status became a little bit better, I would sell 22 out of the 59 that I bought back to him at the same price I had paid. But for the most part, I refrained by buying many CD’s this year, purchasing only about 25 additional discs, an all-time low.
One of the reasons I was trying to save money was that I finally purchased a new (used) car, growing tired of the old cantankerous ‘78 Buick Regal. This time I ended up with a maroon ’89 Toyota Celica and it would hang out with me for about eight years. I’m inside it, travelling to Florida in the photo at the top of the posting.
Lisa (above right with ‘Teddy’) was a cashier at the Beavercreek Kroger when we first met, but early in the year, she ended up working up in the front office with me. That was an interesting experience -working with my girlfriend - which would lead to occasional bickering, but it beat her working for me as a cashier. She took a break from work to go to Florida for Spring Break with another Kroger employee Amy Yri and some other girls. I think she behaved, although I was not thrilled with the ‘bikini’ contest she nearly won.
I spent a lot of time in 1995 working on Dante’s Info over at my Dad’s, as a previous posting indicated. Following Dante’s #11, Bill Cappello introduced me to another Our Gang member with whom I would conduct an interview. His name was Bill Wolfstone and he was a very nice guy, providing me with some great stories of his career and some rare autographs as well.
Bill Cappello also tracked down another very elusive Our Gang member who had never been located and selflessly turned her contact information over to me. This was Janet Burston, a leading lady who replaced Darla Hood in the late Little Rascals films. This discovery and interview was on par with the enormity of the previous one in Beverly Crane. You can read more about her in an upcoming posting.
Lisa’s 19th birthday was on May 18. One of the gifts that I gave her was a needlepoint of a cow which said “NO SMOOOOOOking” (or something to that effect). I made the generous offer to quit smoking in our apartment when she finally completed the needlepoint. What a guy I was!
On Sunday, May 28, we held our first Sons of the Desert meeting at the Woodman Park Apartments, highlighted by a showing of a batch of rare (at the time) films. Other meetings from this time period were held on April 30 at Charles’ house featuring a double feature of Air Raid Wardens and Nothing But Trouble, and on July 9 at my Dad’s house featuring Our Relations.
One other idea I had was to have a ‘theme’ each month to determine what movies we would watch together. Since I was amassing quite a collection of duped films, it was sometimes hard to pick out what to watch. So each month I would pick a theme (Steve Martin, for instance) and then list five or so movies to watch of his. Lisa was less than enthused, but we kept it up for a few months.
As Summer rolled around, school came to an end for me, but I believe Lisa continued to take some Summer classes. I was only taking one class at a time in order to fulfill the credits required for a degree in Business Management: Human Resource Management. I have no real memory of this class whatsoever. Final Grade: B (9 points, 3 credit hours).
We took advantage of having a swimming pool at our apartment and would go there often to swim and lay out, surrounded by the sounds of a boom box playing The Who’s Tommy, an album I listened to incessantly around this time. We also occasionally used the tennis court on the apartment property. That is, until Lisa got mad about losing a game and broke a tennis racquet in half. By 2000, after I had put on some weight, she would be able to cream me in the game, prompting me to throw my racquet across the court in Myrtle Beach. Fun game, huh!?!
We spent the Summer partying with friends (Lisa is quite tipsy in the photo above), cooking out with family, going to Kings Island (as seen at left - that’s me with workfriends Heather and Mike in line for Whitewater Canyon), seeing Penn and Teller live, occasionally travelling to Sidney to visit her family, and on a great trip to Florida. But before that particular trip, there was my incredible solo Hollywood trip…
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