Terri-cloth In The Ack's Museum!

The Old Man and the Me!

More puzzling than the shrunken Terri-cloth bathrobe are the two wristwatches! Until now! I ran across this pic of me and Forrest J Ackerman c. 1999. It was during this period that Forry (briefly) wore two watches. One was to tell time and the other was an alarm that would roust him from his frequent naps to catch a favorite TV show or pop in a VHS movie he wanted to see.

[Note: Ha! I just recalled that in the above pic, I wasn't asking the time. I was actually trying to turn off the watch alarm - the sound of a crowing rooster.]

It's odd how many memories a seemingly mundane photo can hold. From my glasses frames (my first pair) I could tell the era. From Forry's bathrobe, I remember that this was a time when he was growing older and snoozed a lot more often. The two watches came as a result of pal Lee Harris beginning to regularly supply Forry with a stack of old VHS movies that Forry wanted to wake up and revisit. That it's so dark and I'm dressed so T-shirty reminds me that I was living at the Ackermanison at that time. And my sitting on the carpet meant that there was likely a pile of paintings and props on the floor that I was still in the midst of organizing for Forry, trying to get the Ackermuseum back to its former luster.

Back then, Forry was healthy and independent so my job was simply to manage his day-to-day affairs and to try and maintain a great quality of life for him. And I did this while working a full-time restaurant job too! But the byproduct of my 4e-work was a world of incredible discovery and privilege for me! Laughing with Forry and planning our exploits was a daily gift. Forry was wildly appreciated by the genre fans and well enough to enjoy that recognition. This was a happy time for our Ackermonster and an incredible adventure for this Monster Kid.

I miss the ol' man like mad.