The Journey

John Ananda Lipanovich

i fell in love with MUSIC from the summer after Kindergarten at Amesti School in Watsonville CA & far far beyond right up to the Here & Now :-) i spoke ONLY the Croatian language when i went to kindergarten and found myself truly dismayed that i was unable to understand a single English word spoken by my little classmates! at that time we were all yay high to a grasshopper LOL! after i got home i told my mother that i was unable to understand a single word issuing from their lips!!! "Mama, ne razumijem nista sto oni govoru!" well at that age child's miniscule little brain is like a sponge, so multiple languages are quickly absorbed and repeated with Perfect Accents! Humans are truly Amazing little parrots LOL! i was conversing with the other children in no time! it was wondrous and most welcome to be able to understand and emulate what all they were saying YAY! i now have a fair degree of mastery of the American English language and retain most of my original Croatian lingo, to my family's great pleasure. i began study Spanish in the 7th Grade at St. Francis Junior High School on East Lake Avenue, but a mile from home! Which at that time was located on an Apple & Pumpkin Orchard in the environs of 76 Holohan Road, aka Lucy B's Orchard. Yes, still in Watsonville CA i became somewhat Fluent en espanol, being very pleased when my friends after High School (Watsonville High) thought that i was a Mexican like them, not a European prodigy LOL! i still recall the first time i became aware that i was actually THINKING in Spanish, as opposed to thinking in English & translating to Spanish as the "foreign" words came out of my mouth. It very surprising & delightful to realize that! When i graduated from Watsonville High in June of 1977, i received the awards in Mathematics & Foreign Languages & was accepted with Honors into the Honors Program at the Jesuit school on the other side of Highway 17, called Santa Clara University. The Major i chose was called Da Vinci Engineering, an amalgamation of various branches of Engineering, not any particular specialization, such as Mechanical Engineering or EECS, which stood for Electrical Engineering & Computer Science et al. My SAT score at Watsonville High was the highest score the school ever produced up intil 1977. I got a 1410, 690 verbal and 710 mathematical. Something like that anyway. In my Junior year at Watsonville High i entered the Typewriting contest which would determine who would be flown to Sacramento for the CBEA's statewide Typewriting contest (California Business Education Association) The young ladies (no men) at Watsonville High had been gently becoming proficient at Typing & Shorthand (which i never learned, they used Gregg's Shorthand textbook. i had learned how to type in the 7th Grade at St. Francis, my first Typewriter being an old Underwood manual typewriter which took some vigorous keystroking in order to make the inked words appear on the paper flowing thru the machine. I was a very fast learned as i have a slightly photographic memory and have Nimble fingers & feet. my memory is not eidetic but serves me well & entertains others. one of my favorites which i, to this day, recite with aplomb, is George Carlin's "The Hairpiece" which was recorded onto the vinyl album callled AM &FM. it's a lot of fun! "i'm aware some stare at my hair in fact, to be fair, some really despair of my hair because they're not debonair in fact... they're just square! they see hair down to there say BEWARE! & go off in a tear! i say: NO FAIR! a head that's bare is really nowhere! so.... be like a bear! be Fair with Your Hair ;-) wear it to there! Or... to There! or... to THERE! if you dare! my wife bought some hair at a fair did i care? Au contraire Spare hair is fair in fact... hair can be rare! Fred Astaire got no hair nor does a chair nor a chocolate eu clair! and where is the hair on a pear? Nowhere, mon frere now that i've shared this afair of the hair, i think i'll repair to my lair & use Nair Do you care?!" Fun stuff oh yes indeedy! a friend with Weed is a Friend Indeed! but i am most thoroughly Clean & Sober and am an AA Secretary at the Watsonville Fellowship at 939 Lincoln Street, which was 2.1 miles away from my Mom & Dad's house at 76 "Hooligan" (lol) Road! i am like the Engineer on a train, keeping it from jumping the tracks. Every Saturday evening at 6pm it is a "Step Study" AA meeting, and was quite daunting & downright Frightening at First but each time it gets a little easier and i am becoming more & more comfortable. i know quite a few of the prayers we use by hear, such as the 3rd Step Prayer, to wit: God, i offer myself to Thee, to build with and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the Bondage of Self, that i  more…

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