A Cambodian Tale

It's 1988 and I'm working illegally at Tower Records on 66th and Broadway. The people I worked with were for the most part a great bunch of folks and the perks were great, including lots of free tickets to shows, a free box seat at Shea stadium for New York Mets baseball games and lots of partying if you know what I mean........ I was 24 years old!
Now, at the time I was going out with a half Peruvian goddess who obviously had questionable taste............. she agreed to go out with yours truly and she liked Michael Jackson whereas I was listening to bands like Ministry. However,as I was well and truly smitten and would do anything to appease her.... she was quite a feisty personality,just ask my friend Dave Alder, ...... I asked my boss to keep me in mind if any freebies became available for the upcoming BAD tour. Anyway he came through for me on the day of the show and I was, I'll admit, quite excited.
However,there was a snag.My Peruvian goddess had enrolled at a design school and I realized that she would be in class when we were meant to be traveling to the Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey. What to do? Remember this was a pre-mobile/cell phone era and everything was in black and white but being a spontaneous kinda guy I figured that I would take a chance and leg it down to the design schools location and take a chance. After all my relationship could be under threat if I did nothing and how often does someone have the opportunity to see the "king of pop"?
I arrived at said destination and tracked down the goddess's classroom. Luckily the door had a window and I frantically leapt up and down waving my arms in a ridiculous manner and finally she noticed me. What was I doing? I waved the tickets about, did a moondance and through the glass heard a loud scream emitted followed by lots of apologizing and apparent excuses mixed with lies being made. Before I knew it she came tearing out of the room and I was hugged and kissed to death and nearly deafened by more screams.
We now had to make our way to the New Jersey Transit that took you from the cultural environs of Manhattan to the desolate wasteland that is Sopranos country. We were pushed for time and had to run a lot, but made it and eventually realized we had good seats and waited to be dazzled. Suddenly a cacophony of screaming....... is the show about to start? No, it's just Michael Jordan taking his seat. More hysteria and a young pre-woman beating Mike Tyson takes his seat. As you can imagine the stars were out in force and even New York's current African American mayor David Dinkins made an appearance.
Eventually MJ took to the stage to what I can only describe as mass devotion, worship and obsessive behavior. Mind you, what followed in the next two hours was showmanship that was one of a kind. I might as well have been a worm as far as my Peruvian was concerned and the previous, cynical me who had been winding her up for the previous hour or so was reduced to a grudging admiration and even a slight tapping of the foot, followed by my version of dancing which resembled a cat that had imbibed catnip.
Show over I was told that I was the greatest boyfriend in the world and that I should expect lots of nudge,nudge wink,wink. Wahey, it was worth it!!! After all, this was the man that had had to endure Barry Manilow at the Beacon Theater in Manhattan and fought tooth and nail for Madonna tickets at the Meadowlands, all for the love of a good woman.
So, in summary that is how Michael Jackson touched my life. He also caused me endless grief at work when "BAD" came out as being head buyer I was under threat of castration if we sold out and so I went slightly over the top, blew my budget for the month and the store became like a shrine to the gloved one. However, I forgive him for that as he was the reason I got lots of nookey for the next few weeks...... sorry to put that image in your head for those of you who have met me!
At least I didn't have to 'beat it' for a while. RIP Jacko..... thanks for helping me out!

I'm no longer in Cambodia and am now in the UK finding some work,looking for a place to live so that A and C can get their lives back and watching cricket at Hove whilst my nose goes red.
I have also been accepted for The Great North Run at the end of September and after getting the all clear from the quack who told me that my knees are ok,am running on behalf of MAG(Mine Advisory Group) who are based in Manchester and do essential work all over the world . You can visit their website on www.maginternational.org to find out all about them.
I have set up a web page whose address is www.justgiving.com/davidrichards45 and any amount large or small that is donated will be greatly appreciated by yours truly.
Now,wish me luck as I train like a demon,shove 3 ibuprofen down my neck every day to stop my knees flaring up and get in a fit state to run the thing. /Users/andyh/Desktop/justgiving_badge10.gif