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.