A two week summary :)

Man life has flew by literally. I miss blogging, sure do but not having access to the internet on a regular basis makes it harder. Perhaps I should try to blog every day via email. Then when I do have access to the internet, I can copy and paste. Not sure if I can manipulate the posting date so it remains in chronicalogical order??

The trip to Maine was WONDERFUL. I'm gonna break this down by day to day...

Thursday Night

My flight out of LaGuardia was delayed by an hour and a half but the flight itself went by very quickly. The flight attendant on this small charter plane was so nerdy, the kind that Seymour Phillips characters usually play. I didn't have my hearing aid on and was using air plane plugs for my ears. The landing bit always hurts my ears a lot, and no amount of gum chewing is gonna change that! On a side note, if I fly up there again I think ill get roundtrip tickets as it couldn't be much more than one way. Ronnie met me at the airport sans the baby. Her dad, Paul Bunyan was watching her son and the babys father, Doogie was at work. (See Ronnies Dad Paul Bunyan used to call her bf "Doogie Howser" from the TV show cuz he's this skinny white guy, tall and lanky and works at a hospital as a surgeon tech assistant). We caught up and yakked a mile a minute. Once we arrived at her new house there was this baby fast asleep on Mr. Bunyans chest/stomach area. Then Ronnie picked up her son and it hit me. Ronnies a mommy now. It weirded me out BIG time for about 10 to 15 mins, but then it went away and I see Ronnie now with Peanuts as if it couldn't be any other way. Amazingly how quickly we adapt to new circumstances, especially pleasant ones such as this. We talked some more and then went to bed.

Friday


I was a lazy mofo. I admit I wanted to be able to read, hang out and get used to being in a different environment. I loved the room I stayed in because I could look out the window and see the trees, woods, and a fire pit. LOVED it, realize how much I miss nature and my old house where I grew up. The kitchen had a large window that faced the woods by my house. I think if I ever do buy a house I would want it to be in a woodsy area BUT within driving distance to a city. Granted I need sunlight but open fields like where Baba lives now doesn't cut it for me. Her house understandly I like a lot more than the old house but the view... anyhoo I rested about during the day.

Then around 6pm, it was suppose to start at 5 (but hell its Friday, who goes anywhere at 5pm?) deafies began to trickle in and by 7pm we began our lesson in Sushi making. Meanwhile Ronnie had made this into a friendly competition among the attendees. We were paired up. My partner was Josh.

As you can see, he's the life of the party. Pure ASL, deaf institute background. It was interesting to see the variation between the ASL signers and strong oralism influences within the group as a whole. There were 3 catagories for us to compete in1- best looking/appearance2- best tasting3- most creative via ingredients used within the roll? We conjured the "JJ Roll"

Daniel here was the Sage, and we all watched, with me jumping around the room snapping pictures. Hell if I can't film, let me shoot! So I shot away.

It was a good party! Near the end Richardson arrived. I wasn't sure if she would remember me as I was her peer advisor at MSSD when she was a freshmen in my dorm wing, along with Szymanski. She was a petit kid, very small, turns out she's very Italian and Irish ;) which would explain her tremendous vibrance out of such a small figure! She walked in and said hello to everyone, then looked at me, where I sat anxiously wondering if I would get? A blank stare, who the heck are you? Or a look of remembrance?She looked at me and for a split second I thought, man she doesn't know me. I signed "do you remember me?" Then her face broke out into a warm smile and she signed "hi JP (my old sign name fyi no longer in use) ofc I remember you!" and that was that. I got to know her a lot more as a person and as an adult over the weekend. She's a great person dealing with her own deck of cards dealt to her. I like her, still spunky.

Saturday

We went to Mister Eagle's party. Mister Eagle rocks. I met him 3 years ago thru Ronnie. We've always gotten along famously. Lots of new faces at the party. Lots of food, yay! Me is the happy, home made food is not something a New Yorker comes across very often ;) deviled eggs, casseroles, chips, veggies and dips and so on. I noshed all day we were there. Even had Ronnies famouse Moose Chilli, delish! Gawd I'm slightly salivating as I write. I just remind myself not to eat too much and be like the Europeans. Eat within moderations but also enjoy the food and the company you're with.

Im hooked on the art of Bocce. So anyways Doogie was in charge of setting up a Bocce Tourney. I drew the tourney map and got people to sign up. Just when I didn't think I get enough people to sign up, I ran out of space and ended up making the chart go from 8 teams to 16 teams! I really enjoyed learning how to play Bocce. I even later helped ref other teams playing their rounds and keeping score. Bocce rules!

Sunday


Fathers day. Imagine to my surprise waking up to a strobe alarm blaring, blinking away. Felt like I was back at MSSD dorms! Turns out Ronnie was making pancakses but some smoke from the pan made a sensitive fire alarm repeatedly go off. Peanuts didn't enjoy the alarm much. I stumbled over to breakfast barely awake and ended up going back to bed. Sundway was mostly hanging out. We did touch a goodwill that I brought some tees from, whee! That night on TNT or TBS they were having a Clint Eastwood movie-thon. Mr Buynyan and I watched "Heartbreak Ridge" it was pretty good actually.

Monday


Ronnie, Peanuts and I left to return to NYC. The drive back down went just fine. Hit a little traffic here and there, nothing major. That night Jack and Szymanski came by. Jack and I had a dumbass fight and I realize I was nitpicking the small stuff instead of sticking to what was bothering me. Once that became apparent I resolved to do what Blondie once said to me many years ago "Pick ur battles wisely". She's right. If you find yourself bugging over little stuff its probably a good idea to step back and think about what's really bothering you? So without going into details I apologize to Jack for blowing the small stuff into major arguments. And he too understood I was frusturated by the issue itself.

Tuesday


I had to work in the Bronxs but that night was A LOT of fun. We had a small party for Ronnie. Nutter, King, Szymanski, Joe Joy, Knob, Blondie all made it over to my place. Where I had lots of good food to nosh on. The veggies and fruits, plus the bread and olive oil were a smash! We had a wonderful time. Later on the Mothmen also stopped by for a short visit.

Wednesday


Ronnie got to meet up with Rusty and Blondie to discuss the Rosen Project. We agreed to do the DVD shoot in the middle of July. Finally, a laid out plan!

I brought a Bocce set last weekend so Jack and I could play. We went to the Bronxs for Greek food and then hit Target off of 225th street. Then on Sunday I met up with my friend Martin and Jane Q for the Gay/Lesbian parade. That night Jack met up with me and we played Bocce. Jack wasn't too terribly impress but he was a good sport about it.

All week I had been feeling very lethargic, then this weekend I went to PA.. I hadn't seen my folks in a few months and I needed the break. I ended up with a small cold/sinus infection that began the week before which would explain my low energy levels lately. See my allergies sometimes causes my head to ring and I didn't realize this was also the sign of a sinus infection till the post nasal drip became problematic and the sore throat developed. So Baba and Jack and I spent most of the visit at home, watching tv/movies, eating good food and Jack worked on his BMW too. He had order new interior strips for his car. Looked great and he also upgraded the angel eyes on the headlights. There's something sexy about a man who can fixs his own car. Its something to see him tinkering with all these wires. I'm glad Jacks a reniassance type of man. He's not afraid of hard work. That's one of the reasons why I love him! We also played some more Bocce outside Baba's house. Afterwards once it got dark, we sat in the grass, chatting and watching the fireflies. Something neither of us had done in years. I think he's starting to like the game Bocce, see see? We also played a little Jenga indoors when my energy was low. Jenga is an easy game for people of all ages.