Day 81 - The Best of Times....

I can honestly and unabashedly say that today was one of the best days I have had in a very long time and now that it's drawing to a close, I want another one like it. For just a little while, I got to take a step back into the past, reconnect with some old friends, listen to some of the best tunes ever written and pretend for just a little while that the last twenty years hadn't flown by in a blur.

I'm sitting here trying to figure out exactly what I want to say, because many of the events of the day were spectacularly mundane. We had a good staff meeting followed by me helping the bunch of guys with some computer stuff. I actually started getting all excited and left mid-morning to do the time-warp (as it were). With many others, I helped celebrate FM-90's 35th birthday.

I saw so many friends from the past and so many more I missed, who came to the all day event at different times. It was amazing because this little thing called "radio" ties us all together into this warped bundle of a family. There were a few who are no longer with us and we took a moment to remember them - because again, they were family. The first time I was ever pants'd reading live copy was by SuperDave, rest his soul. (One in a long list of ongoing pranks, I promise you that...)

The world of radio has changed dramatically in the past twenty years. Corporations have come in and bought up almost all of the smaller stations around the country. These conglomerates are formulatic and the things we used to get away with would no longer be tolerated. (Of course there were more than a few that really weren't tolerated then... but that's another story.) I remembered today how much I loved being a DJ and am seriously contemplating doing one more tour at the Mighty 90 just to see how much the technology has changed and to see if you really can go home again, but I have always felt that behind the mic was home. I'm sure there will be a lot more thought before I make a decision.

However great technology is, I dare any of the kids today to put together an entire radio program with a reel to reel, grease pencil, razor blade and splice board. Or to have to cue up vinyl records and pray it wouldn't skip - or to always keep 42 cents on hand because of skippage... I could go on, but these kids today really do have it easy.

In honor of FM-90's 35th Birthday, I got my choice of song - any song. It only took about a minute and a half to realize the Cult would be the only thing that fit. Enjoy...

Day 80 - Old People on their Birthdays

Today is my mother's 77th birthday. I'm pretty sure she would be a little unhappy with me for sharing her age with the universe, but I like to think 77 is quite the achievement. Mother actually gave up on life a long time ago and trudges through each day, which is really no different than the last. I think for her the process of living was just too hard. So her birthday is a day my sister and I "celebrate" and I think she actually mourns.

Tomorrow would have been my dad's birthday. He would have been 93 tomorrow, but he decided to stop when he was 91. I think dad was actually at the point where he lived as much as he had wanted to and after a life-time of adventures, taking care of families, running businesses and all the things life has to offer, he just decided he was done.

The difference between my mother and my father's ways of life are so different that it's hard to believe they were together for as long as they were. For over twenty years, mom has just "gotten by." She doesn't want the change or really any part of learning anything new or experiencing anything different or exciting. She is not the woman I remember from my childhood. My dad actually made it a point to learn something new every day, to try something new every day and to live life the best he knew how. His basic personality / character never changed and I like to think I take after him.

So... today I shall wax a little philosophical and remember both of my parents - "the old people" - on their birthdays.

Day 78 - Oreos and Carmel by the Sea

There are very few things in life that can improve the outlook on my day quicker than an Oreo cookie. Two chocolaty crispy delicious cookies surrounding a yummy creamy filling. Mmmmm good. I say this because I consumed a snack pack (6) of these cookies this afternoon. I didn't have time to pack a more nutritious snacks in my lunch bag and the desperate need for something with a quantity of sugar rivaling that of Mt. St. Helen's was important to keeping my job lest I fall asleep at my desk.

I believe the exhaustion I've been experiencing lately could very well be cured with a vacation.

I would like to requisition a few weeks of solitude at Carmel-By-The-Sea. I have a few places that I absolutely love to go and don't get to spend nearly enough time there. New York City tops the list, but number 2 is undoubtedly Carmel.

Carmel offers a lot of things to do that aren't necessarily hustle and bustle, but a truly relaxing time. Wine tastings, the many artist studios and galleries, the Carmel Roasting Company (excellent coffee), and shopping that doesn't include an outlet mall feel - real boutiques with amazing clothes, art, jewelry, hand-blown glass and more.

Sidenote: A quaint place to eat lunch is a little place called The Tuckbox. I had the BEST (and I do mean...) THE BEST Welsh Rarebit at the Tuckbox. (And now I'm getting hungry.) I haven't been back since 2007 and the food or the service may have changed since then, but the atmosphere is "English Quaint" and I was very pleased with the food. (Vacations are really about the food for me.) Finding Welsh Rarebit on the West Coast was quite the treat. Maybe that should be the mission - devote where we go on vacation by what is served? If that's the case and I want some Welsh Rarebit, there's a place in Brooklyn Heights - Brooklyn, NY that serves it called the Chip Shop...
129 Atlantic Avenue
At Henry St
Brooklyn, NY 11201
(718) 855-7775
I may have to try that out next time I'm up there... which I hope is really, really soon... after I gain some solitude and decompression from the hustles and bustles of life.

More later...