The Yankees Truly Suck

Okay - it's a well known fact that I despise the Yankees. I do, there's no way around it. I did however, have a lot of respect for Joe Torre and half-hoped that he would get fired or move on to another team just so I could like whatever other team he managed. After last night's antics, no more. First of all - A-Rod. That move was truly bush league - not even bush league - more like spoiled brat who cheats on his wife with she-males kind of league. And then to stand there with that smirk on your face, like a child who knows he's done something bad but couldn't care less. And that's what he said afterwards, I could care less, I just wanted to win. So the Yankees sink to a new low with that one.

Now, Jeter did the right thing afterwards by not commenting - silence often speaks volumes. He knew that was not a class act thing to do. But what does Johnny Damon say? “I wasn’t sure that was allowed,” outfielder Johnny Damon said. “If it is, maybe we’ll keep on doing it.” How about you just play better baseball and not try to distract the other team by yelling shit out like a 5 year old would do at tee ball?

The lowest of the low? Mr. Torre, who could have just said no comment, a la Jeter, and move on to the next question, but instead, took his newly acquired mealy-mouthed approach and said “I don’t know what to feel for it. It’s not like he said, ’I got it.”’ Unbelievable. Well I always knew I hated them and now I have my proof. No class and no heart. Disgusting.

A Looooooooong Weekend

Big deal!

I don't have any real plans so it's just a time of rest, a well needed respite. I'm feeling that weariness you feel when you've been running around a lot having fun. This past month or so has been a whirlwind so this weekend, I feel kind of ok with not having much planned. I need to take of myself again. Tomorrow I'll be meeting up with the Chia Pet for some brunchiness and a walk around a street fair in the nice summery weather. Sunday looks like a Day of Reclaiming Jugginess with Floating Head - a Bronx trip perhaps? We shall see. But that's about all.

Until we meet again...

‘Amore, che ’ncende il cor d’ardente zelo’

Love that lights burning eagerness in the heart,
constrains it also with an icy fear,
and leaves the mind unsure which is greater,
the hope or the fear, the flame or the ice.

~Petrarch's Canzioniere #182

By the way...

I love my Mom! She ROCKS!


She sends me beautiful faerie cards with super special sweet messages inside for no reason other than to make me feel good...

So I love her

One more beyond fun thing about going to Mets games...

Singing "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond at the top of your lungs along with 50,000 other people, all with equally horrible voices as mine!! Let's do it now, come on now, sing with me:

Where it began, I can't begin to know when
But then I know it's growin' strong
First was the spring and spring became the summer
Who'd believe you'd come along.

Hands touching, hands reaching out
Touching me, touching you
Sweet Caroline, (and at this point the crowd screams out OH OH OH!!)
good times never seemed so good
I'm inclined to believe they never would.

Look at the night doesn't seem so lonely
Fill it up with only two
And when I hurt it runs off my shoulder
How can I hurt when I'm holdin' you?

Warm touching, warm reaching out
Touching me, touching you
Oh sweet Caroline, good times never seemed so good
I'm inclined to believe they never would.

Sweet Caroline, good times never seemed so good
I'm inclined to believe they never would.

Oh sweet Caroline, good times never seemed so good...

The Best Thing We Can Do

From Swami Satchidananda's book The Golden Present - I do the same thing that my meditation teacher does which is you can only read a passage from this book after you've meditated, as a reward. As always, it's a beautiful thought that seems to come exactly when I need to hear it - in this case, after a day in which I found myself constantly putting myself down or feeling a bit "less than" and therefore, discouraged:

Don't ever, ever put yourself down. You are here for a purpose, and you are great in your place. You may not know what that purpose is; but no matter what you look like, what handicaps you might have, what size or what color you are, the fact that you are here is enough. God has something for you to do. Let us always live in that knowledge. Let us become humble instruments in the hands of that great Lord. That's the best thing we can do. He will take care of all the rest.

My Bald Boys Done Real Good

My baseball weekend is now complete with 2 out of 3 wins over the Yankees ... not bad! I'm very happy I was only in the stands for the 2 wins, I would have been heartbroken to sit through last night's lackluster loss. They just seemed flat - that's ok, they need to save their energy for the Braves this week. But did I have fun or what? Basically, going to games is a good excuse to jump up and down and get really excited and scream a lot and yell "WUSSIES" when they walk David Wright, just because he homered a few times and BOO A-Rod, just because he's obnoxious. And eat hot dogs - I think - coupled with the Virginia Road Trip last week - I have eaten more hot dogs in the past 10 days than I have eaten in the past 10 years. I'm stuffed with nitrates and rat hairs and roach droppings, I'm sure. I had a great time though, even when I had to sit through the chill and the rain on Saturday - most people left after the 7th inning, thinking, aw, it's 8-2, it's over...and the excitement was yet to come. I absolutely LOVE it when they put 48 year-old Julio Franco in and he blasts one past all the kiddies in the field. Love it. As Charlie (The Dad) said "OLD GUYS RULE"! I just think thats beyond cool - and yes, I even have Mom and Dad in on the Mets action now, they were both watching the game on Saturday ... when I spoke to Mom she said "I have two words for you: David Wright". Apparently, all the ladies love Mr. Wright - and can you blame us?

Rain rain go away, come again just not on a Mets game day!

Last night was the Mets vs. the Cubs night - I headed out to Shea with Andrea and Elroy with lots of blowing rain and dark bleak skies. We figured they wouldn't be able to play, but just in case, lets go, have a beer and a hotdog and see if our optimistic thoughts can chase the storm away. 8pm - still raining and still no baseball and we were cold and gave up. I get home 15 minutes later and the damn rain had stopped and SNY was proclaiming "first pitch should happen within 30 minutes". Now, I had a half a mind to jump back on the subway (I'm only 5 stops away from Shea) and go watch the game, but I didn't want to go alone and I was tired already from fighting the rain and fully engaged with watching Ghost Hunters and thought, ok, fine I'm just S.O.L. and I'm out 9 bucks for the ticket. But...not only did the Mets play and win but as a good faith measure, we get to exchange our tix for any of the 3 games in June vs the Twins - woo hoo!

Awesome, indeed.

And as I write this, the Mets were down 1-5 in the 9th inning and just hit 5 runs to win the game and beat the Cubs - now onto the Yankee slaughter! I'm going tomorrow and Saturday - again, the forecast calls for rain, so fingers crossed I'll get to enjoy both games in peace.

More Jamestown Shots...

Courtesy of Vudulicious... I realized there weren't too many of me in my pics (obviously since I'm the one shooting) and she had some great pics so and my mom always complains that there are never pictures of me, so....

In pole position and ready for colonial good times!

by the seawall we all slipped down - not super flattering of me, I know, but I think I look happy nonetheless...and I was

Ly and I enjoying our Stewart's Old Tyme Soda Pop

Playing checkers in our rockers on the front porch of Cracker Barrel...I included this shot so that you can see my lovely farmer's burn - check out that arm - lovely!

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and never will be"

Great Thomas Jefferson quote from one of the exhibits at Jamestown that I think is so extremely relevant today - don't you?

These pics are in reverse, so go to the bottom of the picture postings if you want to do it in order... it really doesn't matter though...the trip was FUN and filled with lots of Super Trooper Laughter - we were all smiling, having fun, feeling like a #1 alright ... not once did I secretly miss NYC - in fact I hated it outright many times! It's good to get away from this hellhole city sometimes and especially to a completely different place. Virginia is a beautiful state and we learned a lot - we didn't get to the motel until about 11:30 on Friday night and then it was straight to sleep because Saturday was a busy busy day - up at 7am and then straight to the bus to Jamestown. Did I mention it was HOT? Hellish hot and humid. But it didn't matter, we were there to have fun and fun we had - all sort of performances, food and drinks, exhibits, and sweating. And giftshopping, where a mug was purchased by Floating Head and I finally got my pewter wine goblet. Lovely lovely. On to Jamestowne, where the actual settlement was and you can see them still digging and I thought that was the coolest part. Literally the coolest too, because Floating Head and I realized you could crawl down the sea wall and dip your feet and legs in the water and that gave us some relief from the Hot Hot Sun (Mervyn, name that tune!)

Then the rain came and so we didn't stay for the Chaka Khan concert, we headed home to freshen up and relax and enjoy the Feast of the Cracker Barrel. So much good food. Tasty, salty, I'm sure its bad for you but oh well sort of food. And then back to the motel where we drank some wine, Floating Head and Vu shared a cigar, more talking and funny stories and then gratefully, to sleep - we were exhausted! Sunday was the long ride home and that was that ... here's to the next adventure everyone - this was a blast!


Toasting to our historical, hysterical 3 days with some Williamsburg wine and a cigar


The Cracker Barrel FEAST!


Swampy Jamestowne


But pretty scenery too...




The actual barracks, rebuilt


Gravesites, by the sea - the archaelogists put the metal crosses there after finding remains


The well - I don't like pic this because of the movie The Ring...


Pocohontas


Cool, crackly ancient graves in the churchyard

Floating Head taking a dip by the sea wall


Capt John Smith


Fort wall


Church wall in Jamestowne


Floating Head, looking FIERCE in her armor




Floating Head, waiting for her ship to come in




The real Jamestowne, where archaelogical digs are going on


The sailors tools all ready for a voyage


A cottage


Colonial ASS!!


Floating Head drawing some water from the village well


Colonial lady making some bread



Vu is ready for her duel!


Native American lady showing us how to make a pot out of river clay


Floating Head exiting the teepee (or whatever they called them!)


Floating Head inside a teepee


Checking out a canoe - they hollow them out by burning them



Ly and Vu - ready for colonial fun!


Hop on the bus, Gus


Breakfast at the motel


lovely sunset sky at a toll booth near D.C., Friday Evening


listening to the Nooma Nooma song and imtitating the YouTube dude (and if you don't know what I'm talking about, go here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=e8xvK-tD8Jg)

The Great Historical Adventure Begins

It's 10am, Friday morning...last minute packing is being done right now as we get ready for the drive to Jamestown today! I'm meeting the rest of the Goonies at 1:30 and then we hit the open road and we won't stop until we hit a Cracker Barrel somewhere south for a late lunch/early dinner...now back to the packing at hand.

Sunglasses = check.
Camera fully charged = check.
Pilgrim hat = check.

Snow White! How about The Office? Didn't I tell you the last 10 minutes rocked!! Woo hoo Pam! I love the way they are having her slowly come out of her shell and try to change and I love that she was the one to walk across the hot coals and I love the fact that she finally called out Jim on what a jerk he has been to her and that she scolded everyone for not coming to her art show. Other best moments? When he told Stanley to go to the back of the bus and he just looked at Michael in that Stanley way and said "excuse me?"; when the always drunk lady (I can never remember her name) thought she had her bathing suit on under her shirt and she flashed the camera; Toby all ready to go with his sunscreen and then Poor Toby all lonesome in the office by himself; Andy falling into the water in the fat suit...oh the whole show was a hoot, just as hysterical as last week's. Anyway Snow, I'll laugh with you about more on Tuesday when I call you with the Dancing Results.

So now you all can look forward to some colonial-type blogging when I get back, illustrated with possible silly pictures and whatever historical facts I pick up during the many activities planned for tomorrow...we will be exhausted I'm sure, but laughing all the way home.

PS - Best Two Weeks Ever COMING UP!

Okay, so not only do I have 2 days off from work (Friday and Monday) and I'm going to Jamestown for Colonial Good Times, but next Wednesday, I'm going to the Mets-Cubs game with 2 cool coworkers and I just found out that I also scored tickets for that weekend's Subway Series, Mets vs. Yankees at Shea. So I'm going to the game on Friday night and Saturday afternoon - what a blast!!

WOO HOO - GO METS!!!

Everybody's Working For the Weekend

And are you loving every minute of it?

Enough of the Loverboy references...so I only need to hold out until Thursday and then I get a little adventure. Friday we are off to Jamestown to party with Chaka Khan. We aren't quite sure how she fits into the whole colonial/America's 400th Birthday theme, but she is "Every Woman" so I guess she's a colonial-type woman too. So Friday, I had a strange meal. Not strange tasting, it was just in a strange location. Hanging lopsided off the side of a building on 50th and 2nd Avenue. And having 2 martinis didn't help that lopsided feeling. Okay, it was really a balcony at an Italian restaurant, but it was very tiny and Floating Head kept leaning towards the building in hopes of shifting her weight away from the edge so that we didn't fall off and onto the street. I got the feeling my mother would NOT have enjoyed eating up there. Rim O' The World Road in California, Juicy Mama? I'm being funny actually, it was very nice up there, just a little "tilty" you could say. I'm sure the 2 very very strong martinis didn't help, but it sure made me giggly as I pondered my death and tried to learn (in vain) to smile with my eyes, as directed by Tyra Banks.

Yesterday was the final yoga class in the workshop so now I have to hold myself accountable and continue on...to that end, I purchased a 10 class card, and being the thrifty (a.k.a CHEAP) person that I am, I now HAVE to attend at least 10 classes there because to not use it after I gave them 130 bucks would be too much waste for this cheap ass girl. Anyway, I feel very proud of myself, first with starting the meditation practice because it was something that I always wanted to learn and make a part of my life and I've done it - I miss a few days here and there (such as Friday - one cannot meditate when one is a tiny bit slurry from martini drinking) but I generally do it every day for 30 minutes at least, sometimes a little longer and that's awesome. Secondly, I'm proud of myself, because normally when I start something or take a class or anything unfamiliar I need to have someone at my side, the buddy system, and the yoga class might be the first thing that I did all on my own - no hand holding (except maybe Indian Santa's, in spirit only!) so hurrah for me! I bought myself two little presents as a reward on my way home (and as I was Mother's Day shopping) - a cute sparkly little notebook from Pylones (I love that store..everything is so CUTE) and then a 5$ necklace from this lady by Union Square. Now this is funny because after the first meditation class, I saw that lady selling this jewelry and I looked at her necklaces and wanted one, but then I thought, ah that's the last thing I need is another necklace so why bother. Well for the next month, I kept thinking about that necklace - I coveted it. And I should have bought it and I kept going back to that spot to see if she was there and I never saw her. So as I'm walking to the train to head home I said to myself, "the 5$ necklace lady is going to be there" and lo and behold, there she was! (Merv: I summoned her. Just like "I SUMMON KODACHROME!") So at long last, I got my necklace and I thought that was a fitting gift to myself.

So to home, to home, where I happily watched The Two Towers. Favorite part, you ask? When the army of elves show up at the Battle at Helm's Deep - those elves are FIERCE. I wish I were an elf. They all have great hair too. And when Gandalf appears with the Riders of Rohan at dawn as promised to save the day and you know I was tempted to stay up and watch Return of the King, but as it was way past my beddybytime I did not - maybe tonight though...