Here’s Tobacco Road, one of Miami’s oldest clubs. Look closer, it is dead center of the photo. The club says oldest, but I say they mean oldest still in operation. It is just too far away from the harbor and old downtown to have been really first. As shown here, it is surrounded by condos and tennis clubs. It’s worth a look if you like such things, but I would not make a special trip.
JZ and I went to see John Carter, the Mars movie. It was 3D but that doesn’t make up for a boring plot that introduces no new concepts. The tribespeople are a rip-off from Avatar and the extended romance scenes are Disney stock. Most else including characters, flying machines, evil dictator, and the arena fights are so cliché JP fell asleep and started snoring. We made it through the two hours.It was also JZ’s first 3D and I had wanted to wait an hour for the IMAX version. Instead, his dental work acted up where he had molars removed and pins inserted into his jaw. He’s taking painkillers and anti-biotics. I treated him to brunch so he wouldn’t take that on running on empty. He insisted on a burger which he half-finished in an hour.
[Author's note 2017: he was silent about it at the time, but later JZ was to state this procedure with his molars cost him $8,500. That's why you can laugh when you hear dentists complain nobody visits them twice a year any more.]
In more detail, I was up early for coffee at the bakery, then drove the 34 city miles to Snapper Creek to find JZ looking rough from the operation. This cancelled Naples as he had a broken tail light, which spells asking for trouble in Florida. We went back over to Arvida and he did a temporary repair on the truck. The house is vacant but well kept as the staff are still on payroll. That won’t be much longer for as waterfront property, it will bring close to the asking price. I spent more happy Xmases at Arvida than back home.
While there, about half the family showed up. JZ found a small bottle of cognac that appeared to be sixty years old. The cork was crumbling, but he got it open and for the first time in my life I tasted liquor that was older than I was. It was pretty nice, though compared to what I can’t say. Mostly, it reminded me of the expensive French chocolates Judy M. brought back from Tahiti.
In a sense, we had our business meeting while all this visiting was going on. I wound up giving JZ a rather stern lecture on how necessary it was for him to invest enough to quit his job. I know how work like that ties a person down and there is no need for us to have that kind of restriction. Who recalls our successful foray into the dating market in Coral Gables just before my heart attack? Soon, we’ll have the resources to do even better.
We have not been traveling much in several years, but changes are now imminent. Recall that JP used to be uncomfortable even driving to Key Largo without a thousand dollars “just in case”. And I forget it was years before I could convince him to hop in the car and head out for a day drive. He had always only traveled on family outings, mind you that meant a lot of Europe.
In 2003, we were on the verge of a real estate investment, probably around the $200k mark. The dropping prices on Coral Way should not, I think, be too influential. There are not enough renters in that part of town to consider such property. Mainly, we talked about the availability of money rather than anything we’d spend it on.
This must seem awry, two guys with no real jobs plotting to make millions. That’s maybe the point, that plotting requires brainpower. We have no intention of working for anything via conventional means. What’s more, JZ witnessed my “miraculous recovery” and grasps our potential. He knows how most everybody predicted I would be destitute by 2005 and homeless by 2007. Well, naysayers, I not only survived, I operated the Taurus right up to the end.
Furthermore, I paid every bill I promised to pay during recuperation. Even over at Wally’s Folly, I met every commitment to the penny. With income that left others hitting rock bottom, I never hungered or begged for a thing. Even during the worst times, I bought a PA system and went out once a week. I operated an Internet shop. I even attended a college course and made a trip to Disneyworld. Infrastructure, my friends.
We stopped at the old watering hole where JP ordered a plate of battered squid. I found the sauce more tasty, if bolstered with hot peppers and lemon. I was tempted to have a beer, but decided against it. Instead, I talked us into seeing the John Carter movie. It was a disappointment, with the special effects borrowed from other sources like Star Wars to The Mummy. Too much footage on the chick flick aspect and overall it sniffed of unusual conservatism on the part of the Disney team.
If you recall the original color version of The Time Machine, you’ll recognize the way this production opens and closes. A lot of it is too familiar, especially the overworked parallels to native American Indian culture, such as that culture is understood by movie-goers. The princess, the struggle over leadership, the captive stranger who becomes leader, this movie will not be missed.
JP had trouble adjusting to the glasses. It took a good twenty minutes into the movie before he could get the full 3D effect. I did not know this could be a snag for some people. I think part of it is the non-IMAX version still involves a flat screen, giving the layered 3D that requires you look at the dead center of the screen.
