Mark Chambers:  

I'm not so much one for social media, but it seems someone remembered me. I've got time on my hands right now, so figured I'd just do this. I even posted a pic from yearbook as a sophomore age 15. Yeah, I had skipped a grade going into Jr High, but that's okay, I made up for it by flunking out my Junior year at Santa Fe High. If I'd had a senior pic, I was a "long haired hippy type" by then if I recall. There isn't much for me to say about the times in high school. If anyone thought I was a snob or stuck up, maybe even a drug lord or dope head in my senior year, well, how about just plain shy, especially around girls. So, no, I wasn't a party goer then. I wasn't very social. Yep, I had crushes on girls, even had girlfriends in Jr high but starting off a year younger than my classmates in high school sort of intimidated me. I became very self-conscious and reserved. You can't measure love with a yardstick and love isn't bound by the constraints of time. In my repeat junior year in Tucson, I met a girl who changed my life. We were friends for a handful of months and I was crazy in love with her and somehow thought there was plenty of time, but I failed to tell her how I felt about her, her family moved and I didn't get the chance then. She would call herself a lame chick. Nope, I was the lame dude. Dr. Pepper, Almond Joy and now and then a Kool Long cigarette. I could write a book about that summer of 1970 and I'll never forget it... unless dementia sets in maybe. The next summer I left home and lived in the streets looking for her and trying to get a job. Living in the streets was an education in itself. I can say that I've seen the world from the inside of a dumpster (well, once when it was raining). I failed on both missions, and before school started in Los Angeles again, I made my way back to my dad's house and started my senior year back at Santa Fe High. I think my mom was still in Tucson (divorced parents). From the many months of swimming sometimes 4-8 hrs a day in Tucson, my whole physic had changed. I was getting B's and A's in PE instead of C's and D's. I started working at DerWienerschnitel, bought a car and then rented a house with a another guy I met. He was working and I was still in school. But sometime in March about 3 months before graduation I dropped out. I saved up some cash and took off to Tucson in one last attempt to find (what I hoped would be) my girl. I didn't find her in spite of calling a lot of people with the same last name. Obviously as time passed, the odds of finding her were diminishing and even if I did, what if she had a steady bf or had even married. I knew I had to let it go, but it was tough to do. One thing I'll say about working at Wienerschnitzel, I began shedding my shyness pretty fast. I was told that I needed to cut my hair or get a wig. My hair was about down to my shoulders and I decided to go to Montgomery Ward and buy a short hair wig. It was surreal for me. It started out with one girl trying to help me and then I was in a chair and there were 5 young ladies bumping against me, giggling and trying to find a wig that matched and fit. Anyway, so after that day I wore a wig to work. I'm 64 now and maybe I should think about getting a wig again, not exactly for the same reason, lol. It's thinned out quite a bit over the last 20 years or so. I lived in Indiana, Tucson, Los Angeles County, Tucson, back to LA, then Denver and back to Orange County and now in San Bernardino area. I've worked in several companies and under various capacities; mostly in management in precious metals refining and food manufacturing. I got married in 1979, we had kids, besides my job I began investing in real estate and just when I was negotiating a purchase of an apartment complex and we were becoming if not rich, financially independent, my marriage went south. Our 3 children were all in grade school. Our finances spiraled downward in a hurry and for two years I tried to salvage the marriage and at times I think she tried also, but the bottom line was; and I never saw it coming, she traded me in for someone else. Well, that was in 1996, a long time ago. I moved to Orange County closer to where I worked. Starting over was difficult. Luckily I did hold on to my job and slowly regain financial solvency. Uh, I hope I'm not making this seem like a sad story. My life has been wonderful and happy. I've had a few relationships since then and I'm sure we all go through some bad times. That is part of life. I retired at 58, back in 2012. I had plenty of things lined up to...Expand for more