And so we made some Banh Mi sandwiches together. They came out OK. Pho stew would be our next culinary project. She insisted on vegetarian and seafood substitutions.
As my health and mood improved, she would bring home single servings of wine or beer for me, but that came much later. The NSA men returned with their polygraph equipment. Alexandra insisted on observing the interview.
“Good evening, Mr. Murphy. We’re going to start with some control questions. Please answer with either a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ unless instructed otherwise. Please tell me your name and year of birth.”
“Thomas Murphy, 1945.”
“Were you in the military?”
“Yes.”
“Which branch?”
“Army.”
“Where did you grow up?”
“Jefferson County, West Virginia.”
“Who was your commander in Vietnam?”
“Colonel Samuel Truman.”
“Have you ever been arrested?”
“Yes.”
“Where and for what?”
“Amity, Washington state; various crimes”
“What crimes exactly?”
“Resisting arrest, assault and battery, grand theft auto, reckless endangerment, and attempted murder.”
“Have you ever been arrested for anything else?”
“No.”
“Alright, Mr. Murphy, that concludes the control question portion of the exam. We now have a baseline reading. Now I am going to ask you a broader set of questions. Have you ever used illegal drugs?”
“Yes.”
“Which kinds?”
“I smoked marijuana and opium in Vietnam for a time. And once I was forcibly injected with scopolamine while a prisoner.”
“Do you still use those drugs?”
“No.”
“Do you drink alcohol?”
“Yes, but I stopped recently.”
“When was your last drink?”
“About two months ago.”
“Are you a homosexual?”
“No.”
“Have you ever had sex with an animal?”
“No.”
“Have you ever committed adultery?”
“No.”
“Have you ever had sex with a prostitute?”
“No.”
“Have you ever had contact with members of a foreign intelligence service?”
“Yes, when I was being interrogated and tortured.”
“Did you divulge any information during that interrogation?”
“No.”
“Have you ever been a member of a group that seeks to overthrow the US government?”
“No.”
“Have you ever killed anyone for money?”
“No.”
“Did you commit war crimes in Vietnam, as defined by the Geneva Convention?”
“Yes, I killed some unarmed and immobilized enemy troops.”
“OK, Mr. Murphy. Just a few more questions. Do you consider yourself a loyal, patriotic American?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have close, continuing contact with anyone who is not a US citizen?
“No.”
“Will continue to seek treatment for your addiction and other psychological problems?”
“Yes.”
“Do you love Alexandra?”
I decided this would be good time to look straight into her eyes while I answered.
“Yes.”
“OK, Mr. Murphy. This concludes the exam. Thank you very much for your time.”
The men packed up and left. I stood to face Alexandra. I thought she might have something to say. Instead, she a finger to her lips, hugged me, and led me to her bed.
I was anxious to get the results, and to keep my mind busy, I would spend most of the day at my typewriter. Alexandra would come home for lunch, and we would cook dinner together. She continued to take me to my various appointments. A few days after the house arrest sentence expired, I got a letter in nondescript envelope with no return address. It stated that I had passed the polygraph test and gave me a phone number to call plus some other instructions. I decided to confer with Alexandra.
“Looks like I passed the polygraph. What do you think I should do next?”
“Call the number and take whatever job they offer. We need to start making more money. We’re running out of yours.”
“I love it when a plan comes together. If I get a job, how about we tie the knot and make things official?”
“I picked out a dress months ago.”
So I called the number and was offered a job translating Vietnamese at Fort Meade. I took it.
The wedding was a nice finale to a phase of my life I was eager to leave behind. Our honeymoon was spent in New York City, London, Paris, and Rome. Neither of us had been to any of those places. I was so used to traveling off the beaten path I never realized the benefits of going to big, famous cities. Rome was my favorite. There’s so much ancient history there. Seeing the Colosseum and knowing that gladiators fought each other and lions there inspired my courage. I read that most gladiators died around the age of 25. Those guys burned out faster than rock stars. I wasn’t a rock star, but I came close to joining the 27 Club. The Colosseum reminded me of a quote from Teddy Roosevelt:
“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Meeting Alexandra’s parents would be dicey. We needed to strategize for that. She had a checklist and a script for me. I didn’t argue it. Basically, she picked an outfit for me and told me not to talk about what I did in Vietnam, except in a very vague way. And I was to remain silent on any other topic that reflected badly on me. I trusted her judgement. We had a pleasant dinner and chat. Alexandra painted me in the best light possible. Alexandra already knew my dad fairly well. It turned out she had been talking and meeting with him regularly during my last few months in Da Nang.
Some more wish fulfillment fantasy here. My not-Rambo character is a less cynical, more conservative version of me, basically. The way things are going, it seems unlikely that I will ever marry or have children now that I am 39. My date on Saturday with the Kenyan gal went well. She told me she had been pressured to marry years ago but broke off the engagement against the wishes of both families. She laughed and smiled many times during the date. Whatever happens, I’d like to meet her again. We both drove an hour to meet at town halfway between us.
In real life, I was interrogated 2x by NSA. The 1st was my polygraph so I could even be allowed to listen and read recently intercepted classified material. The 2nd time, I was in handcuffs in a room with a 1-way mirror. It was extremely amusing that they thought I was a fanatical Christian and Trump supporter. In the end, I was banned from the base formerly known as Fort Gordon and all NSA facilities.
I will ever marry or have children now that I am 39
Spring chicken!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_fathers
So, a list of old guys with swimming pools.
Or Japanese ladies with step sons.
Always hope…hell, I’m 43…still a chance when you take into account that /2+7 calculation…..
LCDR, my Dad was 44 when I was born.
He taught me a lot, especially how to work. I was fortunate to have a patient guy like that.
It turned out she had been talking and meeting with him regularly during my last few months in Da Nang.
“Ambush? Tell me about an ambush? I just ambushed you with
a cup of coffeematrimony. What color is the boat house in Dien Bien Phu?”I really enjoyed that, particularly the matter-of-fact interrogation.
I’m 37 and it’s pretty much pre-determined that I should never have kids. My nephews are 11, 9 and 4, though. This is a profoundly positive, healthy reality. The youngin’ shares my personality, which thrills me on microscopic levels compared to parents, but damn, ’tis priceless. — Sounds like Kenyan gal had a great time. Distance meet? *Impressed face* Plus all smiles. Well done, sir.
My nonsensical interrogation was, yet again, Ev’s customary, easiest ‘n lightest way to ‘semi-experience’ something.’ I had a fucking appointment! Eee! After being questioned at school by the police over my boss launchin’ BS assault charges. The cops saw the CCTV and even they saw Old Lady clearly fell/flopped to sell it/obscure her illegal hiring. Natch, I still had to go in for a more formal meeting. Very, very silly. That delayed my final departure from Korea from March to June of ’22.
I listened to 7 minutes of Hillary’s speech just now. Never again.
According to H it’s gonna be rainbows and unicorns from here on out if the demos win. No explanation of who is going to pay for the party though.
I’m sure she and Bill will turn over all the assets of the Clinton Foundation to the govt. That should help.
And remember when Obama was president, crackheads were making a $1M a year without hardly trying again. I’m sure there will be many more opportunities like that under Harris. Shoot, Tim Walz will just upsize his tour company to China and make a ton of money.
Don’t ask how it will be paid for. It will pay for itself.
Everything will be great when we get out of this administration and replace it with a Democrat one.
Thankfully I didn’t, so I can go to bed without getting too worked up. Earlier I listened to Matt Taibbi and Walter Kirn doing a running commentary, but they quit when they realized this will go on half the night. They did have some interesting things to say about how this is no longer politics, it’s just straight up propaganda.
who is going to pay
hint: the same folks who paid for the Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush, W, and Trump deficits
Dems suck
but everybody sucks: https://www.investopedia.com/us-debt-by-president-dollar-and-percentage-7371225
Submitted a new post – should be pending review – request expediting review and an evening slot as soon as possible due to time-sensitivity (relatively speaking).
Well, Harely Davidson pulled out the Clydesdale ad. It didn’t work for Bud, maybe they will have better luck.
https://x.com/harleydavidson/status/1825564138032234994
They are trying to split the baby and I don’t think it’s going to work.
I missed what controversy they’ve stuck their dick in. I have worked with HD on a couple IoT projects and they are terrified about their long term prospects.
Their demo is old rich white guys. They are the ones who can afford the $$$ for a hawg. Kids are all riding Japanese bikes or other brands. They are showing no interest in switching over to HD. The suits are all worried about what will happen when the Boomers die off.
The good news is that the suits at HD are all clueless. The big project I worked on them was how to internet enable their motorcycles so the kids could … seamlessly connect to Facebook and other social media while riding. And the suits only used the words “Facebook” but they meant all of social media, but were too out of it to understand the difference.
The other thing that I remember from that project is how brand conscious they were. They had a huge document on what colors to use, what logo images were acceptable in what conditions. I remember one demo going completely off the rails because the wrong logo was used. On a demo page. The HD folx got so wound up about the wrong logo being used that we never got around to talking about how the actual hardware that was installed on the bike was sending all sorts of into to the cloud and being displayed in real time.
Yeah, I’m still a bit bitter about that project. Everyone in all those meetings was a marketing/sales person. We never talked to any actual engineers or people who built the bikes. It was all about brands, perceptions and other bs. The project finally went belly up when we asked them for more money to do another phase. At least HD was smart enough to realize they were wasting their money with us.
At least our project went better than the Harley-Davidson electric bike
They got called out by Robby Starbuck’s anti-woke/DEI campaign. Tractor Supply, John Deere, and now Harley Davidson. I can’t wait to see who’s next.
https://www.reddit.com/r/KnightsOfPineapple/comments/1ewal6b/pizza_on_pineapple_yes_or_no/
Pineapple has upped its game..
Out of insomnia I looked at the Final Fantasy 16 Demo. Of the first half hour, 25 minutes seem to be cutscene. Every few minutes you got a very short playable tutorial, then it was more cutscene.
That is far too high a cutscene to playtime ratio. They need a different method of exposition.
Everyone in a drunken stupor after killing their livers in the DNC drinking game?
Poor Brandon. Got dumped just before the prom and still has to make an appearance at his big day.
I was watching an old Roz Russell movie.
Mask…errr…wake up, bitches!
Gonna be a new glorious day in a communist America! Grab your ankles!
🌄😬📉
Just ignore the economy getting worse by the day and enjoy a song with a great groove.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KCBS5EtszYI
🎶🎶
https://whyy.org/articles/matthew-mccaffery-montgomery-county-pennsylvania-upper-merion-republicans-swatting/
Swatting is a tool of the Left, not the Right.
That being said, this is what’s wrong with the PA GOP.
Fuck those commie sympathizers.
suh’ fam
whats goody
TALL REFINERY CANS!
/I hate refinery work
Good morning, homey, Sean, and Ted’S.!
Morning.
Good morning, U! How’s it going?
My insides are protesting something, but I’m not sure what.
I hope it’s not your roasted bell pepper bbq sauce! 😟
No, I ate that staurday and was fine all of sunday.
Good morning, fellow Gliblings.
Good morning, Grumble! I hope you have little to grumble about today!
Grumble……..
I do not like having to view trump as our last savior.
I do not like the sudden inevitability of Ms. Harris.
I have enough to deal with thank you very much.
Morning. How’s the Missus? How are the sheepies?
The misses is hanging on by a thread.
She does not understand why a prosecutor would be still pursuing charges when we have 4-5 fairly provable examples of witness committing perjury.
sheep are ok, need to reduce herd/
Good luck and hang in there.
Good morning, ‘bodru! I hope things are starting to get better.
The inevitability of Ms. Harris is a bunch of ginned up nonsense, not that she can’t win but this is a top down media driven impression they’re trying to impose. We’ll see but I’m not buying it just yet.
Who’s claiming an utterly unlikable woman who’s earned Zero votes is ‘inevitable’?
Unlike old soldiers, old politicians never seem to fade away. They hang on, cling to the only tedious accomplishment in their life and return more venomous than ever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyDldGPTDNQ
Apparently, nothing very interesting happened during the DemCon yesterday, according to an AP story I read.
So disappointing.
For some good news, I see that 3d6, Down the Line just dropped a new video.
I heard they kept Gropey up past his bed time.