It’s The Scary Love Story You Won’t Read

My mother says I am not allowed to drop dead on her watch and I told her not to worry because it would be a big surprise to me.

Two minutes later I tripped and almost smacked my head on the sink in the master bedroom. I took a look at myself in the mirror, glasses half off my face and some guy with some grey in his beard looking quizzically back at me.

And then I started laughing because it was so damn ridiculous. I looked around for the gremlin or elf that tripped me and turned on Gonna Fly Now and said “Let’s go!”

Dropped to the floor and started doing push ups and was attacked by the dog who couldn’t figure out whether to bark or jump on me. Tried to do one handed push ups while I fought him off but it didn’t work so well

Flipped back to some of the songs from here and wondered where I’ll be in five years.

Stared at the Macbook and thought about this post you are reading, you know, It’s The Scary Love Story You Won’t Read and laughed.

The basic framework is written so even if it isn’t placed elsewhere it is not like it is unknown. Life is a rush and you never know where it will take you.

Walked Off To Look For America

Given much of what is going on, recent decisions by SCOTUS and assorted other event it is fair to say many of us never expected to see such things.

Friends asked me a few years back if I had access to Canadian citizenship since my grandfather was born there.

None of us knew then that Jew haters would be running wild there, LA or New York. How bad is it in any of these places is a question I have heard multiple answers to.

I didn’t feel a moment of hesitation walking around LA and haven’t had any friends express concern about their safety. But I have heard celebrations of what happened at UCLA and comments about the incident in Pico-Robertson.

I have heard people ask who remembers Irv Rubin and the JDL and if I remember when he would join us in the schvitz at the gym.

What it says to me is that some people need to recognize the day of the shtetl Jew is over. It says to me there is more support for some of this than people might realize and they’d be well served if they adjusted the rhetoric and their behavior.

I have heard people celebrate Steve Bannon reporting to prison alongside Navarro and comments that give hope even during this time of uncertainty.

Figured I could offer some motivation to people of a certain age with a Rocky clip or two.

There are real challenges and real issues to be concerned about. Yet there is reason for hope and belief in a better future.

There is opportunity to continue to control our collective destiny and things that can be done. And if the pop culture references don’t move you I can give you Jewish tradition and thought to help motivate you.

לֹא עָלֶיךָ הַמְּלָאכָה לִגְמֹר וְלֹא אַתָּה בֶן חוֹרִין לְהִבָּטֵל מִמֶּנָּה

“It is not your duty to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.”

Why You’re An Acquired Taste

A while back someone offered a critique of my writing as being problematic for generating a larger readership. They sent me a note that said something like “why you’re an acquired taste and how I can fix you.”

In spite of what some people think I am not broken, at least no more than any other person.

Moreover it is fair to say there have been moments where I was frustrated that others had more readers because my writing is superior to theirs.

Moments where I have looked at their work and shook my head because some of it was cringe worthy. But they had more readers, more engagement and more crap.

So I had to decide if it bothered me enough to change or if I wanted to keep going as I have.

If you are new here I’ll take away the mystery and say I didn’t change or make any radical adjustments. Would I have done that if I got paid big bucks to do so?

Maybe, that is the truth.

There is a dollar amount that would have influenced things and if I could have made those adjustments and sustained them it might have continued.

However I am not easily bought and I like using this as a mind dump so the likelihood of big changes here was always small.

Does any of it matter?

Hell if I know, I am just an almost middle aged man who writes crazy stories.