Short(er) Story Double Feature (Stories #136 and #134)

This episode consists of two weirdly similar Solitaire Stories I wrote in July. The first one only took about 14 minutes so I decided on the fly to double up this week (partially to make up for the travel-related late release of this episode.)The first story (Story #136, written 7/22/26) is called "The Ballad of Lazy Mike". In this one, an IT professional known somewhat unfairly as Lazy Mike finds unexpected employment at an internet café. At first he finds this work a bit beneath him, and in time he becomes known -- somewhat unfairly, again -- as Angry Mike. It is the story of the rise -- and perhaps the very beginning of the fall -- of Lazy/Angry Mike.The second story (Story #134, written 7/17/26) is titled "The Last Hurrah of the Impressive Reflexes". In this one, the hard-working frontman of a hard-working local rock and ska band befriends and recruits a drummer. He then suffers through the kind of drama one might expect to befall an overbooked rock and ska band. Will he persevere and soldier on, or will he accept the sad fact that his best skanking (and management) days are behind him?