Vodka martini (Ketel 1), very dry. One olive.
With Brie cheese and crackers, if it do ya.
I save the olive 'til the
end.
It's raining again in Sunny SoCal. And in
combination with the olive, I believe this has affected my
mood.
--------
Big
day on campus today - we had a change of command. Out with the old flag officer
(and a wonderful gentleman) in with the new (no one really knows, yet.) So we
were all a-flutter in our service dress blues, and your humble scribe was the
formation commander. If any of my USMC readers would have seen the appallingly
random and shockingly inconsistent result attended by the command, "At a close
interval, dress right - DRESS!" they would maybe forgive us more than they have
already.
We're just
saying.
---------
Driving
down the 5 today (in the autovoiture, it being a rainy day), just south of the
La Jolla swoop, I espied a single representative of the state of California's
finest
pulled over on the shoulder, lights out. Which I took as considerate, knowing as
I do the inevitable custom of SoCal freeway drivers to jam on their brakes and
rubberneck at the sight of a CHP light show. Which, in combination with the
rain, would have no doubt made for a pile up of epic
proportions.
Very clever, these
CHP.
Anyway, there was a car down in
the holler off the road edge, a BMW M3 by the grille, in the brambles, facing
the wrong way and with the blinker tapping out a slow dirge to eventual battery
depletion. Nothing more could I see, but I imagined all in a moment the
inevitable human drama - the slick road, the excessive speed, the panicked stop,
the spinning of the wheel, the road edge flying up, the sound, the silence.
This goes on all around us all the
time, and we do not see it.
It's the
rain, I tell you. Or perhaps the
olive.
----------
I
cannot tie a necktie, and it drives me to
distraction.
I hope I do not sound more
than ordinarily arrogant (for a fighter pilot) when I say that I tend to be good
at things. You know, stuff. I pick it up quickly, whatever it is. I'm not
bragging, it's just the way it is, and I have gotten used to
it.
You should
too.
Which is why my inability to tie a
proper necktie drives me to
distraction.
I don't have to wear a
necktie very often. It's been flight suits, for the most part. Open collared
khakis, for the rest. Sometimes I wear a tie to church.
Sometimes.
But.
I was getting dressed today for the
change of command today, and as I buttoned up my shirt, I lifted up the
(previously tied) necktie (that someone else had tied for me) and lowered it
over my head, only to discover that the end of the tie did not quite reach down
to my belt buckle. Which of course, it is
absolutely
supposed to do.
No - it fell short of
my belt buckle by a measurable distance. Leaving me feeling, in my service dress
blues, a bit like Popeye's hamburger-chomping friend Wimpy. Which simply would
not do, for so many reasons. Most of which having to do with his 1940's
attitude, mustache, waistline and name.
So.
I determined that I would retie the
damnable thing. How hard could it be?
Bah!
I
must have retied the thing a dozen times, trying to get the length just right.
Never mind the knot. And the clock kept
ticking.
I'd make the finest possible
adjustment in starting positions, on my way to the essential half-Windsor - and
find the tie end reaching to my knees. Or
nearly.
A centimeter's adjustment would
I go in the opposite direction - and the thin end would extend below the fat
end, neither reaching to my belt.
Meh.
Finally, at the last possible
moment, I created a knot that would not, by itself, shame the naval service. And
that reached all the way to my belt.
Fully satisfied (may I say smug?) with
my success, I came home, and in a moment's distraction, pulled the knot
apart.
D'oh!
---------
Jonah
Goldberg, when he isn't baiting idiots, has found a vid
that I just don't know how to describe. Takes a while to load.
Makes you
wonder.
----------
It's
short, I know - but I just got a call from SNO, who isn't feeling well, and
wouldn't mind coming home. I'm off to pick him
up.
He'd do the same for
me.
----------
Have
a great weekend!
Posted @
06:43 PM
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Posted in
""
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Sendit
|
Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." - John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Ceasar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friederich Nietzsche
