I blame my dad...

Well, my dad got this horrible sore throat and I kept telling him to stay away from me because I don't want it. Well...I got it. Damn him. The worst part is that I have it worse than him. It has settled in my chest and it just hurts to breath. Unfortunately when I was in college, I had pneumonia and ever since then, most colds I get just go right to the lungs. Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know why I've been a little MIA. I've been trying to rest a lot which means I end up sleeping during the day because I don't sleep at night since almost every time I fall asleep, I wake up choking. Yup, it's fun. I'm taking penicillin and have been for 2 days but it doesn't seem to be doing much so we'll see. OK, enough about me being sick. I really hope it goes away soon because Friday is my dad's 65th Birthday and we have plans to go to Morton's Steakhouse. I really want to be ok for that because well, you all know how I feel about good food. Also, I had planned to start Weight Watchers on Monday but I couldn't move on Monday so that didn't happen. Also, I wanted to feel better when I start. But it turns out that this illness is a good diet. I've lost 3 pounds. But this isn't how I want to lose it. I just haven't had an appetite and everything tastes funny to me. The only thing that I have been eating is scrambled egg on a challah roll because it is one of the only things that tastes like what it's supposed to. OK, well...I'm done. I'll post something that's actually interesting when I feel better. :)

This cracked me up!

Thanks Cute Overload! Enjoy!

Never Forget....

Well, as today is September 11th, I decided to take a turn and do a serious post. I haven't really spoken too much about my experience on 9/11/01 to many people because it was a day I will never forget and it was the source of many many nightmares for a long time. I can't watch any news about it nor can I see any of the movies or even look at pictures. I saw it all when it happened and I was just too close for comfort. Although, I wasn't downtown at the time, I was right across the river in Queens and I saw everything as it transpired. So, for the first time...I will actually write down my story of that day. I guess for me it should be a bit cathartic. I have never been able to do it before but here goes...

I was in my first week of Law School. I was sitting in my first class. We heard some strange rumors about the White House and the Capital exploding. Then we heard about a plane hitting one of the towers of the World Trade Center. We were all confused. My Professor just kept on teaching but no one was paying attention. We wanted to know what was going on. We then heard from another Professor that her brother was on the first plane that hit the towers. Well, that was the end of class. We all got up and went to the lounge to watch the tv. It was on CNN and outside the lounge is an outside deck. I went out there with some people and we could see the 1st tower burning. Then someone pointed and said "look." It was at that point that I saw another plane. We were all wondering where it was going. In horror, we all watched as it hit the second tower. I will never get that sound or that vision out of my head. Then I just stood there with a guy I actually went to High School with. He had his arm around me and we just cried as we watched the towers burn and stood there until they both collapsed. We had NO clue what was happening. I then went inside to watch the tv to see if I could get any information. I was just in a state of shock.

My father was away at the time and I had no way of reaching him and my mom was in the city but I didn't know where. I was hoping she was home and safe. I couldn't get through to ANYONE on the phone. Many of us were outside trying to contact people. It was just complete mayhem. No one knew what to do. I finally got a hold if my aunt and she got through to my mom and my dad so that was good. But, I found out that my cousin, who worked at 7 World Trade hadn't been heard from. She was also 7 months pregnant at the time so there was some drama with that. Finally she was found and she was ok. She had to walk several miles to get to a ferry which took her to NJ where her husband picked her up.

I hung out at school for a while because we were all just sitting in front of the tv not knowing what to do or how to react. I also didn't know if I could go home as I was told no one could get into Manhattan. So, I stayed at a friend's house in Queens. I went to a drug store and bought a tooth brush and a clean pair of underwear. I sat with my friend and her roommate and we watched CNN until we were completely numb. I just had no feeling left whatsoever. I also had no tears left. I never felt like that before.

The next day, we had classes because the school was just trying to keep normalcy. I went to class since I was right near school. It was a light schedule on Wednesday though, so I left early. I took the 59th Street bridge home and the smell was unreal. As I was driving across the bridge, something I've done probably thousand's of times, I saw the broken skyline for the first time. I saw the smoke pouring out of lower Manhattan and the absence of the Twin Towers and at that time, Proud to be An American came on the radio and I just cried my eyes out. I don't know how I saw to drive but I just cried and cried. I then went to my mom's house because September 12th is her birthday. Obviously it wasn't a time for celebration so we just hung out for a while. Finally, I made it home. At the time, I lived on the Upper West Side....74th and Broadway. I walked into my apartment and for lack of any better words, my whole apartment smelled like burning flesh. I cried again. I had left my kitchen window open about a half an inch and the smell just seeped in. Also, there was soot and all kinds of dirt blowing in. I spent the night alone and that was the beginning of my nightmares. For a long time after that, I would have a lot of nightmares. I didn't sleep too much for the fear of more nightmares. Eventually, a list of the fatalities was published and I remember sitting at the computer going through the list name by name to see if anyone I knew was on it. I don't know how it happened since I grew up in NYC, went to high school in NYC, college and law school in NY but I did not know one person on that list. For that, I was extremely thankful. Though, a little while after 9/11, I spoke to a friend who worked on the 90something floor of one of the towers. Well, she couldn't decide what to wear to work that day so she missed the Staten Island ferry she always took and got a later one. She never made it to work but many people from her office did not survive unfortunately.

A few weeks after 9/11, I was in the car with a friend of mine who is a cop. We were driving downtown and so many of the streets were blocked off but because he kept showing his badge, we got through. Well, he made a wrong turn and we drove right up to ground zero. I just saw this enormous pile of smoldering debris. The smell was unreal. I can't even describe it. It was then that I saw another sight I will never forget. A body was recovered and it was being brought out. We had to stop and the body was brought out right in front of us. The people who were there lined up to form an aisle for the deceased and the body was brought out. It was a horrible moment and one I will never forget and one that will haunt me in my dreams forever.

Twins...again!

These were too cute for me not to share. I just got this email today and I couldn't deal! They are just too cute. Though, I don't know that I'd subject my kids to such torture. ;) Funny thing, I don't even really talk to my cousin (fyi, we went to college together and never really spoke) but she keeps sending pics of the kids so that's cool. I would like to see them again but she doesn't seem to ever want to make plans so screw it. I don't chase after people to make plans. Anyway....enjoy the cuteness. I'm sure I won't be posting these guys for a while since I did just do two in a row so get your baby fix in now while you can...

Growing Twins

I got some new pics of the twins so I thought I'd share. She's about 10 pounds and change and he's 13 pounds and change. I can't believe that just several months ago they were 4 and 5 pounds. It's insane. They're getting so big and healthy. Isabella is no longer on a heart monitor and all is well. Just 2 healthy babies. And get this....they both sleep at the same time and get up at the same time. Way to make life easy for their parents. Jacob is in the blue and Isabella is in the pink...in case you didn't know ;)

A Fish Tale

When I was 7, I got a fish tank for my birthday. I was SOOOO excited. I knew I was getting it and I just waited and waited. I wanted to go pick out fish so bad. It was a 10 gallon tank that I got. My dad set it up in my room and he had it all hooked up and put water in and started the filter. He told me we had to wait a few days for the water to be right before we could go buy fish. So for several days, I had an empty tank that wasn't all that exciting. Then we went to the fish store. I thought I was going to get the coolest fish ever but then I found out that the coolest fish go in salt water tanks and they are all really expensive so I was getting freshwater fish. Ok, I was a little disappointed but I got over it because I got me some neon tetras, kissing gouramis, angel fish, black mollies, tiger fish and a catfish. I probably had some other kinds at some points but those were pretty much the staples.

The neon tetras were cool because they would just glow and I would get a bunch of them and they would all kinda swim together and be all glowy and cool. When you're 7, it's mesmerizing. The gouramies were ok. Not too interesting but they did kiss and I only ever had 2 at a time. It was cute. The angel fish were mean bastards. They would fight with all the other fish and kill and eat them so I stopped getting them even though they were pretty. The black mollies liked to reproduce. I feel like every time I looked a the damned tank, I had babies. I was a little annoyed because they were the ugliest most boring looking fish in the tank and not the ones I wanted more of but...they kept breeding. Bad thing is the babies would get eaten. Oops. I even bought them a special little cage thing that separated them from the rest of the tank....well...either they got out or the others got in because they still kept disappearing. Then there was the jumping tiger fish (no pic of these guys because I don't think they were actualy called tiger fish, oh well). They used to somehow escape the tank and I'd find them dead and dried up on the floor. Stopped buying those too. Now we come to the catfish. The catfish was special.

So now I'll tell you about my cat fish. I got it when I got the tank...it was about 2 inches long. It was not the prettiest but it kept my tank clean. It ate all the algae off of the walls of the tank. I don't recall the fish having a name but it might have. Anyway, after a few years, my parents got divorced and the tank was moved to my mom's house. My mom was not as diligent as cleaning the tank as my dad was but my catfish lived. In fact, the catfish was the only fish. I didn't get any other fish so the catfish was all alone. I fed it and I took care of it. I tried to clean the tank on my own but that wasn't pretty, I needed my mom's help. I was 10 at this point. So, my catfish was 3. This was quiet the hearty fish. It just kept growing and growing. Soon, it would be about 8 inches long. It was unreal. This fish lived until I was 13. Yeah, I had 1 fish for 6 years! And you have NO idea what this poor fish lived through because there were times I would be at my father's and I'd come back and the water was so cloudy, I thought that the fish was surely dead but no, it persevered. One day, I came home from school and I went to feed my fish. Well, the fish looked TOTALLY different. It was the wrong color and the wrong size and well, a completely different fish. Yet, I wasn't told that anything happened to my fish. I asked my mom what happened and she just looked at me with a straight face and said: "Nothing happened, the fish is fine. It's the same fish, it just went through menopause so it changed." Mind you, I was 13 at the time. My mom really thought I would believe her and she INSISTED it was the same fish. She kept selling the menopause story but I wasn't buying. Finally she fessed up. That's the story of my catfish and my mom still laughs about this. Yeah, that's my twisted family.

Yeah, call me a copy cat!

Mish mash and hodge podge...

Well, I had planned to do a fun post because I found something fun when reading PITNB but it didn't work so I got annoyed. Well, he had found a Simpsonizer where you can take a pic of yourself and make yourself a character in The Simpsons. I tried like 10 different pictures of me but it didn't like any of them for various reasons so I got all annoyed. Anyway...if you want to try it, here's the link : Simpsonize. Maybe it'll work for you. If so, share! Maybe I'll get a better pic over the weekend and it'll work. We'll see.

Ok, what else....oh yes...my friend loving Annie has taken a walk on the wild side with her new blog doing some erotic writing. So, feel free to stop by her little place but I'll warn ya, you may need a cold shower after. Go take a look at mmmm yes I love that!

I guess I could go on and ramble about a few things so I can stay true to the title of this post. Oh, I am ADDICTED to bad summer tv. Well, not all of it is bad like So You Think You Can Dance...it's actually a really good show and the dancers are really talented. But Big Brother 8, Bad Girls Road Trip, On the Lot, Katie and Peter...yeah...those are CRAP but I watch anyway. I'm sure there are more but I think I've embarrassed myself enough here.

Tomorrow I'm off to do a murder mystery thing and I CAN NOT WAIT! For those who don't know or didn't remember, tomorrow is my birthday and I wanted to celebrate doing something totally different. So, I'm doing this. Then I'm going to dinner with some friends. I was getting a little slack because I am not going to a bar for my birthday this year. I'm totally over it...I get bored. I haven't really been drinking and I don't need to sit and watch others do it. I'm not opposed to bars, I'll still go but just not like I used to. So, that's my quiet birthday plan. I'll let you know how it goes. :)

I think that's it for now. I promised a post today so I had to deliver. I don't like to make empty promises.

I've been tagged and since Annie is so sweet, I will oblige.

Annie tagged me for some fun. Here’s the rules:

* We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
* Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
* People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
* Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

1. I have a morbid fascination about the Holocaust. I took several classes about it in college and I must see any kind of movie or documentary I can about it.

2. I re-read Catcher in the Rye just about every year because I like to see if my perspective changes as I grow older and wiser.

3. Sometimes when I really have to pee, I dont. I'm just too lazy and I just wait...no real reason for it though.

4. As a child, I watched surgery on tv ALL the time. My mother was convinced I was going to go to medical school because I loved watching the surgery so much.

5. I have only ever been truly in love with 1 guy.

6. I go through food phases. Sometimes I have to eat something every day or I just keep eating it until I am sick of it and then I can't even look at that food for a while.

7. I was my grandmother's favorite grandchild...or so I've been told by many family members. (Aren't grandparents NOT supposed to have favorites?)

8. For a really long time, I was convinced that my mother wasn't my mother because I look NOTHING like her at all and we have NOTHING in common at all physically. In the alternative, I look JUST like my father. One day I demanded to see my birth certificate because I really didn't believe she was my mother. I did get over that eventually.

Now I get to tag 8 people :) hehehe:

1. Jess (I know how you LOVE this stuff)
2. Alosha
3. Prico
4. Jenner
5. Jamie
6. Daya
7. Vanina
8. Chryssy

As many of you know I NEVER do these things at all but Annie wasn't aware of this. So, I felt it was only right for me to do it and you know what....it was kinda fun. Just a little....I'll admit it.

Funny story...and well....time for a new post!

Ok, why the pictures of cars you ask. Well, I'll tell you. So, the above is basically what I drive...I have a 1998 black Saab convertible but mine has black interior, not the tan in the pic. Trust me, this is necessary to the telling of the story. The weather today was PERFECT. Picture the perfect spring day....I know, I know....it's summer but it was a perfect spring day nonetheless. It was in the low to mid 70s. This is also important to my story and why the pictures of the car I chose have the top down because I did today. I try to take advantage of this weather and put the top down because I LOVE IT. Around 8pm, I decided to go to the supermarket and pick up a few things. I left the top down when I parked the car because it's a safe area and I was only going to be gone for a few. Well, here's the funny part, when I come back from putting the shopping cart away (annoys the SHIT out of me when people just leave them all over the lot), there are 3 girls posing by my car and taking pictures. I didn't even realize it until I startled them when I unlocked my doors with the remote. They giggled and were all kinds of embarrassed. I just smiled and got out of the way and let them take the pics they wanted. Hell, why not...they seemed happy. So, they were saying thank you over and over and still giggling. I found this HILARIOUS. It's not like I drive a Ferarri or a Lotus or some kind of car you NEVER see and is totally HOT. Mind you, my car is fine, I like it, I'm not complaining...I just think it's really funny. I only wish my car wasn't an automatic, I wish it was a stick. This is the first car I have owned that is an automatic and well, I don't love it. It was a good deal and that's why I have it but that's another story. That and I happen to be a car person. I LOVE cars. Went to the car show every year and I loved it. My dream is to have a limited edition Porshe Carerra. Yeah.....I need a sugar daddy! Anyhow, that's my funny story...hope it gives you a little chuckle since it gave me one.