One Is One

Today, at the gym, on the bike, as I have countless times before, you type in the time you want to ride it (60 minutes) and they also ask your age to compute what your heart-rate should be. This was the first time I typed in "31" as my age. As a result, my target heart rate went down from 124 to 123. If this continues, I can extrapolate that I will be dead before I am 154...

Post script

Now that I find myself on this side of the aforementioned other side, I can say that it was about 20% as much fun...

The Road Oft-Traveled

And here I am once again on the verge of being another year older. I think that I might do some reflection upon this fact tomorrow, on the day itself. But, for today, I figured that I would re-publish what I wrote last year. Last year was a big milestone. Last year I turned 30. This year is just one more year after that, so perhaps less to reflect upon... But, here's my reflection on February 1996 - February 2006... maybe my next post will bridge the gap between that February 8th and this February 8th.

(The following takes place between the hours of 12 and 1 on February 7,2006...)

The time is ticking away, with only a handful of hours remaining in my twenties. To be specific, there are 9 hours left where I am technically still 29 years of age. This is because I was born at approximately 4:30am Eastern time, which will be 1:30am my time. Hmmm... does that mean that being born on the East Coast dictates that I will turn 30 at 9pm my time, when it becomes February 8th in New York? Wow... I'll be sitting down to watch Scrubs, and I'll be 30?! I was ready for this, but don't know if I am THAT ready for it...

So, these are amongst my final thoughts as someone in their Twenties. This is insane. I'm perfectly comfortable with this notion, and have been as it has been approaching me for the past couple of years. But, now, of course, there is possibly some regret of things that I did not accomplish while I was in my twenties, but, more importantly time to reflect upon the good times that my twenties brought me. I could give a year by year breakdown from 1996-2006, but, when you consider that that was a stretch that included the following:

• Marist College
• NBC Page Program
• Writing and Performing on "Dennis Miller" for CNBC
• The formation of Inside Joke Productions and the realization of a variety of projects

Summed up in parts of each of the above are friends made, friends lost, lovers, haters, and everything in-between, and it makes me smile. My twenties have been very good to me. I don't expect the same kind of memories from my thirties, but, if they're 20% as much fun as the above, I will be plenty happy.

See you on the other side...

Sometimes I know I chose the right line of work...

I just read this article on MSN:
http://msn.careerbuilder.com/custom/msn/careeradvice/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=926&SiteId=cbmsnhp4926&sc_extcmp=JS_926_home1&GT1=9048

If you don't have the finger strength to click on it, then here is what you need to know. They give a list for a bunch of no-nos in the workplace, which follow here:

• Plunging Necklines.
• Mini and Micro-Mini Skirts.
• Belly Shirts.
• Men's Chest Hair.
• See-Through Shirts.
• Shorts.
• Open-Back Tops and Dresses.
• Flip-flops.
• Skimpy, Strappy Camisole Tops.

Whomever wrote that article (Kate Lorenz of careerbuilder.com) clearly has never built careers in the entertainment industry, or this business we call "show". The majority of jobs I have had have embraced several of those fashions, and I in turn embraced those who chose to wore them, even if I were less than successful at embracing those wearing them.

And, no, smartasses, I'm not talking about the chest hair. While I do not parade that around the workplace, I can't help but sometimes display a little bit.

I was sometimes amazed at the attire, conversations and terminology that has been thrown around places where I work because I realize how most people's work places are absolutely different from anywhere where I have ever worked.

A new level of Sportsfan Lameness

So, yesterday, I wrote an e-mail to a sports talk radio show. Oh, I would have called and waited, done the whole "first time, long time" thing, but didn't get through. I feel like I'm somewhat better off for having merely sent an e-mail, but, it was more time consuming.

I think I feel bad because it means that I let Colin Cowherd get to me. He was railing on the Mets, and how they play themselves off as too low-rent for being in the biggest media market in the country. He kept going and going, but then he got to the "Meet The Mets" song. That was when I couldn't take it anymore. But, that's why he said it. And, keeping with the theme that this blog only discusses Mets or weddings, I will now provide you with the text of the e-mail that I sent yesterday, figuring that it ought to have a home somewhere. All you need to know about the Herd is that he has a relatively entertaining show that you really have to let grow on you. But, a lot of the time, he's a tool.
-=-=-=-

Herd, if Mets fans wanted to go to a baseball game and not have any fun, they would be Yankee fans.

As a guy who seemingly buys a brand new multi-million dollar Connecticut suburban home every other month, you wouldn't get what its about to be a Mets fan. It's okay. You're not one, and you don't need to be. Mets fans are not interested in rooting for a roster of 25 stuffed shirts who look like they receive 0% enjoyment out of coming to work every day in their three-piece pin-striped baseball suits with their baseball briefcases, punching old boss-man Steinbrenner's time clock for yet another day at the baseball office.

A guy like you can never see the difference in Mets fans versus Yankees fans or White Sox fans versus Cubs fans. The 1986 and 2005 World Series were victories for the little guys everywhere, because it was thrown in the face of the big boys in town, the prodigal sons, the golden boys, the media favorites. For one fleeting moment, second fiddle got to be first fiddle, and that makes the victory that much sweeter.

The Mets celebrate their Wild Card victories because, those are the franchise's fourth and fifth best seasons EVER. Let the fans reflect on the handful of years of even moderate success in an oftentimes miserable franchise. When a team's rich storied history includes being the franchise who set the record for most losses in a season, you look at the world a little bit differently than you would through Yankee-colored navy blue glasses.

The "Meet the Mets" song you played is loved by Mets fans and non-Mets fans alike. Also, it is from 1962, and dig a little deeper my friend, you'll find that the Dodgers and even the Yankees all had songs about them with corny music and lousy lyrics. It was a different time when no one was as obsessed with the appearance of being "cool", which in your estimation, having a mascot is not cool, despite the fact that the majority of MLB teams have them.

Are the Cardinals a bush league franchise (no pun intended)? They not only have a mascot but they have a hot-dog shaped gun where they shoot actual hot dogs into the stands. THAT is small time. Are you going to go on the air and talk about the small-town carnival that is the city that allegedly has the best baseball fans in the country?

Have you ever actually attended a Yankee game, or just watched them on your 50 foot flat screen while being served grapes and being fanned by dozens of toga-clad women like some Roman emperor? If you were to go to a Yankee game you would see not one, but two of the hands-down worst rituals in the game: playing of "Cotton Eyed Joe" and the grounds crew dancing to "YMCA". Don't forget that this is also the franchise that, not too long ago, invited fans to come on out to the big ballpark in the Bronx in order to help set the record for most people dancing the Macarena.

And, don't pretend to be some hayseed who doesn't understand that multiple varities of uniforms and hats are about increased merchandising so that you can pay for the best team in baseball. Which, for Mets fans, regardless of wins and losses, is exactly what they have every year, and why the embrace every facet of the organization and its history.
I would bet that sounds ridiculously uncool to you. And that's okay to a Mets fan. And it is exactly why you will never be able to understand what it is all about to be one. And, it's okay, because we don't need you to.

...but with a whimper...

I have no delusions that there is much of anyone that was eagerly awaiting my return to the rather unillustruous world of blogging, as I can only confirm that three people had read it. Four if you count the strange spam-comment that was posted trying to wrest some of my hard earned money away from me.

In any case, I feel like this is hardly the point, seeing as how blogging is something that is done largely for oneself. I mean, that sure sounds obvious. It's basically "I feel like blogging today", or "I think that I would rather not blog for seventy some-odd days..." and it's not like there's any kind of arrangement where you need to feel that you should be writing. After all, it pretty much goes without saying that it's not something that you HAVE to do. But, you know, maybe something that you kinda want to do.

And, today, I WANT to write. I want to write more than a blog, but, I am somehow having trouble getting my thoughts together. I've got ample time over the next several hours whereby I can actually make some headway on a script that I have been working on since February. I have managed to find several reasons to keep myself otherwise occupied, but I think its because I don't even know where to start. So, perhaps partially as a means to not have to put that kind of pressure on myself, and also to kind of open up any possible creative juices that I may have bottled up and get said juices flowing.

That was dirty. Or, rather, it should have been.

In any case, I think that the easiest place to make my less than triumphant return to the world of blogging is to tackle merely one topic today. This will be a topic that has appeared multiple times on this blog (and no, it's not the Mets) : Weddings.

I am going to another wedding on Saturday. In St. Louis. Let's take a moment to retrace the steps of all the weddings I have been to in the past 15 months, shall we?

May 2005 - Pat Boss - Albany, NY(ish)

September 2005 - Fred and Lisa - Jersey Shore

October 2005 - Damian and Denise - Newburgh, NY

November 2005 - Mimi and that guy she married - Laguna Beach, CA (I'm excused from remembering this since it was my girlfriend's friend's wedding)

February 2006 - Ali and Dan - Northridge, CA - Also my girlfriend's friend's, but I actually know them.

May 13,2006 - Sarah and Dan - Minneapolis, MN -- yes I'm aware I owe someone a post about that wedding in particular.

July 8 2006 - Barrio and Katie - Reno, NV

July 15, 2006 - My brother and Frannie - NY, NY

This Saturday - Mark and Angie - St. Louis, MO

Sept. 16, 2006 - Jon and Julie - NY, NY

November 4, 2006 - Erik and Sarah - Poughkeepsie, NY

February 2007 - Rob and Nina - Ceremonies in CA and NY

I know of another one that is forthcoming next year, but not sure if it ought to not be mentioned as of yet.

Sadly, all of this wedding-ing forced me to squeeze out Andrea and Geoff's wedding in NJ, as it was sandwiched between Barrio's and my brother's, which was unfortunate that I couldn't make it work out in that time frame. It would have been something of a badge of honor I could have worn, but, alas, it was not to be.

So, really the point here is that there will simply have to reach a point where I will no longer know anyone who is NOT married. Then, and only then, will I be in a situation where I will have exactly zero weddings to go to. Logically, that would dictate that it would be my turn in this wedding-themed version of musical chairs that everyone I know is seeming to play, as before too long, I will be the one left standing when all other seats have been taken. I've written about this before, and I just don't know if there is a reason why I am having so much trouble visualizing myself as that person. I've talked to many friends in the past year in various stages of marriage, whether it be planning or the day of the ceremony, or checking in to see how the first year went, and, I feel as though it is like asking someone to tell you all about their job as a brain scientist on microbiotic organisms : no matter how slowly you talk and how much you try to bring it down to my level, I probably won't be able to relate to what you are talking about.

And, it's not as though I have ever made a conscious decision to not get married, and in fact I would go so far as to be quite the contrary. It's just hard to visualize taking that plunge... particularly when it comes to the when. Which naturally brings up the obvious follow-up of the other party involved.

One thing is fortunate, though. I simply can't be pressured into planning a wedding when there aren't any free weekends left, as someone different is seemingly getting married every single weekend.

Overall Opinion of Thirty : Confused as to whether or not I need to be more grown up than I already am. Should I want to be twenty again, because I don't think I do...

I like this.... I like this a lot...

http://popularitydialer.com/index.php

Imminent Return

So, two and a half months later and there is little blogging that has been done. I'm aware of it, and, there are a variety of factors contributing to this, none of them catastrophic or life-altering, but all of it keeping me incredibly busy, preoccupied and oftentimes out-of-state.

But, I have a wealth of things that I would like to contribute to this blog, so, face front true believer, and you'll get some tales of my poor and nameless lifestyle later this week.