I Have The Whole World

“I never seek to defeat the man I am fighting,” he explained. “I seek to defeat his confidence. A mind troubled by doubt cannot focus on the course to victory. Two men are equals—only when they both have equal confidence.”
-Arthur Golden
“Memoirs of a Geisha”

Twenty-five years ago today:

July 24, 1986
Thursday

Steph had a talk with Dale Orlando, Margaret Lai and I about our working overtime. Apparently, Betsy (another middle manager) was spying and felt that we weren’t working during our reported overtime hours, so she reported this to Steph’s attention. Oh well, we all defended and vouched for one another. This is not going to stop me from working overtime.

Mom was so sweet. She went out to buy a baby gift for me on behalf of my coworker, Sue Fischer.

Johnny Schaefer was cool to send me a tape with such cool songs (especially ‘Forever Change’ and ‘Thief of Hearts’). He is very infatuated with me. He is also a very sensitive fellow. I think he’s a bit more sensitive than I am these days. I can relate to how he is feeling. I like him. And I do always want to remain a friend…regardless.

I ended up eating salad and other goodies for Leland’s pot luck luncheon. I didn’t even leave the building today except to deposit my paycheck (which was a slim $635). It would have been $635 + $135 = $770 if I didn’t have the $135 deducted for SAVINGS.

I love to look at the inflatable globe in my car. That was cool of Ron to replace the one that flew out of the window. It reminds me that I have the whole world ‘to make decisions upon’.

I received a letter from El Camino Hospital about my application for the Telecommunications Director position. They may be contacting me within a few weeks for an interview. We’ll see.

I went to the gym. Stuart Western came in and I think he is QBL (Questionable on the gay side). I can’t be sure, of course. He’s a nice guy. I like him. I admire his bicep muscles.

Terry (if that’s her name) at the gym sure talks a lot.

Mark said, “I’ll go to the County Fair with you in Antioch and then after that we can go to Bobby McGee’s on Saturday.”
“Great, that’ll be fun,” I answered.

My mom was very moody today because Dad was all uptight about getting his old job title back.  His current machinist job at Del Monte Corporation is too physically stressful on his elbows and arms.

I received a rejection slip about the Staff Clerk job in San Francisco.  The job was cancelled by the originator.  Oh well…maybe I’ll have a chance with the other two I submitted in Los Angeles.  If it happens it was ‘meant to be’.

I wore my black leather jacket this Friday morning.  It reminds me of the one worn by the star of the film THIEF OF HEARTS (Steven Bauer).  That song really got to me from that THIEF OF HEARTS film after Johnny Schaefer had taped it for me. I never really concentrated on the lyrics before.   And I never realized that Melissa Manchester sang the title theme song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXd1wJmW2Jo

I decided to send Johnny my original pictures that he had liked.  I also wrote to Paloma.  I sent her a special card and a photo of me in my undershorts by the Cliffside views of San Francisco.

Debra Neal called me the day before yesterday.  She is going to arrange a lunch date with me and Patrick Brent, the big wheel of LAURA TODD and Co.  The only other response I’ve received is from that El Camino Hospital.  We shall see.

Steph made a comment today that I won’t forget: “You have a lot going for you, Michael.”
I replied, “Yeah, for the most part…”

“Those pages you wrote,” Tom said, “they ought to be destroyed, you know…”
“If anyone found them, you couldn’t say it’s a short story, with all those names in it.”
-Patricia Highsmith
“The Boy Who Followed Ripley”