Hard Rock

I could never get to know him.  He's from MARS--or I'm from MARS.  No native tongue in common.
-James Kirkwood
"Good Times, Bad Times", a novel

Twenty-five years ago today:

August 29, 1986
Friday

I was so happy I had made arrangements to have myself ‘released’ from work at three o’clock today. Steph was very cool about that. She bought me a flower and some red licorice because I received a ‘third test call’ for the week. The test calls reflect on her performance and when I receive a ‘test call’ I can always tell and I handle it with such finesse. The frequency of this ‘test call’ crap is unreal though. I put the testy ‘old bag’ in her place after she tried to point out some select things that she felt did not ‘match up’.

My brother, John, drove me to the Oakland Airport. Ashley came along for the ride. Ash started crying when I let myself out of the car.   She’s so cute and it really made me feel so ‘cared for’.  I love Ashley Armijo.  Did she think I was flying away forever?

Today was Margaret Lai’s last day in the Sales Development Center Business Office. She’s only moving up to the seventh floor of this same building, so we’ll likely still be having lunch together from time to time.

Cathy Boldocchi may become a Service Representative in our office (instead of an Order Writer). I hope she does it. She could easily be in my section.

I arrived at LAX-Los Angeles International Airport by 6:15PM. It was an easy flight. Johnny Schaefer was there, waiting. We went to and through the Inglewood area by mistake. There were a lot of lower income dwellings. The people had iron clad bars about the windows of their houses.  We stopped by Johnny’s church where he sings.  The church is called Blessed Sacrament Church.  It’s a very big church.  Johnny implied that it is a major landmark in Los Angeles.  I had never heard of it.

PHOTO: Howie Mandel

Johnny and I continued on over to the HARD ROCK Café in West Hollywood to ‘supposedly see’ some good-looking people.  We didn’t see very many. It was very crowded and many seemed to be in search of something.   I don't think many of them knew what they were looking for.   Was it just 'to be seen'?  Actor Howie Mandel and Olympic US Swimmer Steve Lundquist were there—but they’re no big deal.  So what.  Steve Lundquist had a slight resemblance to Ron Leoni--something around the eyes--but he was blond.   Do blondes really have more fun?   Perhaps if they're Olympic swimmers...I suppose.





PHOTO: US Swimmer,  Steve Lundquist

After waiting for dinner seating at the HARD ROCK Café for one and a half hours we decided to just leave. We drove to the area of Westwood (near UCLA). There were all sorts of shops around there. It was fun browsing at the creative T-Shirts at one shop. There was one T-shirt with a two hogs humping logo with the copy ‘See Dick Pump, See Jane Skid’. We laughed. There were all kinds of cute rhymes and pictures on these T-Shirts.

We had some Italian ice. That was refreshing---until we saw a mouse run across the sidewalk as we left Carl’s Jr’s. This Westwood area appeared clean but the mouse was “ugh”. To imagine that there’s a movie theater here, there and everywhere and that mice could be prowling about one’s heels was just overbearing for me to imagine.

After the Westwood visit Johnny drove further south to the Anaheim area. We arrived at Johnny’s place. He did buy a brass bed just like mine. Creep! Ah…it is okay, I guess. His brass bed is there…and mine’s here. We went to bed. He’s really NMT (Not My Type). He’s a good friend. I tried to sleep.

An hour later, fatigue and the pity he felf for himself disposed him to a softer mood.
-Stendhal
"The Red and The Black"