Wednesday, March 4, 2020


Blog #156

I went to see Dr. Heart this week.  He’s fine.  And so am I.  Actually, I’m way better than fine.  He says my heart is working beautifully and there’s nothing to worry about.  He even took away one of my pills.  That’s good, because I have more pills than an old sweater.  All of this is great news – I guess.  I mean, with my heart ticking like the intro to 60 Minutes and my hip feeling terrific, I no longer have anything to bitch about.

My hip doesn’t have any pain
My heart is as strong as a train
My skin doesn’t itch
So I’ll just have to bitch
That I’ve nothing much left to complain.

I really should contain my euphoria, however.  As Steven Wright said, “When everything is coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane.”  I guess I could complain about how useless I am.  Yes, I’m good with math and poetry; children love me, I’m good to my wife.  But when it comes to fixing any little thing around the condo, I’m as useless as house-slippers on a snake.

Look!  Up in the sky – it’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s USELESSMAN – slower than the Iowa Caucus, unable to open a pickle jar.  USELESSMAN, strange visitor from another century with powers and abilities far below those of other men.  And who, disguised as a short-tempered old man, fights a never-ending battle against getting lost, getting old and getting dressed.

Do you remember that whole Superman spiel?  Clark and Lois and Jimmy and Perry White?  I used to love it.  Hi there and welcome back.  I hope you’re feeling super yourself.  Did you have a nice Leap Day?  A February 29th, once every four years, always confuses me.  Am I supposed to take extra pills?  At least it gave me an extra day to write to you.  Guys out there, did you do something on Leap Day that you wouldn’t do any other day of the year – like exercise?  And Girls, did you do something different, like letting your Guy choose his own parking space at the restaurant?  Carol and I went to a movie on Leap Day.

ROTTEN OYSTERS:  The movie 1917 was about two soldiers’ quest to deliver a message to the front lines in WWI.  It was a well-done movie, but boring.  It reminded me of a video game my grandsons play – Call of Duty or something like that.  I was underwhelmed. 

Shout-out to Ellen, the Picky Apostrophe Princess, who criticizes my use of apostrophes.  Did I do it right in “two soldiers’ quest”?  Damn straight!  Hey, I don’t mind criticism.  It means you’re actually out there still reading.

Are you ready for Spring?  It’s March already and Spring is only a few weeks away.  March is Irish-American Heritage Month.  It is also Women’s History Month.  Plus, I believe it’s Jeffrey Dahmer Recipe Month.  His favorite was Leg of Sam.

I have a very good friend, Larry, who is absolutely the political opposite of me.  We get together every few months to sit for an hour and talk politics.  We never get angry; I love it.  But such friendly discussions are not always common, not in politics.  I have a friend in California.  She is single, a little younger than me, and told me she recently went on a dating web-site and entered her deal killers, the traits in a man that would turn her off.  I asked if she eliminated smokers?  That was second on her list.  Never been married?  That was fourth.  Serial killers?  That was third.  But you know what was first on her list of deal killers?  Conservatives!

Amazon has just opened a grocery store in Seattle with no checkers.  You swipe your phone when you walk in and, as you shop, the Amazon God scans everything that goes in your cart and charges it to your credit card or bank account or Apple Pay or Venmo or PayPal or Bitcoin or whatever it is that passes for money these days.  Then they immediately sell your list of purchases to every advertiser on the planet so that before you get home you have 20 emails from Charmin asking you why you bought Cottonelle.

That doesn’t bother me so much.  What bothers me is that all the checkers have lost their jobs.  I have two questions for you.  First, are you in that much of a damn hurry?  Get your life together and spend an extra two minutes checking out so that some hard-working mom or dad doesn’t get fired.  And second, do you truly feel Amazon needs to make more money?  My God, I’m beginning to sound like Bernie Sanders.  Pretty scary!  Besides, with no employees to help me, how am I going to tell a mandarin from a tangelo or find where they’ve hidden the unsalted matzos?

Tomorrow is National Dentist Day.  Really.  I made an appointment at 2:30. I always make my dentist appointments at that time.  You see, I used to have a Chinese dentist.  One day I called him up and said I had a pain in my mouth.  He said, “Ah, tooth hurtee?”  I said tooth hurtee would be a perfect time.  He has a sign in his office that says, MAY THE FLOSS BE WITH YOU.

ANOTHER ROTTEN OYSTERS:  I took my nine-year-old grandson to see Call of the Wild.  Wonderful!  Every nature-loving little boy like Austin and every old, wrinkled-up little boy like me should see it.  And if you are lucky enough to see it together – awesome!

For those of you who can divide by three, you may have noticed that this is Blog #156 which means I have been prattling* to you for three full years.  Congratulations to you for having the stomach and the perseverance to put up with me.  I’ve enjoyed the ride and hope we can do it together for many more years.  That means you have to stay well and count your blessings.  I’m sure counting mine.

WEEKLY WORD:  To prattle is to talk at length in a foolish manner.  Wow, that describes me as perfectly as egomaniac describes Donald Trump.  I’ll prattle some more next week (if they let me).

Michael                                             Send comments to:  mfox1746@gmail.com


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