One year ago today: October 20, 2016, Victor Borge, a true entertainer.
Five years ago today: October 20, 2012, sugar? What’s that?
Nine years ago today: October 20, 2008, the Coral Castle.
Random years ago today: October 20, 2014, this band is the schytts.
That’s Rickmason and Debs out near Sebring last weekend. We stopped for a brewski at Jaxson’s, the pub. That’s where the conversation turned to plumbing and made me realize I had best get the guy over to my place and at least rough in the whole shebang. Sure, it is 6 long pipes and 12 small ones, but negotiations are to shunt the guy and his lady out here for five days to do the job right. Pay is the going rate plus free room and all the food they want. This is tentative, as it bypasses JZ, who is not up to the task.
It’s the old math formulas of systematic savings with a compound return. Yes, it does work providing you want an entire working life of shortchanging yourself for an uncertain future. True, ten lattes a month at Starbucks outs you $5,000 per year, but foregoing such things too often raises questions about enjoying life. The point always missed by these formula experts is that it only works on paper. If everybody, or even too many people follow the equations, the capitalist economy system would collapse in one generation.
Capitalism is a Ponzi scheme; it only works when you sustain the percentage of 1% rich, 4% wealthy, and 95% people who don’t know their asses from a hole in the ground. Notice how made no references to my family, Ken Sanchuck, Patsie, or America’s 23 million guitar players. That could become important when I run for president in 2018. What? I didn’t tell you that? I think I’ll pull a Truman. Let all the bad people think I’m their puppet and once I get in, turn on them. That was neat, rather than expose themselves, they let old Harold Sergio Truman get away with it. What, you didn’t know the S stood for Sergio, but his father hesitated to write that in at the last moment. At least that’s the Forest Bueler explanation.
Dang, new camera time. I lost a complete set of the quiche photos and a big pile of baked chicken. Right from the scratch crust, the rolling pin, the diced hand & onion, all of it in my distinctive kitchen, gone. It’s the same problem as the last pictures of my motorcycle. The camera goes through the motions but does not write the files to disk. Up yours, Vivitar. As I traditionally ask, how can they possibly be still so stupid as to make a camera that even can do something like that? A few extra lines of code could easy check to see if the file was saved before moving on. But Vivatar, Nikon, Kodak, Canon, Panasonic, these people are hardly your friends.
Real wallpaper.
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Deciding not to work on the floor, saving you from having to look at another picture of that, I went outside and washed the car. Yep, it takes four times longer to do a car than a motorcycle. I’m going to get one of those spray nozzles. I’ve already bought special detergent because I read somewhere that household or dish detergent is not suitable for use on car paint. Makes sense, I know that the chemistry of those products has changed significantly in my lifetime. And the paint job is already older than I don’t want to say. When the heat got acute, I connected up my brain cells and wrote what could be the single most important letter of my life. If so, it took long enough, I’d say.
Gossip time. Remember, this is all third-hand rumor so don’t be repeating it to anyone. As if. The band that I mentioned y’day, with all the promotion going on? I followed up out of curiosity. I mean, I’d be first to admit I’m jealous if they scored the big time without me. Well, I don’t think we have to worry about that. For all the expensive marketing (and it is still in place), it was over-hype. What you play in a third-rate bar in Polk doesn’t usually cut it in a town that expects the dumpiest of joints to provide ace entertainment. If I was pressed to put a figure on the parts I saw, I’d say somebody plowed around $80,000 into the venture. And made zilch back. Nashville is not a town to live cheaply.
I also predicted they will land back in this area flat on their ever-so-cute tushes, broke as ever and no smarter. While there is always hope, these gals are not the next Judds, not even close. Yet I would like to see them succeed, with me as their bass player, that is. Don’t scoff, while I find them as you-know attractive as any man, my affection is their music. It fits squarely with what I play best. The country “chick music” influence of my ex dominates my set list to this day.
Bottom line? They are simply not that good. Neither am I, but I know when I need help and I’ve been looking for it a long time. According to my people in Tennessee, the duo drew small crowds of the curious on various opening nights, but thereafter bombed. It’s simple, by Nashville standards, they don’t rate. How soon before we see them back in Polk County?
“Maturity is realizing most things
don’t require your input.”
~ we, over here.
A sore hip sent me to watching a DVD with Van Diesel. The fight scenes are intergalactic Bruce Lee but the special effects are incredible, more so because they follow known principles. The scene with the molten lava overtaking the twilight zone on planet Crematoria, it makes wonderfully credible science. Same with the otherwise idiotic concept of the Necromancers. Unlikely as that is, the logic is consistent with the generally known dualities in Nature and the recognition that so many of those pairs have not yet been discovered. The movie has an unfortunate New Age quality in most of the characters, as if sci-fi writers lack the imagination to come up with new qualities for new planets.
Next, I read four more chapters of “Enemy At The Gates”. The movie follows the book rather closely, but there are so many inaccuracies that my not be a good thing. Take the famous story of Zaitsev shooting Konings, the German super-sniper. Great for Soviet morale, but there is no mention of the incident on the German side. However, one aspect is correctly covered, and that is contrary to most versions, Paulus and his entire staff were not tricked into a trap. They were ordered to Stalingrad and were fully aware of the weaknesses along their northern flank. Paulus even flew to see Hitler in person.
Nor was the attack a surprise. German intelligence had long spotted the buildup north of the Don. You can’t hide thousands of trains and hundreds of thousands of troops on the Russian steppes. The Soviets don’t like to admit it but a good chunk of their soldiers deserted (they were from conquered territories and hated the Russians). This kept the Germans completely up to date, even the Rumanians along the river knew they were facing an attack army. They knew everything down to the unit level, even the number of tanks and number of artillery shells.
ADDENDUM
Then, off to the little month-end street fair in Bartow. The event is city regulated, so I can’t really afford to buy anything from the tents. But it is worth a look-see and of course, all the town-women are out in their finery, which is worth two look-sees. I stopped for coffee but this budget item [coffee] is coming under scrutiny. Coffee is just one cost that is spiraling, though not out of control. This month so far, I’ve spent $79.16 on coffee, more than twice my allocation. My habits haven’t changed, although when in nearby towns on business, I’ll stop at Richards or the Mongolia, and coffee there rivals Starbucks pricing.
Hold on, my habits have modified. I keep forgetting I grab extra coffees downtown. Unlike the Dunkin Donuts near the old trailer court, the nearest Dunkin here is has civilized clientele. And it is beside the laundromat, and nearby are Harbor Freight, Save-A-Lot, and a Dollar Tree. Let me check. Yep, I spend an average of $3.89 there twice a week. Fine. That goes to show how things can creep up on you when you don’t have a budget. Don’t get me started on gasoline.
But I’ll take a moment to talk about the red scooter. Without my Rebel, that has become my around town vehicle. A quick glance at replacement costs tells me I should just get this scooter mechanically sound again. Last time I did that, it lasted me 14 months until now. I had to replace that battery, but that was my own dumb fault. Compared to $1,400 for a new scooter, I could pump a few dollars for brake pads, new shocks, a new seat, and a tuneup. That works out to 1/5th the cost and if I get another 14 months out of the Chau, I’ve probably made money on the deal.
Last Laugh
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