MONDAY DIARY: ALMOST EXCRUSIATINGLY TRUE STORIES: THE VIRTUE OF LIVING A CLEAN LIFE

Kids - LISTEN TO YOUR PARENTS! They may be old but they know a thing or two.  You may have heard them tell you that it is very unwise to put anything about yourself on the Internet because anything you post is out there forever.  It is.  Always think twice.  For just when you think you have life all together - *WHAM * - something comes back from your past Internet life to haunt you. 

 

And to tell the truth, this is not new and it is not just the Internet.  In our modern age, we are camera happy and SOMEBODY out there always has a copy of an embarrassing picture of you.  JUST FOR EXAMPLE . . . one of my beloved classmates just sent me this picture that he somehow found . . .

Yes, I am in the above picture.  How he got a hold of this picture I do not know.  There was a time when this Slovenian boy danced with the Hungarians.  It was fun.  We toured all over north east Ohio and made a few bucks and ate a lot of free Hungarian sausage and deep fried dough.  I am sure there are pictures of me in many a grandma's photo album.

 

In fact, when I die, it would be interesting to find out just how many people have pictures of me - well - not ME per se, people always have been interested in the clothes I wear.  In Rome I found out why so many local priests do not wear their clerics.  I couldn't walk 50' without someone wanting my clothes in their picture:

I either worked for or belonged to many organizations that required special clothing.  I used to work for the Yankee Peddler Festival at the Doc Spellbinder's Medicine Show which meant I spend the whole weekend walking around in a colonial clothing and having my picture taken.

The funny part was that many of these things were over the weekend.  I was also an organist for my home parish and would often have to play in some sort of costume because there was no time to change.  So one weekend I was someone from colonial America and the next I was in a band uniform. . .

It was particularly interesting when I worked for Revenge-O-Grams in their murder mystery weekend department.  One weekend I was Chinchinisad and had just been murdered before I had to high tail it out of Punderson State Park to make it to the 4:00 Mass in time to play the opening hymn.  That was perhaps a little disturbing. 

 

But just in case someone out there might have pictures that would be best left in a drawer, I want to get the worst out of the way so that I need not live in shame and fear that it might come out some day. 

 

I worked for a couple of years at Christmas time for Higbees.  We did Christmas shows at the breakfasts they served.  The really talented people got to work at the down Higbees with Mr. Jingaling.  The rest of us were farmed out to the malls where we worked with various and sundry Santa Clause impersonators.  Yes.  I was a Higbees Jingle Bell Rocker.