Me Me Monday #30

30. Hell, I hated Kiss as a kid

No, it's true.

I really hated Kiss when I was younger. Of course, I grew up in Hawaii, so the whole "Kiss Army" thing wasn't exactly as big a deal there. We had much more important things to do with our Hawaiian time... like... like skateboard, long before it became huge... and go to the beach and snorkel and surf and just enjoy BEING.

Can you understand why it never became a priority?

Of course, when I moved to Virginia, I had PLENTY of reasons to hate all things Virginian.

• I was the chunky little half-asian kid with glasses (as opposed to the large half-asian man with glasses that I have grown up to be). You wanna talk outcast? Fat, short asian boys are prime targets. Trust me.
• This was compounded massively by me having been in the WAY in crowd in Hawaii - having Samoan and Hawaiian friends gets you in like Flynn back on the island - it didn't hurt that I get nice tans that made me look somewhat native to many.
  
• They say the word "y'all" here. I fought that off for 3 years before my doom was sealed and the word spilled, unasked and unwanted, from my very own lips...
• Everyone here seemed to love the Washington Redskins. I, having become a tried and true-blue Dallas Cowboys fan while living in Hawaii, could have developed a rash just by contacting most Virginians. No - I am no fair weather fan, and I "ain't" switching just cause all y'all round here like them 'Skins.
• And, of course, no beautiful beaches and sunsets of a billion colors.
• Hot, sweltering summer heat.
• Icy cold winters (though the snow was tres cool...)
  
• Rednecks
  

Need I say more? I thought not. So when I moved here and all these kids my age were lovin' on the whole Kiss action... well... I naturally took the opposite bent to it. My poor adolescent mind process went as follows:

1. Virginia sucks
2. Rednecks suck
3. Virginia has rednecks
4. Rednecks like Kiss
5. Therefore - Kiss sucks

( See, even then I was all down with the logic thang. )

Of course, now... in my later years, I see the error in my ways. Sure, you may think Kiss cheezy, and they are. You might think they represent all that was overdone and overblown about rock, and you would be right. You might even think that they grew in popularity solely for their pyrotechnics and makeup, and there is some truth to that, for Kiss is nothing if not a spectacle to be beheld.

But you cannot deny the crunch of "Detroit, Rock City"... you cannot ignore the tongue of Mr. Simmons... and you cannot deny the impact of all that is Kiss...

and so youth attains wisdom