I'm in the elevator when i hear my name being called by my sponsor, i'm thinking "where on earth is he"? ,i'm in the elevator by myself I thought, until he said turn around, now i know that i came down the elevator by myself, it hadn't moved the whole time i was looking at the muscle cars so i turned around anyway, only to see a life sized three dimensional holographic image of him on what was before the back of the elevator, a full length projection device and some sort of projection screen installed on the wall inside the elevator, i was able to see him and he had a camera seeing me.
I'm not sure, or can't ever recall atleast ever being so taken back by a technological gizmo before like this one, he's asking if i liked the cars, "sure their great, some real classics there no doubt"!
"Which one did i like the best?" he asks, doesn't take me long to respond, "the vitamin c colored Hemicuda hands down" i reply, "how many of these were made" i asked? "seventeen" he replies "and if it went to auction would probably get a million dollars!", good answer on my part.
I have to ask him how did he know I was in the elevator, he tells me that the house has got a computer which runs just about everything, and that it's also fully integrated with security features which constantly monitor any activities/movements on the property, and that there are area's of the house, after having been accessed, like the basement garage, he get 's instantly alerted and can then monitor to see who or what's happening," I knew you'd like the cars so I didn't want to interrupt the occasion", totally cool bloke i'm think'in now, when I was looking at those cars my mind was nowhere else, lost in my own imagination and with that sort of eye candy to look at i'm glad you didn't, "I was having too much fun eyeballing the cars" I say!
"Will I see you later on"? he asks quickly, as I hear a ringing on his end,"yeah, of course", hey we'll catch up then a quick "ciao" then screen fades to black again, as if he had never really been there, and he hadn't just his projected holographic image was present.
So I turn back around, the elevator doors have been open for a while now, since I was talking I haven't heard "Jim" so I step out, look to my left, right, up and nothing !
I head for the room where "the Noh crew" were passed out the last time I saw them, and as sure as sharks shit in the sea, their still passed out, all that is except for one, i'll call him "K", he saw me look in and began to speak to me in Japanese, then got up and approach me in a stupor which was like that of someone who had been drinking non-stop for about twelve hours, fairly legless, but he was obviously a man with an iron constitution, far beyond me or even his travelling/drinking companions, no normal person could of possibly drank what this fellow downed without having a hollow leg or being a "hardcore alcoholic"!
He staggers towards me, grabbed my hand and plants in it a wad of cash, now I'm not talking any wad, this was a WAD!! ,looked like about thirty g's to me at least, so I'm looking at him, he stares back, it's like he's looking through me, past me in an odd way and vibe, very strange experience, he continues to speak to me in Japanese, I have no idea what this dude is saying, he turns back around and heads back to where he was before I popped my freakin head in, now I wished I hadn't, as I have NO idea what this money is for, or why he gave it to me?, as he didn't let me hand it back to him, this is one of those cross-cultural incidence's, a real communication breakdown, where i'm not exactly sure what's going on with this money deal, so I leave the room and make a call to my sponsor to see if he can make heads or tails of what's happening?
I begin to head towards my room, I hold off on any calls at that point as I need to grab a jacket to go with my outfit. So i'm walking past the room which was before mine, I hadn't noticed it until then, as this house is full of strange angles and various size and shaped rooms, not really bedrooms, more like viewing rooms as I think they were intended in there design.
As I had some time up my sleeve, I strolled in to see what was in there, and what to my amazement was in there!
This is on the second floor of this house remember, and it's freak'in car? At first glance, it's completely unknown to me at the time, it was like a UFO, metallic silver entirely, except for big solid black tires, and in my mind, there was in know doubt this was a "supercar" of some kind!
So here I am about ten feet away from what looks like a spacecraft, i'm completely in awe at this bizarre car and my curiosity gets the best of me.
I find myself quickly looking over the car for the maker or who the hell designed this exotic car,...........here it is Bizzarrini! Bizzarrini? Who the hell is Bizzarrini!
Giotto Bizzarrini (1926- ) is and was the genius engineer behind this "Supercar", he also was involved in designing the Ferrari GTO 250, as he was Ferrari's Chief Engineer in the 1950-60's until creating his own!
It's was a 1968 Bizzarrini Manta to be exact, and i was not familiar at all with the company at the time, but can say that this was such a radical design for an automobile for it's time, I can't think of any other so mind blowing "Sportscar" that tops this one for it's time period, NO WAY!
After much admiration of this Art in vehicle form, I turned around and as i'm turning notice about thirty vases of different sizes, shapes and colors. I mosey on over to glance at these incredibly unique looking objects, I pick one up to see if there's a makers signature or mark on the bottom and there is.
They were all done by one Artist it would seem, a Mr.George Ohr was his name(1857-1918), really really well done, and I have no background in this Art form, but these really "stood out" as being exceptional! I don't know at the time who he is, though later find out the background of this man.
Also there are some smallish oil paintings on the wall, and again, they're all by one person, an Artist named Guy Wiggins.(1883-1962)
They do seem abit out of place here though, as they skillfully depict New York City in the winter time!
Wow, here I am in sunny California, staying in a PHENOMENAL house with a "supercar" built into the second story, with paintings of the snow on the East coast of America, and exquisite Pottery, the juxtaposition of these various and entirely different forms of Art is truly sublime and in my opinion sheer genius!
Nothing is surprising me now, so begin to I wander back to my first intended stop, my room.
I'm thinking as it's just dawned on me, "How am I going to get to this function anyway"? I don't have a valid U.S.driver's license and never have, and i'm "home alone", apart from the fully pissed up "Noh crew" all of whom are passed out, I hear them snoring away as i quietly slink by to get back to my room.