24 March 2017

The Big Four-Oh
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Gentle Readers,

I would be remiss if I did not correct a tiny mistake in the story yesterday, the one about Marlow’s 68th anniversary on the planet.

Marlow is a real human being- and by that I mean an author whose musings (along with noted commentator Arrias) are worth exposing to a larger audience in cyberspace, and Socotra House LLC is delighted to pass them along to you long-suffering recipients of the Socotra stream-of-consciousness narratives as well as providing a home on the web where they can be perused at your leisure. I will try to remember to post a disclaimer on future essays to ensure that there is a clear distinction between their informed commentary and my delusional ravings.

Nonetheless, I appreciated the many notes of congratulations on ‘my’ birthday. For privacy purposes, my Facebook birthday is January 1, 1901 in case you wish to make a note of that, which would make me 116 years old this year. I am feeling pretty spry, all things considered.

I also want to note, for the record, that this IS a significant milestone at the Socotra household. I mentioned it a few days ago when it occurred to me that it had been a long time since I started plowing this particular furrow. It was forty years ago this morning that I raised my right hand, swore to defend the Constitution, and have been up to my neck in the intelligence business ever since. As I pass this curious milestone, I have decided that I am done with random urine screenings, periodic polygraph inquisitions and the always entertaining five-year background investigation process. My favorite part of the last is when a contract investigator shows up to ask if you are a good American, are interested in overthrowing the Government, or have deliberately sabotaged military equipment.

I normally answer: “Yes,” “No” and “Maybe” to those questions, just in case.

I really have no need for the security apparatchiks anymore, and should anyone from the Intelligence Community come around asking for the results of any of them, I have decided to refer them to China’s People’s Liberation Army, whose Unit 61398, who thoughtfully borrowed 22 million of our security applications. I sure they would be happy to help.

Anyway, I think to commemorate the significance of the day, I am going to take the afternoon off. And maybe the rest of the year.

Copyright 2017 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com