Mayor Bloomberg wants to ban large sodas.  Good for him.  Good for New York; bad, perhaps, if you make more money by selling large sodas than you do small sodas.  I mean soda manufacturers do realize that they can make more money by forcing people to buy smaller amounts of soda, in larger quantities, than they can by giving away larger quantities of soda because people feel that they are getting ripped off?

I never understood why anyone wants to buy anywhere from 32 ounces, up to 128 ounces of soda at a time until I developed my own fixation with soda.  I am addicted to Pepsi Next, which is not a good thing. With over 3 different artificial sweeteners, Pepsi Next is an evil concoction which is sure to be the death of me.  So I stopped drinking Pepsi Next and started drinking water.  Yet I still have a disposition towards any diet drink/juice/soda where I will gladly pay $3 for the experience to satisfy my taste buds, you know because it goes down “smooth”. 

Perhaps New York is trying to prevent itself from becoming the next Philadelphia.  If you don’t already know, Philadelphia is considered to be the most obese nation in the country.  New York did outlaw the use of “trans-fat” oils a few years ago.  New York is also well known for banning cigarettes in public places before the rest of the country caught onto the idea. 

But I don’t know if Mayor Bloomberg can help me with my soda addiction.  I don’t know how it is in New York, but if you order a medium drink from a fast food restaurant you might get a lot more than you bargained for, and pay $2 for that drink.  It used to be that a medium drink was 12 ounces, now it could be anywhere from 24 ounces up to 32 ounces.  Order a large drink and you get a cup that you have to hold with two hands. 

If someone wants to pay $2 to $3 for soda from a fountain, when they can get a liter of soda as cheap as 88 cents, or as much as $2.19, it is their prerogative to pay a premium for that product.  What does the legislature look like telling people that they can’t buy a $3 fountain drink, and that gas stations and the local 7-11 can’t sell them?  If a Big Gulp keeps a worker in a call center awake or a security guard alert more power to them.

This controversy reminds me of the shame that McDonald’s endured when the documentary Super Size Me came out.  I never bought the Super Size McDonald’s meals, but they should have stood their ground.  Surely, there were individuals that stopped going to McDonald’s, and started going to Hardee’s and Burger King after McDonald’s pulled those meals.  You still get an enormous helping of fries with a McDonald’s meal, and if you want to kill yourself on those French Fries you should be allowed to do so.  I love Morgan Spurlock, but he was waging war against McDonald’s, and earned a quick buck in the process.

Looking back on it all I now realize just what type of propaganda that film was and how stupid I was to support it.  Morgan Spurlock never proved anything.  The premise is that a large, but growing, percentage of the population was subjecting themselves to the type of lifestyle that he underwent to prove the point of the film, that large quantities of fast food were dangerous, and that eating nothing but fast food was disastrous.  Perhaps McDonald’s simply is not that addictive for me; I love food, but I like food in general, mix it up and include something other than your typical fast food fare.  I love soda, but it has seen better days, the novelty is gone, and it simply is not the same.  Everything has been tried before.  

Crater was in Easton, Pennsylvania on January 5, 1889, to Frank Ellsworth Crater and the former Leila Virginia Montague.  He was the oldest of four children and went to Lafayette College and Columbia University.

Crater was an Associated Justice of the New York Supreme Court for New York County.  Just four months before he disappeared, then-Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him to the state bench. 

The Disappearance
Judge Carter and his wife, Stella Mance Wheeller were on vacation in their summer cabin at Belgrade, Maine, in the summer of 1930.  He received a phone call in late July.  He would not give his wife information about what was said in the call but did say that he had to go back to New York “to straighten those fellows out.”

He arrived at his 40 Fifth Avenue apartment the next day.  Instead of dealing with business however, he went to Atlantic City with a showgirl called Sally Lou Ritze, who was his mistress.  He went back to Maine on August 1 and returned on August 3 to New York.  He promised his wife that he would return by her birthday, on August 9,before he made his final trip.  Crater spent two hours on the morning of August 6, going through the files in his courthouse chambers.  He then got Joseph Mara, his assistant, to cash two cheques.  These cheques totaled U.S. $5,150 (equivalent to $71,649 in today’s money).  Carter and Mara carried two locked briefcases to his apartment at noon.  He allowed Mara to take the rest of th day off.

Crater went to a Broadway ticket agency later that evening.  He purchased one seat for  Dancing Partner.  This was a comedy which was playing that night at the Belasco Theatre.  Then he went to Billy Haa’s Chophouse on 332 West 45th Street for dinner.  He ate dinner there with Sally Lou Ritz and William Klein.  Klein was a lawyer friend of Carter.  Investigators were told later by Klein that Crater had been in a good mood that evening and showed no indication that there was anything concerning him.  The dinner finished a little after 9 pm, a short time after the curtain rose on Dancing Partner which Crater had purchased a ticket for.  The group then went outside.

The Last Known Sighting of Crater
Ritz and Klein both entered a taxi outside the restaurant.  They both later testified before a grand jury that the last time they saw Crater, he was walking down the street.  This is different from the popular story that he got into a taxi and waved to them before he sped away.  It is a mystery what happened to him afterwards.  Theories on the disappearance of Carter have suggested that he ran off with another woman, he was murdered or had been involved with corrupt practices that were going to be revealed. 

Delayed Response
There was no reaction straightaway to the disappearance of Judge Carter.  His wife started making calls to their friends on New York when he did not come back to Maine for 10 days.  His fellow justices only became alarmed on August 25 when he did not come for the opening of the courts.  They began a private search but no trace of Carter was found.  On September 3, the police were notified at last and the missing judge became front-page news after that. 

Investigation
The story of the Judge’s disappearance captivated the nation and a huge investigation was launched.  The official investigations began strongly but slowed down fast.  It was determined by detectives that Crater’s safe deposit box had been emptied and also that the two briefcases that he and his assistant had taken to his apartment had gone missing.   These were promising leads but the thousands of false reports that came in from people claiming to have seen Crater, quickly bogged them down.  The missing money was later discovered by Crater’s wife in a dresser drawer, along with a note from him.

A grand jury started to examine the case in October.  They called 95 witnesses and collected 975 pages of testimony.  Mrs Crater declined to appear before the grand jury.  The grand jury came to the conclusion that “the evidence is insufficient to warrant any expression of opinion as to whether Crater is alive or dead, or as to whether he has absented himself voluntarily, or is the sufferer from disease in the nature of amnesia, or is the victim of crime.”

None of the investigations were successful to finding what had happened to the judge.  In 1979, his case – Missing persons File No. 13595 was officially closed.

Sometimes it is claimed that Sally Lou Ritz went missing in August or September 1930.  This is not true however.  She was interviewed in late September 1930 in Youngstown, Ohio.  She had gone here “to be with her sick father.”  She was interviewed by police in Beverly Hills as late as July 1937.

Judge Crater’s Wife
Judge Crater and Stella Mance Wheeler married in 1917.  He had been her lawyer in her divorce against her first husband.  They were wed just one week after this divorce was confirmed.  Mrs Crater stayed at their vacation home in Belgrade Lakes, Maine during the initial search and even after the police had been notified and started their nationwide search.  She remained here until January 20, 1931.  This is when she is alleged to have found checks, stock, bonds and a note from Crater in a drawer.  When the police had checked earlier, the same drawer had been empty.  Mrs Crater could not maintain residence at the fashionable Fifth Avenue apartment without Crater’s income and she was evicted.  She petitioned to have Crater officially declared dead in July 1937.  By this time, she was destitute and apparently living on $12 a week (approximately $194 in today’s money).   

Mrs Crater remarried on April 23, 1938.  This was before the judge was legally declared dead.  She wed Carl Kunz.  He was an electrical engineer from New York.  In 1939, Judge Carter was legally declared dead in absentia.  Mrs Crater received $20,561 in life insurance.  This would be about $343,536 in today’s money.  She and Kunz separated in 1950 and aged 70, she died in 1969.  Oscar Fraley, newspaperman and freelancer, published her account of Crater’s disappearance, in which she showed her belief that he had been murdered.  This was published in 1961 by Doubleday.

Recent Information
On August 19, 2005, it was revealed by authorities that they had been given notes left by Stella Ferrucci-Good after she died at 91.  A location near West Eighth Street in Coney Island, Brooklyn, at the current sit of the New York Aquarium, was identified by the writings.  It was claimed that Crater was buried under the boardwalk here.  The notes also claimed that NYPD officers Robert Good (her husband), Charles Burn and his brother Frank, were the killers.

The site had been excavated in the 1950s and police reported that no records had been to found that indicated the presence of skeletal remains.  Skepticism was expressed of Ferrucci-Good’s account by Richard J. Tofel, who wrote “Vanishing Point: The Disappearance of Judge Crater and the New York He Left Behind.”

Legacy
The phrase “to pull a Crater” means to disappear.  However, this is rarely heard these days.  A standard gag among nightclub comedians was “Judge Carter, call your office,” for many years after the Judge went missing.  It was also heard a lot on public address systems.

Warner Bros. advertised that they would pay $10,000 to Crater if he came to the box office to claim it in person.  This was done to promote the 1933 film Bureau of Missing Persons.

In 1981, the will of Judge Crater was sold at auction for $700.  the will was marked confidential and addressed to his wife.  It may have been written on the day that the Judge disappeared. 

Vito always appears business casual whenever he appears on scene. He never reveals his thoughts to business partners when doing negotiations. Vito in one scene, after a meeting with another crime lord, scolds his son Sonny for speaking his mind. Making deals in the criminal world is an every day thing. As a result, he almost never shows emotion to people outside of his family.

            In some ways, Vito is no different than any other man with power and will do what is necessary to protect it. He has a strict moral code that emphasizes loyalty to friends and especially family. This could be seen in both himself and his son Michael who later became the new head of the family.

            Vito Corleone’s personal qualities have influenced me when socializing. He tells Michael to think about what other people around you are thinking and does not like it when anyone interrupts in a conversation. For example, during a meeting with the kingpin Sollozzo, Sonny speaks out of turn and Vito gives him a heavy scolding despite the fact that he is a high ranking member in the family. This particular scene teaches that listening is more important than speaking your mind in a conversation. I see this being said much more often today.Vito’s social skills are useful and that’s why they have an influence on me. 

2004    Dangerous and Endangered Youth: Social Structures and Determinants of Violence. In Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. Pp. 13-46. New York, N.Y.: New York Academy of Sciences.

Nancy Scheper-Hughes first provides a background into what forced many children into the streets and what sparked the creation of death squads. The government system failed and many poor individuals ended up on the streets. The loathing of lower classes remained strong even though a new government and a new constitution were developed. Death squads were able to attack with even more strength because to them,  lower classes had no rights. Scheper-Hughes noted that demilitarization and democritization did not occur in the everyday lives of many people. The death squads took the role of executioners and assassins, and many citizens were afraid to defend themselves or their loved ones. Abidoral Querizoz was the leader of one very powerful death squad that alligned with corrupt police officers to cover up homicides. The death squad became the local government. Eventually, a new judge and a prosecutor were able to arrest Abidoral Querizoz and many of his helpers; Scheper-Hughes even helped uncover some of the murders that the death squad was responsible for.  Scheper-Hughes seemed to believe that her involvement with the issues in Brazil at that time were necessary because she urged a new discourse about violence and human rights. Do many anthropologists become as personally involved as Nancy Scheper-Hughes did in this case? Anhropologists usually function to give people a voice for expressing their own feelings and concerns, but Scheper-Hughes went further by investigating the murders and protesting along with the street children, poor people and others. Was this a safe or smart decision on her part?

The biggest decrease in euro Natural Two Months, The euro fell 1.1 percent to 1.2684 dollars on Tuesday (5/22/2012) at 5 PM, in New York. Earlier, the euro had slumped 1.3 percent. Japanese Yen also rose 0.2 percent against the euro to 101.42, after earlier fell 0.5 percent.

Great egret in oil damaged marsh at bay jimmy 2 months after oil hit (Photo credit: USFWS/Southeast)

Meanwhile, the yen declined 0.8 percent to 79.96 per U.S. dollar. A common currency 17 European countries are clear gains against the yen after the Dow Jones report, former Prime Minister of Greece Lucas Papademos, said the number of preparations are being considered for Greece out of the euro zone.

“The market was surprised to learn that Greece might be technically prepared for the possibility of leaving the euro zone,” said Sebastien Galy, a Senior Foreign Exchange Strategist at Societe Generale, SA, in New York.

The deceased was found dead then in her Bedford, New York home on Wednesday. She was 52years old.

Mary Kennedy, a designer by profession and was said to have been battling with alcohol and drugs.

She got married to the son of the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy who is an environmentalist and lawyer in 1994.  

The couple had 4 kids.

Mr. Kennedy however filed for divorce in May, 2010 for some reasons yet to be really understood.

Events Before the Shooting
8th December 1980
Photographer, Annie Leibovitz went to the apartment of John Lennon and Yoko Ono at 2: 00 pm on 8 December 1980 in order to do a photo shoot for Rolling Stone magazine.  Lennon was promised by Leibovitz that a picture taken with Ono would make the front cover.  She had tried to get a picture with Lennon on his own.  She recalled that “nobody wanted (Ono) on the cover”.  Lennon was adamant that  both he and Ono should be on the cover.  Leibovitz left the apartment at 3:30 pm after taking the pictures.  Lennon gave an interview to a San Francisco DJ, Dave Sholin after the photo shoot and this would turn out to be his last interview.  Lennon and Ono left their apartment at 5:00 pm to go to the Record Plant Studio to mix the song “Walking on Thin Ice.”  This was an Ono song that featured Lennon on lead guitar.

Meeting Chapman
Lennon and Ono were approached by several people wanting autographs as they walked to their limousine, among them was Mark Chapman.  It was usual for fans to wait outside the Dakota in order to meet Lennon and get an autograph.  Chapman stayed silent as he handed Lennon a cope of the Double Fantasy album which Lennon signed.  He then said to Chapman, “is that all you want?”  Chapman nodded and smiled.  The encounter between Lennon and Chapman was photographed by photographer and Lemmon fan Paul Goresh. 

Lennnon and Ono returned to the Dakoto at around 10:50 pm after spending several hours at the Record Plant studio.  The left their limousine on the 72nd street rather than driving into the more secure courtyard that Dakota had.

Chapman was seen by Dakota doorman Jose Perdomo and a nearby cab driver standing by the archway in the shadows.  Ono walked in front of Lennon and then into the reception area.  Lennon looked briefly at Chapman as he passed by but the carried on his way.  Chapman took aim at the center of Lennon’s back and he fired five hollow-point bullets from a Charter Arms .38 Special revolver in quick succession.  Statements made that night by NYPD Chief of Detectives, James Sullivan caused many television, newspaper and radio reports to claim that Chapman called out “Mr. Lennon” before he fired and also dropped into a “combat stance.”  However, witness interviews and court hearings do not include this information.  In a 1992 interview with Barbara Walters, Chapman confirmed taking a “combat stance” but he has said that the did not remember calling out Lennon’s name before shooting him.  The first bullet missed and passed over Lennon’s head before it hit a window of the Dakota building.  The left side of Lennon’s back was bit by the next two bullets and his left shoulder was penetrated by two more.  Three of the four bullets fired, completely passed through Lennon’s body and exited the front.  This resulted in a total of seven wounds from gunshots.  All shots inflicted severe gunshot wounds but two of these were fatal.  Lennon’s left lung and the left subclavian artery, where it branches from the aorta were hit.  Lennon staggered up five steps to the security/reception area as he bled heavily from his wounds and also his mouth.  He said “I’m shot, I’m shot” before falling to the floor.  Concierge Jay Hastings began to make a tourniquet but he realized the severity of Lennon’s injuries as he ripped open his blood-stained shirt.  He covered Lennon’s chest with his uniform’s jacket instead and then removed his blood-stained glasses and contacted the police.
Outside, Perdomo shook the gun from Chapman’s hand before kicking it across the sidewalk.  Chapman, in preparation for the police’s arrival, removed his coat and hat to show that he was not carrying any hidden weapons.  He the sat on the sidewalk  Perdomo shouted, “do you know what you’ve done?”  Chapman replied calmly, “yes, I just shot John Lennon.”  Steve Spiro and Peter Cullen were the first policemen to arrive.  They found Chapman sitting on the sidewalk “very calmly”.  They reported that he was holding a paperback copy of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.  Chapman has scribbled, “To Holden Caulfield.  From Holden Caulfield” on the inside cover of the book.  He later went to claim that his life mirrored that of Holden Caulfield, the central character in the book.

A few minutes later, Officers James Moran and Bill Gamble arrived.  They carried Lennon into their squad car straight away and rushed to Roosevelt Hospital.  Moran asked, “are you John Lennon?”  To this, Lennon nodded and said, “yes.”  However there are conflicting accounts of this.  One account says that Lennon nodded a little and attempted to speak but could only produce a gurgling noise, before losing consciousness shortly after.

When Lennon arrived at the Roosevelt Hospital he was not breathing and there was no pulse.  He was received by Dr. Stephan Lynn.  He and two other doctors worked for almost 20 minutes.  They opened Lennon’s chest and tried to perform manual heart massage in order to restore circulation.  The damage to the blood vessels around the heart was too severe however.  Dr. Lynn pronounced Lennon dead. The time he did this has been disputed, with 11:07 pm and 11:15 pm both being reported.  Hypovolemic shock , caused by losing over 80% blood volume was the cause of death.  Lennon’s affected organs were virtually destroyed on impact because he was shot with hollow-point bullets that expand when they enter the target and as they travel through the target, they disrupt more tissue.  Lynn stated that his injuries were so severe that even if he had been shot in the operating theater with surgeons ready to work on him, he would not have survived.  Lynn informed Ono of the death of her husband.  She began sobbing and lay down and started banging her head against the floor.  When a nurse brought Lennon’s wedding ring to her, she calmed down.  Geffen Records president David Geffen led her away from the hospital.

Announcement
The hospital was asked by Ono not to report that Lennon had died.  She wanted to tell their first.  He was at home and she said that he would probably be watching TV and she did not want him to learn that his father had died from an announcement on TV.

The hospital had not confirmed the shooting or the condition of Lennon but word was relayed to ABC news by a reporter from WABC-TV, Alan Weiss.  He had been involved in a motorcycle incident earlier that evening and taken to Roosevelt Hospital.  He saw Lennon being rushed in when he was in the emergency room.  He rang Neil Goldstein, the station’s assignment editor.  Goldstein relayed the information to ABC News division and president Roone Arledge.

Arledge was the president of ABC Sports also, as well as the executive producer of Monday Night Football.  When he received the news of Lennon, the game between the Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots was still ongoing.  Arledge suggested that Howard Cosell and Frank Gifford, the broadcast team, announce the death of Lennon air.  Cosell was hesitant to do this but Gifford persuaded him to make to make the announcement. 

Lennon’s son Sean was not watching the TV that night, so Ono was able to tell him herself of his father’s death.  She released a statement the next day which read, “There is no funeral for John.  John loved and prayed for the human race.  Pleas do the same for hm. Love, Yoko and Sean.”

Aftermath of Lennon’s Death
Due to his high profile status, many consider the murder of John Lennon to be as assassination.  An outpouring of grief around the world was triggered by the tragic event.  In the months after his murder, sales of his work both with the Beatles and as a solo artist soared.  No funeral was held but his remains were cremated at Ferncliff Cemetary in Westchester.  Chanting crowds outside the Dakota were sent a message by Ono that their singing had kept her awake and for them to go to Central Park the following Sunday to participate in 10 minutes of silent prayer.  Millions of people responded to the request on 14 December, 1980 and paused for 10 minutes of silence in remembrance of Lennon.  In Liverpool, thirty thousand people gathered.  The largest group was over 225,000 people in New York’s Central Park.  All radio stations in New York went off air for those ten minutes.  A solo album was released by Ono in 1981.  The cover of Seasons of Glass featured a photograph of Lennon’s blood-stained glasses.  Walking in Thin Ice was included on a 1997 re-release of the album.  This was mixed at the Record Plant by John and Yoko less than an hour before he was shot. 

Mark David Chapman
In June 1981 Chapman plead guilty to the murder of John Lennon.  This was against his lawyers advice.  They wanted him to file a plea of insanity.  Chapman was given a life sentence but the terms of his guilty plea meant that he was eligible for parole after serving 20 years.  He remained an inmate at Attica State Prison after being refused parole every two years at hearings since 2000. His last parole hearing was in 2010 and he will be eligible in August 2012. 

On Tuesday 15th, May 2012 he was transferred to another maximum-security jail at the Wende correctional Facility in Alden.  A prison spokesperson claimed that specific reasons on why an inmate has been moved are not disclosed but that a transfer after such a long time in one prison is unusual 

The motivations and mental health of Chapman are complex.  He had suffered with mental health troubles for years and had an obsession with the politics of Lennon’s music.  Lennon’s infamous “bigger than Jesus” comment caused anger in Chapman, who called it blasphemy.  Later he stated his anger at the lyrics in “Imagine.”  He was enraged at the inappropriateness he saw between the personal wealth that Lennon had and the lyrics “imagine no possessions.”  He even went so far as to sing the song by altering the lyrics to “imagine John Lennon dead.”

Mary Kennedy died at her home in New York. She lived apart from her husband Robert (left)

The series of tragic deaths in the U.S. Kennedy family has no end. Mary Kennedy, wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was on Wednesday evening (local time) was found dead at her home in upstate New York. She was 52 years old.

The family confirmed the death, but made no reference to the circumstances. The “New York Times” reported, citing multiple sources, Mary Kennedy was in a barn on her estate in Bedford, discovered 70 kilometers north of New York. Here also a personal note had been found.

Mary Richardson was married in 1994 Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the son of the senator’s 1968 shot of the same name. His brother, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was shot in 1963 in Dallas – “JFK” was practically her uncle by marriage, even if it was when it died only two years old until 30 years later became part of the clan.

In this house, police found the body

Mary leaves behind four children

Mary had with Robert Kennedy Jr., four children, he also had two of his first marriage. The couple lived apart for two years, but was not divorced. Mary was twice caught with drink driving and had to undergo even a course arranged by the authorities to deal with alcohol. The last few months she became less apparent. Her husband Robert is known as a lawyer and author, and had political ambitions, he went to Washington, but not yet.

American media are back in rumors about a “curse of the Kennedys” and in fact many members of America’s dynasty died young. From Joseph Kennedy’s four sons was an attack on a bomber in World War II (Joseph Jr., 1944, 24 years old). Two were shot by assassins (”JFK” and 46 “RFK” with 42). The youngest, Edward, made at the time with alcohol and a fatal accident headlines. After a long time as an influential U.S. senator, he died in 2009 at the age of 77.

The curse of the Kennedys

John F. Kennedy’s wife Jacqueline died in 1994 with 64 Both had to suffer a stillbirth, the White House, her son Patrick died at the age of two. Her son, John F. Kennedy Jr. crashed in 1999 with a plane with him died his wife and her sister. Many other Kennedy died early. The patriarch and his wife were old, however, Father Joseph Kennedy died in 1969 at 81 years, his wife Rose in 1995 with 104th

Details of her death were not released as that time.

Family members of the deceased were captured saying they will really miss their sister so much. They also sent their condolences to the children the deceased left behind.

The Bedford Police Department earlier confirmed they were seriously investigating the death.

The deceased according to Authorities was found inside an out building on the property.    Mary Kennedy, 52 was married to Robert F. Kennedy. Robert however filed for divorce in 2010 which sparked lots of media controversy exposing many happening in the marriage of the two.

 7.5

IT WAS TOO COLD to be walking the streets this late at night without a jacket. I pulled out my hound’s-tooth from my bag and put it on. I’m so glad I remembered to get it from the closest before I left. I really was. There were no buses or cabs coming by at this time of the night, so I decided to walk to the train station. I admit, this is not one of the smartest things I’ve ever done. I should have called a cab before I left Pencey, but I couldn’t stand the thought of spending another minute around those bastards, especially that sonuvabitch Stradlater.

            I ran a few blocks until I lost my breath, so I decided to sit down by the street curb until I got my wind back. I heard footsteps behind me, but before I could turn around, my face was on the snow with someone’s knee pushing into my back, pinning me down. I tried to turn my face to see who was doing this to me, but all I saw were three bodies hovering over me. I could feel them sticking their hands in my pocket to see if I had any cash. For chrissakes, those sonuvabitch’s just found my wad of money. All I could hear was one of the three morons saying, “Thanks for the dough, kid.”

I said “I hope you slip and crack your skulls you stupid morons.” This feeling of pain was starting to feel too familiar; my face was full of blood again. First because of Stradlater and now because of these goddam morons. Once I had a chance to regain my composure, I wiped the blood off my face with the snow. It actually felt refreshing. It really did.

As I was growing up, my parents, like any other parents, had rules they wanted us to follow. They said it was for our own safety and one day we’d know what the hell they were talking about. This is one time I was glad I listened. As kids, my brother, sister and I were always told to make sure that we had some emergency money tucked away in our shoes. This was only in case we lost our wallets or change we had in our pockets. I remember one time my mother sent me to pick up something she ordered from a store. I had to take the bus because it was really far. I don’t know what happened, but I lost the money that was in my pocket. I ended up walking 6 whole goddam miles and I swore to myself that that would never happen again.

So now, I make sure to always have some dough stashed away in my shoes. I even have enough money to get me to New York and to stay a few nights.

I finally reached the train station. I looked at the train schedule and there was only one train leaving for New York in approximately thirty minutes. I had to rush to get my train ticket. I approached the ticket booth and said to the weird looking cross-eyed man behind the counter, “one ticket to New York please.” He must have been about sixty years old.

“That will be thirty-two dollars and fifty cents,” he said. “Your train will be departing from Track 15, which is way to the back of the station, up the stairs and on the left side of the platform. So hurry up or you’ll miss it.”

My train would be on the furthest goddam track there is in this station.

I had this taste of blood in my mouth. I was thirsty as hell and needed something to drink.  I know I was pushing it, running out of time, but I had to find something. There were no shops open, but I spotted a water fountain.  I quickly ran to get a drink, “Yuck!” that was disgusting, it smelled like rotten eggs and it tasted even worse. I think I would have rather stayed with the taste of blood in my mouth.

I looked at my watch to see what time it was. I didn’t think I spent too much time wandering around, but I guess I did because I only have seven goddam minutes left before the train leaves. I started to run again, I couldn’t believe how far the track really was. I made it there just as the whistles were blowing, so I quickly hopped on the train and grabbed a seat.

The train was pretty full; I stored my bag in the overhead compartment. I could feel hunger pains, but I was way too tired to worry about that. Then I rolled up my hound’s-tooth and used it as a pillow. I was so goddam tired, I practically fell asleep as soon as my head hit the jacket.