Alone

This past Wednesday my wife flew to Florida to be with her daughter. Even though the girl was here a little while ago my wife thought it would be nice to be with her on her birthday. So, what does a good husband says at a time like this?

Go darling, have a good time! But really only meaning the first half of the sentence and not the second. Anyway, she went. And has been there ever since.

I could not go with her because there is no way to take Abigail out from school every time we want to go Florida and this time it would have been three days. So now I'm mom and pop to the little girl.

In short it ain't easy! But I am trying my best to fulfill her expectations of me.

My wife and I are both miserable being alone and apart from each other but thankfully tomorrow she is coming home. I can't wait to see her again and have her here next to me. When one loves somebody a lot you just don't want to let go no matter for how short a time.

I don't cook and that means that Abigail and I eat whatever we like. It was Popeye one night, lasagna from the Italian place the last night and today I think we are having ravioli. Tomorrow night we will have normal food again.

This is not a vacation. It is not easy to be alone and at the same time be responsible for another human being. But I gladly do it because this what a family is all about.

If I don't write tomorrow it must be understandable. I am looking forward to a long and sweet reunion!

Thursday

Today is Thursday and by all indications it should have been a nice quiet day. Give credit where credit is due it did start as a nice ordinary day.

Got up at 6:30, got ready and around 7:30 took Abigail to school. So far so good.

Went to the bank to do some banking but it turned out that this bank did not open until nine am and I did need teller service. So not to waste my time I went a nearby Staple's and bought some necessary cartridges. After that I "dropped" in at my cable company's office because one of our TV had a problem and a very knowledgeable lady on the technical help line (probably in Mumbai) told me to replace one of the cables. I did and time will tell if it works.

Back to the bank and finish my business and heading home for a little am rest.

Just as I turned around the corner to the house my lovely wife calls wit a great suggestion. Why don't I drive out to Manhattan Beach and pick up her son and bring him over to our hose because we just bought a new router and it needs to be set up. Now, why didn't I think of this before?

I naturally did as it was suggested and at the end also drove him home.

I am such a nice guy. Exhausted but nice.

Tues/Wednesday

I keep falling into this pattern of delinquency by not writing as I should, meaning every night. It is not laziness, it is not that I have nothing to write about its just that I run out of time and by the time I get to writing it is so darn late that I rather go to bed than sit here and write.

My wife and I have a routine that we do almost every night (nothing dirty, mind you!). Around midnight we go to the computer and do Hungarian crossword puzzles. There is a daily edition that we try to solve and mostly we succeed. It takes about twenty minutes to a half an hour. But the problem is that after we finish it we start to watch some Hungarian videos on YouTube and before we realize it is almost two am.

Now, at that time I am really not capable to write anything not even my name. So, this is my excuse.

Right now, life is quietly flowing by. Thankfully nothing exciting is happening. And that is good because when something does happen it is usually unexpected and unpleasant. Who needs such an event.

Somebody might say that we are living a boring life. What is boring and what is not boring?

Things constantly happening do not make it an exciting existence. However nothing happening will certainly not make it a boring life. Maybe somebody young needs something happening at all the times. But, over middle age nothing happening is sometimes a relief.

My wife and I have theater tickets, we made arrangements for a few vacations, we go out to restaurants and we also meet friends. There is nothing boring about this. Yes, we also do laundry and clean house on a regular basis.

And we love our life just the way it is now!

Old Stuff

It is very interesting and at the same time it is sad that things we remember from our earlier lives are now becoming antiques. Items that used to be in those days "high tech" are now nothing more than just plain relics relegated to be nothing more than just something to place on a shelf or on a desk.

What made me write this?

I'm sitting at my new desk and thinking about what to write when I noticed a very nice looking small typewriter sitting at the corner of the desk. It is beige color and is in perfect condition. It used to belong to my wife and she placed it on the desk for decoration. I don't see that we will ever use it but it is still nice to have it. I have another portable typewriter in the trunk of my car I just never got to bring it upstairs.

The one in my car I got as a present from my cousin when I came to the country and I used it lots of times. I wrote letter, resumes and other things on it but now there is no use for any of them.

The interesting thing is that I probably know how to use them while today's youngsters wouldn't know what to do with such a thing. I bet some would look at these and would not know what they were.

My mother used to use coal burning iron to press clothes. Recently I saw some used as flower pot. Then there is the rotary dialed telephone. If somebody would have to use one probably wouldn't know what to do with it. We still use the word dial but dialing is not what we do. We press the numbers on the number pad.

When we moved I was forced to revisit all the things I stored away and found things that even amazed myself. I have a Super 8 movie projector and millions of feet Super 8 films. I also have a Super 8 movie camera that I used to make the films. Now these are really ancient. But I also have a video camera that I used to make video tapes. This last one is "only" 16 years old but I'm sure already a relic.

Why do I have them? I don't know. I think because I am a hoarder and also because I like to keep old technical gadgets. I didn't even mention the various old cameras I have in the house. These I bought throughout the years and just didn't feel like throwing them out. I don't know why I keep them, one can not buy film any longer.

Tuxedo Madness

My friend who is on this around South America, three month long cruise keeps sending photographs from their stops and more interesting events. I think the pictures are only published when the ship is in port because he told me the Wi-Fi was very poor, unreliable and costly on their previous cruises.

I admit the pictures are very good, they look great and the food they take pictures of look appetizing, but...

So far he sent about six pictures where they were dressed to the nines. Him in tuxedo (a different one each time) and his wife in some kind of fancy evening dress. To me this is not a vacation where one is required to dress formal so many times and they are not even half way through their voyage.

To me this is an absolute nuisance. A vacation I my definition is where a person can be casual where a person is not required to carry much formal clothing and can spend most of the time in shorts and tee shirts. If it is a coronation I can see taking five or six tuxedos but on a cruise it is absolutely ridiculous. As I understand there are eight formal nights during this three month long cruise. Now if that is not stupid then I really don't know what is.

I am sure someone from the ship keeps a tab on what people are wearing to these fancy events and if necessary let the interested party know what was worn the previous times in order to avoid any fashion faux pas like wearing the same getup more than once.

I wouldn't even know how to pack all that clothing like six or seven tuxedos and all the other clothes on such a long trip and making it sure nothing gets wrinkled beyond repair.

Now here is my dilemma. The trip is almost three months long. There are at least three good meals a day on the ship plus in between snacks. What about if one puts one some extra weight and by the time the last fancy gala comes around nothing fits?

Snow Saturday

The snow came, the snow is here and in a few days the snow will be gone. We have so far about 2 feet of snow. That's about 61cm for those who have no idea how much two feet might be. Not two feet on a body but two feet in length.

So what is the big deal? the big deal? I tell you what the big deal is. The city is in total panic. The buses stopped running early afternoon. All Outside subway lines as well as the commuter trains stopped running. The airports are all shut down. And from 4 pm cars could not be on the roads and that means that the only remaining transportation was walking.

This means now some people will have a good chance to find out why they don't like to be with their families.

I would be very curious to find out if nine months from now the birthrate in the city will increase or not!

My wife and I were out around noon for a few hours and I tell you honestly I really loved it. The roads were empty and my four wheel safely took us anywhere we wanted to go.

Later in the afternoon we took a family stroll around or block which was a lot of fun for the three of us even though Abigail is not much of a fan of snow. She says it is too cold and wet. I explained to her that there was no such a thing as warm and dry snow. At least not yet.

I don't know what tomorrow will bring if we would be able to leave the house or not. If they lift the driving restriction we might go out for a little drive. But staying home for my wife and I is not the worst thing in the world.

Friday

I mentioned it before that there is nothing else in the news but the impending snowstorm/blizzard. The City is making all kinds of preparations, the airlines are making all kinds of preparations and the reporters are out in droves asking people how they plan to deal with that.

The funniest thing I saw was that they reported from a Burlington Coat Factory that people were buying up the warm winter clothings including the big and warm boots.

That made think (I do that sometimes!). This is the middle of Winter. What were these people wearing until now? What were these people were wearing last year during winter and the big snowstorm we had? Were they going about in shorts or bathing suits that they have nothing to wear? It is so peculiar that every time there is a major weather thing coming people start to buy things like it is the first time they have to face such a condition. I would just love to ask them, hey what did you do last year?

I am writing this around 5:30 in the afternoon and there is nothing but darkness outside but the ones in the know say it is coming. They are so serious and ominous about it like the end of the world would be coming.

I would be laughing very hard if tomorrow morning it would have turned out the storm decided to go somewhere else.

Thursday

No matter how hard I try, my confidence in this e-pay thing is just not there. Today I found out that my mortgage has been twice paid this month.

I like to pay all my bills on time but this is getting to be ridiculous. To pay a mortgage two months at a time is just not being done. But I will very likely get used to this thing in time.

Something else.

In the past few days we really didn't do much. Actually we do a lot it just doesn't amount to much. We love to stay home and just loaf around the house. During the day while Abigail is in school we have the place to ourselves and us being newlyweds that is very nice. She finishes school at 2:30 or three o'clock and after that privacy time is over.

Right now she is madly in love with a band and all she does is listening to their music. Thank God all that is through an earphone otherwise we all be in a loony house.

Something else.

Next September Abigail has to go to high school. We selected a few schools along with a few private schools. The private schools are catholic high schools and one of them, the best one is just across the street from us. The catholic schools require an admission test which Abigail did take. We were recently notified that she was accepted to the second choice catholic school. And, last night there was meet and greet event.

We went to see it because we were curious about the school and how it worked. We were already told that these schools are not extremely religious. There are all different ethnicity kids attending and Catholicism is not being shoved down their throats. There is an academic subject about the history of Christianity but that is all.

At least this was what we were told.

Last night's affair started with a nun saying a prayer and most of the people putting the sign of the cross on themselves. Then the nun noted that in the cafeteria there are prayers every day and also some readings from the bible on the school loudspeaker.

That was the point when we looked at each other and realized that this was not the school for Abigail. No matter how good a school it is she is still a Jewish little girl and her mother and I will not allow our daughter to go to such a strong religious school. For higher education like college it doesn't matter what the institute's affiliation is, but to very impressionable little girl it matters a lot.

So after listening to the speeches for a half an hour and stuffing my face with chocolate chip cookies we quietly left and wrote off catholic based education. Remains the New York City public school system which I heard is not so bad either.

Wednesday

Even though I'm aware of that I am fighting a losing battle deep down I know that I'm right for not liking electronic pay systems. Today was a perfect example why I'm against it.

My car lease payments are due on the 19th of each month. For some reason we scheduled the payment for the 19th of this month on January 2 of this year. Then subsequently since it was forgotten that the payment was already scheduled this payment was again submitted a few days ago.

Result was that this morning I found a very dangerously low balance on the bank account. Upon further investigation I found that the car payment was deducted twice by the bank because it was twice paid.

I called the leasing company and they told me that at this stage there was nothing they could do. But since it was a double payment February is now considered paid. So there is a bright side of this saga but I am still against it. I still think the good old fashioned checks worked better. But hey, when I'm licked I capitulate.

As the weekend approaches news get more and more hysterical about the possibilities of a snowstorm on Saturday. Me personally, believe it when it gets here. I think the weather forecasters get to be paid off by the sanitation unions because the only ones who profit from these storms are the sanitation workers. They sit in their snow plow/salter trucks all night drinking coffee and hot chocolate and wait for the snow. And in the meantime getting overtime pay. And they have the nerve to ask the public to feel sorry for the poor overworked sanitation workers.

Nobody ever felt sorry for me in my working days when I had to work overtime, which included working seven days a week.

Tuesday

It was brrrr cold today. It looks like winter finally arrived. They also forecast serious snow for the weekend. I can't wait to see the city under a nice white blanket. But weather forecast is about as lame as the financial forecast.

They are only successful with retroactive forecasting. They have no idea what to expect but they can clearly explain why what happened happened. Was this a deep enough thought.

Today's morning was spent with housecleaning and laundry. Both extremely exciting however, when I do it alongside my wife I really don't mind it at all. This is a large apartment and it needs constant upkeep. She cleans it every day but once a week it is also being washed behind the ear.

As I mentioned it earlier we started paperless bill paying through the internet. I am in a constant fear for what do we or did we forget to pay. I guess I am too old fashioned and need to get used to this system. I have to realize that I have to move with the times. I thought I was patriotic when I wrote checks and mailed them because I placed postage stamps on the envelops and kept the postal system operating. Now, I am abandoning my patriotic attitude and will not buy anymore stamps.

Sorry mailman!.

Sunday/Monday

I am not a tardy person but this time I have to say mea culpa because last night I just plain forgot to write. I am not promising that this will not happen again but I will make every effort for not to skip any day.

Yesterday we had a very lovely brunch with my former brother-in-law and current friend and his wife. The brunch was for my birthday and it was held in a nice Manhattan eatery. The weather was good, parking was no problem and we spent a good two and a half hour eating and talking. Haven't seen each other for a very long time so there was a lots of catching up to do.

My wife, Abigail and me ate well but abstained from dessert because we had an ulterior motive for after brunch.

And that was going in to the Hungarian pastry shop and have some good Hungarian pastry, which we did. My wife had a nice generous portion of chestnut puree, I had a humongous slice of poppy strudel while Abigail had a similarly humongous portion of apple strudel. Interestingly, we ate everything. Meaning the stuff must have been good.

By the time we left the pastry shop snow was coming down pretty strong. Not a blizzard but a good snow shower. January 17, that was the first snow for this winter season. It snowed on and off all night long and this morning there were areas covered and most of the cars on the street were blanketed. But unfortunately (for me) it didn't last and in spite of the cold by the end of the day most of it was gone.

Today is MLK Day and that is a national holiday. Some businesses are closed but I never had this day off when I was part of the working class. The only thing we noticed that traffic was lighter than usual.

Schools were closed today and because of this Abigail was home. It is totally fascinating how a 13 year old can piss a day away without doing anything useful. All day on the smart phone/tablet/Skype and God knows what else. Somewhere in this three day weekend the homeworks were squeezed in but I really don't know when and how.

As long as the good grades keep coming in I'm ok with it.

Saturday

I skipped a few days of writing because I was told not to go near my computer. Actually the reason was medical. Last Tuesday I went to see an eye specialist because earlier my optometrist said I should have my eyes checked for glaucoma.

So I took my eyes to the doctor for the checkup. The last time I went to see an ophthalmologist was over twenty years ago and I really didn't know what to expect. About twenty-five years ago I had cataract surgeries and I didn't have any problems since.

The doctor now told me that on my left eye there is a little secondary cataract that should be removed. The reading test proved that point because I had trouble reading certain lines from the chart. The doctor said the procedure is very minor and it is done with laser and he could do it right there and then. I naturally agreed to it, why drag it out unnecessarily.

So, he did it. Blasted my eyes with the laser for about twenty five minutes or less and then it was over. I didn't feel anything except I see clearer on that eye now. He prescribed an eye drop that I had to use only for three times. Do you know how much it cost after insurance? $266 was my copay. Unbelievable! They gave me a coupon but the coupon had so many exclusions that I was not able to make use of it.

Next time I'll try to get the prescription done at a Sunoco station because over there I get a 5 cent a gallon discount.

Now, because this procedure was done I was advised to take it easy for about three days and try not to strain my eyes. My wife said looking at the computer screen strains the eyes and that was why I couldn't do anything.

I guess he isn't to concerned about my glaucoma because he only wants to see me in three weeks. Why should he be? It is my glaucoma, not his!

Politics

This thing that I write is not a diary but sometimes when I can not find anything worthwhile to write about I am forced (by me) to note our daily events. Some people might find it interesting some people might find it boring. But hey, this is my blog and this is my freedom of the press!

Let's talk a little about politics. I don't know much about politicians in other countries but I do know that American politicians from the lowest level of office all the way up to the top are lying, self centered and mostly crooked people. Their only interest which they bury in slogans like "it is what's good for the people" is what they can get out of it.

In this democratic world it has been proven that if one is poor that person has no chance whatsoever to run for any office. However if one has a considerable wealth behind him that is an entire different world.

Bloomberg and Trump are the perfect examples. Mr. Bloomberg wanted to be the Mayor of New York City and he succeeded. Now, he might run for president of the US and who knows. Mr. Trump is pursuing the presidency of the United States and he is not making any secret about his wealth and the fact that it is that what mabe it possible for him to get this far.

He is very popular among the common people. He says what everybody want to hear but nobody says it because it might not be the correct thing. He is against the establishment and that scares the upper echelon of the Republican Party. They really don't know what to do about him but the way I understand if he gets the nomination they just have to accept him and officially support him.

His message is a little confusing and sometimes scary because a lot of extreme right wingers started out like this and by gaining public support, from the wrong public, they attained real power.

Yet, I think this country needs somebody like him and not a demagogue who will just talk but will not deliver. It should be fun to see someone like him elected because he might just turn the entire Washington establishment upside down. And, maybe this is what this country needs.

Sunday

When somebody lives a life filled with love and excitement every day is a birthday. Everyday there is something new is to be discovered through love and care. The fact that yesterday was my birthday is only a calendrical event. That was the day I saw daylight way back then. But now and now is more important than any other time, every day is a new adventure for me thus every day is a kind of birthday.

Yes, we have misunderstandings and sometimes we do argue but and that is the most important thing we never go to bed angry and mad at each other. In my opinion any marriage where there are no disagreements is not a normal marriage. We are individuals with individual thoughts. We don't always have to agree with each other.

Actually, if we want to keep the peace and get dinner in the evening we better agree! I'm sure that all my friends who have been married a long time agree with this philosophy.

Today is Sunday and because of the crappy weather we stayed home the entire day. We both love to stay home and enjoy our apartment and not for last but we also love being with each other.

Tomorrow we plan to go the gym. Actually we had plans to go today but today's plan somehow got sideswiped. You know how it is with newlyweds?

The Day of My Birth

There is an American bakery/pastry shop near us called Martha's Country Bakery with about three locations in New York City. The one near us is a very nice and large establishment. They make all kinds of pastries American really like. It is a far cry from the real Hungarian pastries but hey, beggars can not be choosers.

We went there this afternoon for some pastries. It is a sit down place with table service and we waited about ten minutes until they could sit the three of us. But this is not the interesting item.

The interesting item is that while we waited we looked around. The place was full and at the counter there was a long line, too.

When we sat down and looked at the menu we saw that prices changed from last year. A slice of cake used to cost $5.50. From January 1st they raised the price of these cakes to $6.75. That was a 23% increase. My Social Security didn't go up 23% and neither did any of my pensions. If I were working I'm sure I wouldn't have gotten a 23% salary increase.

Yet, the place was full with a line out through the door with people waiting to get in and sit at the tables and spend their money. I really don't want to hear about poverty any longer. The Opera and the theaters are full, the restaurants are full and no matter where one turns people are spending their money.

Something else.

My birthday is coming to a close. From tomorrow on I am a year older at least nominally. It was a beautiful day. My wife really beat everybody out because one minute after midnight she gave me my birthday present.

Anybody who have dirty thoughts in their minds, shame on you! She gave me a lovely card which really made me shed tears and gave me some beautiful presents. One was a Grand Marnier gift box and the other thing was a beautiful Nike warmup suit and also a bottle of men cologne. Abigail also gave me some nice things and from this morning on I was getting telephone calls, e-cards and e-mails from friends. My cousin called from Budapest that always make me feel good.

Tonight my wife and I are going out for a twosome romantic dinner. So, until now it was a beautiful day that I wish would just go on and on and on.

Friday, Birthday Eve

Today is the eve of my birthday and my family started the celebrations already. At my age birthdays are no big deals but it still feels very good when one is surrounded with love. I really can't complain because birthday or no birthday the love is there everyday.

Tonight we had a lovely dinner with the rest of the family meaning my wife's son and his girlfriend. We went to a very nice Polish restaurant the we found a few months ago. The restaurant is in a neighborhood that used to have a large Polish population but throughout the years that changed but thankfully the restaurant remained.

I had beef tartare for appetizer and roasted duck legs for main course. My wife had the world's best chicken noodle soup and Wiener schnitzel. Abigail had roasted bacon for appetizer and stuffed chicken breast while somebody else had stuffed mushrooms for appetizer and duck legs. Oh, and all the adults had good Polish beer.

In short the food was ample and very tasty. Their menu is long and that means when we go back, just the two of us, there is enough to chose from. And, it is not far from our home.

Tomorrow, Saturday we plan to go out again but this time just us two. We need some time for ourselves away from family and friends.

And day after tomorrow I will be a year older!

Thursday

We have been sitting front of this frigging computer all evening and night long trying to buy tickets to some Las Vegas shows. As I already mentioned it we plan to go LV in April and while there we want to see some shows.

I realized that New York is not the only city with unbelievable ticket prices because LV is not far behind.

With the computer freezing up on us more than once and constantly one of us having a better idea we finally managed to buy tickets to two shows. Since we are only going for one week two shows should be enough because we have to leave some time for the casinos too.

If all goes well we will see Elton John and the Million Dollar Quartet. Last time we saw Dion so this time we will see Sir Elton. One biggie a time is enough. Now that this all done we can start looking at the what to do in Honolulu page. Hopefully we will have a chance to see one maybe two luaus. But we will se. We have plenty of time until July.

I have a friend, the one who flew Business Class to Australia, who plans all his vacations years ahead and I think being with him is getting to be contagious because my wife is already looking where we should spend New Years Eve.

Thursday

We were making plans to go to Las Vegas for a week at the end of April. We were there, we loved it so why not to go back when there is a chance? We made the arrangements a while back except that we didn't buy the plane tickets because the prices were high then and we were waiting for them to go down.

Last night we decided not to wait any further so started to check out the possibilities. It was very surprising to see how few planes fly direct from New York to Las Vegas. On most of the flights a change is necessary. Some stops are along the way but some are ridiculously out of the way. We checked and checked for seemingly forever.

Finally we found a reasonable flight with acceptable arrival and departure times and started making the arrangements. When we were finally done and pressed the submit button a message came back that the airline(Delta) was very sorry but the trip at this price was just sold out. You can imagine our annoyance at this but there was nothing else to do but start again.

Finally we found a reasonably priced flight that will fly through Minneapolis-St. Paul. It's a little detour but the good thing is that on one side of the plane there are only two seats in a row.

Now, my question is that why there are direct flights from Minneapolis to Las Vegas and not from New York?

Something else.

Tonight my wife made a fantastic Hungarian dinner. A sour egg soup with poached egg in it and stuffed pepper for main course. Can't begin to tell how good it was. The stuffed pepper was great but it will be even better tomorrow or the day after. It is always like that.

Tuesday

This morning I took Abigail to school and it was about 12 degrees Fahrenheit. Really cold. The one drawback this new apartment house has that there is no direct access from inside the building to the garage. That means we have to go out to the street and walk about twenty five steps before entering the nice, enclosed and heated garage. Terrible nuisance!

The previous building had direct access from inside and that also meant that in bad weather we could stay dry because didn't have to go out and brave the elements. In case it was not obvious we are very, very spoiled here.

Something else.

This morning was spent with very exciting things. We did our weekly laundry and cleaning house.

Today I got a call from an old friend and colleague of mine. I know the bloke for at least forty years because we worked together practically side by side. He "retired" from the company shortly after I did but after a while he realized that being home wasn't his cup of tea and went back to work. And, he has been working ever since. He is an engineer with great experience in our field so it was not difficult for him to find a job. He is a few years older than I am but he is putting in full weeks of work.

We had a long conversation and we reminisced about old colleagues and their whereabouts. Interestingly, he is currently working on a project that we all worked on back in those days and part of which never materialized because of budget problems. Now they have the money and the project is a reality and he is working on it.

it was good to hear his voice and we agreed that we would meet one day in Manhattan for lunch after Winter is over.

Monday

This morning the temperature dropped to close to freezing and that was the news headline. The fact that some people were killed or that a war was being fought in the Middle East or that market was below the basement were all not important. The most important thing was that it was close to 32 degrees. Now isn't this ridiculous and sad at the same time.

So many things are happening in this world and nobody care about it except that today it was a little colder. Well, it is Winter for God's sake. It is normal that finally we are getting cold and wintry weather.

I don't want to blow it but thankfully this apartment is pretty warm So far the building is supplying plenty of heat not like the other building where we had more winter days with no heat than I care to think about.

We didn't do much all day. Stayed in the neighborhood, ran some errands, picked up Abigail at her school, did some food shopping than stayed home for the rest of the day.

And I have to tell you it was very pleasant. Even though we love the apartment and love to stay home we will not become homebodies, that's for sure.

Saturday/Sunday

this will compensate for the day I just didn't have time to write about. Today is Sunday and Saturday we were so busy I just couldn't get to sit down and write. But it was good busy if I may say so.

We had things to do around the house and at the end of the day we went to the Opera to see The Barber of Seville. One just do not go to the Opera without some preparation may that one be a man or a woman. We have to decide what to wear because even if some idiots show up dressed like they go to the supermarket we don't do that.

The other extreme is men in tuxedos and women in long gowns. We don't do that either. We dress normal as it befits the opera. My wife had a long dress and I had a blazer on. We weren't the best dressed but we were close to it.

The performance was great with a total sellout. The program said it was the last performance of this opera for the season. It was sung in English but for understanding it could have been sung in Arabic because it was not possible to understand the words without reading the little prompter front of every seat. But then people don't go to the opera to listen to the words, right?

After the performance we went out to dinner to a very nice Italian restaurant and had a great dinner. By the time we got home it was well past midnight but not being tired enough we sat down to watch some television. There was a Twilight Zone marathon on one station and we were watching those episodes until almost four in the morning.

Probably that was the reason why we didn't get up until past one in the afternoon. But tomorrow life start anew, Abigail is going back to school and that means a 6:30 am alarm.

In the meantime today is a nice, slow family day.

The New Year

The new year is now well underway. The first day is almost over and there is only 364 more to go until the next party. But as a very good friend of mine said it we are not in a hurry.

Yesterday was New Year's Eve. We had a very good time because the family was together. We went out for an earlier dinner, between 8 and 10 in the evening then went up to our apartment and partied well past midnight. We all had a good time.

I am a little superstitious when it comes to luck. I heard of a Hungarian (I think) custom where everybody hold some money in their hand as midnight approaches and at the stroke of twelve jump into the new year with the money. It supposed to mean the year will be good as far as money goes. We also ate some lentils because they say that will also bring good luck.

Here are a few other beliefs. Do not eat chicken and pork around New Year because they will not bring good luck.

I made sure everybody had a dollar bill in their hands and we all jumped. Time will tell if that thing works or not. Oh, that bill is not supposed to be spent.

Because the day ended kind of late or early in the morning today we didn't get up until about one in the afternoon but by the time we left the house it was after five. Slow day!

We wanted to go out for a New Year brunch but by the time we got ready it was more like an early dinner than brunch. We also opened some mail that was delivered yesterday and since as I said I am superstitious I was very pleasantly surprised when a check fell out of one of the envelopes. An older lady whom I know just found out that we recently got married and sent us a very nice wedding present. My wife says getting a check on New Year's Day is a very good sign. Who am I to argue?

Tomorrow is Saturday and in the evening we are going to the Opera to see The Barber of Seville. If anybody is interested next time I'll tell the story.

New Year Day

Due to the heavy partying all I have strength left to say to my friends around the world that Happy and Healthy New Year to all!