The Top Ten Things I Am Grateful For This Thanksgiving

I may not have everything that I want in my life. I don't have a fortune or a wonderful wife or my own home, but I can come up with ten things that I am certainly thankful for:

1. My Health - Yes, a lot of us may have the sniffles this time of year and those who are in my age group and older probably have aches and pains every now and then but generally speaking, most of us are in good health and it is not something to take for granted. That is part of why I've focused on losing weight and getting in better shape. The older we get, the harder it will be for us to do this.

2. Facebook - It may sound silly, but I will be forever grateful that these social networking sites came along to make connecting with friends, old classmates and family so much easier. About 5 years ago, I was in touch with only one of my 392 Facebook friends, my father. The rest of you were a distant memory, Now I'm Mr. Reunion guy, and I'm very glad that I am.

3. Indoor Plumbing - I'll leave this one to your imagination, but think of what the Pilgrims had to do, back in the day.....

4. Freedom To Believe Your Own Beliefs - This is a big one to be grateful for. It may seem that our government is slowly taking some of this away in recent years, but we still have it better than nearly everyone else in the world. I've changed my mind on politics and religion a few times in my life. I am glad that I have that liberty, and so should you.

5.Domestic Pets - They are the the most loyal living things you'll ever know. You can't take them for granted because you'll miss them when they're gone.

6. Your Family's History - Whatever ethnicity (or combination of) you are, you should be proud of where your family came from. Most likely, you are more well off and/or have more opportunities than anyone in your ancestry.

7. The Great Outdoors - Even if you live in Manhattan, there's always the joy of having a place to go to be near trees and grass and enjoy the sunshine....

8. Drive and Determination - Everybody needs these two things to help improve their lives. I've been going nowhere fast for a long time until I stumbled across these two things in recent years due to the motivation of many of my wonderful friends and family. I will forever be grateful to you guys. You know who you are.....

9. Football - Yes, I know this is limited to mostly my male friends, but what is Thanksgiving without watching football. Thankfully, the 8-2 Jets are playing tonight! J-E-T-S, JETS, JETS, JETS!!!!!

10. Being Able To Remember The Great Times Of Our Past, And Not So Much The Bad - I remember great times, like HS graduation, friends and family weddings and many great parties that I've DJ'ed. I'm glad that I've forgotten 8th grade, Mr. Fisher's class and disco(just kidding about that....)

Everybody have a wonderful day! Gobble, gobble

I Guess Returning To Oceanside Will Have To Do, For Now....

Yes, back to working for somebody else, hosting karaoke and DJ-ing parties and struggling to find a day job, but at least I will get to see some friends instead of living in the middle of nowhere, with my parents, who I do love, but they are getting up there in age and it's sad to see, plus the lack of privacy bothers me. There's also the dog, Leo, who was obviously abused by someone down the line, because he barks at me, every single time I come home and it bothers me. Most people wouldn't know this about me, but I can't stand barking dogs, screaming babies, or anyone yelling at me.
    It's a step closer to my goal, of living in Manhattan again. If the court officer position comes to fruition and I go to the Academy, it is located in downtown Manhattan and it pays enough for me to make that move. In the meantime, I will continue to focus on getting myself in shape, saving my pennies and hopefully things will work out.

I Wanna Go Home!

From my observations of others who have moved around in their lives, I can see that some people have a nomad's mentality. They can adjust very easily to moving from place to place and can settle in very well with new people and surroundings. I know others who refuse to budge from where they are and will do whatever it takes to make things work out. I, due to circumstances that were sometimes out of my control, have had to move around in my life. From the East Village of Manhattan, to Maspeth, Queens, to Whiting, NJ, to Oceanside, Long Island, and back to Whiting, NJ. I never really felt that I fit in in Queens, though I was there for 12 years. In New Jersey, I could barely get a job at all, except for working in various pizzerias. That hasn't changed this time either. In Long Island, I actually enjoyed being there, near the South Shore, but after my Census job ended, I couldn't find a suitable replacement. I love my parents but I do not want to live with them. I don't feel free here to do what I want and being surrounded by elderly people is depressing. I want to go back to NY and I want to be in very familiar territory, back on the east side. I know that it has become expensive, but it is such a cool place to live now. I think it would be a lot of fun. I've been looking at Craigslist a lot and I think I could possibly afford to at least rent a room in someone else's apartment, if I can land a very steady job(like court officer) and try to get my DJ/Karaoke business going again. I know that means I have to have a few things go my way, but my friends know how determined I can be. I'll make it work. I HAVE TO!!!

My Reunion Projects

Three and a half years ago, I woke up one morning and said to myself, "Boy it would be nice to see all of my old classmates from the class of '83 at St. Stanislaus School and the class of '87 at Stuyvesant High School." I just sat there and thought about how in the world could I possibly accomplish this, considering that I had lost touch with my 20 living classmates from St. Stan's.(There were 21 but sadly, my buddy Jimmy Duval passed away in '93 from cancer) and about 770 classmates at Stuy. I had not joined any social networking sites or the Stuy Alumni Association at this point and figured that it would be impossible to gather these people together.
   What started the ball rolling was the suggestion by a co-worker at the time, to check out My Space. She was a member and thought that I could possibly track some of these people down. I soon found a St.Stan's classmate named Dave who was on there and I mentioned to him about my intentions. he said, "Don't worry, these social networking sites will take off and you'll find a lot of people". I also found a few Stuy classmates, but no one that I was really dying to be in touch with. I soon stumbled upon a Yahoo board for the Stuy class of '87 and found some very interesting old classmates that I was happy to find. They were about to have their 20th reunion and considering that I had not done too much with my career or personal life, I didn't think that an underachiever like me would be someone that my classmates would want to see and I skipped going to it. I did find the comments by my classmates to be quite interesting. After a week or two, I got my courage up and posted a hello to everyone and explained my reasoning for not going to the reunion. I was pleasantly surprised by the response of several people that I was being silly and that I was part of them, no matter where I was in my life and that I should get involved in getting together with them. After that, I decided to attend a holiday season get-together of some Stuy classmates. I had a wonderful time and had the chance to chat with some people that I knew well and some that I never really knew at Stuy.
     At that point, I joined Facebook and was shocked at how many friends I soon found on there. It was wild to me, how quickly my friend count grew into the hundreds. I noticed how easy it was to set up events and spent all of 2008 trying to find as many classmates as I could. I friended 7 of my St. Stan's classmates and maybe another 25 from other classes there. I also friended about 75 classmates from Stuy. I noticed that no one seemed to be interested in setting up any get-togethers and I decided that maybe I'm the person to do it. I began setting up Facebook parties. I was excited about the opportunities to finally see some of my old friends in person. If I may say so myself, I think I've done a good job of it. I do think that a lot of people feel that it has had it's run and I do agree. That's why I will start having them less often. I will have one St. Stan's party in 2011 and now that I'm a member of the Stuy Alumni events committee, I will just help setup whatever events they decide on as a group. I will organize the 25th Stuy '87 reunion in 2012. After that, we'll see
     I do have to admit that there's one ulterior motive for all of this networking. I am still single at 41 and I was hoping to maybe find an old female classmate that I might get to know and who knows....... but, it seems that I've scared off a few of them and I still fear that the parade has passed me by. Hopefully, I'm wrong, but overall, I'm very happy to have found so many of you and hope to find some more.

Kissing A Fool

(I don't have anything to write about today. Instead, here's a late 80's favorite of mine)

You are far,
When I could have been your star,
You listened to people,
Who scared you to death, and from my heart,
Strange that you were strong enough,
To even make a start,
But you'll never find
Peace of mind,
Till you listen to your heart,

People,
You can never change the way they feel,
Better let them do just what they will,
For they will,
If you let them,
Steal your heart from you,
People,
Will always make a lover feel a fool,
But you knew I loved you,
We could have shown them all,
We should have seen love through,

Fooled me with the tears in your eyes,
Covered me with kisses and lies,
So goodbye,
But please don't take my heart,

You are far,
I'm never gonna be your star,
I'll pick up the pieces
And mend my heart,
Maybe I'll be strong enough,
I don't know where to start,
But I'll never find
Peace of mind,
While I listen to my heart,

People,
You can never change the way they feel,
Better let them do just what they will,
For they will,
If you let them,
Steal your heart,

And people,
Will always make a lover feel a fool,
But you knew I loved you,
We could have shown them all,

But remember this,
Every other kiss,
That you ever give
Long as we both live
When you need the hand of another man,
One you really can surrender with,
I will wait for you,
Like I always do,
There's something there,
That can't compare with any other,

You are far,
When I could have been your star,
You listened to people,
Who scared you to death, and from my heart,
Strange that I was wrong enough,
To think you'd love me too.
I guess you were kissing a fool,
You must have been kissing a fool.

Get That Pen Ready Mr. President

I know that absolutely nothing will get done by our government in the next two years, now that a party of misguided characters, known as the Tea Party has energized enough right-wing conservative voters to swing the House to a republican majority and narrow the gap in the Senate. Now we will get a new version of pork-barrel crap that will be disguised as important reform bills. The truth is, those who are against President Obama will work very hard to make sure he is looked at as the bad guy, by forcing him to veto a lot of bills that will pass in the next two years and cause nothing to be accomplished. Then, present a republican candidate for 2012 that will "get things done".. The whole political system in this country is starting to make me sick...........