These are compiled from various sources, including record sales and chart performance. There is a huge influx of songs from the last several years, due to a large number of songs that are staying on top of the charts for a long time. Here's the list.
1. SMOOTH SANTANA FEAT. ROB THOMAS
2. ONE SWEET DAY MARIAH CAREY & BOYZ II MEN
3. I GOTTA FEELING BLACK EYED PEAS
4. I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU WHITNEY HOUSTON
5. I'LL MAKE LOVE TO YOU BOYZ II MEN
6. CANDLE IN THE WIND 1997 ELTON JOHN
7. WE BELONG TOGETHER MARIAH CAREY
8. MACARENA LOS DEL RIOS
9. BOOM BOOM POW BLACK EYED PEAS
10. WE FOUND LOVE RIHANNA FEAT. CALVIN HARRIS
11. THE BOY IS MINE BRANDY & MONICA
12. END OF THE ROAD BOYZ II MEN
13. YEAH! USHER FEAT. LIL' JON & LUDACRIS
14. UNBREAK MY HEART TONI BRAXTON
15. PARTY ROCK ANTHEM LMFAO
16. WHATEVER YOU LIKE T.I.
17. LOSE YOURSELF EMINEM
18. DON'T BE CRUEL/HOUND DOG ELVIS PRESLEY
19. TIK TOK KE$HA
20. THE TWIST CHUBBY CHECKER
21. YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE DEBBY BOONE
22. THE SIGN ACE OF BASE
23. LOVE THE WAY YOU LIE EMINEM FEAT. RIHANNA
24. I SWEAR ALL-4-ONE
25. I'LL BE MISSING YOU PUFF DADDY & FAITH EVANS FEAT. 112
26. LIVE YOUR LIFE T.I. FEAT. RIHANNA
27. INDEPENDENT WOMEN DESTINY'S CHILD
28. ROLLING IN THE DEEP ADELE
29. ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK BILL HALEY & THE COMETS
30. BLEEDING LOVE LEONA LEWIS
31. BIG GIRLS DON'T CRY FERGIE
32. DILEMMA NELLY FEAT. KELLY ROWLAND
33. LOVE LETTERS IN THE SAND PAT BOONE
34. HEY JUDE BEATLES
35. GOLD DIGGER KANYE WEST FEAT. JAMIE FOXX
36. PHYSICAL OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN
37. CALIFORNIA GURLS KATY PERRY FEAT. SNOOP DOGG
38. MARIA MARIA SANTANA FEAT. THE PRODUCT G&B
39. ENDLESS LOVE DIANA ROSS & LIONEL RICHIE
40. BETTE DAVIS EYES KIM CARNES
41. FOOLISH ASHANTI
42. SEXY AND I KNOW IT LMFAO
43. NO ONE ALICIA KEYS
44. HEY YA OUTKAST
45. IN DA CLUB 50 CENT
46. CRAZY IN LOVE BEYONCE FEAT. JAY-Z
47. IRREPLACEABLE BEYONCE
48. SOMEONE LIKE YOU ADELE
49. LOW FLO RIDA FEAT. T-PAIN
50. BABY BOY BEYONCE FEAT. SEAN PAUL
51. FANTASY MARIAH CAREY
52. ALL SHOOK UP ELVIS PRESLEY
53. DREAMLOVER MARIAH CAREY
54. POKER FACE LADY GAGA
55. THAT'S THE WAY LOVE GOES JANET JACKSON
56. JUMP KRISS KROSS
57. MOVES LIKE JAGGER MAROON 5 FEAT. CHRISTINA AGUILERA
58. LET ME LOVE YOU MARIO
59. E.T. KATY PERRY FEAT. KANYE WEST
60. THA CROSSROADS BONE THUGS-N-HARMONY
61. CANDY SHOP 50 CENT FEAT. OLIVIA
62. FIREWORK KATY PERRY
63. MACK THE KNIFE BOBBY DARIN
64. HIPS DON'T LIE SHAKIRA FEAT. WYCLEF JEAN
65. BAD ROMANCE LADY GAGA
66. BAD DAY DANIEL POWTER
67. GRENADE BRUNO MARS
68. LE FREAK CHIC
69. WATERFALLS TLC
70. PROMISCUOUS NELLY FURTADO FEAT. TIMBALAND
71. HOT IN HERRE NELLY
72. TOO CLOSE NEXT
73. EMPIRE STATE OF MIND JAY-Z FEAT. ALICIA KEYS
74. DOWN JAY SEAN FEAT. LIL WAYNE
75. U GOT IT BAD USHER
76. BURN USHER
77. STAYIN' ALIVE BEE GEES
78. THEME FROM “A SUMMER PLACE” PERCY FAITH
79. EXHALE(SHOOP SHOOP) WHITNEY HOUSTON
80. TAKE A BOW MADONNA
81. UMBRELLA RIHANNA
82. JUST THE WAY YOU ARE BRUNO MARS
83. THE REASON HOOBASTANK
84. LOLLIPOP LIL' WAYNE FEAT. STATIC MAJOR
85. I KISSED A GIRL KATY PERRY
86. EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE THE POLICE
87. SINGLE LADIES BEYONCE
88. FAMILY AFFAIR MARY J. BLIGE
89. NIGHT FEVER BEE GEES
90. YOU'RE STILL THE ONE SHANIA TWAIN
91. BECAUSE YOU LOVED ME CELINE DION
92. FALLIN' ALICIA KEYS
93. HEARTBREAK HOTEL ELVIS PRESLEY
94. OMG USHER FEAT. WILL.I.AM
95. WAITING FOR A GIRL LIKE YOU FOREIGNER
96. RIGHT ROUND FLO RIDA FEAT. KE$HA
97. WORK IT MISSY ELLIOTT
98. TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT(GONNA BE ALRIGHT) ROD STEWART
99. I JUST WANT TO BE YOUR EVERYTHING ANDY GIBB
100. CAN'T HELP FALLING IN LOVE UB40
101. THIS IS HOW WE DO IT MONTELL JORDAN
102. ON BENDED KNEE BOYZ II MEN
103. JAILHOUSE ROCK ELVIS PRESLEY
104. I LOVE YOU ALWAYS FOREVER DONNA LEWIS
105. I'M REAL JENNIFER LOPEZ FEAT. JA RULE
106. SEXY BACK JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE
107. CHECK ON IT BEYONCE
108. JOY TO THE WORLD THREE DOG NIGHT
109. HOT STUFF DONNA SUMMER
110. HOW DO I LIVE LEANN RIMES
111. GOODIES CIARA FEAT. PETEY PABLO
112. SINCE U BEEN GONE KELLY CLARKSON
113. GIVE ME EVERYTHING PITBULL FEAT NE-YO
114. ALL 4 YOU JANET JACKSON
115. THIS LOVE MAROON 5
116.(LET ME BE YOUR) TEDDY BEAR ELVIS PRESLEY
117. CAN'T NOBODY HOLD ME DOWN PUFF DADDY & MASE
118. INFORMER SNOW
119. EYE OF THE TIGER SURVIVOR
120. HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE BEE GEES
121. SHADOW DANCING ANDY GIBB
122. JUST DANCE LADY GAGA
123. FOREVER CHRIS BROWN
124. BEHIND THESE HAZEL EYES KELLY CLARKSON
125. AIN'T IT FUNNY JENNIFER LOPEZ FEAT. JA RULE
126. ALONE AGAIN(NATURALLY) GILBERT O'SULLIVAN
127. BILLIE JEAN MICHAEL JACKSON
128. I LOVE ROCK N ROLL JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS
129. FLASHDANCE(WHAT A FEELING) IRENE CARA
130. AT THE HOP DANNY & THE JUNIORS
131. EVERYTHING I DO(I DO IT FOR YOU) BRYAN ADAMS
132. EBONY AND IVORY PAUL MCCARTNEY & STEVIE WONDER
133. I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE MARVIN GAYE
134. BLACK OR WHITE MICHAEL JACKSON
135. THE FIRST TIME EVER I SAW YOUR FACE ROBERTA FLACK
136. THE WAY I ARE TIMBALAND FEAT. KERI HILSON
137. MY SHARONA THE KNACK
138. TOSSIN AND TURNIN BOBBY LEWIS
139. THE FIRST NIGHT MONICA
140. RUDE BOY RIHANNA
141. I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND BEATLES
142. LADY KENNY ROGERS
143. I'M A BELIEVER MONKEES
144. THE SWEET ESCAPE GWEN STEFANI FEAT. AKON
145. SAY SAY SAY PAUL MCCARTNEY & MICHAEL JACKSON
146. CENTERFOLD J. GEILS BAND
147. CALL ME BLONDIE
148. SILLY LOVE SONGS PAUL MCCARTNEY & WINGS
149. IT'S ALL IN THE GAME TOMMY EDWARDS
150. LOVE ME TENDER ELVIS PRESLEY
151. AQUARIUS/LET THE SUNSHINE IN 5TH DIMENSION
152. I WILL SURVIVE GLORIA GAYNOR
153. I'LL BE THERE JACKSON 5
154. KNOCK THREE TIMES TONY ORLANDO & DAWN
155. MY BOO USHER & ALICIA KEYS
156. ARE YOU LONESOME TONIGHT? ELVIS PRESLEY
157. BEST OF MY LOVE EMOTIONS
158. SHE LOVES YOU BEATLES
159. NOBODY'S SUPPOSED TO BE HERE DEBORAH COX
160. CRAZY GNARLS BARKLEY
161. (JUST LIKE)STARTING OVER JOHN LENNON
162. AMERICAN PIE DON MCLEAN
163. BACK AT ONE BRIAN MCKNIGHT
164. MY SWEET LORD GEORGE HARRISON
165. MAGGIE MAY ROD STEWART
166. IF I EVER FALL IN LOVE SHAI
167. NOTHIN ON YOU B.O.B. FEAT. BRUNO MARS
168. BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER SIMON & GARFUNKEL
169. BAD GIRLS DONNA SUMMER
170. IN THE YEAR 2525 ZAGER & EVANS
171. YOU'RE SO VAIN CARLY SIMON
172. I'M YOUR ANGEL R. KELLY & CELINE DION
173. BRAND NEW KEY MELANIE
174. IT'S TOO LATE CAROLE KING
175. BOOGIE OOGIE OOGIE A TASTE OF HONEY
176. LIKE A VIRGIN MADONNA
177. KILLING ME SOFTLY WITH HIS SONG ROBERTA FLACK
178. ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST QUEEN
179. RAINDROPS KEEP FALLING ON MY HEAD B.J. THOMAS
180. THREE TIMES A LADY COMMODORES
181. BABY GOT BACK SIR MIX-A-LOT
182. DO YA THINK I'M SEXY? ROD STEWART
183. YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL JAMES BLUNT
184. WHEN DOVES CRY PRINCE
185. UPSIDE DOWN DIANA ROSS
186. GENIE IN A BOTTLE CHRISTINA AGUILERA
187. IT'S NOW OR NEVER ELVIS PRESLEY
188. DISTURBIA RIHANNA
189. SO WHAT PINK
190. BORN THIS WAY LADY GAGA
191. MY PRAYER PLATTERS
192. I CAN'T STOP LOVING YOU RAY CHARLES
193. (THEY LONG TO BE)CLOSE TO YOU CARPENTERS
194. LET'S GET IT ON MARVIN GAYE
195. TAKE A BOW RIHANNA
196. PARTY IN THE USA MILEY CYRUS
197. SAVE THE BEST FOR LAST VANESSA WILLIAMS
198. LIVIN' LA VIDA LOCA RICKY MARTIN
199. LADY MARMALADE CHRISTINA AGUILERA, LIL' KIM, MYA & PINK
200. REUNITED PEACHES & HERB
201. MY LOVE PAUL MCCARTNEY & WINGS
202. I'D DO ANYTHING FOR LOVE MEAT LOAF
203. RING MY BELL ANITA WARD
204. JUMP VAN HALEN
205. HOW TO SAVE A LIFE THE FRAY
206. IF YOU HAD MY LOVE JENNIFER LOPEZ
207. ALL I HAVE TO DO IS DREAM EVERLY BROTHERS
208. HAVE YOU EVER REALLY LOVED A WOMAN BRYAN ADAMS
209. ALL NIGHT LONG(ALL NIGHT) LIONEL RICHIE
210. LET IT BE BEATLES
211. ONE BAD APPLE OSMONDS
212. TIE A YELLOW RIBBON ROUND THE OLE OAK TREE TONY ORLANDO & DAWN
213. MANEATER DARYL HALL & JOHN OATES
214. RUSH, RUSH PAULA ABDUL
215. DYNAMITE TAIO CRUZ
216. LOVE IS BLUE PAUL MAURIAT
217. BIG GIRLS DON'T CRY FOUR SEASONS
218. KISS YOU ALL OVER EXILE
219. BIG BAD JOHN JIMMY DEAN
220. SUGAR SHACK JIMMY GILMER & THE FIREBALLS
221. TEQUILA CHAMPS
222. WATER RUNS DRY BOYZ II MEN
223. WHATCHA SAY JASON DERULO
224. LAST FRIDAY NIGHT KATY PERRY
225. HONEY BOBBY GOLDSBORO
226. LONDON BRIDGE FERGIE
227. GIVES YOU HELL ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS
228. TEENAGE DREAM KATY PERRY
229. DON'T ELVIS PRESLEY
230. THE WAY WE WERE BARBRA STREISAND
231. WHAT'S MY NAME RIHANNA FEAT. DRAKE
232. HOW YOU REMIND ME NICKELBACK
233. AIRPLANES B.O.B. FEAT. EMINEM
234. SAY IT RIGHT NELLY FURTADO
235. ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL PINK FLOYD
236. SUGAR, SUGAR ARCHIES
237. VENUS FRANKIE AVALON
238. CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE QUEEN
239. MACARTHUR PARK DONNA SUMMER
240. TOO MUCH HEAVEN BEE GEES
241. TO SIR WITH LOVE LULU
242. FIREFLIES OWL CITY
243. CATHY'S CLOWN EVERLY BROTHERS
244. RUN IT! CHRIS BROWN
245. LOVE THEME FROM A STAR IS BORN BARBRA STREISAND
246. PEOPLE GOT TO BE FREE RASCALS
247. DECEMBER 1963(OH, WHAT A NIGHT) FOUR SEASONS
248. HURTS SO GOOD JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMP
249. BEAT IT MICHAEL JACKSON
250. SET FIRE TO THE RAIN ADELE
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Part Of Why I Support Ron Paul(borrowed from my good friend, Yoram)
If Apple had a monopoly on mobile phones and would not allow competition than that would be illegal. But let's say they did and they were the only mobile phone manufacturer. If they built IPhones that had no guts and was just a shell and sold it as a functioning phone, how long would it take for them to be in hot water and have criminal charges against them? Not too long. Heads would roll!
Well folks, this is exactly what the Federal Reserve is doing with our currency. They are printing them at whim without our consent and giving them away to their buddy banks and Wall St. These dollars were once backed by 100% gold. That's what kept them in check so as to their value and it would limit how much that could be printed. Now they are backed by 0% gold. These are nothing more than IOU's, debt! They are printing us into debt! They are devaluing our money everyday! How can Americans be free this way? We have lost our sovereignty and most of us don't even know it.
Why are the American people allowing a private bank, accountable to NO ONE, to print all of us into debt? The Federal Reserve is a monopoly and must be stopped. As long as they have this power they will continue to cause bubbles and hurt the middle class and poor. The Dollar has lost over 95% of its value since this private bank received the exclusive right to print and control our money supply in 1913. They are a monopoly and they were brought in to stabilize the market but history shows they have done nothing but destabilize it!
Americans please wake up, can't you see we have become a fascist, welfare-warfare state, we don't even declare the wars and send our men to die with money printed out of thin air to pay for it! The system is working against almost all of us!
Do you really think Mitt Romney or Newt or Santorum or Obama will challenge the system. NO!! They are gaining from it! The only real candidate with real solutions is Ron Paul! He is challenging the system and look at what the GOP is doing. It is being totally fraudulent. Look at Maine, they are not counting thousands of votes yet, and Romney won by less than 200. How can he be the winner this way? Pay attention folks because your life and your future is at stake!
VOTE FOR LIBERTY! VOTE FOR RON PAUL!
Well folks, this is exactly what the Federal Reserve is doing with our currency. They are printing them at whim without our consent and giving them away to their buddy banks and Wall St. These dollars were once backed by 100% gold. That's what kept them in check so as to their value and it would limit how much that could be printed. Now they are backed by 0% gold. These are nothing more than IOU's, debt! They are printing us into debt! They are devaluing our money everyday! How can Americans be free this way? We have lost our sovereignty and most of us don't even know it.
Why are the American people allowing a private bank, accountable to NO ONE, to print all of us into debt? The Federal Reserve is a monopoly and must be stopped. As long as they have this power they will continue to cause bubbles and hurt the middle class and poor. The Dollar has lost over 95% of its value since this private bank received the exclusive right to print and control our money supply in 1913. They are a monopoly and they were brought in to stabilize the market but history shows they have done nothing but destabilize it!
Americans please wake up, can't you see we have become a fascist, welfare-warfare state, we don't even declare the wars and send our men to die with money printed out of thin air to pay for it! The system is working against almost all of us!
Do you really think Mitt Romney or Newt or Santorum or Obama will challenge the system. NO!! They are gaining from it! The only real candidate with real solutions is Ron Paul! He is challenging the system and look at what the GOP is doing. It is being totally fraudulent. Look at Maine, they are not counting thousands of votes yet, and Romney won by less than 200. How can he be the winner this way? Pay attention folks because your life and your future is at stake!
VOTE FOR LIBERTY! VOTE FOR RON PAUL!
Monday, January 30, 2012
It's Been A While
Sorry that I haven't been posting lately. A lot of other things have occupied my mind. My new job search, my Amazon business, my DJ business, the Giants march to the Super Bowl, my high school reunion in October that I'm helping to organize, and how the mainstream media is ignoring Ron Paul, the last chance to save this country from the Military-Industrial-Corporate Complex....but I will get back to posting on here again. There actually is a lot to write about, and I'm sure there will be more topics popping up as we go along.
I will start posting about my Gamblers Anonymous experience. I have been attending meetings since September and it has been a big help in getting me to control that addiction. I will not gamble, because I don't know how to stop, once I start. I committed to solving that issue, because I needed to prove to myself that I could get that under control. I also needed to show Katie, my lady, that I could conquer that problem and that she could trust me, and not worry about our financial situation. I will have much more to write about Katie and I as we go along....
I will start posting about my Gamblers Anonymous experience. I have been attending meetings since September and it has been a big help in getting me to control that addiction. I will not gamble, because I don't know how to stop, once I start. I committed to solving that issue, because I needed to prove to myself that I could get that under control. I also needed to show Katie, my lady, that I could conquer that problem and that she could trust me, and not worry about our financial situation. I will have much more to write about Katie and I as we go along....
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Grand Opening Sale!
At www.lizardautographs.com, it's 20% off everything for the rest of November. Have the honor of being one of my first customers. You would always have a special place in my heart, if you do, for whatever that's worth! :)
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Monday, October 31, 2011
Chapter Five: Burnout At St. John's U.
It’s September of ’87 and “Here I go again on my own” is playing on every radio in the USA. It’s also a very fitting description of what I am doing, education-wise. As a good chunk of my fellow Stuy graduates are Ivy-league bound and many others are going the SUNY and CUNY routes, I decided to stay local and go to class with several of my neighborhood friends, at St. John’s University in Jamaica, Queens. There’s Mikey P, Jimmy F, Jeff A., Donna S, Anissa M. and good ‘ol Dave R., my former St. Stan’s classmate. It’s nice to run into them in the hallways, but somehow, like freshman year at Stuyvesant, I felt that I didn’t fit in there. I wasn’t energized to compete with my classmates, like I did at St. Stan’s or Stuy. I wasn’t even religious anymore, at all. I had my doubts about religion since the 7th grade. I was asking all the tough questions that Sr. Magdalen did not want to answer and it made her dislike me more than a bit in 8th grade, plus some of my Stuy friends were not ashamed to admit their doubts about religion. All of that was convincing enough for me. By the time I reached St. John’s, I was an atheist at a Catholic University. I totally felt lost and I knew in my gut that I had picked the wrong major, Accounting. But there I was, taking Accounting 1, Economics, English Literature (which I was never into) and Theology (which I was not interested in, at this point). I basically went through the motions that fall semester. I studied enough to earn at least a ‘C’ in each class, with a ‘B’ in Accounting I and Economics. I spent more time focused on working after school, as a foot messenger for a Wall St. firm and hanging out, under aged in a few bars in the East Village, than in studying and did even more of both, the spring semester. It’s a wonder that my grades slightly improved in the 2nd semester, taking Accounting II, Creative Writing, Economics II, and Theology II. I finished the year with a GPA of 2.95 but, I knew that either my major would change to something more interesting or I would transfer to a CUNY like Hunter or Baruch or I would drop out completely and spend some time soul-searching for what I wanted to do career-wise. Right at the end of class for the summer, I was hired by UPS as an overnight, truck loader. I worked on 43rd St. and 12th Ave. from 4am to 9am. Perfect hours for stumbling out of the bar and going to work, NOT! Even though it had very good benefits, including college tuition help, I was not disciplined enough to keep the job. I actually went there drunk several times. I quit after three months. Certainly not the smartest thing I’ve ever done. As for my school situation, by August ’88, I knew I wasn’t returning to St. John’s, but I was still undecided what to do. I contacted CUNY and the only school that would accept me at this late date was Hunter, but I would have to go without a major and maybe decide by the Spring of ’89. I registered and decided to take Economic courses, towards that major. I was happy to see some familiar faces there. There were several former Stuy classmates, including one female that I had a massive crush on, Sami and also my former St. Stan’s classmate, Lynn L. I thought maybe Hunter would be fun, but the issue of still not being sure of the major and just complete laziness compelled me to withdraw from all of my classes, after a week. The thought in my mind was, maybe I’ll focus on work and land a great job, that could become my career, or I would be inspired to choose what I would really want, as a major, and return to school. Unfortunately, neither would happen.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Chapter Four: My Stuy Years
There I was, out of over 13,000 applicants, one of the 450 freshmen entering the school in September 1983. I was the only St. Stanislaus grad from ‘83 entering the school that year. It was a fantastic opportunity in so many ways. Besides the great opportunity to be enrolled in probably the very best high school, public or private in New York, with some of the best teachers that you will find anywhere and the absolute cream of the crop of NYC students, it was also a chance for me to start all over with a new bunch of classmates, many of which from completely different backgrounds instead of the mostly all Catholic classmates I had for eight years. Also the new teachers, some of them would be highly enjoyable and interesting, and others, who I would despise on a daily basis. I would also find out quite a bit about myself, as a teenager and the first real opportunity to experience the idea of meeting girls and maybe having a date or two.
Realistically, I knew that my chances of dating were very slim because of one very basic problem, I was very painfully shy. I could hardly look any nice girl in the eye, and talking to them? I was deathly afraid of that. I did make a couple of female friends early on, but maybe they were only really classmates that I happened to sit next to. I also made several male friends, but our conversations were usually very short, because a period was only 40 minutes, and with all the classes and studying, and traveling that most of the students had to do, from all five boroughs of NYC, and a whirlwind of different students all around, a far cry from the 21 classmates I had in 8th grade. I also think that being so different from the kids that I was used to, spooked me out a bit. I didn’t really understand where most of these new classmates came from, and that made me end up feeling fairly outcast and inferior, in some ways.
Grade-wise, I held my own. I did ok in Ms. DiBellis’ Algebra class(I had her both semesters), Dr. Bindman’s and Ms. Evans English classes, Mr. Tiseo’s Italian class(I did have a slight advantage there, being half-Italian) and gym was always an automatic 95 or higher. The other subjects, especially the Science class, which was biology, freshman year, was a bit more challenging for me. I usually ended up with a 70-80 mark. I use the excuse that we were not taught science very well at St. Stan’s and I had to play catch-up at Stuy. Now I know that some of you will say, wait a minute, isn’t Stuy known as a math and science school? Well yes, but the entrance exam was Math and English, which were probably my two best subjects. That’s why I passed the exam. I didn’t do really well in History either. It seemed like a lot of facts and figures to remember and Mr. Lugo, who I had fall semester was someone I didn’t really like too much. I barely passed that class. I did a little better with Mr. Hendricks in the spring. I ended up with an 83.5 average for freshman year, which as a B- average isn’t bad, but with all the brilliant students in the class, I was certainly in the bottom half. The one joy that I had was being able to make the bowling team in my freshman year. I didn’t get to really compete in the matches too much because only the top eight on the team usually got to play. I bowled when someone else couldn’t make it. We did win the PSAL Manhattan championship, but I didn’t really make a difference. I knew that I had three more years to shine, though. With all the all other extra-curricular activities at Stuyvesant, I didn’t really participate in anything else, which I regret. I was in the choir at St. Stan’s from 3rd grade through 6th. I can’t explain why I wasn’t involved in the Concert Chorus, the Gospel or Renaissance Choir. I guess my shyness really prevented me from being active.
Sophmore year brought 300 more students to the class, from all the graduating junior high schools in the city. As the year started, I did attempt to be a little more active at the school. I joined the computer club for a while and started to hang with a bunch of witty, creative and very funny people. They were unofficially known as the “Lunatic Fringe”. I wasn’t really part of the crew, but I did attempt to hang around them a bit. I wasn’t as witty as them, but I held my own, in my opinion. My grades were pretty much the same as Freshman year. I finished with an 84 average as a Sophmore. I can’t explain how I got through Chemistry class with Ms. Bulgaris, considering I barely could figure out what the heck she was talking about all semester, and I cut that class quite a bit, just from boredom. I absolutely loved Geometry class with Mr. Jaye. It was fun and I did really well on his tests. I was distracted by the beauty of a certain English teacher I had, but of course, being very shy prevented me from even looking at her an inappropriate amount. Speaking of attraction, I started to notice a certain female classmate a lot(I’m choosing not to mention her name), but once again, other than a few small talk conversations either in the auditorium or at lunch, we didn’t really get to know each other very well, but she has stuck in my mind, ever since. She is someone that I would refer to as the lady of my dreams. Luckily, that’s over with now, but I freely admit that it was an unhealthy torment for me, for a long time. I was in a few classes with this girl, and I was certainly distracted by her presence. It’s hard to explain, it was just something about her.
There were also a few girls that hung out in my neighborhood, who had my attention at that time, but they looked at me as a good friend, but not someone that they wanted to be involved with romantically. That was a dilemma that plagued me for a very long time. Before I was so shy and not very popular, I didn’t really give anyone a chance to know me very well, which was a huge mistake.
At least my activities outside the classroom gave me some joy that year. The Stuy bowling team went all the way to the PSAL Championship match. We bowled against Susan Wagner HS (from Staten Island) and I had the highest score, a 193, but our team lost the city championship by 6 pins. That was a heartbreaker. I still agonize over why I didn’t bowl a 200, to this day. Those lanes were easy at Maple Lanes in Brooklyn. Oh well. I was still proud that we went all the way to the city finals, and I still have that medal somewhere in a box.
As I moved on to junior year, the fall semester, for me, would be my favorite semester of the eight. Two teachers I had, made the Stuy experience a lot more enjoyable for me. One of them would be fairly predictable, for those who know about Stuy and the legend of Frank McCourt. I had him for creative writing and it was amazingly enjoyable. He had an incredible sense of humor and his stories were absolutely captivating. I was among many of his students that strongly suggested that he put all of his stories together in a book. His incredibly sad and disturbing childhood stories became the amazing bestseller “Angela’s Ashes” and I honestly cannot say that I am surprised by his success at all. That’s how riveting a story teller he was in class. He also was a tremendous inspiration to students who wrote. I never really considered myself to have any skill in writing, before his class. Since then, I’ve always had the itch to want to write something, but I never really acted on it until the last few years, with my blog “Late Blooming Stuy Guy” and what you are reading right now. Back to the class, the boost I received by the experience was the way that Mr. McCourt allowed everyone a chance to shine. He wanted everyone to come up to the front of the class and read what they wrote each week and the positive response from my classmate for my writing made me feel great, and that newly found confidence affected my work in every class from then on, at Stuy.
The other teacher that brought me a lot of joy, was a lady that was a very important part of my early childhood development. Her name was Ms. Latham, yes the same Ms. Latham that lived across the hall from me and was my babysitter from time to time. You can imagine how excited I was when I found out that she was promoted to teach at Stuy and I would have her as a teacher, but, I would realize that it would be also very stressful for me, because I knew that I had to really excel in her class to not disappoint her. It was trigonometry and I was focused on not letting her down. I also had the circumstance of having “The Lady of My Dreams” as a classmate. I knew that Math was her best subject and I would probably be competing with her to get the highest grade in the class, and I was right, as I finished with a 98 in the class and she had a 99. It was a great experience and I was happy to have another chance to thank Ms. Latham for her role in my childhood.
I also had Mr. Rutkowski for Music Appreciation, which was interesting because he was also my Bowling coach. The funny thing is he didn’t show any favoritism towards me, but he didn’t really need to. I’ve always loved music and did well in the class, anyway. It ended up being a very good year grade-wise for me, with a 92.5 average. I knew getting into an Ivy League school was not going to happen at this point, even with a 1220 on the SAT, but I felt that I was certainly smart enough to be at Stuy and that I belonged and I was proud of myself.
In the summer of ’86, I had a new job. I worked down the block from my building on Avenue A at a place called Kim’s Video. It was a fun experience, but it was weird, in the sense that my co-workers were mostly punk rockers and I certainly didn’t fit in with them. The owner was a nice Korean guy that had an interesting taste in videos. They would rent all the latest releases, but some very odd choices as well, like Eraserhead and Attack of The Killer Tomatoes. Considering how the neighborhood would change due to gentrification and become a super trendy area, he was ahead of his time with his taste in movies. I would work there for more than a year, and would get to see a lot of movies for free.
I would return for Senior year and feel a myriad of emotions. Excitement, that we ruled the school and were just a year away from college life. Also that I had become a little more confident that I could get along with classmates and have stronger friendships, but also sadness that I wasted the first three years being so shy and hesitant to talk to everyone. I was also realizing how amazing the Stuy experience really was and in some ways, I wished that I had more time to be there. I had a few interesting classes that year, like Mr. Phillips for Statistics. I enjoyed the class (had a 97 in it) and found him to be a lunatic. I swore that if he told that silly “sneaker story” one more time, that I would vomit. I don’t even remember what it was about, but I know he talked about it a little too much. The spring semester would be a breeze, only four classes, including gym, but I had to deal with hell on Earth for Pre-Calculus, Mr. Fisher. To say I despised the man is a huge understatement. He was the nastiest, dirtiest piece of crap that I’ve ever met. I tried for weeks to get transferred to another class, but no luck. I had to deal with him and just get through it. One morning, I was not feeling well and did not study a certain few pages of problems. With my luck, he calls me up to the blackboard to solve one of the problems. I wasn’t sure of myself, and hesitated to answer the problem. He yelled, “Go sit down, you moron” and the class laughed. I was totally embarrassed and wanted to go home. I was angry the whole rest of the semester and put a damper on my graduation excitement. I did end up with an 85 in the class and after scoring a 93 on the final exam, I told him; “Am I still a moron?” Surprisingly, he laughed and shook my hand. I guess I should feel lucky.
As we approached the final months at Stuy, I had a tough decision in terms of college. I was accepted at Pace, St. John’s, SUNY Albany and CUNY Baruch and Hunter. I did not make SUNY Binghamton and NYU. I knew that The CUNY schools would be the most affordable, but a bunch of my friends from childhood were going to St. John’s and they had a good Accounting program, which would be my major. I decided to go to St. John’s.
As the spring semester, and my Stuy days were winding down, I was surprised by the number of classmates that would come by and wish me luck, and those who were willing to sign my yearbook. It made me realize that even though I was shy and not very outgoing, others realized that I was a nice guy and that I was part of the class. I truly wished I had another year to get to know these people a little more and it dawned on me that I was lucky to have those four years there.
Graduation day arrived and it was cool to have the ceremony at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center. The one thought in my mind was “Darn, I’m going to miss these people”, Though I knew there would be reunions in the future and with 750 classmates, I was certain to run into some of them as the years go on. It really felt good to be a Stuy graduate. The question would be: What would I do with that experience?
Realistically, I knew that my chances of dating were very slim because of one very basic problem, I was very painfully shy. I could hardly look any nice girl in the eye, and talking to them? I was deathly afraid of that. I did make a couple of female friends early on, but maybe they were only really classmates that I happened to sit next to. I also made several male friends, but our conversations were usually very short, because a period was only 40 minutes, and with all the classes and studying, and traveling that most of the students had to do, from all five boroughs of NYC, and a whirlwind of different students all around, a far cry from the 21 classmates I had in 8th grade. I also think that being so different from the kids that I was used to, spooked me out a bit. I didn’t really understand where most of these new classmates came from, and that made me end up feeling fairly outcast and inferior, in some ways.
Grade-wise, I held my own. I did ok in Ms. DiBellis’ Algebra class(I had her both semesters), Dr. Bindman’s and Ms. Evans English classes, Mr. Tiseo’s Italian class(I did have a slight advantage there, being half-Italian) and gym was always an automatic 95 or higher. The other subjects, especially the Science class, which was biology, freshman year, was a bit more challenging for me. I usually ended up with a 70-80 mark. I use the excuse that we were not taught science very well at St. Stan’s and I had to play catch-up at Stuy. Now I know that some of you will say, wait a minute, isn’t Stuy known as a math and science school? Well yes, but the entrance exam was Math and English, which were probably my two best subjects. That’s why I passed the exam. I didn’t do really well in History either. It seemed like a lot of facts and figures to remember and Mr. Lugo, who I had fall semester was someone I didn’t really like too much. I barely passed that class. I did a little better with Mr. Hendricks in the spring. I ended up with an 83.5 average for freshman year, which as a B- average isn’t bad, but with all the brilliant students in the class, I was certainly in the bottom half. The one joy that I had was being able to make the bowling team in my freshman year. I didn’t get to really compete in the matches too much because only the top eight on the team usually got to play. I bowled when someone else couldn’t make it. We did win the PSAL Manhattan championship, but I didn’t really make a difference. I knew that I had three more years to shine, though. With all the all other extra-curricular activities at Stuyvesant, I didn’t really participate in anything else, which I regret. I was in the choir at St. Stan’s from 3rd grade through 6th. I can’t explain why I wasn’t involved in the Concert Chorus, the Gospel or Renaissance Choir. I guess my shyness really prevented me from being active.
Sophmore year brought 300 more students to the class, from all the graduating junior high schools in the city. As the year started, I did attempt to be a little more active at the school. I joined the computer club for a while and started to hang with a bunch of witty, creative and very funny people. They were unofficially known as the “Lunatic Fringe”. I wasn’t really part of the crew, but I did attempt to hang around them a bit. I wasn’t as witty as them, but I held my own, in my opinion. My grades were pretty much the same as Freshman year. I finished with an 84 average as a Sophmore. I can’t explain how I got through Chemistry class with Ms. Bulgaris, considering I barely could figure out what the heck she was talking about all semester, and I cut that class quite a bit, just from boredom. I absolutely loved Geometry class with Mr. Jaye. It was fun and I did really well on his tests. I was distracted by the beauty of a certain English teacher I had, but of course, being very shy prevented me from even looking at her an inappropriate amount. Speaking of attraction, I started to notice a certain female classmate a lot(I’m choosing not to mention her name), but once again, other than a few small talk conversations either in the auditorium or at lunch, we didn’t really get to know each other very well, but she has stuck in my mind, ever since. She is someone that I would refer to as the lady of my dreams. Luckily, that’s over with now, but I freely admit that it was an unhealthy torment for me, for a long time. I was in a few classes with this girl, and I was certainly distracted by her presence. It’s hard to explain, it was just something about her.
There were also a few girls that hung out in my neighborhood, who had my attention at that time, but they looked at me as a good friend, but not someone that they wanted to be involved with romantically. That was a dilemma that plagued me for a very long time. Before I was so shy and not very popular, I didn’t really give anyone a chance to know me very well, which was a huge mistake.
At least my activities outside the classroom gave me some joy that year. The Stuy bowling team went all the way to the PSAL Championship match. We bowled against Susan Wagner HS (from Staten Island) and I had the highest score, a 193, but our team lost the city championship by 6 pins. That was a heartbreaker. I still agonize over why I didn’t bowl a 200, to this day. Those lanes were easy at Maple Lanes in Brooklyn. Oh well. I was still proud that we went all the way to the city finals, and I still have that medal somewhere in a box.
As I moved on to junior year, the fall semester, for me, would be my favorite semester of the eight. Two teachers I had, made the Stuy experience a lot more enjoyable for me. One of them would be fairly predictable, for those who know about Stuy and the legend of Frank McCourt. I had him for creative writing and it was amazingly enjoyable. He had an incredible sense of humor and his stories were absolutely captivating. I was among many of his students that strongly suggested that he put all of his stories together in a book. His incredibly sad and disturbing childhood stories became the amazing bestseller “Angela’s Ashes” and I honestly cannot say that I am surprised by his success at all. That’s how riveting a story teller he was in class. He also was a tremendous inspiration to students who wrote. I never really considered myself to have any skill in writing, before his class. Since then, I’ve always had the itch to want to write something, but I never really acted on it until the last few years, with my blog “Late Blooming Stuy Guy” and what you are reading right now. Back to the class, the boost I received by the experience was the way that Mr. McCourt allowed everyone a chance to shine. He wanted everyone to come up to the front of the class and read what they wrote each week and the positive response from my classmate for my writing made me feel great, and that newly found confidence affected my work in every class from then on, at Stuy.
The other teacher that brought me a lot of joy, was a lady that was a very important part of my early childhood development. Her name was Ms. Latham, yes the same Ms. Latham that lived across the hall from me and was my babysitter from time to time. You can imagine how excited I was when I found out that she was promoted to teach at Stuy and I would have her as a teacher, but, I would realize that it would be also very stressful for me, because I knew that I had to really excel in her class to not disappoint her. It was trigonometry and I was focused on not letting her down. I also had the circumstance of having “The Lady of My Dreams” as a classmate. I knew that Math was her best subject and I would probably be competing with her to get the highest grade in the class, and I was right, as I finished with a 98 in the class and she had a 99. It was a great experience and I was happy to have another chance to thank Ms. Latham for her role in my childhood.
I also had Mr. Rutkowski for Music Appreciation, which was interesting because he was also my Bowling coach. The funny thing is he didn’t show any favoritism towards me, but he didn’t really need to. I’ve always loved music and did well in the class, anyway. It ended up being a very good year grade-wise for me, with a 92.5 average. I knew getting into an Ivy League school was not going to happen at this point, even with a 1220 on the SAT, but I felt that I was certainly smart enough to be at Stuy and that I belonged and I was proud of myself.
In the summer of ’86, I had a new job. I worked down the block from my building on Avenue A at a place called Kim’s Video. It was a fun experience, but it was weird, in the sense that my co-workers were mostly punk rockers and I certainly didn’t fit in with them. The owner was a nice Korean guy that had an interesting taste in videos. They would rent all the latest releases, but some very odd choices as well, like Eraserhead and Attack of The Killer Tomatoes. Considering how the neighborhood would change due to gentrification and become a super trendy area, he was ahead of his time with his taste in movies. I would work there for more than a year, and would get to see a lot of movies for free.
I would return for Senior year and feel a myriad of emotions. Excitement, that we ruled the school and were just a year away from college life. Also that I had become a little more confident that I could get along with classmates and have stronger friendships, but also sadness that I wasted the first three years being so shy and hesitant to talk to everyone. I was also realizing how amazing the Stuy experience really was and in some ways, I wished that I had more time to be there. I had a few interesting classes that year, like Mr. Phillips for Statistics. I enjoyed the class (had a 97 in it) and found him to be a lunatic. I swore that if he told that silly “sneaker story” one more time, that I would vomit. I don’t even remember what it was about, but I know he talked about it a little too much. The spring semester would be a breeze, only four classes, including gym, but I had to deal with hell on Earth for Pre-Calculus, Mr. Fisher. To say I despised the man is a huge understatement. He was the nastiest, dirtiest piece of crap that I’ve ever met. I tried for weeks to get transferred to another class, but no luck. I had to deal with him and just get through it. One morning, I was not feeling well and did not study a certain few pages of problems. With my luck, he calls me up to the blackboard to solve one of the problems. I wasn’t sure of myself, and hesitated to answer the problem. He yelled, “Go sit down, you moron” and the class laughed. I was totally embarrassed and wanted to go home. I was angry the whole rest of the semester and put a damper on my graduation excitement. I did end up with an 85 in the class and after scoring a 93 on the final exam, I told him; “Am I still a moron?” Surprisingly, he laughed and shook my hand. I guess I should feel lucky.
As we approached the final months at Stuy, I had a tough decision in terms of college. I was accepted at Pace, St. John’s, SUNY Albany and CUNY Baruch and Hunter. I did not make SUNY Binghamton and NYU. I knew that The CUNY schools would be the most affordable, but a bunch of my friends from childhood were going to St. John’s and they had a good Accounting program, which would be my major. I decided to go to St. John’s.
As the spring semester, and my Stuy days were winding down, I was surprised by the number of classmates that would come by and wish me luck, and those who were willing to sign my yearbook. It made me realize that even though I was shy and not very outgoing, others realized that I was a nice guy and that I was part of the class. I truly wished I had another year to get to know these people a little more and it dawned on me that I was lucky to have those four years there.
Graduation day arrived and it was cool to have the ceremony at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center. The one thought in my mind was “Darn, I’m going to miss these people”, Though I knew there would be reunions in the future and with 750 classmates, I was certain to run into some of them as the years go on. It really felt good to be a Stuy graduate. The question would be: What would I do with that experience?
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