Change of plans…
October 8, 2009schif 1 Comment »So I am making this post from the road. I am spending a few days in the wonderful realm of Brooklyn Heights. This was a change of plans from what I had expected to happen, which was spending a weekend in Michigan visiting one of my sisters and seeing the Detroit Tigers play in game 3 of the ALDS against the Yankees. However as some of you are doubtlessly aware the Tigers lost in 12 innings to the Twins in a one game playoff to decide the winner of the AL Central… Because of this I had a change of plans and have landed (driven) to New York and am now house sitting for my Sister while her and her husband spend it in Boston.
Because of this I would like to touch upon a few things.
1st – I should not expect anything more out of my sports teams than futility. I grew up a Buffalo Sports fan, Sabres and Bills. And also an avid Tigers fan, only to see the Sabres lose in heartbreaking fashion because of a skate in the crease, the Bills lose four consecutive Super Bowls, and the Tigers lose 100 games in a season, then make it to the World Series only to lose in five games because of simple fundamental errors when they were by far the superior team.
2nd – I am thinking of making house sitting a part time job. Over the past six months I have house sat three times. First for my sister who lives in Kenmore, second for my cousin who lives in Allentown, and now for my sister who lives in Brooklyn. I have to say it is not a bad gig, and in the second and third cases I have got, and am now getting to spend time in places I wouldn’t normally and seeing life as I normally don’t. I could see this as being profitable as well, make a few extra bucks on the weekend or during the week for feeding cats or dogs, and making sure the house stays in order, I don’t understand why I didn’t think of this a long time ago.
3rd – A lot of Upstate New Yorkers look down upon New York City and feel slighted by the fact that “our tax dollars” just go downstate and not to us. While this is not true, I am not going to go into that now. What I would like to bring forward is that every time I come to this city I see a brimming metropolis of people who are giving to the system and not taking from it, a lot more than I can say about my own city.
4th – Several people scoffed at the fact that I would drive seven hours by myself to just spend a weekend in another city, again by myself. What I believe some have lost is that exploring spirit, discovering something new, like what it is like to drive the streets of New York City (which I cannot describe, because it must be experienced), to listen to that one CD you only think of on a long drive. The traveling spirit is what makes America, and I do believe there is nothing like a long drive that spotlights that spirit.
I would like to say one more thing. I think we have all become too obsessed with destinations. We are all trying to take ourselves, either our careers, or loved ones, or some facet of our lives to some destination that it does not currently reside. What I think we have forgotten that it is the journey there that truly makes the final ending point worth while, or in some cases not, and it is that in which we learn more about ourselves. So lets never lose sight of where we are even when we are looking towards where we want to be.
-Schif
P.S. Toad, I disagree with you about Jazz.
October 12th, 2009 at 8:45 am
Please tell me that one CD is jazz