Schools' Out Forever

Alice Cooper hit the nail right on the head.

Tomorrow morning, at 8:30 (ish) a.m., I'll be hitting the road for Cape Cod. I have to stop in EnWhyCee to pick up my college roommate and oldest, OLDEST, dearest friend. Then we get to make the six hour trek out to the easternmost point in Massachusetts for a week of sun and fun!

I'm really looking forward to it.

Our hosts, the Baltimoreans (Baltimorons?) are heading up there today to make sure the house is aired out and that everything is in it's place, prior to the arrival of the Royal Principessas.

Last year we had a blast. The high point was the half day we spent aboard the Portuguese Princess on a whale-watching trip out into the ocean off Provincetown. We could've sworn that the whales had been trained. They came right up to the side of the ship and put on quite a show for us for the better part of an hour. They were magnificent beasts and clearly enjoyed showing off for the mammals on the boat.

I'm not sure we'll be able to top that this year, but we really go more for each other's company than for the "sightseeing", even though we do manage to get some of that done, too.

We're only going for a week this year, which is probably about the right amount of time for a vacation to Cape Cod. Don't get me wrong, I do like the place, but I have other places to visit and people to see this year.

A week from tomorrow I'll return my friend to New York and head on down to Jersey for the night. Next Sunday morning I'll get up and drive another 3 hours SOUTH to the Delaware shore to spend a few days with my sister and her family. They have a beach house in a very nice location, between the resort towns of Dewey Beach and Rehoboth.

After 3 days of that I'll head BACK to New Jersey for yet another night and then, finally, head out to the very easternmost point of the North Fork of Long Island to spend a few days in the weekend home of friends of mine from New York.

Ergo sum, this my final post for awhile. I may or may not squeeze one in a week from tomorrow or possibly on the following Wednesday, but there are no guarantees.

And feel free to shoot me if I ever complain about being unloved again.

Adios, Amigos & Amigas!

Bizarre Commute

I had a very bizarre evening. It all started when I ran into a waitress I've known for years on the downtown "E" train. She was on her way to work, I was on my way to the Port Authority Bus Terminal to catch a bus home for the evening.

I was glad to have been in the right place at the right time. Earlier in the day my friend had gotten a call from Paris (she's French) that her sister had died overnight. My friend was clearly devastated and was merely going to work because she didn't know what else to do. I'm a big proponent of "when in doubt, keep busy", so I was glad my friend was doing just that.

I make no secret of my belief that things "happen" for a reason. I think that I was meant to be there for her. I think she needed a friendly face, and I was more than happy to be that face. We were never bosom buddies, but I've always had a soft spot in my heart for her. She is so genuinely sweet, it would melt the coldest of hearts.

She got off at 50th Street and I stayed on until the train pulled in to 42nd Street. I got upstairs to my departure gate and, no sooner had I gotten in line when I saw my brother trundling up the ramp towards me.

He's my baby brother, but in many ways he's more of a man than I'll ever be (I'm sure he'd say the same about me). I told him to stick with me in our line so we could yak all the way home and that I'd give him a ride to his house from the Park and Ride where I abandon my Element every morning. It was nice to get some quality time with him. We yammered all the way down the turnpike, and during the drive home we promised each other that we'd fix each other's financial problems, should either of us win this week's "Mega-Millions" drawing.

My big plans for the evening included watching TWO episodes of Season Two of "Lost" (actually episodes 5 and 6 of the season). I watched one episode which was largely a flashback of Sun falling in love with the Korean hotel owner's son... only to find out that he was using her as a "cover" for his romance with some American woman he'd met in collge. I was on the verge of watching the next episode when the phone rang. It was my friend Dennis from Baltimore.

Dennis and I go back to the 12th century. Okay, 1971. He and his sigO, Patrick, my college roommate, the Kleen Kween, and I form the nucleus of a summer rental at the beach every year. For decades it was in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, last year and this coming July it'll be on Cape Cod, near Dennisport.

Dennis and I are great company for each other. When we both still smoked (but nobody was supposed to know that), we'd get up at the crack of dawn at the beach every day, put on a fresh pot of coffee and sit on the screened-in porch, overlooking the Atlantic, as the sun came up over the ocean; drinking coffee, smoking ciggies and yakking up a blue-streak about everything and everybody.

Patrick and Richard are real layabouts, never rising before the crack of 9:00 a.m. whereas Dennis and I would've made great bootcamp drill instructors, arising when it was still the dead of night.

The problem is, Dennis and I never know when to shut up. Last night was no exception. An hour after I answered the phone I told him I had to go to bed. And so I did.

Three distinctly different people "happened" into my path last night, each of them diverting me from my complacency.

It's said, in my 12-Step Program, that "if you want to make God laugh, tell Her your plans!"

Sometimes, truer words were never spoken.