Sunday, May 19, 2002

 
Dad and I just about came to blows today. The story behind the story, well—I’ll share as best I can.

For quite some time now, Dad’s been into S&M bullshit. He regularly dresses in rubber bodysuits, or all-leather, or such. More recently however, Dad’s been going to an awful lot of parties recently. Parties that routinely last well into the late hours of the night.

Tonight, he was to go to such a party. I went to a meeting yesterday morning, and Mom (who knew about the party) shrewdly took Dad’s car to take me to the meeting. During the meeting, Mom got a phone call from Dad. Dad mentioned that some of the stuff he was to take to the party was in the trunk of his car. Mom took a look back there, and found plastic wrap, masking tape, cellophane, boots, and a “Fun Kit” she later mentioned (I don’t know what it is, but I can guess).

While I was at work, Dad went to the party as scheduled. He told Mom he was going to “make an appearance” at the party.

The “appearance” lasted from 10:00 at night until 2:30 in the morning, long after I was home. Mom finally called him about 2:30, and she bitched him out. “That’s a hell of a long appearance. Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing. Come home right now and pack up to leave.”

Laura and I were both in the room when she said that, and it threw us both into a stunned silence. We knew a breaking point would have to come eventually, yet we were still surprised that it actually did come. Funny how these kind of things work.

When Dad got home, he and Mom and I got into a rather heated argument—with me on Mom’s side, naturally. During that argument, Mom suggested that the family go in for counseling, but Dad said he didn’t want to talk to any “damn shrink who doesn’t know anything about being kinky.” We basically vented all our frustrations, and after that the argument cooled over into a tense détente—or so I thought.

As I was leaving the parents’ room, I went to the computer to log onto the internet. But a family filter blocked my path, and of course I didn’t know the password. I went over to Mom, steaming because I believed Dad had added the filter in a hypocritical attempt to block our internet access while allowing his S&M porno viewing to continue unabated.

Dad caught some of the conversation (although not the part where I accused him), and came to the computer to see what had happened. I was a little bit surprised when he seemed as lost as I was. Of course, I also had dark suspicions in my head, as I believed Dad was intentionally playing dumb to make himself look innocent. He’s been known to do that on countless occasions.

But Dad swore he didn’t do it, and Mom didn’t, and of course, I didn’t. Imagine my surprise when I realized we were all telling the truth—it was Laura who’d added the filter.

I got upset (although in retrospect, I shouldn’t have), and demanded to speak with her, even though she was asleep. At first, my knocks were gentle, and my voice calm. “Come out, Laura, I need to talk to you.” Then it became, “Open the door.” Then, “Open the Goddamn door.” And finally, it broke down into, “Open the Goddamn fucking door right now!”

It was unlocked. I entered, careful not to let my anger show when I spoke to her. I told her about the filter, and asked her if she had anything to do with it. She said, in a very small voice, that she did. Give the girl credit, she told the truth immediately. Careful to keep my anger in check (and yet somewhat aware of why she’d done it), I asked about her motivations for adding the filter.

“Dad pissed me off.” I understood completely—Dad has been getting on my last nerves as of late, as well. I very gently asked her the password, and at first, she resisted. But I promised her I wouldn’t tell Dad the password (which would get me into trouble later), that I would just enter the password so he could delete the program.

Well, I came out, and asked Dad to move over so I could enter the password. He refused, demanding that I tell him the password. But I told him I could not, because I promised Laura that I wouldn’t. But I added that I would be willing to enter the password for him so that he could delete the program.

Dad was furious at this perceived invasion of his perceived property. He demanded that I tell him, but I refused. I told him, “I gave my sister my word, and if you think I’m breaking my promise, you’re out of your mind.”

He retorted that my response implied a lack of respect for him. (In retrospect, I should have agreed. I don’t have much respect left for him.) I said that I was showing respect for my sister by acceding to her wishes (I actually used the word “acceding” while upset—quite an accomplishment), and not giving Dad the password. The argument escalated into a shouting match, with “fucking assholes” exchanged left and right, and something I said provoked Dad to get up from his chair and just about slap me.

“You want your block knocked off, boy?” “Go ahead,” I replied in an intensely angry voice. “I’ve been waiting for an excuse to hit you for so long. Go ahead, give me that excuse.” At this point, Mom came in to try and defuse the situation.

Dad threatened to, once the program was de-installed, re-install the program and lock everybody but himself off the Internet—in essence, reversing the situation. Naturally, I didn’t take very kindly to that threat. He even turned the computer off and said, “Fine. If you won’t give me the password, then no one (save himself, most likely) will get on the computer at all.”

It’s truly incredible how much of an asshole he can be.

At about this point, Laura came to my defense, baseball bat in hand. Mom and I both commanded her to put the bat down—that escalating this into an actual physical confrontation wouldn’t solve things. Funny that I would say that, considering that thirty seconds earlier, I was getting ready to beat the living shit out of my own father.

Laura’s voice was filled with a strange combination of both anger and grief—rage, perhaps, would be the best way to describe it. What she said justified her actions in a very logical way. “Mom isn’t good enough for you anymore? You’ve got her, why do you need this S&M shit?”

I said to Dad, “You see now how your behavior is hurting the entire family?” Finally, Mom asked Laura to go ahead and enter the password. But given the threat that Dad had made earlier, I wasn’t so happy about this decision. What was there to stop him from immediately turning around and re-installing the program, with himself as Headmaster of the College of Internet Etiquette? But Laura acquiesced, and much to my surprise, no such turnabout took place. Mom suggested at that time that we all go in for family counseling. This time, there were no arguments from Dad (or from anybody) about that idea.

Dad stormed out of the room, leaving me with Mom and Laura. I wrapped my arms around Laura from behind, apologizing to her for having to wake her up in such a heated fashion. I reassured her that I loved her, and I wasn’t mad at her—indeed, I was proud of her. Never have I been more proud of my sister as I was when she came rushing to prevent me from being harmed. I implored her to go on to bed.

Then, it was just Mom and I. I sat down at the computer, and Mom stood, one of her hands (surprisingly) balled into an almost-fist.

I cupped her hand with both of mine, and held our hands on my forehead.

“God give me strength,” I prayed. “God give us all strength.”

Labels: argument, computer, Dad, violence

posted by Eddie 6:10 AM

Thursday, May 16, 2002

 
Well... ten days since Mr. Basher last called, and I've yet to hear anything from him, despite a couple of e-mails I've sent both him and Commissioner Russ Ray.

I need an answering machine.

Labels: Basher, WCWO

posted by Eddie 5:00 PM

Tuesday, May 07, 2002

 
Well... apparently I did talk to Don Basher yesterday, around noon. But I don't remember anything about it.

You see, when he called, I was almost completely asleep. When I woke up, I had a vague recollection of talking to him, so I called him to ask if we actually did talk. After all, it could have been a dream or the product of an overactive imagination.

Turns out, we did talk. And I don't remember what we said. So I e-mailed him again asking for information about that conversation.

Grr. I do the oddest things when I'm asleep, you know? Hopefully Mr. Basher will call me again soon-- and hopefully this time I'll be fully conscious so we can actually make some plans. I just hope I didn't make a complete ass of myself.

Labels: Basher, imagination, phone call, WCWO

posted by Eddie 9:15 AM

Sunday, May 05, 2002

 
Last night I was finally able to go to a WCWO show, which took place at the Ramada Inn on Emerson Avenue off of I-465. It was an absolutely phenomenal experience, as I (and most everyone there) got to really have the “inside view” of the federation.

The ring, which looked stiff at first, actually seemed to display normal tendencies. Praise God for that, I figured, because the ropes looked like they might have been absolute murder to bounce off of. Tell you the truth, I still don’t know whether or not they are stiff as hell.

The opening match featured Kenny Courageous against a masked wrestler, Bill Logan. What I do remember about the match was that Kenny pulled out a move I don’t think I’ve ever seen before—kind of an inverted jackhammer. He picked his opponent up from behind as if to do a back body-drop, only to land on top of him at the last minute. Whoa. He finished the match off with the Blockbuster. An interesting thing to note about this crowd is that they seemed to constantly be rooting for the heels. That, or they’re not smart enough to understand who’s playing what role in the matches.

I saw Beth Terry at the show—competing under the name Breezie against the WCWO Women’s Champion, Drucilla. I've known Beth Terry since we were in grade school together back at Harcourt Elementary, and we sang in the same high school choir for a few years together. Even though Beth later told me she was supposed to be the face in the match-up, I think I was the only person there who rooted for her. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, as Drucilla retained the Women’s Title. Maybe next time for Beth. It’d be really cool for me to watch a former King’s Court teammate of mine win a wrestling championship belt—particularly because I didn’t even know Beth was a wrestling fan until I saw her tonight. Damn… sometimes when you think you know something about a person, you find out you didn’t really know her at all. But in this instance, anyway, that’s not a bad thing—that’s a good thing.

One of the great things about watching matches with a crowd of maybe 70 people tops is that the wrestlers are able to have great interactions with the audience. As Beth came out (dressed in a cheerleader outfit and holding pom-poms), she actually turned to me and said, “I know you!” Afterwards, I got to talk to her during the intermission and again after the show.

As it turned out, Drucilla ended up being the only champion to retain, as three titles changed hands on this night. Whipme Spearz (whom everyone swears is a guy, even though she looks to me like a girl) defeated “Dangerous Bull” Don Basher in a chain match to win Basher’s WCWO World Television Title. Basher was originally going to face someone else for the title, but the scheduled challenger no-showed, leading to this impromptu match with a screwy finish. Whipme won the belt on a roll-up and incredibly fast three-count by the referee, cheating to win despite allegedly being the face. I’m starting to wonder if Basher’s W.O.R. group is, in fact, a face stable, and whether or not Commissioner Russ Ray is intentionally trying to screw them.

The vacant WCWO World Tag Team Championship was put up for grabs in a triangle match. The team of P.T. Hustla and D-Von Fury, Simply Marvelous, faced the team of Shiloh Hunter and Itch Coma Weider, and also the team of Dick the Bruiser, Jr. and “Caneman” Johnny Walker. Another strange finish in this one lead to Itch and Shiloh becoming the new champions. Afterwards, they were immediately challenged by Bruiser and Walker—but let’s bear in mind that Simply Marvelous never lost the Tag Team Championship, they were stripped of it by Commissioner Ray. That, along with the odd finish in the TV Title match, has really got me wondering whether or not Commissioner Ray is going over the top in trying to screw W.O.R..

In the main event, Johnny Blaze defeated Indiana Kidd, Jr. to win the vacant WCWO World Heavyweight Championship. It was an outstanding match by both men, but Blaze took a rather nasty bump when he was hit with a drop toe-hold into the ring stairs. As Blaze would tell me later in the men’s restroom, he scraped his knee and busted open his elbow somewhat badly. But he said it was all worth it, and I definitely agreed—it was an outstanding match, and Blaze walked away as the new champion. After the match, Blaze and Kidd had a mutual respect ending, with the handshake, embrace and Kidd raising Blaze’s hand in victory. Afterwards, Kidd left the ring to allow Blaze to celebrate the moment in his own personal spotlight.

I got to speak to Commissioner Ray, both members of Simply Marvelous, Breezie, Don Basher, and Johnny Blaze throughout the night. Needless to say, I had an amazing time, really feeling almost like one of the boys.

As I mentioned, I spoke to trainer Don Basher. He’s going to call me Monday afternoon to hopefully get me set up with training. I’ll definitely write down all future developments with this from now on.

Labels: Beth Terry, Indiana Kidd Jr, WCWO, you suck

posted by Eddie 12:50 PM

Friday, April 05, 2002

 
Well. Apparently the "old man isn't so dumb after all," in Grandpa's own words. I spent about an hour and a half at the local Blockbuster, checking out the differences between their store and ours and picking the store manager's brain on a few things. I've come up with several suggestions that I'll give to my store manager, Roy, when I get back. As a matter of fact, I've already typed up a five-page report for him. Overkill? Definitely. But at least it lets him know that I've been thinking, if nothing else.

[Editor's Note: Ironically, this turned out to be the Blockbuster I would transfer to about two years later and still work at as of 7/31/07.]

Tomorrow morning, we start the trip back to Indiana. We're planning on stopping part-way through our journey-- probably in Charleston, West Virginia. I hope the hotel we stop at will have an exercise room, like the one I availed myself of in the hotel we stopped at the day we started our vacation. Right now my leg strength surprises even myself, but my arm strength leaves a lot to be desired. At least I'm theoretically halfway there, right?

Oh, another thing I should mention. I requested a loan from the bank about a month ago so that I may purchase a laptop computer. I found out yesterday that the loan has been approved-- conditionally. I have to find someone willing to co-sign the loan with me. My parents are out, because their credit is screwed to hell. I'll probably ask my dad's parents if they'd be willing to. But first, I'm going to check and find out exactly how much my monthly payments will add up to, and whether or not I'll be able to afford it. I want to build up good credit as soon as I can, because my long-term goal is owning my own home before the age of 30.

Labels: Blockbuster, grandpa, irony

posted by Eddie 11:31 PM

 
Every time I visit my grandfather's house, I get the "standard lecture" from him about using my brain. "Don't wait for people to tell you things," he said, "figure them out for yourself." He used this example while compelling me to visit the local Blockbuster and see the way they do things. I personally think it's a good idea-- maybe I might learn something that I can use to raise productivity at our store.

Labels: Blockbuster, grandpa

posted by Eddie 4:41 PM

Wednesday, April 03, 2002

 
Well, it's been a long time since I've blogged, 'cuz I've been on vacation.

...Man. I was so excited when the Hoosiers got to the National Championship Game, but we couldn't quite pull it out, could we? Grrr. There's always next year, I suppose. I take solace in the fact that, when Maryland won, not very many people were surprised, because they were a #1 seed. But many people didn't even expect us to get to the Sweet 16, so the fact that we got to the National Championship Game, in my view, is more of an accomplishment than Maryland winning it.

Of course, that doesn't make me feel much better about not being able to win the National Championship. But as I said, there's always next year. I hope Jared Jeffries stays put-- a lot of people think he's gonna declare for the NBA Draft.

Anyway. I've been having fun here in Virginia Beach. We got here yesterday, and my sister Laura introduced me to her friend, a 13-year-old girl named Amanda. The three of us hung out together for awhile. And this afternoon, the three of us (along with an 11-year-old, Erin) went to the local recreation center for a few hours. We bowled, played foosball, ping-pong, video games, pool-- it was great fun. I never thought I'd have so much fun hanging out with people seven years younger than me, but Amanda and Erin are fun to chill with.

Labels: Hoosiers, Laura, National Championship, Virginia Beach

posted by Eddie 10:22 PM

Sunday, March 24, 2002

 
IU did it! We're in the Final Four, baby! I'm excited. Very excited. The last time the Hoosiers achieved this level of success (in 1992), I was still about two years away from really paying attention to basketball.

IU finished the game going 15-of-19 from three-point range-- simply incredible. Kent State was toast before very long. One of their players, Andrew Mitchell, actually said, "If we had had ten people out there, I don't think we could have stopped them from scoring."

Of course, our job isn't done yet. We need two more victories, and then we've won the National Championship. But right now I'm savoring this moment, and hoping for the best next weekend. If we can beat Duke, we can beat anybody.

Anyway. Today, I went to Galyan's and picked out some workout clothes-- in "Blue Inferno" colors, no less. A black sleveless tanktop, and sweatpants (blue with white stripes). I'll probably be wearing this outfit most of the time while working out, yet it's also comfortable enough to double as pajamas. I know that 'cuz I just woke up wearing them. Dang, they're comfortable. So now I'm wearing the Blue Inferno colors-- all I have to do now is earn them.

Labels: Blue Inferno, Final Four, IU, National Championship

posted by Eddie 5:05 AM

Friday, March 22, 2002

 
WHOOOOOOO! The Indiana Hoosiers defeated the top team in the nation, the Duke Blue Devils, to advance to the Elite Eight! YES! I watched the game at work (Blockbuster), and near the end of the game I was jumping up and down. I actually let out a very loud "YES!" after Duke missed what would have been the game-winning shot and our guy grabbed the rebound to seal the deal.

Holy smokes. A very fun night. Tonight at Applebee's, I had their chicken fried chicken (minus the gravy). It was good, although I have to wonder how nutritious it was. But hey-- I've been good recently about that.

I e-mailed Russ Ray and Don Basher about training to be in WCWO. Russ Ray is the commissioner of WCWO. "Dangerous Bull" Don Basher is their current Television Champion, an 18-year veteran who's also a trainer. Anyway, last night I received a reply from both, and Mr. Basher is going to try and contact me Sunday afternoon. I'll be sure to tell you how it goes!

Labels: IU, WCWO

posted by Eddie 2:47 AM

Thursday, March 21, 2002

 
Hey there, everybody! I've been spending the last couple of days preparing for my WCWO training. I've been making a conscious effort not to eat as many fatty foods as I normally do, and I've been exercising quite a bit more. I'll probably jog around my apartment complex later today.

Recently, I've been buying a lot of wrestling tapes in preparation for getting in the ring myself. I own most of the WWF tapes from 2001 now, with the exception of Backlash, Judgment Day and No Mercy. And today, I bought a previously viewed copy of King of the Ring 1998. I'm very much looking forward to watching the match that made Mick Foley famous.

Labels: Mick Foley, WCWO, wrestling

posted by Eddie 1:45 AM

Tuesday, March 19, 2002

 
Hi, I'm Eddie Hawn from Indianapolis and well... I really haven't thought of anything clever to say yet. I've only recently ever heard of blogs, and I certainly haven't written one before. So let's just start with what we have. I'm 20 years old, single, and I work at Blockbuster. Despite the fact that it's a few years since I've been athletically inclined, I'm currently trying to break into a local indy fed, WCWO. And, well... that's it for now.

Labels: Blockbuster, introduction, WCWO

posted by Eddie 9:03 AM