Burn Baby Burn! Santa Inferno!

After months of planning the Island Camp out is finished. Worth every minute. It was a blast. Great companionship, great food, great conversation, and several hearty Ho-Ho-Ho’s.

There is no way to cover everything, so we will just hit some of the highlights. There maybe some follow up blogs concerning things (Winston’s visit, Demon Dhary's visit, dog stories, 14 year old boys trying to hook up, Roberta, the parrot joke) so keep an eye out.

Friday – Meet and great, set-up, catching up. We hung the skull and crossbones flag from last years golf outing. Some kids on bikes commented as they drove by “Hey, they must be pirates at that campsite!”

Maggie drove out and bought wood, ended up picking up a hitchhiker and brought him back to camp. He stayed the whole weekend. He was very jolly, kinda quiet, and the bugs loved him. He even went home with Maggie. It must have been the beard that she liked.

The night was cool, and we had a slight breeze. Though it did blow strong in gust, knocked me right into the woodpile.

I still stand by that it was the dog that peed on Maggie’s tent. And really I would have missed the tent if Steven hadn’t asked me a question half way through.

Oh and by the way Shadow Dumber and Shadow Dumberer, I do want to thank you for the great laughs. Did you think people would not compare notes on the your attempts to talk them out of coming! We laughed about that all weekend. Really, why? You were invited, many times I hear. We were not trying to be funny. We would have welcomed you. You may have even had fun! I admit it is awful of us, that no matter what you try to do, we still have fun, still get together, and are still willing to be big people. Hey, there is always next year’s campout!

Saturday – Very hot. We survived though. Lots of water. Some of us went fishing, some to the beach, some hung out at the campsite, and some went to the air conditioned Wal-Mart.

Steven had his mind set on catching dinner in the lake. Brought all his fishing gear. Except for his fishing license. He figured he wouldn’t get caught. The bad news is that DNR did catch up with him. The good news is that instead of a fine he just had to return everything he had caught. So Steven through back the old shoe, 3 pop cans, and the golf bag he had snagged. He is very good at doing what he is told.

Rufus was a handful at the beach. Think along the lines of taking Quagmire from “Family Guy” to a place filled with bikini glad girls, most who have yet to reach high school age.

Me: No Rufus, this way. She is probably 13.
Rufus: No way! Look at her! That didn’t grow them like that when I was thirteen! You know what I mean! Diggety-diggety!
Me: I understand, just remember, there are no women in jail. Just some guy named Big Roy.
Rufus: What about that one there? With the huge knockers! No way is she 13! She wants some of the Rufus! Diggety-diggety!
Me: Yes Rufus you are right. I would guess about 40. But that also is a guy…Diggety-diggety.

Saturday night potluck was better then could have been imaged. Most of us were so full we couldn’t even drink. Well, at least for a little while. I won’t go into the list of food; there was so much I would hate to miss something. It was all great.

Sunday – After a slow start we packed up and got moving on. None of us were really ready to leave; another night would have been great. Maybe next time we stretch it out another day. Make no mistake there will be a second annual. Too bad we have to wait until next year. Or do we…

60 days, 8 weeks, 2 months, 12 beers

It is almost time for the campout! We started planning this two months ago! Wow it went so fast! It is hard to believe it has been two months! This were not an uneventful two months either!

Everyone I know has faced some large events in their lives over the last 60 days. I of course decided to fight the high cost of gasoline by leaving my job and not having the money to drive. Others on the island also had highs and lows.

(Yes, the island still is alive and kicking, even though it has been bombed, sprayed with pesticide, and had a volcano rise up and spit lava on everything. I had to laugh at the attempt to demonize me with lies and stories from the shadows, come on people know me too well! Though I am flattered that after so long you are still talking about me. And thanks to everyone who has been telling me how boring the place has gotten since I left. That means a lot.)

I know I won’t be able to list all the trials and tribulations over the last 8 weeks, so I will just hit the highlights.

Winston has been working on his problems with canoes. He told me he bought a video entitled “Paddling with Mistress Briggette”. I am glad that he might be able to go to this years canoe trip. (He is not riding in my canoe) I have tried to find the video, but the kid at Blockbuster said they don’t carry that type of movie. Geeze, I remember when Blockbuster used to carry instructional videos of all kinds! Guess it’s just not commercial enough anymore. I’ll look for it online.

Steven is doing well after his mental breakdown. For anyone that has not heard, Steven spent a little time in the mental hospital. For about a week Steven was running around claiming that the earth was about to be destroyed to make room for an interstellar highway. Kept talking to doors and telling everyone to make sure we had a towel with us. Turns out the whole thing was the result of his 56 hour marathon of the original “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” TV series and a bootleg copy of the new movie. (And no Steve, I do not want a taste of you gurgleblaster!)

Leroy has left his band to try out for American Idol. He doesn’t really want to fame and fortune; he just wants to sleep with Paula Abdul. I do mean sleep. Leroy has had Insomnia for the last couple of months and figures if he has to listen to Paula talk on and on, it will put him right out. (Good luck Leroy! You have my vote!)

Olympe has been very distracted with an English penpal named GK, or JK or something like that. She won’t tell us anything. I did find out that when she said she was going to Vegas, she actually flew to England! What we can put together is that this penpal was working on some type of writing project and was coming up on the deadline. Total writer’s block. Olympe help her through that. She is very helpful that way. (I still can’t figure out how she got an advanced copy of the new Harry Potter book.)

We don’t really know what Maggie has been up too. She went home to Puerto Rico to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. She was suppose to be gone for only three days, but didn’t get back until last Thursday. Must have been a hell of a party. (I like the new ink, and I though only Mike Tyson could get away with a face tattoo.)

Rufus has had ups and downs. The up is that he gave up drinking all together. Been clean for over 2 months! Congrats Rufus. The down being, he now is addicted to porn. Bad Rufus, bad! We are all trying to help him. Winston lent him is canoeing instruction video and Leroy promised him that he would get nude pics of Paula Abdul to help stop his urge to see people naked. (I have promised to review his porn this weekend at the campout.)

So now everyone is up to date! See you all this weekend!
-bear

Touching High School

Yes! I am cheating! I'm posting the same thing I posted on my high school classes website! I've been busy, campout plans and all, keeping the little woman happy, golfing with Ivan. It is time consuming being Firebear! Now just read and enjoy, damn it!

I was just getting to that age where I was thinking Pittsford Mendon High could not possibly be as bad as I remembered it. Now I know for sure. Yes! PMHS was awful! Actually I must be getting old, I still keep thinking it wasn’t as bad as I made it. Those brick windowsills that we used to sit on during lunch and look out into the court yard. Those were just cool. And the prop room by the stage, where you could jimmy the lock and sneak back there for, um well, yea, it wasn’t all bad.

It is interesting that so many of us, different friends, clicks, activities, were going through the same growing pains at the same time. Guess we had a lot more in common then we thought.

I left PMHS early. The beginning of our senior year. This was done with my parents’ blessing and was not done for academic reasons. I just had to get out of there. I did not feel wanted there. That my classmates could care less what I did. I had more friends in the classes of ’88 and ’90 then my own. I did not even want to claim a connection with the Rochester, New York area. There are a lot of I reasons, and I know now that it was me, not anyone else.

I talked to several people and some professionals about this and was not sure what to do. Dropping out of high school was the one thing we were told never to do. The ultimate dead-end. It was Mr. Sherman, the health teacher, who talked to me frank about it. I still don’t know if he even realized how much it helped.

“Larry,” he said to me, “Sometimes it is just time to leave high school.”

That meant a great deal to me. The okay to make a choice. So I did. Hardly anyone knew, just a few close friends who I trusted. Of course how do you announce that you are dropping out?

I scored very high on the ASVAB, the military entrance exam, and so even without a GED I was placed in the US Navy. Yes, I had always had a problem dealing with authority I decided that I would go to the one place where I could never get away from it.
When the rest of the class was graduating, I was in boot camp in Orlando.

I was eventually put on the USS Santa Barbara, based in Charleston, SC, as an Electronic Warfare Tech. Meet some life time friends there. Got my GED, which was one of my goals. In the navy I saw lots of Europe. Both the grand and the pits. Makes me glad I live in the United States.

The months in the Red Sea during Desert Shield/Storm were intense. Waiting for that missile to hit you. Knowing that any second, whether asleep or awake you could be finished. It helped sort out your thoughts, your life, your past. When I got my tour jacket instead of putting Tampa or Charleston as a home town, I had them put Pittsford, NY.

When I got out I relocated to Lansing, Michigan. My parents, sister and brother lived there. Adjusted to being a civilian again. Had growing pains. Seen good times and bad. Never quite learned how to be that quit person in the corner.

A couple years back my whole family moved away, leaving me here. That’s ok, I am doing well. I was glad my brother moved back a year ago, did miss him even if we hardly ever have a chance to talk.

Still writing, or should say, I’m writing again. Though I don’t plan on writing “The New Adventures of Redneck Roy” anytime soon.

I have gone on enough here today. On the web you can find some of my writing and rants at http://www.thefirebear.blogspot.com. There you can also see that I haven’t changed that much. My music taste is still stuck in the 80’s and I still own a Rocky Horror Picture Show T-shirt. I was thrilled to find an old Genesis cassette for sale for $1. Now if I can remember how it fits in the cassette player…

I am glad to hear how everyone is doing. We are a diverse group, for some our only connection is that we occupied the same area for a couple years. That is good enough in today’s world. Best wishes.
- Larry

Does a Firebear Crap in the Woods?

We are down to 2 weeks until the island campout. This promises to be lots of fun. Even more fun then last years wading trip down the Grand.

At this time we should make an inventory of what we will be needing as a group. I know some have not been camping before and may be a little nervous. That is ok. Even though everywhere you look there are trees, lakes, and other outside thingies, it really is just an illusion. We are not that far from the real world. St. Johns is only a ten minute drive. So if part way through the weekend you need to have a taste of the modern world, I will drive you there. Once there I am sure someone will be able to give us directions to a Wal-mart. Wal-Mart, where you go if you don’t know what you want, but you want it now. Like chopped liver.

I have most of the basics, and some pluses for camping, such as at least one tent, folding chairs, and things to cook with. I have a couple of sleeping bags, an air mattress, and blankets and stuff.

Unlike the canoe trip you can brings things that you won’t have to worry about falling in the water and getting wet. Examples include, but are not limited to:

a) Cameras
b) Cigarettes
c) Playing cards
d) Winston

Other things that we will need are food and probaly some type of beverage. Jello Shots also goes hand in hand with camping. We will figure out the wood situation and get that to the camp. (Say, I wonder how much wood would a woodchuck be able to chuck into a PT Cruiser if a woodchuck could chuck wood into a PT Cruiser.) I don’t have a good boom box to bring so someone will want to grab one. We do have power outlets available, just bring a cord.

If anyone wants to bring water guns, there is usually some type of water gun fight going on Saturday afternoon.

And don’t forget, Potluck dinner Saturday evening. Jello Shots are welcome and count as food.

And to go over everything, This is the weekend of June 24-25. All are welcome, and heck you can even just come out on Saturday and visit for a little while. Drop me a note and I will be sure to get you the info.

Can’t wait for this one!
-bear