Cap'n Pete is H

wedding
Originally uploaded by Cap'n Pete.

This is my one-hundredth post. I should tell you a bit about myself.

I went to college at the University of Buffalo. I had some difficulty choosing a major and a school. I was the New York State MVP for baseball in Section V but I was highly attracted to the arts. I ended up graduating with a degree in Painting from UB. I couldn't afford school so I took out a bunch of loans, which only tripled when my mother died my junior year. She didn't drink or smoke, but she landed Leukemia and died a month later. She was a fourth grade teacher. I was very close with my mother and it made her passing easier some how.

I bartended in two different bars to pay rent and school loans while I was in school. My interests in sleep deprivation and the creation that comes from it came partly from necessity and partly from Andrew Johnson, a teacher of mine who helped me to use my sleepiness as an application to art. I kept bar Thurs. night through Mon. night. Bars do not close in Buffalo until 4:00am so I was pretty useless by the time school came around. It was around this time that I was reintroduced to a pretty baby that was out of my league. MaryJo was magical, enough so that after graduation I followed her to NYC. We lived together in a 15x10 foot room share that cost $500 dollars a month. We slept on a twin bed. I was hired at Public School 63 in Queens to teach K-6 Art. This is where I met my soon to be announced guest writer.

I was in the World Trade Center 50 minutes before the first plane hit. I ran up and down the hallways of the P.S. 63, retrieving children to their parents with news of a lost father or a missing mother. We could see the smoke from the roof. I was stuck in Queens for one night. I ate lunch in Manhattan the next day, which I have vivid memories of.

MaryJo and I were deeply in love and decided to move. It's funny. A friend of mine had moved to Asheville North Carolina a few weeks before. I remember talking to him on the phone about his up coming move. He said he had never even been there and he was just gonna go try it out. When I got off the phone I said to MJ, what a dork, he’s MOVING there without having ever seen the place. Four weeks later I called him and told him we were on our way.

Asheville is Beautiful. We thoroughly enjoyed the Blue Ridge Mountains. We hiked and camped often. After NYC and LA Asheville has the third worst air quality in the Nation. I landed a great job as an adjunct professor at ABTech. I taught 50 mentally retarded adults Math, English and daily living skills. Their lives are our lives just generalized. I learned more teaching than I ever will being a student. I read voraciously and afforded a small amount of time to paint. I asked MaryJo to marry me on Mothers Day. She accepted.

After a year of working at a vegetarian Bakery, my betrothed decided to go to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde park. We moved to New Paltz, NY. We were married on July 12th, which also happened to be Pablo Neruda's brithday. Our wedding was an accurate illustration of our love for one another. When we left the church, it rained on us for ten seconds under a mysteriously perfect blue sky. Tears were made available from the heavens. They fell on our cheeks, as we all looked up to the sky in wonder. I couldn't have asked for a better day.

Our next move was to Ithaca, NY. I've been painting houses for most of my time here, but have just recently started some work as a carpenter. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm learning quickly.

I read as often as I can. Currently I'm reading Final Exam, by Julio Corta'zar, some stupid golf book by Deepak (or ShallowPak as I'm finding out) Chopra, a book about Adobe Photoshop 7, and the New York Times weekend edition. This is a new thing I'm trying out. The Brothers K. is next on my long long list of books to read. I golf when the weather permits it, and watch golf when it does not. The Jets are my favorite football team. I am expecting great things from Chad Pennington, the Jets franchise quarterback. I have two canvases stretched and ready to go. I'm waiting for a camera repair to begin working on them. I applied to Cornell University last year but did not get in. I plan on reapplying this coming year. I listen to Tom Waits a bunch as well as The Postal Service. I love quality Hip-Hop, but have a soft spot for musicals. I was in Bye Bye Birdie in High school and played Prince Charming in our senior musical Cinderella so I love singing along to these things when no one's home. I do a mean Jean Val Jean. I think Ani Difranco is amazing, and I can't get enough Elvis. This could go on for a while.

I've omitted so many things on behalf of your interest. I visited my hometown of Dunkirk almost a year ago. My Father told me to ask my Uncle Pete about his old bowling jerseys. My uncle gave me two. On the back of one of them it says, Cap'n Pete. He was Cap'n of the bowling team. The shirt fits well.