RobZerrvations
Musings from a Meandering, Mischievous Mind
Ho, Ho, Yo!
I find myself in a weird place. No, I'm not back in Florida, though that would certainly be weird. Instead, I find myself strangely in the Christmas spirit. Usually, I begrudgingly get in somewhat of a Christmas mood after Thanksgiving. I've even gone so far as to go to the Macy's Christmas Parade on the day after Thanksgiving. No, not the one in New York City. That would be another weird place for me. I'm talking about the one in Seattle. Oh, sure, I'll put up the Christmas tree and go...
Mom.
My mom died this morning (Nov. 12). I always love how people on Facebook readily share stuff like this. Sure, I'm an open book. I write about my entire life, the good, the bad, the ugly. And yet, I can't post that my mom has died. It's not that it was unexpected. She was 88. Her husband, my dad, died 31 years before her. We used to joke that because they were both adverse to divorce, my father died because he thought it was the only viable way out. Such is our family's twisted, wonderful...
Traveling Here And There.
A couple days ago I was watching a special on PBS. I'm not usually the PBS type of guy, largely because I hate sitting through all those interminable pleas for money. They only seem to show really good stuff when there is a fund drive. This night was an exception. The show (American Masters: The Boomer List) was a series of interviews with Boomers, some very famous to our generation, others less so, or at least on the surface. It was a really great documentary on my generation. Granted, I...
Come On By.
When I was a kid, I remember fondly how people would just drop by our house unannounced. Sometimes it would be a friend of one of my brothers; other times those stopping by came from my overly extended Catholic family. It wasn't totally unreasonable for several people to drop by at the same time, as if drawn by an invisible "visitation magnet," pulled to the Zerr house by some unknown force. This was particularly true on a Sunday afternoon. Relatives would flock to the house to visit, have...
Pickety, Pickety, Pickety.
I have a few friends who have recently entered the film industry, and a few others who love to romanticize about how glamorous it would be. I always smile a very knowing smile, the "been there and done that" kind of smile, knowing that the life is neither glamorous nor is it particularly pleasant, unless you are the director or star. Making movies and even videos is mundane work for the most part. Even on the set, it's 12 to 16 hour days with very few of them actually filming. Lights need to...
Ready Freddy?
I've been in something of a wishful state lately. I wish I could turn back the clock of time, perhaps all the way back to 2004 when I left for Florida. I want that time back so I could spend a little more time with Kat, if only a few extra days. Of course, Kat likes to remind me that such things are nonsense, because timing is everything in a relationship. Oh sure, you have to meet at some point, and one of you has to have the guts to ask the other one out on a date. You have to find some...
The Bench Warmer.
I admit that I have been in a state of flux since 2006. As with most of you, I was certain there were nine planets in our solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus (which I still laugh about every time I say it out loud in public) and Pluto. In 2006 things went to hell in a hand basket as the astronomy gods, i.e., the International Astronomical Union, redefined what it meant to be a planet, all because they found another planet, one with the less than...
Criss. Cross.
I once had a love of mine tell me that I led a big life, one that she could never see herself being a part of because her life was relatively small, and she liked it that way. I didn't really understand what that meant at the time. After all, it's hard if not impossible to step out of your own life and see it from afar, as if being a spectator. To me, it was just life, one that offered adventure, occasionally heartbreak, random successes and classic crashes. It was just life, my life. It...
Live With Thats.
I've been thinking a lot about Live With Thats lately. Over the course of my life, I have had more Live With Thats than I can count, largely because I would find myself in relationships where this round peg was never going to ever fit into that square hole. O.K., minds out of the gutter. If you've ever had a relationship that just wasn't quite right, you probably indulged in the Live With Thats, too. The person you are dating has some quirks that are pretty far afield from what you're either...
Goldilocks And The Three Beds.
Some time ago I mentioned that I had never purchased a new bed in my life. I know this sounds a bit strange, me being on the flip side of five decades and still not owning a new bed. That's not to say I never had a bed. I had one that a dead uncle had once, another that I bought off a pirate friend of mine. I also had a bed that was well beyond being considered a bed; it being so old that it was made in a period of time when they didn't put padding or fabric over the bottom springs. I...
I Forgive You.
It's funny how our past likes to screw up our present and shade our future. I never really understood how much, until I finally came to terms with the fact that sometimes life is damned unfair, and at times, even completely miserable. I have certainly had extended periods in my life when I was unhappy and miserable. I can safely say that I probably reveled in it more than I should have. That's part of the curse of being a writer; you can use the proverbial pen to spill all the injustices of...
A Fish Out Of Water.
A week or so ago, our fish died. He was a fish out of water, literally. I found him on the bathroom counter one day. He must have been out of water for a while, for there was a foot-long path of scales and goo trailing across the counter from the bowl. I only came upon him by accident. I had gone to the bathroom to trim my moustache. It was then I saw the fuzzy blob of something-or-other on the counter. Being curious as to what it was, I reached out to touch it. It flipped and flopped. Me? I...