On that day in 1979 - 20 July

This is a mighty long entry with loads of embarrassing bits, some of which are just too funny not to share!

As mentioned previously, I was on a paid government video production program called Focus on Video. And since my last entry I had had a few phone conversations with Earl; everything was back on track there. His car - a fabulous Karmann Ghia convertible - had died though and he needed to find a new one.

Picking Craig Stoker up in Long Beach involved driving about 40 miles out of my way; hence my crabbiness!

20 July 1979

We went on a field trip to Loyola and I felt repressed and envious, looking at all their equipment. And mad when I saw the kind of shit they made with it!! (Ugh - a disco "Over the Rainbow"!!!)

Spoke to Earl and he didn't wanna go out cause he didn't think that Rod would wanna take him around to look at cars (tomorrow). So I said that I'd take him. We agreed to meet in Chinatown.

Craig talked me into picking him up. We had to go pick up dumb Ian too and he wasn't even there! We got some vodka and I made Craig drive. I was still hungry though. So we first went to the kitchen restaurant [brightly lit place in Chinatown] but they never came for our order so we left and went to another kitchen one. Met Mike Atta there so we ordered four dishes between us and I didn't wanna waste any and I ate too much!

When we came back there was Earl. I almost didn't recognise him at first! [I don't know why; it had only been a few days since I last saw him...] He was with Rod and Greg - who was still a jerk. Earl and I went to my car and he finished off the vodka and said he'd buy me another bottle. We talked and got on the subject of that time they all left me there [in Chinatown] (the time I got mad at Earl for saying I wasn't lively enough though I did not mention that!) and I had to sit in my car for a couple hours... [to sober up, presumably]. Earl said if he had known I was there alone he would never have left but he had been so out of it. Also he said that his dad had to take him looking for cars tomorrow cause he was the one who had the money.

We went back and Rod and Greg had gone in and that's all who were on the guest list. Earl was hungry so we went and ate at the kitchen place. Well actually, he ate - I watched - I was stuffed. I remember he was talking in there about how he should stop buying heroin and about how Charlotte got him into it - brought it home one day...

There were millions of people outside the Hong Kong Café when we went back. Earlier the S.J.'s had been; [S.J. stands for "Scottish Jerks"; apologies to my friends from the north, but that's what Trudie started calling my ex, Robert Marlow, and his male cronies back in high school and I'm afraid it stuck...] That's weird seeing Robert again when I was with Earl, and Mandy thought he was cute!

Rod and Greg came out. [I have no idea who was playing at the Hong Kong that night; half the time I didn't get in.] Rod got in a fight with Brian. [No idea which Brian this was, and it doesn't really sound like Rod; he must have been really out of it!] He was calling his "girlfriend" a fag hag and stuff. The bouncer kept breaking it up.

Greg looked really ugly this night. He said, like usual, "Can I look up your dress?" and I was wearing a shirt! [Well, if I was wearing a shirt, I was wearing a shirt as a dress, as I was wont to do in those days, and if I wrote "skirt", which is a slight possibility, what's the big deal about the semantics there either?] I told him Brian was from MB [Manhattan Beach; the plot thickens as I don't remember any Brians from MB; maybe it was Brian Grillo who was from Torrance, but that doesn't make much sense as I'm sure he knew Greg from hanging out at the Villa Elaine by this time.] and he said something about it.

We all left to go to the liquor store before it closed. But (like usual) Rod couldn't remember where he had parked his car. Oh yeah, Greg looked ultra lame in a too-short T-shirt - you could see all his muscles too - yuk!! [I do go on about this, probably trying to convince myself I was over the jerk.]

Finally I said, "Why don't we go in my car?" and Earl and I went there but Rod and Greg disappeared. But it was too late [for the liquor store] and Earl got in a bad mood. He said we could either go to Rick's [Mau-Mau Manor on the Sunset Strip, where Earl would stay most weekends] or home - to make up my mind; of course I wanted to go to Rick's but he sounded so thrilled, and I said that too. But we went to Rick's. I felt much better when he put his arm on my leg and leaned on my shoulder. [What? To have a junky nod off on me when I was driving?!]

Slim [Rick Wilder] was making Irish stew. [As you do at 3am, if you're a Mau-Mau...] More food - UGH!! I drank more whisky and Coke. Matt was over and they were all playing guitar and singing: "Take me to the wa-ah-ah-ah-ter-er-er..." It was really funny but then I noticed that Earl was playing records with Rosetta in the other room [she was living at the Manor for a while] and when I first went in there, he went out. Still, I decided I liked Rosetta after all. We blabbed and blabbed about past crushes and stuff. She has a weird record collection - "Who stole my beer?" (?!!!) [I guess that was a title of a record, but when I just googled it, nothing pre-1980 came up.]

Later in the living room Slim did the couch trick and kept teasing us. [Nope, no idea what the couch trick was!] He also kept running in and flashing.

Anyway, being with Earl was great and I know a lot of it was cause I love him so much now. I kept thinking it over and over and over in my mind and tried to communicate it. I tried so hard to be the best lover ever. It was beautiful.

He kept kissing me (and sighing), and I couldn't believe it - Earl fell asleep while he was kissing me! With his tongue sticking out! He looked so funny I could've died except it was kind of insulting too.

I had almost no sleep. First of all, Earl snores. Loudly! Second of all, he kept hitting me! (Thrashing with his arms.) He hogged the pillow and the bed. And once, (while he was still asleep or else I would have killed him) he wiped the sweat off his face onto my face!!!