Hello, everyone. It just occurred to me that it's been about ten days since my last post, so I suppose I ought to toss out a few more juicy chunks of meaty memory.
I'm going to back up a bit to the actual first summer we lived in Paw Paw. Well, it's not that far of a back up since I really haven't gone much further than that... but you get the idea. I wanted to reverse a bit because I forgot to mention that this would be the first summer where I had an actual job. You see, my uncle decided to start doing a Drama Camp in Portage and the once-existing Waylee Elementary School. I say once because it has long since been un-built in favor of expanding the Central High School grounds that more or less surrounded it. Anyway, my first job was as a counselor at this particular camp. And it was pretty decent money, too. If I remember right, we got paid after the first week, and then again at the conclusion of the three-week session.
So what did I do? Well, the first play we put on was 'Oklahoma!' That's right, the classic play about... the state. Yeah, just that exciting. And I still remember nearly every song, though I've seen the movie and play since then (I wasn't much of a Broadway guy at the time). That first year would go on to spawn such classic standards as 'Grease', 'The Fiddler on the Roof', 'Carousel', and 'The Music Man', among countless others. And yes, each and every one starred children, because that's what the camp was all about: teaching kids who could sort of act and sing to sort of act and sing slightly better, plus the added benefit of crafts! Oh what fun.
I kid. They were great times and great memories. Even though I was older than the kids, I actually made a few great friends, some of which I still maintain contact with. A few of my cousins were in it a time or two, as well, so that was pretty fun, too. I learned how to make miniature set decorations, how to apply gobs of make up effectively so the crowd could really see the emotive faces, and how to break the news that certain lead rolls were not going to those kids whose voices could crack safety glass. Three cheers for responsibility!
Well that was my first job; a job I'd go on to repeat for five years, each and every summer until I'd eventually move on to bigger and better things. Let's see, my second 'real' job was washing dishes for a local restaurant in Paw Paw called 'Warner's', which turned out to be an exercise in futility since I worked with Kevin. I'm pretty sure we broke far more than we washed. After that I graduated to 'Burger King', also with Kevin though he moved on after a bit and I hung around for maybe eight months. Then I got a job at a local factory in Mattawan (just outside of Paw Paw) called EPC and got to sit at plastic-press machines and watched parts fall into boxes. Whoopee. And that was about it until I went away for College. But, as always, I'm getting ahead of myself...
Next up: High School Life or Four Years of Possibly Growing Up.
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