Time Time Time

Now that I am in my third decade on Earth, time seems to be speeding up. Things that happened 3 years ago feel like they were only last year. Christmases come and Christmases go. Every day its almost the same routine (only with a different outfit). Of course there are also wonderful things like my wedding and honeymoon, vacations and special or fun moments with family and friends and feelings of accomplishment.

When I was young, one year seemed to take forever to go by. Maybe I should quit my job and go to college again..I wonder if time would slow down? I am just afraid that in the blink of an eye, I will wake up and be 70. I haven't even accepted being middle aged yet! With time speeding up, everything becomes important. In your 20's, it feels as if you have years and years to think about these life changes. There is no rush, people will even tell you to "take your time, enjoy life first". But suddenly, when you are in your 30's, the decisions need to be made now. Very bad for someone who has a hard time making decisions. What if I am 40 and am still struggling with these same questions? This, coupled with the aging process, makes it even more difficult. Especially when you still feel young.

I have a great husband, step-daughter, family, friends, a stable job, fun coworkers, an apartment in a decent neighborhood...but I wish time would slow down. I want all the special moments to really last. I want to go on vacation for a week and have it feel like a month. I want actual time to think about major decisions. Maybe everything is more "rushed" as we get older. We aren't spending as much time with our friends, because most of us are married and have children and full time jobs, sometimes its hard for us to even make an appointment for ourselves because our lives are so harried. We are always rushing from one thing to the next, getting ready for work, staying late at work, making dinner, caring for kids, packing stuff up, checking emails, making phone calls, doing research...maybe time seems to be passing us by at the speed of light because we need to slow down.

*I did not mean to give off a pessimistic vibe here, this is just something that has been on my mind for awhile as I am struggling to make some changes in my own life. Hopefully by publishing this post, I will cure my "blogger's block".

What happened to the old Chun-Li?

After playing and mastering a lot of moves in "Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Comics", we sold the game and bought "Street Fighter IV". I used to spend hours as a kid in pizzerias and arcades playing Street Fighter. I always won using Chun-Li, she had kick-ass moves, even against Ryu or E. Honda. I was thrilled to be able to play as Chun-Li once again on my PS3. I was really disappointed that her moves are no longer consistent, she is swift but lacks control and her moves overall are not as rough as they used to be. I was also reading that she has one of the hardest challenge modes in the game. I thought maybe it was because I didn't have her moves down yet, that I had to get used to playing the game a bit more, but I have played using the other characters and their moves are a lot more potent. They also had to "slut her up", her unlockable outfits make her look like a street walker, not a street fighter.

And Kristin Kreuk playing her in the movie? Give me a break. The actress is only half Chinese and thats what she looks like. Chun-Li, is from China and even has an accent. Too bad they have ruined the best female fighter of the video arcade days.

Cleaning up the neighborhood

So St. John's Hospital recently closed. I feel bad for all the people who were receiving care there as a convenience and now have to go elsewhere, but I am so glad that we are rid of of this vile institution. My mother was also treated horribly there years ago. Hub DRAGGED me here last year for treatment.

They threw everyone in the emergency room, even those like me who weren't "emergency" patients and told us we were lucky to have a bed! Then they moved me into a holding area, the hallway. The whole time, no one, not the nurses, physician assistants or other staff knew what the HELL was going on. 15 people told me not to eat for 2 days so I followed their order- I had to tell the people delivering lunch to give my food away. Then it turns out - Oops I could have eaten because my surgery wouldn't be till a weekday. They told me that Sunday night, and after 2 days of not eating your appetite is pretty much gone.

Lets see, what else. There were 4 people to a room, and I shit you not a nurse came in to take my temp and blood pressure every 15 godamned minutes! Talk about a waste of resources. If I were in intensive care, I would see no problem with this. Some young punk nurse came in and asked if he could give me a breast and anal exam. I asked if it was necessary, it wasn't and I sent him on his way. Also once a day I had to answer questions about how I was feeling, and Sunday they sent some crazy priest in to talk to all the patients. He basically looked at me like I was Satan when I said I wasn't religious. I didn't know I had to be to receive proper care!

When I asked repeatedly who my Dr. would be, if I was having surgery, how long I had to stay there, no one knew anything. Yet they were looking at a chart and writing stuff down! One PA actually said "you will remain here until you get better". Oh yes, that's EXACTLY the answer someone wants to hear a month before their wedding. A nurse yelled at me because I was walking in the hall with my own socks and not hospital socks.

HMMM then there were the anesthesiologist students! They had no idea what they were doing, poked and prodded me to stick a simple IV in, one pumped air through me and I thought I would pass out. And try to get an actual nurse to do it? Finally one HAD to because my Dr. was frustrated and asked them what the hold up was. And she was a peach, looked at my chart and said "hmmph, your anemic" and walked away.

They should just demolish the building and call it a day. The mall is right across the street, so a nice row of shops would be wonderful.

MTA needs to care more about safety

This is a picture I took of the Grand Avenue train station on my way to work this morning. The snow has not been cleared off the entry or steps at ALL. The last time we had a snowstorm, a couple of ladies and myself almost fell going up the stairs. The snow from the morning had turned into a sheet of ice. Luckily, one grabbed my arm and we held onto each other. What about the elderly and disabled who already have trouble walking? This is ridiculous, can't the MTA spare a worker to shovel? Or would they just rather be sued?

Two of my favorite infomercials

According to all the infomercials I have seen, I can have acne free skin in 2 days, learn to play the piano overnight, get paid TONS of money for placing tiny classified ads, wear makeup but have it look as if I am not wearing any, cook 10 rotisserie chickens all at once, workout for 10 minutes a day and have rock hard abs, take out any stain- even grape juice or detox by placing a pad on my foot. The best one I Have seen recently was for The Jack LaLane Power Juicer. "The power juicer changed my life" one actor reported. They couldn't even get any decent celebrities, besides Shar Jackson, K-Fed's baby mama. Ummm I have a blender. And a Cuisinart.

Please check out my two favorite infomercials of all time. Amazingly, these are real products. The first one is for a facial mask with Linda Evans, the second one is for something called the facial flex. I am seriously thinking of getting one or both of these for Halloween.

To catch a theif.....

My hub got a free subscription to The Wall Street Journal with something he bought last year. However someone has been STEALING it- I only got it once this whole week! I have been reading it on my commute to and from work. Usually it is in the vestibule, other times near the mailboxes. We called The Wall St. Journal to tell them of our dilemma and according to representatives from the newspaper, they cannot put labels on due to security reasons. Nice. However they told us that besides us, one other person has a subscription in our building. Normally there are two papers in the morning.

So I made a sign yesterday morning and hung it in the lobby. It said "Please stop taking The Wall St. Journal that does not belong to you". Lo and behold, last night I came home, and my sign was gone! WTF! People are always leaving notes about their mail or Fed-EX packages, not to mention hub told the porter that it was my sign and not to remove it. So I hung one up AGAIN last night and this time added to it " Your neighbor pays for this paper, it is not free for anyone to take!". So this morning, my sign was still there and again NO NEWSPAPER! Am I going to have to make the sign in all different languages too because apparently, the person who stole my paper after reading the sign (in 36 pt. font) does not speak english!

Of course besides a tenant, the super could always be disposing of it when he mops the floors. I know for a fact it was delivered, becasue hub went down in the morning at 7AM, it was there. When I went down at 830 it was already gone.

So to my ignorant neighbor, please be prepared for me to catch you on Monday. I am willing to hang out in the lobby to see if you will still take it while I am sitting there. And if you are lucky, I will deposit it in the incinerator on my floor in the evening. If you really want to read a free newspaper, you can grab a Metro near the train station (like I was forced to do today) or read my day old paper.

Update:

So my neighbor left his phone number on my sign. Hub called the WSJ this morning again about the issue, they said now we are the only ones who should be getting a paper. so I called my neighbor and was explaining to which his response was "it's mine it's mine!". He claimed he also called the WSJ and they confirmed his account. Then he said "lets do a conference call with them", and I agreed. Hub and him were on the phone with the WSJ, apparantly his account had been suspended and will resume on Tuesday. Hopefully this has been resolved and we will have our paper on Monday.

Are we Humans? Or are we Bicyclists?

Did the bicyclists of NYC take some sort of oath that says you are neither a human nor a vehicle? As a pedestrian waiting to cross the street, I see you whiz by with the cars and trucks. But then as I cross and have the right of way, you also are zooming down the street sometimes honking a horn or shouting obscenities at those of us who are in your way.

Please ride with the cars, and if you don't feel secure enough to do that, leave the bikes at home and walk. Riding on the sidewalk is not OK either.

* Title inspired by The Killers hit song-what can I say, when your hub listens to something enough, it sticks in your head.