Had to go to the Snowboard Connection (the new one near REI—been there?) tonight and on my way home decided to get a drink at the Lo-Fi. It has been forever. It has been so long that apparently I don’t even know when the Lo_Fi is open, because it wasn’t open tonight, at least not at 8:30 this evening, when I needed it to be open.

So I went to the bar next door, the Victory Lounge (which I believe used to be a saloon or something, right? with punk bands playing contantly? and a deck?). I guess because I had this crowded-punk-saloon idea in my head I was surprised to find the place empty, new-looking, and dominated by two flat-screen TVs playing commercials on mute. The bartender was playing the Killers and the Kinks. The Kinks song was “Lola.” I’m not sure what the Killers song was.

Eventually I asked the bartender what I ask everyone.

The bartender said, “People act like it’s some altruistic thing. It’s not. You support the candidate who’s going to benefit you most.” He is a Hillary guy. “She’s got the health care plan. I don’t have health care and I haven’t since I was 26. That was 10 years ago.” To say nothing of the working poor, etc. He said, “It’s ridiculous.”

After a beat he said, “In high school, as a freshman, you can’t be a candidate for student body president. That’s how I feel about Obama.”