A Brief on the State and Return of This Is A True Story . . . And an Awesome True Story!!

You Want a True Story . . . Truly?

Well, here it goes: This is A True Story is back! Or at least I am back to posting.

Another True Story, I have a number of stories written for the BLOG!

The Follow up to that, is I just haven’t posted. No reason way, just didn’t.

But here is the happy ending to this True Story, I am posting now and will be weekly again!

This week’s story should have went up a while ago, but here it is now. It’s about something close to my heart – Awesome.

This story is a True Tale, but not the normal story I tell here. Usually I write about feel good, weird, funny, outlandish or just stupid moments from my life. I’ve also written about my pets and at length about my aneurysm three-and-a-half-years ago.

This story could fit into all of them (except my pets), but it is more about an anniversary, partaking in one of my favorite things in life and just life.

This is a True Tale I call AWESOME.


Yes, January 29th, 2014 I collapsed due to an aneurysm, but I survived and am going strong today. This is thanks to the Doctors who performed the surgery and do my check-ups (Dr. Wilson and Dr. Suninshine), my mom, friends (Dave Parrish, Ken Brown, Ron Summers, Clay Stubblefield, Bobby Minch, Collen Lacy, Nikki Maxon, Dawn Nixon, Greg Bronson (RIP), etc.) and another source that people may find odd. People who don’t even know the impact they had on me.

I am a huge pro wrestling fan (yes, this again!). Not just the WWE, but all wrestling. Especially the AWF. Three years ago I went to my first AWF event in Peoria, AZ, at their original venue. This was only the second public event I had went to since being released from the hospital on Valentine’s Day (2014).

I was concerned about going to events after the aneurysm and my time in the hospital. My Mom more so, and I had orders from Doctors to take it easy. Still I went . . .

And in three years and-a-half-years I haven’t missed an event. My friend Chris Rose attended this first one with me, Dave started coming with the next event and has only missed one since.

That first night was a great live show. Sitting front row in a fold up chair, having the bad guys yell at me, wrestlers fall out of the ring at our feet – even having my chair used as a weapon! A wrestler even hit his head off the just too low ceiling when jumping off the top rope!

Over the last three years it’s become more than just a show. It became therapeutic for me as I recovered. Better, I’ve become friends with some of the guys and often become part of the Bad Guys ‘getting over.’

Then there is Jen – the owner’s wife and her Cool-as-anything BOSS daughter.

For the last three years the Arizona Wresting Federation has become a big part of my life and it was for the first year a big part of my recovery.

Or, as I like to call it: The AWESOME Wrestling Federation.

Ace.

PAINTED SKIN

Hello All,

I’ve been quite on the blogs the last few weeks. I took a little break from writing and now I am back!

Staring with this All-New This is A True Story!

1998 was the first year I went to San Diego Comic Con (I had a great time). I’ve written about a few moments at different San Diego Shows, but have never written about this one – obviously.

This is a True San Diego Tale I call PAINTED SKIN.

This Tale barely involves me, and I don’t know the name of the woman – and never did – that it does directly involve. It took place in 1998 – my first year at San Diego. I was 24 and this young lady had to be around my age or younger.

I remember vividly this was Thursday, I arrived in San Diego and checked into a hotel that morning. I left all my stuff except for a bag I carried around with me, in my hotel room. This was my first time there and I wanted to look around before I started trying to talk to any publishers (I was trying to find writing work as well ).

There was a young girl I saw a few times, brunette, freaking gorgeous and apparently dressed like an anime character. Cosplay wasn’t really a big thing at the time – not like today – but people still dressed up as their favorite characters.

I had no idea who she was dressed like – and didn’t care really.

It was the second time I saw her, standing next to her at one of the booths that I had an ‘Oh Shit!’ moment.

She was wearing tight blue spandex pants, blue paint over her torso and upper body and a white strip of paint over her shoulders and down over her breasts and nipples.

YES! She was not wearing any clothing up top – only body paint.

WOW. I said Hi, she smiled and that was it. She was with a friend and they left the booth together.

I wondered how in the Hell they let her into the convention with just body paint over her upper body and breasts. To be honest though, I wasn’t complaining.

I went about on my way, spending too much money and have a good time finding lots of great stuff. It was hard not to notice her a few more times – she stood out the way she was dressed/not-dressed, and she seemed very shy as well.

Unfortunately, many guys weren’t as shy as I was when it came to girls. She eventually ran into a group of jackasses that started harassing her, that took how she was dressed too far. Yeah, some jerks thought this meant they could try and get laid.

She didn’t take this moment well, and these guys wouldn’t stop. Her friend tried her best to help, but these guys wouldn’t stop.

Fortunately a couple of the actual comic creators – and I and a few others – stepped in and put an end to it. I had worn a thin windbreaker jacket, but didn’t need it. I let her have it to cover up.

She and her friend immediately went toward the lobby and left. Being a nice guy, doing the right thing, I followed them out – I was truly concerned those jerks would follow them, but they didn’t.

As I wrote above, this story didn’t really involve me, but I was there. Maybe she took it a little far with only body paint, but she didn’t deserve the jerks. The only thing I couldn’t figure out was this – she didn’t seem to get that the way she was dressed (body paint) is what got her all the attention.

I never did get my windbreaker back. 😝

Ace.

Video Bonus: True Video of Max and Z!

This week there is no True Story.

This is a Short, grainy, but True Video of Max and Z!

MAX AND THE LADY AND Z

She has numerous nicknames: Z, Z-Dog, Z to the E, Zo, ZoZo. Weirdly enough she answers to all of them, but her actual name is Zoie. Zoie is the Australian Queensland Shepard that my mother and I found abounded and we kept.

She is the same Zoie that found me collapsed in the yard and got my mom the night my aneurysm burst.

I’ve wrote about that before, and how we found her.

This tale takes place well before my collapse, at a point when my dad was still alive. At the time the family consisted of: Mom, Dad, I, Lady, Max and Zoie. Six of us. Yes, I had Lady, Max and Zoie all at the same time for six years.

This tale takes place within the first year I had Zoie, when she was still in Puppy Stage.

This is a True Story I call MAX AND THE LADY AND Z.

This also takes place after the previous two MAX AND THE LADY tales – when Lady was no longer quite afraid of Max, but was protective of him.

Especially from Zoie. Yes, Zoie.

Zoie, the gentle, goofy always wanting to play little dog. Even today, she is gentle and wants nothing more than to play – at eight years old. During this time the little mischief maker never knew what to make of Max.

I don’t know if she ever realized (at first) Max was a living creature, she always seemed to treat him like a toy, or a rock.

While Lady would ignore Max and let him do his thing, Zoie used to pay him quite a bit of attention. She would often bounce around him, as if waiting to strike. She would sniff him, looking at him curiously. More than once she would whack him with her paw.

Yep, Zoie would walk up to a moving Max and hit him on the back with her paw. A few times she even flipped him over.

One time I was lifting weights in my backyard make-shift gym when I heard this large bark, followed by a growl. It was Lady. I rounded the corner to see Lady growling at Zoie, they were about ten feet apart.
Lady growled a little more, then let loose with a short, loud, series of barks.

Walking over, I saw the issue.

ZOIE HAD MAX IN HER MOUTH! She had picked Max up and was holding him in her mouth.

Zoie dropped Max right on the brick patio and trotted off the like nothing happened. I came over and put Max right side up. Lady come over, licked Max on his shell and sat down.

This wasn’t the only time this happen. I caught Zoie ‘playing’ with Max a few times. Once she even picked him up and tossed him across the yard, as if trying to crack him open. Any time Lady saw this, she put Zoie in her place with a bark and growl.

And don’t tell me Zoie didn’t know she was doing wrong. Any time she was caught, she would stop, put her head down and mope.

Ace.

Max and the Lady Part 2

As I wrote last story, Lady – the Pitbull – was afraid of Max – The Turtle – after Max snapped at her when she tried to eat his dinner one day.

She was afraid of the little guy for quite some time. Eventually she started to go near him again, but rarely close enough to sniff like at one time. I’m sure she remembered him snapping at her, and in her mind it was probably for no good reason.

Well, one day years later I witnessed one of the most unbelievable and beautiful things I have ever seen.

This is a True Story I call Max and the Lady Part 2

It can be amazing to discover something new – and scary.

This was something I had never thought of until I saw it one day: A Bird tried to pick up Max. Yes, a bird tried to pick up Max and fly off with him. This happened more than once. For food I guess, never thought about it before the first time.

One morning, very early, around one or two AM, Lady started to bark. She often barked when she needed to go outside to do her business. This wasn’t just one loud bark – it was continuous and she sounded upset. I got up, checked on her and put the lights on out back.

I saw birds in the yard and that was it.

I let Lady out and she bolted straight for the birds, scattering and running them out of the yard. I had no idea what was going on. I ran over and found Max on his back, trying desperately to turn over. Lady nudged him with her nose, and his feet just waved about in the air.

I watched as she put her entire snout under him and flipped him over onto his feet. He stayed there for a second, got his bearings on the rocks, then slowly walked off.

Lady? She let out a massive sigh, plopped to the ground and watched him walk off with what looked like a giant grin.

Lady had seen Max on his back, with the birds pecking at him. She barked her head off to be let out, then went to his rescue.

Friends again.

Ace.

MAX AND THE LADY – PART 1

I have written a few times about my late best friend, my Pitbull Lady.

I believe I have mentioned my little buddy Max, too. Max was a desert turtle whose name alternated between Max Power and Maximillion Shell (a play on the actor).

I had both of them at the same time. In fact I got Max from the same co-worker who gave me Lady as a puppy. I took them both home within weeks of each other.

For a brief time I had Max in a typical turtle glass enclosure, but I didn’t feel right about it. Eventually I let Max loose in the back yard, and that is where he lived for 9 years. I gave him water and food every day, and he had the full run of a very large back yard.

Max’s favorite food? Hamburger believe it or not. Ground hamburger. He loved it.

This is a True Story I call Max and the Lady Part 1.

He loved Hamburger. So did Lady.

Around the time of this tale Lady was around ten weeks old. A puppy, but still much larger than Max. Lady would sniff him out and check him out at times, but generally left him alone. Then one day, this happened . . .

I found Max in the back yard and brought him up onto the patio to feed him. I put him down gently and laid a nice sized piece of hamburger in front of him. He took a few seconds to look around, extended his neck out, than chomped down on dinner.

Lady trotted over, sniffed Max, then the hamburger. Lady nudge the hamburger with her nose and . . .

MAX SNAPPED AT HER!

Yes, the tiny turtle snapped at the Pitbull trying to take his dinner. He barely missed taking a chunk out her poor nose.

Lady let out a piercing shriek and ran behind a patio chair and hid. SERIOUSLY!

For a long time after that poor Lady was afraid of Max and wouldn’t go near him.

An attempt to ‘make things better’ backfired the day I held Max up, and let Lady sniff him from behind. I had hoped if she would come up this close, then she wouldn’t be afraid of him any more . . .

But then he peed on her.

Ace.

BUT I MADE IT FOR YOU. NO YOU DIDN’T!

There are things I hate. Yes, I know Hate is a strong word.

One thing I hate: When people won’t take no for an answer. You know, the kind of people who will continue to try and force or talk a person into doing something they don’t want to, but the other person does.

Another thing I hate is when someone LIES to try and get one to do what they want. And even turns the table to try and make the person feel guilty for not doing it.

Most people will end up just doing what the person wants to appease them or shut them up. I don’t. I don’t let it slide either.

This is a true tale of a former client who tried to make me eat a dish I didn’t want to and don’t like – and lied to try and make me feel guilty for not eating it, and trying to force me to eat it.

This is a True Store I Call: BUT I MADE IT FOR YOU. NO YOU DIDN’T!

My mother and I had a client once that would often try to get me to try things, or give me things I didn’t want. She wouldn’t take NO for an answer. She was a nice person, but it got annoying.

One day, we were working for her and I overheard her telling my mom about a party she was holding that night, and how she specially made her “famous” Bean Casserole (or something like that) for the party. (Yes, she actually did refer to her Bean Casserole as famous).

A little later, she called me into the kitchen and had me sit down and served me a piece of her Bean Casserole. I declined, I wasn’t hungry I said. She insisted. I said no thank you.

She continued to insist and was getting pissy. I finally told her I don’t like beans – and I don’t. I hate them.

So, what did the bitch do? She fucking lied to my face and tried to guilt me into eating the stuff. She told me that she made the Bean Casserole specifically for me. Yes, she made it for me as a surprise. All of a sudden, she turned nasty. The party was out of the window, and she now said she made this dish strictly for me, and she felt so bad that I wouldn’t even taste it.

I finally had enough. I don’t let people get away with trying to push or guilt me. My response, “I thought you made this for your party?”

After this she never talked to me again. In fact, we stopped working for her a little later.

– Ace