Rant #3,988: I Can See Clearly Now (Not Yet)

Things have settled down a bit from Monday's craziness ...

But when your entire life is crazy, nothing really gets back to what I would call a sense of normalcy.

I went to the eye doctor on Tuesday to get the latest check up on my eye, and believe me, there were no surprises to me during the appointment.

The eye needs to be repaired, and I will get that done as soon as I can.

My whole body needs to be in check after what I have already gone through this year.

And I have two weddings to look forward to, and I want to be able and healthy when those events come up in September and October.

When I think about my damaged eye, the song "I Can See Clearly Now" by Johnny Nash comes to mind.

This song was a huge single in 1972, hitting the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in late summer of that year.

And the lyrics kind of go with what I am currently going through, if you want to stretch things a bit.

Here they are, from the AZLyrics.com site (https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/johnnynash/icanseeclearlynow.html).

"I can see clearly now, the rain has gone

I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It's gonna be a bright, bright sun-shining day
It's gonna be a bright, bright sun-shining day

I think I can make it now, the pain has gone
All of the bad feelings have disappeared
Here is that rainbow I've been praying for
It's gonna be a bright, bright sun-shining day

Look all around, there's nothing but blue sky
Look straight ahead, nothing but blue sky

I can see clearly now, the rain has gone
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone're the dark clouds that had me blind
It's gonna be a bright, bright sun-shining day
It's gonna be a bright, bright sun-shining day
Gonna be a bright, bright sun-shining day
Gonna be a bright, bright, bright sun-shining day."

Yes, if you stretch things, the song is almost prophetic when it comes to my malady.

Now, I have to get this thing fixed.

What's another surgery when you have had several of them already this year?

I guess that is how I have to look at this whole thing now ...

Just another speed bump on my road to good health.

And something I just have to do, sooner than later.

Rant #3,987: Knock Knock, Who's There?

Yesterday was a typical day for me.

Even early on, before many people were up and about, I was attacked as being a racist and a bigot for views that I posted on Facebook.

I was banned by someone who should know better, but sticks up for his "friends" because they and he are, in fact, the real racists and bigots.

You have to wonder about some people, you really do.

Here is what i had to say about the matter on Facebook:

"I was just banned from a Facebook site because I voiced an opinion that was not popular among other respondents.

This has happened to me before, and I am not going to hold back when I believe something is very wrong.

The difference this time is that I was dumped on because of my skin color and religion.

Other respondents wrote some of the most vile, disgusting posts I have ever seen, and they were clearly directed at me--

And they were made by people who ... well ... are of a certain "persuasion," let's say.

Nothing was done to them, but I was dumped.

That is fine. I am a big boy, and I can take it.

But let's say that segregation went out decades ago, but the person who leads this "discussion," if that is what you want to call it, practices the very thing he so preaches against.

And yes, he is from my old neighborhood in Queens, as are some of the respondents who raked me over and into the hot coals.

How dare they do this to me, and I will say it again:

If "All in the Family" was on the air today, Archie Bunker would not be what he was 50 years ago. 

I will let you figure out exactly what I mean, but I think it is pretty obvious."

Some more ...

I discovered that the post office in my community had my address wrong (no, that would not have impacted the deliveries that I told you about, because the deliverer had the correct address).

And, I had to change a major medical appointment that I had coming up, because the doctor won't be at the office on the original date.

And all of this happened before 8 a.m. in the morning.

What else could happen during the rest of the day?

Look, I know that there is some type of dark cloud hovering over me, and it has been there for months.

Something weird is happening, and while I look up and there is nothing there, there is something happening that I don't understand.

Perhaps I am being punished for some earlier "atrocity" that I committed, but somehow, I can't think of anything.

I did kill a fly in our house a few months ago, but that is probably the only bad thing that I have done during the past few months.

I cannot figure it out.

And then, late in the day, to put a neat cherry on the top of the cake, I thwarted an attempt to be scammed over the phone late in the day, by people alleging to be from Chase Bank and Zelle.

I use neither, and pretty much gathered a little into the call that this was a phony.

So happily, they didn't get much from me ...

But with AI, who knows. 

A sound can be enough to get you.

I hope the only sound they got from me was when I disconnected them.

Now we come to today, and I have another major medical appointment to engage in and enjoy to the fullest.

I have to go to the special eye doctor so he can look at my partially torn retina.

I want to get this repaired next month, before my nephew's wedding and my daughter's own wedding.

So let's see--"see" being the operative word--if that can be accomplished.

When I have to go to this doctor, they have to dilate my pupils, and I am one of those people who kind of suffers when this happens, as it takes me literally an entire day for the dilation to wash itself out.

So that means I won't be able to see clearly for probably at least eight hours, or maybe even more.

My day is shot, but that is the way it is.

Like I said, I can't win.

I often feel like Rodney Dangerfield.

You remember him, the comedian whose entire schtick was ...

"I get no respect."

"When I was a kid, I was so ugly that my mother used to feed me with a slingshot."

"My wife and I were happy for 20 years. Then we met."

"You know that you are ugly when you go to the proctologist and he sticks his finger in your mouth."

Well, I get no respect too.

But unlike Rodney Dangerfield, I can't make a career--or money--out of it.

No one would pay me for all the nonsense I have been through in recent times, and seemingly no amount of money would help me to get a "Get Out of Jail" card to escape this nonsense.

So what befuddles me today, beyond having to go to the eye doctor and arrange for a future surgery?

I don't know, but I am prepared for everything and anything.

Some days, I wish I had the power of Kreskin to see what was coming before it actually happened.

But I don't have that power ...

So when it comes, it comes--

And when it hits me, it is like Muhammad Ali hitting me squarely on the chin.

Knockout!

Ring the bell already!

Rant #3,986: Where the Action Is

First off, R.I.P. to singer Freddy Cannon, 89, who died this past Friday, a few months short of his 90th birthday.

He provided a bus load of hits in the pre-Beatles years of the early 1960s--"Way Down Yonder in New Orleans," Tallahassee Lassie" and "Palisades Park" were among them--and he also provided the theme song--"Action" for the "Where the Action Is" TV show that ran on ABC in the mid-1960s--

A show which, ironically, ushered in a whole new sound to the mainstream, and was a death knell to Cannon's career as a hitmaker.

He appeared on "American Bandstand" more than any other performer, and he survived on the oldies circuit for decades.

Since I run a "Where the Action Is" site on Facebook, his death kind of hit me hard.

Onto other things ...

Like Groundhog Day ...

Another day, but the same result.

Yet another company that I ordered something from crapped out on me, or nearly did, until I did something about it.

I ordered some apparel for my wife via a link my wife provided to me, and while the charge came up on my debit card account, we never received any notification about the order in our emails.

To make a long story short, I contacted the company via a chatbox that they had, and the chatbox was intuitive enough to send me over to a live company representative, and after we exchanged messages back and forth--and I supplied documentation that my account was credited for the purchase--they agreed to send the apparel via expedited shipping--

Yup, I have been through this before with the same response, but this is a different company that I have never dealt with, so I will give them a few days to send the order to us.

And if not--

I will cancel once again, the third time I have had to cancel an online order in less than a month.

I told my wife what I will tell you again ...

You cannot buy the item in the store, unless it is absolutely necessary, then you don't buy it.

Period.

End of story ...

I hope.

Otherwise, through the smog and the heat and the rain and everything else Mother Nature is throwing our way, my son and I went to Madison Square Garden to see WWE Saturday Night Main Event this past Saturday.

Honestly, the only reason that I agreed to go--beyond my son wanting desperately to see this show--is that when I was going through all of those surgeries, we had tickets to another show, bought way ahead of my physical maladies, that we could not go to because I wasn't well enough.

So I agreed to this show.

The ticket price was obscene, the two-hour show featured just four OK--but not earth-shattering matches--with one pre-show match--and the only reason I looked forward to it--beyond my son's happiness--was that Jalen Brunson of the Knicks was going to be there in one of the non-match segments.

Maybe I am getting too old for all of this, but tickets cost about five times what they did just a couple of years ago, and if we are going to spend that type of money, I would spend it on something more interesting than this.

In fact, ticket sales were really slow for this event, it was on Peacock and not one of the major TV networks, and honestly, the card wasn't really that great.

But I went with my son, and again, we had a good time in spite of it all.

And he finally got a T-shirt, not the same as I had ordered that was delivered to the wrong place, but something that he enjoyed, so it made the purchase--right then and there-somewhat worthwhile.

And Saturday was a bear of a day in my neck of the woods anyway, so I guess it gave us something to do in the midst of Mother Nature's wrath.

Normally, my son works on Saturday, so not only did he take a day off to go to this thing, but he avoided the smoke and the rain and everything else that day, which is a really good thing.

And the other good thing is that as I am getting better, I am able to do more things, and this is something that I honestly could not have done a few weeks back.

I simply wasn't up to it physically, mentally, emotionally, or health-wise.

So if you wrap it up in a ball, it was all positive.

Sure, I could have watched it on TV at home, but this is my son's thing, so his happiness made me happy, too.

And that's a thought I don't have to wrestle with too much.

(P.S.: As my son and I left to go to the WWE show, we opened our front door, and lo and behold, a package was on the ground right by the door, and believe it or not, it was the wrestling T-shirt that I had ordered for my son but was delivered to the wrong apartment.

We were both amazed, but my sign in the hall by the mailboxes must have made an impact.

I never saw who dropped it off to us, but all I can say about it is ...

I guess there are still some good people in the world, people who don't believe in stealing someone else's property.

Yes, miracles do happen.)

Rant #3,985: Kicks

I still have plenty of more to go on my organizational kick, but I am going to put it all on the back burner now to talk about something else. 

But what to talk about?

The World Cup is nearly over, and good riddance for that.

How many Americans really care about this tournament, and soccer--or football--in general?

The media rams it down our throats, like they have been doing for like 70 years now, and the only interest shown is by newcomers to our shores--recent immigrants--and that is pretty much it.

And they root for their "home" countries, not their adopted country.

Please explain this to me.

Based on the media, you would think that all of us care about this ...

It is pretty much on the same level as the WNBA, another faction that the media so wants us to be interested in, but pretty much no one cares about.

So I will be happy to see the World Cup end, as I think most Americans would, but honestly, few really care about the sport here, so it will just pass into the ether ...

Where it belongs.

And it will add to our air quality ...

Once again, our friends from Canada have given us another round of summer wildfires, and while this once certainly isn't as bad as the round we had about three or four years ago, this one is bad enough.

The skies are really murky, and with my bad allergies, my breathing is being greatly impacted by this pollution in our skies.

It is best to stay indoors and stay in air conditioning--if at all possible--but for me, it is not possible, as I have things to do, and they don't include staying in the house all day--

I did enough of that while I was hurt, sick and having a low energy level.

So people like me just have to grin and bear it and hope that our lungs can withstand it.

And even with the air pollution, I hope to be able to breathe a little bit better next week.

On Tuesday, I have to go to the eye doctor to find out just how bad my right eye is.

I have a slight retinal tear in that eye, and I have been managing with this ailment for a few months.

I could not get it worked on because I was going through all the other health problems I had--three surgeries in three months--and I wanted to concentrate on those things that needed immediate attention first.

Now that those things are hopefully behind me, I can concentrate on my vision, and I will hear on Tuesday just how I am doing.

I would like to get this taken care of in August, several weeks before my nephew gets married, followed by my daughter's nuptials.

I want to see it all with two healthy eyes by the time of those events.

Let's see what the doctor has to say about all of this.

If I have managed this far, I think I can go another few weeks with this thing, and then get it done once and for all.

And I am done with Amazon and Fanatics, as I will never order anything online from them ever again ...

You already know about the Amazon thing, with those holders for my CDs, which finally came in a box that looked like it had been thrown around a bit, but what you don't know is that on Thursday, I had another confrontation with a delivery service that was supposed to get me an order lickety-split, but right now, I have absolutely no idea where the order is.

I ordered a T-shirt for my son right after the Knicks won the NBA championship, a pretty neat NBA/WWE hybrid shirt, and after a wait of about a month or so, it was supposed to come yesterday.

I received the notification that it was delivered, looked all around, and it was nowhere to be found.

A picture came with the notification (see above) that showed that the delivery was definitely made to the wrong address, an apartment in our complex that has a door that leads to the outside, not like where we are, where we are in a building, and our door leads to a hallway.

I cannot tell the number of the apartment it was delivered to, as it is obscured by the fact that the picture shows that the "safe place" that they placed the package, as they called it, was in the middle of the front grass, nowhere near the front door of wherever they left it.

I called one number to complain, they sent me to another number, and finally, someone called me back from Fanatics, to apologize, but to tell me that other than writing up a report on the miscue, there was nothing they could do about it.

I have no idea where the package was delivered, I drove around the development to see if I could find it, but believe it or not, someone evidently picked up the package and did not return it to the proper address, which was listed, of course, right on the front of the parcel.

They pretty much stole it ...

What'd they think, God sent it to them?

Anyway, since there was nothing I could do about it, I put up a notice by the mailboxes--which is downstairs in our building, and I asked someone to return the package to us ...

No questions asked.

I also put in for a refund.

I told my wife that if I see anyone wearing the shirt, I am going to call the police, and I will do just that if that happens.

Let's see if anything transpires.

But what I see now is that it is time to bid you adieu ...

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

With the World Cup happily over as maybe the skies begin to clear up, and I can see clearly now ...

And maybe someone will give me my son's T-shirt.

The last thing isn't going to happen, but the other things I mentioned are more than doable, in time.

But lately, I really have to wonder.

Rant #3,984: Gettin' Together

I am on a roll with my organization of things.

After putting all of my CDs in alphabetical order in those bins that I bought--it took about 4.5 of those bins, so there has to be more than a thousand CDs put away now--I decided to put all of my cassettes in order.

This was a much easier job, to say the least.

When we moved, I got rid of just about all of my cassettes that I, myself, recorded on, and those numbered in the hundreds, at the very least.

So we took with us the pre-recorded cassettes that my wife and I had, and that was about it.

She had hundreds of these cassettes, and I probably had about 200 of them, so without her cassettes to put in alphabetized order--like the CDs, she told me that it wasn't important enough for me to do this--I just had to put what I had in order, and I, by and large, had the receptacles to put them into--

Those cassette holders from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s that were specifically made for this task.

So I rounded up a few of them that we had--ones that were not storing my wife's cassettes--and set about putting what I had in order.

Yes, I do have a player for these cassettes, and yes, this player also digitizes the music if I choose to do so, so if I want to listen to a cassette, I can, whether in the house or in my car.

It took all of the holders I had--plus one stray shoebox--to get all of these cassettes in order and put away, which took probably about two or two-and-a-half hours to do.

I saw things I hadn't seen in years, and it was both tough and fun at the same time to do this.

It really is a shame that in general, the kids today do not know--or more importantly care--about physical media, whether it is vinyl--45s and LPs--CDs, cassettes or even 8-tracks--of which I have none, but my wife still has a few--and their collectibility.

Yes, a lot of kids are getting into vinyl, and that is great, but most kids today simply download their music, so they have a file, but nothing else to show for their love of this music.

That is a true shame, because think of the "fun of the pursuit" we had when we heard a song on the radio and just had to have it.

We went to our local stores, located it--whether on 45, LP, cassette, CD or even 8-track--and purchased it and made it part of our collection.

A file-MP3 and the like--is fine, it takes up no space, and you can take it anywhere, but it is not something that is really collectible.

It comes without art or liner notes, it is just a file, and nothing more.

To me, it is boring, nothing but a sound bite.

But heck, even today's icon Taylor Swift acknowledges the value of an actual recorded entity, and she has been an ambassador for Record Store Day to demonstrate her commitment to actual recorded media.

(Of course, the sale of her music on LPs, 45s and the like lines her pockets, but ... )

So anyway, now all of my recorded media, as far as music is concerned, is in perfect order, and readily accessible to me.

That includes LPs, 45s, CDs--including CD singles--cassettes--including cassingles--and that is that--

And that is enough.

What is next?

Let me breathe a little bit ...

Between my wife and I, we must have at least 1,000 DVDs/BluRays of movies, TV shows, etc.

Like I said, let me breathe ...

And don't put a bug in my head about these things.

Rant #3,983: In the Summertime

Well, as I reported, I finally got my order ...

But as I also reported, it was damaged.

I think I can work with it, but I learned a valuable lesson--

If you can't buy something like this in a real, brick-and-mortar store, then unless it is absolutely necessary, don't go the online route.

That route is fraught with so many potholes that it really isn't worth it.

But I did what I did, so I have to live with it.

And yes, I finished putting all the CDs away in these receptacles, and it took a total of five of these things to fit them all--

Hampered by the fact that the newer ones are about ine-quarter of an inch shorter lengthwise, and yes, that did make a little problem in putting them all away--

But let's just say they are all away, and that project is over.

Onto other things ...

I notice that gas prices have jumped up a bit since the resumption of war with Iran, so again I ask the question:

How is this war benefitting our country?

Beyond its stated goal of ridding us of terrorists and making the world safer ...

It is driving the prices of everything up to ridiculous levels, and no matter that it is a good fight, Americans look at their pocketbooks first, and if that pocketbook is less full, people aren't going to like it one bit.

But yes, it is a good fight, but I don't think that that reverberates among the masses, not with prices as they are ...

And with a President boasting about how much money he has made during this period.

It does not bode well for Republicans at the mid-terms, that's for sure--

Which means that there will be more candidates, and winners, from not just the Democratic Party, but the branch of the party that supports Democratic Socialists.

People vote stupidly--just look at what has happened in New York City--and they vote by party, not candidate.

They simply refuse to see that who they are voting for advocate for a way of living that is so against the American way that it is striking how stupid people can be when they cast their votes.

So this war has trickle-down effects that go way beyond bombs and warfare and all of those things we associate with war.

And when i go to the pump and pay increasing prices to fuel my tank, it kind of hits you pretty hard that we--the public--are paying for this war, and paying for it through the nose.

The U.S. is on the right side of this war, but it is a war that, quite frankly, we cannot win, or win in the historical sense of winning a war.

And as I have said before, we are fighting an opponent that is quite different from any others we have fought in the past, a terrorist government that has never played by the rules, and still doesn't.

So what is the end of all of this?

Who knows?

And onto other matters, I had an interesting moment yesterday with my son while we were trying to pay for our purchases in Walmart.

My son saw a couple of DVDs that he wanted--$5 each--so he grabbed them, and we went to the self-service aisle to pay for them.

The area did not take cash, so we were using a debit card to pay for this.

The checkout we chose was not working, so I asked an attendant for help.

He did whatever he was supposed to do to get it working again, and then he said, "Identification."

I didn't know he was directing that at us, and I said to him, "You mean for us? Why?"

He replied, "It is a PG-13 rated movie, so I have been instructed to ask for identification."

"This isn't alcohol, this isn't an X-rated movie ... why do I need to show ID? I am 69, my son is almost 31 ... ."

"Identification."

So I showed him my driver's license, and he let us make the purchase.

So they now ID you if you make a DVD purchase, and that appears to be OK ...

But you don't have to show any ID to vote.

Please, someone explain this to me.

Please, because it makes absolutely no sense to be carded for a DVD purchase, but not when you vote.

I can see for alcohol, but not to vote?

So I was a little hot under the collar, but I am going to be even hotter in the coming days ...

We are preparing to go through another heat wave over the next few days, with temperatures in the 90s and above.

Yesterday, it barely reached 90 in my neck of the woods, and over the next three days, it has been forecasted that temperatures should have no problem getting to that level and beyond it.

Boy, I wish we still had our backyard pool!

We had a pool at our old house for decades, and it really came in handy on days like we are going to have.

It certainly came in handy during the pandemic, where there wasn't much to do to keep my wife and I occupied.

But the reality is that we don't have the house anymore, the neighborhood we now live in does not have a pool, and we would have to go to one of the town pools to cool off that way, but it really isn't worth the drive.

Funny, with my weight loss, I just bought myself a new bathing suit, and I also bought my wife another bathing suit to fit her already svelte figure.

Maybe we will give in, and actually go to a local watering hole sometime this summer, so these were good investments, even though we aren't using our new bathing suits just yet.

It is good to have them on hand for the day when we finally say "enough!"

And that leads to the end of today's Rant.

I guess I have already proclaimed "enough" for today.

So I will speak to you again tomorrow ...

Hopefully with all of those CDs put away, with some cash in my wallet, and with the possibility of going swimming in our new bathing suits one day closer to reality.

Rant #3,982: Shazam!

I continued to have trouble with that delivery I spoke about yesterday.

The latest message is that there was an attempt to deliver the merchandise to me at--

1:57 a.m. in the morning (!!!!) on Monday--

But my order could not be delivered, for an unspecified reason.

Somehow, Gomer Pyle seems to work into my Rants a lot, simply because of something he said on the sitcom:

"Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!"

Of course it couldn't be delivered at that ungodly hour in the morning--

You can't even get into the building where our apartment is located due to the front door being locked for security purposes.

So I called the delivery company used by Amazon, which is UPS.

I told the operator--whose name was "Lovey" by the way--the whole story, and he--yes, it was a he, not like the character who was married to Thurston Howell III on "Gilligan's Island"--told me that the package would be delivered today, and that the driver had 71 stops before he got to my address.

I told "Lovey" explicit instructions about our development and where we are located, and he said he would pass this information onto a supervisor, and that this person would call be back.

OK, fine and good.

It's not "Lovey's" fault that the package didn't get here when it was supposed to get here.

Again, quoting Gomer ...

"Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!"

I could quote Gomer again with a completely different quote:

"He gonna kill me, he gonna kill me, he gonna kill me dead!"

In that case, Gomer lost Sgt. Carter's car that he was supposed to be watching for safekeeping while Carter was away, but Gomer somehow "misplaced" the car.

It's a sitcom, don't ask.

Anyway, I just hope the driver did not "misplace" my order.

I did speak to the supervisor, who apologized and couldn't get off the phone quick enough.

I explained everything to her, even though all she wanted to do was get off of the phone with me.

She said that the original deliverer was "inexperienced," and did not know the area, and that the regular route driver was delivering the package today.

Again ...

"Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!"

Now, I am not going to follow what either "Lovey" or the supervisor said related to the other Gomer Pyle quote I used earlier in this Rant, but when I finally get this thing, I will, once again, go back to Gomer and his pearls of wisdom with yet another quote, that being--

"Shazam!"

(P.S.: The package was finally delivered at about 5:30 p.m. on Monday. The box it came in was damaged, and there were small pieces broken off of the holders in the box. One side clamp was also separated from the plastic holders, but I was able to put that back into place.

As I said, both Amazon and UPS have lost me as a customer. 

The thing finally gets delivered, and it is damaged ... never again.)