Heyyy! I Think I Love You. . .

Yes, five of us had a tasty Hungarian meal at my place. And yes, we did go to a karaoke bar afterward.

We arrived there at about 9:00 pm just before the actual karaoke activities began. I signed up to sing the Partridge Family's 1970's hit I Think I Love You.

Guess who was the first one called to sing?

Yes, I sang it. I had fun doing it.

But here's a word of advice:

If you're going to sing a retro hit, and if you know you're going to sing it in a downtown bar in Chicago on a Friday night, be sure to sing it at least after 11 pm when there's a crowd that has consumed lots of alcohol.

We had a wonderful time. I accidentally deleted all the photographic evidence of my Hungarian meal, but it was awfully tasty.

I remember eating paprikas csirke (chicken paprikash) at an elderly woman's house who had immigrated to the States in 1954. Sure, hers was authentic, but sort of in a bland Post-WWII-Pre-Communist type of paprikash mode.

Mine was still authentic in that it didn't use any tomatoes nor any over-use of sour cream; but rather a nice way of highlighting chicken and Hungarian paprika. (Hint: you MUST stir the Hungarian paprika just right in the hot oil - - not overcook it or under-cook it, but just right.) The Hungarians are awfully particular about their paprika (ground, dried red pepper). It seems that they have a remarkable sense in that they can instantly spot the difference in paprikas.

At any rate, I think that my friends got to experience a pretty appealing taste of Hungarian cuisine. It's got lots of flavors, it's got that "heavy Eastern European" thing going on, but with something very unique. And I'm glad I got to show it off to my friends.

________________________

And just for fun, check out this video of me singing I Think I Love You. (By the way, David Cassidy never sang that bass line "I don't know what I'm up against. . ." - - that was a "stunt singer" that did that in the recording and in all his concerts.)

I finally managed to upload a video from my little camera onto the You-Tube Thingy.

If you'd like to see a middled-aged guy having an awfully good time singing a cheesy song, then
click here.

Frankly, I think if all of our political leaders did this sort of thing, this world might be a much better place.

The Neighbor

I have this neighbor next door to me who's really bugging me.

Apparently, she goes on these smoking binges about every two weeks and spends about 36 hours smoking non-stop.

The thing is, it seeps into my apartment somehow. I think it's coming through the ventilation system. But her cigarette smoke is so acrid and smells really awful.

One night, she was smoking so much it set off the smoke alarm and she couldn't get it turned off. She had her door to the hallway open and it set off the main alarm in the building. I poked my head around and looked into her front door.

I couldn't believe the sight. She's one of those people who hoards everything. The apartment was a total disaster. That's when I met this woman. . . .

Have you ever seen that TV program called "Intervention"? Each week they feature someone who's a drug addict, the family intervenes, the addict gets pissed off, everyone cries and the addict is whisked away to a treatment center. It's one of my favorite programs.

Anyway, my neighbor looks like a candidate for that program. She's a total mess. I don't know how she got to live here.

Well, she was on one of her binges yesterday. It lasted all through the night and this one was a doozey. Finally, early this morning she let up and must have crashed or something.

So, here it is on Saturday morning. Now that she's finally let up, what do I do?

I begin vacuuming my place while blaring "I Think I Love You" by the Partridge Family and singing along to it over and over. That'll show her.

I know she's got a right to smoke in her own place. I know I need to get maintenance up here and remedy this situation.

But in the meantime, she's going to get a good dose of David Cassidy and me early in the mornings.

By the way, singing "I Think I Love You" very loudly early in the morning is a fantastic way to begin your day.

I highly recommend it.