Giant Halloween stores have opened in my neighborhood, two of them! One sits in what used to be Gristedes, a terrible supermarket chain. The other occupies space formerly leased by J & R Music which went Chapter 11 earlier this year and left. I was indifferent to the departure – prices were okay but service was iffy. I bought my Toshiba laptop from them and 2 years ago I succumbed to an HDTV for my bedroom. I’ve lived in Manhattan for 23 years and harbor neither nostalgia for nor relief from commerce past. Some folks are passionate about changes to the neighborhood. I’m not.

Ironically, just days after my post about how going to the ER is so difficult for me was run, here, on Wordsmoker, I ended up in another situation where I HAD to go to the ER.  I actually was ordered by my primary care physician to go to the ER.

For the past 4 days or so, I have had this thing growing underneath my eyebrow.  At first it just felt like a pimple that had to surface and be popped (I have been blessed with never really having an acne problem, especially around my eye area, so I did think it a bit odd).  But it got bigger and bigger till the whole area around my right eye was so swollen that I could barely open my eye.

Anyone who wants to talk about something other than the Michael Jackson funereal concert–except what a grotesque spectacle it is and how it is pitiably free from snipers–please join me in comments.