Rant #3,772: STOP

Something has got to be done.

I have been saying it for a long time.

This country's fascination with guns is befuddling, to say the least.

That carnage created by a gun-toting madman shooting at kids who were in prayer is the latest incident of someone having guns who shouldn't have ever been able to purchase this artillery.

And he made the purchases legally.

This coward had no criminal record, so when a background check was made, absolutely nothing came up negative about him.

One problem with that.

The fellow recently changed his name from Robert to Robin--obviously male to a gender-neutral name--and that should have been an obvious red flag to his current composure.

We now know that he was a recently transitioned--five years ago, as a teenager--trans person, so right away, that should have been cause to prohibit him from obtaining the firearms.

Sorry, we are treating horrible mental problems with surgery, rather than treating the mental issue, which is the wrong way to go about it.

This didn't come up in the background check--or at least didn't come up as a red flag--because we kind of look at transgender people as "normal," which sorry, no matter what the LBGTQ community wants us to believe, they are not.

They have incredible mental problems, and sorry, they are unfit to be carrying any weapons, as are others with mental illness.

And yes, it is way too easy to get guns over the counter, and as I have suggested before, a two-year waiting period--at least--should be required, and one should not be able to purchase more than one firearm at a time.

And I am sick and tired of the "guns don't kill people; people kill people" argument.

Guns are getting into peoples' hands who shouldn't have them, so that argument is just so ridiculous.

Sure, the gun doesn't kill people without a human being pulling the trigger, but guns are not completely safe, no matter who owns them or uses them--even responsible people.

My son, when he was younger, knew a kid whose father was a cop. Somehow, the kid got into his father's firearms, which were supposedly safely locked away, pulled the trigger, and accidentally shot himself to death.

Again, this was a police officer's guns.

It is not abridging anyone's rights; guns are never completely safe.

There have to be stronger laws, and red flags must also go up when even something so seemingly miniscule as the change of a person's name is concerned.

Evidence shows that this sick person planned this evil deed, and had espoused hate at Israel, Jews, Catholics and blacks--but looked up to mass murderers, including the person who murdered children at Sandy Hook.

We, as a society, need to take action. You cannot be able to walk into a gun store and purchase a firearm like you were buying groceries at the supermarket.

And we must stop giving free passes to those who are severely mentally ill.

It is not discrimination; it is common sense.

And finally, the fault is on both sides of the aisle, so I blame ALL our legislators for tragedies like this.

They all have blood on their hands, because they have the ability to make things right--

And they don't ... 

And more importantly, won't.

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

Rant #3,771: Old Days

As we lead up to Labor Day, Cracker Barrel has returned to its senses.

It had changed its logo to remove the drawing of a person taking it easy--named "Uncle Herschel" and based on a real human being, an uncle of the chain's founder--and people got really, really upset when they saw the new logo--

Without the man, and pretty much very corporate, and very vanilla, and very woke.

There was an incredible backlash from people across the country, believing that Cracker Barrel caved into woke pressure by removing the figure, who was white, and replacing it with a less personable logo.

The company said they changed its logo to appeal to younger customers--as they had also, within the past few years, changed their menu to include some alcoholic beverages--but people did not accept that explanation.

They saw this as another woke move, totally out of touch with reality, and they made their voices heard.

But then the company's stock dropped precipitously, and again, money talks, so within days of announcing the new logo, it was pulled, and the old logo returned as quickly as it was sent to the scrap heap.

This is what I posted on Facebook a little while after the restaurant's new chief executive officer announced the change:

"I  have been in many Cracker Barrels up and down the East Coast, and the place gets diners of every imaginable background, race and creed. 

"I know she [the CEO] wouid probably say that they were just trying to update the logo, but it just seems that, really, nobody cares about the logo to begin with, they care about what the restaurant offers to customers. 

"Over the past couple of years, they did update the menu to include a variety of alcoholic beverages.

"But honestly, no one cares about the logo, and if she changed it to make it "less white," then the next step is to colorize "The Andy Griffith Show" to make Andy, Opie and Aunt Bea black. 

"Heck, nobody watches the show because it features an all-white cast, you know.

"Truly absurd ... and I think a lot of these changes are being made by executives who are themselves inwardly racist, and this is their way of 'aplogizing' for their own personal racism and shortcomings."

Idiotic.

I don't think anyone really cared about the logo, until it was going to be "canceled."

People are completely fed up with "cancel culture," and the change forced people to focus on the logo, maybe for the first time--

And the reason why it was being put out to pasture.

But again, it would not have been dumped if the restaurant hadn't almost immediately lost money and value.

And it is important to note that Cracker Barrel's parent company is one that has heralded woke and DEI policies, and you know it looked at this chain and its history, and found it to be too old fashioned to its liking.

So, just cancel it.

In fact, in the 1990s, the company put out an internal edict that its employees should look "more heterosexual," and it actually fired a couple of employees who, I guess, didn't.

This edict was quickly rescinded, and Cracker Barrel now is looked upon very favorably by human rights groups.

You just know that its owners looked at this and were horrified, and well, they blamed poor Uncle Herschel, and he had to go.

Cracker Barrel--and its lean toward traditional values--is extremely popular, especially by those who take long drives on Interstate roads and want to take a pause from their travels.

The food is good. It is reasonably priced, and then there is its Country Store, where you can find old-style candy, records and doo-dads to fulfill any need.

And it is the only restaurant without any New York outlets where you can actually buy gift cards in New York convenience stores, as people buy them before their trips down south and to other places outside the state.

The closest Cracker Barrels to me are on long drives to southern New Jersey or into Connecticut.

I actually met the founder of the chain several years ago while eating at one of his restaurants.

I asked him why there were no New York restaurants, and he told me that the laid-back, country-style concept "didn't work" in New York--

Yet I bet traveling New Yorkers make up a significant portion of Cracker Barrel's clientele.

Maybe that is the true reason why there are none in New York--

Having none locally makes it an extra special place for New Yorkers to visit while traveling, something that New Yorkers cant get while at home.

Whatever the case, with Uncle Herschel beckoning once again, when my family and I travel, you can bet we will heed the call, and stop over to a Cracker Barrel to take a load off our feet and have a great meal at a reasonable price.

You can go back in time in 2025, even for a few moments. 

Uncle Ben, Aunt Jemima, the Land O'Lakes Indian Princess ... will they be resurrected?

If Uncle Herschel has anything to do about it, you never know.

Rant #3,770: Trip, Stumble and Fall

I had that meeting yesterday, and it has taken up way too much of my time.

I am still involved in putting out a story on it.

So, it is going to have to be a "Reading Wednesday" today.

But I will say that I don't give a hoot about Taylor Swift and her engagement ...

And it just backs up what i have been saying here and elsewhere for many years, that TV's news shows have become more like "Entertainment Tonight" than real news shows.

Here in New York, WCBS not only covered this story just a few minutes after it came on at 5 p.m., but gave it about twice the amount of time and coverage real news stories receive.

idiotic.

And dont get me started on Cracker Barrel.

Well anyway--

Here is the next chapter of my novel.

i will be back in full force tomorrow.

35

Mrs. Panim and her son got to the door of Mr. Panim’s home, and Abraham Abraham Lincoln Panim saw the doorbell and pushed its button, which produced a loud ring.

 

There was an intercom on the door. After a few seconds, a voice came through the intercom.

 

“Who is there?” the voice said.

 

“It is Mrs. Panim and my son.”

 

“We were expecting you. OK, I am going to buzz you in.”

 

The buzz came, and Mrs. Panim turned the doorknob and the door opened. Both stepped into a small foyer, and they almost immediately saw a woman with her back turned. The woman was poring over some papers, and Abraham Lincoln Panim noted that she appeared to be an older woman, short in stature, with her hair tied up in a bun.

 

In an instant, the woman put down the papers and turned toward the mother and son.

 

“Hello, I am Nurse Stottlemeyer, and I have been taking care of Mr. Panim for a few years. He has been very, very sick.”

 

Mrs. Panim gulped, and Abraham Lincoln Panim looked at her and said in a whisper, “It’s Mrs. Stottle!”

 

“No, it can’t be,” his mother replied. “She died several years ago. She just looks like her. Her last name is different.”

 

“She said Stottlemeyer. Didn’t she tell you that she was ‘Miss Meyer’ before she got married?”

 

“Hrrumph!” said the nurse, trying to get the full attention of Mrs. Panim and her son. “Are you ready to see Mr. Panim now?”

 

The mother and son quieted down, both shaking their heads affirmatively.

 

“Mr. Panim has requested to see you each individually. He can only see you each for a few minutes. He simply does not have the strength for any time more. Mrs. Panim, would you like to go in first?”

 

“Yes,” Mrs. Panim said, still kind of staring at the nurse as she was led to a room by her. The nurse, who had something of a limp, opened the door and let her in to speak with her husband alone.

 

Abraham Lincoln Panim sat down on a couch in a corner of the foyer, nervously put his hand in his hair, pushing it up in place, and when the nurse came back into the room, he continued to stare at her.

 

“Can I help you with anything?” the nurse asked, aware that she was being stared at.

 

“No … no … you just look like someone that my mom and I used to know,” Abraham Lincoln Panim said, staring at the woman’s thick legs. “No, it can’t be.”

 

“What can’t be?” the nurse asked.

 

“Umm … nothing … umm … how do I look?

 

The nurse hesitated, then said, “You look like an average person your age,” as she went back looking at her papers.

 

“No, how do I really look?” Abraham Lincoln Panim asked again, a little more forceful this time.

 

The nurse looked up from her papers. “Look, you appear to be fine to me. You look good enough to see your father, if that is what you are asking me.”

 

Abraham Lincoln Panim, looking for a different answer than he was getting, sat back on the couch, and continued to play with his hair. He looked around the small room, which was pretty barely furnished, but across the room, he saw a plaque on the wall. It appeared to have some writing on it, and not being able to clearly see what the plaque said, he got up from his seat and walked over to wall where the plaque was.

 

The nurse looked up from her papers, saw that Abraham Lincoln Panim had become interested in the plaque, and said, “Yes, I put that up a year or so ago. It is something I believe in fully, and I hope that everyone believes in it, to tell you the truth.”

 

Abraham Lincoln Panim got to the plaque, and read its inscription to himself:

 

“Do unto others as you would have the do unto you … treat other people the way you would like to be treated yourself.”

Rant #3,769: Computer Games

This past weekend was a whirlwind of good things and bad things all smashed together...

But I am very happy to say that the good things, for once, won out.

My son's birthday was on Saturday, so we took him out to eat dinner at a local eatery of his choice.

That outing made things all the more better for me, as on Friday afternoon, my iMac computer kind of went on a permanent vacation.

Oh, it still worked, but it wasn't doing certain things that I wanted it to do, as it has been doing for the past nine years.

Yes, there were warning signs, but these signs lasted for years, and I was able to surmount the problems, somehow.

But in Friday afternoon, it kind of went "Sayonara" on me, and I frantically tried to work on it, to no avail.

I was confounded, but I had planned for the inevitable.

My old work computer--another iMac--was offered to me when my company went out of business, and I grabbed it as quickly as it was offered to me.

I used the computer sparingly for the past nearly six years, and it pretty much was dormant since late 2020 or so.

When I transported the computer to my house from my old work, I had a lot of stuff from work all over the back seat, including the computer, and I seem to remember that it either fell off the back seat or something fell on it, and whatever happened, I took it out of my car with a slight crack in the screen.

Well, it since has been moved from the old house to our first apartment in the development we now live in, and from that first apartment to the apartment we are in now.

The screen crack spread, and now, a good part of the screen is slightly cracked ... but the cracks are so hairline that you can't see them unless you are right on top of the screen and the background allows for it.

Anyway, on Saturday, on my son's birthday, I worked on it off and on, getting this new/old computer up to snuff.

Let me tell you, it was very, very difficult.

On Friday night, I tried to launch a program, which I had used before, to transfer all my files over, but to no avail--it simply wouldn't work.

So literally on Friday night through Sunday afternoon, I was transferring files from one computer to another using a thumb drive, transfers which often crashed while I transferred over these files 

While I was doing this, I was trying to load various programs that I use on the computer, and some worked, some didn't, and on Saturday, I stayed up to 1:30 a m. trying to get everything right.

On Sunday, we had my son's 30th birthday party, and in between everything I had to do related to this get-together--we had more than 20 attendees--I was transferring files over and trying to get programs to run.

I managed to get 95 percent of it done by early Sunday afternoon as our guests arrived--

In between getting the birthday cake and picking up my aunt from the Long Island Rairoad station.

I smartly put everything on hold as our guests poured in, but the problems were still there 

There were still a few devices I could not, for the life of me, get to work, including my printer and scanner.

After my son blew out the candles on his birthday cake and our guests were enjoying their dessert, I asked my nephew--who pretty much oversees Geek Squad for most of New York City and New Jersey--for help, because the printer simply would not work.

I knew what had to be done, but I simply could not do it myself.

It took him about a minute, and the printer was fixed and working properly.

On Monday morning, I figured out the scanner, and a little later, my turntable was up and running, and I was able to digitize an album late in the afternoon after I did my work fir the day.

There are still some problems with this computer--including that it is a bit slow, I think having to do with its nearly six years of inactivity--and some new ways of doing things, but it works, and it will certainly do for now--

But I did have some trouble shutting it down yesterday evening, but again, for now, it will do 

The party went even better than I could have hoped, and this little bit/lotta bit of agita is done, so I am looking forward to the rest of the week--

Except for today, when I have to cover a conference on the West Coast.

Keeping this computer was a smart idea, even if it looks like it has been through hell.

It is fun to digitize my records, but let's be honest about it--

I desperately need this computer for work, so I don't care what it looks like ...

If it works, it works.

I almost feel like Dr. Frankenstein, who put together, piece by piece, The Monster, and got him going with the electricity produced by a thunderstorm, which shot through the creature via the nodes on his neck.

Me, I took a computer from the scrap heat, warts and all, and resuscitated it by putting its plug in the elextric socket in the wall.

Whether this computer will act like "The Monster" or "Herman Munster" is anyone's guess.

Rant #3,768: Celebrate

This will be my shortest Rant ever.

It is pretty much self explanatory.

Nothing more needs to be said.

Enjoy!

Rant #3,767: Happy Birthday!

This Rant is a pretty easy one to write.

This coming weekend, on Saturday, my son will turn the big 3-0.

My wife and I simply cannot believe it. But yes, he turns 30 years of age on August 23.

Our lives changed forever the moment that he was born--

And for the better, of course.

He was my second child, my wife's first, and I just remember everything so clearly about his birth, just like I do about my daughter's birth seven years earlier..

With my son, I remember cutting the umbilical cord, and bringing him home from the hospital, being extra careful when I drove him and my wife home.

I remember feeding him at night, and the two of us dozing off with "Gomer Pyle, USMC"  on the TV.

And I also remember that once he reached school age, being told that he would not amount to anything much.

I would like to forget that remembrance, but I can't.

And that diagnosis was just soooooo wrong.

He is a special needs person, and the general public's perception of him is actually his biggest handicap.

Otherwise, he can do just about anything you or I can do.

But that public perception is something that, I  am afraid, will haunt him during his entire life.

And it is something that is just so very unfair.

He is a fighter, and in his own subtle way, he has been proving people wrong since day one.

And we know that that will continue into the future.

We are taking him out for dinner on Saturday, and on Sunday, we are having a party for him with family and friends.

It should be a lot of fun!

Again, my wife and I cannot believe that he has hit this milestone year, but he will tomorrow.

This has been a tough year for him, but he will survive--

And he will learn from it, and he will be a better person having experienced it.

Good luck to him, happy birthday, and may he celebrate many, many more birthdays proving the so-called experts wrong.

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

Now I have two kids in their 30s--

That doesn't make me feel old, it actually keeps me young.

Rant #3,766: Dreamtime

How can a supposedly retired person be sooooooo busy?

Let me count the ways ...

I am being inundated by my work with things to do.

I mean, there is no brain surgery work here, but it is constant, and doesn't give me any time to breathe.

I now have a meeting to attend later this morning, added to another meeting that was already set up for Friday morning.

My place of business is putting together an online publication covering military resale--military stores--and there is just so much to do to get it ready for publication.

I remember getting the print publication I last worked for ready to go--

But I was working full-time then, so it came with the territory.

Now, as a remote and supposedly retired worker ... well, let's just politely say that I guess at this point in time, nearly six years removed from that last full-time position, I guess I am "out of shape" for all of this.

Again, I am not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, but--

I will stop there. I will let you figure it all out.

So, with all of that in mind--and with everything else going on with myself and my family--I am pooped--

Tired, worn out, and i just need some time to breathe.

I certainly can't do it right now, but maybe you can help me out here.

I have the latest chapter of my novel in this Rant, and please take a few minutes to read it.

It is a short chapter, and I hope you will enjoy it.

In the meantime, let me rest.

34

The day came quickly.

Abraham Lincoln Panim woke up, looked in the bathroom mirror several times before he went into the shower. When he was done, he shaved, and put on a special aftershave that Mrs. Stottle bought him years ago that he had never used.

He then got dressed, and decided to really get dressed to the hilt, picking out his best suit and tie to wear to meet his father for the first time.

“My real ‘Sunday Best’ to make me look even better than I already do,” he thought to himself, admiring himself in his hand mirror numerous times before he was done.

He finally emerged from his room, and went into the living room, waiting for his mother to be ready to go.

In a few minutes time, she was done, and she was dressed in business attire, but nothing out of the ordinary.

“Abraham Lincoln Panim, why are you dressed like that?” his mother asked him. “You are dressed like you are going out on a big date. And that smell … why did you dunk yourself in aftershave like that?

“We are going to see your father. We aren’t going to a wedding, or a bar mitzvah—“

“I wanted to dress my best to ‘impress.’ I want my father to see how good I look.”

“Don’t you think it is more important for your father to find out who you are, your accomplishments, how you have matured, rather than what you look like?”

“It is all in the wrapping. If the outside wrapping is so attractive, it just makes everything else … well, not second best … but it helps to have a good wrapping. First impressions are very important—“

“Your father said he is dying. Your father just wants to meet you. He doesn’t care if you looked like you once did. He doesn’t care at all. He just wants you to be there—“

“Yes, but I want him to see what he has missed when he skipped out of here. He missed you and he missed me—“

“No, Abraham Lincoln Panim, he missed the old you, the boy who did what he had to do to get by, who wasn’t so stuck up with his appearance that nothing else mattered.”

“Mom, I was stuck up on my appearance back then, but just the opposite way. I hated the way I looked, with that rat face. People made fun of me, I couldn’t even barely go outside without people looking at me.

“Now, I can go outside and do whatever I want because people admire me. They look at me and think, ‘That is the way I want to look.’ But they know they can’t look this good. I give them hope … and don’t forget, I always wear my scarf to remind me where I was, and where I am now.”

“You have become … I don’t know … you have become more vain about your looks then you were before. What would Mrs. Stottle say about all of this?”

“Mrs. Stottle … Mrs. Stottle would admire me too.”

After that remark, Mrs. Panim gave her son a long glare. Her son saw her eyes, and they seemed to be red and tearing.

“Enough about that,” she said through the tears. “Let’s go and see your father. And please, for me, please just act like you really are, not like you are acting today or during the last several weeks.

“Please, if not for yourself, please do it for me.”

Abraham Lincoln Panim got his jacket and wrapped his scarf around his neck. He then helped his mother on with her coat.

“Son,” Mrs. Panim said as the looked at the envelope of the letter her husband sent her, “I think we will walk there, It doesn’t seem to be too far away.”

The mother and son left their home to take a walk together, something they had not done in a while. She thought that the walk would do them good, clear out both of their heads and make them focus on what they were going to be doing.

Abraham Lincoln Panim had other thoughts.

“OK, so we are going to walk. That is great. It is a nice day out, people will be around, and I know that they will look at me … and think I look great!”

Rant #3,765: The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore

I had quite a busy Tuesday, with a bit of work to do, as well as some other things that took up some time.

This is a slow week for my son.

He has nothing job related on his plate this week, and we are still waiting for his assessment results.

The one interview he had at a local supermarket last week ...

Well, the woman who interviewed him said that we would hear from them, one way or the other, last week--

And let's just say she lied.

As I have said in the past, based on what my son has experienced during the past several months, companies are simply not hiring special needs people right now, and those that already have these people on their payroll are cutting their hours.

Yes, it is a sad situation.

We have done everything we could to help him find other employment, but it is really like banging your head against the wall.

In fact, there are at least three new fast food restaurants opening in our environs, he has applied to each, and heard nothing.

He has been or applied to every supermarket, every bowling alley, and every department store, and many other businesses, and he has heard absolutely nothing.

At least he has the four-hours-a-week job, but if he could find something better, he could ditch that job, where they reduced his hours by 75 percent in January, which started this ball rolling, unfortunately to nowhere, at this point in time.

And as usual, I, and others, have absolutely no solution to this problem.

My son turns 30 years of age this weekend. He has proven to be a hard worker, someone you can count on to go to work and do his job.

It is almost beyond belief that no one will hire him, even for the most meager of positions.

My wife and I are simply powerless to do anything about it, other than to support him, through thick and thin--

And it is very thin right now.

Again, I plead with you ...

If you own a business on Long Island, or perhaps know someone who does, who is looking to hire someone like my son, please give me a holler.

Yes, he is special needs, but if given the chance, you will find out what a special person he is.

He just needs a break.

One break.

That is it.

Rant #3,764: Let's Twist Again

I have grown to abhor the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as the years go by, because it has become too political--and less musical--to my liking 

The Hall chooses acts to be enshrined based almost solely on politics and ad revenue, and has about as much to do with rock and roll as a can of tuna does.

The latest tussle the Hall of Fame is enraptured in now revolves around finally-an-inductee Chubby Checker, who, rather unnecessarily, waited decades to  get in, and now has informed the Cleveland, Ohio-based museum that he does not plan in attending the induction ceremony on November 8, because he prefers to perform before a live audience than to be there.

Checker--real name Ernest Evans--should have bern inducted decades ago. 

He was perhaps the biggest male hitmaker on the Anerican chart in the pre-Beatle 1960s, and he has actually been performing for more than the past 60 years.

And at age 83, there seems to be no stopping Checker or "The Twist."

The main problem here is thst after Elvis, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and all the top-tier rock and roll performers gained entrance into the Hall, Checker was pretty much forgotten about--

And he took great offense to it, letting the Hall know, on an almost yearly basis, how disappointed he was, and did it in barbed terms 

And he was right 

Without Checker and "The Twist," dancesable rock would not have had the door open for other formats, including disco, hip hop and rap--

Formats that the Hall has salivated over, neglecting true rockers in the process.

A lot of him being ignored had to do with Rolling Stone Magazine publisher Jan Wenner, who pretty much ran the Hall during most of its existence and who had a very publicized.disdain for various eras in rock history, including post-Beatles pop-rock and pre-Beatles pop from the 1960s, the latter of which Checker ruled in.

Thus, to this day, you have deserving performers like Lesley Gore, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Tommy James and the Shondells and the Monkees who will probably never get in because Wenner's residue still resonates in the Hall, even though the publisher is not as active in the Hall as he had been.

Anyway, Checker very publicly grilled the Hall for his annual omission, and then somehow, he was nominated and made it in--

Putting the shoe on the other foot, so to speak.

So now, still reeling from not even being considered for the Hall for decades, Checker is is doing it his own way--

By staying away.

You just know that producers of the Hall show are not too happy about this, as you know they had visions of the show ending with a "The Twist" finale featuring all the musicians there.

But with Checker not there, that is pretty much out the window.

They also probably figured that Checker's induction and appearance might bring in another demographic of viewers, boosting ratings and ad revenue, but that won't be happening.

Checker is having the last laugh, and who can blame him?

Rant #3,763: Up In Smoke

We have lived in our current community since November 2023, and i must say, I have grown to like where we are, to a point.

We aren't that far away from where we lived--where I lived for more than 50 years--so I can still easily visit my usual places without too much trouble.

This is our second location in this community, with my family and I moving to our current apartment in April, and even though the rent is much more expensive in this apartment, we are getting so much more for our money, including a larger apartment, a room to put stuff that had been in a storage facility, and a terrace--we are the only people in the development with one.

Yes, even with all that, take it from me ...

There is nothing like living in a house, and this latest place simply can't compare with a house.

And we are living in a 55-and-older community, which has taken us more than a year-and-a-half to get used to, if we are used to it at all.

There are younger people who live here--some grandparents who have custody of their grandchildren and, of course, my son.

Other than that, we only see older people here, and that, in itself, is a bit of a drawback.

It is better to be in a community with people of all ages, but you kind of get used to it.

Kinda.

Being in our late 60s, my wife and I are probably in the middle here as far as the age span, so there are some people in their 50s, and some others in their 80s, or older.

There are no real amenities here; there is a community center, where our apartment is located, and where the mailboxes and laundry room are, as well as a large meeting room, but that is it.

They do have weekly activities, like a book club and bingo, if you are interested.

It is a busy area, but honestly, it is pretty quiet.

And when you have people living here ranging from 55 years of age up through the 90s, you get a real cross section of those we consider to be senior citizens--

And yes, you have these general stereotypes of older Americans here.

You have a lot of crabby and nasty people here, as well as pleasant residents too.

Some people here are nosy, some people just want to go about their business.

On Saturday, I had a slight altercation with some of my fellow residents here.

It wasn't the first little tussle I have had, and I have found that whatever the age, some people are just simply nasty.

Since my family and I live in the community center, we park right in front of that building.

I had a couple of things to do on Saturday morning, so at about 9:30 a.m. in the morning, i left our apartment and walked down to my car.

People have a habit here of stopping their cars in the middle of the street and talking with friends, and Saturday morning, someone did just that, but they were standing in the middle of the street behind my car.

Again, this is a busy part of the development because not only are there apartments in the building, but the mailboxes and the laundry room are in the building, as is the comminity room.

As they were talking away, I needed to do what I needed to do, so here is what happened.

"Excuse me (no acknowledgment from them)."

"Excuse me (finally acknowledged) ... Excuse me, can you move your car, I need to back out? Thanks."

The woman talking to the driver turned around and said to me--

"We aren't done yet. You will have to wait," and then went back to talking as if I wasn't even there.

"Look, I asked you nicely ... could you move the car?"

The driver in the car yelled at me to get in my own car.

"You know, i don't think I asked you something so terrible. All I asked is if you could stop yakking and just move the car so I can get out. God, what is so difficult to do?"

The woman mimicked me, repeating exactly what I said, and then she and her friend went their separate ways as the car finally moved out of my way.

The woman proceeded to the front of the community center, and she gave me a nasty look as she opened the door and entered, and I pulled away.

She must have been in her 70s, and like I said, you get all kinds here.

I just had to shake my head in disbelief at this little bit of nonsense.

Again, I don't mind living here, I miss the old house, but it is what it is.

On Sunday, we had a small barbecue, so until I wrote to you about this slight tussle, this altercation pretty much went up in smoke.

Poof!

Rant #3,762: Feeling Alright

Today, my son concludes his assessment, again performing duties at a local hotel.

When this is completed, we will look forward to the results--

Because these results will help the organization performing this assessment to better guide my son on his path to a job.

Maybe something good will happen as a result of this.

We can only hope.

As for me, I had absolutely no idea that my right eye was nearing a detached retina.

Do I see as well as I once did?

No, but other than having had some episodes with my left eye that were pretty much taken care of, I really didn't notice anything with my right eye.

Now that I know there is a problem brewing, yes, I do feel some differences, but nothing horriid.

When i typed up that story on the meeting that I did for work, yes, my eye felt tired by the end ..

 It took more than six hours to do this, and constant computer work canhorrid. to you.

When it needs to be taken care of, I will do just that.

Right now, it doesn't bother me or hamper me in any way.

Again, that is right now.

Who knows about tomorrow?

I do know about yesterday, and on Thursday, I went to the urologist again for my persistent problem.

I am better, but I haven't been able to ditch the problem just yet.

I must be the one in a million who has this, but whatever the case, I have it, and it needs to be taken care of.

The urologist told me that yes, I do have this problem, but many other men have it too.

All tests came out fine yesterday, and he said there is nothing medical that can be done about it.

in mist cases it runs its course.

I shouldn't still be suffering from this, since November yet!

What a mess!

And the funny thing is that I feel fine.

In fact, yesterday, for lunch, I decided to barbecue a couple of ribs to try to soothe my ills, and at least for a few minutes, it made me feel great.

So just to sum up, let's hope that I am OK in every aspect, and then I can move on from all of this.

Most importantly, let's hope my son is one day nearer in his quest to secure a new job.

That would make me feel FANTASTIC!!!!!

Have a good weekend, and i will speak to you again on Monday.

Rant #3,761: Read Me On

I am just too busy today, so we will have to go with a "Reading Rant."

I will be back tomorrow with a full Rant. 

Bear with me. 

Thanks.

 33

Abraham Lincoln Panim quickly took out his keys from his pocket, and opened the front door to his house. He immediately saw his mother sitting on the couch, which was unusual in itself as in the evening, she rarely sat on the couch, usually going into her bedroom to prepare for the evening.

And not only was she sitting on the couch, but an envelope was on the floor, and his mother was holding a letter in her hands. She also appeared to be staring out into space.

“Mom, what’s going on?” asked Abraham Lincoln Panim.

Mrs. Panim broke out of her stupor, but still stared into space as she said, “Son, you rushed out of the house today so quick. I wanted to tell you that we received in the mail a letter from—“

“From who?”

“From … from your father.”

Abraham Lincoln Panim stopped in his tracks, and ended up sitting on the couch with his mother.

“I wanted to open the letter with you here. He never writes letters to us, never. I thought that this was something that you needed to hear, to read along with me when I read it, but I guess you had more important things to do.”

“Mom, if I would have known—“

“It doesn’t really matter now. I read the letter myself, and maybe it was better off that I read it myself first. It was the first letter we have gotten from him, ever.”

“What did the letter say? Is he doing OK? Is he finally going to be coming home?”

Mrs. Panim did not answer her son right away, and started to shake her head, almost to herself.

“Mom, what did dad say in that letter?”

“Abraham Lincoln Panim, your father isn’t coming home. You’re father is … he is not doing too well.”

Mrs. Panim handed Abraham Lincoln Panim the letter for him to read to himself. The letter said, in Mr. Panim’s own handwriting:

“Dear Diana:

I know that you must be startled to get this letter in the mail completely out of the blue. I am not a good letter writer, so please, just bear with me. I will try to explain the best that I can.

I admit that I am a coward. You were in the hospital all those years ago, and when you gave birth, I was happy and proud, and then I saw our son. I felt bad for him. I know he has gone through a lot, because what you don’t know is that I went through the same thing when I was a child.

I had the same features that I saw in our son when I was a child. I put up with a lot of ridicule from everyone. Even when I started to shed some of those characteristics as I got older, I was still pointed out as “the rat-faced boy.”

And what is worse, and the worst thing about all of this, is that I passed on that gene—or whatever it is--to our son.

I looked at him in the hospital, and my mind raced back to when I was a kid myself, all the stuff that I had to put up with. I simply could not do it again, so I became a coward, and I ran. I simply could not go through again what I had gone through myself as a child, so I ran away from it all.

I was scared, and yes, I was nothing but a coward. What I should have done and what I did were two different things. I was wrong, and I admit it. I left you and our son hanging there without me.

I know it doesn’t mean anything now, but I apologize for my behavior. Diana, I hope that the monthly checks have come in handy, and yes, I was selfish in what I did, but I felt the checks would help our son to grow into the man I knew he could be.”

“Checks?” Abraham Lincoln Panim asked his mother as he stopped reading the letter.

“Yes, your father has sent checks to you each and every month since you were born,” Mrs. Panim said. “They were sent directly from a bank outside our area, from another state, and there was never a return address on either the checks or the envelope they came in.

“Several years ago I tried to find out where they came from, but the president of the bank told me that he could not reveal any further information about the checks and where they came from to me. I thought that maybe your father would finally come home, but he never did. I guess the monthly checks gave me hope, but he never came home,”

Abraham Lincoln Panim again started to read the letter.

“Yes, I had the same problem that our son had. I had it through my early years, and I had it during my teen years, although much of it left me by the time I was in my mid teens. By the time I was in my early 20s, I just had the problem with my face, and when I met you, Diana, I still had the problem.

A little while after, I woke up one day, and I looked like every other man around. The problem left me! I could not believe it, and it came at just the right time, because it gave me a chance to know you, and that is when our relationship really blossomed.

Anyway, you know the rest. But let me bring you up to date with the reason I am writing this letter to you.

Seeing our son grow up from afar—“

Abraham Lincoln Panim looked up from the letter.

“What is he talking about, seeing me ”growing up from afar? What is he talking about?”

Mrs. Panim looked up and turned to her son. “Keep on reading, please keep on reading.”

Abraham Lincoln Panim turned back to the letter, and once again began to read to himself.

“Seeing my son grow up from afar has not been fun. As you can tell by the envelope that the letter came in, I actually don’t live very far away from where your house is. I live on the other side of the park. I have seen you, Diana, and our son from his earliest days. I saw you from afar, and I saw him, all covered up with his scarf as I was when I was a kid.

“I hope he has outgrown his affliction like I did, as I haven’t seen either of you walking around the neighborhood together in some time.”

“Dad hasn’t seen me because I haven’t taken walks with you for a while,” Abraham Lincoln Panim said to his mother. “So he has no idea how much I have changed, because without seeing you with me, he would have never recognized me.”

“Son, please read on.”

“Diana, I am sick, I mean really sick. I have been in and out of the hospital for the past few months, and the doctors don’t give me long to live. They actually, at least initially, didn’t know why I am so sick, ruling out cancer and a lot of other things.

I wasn’t willing, at first, to tell them my background, you know, about the characteristics I had when I was younger. But I ended up telling them, and they believe that my failing health has something to do with something called ‘zoomorphism’, a very rare disease where animal characteristics are found in humans. The doctors told me that they have discovered that many more people have this than first believed, but most people outgrow the problem as they get older.

They feel that while I did outgrow it, it had some lingering effects on my body, and since they have no other explanation for my current situation, they believe that those effects are greatly impacting my health.

Me, I know that I am dying … dying of a broken heart.”

“Dad … dad is sick?” Abraham Lincoln Panim said to his mother.

“Yes, son, but please read on.”

“I am a sick man. I am not asking for forgiveness. I don’t have long to go. Just writing this letter is taking a lot out of me.

Now that you know where I live, would it be possible, would it be something that you could arrange, Diana, for me to meet our son and to speak with you?

I am hoping he is doing well, and there is nothing that I would like more than to speak with him, even if for a few seconds, a few minutes.

I know that I don’t have much more to go. I just want to meet him, in person, and tell him how sorry I was for my behavior, and really, to tell both of you how sorry I am for what I did and what I put both of you through.

Please do not call me. Simply come to the address on the envelope, and please do it soon.

I hope that I have not upset you too much with this letter. Again, I am not asking for forgiveness, but I need to see both of you, and I want to meet my son and tell him how much I love him.

Thanks. I understand if you decide that a meeting with the two of you is not the right thing to do.”

Sincerely,

Marcus Panim”

“So Mom, are we going to see him?”

His mother looked up again at him as he gave the letter to her.

“Remember what Mrs. Stottle used to say all the time … ‘Do unto others as you would have the do unto you … treat other people the way you would like to be treated yourself.’”

“So that means we are going to see him?”

“I think if Mrs. Stottle were still with us, she would recite that saying and leave it up to us to decide. So what do you think?”

“I—“

“I think that we should get there sooner rather than later.”

“How about—“

“Yes, I think we will go on Sunday morning to see your father.”

With that, Abraham Lincoln Panim got up from the couch and went into his bedroom. He sat on his bed, then laid down in it, and picked up his hand mirror, which he had left on the bed when he went to see Ariel.

He looked in the mirror.

“My father … I am finally going to meet him,” he thought while he gazed into the mirror. “Why did he have to leave like he did? He really hurt mom …

“I am sure that he will find me as good looking as everyone else does. Ariel doesn’t want me, I don’t care at this point. My father wants me, and I just know that when he sees me, he will be … “

He stopped his thought, trying to think of a word that would fit.

“Impressed. Yes, impressed. He will be so impressed at how I look.”

Abraham Lincoln Panim put down the mirror, and closed his eyes.

He fell asleep quickly.

Rant #3,760: What's Happening

Everything went well yesterday with my son.

He did well at the hotel as another part of his assessment, and he had a very good interview at the local supermarket.

He didn't get hired just yet, but maybe he will be.

We will find out at the end of the week.

Today is my own day of pain, as I have to cover a meeting for work.

It kills my day, but I guess that is why they call it "work."

Not much else is happening now in my neck of the woods ...

"Happening" is the operative word here.

I read a little while ago that Danielle Spencer, the sassy sister Dee on the sitcom " What's Happening" and periodically in its sequel, "What's Happening Now" passed away at age 60. 

She had been battling cancer and several other ailments for much of her life.

I used to watch that show, a show that existed to make you laugh.

And it was funny ... maybe stupid funny ... but you had to laugh at it.

Yes, the show--with an all black cast--tackled a lot of issues, such as teen pregnancy and unemployment, but it did it in a unique way: with a lot of laughter.

The show--extremely loosely based on the film "Cooley High"--starred Ernest Thomas, Haywood Nelson, Fred Berry, Shirley Hemphill and Mabel King.

Spencer played Dee, the younger sister of Raj (Ernest Thomas), and she could deliver a line in deadpan style as well as anyone.

You could tell from her performance just how smart she was, and when her acting days were over, she left show business to become a veterinarian.

But for a total of six seasons, she was one of the most talented young performers on TV, and she was one of those one-time child stars to successfully move into something else.

What a funny show!

R.I.P.

Now, onto my day of hell.

And that's "What's Happening" to me today.

Rant #3,759: Naked Eyes

First of all ...

You want the good news or the bad news?

I will give you the good news first.

Today will end up being a very busy day for my son in his job quest.

We found out yesterday that his assessment will, in fact, continue today, and it will be at a major chain hotel!

He will perform some hotel duties during this part of the assessment, so that is something pretty exciting.

And then right after that--

He actually has a job interview at a local supermarket!

So today, he will be busy as can be, with this lost week turning out in just the opposite way.

GREAT!

The bad news is that I might have another physical malady to deal with sometime in the near future.

I went to that special eye doctor yesterday, and after numerous tests, it apoears I have the beginnings of a detached retina in my right eye.

The doctor showed me the test results, and there appears to be a space in my right eye where there shouldn't be one, and while it is not detached just yet, it might lead to a future problem.

It is at the point where instead of going back there in a year, I have to return for another checkup in three months.

We will see then if things have changed or have stabilized.

I simply cannot get a break.

It is all age and stress related, and I seem to move from one physical crisis to another.

Funny, I don't think my vision has changed at all, but maybe it has, and I just don't realize it, because the change is so minimal.

I am not too happy about this.

I could just fall apart altogether, but you know me better by now.

I am not going to let it get me down, even if it is a situation that eventually leads to surgery.

But like I said, I don't seem to be able to get a break, and it is frustrating to me.

This cannot be retirement.

It simply cannot be. 

It just can't.

I cannot accept that.

I can't accept that not just for myself, but most importantly, for my family.

I have have had probably the worst retirement that I possibly could have had, and there is no end to the bad luck I have experienced.

I just don't get it.

God must be testing me, but by now, I should have passed that test, dontcha think?

Rant #3,758: Nothing From Nothing

I have another busy week ahead of me.

As you are reading this, i have an early appointment at the special eye doctor I go to about once a year, where I see a retinologist.

I have my eyes dilated, and I am one of those people who pretty much feels it the entire day, and I almost have to will myself to be able to see clearly for the remainder of the day.

On Wednesday, I have another one of those meetings I have to cover for work, so my entire day is pretty much shot.

Than on Thursday, I have a late afternoon appointment with my urologist, where we will talk about where I stand with my "problem." 

I am better, but not quite there yet, so maybe there is something else that can be done so I don't have to suffer anymore.

Let's see what happens.

As far as my son, he is in pretty much a state of limbo this week.

His assessment is on hold, as the woman doing it has yet to call us for the next portion of this program.

She did not tell us when she would call us--it has to be set up by her--so we don't know what is happening.

Not good, but maybe she will call us later in the week.

Yes, it is incredibly frustrating, but there really is nothing we can do about it.

There was an article in the newspaper yesterday addressing all the underhanded stuff that goes on when one is looking for a job, how so many people, desperate to be employed, are being scammed, sometimes for a lot of money, all for the pursuit of employment.

The article did not get into the stuff perpetuated by the search engines themselves, but it was an interesting article on what it did talk about, and that a lot of it is coming from overseas, where the scammers can't be traced.

I went through a lot of nonsense when I was looking for a job a few years back, and I do believe things are even worse now for my son.

Recently, he received an email stating that a particular supermarket was interested in hiring him as part of their crew, and asked that he provide the best days and times that they could set up an interview with him.

We--I--replied within seconds of getting the email, gave a few days and times--even the same day that we received the email--and to this moment, we have not heard back from them.

I have no idea why, but let me tell you, it could be a scam.

If so, what the scammer gets out of this is anyone's guess ...

But what we get out of it is--

NOTHING.

And nothing is the operative word, once again, and it is very frustrating, to say the least.

Unfortunately, September 6 is getting closer and closer on the calendar.

That is when I am going to my 50th high school reunion, and as I have mentioned, the only reason I am going is to talk up my son and his need for a job, and passing around his resume to anyone who might be able to help.

I honestly have no other reason to be there, but I was hoping that by then, my son would have had a job and that I wouldn't have to do this.

But it is increasingly appearing that I am going to have to proceed this way, and I will do what I have to do.

There is still time, several days before the event, so you never know what can happen.

The problem is NOTHING is happening right now, and I have to do SOMETHING.

Rant #3,757: WTF!

You know, sometimes you just have to throw up your arms and hands in disgust and just fuggedaboudit.

I just read an article about the rising popularity of Zohran Mamdani, the socialist, anti-Semitic frontrunner in the New York City mayoral race.

The most disturbing thing about this is that Mamdani's popularity is not only rising, it is rising among--

Jewish voters!

Although he is an avowed anti-Semite, demonstrated numerous times that he supports the Palestinians, Hamas and the obliteration of Israel, his popularity among Jewish voters is actually elevating in the Jewish community.

A recent poll from Zenith Research found Mamdani leading the field among Jewish voters with 43 percent support. 

The poll showed particularly strong numbers among younger Jewish voters--67 percent--as well as reform and secular Jews--55 percent.

Even among more conservative and Orthodox respondents, he registered 21-percent support.

I do believe that the Jewish population votes by party, not by candidate, and since they traditionally vote Democrat, they would probably vote for Adolph Hitler if he was running as a Democrat.

Sorry to say, but true.

Not only that, but their hatred of President Trump is also clouding their vision.

I don't know why they despise him like they do, as he is a firm supporter of Israel, but I think that hate dovetails into their support of the Democrats, no matter who that party chooses as a candidate.

Finally, I do believe that New York City's Jews are so assimilated into American society that they are pretty much Jews in name only, and they have as much connection with their religion, and to Israel, as, well, their preferred candidate does. 

And yes, that is shocking.

How can Jews even consider voting for this garbage?

I do believe that many Jews mistakenly believe that they are immune to the anti-Semitism that grips this country, and the world, and sometimes, the Jews, themselves, can be the world's most virulent anti-Semites, self haters that truly believe that they may believe that they are Jews, but they don't even know what that means.

Some younger voters, fifth and sixth generation Jewish Americans, have absolutely no link to their ancestors who came here at the start of the 20th century, and thus, they have no clue how important Israel and their own Jewishness  is.

World War II and the Holocaust are as much ancient history to them as the Crusades are, and their Jewish connection is severely limited, especially when Jewish celebrities in entertainment, sports and politics do not speak out about what is happening, positively representing the Jewish population.

Blacks, for instance, vehemently state that they enjoy seeing people of color making it on areas that perhaps they did not have access to in previous generations, and Jews, particularly younger Jews, need to see fellow Jews out front and center, but they simply do not see that.

Where are the Jewish role models? Hiding their Jewishness, of course, because it is sonehow bad to be Jewish right now.

On top of that, like others in their age group get their news from ornery sources, and even if they get their news from supposedly "legitimate" sources, that media has skewed their propaganda to be pro-Hamas and anti-Israel (re: New York Times, CBS), and many young Jews, like their peers, have no thought processes to discern what is actually right and what is actually wrong.

Mamdani is so out in front of the other candidates that it is almost a forgone conclusion that he will win.

Can you imagine this anti-Semite being the mayor of the city with the world's largest Jewish community outside of Israel itself?

Well, it is going to happen if things stay the same as they are, and the city's Jews can thank themselves for his upcoming victory 

This report actually came out of the blue, because Mamdani's lifetime of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish rhetoric has pretty much been swept under the rug while the media focuses on other things he says he wants to do, including having free buses and opening city-run supermarkets.

But with everything free he is offering the ignorant and extremely stupid voters of New York City, you have to think one concept has been also swept under the rug, and that is called--

"FREE-DUMB."

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