My Dad's Eightieth Birthday

Today is my dad Irwin's 80th birthday. Yes he was born January 24, 1928. Like all depression-era dads of the Jewish persuasion, his mantra is "Don't buy me anything; I don't want you to spend your money." This would not be so annoying if I knew something he wanted, so I could just send it to him. But the man has no interests besides the Disabled Veterans,of which he is an officer, his grandchildren [my sister's kids], and reading. I was thinking of sending him Tom Brokaw's new book "Boomer" because I know he will enjoy readin about the 60s, when he was a young-ish dad. But he thinks buying books is a waste of money. "I can just go to the 'liberry'", he says. Oh, what to do........

In Memory of Suzanne Pleshette aka Emily Hartley

I heard today that Suzanne Pleshette died and a few memories came back.
First, I remember how much she was a part of my 70s life, as Emily Hartley, wife of psychologist Bob Hartley of "The Bob Newhart Show". When I was at SUNY Stony Brook, few people were around on Saturday night on campus. Stony Brook was a real suitcase school, one of my biggest mistakes in life. But that's another story. So I and my boyfriend Jeff Nahmias would go over to Roth Quad and look to see if Bob Komitor and his gang were around for the weekend. We would get drunk or high and watch "The Carol Burnett Show", "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", and the "Bob Newhart Show". And of course after 1975, we watched "Saturday Night Live"

So today made me think about the seventies. And also about the first time I stayed up to watch "The Birds", that scary Alfred Hitchcock movie. Suzanne Pleshette was in that too, as Annie the schoolteacher who rents out a room in her cottage to Tippi Hedren. That movie freaked me out so much that my mom had to feed my pet parakeet, Davy Jones, for two weeks because I couldn't go near him!

Forced to Shut Up and Sit Still

I thought I would start by telling why I chose this title.
All my life, I have been running, always busy and always talking.
In January of 2004, I was diagnosed with ALS/Lou Gehrig's Disease. But this blog is not about that; I have a separate blog for that called Living With ALS, which you are welcome to read too.
But since I am now confined to a wheelchair and cannot speak anymore, I have been forced to shut up and sit still, and reflect on my life as a boomer [born June 7, 1955]

I will first open with a paraphrase of a question posed by the John Cusack character in the film "High Fidelity"

WAS I MISERABLE BECAUSE I LISTENED TO POP MUSIC, OR DID I LISTEN TO POP MUSIC BECAUSE I WAS MISERABLE.....

HMMMMMMMMM