Author: John Bollwitt

Life just never quite seems to slow down for me. Some days I find myself looking at how bland it might be, but the truth of the matter is that it’s pretty busy and hectic. A lot. Some would say always. I’m not sure that I would have it any other way. In fact, I don’t know how I would function if I didn’t have something going on. I wouldn’t come even close to saying that I have my schedule on complete course, or that my head is on completely straight. I’m just busy.

Kansas City is calling me again. I’ll be heading down there this Friday, coming back on Monday. It’ll be great to get out of town for a little while. More so, longer than your standard weekend jot. It’s Grandma’s birthday this weekend, so good food, good drinks, and good times. Also dropped a line off to Angie, so looking forward to hanging out with her. Shopping and maybe some time out on The Plaza. And yes, this time I won’t fall asleep in Grandma’s bathroom.

My freshman year of college, I lived in a lounge with six other guys for the first semester. This is what happens when there is not enough room in the dorms for all those who come to college. You’re stuck there until housing finds a space for you. It was there that I met Kris, or Muffin as he came to be known. Bill lived on the same floor and was fortunate to have an actual room. This is how Burlington became apart of my life. It’s odd to think how I have more friends from that border town than I do from the one I grew up in.

The only slice of privacy in the lounge was a door that locked behind you. Inside, a maze of bunk beds, clothes racks, and desks, the center piece being a small television with Nintendo64 attached. Mario Kart was the typical drug of choice, at least for me. We spent… No, wasted a lot time with that damn thing. Coming home from class one afternoon, I unlock the door only to find Bill sitting there on the floor, controller in hand. I say hello, proceed to put my things down, and notice that Bill’s the only guy in the lounge. This guy who actually has a room (a room with a private toilet and shower, mind you) is hanging out in my camp-like home. Turns out that he didn’t have class till later and everyone had left. It kind of burned me, but we still laugh about it now.

Anyhow, Bill’s married now. Erin was probably the most ecstatic bride that I have ever seen. I will admit, I got to the ceremony five minutes late. I blame this on the “older” couple and their motorcycle that I got stuck behind the entire way through town, pounding on the steering wheel in frustration during the ten mile per hour tour through Burlington. The reception, although I could be one to argue with my assigned seat(for I did suffer a whole semester of living with this guy), was awesome. I shamefully missed the bachelor party, but this made up for it ten fold. It was wonderful to see everyone again.

This time, I stayed out of the garter toss. I caught the one at Zach and Cristin’s wedding. I opted to avoid such luck again.

In my best Andy Rooney impression, why do beer commercials play good party music and not the crappy music that you often hear in real life at establishments that sell such beer? It never fails, and there is probably something to be said about this fact for me not being a beer drinker myself. You go out to a bar, and the music sucks. Granted, there are a few bars within my immediate area that have music selections that don’t suck as bad, but when you mix in the mindlessness of stupid people consuming said beverages, that just takes things downhill fast. Notice, I said stupid people in reference to people that are stupid. I am not advocating that those who drink beer are stupid. Although, there are some out there where this could be applied either way.

Bill is getting married tomorrow. I met him my first year in college and we’ve stayed in contact since. We roomed for a small amount of time during my sophomore year. Very smart guy. So smart, he got paid to go to college. I’m not sure if the same was true for law school, but hey, he’s a lawyer now, so who cares, right? It’ll be an interesting day for sure. Just to see Bill in a tux will be a treat.

The reception is said to have six kegs of beer.

Without Jim around for the past week and a half, I’ve been pretty bored towards the end of his absence. There is only so much of being an “as needed” guy that I can handle. I wouldn’t say that I get annoyed by it as much as just having a severe lack of being entertained. So with today being his first, full day back, I just kept asking for things to do. If I don’t keep moving, I feel my body start to slow down on me. In fact, last week, I actually took a thirty minute nap for the simple fact that I had nothing else to do. If some one found me and woke me up because they needed something, great, but no one walked into my office. Part of that could have been the stress of the move, but such is life.

One thing I noticed is that I’m sleeping better than I have in years. It could be the change of living conditions, the bed, or just the fact that I’m finally living in a place that suits who I am. Most likely, it’s a combination of it all. The newness could be an element, but there is also something to be said about how I feel when I take off for the station in the morning. Just getting out of bed is easier. It’s also nice to walk from room to room without the problem of bumping into anything. Yes, my old place was that small.

Tomorrow morning will be my first opportunity to really explore my new neighborhood. Running is always a good way to do that.

After all is said and done, I feel like I’m hungover. Within the time span of about fourteen hours, I relocated and reestablished my life into its new surroundings. It was a multistage feat that went off without any major headaches or injury. My new bed didn’t quite fit into my brother’s Envoy like I thought it would, and I thank the laws of physics for allowing its voyage home to be a successful one, on the roof none the less. And if my godson, Ben, had not been there, I do not know who would have opened the door. Dad helped out with the hauling and sweating as well. Mom likes the place. I’m loving it, but probably not nearly as much as my new bed.

Everything I have is unpacked, and I’m pretty much set as far as getting settled in goes. Sure, you can say that my brain kicked into efficiency mode and there was no sleeping until Brooklyn. Once the mood hits me, I’m not stopping until it’s done. Thing is, I really don’t own a lot of things. That all looks to change within the near future, but minimal is not a horrible thing. Right now, I just need a couch. Once that happens, I’ll be very content.

I got about nine hours of sleep last night. A solid nine, mind you. I really, really like my new bed.

My mom taught me well. There is no other way around explaining the labor I have put myself through the past four days to get my apartment clean. And perhaps it’s being anal, but I want my deposit back as much as I can humanly retrieve. For those who know me, they also understand how stressed I have been over this situation. The station is a factor there for sure. I’m the go to guy for technical assistance, but I have also been wearing another hat, keeping tabs on the traffic and billing. If I don’t do that everyday, underwriting accounts get messed up. When that happens, we lose money. Combine all of this, and I start getting a little fried within my wits.

My landlord and I had my checkout appointment setup and met at the appropriate time this evening. I did final cleaning preparations all afternoon for it, cramming what I had left into the car until he showed up. We’d do the walk through, and I would leave town for the night, returning Sunday???… No. I ran outside to get a pen and paper to provide a location to send my deposit check only to see both sets of my car keys sitting on the inside of a now locked car, pen and paper in hand. Fortunately, I had my cellphone on me. I was rescued forty minutes later. Still, I was so close to making a clean getaway after the whole whatever the hell this week has been..

The checkout went great. I’m probably going to get all of my deposit back. My landlord was overly impressed and couldn’t believe how well everything looked. “This bathroom is… Bathroom is… nice. Great… Wow!” While waiting for the help to arrive, I sat outside on the porch. The two girls my landlord has doing the touch up cleaning arrived shortly after his departure. They came out the door five minutes later, “Was your apartment number five?” I was that said person. “That place is spotless. We don’t have to do a thing!”

I hope I get my full deposit back. I think I owe my parents dinner now. However, if we were keeping score, I probably owe them about a thousand and one dinners.

Potential major disaster of a problem number one averted. I think. The FM transmitter called me the other morning. Yes, it is computerized to call you in the event of an emergency. The voice is very robotic and entertaining to me. I have a hard time not trying to mimic it to actually stop and understand what it’s telling me. Anyhow, with Jim gone, that first phone call had my pulse going a little bit. I’m used to the hundred watt world of things. This is twenty-five thousand. Much larger transmitter that packs more of a punch if and when you do the wrong things. This is also how you learn. Throw yourself into the fire, take bruises, learn what went right, learn what you completely messed up, and get ready for the next time. Jim comes back in nine days, right?

I must say, I am blessed to have my family helping out with this move. I’m down by a lot in terms of what belongings I have decided to retain and what’s actually left in my apartment. Sunday, we’ll all descend upon the town, and my next stage in life can finally start to take shape. Truly, it’s just a step in that direction. I was pulled aside the other day at the station and reaffirmed that they are working on that forever mentioned, permanent position. I know that there are others out there with much further success in their life than I have at my age, but to be this far is something I feel very fortunate about. When some one says to you, “I don’t know what we’d do without you,” that feels good.

The plan is falling into place. When I say “falling,” I mean just that. Somehow, someway, I will succeed in this move. There will be some slight shuffling, but it will work. If I just keep telling myself that, it will come true. I do have to say that being just me for the first time in years, I have enjoyed getting this all put together. There is no miscommunication. No one else to get tired and stop the process. No one complaining to me that I need to stop what I’m doing and just give up for a while. You might find this odd, but for those who know me, when I get my mind set on something, it’s hard for me to stop until it’s done. It truly is a family trait. Drives some nuts. Others wish they could have this type of dedication.

In the midst of this all, I got some really good news last week; Brian will be in town Thursday! I’m really looking forward to seeing the guy, especially since I wasn’t able to make it out to NYC this past month. That was my plan, but I just had too much going on, plus moving in a week. Ugh!… I guess this will kind of make up for it, but I’m feeling the bug to head out east hitting me again. I don’t know… Central Park in the fall doesn’t sound like the most horrible thing in the world.

Quite frankly, I’m going to need a vacation soon. Not just a weekend getaway or overnight venture. A full out, get the heck out of the state, kick back, relax, and let my brain go to mush vacation. Jim is on vacation as of tomorrow till the 4th. I have his cell phone. I have “the keys.” I’m the go-to guy. “Da man,” as he puts it. There’s just too much other stuff to get into to help you understand the weight, but Matt got a dose of it the other night when he called me. Friday afternoon, I was completely beat. I still didn’t leave until nine that night. That was a fairly easy day. This should be interesting coming up, but a vacation is sounding really, really good.

I haven’t had the chance to see it, but the people I work with have. Jim said to Ben the other day, “In a few weeks, we’re going to be seeing a new John.” This totally confused me. Apparently, everyone has noticed that as this summer has progressed, I’ve been coming in looking a bit more on the rough side. Slightly, but just barely, if even, offended, everyone has it put together but me. It’s hot and humid these days, and I have no air conditioning, point number one. Two, I sleep on a futon mattress that sits on the floor. Lastly, I simply hate my apartment. If I weren’t doing this whole being grown up, radio, working my ass off thing, it’d be great.

So, I bought a bed today. It’s not officially mine yet, but my money is down. It’s not moving until I do. Which is another process in of itself that’s wearing me thin these days. I’ve started thinning out even more of what little stuff I do own in my tiny apartment. Truly, there is yet some odds and ends I just do not need, never did, and never will. Also looking to toss my hat into selling stuff on eBay again. Other stuff will go to Goodwill. After that, it’s just straight up packing. The plan is coming together. However, when I tested out the bed today, I almost passed out right there. It’s very much a John bed; orthopedic, no-flip, firm mattress with a slight pillow top. Joy…

I’ve also joined the ranks of the three razor blade shaving community, up one from my usual two. Interesting, indeed.

Driving back into town the other night, the true essence of summer hit me. Going up and down hills, there were low lying clouds above the fields lining the highway. They would follow the curve of the earth, hovering just feet above the corn, its smell of sweetness fully coming into season. The rest of the sky, blue and gray, full of haze, concealing what it could of a sun glowing red with madness. Without warning, coming up over a hill, a hot air balloon drifted nearly a hundred feet directly off to the right of my headlights. Another one would just be setting down on the ground, chase cars surrounding it, big holes opening at the top, letting the fuel escape. About that point, I remember to look down at the road, just in time to dodge the folks pulling off to the side of the road to watch the event.

Lots of other goodness has happened lately. I’m running again. That makes me feel really good, but it’ll be a little while before I’m back up to form. I might be hired on to engineer Hawkeye pregame this fall. It’s all speculative right now. They have my name and contact information, so it’s a start. I dig the radio and the football. I love this getting paid for things I like deal. It works out quite nicely.