a day in hollywood, a night in the ukraine

the news makes my head hurt...not the lead stories...about the size of kim's ass or the possibility of george being off the market...uh, like he was ever on the market for me, or anyone reading this...but we dream...anyway...it is the real news that causes frown lines...the news about a ferry full of innocent south korean high school students sinking...about missing nigerian girls...and mostly about ukraine...whether or not each story is valid the tone is...putin is marching and anti-semitism is alive and strong...as it always has been...but more so lately...buried deep after stories of beyonce and bieber and all other forms of distraction...i wonder if maybe the greatest history lesson we can teach younger generations is that how it repeats itself...despite hopes and claims to the contrary...so we close our eyes and wish for the happy ending...but it keeps me up...when I think that hitler began his merry march in 1933...and the attack on pearl harbor wasn't till 1941...eight years...i guess it was eyes wide shut...or maybe everyone reading about what vivien wore to the "gone with the wind" premiere...or who clark's date was...makes me think of that old play title...a day in hollywood...a night in the ukraine...

chasing cars

"what can i do to get you in this car today?"...i am in hell...the leases on both our car, and lauren's, are up in may...and so comes the search...and for every dealership we walk into, the catch phrase...i clench my jaw...cause what i want to say is...something along the lines of...buy it for me...and while you're at it...throw in my mortgage...and credit cards...how about gas for a year...unleaded!!!...ugh...and on that little form they all ask you to fill out there are those lines for phone numbers and email addresses...i think of putting in my old phone number...from the 60's...the one my mom made me memorize till my little head hurt...HI4-6184...keep them busy...because you know they are going to call...and email...all the time...like when i was trying not to drop the 14 pound turkey en route to the oven on passover..."what can i do to get you in this car today?"...does it come with a 5 foot invisible shield to surround it...so when I take it out the first time...like to fairway...it won't get battered by some shopping cart racing from the next row that some dumbass couldn't roll back...and also for that car careening onto the northern state without a glance in the rearview...can it fly next time i have to navigate the potholed belt parkway...didn't think so...cars...when we sit down with the pen and the money...and sign on the dotted line...just give me the color i want...let me download "full moon fever"...and drive away...into one mile an hour long island traffic...deal?

what a fool believes

last week i was shuffling through the port authority to visit my mom...this being my mode of transport when i want to avoid the craters...i mean potholes on the belt parkway and staten island expressway...and also pass on the 100 year construction project that is the status quo in the tri-state...anyway...I am having coffee, this after walking by fatigues and guns and police...the authority in this port...a reminder of the fragile state in which we still exist post-911...i am trying to write...and trying to avoid the news from the tv above...another fire in new jersey...hey, new york post...the hell with bridgegate or whatever the catch-phrase du jour is...new jersey is burning...and a plane is missing a la lost...i can't watch those relatives wailing in close-up in yet another report so i look away...and my eyes try to avoid the growing number of homeless also shuffling along...all while mayor de blasio won't shut up about universal pre-k...and i am thinking that coffee is not strong enough...even at noon in this "port"...flash forward...monday morning...the last day of march...the first day in the three-card-monte game that is a presale for tickets for fleetwood mac...prices not bad they say...unless you want to eat this month...but i think of christine mcvie...over my head...as i lament that i have to go to work and therefore will not be able to click search at 10am...it is snowing...i have to dig my freakin' snow boots out again...and it's not april fools' yet...but i remember two weather forecasts sunday night...newscasters flashing pearly whites and mentioning the possibility of flakes north...and we are east...and as i slip into work i am thinking about all of this...and laugh...what a fool believes