Boughs of Folly

(November 28, 2006)

Oh man, Uncle Bob is the best. I'm glad he's back writing again because, you know, he just fuckin' GOES FOR IT. People who know him read his online diary. But he writes it anyway. I guess he just changes their names and says "this is what I think, so there ya have it." For the uninitiated, he's a DJ (and soon to be, um, hypnotist) so he does a lot of weddings. Now, most weddings are a tedious chore in my opinion. But imagine being the DJ on wedding days like this one. Hoooooo, mama! Not enough booze in any cash bar in any reception hall. No. Just...no.

No.

Guy on NPR just asked David Crosby something like "So, your generation was all about freedom and anti-war, now your generation is like, in charge of this Iraq war. What happened?" Crosby said "We underestimated the greed for power. The greed for power and dominion over people is far greater than we the hippies ever thought possible." Interesting. He's got a new book out called Since Then: How I Survived Everything and Lived to Tell About it.

Crap, that's a great title.

Or not.

Is that cool or not? I just can't tell anymore.

Anyway I think you can hear it here: David Crosby on On Point.

I still haven't written back to that old high school friend Alex. Seriously, what's the problem? I found Brenda on Myspace, Ken found me, but the only people I really keep in touch with, with any regularity, are Hub and Lola. (OH, by the way Lola, thanks for the pictures!!)

Speaking of Lola, Joe and I had been tossing around the idea of going to Paris for Christmas. Only it's never going to happen. He's kind of in a cranky mood today, probably tired from last night's lateness, but it's not all that. I recall that he gets a bit short tempered around the holidays. Fun. I think his family makes things unnecessarily complicated, and it's almost like, deliberately...

Here's a story. When we flew down for the big surprise 60th party a few weeks ago, the coming-home plan was so simple: take the train back from Jersey to Philly, and catch a cab to the airport. It seemed like no matter how many times we repeated that plan when asked "how are you getting back?" there was always some new protest or new idea. At one point I quietly asked Joe "Do they keep asking the same question because they have a better idea or what?" It was so confusing, why is there so much concern? I've traveled. A lot. Overseas. I know what to do. I can get us to Boston from freakin' Armpit Of The East Coast aka New Jersey. So it came time to leave and I started goodbyes, having checked the timetable with Joe's brother who was ready to take us back to the train (he was meeting some friends and said that was a good time for him to go too). But then Joe's dad pipes up with "no, I'll drive you!" I thought that was kind of an odd idea -- leave his own birthday party? To drive to the AIRPORT? That's either insanely generous or just a bizzarely random last minute re-plan. I mean, driving to the airport is a really generous thing to do for someone. Driving to the airport is about on the scale of, say, waiting in line at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, a place comic Dane Cook has referred to as Satan's Asshole. But after a bit of "Um, that's not necessary" and "Well we should leave now if we're to get the train" we were convinced to let him drive us...I was embarrassed because that's really, really generous. This was during his own party, remember!

But a bit later I was outside on the deck while Joe was in the bathroom. His family didn't know I was within earshot I guess because they all started talking about the airport trip like it was a big catastrophe. "He thinks he has time to get there" and "They'll never make it on the train." Yeah, NOW we won't. We'd have been gone forty minutes ago if we weren't convinced to forego the train in place of a ride? Hi? If it's a big bother then didn't YOU do that? So basically a re-plan was forced and now we're getting talked about like we're nuisances?

I was outside like "Seriously? Are we now being talked about like we're nuisances?"

Yeah.

Okay then. So I should start heavy sedation now, because for Christmas we're talking about Amtrak both to and from Armpit Of The East Coast aka New Jersey. The BIG train. If they didn't like the little train, will they hate the big train? Was it even about the train? No? Then what was that all about?

I don't know either!

Fucking hell, I should just get my license renewed. Rental car. Fuck, is there time? And do I know anyone generous enough to wait in line with me at Satan's Asshole so I could use their car for the driving test?