It took a long time to get underway this morning. I made it over to the car lot, to discover that Don Luke was not going to bend on the price of that Le Baron. So I wound up buying the 1991 Pontiac Sunbird that doesn’t run. It is likely just as well, because I can only make money on a car that has a mechanical problem. The Le Baron blew a little smoke, but the Sunbird needs a fuel pump. I’ll be towing to Manuel on Monday.
I see the state of Florida has some really lame laws concerning vehicle purchases, and those laws serve two main purposes. Keeping all the honest people on file, and charging them money to do so. True to type, they don’t call anything what it is, I can’t even recall what they’ve named the vehicle transfer of title. Something about a tag, which is only one of three (count them) different forms you fill out. Screw ‘em, I say.
As long as I have to pay taxes, I say steal anything and everything you can from the government, but do it very nicely, of course. Work while you are on unemployment, pad your expense account, barter when possible. Doing so is in my book a highly patriotic act, and the only real method of revolt against a system gone badly sour. I even heard today that the president was considering bringing back the draft. Man, the morons on this continent firmly have the upper hand by sheer numbers.
I was hours late, but JZ was even later. I woke him up a bit past one, both of us tired from last evenings events. We still managed to put in a full day and finished that back second storey that’s fifty feet up in the air. I had to stand on the ladder at the bottom while JZ teetered under the eaves. His dad says I am not allowed to work standing on the roof. We cheated a little bit, because I was not actually working, you see, when I was on the roof. The end [of painting dad's house] is in sight, and I expressed concern that we might wind up having nothing to do [on future weekends]. JZ wants to do some serious planning about starting a business. He bought us a round at the Keg South, where some skinny lady came on to me. I was going to, but she knew everybody in the place on a first name basis, and she wanted to go to some club nearby to listen to music. Boring, and it only took a few minutes for her to entertain a pass from another guy, which got me off the hook. Or hooker, as the case may be.
That construction work is very healthy for both JZ and I, we stopped at Publix to pick up a few groceries. He wound up spending $50; myself $30. I just looked at my clock and cannot believe it is already two in the morning! Adios, I have to help Manuel work on my car tomorrow. Uh-oh, it is now only five hours later and I am up and wide awake. I am leery of such changes in my daily habits, they are rarely the harbinger of anything good. I’ll put on the coffee and give you the rest of some details. Stand by.
That’s better. Fresh coffee with half and half, fresh baked corn muffins with lo-fat margarine and home made jelly from Homestead. That’s Homestead, FL, not homestead in the bush in case any of my family ever reads this. Of course, they would have to learn to read first. Anyway, skip this paragraph if you have a weak stomach. A couple of days ago JZ sees a dead lizard in the bottom of his dad’s swimming pool. He dives down to get it, and it is rotten. He brings it up and the smell gags him so bad he instinctively throws it, causing it to break in half and splatter. JZ now has a serious looking infection in his left eye, although I speculated it could be fibers from that deteriorating old sun visor in his car.
