I took Driver's Ed in the summer between my sophomore and junior years at Lane because Gordon did not offer Driver's Ed. All the instructors were bustout coaches. For my first road test I ended up with Stu Menaker.

Stu was an interesting guy. He had played on a great high school basketball at Sullivan with Ira Berkow. He coached a close friend of mine on the girl's basketball team at Schurz. I think he was eventually forced out after being accused of hitting a player in the head. I also heard a story that he was diagnosed with a terminal disease and spent all his retirement money before they told him the good news that there had been a mistake in the test results.

So for the road test it was Stu along with me and a cute black girl named Peggy who was from some school on the West side. Peggy drove first and did pretty well. It was uneventful.

Then it was my turn. I drove that Buick like a motherfucker. Went on the Kennedy and everything. No problem. Then Stu started directing me down side streets in Albany Park. He hopped out of the car and told me to parallel park. He went up to a house where a woman answered the door and kissed him. I had never parallel parked before. The space was big but I was having trouble. When I reset to try for about the fourth time I looked at the house and Stu and his fucking girlfriend were up there on the porch laughing their asses off. Even Peggy was giggling. Fuck me!

I got my driver's license despite literally never driving until I took my driver's ed test. Autrey Calloway was one of the old members of Stroger's machine and I had known him since I was 10. He just so happened to be the driver's ed teacher at Simeon. He had me drive to Jewel a few blocks away and park in the lot and he passed me. As long as I didn't crash I would have passed. I learned how to drive when I bought my first car a few months later.

damn is stroger still around these days?

looked it up, he passed 10 years ago. Didnt he have a son? Any of his kids go into politics?

damn is stroger still around these days?

looked it up, he passed 10 years ago. Didnt he have a son? Any of his kids go into politics?

When my wife and I got married we did so at a golf club. We were supposed to have the 18th green for our ceremony.
Anyhow the lady running the place was kind of a bitch. She was clearly drunk when we went to go check the place out on a Sunday morning. Stunk of booze. Whatever man no big deal. The day before the wedding at the rehearsal she said well we cant do it on the green its gonna be on the patio. We're all wtf we have an agreement for the green and she screamed at my wife I can just cancel this now if you dont like it.
At the reception at the club she screams at my wife for (and ingest that this is kinda legit I guess) one of our guests got caught smoking a one hitter in the locker room. But she yelled at her WHAT KIND OF PERSON ARE YOU like she was the one who did it.
The bartender disappeared for like 30 minutes. We paid for all night (after ceremony was like 3pm) until midnight open bar and I'll tell ya that shit wasn't cheap. So my best man walked behind the bar and opened beers and made drinks for the guests while the guy was Mia. The lady told my wife she could have her arrested for that. The tab at the end of the night was 900 more than we agreed upon.

So fast forward three years. I'm at wildfire meeting a few pals. And guess who's tending bar... that bartender from my wedding. He recognized me first. Hey man I tended bar at your wedding. Me: oh yeah dude I remember you. How'd your experience go he asks. I said yeah it was kinda all right man but that lady running the place was kind of a bitch.

He says, yeah man, but that's my mom. Anyway here's your beer.

I bought a new surge protector/power strip for my dorm room. I plug my fridge, stereo, etc into it. NONE of them are working. I’m bitching and bitching that I just wasted $10 and a trip to Walmart. Well, I had the strip plugged into itself.

I bought a new surge protector/power strip for my dorm room. I plug my fridge, stereo, etc into it. NONE of them are working. I’m bitching and bitching that I just wasted $10 and a trip to Walmart. Well, I had the strip plugged into itself.

I know I took driver's' ed my sophomore year at ETHS. Other than that I have zero recollection about both it and the road test. You all must still be in your early 20s to be able to remember such minutiae.

Overseas in the Navy traveling by train through France with a buddy in 1985 - way before cell phones, apps, etc.

A couple of seats ahead of us are two attractive brunette girls all dolled up in Paris couture.

My buddy pulls out his English/French translation book and starts laying down a cringeworthy international pick up speech which included; "Le Train-o, Voolay-Voo Beautiful, Mine Cherry, etc."

The train car went awkwardly silent, both girls giggled and one replied; "Why don't you just speak English? We are both American and speak it perfectly."

I never heard so much laughter in such an enclosed space before.

Not as embarrassing as dumb but I was really late for something and walking around my house looking for my cell phone. I was really pitching a fit and getting upset. Until the person I was talking to on my cell phone clued me in.

Yeah.. I’ve done that. Terrible.

My drivers Ed memories are very fuzzy. I don’t remember how many days it was, how many people, how long a class. Nothing much beyond I took it in summer and never practicing. But I didn’t have the trauma that JORR had.

Are you kidding? That shit was traumatic.