August 7, 2011. Hey, Hey Parkie Paul and Paula

In many of these Parkinson's on line support groups, mascots have been adopted, who the members write posts through. Names such as Parkie Paul and Parkie Paula, can be found making their Parkie Proposals. Their intentions are admirable. But they are talking to people who, euphemistically, are called middle aged, who, for the most part, don't want to be talked to by a cartoon character.

Parkie Paul, speaks to me about what to do about the stiffness in my legs. What about the embarrassment of knowing that because of that stiffness, if I give my bus seat to that elderly woman who just got on the bus, odds are, that I might fall when the bus driver stops short. And if I don't I feel miserable.

Parkie Paula speaks to you like you're a child, not a middle aged person, experiencing a life altering disease. and coming to terms that you may never again do some of the things that you love to do. If you were an artist, you may never paint again. A weekend athlete, who may have hit his last home run. A cook, who can no longer measure a cup.

Hey, Hey Paula, how do I deal with the fact, that I don't drive anymore? Hey, Hey Paul do you wan't to tell me how not to be embarrassed, by having difficulty tying my laces in public.

What about the private matters. The one's that a middle aged man, born during the Eisenhower administration, wont speak about in public.

Don't get me wrong, I applaud your intentions, but I am an adult, not a child, I don't need a cartoon advising me. I find it Parkie Pathetic. Unless, of course, it's my old friend, Parkie Perv. (above).

August 4, 2011

Parkinson's and I have decided to have a trial separation. I will stay in New York, he or she, is going on a trip. I will be loyal to him and not get any other major neurological diseases. I hope that he is loyal to me, I would hate to see him with another. He can be very trying at times.

So for the next two weeks, i won't talk about him, I won't write about him.

He will be difficult to escape, because he is now such a large part of my life. I think about him when I eat, when I walk, when I talk, when I button my pants, when I get up from a chair.

For the next two weeks, he's promised to leave me alone.

Now wouldn't that be wonderful. We can always take a vacation from work, friends, relatives, even spouses. But we can't get out of our own way, so to speak. So this is how, I'm coping with it, for the next two weeks, we will go our separate ways.

August 1, 2011.

I've been remiss in my writing lately. Partly because for the first time in three years, my business seems to be back on the right track. Partly because there is little to say.

Parkinson's is not an overnight disease. There is a gradual deterioration. Although I fight it, I have noticed it recently. I keep hoping that it is just the summer heat getting to me, and it might be just that.

Walking outside has been more difficult. I find that I know every park bench in Forest Hills.

May I digress for a second? Some time ago, while walking on Third Avenue, I came across a group of park benches. On them was the following sign, "No Loitering." Can somebody tell me, what else one can do at a park bench, besides Loitering?

My spirits are good.

It's strange, somebody posted something the other day regarding fortune tellers. Being the world's most concrete person, I believe in fortune tellers as much as I believe in Leprechauns.
But even if I didn't think that they were charlatans, why would I want to know the future. I intend to keep living my life until I no longer am living. All that time I will haunt you people with bad puns and song parodies.