Insanity

- noun [in-san-i-tee]; pl. insanities

1. the state of being insane; madness.
2. extreme foolishness or irrationality.
3. doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results. *

Not too much has changed here. I've made it more than halfway through the mandatory "I hate New York" time I understand is expected for newcomers, although I've also heard that syndrome can last as long as six months for the more culturally "shocked."

Anyway, I've come to link my insanity to the record of the Cardinals, who like me, keep doing the same thing over and over again (score a bunch of runs, give up a bunch of runs) and expecting a different result. But lately, unpredictably, they're getting it. Knowing my World Series wishes might all come crashing down this week, I'm just thankful for the heart-popping post-season run we've had so far, and the bragging rights to say, "We beat the best team in baseball!" [Take that, Phillies!] As my friend pointed out, "I guess that means you are the best team in baseball." Double-bragging rights!

Backing up, about a month ago, the Cardinals were 10 games back from their division rivals (and now Championship rivals) and 8 1/2 back from the Wildcard (which they got, see the Post-Dispatch above, or MLB: Go Wild, folks.). But somehow, in their frustrating routine of randomness, they started picking up games, just here and there. And now look at em', head-to-head with the Brewers for the National League Championship. So, I figure, if they can do it — that is, win, with extremely sporadic effort — then so can I. Whatever win means.
I guess, just, "I'll get there."

Filling in on the rest of the month's activities will have to wait, but had to write tonight because...

[indulging in the fact that somewhere to the West, it is still October 9th]

1: I promised I wouldn't let a month go by without posting. So, "Whew!" Just made the deadline (PST).

2: It just so happens to be the birthday of my dear friend and forever companion, John Lennon. He is missing here in my apartment. For some reason I can't remember, I decided not to cart him out to New York. So for the first time in seven years, I've been without that iconic image of him standing in front of the NYC skyline in a "New York City" t-shirt, looking very NYC and all. (Or maybe that was the reason.) Anyway, it's strange now to think I used to see him like that every morning before I left home and then again every night, whether he was tacked up in a crowded dorm room or staring down majestically from the aqua walls of my giant living room on Paulina (between a golden 70s pole lamp and a zebra-printed shag rug, of course).

The point is, having an occasion to look him up, John saves me once again. He's a reminder of what I want NYC to be, what drew me here in the first place. Him and the 99% still shouting out on Wall Street. (Debate as you will on the merits, but, hey, it's still happening. Read more on New York Times, Room for Debate, October 6.)

And apparently, for other Lennon fans/NYC doubtfuls, there is also this: LENNONYC, "a new film [aired last year on PBS] that takes an intimate look at the time Lennon, Yoko Ono and their son, Sean, spent living in New York City during the 1970s."

* For those interested in wonky trivia, this "quote" does not actually belong in quotes because Albert Einstein did not say it, nor did Benjamin Franklin, or at least no one can prove it.

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