I’ve got a fever! And the only prescription… is more cowbell.
I bring up that great SNL line for two reasons.
First, because my son-in-law got Rock Band for Christmas which we played non-stop for two days. Now, I have absolutely no coordination for the guitar and I fared little better on the drums. However I rocked on the microphone with my rendition of “Don’t Fear The Reaper” by Blue Oyster Cult – and I got to do the cowbell! With the eternal words of Christopher Walken ringing in my ears, I gave it my all and threw down some serious cowbell for the man. At 98% I felt I gave him his wish for MORE COWBELL! It’s a great game even if you can’t carry a tune with a handle.
Secondly, I bring up that famous line because I do have a fever – cabin fever that is. And I believe my only prescription is more natural vitamin D – sunlight. The ancient affliction has finally set in and it has taken its toll on this once winter loving New Englander. I don’t know how long we have suffered from below freezing temperatures or how many days in a row it has snowed but I do know it has been nearly three weeks since I have driven a car and nearly two weeks since I have left the warm cocoon of my home in the woods. I can’t remember what the sun looks like or what my house sounds like without the constant noise of the heat running and I am a person who enjoys silence a great deal.
Case in point, yesterday I alternated between staring my television screen at the Weather Channel and the Lifetime Movie Channel and taking very long cat naps on my couch surrounded by my three dogs and my oversized orange tabby. I realized around noon that I was suffering from the dreaded “cabin fever” when I finally noticed I was still in my pajamas and eating a salad. I know for a fact that these two things should not be done concurrently, either you are still in your pj’s at noon because you are sick in which case a grilled chicken salad should be replaced with chicken noodle soup or you should have yourself dressed yourself by that time. When I don’t take a shower and get dressed something is wrong with me and I definitely need a cure for this malady. Anyone out there in the blogosphere have any suggestions?
I am hoping today will be better, I have gotten dressed already at least so I have accomplished much more today than yesterday. And is that the sun I see amidst the snow flakes? My Jack Russell at least thinks so – imagined sun beam or not, she’s lying in its warm path that stretches across the back of the couch.
I don’t think Spring can get here soon enough for me. Hurry March come forth with your warmer days.
So it is 2009 and I for one am hoping for a much better year than 2008. Other than my granddaughter being born (which I must admit makes up for a helluva lot), and the Celtics winning the championship, 2008 pretty much sucked in my tiny little world.
Did you ever have one of those years where just nothing seemed to go right? That was 2008 for me. It had been many, many years, oh so many more than I can remember, that I have felt that the world was spinning against me in particular. I have been extremely blessed for the past twenty-five years and so I truly have no reason to complain but yet here I am wondering what went wrong? Or is it just time to pay the piper for all of our good fortune? Perhaps.
The fact is, I am simply tired. My vitality and joy faded over the last year into dread and resolution at the current state of affairs. I don’t believe it is just me either, the world itself seems to be at a turning point, teetering on the edge of a global collapse with no end in sight. Our collective disgust at the growing disappearance of morality, integrity and strength of character in the human animal has sucked the life and light out of the world and unless we as a collective can find something to believe in once more, I don’t see a better day coming.
I don’t know what will help 2009 to give us a brighter day but I still hold out a tiny glimmer of hope that something will happen. Something good.
Bob Dylan said “The Times They Are A-Changin.” Lets all hope that they are a-changin for the better and that this is not just another attempt at the reinvention of the wheel.
As we wait for the results of a presidential election of historic proportions, I am surprised at the conservatives in this country who are voting for Barack Obama simply because he is a Democrat.
You folks know who you are, the Conservatives voting for Obama just because he is not a Republican. You believe in God and have no objection to prayer in our public school and you resent those who have taken that right away from Americans. You get angry when you hear of someone burning a flag. You are disgusted when you see that Christmas trees or nativity scenes can no longer be displayed in public places as they may offend the non-Christians. You want to keep “In God We Trust” on our currency. You believe a marriage is between a man and a woman. You don’t believe in late term abortions or that medical care should not be given to viable fetus after it is aborted. You might believe in the death penalty for certain crimes such as those convicted of killing children. You might believe in “spreading the wealth” that is, as long as it’s not your wealth. If you were suddenly to come into a large sum of money how many of you would object to the government taking more than your fair share so that they can send a check to the lazy guy down the street who refuses to get a job and lives off welfare while watching his rented 52” plasma television? Or if the federal tax tables were lowered so that people who make less than $10,000 a year had to pay federal income taxes so that an employed drug dealer driving around in his $50,000 SUV can get an extra check from our federal government and give him health insurance to boot – would you still be willing to “share the wealth” when it all hinges on what is considered “wealth?” I would think not but maybe you are a generous soul. The fact is, you believe in only helping out the needy, not the lazy but an Obama government is not going to make that distinction.
Some of you even said during the Democratic Primary that you hated Obama, couldn’t stand him and would never vote for him. I heard you call him names, most I cannot repeat.
There are those of you out there that are voting for Obama simply because he is Democrat and you are angry with the way things are going now. You may not realize that many of the rights that are near and dear to your hearts may be gone with an all Democrat controlled government.
God, help us all.
How could I have been so wrong? My daughter informed me this morning that she does not believe in a Free Capitalistic Society so she is voting for Obama – she is so looking forward to that Socialistic society with the Robin Hood approach – take from the rich and give to the poor mentality. What was I thinking of, actually working hard, trying to make a better life for myself and my family when I should just take other people’s money? Aren’t I entitled to their wealth? Well, I am here to tell you I have seen the light.
For years my husband and I have worked to put our kids and ourselves through college – silly us! Not any longer! If Obama is elected we are going to start out on a whole new life and frankly I can’t wait!
First, we sell our house but make sure we don’t have any Capital Gains to report – that’s key. We shouldn’t have any problem selling, we were responsible, put down a 30% down payment, didn’t borrow more than we could afford to pay and have paid extra every month so we actually have equity in our home.
Then, since he is lifting the penalties on early withdrawal from our IRA’s, we’ll go ahead and cash those in – they won’t really be worth much once he raises the income tax level for all those companies I am invested in anyway.
Next, my husband quits his job – we won’t need that pesky health insurance, Obama will make sure we have plenty of health insurance so, not to worry.
Once we have spent all the money from the IRA’s, we’ll cash out our life insurance, our children can worry about how to bury us – we’ll be dead! Not our problem!
Now that all our money and assets are gone, let’s run up those credit card’s (that we have because we always worked hard and have excellent credit) and get new furniture, a big plasma television and then declare bankruptcy so we don’t have to pay it back! Woo hoo!
Okay, so now we are destitute so let’s go on welfare and let the government take care of us for the rest of our lives which should only be twenty or thirty years or so. Not a bad deal.
The last thing – my most favorite part of all of this is now I can’t wait to fill out the FAFSA next year for our son’s college education! No more telling us we will need to pay it all ourselves because we make too much money! Yay!!!! And since the government is picking up the tab and his grades are so good, let’s pull him out of that crappy State University and enroll him in one of the Private Schools he was accepted in but which we could not afford to send him to because we paid all our money in income taxes so that other kids whose parents are on welfare could go to private colleges. But those days are over now. Happy days are here again!
I am so over the idea that taking something that I didn’t earn and doesn’t belong to me is a crime – now I get all those thieves I helped lock up over the years working for the District Attorney’s office – I was so misguided, they just wanted their fair share! How dare the State and I actually think that was a crime!
But I can’t help but wonder – why did I send my daughter to college again?
Recently I have been trying to avoid watching network news like the plague. Watching my once favorite newsperson, Katie Couric sink deeper and deeper into the choppy waters of biased journalism with her so-called “interviews” of the Republican candidates of late, I realized that this Presidential Campaign is one for the record books all right, but in the worse possible way and have forever more banned them all from my household. Unfortunately, during the afternoon soaps on a New York ABC channel, regular programming was interrupted by the ‘Breaking News’ that the bail out was defeated in Washington. On a split screen with the newsman, they showed the Dow slipping further and further into the tank as the voting results were being announced. This was quickly followed by finger pointing and political mumbo jumbo and more doom and gloom that anyone could possibly bear. The largest point drop in the history of the Dow they announced, practically with glee, as they watched their television audience and ratings grow by the moment. It turned my stomach to watch it for those few moments so I quickly turned the television to The Chiller Channel to catch the afternoon horror flick – The Evil of Frankenstein starring Peter Cushing – it’s a good flick and much more enjoyable than watching the boneheads on the networks. Anyway I spent my afternoon lost in a fantasy world of horror and mayhem and might I dare say, less bloodshed and mediocrity than could be seen on the networks.
With the movie finally over at 6:00 p.m. I turned on my local news to catch the weather and was greeted by the regular newscaster along with an unknown (for the most part) economist and I actually learned a couple of things last night while watching the small CBS channel.
First thing he let us viewers know was, while this was the highest “point” drop ever in the Dow, it was not the highest percentage drop ever.
According to MSNBC.com,
“It was the blue chips’ largest point drop and 17th largest percentage drop. The percentage decline was far less severe than the 20-plus-percent drops seen in the stock market crash of October 1987 and before the Great Depression.”
While this is not great news, it does make me feel much more hopeful than simply the headline that the Dow had the highest point drop ever. I was around for the fiasco in 1987 when my house value sank through my finished basement and my IRA’s dropped miserably. But I came out the other side of the mess, my IRA’s recovered and so did the appraisal value of my house. In fact, anyone who has been a home owner since the early 1970’s like me, has realized a huge increase in their house value and the mortgage rates are still lower than the were back then! I remember the high mortgage rates of the late 1970’s – 10-12 percent was not uncommon and people could simply not buy a house back then. I bought my first house in 1976 for $36,000 in Niantic, Connecticut. I cannot imagine what it is worth now, walking distance to the beach and to downtown shopping but probably close to 7 times what I paid for it. I understand patience is a virtue and it is much easier to panic and try to sell, sell, sell but the fact is, sooner or later the housing prices in this country are going to go back up. It is a buyers market out there my friends, and if you can afford it, now is the time to buy.
Another fact the economist mentioned was that while things are scary right now there are a couple of simple things you can do to make yourself feel better. First, and I thought this was a pretty amusing idea if not brilliant, if the news on television is bothering you – TURN IT OFF!! Who would have thought of something so simple?? Well, besides me of course but I did not apply it to the populace at large. Turn the damn doom and gloom, naysayers off! Simple yes, but oh so hard for many folks to do. Watch a good movie or better yet, read a book (mine preferably) and fahgetaboutit! You can’t do anything about it anyway – why ruin a perfectly great day?
Another idea for everyone that I also thought was terrific that the economist spoke of was, take a drive to your local mall. I was at the mall this past weekend and I can tell you first hand, lots of people were there buying “stuff.” The parking lot was busy and you still had to park far away from the entrance. The restaurants were all busy also, yes still over an hour wait at Outback to get dinner and I noticed lines at the gasoline pumps were they had lowered their prices under $3.50 a gallon. There was also a line to see the new movie Eagle Eye and the 7:00 showing filled up quickly. The point is – people are still out there spending money. People are still driving to the malls, buying stuff, eating out, filling up their cars, going to the movies and spending MONEY! If you don’t believe me take a look at the movie grosses from last weekend when our politicians were clamoring over the bailout – the five top movies grossed around $70 million dollars in those three days, not a bad turnout for a economic climate that everyone and their mother is predicting is on the verge of a total collapse.
I guess I don’t know exactly what is going to happen in the near future. I suppose those doom and gloom reports could come to fruition but I truly believe that the “powers that be” are just not gonna let that happen. The truth is – they have far too much to lose if this economy goes belly up and besides I also believe that many people are truly smarter than that and are endowed with the patience of a saint. When that “special stock” that they have been eyeing gets down far enough they are just not going to be able to resist buying some shares to tuck away for the proverbial rainy day. There are a couple I am looking at myself – where is my umbrella?
This is a work of fiction and my tribute to the late Billy Cowsill. I just recently found out that he had passed away shortly after his brother Barry and I found myself heartbroken. After watching a clip of him and his brothers performing “The Rain, The Park, and Other Things” I wanted him to know that he was loved way back when and he is still loved today by his fans. We miss you Billy. Hope to see you again.
Bill quietly slipped out of the hotel room, gently closed the door, and stepped into the still dark hallway. In the room he left behind, his brothers slept. He headed towards the elevator, passing the room his parents shared with his sister but heard nothing coming from inside. Good. If he could just get downstairs before anyone noticed, he might just get a little time to himself. He loved his family but at eighteen he craved some privacy. He stepped into the elevator, pressed the ‘L’, and breathed a sign of relief when the doors slid shut before him. He had made it.
There was a slight drizzle when Bill walked through the front doors of the hotel and onto Bank Street. Even though it was already June, it was still chilly and he was glad he had decided to pull his Red Sox sweatshirt on at the last minute. He pushed his dark bangs away from his eyes and looked up and down the quiet street, contemplating which direction he should head. He wasn’t that familiar with New London, though he had been there several times before, but remembered seeing a statue with a small park surrounding it near the train station where they had arrived and headed in that direction. The drizzle turned to soft rain as he walked.
As Bill reached the end of Bank Street, the tall buildings gave way to Long Island Sound on his right and a small green park. Bill crossed the deserted street and stepped into the bright green grass. The city was quiet on this Sunday morning and for a moment, Bill closed his eyes and drank in the silence that surrounded him. Silence and privacy were rare gifts that Bill was seldom given. He made his way through the wet lawn towards the tall monument that stood in the center of the park, taking his time and enjoying the stillness. There were many benefits coming from a big family, peace and quiet were not among them however, and Bill yearned for calmness inside his over stimulated head. He had nearly reached the monument when he noticed the bench on the opposite side of the stone structure and stopped. There on the long, wooden bench was a young girl.
Bill held his breath for a moment and just stared at the girl. Her long blond hair was braided down her back and Bill could see flowers woven in amongst the long, white plait. The girl seem to take no notice of the rain that fell upon her cheeks and Bill felt an overwhelming urge to brush the drops away and kiss the pale skin beneath. But there was something more about the girl, she seemed to radiate with warmth and Bill could no more stay away from her than he could stop breathing. He stepped from behind the statue and the girl looked up at him and smiled. The young boy’s entire world stopped in that single moment and his heart jumped in his chest. He felt as if he had come home at last.
The girl stood up and Bill drank in the sight of her as if he was dying of thirst. Her big, round eyes were deep blue, covered by long, dark eyelashes. Her skin was so fair it was nearly transparent but her cheeks were blushed by a shade of pink that he would always be at a loss to describe. She wore faded blue jeans with a white peasant blouse and nothing on her feet. She was tiny and Bill’s tall frame towered over her as he looked down upon her face. Raindrops rested on her eyelashes and on the daisy she had woven in her hair and Bill once again had the urge to brush them away. His mouth was dry and his throat tight as he leaned down whispered, “hello.” The girl did not speak but smiled and reached out and took Bill’s hand. He felt her small fingers slip in between his and he forgot about wanting to be alone.
The couple walked hand in hand through the empty park without saying a word. Bill kept glimpsing at the girl to make sure she was indeed there and not simply a figment of his imagination. Every time he would venture a glance at her he found her looking at him also and his heart warmed with each step. When they reached the edge of park she stopped walking and reached for Bill’s other hand. She stood up on her toes and pulled him towards her, her lips finding his. Love filled the young man’s heart as Bill kissed the girl he felt the warmth of the sun on his face. He looked at the girl, the sun streaming golden light into her hair and his heart belonged to her.
Bill was about to ask the girl her name when an arriving train blasted its whistle to the folks waiting on the platforms across the street. Bill turned for a moment to look towards the station and when he looked back, the girl was gone. He looked across the park and saw no one. He looked down the street and did not see her there either. The bench where the girl had been sitting was empty but Bill walked back towards the seat, hoping to find her again. As he got closer to the bench he saw something resting on the wooden slats. He reached down, lifted the single white daisy from the bench, and placed it in the center of his palm. Heat seemed to radiate from the tiny flower and holding it Bill remembered the feeling of her fingers entwined with his and he smiled.
Bill never found the young girl and over the years he began to doubt that she had ever existed at all. His family also doubted his story and his brothers teased him endlessly about the vanishing flower girl. Life goes on as it always does, Bill fell in love again but he never forgot the beautiful memories of that Sunday morning in the rain, in the park and the beautiful girl. And it wasn’t until many years later that he finally saw her again.
Bill was sleeping in his bed when he heard a sound that awoke him. He was very ill and endlessly tired and wanted only to sleep but forced his eyes open to see who was there. The room was dark but there seemed to be a light coming from the center of the room that Bill did not recognize. He pulled himself up in the bed and focused on the light. There, in the center of the light, was the young girl, smiling at him. Bill’s heart leaped at the very sight of her and he worried that he might still be asleep. The young girl reached out her hand and slipped it into Bill’s. The moment their fingers touched Bill suddenly felt a surge of energy and warmth spread through his ailing body. He felt young again and was not surprised, when he stood up, to see that his reflection in the dresser mirror was that of an eighteen year old. The girl pulled his body to hers and Bill felt life rush through him as it had not done in many years. He bent over to kiss her, his face wet with tears. If this was dream, he did not wish to wake up.
“I will never leave you again,” the girl whispered.
“And I will never let you,” Bill replied.
The girl took Bill’s hand and led him from the darkened house. Bill did not look back, he saw the green of the park before him, the sunlight in her hair and he knew he had come home.
The next morning as Bill’s family gathered in his home, one of his brothers found a small, white flower on the floor next to the bed. He looked around the room but could find no other flowers in the room and wondered where it had come from. As he placed the small flower in the palm of his hand, he suddenly remembered the story of Bill’s flower girl. As warmth radiated from the flower, he knew in that moment where the flower had come from and he smiled. After all these years, Bill had finally found her.
Visit the Cowsill’s website at:
Enough already!
After the recent array of campaign ads broadcasted on national television, for everyone and their mother to see, I am left shaking my head in absolute disbelief.
Our presidential election process has officially turned into a pissing contest between John McCain and Barack Obama. Who would have thought that a visionary man like Senator Obama with intelligence to spare, and a mature, knowledgeable, war veteran like Senator McCain would both be reduced to name calling and finger pointing? What is going on here? How did we fall so low? What must the rest of the world be thinking?
And why is Paris Hilton speaking again? Did she learn nothing from her debacle of an interview on Larry King? The woman should never, ever, open her mouth. Just stand there and look good, that’s it. Hasn’t anyone ever explained to her that this should be her soul purpose in life? It just goes to show ya – money can’t buy everything.
I am so ready for this election to be over. Pick your running mates candidates and try to salvage some degree of dignity for yourselves in the next coming months.
Note to candidate – open mouth, remove foot. Forget the ridiculous mudslinging and stick to the issues – that is what we really care about.
If stupidity were a crime half the world would be felons.
What in the world are people thinking?
Okay. This week in New Zealand, a family court judge gave a child a new lease on life when he changed her name from, get this,
“Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii”
Yes, this was that poor child’s given name. I don’t know what the surname is to go along with that forename but there is absolutely no name that can make that right. What were those parents thinking?
I can only think of a couple of reasons why a parent would name their child something so ridiculous. The first involves a pitcher of Margaritas and a bad morning on Waikiki Beach. Another involves heavy-duty drugs and doing time in South American prison. I have also thought it is possible that they just plain hated the child and that a shotgun marriage came into play in that particular relationship.
However, what I really think is, the parents were just, plain, good old-fashioned, STUPID! You know, their elevators don’t go all the way to the top floor? A few eggs short of a dozen? You know what I mean.
So are there consequences for being soooo stupid? Apparently, in New Zealand at least, a hopefully competent Judge stepped in and changed the poor girl’s name. But what about those parents? Anything in the way of punishment there? I know that the Judge only discovered the name of the girl during a custody hearing so hopefully this particular couple will not be reproducing any longer but what can be done to fend off this type of behavior in the future?
When we are children, our parents attempt to save us from ourselves by a quick smack in the butt and with a diaper, the padding takes most of the blow. Stick your tongue near a light socket, bam! Run towards the busy street, bam! There are consequences for doing stupid stuff as a child and we can only hope we learn the lessons early on and stop doing “real” stupid stuff. We will still do stupid stuff as adults of course, get involved with the wrong partner from time to time, buy a crappy car because it’s cool but hopefully these small incidents of losing our minds pass and common sense prevails at some point. But what about the adults who are out there that never learned the lessons of childhood and still do “really stupid stuff?”
A friend of mine who also happened to be an Assistant District Attorney, believed in the cattle prod approach when it came to 20-year-old men dating 15-year-old girls. Show the guy a picture of a young girl, zap him with the cattle prod and say in a clear and authoritive voice, “NO!” and that should do it. No matter how dumb he is, he should get the message! Now, of course this age difference is a crime in many states but you hate to ruin some guy’s life because he didn’t know any better and believe me when it comes to underage dating, a lot of guys don’t know better. Not to mention that most 15-year-old girls will lie about their age to be able to date an older guy with a car, “Oh, yes, I am eighteen.” If I had a dime for every time I muttered those words (see paragraph above). So you have crime and you have punishment for those times when stupidity goes to the next level. But what about when the stupidity doesn’t quite go that far?
My husband often says “the stupid will be punished” but in the case of the McDonald’s customer who scaled herself on hot coffee and then sued the company, sometimes, the stupid are rewarded with giant lawsuit verdicts. In that case, I wonder about the jury who awarded that money, how bright were they? Every day frivolous lawsuits are filed and every day just as frivolous awards are made. So instead of punishing people for their stupidity they are rewarded? I won’t get on that soapbox today but I know there are plenty of people out there who this type of reward just drives them absolutely crazy, me being one of them.
I for one, happen to like the cattle prod approach. Do something stupid – get zapped and that should do it. Or perhaps inflict on the offender whatever their particular offense is. Name your child something stupid? You get to be called, “Stupid Guy/Woman Who Can’t Even Name A Child Correctly” for the next 18 years or so. Maybe that would help.
