may, 1993 baja california norte it's another ubiquitously blue calee-fornia day, and i'm on the poorly-paved road twisting south from tijuana with the one-day great and powerful, taj mahndayla. he's driving his appropriately-named small black honda del sol, and we're slowly winding our way through the mural-painted fringes of tijuana towards the playas (beaches) of rosarito beach. we've crossed la frontera (the border) at san ysidro. we're definitely not in kansas anymore. there are hungry burros on the side of the road, small second world casitas and restaurantes that we gringos like
Europa, Xmas 2013-14, Swiss — Cheesy
December 23, 2013 It was hard to get out of Paris. We stayed an extra two days (out of our 25) in Belleville, the recently gentrifying part of northeast Paris proper. Not as bad as the completely over-developed Marais, formerly the old Jewish quarter, but well on its way. Perhaps the Echo Park of Pareee. Yet Belleville is charming, in a working man's kind of way. Hardly any tourists, there is a school and a church, a "poste", and the required neighborhood amenity shops: the boulangerie (for bread and bakery sweets), the boucherie (for fresh meats), small produce shops, large produce s
Europa, Xmas 2013-14, Pareeeee!
December, 2014 Just the words. "L'Isle de la Cite", the tiny island in the middle of "La Seine", from where the great city grew.  "Notre Dame", the grandest cathedral of them all, construction first begun, brick by brick, in 1153. "L'Arc de Triomphe"' built for Napoleon's once cursed, but then celebrated, early 19th century military conquests, retaken from the hated Huns In 1945. "La Tour Eiffel"' the elegant, and also once-cursed, steel tower built in 1789 for the World Exhibition in Paris, at the centennial celebration of the French Revolution. "Hotel de Ville", city hall. "Champs Ã
Europa, Xmas 2013-14, “Family”/Rotterdam
December, 24, 2013 Family and Christmas go together, right? Like love and marriage. Like horse and carriage, right? Well, I won't disagree. But growing up in a mostly non-practicing Jewish family, I didn't know much about it. Sure, we had Christmas in Salisbury Elementary School and W. Tresper Clarke High School in the 1950s and 60s suburbs of Long Island, New York. And fer sure, the other-side-of-the tracks O'Farrells and the D'Agostinos let us upper middle class Jewish kids know all about their Irish and Italian blue collar ways, with their anti-Semitic middle school harassment and
Europa, Xmas 2013-14, “In Bruges” or… On the Road Again
December 29, 2013 Eeeeeeeeeee hah! "On the road again". This time in Holland and Belgium, Xmas, 2013. I'm riding shotgun with BadAss Bro-in-law, Dillinger Dave, and we've broken out the little Audi for an all day trip to touro-Euro friendly, Bruges. We're spending the day "in Bruges", so to speak, but not with hot shot indie actor Colin Farrell, who's already made the 2008 British black comedy of the same name, but on our own, with no print outs, guide books, or plans.... just the two wives and some cash. Dave's put the pedal to the metal and we're rolling south from the Netherlands int
Coney Island
1952 i remember growing up in the 1950s. in levittown, long island. the first suburb built in america after world war 2. then in westbury, long island, about a 40 minute train ride via the long island railroad, to the old penn station in new york city. my manhattan-working, textile-brokering father took the infamous commuter train five days a week "to the city", carpooling with like-minded workaday neighbors to the train station every morning for the 7:10 a.m. express. being picked up by my mother the same five days a week at 6:05 p.m. in our plain 1956 white ford police sedan
Bali, 2012: chapter one – 9 lives times 2 and good karma
denpasar, bali, indonesia [caption id="attachment_1480" align="alignnone" width="225"] Balinese "Foo God", Denpasar and Everywhere[/caption] it's spring, 2012. time for a new adventure. i get off the plane in denpasar, bali... looking for da wife at the island's only international airport. she's gonna pick me up and bring me to the hindu-bali hotel in kuta beach. she did the same thing 12 years ago, when i returned to bali 6 months after meeting her just 1 night in kuta in june, 2000, absolutely by coincidence in front of the BCA bank's ATM. with 31 years between us and 13,000 miles of
Bali, 2012: chapter 2, stuck inside of bali, with the gouty blues again
padangbai, bali, indonesia we're staying at the padangbai beach homestay. "padang", glass. "bai", bay. padangbai, glass bay, the still-undeveloped fishing village on the still-pristine east coast of bali, still far away from the tourist hordes of kuta beach, legian, seminyak (the beverly hills of bali), and even its hindu-bali cultural heart, ubud, in the rice fields of the wet, rolling center of the island. in just over 2 weeks, we've survived da wife's dengue fever in kuta and my head-on motor bike collision in amed. we've joined in monkey chant celebrations in ubud, had mis-adventures at b
Bali, 2012: chapter 3, enter my new “partners”
padangbai, bali, indonesia and that's the way it goes down. first thing the next morning, the 3 princesses climb into the drivers' car towards kuta, LA, & medan - without even a word to me. i'm stuck in the corner, air con-less room with gout. my wife has delivered a second-hand message to me that she wants a divorce, and she hasn't spoken to me since she packed her bag and moved to room J. i've tried to make amends. but with no success. i hear her laughing with the girls, but it's a stone cold wall when it comes to me. she packs the rest of her bags in silence in the morning. she doesn't
Bali, 2012: chapter 4, the “bule” (boo-lay) squeeze
padangbai, bali, indonesia now we're at made's house in mimba village. where all the other bules are living, scattered here and there, amongst the local balinese. where all the other bules own property. or... more accurately... don't "own" property legally, but have nevertheless wangled their way through the corrupt indonesian bureaucracy to be... "living the dream." we're sitting around another wooden table and the scrolls of paper are rolled out again. i've just met made 5 hours ago, but he's already shown me the entire investment overview of both padangbai and mimba village. we've seen the