December 8, 1997
Goleta, California, USA

Two mornings ago, Saturday the 6th, the following day after arriving here in Goleta, Tellef dropped by with his friends, Chris, and Annie, to see if I would like to go with them to a help out at a local charity for needy families. I had a lot of work to do, but decided to go anyway ...just so I could add it to my list of experiences. We went to a place called the Unity Shop. It’s a store where families can get groceries and Christmas gifts for free. It is more like a real grocery store than a food bank. We spent most of our time there sorting through box, after box, after box of donated food, putting the cans of Cream of Mushroom in the soups bin... the tuna in the meats bin... the tomato paste in the tomato products bin... and the packages of spaghetti in the miscellaneous bin.

We were at the Unity shop on an extra crazy day. It was also the day they were holding their annual telethon. There were celebrities being filmed live on location at the Unity Shop all day, telling the folks out in TV land how important it is to support "...this wonderful charity". As I was tossing cans into the "Fruits bin", Jeff Bridges, who was lately seen opposite Barbara Streisand in the movie "The Mirror Has Two Faces", was on-camera beside me doing his thing.

Later that evening, after our work was finished at the Unity Shop, we headed up to the TV studios where the telethon was taking place. There, I saw David Roche - the guy who used to play Sledge Hammer, and Jay Thomas from Murphy Brown, as well as a couple NFL players whose names I’m unsure of.

There was a big food tent with pizzas, cheese burgers, Rum cake, soda, and hot chocolate, all available for the charity volunteers free of charge. As I was scarfing down rum cake, I overheard a woman saying that she was giving out free back rubs. Ten minutes later, I was face down in her special chair getting the best massage of my life. Barbara was a professional masseuse, donating her services at the telethon as a favor to Tellef’s grandmother who is a client, and the back bone behind the Unity Shop.

After getting back from the telethon, Chris, Annie, Tellef, Allison(Tellef’s girl friend), and I, sat in the motor home in Bob’s back yard, telling jokes and stories until 3:30am. Chris and Annie told us a scary true story. Anne began with, "One night while we were hanging out together at Chris’s house, Chris got a prank phone call - something which happens to him quite often - and when he picked up the phone, there was no one on the other end." Chris continued, "Later that night when we went to Annie’s house, we found foot prints on the front door, the door frame cracked, the cat I gave Annie locked in the Cupboard, and my voice on the answering machine saying, Hello... Hello..."

Chris, Annie, and Allison are dancers. Often after a show, Chris will get a bouquet of flowers, signed, "Your secret admirer". On one occasion, there was a note attached. A short time later, he got a call from an unknown identity asking if he had read the note. This has been going on for many years. He has no idea who is his stalker .

Another freaky thing about Chris, is that he is a big fan of body piercing. He has his nose pieced, his bottom lip pierced, his tongue pierced twice, both ears and nipples pierced, and his belly button pierced.

I have spent most of the last few days working on maps to go on my web site. I have not left the house for three days. I was planning to head back to LA today, but have decided to stick around another week. I have tons of great photos at home, but none on my site, so I’m getting my father to send the photos to me here, so I can put them on the site myself. In the meantime, I will be adding the unedited versions of my journal to the site, and linking them to the corresponding places on the maps. This is going to be a killer website when it is finished!