Page 24 - MN

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Jintana asks me what jacket to wear over her grey dress. She trusts my fashion sense. I have friends who would roll their eyes at this. Me? Fashion? Mr. jeans and tee shirts? On the other hand I worked luxury ships where people loved clothes and jewelry so hopefully some fashion sense rubbed off. I always go for the simple, the elegant. It's easy because Jintana looks good in anything.
Robin is an interesting guy. His brother is a golf pro in Kelowna and kind of a Yoda figure to the golfers in the area. The two of them run a driving range there and Robin comes here for the winters when the range is closed.
I seem to attract people like Robin, who is a big guy with an overpowering personality. I've never met his brother, but I heard that the pros he learned from as a kid once took him to the range, gave him thousands of balls, and told him to hit slow-motion 6-irons. I guess it worked. He became a great golfer, realized he didn't want to play tournaments, and is now regarded as a teaching legend by the Canadian pros here in Thailand.
Robin, on the other hand, went to Los Angeles, worked in a variety of jobs that involved leasing cars to stars, comedy club management, and a large intake of various drugs. He is now clean and sober, a believer in Buddhism, wildly extroverted, and a mainstay at Chiangmai's M-Sport driving range. He knows everyone there. He wears woven bracelets, long hair, hits balls barefoot, and loves to hug people. I'm not big on hugs, but when Robin sets his mind to it, there's not much you can do.
Last night at the Indian dinner he told me a Dave Chapelle story I'd never heard. According to Robin, when Chapelle's TV show was blowing up the airwaves, Oprah and Bill Cosby told him to quit because he was bringing down black people. They said if he didn't quit, he'd never work again. I have no idea if this is true. It's ironic, though, because if anyone has brought down black people, it was Cosby. I opened for him a couple of nights at Harrah's in Lake Tahoe. The headliner, a singer I can't remember, got sick and Cosby filled in because he and Bill Harrah were great friends. All I can remember is going to his dressing room afterwards and awkwardly telling him how much I admired his work. He didn't say much. Now I feel kind of stupid.
I also feel it's kind of silly to have idols because nobody can live up to that sort of adulation. Everyone has flaws and some are downright criminal. When we were in college we all knew Cosby routines and Newhart routines and Smothers Brothers songs. Michael Jordan said he developed his game by watching great basketball players and taking a little bit here and a little bit there. That's how we learned comedy and music. Then at some point you had to stop imitating and try to be different, be true to yourself.
This good news is that Chapelle is now back on top, Cosby is forever disgraced and evil, and my life is ending in a very good place with people I love.