I have never had anyone ask me anything about how to do anything. Except my oldest son once asked me how to make my patented SuperBowl Chili Colorado Con Carne. But in general, I think people feel that I am lucky to be able to keep my fly zippered. If anyone knows that I am fixed, she probably assumes that it was sheer luck.
Sometimes clerks and grocery checkers who are mostly accustomed to seeing me in the evening, or the middle of the night will ask why I am suddenly in the store at 2 pm. Usually with a worried look, like "I hope you are not laid off, Honey." Even when I try to dress well, I look working class. Stealth is easy for me.
About the original topic, ERs we have known; I have known quite a few. My wife had friends, an older couple, who served in Army Intelligence in WW2 with the Balkans as their focus. After the war they taught a course at an Ivy League school in counter-intelligence, for one term each year. When that sort of thing became politically impossible they did sporadic "consulting" with foreign groups. But mostly they had parties, rode horses, traveled and acted rich in Bucks County. Their wealth was herditary. It looked very posh and interesting to me. They had no children.
In the early 70s I knew a couple that had taken a company public in the 1968 IPO garbage fest. Totally upset my working class morals, because they were rich and their "company" didn't even have a real product. But they were living the good and fashionably drugged life in Malibu. Again, no kids.
Another couple from the same era seemed to be doing OK and never working. However, when I ran into the woman a few years later in Vancouver, she told me her man was in prison in California for his part in some kind of credit card scam. I tried to fade from any thing criminal because I didn't approve of it, and I didn't want to be around when things blew up. However, if you are marginally employed or idle, you naturally tend to run into criminals.
Another ER I knew back then was a 45 yo diet doctor who made his pile, bought a house in the Hollywood Hills and devoted himself to some Indian Guru. He used to give meditation parties that were really mellow. He had kind of a thing for my wife, so it got less comfortable going there. But I always missed his pool and all the incense.
The late 60s early 70s were similar to today in that many young people wanted to drop out. What was it that Tim Leary said? "Tune in, turn on, and drop out!"
I wish I understood these mass psychological trends. Probably a lot of it had to do with Viet Nam.
Mikey
