I wanna talk about me, wanna talk about I, wanna talk about number one, oh my, me, my!

I got an email from someone recently that asked to know more about me. They claimed that while they could get a sense of who I am and what I am all about through reading here, I’ve never let anyone know the really personal side of me. I’m going to do this in pieces, as I think of things, probably about 10-15 at a time.

So here goes, one of those obligatory “…things about me” lists, although I can’t say how many I’ll come up with.

1. I was born 2 weeks late…and I am much happier that my birthday is in March instead of February!
2. I’ve known how to ice skate since I was 2, which is almost as long as I’ve known how to walk and have been playing ice hockey since I was 5.
3. I have very few memories of my childhood, not that it was bad, actually I know I grew up in a great home, but I just don’t remember a lot of it.
4. #3 not withstanding, I remember all of my elementary school teachers’ names because of their individual influences on me.
5. I didn’t learn how to ride a bicycle until I was about 9 years old. It’s not that I didn’t try; I just couldn’t get the hang of it. Go back to #2 and you’ll understand why it’s funny to me now.
6. I have an uncanny sense of direction and learn my surroundings extremely fast. My mom’s favorite example of this is when I was able to direct my stepfather, who was new to the area, from my house to my grandparent’s house, 7 miles away, when I was 5 years old.
7. I rarely ever write down directions.
8. Because my parents were so young when I was born, I got to know my great grandmother while growing up. She died when I was 18 and I’ll always associate the smell of fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies with her because that’s what her house always smelled like.
9. Growing up, I remember being extremely curious about where certain streets led as I passed them. I also remember making mental notes that when I learned to drive, I was going to go back down those streets, if I hadn’t yet, to find this out. I still do this.
10. I’ve done most of the streets in #9 - to the best of my memory.
11. My family tree is tough to explain to new people, but see if you can follow: I have a blood-sister (30), a half brother (19 – the one who lives with me) from my mom and stepfather, a stepsister (29), who is his daughter from a previous marriage, and a stepbrother (22) and sister (20) from my stepmothers’ previous marriage. Got that?
12. Of all of the “kids” in my family, meaning children from my mom’s generation, I am the eldest. My sister is next and then it drops off to my 23-year-old cousin, then to my brother. My point in bringing this up is that I am not as close with my cousins as my parents were because of the age difference and this bothers me.
13. The first and only fight I was ever in was with Dylan Jones, a kid who lived 4 houses away, when I was about 7 years old. It’s a weird thing to remember considering #3.
14. While I’ve had numerous black eyes and a handful of split lips, mostly from bad hops while playing baseball; a bum rotator cuff in my right shoulder, again from baseball, pulled muscles and 5 stitches on top of my head from hockey, I have never broken a bone in my body and the fear of that pain drives me nuts!
15. I used to like wearing a tie to work, until I had to wear one everyday. Now I’ve toned it down to once a week, especially in the summer – it’s just too hot here.
16. If I could change anything about my body, it would be the hair on my head. I buzz it in the summer, because it’s too hot here, but in the cooler months, as I had it for 25 years before, I let it grow out. It gets all frizzy and I need about a quarter-size dollop of pomade to keep it under control. I would prefer to have hair that blows easily in the breeze, instead of having a windblown look – which isn’t pretty!

Ok, that’s all you get. I swear there will be more soon. Deal with this for now.

One day we'll celebrate every Halloween...Year two

So we were having this conversation yesterday at work about how people bought 6-8 bags of candy and expected to have about 1-2 remaining after Halloween, but wound up with less than one – and they were mildly disappointed. I asked how many kids would they estimate came to their doors and most people said anywhere from 50-100. So I started to do some math: roughly 40 pieces of candy/bag times 8 bags = 320 minus 1 bag leftover (50 pieces) = 270 divided by ~75 kids = 3.6 pieces of candy/kid. THREE pt. SIX pieces of candy PER KID – roughly. Also, the fact that a bag of candy cost around $4, that’s $32 in candy.

I reminded everyone that when I went trick or treating in my youth, I usually only received 1 piece from every house I went to. When I started handing out candy as an adult, I also handed out 1 piece for every halloweenie that came to my door. My esteemed co-workers noted that this was the price of inflation since I was a kid. In addition, as an adult, I usually buy about 3 bags of candy, which save me from having to buy 8 bags and spending $20, which I do not have.

I then questioned that in this day and age of how we’re such proponents for an obese America by advertising McDonald’s on every street corner and that we’re a fast-food nation, why are we handing out so much freakin’ candy on Halloween?! Aren’t these kids sugared up enough? Or after they get home, do the parents prick their fingers to see what their blood sugar is and then determine what they can and cannot eat?

Our society is so screwed up, I swear. One day we’re all up in arms about how kids are overweight and that it contributes to poor self-esteem and oh my god, the health risks as they get older. Then, for one day of the year, we are freely adding to that by pawning off 3.6 pieces of sugar and chocolate into every child that comes knocking on our doors.

I'm pretty sure this is in conjunction with my absolute hatred of Halloween.

Next year, I am going to buy 20 sugar-free gum packs and hand that out – 1 piece for every kid – that should equate to 100 kids. So, if you’re looking for Snickers’ Bites, Tootsie Rolls and M&M’s – all at the same house – don’t come trick or treating near me!

Goin' to the Chapel and we're gonna get married...

Well, not really, because this was a Jewish wedding, and it wasn’t even at a Synagogue. I wrote about this wedding last week in this post. I wasn’t just in the wedding party, oh no. It was a whole weekend of wedding parties, because these people love to party…and party we did.

Have I mentioned I hate Halloween? Oh yes, I have. Nonetheless, part of this wedding weekend spectacular was the costume party after the rehearsal dinner. I was the hit of the party, which was completely ironic in so many ways: remember, this was a Jewish wedding; how much I hate Halloween; my lack of religion; and the fact that my costume idea was the only thing I could think of for this party. So a convict, Captain Morgan and Jesus walk into a bar… If you don’t understand why this is funny, well, I’m sorry you have to go through life feeling like this (and yes, I am holding 2 bottles of beer in the same hand – it was late, I was drunk, get over it).

Anyway, the wedding weekend was fantastic; fun was had by all, glasses were stomped on, Mazel Tov’s were shouted, everybody held their peace and nobody said, “I don’t”. I would say that’s a successful wedding!

In unrelated news, I finished my paper – for the class I didn’t really understand the material – and received 223/250 points. That’s not bad for about 2000 words of BS! So, I have passed one of my last 2 classes and I just have to finish 4 more Supreme Court briefs to be finished in my other class. Then I go to NYC for Veteran’s Day weekend with the girlfriend to see my friends and I am off from school until January 9, 2007 – that’s almost 2 months of freedom. What will I do with myself? Well, maybe I’ll be able to spend some time keeping this blog updated. Ummm…don’t hold your breath!

Happy Halloween!

Lights will guide you home and ignite your bones and I will try to fix you.

Sometimes, you just have to wonder, “What the fuck are people thinking?”

I saw a great commercial the other day for November 10th when Cinemax will show all six Star Wars episodes in order for the first time ever. Scenes from all six movies were set to Coldplay’s “Fix You” and it very well done and poignant, you know, for a movie marathon trailer. Now, I have no issue with this because if I had Cinemax, I would definitely sit there for 14 hours and watch Star Wars continuously. The issue I have is that it starts at midnight. 12:00 am. 00:00:00 on the clock. Why would you start a movie marathon at that time of the day? Whose genius idea was this? Do you think the marketing people at Cinemax were sitting around a room brainstorming and then somebody piped up and said, “…and we should start it at midnight!” And the whole room stopped for a moment and thought, “Wow, that IS a really good idea! Let’s do it!” And so it began. On the one hand, hardcore Star Wars enthusiast will do this and normal people such as myself will be sound asleep for the majority of that time and then watch them on DVD later because there is no way I am going to screw up my sleep schedule and stay up ALL NIGHT to watch Star Wars!

Watch the trailer here.

Well, you don't know what we can find. Why don't you come with me little girl, on a magic carpet ride.

I cannot believe it’s already the last full week of October! Where has the time gone? I swear, if I don’t catch up on sleep soon, I’m just going to have to take a week vacation for that purpose alone! Anyway, come along for the ride and see what’s going on with me:

A) I have 2 weeks left of school and then I’m off until January. Yay! Except that the last 2-3 weeks is always the hardest part. I have 7 Supreme Court cases to brief in one class and a 3000 word paper to write in the other class on a subject that I don’t completely understand. I know, I know, this all sounds like fun to you – well it isn’t! In addition to all of this…

B) I am in a wedding this upcoming weekend, which means from Thursday to Saturday, I am booked solid with events to get drunk at (hence, not much schoolwork is getting finished).

C) Hockey season started both for me personally and in the NHL. Since my beloved Buffalo Sabres are red hot right now (8-0 to start the season), I am trying to listen to the games via the internet while doing homework. For my personal hockey seasons, Sunday’s and Wednesday’s are now lost for 3-4 hours while I go work out some stress. This is great, but again, not much homework is being done.

D) After last hockey season ended for me around the end of August, I took about 3 weeks off to let my body heal. Now that I am back playing, my body is even sorer and I am contemplating actually going to the doctor to see how bad it is. My body is pretty beat up and I’ve only played in five games since the end of September. My right knee has a shooting pain the day after a game and both shoulders/rotator cuffs hurt for about 2 days after. This is worrisome because I had RC problems in my right shoulder when I was 16 and I am hoping I don’t have to go through that again! My back is usually stiff now, the joints in my hips always hold some level of pain and my right elbow has a constant twinge in it as well. I am worried that he is going to tell me to take time off from hockey and there is just no way I could survive without it. If anyone has a health tip to get me through this, feel free to let me know!

E) Work has been keeping me quite busy. I have found some intermittent time to do my regular blog surfing/reading, but none to do any of my own posts. I’ve been arriving at work relatively close to on time, which is a significant step up from last year at this time when I couldn’t get to work before 10am! I have been shoveling food down my face during my ½ hour lunch breaks and getting right back to work. Then most nights, I am leaving well after my scheduled time – and once again, the homework problem! My paychecks have been nice, with all the OT I’m accumulating and it’s a good thing I have more money now because…

F) I have a girlfriend! I just adore her and I enjoy taking her places, getting dinner with her, lying on the couch with her and just staring at her because she is just so damned cute! She looks a lot like Amy Smart, but with shorter hair. Her personality suits mine perfectly and we have had a lot of fun in the past 2 months. So much so that I invited her to come to NYC with me in - see the “Trip to NYC” Clock, in my sidebar, below the Quote of the Day. Anyway, the extra money I’ve gained working OT and that my brother is now here splitting the bills with me, has all gone to the "girlfriend fund". It’s all good though, she makes me very happy, so it’s worth it! However, that’s right, you know it’s coming…the homework is not being done promptly and I tend to stay up really late now...for some reason (hint, hint).

Now, is anyone still wondering why I haven’t posted in a while? Yea, I didn’t think so.

Rebel, rebel and yell cause our people still dwell in hell.

Oooooooo, I am feisty today!

I received what I thought was spam in my email this morning. It was from an American/Israeli group in regards to the war in Iraq, the situation in Israel, the lies being told by American mainstream media...blah, blah, blah. After reading about 5 sentences, I was pretty mad, so I just started to write a reply back, my thoughts flowing like a fire hydrant and I laid into whoever wrote the email real good. However, I did not assault the person personally, I only attacked their "group" for continuing with the lies that they so vehemently oppose from our own media. I'm not going to bore you with details of either email. What I will tell you is that it was not spam! I know this because I got a response from a specific person who attacked me, my upbringing, my marital status (why, I do not know) and my mother!

Need I say more as to why I am feisty today? Well, I'm going to anyway.

Next.

Women. I love women, but for the love of...please wear a bra when you are going to wear a tank top to the grocery store! a) It's usually chilly in the store and men will notice those things; and b) With every step you take, I swear one of your melons are going to fly out the side! I wouldn't have mentioned this if it had just been one weirdo women, but it was more like 5 women - and 3 of them were fairly attractive, so it was difficult not to stare!

Next.

Before I moved last week, I purchased DirecTV. I scheduled the installation appointment for Friday. I didn’t realize that my apartment did not face the southern sky as much as it needed to, so I had to cancel it and go back to cable. When I called to cancel, the customer service lady asked me why I was cancelling and I told her the straightforward reason. Her next question, I kid you not, "Will you want to reschedule your appointment?" I wanted to say, "Well, if my apartment suddenly rotates enough to start facing the southern sky, I'll reschedule," but I politely said, "No, thank you." She then asked, "Why?" I swear I am not making this up! I politely reiterated my statement from earlier and she must have understood my frustration because she said, "Ok then, have a nice weekend!"

I Will Remember You

Alok Kumar Mehta, Hempstead, NY - 23 years old

Five years ago today, as the world stopped because of these acts of horror and tragedy, Alok was working for Cantor Fitzgerald as a manager in the World Trade Center.

While I could not know the too-short story that was Alok's life, I am certain that his life will always be remembered by his friends, family and those who were acquainted with him even for the briefest of moments. His friends remember his terrible backrubs, his wicked sense of humor and his amazing knowledge of pro football stats. He graduated from Colorado State University in 1998 and had entered in the MBA program at Hofstra. He was interning at Cantor Fitzgerald when tragedy struck.

His friends recall that he was a very caring, open person with a huge heart. He was liked by everyone. Funny, smart, charismatic and he made everyone around him feel important.

That fateful morning, Alok was just a fresh-faced 23-year-old manager working in the World Trade Center, which was probably one of the biggest thrills of his life. I can only imagine the view he had on a daily basis; searching the horizon from his office, high atop the Trade Center. Did he scour the upper Manhattan skyline; the boroughs to the east; maybe he looked down upon New Jersey; or maybe he was able to view the Statue of Liberty lonely standing by herself in the Hudson River, the ever enduring symbol of the United States.

Alok, you are missed greatly by all those who know and love you. You are also missed greatly by those who have never met you, but will honor your life, and your death. Peace be with you.

I urge you to leave comments here for Alok or on these message boards:

September11victims.com

9-11 heroes.us

terroristattack.com