October 2, 1984 Tuesday
Got the courses straightened out—none of them are at the [company] training center. I drove to practice & well, there is significant improvement but still so far to go. Things are polarized [in that] I am no expert on any given instrument or song, but I know my theory. The drummer, Clayton, I think—his timing has really tightened up. We didn’t practice many “songs” [he calls them], maybe a half dozen. I hope we all see the purpose in it, the eventual good.
[Author’s note 2017: I’d say it is evident I was again trying to learn guitar. Or I would not have stated I was no expert. I say polarized when the other guy wants to learn specific tunes, while I have determined that some generic music ground needs to be covered first.
Note below how I describe the process of reading computer books repeatedly. And this was over thirty years ago! When most of today’s power users and experts still never had a clue what a computer text was.]
I crashed out early but not until a long session with the computer text. It helps to read it that 4th or 5th time, or until it clicks. Here’s the joke going around [the company]. [It helps if you watched TV back then.]
Jack & Jill went up the hill,
They smoked a little leaf.
Jack got high,
Undid his fly,
And Jill said, “Where’s the beef?”
Yuk. At work, I still haven’t made arrangements to see Jim B. I have hesitated to speak in my own defense, it’s improper. Ed P. & I were talking about how I wouldn’t leave my bird [Memphis] with this certain girl because she had a cat. Donna—the girl, who—if what Bentley says is true, complained, leans over and says, “Well, it’s simple. I’d say if it’s no pussy for me, then it’s no pussy for you? Can you see this lady complaining even if I did look down her front. You’re a bastard rat, Bentley.
[Author’s note 2017: I don’t have much recollection of this incident, but in those days it was very common for the middle-aged housewives at the company to complain that men were ogling them. Of course, all the guys knew I’m not a tit-man, but the supervisor, Bentley, was. So much so that he would think anybody who wasn’t was a liar. Near as I recall, this Donna may have said I looked down her front. If so, it was an accident.]
Anyway, this Paki [Pakistani jokes were big at the company] walks up to this guy’s front door. (With accent) he says, “Please I am needing a job, only for $10.”
Well, the guy says, “I dunno, I don’t really have anything . . .”
“ Oh please, I am a very good worker.”
What the hell, the guy takes him around back to the shed and finds him a couple gallons of grey paint.
“Go around front,” he says, “and paint the porch”.
Okay, a couple hours go past & there’s a knock at the back door.
“What”, says the guy, “all finished?”
“Oh, yes.”
Well, the guy says, “Here’s 10 buck (sic) & here’s another 10 for being such a fast worker.”
“Thank you”, says the Paki, “but around front it is not a porch, it is a BMW.”
[Author’s note 2017: this joke was first making the rounds in 1984.]
Earle is ready to go with Memphis. Oh, Marion is back, but she broke a few ribs “playing rough”.
[Author’s note 2017: in the early days I was more prone to write about escapades, but notice how the details and most of the names are missing? This is a hallmark of my style. Those who don’t know the history here should be aware that Marion was the babe of all babes in 1984. Yes, this is the same Marion who has been my friend (without benefits, she is not my type) for nearly 35 years, the same gal I visited in Colorado in 2012. If you can name it, she did it before she was 20. We talk about it, so I know all the particulars, in full color, but have never sampled the goods myself.
This is the same gal that used to pick me up babes who were my type. I’d indicate which one I wanted, and when they next went to the ladies room, Marion would tell her, “I know a guy who is just like that”. Sigh, those were the days. We also used to pick up female hitchhikers. This is not fantasy, but to this day I have a chuckle when I hear guys who think they’ve got experience.
When I met Marion a few years earlier, she told me how she had been molested at an early age. I didn’t believe it—until I saw pictures of her at that early age. Un-be-lievable. We used to travel out to Oregon in my Cadillac. She’s the only person I would let drive it.]
