“Perfect Day” 1996

 
Ten years ago was pretty much the last time I saw my friend and radio-show partner Sheila Guinto. I always have fond memories of June 29, 1996 and the lyrics of Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day” illustrates it even though the only thing we did in the song was see a movie. The bitter parts of the lyrics don’t apply to Sheila, her brother Paul or his girlfriend Molly (who were with us), that was never the nature of our friendship. 
 
This day was the culmination of some detective work. I can’t remember what prompted it, probably a conversation with Helen over the Memorial Day weekend. I do recall a 411.com search (Google wouldn’t appear for three years) in Chicago, her last known whereabouts when I saw her briefly in 1993. When it didn’t pan out, I looked up her parents’ house in Houston and took a chance making a call. Fortunately, her brother Paul was living there. We hung out a few times when he was a freshman at Marquette. He remembered who I was, told me Sheila currently lived in Houston and gave me her number. Sheila was home, we talked, caught up and made tentative plans to get together. I made numerous trips to Houston in the Summer of 1996 thanks to Doc so I hitched one of my numerous rides with him to catch up in person. 
 
I met up with Sheila, Paul and Molly at a nearby Half-Price Books. We shopped around while conversing. I felt a little guilty not having a gift for Molly (a Posies shirt for Sheila and an Imperial Drag CD for Paul). Then a quick lunch at the nearby La Madeline followed by Welcome to the Dollhouse at art theater. I think there was more wandering around, conversing about what we’d all been up to since the early 90s. I convinced them to check out the Imperial Drag concert. Paul was familiar with the venue from seeing some other bands (Hum namely). I even got an autograph from founding member Roger Manning (formerly of Jellyfish too). 
 
With the whole day concluded, they dropped me off at Eiko’s at a pretty late hour, much to Doc’s annoyance (he’s forgiven me by now). I couldn’t wait to get this picture (see above) developed to share with Paul & Helen since they are fond of her too. I also wrote a story about this day back when Picayunewas a physical newsletter, Lou Reed lyrics included yet I prefer the Duran Duran cover. 
 
Contact with Sheila after that was phone calls when I was passing through Houston and correspondence. She moved to San Francisco around the time I went to Raleigh-Durham. We still had some contact by mail until my laziness got to me again. The last address I had for her resulted in a returned Christmas card. D’oh! I was thinking about Sheila last year on her birthday, this prompted me into registering with the Marquette alumni site to see if it could indirectly send her a message. All the site could tell me is her general whereabouts in 2005, Los Angeles. Nothing panned out. 
 
Today I did some Google searches on her name and full name. It actually found press releases pertaining to ad campaigns with her mentioned; she is/was an art director so it was likely to be Sheila. The funnier discovery was her name triggering Google to point out my old site! [Don’t bother, it’s a dead end if you click the link.] Another one actually gave me hope. Someone who knows her family posted a series of pictures in San Francisco called Guinto ‘03 Wedding. There was a picture of her, her older brother, Paul and Molly! Alas, no way to contact the homepage’s owner. Then I recalled the Marquette alumni site. I went there today to check for any further activity. Discovered why she may have never responded, wrong e-mail address for me, double D’oh!! On the upside, the site now said she is in Austin! 
 
This puts me in a bit of a moral dilemma. What’s a good way to contact Sheila without creeping her out? There are these sites claiming to help you find people…for a fee. I have a sinking feeling these are vendors who violate our privacy by selling this data to annoying marketing companies more than a scam. Maybe I’ll luck out and Sheila will stumble upon this site in a Google search like some other friends did. Suggestions on this are welcome in the Comments section, only if they are legal and won’t result in a horrendous, unsettling social faux pas.