Diary of a Mad Man

Mad Man must apologize for missing yesterday's observation but he has been traveling and unable to sleep. The following days of observations will allow Mad Man's observers to travel with him as he and his long time lover and partner in crime, Kathy, travel around America.

It is Mad Man's intention to get away from the graft, crime, and bad politics that are happening everyday and concentrate on what many Americans try to do and that is get on with their lives.

Day 1: May 30th

It all Started on Saturday, May 30th at 11:30am. We traveled to the City of Orange, CA which is in Orange County, CA approximately 65 miles from the Mad Man compound to attend the celebration of Amare Lesley's 7th birthday. The party was being held at the "Lucky Strike Bowling" establishment.

For those Observers who have not experienced Lucky Strike, it is more of a sports bar that offers a very elaborate bowling experience. It is the total package for family entertainment and a wonderful time was to be had by all.

The bowling Party started at 11:30am and was supposed to end at 2:30pm, but you know what happens when parents with children find an activity that occupies their children's time, that time will be extended. That's right, we had a bowling after party that lasted until 6:30pm which included more food and drinks with Mad Man knocking down enough pins to never score higher than 98 in any game. The highest bowling score possible is 300.

After kissing the family and friends good bye, Mad Man and Kathy arrived back at the compound around 7:30pm, ate some baked chicken, pinto beans and cabbage and went to bed.

Day 2: Sunday - May 31st

We traveled to Los Alamitos, CA to watch Mad man and Kathy's son play in his adult basketball league. It is an extremely wonderful feeling in life as grandparents inherit an extended family of wonderful in-laws while their kids are producing funny and well adjusted children. From Mad Man's position, nothing else in life really matters. By the way, Mad Man's in-laws are not from this country and were not brainwashed into the believing everything as spoken by America's politicians. Okay, no more politics.

The game and experience was awesome in that the kids of some of  the players were there and everybody's ability level was pretty equal and of course the fast breaks looked like they were in slow motion but "judge not, lest ye be judged". The competition was fierce with all of the pushing, shoving, and cursing that is associated with recreation league basketball. In the end Mad Man's son's team won and once more we kissed our family and friends goodbye and returned to the compound around 8pm.

This night was filled with anticipation and excitement as we ate and started thinking about our upcoming travels to Washington, DC and Baltimore. The trip to Washington, DC will be to visit Mad Man's cousin Douglas White and to Baltimore to reunite with those who partied with Mad Man in Paris France last October. This time the party will be at the Capital Jazz festival.

Day 3: Monday, June 1st

Kathy and Mad Man spent the day running errands and preparing for the trip to DC. Around noon Mad Man poured himself a cocktail and prepared to go take a nap because the timing of this trip was going to get weird. Before he could get to sleep, Mad Man started receiving telephone calls and decided that sleep was not an option and started looking for things to pack.

Mad Man, nor Kathy could sleep, so we stayed up all day and all night. This was a rather unique evening because to travel to LAX to catch a 5am flight, we had to be at the Fly Away bus stop in Van Nuys, CA at 3am to catch the bus to LAX. As it turned out this was our first experience on the Fly Away bus trip to LAX and it was quite enjoyable and stress free.

We arrived on time and checked in for our flight to Baltimore. Since I had not slept for a day and a half, I spent most of the flight to Baltimore trying to read my National Geographic magazines but eventually slept most of the way to Dallas, which was our first stop.

As I awakened and asked the lady sitting next to me, had I been snoring, she smiled and confirmed that I was a nice sleeper. We began a discussion and she informed me that she and her two sons were on their way to visit an aunt in Dallas and then continue on to Norte Dame University to attend a football camp for 8-12 year olds.

During our discussion, we found that we knew some of the same people in the world of high school sports and she and her family lived in our old neighborhood. Before she left the plane in Dallas this lovely white woman shared that the was married to an Egyptian man and that her sons hung out in the same basketball circles as my kid did when he was growing up. Again, Mad Man is pleased that the people that he and Kathy encounter are not even close to what America's politicians wish us to believe.

We arrived in Baltimore to an overcast sky and misty weather but managed to find our way to cousin Doug's place in Virginia. We immediately dropped our luggage and began catching up on what was happening in the area and with family. We drank wine and Bombay Saffire while eating chicken wings, crab legs and salad. To say the least, this was a serious evening and we didn't go to sleep, we crashed.

Okay, I know that your attention spans are only 18 minutes so I will stop for now and get you caught up a little later.

Thanks for reading Observations of a Mad Man.

Mad Man