Happy Halloween

Oh yeah. Today is Halloween.

For an interesting take on this blessed holiday please read the Addled Thoughts of writer Caren Lissner.

Trivial facts

If you've come here looking for details from Tuesday Night's game at the Baggott Inn, I recommend that you visit The Evil Twin Theory, link to your left, to read about the big night from one of the people that hosted.

If you've come here looking for details about Wednesday Night's game at Dempsey's Pub, I recommend that you visit The Dawn Patrol, link to your left, to read about the big night from one of the people that hosted.

Morning Routine - Currently

In the subway:
"Good morning."
Good morning.

In the lobby:
"Good morning."
Good morning.

In the elevator:
"Good morning. Hey, it's Friday!!"
Yeah. All day long.

(together)
Laugh. Laugh. Laugh.

Exiting the elevator:
"Have a good one."
You too.

Morning Routine - Previously

Good morning, boys and girls.
"Good morning. Ms. Goodman"

(singing with students)
Today is Friday, Friday, Friday.
It will be fun day, fun day
All day long.

How are you today, boys and girls?
"Fine thank you. How are you?"

(singing with students)
Hello.
Hello.
Hello and how are you?

I'm fine.
I'm fine.
I hope that you are too.

Ola.
Ola.
Ola y como esta.

Jo bien.
Jo bien.
Espero tout am bien.

7:45 am. Astoria

It's 7:45 am and it's pouring outside. Normally, this would make me happy but for some reason today, I'm dreading going out into the wet world to get to work.

I love my job so it's not because of that. I am going to Wednesday night's trivia mosh, Thinking and Drinking, 7:30pm at Dempsey's pub, featuring Janet Rosen and Dawn Eden as cohosts, so it's not that. I have date with my new my beau scheduled for after that. It's certainly not that (emphasis on the words certainly and not).

So.....it must be the rain.

Go figure.

Baseball continued

I don't have any feelings of remorse with regard to the Yankee's loss to Marlins this weekends. Actually, I'm happy another team was able to shine for a change.

I'm happy that there will be no more hooplah about baseball for a while.

I'm unhappy that I have to overhear conversations about what George Steinbrenner is going to do now that the season is over. Apparently people are speculating as to who Steinbrenner is going to fire now that his illustrious Yankees have lost.

I'm looking foward to the day (coming soon) when basketball will the main topic of discussion. And you thought the baseball season was long. Just wait....

The Fantasy

It's not a roaring fire; it's not chilled champaign; it's not a romantic restaurant or a four string quartet

It's not physical contact or the physical manifestation of attraction; it's the moments that lead up to it.

It's the fantasy of the image of his face 2 inches from mine; it's that pool of feeling found in the back of deeply reflective eyes; it's that 1/2 inch of energy between us just before our bodies touch; it's the anticipation moments before either of us makes a move.

It's the initial meeting; it's the burn of attraction from a distance; it's getting drunk that first time and saying the wrong things; it's the process.

A Familiar Familial Obligation

Saturday.

What can I say? I've joined the ranks of people who can call themselves aunt or uncle.

My sister-in-law is pregnant with my nephew and he will be born in January. What was once a foreign experience I've heard others enjoy is now going to be part of my daily life.

Saturday.

I went with my mother, my brother and his wife to register for baby gifts. First we went to BuyBuy Baby in Westbury, I think. It's near the Levitts, that' near Nassau Colliseum. We registered for everything from diaper pails to onesies. Then we all took a break for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory in the Fortunoff's relatively new shopping mall. After we went to Babies 'R' Us.

I have to say that in spite of the work like hours (10 - 5) we all invested in this effort, it was time well spent. There were babies all over the place which I always find enjoyable and the experience was both fun and educational.

It was the most fun day. But I earned my sleep last night. I was pretty exhausted by the time I got home. So much so, I stayed in last night (yes on Saturday night) and went to bed at 10 pm. I have a vague recollection of someone calling me after I fell out and telling me turn back my clock which I must have done because my clock is properly set to reflect my favorite time of year. That would be the day that we get an extra hour of life.

Anyway, today I'm going to play the tourist which is a good game to play when one lives in New York City. Central Park, Metropolitan Museum of Art and who knows what else the day will bring.

I've been looking forward to this weekend all week. Half of it turned out fantastic and I anticpate the other half will be just as great.

Isn't it great to be alive?

DOG RUN DOG

Every morning I walk by a dog run in Madison Square Park. Every morning I pass it between 8:30 and 8:45 am. Every morning there is a nasty dog barking at all the other dogs upsetting every dog owner in the run. Every morning the nasty dog's owner is sitting there as if she doesn't know her dog has an enormous problem.

At other times when I pass, the dogs are enjoying the usual ass sniffing and establishing of dominance. I'm always upset by this woman's lack of consideration for the other dogs and dog owners. Her dog has some serious issues.

It is another example of a situation where I want to walk up to someone I feel is behaving badly and tell them all about it. It is another example of a situation where if I actually did that I'd probaby get beat up and have to involve the police.

Minutes from Tuesday Night Trivia

Caren Lissner welcomed all to Tuesday Night Trivia and introduced herself to the crowd, introduced me as co-host, allowed me to plug an upcoming project and then explained the rules of play.

I read the general knowledge questions which were television based. Heckling ensued.

Caren read the current events questions which were current events based.

Caren presented the top ten list which was to provide the top 10 countries from where tourists came to visit the United States in the year 2000. People were shocked to learn that Canada and Mexico were the top 2.

Papers were traded and graded during which time Caren and I presented the correct answers. More heckling ensued.

Caren then read the funniest answers after which I read the standings as of the end of Round 1. More heckling ensued which caused me to laugh so hard I had to walk away from the microphone.

Sexxxy, sexxxy, sexxxy chicken led after round 1.

I then presented the audio and visual rounds.

There was more trading and grading and then Caren announced the winners.

I'm ashamed to admit I can't remember the name of the winning team.

I do remember the name of the team that won for funniest team name. "IRAQ" Up The Points took the prize for aforementioned category. There was some disagreement about this in the studio audience but Caren and I felt it was the punniest name and caused the greatest reaction.

Please be sure to come to Trivia next week.
Tony Hightower will be co-hosting.

Random

I'd like to be a professional driver on a closed course.
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Left on his own, the doorknob decided his best of course of action was to sit and wait for the others to return.
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I sat in the chair and stared at the corner but I was a child so it was an adventure.
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Snobs are to fonies as air is to breathing.
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Staring at a computer screen is a proven contributing factor to chronic depression and stupidity.
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I am often offended by other people's bad body odor and I wonder if I'm inventing the smells to keep people away or if they really do stink because other people don't seem to notice it. Maybe they are just nicer.
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If nobody else understands you but you know you make sense, then who is wrong? You or everybody else. What do you do about it? Do you have to twist your mind to fit the mold or do you educate people about your unique point of view?

Expressionism

I hate the person who said that
absence makes the heart grow fonder
because that person was right.

Idiomatic blindness

No news is good news.

What does that mean?
One is taught the expression means
that if one does not receive any news
one is being spared from bad news.

But I don't hear it that way.
I hear it as
there isn't any news
that is good news.

Talk amongst yourselves.

Lunch break

Beef w/broccolli.
Brown rice.
Wonton soup (with MSG, headache oncoming)

Fortune cookie with great fortune:
"Your dearest wish will come true."

I'm ready for my closeup.....

I am posting this for two reasons:

1) I am supporting my friends Dave and Joanne and would like it if you could all come to their show.

2) I am appearing in the video portion of the piece.

Mosaic Minds: The Score in 5 movements with Finale: a postcript to AIDS.
Written and composed by JoAnne Maffia
Directed by JoAnne Maffia and Dave Bower
At the Flux Factory
Thursday October 16 thru Sunday October 20.
Performances at 8pm every night except on Sunday when the show is at 3pm.38-38 43rd Street at Northern Blvd, Long Island City.
For directions go to www.fluxfactory.org
All Tickets: $10 General Admission.

For Info/Reservations call: 917-647-6563

Tuesday Night Trivia - update

Last night at Tuesday Night Trivia, my team, Siamese Kittens (named for the twins who were successfully separated this week) came in last.

The evening was expertly hosted by Caren and Rich Appel.

Here are the categories my team had trouble with. All of them, basically...

Rich led the first round with general knowledge questions with answers that varied from the Powerpuff Girls to Ross Perot. Our team tanked on that round.

Caren then led the second round with current events questions. We did alright on that.

Then Caren gave us the assignment of listing the 2nd to 11th presidents of the United States in ascending order for the top 10 list. We did alright but not great. I could have sworn Benjamin Franklin was a President.

Rich then took over for the audio and visual rounds. The audio round were the top Z-100 hits, this week in 1988. We did so/so on that. Then he provided us pictures of really bad cars from the '70's and the '80's. I think it was in that round that we were able to achieve the honor of winning last place.

We did win some great prizes. Sandy took home a great Bass Ale T-shirt, I took home the Heineken fishing hat and the Heineken key chain is going to our other two team mates that I'm not sure want to be listed publicly.

As discouraging as it is to lose, I still had such a good time that I'm going to try again tonight at Dempsey's pub on 2nd Avenue and 4th Street. Hopefully, you'll come down for that. It's hosted by my friend Janet and "THINKING AND DRINKING" is just as much fun as Tuesday Night Trivia. It starts at 7:30 so hopefully I'll see you there.

Update on the Year of Yes

Sometimes I feel like the my new attitute is turning me into Marcia Brady in that episode where she joins every activity in her new high school in order to fit in, in that I might be wearing myself too thin.

But then I realize that that was just a TV show and that my committment to improving my daily landscape is being done for the right reasons.

My grandfather, Ed Goodman, may he rest in peace, would have been proud of me and excited to see what I do next.

Other people's blogs

Please take some time and read some of the links listed here, to the left. Now, I know that as faithful and somewhat obsessive readers of mine, you have been dutifully visiting the web logs of my friends everyday.

With that said, there are four new entries today that struck me as particularly interesting:

1) The first one is located on the web log of two brothers, Eric and Mark Baard, who have an avid interest in science and reporting on significant scientific developments.

There's new hope for short-order cooks lacking short-term memory. The "Cook's Collage" from Georgia Tech's Everyday Computing Lab will help people with impaired memory make their way through the complex task of cooking. The system takes snapshots during meal preparation and displays the six most recent actions on a flat-panel display mounted above the countertop.

2) The second web log is a daily look into the life a fifteen year old. He's so sweet, you won't believe it. Today's entry is about his new watch. If you look to the left, you can find his link easily enough. I just love this kid.

3) The third entry of note was posted by my new internet friend Santosh. He is a 21 year old college student living either in or near Michigan. His website is gorgeous and his observations insightful. His website is called XXXXXXXXX and every other day or so or when he has a chance he writes about movies and music. He is an excellent critic and his opinion is worth the read. Today's entry has a good review of the latest film escapades of Eddie Murphy.

4) Last but not least, I have recently added a link to The Dawn Patrol. Dawn is a writer and links are available to the site where she writes music reviews. I like her site because I like her. I think she's a good writer and I'm happy to have her as a new friend. Her website can also be found to the left.

Another perfect weekend from my so-called life.

Friday night was spent alone, catching up on some well earned sleep.

Saturday day was spent puttering around the house, running errands and getting ready for Saturday night.

Saturday night was spent at Rafifi's on East 11th off of First Avenue, where I attended a rocking party, hosted by the great Dawn Eden. Joining her were Kittybeat and Michael Lynch. The theme of the evening was 60's rock and the name of the event was POP GEAR. I was thrilled to learn from Dawn that this is now going to be a regular monthly event at Rafifi's, the next one scheduled for Saturday, November 8th, in the year of our lord, 2003. Not only was there great music, but the corresponding visuals were incredible..........the three dee-jays put together an endless film loop of 60's bands in all of their 60's gear, which they projected against the wall behind the dance floor. For a full description of the festivities go to the DAWN PATROL by clicking on DAWN PATROL.

Sunday?..well Sunday I lazed around as usual. I love lazy Sundays. I believe that everybody should have one day of every week where they do absolutely nothing of any importance. It's good for the mind, body, and soul. The best part about my Sunday lazying was that I was able to corrupt a close friend of mine into joining me in the day's non-activities. Part of doing nothing involved watching the last five innings of the Cubs/Marlins game. I wasn't very interested at first, but then something happened. I learned the phrase "SHUTOUT" and then I learned that the Marlins' pitcher, Beckett, was throwing a no score game. (These words do not come trippingly out of my mouth, so for my readers who are baseball fans, I know these words sound odd coming from me, and I don't need to hear about it later.) Then something else happened. It was in the fifth inning and someone hit a ball and it went into the air and then someone caught it and then someone ran around the bases and then it happened again a little bit later in the game.

Uhhhh, yeah.......I never really know what all the excitement is about when it comes to baseball but I felt happy for that pitcher when he struck out Sammy Sosa. I don't know about baseball but I know about Sosa and know it must have felt great for the young Beckett to strike out that old record breaker or was he an almost record breaker? Someone will have to explain that one to me too, I guess.

Wha Wha Whaaat!

Below is an article for an e-newsletter I receive almost daily in spite of my requests to be taken off of their list.

Half of my family is French, meaning I've spent significant time there, and I can safely say that this article is pure, 100% unadulterated bullshit because there are the same number of skinny French women as there are skinny American women. It was also my observation that thinner French women don't indulge in creamy sauces and desserts.

Everyone knows the secret to being thin is youth and/or working out like a banshee or crystal meth!!!

==========================================
Breakthrough News About Weight Loss:
New Study Says Portion Size Is Key

A new study in Psychological Science recently revealed the key to why the French population stays so slim, despite all those rich cream sauces and buttery croissants.

Their secret. Smaller portions.

People tend to consume what is put in front of them and generally consume more when offered more food. Prof. Paul Rozin, University of Pennsylvania, Co-author of, The ecology of eating: Smaller portion sizes in France than in the United States help explain the French paradox.

While the French may eat more fat than Americans, they consume fewer calories " because they eat smaller portions " so they stay slimmer (see side bar for study results).

At N***********, we know how important portion size is. In fact, we built our entire program around it.

With N**********, there's no guesswork - just perfect portions every time.

Bucolia

Tonight's preparations for my date later this evening were sadly less bucolic than last week's. You may recall last week involved day dreaming about Jimmy Osmond while setting my hair in hot curlers.

This week I decided to get a head to toe waxing. My waxer was named Monica and she was a real artist. We started with my bikini wax. Monica's being an artist has it's pros and cons... On the proside she did a beautiful job, leaving with me with clean lines. On the con side it was painful like I've never experienced pain before, but it was exquisite pain and if you've had a bikini wax, you know what I mean. She did not leave one stray hair. Thank goodness I decided against the Brazilian wax though, because I think Athena of Athena's nail salon would have to call an ambulance.

Monica then moved on to my legs. She sampled a small spot on my leg when I first got in because my hair is so light on my legs she couldn't see it. The test waxing was like eating a lollipop. Very pleasant. But then she did the whole bottom half of my leg and again it was exquisitely painful. If Monica had done my whole leg, Athena would have had to call an ambulance.

Then I did something I've never done before because I didn't think I needed to but in the spirit of trying new things I decided to have my eyebrows waxed. She worked on them for fifteen minutes. Oui. Quinze minutes. Now if you have seen me you would say that my eyebrows are barely visible. Apparently they were very hairy. But now, I have eyebrows that you can see. It's like magic. She did a beautiful job. You can actually see my eyebrows. Clean lines, nice lines, nice shape. But if I had had any other part of my face done, I'm sure Athena would have had to call an ambulance.

Thanks for listening. I'm off to a nice, relaxing scented bath to relieve my skin of that wonderful burning one experiences after the torture of a waxing.

On a more chipper note.....

Some of you may have noticed the more chipper tone of my little web journal lately.

There are several reasons for that.

First, after over a year of working crappy part-time jobs, I finally found a job that will actually look impressive on my resume. Yes. It is marketing. And no. It is not the humane direction I wanted my career to take vis a vis teaching, but teaching was a jungle of illogical inconsistencies and hypocries on which I could not firmly plant my feet. I won't go into detail here but I am avaiable for comment in person.

Secondly, after 10 years of pining for my ex-boyfriend who most would agree was not worth the 10 years of pining, I have shed him like a snake sheds his skin and grown up into believing that I deserve to be more than part of some guy's harem. You know the type. They string along several woman who they know would do anything for them so in later years they will have thier choice of whom will spend the rest of her life with them.

Thirdly, I have discarded the friends who over the years have brought me down, used me and treated me like garbage. I can not emphasize strongly enough that as much beauty as you might see in people that suffer for a living and need to make you suffer with them, there is no happy ending to friendships with vampires.

Fourthly, I have been making lots of new friends, carefully choosing smart, bright, sensitive and caring people who are positive and life affirming and interested in life.

Fifthly, well, that's a secret. Eventually, I'll tell you all about it. But for right now, the fifth item on my checklist for happiness is mine for now and mine alone and not even the most charming, terrorist couldn't beat it out of me.

I have lost my urge to focus on the negative. Unfortunately, that is when I feel I am at my funniest and do my best ranting.....so, my gen x rantings are going to appear more as gen x observations until maybe the next entry when I complain about that idiotic woman in the subway who still sat so close to me in spite of the fact that there was a completely empty row next to her for 8 stops. She even stayed after I "accidentally" elbowed her a few times.

Why did she bother me so much you might ask? Well, she was listening to music through a bad headset and I find second hand music bad for my health and general well being and she didn't move. I was annoyed that she couldn't read my mind and see my need for space. She couldn't see that I am a recovering misanthrope.

That's all for now.

Over and out.

Congratulations, Governor Schwarzenegger

I actually think I saw pigs flying on my way to work this morning.


October 8, 2003 4:42pm
A monkey just flew out of my ass

Oh what a beautiful morning

If you live in New York City, you know that this morning is a beautiful morning. Crystal blue skies, sans clouds, crisp cool air that doesn't yet require a jacket.

I would go on about the singing birds but I don't actually like them. They start chirping just before sunset, waking me up. I mean I like nice weather but it's not like I have to till the fields or feed the chickens. I mean, I can wait until the sun rises to enjoy what the day has to offer.

But I guess all male birds feel the need to announce the oncoming day, one way or another be it singing or cock-a-doodling.

Haiku Sunday

lush moments given
to thinking of your sweet face
lazy sunday lives

Donny and Marie

While setting my hair with hot curlers for my date tonight, I sat back and watched some of the new PYRAMID show hosted by Donny Osmond, which is practically unwatchable but Donny Osmond.........that brings me back to the time when I looked forward to that one night a week that I was allowed to stay up a little bit later and watch the Donny and Marie show. I loved when they did the country music vs. rock music dual. I even had the closing step they did with their goodbye song they did at the end of the show memorized and would perform it with them at the end of every show. I remember Donny loved the color purple and did a skit once about a character name CAPTAIN ELPRUP.

I used to love that show. Does anyone remember it? Of course you do. Who wouldn't? It was cheeserific!!! But did I ever tell you about the dream I had as a yung un about running away with the OSMONDS? Of course, who didn't dream of that?

With the help of TIGER BEAT magazine I had developed an early crush on Jimmy Osmond, the youngest of the OSMOND brood. I used to dream about sneaking into one of their wardrobe trunks and having Jimmy find me under the pink and purple costumes. He would invite me to dine with his family and then he would sing to me and then I was incorporated into the act. It wasn't a dream as much as it was a fantasy.

Yeah....I loved the OSMONDS. They were better than the BRADYS and the CLEAVERS combined.

The teen zeens were also critical in helping form crushes on other young hotties of the 70's but we'll discuss that another time.

My resume in landmarks

Grand Army Plaza
Rockefeller Centre (International Building)
Rockefeller Centre (A building on 6th Avenue)
Flatiron Building (Fifth Avenue and 19th)
Wall Street (Bond Street actually)
Flatiron Building (FifthAvenue and 19th next door)
Grand Central Station (Madison and 47th)
Laguardia Airport (PS 148 Queens)
59th Street Bridge (PS 111 Queens)
Chrysler Building (41st and Lexington)
New York Life building & Madison Square Park (26th and Madison)

New Pet Peeve

I hate when someone, somehow has gotten me to expose my soft underbelly, by getting me to reveal something private and personal and then leaves me hanging there, twisting in the wind, with my neck in the noose that I tied with my own hand, unsure about revealing anything at all.

Rush

I can't say that I'm sorry to see Rush go but then again I don't really care. I always thought he was obnoxious and particularly hated his use of the word Feminazi. With that said, what did he say exactly that got him into trouble?

Yes. At the risk of appearing vulnerable and purposely uninformed, I'm not exactly sure what Rush said that got him into trouble. So please feel free to condescend and explain it to me, the next time you see me and then explain to me why he didn't have to quit after using the aforementioned word Feminazi.

YES

In keeping with my commitment to YES, I accepted an invitation for drinks (yes. on a school night) at the bar inside the Hotel Madison on 38th and Madison. The bar is in the back. There is a fireplace, a piano player, lowlighting and delicious Merlot.

I recommend this place for anyone looking for a romantic setting with a roaring fire.

The Year of Yes

Every year my birthday falls around the Jewish New Year. I always think of it as a good time to make resolutions or make different choices or what have you. Those of you who know me well, know that I have not had a good year or couple of years for that matter.

Well, this year feels different. I feel different. I've made an important decision.

This is going to be the year of yes. I'm saying yes to life, to invitations, to supporting my friends with their projects, to trying new things, to dating new people or any people for that matter, for making art, for making new friends, for living my life, for saying yes.

I'm living in the moment, for the moment and I'm open and ready for my destiny and life's little surprises, good or bad.

And yes, as if you had to ask, I will be wearing pants plus the occasional skirt or dress, when I say yes.

Hump Day

Sleepy. Too early. Wednesday. I'm feeling my age but I'm still wearing pants.