The Usual Festive Way

“Let ANGELS guide thee on thy lofty quest.” -as heard while watching ANGELS AND DEMONS, a 2009 mystery thriller

Diary Notes December 24, 1987

PHOTO:  'me' and Carmen McTiernan at a San Francisco Holiday Party

I was invited to David Vigil’s pad in San Francisco for a Christmas Party.   He didn’t attend my party but why should I hold a grudge.   He lives in an apartment and I figured it would be a different sort of outing for me on a Christmas Eve, so I chose to attend.   I knew several people there including Mary McTiernan (another coworker) who had attended my party.   Mary introduced me to her sister in law, Carmen.   She was quite friendly.  I really enjoyed her company and outgoing nature.  I wasn’t sure if Mary’s brother was at the party of not; however, I guess it was a nice holiday escape for Mary and Carmen to come into the city from South San Francisco (where they live). 

Diary Notes December 25, 1987

PHOTO:   Mom dressed for Christmas morning

It was early Christmas morning and mom and I set out to go to the cemetery and to my Grandma’s house.   We delivered presents there and returned home to get the festive meal started.   I helped with setting the table and before the entourage arrived I took a photo with mom.

PHOTO:  Mom and I, Christmas 1987

Christmas Day at ‘356 Magnolia Drive’ was the usual festive way even though my dad was absent—and in heaven—this year.   We all made it fun and I enjoyed shooting instantaneous Polaroid photos.

PHOTO: Helen in Blue

Helen, Tony and Lauren arrived first.  Helen was wearing a beautiful blue dress.  She was very pregnant.   I snapped a hot while we were near the refrigerator.

PHOTO:  me, mom and Helen in the kitchen

Lauren was in shy mode but she allowed me to shoot a few photos of her, wearing her Christmas dress.   She’d like to hide out behind her dad, Tony.

PHOTO:  Lauren and Tony

Lauren was cute; asking me which presents belonged to her under the tree.

PHOTO: Lauren behind the fig plant

I called about Ashley because Lauren was asking about her cousin.   John and Sherri weren’t ready yet, so I guess we simply had to be patient for their arrival.    Soon they arrived and Ashley looked pretty in her Christmas dress, too.   I snapped a photo of her with her Grandma Virginia.

PHOTO:   Ashley with my mom

John and Sherri soon arrived with gave the approval we needed to get started with our festive noon Christmas meal.    Sherri was very pregnant (like Helen) and was in Holiday ‘red’.

PHOTO:  John and Sherri

We filled up on a very yummy meal.  I managed to squeeze in a few more photos at the dinner table, showing off the desserts.   Then it was lounge time.  We all tried to organize Christmas gift opening time.  This was a challenge.

PHOTO:  Opening Gifts

It’s hard to keep the kids under control because they just want to haphazardly open everything in sight.   It was fun though.   I think my Bert and Ernie Sesame pals were a hit.

PHOTO:  Asleep during the VHS-video

Soon it was time to just relax and select a movie to watch.   We watched THROW MOMMA FROM THE TRAIN which provided a few good laughs.   The tummy tremors allowed us to enjoy leftovers.   Then we started to watch the Barbara Streisand movie, NUTS, and that’s when many of us dozed off into a dream state (namely, me, John and Sherri).

PHOTO:  Leftovers

By 8pm it was just me, mom and a slumber party with my nieces, Ashley and Lauren.    Lauren loved her new, silk pajamas.   We watched THE PRINCESS BRIDE movie but Ashley and Lauren started to doze off themselves.  It was a great movie.  Mom and I loved it.   We were optimistic and our day of family on this holiday turned out memorable and loving. 

 

“What is Optimum Trajectory?”
“Find out what your destiny is and the river will carry you.” -as heard in the 2004 film THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS, based on a true story

 

 

 

 

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Willing To Mingle

Eroticism – the only true form of love – requires, like lawns, constant care, a profound knowledge of nature and a great deal of patience…and intelligence as well—and tenderness, and even a very subtle sense of friendship.   A man’s virtues are unknown to boys.  
-Jose Luis de Vilallonga
THE PLEASURE SEEKER

Diary Notes and Photos, December 1987

PHOTO:  Dad’s White Ford Pinto Dec. 1987

Well, it is our first Christmas without my dad who passed away on August 29, 1987.   I think that’s why I stopped to take that photo of his car, the white Ford Pinto.   I would often see him leaving for work or coming home from work or the grocery store in that car.  Now it’s ‘just a car’ and it seems so strange to not see him washing it or driving in it.   It’s a sad feeling for me.  I miss him.  I miss seeing his smile.   And now we may sell the car to my friend, Mike Miller.   He has expressed an interest in buying it and my mom feels good about selling it to someone she knows.

PHOTO:  Mom, wearing that blouse that I like so much.  I still have the blouse as a keepsake of remembrance.

My Christmas Party is set for December 19, 1987.   I wonder who will attend.   Mom is being a great help in the preparation of food, festivities and holiday décor.   We went to WALGREENS at South Shore Center to shop for thirty or so gifts for the guests that are the first to arrive.   I don’t really expect more than thirty guests (even if I did invite about fifty).   It will be nice for everyone to leave with a gift (candy canes, a paperback book, a bottle of wine, butter cookies, BRUT cologne, an ornament, a journal/diary, a Playgirl magazine, a GQ magazine, a mini-model sports car—after all, I couldn’t afford to gift a real sports car). 

PHOTO:  The Party: Helen Armijo and Mike Elliott

My sister-in-law, Helen, arrived.  She is so helpful in party preparation.   She is pregnant with her second baby that is due in late March 1988 or early April 1988.   Mike Miller also arrived with his pal, Mike Elliott.  

PHOTO:  Mike Miller

I was excited about the gift-giving.   I wrapped each of the gifts myself.   I denoted a number on each gift and gave them out to each person as they arrived with specific instructions.
I said, “NOW, you can’t open your present until I give you the official word.”

PHOTO:  Margaret Lai

I was a little nervous about my party.  Isn’t everyone a bit nervous before the start of a party?   I kept sipping wine in order to get that ‘feel good n’ tipsy’ feeling.  I just wanted everyone to have a good time (including me).   This was my mission.   It seemed to be working every time a new person arrived.  The gift-wrapped present made it all the more festive.  

In the back of my mind I knew I would soon be jet-setting to Hawaii at the end of January 1988.   It was only a month away.  I was also ecstatic about this traveling ‘on my own’ escape.   I deserved it and felt a need to explore.   This trip is my Christmas gift to myself.

PHOTO:  Me with Margaret Lai’s son, Lance Jensen

Margaret Lai and her son were was early arrivals.   I encouraged her to bring her son, Lance, who is the same age as my niece, Ashley.   A Christmas Party really needs a  few kids around.

PHOTO:  Debbie Honcik

My dear pal, Debbie Honcik, arrived soon thereafter.   It’s so hard to believe that I’ve known Debbie for over ten years.   We met in April 1977 when we both started out as 411-Information Telephone Operators in San Leandro with Pacific Telephone.   She is now a Frame worker while I ended up transitioning to Computer Operations and Business Marketing.   Debbie and I have gone on hikes together a couple of times in the Oakland Hills.   She is the one who really introduced me to the beauty of Piedmont.   I like this hidden enclave neighborhood of Oakland.    Now that we no longer work together we fail to see each other on a regular basis.   I suppose it is not only my fault.   She could easily call me, too.   I am just so happy that she took the time to attend my party.

PHOTO:  Dennis Reno
Dennis Reno was a fellow junior high and high school classmate.   He became friendly with my brother, Tony, after graduation.   He attended the party.   He’s a good friend to Tony and Helen, so I figured it would be nice to have him there.   I’m also glad he came to celebrate the holidays.   I know he didn’t have to make an appearance.

PHOTO: Kep and his date with Mike Miller

Mike Miller had asked if his friend, Kep, could come to the party.   How could I say now?  The more the merrier is what I say.  I believe I met Kep once or twice before; however, I don’t know him very well.   Kep brought along a date, an attractive, tall brunette who seemed older than Kep.   I almost felt she had an attraction to my brother, Tony.   Maybe she was attracted to me too because she kept asking me a lot of questions about where I was from and how I knew Mike Miller and Kep, etc.   Perhaps it was just my imagination.

PHOTO:  Tony and Kep’s gal pal

Of course, nervous chills came about when my best buddy showed up.  My gym partner friend, Mark Landreth, came dressed in gray.   He brought along a date (the girl named Ivy).   She’s polite and very soft spoken.   She doesn’t say very much.   I took a few Polaroid photographs of them to break-the-ice.   Mark ended up getting the PLAYBOY magazine gift.

PHOTO:  Mark Landreth and Ivy

I liked how Mark Landreth felt a need to fold the magazine cover, so that no one would see it.   I wondered if he would go home and have an intimate time with the centerfold.   I'd be curious to see that happen.   

We spoke on the side later as I was trying to persuade him to go on the Hawaii trip with me.   He hasn’t said ‘no’ yet.  He does like the idea of going.    I can’t help but still feel a little something for him.   I kept it low key, of course.  I always do.   I doubt that ‘Poison Ivy’ had a clue of my attraction.

PHOTO:  me, mom and Brother Tony

I managed to take a photo of me, my brother Tony and mom in the living room earlier.   I felt well-suited for my Christmas party in my green corduroy pants and red paisley print shirt and olive green tie.

PHOTO:  Anne Alberti and Patty

The adorable aerobics instructor with the killer body, Anne Alberti made a fashionable entrance.   She has the perfect smile.   She was accompanied by Patty, another gym goer who dated Mark Landreth once or twice.   I think she has a crush on Mark.   She always flirts with Mark at the gym and I often tease him about it. 
Mark has made it clear to me, “She’s not my type.”
I almost wanted to ask, “Am I?”
I actually said to him once, “Yeah, you’re better off hanging out with me…it’s much more fun.”
He smiled at least.   Did he catch my drift?

PHOTO:  Patty w/PLAYGIRL magazine

It’s funny how Mark received the PLAYBOY mag gift and Patty ended up randomly receiving the PLAYGIRL mag gift.   I think Patty loved that she got it.   I was secretly hoping that she or Anne would get the PLAYGIRL.   I’d be lying if I said I didn’t thumb through the PLAYGIRL before I wrapped it; however, I wasn’t too thrilled.   Photos of me or Mark would look better. 

At the start of the party I was so snap happy with my SPECTRA SYSTEM Polaroid camera that I set the self-timer and arranged a group photo of Margaret Lai, her son Lance, Judy Geniella, Mike Elliott, and Mike Miller.  Both Margaret and Judy worked with me in the SDC-at Pacific Bell in San Francisco.   Margaret told me she didn’t like Judy.  I believe she was just jealous of my relationship with Judy.   Whatever…mind games.   I was simply happy that a number of my good coworker pals came to cheer me on during this party.

PHOTO:  Group Pic-Margaret, Lance, Judy, Mike, Mike

 Another fellow coworker, Al Martinez, stopped by with a date.   I only recall the first name of his date as ‘Sandy’.   Al always makes me laugh at work.   He’s a cool guy.   I think he has a source for supplying marijuana to select coworkers (not me).   I’ve heard this as a rumor.   It made me wonder how much extra money he made on the side.

PHOTO:  Al Martinez and ‘Sandy’

Another gym buddy, Jeff Hashem, arrived to the party.  He’s so friendly with a contagious smile.   I believe he is of Persian descent (IRAN).   He’s such a nice guy.   I like the sound of his laugh.   I was pleased that he came.   The fun thing about a party is the spontaneity and not knowing who will arrive and in what order they will arrive.   Jeff was dressed so sharp in jacket and tie.   It’s interesting to see the gym pals dressed up because I usually see them in gym ‘workout’ gear.   Jeff ended up getting the BRUT cologne gift. 
I joked, “This is meant to be because you’re such a BRUT force after all of your working-out.”
He laughed loudly, making me laugh.

PHOTO:  Jeff Hashem

Another fellow coworker from Pacific Bell, Mary McTiernan arrived.   She lives in South San Francisco.   She seemed to be flirting with my brother.   I couldn’t be sure—but Tony seemed to be enjoying himself.   Helen was around but she went upstairs to take mini-naps due to her pregnancy.

PHOTO:  Mary McTiernan and Tony

Amy Platt, the nurse from Nantucket, was a surprise turn out.   We are very on again/off again. 

 I overheard her giving her usual line, “I live in Lafayette in a guest house as a Registered Nurse/nanny but I’m originally from New York in the Hudson Valley area.”

Amy always seemed to feel an attraction for me.  I felt the same sparks but we could never reach full force.  It’s like we have unfinished business.   Who knows what the forthcoming months will bring after her appearing at this party tonight?   She seemed to like the gift she received but she didn’t stay for very long.   It’s tough when one doesn’t know too many at a party and they don’t drink enough to feel willing to mingle.    I reminisced about how Mark Landreth and I went to BAXTER’s in the San Ramon vicinity one night and we met Amy and her pal, Karen.  Mark and Karen never connected; however, Amy and I did have a cool connection.

PHOTO:  ‘me’ and Amy Platt

Another gym goer, Mark Geberhardt, made an appearance at the party.   My ‘gaydar’ at the time gave me mixed messages about him.   I wasn’t attracted to him in any way.   He always liked to take up conversation with me while I was working out though.  

PHOTO:  Mark Geberhardt

Mark’s friendly nature made me wonder.   I only asked him to come to the party earlier in the week, so it was cool that he came by.   I only wish Stuart Western could’ve come to the party.   He had said he would but there was no sign of him YET.   I like Stuart better.

The gift giving was fun as I had everyone who had not opened their gift go ahead and open their own token memento.   My sister in law, Sherri, was the recipient of the gold sports car but she didn’t seem too thrilled by it.   Oh well.   We can’t win them all.

PHOTO:  Sherri Armijo

Mike Elliott wasn’t probably too thrilled with his ornament gift but he seemed to take it in stride.   It was all in fun.   I like people who just want to have fun without mind games and pressures.

PHOTO:   Mike Elliott

While bike riding a month or so ago I met Janet Walsh.   She happened to be driving by and I managed to get her telephone number.   She attended the party with a girlfriend.   I can’t recall her friend’s name.   I just remember that she wore a ‘jeans jacket’.   Janet had this cross between a Farrah Fawcett/Cyndi Lauper haircut.   She seemed to be having a good time.   She received a compact and her pal got the historical paperback novel, CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR by Jean M Auel.    I wonder if she’ll actually read it.

PHOTO:  Janet Walsh and her friend

Judy Geniella received a collection of miniature Asian ornaments.   “They’re so cute,” Judy exclaimed.

I guess it’s nice when one doesn’t leave empty handed at a party.   All of my guests took a gift.   I’m glad I didn’t have ten or fifteen more people show up for I would have run out of gifts.

PHOTO:  Judy Geniella

My cousin, Mandy Lucero, actually came to the party.   She was included in the final group photo with the last remaining guests.   The group photo included Sherri, Mike Elliott, Tony, Debbie, Mike Miller, Judy, Jeff, Mandy, Mark, another Debbie—whoever she was—Mary, Sandy, Al, Mom, Dennis Reno, Helen and my nieces, Ashley and Lauren.

PHOTO:   End of the Evening Group Photo

 

SPEECH IS SILVER, SILENCE IS GOLDEN - This proverb is reminding us that we shouldn’t blather on too much.   We need to SHUT UP every now and again.   That’s good advice.   But what do we do in silence?   We listen to what others are saying.   And listening is part of language too. -David Crystal 

A LITTLE BOOK OF LANGUAGE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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JNA and Paul Armijo, the Fourth Son

My father, Joe Nelson Armijo, was sipping his second glass of red wine before dinner at his usual seat of the dining room table.  
Father said, "You know, Michael.  If I had a fourth son I was going to name him Paul."
"Well, you didn't...but when I have a son you know what I am going to name him?"
"What?"
"I'll name him Jared Nathan Armijo so he will have the same initials as you, JNA."
My father smiled, taking another sip of his red wine.   What was he thinking after that last sip?

Paul sometimes wondered if he wouldn't have been more content in another period of history.
-Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
PLAYER PIANO

Yes, it is true.   After a one-year hiatus from the 007 Gentleman BLOG it's time to continue as the Elvis Costello song directs:  Everyday I Write The Book.

As I review I had previously written various situations that I referred to as THE BEGINNINGS.   They are inclusive from the 007 Gentleman BLOG entries dated July 4, 2012 through December 14, 2012.   The last chronological period of transcription was on Thanksgiving, November 26, 1987 via the BLOG posting dated December 1, 2012.    Therefore, I shall continue with whatever comes to mind in the best chronological manner that I have to work with.   The reason being is that I failed to write daily entries in my diary in late 1987, choosing instead to take polaroid photos.   I will post many of these photos here in the forthcoming weekly SUNDAY 007 Gentleman BLOG.   A picture is worth a thousand words, so it is likely many words will easily come back to me as I recall the happenings of these days in the late 1980's and 1990's until I reach the point when I started to write my daily journal once again.  

After my father passed away on August 29, 1987 I felt a period of withdrawal and didn't feel that it mattered to write anymore.  Perhaps that is a typical feeling of mourning.   One sees that 'nothing seems to matter'.    I found a way to keep one foot forward for my mother who was mourning more than I could ever imagine.  
PHOTO:  Mark Landreth with 'Poison Ivy' as Mark
receives the PLAYBOY party gift, on December 19, 1987 the evening of my Christmas Party.

Twenty-six years ago today,
December 15, 1987, my focus was on my forthcoming Christmas Party.   Why not?   A party would enable me to socialize and just 'move on' with the concept of enjoying the forthcoming holiday.  My mom would be coming to the party, so I knew it would be good for her as well.   My dad will be there 'in spirit'.   
PHOTO (right): My niece, Ashley Marie Armijo

The party would take place on December 19, 1987 at 3348 Soloman Lane, in the Islandia Townhome that I was living.   I was expecting my gym pal, Mark Landreth, realizing that he may bring his gal pal, Poison Ivy.  Other guests that I expect include Margaret Lai (her son, Lance Jensen), Judy Geniella, Michael Miller, Mike Elliot, Mark Geberhardt (another gym friend), coworker Al Martinez, Michael Miller's pal named Kep and his gal pal, Amy Platt, my sister-in laws Helen and Sherri, Anne Alberti (the hot gym aerobics instructor), Janice Walsh and a friend, Mary McTiernan, Dennis Reno, Debbie Honcik, Patty (another regular at the gym who is friendly with Anne), Jeff Hashem, my cousin, Mandy Lucero, and my nieces Ashley and Lauren.   What is a Christmas Party without a few children?

My polaroid camera is ready to shoot photos of everyone that attends my party.  As mentioned before my polaroid has become my scapegoat for actual written diary entries. 
PHOTO: My niece, Lauren Michael Armijo

I have a plan to provide gift-wrapped gifts for all that attend.   I'm excited about this Christmas Party in my home.   Home is where you're loved.   I love my friends and family.   Let's see who shows up.   Next Sunday I'll provide more pics from the party and other scoop.   Thanks for returning to my BLOG.

Paul, smiling glassily, decided to say nothing more, since anything more would be the wrong thing.   He folded his arms and leaned against the keyboard of the player piano.   In the silence of the saloon, a faint discord came from the piano, hummed to nothingness.
-Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
PLAYER PIANO

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