Doing what you are supposed to?

[Cut-Throat]

It just dawned on me, that if I did what most everyone recommended that I do when I was growing up and in High School that I really would have had a boring life!

The best times in my life have been when I bucked the trend, went against the grain and lived life on the edge.

I used to go to the High School guidance counselors, and they would ask me what my interests were. I was thinking Trout Fishing - They were thinking (He looks like he could be a good accountant).

One thing that I did that was really responsible in my life was back when I was 19 and working for the summer before going to college. My friends all loaded up their Van and went out to a Summer Concert in New York. They asked me to go! I told them, I should keep working that week to save more money. You guessed it Woodstock! - It is the one Major Regret in my Life!

No Woodstock for me! - I gotta go on that African Safari though.

 

[Rich]

Interesting thread. My parents wanted me to go to college after high school and "become" somebody. Hated school, flunked out of college. Much to parents chagrin I went into service (four yrs AF), came out, tried college one more time, put in a year, then went on to join NYPD. Retired as a lt. in 1990, on to chief of my little Cape Cod town. Great career, financially very secure, will retire with a nice, nice combination of three pensions (NYPD, my chief's job, and SS). House paid off and I'm waaaay better off than most of the people my parents would have had me follow. Well, at least I got my BA and Masters, which made them happy....

 

[MJ]

Hey CT,

Don't feel too bad, some of us did go but due to the major traffic jams, wound up getting stuck on Rte 17. Still had a good time and have some nice memories.

MJ

 

[BUM]

One thing that I did that was really responsible in my life was back when I was 19 and working for the summer before going to college. My friends all loaded up their Van and went out to a Summer Concert in New York. They asked me to go! I told them, I should keep working that week to save more money. You guessed it Woodstock! - It is the one Major Regret in my Life!

Hey C-T talk about close but no cigar. One of my nose-to-the-grindstone regrets is that during Woodstock I was taking tolls at the Rte. 17 exit (exit 16) on the NYS Thruway :-/ I was 19 too!...making time and a half.

BUM

 

[Ol_Rancher]

Well the Ol' Rancher did go to Wodstock and was there all 4 days. I was a Hendrix fan and it was the 4th and final time I saw him.

Some little known facts: The Greatful Dead were the biggest dissapointment of the concert. Rain, fear of electrocution and on stage bickering ruined their performance. Never followed them after that.

Santana was the biggest surprise. Nobody knew who the Saturday afternoon conga drums driven group was.

Janice, and then the Airplane came on so late that most people were sleep deprived and missed much of them.

Hendrix was to have played Sunday night but overdosed on acid and was playing air guitar back stage all night and had to come on Monday after a rude wake up from Sha Na Na.

Each of us got lost from whoever we went with and became one with the high tide 400,000 population, A million and a half were turned away at the parkways.

I stood up 75 feet from stage center looked around at them and was in a sea of people.. After the rain I was the only person within several hundred yards with dry matches.

I did what I now know I was supposed to do. With a whole box of kitchen matches in a plastic baggy I must have lit each of the 200 matches on a different blend of 'herb' .... My blanket was the center of the universe for awhile. Never left that spot for the whole show as food, water, and containers for personal needs would appear just as they were needed. Was so zombied at the end, I found my VW beetle 4 miles away and drove the opposite direction from home to Canada for a three day rest... Discovered that the US and world had more to offer than home. Thus began a several year world travel on the 'hippie trail' .. ended up back in US in a small college town called Austin Texas in 1972.

 

[laurence]

whoa, Woodstock was 5 years before I was born. But I am a big Hendrix and Santana fan, never the less.

 

[Nords]

whoa, Woodstock was 5 years before I was born.

Laurence, you really know how to hurt a guy!

Where do people learn about Santana & Hendrix today-- the History Channel?!?

 

[KB]

Santana used to play for free in parks in Palo Alto, CA when I was in High School. The events were called Bee In's and had local bands from the San Francisco area.

The Hell's Angels baked wheat bread in Coffee cans which they served with honey butter.

Free music and free food. We were in heaven.

 

[Cut-Throat]

Well the Ol' Rancher did go to Wodstock and was there all 4 days. I was a Hendrix fan and it was the 4th and final time I saw him.

Some little known facts: The Greatful Dead were the biggest dissapointment of the concert. Rain, fear of electrocution and on stage bickering ruined  their performance. Never followed them after that.

Santana was the biggest surprise. Nobody knew who the Saturday afternoon conga drums driven group was.

Janice, and then the Airplane came on so late that most people were sleep deprived and missed much of them.

Hendrix was to have played Sunday night but overdosed on acid and was playing air guitar back stage all night and had to come on Monday after a rude wake up from Sha Na Na.

Each of us got lost from whoever we went with and became one with the high tide 400,000 population, A million and a half were turned away at the parkways.

I stood up 75 feet from stage center looked around at them and was in a sea of people.. After the rain I was the only person within several hundred yards with dry matches.

I did what I now know I was supposed to do. With a whole box of kitchen matches in a plastic baggy I must have lit each of the 200 matches on a different blend of 'herb' ....  My blanket was the center of the universe for awhile. Never left that spot for the whole show as food, water, and containers for personal needs would appear just as they were needed.  Was so zombied at the end, I found my VW beetle 4 miles away and drove the opposite direction from home to Canada for a three day rest...  Discovered that the US and world had more to offer than home. Thus began a several year world travel on the 'hippie trail' .. ended up back in US in a small college town called Austin Texas in 1972.

Ol rancher,

A great story. I wish I was there and had a story as well. It is truly one of my life's regrets thus far.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

That "not doing what you're supposed to" thing worked out well for me.

I walked out on a job about 12 years ago and decided to take a little summer sabbatical. At the end of a very relaxing couple of months I was offered a big bucks job running the shop at a reseller of my old companies products. Couple of guys had built a nice business and wanted to start fading into the background and let someone else do all the work.

Instead, I decided to throw some stuff in my car and drive cross country to california to spend another couple of months off with a ladyfriend who had just started schooling at Berkeley.

I stuck around, ended up running into an old friend who used to work for me. I had gone out of my way to get him a promo-transfer to CA a few years earlier. He said one of his bigger customers were always picking at him for help in areas I happened to be good at. A few interviews later and I had the job that ended up paying me all the stock options that got my ER started, and provided me with the free relocations to the areas where my home values skyrocketed.

By the way, I had known that ladyfriend in high school, and only hooked back up with her because I saw her across a shopping mall parking lot.

So a glance across a busy parking lot, helping someone I couldnt afford to lose get another job in another part of the country, and a whimsical decision to not take the "right choice" and instead fart around further ended up consolidating together to provide me with an early retirement.

 

[laurence]

Nords,

I lost this string for a while, sorry for the long delay on reply! While it's true most high schoolers listen to the pop music of the day and don't know about past music, those of us who were interested in playing music, and didn't care about fitting in, would pass on to the next generation of freshman what seniors taught us about music. That included what artists transcended time and fashion. Muddy Waters, Charlie Parker, John Coltrain, the Beatles, Henrix, Neil Young, Stones, Led Zepplin, Fleetwood Mac, U2.......the beat goes on, and the song remains the same!

 

[JonnyM]

Nords,

I lost this string for a while, sorry for the long delay on reply! While it's true most high schoolers listen to the pop music of the day and don't know about past music, those of us who were interested in playing music, and didn't care about fitting in, would pass on to the next generation of freshman what seniors taught us about music. That included what artists transcended time and fashion. Muddy Waters, Charlie Parker, John Coltrain, the Beatles, Henrix, Neil Young, Stones, Led Zepplin, Fleetwood Mac, U2.......the beat goes on, and the song remains the same!

Which leads me to my absolute most favorite NON-regret, i.e. not-expected, and apparently somewhat uncommon habit I picked up in my youth.

Going to great gigs is so cool, but for some of us that's just the tip of the iceberg. I can remember seeing bands at Winterland in SF, and so forth, impressive shows that burned into my brain to this day, probably assisted by the circumstances, nudge, nudge. But what I took away from my youth and is still a big part of my life to this day (and share with the writer Laurencewill above) is the need, want, and desire to create music. Playing a musical instrument is just such a great thing. It is an emotional and creative outlet, and I find it so sad that we don't make it more of a priority with our youth.

Is Music what we are supposed to do? As a society I wish it were more about creating it than just listening to it, but there it is. It's not for everyone, but everytime I hear a story of someone that played once upon a time, then "gave it up" I shed a tear.

Noone ever told me I should learn to play music, but I am so glad that some of my friends were interested, and that I became interested, and at this later stage of life as I approach ER I can look forward to devoting even more time to writing and playing music. It makes me feel good.

 

[unclemick]

Ha Rumpfff

My Dad was so impressed in his youth - in the late 50's I remember having to sit in the living room watching Lawrence Welk(  a wild swinger in the 30's ) on black and white TV - eating Swanson TV dinners off TV trays.

Somewhere in America - there are kids being subjected to old time rock, blues, folk music - and wondering what is 'wrong' with their parents - when they 'could' be listening to good RAP music.

I remember a violin arrived from some very distant relative in Finland (deceased) - sat in the closet (it wasn't bongo drums or a guitar) - my younger sister took a brief shot at it in high school.

Neither one of us turned out to be musically inclined - alas.

 

[Cb]

Hey Jonny, if you have a high speed connection give this a listen:

http://gnobility.com/tunes/The_Jody_Grind_remix2.mp3

I can't WAIT until I pack it in at work and have more time to pay and record and tweak and play and record...

Cb