Damian was in overnight, since you can see me examining one of his mannequins. Actually, I walked past it several times until a lady customer mentioned it. I tend to have a blind eye to the “hooker look”, I just tune it out after years out West. If a girl is pretty she doesn’t need leather skirts, if she isn’t pretty, all the leather in the world won’t help. He set off the alarm and must have killed it by tripping the circuit breaker. Mary, the Haitian lady was in today, but brought along a man friend who tried to palm a ring right in front of me. I said buy or put it back. Then he tried to lift a gold-colored chain. I gave him the evil eye. I don’t know if she knows, but he tried it both times right when she distracted me in some way. Grrr. There was another guy from across the street (there is a half-way house over there) who also tried to see if he could confuse me. Nice try.
I ran every test in the book on the house computer. It is working better but the fact is something obscure is wrong with it. I didn’t get a chance to place the ad for the peppermills. That reminds me that Cowboy Mike made up a set list and two CDs and left them on my doorstep. I was going to visit JP tomorrow. Then I changed my mind as money is a little tight this week. Instead, tomorrow is slated for mapping out the Blues music and getting a head start with the drum box.
My gig tonight only paid $2. That’s correct. The point is that even though the place was empty, I still set up my equipment and played the show. I got one dollar out of each patron that came in, which is why I want to play when there are fifty people in there, such as on Friday. I completed my show as planned [until closing time], though I must report that some of the other staff are not motivated to the same level. The blonde waitress, the one who mentions her ex-husband in every tenth sentence, gave up and closed the place early. The owner will probably not like that much, as that part of town can have some really late night drinkers.
Part of my gig is wearing a Dwight Yoakum costume, and I made a mistake. I wore a pair of cowboy boots for three hours. I hate cowboy boots and always have. Since there were no real cowboys anywhere near any place I ever lived, said boots were worn by short guys trying to look taller. Well, that makes me laugh. Cowboy boots are like walking on stilts and I sympathize with women wearing high heels. Anyway, an old sprain caught up with me and now I’m limping around in pain. Never noticed it until I pulled the boots off, but I’ve had the trouble before.
The waitress only made $13 herself. That could be okay, because now I may get the Friday without any hard feelings. She also turned out the lights while I was packing my equipment and I got home to find I’m missing that loose speaker grill off my Ampeg. There was also a hooker on 3rd as I rounded the corner coming home. She hit me up for fifty cents to “make a phone call”. I kind of advised that if she didn’t have money to use a pay phone, this was probably not a good area for her to be hanging around on a Saturday night. She left.
No, I have not forgotten the elderly couple who were mugged earlier this week. They were driving home down Old Griffin when a team of hoodlums jumped out of the bushes and surrounded their car. The couple was ordered out at gunpoint and threatened with serious harm. It was a SWAT team. When the lady asked what it was about, she was told to shut up or spend the night in jail. They were shaken down and seriously promised physical harm. If they asked any questions, they were told to quit smart-mouthing and shoved around.
The leader of the SWAT team held an automatic weapon to her husband’s abdomen and kept poking him in the shoulder with his other hand, provoking him, daring him to protest or try to defend himself. They were told many times they could be arrested on the spot because some piece of documentation they had was not exactly perfect. Sadly, this couple, who ran their own business in Florida for many years, have decided to move back north over this outrage. I think they should have reported it to the Police and watch the fireworks, but as you can imagine, they were totally intimidated and terrified by the whole incident. They honestly felt they were going to be executed at roadside. (Old Griffin Road does go past the southwest corner of the Ft. Lauderdale Airport.)
While waiting for computer installs all day, I went over the CLEP brochure in detail. Man, they ask for a lot of information, far beyond what is needed to identify you for college courses. Then, you find that a whole generation of people think nothing of asking people for their birthdate over any excuse.
There are 34 courses; make sure the school you intend to transfer to will allow credit for the courses you take. What I found odd is the credit weighting. Many of the “ology” courses carry twice the credits as a science or math course. I find “ology” courses can be easily passed by memorizing lists of words that tend make one sound educated to the uneducated. This is particularly true of Sociology and Psychology. It is hard to comprehend, but an introductory course on painting, drama and poetry carries twice the credits of computer data management where one has to really study for hours.
The upside is that by taking three six-credit courses, I can get my full allowable thirty credits paying for just 7 courses, a total of just $630 which I already have in reserve. I know, this reserve can sound an odd measure for a man who has not had a job in close to three years, but remember that I have always operated at a healthy surplus in the departments that matter. You’ll hear me complain about house prices, but not the price of gasoline. I squawk about movie tickets and parking meters, but not air fares. I have more cars, more computers, more cash to take weekend drives, more music gear (now) and more tools and equipment than I could ever use. And I have cash to go to school. Like I said, the departments that matter.
