Jun 21 - 1st Day of Summer

Wednesday, June 21, 1972 - Page 173
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

FIRST DAY OF SUMMER!  RA!

7:50 PM
I got to sleep last night about 11:00 whilst listening to 5 or 6 Bill Cosby records -- I fell asleep during the Chicken Heart that Ate New York City. I woke up at 9:43 and organized my room a bit. Today was fairly sunny -- 82° in L.A. -- but now it is overcast (7:54:06). I'm on page 118 in "The Probability Man," and I haven't checked where I'm at in "Man's Rise To Civilization As Shown By The Indians of North America From Primeval Times To the Coming Of the Industrial Age." I wrote down that title from memory so it may not be entirely accurate. Wait a moment, I'll check it --- Hmm. I was slightly wrong. The real title is: "Man's Rise To Civilization As Shown By The Indians of North America From Primeval Times To The Coming Of The Industrial State." But I was fairly close.

Ate Fish 'n Chips today that Mom bought. I called Tim and he's going to his Nephew's birthday party, so I can't pick up my book [high school annual] till tomorrow. Mom and I played 2 and 2/3's games of chess -- I won the first two masterfully, with each move putting her in jeopardy. I had her in the palm of my hand in the 3rd, until Mr. Torres from a real estate place showed up, then I began losing -- the game is up in the air now.*

It's 8:03:43 right now, and Lou Torres is downstairs talking to Mom. And I'm up here trying to think of a way to end this entry, but it seems as if the old creative well has just about dried up completely [handwriting fades as ink runs out]

[side note] *I won that 2/3 game, and we played 3 more... and I won them all! Six in a row -- WOW. 

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

Apr 13 - Update on my dead lizard, Liz

Thursday, April 13, 1972 - Page 104
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

12:30 PM
This morning at 5:55 the clouds broke open and abruptly sent down a powerful shower for a solid fifteen minutes. Tacosumi, soaked to the skin, came in as soon as possible through my window. Liz got a bath -- she looks the same as always. ["Liz" is first mentioned when she was captured by Tacosumi on February 24, and officially named on February 26. She remained on the roof of the cabana that's attached to the mobile home outside Grady's window, serving as an ongoing experiment in decomposition.] I think she's petrified. But now she's cleaner and shinier. By eight o'clock strong winds had blown away the clouds and it's a clear sunny day again, as usual, but too cool to go out. I woke up at 11:40 A.M...

12:13:29 AM
and went to sleep at 8:00 P.M. after listening to Lum & Abner at 7:30, as usual (L&A is a rebroadcast of an original Old Radio Program from way back when). Woke up again 15 minutes and 50 seconds ago, and am now (12:16:06) writing in this book. I made my bedroom beautiful -- vacuumed the place, stuffed garbage into drawers to get it out of the way, rearranged art objects (Dad's Phoenix is now atop my filing cabinet instead of the visible head with the Schwinn Cap which is now among the mess in the attic, and the IDIC and the golden Enterprise are arranged by the window, the skull -- with a now red candle on top -- is on the "window sill," and the Stereo is on my far right now, instead of in the attic, and the second speaker was relocated on top of the Radio/Lamp/Clock shelf, etc.). However, despite the outward appearance of calm, a mild state of chaos still prevails in the drawers. Dad came over -- I now have $20. Mom & I bought Fish 'n Chips. L&M came by. 12:23:15 A.M. FINIS

This is "Dad's Phoenix" sculpture which is mentioned above.
It was created with wire and solder by my artistic father.

Feb 23 - More kayaking misadventures

Wednesday, February 23, 1972 - Page 54
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

(2:42 AM 2/24/1972)
Last night I retired at the ungodly hour of 10:00 P.M. Awoke at 7:00 A.M. and immediately finished writing the last two pages on Moira, and typed them -- it's 14 pages long, 2,800 words. But that's just the rough draft -- now I have to rewrite it. I washed the dishes, got the mail and mailed the Latka Letter and an order for the Doubleday Time-Life book of Astronomy.

It was cloudy in the morning, and I decided that if it cleared up I'd go out kayaking. Unfortunately, it did clear up, and at 1:30 I staggered down to the bay with the blue down-river boat -- the one that had dunked me three times yesterday. I had determined to master the tippy monster -- after all, it was just a lump of fiberglass, right? It was a mere inanimate conveyance, and I was a man with a clever mind and skilled coordination. It only sank twice -- after that, I gave up. The first time I made it to the raft where I tied it down and sun bathed for an hour or so. The second time I made it to the shore and staggered back home. I took a warm bath to recover my senses. Chunk came over at 5:00 and I went out in Glenn's light blue slalom kayak, and he took the red slalom kayak that leaks alot: "Patch." We started to go around Lido Isle but turned around and returned at 6:00. M & I went to get Fish & Chips for dinner. I went to sleep at 8:00, woke up at 2:30.