A little addition to In the Beginning
In 1974, Harry Chapin wrote a poem about an accident with a truck in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The truck was carrying a load of bananas and crashed. Chapin developed the incident into a kind of cult song that he would play at his live concerts. The song had an original ending that had no audience pull. He tried to amend it and make it more popular. After his first attempt, he played the song for his group and received the following reaction: "Harry, it sucks!" So, as Harry relates in the song, he went back to his lonely writers garret and tried out a new ending. So here I am, in my lonely writers garret, trying to continue this saga. Harry Chapin and I have certain similarities. He always complained that the critics hated his songs. My critics gave me some very interesting reactions to In the Beginning. There were those who wanted more. There were those who were offended. There were those, who after baring my soul to the world, didn't believe a word I had written. In short, the critics did me in. Harry complained about never achieving the popularity that he felt he had coming to him. Seeing as how most of his songs were too long for standard radio time (Taxi Driver, Cat's in the Cradle, 30,000 Pounds of Bananas, and many more), they never got aired. If you pay attention, radio songs are about 3 minutes long. If you listen long enough and count the number of songs that you hear, you can tell what time it is or how much time has elapsed. Just multiply the number of songs by 3. I, also, had a popularity problem. I, also, did not achieve the goals that I strove for. Here I was, a full blooded, full hormoned teenager and all the girls that I met or went out with were interested in my brain, my personality, but not, to my chagrin, not my body.
There we were at camp. There were three more significant experiences at camp. My last year there, 1971, I fell in love with Patti Li. My very first Asian (also my last) experience. As previously written, the last day of camp was a time where all the boundaries between people were removed. At one point during the evening, Patti and I found ourselves spread out on a spread out sleeping bag on the floor of cabin 10. We started with the usual hugging and kissing. As poison ivy was not an issue this year, I had no qualms about things progressing further. Patti, on the other hand, did. Her justification for retarding the physical extension of our relationship: cultural non-compatability. She was Chinese and I wasn't. It was that simple. Undaunted, I tried to continue, if I couldn't get her shirt off, then mine would come off. If I couldn't get her pants off, then mine would. Well, not really. As I was ******* at the time, I was still a little reserved. If the girl wouldn't get naked with me there was no way that I was going to expose myself. I undid the button on my jeans and unzipped my fly. And there we stayed for the rest of the evening. Now you may think that this saga ended there, but it didn't. Almost one year later Patti and I met up again. She was a student at Penn State University. I went out there for an acceptance interview. The interview went really well and I was told that if I was a Pennsylvania resident, I would be accepted for sure. As I was out of state, my chances were very slim. I had been warned that this was to be expected and so was not disappointed by the decision. After the interview, I went looking for Patti. Found her. Had a conversation with her that lasted about 10 minutes, said goodbye and left for home. On the way, while thinking of Patti and how I may have played the situation differently, I apparently didn't pay attention to the speedometer of the car. The Pennsylvania State Trooper that pulled me over apparently did pay attention. I received my first and only speeding ticket. A few days later, I received my formal rejection notice from Penn State. From Patti, I never heard again.
Another significant person at camp was Hynda. Hynda was older, nice looking, and relatively flat chested. At that age, being older was a serious barrier. So it goes. So I waited till I grew up. When was this? When I was a freshman in college. It turned out that I went to college not so very far from where Hynda lived. She, to my great pleasure, was thrilled to hear from me and we went out a few times. One day, I got a phone call from her inviting me and two friends of mine to her house for dinner. So there we were: Stu, Mike and me. And there they were: Hynda and three girls who were from the area and looking for "nice" guys. I was informed in no uncertain terms (nicely, though) that I really should tunnel my energies towards girls who were my own age. Hynda and I could remain friends but no more than that. I was heartbroken by the rejection. So I went to find solace with one of the three that she had chosen. I chose Sue.
We are going to jump ahead a little and finish the Sue saga. It will make for easier reading if it comes together in one chapter.
There we were at camp. There were three more significant experiences at camp. My last year there, 1971, I fell in love with Patti Li. My very first Asian (also my last) experience. As previously written, the last day of camp was a time where all the boundaries between people were removed. At one point during the evening, Patti and I found ourselves spread out on a spread out sleeping bag on the floor of cabin 10. We started with the usual hugging and kissing. As poison ivy was not an issue this year, I had no qualms about things progressing further. Patti, on the other hand, did. Her justification for retarding the physical extension of our relationship: cultural non-compatability. She was Chinese and I wasn't. It was that simple. Undaunted, I tried to continue, if I couldn't get her shirt off, then mine would come off. If I couldn't get her pants off, then mine would. Well, not really. As I was ******* at the time, I was still a little reserved. If the girl wouldn't get naked with me there was no way that I was going to expose myself. I undid the button on my jeans and unzipped my fly. And there we stayed for the rest of the evening. Now you may think that this saga ended there, but it didn't. Almost one year later Patti and I met up again. She was a student at Penn State University. I went out there for an acceptance interview. The interview went really well and I was told that if I was a Pennsylvania resident, I would be accepted for sure. As I was out of state, my chances were very slim. I had been warned that this was to be expected and so was not disappointed by the decision. After the interview, I went looking for Patti. Found her. Had a conversation with her that lasted about 10 minutes, said goodbye and left for home. On the way, while thinking of Patti and how I may have played the situation differently, I apparently didn't pay attention to the speedometer of the car. The Pennsylvania State Trooper that pulled me over apparently did pay attention. I received my first and only speeding ticket. A few days later, I received my formal rejection notice from Penn State. From Patti, I never heard again.
Another significant person at camp was Hynda. Hynda was older, nice looking, and relatively flat chested. At that age, being older was a serious barrier. So it goes. So I waited till I grew up. When was this? When I was a freshman in college. It turned out that I went to college not so very far from where Hynda lived. She, to my great pleasure, was thrilled to hear from me and we went out a few times. One day, I got a phone call from her inviting me and two friends of mine to her house for dinner. So there we were: Stu, Mike and me. And there they were: Hynda and three girls who were from the area and looking for "nice" guys. I was informed in no uncertain terms (nicely, though) that I really should tunnel my energies towards girls who were my own age. Hynda and I could remain friends but no more than that. I was heartbroken by the rejection. So I went to find solace with one of the three that she had chosen. I chose Sue.
We are going to jump ahead a little and finish the Sue saga. It will make for easier reading if it comes together in one chapter.
14 years ago
