Page 18 EXIT ZERO March 4, 2021
Undertow Terry O’Brien’s legendary column... social satire, shameless plugs — and general self-indulgence Welcome to March of 2021, a year that so far has me looking back on the calm stability of 2020 with gauzy nostalgia. It’s nearly spring which means only one thing — Karen Mirabile season. Karen is my accountant and delivers tax miracles unto me every year. If you like your accountant, you can keep your accountant, but you should definitely switch over to Karen at Cape Bookkeeping. For every new client I refer, she guarantees another $10,000 in my return and can do the same for you! (Promises made in previous sentences may not be real, but Karen is great.) Weekly Beard & Weight Watch: The problem with writing my column on Saturdays instead of Sunday is that I tend to have a few (5) adult beverages at my TNT gig at Exit Zero Filling Station and indulge in a little rock star debauchery at Wawa or Chen’s Garden, wherever Tim steers us on our way home. (Yes, we carpool. Yes, Wawa burgers are legit.) This tends to skew the numbers when I step on the scale, so what had been a “feeling pretty good about myself” 237.5 on Wednesday became a “WHY TERRY! WHY ARE YOU SO FAT AND STUPID!” 238.5 on Saturday. This may have been accompanied by some tears and the wagging of an angry finger in the mirror. Okay, that’s an over-dramatization. I was bummed, but I am, in fact, in a very good state of mind. As I told EZFS neighbor David Dee, who, along with wife Fay, always asks after my well-being, I’ve got Undertow to keep me accountable to you, the most intelligent, discerning, best looking readers on Earth. The beard? Eh. I’ll give it another week or two and see how I feel. It’s possible I’m just not a beard guy. Speaking of the best readers in the world, Jim Faulkner, wife Lisa and daughter Hannah popped in to EZFS for some dinner and TNT, but this paragraph is about Jim, who buried me in such effusive praise about my singing and writing that he is now the clubhouse leader in the World’s Friendliest Stalker Open. (Wendy and Randy Redelico, you better get back down here and shower me with praise and cash…) Jim is a lovely man with a lovely family. I’m just not used to people being nice to me. I married an Italian. Then there’s Kevin and Janet Perusing of Oakland NJ, simply one of the nicest couples I’ve encountered in my days as the “T” half of “TNT”. He’s always ready with a smile and a handshake, she lights up every room she enters. Which is why it pains me so to make fun of them, because as polished as they seem, on the inside they are dirty, pinko, commie Grateful Dead hippies Thank you, Alyssa! (Last name unknown, her dinner receipt just said “V”.) I WILL continue saying what I want (or at least as much as I can slip past my editor) for as long as I Gift Cards & Growlers Available! Beer Service in our Beer Grove Thurs-Sun 12-6pm Up to groups of 4 inside, 8 outside Climate Controlled UV air purifiers installed to reduce airborne germs All profits support HCSV Foundation - A non-profit living history museum 733 SEASHORE ROAD, CAPE MAY March 4, 2021 EXIT ZERO Page 19