I take Road Trips these days when I get out of Austin. Travel through a couple of states kind of Road Trips. Years ago, I used to take mini road trips that took me as far away as Champaign Illinois.
Today I was presented with a weird nostalgia trip reminding me of the trips to that city I used to take, to the mall that was there, and to the shopping that I would do just to get out of Bloomington.
My first trip to the area was in my senior year of high school. Some background - I used to have long hair, down to my shoulder long. I had a friend at the time that was all about cutting that hair. I told her that it would have to wait until I was done with all the theater stuff, as my drama teacher loved me having long hair. After the last play, I let my friend Michelle have her wish.
If memory serves, and it could be a little rusty on some of the details, there was someone else that went with us. The three of us headed off and went shopping at the mall. I told Michelle she could have a few hundred dollars to get whatever she thought I should dress up in. She decided to give me a slightly preppy look, which contrasted nicely with my tshirt wearing, black everything, Superman and Nine Inch Nails shirt wearing days. To say it was a change is an understatement.
New shoes, some Doc Martins I believe, some pants changes, and a few shirts later we were all set up. I got my hair cut to something short and preppy looking. To say that there was a reaction on the following day would be an understatement. There were tears as people saw my hair was all gone. Women wept, and men sang depression songs in my honor. The best reaction came from my drama teacher. I had a class with her and I clearly remember her walking in towards her desk, glancing at me, taking a step forward and then one huge step back and turnaround to stare at me. I don't remember what was said after that, but I do recall that she was Shocked.
I had enough clothes for the entire week. I will say that I didn't hit it off with any ladies with my new look, but I think I did it in part because I was trying to chase down Michelle and get with her, and if it would require me to dress as she wanted, then it was worth it at the time.
In the years that followed, I would take trips with friends to that town several times. I had this group of hippie people who took me to the vegan store over there and we made a day of it. There were other trips with friends, girlfriends, parties, and so much more. It would be a meet up spot for my parents to visit as it was sorta a halfway point between Bloomington and Indiana were they lived.
I remember hanging out with Michelle when we were of drinking age. She had gone to college in Champaign and enjoyed it. She worked at a Cheddar's, and if memory serves we went out to the bars that night. The details after that get a little hazy, but I remember having good times.
There was this one time I was dating a red head, and she was of a younger than 21 age. This made going to the bars in Bloomington rather difficult. The bars in Champaign had a policy of allowing kids aged 19 and over in. You weren't supposed to drink, but I bought drinks at the bar for them. We were drinking beer, Bud Select I think. I felt really uncomfortable doing that and being in the bar, so after that experience I swore never to date anyone below the age of 21 again. It stuck.
I saw an ex-girlfriend's best friend sing with a band there. It was when I wasn't drinking I think, so I again felt uncomfortable (in the same bar as the previously mentioned girlfriend) again and just wanted to leave the place.
I once bought a belt at the Meijer in that town and that became my work belt for years. Years. It lasted so long that when I finally had to get a new belt, it was because it was falling apart.
There was a Hot Topic in that mall, so it was the only time that I could really shop for all the dark clothing that I was in to. Every time I would visit that place, I would fall in love with one of the female employees there. They had that goth look to them and had green or blue hair and it drove me insane. The look was just something I was in to but never actually dated anyone with that look after my first girlfriend. It was only recently in Austin that I started seeing the blue or green hair again and it stirred those memories and feelings in my head. I'm thankful the look is still around, and I am enjoying falling in love with new people in the same look all over again.
That was the town that I got all my tattoos at. Where I first watched Cowboy Bebop. I knew a lot of people that went to college there to get out of the college town we lived at in high school. One friend got in to theater there and she deserved it. It was a very selective program. If I could go back to high school and live in one of those alternative pasts, going to school there would have been fun and exciting to try.
There was this one comic shop that had a very stereotypical comic shop owner. The place was called Other Realms. When you walked in, he would bark at you to but your bag away or leave it by the door, and this was whether or not you had a bag. He sat by the door behind the counter, and would jump up if you went to a part of the store that was outside of his eye path. I remember bending over to check out the comics on the bottom rack and he shouted at me wondering what I wanted. I said I was just browsing and he had a huff at my comment. I checked out a couple of the long boxes that were in eye sight of where he sat, but I wasn't in there for 3 more minutes. I'm sure he thought that he protected himself from another theft or something that stupid, and I think that helps to explain why that place isn't there anymore.
During one road trip, back when poster shops existed, I bought a few posters. One was a subway size poster of Jack Nicholson in the Shining walking through the garden at the end of the movie. Another was a shot from Chasing Amy where the two lead characters were sitting in front of their TV playing video games. I had both of those posters up for the longest time at the places I lived at. The Chasing Amy one was especially significant because I wanted to make sure that where I lived and whoever I lived with, we would share the bond they had and how they got along. We wouldn't go through the same story as the movie, but that friendship would be strong.
Sometimes it really burns me that I didn't take the chance to leave Bloomington to go to school in Champaign. There was a whole different world just an arm's length away from town that I could have experienced. I could have gotten a job there and had some fun. Me not wanting to advance myself as a person and stay in the town I lived at held me back a lot. I could probably be at the place I am at now living outside of town way back then, and I probably would have gotten some dates with those Hot Topic girls.
I'm glad I have a chance now to still give that a try.
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