Rant #3,042: Just Can't Wait

Goodness, this has been another questionable year on my end, and I am glad that 2022 is just about over and done with.

I wish that I personally could look back at 2022 with glee, but I simply can’t.

I think from here on in and into the future, I am going to have to scope out my years differently than I have in the past, trying to balance the good with the bad.

I could say that my family had generally good health this year, but the last three or four months have been truly horrific for us.

My mother’s mental condition concerns me greatly, and it has forced a change of lifestyle on all of us here that we never foresaw.

And then we topped it off with all the turmoil that we had getting COVID—except for my son, thank God—and I really cannot say that we had our good health for the entire year.

When one scrambles to find good things to say about a year that is just about over, the first thing that comes to mind is good health, and my wife and I had good health for about 11 and a half months, and then we got bit.

Happily, we recovered quickly, so I have to look at things from that perspective … it could have been worse.

We are all working, but I will never get over being told that at age 62, I would never work full time again.

I applied for full-time work this year, three years after that fact, but nothing came of it, still leading me to believe that no matter what anyone says, we still discriminate against people who are considered to be older … and I am living proof of that fact.

I am older, but far from over the hill, but go tell that to those doing the hiring that are probably half my age.

Again, thank goodness I have my remote job. It is what it is, but why was I ever put into the position that I am in, having to settle for such a position because I could not get something better?

This is a question that will follow me for the rest of my life, but I have pretty much accepted the fact that this is where I am and will be … sort of.

I mean, 2022 was really another up and down year, but can I say it was one of my best years?

No, not by a long shot.

Nothing really went right for me during the past year.

I tried to do the right thing, but it just never clicked like it has in past years.

Everything was a struggle, and dealing with others to help you do the right thing became increasingly difficult.

Were there any good things that happened this year?

Yes, there were.

Our son continues to amaze us with his resiliency and his maturity.

He is able to do things that he wasn’t supposed to be doing, or at least we were told by supposed experts that he wasn’t supposed to be doing.

And I just know that for 2023 and beyond, he will continue to amaze us, because at this point, we expect it.

And my daughter is doing well personally and professionally, so that is good, too.

I celebrated my 65th birthday this past year, and my family threw me a great party.

But the highlight of the party, for me at least, was that I was able to replace my wife’s diamond ring, a promise I made to her years ago to do.

The ring had fallen out during a prior cruise, we ere never able to find it, and I vowed that one day, I would replace it, and I presented her the ring during my party.

It was an experience the two of us will never forget.

We had two decent vacations this year.

The first vacation was the best road trip vacation we ever took, traveling south and doing everything that we planned to do, satisfying each of our needs and desires of things to do on a family vacation.

It was a very relaxing time, even though I did work during that week away.

And I worked on the few days we had away on our cruise, and we had a fine time visiting Bermuda.

The only problem with that vacation was that I do believe we picked up the COVID bug from that voyage, but we will never know for sure.

Looking over the year, we laughed a lot, we cried a lot, we threw up our hands in disgust a lot … much like any other year.

But somehow, I won’t ever look at 2022 with much fondness.

My mother’s fate was sealed this year, and who knows what 2023 will bring?

So for my new year’s resolutions … I really don’t have any.

My family and I will continue to do the best that we can in the face of terrible adversity.

I told my wife last night that I do believe that 2023 will be a difficult year for us, and I truly believe that personally.

But I watch our son further mature, and it gives me a lot of hope for the new year, too.

How will he amaze us in 2023?

That really keeps me going, because I simply can’t wait!

Have a wonderful new year, a great weekend, and I will speak to you again with my first Rant of the new year on Monday.

Tally-ho and away we go!

Rant #3,041: Lies

What do you make of this George Santos character?

Federal and county prosecutors are looking into the Congressman-elect after the Long Island Republican lied on his resume—and later admitted to it.

The New York Times brought out that after its own investigation, it found that Santos lied about his educational background, his work experience, even his religion and his family background.

He might have also lied about his place of residence, and the fact of the matter is that the legislator—who also claims that he is gay—evidently won his election based on this pack of lies, of which he has finally admitted to, calling them “embellishments.”

The problem here is that even though members of his own party have urged him to step down, if Santos does not resign, nothing stands in the way of him being sworn in as scheduled on January 3 … all based on a cataclysm of one untruth after another.

If Santos does step down, the seat would remain empty, and New York State governor Kathy Hochul would have to call a special election, which could include a primary race in the spring.

But Santos is adamant that he will, in fact, take the oath of office on January 3, an oath that will be as hollow as he is if he does what he says he is going to do.

Due to the lies he told, Santos’ very existence is being questioned—is he artfully “George Santos” or someone else—what are his money sources, is he actually an agent of a foreign country, and is he even a citizen of this country—the latter being a necessity for a congressional position.

Look, let’s be honest about it, this is not the first time that a legislator has lied about his background.

Some years ago, Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut claimed that he was a Vietnam war veteran, which he was not, In fact, an earlier New York Times investigation found that he actually got five deferments so he would not have to serve during the war.

And there are dozens of others who have lied, told untruths, and generally told the public stories that were as phony as a $3 bill.

But Santos’ story is perhaps the worst example of this type of behavior, because what he called “embellishments” camouflaged the fact that he not only lied, but lied about EVERYTHING.

He claimed that his educational background includes college attendance at some of the top universities in the country … the truth is that his education might be at the high school level at best, and that is it.

He claimed that his work background included working at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup ... but the truth is that they have no record of his ever being an employee at either organization.

He claimed he had Jewish grandparents that fled Europe during World War II … but more on that later.

He claimed to be gay, and ran against a gay opponent, but he was married at one time … perhaps this is the only one you can give him a pass to, because that does happen, but with his entire pack of lies, who can believe him when he talks about his sexuality?

He claimed that the criminality that the New York Times found in his background—using a stolen credit card when he was a youth in South America—was a lie … but the truth is that this criminal act has not yet been resolved, and might never be resolved, due to the lax court system overseas.

I mean, you could go on and on and on about this guy without ever finding an end.

And what might be the whopper of this whole thing is that he said that his family was a victim of the Holocaust, and that he is Jewish, although The New York Times found that his grandparents were from South America, with absolutely no link to the Holocaust or Judaism.

He later joked that while it is true that he is not Jewish, he was “Jew-ish,” one of the great explanations for a lie I have ever heard. It will certainly go down in the record books as one of the stupidest explanations for justifying a lie in modern recorded history.

OK, the guy lied through his teeth, but the question that I have is how was this guy not properly vetted by the Republicans?

He ran for Congress twice, losing once and being victorious this time around, so he was their choice for this vacant seat.

How could he pull the wool over the eyes of his own party like he has?

I don’t get that at all, and it just feeds into my belief that I will never vote for a Republican or Democrat again, because they are all irresponsible individuals who are out for one thing, and it has nothing to do with the constituents that they are supposed to be representing.

Santos’ story is a sad one, and I feel that the full story has yet to come out.

There is way more to this story than meets the eye, and when the extent of this story finally comes out, we are going to find that the axiom “a sucker is born every minute” will be amplified by this case.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of suckers out there, including those who voted this storyteller into office.

Once again, you get what you pay for.

Rant #3,040: Rockabye Baby ...

OK, this is a no-COVID zone today.

Just let me say that my sister is getting better, and might be done with this—for now—as we speak.

Today is December 28, so I should have been completely done with this sickness protocol as of yesterday, as my 10-day cautionary period—having it, getting rid of it, and then taking precautions for five days—finally ended.

But I am taking extra caution, and I am still going to sleep on the Castro Convertible tonight, just to make sure—

Then, it is back into my own bed, and hopefully, that will help my sleep pattern to improve from what it is now: some sleep in the Castro Convertible, move to the living room to sleep, then move back into the Castro Convertible for my remaining sleep of the night—and this can happen a few times over until I finally get up and begin my day.

What with the cruise we had in November and moving into this month, I think that over the past month, I have slept in my own bed three times, but that streak will end on Thursday night.

And the Castro Convertible sure came in handy, but it is good for maybe a night or two, not nearly a month.

That being said, I am happy we had it to use, because I don’t know where I would sleep if we didn’t have it.

Castro Convertibles have been around since the early 1930s, and is a real New York point in history, as the company began in the Big Apple by Bernard Castro right in the middle of the Depression.

The company grew the brand as an “extra bed, but also a piece of furniture” for families looking to temporarily house other family members who were out of work or who had just come to this country from elsewhere.

The company continued to be popular through the 1940s and 1950s, and it was one of the first major companies to advertise regularly on this new gadget called television, where, in 1946, it demonstrated the ease of opening the sofa into a bed by using young, four-year-old Bernadette Castro as the model, opening the bed with ease.

If this young girl could do it, then anyone could!

And it was a perfect device for service members coming home from the war and needing temporary sleeping quarters, and years before Annette became the focus of attention on “The Mickey Mouse Club” as the country watched her grow from a child to a woman, Bernadette Castro was a similar focus of attention.

In fact, the younger Castro became one of television’s first commercial celebrities, and she had a long career as an ad pitchman, an actor, a singer and as a politician in New York City, where she held a number of positions in city government through numerous mayoralty administrations.

In 1993, around the time the elder Castro died, Castro Convertible was sold to Krause Furniture, but 15 years later, the Castro family started a campaign to get back control of the company and its intellectual property

In 2012, the younger Castro and her siblings got back that control of the company, but relocated it to South Florida, where I believe it operates today.

My family had one of the original Castro Convertibles in our house from the 1930s. It was originally owned by my grandparents, but we inherited it, and 50 years ago or more, I used to sleep on it when my grandparents were visiting and my bed was not available—six people in a two-bedroom apartment was a bit tight!

The mattress then was at least a few inches thick, and it was highly sleepable.

That sofa bed lasted until the 1980s, I believe, when the mechanism kind of died, and we got a newer model around that time, the one I have been sleeping on for the past three weeks.

The mattress is about an inch thick, and every time you turn over, you feel the metal mechanism from underneath grind into your body.

It is nowhere near as comfortable as the original model, but it has served its purpose over the past 40 years or so … so you can say that we are a Castro Convertible family, going back to the 1930s.

That being said, I will be so glad to get into my regular bed on Thursday evening.

We could use a new mattress, but whatever we have in there is just so much better than that poor Castro Convertible that I have been trying to sleep on.

And yes, you have to say that for what it was, it was one of the great inventions of the 20th century, as it expanded whatever quarters it was used in, so kudos to the Castro family for creating something that I have used off an on for so many years of my life.

On the other hand, I just cannot wait to get into my actual bed, and put this entire episode behind me—

And the operative word there is “behind” … as my behind might still be sore from sleeping in the Castro Convertible.

One more night!

I simply cannot wait!

Rant #3,039: Go Away From My World

 

“We hate you COVID,

Oh yes we do.

We don’t hate anything

As much as you.

When you are near us,

We’re blue.

Oh COVID,

We hate you!”

Yes, that is my simple take on this scourge—to the tune of “Conrad We Love You” from “Bye Bye Birdie” or “We Love You Beetles” by The Carefrees—and I feel even stronger about it now that it has invaded my own household.

But while it appears to be out of my environs, it hasn’t yet finished up its destruction of our holidays or New Year.

My sister told me yesterday that she now has COVID, probably getting it from my mother when our mom was being tested and she accompanied her to the testing site.

And my sister, as you know, is a long-hauler, meaning that she has gotten hit by the virus several times over the past three years, officially, and other times where it probably contributed to a cold or whatever other viral malady she had.

And she got it on her birthday yet—yesterday—and on Boxing Day and Kwanzaa to boot … what a predicament!

To make things even worse, her middle son is in visiting from California, but after being tested, he doesn’t have it … or at least not yet.

This thing simply does not want to go away!

We are all better here, with what I have morphing into a mix of a cold or a bad allergy period.

Sometimes I don’t sneeze or blow my nose for hours at a time; other times, it is like a waterfall of phlegm is cascading out of me.

But generally, I feel fine, and yes, through it all, I have never lost my senses of taste and smell as others have.

And my appetite remains hardy.

So this is really something that cannot be figured out, because it hits everyone differently.

I used the Castro Convertible last night, and will probably use it for two more nights, and then, barring anything unforeseen, I will be back in my old bed on Thursday evening.

That gives me all the incentive I need to be well and be rid of this thing.

I just thank my lucky stars that I had what appears to be a very mild case of this; I simply cannot imagine what my sister went through nearly three years ago with this when it came to us literally out of nowhere, and there were no shots or pills to lessen its effects.

I can’t even imagine what my wife went through a few weeks back, which was nowhere near what my sister had, but was way worse than what I ended up getting.

I really don’t wish this on anyone, but the timing of it--having it come during the holiday season--makes it all the more worse.

My wife said she has already forgotten anything and everything about the holidays this year, and I am going to do the same thing too, because it wasn’t much of a holiday for my family at all.

We have to move on from this, and hope that 2023 is a much better year than 2022 was … and 2022 was already a pretty rotten year for my family before COVID came knocking at our door.

Maybe January 1 will signify not just a new year, but a new beginning for us … I just don’t know at this point in time.

But when I look back at 2022, I see a few nice periods—our vacations—overwhelmed by the bad times, of which there were many.

I really did not want to write about COVID today, but when my sister told me that she got it again, I just felt that writing about it was the best antidote to fight it.

Let’s see what the remainder of 2022 brings to us; it can’t be much worse than what we received during the previous 300-plus days.

“We hate you COVID,

Oh yes we do.

We don’t hate anything

As much as you.

When you are near us,

We’re blue.

Oh COVID,

We hate you!”

Rant #3,038: Once Bitten, Twice Shy

 

Well, COVID destroyed my family’s holiday season, but at this stage of the game, we are all doing much, much better.

As Hanukkah ended, my wife is free of COVID, and has been free of it for several days.

I am still in the 10-day “caution zone,” but I feel fine and by the middle of the week, if everything goes well, I will be out of that zone and finally put this all behind me.

My mother is doing as well as someone of her age could be doing with this thing. We tested her for COVID yesterday, and at least by the home test, she does not have it anymore. She feels much better, is actually eating, but I don’t know if she fully understands the severity of what she just went through ,,, she has given me verbal indications that she doesn’t fully get it.

She is now in that “caution zone,” and if everything goes according to plan, she will be out of it and ready to take on the world by the New Year’s weekend.

And our son … thank God he didn’t really have anything but a slight cold, he tested negative, and he is fit as a fiddle.

I cannot remember a worse holiday season for my family, but the only good part of it is that we have rebounded pretty nicely, and look forward to a healthy, but quiet, New Year coming up this weekend.

I consider myself particularly lucky, because of everyone I know, in my immediate family and out of it, I had probably the mildest form of the malady, never having a ever and pretty much kicking this thing after two or three days, tops.

We all have remnants of this thing, in some sniffles, but I have that 365 days a year—and 366 days in leap years—due to my bad allergies, so I really don’t know if this is a remnant of the disease or is just me going back to my old self.

The one thing that I do know is that I never want to have to spend time trying to get comfortable and to sleep in that Castro Convertible again.

It sure came in handy, but it is about as comfortable as sleeping on a cement slab … but it served its purpose, and now, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I have just a day or two until I can move back into my regular bed and sleep with my wife, not apart from her.

My family and I missed a few holiday get togethers with our extended family during the past three-plus weeks of this, but that was the collateral damage that we just had to go through.

And we missed several doctors’ appointments during this cycle, so January is chock full of makeups.

But it appears that we made it through, and six months from now, we can get our boosters, and yes, my wife, my son and my mother will all get them, as will I.

In spite of what some claim, while they might not prevent one from getting COVID, they certainly lessen its affects once you do get COVID—as was certainly proven by this episode--and we will get them when we can early this coming summer.

And here is a nod to modern technology, which when it works, works so well.

I did not miss any television while I was laid up on the Castro Convertible, because I watched just about everything I normally watch—and bided my time—with my tablet computer.

Sure, the picture is smaller and it isn’t easy or viable to channel surf like I normally do, but I was able to while away many hours watching various shows and movies on my tablet.

And my computer—which I think has interminable computer COVID, as it continues to give me start-up problems—served me well, too, and even when I felt the worst, I still was able to do my work and send it in without any problems … other than when we lost power on Thursday afternoon for three or four hours.

And when power returned, I went back at it … yes, there is something to remote work after all.

So all told, this was a holiday period that I will want to forget, but at the same time, it spawned the greatest gift that one could possibly get, which was health after we were all feeling like crud for a few days.

It is funny how COVID works, but hopefully, it won’t ever have to deal with it again.

It was an unwelcome visitor this time around, but next time, I pledge that it will not get near this house, If I can help it.

Those might be famous last words, but by taking the booster when we can get it, we will at least put up a firewall to the illness, giving COVID pause to consider whether it can infect us like it did this time.

One time was certainly much more than enough.

Rant #3,037: "Christmas Bells, Those Christmas Bells ... "

My personal holiday cheer is minimal this year.

If you are a regular visitor to the Blog, I think I have outlined the reason(s) for this feeling I current have over the past few days or so.

But that does not mean that the season has to be joyless, completely devoid of any happiness.

I have my family and friends to help me to get through all of this, and let’s be honest about it, a lot of people do not have the support system that I have to make it through this mess.

I am personally getting better, my mom is too, and I believe that we are closer to recovery than we are to total breakdown.

And tonight is the fifth night of Hanukkah, Saturday is the sixth night, and Sunday is the seventh night … and this leads into Sunday’s Christmas Day.

As I said many times before, I really have no idea what Christmas means to me. It is not my holiday, I am an outsider looking in on the holiday … but the holiday can be revered even from a distance.

I look at Christmas maybe a little bit differently than those who celebrate the holiday, because growing up in a Jewish family, we did not have Christmas trees, we did not adorn our house with Christmas lights, and Santa Claus was simply a symbol of the “other holiday.”

Over the past 13 years, I have spoken about this subject at great length. Take this personal look at the holiday, which was originally posted as Rant #643 from December 22, 2011. I have edited it a bit, but it kind of reflects how I can talk about the special day without really talking about the special day directly.

Here it is:

"A early Merry Christmas to all who celebrate this special time of year.

Even though I am Jewish, I still occasionally get caught up in the frenzy of the Christmas holiday season.

And part of that frenzy is the music, more to the point, the contemporary music celebrating the holiday.

While there is scant little for Hanukkah—more than you might think if you want to look for it, but still not that much—for Christmas, of course, there is plenty.

Some radio stations jump onto this point with a loud crash, playing Christmas music—and nothing but Christmas music—from like September on.

Other stations mix it in with their usual fare, but during the week prior to Christmas, they mix it in ad nauseum.

But I’m one to talk. I have so many Christmas recordings that you might think I am a good goy, as in gentile. But I’m not, of course. I just have lots of Christmas recordings in my collection.

What’s my favorite Christmas record? Or more to the point, what's the favorite Christmas record of this Jewish guy (not goy)?

In previous years, I told you it was "Riu Chiu" by the Monkees, which really isn't directly a Christmas song, per se, but a Spanish folk song dating from the 1500s that the Monkees used on their Christmas episode. Thus, for the past decades, it has morphed into a Christmas recording.

And if there is a No. 2, it most definitely has to be "Snoopy’s Christmas”/”It Kinda Looks Like Christmas” by the Royal Guardsmen. Yes, the entire 45 that was released in 1967.

Both songs--and the Monkees recording--bring me back to a different time, so they are both nostalgic and Christmassy at the same time.

Although on their Christmas episode, "Riu Chiu" was never officially released until many years later. I will bet that if it was released in 1967, it would have been a huge holiday hit.

The Royal Guardsmen tunes are another thing altogether.

Dating from the same period as the Monkees’ tune, the A side of the single is simply a continuance of the band’s “Snoopy” saga, which would encompass at least four singles: “Snoopy vs. the Red Baron,” “The Return of the Red Baron,” “Snoopy’s Christmas,” and “Snoopy For President.”

(And I found two more: "The Smallest Astronaut" and the Royal Guardsmen reunion-related "Snoopy vs. Osama.")

It kind of blends bubblegum with the holidays, and it works to perfection.

It did not chart on the Hot 100 of the time, although it did chart on Billboard's Christmas chart. It has been a favorite for the past decades, and you regularly hear it during this time of year.

The B side is basically a standard Christmas song, but it works wonderfully with the more popular A side.

It's very light and fluffy, almost like audio snow.

The Royal Guardsmen kind of got pigeonholed into the Snoopy thing, and they aren't remembered for much else. But they did have several other terrific singles, including my favorite "Behind Enemy Lines."

But they will always be remembered for those Snoopy records, and I will always love "Snoopy's Christmas."

I still have the original single that I bought in late 1967 in my collection, and it still plays well.

So have a Merry Christmas everyone!

"Christmas bells, those Christmas bells, ringing out from the land ... "

Say what you want, but this was my reflection on Christmas several years ago, and it still holds up today.

Whenever I hear "Snoopy's Christmas," I know that we are in a real special time of the year.

Speak to you again on Monday. Have a wonderful weekend and a fantastic Christmas!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgiGIfrZ2HI

Rant #3,036: i Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself

When it rains, pours …

My mother has now gotten COVID, and it is bad enough when someone like myself gets it at age 65, but when someone like my mother gets it, at age 91, it is that much worse.

What makes the whole thing really bad is something that I haven’t spoken about, and only alluded to, during the past few weeks, but due to the circumstances, it is something now that I must speak about without any hesitancy.

My mother is in almost a full state of a progressive age-related dementia, has been going through this since late summer, and even separate from the COVID, she appears to be getting worse by the day.

Starting in late August, her behavior changed to one that no one could fully understand.

We discovered several things that were going on involving her that made no sense at all, the tipping point being when she was throwing out family mementos because, she claimed, “I will never watch them and don’t need them anymore.”

This included things like videotapes and DVDs of major family occasions during the past 30 or more years, such as birthdays, anniversaries and other special occasions that she once cherished.

God knows how many things she actually threw out over the period of time that we didn’t know she was doing this, but upon discovering one garbage bag chock full of this stuff, I salvaged through it and came out with a messy, but salvageable dozen or so tapes and DVDs that are part of our family history. Heaven knows how much else she discarded when we didn’t know she was doing this.

And almost immediately afterward came the real harbinger of the onset of the dementia.

I began to receive phone calls and letters directed at me for my mother’s non-payment of bills.

This started in about October or so, and included everything like water bills, electricity bills, credit card bills, property tax bills … you name it, and she stopped paying everything starting in late August.

I was receiving the calls and the threats and everything else because my name was put onto all of her accounts earlier this year, so after not hearing from her, they went after me.

Over a period of time—about two months—that all was resolved, but early on when we discovered what was happening, I asked her why she had not paid the bills, and she said to me in a completely child-like manner, “I guess I forgot” as she flung her hands in the air.

You don’t forgot oil bills, you don’t forget school tax bills, unless you are not of your right mind, which she is not.

And then comes eating … my mother was never a big eater, belying her very slight frame, but she always had something to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner … which is not the case anymore.

She does not enjoy eating anymore, does not remember to eat, and has to be reminded to eat or she simply won’t.

Before we realized this, I am sure there were days where she hadn’t had a thing to eat—or drink—over a 24-hour period, and even when we became aware of this non-eating phase, I know of at least one day where she had absolutely nothing—and I mean nothing—to eat or drink at all.

One doctor that I took her to relayed to us that something had to be done about this, because she lost 19 lbs, over a year, plunging from 112 lbs. down to 93 lbs., which is not a way to diet but at her age, such a fall could irreparably harm her.

And my mother looked terrible, had absolutely no energy, almost as if she had purposely let herself go.

But her mindset was not allowing her to have a good quality of life, so the family has literally taken over her affairs—including financial—and since I am handling the money matters, I have found things that she did with her money that were questionable—if only for her and my late father’s finances, nothing illegal or below board here—when she started to enact them decades ago and are completely unacceptable now that he is gone and she can’t handle them anymore … but there is little I can do to undue 50 or more years of financial quagmires she created for herself at this stage of the game.

We brought in some outside help to tend to her needs, and they have been helping her eat a decent meal and in other ways, including companionship, but now that my mother has COVID, the women won’t be coming over for at least two weeks or perhaps never again … we just don’t know yet.

She is also under a neurologist’s care along with her other doctors, but since she now has COVID, we have to wait on completing the tests that the doctor asked for to better assess her mental condition (i.e., is her dementia age-related, it is Alzheimer’s, can any medication be given to help her, etc.).

So my mother is alone once again, save for me, who will tend to her needs even though I am not myself through with COVID.

We have no choice in the matter, so I was elected to make sure she takes her medicine, takes her other pills, eats, and simply stays alert.

At this point, that is just about all we can do with her.

She cannot go into a nursing home because of her malady, and we have another problem that she and my father got embroiled in years ago, not really understanding the future consequences, that pretty much forces her to stay where she is, not for her betterment, but for the betterment of our family:

A reverse mortgage.

Once she leaves the confines of her house for good, the terms of the mortgage are over, and my family—my wife, my son and I—will have major decisions of our own to make about our own living quarters, as the bank will take over full ownership of the house, and since we cannot possibly repay the mortgage, they will look to sell the house and make whatever money they can off of this dwelling.

So whatever reasoning my parents used for going into a reverse mortgage—there were many reasons, we have found out—it is the glue that ties my mother to the house forever, almost a Super Glue that prevents her from really getting the care that she needs as she lives out her life.

Believe me, I have thought about this since Day One of the reverse mortgage years ago, and I feel almost guilty now that we cannot provide her the real care she needs to handle her dementia.

But at this point, with COVID thrown into the mix, things are even worse than I could have ever imagined years ago when my parents went into this agreement.

So there you have it.

I hate to sully what should be a joyous holiday season with this horror story, but that is how it is for my family during Holiday Season 2022.

It isn’t good, and 2023 doesn’t appear have the potential to be any better than 2022 was, it only seems to be have all the earmarks of even a worse year.

I have to have hope, though, and when I look at my family’s Hanukkah Menorah in the window, I have to believe that its lit candles represent a beacon of light that will help us through these very troubled times.

Like I said, I have to hope … .

Rant #3,035: See

I am writing this Rant pretty early in the morning, and it has nothing to do with me having COVID at all.

I am in one of my sleepless nights, or almost sleepless nights, where I slept a few hours, woke up, and have been tossing and turning for a few hours without returning to sleep.

Writing relaxes me, so I figured I would compose a new Rant which would ultimately help me go to sleep.

On your end, I hope it doesn’t put you to sleep as you are reading it.

Anyway, I still have COVID, although my body is really fighting it off.

As I have mentioned earlier, my “due dates” are December 22—when I am not contagious anymore—and December 27—when I should be free of the disease once and for all, even though I should continue to mask up through these dates and beyond going into the new year.

And yes, this comes at a bad time, during the holiday season, and my family and I are supposed to be places, and I, at. least, might not be able to attend these gatherings because of what I have, and the feeling that not only might I make myself feel worse by attending, but I might infect others with what I have.

I have had to postpone some medical appointments because of this situation, and right now, while I do feel quite a bit better, I am still not there yet, but it isn’t December 22 yet, so I am pretty much proceeding to plan.

And yes, I have been contacted by New York State about having COVID, what I should do to minimize my threat to others as well as getting myself better, etc.

Big Brother is watching you, and when you have COVID, they are watching you with a microscope, a telescope, and with whatever other scopes they have at their disposal.

So you have my own personal update on how I am doing—and thanks to those who wished me well—but what else is there to talk about?

I was taken aback the other day by the passing of Dino Danelli, and I was also taken aback by the lack of coverage of his passing, in particular, right here on Long Island.

Danelli was the drummer of the (Young) Rascals, a band that made its name right here on Long Island, playing every club that was around at that time in the mid-1960s when rock and roll was still new, and the Rascals’ brand of rock was even newer.

Felix Cavaliere, Eddie Brigati, Gene Cornish and Danelli mixed rock, rhythm and blues and soul into what later was called “blue-eyed soul,” and that potent mix produced one hit single after another for the act, because they sounded like no one else on the scene at the time.

And they became among, if not the, top act on Long Island, honing their craft as they pranced and danced around in outfits akin to what the Little Rascals of movie fame would wear in their movie shorts.

And while the Rascals were just so different than anything else out there—and were signed to “black” label Atlantic Records to accentuate how different they actually were—Danelli was also quite different than the norm at the time.

He was probably the first or rock and roll’s flamboyant drummers, who would not just sit behind the drums and pound them to the beat, but who would be a show in himself, twirling the drumsticks and having raucous fun behind that kit.

He was sort of like an American Keith Moon, without many of the personal excesses that followed Moon around, and all drummers in American rock acts really owe Danelli a nod, because he made the drummers of these bands more prominent with his out-there style, as opposed to just being the guy in the back.

And he played on all the band’s hits—you can probably name them yourself, but they included everything from “Good Lovin’” and “People Got To Be Free” to all the hits in between those and after those two songs.

Years ago, I had the opportunity to eat dinner with Danelli and Cornish when the Rascals were preparing for a comeback tour, and I have to say that both of these guys were really fun people, and as the Saki flowed, they really opened up about what it meant to be a rock star in the mid to late 1960s … and they also gave me an exclusive at that time, which was that the Rascals turned down a chance to play at Woodstock, which both of then agreed “was the dumbest thing we ever did.”

But the music—and his drumming—live on, and these Rock and Roll Hall of Famers still had quite a career even without Woodstock on their resume.

And Cavaliere and Cornish have kept the band alive in current times, playing together on tour of smaller venues.

R.I.P. Dino Danelli. You done good.

Rant #3,034: Fight Fire With Fire

OK, as you all now know, I have COVID.

But luckily, I have a mild case of it—certainly less virulent than what my sister and my wife had—and at this point, the doctor was right, over-the-counter aspirin is all I need to get back to normal.

That regimen is working, and I feel that by those two calendar points that I am looking at—December 22 when I am not contagious anymore, and December 27, when I should be free and clear of this for good—each date will be met on my road to recovery.

So I am managing right now, with this thing acting more like a cold than anything else at this point.

So let’s move on to something else, a topic that I would have addressed had I not gotten this early holiday gift from hell—

Anti-Semitism in the world and what we can do to fight it and knock it on its tuckis.

I read yesterday that since such incidents are up to record levels this year, a number of my fellow Jews have decided that to not draw attention to their Jewishness, they will not put up their menorahs in their windows, as is the tradition during Hanukkah.

They believe that the very presence of the menorah—and the lights of the candles—will almost act as a beacon for those who want to spew hate, and thus, they believe that this year, they will still light the menorah, but its lighting won’t be done in front of any window, so they will keep their beliefs to themselves.

To my fellow Jews who are doing this, I have this to say to you:

BAH HUMBUG!!!!

By deciding to keep your holiday private, you fools are feeding into the very Anti-Semitism and hate that you are trying to lessen the chances of happening, because you are making believe that you and your families don’t exist as they are, as Jews in this country and this world.

This country has the second largest population of Jews in the world, and in particular, Brooklyn and Long Island have the largest cut of the Jewish population in New York State.

To hide your religion and its lights—which should serve as a beacon of hope, not of negativity, during this time of year--simply feeds into all of those who hate Jews, deny the Holocaust existed, and blame the Jews for every ill that hits upon us.

I think part of the problem, as I have alluded to here today and in previous Rants, are the Jews themselves.

Many of us have so assimilated into the “norm” in the country and this world that we have forgotten who we really are, forgotten who our ancestors were, and in turn, forgotten the struggles that they went through to exist as Jews in a non-Jewish world.

You certainly see that in the entertainment business, where Jews sing Christmas songs with glee, but only bring up their own Jewishness when it serves them, often monetarily.

You see it within families, where Jews send their own brethren “Season’s Greetings” cards rather than Hanukkah cards … or send no cards at all.

And you certainly see it in the way certain current high-profile Anti-Semites, who have somehow come to the fore of our culture, have been pretty much accepted as who and what they are.

When Kyrie Irving promotes Anti-Semitism by putting up the link to a heinous video perpetuating every Jewish stereotype imaginable, he pretty much gets a pass by his fellow players and many fans, who claim that his punishment—missed games, a written apology, and meeting with Jewish leaders—was too harsh.

Even the commissioner of the NBA—who is Jewish himself—states that the player “is not an Anti-Semite,” even though it is unclear whether his apologetic thoughts—which had to be forced out of him, seemingly with forceps—were his own or written for him by his agent.

And his team, the Brooklyn Nets, playing in the heart of the borough’s Brooklyn community, is supposed to hold symposiums on inclusion—not on Anti-Semitism, specifically, but on inclusion, which while these meetings will certainly include the discussion on relations with the Jewish community, will not focus on that very topic.

We have had other communities that have been pummeled in one way or another, but when their situation is spoken about to search for answers to eradicate it, the focus is on that group and how to help it get through these incidents.

With Anti-Semitism, the laser focus should be on that subject, and nothing else, but it rarely is. The talk of Anti-Semitism is often enmeshed with talk of other such acts, and while those acts are heinous, fighting Anti-Semitism is a unique topic and should get a platform of its own.

And I think that that, again, has to do with my fellow Jews themselves, many of whom are so assimilated into our American culture that they do not take Anti-Semitism seriously.

The government doesn’t either, as Jews are not listed as an oppressed group by the government that we voted into office.

Blacks, Asians, women, LGBTQ, and others are on that list, but Jews are not, even though Anti-Semitic acts are rising at record levels.

Please explain this to me.

I could go on and on and on about this, but let me just say this in finishing up this discussion:

If you want to hide who you really are, if you want to hide your menorah during Hanukkah, that is your choice, and we live in a free country, so you can make your own choices without recrimination.

But if you have that right, then I also have the right to call you cowards … cowards who play into the hands of every Anti-Semite that there is.

When my family moved from Queens to Long Island in 1971, during our first Hanukkah in our new environs, someone through a rock through our front window, not only breaking the window, but toppling our menorah.

We reported the incident to the police—who in those days, simply listed it as a “teenage prank” and would do nothing else to those involved—and most importantly, we put the menorah back into the ledge of the window and lit our candles as it nothing had happened.

So, more than 50 years ago, we were not going to be cowards, afraid to practice our religion in our own home and own community.

Flash forward to the cowards of today—

And somehow, by your actions, even though you are Jews yourselves, I think there is a bit of Anti-Semitism inside of you, too, a bit of hate and a bit of being ashamed of yourselves, by your actions.

My family’s menorah sits proudly in our window, and will be lit up with glee during Hanukkah.

No Anti-Semite is going to stop that from happening; it makes my family’s resolve even stronger to celebrate our holiday the way we want to celebrate it,

Light those lights!

Rant #3,033: B--I-N-G-O

B-I-N-G-O!

Yes, this wonderful year of 2022 has left my family and I with one more gift before it bids adieu—

I have COVID.

As you know, my wife has recently had it, probably gotten it from our time on our cruise ship vacation, and even though we took the greatest precautions, I got hit by it too.

I started feeling weird on maybe late Thursday, but honestly, I didn’t think much of it.

I though it was my allergies acting up again, but even though I got through Friday, in the evening, all of a sudden I got the chills and felt sick.

Then yesterday morning I was tested, and lo and behold, I got it.

I don’t feel what you call “terrible,” but I don’t feel like myself at all.

My nose and throat are ragged, and yes, I continue to have trouble sleeping.

The doctor said that my case is a mild one, and he didn’t even prescribe me any pills to rid myself of this thing; he just told me to fight it with regular, over-the-counter aspirin.

My throat isn’t sore at all, my eating is good and yes, I guess I am doomed to slapping on the Castro Convertible until the end of the year, but that is where this thing stands now.

If this is a mild case, I can only imagine what a bad case is, like what my sister had right at the beginning of the pandemic.

And what my wife recently had was much more severe than what I have, and she is up and about and went back to work this past week.

She says she is just a little stuffy, but otherwise, she is OK, thank God.

Me, I am contagious through December 22, and then I have to wear my mask and take every precaution for five days after that, so I am looking at December 27 as my due date to be rid of this thing.

And to have it happen right before Hanukkah …  I could not have chosen a worse time to get this.

In addition, I have to postpone all the activities I had planned for this week … I now have to postpone my son’s blood work, my own dental appointment, and a test that my mother needs as part of her neurological makeup.

And right now, our son doesn’t have it—he has a cold, but nothing more--and my mother doesn’t have it, so we are good with that.

As I have said before, my wife probably got this thing in the gym on the ship, but we will really never know how this came on.

We live in “the virus doesn’t exist and I am not getting shots” prime territory here on Long Island, so she could have gotten it anywhere, but most probably, I picked it up from her.

We are in close quarters here, so I guess if she got it, I was inevitably going to follow her, no matter what we did to try to stem its movement.

We are concerned about our son, who does have his usual winter cold right now, but he has gone to work, has bowled with his team, and appears not to be affected by this, at least right now.

My mother is protected by her being pretty much partitioned away from us by her being in the lower level of the house—with us on the upper level—and we have spoken by phone and that’s it.

I don’t think COVID travels along phone lines.

Funny, this is the first time in my memory that I have been sick for Hanukkah, and for that matter, will be sick during Christmas.

I don’t know what time of the year I was sick when I was a baby and I had measles, but I don’t think that it was this time of the year.

So as we lit the first candle of Hanukkah yesterday, I was wearing both my yarmulke and my mask at the same time, for the first time, and hopefully the only time.

And I will be wearing both during the entirely of Hanukkah this year, which simply puts an exclamation point on another horrible year that my family and I have experienced.

Just when you thought that you escaped the year unscathed, this thing comes around, and it bites, and bites hard.

The only good thing about it is that it won’t effect my work at all; there is something to working remotely after all.

But I didn’t need to prove that to myself by getting this thing, and I hope it leaves my family and I as quickly as it came.

Let me show it the door … .

Rant#3,032: Hanukkah, Hanukkah

This weekend, on Sunday evening at sundown, Jews around the world will celebrate Hanukkah, “The Festival of Lights,” which is not the most important of the holidays on the Jewish calendar, but it has become important in our modern Jewish culture.

It is a time of family gatherings, gift giving, and a time of cheer among Jews worldwide.

The holiday literally lights our path for the new year—both the Jewish New Year and the regular New Year—and it is the brightest of all the Jewish holidays, guided by that smidgen of oil that was used beyond what it should have been used for to light up the Second Temple for eight days.

The actual meaning of “Hanukkah”—or Chanukah or Hanukkah—is “dedication,” and the light burning from the menorah illuminates a clear path to dedicate ourselves to betterment in our lives and to our family.

Anti-Semitic incidents are on the rise across America and worldwide, but Jews must not refrain from celebrating this holiday. That would give into those who commit these heinous acts.

And no, as I have said 1,000 times, Hanukkah is not “Jewish Christmas” by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, Jesus celebrated Hanukkah; Christmas came about years after his passing.

Here is what I wrote about Hanukkah, in edited form, going back to Rant #641, December 20, 2011.

“It is Hanukkah.

I know that for most of our culture this means absolutely nothing, but for many of us, this holiday, which begins at sundown, reflects the culmination of a year's work, andit is now the time to party and celebrate.

I know to most people, this means absolutely nothing, but to us 3 per centers--the percent of the U.S. population that is Jewish--it does mean something, maybe more to some than others, since there seems to be a rising tide for Jews who celebrate Christmas.

No, I don't get it either.

Anyway, on the Jewish calendar, Hanukkah is not a major holiday. But it is a joyous and festive one, celebrating the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabeus revolt, during the second century BCE (before the common era).

After the Jews regained control of the temple, they found that they only had one night's oil for their candelabra, their eternal light. Somehow, through some type of miracle, the oil burned for eight days, hence the celebration of Hanukkah for eight days and the use of a menorah to signify the eternal light.

It is a joyous holiday and a festive one, but, as I said, it is not a major holiday on the Jewish calendar.

That is the reason that many give for high-profile Jews basically ignoring the holiday, at least out in public.

But of course, that is nonsense.

Whatever anybody says, Hanukkah is a huge holiday for Jews around the globe.

It is a gift-giving holiday, a holiday where you reaffirm your family ties, a holiday that is to be celebrated, and not shunned, like some unfortunate Jews do.

Sure, it's always right near Christmas, and a lot of people believe that it is the “Jewish Christmas.”

Well let me tell you, it isn't. It has nothing to do with Christmas at all.

However, because of the actions of some high-profile Jews, many people think that Hanukkah simply doesn't measure up, that Jews celebrate Christmas.

Sorry, at least in my family, we don't.

Christmas is a wonderful holiday, with its direction very similar to that of Hanukkah.

But Hanukkah isn't the “Jewish Christmas” much like Christmas is not the “Gentile Hanukkah.”

No matter how much society wants the two holidays intertwined, one has nothing to do with the other.

On that note, I wish everyone a joyous Hanukkah. Eat lots of sweet things, get and give your presents, and feel content with who you are and what religion you are.

I know that I am content, very content indeed.”

So on Sunday night, we will light the first candle on the menorah by first lighting the shamash, or the ninth candle on the candelabra that gives life to the other eight candles surrounding it.

We will eat a nice dinner, give out our gifts, and everybody will be happy and full of fun.

It is a great holiday, and a holiday that I will always cherish.

So to Jews around the world who are reading this Rant, have a great Hanukkah, and for them and all others, have a great weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday.

Rant #3,031: Sleep Walk

My wife’s COVID odyssey is all but over.

She is not sick anymore, and while she is still wearing a mask indoors, she finally ventured outside yesterday to go to the bank, and today, she plans on going back to work, wearing a mask at her workplace, too.

Thank goodness that episode is just about over … and if you need any further proof that I am overjoyed about her relatively quick recovery beyond the desire for her to be healthy, just know that I am typing out today’s Rant at about 3 a.m. in the morning.

I knew it would finally get to me, and while I have had insomnia many times before COVID entered our house, this current sleeplessness I can definitely pin on the living arrangements that we have had to make to ensure that no one else in the house was infected with this scourge.

The “novelty” of sleeping on the Castro Convertible has worn off, and I see it for what it is: I am glad that we have it, glad that it was available to me during this period … but honestly, it is like sleeping on a brick slab, and I would like to sleep in my own bed again.

When it was diagnosed that my wife had COVID, we made several changes to things in the house, mainly moving a lot of my stuff out of the main bedroom, where my wife was going to stay while she had the malady and was contagious.

So not only did I move out some of my clothes and some of my electronic gadgets from the main bedroom, but I also moved myself out of there for my own protection.

(How I did not get infected when I was in there pre-diagnosis, when we thought she only had a really bad cold, is a question for the ages.)

Anyway, the Castro Convertible in my daughter’s old bedroom—a room that currently houses my main computer and all of my records—had not been used in years, it was available to me, and it became the key piece of furniture in the house to carry out our plan, which was to get my wife better while not infecting anyone else.

We have used this bed a few times in the past.

I believe that when I had chicken pox as an adult some years ago, my wife slept on it for the very same reasons I am sleeping on it now.

I believe my aunt slept on it one night while she visited us, and I do remember that my late father-in-law slept on it several years ago for a solid week when we had him over prior to his going into a nursing home and later the Veterans home.

He said that the bed was OK for what it was, but it was hard, and every time he turned over, he felt metal jabbing into his body—the exact same thing that I am feeling as I use the bed all of these years later.

The mattress is about two inches thick, and there is a metal construction under it that not only holds the bed up, but allows it to aligned back into the couch when not in use, so yes, when you turn over, you do feel it, just as my father-in-law said.

And yes, I guess it was a bit of a novelty early on in this episode, but right now, it is nothing but a pain in the … in every part of my body.

I have tried sleeping in the living room on a very comfortable chair that we have in there that also opens up into something of a bed-like structure, but when I tried that a few hours ago, I simply could not sleep … so between the Castro Convertible and that chair, I struck out sleeping at least up until now.

I really am looking forward to getting back into my own bed, not just for physical comfort, but for mental comfort too.

Obviously, when I can crawl into that bed and sleep in it, my wife will be next to me, and that will mean that she is done with this episode, and we can move on from it.

I simply cannot wait for that to happen—probably this weekend if things stay as they are—and I cannot wait to re-rearrange things again into the way they are normally in my house but because of the presence of COVID, had to be moved and put in other places.

My wife suffered greatly while she had COVID, and I felt I was powerless to do very much to help her, although I did do the wash for her and I did cook up a few dinners during this period.

Perhaps we have nipped this thing in the bud, and we won’t have to worry about it anymore.

Me, the only symptom I have is sleeplessness, and that really hit me tonight.

I was restless in this bed the past few days, but tonight has been the worst night of all.

To paraphrase an old song, “Get me to my regular bed on time.”

Then I will know that this nightmare is finally over and done with …

And I can get back to sleep.

Rant #3,030: Freedom

This is the Ranting and Raving Blog’s 3,030th entry.

As you probably know, signing off with “—30—“ is newspaper jargon for “the end of the story,” and today, I am going to bring you into the world that I write about—military resale and military stores—to alert you to something you might not be too familiar with.

For every Aaron Judge, and his whopping $40 million a year contract, there are thousands of people who are starving and can’t make ends meet—

And they are serving or have served our country in the military.

In the latest in s series of reports focusing on food insecurity among service members and veterans, “The CBS Evening News With Norah O’Donnell” last night looked at this problem at and around the Fort Hood, Texas, installation.

The report, filed by reporter Janet Shamlian, looked at a food bank in this military community of Killeen, Texas — home of Fort Hood — and the increasing amount of service members who need to use this outlet as a major food source for them and their families.

The report focused on Army Private Gypsy Jones, who was at a local pantry in the search for food.

Jones is a single mother with three daughters, “whose military pay does not cover her house payment, her utility bills, clothing for her daughters, and groceries,” Shamlian explained.

What percent of the food in your house comes from pantries?” Shamlian asked.

“I would say 80 percent,” she replied, with the reporter adding that this particular pantry was just one of several that Jones frequents.

Those running the Killeen pantry have noticed the uptick in military members frequenting the pantry, from about 600 families using their services five years ago to currently about 2,000 coming to them for help.

According to statistics provided by the Military Family Advisory Network (MFAN) to this report, in 2021, one in six military and veteran families were considered to be food insecure, up from one in eight families two years earlier.

“Pantries are facing their own hurdles,” Shamlian said, “While a dollar used to cover seven meals at the Killeen pantry, with inflation, now just six,”

Jones was asked by Shamlian, “If you didn’t have these resources, how would this affect your budget?”

Jones replied, “I would be looking to taking on a second job … or a third job even, to make the ends meet.”

Jones also told Shamlian that some soldiers will not come to the pantry “out of shame,” but for her, “there is no dishonor.”

“There is nothing wrong in seeing help when you need it,” Jones said.

The full report can be viewed at https://www.cbsnews.com/video/food-bank-demand-rises-among-military-families/.

However, as was the pattern followed by this and previous “CBS Evening News” reports on military food security, there was no mention of governmental or military resale programs to help those with such needs.

Defense Commissary Agency facilities around the world—lower-priced supermarkets designed for military families—has reduced its prices in some cases by 25 percent due to governmental mandates.

Extra savings by patrons are further accrued by there not being any sales tax levied on purchases, just a surcharge—a slight extra payment--that is funneled back into the military community, going to quality-of-life programs and other initiatives that benefit military members and veterans.

But the fact remains that many military families cannot afford to put food on the table each day while they protect our freedoms both here and worldwide.

That is something to really ponder, and with all the inequities our civilization is pondering right now, that might be the greatest inequity of them all.

Rant #3,029: The Safety Dance

 

Boy, did I oversleep today!

I actually slept past 7 a.m., which is something I never, ever do, even on the weekend.

I guess I was really tired yesterday … and the fact of the matter is that I am tired just about every day lately.

I have lots of worries … but I am happy to report that my wife is just about 100-percent better.

She has no fever, no ill effects from COVID, other than a bit of a cough and some congestion.

I can say that the pills worked, the shots worked—lessening the effects, but not preventing her from getting this thing—and she is on the road to full recovery.

She told me she might venture outside tomorrow to do some banking, and she hopes to go back to work on Thursday.

And yes, she is still wearing a mask as she moves around the house.

As for myself and my son, we are still taking precautions.

We are staying away from the main bedroom, where my wife has been recuperating, and we are still not eating with her, pretty much confining our movement to the front of our dwelling.

And as for me, I won’t return to the bedroom until probably this weekend, just to make sure everything is A-OK.

We have all managed, and I do believe that by this weekend, everything will be back to normal here, at least as far as our house being rid of COVID.

My son and I were told by a doctor who gave us the COVID test last week that my son and I should not take the latest booster shot for a week or two; this wait is just to make sure that the two of us don’t have lingering COVID.

Once that period is over, I think we are going to look into getting the current booster shot, because it is clearly evident that that booster shot protected us from getting COVID, not necessarily from the cruise that we were on, but from my wife.

And it certainly protected me … I don’t have to go into detail, but you can imagine why I said what I said.

If you can’t, use yoiur imagination.

My wife cannot get the latest booster for some months now, but when she can, I am going to highly recommend that she gets the shot.

Long Island has the highest rates of COVID in New York State, and that is because we, in particular, live in the “COVID Doesn’t Exist” zone, where an incredibly large amount of people actually believe that this thing doesn’t exist, so they don’t need to take any preventative measures to protect themselves form something that is nothing more than a figment of the government’s imagination.

Well, if anyone had any doubts in their minds about the existence of the malady, and the need to get shots, just look at what my wife went through.

Fever, dizziness, total discomfort … and she didn’t even have it that bad, so to speak, like when my sister had it during the early days of the coming of this disease, when she literally was one phone call away from being admitted to the hospital, and there were no shots available to counter what she had.

I still have my beliefs … I still believe that this is itself a variant of the common flu that we have every year, and like the flu, there will be many variants of COVID that we will have to deal with in the future.

I do believe that the government did a total disservice to the populace by marketing the shots as a preventative rather than a mitigater, so you still have people who say they won’t get the shots because they don’t do what they were advertised to do.

And yes, I do believe that the government used the pandemic for its own political purposes, which is the most heinous thing that I can say about this whole experience.

In conclusion, COVID does exist, it is not the figment of someone’s imagination.

The shots are not true vaccines; they do not prevent one from getting COVID, but they do lessen the effects if one gets the disease.

And lastly, this is just another one of those maladies that we are going to have to be aware of, and take measures to prevent the spread of.

I now have a living, breathing example of how virulent this disease can be, living right in my own house.

Get the shots, don’t get the shots … it is entirely up to you.

But based on what I have seen right here in my own house, we will be getting the booster shots when we are able to.

Period.

Rant #3,028: Pride (In the Name of Love)

 

I have to say that I was a very proud father this weekend.

My son made me very proud at his accomplishments, and while he always makes me proud, on Friday and Saturday, I was absolutely beaming.

My son plays in two leagues set up by the Nassau County Police Athletic League Special Needs Unit for people like him, those with developmental disabilities.

These disabilities range from mild to all-encompassing, but the NCPAL offers everything from baseball to basketball to yoga in their program, which I heard is a unique one in this country.

My son plays basketball and bowling, and he really enjoys the experience he has doing so.

He doesn’t say very much—which is part of his disability—but he has made at least some acquaintances in the sports he plays, and when he gets a high-five or a “good job” from his peers, I know he really enjoys it.

During a charity basketball game on Friday night—honoring Chris Garske, a fallen Nassau County police officer and benefiting the Marine Corps’ “Toys For Tots” Foundation—the participants in his league played the Nassau County Police in a fun game where the players could show off their skills to the cops.

Yes, the cops often took it easy against the participants, but once they saw how good the players actually were, the police ramped it up a bit themselves.

Anyway, in the group that my son was in, the overall score wasn’t really too important, but the fun that the players had showing off their moves against the cops was most important.

My son scored his first points when It appeared the cops were taking it easy on the players, but the more he played, the more I could see that the cops weren’t taking these players lightly anymore.

And by the end of the evening, my son had his share of high-fives, as he scored 16 points against the police players.

And he was taking some shots that I had never seen him try before, and he was making them as well as Kevin Garnett makes his shots.

I was just so proud of him, and when the game was over, a woman came up to him and congratulated him, telling him what a great game he had.

I don’t know who was beaming more, me or him, as she congratulated him.

And then on Saturday afternoon, he played in his NCPAL bowling league, and again, he made me proud.

My son has played in this league for about 10 years now, and it really has provided him with a road to not only athletic activity, but also social activity.

Without this league, he would not have very much to do during his off time, and the fun he has experienced in this league allowed him the courage to go into the basketball league, which he has done for the past five years or so.

Anyway, my son started off the league this season very slowly, not bowling up to his talent, but I figured that he would pick it up over time, and that is just what he has been doing the past few weeks.

This Saturday, he bowled a 136 the first game,, which is pretty much his average game from last season, but this season, it is a couple of pins over his average.

And then in the second game of the two that were bowled, he had one of his best games he ever bowled, rolling a 171, and leading his team to win the second game and total pins, so they won two of the three games played that day (they lost the first game).

People were high-fiving him and congratulating him, and even though he was wearing a mask, during both the basketball and bowling dates, you could see a broad smile erupting under his mask.

He knew he did good, and as his father, I was just so proud of him and his athletic accomplishments this past weekend.

Look, most of these people were written off nearly at the get go by people with high and lofty degrees. I have spoken to other parents, and their stories are similar to what my son went through when he was younger.

In the past, these people would be forgotten about, and even in 2022, their potential is often belittled and/or not acknowledged by others.

All that I know is that my son has defied the odds set forth for him by these supposed “experts.” He has held a variety of jobs since he was 15 years old, he plays basketball as he makes shots that the pros would admire, and he gets strikes and spares when he bowls that often defy description.

And he isn’t alone. In the bowling league, we have seen bowlers roll games well into the 200s, and even when they don’t bowl that high, they are there, participating and wanting to do well.

That is why I have become what you can call a “Doubting Larry,” because I do not take “NO” for an answer when it comes to my son. He has tremendous talent and potential, and the world needs to know about it.

And I can say the same thing about my daughter—I never accepted a “NO” from anyone about her either, and it has borne out with the success she has achieved in her career.

I have to say, I am still beaming about my son’s athletic accomplishments this past weekend. It kind of wrapped a big red bow on what was an excruciating week.

And yes, my wife is getting better each and every day, so hopefully, that COVID nightmare might be behind our family sooner than later.

And that would be the ultimate basket, and the ultimate strike, we could make, getting us back to something of at least a tinge of normalcy in the midst of total chaos.

Rant #3,027: Pop Goes the World

My wife is slightly better, but she appears to be in for at least another couple of days of being highly infected, and affected by, the COVID virus.

And the good news is that the other member of our traveling party who was sick a few days after getting off the boat tested negative for COVID, and simply has a bad cold.

My wife now believes that she got the virus from the gym, whether onboard the ship or later, when she actually went back to her regular gym.

What with the sweating, the heavier breathing or whatever due to exercise, she believes that she got it from being there.

We will never know for sure where she got it from, but even if there is the slightest notion that it could have come from the ship’s gym, if we ever go on another cruise, she will do her exercising in our stateroom, and stay away from this Petri dish of viruses.

And then—and there is no easy sequeway into this story—we have the case of Brittney Grinner, the WNBA star who finally came home as a result of a prisoner swap with Russia.

This anti-American piece of garbage, you might remember, was arrested by Russian authorities for having marijuana and vaping materials in her luggage, and was put in the clink for nine years of presumably hard labor.

Funny, jail time in Russia all of a sudden made her become very patriotic. All she wanted to do was come home and be with her wife—no, I am not going to get into that here—but the Russian authorities were very clear that this lady—no, I am not going to get into that here, either—would only be released if the prisoner swap was right.

President Biden bent over backwards--figuratively and literally—to get this human garbage released, while other more deserving American political prisoners held in Russian jails sit and wait for their turn.

And we know why he did what he did, and that is also so obvious that I am also not going to get into it here.

Let’s remember that among the other things that this sudden patriot has done to disparage the country that bailed her out of prison was that she protested the playing of the National Anthem before WNBA games.  

She did not take the floor when the anthem was played, and she announced her plans to protest all season against the National Anthem, saying, "Black people didn't have rights at that point. ... It's hard [dis]respecting a song that didn't even represent all Americans when it was first made."

(Yes, she actually said “disrespecting,” but we know what this Einstein meant.)

And she has made other negative remarks about the country that she professed love for when sitting in jail … so this is who you do a prisoner swap for?

Grinner should kiss the ground that she has a friend in Biden. She will be hailed as a hero and a martyr …

And the next time she opens her mouth against this country that bailed her out, put a sock in it, please. 

If this country is such a terrible place for you, then please go back to Russia … presumably without your drugs of choice.

And then … there is also no easy sequeway for this one either … we have Aaron Judge staying with the New York Yankees,

The American League’s reigning MVP scored a $40-million a year contract, for nine years, and while as a Yankees fan I am happy that he stayed put where he was, I have to question all the maneuvering that led up to this contract.

It was the Yankees versus the San Francisco Giants here, and then the San Diego Padres jumped in at the last minute with an offer that might have even been better than the Yankees’ offer.

Pitting one against another against another, the numbers jumped and the Yankees got their man … but with this signing, and some other over-over-priced, high-salary signings, how can anyone believe the owners when they say they are losing money each and every year?

The annual winter meetings expose the owners as frauds, as liars, and makes them as demonic as the players can be when it comes to salaries.

If you are in the game, then you are in the game, and stop trying to sell the public on your poverty.

And as for the players, how much money is enough? We peons can barely afford the tickets that are being sold to the games you play in and make your money from, and we don’t have agents bargaining for us when we look for an increase in salary at our own jobs.

The owners and players deserve each other, and the fans are left at the altar, forgotten by both factions, pretty much as collateral damage from this out-of-control spending.

I mean, who pays for the Aaron Judges of the world … we do!

Have a great weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday.