The Pines of the Past

The Pines of the Past, by J. Fredrick Clark

Inside this man there lives a boy,

And in that boy with little care,

Another one lives who plays coy

With a separate shiny toy,

His voice- I still hear it, I swear!

Beneath the tree we used to swing,

Up the hill that once seemed bigger,

The seat of rubber used to sting

When the sun would bake everything!

As boys we would jump and snigger.

Now I cannot recall those times,

As I could once before, you see-

Between the sappy, creaking pines

The wind would whistle spooky chimes;

This I remember vividly.

Fond memories of yesterday

Are chased by visions of the past,

Which, by my count will rarely stay

Up the hill where we used to play

And wish for times that have long passed.





[This poem is my attempt to mimic Robert Frost's style in "The Road Not Taken"- though, in traditional iambic tetrameter, I stuck to the eight syllables per line,] 

Daycare and Chick-fil-A

Daycare is expensive!....

I've recently gone back to the company that first hired me in 1999.  I was fifteen years old and had no idea what I was getting into.  Money was something I was beginning to WANT in order to have a good time with friends and to purchase gasoline. Since I have an April birthday, most of my friends were driving before me. Eventually, my parents gave me a red, hand-me-down 1991 Jeep Cherokee. I worked on and off at Chick-fil-A until 2006-- through high school and a portion of college. My last regular schedule was actually in 2004.  I moved to Athens to complete my degree at the University of Georgia. I worked only during long weekends and Spring Break from '04 to '06.

Two Saturdays ago, I started working part-time for Chick-fil-A again. I didn't work at the same location where I started. A new restaurant had opened up several miles from the original (owned/operated by the same person). It's bigger and busier than the one where I began. I currently work full-time in Atlanta, and I work at the restaurant on weekends (which only consists of Saturdays, as Chick-fil-A is closed on Sundays). This time, I'm working because I NEED the extra income.  Daycare is expensive!  My daughter will start daycare in a little over a month.

After leaving Chick-fil-A in college, I worked for a few different companies.  I was an inbound call center representative, a restaurant cook, and a ticket seller while working in Athens. The latter was the springboard into my current profession. The two former were miserable.  Specifically, I'd like to compare cooking in a privately-owned, college town restaurant versus working in the back at Chick-fil-A. I will not name the restaurant because, quite frankly, I don't want to be sued-- we'll call it ABC Restaurant.  This is just my perspective and opinion on the differences.

The chicken place does a great job with human resources. They hire young, aspiring employees whose moral compasses are pointing towards goodness. Over the past two weeks, I've met some really nice 'kids' ((GOSH I FEEL OLD)) with bright futures.  They work hard and respect those around them. None of them try to cut corners just to get the job done quicker.

For example: a perfect chicken sandwich consists of a buttered and toasted Chick-fil-A bun, a breaded chicken breast, and two pickle slices. On my first day back (nine years after I left for Athens), I was working the primary station in the back where the chicken sandwiches are prepared. We were in the middle of a rush so swiftness was a priority. I separated the tops and bottoms of the buns after they came out of the toaster.  I reached my hand (we all wear gloves) into the pickle canister and began 'pickling' the open buns. Once pickled, I slid them (on a tray) to the chicken section- where my co-worker would finish the process and bag the sandwich. He stopped what he was doing and asked me for another pickle. I must've missed one somewhere.  He informed me all sandwiches must have two pickles unless the guest specifically requests otherwise.  He wasn't rude about it, he was just letting me know that anything short of perfection was unacceptable.  He knew the perfect Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich contained two pickle chips on the toasted and buttered bottom bun. There were many other instances that first day where I noticed similar occurrences.  These employees understand the right way to do things.

They also kept the store very clean. There are many rules and guidelines surrounding appropriate actions involving food, Because of the intent of these young people (and to be fair, I wasn't the oldest person there- but the older individuals are by far in the minority), an owner/operator would never have to worry about a food inspector making a surprise visit. Nobody performed any questionable acts. If a food item hit the floor, it was immediately discarded.

At ABC Restaurant, not only were the employees very disrespectful to one another, they were rude to the customers. We were never required to wear gloves like the employees at Chick-fil-A. Many times, I saw a food item fall on the floor.  The person who dropped it scooped it up and put it on the grill or dropped it in the deep fryer. "The five second rule" definitely applied. He would say, "The heat will kill the germs."  Now, maybe that's true- but would you [reading this now] want to eat something you knew fell on the floor?  Of course not.  I was "the new guy" for the three months I worked there and never really had to work with the main course foods; I either worked the flattop grill or the prep table- the two easiest positions. There were many other questionable moments I witnessed at ABC Restaurant, some too gruesome to even write about here.

Currently, I am in a spot where I NEEDED to find additional means of income.  I was fortunate enough to still have friends in high places to help put me back on the Chick-fil-A roster.  Even though I have to sacrifice time with my family on Saturdays, I work for an amazing company with talented individuals. I would be remiss if I didn't mention how grateful I am to work with some old friends too.  On the first day, I was a bit anxious and nervous about returning.  Mark and Josh, some old-timers like myself, helped me with transitioning back.  I'm only 31, but when one of my supervisors is the little sister of a friend I went to church with as a youth, I feel ancient.  I heard another supervisor talking about turning 21 in a couple of months.  Then, to make matters worse, I found myself saying the words all old people say....... "Back in my day"......... Ouch!

The Road Not Taken

My all time favorite poem is by the late great Robert Frost.  Yes, it's probably his most famous work. It has been my favorite since I was a little boy.  The first time I heard it, I knew it was really good. Published in 1916, The Road Not Taken is included in the collection Mountain Interval. It's considered to be in iambic tetrameter but is off by one beat (nine instead of eight).


The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

New Poetry Entry: Galamagoom

Johnny's back to his peculiar ways... Have you ever heard of a horse that moos?

Read the new poetry entry by clicking the poetry link above.

90s Staple

When I was younger, during the early to mid 90s, I would cringe when my favorite Atlanta radio station would play 80s music all weekend.  80s music?! I couldn't stand 80s music. As I got older, I slowly started developing an ear for the over-synthesized sound of the 1980s. Those songs are so cheesy they're good. I know, I have a complicated relationship with my birth decade.

Now, that same station sometimes plays 90s music all weekend. I loved the music the 1990s ushered in. Of course I like Nirvana, Dave Matthews Band, Marky Mark & the Funky Bunch, Mariah Carey, Ace of Base, R. Kelly, Montell Jordan, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, 2Pac, Barenaked Ladies, Lauryn Hill, Britney Spears, Savage Garden, Brandy, Matchbox Twenty, and on and on.

Then of course, we loved our one hit wonders in the 90s such as: Iggy Pop, Marcy Playground, Sir Mix-a-Lot, House of Pain, Tag Team, Blind Melon, Eiffel 65, Deep Blue Something, Tonic, Eagle-Eye Cherry, Vengaboys, Joan Osborne, Dishwalla, The Verve Pipe, Lou Bega, Scatman John and of course Chumbawama.

"Hold up," you say. "Who's Scatman John?" If you honestly don't know, check him out HERE. Seriously, he's awesome!

It wasn't until I made a bet with Ashlee I realized only about 1 in 8 people remembers THE SCATMAN.  I would have bet a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles backpack full of money Scatman John's "Scatman (ski-ba-bop-ba-dop-bop)" was a 90s one hit wonder staple.  I posted this question on Facebook, and it didn't take long for me to realize she was right. I'll admit when I'm wrong, but this was hard for me to swallow.  I loved that song!

But really, check out THE SCATMAN!

New Poetry Entry: Nighttime

Nighttime comes like an old best friend.....  

Check out Johnny's latest entry by clicking the Poetry link above!

Title Explanation

I've been asked to explain why the decision was made to name the blog "You can never go back (now that you know)."

Have you ever wished you could un-see something? Ever wish you could go back to the past and change something? Have you ever thought it would be nice to not know something you found out about someone or something?  I bet you answered "yes" to at least one of these, if not all three.

I can't tell you how many times I've scrolled through Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter and came across something I DID NOT want to see. When scrolling through it's like: baby picture, funny kitty cat video, friend's new job announcement, song recommendation from another friend, another funny kitty cat video, them BOOM--- a giant 7-foot-tall spider!!!  GEEZ!

Of course... I click the link to see what this freak of nature is all about. Sure enough, the spider is real. But it must exist on some remote island a billion miles away.  Nope. It exists in a rundown warehouse in Texas. Texas!!  That's just.... right down there! I heard everything is bigger in Texas, but that's the kind of thing nightmares are made of! First, why did one of my "friends" post such a terrible thing? Second, why did I click the link?  I could have made up a story in my head about it being a hoax or just a Photoshop job.  I can never go back, now that I know....

In life, we are continuously learning.  We learn new things every day.  And with the Internet, we learn about things that we did not have access to in the past.  Whether you embrace the new knowledge or deny it, it's still there.  You can never go back....