The Wake-Up Call

All this time I have been becoming the person I am.
I have always been heading this way.
-Morag Joss
"Half Broken Things"

Twenty-five years ago today:

December 19, 1984
Wednesday

When I awoke Bob Umland was in a rush. He had to be at work by 9:45AM. I left at the same time he left. I decided to head over to the Castro area to see if they still had my Chilly Willy T-shirt at that one particular shop. I was determined to buy it this time. To my dismay, the store was closed. I stuck around until 10AM but it still never opened! And so, I decided to just leave.

I browsed at some greeting cards at another nearby store. The best cards I have seen--as of late--were at the Hallmark Shop at the Alamo Plaza (near Danville) yesterday.

I arrived at mom's house at 11am just in the nick of time for the theme song to "The Young & The Restless" (also known as Nadia's Theme). I love the piano melody.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1_xDytEB1Q
I watched the show along with "Days Of Our Lives". It seems as though nothing ever changes in the story lines of these soap operas--or maybe they just move to slowly for me.

Mike Miller called me at about 3PM or so, "Hey Mike, do you want to go shopping for Christmas?"
I took him up on it. Mike volunteered to drive over to the Fremont Hub, so that was nice escape. We spent time at a book store and i bought things for Suzy Miller and Helen Wong. We stopped to eat at a Burrito Shop and Orange Julius and then on to Loard's Ice-Cream for dessert. It was good.

We returned to my pad by 8:30PM when I decided to call on Karyn Kossoff. She was coming to watch DYNASTY with me tonight. I confirmed the visit when she told me she had to pick up Dennis Reno at the San Francisco Airport.
"Oh, okay, well I can go with you," I said.
Karyn met Mike Miller, too.

Karyn is so much fun. It was even fun walking around the San Francisco Airport with her. I had a fun time watching DYNASTY with her, too.

Later, we had to pick-up Dennis again in Central Alameda and drive him to the Oakland Airport. Thereafter, Karyn dropped me off at my pad. By then it was half past midnight. I hit the hay.

...Then, much to my surprise, at 2AM or so 'Mr. Christopher Cordellos' telephoned!
"I'm at Barbara's. You won't believe this but I just finished telling her the whole story about us."
"Unbelievable," I said as I rubbed my eyes, feeling as though this was a dream (or maybe even a nightmare).
"Yeah...I lost twenty pounds and I feel like I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown."
"Chris! You have to start eating right!"
"Jim Severn and Jim Sullivan both bent and took advantage. Crazy!"
"Well, you know...Danny and Mary both said they saw you at 'The Hub'."
Chris began to shout in an overbearing way, trying to be defensive about his visit to 'The Hub'. He handed the phone over to Barbara.

"Hi Michael, I miss you. I promise to write to you," Barbara pleaded, "I'm going to Indiana in February and Chris gets out on January 2nd."

What a wake up call! Chris continued with stories about how his family life is not too well either. His new nephew (per his brother, Nick) is tiny and gets blisters when touched. The doctor says he will be lucky to live longer than three months!

Either way, I was glad to hear from Chris.
"I thought of you A LOT," Chris expressed in his shy, roundabout way.
I briefly mentioned my experiences with Jim Koran, Jeffrey Burr and 'sort of' about Bob Umland (but not really much about Bob).

He could understand now, better than ever before, that Greeks knew what they were doing when they put lovers side by side in battle. No one worth his salt would dare to show fatigue or cowardice before his lover.
-Nial Kent
"The Divided Path"