The Way We Were

"If a man is a gentleman, he knows quite enough.
And if he is NOT a gentleman, whatever he knows is bad for him."
-Oscar Wilde
"The Picture of Dorian Gray"

If you want a bit of an adrenaline rush for a weekend. Try watching the films 'The Transporter' 1, 2 and 3.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Transporter

The Transporter films offer a great thrill ride and Jason Statham is no slouch. Frank Martin gets the "007" gentleman 'seal of approval'. Rules are made to be broken. You don't have to always watch a movie with an in-depth story. Sometimes an 'edge of the seat' action-packed one is what we need. Here's a preview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXJXJMCLlrY&feature=related

Twenty-five years ago today:

March 3, 1985
Sunday Morning

Dale calls me at 8:30AM for the inside story on my beleaguered meeting with Steff.
"You were right."
"Oh Mike, I'm so sorry."
I sensed him smiling as he tried to be all sympathetic and apologetic.
Dale continued. "I felt like your pop last night, waking at three o'clock in the morning, worrying and wondering if you'd spent the night with her and if she was ever-so-beautiful...and whether you even would if she was all those things. Then I figured you had higher morals than that."
"Yeah well, you were right."

I went to mom's for breakfast. I didn't hesitate to give mom the spiel on the meeting of Steffanya.
Mom laughed about the circumstances. It was funny the way I explained it.

I telephoned Paloma and we made tentative plans for getting together later today.
In the meantime, I chose to nap. I was feeling lazy after Steff called (again). She decisively acts and talks the same way even though I feel differently after meeting her face-to-face. I even wonder if she lost all of the excess weight would she be my type? She needs a lot of work from what I could tell.

I napped and Marty entered the house at about 2:30PM with my four-hundred dollars in rent money. Hurrah!

Paloma telephoned at 2PM and we made a definitive date to make the 5:10PM screening at the California 3 Cinema in Berkeley to see "Vision Quest". I had never driven to her pad in the Berkeley Hills in the daylight. It was neat. We went riding with my convertible top down along Telegraph Avenue. After parking I bought some bear claws and a raisin-ish pastry at 'The Good Earth'.

"Vision Quest" was good. It was about a wrestler who was about eighteen years old, a senior in high-school who was in love with a twenty-one year old woman. After the flick, Paloma's wisdom tooth was annoying her. It didn't distract from our going to 'The Good Earth' again for some yogurt pie. We held each other's hands throughout the movie (and fiddled with each other's legs, too). We usually do that during our movies together. I make her laugh. She does the same for me. I ought to get her to speak more French to me. She's my real sweetheart...I think (despite her close-range association with those bodybuilders). There was one big wrestler in the "Vision Quest" movie with a great physique at only 168 pounds! If only I'd look that good someday. I also loved the lyrics and theme song (CHANGE) for the movie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU-D1cTf6M4&feature=PlayList&p=23005F0C9AE86812&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=15

Paloma joked. "I bench pressed the other day and I realized what I put you through last Tuesday night at the 24-Hour Nautilus in San Francisco."
"Yeah, see! It's not easy, huh?"
We laughed.

After the yogurt pie at 'The Good Earth' I kept making Paloma laugh over little nothings like saying, "You eat so fast."
I drove her home and then I went to mom's to take her the leftover bear claw pastry and a bit of yogurt pie. I cracked a joke that made myself laugh.
Mom asked, "What is that paste filling inside the bear claw?"
"Don't you know? It's shit. The bear wiped his ass with it's claw and that's where it came from."
I went on to explain that it was almond paste but it made mom laugh. It was funny. I didn't stay there long. I went home soon after.

Once home I went upstairs to get into my 'loungeables' when the phone rang.
It was Steff. It kind of amazes me how persistently giddy and fresh she can be. I don't feel the same way that I felt before about her. It's harder for me to talk and project the feelings and sayings I used to express before we met face-to-face. I managed though. She acts as if we're still 'the way we were' even though I know we are not (and won't be in time).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNEcQS4tXgQ&feature=fvw
Steff will be a thing of the past but I hope we'll remain friends. She's still nonchalantly mentioning the April 20th cruise with her lead singing cousin of CHICAGO.
I said reassuring, "I'm still looking forward to the cruise."
I was still leery about 'us' as an item.
"You know, Jean-Pierre is willing to look at a portfolio on you...even though I don't know how to go about all of that."
"Oh well, whatever."
"Just think, I can manage you and set up a Saturday or Sunday appointment for you to take some snapshots. We could have a whole series of shots in different locales. We can even do it at Willie's Studio."
"Only time will tell." I said, as I realized I often say that to change the subject.

Bruce Diamond made a surprise call to me last night.
"Hey Mike, I learned some interesting facets about you that I never knew before."
"Oh, like what?"
"Well, I was surprised about your goings-on with Paloma and Steffanie...let alone Bob Umland, Jeffrey Burr and the casual mention of Jim Koran."
"Only time will tell." I laughed.
Bruce and I made a 'for sure' plan to meet up on Friday night. I can always 'buck that'. I wouldn't consider it a great loss--after our chance meeting. I can Thank Dale for that because of those intimate stories he has shared.

Paloma may be coming over on Wednesday night. She will bring a quiche! What a lucky surprise for me. Every time I see her green eyes, her vivacious way and luxurious hair (and not to mention her exquisite worked-out body) I see that gorgeous smile that matches everything else. I remember last February 23rd when we went to that Pac Bell party at the Galleria. As we danced her right breast was revealed. It was funny and titillating at the same time. What a HOT night. I have shared good times with her.

Lastly, I watched a flick called "Secret Weapons" with my roommate, Marty. It was about the KGB (the secret police of the Soviet Union aka Komitet Gosudarstvennoĭ Bezopasnosti: translated as "Committee of State Security"). It centered on the KGB recruitment of young, beautiful women into the KGB who worked undercover as American women. It was entertaining. I liked it. It made me think of one of my all-time favorite movies: "Three Days of the Condor".

Just before I went to bed I telephoned Bruce Diamond to finish off our conversation. We talked more and it was interesting to hear him speak.
Bruce said, "I've been gay and known it since I was fifteen years old."
"Really?"
It beats me. My sexuality is certainly no mystery. I simply want to be a 'Happy Man'. And as I see it, so far, I am and will remain so no matter what. I just need to be reminded that I only want happiness from time to time. G'Night.

On homosexuality:
Any man who says he wouldn't whack off with Cary Grant is either a liar or can't get it up.
-James Kirkwood
"Good Times Bad Times", a novel