Steven M. Finkelstein

Well, summer is upon us, and this always seems to be the time of year where I try to pack the most in. Maybe it goes back to when I was in school, where summer meant three months of leisure. It’s not quite the same now. Being a working stiff, I don’t really get all of that time off, but I’m still trying to take advantage of quite a bit going on here in the city. Over the next few weeks, here’s what’s coming up. This Saturday I’ll be checking out a live WWE house show at Madison Square Garden. Four championships will be on the line, though since the event isn’t televised, none of them will be changing hands. Still, WWE always puts on a good show at the Garden, and this will be my first time seeing them there, so I’m quite excited. Next week friends and relatives will be invading, as both my father and sister, along with her significant other, will be in town. See, if you live in New York long enough, eventually everyone will come and visit you, yet another perk. On Friday, July 2nd, I’ll be checking out a TNA wrestling event at the Brooklyn Cyclones Stadium at Coney Island, just a few minutes away from me by train. This is the first live TNA event I’ll be seeing, and I’m also extremely excited for that. July 6th Meg and I will be heading to Citi Field to see the New York Metropolitans take on my Cincinnati Reds, who are currently in a tie for first with the Cardinals atop the National League Central. I was hoping this would be the year the Reds finished above the .500 mark, but having them smack in the middle of the pennant race is a surprise and welcome bonus. Let’s see if they can stay competitive for the rest of the summer. Being at a Mets game and rooting for the Reds probably won’t make me too popular, but what can you do, got to support the team. On July 12th Meg and I will see Iron Maiden at MSG. The aging rockers have a new album coming out in August, and this will be my first time seeing them too. Should be fun. From July 16th through the 18th I’ll be in Baltimore, Maryland, for a craft show with Meg. The 17th is also my birthday, and it so happens that Gov’t Mule are playing there that day…for free, no less! That should be a very fine way to celebrate my 29th. From the 25th through the 28th of July I’ll be back in Cincinnati, my first visit in a year. I’ll have a couple of days to catch up with relatives and friends…it seems like I have less and less time to visit home these days, so that should be nice. In August the biggest event of the summer for me will take place, with my leaving the country for the first time in 20 years; the last time I did so was for a family vacation in Toronto in 1990. This time I’ll be heading to Ireland the last week of the month, along with Meg, my mom and her husband, and my sister. I’m tremendously pumped up about that. This will be my first time visiting Europe, and there’s going to be so much to see and experience. That will pretty much cap off the summer for me, and it’ll almost be a relief when fall gets here and things calm down a little bit.

In addition to everything I mentioned, I also have tickets to nine different Yankee games between now and the end of September, part of the eleven game ticket package I purchased a few weeks ago. Last night I was at The Stadium to see the Yankees thump the Phillies again; it’s really getting to be a habit. That rivalry has heated up considerably as a result of the Series last year, and I saw several fights, ejections, and one guy puking in a urinal. Good times. With the Yankees and Reds  both tied for first in their divisions going into today, my dream of a Reds/Yankees World Series doesn’t seem quite so far fetched. But I’m sure the Reds will collapse in between now and then. Unfortunately, it’s what they do. Still, despite some minor aggravations in my life right now, I’m feeling pretty good. You’ve no doubt noticed, if you’re a regular reader, that I haven’t had anything published recently. That’s because I’m hard at work on the new novel, and I haven’t had time to work on shorter things or send them out. It’s a worthy trade off, I think. The notoriety and small amounts of money I receive from getting published in lit mags is nice, but it would be nothing compared to what it would mean to get a novel picked up…and that, of course, remains my long term goal. When this one’s finished I’ll be shopping it around, and also, God willing, looking for an agent again. Sooner or later I’m simply going to need to get one. The new novel is progressing nicely, though. I’m approaching the 200 page mark, and I’m happy with the pace I’m setting.

Well, that’s it for now. It’s hard to work four days a week and still keep the “summer frame of mind.” At the Park Avenue site, looking out the windows at each beautiful afternoon, adjusting my clip-on tie, it’s easy to get fidgety. But as I mentioned, there’s plenty in the way of leisure activities to look forward to, so that should get me through it. I hope everyone is likewise enjoying their summer. Stay cool, more soon.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 16th, 2010 at 5:29 pm and is filed under Opinions, Rants, and Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.