Here’s an insight into the operation of a five piece band. This is a major operation. The logistics of moving such an outfit requires five vehicles, four of them trucks or vans. The investment in time is incalculable, and if you add in the skills involved, bordering on the unimaginable. Even if you’ve done nothing of the kind, take a moment and add up what you think would be the cost of moving these operation up to a club and back again later. Now you see the wonderful attraction I have for a country music duo playing through a 25 pound PA system. By comparison, moving a construction crew around is easier.
And speaking of that duo, I still have both bases covered. Jag and Billie-Bill are separate campaigns to get something happening once and for all. The more likely prospect is Billie-Bill as we are a matter of hours until ready, while Jag with his new college courses has fallen an estimated 60 hours behind. Parents, please inform your children that college is tough, it is not a repeat of high school. I went back to college after I finished university to get some real skills, and did not graduate until I was 33. I returned to graduate again at 36 and 41. I know what tough courses are.
Let me mention something else about Dunkin this morning, you know I really don’t like that place. That’s part of my incentive to move to a classier neighborhood. In my world, someone could go to a coffee shop as much to read as to talk. I was the only person reading—an activity which does not make it difficult for others to talk, if you catch my meaning. I was running a load of laundry. My dirty socks are more thought-provoking than anything being discussed around me. I don’t like women women who wear hair styles the same as their mothers. Particularly that piled up beehive doo that went out in the 1960s. There was one yappy broad in there today that nearly made me woof my cookies. All the hungover bums hitting on her as she mentions her dead husband every second sentence. She was in paradise.
Justin Bieber in the news, another Miami celebrity bust. That’s where they don’t tell you the names of the police involved so public watchdogs can’t pick up on any pattern. My opinion? Bieber is like Miley Cyrus, no longer an innocent kid. I have to admire his incredible good luck, since his music is some form of tribal chant I’ll never be into. But at least it is better than Michael Jackson where I’m halfway through the music listening to the background vocals and wondering when the real singing is going to start. Bieber has seen and done more than I have in my life and I have to admire that. But the transition from gifted youth to adult nobody is a well-worn path. Would I trade places? Yes, because when you have money when you are young, the streets may not be paved with gold. But at least they are paved.
And here is a photo that is an almost sure sign I’ll be spending the evening at home with a good book. Food. It’s what you write about when nothing else comes to mind. Simplicity is my keyword with eats. For twenty years, I’ve used a book from Campbell’s about cooking with soup. If you own a microwave, cooking with soup is a treat. This concoction is pork and onion pie, like a Shepherd’s pie, but without all the tiny chopped up parts. No, I don’t use the whole can of either soup. Those things have sodium levels that should be banned.
ADDENDUM
Dating, always a popular topic.
Has anyone else noticed the increase in married women advertising for “strictly platonic” male friends? I’ve been friends only with about ten women in my life, but I’d say it has only worked out 1-1/2 times. One, there’s Marion. The other time I say half because it was great but never amounted to a full-fledged friendship. (It was always okay for her to meet someone on my time, but not the other way around.)
I’ll tell you what goes wrong most of the time. First of all, it is usually married women or women already in a sexual relationship that seek this elusive "friends only" situation. Stay away. It is an almost certain sure sign that she is not worth spending time with, or her man would already be doing that. I consider women that claim to want friendship but are really trying to find someone to make up for the fun part of life her partner isn’t providing is virtual fraud.
Signs to watch for are unwillingness to go dutch. How long would hang out with a same-sex friend if they never had any money of their own? Right. If not, you will wind up being the chauffeur, the moving van, the taxi, the bank, and the grocery store. This reflects back on my pact with RorR, a business partner from my teenage years. We called it the “non-re-exporting rule”. It states that I’ll do what I can to help out, but only insofar as my help is not being used to benefit some other guy’s relationship. Got it? I’ll lend her money to fix her car, but not her boyfriend’s car.
Another major factor in this type of friendship is the escape clause. Like it or not, friendships are also a type of partnership. It is quite easy for an unscrupulous partner to obligate you to something you would not have agreed to on your own. For this reason—and it is a legal reality—make sure the two of you never appear or behave as an item. Always introduce her as your “good friend”, not a date or anything else. If someone assumes you are in a relationship, you can be sued if things go wrong. And usually most friendships don’t last forever, is what I’m pointing out.
Wait, there is something else. My experience is that for all the talking women do about being friends only, they will always place more on appearances than you do. If you meet someone, you cannot just leave--but your woman can. I have not fast rule on this, but I’ll describe a familiar situation and you work out your own strategy. The rule I do have is if you arrive together, you leave together, no matter what else happens at the event. This implies that if either of you meet somebody, you give them your contact information only. If they are worth anything , they will make contact later on their own time. You will be surprised how many other men don't like this rule at all.
Problem, women will agree to this and not abide by it. If they meet somebody, they think nothing of taking off on you or just as bad, inviting the goof to join you and ruin your entire evening. "So, hi. Ernie, is it? You don't mind if I call you Ernest. Tell me Ernest, how is it that you happen to be here at this party without a date and hitting on women who are already with somebody? Yes, Ernest, she is just a friend, but you still haven't answered my question. Ernest. Hello?"
Face it, except for me and my friends you know, women have horrible taste in men. Look at the ones they marry. The inequality here is easy to follow. If you are the one who meets a prospect, how is the first lady supposed to get home? Don’t suggest a taxi, you’re just asking for a big public scene. The answer is to meet up at the party in your own cars. Dutch is dutch all the way. No, you can’t do better. Try it. Make that, shut up and then try it.
