Cooler than You: Stupid Things I Say and Do

Here's a little story of UPS. A handful of months ago I got married...my UPS guy was nice, and lovely, and polite. There was a handful of packages from wedding gifts, there was stuff I ordered to make wedding hoopla with, there were random purchases along the way. None– the– less, the man was friendly. He buzzed the building's buzzer and waited 45 seconds to a minute before buzzing again. We chatted about dogs, his kids, his wife...random banter along the way. Then...then...the holiday season came, with holiday trainees showing up on this block. Then...then...the delivery hell began. Early purchase packages...one showed up last week. The delivery person was new, clueless, and not wholly friendly. Then, last night stupidity turned into moronic behavior. When I got home around 2:30 there was no UPS delivery. My husband got home around 6:30...still no package. For the rest of the evening we were home, someone always here. Around 8 pm we were on the stoop. Still, no delivery no...

So, as the world knows a damned hurricane showed up Halloween weekend...indeed it did.  Aside from having our lights flicker and having to go to Connecticut for gas, we fared well...granted two blocks over, on pretty much either side of us, there was a different quality of life...we felt like the one percent, and we are still very grateful for having been blessed.  When you've been living in it you find a strange disconnection to being able to write about it...here's the best I can do right now. Along the way,I took a handful of pictures around Astoria Park...the day after, and I must say there was something special about watching to hoards of people flooding along the river bank and into the park. It was a literal exodus from the confines of our tiny apartments. The outpouring of people goods, aside, and services has been astounding. Though, the Rockaways will never be the same, and New Yorkers will always remember several days without the subway, power, and a little thing c...

As life would have it, life has been busy and stressful as of late...so I preface this post by saying that perhaps my mind its screaming for a rest, a day off, a night with nothing but me and my devices of thought and pen. Okay...maybe I'm just fried from working so much, writing more, and smashing my head against my computer while grading. Earlier this week I dreamed that scoops of ice cream–– vanilla, of course––fell from the sky, gently exploding into smaller balls as they fell. Through the course of this scene I could see The Empire State Building upload and The Chrysler Building. I could see the cracks of concrete and flecks of dirt on the window panes. Throughout this scene of a cerebral slow– timed tango, I said those buildings are "my Manhattan." Then, as the best chaos of dreams does...I awoke to lie in bed in a state of confusion half between slumber and consciousness with a literal dream memory seeping around the corners. At thirteen, or so, I a...