NICE LITTLE BIRTHDAY BASH

Uncle Frankie, both my parents & I went out with cousin Fran last evening for her birthday. We all went to Kildare's Irish Restaurant in Montage at the shopping center. Fran hepped me to their quite groovy Harp brewsky. A splendid time was had by one & all. It's a very nice place & believe it or not, The Irish Pub & Katie Daley's on Long Island could take a few tips from this bunch. The variety of food, hooch, etc. seems to be much better at this one. The AAA Yankees were playing at their nearby stadium so we were, alas, forced to contend with more than a smidge of traffic. When we first showed up, it looked as if it were going to start absolutely pouring. The sky was full of dark clouds. Nothing ever came of it though. They have such an especially groovy mall over there but I've still never seen it from the inside. It's right by the same place Gino & I went to see Meat Loaf. I've finally & at last finished the Dostoyevsky book & moved on to Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood again. It's much shorter & infinitely easier on the eyes & attention span. I've been reading another book too. This one's about St. Bernard of Clairvaux. It's awfully stuffy & deep but quite seriously interesting. Hey, somebody most has to be preoccupied with that kind of thing. We most certainly can't all be expected to like sports.

PARADISE BY THE SKI SLOPE LIGHT

I got a surprising call last night from Cousin Gino. Friends of his got him a bunch of tickets to a Meat loaf concert in Montage. Meat Loaf was a big name when I was only but a mere young hepcat. He was in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show". Somehow Gino messed up & got the idea it started at 7:00 but the official starting time was 8:00. Of course, it didn't REALLY start until around 8:30. Although I've never really very much even noticed Meat Loaf, I went to the concert with him. It was a really nice time. We even got insanely good seats. He told us about his very brief marriage to Nadia Comaneci. She demanded a divorce after a very short time because she was sick & tired of people constantly saying: "Nadia Comaneci Meat Loaf". Of course, after a while he got around to the inevitable "Paradise By the Dashboard Light". The girl who sang it with him was a real looker in a Dallas Cowboys' Cheerleader outfit. That's odd because it's such a baseball song. Unfortunately, today is the forty third anniversary of the death of an all_time favorite of mine, Flannery O'Connor.

HA! HA! FRANNIE'S FIFTY!

Today cousins Fran & Elaine, both from Pa., celebrate birthdays. Fran's fifty. Elaine's too old even to try to figure it out. I've just sent Elaine her official Beatle posty. It appears that she's already gotten it. Yesterday I got an invitation in the mail from Fr. Kakareka to go back to St. Martha's for yet another day of recollection in Stillwater. I already went to one last year. When I spoke to Ann on the phone, though, she explained that it's more for the Elysburg Carmelites & our fraternity wasn't planning on showing up this year. It's sort of far away for me. I got a ride last year with Mary Anne & Dana. I just overheard the library lady telling a patron that today's supposed to be even hotter than yesterday which was way up there anyway.

STACY'S WEDDING PICTURES

Jennifer, one of the New Yorkers of our crowd, poor kid, sent out some pictures of Stacy's recent wedding. We all had a smashing time. Well, folks, it's the very first day of a brand spankin' new month. Tomorrow is Cousin Frannie's fiftieth birthday, by golly. Where, oh where has all the time gone? It really very much seems as if only a very short time ago, we were all young_uns. Yesterday I got an invitiation from St. John's High School in West Islip to fill out another questionnaire for their very latest updated alumni directory. I was in the class of 1977. I just found out that there's a comic strip character, created by Shannon Wheeler, named Too Much Coffee Man. Ever since I was only a really young_un in my late teens, my vile, evil, nefarious & even bad coffee addiction has been making my life a living nuthouse. It does extremely bad things to me but I stick with it through thick & thin. It used to give me all sorts of weird problems & still, to this very day, gets me awfully knocked out of whackish. I refuse to give up anyway. I am too much coffee man.

CUT THE GRASS

This morning I mowed the lawn. It was an entirely easy job, taking under a half hour. The only catch to that thing is that on very hot days, I absolutely have to have my water supply replenished. I'm down to pretty much just about the end of The Brothers Karamazov. It's quite seriously intense reading. Dosotyevsky was quite the bright guy for such a basket case. He's like a lot of super geniuses throughout history: weird with a very bright side. I've already read the book a few times over by now anyway but it never gets stale. Yesterday I went to the Hoyt Library. It's another one that puts Copiague's nut house to shame. Peace & quiet reign supreme. People know how to behave. Lately the libraries are all crowded. It's good in a way because I have to discipline myself about how much time I spend on a computer. It rains occasionally here but Mary Anne & Steve were telling me on an e.mail that it's been raining for well over two entire months straight through over in Ireland. I'd go nuts over there.

BRAND SPANKIN' NEW LECTOR

I finally & at last got my very first ever shot at being a lector at O.L.Sorrows. On Friday, at 5:00 p.m. Mass, I showed up, all gussied up, & lectored for Fr. Walsh. It was my very first time since my glory days at O.L.P.H. I suppose my city slicker accent must have kept all these here goobers in total awe. Believe it or not, I'm now down to my last 250 pages of The Brothers Karamazov. Saturday & Sunday I spent a couple of hours each night at the feast at St. Anthony of Padua's church in Exeter. Last night I got the really bright idea to volunteer to help. Because there was a torrential downpour I got stuck with the job of clearing the water off all the chairs. Everything got soaked. I even won a little money on Saturday night at the money wheel. Last night I even got yet another of my trademark headaches but a couple of pills in the middle of hte night got rid of it in a hurry. I haven't seen the new movie by the Simpsons (Homer & family, not Ashely & Jessica though I can't tell them apart anyway.) but I've been catching their show once in a while. They can be pretty neat at times. I got kicked out of my usual library so now I'm in the Hoyt. It most certainly appears to be back in quite groovy shape considering that it was closed down for many months because of a major storm. It's nice & quiet so I really like it here. Uncle Frankie showed up again last night & today. I've been getting very many hits on wheresgeorge lately. FInally & at last, somebody's been catching my bills every once in a while.

EVERYBODY (EXCEPT DANTE) USED TO BE A TEACHER OF MINE

TIRE TROUBLES

Today has been shaping up, so far, to be quite a droll day. This morning, as I got ready to get back into my car to go home from 7:30 Mass at O.L.Mt. Carmel in Pittston a guy came over to me & told me that my tire_driver's side in the back_was flat. I went next door to the gas station, having already needed gas anyway. The kid who put the gas into the car said the same thing. I made sure I asked him if the air pump was working & could he give me quarters with my change? Those machines charge $.75 & don't take paper money. All has worked out quite well since then so far. Oddly, that happens to me at least fairly frequently these days. I must be the victim of some kind of a rubber curse or something. Well, the moment of truth will finally & at last arrive. I shall have to lector at 5:00 p.m. Mass this afternoon at O.L. Sorrows. It's been a long time since the last time I lectored at O.L.P.H. I don't suppose I shall be all that bad at it. At least this morning it looked as if we could count on yet a whole nother rainy day up ahead of us. Yesterday & last night there was a violent but short electrical storm. This day in history: 1929. Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy(Jackie 0) was born. She invented the pill box hat (remember that groovy Dylan oldie?) & was related to Marge Simpson.

BRIC A BRAC A FIRECRACKER SIS BOOM BAH !!

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny Rah Rah Rah!! on his sixty seventh anniversary. My friend Cindi from Newblog told me about that. She's the one who hepped me to Bert's big day yesterday too. Today the weather is awfully warm. Tomorrow I shall be getting my very first ever chance to lector at O.L.Sorrows. I was a lector for very many years at O.L.P.H. but this is a whole nother world around here. I'm assuming it will be a mere bag of shells for me though. That's my WHERESGEORGE map. The blue states are where I've gotten fewer than five hits. In the green states, I've gotten between five & ten hits. The red states have gotten over twenty hits. It's a swell game & can even end up becoming quite addictive for anybody who doesn't watch his step. This morning Danny came over for a grand total of about a half second to give me the frame he promised me for my picture. At this library they've finally gotten another computer installed. Maybe that will help me avoid getting kicked out of here within only an hour.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BERT

Happy Birthday, Bert. Yesterday was a fairly busy time for me. I spent around twenty minutes on the phone_and I hate phones!!_stuck with some political survey. The main bulk of it was about Chris Carney. Last night, I saw Godspell, the early seventies musical based on the Gospel of St. Matthew. I came this close(my thumb & forefinger are touching.)to not bothering to watch it but I'm happy I saw it. It was very interesting because it showed the World Trade Center in its very early days, long before the Moslems blew it up & murdered all those people. I really didn't recognize any but three of the songs. I guess all those songs I still have rolling around upside my head must be from Jesus Christ, Superstar. Today's the anniversary of a fairly big accident I had back in the nineties. I got a card from Daren's mother. She gave me another really nice picture of Daren . Saturday would have been Daren's birthday & everybody really misses her.