August

This month struck me as I climbed out of a dizzy and wonderful summer. This summer I had participated in the restaging of The Seventh Dream at Flint Youth Theatre, attended the Reynold’s Young Writers Workshop in Granville, Ohio, came back just in time to see the Smashing Pumpkins in concert with my best friend, got a crush on a girl, took a trig class at Mott college, played Friend Hare in FYT’s version of Bambi, and started dating a 16-year old named Lori.

I have several specific memories of this month, but only a few of them are certainly correct.

This was the summer, if I am remembering correctly, when I took Judo lessons on the Eastside with most of the kids from my block: there were Stanleys and Teslars and Lameres there.

I started out by turning nineteen years old, but beyond that, this month is very hazy to me. I slogged through the first drafts for Urbantasm, really not knowing exactly what I was getting myself into (ie. now, a decade later…) Although I’d been developing Urbantasm for a rough year at this point.

Last Wednesday, almost a week ago, I left work at 5:30 after crushing through a heavy load of caption updates. I took the train to the bus and the bus to the airport, and I got my ticket and a hot dog and a coffee and waited for the plane.

Well, I turned eight.

I’m sure that a lot of things happened in August, 1986, but what I remember almost to the exclusion of everything else was the weekend of my birthday. We celebrated a couple days early because of the trip that weekend involved.

I have no memories from August, 1985 that I trust. I know a bit about what was going on then, though. I was no longer attending Valley School, but my parents were home schooling. I turned seven years old. Field trips at this time consisted of going to the Saginaw and Lansing Zoos and the Impressions 5 museum.