Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaboom
You make me wish I was active in those times...minus all the chances of course.
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Kaboom, back then, going through the Pitch was like spinning a roulette wheel. As with BP, it still is, but the times are now more sophisticated as far as information gathering. Before the message boards, and even with them, the only information you had was what you gathered after the fact. It was like a game matching up multiple ads spread across long listings with the same phone numbers. Who was truly an independent?
You didn't hear about busts in the suburbs. Some of the agency heads estimated the number of escorts was very low, despite appearances. For quite a while, ladies had no problems answering questions on the phone. Any given night might have made you the recipient of an enjoyable time, a rip-off, or worse. It was definitely not an endeavor for the faint of heart.
Perhaps hard to believe, the scene, in terms of rip-offs and disappointments, seems much better today.
Sometimes you'd end up face-to-face with someone you'd seen before, even though you hadn't planned on it. At times, that was a good thing, while other times, it was not. Ladies' names and numbers changed like bandages on an infected wound.
(Does anyone remember Harold Balz, who kept track of all the number changes in case you wanted to find someone whose number had changed or avoid someone you wanted to forget?) And you were in every part of the metro imaginable, from extreme NW to NE to extreme SW and SE, you name it. On some nights, events dictated you drive to one area, only to have to completely cross town to another and still go home empty-handed. Without message boards, ladies involved in scams and NCNSs had an easier time with their marks.
Internet message boards arrived locally in the mid-90s, though they had existed as electronic bulletin boards before that. This changed the landscape, but there were plenty of negatives to offset the positives. And many of the women could not keep their tongues under control, resulting in periodic shutdowns of the boards, much to the dismay of the guys. "Please, can't we just all get along?" they'd say. OK, some things don't change. Any messages were out in the open. If the equivalent of locker rooms existed somewhere, I was certainly not aware of them. You flew solo--you were pilot, copilot, and navigator. Doubtless some found it all exciting, but not in my case. You could spend eternity just finding someone in all the ads to answer her phone. OK, again, some things don't change.
You could spend an evening trying to make a connection. All together: "PITA!"
For all that PITA, I'm still left here feeling there was something better back then. Maybe it wasn't the whole scene, though. I'd have to think a bit more and go deeper into that dead past. But maybe I was what was somehow better back then--no, no, not a better person. Perhaps it was the more accepting attitude at a younger age with more hope for the future, more coins, and more foolhardiness (or foolishness). Or maybe it's battle fatigue from all those years.
Regardless, hope everyone has a fine weekend. Cheer on your teams, enjoy the fall weather, and stay safe and sound!
