January 8, 2010 | 3:30 pm

Walk of Shame

Posted by Mihal Levy

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“Well…I guess I’ll see you around,” she said while walking away

It’s over?  And just like that, it was.

If it had not occurred to me before, it struck me like a bolt of lightning dead on that this was just a pattern that kept repeating itself in my life.  And now once again…I walk away; confused, empty and feeling used.

It all started over “Is this seat taken?”

“Um…“I smiled thinking of something polite to say avoiding having to share a table, but I could not think fast enough.

She didn’t wait for an answer and just sat down along side my son and I with her three year old sonl (I came to find out). 

So, there we were at a table for four in an uncrowded restaurant.  We made small talk, “How old is he?”  “Are you JUST a mom” ( I love that one) and “can you please pass the ketchup.”  Before we knew it, we were sharing fries, racing after our sons who were playing together while we shared typical toddler stories.  Here we go again, I thought.  (A mom encounter leading no where…but maybe I would be wrong this time.) 

Just then, her son turned to my son and said, “I love you.”  My son replied, “I love you too.”  (It is not too difficult to fall in love when you are three years old, no judgments.)  I told her we were heading to the park across the way after lunch, in case they would like to join.  She said they just came from the park, “I’m sure I’ll see you around, though.”  Of course, the chances of seeing each other around in this great big city, and choosing to go to the same place at the same time is…extremely rare.  It did not even lead to a “one-park stand,” where we spend time at the park and never see each other again.  (See one of my earlier post-“Found Mr. Right, Looking For Mrs. Right”)

We headed out as well.  My son asked, “Will we see Fenton again?” 
“Probably not,” I answered honestly.  “But we will go to the park”...and there it will all start over again, I said as we made our way back to the car. 

January 7, 2010 | 3:47 pm

No Schmaltz Jason Alexander

Posted by Mihal Levy

Move over Valerie Bertinelli, there’s a Jew (I mean-new) spokesperson for Jenny Craig; Jason Alexander.

You don’t have to be the ex-wife of a rockstar to represent Jenny Craig.  In fact, you don’t even have to be female. 

Alexander, from former KFC spokesperson to Jenny Craig spokesperson, explained to People: “I’m trying not only to do it for myself but I’m encouraging other guys to come on board and say we can do this. If somebody goes, ‘Well, if George can do it, I can do it!’ – that’s great.”

Maybe Alexander will pave the way for other men to join Jenny Craig, although he is not the first male celebrity to endorse Jenny Craig.  Baron Davis of the LA Clippers has also endorsed the program.

For some reason, weight loss is most often seen as a female thing.  With shows like “The Biggest Loser” and now Alexander endorsing a mostly female program, more men are coming forward with their own weight loss plans and goals.  Weight loss is genderless.

Unlike Bertinelli, however, Alexander doesn’t promise to show off his new body in a bikini…but maybe Costanza will?

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January 6, 2010 | 4:48 pm

Candy Hearts and Thongs

Posted by Mihal Levy

What better way to start the year than to fast forward to February or even June? 

Sometimes I wonder if we actually follow a solar calendar or a retail one.  Chanukah trinkets, menorahs and ornaments still fill the clearance sections of most stores, while Valentine’s Day knickknacks and swimsuits fill the rest…already.

Could that be why we are so high strung?  Not long after the ball drops in snowy Times Square are we bikini shopping and probably going to break all the resolutions we made about actually fitting into that swimsuit and looking good.  So much for the Zen notion of being in the moment.  (Or is it being in the moment we actually want to be in?) 

Is the year simply masked by Hallmark holidays and sunny seasons?  I don’t know how many people I had spoken to only a few days ago, last year, who were down in the dumps feeling the holiday blues.  At the stroke of midnight, they did not turn into pumpkins, but instead became miraculously happy as if by magic because “it’s a new year.”  (And luckily if you are Jewish, you have two new years to ‘start over’ in.)  (Not that there is anything wrong with becoming miraculously happy, but perhaps it could happen at the stroke of midnight every day?)

Whatever it is, the start of a new year seems to have positive written all over it.  Everyone is done looking back on the year that passed and looking forward to the new year.  It also marks a time of fulfillment of new resolutions (or old ones) - for a couple of weeks, anyway.

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