Weddings, Parties, Bar mitzvahs, Anything

Well, the jet lag thang is slowly wearing off. I was in lovely Manchester England for Natalie and Elliott Chevin's wedding! The weekend started off on an ominous note. I got to the airport at like 5:30pm for my 7:30pm flight. When I get to the check in counter, the heavily Eastern European woman goes something to the effect of: "Dasvedana bubbeleh, your flight is delayed til 10pm" Oy vey.

After 3 Jack and Diet cokes, and reading many pages of a Detective Harry Bosch novel by Michael Connelly, I finally boarded the flight at like 11:48PM. It really sucked. I took 2 non prescription sleeping pills (just wanted to spell that out in case my father reads this), drank a bottle of non prescription red wine, and fell asleep the entire flight. THAT part rocked!

I am neglect in reporting that Vick could not come. The $ and cents of me missing work as a contractor, and not getting paid, the plane tickets, and kennelling Fred and Lulu would have made it like a $1,400 venture. Just too much of an expenditure sadly.

Our great friends, Mr. Arsenal, Rob DaCosta and his lovely girlfriend Amanda Hyams (she's a chemist, you know!) picked me up at the airport. I was one tired, unshaven mess!! We caught up and made up for lost time on the ride to the humble burg of Prestwich. Rob and 'Manda dropped me off at the home of septuagenarian hipsters (and neighbors of Michael and Helen Lewis) Murray and Margaret Fink. Ironically, 7 years ago, a slightly slimmer, single, less sane version of this punk rock blogger had stayed w/ the Finks for Abigail Lewis (now Yaffe) wedding.

While I caught up w/ M&M Fink, I mananged to grab a shower, and shave ( not w/ M&M in attendance!). The lovely Helen Morris called, and off we went for a walk around Manchester.... and no, we did not find out what Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke have been up to in the 20 years since the Smiths broke up!!

Finally I got to see Nat and Elliott that night. It was awesome to catch up w/ them. SO great to see Michael and Helen, Nat's parents. I really feel close to them, and consider them family. Natalie really is like a sister to me, the BEST friend anyone could ask for! I totally would have flown to the farthest distance from America to attend this event. I can't tell you how many highs and lows we both have gone thru together (although sometimes I have not always been immediate w/ my return phone calls when she needed me, and I greatly regret that) . I actually got to talk more w/ Elliott as well, and found him to be a really good guy. I feel we really bonded on this trip.

What can I say about the wedding? Hopefully I will have some scanned photos on here once Rob D. or 'Manda H. sends me some. It was a rocking event. Aside from the Shul being overly warm, as the Hilton Suite was.. it was a lovely ceremony, really emotional .. .and the party just ROCKED. I even got a shout out during the thank you bit from Elliott! How rocking is that? I even met some new peeps, and talked to some old ones that I hadn't seen in ages. All in all, a lovely evening. Just when it started, it was sadly ending. Everyone was singing a James Taylor classic ("you've got a friend") and that was the night. It was time to say good bye!

Although I must say I missed Vicki TERRIBLY... (That's Vicki Sincoff, not Vicki the Terrible:-) . My return flight took off on Monday, on time at 9:30am , I actually landed 30 minutes early... now that almost makes up for the 6 odd hrs I waited in Newark :)

To be serious, I would have waited 70 hrs. It was just a wild wild weekend . I'm so glad that Vicki and I have friends all over , it makes the world a much smaller place.

Nor'Easter

yes, ladies and germs, (but seriously folks) we are about to get hit w/ about a FOOT of snow this afternoon. Lock up your valuables! Your Daughters! Break out the old sled, put on those snowshoes, shovel that driveway, etc. Let's see, can I think of any more snow related cliches that I can throw out here :)

In my continuing effort to "keep it real" , I'm actually not going to stay in due to the aforementioned inclement weather. I'm going out on the town, big time tonight. Watch out Manhattan! The Sincoff's (well, at least moi) are comin'!! In all seriousness , there's a friend in from out of town who wants to meet up ... should be good fun

Hey, did anyone else watch the Oscars last night? Is it me, or is Sean Penn just a humorless DICK??? I mean first off, he looked like he just rolled out of bed, 2ndly, why can't he take a joke. I'm sure even Jude Law would say "hey mate, i was in alot of films in 2004, Flippin' 'eck!"... I wish Chris Rock would have gone off on him more...

George W. Bush still sucks, btw.

It's Sunday Night and it's Snowing

It's a good thing I have a day off tomorrow, or I'm was a gonna be pissed off. You would think that G-d would realize that the folks here on earth in the tristate area don't like starting off their workweek w/ snow on the ground. Sigh, what can u do. At least I can sleep late tomorrow.

You know, I've been watching that Celebrity Fit Club. Daniel Baldwin is one nutty guy. I'm not sure what he is on, but have him send some of it my way! He was literally a slurrin' and a blinkin' left and right. I bet he was on the nod big time. It's always good to see a limo driver interviewed as well.

Since I last blogged, Not alot has happened. Valentine's Day came, and went. Vicki treated us to a spa day. That was awesome!! I, in turn treated my dad & his significant other Jan to one down there in Melbourne, Fl. Gotta treat the older generation to something every once in a while.

ok. more later

Post NYE stuff

Happy 2005 everyone. I trust we all made it thru the NYE debacle of where to drink, how much to drink, and how to not get run over by a drunk driver on the way home! We went to dinner in Montclair at this fusion place w/ our pals, The Mulders. It was a pretty good time, as long as we did not discuss politics. They are big Bush-ites, so I could only deal w/ it for so long. All in all, we did not yell at each other that much.......

Not too much else to report for the mo'. Vicki and I are on a health conscious kick. We've been hitting the gym, and not only writing down what we eat in a food diary, we are counting calories as well. Yay healthy Us !.

More later.

Post X-Mas CD Burning Frenzy

Hellooooo

Well another X-mas has gone by, and I made it thru another visit to Pennsyltucky. It was an ok scene there at the in-laws house. We saw several unexpectedly funny movies. From Elvis in "Jailhouse Rock" to the hip Indie film "Napoleon Dynamite"... they were cool. Even "Dodgeball"! Ben Stiller is in every film now however.

I've just finished burning a few CD's off the old I-Tunes. They include Velvet Revolver, The Libertines, as well as a band from LA called The 88. I shall let you know how they all fare. I am too lazy to search and put links in to each name. Suffice to say, as I listen, and enjoy them, I will put them in future postings.

I hope that the folks in Asia and Africa get by. Even Cynical old me who laughs at most major world events... I am unusually troubled by the earthquake/tsunami's that devastated that part of the world. I hear it's up to 22K dead now. Yikes. Even was felt in Thailand where my old friend Ben Smith is, ..... even though he does not like my blog, I still hope he is ok (Hi Ben) .

Well that's about it. Time to hit the gym.