Since my birthday will be here within the next few days, I thought how interesting it would be for me to go back and see what kind of things were actually going on during the year of my birth. It was a really tumultuous time that year as many interesting and era-defining events were taking place. Assassinations were assiduous, peace was still a pipe dream and Chicago was a checkpoint for many of the nation's leaders. I also found out which notable celebrities were born during that year just to see which famous people were my age. There was actually no one born on the same actual day and year as I was, but I found out that both Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and soccer star David Beckham were both born on May 2nd, also - only in different years.
If you're interested in some of the events/historical tidbits that were a part of 1968, the year your little miracle was born, please read on! If not, check back tomorrow. Hopefully, it'll be more interesting.....not likely, but keep hope alive!
JANUARY
**The war in Vietnam continues as the 10,000th US airplane is lost overseas.
**President Lyndon B. Johnson delivers the State of the Union address.
**The North Vietnamese launch the Tet offensive, nearly 70,000 N. Vietnamese troops taking part. The US embassy is invaded by Saigon and held for a short time, and this offensive is seen as a major turning point for the American attitude toward the war.
**LL Cool J and John Singleton are born.
FEBRUARY
**California Republican Richard Nixon declares his presidential candidacy.
**Peggy Fleming wins the only US Gold medal at the Winter Olympics in France.
**A police station in Haleyville, Alabama is the first to officially use 911.
**Martin Luther King Jr. delivers a seemingly prophetic sermon at his Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, saying that after his death "I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to give his life serving others......say that I was a drum major for peace...for righteousness."
**The US State department announces the highest US casualty toll of the Vietnam War. The previous week saw 543 Americans killed in action, and 2,547 wounded.
MARCH
**Senator Robert Kennedy, brother of JFK ends months of debate and announces he will enter the presidential race.
**Martin Luther King Jr. leads a march in Memphis which turns violent. After he's led from the scene, one 16 year old boy is killed, 60 people injured, and over 150 arrested.
**Celine Dion and Mathew St. Patrick (the hottie from Six Feet Under) are born.
APRIL
**Martin Luther King Jr. spends April 4th at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, meeting about his Poor People's March on Washington to take place later in the month. At 6pm, as he greets friends in the courtyard, King is shot once with a 30.06 rifle. He will be declared dead one hour later at St. Joseph's hospital. After an international man-hunt, James Earl Ray will be arrested in England and convicted of murder.
**King's assassination sparks rioting in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Kansas City, Newark, Washington D.C. and many others. 46 deaths will be blamed on the riots.
**Cuba Gooding Jr. and TT Boy (one of my favorite straight porn stars) are born.
MAY
**The US and N. Vietnames delegations agree to begin peace talks in Paris.
**In France, "Bloody Monday" marks one of the most violent days of the Parisian student revolt taking place there. Five thousand students march through the Latin Quarter. A riot ensues and some reports indicate either the police charge unprevoked or demonstrators harass them throwing stones. Rioters set up barricades and police attack with gas grenades.
**Kylie Minogue, ME!, and Tracy Lords (classic porn chick) are all born.
JUNE
**Andy Warhol is shot in his New York City loft by Valerie Solanis, a struggling actress/writer.
**On the night of the California Primary, Robert Kennedy addresses a large crowd of supporters at the Ambassador Hotel in San Francisco, after winning big victories. As he leaves the stage at 12:13 am on June 5th, he is shot by Sirhan Sirhan, a 24 year old Jordanian living in LA. Kennedy, 42, dies within 24 hours.
**The first modern cash-dispensing machine, the ATM, is invented in Dallas.
JULY
**The first episode airs of the long-running soap opera One Life to Live.
**Market testing begins for the now infamous Virginia Slims cigarette ad "You've Come a Long Way, Baby" in California.
**Robert Gant (hottie from Queer as Folk) and future murder victim Ron Goldman are born.
AUGUST
**At the Party convention in Miami Beach, Republicans nominate Richard Milhouse Nixon to be their presidential candidate. He's challenged by Nelson Rockefeller and Ronald Reagan.
**The Democratic National Convention opens in Chicago and the party haltingly nominates Hubert Humphrey for president, which incites increasingly tense and violent demonstrations. The level is elevated to such heights that most accounts relay Chicago police beating some marchers unconscious and sending at least 100 to the emergency room, while arresting 175.
**African American Julian Bond is nominated as the Democratic candidate for vice-president, but at 28, he's too young to accept.
**Debra Messing (of Will & Grace) is born.
SEPTEMBER
**Women's Liberation groups target the Miss America Beaty Contest in Atlantic City, bringing about the symbolic term "bra-burning feminist".
**Arthur Ashe becomes the first black man to win a Grand Slam event, the US Open tennis championship.
**60 Minutes makes its debut with Mike Wallace and Harry Reasoner.
**Boeing rolls out the first jumbo jet plane - the 747.
**Ricki Lake and future box-office million dollar man Will Smith are born.
OCTOBER
**Apollo 7 is launched from Florida for an eleven day journey which orbits the Earth 163 times.
**The Summer Olympic games open in Mexico City, but have been boycotted by 32 African nations in protest of South Africa's participation. The games are further disrupted when two US athletes and medalists perform the black power salute during the "Star-Spangled Banner" at their medal ceremony.
**Jacqueline Kennedy marries Aristotle Onassis, a Greek shipping magnate on the island of Skorpios.
**President Johnson announces a total halt to US bombing in North Vietnam.
**Hugh Jackman and one-hit wonder Vanilla Ice are born.
NOVEMBER
**On Election Day, November 5th, Richard Nixon wins the presidency. The results of the popular vote are 31, 770,000 for Nixon (43.4%), 31, 270,000 for Humphrey (42.7%), and 9,906,000 for Wallace (13.5%).
**After stalling for months, the South Vietnamese government agrees to join in the Paris peace talks.
**Shirley Chisholm becomes the first black woman elected to Congress.
**The Motion Picture Association of America rolls out its first rating system: G, M, R, and X.
**The first National Women's Liberation Conference is held in Chicago.
**Romany Malco (hottie from Weeds) is born.
DECEMBER
**The unemployment rate, at 3.3%, is the lowest it has been in fifteen years.
**The launch of Apollo 8 begins the first US mission to orbit the moon.
**Millions of viewers tune in to NBC to watch Elvis Presley's first television special.
**Stanford University researchers announce invention of the first word processor.
**Rapper Jay-Z and comedian Margaret Cho are born.
Whew! Was there not a lot of crap going down when I was born?! Now I know why my mom was doing all kinds of drugs and partying as hard as she could. Wouldn't you? Well, although times have gotten just a little bit better since the year of my birth, there's still all kinds of turbulence that my forty years have allowed me to see. The largest of these being the current war going on in the Middle East.
Another event that's defining my current generation is the Presidential election that's going on this year. Forty years from now, this is going to go down in the history books as a big moment, and I'm blessed to have lived these past 40 years in such a way that I appreciate every day that life brings, and every event that I get to not only witness but to participate in. Thank God I'm here, happy, healthy and in a place to live, love, laugh and celebrate these facts with the ones I love. This is going to be a really happy week for me, culminating on Saturday night into an embarassing display of insecurity around all of the people who will be getting together to celebrate me. I never liked being the center of attention, but I'm so blessed to have people be with me on such an important milestone in my life. Life is good, and my cup runneth over..........
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Idol Thoughts
American Idol is down to the final 6, and tonite's theme is Andrew Lloyd Weber's broadway musical songs. As the contestants come out onstage, my first impression is "Yes! Syesha is not doing "Memories"!!" If she does another one of those bland ballads, I'll kill her! I assume "Memories" is out cause she is dressed in a skin tight sexy, cocktail dress with her hair snazzily done. I am also taken aback by Brooke. She looks really ethereal in a long flowing dress. The guys are..well...guys. Nothing special about any of em.
My happiness about Syesha Mercado not singing "Memories" is quickly doused when they call her name as first to perform. If you know anything about Idol, you know people who go first are the most liable to get evicted..(ooops, watching Big Brother as I blog)..I meant to be voted out. But she sings "One Rock & Roll Too Many" which is indeed a sassy number! And she finally sounds good AND gives us some personality!! I am ecstatic. It is still not the performance I wish she could deliver. There's just something about her that's a bit lacking. I think it's the overall superstar quality that she doesn't have. But she looks hot! There are a couple times where she goes sharp, but her overall performance is awesome. The judges agree with me. They give her stellar comments. I give her an A-. Maybe the show opening spot won't be a jinx this time!
Second up is Jason Castro, and he's the one who gets "blessed" with the song "Memories". He starts, and at first I think his voice is so pure and vulnerable and then I start thinking "wait, does he have to go to the hospital?". The guy is really unique, though, in his style and sound. And he's very good-looking. His performance was good, but a little bit morose. Pleasant, but boring. Sensitive, but a bit unpleasant. The juges don't offer good comments. Simon says he was off the mark and gives him a sympathetic look. I give him a B.
At the midway mark, we get Brooke White. She gets stuck with "You Must Love Me", and I say stuck because my goodness it doesn't look like she wants to sing this song at all. She does another one of her, as of this airing, patented false starts and actually says something like "Can we take that again?" to the band. Arg. When she finally gets going, I don't like it. Sounds bad, but it improves as the song goes on. She's sharp on a couple parts, and after she's done, I'm left thinking this is her worst performance for me. Paula surprisingly stings her, saying "Don't ever stop and start". Simon comes to her rescue (a little bit) saying he would have stopped and started too if he woulda messed up and forgot the words as she did. But it doesn't stop Randy and him from giving her relatively bad comments. I give her a C+.
Next up: The golden child, David Archuleta. And he again, singing "Think of Me", steals the show. This kid's voice is butta. His vocals are always awesome, but sometimes, I wish he had more going on for him in the way of performance. That right hand is annoying in it's consistency to just stay propped at his side like a kick-stood appendage. If the boy didn't have the voice of an angel, I would so be like "get him off my stage!", but ya boy is bad! His album, I predict will be awesome. Randy gives us his patented "if you can sing, you can sing anything!" God, dawg, give it a rest!! The judges are pretty unanimous in giving him the praise, and I give him an A.
In the 5th spot, we get Carly Smithson, and her overly tattoo-ed self! (I wonder if she regrets that at night in the Idol loft). She goes to ALW trying to sell him on "All I Ask of You" and he practically laughs in her face. He says she should sing "Jesus Christ, Superstar" and I initially agree. When she takes the stage, however, she starts off strong, but then goes all shrieky. She was having a lil' too much fun, I take it, and was shouting too much for me. She sounds good in some places, but really flat in others. I think about Amanda Overmeyer for the first time in weeks. Not my favorite performance. I'm thinking maybe the first choice woulda been the better. But, alas, I'm alone in my judgement. The judges give all around good comments, and Simon offers "One of my favorite's of the night". I offer a B-.
Anchoring the night is, of course, David Cook, the anti-David Archuleta. He's chosen a doozy: "The Music of the Night" from the Phantom of the Opera. I quickly try to figure out how that goes. Is there a way to rock that out? Hmmmmm.........I don't know. He starts singing and I immediately doze off. At one point, I snap to when he hits one particularly strong note somewhere in the middle. So, at this point I'm trying to get into it. He sounds pleasant, clear, and overall clean. But I'm thinking, "this guy should not do Broadway tunes ever again". Simon, for once, agrees with me, saying it wasn't his thing, but that he made the most of it. Randy and Paula for some reason, slobber all over David, saying how awesome he was. As they're giving him kudos, I'm giving him a B.
So, let's all hold hands and sing "Kumbaya" that Syesha is spared from the opening-position elimination jinx. She did really well, right? If anybody should go home, it should be Jason or Brook, hunh? Hunh?! We'll see tomorrow nite! Have a great evenin, my peep(s)! (Is there more than one of you out there yet?) :)
My happiness about Syesha Mercado not singing "Memories" is quickly doused when they call her name as first to perform. If you know anything about Idol, you know people who go first are the most liable to get evicted..(ooops, watching Big Brother as I blog)..I meant to be voted out. But she sings "One Rock & Roll Too Many" which is indeed a sassy number! And she finally sounds good AND gives us some personality!! I am ecstatic. It is still not the performance I wish she could deliver. There's just something about her that's a bit lacking. I think it's the overall superstar quality that she doesn't have. But she looks hot! There are a couple times where she goes sharp, but her overall performance is awesome. The judges agree with me. They give her stellar comments. I give her an A-. Maybe the show opening spot won't be a jinx this time!
Second up is Jason Castro, and he's the one who gets "blessed" with the song "Memories". He starts, and at first I think his voice is so pure and vulnerable and then I start thinking "wait, does he have to go to the hospital?". The guy is really unique, though, in his style and sound. And he's very good-looking. His performance was good, but a little bit morose. Pleasant, but boring. Sensitive, but a bit unpleasant. The juges don't offer good comments. Simon says he was off the mark and gives him a sympathetic look. I give him a B.
At the midway mark, we get Brooke White. She gets stuck with "You Must Love Me", and I say stuck because my goodness it doesn't look like she wants to sing this song at all. She does another one of her, as of this airing, patented false starts and actually says something like "Can we take that again?" to the band. Arg. When she finally gets going, I don't like it. Sounds bad, but it improves as the song goes on. She's sharp on a couple parts, and after she's done, I'm left thinking this is her worst performance for me. Paula surprisingly stings her, saying "Don't ever stop and start". Simon comes to her rescue (a little bit) saying he would have stopped and started too if he woulda messed up and forgot the words as she did. But it doesn't stop Randy and him from giving her relatively bad comments. I give her a C+.
Next up: The golden child, David Archuleta. And he again, singing "Think of Me", steals the show. This kid's voice is butta. His vocals are always awesome, but sometimes, I wish he had more going on for him in the way of performance. That right hand is annoying in it's consistency to just stay propped at his side like a kick-stood appendage. If the boy didn't have the voice of an angel, I would so be like "get him off my stage!", but ya boy is bad! His album, I predict will be awesome. Randy gives us his patented "if you can sing, you can sing anything!" God, dawg, give it a rest!! The judges are pretty unanimous in giving him the praise, and I give him an A.
In the 5th spot, we get Carly Smithson, and her overly tattoo-ed self! (I wonder if she regrets that at night in the Idol loft). She goes to ALW trying to sell him on "All I Ask of You" and he practically laughs in her face. He says she should sing "Jesus Christ, Superstar" and I initially agree. When she takes the stage, however, she starts off strong, but then goes all shrieky. She was having a lil' too much fun, I take it, and was shouting too much for me. She sounds good in some places, but really flat in others. I think about Amanda Overmeyer for the first time in weeks. Not my favorite performance. I'm thinking maybe the first choice woulda been the better. But, alas, I'm alone in my judgement. The judges give all around good comments, and Simon offers "One of my favorite's of the night". I offer a B-.
Anchoring the night is, of course, David Cook, the anti-David Archuleta. He's chosen a doozy: "The Music of the Night" from the Phantom of the Opera. I quickly try to figure out how that goes. Is there a way to rock that out? Hmmmmm.........I don't know. He starts singing and I immediately doze off. At one point, I snap to when he hits one particularly strong note somewhere in the middle. So, at this point I'm trying to get into it. He sounds pleasant, clear, and overall clean. But I'm thinking, "this guy should not do Broadway tunes ever again". Simon, for once, agrees with me, saying it wasn't his thing, but that he made the most of it. Randy and Paula for some reason, slobber all over David, saying how awesome he was. As they're giving him kudos, I'm giving him a B.
So, let's all hold hands and sing "Kumbaya" that Syesha is spared from the opening-position elimination jinx. She did really well, right? If anybody should go home, it should be Jason or Brook, hunh? Hunh?! We'll see tomorrow nite! Have a great evenin, my peep(s)! (Is there more than one of you out there yet?) :)
Monday, April 21, 2008
Forum Night!
What's up? Everything's well with me. Getting ready for the Forum tonite. It's the 8th session out of 10, so it's almost done. This weekend was another blast. Friday nite I watched some tennis and then went out to the 90's. I thought Jeremy was gonna be there cause he said he was gonna go hang out with his friend, Tim and they sometimes go out over there. Turns out they just stayed at Tim's and chatted for most of the evening, and he went to the Saloon and met Dean and Scott for a little while then went back over to Tim's.
Friday, after work (I forgot)I went to the movies and saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It's from the same producers that did Superbad and Knocked UP and I loved both of those movies! This one wasn't as good, but it was still funny. Saturday, both Jeremy and I went to see Prom Night. That was a really stoopid movie. It had the most ridiculous police detective running the dayum case. He wasn't bright at all and some of the stuff that happened was just not plausible in the least. It wasn't even all that scary! That movie was a bust!
After the movie, we went and had lunch together at Buffalo Wild wings. That was my first time hitting one up in Minnesota. I think I went once in Texas, but only once. The wings were good, but the fried mushrooms coulda been better. Game night at Dorrie's was a hoot that nite. There was 10 of us and we played a couple rounds of Family Feud on DVD and had a lotta fun with that one. Each team took a victory. One team was made up of one half of a spousal unit, and the other team was the other half. We had a lotta fun. We also played the old staple, Apples to Apples. Sure, it's a great game to play when there's a lotta people, but dayum, do we have to play that game every frikking time?! I guess we do, cause it's Jeremy's favorite. Eeesh. Anyway, we played til about 2:30 and then came home and crashed.
Sunday brought another beer brunch with Jared. We actually decided to play Rock Band at his house instead of going to the normal TGIF. Rock Band is always a blast!! Our band is called Mister Mistress and we are moving up, big time! We have a little of 200,000 fans now, I think. We rocked Stockholm, Sweden and won ourselves an auss tourbus!! We played til around 4 or so and then I came home and watched some tennis. Serena Williams won the Maria/Serena showdown. She really deserved it, too. She's playing awesome tennis and looks like she's mentally getting it all together.
Oh, yeah! I made a new tennis friend this past weekend too. I gotta get ready to go to my seminar, but I'll tell you all about Rory later. Not really much to tell, but I'm excited cause we've been talking on the phone about tennis and sending a couple emails, and the prospect of playing some tennis soon is real! Wish me luck!!
Friday, after work (I forgot)I went to the movies and saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It's from the same producers that did Superbad and Knocked UP and I loved both of those movies! This one wasn't as good, but it was still funny. Saturday, both Jeremy and I went to see Prom Night. That was a really stoopid movie. It had the most ridiculous police detective running the dayum case. He wasn't bright at all and some of the stuff that happened was just not plausible in the least. It wasn't even all that scary! That movie was a bust!
After the movie, we went and had lunch together at Buffalo Wild wings. That was my first time hitting one up in Minnesota. I think I went once in Texas, but only once. The wings were good, but the fried mushrooms coulda been better. Game night at Dorrie's was a hoot that nite. There was 10 of us and we played a couple rounds of Family Feud on DVD and had a lotta fun with that one. Each team took a victory. One team was made up of one half of a spousal unit, and the other team was the other half. We had a lotta fun. We also played the old staple, Apples to Apples. Sure, it's a great game to play when there's a lotta people, but dayum, do we have to play that game every frikking time?! I guess we do, cause it's Jeremy's favorite. Eeesh. Anyway, we played til about 2:30 and then came home and crashed.
Sunday brought another beer brunch with Jared. We actually decided to play Rock Band at his house instead of going to the normal TGIF. Rock Band is always a blast!! Our band is called Mister Mistress and we are moving up, big time! We have a little of 200,000 fans now, I think. We rocked Stockholm, Sweden and won ourselves an auss tourbus!! We played til around 4 or so and then I came home and watched some tennis. Serena Williams won the Maria/Serena showdown. She really deserved it, too. She's playing awesome tennis and looks like she's mentally getting it all together.
Oh, yeah! I made a new tennis friend this past weekend too. I gotta get ready to go to my seminar, but I'll tell you all about Rory later. Not really much to tell, but I'm excited cause we've been talking on the phone about tennis and sending a couple emails, and the prospect of playing some tennis soon is real! Wish me luck!!
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Spring has finally sprung!
Dude! The weather outside is beautiful today, and it's about dayum time! I was beginning to think the snow was never gonna go away. Today was the highest temperature yet of the year. We got up to 69 degrees and I'm crunk about it! I passed the tennis courts today and my mouth started watering. My first thought was "do I need another tennis racquet or will my old one do?!". I am so ready.
I realize that here in Minnesota you gotta make the most out of your outdoor season, cause there's not much of it! I saw a guy today with the top down on his car and it really started to sink in that finally we got some outside weather going on. I didn't really cherish the time I had sitting on the patio last year after I first moved here; sitting out there, reading my book and smoking my cigarettes (that is, when I smoked). Man, I am gonna appreciate it so much more now that I know it's only a fraction of the year that we get to sit out and marinate in the sunshine.
I plan to go for walks, definitely play some tennis and maybe get a bike and do some riding around the neighborhood. Last summer we got together with some friends and played some volleyball on the 4th of July. Oh, man. I can hardly wait! The grilling and the basking in the sunshine! Auss!! I am so gonna go to a waterpark this summer, too. Last year I didn't really make it a priority cause I was still getting over my excitement at being in a new state. But this year, I'm gung-ho to hit the water and frolic like a freak!
I love the outdoors, although I sweat like a beast in the summer. It's all good, though. I like sweating. And I guess in the summer heat, you lose the winter pounds, hunh? I'm counting on that. The more active, the better and there's not much chance to be active in winter, unless of course you join a gym. I was thinking about that at one point, but I think I'll pass for now. Me and my videos and tennis and everything will be enough. I need to start recruiting tennis players right now!! Anybody out there wanna play with me, holla!! I'd like to start playing this weekend if at all possible.
Found out more good news today! My mom called and said that she had planned to come for my birthday, too, but couldn't make it then. But she is gonna come two weeks later!!! I'm gagging! I was so happy when she told me that. I had no idea she'd been planning to come at all. And she's gonna spend the whole week with us. I'm stoked beyond the height of stok-osity! She'll get to meet all of my great friends and to see JJ again. It's gonna be frikkin' great. Ok, I'm calming down. Gimme a minute......
OK, aaaand scene. I'm back. As I sit here and write, I'm looking out my patio door and the sunlight is so incredibly attractive. I'd like to just take the weather outside and just make love to it, I'm so happy. LOL. I'm a loon. This, I know. But I can look out and see the sunshine pouring through the trees and see the lake in the back of our place rippling peacefully. Incredibly bad-ass! And our crazy ass cat keeps going through the hole she's made in the screen door back and forth outside. She's even mesmerized by the beauty of the day.
I'm so thankful for this weather after 6 frikkin months of ice and cold. But dayum, it's coming back in about 5 months, isn't it? I'm gonna get out and enjoy it while I can! So my goals this summer in a nutshell are.....
*Grill out at least once every two weeks.
*Play tennis at least every other weekend. (hopefully much more)
*Go camping once or twice.
*Hit at least one water park.
*Hit at least one amusement park.
*Do some walking around lakes.
*Do some swimming.
*Play some volleyball (hey, maybe I'll buy a badminton set!)
*Enjoy the hell outta the wonderful temperatures!
Well, my love letter to the weather has come to an end. Hurray for tank tops and shorts!!! I need to go dig that stuff out and put my sweaters and jackets away and live this springtime life! Holla!
Thought for today: When life gives you lemons, look at the bright side: you can scratch that off your grocery list!
I realize that here in Minnesota you gotta make the most out of your outdoor season, cause there's not much of it! I saw a guy today with the top down on his car and it really started to sink in that finally we got some outside weather going on. I didn't really cherish the time I had sitting on the patio last year after I first moved here; sitting out there, reading my book and smoking my cigarettes (that is, when I smoked). Man, I am gonna appreciate it so much more now that I know it's only a fraction of the year that we get to sit out and marinate in the sunshine.
I plan to go for walks, definitely play some tennis and maybe get a bike and do some riding around the neighborhood. Last summer we got together with some friends and played some volleyball on the 4th of July. Oh, man. I can hardly wait! The grilling and the basking in the sunshine! Auss!! I am so gonna go to a waterpark this summer, too. Last year I didn't really make it a priority cause I was still getting over my excitement at being in a new state. But this year, I'm gung-ho to hit the water and frolic like a freak!
I love the outdoors, although I sweat like a beast in the summer. It's all good, though. I like sweating. And I guess in the summer heat, you lose the winter pounds, hunh? I'm counting on that. The more active, the better and there's not much chance to be active in winter, unless of course you join a gym. I was thinking about that at one point, but I think I'll pass for now. Me and my videos and tennis and everything will be enough. I need to start recruiting tennis players right now!! Anybody out there wanna play with me, holla!! I'd like to start playing this weekend if at all possible.
Found out more good news today! My mom called and said that she had planned to come for my birthday, too, but couldn't make it then. But she is gonna come two weeks later!!! I'm gagging! I was so happy when she told me that. I had no idea she'd been planning to come at all. And she's gonna spend the whole week with us. I'm stoked beyond the height of stok-osity! She'll get to meet all of my great friends and to see JJ again. It's gonna be frikkin' great. Ok, I'm calming down. Gimme a minute......
OK, aaaand scene. I'm back. As I sit here and write, I'm looking out my patio door and the sunlight is so incredibly attractive. I'd like to just take the weather outside and just make love to it, I'm so happy. LOL. I'm a loon. This, I know. But I can look out and see the sunshine pouring through the trees and see the lake in the back of our place rippling peacefully. Incredibly bad-ass! And our crazy ass cat keeps going through the hole she's made in the screen door back and forth outside. She's even mesmerized by the beauty of the day.
I'm so thankful for this weather after 6 frikkin months of ice and cold. But dayum, it's coming back in about 5 months, isn't it? I'm gonna get out and enjoy it while I can! So my goals this summer in a nutshell are.....
*Grill out at least once every two weeks.
*Play tennis at least every other weekend. (hopefully much more)
*Go camping once or twice.
*Hit at least one water park.
*Hit at least one amusement park.
*Do some walking around lakes.
*Do some swimming.
*Play some volleyball (hey, maybe I'll buy a badminton set!)
*Enjoy the hell outta the wonderful temperatures!
Well, my love letter to the weather has come to an end. Hurray for tank tops and shorts!!! I need to go dig that stuff out and put my sweaters and jackets away and live this springtime life! Holla!
Thought for today: When life gives you lemons, look at the bright side: you can scratch that off your grocery list!
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Another day, another coupla bucks.
Hey, you! How goes it? Nothing exciting over here to report. Another regular workday spent helping customers, sending emails and monitoring tennis matches as I work (sssh, don't tell the boss). Tennis as you probably know already, is one of my biggest passions. I hit at least 3 websites everyday to see what's new, who's in, who's injured and who's winning. I'm addicted, it's true. Last weekend, Maria (Sharapova: my favorite, remember?) won her first clay court tournament, which is an ominous sign for the rest of the girls in the field. She's won more than a few tournaments on hard courts and grass, but never on clay. The fact that she's now won a championship on the mostly unpopular surface bodes well for her run to the French Open title, which is the biggest clay court honor you can snatch.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to playing some tennis this summer myself. The question will be who am I gonna get to get out on the court with me. I don't have many people close to me that are very active. Jeremy doesn't even really like to watch tennis, let alone swing at any balls (giggling). And he's not the most active person in the world, although he'll be quick to say that's not true. Jared is by no means active, although he has committed to going out on the court with me some this summer. We'll see about that. When we had our roommate, Jacob, he would go out and hit with me.
That was fun. I'll find somebody if I have to put an add in the paper!
Meanwhile, my birthday is inching closer and closer and I got awesome news today. My sister called and gave me the flight information for her trip down for my party! I'm too excited! This is shaping up to be quite a memorable event. Even if not too many people come, at least the people who are important to me will be there. I know my friends will be in the house, and now my sister and nephew, too!? It's gonna be a blast. It's gonna be the first time that I've had such a variety of people I know all together; co-workers, friends from different groups and family too. Wow; awesomeness! It's less than 3 weeks away too. If only Beverly and Steve could come up from Texas, too. That would be too much!
So, I've gotten Janet's video down cold now and I've moved on to the next video. I was very impressed with the dance steps for Usher's "Love in this club", so that's my next work-out project. It's really nice after I've danced for that half hour cause I can actually see some muscle starting to come through again through all the fat! lol.... I definitely see progress, but there's still some pooch to go. Between the tennis, the dancing, and the contant consumation of salads, I should be lean again in no time.
Saturday night we've got game night at Dorrie's house. She lives in our neighborhood, more or less, so we won't have to drive very far. That's usually a lotta fun. We spend more time drinking and laughing than we do actual game-playing, but there is a lot of that which goes on, too. Last weekend, Jeremy and I double-dated with a guy he met through his Landmark Forum and his partner. They turned out to be really nice guys. I guess it was easy for all of us since we were all Landmark graduates. We got along pretty well. We went to this spendy restaurant in St. Paul (where they live) to start the evening off. It was called Il Vesco Vino. Was very good food, but as JJ and I are on a budget, it was not the best selection for dinner. But as we don't go out to that caliber restaurant very much, I suppose we were due to splurge once (although, I didn't).
Afterwards, we headed out to one of the gay clubs there called Camp. It was an especially good time. The music was tight! I loved it. It's the first time on a dance floor here in Minnesota that I've heard Kylie Minogue, Janet Jackson, Britney Spears and Madonna! It was nice. The atmosphere is very "campy", which I love. They got disco balls over the bar, mannequin heads with campy wigs from different gay movies on the walls, a la "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert", and they show old black and white movies (no audio, of course) while the music is pumping. I really liked it. If it wasn't so far, I'd probably be going a lot. And Jamie and Curt, our new friends, loosened up after some drinks. They even dance!! I was impressed. A lotta people these days don't dance. I love to dance, so when they asked me to take the floor with them, I was thinking "Hmmmm, nice".
We made tentative future plans with our new buddies to go camping. We even talked about taking a trip to Mount Rushmore which I found out is about 6 hours or so from here; that's about the distance to Chicago, right? Well, anyway, they said they were big campers and we're planning to invite them to our big camp-out in June in Wisconsin. That reminds me; Jeremy is supposed to be sending out an evite for that thing! That boy would forget his name if he didn't have a badge that told him who he was! LOL...ooh, that was a funny one. I'll prolly get a good slapping for that one later, but oh well....the laugh was worth it.
Well, I'm gonna leave you with this thought provoking question.....what if the "hokey pokey" is really what it's all about? Hmmmmmmm........
Anyway, I'm looking forward to playing some tennis this summer myself. The question will be who am I gonna get to get out on the court with me. I don't have many people close to me that are very active. Jeremy doesn't even really like to watch tennis, let alone swing at any balls (giggling). And he's not the most active person in the world, although he'll be quick to say that's not true. Jared is by no means active, although he has committed to going out on the court with me some this summer. We'll see about that. When we had our roommate, Jacob, he would go out and hit with me.
That was fun. I'll find somebody if I have to put an add in the paper!
Meanwhile, my birthday is inching closer and closer and I got awesome news today. My sister called and gave me the flight information for her trip down for my party! I'm too excited! This is shaping up to be quite a memorable event. Even if not too many people come, at least the people who are important to me will be there. I know my friends will be in the house, and now my sister and nephew, too!? It's gonna be a blast. It's gonna be the first time that I've had such a variety of people I know all together; co-workers, friends from different groups and family too. Wow; awesomeness! It's less than 3 weeks away too. If only Beverly and Steve could come up from Texas, too. That would be too much!
So, I've gotten Janet's video down cold now and I've moved on to the next video. I was very impressed with the dance steps for Usher's "Love in this club", so that's my next work-out project. It's really nice after I've danced for that half hour cause I can actually see some muscle starting to come through again through all the fat! lol.... I definitely see progress, but there's still some pooch to go. Between the tennis, the dancing, and the contant consumation of salads, I should be lean again in no time.
Saturday night we've got game night at Dorrie's house. She lives in our neighborhood, more or less, so we won't have to drive very far. That's usually a lotta fun. We spend more time drinking and laughing than we do actual game-playing, but there is a lot of that which goes on, too. Last weekend, Jeremy and I double-dated with a guy he met through his Landmark Forum and his partner. They turned out to be really nice guys. I guess it was easy for all of us since we were all Landmark graduates. We got along pretty well. We went to this spendy restaurant in St. Paul (where they live) to start the evening off. It was called Il Vesco Vino. Was very good food, but as JJ and I are on a budget, it was not the best selection for dinner. But as we don't go out to that caliber restaurant very much, I suppose we were due to splurge once (although, I didn't).
Afterwards, we headed out to one of the gay clubs there called Camp. It was an especially good time. The music was tight! I loved it. It's the first time on a dance floor here in Minnesota that I've heard Kylie Minogue, Janet Jackson, Britney Spears and Madonna! It was nice. The atmosphere is very "campy", which I love. They got disco balls over the bar, mannequin heads with campy wigs from different gay movies on the walls, a la "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert", and they show old black and white movies (no audio, of course) while the music is pumping. I really liked it. If it wasn't so far, I'd probably be going a lot. And Jamie and Curt, our new friends, loosened up after some drinks. They even dance!! I was impressed. A lotta people these days don't dance. I love to dance, so when they asked me to take the floor with them, I was thinking "Hmmmm, nice".
We made tentative future plans with our new buddies to go camping. We even talked about taking a trip to Mount Rushmore which I found out is about 6 hours or so from here; that's about the distance to Chicago, right? Well, anyway, they said they were big campers and we're planning to invite them to our big camp-out in June in Wisconsin. That reminds me; Jeremy is supposed to be sending out an evite for that thing! That boy would forget his name if he didn't have a badge that told him who he was! LOL...ooh, that was a funny one. I'll prolly get a good slapping for that one later, but oh well....the laugh was worth it.
Well, I'm gonna leave you with this thought provoking question.....what if the "hokey pokey" is really what it's all about? Hmmmmmmm........
Monday, April 14, 2008
OK, so it's official!!
The cobwebs have cleared and I'm no longer foggy about what I want to do. I've officially decided to get a college degree. I've started looking into colleges, both local and online. I'll be majoring in English with a goal of obtaining a Bachelor's degree. With a degree in English, I think I could write books, teach, or have any number of careers. I know I don't want to be in Accounting for the rest of my life. I've been too stagnant and too bored in that field for too long.
So, after all of the confusion and mad frustration I was feeling, it should have been obvious what I needed. Talking about needing a mentor, and needing guidance was really all about needing structure, and education is the best way to get that structure. I've always loved learning anyway, so I'll be getting some definite fulfillment out of this adventure.
So, as of today I've got a new focus. Along with my writing, I'm now focusing on my education. It may have been a long time coming, but it's still obtainable. I look forward to homework and challenges. Now I can join my bf in the world of academia. He's currently pursuing his degree in Hospitality Management and I'm proud of him for that. We are gonna be two smart fellows!!
So, after all of the confusion and mad frustration I was feeling, it should have been obvious what I needed. Talking about needing a mentor, and needing guidance was really all about needing structure, and education is the best way to get that structure. I've always loved learning anyway, so I'll be getting some definite fulfillment out of this adventure.
So, as of today I've got a new focus. Along with my writing, I'm now focusing on my education. It may have been a long time coming, but it's still obtainable. I look forward to homework and challenges. Now I can join my bf in the world of academia. He's currently pursuing his degree in Hospitality Management and I'm proud of him for that. We are gonna be two smart fellows!!
Thursday, April 10, 2008
I'm a BOHM (big ole hot mess)!
Good grief! I am so exasperated. I feel so helpless and completely lost in finding out what I wanna do. It's pathetic. I'm all gung-ho about being a writer, yeah? Ok, so listen to this! Monday night in our seminar, I had an epiphany. I realized that I'm not fulfilled in my job with SUPERVALU, which in turn led to deeper reflection. Ideally I want to be fulfilled and passionate about what I do everyday. One thing that I know I'm passionate about is music. So I started thinking about that.
I love to write, don't misunderstand me, but I'm challenged with the fact that it's kinda hard for me to sit down to write everyday, whereas everywhere I go, I have to have music. All day at work, in the morning when I wake up and in the evening when I'm not watching tv. What's that all about?! Is it because writing calls for work!? I'm such a lazy ass bum! I gotta figure this out; quickly! Should I be a songwriter? That would seem the logical thing, right? I'm thinking that's a great idea, but is that the real deal? Is that something I'm gonna realistically be able to do and be fulfilled doing it?
My goodness. It's sad to say, but at 39 years old, I still need guidance! I do know that I'm not fulfilled with what I do. I am certain that I can not continue to live my life the way I have been, going from job to job being good at something, but not being passionate enough to stay at it forever. I need a gig that's gonna make me wanna get outta bed every morning, skip to work and not be watching the clock, waiting impatiently til it's time to hit the door. That is no life of fulfillment. I want more, but how? What? I need a sabbatical or something! Just some time to get away and sit and think, and think and think.
I need a plan. I need a mentor. I need to take the bull by the horns and do something! Man, people are so lucky: those people who know what they want and know what to do to go get it. I consider myself to be a jack of all trades, but a master of none. Sure, I'm good at a lotta stuff, but I've not been focused significantly on one particular thing enough to excel at it. I guess that can be changed. Jared suggested that I get a degree to shut up the ghosts that are haunting me. In some way, I think that's probably what it's gonna take. I just hate that it's so late in my life. But better late than never, I guess. I just don't know. Am I a writer? a teacher? a mentor? I wish someone would tell me. But I guess nobody can tell me that but me.
Man to be able to do things all over again. The possibility that I'm creating for myself and my life, though, is the possibility of being passionate and fulfilled. Whatever that takes, it's gonna happen. I promise that to myself for myself. I know I love creating things; I'm good at logical stuff and numbers and being organized and that kind of stuff, but I'm never happier than when I'm making up things, be it words or stories or whatever. Why not songs? I could probably be a really great songwriter. I listen to music everyday, all day. But I guess I need to work on mastery. That's where I need to start. I'll need to learn to play an instrument, I guess. I wanna play the guitar, I think. I'll need to take Music theory, or music appreciation or composition or something. Where do I start?! Good grief.
So, I gotta work on my plan. Anybody have any advice?! I'm open to any words of wisdom you can impart. Please post a comment and lemme know what you think. Thanks for helping a brother out. Perhaps this time next week, I'll have a plan in place and will know more about what I'd like to do. I can only hope so!
I love to write, don't misunderstand me, but I'm challenged with the fact that it's kinda hard for me to sit down to write everyday, whereas everywhere I go, I have to have music. All day at work, in the morning when I wake up and in the evening when I'm not watching tv. What's that all about?! Is it because writing calls for work!? I'm such a lazy ass bum! I gotta figure this out; quickly! Should I be a songwriter? That would seem the logical thing, right? I'm thinking that's a great idea, but is that the real deal? Is that something I'm gonna realistically be able to do and be fulfilled doing it?
My goodness. It's sad to say, but at 39 years old, I still need guidance! I do know that I'm not fulfilled with what I do. I am certain that I can not continue to live my life the way I have been, going from job to job being good at something, but not being passionate enough to stay at it forever. I need a gig that's gonna make me wanna get outta bed every morning, skip to work and not be watching the clock, waiting impatiently til it's time to hit the door. That is no life of fulfillment. I want more, but how? What? I need a sabbatical or something! Just some time to get away and sit and think, and think and think.
I need a plan. I need a mentor. I need to take the bull by the horns and do something! Man, people are so lucky: those people who know what they want and know what to do to go get it. I consider myself to be a jack of all trades, but a master of none. Sure, I'm good at a lotta stuff, but I've not been focused significantly on one particular thing enough to excel at it. I guess that can be changed. Jared suggested that I get a degree to shut up the ghosts that are haunting me. In some way, I think that's probably what it's gonna take. I just hate that it's so late in my life. But better late than never, I guess. I just don't know. Am I a writer? a teacher? a mentor? I wish someone would tell me. But I guess nobody can tell me that but me.
Man to be able to do things all over again. The possibility that I'm creating for myself and my life, though, is the possibility of being passionate and fulfilled. Whatever that takes, it's gonna happen. I promise that to myself for myself. I know I love creating things; I'm good at logical stuff and numbers and being organized and that kind of stuff, but I'm never happier than when I'm making up things, be it words or stories or whatever. Why not songs? I could probably be a really great songwriter. I listen to music everyday, all day. But I guess I need to work on mastery. That's where I need to start. I'll need to learn to play an instrument, I guess. I wanna play the guitar, I think. I'll need to take Music theory, or music appreciation or composition or something. Where do I start?! Good grief.
So, I gotta work on my plan. Anybody have any advice?! I'm open to any words of wisdom you can impart. Please post a comment and lemme know what you think. Thanks for helping a brother out. Perhaps this time next week, I'll have a plan in place and will know more about what I'd like to do. I can only hope so!
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Things that I'm digging right now.
So you wanna know the things that I'm into these days? Well, let's take a look at what's lighting my fire and got me all crunkdafied.
1) Serena Williams just won the Sony Ericsson Open tennis tournament, which is a big deal. It's like the most important behind the 4 Majors. My favorite player, Maria Sharapova, couldn't play due to injury as I think I mentioned before. So I was super crunk when Serena pulled it off. That girl is unbeatable when she's playing at her best and I think what's also helped her game is she's become mentally tougher, being able to maintain and focus when she makes bad errors. I'm liking the new play, but I think she's still got work to do before she achieves the mental strength of Maria, but if she does reach that level, Maria won't have a chance. I'm looking forward to the two of them clashing soon on the court!
2) Janet Jackson's video for "Rock With U". I'm completely taken with that video and the choreography; so much so in fact, that I've learned the steps myself and have started a 30 minute work-out regimen everyday dancing to it. It's awesome. I'm all about some of the songs on her new CD, too. "Luv" is off the chain, and so is the first single "Feedback". I learned most of the steps to that one as well.
3)Holly wins "Make me a Supermodel" on Bravo! I called that one from the beginning and that's a first. That girl was beautiful and a force to be reckoned with on the runway. Her voice, though, was just a half step above Minnie Mouse. I must admit though I developed a major crush on the hot, All American boy, Ronnie who was out as a gay man on the show. Very sweet guy who had a kind of "bro-mance" with another hottie, Ben. Holly was, as Christian who won "Project Runway" would agree "Ferocia!"
4)My Spanish lessons. I'm more than half way through my textbook and it's becoming more and more exciting because I'm able to read more and more in Spanish and understand the conjugation of words and the tenses and how to form them. I've just become able to translate complete passages into Spanish from English. Me gusta mucho aprender el espanol!
5)My writing ideas. I've got so many ideas coming at me left and right every day, that I don't know what exactly to focus on. I have a couple of specfic ideas that I've decided to work on however, one being my kind of fantasy adventure called "Family Island" which I'll blog episodes about periodically. The other is a story that I'm writing based on a trip to Vegas I took with my old friend Steve. It's gonna be a trip. But there are all kinds of things in the back of my mind that I'd love to etch out and bring to fruition! We'll see what happens.
6)New music I'm digging: Some good Chicago house music that my partner in music, Lonnie, sent me. Off the chain! I love me some good dance/house, but mostly the beats with accompanying vocals. I have been known to love a good solo beat, too. An example of that is a song on Will.i.am's new CD. The song is called "I Can't Wait", and a new British singer Adele is using the beat from that song on her new release "American Boy". It's bad ass. I'm also loving the shit outta Kylie Minogues's CD "X". That girl(woman?) gets with the best producers and makes some trippy, futuristic sounding stuff. I'm listening to that everyday. Favorites include "Wow", "Nu-di-ty", "Sensitized", "All I See" and "In My Arms". Also a few cuts on the new Gnarls Barkley CD are a lotta fun.
7)My upcoming birthday party. I'm really excited about it. You only hit 40 once and I hope to celebrate it in a major way with all my friends, and hopefully a few of my family from Texas. I haven't had a really decent birthday party since my 30th birthday, so I'm really looking forward to this one. The evite has been sent and I'm even registered at Target.com for gifts, which is a first! I got the idea from Jared who mentioned that it would be a good idea so that people who wanted to get me something would know what I liked.
8)Jeremy starting his Landmark seminar sessions. I'm excited because he'll get so much out of attending these weekly meetings. They're so great when it comes to bringing the things you've gotten to your everyday life. I can't express enough how the work in the Landmark Forum goes so far in the transformation of people's lives. It certainly transformed mine in ways that I didn't expect it to at first. I'm excited that Jeremy get the same opportunity.
Well, that's a lot of what I'm loving right now. There's plenty more of course, but those are the highlights. I gotta go wake up Jeremy now, cause we need to run to the library before we meet Jared and Larry for lunch at Punch Pizza and then a fun afternoon of drinking and playing games. Have a great day! Deuces!
1) Serena Williams just won the Sony Ericsson Open tennis tournament, which is a big deal. It's like the most important behind the 4 Majors. My favorite player, Maria Sharapova, couldn't play due to injury as I think I mentioned before. So I was super crunk when Serena pulled it off. That girl is unbeatable when she's playing at her best and I think what's also helped her game is she's become mentally tougher, being able to maintain and focus when she makes bad errors. I'm liking the new play, but I think she's still got work to do before she achieves the mental strength of Maria, but if she does reach that level, Maria won't have a chance. I'm looking forward to the two of them clashing soon on the court!
2) Janet Jackson's video for "Rock With U". I'm completely taken with that video and the choreography; so much so in fact, that I've learned the steps myself and have started a 30 minute work-out regimen everyday dancing to it. It's awesome. I'm all about some of the songs on her new CD, too. "Luv" is off the chain, and so is the first single "Feedback". I learned most of the steps to that one as well.
3)Holly wins "Make me a Supermodel" on Bravo! I called that one from the beginning and that's a first. That girl was beautiful and a force to be reckoned with on the runway. Her voice, though, was just a half step above Minnie Mouse. I must admit though I developed a major crush on the hot, All American boy, Ronnie who was out as a gay man on the show. Very sweet guy who had a kind of "bro-mance" with another hottie, Ben. Holly was, as Christian who won "Project Runway" would agree "Ferocia!"
4)My Spanish lessons. I'm more than half way through my textbook and it's becoming more and more exciting because I'm able to read more and more in Spanish and understand the conjugation of words and the tenses and how to form them. I've just become able to translate complete passages into Spanish from English. Me gusta mucho aprender el espanol!
5)My writing ideas. I've got so many ideas coming at me left and right every day, that I don't know what exactly to focus on. I have a couple of specfic ideas that I've decided to work on however, one being my kind of fantasy adventure called "Family Island" which I'll blog episodes about periodically. The other is a story that I'm writing based on a trip to Vegas I took with my old friend Steve. It's gonna be a trip. But there are all kinds of things in the back of my mind that I'd love to etch out and bring to fruition! We'll see what happens.
6)New music I'm digging: Some good Chicago house music that my partner in music, Lonnie, sent me. Off the chain! I love me some good dance/house, but mostly the beats with accompanying vocals. I have been known to love a good solo beat, too. An example of that is a song on Will.i.am's new CD. The song is called "I Can't Wait", and a new British singer Adele is using the beat from that song on her new release "American Boy". It's bad ass. I'm also loving the shit outta Kylie Minogues's CD "X". That girl(woman?) gets with the best producers and makes some trippy, futuristic sounding stuff. I'm listening to that everyday. Favorites include "Wow", "Nu-di-ty", "Sensitized", "All I See" and "In My Arms". Also a few cuts on the new Gnarls Barkley CD are a lotta fun.
7)My upcoming birthday party. I'm really excited about it. You only hit 40 once and I hope to celebrate it in a major way with all my friends, and hopefully a few of my family from Texas. I haven't had a really decent birthday party since my 30th birthday, so I'm really looking forward to this one. The evite has been sent and I'm even registered at Target.com for gifts, which is a first! I got the idea from Jared who mentioned that it would be a good idea so that people who wanted to get me something would know what I liked.
8)Jeremy starting his Landmark seminar sessions. I'm excited because he'll get so much out of attending these weekly meetings. They're so great when it comes to bringing the things you've gotten to your everyday life. I can't express enough how the work in the Landmark Forum goes so far in the transformation of people's lives. It certainly transformed mine in ways that I didn't expect it to at first. I'm excited that Jeremy get the same opportunity.
Well, that's a lot of what I'm loving right now. There's plenty more of course, but those are the highlights. I gotta go wake up Jeremy now, cause we need to run to the library before we meet Jared and Larry for lunch at Punch Pizza and then a fun afternoon of drinking and playing games. Have a great day! Deuces!
Friday, April 4, 2008
In the movie of your life, would you like what you saw?
So, I was watching one of my favorite shows tonite, Men In Trees, and Marin, the main character, was doing her on-air show about "movie magic", and it made me think. When we're watching movies, we're escaping the reality of our own lives. But the big question is this: What if the cameras were turned on you? Would you like to see your life story in a movie?
In asking myself that question, I'm really kind of scared. I've done some things that I'm mega proud of in my life, but I've also done some not so great things, and actually some pretty bad thiings. Would I want to have the public see my life in a movie? Hmmmmm. That's the question, and it's a difficult one. It's a "moment of truth", I guess.
Well, let's see. Let's take a look and see if we can come to a conclusion. To pinpoint individual instances is brave, and in the new possibility of myself, I'm fearless, so let's find out.
If you tuned in to my life, what would you see? In the beginning, you'd see a very happy child. One who was spoiled and happy and who loved dancing. I was called "pretty" for a while and was shown the truth of that statement very early on and aggressively by a couple of my uncles. Not to say I didn't love all seven of my uncles (mom was the only girl), but as a child I had nothing but admiration for whatever they did, and not everything they did was admirable. Should my mother be reading this, I'm sure it'd be like a slap in the face or a cold bucket of water poured over her head. I never told her, and I still don't know if she ever knew the truth about my molestation or not. My sister knows, and I think she might have talked about it with my mother, but it never was discussed. I can't imagine her seeing that in a movie, let alone a billion other people.
What else? You'd see me studying hard as a student, wanting to exceed in my class; as a matter of fact you'd see me being ranked number 12 in a graduating class of 365 other inner city kids. You'd see me graduating and getting a full scholarship to Dillard University in New Orleans, but bailing out because I'd had my heart broken by the first guy I'd ever loved while I was there, wanting to be home and using my newborn brother as an excuse to get back there, never mind that I had a 4.0 grade point average. Did my mother ever realize that? I don't think she did. Would she like to see that in a movie? How much are you willing to bet on it?
I like to imagine her going to see me at the cinema and watching as I brought home trophy after trophy from school and being elected President of the Drama club and winning Outstanding French student and Outstanding Algebra II student, and my most memorable high school moment, winning Most Outstanding Student in my district as a senior in high school probably because I'd gotten the highest score on the SAT out of all of the studentry. Too bad every moment in your life can't be as powerful and happy to remember. Too bad, indeed. I've done quite a few things that I wouldn't wanna see portrayed in my life story.
I think the movie of my life would show how influential I was in people's lives, though. I suppose that would be the theme of it; at least I hope so. I would hope it showed how I influenced my one time best friend Perry to break out of his shell and become the true man that he is today. I would think it would show the young man I was as an adolescent who won the Outstanding Youth award for teaching a little girl to count and read in the summer program that I was a part of in my effort to always do something meaningful with the time that I had. Above all, I could only hope that it would show me standing valiantly at my mother's side as we both grieved the death of my younger brother from gang violence.
But it would probably also show the young man who went regularly to the adult video stores, looking for a quick 5 to 10 minutes (if that much) of gratuity. Wandering for hours at a time down the dark seedy halls of an all night venue, trying to as they say "get lucky". I would never want anybody to see that part of myself, but the truth of it is that's a part of my movie. You could edit all you wanted to, but there would still be an essence to it that you couldn't escape. You could highlight me winning the Most Likely To Succeed award when I graduated high school, but you'd probably end up fading to me taking my first whiff of poppers, and then falling back onto the concrete of a tombstone in the cemetary where I was because my head was spinning so fast.
In essence, I don't know that my movie would be as inspirational as I'd like my life to represent. I wish it were, but I know that it's not. I keep aspiring to be that inspirational light that I've always wanted to be to people. Luckily, my bookstore days are gone (pray for me)and I can look forward to a brighter representation of myself.
Hopefully, in the final scenes of my life, you'll see a chapter where even if I didn't change the world, I did enough to let people know that I was worth more than a few tokens put into a machine at an adult video store. You'll see that I was worth enough so that someone felt influenced by who I was and all the things I've done - both good and bad.
I suppose the bottom line is I stand by who I've been. I can't change it and there's no editing it out. My movie's gonna have some good and some bad, but let's toast to my life standing for people realizing you can make major mistakes and not die from them, you can suck at the choices you make and still have a life that works for you. So.......let's start rolling. Lights! Camera.... Uhm, wait!!! In my movie, I think Will Smith should play me, and I'm sure my mom would agree. What do you think? Jada, call me!....................(Stay tuned for the action!)
In asking myself that question, I'm really kind of scared. I've done some things that I'm mega proud of in my life, but I've also done some not so great things, and actually some pretty bad thiings. Would I want to have the public see my life in a movie? Hmmmmm. That's the question, and it's a difficult one. It's a "moment of truth", I guess.
Well, let's see. Let's take a look and see if we can come to a conclusion. To pinpoint individual instances is brave, and in the new possibility of myself, I'm fearless, so let's find out.
If you tuned in to my life, what would you see? In the beginning, you'd see a very happy child. One who was spoiled and happy and who loved dancing. I was called "pretty" for a while and was shown the truth of that statement very early on and aggressively by a couple of my uncles. Not to say I didn't love all seven of my uncles (mom was the only girl), but as a child I had nothing but admiration for whatever they did, and not everything they did was admirable. Should my mother be reading this, I'm sure it'd be like a slap in the face or a cold bucket of water poured over her head. I never told her, and I still don't know if she ever knew the truth about my molestation or not. My sister knows, and I think she might have talked about it with my mother, but it never was discussed. I can't imagine her seeing that in a movie, let alone a billion other people.
What else? You'd see me studying hard as a student, wanting to exceed in my class; as a matter of fact you'd see me being ranked number 12 in a graduating class of 365 other inner city kids. You'd see me graduating and getting a full scholarship to Dillard University in New Orleans, but bailing out because I'd had my heart broken by the first guy I'd ever loved while I was there, wanting to be home and using my newborn brother as an excuse to get back there, never mind that I had a 4.0 grade point average. Did my mother ever realize that? I don't think she did. Would she like to see that in a movie? How much are you willing to bet on it?
I like to imagine her going to see me at the cinema and watching as I brought home trophy after trophy from school and being elected President of the Drama club and winning Outstanding French student and Outstanding Algebra II student, and my most memorable high school moment, winning Most Outstanding Student in my district as a senior in high school probably because I'd gotten the highest score on the SAT out of all of the studentry. Too bad every moment in your life can't be as powerful and happy to remember. Too bad, indeed. I've done quite a few things that I wouldn't wanna see portrayed in my life story.
I think the movie of my life would show how influential I was in people's lives, though. I suppose that would be the theme of it; at least I hope so. I would hope it showed how I influenced my one time best friend Perry to break out of his shell and become the true man that he is today. I would think it would show the young man I was as an adolescent who won the Outstanding Youth award for teaching a little girl to count and read in the summer program that I was a part of in my effort to always do something meaningful with the time that I had. Above all, I could only hope that it would show me standing valiantly at my mother's side as we both grieved the death of my younger brother from gang violence.
But it would probably also show the young man who went regularly to the adult video stores, looking for a quick 5 to 10 minutes (if that much) of gratuity. Wandering for hours at a time down the dark seedy halls of an all night venue, trying to as they say "get lucky". I would never want anybody to see that part of myself, but the truth of it is that's a part of my movie. You could edit all you wanted to, but there would still be an essence to it that you couldn't escape. You could highlight me winning the Most Likely To Succeed award when I graduated high school, but you'd probably end up fading to me taking my first whiff of poppers, and then falling back onto the concrete of a tombstone in the cemetary where I was because my head was spinning so fast.
In essence, I don't know that my movie would be as inspirational as I'd like my life to represent. I wish it were, but I know that it's not. I keep aspiring to be that inspirational light that I've always wanted to be to people. Luckily, my bookstore days are gone (pray for me)and I can look forward to a brighter representation of myself.
Hopefully, in the final scenes of my life, you'll see a chapter where even if I didn't change the world, I did enough to let people know that I was worth more than a few tokens put into a machine at an adult video store. You'll see that I was worth enough so that someone felt influenced by who I was and all the things I've done - both good and bad.
I suppose the bottom line is I stand by who I've been. I can't change it and there's no editing it out. My movie's gonna have some good and some bad, but let's toast to my life standing for people realizing you can make major mistakes and not die from them, you can suck at the choices you make and still have a life that works for you. So.......let's start rolling. Lights! Camera.... Uhm, wait!!! In my movie, I think Will Smith should play me, and I'm sure my mom would agree. What do you think? Jada, call me!....................(Stay tuned for the action!)
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Family Island, Episode 1
It was the most beautiful place they'd ever seen! That was the thought that both Ben and Perry were having at the exact same time. As they de-boarded the plane and walked across the tarmac to the waiting limousine, all they could do was gasp. It was simply breathtaking.
Ben could hardly believe they had taken the leap to actually move here. Family Island. It was actually real. As he watched the palm trees sway in the breeze, Ben felt like he was in a dream. He walked as quickly as he could to get started with his new life....and ran right into Perry, who'd been just standing there, mouth open.
"Ouch," said Perry then, turning around and giving Ben a playful scowl. "Slow down, baby. We're here. We don't have to be in such a rush anymore." As he spoke, he slowly put his bag down and looked Ben in his deep blue eyes. "We've got the rest of our lives together to enjoy being here."
Ben moved closer to Perry and leaned into his arms. "I just can't believe it. After all we've heard about this place; that it's beautiful, that it's magical, that it's the place where our family can live and even thrive. It's absolutely amazing. And look at the sun! It even feels new and brighter somehow."
"Yep," said Perry, farting loudly.
"Well, I guess not everything is new and bright," laughed Ben, putting his long, slender hand over his nose playfully.
"Sorry, bud. Just wanted to wake you up from your little euphoric dream", grinned Perry.
"Thanks a lot! I always said you knew how to treat 'em right!"
"Well, I reckon I do at that," he said, tipping an imaginary hat. "Well, my fine gentleman, what d'ya say we take this town by it's horns and turn her upside down?"
"Well, pardner," drawled Ben, "I reckon I could mosey up the spirit to do that!"
As he leaned in to kiss his partner for the first time on Family Island, he was interrupted by a boisterous voice.
"Oh, no you don't! Get a room for God's sakes!"
"John, stop being a dipstick!" laughed Perry. "I can't help it cause you can't touch your wife in public. Is it my fault that you guys have moved here to pretend to be gay to get all the good benefits? Uhm, no! So don't be a hater."
"Ouch," said John, making a face. "That wasn't necessary".
"You know I'm kidding, buddy".
"Yeah, yeah, I know. You mind if we get a move on, though? Nancy's gotta pee and she's not feeling too good. You know how she feels about flying".
So Ben, Perry, John and Nancy all walked the short distance to where a long, black limousine was awaiting to take them to there new home. The two couples had just bought a new house on the island from a friend who had been living there since the island was officially established 5 years earlier. Perry and John had been friends since high school and the fact that Perry was gay never caused any concern for John. Their relationship only grew stronger over the years. He'd even had Perry as his best man when he married Nancy the previous year.
The four of them were like an actual family now. Ben and Perry had been in a relationship for 9 years and when Nancy came into the picture, she was the piece that had been missing from their puzzle. The fact that they had to pretend to be gay was gonna be interesting.........
Ben could hardly believe they had taken the leap to actually move here. Family Island. It was actually real. As he watched the palm trees sway in the breeze, Ben felt like he was in a dream. He walked as quickly as he could to get started with his new life....and ran right into Perry, who'd been just standing there, mouth open.
"Ouch," said Perry then, turning around and giving Ben a playful scowl. "Slow down, baby. We're here. We don't have to be in such a rush anymore." As he spoke, he slowly put his bag down and looked Ben in his deep blue eyes. "We've got the rest of our lives together to enjoy being here."
Ben moved closer to Perry and leaned into his arms. "I just can't believe it. After all we've heard about this place; that it's beautiful, that it's magical, that it's the place where our family can live and even thrive. It's absolutely amazing. And look at the sun! It even feels new and brighter somehow."
"Yep," said Perry, farting loudly.
"Well, I guess not everything is new and bright," laughed Ben, putting his long, slender hand over his nose playfully.
"Sorry, bud. Just wanted to wake you up from your little euphoric dream", grinned Perry.
"Thanks a lot! I always said you knew how to treat 'em right!"
"Well, I reckon I do at that," he said, tipping an imaginary hat. "Well, my fine gentleman, what d'ya say we take this town by it's horns and turn her upside down?"
"Well, pardner," drawled Ben, "I reckon I could mosey up the spirit to do that!"
As he leaned in to kiss his partner for the first time on Family Island, he was interrupted by a boisterous voice.
"Oh, no you don't! Get a room for God's sakes!"
"John, stop being a dipstick!" laughed Perry. "I can't help it cause you can't touch your wife in public. Is it my fault that you guys have moved here to pretend to be gay to get all the good benefits? Uhm, no! So don't be a hater."
"Ouch," said John, making a face. "That wasn't necessary".
"You know I'm kidding, buddy".
"Yeah, yeah, I know. You mind if we get a move on, though? Nancy's gotta pee and she's not feeling too good. You know how she feels about flying".
So Ben, Perry, John and Nancy all walked the short distance to where a long, black limousine was awaiting to take them to there new home. The two couples had just bought a new house on the island from a friend who had been living there since the island was officially established 5 years earlier. Perry and John had been friends since high school and the fact that Perry was gay never caused any concern for John. Their relationship only grew stronger over the years. He'd even had Perry as his best man when he married Nancy the previous year.
The four of them were like an actual family now. Ben and Perry had been in a relationship for 9 years and when Nancy came into the picture, she was the piece that had been missing from their puzzle. The fact that they had to pretend to be gay was gonna be interesting.........
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
All About Tennis
So, oops..... I did not blog today, cause there's a major tennis tournament going on and I can't seem to tear myself away. It's the Sony Ericsson Open this fortnight and although my favorite player, Maria Sharapova, is out of this one due to injury, I'm still all about it cause both of the Williams sisters are still alive.
I've been addicted to the sport of tennis for some time now; at least for the last 10 years, and it's an awesome sport. I try to play every now and then, but it's hard to find people who actually play. I did play with our ex-roomie Jacob, who was pretty decent. We got a few good rallies going between us. Anyway, since he's moved now, and there's snow all over the ground, there will be no rallies for at least a month. I'm excited about spring for that reason.
Anyway, so tennis is da bomb and at this particular juncture I'm all into it watching Serena Williams beat the stuffing out of the number one player in the world, Justine Henin, whom I can't stand. I don't know why, just don't like her very much. Besides, Jeremy needs to use the computer to check the grade that he got on his last assignment.
Smooches!!
I've been addicted to the sport of tennis for some time now; at least for the last 10 years, and it's an awesome sport. I try to play every now and then, but it's hard to find people who actually play. I did play with our ex-roomie Jacob, who was pretty decent. We got a few good rallies going between us. Anyway, since he's moved now, and there's snow all over the ground, there will be no rallies for at least a month. I'm excited about spring for that reason.
Anyway, so tennis is da bomb and at this particular juncture I'm all into it watching Serena Williams beat the stuffing out of the number one player in the world, Justine Henin, whom I can't stand. I don't know why, just don't like her very much. Besides, Jeremy needs to use the computer to check the grade that he got on his last assignment.
Smooches!!
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