Meet Sparrow, an average man passing an average life…
Friday, September 13
Boy, Thursday nite’s post meeting was the worst ever…It was a combined with meeting with the VFW, which most of our meetings are, but it was at the VFW and for some reason they provided dinner and there were several new members, all of whom took several minutes to tell us about themselves, and everyone else yapped forever, too…I didn’t get home till after 2200.
This never happened when I was post commander…We don’t need verbatim accounts from your service record and I didn’t tolerate them…Name, branch of service and whatever else you care to cram into ten seconds…That’s enuff…And if you were talking about something else, you had to keep it short, too…I was not afraid to use my gavel.
The only redeeming quality to the evening was the VFW, which is located downtown, has a bar, which they lease out…The bar has scotch, and, even more redeeming, as beloved district commander, I’m included on the post’s bar tab, so it was complimentary scotch for ol’ Sparrow, tho hardly as much as needed/desired because I was driving.
The falsies were put in a year ago today…They took some getting used to, of course, and it took a while before I talked normally, but now they’re not even thought of twice anymore…They appear to be of first-class quality, too, holding up well and still looking good…The Wife reports they’re all paid off, too.
I needed gas before heading into the Veteran Service Today, and instead of fighting the crowd at the convenience store I visited the thieves at the co-op…They’re a few cents more per gallon, which is why there’s never a crown…Anyway, I went in for some coffee and when I presented myself at the counter for payment the girl looked at me and the work on her desk and said
How about your coffee being on the house today???
I laffed to myself…I know a clerk who does not want to ring up a sale when I see one, because I’ve been there myself…I have some modest experience in these matters and I would be very surprised if the coffee cost them more than a dime and I will subtract it from the balance they owe me when they didn’t honor that $25 quote for an oil change.
Busy today at the VSO…Recall Wednesday I spent the entire day scratching my nose but today I was busy from the get-go and it was a bit before noon before I was completely up-to-date.
Carl called me, too…He is in his 70’s and is one of several older vets I’ve helped sign up for VA medical benefits…He is the first to call me and tell me, tho, that the VA called him telling him some paperwork is missing…One was his discharge papers, something I neglected to send, which was stupid of me to forget.
The other thing, tho, was unspecified financial paperwork …This is whack, another example – as if one were required – of the VA, to paraphrase an old, common Navy phrase, mucking up a wet dream…Now, tax returns are required if you sign up at the VA website, but the 10-10EZ I fill out for you here at the VSO does not ask for supporting documentation, Section VI only asks for last year’s figures and this is the first time I’ve had a veteran tell me the VA called asking for financial paperwork.
So I got on the phone and called the office, it’s in Atlanta, and asked what the deal was…A very nice woman named Mercedes listened and informed me that no, no further paperwork was required, that filling out Section VI sufficed…So I faxed in the discharge papers, plus the original application just for funsies because it couldn’t hurt.
Then Tegan from the Planning Department comes by…She knows, or was told of, a veteran who might need some help…She said the vet lives on some acres out where the highway heads up to the pass and she gives me his number and, during some idle time, I call him.
Well, the guy does have a lot of issues, someone to talk to apparently one of them, but none of them involve dealing with the VA…Once that was out of the way, I was free to listen to what was on his mind: haying season is winding down, he’s building a cabin, lots of things…He plainly enjoyed having someone to talk to and I listened until he was done.
Recall yesterday The Wife and tried and failed to change the handles on the kitchen faucet and I went to the local hardware store and succeeded in rustling up a handyman, one Clemente, who works at the adjacent market…He came by while I was napping and The Wife supervised him putting in a whole new faucet…$93 parts and labor, which The Wife paid in cash and was very pleased with.
Sparrow’s Sleep Log:
2230 Thursday until 0530 Friday
1800 Friday until 2130 Friday
10.5 hours for the day, tho I don’t have the weekly total handy.
The Diary of a Nobody is a novel. All elements are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Anything else is a coincidence.
It was inspired by the 19th century British novel of the same name.
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