Blog

  • Hot Water – A Rant (Unedited)

    Nothing ruins my day easier and faster than not having hot water. I live in an old building; a generic NYC tenement styled walk-up. I’m not fooling myself here, I know that the hot water is destined to give out frequently, as the boiler was installed during the Coolidge administration. Still…

    I grew up in the suburbs outside of Dallas, in a newly built ranch styled home. The water heater we had lasted about fifteen years. It gave out at the most inopportune time when we had family visiting, but it was quickly and as my father liked to remind all of us, expensively replaced. It’s still going strong, again, my father likes to point this out as well.

    All the other places that I lived, in and out of college, and I lived in some pretty rundown places, always had hot water. Once or twice, I think, it went out, but it was such a rarity. And when it happened, it think it was due to repairs being done on the system.

    And then there is New York City. Everybody has hot water and heating issues. I got a friend in the Meatpacking District, real swanky place – he has water issues. New construction, old construction, pre-war, modern; it doesn’t matter – everybody has this problem. How is it that all the heater and boilers around the entire country work, but when you cross into New York City, they all go on the blink. Is there a curse, or is it all run by the Mob?

  • Things Have Changed

    I submitted a flash fiction story to a bunch of magazines on Friday. I do this from time to time. I get impatient with actually crafting something, and get it into my head that I should send something out to as many publications as possible. And then wait.

    I do like emailing out my work. I think it is easier for all parties. Quicker responses, easier to read, no piles of paper. I never liked the old system.

    Back in college, I mailed out so many manila envelopes with self-addressed stamped envelopes included. The people at the local post office got to know me pretty well, and I would need to get the query packages weighted to be mailed each time. I stood in a lot of lines. And then the waiting, and checking the mail. I really hated that. Not only did it cost me money, but there were some submissions that I never got a response from.

    At least now, I always get a response.

  • ODDS and ENDS: Nearly Perfect Bracket, Talkin’ Football, and Kids n’ St. Patrick

    (We are sports heavy this week…)

    I wrote the other day about how my bracket predictions are pretty much shit as they are all guesses and I pick way too many underdogs. Well, yesterday, I called every game, save one. I got Furman v. Virginia wrong. And I blame Princeton for it. That’s right. I had selected Princeton over Arizona, as I have a weakness for the Ivy-League schools. So, because of that pick, I told myself I needed to be a bit realistic with the rest of my selections. Hence why I took Virginia. Besides Princeton, the rest of my underdog picks really weren’t that impressive; Auburn, and Penn State. This is why you should go with your gut. As of this moment, my bracket is ranked 659 out of 14million. I know that will change by the end of today. But right now, in this moment, I am nearly perfect.

    I have a Tottenham Hotspur scarf that I put on when it is cold out. To most people it just looks like a white and navy scarf, but yesterday a guy stopped me, asking if I was a Tottenham fan. I talked to someone on the street about football. Mainly the Champions League, as the guy’s club was Barcelona, but still. This is the first time I have actually talked football with someone when the World Cup wasn’t going on. It made me feel like my fandom was validated.

    Today is St. Patrick’s Day. All week, leading up to this, the kid couldn’t have given two shits about it. In fact, she asked me lots of questions of why the day is celebrated, and if it’s really only a grown-up holiday. I tried to give her a little history lesson on all the Irish who immigrated to this country, and how they have influenced and made our country a better place. You know, because immigrants do make our country better. She got it, but still didn’t think St. Patrick’s Day was that big of a deal. And then this morning, she was all about putting on green, and finding leprechauns, and pots o’ gold. I think this proves, that for kids, you never let a holiday go to waste.

  • Brackets: Go with a #11 Team

    The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament starts today, and this will be the only time this year when I will care about college basketball. I have nothing against the sport of basketball. You could say that basketball is my family’s sport, being that we all played it growing up. My brother is a basketball coach and so is his son, and when the whole family gets together, we end up talking basketball; pro, college, high school.

    What I do enjoy is the drama of competition. I like watching underdogs, on a big huge national stage, upsetting powerhouse teams. There is something so completely satisfying and life affirming in watching a team made up of players that have been dismissed and underestimated, dig deep and do something no one thought was possible. It gives you hope, you know.

    And that is also why I am so utterly awful at making a bracket for the tournament. I’ve done three this year, each with a different champion; Arizona, Kansas, and Gonzaga. I’m not stupid, I know one of the Big Teams will win the tournament. But if you look at my predictions, I have an overwhelming preference for lower seeded teams. I’m picking Colgate over Texas. Why? Because I want to see that small school slay a giant. Because I want to see that Colgate team celebrate on the court like they just won the whole thing! That belief, hard work, and luck can converge and something amazing can happen.

    And for that reason, my brackets always sucked. I used to make a bracket at every office I worked at, and there always some guy who took the whole thing way too seriously, and would make fun of my completely bonker predictions. But every so often I’d get a pick like VCU or Loyola Chicago right. And that feeling of proving that guy wrong and watching his bracket explode in his face; it was like Christmas morning and my birthday wrapped in one!

  • Zapped! Because It’s Snowing

    Nothing zaps my motivation like watching snow falling out the window. The Nor’easter is here today, but down in the City, nothing is going to stick, so it’s just a pretty show. I’m sitting here on the couch, listening to music, thinking about all the other things I wanted to do today.

    I won’t go grocery shopping.

    I won’t write a short story review.

    I will think about how the word “nor’easter” is silly to say. I could look up its entomology, but that would like figuring out how the magic trick is done. What fun is that?

    Nor’easter

    I will think about how twenty years went by like that.

    I will think about the people I should apologize to.

    And I will think about the people I need to forgive.

    I will watch the big huge snowflakes falling past my window only to land on the fire escape and melt away.

    That fire escape that I used to smoke on.

    The other day the kid asked me if I used to smoke, and I told her the truth, and she was disappointed with me. She asked if I knew that smoking would kill me, which I did. Why do grownups do things that are bad for them, was her question.

    That’s a tough one.

    Oh, it’s really snowing now.

    I’ll work hard tomorrow.