In a restaurant that also had a full bar, Charlie was seated at the bar. He had a beer in front of him, and a plate full of French fries. In his hand he held the last of the hamburger he’d ordered for lunch. He finished off his hamburger, then washed it down with some beer.
Raymond was behind the bar, polishing glasses. Customers were seated at a couple of the tables, but no one else was at the bar.
“That hamburger hit the spot,” said Charlie. “I've had a busy morning, and I didn't eat any breakfast.”
“We've got a great cook. He used to be a chef. He was on that Iron Chef show one time, but he got mad when he lost, and he grabbed the Japanese guy's sword and chased the judges around the table, screaming, and threatened to turn them into a secret ingredient. I don't think they ever showed that one on TV. Anyway, he got arrested and lost his job, and this was the best he could do.”
“I guess his loss was your gain.”
“Something like that.” Raymond set down one glass and picked up another one. “Once in a while we get a customer who wants to send their food back, but we just throw it away and order them a fresh plate, and add a special request to fix the problem. Once a waitress made the mistake of sending the food back and telling Luigi what the customer had said, but I won't let anyone here do that again, not after I had to stop Luigi from shoving a plate full of food up the customer's ass.”
“Sounds like your guy has a temper.”
“Yeah. But I guess we all do to some degree, don't we?”
“I know I do.”
Raymond put down the last glass, then set his dishrag on the counter. He leaned back against a shelf. “You in the military?”
“I just got out of the army,” Charlie replied. “I came back from Afghanistan a couple of weeks ago, and I've been taking some time off.”
“You've earned it.”
“Sure feels like it.” Charlie pulled out a photo of his wife, laid it on the bar and slid the photo to Raymond. “Have you seen this woman before?”
“Oh yeah. She used to come in here. She gave me her number once without me even asking.”
“Did you call her?”
“I did. She was pretty hot, and I was single at the time.”
“Was she good?”
“I wouldn't know. We never did anything. It was clear she wanted to, but I don't trust women who want it that bad. I've had enough of that. I wanted a connection. You know, something real. I liked her though. We emailed a lot for a couple of months, and we went on one date, but nothing happened.”
Raymond pushed the picture back to Charlie. “Why do you ask?”
“I'm her husband.”
“Ouch. Tough break. I'm sorry to hear that.”
“Yeah. We'll be divorcing soon.”
“Did she tell you about me?”
“No. She had a secret email account, and I found it. I read your emails, and I didn't think you did anything with her, but I wanted to hear it from you myself.”
“Yeah, nothing happened. It wasn't easy, though. She's pretty hot, if you don't mind my saying.”
“No offense taken. Her sex appeal is just a fact, and one she's clearly well aware of.”
Charlie took the picture, looked at it, then put it back in his pocket. He stood up, removed some cash from his wallet, and placed the money on the counter. “Keep the change.”
“Thanks.” Raymond picked up the plate and scraped the remaining fries into a trash can.
“Did you ever find it?” asked Charlie. “That connection you were looking for?”
“I did.”
“And how did you know it?”
Raymond looked at Charlie and shrugged. Raymond picked up the money, rang up the purchase, and put the change in the tip jar. He looked at Charlie again. “I don't know exactly. My girl is kind, and she's smart, and she's a giver. But mostly it's just a feeling that I can't explain.”
“I hope it works out for you.”
“Yeah, me too. Thanks. And I'm sorry about your marriage not working out.”
“Me too. I've got another errand to run, then my wife and I are going to have a little talk. But it won't be fun. For either of us.”
“Good luck with that. Four words that send a shiver down my spine are ‘We have to talk’. I hate to hear 'em, and I never like to say 'em.”
Charlie nodded. He walked toward the exit and left. Raymond picked up a rag and cleaned the counter where Charlie's plate had been.
Dr. Drew interviewed Scott Adams recently, and Scott Adams mentioned the absurdity that Republicans went to overthrow the government on Jan 6, but they neglected to bring their guns. On the first or second anniversary of the event, that alleged oversight made the narrative appear absurd to me, so I made a "video" that was supposed to be audio from January 6, captured on a video camera from which the lens cap had not been removed. I'm posting it again just because.
While I was waiting on hold to talk with a human at the IRS, I decided to put some food out for the dogs. I set the full bag of dog food on a chair, and walked away to get the bowls. When I turned around I saw the bag slowly tipping over, spilling much of its contents onto the floor. Fortunately I had help cleaning it up.
The main task for today is to begin revising McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader. It may take a couple of weeks, possibly more. I still have to work at Publix, and next week I start a new job in the memory care unit of a rehab/nursing home facility, and I'll also be working at Publix at least one night.
After that I'll take a look at the double-slit experiment, and see if there is an interpretation that is consistent with my theory of wave physics.
Also, I came across the attached meme, which I had created two or three years (or so) ago. I thought I'd include it because I still like it.
I recently proposed a theory of matter and energy called Wave Physics. In this theory, the only things in the universe are energy and the universal membrane, which is the medium through which all energy is transfered and stored.
Tonight I realized that according to this theory, everyone and everything in the universe are connected to each other at all times. Things that would be impossible according to the standard model of particle physics, are very possible in the universe of wave physics. Psychic transmissions and the power of prayer are physically possible and make sense if the universe works in any way like the theory I proposed.
If you've ever heard the phone ring and felt sure who it was before answering it, and were proven correct, this makes sense in wave physics, but not with particle physics. If you've ever looked intently at someone, and had that person quickly turn and look directly at you (I have), that phenomenon makes sense if all of us are parts of the same vast, ...
I was only scheduled to work three days this week, so I decided to work on a theory I'd been playing around with for fun over the last few years. I'd never been a big fan of the standard model of particle physics, so a few years ago, just for fun, I thought about exploring some alternate ideas, with zero training and zero experiments.
This week I wrapped up a few loose ends, and posted it to a community I created called Wave Physics. Originally I had called it Alternative Physics, but I changed my mind, so the link still has alternativephysics in it, but the community name is Wave Physics. I'd love for people to pay $5.00 a month to tell me how wrong I am.
https://alternativephysics.locals.com/
I also posted it on my personal website:
