Moment Magnitude

So long?

Hey there. Not sure how much time I can devote to writing here anymore.

Living and working and recreating the second half of my life in the East End of Long Island, the Hamptons, has been all-consuming.

Lately, it feels like Face Book, A Small World, and company email (the latter most of all) suck my brain dry. Oh, and Thursday night karaoke at Sen Spice Lounge in Sag Harbor.

I hope to come back, and so, for now Moment Magnitude is nominally active.

Tra-la.

January First

I spent most of yesterday traveling, returning from New Mexico, after spending the holidays with Mom and Step-dad.

The trip was uneventful, despite snowy weather and a two-plus-hour layover at Chicago-O'Hare.

I have spend, oh, probably thousands of hours on airplanes and airports, but this is a first.

Once boarded upon the second flight and final leg bound for New York's La Guardia, the bursar, or head flight attendant, or whomever, came on the public announcement system with this information: A passenger, who had told the flight attendants of her "airborne peanut allergy," requested that all other passengers, if they had any food items containing peanuts, to refrain from eating them during the flight.

I raised my eyebrows, and at first, said to myself, "Only in New York." Except that we weren't in New York, yet.

Then I thought of the little white masks I have seen folks wear in Chinatown. Couldn't one with such an allergy wear one of those, instead of making such a request - to a whole planeload of people?

Okay, maybe the allergy is so bad, that this person would go into anaphylactic shock at the merest whiff of a peanut. Maybe. I'm just saying.

The words "high maintenance" fluttered across my mind.

Anyhow, once back in NYC, and back at my loft (sans automobile), I bumped into friend-neighbors, and we set off for dinner at decades-old Florent on Gansevoort Street. Half way through our meal, Ethan Hawke came in with companions. My friends commented that they see him frequently, on the street. We all live in Chelsea after all.

Later, back at my now semi-empty loft, I popped around "My Favorite Blogs," scroll down below the photo albums in the left-hand column, yep, over there (<<<).

I hadn't checked my favorites in a while, and I am so happy to say that (with the exception of one that has been dormant), they are as vibrant, witty, and as wonderful as they have ever been. Bless you, insomnia haiku. I laughed out loud many times. You rock.

I also received my first comment of 2008, on the post, Lemonade, comparing my writing to Susan Orlean (!). Except that there is no bloody way I could ever have a crush on Dick Cheney (urgh), ironic or otherwise (apologies to Ms. Orlean).

Still, that's what I call a nice start to a New Year.

Active FX - One Year Later

Since writing the initial post here over one year ago, this section of Moment Magnitude has taken on a life of its own - even as I have written that there is so much more to the aggregate blog than the Active FX post. That stated, I have a fresh reason for writing - and will copy this message as a new post to the opening page of Moment Magnitude.

Unlike some contributing commenters, I have very good skin. I had the procedure as a courtesy experiment, with little explanation upfront, no before-after photos, and no long-term follow-up. The office in which I had the procedure was not pleased with the story I wrote - albeit intended as self-deprecating and ironic - and so the name of the office is not included here.

Over a year later, I see no results, and that's fine, no big deal. The tiny broken capillaries on my nose, and the little scar on my upper lip remain.

What is interesting however, among the outpouring of reactions submitted here, is one in particular. And that comes from Kevin DeBias, of The Institute for Laser and Aesthetic Medicine. His father, a board-certified physician, specializing in aesthetic medicine, innovated the protocol used for "fractional CO2 (carbon dioxide)," which the kind of laser used in Active FX (if I have that right).

Go to Mr. DeBias' October 7, 2007 comment to find various hyperlinks. It turns out that Mr. DeBias has very generously offered to supply me with a suite of (long-term) sample skin care products, with careful instructions - something I never received from the NYC plastic surgeon's office where I had the procedure (admittedly, I signed waivers - it was an experimental trial, and free of charge).

So, now that many commenters have written in about after-procedure skin creams, I hope that I will be able to provide some reasonable (and dare I suggest useful?) feedback on these products. How's that? I'm keen to begin. Stay tuned.

One Year Old

Moment Magnitude is one year old. The first year milestone was November 25.

In that time, I wrote or assembled (more the former than the latter) 113 posts. That's a fraction more than ten posts per month.

Comments total 169. Thank you one and sixty-nine.

Page visits have come from far and wide, but most emanate from the Anglophone world.

Google reported that this site is worth five bucks. That's more than two subway fares. For some reason that escapes me, that sum or portions of it have not transferred to me. Maybe I need to achieve a ten dollar minimum. That'll take another year.

I am close to posting the first installment on Plot Participant. Chapter One of the novel. I have to muck about with formatting yet.

I'll knuckle down and get there. Like I do.

Check it out.

Hits

Here on Moment Magnitude, anymore, when I check the "stats," which have grown since I began almost a years ago, I note the various word-searches that visitors type, that in some way, drives them right here.

Some of the terms and phrases are interesting, others not so (much).

Herewith a sampling, a list:

Protect against stomach flu. From the good folks at Dogpile. (A reference to when I was almost-deathly ill last December.)

Naomi Campbell falls off shoes. (Yes she did, but I wasn't there to witness it.)

Superhero costume. (See here.)

French playboy Studio 54 skier. (Damn - I love that one, not sure to which post it links best.)

High school English teacher garter belt stockings. (Not in my life.)

No pants sexy. (Not sure why that comes to MM. Instead, I refer everyone here.)

Dolby fracture of foot. (That's the Tourette connection.)

Depilitator. (Well-referenced throughout MM.)

And the most frequently pushed phrase is...

Jessica Rabbit. (It's all Surfer Girl's doing.)

Reality, Modified

A recent reader of Moment Magnitude - and I cannot remember who - told me she (I believe it was a she) thought the stories here are fiction.

So, I feel the urge for a quick explanation. The stories here are not fiction, unless I embed a fictional "what if" or equivalent in the middle of an otherwise based-on-a-true-account. These stories are my interpretation of actual events and escapades. I would love to state with veracity that, "No, it's all true," that simple, straightforward line from one of my all-time favorite films (and the book before it), but it's not, quite.

I decided at the outset to create nicknames for the recurrent characters - as a way to protect the innocent, or more likely, the guilty, the lion hearts, the reprobates, most of whom I adore, one or two whom I don't. I'm pretty straightforward in distinguishing between the adored and the loathed.

Tough noogies, as Sister Lucide might have said, as she ground her knuckles into Patrick Rizzo's or Tommy Iburg's skull. Noogies.

A clever, discerning reader, who doesn't know us otherwise, can probably connect the dots between the monikers and the photos that are included here. (Yep: that photo has to be of Surfer Girl.)

We're real.