see you in september

ah, september...a month that evokes such strong memories...the earliest, of course, school days...the excitement of new clothes, which you insist on wearing even if it is 90 degrees...a lunchbox with your favorite tv character smiling from both sides...mix the aroma of new crayola with the pungent smell of freshly sharpened pencils and vinyl and you are back walking into the new classroom that first day again...flash forward to college...when august ushers the new and september finds you buried under the weight of heavy reading and term papers...maybe typed on an old smith corona with white-out at your side...on top of that old webster's....and then a few years later...september, just another month in a work year, maybe marked by your fading tan line and one last outdoor happy hour...then the married september...the jewish edition..."where are we breaking fast?" "what should i bring?" "is it too warm for a wool suit??"...blink, and you are shopping for your children...calming nervous tummies and fainting at the register total, class supply list in hand...and now september....when in a few weeks i will hopefully move from our rental into our new condo...my "to do" list longer than santa's...the thought of the 50+ boxes in storage making me want to run...run backwards..."i dream of jeannie" lunchbox in hand...skipping the streets of canarsie...first day...new beginnings...

rachel getting married

last night after watching the olympics closing ceremony...and btw...couldn't katy perry make one of the conditions of her divorce be that russell brand can never open his mouth again?...i flipped through the evening news...all newscasts had the same news...never good...with the same teaser and highlight...my head perked up...maybe the upcoming finale of the ceremony would have the stones and zeppelin...you know...those lesser british musical icons...but no...lo, and behold...jennifer aniston is getting married...again...and in case we've been brain dead for the better part of the last decade...she's beating her ex...you know, that guy...oh, yeah...brad pitt...to the alter...or so she thinks...because we all know when that ground-breaking news broke angelina was kicking his ass out of bed and speed-dialing rent-a-minister...somewhere aniston's agent is kvelling...realizing that this news makes us get misty-eyed and we'll forget that her post-"friends" career, although not a box-office nightmare, has...for the most part...except for a small gem, "the good girl"...been a critical nightmare...but for now, she can focus on the wedding...maybe leave the one-star reviews to kate hudson...but jennifer should watch out for the thud at the front door...that would be angelina tossing the kids out of the car as she bolts for the wedding chapel with brad...

lead us not into penn station....

it is lunchtime on a wednesday....i am in penn station and it is a leper colony....i suppose you could break it down like this...grand central has that architecture, nice restaurants and well-suited commuters...port authority has cleverly pushed the masses upwards on platforms away from the naked eye...but penn, and particularly the lirr side...it's all out there...and noontime, summertime...a double-treat...the tourists, wandering around aimlessly toting 1000 lbs of ugly luggage, swaying side to side, maximizing full tripping potential...the stroller brigade with toddlers lagging behind..in flip flops...walk behind them on the stairs and there is one hour you will never get back in your lifetime...but i have figured out a way to lose weight!...just inhale the aroma wafting from the far corners...what is that?...dior, chanel...no, it is a '70's staple of the city...eau de piss #5...i made this trip yesterday for two reasons...very different...the first, a follow-up with the neurosurgeon who removed a benign tumor from my skull 7 years ago leaving me a little shaken and resembling something like hellraiser with my "55-staples" hairline...this time he smiled and said we were done...no more follow-ups...i was within two blocks of the time warner center and some pretty nice watering holes where i could have toasted this news...i opted for the little coffee shop around the corner where i had stopped so many times over the years before and after appointments...it seemed more fitting...and started this blog...several hours, and rain showers later...it was the beacon theater for a night with the "dukes of september"...that is michael mcdonald, donald fagan and boz scaggs....from the balcony...when they came on stage it looked something like jerry garcia's straight-haired brother, martin scorsese, and neil diamond...but while donald and michael strained a bit, there was boz...senior of the three...blowing away the audience....especially with "lowdown"...and there we were in the '70's...in the city...gritty, but never sweeter