Life - Such as it was

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Book by: B Douglas Slack

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Status: Finished | Genre: Humor | House: Booksie Classic

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This is a rather humorous attempt at an autobiography. Pretty much everything in here actually happened, to the best of my recollection. Enjoy! PS: The picture is really me from my 1957 Bitburg High School yearbook. The person who took it left it in the developer too long and overexposed it. All of them were like that and everyone hated them.

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Chapter 1 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was

Submitted: February 14, 2014

This is a rather humorous attempt at an autobiography. Pretty much everything in here actually happened, to the best of my recollection. Enjoy! Read Chapter

Chapter 2 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 2

Submitted: February 15, 2014

When we left Alaska, our eventual destination was the East Coast, specifically Washington D C. Allowing for visits to relatives els... Read Chapter

Chapter 3 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 3

Submitted: February 19, 2014

We have arrived at our destination! Unpacking the car went rapidly as by that time the only thing we had left was the camping gear ... Read Chapter

Chapter 4 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 4

Submitted: February 21, 2014

A very short word on Brussels sprouts: ICK. My mom usually made these horrible excuses for a vegetable about twice a week.&nb... Read Chapter

Chapter 5 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 5

Submitted: February 27, 2014

Pretty much everywhere we kids went we were on a bicycle. I had one which, I think, was called a Schwinn Roadmaster. This thi... Read Chapter

Chapter 6 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 6

Submitted: March 02, 2014

Over the period of five years my family lived in Morningside, Kathleen and I developed a friendship of sorts. At first it wasn’t ... Read Chapter

Chapter 7 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 7

Submitted: March 04, 2014

For our first major date, Kathleen and I settled on a movie followed by a trip to the local malt shop next door afterwards. Since n... Read Chapter

Chapter 8 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 8

Submitted: March 06, 2014

I graduated from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts while we were in Washington DC. Working very hard, I managed to accrue over 25 merit badg... Read Chapter

Chapter 9 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 9

Submitted: March 07, 2014

Building plastic airplane models was a Very Big Thing back then. I must have had around twenty or thirty models hanging from the ce... Read Chapter

Chapter 10 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 10

Submitted: March 08, 2014

Life as a kid transiting from pre-teenhood to mid-teenhood was definitely not a bowl of fruit. Nasty ‘appointments’ (as in ‘y... Read Chapter

Chapter 11 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 11

Submitted: March 09, 2014

My family, in 1955, consisted of my mom and dad, me, my brother, and two sisters. I was the oldest and each of my siblings stair-st... Read Chapter

Chapter 12 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 12

Submitted: March 11, 2014

The North Atlantic Ocean at night, even in August, was pretty cold. The instant we opened the sliding door to the Promenade deck, t... Read Chapter

Chapter 13 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 13

Submitted: March 12, 2014

When we docked, all the families had to stay together in order to debark properly. Claudette and I didn’t catch sight of each oth... Read Chapter

Chapter 14 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 14

Submitted: March 13, 2014

I was in school precisely two days when I spotted a familiar thatch of dirty-blonde hair bobbing along above all the other varicolored he... Read Chapter

Chapter 15 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 15

Submitted: March 16, 2014

One lonely Saturday night when my parents were out, I wondered just what my dad’s bourbon tasted like. I had never even gotten a ... Read Chapter

Chapter 16 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 16

Submitted: March 18, 2014

It turned out that hay rides existed even in Europe. Peter and some of his friends invited Linda and I to go on one with them one a... Read Chapter

Chapter 17 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 17

Submitted: March 18, 2014

I really don’t have a clue as to what attracted me to Molly. True, she was a very blue-eyed blonde with soft curls near her ears,... Read Chapter

Chapter 18 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 18

Submitted: March 21, 2014

After lunch, we did a bit of walking around to settle it as getting into a Volkswagen with a full stomach isn’t a really good idea.&nbs... Read Chapter

Chapter 19 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 19

Submitted: March 21, 2014

Molly took my hand again, but this time I slipped out of it and put my arm around her waist. She stiffened slightly, but then relen... Read Chapter

Chapter 20 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 20

Submitted: March 22, 2014

The next morning, after a fairly good breakfast, I found that parental telepathy did actually exist. Molly’s mom immediately nixe... Read Chapter

Chapter 21 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 21

Submitted: March 24, 2014

We took a different way back, deciding to ride the number 6 line. This route dipped south and went past the train station at the Ga... Read Chapter

Chapter 22 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 22

Submitted: March 25, 2014

The next day my mother went down to the front desk to see if there were any interesting sights to be seen that would bore Molly and I to ... Read Chapter

Chapter 23 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 23

Submitted: March 26, 2014

I previously mentioned trains. I love trains of any description. Even if Virginia couldn’t go with me I would hop a bus to ... Read Chapter

Chapter 24 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 24

Submitted: March 28, 2014

Our group of teens had our fair share of tragedy too. One of the girls I was originally introduced to at the Teen Club so long ago ... Read Chapter

Chapter 25 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 25

Submitted: March 29, 2014

Now, as the countryside clacked past us rapidly, the other two guys drifted out of our shared compartment quietly. Virginia came in... Read Chapter

Chapter 26 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 26

Submitted: March 30, 2014

We arrived in Paris about four in the afternoon and, after a really scary ride across town in a couple of taxis, we got to the hotel.&nbs... Read Chapter

Chapter 27 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 27

Submitted: April 01, 2014

The next two days in Paris passed all too quickly for Virginia and me. Sometimes we were with the others, but we did a lot of solo ... Read Chapter

Chapter 28 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 28

Submitted: April 01, 2014

A way back I promised more on scouting. The American Boy Scouts organization on the base was a good thing. It helped most of ... Read Chapter

Chapter 29 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 29

Submitted: April 03, 2014

To balance out a year that contains Fasching, another grueling fortnight of wild abandon is known as Oktoberfest. This festival occ... Read Chapter

Chapter 30 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 30

Submitted: April 04, 2014

That evening we took things easy by joining the rest of our group in one of the separate dining rooms for dinner. It was a lively g... Read Chapter

Chapter 31 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 31

Submitted: April 04, 2014

In one minute, in early fall, Virginia’s and my world came crashing down. Her dad told her that his request for extension here at... Read Chapter

Chapter 32 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 32

Submitted: April 05, 2014

My relationship with Danni soon moved into a second stage. Our first stage was pretty platonic. We enjoyed traveling, and jus... Read Chapter

Chapter 33 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 33

Submitted: April 06, 2014

In the late fifties, VW’s were not imported into the US. Every one of them had come from a serviceman returning from Europe. ... Read Chapter

Chapter 34 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 34

Submitted: April 07, 2014

Shortly after my dinner date with Shannen we said our goodbyes and I headed north to Montana. I had been accepted as a freshman int... Read Chapter

Chapter 35 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 35

Submitted: April 08, 2014

When I was about 11 or so, a couple of my best friends and I were poking around the back of the school as kids are wont to do and came ac... Read Chapter

Chapter 36 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 36

Submitted: April 09, 2014

During my scouting days, we would visit Camp Tapakegga over in Virginia for a two week period of what was euphemistically related to us a... Read Chapter

Chapter 37 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 37

Submitted: April 10, 2014

As I mentioned in an earlier chapter, up in Alaska I was under training by an old sled driver by the name of Jed to ultimately drive some... Read Chapter

Chapter 38 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 38

Submitted: April 10, 2014

Back in Morningside, there was a fairly large group of kids that hung around together quite a bit. During the summer vacation we di... Read Chapter

Chapter 39 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 39

Submitted: April 11, 2014

"Things I remember but have gone missing now – Pt 1" 1. Shredded Wheat came in a box with pasteboard dividers. These dividers... Read Chapter

Chapter 40 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 40

Submitted: April 12, 2014

"Things I remember but have gone missing now – Pt 2" Here are some more items for thought: 21. The Heath Company is one company... Read Chapter

Chapter 41 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 41

Submitted: April 13, 2014

When I was around ten or eleven years old, kite flying was all the rage. There were all sorts of kites to be built: box, triangles,... Read Chapter

Chapter 42 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 42

Submitted: April 14, 2014

Over the years, my siblings and I pulled some pretty good stunts on our parents. These were almost always, but no by all means tota... Read Chapter

Chapter 43 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 43

Submitted: April 14, 2014

I don’t really think that my parents set out to make my life truly unbearable, but it sure seemed that way. Since I was the eldes... Read Chapter

Chapter 44 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 44

Submitted: April 15, 2014

Trip to the Worlds Fair – 1958, Part 1 In June of 1958, right after classes let out for the year, my parents announced that they we... Read Chapter

Chapter 45 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 45

Submitted: April 16, 2014

Trip to the Worlds Fair – 1958, Part 2 I slept fitfully that night as I relived our evening and awoke almost as tired as when I wen... Read Chapter

Chapter 46 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 46

Submitted: April 18, 2014

Trip to the Worlds Fair – 1958, Part 3 Not very much happened the next day. The girls and I were just about walked out so the... Read Chapter

Chapter 47 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 47

Submitted: April 19, 2014

Trip to the Worlds Fair – 1958, Part 4 After breakfast the next day, all of us piled into our two cars and headed back to the fairg... Read Chapter

Chapter 48 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 48

Submitted: April 20, 2014

This was probably my finest Christmas of my teenage years: It is the winter of 1958 and all through the housing area plans are being ... Read Chapter

Chapter 49 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 49

Submitted: April 21, 2014

A while back: When I was around twelve or thirteen I fell madly in love with a girl in one of my classes at school. Since this ... Read Chapter

Chapter 50 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 50

Submitted: April 22, 2014

One summer, while we lived in Washington D.C., my dad had to go to some TDY (Temporary DutY) Meteorologists conference out on the west co... Read Chapter

Chapter 51 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 51

Submitted: April 23, 2014

My first exposure to a drive-in movie was after I returned to the States from Germany in 1958. I landed in California a newly-minte... Read Chapter

Chapter 52 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 52

Submitted: April 24, 2014

Back to Germany: As I look back on it from the distance of almost 60 years, I can see that making any headway with Janet was doomed f... Read Chapter

Chapter 53 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 53

Submitted: April 26, 2014

Our walk to the Base Exchange snack bar was uneventful. We engaged in small talk for the ten-minute walk. Overall, I’d have... Read Chapter

Chapter 54 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 54

Submitted: April 26, 2014

In Petaluma, the little group of teenagers I was a member of would meet at the church every other Friday evening to do some form of enter... Read Chapter

Chapter 55 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 55

Submitted: April 28, 2014

Coming to California from Europe, as I did in my sophomore year of high school, I never really had any idea what fads, local teen culture... Read Chapter

Chapter 56 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 56

Submitted: April 28, 2014

While stationed in Germany, my dad had to attend quite a few NATO weather conferences. Since he was the commander of the local weat... Read Chapter

Chapter 57 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 57

Submitted: April 29, 2014

Next morning, if it could be called that due to the lack of anything brighter than mid-gloom outside, I woke just after my dad had finish... Read Chapter

Chapter 58 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 58

Submitted: April 30, 2014

A very tall guy answered the door when Tom pushed the bell. He greeted Tom, glanced at me, and looked over the two girls as they pa... Read Chapter

Chapter 59 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 59

Submitted: May 01, 2014

I decided to sleep in the next morning. This wasn’t a conscious thought, but more like one made when one opens one eye and catche... Read Chapter

Chapter 60 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 60

Submitted: May 03, 2014

We arrived back in the good old USA from Germany in the late fall of 1958. We touched down at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey ... Read Chapter

Chapter 61 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 61

Submitted: May 03, 2014

Following our touchdown, it seemed as if we would taxi forever until we turned sharply and the engines went silent. We’d been hea... Read Chapter

Chapter 62 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 62

Submitted: May 04, 2014

The next few days consisted mostly of the five of us settling down for a long trip. We chose seats according to our age. Sinc... Read Chapter

Chapter 63 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 63

Submitted: May 05, 2014

We got up early, cleaned up, had breakfast in the haute cuisine establishment of “Eats” out on the highway, and puttered west towards... Read Chapter

Chapter 64 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 64

Submitted: May 07, 2014

The drive to Dodge City was very hot. We panted while sitting on the hot cloth seats. We could barely sit back because the vi... Read Chapter

Chapter 65 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 65

Submitted: May 09, 2014

Morning arrived and once again we were assigned farm duties. I had to go out and do the milking for five rather surly cows. I... Read Chapter

Chapter 66 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 66

Submitted: May 09, 2014

There was a very old Montgomery Wards Airline floor model radio in the living room. According to my grandma, she and granddad liste... Read Chapter

Chapter 67 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 67

Submitted: May 10, 2014

We spent eight long, boring, centuries in Santa Ana. In the early decades of the first century, my brother and I sat up in the smal... Read Chapter

Chapter 68 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 68

Submitted: May 11, 2014

See the Rhineland on 75 cents a day (1): One fine spring day, just after school let out, a bunch of us were hanging around the Teen C... Read Chapter

Chapter 69 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 69

Submitted: May 12, 2014

The next morning I woke before the three bears, er, burpers and managed a nice bath before shaving and toothbrushing. Just as I was... Read Chapter

Chapter 70 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 70

Submitted: May 13, 2014

Dawn broke with a crash – literally. A few of the guys were outside playing a pick-up game of soccer in the back yard and one of ... Read Chapter

Chapter 71 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 71

Submitted: May 14, 2014

The next morning dawned later than normal. Overnight, clouds had moved in and a chill had settled on the campsite. I noticed ... Read Chapter

Chapter 72 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 72

Submitted: May 15, 2014

Another cloudy day greeted us as we rose for breakfast at the inn in Maring. Since I was the closest thing to a weather forecaster ... Read Chapter

Chapter 73 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 73

Submitted: May 16, 2014

I woke to soggy footfalls outside my tent. When they stopped, Virginia asked me if I had any dry covers as her tent had let water i... Read Chapter

Chapter 74 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 74

Submitted: May 17, 2014

It was so much nicer the next morning to wake up to the tapping on my door instead of rain tapping on the roof of my tent. By the l... Read Chapter

Chapter 75 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 75

Submitted: May 18, 2014

Forward in time to California... Following my sometimes painful introduction to life back in the States, things settled down to a dai... Read Chapter

Chapter 76 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 76

Submitted: May 19, 2014

Moving from one school to another is always traumatic. No matter how good (or bad) you were doing in your old school, there is alwa... Read Chapter

Chapter 77 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 77

Submitted: May 20, 2014

Back in the Fifties – long before the invention of Nintendo and the like -- kids had to make do with things at hand in order to have fu... Read Chapter

Chapter 78 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 78

Submitted: May 21, 2014

A short break: I was looking through a bunch of very old black and white pictures the other day and ran across one of my favorites.&n... Read Chapter

Chapter 79 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 79

Submitted: May 22, 2014

It was a dark and stormy night… All really bad literature starts out that way. There is even a yearly contest that celebrates... Read Chapter

Chapter 80 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 80

Submitted: May 23, 2014

Bullying has been around for a lot longer than just recently. My own experiences in the mid-fifties with bullying were just as bad ... Read Chapter

Chapter 81 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 81

Submitted: May 25, 2014

One of the cool things that pretty much every kid, the males as least, got to do was build forts. Big forts, small forts, one-man f... Read Chapter

Chapter 82 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 82

Submitted: May 26, 2014

We met again the next afternoon. Fired up once more with the spirit of adventure we rushed around like demented squirrels gathering... Read Chapter

Chapter 83 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 83

Submitted: May 27, 2014

Back to California, 1960. My family moved away from California in the middle of my senior year. Orders for my father sent him u... Read Chapter

Chapter 84 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 84

Submitted: May 28, 2014

My wife and I were now coming off thirty days of leave from Fort Meade which we had spent in Colorado visiting both sets of parents (how ... Read Chapter

Chapter 85 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 85

Submitted: May 30, 2014

It didn’t take us long to settle down into our new house. The wife was still taking in the fact that she was away, really away, f... Read Chapter

Chapter 86 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 86

Submitted: May 31, 2014

In late February, 1964, I was awakened by my wife who, at the time, was frantically whacking me about the head and shoulders and telling ... Read Chapter

Chapter 87 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 87

Submitted: June 01, 2014

A few vignettes: It was a big day when the wife-a-phone network came alive and reported that the Commissary had a new shipment of …... Read Chapter

Chapter 88 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 88

Submitted: June 03, 2014

Getting adjusted to life aboard ships is almost the same as adjusting to married life. You are living in intimate contact with, in ... Read Chapter

Chapter 89 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 89

Submitted: June 04, 2014

A few years ago, there was a great web site run by a shipmate of mine (and good friend) that had pages and pages of really great informat... Read Chapter

Chapter 90 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 90

Submitted: June 06, 2014

Watchstanding get pretty old after a while. It is pretty much unendurable when you’ve been at it for over 90 days with no liberty... Read Chapter

Chapter 91 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 91

Submitted: June 08, 2014

A typical evening liberty in Olongapo might go like this. You dress carefully in your freshly starched and pressed Undress white unif... Read Chapter

Chapter 92 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 92

Submitted: June 08, 2014

I would have liked to keep my promise of only describing places where tourists normally don’t go, but one item of note that occurred wh... Read Chapter

Chapter 93 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 93

Submitted: June 09, 2014

Since I started this portion of my life describing some of the hardships spouses (in my case, my wife) must face while the veteran is awa... Read Chapter

Chapter 94 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 94

Submitted: June 10, 2014

In a previous chapter I gave a few details of my trip back on Christmas leave from the Azores. It was while I was back home, at a p... Read Chapter

Chapter 95 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 95

Submitted: June 11, 2014

My introduction to Japan started back on the Oxford when we were laid up in Sasebo for engine repairs. I loved it then, even though... Read Chapter

Chapter 96 (ver.1)

Life - Such as it was, Chapter 96

Submitted: June 12, 2014

Before my wife arrived, my parents decided to make a trip over and visit me. I had just taken possession of what was to become my f... Read Chapter