The Labor Day Weekend

Image by Jeremy Kyejo from Pixabay

The Labor Day weekend is coming up and New Jersey is having a ten day tax-free holiday for items like computers and school supplies. I have been thinking of replacing my laptop, but due to the lackluster economy and the lukewarm business, I have been postponing it indefinitely. I can live with my current laptop–why making changes when things are working fine? On the other hand, buying things without paying 6.625% sales tax (I wonder why it has to be such a complicated number) during the tax-free week is an incentive that I don’t want to miss.

There’s a surprising piece of news recently that New York City is considering opening three casinos. The locations are not decided yet and it’s being debated right now. The candidates are Time Square, Hudson Yard, Queens, Brooklyn, Coney Island. This is really surprising, considering the fact that we all know New York State frowns upon gambling for years. That’s why New Yorkers have to come to New Jersey, or go to Pennsylvania or Connecticut for gambling. And in Lower Manhattan, there are buses taking people to various gambling locations. Ten years ago, those buses used to offer free rides, together with free lunch coupons, but then one day suddenly all these amenities stopped. I have always wondered why New York State dislikes having a casino so much. I mean immigrants really like gambling for some very strange reasons–many work long grueling hours and save every penny, only to throw money away in casinos. It is beyond comprehension, but life is not supposed to be comprehended with a rational mind. For years, actually for decades, New York State is throwing away all the revenues it can gather from its people and send them to other states. We all think New York will never change its view, but then it changes. I guess the pandemic or the inflation has mysterious effect on everything.

There was a little bit of storm last night, which cleared up in fifteen minutes. My favorite TV meteorologist did his best today to spin a positive message about the local weather–there’s very little rain for almost two months and there’s no hurricane this year for the whole summer and for the foreseeable future. “We had such a dry condition that we can’t take a lot of rain, which may cause a deluge. It’s better this way that we have a small rainstorm rather than a big one.” He tried to explain away the disappointing amount of rain last night. I wasn’t sure I followed his reasoning, but I enjoyed his optimism and were more than willing to believe him. Then he proceeded to say that his prediction of the previous week that four weather disturbances with hurricane potentials in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean, Cuba etc. have unfortunately fizzled out, but two new possibilities are developing right now. “I am sure one of them is going to grow into something big and its name is going to be Danielle.” He said hopefully. I looked at the map behind him, but I really couldn’t see any sign of this emerging baby Danielle anywhere. It’s probably just a shower in Cuba or a big piece of cloud moving west from tropical Atlantic. They looked quite benign and inept. I needed to see the big cotton ball with an evil eye in the middle to be sure that the long awaited hurricane was coming our way. I didn’t see anything. However the weatherman’s indefatigable effort in producing positive messages about the weather was quite impressive.