A beautiful sunset over Long Island last Saturday



Well it’s 1AM and I’m still wide awake…at least my mind is. I had a long day today, but it was a good one overall, busy but good. It seems that my mind just never stops going and if I could do without sleep I’d still probably not get in everything I want or need to do, especially during these fast-dwindling days and nights of summer. I tell ya, there’s something to be said for the routine a job gives you!



He’s still there!



Today I visited my ex-student and current family member Arnoldo, who I first told you about a couple of months ago. The last time I saw Arnoldo was towards the end of the school year back in June. He had successfully fought off that infection he’d had and was getting the much-needed treatment for his lupus, finally, after a seven week stint in the hospital. I got a text from him on July 8th telling me he was being released from the hospital, which was one of the best things I’d heard in a long time.



Ever since, I’ve settled into my own summer life, assuming that all was okay with Arnoldo, but I was wrong. His sister Mayela sent me an email the other day asking how I was doing and in my response I asked about Arnoldo. Arnoldo had called me himself a couple of weeks ago, but I regrettably neglected to call him back! In her answer she said he was “still in the hospital.” Still? I was confused.



As things turned out, Arnoldo did get out of the hospital, but it wasn’t for long. After two returns and maybe a week’s worth total of days at home, the poor guy has remained in Stony Brook Hospital battling not only the sicknesses that plague him, but the anguish and frustration that goes along with all of it. I went to the hospital today.



I think my visit helped out at least a little. Mayela had told me he’d been very down the past couple of days and he seemed fine, almost happy, during the time that I was there. During the middle of my visit, an orderly came in to take him down for a small, quick surgical procedure that he didn’t know was coming. His fiancée Jill had just brought us all some Red Mango frozen yogurt (delicious!) and we were enjoying it and some good conversation when the she showed up. I was annoyed that they had come in at such a time, as Mayela and Jill had just gotten there, but it was just another day in the life for the weary Arnoldo.



I know that yesterday I spoke of my own upcoming colonoscopy and my cuts and bruises from last week, but you know…I’m pretty lucky compared to this brave young man. I mean, he just turned 25 years of age and he knows words that no one his age should know (I’d repeat some of them now, but they’re all medical related and I can’t remember a one of them!). He mentioned getting spinal taps and other painful-sounding procedures and my empathetic nature just got the best of me thinking of what he’s got to go through every single day.



Please, I know that none of you know Arnoldo personally, but if you’ve read this far and feel for the guy, I ask that you remember him in your prayers or your thoughts. He is someone I and a lot of other people admire and he could certainly use a little positive energy sent his way. He and Jill have postponed their October wedding until next year, when hopefully Arnoldo will be able to enjoy it as he should, pain and worry free. I hope so! Thanks!



A Rant for Today



Before I had this blog I used to have another one called “Rants.” It was a series of rants about the things in life that irk me, and there are a lot! At the moment I am undergoing yet another reexamination of my life and where it’s going, as I alluded to yesterday, and one of the things I’m working on is learning to focus. I have a history of spreading myself too thin and getting involved in too many things all the time, which causes me nothing but distress and a feeling of dissatisfaction.



I want to narrow my focus in hopes of a better success and a happier future, and so even though that blog is still live, I think I may just shut it down and integrate it into here. I hardly ever go to it anymore anyway, and I’ve still got things I like to rant about. So I’ve decided that whenever I have a rant, be it big or small, I’m just going to put it here on “John’s World.” After all, ranting gets you nowhere anyway except to release some steam, and including a rant or two here and there helps me to narrow that focus just a little. So here is the first official rant of “John’s World”:



Diner Abandonment



The other night, two friends and I met at a local diner for dinner. For those of you unlucky enough to not have any diners where you live, you are truly missing out. It’s amazing to me how at any time of the day or night you can order from such a varied menu of dishes. You could order a cheese omelet or a beef brisket at three in the morning, or a roasted chicken for breakfast if you wanted. I have no idea how they do it, but they do and it’s incredible.



Any-who, diners are also great places to meet up with people you don’t often get to see. They’re great for relaxed, conversational meals with good friends, at any time of the day or night, and quite often the conversation lasts well past mealtime. Coffees or sodas are refilled and the enjoyable chatter continues, that is until the check comes…



During your meal at a diner, the waitresses and the busboys are continually monitoring the table for water or coffee refills, extra napkins, and clearing out emptied plates. Once the bill comes however, they’re simply done with your table, only to be seen from afar. You and your friends are left to sit and chat over whatever dirty dishes, napkins and glasses were left there before the check came.



This happened the other night, as me and my friends sat for almost an hour after we’d finished our meal, enjoying friendly conversation in the mostly empty place. What had been constant visits to our table by the busboy and the waitress during the meal suddenly stopped once the check had been placed on the table, leaving us to talk amongst the filth.



The same thing happened two weeks ago in another diner when I met my friend Rita for lunch. It’s just weird to me how they could suddenly ignore you at that point. I tell ya, if you work at a diner, here’s a piece of advice for you:



Don’t ignore your diners once they’ve finished their meal. Clean up after them, and they can continue what is obviously a pleasant time in your establishment. Who knows, maybe they’ll even order another drink or something while they chat, but they can’t if you don’t come back to the table. And if you did clean there table, it’ll only add to the positivity of their experience in your diner and they may even throw you a big tip, or better yet, they might come back!



They're probably gonna kill me, but during my hospital visit today, I played with Cam Wow and took some funny pictures:





Our little patient!







The worst and best of Mayela, lol









Jill, Arnoldo's fiancee....isn't she purdy?



Well, it’s almost two and that’s all she wrote for this evening. As ever, thanks for reading, especially this far! I’ll catch ya next time and until then, enjoy!





Tweet

Read more »

Well, it’s another blazing Monday and the start of a brand new week. I’ve got four weeks left in my first summer off and I just know they’re gonna go by sooooo fast. Normally by the time summer ends I’m ready to go back, but I’m not so sure about this year. I had a really busy weekend, which worked great for distracting me from the issues of my house. Here’s a little recap:



An impromptu barbie and then off to the Grove



Since our friend Rose has been in town for a party, we all decided to go to Cherry Grove on Saturday night. He hadn’t been there in years and so we planned on spending the evening there. I had had a barbecue the night before and I had a lot of leftover food, so I invited Rose, Blanche and Dita over for a pre-Fire Island barbecue. It was a nice start to a really fun night.



We all headed out on the 7:20 from Sayville and got to the Grove a little before 8. The weather wasn’t as nice as it had been in previous weeks, but that was okay. Though we started off at the Ice Palace, we soon headed to Cherry’s because they were hosting a 1971 class reunion of what looked like mostly straight people. They were playing disco music and we were hard pressed to find any guy-guy or girl-girl couples.



I know it brings money to the place, but straight people have enough places to go without invading our territory. It seems that every year the place attracts more and more straight people, and honestly it’s annoying that what’s been our summer playground for years and years is slowly becoming an unrecognizable shadow of its former self.



Fun and Creepers at Cherry’s



In all Saturday was a really fun night. We were joined over there by Eddie’s sister and nephew, who were both very pleasant, and the good company made for an enjoyable evening, despite the rain that came for a short time. My new buddies Lisa and Laurie were there, and eventually they joined our circle of dancing fools. Even Rich, who has two sore feet and doesn’t always like to dance, was wiggling and giggling all night long with the rest of us.



One creepy aside to the evening were these two guys, Alfonse and Billy, who used to be a couple back in the day, but are now best friends who often go out together. I remember Alfonse from back then. He was one of those classically good-looking guys who turned heads wherever he went and his looks haven’t waned. I never caught his eye, or so I thought until Saturday. Apparently he did notice me.



“I had the biggest crush on you twenty years ago,” he whispered in my ear on the dance floor the other night.



“Gee, then why didn’t you ever say so back then,” I thought. Call me cynical, but I’m not so sure I believed him. I found out on Saturday, as did my other friends, that Alfonse is a very forward acting sort of creeper who seems to take whatever he wants without asking. Though he had done so once before a couple of weeks ago, what he did on Saturday was ten times worse. Almost from the moment he said that to me, he started groping and feeling his way around my person like he was feeling for a ripe melon in the produce section at the supermarket.



The groping and kissing and hugging continued as he and Billy came over to our group and Fonzi plied similar moves towards my other friends. What a creeper! I’m actually glad he never told me about his “crush” back in the day!



Dinner and dance therapy in the city



Last night I met my friend Ivan in the city for some dinner and dancing. At first I was planning on just dinner, but dance therapy is still in order, so after a nice Thai dinner and some good conversation, we ended up at Splash. We were supposed to try this place downtown called “Greenhouse,” but we missed the open bar at ten and since it’s really expensive there was no other place we could think of to go to dance. We promised to make a date to go, though, before the end of the summer. I heard it’s hella cool!



Splash was alright, for a Sunday night. We got there during their weekly Amateur Strip Contest, which was okay. A funny thing was that the drag queen hosting the show was the same one from the Sea Tea the week before and this other really strange dude from the ride was there, too. He’s a tall, bearded, leather daddy kind of dude, with sparkling high heeled pumps and green, glittery makeup. Only in New York!



Anyway, once the show was over and a winner had been announced, they opened up the dance floor and Ivan and I danced our asses off for the next hour and a half. Mission complete! All was good and now it’s Monday morning and the distractions are gone. Now it’s time to think…



Tweet

Read more »

Today's "Song of the Day" is in honor of THE biggest Stevie Nicks fan I know, my friend Eddie. Eddie's coming up for a few days from Florida and "Rose" will be joining Blanche, Dita and I for what I'm sure will be some brand new good times. In fact, for the first time since the 4th of July I will actually be going to the Grove with people on Saturday night. It's gonna be lots of fun, I'm sure!

Anyway, back to the song...Of course Setvie Nicks has plenty of songs to choose from, both from Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist, and knowing Eddie, I'm sure he would prefer one of the songs off of her newest album, "In Your Dreams," but hey, I don't know it and besides this one was made into a remix a few years ago by Deep Dish and you know how I love good dance music.

This version, which I'm posting first, is a fantastic interpretation of the original and Stevie provides the vocals. It made me love the song all over again when it was out, and even though I had a hard time finding the specific video for it, I finally did. So check out Deep Dish's "Dreams" followed by Fleetwood Mac's original. I'm posting the lyrics below because they're just sooooo good! Enjoy!











Dreams

Now here you go again
You say you want your freedom
Well who am I to keep you down
It's only right that you should
Play the way you feel it
But listen carefully to the sound
Of your loneliness
Like a heartbeat.. drives you mad
In the stillness of remembering what you had
And what you lost...
And what you had...
And what you lost

Thunder only happens when it's raining
Players only love you when they're playing
Say... Women... they will come and they will go
When the rain washes you clean... you'll know

Now here I go again, I see the crystal visions
I keep my visions to myself
It's only me
Who wants to wrap around your dreams and...
Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?
Dreams of loneliness...
Like a heartbeat... drives you mad...
In the stillness of remembering what you had...
And what you lost...
And what you had...
And what you lost

Thunder only happens when it's raining
Players only love you when they're playing
Say... Women... they will come and they will go
When the rain washes you clean... you'll know

Here's a couple of pictures of Eddie from a trip we took to Pennsylvania last year...





This was one of many of me with Eddie's finger, lol... It was his thing the whole trip!



Eddie zip-lining!

Tweet

Read more »

I just penned an article on the Yahoo Contributor Network and it's one of those sappy, mushy ones about Golden Girls and friendships and stuff. It was inspired by a drag performer on the Sea Tea last night who performed the theme song to that gayest of shows. Since three of my friends have been called by the names of Blanche, Dorothy ands Rose for years, I figured it was an appropriate subject for a piece and besides, I really wanted to post the song (and a picture!) somewhere. So please check out the article here and play the song while you're reading it, for posterity's sake! Oh, and thank you for being a friend!


Tweet

Read more »

You ever have one of those days where it turns out completely different than what you expected? Well, that was me yesterday and though I expected to have a good time, what I didn’t expect was the type of good time that I had.

A Barbecue in Brentwood

When I went to Circus the other night, my newest buddy Ozzie/Ruby invited me to his house for a barbecue on Friday. In the past I probably wouldn’t even have thought about it (I can be way shy when it comes to being in the company of people I don’t know), but I was actually looking forward to it. I asked my pal Laura Kim to go with me, but she cancelled on me in the morning and so I went by myself not knowing what to expect…well, judging from the popularity of Ms. Diamond, I did expect to meet a lot of new people.

Surprise, Surprise

As is my way, I got to Ozzie’s at 2:30, so as not to be the first one there, and I was surprised to see no cars in front of the house. I double checked the address he gave me and knew I was in the right place so I went on to the front door from where I could hear dance music blasting.

“Hey, come on in!” Ozzie seemed a little disappointed and maybe a little disheveled from cleaning. He had been cleaning and wasn’t totally ready for his company, none of whom had shown up yet.

I went inside and we shot the breeze as Ozzie cleaned the bathroom, defrosted the ground beef, fixed the burgers and whatnot. He’s a very easy person to talk to and before you knew it it was like 5 p.m. Still, no one had shown up.

“It’s all my fault,” Ozzie was like, “whatever!” He had originally scheduled his ‘cue’ for Thursday, and invited a lot of people, but when he changed it he hadn’t told everybody, so… Anyway, at least we knew his friend Jeremy was on his way from Brooklyn, so there would be at least three of us.

A Life

Without divulging too much information out of respect to Mr. Ozzie’s privacy, I will say he’s had quite the life to this point. He shared a lot of his story…spirituality and confusion….marriage……more confusion...long term relationship with a guy afterwards, and so on. During our conversation he mentioned a night at Circus that had been very special to him. It was on a night called “Spirit Day,” and it was all about bullying, especially LGBT bullying. Anyway, he let me watch it as he went to get Jeremy from the train station.
The video moved me. Ozzie began as Ruby, and as he told his own poignant personal story of growing up different, he transformed himself back to Ozzie, and it was truly touching. I’m posting it here for you to see.



I like Ozzie’s way of looking at things…I haven’t known too many drag queens too well, one or two maybe, and so I can’t imagine how much more they have to deal with than the ordinary gay person. From the way he puts it, drag queens even get it from those in the gay community (tsk tsk!). But, to him, Ruby’s just a character, like in a movie or a play, and deep inside he’s simply Ozzie. Now ain’t that the truth Ruth!

And then there were three...

Finally Ozzie showed up with his friend Jeremy, who I met at Cherry Grove last Saturday. Jeremy’s cool, too, and it ended up just being the three of us for the rest of the night. That was okay, though. Jeremy is really into dance music, like me, and I got to listen to lots of good stuff (for which I will now be broke after my next trip to iTunes, thank you very much Mr. J!), and Ozzie, well, I told him and it’s true that he’s the kind of person I feel like I’ve known a very long time even though I’ve known him barely a month. It was a great time with two great guys!

After what I thought would be a couple of hours spent at Ozzie’s barbecue, I ended up leaving around 11:30. Time flies when you’re having fun, I guess. Now I’ve got two new friends to add to my circle, and I look forward to getting to know them better and sharing some more good times together. Thanks Ozzie!

Okay, he might kill me for this, but here's a Cam Wow pic I took of Ozzie last night, hehe:


Tweet

Read more »

Today is Thursday, almost the end of another summer week and we just keep rolling along fast. It hasn’t taken me long to fall into the stay-up-late/wake-up-late mode, I’ll say. I think the earliest I’ve gone to sleep this week has been around 2:30 AM, and that was early. The only thing I don’t like about it is that I’m missing my mornings, because that’s when I usually get a lot of writing done. Now, by the time I write and post my “Song of the Day,” I’m lucky if it’s noon, and then it’s either keep writing (which I need to do) or get stuff done. It’s a daily struggle, lol.



Circus Wednesdays

A few weeks ago I mentioned this guy I met that night I went to Alfie’s Bar in Patchogue. His name is Ozzie and we became friends of Facebook soon after we had met. I actually mentioned this a little this morning, but Ozzie is also a drag performer known as Ruby Diamond and he’s the weekly hostess at Circus Wednesdays, which I’d never been to. I promised Ozzie I’d be there, dressed in pink (they were having a “Pink Party”), and I was.

I have to say I was really impressed with the place. All of these years I’ve passed it by and never gone in, I never would have guessed it was so nice. The décor, the atmosphere, the bartenders…all stellar, and the crowd had quite a few familiar faces, too, though like many Long Island bars, the clientele is pretty clickish. Jay Antonio, the guy who runs the place is an awesome guy...he came over and introduced himself, bought me a shot, and I could tell that he's really intoo his clientele and they all like him a lot, too! Of course, being Ruby’s guest got me in with the cool crowd, and I have to say I really enjoyed myself. Thanks Ruby…I think I may just become a regular on Wednesdays.

Splash Thursdays

Oy, I’m starting to think that maybe I’m going out too much! Well, last night wasn’t expected, and I did stay later than I thought I would have, but at least I slept late and I’ll be okay for going to Splash tonight. This will be the second week I’m actually going with somebody. Yes, through all the craziness of my week, I forgot to mention that last week I met my buddy Laura Kim and her friend Michael at Splash. It was totally unplanned and totally a blast (except when the dancer who was dancing on the bar above me knocked my drink over three, count em’, three times!).


A cool Cam Wow double shot of the show at Splash last Thursday


Me and LK

Anyway, tonight I am going to Splash with my friend Paul, who actually asked me earlier in the week if I’d be going tonight. Since I went last week, I wouldn’t ordinarily be going, but I kind of turn him down a lot, so I said okay. We’ll see how it goes…I’ve spoken of Paul before, and we’ve had both good and bad times together there, but now I think things will be okay. I've come to like him more the more I get to know him and I think we have a good understanding of one another. He and I are definitely in a better place than before, for sure!

Uninspired Plans

I’ve got more tentative plans all the way through Monday, and none of them are etched in stone. A couple of them, with guys, are making me a little apprehensive. I tell ya, I just don’t know about guys anymore. I’m starting to feel like no one out there is really worth it. It seems every experience I have with a guy always ends up in a negative way…either I’m not really interested, or there’s that one thing that makes it seem like it’s not worth even trying, and then of course there are the ones who like me, but the feelings are not mutual. I'm getting a lot of those lately!

As I said, two of my tentative plans are with potential guys, and I hold no real excitement for either. Not the guys, necessarily, just the situations….I dunno, I’m starting to believe that I’ll just know the right one when he comes along and that I should never expect anything from any encounter with anybody. I guess in that way my experience with "him" taught me a couple of good, but hard lessons.

He was the first person since Joe that I knew…I don’t know how, but I just knew I wanted to “hang” with for awhile. It’s inexplicable really, but it wasn’t attraction or sex or what he did specifically or anything like that. I guess it was just the connection that we had at the time that made me not want to think about anyone else.

Then of course, there’s what happened in the end. When it ended the first time, I was completely shocked, and then after the second time… I guess the rejection was a little dose of reality that hardened me a little, and it’s going to be a long time before I trust in a relationship with anyone.

So these two experiences, I guess, have shown me their value in the lessons they’ve taught me. For now I feel as if I’m just going through motions with guys. I’m just playing it day by day and we’ll see where the weekend and the rest of the summer take me… In the meantime, I just know that when the right one does come along, if he does, again I'll just know it, but hopefully next time the feeling will be mutual, so I've got to be very aware.

Doctor, doctor

My good buddies are happy to know that after months, okay years, of bugging me, and months after I stated on this very blog that I would start taking care of things, health-wise, I finally made two appointments with doctors I’ve really needed to see for a long time. I had my first one yesterday, and now I have to go for a colonoscopy, ugh! Just what I was afraid of, but…my next appointment is on Tuesday and that one I’m kind of looking forward to. I will keep you posted.

So that’s my story for the past and the next few days, for the most part. Hopefully I’ll get back soon enough so that I won’t have so much to say and keep you reading so long, but I do appreciate the page views! Have a great evening!

Here's a photo I found on the Internet the other day that I thought was cool...


Tweet

Read more »

Happy Thursday everybody! Well, I’m a rested up and in a better frame of mind today, so I’m going to jump right into things:

Rejected

On Tuesday I received an email from Yahoo saying that I was essentially rejected for their new program. I actually didn’t/don’t feel so bad because their reasons were technical and not creative. I was a little dumbfounded at first because that would have been the last thing I would have expected. They gave as their reasons my incorrect use of numbers and some missing commas, and the fact that I capitalized the second ‘G’ in Lady Gaga’s name. Okay, that was a stupid mistake, but when I finally got around to scrutinizing the article today, I saw that I only made one mistake with numerals and I missed six commas. Frustrating!



In hindsight, I’m taking it as a good thing. Many writers are being turned down, and for creative reasons, too! So I don’t feel so bad. I posted the situation on the very wonderful Y!CN page on Facebook and received some nice feedback from people who I didn’t even know read me. I realize that this was my first professional shot at writing and this experience will help me going into the next try. I just need to wait a bit and try again, and be more wary of the technical stuff next time.

Ya Gotta Have Friends

One of my “Keys to Life” pieces, #3, is all about cultivating friendships. (Check it out here). I mentioned in that piece that friends are the family you choose and that true friends are the ones who support you when you need it. Well, last night I spent some time with my good friend Laura Kim and she was just what the doctor ordered for me.

Laura Kim and I go back a long way. We both started at the same time in our school districts (she teaches English) and we hit it off right from the start. LK’s one of those friends that I just connect with on a certain level and she and I talk about things we both can’t really talk about with anyone else. Ever since we started working together, we’ve made it a habit of sharing a meal every once in awhile followed by who knows what.

Yesterday we had a date and what usually is a two or three hour visit turned out to be almost seven! We started off slow and subdued, probably just weary from the work day we had both just finished, but by the end of the night it was actually hard for me to leave. We had an awesome evening all around. She’s become quite the bird lady, with now five feathered creatures in her collection, and they provided an unusual backdrop to the evening, for sure. The newest bird is Dobie, a huge white parrot that kinda spooked me a bit by its sheer size. We were thrown into fits of hysterical laughter a couple of times due to my, um, let’s say startled fear at many of Dobie’s sudden movements.

Laura Kim and I shared some personal stuff, a lot of which I would have normally put up here in the past, but have been trying to stay away from. It felt good to let it out after so long. I did my share of listening and comforting too as we shared first a wonderful dinner in Westhampton and then an equally delicious dessert at a great bake shop down the street. After our meals and mutual commiserating, we headed back to her place for a good old fashioned photo shoot.

Warning – I’m posting a couple of the photos here because I wouldn’t dare put them on Facebook, lol. They’re just a little too risqué for me to put there and I hope no one gets offended by an R rating.


Leave it to a straight man to have a booby pillow!


...and a gay one to try it on for size!

Sexy Italian Man





Anyway, it was there at her place that we had the most fun. We were both in better moods than we had been and laughed for practically two hours straight as we worked out poses and get-ups for the pictures. Her boyfriend was away and he’s got a big collection of hats, many of which I tried on to both of our amusement. Being the typical straight male, there were lots of nudie things all around, too, which gave me so much fodder for laughs, hehe.

All in all, it was a great evening with my good buddy LK. Getting the opportunity to release some of our innermost troubles together and then to have such a great time afterwards was just what I needed to get myself back together, at least for a little while…

Photo Shoot Fun








Splash Company

Well, I finally found someone to go to Splash with and I’m a little apprehensive about it. I almost feel like I have a date tomorrow, and don’t know what to expect. There’s this guy I had been sort of seeing before I met Sunday and whom I cut it off with when I did. Not long after that he had found someone, too, so it was all good. When my relationship ended, I never gave him a second thought until I heard from his a few weeks ago. His relationship had ended also and I’ve seen him a couple of times since.

For the sake of privacy and to keep things short, I’m going to give an abridged version of the story. This guy’s younger than me and one of the things I like about him is that he reminds me of me when I was his age. We share a lot of the same values: dancing and clubbing, fashion and music and we never have trouble finding things to talk about.

Lately he’s spoken a lot about going to Splash and finally the other day I finally told him that if he wanted he could come with me. He seemed excited about it and as it turns out, he’s got a party to go to in the city tomorrow night. We’re going to meet there.

I’ve never been to a club with him and I’m not sure what to expect. I do know that at the moment I’m not looking for anyone to date, and as far as I know neither is he, which is good. I’m not sure how to approach the evening…I’m thinking and hoping that we’re just going as friends and I think we could definitely have a great time together. Only time will tell how it goes tomorrow and like I said, I’m a little apprehensive, but I have a feeling it could be fun. We’ll see…

Yeah 3X

As you’ve seen a lot lately, I’ve been posting additional videos in my daily posts in addition to the “Song of the Day” segment. There’s a song by Chris Brown which has already received the honors, but during my workout earlier, I listened to it and I can’t get it out of my head. Regardless of whether or not you like the dude, the song is happy and fun and great to dance to. So enjoy “Yeah 3X” (Yeah, yeah, yeah!)



The Animals



A jackelope right here on Long Island!



Dobie



Za Zoo

Read more »

My New Addiction

I have a new addiction! I’m probably gonna pay for it later, but I just couldn’t resist indulging before heading home from my mom’s tonight. About a week ago, the very nice Indian lady who works at the Dunkin Donuts near my school suggested I try a drink that’s half coffee and half hot chocolate. I tried out her suggestion and now I just can’t get enough of it. I’ve had at least one every day since and I think I have a problem.

The flavor is perfect: not too much of either and just enough of both, the scrumptious decadence of chocolate mixed with the aromatic and equally delicious coffee, and there’s no need to add any sugar or milk to it. I told her they should put it on the menu because I’ve already gotten a couple of people at work hooked on it. She told me that their “Dunkachino” is basically the same drink, only pre-mixed. I say this way’s better. It’s positively delish, and at least it's less coffee!

A Full Sunday

Today was a busy, busy day, both for the body and the mind. Aside from the usual weekend chores, such as laundry and cleaning (that I should have done yesterday!), I had a couple of places to go today, starting with a breakfast date with an old friend, and ending with dinner at mom’s this evening. What happened in between is somewhat muddied, but needless to say it was a busy day nonetheless.

Splash

I went to Splash last night and had a really good time. For the first time ever I lied to someone about my age, for no other reason than my own amusement. I was at the bar downstairs taking a break from dancing and the dude next to me, who was clearly wasted, gave me a “cheers” when I got my drink. I tried avoiding conversation, but he was persistent. I was soon introduced to his friend, who turned out to be an ESL teacher like me. Nice guy, but he was decidedly upset with his friend getting a little too drunk, too fast, and all he wanted to do was get the heck outta there.

I didn’t catch either of their names, although they each told me twice. The decibel level was so high that I just couldn’t hear them, and so I just nodded and pretended that I did. I don’t know, but I get annoyed that guys I meet always ask me how old I am pretty early on in the conversation. I guess that I’m hard to figure out that way. They kind of know I’m up there, but not exactly sure how far. I’d say these two were in their late twenties.

It was the first guy that asked me and when he did I hesitated. Then I said “60.” They both chuckled. So knowing that I couldn’t get away with that I finally said that I was 40 (I’m really 46!). The surprised looks on both of their faces made me feel good, especially when the ESL teacher said I looked about 34-35. I guess I can be a little narcissistic at times…

Anyway, the ESL guy went to get their coats and when he came back they started arguing because the first guy didn’t want to leave. (I think he had other plans in mind for the evening, even though I knew he was barking up the wrong tree!) So I excused myself to go upstairs and dance and that was the last I saw of them.

By the way, the music was fantastic all night! (*Reminder to self: Pick up the remix of Britney Spears’ new song “Hold It Against Me.” It rocked!)



Layne

Layne is the daughter of one of my oldest friends, Marcia. I’ve known her since she was about 7 years old and she’s always been like a niece to me. She lives in Florida with her husband and children and I haven’t seen her in at least 4 years, so earlier in the week I was excited to hear she was coming up to the Island for the weekend and wanted to get together. For the sake of space, I’ll share some more about Marcia, Layne and her brother Jordan another time, but it was awesome seeing her this morning.


Me and Layne at the Majestic Diner in Westbury

Family Dinner

As I said earlier, I went to moms for dinner tonight. My brother and his family, who I don’t see too often, were there and it was actually one of the best times I’ve spent over there in awhile. It’s funny because it seems like almost daily that I’m finding out about more people who’ve been reading what I write and I guess I’ve got to be more mindful of that in the future.

The topic of my Weight Watchers article came up again. Apparently both my brother and my sister in law read the piece, in addition to my mom and my sister. My sister in law Kim, who also participates in the program, actually brought it up at one of their recent meetings. She told me they now have a picture of my face on the wall with a target drawn around it. I’m realizing that maybe I was a little harsh on the program, as I’ve heard protests from many who’ve said that that Weight Watchers is not a ‘diet’ as I claimed it to be. I may be writing a follow-up soon.

Music, the Grammys, and Writing

The Grammy Awards are on tonight and thank goodness for Tivo because I know I need to put something out there about them on tomorrow’s Pop Music News for YCN. Already Lady GaGa’s come out of an egg and the articles and tweets have been flying all over the Internet. I’m just not sure what angle to go for, whether I should do individual pieces on the awards, the performances, or the intangibles, or whether I should just include them all in my piece. It’s times like these when I wish that writing was my primary job because I have work tomorrow and there’s little time to write during the show or afterwards. Frustrating!

I’ve also got two other pieces of writing to do in the genre of music before the month is out and I’m out of ideas. If anybody’s read this far down I’m open to suggestions. The pieces can’t be timely because it usually takes about a week or so to get published. A lot of my “top ten” pieces have gone under this category. So really, anything you’d like to read about in the world of music?

A Nagging Sensation

Though I’m generally doing good these days, the whole situation with him still nags at me. Even though I don’t have extensive experience in this area, this is exactly one of the things I hate about relationships. How could things go from being so rosy and nice, heartwarming really, to total estrangement as if none of it had ever happened? It just leaves me with nothing but wonder, confusion, and yes, a little bit of anger.




Well, thanks for reading. As always it seems as I’ve got way too much to say and I think I’ve said enough for one day. See you soon!

Read more »