Lunch Break Notes

As the old saying goes... Tonight i went to visit my mothers grave. Something that I do with my step dad about twice a month. My mother was the first one to be put into the new plot at the cemetery when she was buried. Since then, there have been quite a few additions to her surroundings. She has new neighbours if you will. One of those new neighbours happens to be a friend of myself and Lex. Our friend Wes is now buried in line with my mother in a far off plot in a beautiful cemetery. As soon as i got out of the car tonight and saw his headstone something inside of me just went click and then the cloud came over me. It could have been any other Wes but something told me it was the crazy fun Wes that we knew. The same Wes that my wife worked with at two jobs. The same Wes that only a couple months before invited me into his Dungeons and Dragons group. Boy, do I wish i took him up on that invite. I could not believe that a friend of ours lies just at my mothers feet so now when I vi...

In light of recent events I am strongly considering a long term vacation from Facebook. This decision came to me ever since my feed has been filled with arguments among friends and family.How did we go from sharing pictures of our kids and waffles to spewing hateful words and tragic stories, a direct bi-product of said hateful words, for all to see? I know the answer and many people will not agree or believe this but... this is what is now being called, the Age of Trump or the Trump Era. Tragically this is a time where it is OK to curse at illegal immigrants and laugh in the face of those less fortunate. White supremacists march not only in the South but our northern cities as well. I myself do not align with what is known as the Left or the Right. Lots of people will call me a "Snowflake", which is a joke itself being that it is a term used by supporters of our current leader. It is because of our leader that this hate is so front row in our lives.  This s...

Things are always changing here in good ol' Jersey. As of lately... for the worse.  Over the past few years it has become increasingly tough to maintain a life in New Jersey. For those of you that think it's all Guidos and nightclubs on the beach, well.. that's one reason it's been getting tougher. It seems that businesses here and landlords alike are only interested in satisfying the needs of the summer crowd that plagues, yes...plagues, our lovely little oasis. Not only are there no places to live year round but the cost of staying here is ridiculous. It seems to me that landlords want a chunk of that New York money that is no longer enough to sustain a life in the big city and its surrounding areas. I have seen the rent go up in our area at least twice a year for the past few years and there is no knowing when it will stop. I am sick to my stomach with knowing that it is only a matter of time before we go broke and are flat on our asses and forced to va...

So this is the first mothers day holiday to come since the passing of my mother. I will admit that in the past there has not been a whole lot of honorary celebrating done when it came to my mother. Our relationship usually did not allow it but this being the first year without her really hit me. Even though most of my time was taken by honoring my wonderful wife and all that she does as a mother it was still hard hard to clear my head. As odd as it may seem, I wish that I could at least call to say Happy Mothers Day to her despite whatever mindset or condition she was in at the given moment. Just to hear her say thank you once again for calling would be enough. This thought followed me into my sleep and gave me quite a dream. I'll consider it a nightmare on account of how it made me feel when I woke up. It was a strange dream, taking place at my high school graduation party, which never happened in real life. My mother was there causing a mess, yelling at me the ...

I recently wrote how we have lived with rude neighbors throughout the years but nothing like what we experienced just a couple days ago. For those that have kids you know what teething can be like and the menacing behavior that accompanies it. Our daughter has six teeth coming in all at once so needless to say, it's been rough. More than anything we wish we could trade places with her. This must be something that our upstairs neighbors have forgotten. Note, they have a grown son so they have been where we are. It was a fine morning until we heard , what sounded like, a flipped table come from upstairs. The husband upstairs began screaming at his wife and telling... actually... ordering her to go downstairs and tell us to shut our f**king baby up. He continued to go on about it sounds like we are rolling bowling balls across the floor. Weird to think this is possible especially since we live on the first floor. This went on for quite some time even going as far as screaming at his ...

Me and my wife have had our fair share of neighbors. We moved out together when I was in college and she was just graduating High School and NO! it’s not weird. We were dating all through High School. It’s not like I coaxed a Junior to move in with a grown man. However that is sort of how we were depicted by our first batch of neighbors. We were assumed to be the typical young, partygoers that you see in the movies or on TV, throwing parties every night of the week in a show of our newly found independence. That is not us and never will be.  Not to mention our first apartment was actually smaller than the living room that I am typing this note in. We fell victim to assumption for the noises that came from the apartment above us. Obnoxious sex noises coming from the open patio door of the 40 something year old woman that was seeing a man on the side, overheard a phone call, of her unknowing husband. Neighbors would slam the doors on us when we had groceries and they even threw...