School Daze - A 90 Minute Local Classmate Reunion!

A.J. & Dongo doing a bonus episode with 3 of their oldest friends!

We discuss memories from Kindergarten and beyond! A New Hampshire based episode for sure however lots of fun!!

As always stay tuned for our latest Past Times at 80's High episode coming this weekend!

Thank You

Welcome to Past Times at 80's High

Thank you for listening to Past Times at 80's High!

Transcript

SPEAKER_10 0:42

What do you think the teacher's gonna look like this here? Hey y'all, welcome to Past Times at 80s High. Got a little bonus episode for everyone tonight. A little bit random and a little bit local. I have some friends here from the old high school and elementary school and life days. So we're gonna go back and just do a little uh mishmash, if you will, with you know some random stuff here. I have, as always, Donald with me. Hello, Donald. Hey, what's happening? And I have my oldest friend, I believe, Bethany.

SPEAKER_06 1:29

Hello, nice to be here.

SPEAKER_10 1:31

Indeed, and then I have two incredibly older friends. I'd say all kindergarten or first grade, right? Not older, old, a long time. Is that better? I have Jen, how are you? Hi, AJ. Hello and Chrissy.

SPEAKER_09 1:50

Hello.

SPEAKER_10 1:52

Hi. So I think this will be a lot of fun just going back and chatting about the good old days, you know, and this really goes back. I mean, for me anyway, at least kindergarten, if not before. So we'll just get it rolling. I just before I do, I just want to get it out there as always. Our email address, and that is pta80H at gmail.com. Once again, PTA80H at gmail.com. Alright. So like I said, a bit of a mishmash here. I guess I have the honors today, and our first category is our favorite keg party memory. Now, I hope no one's offended if they have a memory from something that we talk about tonight that I don't recall or they don't recall. But this one here, nobody has to worry about, other than me, because I actually spoke about this in the past in in another episode, but I run with it just because of how vivid it is for me. We all know um a local owns a pretty large concert venue here in the area, yes. And used to have a lot of parties up in the acres. One in particular party, you were definitely there, Donald. But this particular night, this girl that I was kind of attracted to in high school, you know, that I never thought in a million years would reciprocate. Her name first name was Amy. I went up to the bedroom with her. I was a a teenager at this point. It was just uh very nice chatting for about a half hour and hanging out at this party. Yes, at first, Donald. And then I went in for the kill or the move, and I go up and get to that snapping point as they used to be in the front, and as I was there, blue lights out the window, friggin' party busted, Donnie. You were there yelling, go, go, go. We all had to run into the woods. I think we were in the woods for like an hour while the cops broke it up. Yeah, I know it doesn't sound like a very fun memory, but to me it was because this girl was, you know, someone that I, like I said, was attracted to and I liked, but just never would have thought anything about it. And my own connections or whatever.

SPEAKER_06 4:48

Missed connections.

SPEAKER_10 4:51

Right, right. But anyway, it was just really meaningful to me because I have seen that person a handful of times over the past few decades, and we still get along great. That little opportunity was one of my 10 million keg party stories. The what if, yes.

SPEAKER_06 5:14

Did you push her out of the way so you could get out first?

SPEAKER_10 5:17

I walked over her like George Costanza. No, I did not. I am not getting busted.

SPEAKER_07 5:27

I was at that party too, and I remember laughing because it was in her bedroom. The party, at least the one that I went to, the party was in her bedroom, and the rest of the house was locked. But I just remember thinking how fun because she had an outside entrance to her bedroom. Ooh, and I think it was very interesting that uh quick escape. I was not the blue lights, and I remember running very fast, and I believe I went into the river. That was my high response.

SPEAKER_10 5:57

Uh well, I must have gone to a different bedroom then because there was not a party going on in mine. Awesome. Well, Donald, that is number one to you.

SPEAKER_02 6:09

Yeah, so mine, like it's weird. Like, I have a hard time remembering parties, specific parties. Yeah. And popular belief, I I didn't do hard drugs. I did, you know, I was using alcohol, whatever, but I wasn't I wasn't hitting the hitting the hard stuff. But um, I remember a particular one, and I don't know if you were with me on this one, A.J. or not, but it was like uh 4th of July in Samberton. Whoever it was, I have no idea who owned this place, but ran an amazing party for like you know, we're in high school, we're underage, and we're showing up, and there's a band, and there's fireworks, and it was just an amazing party. Bands and fire trucks in the middle of Samurton somewhere, right? There's chicks and guns and fire trucks, and um, I ended up in and you know, this is like you know, you said lost connection. This was like a thank God for uh you know unanswered prayers or whatever that that song was because I was going to hook up with somebody, but thankfully I kind of fell asleep in the back of like a pinto or something. So I woke up like oh my god, no, like in the in a car with glass, and I was like, Where am I? And thankfully, because I was going back to whoever I have no idea. Thankfully, you know, I woke up in the middle of Laconia somewhere, like, where am I? I gotta get out of here, kind of thing. And uh, but I just remember those parties were fun because it was a lot of fireworks and you know, highly illegal everything, yeah, yeah, underage drinking kegs, bands.

SPEAKER_10 7:58

I couldn't have been there because I never would have abandoned you. No, no, right? Yeah, so Bethany, we're gonna run to you now.

SPEAKER_06 8:08

Yeah, so my most vivid memory of of going to a party was, and I can't remember who here of this group was was even there, but if you remember where Audra lived, oh yeah, she was right up the street. We all were gonna sleep over in her bob house. She had a bob house in the backyard.

SPEAKER_02 8:31

You know, AJ and I slept outside in the pool house or whatever it was some night. I don't know. We were why we were there, I have no idea, but we slept on his pool house.

SPEAKER_06 8:43

Yeah, so her parents were okay with us all sleeping in the bob house. I mean, how we even fit is beyond me, but there were no plans to sleep, anyways. We walked, we walked all the way through Labante's field through all the by all the cows. Like I just remember being like, what are you doing? We walked in the night. I'm sure no one had, of course, we didn't have cell phones. I don't think anyone even had a flashlight. So we walked in the dark all the way to a group of guys that were camping and having a party. You know, when cars would come, we'd all duck down and and then up the road, not not saltmarsh, the next road, wild acres or something. I don't know. I know exactly.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

I think I know what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_06 9:31

Hung out there, party there, and then we had to walk all the way back. And the craziest thing is when we were walking all the way back, hoping that Audra's parents didn't know that we all left, that nobody was even there. We're walking back and we get almost to her house, and all we can see is um emergency lights, uh ambulance, fire trucks. Like, oh my god, because you know, again, no cell phones. There would have been no way that they would have even known where we were, if we're okay, what happened to us. You know, it turned out they were across the street.

SPEAKER_10 10:07

I had to be there then.

SPEAKER_06 10:09

Yeah, I think you might have been. You guys were all camping. I don't know where you were camping or whatever, but we got back, and I'll just never forget thinking, oh my god, they were so worried about us. And it was he had had like a heart attack, I guess. They called 911 or whatever. That's what all the emergence. So we snuck back into the the Bob House, and no one knew. 14 or 15. We were so young.

SPEAKER_10 10:37

That's the beauty though.

SPEAKER_06 10:40

All night we walked it. That was miles when you think about it. Oh, god, that was that was a long, long walk. Probably drinking wine coolers, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:50

Exactly.

SPEAKER_06 10:51

Or purple passionals and jeans, and yes, I don't even know, but I just even just talking about it. I can't believe we did it. Can't believe we did it.

SPEAKER_10 11:00

Awesome pick though, Bethany. I wish I could remember that party, baby.

SPEAKER_06 11:03

Uh it just it it's it's it's crazy. I can't believe we did it. I can't believe we did it.

SPEAKER_10 11:10

Awesome. Well, Jen, we are to you for your favorite keg party.

SPEAKER_08 11:16

Okay, so this is a near miss funny story. So this dingong and I, Chrissy, were at my house on Hazelnut Road. Kathy Mears was having a big party. Did any of you go to that?

SPEAKER_10 11:32

Was that on Bell Knight Mountain Road?

unknown 11:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 11:35

Is that where I may have been? Is that the one that that the principal came to?

SPEAKER_08 11:40

Well, just I'll tell you. So um, we were supposed to go, but we were babysitting my brother and his best friend Dougie Ware. I love Robbie.

SPEAKER_09 11:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 11:55

So we're trying to sneak out of the house and get out of babysitting. So we're like just there, we're getting out of the house, we're going down the road, and all of a sudden we see my brother and Dougie behind us running down the road. We're telling, we're telling, if you're going to this party, we're telling. And Chrissy was so mad because she wanted to go more than I did, and she's like, You're every brother, and like we're the long story short, we didn't go because my sister's brother. But the cops came to that party and it got raided, and then when everybody went to school, everybody that went to that party got in trouble. And Chrissy and I, what was the name of the thing? Yeah, so that's when we there was this organization started by the parents called Tough Love, and they wanted her and I to head it.

SPEAKER_10 12:48

Oh my, because you were such great babysitters. Yeah. Boy, are people blind.

SPEAKER_07 12:57

All the parents were saying that their kids should be more like Jen and Chrissy.

SPEAKER_02 13:02

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_06 13:09

No, there were people like on the roof at that party. There were people swinging from the ceiling fans. I didn't go. I don't know why I didn't go. I was really good friends with Kathy, but thank God I didn't.

SPEAKER_10 13:20

And you lived right up the street, too.

SPEAKER_08 13:22

A mile, a mile.

SPEAKER_10 13:24

Yep.

SPEAKER_08 13:24

And they apparently they found uh they found Sarah in the dryer.

SPEAKER_10 13:30

Hiding? She was hiding in the dryer.

SPEAKER_08 13:32

Hiding in the dryer.

SPEAKER_02 13:34

I used to crawl in the dryer when I was a little naked. I didn't crawl in naked, but I used to crawl into the dryer. I I pretended like it was like the the moon lander.

SPEAKER_06 13:44

Oh when I was a little guy.

SPEAKER_02 13:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 13:46

Oh, that's cute.

SPEAKER_10 13:48

Awesome. So Chrissy, now it's to you.

SPEAKER_07 13:51

So my first one is has to do with one that was on Crystal Lake in Gilmington. It was a house party. And I remember going with Becky and it was in the springtime. And I remember um the house itself was an underground house. Yeah. And I just remember driving out there and thinking, like, good God, we're going to get stuck in the mud in Booneyland because it was so far out in the boonies. And but when we finally got there, I remember um I think her mom was there maybe for a little bit of it. Because I feel like I feel like her mom thought it was like uh I don't know, like a makeup party or something. There was there was more mild yeah, there was but then her mom ended up leaving, and then and I remember it was just the same thing, like just a raging party. And I remember um partying on the grass, which was the roof.

SPEAKER_09 14:51

Right.

SPEAKER_07 14:52

And I remember somebody came out wearing like lingerie during tons and tons of people at the party and just randomly wearing lingerie. It was very, very strange.

SPEAKER_10 15:08

Oh, it was an awesome party. And Donnie, do you recall this? And do you know why? Yes, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 15:15

Yeah, no going to it in the car, right? The mud run or whatever. Topaz run.

SPEAKER_10 15:22

My parents, God love them. Donnie and I were going to that very party, and when you said the mud, it reminded me because I had my parents' topaz, and I was just punching the gas pedal, and the tires were like on a train track, they just stayed in the mud tracks.

SPEAKER_02 15:43

Uh I demolished that. That's the only thing I remember about that party. I vaguely remember being out there, but yeah.

SPEAKER_06 15:50

Well, let it be known, AJ, that I think you were at every single party that we just all talked about last time.

SPEAKER_10 15:55

Probably. I just probably didn't remember. All right, so that's to category number two, which is something from school that would never happen or exist today. And God, I had like two up here and more in my mind. But how, if I'm going first, how in the hell can I not take the smoking area? I mean, I I will stop. I will move on to my next one, if that's yours, because I want to get my other one out there. Because I don't know if anybody will remember this. That's gonna move on to Jen in a minute, but anyway, another one. This was I think seventh grade, maybe eighth, and just like I said, the things you would never see be allowed to happen today. But this fucking guy, I think he was in like automotive class. I don't even remember his name. He was a super redneck, but you remember the cafeteria. So the cafeteria, the stairwell that went up on the if you're walking into the cafeteria, the left side that went up to like where Mr. Foster was.

SPEAKER_09 17:16

That was great. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_10 17:18

Well, right out back there, outside those stairwell doors, this guy was allowed to bring in a car. All right, and have and I have a scar right here to prove it. This guy was allowed to bring in a car and have the students go out during break and lunch and take either a baseball bat, a crowbar, and pay a dollar to have one minute on top of this car, smashing it to bits. Just the windshield, the lights, just I mean, it's so dangerous. I fell onto the windshield after I smashed it and ripped my hand open. And just can you imagine the kids being able to? I mean, I have so many others, but I won't steal anymore. But just the fact that they let us do that, nobody cared. It was a blast. I didn't care that I ripped my hand open, it was worth that frigging dollar. You know what I mean? It was just so damn fun. Like, why can't the kids do that stuff nowadays? And that guy probably was able to buy a new used clunker car after making 300 bucks from us idiots smashing it to bits. So, does anyone else remember that?

SPEAKER_06 18:46

I do, I do remember that. I do.

SPEAKER_10 18:49

Oh, it was awesome. Awesome.

SPEAKER_02 18:53

All right, Donald. Now to you. Yes, so this one was one of the ones that was a little like I don't really know where you were going with that one. So I um who who was the science teacher where we met? Mr. Farr. Yeah, you know what he used to like spell people to the stairwell, stairwell or something, like how he would just like banish people to it. Yes, and I don't think that can occur today just because of the way things are now, that you can't like openly punish people in front of everybody, right? Embarrass the hell out of people. People would just like degrade people like, get in there, you idiot. You know, like you would say, you know, um, Mike and Jake.

SPEAKER_03 19:36

You know what? Get out. Nope, I'm done with your crap, guys. Get out into the hallway right now. We're gonna have a talk.

SPEAKER_02 19:42

So I don't think that would fly today, but that's kind of where I went.

SPEAKER_10 19:47

Nice, and that's a great pick, Donald, because I swear to you, I text the group that the other night that you were not involved in. Yeah, and you you got sent to that room a few times. All the time. Yeah, yeah. But I just remember him always saying, Do you walk to school or do you bring your lunch?

SPEAKER_06 20:06

Oh, right, right, right.

SPEAKER_10 20:09

Carry your lunch. Awesome. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 20:11

Walk to school or carry your lunch.

SPEAKER_10 20:13

Exactly. He was spectacle, he was a cool, cool dude, man. Yeah, he was cool. He was awesome.

SPEAKER_06 20:20

Sure was.

SPEAKER_10 20:20

Which that we'll get to that later, I think. But anyway, Bethany, that leads to you.

SPEAKER_06 20:27

Yeah, well, I think I had the same one that you and Jen did.

SPEAKER_10 20:30

So I gotcha.

SPEAKER_06 20:33

You told me to have a backup one. Mine was mine goes back to like well, fifth fifth grade, right? Yeah, fifth grade. We had those movies in the cafeteria.

SPEAKER_10 20:48

Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_06 20:49

For the whole entire we we all sat all over the floor.

SPEAKER_10 20:52

It was all through middle school, all through elementary school, yep. Chitty chitty bang bangs.

SPEAKER_06 20:58

I was kissing uh I kiss people. Eric Britain, Eric, uh and I just I I just remember thinking like the stuff that went on in that cafeteria on the floor.

SPEAKER_02 21:12

Oh, it that that you do anything, anything. You know, nowadays with like cell phone cameras and stuff, they show like in a movie theater, like who it was, it was a politician that was in a movie theater and they like show what's going on and the lights are out. It's like that shit would be all over the internet, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_07 21:32

I remember um I remember going with Jeff Dickinson to that. And I think we were in third grade, and I was I remember he was like holding my hand, and I'm like, oh my god, he's holding my hand, oh my god. But behind me was a more mature Scott shop. Oh no, they were doing a whole lot more than holding hands. Titty chitty bang bang.

SPEAKER_05 21:53

Oh, in a motor car opening time we spend bang, bang, chitty, chitty, bang, bang. Our fine, poor friend, good friend.

SPEAKER_10 22:02

Elementary school, third grade.

SPEAKER_06 22:04

Yeah. So to get back to your question, yeah, that would never occur today.

SPEAKER_10 22:10

Oh, I'm proud of you for remember that remembering that, Chrissy. Oh my god. I was going right there, too. All right, Jen, where do you then?

SPEAKER_08 22:21

Well, I have to say the smoking area because why wouldn't it be the smoking area? That's the most crazy thing. And in front of the office, nonetheless.

SPEAKER_00 22:29

Yeah, exactly. Now a panel is making recommendations on whether to have these smoking areas. Like this one at Wheeler High School, closed. The students are divided, and so is the faculty.

SPEAKER_02 22:41

It's the students that want to smoke to come here. It's away from everybody else that doesn't want to smoke in the school.

SPEAKER_08 22:46

Well, it was super like a lot of the people that were in the smoking area um were scary to me. I was a little frightened.

SPEAKER_02 22:55

I was a smoking area guy. That's the thing. I could transcend between the smoking area and others. Yeah, that's what I said was universal bridging of the different universes. That's what made our class. And there were some scary people out there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 23:11

Not Ben Blaze, though. Not Ben Blaze.

SPEAKER_07 23:14

I used to stare, I used to stare from the other side of the window at Ben Blaze. So something that happened that would never be allowed, I think, would be archery class in gym. Oh yes. I just remember when that segment used to come. Well, there were a couple things. So archery and then also climbing the giant rope. Yep, from the ceiling that with the little the little teeny blue mats to protect us if we fell.

SPEAKER_02 23:49

Like an inch and a half. Right.

SPEAKER_07 23:52

But I always thought the archery, and I remember um Mr. Pink um like showing us how to shoot the stupid arrows. And remember they had feathers, they had feathers at the end. And I remember he was saying, like, if you hold them wrong and you release the arrow improperly, like the feather is going to slice open your wrist. Right. And you could bleed with that.

SPEAKER_02 24:13

Of course.

SPEAKER_07 24:14

And I just remember thinking, like, oh my god, people are going to constantly kill me. But they were real, like with metal tips and everything. Oh, absolutely. And I just remember the whole like liability-wise, oh my god. But I remember all we got was the like, okay, don't run out when somebody is about to shoot an arrow. Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_02 24:38

That's a safety briefing. Right.

SPEAKER_07 24:40

And just, you know, try not to slit your wrist. Don't be stupid. Oh my lord. And then um yeah, my other thing is kind of same in more recess related, but I remember in elementary school um just being allowed to play dodgeball on elementary school and you know, hammering on people and hammering and then understanding. Yeah, but I remember teachers even being involved in it and like just having getting peppered by ball at full speed by teachers and the older kids, and just thinking, oh my god.

SPEAKER_10 25:21

Yeah, yeah, not good. And the irony of that is as correct as you are, Chrissy, now they have acts throwing at bars.

SPEAKER_09 25:33

I'm like it's such a like fucked up world, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 25:38

Loaded and just chuck a sharp object. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 25:41

But just a quick generation is excellent at it. Yes.

SPEAKER_10 25:45

Just a quick story, though, about the gym. Because you remember those doors that used the brown doors that went out to the outside of the gym at the high school. We used to open them and put a pebble inside it so that when the school closed, we could go back there and open the doors, and we used to rip out the trampolines and the ropes and like deadly. Like we would climb the ropes and drop onto the trampolines, like so deadly. I could just see someone like flip-flopping onto the floor. At least it was a rubber floor, right? But all right, so we're on to number three, then I believe, which is our favorite old home day and or roller rink memory. Now, mine's gonna be a little different. It was my first French kiss, and it was not a good one. And I will use just a first name, and this person will probably end up hearing this, but oh well, we were kids, right? But it was her first name was Jessica, and and it was in the year, like give us the year.

SPEAKER_06 27:06

Do you know about how God?

SPEAKER_10 27:07

I was a little boy. I mean, had to be like fourth, fifth grade, maybe, but it was in the little league dugout, the the right side. And it was just the worst, worst experience of my life. I'm like, I'm never doing that again. She like opened her mouth like she was a fucking tyrannosaurus and just jammed her tongue down my throat. And I'm like, I don't know anything about this stuff, but I'm pretty sure that's not the right way to do it. And I don't know why that just clicked with me. I had another funnier, well, fun story about old home day, but that's a story I will never ever forget. Right, you know, because maybe that's how I learned.

SPEAKER_02 28:04

You don't know. Yeah, it's not like anybody teaches you how, you know what I mean? Yeah, it's like you have to learn by trial and error and people making fun of you and exactly things and learning from other people and all that stuff. Because like I learned my first French kiss was like uh spin the bottle. Yeah, and then I was called motor mouth for a little while. I didn't know how to do it, you know.

SPEAKER_10 28:32

Well, that was brutal. She was not a good teacher, but yeah, and she'll hear this, and I'm gonna catch hell for it.

SPEAKER_02 28:40

But anyway, to you, Donald. So Roller Rink memories, not that I didn't have any in Guilford, but I grew up in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and there was a roller rink in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts. And what I remember from that is my fondest memories of the Roller Rinks were playing um asteroids and Defender video games. The video games like that were they were new to the to the scene, and they were like the big video games, and that's what I played and enjoyed quite quite immensely.

SPEAKER_10 29:23

So Mindeed. So that goes to you then, Bethany.

SPEAKER_06 29:27

Oh, so uh definitely the the for me the the fond memory of the roller rink was when I I I don't think it was even once a month, maybe once every other month, they do the sock hop.

SPEAKER_10 29:40

Oh, just didn't know.

SPEAKER_06 29:41

Do you remember that? Did they do that at your Roller Rink, Donnie? He's laughing.

SPEAKER_02 29:49

What is it, Johnny Be Good movie? The guy's like, There'll be no sock hop tonight, people.

SPEAKER_06 29:56

Oh, I never saw it.

SPEAKER_02 29:57

No, that was a classic, like coach uh pep talk in the locker room.

SPEAKER_06 30:04

And you got to dance.

SPEAKER_10 30:06

Didn't have to worry about knowing how to skate.

SPEAKER_06 30:09

Oh, that was my favorite, was the sock cop. And the song that got me out there was the I Am the Warrior.

SPEAKER_10 30:15

Oh, yeah, good one.

SPEAKER_06 30:38

When I hear that song, I just can feel the wind in my hair. Yeah. I'm serious. When they play that song, turning left.

SPEAKER_10 30:53

Yes, crazy train.

SPEAKER_06 30:54

Crazy train. Oh yeah. Nice that was a blast. That was dangerous. That was dangerous.

SPEAKER_10 31:00

That was fast skate, right? Little metal going. To you, Jen?

SPEAKER_08 31:07

So my my days are going to the roller with VJ, and uh I don't know why, but him and I just like to go to the roller skating together, and we would go up and request request songs at the DJ booth. You remember the DJ booth there? Yeah. Like um Queen of Hearts. Remember that was like always playing. And we would do the um the the uh the shirts we would wear were the esprit and the Benetton shirts with the high collars and the comb in the back pocket. Of course.

SPEAKER_01 31:39

And I remember we'd always have to request a slow song, and I'd always pick Stairway to Heaven because it was the longest, and I'd get to hold Nan's DJ Stairway to heaven.

SPEAKER_10 32:01

Awesome. The music back then just oh, we'll have to do another one someday just on the middle school and high school songs.

SPEAKER_08 32:11

Row skate was what you waited for, so you could hold hands.

SPEAKER_10 32:14

Yes, absolutely. All right, Chrissy, up to you.

SPEAKER_07 32:18

So for roller skating, um, I used to go a lot with I used to go with Trisha Edgar a lot. I don't know why, but um same thing. I remember doing shoot the duck, and she and I were terrible at it, and we would always crash into people. Um, we both had huge crushes on Tom Fabian. Oh, like, oh my god, older Tom Fabian. Um, but I also remember the was it a referee? What was I don't remember what it was kind of a referee, yeah. Yeah, like security.

SPEAKER_10 32:54

Stay away from the middle, stay away from the middle.

SPEAKER_07 32:57

Exactly. He was so nice. I don't remember his name was Frank. I just remember I loved Frank. But um, I remember Sue Carouselli's parents owned it. And I always remember being so jealous when because Sarah always had the best, I mean not Sarah, Sue. Sue always had the best outfits and her hair was like bam. Um, but yeah, I was always jealous of her because she always looked so good, and I thought it was so cool that her parents owned the roller skating rink. Um, but I also remember how many times going into the little snack area and uh trying so hard to stop going in there for chicken fingers, and you would just everyone would take out all of the tables going in there because no one could stop. You were just like right off the skating rink and right into the snack ring.

SPEAKER_02 33:47

That little toe stopper, crash right in, take it all out.

SPEAKER_07 33:53

And I do I do have a memory of old home day too, which is a short, funny one. And Jen probably remembers this one, but I remember it involved Sarah McShane working at the village store.

SPEAKER_10 34:05

Oh, nice.

SPEAKER_07 34:06

And Sarah told us she was getting off of her shift and that we were supposed to meet her on the little path, and we were waiting and waiting and waiting, and she never came. Well, it was because she gotten caught stealing wine coolers from Mr. McGinley. Oh, no way. She went out the back door and she put the she put them like behind the dumpster or something, and then she went back in and she got caught by Mr. McGinley. Oh, it was terrible. Yeah, so she never got to play with us that night, but that wasn't the home day. And she got fired.

SPEAKER_05 34:46

Oh no, boy. You're fired, huh?

SPEAKER_01 34:51

Fire awesome.

SPEAKER_10 34:53

So we're back to me here. Let me just find the new category we got.

SPEAKER_06 34:58

Favorite middle school gathering.

SPEAKER_10 35:00

Oh boy. I'm running with this one. And Jen, this definitely includes you at one point. Does anyone remember Wendy Ford's Jack and Jill party at Samosat?

SPEAKER_06 35:16

Gosh, mine involves Samassat.

SPEAKER_10 35:19

There are a lot of memories there. We're at Wendy Ford's house, and we have this party where the guys and girls all get to sleep over, and then Jen the next morning, who at this point, Jen, was when I still had my huge crush on you, and you were eating cereal.

SPEAKER_06 35:43

Oh god. This changed your life forever, AJ.

SPEAKER_10 35:48

It did change my life forever, and Jen needs to know what I can imagine what you're gonna say.

SPEAKER_06 35:52

It's about to get real. Oh boy.

SPEAKER_10 35:57

So I mean, I used to drive hazelnut or Heather, you lived on Hazelnut.

SPEAKER_09 36:04

Hazelnut.

SPEAKER_10 36:05

I used to literally ride in front of her house and pop wheelies, do handstands on my skateboard. Like this is all supposed to work, right? Why isn't she running out here feathers? Yeah. So we're at Wendy Ford and she's eating cereal, and then she's drinking the milk out of her cereal, and I forget who said something funny, and milk came out of your nose. And then you asked me a few minutes later if I would like any. And that's why I to this day I can't even share dairy with my daughters.

SPEAKER_06 36:52

Oh my god, I'm so sorry. AJ does not share dairy.

SPEAKER_10 36:58

I will not share dairy to this day, and that's why this girl that I am so attracted to just had milk dump out of her nose and then asked me if I wanted some. This is a true story, though. Okay, I still love you though.

SPEAKER_06 37:26

Thank you. He won't show dairy. He won't cheer dairy. Was that the end of your crush?

SPEAKER_10 37:32

No.

SPEAKER_02 37:35

So that's to you, Donald. All right. So again, gathering. I went with the airbands. I love doing the airbands, and I love the middle school airbands. And I was new to Guilford, and I was befriended by like Dave Haley and those guys, and we and we did the Scorpions airband. I remember that. And we went against like Scooter, who was amazing at Billy Joel, uh Billy Idol. And the go-go's so good. And yeah, you guys did the go-go. Yeah, that was a really fun night, and it was an awesome airband, and we had a lot of fun. Oh, it was incredible.

SPEAKER_10 38:19

I can still see Stevie Sousa doing the who. Yeah. Oh, God, love him.

SPEAKER_02 38:26

Yeah. Um, yeah, so it was good competition, but we like practiced at Haley's house. It was like Brendan O'Connor, me, Dave Haley. I think your brother was a drummer for us, I think. Yep. Dan was the brother, the drummer. Yeah. Um, and we practiced and rehearsed, and we we took it seriously. Damn right, we did better.

SPEAKER_06 38:50

I think.

SPEAKER_02 38:51

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 38:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:52

Yeah, we were there probably every day after school for like a month or so.

SPEAKER_08 38:56

But yeah. Oh Donnie, do you know those pictures are in I don't know what year that was? They're in the yearbook.

SPEAKER_02 39:03

I have that still. Yeah. Oh, no way. It's like Brendan on our knees with Dave. Yeah. Oh, you need to see Haley. Always references that. Like he's like, Yeah, the scorpions.

SPEAKER_07 39:15

When did who else was in KISS? Donnie, I know it was AJ and VJ.

SPEAKER_10 39:20

And Donnie, Todd Camoni, and Todd Camuni.

SPEAKER_07 39:23

Oh my god. That was like a full-on KISS concert. Like that was, yeah.

SPEAKER_10 39:28

Do you know we lost that, right?

SPEAKER_07 39:30

You lost?

SPEAKER_10 39:30

Oh, yeah, we lost a storm moment. Yeah. We lost a white snake with AJ Bauman.

SPEAKER_07 39:38

What's the Tammy? Did Tammy dance on the car?

SPEAKER_10 39:40

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 39:41

I think so.

SPEAKER_07 39:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:43

She danced provocatively.

SPEAKER_10 39:44

And which took the cake. But we did kiss to a T.

SPEAKER_07 40:07

There were some that were done in the auditorium up on the stage, which those were the those were the high school ones.

SPEAKER_10 40:13

Yeah. The middle school.

SPEAKER_07 40:14

You said the middle school was in the cafeteria, right? Exactly. So I remember, I remember so for some reason we only could apparently we only knew the go-go's. I remember that. Jessica Crowder was always Linda Carlisle. Um, but I remember the middle school when Jen was supposed to be something. Somebody. And um I think we added a keyboardist just so that I'd have a role, but they never even had a keyboard for player. But anyway, it was fun. Um, but Jen had allergy shots that day, and I remember and Ildi, um, Ildi Frankie brought us all of these clothes because she had all the best like 80s clothes at the time. So she was she was dressing us, and Jen comes and she's got numbers and marker down both of her arms, and was said the doctor said I'm not allowed to like get my heart rate going, so I can't participate.

SPEAKER_10 41:07

So she sat next to Mr.

SPEAKER_07 41:11

Vargas, and I remember Mr. Vargas was like, go, go, go, go, yeah. Anyway, shot down. Yeah, and Ben, they were guns, guns and roses.

SPEAKER_06 41:24

Wasn't he Van Halen with all the rips?

SPEAKER_07 41:27

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_10 41:28

If I had to pick the best Van Halen, it was the kick and everything. It was Ben, my brother Dave on drums, and he striped his drums like Alex Van Halen. Yep. And then Jim Moulton was Michael Anthony. No, Kevin Shaw was Michael Anthony, and Jim Moulton was Eddie Van Halen. That was a great one, too.

SPEAKER_07 41:52

Oh, good. Wow, that was a good memory. Yeah. I think that's that's when I started watching Ben in the smoking area.

SPEAKER_10 42:00

After the Van Halen kick.

SPEAKER_06 42:02

After that performance.

SPEAKER_10 42:04

Oh, that's funny.

SPEAKER_06 42:06

My middle school memory has to be the dances. I just I just remember loving the school dances and purple rain. Purple. I hear that song, and I'm just back in the cafeteria dancing.

SPEAKER_09 42:31

Purple rain.

SPEAKER_06 42:38

It was. It's still a favorite of mine.

SPEAKER_10 42:41

I still have so many memories from those. Jen doesn't remember, but I was remembered.

SPEAKER_02 42:48

The cafeteria was like pitch black. You couldn't see a damn thing. Yeah. You know.

SPEAKER_07 42:54

I remember rolling out of the windows to go and sneak outside and switch with Babe Robinson.

SPEAKER_10 43:01

Ah, there you go.

SPEAKER_07 43:02

But I remember the windows at the bottom, they opened, which was funny, but you couldn't lay down, literally like lay on your back and roll out of them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 43:14

I think we've only opened about this wide. Right?

SPEAKER_07 43:19

That was the only way that you could escape because they had people. The teachers would watch the other. They weren't watching the windows. So we escaped for the creative to come back in.

SPEAKER_10 43:32

So, Jen, I have a memory for you here now. I know I'm going to you a lot, but um school dance always brings it up to me. Do you remember that your mom made you come back in to apologize to me? Because you get mad at me. I don't remember what you got mad at me about, but I just remember your mom making you come in to apologize to me.

SPEAKER_08 43:57

I don't remember why.

SPEAKER_10 43:59

I don't know, but I must have been right once in my life. Yeah, that's remember. Awesome. So that's to you then, Jen.

SPEAKER_08 44:14

Oh yeah, okay. So it was Halloween. It was one girl, and my I talked to my mom about it today, and she said it was Chrissy, but I don't know if it was you or not. Um but it was definitely Dave Haley, uh Jeff Dickinson, Tom LaCroix, and Chrissy, I think. But we all put um the Friday the Jason match. Was Friday the 13th, Jason masked on. And so we were out terrorizing, you know, the neighborhood and toilet papering and egg in people's houses, whatever. And the cops were chasing us, and it was not me. But um we there was a car in front of my house right up where the stairs were, and the cops came up the driveway, and all of us were hiding on one side of the car with all our with we all had the white masks on, and the cops are on the other side of the car, and they're like, Have you seen some kids with with Jason masks on terrorizing there? And my mom's like, No, but we're all sitting there looking at the same characters. Nope, I haven't seen them.

SPEAKER_10 45:22

Oh my god, you would have got shot nowadays.

SPEAKER_08 45:25

I know dear lord. I just can't remember who the other person was. I guess I don't know. I'll have to think more about it, but that's my that's one of my favorite memories.

SPEAKER_10 45:34

That's awesome because that's what a good parent would do.

SPEAKER_08 45:39

Right?

SPEAKER_10 45:39

Right nowadays they'd be like, they're right here, sir. Yeah. It's unbelievable. Throw the book at her. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:50

Well, that neighborhood unfortunately took the brunt of Halloween in Guilford. Like that downtown area, and they took all the toilet paper and egging, all that stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Close part. Uh yeah. Close quarters, right?

SPEAKER_10 46:06

Guilford Forest and yeah, all that.

SPEAKER_05 46:10

Right. And now a short commercial break.

SPEAKER_10 46:14

Welcome to Halftime at 80s high. Want to just get a little info out there for you folks, including our website, which is past times at 80shigh.com, and that is 80s for 80s. Past times at 80shigh.com. Shoot us an email at pta80h at gmail.com. PTA80H at gmail.com. Love the feedback you've been sending. We can't appreciate it more. Check us out on all the socials, including our new Facebook, which is past times at 80s high. And then for interaction, past timers at 80s high. Find us on all the major podcast platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. And please remember that those five star reviews and the comments go a long way helping us move up that chain. So thank you so much. We couldn't appreciate it more.

SPEAKER_05 47:09

Pop Rock, Jack, Stretch Armstrong, Jack, the Bionic Man.

SPEAKER_04 47:17

Jack. You've gone back in time. This is past times at 80 times.

SPEAKER_10 47:30

Uh Chrissy, that's you then.

SPEAKER_07 47:32

Yeah, so mine's not a middle school memory, but mine is a fifth grade memory of our Boston field trip. I remember, I think it was, I think I know it was Scott Shaw. Scott Herbert, maybe?

SPEAKER_10 47:47

Maybe.

SPEAKER_07 47:49

So anyway, short circuited the school.

unknown 47:51

Oh.

SPEAKER_10 47:52

Remember that?

SPEAKER_07 47:53

And they weren't allowed to go on the trip.

SPEAKER_10 47:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 47:56

As it's fifth graders, they somehow short circuited the school.

SPEAKER_10 48:00

Bub plugged in some it was in Mrs. Buckman's class.

SPEAKER_09 48:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_10 48:05

And Bub had this unit that he must have got from like Laconi Electric. And he plugged something in that made the clock start to like spin backwards, and it fucking blew out the whole electrical system in the school.

SPEAKER_07 48:27

They weren't allowed to come and play the field trip. But then I remember going on the field trip, and this could actually kind of be um packaged into the things you wouldn't see today. I remember going into Boston, we went to a Red Sox game, and I just remember being able to run all over Fenway Park. I was like inside without by yourself, by myself, or whoever I was with, but just like running around talking to all these like weird homeless people and adults. And um, but I remember and I had a huge crush on VJ, and I was all excited because we had these, we all got these red socks, like painters, uh paper painters hat.

SPEAKER_10 49:10

Nice, and we were sitting behind home plate.

SPEAKER_07 49:13

We looked so cool, yeah. And I was like, oh, this is the day that VJ is gonna like notice me. And my mom, my mom was um a volunteer, uh what is it called? Uh a chaperone because she was a nurse. And um I just remember like being so upset because we got to we were going to like some school for the sleepover portion of it. I mean the gym. Yep. And on our way there, I don't know, I can't remember if the bus got lost or what, but I remember we ended up in like some really bad part of of the city.

SPEAKER_09 49:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 49:49

And like these people were throwing, do you remember like beer bottles? So I remember yeah, we ended up getting to the school super, super late. Mrs. Wiley or Miss Wiley, I remember, was so mad because the boys are supposed to be on one side, the girls are on the other hand.

SPEAKER_10 50:07

This is where I thought you were going in the beginning. This so Stevie Sousa wasn't with Bub, but he was involved in this story. Yes.

SPEAKER_07 50:17

Well, I remember thinking, like, okay, when my mom falls asleep, I'm gonna make my move on Vijay.

SPEAKER_09 50:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 50:26

My plan got ruined because VJ ended up having to go to the hospital. What was wrong with VJ? Do you remember? I think it was appendicitis. That's what I remember. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:37

I don't remember that you were escaped from I remember him feeling scene.

SPEAKER_07 50:42

Yeah, but I so I never did get to switch him. But my I was so jealous that my mom got to spend all this time with VJ.

SPEAKER_10 50:49

Yeah, and I I'm sure he's upset too, Chrissy. But um, where I thought you were going is do you remember Stevie and I forget who else? I might have been one of them, but we were trying to like army crawl across the gym to the girls' side. And we'd all get like halfway, and they're like, get back there. That was when Mrs.

SPEAKER_07 51:14

Wiley or Miss Wiley lost it, was on you guys on the army crawls over to our side, and she lost her chick. It was like two o'clock in the morning at that point. Oh that's funny.

SPEAKER_10 51:26

Didn't matter what time it was, there were girls on the other side. Right, right. Mission. Yeah. Mission, exactly. Awesome. All right, that brings us to number five, which is a memory, including someone in this podcast. Ugh, and I have to go first. And this is where I was saying I'm probably gonna have to just say one for everyone, and I'll be brief on each one. Donnie, and I'll get emotional here. I probably can't say enough because I'm not even gonna give one because I have so many memories with you. Donnie became my third brother, basically. And for me, it's um Hinsdale, you know, just the amount of times that was so important to me, just Donnie coming down to visit all the time. And then let's see, I gotta go to Bethany next and go to my sleepovers at your house with with Dan or Oscar now. In the bunk beds, in the bunk beds, but we'd always hang out excuse me, the night before with Dan or with Oscar, and then when we'd get bored the next afternoon, that's when I would go hit the bunk beds with Bethany for at least an hour, and we would snuggle, if you will, and and kiss. I don't think anything else happened other than that.

SPEAKER_06 53:05

No, and I don't remember how old we were either. Fourth grade, maybe fifth, but oh my god, after Tommy LaCroix.

SPEAKER_10 53:15

Right, and then Chrissy, I've already talked about it with you, but the Steel Hill trip, and we were in the back of a car. Yeah, you and I were in the backseat, and that's when we were kissing, and then you broke up with me. I forget why you said the other night. And Jen, countless, countless memories. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_07 53:37

I think PJ was with Paula. Yeah, I think that's why we're at still hill because Paula's father had a membership there.

SPEAKER_10 53:44

Yeah, yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_07 53:45

Oh, he was like the general manager. Yeah, I think I think Paula was with BJ, and yeah, somehow. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_10 53:54

It's okay, but anyway, and then Jen just countless. I mean, the wheelies in front of your house, the dances, the milk. Like Jen was my crush from Mrs. Peter's class, at least, maybe even Mrs. Lacomb in second grade. Yes, we have Mrs. Lacomb, you got too much through Mrs. Chase in like fifth grade. You know, and I just all the memories I that I friggin' remember about that are astronomical, you know, it's just comical to me. Like, wow, that was 45 years ago. Crazy, 40 years ago, it's like so anyway, great, great fun.

SPEAKER_02 54:44

I will see I'll go to you, Donald. All right, the reason why I thought you were gonna take mine is when we met each other for the first time in Mr. Farr's class, where you were sitting in the very farthest seat from the front. You were right in the back of the room, and I turned around over my shoulder, and you were like, Hey, you do good in school? And I was like, Not really, and you're like, Cool.

SPEAKER_10 55:14

Oh, what I remember that like yesterday, too. Like I was proud of you.

SPEAKER_02 55:20

What an idiot I was. Yeah, the rest is history, right? You know, absolutely, and I you know, we just hung out after that and oh endlessly until now, yeah, right? Yeah, and when was that?

SPEAKER_06 55:36

What what great what grade was that thing?

SPEAKER_02 55:38

It was seventh grade, I think it was seventh grade, yeah. Or the end of the grade. The end when I came to Guildford was seventh grade, might have been sixth grade.

SPEAKER_10 55:47

It might have been the end of sixth because end of sixth seventh is when I had to move, but we became that good of friends over that year, right? That it yeah, awesome, yeah. Oh, yeah, choked up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 56:02

Did no one else go visit? Like, did Dan never go visit you in Hinsdale? I remember seeing you at a soccer game when I think Guilford played Hinsdale.

SPEAKER_10 56:12

The soccer game, that was a big memory for me.

SPEAKER_06 56:16

I remember that game.

SPEAKER_10 56:17

And well, that that's because it was the championship game in Concord. It was in Concord, and it was Hinsdale against Guilford, which is why I kicked on so terribly. Because, of course, I sat with all of you. You were rooting to the Guilford rooting to Guilford, and then I go back to Hinsdale, who fucking won that year, and then everyone hated me. What a great age.

SPEAKER_06 56:45

Oh, it was it was. I don't even know how I got to the Concord Hint Concord Championship game, but we were there.

SPEAKER_10 56:56

Definitely, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 56:57

Good point. How did we get anywhere?

SPEAKER_10 57:01

One of our parents drove us and just because back then it wasn't like now where they're kept tabs on us, they like dropped you off and went to a bar or something.

SPEAKER_07 57:13

You were getting mouth. Exactly. I remember being at one of the one of the Concord soccer games, and we so Jen and I we used to go with Becky. Becky Calden was our driver, and uh, I remember this one got mouthy because we used to call her a little scrappy-doo, that um she was trying to start a fight with some of the other people, and she would mouth off, but she would do it with Becky standing behind her because Becky Becky was so much tougher, but she had the mouth and she'd get us in trouble.

SPEAKER_10 57:45

She had the backup that's awesome. So, Bethany, I think we're at you for that category.

SPEAKER_06 57:54

Yeah, I I really have fond memories of the basketball games, they felt larger than life to me to go to those at night and sit up in the bleachers. And I don't know, something about the gymnasium, the the basketball games, the um winter carnival.

SPEAKER_09 58:10

Winter carnival, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 58:12

Cheered our nine-o, way to go. And really going up against the other uh classes, and I I loved that time.

SPEAKER_08 58:25

That didn't we have a theme? Why did we call ourselves like the beach? Or we always said the beach, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 58:30

The beach. I remember the beach, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 58:33

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 58:34

So that's to you, Jen.

SPEAKER_08 58:38

It's gonna be one about you, AJ.

SPEAKER_10 58:40

Oh no.

SPEAKER_08 58:42

You should say oh no, because I was mad.

SPEAKER_10 58:44

Oh, great.

SPEAKER_08 58:46

One of the times you were riding your bike down my street, I think this was like third grade, and I was walking down my driveway, and you drove up the driveway on your bike, and you stopped, and you said, You know, there is no Santa Claus.

SPEAKER_10 59:01

Oh yes, I do remember this.

SPEAKER_08 59:07

I went running into my mom. She's like, AJ, I could kill you.

SPEAKER_03 59:13

Who goes there? Santa Claus. Ah, there ain't no Santa Claus. That's what you think.

SPEAKER_10 59:20

Oh, why was I so awful? You believed me? Your mom couldn't talk you out of it. He doesn't know what he's talking about. He's just a kid.

SPEAKER_08 59:31

I probably believe too long, who knows?

SPEAKER_10 59:34

That's because I was mad at you for ignoring me for so long. I'm sure you brought that upon yourself.

SPEAKER_08 59:42

Oh the victim. You're the victim.

SPEAKER_10 59:45

I'm sorry, Jen.

SPEAKER_08 59:47

I wonder how old you were. Why do I want to say third grade?

SPEAKER_10 59:52

Oh my goodness. Yeah. Because that's when I was riding up and down your street. What a terrible human being. That's a great story. It is a great story for everyone else.

SPEAKER_08 1:00:05

You know, I have a funny, I have a funny, just a quick little blurb too. I was going through the yearbooks today, trying to jog my memory on some things. And Donnie, you wrote in my yearbook, hey Jen, sorry I broke up with you. Have a nice summer. Bye.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:21

I didn't have very good tact. Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 1:00:24

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:25

Some of these things that are in your yearbook are when you're in like the grade, you say you're going out and you hang out maybe like two or three times, kind of thing. It's not like you were in a serious long-term relationship or anything, you know. I'm sorry. I'm very sorry.

SPEAKER_10 1:00:43

Very tactful, Donald. What a way to let a woman down easy. I know.

SPEAKER_08 1:00:50

Right to the point.

SPEAKER_10 1:00:51

Yeah, right. No beating around the bush there. But I'm like, hey, sorry. Move on.

SPEAKER_08 1:00:58

Get over it.

SPEAKER_10 1:01:00

Get over it.

SPEAKER_08 1:01:01

Have a nice summer, yeah. That's funny.

SPEAKER_10 1:01:04

Oh, that's spectacular. I feel terrible now. So, Chrissy, where do you?

SPEAKER_07 1:01:10

Let's see. All right. So the memory I'm going to share has to do with Bethany. And we so my parents used to have a camp on Dockham Shore Road in Guildford, and um Bethany was like, she always would come over to the camp. And we would just spend hours upon hours upon hours on the water. You know, my weak parents had the big um, you know, the big like inner tubes that were the real like tire inner tubes that had real tires, exactly. Yeah, the big metal thing sticking up, and if they sat in the sun too long, your skin would like them. Um I loved it because ours always were painted like Jay Garno. So just in case it floated away, like somebody would know that it was my dad's. But um, I I remember Bethany and I used to all go out whenever we could. So if she was staying for a few days, we would go out on our our little dinghy, the little rowboat, and we would sing. Um, I must, I must, must increase my butt. We used to sing that to the girl. Uh huh. I need a bigger bra. We must, we must, we must increase our bus.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:30

We must, we must, we must increase our bus.

SPEAKER_07 1:02:40

We were so convinced that if we did this throughout the summer, that when school started, we would have those.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:50

Oh, I love oh my gosh, I'd forgotten that. I had completely forgotten that. That is, and that was I was looking forward to that with this podcast. That I would, you know, hear things that would jog my memory that I had completely forgotten. Completely. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_10 1:03:10

Too fun.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:11

My memory with you, Chrissy, was when we would make basically Virgin Bloody Marys.

SPEAKER_10 1:03:16

We'd get is that why you still are hooked on them, Bethany?

SPEAKER_06 1:03:20

I almost think it is. We get I tell people that all the time. They're like, when did you start drinking Bloody Marys? They look so good. I wished I liked them, but I don't like them. And I said, My friend Chrissy and I would would fill our glass with tomato juice and we'd get the cracked pepper and squeeze lemon in it, and we'd put everything in it, and pickles, like we'd put everything in it. And I I don't know why we did that, but basically we were making Lady Mary's.

SPEAKER_07 1:03:47

This is a quick, like totally off subject, but Bethany was there, Jen was there, uh basically like all of them, and we had it was my birthday party, and I want to say it was fifth or sixth grade. So again, young, and we went to Papa Gino's, and I remember I was all excited because you could go make your own pizza. If you're the birthday girl or birthday boy, you could go behind the counter and make your own pizza, and I was like, and so I remember making my home pizza, and I was like the star of the day. And I remember, you know, we're we were all sitting down at the little tables with the jukeboxes at Pomogino's and Guilford, and I told my mom, I'm like, I don't feel so well. I remember going into that little bathroom area with my mom, and I didn't make it. I threw up everywhere. Pomagino's. And of course, everybody from my birthday party was aware of it. So we we went home and nobody wanted to have anything to do with me for the rest of my birthday party. So I fell asleep, and everybody's little sleeping bags were far away from mine, so I had to sleep in my sleeping bag. But while I spelled all of these ladies found wet n wild nail polish in my room and were sniffing nail polish to get high.

SPEAKER_09 1:05:14

I picked the wrong weight to quit sniffing blue.

SPEAKER_07 1:05:22

But I remember years later, well, you must have gotten cut. Maybe my mom was coming downstairs or something, but I remember like my mom was moving planters to like vacuum behind or do something with planters underneath the planter with like bright blue wet and wild nail pockets.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:48

Oh my god. Yes, evidence.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:53

We'd end with the planter.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:57

Spectable.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:58

We were high. What did we know?

SPEAKER_10 1:06:00

Sniffing nail polish. All right, great fun. So now we're at number six, and that is gonna be our favorite teacher. And I have so many here, but my choice is obvious, and there's a reason, and yes, I might get emotional here, but this is someone who I saw actually in maybe four months ago, and we got a great picture together, but it's Mrs. Johnson, fourth grade. And this woman probably saved my life because I don't know if you guys remember Mr. Flack.

SPEAKER_07 1:06:43

But Flecky Buff. I used to call him Flaky Buff.

SPEAKER_10 1:06:47

I was, and thank God for my mom being the dearest soul on the planet. Because I said to him once, I told him, I said, I don't know, Mr. Flack. I'm just tired of being treated like shit. And he smacked me and I bled. Now imagine that happening nowadays, right? Yeah. Bam. Fired, never working again, right? But my mom, being the smart woman she is, was like, I'm sure he deserved it. You know. So um anyway, Mrs. Johnson had done a course over that summer how to deal with kids that, you know, 80, like back then there was no ADD, OCD, any of that, depression. And clearly I had some of those issues. So I was able to transfer from Mrs. Sorry. From Mr. Fleck's class to hers. And I I don't think I would have made it through school without her. She was just fucking awesome. And she saved me, in my opinion, and I I still talk to her to this day, and we chat about it all the time.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:11

What was it that she did for you? Like, did she like speak to you in private kind of thing?

SPEAKER_10 1:08:18

Or everything. She just knew that I needed, you know, to focus more. And so she took me to put more attention to you. Yeah. She didn't just label me as a punk and you know, write me off. She worked with me and pretty fucking. I mean, that's huge.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:40

Yeah, she had a unique style. I think she my brother looked up to her a lot as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:46

Yeah. I was big. So do you, Donald? Yeah, I mean, Guilford was blessed with a lot of good, and I say humans, like good human being teachers. Like, they weren't just doing the job, they were, they were, they enjoyed the job. And like, I could name so many, but I'll I'll go with Lynn Makepeace just because she was such a good person, and just like she looked at me, and there was the one thing where it was like the domestic exchange that we went on. Chrissy, you were on that, and she was like, You should do this. And I'm like, No, they'll never accept me. Because I was like, you know, long hair, kind of punky. And she was like, No, do it, do it. You can do it, you know, they'll they'll pick you. And they did, you know. So it was like she saw that, you know, she didn't write me off, you know. She said, you know, do it. And that was a huge like life experience for me because I had never traveled anywhere, never been on a plane, and it was huge for me, and she was a good just a good person. Yeah, it wasn't so much about teaching art, but she was just like she would ask you like how you were doing and those kinds of things. She was and get into like you know, things that were going on in in high school.

SPEAKER_08 1:10:11

Donnie, she's still she still uh lives around here. I see her all the time. I go to her frequently.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:17

Yeah, she's she's great. Yeah, they were chaperones, they were adults, they also they also let us be they let us be kids. Like we we were going out and partying and we were having fun and we were getting drinks and Tijuana, you know, you know, like we weren't behaving, but they they kept the bumpers on, they made sure we didn't get hurt, and you know, but they also let us be kind of like young adults, and that was cool. I thought that was very cool, you know. So very trip, yeah.

SPEAKER_10 1:10:49

Big difference back then, I guess, for sure. That's a great pick, Donnie. Now to you, Bethany, favorite teacher.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:58

Linmate piece was at the top of my list as well for for all the same reasons, very genuine woman, but I'll pick um a close second was Mrs. Peters. Oh, yes, and and she was one of a kind, one of a kind. Um, definitely saved a bunch of saved my brother, saved, I think, Scott Shaw. Yeah, um, she had the the crabs, right? In her what did she have? Those um the crab the tank of the what were those crabs, hermit crabs, all right, because obviously we're all thinking of something else here. Oh, how would that make her a great teacher? She had crabs. No, she had the hermit crabs, and um she was a really funny lady, a really funny lady.

SPEAKER_08 1:11:55

Yeah, you made the boys give her a kiss if they were bad.

SPEAKER_10 1:11:59

I was just about to get into that.

SPEAKER_08 1:12:01

Yeah, you had her, AJ.

SPEAKER_10 1:12:03

Oh god, I used to get in trouble on purpose so that she would make me come up to kiss me.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:10

Oh, she was the best. I just looked forward to to school with her.

SPEAKER_10 1:12:18

Yeah, I can still see her curly, curly hair and her glasses.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:23

Top notch teacher, top notch teacher.

SPEAKER_10 1:12:26

That's a great pick. So that's favorite teacher to you, Jen.

SPEAKER_08 1:12:31

Um, you're gonna laugh at mine because no one would probably get it, but Mr. Zuloff, he teaches Mr.

SPEAKER_09 1:12:38

Zuloff. Oh, you did?

SPEAKER_08 1:12:39

Yeah, he taught European history, and he was so I had, as you probably all remember, I know Chrissy does, the worst allergies ever. And he had sympathy, and like everybody always made fun of me because I was always blowing my nose. But he was just he was always so kind, and I like and my daughter actually had him, he was still there not that long ago. Oh my gosh, he just retired like oh four years ago, and then Mr.

SPEAKER_10 1:13:11

Edmonds, yes, Edmonds was amazing.

SPEAKER_08 1:13:16

Oh, yeah, he was good, and funny always be funny, and I think I want to say he just passed away not that long, like last year.

SPEAKER_10 1:13:24

Yeah, yeah, he was awesome. My brother David, that was one of his favorite teachers, Edmonds and Bendix.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:32

He was good. Does anyone remember? Like deadpan humor kind of those two, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:13:39

But the two of them together, Mr. Bendix and Mr.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:41

Edmonds, was just our fucking thing.

SPEAKER_07 1:13:46

They had some kind of a vibe going together. They were so funny.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:50

They were so funny. And down to earth.

SPEAKER_07 1:13:55

Down to earth, just funny, and they I remember they chaperoned. Um, I can't remember, it was it must have been economics or something, but they they chaperone. We had we had to take the short bus because it was like 10 students, and um, we were going to the Boston Financial Building, and I guess we were supposed to have another chaperone because we were they were outnumbered or whatever. So the chaperone, the other chaperone never came. So here we are all sitting in the short bus, and Edmonds was driving, and Fendix was like there too. And um, who was was so it was Dr. Ayres, was Dr. Ayres our only principal? I'm trying to think. Was he our principal when we graduated?

SPEAKER_10 1:14:36

He was when you guys graduated. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:14:43

I think we had Mr. Erda was our vice.

SPEAKER_10 1:14:46

Erta was our middle school slash vice, and then Ross was kind of a vice, right?

SPEAKER_07 1:14:53

And yeah, and and Ayers. So and then Dix and um Edmonds were starting to get nervous to be like, oh my god, like if we we we we're not gonna be able to go on this field trip if if Dr. Ayers pulls in and sees us without this other chaperone. So in comes Dr. Ayers in his station wagon, and I remember just Mr. Edmonds going, like, okay, just everybody wave to Dr. Ayers, and we feel like took off.

SPEAKER_10 1:15:18

Right, right. Perfect.

SPEAKER_07 1:15:22

Edmonds and Bendix took us into Boston with so just just the two of them and us, and it was just a riot. I'm like, talk about two guys that just wanted to have fun.

SPEAKER_10 1:15:33

Exactly.

SPEAKER_08 1:15:34

Let's get to the other thing too that was that was awesome was you know, I thought, you know, we only had those partitions, we didn't have walls, and the two of them would banter in between the yeah, right over the wall.

SPEAKER_10 1:15:47

That was a really fucked up thing about Guilford, huh?

SPEAKER_02 1:15:51

But I loved that about Guilford for a kid with attention problems.

SPEAKER_10 1:15:55

No, that's probably what ruined me.

SPEAKER_07 1:15:58

Yeah, I used to just love it. You'd go in, you'll leave on a Friday and come back on a Monday and not know where your class was. Exactly, right?

SPEAKER_10 1:16:06

We're just moving around here and there. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_08 1:16:10

You can pass notes to your friends in between the things.

SPEAKER_10 1:16:13

Yep. All right, Chrissy, that's to you for favorite teacher.

SPEAKER_07 1:16:18

Um, thank you. So, okay, my same thing. We were so fortunate to have such amazing teachers. So it's very, very, very difficult for me to single anyone out. Um, I have so many fun stories. I will say, you know, we talked about Mr. Edmonds, we talked about Bendix, we talked Mr. Girarden, I love Mr. Girardin, such a kind soul. Um, make peace, uh Mr. Wool, you know, he he helped me. He was our cross country coach, and I remember he wanted so badly for me to stay in cross-country, even though I I could care less about it. He made me a manager of the cross-country team so that I wouldn't quit. And yeah, there's a there's a picture. I I'm gonna say it had to have been my our senior the picture that's in the yearbook. And I just laugh because you've got you know, everybody else is on the cross country team. And here's me with my you know, my great big hair, the big, you know, gold dangly earrings, my my jeans that are rolled up at the bottom, and my little manager jacket and no purpose. I don't, but he he knew that I needed to stay on that team or I was gonna go over the bad road. And he tried so hard. And I just, you know, thank so thankful for him. Um, Mr. West. Yes, I used to I used to give him, you know, George West. I'd give him titty twisters of every day. And I again I I don't know how we that was an accounting class, and we would. He would he would try to say something, we would go up to him and we'd just be like titty twister, charge um you get all red. Um, but I think for me, it um goes way back to kindergarten and it all started with Mrs. McGon.

SPEAKER_10 1:18:10

Ah, yes, I'm so happy because I've been holding it in.

SPEAKER_07 1:18:15

Yep, God love her. I just you know, Jen and I are in Rotary, so we get to see her on a regular basis after Fridays. Um, and she's just as kind and just as beautiful as she was, you know, many years ago. Yes.

SPEAKER_10 1:18:30

I loved her, just a great human. So again, it there's so many that I've left out, but the fact that you remember, and we all remember our kindergarten teacher is Fargan huge. Yeah, and I partied with her at a wedding like 10 years ago. I think I danced with her. Like that's amazing.

SPEAKER_07 1:18:54

Ben and I are in Rotary. We see her every Friday morning.

SPEAKER_10 1:18:58

You need to tell her I say hello, please. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_06 1:19:02

Yeah, well, we'll we'll tell her you said hello.

SPEAKER_10 1:19:05

Yes, please.

SPEAKER_06 1:19:06

Yes, she came to my dad's funeral, so I saw her. I thought she did, yeah, and she still looks amazing.

SPEAKER_10 1:19:14

She was always so beautiful, oh, so beautiful, yeah, very classy. Yeah, big lips.

SPEAKER_06 1:19:21

Yeah, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Her hair, I was always so envious of her hair.

SPEAKER_10 1:19:26

She was gorgeous.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:27

Yeah, I just wanted to shout out hot for teacher, AJ. Faith Rupert and Reddit Colin were impactful to me. Because again, I was kind of like, I wasn't a good student. Like, I wanted to be out playing, playing. I wanted to be doing stuff, I didn't want to be sitting writing notes. You know what I mean? Like I wanted to be banging nails or playing music, or you know, I wasn't a student kind of kid, and those two teachers were like, they knew that, but they were like, you gotta do what you gotta do to get through. But I understand where you're coming from, and they they were endearing to me. I I love those two too. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_10 1:20:08

Yeah, so I'm gonna go to favorite lake memory here, and I'm just keeping it basic because nothing's more important to me. Well, that's not true, but for me, it's simply Guilford Beach because growing up, I lived on Farmer Drive in Guilford, which I mean I always say seven miles when I talk about this, but it was probably like three or four miles, but still, I was a third grader, a fourth grader. I was riding my BMX bike there every day, all right, down a major roadway, Route 11, you know, and no helmet, no knee pads, and any pad that came on my fucking bike came off immediately, or I'd be an idiot. You know, riding to Guilford Beach every day on my bike, I'd stop. Does anyone else remember that little spring water spring on like that cutoff road 11B or whatever it is? I'd always stop there, get a drink, then I would head to the beach, and oh god, I can still see myself picking quarters. I'd go to the snack bar and take a stick and cut a little notch into it and pick quarters out of the sand through the little things, and you know, my parents didn't have money to give me, you know, so I'd dig out quarters and get a hot dog or a burger and swimming out to that dock, you know, the raft. Yeah, like that was so important to me, and then we'd love it when the lifeguard would go in because we'd get up on the lifeguard chair and fucking dive off it. It was just so fun to me. All of the memories I have there through my life, just really important. And to you, Donald.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:14

Well, I was gonna. We are so blessed that Guilford has that beach. Like, that is one of the best pieces of real estate on Lake Winnipesaki, and it's just one of the best beaches in the state, I think. You know, like for quite residents of Guilford, you can go there, it's like it's clean, it's you know, it's just awesome. I mean, that's an amazing piece of piece of land. I love that place.

SPEAKER_10 1:22:43

Remember the little necklace, the little silver dollar necklace that you couldn't get into.

SPEAKER_07 1:22:48

Oh, the Guilford taxpayer bag.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:51

Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah. Believe me, like as I grew up and I got in the Navy and I moved away, and like my parents always still lived, and I live in their house now. I'm a Guilford resident, but for a time I was living in Belmont, they lived in Guilford. My parents, I'm like, just give me your beach sticker. You're not going, give me the beach sticker, and they wouldn't do it. My dad was like, no, they might audit you, you'll get in trouble. Audit you for going to the wrong beach. Yeah. Uh no, my my memories, you know, obviously we're very blessed. Lakes region, this is a beautiful area. Um, was the pier restaurant, Weirs Beach. Um, working on the pier restaurant. Yes. Like just a cool place to to grow up. I mean, it looking at it now, it's like that place is cheesy, it's just video games and there's nothing there. But when you're young and it's you know, there was it was fun.

SPEAKER_10 1:23:51

I went there just over a year ago for the summer, in the summer, and had still the greatest seafood platter. That kitchen fan was still there that we worked in, everything about it was amazing, and then I heard they sold this year, so I'm very heartbroken about that.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:11

Oh, yeah, I always have a fun place in my heart for that place. So damn straight. Yeah, awesome.

SPEAKER_10 1:24:19

So, Bethany, that's to you.

SPEAKER_06 1:24:22

Mine is definitely Guilford Beach, definitely almost, you know, it was like everybody went. Everybody, you saw everybody there. Everyone. I I do remember being impressed by Liam's mom. She'd bring a loaf of bread, a bucket of peanut butter, jelly. She'd just crank out sandwiches. Your food tasted great there. I just loved that you'd see everyone. You'd see everybody there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 1:24:49

Incredible. All right.

SPEAKER_08 1:24:51

Everything about it.

SPEAKER_10 1:24:52

Damn, right.

SPEAKER_08 1:24:55

Well, you guys, I wasn't gonna say the beach, but I just remembered, I remember something from the beach. So I'm gonna say two things, and they're both pretty brief, but the beach, the first one is in the first time I ever smoked pot was in sixth grade, and Liam and Scott Shaw brought me down to the the other end, the dark end down there.

SPEAKER_10 1:25:14

With the raft, the rope raft. Remember that?

SPEAKER_08 1:25:18

Yeah, yeah, that's when I learned how to smoke pot. Thanks, guys. So that's a memory. Um and then um oh, Rachel Keating. Do you remember Rachel Keating?

SPEAKER_10 1:25:41

Oh, yeah, right. Rachel Stevie Susa dated her forever, right?

SPEAKER_08 1:25:46

Oh yeah, I think Steve Sousa. Yes, that's blind.

SPEAKER_10 1:25:52

Yep, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 1:25:55

So she had um an island property, Mark Island, and we used to spend a lot of my summers out on her island property, and we would take her little rowboat that had, I mean, a very small motor on it, you know, like I don't know, 10 horsepower.

SPEAKER_09 1:26:09

Right.

SPEAKER_08 1:26:10

And we would sneak out of the cottage and go to Wears Beach without oh my god.

SPEAKER_10 1:26:17

That must have taken a while.

SPEAKER_08 1:26:20

It did, but you know, her parents were a lot older, and so I don't think they really she was the last one of like four girls, so they don't really think they cared.

SPEAKER_10 1:26:28

Yeah, well that's the point. You could do that back then. The parents didn't care, they're just like, go have fun, and that's to you, Chrissy.

SPEAKER_07 1:26:38

So let me see. So I'll say Gilford Beach as well. Um, and boy, none of us had that idea playground though. So the the little merry go round jumping. Whatever that thing was, that was awesome, and you you could get stuck underneath it, and yeah, just oh it's killed and kids flying off.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:01

My my daughter, oldest daughter, who's 27 now, had an injury from being trapped underneath it.

SPEAKER_07 1:27:10

Oh, it's terrible, right? We would dig like purposely like dig the sand out so it was like a little cave underneath there. It was so cool. Like I loved, I loved that. Um, but I do I have a funny memory of like of Jason Bean's house. Did you go to this party? So senior year, it was before Memorial Day weekend because um I can't remember what island maybe dying on Cow Island. Um Jason Bean's parents had a place out there, and he was having a party, and but it was before like all the summer people came home or came up. So and I remember he didn't have any telephone or electricity, or anyway. We had to think the only way obviously we could get out there was by boat. So I remember I was seeing Chris Gagnon at the time, and he brought a bunch of people out on the boat and was like, all right, I'm gonna go get the next round of people and I'll be back in like 10-15 minutes. Well, he never came back. We're all all stranded, literally on the the island. Um, I remember Meredith Bloom was out there because she actually hooked up with Mike Moran at the time, and now and now they're married, and it it's just so funny. But I remember my parents were going to kill me, and I felt so bad too, because um

SPEAKER_10 1:28:37

So you were on the island.

SPEAKER_07 1:28:40

Stranded on the island. And um and we were out there for a long time. And then finally, you know, well beyond curfew. I think my curfew was like midnight. And this and we were already into like 1, 1:30. I'm like, my parents, I went from feeling nervous, like I'm gonna, they're gonna kill me, to like, oh my god, I feel so bad because they probably are really worried. Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:03

Right. Search parties are going out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:29:05

So I remember Joanna Carnell um was there too. Because so she, I remember the boat finally came back. And I remember Chris Get like so many people were they were so mad at him. And so like all these people got on, and it was based on like who's gonna get in the most trouble by by missing their curfew. And that was how we decided like who was gonna get the first boat back. And so I obviously was in the first boat, and I just remember like saying to Chris Gagnon, like, we are so over. Where have you been? He goes, Oh, he's like, I I found another party.

SPEAKER_10 1:29:43

Wrong answer. Right, right.

SPEAKER_07 1:29:46

Totally forgot that he was the shuttle. Yeah, totally forgot that he was the shuttle for all these people. And like, so not only forgot me, the person he like was dating, but forgot everybody else out there too. I remember getting home and telling my mom. I remember my mom was he, she was so like, she was so sad, like she was really nervous of like something gonna happen to me. So when she saw me and realized I was safe, it went instantly from sad to mad as hell.

SPEAKER_10 1:30:17

Yo, you're okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:30:18

Now you're in trouble.

SPEAKER_07 1:30:20

Okay, now I can be pissed again. So I remember being like, you're never I know you're not gonna believe me, but I was stuck on an island.

SPEAKER_08 1:30:27

And I remember she looked at me and she's like, Oh, come on, you know, come you can come up with a better one than that. I'm like, I swear to God, I was stranded on an island.

SPEAKER_10 1:30:36

Awesome. That was such a fun episode, everyone. Like, I love reminiscing about old school stuff, high school, elementary, just that's kind of where I want to be sometimes. So thank you all so much for joining us. Uh, Dongo, thank you. Thank you, AJ. It was always fun. Indeed, and Bethany.

SPEAKER_06 1:30:59

Thank you, my oldest friend, AJ.

SPEAKER_10 1:31:03

Thank you. Absolutely. And Jen.

SPEAKER_08 1:31:06

Rock on, my friend.

SPEAKER_10 1:31:08

That's Jennifer Sarah, and I will not use the last name, but boy, do you need to shorten your email.

SPEAKER_07 1:31:16

I know.

SPEAKER_10 1:31:17

And Chrissy, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_07 1:31:20

Thank you. This was so much fun.

SPEAKER_10 1:31:22

Absolutely. And listeners out there, thank you. I know this is a local one, and we are out.