Mac Wants to Play
I recently posted some interview questions to folks who were already playing the game...and, lo & behold, my friend Lisa wants to get in on the action. Splendid!
Before we begin, though, some folks out there need a little history. And...Mac SURELY deserves a little embarrassment, doesn't she? SURE she does! So, let me say that the current Lisa Stanley (aka "Great Lakes Running Gal", maiden name McEachin, hence the abbreviated nickname) is one of my oldest friends. We've known each other since junior high (WAY before the somehow wimpier concept of "middle school"), when my folks moved to a town near hers and my dad became her band director. He would always take the band around and march in all these summer festival parades: you know, silly things like the "Auburn Corn Fest" and the "Munger Potato Fest" and the "B.F.E. Diseased Radish Fest". Basically, (insert tiny village name here) and (farm crop of your choice here) and you've got it. So, he needed more drummers in his band ('cause, like, who doesn't, right??) and I filled the bill nicely. I actually enjoyed these trips; I can look back now and recognize that this time spent with my father ranks pretty high in terms of quality. Lisa and I quickly developed an unrequited crush on each other that soon morphed into a strong friendship based on sarcastic good humor and a love of being band geeks. Heck, we even went to Blue Lake one summer together...where, I must admit, I showed my complete lack of quality thought-process by "hooking up" with her friend Sue. D'oh!
At a band beach party: summer, maybe 1983 or '84.
We're each sporting nice Speedos!
Through no real plan that I remember, we ended up as rookies together in the CMU marching band in the fall of 1986. I think we were both waiting for a time & place when we could give free rein to the deviant personalities that dwelled secretly, Hulk-like, within us. The Marching Chips was that place, and we bonded together with a large group of friends, most of whom have stayed the closest group of people either of us knows outside our immediate family. Heck, maybe even INCLUDING our immediate family!
Mac, the way we love her: swigging Hot Damn!
After moving between states and husbands, Mac finally brought the man of her dreams to meet her "band friends", which is - and I say this without a trace of humor or irony - a difficult group of people to win approval from. Ask any of our spouses, from Lisa's hubby Mark to Annette's hubby Steve to my OWN lovely Miss Tessmacher, and I think they'll concur: this close-knit group of people eats outsiders for breakfast.
Mac, whose Playboy-perfect tits were dubbed "Fritz and Bobo"
and then set to the "Flintstones" theme song.
(Could my shorts BE more gay?!?)
It might have taken awhile, but Mark eventually won the "Marching Chip Animal Stamp of Approval" (to which he would probably grimace and intone in his heavy New Hampshire accent: "That's fuckin' GREEEEAAAAT.") and so they eventually settled down in eastern mid-Michigan to raise their cool-as-beans son. They occasionally spout nonsense about moving again (Mac is something of a nomad, apparently), and the thought that they might actually pick up stakes & go somewhere else saddens me greatly. I'll often try to play a guilt card to keep them from moving, even though I shamefully haven't seen the Stanley family since we rocked it hard to Cinderella & Poison back on my birthday.
Mac: strangling me after my PhD graduation, and smiling
with Miss Tessmacher at one of many homecomings.
Now, as you can see if you head over to her blog, Lisa is currently involved with running marathons and learning how to suck. BLOOD, that is, as she's trading in her trumpet for a syringe in nursing school. Hey, more power to ya, Mac: maybe when we're old & grey, you can give ME a sponge bath in the shower. Wait, I'm ALREADY grey! Hmmm...
Doing the Hustle at my wedding: June, 2002
So, there's the brief history, accompanied by what I hope are scorchingly embarrassing photo-essays. But, knowing Mac: probably not. She'd just nod & say "Yep. That's me." And so, forthwith, her questions:
1) What were your most & least favorite things about growing up in Ubly?
2) Any particularly boneheaded thing you did in college you'd take back if you could?
3) What excites you most about running? Is it the resultant weight loss, the sense of achievement, the little outfits...?
4) A two-parter: what about nursing just absolutely scares the shit out of you? And, what makes you feel like you could conquer the world?
5) Tom Keifer, Steven Tyler, and David Coverdale are having a three-way swordfight to determine who gets to spend a night on the town with you. Who do you hope wins?
Mmmm...tiki fresh after a long trail run!
Summer 2006
Before we begin, though, some folks out there need a little history. And...Mac SURELY deserves a little embarrassment, doesn't she? SURE she does! So, let me say that the current Lisa Stanley (aka "Great Lakes Running Gal", maiden name McEachin, hence the abbreviated nickname) is one of my oldest friends. We've known each other since junior high (WAY before the somehow wimpier concept of "middle school"), when my folks moved to a town near hers and my dad became her band director. He would always take the band around and march in all these summer festival parades: you know, silly things like the "Auburn Corn Fest" and the "Munger Potato Fest" and the "B.F.E. Diseased Radish Fest". Basically, (insert tiny village name here) and (farm crop of your choice here) and you've got it. So, he needed more drummers in his band ('cause, like, who doesn't, right??) and I filled the bill nicely. I actually enjoyed these trips; I can look back now and recognize that this time spent with my father ranks pretty high in terms of quality. Lisa and I quickly developed an unrequited crush on each other that soon morphed into a strong friendship based on sarcastic good humor and a love of being band geeks. Heck, we even went to Blue Lake one summer together...where, I must admit, I showed my complete lack of quality thought-process by "hooking up" with her friend Sue. D'oh!
At a band beach party: summer, maybe 1983 or '84.We're each sporting nice Speedos!
Through no real plan that I remember, we ended up as rookies together in the CMU marching band in the fall of 1986. I think we were both waiting for a time & place when we could give free rein to the deviant personalities that dwelled secretly, Hulk-like, within us. The Marching Chips was that place, and we bonded together with a large group of friends, most of whom have stayed the closest group of people either of us knows outside our immediate family. Heck, maybe even INCLUDING our immediate family!
Mac, the way we love her: swigging Hot Damn!After moving between states and husbands, Mac finally brought the man of her dreams to meet her "band friends", which is - and I say this without a trace of humor or irony - a difficult group of people to win approval from. Ask any of our spouses, from Lisa's hubby Mark to Annette's hubby Steve to my OWN lovely Miss Tessmacher, and I think they'll concur: this close-knit group of people eats outsiders for breakfast.
Mac, whose Playboy-perfect tits were dubbed "Fritz and Bobo"and then set to the "Flintstones" theme song.
(Could my shorts BE more gay?!?)
It might have taken awhile, but Mark eventually won the "Marching Chip Animal Stamp of Approval" (to which he would probably grimace and intone in his heavy New Hampshire accent: "That's fuckin' GREEEEAAAAT.") and so they eventually settled down in eastern mid-Michigan to raise their cool-as-beans son. They occasionally spout nonsense about moving again (Mac is something of a nomad, apparently), and the thought that they might actually pick up stakes & go somewhere else saddens me greatly. I'll often try to play a guilt card to keep them from moving, even though I shamefully haven't seen the Stanley family since we rocked it hard to Cinderella & Poison back on my birthday.
Mac: strangling me after my PhD graduation, and smilingwith Miss Tessmacher at one of many homecomings.
Now, as you can see if you head over to her blog, Lisa is currently involved with running marathons and learning how to suck. BLOOD, that is, as she's trading in her trumpet for a syringe in nursing school. Hey, more power to ya, Mac: maybe when we're old & grey, you can give ME a sponge bath in the shower. Wait, I'm ALREADY grey! Hmmm...
Doing the Hustle at my wedding: June, 2002So, there's the brief history, accompanied by what I hope are scorchingly embarrassing photo-essays. But, knowing Mac: probably not. She'd just nod & say "Yep. That's me." And so, forthwith, her questions:
1) What were your most & least favorite things about growing up in Ubly?
2) Any particularly boneheaded thing you did in college you'd take back if you could?
3) What excites you most about running? Is it the resultant weight loss, the sense of achievement, the little outfits...?
4) A two-parter: what about nursing just absolutely scares the shit out of you? And, what makes you feel like you could conquer the world?
5) Tom Keifer, Steven Tyler, and David Coverdale are having a three-way swordfight to determine who gets to spend a night on the town with you. Who do you hope wins?
Mmmm...tiki fresh after a long trail run!Summer 2006
posted by Animal at 11:33 AM
5 Comments:
LOVE the pics!
Gee, Scott were those the same Speedo's you wowed us with in college too? Glad you posted a pic, I'm sure Nitmos will be thrilled with a refresher of that memory!
Out of curiosity, where was that pic taken of Mac with the Hot Damn? Obviously I was there, I'm in the pic, I can't place the location though.
Oh yeah and Mike will be thrilled with yet another fat picture of him dug out!
I did not know you two knew each other before CMU. Thumbodies!
Mac is guzzling Hot Damn in the Stevenson's living room.
OMG...I am speechless and flattered at the same time. Those who know me, know that I don't get verklemped often. :)
Answers coming posthaste...
Hmmm...I was wondering about those Speedo's. Without a collection of scraggly pubes jutting out every direction, I'm not sure I would recognize the suit. But no one ever buys a second Speedo in a lieftime right? I believe you are only allowed one.
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