I Hate Needles!! Did I mention that? I was that kid in the doctor’s office that cried in the waiting room at the mere thought of getting a shot, whether I actually was or not. They had to hold me down, and believe me, I was a fighter!
So, I have type 2 Diabetes and that’s not only a pain in the ass…but mostly, a pain in my fingers! I have to use this meter everyday to monitor blood glucose levels. Everyday, I have to pick a finger and press that little white button on the black needle torture device to draw a drop of blood. I never thought that would be so annoying AFTER you prick your finger but that little throbbing finger pain stays with you the rest of the day. Guitar practice is not much fun after that. Oh, and then, you get to do it all over again.
I use a banking app to make deposits into my business account. It’s separate from the family bank accounts, so I can use the money to make purchases for my studio and other business-related expenses. Easier that way. These apps are getting more and more sophisticated as we go along, but still, they just can’t get some things right. Like taking pictures of the check for deposit then submitting it. The camera is great when it works automatically, but even then you hold your breath until you get the notification that your deposit was excepted—or not! My bank, which shall remain nameless, ain’t the greatest, that’s for sure. The account was opened for me when I worked for the company, and ten years later, I still have it. All transactions are conducted online, but at this bank, you have to wait twenty-four hours for any notifications of success or failure. ANNOYING!! The basic problem with the check deposit method is you’re at the mercy of the quality of the photos…which really ain’t that good. I get that they have to see the amount on the check…so why not have better quality camera features in the app! I have the top of the line iPhone, for heaven’s sake…use that technology! So, I got notification this morning that my deposit made yesterday was rejected. So now what? Do I deposit it again? Will that deposit be rejected because I deposited the same check yesterday? I chose to try again only this time make sure you can see the friggin’ amount on the check. Now I gotta wait another twenty-four hours for thumbs up or thumbs down! I hate this. I gotta get a new bank!
Delicious Mexican dishes that are really works of art
Sundays have become a very easy day for me and my wife. We’ve been empty nesters for quite a while now, but since our move to Northern California, Sundays have become much more laid back. Saturdays are the days we run errands and catch up with stuff. But, Sundays have become very casual for us. We sleep late, take long walks with lots of sunshine and cool breezes on walking and hiking trails around our neighborhood. We occasionally go out to dinner on Friday or Saturdays, but we recently discovered having a light Sunday afternoon lunch to be a really enjoyable way to continue loving the sunshine after our walk.
A new retail shopping “experience” was recently built in our neighborhood. There’s a large outdoor courtyard in the middle of the building that’s surrounded by two levels of upscale retail shops like clothing, jewelry, and furniture stores, unique restaurants, and a luxury movie complex with an on-premises restaurant that gives a whole new meaning to dinner and a movie. The outdoor courtyard provides a huge space to let the kids run around and play on artificial grass, with a sprinkler and large toys. One of those restaurants is a taco restaurant that serves delicious, open-face taco dishes and great salads that look like works of art. The taco place is located right next door to a fabulous microbrewery. The Brewery doesn’t serve food, but you can purchase food from other restaurants then enjoy your meal with a fresh brew outside on the brewery’s large patio. It’s a glorious way to do Sunday afternoon. We most likely won’t be able to continue living here once retirement kicks in. The cost of buying a home and living in this area with all the sunshine is just crazy prohibitive. So our attitude is …enjoy it while we got it.
A picture by unknown artist, showing The Beatles at the age of 64
“When I get older losing my hair Many years from now”
I’m pretty sure you can imagine that aging really sucks! I’m still officially sixty-four, butI’ll be sixty-five at the end of the year. I gotta tell ya, there’s so much I didn’t see coming. I mean, I knew aging was inevitable, but jeez, I never expected it to be this hard. The body starts going a little wonky so you really have to pay attention and take better care of it. When I was younger, I never thought twice about waking up and rolling over in bed to have a cigarette. Eating nachos, pizza, and beer for dinner and Taco Bell for a late night snack before bed …at three AM. Now, you gotta really watch what you eat …less salt, no sugar, carbs, or red meats. And definitely, no smoking, which I miss terribly. And only drinking alcohol in moderation, if at all. It’s a travesty, I tell ya, a travesty. And then, there are the moments when you’re having a normal conversation and sometimes the words start playing hide-n-seek in your brain …and you have to spend a good amount of time searching for them….which causes a fit of anxiety because you’re suddenly afraid you might have Alzheimer’s…which only buries the words deeper and you’ll never find them until an hour later when you’ve calmed down. Now that REALLY sucks! But, in spite of all the physical trials, people my age are also confronted by a challenge we just weren’t prepared for. Ageism.
“I could be handy, mending a fuse When your lights have gone”
Being overlooked for employment, the misconceptions, dismissive attitudes, negative assumptions, and the notion that all of your experience gathered in a lifetime in the workforce is no longer an asset, but a liability. Older folks are frequently stereotyped as feeble, out of touch, incapable of learning new things, and being a Walmart greeter is something you should be pursuing now. It’s just assumed that you will have nothing to contribute; that you’re automatically ineligible for any job you would have been over-qualified for ten years ago. Because, you know, you’re most likely going to retire to Boca and be out of the workforce within a year or two, right? And employers need to hire people who are going to stick around awhile, right?
“Doing the garden, digging the weeds Who could ask for more”
Yes, I know…I know. Younger folks will have much more time in the workforce than us sixty-four plus workers. It’s the natural order of things. But let me tell you, I’ve recently seen so many resumes of young people in today’s workforce who have only held on to a job for just a year or two and they move on to the next one.
Please don’t get me wrong, I work with younger people all the time. I’m not that “Hey you kids, get off my lawn” guy. That’s just ageism in reverse. But, it seems that some young workers feel entitled to more without really working for it …or at it. They want a better title, higher salaries, more opportunity for career growth without gathering the needed experience. After only a year or two, when things aren’t moving fast enough for them in this instant gratification world, they lose patience and move on to the next job looking for the same things. I was flabbergasted when I read these resumes! But there it was, in black and white, and sometimes multi-colored because they use MS Word resume templates (but never in large print.) These young people only hung around for a year or two then moved on! Yet, they continue to get hired.
Look, it’s just an observation, and, kind of a biased one I admit. I don’t have any research or statistics or official documentation about this generation being any different than previous ones. I’m certain there were resumes of peers in my age group reflecting the same lack of commitment to a job or career in their time. And I’m just as certain this generation is filled with hard-working, conscientious adults who believe in working their craft and earning their future. My point is, why not consider hiring someone that’s sixty-four or older? A hard worker who has shown loyalty and commitment to a company longer than it takes to have a Triple, Venti, Half Sweet, Non-Fat, Caramel Macchiato, no whip coffee? They just might surprise you. And they just might stick around for as long as you’ll have them.
Most older workers have a career full of experience; they can contribute to a business’s bottom line as well as mentor young workers. Now, there are lots of older folks who reach sixty-five and have had enough, made enough money, and look forward to retirement. And golf every day. But there are many older people who still enjoy working and don’t want to stop. Or let their age–which is just a number. Or let any age-related physical challenges get in the way of continuing to be a productive, whole person, capable of still making substantive contributions to life …and the bottom line. We just want the chance to prove it.
“Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m sixty-four…”
Growing up, I was always a big fan of the Hal Roach Little Rascals short films when they used to air on Captain Penny and other kids TV shows. Before Spanky and Alfalfa, there was Jackie (Cooper), Wheezer, Tubby, Mary, Farina, etc. And I gotta admit, I had a little crush on Miss Crabtree ( “Hi Crabby”). Little Rascals short films are currently streaming on Hulu ….and in fake color! I was giddy with nostalgia to check them out. But, first episode right outta the gate (“School’s Out” from 1930) made me absolutely cringe. Blatant racism, misogyny, child abuse with parents whipping their kids with razor straps. And that was just in the first 5 minutes!! I know times were VERY different in 1930, but jeepers, 10 minutes in I couldn’t watch any more. As a kid I was so enamored by those kids; the reactions and facial expressions of shock, happiness. disappointment, and bewilderment as they navigate the adult world. As an actor, I’ve used a lot of those faces on stage and on camera. But seeing this episode and all of its societal Injustice displayed as a matter of course in that era was appalling. I felt ashamed for liking these films as a kid. Yes, we have come a long way from the antiquated culture of the 1930s, and yet, sadly, I realize we still have a long way to go.
I’ve been previewing new and different WordPress themes for this blog site and I think I’ve landed on the one you see here. It seems to have a layout of everything I wanted. Doesn’t mean I won’t still preview others, but, in the meantime, I think I like this one.
I read an article the other day listing all the films and tv shows streaming this month on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, etc. I saw that a film I was in is streaming this month on Hulu. I had a small speaking part as “Older Spider-Man” appearing in the first fifteen minutes of the film. My part was so small I was convinced it would be relegated to the cutting room floor. I was pleasantly surprised when my scene actually made it into the film. In fact, my scene made it into the trailers and TV spots when the film first came out in 2012. I’m also pleasantly surprised when the residual checks come in periodically. Hey….$12 dollars is $12 dollars!
I just finished writing my short story screenplay Second Chance, a story about “the one that got away.” I hope to have this cast and filmed this year. It should be an easy shoot and I have just the director in mind to do it. His name is Matt Pallotta and he’s been a great collaborator for years, and one talented son-of-a-gun behind the camera. He just opened his own production company last year and I highly recommend his work if you’re in need of a video for corporate, commercial and film. Find him at https://frameonemedia.com/
UPDATE: Well, back to the drawing board…or the laptop, as it were. My eldest daughter read the script and gave me some terrific feedback (something she does for a living.) I respect her thoughts, critiques, and ideas on scripts immensely, and I’ve have been trying to find a way to implement some of her suggestions in a revised version. I think I’ve done that and I’m curious about her thoughts on this revision. I’ll get out another update when that happens.
A young couple experiences an instant connection when they meet by chance at a high school party, only to lose each other when fate separates them later that same night without a moment to say goodbye. Thirty-five years and a lifetime later, difficult cercumstances and another chance meeting bring them together again. Will fate give them a second chance?
So, I have no idea why I don’t keep writing on this blog. I’ve been busy, sure, but not THAT busy! I’ve been writing a short film script and a few songs but, C’mon, I need to get on the ball here. I think sometimes I forget I have this platform and when I do remember, or have something to say, it’s just not convenient to publish at the time. However, I think I’ve found a few writing apps that I can jot down some thoughts and publish to this blog whenever and wherever I am and that should make it easier. But Geez…I have this platform and I need to take advantage of it. And I will.
I have been a life-long Liberal, living somewhere to the left of the middle in the political spectrum. In my mind, I find the Conservative’s view of what modern day America should be to be extremely short-sighted, monolithic and even cruel. No matter what “modern day” we’re living in. I will never understand the political right’s resistance to climate change and the science behind it, other than for monetary profit; the adamant resistance to responsible gun control and furtherance of the antiquated second amendment that was born of a very different time in this country; the stubborn, and in many instances, piously hypocritical “Christian” view of the LGBTQ community.
On this day, however, all politics are put aside. Watching the emotional, heart-felt funeral ceremony of former First Lady Barbara Bush televised this morning, I am overwhelmed by our ability to come together as one community, one society, one tribe, one people, to mourn the passing and remember one of our own for how they lived their life on this earth. This is how this country works best and how this country should live–conservative, liberal, independent, atheist, whatever–we shouldn’t have to wait until a national tragedy or a national funeral brings us together.
The life of Barbara Bush, as eulogized so elegantly by her family and friends, has galvanized me, more for the private things we didn’t know about this woman rather than what we knew about her based upon her public life. Her humanity, faith and love of people, no matter who they were or where they came from, should be a model for us all on how to live together. The eulogy mentioned her strong personality and how she was the real “head of the family” …as most women are, in my opinion. As someone who has been married to the love of my life for over forty two years, the revelation of the enchanting love story and seventy three years of marriage of Barbra Bush to her partner in life, former President George Herbert Walker Bush, made an impression on me I didn’t expect.
The talking heads TV coverage mentioned the American political history on display at this funeral, with the presence of members of The Kennedy family, the Johnson family, The Nixon family, The Clintons, The Obamas and The Bush family, coming together to celebrate the life of a beloved member of our country’s “Greatest Generation” and how Republicans and Democrats can come together on common ground in a show of unity, humanity and real American values.
The fact that Donald Trump wasn’t present was both wonderful and sickening at the same time. Wonderful in that the country had a reprieve from this vile buffoon whose presence alone can diminish and despoil a loving human moment such as this. Sickening in that the sitting President of the United States was not in attendance to show respect to an honorable First Lady of our nation. The current First Lady was there, alone, (as I’m sure she would rather be) in a painfully disappointing pretense of respect from this current administration. The visual was clear. She was alone. The current President was in Florida, where earlier in the week, he was golfing.
I just finished writing my short story screenplay Second Chance, a story about “the one that got away.” I hope to have this cast and filmed this year. It should be an easy shoot and I have just the director in mind to do it. His name is Matt Pallotta and he’s been a great collaborator for years, and one talented son-of-a-gun behind the camera. He just opened his own production company last year and I highly recommend his work if you’re in need of a video for corporate, commercial and film. Find him at 