First Posted 30 August 2007

To The Gym And Back

Current mood:creative

I walked my usual route to the gym, enjoying the waning days of summer, late August, unusually temperate. I looked to my left at the soccer field, only a handful of boys are out there today, they must be feeling the end of summer as well, their lackluster attempts at kicking the ball are only sending up little tufts of dust and sand, not the usual cloud I have seen over there before when a good game is going on. Up ahead there's a Mister Softeeice cream truck, right across the street from Fire Station No. 5. I can tell because I see the firemen waiting in line, ordering their cones. I'm a bit jealous, since I'm on my way to the gym, I can't stand right there with them and get a cone and ask for the secret number. After I pass, I hear the familiar sound of the Mister Softee jingle start up, and all at once I am walking, present day, through Ventnor Heights and simultaneously I am eight years old and in Bellmawr, running out the front door of my house with money in my hand, hoping to catch the ice cream truck before it passes by. It's a bit disconcerting, to be in two places at once.

The sounds of Mister Softee fade into the distance, along with my memories, as I make my way along the the mile stretch. The sun is beginning to set, laying just above thehorizon. As I approach the back bays, the smell hits me, full on. There's nothing like the smell of the back bays, it's not a smell anyone could ever call "enticing" but, strangely, I find myself taking big lungfuls of it, reveling in the earthy scent. It's akin to patchouli, although no where near as fragrant, at least, what would be considered pleasantly fragrant. Unless you're from around these parts, you can't fully appreciate the smell. To the shoobies, it hits them as the come off theexpressway, or the pikes, and they collectively "peeyou" the smell. To a native of the island, it's the smell of home. That fetid swamp smell of countless years of rotting vegetation and animal matter, baking under the sun at low tide, that lets us know we are back home, back to the sand and sea. Honestly, it's a lot like patchouli, earthy, spicy, real.

The gym was busy with the usual suspects. I get in and start my workout, feeling sore and pathetic since this is my second time here this week and it's going to take some time to get back to where I was before I fell into my depression. As I begin to work out, I start to feel better, almost right away. I pushed myself on several of the machines, almost matching the weight I used to lift with relative ease. I know, through many a sore day-after, not to get too crazy. I watch myself in the mirror and I am happy with what I see. I am determined again. That's good. That's real good.

I finished up, I did a full body routine, two different exercises for each major body part and then made my way back home. It's now just the other end of dusk, that hair's breadth away from being true night. I wander past the familiar houses, peeking in on occasion at the lives of others. A new baby here, a sports game party going on there. I talk to the dogs that no longer bark at me when I walk by, they know I am no threat. It's comforting. I made my way over the bridge to the city proper, watching the bartender from the bridge at the Wonder Bar, wondering how much money he's making, since there's a boat pulling up to the dock and the bar is packed. I'm jealous. I look away.

Home, I make my protein shake and then open a cold can of tuna and squeeze a whole lemon over it. That and a salad are my dinner. It's very good, believe it or not.

Time to watch some telly, then talk myself out of going out tonight. I should go out, I was invited to go to the Borgata, it's good for business but, it's bad for me right now. Very bad. I am feeling better and better as the hours go by, I don't want to ruin my efforts.

By the way, two weeks from today, Miss Tene is on Maury, and she ROCKED THE FUCKING HOUSE! We chatted on my walk home. I can't wait to see this.

First Posted 14 August 2007

Yes...It’s A Survey...Get Over It! (reposted from the Cafe)

Current mood:contemplative

1 What's your favorite movie???

When I first saw "Star Wars IV: A New Hope" (although at the time, it was simply "Star Wars"), I was blown away. There was nothing, simply nothing, like it. Starting from the very beginning, the 20th Century Fox movie logo and music, I had never heard the entire thing before, and I knew that something was different about this movie, right from the start. It had everything, action, adventure, a love story, 'droids, space battles, DARTH VADER! I was one of thosegeeks that saw it over a hundred times in the theatre and still, STILL watch it several times a year. It was a seminal moment in movie history, something that's hard to explain to people who weren't there at the time, that nothing like this existed until that movie came out, that it changed everything about the movie experience. It was something that you didn't expect, had no reason to expect to see, and it blew my mind.

2 What's your favorite color???

Green, it's lush, inviting, and the colour of money (and the Cafe!).

3 What's your favorite ice cream flavor???

Vanilla Bean, if I am in a minimalist mood. It's classic, tasty and just right.

Butter Pecan if I am feeling a bit tasty but, only from Kohr Brothers on the boardwalk. They make it right there and it's to die for.

Ben & Jerry's Two Twisted when I am feeling decadent. It's chocolate with brownies and vanilla with cookie dough. Yummy!

4 Where do you want to go on vacation??

Anywhere, anywhere, but Atlantic City! I am so over this island right now, I want to sink it like Atlantis. Hopefully, I can get my sainted Mother to accept my request and come visit her either at her home in the Philadelphia suburbs or up in the Pocono mountains.

5 What's your favorite animal???

House cats. They have it made. Actually, I do like the big cats, they fascinate me to no end when I go to the zoo. I love their raw power, their wild lethalness. Their roar that makes me quake in my boots! I think they are so beautiful and so deadly, often a very desirable combination in any species.

6 What's your favorite T.V. show???

Depends. For comedy, I can't get enough of Absolutely Fabulous. It's decadent, dry, ribald, over-the-top, physical humour, witty, evil and insane. It's my life, actually.

I still like STAR TREK in all it's forms on the Spike Channel.

7 What's your fav. drink???

Ketel One vodka dirty martini, up, with three olives.

8 What's your favorite flower???

Daisies. I want them growing all over my grave when I am dead. No, not because I want to literally be "pushing up daisies", I just love them and I want people to see something so simple and beautiful when they come visit my little eternal corner of this earth.

9 What's your favorite pet???

Housecat. They are like living furniture. Walking meatloaf. Easy to care for and easy to love. When they want love, that is. Although, I would love, Love, LOVE an English bulldog if they would only contact me and tell me one is available so I could love it, give it a great home, and spoil the living hell out of it!

10 What's your favorite book???

I have several for different reasons:

"The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" J. R. R. Tolkien I read these when I was around twelve or thirteen and they were life altering. I have read the entire series every year since and I still find things in there that surprise me.

"Dune" by Frank Herbert One of the most interesting, provocative series of books I have ever read. It's science fiction, concerning the far, far future of humanity but, it's so inventive, so detailed, lush and historical, much like the LOTR series. The characters are so realistic, so intertwined. I love this series.

"Interview With The Vampire" by Anne Rice My mother gave me this book and told me to read it. It is still one of my all time most favourite books I have ever read. I cry every time I read it. Those who have read it know why. The character of Claudia still haunts me. And when Louis is made a vampire, I don't care what sexuality you are, it's the hottest written porn I have ever read. I dare you to read it and not need a cigarette afterwards! Never has a death scene (and that's what it truly is) been so damn erotic!

"Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak Ask my mother about this book and how the librarian at Bellmawr Park Elementary School would have to ask her to get me to return it all the time. This is my all-time most favourite book, ever. They are making a movie out if it. I think that's heresy.

I want to say again that I thank my mother for my love of reading. I shall never forget sitting outside of Thrift Drug at the Audubon shopping centre (an outdoor mall that had Korvettes as it's anchor store), waiting for my mom to do whatever she was doing in there. Probably getting medicine for me, if I was with her. She came out and handed me a little plastic rectangle with a tassle on the end and a little bookworm image inside the laminate. I asked her what it was. She said, "It's a bookmarker. I want you to find a use for it."

I have.

Thank you, Mom, it was one of the best gifts anyone could ever give! That little piece of plastic from a now-defunct drug store opened so many worlds for me. It's treasure is beyond any measuring. Thank you, again