February 21, 2011

Today is Monday, the first official day off from work for the week. After a not so great day yesterday, I feel refreshed and ready to go today. I just finished and submitted a piece on foreign language songs that I think is pretty good. The song “No Speak Americano” inspired me to write it and I surprisingly found enough songs out there to make up a whole article. Stay tuned…

Happy Birthday to You

Where to begin??? The same question I asked yesterday, only this time I’m ready to answer. I got invited to my friend Vera’s house for birthday cake for her son Frankie on Saturday night. In my own dizziness, I set out to buy a card for him Saturday afternoon, but for some reason I had Vera on my mind. Her birthday was a week before his and I’d already bought her a card. So what did I do? Instead of buying a card for Frankie, I bought another one for Vera. Duh! At least one of them was generic enough to give to the little guy.



As sometimes happens with Vera, the plans got a little changed and I ended up going to her mom’s house instead. Now I’ve known Vera since I was in my early twenties and we’ve been through a lot together. I’ve spent a lot of time with her family back in the day and I feel as comfortable with them as I do with my own family, so I really didn’t mind swinging by there. Vera’s family reminds me a lot of my own. I don’t know if it’s an Italian American or a Bronx thing, but both of our families are a little on the wacky side.


Me and Vera's family

Without saying anything that might get me into trouble, it was a good time. I think I finally made some inroads with Frankie, who actually sat on my lap for the first time and even gave me a hug and a kiss goodbye. Happy birthday Frankie!



Splash, Redux

After the birthday cake, I headed out once again for the city. As before, it’s those days when I have no work that I’m left to nothing but the thoughts in my own head and I need to get out for some dance therapy. Since I’m on vacation, I plan on going out whenever I can, and since there’s no longer any places to go during the week here on Long Island, it’s Splash to the rescue.

Once again, I had a great time. For the second night in a row, the music was awesome and I danced my ass off, so much so that I had to take off my shirt (which I don’t normally like to do!) because it was soaking wet from the sweat. The dancing did its thing and kept my mind occupied throughout the very late night. I only wish I could have that all the time!

On a side note, I want to add that sometimes I just hate people from Long Island. Every once in awhile I will see people from the bars out here at Splash, and I did on Saturday. As is often the case, these idiots don’t seem to know who I am outside of their normal realm of the Bunk House and Fire Island. Two guys that I’ve seen and known for years walked right up beside me and pretended as if they didn’t know me. WTF?



Anyway, that’s all I have for now. It snowed overnight and so it’s a little easier for me to be cooped up inside and getting to work. Here’s a video for one of my favorite foreign language songs. It’s called “Dragonsta din Tei” and it’s sung in Romanian by a boy band called O-Zone. I have no idea what they’re singing about, but I think the song is great fun. Take a listen: