Restaurant Weeks have become a popular and fun way to enjoy dining out, and in a little over a week, the East End of Long Island is putting on its' 10th Annual Hamptons Restaurant Week.
The LI LGBT community has been abuzz with activity lately, and this piece recaps all of the special events, new clubs, and online communities that have been popping up all over the place.
These are two of my personal journal-type posts this week. This is one of the kinds of posts that got me started with this blog and I hope to keep up with them more often in the coming weeks. Good stuff here, so check em out!
Music Items on John's World
I love to share the many exciting things I hear going on in the music world, and this week there was plenty of good stuff:
The latest hot boy band from the UK are riding a high with their song "Glad You Came," and they're back in the States for another spell of appearances.
Well, I missed last week’s “Writing Wednesday” and so you might think I’d have a lot to share here for two weeks worth of writing, but it’s really not too much. Life’s been really hectic and there hasn’t been a lot of time for writing like I’d like, unfortunately, and so here goes nothing:
This is the one that got rejected, then put up on Y!CN for a spell, then accepted back on to Gather. This week’s new albums include Drake’s sophomore set, a R.E. M. retrospective and a new Christmas album from the Gleesters.
Yes, MJB is back and she’s doing a special live streaming concert tomorrow night, November 17th, and for the special show she’ll be performing the entire, original “My Life” album. Should be awesome!
This one was really exciting to research. Developers are planning a new amusement park in Orlando featuring 8 brand new world-class coasters, something which has been sorely lacking in the land of make believe. Plans are still tentative, but fingers are crossed!
I work in Long Island Farm Country and I just love going into all of the special farm stands to buy fresh veggies, hoe-baked goods and lots of other cool stuff. Well, farmer’s markets are places where the farmer’s bring their wares to you and they are literally all over the island. Thanksgiving is a great time of year to get these goods while they’re out there, so check it out.
LI Restaurant Week has officially ended, but five great restaurants around the island have extended their prix fixe meals for even more great dining bargains.
I love a good craft fair! You can find all sorts of unique items for gifts or for yourself, and there are plenty of them to go around beginning this weekend. Source: RoFoHeadgear
Y!CN
It All Started with Ruth Buzzi
I’ve only written one piece for Y!CN in the past two weeks and it’s the second in a series I hope to do on the Occupy Wall Street movement. The topic of the piece is eliminating campaign financing and it was inspired by comedienne Ruth Buzzi, who favorited it on Twitter and then wrote me with a complement and to tell me that my piece inspired her to write her own...hmmm, looking forward to that!
Well that's all she wrote for now. I hope to be back on time next week with at least as many new pieces as I've shared for the past two. We shall see...As always, thanks for reading!
Today is Friday and I’m in a writing groove! This is the fourth piece I’ve penned today and I need to take a break once I’m done with it or else I’ll find myself still in my p.j.’s, sitting at my pc at 9PM tonight. It’s not often that I get into such a creative mood, full of ideas, and I have to go with it when it happens. So here goes…
My Thursday
Yesterday was not a good day for me. My entry described all of the things that were going on around me and I was very frustrated with all of it, though as I said in my post, I wasn’t going to let any of it get to me and I didn’t. Once I had finished writing it, I hopped in the shower and got ready for my date.
Now I don’t want to share his name, and I warned him last night that any interaction with me could get him mentioned here, so I can’t not discuss it. I have to admit, I was a little apprehensive about the date for several reasons, all having to do with the ex. As I noted in a previous post, the new guy is the same age as him and they’re both Hispanic, so he immediately reminded me of my ex when I met him. I’m also still smarting over him and I have a lot of trepidation about setting off in the direction of another relationship right now, but he is nice and he’s cute and I’ve decided not to worry about it…just keep moving forward!
In the end, I was so happy that I went. We ate at one of my favorite Brazilian restaurants, Greenfield’s, which used to be here on Long Island, but closed awhile ago. The conversation was comfortable and nice, and once again I was reminded of my ex because there were eerie similarities to both of our stories. I hadn’t realized beforehand that his breakup was even more recent than mine, which is probably a good thing because it puts us both in similar places. Anyway, he’s been through a lot of things in his short life and this morning I was pleased to find out that our conversation inspired him to write in his own blog for the first time.
Now I’m not going to share it here. I would never do that without asking first, but I read it this morning and found it to be a very well done introduction to his purpose. He called his post “Pieces to a Puzzle” and in it he referred to his future blog entries as puzzle pieces that will eventually make up the whole of his life and who he is. I feel the same exact way with my own writings, whether on here or at Y!CN. All of the pieces together make up a complete picture of who I am as a person, and his entry inspired me to post my “J is for John” piece.
So I move forward in time with an open mind, not expecting anything, and just enjoying the moments we’ll share. Whether I get a new friend or anything else out of it, I’ll be better off in the end for I know that knowing him will enrich my life somehow. We’ll see…
Monetizing the blog
As many of you may have noticed, I’ve been placing advertisements within the blog in the hopes of generating some income from it. Since it’s taken off in recent months (I’m occasionally outnumbering my hits on Y!CN with this blog…wow!), I’ve been focusing more on it at the expense of my page views at Y!CN and other endeavors. The income from the other sites has dropped with less articles posted and so I need to find something to make up for it.
Though I will try my best not to have too many ads on here, especially pop-ups (I hate those!), I will continue to place ads on where to find the songs I post within these pages. I’ve placed links to both digital downloads (iTunes) and traditional CD’s (Amazon) below videos so that any of you who enjoy the music posted here can easily find a place to get it. I hope that helps and going forward I’ll be looking to add some more useful advertisements that relate to the content of the site.
Splash Thursday
After my date last night, I returned to Splash for some much needed dancing therapy. With all that happened yesterday and thoughts of my ex nagging at me, I needed to let loose a little on the dance floor. I was once again amazed at how much better the place is on weeknights than on weekends. The music is much better overall and last night was just about as crowded as I’d ever seen it.
I danced so much last night that I was forced to leave early because my shirt was literally soaked from sweat. That was okay, though; because by the time I left I’d had enough ‘dancing therapy’ and was feeling better. In the meantime, here’s a great dance song they played last night from back in the day:
Y!CN Articles
Here are some pieces I’ve published since the last time I added links here:
This one was an assignment I claimed from Y!CN. Though I don’t follow sports like I used to, I still enjoy a game here and there. My favorite sport is hockey. I think it’s the most exciting, non-stop action in any sport and the Rangers are my absolute favorite team! 1994 was an awesome year for NY sports and I’ve got a really special memento to prove it!
This one’s the latest in my “Crossroads” series. I hadn’t written on that in awhile and since summer is approaching fast and I’ve resigned myself to staying here on Long Island for it, I decided to share some of my favorite things about the place I currently live.
I love Rihanna, and top ten lists are always fun to write and they get lots of hits. Well, as Porky Pig used to say, “That’s all folks.” Have a great weekend!
One of the most common New Year’s Resolutions is to save money. In this economy, many of us are saddled with debt and disposable incomes are at low levels for many of us. Finding opportunities to save money doesn’t always come along so easily, but there is one place you can go to save big on dining out. YourLI.comis a website that offers great deals on dining discounts at fine restaurants all over Long Island.
Pantano’s Kitchen, located at 3535 Merrick Road in Seaford, is a great little bistro serving up great food every day, all day long. With a plentiful menu of specialty pizzas, salads, paninis, wraps, entrees and so much more, Pantano’s is a great place for dining in or taking out.
The historic Pine Grove Inn of Patchogue has been serving people in one way or another for about 100 years. The charming building is located in a beautiful setting alongside one of East Patchogue’s tributaries just south of South Country Road. The restaurant serves up good quality German cuisine at reasonable prices in a warm, cozy atmosphere.
Though I’ve lived in Patchogue for the past twelve years, I’ve never been to the Pine Grove Inn before, so when a friend suggested it I agreed to give it a try. I’m not a big fan of German food, though the only German cuisine I’d ever tried was sauerbraten, which I didn’t like. My friend assured me I’d find something on the menu to whet my appetite, and he was right.
