Content-type: text/html Ray Manning

Monday, September 23, 2002 9:09 AM

Broken? (Part Two)


Monday is a meeting with the resourcescout corporate lawyer to see how much trouble we are in. It turns out that we are running behind but we are not in any serious legal trouble.

Tuesday I have the appointment with Dr. L. I tell him that I am a bit tired and will be off on measurements today. He sees that but I convince him not to worry about it because I have better days when I have more sleep and less stress. He relents and asks to see me again in two months.

Wednesday night, after a difficult and frustrating day at work, I'm heading off to K-Town to pick up Person J_VKPI for dinner. We end up at a small Italian restaurant in West Hollywood and have a nice dinner. After the first and second versions of "The Talk" I can see that Person J_VKPI is trying hard. After dinner we go for a walk and have the third version of "The Talk". We both handle the situation and discussion in a mature manner - Person J_VKPI handling it far better than I would have thought. But we continue talking and agree to be friends of the best kind because we both still like each other. By the end of the evening as I'm dropping Person J_VKPI off at his apartment we have agreed to be special friends. (Though I don't know what a special friend is.) We talk about our next plan of action and agree to try a club in West Hollywood on Saturday night - a club that Person J_VKPI has wanted to try and I have vetoed. I have not been to this club in fifteen years, but I'm willing to compromise right now in order to keep Person J_VKPI happy and smiling. We agree to make final arrangements before Saturday.

Thursday there is sort of, possibly, but not quite a close call on the motorcycle. (Though if I call it a close call then there are two more to come in the short term - so we won't call it a close call.) An SUV decides to come into the carpool lane without looking. I'm able to avoid contact with both the SUV and the cement wall on the left by a combined heavy braking and steering maneuever. Later in the ride, as I'm winding the R1 up on a transition road between two freeways and staying just below 100 mph in the turn, the front end starts wobbling. It is time for a steering damper if we're going to be aggressive in the 100 mph turns.

On Thursday night I happen to look out the window and see a streak in the sky. I quickly run and get the phone and call Mom and Dad and the kids as I run to the neighbors house to pull her outside - "There's something going up out of Vandenburg Air Force Base!" The neighbor and I stand outside watching for 10 minutes as I speak on the phone with Dad as he watches from his house. Time to search the Internet to see what satellite went up or what missile test just occurred.

When I leave work on Friday afternoon I am in a funk. I lift weights and absolutely drill the chest and triceps. And then I do the laundry. I feel like a few tears would actually help the situation. So I put on Pachelbel's "Canon in D" because this usually gets the tears flowing. I don't know why I feel this way.

I'm chatting with Person G and the telephone rings. It is Person Whatshisname (Dao). I don't f&#^@*$ believe this. We have a 40 minute conversation about jobs, careers, play, relationships, life, etc. If you believe in psychic feelings then this would explain why I've felt like tears for the 8 hours prior to the telephone call.

Saturday I run, lift weights, get to the bank to open a resourcescout account, trim a bush in the frontyard, and get down for a half hour nap. The nap is interrupted by phone calls from Person M_C and Person C_C. So I get up and rollerblade for an hour. When I return home I start working on archiving and scanning hundreds of negatives and slides from the past 25 years. This is a big job!

Person J_VKPI calls and confirms that we'll be going to the club in West Hollywood that I haven't been to in 15 years. We get to the club and hang out for a while but there is hardly anyone there. So we ditch the place and head to one of the more regular places that we go to. Person J_VKPI asks me, "Who's that?" and the other line of questions when Person N, Person P (Peter from a while ago), and Person Ted (the biochemist) come up and talk with me. On this night Person P has been drinking more than usual and keeps hanging around. Eventually we leave the cub to go home. A guy follows us out and starts getting friendly with me as Person J_VKPI and I are waiting for a traffic light to change. I just let him have his fun as I know in 8 seconds the light will change and I'll be through with the ordeal without causing a scene. As we start walking Person J_VKPI asks, "Why did that guy come over and start touching you?"

And I respond, truthfully, with, "Because I have such a charismatic and magnetic feel and personality to me that everyone wants to touch me - hoping that it will rub off on them." And so Person J_VKPI and I discuss this as we drive home. My head is hitting the pillow of my bed at 3:44am on Sunday morning.

Sunday is a slow day, but I still get out for an uninspired bicycle ride, watch two motorcycle races in the rain from Brazil, continue cataloging/archiving all of my negatives and slides, and get out for an hour of rollerblading. At the end of the rollerblading I miss my truck and skate past it. When I realize that I've missed it I try a quick stop and turn and end up on my back - left wrist having been extended (stupidly) to break the fall. I start abusing the Aleve and icing it the moment I get home - I sure hope this thing isn't broken. That would delay my return to the ice rink. And how does one ride a motorcycle or a bicycle with a cast on the wrist?

So on Sunday night I continue to ice the wrist and hope that the pain will go away over the night.