Rant #3,145: Day By Day

I am back at my usual perch today, with some mixed news to report.

My mother remains in the hospital, but it has little to do with her fall last week.

They found some other things that need to be checked out.

Without getting into great detail, while she has been moved from the intensive care unit to the general hospital population, there are a couple of things that the doctors want to look at before they send her home, so her stay in the hospital is going to be extended.

I don’t know when she might get out—hopefully this week?—but we really don’t know yet about that.

Otherwise, she is as chipper as she can be, and she is actually more retentive in the hospital than she has been at home, for whatever reason.

Twice she literally, verbally, threw me out of the room, telling me to go home, and when I get there today, she might just tell me the same thing, so her vim and vigor is there; we just have to get these other problems assessed and taken care of before she can come home.

My wife has an up and down experience since she had her head injury.

What that means is exactly what you think it means: once day she feels just about like herself, the next day she feels wobbly, and the next day she is somewhere in between.

We went to the doctor yesterday, and her prognosis is good, but it will still take time for her to get back entirely to where she once was.

Her wound is not bleeding anymore, so she won’t need another CatScan. She can drive again, go to the gym again, but both on a limited basis.

She can get a haircut again, as long as she tells the beautician to be careful around the area of the wound, which still has a scab on it.

So the prognosis for my wife is quite good, thank God. As for my mother, let them do the tests, and then we will have a better bead on where she is, but I do believe that she will be home soon.

                         . .  *   *   *

If things were going well in my household, today’s Rant would be about one thing and one thing only, and while normalcy is not part of our household right at the moment, there is no reason why I can’t wax poetic on today’s significance, whether things are where they should be or not.

Today is my wedding anniversary, and it is a big one, because today is our 30th anniversary.

I cannot believe that it has been 30 years that we have been married—the time has gone so very fast—but it has, indeed, been that long.

I remember the day so vividly.

June 6, 1993 was a bright, sunny day, with one problem—it was also as windy as it could be without it being a stormy day, with wind gusts literally up to 50 MPH or more at times.

The ceremony was held outside, and everything was blowing all around … yes, it was one of the ultimate “bad hair” days, and not only was everyone’s hair blowing around, but the entire area that we had the ceremony in was blown around, so all the nice things the catering hall put up to signify our new union were swaying and falling all around everyone.

And I swear,, I thought we were going to have a “Flying Nun” moment with my daughter and with two of my nephews, who were so tiny at the time that I cannot believe that they did not blow away either.

My daughter with her billowing dress … to this day, I don’t know how she stayed on the ground … and one of my nephews, who was the ring bearer, held onto his pillow so tightly that I thought he was a goner too.

Anyway, we somehow got through the ceremony, had a fantastic party that day, and the rest is history.

(And happily, we can relive everything through a video we have of that fantastic day.)

I have to tell you—and I have said this many times over the years—that to this day, I almost have to pinch myself to make sure that I am awake and that I actually married the girl of my dreams, but I actually did.

She grew up in the Rockaways, I am a Queens boy at heart, and there is just something about “Queens people” that is unique among all the people who once, or continue to, call New York City home.

We are different than those from the other boroughs, and while our time in Queens is long over, the experience is still in our blood, and will always be a major part of us.

I love my wife dearly, and I really don’t know where I would be without her.

So, in the midst of all of this recent horror, we have this big day today, and I don’t know how we will celebrate our anniversary, but even if it is just with a card, that is fine with me.

I just want my wife to continue to mend from her accident, and that is at the top of my mind now.

And my mom—who has supported my wife and I though thick and thin during the past 30-plus years—well, we need her to get back to where she was, too.

We need the family to be whole, so these two very strong women must heal, and the faster the better, although they both might be in for the long haul.

We will simply have to take it day by day with both of them.

Rant #3,144: Hope

This is an emergency Rant, so pardon its brevity.

My mother was rushed to the hospital yesterday after suffering a fall in the bathroom.

She literally fell and was pinned between the toilet and bathtub—buffeted by a circular hamper, which didn’t help matters--and we have no idea how long she was pinned there, as I only discovered her in that situation in late afternoon.

We called 911 and the police at about 5:30 p.m. or so, and she was whisked away to one hospital, and then another.

She has multiple bruises all over her body, and was pretty much incoherent last night in the hospital.

Tests showed that she has a very small “lesion” (my word) on her brain, which the doctors signify could have been caused by a minor stroke that she had, probably not that day, but maybe a day or two earlier.

I did notice that my mother was not herself the past two days, at least with me—her attendant said she was fine during that period—but maybe I have a keener sixth sense being that this is my mother, and I did notice that my mother was not herself the past few days.

So the possible stroke and the fall are not directly related, but they kind of are related, because of the situation she found herself in for God knows how long yesterday.

(Think of what a contortionist can do with their body, and somehow, my mother found herself in the same position in the bathroom yesterday afternoon.)

My sister and I went to the two hospitals, and she was admitted to a room late last night.

Happily, there are no broken bones and those bruises will heal within time.

I think she will be OK, but I am not a doctor, so I do feel that she has a long road ahead of her.

On a side note, I found her glasses this morning, but her hearing aids are gone with the wind, so to speak. I will keep looking.

One thing after another … on Monday morning, my wife has an early appointment to see how her situation has progressed, and again, although I am not a doctor, I feel that she is much, much better, but still has some limitations.

So I am going to have to skip the Monday Rant, because my wife’s early appointment will make it impossible for me to write anything on that day … and we don’t know about my mother’s situation, so I don’t know my situation—or availability—either.

Boy, does my family need some really good luck now!

Please keep us in your prayers, and again, sorry for the brevity of this Rant, but I should have plenty to tell you on Tuesday … if I have the time to do so.

And that is a big “IF” right now, figuratively and literally.

Have a good weekend, and I will speak to you then … I hope.

Rant #3,143: That Was Then, This Is Now

It’s June!

When I was a kid, the coming of June meant that school was almost over, and that the summer and day camp were in my future.

And my friend’s birthday was at the end of the month, so there was always some type of celebration to look forward to.

Being a kid in the mid to late 1960s was fun, and the summer brought more chances of fun to all of us kids way back when.

Today, as an older adult, the coming of June still brings the anticipation of fun, but it also brings worries to me that I could not have imagined when I was nine or 10 years old.

I worry about my wife, who continues to mend from her head injury.

I worry about my mother, whose dementia isn’t getting any better.

And I worry about this debt ceiling nonsense, which somehow passed the House yesterday as it moves on the hopeful full passage by the entire Congress and signing by the President.

As I said yesterday, myself and millions of other Americans have their hopes—and their money—tied into passage of this compromise bill, yet 117 legislators in the House yesterday voted against passage of the bill, mainly because acting like babies in cribs, since they didn’t get everything to satisfy their own personal agendas, they had tantrums and forgot about their constituents entirely.

WAAAA! WAAAA! I want it all, and if I don’t get what I want, damn my constituents who voted me in, I won’t vote for passage of this bill.

WAAAA! WAAAA!

And when you have legislators like George Santos voting against the bill, you just know that the bill is the right bill for right now.

Now it moves on, and hopefully it continues to pass muster all the way to the President’s desk, meaning that myself and millions of other Americans won’t have to worry about our Social Security and the overall state of our money.

When I was nine or 10 years old, who thought of such things?

About the only money worries I had was how I was going to spend my weekly allowance of 25 cents—on two comic books or on five packs of baseball cards or on ice cream from the Good Humor truck.

Those days are long gone … I pretty much sold my comic book and baseball card collections—I wish I would have kept them, as they would probably make my personal wealth even greater today—and ice cream is just something I buy in the supermarket every now and again.

And back then, even though I wasn’t too politically oriented, I guess from studying government in school at that age, I kind of figured that everyone my parents voted for was decent and honest and would serve their roles proudly.

But all these years later, we know for sure that that simply isn’t true, and we have garbage like George Santos to prove that belief, even if we have any doubts about it.

When I was nine or 10 years old, I went to P.S. 30, a pretty much brand new public grammar school in a brand new housing development, Rochdale Village in South Jamaica, Queens, New York.

To further demonstrate how much things have changed from then to now, P.S. 30 no longer exists as a public grammar school.

It is an annex school,, which means that the New York City Public Schools use it for kids with special needs—kids who cannot handle a public school setting and the public school setting can’t handle them--so it is not a public school anymore.

I just remember when June came, and particularly the end of the month, you would see ripped up notebook paper flying all over the outside environs near the school, as kids tore up their notebooks as if their era of learning was over and done with.

As an adult, I know that that “era of learning” continues to this day, and you never stop learning about things, how things run, how things work, and why things work the way that they do.

But as a kid of nine of 10 years old, who thinks of such things?

School is just about over, your mom has bought you new summer clothes and bathing suits, and you are really ready to go into the pool or the ocean.

But today, our oceans appear to be infested with sharks, and the increased reports of shark attacks kind of takes the pleasure out of going into the real water, the ocean.

Who thought of such things when you were younger?

We had the occasional jellyfish and tar pollution scares, but having to deal with sharks?

Such things never entered my mind back then, and I kind of wish they wouldn’t enter my mind now.

Rant #3,142: Check It Out

Happy May 31.

This month is almost over, and it cannot come too soon for myself and my family.

My wife is still recuperating from the work accident she had earlier this month, and while she is getting better every day, there remain lingering effects from her fall, and while she is better, she is also feeling these effects every day.

Looking at our country, even though we are told that we are not in a recession—and have been told that so many times that I do believe that we are actually in one—for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, I had to cross my money threshold in my checking account to pay one last bill of the month.

It is the first time I have been below that threshold I have set for myself in three years, and I am not too happy about it, but with prices still going haywire, I crossed the comfort level I set for myself this morning when I wrote a check helping to pay our car insurance bill.

I remember those days right before the pandemic hit so vividly, and they are still affecting me.

I had lost my job, and we weren’t yet into the pandemic phase of our lives yet,

I wasn’t bringing any money into the house due to a glitch that had existed—unbeknownst to me--for more than a quarter of a century, I had an open case with the New York State Labor Department that was never closed out as they moved over electronically.

So the state would not accept my unemployment status, and thus, not until late in the year was that resolved, and it was only resolved because someone in Albany felt he needed to do the right thing to help me, and although it took several weeks, he did just that.

Without his help, I would not have gotten one red cent from unemployment due to their own negligence.

I was literally 20 minutes away from getting a lawyer and suing the state Labor Department for lots more than they actually owed me.

And then we also have the leeches at a clinic I was going to for a minor injury that I sustained to my leg.

They thought they would get away with fleecing me for more money during my therapy by charging me per item and per exercise that I did during physical therapy, and then extending the therapy beyond what I actually needed to get more money out of me.

When I discovered what they were doing, they knew I would sue them—and win—because of their practices—which I checked with other people and places and no one had ever heard of—and they settled with me before I could sue them, and yes, they would have had to pay a lot more to me than what they actually owed me if I had placed the case and won.

So anyway, before all of this happened in my favor, I actually went down to $5 in my checking account.

I had no money coming in at all for the first several weeks that I was unemployed because of others’ stupidity, and I paid every bill that I could during this period, and after several weeks of nothing, I actually got down to barely anything in my account.

Don’t ask me how I did it, but I did it, and some places let me pay in increments, which definitely helped, but it went down to $5 … and then these things happened, and I vowed to never let it happen again.

And later, without any hopes for getting a full-time or even a part-time job during the pandemic, I had to file for Social Security retirement, which I did, and I was quickly approved for that.

And as I built up my savings account again, I got contacted out of the blue from the freelance job I have had for nearly three years now, and boy, it has really helped.

But today, the final day of this month, I went below the threshold that I set for myself in my checking account, and I am not too happy about it.

I have my savings, I have some other accounts, so I am far from destitute, but I knew this day was coming, what with prices out of sight—like those for groceries and gas==it happened today … and I would not be surprised if it happens again.

With posturing politicians unsure about the recently agreed upon debt limit—demonstrating once and for all that they do not represent their constituents, but only their own agendas, and that goes for both sides of the aisle—how am I, and millions of others who depend on government programs like Social Security and SNAP—food stamps—going to be able to maintain their lifestyles and pay their bills if this thing isn’t approved?

I have never seen so much posturing in my life, where some politicians absolutely do not understand what the word “compromise” means … where you don’t get all that you want, but you get enough to make the deal a real and viable one.

I cannot believe that these elected officials—who get a good salary and many perks, too—literally cannot see the forest for the trees, and cannot understand how a “No” vote on this measure will hurt their constituents, those they have sworn to serve.

If this thing does not go through, my own personal threshold in my checking account will be the least thing I will have to worry about.

Rant #3,141: Another Brick In the Wall

So, how was your Memorial Day?

Did you go swimming … did you have a barbecue … did you shop until you dropped?

I brought in cans and bottles to the recyclable area in my local supermarket, that’s what I did.

So all told, for myself and my family, we did not do very much on the holiday.

I brought my cans and bottles in at about 8 a.m. or so and there were two people who were actually ahead of me at the machines, so I had to wait a bit.

And they told me that the machines were not doing too well, so I knew that I was in for it.

When I finally got to a machine, it was basically “take one step forward, two steps back,” as the machines—and I ended up using both of them for the bottles—would take one bottle, but wouldn’t take two more, so it took forever for me to get even one-third of my bottles into the machines.

At one point, both machines were full, and there is an intercom in this area that hooks up to the courtesy desk, and I called to get someone over to tend to the machines … although the guy took his time getting there.

And once he got there, even though the machines both read that they were full, do you think he changed the bags in the machines?

No, that was evidently too difficult, and, of course, too logical.

So I started to use one of the machines when he left, but within about a minute of his disappearance, the machine was full, and I moved over to the next machine, and again, the same “one step forward, two steps back” approach ensued, to the point that I felt it fruitless to continue there, and I left for another supermarket’s machines after I cashed in what I got there.

Happily, the next supermarket’s machines acted “patriotic” for the day, and it took my bottles without any problem.

All of this wasted over an hour of my time, but honestly, I had nothing really else to do on Memorial Day, so after a run to Staples—I needed a new print cartridge for my computer’s printer and still need one because they didn’t have what I needed—I was pretty much done for the day.

Other than moving some of the furniture back onto our patio—which I did with my son—I did absolutely nothing yesterday.

I watched all or part of three movies during the afternoon, and since one was worse than the other, it doesn’t even pay to mention any of their names to you.

I casted them off of YouTube, and three more rotten films you couldn’t find.

In the evening, it was tine to watch pro wrestling with my son, and after watching three—count ‘em, three—pay per views with my son this past holiday weekend, the body could stand no more, and I fell asleep at about 8:30 p.m., went into the bed at about 10 p.m., and had an up and down sleep throughout the night, but I guess when you add everything up, I did sleep a decent amount of hours.

And today, it is back to the grind of work, both for myself and my son, so I will be writing, editing—and driving—all over the place today and for the rest of the workweek.

My wife is slowly getting better, and next Monday, we have another very early appointment with the doctor, and we will find out her real progress and what she can do, can’t do, and has limitations on.

But she is getting better by the day, still a little wobbly, but she is able to do more things, so I am looking forward to a positive report from the doctor.

So anyway, that was my Memorial Day, a slight respite from the norm but little else to me, to be honest with you.

And today, we get back to the grind, which I guess is a good thing.

And yes, over the weekend, I did notice that two actor/singers with a similar trajectory in their careers left us.

George Maharis and Ed Ames parlayed roles in hit TV series—“Route 66” and “Daniel Boone,” respectively—that led the to have more than respectable singing careers, as they were among the most popular TV actors of their time due to the popularity of those shows.

Ames also is enshrined in the “Ad Lib TV Hall of Fame” for his memorable appearance on “The Tonight Show,” where he took a tomahawk and threw it at a cutout of a human being, only to have it land in a very sensitive area of the body, and Johnny Carson’s ad lib is one of the funniest ad labs of all time.

You can find that clip at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L5QC9ZJkM8

Watching it is a great way to begin the workweek, as 60 years later, it is still as funny as can be.

Have a great day, and I will speak to you again tomorrow

Rant #3,140: Frankenstein

Let me say at the get-go that I really don’t have that much to say about the passing of Tina Turner.

Yes, she was an icon, yes, she was “Lady Rock and Roll,” yes, we all know about her struggles and her triumphs over great adversity—

But I have to admit that I was never a fan of hers, either with Ike Turner or without him.

I have exactly one record of hers/theirs in my collection—a re-release of the “River Deep, Mountain High” LP—but frankly, she and they were never among my favorites.

I just found it all so interesting that the frenetic pace that they performed at was never linked to the church, because like James Brown, a lot of that electricity that the two performers displayed was more like a church revival meeting than a rock concert, but not being much of a fan, what do I know?

R.I.P. Tina, you did well.

But let’s move on from that to this coming holiday weekend, which for some people, is already here and has been here for at least a day or two.

Yesterday, I spoke about the real meaning of Memorial Day, beyond the picnics and barbecues and baseball and flip flops and the swimming and the like.

But today, I am going to go where most of us go this holiday, and that is the more commercial route.

Whether we buy into it or not, Memorial Day pretty much begins the summer season for our culture and country, and while by me it is only in the high 60s and low 70s temperature-wise, people are already getting out their beach wear and are ready to go into the water (while looking out for sharks).

So Memorial Day takes on a different tone for most of us, and what were most of us listening to on the radio 50 years ago to the day?

And boy, was the music we were listening to back then on the beach during Memorial Day weekend 1973 an interesting collection of tunes!

Let’s get right into it!

At #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for May 26, 1973 was the yodeling one-hit wonder Focus with “Hocus Pocus,” certainly one of the strangest tunes ever to appear in the Hot 100.

Coming in at #9 was another one-hit wonder, Skylark, with “Wildflower,” and at #8 was two-hit wonder Dobie Gray with “Drift Away” (but to be fair, Gray had many hits on the country chart).

The Sweet—with the added “The” which they were known by at the time—had one of the biggest novelty tunes of all time with their “Little Willy,” which came in at #7. They had quite a string of hits, the majority of which were in the bubblegum/glam/novelty vein, and we all know what this double entendre tune was all about.

The equally controversial “Pillow Talk” by Sylvia came in at #6. Many stations banned this song because of its suggestive lyrics, which were pretty much more to the point than the Sweet song’s lyrics were.

The next two songs were moving down the chart from the #1 position during this week. At #5 was Steve Wonder’s “You Are the Sunshine of My Life,” and at #4 was Dawn featuring Tony Orlando’s “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree,” the song about how we honor soldiers in the Vietnam War that became something of a standard during the war years.

Elton John’s “Daniel” was at #3, and it was preceded by Paul McCartney and Wings’ “My Love” at #2, a song that became one of the former Beatles’ best-selling hits after his time with the Fab Four, eventually reaching #1 and staying there for four weeks.

And at #1, pretty much another one-hit wonder, one of the great novelty instrumentals of all time—

“Frankenstein” by The Edgar Winter Group, which would remain at the top spot on the chart for just this one week.

The highest debut on this week’s Hot 100 chart was “What About Me” by Anne Murray, which debuted at #83 but would only creep up to #64 during its very brief chart run.

The biggest mover—or the song that jumped the most places on the chart from one week to another—was George Harrison’s “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth),” which went from #59 the prior week to #34 this week on its way to the #1 spot in late June—supplanting, what else, but Paul McCartney and Wings’ “My Love” from the top position.

Have a great holiday listening to these tunes and more recent ones, and I am going to take Memorial Day off too, so I will speak to you again on Tuesday.

Rant #3,139: Requiem For the Masses

It is Thursday, the Thursday before the Memorial Day weekend, and I know that that weekend has already started for many people.

There are many more cars on the road, there are more people in the stores, there appears to be more hustle and bustle on the streets, and a lot of people are wearing their more summer-geared clothing, including shorts, even though it is only in the 70s outside.

Memorial Day has become the beginning of summer for many of us, even though, in actuality, summer is still a couple of weeks away.

But Memorial Day is more than the pathway into summer, and we should know that, but due to our propensity to gloss over things when it comes to a real holiday and its true meaning, it is not surprising that many people don’t have a clue about what Memorial Day really means.

Let’s go back to what I said about the holiday and its true meaning. Here is an edited version of what I wrote about the holiday in Rant #970, May 24, 2013:

“Coming up on Monday is Memorial Day, the day we honor those who have served, and gave their lives, for our country in the numerous wars we have fought leading up to our country's creation in 1776 and beyond.

Once known as Decoration Day, the holiday falls every year on the last Monday in May.

In recent years--or for as long as I can remember--Memorial Day has taken on a different meaning.

Not to knock our service men and women--who continue to protect our country from unimaginable peril each and every day--the holiday means so many other things now.

First of all, many of us have off on that day.

Memorial Day also signals the beginning of the summer season.

Notice I say "the summer season," because summer actually doesn't come for several weeks after, in late June. But it signals warmth, hot nights and days, and so the holiday is thought of as sort of a gateway to summer and all the fun that that season brings.

And finally, Memorial Day generally signifies the day when many of us have our very first barbecue of the year.

Honestly, I can taste those hot dogs right now!

Many parades are held during this holiday, and most of them are seemingly precursors to barbecues, so even if we honor our war dead--and again, this is not a knock against any of our service people--we gradually move toward family oriented events during the holiday.

This makes Memorial Day one of the most family oriented holidays on the calendar, and a day we can all look forward to.”

So Memorial Day is actually the day we honor our war dead, and not the day that we have the day off and barbecue and wear our flip flops.

It is a much more solemn event than some would have us believe, but due to their ultimate sacrifices, we are able to have the day off, barbecue and take it easy—

Because those brave soldiers gave their lives so we could live our lives that way we want to.

And we all should know that, but I don’t think that we do.

Perhaps that is part of the equation for Memorial Day—to make their ultimate sacrifices almost transparent, so the general populace can do what they want in their lives.

This year, in both Nassau and Suffolk counties, there will be a moment of remembrance celebrated during the actual day of the holiday.

Taking a cue for the moment of silence that Israel has instituted each year on Holocaust Day, each of the counties have asked citizens to take a moment during the holiday to stop what they are doing and recognize those service members who died defending our freedoms.

In Israel, everything literally comes to a stop during that moment … people get out of their cars, people stop walking, people stop doing everything they are doing to remember the day.

I doubt that will be so all-encompassing here, but it is a wonderful idea, going well beyond barbecues and baseball and swimming and really honoring the memory of those who have perished defending our freedoms.

I have no idea what my family will be doing on that day—my wife is still recovering from her fall, my son has the day off, and since I work for a government-related entity, so will I—but even if we do nothing at all, that is our right.

Others will have their barbecues, will be able to go swimming, will meet up with friends and relatives … and that is their right too.

And whether you look at this as the beginning of summer or as a day of remembrance, that is yoiur right too.

That is the great thing about the holiday; you can handle it however you want to handle it—

But again, it all leads back to the same thing: if it weren’t for our service members who made the ultimate sacrifice, this day would not exist, and more importantly, the freedoms we have to do what we want to do would not be possible.