February 27, 2011. Dream a Little Dream of Me

The strangest symptoms of this disease or the medication (I’m not entirely certain which causes these) are the hallucinations and the dreams.

At times, I see things out of the corner of my eyes that aren’t there. It’s usually something minor, like I think that I see an insect or a Red Sox Fan. Something that if I stamped out, nobody would miss, but it would do no harm to ignore. I look a second time and it wasn’t there.

The stranger of the two is the vivid dreams. So vivid, in fact, that I act them out at times.

I’ve had violent dreams and athletic dreams. My wife has awakened me in the middle of the night, asking me what I meant by something that I was yelling about. So far I’ve been successful in covering up my lustful desires for Sweet Polly Purebred.

As I’ve stated before, many of my dreams tend to be sports related. I’ve dove for volleyballs, shot hockey pucks, blocked basketballs and swung baseball bats in my sleep.

Sometimes I wake up happy, having enjoyed the dream. Sometimes I wake up angry, having made a strategic error in the dream. Sometimes, I wake up on the floor.

One time that I woke up on the floor, I dreamt that I had hit an infield grounder and in order to beat it out I slid into first base. Ignoring the fact that I was never fast enough to make such a play that close, I was pissed, because you never slide into first base!

Another time it was equally vivid. In fact, I even imagined an announcer.

“OK, here we go, we got a real pressure cooker going here, Two down, nobody on, no score, bottom of the ninth, There’s the windup, and there it is, a line shot up the middle, Look at him go. This boy can really fly! He's rounding first and really turning it on now, he's not letting up at all, he's gonna try for second; the ball is bobbled out in center, and here comes the throw, and what a throw! He's gonna slide in head first, here he comes, he's out! No, wait, safe-safe at second base, this kid really makes things happen out there. Batter steps up to the
plate, here's the pitch-he's going, and what a jump he's got, he's trying for third, here's the throw, it's in the dirt-safe at third! Holy cow, stolen base! He's taking a pretty big lead out
there, almost daring him to try and pick him off. The pitcher glances over, winds up, and it's bunted, bunted down the third base line, the suicide squeeze is on! Here he comes, squeeze
play, it's gonna be close, holy cow, I think he's gonna make it”

Now any Baseball fan knows the problem here. Why would the suicide squeeze be on with two outs?

February 22, 2011. Life is for the LIving

There are few things in life that are guaranteed.

1) That no matter what occurs; Right wing radio will blame the "liberal, socialist media.”

2) That there will never be another Rock and Roll band that compares to the Beatles.

3) That I will never root for the Red Sox.

4) That the person sitting next to you has it worse off than you do.



Why is it that people feel the need to drone on about every sniffle? Everybody has problems, some may be insurmountable. Mine aren’t.

What’s different about my life today then it was before the diagnosis.

1) I’m no longer in my office. That’s just geography. My name still appears on the wall to my old office. My friends still call me to do work for them. I still use the office, and another, when I want to see people. The fact that I’m still working, has kept me vital, minimized the effects of the Parkinson’s, and kept my spirits up.

2) I don’t drive quite as much as I once did. So what!! Both offices that I use are within walking distance of the Long Island Railroad. I live within 2 blocks from the subway. Where I can’t get to by train or subway, there are always cabs from the train.

3) I shake a little. It makes for a great Martini.

4) Money is tight. I got news for you. This has been the worst economy since the great depression. It’s tight for everybody.


There are people hungry, the closest I get to hungry, is when we are out of Mallomars. There are people cold, I turn on the heat. There are people who can’t afford an education. My education continues every day. Whether my education comes from a book, a friend, a newspaper or life itself, it continues.

I’d rather not have Parkinson’s. My neighbor would rather not be in debt. The man living in the subways would rather have a home. The man down the street would be happier if his wife didn’t have Alzheimer’s disease. If you want to live in this world, it’s the price that you pay.