PERSONAL NEWS #70
Thursday evening, August 18th, was the monthly NYC Chapter Dept of Peace board meeting. It was again held at Karen’s office in midtown Manhattan and always a pleasure seeing my fellow board members. [They are such terrific folk and I consider myself blessed in knowing them.] Carol hosted the call via the phone from Chicago. Maria, Coco and Vlad were out of town on vacation. Look forward to hearing all about their relaxing holidays next time we meet up. Those at the meeting were Ellen, Karen, Dawn, Joe, Liz, Kevin and I. Joe brought cookies and I contributed seedless grapes. [Being the board secretary I took the minutes.] We covered a lot of turf during our two-hour meeting. A majority of the discussion was on the upcoming Peace Conference to be held in Washington DC in September, our first press conference and implementing new features to our meeting agenda.

Early Friday evening, August 19th, I hooked up with my friend Larry at Barnes & Noble in Union Square. We walked over to where he lives now in Chelsea [neighborhood in Manhattan]. Brought our impromptu dinner [sandwiches from a Cosi-like deli on 9th Avenue] back to his new apartment. He lives in an apartment building that has 21 floors. His new place is on the top floor with a big enclosed balcony off the living room. Larry calls it his penthouse suite. We sat out on the balcony admiring the views of downtown Manhattan as dusk set in, catching up on news and noshing on food with a lovely breeze blowing through the screens. The view of many rooftops is really cool, some with gardens and especially charming when lights come on after the sun goes down. The city is a twinkling, multi-faceted jewel to gaze upon.

On Sunday, August 21st, I was invited over to my friend [ex-E&Y co-worker] Annie’s home for luncheon in southern Brooklyn. This time the subways gave me no troubles at all … not like the previous weekend. Always a pleasure visiting Annie, seeing how much her adorable daughter Rachel has grown. Rachel is now 2 ½ years old, very active and very much adored by her Mum and Dad. Had a yummy home cooked meal by Annie; which consisted of garden fresh veggie dish, shredded cabbage dish, baked chicken & salmon, rice and a yogurt style dressing. Afterwards we watched lots of Bugs Bunny/Daffy Duck cartoons on DVD and played with Rachel. Plus, Annie showed me how to dress up in an Indian Sari. [She has some lovely, colorful beaded fabrics (silks et al) from India.] We had a good laugh while doing that and David took some photos of us in our attire. Overall it was a fun, enjoyable visit.

On Wednesday, August 24th, I had a follow-up appointment with Dr Challapalli [lung specialist] at my neighborhood clinic. The good news is that my situation is improving with the usage of the inhalers. He said a good portion of the inflammation is gone. Plus, we discussed the results from Bronchoscope in more detail. There is NO cancer, tumor, tuberculosis nor emphysema just the asthma. When I arrived home after my appointment, I found the Mammogram results waiting for me in the mail. More good news … my breasts are normal. Hurray! Amen!

The following evening our Support Group session was held in Bryant Park, due to the nice weather. Apparently others from the group were otherwise engaged, so it was just Carol and I. We sat on towels, kicked off our shoes, noshed on the homemade chocolate chip cookies I brought and talked about many different topics for 1 ½ hours. Some of our discussion was on meditation, Dept of Peace, health issues, Indian culture, etc. Bryant Park was busy, but not overly crowded.

On Friday, August 26th, I had a lunch time appointment to get a sonogram done to check out my ovaries. This time around it wasn’t as uncomfortable and the procedure was accomplished quickly. The nasty Cyst that was viewed in sonogram in May is still there, retaining blood and the same size. Damn little bugger doesn’t want to leave when it is suppose too. Grrrrrrrrrrrr!

On Sunday, August 28th, I started off the day with an intense workout session and my Personal Trainer [Marie] keeping me focused for the hour. These sessions are out at a gym near Auburndale, which means I utilize Long Island Railroad. The 25 minute ride isn’t so bad and was reading my new issue of THE PROGRESSIVE. Back in the city I stopped by my office to check emails et al. Received an email from Becca [LOTR/Tolkien Group acquaintance] wondering if I’d like to meet up with her and Jackie down near Union Square. Sure, I’d love to! Got down to Gothic Renaissance [www.gothicrenaissance.com] at about 3:15pm and Becca waiting outside. She said Jackie was inside the Halloween shop next door purchasing elf ears. I wasn’t about to go in there cause someone I used to know is employed at that establishment. My only comment is that the person in question is one crazy, self-centered bitch. No need to soil my blog by uttering her name. Jackie finally came out with her purchase and we waltzed into Gothic Renaissance [108 4th Avenue] to try on wench style outfits for the upcoming Faire at Fort Tryon Park. We were there for about 2 hours and had a blast. The two folk running the shop was terrific and so helpful. There were several outfits [plus naughty corsets] that looked good on me and really emphasis ones figure. Ahem! Sadly, I didn’t have sufficient funds to purchase any of them, but Jackie and Becca picked up some great buys.

Afterwards we headed over to Broadway and 13th Street to hanging out at a Cosi. This particular one is fantastic and kinda reminds me of the coffee shop on TV show FRIENDS. Becca and Jackie had Cesar Salads, while I happily sipped on a Carmel Cappuccino Mocha drink. Sinfully delicious! We chatted about all sorts of topics. Yep, even about our fav movie trilogy, Lord of the Rings. During our repast police cars and fire trucks are whizzing past to Broadway and 12th Street. From where we sat in Cosi, we could barely make out what was going on and then the street was cordoned off. We paid our bill and left Cosi at 7:20pm. Checked out what was going on and learned a fire broke out in building. There were some injuries to a few firemen, but thankfully all were evacuated. From there we strolled up thru Union Square and over to 6th Avenue to window shop. Finally we parted company and went our separate ways. Always fun hanging out with these two gals.

On Tuesday, August 30th, I had an appointment with my gynecologist to go over the results from resent sonogram on ovaries. Won’t go into much detail, as it’s really personal, but suffice to say he’s putting me on “the pill” for six months to correct the cyst situation.

MESSAGE & LINK FROM THOMAS AT "notobush" WEBSITE
I've recently put up the final update of the notobush gallery - 25 new images collected over the last year to round out the 50 already up. You can view the notobush gallery, view the original archived notobush web site, see an archive of the notobush project in its entirety, as well as visit the peace & justice archive at Forth Position through the gateway located here: http://www.forthposition.com/gateway.html Enjoy the images and remember how powerful we are, each of us and together. Unity through Empathy - Thomas Gallagher former volunteer Arts & Culture Coordinator for New York Coalition for Peace & Justice, Stand Up New York, and United for Peace & Justice; former Kucinich Delegate in Brooklyn; founder of notobush & Forth Position Design [Duchess Note - A big hug to a terrific guy, who's energy and enthusiasm is without borders.]

PEARL JAM-TASTIC - IT DIDN'T HAVE TO BE, BUT THIS WAS ONE OF THE BEST CONCERTS OF THE YEAR
Jamie Kelly / The Missoulian News
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2005/09/01/entertainer/ent06.txt
Of course you can't have a Pearl Jam concert without the politics, Democratic fund-raiser or not. Vedder didn't disappoint. Jabs at President Bush were everywhere, overt and otherwise. Vedder launched into some improvised lyrics set to "Another Brick in the Wall" as the song "Daughter" closed: "We don't need no misrepresentation/We don't need no Fox News reports/Take your bias and shove it up your asses/Don't you remember what the truth is worth?"