I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
What I have been telling you, from alpha to omega, what is the one great thing the sigil taught me — that everything in life is miraculous. For the sigil taught me that it rests within the power of each of us to awaken at will from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits, to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness. If the sigil were proved to be the top of a tomato-can, it would not alter that big fact, nor my fixed faith. No Harrowby, the common names we call things by do not matter — except to show how very dull we are ...
December 20, 2015 - 2:46 p.m.
This is weird, Word went back to the default font and got rid of some other personalization I did. Others are still there. It isn’t back to the out of the box settings. I hope there won’t be any annoying surprises as I write this.
Wow it’s late, 12:25 this is late for me to be finishing let alone starting. Know what. I better make it even later and eat breakfast. I slept very late today. My sleep schedule is way off. I have to get it where I want it again. That’s going to sleep between 12:30 and 1:00 and waking up at 8:30.
Picking up writing again at 1:30. Breakfast was very good, sausageeggandcheese on a bagel. I’m still drinking the coffee.
Last night I was off on another adventure into suburbia on the Long Island Railroad. Whenever I write LIRR that’s what I mean. I was off to A Vintage Holiday with Tara O’Grady and The Kennedys. <rant>Ugh, I lost all my macros. I am rewriting them as they come up. This will slow things down. </rant> It was at Swing the Teapot in Floral Park. It’s just a stone’s throw from the City Line but it’s still suburbia. I have been looking forward to this show since it was announced, I love Pete & Maura, I love Tara, I love their music, and I love cool Christmas shows. It was also easy to get to, across the street from the LIRR station.
As usual I timed things precisely but somehow got a late start. I had to make the 7:45 train from Atlantic Terminal and since I had to buy a ticket be there at 7:40. I planned on leaving at 7:15 which should be fine as it’s a short trip but somehow didn’t leave till 7:21 which meant getting to the subway at 7:27. There was a six-minute wait for the train. Now It was cutting it close. But I made it with time to spare because the trip is only seven minutes. I got there bought my ticket, and got on the train with two whole minutes to spare. Express trains are great.
When I got there I saw Fred, with his wife Linda and their daughter Alison. The show was sold out and I was doing the merch and didn’t have a reservation and planned on standing. But there was an open seat by them. I talked to the manager and a party of five had not shown up. So I got to keep that seat! Perfect. Not only did I get a seat it was the very seat I wanted. It was a Festivus miracle.
Pete, Maura, and Tara did the show together switching off on who did the lead. For the most part it was songs from the 50s and 60s, thus the Vintage. They went a little off, Tara did The Christmas Song which was written in 1945 and Maura sang “O Holy Night” which is also from the 40s, the 1840s. What it really was, was songs that could have been sung at a Christmas Special in the mid-sixties; the kind I grew up with. Maura and Tara also did original Christmas songs. Tara’s was brand new, never recorded. I don’t have to tell you about Maura’s I can play it for you. No I’m not going to sing and play guitar. I’m going to embed the video.
My first reaction on hearing it was to say, “It sounds like something from the fifties or early sixties.” That is pretty much what I told Maura. This was written last Christmas so anticipated the theme of last night’s show.
They are talking about doing it again so I think I have a new Christmas tradition. I know I’m not going to ever miss it. I even have a plan for it. They should do a 1960s Christmas Special as a Concert Window or YouTube show. I have the perfect place for it, Coco and Bruce’s house. When it’s decorated it looks like Christmas. It would be perfect. They can do the show they did last night and have special guests. The bell can ring and when they open the door David Bowie will be there and they’ll sing Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy. OK perhaps it will be Carolann Solebello and Mark Allen Berube. Bowie will be jealous.
After the show I did the merch. I got to meet Tara’s mother. Both Tara and her family lives in Queens, they are my people, I loved them. I loved the Tara fans discovering The Kennedys and the Kennedys fan discovering Tara. I was unusual in being a fan of both.
I was right up front by the door yet somehow Fred and his family left without me seeing them. Sorry friend, I meant to say goodbye. I stayed a long time after the show ended but had to leave to make the 11:39 train. It was across the street so I cut it close, too close. I saw two stairs up to the platforms and took the one on the North as that should be the one that goes to New York. But when I got there I saw there were three platforms, one further North. The electronic sign said the New York Train was on track or was that platform 1B. The only sign I saw was track 2. No A or B. I was on the central platform so I moved to the north platform where there was no signs giving a number. Then the train came on the Central platform but not on the track I thought it would be on but on the south track of the central platform. So I ran down the stairs. I ran up the other stairs. These weren’t short stairs. The train was still there but the open cars were all the way forward, not where I was. I ran, the train started to pull away. And then another Festivus miracle happened, the train stopped! The motorman saw and took pity on me! I always say that the people at the stations and the administrators of the LIRR suck but the on train people are fantastic. Can you imagine stopping a huge train for one person? That’s a mensch. I would have had to wait more than an hour till the next train.
The trip home was longer than the one there; the 
runs local late night. So it took an extra 20 or 25 minutes or so. That’s a lot when the trip out there was just an hour. It’s funny I see people who live outside of New York complain that a place an hour away is too far. That’s what I expect to get almost anyplace. People will miss great shows because they are an hour and a half away, like that’s a major trip. No that’s traveling in New York during rush hour. I travel that long or longer to get to most shows on Long Island, Westchester, or Jersey. People need to get more like Jeff & Karen or Howard; if you can get home before work tomorrow it’s a local show.
I’m having a very me stretch. On Friday I volunteered at WFUV and did saw Dar. Last night I saw The Kennedys and Tara, today a Christmas party with music, and tomorrow I’m caroling with Terre Roche and I hope a slew of my friends. So as Tiny Tim observed, The Flying Spaghetti Monster bless us all. Every one.
I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge:
please hold me accountable.
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On The Road Again - May 26, 2018
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Horvendile December 20, 2015
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