life of buddy don, chaptur 131: glory days fer the group

lookin back on the sprang n summer of 1982, tiz easy to see now whut i couldnt see then, witch thats how twuz the verr end of life as i had cum to know it since quittin carbide. up till then, even ifn i wuz a'goin to collidge, i wuz still a'wurkin in the real worl, witch the way sum of them graduwait students sed the wurds 'real worl' ye mite could thank they wuz talkin bout one of the lower rungs of hell. but after i quit carbide, i wuz in ackadeem n twuz a hole nuther way of livin.

thang is, i wuz jes a'gittin the swang of it n dint know i wuz in the best part of it n twuz about to end much quicker i coulda thought. even ifn i wuz a'studyin grate literchur lack nobidys bizness, i wuznt thankin much bout nuthin that really matterd, thangs lack whut wuz i a'gone do to git money after i graduwaited? that shouda been the mane topick of everbidys conversayshun durin them munths on a counta we wuz mosly all fixin to git our degrees n after that, ifn we dint wonta git to wurk on a docterut, we wood half to git jobs.

twuz easy to magine that ye coulda published a few stories or mayhap gut a novel writ while ye wuz a'goin to grad school n on that plan, ye mite could thank whenever ye cum out, ye wood be gittin royalties of sum kind or mayhap ye could say ye had dun showed promiss n orta be hepped out to git a'goin. twuz speshly so fer the mane two writers in the group, witch by mane two i mean the two that ye could count on to brang sumthin to read ever week, witch that wuz me n bud rankin.

i speck we bofus figgerd we wood half to be published befor we finished our masters n whenever we dun graduwaited we wood kindly live a life at home, purty much lack we wuz a'doon only without all them classes. twuz easy to magine how we wood write novels n git paid royalties n live well n mayhap after a while our wives could quit wurkin or goin to school or whutever.

lease i half to add mitt i wuz a'feelin thataway. i had dun writ a novel n durin the furst nine munths of 1982 i wuz on a role a'writin new stories ever weeks. i had jes finishd readin crap notes n red 'the witness,' witch whenver i writ thatn i thought twuz the bes i had ever dun but when i red it to the group, twuz embarrassin. so i started wurkin on short stories n twixt the meetin of januwairy 22 n the meetin of august 20, i had me a stretch whar mos everthang i writ wuz cheered on by the group:

1/22/82: 'A Difficult Departure'
1/29/82: 'The Works'
2/5/82: read poetry
2/12/82: 'Big Wheels Roll'
2/19/82: 'Slave of Desire'
2/26/82: 'Burned'
3/5/82: 'The Inspector' (dun lost thatn)
3/12/82: read poetry
3/19/82: 'The Bobbing Nose'
3/26/82: 'Stick It!' (lost, but i writ a chaptur on the same topick in life n pinions of buddy don, hillbilly)
4/2/82: 'Blind Sales'
4/9/82: 'The Mulberry Tree' (nuthern i dun lost)
4/16/82: 'Cleaning Up'
4/23/82: 'Savage Romance'
4/30/82: 'Hooks'
5/7/82: 'Entertainment for Men' (lost)
5/14/82: 'Revenge on a Hot Afternoon'
5/21/82: (dint attend on a counta gittin reddy fer my oral eggzams)
5/28/82: 'The Goat' (found but not good a nuff to leave up on the site)
6/4/82 -- 7/2/82: Meetings wuz sketchy fer a lil while on a counta summer vacayshun
7/9/82: 'Scattered Afternoon Showers'
7/16/82: 'Beyond Tijuana,' a poem writ bout the group, witch i hope i kin find a copy of thisn on a counta how it splains a lot bout the group. i gut a draft of it, but i wish i could find the one i put into a book i give out on my 31st birthdy
7/23/82: no meetin
7/30/82: essay on art n autobiogruffy
8/6/82: 'The Final Solution' (lost)
8/13/82: "Maybe We're All Jews' (lost)
8/20/82: 'Egger'

meanwhile, bud rankin wuz ritin new stories ever week n ye could see whar he wuz a'gittin purty good, a nuff to whar he n i wood take walks n talk bout whut we wuz a'gone do nex, witch twuz generly a trade-off twixt sum kinda job that wood leave ye a nuff time to rite n a job that wood make a nuff money to pay yer bills. we jes dint know how good we dun had it.

ye caint make much of a story outta a bunch of folks that wood git together of a fridy evenin n read stories n poems n novels out loud to each other, but twuz kindly lack the soshul center of the lives of at lease twelve folk, witch everone of em is menchuned in that poem name of 'beyond tijuana' that i writ n read to the group on july 16. heres a lil rundown of em:

[to be continued]