Idiot Tourists

some dumb actions by tourists when i was giving tours in New York city:

we passed right in front of the NY Stock Exchange. i said maybe more than once that it's the largest stock exchange in the world. think i said it's where trading has been done since dutch colonial times. as we turned the corner, a tourist, white adult, american, asked me twice, "so where does all the trading go on?"

we used to take the bus along Central park south, so the park was to the left. to the right were different buildings, hotels, offices etc. a dentist had an office on the second floor of one of them. an apparently everyday dentist: he wasn't getting high on gas, he wasn't dressed as a clown for kids. you know how many tourists would see the office and say, "'o look a dentist"

so to the left was maybe one of the most beautiful parks on earth, and to the right, a dentist, and they chose him. and these weren't third world folks, these again were middle americans, whites. finally i was so surprised by it i would on the microphone say, "do you folks not have dentists at home? is there a shortage where you're from?" and guess what, i would always get laughs for saying it.

Unique Language, Mom

a bunch of vocabulary my mother says regularly, i've rarely heard anyone else say:

• all heads of hair are called "curls", except if you have stringy hair, then it's "streelyas"--i wrote it phonetically because i don't know if it's a real word.
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• if you have some money to spend, you're a "Butter and Egg man" (a slang term that goes back to the 20s)
• if something's out of date: "that went out with high button shoes"
• she loves to call living things "bold" if they're being a little cocky, like a demanding cat is "bold". but if you misbehave then you're often "wicked'". like Blue jays: "o they're so wicked!"
• i've written before about her use of the word pussy. see blog: Words Change Meaning
• if someone's tone deaf: '"can't carry a tune in a bucket"
• someone talks too much: "could talk a dog off a meat wagon"
• if a female is a "poor soul" (also used often), she's often called "Ella Cinders'" instead of Cinderella
• if a female is strutting around like the bitch is back, she's called "Lizzy Jit"
• if someone's walking around quietly, almost sneaking around: "creeper mouse"

Beltane/May day

it's celebrated around the world in most regions, either as a Spring festival or a time of celebrating labor rights etc.. im focusing on the spring.

between the Equinoxes and Solstices (the days that the sun is directly lined up with the Equator or Tropic lines), are half way points. usually around the 7th but usually celebrated around the 1st, i suppose to keep the calendar neat. so they're more like movable feasts. some of these days are still celebrated much like the above, Samhain (halloween), Imbolc gives way to ground hog day, candlemass. there's also aug 1, Lughnassad. these are all Celtic names, and pre christian Pagan festivals.

anyway around now is the half way point where the Sun is really becoming more prominent in the Northern hemisphere. the Earth is more tilted towards it in the Northern hemisphere. more day light, warmth. celebrated with spring celebrations, fertility, hence marriage (i won't go on an argument against it for once), flowers, youth etc. lovely time, and of course time to send thanks, energy, sacrifice (like prayer and worship) to the Sun for all of the life it gives (most of life on Earth), and the Earth itself for the same reasons. thanks be to the Sun and Earth for giving us this most precious gift of life.

Awe Inspiring: NEw York City

the more you learn about nyc, the more in awe you become. one fact after another.

• NYC contains the largest man made object on earth as i've read. it has more volume than the Great wall of china. it was 25 meters (around 75 feet ) taller than the Statue of liberty. it was a garbage dump: the Fresh kills landfill
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• in Fort green Brooklyn lies a monument and crypt called the Prison Ship Martyrs monument. there lies remains of maybe 11.5 thousand American soldiers in freeing our nation to independence who were kept in prison ships by the british and left to die. that number in perspective: that's far more soldiers than were killed in the entire war. that's almost 300 percent of those killed Sept 11.
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• in down town ny, at 33 liberty st, is the country's largest Federal reserve bank. 80 feet below sea level, in manhattan bedrock, lies 25 percent of the words gold, the most known gold reserves in the world, more than Fort Knox. it's also said to exchange over a 1.8 TRILLION dollars worth of funds DAILY

Ironmen: My Family

please xcuse me for being somewhat self congratulatory in the following writing but i did want to document some of my family's actions:

my family, on my mother's Sexton side especially, have a way with endurance trait seems pretty extraordinary at times. examples:

• my grand father Pa (Kenneth Sexton) worked in Pennsylvanian coal mines for over 30 years, maybe closer to 40. he smoked cigars for years. he also sang into his 80s in public, well (unlike say Sinatra).
• my mother has had Multiple sclerosis for about 40 years now. employed for most of that time. she was only starting to show signs after about the 25th. she's become worse but even after a stroke, she still talks a lot,, can still enjoy many education programs
• some of my "achievements": have out ate guys twice my size, can walk forever, stay awake forever, watch cable forever, scr-w forever, some athletics, have actually lived in weather extremes like freezing cold, desert summer heat, desert wind storms, exercised in highest humidity.

the Mother of Blogs: Explanation

my mother has been quite sick for some years and it's hard to tell how much longer she has left with us, which is why i may be writing quite a lot about her now and for the near future.

partially i want to give tribute to her while she's still here: think of how many people, even the most famous and accomplished, are feted after they're gone, almost seems disrespectful in itself like you ignored them while they lived and now are talking behind their backs (or above their graves) when they're gone.

i especially want to do this because she had a stroke and memory for her is difficult. also i really do want to prepare for that fateful day when she does have to pass as we all do. i want to make sure that the best of her is memorialized and expressed at that time especially.

Selling Out

it's o.k to fight for a cause you seem to believe in for years then leave when they give you hush money?

it's o.k for the deciding factor of whether a woman goes with a man, is his security, read income?

it's o.k to whore yourself for any commercial or media appearance that pays, even after you have tens of millions of dollars?

it's o.k to take job after job even though you don't need the money or advancement when others who are struggling with making ends meet can use those jobs?

it's o.k when a famous starlet/pop chick is "advancing" her career by stripping? (how many of them became "women" by wearing little clothing in pictorials, album covers, magazine covers, videos, sex tapes etc?)