My Journal of the Adventures, the Sagas, etc.: Update: Halid Pasalic

Monday, May 17, 2004

Update: Halid Pasalic

What a nice surprise...I just got a random e-mail from another cohort from my high school days, Halid Pasalic (thanks, Friendster!). By God we were evil in those days...I can't seem to remember how exactly we'd met, but we hit it off immediately is what I do remember. In case you couldn't guess from the name, Halid is about as Irish as they get...and a firecracker at that -- short fuse, explosive personality, but not one to hold a grudge. The reason why I can’t be certain of how exactly we know of each other is because he’d gone to Iona Prep, and I know our schools didn’t play against each other.

I want to say we met through Wednesday church classes for Confirmation...if you know anything about the Catholics, we’re definitely a rambunctious bunch. Come to think of it, something along those lines MUST be how we’d met because we were always chasing girls from Ursuline – an all-girls Catholic School...and these girls were definitely not “pious,” despite what fine "pies" they may have had...I know, I'm sorry. Anyway, the only girls I can now remember in particular are Megan Flynn and Liz Murphy -- funnily enough, when I was working at the Discovery Channel, one of the women I worked with knew these girls as she was an Ursuline graduate as well.

Irregardless, I think we hit it off because we were both huge into lacrosse at the time. He was an attack and I was a middy (or a “mid-fielder”) -- we were definitely a destructive duo. I won’t get much into details of all the shenanigans we used to get into (and there were MANY), but the one story that comes at the top of the list involves driving on Saxon Woods Road, in Scarsdale.

If you know Saxon Woods Road, you might have a vague idea of what’s coming. I haven’t driven on it for years, but it is a tiny little narrow road about three miles long with severe curves and tiny stone bridges that string through the outskirts of Saxon Woods Golf Club (a nice area, by the way, with equestrian trails, etc.) and a small creek. It is one of the most dangerous (or fun, depending on your perspective/age/maturity) piece of road in the entire county...it was Halid Pasalic, Nancy Russo (Mamaroneck High), Cathy (I forget her last name – she went to Scarsdale High and was Nancy’s best friend for years), and me at the wheel, one late night.

We were either coming from or going to Tiffany(I forget her last name too!)’s house, which was on one end of Saxon Woods, and, as usual, we were giddy as hell. Whether out of testosterone or simple idiocy, we decide to scare the hell out of the girls, and I decide to BOOK down this road. To top it off, Halid, the eternal joker, decides to turn off my headlights mid-corner.

I manage not to hit anything, but I was barely keeping the car in control, fishtailing down this narrow winding road at 50+MPH in the middle of the night WITH NO HEADLIGHTS. For what seemed like a full minute, all we could hear were my tires screeching the entire way and Nancy screaming the entire time. Cathy is petrified. Halid is cracking up the entire way. I finally manage to stop the car, didn’t hit anything, Nancy finally stops screaming, and it’s quiet as suddenly as it was mayhem. A moment of silence, and what does Halid say?

“Let’s do it again!!!!”

Yeah, that’s Halid in a nutshell. Thankfully, no one was hurt and the girls had a great sense of humor about it, but irregardless, given that kind of a history, perhaps it was better for the sake of those around us that Halid and I haven’t gotten back in touch? Reports soon to follow...