The Pleasure Seeker

As he grew older he began more and more to take refuge in books.
-Nial Kent
"The Divided Path"

I will be seeking pleasure and excitement during my BLOGGER VACATION in Paris, Spain and England from May 20-June 8 2009. Therefore, the forthcoming blogs (after today) will be limited to a 'hopeful quote to ponder' and my 'Twenty-five years ago' segment.

I plan to take a paperback that I found some months ago called "The Pleasure Seeker" by Jose Luis de Vilallonga for the trip. I will surely find some good lines in that one (at least I hope so). The front of the paperback cover has imprinted the following:

'The intense revealing novel of a man who traded love for desire and desire for novelty..."Another chapter from La Dolce Vita"
-New York Herald Tribune

Twenty-five years ago today:

May 20, 1984
Sunday

Barbara left early and I woke up with a stiff neck. I showered to relieve the pain. I heard Chris arrive in Jim’s motorcycle at about 8:30am.

We hung out in his room for a while and had a ‘morning delight’ (makes me think of that song by Starland Express called ‘Afternoon Delight’).


We headed out to Arcata for breakfast as Samoa’s Cookhouse. He rode in Jim’s motorcycle and I drove separately in my car. We returned to the house and readied ourselves for the beach (after a shower).

We argued a bit. There was a quiet tension between us.
“All we ever do is argue,” Chris yelled.
“That’s NOT true! You know…you’re not just an asshole but ‘THE WHOLE ASS’ for saying that,” I said in my very pissed-off tone.

We headed for the beach in my car as we had a drawn out spat about ‘weed’. I was “against” it. He was on the “semi-circle” about it.
“We’re nothing alike. I’m radical and hardcore,” Chris announced.
I was silent but I could easily agree with his words. I thought I could be quite radical at times, although I am usually more ‘soft-core’.

We ventured over to the zoo in Eureka because it was too cold at the beach. We ran into Phil and a ‘redhead’ from Oregon. We shared Michelob beers with them and ate small bites.

Later, Chris and I laid out for a bit of sunshine in the patio area of his house. I wore his Dad’s old black bikini bathing suit and we laid out ‘nude’ to ‘semi-nude’. I got a rub down with the Ban du Soleil cream. It was good.


I left the house at 4:30pm and arrived home to Alameda at 9:45pm. Chris was not at home when I telephoned to inform him that I had arrived home safely.