1989 – I started 9th grade in Clewiston High school at 14 years old. I had allot of friends in this high school. It was small town and everybody knew each other. I had Spanish, African American, Jamaican, and white friends in school. Out of school, I only hung out with white friends from school, and some black friends who were my neighbors, they had go carts, and went fishing and bird shooting. We also played allot of basketball and Nintendo games like Zelda. I did not have a Nintendo system, my mother bought me a computer instead. My first computer was a Commodore 64. I spent allot of time on it. I remember writing my own games in 10101 binary code copied from the commodore 64 magazine. It took days, but playing the games made it was worthwhile.
In high school I continued with cross country and also joined the swim team. I did allot of traveling to different parts of Florida on swim and track meets. I did not have a girlfriend, but I had a very close friend, she was Polish, and already had a boyfriend. My art teacher wrote on my report card that I was very talented, but too Anti social. I had an 11th grade white male friend named Seth. He was a tall, handsome, all American kid who took advanced classes and made strait A’s without having to study very much. He had a nice house, talked to cute girls, and went to church. He also ran on the cross country team. I became his good friend and would stay at his house on weekends and go out on church outings with his family. I learned how to make my special mashed potatoes from the preacher at his church. When I tasted his mashed potatoes for the first time at a thanksgiving dinner I immediately asked him how he made it, because its the best I ever tasted, so he told me.
My cross country team was one of the best in the state. Our cross country trainer would drop us off in the cane field and drive 3 miles away with his truck and big containers with Gator Aid. We would have to run 3 miles through the cane fields in the hot sun, and there were alligators and snakes in the canals all through the cane field. After we reached the truck and drank some Gator Aid, we would have to run another 3 miles back the same way we came. 6 miles a day, Monday to Friday. I had golf shoes in cross country training, my friend used to laugh at my shoes, but I did not care. I didn’t know what was wrong with the shoes, I though they were great running shoes, my mother bought them at K-Mart. I though my friend was laughing cause he knew they were heavy, I didn’t know at the time that they were golf shoes. One day I decided to run without shoes, and I liked it, after that I always ran without shoes, my teammates were amazed I could take it. It felt great to me, it’s more fun to run 3 miles when you can feel the ground under your feet. I got my picture in the local paper running cross country. That was cool.
The swim team was very cool, I was in it for the experience and interaction, swimming in the pool after school, seeing the girls in bathing suits at the swim meets. I never really got into winning races, I think I was always second to last in sprint races, I was actually very good at long distance swimming, but I did not let my coach know that. I had allot of fun with the girls in the pool playing touchie feelie. I didn’t loose my virginity in 9th grade. I was having rough time emotionally at 14 years old with all the sexual thoughts always going through my head.
My mother had friends in West Palm Beach, Florida. It’s about 1 hour 15 minute drive south of Clewiston. We went to West Palm Beach many times. The house I stayed in West Palm had 2 brothers who were in their early 20s, and a sister in her late teens, they lived there with their parents who were friends of my mother and Roy. This family had a nice house, Mom and dad had a car, and the 2 brothers had nice fast cars with rims. They had cable TV and a Commodore 128 computer in the house. Everybody in this family looked good, handsome and pretty people. They were all happy and confident, and a bit stuck up, but in a good way. They did not talk to me very much, I liked watching and listening to them, they were cool. I like driving with them, they would race each other and go very fast on I-95. We went o SixFlags a few times. At that house. I spent allot of time watching HBO and playing games on the computer. The brother who owned that computer was never home.
Roy had two sons who lived in Orlando. Roxwell and Bob, they owned a large 3 bedroom house a couple miles away from Central Florida University. I visited and stayed with them on several occasions. I spent the summer 1989 there with 2 other kids from Mandeville, Jamaica who always visit on holidays. They were Roy’s niece and nephew. Orlando was a very fun place, there were allot of Jamaicans there doing very well with nice houses and nice cars. I attended the University campus many times with Bob, he was a senior level student there, he was a tall muscular nerd, he liked to play allot in the house, like a kid. Roxwell was older and already working in a business that required him to do computer drafting with AutoCAD software. They had 2 very powerful computers in the house, and I brought my computer.
I enjoyed staying in Orlando allot. I didn’t have cable TV in Clewiston. They had cable TV, and porn XX video tapes. Roxwell had a pickup truck, and Bob had an sports car from the 70s. We went out allot, to parties, movies, roller skating, video arcades, ect. I would blast the 6 huge speaker system all through the house, and dance. Roxwell and Bob did not cook much, so we ate allot of pizza and Chinese food, that was great. I guess my mother and Roy gave them $$ to spend for us, I had not realized until now that they spent allot of $$ on us.
I spent allot of time on the computers, there was a back room, the computer room, man I loved that room. I started getting online with the 9600 baud computer modem. There was no Internet in 1989. There were BBS Bulletin boards. I spent most of my time downloading porn and computer games. I also learned how to use the drafting program Roxwell used for his job, AutoCAD.
Commodore 64? Playboy? Superheros? All in one post? What more can I ask for? But really, it is quite a throw-back -- it reminds me of all the programming and hardware hacking that I did with my good old TRS-80 CoCo. Ah, the good ol' days.
Great story Craig, I can relate to a lot of things said in the post. Your a wild man for not wearing shoes were there is alligators and snakes! I am terrified of both! All in all great story!
Your knowledge and history are valuable
" I had golf shoes in cross country training, my friend used to laugh at my shoes, but I did not care. I didn’t know what was wrong with the shoes, I though they were great running shoes, my mother bought them at K-Mart. "
good kid!
Welcome to steemit Craig!
My grand parents used to have a place in West Palm Beach. Spent alot of winters down there. Nintendo, Zelda, Com 64, good times man. I spent friggin hours and hours playing Zelda.
Downloading porn in '89. You were an early adopter even back then😃
and playing Leisure Suit Larry
How many times did I type LOAD "*",8,1? I think I could still type that in my sleep.
Wow!! That's brought back a few memories; I can remember life was easier back then or maybe it was a case of not giving a "shit"!!
wellcome
excelente post
