Unclaimed Moolah!

I ran across a great website NAUPU where you can click on a state and enter your name and if there's any $$ left from a bank account or what-have-yous and then you can click on the claim form, jump through some hoops and VIOLA, $$$

I found one for PA for myself, it states its from U of Pitt and its under $100 but damn, even if its only $20 smackaroos, I'll claim it. I also found one for my grandfather too and one under Jack's name but I am not sure if its MY Jack or someone who has the same name? I will send it to Jack and see if it's his???

Anyways just click on NAUPU above, then pick all the states you ever lived in and try your luck. Who knows, you may stumble across some extra money ;+]

Mark Frauenfelder's newest fan!

I think I am in love... with his art work! Duh, my heart belongs to Jack! (see, even the 1st picture below is for Jack!)

Isn't his work fantastic? Check out his website for more of his art! (btw Mark, if you're reading this, hope you don't mind me posting a few pictures? They are AWESOME! and REFRESHING!)

It's an Amish world, and we're just living in it

Back in PA. Arrived last night in time for dinner. Baba and I hit the nearby Yangs for some Chinese food, my meal wasn't that great. What a disappointment, usually their food is awesome. Maybe the chef had an off night? Anyways, it was so good to see Baba, and we spent a lot of time talking about family members and me missing Jack. I still am not well, this damn chronic sinuses is making me nuts. I mean jesus, I spent most of last weekend in bed trying to sleep it off.

Today we visited with Maria, Rob and their 2 boys, and it was so nice. The hours flew by. We have a date to go back next week on New Years day and watch the movie Wall-E.

Tmw Nancy, Bobby and David will come by for pizza and to visit. Sunday I have plans with Mom to spend the night. She will go with me to Goodwill on Monday to do a little clothes shopping. I need dress pants for work, the kind that doesn't have to be dry-cleaned. That's one of my new years resolutions, to stop buying thrift clothes that require dry-cleaning. I am looking for any ways to cut back expenses. I did really good this month, got the rent all caught up and even paid off some of January's rent. The extra hours I put into media really helped me more than I realize. I may have gotten sick because of it but I don't mind, I have a week and a half to just get better, visit with my family and start my thesis. Yep its finally time. I took off Novemeber and most of December and now I feel ready to tackle the paperwork needed in order to get my thesis proposal started. See I will be using undergrads and I must submit my plans to the IRB (Independent Review Board) before I can implement my research. The IRB committee will meet in the 3rd week of January and I should know by early February if I got their approval. My goal is to be done with my thesis in May. Blondie and I are gonna harrass each other into getting our thesis done. We started the grad program at the same time and by god, we will finish at the same time too!

I miss Jack. This has been the longest month of my life since he left. I miss his smile, his hugs and kisses. I miss his nightly underwear inspections and he always replies "ooooh, you're wearing X color, my favorite. Now why don't you take your pants off and let me admire them more, and your legs too...." Sometimes I cave in and other times NO. But I love the fact that no matter what day it is, or what time of year, he thinks I am super sexy. Haven't showered, am sick, life sucks, doesn't matter, he thinks I look good! I could be clipping my toe nails, wearing a face mask but as long as I am in my undies, I look good! He even brought a 2nd portable heater so I wouldn't be cold and have no reason to argue why I shouldn't be in my undies. I must admit, I do enjoy my lingerie collection and the gleam in his eyes when I let him pick out which piece I wear....
BUTT get your mind out of the gutter, thats not all of what I miss. I miss just talking with him. Having him be bluntly truthful and never sugar coating ANYTHING. He always stands up for me, roots for me and intervenes when he thinks I am being taken advantage of. I really credit him a lot for making me finish my grad school requirements (i.e student teaching). And for taking the teaching job last year where I had to be out the door by 6:30am. Seeing him never complain about going to work or getting up made me toughen up a bit.

He called me today, it was the 1st time we've spoken by voice since he left. Baba has a phone where I can set the volume level higher than hearies can stand it and it helped. Of course I can hear him with the volume amplified but I can't always understand him by phone. He's smart though if I am struggling with a word, he will substitute it with another one that has a similar meaning. Instead of repeating it over and over again which most deafies know is extremely annoying. He told me he loves and misses me too which of course made me burst into tears. How could I not miss my Jack rabbit? He keeps reminding me that already a month has passed, and summer isn't that far away. He will start his school in a few weeks and will have a better idea of when he will be done. The best case scenario would be late April, the worst late June, early July. All I know is when he finally returns to NYC, he's gonna have a hard time prying my arms off of him and getting away from my kisses ;-)

I got an email from my friend Karen who's now engaged! She will visit me in January and fill me in on all the details. And I also got an email from Knob who says her honeybunny will wait for her while she's gone (he seems like a good one so I am thrilled for her!) It seems with the economy being down the toilet, love is in the air because afterall, people and experiences are more valuable than all the $$$ in the world. I always tell Jack, I rather be poor and happy than rich and miserable.

Star Trek:TNG "Night Before Christmas"

'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the ship
Not a circuit was buzzing, not one microchip;
The phasers were hung in the arm'ry securely,
In hope that no aliens would get up early.

The crewmen were nestled all snug in their bunks
(Except for the few who were partying drunks);
And Picard in his nightshirt and Bev in her lace,
Had just settled down for a neat face-to-face.  

When out in the halls there arose such a racket,
That we leapt from our beds, pulling on pants and jacket.
Away to the lifts we all shot like a gun,
Leapt into the cars and yelled loudly, "Deck One!"  

The bridge Red-Alert lights, which flashed through the din,
Gave a luster of Hades to objects within.
When, what, on the viewscreen, should our eyes behold,
But a weird kind of sleigh, and some geek who looked old.  

But the glint in his eyes was so strange and askew,
That we knew in a moment it had to be Q.
His sleigh grew larger as closer he came.
Then he zapped on the bridge and addressed us by name;

"It's Riker!  It's Data!  It's Worf and Jean-Luc!
It's Geordi!  And Wesley, the genetic fluke!
To the top of the bridge, to the top of the hall!
Now float away, float away, float away all!"

As leaves in autumn are whisked off the street,
So the floor of the bridge came away from our feet,
And up the ceiling our bodies they flew,
As the captain called out, "What the hell is this Q?!"

The prankster just laughed and expanded his grin,
And, snapping his fingers, he vanished again.
As we took in our plight and were looking around,
The spell was removed, and we crashed to the ground.  

The Q, dressed in fur from his head to his toe,
Appeared once again to continue the show.
"That's enough!" cried the captain, "You'll stop this at once!"
And Riker said, "Worf!  Take your aim at this dunce!"

"I'm deeply offended, Jean-Luc," replied Q.
"I just wanted to spend Christmas with you."
As we scoffed at his words, he produced a large sack.
He dumped out the contents, and took a step back.  

"I've brought gifts," he said, "just to show I'm sincere.
There's something delightful for everyone here."
He sat on the floor and dug into the pile,
And handed out gifts with his most charming smile.

"For Counselor Troi, there's no need to explain,
Here's Tylenol-Beta for all of your pain.
For Worf I've got mints as his breath's not too great,
And for Geordi LaForge, an inflatable date.
For Wesley, some hormones, and Clearasil-Plus:
For Data, a joke book; for Riker, a truss.
For Beverly Crusher, there's sleek lingerie,
And for Jean-Luc, the thrill of seeing her that way."

Then he sprang to his feet with that grin on his face,
And, clapping his hands, disappeared into space.
But we heard him exclaim as he dwindled from sight,
"Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good flight!"

Space: Above & Beyond

Recently my netflix viewing has been a series called Space: Above and Beyond. Its came out in 1995 and only lasted 1 season. What a bummer because this show is SOOO good! It was created by Glen Morgan and James Wong (they also did the Xfiles and a lot of other shows for Fox). I can't imagine why it wasn't picked up other than the fact the show got bumped around so much in terms of viewing times. The reason why I liked this show a lot was it had a heavy military feel to it. The story takes place in the year 2063 after a major alien attacked earth. There are 4 main parties involved. The humans (us). The invitros or sometimes called Tanks or Nipple Necks as racist terms, they are human that are born age 18 and genetically enhanced to fight the AIs. Which brings me to the 3rd group AIs which are artificial intelligence rebels aka Silicates. The humans fought the Silicates and were losing so thats when they started using invitros but we the audience never get to see this, it is told as the story unfolds. Lastly there are the aliens aka Chigs. The show is based on a marine squadon called the 58th, consist of all humans except for 1 invitro name Hawkes. Plus their lieutenant McQueen is also an invitro. I absolutely loved this series! I didn't want it to end when I watched the last episode, they left a good cliffhanger. I get the feeling that Battlestar Galatica took a lot of their ideas on how their characters should act from this show. There's a fan site for this show and also another fan sites where people can write and submit story ideas for all kinds of media which I thought was very interesting. Sci-fi ought to buy it and remake it! All I can say is BRING BACK THIS SHOW!!!!

In a few hours, I will head to NJ 1 last time and then I won't be back for 5 whole weeks! hoo-rah!

Harebrained for my Jack Rabbit

Lately I have been on a squirrel fixs. I found in the paper the other day, an advertisement for a squirrel name Twiggy that can water jet ski here in the city and has done so for the past 27 years, and I sent it to Jack for fun. I figured next winter when the tour comes back to the city, we could go check it out.

This of course being ADD makes me obsessive so I decided to google funny squirrel photos and found these two. I just LOVE the one that's star trek. So I also sent them to Jack. I found a few jokes such as;

Q-Why did the squirrel swim on his back?
A-He wanted to keep his nuts dry.

Q-What's a good way to catch a squirrel?
A-Climb a tree and act like a nut

As you can see I am nuts about Jack and miss him a lot. I'm so glad we write each other all the time. It really helps me feel connected to him while he's away.

I finally put together a closet storage organizer unit. It looks like a jungle gym for cats. I am 80% done. Never again will my clothes or Jack's not have a home. This was the best thing I brought for the apt.

I also squared away the turtles. Tmw they will come with me to work and spend the holidays with a co worker of mine who also has a baby red earred slider, yay! Now I can relaxs and know they will be well taken care of.

I got an email this morning from someone I wasn't expecting and I choose not to respond to it. I would only be adding fuel to the fire and frankly I am too tired to deal with the drama. It's basically a rehash of things said a while ago and I am not going to apologize anymore. I don't know what this person is expecting me to say or write but I am not biting.

Been grading papers and prepping for tmw night's last final exam. I am also excited about the possibility that Blondie may start teaching at the same college as me 2nd semester. It would be cool because her class starts and ends the same time as mine and we could ride the train to and forth to NJ. Plus I would have somebody to bounce off classroom activity ideas. See which one works for her as well as me? I am keeping my fingers crossed.

A good sense of humor

goes a long way!

Check out this video my 2 students did for their final exam. Quite clever and silly. They know the sign for WIFE! I don't know why they kept fingerspelling it? Otherwise, totally enjoyable ;-)

Am at work today, running the sound/audio booth for an event in the auditorium. Which is good because I am able to watch my student's final exam and prepare a questionnaire based on their videos.

Yesterday Blondie was suppose to meet me around 4ish but she txt me to let me know she wasn't feeling well but that I could come by and visit. So after I finally did 2 weeks worth of laundry and took care of a few errands, I headed downtown to see her and Eddie. It was so good to see her. I missed her so much and we had a lot of catching up to do. Her fever had broken by the time I arrived so she was up for company *whew!* We also watched Journey to the Center of the Earth with Brendan Fraiser who I used to have a major crush on but I don't seem to anymore. Its interesting how a person's taste changes over time. Ironically he and Jack have the same build, and it made me think of Jack a lot. I am starting to finally get used to being by myself. Anyways we laughed some and it was just nice to be myself with people I care about and just hang out.

The turtles relocation has been postponed till sometime this week or next weekend. All I know is they have to be moved before I leave for xmas/Hannukah break to PA..

This is the last week I will be teaching (actually just giving finals). I am looking forward to the time off. I need to recharge my batteries and come up with lesson plans that are adequate for the size of my classes. That has been the biggest challenge this semester, is finding the right activities that keep all of my students engaged.

Next Sunday I will go to a Hannukah party with my db friend Martin. This will be the 2nd year we've gone together. It will be nice to eat potato lakas with apple sauce or sour cream. I haven't seen Martin since August! He has been out of town a lot this fall.

The other night for 1 of the events I was covering, it was in a room that was open and I couldn't grade papers like I normally do without being seen as rude. What's worse was it was a panel discussion and I had to sit with everyone else who attended and pretend to follow what was being said. I would catch a word here or there, maybe a phrase and this went on for several hours. It became torturous at times. It made me realized that even with the most powerful, digital hearing aid on the market I am still DEAF! It was so boring just sitting there pretending to know what was going on, laughing when everyone else did, clapping when they did, I just hated it. Its not like I can request a terp, as I am a tech and this is their event, not mine. Lesson learned, do not do event gigs in this room!

Rainy days suck

Well I overslept, my alarm was on SILENT mode,
which spells doom for us deafies! And got to work
2 hrs late! Lucky for me, they were cool with that.
I cannot wait till Saturday. 2 reasons, 1 is I will
finally see Blondie! And 2ndly my turtles will be
moving to their new home in the Bronxs with Virgie
& her awesome gf, yay! I will miss Morticia and Rygel
but they'll be just as happy with them. Lately
Morticia has this habit of idly hanging by the floating
platform, kind of like when people are in the pool
and they rest their arms around the edge and let
their bodies dangle, yep that's her. Just hanging
around. Rygel is still a major scaredy cat. Always
running away and hiding either under the filter or
under the basking rock.

Im headed to Nj, tonights the last class b4 finals
next week. My ppt was over 26 slides long! I figure
whatever we don't cover in class, they can read on
their own from the classweb. Im looking fwd to re-
viewing their videos for the finals. Curious how they
did. I gave them a choice to do narratives or work
in pairs doing dialogues. Then next week I will show
selected videos and they will watch and answer
questions related to the videos.

The service for Nigel on tuesday night was highly
attended. I was told his friends all had a chance to
get up and say a few words. And online there's a
song dedicated to his memory called "Angels on
The Moon." By Thriving Irony. Its so beautiful the
song. The video has the lyrics. Check it out at
Www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Mi10ujLq3M
I especially like the lyrics;
"Don't tell that you're dying,cause I don't want to know.
If I can't see the sun, then maybe I should go.
Don't wake me because im dreaming, of angels on the moon.
Where everyone you know, never leaves too soon."
It breaks my heart still to know he's gone.
Baba said it was the saddest memorial service
she ever attended and I believe her.

Teaching rewards

I received this email from my student today;

Hi Prof.

I just wanted to share something with you that happened to me today that I thought was really cool. My friend called me up ( who knows I am taking your class) and said he had a deaf person coming into his place of business to have some video work done and that he was worried he did not know how to communicate with her. He invited me over and I waited for her to arrive.

She finally came and I was able not only to communicate with her but to also translate all the information to my friend and sign back for him as well.

I first introduced myself and then my friend and told her that I am studying asl and i know very little. We get threw the whole interview and I was able to tell her how much it would cost and when it would it be ready. She thanked me for my help and said my asl was very good. LOLOL

My friend was amazed at how much you taught us in such a short period of time. I should of video taped it for my final LOLOLOL.

Just thought it was interesting and wanted to share.

See you Thursday

Imagine he didn't even know the manual ABCs before last Sept and here he is able to have a decent conversation with a deaf stranger. This of course made my day and reinforces my self-esteem as a teacher :-)

France's little sparrow

I recently finished a melanchy movie called Le vie en Rose basically French biopic on Edith Piaf. She was a famous singer in Paris and her nickname was Little Sparrow because she was under 5 feet tall. This was a life I was glad I did not live, hers was full of neglect while growing up. Which eventually led her to drugs and alcohol abuse. She died age of 47.

This movie also made me reflect on how at MSSD I took French class and really couldn't grasp it. All my life I never understood languages and how they work, including English. It wasn't till I started grad school back in 2004 did I finally realize my ASL sucked? That semantically my ASL usage was based on English, not the meaning of what I was trying to say. It has made me feel better about my skills as a writer and as an ASL signer. Obviously not now but down the road there are several languages I would like to learn the basics of it, at least 1st year level. I think knowing a few languages is good. I don't expect to master the verbal aspect, pbfft! I have enough trouble saying "big" words in English, why would I ever torture myself like that. Besides should I ever go to France, I still be deaf.

Tonight's class went well. I am relieved too I was worried my lesson plan wouldn't be challenging or stimulating enough. But it was, *whew!*

Still miss Jack a lot, duh like you couldn't tell by my ongoing movie viewings??? But anyways, I recently have discovered two new blogs through my blog links on the right, one is Snazzy-BAMM and the other Docce. Both who's writing style I absolutely enjoy reading. Nancy, check em out when time permits. By the way I am thinking of all of you and Nigel's family, especially for tmw night's memorial service.

Online viewing with subtitles

Recently I've discovered an online site that has many captioned shows called Hulu. What I recommend you to do is click on either TV or MOVIE link and then POPULAR. Scroll down to the left side and at the end of the list it says SPECIAL FEATURES closed caption. Click on that and then all the results will include shows or movies with CC. Yep its that easy. Not everything on the site is CC but a lot of it is :) and its FREE.

I also watched an online movie through netflix under the foreign selection called Pan's Labyrinth. Man was that a stupendous movie! I really had no idea how truly magnificent movie it was! Granted the man who played the step father was the ultimate villain, his nazi like antics put a chill down my spine. But it was evenly balanced with the enchanting scenes of Ofelia's fairyland accompany by a faun who instructs her on 3 tasks she must complete in order to return to her Father's realm in the underworld. This movie doesn't disappoint nor does it have that "disney" sugary quality to make you feel like you're watching a kids movie. I don't usually like foreign movies, often they move too slow but not this one. One thing that really impressed me about this movie is the director Guillermo Del Torro wrote the subtitles himself because he was disappointed with the subtitles of his previous Spanish film, The Devil's Backbone. In an interview, he said that they were "for the thinking impaired" and "incredibly bad." He spent a month working with two other people, and said that he didn't want it to "feel like... watching a subtitled film." And it really made a difference.

Also Netflix online viewing doesn't have CC so I am limited to only foreign movies with subtitles. That's fine by me, I like being exposed to new things but I do intend to write to netflix and inquire why they do not have CC for their online media? If hulu and NBC can do it, why can't they? They have the means and the money to do so. We're living in a digital world, no excuses!

I didn't go to DPHH after work last night, just wasn't feeling overly social with Jack leaving last Monday and Bobby's friend Nigel's death just left me feeling quiet. Lucky for me King and Weird Terp snapped the photos, and I didn't feel guilty for not going. The last time I missed DPHH was last July for my nephew's bday so not a bad track record. So I went home and cleaned up some. I figured I would start with the bedroom and move all the boxes to the living room and anything that doesn't have a place so far in the bedroom as well. This way I can complete 1 room and then work on the next which would be the living room. I've also organized part of the kitchen too.

Now I am at work covering an all day event which is a movie festival. Easy job, just pop in the movies, turn the lights on and off and make sure the mics work. Yep, I love my job at media, where else could I get paid to do something so easy and have so much free time to work on my lesson plans and student's papers?

felo-de-se

Recently a terrible tragedy has hit close to home. My nephew Bobby's best friend Nigel killed himself on Wednesday night. I woke up yesterday morning to an email from Baba informing me of this horrendous news. Nigel was only 14 years old. My heart is breaking for Bobby and Nigel family. You see, we have a long history between both of our families. My mom was friends with Nigel father, Andy who owns the Record Connections. Often time Mom would go to his store to visit Andy and I would walk through rows and rows of records. He also had a pet rat too. I haven't seen Andy in so many years but if he's reading this, I want you to know how sorry I am for your tremendous loss.

I've been saying it for years, but my home town kids are especially cruel to anyone is even a bit slightly different. I don't know what it is about suburbia hell that induces this Lord of the Flies

mentality among the teenagers. My uncle John, uncle David, aunt Nancy and myself all suffered greatly while going to school there. The kids were relentless on the teasing and humilation. If I hadn't gone to MSSD when I turned 15, my life would have turned out awful, I just know it. I thank my lucky stars I got out of there when I did.

I do not know the details of Nigel's passing but I do know he left a big hole in Bobby's life. I am very worried about Bobby and he has been on my mind non-stop since I found out. Everytime I came to Lancaster to visit the folks, I always asked Bobby about Nigel and had hope I would have a chance to meet him. Now I will never have this chance. I've told Eddie and Virgie about it when I arrived to work yesterday. They said I looked like death warmed over, unusually pale and they knew immediately something was wrong. Even today Eddie has come up to me and inquired how my family is doing. Jack of course feels terrible for Bobby too. We were so happy when a few years ago, they met each other in camp. Bobby spoke so highly of Nigel. The world has suffered a ernomous loss. I was able to use my co-workers cell phone yesterday to call Bobby but no one answered so I left 2 messages. I know there's nothing I can say to him that will take away his pain. They say time heals all wounds but its going to be a long time before he is okay again.

I assume he will not be back in school till after the holidays. I mean it would be tortorous for him to be at the same school where the same kids who drove Nigel to his death are there. And with the holidays being right around the corner, I don't think it would be fair to Bobby to have to deal with all of that now. I wish Nigel had told someone how bad it was, and how bad he must've been feeling. If only he had waited a few more years, it would've gotten better. He had his whole life ahead of him.


Back at MSSD I think it was my senior year when a friend of mine name Heather killed herself. She was a lesbian and I remember the first time I laid eyes on her. It was in art class at MSSD. And I thought she was the cutest boy I ever saw. Blonde hair, blue eyes and a killer smile. It wasn't till later I found out he was a she, and she and I became good friends. We would hang out together and she'd show me her poetry. Once when we were off campus, being teenagers we brought some peppermint schnapps at the corner store next to Gally (its no longer there) and went to Georgetown. After a while, we were sitting on a park bench and she had gotten pretty drunk. She asked me if she could kiss me. I had never been kissed by a boy, yet alone a girl and I replied no. Not in a mean way, I was flattered. Many years later, I wish I had allowed her to kiss me. It would've have done anyone any harm. I was no stranger to the GLBT community so I wasn't at all offended by her wanting to kiss me. But I knew she was pretty drunk and I didn't want her to do something she may regret later on.

Anyways her family couldn't accept her as a Lesbian. One night she went out into her backyard and hung herself from a tree. She attached a piece of paper on her chest that read "No burial, cremation only." She probably wasn't even 21 years old. I always blamed her parents, especially her mother who used her as a child. That's right, her mother published a book of photos using Heather as a model. She hated it and showed me the book once. She was never a girly girl and in all of the photos she's wearing dresses and bows. I still think of Heather from time to time. That's why whenever I meet a teenager who is obviously gay, I give them as much support and understanding as possible because most likely no one else is. And I never want to see what happened to Heather, happen to them.

The Golden Army

For HellBoy II. The last night Jack was here on Sunday to help us get our mind off the inevitable goodbyes we rented HellBoy II and it was GOOD! I ate it up like chocolate mousse! The sets were surreal and later after the movie ended, I watched the special features which included the director Guillermo del Toro commentaries about the set designs. The troll market was so detailed, that the art dept even created a troll language that was use throughout the movie. Also he explained where he got his ideas from such as the numerous pipes reminded him of a place in Japan and the color schemes that they used. I know myself when it comes to my films, I am very picky about how my sets look. Ironically while I use what I have, my sets generally are very bare and tidy unlike my real life. Anyways if you haven't seen it, what the hell are you waiting for? The movie also introduced a new character name Johann Krauss an ectoplasmic medium (gas) who embodied the spirit of Germany post WWII. I also loved the tooth fairies which were not the sweet pretty ones we grew up leaving our tooth under our pillows but more like gnats that had a gang mentality and loved to gobble up teeth on living victims then gorging their flesh and bones! As for Abe Sapien character, I didn't really see how he contributed to the team of "freaks." But according to wikipedia his powers are

Abe Sapien is an amphibian who can survive underwater, an excellent gun marksman, and a formidable hand-to-hand combatant. He has extremely high intelligence and in film roles is adept at telepathy and psychometry.

Uh ok, didn't do much for me for this movie but hopefully the next one will make him a little more fierce and with a backbone! I never like superheroes who act timid. I really enjoyed the character Death (as seen in the 2nd pix). I thought whoever thought up of the character's look did a phenomenal job! Placing the eyes on his wings, having him talk in a cryptic manner, really this movie blew me away. I had seen Hellboy I and not overly impressed but now I can't wait to see the next movie!

I also saw BEOWULF the animation. I had heard of the story all my life but not being a fan of old English and poetry I never knew what it was about or the history behind this story. Basically its about a guy name Beowulf who is from Sweden and comes to Denmark to save a kingdom from a monster called Grendal who has been terrorizing and murdering people in the mead hall. I will admit at times the story moves painfully slow. I found myself looking up and down from the movie to my sidekick playing spider solitaire. But still nonetheless, it was very eye catching at times and real life. I later watched the special features on this dvd as well and learned that they used motion captured technology to create 3-dimensional characters.

Designers at Imageworks generated new animation tools for facial, body, and cloth design especially for the movie, and elements of keyframe animation were incorporated into the movie to capture the facial expressions of the actors and actresses.[7]

It was amazing to watch the behind the scenes and how they added weights to the props to give it real feeling to the actors. I also thought it was smart of the director Robert Zemeckis to have all the cast members dress up in the costumes and make-up as their 3-D characters would look like and take their pictures so they could have a copy in their dressing room. To help them visualize how they would look. They also used small scaled models of different sets to help the actors get an idea of where they should be standing or what direction they should be looking at. It was neat to watch and made me wonder how this technology could be applied to use deafies using ASL? I am glad I know finally know the story of Beowulf. While I do not desire to see the film again, I do appreciate the film production and they made it relatable in a way that I could understand and appreciate the story. Rather than it becoming like the Iliad, boring, dry and torturous to read!

Good news, my co-worker and her gf will take my turtles, yay! I really was hoping they would as now I know they will be in good hands. Plus this way I can maybe visit them and see what they look like as they grow up. I am just relieved that I found them a good home. She will let me know tmw if they can get the turtles this weekend or next?

This weekend I am working Fri and Sat for an event at media services. It will rake in an additional few hundred which will help me during the winter break when I am off from work. I will be off for x-mas and NYE and return the 2nd week of Jan. This is good because the break will allow me to get my thesis started, visit family, rest, work on lesson plans etc, etc but I am sure by the end of the break I will be ready to return to my beloved NYC. Without Jack being there, I get bored quickly. Not to say that my family is boring because they sure as hell aren't but all of my things are here, my life is here.

Friday night I will arrive to dphh pretty late but luckily King will snap photos of the earlier crowd and I will snap photos of the later crowd. She and I as well as McCaul work well together. I bombarded him with a list of possible bars for 2009 line up, I am curious to see which one he picks? I am glad I became the photographer for dphh, it keeps me behind a camera and makes me feel productive.

I should be grading commentaries but reading 45 commentaries on the same chapter gets old quick. I am seriously thinking of doing an online discussion for 2nd semester so that way it becomes more interactive with the students comparing their opinions rather than just writing a 2 page commentary to me and me writing notes to them directly. I plan to make it a weekly online discussion so some will be from JOURNEY INTO THE DEAF WORLD, and others from articles or online websites. I also plan to increase the mandatory 1 deaf culture event to 2. I think they can handle it. Its so interesting how after each semester of teaching I find myself modifying my course to make it better and more beneficial to my students as well as myself. I really love my job as a professor and it makes me feel good to expose my students to the deaf-world even if they choose not to be a part of it. I hope I instill a cultural view over a pathological view (deafies are broken and need to be fixed). And lastly I hope I change their views on ASL and that its not something that can be learned in a matter of hours. That its not broken English or iconic only. That it is a real language, with its own rules and syntax.

Its weird

Being alone again.

In some odd way its like im single all over again.
No one waiting at home for me.
No one is here when I wake up.
Worked today, it kinda sucked but kind of didn't

Still adjusting to life in a LD relationship.
Never thought I would be there again.
Only experienced it 1x before with my
ex when I did my internship in California
for a total of 2 1/2 months. I wrote him
almost every day. At least this time
with technology/writing being at my
fingertips it helps dealing with missing
Jack. The doorways of communication is there.

Been feeling sick to my stomach on and off.
Sometimes there is an annoying sweetening
feeling in the back of my throat. Nothing I've
eaten or drank today has made it go away.
I came home and immediately went to work
on the apt.. It took Jack 4 or 5 car loads of things
from storage over a period of a week before
Thanksgiving to clear out my storage unit.
2 reasons why I did this. 1 to cut back expenses,
they had just jacked up my monthly storage
fee from $65 to $75. 2ndly I wanted to be able
to go through my things all at once. Decide
what to keep & what 2 get rid of. But in the
meantime, the already messy apt was bad
and having piles of boxes everywhere has
made my apt a natural disaster zone.

I realized recently as cute as my 2 turtles
Morticia and Rygel are. They have to go.
Im not digging cleaning the tank. I near
damn broke my back carrying a 10 glass
gallon tank filled 2/3rd with water to the
bathroom to clean it. I am a cat person and
I need a pet I can hold, that will sit on my
lap and be my daemon basically. Don't get
me wrong once I had set them back up (an
hour later, and slightly soaked with dirty
tank water) it was rewarding to see the
little guys or girls (still don't know their
sex) enjoy fresh water and a new layout.

There's a real possibility my coworker's
gf will adopt them. Im keeping my fingers
crossed. I want Rygel & Morticia to be
relocated to a home that will enjoy them
and really take care of them. I've learned my
lesson on "impulse" pet buying lessons.
I think if I had a yard or pond that was self-
sustaining I would love turtles but I don't.
Anyways keeping my fingers crossed this
nice couple adopts them. Better with someone
I know and like than with someone I don't.

My turtles

Move more quickly than I do today. Im in a bad
slump since Jack departed this morning. I know
that he'll be back this summer but it sucks being
apart from him right now. He needed time to
settle in down in NC before his classes start
in Jan. Besides he has an appt with admissions
this week that could not be delayed further due
to the upcoming holidays.

The apt is a wreck. All of my stuff from storage is
in the living room right now, towering all over the
place. Its kind of good because I finally have
everything I own within reach but kind of bad bc
its overwhelming. I plan to have a "yard sale" in
Jan to get rid of things I don't need anymore. Plus
I have some ideas of how I want to have the apt
laid out in terms of furniture etc etc..

Im looking fwd to Feb when Nancy, Bobby & David
come to visit me for a weekend. Im already re-
searching places they may enjoy visiting while
they are in town. I must email Nancy to ask her if
she has any particular place they want to see when
they're here?

On my way to teach my classes, and im not ready
but the show must go on!

Jack may

Drive me crazy sometimes. But I miss him more than ASL/English could
say. He left around 530am and its been rough since. I will be ok, but
its hard right now.

Shive-a-git

My Mom says that term above Shive-a-git, basically a nicer way of saying Give a shit without actually swearing. I am adopting that phrase :-)

My Thanksgiving was wonderful. I always enjoy having it at my Uncle Robs and Maria's house because there's plenty of room and love for everyone. I also appreciate how everyone pitches in with the meal planning. Such as Jack and I made the pumpkin pies (it was his first time! and he did a terrific job) Baba provided the crudities (celerey and carrots); Mom the sweet potatoes, cranberry and an apple pie; Dave & Nancy the awesome corn bread pudding which I can't get enough of and Maria made the turkey, stuffing and gravey! This way the burden of cooking a whole feast doesn't fall on just one person.

After we gobbled down the dinner, I played a game called Bonkers with Maria and her 2 sons Benjamin and Nathan. It was a fun game to play and a delight to play with the 2 boys, especially Nathan who won and was so excited to be the winner! Then Mom and I played 500 rummy, she won. But I will reclaim my honor the next time I come home in a few weeks!

Friday I went to Mom's place and got to visit with my bastard kitty, Tom. He had been a bad boy earlier that day and chewed up Mom's hand and arm pretty good! Mom was not happy and Tom pretty much stayed away from her but by the time we were making dinner, he was all lovey-dovey again. I made spaghetti for everyone, we had invited Nancy, David and Bobby over to watch the Incredible Hulk. I didn't stay throughtout the whole movie, my sinuses were really acting up and I just wanted to be back at Baba's to relaxs.

Yesterday we just hung around watching movies with Baba, making another pumpkin pie because both of us were yenning for it. I got Jack to watch Cube 2:Hyperspace. I love that series. If you like sci-fi, Ray Bradbury, physics then you'll like these movies. Today we went to the place where Jack will store his car while he's away. There was an awesome 1940s car in there as well and made me wish I had a time machine to experience America during the 1940s when my grandparents were teenagers. There's something endearing about back then although probably not for deafies but none-the-less, still attractive.

My sinuses have been bad throughout this visit, I am taking antibiotics but it doesnt seem to alleviate the sinus pressure so I am unable to focus well enough to grade my students papers. Besides today is the last day I get to spend with Jack before he leaves for the next 6 months :( I am going to miss him so much and I keep trying to remain positive but its hard to keep back the tears. I haven't been apart from him in so long that I can't imagine how I will feel tomorrow night when I get home from work to an empty apartment. I just have to stay busy and during my break I will be focusing on my thesis and editing my films. I will have approx 4 weeks off! I am hoping Media will bring me back earlier than when 2nd semester starts so I can make a few bucks, see see?

Funny I have been having a lot of crazy dreams and sometimes Szymanski shows up in my dreams but sadly I am still unhappy with her that even in my dreams I make her either go away or I ignore her till she disappears. I wish she had handled things differently when I got robbed in Oct instead of projecting her issues onto me and when I wouldn't agree to them, she ended our friendship. That's pretty messed up if you ask me and not a real friend. A real friend would've agreed to disagree. Not insist they are right and I am wrong. She never wanted me to treat her as an equal but to excuse her no matter how far she went with things. She wanted me to broaden her "intellectual" horizon and I am like, go back to school and or get a job. But I went to grad school, I work 2 jobs and during my free time I like to have fun. Not have in-depth debates or be expected to her personal psycho-therapist instead of a friend. I long for things to be easier for us both but she won't change and I can't afford to have someone in my life who doesn't respect Jack, we're a package deal. Until she learns to accept that when it comes to couples, you have to respect their partners, you can't expect them to favor her over their uno numeros. Even when she was with Cliff, and I didn't particularly care for him and thought she could've done better, I never went out of my way to bad-mouth him or give her ultimatums about him. I accepted at the time they were together and if she was with him, she had her reasons.

My beef with Simulscribe aka Phone Tag!

Last spring my boyfriend Jack accepted a telecommuting job at Phone Tag formerly know as Simulscribe. For those of you who don't know what telecommuting means, it means a person works from home using technology such as a phone, computer, internet etc etc.. He was reluctant at first to accept this job because he doesn't enjoy working from home. He was told he would have an office within a few months of starting his employment with this company. One of the main reasons he accepted this job was it included benefits, especially health benefits. And the pay seemed pretty good.

The novelty of this new job wore off soon. Jack hated being home all the time. He hated how the company didn't leave him alone during his "off" hours. He was the client service manager. Basically he set up new accounts, assisted with issues on current accounts, or closed accounts as requested. He also bore the brunt of collecting payments from people who didn't want to pay. As time went on he did more and more of this and 9 out of 10 times, he was successful in getting a payment made. I believe during a 2 month period, he only had issued 1 refund, compared to his coworkers who issued refunds on the average of several times a week.

The biggest drawback about Phone tag is they brag about using a computer voice recognition for voice mail left and then transcribed to a txt msg format to be emailed to you. The problem is, it wasn't a computer transcribing the msgs. No it was REAL people from places like Indonesia aka slave workers to listen to the msgs and try in their best way using broken English to translate the voice mail.

Next problem I have with phone tag is they charge a fee for their services while youmail.com does the same service for FREE.

After several months (approx 4 months or so) without warning, the higher ups asked Jack to come in the next day with his cell phone and laptop. He said to me that very night, I got a bad feeling about this, I think they're gonna fire me. I thought it was crazy since he hadn't missed work hardly and every day was working for this company from 8am till as late as 7 or 8 at night! And the fact he hardly ever issued a refund saved this company a LOT of money so I was astonished when the very next day they fired him. The reason was this; someone had made a complaint about him a month ago. Huh? you're kidding me, they waited 4 weeks to fire him based on 1 complaint?! Man if you ask me this place reeks of racism, discrimination and above all else unprofessionalism. Apparently most of the people who worked for Phone Tags have the whole buddy buddy system down pat but Jack wouldn't play the part of a person who enjoys staying home every day, week after week. He would go to meet with the bosses occasionally to inquire about getting an office space and they treated him like an ingrate. WTF, I mean come on, our living room was covered in paperwork, we live in a small 1 bedroom apt and I resented the fact my apt doubled as an office. It made keeping the apt clutter free a nightmare!

The very very worst part of it all was when they fired him for that ridiculous reason, they sent him a letter saying our health insurance would last for 4 more weeks. Jack made his payment and we went to the doctor in June for some tests for me related to a chronic pain I was having in my abdomen area. But do you know what Phone Tag did in reality? They cancelled our health insurance the same day they fired him and my doctor appt was like the day or 2 after he was fired. I am now stuck with 2 different health related bills. One is for approx $900 and the other $200. I was furious and we were lied to by Phone Tag. I couldn't believe they had the nerve to write him a letter which we have at home stating the health ins would continue for 4 more weeks and then they really just cancelled it. I felt it was extremely vindictive and malicious what this company did to us. I am trying to work out a payment plan to pay back both health bills but I resent this company and still contemplate on suing them for these 2 bills.

Lastly this company is starting to fail and I believe the fact that Jack's former position with the company is now being offered only as an internship with lower pay shows this company will do anything to screw a person out of a buck. I regret I ever promoted Phone Tag or James Siminoff. By the way one time Jack had the unfortunate experience of meeting James Siminoff who made derogatory jokes about Gays and Blacks which really ticks me off! How dare you talk about others in such a manner, who are you?! My advice to you if you want a discrimination free company and service that doesn't involve slave labor, then go with youmail and save yourself some money, headache and in my case a hefty bill!

My students rule!

I got a copy of the group photos from DPHH event at the ESPN Zone. The girl next to me, wearing the blue shirt was so bad! She got me several free shots from the bartender. I gave her the sign name Imp/Evil/Mischievous. Now if only I wasn't their professor, I would've enjoyed being their friend on a regular basis.


All of them are my students except for the very last guy on the right, he is a deafie and made the effort to "talk" with my students which was very nice of him.

The decided names

I feel like I have finally settled on 2 names for my turtles. I believe I have 1 male and 1 female. The female, her shell has a distinctive mark and I will call her Morticia from the Aadams Family. But the male will not be known as Gomez. Nope, he will be known as Rygel from Farscape. He is deafinitely the 'scardey cat' one out of the two. He only wants to be out of hiding when no one is around. Morticia she's braver and will timidly hang out in the water where I can watch her but if I move too suddenly or come to close to the tank, she goes MIA too.

I hope when they get older, they're more visible ;-]

Today was a pretty good day. My 1st class tonight was a little hard to control, they're a great group of kids but TOO much talking while the 2nd class, PURR-fect. Let's see what the 2nd semester brings me.

Jealous of North Carolina

Soon NC will have a temporary resident, my Jack Rabbit. Yes you see he will be relocating there for approx 6 months or so to go to school for several certifications. He was unable to get into a program here in the city. Turns out he has family down there, and a favor is being called in so Jack will be leaving after Thanksgiving, the 1st of Dec it seems.

I am dealing with a lot of mixed emotions. On one hand, logically (the vulcan way) is that its for the best for the both of us in the long run. This way he can get the needed training to make a decent living while going back to school next Fall 2009 majoring in pre-law. But on the other hand (the betazoid side of me) is feeling "woe is me." My honey bee will be gone and I am going to miss him so much! I know I can use this time to do my thesis and get the apartment set up so that when he returns next summer, we can move forward. Its just going to be so hard not seeing him everyday, not being able to throw my arms around him and kiss those lips.

I've been spending all my time with him these past few weeks that we're actually getting on each others nerves a little and had a few minor spats this weekend. I think I am more emotional and sensitive because I feel like time is of essence. I feel like a love sick teenager where I want him in the room with me ALL the time but I am sorta driving him insane and myself too. Its weird and Jack tries to remind me to look forward to next summer and all the fun things we will do like camping and taking a vacation some where. I know the tighter I hold on, the more emotional I become and I am so lucky because Jack knows its only because I am mad crazy for him. Some guys would want to push me away but hes willing to hold me and let me know how much he loves me. He's been talking about marriage a lot too and that was one of the fights we had this weekend because I want a nice wedding when the time comes and Jack would be happy to go to a Justice of Peace and start our lives. He tells me it will be up to us to pay for the wedding and I have to be prepared for a small wedding. I am ok with that but it can't be THAT small, small but not tiny. Lavish but not impratical, classy but still fun. I told him finally that I can't think about it till he proposes and I will deal with it when the time comes. And he agreed that the wedding will not be too arid or small. I think he's such a guy guy that he forgets that women like me really place a high value on her wedding day. That its the 1 time you have to splurge because I only intend to marry once. I want to feel special and pampered that day and I want all the people I love and care about there! And he's thinking of how many people we will have to feed and how to be more practical. Ech such a guy!

So while hes gone in NC I have created a small list of things I want to do or goals I want to achieve and here they are;

I want to finish my thesis
I want to fix up the apt and have it all ready and organized so when he returns it feels like a real home and not an ongoing mess!
I want to finish my 2 long films
I want to start researching how I can get married in a manner thats affordable for us and how I can save up for a nice wedding so when he finally pops the question I can defend my "dream" wedding without breaking the piggy bank!
& I want my turtles to be happy!

Right now its late and I've spent the past few days with a bad head cold that seems to be finally out of my system.

[Update: I meant my 87-year old aunt. Its her husband who's 90 something. And I think I hold a special fondness for her because the family says I look the most like her and she is an eccentric person, sort of like me]
Lastly I want to share that my 90 something year old Aunt Miriam fell on Friday and broke her hip and that I feel so bad for her. And for my grandmother, Baba who's worried for her as well. I don't pray but I do send her my love and support from the Big Apple to the easy-going state of California!

Shaving my head!

Whenever I get sick I always have these crazy dreams. Last night I dreamt I was back in my old house on Brookfield rd (hence the name of my blog). I dreamt I got into a fight with Jack so in retaliation I decided to take an electric shaver and shave my head. I started right in the middle of my hair so there would be no turning back. I remember he walked in as I was doing it, I was in the bathroom, the one in the basement with the toilet that never worked looking in the mirror as I did it. It felt so liberating! I was worried Baba would be mad at me because during my time at Gally every year there's an event called 'bald freshmen day' where all freshmens shave their heads. I knew she would be offended if I ever did it, where I would end up looking like a neo-nazi. As well as all the victims of the holocaust and being a Jew you just don't do that.

So it was twilight outside in the yard and I remember looking at the rows of tomatoes that my grandfather, Papa had planted and we were having a gathering of some sort. Nancy and David arrived and Nancy exclaims I LOVE your hair! I had left a long piece of hair in the front and I don't know why. I kept wondering if Jack would still think I was pretty and so I walked over to him and he replied he HATED it! That I looked UGLY. But then Baba came over, by now I am in her bedroom at the old house and she tells me I look beautiful and isn't mad at me for shaving off my hair. I begin to wonder if my head is nicely round or did I have a weird shaped head? But I am quickly reassured I have a perfect round head and that others would kill for my head.

Soon after that it becomes clear that its the weekend and there's a large family reunion that my intermediate family didn't inform me of. For some reason they are not interested but I am. I met Ashton Kutcher who apparently is my cousin in my dream. He doesn't really want to talk to me, even tho I make the effort to talk to him saying he knows my friend Ty from a movie they did together. It turns out that Ty is his cousin which I remark is really cool. Then he walks off, not even saying goodbye to me. My extended family is huge, we're all in a restaurant and I meet a female cousin who's a little younger than me and lives in Pittsburgh and we decided to go out and about. Suddenly I am back in Pittsburgh and we hit a record store with real records. Ironically the entrance is locked and can only open if the people inside buzz you in. The owner doesn't like my cousin who works there and won't let us in. We leave to go and do other things. I remember being so happy to have a family member my own age and to be able to do things with. I invite her to visit me anytime in NYC.

That's about all I remember from this dream. I also remember being excited about how long it will take for my hair to grow back and would it be curly or at least wavy when it does? And I was so happy that I had done it and Baba wasn't mad at me.

Now I don't use a dream symbol book but I do believe that when I dream of my old house, that represents my mind and the past. Shaving my hair could mean that I am trying to shed a layer about myself or something in my life or that I want freedom. I am not sure but it was an intense dream.

Puffs tissues with Vicks

Are the best invention for people with colds. I am gonna buy a box tmw. Yep, woke up yesterday with a sore throat and stuffed up nose and today am sneezing left and right, bleah!

This weekend was pretty good. On Friday I did a research project that involved watching a signing avatar. It was cool experience to finally be able to understand an Avatar because most of the time its verbal and I can't understand them anyways unless there's captioning. Friday night was DPHH. Over 25 of my students came! One girl, boy was she fun! She got me a few free shots from the bartender. I can't make a habit out of this. Otherwise the lines between teacher and students becomes blurred but nonetheless, I had a blast!

Saturday I worked an event for 9 hours taking care of the microphones and other bs and it was worth it because the pay is $25 an hour *cash register dings!*

Sunday I was planning to see Eddie and Blondie but I was just too tired. Jack was a sweetheart and brought the cable box back into the bedroom. This way I could stay in my pjs and watch pre-recorded episodes of Star Trek series such as Voyager and Enterprise. We ordered breakfast for dinner, me I had french toast, and he had pancakes.

Luckily today I am at media so it doesn't require a lot of brainpower. Tmw I will pick up some dayquil and that will help me focus on grading students papers etc etc..

I am READY for Thanksgiving, feels like its so far away this year. I am looking forward to my Uncle David and Nancys corn pudding as well as stuffing with gravy. And visiting with my friend Karen too.

We WON!!!

Now I can finally breathe a sigh of relief! Obama you kicked ass! McCain I will grant you gave a lovely concession speech. Thank god Obama won. Now the American way will finally face some needed changes. No not overnight but overtime. Perhaps this election has allowed us to look more favorable internationally? Only time will tell.

Obama is in the lead!

Since 8pm, I have been repeatedly checking CNN for updates on the electoral vote. Its now 1030pm and I recently arrived home from work. Obama has 207 votes, McCain has 135. But as far as popular votes goes, they're pretty much neck to neck. Virginia is taking its sweet old time as well as Florida what a surprise! In tallying their votes. Wouldn't it be something if California was the deciding state?

On the bus ride home along 125th street, there was a large crowd gathered in front of the The Adam Clayton Powell State Office Building Plaza. I couldn't see what's happening there right now but its PACKED with people. Makes me feel good to be witnessing such an historical moment.

Wordle Fun

Saw this off of Queen Alpos site and it looked like fun. Created my own Wordle. You can too! And if you want to use more than one word, simply format it by doing this

Example; Hard of Hearing you would type ~Hard of Hearing~

If you want the word to be bigger, the more you repeat it, the bigger it turns up.

Example DEAF DEAF DEAF DEAF DEAF ASL ASL ASL DEAF will appear bigger than ASL.

Here's the link for mine. Now go make your own!

What a "Marvel" weekend

This past weekend, Jack and I got our fill of Marvel inspired movies! On Friday, during the day we watched the Incredible Hulk with Edward Norton playing David Banner. And man was it good! I was on the edge of my seat through most of the film. It was a 100 times better than the 1st movie that came out about 8 years ago. Better story line, gripping effects, just an AWESOME movie if you're a Hulk fan like me and grew up watching Bill Bixby play David Banner and Lou Ferrigno play the Hulk (he has a small cameo in this one too!). Near the end of the movie Robert Downey Jr. made a cameo as Iron Man. We decided right there and then we would rent Iron Man and watch it Saturday night. Jack had heard it was 2xs better than the Hulk.

After we ate dinner with Baba and her friend Millie (Baba made a delicious brisket with "smashed" potatoes, carrots and gravy, YUMMY!) We also encountered some trick or treaters, so cute. Jack and I headed to Jason's Woods for the Haunted Hayride. I made sure to hardly drink any liquids that day, I wanted my pants stay dry! We brought tickets for the hayride and their "haunted" museum of freaks and oddities. I figured the museum would be a good warm up before I was really scared. Already within minutes one woman in a costume came up and said "boo!' and I stumbled backwards. Then another guy who was standing with the other props, and I leaned to Jack that I thought he was a real person and he began to follow me which caused me to become jumpy. I immediately said "Jack! Come HERE!" while this guy who said nothing continued to follow me menacingly. Jack watched me literally jump to his direction and he replied "The guy wasn't even saying anything." I of course didn't care, I wanted my man to be with me non-stop!

Next we went on the hayride, there wasn't any lines to wait in. I was a little surprised at how uncrowded it was. Then again this year Halloween was on a Friday so I am sure some people were with their kids trick or treating, others hosting or attending parties. It boded well for us because we didn't have to wait around. They sat us in the front of the bed of hay, right behind the tractor. I refused to sit in the corner, I knew that would be a prime spot for the cast members to scare me. The ride began and it was so much fun. I shrieked, screamed and buried my head more times than I could count into Jack's arm or lap. They usually went straight for me. It could've been due to the fact I looked scared every time and I was. It was so nice of Jack to let me CLING to him for dear life when they uttered things like "You don't belong here. We need brains, blood!" Lots of growling and groaning, moaning, fog smoke, strobe lights, an excellent set up! I was so happy when it was done. I let out a sigh of relief followed by a huge grin. I immediately asked Jack if we could do it again next year? He said of course. We will probably go to Field of Screams, another haunted site in my home town.

We came back in good spirits, and also hit Hollywood videos where one of the cashiers dressed like a priest recommended we fast forward through the credits of Iron Man, because there was a small bonus materials at the end. We headed home and chilled out for the rest of the night.

Saturday we got up and while I was in the shower my Uncle Rob and his 2 sons, Benjamin and Nathan stopped by for a visit. It was so nice to see him. My nephew Benjamin was such a good boy, sitting quietly while we all talked, Nathan too. I was suppose to meet David, Nancy and Bobby at 2:30 but we wanted to visit with Rob a little longer, so I ended up meeting them closer to 3:15. We all met up at Nancy's house and her friend Josie (I think that's how you spell her name or Jody) joined us too for the Greek Bazaar. Bobby rode in Jack's car with us. We talked about his school year, and classes he was taking. He seems to be a major fan of American Culture, aka American History. Has a 110% average in that class. I gotta say, Bobby gets cooler and cooler as each year passes. His hair is as long or maybe longer than mine. I asked him how long he planned to grow it. He says at least a foot and than plans to donate it to Locks of Love. I told him I just did that last spring and how great I thought it was he was doing that!

We arrived to the Greek Bazaar and man there was a line outside the church. We waited an hour and it was so worth it. During that time we chatted about how much we enjoyed the Hulk from the day before and invited them to watch Iron Man with us after the Bazaar. Bobby was so thrilled to be going to Baba's to watch the movie. And David who hadn't seen the Hulk, I told him to borrow our copy and WATCH it! By the time we got our food and sat down, I don't know about the rest, but I wolfed down the chicken and devoured the pastitsio. We also met the priest's wife who introduced herself to us and explained about how all members of their Greek Church help with the annual Greek Bazaar. Little kids ages 4, 5 carry buckets of honey balls to and from the kitchen, eating a few along the way. I don't blame them, you know how Homer Simpson drools for donuts, that's me for honey balls. Then when the kids are in 4th grade, they move up to taking group orders for drinks. By the time they are in middle school, the girls serve and sell pastries and the boys bus and clear the tables. The adults take care of the cooking and serving and organizing the event itself. This year was their 50th anniversary! One Greek man, a church member gave out brochures and pins that read "I was Greek for a day." Both Bobby and Jack only ate their chicken and rolls. Bobby also ate the Greek olives and grape leaves filled with rice. The rest of us ate their left overs. I was glad to eats Jack's pastitsio that he picked at some. I was stuffed but not too stuff not to order some honey balls before we walked around and browsed the shops in the other corridor. By this time Bobby was anxious to leave and go directly to Baba's to watch Iron Man but Nancy told him to be patient. Besides I wanted Jack to have the full experience of this event. In the brochure it explained that this event has an average of over 10,000 visitors a year! I believe it, its too good not to go. We shmyed around and of course Nancy, Bobby, David and I enjoyed the "attic room" which is more like a garage sale where they sell whatever the members donated to the church. I brought a book, Sony CD player and a lamp for $2.75, how sweet is that? I also picked up some food items for Baba and Mom per their request. By now Jack was just as antsy as Bobby to get out of there. Jack doesn't like crowds which ironic considering he was born and raised in NYC. I quickly snapped some photos and the 4 of us, David, Bobby, Jack and I went back to Baba's house. Nancy would be by later after she and her friend were done at the Bazaar and had time to visit.

We got to Baba's and immediately popped in Iron Man the dvd. Baba joined us and it was a packed living room. The movie began and it was pretty good. It had a lot more humor than the Hulk did, Robert Downey Jr and Gwenth Paltrow did a wonderful job with their characters as Tony Stark of Stark's Industry, a weapon's manufacturer and Miss Potts as his assistant. As the movie progressed I suddenly realized that character Obadiah Stane was played by Jeff Bridges!!! I love him. He was in the movie Star Man as well as the Big Lebrowski. I idolizes Bridges. I think this was the 1st time I had seen him play a bad guy. Not bad, but I still see the "dude" from the Big Lebrowski whenever I see him. I thought the story-line for this movie wasn't as good as the Hulk but still pretty damn good overall. I had a hard time seeing the scenes that took place in the caves. Either it was the tv it was being played on or else it was based on sounds in which hearing people can enjoy those scenes better than us deafies? We even turned off the living room lights to see it better but to be honest I just read the captions.

Nancy came by right at the end of the movie and we all sat around and talked. It was a great night!

Sunday I met up with Mom. Lucky for us we had an extra hour due to daylight saving times. You know how it goes, Fall back, Spring forward! Mom treated me to Red Lobster. My god was it good! I of course ordered snow crab legs, and stuffed myself. I was kind of tired on Sunday, lucky for me, Mom was cool and we only went to Walmart after lunch to pick up a few things and then went back to Mom's place where I got to visit with Tom my bastard kitty and nap some.

Jack and I decided to return to NYC Monday afternoon. It was a wonderful weekend. I can't wait to see them all again in a few weeks for Thanksgiving! My friend Karen will be joining us for that. She'll be driving up from MD and staying at Baba's for a few days.