Random Musings about This and That

This post has been a struggle to write. It may be that it is so late that my brain is not functioning at optimal speed. Of course that assumes that it was not removed from my head and cleverly substituted with a potato.

I like the dead of night. I like the quiet moments like this when the world is more silent and there is a quiet stillness around me. I think about life and consider the past, present and future.

Today I ran into two people from my past. We stopped to make small talk and caught up. I cannot say that I was friends with either of them, but I was close with people that they were close with and that gave us all a certain bond and understanding.

I wonder if they know as much about me as I do about them, not that it really matters because the stories I know are from the early '90s and that is almost ancient history.

Today I watched my daughter fall off of the couch. It was like bad sitcom. I saw it happening, yelled "no" and tried to reach her before she went face first. Forty pounds of jealous sibling strove to prevent me from getting to her and she slipped down just out of my grasp.

The big boy is having a hard time with his little sister. She walks everywhere, climbs, gets into his stuff constantly, follows him around and just adores him. Most of the time he is very protective and loving, but there are moments like this evening when he demands your undivided attention.

She was ok. She is tough. She is a little sister and he doesn't recognize that his actions make her tougher. She will love him and follow him unconditionally and one day when he goes to take a toy away from her he will find that the little one is far tougher then he reasoned and a new day will dawn.

I know because I have three younger sisters. The youngest, the baby is pregnant. She is 31, but she is still my baby sister.

We recently went to dinner and she complained that I was acting like the Secret Service. I cleared space around her so that she wouldn't be bumped and prodded. I told her to relax and accept my help because it wasn't something that she could stop even if she wanted to. Our father programmed this protective gene and set it in motion when her older sister was born 34 years ago. I can't not watch out for them, it is a part of me.

I suspect that she likes it much more now then when she was a teenager, they all do. I am bigger than all of my brothers-in-law and I have been looking out for the all of them far longer. I told the youngest that she should get used to this because I was out of practice and preparing for my daughter's entry into school.

The boys at Toner Mishap are threatening to shut things down. I was disappointed to read about this. I don't like saying goodbye, so I usually opt for "see you later."

Had another conversation with a few people about why life is tough and I came back to the same place. Life is a struggle, but much of it depends on whether you view that struggle in a positive or negative sense. Do you act or react to the world around you.

This time ten years ago I was most likely hanging out at the pool at my apartment complex. My neighbors would have supplied copious amounts of alcohol and dependent upon the weather we might be floating on a raft or heading up stairs to watch a movie.

Some of those people still do that on a regular basis. Of course they are all still single and living in a ratty apartment building. I wonder if at some point they will grow tired of that life.

One day I am going to have to tell the story about the couple that lived next to me and the neighbors below. As a teaser I'll offer this. The people next to me had sex like it was the end of the world. The neighbor below was sure that it was me and constantly complained to the manager about it. She even tried to screw up my dating life by telling my dates that I was constantly having sex with different women. It wasn't true, but I have to say that she inadvertently helped me out a few times as some of the dates became more interested, but that is a different story.

My son told me that he wants to wear sunglasses to shul so that he can be a "cool dude." A "cool dude," where did he pick that term up.

Flipping over to women for a moment I have a question. I am watching The Apprentice and cannot help but ask what is it about the women's teams that come through this show and others. Talk about catty and bitchy towards each other. Is it just me or do they never seem able to get along.

Back to little women. My daughter doesn't say too much yet, her speech is only semi-intelligible, but she does a decent job of making herself understood. She says Da-da and points at me, which is often followed by her climbing into my lap or asking me to pick her up. She is so cute.

I'd like to write more but should get to sleep so let me just add a few short things. This headline caught my eye, but it sounds like a bad idea "Trailer Parks Planned for Katrina Victims" or maybe I am just playing off of stereotypes. All I know is that tornadoes have a sixth sense for finding trailer parks so I'd be careful about this.

Good night for now.