When is Universal Universal?

Will, Edgar, Ian, Jim, Big Jay McNeely, Bill, Lynne, Steve G, Glenn, Bobb, Barbara, Steve & Jeanette.

Glenn, the rest of us agree, is a man of few words. But when he lets rip, anyone in earshot certainly knows about it.
On Monday it was the word "universal" that got him. Not Universal Studios or Mr Universe, but as in universal healthcare. "It's ridiculous," he exploded, "healthcare is not for everyone in the universe."
Jeanette, Bill and Lynne tried to point out that, in this context, it meant healthcare for the entire universe of US residents.
Glenn started punching buttons on his cellphone-cum-organizer - not an iPhone, but just as powerful.
Up it came. Two definitions for "universal". The second covered everything in the universe, but the first was simply everyone or thing in a particular category, from sheep to left-handed pygmies - or all the people in the US who needed healthcare.
"I still don't like it," said Glenn, refusing to accept defeat.
Which only goes to show that we know how to let ourselves go on a Monday night at Conrads. Everything goes, and no one holds back - or shouldn't.
When Bobb and Barbara turned up, Barbara hugged Will to pass on greetings from a well-wisher: or should that be Will wisher?
The big set-piece of the evening was the clash of the musicians: Ian, Will and Jay talking musical terms like titans lobbing skyscrapers at one another. As Edgar adroitly observed, Ian and Jay were opera v jazz, Ian all in favor of structure and Jay putting the emphasis on the flow of the melody. What an evening it would be to get the two of them on stage together (again?).
Looks as if Jay could have a second career as a fire-eater, after he poured a huge amount of Hottest F-ing Sauce on his Greek salad and he ate it as unconcernedly as if he had gently shaken a little salt and pepper on his food. Asbestos mouth and iron stomach, no doubt about it.
Less fiercely, Lynne gave Ian a pot of the precious and rare Greek delicacy, taramasalata, for which he had been pining for months, as a late birthday present, and he revealed that as another present a friend in movies had offered to film his show at the Coffee Gallery on Saturday - but he turned down the chance and regretted it, because the house was packed and Ian was on top form, at least by his own calm, cool and utterly objective reckoning. Another time maybe.
Edgar and his partner, Keith, are thinking of having their house tented. Sounds like they ought to stop thinking about it and do something, because there are little piles of sawdust all over the house. Before long the whole house will be just a pile of sawdust.
We're as tough on termites as we are on anything else that gets in our way from the animal kingdom even though, as the irascible Glen pointed out, they were here before us, whether you are talking about skunks, racoons, coyotes or any of the other lively wild life in these parts. Edgar's bete noir is, appropriately, the black widow spider, which eats its mate and behaves in a generally antisocial way to the rest of the planet.
Monday was Bastille Day, a public holiday in France since 1790, to celebrate the previous year's revolution. But, according to Edgar's partner Keith, there is nothing left of the Bastille, notorious prison of the 18th century, except a post with a plaque on it. This led to tales of how prisoners were allowed to receive meals and other luxuries denied to modern inmates, especially the lavish last meals, before being executed. Americans on death row prefer depressingly familiar grub like hamburgers or fried chicken and the inevitable fries. Now, at Newgate in London, where the Old Bailey central criminal court stands today, some of the more colorful murderers used to bring in prostitutes to enliven their last night on earth...

CAUGHT ON THE BREEZE
This is the most unprepped menu in Pasadena!
What does Barbara's t-shirt say? I daren't look.
It says: "Hard work never hurt anyone, but why take a chance?"
They were all short films in the early days - until the movie houses got taller
Time drags when I'm in a Buddhist temple
They're always closing the Rialto and opening it again
In the 50s kids had springs on their shoes
It's ok - men can join the league of women voters