They're Just Some Cuts And Bruises

I scanned this off of a little 2x3 inch print that I have tucked in front of the glass of a small mirror on the wall above my computer.

I think it will be three years in January since my son Jonathan did this lovely "portrait" of his dad. It'll be three years in January that this happened.

The occasion was that my crazy next door neighbor who never pulls a permit for anything had a well drilling truck pulled into his yard and I asked the driller if he'd pulled a permit. Rather than answering me he ran out into the street where I was standing and attacked me, knocking me to the ground and I ended up looking like this. Eventually some neighbors pulled him off of me.

The down side of the experience is that now I know I can live through something like this, and I get a bit confrontational at times with young punks who insist on blasting their car stereos as loud as possible. First I politely ask them to turn it down and usually get a reply of "Why should I! What are you gonna do about it?" I offer them my face, saying "I never throw the first punch. You hit me first!" at this point I'm about a foot away from them. "...and then I'm going to beat the shit out of you!" I guess the idea of a grizzled old guy showing no fear makes them think twice. They always just drive away as their buddies laugh at them. So far I've never been hit.

So yesterday my neighbor is outside. He must have had a mirrored wall in the house that he was tired of because he had all these 2x6 foot sections of mirror that he was tossing over his wood plank fence into the narrow space between it and the old chainlink fence seperating our yards. The mirrors were shattering, making a mess that wasn't visible from his side of the solid wood fence but certainly was from my side through the chain link. I got pissed BIG TIME! I suggested that he could squeeze in between the two fences and pick up every big or little piece of broken mirror that was there and to DO IT NOW. He did.

Well, I didn't get a picture of my grin yesterday so I'm using this old shot again.

Actually it makes me wonder. Should I run for mayor in the upcoming May city election? Can you envision "Elect Al Kaplan" signs all over North Miami featuring this photo? It sure would get some publicity!