Reassessment

"You mean it has yet to be proven that the past,
present and the future are one in the same?"
-as heard in NY while watching
the Broadway play
Blithe Spirit, An Improbable Farce
by Noel Coward

A reassessment is a good word.
It's simply a time for a new appraisal or evaluation of one's life.

Twenty-five years ago today:

January 26, 1985
Saturday

The phone rang around the 9AM-ish period. It was Paloma calling. We are planning to work out at the gym together today.
“I’ll call you when I am leaving at around twelve o’clock, ok?”
I said, “Great” as I remained in bed and under my covers until 10:30AM.

Mom telephoned next.
“I just wanted to see what you were up to today. If you want to come over I have some coffee and rolls here.”
How could I pass that up?
Once I arrived at mom’s we chatted about the latest goings on.
“I’ll be going to Josie’s today to see Uncle Orlie because Dad didn’t see him last night.”

My Aunt Josie lives in San Leandro. My Dad had one brother named Joe Eligio Armijo (My Godfather, who died in 1981 at the age of forty-three) but he has six half-brothers and sisters (all have the same mother/different father). Dad’s half-brother Orlie is visiting from Colorado.
Mom continued. “Aunt Julia told dad she had spoken to my cousin. She made some remark about me and called your dad an ‘asshole’. Julia got all mad and defensive and told her ‘Don’t call my brother an asshole!’”.

This asshole nonsense must stem from the fact that my mom’s cousin was living in the townhouse that I am living in now. She was paying an unheard of cheap rental amount and when my Dad wanted to raise her rent by a hundred dollars she flew the coup. And so, my Dad is an ‘asshole’ now. Ridiculous. It’s never good to mix family and business.

My funds are tight—as usual. The receipt of my Citibank and American Express bills is no fun.

I need to browse my handwritten words and try to memorize them for the skit on Monday night. I keep procrastinating.

Paloma called again and said she’d be leaving at 11:45AM, “I should be there by twelve-thirty.”
She arrived at that precise time, too. I gave her a little cuddle and kiss. I really like being with her. I want it so that every time we get-together we become more and more easy, carefree and comfortable. I want it to get to the point where we 'make love' like crazy one night after a good work out.

We arrived at 24 Hour Nautilus in San Leandro and worked out for a good two hours. I could tell that Paloma had eyes for me and one other fella who was an employee there. There was no doubt that Paloma had the number ONE body of all the ladies in the gym (and perhaps in the entire vicinity of San Leandro for that matter!).

After our workout we went to BayFair Shopping Center and browsed at leotards. Paloma has an eye for the fashionable wear. We ate at some place and ordered Bacon Cheese burgers. We laughed because they forgot the bacon! We followed that with a yogurt dessert. It was so “ugh” and artificial tasting.

We walked about the Shopping Center for a while until we decided to head back to Alameda. It was 4:30PM already and we had a fun day. Paloma seemed in a rush to leave.
She said, “You can just drop me off at my car. I want to go home.”

That was a bit of a downer but--in a way--it was a slight relief. For some reason, I am fearful of my sexual performance (when we get to that point). Oh well, she left and I relaxed and took a nap.
I woke up and decided to telephone Paloma.
“I am so happy to hear from you.”
“Well, I wanted to see how you were feeling after the workout. I took a good nap.”
“I rested, too. I might be seeing an old friend who lives in Concord tonight. I will call you if it doesn’t fall through, ok?”
“Okay.”

That’s when I decided to call Sherri. There was no answer at her place. Then the phone rang suddenly and it was Sherri. She had been calling my parents but I explained that they’re not at home because they went to my Aunt Josie’s house in San Leandro.
“Well, do you think you could take care of Ashley for a while? I want to go to a small party with some friends for a little while.”
“Oh sure…I’ll be right over.”

That was an easy uncle to niece babysitting job. Ashley slept all the way through. I watched half of a video movie called “Electric Dreams” and sped through an X-rated video flick called “?” about a mermaid. After the brief arousal of that show I switched to “Hardcore”, starring George C. Scott on CINEMAX. He was in search of his runaway daughter amidst a dark porno world. It was okay.

Sherri arrived home at 11PM and we chatted about the cocktail waitress who bought John an aquarium, and about some of the other movies she’d seen recently.
Sherri complained pointing to a gigantic bag of popcorn, “John is eating all of this popcorn!”

I went home and telephoned ma and pa who had just arrived home. I was going to visit but instead I showered and fell asleep.

As only a great mind can do,
I've reassessed by decision and changed my mind."
-as heard while watching the
2009 Woody Allen film
"Whatever Works"