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Yesterday the Tour Dupont bicycle race started so I am psyched! I'm not much of jock actually; I don't particularly like the classic " 'merican" sports of baseball, football, hockey, basketball, but I love bicycle racing. This is the only time I'm glued to ESPN to watch a sport. Bicycle stage racing (races that go from one point to another each day for a series of days) is my favorite. One of my dream vacations is still to take the month of July to follow the Tour de France around. So now is my happiest season, the boys of summer are on the road!
So I guess its not going to be 88 degrees this weekend, after all. 70s with some rain. Oh well, such is this East Coast weather.
Friday (5/3/96):I have been working for Pamela a little on the side. She is currently producing a Discovery Channel show that is re-packaging one of their previously run shows on the Space Shuttle for use by schoolteachers. Its called the Assignment Discovery series. So I'm writing for her and obtaining data, info and using all my contacts to help her with it. Its fun being able to write about all this stuff I've been involved with but it can get crazy running around on top of all this paperwork I've got going here.
Pamela also put me in touch with another other freelance producer who is putting together a different show related to the school student shuttle payloads. I couldn't turn it down since I work directly on the small payloads and because I am the most fired up about working with the school students who are involved with the Shuttle.
I mean why a kid would want to get eventually end up in a job like mine I'll never know, but since they do I want to help any way that I can. I just always thought I was just going to spend my life working in the steel mills or coal mines back home doing that grimy work (believe me, you do end up with soot in places you can't figure out how it got there) or I thought I was going to work at the bicycle / motorcycle shop I worked at after high school. But now I'm a rocket scientist, who knew? However, I just stumbled into it. I never took SATs. I went to Penn State on provisional status (meaning you pay for half a year taking high school level courses first, they see if your checks clear and you can pass, then you can enter with all the other students who weren't working for the mob during their high school years).
I just wish my high school days would have taught me more about what was really out in the world that one could do. Instead all I learned about was all the badboy things one learns about in the mob-run town where I hail from. Don't get me wrong, I value the street smarts I gained, but that is why I work especially hard when the stuff I'm doing could be influencing a young mind. You never what incidental thing you do that you can imprint into a child's mind profoundly.
Like just the other day, I had to use my first year physics in a manner that I never realized I would. I selected a Rice Krispies Treat from the vending machine, but it got hung up on that curly thing that pushes it off its row. So I saw that immediately above it were a bag of Cheetoes and in the row above those were HoHo's. So I figured if I got the Cheetoes (you know those space age looking goodies with the cool cat on the package) they would get hung up with the Rice Krispies Treat that was dangling stuck between the edge of its row and the glass. So instead I got the HoHO's because I knew that: 1) the HoHo's would have greater mass and therefore more momentum for the same velocity, and 2) because they were higher in the machine the increased distance to fall under their gravitational acceleration in freefall would give them greater kinetic energy thereby freeing my Rice Krispies Treat. Worked like a charm! And I hear all the time, why do we have to learn all this math and physics that we'll never use the "real world"? Whoop, there it is!
Saturday (5/4/96): Pamela and I started off to have a dinner party with our friends Michael and Serena and Val and Bob. Then we also invited about twenty people from the hoards of friends we saw at the Fox and Hounds (I refer to it as "the Box of Clowns") Friday night. It was a wild little gathering. Danny and Shiela came by. Bob and Linda did also. Bob showed up after his attending Gold cup as he does every year. An added bonus was when Johnny and Adele popped in. Some of Pamela's wild gay friends also showed up. One boy, Jonathan, showed up in drag. Even with his stark choice in black lipstick and intense eye makeup, "she" really pulled it off and turned it out. I must confess that I am definitely a "butt" man and if I wouldn't have known, I would have thought she had a cute touche. Wackiness!
We had a blast entertaining as an intense thunderstorm passed through.
Monday (5/6/96):Another Monday morning. Well, I find myself doing my morning groove things that get me through the day: I just polished off my Hostess Crumb donuts and got into my e-mail, so now I'm ready to do what comes naturally, putting down more of that boring stuff I write here!
You know part of my duties as a Space Shuttle payload configuration verification engineer means I am involved with visual inspection of payloads to make sure we didn't miss the obvious in a our detailed assessments. In doing these inspections, we find that people are always trying to sneak things in their payloads that do not have intrinsic scientific value for going to space. Three things that we have found the tucked away into hidden nooks on the payloads are: coins, womens' panties and, you guessed it, condoms. Since we fly payloads from all walks of scientific life, many different types of organizations are involved in assembling these payloads. So one can imagine when the brilliant and playful students of the graduate schools of the various military branches fly something we are on our toes. Their condoms, as I have seen, have the schools' seal insignia and named printed down them. The boys in Monterey must have the most "talent" , however. Their school name, printed in fair sized letters on theirs is the "Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California.' Quite a mouthful, to say, that is.
So now they're starting work on repairing our trailer out here. And I thought I left my favorite redneck contractors behind at home. Country music coming from radio.
Tuesday (5/7/96):My groovy friend Johnny stopped by last night. He is breaking into feature films in bit parts as well as doing other things like writing and whatnot. He grew up with the Zarpas brothers, Steve and Chris, in northern Virginia. Steve owns the Crow Bar over at 20th and K St., NW and the Dixie Grill down across from the Ford's theatre. Chris is an executive producer of feature films out in Hollywood. He did the movie, "The Sandlot" about kids playing baseball. It performed "moderately" at the box office, in his words. I think moderately is that it made "only" millions.
So Johnny has been getting these bit parts in movies Chris is involved in, among others. He was working two weeks ago with Demi Moore in DC and then in Florida on this movie where Demi plays a female Navy Seal. Yesterday Johnny calls me and says he needs a bicycle for some shooting they're doing at the Lincoln Memorial on a Clint Eastwood movie. So I lent him not only my bike but my cycling clothing, my little yellow winner's jersey and cap. So if he makes into the film, I may be able to see my 16-year old bicycle on celluloid! It's the little things in life that keep me going.
DC's primary is today. Since I've been to jury duty three times in DC (but never served), I'm definitely going to exercise my rights. It also helps that the polling place is just at the end of the block. I wouldn't go except Lindon Laruse is running against Clinton and I want to personally step on that facist's chances.
Really it was the MTV "rock the vote" bus tour that inspired me. After seeing those scraggly bearded, pierced youngsters mix it up in the Mosh pit during Nine Inch Nails at the MTV "Woodstock, thirty years later," I just had to get out there myself. It really had nothing to do with them raffling off a date with Idalis to registered grunge voters. I pleaded with them, "I'm grunge, I'm grunge, honest I am!" And after I showed them my overlong beach shorts, black socks with combat boots and lilywhite legs they let me register. So if you see me walking around with the glow of someone who just performed his civic duty, you'll know why. Or maybe it was that secret favor some lobbyist performed for me in the voting booth.
As Marion says, Vote early and vote often!
Wednesday (5/8/96):I'm tired of the gray drizzle days, that's why I don't live in Seattle.
I paid my overdue phone bill at 12th and G, NW, this morning. The line moved about as fast as the DMV's. Gotta love DC. Today was the cut off deadline so I thought I'd better get around to it.
Last night Pamela bought this gorgeous armoire(sp?) big hutch kinda piece of furniture. Since our carriage house is old, the front steps are so narrow that nothing goes up them easily, except Bootie, of course. I had to break apart our box spring to get it in when we moved in. So Pamela was bummed when we couldn't get in. Well, being a Mechanical Engineer, I dusted off my mind's cobwebs and my buddy Johnny and I sat down and measured and decided that we can take it in through the door in our kitchen. This will be a very interesting task since we are on the second story.
We will take the gizmo (that's the redneck translation of that french word for big cabinent) through our neighbor's garage that leads into a Japanese garden courtyard that is directly below our kitchen door. Then we will remove the iron fence gate that is outside our kitchen door, remove our kitchen door, then using a come-along manual winch from inside the kitchen, we will tie a rope around the piece after its wrapped in moving blankets and winch it up into our kitchen one inch at a time, then carry it into the living room. Like Garth said in Wayne's World 1 when he sent the satellite signal of Wayne's girlfriend's singing debut to Mr. Big's car TV, "Its almost too easy!" Ya right. Everyone is welcome to stop by on Saturday and watch us "work it, girl." It should be a interesting!
Saturday (5/11/96):So, we had complete success on "Operation Dumbo Launch." I guess the only dumbo was the one who said, "Sure, I can winch it up through the back door." Actually, it turned out to be a fun experience. With great friends like Craig, Eric and Paul showing up and helping out immensely, it wasn't too bad a job.
The rental places I had to go to get my winch were a hoot. Of course the first one had my reservation down and with the same efficiency rented the stuff to someone else. Its always weird for me going into these kinda places because the employees typically remind me of myself back when I was working at a motorcycle shop and I was tough and had it all figured out. This was before I went off and became a sissy college boy and now represent management vs. the rank and file. I wore my Harley-Davidson T-shirt but they could see right through me that I was just a city slicker. But I was redeemed by the good 'ole boys when I returned the equipment as I received it.
So we picked up the piece at Reincarnations on 17th St. and loaded it on the roof of my car West Virginia-style. Actually, my one buddy with me, Craig, is from West Virginia, and Eric, my other most helpful chum is from the Monoeghela river side of Pittsburgh. Since I hail from the Allegheny River side of Pittsburgh, I guess we all sorta fit that Appalachian hillbilly profile. We got looks like we were, anyway.
We drove the one block and parked in the alley then brought it into our neighbor's courtyard behind our house. Its turns out we provided some enjoyable entertainment for our super nice neighbor Ken who owns the mansion next our landlords'. He graciously allowed his contractor Rocky to aid us in the assessment and accomplishment of our task.
The piece made it in like a champ after we covered it, made a rope sling around it, hooked up the winch and winched it up. We got it about to the kitchen door's level then grabbed the attached static lines and pulled it in. In a fitting testament to the yin/yang of life, about the same time we pulled the piece in, I pulled my back out so I unfortunately could not make it to my good friend Gary's party.
Not a scratch on the piece and we beat the thundershower that blew in about 4:00PM, yea!
Sunday (5/12/96):Well, dear old Mom is doing fine in Pittsburgh on her day. I sent her a basket of a springtime arrangement of flowers that sounded like they looked nice. Rest assured I called Flo bright and early Sunday so she didn't feel forgotten. She was relieved I was not on that tragic plane crash. My mom always fears the worst, 'cause she's a mom.
We spent the afternoon at Pamela's folks where we had a great Mother's day brunch. Tiffer (Pamela's sister Stef) came in from Aspen, Brian and Melissa drove up from Norfolk and Lisa came over so all Marjorie's children were there. We had a blast. Buck came over and Sue and Jonathon and his son Elliot came also. Susie and Jon have the same model of waffle iron that we got as our first wedding gift so they showed me how to use it. Funny how the best written instruction manual in the world never equals the wisdom of someone who has been through something already.
Monday (5/13/96):Well, one sticky DC day Saturday and now back to brisk weather this week. I believe chaos theory explains the shift in weather of the past 15 years.
People have always talked about global warming as a quasi-steady state rise in temperature of the planet, i.e., the mean temperature at any given spot on the planet would rise year-to-year on a given day. That is one way to express it but I think statistical mathematics could prove that predicting a temperature rise rate at given points on the planet for a given day of the year would not show this neat trend cleanly.
What I think we should be looking at is using chaos theory to show that the increased energy in our atmosphere (due to the greenhouse effect of upper level carbon dioxide reflecting the sun's energy back into the atmospheric system) is what is causing the shift in the jet stream currents that is affecting our weather patterns. I'm considering applying for a $250,000 grant from Congress to do study this. Then maybe I won't have to commute to work anymore. At least then I could stop part of my contribution to global warming.
Whew! Now isn't that a rocket scientist's long-winded way to say, 'crazy weather we've been having, huh?
I'm getting my glasses' lenses replaced due to scratches so I'm back to wearing contacts. I forgot how much I love them, mainly because I can wear all my fun sunglasses again.
Well, its back to the grind again. Just another Monday, pay the late bills, do laundry, then watch Melrose Place.
Wednesday (5/15/96):So I had my recurring anxiety dream this morning. I woke early with the intention of getting in early and doing lots of real work, but after reading some mail, I got this urge to return to bed and then I said those dangerous words to myself, "Just ten more minutes of sleep." So I woke up an hour later after having that dream. Its about mid-march in my senior year of High School, and I haven't yet been to English class and my term paper is due tomorrow. Or its Algebra II class and the final is tomorrow and I haven't started studying. Or its the elective Health class, taught by the sadist football coach and I just haven't been to class all year. Its amazing how high school imprinted these classes with such deep-rooted fear. I wonder what Freud would have to say about it (another home page idea, the "Ask Freud" page; it would beat psychic friends by a mile).
Its funny that I never developed this unconcious angst about my college courses. Maybe it was all the alcohol that tempered those concerns. I flunked a technical elective in my fall senior semester because the class met on Monday evenings (read, "blow it off"). The very first grade on my college transcript is "F," in Physical Education! It was taught by this professor we called the drill sergeant. I thought, "hey this college stuff is great, just stop going to class if you don't like it."
But that 12th grade English composition course, "If you don't do a good term paper, you won't graduate." Well, for a boy who had no plans for college, that still struck a chord with me. It turns out, that English class was my favorite course in high school (even over small gasoline engine maintenance!). My hard line English teacher, Mrs. Hall, turned out to be my first college professor in disquise. We started in the fall reading "Return of the Native" by Thomas Hardy. Over the years he has become one of my favorite authors. His setting is Southern Coastal England in the mid to late 1800's. His description of the gloomy setting so well fit late Autumn in Pittsburgh (not unlike today's weather), and Hardy's characters' emotional strife is right on the money as I read these books as an adult. I still wish now I would have gotten a Liberal Arts degree instead of Engineering. If only I had known what the real workaday world was really like.
It still is weird how I have that anxiety dream when I'm either late for work (and care that day) or if I've got too many things to do that I'm juggling in my mind. Wackiness.
Thursday (5/16/96):Well, we're down to the final few pieces of paper before launch. Its a good feeling knowing we got it all just about done, and what we won't is not mission critical, apparently. (We've got some hardware that have flown three times or more and do not have engineering drawings done for them; I'd love to know how the hell they built them)
Apparently, Newt's sister Candace used to live in our apartment. We get these contracts from some speaker's group in NYC that are for her. One of these arrived not sealed so it just fell open on the table and I saw it as I was putting it back in the envelope to address it return to sender, honestly. She gets a good piece of change for an hour of talking. Not too shabby. I find it ironic that she represents some gay/lesbian alliance; I'd love to be home at their mom's on Thanksgiving.
Another of Pamela's many boys stopped by last evening, Johann. It was his 24th birthday yesterday so he was on his way to the 17th street strip to pick up his flavor for the night. He's so busy.
So our landlord Curtis is putting the final touches on the studio apartment below us. He is going to try and rent for about a very reasonable amount, available June 1. It is a standard studio size, has an alley entrance and the one albeit large window in the alley. It does have high ceilings and nice appointments that Curtis always does in his places. I think he'll use it as spare office if he gets no takers. We're trying to see if any friends want to take it. Curtis also has the basement two bedroom (both have their own bathroom) apartment in his mansion opening also June 1. I think its 2600 sq. ft. and sunny for a basement apt.(windows run along the north wall facing R St.) Pamela lived there for a year in the front bedroom in the turret, a round room, very cool. Curtis is a really great landlord so it is truly a bargain for the location.
Our neighbor Ken is finishing his back deck and Japanese Garden. I think a Jacuzzi is going in just about below the door where we brought the armoire in, so I'm gonna go out and buy a rope ladder. Ken is very cool and I hope he will maybe let us "drop in" sometime. His mansion is gorgeous also. It used to be Curtis's also. Curtis and Ken's was one edifice when Curtis bought it, then he split them up and sold it to Ken. Boy, did I pick the wrong profession! Do you think there is still time for me to become a dancer at Badlands? Maybe there I could my millions for my mansion, one dollar bill at a time!
Saturday (5/18/96): I just got back from a day of motorbiking with my buddy Russell. We were out on my favorite roads out around Potomac and Poolesville. Its so nice getting outside the city limits. We had a late lunch at the snack bar at White's Ferry. Greasy and good, prepared and served by one of West Virginia's shining citizens. Her husband and her had just moved to White's Ferry. He took the job as Ferryboat operator and she became the short order cook. Oh, the opportunity America has to offer.
Tuesday (5/21/96):Yesterday we installed our air conditioners in the bedroom windows. After doing that, I ran some errands around the neighborhood in the sun in next to nothing. It felt gooood. Got my Java House breakfast at about noon. Then I went back and napped in air conditioned comfort until about 4:00 and went to a matinee in Georgetown. Then we had Indian food after the movie to celebrate Val's birthday.
So Katie and Bryant were in Arizona today. Seeing the Valley of the Sun made me think of the that lovely, although sometimes relentless, western desert sun. Too bad the East doesn't have the plethora of pools that the West does. Since Jill and Val live at Mclean Gardens, I'll be learning the pool pass scam so then I can zip up there on the bike.
Well, the Shuttle is doing its thing A-OK so far. After following the hopelessly complex logic and seeing how they installed the IAE (Inflatable Antenna Experiment), I never thought it would work. Surprise, surprise. More of our experiments are on tap for today, so more reason to be skeptical.
Wednesday (5/22/96):So our PAMS satellite test unit deployed from the Shuttle this morning A-OK. Its funny that both satellites deployed on this mission have no value in themselves, that is, they do not have any electronics or sensors or are otherwise capable of doing something on their own. They are just "dumb" passive units (not unlike us geeks that designed it). The science being gained is by studying their action in flight. Well, the scientists all looked pretty happy today.
Thursday (5/23/96): We're spending Memorial Day weekend at the beach house; not MTV's(I'm still waiting on Idalis to invite me there), Pamela's folks. Its free this weekend so we'll be whooping it up there. We always have friends dropping by and we barbeque or go get crabs at a nearby restaurant and rent movies in the evening, so its a blast. The beach house is known as the "Ivy cottage" because of the wonderful theme Marjorie has created there. The beach house is in Bethany so although its not as visceral as the other resorts, it is peaceful. And in twenty minutes you can be at any of the others to get whatever slice of beach life you like. I bring my bicycles to ride on all those great country roads. We are also a stone's throw from the canal so we can canoe also. Its all here!
Tonight we're going to go over to my friend Adele's "Spinart" function at the "little Hunt" (basement of the Big Hunt). It is basically a dancing fest with art or crafts on display for sale. We'll get there about 8:00.
Friday (5/24/96)As for me, grad school just doesn't have an appeal, certainly not for Engineering, I just don't want to further my education for vocational purposes. I'll sleep my way to the top, thank you very much. Now all I need is some takers.
This school thing is a deep rooted thing, you see. I missed my first
day of Kindergarten because I was sick and it was all downhill from there. I actually would love to go back and get a Philosophy/English Literature degree then a JD and an MD but I'll have to hit the lottery first to pay for all of it. But if I didn't have to work that's definitely where I'd be: comtemplating life, love, law, and my favorite subject, the human body.
As far as all that rot I've been hearing about jobs, careers and their associated goals and all that hullabalu, don't let those people from the 'burbs sell you a bad bag of goods. I've been working in Aerospace for twelve years now because when I was at the motorbike/bicycle shop and O.K. with things, and my parents said, "try college" and my dad said, "try engineering" so I figured, " Hey, I'm a mechanic, why not Mechanical Engineering?" So I've been working with the same jackass, squeaky clean, "I've got my pukey life all figured out" geeks since my first classes and believe me, this career shit is not all its cracked up to be.
As a contractor to US Government, I'm still just the "copy, collate, staple boy" for what can sometimes seem like a bunch of "silly servants." And engineers, being the colorful personalities they are, love to put these firms as far from regular people as possible. These places are always put somewhere in the brave new 80's world of "urban-style living in the suburbs," always replete with an Appleby's and Chili's. That's probably for the best. Don't put engineers "in my backyard" I say. I guess I just wasn't careful what I wished for, cause it never is quite that.
So my aspirations are to open that combination bicycle shop/hardware store by the beach and fix those engineers' kids' K-mart bikes.
But sometimes that life thing isn't workin' just so. Like all intense long term head trips, it comes in waves, just when you thought it was all done, then sometimes you just have to sit on the ground and let it pass then you feel great. Look at me, I wish I lived in the best part of this country, San Francisco. I have loved SF since the very first time I got off the Bayshore at 6th and Market ten years ago. I surf to the KPIX Fairmont camera and Herb Caen everyday and dream of living in the wackiest, friendliest place on the planet. My fiancee is from the DC area so I'm probably dug in, at least for now. You never know when another swell is going to come along and sweep one up, however. That's why we keep waking up, even if it is later and later.
As far as the details on my union with Pamela, we met at a dive bar in our neighborhood in DC (Dupont Circle) while she was on a double date with someone else. She started talking to me to try and set her friend up with my friend Danny. Well, that never panned out but Pamela and I did. Pamela had just been dumped in a multi-year thing two weeks before meeting me so we took our time getting together but it has been a natural progression, just like life itself.
After three years, it was coming up on her 30th bday last October so I decided the time was right. We went to London with her schoolhood and still best friend Jill(no pictures on the 'net because she didn't like the one I posted) and another friend Bob. Jill and Pamela did an England summer abroad so they wanted to re-live high school memories. I thought high tea at the Savoy on her birthday seemed appropriate to add to some of mine and Pamela's best memories. Guys always seem to want some big or semi-big moment to express that sort of commitment because we are such babies about that commitment thing. Those male hormones don't allow our pea-brains to comtemplate long-term relationships rationally. Our poor little egos are so easily bruised and we get concerned that we won't be the young buck chasing forever, even though in reality we're not this stud that are fantasizing reactive mind would like to think we are.
But it has been more in just the day-to-day living that we renew our commitment to each other. I don't take a second of our happiness together for granted and I don't care where the toothpaste is squeezed or fret about any decisions related to decorating the place. Look, I'm the rocket scientist, as if I'm gonna have a better eye to figure out how to put the house together. Just leave the appliance repair and trash removal to me. We have been through alot emotionally and healthwise as I got my arthritis and her bouts wlth depression under control. So as a result of the big life issues we have already defeated, the question of getting engaged was of how to do it than if.
I believe the important thing in a relationship is not to postpone happiness. If one is lucky enough to possess the the intellect and passion that is not easily satisfied, don't ever let it be compromised. There will be the perfect fit and it won't be a question. It may take some time get it close enough to be certain, but the getting there will cement it for both. What one will question is how it fits so well every minute and how one ever hung on to less.
Well, its getting ready to rain so its like I'm going to get to try my new rainpants on my motorbike commute home. They are like fetishwear for geeks. Only us BMW bikers have the guts enough to be seen outside the S/M den with them on. Sport bike riders are either dressed in those flashy fully articulated leather suits that match the bike's paint right down to where they lay on the bike, cruisers riders are in shorts and flip flops with their doofus "I'm a frat boy corduroy ski resort baseball cap on backward," and, if you're on a Harley, either: a) you're too drunk to notice its raining or, b) you're not about to slip some sissy rainpants over your 52/35 levis that you never let your oldlady wash anyway. I hate the rain in that it keeps me from riding at a pace just a little faster than my four-wheeled friends around me. Not that I have to treat my vehicle as an metaphorical "extension" of myself, I just like to stay ahead of all the Southern Baptists just in case the Rapture they threaten me with on their bumper sticker happens and we have pandemonium with all those good people suddenly gone from the wheel. Somehow I feel it will not be much different from what goes on out on the road today.
Tuesday (5/28/96):So here we are back at the grind after a weekend at the beach. For all those ultracool California types, back East these cities were settled up rivers to protect them from sea-borne invaders. Probably because those religious righters also pissed off alot of people. That tranlates to in the late 20th century that we have to get in our car and drive 2+ hours to get to the ocean. That in itself would not be so bad except that the country roads leading to the beach are always clogged with, you guessed it, big city suburbanites with the minivan loaded down with bad driving habits blocking the way. That's true of these southern cities, anyway. For the little bit that I was on a vector with the Philadelphia and New York drivers, it was smooth sailing.
The weather was overcast and then rainy this weekend on the Delmarvia (DELaware/MARyland/VirginIA - the geography lesson for today in case that Jeopardy contestant slot comes through) penisula. We spent the weekend at Pamela's folks beach house in Bethany, Delaware. A nice quiet beach community. The frat boy beach (Dewey) is twenty minutes up the road and another 10 minutes above that is the gay beach (Rehobeth). Just below us is the destination of all those minivan families from Pittsburgh(Ocean City, MD). So it is nice not to be the destination of choice for the hoards, for once. We got in a nice bicycle ride Sunday on the country roads leading to Assawoman nature reserve. I'm not gonna even start to think about what those Indian scouts saw there when they named it. Its always longer coming back than it is going out, how is that so?
I mainly slept and dressed minimalist this weekend, in keeping with that back to nature theme. We went out Saturday night and saw "Mission Impossible" or, for you Jeopardy types, "What would be the most likely title for any screenplay that would attempt to keep Tom Cruise's "squeaky clean, stupid, but can do it all, lowest common denominator" middle of the frigging road 'merican personality from bleeding through any role he takes in a movie? Let's just say I'm glad I saw it while I was down at the shore where everything is taken with a grain of salt or two.
Wednesday (5/29/96): I love every inch of CA, I'm hoping after I'm married I can convince Pamela to consider moving there. I could get work fairly easily in Southern or Central CA and in the Bay Area as well. I really want to settle in San Francisco. Its my City: a 40's romantic elegance with a 90's head on its shoulders. You are encouraged to park your motorbike on the sidewalk, not given a $100 ticket. Getting out into the country means endless vineyards and coast instead of remnants of the Civil war that hasn't ended; you have a hundred different kind of mystics throughout town instead of types of police; you have the Bay-to-Breakers freakshow/race instead of the Marine Corp marathon; bicycles have their own lane instead of a pothole-ridden gutter. Oh well, does it show that I really prefer life there?
Well, its about 50 days to go 'til the wedding day. Still a few things to do: finalize addresses/mail invites, get a judge (the zen buddists were booked and I don't need a cheap imitation of God as a witness to remind me to stick with it since my mom is going to be there), get a blood test (society wants to make sure we don't have syphillis, no test for AIDS of course, that would legitimize it as a real disease too much. Maybe its really to be sure we won't have babies allergic to Nutrasweet, heaven forbid!)
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