UNEVENTFUL WEEKEND

Nothing much has happened lately as May dwindles to a nice quiet close. I went to 7:30 Mass this morning, as usual, at O.L. Mt. Carmel in Pittston. Unfortunately, although the weather had been very nice for the first few hours this morning, recently it started pouring, leaving us with a dreary day. On the way home I made sure I stopped at the Valero gas station for a paper. Gas prices are absolutely obscene these days. At that station, the station next door to the church & all the other local places around here, they really seem to be determined to rook the consumer blind. The other big news is about the lunatic priest who's been making all the headlines with his anti.Hillary rantings. That's just what the Church needs these days is to have a guy like that on display. I'll bet all the liberals will be taking every possible advantage of it. The Fourth of July is literally only little over a month away now. I'm sure all the kinfolk will be abuzz with a never_ending list of plans for their big Hilldale bash. KrissyKrissyKrissy will, we can most certainly hope, show up with little Natalie, who's this year's addition to the never ending list of relatives. I watched "I Love Lucy" & "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" yesterday in order to get my daily dose of exposure to the world of show business. Right now there's a kid in his early teens sitting right next to me listening to songs like Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit", the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black" & all sorts of other hippie era stuff.

NICE DAY

Today, so far, is turning out to be a truly nice day. I didn't get a headache last night so I woke up in about as good a mood as I'm usually in anyway. It's time now for the last Friday dance of the month. June starts on Sunday. Lately I've had this extremely seriously annoying cough. It gets me more than a little aggravated. I assume that it's just a hay fever thing. Of course I made sure I watched "I Love Lucy" & "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire" yesterday. Everybody else always rambles on about those trendy shows. I can't be bothered with any of them though. I'm about the single least hep guy on the planet & I quite enjoy it that way. Cathleen's back from her Mexican vacation. She says it was quite enjoyable. Of course the closest I've ever come to visiting a foreign country was Canada. I've been there a few times. I ate pizza yesterday for supper. Sizzle Pie is everybody's favorite pizzeria around here. I drank coffee very much later than I ever should have. 7:00 p.m. coffee isn't quite the mark of such an exceptionally good idea. Of course I never have been able to control my addiction to the demon brew. Yesterday was my eighth grade history teacher's birthday. Happy birthday, Burt Koza. John F. Kennedy, thirty fifth president, would have been ninety one years old yesterday if he could have lived until now.

HEADACHES & HAIRCUT

Oddly, I woke up in the middle of the night with an extremely violent headache. The same thing happened the night before. I took non_asprins each time & eventually they went away. Yesterday in the mail I got my latest Carmelite Digest & St. John's alumni bulletin. Wally Lace, my twelfth grade sociology teacher, is still in charge. It's nice to see that Brian Clancy, my eleventh grade history teacher, is still around too. I like keeping up with all my past stomping grounds. This morning I went to Rose Chairge's for my first haircut since February. It only took a little while & worked out quite well. I've always been quite lazy about haircuts. It's a traditional trademark of mine. I really don't happen to think I look even the least bit nice with long hair even though I've always really liked letting it grow. The library's very crowded today. I find it hard to believe that June is coming up so soon. Summer is my very favorite season. Most people go crazy if it's too hot but I've always been quite fond of the whole thing. Later today I have to cut grass & wash clothes...for joy, for joy. Things like that are dull but unavoidably necessary. I got kicked out of Wyoming's library. Now I'm in West Pittston's. While home I got the grass out of the way. It was really exhausting because of yesterday's blood donation. When I first got there all the blood people were stranded outside because nobody'd bothered to open the door for them. I was their first appointment of the day. The phlebotomist I got was named Marlene. She explained everything that was involved in her job just in case I wanted to apply for something like that. My double red cell donation was unusually slow & tedious. My arm went nuts & was really sore for a long time. Chet, from the Latin Mass in Pittston, was one of the volunteers. My parents said today that they want to go to the mall as soon as the mailman shows up. It's a very hot day so the air conditioning will be really good for them.

LONG WEEKEND OVER

The weekend is finished. It was a splendid time for one & all. The new GPS got us back & forth quite well. There was a lot of traffic on I_95 by the George Washington Bridge though, so we were about forty five minutes late getting home. Over the weekend, Steve, Michael & I played the guitar & Sam played drums. I made sure, this time, to show up with my Beatles book. I went to 12:00 Mass at St. Mary of the Isle on Sunday. Monsignor Bob Brennan, who grew up in Lindenhurst, was the celebrant. He was to O.L.P.H. until he became a priest & we both graduated from St. John's High School, three years apart. On Sunday afternoon, we went to see Aunt Norma for a while. All seem to be doing well these days with them. It was a good way to catch up with the local gossip. On the way home we stopped at a local IHOP on Sunrise Highway. I got an order of blintzes. Michael kept me up all night last night rambling on about morality, ethics & the ultimate meaning of life. We made it home just in time. It's absolutely pouring out now. It was slightly drizzling when we first left but was really nice until just now.