11:23 p.m. Important developments. The booklet (a different volume I wrote about my travels in Thailand) receives some good reviews. Among the top were Debs the waitress at IHOP, Sue my supervisor, Eugene and Pete, and (somewhat it'll remember) Brian Murdoch. The librarians and cashiers liked it also. Dave, the local geek, has been grading his neck to get a glimpse. Even Cowboy Roy was caught reading on duty, and his comment is an undisputed compliment.
[Author's note: there are a few referrals to people I worked with in the last paragraph, just bear with me, the journal back then was a completely different format. The following paragraph refers to the even stranger situation that back at the time I started at the phone company, I was clearly the only person some people had ever met who read and traveled, and they could not believe it to be true. For instance, one of my co-workers named EJ (Elizabeth Brooks) has a doctor “Ron” who does not know me.]
EJ says her doctor tied living strip into me yesterday. It’s the familiar old tap-dance I’ve heard how many times. When she told him I was back, he declared:
I am a phoney.
I do not go on these holidays.
I use a remail service to post mark my cards.
I go to lengths to “impress” strangers like him.
EJ says no amount of evidence would shake his position on this. He says the photos were “back-drops” and the situations I described are derived from travel guides. I cannot win with this guy. Something that disturbs me is that he is using his position to isolate Liz, like only he can offer salvation because her and I are incompatible.
He has “come out” from behind his desk to embrace her. His questions predominantly concern sex. I find these incompatible. He passes these off as gestures of sympathy. I'm inclined to report his behavior. I only suspect, yet this mutual suspicion has spawned distrust of [his] credentials; I never questioned him until he descended upon me in such ferocity. And I am surprised, after all, Dr. R., who am I?
[Author's note: in the end, EJ dumped the doctor, whence her and I wound up being the best of friends for the next nine or ten years. Then she transferred inland and got married. I think.]
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