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.

Rant #3,756: Gotta Get It Right

I got my allergy shots yesterday.

Thank goodness for that.

The last week has been pretty bad for me and lots of other allergy sufferers 

With the fluctuation in temperatures that we have had this summer--one day it is in the 90s, the next day it is in the 70s--my allergies have gone haywire, to say the least.

And now we have Canadian wildfires again--

Not as bad as we had them two years ago, but bad enough.

I was out of the house pretty much the entire morning yesterday, and there was a pall in the air, with the sun trying to peak through. 

This past week, my nose has been dripping, my eyes have bothered me, and I have been a bit of a mess.

Air conditioning doesn't help much, and going outside just exacerbates everything.

So, this summer hasn't been too much fun yet for me, on a number of levels.

My son continues to look for a job, and yesterday, through a Zoom call,we spoke with a counselor from one of the agencies that is supposed to help him.

The woman was a font of information, and I believe that by having my son's assessment play out, we are going the right way with this mess.

Among the information she gave us was the suggestion that my son go for a psychological evaluation, since he hasn't had one in a while.

I called the place she gave me, I was told I have to call somewhere else, I did that, and I am still waiting for a return phone call.

Yes, we will wait for the assessment to play out.

Otherwise, not much else is going on at the moment.

I still have my medical problem, which i believe.is getting better, but while it is 99 percent better, I am still waiting for that 1 percent to kick in--

And as I look back, it is something that didn't have to happen.

I have been busy with work, and every day is a new day with exactly how much work I have to do.

Like the weather, it fluctuates literally by the day; sometimes, it is a little bit, other times, it can be several hours of things to do.

I guess in a funny way, it has been a godsend, taking my mind off of other problems.

Nothing is easy, and it is getting more difficult by the day.

But the weekend is right around the corner, and as I always have, I work for the weekend.

Maybe I can get a breather then.

If I can breathe at all.

Rant #3,755: Have a Nice Day

Today, I am going to write about something that interests me, makes me feel good, and is something that I enjoy writing about.

And it has nothing to do with the series of earthquakes that have hit New Jersey during the past few days.

You might remember that a few Rants ago, I wrote about K-Tel Records and their compilation LPs that were incessantly hacked on television at all hours of the day and night.

Anyway, in 1990, roughly 15 years or so after the heyday of K-Tel Records, Rhino Records came out with their own series of K-Tel-like compilations honoring the kitschiest music of the 1970s, called "Super Hits of the 70s: Have a Nice Day."

No, you won't find Elton John or Wings or Olivia Newton-John on these CDs--I don't think they ever came out on vinyl record, although they did come out on cassettes--but you will find the likes of Looking Glass, Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods, and Maxine Nightingale on these collections.

And each volume comes with extensive liner notes!

Unlike the K-Tel compilations, which featured upwards of 22 songs on each LP, the Rhino collections only had 12 songs on each CD, but they were uncut amd sounded better than just about anything K-Tel ever put out.

And the initial series had 15 volumes, so there were a total of 180 kitschy classics in this series.

I went whole hog for these CDs, and I bought each of the initial 15 volumes either new or used from probably 1990 to 1992, and they had a nice place in my collection.

You would think that Rhino would have exhausted the kitschy classics from the early 1970s, but the series was so popular that they revived the series in 1993, releasing not only 10 more volumes--adding 120 tunes to the mix, bringing the total up to 300---but a promotional CD to promote the newst volumes and a massive, multi CD set of all the songs, plus news bytes from the era--think Patty Hearst and Watergate--encased in a box that had retro-1970s carpeting on its outside!

I bought Volume 16, but to me, the kitschy factor had run out by this time.

Sure, there were some great tunes on the first 15 volumes--"Brandy," "I Believe In Music," and the entire Leo Sayer hit catalog--but the next 10 volumes didn't do much for me--Wayne Newton, Meco, Player, Exile, Orleans, stuff I was never into at all--so I didnt purchsse them.

Sorry to say, these later volumes are getting more and more difficult to find, and some go for a pretty penny if you can find them.

Looking for something different to listen to. I kind of stumbled on my stash of these CDs, and have recently archived them digitally in the MP3 format so I can listen to them in the car.

And yes, I have searched around for the nine volumes that I am missing, and have cobbled together as much of the music as possible from digital files I have from other sources on a separate, external hard drive.

I don't have all the songs on the missing nine CDs, but I discovered, to my astonishment, that i have at least five songs on each of the missing CDs from other sources, so I can make up a representative collection for those missing disks.

Let me tell you, I have mistakenly labeled all the music on this collection as being "kitsch," but I mean thst in the nicest way.

There is lots of good music here, and for every "Disco Duck" and Freddy Fender tune, there are plenty of good, almost forgotten tunes by the likes of Ian Gomm, Pilot and Jigsaw.

The early 1970s--my high school years--was a period that I, personally, lost touch on a lot of things, and music certainly was one of those things.

This collection has brought much of it all back to me, and it is nice to revisit 50 years after the fact.

I don't want to ever go back to my teenage years, but this collection allows me to take a little dip in the pool without having to dive right in.

Lots of fun, and this 25-CD collection is highly recommended.

Yes, "Have a Nice Day."

Rant #3,754: Strange Days

??????????

To pick up on yesterday's story ...

So I gave the teller at the drive-thru my deposit--check and cash--and she temporarily vanished after telling me she had to go to the front of the bank for some unknown reason.

She returned, gave me back my receipt, my driver's license, and my debit card, all nicely put together with a paper clip.

I took it, thanked her, and drove off--

But I wanted to put my license and debit card away in my wallet, so I pulled over to the side of the parking lot, parked, and took out my wallet.

I unclipped everything, and it was all there--

Including registers!

But to my surprise, something else was in this small package--

The check i gave her to deposit.

I double checked my receipt, everything was evidently put into my account, but she gave me back the check.

My wife was a teller for many years, and I know that before a teller's day is done, their draw has to balance out, including cash and checks.

If it doesn't balance out, everyone has to stay, until it can be reconciled 

If it can't be reconciled, the teller can be written up, and it gets put on the teller's personal record.

Whatever the case, and since this had never happened to me before, I stopped for a second, and decided what to do.

??????????

Not to pat myself on the back, but I decided to take the high road, returning the check to save the woman's butt--

And also, i wanted to double check to make sure the transaction was done correctly.

Since I went through the drive-thru with my original transaction, I figured I might as well go through the drive-thru again, but this time, simply walking over to this area rather than waiting on another line, wasting more time.

I walked up to the drive-thru, and there was one car there.

I tapped the window a few times, noticed that it was a different female teller, and got her attention.

"I just made a deposit here, and it wasn't you, but the previous teller gave me my check back."

"You have to wait. I am waiting on someone."

I said that was fine, and I would wait.

She was just about done with the customer, and when the car drove away, there, miraculously, was no one waiting to use the drive-thru.

"It wasn't you, but the previous teller gave me my check back."

"I cannot help you. You have to drive up to the window again."

"All I want to do is return the check and make sure that the check was deposited correctly. Why do I have to get back on the line?"

"I can't help you unless you bring your car to the window."

I have to tell you, I left there quite a bit perturbed. 

There were no cars at the window, so why she could not help me right then and there is beyond me.

So I got into my car, and--you guessed it--a couple of cars had since driven to the drive-thru, and I was forced to wait my turn.

(In hindsight, I guess I could have gone into the bank and handled this, but I figured that since the original transaction was made at the drive-thru, I could get it done quickly right there, which ended up being a wrong decision. 

And the teller told me to get back into my car and get on line, so I did what she told me, no matter how idiotic I thought her request was.)

??????????

After about 10 minutes, I got up to the drive-thru.

"Look, all i wanted to do was give back the check and make sure everything was correct. Why did you refuse to help me, especially since there was no line?"

"I told you to get back into your car and drive up."

"I did, and I had to wait, wasting time."

"I will not do anything for you unless you were on the line."

"Get me the bank manager."

??????????

The bank manager appeared, I went over the entire story again, and this is whst he told me.

"Tellers cannot serve customers at the drive-thru if they are not in a car."

"There was no line. This teller wasn't at fault, as the previous teller was the one who gave me back the check, but this teller could have taken me, rather than having me get back on a line of cars."

"We cant wait on you at the drive-thru if you are not in a car. It is a safety issue."

This is not entirely true. My wife will tell you that she served plenty of customers at the drive-thru without cars, and safety really wasn't an issue.

And I told the manager that.

"My wife helped plenty of people at the drive-thru who weren't in cars ... all I am trying to do is make sure this teller's draw equals out. It won't without the check ... and i also want to make sure the check was processed properly."

"It is human error. Everyone makes mistakes."

Lame excuse.

I handed the manager the check, and even though my receipt showed that the money was in my account, I had him make sure of that ... as cars started to get on the line behind me.

It took him about five minutes to get back to me.

"The check was scanned, so it is in your account. It was human error. Have a nice day."

"Look, I simply did not want the teller to get in trouble. And this could have been handled by the bank in a better way."

"It was human error, that's what it was."

I drove away.

I wonder if the check was actually in my account when I gave the manager the check, or whether he had to do it to fully complete the transaction.

Irregardless of that possibility, I don't think I was treated nicely.

I certainly did not get a thank you for my efforts.

Next time, I won't return the check back. Why bother when they don't seem to care.

??????????

Two simple bank transactions, which should have taken a combined 20 minutes to complete, ended up taking nearly an hour from beginning to end.

??????????

But at least i got my registers!

??????????

Rant #3,753: ? and the Mysterians

??????????

I went to my local bank to take out some money from the ATM machine.

I wait my turn, and then i put my card in to begin the process.

I put in my pin number, and then--

The card was rejected 

I did the process again--stupidly thinking that I did something wrong--and again, the card was rejected.

I thought this was strange, because there was plenty of money in the account to draw from.

I went into the bank, went up to a teller, and asked what was going on.

He told me that a lock had been put on my card--

Not that anything was untoward happening with the card, but they do this as part of the "checks and balances" that they do to ensure that no hackers are infiltrating the system.

Now, what would have happened if I needed cash in a real emergency, and wasn't in a bank at the time?

I never got an answer to that, so I assume that the stop on the card was put onto it the moment I put the card in the ATM and wanted to take out my own money.

How convenient that was!

??????????

Since I was there, and my transaction was now being taken care of by the teller himself--as the stop was taken off my card--I figured I would ask the teller a simple question:

"Can I have a couple of registers?"

The teller looked at me, and said--

"What's a register?

So to the bank teller, who admittedly was pretty young--I had to explain what a register was.

(As I am sure you know, a register us where you write down the debits and credits to your bank account, and it neatly fits right into your checkbook so you have the account's history right in front of you.)

Almost immediately, an old, decrepit teller who must have been all of 30 years of age came up to where I was conversing with the younger teller and said--

"We don't carry them anymore, because no one uses them anymore."

Funny, I do ... I mean, how do I reconcile what I have in my checking account without one?

I told this to him, and he gave me a register for a giant's checkbook (see photo)--

The register was twice as big as a normal-sized one, and the print in it was about three times larger than normal.

The last I looked, I was a giant 5 foot, 9-and-a half inches.

Not Andre the Giant.

i left this bank with the giant-sized register in my hand along with the cash in took out.

Onto the next bank ...

??????????

I wanted to put the money i had taken out of one bank into another account I had in another bank, so as I have done hundreds of times, I got my money together, and drove to the drive-thru of this other nearby bank.

There were a couple of cars ahead of me--just one window--so I dutifully waited my turn.

Finally, it was my turn, and I gave the woman teller my cash, a check I wanted deposited, my driver's license, and my bank card so my transaction could be processed.

"Please put all of it into my (I am going to leave out where I told her I wanted the deposit made, because, well, I am starting to not trust anyone when it comes to banks and my money)."

I noticed that she was counting the cash very carefully, almost too carefully.

"I have to go up front ... give me a minute," she said, and since she was going up front, i asked her for a couple of registers (kill two birds with one stone).

The gist of the story at this bank begins here.

Why did she need to go up front?

Will I finally get my registers?

What else can go wrong?

Tune in tomorrow--

Same Bat time, same Bat channel ... .

??????????

Rant #3,752: Climb Ev'ry Mountain

There is absolutely nothing new to report on my son's job quest.

No one is helping us, so we are pretty much on our own.

My son has worked half his life.

Working since he was 15--his first job was as a volunteer--he is now almost 30 years old, and i am convinced he will get something, with or without help.

He has some time to go before his assessment is completed, so we are in something of a holding pattern, but we aren't sitting still.

My son has applied for other jobs--online, unfortunately--so maybe we will be surprised, and something will come up.

I wish I had better news on this front, but i simply don't.

I am done with dealing with agencies that consist of pencil pushers, earning their pay and pensions at the taxpayers' expense.

I will not contact them anymore.

Like Popeye used to say, "I have taken all I can stand, and I can't stand no more!"

I just wish I could follow that declaration up like Popeye does, with that can of spinach. 

But I can't.

In the meantime, why not sit back and read the latest installment of my novel.

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

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 #3,751: Nowhere Man

More and more time spent on the phone yesterday morning: 

For my son, I found out, without a shadow of a doubt, that no one I spoke to can help him, in any way.

He has the next step of his assessment scheduled for next Tuesday morning, so that is what we are focused on.

For myself, I found out that the procedure I was scheduled to have on Friday is not going to happen, simply because what I was led to believe the procedure would do is not why the doctor prescribed the procedure in the first place.

I have had after-effects from the prostate procedure I had in November, and this latest procedure is completely unnecessary, at least at this point in time, so I am not having it done.

I thought that the procedure was directly tied into my problem, and since it isn't and doesn't impact me at all, why fix something that isn't broken?

And it isn't just me--other medical people questioned why the doctor was having me undergo the procedure, and I thought it had to do with my problem--

Which I was told yesterday it did not--

And by the very office that prescribed the procedure.

Like they say on the Internet, WTF?

WTF?

WTF?

Yes, this has been a very frustrating time for myself and my family, and I have heard enough double talk during the past few weeks to last me a lifetime.

So, the end result of all of this is:

My son is no closer to getting a job than he ever was.

I am no closer to finding a solution to my problem than I ever was.

And all of this is very frustrating.

People whose main function at their jobs is helping those in need are doing just the opposite, and I am at my wits' end trying to figure out why all of this is happening.

I can't figure it out, but I am through banging my head against the wall trying to do just that.

We have to push on, even if it is to nowhere, which is where it has been going lately.

I simply don't know what else can be done on either front, but we can't just stop; we have to keep on going--

Even if is a complete and total waste of time, which it truly is.

I simply want two things:

I want my son to get a new job.

I want to be 100 percent cured of what ails me.

Are those two things too much to ask?

I think not.