It turned out the lounge at the hotel across the street was closed for remodeling. Something to do with some bitch named Catrina. I wound up walking a half mile to Ruby Tuesday.
I had an interesting time there. I talked to a few different people. one of which turned out to be a Navy officer I had slugged when I was in the service. He was an Ensign back then and didn't know his ass from a fuse. He actually apologized to me for that incident (and admitted he was an asshat then) even though I was the one who was punished for it. He wound up retiring from the Navy. He bought me a couple of beers to make up for the "problem" way back then. He's still an asshat but I have come to appreciate asshats more than I did then. Well, at least I am less likely to knock them on their ass.
Small world.
I did get into a small tiff with a young guy at the place. Nothing major. I gave his girlfriend a light as she didn't seem to have a lighter. He stupidly took exception to it and tried to start a fight over it. Dumbass. I convinced him that it was not in his best interest to continue down that path without ever laying a hand on him. I'm a little proud of that. I could have easily busted him up, but chose to just scare him a little instead. Amazing the impression one can make by simply breaking a beer bottle by squeezing it.
Other than the small tiff with the small young guy, I had a pretty good time. The bartender was from the same part of FL where I did a good part of my growing up and we talked a good deal when he wasn't slinging drinks.
Oh yeah, there was this very cute server, Chinese I think, that kept popping by to talk to me between tables. Oh if I was only 20 years younger...