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Sometimes, being a weekly bloggist, I approach a self-imposed deadline by being clueless as to subject matter on the morning of the writing, like right now for example. Calmly, unperturbed with resolve and confidence, I open a yogurt, spoon a few mouthfuls and stare at my desktop wallpaper; the view from a ferry boat on a waterway deep in the heart of Alaska. Then suddenly last summer, the blog miraculously takes form and substance.  Confidence makes me feel as if I could personally make/sew a set of summer play clothes from the drapes of Roth for the seven precocious Von Trapp children. By the way, historically, there were ten Von Trapp children, not seven and Maria married the Captain eleven years before the Nazi takeover of Austria, not just before. The hopeless romantic that I am makes me believe Maria and the Captain fell in love.

The real Maria recounts loving the children and liking the Captain and said, “…so in a way I really married the children.” When the ‘Sound of Music’ opened in 1965, I took a bevy of first dates to see the movie; it was long with an intermission and I got inspired when the family escaped by climbing the Alps at the end. When I took my dates home, after a California burger (I was still eating meat back then) all was still well angel with the world as they rushed in the house and slammed the door. Only now do I realize that perhaps going to see an underground or artsy movie would’ve been more impressive than Julie Andrew’s Maria. Well, now I know what to do with this blog.

One of those first dates was with a girl, Penelope. I was enamored but she was having an affair with a married pediatrician so we just hung out for two years as friends at a ‘Central Perk’ called the Claremont Diner. Finally I moved on after she stood me up to meet ‘him’ but always wondered about her. Lately, I’ve been using the tools of social networking and Google to satiate curiosity. I found that her sister is geographically close by, but strangely, Penelope was not on her sister’s Facebook friends list. Forty years is a long time.

This scenario reminds me of the last scene in ‘Marjorie Morningstar’ with Natalie Wood and Gene Kelly. I wish I could dance like Noel Airman. I think I’ll just get on the bus and leave Noel Airman to fond memories and a Youtube New Year’s Eve song. Suggestion: if it rains on Sunday go to Blockbuster and rent ‘Marjorie Morningstar.’ Oh but, Blockbusters are all falling down.

For some reason, most of the aforementioned first dates lived down the Jersey shore during that turbulent summer of 1965.  And the Jersey Shore has nothing to do with the reality TV show and ‘Snooki’ who was paid to speak last week at Rutgers University (from student funds) and made national headlines because of the amount paid. I suppose being in the media capital fish bowl of the world thrusts Rutgers into the headlight beam for everything; I wish they’d illuminate North Dakota State University once in a while; after all, there’s an awful lot of oil in them there black hills. And North Dakota has the lowest unemployment and the fourth lowest foreclosure rate.

pix of Belmar NJ with my jetty just beyond the pier

As far back as I can remember, (Eisenhower was President) the Jersey shore has been part of my life. I probably was conceived at the old Buena Vista Hotel in Belmar. When I was ten, my parents rented a bungalow in Belmar during August. Some of the best memories were of wide sandy beaches, amusement pinball palaces and boardwalks at Asbury Park and Bradley Beach. The jetty at Shark River was where I learned to dream about the world and my place in it; the jetty was part of my spiritual journey as evidenced in the novel I wrote.  A dream surfaces every year about this time; to find that perfect ten bedroom summer rental with a backyard hammock a block from the beach. I haven’t fulfilled it yet, so I keep dreaming. But there are always day trips with hideouts and secret parking places near the beach.

Last night I went back to school at Rutgers University’s Douglas Campus Center to hear Dr. Richard Besser, ABC News’ chief health and medical editor, talk about “Preparedness, Pandemic and Political Change.’  The lecture was part of Eagleton Institute’s ‘It’s all Politics’ series. Somehow, being in a room with several hundred real students of American Government forces cerebral and toe blood flow which means I was alert and responsive. Dr. Besser was a magnetic speaker, recanting professional experiences at the CDC and afterwards. Bravely, at the question and answer segment, I got up, nervously tripped a bit while walking to the microphone and asked a question about the epidemic in a few decades where 50% of all Americans(not sports related) will be either pre-diabetic or diabetic. Dr Besser agreed and said “it’s a scary thought.” Being with so many Rutgers students and feeling I’m back home again (Thomas Wolfe) I told the assembled that when I was a student at Rutgers back in the mid-sixties, studying Pharmacology, and knowing that all four grandparents had diabetes and four guns were pointed at my forehead, I decided that I’d never be in the mood to get diabetes. So I have lived my life these four decades to prevent it, through exercise, supplements, diet and a fierce determination. The kids applauded me when I attributed my knowledge to a Rutgers education.

Now segue to Food Fight, diet and things which pass through the oral cavity. On Wednesday I read about several New Jersey women suing Campbell soups for labeling cans of tomato soup “low sodium” when they actually have the same sodium content as regular tomato soup, 480mg/serving. And of course the “low sodium” is more expensive. Salt is needed for canned goods (go read labels) increased shelf life. That’s why you keep ‘cans’ of food in your basement bomb shelter; long shelf life because they’re loaded with sodium.

One of my blog missions is to expose evil company pursuits of profit (and taste) over human lives. Remember Scrooge’s ‘decrease the surface population?’ I love when companies label candy (like licorice) as ‘no fat’ when it has enough sugar to wipe out your pancreas over time. Back to the salt mines. Most of us consume 3400mg of sodium a day (and 95% of it does NOT come from the home salt shaker) so therefore most comes from restaurants and supermarkets. We should be at 1500mg of sodium/day. Humans are a cheap renewable resource although some European countries birth rate is so low, in time they could disappear (scary isn’t it?) Let’s tip toe through restaurant company’s tulips. If you go to Ruby Tuesday and order Mediterranean Shrimp Pasta you do almost 4000mg of sodium (which is like 11 large orders of McDonalds fries) Next up: Applebee’s Weight Watchers Chipotle Lime Chicken is billed as a ‘Healthy Entree.’ It has 4990 mg of sodium (that’s the sodium equivalent of 31 servings of Ruffles potato chips) In the mood for Chinese food and P.F. Chang’s Double Pan-Fried Noodles with Pork? This will cost you 7990 mg of sodium (equivalent to 263 Triscuit crackers/ more than 4 boxes).Oh, Chang’s bowl of Hot and Sour soup will cost you 5000mg of sodium. Imagine having both in a row. Hypertensive heaven. You don’t send me flowers anymore.

More food fights. I love fruits and veggies. I eat no red meat. I love crunchy celery. Research showed that a single celery stalk had 13 pesticides, while, on the whole, celery contained as many as 67 pesticides. It has no protective skin. Peaches are laced with 67 different chemicals, placing it second on the list of most contaminated fruits and vegetables. They have soft fuzzy skin, easily susceptible, causing them to be sprayed more frequently. Grapes have thin skins (like some people trying to shutdown our government), allowing for easy absorption of pesticides. And think twice before buying imported wine. The grapes that go into the wine could be coming from vineyards that use too many pesticides. Where do you go and run and hide? Find a cabin at the foot of Mt. McKinley and call it ‘La Hermitage.’

Changing pace a bit, remembering I love white water rafting through streams of consciousness which means I just go with whatever is in my high chair tray like sweet green peas rolling side to side after pounding the tray for more Maypo. Who ate the 1953 cereal? Who remembers it? I want to be your friend. At the end of ‘Ghostbusters,’ Winston Zeddmore says about New York City, “I love this town!” I love anecdotes and antidotes. I recently read about a young woman, Ms.Cohen, an author and professional organizer, who lives in a 90 square foot apartment near Lincoln Center and Central Park. Talk about marveling over spatial economy, utilization of every inch, frugal living and paying just $700/month to live in a part of town where rents average $3,600 per month. I love this city.

I also had no idea (none of us did) how much hot dog vendors pay for the license to have a push cart around Central Park. Some lucky vendors pay the city $176,925/year for the right to hawk snacks and sodas at the northwest corner of East 60th Street and Fifth Avenue. The Parks Department rented out the pricey park property to about 40 pushcart vendors in and around Central Park last year, though the number of carts changes as contracts renew and expire, a Parks Department spokesman said. Should I say if I come back, I want to be a vendor around Central Perk Park?

I love when generals are in helicopters looking down on the battlefield to get a perspective. If Roman generals only had a helicopter brought in from back to the future, they would’ve conquered so much more. My friend Ruth from out west, with special powers, saw me as a Roman warrior before I was a Native-American, fishing and hunting in the virginal woods near the Jersey shore. Right now I’m high up, looking down in my own version of a helicopter (I’d never ever go in one). Mexico just had an earthquake. So did Japan again yesterday (7.1) A piece of space junk almost crashed into three astronauts working on the International space station. I’m glad the Arab League asked ‘the world community’ for the first time to help out in Libya but I wish we knew more about the rebels. I do come from the time when Fidel Castro was a supported rebel. Is it Libya’s large oil reserves which prompt intervention? Of course I wonder how we can ‘legally’ be involved in Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq when the Constitution clearly states only Congress can wage war. Why isn’t more being done in the Ivory Coast now? I guess they have no oil reserves? Differences in political orientation are tied to differences in the structures of our brains, University College of London researchers have found. Individuals who call themselves liberal tend to have a larger anterior cortex, while those who call themselves conservative have a larger amygdala, the researchers say. This is consistent with reports showing a greater ability of liberals to cope with conflicting information and a greater ability of conservatives to recognize a threat. Funny thing, I don’t know what I am; maybe just an earthling caring about the earth more than tea, teacher’s tenure, topical anesthetics and tender meat. We don’t hear a heck of a lot about Japan these days. Toyota is going back to making cars for a two week period and then because of a shortage of parts, they’ll stop again. Traces of radiation are now in the milk and seaweed out on west coast. I’m attaching a map of all our nuclear plant locations. If you’re like me you’ve got a few nuke plants that are real close. However there are no nukes in good old North Dakota and only a few in earthquake prone California(smart).

Looking down at Earth from High. I’ve been in a funk these days of turmoil, disaster, revolt, change and governmental shutdown. Best way to describe; it’s a sunny day, not a cloud in the sky but everything is dull. I’ve been going to New York to meditate, riding the exercise bike voraciously, contemplating several busts of Homer, exploring recesses of the universal abscess and beseeching spirits to get me ‘there’ already. What’s it all about, Alfie? I’m High (up) in age and see things in a different light and color. All erratic molecules are coming back to the nucleus. I can see clearly now. Too bad you have to wait all those years to get High in age and understanding. Yesterday the Governor of New Jersey issued a proclamation making a five year old boy, the Governor for the day, thanks to a Youtube video. I think being this High(up in age) right now, maybe it’s time to find a cabin in North Dakota, leave the Garden State, kick off my shoes, dangle my toes in a cool pond, and think about the line from the movie ‘Network,’ “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore.” Or better, perhaps a line from ‘Meatballs, “It just doesn’t matter.”  I like the ‘Meatballs’ line better. I think most of us do.

Contact Info:  website:  http://vichywater.net

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Email:  earthood@gmail.com

Novel Book Trailer.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj2ko9gcC_M

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