I want to address an issue that I’ve been thinking about for a long time. It’s about the subject of the use of photos on this blog. I received a comment this morning from the photographer of a photo I used in a post last April, and though his comment was not threatening at all, it sounded off some bells and whistles that I’d always been afraid of.

One of the best things about writing a blog is that I can put multiple pictures with my posts to enhance their effectiveness. I think the visual additions make for a more appealing post, and though I use many photos that I myself take, I often take photos from Google images or elsewhere on the web.

I’ve been meaning to put a disclaimer on the blog about how any and all pictures posted on it are believed to be of public domain and if anyone has an issue with a photo I add, they simply have to contact me and I will remove it. I plan to do that sometime today, but in the meantime I just wanted to add to this issue one more piece of commentary.

Unfortunately this whole subject has to do with money. A person who takes a photo or writes a piece of music or an article is the creator of that piece and needs to get paid for it in order to be used. I accept that fact, but I still think that it stinks. I make very little money off of this blog, yet it’s something I enjoy doing, and I think the visuals I add to my pieces add a certain quality to them. If I use a photo that someone else owns the rights to, I do not do it with any sort of malicious intent. My work has been plagiarized in the past and I know how offsetting that can be, especially when I’m not given credit for the work.

From here on in, I will do my best to give credit to the sources of the photos I use on this blog and if anyone out there who owns copyright to such picture wants it removed, I will do it gladly. It’s something I should have done all along and for now I will thank my commenter for pushing me to this long awaited point. Thank you!

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Happy Saturday everyone, and a very Happy Birthday to my sister Christine! Chrissy is the baby of the family and she moved to Kentucky a couple of years ago with her partner, Heather. It’s been a long time since any of us have seen her and we miss her a lot! Anyway…on with the post…


Chrissy and Heather

Stirred Up

As you may probably tell from my previous post, Untitled, I had my first contact from him this week since way back in February. Of course when I first saw the email in my inbox I was a little nervous, and upon reading what he had to say I felt somewhat vindicated. The poem was the product of a few days’ thought and I think I’ve said just about what I needed to say. There were a lot of ways I could have handled it, and I thought about them all, but in the end I think the way I did it was perfect…and it was typical me!

There’s no need to explain anything…if you read the poem I think you’ll be able to figure it out. In the end, I’m feeling better because of it, a little less sad and a little more comfortable knowing that I’m alright. He told me he’s a semi-regular reader of this blog, which surprised me actually, so if you’re reading this, here’s one last, small thank you.

I’ll Never Be a Moving Man

Yesterday my friend Blanche asked if I would help him move a freezer from his carport down to his basement. It was an old freezer that his neighbor owned and gave to him. He said it was kind of small and it should be easy to move. I told him to give me a call when he got home from work and I’d run over for ten minutes to give him a hand.

At around 5:30, Blanche called. I was in the middle of vacuuming for some company I was getting at 7. “You ready?” I said as I picked up the phone.

“Yup!”

“I’ll be there in five.”

When I got there, I saw the appliance sitting in the carport. He was right, it didn’t look like much. He’d already had a hand truck underneath it, so I grabbed the handles and pulled it around the house to his side door, which led to the basement. By that time it started to rain.

Of course, nothing I ever do is easy, and the freezer wouldn’t fit through first the door and then the doorway to the basement. Blanche and I maneuvered it around and somehow I ended up on the bottom. That’s when all the trouble began…

Somehow, we got the freezer tilted downwards, with the top, or the lighter side, facing down. Bad move! Not only did that make it difficult to move around, but the freezer got wedged between the steps to his attic above and the ones leading to the basement. For the better part of an hour I was trapped in the basement.

“Is there any other way outta here?” I asked jokingly, thinking that I may be stuck.
Blanche chuckled. “Maybe we should call the fire department.

“I think you should.” The clock was ticking and I still had to finish vacuuming and take a shower all before 7 o’clock. I texted my friend:

“Help! I’m stuck in Blanchie’s basement. Gimme another half-hour. 7:30.”

With that I pushed up on the freezer as I had been doing all along, my shoulder muscles straining with every push. I was afraid that the thing, once we got it going, was gonna come crashing down on top of me. After all, Blanche had nothing really to hold on to and the thing was heavy! Visions of the emergency room flashed through my mind.

That last push did the trick! Blanche was able to get it back up on the landing so we could finally arch it downwards the right way. I still worried about the thing crashing down on me, and I had to still strain my might to guide it down, huffing and puffing and soaking from sweat.

“Thank God!” I said once it reached the bottom. We walked it over to its place and I was on my way. It was 6:45 by the time I got home. My friend never got my text and was at my door as I was dressing from my very quick shower. We had a good time last night, especially laughing about my moving experience. One thing’s for sure…I will never get a job as a moving man!

I Was Here - Another Beyonce Spotlight

Here's another song off of Beyonce's new album,, "4." It's a beautiful song and I think that it reflects pretty accurately how I look at life. Take a listen and follow along below to this amazing tune.





I wanna leave my footprints on the sands of time
Know there was something that, and something that I left behind
When I leave this world, I'll leave no regrets
Leave something to remember, so they won't forget

I was here...
I lived, I loved
I was here...
I did, I've done, everything that I wanted
And it was more than I thought it would be
I will leave my mark so everyone will know
I was here...

I want to say I lived each day, until I died
I know that I had something in, somebody's life
The hearts I have touched, will be the proof that I leave
That I made a difference, and this world will see

I was here...
I lived, I loved
I was here...
I did, I've done, everything that I wanted
And it was more than I thought it would be
I will leave my mark so everyone will know
I was here...

I was here...
I lived, I loved
I was here...
I did, I've done, everything that I wanted
And it was more than I thought it would be
I will leave my mark so everyone will know
I was here...

I just want them to know
That I gave my all, did my best
Brought someone to hapiness
Left this world a little better just because...

I was here...

I was here...
I lived, I loved
I was here...
I did, I've done, everything that I wanted
And it was more than I thought it would be
I will leave my mark so everyone will know
I was here...

Well, once again I've wasted too much time in front of the pc and I need to get outside and do some yard work, ugh! Back to the Grove tonight and then Alfie's, the new place in Patchogue I wrote about the other day. In the meantime, here's a cool photo that's currently the background of my desktop:


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It’s Monday afternoon and the first day of a long, rainy week. Whatever happened to “April showers bring May flowers?” I mean, we had a pretty wet month of April and so now aren’t we supposed to be enjoying some May weather, beautiful and sunshiny, with lots of flowers? Well, the flowers are out, but the sun really hasn’t been around too much since last Friday and from the looks of things we won’t be seeing it again until maybe Saturday or Sunday. I guess I’ll be doing a lot of writing this week…



W is for Weather

Weather permeates our lives at all times without us ever really realizing it. From severe weather to frigid winters, rainy days and heat waves, the weather that’s going on around us affects what we do, how we feel, and how we act. Here in New York, the four seasons of the yearly cycle of weather give us the best and worst of what weather has to offer:

Lazy, hazy days of summer

A cooling breeze blowing off of the ocean over a white sandy beach



Ominous skies warning the arrival of an afternoon thunderstorm

Crisp, refreshing autumn air

Freezing cold temperatures and dreary skies

Inches upon inches of snow, oftentimes keeping in plain sight for weeks upon cheerless weeks

Crocuses and daffodils emerging from a long winter’s sleep



Rainy days and Mondays

Reawakening of the spirit upon the return of spring



I’m sure that many of you can relate to these scenarios of the four seasons and the weather events they produce. With each of them come associations with which we can all identify, feelings and sensations related to each of these circumstances. Weather can make us happy and it can make us sad. It can awaken within us all that is the glory of Mother Nature and it can hunker us in towards a long, melancholy state. But of course, this isn’t all there is to be said about weather.

Weather can be fascinating …and deadly!

Part of the wonder of weather is the sheer force with which it can sometimes strike. I’m lucky enough not to live in an area that’s affect too often by tornados, which to me is one of the most fascinating weather occurrences on Earth. These dark funnels that reach down to the ground from the sky instill a sense of beauty, fascination and terror to those lucky, or unlucky, enough to experience one. I sometimes wish for the opportunity to witness the majestic power of this force, but I think I’m better off just seeing them from afar.



Another fascinating and deadly weather phenomenon is lightning. Like tornados, lightning can be an absolutely magnificent thing to behold, but with the frightening potential for danger. I remember my ex Joe always being fascinated with lightning. Whenever a thunderstorm would approach, he’d make his way out to the front stoop or the back deck to catch a better glimpse, while I stayed as close to the inner part of the house as possible. Lightning terrifies me, yet I can’t deny its allure. I’ve spent many a summer’s day in Florida, where enormous streaks of lightning permeate the sky almost every day, and the experiences are ones I’ll always remember for both the beauty and the fright it would often bring.



Of course, another deadly, yet fascinating weather event is the notorious hurricane. Here on Long Island we are affected by them every once in a blue moon and there are two I remember distinctly. Hurricane Belle was the first hurricane I ever experienced back in 1976. It struck in the late night hours and it was absolutely petrifying. Within minutes of the first howling winds, electricity was lost and we were left in complete darkness with only the horrifyingly scary noises that the wind brought.



Nine years later, Long Island was hit with another hurricane called Gloria. Gloria was expected to be much worse than it was and it turned out to be somewhat of a dud, though it did cause considerable damage and of course, power outages. The eye of the storm came right over the island and it was eerie, getting sunny and beautiful for about twenty minutes as it passed over us, paving the way for the second half of the storm. This one struck during the daytime hours, so to me it wasn’t as terrifying as Belle.

Of course, what would a blog post be from me without music? This one’s an oldie, but goodie from late Long Islander Laura Branigan. It had already been a hit, but gained somewhat of a resurgence in the days approaching the onslaught of this storm. It was and still is a great song!





I’m sure we all have weather stories to tell. Weather is all around us and I think we often take for granted the power it has over our lives as well as our psyches. I’ve been mentioning lately that my mindset has been in a good place lately and I think it has a lot to do with the spring weather. Though I do enjoy the warmer months, I don’t think I could ever live in a place that’s beautiful all the time. To me, trudging through the cold, bleary days of winter only works to make you feel that much better when spring comes.

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Ugly is in the eye of the beholder. I know, I know, the real saying has the word ‘beauty’ in it, but doesn’t the same go for ugly? About two years ago my students and I were doing some research on animals and I found a blog that I’ve come to love. It’s called “Ugly Overload” and it’s dedicated to…you guessed it: ugly animals. Since this A-Z Bloggers Challenge has led me to find topics I wouldn’t ordinarily write about, getting to the letter “U” made me think of this.

U is for Ugly

As I said, ugly is in the eye of the beholder just the same as beauty, and even though this blog chronicles what it calls “ugly” animals, I don’t think they’re all ugly. In fact, some of them are downright cute! Just take a look at this cutie, a small primate called a tarsier.



These guys live in the islands of the Asian Pacific and they’re best known for their great big, bulging eyes and their spindly fingers. Cute, no? Well if you don’t think the tarsier was cute, then take a look at this baby aardvark. This little cutie was named the most “ugdorable” animal of the day a couple of Mondays back.



Here’s a creature that sure looks like it’s from another planet. I’d characterize this one as more freaky than ugly. It’s an insect called a Friday Beetle and the stick-like body is nothing compared to that alien face!



Okay now, here’s one I do think was born with some ugly genes, poor thing. This Snub-nosed Monkey has a face only a mother could love.



This last one is another one of the site’s “ugdorable” winners. It’s called an ‘aye aye’ and it’s related to the much cuter lemur. This poor little guy was born in the Philadelphia Zoo and his name is Smeagol.



So, whether or not you think any of these creatures are truly ‘ugly’ is totally up to you, the beholder of the photos. Either way, “Ugly Overload” is a fascinating web blog with tons and tons of interesting photos of all kinds of creatures and it’s very educational as well. My students and I visit there every once in awhile, check out the latest uglies, and always learn something new together. I highly recommend you make a visit!

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Happy Saturday everyone! Today is the first regular post I’ve done in awhile, I’m currently still trying to think of a “P” word for my next A-Z entry, so until then I figured I’d just catch up a bit. The past couple of days have not been good ones. I’m not sure why exactly, but I’ve been finding it difficult to keep up that new attitude I’ve been trying to keep lately.

Splash Friday

I ventured out to Splash last night and it was the usual Friday night fare. The music was better than normal and I had a good time overall, though I can never understand why the bar is not as crowded on Friday nights. I’m going to head back out there tonight for its been a couple of weeks since I last went there on a Saturday. I’ll be looking forward to it all day. I need some dance therapy!



Kylie’s Coming in 3 Days…

One thing I’m really looking forward to is my next concert. This week, Kylie Minogue will be performing three shows at the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC. I had been planning to go all along, hoping to get my ticket the same way I got the Lady Gaga tickets last week, but just last night I was invited to go by my new friend, Ivan. He’s got seats in the balcony, which gives a much better view of the stage. The last time I saw her there, my friend and I had to stand on the main floor and we spent the whole time on our tippy toes trying to get a view of the show.

As many of you can tell from past posts, I love Kylie! She last came to NY in the fall of 09 and of course I had to see her. It was her first foray into the US in many years and she was promoting an album, “X,” that wasn’t even released in stores here. The show was absolutely awesome and “X” is one of my favorite Kylie albums, with plenty of great mid to up tempo beats, the kind I like most. Check out one of my favorite tracks from “X,” “2 Hearts”:






My Week

It always seems that short weeks are just as long, if not longer, than normal ones, and this past week was no exception. It feels like last Monday, my last day off, was forever and a day ago. Earlier this week I pinched a nerve in my upper leg and was hobbling around on it all week, so maybe that had something to do with the drudgery of my work week, but thankfully I’m feeling back to normal once again (or I wouldn’t have been able to go dancing last night or tonight).

For anyone who thinks that school needs to be run all year long, they should try being a teacher at this time of the year. As soon as the weather starts turning nice, the kids are done. Lately it’s been so hard to get them to do anything in class and I can’t wait until summer just to be done with it. Yesterday I lost my temper in the worst way I ever have and I actually startled my students. It worked because they were quiet from then on out, so I’ve got to remember that for the future even though I hate yelling.

As for my poor attitude these past couple of days, well you can see from what I’ve said how it all started, but there’s more that I just can’t point my finger at. Maybe it’s just a combination of things in my life at the moment. My move is stagnant and I don’t have any choice but to wait it out, which is kind of depressing. Going into the city for fun is good, but when you meet people they usually live in the city and when I live an hour away, well… So I guess my love life sucks, too, and that’s getting me down a bit. He still pops in and out of my head often enough and the whole thing just makes me sad. I miss him terribly, and I’ve got to realize he’s probably gone forever and so I need distractions to occupy my mind more. I often wonder if he misses me, too, which I think is probably so, but I guess it doesn’t matter. Hopefully once Memorial Day gets here I’ll be spending more time out here on Fire Island and juicing it up a bit. I don’t know.

Writing

Earlier this week I joined a new writing site which I’m kind of excited about. The site is called Gather and they accepted me into their entertainment division with a special emphasis on music. Their pay scale is way better than Y!CN’s and I just may start moving some of my pieces from there, like my monthly “New Music” segment and my weekly “Pop Music News” over to Gather.

I’ve been having bad experiences with Y!CN ever since I got rejected for that Featured Music Writer job last month. My page views have dropped significantly. I’m actually getting more hits to this blog than I am over there, which is not a good thing since this makes me no money.

Last weekend I wrote a piece on new music for May and submitted it for upfront payment. I’d done 12 of these to date, all under the heading of the old Featured Contributor program and was paid $10 for each of them, so I figured it was a safe bet to do it that way. I was wrong! After four days, they finally reviewed it and rejected to offer me any money for it, saying that I used too many italicized words and something I didn’t understand about my links. I looked back at my past pieces and saw that I did this one the same exact way I had done the others, so I am totally confused about the rejection.

I wrote them a complaint about it and as of now I am still waiting for a response. Meanwhile my piece is still unpublished, still in limbo and tomorrow is May 1st. WTF??? I will keep you updated on this one.

In the meantime, here are some pieces I’ve published since my last set of links:

Y!CN

Outrageous British Sitcom “Absolutely Fabulous” Set to Return

As I reported here last week, ABFab, one of my all time favorite shows, will be returning sometime soon. This is the whole scoop.

Lady Gaga’s “Monster Ball” at Nassau Coliseum: Great Entertainment and a Whole Lot of Fun

My complete review of last Saturday’s Gaga concert.

Pop Music News Weekly, April 26th

An update on this year’s Lollapalooza lineup, a remembrance of Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes on the 9th anniversary of her death, and an obituary for legendary jazz-pop singer Phoebe Snow, plus the weekly charts.

Memorial Day Events on Long Island

This was an assignment at Y!CN. Fun stuff, too!

Examiner
I published a couple of pieces on Examiner this week…I’m not sure how much longer I’ll continue there as it hasn’t been doing well ever since Google changed their search algorithm. Anyway, here’s what I posted there:

Cherry’s on the Bay opens for the summer May 6th

Yes, summer’s coming and Fire Island will soon be my summer playground. Getting excited!

Fairs and craft sales on LI this weekend

Gather

Here are two of my first pieces on Gather:

Remembering Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes on TLC’s 20th Anniversary

The 2011 Billboard Music Awards is Back in a Big Way

Well I think I’ve gotten it all out, lol. I apologize for such a long post and not to wait so long in between. In the meantime, here’s some visual candy for you, just a couple of cool photos I found around the Internet. As always, thanks for reading!


Fire Island, NY



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Thursday was a long-awaited field trip for my students. As an ESL teacher in a 7-12 school, I am in the unique position of teaching the same core group of students year after year, and so we all get to know each other pretty well. At the beginning of each school year, they always ask me if we’re going to go on a field trip and I always start out with good intentions, but invariably I get caught up in the day to day duties of my job and I haven’t necessarily been a good teacher as far as field trips have been concerned.

This year I made a promise to myself that we’d take at least one, and I wanted to make it a good one, so I planned a long day trip to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island with my students. We took the two-plus hour journey into the city on Thursday, April 7th and it was a great experience.

My students and I are very much like a family. We have fun together. We learn together. We argue and make up together. All of the personalities in the group are well defined and every single person has their place within the unit, and so the trip was more like a family outing than your typical school field trip.

Once we arrived in the city, we walked across Battery Park towards the streets in search of lunch, and that was where the real fun began. Perched on a pedestal near the entrance to the park stood Lady Liberty herself. She was one of those neo-peddlers who earn their wares dressed up as statues and posing for pictures with unsuspecting tourists. Of course this one was decked out in a green robe and crown.

Once the kids spotted her the cameras came out. They started clicking away as some of them made their way towards the figure to be in the photos. Lady Liberty wagged her finger in a no-no motion…she wanted money. Two of my students, Jaqi and Sonia, went to pose for a picture with the figure. Jaqi hadn’t noticed the finger wagging, and from my vantage point I could see Jaqi arguing with the statue. Within seconds, she pulled out a $5 bill and the cameras got busy again. The two of them went into model shoot mode as Lady Liberty struck funny poses for the cameras. A couple of other students got into the action and laughter was everywhere. It would be the first bit of genuine fun we’d get from the day.




After a quick lunch at Burger King, we had to head back towards the ferry to catch our boat. On the way, some of the kids were drawn to the many street vendors stationed on the sidewalk. As I crossed the street back towards the park, I turned back to see that some of the students had stopped to peruse the tables. The other teacher was with them, so I wasn’t worried about, but I knew we didn’t have much time to catch the ferry.

“C’mon, we’ve gotta catch the ferry!” I shouted back at the shopping students.

“We’re coming, we’re coming!…Ooh, Mr. Myers,” Sonia said, “look what I got.” She proceeded to show me the ten rings that she had bought from a costume jewelry peddler down the street. All I could do was roll my eyes and move on as I lead a dash to the ferry terminal. In the end, we missed the boat, the first of three we’d miss.

Even though the little shopping spree took us off our schedule, I took it in stride and just enjoyed every minute. We went to Liberty Island to see the real statue, where we had a group picture done and then went up inside the pedestal. A trip to the gift shop was the culprit for us missing our second ferry, and we ended up staying on the island until almost three o’clock, the time we were supposed to meet the bus driver at Battery Park…and we still had to make a stop at Ellis Island.



After a quick call to the driver, we hopped on the next ferry and sailed over to Ellis, where we’d only have a half an hour. We skipped the bulk of the museum and headed straight for the famous “Wall of Immigrants.” The kids did some etchings on the wall before we headed back to the ferry, which we ended up missing too. Another half-hour’s wait and we were finally headed back to where we started from. Soon we were on our way back to school.



All in all, the day was great fun. During the long ride back, some kids slept, others did homework, while still others had some more fun together. Without prodding from me, they all pitched in to clean the bus before we got back to the school. That’s the kind of kids they are. They made me proud throughout the day. We pulled into the school parking lot around 8PM and the long day was over.

The kids came in to school Friday morning exhausted and exhilarated, just like I was feeling. Many of them thanked me for the day, and I reciprocated. I had as much fun with them as they had with me and I feel honored to have given them a memorable day that they’ll keep in their minds for years to come. I love my job!

Here are some photos from the day:























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