PIZZA PIZZA

Last night Mary Anne & I went out in the pouring rain to get pizza at Sizzle Pie in Kingston. As usual, the directions my father gave us were entirely too confusing & we went unnecessarily out of our way. We didn't know that North Street changes into Pierce Street. To go with everything else, I was low on gas so we stopped at the Turkey Hill next door. The pump didn't work so we went to the next one. The visibility stinks on nights like that. She, Steve & Bridget left at around 10:45 today. It was a hectic time but I really enjoyed most of it. This evening, I have to lector at 5:00 Mass. The weather's extremely nice today. It's been warm enough lately that all the snow's been melting. Yesterday, at various times, Uncle Frankie & Aunt Lauren showed up. Doug & Benjamin came over for a while too. The kinfolk all had a nice long talk about Doug's work as a policeman & all his controversial cases. I'd go stark raging nuts with a job like that. I read some of "War & Peace" yesterday & ate some gorgonzola cheese. That stuff takes some major getting used to.

TOUGH TRIP

Yesterday, I went to the Wyoming Valley Mall to get something with the gift card Michael got me for FYE. I ended up getting the latest Paul McCartney CD/DVD & the James Bond movie, "Goldfinger". Pop culturally, I've always been a bit more than a slight throwback. I even ended up making sure I got an application for a job at the book store. That would be for sure right up my alley, now wouldn't it? Coming home was an absolute nightmare though. I must have spent at least an entire fifteen minutes just waiting & traveled an entire grand total of five feet through it all. The flow of traffic wouldn't let me onto the northbound land of 309 so I was forced to take 315 to the Oblates' Seminary. The claustrophobia of it all is a major bummer about the Christmas season for me. All worked out well eventually though. Mary Anne & Bridget, when last I saw them this morning, were building a gingerbread house & making apple sauce. Bridget wants very much to call Michelle soon. Maybe she'll even be able to have a chance to see Benjamin.

LOUSY DAY WEATHER.WISE

Bridget's feeling quite well so far. All worked out pretty well for her. She was so tired yesterday after all she was forced to go through. Mary Anne promised to take her shopping today. The weather is icy cold & drizzling though. The sky is one gigantic grey cloud. Winters are awfully dreary around here. Yesterday I read a few dozen more pages of that Chaucer biography. It turns out that he wrote the "Troilus & Cressida" that, I should assume, was the source of Shakespeare's famous play. His inspiration was a work by Boccaccio. My head's always been full of these kinds of artsy fartsy facts & figures. I spend lots of time on the internet these days, like lots of other people. There are all sorts of altercations between extreme right(including me for sure) & left(eeew!) wingers. So far, though, I seem to have avoided making any unnecessary enemies. It's just a question of behaving at least reasonably well & not stooping to personal attacks. We have less than a year to got yet before the big election so those kinds of differences are inevitably going to get quite seriously heated up. One of these days I shall have to call Mary Ellen for Christmas. I promised Vinnie I'd try to get around to it. She likes to talk on the phone an awfully long time though. The phone's always been yet another of my major pet peeves. Even the very sight, sound etc. of it has always gotten me stark raging nutso. The new year approaches. Let's hope it's a good one without any fear. At various times over the course of the day, Aunt Lauren, Uncle Frankie, Fran & Lisa came over yesterday.

FRUSTRATING CHRISTMAS

Bridget got extremely sick early yesterday morning. She seems to be doing quite well now though but it was very scary for quite a while. Fran will be taking her & Mary Anne home from the hospital today. Steve, Michael & Sam went home at about 9:00 this morning. Michael has to go to work at one o'clock. Everybody had a good time. There were lasagne, ham, lamb & all sorts of other extremely seriously fattening foods. Sam is extremely heavily into soccer & the drums. He can ramble on about them absolutely constantly. We played Monopoly for a while on Christmas Eve & Christmas. We all got bored & frustrated after a while because that game really tends to linger until it gets boring & frustrating. They got the "Pirates of the Caribbean" version. Rocco & I were lectors at 10:00 a.m. Mass yesterday. The church was packed. Michael was supposed to go with me but things got entirely out of hand. Fran & Uncle Frankie got all the available kin to their house yesterday. For a while, one night, I hung around for well over an entire hour & listened to some solo Beatle CD's, everybody except John Lennon. Surprisingly, I still haven't gotten any headaches lately. It's officially been winter for the past few days. One advantage of this time of the year is that from now on, the sun will go down about a minute later each night from now on.

ONLY THREE DAYS TO GO

The very last days of Advent are finally & at last upon us. In Lindenhurst, I was always very busy around this time of year. Here it's a smidge easier on me though. I wonder what all those people over there are doing without me. When the cousins & I used to bowl together, we always used to have a really nice time for Christmas. I really should make it a New Year's resolution to start getting active in the KofC council. Unfortunately, I never got around to sending Cathleen her Christmas card until this morning. That makes a whopping grand total of three I sent out by way of snail mail this year. Of course, as everyone must most certainly know quite well by now, I've always enforced an extremely strict taboo on those "Season's Greetings/Happy Holidays" cards. Mine always say, quite specifically: "Merry Christmas". It absolutely never ceases to boggle my mind when I get a reminder of how bitterly resentful people are over any sort of an expression of Christian belief whatsoever. It really disgusts me when they try to maintain an atmosphere of what is supposed respect for the beliefs of others but is really an attack on Christianity & a defiant promotion of mandatory secularism. The big question on Yahoo's homepage today is, appropriately enough, about exactly where the tradition of Christmas elves comes from. That always makes for intelligent, witty banter among eggheads.

THE BIG DAY BECKONS

Christmas is but four days away. All has been going fairly well so far. Pretty soon, we shall all be swamped with company & food. This morning has been nice & quiet so far. Yesterday I ate chicken cutlets & French fries. They've always been very favorites of mine. I know they're fattening & not exactly on the list of things that are all that good for a guy's health. Coffee by the gallons doesn't exactly do me any favors either. I watched the old TV shows again, ever bemoaning the total lack of any good new stuff. Sometimes, though, while watching the ones about those controversial crimes, I get a little curious about what "Crossing Jordan" may be like. Occasionally I cheat & sit through about a minute or two of it at a time. The guy from "Sliders" is on it.

VERY SHORT SNOWSTORM YESTERDAY

It didn't amount to much of anything but trouble but there was a seriously annoying snowstorm yesterday. Last night Aunt Lauren came over, on her way home from work, for a while to get a head start on giving out presents. She, for whatever reason, isn't in the habit of showing up all that often, just every once in a while on her way home from work. I suppose Uncle Frankie must have shown up somewhere over the course of the day too. When I got home, there was candy on the table. I read quite a lot more of that Chaucer biography. I watched one of those cold case shows & a couple of old sitcoms. In other words it was a typical day. The librarian wont be back for a few days. He's in Chicago until the day after Christmas. The lady who covers for him during the week isn't as knowledgeable about things as he, so it should be very interesting to see how things work out around here for a while without him.

COUNTDOWN TO ZERO HOUR

It hasn't rained or snowed in a while but the snow & ice are all over. Uncle Frankie complained yesterday that he was inevitably going to trip on it sooner or later. Another pet peeve of mine is the incessant "Happy holidays" instead of the only one that's really appropriate: "Merry Christmas". It's splattered all over the media, in public places, & among friends & relatives. Of course, I should be used, by now, to the notion that that's to be fully expected in a world where all sorts of things have gone insanely wrong. A few times, lately, I've been in touch with my cousin Vinnie. It's cool, since we've always lived so far apart, that we can keep in touch by way of the internet. We've exchanged phone numbers too. Hey I've been noticing that I haven't gotten any headaches lately. That's a bit of a really nice kind of surprise for me since they always most certainly seem to sneak up on me sooner or later. Unfortunately next month I shall have to get my car inspected. That ought to be a regular hoot. I suppose I shall have to go to the Jack Williams right next to Jiffy Lube on Wyoming Ave. I finally got a few more hits from wheresgeorge. Thank you to Nirvana from the Wyoming Avenue Unimart. I don't quite understand how it could even be possible that I don't have a hell of a lot more hits considering how many bills I've most certainly put into circulation by now.

CHRISTMAS WITHIN A WEEK

Well, folks, the big day is getting oh so very much closer by now. It's one of those days each year that the ACLU, & other liberal special interest groups are always trying to ban from polite society. Things like that always clutter our e mail, snail mail, etc. Yesterday Michael & Terri's Christmas card came. They sent a really nice picture of their very first grandson. I think his name is Tyler Matthew. Grace, Daren's mother, also sent me a card. There's lots of tension around Christmas time. People send all sorts of e mails, legitimate, corny, activist, etc. Salesmen galore keep trying to capitalize on the whole thing. I still haven't gotten entirely used to Christmas around here. I keep in touch with the New Yorkers so I can easily find out what's going on over there. My cousin Vinnie, who now lives in N.Carolina, just sent me an e mail rambling on about days of yore. Change happens. Last night, I watched "I Love Lucy" again. That show was on back in the good old days when at least very many show business people knew better than to try to make controversial shows that forcibly crammed unacceptable agendas down people's throats.

BLIZZARDS

These days the snow & ice just keep right on constantly hounding us. I went to Saturday Mass & lectored there even though I was on the schedule for 10:00 a.m. yesterday. I knew I wouldn't be able to make it. Laura called on the phone yesterday & said she couldn't show up either. There were power failures. Three TV channels didn't come in. Cables were knocked down in the streets. I spent a large part of the day reading "War & Peace". This morning, it took quite a while to get the ice off my car. My driver's side door wouldn't open for a while & I ended up having to climb through the passenger side. On top of that, I couldn't help noticing that some complete lunatic of a guy, a pedestrian, tried walking down the street. He slipped every couple of inches & consistently punctuated each of his falls with an expletive. Last night, I watched "An American in Paris" with Leslie Caron, Gene Kelly & lots of other big names of that era. It's full of Gershwin music. I see Dan Fogelberg, the guy who sang that mammoth classic, "Longer" in 1981, has died. Yesterday I also watched Raymond Arroyo's interview with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who has just published his autobiography.

CARMELITE MEETING

This morning I went back to Wilkes_Barre for our monthly Carmelite meeting. Sister Catherine gave each of us a Christmas present. Unfortunately we no longer have enough active members. Anne told us that Pope Benedict XVI is supposed to go to Yankee Stadium in April. I saw Pope John Paul II at Aqueduct Racetrack in the 1990's. All_I should say, technically, both_my Christmas cards have been sent out. My exhaustingly long list of snail mail connections took all of most probably five entire minutes to finish. E mail(internet in general, I should say) reigns supreme as my preferred means of communication. Don't even THINK of getting me started on my opinion of the phone. Today on my way home, some stark raging idiot ran a light on a turn when I (who had the right of way)was going straight on South Street. A for really & for truly moron was he. There's supposed to be a major blizzard starting tonight at around 8:00 p.m. The priest at Mass today said nobody knows exactly how it's going to turn out though. I have to lector at 10:00 a.m. Mass tomorrow but who knows if I'll even be able to make it. Uncle Frankie's been back up & around again lately. Usually he comes over for at least a little while most days. Last night I went to a Divine Mercy cenacle at St. Joseph's Church in Port Griffith.

VERY SNOWY DAY YESTERDAY

I couldn't get out through the blizzard much of yesterday. My father, Uncle Frankie, Big Gino & I all went to work plowing the snow. It was quite an annoying time but it all worked out. Last winter's weather stunk & I'm most certainly not looking forward to yet another trouncing. When I went to the post office to mail one of my Christmas cards, there was a bit of a line. The pregnant woman right behind me reminded us of the big Valentine's Day blizzard from last winter. Reruns of "The Twilight Zone" were on for a few hours yesterday. I couldn't help noticing that a lot of the faces are very familiar from those days, but I hardly recognize any of the names. Ann Jillian(from "It's A Living", James Best(from "The Dukes of Hazzard" & Sandy Kenyon are fairly well known names though. "I Love Lucy" was another show I watched last night. I've just read Charles Krauthammer's column, in the Washington Post, about how Romney, Obama, & Huckabee have made what he purports are entirely unacceptable references to religion in the public square. He's right about there always having been an awfully lot of confusion among people, throughout this country's history, about establishment & free exercise. He cited a quote from each of them. Each of the lines he noted, though, struck me as quite commendable. The only problem is that we're dealing with a country where all sorts of people have all sorts of points of view.

NEVER ENDING WEATHER TROUBLES

It's miserable outside all day, every day. Carole, my old supervisor, & her husband Bob, sent me my very first Christmas card of 2007. I got it yesterday. Grace, Daren's mother, inevitably sends one too. I'll most probably get hers soon. Those are the only cards I get from snail mail connections each year. Everybody else's comes by way of cybermail. The Beatles' old hairdresser, Betty Glasow, sold a lock of John Lennon's hair for $48,000. Merriam_Webster has picked the word "W00t", which was used in the Julia Roberts movie, "Pretty Woman", as its official Word of the Year. It's a combination of both letters & numbers. It appears that Gael, one of my California connections, is turning out to be quite the popular poet. I've let my sidekicks on Myspace & Newblog check out a few of her poems & they're all quite favorably impressed by The Bard of the Pacific. Hey, a guy never knows what an old long_ago friend will be up to. Lately, I've been watching "I Love Lucy" quite consistently at least twice a day. Current TV shows just don't have what it takes. With the old stuff, reruns or no reruns, it's always really interesting. Even the first time around though, most shows just don't impress me.

NICER TODAY THAN YESTERDAY

Today's still cold but much nicer than yesterday. Rocco told me this morning that he's only available on Tuesdays & Wednesdays so he wants me to lector on the other days. I'm quite happy with that. Because it was a reasonably nice morning, the newspaper machine was working. Last night I ate a couple of hamburgers from Burger King. As much as I enjoy occasionally getting stuff from places like that, it's very bad for the health. Another problem with it is that I have a tendency to wolf down, compulsively, whenever they happen to be around, things I wouldn't even so much as think of going out of my way to get. One good thing I've been noticing lately is that the price of gas has been dropping quite a bit. At most stations around here these days, it's dropped by at least a dime a gallon. Lately I've been listening to a CD I have of the seventies soft rock band Poco. Of all the very many songs on it, the only ones I remember are "In the Heart of the Night", "Crazy Love" & "Call It Love". They originally wanted to be named Pogo but Walt Kelly, who drew the Pogo cartoon, put the knish on that. By rambling on about these things constantly, do I ever show my age or what? >

1968

Last night I watched, on the History Channel, a really interesting special about 1968 with Tom Brokaw. Unfortunately, since it started at 9:00 I only ended up seeing the first hour of it up until the Martin Luther King assassination in April. I most certainly have all the rest of the year quite well memorized by now though. It started out with the Viet Nam War, specifically the Tet Offensive on January 30 & 31. There were all sorts of things on the show that appealed to my long_standing sixties obsession. I've always been especially fond of the music from that era. Because of that, I've become, over the course of my lifetime, quite interested in the entire era in general. Quite a lot of the trouble we're in these days comes very largely from that era. Liberalism, excessive obsession with youth, & a general degradation of our entire culture & way of life came out of that era. At 7:30 I went to the Holy Name Society's monthly meeting. Unfortunately, Fr. Walsh couldn't make it but most of the regulars showed up. At the end, we ate ziti,(thank you, Jerry) & drank port wine & beer. I told everybody about my N.Y. cousin whose wife's family makes really good Italian wine. The weather's been an absolute nightmare lately with bitter icy cold, fog & rain. My Blog friend, Cindi, is having a nice time with 71 degree weather over in Va. Because of icy road conditions south of Rte 80 yesterday, in an area that included Jim Thorpe, the Latin Mass was cancelled. They couldn't tell us, though, because nobody had a list of names & phone numbers. Today I ended up having to get a new tire & headlight. My mother & Aunt Lauren went shopping for a while on Saturday afternoon. Uncle Frankie & Fran came over for quite a while on Saturday night. >

NICE DAY SO FAR

Lately things have been going fairly well for me so far. The weather isn't all that horrible. Christmas is coming very soon. I only have to send out two cards by mail because all the rest go out on the internet. Today I lectored for Fr. Walsh at 11:00a.m. Mass at O.L.Sorrows. Surprisingly everybody sat in the pews. Nobody went for the folding chairs in the other section of church. Somehow, on the lectors' schedule, it said I was suppose to show up at 10:00 a.m. but Howard set me straight. I've always been in the habit of showing up insanely annoyingly early for things anyway. Another entirely inexplicable thing was that when I went to the Unimart on Wyoming Avenue to get a paper I asked the guy behind the counter why there was no Dispatch & he ended up having to remind me that it's only Saturday. I plum forgot, for just a moment, what day it was. I traded in my Times Leader for a Citizens' Voice & left. Happy birthday, Tina. Maria called my mother last night. All has been going quite well with them these days. >

DON'T TREAD ON ME

I got tire troubles. This morning I went to a tire place on Wyoming Ave. slightly south of Sabatini's. They kept me stranded over there for over two hours only to tell me that nothing could be done except to get a new tire. Hey, at least they didn't charge me. A few guys were there who were into hunting. One guy says his dog is afraid of the sound of gunshots & he has to give it sedatives every year for the Fourth of July. The other guy commented about how weird it is that dog drugs are about the same as people drugs but for dogs they cost a hell of a whole lot less.
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CLICK HERE! It's Friday so we have to do the Friday dance. Yesterday I read a lot more of "War & Peace" & some more of the Chaucer biography. It pays to keep the mind busy. It's Pearl Harbor Day. All the World War II veterans will be remembering this one. Lately I've been drinking coffee_one of my very biggest addictions_late in the day. I never sleep at night anyway, unfortunately, so it's not all that big of a deal. >

SNOW NEVER ENDS

This morning was especially messy with snow & ice. Yesterday it snowed quite a whole lot. I ended up having to spend a while chipping ice away from my car & getting the tire filled up because it ran plum out of air again. Fr. Walsh made me lector again, this time at St. Joseph's. Yesterday my father finally found a seriously tiny little screwdriver to get my frame tightened around the left lens in my glasses again. The same stupid things keep happening to me. This morning when I tried to get the paper from the machine on Sixth Street, by St. Joseph's, it was so cold the machine wouldn't even work. Tomorrow's Pearl Harbor Day. Saturday's the anniversary of Beatle John's murder in 1980 & November 29 was the sixth anniversary of Beatle George's death in 2001. Saturday's also Tina's birthday. She's cousin Gary's daughter. We still haven't seen hide nor hair of Uncle Frankie because of the weather. The weather's too bad for him to take any chances.

CHRISTMAS FAST APPROACHES

This morning, at 9:00 a.m. Mass at O.L. Sorrows, Fr. Walsh decided he wanted me to be the lector. It started out yesterday at St. Joseph's when he asked Rocco to do the lectoring. For the first time in over a year, since he first showed up, he wants to get us started at lectoring at weekday morning Masses. The weather is just as cold as ever this morning but the snow flurries are very slight. For that I am most certainly deliriously happy. Yesterday I read more "War & Peace". At this rate I should be finished fairly soon. Mary Anne sent an e mail asking if I liked "The Professor & The Madman". It was very interesting. It might be just a practical joke by a fan of hers but somebody claiming to be the famous Alicia Keys has just joined Newblog. I've never been a fan of hers, but I know she's really famous. She wanted to know if any of the members live in New York. She's a little late for that one in my case. According to one of my favorite news blogs, either Mike Huckabee or Ron Paul would be a good president,abortion_wise. I've been trying to keep up with these kinds of things lately.

YET EVEN MORE SNOW

This morning it started snowing again. At first, I was a little afraid it would turn out worse than it's been so far. A guy(from the Holy Name Society) I ran into outside St. Joseph's right after Mass said the wind was up to 40 m.p.h. He also said other towns in our area haven't been getting as much. When I opened the door a while before Mass_technically, it flew open because of the wind_there was snow flying all over the place. I read a lot more of "War & Peace" yesterday & some of that Chaucer biography, which seems to have been written, unfortunately, from a very ardently left_wing point of view. The author parroted all the trendy liberal cliches about Western Culture, Christianity, etc. I got a few reactions to my question about our latest reunion. As it turns out, I'm not the only one who didn't get to make it. John, who was there, said it went really well. I'm happy to see it was an enjoyable time but I agree with Mark. It was a weird idea to have a reunion in December. I suppose school must have been closed today because kids are in the library. Whenever they have a day free they come over here. >

COLD, SNOWY WEEKEND

Saturday night, I was a lector at 5:00 p.m. Mass. I hope all my high school friends had a great time at the big reunion. I usually manage to make it to all those things but this time there were circumstances beyond my control. Saturday night there was a big storm so I ended up having to spend around fifteen minutes on Sunday morning with the snow blower. Last night there was an ice storm but this morning wasn't so bad. Nothing seemed to have stuck. I finished "The Professor & The Madman" & am still plowing my way through "War & Peace". Of course, in keeping with my two_at_a_time rule, I've started a biography of Geoffrey Chaucer. I seem to be reading about a lot of famous authors lately. We are now in cold/flu season & I don't happen to have one. Usually I manage to get at least something but this time I'm one of the few who've managed to beat it. Christmas cards, slowly but surely, are starting to trickle in a few at a time. It's very good to see that Uncle Frankie's been back on his feet again. Over the weekend Fran made sure she showed up with doughnuts. On top of that my father even made a cake. It's starting out to be the usual typically fat December. I can't handle all the junk food but the closer Christmas gets, the more fattening everything inevitably gets. The librarian is rambling on with one of the patrons about current events. Of course, nobody(ahem, except for a certain cousin of mine) likes W. but that leaves us stuck with the Democrats.

NEW MONTH

Hello & welcome to December. Advent starts tomorrow & there are only twenty four days left until Christmas. I still miss Christmas in N.Y. but O_bla_di O_bla_da life goes on bra/la la how the life goes on. The weather, so far this morning, has been bitter cold but at least there's no ice or fog. Tonight's the night of my high school class's thirtieth reunion. I can't go because of confusion about my jury duty. I should most certainly hope all my old buds have quite a jolly good time. I always managed to make it to all the other ones but this one got a little out of hand because of that one technical detail. I was always such an interesting teen ager. Of all the people in my class the ones I got to know have always claimed I was always entirely too much of a cut_up & the ones I didn't know have always claimed I was pathologically quiet, shy & intorverted. I'm still hoping that means I'm somewhere in the middle. Yesterday, I finished "The Professor & the Madman". I'm still reading "War & Peace" though. I suppose I shall continue my usual practice of starting another one right away. Tonight I shall be at O.L. Sorrows to lector at 5:00 p.m. Mass. Next week I have to lector again. Uncle Frankie's back up on his feet but he's very much slowed down lately & hasn't been coming over or calling anywhere near as much as he usually does.

JURY DUTY AWAITS

Tomorrow I have to be ready for jury duty on an entirely just_in_case basis. That means I can't possibly go to my high school reunion. My father went to the V.A. hospital this morning to find out why he's having such a problem with congestion. His appointment only lasted a fairly short time. I'm supposed to lector at 5:00 p.m. Mass tomorrow with Linnae. I suppose if I have to be available for jury duty, I shall have to ask Rocco to cover for me. I've never really gotten jury duty, & I'm most certainly not looking forward to it. This morning was unusually cold at about 28 degrees. There was only a little bit of ice on my windows & it wasn't foggy. It gets me crazy when there's too much fog & ice. I made sure I spent part of yesterday reading those books. "War & Peace", especially, can get me crazy. The other one's nowhere near as nerve-wracking, though it gets pretty weird in certain spots. From now on, I'll be doing quite a whole lot of grumbling about people who insist on saying "happy holidays" instead of "merry Christmas". When I say insist, I mean exactly that. They presume to take it for granted that they have the right to make it unavoidably mandatory for all of us to stoop to the likes of this. It's on all the commercials these days & happens constantly with people in general. I can't stand the constant Christmas carols that started at the beginning of this month either, trivializing the whole thing. The Gap(including Old Navy & Banana Republic)have jumped back onto the anti_Christian bandwagon this year. They take every possible advantage of Christmas as a money_making gimmick, but never dare to pronounce the word. Advent starts this Sunday, December 2. >

SNOWED

As my parents spend another morning furiously plowing their way through Christmas decorations, they make a mess of everything. All the accumulated wreaths, ornaments etc. of five decades worth of Christmases past gets them quite confused and annoyed. There are trains, boxes, wrapping paper and lots of other things strewn around. Meanwhile the weather gets progressively colder & colder. Today's a relatively nice day so far but it most certainly didn't start out that way. This morning it even snowed a little. It was nothing much, though, just enough to be aggravating. Uncle Frankie's still very sick. He always seems to come down with something these days. Each time he recuperates from something, he immediately gets something else to replace it with. Last night, at around 8:00 I went to bed with an extremely annoying headache which I couldn't get rid of until around 12:30 a.m. Lately, I've been experimenting with all sorts of things on the internet to make my blogs as interesting as possible. If I don't get the hang of all this sooner or later, it most certainly won't be my fault. I read a couple of dozen more pages more of "War & Peace" yesterday. It continues to be quite an ominous, formidable task for me. A couple of times, lately, the left lens of my glasses has fallen out of its frame. That really grates on my nerves. I know there's no risk of its breaking but it's still quite annoying because it adds to the already never_ending list of things that conspire to drive me nuts.

PERT NEAR DECEMBER

December is getting dangerously close. The year will very soon be over. The weather's been very nice for the past couple of days but I just know that sooner or later it will once again flip out on us. It's hard to believe that, by now, I've been living in Pa. for so long. I now know that cousin Java, & maybe his wife Nunziata read this blog. He complained about a comment I didn't make anyplace else. I'm still reading Simon Winchester's "The Professor & the Madman". Besides that, I'm also still reading "War & Peace", which is substantially more intense. They're both based on true stories & filled with real historical figures. My parents are taking down Thanksgiving decorations & putting up Christmas decorations. I heard my mother & Fran make plans on the phone for the cookies they intend to bake over the weekend. Yesterday, because Uncle Frankie has to stay in the hospital for a while, they ended up having to go crazy all day with Fran's dog. It's only a little thing but it can still be quite obnoxious & annoying. It's not loud or smelly, just hyperactive. I've never liked animals so I can never get enthused about things like this. I've been trying, for the past few days, to get my playlists organized as well as possible. I decided it might not be such a particularly bright idea to put something by the Sex Pistols too close to Peer Gynt Suite No. 1.

GROOVY MUSIC

A_HUNTING THEY WILL GO

All went well on the trip. I went to 7:00 p.m. Mass at St. Anthony's in Exeter on Sunday evening & since then things have been back to the usual grind around here. I got kicked out of the library early yesterday, & didn't get a chance to put anything onto my blog, because it was the first day of hunting season & a state holiday in Pa. The place was crowded. When I used to go to Buffalo, Uncle Vince & Java, Sr. always celebrated my arrival with a hunting trip as soon as I first showed up before Thanksgiving. I guess N.Y.'s hunting season must start early. Yesterday was bitter icy cold & pouring but today the weather's much nicer. My father & Uncle Frankie went to the V.A hospital this morning because both have been sick lately & they wanted to get things straightened out. I got a book from Mary Anne & I'm almost finished with it. It's about the evolution of the Oxford English Dictionary, which was begun on Guy Fawkes Day of 1857 & took seventy one years to complete. It's the definitive dictionary of the English language. There are all sorts of odd details in the book. I'm also continuing to read "War & Peace". Even at the rate of forty pages a day, it will still take well over a month to finish. My musical additions to my blogs have been going quite well so far. My tastes, in spite of my long_standing image, have always been quite genre_defyingly eclectic. I've been finding out the hard way, from the site I use, that there all sorts of music out there. People have extremely seriously weird surprising combinations of tastes.

THEY'RE BACK

Mary Anne & Steve are home. My father & Michael went to JFK to pick them up & bring them home. Our trip home is tomorrow morning at around 10:00 a.m. All seems to have gone well. I got into a bit of trouble with cousin Larry because of a misunderstanding but I just gave in & got it over with. I was playing around with one of Steve's acoustic guitars a few hours ago & tried to remember how to play one of my very favorite Beatle songs, "Do You Want to Know A Secret". I remembered that it's a bunch of minor chords & a B7 but I couldn't quite figure out the right progressions unfortunately. For the past couple of days, I spent a while putting Playlists on a couple of my websites. Each one is entirely free, unlike most radio stations for the past few decades, of anything whatsoever that I don't like. The kids seemed to have been having a really good time over the course of the past week, but Bridget & Sam were fooling around a little bit too much today & she spilled a can of celery soda on the carpet in the basement. Bridget seems to be turning out to be quite the couch potato these days. If it were up to her, she'd be quite happy to stay up throughout the middle of the night watching TV incessantly.

HAPPY BLACK FRIDAY

It's the single busiest shopping day of the entire year, an absolute nightmare of traffic. I haven't spent a significant length of time outside but I went out for a few minutes to help Michael take his new amplifier out of his car. It was very hard to get it out because it was entirely too tightly squeezed into the back seat. He pushed it into the house on top of his skateboard. He wanted me to go to the store with him to get it but I wasn't dressed in time. I'm still reading that Virginia Woolf book. Besides that the only thing I've ever read by her is the long essay, "A Room of One's Own". Mary Anne & Steve are still having a nice time over in Italy. The last time I got an e mail from them, they had yet to meet Francesco. Today is a very big day for leftovers. People have been frequently telling me for quite a while that I'm very thin but today should just about end my skinny track record. Bridget watched "Ugly Betty" last night. That's yet another of the very many shows I've never bothered to pay any attention to. I've only seen a couple of minutes of it every once in a while. Lately I've been doing a lot of looking around through Youtube. I found out that Paul Mccartney recorded both "Please Please Me" & "I'll get you, two of my very favorite early Beatle songs, in concert a few years ago. I also noticed that in 1977, during their days with Keith Moon, the Who recorded "I Saw Her Standing There".

WEBFOOTED

PAUL MCCARTNEY: PLEASE PLEASE ME

BEATLES: PLEASE PLEASE ME

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

My father & Bridget are watching the big traditional Macy's Parade. Meredith (one of my very favorite game show hosts) Vieira is one of the hosts. I went to a few of them when I was a kid. I should most certainly hope, for everybody's sake, that the cousins in North Tonawanda (& Vinnie, who is now in N.Carolina), are enjoying their big day despite my much_regretted (ahem) absence. Unfortunately, we all stayed up quite nightmarishly late last night waiting for Sam to come home. Michael, on top of that, even kept me up until past midnight watching Jay Leno, & David Letterman's interview with Bill Clinton. I suppose the Clintons are most certainly a more than likable enough sort of a couple of characters. I just can't stand it that they're so far to the left culturally. Mankind simply can't afford to have the agenda of the Culture of Death crammed down our throats any longer. The catch is that W. & his Republican cronies are destroying us with war, corruption & the economy from hell. I woke up with a mild headache this morning. Once again, though, one headache pill did quite a good job of getting rid of it for me. I've gotten Thanksgiving greetings from Miz Kitti, Jo Anne & Eddie so far.

BLOGCAVE

TOMORROW'S THE BIG DAY

Thanksgiving is upon us. My parents, the three kids & I had a nice fattening day today. Besides yesterday's lasagna, there were chili & roast beef. The kids even ate artichokes too. I, of course, drank the celery soda. Michael & I each drank a cup of tea. The weather absolutely stunk all day yesterday, with ice cold rain throughout the day. Sam went back to school today. Besides that, he's been spending quite a lot of time watching soccer & "Scrubs". I've never liked sports. I've never seen an entire episode of "Scrubs" either. I've only seen a few minutes of each of the episodes he's watched lately. I walked Bridget to her bus stop. Michael had an 11:30 dentist appointment. He went out with his friend Jeff last night. He mentioned something today about wanting to go ice skating. Unfortunately, I've never been able to skate. I've been reading that Virginia Woolf book, a little at a time. It's fairly short so I don't have to bother with going crazy. Not having ever been a fan of driving in heavy traffic, I'm quite happy I won't be doing any significant driving this week since the traffic during the week of Thanksgiving is about as unbearably annoying as anybody can even begin to imagine.

THE SIMPSONS ON ABBEY ROAD

TROUBLE WITH THE COUSINS

Recently my cousins & I got the supremely bright (not!) idea to get into a protracted debate about the nature of reality. With our inevitable verve & panache, we spent a few days rambling on about the relative merits of the deontological & utilitarian approaches to morality. Of course, leave it to me (duh!) to give them all my decidedly unpopular views on this kind of thing. Upon my having touched upon an extremely seriously sore spot within our mixed bag of nuts, they proceeded to pounce upon me. I was merely trying to tell the truth as well I understand it. They, of course, entirely mistakenly thought I was being mean & insensitive. Once again, many thanks to my old pal Jo Anne from the old neighborhood. Mary Anne & Steve, in Italy, got an e mail from a guy named Francesco who claims he's a relative of ours. That's just what we need is another cousin. Bridget went to school this morning but Sam stayed home with a cold. He was watching TV for a while, most recently VH1.

NICE QUIET DAY SO FAR

Today's been a really quiet enjoyable day so far. We ate sandwiches(cold cuts) & drank celery soda. The kids are now at school. Cathleen asked for my address so she can send me a souvenir of California. It's been a cold but clear day. I'm very happy to see the rain from last night & early this morning ended. The kids' trip to school didn't have to subject them to all that aggravation. After school, Bridget has to go to a CCD class. I suppose I shall read some more of that Virginia Woolf book. Mary Anne & Steve promised to send me an e mail but so far I haven't gotten it yet. My cousins' current debate has really gotten my brain cells into a state of total hyperactivity. Having taken a grand total of a whopping thirteen credits worth of philosophy courses over the course of my educational lifetime, I thoroughly enjoy a good debate, especially of the kind that allows me to take advantage of those classes. I just got an e mail from Mary Anne. She & Steve are in Rome having a good time. They have to pay for internet access though so we can't expect to keep in touch very much.

http://mylot.com/redhotrabbit myLot User Profile

VISITED AUNT NORMA

Today we spent a few hours with Aunt Norma & her family. There was lots of nice junk food there, as well as espresso & anisette. Uncle Larry, Larry, Rose, Eddie & Jennifer were there. So were Gary, Maria, Joey & Tina. Tina goes to S.U.N.Y. Farmingdale, but hasn't gotten any of my old teachers. Tomorrow is Jennifer's husband Joe's birthday, & Lotus' too. Larry is trying to finalize plans for a softball team for the fourth of July. KrissyKrissyKrissy got a snowstorm. Frank, from my Lindenhurst KofC council was at the home. Michael came home for a few hours. He spent a while doing his homework on the computer. Bridget did hers too. Michael's was a comparison & contrast of Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" & Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll House". Over the course of the day, I read part of Ibsen's "Peer Gynt" & part of Virginia Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway". When I went to 12:00 noon Mass at St. Mary's of the Isle Church, I took Sam's cell phone with me. All worked out well. Mary Anne & Steve are now on their way to Italy. They left from JFK.

BACK IN THE NEW YORK GROOVE

We're back in Long Beach now. The foliage in New Jersey & New York is doing quite an especially nice job of turning colors for autumn. The trip only took around three hours with virtually no traffic worth mentioning. It's a cold day but I felt very warm in the car. It's always struck me as so awfully odd coming to New York as an outsider. Tomorrow, at about two o'clock, we shall be visiting Aunt Norma & the Massapequa kinfolk. I called them up & when Eddie answered the phone, he recognized my voice right away without any help. Michael's at Hofstra now. Bridget & Sam are here at the house. Today we've been eating cold cuts, pizza & junk food. Bridget has lots of Halloween candy left over. I even drank Dr. Brown's celery soda, an all_time favorite of mine. According to Mary Anne & Steve, it's very popular among the Jews. They're both going to Italy tomorrow night. Maybe, while we're here, I shall even get a chance to go on over to Lindenhurst & surprise all my old homeys. The Ronald & Mark are still rambling on about that e mail that Jo Ann got them started on. My cousins & friends have all sorts of conflicting controversial ideas. My jury duty has been deferred until December. All it took was one letter & one phone call. I shall still have to show up sooner or later anyway unfortunately.

Free Christmas Countdown Generator

FIRST SNOWFALL_ISH OF SEASON

This morning it snowed. There wasn't enough of it, though, to work up a good_sized puddle. The foliage has been becoming quite consonant with autumn lately. All the browns & oranges are most certainly quite an impressive site. The latest buzz among my cousins is about a movie, "The Golden Compass", coming out in December. My old pal, Jo Anne, sent me an e mail about it a while ago. It's written by an avowed atheist & stars Nicole Kidman. It's entirely anti_Christianity so I reckon that must make it entirely pro_liberal. Leave it to Cousins Mark & the Ronald to duke it out over the likes of this one. We're an exceptionally controversial bunch & have always enjoyed a good row over the big questions that have always entirely befuddled mankind. Lately I've been finding out about all the plans my connections have. Unfortunately, Cathleen said that gas in Ca. is now $3.33.9 per gallon. That's even $.18 per gallon more than we're stuck having to pay around here. A very happy Friday is officially wished to one & all, of course. Tomorrow we shall be on Long Island, in Long Beach, hanging around with Michael, Sam & Bridget. I got a deferral from my jury duty. In December, though, they want me back.

GROSSOUT WEATHER

Yesterday was a pretty much cold, wintery day. Starting at aroud 1:00 a.m. it's been raining constantly, a very bitter icy cold rain. Yesterday I watched a show on A&E(I think)about John Lennon & Yoko Ono. It was all about how the Nixon White House was out to get the Walrus because of his anti_Vietnam peacenik activities. Ironically, according to Alan Dershowitz, the Lennons' lawyer, if Nixon had won & the Walrus had been deported to England, he (Lennon) would still have been among the living today. Mark David Chapman could never possibly have gotten to him. I've already seen, heard & read the story millions of times over by now, of course, but it never gets boring. Over the course of the last few days, the comic strip "Zitz", in the "Times Leader" has had Jeremy(whose never_seen brother is named Chad. Ha! Get it?) asking his father Walt, about the Beatles' song "I am the Walrus". Beatle references will be around forever, never to become obsolete. They're just stuck in people's imaginations, pop culture, etc. Uncle Frankie has a cold. That explains why we haven't seen him lately. Usually, when he's feeling well, he shows up quite a whole lot. Saturday morning, I shall have to show up at my next Carmelite meeting over in Wilkes_Barre. The attendance hasn't been very good lately. Somehow, people always seem to have some excuse not to be able to make it.

CALL FROM KRISSYKRISSYKRISSY

Yesterday was oddly warm for most of the day. Today, so far, has been very cold but there was dew on the windows instead of ice, so I'm happy. My toothbrush needed new AA batteries but that's all taken care of. My father & I went over to the St. Vincent de Paul society on Jackson Ave. in Wilkes_Barre to give them a turkey for Thanksgiving. Right after that I went into the shopping center in Plains for Tastykakes & a half_gallon of 2% milk. The crowded line was an absolute nightmare. As it turns out, there was even a blast from the fairly recent past. KrissyKrissyKrissy called. All is going well so far for her, Ed & Eddie over in Jim Thorpe. She's pregnant so they'll have a lot of work to do from now on. Gael, from California, has turned out to be quite the regular bard of her world. She sent me some poems she's written. I shall have to check them out & maybe even include them on my blogs. Yesterday I got my latest issues of The Marian Helper & Latin Mass Magazine. I've always really enjoyed keeping up with them.

UGH! BROKE MY ARM!

Today marks the sixteenth anniversary of the day I broke my left arm. Being a lefty, it really stunk. It happened at St. John's High School when I was delivering bubble gum remover to Sister Noella, who was then still an assistant principal. I was working at Citicorp Retail Services in Melville, N.Y. Sal, Carole were my supervisors. I ended up having to tell Carole, on the phone, about what happened. I'm sure Miz Kitti, Doreen, Kimbley & all the rest were quite taken aback too. I spent the night in Good Samaritan Hospital's emergency room, stupefied on medication. Last night, Michael, from New Jersey called to thank my parents for his new grandson's gift. Yesterday the weather turned bad late in the day. There was an icy cold rain all night. This morning started out miserable too. I've been reading "War & Peace" at quite a pretty fast rate so far. I can't read it too fast, though, because of its being so deep. Gas prices are getting entirely out of hand. The Citgo in my neighborhood, on Wyoming Avenue, now charges $3.15.9 a gallon. Eddie, from O.L.P.H., says that the new pastor has made at least one change in the Mass schedule. There's no 1:00 p.m. Mass now on Sundays. That's really hard to believe, but things happen. He was even forced to drop some lectors. I've been trying to catch "I Love Lucy" on TV every day now. It's better than the new stuff.

LIBRARY OPEN

I thought it would be closed today, in observance of Veterans' Day, but it's open. Uncle Frankie asked me yesterday, on the phone, if it would be open because he has to bring something back for Fran. I left him a message on the phone, this morning, saying he could come over. Saturday night, at 5:00 Mass, I lectored with Linnae. Rocco showed up but we didn't need him. Somehow he got the impression that he was supposed to cover for Mary. Last night was the Holy Name Society meeting. All went quite well. Fr. Walsh showed up. There was the usual rundown of all the circumstances we generally have to deal with. We drank beer & there were meatballs & chicken to eat. It only lasted a little over an hour, which is what I've always really liked about these meetings. According to the guys who were there, people at our parish most certainly don't seem all that supportive of our fund_raisers. O.L.P.H., though, is way over at the opposite extreme. The weather gets progressively colder & colder each day. The early sunset each evening makes things even gloomier. Oddly, I somehow don't seem to have all that much of a problem with reading very many pages of "War & Peace" each day. It's very tough, but it seems to be going fairly fast.

VERY BITTER COLD DAYS

Yesterday the weather was miserable & today it's most certainly no better so far. There's rain & dampness galore & it's a bitter icy cold. There was no ice on my windows the past two mornings though. Last night's game, as far as I can tell, most certainly seemed to have gone well. It was the big important one, from what I've been told. I most certainly could never have spent all night last night out in that kind of weather. Lately I've been pigging out on nuts & m&m_ish candy in a trail mix kind of thing. Foods such as those can be quite seriously addictive for me, unfortunately. I went on a binge like that with peanuts & popcorn a few months ago. Fortunately, I can count on an out_of sight, out_of_mind kind of thing. Once the junk food's all gone, I'm quite capable of doing without it. Now that we're headed for the middle of November, I have a few cousins' birthdays coming up. Scott & Keeren in Buffalo, & Java in Florida. Yesterday I watched a few seventies sitcoms. The kid who played Stever Urkel on "Family Matters" was on an episode of "The Jeffersons". I saw a couple of really good episodes of "I Love Lucy" too. Tomorrow morning, I have to lector at 10:00 a.m. Mass. That's never very hard for me.

HAPPY FRIDAY CHA CHA CHA

Happy Friday. Let us dance. Last night I got a really nice call from Bernadette M., an old high school classmate of mine. I forgot to ask her, but I suppose she either works at St. John's now or does volunteer work there as an alumna because the call came from the school. She asked if I knew for sure whether I intend to attend our big reunion in a few weeks. Unfortunately, because of my jury duty_who knows how long it will last & what it may entail?_I was forced to give her a very definite maybe. Of the people in my class Bernadette was one of the ones I never even got a chance to meet back in those days. Last night's conversation was quite literally the very first time we ever even spoke to each other. Of course, our friend Uncle Frankie made sure he made his inevitable appearance last night, junk food in tow. He's our fattening kinfolk. I'm still reading like crazy. I have to watch my step or I'll get headaches from it. I see the Democrats have won like crazy the recent elections. That's not even the least bit surprising considering that the current Republican incumbents, especially in Washington, D.C., are all giving the country away to O.P.E.C. & the war. Unfortunately, the Democrats are equally determined to destroy us with sexual aberrancy & reverse discrimination. It appears that the Culture of Death is ambidextrous. It's been getting progressively colder & colder lately. Tonight's big football came_Fran's even going too_will be quite an exercise in hypothermia.

COLDER BY THE DAY

Lately my life's been one big source of annoying things. A couple of days ago, my tire, as usual, needed more air. Yesterday I got my notice that I'm supposed to report to Scranton bright & early on the morning of Monday, the nineteenth for jury duty_oh, for joy, for joy! In New York, I always seemed to have been able to bluff my way out of jury duty. Once, a few years ago, I showed up but by the end of the day I ended up getting kicked out anyway. I've still been reading quite voraciously. That always keeps me from getting intellectually stale. Yesterday I read a few more chapters of that Proust biography & started Tolstoy's "War & Peace". My Myspace site has been coming along so far, so well. Oddly enough, I've been in touch with everybody except the kinfolk on it. Of course, it's where I take advantage of my interest in the Fab Four. I see, according to a few papers I noticed this morning in Unimart, that Beatle Paul has a new girlfriend. I shall have to start keeping track of his escapades & those of that troublemaker he's married to. Linda drove fans crazy but at least she never insulted him.

ICY COLD

The weather this morning has been exceptionally cold so far, but There was no ice on the windows. Gas prices have gone through the roof. I just paid $3.09.9 a gallon on Shoemaker Ave. at the Unimart. Nobody cares about the little buckaroo. Uncle Frankie showed up yesterday when I wasn't around. Mary Anne even called. All in her family seems to be going quite well so far. My Myspace page is finally getting some mileage on it, other than the tacky junk mail everybody always gets anway. I'm trying to get a groovy site rolling. Yesterday was "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." day on TCM. There were movies & episodes of the class 60's TV show with Napoleon Solo, Illya Kuryakin & Alexander Waverly. Unfortunately I didn't end up watching any of the shows yesterday but I've always really enjoyed all that old sixties espionage style. Back then, that type of show was considered quite groovy. Now, Robert Vaughn does commercials for a law firm around here. Some idiot on a cell phone is rambling on driving people crazy & being very disruptive. That doesn't usually happen around here but sometimes the occasional creep is allowed to get away with it.

ELECTION DAY

Today's Election Day. As soon as I got here I made sure I voted. I'm getting to be quite an old pro, by now, at voting in Pa. elections. The woman I spoke to told me to follow Howard, who's one of my Holy Name Society connections. I just gave her my name & address, signed the form & followed Howard. The people who have to stay outside are going crazy because of the cold weather. Of course, one of the major disadvantages of election time is that the phone rings absolutely constantly. There's a non_stop barrage of campaign calls. I absolutely despise the phone so it truly rankles on my nerves. I'm absolutely apolitical so I go crazy thinking of whom I should have to vote for. My Newblog friends seem to have moved over to Myspace. Hey Tequilashot, check these characters out. You could compare notes about me. By now, everybody on the internet knows me by one alias or another. Yesterday I went, as usual on Mondays, to the Little Flower novena in Wilkes_Barre. The traffic was an absolute nightmare on the way home. At least I have no trouble getting around over there lately but the congestion during rush hour is an absolute nightmare. It was all slow & frustrating.

REMEMBER THE FIFTH OF NOVEMBER

Today in 1605, was a great day for anti_Catholics, because it was Guy Fawkes day aka Bonfire Night. John Lennon alluded to it in his 1970 song "Remember" from "The Plastic Ono Band" album. Saturday was a very busy day for one & all. My parents really enjoyed Dotty's birthday party. I had a very good time at Jim Lancelotti's Carmelite gift sale too. It started at 11:30 & lasted until around 5:30. The most annoying part was unpacking & re_packing all the stuff. The residents over there are quite an affable bunch of characters. I was the only one available, besides him, to stick around all day. Anne couldn't make it. Only a few other ladies got there. Dana was too busy. All went very well. Saturday night Fran called & invited my parents & me to breakfast with her & Uncle Frankie at a really nice local restaurant. It's the same one we went to with Mike, Terri & their family a while ago. Of course, I went away quite full & happy. I knew we'd inevitably have to get together with them sooner or later because it was the first weekend of the month. It's been getting cold lately. The autumn colors, groovy as they are, are finally sinking in. One of the Carmelite ladies commented on Saturday about how odd it is that we still see roses in November. I can't stand it that it gets so dark so early now since the time change. This part of the year has always struck me as so painfully morbid. Brianne just sent some especially groovy pictures of Kiernan. Aunt Shannon & Uncle Seanie_me_buy are having a good time with him. Yesterday before we left, I watched part of the Beatle movie, "HELP!" It's from my favorite Beatle era. It's the one where they tamed a stray tiger by singing "Ode to Joy" in b minor from Beethoven's ninth symphony. That's always worked for me whenever I've tried to bluff my way past a tiger.

CARMELITE SALE

Today's the big sale the Carmelites from Middletown, N.Y. are having at the Little Flwer Manor in Wilkes_Barre. It starts at 11:30. Unfortunately, I didn't know it started that late. I got there at around 8:15 & found out from the receptionist at the desk. My parents are leaving later to go to Dotty's party. It starts early in the afternoon. My father & Uncle Frankie went to the big game last night. Their team won. The only catch was that my father fell & got sort of hurt but not drastically. I just found out from the Seattle Times that the grand jury returned an indictment in a grey whale killing. In a country where people consider abortion & euthanasia to be rights, we're going crazy over a bunch of whales?! Yesterday I watched Reba McEntire's TV show. Kelly Clarkson played a really pretty, bubbly lunatic who always bounces of the walls. In other words, Kelly Clarkson played Kelly Clarkson. I don't usually watch currently famous TV shows, but that's one of the ones I can handle. All the characters have insanely odd first names: Brock, Van, Reba & Cheyenne aren't really names in any legitimate sense of the concept. They're like those soap opera names that have, unfortunately, become so popular lately. Happy birthday to Steve in far_away California. I haven't gotten a chance to see him since we were kids, but it still nice to keep in touch. Alas, we must bid a totally fond ttfn to daylight savings time starting tomorrow.

NICE BUT COLD

Today, so far, has been rather a nice day, fog free, but a little cold. There was ice on my windows but I could handle it. Tomorrow is Steve's birthday. That's Cathleen's brother, not my brother_in_law. The birthday boy Steve lives in California. Tomorrow will be a very busy day for one & all. Dotty's party starts early in the afternoon. She lives in Lindenhurst but it will be in Pa. The Carmelite fund raiser will be going on most probably from early in the morning. I always seem to have a pretty good time at those things. I have to stop & get gas between now & then. I'm not looking forward to the insanely high prices. Gas around here these days is close to three dollars a gallon just for regular. In New York, by now, things must be absolutely obscene. To cheer up for a while, though, we can always do a right hearty Friday dance. Cathleen & I, in honor of Steve's birthday, are now rambling on about death, time, etc. Aren't those quite the thrilling subjects to tackle? I'm still reading those books quite voraciously. I think I get many of my headaches from reading too much though. My eating habits aren't all that much to brag about either, to my chagrin. I think I'd better wise up & start eating at least something in the morning to avoid all the aggravation.

NEW MONTH

Well, I can see that it's getting closer toward the really dreary part of the year. Autumn is finally kicking in on our local leaves with all those groovy colors slowly making their inevitable appearance. For some reason, there were hardly any Trick_or_Treaters yesterday, which, alas, leaves a bit of candy for me to continue pigging out on. When I was a kid, Halloween was all hyperactive & sloppy. On Saturday morning, the third, the Carmelites will be having a religious goods sale on the grounds of the Little Flower Manor. That's the day my parents are supposed to show up at the surprise eighty fifth birthday party Dotty's granddaughter Kelly is planning for her. Dotty's one of our Lindenhurst connections. Everybody's time will be spoken for this weekend. I woke up with a headache in the middle of the night again. It must be because of all the candy & reading. That Marcel Proust is enough to get anybody worked up. As always I took a headache pill & it went away fast. Uncle Frankie, of course, made sure he showed up for a while yesterday.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Michael & Terry's daughter, Tara, delivered Tyler David, weighing in at a whopping nine lbs., one oz. yesterday at exactly 8:00 p.m. The kid has no hair but he's very healthy. Congratulations to our very young New Jersey grandparents. We wish a very happy birthday to Jim in California, & Earl in (maybe?) Puerto Rico. I haven't gotten a chance to see Earl since we were kids in our early teens. Up until around my twelfth birthday I lived in Queens. He was a really good friend of mine over there. Upon moving to Lindenhurst, I met Jim, whose sister, Cathleen, started the now legendary Friday dance. Last night, Aunt Lauren & Doug came over with the three kids. Michelle was working. Benjamin, the youngest of the brood, was dressed in his fireman's suit for Halloween. Of course, Uncle Frankie showed up yesterday, fully equipped with a seriously fattening Russian candy bar. As usual, this morning was ultra hyper foggy & bitter icy cold, only to get much better later in the day. The mountains, unlike our valley, have very nice autumn foliage, will all the colors associated with the fall season. I'm still reading that book about Marcel Proust. I have two novels of his, but unfortunately, I haven't gotten around to reading either of them entirely. I tried reading "Remembrance of Things Past" quite a while ago & somehow got only halfway through it & never finished the rest. It's now known more commonly ast "In Search of Lost Time." I have a copy of "Jean Santeuil" too but I've never read it either.

ICY TWICY

This morning, like yesterday, was a block of ice mixed with fog galore. The autumn effect has yet to kick in with the foliage, though. Here it is insanely well into the season & we still have green summery leaves, trees, etc. instead of all the distinctive fall colors. I got kicked out of here yesterday because Pittston's library's closed these days & it gets really crowded in here. The librarian's still out sick so they still have to close early every day. Lately I've been really plowing through that book about Proust. He was into some awfully seriously tacky kinds of stuff. A couple of nights ago, I watched "Fear Strikes Out", the old movie, starring Karl Malden & Anthony Perkins, about the Red Sox' Jimmy Piersall. The Great Pumpkin is on his way & tomorrow is his big day. All the decorations are out, interesting & otherwise. Tomorrow is Jimmy & Earl's birthday. I knew them when we were kids in the really old days. My memory for extremely seriously odd, obscure facts & figures like that is absolutely to boggle the mind. Tequila Shot, KrissyKrissyKrissy's sister, sent me an email yesterday on Myspace asking for some information about an extremely seriously old John Lennon song. I should most certainly be counted on to know, now, shouldn't I? Yesterday I went to the weekly St. Therese novena in Wilkes_Barre. The traffic, as always, was an absolute nightmare of stop & go congestion. At least one of our Carmelites should be able to make it on a regular basis. Unfortunately, one of my eyeglass lenses keeps popping out of my frame on a regular basis these days. I'm getting more than a smidge sick & tired of it by now. I got my Council 794 Tidings yesterday. Congratulations to our Worthy Grand Knight Gene & his wife Rita on their silver wedding anniversary & Joe & Karen on a whopping thirtieth. The scary thing is that all these characters are around my age.

ICE ICE BABY

Today's been an unusually cold day so far. I was forced to spend a few extra minutes this morning warming up my car & scraping ice from the windows. I finally finished the Emily Dickinson book & have moved on to one about Marcel Proust, who was a few decades younger than she. He was, of course, yet another literary oddball. Like Dickinson_she was at least a very definite maybe about this_he was a homosexual. Also like her, he was more than a little on the religiously lopsided side. It appears that all creative characters have all sorts of obnoxious setbacks to have to contend with. Uncle Frankie came over for a while each day of the weekend. It's good to see that he's not always stranded at home anymore with his medical problems. Today, though, the librarian's home sick. The St. Jude novena is over. One day, Fr. Polmounter showed up. That was good. He used to be their pastor.