The Terrible Catsafterme

Most likely because this was our first Christmas with Denise, my parents decided to take over the duties of hosting Christmas Eve. For the previous six years of my parents’ marriage and the first five years of my life, it had been held at Carl and Arline’s house, but now the torch was passed on to us. From here on in, as long as my parents were together, Christmas Eve would be at our place. Surprisingly Dad did not take any home movies of Denise’s first Christmas. Read the rest of this entry »

Wednesday, October 5, 2005 was another busy day to add to my bustling vacation on the West Coast. Jimmy and I had been up late the night before catching our appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live and we were off to a running start that morning with much to do beginning with many stops to make. I had a twofold reason for wearing my nice purple shirt once again that day. I guess it never occurred to me to simply wear a white t-shirt and throw the dress shirt over it when it became necessary. Read the rest of this entry »

No chronology of my life would be complete without a few representative examples from my short-lived and largely unfunny ‘publication’ entitled Trash. This was the successor to the hugely politically incorrect Funshiet, of which my friend Jeff Flinn and I created together in eighth grade. While I think most of his material was more creative, he lacked the obsessive nature that I had that drove me to want to seriously create and distribute this written nonsense. Read the rest of this entry »

Armed with absolutely nothing, I decided to send Ellen Corby a request for an autographed photo. Although she was best known for her role as Grandma Esther Walton in the popular series The Waltons, the photo I was after was the same one that my friend Bob had received from her. Before her days as an actress, Ellen Hansen (as she was then known), was a script girl working at the Hal Roach Studios. In fact it was there that she met her future husband Francis Corby who was working as a cameraman for Roach. Read the rest of this entry »

Ginger Cheadle was one of my sister Denise’s best friends. They would often double date for such major events as their high school proms and other dances (as in the picture of Homecoming 1993 at right). Although I usually paid no mind to many of her friends when we were growing up, the age gap began to be bridged once Denise and her friends became upper-classmen and began to graduate. Ginger soon became one of my favorites of her friends. Pretty, smart, nice, and exceptionally easy to torment, I showed my affection for Ginger by teasing her whenever the opportunity arose. I also began calling her “Geen-Gurr” (hard G’s) and taught Ashleigh that that was her actual name. Read the rest of this entry »