American EXPRESS? Are you kidding me?

Along my three mile trek to work this morning (Tuesday), my 2002 VW Passatt decided to conk out as I entered the gates of Hofstra, where I was slated to speak at a guidance counselor gig in the University Club. As I coasted into a spot, I silently cursed the day I ever bought this black lemon. I do vow never to buy another VW as long as I breathe air. My 1990 Jetta just bit the dust a few years ago...my college car that my mom purchased for me, just died. You should be impressed by that but it just goes to show that things are now built to break...not to last. My husband made an executive decision earlier this year and dropped our wonderful Allstate Roadside Assistance Service in place of the "free" American Express Gold Card car service. What a big mistake! There are fundamental differences between the two and unfortunately, he made the wrong decision. I sat in the club's parking lot for two and a half hours waiting for a tow truck to arrive while snippy little girls from Amex kept assuring me that he'd be there momentarily. Well, momentarily came hours later and after much hullabaloo, our tow truck manly man showed up and quickly flat bedded my VW away. If I had known I'd be basking in the Indian summer sun on a mid-October morning, I wouldn't have taken my beach chairs out of the trunk of my car. Thankfully, my husband came and waited with me over a couple of bottles of water and a box of chocolate covered Altoids. My stress level was at an all-time high. I ended up speaking with the counselors prior to my long wait, which was good but I was frazzled and fumbled my words a few times. I hate that because I'm a good public speaker and I kept losing my thoughts. Ugh! I sucked yesterday but I have a few more chances to get better at this. I'll let you know how it goes. Meanwhile, the word on my street is ditch AMEX Roadside (I hate to even compare this to service) Service and get something that is more reputable. It didn't take much to convince my husband to switch back to Allstate Road Service, especially since he waited and waited and waited there with me for well over two hours. Funny how things get fixed when ...........

Life in Motion

I think I have my seasons mixed up. I've been hibernating for months, but I plan on doing daily installments from now until I can't write another word or phrase. I must be out of my mind to let my craft slip away. After my mother's death, I basically threw my hands in the air and said, "whatever will be, will be," (oh that Doris Day influence) and allowed myself to be bad in more ways than one. I ate too much, drank too much and allowed myself to wallow in my misery and bereft state. I marinated so much in that sadness that it began to overtake me and that, my friends, is what shook me to the core. I can't say I simply snapped out of it but what it did was make me look deeper into my feelings, which allowed me to release the anger and depression that had a hold on me. I know what's wrong in my life and unless I make radical, painful changes, I'll be stuck in a life that has little meaning. I wanted so much more for my life and I hate to think about myself as 42 and trapped. My marriage is phenomenal...I couldn't ask for a better man to share my life. It's all the rest. I was driving yesterday and heard Queensryche's "Jet City Woman," and almost cried. That song came out in the summer of '91 and at that point, I was 24 and had my whole life in front of me. I was going to write for Rolling Stone you know. I was going to be the next big thing....big big BIG hopes and dreams, but I let my fragile ego lead me into something that was safe..a sure thing. Don't get me wrong. I met a lot of amazing people along the way and honestly, it radically changed my life. Each person I met along this crazy ride had a hand in shaping me. There's always a time when we have to simply walk away. Carol Burnett did it when she tugged on her ear lobe each Saturday night as she left the stage but how will Rene' find her way back to the pages, the sentences, the periods and quotations..........How, How HOW?

Thoughts on Cape May

Walking along the shore in Cape May....waves crash heavily along the beach...ocean spray in the air....cool breeze blowing in from the sea....Ipod on random....Journey's "Stone in Love" plays loudly in my ears...staring out at the horizon and for just a moment, it was 1987 all over again and my heart was smiling...I'm home and all is well in Oz.

Am I Stupid or Shall We All Sing Koom By Ya With Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin's religious and cultural views are only part of her foolish behavior. Comments about seeing Russia from her back yard and not knowing the last book she read all play a huge role in the "stupid factor." I'm not labeling her because she's a Republican (and by the way, the only reason John McCain chose her was to try and gain women ... Read Morevoters who felt lost without Hilary...it sorely backfired) or because she's a super Christian. I simply don't suffer fools well and to make dumb comments on a world stage is stupid. I know I'm not qualified to run our government and if she had any gumption and truth in her, she'd clearly admit that truth as well. Someone who attended three or four different colleges as a "Communications" major and barely scraped by with a BA degree has some nerve trying to play ball with the likes of well educated leaders like Obama and Hillary Clinton.

On Sarah Palin.........A Facebook Response.

Her unbelievable ignorance is what makes her stupid. She may be able to manipulate people enough to vote for her but when push comes to shove, it takes more than a quasi pretty face to run a productive government with a valid set of checks and balances. She couldn't or else she wouldn't be under federal investigation for ethics violations! As we see, our state politicians got elected but they can't seem to work more than three minutes on any given day. If Americans critically thought about each candidate they voted for, rather than party affiliation, our government would look very different and I'm almost positive, Sarah Palin wouldn't even be a blip in that history. On a personal note, she momentarily set the Woman's Movement back 50 years. She can take her Mary Poppins Alaska know how and stuff it in her dead Caribou!

Bloggers, Cloggers and the Superfly Freestylers

I'm not quite sure why I catch random strangers getting their groove on in public places but it's been happening frequently lately, which leads me to believe there is either some sort of lunar equation in motion or I simply have a knack for finding partially obscene attention seekers. If you think I'm waxing on about sex, you are wrong...flat-out wrong. I'm talking about un-choreographed rapid dance steps that make Napoleon Dynamite look like Peter Allen of yesteryear cascading across any given Broadway stage, secretly wishing he was a cross-dressed version of Liza Minnelli, before their divorce of course! In recent months, I have been witness to people with absolutely no dance talent rock out to the music in their head as gawking onlookers pass by, commenting on the hush hush. Maybe it's the rise of television shows like You Think You Can Dance or Dancing with the Stars that have made ordinary citizens kick up their heels, bang their heads and openly embarrass themselves. I'm not sure of that theory just yet but it is my belief that when people try to imitate fantasy, they usually end up making fools of themselves or at best end up with a spare room filled with late night As Seen on TV junk or a warbled homemade sex tape that somehow ends up in your neighbors DVD player.

My first incident was last summer when I came in close contact with the Irish clogger way down yonder in the vicinity of Riverside and the Boardwalk ala Long Beach, New York. A woman of a certain age (that means over 40 readers) dressed in a lovely Danskin leotard number, with small strapped heels on her feet, held on to the railings of the boardwalk, shoulders straight forward, hands partially folded together that lay against her belly as her legs spasmed sharply, tapping heavily on the splintered wood. The right leg seemed to the ball and chainer while the left one came up quickly, creating almost a figure four yoga move along her right knee. I suppose it would have looked better with a whole host of clogger's but there was only one and to be honest, she was horrible. I couldn't stop looking at her. My fascination in the bizarre was peaked. I was hooked and as my Ipod pounded out dance tunes of the late 1980's on my walking play list, I imagined a beach version of Lord of the Dance with beach cloggers rising from the sands of Long Beach, grabbing the railings and holding on as if an earthquake was eminent. This woman was in her own world. People stared and she flecked. Young couples snickered as they shuffled by on their daily walks while geriatric locals shook their heads and rolled their eyes. It's obvious that Ms. Clogger had either hit a bit of the bottle for medicinal purposes or she was loopy and needed to do the ball change/leg fleck while humming a nice lively version of Mick McGilligan's Ball. Hmm. I thought about stopping and pointing her to the nearest Hibernian Hall but then I thought about it and decided to let her run the gamut of limited dance moves in her cache. She was over before she was discovered. And as I moved slowly past her, I crooked my neck to catch one last glimpse of her slightly pear shaped body, harboring away to the bagpipes in her head.

My next encounter with solo public dancing happened several years ago when I moved close to the Nautical Mile in Freeport New York. On Saturday nights, we often visit the restaurant laden area for dinner and a well earned Ralph's Italian Ice. The mile long restaurant row is packed with a very eclectic group of people ranging from boaters to look-a-like Mafia enforcers with bleach blond broads that look much too young to know better. Next to the the ice stand is a canal bar with an eternal;y bad Jimmy Buffet band that plays an occasional Lynrd Skynd song for the die hard bar flies. It seems that every time I frequent Ralphs on a Saturday evening, there is this has been woman in her 50's drunker than a skunk, doing some superlfy fancy dance steps to the sounds of the Shrimp Shack Shooters. Their version of Sweet Home Alabama seemed to take on a funkadelic beat that rivaled any Earth Wind and Fire song. Ms. Superfly's scraggly graying hair was swaying in the bay breeze as she swooshed her hips side to side and slammed her head to and fro. I was dizzy from just watching her but something inside me felt deeply sorry for her. Alone and drunk on a Saturday night is no way to spend the summers, especially in your 50's. I think her life must have held a lot of sadness and lonely feelings. I'm sure some drunken boater was going to take her home that night and screw her brains out, making her feel momentarily wanted, but when the sun comes up and the hangover hits hard, her male Casanova of a few hours earlier now looks like a dirty slob...an opportunist who wiped away her sweat as she wore the soles off her $9.99 Payless stiletto specials. For some reason, I want to call this woman Tanya. The name seems to fit her perfectly...slightly trashy and most definitely easy...she parades her sagging boobies in a low-cut stretchy shirt, exposing the faded rose tattoo on her breast. Too tight Capri pants in white expose her black thong that bulges out of her low riders making her look pathetic and very desperate. I'm sure she quietly gathered her clothes after her romp and fuck, wishing she had better judgement when it comes to men but then again, she needed it just as much as he did so she brushed those thoughts aside and realized she was still a little horny, dropped her clothes and went back in for another side of toast. Easy to read but not easy to forget. Hey, tomorrow is Saturday, want to meet Tanya at the bar or at least drink some cheap beers and dance your ass off to Blue Beards Brothers...I heard they play a mean Beatles set.

My final encounter with humiliating dance queens came last week while I was on my way to work. As usual, I'm always rushing and running late, driving like a maniac up Grand Avenue, through the streets of Baldwin New York on my way to Hofstra University. This morning proved different as I made my usual left from Jerusalem into Ingram Estates and saw a Latino woman well into her 30's free styling on the corner. It was 10am and I knew I was half asleep but much to my wondering eyes should appear but a Spanish Chiquita outside a storefront church throwing her body around like she wanted to slam dance. I slowed down, stared at her as she did a mix of old school break dance moves and head banger's moshing. It appeared she was not wearing an Ipod or Walkman. I rolled the windows down to see if I could hear any music but all I heard was the sound of her dirty white Capizio's swish against the pavement. I winced as she threw herself forward thinking how badly my back would hurt lest I too fell into the microcosm of Long Island women who dance alone. This woman was clearly in some sort of a trance. Maybe she was in a cult, I thought. Maybe she was trying to exercise the evil demons out of her. Maybe she was possessed. At that thought, I hit the pedal to the medal and flew through the nearby stop sign, eager to rid myself of these nuts.

Sting wrote a song about dancing alone. Billy Idol sang about dancing with oneself and Robert Plant wanted to dance on his own but I'm sure all these artists never thought about the foolish beat that these three woman danced to.

I do have one suggestion for any of my male readers...take a nice late winter's walk on the Long Beach boardwalk next St. Patrick's Day for a private Irish lap dance from The Clogger. Hey, wait, isn't Irish Day in September in Long Beach? You can get your clogging yaya's out even sooner!

Sweet 15, Ol'E and Michael Jackson

I try to remember Michael Jackson from his pre-Thriller stage to Thriller itself. It just got too bizarro for me after that and although I was a whore to 80's pop music, some of the best memories of my "Sixteen Candles" experience all seemed to hit head-on with one or another hits off the Thriller mega hit album. I actually stopped calling a boy I liked, mid-digit dialing, to watch the world premiere video of "Billy Jean." VJ Martha Quinn's cutesy voice echoed through my brain as I sat, fixated on the boob-tube, waiting for the magic to begin. I listened carefully as I sipped another taste of stale Ol'E out of a paper cup, eating sugary birthday cake while at a friends sleepover. Once I heard the synthesized dum dum dum dum, I knew I was in for a real THRILL(ER)! That lit up stage he walked across as he belted out "Billy Jean" will forever be my favorite song from his enormous musical catalog, although PYT comes in a pretty close second. It's all over and done with now and his world stage silenced, but his music will be his legacy for generations to come. Goodbye Kind of Pop...I hope you rock the heavens with that addictive beat, dum, dum, dum, dum...I can almost hear it now when the wind blows that certain way.

Atheist Mom Response

About Atheist Mom

Atheist Mom is a recovering Catholic married to an ex Mormon…they are happy, kind and moral people who feel pretty certain that there is no God. Atheist Mom wants her child to grow up to be a critical thinker who lives life in the now…because there is no after.

“I would not for my life destroy one star of human hope, but I want it so that when a poor woman rocks the cradle and sings a lullaby to the dimpled darling, she will not be compelled to believe that ninety-nine chances in a hundred she is raising kindling wood for hell.”

—Robert Ingersoll, How to be Saved, 1880

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READERS:

This is from a recommended blog and although I don't subscribe to this woman's point of view, I find it interesting. There are many non believers out there but I find it disturbing when they mock those that do believe. If you choose to have no faith, that is your choice. I have never lost faith in God...I may have strayed and by no means am I a faultless person. I strive to be good everyday and everyday I fail in some manner or another but my intentions are always pure.

Here is my response to her:

I'm a believer, not someone who is going to be in your face pushing my religious beliefs down your throat. However, I do feel sorry for people who believe in nothing. There seems to be a disconnect somewhere in your life that has led you to this way of thinking. It's wonderful to be a critical thinker, but in all your infinite wisdom, why can't you think about what life would be like with a God. Having faith in God is difficult for many people because they cant' seem to see past their own minute existence in the world. Believing in something that you can't see or touch or hear takes courage. I hope you find that special moment in your life where all you will have is your faith in God. Just like the bible-belters that curse everyone who doesn't believe, you are similar since you chastise and insult those that do believe. Your belief systems may be at opposite ends of the spectrum but you are one in the same!

Phlegm

I can't seem to shake this phlegmy mess of a cold I acquired after Vic paraded around the house coughing, open mouth, spewing his usual nonsense, "I'm not sick, it's only allergies." That worked until I woke up a few days later with this thick funk slithering down the back of my very sore throat. I was furious but moreover, I was sick and that was two weeks ago. What is going on with my immune system? I can't seem to fight this heinous viral storm off. It concerns me...a lot. Ever since my mother passed away, I've been battling shades of mourning depression but I've stymied that with an extra dose of vitamin D and extra shots of organic apple cider vinegar. My health hasn't been bad but I gained all the weight I worked so hard to lose last summer and fall so I'm sure my blood pressure and sugar levels are in an uproar. I vowed to myself that this is the week I'm going to beat this ridiculous infection, begin my walking regimen and eat more balance, healthful meals. I'm always experimenting with foods, herbs and spices and never eat junk food (true true true) unless you consider pizza poo poo. I have been skipping lunch lately, mostly because I can't seem to get up in the morning. I'm such a bloody slow poke lately. I'm anxious for my vacation days to get here so I don't have to whore myself out any longer. It's my time to be creative and do what God put me on this earth to achieve. Although my dreams of getting an agent were dashed last year after I made a conscience choice to spend more time with my then ill mother, I'm focused right now. Don't get me wrong, I would never regret spending time with her...she is my heart and blood. Last summer, we had exciting times in Baldwin Harbor with all BBQ's, family weekends, the LB boardwalk and a few yummy dinners at Jordan's Lobster Farm. I'll always have that time, but now I feel those juices running slowly through my slightly warped mind as I embark on a new adventure.

Oh, by the way, my nephew's fiancee Christine, who I consider a wonderful friend, recommended that I begin taking oscillococcinum for my cold. I don't know what's in it but you dissolve a vile of these little white beads in your mouth and within the hour, you are feeling much better. Maybe I will actually be able to get a walk in today and do all my chores.