Fast Times At Django High
You know all those annoying drunks who stand on street corners with their bad breath, and will chase you down the street trying to tell you their life story? Well in this post, that's me *weg*
I'm one of those people that completely hated school. I didn't fit in, got picked on, left out, led a sheltered life, got regarded as a freak for my love of horror movies and wrote whiney angsty horror stories. I once saw an interview with renowned writer Stephen King where he said that he wouldn't trust anyone who claimed to like school past a certain age. I loved that quote and I relate to it, 'cause when I tend to encounter the people who did like school, they always seem to be toe the party line unimaginative conservative types, maybe like a more boring Bree Van De Kamp without the witty knowing script writing. The type who usually end up asking you the most mind numbingly inane or mundane questions at job interviews or end up in some post at the jobcentre where they can't even say hello to someone without threatening to cut their benefit if they don't jump through the latest hoop.
I didn't really belong to any scenes in school. I listened to some metal and wore the clothes but I didn't fit in with the metal heads any more than the trendies who got their rich middle class parents to buy them all the latest clothes. That's maintained to this day really, in that I tend to have the minority opinion even among friends or fandoms at times, don't like cliques (not even the "I'm more alternative/goth than you" types ugh!) and tend to distrust any kind of indoctrination or dogma unless I invent it myself ha ha! A little later in college, my main obsessions became Twin Peaks/David Lynch and The Doors, both of which influenced my writing. I was also getting into cult movies by this time and loved things like old Roger Corman movies and wild b movies. At college I started to meet some cooler people and realised that not everyone were like spoiled savage brats I was locked up in school with. This helped me little by little to become more sociable and confident to some extent, even although I was still a wallflower by most people's standards.
After messing around in college and with some silly training courses (where I had my first few drug experiences), I ended up doing a theatre arts course, which introduced me to a whole lot of good and colourful people and opened me up to even more experiences. The group we had was almost like our own version of Warhol's Factory, or so it seems to some nostalgic romantic hyperbole reject like me *g* LOL, the first day when I had to be part of a performance in front of people, I noticed that my leg was shaking a little and started to get fears of hyperventilating and being carried off, which didn't happen. I acted in a few plays and pantomines during my time with the group, had dreams of writing my own scripts or doing stage adaptions of films like Roman Polanski's Cul De Sac or the murder mystery Laura (ideas which never came to anything - story of my life) and even got to direct the play An Englishman Abroad. One of the wonderful things about these days was how relaxed it all was. As mentioned, we did do plays but there were also live folk music nights, constant parties and afternoons over at the local pub. Quite a few of the people who frequented the group were local musicians or had some acting experience (some have been extras in UK programmes like Taggart, my late friend George aka Ken McAlpine had a part in a short film called The Kettle People which was featured as part of Channel 4's Pot Night). Another wonderful thing is that it's where I was introduced to punk and new wave, via a CD compilation called The Sound Of The Suburbs, which was always lying around.
Although not a scene as such for me, punk became one of my main obsessions. I would buy and borrow CDs and books and learn about the original scene. This wasn't a scene for me in the sense that it revolved mostly around bands long since split up and so it wasn't about trying to fit in with a particular group, like my attempts to crash the metal scene had been. For me, punk was more about finding ways to express and be yourself, rather than adherence to a uniform or following others. Probably one of the most important discoveries of my life. My mother bought me a pair of leather trousers while I was part of the theatre arts group around 1994 and for a couple of years it was almost impossible to separate me from them, new Lizard King that I was (always a little baggy around the legs for me back in the day - now I can't even fasten them over my bulging gut *blush*). I also started going to concerts. My first concert was a tribute band called The Australian Doors, which was fun but a little disappointing (I'll never forget the iconic enduring visual of my friend Nick throwing up on leaving the concert though). But the first concert I went to on my own was more impressive - Lou Reed touring his Set The Twilight Reeling album. Over the next few years I saw artists like The Sex Pistols, Manic Street Preachers, Blondie, The Creatures, The Stranglers, Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Iggy Pop and even travelled to London to see Deborah Harry with The Jazz Passengers twice. Happy times.
I also became even more into cult movies and read books about Andy Warhol, David Lynch, Roman Polanski, cult movies and John Waters alongside punk biographies. Also started to become interested in Lord Byron, wrote some of my own poetry (and since it was by me it was always wonderful *laughs*). I was also obsessed with true crime books and serial killers for a few years in my late teens and early twenties, even writing my own novella based on the Charles Manson case. I was one of the first victims of the New Deal in East Kilbride's jobcentre. I say victim because, despite all the advertising about the wonderful opportunities it would give the unemployed, it was really just the same old rubbish but with even more hoops to jump through and more interference along the way (and still the same old catch 22 of not being able to get a job if you don't have the experience... and therefore not getting the experience as college and training courses weren't really considered a substitute). As part of this new "initiative" I did a year of Media Studies at college (although the New Deal part meant I didn't have the same rights and freedom of other students and didn't even get some of the holidays they got). Just before that though, I had met my friend Dave in a chance encounter at a local pub. He was a victim of too much drug taking during his time in London, where he'd been a session drummer. He's always talking about knowing bands like Jesus And The Mary Chain and The Quireboys but due to his mental illness it's often hard to know how much he says is true, as he has a tendency to get mixed up at times and often talks about things before his time. This encounter led to me meeting up with some of his other friends and we ended up meeting up on a regular basis. Between them I found some common music, literary, political and movie tastes (differences too). As part of the Media Studies course, I took part in some of the daft little videos we made, including some silly pisstake voiceovers for a few adverts and features and even got the starring role in a little two or three minute horror movie, which featured me being stalked around college, getting killed and dumped in a car boot (they gave the Oscar to the car boot itself though *g*).
As for getting work ya bum, well most times I've actually been enthusiastic to get a job I've been let down. Jobs that I would have probably liked got offered to people with more experience or the right tie. And the few jobs I've actually managed to get have blown up in my face either because I hated them or was just no good at them. From those few jobs and work placements (unpaid slavery that save the companies from actually employing more staff) I learnt that I don't like being caged up and I hate the way too many hours at work can sap your soul dry and give you little time for all the things you actually enjoy. So now I'd much rather dance on tabletops, say "That's Hot!" a lot and enjoy freedom and pleasure as artistic expression and a lifestyle. At least until an actual decent job comes along. Yeah, real bohemian like *guffaw* I kill me (and anyone else around me :P). Don't pray for me though, as I'm a proud atheist. Writing nowadays is usually confined to expressing myself and reviewing stuff in my journal, with the odd poem or fanfic here and there. I just feel sorry for whoever's gets the task of fitting all this onto a tombstone (it'll probably be some poor New Deal work placement ha ha) *g*