Christmas 1995 was the comeback year for the Nineties after five crappy ones in a row! All the previous times were marred by a lack of money; people to spend it with; a lingering, dour mood; or a combination of the previous three. The first I had in Austin really filled me with regret about coming to this city. I moved away to escape the despair of the Midwest only to re-experience it in better weather.
What a difference a year can make! By Thanksgiving 1995, I was going to finally follow through on the many things I had been wanting to do since the late Eighties. Primarily giving nice and/or thoughtful presents to friends and family. Having consistent employment through Apple’s temp agency plus maintaining weekends with the dorm made it feasible. I think 1995 was the start of my favorite tradition, sending funny (some say blasphemous) cards. The Internet makes this easier to do lately.
For the bulk of December, I reposted a Christmas fave as the site’s banner. I’m often reminded about it by my Marquette pals. The story behind the card’s purchase is a bit amusing. Back then I lived in Hyde Park and didn’t own a car so I often walked around Austin, namely if it was between Dobie Mall and my apartment. There was a little trinket store next to Amy’s Ice Cream HQ. It catered to Austin’s gay population like Sparks (also gone as last year), with items such as bumper stickers, shirts, etc. However, they carried great birthday cards and when this gem hit my humor radar, I probably bought out their current stock. It was certainly a litmus test on discovering which friends were holier-than-thou. Oddly, my mother liked it and her Catholicism can be thin-skinned. I tried to go back every year but I think the store closed when a Little City moved into Amy’s spot. I resorted to Sparks, Urban Outfitters and Book People from then on.
With the greeting cards tackled, shopping and shipping were spread out from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve. The memorable gifts I gave for 1995: PageMaker 5 for Mom (she complained about pagination in WordPerfect), a Tazmanian Devil watch for Doc (Eiko and I bought it together) and a Beavis & Butt-Head book with a sound-effect remote for Paul. Helen couldn’t wait for the batteries to die on the this “toy.”
It was great to enjoy the holiday season properly. Properly? I had the epiphany on gift-giving sometime around college, most likely when I gave my brother that autographed Emo Phillips record. It may have been a flop with the recipient but the thrill of finding, making and/or buying something incredibly unique or “so you” was the remedy to the ennui I contracted from my high school years. It’s what drives me today and counters the ongoing holiday dread I tolerate, namely the lack of time to figure out what the kids want and the incessant bitching of Christians’ made-up war on Christmas.
Christmas Eve was on a Sunday which meant Babylon 5 would be airing after the news on Channel 42. Probably a rerun yet I didn’t care. The show’s larger story arc had me hooked while Deep Space Nine continued flop around with its upcoming Dominion War. I scored a pizza from Gatti’s to eat and keep my lap warm, exciting about how awesome this Christmas was going to be.
Christmas Day was spent at Doc and Masami’s apartment up in North Austin. With our friendship being patched up around May, I was no longer uncomfortable hanging out with him and the time went by pleasantly. The two of them completely surprised me with a big gift, the Millenium Falcon toy but it was the new, updated 1995 version: re-entry burns on the hull and sound effects from the movies. How the memories of 1979 flooded back into my brain. We stopped to get batteries for the starship at the first open convenience store I spotted.
Christmas Day 1995 (the original photo is in color in a box)
The three of us then undertook my movie-going tradition. We had high hopes for Mel Brooks’ Dracula, Dead and Loving It because it was his first with Leslie Nielsen. What a stinkburger! Two good gags was all it had. This is probably why Brooks started re-tooling his good movies into Broadway shows.
I didn’t mind returning to work that Tuesday. It was going to be a four-day week and by Saturday morning, I would be on a plane to Baltimore, ringing in 1996 with the Silders, Doug and Jose! Jose wasn’t going to come originally but I owed him a plane ticket because he covered our room to Nelson’s wedding in 1994.
However, the festivities were spoiled a tad by Apple’s pending woes. My immediate manager Big Mike Martin took me aside and said to be prepared for being let go. I was puzzled. The phones had been ringing continuously with the arrival of the 5300, my performance was positive according to him and Apple supposedly sold over a million units this quarter, what could be wrong? He didn’t know the specifics, he just wanted me to be braced. Mike was partially correct. The site director dumped a dozen temps at the end of the week. Nice compassionate move. It’s little wonder nobody says his name without a negative adjective in the same breath.
It was too late dwell on it then so I flew out East to whoop it up. How I miss the pre-TSA idiot days. I had a sixer of Shiner and Celis packed in my carry-on duffle bag. Today, I’d get third base from the agent’s full-body cavity search, be put on the no-fly list and the workers would drink my stuff when they get off duty.
When I arrived at BWI, it was wet and cold; everything I no longer missed about living up North. The Silders met me at the gate (another pre-2001 reality I miss) and I think we hung out until Jose’s flight arrived. Doug arrived in the morning or the day before. After we got settled in their apartment (a hilarious ‘burb called Cockeysville), we had some dinner.
New Year’s Eve’s plans to see parts of DC were spoiled by the terrible weather (we were in the midst of an unusual freeze), Newt Gingrich’s temper tantrum (aka the 1995 Federal shutdown) and Paul was in no mood to go. Being a guest, I let it slide. The main attraction was my friends not monuments.
Baltimore was a closer, better compromise. We saw the sights, combed a record store, ate seafood, played pool and stumbled upon Edgar Allen Poe’s grave.
And no, I'm not the one who leaves a bottle there on his birthday.
Being New Year’s Eve, we made it back to their place, scored a keg and snacks for our little bash. Helen’s sister Susan and brother-in-law Jim dropped in later. It wasn’t quite South Chicago (I miss the little cop bar down the street) yet we made the best of it by playing the games we enjoyed at Marquette and telling favorite anecdotes: Phil’s hands of death always brings the house down.
Paul is wearing my infamous jester hat because he was the "Threeman."
What else? I noticed how we had all come a long way since graduating from Marquette five years earlier. The Silders had moved to Baltimore for Paul’s new career in copywriting for a small agency. Helen landed an office job to pitch in and pass the time. Doug was an IT guy and he often talked crap about the Mac at his gig. Jose had just completed his first semester of law school and bought a house. Everything did seem to be looking up for us, the Class of ’90 (and ’91). Fifteen years later, I’m the only person in the same overall career: Paul works for the Feds, Helen is a teacher, Jose is between careers and Doug does something with a major car-rental company; Helen said it’s closely related to his MS in Engineering.
New Year’s Day entailed eating, napping and watching movies: So I Married an Axe Murderer (why the Silders giggled at my brother’s wedding due to the Best Man wearing a kilt) and Dazed n’ Confused (a suggestion I made to show everyone some of Austin’s geography). I mostly loved having more intelligent conversations with friends I missed thanks to my time in Illinois yet Austin was beginning to close the gap (Sonia, Doc and Gabe). How I didn’t want the time with these people to end though. I wasn’t sure when I’d get the chance to see them again, 1995 has been an aberration: I had visited the Silders three times for various functions while they resided in Chicago.
Jose and I pitched Orlando for New Year’s 1996-7 because Jose’s new house could accommodate more guests. I was a proponent of the warmer climate. This received a “maybe” from the majority.
On January 2 and 3, we said our goodbyes as the Silders took us to BWI. No matter what I was store for at Apple, Austin, Towers or life, I felt 1995 ended well and 1996 was off to a good start.