Monday, February 24, 2020

My journey of straying to the dark side...


June 17, 2010 - the day I flew back to Edmonton with no plan in mind. I was  20 at the time and my dad picked me up from the airport. It was my first time back in Edmonton since 2004 where I had no end goal in mind meaning I had no plans on getting back on a plane to go to religious boarding school. My dad was happy to see me but wasn't too happy to see me wearing jeans. Jeans were always a no-go in the religious world I grew up in as they represented something a dignified person shouldn't wear. I still remember the first pair of jeans I bought, I actually got a adrenaline-high just knowing that I was doing something forbidden and so terrible and purchasing denim. (Random fun fact, my last name "Drelich" in Polish means denim or some fabric related to denim). 

(Picture above: One of the earliest photos of me with jeans, feeling pretty bad ass).

I've always been someone who enjoyed "tasting the forbidden fruit" so here's a list of some of the things I really enjoyed doing once I dropped the religious masquerade and actually started living my life. Next to each one, I'll include a song I like that relates to that specific item.

1. Non-Kosher Food

I grew up in a kosher home which meant only kosher meat, (no pork) and kosher fish (no shrimp or lobster). It'll take a whole other blog post to explain what kosher is, but growing up, I was always temped in the supermarket by what "lay on the other side". One of the first things I enjoyed right when I stopped being religious was Subway when I was 20. My friend and I would go all the time but we'd have to sneak out of the house because while my parents knew that I wasn't religious, the feeling I got was that in their mind I was still religious so I had to play the part to a degree. The first time I had lobster wouldn't come until much later when I was in Newport Beach, CA hanging with my friend. I never really understood the hangup of lobster until I tried it there. the lemon juice and melted butter on the side....I'm salivating as I write this.....ok, let's end on a sweet note.

Warrant - Cherry Pie

(Picture: Me eating lobster for the first time at the age of 25 in Newport Beach - freak en heavenly).

2. Music & TV

Growing up, I wasn't allowed to listen to non-religious music, read non-religious books or watch TV shows. This obviously included listening to the radio which is ironic seeing as this is the career-path I chose.  Anything that could cause my mind to think "impure thoughts" or stray me from the path of holiness was a no-go. Even as a kid, I had a bit of a rebellious streak in me. I would listen to Oilers games (which I wasn't allowed to go to - took a long time for me to get over that) on 630 CHED from a walkman that I had won at an after-school program. I would listen with one headphone in my ear and the other, I would be listening to see if my parents were coming into the room to check up on me while I was "sleeping". I donated that walkman to Value Village 3 months ago. I started watching movies "religiously" when I was in religious school in Baltimore. I saved up a $250 and bought an 80GB iPod Classic from Radio Shack. I then gave my iPod to a friend who had another friend who had movies on his laptop and was able to load up movies for me which I would watch every night before bed. Amongst the movies on that iPod were: The Prestige, Two For The Money and A New York Minute. Yea a very eclectic taste, mind you. When I was younger and living at home, I couldn't do sleepovers at my friends because they watched movies. It got to a point where I would just straight up lie to my parents and assure them that I wouldn't watch movies when I went for sleepovers. Come to think of it now, I lied like hell to my parents as a kid. I lied so freak en much it became second nature. I lied that I had done my daily prayers, I lied that I had done my daily studying. I lied that I only ate the proper food I was supposed to, I lied that I waited the appropriate amount of time between eating meat and drinking milk. I lied that I fasted on days that I was supposed to.....maybe that's where my trust issues stem from? With that being said, here's a song about TV I always like jamming out to:

The Buggles - Video Killed The Radio Star 

(Picture above: Me just a few days ago in my natural habitat at the radio station. The music I wasn't allowed to listen to growing up is now the music I play for other people. How terrible of me)!

3. Shaving

This has always been a weird one for me. The rule in the religious sect I grew up in was - no shaving. Beards grew as is and there was no trimming or touching the beard in any way. I was really annoyed by this because in my teenage years, beards were really itchy and not very in style. It also didn't help that my beard grew in unevenly and wasn't really digging the disheveled homeless vibe. In fact, I used to sneak into the bathroom at school from time to time just to trim my goatee and say I cut my beard which pretty much guaranteed me an all-expenses paid, first class flight to hell for my heinous crime. The first time I properly shaved, I did a terrible job. I used a razor and cream and left stubble all over myself. I decided to leave a bit of a goatee. You're also not supposed to touch your eyebrows but I had a uni-brow by the time I was 15 and had no intention of keeping it that way so I developed this nervous habit of picking my uni-brow so much that even till today the hairs their don't grows as much as they normally used to. My beard doesn't grown evenly now so it's hard to decide if I like it clean shaven or with a bit of stubble. Oh joy! This song has nothing to do with shaving but I like listening to it when I'm shaving.

Umami - Seven Days 

(Picture above: Me at the age of 18 at my friends house, that was about as big as my beard got before I shaved it off...yay)!

4. Saturdays

Saturday is the best day of the week. It's sandwiched right in the middle of the weekend and it's the perfect time to get things done but growing up religious, Saturday was the "day of rest". No electronic usage of any kind. no flipping on or off lights. NO heating up food. No TV (Not that we watched it anyway). You get the idea. I was actually kicked out of school once for watching a movie on my laptop on Saturday. True story! Saturday's revolved around prayer and spending time with family but spending time with family usually meant studying and more prayers with family which sucks! Saturdays became a love/hate thing for me and even till today when I drive to my parents home on Saturday, I park around the block so they don't have to see me pull up in a car on Sabbath.

Elton John - Saturday Nights Alright For Fighting  - You knew, I'd pick this one! I'd actually love to see Elton John live one day. 

(Picture above: I drove all Saturday from Vancouver to Calgary only to get stuck on the highway, driving on Saturday and playing the guitar, how am I going to explain my way out of this one.....yeaaaaa)!

5. Girls 

What's not to like?! As a kid growing up, I had a crush on a certain girl in school just like any other school boy.  (I only started going to an all-boys school in grade 9). It was an obvious no-brainer that I wasn't allowed to talk to girls or associate with girls in any way. The only time I was allowed to talk to girls would be when I was preparing to get married. Glad I got out of that trajectory. Next thing I know, my religious friends are getting married and churning out like 10 babies. (No, joke I'm actually angry typing this right now. to each their own, I guess). When I was in the all-boys school, there were 3 kids that were suspended from the school because they said hello to some girls that were passing by - true story. "Taking care of yourself" to relieve the stress was also forbidden because according to the bible. it's like killing kids. Now come on, what kind of f*cked up twisted sh*t is that?! Why would you even make a bible that's impossible to keep in the first place. I don't care how holy your rabbi/priest is. every guy in the world INCLUDING your rabbi/priest is taking care of business, it's how the world operates. When I was in Baltimore, I wasn't allowed to hang out with my female cousin, when I visited New York, I wasn't allowed to stay over at my cousins place if my female cousins were there.  I wasn't allowed to stay in synagogue after prayers for the meal because girls were there and I might mingle with them when I eat, the list goes on and on. When I finally dropped religion, I started hanging out with girls through friends although I had absolutely no idea what to say or how to talk to girls. It was almost like I was doing something wrong and I'd have to look both ways to make sure no one was looking. Girls were the forbidden fruit and if you watched me on the live feeds on Big Brother, you know how much I like fruit. 

We'll have to go into another post about my first kiss.....In the meanwhile, here's an absolute barn burner of a tune.

The 1975 - Girls 

(Picture above: one of the earliest pictures of me hanging out with girls, whoaaaa)!

I'll catch you next week, hopefully it'll be a more positive blog.

Cheers!
Mark D
IG: TheMarkDShow


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