So Long, 2011!!!

It sucks getting old because the days, weeks, months, and years fly by. The more you accumulate the shorter each seems. Another year is about to come and gone. Holy crap, it's already almost 2012??!!??

Yep, it is. It was a good year for me. It usually is so long as I'm with my family and everyone is healthy. We'll have a new arrival in 2012 so that will make the new year extra special.

So Happy New Year, everyone!!! May 2012 bring you love and joy.

When Melo Saved Christmas

The NBA and Christmas just go together. When I was on my sabbatical from the Knicks this past decade (for peace of mind reasons), Christmas was when I officially got into the NBA season and watched as many non-Knick games as I could as a basketball fan. With the addition of Amar'e Stoudemire last season I made up with the Knicks and started watching them again. They played on Christmas last year and had a rousing victory over the Bulls, but yesterday was different.

Dynamic scorer Carmelo Anthony (my favorite non-Knick player for a long time) was starting his first full season with the team and the Knicks were playing the hated Celtics. The game just seemed bigger and it was. Melo was electrifying, saving the Knicks after they blew a 10 point lead when he went to the bench in the 3rd quarter with foul trouble. He dropped 37 points and pulled down 8 rebounds, leading the team in both categories. He scored the teams final points to secure the last minute victory, 106-104 at the refurbished Garden.

This was the perfect sports anecdote to the debacle that has become of the Jets season. A superstar basketball player on a resurrected historical franchise that has rejuvenated the best basketball fanbase in the country. Thanks, Melo, for making Christmas more merry for us basketball fans.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

To all those who celebrate Christmas, may you all have a Merry Blessed Christmas filled with love and joy.

When Hand-Me-Downs Don't Make It

Last week my wife and I were putting the final touches on the nursery. I had already painted the room and we were boxing up my son's old books and taking down the bookshelf. The last thing was to bring down his old crib from the attic and put it together for his lister sister. When it saw the light of the morning I was blown away. Man, my son had done a number on that crib!

It reminded me of the old INCREDIBLE HULK TV series (next to the Original STAR TREK, my favorite show as a kid). In the pilot, David banner was put into an isolation tank and hulks out. Afterward he and his scientist friend/love interest survey the damage and metal is bent, glass broken, and walls are punched out. That's what the crib looked like to me. Beams were loose, the headboard was cracked, there were deep grooves in the railing, and beams of the bottom metal frame were bent. I don't remember it being like that when I put it away about 4 years ago. Then again, I just wanted to get it out of the room so I could set up his toddler bed.

My wife and I shared a knowing look and I went out and bought a new crib. Hand-me-downs are good and they save money, but they have to be serviceable. My son is a good kid, but he's a bot's boy and prone to destruction. As evidenced by the crib, that propensity showed itself in infanthood.

We had the Baby Shower this past weekend and got a lot of great stuff, mainly replacing some of the stuff that couldn't survive my son. At least with girls they're not as destructive--at least I hope.

WIPing It

Sometimes the saying "new year, same thing" is not a bad thing. Over the weekend, I just refinished revisions on my WIP (work-in-progress), a YA paranormal thriller called LISTEN about teen telepaths who work in a top-secret NYPD unit and sent if off for first round of betaying. I looked at my old files and realized that on December 16, 2010, I sent out the early version of DRAGORO for the first round of betaying. There's something about the Holiday Season that makes me want to finish drafts of books.

Time for me to take a little writing break while I wait for the beta comments. Writing brings both joy and pain. There is the dissapointment, the delays, the anxiety, etc. that you have to fight through because the depression can stop you from writing. Yet once you start writing again and are overtake by the exhileration of the creative process the depression is gone. A fellow writer described it as a drug and in a way it is.

So now I take a break and ready to get my fix in a couple of weeeks.

A Date Which Will Live in Infamy

Yesterday, Dec. 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with the government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.

Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States and his colleagues delivered to the Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. While this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or armed attack.

It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. Very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.

Yesterday, the Japanese government also launched an attack against Malaya.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked Guam.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.

Last night, the Japanese attacked Wake Island.

This morning, the Japanese attacked Midway Island. Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.

As commander in chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.

Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us.

No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.

With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounding determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God.

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, Dec. 7, a state of war has existed between
the United States and the Japanese empire.

--December 8, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressing the United States Congress.

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Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.

"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.

"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'

"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

"VIRGINIA O'HANLON. "

115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

--Unsigned editorial, September 21, 1897, New York Sun--

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