The Coxswain

A friend suggested that because I was brought up having 4 sisters and no brothers as the reason being why women more than men can identify with me.  There has always been that nurturing side of me that is stereotypically innate in the female of the species and because my formative years were spent in the company of female siblings exclusively I learned to empathize more skillfully than most males that grew up in a more balanced gender setting. This is not without its problems however as I have discovered more of late. Women are much more skilled at multi-tasking and I although am blessed with creative talent, I do not have that complex adroitness that distaffed humans carry like second nature. I am constantly forgetting everything from where my phone, wallet and keys are. Or I leave the house without articles of clothing to change into after exercise and without a conscious plan I tend to drive ad hoc and that has its advantage of spontaneity however it does not carry the fundamental need for practicality. 

This connection to my anima leaves me adrift because often I feel I am in a boat with no oars and without a coxswain to pilot my course. As a man I need to make decisions to let go of people and situations that deprive me of any peace of mind and keep me locked into people pleasing. When I have to make decisions about what to do logically they usually are much easier for me to make than those that face me when flesh and blood are involved.   Running in place never works for me as in most males we need to see and feel we are making progress even if it is sometimes in circles.  

The Eye of the Storm and the Damage Done

Wind is only second to the power of water and yesterday we had both.  Preparedness was the watchword for this storm and according to the early returns the media as cynics might say duped us once again. If the storm maintained its intensity we would have had more damage than anyone of us could have anticipated but outside of scattered outages we did all right. The Internet is out and I think that causes more consternation and upsetment than any other inconvenience outside of electrical power. Even cell phones are working and land lines too unless you have them plugged into an electric socket. 

I suppose events like this bring people together as most acts of Mother Nature do and it’s something we can talk about into Monday and maybe stretch into later in the week for water cooler confabs and it will probably will be a great source of human-interest stories for the television stations. They for some reason love to interview the person on the street for reactions that they seem to have little interest in outside of the questions they pose and these snippets have little to do with news as our next shower does but I guess they think it comforts us to know that someone else is being affected just like them.  I for one find them annoying and useless sound bytes that serve no real purpose other than to take up airtime because the factual parts of any story just can’t fill the whole time void in the hour allotted.  

So what can we do without power? The high priestess of false security is the one convenience technology has not been able to improve on or even replace and outside of battery power, flashlights and candle power we have the choice of filling our bodies with empty calories or how about we pick up one of the books we bought but never started or maybe we have a serious conversation with a member of our family or significant other that resembles an essay rather than short sentences that never seem to capture what is really going on in our lives. Or more likely most of us will sit in anxious anticipation waiting for the invisible phenomena to be restored.  

Scarsdale Sidebar

I am listening to three women in a spirited free flowing confab that if not for my lack of interest in the dynamically changing subject matter, I would try to tap in to the energy that the trio possesses in varying degrees.  A fourth joins the fray and the leader who seems to be spearheading the direction of the vocal diatribes asks our new arrival what’s wrong. In stereotypical feminine fashion she responds: Nothing. Do we all do that? Answer in the defensive posture no matter what might be plaguing our psyches? 

The fourth member seems to have settled in and starts to contribute to the modern verbal flow. The most vociferous of these distaff musketeers starts to add in the F word and a mild sense of shock flows through the other three. Had it not been for my presence on the periphery all would have been nonplussed by the oft-used adjective?  

I have been discovered and it’s by the daughter of one of the foursome as one asks me what vociferous means. I tell her the meaning and I guess a sense of relief falls as the offspring might have thought I uttered something derogatory about her mother. Once informed a chorus of agreement blankets the space.  The din escalates as the estrogen field increases to 9.  A middle aged man watches in subdued amazement as the spirited conversations continue.  

Small Change

Change is inevitable. When it comes we can choose to accept it or we can complain, lament and resist. Or we can embrace it and take what is and make it a superlative instead of a question mark.  

Most would say that change is difficult and upsets our normal rhythms. I think of it as just the opposite. Change takes us out of complacency where we usually find ourselves, as routine becomes an old habit.  Someone told me that change is good and although I believed it in my head my heart couldn’t wrap itself around that concept. As age has moved upon me and the blanket of wisdom is forced upon me, I understand now that change is one of the greatest gifts the universe invites us to unwrap. The rhythm of change is like the next hit song on our own Billboard top ten and we can choose to dance to the new music or sit out like a wallflower.  

The Number 9

The number 9 is the most over used number that advertisers employ in they’re pricing and they just fail to get it that we are just not that stupid any more. Think of it you see it everywhere in virtually every commercial on television or in the market place the number 9 is sure to be found. And usually accompanied by another 9, like the lease payment is only $199 per month. Of course when you add in that you have to come up with 3,000 in up front costs you can qualify for  this big bargain. And usually if you look at the small print about well-qualified buyers that price doesn’t apply.  I usually add about 40-50% to any lease price as what the real world cost is.   Why does any company think that by offering any product with a 99 attached to it that the consumer thinks they are getting a bargain?

Why not tell us the real price instead and build some credibility with their customers? No they would rather give us the make believe price and have us do the real math and add all the extra charges like taxes and shipping and handling. (S&H) Take for instance one of the most hated companies, Cablevision who advertise their Optimum Triple Play for 99.95. It’s a bold faced lie. Add in the taxes and it’s 139.00 if it’s a penny. See they have me doing it too. Even that nut Bob’s Furniture store has that 99 on every piece of his schlock furniture. 

And the piece de resistance is the oil companies offering gas prices at 3.99 per gallon. But they took it a step further and they add 9 mills to the price. So 3.99 and 9 tenths of a penny. This practice originated back to the early 1930’s and the great depression and the fact that it lingers is pure lunacy.  Why hasn’t some government agency changed this archaic practice?  Think of all the things that have changed in the last 100 years and 9/10ths of a penny remains.   Some studies say that consumers think that they are getting a bargain and that they are paying a penny less, but gas stations round up to the nearest penny so it’s fools gold. 

The number 9 only sounded good when the Beatles played it in Revolution Number 9, otherwise I think 9 should be banished from the advertisers pen. Just a note I was in a store recently and the food served had all of its prices in even numbers with the tax already figured in. Take the hint Madison Avenue and stop lying give us the real price