NICE WEEKEND SO FAR

Yesterday the weather was very nice & warm. This morning, though, it looks as if it may start raining any minute. Everybody was terribly saddened yesterday to have heard of the entirely unexpected sudden death, by cardiac arrest, of Tim Russert from "Meet the Press". I turned on the TV for a minute. When I got to channel fifteen's news with Wolf Blitzer, it was entirel devoted to news of the famous journalist's death. I made sure I watched about an hour's worth of it. Today I have to lector again at 5:00 Mass. This morning, I made sure I stopped over at the Valero station for gas. The price for regular was a tenth of a cent short of four dollars a gallon for the regular gas & that's the lowest price around. Most other places are at least $4.00.9 by now. Of course, yesterday I made sure I exercised on my chair & played some Beatle oldies, especially the early stuff. Pre_"Rubber Soul" Beatles have always been my very favorites. I really need very much practice but it's been fairly easy for me somehow. Lately I still haven't been drinking any coffee during the day, only in the morning. I make sure I start out my day with a few cups but that's it for the past couple of weeks. Hey I just found out on Myspace that Jennifer is going to be bartending tonight at the Barrel. Be there or be square.

FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH

Besides the Feast of St. Anthony of Padua, it's also a supposedly unlucky day. We've gotten a few of them so far this year. That makes for an especially eccentric Friday dance. Yesterday & last night that absolutely disgusting phone rang off the hook. I've always absolutely bitterly despised the telephone. Aunt Lauren & Fran both called. They have to make sure they catch up regularly. Uncle Frankie is still visiting Fran. Hey, even Gino called. Bridget called late at night. She had an enjoyable time at her big day. She & a friend of hers got a limousine ride with a policeman & fireman for escorts. She did quite a good job of reading her essay in public. Of course she was a little bit intimidated by all the attention. I got onto my exercise chair for a few minutes yesterday. A few minutes a day might work wonders eventually. Today I went to confession at the Oblates' seminary on Rte. 315. Yesterday I went for yet another entire day without coffee in the afternoon. It's an odd change of pace for me. I know it's very much better for my health that way but it's a miserable feeling. It doesn't even help with my sleep anyway. Pretty soon the Fourth of July will be here. I've asked all the musicians in the bunch to be sure to show up with instruments. Of course, Gary & Lanfranco may even bring their accordions.

NICE QUIET DAY

Today's been very quiet & slow so far. When I went over to the newspaper machine on Sixth Street I noticed that their Citizen's Voice is still a half dollar even though it's only thirty five cents at the store. Either way it's a dull paper. I just read last week that it's only been around since the late 1970's. Mary Anne called last night. All seems to be going quite well with them these days. Unfortunately my mother's back still hurts. Last night I ate a few bowls of cereal. Lately I've been on a bit of a cereal binge, of the cold kind, that is. Last night I pigged out on bowls of Frosted Flakes & Rice Krispies. Lately I haven't been drinking any coffee during the day. It's always been a very favorite thing of mine but it has quite a demonically possessive kind of effect upon me. Of course it does't serve any kind of purpose for me to bother to put this on my blog. All it proves is that mine has been quite the droll uneventful life lately. Last night nothing much happened except that I watched some TV & exercised on my chair for a while. Of course, as always, I didn't get much sleep last night. Yesterday I was looking through a bunch of old albums of mine in the garage. One of these days I should start getting into the habit of listening to them again.

ELECTRICAL STORM

Last night there was an extremely seriously violent storm but it was much more about thunder & lightning than rain. Yesterday, again, I read part of the book about Queen Isabella, exercised on the chair & played my guitar. I watched "I Love Lucy". I even saw part of a rerun of Regis Philbin's "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?" Valerie Bertinelli & other old_time TV stars were contestants. I watched part of a mid_60's Patty Duke movie for a few minutes on channel 72. It's weird how many familiar names & faces there were from that era. Oddly I don't know squat about current pop cultural stuff but them I recognize. I just found out about a new word on Facebook. While visiting my nephew Michael's site, I couldn't help noticing the word "embiggen" on one of the options. The latest breakthrough in current events is another thing I found out about on Facebook. UCLA is doing some kind of a study about sexuality in identical twins to see if there may turn out to be something they can find out about homosexuality. Today is the thirty first anniversary of the day I graduated from high school. In a way it seems as if it were only yesterday & so long ago.

RAIN LATER TODAY

The weather's been very nice & hot lately. In a few hours it's supposed to start pouring again. The bridge on Eighth Street is under construction today too. Having to be forced into a detour because of construction work has always bothered me ever since I was only a really young kid. I know it's unavoidably necessary but it's still one of life's major nuisances. I don't really have to be bothered with taking that bridge so it's not all that much of a disaster for me. Yesterday I practiced, for a little while, a few of my very favorite Beatle songs & did some exercise on the chair too. To my chagrin, my annoying cough has yet to go away. Fortunately it's only a hay fever symptom but it's still extremely seriously aggravating. Somehow I seem to have gotten a bit lazy about watching "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire" over the course of the past couple of weeks but I've been conscientiously watching "I Love Lucy" each day. I've been trying to find out as much as possible about Barack Obama these days, considering that he will most probably end up having to run the show starting in January. I'm not even the least bit impressed. He's one of those far left Chicago characters. They have a track record of wanting change merely for its own sake & not even bothering to be careful about what kind. Obama is the perfect example of the kind of candidate the left wing wants. Of course, our only other available choice is McCain, who will leave us with a war we can't possibly win & gas at $5.00.9 a gallon. You tell me who's the bigger nightmare. This election has no possible happy outcome.

IT WAS A DARK & STORMY NIGHT

Last night it was absolutely pouring out all night. There was an extremely violent electrical storm. It drove me crazy for a while with all the noise. I've always been very seriously hypersensitive to noise. It's a good thing for Uncle Frankie he didn't have to drive that far last night to go see Fran. He was already there by then. The weather's very hot lately & my car has no air conditioner. On significant trips I go nuts from heat, as much as I've always really enjoyed it. Yesterday I played all those Beatle songs again & got my exercise on the chair. I'm out of practice with both music & exercise, unfortunately so it's been quite a chore for me lately to get back into the swing of things. It most certainly pays to keep in shape about things like that. As virtually always my weekend was quite uneventful. Because of the obscenely out of control gas prices I've been seriously thinking of trying to fix up an old bike I have. It won't get me anywhere on a significant trip but it could be very useful for little rides. As the days go by the Fourth of July encroaches ever so much closer upon us. Yesterday I watched a little bit of a show with Wayne Dyer. He's a self.help guru. When I was a kid in high school I first heard of him because in some class I never took, kids were forced to read his book, "Your Erroneous Zones" in the twelfth grade.