In the early 1970s, I worked at a pizza restaurant in Auburn, Alabama. During a slow work night, I was the only employee working other than the delivery person. I would take orders and then prepare them. A man came in and was the rudest customer I’d ever met. I had trouble taking his order as he snapped at me. He had an attitude, and I didn’t know why. I held my tongue as he ordered a pizza, paid, and entered the dining room.
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That’s How Strong My Love Is
Early in the 21st century, I played guitar with an unnamed Auburn, Alabama band for a wedding reception. The bride had requested we play the classic Otis Redding song “That’s How Strong My Love Is” for the bride and groom dance. The bandleader/singer sent a YouTube link of the song to all band members and asked that we learn the tune in the original key. We planned to run through the song at soundcheck, an hour or so before the event began. No problem, the band is talented, and we’ve successfully learned tunes like this many times before.
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I Went To College
I went to college in my youth, and eventually received a bachelor’s degree in General Mathematics from Auburn University in east Alabama. I said eventually; I spent eight years working on my four-year degree. I wasn’t enrolled in school about half this time. I either worked blue-collar jobs to raise tuition money or played guitar full-time in cover bands. Maybe I was undisciplined.
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Turn It Down
In the early 1980s, I worked as a computer analyst at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. In my free time, I gigged with various bands in the Warner Robins/Macon, Georgia area.
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New Car
In 1982, I started my computer analyst career at a military base near Macon, Georgia. At the time, I was driving a 1967 Volkswagen Beetle that was in poor condition. It had a dented body, a front headlight pointed up toward the sky, no heater, and the engine was on its last legs. It had little power and made noises while running.
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Gone With The Wind
In high school in Alabama roughly 50 years ago, I regularly heard female classmates rave about the film “Gone With The Wind.” They especially loved the lead female character, Scarlett O’Hara. I got the impression that some of these classmates didn’t just love Scarlett, they wanted to be Scarlett. A theater in nearby Birmingham, Alabama, showed the movie from time to time, and some of these classmates saw it multiple times.
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