Tag Archives: Brian + Karen

I Never Lost My Praise

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A dream was had where I found myself working for the cigar shack again, only this time it was in an office setting. Many rooms shut off from me as I tried to track down Zack/Calvin/Hot Sauce to tell him that I shouldn’t be there, that I no longer work there. Then I was in a room with my father of all people, who asked me how my dentist visit was. I admitted that I lied, that I wasn’t off to see the dentist, I was actually looking for my mother which seemed to upset him somewhat.

Yesterday was a very good day. It was a Sunday and Bill came home in the morning after driving from Atlantic City. After giving me a bagel he went to take a nap. The plan was to head out to Saddle Brook to celebrate my brother Frank’s birthday. Frank turned 61 on Friday. Bill rented a Zip Car for the occasion and that definitely made it easy to get out there. On the ride we played a game, I picked out songs on the iPod and he tried to guess the artist. He did well, though got hung up on a Carpenters song.

We got to Meghan and Rob’s house and settled in. There was some catching up to do since I hadn’t seen Meghan or Rob since July. My sister in law Elaine was there and soon Frank showed up with his daughter Corinne, followed by Brian and Karen. Brian and Karen’s kids were busy so it was mainly a grown up gathering. Corinne had her ankle wrapped up in an Ace Bandage since she was out the night before at a Bachelorette party in heels. Bill, Brian and Frank were downstairs watching the football game and I sat upstairs with my sisters in law, Elaine & Karen.

Soon dinner was had and then we had cake. It was all very nice and good to see everyone, well mostly everyone once again. Then it was time to come home. Goodbyes were made, kisses and hugs exchanged. No guess the artists game on the way home, just an easy ride, avoiding the Sunday night tunnel traffic. We were home by 7:00. A wonderful afternoon was had.

Bill and I settled in, watching Boardwalk Empire before he was off to bed. I stayed up watching Night of Too Many Stars, the autism telethon on Comedy Central which was very funny. And touching, watching an autistic girl onstage playing piano and accompanying Katy Perry on the song Fireworks. I stayed up and watched the first half since I missed it during Boardwalk Empire, which was also good.

I slept fairly well, waking up to Bill kissing me goodbye for the day once again. I got out of bed after that and started my day anew. After showering and breakfast I sat with a cup of coffee in front of the computer. One of the first things I saw had me gutted. It seemed a friend from a Facebook group passed away the night before. A nice guy named Jeff Lunger. I never met Jeff though he lived in Jersey City, but we had many chats online and enjoyed posting videos of different performers and songs. He was good friends with Galt McDermott and from what I understand was working on a documentary about him.

It really floored me to hear of his dying. He hadn’t been online in a while but I just assumed he was busy. Death was the last thing I expected. I posted on his wall my condolences and posted in the mutual Facebook group some videos. I had hoped to meet him at some point, at a show or at Maxwells but now that isn’t going to happen.

Rest in peace Jeff Lunger.





Purple Snowflakes

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Well I hope this finds this in good health and safe wherever you you are. I’m pretty lazy right now, but here am, writing this on the birthday of Jesus of Nazareth. Possibly a good guy, just getting through the people around him would be a chore.

In any event, on this day of Solstice celebration and what have you, I found myself wondering, was Jesus delivered by a midwife? I mean when you look at, where any of the other participants qualified or even able to deliver a baby?

And with living under Hebraic law, would the messy parts of a woman’s vagina, even Mary’s, be an abomination in their god’s eyes?Yes that was one of the thoughts that floated through my over stuffed mind and belly.

No shame in going back for seconds, or eating just about everything on the table. Last night and this afternoon I ate least had seconds of most everything. Not a gavone but the potential was there. Bill and I arrived in Hillsdale where we promptly sat down and had dinner.

Brian and Karen and Cassie with Hillary and her beau Chris were quite hungry and caution was thrown to the wind regarding the Garfield contingent having had dinner. I hadn’t had homemade lasagne in a while and it was quite good. Even though I rarely eat sausage I indulged myself much to my liking.

That’s where the second helpings came in. Gifts exchanged, everyone satisfied and happy. Ride back to Hoboken where Bill and I exchanged gifts. A few ties and cufflinks from me collected over the year and an excellent electric pickup for my Fender acoustic.

All very nice and pleasant. Bedtime for both of us and I woke up first this morning to see if there were any presents under the tree from Santa, but then I realized we don’t have a tree. No room for it anyway. No tree, no gifts, but that was OK.

Went in the kitchen to make some coffee, and turned on the heater. No heater again. It went out last month on the 25th and now it’s out again. I made an online appointment for the PSE&G maintenance for tomorrow morning between 8AM and 12PM.

That’s fine with me, they’re generally show up in that time frame. Like around 11:55AM.I hope they won’t charge. Last month it took about 5 minutes and there was no charge, so I hope it will be the same situation.

Right now, we got a big pot of water on the stove, getting things warm and damp, but it beats being cold.

This afternoon we had the trip to Garfield to Frank and Elaine’s house. Nice and mellow there, Elaine’s dad on the couch watching everyone have a turn playing Wii which they got for a Christmas present. Corinne, Meg & Rob and I tried my hand at boxing and bowling as did everyone else. More food and gifts and then we were back on the road to Hoboken since the Zipcar needed to be returned by 5PM.

We are now watching the Stephen Colbert Christmas Special. It was originally broadcast last year but I remarkably had some foresight to check it out at the library a week or so ago. Hey, you snooze you lose.

We just watched Iron Man which Bill hadn’t seen. After catching bits and pieces of A Christmas Story, it was fun to point Peter Billingsley in his cameo in Iron Man. So that about sums up Christmas 2009. See ya tomorrow. Happy Crimble!

Me, Frank & Brian

Me, Frank & Brian