songbird's crazy world

here it is, in full, one of the greatest Halloween-themed music videos of all time.

remember I told you about her here ? The story doesn't get better. she seems to be in control of herself these days. BUT she's totally clueless on the job.  two steps behind everyone else, and that's on her good days. part of the problem, I'm guessing, is that she's going through some major "stuff" with her 16 year old daughter -- the girl has been ill and there's a whole issue with school attendance. I don't think she'll be here much longer. it's sad....but it's frustrating to deal with her. I sit near her, so I'm the one she asks whenever she's got a question -- and her questions show that she's completely "out of it". sigh.

On any given day in NYC you're likely to see someone handing out "stuff". Up in times Square they hand out coupons for discounted admission to comedy clubs and Madame Tussaud's. Walk a few blocks and you'll find someone handing out menus for the local take-out restaurant. Walk a few blocks in the other direction and you'll be handed a postcard or flyer for something you don't want your kids to see. As I was walking into Penn Station the other day someone handed me free samples of a new Cream of Wheat flavor. And, of course, you're going to see lots of people handing out the free newspapers. There are two freebies here in NYC, Metro New York and AM New York . I'm not sure who publishes Metro , but I know that AM New York is published by Cablevision -- the same people who own Newsday . Both dailies follow the same marketing strategy -- handing out free copies, especially near subway and railroad stations, during themorning rush hour. ...

I don't do it very often ... but every now and then, when I have to travel between my office and corporate headquarters ... I will splurge on a ferry ride on New York Harbor. Sailing past the Statue of Liberty is always a treat. Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.4

My daughter Jen had no idea I used to be a courtroom attorney.  as far as she's concerned, mom works for an insurance company and always has.  she's wrong.  I was with a law firm before she was born, went to work for an insurance company when she was an infant.  and when she was 7 I went back to a law firm, spent 3 years there before coming back to an insurance company. on the other hand, Jen knows that my sister is an excellent trial attorney -- until recently she was an assistant district attorney in NYC. Jen and I are about to be sued over the auto accident she had last may.  I won't share the details, obviously, since this matter is going into litigation.  but I was stressing over it a bit. so my darling daughter told me I should talk to her aunt to get myself calm, since Aunt knows all about these things!

I work in Jersey City, on the west  bank of the Hudson River, directly across the river from the World Financial Center and Ground Zero. When I leave my office at the end of the day, I have to walk one block east to the river to catch the train back to NYC,  I generally leave work around 5, maybe a bit later, which means that at this time of year it's nearly sunset when I leave. It was raining when I left the office today.  But the sun was shining in the west, and it cast a glow on lower Manhattan. and a rainbow.

(cross posted at Midcentury Modern Moms ) Do your children agree with your political views? My political views lean to the left...I call myself a moderate Democrat with liberal leanings.  I must admit, my political leanings are very similar to those of my parents.  My mom was a committeewoman for our local Democratic Party back in the 70's, and my first political experience was stuffing envelopes at Democratic headquarters during the town council elections.  I participated in a number of political rallies in college -- my mother compared me to Barbra Streisand's character in The Way We Were -- took several courses in political science and served as an intern in state government. Jen does NOT share my love of politics.  Every once in awhile I will hear her say something that shows she's aligned with the rest of the family in her political thinking, but it's really not something that interests her.  Of course, she was majorly disappointed that her 18th birt...

My news first: My week had its ups and downs.  some days I couldn't eat all the points assigned to me, other days I went over by a lot -- thank goodness for the 35 weekly bonus points.  Walked over 5 miles at Making Strides, felt exhausted because I haven't done that much walking in awhile, but I calculated that I earned 11 activity points -- close to a week's worth!  bottom line -- I lost one pound.  Not great, but better than nothing at all.  As for the show:...My DVR is all backed up with 3 episodes of The Apprentice , two of Survivor and one of Biggest Loser .  It may be awhile, folks....

If it's November, it must be that I'm going to a concert with tickets that I won. Last year was Jimmy Buffett. This year I'll be seeing Smokey Robinson.

Now, you all know that I am a lawyer. I graduated from law school in 1984. spent 10 years of my life working at various litigation-based law firms, but found my niche working in-house at an insurance company. A number of years ago I was called for jury duty. No, lawyers are no longer exempt from service. Here in New York, you are very likely to serve jury duty without ever setting foot inside the courthouse. when you get your jury-duty summons, there are instructions on how to call in to see if you have to report to court. You generally serve on telephone standby for 2 weeks, and if you're not called to court during that time, you can consider your duty done. I was summoned to court on the very last day of my telephone standby. When I got to court I was made a part of a 25-member pool. The lawyers were to pick 6 jurors and two alternates from the pool for a civil trial. I knew they would never choose me. If I'd known one of the lawyers I would have been dismissed righ...

Once again I am called upon today to represent the Board of Trustees at my synagogue, to make the presentation to a young man on the occasion of his bar mitzvah. After the first time -- in which I was so unbelievably nervous -- I'm actually very comfortable standing in front of the congregation.  After the political upheaval we went through last year and the abuse the board members experienced when they spoke at meetings with the congregation, telling a young man he's wonderful and that his parents should be proud of him is a piece of cake.

It was such a simple thing, but it gave me such frustration. In the fall of 1992 or 1993, Dunkin' Donuts ran a promotion. If you made a purchase in the store you could buy a glass cookie jar shaped like a pumpkin for about $5. It wasn't a big deal, but I wanted one. there was a Dunkin' Donuts on Queens Blvd., across the street from our apartment. I'd stop in several times a week to buy coffee and a donut. And every time I went in, they had just run out of the jars. Finally, one afternoon ....I scored pay dirt. they actually had the jars in stock. Made my day. Made my month! Took the jar with me when we moved to Long Island, and took it with me when I moved back home with my parents. The lid broke when the kids were little. I was so upset, mostly because of all the trouble I'd gone to when I bought the jar. funny thing is, you can find that jar, or dozens like it, all over the internet these days. thought I'd go find one...

Funny, I wrote about mine last month - Fiddler on the Roof of course. So instead I'll write about another play I saw live. I was in junior high, probably 8th grade, when we had a field trip to the city to see a musical. We saw Shenandoah   with John Cullum.  It's a Civil War story, lots of tragedy amid the music and dancing.  What was really neat, though....after the show was over, Cullum came back onto the stage to talk to the school groups, to tell us about the theater and performing and to answer all our questions.  It was amazing!

(cross posted at Midcentury Modern Moms ) When you send a child off to college, to live in a dorm away from home, you expect that there will be issues.  Your child has to learn to take care of him or herself without your supervision, maybe do chores that you would have done at home, organize his/her time, learn to live with roommates, deal with homesickness, loneliness and all the stuff that just goes along with being 18.  the usual ups and downs, the stuff you've seen me blog about as my girls explore college life. You expect that your child will be safe at his/her school, that school security makes the campus a safe haven for students.  You expect that difficulties with roommates can be resovled, that the residential life staff can come to the aid of kids who are having difficulties adjusting to dorm life, that everyone will get along.  I guess that's why recent news stories sent shivers up my spine. A shooting spree at the University of Texas.  ...

So I went to my first Weight Watchers meeting. got on the  scale and almost cried, I'd gained back a significant amount of weight since last time I was a member.  Wish me luck as I try to take it off again. the show starts off like gangbusters -- there's a red line this week, the one person below the line will go home.    there's a temptation challenge -- cupcakes!  you have to find the prize by following clues.  the prize is a one-pound advantage, but if you save it, it grows by another pound each week.  Adam wins the challenge. and then come the regrets, some of the players who ate the cupcakes are upset with themselves. next is the celebrity chef with the low calorie dessert options. Curtis Stone makes low cal cupcakes. and then the scheming.  and the workout. and Elizabeth's drama over the asthma attack. and then the weigh in starts.  there's a red line and a yellow line.... I wasn't really focusing on the show at thi...

What a lovely day for a walk! didn't go last year -- the rain -- but here's my report from 2 years ago . it's important for me to go to this event, I am a survivor and the American Cancer Society was there for me when I was sick. this year was a bit different, I didn't have a daughter with me. this year's album is here . the beach was gorgeous. new roof on the water tower: registration tent Survivor's tent: the walk begins real men wear pink...fairy wings! a pink gorilla! and, of course, yours truly

My first blog post was October 17, 2008. Celebrated my first anniversary here . Can you believe I've been doing this for two years? I'm inviting you all to a cyber party.  Let's celebrate!

In the year 2000....some of my life was the same, some of it very different. I mean, I still live in the same place as I did 10 years ago, with all the same people....well, not entirely, I'm still with my parents and two of my sister, but my other sister now lives in an apartment and my children are away at college. 10 years ago -- it was the year Jen turned 10 and Becca turned 8, they were in elementary school, and very involved in Hebrew school and dance class and gymnastics and all of that sort of thing. Drew and I were very much estranged, and the girls had a whole different life with them on alternate weekends. I was still with a law firm then, still going to court, drafting briefs, etc.Loved the work, hated the hours, needed a change. made that change 2 years later, when I found the job I have now. two of the highlights of the year were the trips I took to Disney, in February I went with just the girls, and in August I took my three sisters as well as the kids. a...

In keeping with the NaBloPoMo theme....we had a little play time last summer at the Renaissance Faire. I FINALLY uploaded the photos. You can see the whole album here . A few highlights: Drew in the stockade: and shooting archery: there was lots of music: And dancing: Her Majesty the Queen: And Robin Hood: the Living Chess game: the Pickle vendor made us laugh: and the end of the day, the Joust:

My dad is a veteran of World War II.  He was drafted at age 18, did his basi training in Georgia and served in Italy at the tail end of the war. One of my dad'sArmy buddies was a guy named Manny.  they had a lot in common -- they were both from NYC (my dad from Brooklyn, Manny from the Bronx), they were both Jewish, and they had the same surname -- a fairly common Jewish surname. After the war, my dad began hanging out at Manny's house in the Bronx.  and met Manny's cousin, a girl who was about 7 years younger than Manny and my dad. That girl would be my mom some day.  But when my parents first met, they were just friends.  It wasn't until much much later that they began to date. Their first official date was at Yankee Stadium, they saw Joe DiMaggio play. and did I mention my dad is from Brooklyn?  A Dodger fan in enemy territory.  He must have really wanted to impress my mom....

(cross posted at Midcentury Modern Moms )  So both girls were home for Columbus Day weekend. When I say they were "home" I mean they used this house as a pit stop.  It was just like having them here all summer...they'd pop in for a few minutes on their way to somewhere else.  Though (for reasons I'll discuss later) Jen wound up staying home a bit longer... Let's start with Becca first. This was her first real visit home.  Yes, she was home for the first night of Rosh Hashanah, but she didn't stay overnight -- after dinner she went back to her dorm.  And she'd gone to dinner with me, and a week later had dinner with her father in the city.  But this was the first time "home", sleeping in her own bed, seeing her friends, etc.   You should have heard the comment she made about  "showering in my own bathroom for a change." Becca seems to have become a real Manhattanite.  She loves living in NYC, she's oh so comfortable taking ...

Usually I watch TV.  I have a "sleep" button on the remote, I can set the TV to play for an hour and then turn itself off. On a normal night Jay Leno is my bedtime companion.

Officially joined Weight Watchers but didn't go to the meeting because I was having a business lunch with counsel. The show: Begins with drama as Tina starts crying she wants to go home.  Lisa joins in,  Bob cures the drama with an intense workout.  then there's drama at the workout. Jilllian inspires the women to push harder. Tennis with Anna Kornikova.  then a pop challenge for immunity at this week's weigh-in.  Frado wins immunity. Followed by a surprise weigh-in.  Looks like the producers are trying to shake things up this season. Frado lost ...3 pounds?  good thing he's got immunity. Burgandy lost one pound.  She's in tears.  Tina lost 4 pounds.   Sophia lost 6  -- that's a big loss in comparison.  Ada lost 6.  Lisa lost 5.  Then the guys.  Aaron --7 pounds.  Great, but not as good as the double digits of last week.  Adam -- 12 pounds. Elizabeth is up next.  she needs to have...

Yes, we are most definitely planning a Disney vacation next summer. 

today's date is an interesting combination, isn't it?

I mean, one that you actually wear, not something that's been in there so long it doesn't remember what the light of day looks like. It occurred to me last spring that my favorite denim jacket was starting to look worn and frayed.  I mean, the "distresed denim" look is popular, but the jacket wasn't "distressed" when I bought it. I bought it at the underground mall  at the World Trade Center. In a store that went out of business at least two years before the towers fell. I bought a new denim jacket last week. 

Our favorite Japanese steakhouse. I wrote about the place last year. We went back last Saturday night -- the food is wonderful. I love the artistry of the food preparation, and the comedy of the chefs. What was really funny, though? Almost every table in the place was celebrating a birthday!  The staff will sing to you if it's your birthday, and bring a candle stuck in a sily-looking porcelain cat in lieu of a birthday cake.  (One table brought their own cake, and the staff was happy to serve it.) Seems that the restaurant offers a free meal to anyone celebrating a birthday.  You join the club, and when your birthday is near they'll send you a coupon.  guess that brings in a lot of business. We're going back in February ... didn't go last year because of the cruise, but this year....

(cross posted at Midcentury Modern Moms ) So I was chatting with Jen, and she mentioned that she's planning to come home for Columbus Day weekend.  that's pretty much what I expected; most students at her school leave town for Columbus Day. So I asked Becca when she plans to come home, and the response was "I don' tknow, I like it her." And it occurred to me that my duaghter is living on the island of Manhattan, an island I visit twice daily during my commute to and from work. So I asked her out to dinner. Now, until recently "going out to dinner with Becca" usually involved phrases like "Mom, can we go to Applebee's?"  But things are different now.  Becca is a college student and lives in an apartment on the Upper West Side.  it didn't feel like taking my daughter out for a bite to eat, it felt like making plans with a freind as we discussed which night was good and where we wanted to eat.    We wound up at Cafe Fiorello ...

My news first. Missed the registration meeting for weight watchers at work, but told the organizer I'll join and will be there next week. Now for the show. I was glad bob and Jillian were able to bring back two more contestants.  Last week's show was cruel. no teams, just individuals this time around.  no parents willing to throw themselves under the bus to give their kids a chance to stay on the ranch/ After the first workout they all meet with the doctor.  Lots of tears and fears and scare tactics. then the lesson in healthy eating, and back to working out. And then the sandwiches arrive.... OMG. and weigh-in so early in the game?   and the yellow line has moved.  half the contestants will be below the yellow line!  Everyone started their weight loss efforts at home before coming to the ranch, and everyone is doing well on the scale despite being so nervous.   So many got good results but wound up below the yellow line! and th...

Yes, I like to play! guess you kind of knew that already. I like to do things with an element of fantasy -- rhe Renaissance Faire, the circus, Monster Golf, the Bayville Scream Park.... and, of course -- DISNEY! to quote Captain Kirk: " The more complex the mind, the greater the need for the simplicity of play. "

remember last year ? we're doing it all again today. it is a shonde that in the richest country in the world so many people go hungry because they cannot afford to buy food.

Recipes are relatively easy, the food is very familiar and tasty.  Perfect gift for beginning cooks learning to feed themselves.  We have a copy of the book in the kitchen, and I downloaded a copy to my iTouch!

 Halloween is coming. Time to plan our next visit to: Bayville Scream Park Remember we went there last year ? Yeah, I'm just a big kid...