Musing in Manhattan

Stuck On An Island

A blonde, a brunette and a redhead are stuck on an island.

For years, they live there, and one day they find a magic lamp. They rub it, and sure enough, out comes a genie. The genie says “since I can only give out 3 wishes, you may each have one”

So the brunette goes first, “I have been stuck here for years, I miss my family and my husband and my life - I just want to go home.” POOF, she is gone.

The redhead makes her wish, “This place sucks, I want to go home too.” POOF, she
is gone.

The blonde starts crying uncontrollably. The genie asks, “What is the matter?” The blonde said, “I wish my friends were here.”

Going Home Early

There are three ladies working together in the same office - a brunette, a redhead, and a blonde. After a while, they begin to notice that each day their boss, who is also female, leaves work early.

“NO WAY!” The blonde exclaimed, “I damn near got caught yesterday!”

Hi all, wanted to let you know that I am running my first contest ever over at my other blog here on today.com.  Ella Bella Hairclippies has graciously donated three clippies for me to give away to my readers.  For your chance(s) to win click over to http://www.funforkids.today.com and find out how to enter.  The contest is running until MAY 1st and you can enter as many times as you would like!  Spread the word to all that you think would like to win an adorable hairclippie for the princess in their lives.  =)

30 Years Difference

What a difference 30 years makes:1973: Long hair
2003: Longing for hair1973: KEG
2003: EKG

Read more: “Something for Everyone on PNN” - http://cherylannenelson.pnn.com/6583-men-s-room#ixzz0CneqSQ2M&A

A Nun In A Taxi

A cabbie picks up a nun. She gets into the cab, and the cab driver won’t stop staring at her. She asks him why is he staring and he replies, ”I have a question to ask you but I don’t want to offend you.She answers, ‘My dear son, you cannot offend me. When you’re as old as I am and have been a nun a long as I have, you get a chance to see and hear just about everything. I’m sure that there’s nothing you could say or ask that I would find offensive.”

Read more: “Something for Everyone on PNN” - http://cherylannenelson.pnn.com/6583-men-s-room#ixzz0CnS3IGFT&A

      Jett Travolta, the 16 year old son of John Travolta and Kelly Preston was found dead on Friday January 2nd in the bathtub of their Nassau, Bahamas home.  It is being reported that the 16 year old hit his head on the bathtub perhaps after or during a seizure.  An autopsy is planned for Monday in order to determine the exact cause of his death. Jett has reportedly a long history of seizures which John Travolta and Kelly Preston attribute to an illness which they say Jett was diagnosed with when he was 2 years old.  The illness is called Kawasaki disease which once a person is diagnosed with, can lead to the inflammation of the blood vessels in young children.  Preston believes that Jett contracted the illness from chemicals in household cleaners and fertilizers.  The couple put Jett through a “detoxification program”   based on the teachings from the “Church of Scientology” which both parents claim helped to improve Jett’s health.    It is not known whether Jett was ever given any medication for his seizures, but most sources believe that because of their scientologist beliefs that medications were not used.  Preston has been photographed at rallies protesting medicating young children.  The Scientology Celebrity Center has declined to comment on anything related to Jett.

      Michael McDermott, John Travolta’s corporate and commercial attorney says that friends and family members are surrounding the couple in the Bahamas and “trying to help in any way” that they can.  He followed up the statement with: “Their pain is so evident.”

      While doing research on the web regarding Jett and his illness I came across MANY articles disputing the fact that Jett suffered from Kawaski syndrome at all.  It is and has been speculated by many people that Jett Travolta was actually autistic.  There were various articles and stories that pointed to John Travolta and Kelly Preston being in denial over their son’s condition.  According to one article I found titled:  ”Hollywood, Interrupted: A Plea From Hollywood: John Travolta-Open Your Heart! dated April 10th 2006, the author stated that Scientology does not “recognize the disability (autism) let alone the myriad of therapies for treating it.”    According to the article, big time clebrities such as Sylvester Stallone and  Dan Marino (who also have children with Autism) are frustrated with what they “perceive as Travolta’s denial stemming from Scientology’s rabid hatred of psychatry and judgement of those with psychological problems as lesser humans respobsible for their own maladies.”  According to the article, admiting that Jett was autistic would be subjecting him to being labeled as a “degraded being” that brought affliction onto himself  as written in the doctrines of Scientology founder   L Ron Hubbard. Admitting that Jett has/had autism would be considered shameful.  

      I certianly do not claim to know what the truth is here.  I have always thought John Travolta was/is a wonderful actor and a really good person at heart.  He seems like a genuine family man and I would hate to think that there is any fiber of truth to the claims that the child had autism and that it was denied by both John Travolta or Kelly Preston.  If this were true, then the poor boy could have had a chance at a normal life with the proper medical care.   Either way, it is a sad day when such a young soul is taken from the world.  My heart goes out to the family.

      Sunday’s church service was of course a pre-celebration of Christmas with the little ones singing their Christmas songs and doing the sign language along with the verses.  They were just too cute for words.  New this year was the teen element of the performance where the teens put on two Christmas skits–One depicting how teens can get involved in helping the elderly celebrate Christmas and how COOL you really are when you get involved with the true act of giving of your time rather than money.  The second skit was the real tear-jerker.  The teens re-enacted the song:  The Christmas Shoes while the song played behind them.   Picture the bustling department store full of people gathered to make their last minute purchases, all with their lists in hand and holding lots of presents.  Soon after, in walks the poor disheveled boy looking for the perfect and final gift he and his dad would give his dying mother on Christmas Eve.  He looks around for something special and finds what he considers to be the most beautiful shoes he has ever seen.  He proudly waits on line for his turn to pay the cashier, confident that mommy will absolutely love them and that she will be the most beautiful angel when she meets Jesus.   Finally it is his turn and he puts the shoes upon the counter.  He has been saving his pennies for a long time, but still there isn’t enough money.   Crying yet?  The boy tells his story to the cashier and moved by the story a kind soul on line offers the extra money so that he can buy his mom the Christmas shoes.  Excitedly, the little boy walks out of the store with his gift and the knowledge that he will be giving his mom something extra special and you are left feeling guilty but completely humble and so thankful that you have so very much.  This holiday season, forget about the job, the bills, the economy, and all that we can’t fix in an instant.  Put the stress aside and play with the kids and their new toys, hold them close and read them their favorite story, hug a little longer, kiss even when you aren’t under the mistletoe, and say “I love you” and really mean it from the bottom of your heart.  Let everyone know that you are grateful that they are a part of your life.   To my wonderful family and friends–you complete me and make life worth living.   I have been so blessed to have been given such amazing souls to walk this world with. God Bless Everyone today and always!   I love you. 

Well, it has been brought to my attention that one of my blogs found here on the world wide web has not been drawing in massive crowds of people.  Not a surprise to me of course since I have been pretty much missing in action since I began working in Manhattan full time. Sure I get a post in here and there but I have not been able to “network” and “share” or “buzz up” my writing since I began the 9-5 job–which given commute time is actually 8:30 till 8 pm.  I used to be able to surf the net and bring in more traffic, but now, I can’t even get on the computer to post.  I used to be full of ideas, and now I feel like I am just staring out into the abyss.  When I get home from work at 8 pm I slather my 5 and 3 year olds with all the love I have in my heart because I missed them so much all day and then use any left over energy I have to get them ready for bed and for school the next day.  Like a hamster running on his wheel, I am getting no where with my dream of writing.  Like the Titanic, I am just treading water until inevitably the entire ship plunges to the bottom of the frigid ocean floor.  Given the choice, I’d rather write full time, however, blog writing doesn’t pay my mortgage and by the time free-lance writers hear back from publishers regarding their work they (and their children) have already lost 30 pounds because they couldn’t afford to buy groceries.  That being said, I have been working hard as a secretary in the medical field and have thus let my dream of earning a living as a writer (and enjoying my children while they are young in the process of staying home with them and completing said writing) fall off the tall, jaded side of a steep cliff and die a slow agonizing death.   Thanks to the guy who said:  you have to work harder on getting your blogs read you’d make more money.   Gee…why didn’t I think of that?  I get the whole constructive criticism thing–I really do, but must we kick a person when they’re down?  I’m so depressed. 

This morning my mom talked me into taking my boys to BJs to do some very necessary food shopping—my cabinets were so bare they echoed when you screamed ANYTHING IN THERE????   My eldest was crabby but I dragged him out anyway and found that Sunrise Highway was a bit crowded but not terrible.  The entrance into the Green Acres Mall, Wallmart, and BJs shopping area, however, were horrendous.  This didn’t stop us though, we were out so we figured we would see how bad BJs was.  Who the heck goes grocery shopping the day after Thanksgiving anyway?  So we inched our way through the road that takes you around the back of Green Acres and I noticed that Walmart was relatively bare in its parking lot.  My mother said–Wow, Walmart is empty, I guess no one really is food shopping.  I said:  Walmart should be packed though—-they have more than food and everyone packs into Walmart on a regular day.  Why is it so empty?   We inched our way further toward BJs and found that cops were stearing everyone away from the entrance to Walmart and Home Depot and a few of the other stores.  I didn’t really think much of it though.  We got into the lot of BJs found lots of spots and said:  “What the heck lets just get it all over with”.  A few rows into shopping (in an empty BJs!!!) my little one ran infront of our wagon and I said: ”Buddy, you can’t run in-front of the wagon like that, you’ll get squished!”   As I said this, an older woman said:  “Oh my, did you hear what happened this morning in Walmart?”  OF course we said:  “WHAT?”   She proceeded to tell us that when the security officer opened the doors to Walmart this morning the crowd rushed in pushing the doors off the hinges as the man was opening the lock and they trampled over him and he was killed.  AND a pregnant woman was also knocked over and her water broke and she too had to be rushed to the hospital.  TRAGIC!!!  My mother and I stood there in disbelief and we began to talk about how people have just lost the true meaning of Christmas.  I thought to myself, forget about the meaning of Christmas, what about the meaning of humanity.  It is absolutely disgusting what happened today.  I can not believe that people could be so insane as to converge on a store like that.  FOR WHAT?   It is just disgusting.  By Two O’clock the doors to that particular store were open for business again.  IT IS DISGUSTING –ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING that they opened the doors back up.  That store should have stayed closed out of respect for the man that died there today.  That poor man’s family–how awful.   On the news tonight they announced that even as the paramedics were doing CPR on the man people were still shoving past.  What a disgrace.

     Here is a music trivia question for you:  What song was named the biggest hit of all time on American Billboard’s Hot 100 All Time Songs survey?  Think you know the answer?  If you said:  “The Twist” by Chubby Checker you are absolutely correct.  Yes, Chubby Checker’s 1960 hit “The Twist” still holds the title of the biggest hit of all time by Billboard’s rankings; Which isn’t hard to believe because it seems that just about everyone under the sun (or at least everyone here in the United States) can be seen Twisting their hips to the all-time favorite at wedding after wedding.  What you may not know is this:  Chubby Checker did not write the song, nor was he the first to release it.  “The Twist” was originally written, performed, and released by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters as a “B-Side” to one of their other songs.  “The Twist” was a minor hit for the group in 1959.  One year later, Chubby Checker (born under the name Ernest Evans) covered and released the track.  Chubby Checker’s version was a hit!   Teens all over the country were “Twisting” their hips to the R&B hit song and the dance sensation was born!  Checker and his new hit were on their way to the top of the charts; it reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 19th, 1960. 

     “The Twist” (a 12 bar blues song) was Chubby Checkers first of two #1 hits (the second was “The Pony” which also gave way to a new dance trend called–what else:  “The Pony”.   What exactly was the appeal of the song?  Why didn’t it catch on when it was first released by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters?  One can only speculate that Chubby Checker had the magic pipes to bring it to its true potential.  Add to that the fact that the song is simple in its’ lyrics, snappy in its’ rhythm and so fun and easy to dance to and you have a recipe for success. ”The Twist” is a good, clean, fun and wholesome song; one that every generation can appreciate. It’s the kind of song that your parents didn’t mind you listening to on your phonograph over and over again–a harmless ditty that encompassed innocence and at its core was the idea of being young and just having  good clean fun on the dance floor at the local burger joint.  Not dangerous like Elvis’s thrusting pelvic movements, “The Twist” was considered acceptable behavior.  The most rebellious line in the song is probably this:  “We’re gonna twist, twista, twist, till we tear the house down!”  The song caught on like wildfire and Chubby Checker could be found on variety show after variety show performing “The Twist” for live audiences all over the country.

     Today, your great grandparents, grandparents, your mom and dad, even your kids from toddler to teen, love to get up on the wedding hall dance floor and just twist and shake those hips when they hear Chubby Checker’s invitation: “Come on Baby, Let’s Do the Twist!”  The song is a party-goers favorite, get me up out of my seat prompt.  Even the most stoic of party guests (even if they won’t admit it) feels that stirring inside to get up and dance or to belt out the words from their seats.  The great thing about “The Twist” both as a song and a dance is that it allows even the most rhythmically challenged of souls to be a star on the dance floor.  You just can’t do it wrong!  Even Steve Martin as ”The Jerk” probably could’ve managed to play it off. 

     “The Twist” also spawned a sequel titled: “Let’s Twist Again” (Like we did Last Summer) which although it did not reach number 1 on the charts, did very well in its day and continues to be played very frequently on the airwaves of the oldies stations and at parties today.  Its’ predecessor, though, the original “The Twist” still remains the number one song of all time for over 45 years of the Billboards 100 Hot charts.  How long will it reign last?  What could possibly take it out of the running?  Only the future will tell.

Cheryl Anne Nelson Handley  Sept, 2008