At Least One Beer

"I would rather you be a man who did exactly as you please."
-Angelina Jolie to Johnny Depp
in the 2010 film,
THE TOURIST

Twenty-five years ago today

April 11, 1986
Friday

I parked in a new Parking Lot under the bridge for $2.75 per day. It's okay today since I was able to leave the office early.

The lunch at OPTS was pretty good. Randy Jungst, our third line manager, is pretty nice. I am unsure about his impression of me. It doesn't really matter, considering I plan to transfer out eventually (I hope).

After lunch I drove straight to mom and dad's house where I opened up a SPIEGEL package that arrived. I received some pretty good stuff. I ended up bicycling from 4PM through 5:30PM.

After my bike ride I was soon at the gym and I saw Phil and Sue there. They're both a very nice couple. I like them. Then 'to my surprise' I noticed Mark Landreth showed up.
I asked, "You know Mark, it's Friday and we should celebrate with at least one beer tonight."
"Okay," Mark replied (to my excitement).

I ended up meeting Mark at CASA CARLITA'S at 9:30PM and we ended up staying there until closing time! I learned that Mark has a BMW and works at Texas Instruments as a Systems Designer. He's pretty 'together'. I like him a lot.

Mark said, "You know—I can drive you home if you don't feel up to it."
I guess my drunkard aura was in the air.
I said, "Oh no, I'll be okay."
However, next time I probably won't be okay and I'll let him drive me home. Ha-ha.


Anyway, Mark and I had a great time. We agreed on going out again sometime.
Mark smiled and said, "Feel free to rescue me when you see Jamie on my tail at the gym."
I laughed. Mark kind of hinted that she liked me, too.
"Yuck, she's NMT," I announced to Mark and proceeded to explain the meaning of NMT (Not My Type).


During my drive home I got the feeling that Mark may be attracted to MJA (me) and vice-versa.


Weeks passed--weeks of anxiety, of longing even keener than those that had preceded their evening together.
-Nial Kent
"A Divided Path"