A relaxed evening spent dining out seemed just the right setting for this interview and as it is rexron�s �turf� I left the decision up to him, he chose a favorite Italian restaurant which suited me fine and I was looking forward to a mega plate of pasta & a bottle or 2 of vino.
The Maitre� D escorted us to a table in a large bay window with a view of the brightly lit town, passed us elaborate red leather encased menus & with a flick of his fingers brought the wine waiter over to take our order, while waiting for drinks to be served I asked rex about where he had grown up.
Rex was born in Missouri but traveled a lot in his early years as an �army brat�, he�s lived in 9 different states of America & also spent some time in Japan, where I heard a �lil bird� whisper that he picked up a reputation at the local depot as being something of a deadeye shot at pinging pachinko balls through the streetcar windows.
For the uninitiated pachinko are upright pinball machines & rex has 3 or 4 of these that are still in working order, 1of which is 75 years old!
He�s been around the world twice & the North Atlantic countries once but surprisingly enough all the globe trotting hasn�t given him itchy feet, rex has been living in a small town in Central CA for 14 years and says that there may be just 1 more move, back to the east coast somewhere around New England, Mass or Rhode Island where his lovely wife of 34 years has family.
At this point our waiter Luigi arrived with the drinks and politely asked if we were ready to order, rex decided on the seafood marinara & I went for the smoked salmon tagliatelle, taking the menus with a little bow Luigi headed for the chef�s domain.
We continued our conversation & I discovered that rex had retired as a stationary engineer with the Dept. of Correction and immediately went into a family oriented business of making & distributing jewelry worldwide for the 4th Day religious communities, their customers include the Emmaus, Cursillo & Kairos Prison Ministry.
The materials worked with are pewter & wood using laser cutting, rex is personally involved in design and the extended family makes the jewelry, a website is in the works for the jewelry that is public domain.
Deep sea fishing is a favorite pastime for rex and he feels an affinity for the ocean, rivers & woods, if he was retired in the �real� sense of the word he would like to spend a lot more time relaxing on a 38 to 40 foot boat or cruising the States in a motor home.
Computers are a fascination for him & he�s been involved there for many years, having completed courses at school & tech this guy is on the ball and quite willing to share his knowledge of �puter related problems & the solutions, just for the record he also still has an atari & the more �modern� versions of nintendo, supernintendo & playstation.
Speaking of �records� rex has a huge collection of 8 tracks & an 8 track player that he still uses, as well as 78 & 16 vinyl�s! Country & Western is his preferred music with the Merle Haggard era being a favorite.
Being a keen music student I got a little excited here n knocked over my wine, while leaning over trying to mop up the overflow I didn�t notice Luigi was standing beside me with the plates & on rising back up hit the underside of his hands with my head.
Guess who wore their dinner instead of eating it..? With profuse apologies & a hangdog look I thanked rex for a most interesting time & leaving a trail of shallots, pasta, mushrooms & snowpeas beat a hasty retreat.
Rexron is a gentleman of the �old school�, he has an amazing wealth of knowledge on a variety of subjects, a gr8 sense of humor & a very sharing/caring nature not to mention the fact that he�s also a very sharp poker player, so pull up a chair sometime & check out his style.
Ghost Writer |
