MIKE ZEMAN

Mike is a guy who I first encountered at Clarke. I found him to be an annoying asshole. He was loud and mouthy.

In 8th grade, Mike became good friends with Brad Strouf. I never understood that one. They seemed like polar opposites to me. But nonetheless, there they were. On occasion, the two of them would walk to school together, from Brad's house. I'm not sure how Mike got there, as he lived on the east side of town, while Brad lived up by me. I'll never forget one day that the two of them were walking. They were a bit ahead of me, on the north side of the street. I was walking on the south side - in the street actually, as there was no sidewalk at that time. Out of the blue, Mike came charging across the street, waving his arms and screaming like a banshee. He got right up into my face while yelling. Then he ran back to Brad, laughing about it. I don't know.

During lunch, Mike and Brad often ate at the same table as I did. As I mentioned in Brad's entry, the two of them would be very messy and rowdy. They left a trail of crumbs and whatever else every single day. One day Mr. Schnell asked us (after the two of them had left) who made the mess. When we told him, he went and found them, brought them back, and made them clean the table.

At our freshman orientation in August, 1985, I hung out with Ron Gretz. At some point, Mike joined us. And the three of us explored the school a bit. I didn't care to be with Mike. But whatever. Ron and Mike were neighbors I think. So there the three of us were, wandering around school. What an omen of things to come.

I had Mike in homeroom all four years of high school. During our freshman year, Mike somehow became friends with Meff. And Meff shared Mike's locker, up on the 3rd floor. Since I was friends with Meff, Mike and I became friendly too.

I'll always remember Mike as the guy who gave me an audio tape of a bunch of backwards messages in songs. That tape got copied a lot. I still have it to this day.

At some point in our freshman year, Mike was bragging to Meff about how he was going to rent this really "hot" video tape at Coast To Coast. It was called "Texercise," and was simply an exercise video made by one of the Mandrell sisters. We both told Mike that it only an exercise tape. But I guess he was expecting something more. The next day, he said it sucked. About a year ago, I saw that tape for sale in some old video store. It was only $1.00. I had to to get it just for the sake of memories.

In the spring of our freshman year, somehow Mike, Ron and myself started to pal around together before school. We explored every square inch of that place, finding secret tunnels and everything else. That school was a cool old building. Before long, we started taking down the ceiling tiles in the basement gym. See my entry on Ron for the complete details surrounding those events.

See my entry on Todd Zinn for the story about how Todd wanted to beat the shit out of Mike.

After freshman year, Mike and I didn't hang around at all. In fact, we didn't even speak to each other until perhaps the second semester of our sophomore year. Quite honestly, I think Mike was making a conscious effort to stay away from me. But over time we eventually became cordial.

During our junior year, I had Mike in gym class. In the fall, we had bowling downtown. Mike used to give Richard and I a ride.

In our junior year, I was with Mike after school once. I think he was going to give me a ride. Then he spotted a newer kid named Frank Leach. Frank was rumored to be a group home kid who had killed a baby. But the rumors weren't true. Anyway, Frank had allegedly been picking on Mike's sister Patti. So Mike knocked him to the ground and threatened to beat the shit out of him. I don't think he really cared about his sister being bullied. He just wanted to get physical with someone. Frank was a little guy, and an easy target.

See my entry on Keith Welnicke for another (almost) physical confrontation between the two.

In our senior year, Mike changed. He missed a lot of school, and was partying a lot. He really looked dirty and grungy when he did show up. At one point, he got arrested for something, and supposedly spent a night in jail.

I remember talking to him in Mr. Wegner's current events class. He was talking about being sent to Mr. Wood's office for something. I believe it was for some sexually explicit stories he did for creative writing class. According to Mike, Wood asked him if he was having sexual problems. To which Mike (allegedly) responded, "I'm getting enough pussy. How about you?" I have doubts that Mike actually used those terms. But whatever.

In the second semester of my senior year, I would often get a pass out of study hall and go and sit in the guidance office. Every so often, Ron would come in too. Then one day, Ron and Mike both came in. So the three of us were sitting at the table together. We started laughing and whispering the word "tiles" whenever a teacher walked by. Brian Belongia was also at the table with us that day. But we didn't reminisce with him.

Also in our senior year, Mike told me a story about a certain member of the class of 1990 (who I've decided not to name) that apparently was gang-banged by several guys (including Mike) in a shed, during some party.

Despite the missed days, Mike did graduate with us. I ran into him at the video store once or twice. The last time I saw him, he had a child with him. Today I think he actually has two kids. He was married to a woman named Patricia at one point. But they divorced in 1998. It looks like Mike has spent the last several years in Florida. He may be hanging around with a girl named Erika.