{"id":2241,"date":"2004-11-30T00:30:00","date_gmt":"2004-11-30T00:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/orthodixie\/2004\/11\/christmas-pt-3-fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.html"},"modified":"2004-11-30T00:30:00","modified_gmt":"2004-11-30T00:30:00","slug":"christmas-pt-3-fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/orthodixie\/2004\/11\/christmas-pt-3-fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.html","title":{"rendered":"Christmas (Pt.3) Fa-la-la-la-LA-la-la-la-la-LA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

My friend, Walt, and I moved out to Southern California in the fall of 1983. My plan was to become filthy rich and adorably famous. Walt just wanted to be a waiter. He fulfilled his goal; I did not.<\/p>\n

Anyway. His sister had a condo for sale that wasn\u2019t moving and we lived there free of charge. We were both right out of college and owned, well, nothing. Nothing that is, but a huge collection of record albums, a powerful stereo, a decent TV, and some clothes. The condo was unfurnished so we bought two school room napping mats to sleep on. We had no refrigerator; couldn\u2019t afford to have the gas line hooked up \u2013 thus, only cold water.<\/p>\n

But what did we care? We were striving to live our dreams in Southern California. We were young, stupid, and glorious. We had decided not to find jobs until after about 3 weeks of vacation. (See what I mean?) So we did the touristy things, the beachy things, Hollywood, Malibu, Big Sur, Disney \u2026 <\/p>\n

After about a week, we ran out of money.<\/p>\n

We both ended up working at Movie Land Wax Museum<\/a> in Buena Park. Food services \u2026 You know, where all the other soon-to-be-famous people worked.<\/p>\n

It would be our first Christmas away from home. A long way away from home. Our families were none too happy about it. We didn\u2019t give it much thought. Both of us were happily agnostic, quasi-new age and complacent. We were sort of looking forward to not being part of that Season Which Must Be Obeyed. <\/p>\n

And so we existed \u2026 on Peanut Butter, L\u00f6wenbr\u00e4u, Macaroni & Cheese, and as many free meals as we were able at scarf at work.<\/p>\n

In case you\u2019re wondering, I wanted to get into writing for radio and television. My entry stage was to be Stand Up comedy. My dad looked for me, or so he said, each week on Star Search. But that\u2019s a story for another time \u2026<\/p>\n

Christmas approached. Walt and I volunteered to work all the days everyone else was taking off. It was Christmas, but our life was to remain unchanged. Gifts. We were opposed to it all.<\/p>\n

Until December 22, 1983.<\/p>\n

That was the day a coworker asked if I needed a bed. <\/p>\n

The condo had two bedrooms upstairs that, except for the closets, were completely empty. My roommate and I both slept downstairs on those kindergarten mats because (remember young & stupid) that\u2019s where the TV was. <\/p>\n

\u201cYes!\u201d Of course I could use a bed! <\/p>\n

I\u2019d decided not to tell Walt \u2018cause I knew he\u2019d be jealous. To my surprise he said, \u201cGuess what? I\u2019m getting a bed!\u201d Turns out he\u2019d had the same offer from someone else that same day.<\/p>\n

So it was that we arranged a pal with a truck to carry us to get our gifts on December 23rd. On the way to our destinations we passed some discarded furniture in another neighborhood. There was a big black couch \u2026 heave ho! And a nice old recliner \u2026 got that, too. <\/p>\n

In one night our Orange County condo ended up with somewhere to sit downstairs and somewhere to sleep upstairs! <\/p>\n

We thought it couldn\u2019t get any better.<\/p>\n

Christmas Day. The doorbell rang. It was one of our obnoxious neighbors. I say this because he was always the one wanting someone to move their car, turn down the stereo, etc. We had sufficient evidence that he didn\u2019t care for us. Yet he cared enough about his wife to have surprised her with a new refrigerator for Christmas. He wanted to know if we would be interested in their old one.<\/p>\n

Christmas 1983, two Southern boys in their twenties sat smoking clove cigarettes and sipping Brandy \u2014 humming fridge in the background, holiday TV in the foreground \u2014 on free furniture in a free condo in Southern California. <\/p>\n

Though a far cry from normal, and nowhere near family traditions, in a very, very strange way<\/p>\n

\n

it was almost like being home.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My friend, Walt, and I moved out to Southern California in the fall of 1983. My plan was to become filthy rich and adorably famous. Walt just wanted to be a waiter. He fulfilled his goal; I did not. Anyway. His sister had a condo for sale that wasn\u2019t moving and we lived there free […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1691,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nChristmas (Pt.3) Fa-la-la-la-LA-la-la-la-la-LA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My friend, Walt, and I moved out to Southern California in the fall of 1983. My plan was to become filthy rich and adorably famous. 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