h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

If I was in high school I would skip class to watch tv. I was a very bad student. That's why I waited three years after I quit high school to start college. If I had started right away, I would still be skipping class.

My first two years in college I skipped a lot of classes in March to watch the NCAA mens college basketball tournament. My last two years I figured out I couldn't do that if I wanted to get good grades and land a job that I couldn't afford to skip out on.

Yeah, I just want to be able to get a job that I will enjoy. I'm the type of person that will quit a job in a second if I don't like it. Life's too short to spend it doing something you hate. That's why I don't have a job now. My last job was at a roller skating rink running the snack bar. I got fired because I called in one day. I didn't care though because I was making less than minimum wage and I liked it that way since I could work on my terms. I worked there because it had been my dream to work there when I was eight. It was fun while it lasted, but it's kind of good I got fired since I never really had a chance to get sick of it.

I knew you liked basketball. Your entry "March Madness" is one that comes up if you do a search on Oklahoma.

Oh yeah..........that article was a true labor of love. It took me almost as long as the Simpsons one is taking But I'm getting closer...........

So it's too late to ask for free passes to roller skate?

Yeah, it's too late. But, you're not missing much. The skating rink was super ghetto. There were holes in the floor (they painted the skating surface and there were chips in the paint afew layers deep) and in the celing. When it rained they had buckets out there and the kids had to skate around them. It was ghetto, but I liked it that way. The owner would always talk about how weird I dressed, but he never told me to change.

The kids there are really obnoxious. The first time I went skating there since I was little was when I was 15. I was with my friend Jeni (who didn't know how to roller skate because she spent the time in one's life when they do that stuff on an millitary base in Saudi Arabia), my friend Chris (a really tall gothic guy), and my friend Jon (he's pretty normal {at least he looks that way}). Since Jeni didn't know how to skate, I had to hold her hand. All these kids kept asking us if we were gay. And Chris was wearing baggy jean shorts with fishnet stockings under them and kids kept telling him that "those were for girls". The funniest thing that happened was right before we left, this girl (she was probably about 8) came up to me and asked, "are you a LESBIAN?". She said it just like that. I said "yeah", even though I'm not. So she asked "how old are you?", and I replied, "too old for you honey" and she yelled "I'm not gay!" and ran off. I thought it was really funny.

The kids there are still super obnoxious, but some in a good way. I miss a few of them, but not all of them.

The last time I remember rollerskating they were playing "People Are People" and "Downtown," among other tunes.

People are people by Depeche Mode? I have that on 45. But what is Downtown? If it's the one by Petula Clark you are older than I thought you were. When I used to go skating regularly, they were playing Brass Monkey and the theme from Ghostbusters.

When I worked there it was horrible. Do you know what it's like to hear the same Kid Rock, Britany Spears, and Christina Aguliara songs played at least 3 times in 4 hours? The only thing that I liked about the music was that the usual DJ started every night with Bust a Move and Funky Cold Medina.

*shudder*

You've got the right version of Downtown.....I'm in my mid-20's, so that song wasn't exactly new, but for some reason it was the rink operator's favorite song.

When I saw the Seinfeld episode with that song I went into a smallish seizure

There are movie shows. I love that episode! I used to watch Seinfeld everynight on syndication. The local CBS station runs it after Letterman. That show was so great, I don't know what my favorite episode was. You know, I think you and I both suffer from chronic tv love.

My mother really likes Petula Clark. She saw her in concert back in the sixties. If you like musicals, she's in a good one called Finian's Rainbow with Fred Astaire.

One of the manager's at the skating rink's favorite songs was I love Rock and Roll. He would play that a couple of times a night. I like that song, but he played it so much I can't stand to hear it anymore. And plus, the kids hated it, so whenever he played it, they would all cram into the snack bar, which I didn't enyoy. He was a real jerk. When we'd close down, he would look everything over and if something wasn't done correctly, he would be like, "are we done?". And make us go back and find what was wrong. Finally, I got to where if he said that to me I would tell that I would fix whatever it was if he told me what was wrong. I couldn't stand that guy.

Maybe someday he'll end up working for you

Not if I have anything to do with it.