People Love @ MindSay

“A loving relationship is one in which the loved one is free to be himself -- to laugh with me, but never at me; to cry with me, but never because of me; to love life, to love himself, to love being loved. Such a relationship is based upon freedom and can never grow in a jealous heart.”

Leo F. Buscaglia

Memorial day weekend is here and people are rushing around and planning all sorts of things. I plan to take it easy today. Perhaps make a couple pasta salads in preparation for tomorrow's get-together.

I hope to take a lot of pictures, if possible, and enjoy the love and companionship of my friends and family.

Today we went to an army surplus store. It reminded me of how we need to show value and appreciation for those who are out there for us. I don't care whatever cause you agree or disagree with but those people are there; so support them. There were many used supplies, clothes, bags from soldiers. Some of them I couldn't go near due to the energy but others were fine.

The oily canvas reminded me of my childhood. Both my parents were in the service so they had many supplies left over and we children had a blast with them. I still have my dad's duffle that I use for trips.

So, more pictures...


Silverfire85's kiddo sure is a ball fun of energy. I love them so much!!




Azrael was resting peacefully, for a while, in the sunset.


Houdini looked like an angel, of sorts, in the sun's glare.


"Ah, this is nice...."


"WHAT!" His eyes can be so wiggy!

I have spent a good portion of this week amazed by the success of this 'reunion tour'.  I do not fully believe I am a target member of said reunion.  First, because though my blogging is incredibly sporadic and infrequent, I have never 'left' this site.  Second, because I am quite far on the periphery, combined with low enough self-esteem to question, 'well, who the hell cares if I write this anyway?' if I posted it.

That said, I think it's nice that everyone is pretending to start fresh, so it could be a chance to meet some new people, and learn new things about people I already read about when I sign-in here.  I figure, here are other people who also make the choice to put their feelings out there for public consumption as opposed to just keeping a Word document or actual paper diary.  People want to read and be read. 

So, I guess it's time for my intro.  ((clears throat))  My name is Emily and I am 24 years old.  I am a New Yorker born and raised, and though I do not currently live there, I still consider it my home and miss it terribly.  I will NEVER refer to myself as a resident of Massachusetts, or as I refer to it, a Masshole.  I am a teacher.  I do not teach your run-of-the-mill kids - I have the students who everyone else is 'afraid' of.  I have the kids who when mad will bite and kick and call you a 'fucking asshole' (mind you, the oldest one is 10).  I do get bruised from time to time, but I love my job.  I love my babies, and I would fight for them until I died.  It may not sound rewarding (my roommate is FOREVER questioning me, 'do you really think it's worth it?  do you really think you're making a difference?' and the answer is always, even after a BAD day....YES) to a lot of people, but there is little else I could see myself doing with my life that would make me happy. My job allows me to take stock of all that I have going on for me in my life, and be appreciative of it.  I keep track of my teaching life at 1styearteacher even though now I am a 2nd year teacher (I don't want randomhighjinx to not be my friend anymore because I'm one of those weirdos who has a 2nd blog ;)) - feel free to read it.

The rest of this blog is going to be little things about myself you probably don't know.  You probably don't care to know, but it's your choice to read or not to read.

-- I am not really a tv-and-movies kinda girl.  The question, "did you see ______?" is almost always met with "no".  At present, I do not own a television, and I'm more than okay with it.  Most new things that come out do not interest me.  I continue to sporadically watch episodes of The Office online, but continue to miss the appeal it has to the general masses.  I do enjoy reruns of shows, like the Simpsons, Friends, and Full House, and have recently started watching "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" with my roommate because then I can call my friend Mike and share his favorite show with him.

-- I have a very clear memory of the Summer of 1993, being at my camp its first season, and celebrating the end of Color War by releasing helium balloons.  Let me clarify:  Everyone else celebrated.  I bawled at the thought of those balloons getting into the ocean and killing whales.  Most of the time, that 8 year old still walks around inside me.

-- I love listening to people's opinions.  I actually don't have very many fully-formed ones of my own, though as I grow older and experience more, I'm getting more.  I tend to see both (or all 5) sides to a situation, and have a hard time deciding which one is RIGHT.  Ergo, I love hearing people talk passionately about a cause or issue, I love getting an extra kernel of information to try to help me figure out my own stance on something.  DO NOT confuse my naivete with apathy; I am acutally quite invested in the idea of change and policy and fairness, but I cannot yet speak about them.  I don't like spouting words or waxing poetic about things I know nothing about.

-- I AM A BASEBALL PERSON.  You better believe I still log in to mlb.com during the off-season, that I have a count-down 'til Spring Training and wish my friends a 'Happy First Day of Spring Training!' each year, and you better believe I get SERIOUSLY wrapped up in it.  I get very attached to certain players, even players not on one of 'my' teams, and try to keep up with them as well as the ones I am expected to (Joe Mauer before he became a hot topic, Mark Teixeira after his first Home-Run Derby, Derrek Lee, Vladdie, Scott Kazmir...).  On that note...YOU ARE NOT GOING TO SWAY ME AWAY FROM MY TEAMS (mainly, the Yankees and the Cubs).  Say as much as you want, but just like I'm not going to get you to come over to my side of the argument, I'm not going to suddenly switch over to yours.  I am loyal to my teams.  Say whatever you want about them, and about fans, but know this:  Real fans still wear their jerseys and caps when their team has a shitty, last-place year.  My family was going to games and cheering when we finished DEAD LAST... If you wanna talk fair-weather fans, look at some of the teams that have won the WS since 2004; suddenly, the # of people around and online rocking a team's hat, especially after a win is tri-fold. Either you like a team or you don't.  You are NOT a real fan if you only like them when they win.  To sum, I am a baseball person, and would love new people to talk about our nation's past time with.  All team loving is welcome, as long as you're respectful :).

-- I am a music DORK.  I mean...look at the title of this entry!  I quoted MxPx for Pete's Sake!  Just like baseball, I am always looking for people to talk music with.  I have absolutely cried at concerts because I've been so happy the band performed/upset they didn't play for 3 hours to be sure they got ALL the songs I wanted to hear in.  I have also gone to shows where I didn't know a single act playing that night, and had a DAMN good time of it.
ACTUALLY, 'twas music that brought me here to Mindsay in the first place. I had heard this song, I can't remember where, but really loved it.  Naturally, I decided to Google the lyrics so I could know who sang this song.  One of the first search results was a Mindsayer who had posted the lyrics to her journal.  I went to click it to read it, but it said 'you must log in or sign up to read _________'s entry'.   I did, and stayed.

In case you were wondering, the song is "Question" by Old 97s.  Enjoyable.

And, that's it. Have wondrous evenings, and if you wanna say hi, please do :)

I'm not even sure I posted twice in the month of APRIL, and now I'm going to post twice in ...two days?!?!  Whoa guy!  Who am I?
I guess that's the power of much-needed, well-spent vacations with the people you love the best.

Some highlights of my weekend in NY:

The concert.  DUH.
Eating breakfast at VENUS diner (West Hempstead staple) with Erica on Saturday.
Seeing Peter Naas on the subway platform.  I got to know Peter very well over the last 3 years of college because he went to high school with Ellen and Jess.  But for the rest of my life, he will ALWAYS be that random boy who was in my room drunk one afternoon (thanks for inviting people we didn't know over and letting them sit on our beds, Meri!) 'for the first time' and found everything HILARIOUS.  Even if he goes on to be a world-class director, like his dream, he will always be that boy.
Brooklyn pizza.  Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Dinner in Long Beach with Lisa, Nicole, Nora, Kristina, Penny, Lindsay, and they're friend Becca.  A little expensive, but... I'm sorry, I LOVE people I went to HS with.  I do.  There are so few people I can think of a single negative thing to say about...and I like that.  It was loud and I didn't get to talk to most of them much, but just being at the same table with these girls...completely worth it.
We got back to Lisa's around 11:30, and I was exhausted, but I was like 'uh, wanna go to The Brew and see if Matt is working tonight?' and she said, 'let's call him instead of walking there' and he picked up (Matt having a cell phone is STILL SO WEIRD for me).  And he was NOT working, but was instead heading over to Croxley Ales with...Jeff Meyer.  So we went and hung out until 2 something.  The bartender was not very pleased I didn't have anything to drink, but I really don't care.
Sad news = I now know it could NEVER work out between Jeff and I.  He's still as good looking and weird as ever, but we had a conversation and it was an insurmountable difference.  This is RIDICULOUS to write, but you know how a little bit ago I wrote, 'there are so few people I can think of a single negative thing to say about'?  Yeah; there is definitely one boy who I can.  His name is Rob N. - everyone calls him Chestnut (not in the mood to explain that story).  Well, Chestnut used to pick on me mercilessly when I was in 9th grade.  Everyone else had their fun in 6th grade, but grew out of it.  Chestnut... Chestnut used to push me into walls, throw crayons at me across the room in our Biology class, and one time squirted me in the face with Hydrochloric Acid. I honestly think if I saw him laying on the floor bleeding I would stomp on him rather than call 911 to get him help.
Anyway, Jeff said something about Joe N., and how they don't get along, and I said that the whole family sucked (and I feel bad, but Daniela isn't any better than her brothers), and he said, "Actually, Joe's brother, Rob, is a really good friend of mine.  We hang out all the time".  And so, my 9th grade crush is OFFICIALLY ended.  Dang :)
Getting breakfast in Queens w/ Jess and Kim.  They made me a 'bubble tea' out of actual water melon, and it was sooo tasty!  They also plotted and kicked other customers out so the 3 of us could sit.  Kim and Jess have been friends since middle school, and I was always secretly a little jealous of when Kim would come over to hang out because they went back so much further than we did, but at breakfast ... it wasn't like that.  It was like Jess and I knew each other better than Kim did.  Apparently, Kim doesn't know Jess' mom at all.  We sat around talking about a lot of roommate stuff, and the time I went to her house in Queens the day she was flying to London for the semester, and we were eating lunch and she said, "maybe I should pack later" and how I packed both her suitcases for her.  I love my roommate.
Jess told a story about how Frank is back to being...Frank.  He was normal for almost 2 months this time, but then went back into crazy stalker mode.  To the point she called once to get him to fix the DVR, and he said, "okay, I'm locked in my bathroom right now, but as soon as I get out...." .  I know you don't know Frank (hell, I don't know him completely), but him being so mad that he slammed the door and the knob fell off... I can see it happen and laughed so hard at this bakery I cried.

I know there's more, but... I can't get there.  I needed this weekend. I needed to stay up until 3 and laugh loudly and be silly and hug people I love and hear the sounds of the city (and my island).  I'm already planning my next trip back, and wishing it was going to be permanent.

I've just been busy and odd enough my lack of posts are from not from a lack of wanting to post but more of a falter on my end. I think if I make a new years resolution I think I will try to get back into the habit of posting every day. I think I posted every day my first year here; now it's my fifth year being here.

For Pushing Daisies fans a link. Let's hope it comes to fruition.

I've signed the petition that is online to Save Pushing Daisies. Though if you really want to make a difference make sure you write to them. Here is where you can find the info to do so if you are so inclined.

I have a bunch of pictures to still post and even more to go through. Haha. So for now here is an Alphabetical survey I filled out.

A

- Available: Nopers.
- Age: 31
- Annoyance: When people pace when they are on the phone. Smokers tossing their cigarettes out the window. People who are racists or unable to be tolerant.
- Animal: Corvids, snake & cephalopods.
- Actor: Alan Rickman, Tim Curry & a select few others.

B

- Beer: Unfortunately I cannot drink it. It makes me instantly sick. The only one that doesn't irritate my tummy as much is Corona. Though, honestly, I'm not fond of the taste unless it's used in cooking.
- Birthday/Birthplace: Dec 21st. Frankfurt Germany.
- Best Friends: A small select few who know who they are. :D
- Body Part on opposite sex: Depends. I'm a sucker for fetching eyes & skinny ones(not too skinny though).
- Best feeling in the world: Dancing and singing while feeling sucked into the song. Love from those you also love. That moment when looking into your partners eyes and you feel the jolt run through your soul reminding how much you love them.
- Blind or Deaf: I couldn't imagine losing music but I would rather be able to see.
- Been in Love: Uhuh.
- Been bitched out: A few times.
- Been on stage?: Uhuh.
- Been beaten up?: No
- Believe in yourself?: For the most part.
- Believe in life on other planets: Yes.
- Believe in miracles: Yes indeedy.
- Believe in magic: Totally. It's just not Harry Potter-esque.
- Believe in God: Yes but which ones? :)
- Believe in Satan: Yes but not in the form most people believe. ;)
- Believe in Santa: Yes as the spirit of christmas. We carry that spirit with us when we are truly generous.
- Believe in ghosts/spirits: Most definitely.


C

- Car: My Honda Cr-V "Servo". :D
- Color: Orange, Red, black & purple.
- Cried in school: Oh yes.
- Chocolate/Vanilla: Chocolate
- Chinese/Mexican: Both equally. I love food.
- Cake or pie: Both again!
- Country to visit: The whole world. :D I want to travel every where I can.
- Comedian: Um...George Carlin.

D

- Day or Night: Night. Especially summer nights with a soft breeze foretelling the coming of a storm.
- Dream vehicle: An orange Datsun 240/260/280Z (late70s early 80s), a 1963 Cadillac El Dorado & an old Caddy Hearse/ambulance.
- Danced: I'd love to!
- Dance in the rain?: YES!!!

E

- Eggs: Prepared any way! Yum!
- Eyes: Blue-grey.
- Everyone has: loved in one way or another.
- Ever failed a class?: No.
- First thoughts waking up: What time is it?
- Food: Yes please. :D

G

- Greatest Fear: Letting down the ones I love.
- Goals: Travel, become a better person, become better at the arts, learn the violin & other languages.
- Gum: Grape.
- Get along with your parents?: Yes. :)
- Good luck charm: Me! I'm a lucky person in general.

H

- Hair Color: Long, black with red highlights in my bangs.
- Height: 5'8"
- Happy: In general yes. I do have bouts of times where things get to me.
- Holiday: Halloween. .
- How do you want to die: Hopefully not seeing it coming.
- Health Freak: I love eating healthy and feeling healthy.
- Hate: I don't think I really hate but I have a strong dislike for things.
- Heart Broken/when/who?: Nope.

I

- Ice Cream: Gelato please! (mocha with chocolate chips)
- Instrument: Violin & the Harpsichord (Though I do like the ehru.)

J

- Jewelry: Silver rings with onyx. I love my thumbring that I haven't been taking off. It's a silver tree. I have quite a few jewelry pieces I love including many necklaces.

K

- Kids: I have Savannah. :D
- Keep a journal?: This would be my closest thing to a diary.

L

- Love: Being Love, animals, nature, family, art and living!
- Laughed so hard you cried: Just recently I was on the phone recanting a story to Josh about something Savannah told me. Previously when Savannah told me I ended up laughing so hard I peed my pants.
- Love at first sight: Yeah.

LAST PERSON WHO...

1. Slept in a bed beside you?: Josh & Gigi(kitty)
2. Saw you cry?: Josh
3. Went to the movies with you?: Josh & Savannah
4. You went to the mall with?: Nahdene
5. You went to dinner with?: Josh, Julie, Krystal, sis #1 & Savannah.
6. You talked to on the phone?: Josh.
7. Made you laugh?: Savannah
8. Made you cry?: Myself
9. Broke your heart?: No one.
10 You vented to about a girl?: Nahdene

M

- Milk flavor: Chocolate/strawberry/soy/rice
- Movie: Ummmm. Clue, Kiki's Delivery, and too many others.
- Mooned anyone?: Yes indeed!
- Marriage?: Yes
- Motion sickness?: Sometimes but some video games set me off badly.

N

- Number of Siblings: 3 sisters and 3 brothers.
- Number of Piercings: 4
- Number: repeating numbers like 444.

O

- Overused Phrases: Profanities.
- Odd phobia: Driving my car off a tall bridge into a deep river when I have Savannah in the car.

P

- Place you'd like to live: Somewhere where I have a good amount of land with lots of trees and a spring.
- Pizza: Veggie, chicken & Greek
- Pepsi/Coke: Um, coke I suppose. (cherry coke!)
- Person you miss: A few people that have passed. Some people in my past.

Q
- Quail: Are cute! I remember seeing them when we lived one summer in the sequoia national forest.
- Quiet music or loud: A little of both.

R

- Reason to cry: Being hurt physically or emotionally. Happiness.
- Reality T.V: No thank you.
- Radio Station: I don't really listen to the radio. Sometimes I turn on my internet radio.
- Roll your tongue in a circle?: Yup. I can also flip my tongue both ways.

S
- Song: Too many! I love so many!
- Shoe size: 8 1/2 - 9s.
- Salad Dressing: French or Honey Mustard.
- Sushi: Oh I love sushi!!
- Skipped class: Nope.
- Slept outside: I love it!
- Seen a dead body?: At a funeral.
- Smoked?: Tried it but didn't like it.
- Skinny dipped?: I want to.
- Shower daily?: Try to but I love baths.
- Sing well?: I don't know but I like to think I do.
- In the shower?: Yes!!
- Swear?: Very rarely.
- Stuffed Animals?: :D I do like em!
- Single/Group dates: Doesn't matter to me.
- Strawberries/Blueberries: BOTH!!!
- Scientists need to invent: More cures.
- Sport: I used to play soccer a million ages ago. Though I prefer archery.

T

- Time for bed: Any time I go to bed.
- Thunderstorms: I love them!
- TV: Rarely but mostly watch them on the computer. I have a few shows I'm loyal to.
- Touch your tongue to your nose?: I wish I could but I cannot.

U

- Unpredictable: Yeah.
- Used to play: Um...trumpet poorly. Haha!

V

- Vegetable you hate: Fresh green beans. (OD'd as a kid)
- Vegetable you love: Almost all vegs!
- Vacation spot: Somewhere warm.
- Virgin?: Hahahahahah... um.. no.

W

- Weakness: I'm very trusting and open.
- When you grow up: I don't think I'll grow up.
- Which one of your friends knows the most about you: A small few. :D
- Who makes you laugh the most: Savannah & Josh. My bros do well too!
- Want to be a model?: I almost was.
- Where do we go when we die: I believe we have a choice.
- Weather: Warm, cloudy, raining...

X

- X-Rays: A couple of times. Mostly when I visit the dentist.

Y

- Year it is now: 2009
- Yellow: banana

Z

- Zoo animal: Tigers
- Zodiac sign: Sagittarian.





Oh, and I did finish a drawn MEME. Let me know what you think.


Character Obsession Meme WOO by *ForeverKnight on deviantART

I just spent 18 glorious minutes on the phone with Eric.   And I just realized, he called on the 1-week anniversary of Amanda calling and making me smile.  And Jill's texting me about coming down to NY anyway to go to her and Manny's party.  Aww.  I love my friends.


Right, Eric.  I was thinking about him recently.  And when I got my phone in September, the numbers didnt' transfer themselves over, so I used to have 300 + people in there, but now it's at around 85.  Somehow, Eric wasn't one of those people. But I saw the (718) 938, and... that's my Eric.  And he was calling me.

And I love him so damn much.

I love him.  And we talked about work and debt and applications for my rich husband and him maybe going to  STERN, and when my student was asked to name a state and he picked Wyoming and how I told them the story about my crazy friend who didn't believe Wyoming was a state. 

Now I miss him more, though.

Prom dates RULE <33

Do I like him again?  No, we're 6 years beyond that, but I most definitely love him (is that apparent yet?).

Remember that time I promised to post things of substance?