30 September, 2008

gonzo

What does one do when something just isn't there at all or was and has gone, but getting out of the now seemingly empty situation would be damaging to a person or persons involved?

It's not like anyone can just up and say "I'm not into this" in certain situations, especially when parts of an ongoing interaction are indeed quite pleasant.

It becomes a quandary, due to one party being seemingly or purposely oblivious to a lack of magnetism and the presence of dull predictability, while the other party agonizes over why it can't or won't change, when the magnetism clearly belongs as a major part of said ongoing interaction.

So friends, what is the answer to this riddle of developing disinterest? Inquiring minds want to know.

das boot

It's been about six weeks now. Six weeks since I strapped on this effing boot for the first time and hobbled out into pedestrian traffic. At the time, it seemed like an inconvenience, but one well worth the while, because it would surely erase the breaks and tears and stabilize my tattered foot and leg.

It became its own mini-phenomenon. The boot had suddenly legitimized me as a totally hardcore athlete among total strangers. I wouldn't have to wear a huge, plastic, strappy boot if I hadn't been base jumping or playing extreme hacky sack or something outrageous that mere mortals would never dare attempt.

I accepted the boot into my world and have worn it for most all of my waking hours for upwards of 56 days now and this is how I'm repaid for my diligence in following my treatment regimen; my entire right leg is like a fucking columbo log. That's right, swollen like it's been the victim of a tourniquet tie-off.

As I sit now, I can deal, because it's 2:41 am and I have already been lying in somewhat restful slumber for a while, and my leg is elevated. During the daylight hours however, I am sitting up, my leg slowly filling up with....whatever stuff fills it up right now, the pressure threatening to tear open my poor little ankle and let the stuff run all over the carpet. To boot (no pun intended), the actual slow hobble to the bathroom, pantry or printer, now involves a significant amount of discomfort and /or pain. This is awesome.

The boot supposedly only has a couple of weeks left in it's foot-supporting tenure, but I'm not entirely sure that the healing has been done. In fact, I'm starting to be of the opinion that after that it will be more hobbling around on running shoes I cannot run in, and wiping the copious amounts of coupling gel from my ultra-sounded foot every night for many moons to come.

The novelty of the boot has seemingly worn off as well, for no more strapping men are holding doors for me or ushering me to safety, no more relinquishing of the subway seats and no more well-wishes are coming my way. Then again, maybe the expanding size of my ass has turned the focus to pity for that region instead.

If all the "fun" is going out of the process, I'd really just like to get this damn thing off and go for a run already.

29 September, 2008

stupett

That's how it comes out sounding when a friend of mine says the word stupid.

Did you know that it costs us $10 BILLION dollars A MONTH for this ridiculous war in Iraq? That's not counting Afghanistan.

Several people have said that we are "winning". Winning what? Who, exactly is winning? The taxpayers of the US? Uh....no.....

O, then the citizens of Iraq must be winning, right? Uh....no again.

It must be then, that the soldiers and the military personnel are going gangbusters with excitement over how they are winning. Hmm....wrong again.

Do you really think, mister and missus politicker, that just because you use the words "win" and "victory", that you will somehow fleece us all again? I mean, there were those who fell for it the first time, the fewer who fell for it in some subsequent times, and the rest of us who saw it all as the bullshit that it was right from the get.

The jig is up. This war and everything that has come with it, is a bunch of bullshit and a quagmire.

The truth? It's all stupid and we all lose. Yay to the Bush's though, those guys know how to spend a dollar.

19 September, 2008

finance





I'm actually really tired, so there's no time for a dissertation. I will just say that this photo is kind of my impression of the finance industry at the moment.

We, in the small collection of people of which I am a part, are doing and will be just fine, but I think that all of them would probably agree, that this is probably the view of many, many folks who get off at or below the Fulton stop.

17 September, 2008

new york i never

I never got to go to Coney Island while Astroland was open. It’s a shithole now, but I still wanted to check it out.

I never ran into any shady types when I lived in Peter Cooper Village.

I got to go to Yankee stadium one time, which I was happy about, because even though I don’t like the Yankees, or baseball for that matter, it is closing to be dismantled and at least I got to see it from the inside instead of just from driving or riding by on the train on my way to somewhere else.

Point is, there is a New York that I never knew and one that I only slightly know now, but both seem to be disappearing. By all accounts, the really old New York was kind of dangerous and sucky anyway and even the locals weren’t too sad to see it go. But there is a thing I detest about these locals and their resistance to anything and everything change oriented. There is something I would like to tell them, and here it is: get over it.

The best thing about New York is that it’s huge. Huge in all aspects. It is like a living, breathing thing that is constantly changing and adapting. Some changes are good, some are sad, some are downright awful. The awful ones, I think, are pretty much the same awful ones that I hate about my home area; the homogenization of everything. No more mom and pops, no more tried and true go-tos and institutions that I once loved and frequented. They have become touristy and annoying. That I’ll give them, these native New Yorkers, because seeing your hometown vanilla out like that is very disconcerting.

But what bothers me is that a contingent of “old New Yorkers” seem to feel as though everyone is an intruder and anyone who was not birthed here, has no right to enjoy the place. I come from an extremely touristy area and I totally get the whole “they-don’t-belong-here” thing. Tourists, I admit, I find very hard to embrace. People who move to live for a job, new opportunity, or a change of pace, I can somewhat accept.

It does drive me nuts when people say they are from California, just because they got a drivers license, which I'm sure is a sentiment echoed by the natives here. But I won’t begrudge anyone the chance to learn the area, bring something new and interesting to it and enjoy themselves. It seems that many New Yorkers are not so gracious. It’s kind of lame, actually.


So as one person who is here now, may be here for a while, and kind of likes this corner of the planet, I say to the natives, deal with me. I am respectful, interested, take pains to learn the history and I’m not going anywhere soon. If you don’t like it, you leave, and take your bullshit with you.

16 September, 2008

sleep well

That is the most laughable phrase anyone can utter to me.

When will I sleep well?


When there is something I can do about any of the things affecting the many people I love who are experiencing difficulties.


When I can take quick steps again.


When someone loves me so much they overflow with it.


When what I have to give can and is received openly.

When there are no barking ottomans and clouds of smoke outside my window.

Seems like it'll be a while.

11 September, 2008

there's remembering....

And then there's sensationalism. This is and was a horrifying, sad and emotional day for New York. Now that I live here, it's a much more palpable experience.

I wasn't here that day and I can only hope with everything in me that I never experience anything even half as traumatic.

Someone told me about a bumper sticker that reads "which way to the 9/11 gift shop?". That got me thinking and then there was a stupid concert out in front of my building today, by some random artist who has nothing to do with anything. There were flags placed around the damaged globe that used to be on the mezzanine between the towers and a crowd of people with cameras snapping away. I watched it all with confusion from the 20th floor window of my office, overlooking it all.

And then I turned on the television and became thoroughly repulsed. Why is it that this has become a sensational for-profit situation? It's like making a fucking mockery and a buck off of what millions of people suffered through and can never erase from their tortured minds. It's disgusting and those who feel it is in any way appropriate to use a desperate goodbye phone call from a person who didn't survive, as a teaser commercial for the big relive-it-all-ten-times-in-an-hour show, should be ashamed and fired. It's not right.

For my part, my heart aches for all those people who will never feel comforted.

05 September, 2008

politico

All right, all right. After enough questions and discussions on the topic came my way, the world apparently is chomping at the bit to see what I think of Sarah Palin. I had no idear that my political opinion was monitored like this, but since inquiring minds want to know, here is my take.

She does not represent me.

I found it an almost laughable move on the part of McCain to bring her on. Not because of her, but because it seemed to be a "hey-we-need-a-woman" desperation move on his part. I used to be a fan of his, but in the last few years, I am much less so. He has shifted himself way too far to the right for my comfort and I no longer feel like the "fighter" I once regarded him as, is the same guy. Now he just seems older, more bitter and he sounds an awful lot like our present commander in chief, whom I couldn't loathe any more.

But onto Palin. First, I must point out that although she hails herself as the savior of Alaska, I really don't know that I would put my weight behind a person governing a state whose entire population is roughly one fourth the population of the county in which I was raised. In the simple scale sense, she is way behind in experience. I don't care if she was PTA president, mayor and governor at the same time, it's a fishbowl she comes from, not even a pond.

That said, I have to give her that I like her scrappiness. She seems like a pretty grounded person and the fact that she was an athlete and continues to maintain an active lifestyle, makes her seem like someone I'd be interested in hanging out with. She also seems to have a pretty good sense of humor, which is something else I appreciate. That's about it though.

Just because she's a woman, does not mean she will automatically represent all women. She is a gun-toting, pro-life, religious conservative. And with pretty much any one of those on its own, she's completely lost me. There were also several things she said in her speech last night to which I took exception. Victory in sight in Iraq, eh? For whom?

I agree with her taking on big oil in her state, and I like her ideas on alternative fuels, for the most part. However, I don't at all agree that drilling for yet more oil - anywhere - is the cure for our energy ills. She blasted Obama for wanting to change our energy production and consumption processes by not wanting to drill, but her posse's proposal keeps us in bed with foreign suppliers and does little to stimulate the development of alternative fuels. She talked out of both sides of her mouth on the subject in the very same speech. How the republican contingent cannot see that the r&d involved with alternative sources of energy - not to mention the production and maintenance - can and will directly stimulate both our economy and environment, is just so beyond my comprehension. And while I think it's wonderful that she eschewed the private jet, I'm still not on board with the gubernatorial F350. All of that noted, energy and the environment are not, to me, political issues, but world issues, so I refuse to acknowledge a left-right scuffle here.

Although I applaud her for mothering what seem to be decent people, with a 4 month old, special needs child, shouldn't she be home caring for him? If you've got kids who can walk and talk on their own, well then go on with yer bad self. But with an infant? It seems a bit irresponsible and arrogant to be attempting her historic feat, cracked ceiling or no. The pregnant daughter I can overlook, simply because this is the world in which we live and I give Palin the benefit of the doubt in having at least attempted to steer her daughter away from that activity at her young age. But ah the lessons we learn when even a super-righty has a kid that gets knocked up. Harder to cast aspersions at Al Gore, Jr. and his pot smoking now, isn't it? At least he drives a Prius. We're all in it together, lady.

Perhaps however, this will be a golden opportunity for the GOP to take a look at the benefits of sex education and teaching something other than abstinence. Clearly, the kids are fornicating anyway - whether or not their parents occupy a public office - so why not let dear Bristol and Levi be the poster children of that reform? They could even hand out condoms with little elephants on them. So cute. Does god shun republicans when they get knocked up or is that kind of disdain reserved for the commie liberal?

It seems that Sarah Palin was quite comfortable in Alaska, to live her life and not worry about the various mishaps that are already beginning to pepper the news and bare the lives of her family. I'm pretty sure when all is said and done, she's gonna wish she had, too.

Long story long, I think she'll go far as the "whippersnapper" to McCain's sour old man gig, but i have to say, the right scooting ever further in that direction not only frightens me, but disappoints me as well. I'll go over the two separate classes I have for conservatives a bit later, but let me just say that those red-staters must be frothing at the mouth at this point, cuz she's hot too, man. Scary stuff.

04 September, 2008

dont you?

Dont you just love a good ending?

I always enjoy it when everyone leaves a tense and potentially troublesome situation feeling good about themselves and things in general.

When after hours of discussion, analysis and what seemed to be resolution, one party shows that no progress was actually made and that where the second party is concerned, no interest is likely to be paid now or in the future if it doesn't directly coincide with the first party's desire of the moment.

Always so nice when a plan comes together.


And although this has nothing to do with the above statements, I have to say for the record that I just absolutely loathe hyper-conservatives. Those people freak me out.

03 September, 2008

nine-oh

My first question has nothing to do with anything, but I'd really like to know....is it possible to hit the refresh button so many times that it breaks or refuses to cooperate? I'm putting a severe strain on mine and I'm afraid it's going to just quit in protest.


So anyway.....in an effort to stay busy and keep my mind off of things, I went over to a friend's house tonight to watch the premier episode of 90210. See, back when I was in high school, that show was quite popular and into my early college years, I watched it and made fun of it, every Wednesday with about 20 of my teammates. We had the serious room and the normal room and those of us in the normal room had a pizza making competition and then rolled our eyes and laughed at the absurdity of the lives portrayed on the show.

Theoretically, that was supposed to be happening tonight. What happened, however, is that I will never get those two hours back. I feel somewhat violated by the awfulness of the writing, acting and programming. Serves me right. So those two hours, while enjoyable with friends, were two hours where I was really tired and probably could have peacefully passed out....but no. I squandered them and now here I lie, once again, awake; only this time I've visions of Brenda and Kelly and that guy that Kelly was dating at the end of the first run, who is now somehow the principal of the school, even though he showed up a week late because he had to drive from Kansas, with his two kids who not only go to the school, but have adjoining bedrooms, just like the first series. Oi.

I just threw up a little in my mouth again.

02 September, 2008

are you ready for some...

FOOTBAAAAALLLLLL

Good times approach, friends. The football season is finally here and I can stop hearing about baseball for a while and have a guaranteed activity for Sundays again. So excited am I.

Add to that, the 9ers just got a new QB, who will surely help them on their ascent back to the echelon of football powerhouses and dynasties. My 9ers are on the way upski - or at least they'd better be. Because we all know that only good things can come of that.

If the 9ers are doing well, then we will see more of Steve Young and Jerry Rice, commenting and pontificating and reliving the glory days and I can totally stand to watch a lot of that, especially having met them both.

So party on, football lovers, our season has arrived. Hoooo-frickin-ray.

01 September, 2008

wow

You know your night has been strange when your cab driver is more concerned about you than your company.
Then again, I guess it's better to know those sorts of things in order to select less damaging company in the future.
But hey, at least - after a long night of failed attempts and misadventures - I'm in my own bed and can sleep all day tomorrow and ice my foot in peace.
Such is life. I guess I'm okay with being my version of fucked up. It happens.