The Smell of Good Coffee

What the hell is our problem? What is wrong with us...as a whole...collectively...the human race...?

"You don't miss your water 'til the well runs dry."

Just a catch phrase or an undeniable, empirical truth?

We run around, putting off until tomorrow, what we should be, in fact, doing today.

"I'll call him next week."

"I'll do it later."

"Manana..."

What if next week or later or manana never actually showed up? What if he died or the deadline passed or the place had already closed by the time you got there? Then what?

Whatcha gonna do now hotshot?!

Seriously...what if the friend, who you were going to visit but then didn't...what if he or she died that day and when you called "later" or "tomorrow" or "the next time you're in town"...what if none of those future moments included your friend...because was dead?

You would never see him again. You would have blown your last, good chance to see him...to hold him...to talk to him...to listen to him...to love him.

The chances would be gone...forever. Not one more minute. Not one more time. Gone...Gone.

Better yet, what if this were your last day on earth? How would you spend it? What would you do?

Would you waste it on frivolity? Maybe. Would you complain about whatever it was that you were doing? Maybe. Would you choose to put "it" off until tomorrow...the thing that was important to you? Probably...

Or would you fill that last day with joy...with friends...with the experiences that you had meant to have but hadn't quite had the time?

We get busy. We prioritize. We choose expediency and convenience. We end up filling our days and our lives with the bullshit minutae of daily existence. Trash, dishes, checkbooks, leaf raking. We rarely decide to say "screw it" and bring a bottle of wine, spontaneously, to a friend's house and "waste" the afternoon laughing, reminiscing, loving.

We'll do it tomorrow or later or the next time we're in town or have a few minutes.

Well, tomorrow is today and later is now and a few minutes just flew by, never to return (this blog may be important to me...but you must have better things to do at this moment...you can read this after you've done them. I give you my blessing...as if you need it. Go...finish this...later.)

Call him RIGHT NOW. Go see it RIGHT NOW! Read it RIGHT NOW! Say "I love you" RIGHT THE F#%* NOW!!

This may very well be your last chance. You never know.

What you do know, however, is that you absolutely, unequivocally, without question...cannot take "it" with you. Not the money, not the cars, not the jewels...not the memories, not the experiences...not the irreplaceable connections of our lives.

Whatever the hell it is that you have been putting off...DO IT RIGHT NOW!

Before it's too late...

Thanks

To anyone who has recently become a follower...thank you very much!

I appreciate your participation.

I hope the blog does not disappoint.

See ya in the funny papers...!

Blog Jam

I'm suffering from Blogger's Jam. This is not to be confused with preserves or jelly...except for the fact that I love strawberry preserves and occasionally orange marmelade, which reminds me of my mother and my grandmother. Once, at my grandmother's apartment, which had been my mother's girlhood home in Manhattan, my mother fixed me a piece of toast with orange marmelade. I was about 5 but I still remember that. How could my mother know where the jelly and bread and plates and knives were in Grandma's kitchen? How could she know that? It never occurred to me that it had been my mother's kitchen too, as a young girl. She was no stranger there even though I was. I have never liked orange marmelade much but it is on the list because it reminds me of my childhood and my family and easier times. But strawberry is my fave and cherry too, especially the cherry from my friend's orchard in Provence. OMG!... or OMD (Oh Mon Dieu...which should never be taken for WMD...Words of Mindless Disillusion)...if you know what I mean.

But...I digress.

I have Blogger's Jam which is the equivalent of Writer's Block...which is not Writer's Bloc which is a cabal of writers...like the Algonquin Round Table.

No I have Blogger's Jam. I really can't think of anything interesting to write or opine about.

I'm coming up dry.

I'm tapped out.

Not dry like a good Martini. Not tapped out like a tired Maple tree.

No, friends, I'm exhausted. I have no fresh ideas. The political situation in this country, not to mention the time I've taken up agonizing about the goings on in my beloved France, has rendered me without thoughts.

I'm vacant and arid.

I'm adrift.

But I hope it will soon pass. I hope to be back at it soon. I hope to be delivering my witty, inciteful and always entertaining salvos of intellectual provocation to my devoted readership.

Meanwhile I'm going to relax with a piece of rye with strawberry jelly. Store bought rye, mind you. And jelly! Not fancy-schmancy preserves this time for me. And not free range rye made with exotic flour twice blessed by the local Rabbi.

Nope...rye from the convenience store and generic jelly! Argh Maytee!!

That's me.

That's what I'm doing.

Maybe the simplicity of the treat will inspire me to write again. Hopefully the tasty tidbits will jog me out of my creative nadir (what a great word, nadir...like Ralph Nadir...the depth to which the failed candidate sank after being too much of a good thing...you know...?)

Maybe it will be just the thing to get me back on track.

I sure hope so because this idleness is driving me crazy. It's making me eat foods that are bad for me. Jelly for god's sake. Think of all that sugar and red dye.

Oh well...all we can do is hope for the best. Tune in soon to see if I'm back or if I've disappeared into a rye toast and strawberry jelly-induced coma.

It could be worse. I could be searching for a way to end this blog and not be finding one...

HELP!!!



p.s...

I am copyrighting "Blogger's Jam" and "Blog Jam" but, if you are a follower of this blog, you may use those terms anytime, forever...for free. But track them. You heard 'em here first. Remember that...! Credit where credit's due and all of that...unless we find out that they were coined by someone at an earlier date in which case we might all be a part of the class action infringement suit...all of us...together...yay!!

Preaching to the Choir

Here's what bothers me.

People protesting whatsoever...to their friends!

Ok...we all hate high taxes, war, inadequate health care, potholes, jellyfish...the list goes on.

But standing on a street corner holding a sign as your friends and neighbors drive by will never make any difference at all.

"I hate So and So"

"So do I"

End of conversation.

If you want to change something...if you want to persuade someone to your point of view...you have to start by talking with somebody who...DOESN'T AGREE WITH YOU!

If you're a Democrat, go stand on a Republican street corner and wave your sign.

If you're a Republican go to a Democrat district and yell about your position.

Maybe one out of a hundred drivers will honk to support you. Maybe one in a hundred will roll down their window to engage in a conversation. Maybe one in a hundred will actually stop the car, get out and listen to what you have to say. Maybe then, and only then, will you be able to convince them that your ideas and solutions are better than theirs and they'll switch to your way of thinking.

We are so polarized in this country that we don't even listen to the other guy any more. We see Obama and we jeer. We see Palin and we turn off the TV. We hear Beck or Limbaugh and we change the station. We see Pelosi's name in a headline and we turn the page.

How can we possibly expect to solve the problems that confront us if we won't even listen to the other guy?

And how can we listen to the other guy if we're only talking with people who agree with us?

Well, the answer is that we won't and can't. Unless we shut up long enough to listen and until we start to engage with people with whom we disagree we will be doomed to a steady decline and eventual dissolution.

"Stop, Look and Listen"

If that's good enough to keep us from getting squashed by a train it should be good enough to keep us from getting squashed by the runaway locomotive of our own myopic self interest and destructive behavior.

So, with that in mind, have you heard what O'Donnell said today...?

Platform Shoe-ins

I've decided, belatedly, to run for President.

Please vote for me.

Here is where I stand on the issues...actually I prefer to sit...in a chair at the beach...

1) I am absolutely Pro-Choice. I believe that the government should choose whether or not a woman should have an abortion. Then I believe the woman should have the constitutional right to choose to do the opposite if she wants to.

2) I am a staunch environmentalist. I believe in the environment. I believe we should all have the right to one. Environmentally speaking of course.

3) I am pro-military. I think we should have guns and tanks and a lot of soldiers.
They should all be assigned to as many bases as we can have. But I think they shouldn't have any bullets or bombs because they might kill someone and, as we have been exhaustively reminded over the years, "Thou shalt not kill." Except for mosquitos. No one likes mosquitos. No one would mind if we killed a few hundred thousand. And the soldiers should all be on First Base because we would all then know "Who's on First."

4) We should have full employment. We should all be employed. We should all be working. I believe in full employment.

5) Everyone who wants an education should be able to have one. Therefore I pledge to build a school. One. That will be enough for all of the people who want an education. We don't need to waste the taxpayers hard earned money on more than one. All of the rest of the population already knows everything. Why would they want to go to school? All of those tests and facts and paper writing. Why would we waste money on that? Tell me. Why?

6) I believe in gay marriage. I believe all marriages should be gay. And to that end I support reintroducing the word "gay" into the language in it's earlier form. Have a "gay" old time...the "gay" nineties...etc. I firmly believe in gaiety in marriage. Too many un-gay marriages fail because they are not gay enough. Gay on Garth...

7) Lastly, I believe we should all be allowed to___________________________. Fill in the blank here. After this election we will be on the road to full anarchy here in the U.S. So, in that spirit, I will empower every American with the unalienable (look it up...it's in the copy at the U.S. Dept. of State...nah nah...!) right to institute a law of their own creation and then to have the right to live by it.

And I believe in abolishing all of the roads and the 911 system (except the use of 911 when it applies to remembering September 11 when a lot of people died) People should be entitled to take care of themselves regardless of the circumstances. If your cat is stuck in a tree just cut the tree down. Two benefits: One is that you'll have your cat back and two, you can use the tree for fuel to heat and cook with thereby getting yourself off of the "grid" and saving energy.

Thank you for your time and your vote. When I'm elected I'll ask you to bring your own chicken to put into the pot...or is it your own pot to put into the chicken.

Got confused there. So much to think about...so little time...so few who care.

Any suggestions for a Vice-President? A woman...a child...a pet?

Nazis, Witches and Sexy Bitches...

The state of political affairs in these United States...

O...M...Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

Good night and sweet dreams...

'Nuff said...

Control Freaks...

Here's a thought...

If the Republicans gain control of either the House and or the Senate next month there could be a silver lining for Democrats.

Two years is a long time in politics. During that time the Republicans, by virtue of the policies they would attempt to put in place, could very well exacerbate the problems that we face. In that case when the Democrats, Obama chief among them, stand for election or re-election in 2012, they will have current statistics to use to bolster their case.

Current is the operative word here. Doesn't it seem odd that the factors that led to the military and economic situation that afflicts us now had their genesis during the eight years of the Bush administration? And yet, the Democrats are having such a hard time convincing (reminding) the voters of that fact.

The economy tanked under Bush. We went to war(s) under Bush. OBAMA INHERITED THIS MESS!

But we are poised to give the Republicans(who, in large part, created the fix we're in)control of the government...again!

But...back to the silver lining.

Give 'em the keys back. Let 'em drive. Let's go over the cliff.

And then, when we're sitting in the wreckage...then maybe we'll "get it."

Then the Democrats...or the Tea Partiers...or some third party...will finally step up to reality.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Well pardner...it is broke...and if we don't fix it...we'll be done.

Think about that in November.