Bluesman (eBook)

Tragedy Turbulence Triumph

Brian C. Tingle (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2022 | 1. Auflage
280 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
978-1-6678-2298-3 (ISBN)

Infos

'Bluesman' is one man's story of tragedy, turbulence, and eventual triumph. Filled with truth, sincerity, and even some humor, this compelling autobiography reveals the intimate details of the author's personal experiences with childhood trauma and sexual abuse along with how the exposure to these horrors affected his life.

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"e;Bluesman"e; is one man's story of tragedy, turbulence, and eventual triumph. Filled with truth, sincerity, and even some humor, this compelling autobiography reveals the intimate details of the author's personal experiences with childhood trauma and sexual abuse along with how the exposure to these horrors affected his life. With a goal of serving as a beacon of hope for those who may have experienced similar childhood situations, this book is written to let the readers know that there is hope. Recovery is possible, no one should be forced to live with the uncomfortable and sometimes debilitating manifestations of the secrets that they have tried to, for so many years, lock away in their minds, their bodies, and their souls. "e;Bluesman"e; tells not just the tales of abuse but focuses on how anyone can overcome the roadblocks of negative childhood experiences and move on to live a life filled with happiness, success, peace, and calm. This is a truly inspirational story told through tragic and sometimes humorous personal accounts of the author's life.

Textauszug

My brother, Bradley and I got a two-bedroom apartment. I had lost a tremendous amount of weight the year before when I lived with Dave and the band. Dave had really gotten on me about my appearance. He motivated me to exercise and do something about it. I was jogging, playing basketball, and of course, drinking a lot of beer. Bradley had gotten a job delivering for Domino’s Pizza. This was a big thing because it wasn’t common. I had been working at Easter Lock & Key since November 1986. I stumbled onto this job because I had gotten fired from the easiest job you could get, a gas station attendant. How can you fuck that up? Now, I was learning the locksmith trade and seemed to have grown up a little too. I became what is called a ‘keyless entry expert’. No one, not even the guys that worked there could ‘outdo me’ when it came to unlocking doors or should I say, locks. Car door locks, houses, padlocks, etc.…. I was an expert and still am just as much. I learned a tremendous amount of stuff from Mr. Bob. His son, Bobby took over the business part and built it well. Mr. Bob wasn’t actually what you would call a ‘people person’. He was hilarious though. He could be so rude to people not meaning to. We would hide it, but we laughed our asses off at some of his stuff.  Except for Bobby. The guy did an amazing job building clientele and making the business grow.

Mr. Bob would be blunt with people. He didn’t try to be rude or whatever, but it was just the way it came out. He was comically impatient, too. When it came to figuring out lock problems, he was very patient. He and I would stay after work for a few hours sometimes, working on something then we went over to the Bel Loc Diner to eat dinner. He had these big, ancient hearing aids that would feedback loud across the room. He was known for being very frugal. He had money, a nice home and did well. He wore those dark blue or dark brown work pants like janitors and maintenance guys wore with the double pocket button down work shirts. Some were so old. Bobby used to get on him about getting new stuff. Sometimes he wore newer stuff. One thing that was hilarious was how he wore the beat-up, worn-out shirt and one of those red and black checkered coats and hat like Elmer Fudd wore in the woods. He wouldn’t shave for a few days and had those big, loud hearing aids too. He did this occasionally, where he would go to McDonalds and Burger King. He looked awful and the girls at the counter would stuff a bunch of free stuff in his bag because they thought he was homeless or poor. Hilarious!

He was a character. He showed me stuff that hardly anyone knew. I am an old school locksmith. I know so much stuff that present-day locksmiths don’t know. Nowadays it’s all computer stuff, keyless too. I took the same correspondence course that Mr. Bob took. In 1953 when he was taking the course, he would do the first assignment and then mail it back to his instructor. If he passed, the instructor mailed the second lesson to him. Mr. Bob was my instructor, and I did one lesson at a time, just like he did. He really took me under his wing and taught me a great deal.

I learned all kinds of ways to unlock stuff and how to hand impression keys to locks that don’t have a key. Example, lost keys to cars, file cabinets, etc. Some things have locks that will allow you to hand impression a key to open it up. For instance, I once hand impressioned a new key to the trunk key on a Ford because someone had locked their keys in the trunk. Usually, I could pick it fairly quickly. If it was stubborn, I would hand impression a key. To paint a quick picture of the process, you put the head of a Ford trunk key in a pair of channel locks (vice grips) and lock it in. Then, you take your swiss pippin locksmith file and ‘knife edge’ the top. Then, you insert it into the lock and rock it up and down, this gives the location of each of the five cuts. Take the file and set each space, one through five. Each space to start is a ‘one’, now you start to work on the depth of each space. On the Ford there are five possibilities for each space, ‘one’ being the least intrusive. Two through five is deeper as you go. With the key blank still solid and locked in the vice grips you insert it and rock it up and down. Pull it out and look for any ‘dimple’ type of mark on the key. Wherever you find one, you file down little by little. It doesn’t take long, once you have the hang of it. But haste makes waste. Try not to file too deep, too quick or you will be starting over. It happens.

I have on many occasions, back in 1986 of course, gone out to someone’s home where they have lost the only set of keys they have. I would hand fit the ignition and door. That would be the keys they would use from there on in. I learned how to ‘work in the field’ which means using unconventional methods that are necessary. The auto locks back then were solid and not easy to breach if you were learning the right way. I mean, anyone can force things open or break stuff. We knew two, maybe three ways to get through a lock or door without looking unprofessional or breaking anything. That’s what we do- we are ‘lock doctors’.

There are many types of standard locksets, deadbolts, and such.  A handy man might know how to get them on or off or even troubleshoot. What I know is a lot deeper. I know the insides of all these locks. All the pieces, mechanisms, etc. ‘Series’ type locks are the ones that can be difficult. These locks are used in institutions like schools, hospitals, industry, etc. Your house may have a twelve-dollar Kwikset lock on the front door. A building in an industrial park may have ‘Sargent Series’ locking door knobs that cost over one hundred dollars a piece on everything. There are different reasons, but mainly because these things are thick and heavy, very strong. They get used a lot with carts and heavy loads of stuff going through these doors. These things will more than likely never break. As a locksmith you must know how to work on these things as they all come apart differently. They have special clips and retainers. Locksmiths also must learn how to troubleshoot safes by studying the standard Gardall ‘S & G’ three-wheel lock pack. ‘S & G’ stands for Seargent and Greenleaf. Your average household and offices use this type of unit.

Automobiles were my specialty. As I learned more and more, I could basically ‘see through the door’ like a doctor can envision what he needs to see inside the human body. I know what’s in there. It really doesn’t take too long to learn. Basically, if the Chevy Celebrity has a horizontal linkage rod that moves toward the front of the car as it is unlocked, then so do other General Motors vehicles such as the Olds Cutlass and Pontiac 4-door. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Same with the Z28, Camaro, Firebird and Trans Am. You don’t need to study them all.

Before locksmiths used computers, everything was done manually, by hand. I’m talking about master key systems and the math involved in writing the program. Apartment complexes, hospitals, schools, and business complexes had the combinations on record for the various locks in the system. Example, the separate tenants on the first floor each have their own key, but there is a master key for all of them. We would write a system where in a certain order the keys would change by one cut as you went. The master key has two of the main cuts with three interchangeable cuts. Each lock is pinned to the tenant key and the master key. Two of the chambers have two different bottom tumblers to make both the tenant and the master both work the lock.

You know, when I started to write this chapter, I didn’t expect to start talking shop. I really did love the craft and the skill involved in locksmith work. I have recently acquired some locksmith gadgets and practiced old tricks and showed off a little. I love talking about the old days and how I did stuff. As I talk more about my alcohol story you will find out that I lost it one day and quit that job. I did some freelance work, but moved into the music business, which was my destiny anyway. Writing this book and helping people through the music and with my story is and was my actual calling. No coincidence. But I love doing lock work.

I liked the locksmith job, I really did. But my drinking had gotten even worse. I was going out and getting plastered a night or two during the week, maybe up to three nights. I also got a part time job delivering pizza at the same place where my brother worked. When I would go over there to meet him (get drunk) it looked like so much fun. Plus, these guys made money too. This was back when drivers would get back to the parking lot and sprint to the store to be the next up. I was also, despite the booze, running like two to three miles per day. I had lost a ton of weight about a year before and had gotten into excellent shape. I was, like I have said, drinking nearly every night. The booze was fun for the first hour or two, but I started going to bed (passing out) totally shit-faced. I was an embarrassment to anyone I was with later at night. I embarrassed myself too. I had no control whatsoever. I was pissing myself and pissing the bed a lot.

I was a bedwetter until I was thirteen, or so. I sometimes joke about how I wet the bed until I was thirteen and started over again in my twenties and then stopped again when I was twenty-four, I must have missed doing it. Lol.

The close calls started getting closer. Minor accidents, getting hurt and a hit and run that I got away with. No one was killed and I doubt injured. I couldn’t stop though because it was somebody’s car that I helped myself to at a bar that I don’t remember. I was driving, or swerving I...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 21.1.2022
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
• ISBN-10: 1-6678-2298-5 / 1667822985
• ISBN-13: 978-1-6678-2298-3 / 9781667822983