Thinking Aloud

"Thinking aloud is a habit responsible for much of mankind's misery."
-Ben Franklin to John Adams
"John Adams" (2008 mini-series)

You Were On My Mind, a cool tune:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48i3Hyo1jgg

Twenty-five years ago today:

March 30, 1985
Saturday

I woke up much too early for mom and dad. They were still asleep, so I went for a non-stop morning bicycle ride along the South Shore beach from 9:30AM to 10:30AM. Then I went to visit mom to see if she was ready to come over to my house so we could "clean house" together. She 'was' ready. Hurrah! We revamped, vacuumed my pad and then went to South Shore where we checked out the new ROSS Store and walked through the mall. We browsed at wedding bands and began to realize that Tony and Helen were married yesterday!

I spoke to Helen this morning and she was talking about a coworker friend, Salima, who announced her pregnancy and then more recently her miscarriage. The fact that Helen brought this up led me to believe that she may--in fact--be pregnant. I think she may be halting the news until all signs look good and the first trimester has passed.

I took a nap after my lunch with mom. When I woke up I freshened-up and waited for Dale to come over. I expected Dale to bring his friend (Peter or Nick) but neither one of them showed up. And so, Dale and I got into his car (I was giving my car a rest today and plan to do the same tomorrow).

Dale and I stopped at John and Sherri's. Ashley was spending the night at Grandma's. Sherri's friend, Anna, was there. Dale and I invited them to join us to the movies but they took a rain check.

Anna has a good personality. I liked her. Dale felt the same way. Dale drove into San Francisco and we made it to Ryan Hargrave's apartment. The three of us went to see "Friday The 13th" Part 5. I had a hit off of a joint and it tasted "Yuckie".
I thought, "Never again."

Dale parked up a very steep hill and when we returned to the area Dale thought his car had been stolen.
"No, Dale! We're at the wrong corner!"
And sure enough, we found his car.

Co-worker Bob Gross and his pal, Tony, were at the Alhambra Movie Theater, too. We watched the movie with them. I began to feel sick after the frequent ax murders. Dale was biting his nails in the dark. I kept nudging his elbows to scare him during tense scenes.

I was remembering that I invited my mom to go with us to see this movie. She didn't want to go either.
Mom said, "Oh no, I have to wash my hair and get ready for Michelle Armijo's baby shower."
Michelle is married to my first cousin, Joey Armijo.

Ryan, Bob, Dale and I met at a bar after the movie called "The Cinch" and drank huge Long Island Iced Teas. They were four dollars each! They were good, too. We left Ryan there as he kept boozin' it.

Bob, Dale and I stopped at Burger King (and dropped Bob off somewhere afterwards).
Dale started to talk about Ryan while we were in the car.
"Ryan hustled two-hundred dollars while he was in New York."
"Really? How do you know?"
"He told me," Dale said excitedly, "Ryan has--in the past--prostituted forty-five thousand dollars and bought a condominium with the money. He's very proud of his feat."
"I can't believe it," I said, "I'm just shocked, I guess."
"Why?"
"I guess I just think it's gross that he belittled himself and chanced receiving all of those venereal diseases. Ugh...it amazes me. Ryan seems so...well, he seems so innocent."
Dale shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't knock him for it though," I continued, "I still like Ryan, he's such a friendly sort."

Dale took me straight home to Alameda. He wanted to be with his wife, Dee.

"In spite of everything, I still believe people are good at heart, even though I know what happened to the person who became famous for writing those words."
-The Diary of Anne Frank