TnT Ready to Explode
A Tale of Rock and Roll Until Love Touched a Dark Soul
by
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Some places are just that: a noun a place a thing. But Apartment J was different. Apt J had personality. It was more than a place to live. It was a way of life. It was part frat house part rock club. Apartment J was a legacy. Apartment J started with a couple of guys that worked at the Pasta Palace who needed a place to live. Then it grew into a legend. The apartment was handed down from party animal to party animal for the past decade. It started when one of the managers and one of the cooks at the Pasta Palace who wanted an Apartment near the beach. It quickly became the afterhours hangout for the gang from the Pasta Palace. Anyone that worked at the Pasta Palace eventually ended up partying at Apartment J. When someone moved out another Pasta Palace partier took their place. It was a rite of passage; Apartment J was much more than just a place to live.
Anyone who has worked in the restaurant business knows it is a culture of working hard, partying even harder. You work hard, smiled, and collected your tips. At the end of the night, you went out and spent those tips. After the restaurant closed, it was time to count the tips pay out the bus boys and the bartenders. Then it was time to head to the bar. The kitchen guys always arrived bit later, they had to stay and clean up the kitchen. Once the bar closed it was time to go home. No, it was time to find the after party. The after party was always at Apartment J. This was a way of life. Your shift would end, you cleaned up and started over again, rinse, and repeat.
Apartment J was always a good time, sometime maybe too much of a good time. There was always lots of drinking and drugging. People moved in and people moved out. The stories were legendary from roommate to roommate. Each generation of Apt J residents was going to outdo the previous. A competition of drinking, smoking, and fucking to outdo the last. If you could hang with the gang, then you would end up at Apartment J for the after party. The party didn’t stop until the last person passed out. And it was dangerous to be the first to pass out. The gang had come up with many different rites of passage for those misfortune ones whom passed out first. There was the good old draw a dick on their face and send them to the convenience store. Or sometimes they would just move the person outside. If they were really ambitious and the victim was completely out of it, they would walk them a couple blocks to the beach. But the classic was to just cover the person in something like beer cans, shoes, or clothes. There was never a shortage of people passed out on the floor. If you were up to partying all night and were hardcore, you eventually made it to an Apartment J after party. Apartment J, where the party never ended.
Years go by, almost a decade, before Toni knew about Apartment J. Years ago one of the managers and a cook from the Pasta Palace moved into Apartment J. Over time they realized if they had another roommate, they would have more money. They asked one of the waitresses to move in with them. The cook and her were sleeping together anyway, she slept over almost every night there. It was just a matter of time before they became a couple. After a few months the cook and the waitress moved out and the manager needed more roommates. He replaced them with more of his coworkers. He basically went into the banquet room where the wait staff did their side work. For those not aware side work was all the little tasks that wait staff does when there are not customers, tasks like rolling silverware. The Banquet room was a makeshift breakroom and where the staff ate. Basically, where everyone hung out. He just stood up and asked who wanted to move in. A couple of new people moved in from Pasta Palace. Eventually the manager met someone. She was not into the Apartment J lifestyle. There was no way that she would live in the party house. Now the other roommates replaced the manager with another coworker. The turnover was usually related to someone getting married, moving in with someone, or getting a straight job. Anyone working a straight job was not going to be able to hang with the gang at Apt J. It is hard to party all night and be at work at 7:00 am. This continued for years, out with the old roommate and in with the new.
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About the Book
The 1980s was a simpler time before the Internet and social media, but it was also a decade of decadence, materialism, and consumerism. This was the birth of MTV and video games. It was a time of kick ass music and carefree sex, before AIDS became an epidemic. It was also a time of the blatant sexual abuse of women. Consent was a joke, where no meant yes. For women, sex was complicated or a commodity. This story tells how one woman’s sexuality was complicated and how she used sex to drown out her pain.
Toni lived life on the edge. She succumbed to her every desire, hiding her pain by overindulging in drugs, sex, and rock and roll, using them to fill the void inside her. Known as a “Party Girl” to most, Toni’s outlandish behavior hid a secret. She lived her life in the shadows, hiding who and what she was, always concealing her truth from the world. She even hid her secret from those closest to her, knowing they would not understand.
Seeking self-destruction, Toni lived like there was no tomorrow. But rolling though life as if there were no consequences lead to strange bedfellows. Follow her through her sexscapades to her eventual enlightenment as a strong woman forced to hide her true self—until love touched her dark soul.
About the Author
Lisa Titolo, an artist, musician, and now author writes from her own experiences. Using the full and rich tapestry of her life, she brings her colorful characters to life. Leaving home at 15, she took on the responsibilities of an adult with the mind of a child. This lead her down a dark path filled with sex drugs and rock and roll. On that path she learned a lot about herself. She learned that her sexuality was more fluid than others, leading her to hide part of herself from family and friends. Without the support of family along with the lack of sexually fluid role models, Lisa had to make her own way. She chose to live her life out loud. She learned that her quick wit was more than useful. She developed a keen ability to find humor in anything. It was her humor that drew people in past her abrasiveness and darkness. It is her tenacity to not let others define her that allowed her to grow and persevere through the hard times.
While she was finding her way, Deanna found her. Their love would change her forever. They have overcome many obstacles in their 31 years together. Building a life together and raising a wonderful daughter. They created the family they both wished they had. Moreover, they have become the role models they both wished they had while growing up. Lisa’s stories come from a real place and each character is a part of her challenging journey through life, from living in her car to building her first house. It is Deanna’s unwavering support of Lisa that allowed her to really discover herself and find the artist within.