West High School - Shaheen Yearbook (Davenport, IA)

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All mine the piano. Dan, meanwhile is totally dedicated to magic. I con- sider it a part of my school- ing, equally important to my classes. In fact, I sometimes do it in class, which my teachers don't always appre- ciate. Besides practicing 3 to 4 hours daily, he also performs at Omni every Saturday and does numerous one-shots because playing for an au- dience is the best training you can get. To succeed in such com- petitive carrers, both Dan and Dave realize they must prepare themselves as much as possible in high school. And they must be perfec- tionists. Dan remembers that once he was unsatisifed with a slight of hand. By the time he was satisfied, he had prac- ticed it twelve hours. All this, Dan admits, gets in your way and makes you a little bit weird. lt can also make a guy lonely. You get occasional doubts, Dan says. You have these little bouts where you say, 'Why am I doing this? No one else is.' The solitary practice, though, is preparation for public performance - and it pays off. As Dave says, It real- ly satisfies me when I can entertain people, when I can make them happy. Even off-stage, peo- ple thrive on applause. Paula decorates cakes not for money but be- cause she enjoys doing something for close friends and family. I just like to see people when they get that big smile on their faces and they have something that they can say, 'Wow, look, someone cared enough to do something for me.' It's worth it to me to spend 3 or 4 hours baking a cake, just to see them hap- PY , The satisfactions can be even more personal. Trudy, Sheri, Randy, Paula all men- tion how confident they feel. If somebody can write a book on cake decorating, says Paula, but I can prove them better, then that just proves to me that anything I really want to try, I can do it I decided I wanted to try it is often the reason given for starting a hobby. Randy, for example, knew little about auto mechanics, but he was dissatisfied with his car's speed and decided to jump in and rework the en- gine. He improved it 'I00 !o, he feels. His satisfaction goes be- yond knowing he met a chal- lenge. This guy across the FX.:-...,., 'N'-5 0 A ' 0 9 .qi Surprising people delights aspiring something dumb, like a sleight of None of my friends are too sur- Things fIf YWaYf 50 fhel' ll-'Sf kind- Of magician Dan Gilpatrick. Every hand. I love watching their reac- prised when they find out I deco- think, Wfll, YIWCFES afmfhef thins once in a while, l'll walk upto some- tions. T219 Cake'-V' SGYS Paula wells. H5991 l She does! body I don't know and just do lay sod, and I do a lot of other odd 28 Feature

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tial area where she lives. Her galloping down a city street or sidewalk gives pass- ers-by fl jolt. None of our neighbors complain about it, she says. But there is an old man - a real griper - over on 49th Street who doesn't like it. He always threatens to call the cons. ironically, Sheri and Trudy get pretty much that same reaction from some guys at Nautilus and the karate school. They're considered trespassers on male domain. Worse, they aren't always taken seriously. Then again, that may not be a disadvantage. I know I try harder be- cause of it, says Trudy. I'm more determined than fthe guysl are, says Sheri. And proving themselves pays off. Trudy proves her- self so well that this one guy whose father compared him to me watched me doing my exercises and said, Boy, I'm gonna have to get working! Sheri has progressed three levels in less than a year. And, for the first time in her life, feels control over her body. In fact, her dedica- tion to karate has af- fected her whole lifes- tyle. Her diet is more natural and vegetarian, she relaxes with medi- tationg she's changed her total outlook. I used to have a very hot temper, she says. Now I'm more mellow. If some- one says some- thing nasty to me now, I just let it pass . . . Ikaratel has sort of taught me a way of life. Whenever someone de- cides to make his pastime his career, it's even more than that. Dave Meumann's devo- tion to music happened al- most by accident. After get- ting nowhere with guitar les- sons in seventh grade, he started playing around at the piano. That led to song- writing, because he plays by ear, he has a natural feel for improvisation and the way a tune is put together. And since he decided that that was what he wanted to do, he admits, I spend just about all the time I can get at vt' . . I , af- ' JY.. N hoursa day with them, so they don't They may be stronger or bigger, Even during his free periods, Dave fiC6d- l like SPOffS, he SHYS, but get too out-of-hand. says Sheri Telle of her male karate Meumann spends time at the piano. music just takes too much of my opponents. But they better be While he doesn't neglect his time. ready for me. schoolwork, other things get sacri- Feature 27 ,-mb

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street always has everything on his car worked on at the shop, Randy explains. The biggest thrill for me was be- ing able to say to him, 'You have somebody else do it for you, but look what I did. I did it all myself.' As Paula says, You've got to like trying to create things. You've got to like what you do, period. My car is a real expensive hobby, says Randy. Still, I know a lot of people who just blow their money, wasting it on booze and stuff. I saved mine and found something I really wanted to do with it. The distinctiveness, the utter weirdness of obsession may be the most appealing thing about it. No matter what, it's uniquely yours. Sure, people laugh when I tell them about it, john says. But on the other hand, how many people do you know who spend half their summer dressed up like an Indian, wearing war paint? That's what I like about it. 1 'Last year when I started track, says Trudy Arp, I knew there were no seniors in shot-put, and I wanted to do really good. She ended up at the state competitions. Her coaches says. Her endurance increased, last year. then encouraged her to start train- though, and she considers her ing at Nautilus. At first, I was really weight training a definite plus. I tired after I got done lifting, she feel confident I'llthrow farther than Feature 29