Days Weeks Months, and the Years Go By

It’s difficult to know where to even start. I’ve been absent for days, weeks, (it feels like months) and so much has happened that it almost feels like too much time has transpired to report back on it. But I’m going to do my best because in the last few weeks life has thrown out a rollercoaster ride of emotions and I’ve been lucky enough to be able to go along for the ride.

There have been some good times, some bummer times and some amazing moments that could never be fully captured in words no matter how good a writer I am. Sometimes you really just ‘had to be there’.

And if you were here for any of them I need to say a HUGE thank you!

June marked an entirely new chapter in my life and sharing it with (you know who you are) you was AH-mazing!

Let’s start with the ugly & work our way to the awesome shall we?

Abrupt Ending

By now anyone who’s even a moderate sports fan (or friends with me) knows that the Bruins lost in their quest for the Cup against the Chicago Blackhawks. It was a tough fought series and I think the B’s really held their own despite losing four games to two. And they lost on home ice. Which of course stings a little bit.

But as exciting as it was to watch my hometown team play some of their best hockey all the way up to game 6 (and as nice as it would’ve been to watch them lift the Cup) I have to admit that I’m secretly glad hockey is over for this season.

The temperatures were getting a little warm and with the shortened season I think this is the latest into the summer I’ve ever seen the boys in black and gold play. I mean, the season starts again in about two months. Plus watching upwards of four games a week was getting a little tough to manage. But I love hockey and especially hard-hitting hockey like the playoffs. But being in Phoenix means 115+ temps and now I just want to be in my pool for a couple months.

Speaking of hockey, some of the off-season changes have me reeling a little bit:

• Andy Ference, my second favorite player on the Bruins and my number one favorite environmental activist is being let go in favor of cheaper defensemen because of the lowered cap. This sucks in so many ways I can’t even begin to say how much it sucks. A Bruin and Boston community activist for seven years, Andy’s commitment to his team and teammates will be sorely missed next season.
• Nathan Horton didn’t entertain any offers from the Bruins before electing to go with his Free Agency status. Which basically just sucks because if ever there was a line that had chemistry it was the Lucic-Krejci-Horton line. We’ll see what this Friday brings during the free agency deadline.
• Pretty much every single core player with the exception of only a few will need surgery for something or other this off season. Bergeron played the last game with multiple issues (hole in lung, broken rib) and others like Horton, Seidenberg, Chara, all have injuries that probably had them playing at less than their optimal selves. I commend them for a job well done under the circumstances!

In hockey years I’d be about 172

In human years I just turned the big 4-0. Yup, I’ve actually entered the period of life where it’s all uphill from here. Yeah I know most people say downhill but that always felt wrong to me. I mean downhill is easier, you can toss her in neutral and just coast. Uphill seems like much more of a battle.

But I digress…

I made a promise to one of my very dear friends, Keith, that I’d write all about the party. Regardless of the fact that I’ve sat down to do just that a few days in a row now, I can’t seem to find any words to do that day any justice. I really think you just had to be here.

Perhaps when I’m looking back in a few years and thinking of the top five parties of my entire life I’ll have the distance from it to write it all out, but not right now. For now I’m going to leave you all with a word cloud that pretty much sums up the overall celebration that started with a big secret Matt concocted months ago, culminates with my crazy party on Saturday June 22, and ends the following weekend when my vacation ended and I finally was able to recover from the enormity of it all.

I love you all!

It’s Official…

I’m finally a paid Writer! I started pursuing my freelance career a few months ago with full force and since then I’ve had five articles published on Yahoo! Voices, three of which I’ve made money from and just last week I was offered a writing position as a blogger for a company that reports on socially responsible companies. Not sure when that starts but I can’t wait!

In the meantime I’m going to finish up my classes and books on how-to write various forms of content and just keep applying for writing gigs as well as submitting articles. My goal is to be self-sustaining from my writing in the next year and I can clearly see that path starting to materialize now.

Cha-ching

At the end of June we refinanced our home into a fifteen year mortgage, something we’ve both been looking forward to doing since we first got the place last year. With the increase in values in Phoenix (it’s a great time to own property here, things are climbing again, steadily but not out of control) we were able to cash-out refi and roll our car payment in plus take a little cash to make some improvements to the efficiency and functionality (plus the beautification) of our home.

In the next couple months we’re planning to replace all of our single-pane aluminum windows with Low-E double (or triple) pane, replace all the exterior doors to prevent gaps where ac sneaks out, spray additional insulation into the attic, replace the pressure valve for our house water, open up the wall from living room to kitchen for an open concept plan and remove the fireplace that takes over the living room, rip out the very poorly installed tile/carpet and put hardwood bamboo throughout, and complete a few other minor things that no one would notice but will make a huge overall impact on efficiency/uniformity (vent covers, doorknobs, etc.).

For the first time in our adult lives we made a good choice when it came to a housing purchase. But it wouldn’t matter if values tanked again tomorrow. We’re not going anywhere and now that we can start personalizing our place I’m even more excited to stay.

Overall June was a pretty kick-ass month around here full of old and new friends and family I wouldn’t have expected to see in my house anytime soon. It really seems like the last three weeks have been a constant party and cause to smile, laugh, and have fun.

And I don’t see any signs of that stopping anytime soon.

• • • • • • • • • • •
Published in multiple print and online sources, Author, Blogger and Freelance Writer Jenn Flynn-Shon has been writing for publication since 2001. Follow her antics on twitter @jennshon

Boston Strong Concert Wraps Mays Month of Music

Almost every single artist listed on this concert promo picture showed up last night at the Boston Garden to celebrate a city as diverse and amazing as this lineup. This morning my friend Keith (of Williams Street fame) called to give me a recap of the Boston Strong concert held last night to benefit the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings. I was psyched to hear all about it.

How much awesomeness can one person fit into a ten minute phone call? A lot.

All I know is that he ended the call saying “I’ve seen everyone and this was by far the best fucking concert I’ve ever been to in my life.” And for a guy who has probably seen everyone live, that’s sure saying a lot.

He said that Boston (the band) opened the show and then the surprises really began.

I’m a former Blockhead, this isn’t a secret or anything but because of my former obsessive love of all things New Kids on the Block, Keith sent me a text last night to say that in my honor he’d rock out to the now-man band. I thought that was a pretty sweet gesture, of course I also thought he was full of crap. Well this morning he was adamant saying that the band actually won him over with their live performance in their Bruins jerseys and with their fun vibe.

I said, see, that’s why I used to love them!

So then Keith says that the Dropkick Murphys end up out on stage with the New Kids. Um, I’m sorry but holy awesome!!! When will that ever happen again? Never. The answer you’re looking for is never. It isn’t like those two bands have anything in common other than the city they call home. The likelihood they would grace a stage together again in this lifetime is none to zilch.

But they weren’t the only crazy fun pairing of the night. NKOTB also rocked out with Boyz II Men, Doug Flutie and Tedy Bruschi talked to the crowd (OMG that’s like football nirvana thank you very much!) alongside Julian Edelman and freaking Boomer (Chris Berman), Keith pointed out that James Taylor and Carole King were the second to last act of the night. No shock that Aerosmith closed the show. What is kind of shocking is that just about everyone from the night came out to close the show with them.

Dane Cook, Aerosmith, Jimmy Buffet, Extreme, and New Kids on the Block all on the same stage at the same time? Seriously how surreal would that be? I can’t even fathom it. And my friend was there to see it all happen. Lucky bastard.

Although I suppose running into Dane Cook at Nicola Pizza in Arlington a couple days before the show would've been just as exciting.

But probably not nearly as likely to turn my friend into a (dare I say) fan (?) of NKOTB.

Ok, to be fair he will probably never do anything like this 



(in my defense it was Keith who forced me to wear the jacket on my wedding day)



But just hearing him say how much he enjoyed the whole show made me smile. I was living vicariously through you last night my friend and I’m so glad you had such a great time.

But as a side note, Keith, I still think you should’ve gotten her number…

May’s Month of Music

Every Boston Entertainer – And then Some!

Some info was gleaned from boston.com but I can no longer access the website without registering for updates so I’m sorry that I can’t provide a link to the story. I didn’t use any quotes though, just looked at photos to see who was with who. All photos on this post are either mine or from Keith with permission.

How Do I Even Begin to Title A Post Like This?

Why does this have to be the new normal? Why did any bombs ever go off in the first place, any bomb, anywhere. I mean what does all of it say about human nature and the need for attention. Someone with something to say feels the need to say it like this? It makes no sense to me how and why that’s reasonable. But then again, for as self-proclaimed crazy as I am I’m not mentally unstable enough to ever understand the motivations of evil. I just don’t get maliciousness, something designed to do nothing more than hurt. Be that hurt physical or mental.

And I don’t live in Boston anymore but today I hurt in both ways as if I had been standing right there. Because I HAD been standing right there about a billion times in my life. Parking close by to go to the ice cream truck what feels like 50 years ago. Walking up to Tower Records the back way because Newbury was always so packed. Watching my cousin cross the finish line in his running of the Boston Marathon when I was a kid. And who knows what else. I probably have photos taken right there during a day I was skipping school and needed to get the hell out of Arlington.

So right now my head and heart ache like I’m still living there. I haven’t felt this kind of world-weighted sadness in a long time. You all know the last time it was like this. We all felt it when all at once our country had a shock wave cross it like none before.

I understand that there are people in this world who live with the reality of this kind of experience on an almost daily basis. I also understand that some people think because of that it’s tough to justify being so sad and shocked by these events in Boston but let me just say this. I don’t live in those other countries. I live here in the United States and for the first twenty-eight years of my life I was completely sheltered from any thought of living in that type of environment.

War? The last war I remember hearing about was Vietnam, something from our parent’s generation. Though we grew up with the inklings of unrest in the Middle East, with Desert Storm it was over almost as quickly as it began. We moved on. We partied, loved, rocked and rolled our way through the Nineties and early Millennium like there was never a sad thing to experience.

And then it was taken away. The innocence, or perhaps ignorance, of a nation that became so trusting and open. We had been free, we went where we wanted, did what we wanted, loved who we wanted. Then in one fail swoop our literal and proverbial freedom was ripped right out from under us at a little after 9:00 on Tuesday September 11, 2001.

But as a nation we bounced back from it all. Countless people were able to lend support to New York in their time of need. Countless Bostonians made their way to NYC to do anything they could to help sort out the rubble whether it was physical piles or the mental marbles rolling around in everyone’s head while they tried to make sense out of something so destructive happening in their backyard for the first time in, well frankly, forever.

Before 9/11 there were plenty of random attacks – Timothy McVeigh in OKC, the ’93 WTC bombing, Columbine, etc. – but the sheer force with which 9/11 hit us all was enough to press the reset button. Whoa, these people were coordinated and knew exactly what they were doing. They planned for months and our ig-nocent nation was shown its inner vulnerability.

But that happened almost twelve years ago now and I think we all thought we were headed back to some level of normalcy. Hundreds of events have happened between 9/11 and the Boston bombing. Planes went back into the air, the subway stations stopped patting down everyone who went through a turnstile, cursory bag checks at sporting events were all but laughable, knitting needles were allowed in a personal bag inside an aircraft.

And then the force of two bombs shook us all again in an instant.

And forgive me if I sound ig-nocent but the fact of it happening at all forces me to ask the question – why? I know I’ll never get answers. And asking a question only begets another question when it comes to senseless acts of aggression.

Thankfully, just like the last time, this shocking wave of misery will eventually dissipate and I’ll be back to living without feeling like I have to retreat into a corner out of some kind of world-weighted fear. But until then I imagine my inner self won’t stop asking for answers even though I know I will never really have any that satisfy my soul.

Food

Things in the southwest are a little different than where I grew up in the northeast. Aside from the weather (which is the primary reason I decided to get my ass out here) there are a laundry list of additional differences. The extreme heat impacts housing style, design, and placement. Speed limits are much higher due to expanded width of all roads (and to quote Tyson Nash “I don’t mind that a bit.”). The Farmer’s market can run all year. The food out here is delicious but some staples of the northeast diet are harder to find as agreeable to my biased palate.

Of course I’m talking about pizza, subs, and Chinese food. All of my former favorites in Boston are now some of my least favorites out here. But try to get that good a steak, veggies that fresh, or decent (authentic) Mexican food in Boston and you’ll know why the southwest has its own flavors that make it great.

So when Matt texted me a week or so ago to say he bought himself lunch and had “the best steak and cheese sub ever” I was of course skeptical. In my mind the best steak and cheese I’ve ever had was from this hole in the wall place in Lynn, MA. I can’t remember the name of the spot – Angelina’s is coming to mind? – but that hardly matters. I could still drive there if dropped in Lynn; I still drool for their subs sometimes.

Now before I go on any further I should probably explain that sub is short for submarine sandwich. AKA grinder, hoagie, hero. Every place in the United States seems to have their own term for this 6-12” bread receptacle of deliciousness.

In Phoenix they’re usually hoagies but I’ll likely never stop calling it a sub. Some things are ingrained from birth; personality traits. And when I looked at the menu for this local spot Matt raved about, Corleone’s (a small chain of four locations), only to see their carbohydrate vessel referred to as a ‘hoagie’ it put me even more on the defensive.

But then the other night Matt picked up a couple subs from this place and I was instantly transported to a crappy table in Villa Pizza (the original location thank you very much). In my head I was sitting in a sub shop in Boston. I was eating one of the best steak and cheese subs I’ve ever had.

Not the best (like I said above) but I’d for sure rate these guys in the top five ever.

Now, if Phoenix could just import their water from Boston and convince one or two of the guys from Bianchi’s to move here with one of the original pizza baking ovens I would know without a shadow of a doubt that Phoenix is heaven on earth.

Posted for April 2013 A to Z Blog Challenge F is for Food

Landmarks, Boston Style

I was watching a Bruins game a few days ago and during a commercial when they panned around the Garden something hit me.  Many of our famous bronze statues and landmarks that we send tourists to check out are sports related.

Is this a regular thing in other cities too or are we unique in our fandom of sports? 

There are certainly the random-historical-dudes-on-horses statues in the Public Garden, Boston Common and other places.  But when they pan over the TD Garden sign & down to the ground during Bruins games the camera rests on the insanely popular, well photographed, and very cool bronze statue of Bobby Orr flying through the air during his famous shot. 

In fact the shot is so well known in Boston it is simply referred to as “The Goal”; I’d wager that hockey fans everywhere know about it though, not just those of us from Boston.

Ted Williams putting his huge cap on a little fan’s head is at the entrance to Fenway, and, as I said, Orr is at the entrance to the Garden but look around beyond major league stadiums and you’ll discover all kinds of neat bronze people. 

At the Roxbury Crossing station on the Orange Line of the T, tucked into a corner of the quad on the Northeastern campus, you’ll find a fantastic bronze sculpture of Cy Young.  Allegedly placed where the exact pitches were thrown from in the original baseball stadium, he’s one big guy watching over the students who come and go from class.

Take a walk down to Gate D at Boston College’s Alumni Stadium and you’ll come face to face with the brown, metallic version of one of the greatest football players ever to grace New England with his talent on two teams – the BC Eagles and the Patriots – Doug Flutie.

Head to Quincy Market to catch Red Auerbach hanging on a bench, hop the Green Line to Kenmore and catch a pass from a bronzed Harry Agganis outside the arena named for him, and if you happen to run the Boston Marathon be sure to locate the statue of George V. Brown in Hopkinton as he stands ready to tell you to go.

Not only are there players, coaches, directors and inspirational people associated with Boston sports sprinkled all over the city but there is actually an entire tour dedicated to the thrill of finding some of them!  It’s called The Boston Sports Trail and quite possibly as important (if not more important) to the residents of town than the Freedom Trail or and other historical landmark. 

Mostly because in Boston, the sports are a historical landmark!

If you want to get more info on The Boston Sports Trail for next time you’re wondering what to do on a random Saturday afternoon, you can check out this link on Boston.com  Not everything I mentioned above is even on this trail, but there is also a lot more than I mentioned in this post, so I definitely suggest digging into your Google searches for the bronze gods & goddesses of Boston and hunt down even more sports greats on your own!

All I can say is I know what I’m doing next time I’m visiting my hometown!

Can Not Function

As if it wasn’t bad enough that I’m running on the thinnest bit of rope with everything going on to move across the country in 11 days, now the Bruins are going to play game 7 tonight. And somehow I’m supposed to be able to not only work but also focus on school and pack, and wait for Matt to get home to find out if he’s taking his job with him or not?

Yeah, good luck with that one, Self.

It’s the last game. (Which probably makes all you people who really don’t give a crap about hockey happy that I’ll stop posting about it non stop haha). The Bruins, in franchise history (which is 87 years mind you) have never played a game 7 in the Stanley Cup finals. They also haven’t won a single game in Vancouver yet this series.

But hey, how does that saying go? I think its something like -- there’s a first time for everything. And frankly I think of all the games they could win in Vancouver, tonight’s would be a most excellent choice. I mean we’ve even got my Wicked Stepmother yelling ‘TIMMY!’ every time Tim Thomas makes one of his Tank-patented, no-man-should-be-able-to-do-that-with-his-body saves.

Regardless of the outcome tonight, the hockey season ends with our boys getting further than they have in decades and I for one couldn’t be more excited or proud to call them my team. You may take this girl out of Boston but by God I’m taking NESN with me.

Back in November sometime I was texting back and forth with my aunt during a regular game and made the mention that the team seemed to be skating so well together I could see them going all the way to the Cup finals if they kept it up all season. And its funny too because I have a vivid memory of seeing Adam McQuaid’s #54 hip checking someone into the boards as I was typing it. Lo and behold, here we are.

And man, after waiting 39 years do we ever want that Cup.

I was listening to 98.5 Sports Hub radio at work today and they mentioned something that’s both bizarre and eye opening -- with the exception of Mark Recchi (my man!!!) not a single player on the team was even born yet the last time they won a cup. I know I sure as heck wasn’t. Hell, I wonder if Tyler Seguin’s parents had even started kindergarten!

Nathan Horton will be in the building tonight. With his severe concussion from a week or so ago I was shocked to hear they cleared him for flight. But man what a HUGE boost that will be for our boys to get out there and bite back.

Not literally of course, we try to leave the dirtiest stuff to the other team. Not to say that always happens of course, I mean tiny little Brad Marchand certainly put a hurting on Henry Sedin’s face the other night. Over, and over, and over… But then one had to ask, why didn’t Sedin fight back? Had he just lost the will to fight?

I think pretty much all of Boston and every Bruins fan would be cool with the Canucks having lost their fight. Roberto Luongo sure did when he let 3 slide past him in the first 4 minutes of the last game but keep in mind that wasn’t all on Luongo. It was because you fine hockey players kept the pressure on him, because the puck was on your sticks.

We want the Cup. And by ‘we’ I mean the entirety of the hockey fans who would like to see the Bruins win this thing tonight; from the team themselves to the babies in Melrose-Wakefield Hospital. You boys need to go out there and play the best game of your lives.

But, and this is a big BUT…we don’t want to see bad play tonight, no intentional taunting while you’re laced up and try to avoid dirty hits or fighting majors if you can okay guys? Just skate, forecheck aggressively, pass well, shoot and score. If you’re going to win the Cup, do it on your talent and ability, not on your reliance of the Refs making calls in your favor.

And just remember, you boys have loads of talent and ability. No way you could have made it this far without.

Do it for yourselves. Do it for the seventh man. Do it because you know you can.

And now I’m off to try to get some school work done and a few boxes packed because NESN pre game coverage starts in just 4 hours…

This Is How Rumors Get Started

Who sang that song “Rumors” released back in the 80’s? I can’t remember but I’m pretty sure it was all about relationships, who was or wasn’t gay, if some girl was a slut…stuff that was the hot button topic of the time period.

Today’s hot button topic (read: potential rumor) is that the Vancouver Canucks started trying to sell rights for their Stanley Cup victory parade. Um, correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t there a game tonight? Oh yeah, and if we win it, isn’t there another game on Wednesday night? And if we win that game don’t we get to have a parade or whatever?

Slow down with the big fat ego there Vancouver. Didn’t the presumptuous big mouthed guy in Tampa Bay who all but decimated their chances of ever winning teach you anything about putting the cart before the horse?

Hmmm, then again, on second thought…go ahead and talk it up. In fact talk until you’ve run short of breath and then when you’re all talked out and fainting we’ll just play hockey against you to see who comes out on top.

I’m all about trash talking to a point but saying you’ve got it before you’ve got it is just plain silly. That’s why around here the chant goes something like “We want the cup!” Because we do want it. But we are living in the real world where the thing still lives in a trunk and is transported by a guy wearing butler gloves.

We totally want it. But we’re absolutely comfortable waiting until Wednesday to get it, waiting until Thursday to start planning parades or celebrations because of it, and in fact I’m pretty sure most of the Bruins don’t even want to remember that the thing is making its way through Boston today.

But that’s okay. Nathan Horton will be at the game tonight cheering on the want. It’s also possible you’ll see the likes of Bobby Orr and maybe even Ray Bourque hanging out in the VIP section this evening if you turn on the game. And they’ll be clapping and cheering for our team to play with all the heart, soul and integrity we can bring to the ice.

Of course a little bit of taunting, trash talk or general lively sports banter never hurts either, guys, because after all, there is a game to be won.

Now go out there tonight and embrace the words of the great Phil Esposito:

“My competitive juices have started to flow again.”

The Fellowship of the Puck

When Gollum bit Frodo’s finger off to get his hands on the one ring, the desperation that he felt to hold the Precious again was also felt by everyone reading or watching the story of the “Lord of the Rings”. We felt bad for him, sympathetic to how much he wanted it, pity for how the thing had changed him into something unrecognizable after so long. Gollum had turned evil from too many decades of coveting the shiny piece of metal and, despite the blood loss, the good in Frodo had to prevail.

Decades of desire can certainly make some do extremely desperate things, especially when the prize at the end of the journey is a piece of metal with a whole bunch of writing engraved on it. Something that makes you powerful in certain circles. Something that so many others want but can never have.

Last night Alex Burrows somehow morphed into Gollum and in a selfish act to take steps toward the big shiny piece of metal he so desires, he bit Patrice Bergeron’s finger. Burrows bit through Bergy’s glove hard enough to draw blood.

Sorry Burrows but this isn’t called “Lord of the Cups” my friend, it’s the Stanley Cup finals. Can someone get this guy a muzzle before game 2 please?

In sports, like in life, sometimes evil looks like it might pull ahead enough to win, enough to smother good and send it crawling into the darkness; there are times when all seems lost. Especially when the opposing team to who you’re rooting for get a four minute penalty after the biting skirmish but still manage to hold off a scoring opportunity until 18 seconds before the end of the game when they place the puck in your net. Especially when that goal could be argued as non-legit due to a missed offside call.

But the good must prevail. Somehow the Felllowship of the Puck must rise up together and fight the battle of their lives at night inside that wall. Just when all seems lost there must be a rallying of the troops.

Led by the formidable wizard-sized captain Zdeno Chara, the been-all-over Ranger-esque Mark Recchi, and of course, the stout and tough Timmy Thomas with his L shaped axe, he will encourage the team to travel all the way to the other end of the ice with a conviction so strong to triumph over evil that there is no way the Canucks can stop themselves from falling into the lava.

Because in the words of the mighty Bergeron…

“…biting? I mean come on.”

Don’t Box Me In

And I completely missed that whole Ten on Tuesday thing again yesterday because, well, I was busy doing school work and out looking for a Mark Recchi shirt. Sadly Recchi shirts are pretty much only available at the pro shop or online. Oh well, guess I’ll be heading into Boston this week.

Anyway, I don’t think (at least I hope) that Roots and Rings will mind if I post a day late, again. The thing is, you all know how much I love answering stupid questions about myself, but these are not stupid! These questions are pretty cool. And maybe one of these weeks I’ll even get them posted on the right day. I just can’t be hemmed in by silly rules.

So if your blog needs a pick me up I hope you’ll check out Roots and Rings on Tuesdays (or whenever, like me).

1. From your childhood, what do you miss most about summer vacation?

The part where I don’t have to do any school work. Don’t get me wrong, I am really excited to get my Masters but something about giving up free time in the summer months or having to completely revolve my schedule around when papers are due, at this age is downright silly. Can’t go back though and start over by going to college at 18 so if I want it I guess I’d better suck up the lack of relaxation. Or just read my books and type up my assignments on my laptop while sitting by the pool.

2. Are you going anywhere on vacation this summer?

Sort of, if you call driving across the entire country and stopping to see some friends and family along the way, vacation. Otherwise probably a couple trips to “the lake” with my sister and crew.

3. What foods do you like to barbecue?

If the question is asking what foods get BBQ sauce then pretty much only meats (but truthfully any meat at that point) but if you mean what do I like to cook on the grill the answer would be pretty much anything! Small stuff can steam up in tin foil, meats get a nice smoky flavoring and even water boils over the flame to make stuff like rice or pasta!

4. How do you celebrate the fourth of July?

This will be one of the first years in a while that I won’t get to go to see the Pops and fireworks display in Boston. I have no idea how we’ll celebrate this year but it will likely involve crashing out, hard core, and hopefully on either our new mattress (king size woo hoo!) or new sofa and watching fireworks later that evening.

5. What’s your favorite beverage to drink in the summertime?

Water. Pretty much all year it’s the drink of choice.

6. What movie are you looking forward to seeing this summer?

Hmmm…pretty likely none of them while they’re in theaters but I’ll probably add The Green Lantern to my Netflix queue because I love me some Ryan Reynolds.

7. In the car: windows down or AC?

Oh windows as much as possible. In fact putting my hair up so it doesn’t get all wonky from being wind blown is a reason I started growing it out in the first place!

8. Have you ever had a summer fling?

A girl never kisses and tells.

9. Do you wear sunscreen?

Religiously. I’m Irish and basically opaque so it’s either that or someone will try to toss me in the lobster pot!

10. Do you have any favorite summertime activities?

Beach, swim, drink, laugh, joke with friends, have a fun time, read, soak in the sunshine (hey, just because I do it with SPF 90 on doesn’t mean I don’t love it still!), go to Red Sox games, and this year hockey games too!

I wish the Bruins tons of luck in game one of the Stanley Cup finals tonight, stay out of the box and skate aggressive while Thomas tends to his net! Play that puck like you own it!

Giggling at the Rapture of the Lightning

First off I think that’s an excellent title for an album so if my aunt and her friend ever start the rock band that I predict they will start -- Mumsie and the Old Ladies -- I give them full permission to use the title of this blog as their first album name.

But of course you all know that I’m really talking about Saturday.

I just can’t figure it out. Is the alleged ending of the world being shoved down our throats so we all book trips to far off lands in an effort to satisfy at least one item on the bucket list? Is it so we stop giving a crap about high-ass gas prices?

Or maybe it’s so we turn a blind eye to the fact that there is actually a guy in Tampa Bay who is so desperate for ratings on his new wanna-be Howard Stern path that he’s actually trying to start a rivalry with us in Boston.

Giggle.

Sorry, I just slipped into full on girlie-giggle mode for a second there at the thought that poor old, sad and lonely Tampa Bay feels so left out of things that they had to go and try to create a rivalry between the Lightning and the Bruins.

Again…giggle.

Here’s the thing Cowhead, your letter is an interesting rebuttal to your own point of contention but we already have our rivalries set here in our city so maybe you should seek out some other expansion team to fight.

We, however, are not free to do more than roll our eyes at you; our rivalries date back at least eighty some odd years. A number you should be familiar with as it’s the median age of most people in your state.

We’ve got a long tradition of sports here in Boston and I certainly don’t discount that Tampa Bay has a healthy following of their teams, I mean hell spring training for the Grapefruit league is right around the corner from you and all, but again, when it comes to rivalries in Boston its Spankees, Jets, Habs, Lakers.

So as you can see there is just no room for your cute little team to weasel your way in there. I mean we totally respect why you’d like to try though seeing as though we’re clearly a good team to rival. After so many years without a Pennant the siege of the Yankees was like torture in Boston. But the thing is, in Boston we respect the reality of it all, we own it and just keep trying.

Oh yeah, which reminds me, you’ll want to change your letter to us, it hasn’t been thirty years since our last Stanley Cup, its been thirty nine. I mean hello, if you’re going to insult us at least look up some facts first, geez.

Anyway, the thing is, we took down the signs and all that stuff you were so easily offended by and that’s pretty much the reason we have no interest in your cute little attempt at starting a rivalry with us. The entire time we were removing the signs we were visibly rolling our eyes and thinking:

“What a bunch of pansies, they can’t take a joke?”

Because, you see, any team that is going to be our rival has to have as thick a skin as ours or more. Which is why half our rivalries come from New York. Are you catching on yet?

So here’s your sweet little pat on the head and suggestion that you find a new team to torture because we’ve got plenty of that going on here already.

I hear the Thrashers are about to move to Winnipeg, maybe they’re free.





Doing this today:












grab a cup and play along!

It Makes Me Happy to be a Bruins Fan

Last night my aunt and I attended game four of the second round of playoffs where the Bruins had the chance to sweep the Philadelphia Flyers and proceed on to the next hurdle -- to win the title of Eastern Conference champions (and then the final round to vie for that big old silver Cup that so many other teams have claimed in the last thirty eight years while we haven’t).

My aunt is the original hockey fan and probably one of the main reasons I got into the Bruins back in high school.  As a fan for umpteen years now she knows the stats, the players, the game, and was in the Garden on the night that Bobby Orr made that "leap" that will live forever in infamy on film.  Cool.

I used to attend the Arlington High hockey games at the rink in Arlington and sometimes my friend and I would be lucky enough that her dad offered us the tickets he got to go see the Bruins.  Back then they were only skating though, the glory days had sadly come to a close fifteen or so years prior but the last time they won the Cup was before I was even born.

When we (and by “we” I mean the entire town because if you’re a sports fan from Boston you know exactly what I mean when it comes to your respective team) knocked out the Habs (Montreal Canadiens) in the first round something magical happened here.  I don’t want to say it was exactly the same as when the Sox pulled it out against their bitter rivals the Yankees back in 2004 but, well, okay, yes I do.

I just couldn’t help but draw the parallel.  And come to find out, I wasn’t alone.  The pressure for the Sox to rise above what ever curse was haunting them for over 100 years finally broke when we beat the Yanks that year.  It almost didn’t even matter that we hadn’t won the World Series yet.  After taking the AL Championship, just getting there for the first time in decades was enough.

And when the pressure was off we simply swept St. Louis in easy fashion then a whole bunch (read: millions) of people took a day off of work to go out and watch the parade.

It’s been since 1972 for the Bruins.  But that pesky rival Montreal always seemed to get the best of us.  Even though we made it to the playoffs last year and lost to Philly, not Montreal, there was just some overwhelming cloud of Hab hanging over us.  When we beat them in game 7 of the first round last month it was like a million Bruins fans finally exhaled.

The pressure was off.  The unbeatable had been beat.  The Referees owed their bookies a lot of money no doubt.  But we were off to round two.

When we won my aunt and I were on the phone within minutes discussing which game we were getting tickets to.  There was no question of ‘if’ we’d go.  I didn’t care what I had to spend, she and I were going to be in that stadium for a playoff game again this year.

The schedule was announced and we both agreed that Friday night would be best.  It wasn’t a school night and it was game 4.  Game four.  I said to her ‘If we happen to sweep Philly we will be in the building when it happens.  We are so there.’

And then I just kept repeating the ‘if’ over and over again.

But I knew.  Don’t ask me how, maybe it was the exhale on April 27 when Montreal went home after the battle was won by us, but I just knew.

So we spent an unholy amount on seats that required an oxygen tank to get to and tossed on our lucky shirts.  I even made a pair of black and gold earrings before we left last night.  We were on the way.

And by we I mean the entire town because the Bruins had already taken the first three games.  If we swept Philly we were going to be in the building.

The first three had our boys looking mighty strong, following through on checks and skating like they owned the ice, like the puck was meant for no one but us.  And it was.  We did so well that their starting goalie was pulled in favor of their back up goalie, Sergei Bobrovsky, in every single game.  Not to say their back up was anything to sneeze at but like I said to my aunt, he’s young and less experienced and we have some serious veteran power on our team.  He would be no match for it.

At first last night I thought for a brief moment that maybe I was wrong.  Maybe this twenty two year old first year semi-rookie* was going to give us a run for our money.  It was 1-1 going into the third period and I just sent out a little prayer we’d just win it in regulation because with an 8:00 start I didn’t think I’d be able to stay up through another all too familiar double overtime.

Then Boychuk scored and I said to my aunt ‘that’s it, now its 1-2 in the third of game four on May 6*.  We have scored the final goal.  We will now win on 1-2-3-4-5-6.’

I was, however, a little off.

Lucic promptly scored for the second time.  Up 3-1.  They pulled Bobrovsky.  Then Marchand hit the empty net.  Bobrovsky promptly returned.  But it was no matter, they pulled him again in a scramble attempt but their offense was no match for our spirit on the ice or in the stands last night and Palle sealed the 5-1 victory with another empty net goal seconds before the buzzer.

Holy crap.  Last night we swept through the second round, taking that victory for the first time in nineteen years.  Nineteen years.  Probably the same amount of time since the last time I went to a game with my friend.  And there sure is something amazing about seeing 17,000 other people jump out of their seats at the exact same moment when one of our guys lights that lamp.  There’s something amazing about this team.  This year.  In this town.

It’s their turn.  It’s their time.  Let’s bring it on home boys.  Sweep right through Tampa Bay.  And then follow through until the end.  Until that silver is in your hands.  Do it for Ray, for Cam, for the last 38 teams that wanted it so badly but couldn’t get past the force standing in their way.

The pressure is off, whatever black cloud was sent here by way of Canada has been lifted.  Now its time to lift the Cup.

*(When I looked up Bobrovsky I learned that he happened to sign with Philly on May 6, 2010.  Hell of an anniversary present there Sergi.  But honestly, I’m not at all sorry.)

The End? Really? Already?

Wow, I can’t believe how fast this whole month flew by. If the last 4 weeks are any type of indication though, the next 8 before we move are going to cruise by in the literal blink of an eye! On this final day of the challenge that I set out to complete last month, I’m supposed to post a picture that can always make me smile.

You and I both know there is no chance in heck we’re getting through this one with only one thing right? I mean as an eternal optimist I’m kind of required to be the irritating person that more cynical people roll their eyes at when I run around saying how great it all is right? Because of that, you and I both (love, what you and I spoke of, and others just read of….sorry couldn’t help it) know the list of things that make me smile will be pretty long, right?

Then again I’m absolutely bi-polar, so as soon as I tell you how nice it is to finally have spring arrive in New England I’m probably tossing in some snide remark about how nice it would be if only the wind would die down too.

Ugh. I’m working on it.

Anyway, rather than post a whole bunch of photos I’m just going to list a whole bunch of stuff that makes me smile today and sneak a picture (or two) in there randomly just for fun. Thanks for reading my last month of crazy posting. I really appreciate the love and support for my random babbling. So I guess that’s where I should start huh?

• Writing.
• Having people read what I write, even if I don’t know who or where they are. (and even sometimes when I know exactly who and where they are).
• Strong coffee.
• This post.
• Making new bloggy friends that are the fun version of snarky.
• Remembering the Girl Scout oath about keeping old friends (sorry I am not linking all of you, you know who you are because you’re in my sidebar, even if you aren’t blogging anymore!).
• Spring finally appearing in white and green buds on trees and teeny flowers just starting to emerge.
• Knowing we have well more than we need to move socked away in the bank right now (which is good because Matt won’t be taking his Boston job with him after all -- which is a story for another post so stay tuned).
• Having understanding friends who won’t be totally upset if we end up keeping our furniture because of that.
• The thought of the Bruins winning the Cup before I leave Boston.

• The fact that I’m going to a playoff game at the Garden next week.

• The fact that its game 4 so if we sweep Philly I’ll be in the building when it happens.

• My current class being way less stressful than the last one was and how manageable/enjoyable the work has been.

• Free time.

• The fact that our Crane Beach sticker arrived a couple days ago.

• Knowing that for the next 2 months we’ll be spending some time every week at the beach.

• Listening to the rolling waves of the ocean.

• Making time for important people.

• Planning my birthday party.

• Working out (when I actually get my ass in gear to do it).

• Music when it fits perfectly with the mood of the day.

• Reading.

• Scrabble.

• New found resolve.

• A clean house, including the laundry.

• Flip-flops (because now that they’re on I have no intention of taking them off until I come back to Boston in November).

• That now I can take a few mornings off from writing and just relax.

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Family

Holidays have always been an important time in my family, regardless if we were getting dressed up to go to midnight mass on Christmas Eve or ordering from KFC on Easter (because my gramma was sick of cooking that year...and every year after), we always made incredible memories. Food and laughter seemed to go hand in hand and no one ever failed to get a whole bunch of good pictures.

Wait, did I just write that we always get a bunch of pictures during the holidays? Yeah that’s what I thought. Because I brought a camera to Easter dinner at my aunt’s house last Sunday but it never made it out of my bag.

And neither did anyone else’s after the family arrived. The only photo I saw from this most recent holiday was my aunt posting on Facebook a picture of the beautifully set table that had a caption something like “Ready for all those hungry animals to get here and wolf down in fifteen seconds something it took me 3 hours to cook!”

Or something like that.

But this puts me in a tough spot because I fully intended on using this holiday photo extravaganza to my advantage today. Since the request is literally for a photo of me and a family member, I didn’t want to have to intentionally pick someone randomly. That's why I was just going to go with the excuse that as the most recent holiday it was the "obvious choice" (feel my air quotes).  So what to do?

Why post a completely non-related photo of course!

This is me with my grampa Ed on the day he got his high school diploma.  He fought in World War II and gave up graduating to defend the country instead.  Back in the early part of the new millennium, Massachusetts was the first state to institute Operation Recognition and the program allowed my grampa to get his diploma sixty some-odd years after he originally should have.

It was a cool day but, of course he wasn’t about to get all emotional about it.  He was way too much of a comedian for all that.  So it looks as if he’s in a really contemplative gaze here but it was all a show for the camera.  In fact, I’m surprised he didn’t grab his lapel with his free hand and dramatically toss his chin up just to give the extra punch.  And yes, that is a bucket hat which reads Cape Cod that he's wearing with his suit and tie.

Not to say he wasn’t honored, because he did come thisclose to welling up a little bit when he actually walked across the mock stage to get the diploma in his hand.  But in true grampa fashion once it was over there was no need for all the dramatics and pomp and circumstance anymore.  He just wanted to get back to his chair to watch the Sox game. 

I’m thinking it was probably because they held the thing in a cemetery. 

Way to go there Massachusetts.  The irony of 80 year olds receiving their high school diploma in a cemetery is so outrageous I can’t even find a way to mock it more than it already mocks itself.

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A Picture of Your Favorite Day

Totally chintzing out today and posting the shortest post ever for the request. Way too busy to be stressed about that though so as the brief explanation, not that you really need it if you know me, my favorite day is in fact my birthday!

Hey, it’s the anniversary of the day I popped out; if I never popped out I couldn’t have a favorite anything, so it seems quite appropriate.

That's me and my grampa Steve.  Not exactly the day I was born but pretty close to it!
Hope everyone has a wonderful Tuesday and cheer on the Bruins tonight for the win in the first round of playoffs! Yea!

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Something to Do Before I Die

Where do I even begin? This is one of those requests that makes me think that perhaps all my ranting that I don’t live with regret is not at all true. Would I die unhappy if I didn’t get to do x, y, or z? I guess I’d never truly know seeing as though I’d be six feet under all that stuff, but as a living, breathing me at this moment I feel like there are so many things I want to get to before I die that I guess the good news is I still have a bunch of awesome stuff to live for right?

Of course I’ll probably think of 100 more as soon as I post this but…

In no particular order here’s my list of stuff that would be fantastic to experience before I die.

The Bucket List

• Be on the New York Times best sellers list, “The” list not one of those offshoots
• Travel to Spain, specifically Barcelona
• Travel back to Amsterdam (with Matt this time)
• Travel back to Ireland
• Travel to Hawaii
• Travel to Portugal
• Live and make a living in San Diego
• See the Red Sox play the Yankees at Fenway in a game 4 for the sweep and kick their sorry asses right back to the Bronx where they belong (if this season is any indication I’ve got a couple years before this occurs)
• Settle for seeing the Sox beat the Yanks in any regular season game at Fenway
• Sit beside my Aunt at the finals when the Bruins win the Cup for the first time in 38+ years (yes, I mean this year damn it!)
• Settle for seeing them win the cup at all (either in the stands or on my sofa next to my Aunt) and getting to go to the parade
• Becoming a millionaire, not through inheritance or anything like that, my own blood, sweat & tears
• Graduate college
• Be in a big budget movie (I’ll even take a small part like “Friend’s neighbor” or something but it has to be a speaking role [one line will do] and I must be credited
• Make my living as a published author (book tours, readings/signings, etc included)
• Get to see all 50 states & spend time in each of them seeing sights (20 down -- MA, NH, VT, ME, CT, RI, NY, NJ, PA, OH, MD, DE, NC, FL, TX, AZ, CA, DC, LA, GA -- of course the only time I really spent in Delaware was at rest stops but what else is there to see, really? I imagine we’ll knock at least 7 more off the list just driving out to our new home and probably another 5 within the first year we live out there. That only leaves 18 more!)
• Drive a race car around a track at over 125 mph
• Go white water rafting again
• Get Matt to Disney World

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Is This Good For the Company?

It’s been a handful of years since I worked in the business world but last night while Matt and I talked about work and companies in general it hit me. There are solid reasons why I left the rat race to pursue the life of a starving artist but none are clearer than the way business is done in Corporate American society.

Last weekend we tossed on a classic favorite, Office Space, and although we laughed, that might have just been the five bottles of sake rearing their head because the real comedy, is that it’s serious (thanks Jason).

When Matt and I started broaching the subject about the life of a corporate sheep, er, uh, I mean, employee last night it hit me that, no matter what, every single boss everywhere is Lumberg. I suddenly realized that I never wanted to be Lumberg and that’s essentially the main reason I work alone. But it really doesn’t exempt me from anything.

I got to talking about just why every single boss is like Lumberg and realized that in all companies, yes mine included, there are really only ever three questions that need answering.

1. Can I do this?
2. How long ago can it be completed?
3. How much am I going to make?

Truthfully we talked through the entire Bruins game last night and no matter what "yeah, but[s]" we tried to throw out there, every single issue, success, question, and model in business ended up coming back to nothing more than answering those three questions.

I’m certainly guilty of it, even as an artist running my finishing business, because I need to be sure that it’s a job I can actually complete before I agree to doing it (#1), that I work quickly and efficiently so the homeowner can get their space back again (#2) and of course that I make enough to cover materials plus my time and labor (and a profit never hurts of course) (#3). Anything else discussed with a homeowner or other industry professional will always go back to those three question’s answers.

For me that’s fine because I have no one to answer to other than myself and my clients right? If they see #3 and its too high a price #’s 1 & 2 don’t really matter anymore because I’m not doing the job. Period. Not to mention, because I work solo, I don’t have eight different bosses coming by to tell me about mistakes I made (#1) that are sure to cost the company time (#2) and money (#3).

But Matt does.

Matt has someone he needs to answer to at all times in his job. Well, he has only one boss, but sometimes with the pressure it sounds like he is under on a daily basis it might as well be eight.

So what does that mean for Matt? I suppose that if he goes into his job with the knowledge that, no matter what, his boss, co-workers, employees (and even himself!), are trying to answer those questions at every turn he might be able to approach work from a different angle. Maybe not but at least he can try to laugh about any and all situations that arise because regardless of the drama, it’s always all about three little answers.

He said he wants to get the questions printed as a poster. I can only assume he would like to hang it in his office in an attempt to passive-aggressively annoy his boss.

Of course by doing that he could get fired and then he’s certainly not making very much is he (#3)?

Then again, it would mean channeling his inner Peter (the character in the movie that every employee longs to be at one time or another) and then he might just not care anymore (bye-bye #'s 1 & 2!).

I’m thinking of getting it printed up on a tee shirt for him for Valentine’s Day. I’m just trying to figure out the best header to go above the questions, for descriptive purposes of course.

Luckily my printing it isn’t a business or else I’d have to answer those three questions before I could even come up with a header.

Measuring a Summer’s Day

Tangerine, my favorite Led Zeppelin song of all time, comes to mind at this very moment because it just so happens I’m eating a fruit of the same name. At this time of year they’re everywhere in mesh shaped nylon baggies so no matter what store I find myself in, if I’m perusing the produce department, a bag of these juicy little balls of happiness are definitely coming home with me.

Some folks could probably have named this post Oh My Darlin’ but to me tangerines just make the world a little juicier than a Clementine. Maybe it’s because of Page’s stunningly simple lyrics full of complex visuals (if you know the song this should make perfect sense), or the delivery of those words through Plant’s haunting reflective tone, or maybe its that Jones & Bonham come in at the exact right moment to bring stability to the growing legs of the well timed guitar solo. Maybe the reason I love it is because it isn’t perfect but it’s out there to be loved anyway.

Or maybe I love the song so much because it reminds me of a nostalgic love so strong it could never be forgotten, and the person it holds in the palm of its hand was that very thing to me.

Innocent and stupid and new, ready to grab the world by the scruff of the collar and drag it along behind us as we blazed a trail. But at some point I realized he wasn’t with me anymore so I looked back to try to find him but he had mysteriously disappeared. Then I spent so long watching behind me for where he had gone that I missed the fact that life fell out of my hands and passed me ages ago.

If only things could stay so simple as Bonham’s back beat. But they rarely do, if ever. So at this time of year I find myself reflecting voraciously, as if it was an activity I’d never done before and may never get to do again.

It always starts out with the year that has just flown by in the blink of an eye and all the things I remember about it, and then it spirals into a trip down the cobble stones of memory lane.

Of course this year was struck with tragedies of massive proportions that would be hard to ignore, like earthquakes and oil spills. But it was also filled with amazing things of beauty like a close friend having a healthy baby girl or seeing a double rainbow in upstate New York.

In the past year:
♥ a good friend moved back to the area
♥ I completed the edits on my first novel and started shopping it
♥ continued to play drums every week
♥ went to countless shows (including finally seeing Bushwalla live on his own, Seth Glier, DMB, BNL and Jason [of course])
♥ one of my favorite actors died (Haim)
♥ saw my sister on her coast
♥ spent time with friends and family (on the other coast and mine)
♥ finished helping to clean out my grandparent’s place
♥ watched the final season of a long favorite television show (Lost)
♥ took on a few paint jobs
♥ walked to support Alzheimer's research
♥ spent tons of time laughing & joking with Matt (in the car and at home)
♥ went fishing (and actually caught some!) with old friends
♥ witnessed the kids in my life get even smarter as they became another year older
♥ saw a couple Sox games live at Fenway & a few Bruins games live at the Garden
♥ dealt with a flood in our basement
♥ experienced a summer full of hot sunshine (bliss!)
♥ started an extreme exercise program (P90x - bring it!)
♥ joined a Book Club
♥ signed a lease for a second year in the same place (call Ripley’s!)
♥ drank with the local townies at the Jersey shore
♥ sold a few things at a craft fair
♥ wrote most of my second novel
♥ kicked Matt’s butt repeatedly in Scrabble
♥ and so many other awesome things I couldn’t begin to list more

Well I could but would any of you read a day by day accounting of my lame-ass life? Probably not.

As I spent the last year getting healthy in mind, body and soul it started becoming more clear that my life is longing for another grab it by the balls and have at it adventure. I know there’s still a couple weeks left this year so I don’t completely rule it out for happening in 2010 but it just feels like 2011 is calling to me from the future. That next year is where the great escapade will be found.

Become a published novelist? Celebrate ten years married? Get my body back in shape? Quit smoking? Something else? The world is open, and so am I, to the possibilities that exist. Bring on the adventure 2011, even if that adventure is wrapped in a moving truck traveling 3500 miles across this great country to the Valley of the Sun!

Someday I will no doubt look back on that journey and think about me and Matt taking it together.

“Does [s]he still remember times like these?...And I do.”