Monster Road

  The night schedule has started to take a toll on my health.  Specifically my weight.  I wasn't eating right and sleeping all day, thus no exercise and lots of bad calories.  So I figured it was time for a change.  I used to fence and until I find some where to do that I'm running.  I'm running in the morning right after my shift ends and before I go to bed.  I certainly never thought I'd become a runner but with the proper equipment and a bit of Google research I'm finding it enjoyable.  It does help that in the mornings most people are just starting their day and they aren't feeling the crush of life as quite the burden it will seem later in the day.  Of course fresh air and the chirping of birds helps a bit too.  
  The path I'm running takes me back to my childhood literally and figuratively and it's bringing back memories I'd thought forgotten. The time in question is of a simpler time and life.  I wasn't aware of Urban Legends and so ended up repeating what was based on a local spot in my home town.
  It was called Monster Road and as kids we had heard the story.  Who first told the story none of us knew but we loved repeating it on stormy nights or over Smores around the campfire when out camping in the summer months. This  is how it went.  
  It's the typical teenager story with a teenage boy and girl on a date.  They are driving back late at night after a movie and a hamburger at the local joint.  The boy of course is being a boy and trying all those boy things we get to when there's a girl involved.  He stops on an out of the way road and pulls the "the car won't start" ploy.  Ages old and always a failure because it's ages old.  The girl likes the boy, but after a few minutes of "shenanigans" decides it's time to get home.  After a few more minutes of patiently explaining that if she doesn't get home on time, the car not starting will be the least of his worries.  Yes she mentions dad.  The boy decides that yes the car should be working now.  To add credence to his story though he decides to make a show of checking the engine.  So he gets out and raises the hood and asks her to turn the key.  The car really doesn't start this time. The boy notices that the battery cable has been ripped off the battery. After convincing the girl that this isn't what he had planned, he decides to go for help.  Telling the girl to get in the back seat and cover herself with a blanket (by this time his original plan was a distant memory).  He tells her to not look out or make any noise until he calls her name.  He gets a quick kiss for his bravery and then he walks off into the darkness.  Keep in mind this was out in the countryside and so no street lights.  Just the light of the moon in and out of the clouds to illuminate the night.  A few minutes later she hears a lite scratching noise.  She keeps her head down and waits for her knight in shining armor to come back.  On and off thru out the nite she continues to hear the scratching sound but can't tell what it is.  She is getting more and more scared as the hours wear on but doesn't come out from under the blanket.  She finally succumbs to a fitful sleep and is awakened by a man's voice.  He identify's himself as the local sheriff and calls her by name.  She peeks out and see's that it really is the officer.  He gets her to unlock the car door and as she walks away he tries to keep her from looking back at the car.  She glances back though and is horrified to see her boyfriend hanging from a tree directly over the roof of the car and as the wind blew, his fingers scrapped the metal. 
  So there you have the story we told each other as kids.  What lent it reality was the fact that outside of our town there was a road called, Monster Road.  No one knows how it really got it's name but us kids knew.  The adults never corrected us, so there it was.  The funny thing is that I believed that story well into adulthood.  It wasn't until my 40's that I heard a variation of the story but with the same road name.  That's when I realized how foolish I was as a kid.  It was an Urban Legend and I had helped perpetuate the story.  I will say though that when I'm out running and I start down the road (which was renamed back in the 80's) I do look around and hope I don't run into the Monster of Monster Road. Oh and I still don't go there after dark.  Just sayin'.  Okay it's Midnite so that's my cue.  Time to SIGN ON.

Old friends

Here's a quick update before my shift.  Jerry's back in town after his excursion to the big city.  He called a while back during my shift and we got together in the morning.  We talked about how things went.  I learned that he had left originally because the ghost thing had scared the crap out of him.  So he needed to get away.  The acting gig didn't really pan out.  He ended up working graveyard shift at a 24 hr mini mart.  The trip to the big city showed him that in reality he had a good thing up here.  So he decided to come back.  He got his job back at the mini mart and I gave him a couple of graveyard shifts at the radio station.  Turns out he's quite good as a DJ.  Probably the acting training.

The rest of the radio station crew stayed on and I'm glad as it's a good group.  The program director doesn't have to worry about me playing something not on the playlist and getting her in trouble with the owners.  I don't have to pretend to care when the owners come to town anymore and that's a bonus right there.  I hired a couple more staff so everybody can have time off if they want and not have to worry.  Alright the clock is ticking and getting close to that time of the night so I'm done here.  I think the subject for tonight's discussion will be heroes and what they mean to us as humans.  There's the ON-AIR light so signing off.

Time flys when you're having fun

Wow has it been two years almost since I last regaled you with stories of my late nite happenings?  As you may have guessed a lot of stuff has happened in the world of Midnite 2 Six.  The biggest change is that I no longer have to work if I don't want to.  Your first thought is wow he quit and became a hermit living in a cave.  Ha as it turns out that is pretty much true but not for the reasons you might think.  Do you remember about two years ago right around the time I stopped updating this blog, there was a Lottery winner of the largest drawing in the history of Lottery drawings?  No one had hit it for months and it kept growing and growing, well someone finally hit it all by themselves. 
Yep that was me.  You may be asking yourself why I am telling everyone and frankly it is a matter of public record so not much I can do to hide.  Which is why I'm now talking about it.  My story goes something like this and if you are one of those people who play the Lottery every time you're not going to be too happy.  I hardly ever played the lottery and in fact don't really believe in playing it other than as an exercise in imagination ( you know imagine what it would like if I won millions).  But since I had been hanging out with Jerry, he would encourage me to play at times. 

So anyway sure enough I played(only bought one ticket for a $1) and the next thing I know, BAM, I'm rich. 
Not just rich but stinking wealthy rich.  Way more money than I can ever spend rich.

So what did I do with my new found wealth?  Paid off all my debts (which amounted to a three figure credit card debt and my bar bill).  I did buy a new car but that was pretty much it.  I've always had money and never really tried to keep up with the Jones so I was at a loss as to what to do with this windfall.  A couple of days after the shock had wore off and I'd got in contact with a financial person to help me sort this out.  I got a call from the radio station (they didn't know yet as the lottery commission hadn't announced my name) asking if I could work an extra shift.  A dj was needing some time off while his wife had their baby.  My first thought was, huh why should I work anymore?  My second thought was, sure why not.  And my third thought was, I knew what I was going to do with the money.

Yes you guessed it.  I bought the radio station.  It wasn't too hard as it was owned by an out of state corporation that had fallen on hard times and was more than willing to off load an under-performing drain on their resources.

I rearranged everyone's schedule to their liking and made sure I could still work the graveyard shift IF I wanted to.  Which works out great as I have been also helping out around town here and there.  So there you have it my life for the last two years and where I've been.  I'm still spinning records but now the format is what I want it to be and that's pretty much what the listeners want.  I learned that working the overnite and I listened, which I'm very good at.  So if you got something to say to the boss of the radio station, give me a call.  I'm on the air every nite Midnite 2 Six, and I will answer the phone.

Oops the red lite is flashing, so that means I'm ON.