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The day I met Viz had been a strange one. Earlier in the afternoon, I had parked my car in Hillcrest on a side street (because goodness knows I NEVER pay for parking in Hillcrest). I opened my door a few inches and SMASH! Some guy rammed into my door and was thrown from his bicycle. He was able to get up and walk, but he had broken some skin on his back. (I should point out that he was not wearing a helmet. However, he did not hit his head.)
The guy was upset about what happened, but he didn't exactly try to blame me (but he did hint that I needed to look before opening my car door). He asked if I had a towel or something. I actually did have one in the hatchback. He wiped himself with it. His bicycle didn't seem to be damaged, so he went on his way.
After he left, I tried to close the door on my car. He had struck it with such force that it actually bent the front edge of the door into the side fender. No matter how hard I pushed and pulled, I couldn't get it to latch. I took it to my usual mechanic, but he said I needed to take it to a body shop. It was late in the afternoon on a Saturday and I knew I wouldn't be able to find anyone to work on it before Monday.
I had to figure out a way to keep the door closed. I had a long piece of thin rope. I was able to string the rope through the handle and the door latch to keep it closed. However, it wasn't secure. Someone could easily cut the rope and open the car door. I was going to be a nervous wreck before Monday rolled around.
Later that evening, I got a phone call. It was from a woman named Viz, who had placed a personal ad in the Reader that I had responded to. After we talked for a few minutes, she decided she wanted to meet me. She didn't live very far away, so she thought we could get together in about an hour at the Denny's nearby. I was thrilled about this. Normally, I have to have a few phone conversations before I get to meet the woman.
She told me she would be wearing a white shirt and a lime-green skirt. I went over to Denny's. She was already there. The moment I saw her, I thought she was the most attractive woman I had ever met through the personal ads. But I doubt she felt that way about me.
We went inside Denny's and ordered water. I asked her if she wanted something to eat. She really didn't. She wanted to go to this place called Zanzibar in Pacific Beach and check it out. I went to the pay phone, looked it up in the phone book and got the address. Then we had to get in my car. I had to get in through the passenger side first, getting myself over the stick shift. I told her about what had happened earlier in the day, but I could tell she was NOT impressed by my mode of transportation.
I tried what I could to make her laugh, but she almost seemed like she had no sense of humor. We found a parking space. She got out and then I had to climb out of the car. We went into Zanzibar, which was a coffee house. We ordered something to drink and sat down. There was a live band playing. It was an acoustic group consisting of three people in their 40s. They were playing original material, which I always appreciated. However, no one was really paying attention to them.
The one thing I know we discussed was how she had gotten into trouble as a juvenile. She had run off with her boyfriend and they were eventually found by the cops. I chimed in that people say nothing can happen to you if you break the law and you're under 18, but there was really a lot that could be legally done. She said, "Yeah, I know about that."
At one point, Viz said she was going to step outside to have a cigarette. "Can I come with you?" "No, you just stay here with the table." I didn't trust this scenario. After a few minutes, I got up and poked my head outside. She was there, smoking by herself. But she saw me spying on her. She didn't say anything after she got back, but we really didn't talk much. We watched the acoustic trio playing and decided to go home.
I dropped her off at Denny's. She said she would call me. I didn't know whether or not to believe her. As it turned out, she never did call even though I really hoped she would.
However, I ran into her about a month later. I was in line at Baltimore Bagels in Hillcrest and she was working behind the counter. She didn't see me. But the next time I went in, she did wait on me. She smiled when she saw me. I didn't ask her a lot of questions outside of "How are you doing?" She took and filled my order and that was it. I never saw her again. I should have told her I got my car fixed.
Yes, I had repair work done. The Monday after the date, I went to a body shop. I told them that all they needed to do was get the door to close all the way. I did not need to ever open it again (because I was certain I could not afford to have it completely fixed). I just planned to get in and out of the passenger side for as long as I drove the car. It turned out they were able to fix it so I could open and close the door. And it only cost $50. That was a real bargain. I have to admit that it didn't look that nice, because they basically pounded it back into shape without doing a complete finish, but I was happy to have it functioning again.
That car would not be able to stand in my way of getting a girlfriend again.
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Little Sister #2: Zid
At the time I had come up with the "Little Sister" designation, I thought it only applied to one person. However, when I look back on Zid, I can say that there was a second person I sort of treated like a little sister. I never tried to date her in a romantic fashion and she likely didn't have any feelings for me outside of friendship.
I met Zid when I was recording material for my CD release. I had a song that I needed a female vocalist for. I had put an ad in The Reader in their music section and stated that I would pay $50. The first time I did it, it was almost like a personal ad, but I was actually getting a lot of responses. I tried to meet with everyone. I had asked them to just give me a cassette of them singing so they wouldn't have to sing in front of me. Most of them I was able to meet in Balboa Park with my portable cassette player. Some were good, some weren't that good.
The one I selected lived in Encinitas with her mother. I had to mail her the material so she could practice. But when I tried to call her, the phone had been disconnected. I drove up to her house. She was still there, but didn't know her phone had been shut off and didn't know why. The first thing she tried to do was call her mom at work.
I told her we could try to set up some rehearsal time in the near future and she could call me when she got her phone back. The next thing I knew, I never heard from her again and I did not want to have to drive up to Encinitas. All of the runners up decided they didn't want to do the song.
I ran another ad. This time, I was more selective. I only called and arranged meetings with just a few of them. Zid was among them. She lived in Spring Valley, was 23 and had a lot of experience performing. She had been cast in leading roles in local musicals and says she was close to signing a record deal. However, that all came to an end when she had a horse-riding accident. She started having seizures after that and wasn't able to be on her own any more.
She wasn't my first choice. But my first choice flaked on me and other runners up also changed their minds. I knew Zid would go ahead and do it. She and her parents agreed and I gave her the material to practice. We set a date for her to come to the studio I used and we recorded it. She sang great and the song sounded amazing. It was one of the major highlights on the CD. It made me wish I had paid her to sing all the songs. My CD would have come out a lot better if I'd done that.
When I was asked by a local band to open up for them at a coffee house in North Park, I asked Zid to come perform the song with me. She agreed and we rehearsed the song. She and her parents showed up for the performance. It went over very well. But she had to leave after our set because the group I opened for warned that their presentation may cause people to have seizures.
Because of some upheaval in my life (which will be the topic of many posts ahead), I went about a year without seeing Zid after that, but dud talk to her from time to time. During this period, she had lost a lot of weight. She was a little on the chubby side when we performed together. While she had warned me, nothing prepared me for what she looked like when I actually saw her. I wouldn't have recognized her if I ran into her somewhere in town.
At this point, I got to hear what she went through when she had seizures. Usually, it would happen when we were on the phone. She would start by saying, "Okay!" And then she'd keep repeating, "Okay! Okay! Okay!" The first time this happened, I didn't know what was going on, but she was saying it like she was mad at me. After a little bit, her mother got on the phone and told me she had a seizure. That happened a few more times on the phone. When it did happen, I had to wait for someone to pick up and let me know she was going to be alright.
She told me that the worst part about the accident was that a lot of people whom she thought were good friends abandoned her after that. She still had some friends that she would see from time to time, but felt really sad because it meant that the ones who left weren't really her friends. Something strange about all this was that she somehow got it in her head that I was one of her friends before the accident and I had just recently come back into her life. I had to correct her and let her know that I hadn't met her until just recently and it took awhile for her to accept this. But I always wondered that if she thought I was in her life before, what memories she possibly possessed of me before the accident.
I would hang out with her at her house sometimes. Once, I was there and the film version of "Bye Bye Birdie" was on TV. I told her I played Conrad Birdie in high school. She told me she was in two productions of the musical. She played Maria in one and Kim in the other. She had videotapes of the performances. We watched highlights. One of them had Hugo throw the punch at Conrad in slow motion. I told her about the conspiracy in which our Hugo actually planned to punch me for real. She thought that was terrible. I was also surpised with how they staged "The Telephone Hour." Years later, Dad and I were talking about the production when I went to school. I commented that he had put a lot of work into that one set piece that was only used for five minutes. He replied that the show absolutely had to have that set piece for the number. (It resembled the Broadway version.) I said no, I saw two other school productions that staged the song without the set piece. He didn't say anything in response.
I had gone out and done some other things with Zid, like go see live music, but her father usually came along. My friend Fraz was having a barbecue at her home and I invited Zid to go with me. Her parents let her go with me by herself. Before we left, they told me what I needed to do in the event she had a seizure. Nothing happened during the barbecue. We returned to Spring Valley and parked outside her parents' house. I played her a tape of music I had recorded for my next release, which she was going to do the vocals for. While we were talking, she went silent and her eyes were wide open, staring through me. I realized she was experiencing a seizure.
I went over to the passenger side of the car and guided her out. She was able to walk, but I helped her by putting my arm around her and held her hand. While we were walking to the front door, she lifted up my hand and kissed the back. I don't think she was totally aware of what was going on. We got to the front door and rang the doorbell. Her father answered and he could see what was going on. He took it from there. I explained it just happened in the car.
I didn't see too much of Zid after that. I did continue to talk to her on the phone until 2003, when I moved from San Diego to San Jose. I know I told her I was moving and didn't know if I was going to keep in touch. As it turned out, I didn't.
So, searching for her on the Internet, she doesn't have any social media accounts. There's no Facebook, MySpace, Twitter or anything. And it also looks like none of the other members of her family (sisters, parents) logged on, either. According to Intellius, she's married, but her last name hasn't changed, so I don't think that happened.
I do feel terrible that I didn't stay in touch with her. I still have contact with my other "little sister." But if Zid doesn't do anything to create a presence on the Internet, I may never find out how she's been doing.
That makes me feel even more terrible.
I met Zid when I was recording material for my CD release. I had a song that I needed a female vocalist for. I had put an ad in The Reader in their music section and stated that I would pay $50. The first time I did it, it was almost like a personal ad, but I was actually getting a lot of responses. I tried to meet with everyone. I had asked them to just give me a cassette of them singing so they wouldn't have to sing in front of me. Most of them I was able to meet in Balboa Park with my portable cassette player. Some were good, some weren't that good.
The one I selected lived in Encinitas with her mother. I had to mail her the material so she could practice. But when I tried to call her, the phone had been disconnected. I drove up to her house. She was still there, but didn't know her phone had been shut off and didn't know why. The first thing she tried to do was call her mom at work.
I told her we could try to set up some rehearsal time in the near future and she could call me when she got her phone back. The next thing I knew, I never heard from her again and I did not want to have to drive up to Encinitas. All of the runners up decided they didn't want to do the song.
I ran another ad. This time, I was more selective. I only called and arranged meetings with just a few of them. Zid was among them. She lived in Spring Valley, was 23 and had a lot of experience performing. She had been cast in leading roles in local musicals and says she was close to signing a record deal. However, that all came to an end when she had a horse-riding accident. She started having seizures after that and wasn't able to be on her own any more.
She wasn't my first choice. But my first choice flaked on me and other runners up also changed their minds. I knew Zid would go ahead and do it. She and her parents agreed and I gave her the material to practice. We set a date for her to come to the studio I used and we recorded it. She sang great and the song sounded amazing. It was one of the major highlights on the CD. It made me wish I had paid her to sing all the songs. My CD would have come out a lot better if I'd done that.
When I was asked by a local band to open up for them at a coffee house in North Park, I asked Zid to come perform the song with me. She agreed and we rehearsed the song. She and her parents showed up for the performance. It went over very well. But she had to leave after our set because the group I opened for warned that their presentation may cause people to have seizures.
Because of some upheaval in my life (which will be the topic of many posts ahead), I went about a year without seeing Zid after that, but dud talk to her from time to time. During this period, she had lost a lot of weight. She was a little on the chubby side when we performed together. While she had warned me, nothing prepared me for what she looked like when I actually saw her. I wouldn't have recognized her if I ran into her somewhere in town.
At this point, I got to hear what she went through when she had seizures. Usually, it would happen when we were on the phone. She would start by saying, "Okay!" And then she'd keep repeating, "Okay! Okay! Okay!" The first time this happened, I didn't know what was going on, but she was saying it like she was mad at me. After a little bit, her mother got on the phone and told me she had a seizure. That happened a few more times on the phone. When it did happen, I had to wait for someone to pick up and let me know she was going to be alright.
She told me that the worst part about the accident was that a lot of people whom she thought were good friends abandoned her after that. She still had some friends that she would see from time to time, but felt really sad because it meant that the ones who left weren't really her friends. Something strange about all this was that she somehow got it in her head that I was one of her friends before the accident and I had just recently come back into her life. I had to correct her and let her know that I hadn't met her until just recently and it took awhile for her to accept this. But I always wondered that if she thought I was in her life before, what memories she possibly possessed of me before the accident.
I would hang out with her at her house sometimes. Once, I was there and the film version of "Bye Bye Birdie" was on TV. I told her I played Conrad Birdie in high school. She told me she was in two productions of the musical. She played Maria in one and Kim in the other. She had videotapes of the performances. We watched highlights. One of them had Hugo throw the punch at Conrad in slow motion. I told her about the conspiracy in which our Hugo actually planned to punch me for real. She thought that was terrible. I was also surpised with how they staged "The Telephone Hour." Years later, Dad and I were talking about the production when I went to school. I commented that he had put a lot of work into that one set piece that was only used for five minutes. He replied that the show absolutely had to have that set piece for the number. (It resembled the Broadway version.) I said no, I saw two other school productions that staged the song without the set piece. He didn't say anything in response.
I had gone out and done some other things with Zid, like go see live music, but her father usually came along. My friend Fraz was having a barbecue at her home and I invited Zid to go with me. Her parents let her go with me by herself. Before we left, they told me what I needed to do in the event she had a seizure. Nothing happened during the barbecue. We returned to Spring Valley and parked outside her parents' house. I played her a tape of music I had recorded for my next release, which she was going to do the vocals for. While we were talking, she went silent and her eyes were wide open, staring through me. I realized she was experiencing a seizure.
I went over to the passenger side of the car and guided her out. She was able to walk, but I helped her by putting my arm around her and held her hand. While we were walking to the front door, she lifted up my hand and kissed the back. I don't think she was totally aware of what was going on. We got to the front door and rang the doorbell. Her father answered and he could see what was going on. He took it from there. I explained it just happened in the car.
I didn't see too much of Zid after that. I did continue to talk to her on the phone until 2003, when I moved from San Diego to San Jose. I know I told her I was moving and didn't know if I was going to keep in touch. As it turned out, I didn't.
So, searching for her on the Internet, she doesn't have any social media accounts. There's no Facebook, MySpace, Twitter or anything. And it also looks like none of the other members of her family (sisters, parents) logged on, either. According to Intellius, she's married, but her last name hasn't changed, so I don't think that happened.
I do feel terrible that I didn't stay in touch with her. I still have contact with my other "little sister." But if Zid doesn't do anything to create a presence on the Internet, I may never find out how she's been doing.
That makes me feel even more terrible.
Monday, May 29, 2017
An unexpected crash
In the summer of 1995, I took another trip to New Mexico. I don't recall the exact reason for the trip and everything just seems to run together at this point. I only know for certain one thing I did and that's the main topic of this post.
This may have been the time that I stopped to see Kird in Las Cruces. He was working on a Master's Degree at New Mexico State University. He was planning to become a social worker. (He would eventually become an attorney.) He was doing some teaching as part of his degree plan. Even though he knew I was coming, he said he had some evaluations of students' homework that he had to complete on his computer. We would have to wait awhile.
I noticed that he was very slow at typing and I got really frustrated. "Kird! You're hunting and pecking! That's going to take forever! I can type faster than that! Why don't you just let me type while you dictate?" He agreed to this. I was amazed to find that he was very concise in what he wanted to express in the evaluations. I was able to keep up and he was probably surprised at how quickly it all went. Now, we could properly run around town.
After that, nothing special happened until I was ready to go to Clovis to see Chez and Joad. At some point prior, I had called Chez' father. He told me she was working at a video store in Clovis. It was part of one of those "Welfare to Work" programs. She was still living with Jyd and Kyd. When I arrived in Clovis, their house was the first place I went.
This would be my first time meeting Kyd. He was a tall, Hispanic man and worked as a mechanic. Jyd told me Chez was at work and gave me the address. I went over there. I saw Chez going back and forth through the store. It took about 10 minutes before she finally saw me. After the shocked expression went away, she smiled at me. She was actually happy to see me. She was about to get off work in a few minutes and she asked me to drive her home. I agreed. On the way, I asked her if I could crash at their house that night.
After we got back to the house, she asked Jyd if she and I could run around for a little bit that evening. She practically had to beg her to watch Joad while we were out after asking if I could sleep on the couch. Jyd agreed, but didn't look too happy about it.
Chez and I went to a bar. I think it was called "The Castle." Chez said it was the closest thing to a gay bar in Clovis. She ordered some alcohol. I ordered a soda. We sat down and talked awhile. It was actually rather pleasant. I think she appreciated getting a bit of a break from her regular life.
While we were out, I played a recording of a song I had written about her that was going to be on my upcoming CD release. She wasn't too impressed by it. It wasn't her kind of music.
We went back to her house and I hung out with her, Jyd and Kyd. They said they were going to bed and I could sleep on the couch. I said I would probably leave early in the morning. Chez said they were all going to be sleeping in and I didn't need to let them know when I was leaving, so we just said our goodbyes then. She actually allowed me to hug her and give her a quick peck on the cheek.
While I laid on the couch, trying to fall asleep, I could hear the three of them talking in the bedroom. At first, it sounded like regular conversation, but I couldn't tell what they were discussing. After awhile, it was apparent that something sexual was going on in there, but I had no interest in checking it out. (And I'm pretty certain they were all concerned that I was going to get a little nosy.)
Chez and I continued to touch base over the next few months. After I had completed my CD release and sent it to her, I would ask her if she listened to it. She always used the excuse, "I haven't had time to listen to it yet." About the third time she did this I said, "I know where you can find the time! Just say, 'Hey, you guys! Let's not have sex tonight! Let's listen to Fayd's CD instead!'" She responded, "That's not funny."
Sometime later, she told me that Jyd had decided to move to Virginia with her daughter and leave Chez and Kyd behind. Chez was so upset because she felt like Jyd wanted it to be just her and her. She went into detail about what they did in the bedroom. (I'm not going to repeat that here.) Every night, Jyd would hold Chez and cry. So, Jyd going off on her own was a complete surprise to her. She also told me about how Jyd would always go out on her Wednesday nights, but never once invited her to go along. (I was even surprised by this. I assumed she always went with her.)
As it turned out, Chez and Joad went out to Virginia. This happened a couple of months after Jyd and her daughter left. After that, I didn't hear from Chez for awhile. At least, not until she needed something.
But that will be the topic of a future post.
This may have been the time that I stopped to see Kird in Las Cruces. He was working on a Master's Degree at New Mexico State University. He was planning to become a social worker. (He would eventually become an attorney.) He was doing some teaching as part of his degree plan. Even though he knew I was coming, he said he had some evaluations of students' homework that he had to complete on his computer. We would have to wait awhile.
I noticed that he was very slow at typing and I got really frustrated. "Kird! You're hunting and pecking! That's going to take forever! I can type faster than that! Why don't you just let me type while you dictate?" He agreed to this. I was amazed to find that he was very concise in what he wanted to express in the evaluations. I was able to keep up and he was probably surprised at how quickly it all went. Now, we could properly run around town.
After that, nothing special happened until I was ready to go to Clovis to see Chez and Joad. At some point prior, I had called Chez' father. He told me she was working at a video store in Clovis. It was part of one of those "Welfare to Work" programs. She was still living with Jyd and Kyd. When I arrived in Clovis, their house was the first place I went.
This would be my first time meeting Kyd. He was a tall, Hispanic man and worked as a mechanic. Jyd told me Chez was at work and gave me the address. I went over there. I saw Chez going back and forth through the store. It took about 10 minutes before she finally saw me. After the shocked expression went away, she smiled at me. She was actually happy to see me. She was about to get off work in a few minutes and she asked me to drive her home. I agreed. On the way, I asked her if I could crash at their house that night.
After we got back to the house, she asked Jyd if she and I could run around for a little bit that evening. She practically had to beg her to watch Joad while we were out after asking if I could sleep on the couch. Jyd agreed, but didn't look too happy about it.
Chez and I went to a bar. I think it was called "The Castle." Chez said it was the closest thing to a gay bar in Clovis. She ordered some alcohol. I ordered a soda. We sat down and talked awhile. It was actually rather pleasant. I think she appreciated getting a bit of a break from her regular life.
While we were out, I played a recording of a song I had written about her that was going to be on my upcoming CD release. She wasn't too impressed by it. It wasn't her kind of music.
We went back to her house and I hung out with her, Jyd and Kyd. They said they were going to bed and I could sleep on the couch. I said I would probably leave early in the morning. Chez said they were all going to be sleeping in and I didn't need to let them know when I was leaving, so we just said our goodbyes then. She actually allowed me to hug her and give her a quick peck on the cheek.
While I laid on the couch, trying to fall asleep, I could hear the three of them talking in the bedroom. At first, it sounded like regular conversation, but I couldn't tell what they were discussing. After awhile, it was apparent that something sexual was going on in there, but I had no interest in checking it out. (And I'm pretty certain they were all concerned that I was going to get a little nosy.)
Chez and I continued to touch base over the next few months. After I had completed my CD release and sent it to her, I would ask her if she listened to it. She always used the excuse, "I haven't had time to listen to it yet." About the third time she did this I said, "I know where you can find the time! Just say, 'Hey, you guys! Let's not have sex tonight! Let's listen to Fayd's CD instead!'" She responded, "That's not funny."
Sometime later, she told me that Jyd had decided to move to Virginia with her daughter and leave Chez and Kyd behind. Chez was so upset because she felt like Jyd wanted it to be just her and her. She went into detail about what they did in the bedroom. (I'm not going to repeat that here.) Every night, Jyd would hold Chez and cry. So, Jyd going off on her own was a complete surprise to her. She also told me about how Jyd would always go out on her Wednesday nights, but never once invited her to go along. (I was even surprised by this. I assumed she always went with her.)
As it turned out, Chez and Joad went out to Virginia. This happened a couple of months after Jyd and her daughter left. After that, I didn't hear from Chez for awhile. At least, not until she needed something.
But that will be the topic of a future post.
Friday, May 26, 2017
Apink All Year Long
In the time that I had taken my break from the blog, I posted a few new videos on YouTube. Two of them have become my most-viewed videos. They both cover the same subject: Apink calendars.
I had an Apink wall calendar for 2016 for my office and I wanted one for 2017 as well. However, all I could find were desktop calendars. I was finally able to locate one for the wall, but I had to wait a couple of months after I had pre-ordered it from Japan. When it arrived the day after Thanksgiving, I made a video to reveal it. It was a great calendar, but it wasn't what I was expecting:
Because I wanted to be able to see all of Apink together all year long, I decided to go ahead and order one of the desktop calendars. It arrived about a week later, and I was able to open the package for the YouTube video:
I was surprised that the video review of the desktop calendar has gotten more views than the wall calendar. However, one person commented that he was contemplating buying the wall calendar and had hoped that someone had posted a video of it. I'm glad that I was able to meet someone's need.
We'll see if I get to post a new review for a 2018 calendar later this year.
I had an Apink wall calendar for 2016 for my office and I wanted one for 2017 as well. However, all I could find were desktop calendars. I was finally able to locate one for the wall, but I had to wait a couple of months after I had pre-ordered it from Japan. When it arrived the day after Thanksgiving, I made a video to reveal it. It was a great calendar, but it wasn't what I was expecting:
Because I wanted to be able to see all of Apink together all year long, I decided to go ahead and order one of the desktop calendars. It arrived about a week later, and I was able to open the package for the YouTube video:
I was surprised that the video review of the desktop calendar has gotten more views than the wall calendar. However, one person commented that he was contemplating buying the wall calendar and had hoped that someone had posted a video of it. I'm glad that I was able to meet someone's need.
We'll see if I get to post a new review for a 2018 calendar later this year.
Thursday, May 25, 2017
Friend Zone #10: Thoz, Part 2
A few days after meeting Thoz, I called her up. She sounded excited to hear from me. She invited me to come with her to the Del Mar Fair that Saturday. She had an extra ticket. The plan was that I would meet her at her house and we would drive up together. But that didn't exactly happen. When I got there, there was a guy. His name was Dard and he was a friend of hers from high school. (They both attended the High School of Performing and Creative Arts.) She assured me that he was just a friend. I couldn't get mad because she had already set up the expectation that she and I would be friends. However, she told me that he was getting the extra ticket and I would have to pay my way in. There wasn't anything I could do about that, either.
Dard was a musician and was in a band. They had self-produced a CD release. I got jealous about that because I'd only been able to do a cassette release of my music. Even though their cover art was literally generic, it still put mine to shame. Dard was also rather muscular and very good looking. (If you've ever seen that Bod commercial with the rock band that played without their shirts on, that's pretty much what Dard's band was like. And I can't find it on YouTube!)
The two of them drove to the fair in her convertible. I followed in my car (which meant that I would also have to pay for parking). We took a "shortcut," which required us to drive over a series of speed bumps. We finally got to Del Mar and parked our cars. We went to the main gate. This was when I got to meet Thoz' father. He had his girlfriend with him. He seemed pleased to meet me.
I bought a ticket and hung out with Thoz and Dard. We went on several rides together. We all got on this one ride that slung everyone to the left side with intense centrifugal force. In hindsight, they shouldn't have let three adults get in one car together. This is what happened: Thoz was on the right side, I was on the left side and Dard was in the middle. This means that their entire weight was being forced against my body. At one point in the ride, I felt something snap in my ribcage. I wasn't in completely unbearable pain, but I was extremely uncomfortable. It was bad enough that I considered getting the operator to stop the ride, but I let it finish. Afterward, I told Thoz and Dard that I thought I broke a rib and I would have to call it a day. They were concerned, but there wasn't anything they could do.
I could feel the pain for the next three weeks. I couldn't sleep on my side, and if I accidentally rolled over in the middle of the night, I would immediately wake up. I didn't have health insurance at the time, so there really wasn't anything I could do but wait for it to feel better. A doctor told me that would have been the advisable thing to do if I had sought medical attention. Years later, I would get an x-ray that indicated that my rib was never broken. It was likely shifted out of place.
Thoz and I continued to date every once in awhile. We would go out and do different things, like bowling, pool, checking out live music and seeing movies. I didn't try to make any moves. She told me that one of the other guys she was dating tried to kiss her and she didn't appreciate it because she wasn't attracted to him that way. I sort of took this as a hint that I'd better not try anything like that. However, there was one time that I dropped her off at her house. I started walking back to my car. I turned around to see her staring at me with this strange look on her face, like she was saying, "Is that it?" I never found out what was going through her mind.
She eventually got involved in serious relationships, but I continued to be her friend. She even started something with Dard. I had driven her to the club where his band was playing. I had to get up early in the morning, so the plan all along was that I would drive her to the club and he would drive her home, but that ended up being the night they got together.
We remained friends. I helped her move a few times. In 1998, when Abed had moved to Los Angeles, she was my best friend, even though she had actual boyfriends during this period. Later that year, she told me that she had likely met the guy she was going to marry. It was the first time she'd met someone that she felt like she could give up smoking marijuana for. This pained me a little, because she never saw me as the type of person that she would do that for.
I stopped talking to her after that, but it was actually because of several other factors. The first was that I didn't have a working car. I couldn't drive anywhere on a whim. If we hung out, she was going to have to come see me, and I knew that wouldn't sit well with her boyfriend. In addition, Abed had moved back to San Diego, so I didn't need her to fill that best friend void anymore.
A few months later in 1999, I bought a new car and called her so I could show it to her. She invited me to come see her. I also had to show her that I had cut my hair short, so she was very shocked to see me that time. She was still with the same guy, so that ended up being the last time I would see her.
She did marry that guy and had two children with him. When I first got on Facebook in 2010, she was one of the first people I sent a friend invitation to. She almost didn't recognize me because I didn't use my real name, but when she saw that one of my "likes" was a singer-songwriter we frequently went to see, she knew right away who it was and accepted.
She told me that her husband is a big "Star Wars" fan. I wonder if she ever told him that there was some other guy out there she had seen the original trilogy with before he came along, including seeing "Return of the Jedi" for the first time. And I also wonder how he feels about that. But he's gotten me beat with the prequel and sequel trilogies!
Also, I'm Facebook friends with Dard. I sent an invitation to him because my friends list was lopsided with female friends and I didn't want Ms. Ogolon to get mad about that. He has children. He still looks great. In fact, he won a bodybuilding contest for vegetarians some time ago.
Thoz will be making frequent appearances in the blog within the next few months. She's not going anywhere.
Dard was a musician and was in a band. They had self-produced a CD release. I got jealous about that because I'd only been able to do a cassette release of my music. Even though their cover art was literally generic, it still put mine to shame. Dard was also rather muscular and very good looking. (If you've ever seen that Bod commercial with the rock band that played without their shirts on, that's pretty much what Dard's band was like. And I can't find it on YouTube!)
The two of them drove to the fair in her convertible. I followed in my car (which meant that I would also have to pay for parking). We took a "shortcut," which required us to drive over a series of speed bumps. We finally got to Del Mar and parked our cars. We went to the main gate. This was when I got to meet Thoz' father. He had his girlfriend with him. He seemed pleased to meet me.
I bought a ticket and hung out with Thoz and Dard. We went on several rides together. We all got on this one ride that slung everyone to the left side with intense centrifugal force. In hindsight, they shouldn't have let three adults get in one car together. This is what happened: Thoz was on the right side, I was on the left side and Dard was in the middle. This means that their entire weight was being forced against my body. At one point in the ride, I felt something snap in my ribcage. I wasn't in completely unbearable pain, but I was extremely uncomfortable. It was bad enough that I considered getting the operator to stop the ride, but I let it finish. Afterward, I told Thoz and Dard that I thought I broke a rib and I would have to call it a day. They were concerned, but there wasn't anything they could do.
I could feel the pain for the next three weeks. I couldn't sleep on my side, and if I accidentally rolled over in the middle of the night, I would immediately wake up. I didn't have health insurance at the time, so there really wasn't anything I could do but wait for it to feel better. A doctor told me that would have been the advisable thing to do if I had sought medical attention. Years later, I would get an x-ray that indicated that my rib was never broken. It was likely shifted out of place.
Thoz and I continued to date every once in awhile. We would go out and do different things, like bowling, pool, checking out live music and seeing movies. I didn't try to make any moves. She told me that one of the other guys she was dating tried to kiss her and she didn't appreciate it because she wasn't attracted to him that way. I sort of took this as a hint that I'd better not try anything like that. However, there was one time that I dropped her off at her house. I started walking back to my car. I turned around to see her staring at me with this strange look on her face, like she was saying, "Is that it?" I never found out what was going through her mind.
She eventually got involved in serious relationships, but I continued to be her friend. She even started something with Dard. I had driven her to the club where his band was playing. I had to get up early in the morning, so the plan all along was that I would drive her to the club and he would drive her home, but that ended up being the night they got together.
We remained friends. I helped her move a few times. In 1998, when Abed had moved to Los Angeles, she was my best friend, even though she had actual boyfriends during this period. Later that year, she told me that she had likely met the guy she was going to marry. It was the first time she'd met someone that she felt like she could give up smoking marijuana for. This pained me a little, because she never saw me as the type of person that she would do that for.
I stopped talking to her after that, but it was actually because of several other factors. The first was that I didn't have a working car. I couldn't drive anywhere on a whim. If we hung out, she was going to have to come see me, and I knew that wouldn't sit well with her boyfriend. In addition, Abed had moved back to San Diego, so I didn't need her to fill that best friend void anymore.
A few months later in 1999, I bought a new car and called her so I could show it to her. She invited me to come see her. I also had to show her that I had cut my hair short, so she was very shocked to see me that time. She was still with the same guy, so that ended up being the last time I would see her.
She did marry that guy and had two children with him. When I first got on Facebook in 2010, she was one of the first people I sent a friend invitation to. She almost didn't recognize me because I didn't use my real name, but when she saw that one of my "likes" was a singer-songwriter we frequently went to see, she knew right away who it was and accepted.
She told me that her husband is a big "Star Wars" fan. I wonder if she ever told him that there was some other guy out there she had seen the original trilogy with before he came along, including seeing "Return of the Jedi" for the first time. And I also wonder how he feels about that. But he's gotten me beat with the prequel and sequel trilogies!
Also, I'm Facebook friends with Dard. I sent an invitation to him because my friends list was lopsided with female friends and I didn't want Ms. Ogolon to get mad about that. He has children. He still looks great. In fact, he won a bodybuilding contest for vegetarians some time ago.
Thoz will be making frequent appearances in the blog within the next few months. She's not going anywhere.
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Friend Zone #10: Thoz, Part 1
As I've mentioned before, I enjoyed trying to meet women through the personal ads in the San Diego Reader alternative weekly. Honestly, I never got a girlfriend through it. Thoz was no different in this regard, but she wound up being one of my best friends in San Diego.
Around June of 1995, I saw an ad with the headline, "Loves to Cook." I can't say that was the part that appealed to me, but I remember it. I do recall that she stated she was 23 years old and was looking to meet someone 22 - 29. I was 30 at the time and figured it wasn't too far out of her range. I left a message on her voice mail. I was surprised when she called me back because I did tell her how old I was.
One of the first questions she asked me was which state was I born in. I told her "New Mexico." She continued to talk to me. I don't recall much about the conversation, but we decided to meet that Saturday at the Family Fun Center in Kearny Mesa. She said I would find her in the parking lot with a white convertible. I was just one year into the aftermath of my bankruptcy and was barely living paycheck to paycheck. I'd hoped that we weren't going to have to pay money to do something like play miniature golf or go on rides, because that just wasn't in my budget. I was at a point in which I didn't mind spending money on food, but entertainment just seemed like a waste.
I found her right away. She had described herself pretty well. She had long, medium dark hair in a ponytail. Even though she was wearing sunglasses, I could tell immediately that she was out of my league. However, she did have a big smile when she saw me. We talked for a little bit. She asked me if I wanted to go into the Fun Center or go get something to eat. I opted for the food. She asked me to get in her car and we would drive someplace.
After we were a couple of blocks away from the Center, she said, "So, what are we going to eat? Spaghetti, you think?" "Yeah, probably." "Well, I've got spaghetti I made at home that we can have. Let's just go to my house and eat there so we won't have to waste money." I was really starting to like her.
We got to her house in La Jolla. It was rather large. Her father was an accountant and was fairly well-off. She had a dog there named P-nut. It was a schnauzer mix. We started talking and I found out a lot about her.
For starters, she had recently come close to getting married. She didn't give me details about what happened, but she looked back and realized that she'd only ever been in committed relationships throughout high school and college, one guy at a time. She wanted to see what it was like to date a whole bunch of guys all at once, so she submitted the personal ad. She wasn't looking to hook up or anything. She just wanted to have a good time without having to worry about getting attached to someone.
My first thought was that this meant that my chances of having her as a girlfriend were zero. However, I liked her and I liked the idea of hanging out with her and being seen with her from time to time. I didn't have a problem with being put in the friend zone this time because she was so upfront about it.
She also told me she had been adopted. She was in the process of finding her birth mother. One thing she knew was that she had a brother by the same mother and this brother was born in California. She said because of this, she wouldn't date any guy who was born in California. This was why she asked which state I was born in during our first conversation.
She drove me back to the Fun Center, so I could get my car and go home. She told me she wanted me to call her again and we'd go do something. I actually had something to look forward to.
And the story continues tomorrow.
Around June of 1995, I saw an ad with the headline, "Loves to Cook." I can't say that was the part that appealed to me, but I remember it. I do recall that she stated she was 23 years old and was looking to meet someone 22 - 29. I was 30 at the time and figured it wasn't too far out of her range. I left a message on her voice mail. I was surprised when she called me back because I did tell her how old I was.
One of the first questions she asked me was which state was I born in. I told her "New Mexico." She continued to talk to me. I don't recall much about the conversation, but we decided to meet that Saturday at the Family Fun Center in Kearny Mesa. She said I would find her in the parking lot with a white convertible. I was just one year into the aftermath of my bankruptcy and was barely living paycheck to paycheck. I'd hoped that we weren't going to have to pay money to do something like play miniature golf or go on rides, because that just wasn't in my budget. I was at a point in which I didn't mind spending money on food, but entertainment just seemed like a waste.
I found her right away. She had described herself pretty well. She had long, medium dark hair in a ponytail. Even though she was wearing sunglasses, I could tell immediately that she was out of my league. However, she did have a big smile when she saw me. We talked for a little bit. She asked me if I wanted to go into the Fun Center or go get something to eat. I opted for the food. She asked me to get in her car and we would drive someplace.
After we were a couple of blocks away from the Center, she said, "So, what are we going to eat? Spaghetti, you think?" "Yeah, probably." "Well, I've got spaghetti I made at home that we can have. Let's just go to my house and eat there so we won't have to waste money." I was really starting to like her.
We got to her house in La Jolla. It was rather large. Her father was an accountant and was fairly well-off. She had a dog there named P-nut. It was a schnauzer mix. We started talking and I found out a lot about her.
For starters, she had recently come close to getting married. She didn't give me details about what happened, but she looked back and realized that she'd only ever been in committed relationships throughout high school and college, one guy at a time. She wanted to see what it was like to date a whole bunch of guys all at once, so she submitted the personal ad. She wasn't looking to hook up or anything. She just wanted to have a good time without having to worry about getting attached to someone.
My first thought was that this meant that my chances of having her as a girlfriend were zero. However, I liked her and I liked the idea of hanging out with her and being seen with her from time to time. I didn't have a problem with being put in the friend zone this time because she was so upfront about it.
She also told me she had been adopted. She was in the process of finding her birth mother. One thing she knew was that she had a brother by the same mother and this brother was born in California. She said because of this, she wouldn't date any guy who was born in California. This was why she asked which state I was born in during our first conversation.
She drove me back to the Fun Center, so I could get my car and go home. She told me she wanted me to call her again and we'd go do something. I actually had something to look forward to.
And the story continues tomorrow.
Tuesday, May 23, 2017
A road trip that nearly killed me!
Part of my Thanksgiving vacation involved going up to Santa Fe to pay another visit to Cid and Ochd. I let her know when I was coming up and what time I expected to be there.
I had send Cid copies of my cassette release. She said she was impressed and that she knew someone who wanted to use some of the music in a movie. "Are you serious?" I asked. "Yes, Fayd, I am completely serious." Things were looking up for my music.
On my way to Artesia, I stopped in Las Cruces and saw my friend Kird. Kird remembered Cid from college. I told her about all the stuff she had accomplished in Mexico, including releasing a CD with Sony Records there. I played some of her music for him, but he wasn't impressed and mocked the material. Then he suspected that they were running some kind of scam operation. I asked, "Well, who would they be scamming? They haven't asked me for money and I doubt they'd want to have anything to do with me and Abed if they were." I mentioned the newspaper clippings and videos that she showed us the last time. He said they probably made all that stuff up.
On the way to Santa Fe, I was driving my new car, a 1977 Toyota Celica. It was the first car I owned with a working cassette player in it. But there was a problem: I had only one cassette to play and it was my own cassette release. New Mexico is scattered with "no radio" zones that last hours, especially during the daytime, so I had to play my own material for entertainment. I never made that mistake again.
In Santa Fe, I arrived at the house, but there was no one home. There wasn't even a note on the door. I walked around the house, seeing if any doors were open. The guest house was locked. However, the poolhouse was open, and it was warm inside. I wrote a note and left it on the front door telling Cid that I was at the pool. I tried to take a nap.
I was awakened by the sound of someone outside. Cid came into the poolhouse. She told me I did a good job of finding somewhere warm to stay. It turned out they had gone to a screening of a music documentary about gypsies. (It turned out to be "Lachto Drom," a film I would see a few months later in San Diego.) It looked like they were about to have another impromptu party.
I came in and said hi to Ochd. He appeared REALLY happy to see me. I was surprised, because I thought he couldn't stand me and Abed. But I later figured out what had been going on. Cid had been helping her friends from ENMU accomplish their dreams using the money she and Ochd were supposedly making from their music. Ochd was probably getting ticked off at Cid for spending their money for those pet projects and thought Abed and I were another couple of leeches who were likely never going to go away. He was trying to help his friends, but her wants always trumped his. I guess when I self-produced my own cassette release, he knew I wasn't there to waste their money and he could treat me with more civility.
The impromptu party started with a few of us sitting at the table in the kitchen. There was a man just a few years older than me, and an older couple. Ochd brought up an acoustic guitar and showed it to the older man. He strummed it a little, then handed it to the younger man. I asked the younger man if he played. He said, "A little bit." And then he improvised like a pro FOR THE NEXT 90 MINUTES!
About this time, other people started coming in. One of them was a former student at ENMU I had never met, but Cid had mentioned him numerous times during the previous visit. He started there after I had graduated. Cid told me he was a playwright and he was writing a piece they were going to produce in Santa Fe. The play was about vampires. Looking around the house, I saw a copy of a published book with his name on it. It was a collection of poems in Spanish. I started to get jealous. This guy was probably five years out of college and was living his dreams. Dreams that I had before. Dreams that I hadn't accomplished (except for the cassette release, but that would have counted more if someone besides me PAID FOR IT!) I felt like it was unfair.
But it felt even more unfair that he monopolized Cid's time all night. He kept reciting lines from the play like they were the greatest things anybody had ever written. He was just like the guy with the guitar and kept talking straight for what seemed like forever! I'm thinking, "Dude, it's a play about vampires! It's not the next Hamlet!" It really ticked me off because he practically lived there and had all the time in the world on any other day to tell Cid about his work on the project. I had to drive back the next day. And I could see that Cid wanted to pull herself away, but he wouldn't stop talking long enough for her to say, "Excuse me, I have to do something else."
I decided later that the only reason he was doing that was because he sensed that I might be the "new flavor" and kept Cid from spending time with me on purpose. He likely knew about the cassette and that Cid mentioned she was impressed that I had financed it on my own.
(I should also mention that I found it odd that the play appeared to have not been written yet. I mean, maybe it was and he was just talking about punching up the lines, but if they were going to try to get more people from outside on board with this production, they're all going to want to see the script. If there isn't one ready, no one's going to invest. If the dialogue needs work, people still aren't going to invest until they like the improvements.)
Sensing that I wasn't going to get to spend any time catching up with Cid, I went to bed. I got up the next day. Some people from the party had spent the night. I was lucky I didn't wake up to find that I had been sharing my bed with some guy I didn't know. I did see Cid and Ochd before I left the house. One of her friends (whom I had met a few months earlier) invited me and some others to go with her to a bagel shop to have breakfast. She was rather attractive, so I agreed (but knew I wasn't going to get anywhere because I was about to hit the road).
I left about 12pm. I planned to drive straight to Las Vegas and spend the night there. I knew I could get there in about 12 hours. About an hour outside of Santa Fe, it started to snow lightly. I thought, "This is nice. I haven't seen snow in a couple of years." As I continued into Arizona, the snowfall got heavier and heavier. It got harder and harder to see outside. All of a sudden, I saw emergency lights ahead and slammed on the brakes! The car started skidding, got turned around and I was sliding backwards! I could see vehicles pulled off to the side because there was an accident there and I thought for sure I was going to hit them and DIE! I had the sense of mind during the skid to shift the car into neutral and it eventually came to a stop without me hitting anything, going into the median ditch or flipping over. WHEW!
However, my worries weren't over. I didn't have liability insurance for the car. A highway patrol officer approached me. I was still shaking. He asked if I was okay. I said I was. I thought he was going to ask for my registration and insurance and that I was about to get a ticket. However, he told that the roads were very icy and I would need to drive about 30 miles an hour down the highway. He told me to drive safe and have a good night. My heart was still pounding.
While I was driving 30 mph, the snow kept getting worse. I figured I couldn't risk my life to get to Las Vegas that night and decided to stop and get a motel in Williams, AZ. This was the same town where I stayed with Bez and her family when it was snowing heavily on our way back from Los Angeles.
I had a hard time sleeping because all I could think about was getting to Las Vegas and gambling. I worried that I wouldn't be able to start the car and drive. I woke up about 4am, went out and started warming up the car. By this time, it had stopped snowing. I left and continued driving to Las Vegas. When I got there, I had to tell my boss I was going to be getting back a lot later than I expected because of the snow storm.
I didn't do a lot in Vegas, and I still had to work the next day, so it was kind of a wasted trip out of my way. I should have just driven straight to San Diego instead of stopping, but I had a one-track mind. And it was that track that nearly took my life.
I kept in touch with Cid for a few months after that. Nothing ever came of that movie that wanted to use my music, and I don't think the vampire play ever got produced. Sometime later, I tried to call them, but was directed to another phone number in Cincinnati. That phone number belonged to Dawz. She told me that Cid and Ochd had suddenly left Santa Fe. Her phone number was listed because the woman who used to teach dancing at ENMU (and had been hired to do choreography for Cid's shows) was still receiving calls at that number and had the phone company provide the forwarding information. Basically, Dawz was having to deal with a lot of calls from bill collectors. Maybe they were running a scam, but one in which they couldn't score a lot of cash.
I did get to see Cid and Ochd a couple of times after they had moved to Hollywood for a brief period. I never asked about what happened in Santa Fe, but it was nice to be around them without all the leeches. Again, they sort of vanished from this residence without a trace.
Was it all a scam? No, there's more than enough evidence on the Internet that Cid was a minor entertainment force in Mexico for a brief period of time in the early 1990s. However, it has been suggested that they were involved in certain illegal activities. I have to admit that was a possibility. The last couple of times I saw them, at least one of them seemed to be on the phone all the time speaking Spanish. I couldn't tell what was being discussed, but the tone was not "friendly" nor veered into the category of music.
I last talked to Cid about seven years ago. She was living in Mexico at the time, but I don't think she was active artistically. And everything I'm able to find on Google is about seven years old. However, Ochd is still performing music. And for some reason, he wears an eye patch. His Facebook page only features one photo of Cid, and it's the cover off of one of the singles they produced for Sony.
But I would like to hear from her again.
I had send Cid copies of my cassette release. She said she was impressed and that she knew someone who wanted to use some of the music in a movie. "Are you serious?" I asked. "Yes, Fayd, I am completely serious." Things were looking up for my music.
On my way to Artesia, I stopped in Las Cruces and saw my friend Kird. Kird remembered Cid from college. I told her about all the stuff she had accomplished in Mexico, including releasing a CD with Sony Records there. I played some of her music for him, but he wasn't impressed and mocked the material. Then he suspected that they were running some kind of scam operation. I asked, "Well, who would they be scamming? They haven't asked me for money and I doubt they'd want to have anything to do with me and Abed if they were." I mentioned the newspaper clippings and videos that she showed us the last time. He said they probably made all that stuff up.
On the way to Santa Fe, I was driving my new car, a 1977 Toyota Celica. It was the first car I owned with a working cassette player in it. But there was a problem: I had only one cassette to play and it was my own cassette release. New Mexico is scattered with "no radio" zones that last hours, especially during the daytime, so I had to play my own material for entertainment. I never made that mistake again.
In Santa Fe, I arrived at the house, but there was no one home. There wasn't even a note on the door. I walked around the house, seeing if any doors were open. The guest house was locked. However, the poolhouse was open, and it was warm inside. I wrote a note and left it on the front door telling Cid that I was at the pool. I tried to take a nap.
I was awakened by the sound of someone outside. Cid came into the poolhouse. She told me I did a good job of finding somewhere warm to stay. It turned out they had gone to a screening of a music documentary about gypsies. (It turned out to be "Lachto Drom," a film I would see a few months later in San Diego.) It looked like they were about to have another impromptu party.
I came in and said hi to Ochd. He appeared REALLY happy to see me. I was surprised, because I thought he couldn't stand me and Abed. But I later figured out what had been going on. Cid had been helping her friends from ENMU accomplish their dreams using the money she and Ochd were supposedly making from their music. Ochd was probably getting ticked off at Cid for spending their money for those pet projects and thought Abed and I were another couple of leeches who were likely never going to go away. He was trying to help his friends, but her wants always trumped his. I guess when I self-produced my own cassette release, he knew I wasn't there to waste their money and he could treat me with more civility.
The impromptu party started with a few of us sitting at the table in the kitchen. There was a man just a few years older than me, and an older couple. Ochd brought up an acoustic guitar and showed it to the older man. He strummed it a little, then handed it to the younger man. I asked the younger man if he played. He said, "A little bit." And then he improvised like a pro FOR THE NEXT 90 MINUTES!
About this time, other people started coming in. One of them was a former student at ENMU I had never met, but Cid had mentioned him numerous times during the previous visit. He started there after I had graduated. Cid told me he was a playwright and he was writing a piece they were going to produce in Santa Fe. The play was about vampires. Looking around the house, I saw a copy of a published book with his name on it. It was a collection of poems in Spanish. I started to get jealous. This guy was probably five years out of college and was living his dreams. Dreams that I had before. Dreams that I hadn't accomplished (except for the cassette release, but that would have counted more if someone besides me PAID FOR IT!) I felt like it was unfair.
But it felt even more unfair that he monopolized Cid's time all night. He kept reciting lines from the play like they were the greatest things anybody had ever written. He was just like the guy with the guitar and kept talking straight for what seemed like forever! I'm thinking, "Dude, it's a play about vampires! It's not the next Hamlet!" It really ticked me off because he practically lived there and had all the time in the world on any other day to tell Cid about his work on the project. I had to drive back the next day. And I could see that Cid wanted to pull herself away, but he wouldn't stop talking long enough for her to say, "Excuse me, I have to do something else."
I decided later that the only reason he was doing that was because he sensed that I might be the "new flavor" and kept Cid from spending time with me on purpose. He likely knew about the cassette and that Cid mentioned she was impressed that I had financed it on my own.
(I should also mention that I found it odd that the play appeared to have not been written yet. I mean, maybe it was and he was just talking about punching up the lines, but if they were going to try to get more people from outside on board with this production, they're all going to want to see the script. If there isn't one ready, no one's going to invest. If the dialogue needs work, people still aren't going to invest until they like the improvements.)
Sensing that I wasn't going to get to spend any time catching up with Cid, I went to bed. I got up the next day. Some people from the party had spent the night. I was lucky I didn't wake up to find that I had been sharing my bed with some guy I didn't know. I did see Cid and Ochd before I left the house. One of her friends (whom I had met a few months earlier) invited me and some others to go with her to a bagel shop to have breakfast. She was rather attractive, so I agreed (but knew I wasn't going to get anywhere because I was about to hit the road).
I left about 12pm. I planned to drive straight to Las Vegas and spend the night there. I knew I could get there in about 12 hours. About an hour outside of Santa Fe, it started to snow lightly. I thought, "This is nice. I haven't seen snow in a couple of years." As I continued into Arizona, the snowfall got heavier and heavier. It got harder and harder to see outside. All of a sudden, I saw emergency lights ahead and slammed on the brakes! The car started skidding, got turned around and I was sliding backwards! I could see vehicles pulled off to the side because there was an accident there and I thought for sure I was going to hit them and DIE! I had the sense of mind during the skid to shift the car into neutral and it eventually came to a stop without me hitting anything, going into the median ditch or flipping over. WHEW!
However, my worries weren't over. I didn't have liability insurance for the car. A highway patrol officer approached me. I was still shaking. He asked if I was okay. I said I was. I thought he was going to ask for my registration and insurance and that I was about to get a ticket. However, he told that the roads were very icy and I would need to drive about 30 miles an hour down the highway. He told me to drive safe and have a good night. My heart was still pounding.
While I was driving 30 mph, the snow kept getting worse. I figured I couldn't risk my life to get to Las Vegas that night and decided to stop and get a motel in Williams, AZ. This was the same town where I stayed with Bez and her family when it was snowing heavily on our way back from Los Angeles.
I had a hard time sleeping because all I could think about was getting to Las Vegas and gambling. I worried that I wouldn't be able to start the car and drive. I woke up about 4am, went out and started warming up the car. By this time, it had stopped snowing. I left and continued driving to Las Vegas. When I got there, I had to tell my boss I was going to be getting back a lot later than I expected because of the snow storm.
I didn't do a lot in Vegas, and I still had to work the next day, so it was kind of a wasted trip out of my way. I should have just driven straight to San Diego instead of stopping, but I had a one-track mind. And it was that track that nearly took my life.
I kept in touch with Cid for a few months after that. Nothing ever came of that movie that wanted to use my music, and I don't think the vampire play ever got produced. Sometime later, I tried to call them, but was directed to another phone number in Cincinnati. That phone number belonged to Dawz. She told me that Cid and Ochd had suddenly left Santa Fe. Her phone number was listed because the woman who used to teach dancing at ENMU (and had been hired to do choreography for Cid's shows) was still receiving calls at that number and had the phone company provide the forwarding information. Basically, Dawz was having to deal with a lot of calls from bill collectors. Maybe they were running a scam, but one in which they couldn't score a lot of cash.
I did get to see Cid and Ochd a couple of times after they had moved to Hollywood for a brief period. I never asked about what happened in Santa Fe, but it was nice to be around them without all the leeches. Again, they sort of vanished from this residence without a trace.
Was it all a scam? No, there's more than enough evidence on the Internet that Cid was a minor entertainment force in Mexico for a brief period of time in the early 1990s. However, it has been suggested that they were involved in certain illegal activities. I have to admit that was a possibility. The last couple of times I saw them, at least one of them seemed to be on the phone all the time speaking Spanish. I couldn't tell what was being discussed, but the tone was not "friendly" nor veered into the category of music.
I last talked to Cid about seven years ago. She was living in Mexico at the time, but I don't think she was active artistically. And everything I'm able to find on Google is about seven years old. However, Ochd is still performing music. And for some reason, he wears an eye patch. His Facebook page only features one photo of Cid, and it's the cover off of one of the singles they produced for Sony.
But I would like to hear from her again.
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