WTIT: The Blog

Thanks to The Gal for authoring this meme. Click on the Sat-9 title of song on the next line below to play.

Saturday 9: Sign Of The Times. Harry Styles (2017)

Unfamiliar with this week’s tune? Hear it here.

1) In this song, Harry sings, “We don’t talk enough, we should open up before it’s all too much.” When you have something serious on your mind, who do you share it with? As with most things in life, it depends on who I have the problem with. Before he passed, my dad was the one that I would tell relationship problems or work stuff or friends shit. Now it’s my sister or my wife and usually the latter. Kathy is a great listener and fairly objective if it’s not our own problem. But we still see a marriage councilor, which is down to once a month. This dude helped save our marriage. Now he’s seeing Kathy also privately from issues from her upbringing. She doesn’t trust easily so the job he did with us allows her to be comfortable confiding in him.

2) As a kid, Harry wanted to be a lawyer because he can see “both sides.” Are you good at seeing both sides of an argument? Yes. In fact you might remember the story of the breakup I had with my high school girlfriend Sally. I hitchhiked from Boston to Burlington VT to spend the weekend with her. After a 5 hour ride I get to her place and she states the “Let’s talk” routine. In a nutshell she told me that “God” didn’t want us together. Now I’m an athiest that still calls himself agnostic. I was then at 17 as well. I asked her how she knew this. It was a long and complicated story that as you can well believe, it made ZERO sense. She had asked not that long before if I’d raqise our kids Christen. I stated that my dad was an atheist and I was raised Catholic and it all worked out. “But you aren’t Catholic anymore!”, she exclaimed. “‘Cause I got smart,” I replied. This did not help my case, my argument or the relationship.

Studio 33 1/3 in 2016. Billy, me & Rock with Greg in the rear…

3) He can’t decide which is favorite color — orange or blue. Help Harry out: which of those colors do you prefer? As a kid I always said “blue” was my favorite color. At present it is “hunter green”. The WTIT Studio is hunter green and I love it. My previous studios were either paneled (1967-1973) or painted a neutral color (1974-2012). But the studio in my house happened to be hunter green. My wife said, “No worries – I’ll repaint it”. The killer is now I love hunter green. Today I signed the lease on our new apartment. After the signing and paying I asked, “Any problems if I paint my radio studio hunter green?” He smiled and said, “I’ve got to (by state of CT law) repaint after you move out, so nope. Go for it.” So that studio will resemble this one by a lot. But it’s not our “Windsor Studio” that I had previously implied. We pulled out of that one for lack of space. This one is two bedrooms as well, but the laundry (washer-dryer) are in our kitchen! It’s one level and in a two family home. We are on the first floor. Our rent will be $549 less than our mortgage and heat is included. So we will save much $$$ and stretch our retirement money further. The apartment is in Rockville, CT. So it will be known as our “Rocking Rockville Studio…”!

4) Harry says he prefers older women, but would never go out with someone older than his mother. Do you think age disparity matters in romance? It can. In the 90s I was selling ads for a Hartford radio station. One account insisted that I DJ his bar on Friday nights. Now since it was a comedy club, I basically warmed the crowd up for the jokers and after the show I played dance music. As a club DJ you are always hit on by women. Now at this point in my life not only was I single, but I welcomed the shot of meeting women as a DJ again. (My last go round was in the 70s.) I had this woman come in the DJ booth on new Years Eve. Everyone had dates (naturally) and the woman stopped in to request a song. I started kissing her. After 10 minutes she said she should get back to her date. I agreed so IF she gave me her number. She was 21. I had recently turned 40. On our first date she stated, “I know that you are older than I. But I need to know how much older.” I asked “Why?” She explained that her dad was 39 and if I was his age, she’d see it as a problem. So I asked his age, she explained, “39”. I’m thinking, “Holy shit!” but I say, “He’s nowhere near my age,” I stated to her delight. We dated some six months. So yes, age is relative…

5) He admits to a big crush on Adele, who is six years older than he is. Who are you crushing on right now? (It doesn’t have to be a celebrity.) Just my lady, my wife Kathy.

6) It makes Harry’s skin crawl when he sees people use their teeth to open bottles. What creeps you out? 21 year-old women who give a shit if you’re their dad’s age.

7) When he’s on the road, his go-to food is tacos. Do you like Mexican food? Some. I hate refried beans. I love tacos, fajitas and a lot of their food. But NO FUCKING BEANS!

8) Harry has never smoked. Have you ever been a smoker? If you quit, how did you successfully kick the habit? I started smoking at 12. I quit as a junior in college at around 22. After my first divorce oin 1991 I started the bar scene where everyone smoked. It did not take long until I was doing 2 packs a day again. I developed heart decease in 2004. I quit for good then.

9) Random Question: As she pulls out of her parking space, an elderly woman in an old car scrapes an expensive car. Then she drives away. You witness the whole thing. Do you make a note of her license plate and leave it for the owner of the expensive car? Or do you just mind your own business? My own business would be to report her. So uncool, so yes, I’d take action.

We did Trekonderoga 3. It was my third, Kathy’s second. James Cawley, an Elvis impersonator by trade, started one of the longest running Star Trek fan films called “Star Trek: New Voyages”. What he did was reconstruct the original sets of the 1960’s show down to the wall hangings. The shows are available to watch on YouTube. They were all filmed in Ticonderoga, New York. The first year I went alone and had a mind blowing experience. Last year I returned and brought Kathy. I decided that at some point I’d do the costume thing. It was my second year in the getup. I have a fantastic Klingon head piece you might have seen before, I’ve never had the full thing before last year. Costumes were tough. Either I got the cheap one for $40 on Amazon or I could spend hundreds. I started reading reviews of the cheap one. They all complained that the head piece sucked. That, I figured, didn’t matter because I didn’t need one. So I ordered it. The head wear did suck moose and also the belt did. It was just a costume piece with a picture of a belt. The uniform was bland. But I looked at it and saw possibilities. I found a company that sold the belt buckle made from the same mold as the show for just $15. I also bought a Klingon medal for the same price. After the event I bought real boots, pants and more metals to really jazz it up. Last year Kathy went as a redshirt. This year she covered her uniform with…wait for it…tribbles! I loved getting stopped and being asked to take my picture with whoever. I met a few other Klingons, but I was the best. What Kathy did with my make was unbelievable. If you’d like to watch the video of it all, click here. I’m in it! So if want to see me walk & talk – watch it! Otherwise, I will see you next week! Same time. Same blog.

How about this shot? Yes that’s really Nichele Nichols (Uhura) & Walter Koenig (Chekov) along with Carl Sheldon as Scotty with me in my Klingon full uniform!