Well, I see Chris Brogan and Justin Kownacki had embraced this concept in the same day. Thought I’d take a stab at it.
Well, I guess the story starts in a small town of Jamestown, PA, where I was born and raised for my entire childhood. First, I recall living in a literal half of a house that my father was building, but stalled for years for some reason I don’t recall. But along with our half a house, including the living room, bathroom, and washroom, we also had an “attached” trailer at this one point. So it was an interesting living arrangement, to say the least. I recall going through school as a bit of a dweeb. Or at least that’s how I felt to the other kids. Needless to say, I didn’t have much for friends to have play time with outside of school when I was in the single digits.
I recall the highlights for me always being coming home for that small hour block of cartoons (since there was no cable) that consisted of He-Man, Transformers, then Ninja Turtles for whatever period of time. I would often walk to my grandparents’ down through my cousin’s junk yard/garage area. And of course my aunt lived on the other side of the grandparents. It was great having such a close family in the area. Especially when my sister officially moved out at a very young age. I’d sit in the wash room to watch WWF Superstars on Sunday mornings, always after Robert Shuller’s Hour of Power from the Crystal Cathedral.
High School came and I tried so hard to get out of my shell. I befriended a fellow named John and he introduced me to Nirvana, The Doors, and a few other key music acts. I met a girl from Greenville that threw my world upside down, in part causing me to pull some strings and go to Greenville High my Junior year on, simply because I was sick of the atmosphere at Jamestown. Somewhere around here is where the parents “seperated” and it seemed like they were better off apart, even though it never happened so simply. After a year and a half, and scores of new friends, I break up with my girlfriend at the end of Junior.
Greenville ended up being great to me. My relationship had introduced me to many new friends, some still with me today. I got into Media class, enjoyed a bigger, more robust chorus, rejoined band late in my senior year, saw trips to Virginia and Toronto through the school. The summer before senior year has often been referred to as the “Summer of Mirth”. This was an insane time of working at the Country Club with Chachi, then eventually Adam and Peewee, all night cappuccino nights at Perkins, and random road trips at 2 AM with Matti. All the people we packed into cars over the summer. Chris, Deist, Matti, Peewee, Adam, Yvonne, lil’ Missi, Missfit, Doug, Chachi, Jered, and shit who knows who else. This was a great time. Adam and Peewee had started a band called LYNT, and I started to put some time into supporting them, being my friends and feeding my developing love for music.
When I had broken up with my girlfriend that end of Junior year, something broke in my head. I mean that in a good way. It was like right there, I decided how I was going to live. I had found myself for years growing up wishing I was more assertive, wishing I was better liked, wishing I was able to break out a bit more. All at once, I started not caring and just having fun with life.
I met my wife about September of ’99. More or less a chance meeting through acquaintances. And a little slow to start, but we grew together pretty quick. Of course, she was a Junior at Theil College when I was a Senior in High School.
Hm, that’s a little lengthy already. How about we break this up into parts. So there you have it, “This is Sorg’s Life Part 1: The Homeland”
Stay tuned for future installments!! Same Sorg time, Same Sorg Blog!