Just a quick footnote before I commence with today's post. In the previous blog entry entitled "94' News" I covered a few world events that had taken place at the time. These events actually occurred between 1991 and 1994 but everything seemed to culminate close to the same time period. I also hadn't made mention of much happenings outside of my own life, so I figured it best to tie them all together in one post. I just wanted to clear this up so people weren't under the impression that I was off as far as the time frame goes, or confused as to the actual chronological order of my story. Now let us move forward...
Summer was here, and we had embraced it. My three roommates and I were taking full advantage of having our own place, as were the majority of our friends, as they all now had a flop house to hang out at. It wasn't uncommon for all of us to got o a bar in the city on a Friday or Saturday night, and then have all the crew over to our place afterwards to keep the party going, usually until the sun started to peek up over the horizon.
When I wasn't partying, most of my free time was spent watching movies with my girl Tara, or my homies, jamming in the basement, making mix tapes, and skateboarding with Steve Waller. I was still working midnight shifts at the gas station in Woodbridge, and I used that time mainly to write lyrics. Sometimes I'd work on my comic strips or read a book, but I always made a point of writing at least two full pages of lyrics every night. I had purchased a hard cover notebook from the dollar store, and that would go on to be the first of many "rhyme books". Each night at work when it was time to write, I'd go back a page to see what I left off on. From there I'd use the same rhyme scheme as the last line on the previous page to start my new page. My philosophy in doing so, was that once completed, the entire book would read as one giant rhyme. Some of the stuff I wrote was mediocre, some of it was garbage, and some of it was straight up gold. All that mattered to me was that I was expressing my inner thoughts and elevating my writing and rapping skills.
Pauly had gotten a drum machine for our Black Belt Jones project, and he let me bring it to work a few times to start crafting beats, which was a godsend in itself. Working midnights can be very boring so I was always looking for things to occupy my time, more so in a productive and creative way. I'd start work at 11pm but things would generally come to a screeching halt by 1am. I'd do two solid hours of work including inventory and dealing with customers, then it would be like a ghost town until about 530-6am. So I would basically have 4-5 hours to kill every night, and I needed things to occupy my time so I could avoid falling asleep from utter boredom.
By the morning I'd be dead on my feet, yet I still had to do a 30 minute bus ride to get home. I'd usually read on the bus, but after working a graveyard shift the reading would make me very tired. It wasn't uncommon for me to fall asleep reading and miss my bus stop all together. This was a pain in my ass, as all I would want was my bed, and now I'd have to travel further and wait longer to get to it. I didn't even have a real bed, just a mattress on the floor in the basement. It was situated under the stairs from our living room to the front door. It was impossible to get any sleep with my roomies and friends constantly opening and closing the front door, tromping up and down the stairs, and having conversations all within an earshot of my resting place. After chewing the guys out a few times, Mike suggested that I sleep in his room upstairs, as he was already gone to work when I arrived home in the mornings. Mike was a great friend indeed, not many people would offer you their bed, but in him doing so I was able to get some decent sleep finally.
We were also now getting heat from the owner of the house as well as the neighbors, due to our lack of upkeep. Everyone around us had nicely groomed lawns, yet our grass was well over a foot long and riddled with weeds. I don't even think any of us owned a lawnmower to be quite honest. To make matters worse, we lived at the inner end of a dead end street, meaning our house was basically a spectacle for everyone else who lived on the street. I'd constantly see people spying out their curtains trying to catch a glimpse of what was going on inside our abode. I'd also see neighbors out on the street "talking" which was really just their ruse to be nosy and keep eyes on us. With all the friends we had constantly dropping by I could only imagine what was going through our neighbors minds. It was just a matter of time before someone dropped a dime on us and the boys in blue came knocking on the door.
As the old say goes... "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen"
Well the heat was up full, and it was definitely time for us to find a new kitchen...
