Susan's Scribblings the Blog

A writer from the Philadelphia area shares the week online.
Susan's Scribblings the Blog
  • Who the Heck is Kayewer?
  • Monthly Archives: January 2015

    • Perception of Precipitation

      Posted at 3:51 am by kayewer, on January 25, 2015

      Our winter weather isn’t like it was last year. . .at least not so far. We still have some sixty days or so to go until it’s spring. At least we will have the predictions of the groundhog a week from Monday to boost our spirits (or deflate our hopes of seeing some relief from the crazy temperature shifts and pseudo polar vortexes) and make us believe that there really are four seasons every year.

      Today it snowed and rained, making it difficult to clear sidewalks of heavy, water-laden stuff. I got my workout today, and my arms are tired. A doctor recently found a calcific density in one shoulder: he says I’ve probably had it all my life, but once it wakes up after half a century and introduces itself in the form of pain and misery, now I’ll always wonder about future pains and whether it’s just Mr. Calcific just reminding me, “Hey, I’m still here!” Not what you want to hear while shoveling snow.

      I have a pair of favorite ugly shoes which I wear on snow days when boots are just too much and good shoes too stupid a choice. I’ve broken them out a few times this month. The important thing is to stay on one’s feet on pavements and in parking lots, especially when they become swimming pools by day and ice rinks at night.

      We’re on the verge of another snow event this week. They seem to be coordinating their appearance with rush hour traffic this year. My thought is that weather reacts to population, so when we all head out the door at once to go to work or drop the kids off at school, the buildup of precipitation gathers where we are and joins the hectic pace. We’d rather they take public transportation.

      Spring is destined to come. If we can just get through a few more weeks, we might beat the dire events of 2014 and say it was a good winter. Just keep the parkas and mittens on standby in the meantime.

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    • Pan Can’t Handle

      Posted at 3:54 am by kayewer, on January 18, 2015

      I was on the PATCO High-Speedline this afternoon and found a panhandler in the aisle accosting riders for a buck if they could spare it. The fellow had one of those horseshoe-shaped nose piercings, which made him look like a pair of silver snotters were dangling from his nose, and a gemstone was gleaming from below his eye socket.

      So the guy who could afford body jewelry wanted a handout.

      Sorry dude, you can pawn the bling and learn to get your priorities straight (as in staying healthy first by getting some food, and looking bling-y later). Nobody was reaching for their wallets.

      Sure, some folks out there would say give the kid some change. We’ve all had those rebellious stages, after all, and he might really be out of luck. However, choosing jewelry over food, clothing or shelter is not a responsible way to exist.

      Some of this body jewelry is just too strange, such as gigantic O-rings in people ears. I can just imagine the wind roaring through those holes. I can imagine the massive, saggy earlobes when those things come out, and the staggering plastic surgeon bills to restore order when the kids are ready for the job market.

      When I was young, ear piercing was a masochistic rite of passage for only the really brave or stupid. One post in each ear, and that was pushing the envelope.  Usually by the time the sales clerk broke out the implant device to shoot the earring into the lobe, panic (and some nausea) had already set in), and faces turned green and scrunched up with awe and terror as a poor victim got zinged. Some sadistic parents had tiny posts introduced into infants’ ears because it was a cultural thing. My folks didn’t subscribe to that sort of stuff.

      If you don’t have piercings, it’s hard to imagine having them; if you have them, you probably feel naked without them. They’re just extras, though, and the rest of one’s presentation in the social circle doesn’t often suffer for a lack of jewelry, but for overdoing it.

      I’ll just stick with a watch.

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    • Thank You, Customers

      Posted at 3:40 am by kayewer, on January 11, 2015

      My job has me wearing many hats; sometimes I have to deal with customers on the phone when they are probably going to be in a bad mood. I want to thank everybody I talked to this week, because except for one person who grumbled about an issue of policy, everybody was nice, polite and made it easy for me to do a job which is not my regular one.

      If the world handled all hardships this way, we would all be a lot happier most of the time.

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    • Find the Sandcastle Kings

      Posted at 2:23 am by kayewer, on January 4, 2015

      In January 1985, the Navy stationed me on the island of Guam. One of my first experiences there (besides exhaustion due to the time shift) was to tour the island and become familiar with its sights and culture. I found these fellows on the beach building a sand castle, and they posed for a picture. Of course this was the age before social media, and we were total strangers and never saw each other again, but I believe that the world is really smaller than we might think, so for the 30th anniversary of this experience, I’m posting this photo and hope that somebody will recognize himself or somebody in the photo and let the world know where they are now.
      So here is the photo. I’m also posting on Facebook with some of this information in English and (hopefully) Japanese. Let the search begin.

      Sand Castle Kings Jan85

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      Posted in Commentary | 0 Comments | Tagged Guam
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