South Of Someplace: March 2018

Saturday, March 31, 2018

Set Yourself Apart

Don’t get a tattoo

Just to set yourself apart

Do something useful

Come Into My Arms

Come into my arms

Let me dance with you again

Like we did before

Deadline

Struggling with the pressure

Of a looming deadline

Feeling overwhelmed

As I out of time

I swear

I’ll never let myself

Get so far behind

If I get another chance

At this

If I get that chance

There’s no good choice left

But to keep fighting on

To use every last minute

Before time is gone

To think and to work

And see what can be done

To stay strong

Through the end of the run

I’ll tempted to cave

To give up

And give in

To rest and regroup

And revise the plan

And hope that one day

I might try again

After begging for mercy

From those I’ve let down

But I won’t

And I can’t

I have to go on

I won’t put us through it

Not me and not them

For life comes but once

And when it all ends

That beautiful curtain

Never rises again

So spend your time wisely

When you dream

And you dare

Follow endeavors

That you most want to share

Stand by your commitments

To show that you care

For this life is too short

And our chances are rare

Life is too short

And chances are rare

Again

In case you wonder

I would do it all again

And have no regrets

Clogged

There should be a name for it

The decision you make

The chance you take

When you’re fully aware

That the toilet’s clogged

But you flush it anyway

Hoping that the extra water

Will push the problem

Down the drain

Toilet Roulette

We could call it

Plunger Poker

Place your bets!

A Flush

Is all you need to win

Let that lucky water spin

Watch it rise

And hopefully

See it all

Go down again

Taking your troubles with it

Washing them down the drain

Relieved

You may even celebrate

Pump your fist in the air

As you walk away

Flashing a cocky grin

But if you lose

Oh, if you lose

Hold your nose

When it

Overflows

You’ll have an icky mess

To clean

From the bowl

And surrounding floor

Speak Slowly

If you speak slowly

I’ll understand what you mean

In any language

Friday, March 30, 2018

Good Friday

On this Good Friday

Love and Grace flow through our souls

Free for the asking

New York Minute 85 - Regrettable Ride

Why is it that when we’re exhausted and stressed out to our last nerve, we end up in a taxi with one of the worst drivers in the city?

The guy I rode with the other night after spending fourteen hours in the office, was polite and well-mannered, but his driving was so jerky and heavy footed that my neck hurt after only a few blocks. He chose a route that took us out of the way and onto an avenue that’s known for heavy traffic even late at night. He had a habit of driving in the leftmost lane, so he was constantly getting stuck behind double-parked cars and drivers waiting to turn. Then he would fight his way into the moving traffic lanes by cutting off other drivers - I heard a lot of honking horns that night - and then he would punch the accelator for half a block and then slam on his brakes at the intersection. The lights were usually red, because the wasted so much time trying to get past easily avoidable obstacles.

At one point, I was tempted to pay the driver and walk the rest of the way home, but I heard shouting outside. Another cab was stopped beside us. A handful of angry people were causing a commotion, rocking the cab, and yelling “get out!” I couldn’t see clearly what was going on, but several bystanders were watching from the sidewalk, including an elderly Muslim man standing two women with covered heads. (His wives, perhaps?) It was a tense scene, and I sensed danger without fully understanding what was going on.

Distracted and confused by the commotion, I procrastinated on my decision to bail from the cab. The light turned green, and the driver punched the accelerator with aggression. Luckily, traffic opened up a bit and we hit a string of green lights. I paid the guy, went upstairs, and took an Advil for my neck.

Thursday, March 29, 2018

Elevator Etiquette

Never fart in an elevator. Take the escalator instead.

Keep Digging

I know they’re in here

Pair of clean socks in this drawer

Keep digging deeper

Old Friend

Old friend it’s okay

If we talk or not today

Love works either way

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Long Day Blues

That feeling when you break your reading glasses while putting in a fourteen hour day...

Keep Going

So much left to do!

Don’t think about how tired

You are - Keep going!

New York Minute 84 - Subway Stench

There’s nothing like dashing into a subway car just before the doors close only to discover that someone on the car smells like they died last week, and the whole enclosed space is filled with a sickening stench.

Monday, March 26, 2018

The Right To Bear Arms

Arm every American citizen with a 1789 musket, and the right to bear arms will have been fulfilled.

The Gun Lobby

There are a lot of good, decent NRA members who don't want to see anyone harmed by firearms. I'm sure that they are as shocked and saddened as the rest of us every time a mass shooting occurs.

Unfortunately, they sat back silently while extremists in their organization peddled fear and falsehoods and prevented common sense reforms on background checks and other critical policies. So, while I still believe that they are good people, I think they could have done a better job of maintaining a reasonable dialog in the firearms debate.

Now, the NRA is the object of scorn. That didn't need to happen.

Saturday, March 17, 2018

The Blessings of Luck

On this day, St. Patrick’s Day, in 1984, I met the mother of my child. May the luck of the Irish bless you as wonderfully as it has blessed us.

New York Minute 83 - Combative Mood

As I arrived at Penn Station this morning, two men were standing face to face screaming at each other at the main entrance on Seventh Avenue. Clearly one of them wanted to fight; the other was standing his ground fiercely. I ignored the drama, went inside, and bought my ticket.

When I reached the platform, I found only one door open on the train that I was supposed to take. This normally indicates that the crew is servicing or cleaning the interior and that they would prefer that you wait before boarding.

So, I waited for a moment. One of the train men looked at me curiously as he talked toward me. I said, “Only one door is open. I wasn’t sure whether I supposed to board.” He didn’t hear me, so I repeated myself in a slightly louder voice, as he walked closer. “I wasn’t sure whether I was supposed to board, since only one door is open.”

As I was saying this, another train man, an older guy with white hair, stepped off the train and started yelling. “I’ll take care of it, okay? Give me some time! I just got here.”

Be careful out there, today! People are in a combative mood.

St. Paddy’s Early Birds

At 8:30 this morning, revelers wearing Kelly green hats, T-shirts, glasses, shamrocks-on-springs hair bands, and other St. Patrick’s Day paraphernalia were already filing out of Penn Station. The NYC pubs will be busy!

Thursday, March 15, 2018

End Of An Era In Retail

Toys R Closed - Beware the Ides of March!

Sunday, March 11, 2018

The Ravages Of Age

An elderly man named Lloyd lives in my apartment building. I say hello to him when I pass him in the lobby or see him in the elevator. He always smiles and asks me how I know his name. I remind him that we have spoken “a few times before.” It’s sad to watch him struggle with his memory.

New York Minute 82 - Untitled

It was one of the most wretched and disturbing acts of panhandling that I can recall, and I see beggars every day. The slender young man in the flannel shirt appeared to be deaf, as his attempts at speech produced a series of pathetic, unintelligible grunts. His body lurched in violent gestures; whether his frantic movements were caused by some ailment or the abuse of powerful drugs, I can’t say, but it was shocking to witness.

A couple of times during his presentation, the man unfolded a piece of cardboard that may have shown a written message. I couldn’t see the message, as the man stood directly in front of me, his elbow and shoulder occasionally grazing me as he made his plea. I was preparing myself to push him away if necessary.

I didn’t notice whether anyone gave the man money. I left the car at the next stop.

Friday, March 9, 2018

Wondering

I’m so tired

I’m quite out of my mind

I haven’t the strength

To politely hide

The way that I feel

Inside

I wonder

I hate it

But yes

I wonder

Do I have what it takes

To reach my goals

Do I have the legs

To get where I want to be?

Yes

Sometimes

I doubt myself

It's natural

I'm sure

But I wonder

If I'm good enough

To fulfill my life's desires

Or will I be left

Like a wretched wreck

Crashed

On the side of the road

Unable to reach

My precious dreams

Unable

To carry the load

Watch This

I went to the gym yesterday for the second time this week. I’m forcing myself to make time for exercise, because I’m feeling quite out of shape. I missed a few weeks of workouts because of the demands of the office, and I haven’t been running due to an injury. I need to do better.

After some work with weights and a tough thirty minutes on the elliptical trainer, I went into the locker room to wash up and change. As I was putting my street clothes back on, I noticed that someone had left a beautiful men’s watch in the locker. It may have slipped out of a pocket when they put their pants on a hanger. I didn’t look at the brand on the face - I was feeling anxious about handling someone’s lost property - but it had a large, white face, a shiny brown leather strap, and it felt heavy and well-crafted.

I put the watch into the pocket where I keep my wallet and went out to the front desk to inform them. I didn’t want anyone to see the watch immediately. If possible, I wanted to hear a description before revealing what I had found.

The manager was alone at the desk. I wanted to have this discussion with two people present, but since he was the manager, I decided to trust him. I would have been awkward to ask him to call a witness.

“Did anyone report a missing watch?”

“Did you just lose a watch?” he asked. His response didn’t make any sense.

“No,” I corrected, “I asked whether anyone had reported losing one.”

“No. No one has reported anything.”

“Well, they’re going to want this back,” I said as I presented the well-crafted timepiece. “It’s beautiful. I found it in locker 120.”

The manager wrote down my name and thanked me.

“I hope that it get reunited with its owner,” I said as I turned to leave.

International Women’s Day Panel

Yesterday, I attended an International Women’s Day panel discussion on the topic of progress for women in the workplace. The two panelists were senior female executives from well-known firms. They were both well-spoken, and they addressed the topic in an engaging and informative way. The event flew by quickly; I was amazed when I turned my phone back on and discovered that a full hour had passed.

The wild card on the panel was the moderator, a high-ranking person at the National Organization for Women. She wasn’t what I expected as a representative of NOW. - I’m about to confess that I my thinking may have been influenced by stereotypes.

Here was this petite, perky, attractive lady in a red dress and black fishnet stockings telling us how much she always armired Barbie. The context was that a new collection of “Inspiring Women” Barbie dolls was announced to coincide with International Women’s Day. Still, I was a bit shocked to hear a high-ranking member of a feminist organization heap praises on Barbie for “being good at changing careers.”

The event was enjoyable and thought-provoking. I learned, for instance, that one of the first issues that NOW tackled when it was formed in 1966, was the segregation of jobs by sex in the want ads of the New York Times. The panelists both stressed the need for excellence and the willingness to take risks to go after the position that you want. The one from an IT background stressed the need to get girls interested in STEM careers at an earlier age. She remarked that it’s unrealistic to expect that half of the workforce in a technological future will be female when only 15 percent of university degrees in the STEM fields are earned by women.

Happy Belated International Women’s Day! And watch out for those sneaky stereotypes.

Monday, March 5, 2018

Perspective on Assault Rifles

I don’t want stable, conscientious people to get rid of their AR-15s. I want them to protect others from angry nut cases with AR-15s.

The French Mystique

There is nothing quite like speaking French with an attractive French woman. Oo-la-la! I need a cigarette.

Sunday, March 4, 2018

Making The Best Of Things

It’s going to be a challenging week. My normal schedule is heavy, but this week my colleague will be away leaving a lot of extra work and responsibility to fall on my shoulders.

But I am optimistic. I am determined to make the best of the experience. I’m already thinking of creative ways to handle the workload, get the most critical things done, and to have some fun along the way. Wish me luck. Just don’t ask me to lunch. I’ll need to take a rain check. :-)

Saturday, March 3, 2018

New York Minute 81 - Icy Morning Walk

When I left home for the office yesterday morning, the bomb cyclone had deposited an icy layer on the sidewalks. In the way to the subway station, I passed a man walking with his small child, a boy about three or four years old. The man was carrying a large black umbrella. The child had one of those umbrellas that looks like an animal with ears sticking out of the top.

They were talking about how hard it was to walk on the ice. Just as I passed, the little boy offer this delightful insight: “If you had skis, you could go really fast.” It was so cute! My heart melted.

When I got to the subway station, I had to wait for several minute. The trains were delayed, and because they weren’t running frequently, they were badly overcrowded. Luckily, the riders on my car were being cooperative and very polite. Bad weather brings out a sense of community in the city, a feeling that we’re all facing the same challenges, and we’ll get through it better if we help each other.

I treasure that sense of spontaneous cooperation. It’s part of what makes this city so special.

Friday, March 2, 2018

Get Ready

The shit that happens prepares you for the shit that’s coming.

Thursday, March 1, 2018

New York Minute 80 - Get Out Of The Way

In New York, ambulances get stuck in traffic just like everyone else. This isn’t an occasional phenomenon. I happens every day.

Part of the problem is that traffic is heavy in the city. Total gridlock can occur even outside of rush hour. But a bigger factor is a simple lack of courtesy.

Drivers refuse to yield to emergency vehicles pass. Not just some drivers. It’s actually extremely rare to see someone pull over to let an ambulance go past. The explanation is simple. If you pull over out of courtesy to let an ambulance or a fire truck go past, don’t expect courtesy from the drivers that follow. By pulling over, you have effectively surrendered your place in the traffic lanes. It’s like handing the keys of your apartment over to some guy looking for a place to setup a meth lab. You’re not going to get back in.

Experienced city drivers simply refuse to let emergency vehicles pass. Someone is dying of a heart attack? That’s their problem. Your building is burning down? Well, I guess it’s just not your day. We have places to be.

I was feeling lazy this morning. I jumped into a cab instead of taking the subway to the office. An ambulance came up behind us with lights flashing and his siren blaring. What did the cab driver do? Nothing. Not a damned thing. When he had a chance to move forward, he didn’t pull to the side to let the ambulance through. He drove straight ahead as far as he could, and when the traffic bogged down again, he just sat there blocking the way. This went on for at least twenty-five blocks.

Eventually, the ambulance found a way around us. At a corner where no one was parked, he pulled into the far right lane and cautiously eased through the red light. We ended up following him for a while. I feared that the cab driver was going to pass him again. Luckily, he didn’t, because that would have really bothered me.

I don’t know. I’ve been living her for a while and working here for decades, but I still don’t understand how can people be that blatantly self-centered. And for what? You’re trading someone’s life to maybe save yourself a few seconds. I find the whole thing infuriating.