One of the nice things about life is that it doesn't seem to happen all at once. I mean, generally speaking, if you are madly busy, you know in the back of your mind that things will slow down. If things are slow, someday they'll pick up. Not feeling well? You'll lick that cold at some point. Things change so that it keeps you involved.
It's not always for the best. People you like seem to go away when you don't want them to go and people you just can't deal with are always there. Sometimes the cold never seems to fade away and you sniffle for months.
I mean, I've had stories to tell here but it's more catching up. The past week or so has been rather relaxing. Busy day at work, get home, eat, rest, sleep, nothing terribly exciting. That's not a bad thing. It's nice to catch your breath a little.
Of course, when things get slow, it just means you know they'll pick up again soon.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
A Story of Mr. Cantiflas
Before my company was in the building it is today, we were operating from a building in a... less pleasant part of town. It was rough but the rent was affordable, this being the most important factor at the time. On occasion we did experience trouble from individuals in the area.
There was a crime wave in the neighborhood. Businesses for blocks around were being hit by a small gang of criminals. Descriptions of them varied. No one even seemed sure of how many members the gang had. During all this, we were running cards, ramping up security, expecting to be hit at any time.
In the middle of a show, three masked thugs attacked the box office, having apparently observed previous shows to find what they felt was a weak spot. Our security forces managed to repel them, capturing two of the men, but the third managed to escape them with the bulk of that night's take.
He made one critical mistake. In making his escape, he chose to use the alley running alongside the building, perhaps not having observed that there was an exit feeding into that passage. Having heard the alarm, many of us spilled into the alley, seeing the criminal run from us. While we had planned for the situation to occur, now that it had, it was clear we were unprepared. At least most of us were unprepared.
Reacting quickly, El Hombre de Silla flung his folding chair at the fleeing thief, clipping him in the leg, causing him to stumble. Before the man could regain his footing, El Hombre has caught up with him. One punch later, the thief was no longer resisting.
To the applause of the boys, El Hombre dragged the man back to the doorway. Handing me the money, he calmly noted “I believe this is yours, sir.”
It is not often that one can point to a specific event as the beginning of a friendship but, in his case, I can. Previous to this we did have a business relationship but this is when we started becoming friends.
There was a crime wave in the neighborhood. Businesses for blocks around were being hit by a small gang of criminals. Descriptions of them varied. No one even seemed sure of how many members the gang had. During all this, we were running cards, ramping up security, expecting to be hit at any time.
In the middle of a show, three masked thugs attacked the box office, having apparently observed previous shows to find what they felt was a weak spot. Our security forces managed to repel them, capturing two of the men, but the third managed to escape them with the bulk of that night's take.
He made one critical mistake. In making his escape, he chose to use the alley running alongside the building, perhaps not having observed that there was an exit feeding into that passage. Having heard the alarm, many of us spilled into the alley, seeing the criminal run from us. While we had planned for the situation to occur, now that it had, it was clear we were unprepared. At least most of us were unprepared.
Reacting quickly, El Hombre de Silla flung his folding chair at the fleeing thief, clipping him in the leg, causing him to stumble. Before the man could regain his footing, El Hombre has caught up with him. One punch later, the thief was no longer resisting.
To the applause of the boys, El Hombre dragged the man back to the doorway. Handing me the money, he calmly noted “I believe this is yours, sir.”
It is not often that one can point to a specific event as the beginning of a friendship but, in his case, I can. Previous to this we did have a business relationship but this is when we started becoming friends.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
A Story of Rugged Robbie V
Okay, so, there was this time when I was just starting out. Well, not just starting out but, early, okay? When you're that new in the business, a lot of the older guys like to mess with you. Nothing really mean, just mess with you. Hide your shoes, throw your clothes in the shower, put shoe polish on the handles of your bag, stuff like that. Some guys were really mean but most were just having fun, ya know?
There was a dude in the locker room, Gangster Gary McGrew, that just kept bugging me. Loved messing with me. Dunno why, man. One night I came back after my match, all banged up, lost, bummer. Rough night at work, right?
I get back to my locker and it gets worse. Someone took my shaving cream and sprayed it all over my clothes. Rubbed it in and everything. Not cool.
But the guy left the can behind and it still had some shaving cream in it. I was in a bad mood and this was just too much. I took what was left and filled up Gangster Gary's shoes with it. Just the part where your toes go, so it wouldn't be obvious.
I went off to take a shower and forgot all about it. Nice hot shower can wash away a lot, you know? All my negative emotions were gone just like that. It's not healthy to hang onto all that anyway. Bad for your heart.
So when Gary starts screaming at me, I don't know what he's talking about for a minute. He starts shoving his shoe in my face and all of a sudden I'm like 'oh yeah'. He's all 'how dare I?' and that, so I'm all 'Dude, look what you did to my clothes man' back at him. He's all 'I didn't do it'.
That confused me 'cause every other time he'd messed with me, he'd said so. He wanted me to know it was him. So I said that and apologized but then said he deserved it anyway. Then he mellowed out and agreed and we laughed and everything was cool between us. Then we were buds and we'd mess with each other a bit for fun. All cool.
No, nobody stepped up and said 'Yeah that was me' until years later. Turns out it was the Smasher. Said he did it so I wouldn't get picked on anymore. Which might be true or maybe he just thought it was funny and he just wanted to take credit for it turning out okay. Not sure man.
There was a dude in the locker room, Gangster Gary McGrew, that just kept bugging me. Loved messing with me. Dunno why, man. One night I came back after my match, all banged up, lost, bummer. Rough night at work, right?
I get back to my locker and it gets worse. Someone took my shaving cream and sprayed it all over my clothes. Rubbed it in and everything. Not cool.
But the guy left the can behind and it still had some shaving cream in it. I was in a bad mood and this was just too much. I took what was left and filled up Gangster Gary's shoes with it. Just the part where your toes go, so it wouldn't be obvious.
I went off to take a shower and forgot all about it. Nice hot shower can wash away a lot, you know? All my negative emotions were gone just like that. It's not healthy to hang onto all that anyway. Bad for your heart.
So when Gary starts screaming at me, I don't know what he's talking about for a minute. He starts shoving his shoe in my face and all of a sudden I'm like 'oh yeah'. He's all 'how dare I?' and that, so I'm all 'Dude, look what you did to my clothes man' back at him. He's all 'I didn't do it'.
That confused me 'cause every other time he'd messed with me, he'd said so. He wanted me to know it was him. So I said that and apologized but then said he deserved it anyway. Then he mellowed out and agreed and we laughed and everything was cool between us. Then we were buds and we'd mess with each other a bit for fun. All cool.
No, nobody stepped up and said 'Yeah that was me' until years later. Turns out it was the Smasher. Said he did it so I wouldn't get picked on anymore. Which might be true or maybe he just thought it was funny and he just wanted to take credit for it turning out okay. Not sure man.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
A Story of El Pantera Plata
When El Pantera Plata was still an active wrestler, he didn't care much for traveling. He had a home, he had a family, and he had a goal in spending as much time there as he could. If an opportunity came up to visit another territory, maybe make some friends elsewhere, get a higher position on the card, he would pass them up.
However this one time a promoter friend of his was in a real bind. Calls him up at almost the last second, begging for his help. The flu was rampaging through his locker room, he'd run through all his local backup guys, would Arturo please, please, please come help him out? He didn't want to travel but this promoter was in a spot and never let it be said that El Pantera Plata would not go to help a friend in need. Finally he said yes. The promoter was grateful and said the travel would be all taken care of, nothing to worry about, just get to the airport as soon as he could so he could get to Florida to wrestle that night!
No big deal, right? A flight from Milwaukee to Miami is only a couple hours, you can make that easy. Except that it was already mid-afternoon. No time to waste.
Now Arturo knows his buddy must be desperate if he was needed to call in a favor from that far away, but he's still grumpy that he has to travel at the last second, on a weekend, etc. Maybe he could fly down there, wrestle, and fly right back. If not, it's Miami and it could get a couple hours of sun and warmth before returning to the Wisconsin winter. So as he's heading to the airport, he's trying to find the silver lining in all this rushing.
He gets to the plane with no problem: ticket's waiting for him as promised, he only has an overnight bag so no problems with luggage, he's hurrying, but the plane doesn't get delayed because of him.
But the plane does get delayed.
While the plane is boarding, the wind picks up over nearby Lake Michigan and they have to delay take-off. Now, the downside to this is Arturo is concerned about being late. He's not that keen to go but, if he's going to go, he wants to do it properly. The upside is that he's sitting in first class. He's comfortable. He's getting fed drinks. His nervousness about being late is being calmed by the alcohol. Besides, if he's late, it's not his fault. He doesn't control the weather. About a half-hour late, the wind subsides enough for the plane to take-off.
Once he arrives in Miami, he has some control of the situation again. He's hurrying. The first thing he notices is that it's cold. It's like forty degrees. He's shivering. It's not a good start. On the plus side, he has a limo waiting for him. First class all the way on this trip! He has another drink to settle himself on the way to the show. The drive to the show takes longer than expected and he doesn't arrive until the intermission.
His promoter friend, John something or other, I think, is thrilled to see him. Very appreciative that Arturo has traveled all this way to 'save his show'. While John is going on and on and on thanking him, he lets slip that Arturo is wrestling in the Main Event for the Southeast Heavyweight Championship.
Now Arturo is nervous again; completely sober but nervous. Arturo was generally not positioned so highly on the card and rarely wrestled for belts. He was outside his comfort zone. Now he's worried he can't perform at that level and he'll ruin John's show.
He gets in the ring and the champ is a big muscular fella, ah, what was his name? Bill? Bob? Yes! Big Bob Burns, thank you. He's almost a foot taller than El Pantera Plata. Just looks overwhelming. More nerves for Arturo as he doesn't want this big guy to steamroll him and beat him in seconds. That's not a quality Main Event.
Arturo starts running and dodging and quickly realizes he can outwrestle Bob. To your point Robbie, at the time he was a big muscular lunkhead but at least he had charisma. Some anyway. Arturo starts wearing him out, hit and run, floating and flying.
Bob catches him out of the ring, slamming Arturo into the safety railing between the audience and the action. While Arturo is stunned, Bob runs at him, apparently planning to crush Arturo between Bob and the railing. Arturo's not stunned enough, moves, and Bob crashes into the railing at top speed.
No one realizes it at the time but Bob knocks himself out during the crash. He gets up and gets back in the ring but is too out of it to fight off Arturo. DDT. Three count. Arturo wins!
Then he realizes he's won the belt and he'll have to return to defend it.
Once again, there's an up side and a down side.
However this one time a promoter friend of his was in a real bind. Calls him up at almost the last second, begging for his help. The flu was rampaging through his locker room, he'd run through all his local backup guys, would Arturo please, please, please come help him out? He didn't want to travel but this promoter was in a spot and never let it be said that El Pantera Plata would not go to help a friend in need. Finally he said yes. The promoter was grateful and said the travel would be all taken care of, nothing to worry about, just get to the airport as soon as he could so he could get to Florida to wrestle that night!
No big deal, right? A flight from Milwaukee to Miami is only a couple hours, you can make that easy. Except that it was already mid-afternoon. No time to waste.
Now Arturo knows his buddy must be desperate if he was needed to call in a favor from that far away, but he's still grumpy that he has to travel at the last second, on a weekend, etc. Maybe he could fly down there, wrestle, and fly right back. If not, it's Miami and it could get a couple hours of sun and warmth before returning to the Wisconsin winter. So as he's heading to the airport, he's trying to find the silver lining in all this rushing.
He gets to the plane with no problem: ticket's waiting for him as promised, he only has an overnight bag so no problems with luggage, he's hurrying, but the plane doesn't get delayed because of him.
But the plane does get delayed.
While the plane is boarding, the wind picks up over nearby Lake Michigan and they have to delay take-off. Now, the downside to this is Arturo is concerned about being late. He's not that keen to go but, if he's going to go, he wants to do it properly. The upside is that he's sitting in first class. He's comfortable. He's getting fed drinks. His nervousness about being late is being calmed by the alcohol. Besides, if he's late, it's not his fault. He doesn't control the weather. About a half-hour late, the wind subsides enough for the plane to take-off.
Once he arrives in Miami, he has some control of the situation again. He's hurrying. The first thing he notices is that it's cold. It's like forty degrees. He's shivering. It's not a good start. On the plus side, he has a limo waiting for him. First class all the way on this trip! He has another drink to settle himself on the way to the show. The drive to the show takes longer than expected and he doesn't arrive until the intermission.
His promoter friend, John something or other, I think, is thrilled to see him. Very appreciative that Arturo has traveled all this way to 'save his show'. While John is going on and on and on thanking him, he lets slip that Arturo is wrestling in the Main Event for the Southeast Heavyweight Championship.
Now Arturo is nervous again; completely sober but nervous. Arturo was generally not positioned so highly on the card and rarely wrestled for belts. He was outside his comfort zone. Now he's worried he can't perform at that level and he'll ruin John's show.
He gets in the ring and the champ is a big muscular fella, ah, what was his name? Bill? Bob? Yes! Big Bob Burns, thank you. He's almost a foot taller than El Pantera Plata. Just looks overwhelming. More nerves for Arturo as he doesn't want this big guy to steamroll him and beat him in seconds. That's not a quality Main Event.
Arturo starts running and dodging and quickly realizes he can outwrestle Bob. To your point Robbie, at the time he was a big muscular lunkhead but at least he had charisma. Some anyway. Arturo starts wearing him out, hit and run, floating and flying.
Bob catches him out of the ring, slamming Arturo into the safety railing between the audience and the action. While Arturo is stunned, Bob runs at him, apparently planning to crush Arturo between Bob and the railing. Arturo's not stunned enough, moves, and Bob crashes into the railing at top speed.
No one realizes it at the time but Bob knocks himself out during the crash. He gets up and gets back in the ring but is too out of it to fight off Arturo. DDT. Three count. Arturo wins!
Then he realizes he's won the belt and he'll have to return to defend it.
Once again, there's an up side and a down side.
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