Well it's here

Finally, a little relief here in Florida. When I wrote about the month of September being the month of endings I spoke of that coming morning when you would go out to leave for work and you would feel the temperature change in the air as summer started to fade. Well, this morning of the 30Th was our first morning of feeling a difference in the air. Not cool by any means but comfortable. No humidity. That first reminder that falls a coming. I also stand corrected about the mention of daylight savings taking place near the end of the month. I forgot that congress changed all that up a couple years ago to give us a few more weeks before the blues and depression would set in. Tomorrow's October 1st. Let the fall weather begin!

Old sckool video pick of the week (Kiss-Sure Know Something)

Growing up as a kid of the 70s it was hard to not like Kiss. Almost everyone I knew loved them. I certainly did. We could debate for hours about which band member was the best. Gene the demon (my favorite). Ace the spaceman. Peter the cat (which I never really understood, why a cat?). Or lead singer Paul the star. You could join the Kiss army for around 10 bucks a year and become a card carrying member. There were make-up kits you could buy that would transform you into your hero. Anything Kiss related flew off the shelves. It was tough for me though because my mother HATED Kiss and would not allow me to have any of their posters up, I couldn't have any of their records. Well that was like the forbidden fruit. I would sneak magazines into the house about them. I made cassette recordings of their songs from my friends albums. I HAD to have my KISS fix. I still to this day swear Beth was one of the greatest songs ever recorded. My video pick of the week is Sure Know Something from the album Dynasty. Enjoy!

September

If I had to pick the month I dislike the most it would have to be September. For me September is the month of endings. The closer month. As a kid I always dreaded the thought of September because you knew labor day was coming soon after September 1st and that meant the end of summer or more importantly, the end of summer vacation. Remember leaving school on your last day of the school year thinking "Wow, two and a half glorious months of no school"! September was sooo far away you couldn't even think about it. Well no matter what it always arrived. Summer vacation would end. A new school year would start. Classes always got tougher. Work loads got heavier. For most of the month I tried to adjust. Back to a schedule, back to having homework, back to taking orders from some teacher that you really didn't like and everyone laughed at when they were out of earshot or while their back was turned while they wrote on the blackboard. Ah September, the cruelest month of the year. Now as a adult I really don't like it any better. I know summer is on its last leg. Starting to get winded. Starting to loosen it's grip just a little at a time until you go out one morning to leave for work and you think "Brrr, its a little chilly". Even the plants you had so painstakingly taken care over the summer by watering, pruning, fertilizing and tending to are getting tired. Flowers start to fade, leaves losing that dark green color and being replaced with brown withering leafs. If plants could talk they would be saying "I'm so tired, I just want to sleep now. Ive given you beauty and color all summer but I'm just too tired to continue". Trees, the kings and queens of the botanical world, give us one more glimpse of their awe and splendor through their leafs before dropping them to the ground as the trees say goodnight. See ya next year. As the month continues the days start to shorten and your internal clock starts to take notice that something is going on here. Then just as your depression starts to deepen that cursed thing known as daylight savings time happens. Fall back. That's when everything goes haywire. Your body is thrown into absolute turmoil as you try to adjust to the new time patterns. Suddenly we are lethargic all the time. We finish every sentence with a yawn. Our outlooks become grim. Suddenly, we are no longer optimist, we became pessimists almost over night. The kids get cranky. The pets no longer want to play like before. We drive home from work in the dark. We have dinner and think "Gosh, it must be 10:00 o'clock". Then we look and it's only 6:30. Quick, light meals become replaced with heavy carbs and starchy "comfort" foods. Comfort cause that's about the only thing we can derive any comfort from. Stews, casseroles, meats and potatoes replace the foods we just finished enjoying over the summer. It's the end of summer. Winter's right around the corner hiding, awaiting its turn. He can't wait to make us suffer and curse him and his frigidness. That's the sadness of September. Summer is still fresh on our minds but we know we are in the month of endings.

The Stranger (or was he)?

I was in the store the other day doing some shopping and this guy comes up to me and says's, "Don't I know you from somewhere"? I, not recognizing this guy but not wanting to be rude said " I don't know". Well, the guy was pretty insistent with me. "I know you from somewhere, I just can't put my finger on it". "Your name is Bob or Mike or something like that, right?" No, I answered. Not even close. "Are you sure you know me" I asked the guy. " Yeah" the guy says. "We used to work together or something". I started studying this guys features and got to thinking, gosh, maybe he does know me. Nothing about the guy was ringing any bells with me. Did I meet him one night at a party I thought to myself? Was I introduced once to this guy someplace and he had a better memory then I did? He was dressed a little to nicely to be doing some grocery shopping I thought to myself. He sported what looked to be a Italian silk smoking jacket. Under that was a cotton dress shirt that had been neatly pressed before putting on. Sensible pants with slip-on loafers on his feet. Could I have met this guy at a social function of some sorts? Was he a banking officer somewhere where I had once applied for a loan. By now I had started to get a little uncomfortable. I'm such a idiot I thought to myself. With my mind racing I glanced down to see what he had in his shopping cart. Things I would never buy nor would anyone else that I knew. He had a bag of pre-rinsed organic field greens picked in the mountains of Tibet by young gregorian chanting monks in training trying to raise money to pay for their continued enlightenment. There was a bottle of sauvignon blanc wine shipped from the napa valley. A box of frozen vegan patties that had a picture of a cow crying tears of joy while thanking the buyer for saving his life. A loaf of gluten free wheat and oat bread made by artisan bakers baked in clay ovens from the old world that had a slogan that said Man CAN live on OUR bread alone. Some tofu and beansprouts to make some sandwiches. A block of cheese made from the milk of the yemen mountain goat, made by the master cheese makers of Yemen who had been making cheese for centuries. As I quickly looked up I noticed the gentleman had been looking at the contents of my cart as well. A bag of pre-rinsed Dole iceberg lettuce. A six pack of Old Milwaukee. A box of frozen beef patties that had a picture of a cow crying as he was being led away by a couple stern looking guys while the cow's family watches and also is crying. A loaf of white wonder bread. A pack of Oscar Mayer baloney to make some sandwiches. A tub of helluva good cheese spread. He too quickly looked up and studied me once again. "You know, I might have you mistaken for someone else" he said to me. "Yeah, I think you did" was my answer to him. "If you would excuse me then" he said. Sure I answered. "Have a good day friend" I said as I turned and continued my shopping.