Friday, May 31, 2013

May 31 - Story notes: Nexus, Time Fall, Tempus Fugit

Wednesday, May 31, 1972 - Page 152
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

(2:28:28 AM 6/1/1972)
I got to sleep at about 5:00 A.M., and woke up at 1:00 P.M. It was a warm sunny day for a few hours, so I tanned my hide on the veranda for about an hour and a half. I am now on page 126 in "The Other," and on 132 in "Man'sRiseToCivilizationAsShownByTheIndiansOfNorthAmericaFromPrimevalTimesToTheComingOfTheIndustrialState."

I did some more Chess analysis for the Sennet/Jarlath tournaments in Nexus. I discovered another facet of Nexus Streams yesterday, or the early morn of May 31, and I came up with more plot structure to "Time Fall." The former is the Bourn -- a pure, original nexus which is the goal, limit and nemesis of time travel (too complex to go into at greater detail here) and it will probably be a major ingredient in the last episode of the "Tempus Fugit" series. The "Time Fall" additions include a form of writing used by the people of Beta Nexus: boustrophedon (look it up!) ...

[From Wikipedia 2013: Boustrophedon is a kind of bi-directional text, mostly seen in ancient manuscripts and other inscriptions. Every other line of writing is flipped or reversed, with reversed letters. Rather than going left-to-right as in modern English, or right-to-left as in Arabic and Hebrew, alternate lines in boustrophedon must be read in opposite directions.]
Ancient Greek boustrophedon inscription, Crete, 5th century BC
... which allows more flexible, abstract, free flowing thought that is more conducive to comprehension of temporal theory -- therefore, Norman molds a foundation in Beta Nexus (led subconsciously by Alex) which pools the greatest minds of Beta to deal with the problem of the Temporal Vortex. So he transports them to the Alpha/Beta node to solve the Vortex anomaly. The idea comes to naught though when the gathering attempts to assist the Vortex in its effort to create Beta history, and destroy Alpha completely.


I went to sleep today at 8:30, got up at 12:30 and am now going to read "Man's Rise to Civilization, Etc." 'tis now 2:50:25 A.M. FINIS

Thursday, May 30, 2013

May 30 - Chess & turmoil at Chuck's place***

Tuesday, May 30, 1972 - Page 151
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

(1:11:11 AM 5/31/1972)
Got up today when Chunk came in at 12:30 [PM], putting his boat back, along with another one belonging to some one else who will pick it up some time. I beat him one game of chess, and he left at 12:45. I wrote a letter to Fr. Gil, and mailed it with Sooz' letter. Tried to figure out the quickest way to check mate somebody and only was able to get it down to 16 moves.

I read some more in "Thother" (pg. 96) and I'm on 126 in "mansrisetocivilizationasshownbytheindiansofnorthamericafromprimevaltimestothecomingoftheindustrialstate" (Cross your own t's and dot your own i's). Chunk called 'bout six 30, and I drove over there to play chess. Chunk won six, I won three (boo!) and 3 were stale (alas). He made a meat loaf (he was going to use grass instead of parsley but he couldn't get any -- radical freak! Shame, shame), so I ate there. Connie needed help starting her car, and later she gave us some banana cream pies she got free from Contucky Fried Chick'n. Saw about ten minutes of the McGov/Humph debate whilst playing.

I left at 12:30 [AM], taking the big plastic plant and Wilimovsky painting as mom instructed.
"Balcony, New Orleans" Oil Painting by Charles A. Wilimovsky, my Mom's father
This was a festering to the familial turmoil writhing beneath the surface of Winnie & Mom. It's an interesting case where neither can see the other's viewpoint, and neither is wrong nor right. A true-life stalemate, and resultantly Winnie is becoming a stale mate for Chunk. She came home as I was about to leave -- when she saw what I'd taken she called at me to come back up, and take everything else (she now has a hole in the wall with nothing to cover it with, and a vacant spot on the floor).

To gain breathing time I called Dad (waking him up) because it would have been convenient for me to drop stuff off at his place that I had in the car. He thought not. By this time Winnie's displeasure had graduated to frustrated crying, and Chunk suggested I leave. Prudently, I left. He and me are pretty similar, and we both are beginning to recognize that he's always impressed when I do well with football, sports, girls or practical knowledge -- he doesn't expect it of me.

As youths he and me were in constant conflict, but now that we've grown out of it we can see each other with due respect. When Wendy was blowing up, I caught Chunk looking at me to gauge my reaction -- That's the kind of thing I do: Though you're involved in something, you can still be detached enough to check out other factors and people in unusual situations. Character analysis. Chunk's got as many facets as I have, and vice versa. But some are more obvious than others. 1:42:14 FINIS
Wendy Carpenter and Chuck Lyda

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

May 29 - The moon disappears**

Monday, May 29, 1972 - Page 150
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

MAMMORIAL DAE (You remember her, don'tcha?)

5:17:38 AM
The moon just disappeared. Either I'm badly mistaken, or this is a(n) historical moment in natural or unnatural history. At about 12 after five I looked out the window and saw the full moon, gold of hue, in what appeared to be a clear, rich deep blue sky, pre-morning type.
Now you see it...
A few minutes later I looked out there again, and the moon wasn't there. It couldn't set that far in just a few minutes, and there isn't any trace of it at all. Wait a second, I'm going to look again... nope, it's still not there. How about that.
...now you don't
I'm listening to "Lum and Abner" now, and I just finished the final first draft of a letter to Soozwol, a monumental effort in letter-writing. It took me 4 and a half hours. Now I'm going to go to sleep. Good night/morning. 5:24:02 A.M.

10:10:10 PM
I still haven't seen the moon yet. I haven't heard any mention of its disappearance on the Gradio, but it certainly would be news. Where would the next Apollo flight go? -- I finished the final copy of Soozy's letter, and I guess I'll mail it in a couple of days.

Grandma Dot came over, and she said she'd pay for an airline ticket to fly me to South Dakota, so, I guess I'll be leaving in a couple of weeks. I heard Tom isn't there any more -- he left. It was another record breaker today ~ 97° in L.A. The highest on record of this date was for 1881 when it got up to 79°. I tanned my hide alot, and read "Theother."

Lara & Mike dropped by, and Mike and I moved that cabinet out back like Mom wanted, and I rearranged the boats back there (there's only the blue downriver boat & "Patch" now, Chunk has the "Mongoose," and Glenn took away his kayak last Monday). Mom & I continued to get this place cleaned up. We also played some more chess, after a big dinner. She won two games, I won three. I'm now on page sixty nine in "Thother," and I'm on page 110 in "Man's rise to civilization as shown by the indians of north america from primeval times to the coming of the industrial sta[end of page]

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

May 28 - Holiday weekend

Sunday, May 28, 1972 - Page 149
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

11:50:50 PM

Goddup at about 1:30 P.M., sleeping through a visitation by Jordan who was in a fairly serious auto accident on the 24th, so mom tells me. That'll teach him to drive. It was hot today -- a record braking 96 mark of the merc today for LA. And, it being a holiday, there was the usual gathering of tourists wandering about our quaint little village.

Mom was determined to clean the place up, so I removed and replaced the flourescent lights in the living room; removed, cleaned, broke, and replaced the long narrow strips of fogged glass concealing those lights; I cleaned what remained of the ceiling; and I decapitated the legs off of the old table that used to be in the living room (yes, I know I used 'decapitated' wrong). During all of which Mom & I played five games of chess, three of which I won.

Larry phoned looking for dad, though his whereabouts by me were unknown. I'm now on 48 in "Thother," and on 109 in "Mansrisetocivilizationasshownbytheindiansofnorthamericafromprimevaltimestothecomingoftheindustrialstate." Moving right along, ...... Mom just baked a cake, and today, we et corn on the cob and broiled steaks. And watermelon. I'm still hungry however. So what. (No, I'm not going to put a question mark after that.) Tis now 12:04:45 A.M. --- DNE EHT ---

[TIME-OUT: In the past-entry for April 24, a note dated for today, "Sunday morn, May 28, 1972 -- 12:46:55 A.M." (more sensibly described as "Saturday nite, May 27") mentioned a color pencil drawing that is currently attached to the entry for May 26, page 147. Are you confused? So am I. Sometimes TIME can give me a big headache.] 

Monday, May 27, 2013

May 27 - The Godfather**

Saturday, May 27, 1972 - Page 148
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

(12:22:22 AM 5/28/1972)
I had to wake up at 11:00 to hear an interview on KFI with Harlan Ellison -- otherwise I would have slept later. I organized my notes on Time Fall -- or rather I started organizing them. Notes are scattered over my bed along with a jacket, a pen and mom's broken glasses that I'm going to fix. I just got back from a movie -- "The Godfather" at the Buena Park Drive-In. Mom & I left at 5:30, and waited in the theater two hours for it to start. It was long -- from 8:15 to 11:45. Right now it is 12:28:28. Mom went out shopping today, and Laramée and Mike came over with some fishing gear that came in the mail. It was basically an overcast day but it got up to at least 80° ---
"The Godfather" was the Box Office leader in 1972, is ranked as the 2nd greatest movie of all time by AFI (#1 is "Citizen Kane"), and would win three Oscars at the next Academy Awards ceremony.
Hi! I'm back. Now it is 12:36:16. I replaced a tiny screw with a pin in mom's glasses, and clipped off the point with a finger nail cutter. So that's all taken care of. I am now on page 108 in "Man's Rise to Civilization as Shown by the Indians of North America from Primeval Times to the Coming of the Industrial State," and at the movie I started reading "The Other" by Thomas Tryon, which is also a movie. I'm on page 20 in that but I'll read more tonight. That's all for now, I think. Bi! 12:40:10 A.M.
Theatrical Release Poster, 1972

Sunday, May 26, 2013

May 26 - ARTWORK: Color pencil drawing**

Friday, May 26, 1972 - Page 147
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

(1:00:00 AM 5/27/1972)
Got up today at about 11:30 when Chunk came over in the Barracuda with a boat on top. He had a few minutes so we played a couple games. He won both of them. He left at noon. I've started reading a book I got in South Dakota: "Man's Rise to Civilization As Shown By the Indians of North America From Primeval Times to the Coming of the Industrial State by Peter Farb." Oddly enough, the book is longer than the title, as a matter of fact it is 400 pages long. I'm just on page 73 right now though. It's providing a lot of useful info for "Time Fall."

I did a drawing in color pencil today -- what the heck, here it is.
This drawing is also referred to in the entries of April 24 and June 1
As you may have guessed, there was more to her, but she didn't come out too well from the shoulders down -- and she's fairly modest, y'know, so I just saved her face (she still looks a little uneasy, tho). For a first effort, it's not too bad, I suppose. When I get down to art again I'll probably settle on pastels -- you can't blend as well with pencils. Well, I think she adds a little color to the old dull book.

Mom got home around 7:00, and we went to see "Skyjacked," and "The Gypsy Moths." Got back around 12:30. We're back now. It's now 1:15:40 A.M. That's all for now.


[PS] On KFI tonight, on the Hilly Rose Show, there was a woman representing Disneyland (Emily Zinsor, a Disneyland Ambassador). With my great knowledge of that institution, I decided to call them and discuss the closed circuit cameras in the attractions there. And I recorded my voice on the radio, so I heard me. I was on about 1:25. 

Saturday, May 25, 2013

May 25 - Arranging rides for Chuck

Thursday, May 25, 1972 - Page 146
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

(1:11:11 AM 5/26/1972)
Last night at 7:00 I drove over to Chunk's, and then I drove us to Hermosa Beach to see Sherry. She's moving into an apartment and she hasn't got a phone yet. We were seeing about whether her Girl Scouts could go on some trips with us ("us" being Me, Chunk, Glenn, Murray, and Steve somebody). We stayed at her place a while -- Thursday afternoon she is leaving for a trip down The River (Topock Gorge -- Colorado River. Where Chunk, Glenn, me & mike went 2 yrs ago). Left her place at around 10:00. Chunk called somebody in Redondo for a ride to King's, and then I drove us back home.

I got up this morning about 8:30 or 10:00 when Chunk came over. He wanted to go paddling, but we played chess instead -- he won 3 games, I won 2. He left at noon. I went to sleep at around 4:00 and got up at 8:00. Watched T.V., did dishes, and Dad came over with money. I drove to the liquor store to buy some food, and walked back. Mom was just talking with Chunk on the phone about Chunk getting driven to Redondo Beach tomorrow nite. There was a little problem for a while, but it eventually resolved itself into the idea that Mom would get Chunk after work, and then drive him to Redondo to get dropped off, where he will get a ride to King's. The end.

Now it's 1:22:22 A.M. The end, again. again

Friday, May 24, 2013

May 24 - Pondering 1972's impact on History**

Wednesday, May 24, 1972 - Page 145
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

3:30 PM
The next day: I goddup around 1:00. Chunk called ~ he said he'd like to borrow the Imperial t'day to go to Hermosa Beach to see Sherry, to see if he & she would go to King's on Memorial Day -- they're having races there then. Note how I tried starting writing this neatly -- couldn't keep it up too long. Heck I thought I was good at penmanship. Another myth bites the dust.

Today isn't over yet, so I ain't got much to say, except that I've been wasting my time writing in this thing since one thirty, and that the President happens to be in Moscow today, as he has been yesterday, and the day before. They say this is history in the making, but is it really? How important is all this going to be -- how much room will this year take up in history books? After one hundred forty four days, Nixon has been to China and Moscow, and two more men have been to the moon, and George Wallace has been shot.

This is also an election year -- it'll be pretty crowded with various events before it's over. I guess this is gonna be a fairly historical year -- with attempted assassinations, good will tours, moon landings, Viet Nam blockades, and Presidential elections (which, of course, will be won by Nixon) -- so what? I'm trying to think of something profound -- I've got it:

The history of the past is but a mere puppet-show.
    A little man comes out and blows a little trumpet -- and goes in again.
You look for something new; And lo! --
    Another little man comes out, and blows another little trumpet -- and goes in again.
        -- LONGFELLOW 

Thursday, May 23, 2013

May 23 - The quick brown fox

Tuesday, May 23, 1972 - Page 144
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

(3:30 PM 5/24/1972)

I went out paddling, sunning my bod for two or three hours. Tide got up extremely high so I checked out a few inlets, exploring tentatively.
Got back atta bout 5:30. Mom and I made a turkey, after playing 4 games of Chess (she won three games). I think I'll make me a sandwich.

Boy, this is sloppy. I'm writing pretty fast -- you may think this is sloppy as I get, but I don't think so. I'm gonna try an experiment -- I'm gonna write as fast as I can, and see how messy I get. On my mark; get set; go --
(This results in a big illegible scrawl)
rats -- I just can't hold a thought. Lemme try that again:
The quick brown fox leaped
over the lazy dog's bark
one more time --
The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog's back.
wow -- that really takes concentration, to write that fast. Okay! You try it! if you don't believe me. ----
[Historical note from 2013: I used a variation of the phrase "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" which has been utilized as a writing exercise since 1885 because it employs all the letters of the alphabet. You can see the interesting Wikipedia facts here: The quick brown fox ]

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

May 22 - Sand shark

Monday, May 22, 1972 - Page 143
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

(3:00 PM 5/24/1972)
Yesterday, Mom bought a round table for the "living room" along with two swivel chairs. The thing is beauteous, so we got rid of that annoying table that was in here. Yesterday, dad went flying with an instructor. Today, Jordan appeared with a couple of kids, one of whom held a shark, about three feet long (the shark, that is -- the kid was four feet). They took my fish book to identify it, and haven't been back yet ("yet" being Wednesday 3:15, approx).

That's all I'm gonna bother to remember today. Today was two days ago -- okay, let's go to yesterday : next page -----

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

May 21 - LA Games, continued**

Sunday, May 21, 1972 - Page 142
LOCATION: Los Angeles & Newport Beach, California

(2:00 PM 5/22/1972)
[Continued from previous page]
The Girlscouts told off-color jokes and laughed a lot. I learned that Sherry and Kathy were Turtles like me. A Turtle is an exceptional person who has correctly answered the following riddles:

[The official answers can be found at the end of this post. Remember that "Turtles" are always presumed to be impeccably clean-minded virtuous folks. (haha) ]
1] What is it a man can do standing up, a woman sitting down, and a dog on three legs?
2] What is a four letter word ending in K that means the same as intercourse?
3] What is it a woman has two of, and a cow has four of?
4] What is it on a man that is hard and sticks so far out of his pajamas you can hang a hat on it?

Those are the four riddles. I became a Turtle last year in Math class when Thom Granger initiated me, and I got the official Turtle Card (more about the Turtle Club on page 140 [Friday, May 19, 1972] ).

Our gang remained awake and raucous until about 11:30, long after everyone in the surrounding camps had retired. Kathy, her friend, and Wayne wandered off, Peggy slipped into her transparent tube tent, and everyone else got into their sleeping bags. Chunk had his sleeping bag, two blankets and the foam rubber pad -- I just had two blankets. I slept across the path of Amalia, what's her name, and Cheryl, so I got kicked all nite (I kicked back, of course). It didn't rain as everyone expected (Peggy was still hoping it would -- "Nobody can get into my tent unless they pay five dollars cover charge" she told everybody. "And if it rains, boys first." Later, she could be heard saying: "Rain, darn it!" I expressed the same sentiments). With just two blankets, the only way I could keep warm was to pull the blanket over my head and warm the inside with my breath. I lived through it okay, despite one good kick in the head by Amalia.

(1:30 PM 5/24/1972)
The idiot Boy Scouts played reveille at 7:00, though by that time just about everyone was up -- except our group, of course... Last to go to sleep, last to get up. We all were slow to rise, even after we woke up, which was fine because the races weren't going to start until 10:00 (despite the time given on the schedule attached here-with).

We all were fairly active by 8:30, including Chunk. I had a bowl of Rice Krispies, just to have something to do. I wasn't hungry. I've gotten into the habit of eating just one meal a day, and when I'm out camping I wouldn't bother eating even that much if I could get away with it. This has quite a few advantages: It's very economical, you don't have to bother with dirty dishes, you don't get fat, and you don't have to go to the bathroom too often. So I don't eat -- It's easy. And I don't sleep -- That's annoying. Any way, I perfunctorily ate breakfast, and let the G.S. have cold milk and sugar. Peggy and whats-her-name left (Peggy said she had to go to church... Ha) so they weren't around the rest of the day. I don't know what transportation they used.

Chunk and I had our race fairly early on the agenda. We had competition -- Two life guards who also were in the high kneel position. We started too close to them, in fact we rammed them (Chunk said he did it deliberately to slow them down). So we got hung up on their wake and had to paddle hard to get out of it, but when we did we shot ahead, and when we shot ahead my knee slipped, and when my knee slipped we lost our advantages. Everyone else was behind us -- It was just our two canoes sprinting to the finish. When I was stable, we took the lead, but I was stable too seldom (I slipped around too much -- If I had been sitting down, I could have done something). It was a photo finish -- I couldn't tell which of us had won. The time was 3:05.5, us -- 3:04 for them. They beat us by a second and a half. I was exhausted after that. Chunk & I were definitely better than them -- even when I was slipping from one end of the canoe to the other, we almost beat them. RATS!

I drank copious amounts of water and tried to recover. Then Kathy appeared, and we went to sign up for C-2 Mixed Intermediate (Int. because she was eighteen). Immediately after signing up, we were told to go out to the starting line. Her canoe was being paddled, so we took the red one Chunk & I had lost in. Once at the starting line, we had about five minutes to wait, but it was still too soon after the last race -- I was tired. Chunk had always paddled on the left, ergo I was used to the right. But Kathy paddled to the right, so I had to paddle left, which was fine because my right was worn out.

All the canoes around us contained gals and guys who were over thirty -- the guys were in the stern, gals in the bow, and that was dumb -- the guy should be up front with the power, the girl steers. Kathy and I were the only ones who were right. I decided I might as well sit in front of the damn thwart, I'd already lost one race kneeling behind it, and I was too tired for the high kneel position.

A Hard-Fought Victory with a Formidable Partner
So the race started, and we immediately ran up against the canoe next to us. But we broke free and got past them. It wasn't long B-4 we were ahead. Chunk and Sherry were paddling the opposite direction, getting ready to start the next race (they were in C-2 Mixed Senior), so they were shouting encouragement -- Sherry was yelling at Kathy, and Chunk was screaming complicated instructions at me. I couldn't hear a thing he said, I was making too much noise. Kathy was paddling and steering okay, but I still had to draw some to compensate for our veering off to the right. We were 3/4 of our way to the finish line, and Kathy was getting tired (I was always yelling at her to paddle faster, cause I could see boats nearby) so we switched sides, and came in paddling opposite. But we won by at least one boat-length. Kathy collapsed when we passed the finish, and I paddled into shore. Jackie was there to take our picture for the famed Aquatil scrap-book.

Those were the medals I got: 1st Place C-2 Mix Int and 2nd Place C-2 M Senior. But I was in other races that day. Chunk did the Slalom in the Musky Mongoose (he said he could hardly fit into it because his hips were swollen from football).

But I forgot to mention -- How did Chunk and Sherry do in the C-2 Mix Senior open? I din't see it because I was chatting with the bow paddler who had beaten us in the C-2 M, and one old guy who came in second or third in the race Kathy and I won. But, as it happened, Chunk and Sherry crashed (which is fine because they weren't quite ahead -- but Chunk didn't plan it). After that, Chunk made a habit of flipping over -- he did it a total of ten (10) times, by himself, however. He tried the Gunnel Hopping Race, and fell over as often before it started, as after. Eventually he had water in the canoe up to his chest, and he paddled in that way. I went out in the Mongoose to help, wary that the canoe might sink, but the floats in each end prevented it.

I was in another race, this time against Chunk, Riley, and the two kids. It was the C-4 Hand Paddling Race. I was with Ron (an official of the races) and 2 other old guys. Chunk's group came in first, and ours came in third -- so I got 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in races that day.

Chunk, Me, Wayne, and Riley were in another 4 man canoe race (Riley is a guy who was at Kern April 15, and he had helped fish me out when I flipped in the whitewater). We raced against Hews (the guy who beat Chunk and I), and three others, Bert (an old guy I knew from Kern 4 or 5 years ago), and three others, the guy I talked to during Chunk and Sherry's spill, the guy who lost to Kathy and me -- he was paddling with three kids and a dog. There were a few other contestants in that unofficial race -- in fact it was downright crowded.

The race started -- Hews' group tipped over immediately, Bert's gang took the lead right away, but their steering was off, so they went further than they had to go -- our canoe went straight and true, though we splashed in 5 or 6 gallons of water. We slid into the shore, and people pulled a kayak that was in our path out of the way just before we rammed it. "Well, the Lyda brothers won that one" the announcer said -- they were used to Chunk and me by that time.

Chunk and I were also in the C-2 Back Paddling Race -- we rammed into Riley, and got hung up with him too long. Hews came in first on that race. It was frustrating, him beating us so often -- he honestly wasn't as good as us. Fate. That's what it was.
Photos of Chuck paddling C2 with a partner on the Kern River, early 1970s
Mom arrived after the races were just about over. Chunk was still participating in some stuff, but I was through. I drove the car up to our camp, packed everything and chatted with Kathy (she was born 7-15-53) and the Aquatils again. Maybe we'll get together at the next races at Leg Lake on July 7. We left. It was 65 miles from there to here, through L.A. ---

It is now 3:00. More happened today (or rather Sunday) and I might attempt to mention it all, if I could remember, but -- as you can see -- I have run out of [the page ends here]
___________________________
Answers to Turtle Club riddles:
1] Shake hands
2] Talk
Though "intercourse" currently has a more common connotation (this word carried a double-meaning in 1972), the term originally meant communication/interaction: 1) A connection or dealings between persons or groups, 2) Exchange, especially of thoughts or feelings: communion, 3) Physical sexual contact.
3] Legs
4] His head

NOTE: To learn more than you ever wanted to know from the actual words of the incredibly magnificent Supreme Imperial Turtle of the Ancient & Honorable Order of Turtles, just go over here: January 14, 2014

Monday, May 20, 2013

May 20 - Competing in LA Games canoe races***

Saturday, May 20, 1972 - Page 141
LOCATION: Newport Beach & Los Angeles, California

(12:00 PM 5/22/1972)
Didn't sleep at all Friday nite/Saturday morn. Last time I woke up was noon Friday -- Didn't get to sleep til midnight Saturday. I don't need as much sleep as most people which is good because I'm an insomniac. I got Mom up at seven, and we went to Chunk's at 8 or 8 thirty. I went up to Chunk 'n Winnie's apartment to get him up. While I was waiting, I innocently removed an album from the top shelf of three on the wall. This action disrupted the balance, and the shelf fell down. I put it back up amid a shower of name-calling from Winnie. Thus began the day.

The destruction of the shelf was minimal, and everyone was in oddly amiable spirits. It was a cloudy day, constantly threatening to rain, but never quite getting around to it. Chunk slept in the back seat with the paddles, Mom drove, and I sat in the front. At around 9:30, we reached the site of the "Los Angeles Municipal Games" at Hansen Dam Lake. [I reluctantly agreed to attend this event, and Chuck had been training me for it since May 6It was at the base of a huge dam, and it was fresh water, though too dirty to drink, and fishermen lined the shores. Chunk & I unloaded the car, and Mom drove away. We warmed up a bit in a canoe we found (there were lots on the beach).
Hansen Dam, northeastern San Fernando Valley, in the Lake View Terrace district of LA (wiki info -- Photo: 2012)
The races were scheduled to begin at 10:00 A.M., so they started at 10:30. Chunk was in the first race -- Senior C-2 M canoe. I watched while paddling the Mucky Mongoose. He came in first, three or four boat lengths ahead of the other four or five k-noes. Luckily I wasn't entered in any races for Saturday, so I just fooled around. However, after the boat race, Chunk caught me to paddle C-1 in case I wanted to enter the C-1 16-17 year old division. I decided against it. I could see there wasn't any real competition anywhere (half the paddlers consisted of kids, or old folks). So I decided I might as well enter the C-2 mixed race on Sunday. A couple of girls won the senior C-2 race, so I asked Susanna (the pretty half of the team, and the bow paddler) if she'd like to paddle C-2 mix. But, alas, she wasn't going to be around on Sunday.
Water-damaged list of events for the 1972 LA Municipal Games
Two years ago [1970], Chunk, Me, Mike McEvers, and Glenn Harris canoed down the Colorado River with a group of girls called the Aquatils (Chunk, of course, pronounces that: Aquatits). Anyway, some members of that illustrious happy-go-lucky group were present at these races. Notably, Jackie ("Mom") -- the congenial but wholesome leader of the gang, Otis -- the cross-eyed co-leader, Tiny -- an elderly giant pal of "Mom's," Kathy -- a buxom Aquatit in her own right whom Mike and me teamed up with two years ago, along with another girl who wasn't at Hansen, and, last but not least, an unofficial member of "Mom's" gang, Sherry, a 25 year old 6th Grade teacher. She was leader of five 16-year-old Girl Scouts who ranged in age from 14 to 20 (from Cheryl to Peggy).

Chunk and I, as old pals of Sherry from "The River," fraternized with the Girl Scouts (I know fraternized is the wrong word, technically speaking). I stayed with Sherry and Peggy and Amalia and Robin and Cheryl and what's her name on the beach as Chunk did his stuff in the water. Saturday he got 3 medals (2 first place, 1 second). Sherry had been appointed as the official slalom timer -- the slalom course consisted of two gates through which contestants paddled a figure 8. Having nothing else to do, I paddled thru it in a minute twenty four, impressing the G.S.s [Girl Scouts] immeasurably due to the fact that older people (who didn't know what the hell they were doing) had done it, and three five was the best they could do. Of course, when Chunk got around to doing it on Sunday, he beat me with a time of 48 seconds.

Superstar Art Vitarelli Takes Down Chuck
Art Viterreli (the extremely good looking super paddler of world renowned fame who lives here in Eye Sore Park and whom I have previously mentioned in this journal (correction -- I din't mention him previously in this journal, or if I did, I can't find it [Found it: My famous Bayshore Park neighbor, Art Vitarelli, is first mentioned in the entry of Friday, March 24, 1972] )). Viterrelli has beaten Chunk in many many races all over the place. He arrived on Saturday at around two with Bob Sutherland (another great paddler) with a wooden K-2, a beautifully designed boat, smooth as glass and varnished like a table-top. He attracted an audience right away. I remarked that his K-2 looked like a work of "Art" (nobody caught the pun however, and it was incorrect anyhow, as I learned later. Art didn't make it, it was made in Denmark).

When A.V. arrived, Chunk had just beaten a hot kayaker whose name was Bob. Bob wanted to race Art, so he and Chunk teamed up, borrowed a K-2, and they raced. Viterrelli and Sutherland beat Chunk by 500 meters (it was a 5,000 meter race), and both teams lapped a third contender. After beating Chunk, Art took his Gold Medal, packed his kayak and left.

[Side Note: Art Viterreli was a good neighbor, a friend, a brilliant business man, and a consummate athlete. Lest you think he was acting cruel and arrogant toward Chuck on this day, I would like to offer a different opinion. Art was intentionally providing Chuck with vivid MOTIVATION that would carry him forward in his career and propel him to become a superb Olympian. Thanks, Art, for kicking Chuck's ass. That's exactly what he needed when he needed it. See my brother Chuck's life story HERE.]

You might think this is a lot of text to fit on a single page of a diary. Here is a photo to show you how TINY my handwriting was to get it all in. I actually needed a magnifying glass to read some of this. The entry for the following day looks like this too.
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE...
The races for Sat. ended at around four, so Chunk & I found where Sherry and Co. was camping, and threw our junk nearby. We lit our gas stove and heated a can of beef stew. It practically exploded. The G.S.s borrowed our stove when it was decided their little burner wouldn't work. So they had a few cans of Spaghetti-O's. They cooked them in a pot (Chunk & I cooked our B.S. in its can -- that's why it almost exploded).

A Hilariously Hazardous Football Game (fortunately, no one was killed)
A football game was in its embryonic stages, and Chunk and I filled it out to give it birth. Teams were chosen -- Chunk captained one team, Richard led the other (Richard is a tall person who is also Jackie's son). I was on Richard's team. Kathy was on Chunk's team. Each team had about seven people each, but that number fluctuated as people joined, and others were carried away. The teams were mostly female, but each had its predominant male players. Chunk and Wayne Walters on one, Richard and me on the other. I knew what kind of game it would be when, after the first play, I had to abandon my glasses. They had become bent and sat upon my nose askew. The ground was sand that was coarse as gravel, rules were non-existent except for the notion that it was two-handed touch anywhere on the bod, and the field was largely undefined. No one escaped injury of some sort. I tore my pants clear through to my knee, scratched my hands and arms on the gravel, and nearly broke my nose on Chunk's arm. A girl on our team -- Carol -- was fantastic at passing, receiving and making touchdowns. It was mostly her fault that our team won (42 to 28, I think).

Kathy Delmar was injured when she caught the ball, and I ran her down. She is strongly built, however, so she survived the collision, but that was the last time she played. She got out of the game for first aid. Sherry attempted a few plays, but she didn't last long because of a foot she broke while skiing. The cast had been off for only a day. Richard was disenchanted with Chunk when he noted his bulldozer attitude. One time he said to me "Your brother's out for blood. He just picked that guy up and threw him away." I was constantly trying to keep Chunk at bay so our team could score. There was one hapless kid who centered for our side -- after he hiked the ball, Chunk plowed into him, and I plowed into Chunk. The center was stuck between us as Chunk and I charged each other over half the field. Other times I would notice Chunk absentmindedly looking around after a play with a member of our team dangling from his arm, feet above his head. Once I was running after Chunk when a recently dispatched teammate fell in my path. I ran into him when he was on his back and his feet were in the air -- my stomach slammed into the sole of his shoe and the momentum flipped me five feet, ending in a scratchy somersault. I was afraid I might have busted his leg, and he was afraid he might have broken my ribs. We both remained fairly healthy, however.

The game stopped at sundown, and I went to the Aquatil camp to get a couple of band-aids. To my delight, Chunk was limping. At nite the boating gang had a fire-side sing-in, B.S.A [Boy Scouts of America] pack skits, and a long long movie about a trip down the Grand Canyon. Chunk and I sat with the Girl Scouts, and discretely drank wine from glasses replenished by a gallon jug. I told them it was grape juice, and they had a great time guzzling it, until Sherry told me to stop circulating it. So me, Chunk, and Wayne drank it up. Sherry & Co. played their guitars in front of the campfire, and I rounded up a lost paddle I had found. I watched the movie from the back of the crowds, and when it was over, Chunk, Sherry, and Wayne had finished the whole gallon. So Chunk limped and staggered at the same time. I wandered into Kathy and her gang, and she asked me to team with her in C-2 mixed on Sunday. I fraternized with that gang for a while (the Aquatils were going to sing "Pink Panties" at the camp fire, but Jackie called it off because it was too risque. I listened to an exclusive performance of it). I left them and joined our camp with Chunk, Wayne, Sherry, Peggy, Amalia, Robin, Cheryl, and what's her name. Kathy and a girlfriend joined us later.
[Continued on next page -- Sunday, May 21, 1972]

Sunday, May 19, 2013

May 19 - TURTLE CLUB: Official membership card*

Friday, May 19, 1972 - Page 140
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

[continued from previous page] ful!)
(1:05:25 AM 5/20/1972)
It rained today. Chunk beat me in two games of chess. I helped mom wash the clothes. Jordan bought a model of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Mom and I went to pick up Chunk at his place of employment. We put the downriver boat and the Mucky Mongoose on the Imperial. We're being driven to Hansen Damn tomorrow by mom (yes, I know I misspelled it).

I've gotta get up at 7:00 A.M. It is raining now, and it will probably be raining 2morrow. The cat has still been fooling around. Mom and I went shopping to buy food for our trip tomorrow. --- None of that in that order. Tha's allllllllllllllllllllllllllllll  1:10:30 A.M.

[What follows here is text from my official TURTLE membership card (wiki info). Most of the original astronauts were TURTLES: daring people who are not afraid to stick their necks out. If a Turtle ever asks a fellow Turtle if they are a Turtle, they are compelled to clearly utter the phrase: "You bet your sweet ass I am." This is because every Turtle apparently owns a kindly good natured jackass for alternative transportation. Saying such a thing in polite society would, of course, be a scandalous faux pas, and if a Turtle was ever in a situation in which he was unable to provide the proper response, then he must buy the Turtle who asked the question -- and any other Turtles within earshot -- a round of drinks of his/her (their) own choosing. At a press conference a reporter asked President Kennedy if he was a Turtle, to which he replied, "I'll buy you a drink later."]

TURTLE CREED
Turtles are bright eyed, bushy tailed, fearless and unafraid folk with a fighter pilot attitude. They think clean, have fun a lot, and recognize the fact that you never get anyplace worthwhile in life unless you stick your neck out.

The "Turtles" are indeed an illustrious group and include in their membership ranks some of the country's foremost leaders in the fields of government, finance, entertainment, aerospace and all other areas where aggressiveness, a feeling of fair play, clean thoughts and a sense of humor are keys to success. Started by a group of test pilots during the 2nd War, the club has progressed to its present position as one whose membership is diligently sought after and highly esteemed by those lucky enough to be initiated. Adherence to the creed and always giving the password when asked are the only responsibilities placed on our membership. You will find that life is more fun and takes on new meaning when you are a "Turtle." Welcome to the group.

INTERSTELLAR ASSOCIATION OF TURTLES
(OUTERSHELL DIVISION)

Date: 10/6/71

This is to certify
Grady Luther Lyda III
is a member in good standing and will remain so as long as he continues to give the password when asked by a fellow Turtle.

Member
Thom Granger

High Potentate
Walter M. Schinok

Low Potentate
Gerry Morton

[FROM THE]
OFFICIAL MEMBERSHIP CARD

As a member in good standing you can subscribe new Turtles as follows:

I - We assume all prospective Turtles own a Jack Ass. This assumption is the reason for the password. This password must be given if you are ever asked by a fellow member, "Are you a Turtle?" You MUST then reply, "You bet your sweet ass I am." If you do not give the password in full because of embaressment or some other reason, you forfeit a beverage of his choice. So always remember the password.

II - To become an official Turtle you must first solve the following riddles (see page 142). [The four riddles can be found at the top of the entry for Sunday, May 21, 1972 - Page 142]

III - You are now a member of the Turtle Club. Govern yourself accordingly and procure new members.

Here are answers to the 10 Turtle Riddles seen on the entry for January 14, 2014.
1) A Wedding Ring
2) An Elevator
3) The Titanic
4) A Dentist
5) An Attorney
6) Bubble Gum
7) A Newspaper Boy
8) An Arrow
9) A Crane
10) A Nose

For an enlightening message emailed directly to ME from our current Supreme Imperial Turtle (as of July 22, 2014), you can go HERE [but only if you promise NEVER to reveal his exalted name to non-turtles]: The cosmically magnificent Imperial Turtle graciously responds to my humble question

Saturday, May 18, 2013

May 18 - Contemplating slooowness of my writing

Thursday, May 18, 1972 - Page 139
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

(1:23:45 AM 5/19/1972)
Well, let's see, what happened today. You must forgive me, I am totally unprepared. I was flipping through Vol. 1 of "Masterplots, Digests of World Literature" (a fifteen volume set of which we have two volumes) and I looked up to see the time was 1:23:20, so I had to rush to catch the one, two, three, four, five sequence (incidentally it is now 1:26:40 A.M.).

Tacosumi has been [bleep]ing around (clinically speaking), and as a matter of fact her pursuits in that area awoke me from my slumber -- I had to open my window to allow her a hasty, if temporary, retreat. So that's how my day started. I finished reading "Childhood's Rear" which was 218 pages in length. I washed the dishes a few hours ago whilst watching the Dick Cavett show (it's 1:30:59 already -- boy I write slooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooowly. Very slooooooooooooooooooooooooooowly. So slooooooo -- etc -- ly, in fact, that it is already, at this moment in time, 1:35:05.

One might have thought that while I was fooling with the slowlies up there, I would have been thinking about what else I did today, and something clever to write about it. But no. I was just thinking about making my pen go oooooooooooooooooooo. Such are the mechanations of a brilliant mind (a mind that also makes gros spelling erorrs).

It is now 1:37:15. I know I must've done something else today, but I can't imagine what it might be. It is presently overcast, and I therefore did not have to go outside. That's all I'm going to bother to say now. 1:38:38 (It took me 15! minutes to fill this page. That's disgrace- (CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE)

Now is 1:40:09 A.M. -- END!

Friday, May 17, 2013

May 17 - Discovering dead critters in Back Bay

Wednesday, May 17, 1972 - Page 138
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

(2:22:22 AM 5/18/1972)
Another sunny day. I sun bathed on the veranda for an hour (my tan isn't getting any darker, despite the tan lotion), then decided I must do some exercise. So I looked for a terrestrial access to the stretch of beach at the base of the cliffs. The tide was too high for me to get away with traversing private property (I tried, but was admonished by one old guy, so I decided against it).

So I climbed the cliffs, and came down to the beach, and ran back and forth along it. I ran a lot, but I rested a lot more, during which I found the skull of some kind of animal. Poking around more, I found in the water the creature's skin with most of the hair and bones detached. I also found a claw with the flesh still on it, and the lower jaw. I believe it was canine. I also found some dead jellyfish, crabs and shrimps. I ran some more, and then I found a dead duck. It was a domestic mallard-type duck who had not been dead long. I'll be observing its rate of decay every now and then.

I got back home at 4:15. Dad came over to eat before getting back to work, and to give us money. Mom and I cleaned out the back of the trailer and organized the residue kayaks. Chunk called, so Mom and I drove out to pick him up from his job. I watched T.V. and washed the dishes, and read some more of "Childhood's End" (now on 167). Time is 2:35:00 A.M. --- Thuh Ind.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

May 16 - NoNoNanette, plus chess, reading & TV

Tuesday, May 16, 1972 - Page 137
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

11:11:11 PM
Got up at 10:00, then went to sleep and goddup again at noon. Jordan forgot to go to school today, so he came over and we played a half dozen games of chess -- need I say I won them all? He finally wandered off -- or rather, I forceably removed him, and I decided I was tired. So I read the last installment of "The Plain Truths" series on the human mind, and a couple more chapters in "Childhood's End." At about 3:30 I went to sleep, and permanently rewoke up at 8:00. Mom had left by this time to "No, No, Nanette," and (at 11:15:49) she still isn't back yet.
1971 Revival Recording
I watched T.V., during which time I washed the few dishes in the sink. Watched "The Mystery Secrets of the Baobab Tree," and "Nichols," among snatches of a movie called the "Deadly Dream," and a few minutes of "Ponderosa." That about takes care of today. It was sunny, but too cool to go out -- my room is still a disgraceful mess. It is now 11:18:28 secs, P.M. --- That does it.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

May 15 - Back Bay sunbathing

Monday, May 15, 1972 - Page 136
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

(1:11:11:APPROX A.M. 5/16/1972)
Got up at 10:30. No mail. Paddled out to the area mentioned on May 10, but the tide had come up so high, water covered it a couple inches deep. So I wandered around (having more mobility, since I now have shoes), and I found a skull of some kind of rodent -- there were a lot of big holes scattered over the high sandy ground. Eventually I found a slight depression and I proceeded to tan my hide again. I read "Childhood's End" while sunning, and I'm now on page 110 (exactly half way through).

It was fairly fair, but low thin clouds moved in sporadically until the skies were quite overcast by 5:00 P.M. I got home at about a quarter to 6:00, having left at a quarter to noon. George Wallace got shot today. Chunk is in Oxnard now, and will be coming back 2morrow nite. Mom went to play bridge, as usual on Mondays. I watched "Laugh-In," then "Fantastic Voyage" (which I'd seen bout 6 years ago), then the Dick Cavett show (which won an Emmy last nite). Finly got the dishes done. It is now 1:23:00, the end.
Fantastic Voyage Theatrical Poster, 1966

--- 1:26:20 --- I just captured a rather large fly (about -- Boy! It almost got away there -- about 2 centimeters long). I'm playing the fiendish li'l kid, cause I now have the fly embedded in "Wilhold Glu-Bird White Glue with Orthonol" to preserve it (I don't have any amber handy). I saw at least a dozen dead jellyfishes on a Back Bay beach! Animals are dumb!

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

May 14 - Mother's Day 1972

Sunday, May 14, 1972 - Page 135
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

Mom's Day

(12:22:22 AM 5/15/1972)
Goddup at about noon after getting to sleep at 6:00 A.M. I addressed letters to Eternity, and New Orleans Review, sending out M.Q. and T.T. again. They'll come back, of course, lousy as they are. I was asleep when L&M came over to give Mom some African Violets, I think they are. I was up when Chunk & Winnie came over with three different plants that I helped put in flower pots. In a little while we'll have a real jungle out there.

They left, and Chunk came back later on his bicycle, and he and me went out paddling again (ugh -- the race is next week, phew! groan) and I think I'm getting the hang of it. We ran there, and we ran back -- I'm in training, it seems.

Returned at 5:30, and he & me played chess. We both lost both games. The first game, I cleaned off the board, leaving two kings staring stupidly at each other (draw) and the second, I wiped out all his pieces, and accidentally trapped him in the stalest mate I've ever done (I still had five or six pieces left). He departed at about 8:00 and I got mom to play me, and I beat her at both games. So much for my modesty.

The Emmy Awards were on tonight, and they went from 10:00 to 12:17, about 45 minutes over time. Blah! That just about sums up yesterday (Sunday, that is) so I'll quit. I'm trying to stall, though, so I can close out with a harmonious time thing. Getting closer, closer, closer... my digital now reads... ... ... there! 12:34:56 (give or take 20 seconds, or so)

Monday, May 13, 2013

May 13 - A day of shopping and movies

Saturday, May 13, 1972 - Page 134
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

(1:23:45 AM 5/14/1972)
I goddup at 2:30 P.M., and took a bath. Today started out lazily -- Mom stayed in her pajamas and slept alot. She was awake by the time I finished my bath, so I borrowed some money from her and she wrote a shopping list. I drove to the store to buy tennis shoes, and then to Sav-on to buy suntan lotion, a Mother's Day Card, paper, double stick tape, ink cartridges (with which I now am writing), & paper clips. Then I went to Alpha Beta to buy groceries, and May Fair for ketchup (I couldn't find it at A.B.).

Got back home and Chunk had told mom he was taking her to a movie, so I came along too. We drove the Imperial to the Lido where we saw The Carey Treatment, and The French Connection (1st time Chunk saw it, 2nd time for Mom, and 3rd for me). That was at 7:00, got out at 10:30. Got home, played chess with Chunk, won first two games, lost last. He left at 1:00 A.M. (Winnie gets off work at 1:30) --- So... today, also, I got "The Typewriter" back from F&SF after just 11 days or so. That's it for today, essentially. Other stuff happened but nothing worth telling. 1:33:03 A.M.


Sunday, May 12, 2013

May 12 - Drive-In double feature

Friday, May 12, 1972 - Page 133
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

(12:34:56 AM 5/13/1972)
Woke up at 1:15 A.M. Got my comic collection semi-organized and tucked away. I washed the dishes, mom came home at 6:00 with Fish & Chips, and then we went to the Stadium Drive-In #II to see "Dealing" & "Take the Money & Run." That's all for today. 12:37:16 AM -- No more ---

I cannot find any record of the movie called "Dealing" in Wikipedia or IMDb -- and I can't remember it either. UPDATE: I saw "Dealing" again on later in 1972 and found info about it online -- See October 17
"Take the Money and Run" Theatrical Poster, 1969