179TH AND VYSE, BRONX, NY (PART XXXVI): LIFE BEFORE DEATH IN (ugh) NEW JERSEY

(continued)

in midtown manhattan one day in 1960 i saw joey, the bookie from the candy store in painter's garb working at a building.  i guess he would rather be a painter than be a mathematician for the defense dept.  that was too constraining for him to consider.  you had to be brain dead, lazy, or immune to boredom.  i opt for lazy and immune to boredom.  maybe joey didn't want to sit and get the butt corrugations for the required college credits .  he was already smarter than almost all the defense dept. people i knew.

perhaps he turned to painting because the bookie business was too competitive with the law and the mob on your case, a dangerous situation.   mediocrity and boredom with the defense dept. pays off.  i can attest to that.

excuse me.  gotta go.  i have to check my mailbox for my retirement check.

(to be continued)

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annoying and narrow, bill kristol, on scarborough this morning.  not only is he in a delusional little bubble world now but i'm sure he was one of those kids who snuck home from school so the other kids wouldn't beat him up.  i don't doubt that he did all his homework.  what else could he do?

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"Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing"



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