Old age

I am not hung up on this old age thing, but I have to admit that I am old. As much as I don't want to believe it, I am old! There are symptoms that I did not have when I was younger but now, they are here, and analyzing them I came to the conclusions that they are caused by old age. Some appear occasionally, some are part of everyday life. Also, some things that were easy to do are now becoming more and more difficult, like bending down. Actually it is not the bending down it is the straightening back up that is difficult.

And that brings up an interesting question. A question that might be controversial, morally wrong or it could be right. Here it is: at this age should we run to the doctors with every unusual, uncomfortable feeling or just bear them, acknowledge them and put them aside with the self explanation that this is it, these things come with age. Why waste time and money on doctors when really there is no help?

Hate to bring up the old car parallel. Keep trying to fix the old machinery even when there is no more fix. It is very hard to admit that the end of the road is not far. Doctors generally will not agree with this scenario. They will attempt to correct whatever ails us, they will never say "why bother at this age" even if they think it. The problem is that they never look at the big picture.

It feels like swimming against the tide. It is a losing battle. Only question is how long the battle will last. Not the best feeling in the world not being able to make long range plans or as a matter of fact even short range plans.

I am not being pessimistic just being realistic. I am aware of my abilities, capabilities. Even if my brain thinks I can do certain things, my body will respond like: ho, not so fast buddy! This is not the best way to live to say the least.

Every day there are some deaths in the news and most of those arehbm in the upper 80s. Very scary, believe me. I do believe that even with the help of a cane I can walk. Occasionally we do go on longer walks and I would be lying if I said they are easy, but I do them. Recently I went to a gym with my wife. I think three times so far.

It is disheartening to experience that some things I used to do I am not able to perform now. The most difficult thing to admit is old age. Chronological age is not necessarily the mental age. Some people feel very old at 75 while some still feel young at 85 (or 87!). But reality is, that we can not cheat time. We can fool ourselves but can not fool time.

Life now is a hide and seek game. We are not able to tell what hides behind the next corner!

The ancient Egyptian sphinx asked: What goes on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening? The answer? Man, who crawls as a baby, walks on two legs as an adult, and uses a walking stick in his twilight years.

 

New Technology

The world is going crazier and crazier as time goes by. This telecommunication craze is becoming a serious sickness. People are getting hooked on their telephones in mostly ridiculous ways. This dependance is creating very dangerous situations.

Drivers are messaging while driving or just staying longer than necessary at green lights because they are pushing the buttons. Pedestrians walking on the streets, crossing intersections without taking their eyes off their phones. And when an accident happens, they are the upset ones.

Why is it necessary that we immediately respond to every message we receive? Why these responses can not wait. I am sure that most of the messaging are not business related but social. Will our friends be insulted if we do not respond right away?

How did life go years ago pre-cell phone? Back in the "stone age" people used the traditional telephones from home or office to call and back then life went ahead just as well.

I am sure I mentioned this before but here it is again: in Honolulu it is a violation to cross a street while looking at a cell phone. Police will issue a summons for it. Why other cities do not follow this? One night we took Robin out for his usual walk. Abigail and I went out. We circled our city block. Abigail had her phone in her hand and throughout the entire walk she did not look up once to see where she was going. All throughout she was sending and receiving. Now I am sure this was social an dnot business.

The other morning my wife took me to her gym. While I was on the treadmill, a gym employee was going around to clean the equipments. I was watching him. In the course of five minutes, he took out his phone from his pocket at least three times and looked at it if there were any messages. Now I am sure these were not business related messages.

Now what really throws me is that I can be on the street at 3am and I am sure I will see somebody having a conversation on the telephone. Who else is up at that ungodly hour? This just proves that this world is full of crazy people.

Ok, so I am old and as they say I am behind times. I accept that but please agree with me that what goes on is just plain idiotic. Not just through my eyes but through every intelligent person.

Water, water everywhere but not here

I live on a fairly wide street with normal traffic. Three lanes each way including one for parking. Including regular traffic is a scheduled city bus line. Addition to this there is a hospital behind us and ambulances go there day and night, right font of our windows.

I don't know how many water and gas lines run under our street but ever since we lived here which is about six or seven years now there are constant work being done with these lines. Not always front of us but somewhere along this street.

They dig up, replace some pipes, fill back, fix the pavement then for sure within six months it is being cut up and work begins again. That is not so bad, the problem comes when they shut of the main water line, and we are here without any water. This already happened a few times. Sometimes during the night but mostly at day times.

To make this work more interesting, they placed their portable toilet right outside our window. The whiff of this thing slowly waved its way through the air towards us. How inconsiderate and stupid these people must be not to think that a toilet should not be placed under anybody's window?

For people who go off to work this is not an issue but us, old folks who are stuck at home it is not the best scenario. That is what happening right now. The are digging up the street in several blocks, replacing some humongous water pipe and in the process shutting off the water. Our water was turned off on Saturday between 8am and 3:30pm. Uncomfortable, to say the least.

Because work was not completed there was another day without water. More nuisance.

Later on it turned out that our building's connection to the newly installed water main was a bad fit so there was another day when the landlord needed to have a new pipe installed. That meant another day without water.

On such days we were sitting in the house, doing nothing, relaxing. I was afraid to drink anything because can't even use the toilet. No water to flush.

This city is crumbling at its bases. The bridges are rusting away, the roads are cracking and barely staying up, the subway system is ancient and barely operational. The infrastructure is a disaster. And at the same time the leadership is syphoning off more and more of our monies under the pretense that it will be used for upgrading. What a lie!

This is the American way. Good country America!

9-11

Today is the 22nd anniversary of the 9-11 events. It is not a not a national holiday, but it is a day of remembrance. There is nothing wrong with it but what is wrong is how this is being conducted. I am a 9-11 survivor. I was there and I ran for dear life. God was looking after me and I survived while 13 of my co-workers perished.

As a survivor I give myself the right to comment and criticize these events. First I have to remark that whatever organization there is representing the survivors is not representing me as well as any other survivor that I know. So, who are they representing?

I agree that this thing should not be forgotten. But the hullaballoo that goes with the event should be stopped. It is enough, it is embarrassing. Right at the start they are embarrassing the politicians by inviting them. These are invitations that can not be refused even though the majority of  vip's would rather stay away. 

Reading the names of all who perished is distasteful. Some people are not able to pronounce the names correctly and that is insulting to the victim and family. They put young kids up there to read the names who are unable to pronounce them correctly. Also, these kids were not even alive when September 11 happened. They are nieces and nephews who never met their aunts and uncles yet, they make speeches about the cherished memories and how much they love those.

They should not provide platforms for these family members to make speeches about their lost family members. It is just not correct!                                                                                  Yes, the memory of the events should be kept alive but just the same way as Holocaust Memorial Day. A day with quiet contemplation. Don't force it on me what happened. I know, I was there. I don't force my stories on other people. As a matter of fact, I don't talk about it even if I am asked.

There is a memorial and there is a museum, there is a race (Tunnel to the Tower) for these memories. Our senile president chose to be in India and Vietnam rather than being at the 9-11 memorial (there was no money to be made here). In his stead his second in command, laughing Kamala was here. Big deal! She was standing next to chipmunk face governor Hochul. They deserve each other, all I can say. The leader of the senate majority, Schumer was also there. He really looked bored. He didn't know what to do with himself. Put his hands in his pants pockets then took them out, then back again.

Unfortunately, the anniversary of this tragic event is also used by unscrupulous politicians to advance their careers. Florida governor DeSantis was at the World Trade Center site this morning. As far as I know he never ever attended this even but now this will look good on his resume. How phony can one get?

All these politicians also wish they could be somewhere else but are afraid to reject an invitation. I wonder how long these meaningless events will go on.

Summer past

Labor Day is gone, Summer is over. The Fashion Police will arrest anybody who wears white, sockless shoes are a no-no, and bright summery colors are also out.

This was a very tumultuous summer. At least for me. Yes, it went fast but till there was enough time within to make sure it kept (at least) me busy. And, busy is not one of my favorite words.

My wife has a sister who lives in Hungary. They only see each other whenever my wife visits there. Even though they communicate frequently on the phone, face to face meets is rare. She has never been here before, and this Summer was the one she and her son decided to come.

As it can be imagined we prepared with excitement and anxiety. How will they like this environment, how will they like the food, how will the weather behave, how will we get along in closed quarters? And many more questions that gave reasons for anxiety.

There is family in Florida including my wife's granddaughter. This family visit included a lightning fast trip down south to visit them.

While in New York my sister-in-law was taken to see a Broadway musical, they also visited Times Square, on a beautiful and hot summer day we took the Staten Island Ferry back and forth, one day we also went to the beach. So, I think we were good hosts. 

At the end, time flew by fast and the time for departure arrived. Took them to the airport, kissed them goodby, and that was it.

A couple of weeks later, Abigail took off with her significant other for a one week trip to St. Maarten. This was her first such trip without the family and understandably she was a little apprehensive. So were we. Fortunately, the trip turned out good, they had a great time and are looking forward to the next one. Maybe Hawaii or Las Vegas?

While she was away, my wife and I, and Robin enjoyed the peace and quiet at home. For Abigail college will soon start. This will be her last semester and understandably she is pretty nervous. It looks like she will continue with her studies for an advanced degree. Good for her. I guess and hope eventually she plans to work and earn some money!

One of my highlights for the summer was to visit my friend/brother/friend and his wife on their 60th wedding (diamond) anniversary. We had a great time. Actually I was his best man at his weeding all those many years ago. The nice thing about this get-together was that I met his son and one of his three grandsons. Both guys are very lovely people, and I was very happy for the chance to spend quality time with them.

It is a shame that they all live so far away. It is not the distance, it is the terrible traffic getting out of and back to New York.

Arrest

Last night I was watching Trump's booking on tv. It was stomach turning and ridiculous at the same time. This was a Democratic (Pelosi, Schumer) orchestrated tragedy. Ancient Greek tragedies don't come near to what these people are attempting to do.

There is this two-bit little district attorney who is eagerly trying to get her five minutes of fame. I got news for her, in five years nobody will remember her. But I give her credit for one thing. She is a good dancer. She dances very weel to the tunes of Pelosi/Schumer.

They cheated and lied during the 2020 elections. They stole the votes to make sure their candidate would come out as the winner. Now, when people are questioning it they started a campaign of false accusations and lawsuits. Even if it involves a previously democratically elected president.

They do not care if in the progress they make the country the laughingstock of the world. This hick in the Peach State dances to their choreography in the hope of becoming famous. Their story was that Trump will be treated as any other person who gets arrested. Very funny.

He arrived with a police motorcycle escort and with a motorcade of about 15 cars. What "any other person" arrives like this? Their other lame excuse was that mugshots were needed for identification purposes.

Donald Trump was the 45th president of this, and their country. There are more photographs of him than any of these beer bellied Georgia hicks. They just did it to embarrass him and everybody else who is on his side.

But with God's help he will prevail and show the world that he was a good president and that will be again.

 

 

Trump

It is disgusting and totally anti-American what they are doing with Donald Trump. The Democratic Party led conspiracy is making this country not better than any African or Asian country that are ruled by despots. It is their mode of governing to exorcise their former oppositions either on drummed up charges or just get rid of them.

That is exactly what the Democratic Party is doing. If it is Nancy Pelosi's doing or Biden's doing is immaterial. They find willing participants who are looking for their 15 minutes of fame. They are given the choreography and the dance begins.

And that is exactly what is happening in Georgia today. They found a two-bit district attorney who has no principles and who is looking for her short lived limelight. The democrats are foaming in the mouth in their efforts to stop or hinder Trumps' effort toward the presidency.

The funny thing is that the more they do to stop him more his popularity increases. Georgia already screwed up the previous election. Now they will have another opportunity to do it again. It seems that they are not concerned with the fact that acts like this makes America the laughingstock of the world. We already are with our dementia ridden president, but this will just make it worst.

All the scandals that are surrounding the First Family are continuously being swept under the rug. They can cheat and lie without any remorse. But the previous president under whose administration the economy was healthy, under whose administration there was no unemployment, under whose administration illegals were not overtaking our cities and under whose administration there were no wars is becoming public enemy number one.

People with logic should just think about the quagmire we are in.

I frequently travel to Florida by car, driving through the Peach State. As far as I am concerned it si only good for the toilet pit stops! By its recent act they became the septic tank of this country