{"id":6156,"date":"2013-09-19T13:35:23","date_gmt":"2013-09-19T13:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/?p=6156"},"modified":"2013-09-19T13:51:40","modified_gmt":"2013-09-19T13:51:40","slug":"old-home-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/old-home-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Old Home Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"091913-1\"<\/p>\n

I had a pensive session with Old Jim on Tuesday; the news from the Navy Yard had made me lachrymose. We established a theme for our meeting on Wednesday, which was supposed to be about the current fiscal reality and concepts on how we can cobble together some sort of reliable income stream.<\/p>\n

Jim figures a thousand more a month would put him in comfortable retirement and keep him in long-necked Bud. Instead, it was Old Home Week, but I was determined to try to wrest order out of chaos before I knew what it really was going to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to get my fiscal house in order,\u201d I said. \u201cI gave myself a year to get that sorted out, and I guess the clock is running.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat might start with Willow. It is a sobering realization,\u201d said Jim. \u201cMuch as I enjoy Willow’s ability to make me the opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n

I am going to take a pass on the big issues of the day this evening,\u201d I said. \u201cI am in crisis overload. Debt limit, government shut down, Syria, Sequestration. I think we know where this is all going.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, Mr. Bernanke\u2019s determined to keep printing money, and the violence that took a dozen innocent lives on the ground of our own Navy Yard on Monday is going to happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEnough, you know?\u201d I turned to Old Jim and said \u201cMental health is the base issue in all of these things.\u201d<\/p>\n

He nodded and took a pull on his Bud Long Neck. \u201cSo you are saying we need more mental health surveillance to prevent these horrors.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah. The shooter should have been identified to the authorities, and he never should have been able to get that shotgun, and have access to a government office complex.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI completely agree,\u201d growled Jim. \u201cBut you see the problem. Then who gets to report whom, and who sets the standards for what is normal and what isn\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCass Sunstein,\u201d growled Jim. \u201cHe is the guy who wants to Nudge us into good behavior orchestrated by the government. He is married to the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Stephanie Powers. Very progressive thinker with a lot of bad ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou mean Samantha Powers. The other one is better looking. Think what those assholes are going to know about us,\u201d I muttered darkly. \u201cAll our credit card transactions monitored by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and all our credit card information, the Affordable Care Database of all our health records, the NSA portfolio of who we talk to, and all of it administered by the IRS.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCrap. We are hosed,\u201d sighed Jim.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuh,\u201d said Big Jim.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you see who is down the bar?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"091913-2\"<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lady with the blunt haircut and the nice figure?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe very one. She used to bartend here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember her. What was her name? I can always remember a face, but the names? Not so much, anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Big Jim was back in battery behind the bar, since Tex is on some motorcycle trip. \u201cEasy Rider meets Brokeback Mountain,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYike,\u201d I said, looking apprehensively at the level of Happy Hour White in the tulip glass in front of me.<\/p>\n

Old Jim leaned it and asked \u201cWhat is that gal\u2019s name?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNina,\u201d said Big Jim, polishing a highball glass. Old Jim picked up on it immediately, and called out to her. That is when the trouble began.<\/p>\n

\u201cYo! Nina! Remember us?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou remembered my name,\u201d she said brightly. \u201cYou were some of my best customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course I remembered,\u201d said Jim modestly. \u201cYou are unforgettable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nina introduced her companion, a nice young man with a shaven head named James. \u201cWe are down at A-Town now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere the hell is that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA block from the Ballston Metro stop. Actually next to the International House of Pancakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

I pondered that for a minute, not placing it. \u201cYou mean where that Cuban restaurant was?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBingo,\u201d said James. \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t like it. It is all 20-something kids and we are deaf from the noise by the time our shifts are done.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat seems like every place on Fairfax Drive these days.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is hell getting old,\u201d said Jim.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, but consider the alternative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brenna came by to top up my glass, Jim got another Bud and we started to talk about food, life and all that other stuff.<\/p>\n

\"091913-3\"<\/p>\n

Robert the Sous Chef sent out a couple halibut sliders for Jim, with a side of the bacon-wrapped crackers. Jim has been complaining about the absence of the delicious fish treat since the menu changed, but Nina and James were taking a busman\u2019s holiday and going the whole hog on tapas.<\/p>\n

\"091913-4\"<\/p>\n

Big Jim explained it all as Old Jim tucked into his sliders and bacon crackers.<\/p>\n

\"091913-5\"<\/p>\n

Nina concentrated on her mignon cabob, Willow Fritters and Executive Tater Tots. James smeared the bacon spread on some of Kate Jansen\u2019s home-made sourdough bread.<\/p>\n

I looked on in awe. I have resolved to not spend money on restaurant food for the duration of my current fiscal emergency, not having Mr. Bernanke\u2019s ability to simply print more.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you drinking?\u201d bellowed Old Jim down the bar.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething cute,\u201d said Nina, and then modeled it for us.<\/p>\n

\"091913-6\"<\/p>\n

Copyright 2013 Vic Socotra
\nwww.vicsocotra.com
\nTwitter: @jayare303<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had a pensive session with Old Jim on Tuesday; the news from the Navy Yard had made me lachrymose. We established a theme for our meeting on Wednesday, which was supposed to be about the current fiscal reality and concepts on how we can cobble together some sort of reliable income stream. Jim figures […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-socotra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6156"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6158,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6156\/revisions\/6158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}