Friday, August 31, 2012

One week ago today

Our last day at sea was already a week ago.  I went out on deck about 9:30 until about 3:45.  There was an extremely light shower that lasted literally 15 seconds.  Other than that, nothing but sun.  I spent about half an hour going on the slide on the ship 10 times because I felt the need to do that.  I then spent some time in the hot tub on the serenity deck.  The serenity deck is for adults.  It's an area that is kept quiet.  It was very relaxing to sit in the hot tub and not listen to kids screaming all day.  Later in the day, a guy took a 300 pound block of ice and started carving away.  In 15 minutes, he scraped off about half of the ice and made it into an Indian!  It was pretty sweet to watch it all unfold.  Later in the day I did another sports trivia.  The same 10 or so people ended up doing trivia every time it was offered.  The one guy thought I was going to win since I had my poker face on.  I laughed and said I didn't stand a chance.  Although in each of the trivias, there were a few questions that I knew the answer to that the others did not.  At dinner, the servers sang us a farewell song changing the lyrics to "Leaving on a jet plane".  After that, we packed and then watched the country show where once again, the cruise director showed another talent of his while he played the fiddle.  We went to the two comedy shows again and they were only ok.  The next morning, we were up very early, ate, and waited for our number to be called before we left the ship.  we had a flight from Tampa to Baltimore and then a three hour layover until we went to Albany.  I started having horrible stomach pains right before we left the ship.  I just got over the pains yesterday!  Our flight from Baltimore was supposed to leave at 5:45.  We were on the plane waiting and then they said we had to move planes because the toilet didn't work on this plane.  As we started moving, they told us to stay on the plane and we would leave shortly.  We didn't leave for another 30 minutes.  It was 6:30 by the time we left even though we were due to arrive in Albany at 6:55.  Since I felt absolutely miserable, that didn't help matters!  Our cruise came and went way too quickly.  It was by far some of the best days I've had in my life.  Although vacations are very expensive and I always have a million things going on in my head, I hardly thought of any of that while on the ship.  I really did get my chance to relax.  I have no idea when I will get the opportunity to do that again.  I definitely want to plan another cruise soon.  I have no idea when I will go on one again, though.  Until then, it's back to school next Thursday.  Now that I'm home again, I hope to finish my book by the end of the month!

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Yankee Game/more cruise stories

I forgot to tell you about the Yankee game that I went to on Tuesday.  There were four of us going.  Unfortunately we had 2 seats in section 108 and 2 seats in section 430, the last possible row.  Because I'm awesome, I sat in 108, just to the left of the right field foul pole.  The seats were cushioned and very comfortable!  The game started at 7:05 and was very quick.  It finished at about 9:30 and we were home by 12:45, much earlier than expected.  The game itself was a little boring because there weren't many hits or runs.  The Yankees won 2-1 and that's all that matters.

Wednesday, Grand Cayman:

We were at that port from 8-3.  We got off the ship at around 8:45.  We did a lot of shopping a few feet from the port.  You had no walk at all once you got off the tender to all of the gift shops.  Since Grand Cayman is a small port, we had to get off our big boat and get on a small boat to take a 5 minute ride to the port.  Our excursion didn't start until 10:30.  That gave us over an hour to walk around.  I bought yet another Hawaiian shirt.  I'm starting to build quite the collection.  While shopping, I ran into a picture that I had to buy.  You can see it above.  We took a short bus ride over to the beach for our excursion.  The guy gave us a bunch of facts about the Cayman Islands.  Their record low happened in 2010, it was 55.  Poor guys, I feel so bad that it was so cold...NOT.  We went to Tiki beach for a few hours.  I sat in my beach chair and relaxed most of the time.  I also went in the beach (of course) and swam out pretty far.  The fish were right there with you!  There were very few clouds in the sky.  The water was a beautiful blue-green and the sand was as white as snow (but not as cold).  There was a very light breeze that did nothing to cool off my skin, which continued to get darker and darker.  I know it's cliche, but I really do love long walks on the beach.  I took a good half mileish walk, keeping my feet in slightly in the wate.  If I had more time, I would have walked a lot farther.  The one problem with the ocean was that there were big rocks on the bottom that you had to climb over and I scraped my feet on them a few times.  The ship told us that the last tender back was at 2:15.  Our bus didn't take us back until 2.  It was a short bus ride back.  The line to get back on our ship was ridiculously long.  We got in line at about 2:20 and didn't get on a tender until about 2:40.  Needless to say, the boat didn't leave without us.  When we got back on the boat, I did another sports trivia contest.  I was very ashamed of myself when I didn't know the answer to a Kentucky Derby question.  I had no idea that the celebrity section was called Millionaires Row.  After dinner, we watched a show with the cruise director and break dancers.  The cruise director juggled 3 balls, then 4, then 5!  He was phenomenal!  The break dancers had so much energy and were very flexible.  It was an excellent show.  It's amazing how many shows the cruise shows you for free!  Before the show, we watched some kareoke.  For some odd reason, I had a strong urge to go up and sing, but there was not enough time.  We watched the one adult comedy show that took place that night.  After that, I was at the casino until around 1.  Yet another glorious day.

Thursday, Cozumel

We were in Cozumel from 11-8 cruise time.  Cozumel is an hour behind our time, so 10-7.  We didn't change our watch because it would have confused me (what a shock).  Since we had time, we did the sit down (a la carte) breakfast.  After that, we went to the buffet because the sit down breakfast was not filling at all.  At about 10:15, we were all packed and ready to leave the boat.  We went to the top deck and watched our ship pull into port.  There were two ships already docked.  The Carnival Elation and the Royal Carribean Oasis of the Seas.  The Royal Carribean ship was HUGE!!!!!  It made our ship look like a row boat.  It comes complete with a rock climbing wall!  Our excursion was not until 12.  As soon as we docked, we got off and shopped for an hour.  Our excursion was called Isla Pasion by twister.  We took a boat to the beach.  This was no ordinary boat.  This boat went 60 miles per hour!  At the end of the ride to the beach, the guide did 360s which got everyone drenched.  We were on the beach for about 3 hours.  This is the same beach that is featured in Corona commercials!  The beach did not have rocks on the bottom of the ocean.  It had plenty of seaweed, though.  There were no fish either because we were only allowed to go about five feet deep.  They had an inflatable obstacle we were allowed to climb up.  We did a water balloon tossing game which we lost.  We then had to shoot a soccer ball from a long distance into the goal.  I hit the post.  Before we left, there was one more water balloon tossing contest which my friend and I won.  My friend buried me in the sand and random people were taking pictures of me.  On our walk back to our small boat, we saw two iguanas fighting each other.  Naturally, I had to take a picture.  We got back to the ship at about 5:40 and just had enough time to shower and get to dinner for some bacon mac and cheese, mmmmmmmm!  We went to kareoke again.  I was all ready to sing my song, but the teleprompter wasn't working.  We waited for over 50 minutes and it still didn't work.  We watched the gender war trivia, bingo, and passenger talent show after that.  Then I went back and did kareoke because it was without the band this time.  I sang "Piano Man" in front of a huge crowd of about 10 people.  Yes, 10.  It was not a typo.  I'm glad it wasn't more because people would have blown their eardrums from listening to me sing.  There was a deck party going on late that night.  We hung out outside with everyone while relaxing on a nice evening.  Tomorrow, you will read about our last day at sea :(.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Went to the track today

My grandpa is visiting from Florida and my aunt is up from Virginia.  We went with about 15 people to the track today to watch the horses.  This was my third time going this year. Two years ago when the family went, I had two big winners.  Today, everyone was asking me what to bet.  I told them to bet the opposite numbers that I bet because I am not as good as they think I am.  Did they bet with me when I won a $168 exacta today, nope!  That was the only bet I won today.  The rest went down the toilet. 

Tuesday August 21: our first full day at sea

My friend set his alarm so that he could call his mom in the morning.  If he didn't call, his mom would have been freaking out.  I, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with my cell phone until Saturday morning, and even then I didn't want to touch it.  We woke up about 7:30, ate breakfast, and were outside on deck laying in the sun by 9:30.  I was looking in my small bag that I bring up on deck before we left the room and noticed my iPod was not there.  I looked everywhere in the room for it and could not find it.  My thought is that on Monday, I took it out of the bag on deck and did not put it back in and somebody must have stolen it.  That's the only thing I can come up with.  Anyways, I go to guest services and they did not have it in their lost and found.  They told me to come back later that day and I could fill out a missing item report.  While on deck, I just stood for several minutes looking in front of me, to the right, and to the left.  There is something about looking at absolutely nothing but water every way you look that is so relaxing.  I could have stared at nothing for hours.  Some people might freak out when they don't see land.  It had the opposite effect on me.  I had no worries in the world while looking at the light waves coming off the water.  I eventually walked away and sat on my chair and relaxed.  One annoying part about being so high up was that it was extremely windy.  I was very happy to have my kindle because I didn't have to worry about the nonexistent pages blowing everywhere.  At 12 o'clock I did a blackjack tournament.  I didn't last long and went right back outside to catch some more sun.  On the highest possible deck later in the afternoon, my friend and I played mini golf.  That was challenging because the wind blew the ball everywhere.  The 9 holes took us forever because there were so many people in front of us,  It was ok though because we didn't have anywhere that we had to be.  They had a sports trivia contest at around 4.  They asked 20 questions.  You had to write down the answers and not shout them out.  Some of the questions were very easy and others I had no clue.  I only got 10/20 right.  Oh well.  At about 5:15, I decided to go down to guest services again and fill out the missing item report.  I cannot begin to tell you how many times they asked me the same exact questions!  They offered to do a room search.  I said that they could.  I told them I had to get going and asked if they could do the search without me.  They said that they could not and that if I left, I would have to do the paperwork all over again.  At that point, it was 5:50.  I told my friend I would be back in the room at 5:30 to get ready for our formal dinner.  I still had to shower and get my nice clothes on.  I finally left them and sprinted down to my room.  I got to the room at 5:52 with my friend freaking out because he almost walked out of the room looking for me.  I showered and got dressed and we got to dinner at 6:03.  I was quite impressed with the time I made.  I had prime rib, mmmmmmm.  I decided against the lobster tail, ew.  I love eating anything I want on the ship for free! 

Although I put sunscreen on all day, I noticed I was starting to get a burn.  It hurt to put a shirt on my shoulders.  The back of my neck was feeling raw, too.  Right after dinner I went back to ask for the room search.  He made me fill out a report of where I last saw my iPod and stating that I give them permission to tear apart my room.  Once again, he asked me the same questions over and over again.  He searched my room and found nothing.  The reason I had him search was because then I felt like I did everything that I could do to find my iPod.  We wanted to go to the show that started at 8:45.  We got there at 9 because of the hoopla.  The show was pretty good.  It was singing and dancing throughout the decades.  We went to both adult comedy shows at 10 and 11.  Both of them were hysterical.  Once again, I still think comedy can be very funny without swearing, but whatever.  Naturally, we got food somewhere in there just because we could.  After the comedy I ended up playing poker until around 1 and walked away with a little bit of extra dough.  I accomplished a lot that first full day at sea.  Tomorrow, you will get to hear all of the adventures that took place at Grand Cayman.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Insanely busy

Sorry, no reflection of my second day on the cruise right now.  I went back to work today even though I had no idea what I was supposed to do.  We didn't finish up what we needed to in one school before we both took a vacation last week.  They told us just to get our school ready and run the updates on our lab computers.  I started to do that, and it wasn't working.  I called again and they said wait until someone comes to check it out.  So then I hooked up all of the computers.  That shockingly took a long time because I had to tie wires and ethernet cords and stuff like that.  Several teachers were there today that needed my assistance too.  Tomorrow, I'm going back to continue to put up bulletin boards and make my room all pretty (haha).  After that, I'm going to the Yankee game!  So once again, I might have no blog post tomorrow night since I won't get home until at least 1AM.  The rest of my cruise reflection will be up eventually, I promise!

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Back to reality

I have so much to say about the cruise!  I'm not sure if I will tell you all tonight because I am still not feeling well.  Yesterday morning, before we left the ship, I started getting sharp pains in my stomach on and off.  Unfortunately, I'm still getting them.  Let's start with day one.

I hardly slept at all going into Monday morning.  I set my alarm for 3:30 in the morning.  My friend was going to pick me up at a little after 4AM for our 6:05 flight.  I texted him at 3:30 making sure he had all of his papers.  It turned out that he forgot a room tag to put on his bag.  I printed that out.  We had no problem getting through the check in and security.  Once we got to Tampa, Florida, we went straight to baggage claim.  We got our luggage quickly and took a 15 minute taxi ride to the port area.  We got there before 11:30.  There was no line at all while we got our sail and sign cards.  Each time we walked past more Carnival workers, they had to check our IDs and S and S cards.  Then we got to a huge group of people.  We had zone 8.  We were waiting at that area at around 11:25 until they started calling people starting with zone 1 at 11:40.  We were on the ship by 12:15.  After we ate, we spent the rest of the afternoon in the sun.  Unfortunately, we had to do the mandatory muster drill before we started moving which took over a half hour.  We watched the boat leave the port.  While laying out in the sun, it was extremely windy.  After that we did the sit down dinner where we were in a booth that seats 6.  Only my friend and I were there that night.  We watched a Jeopardy contest once dinner was completed.  Three people went up.  They then had another three people go up and I was one of them.  The questions they asked were song and TV related.  They would play a sound bit and then we would have to answer.  Each question was worth 100 points and the first to 500 won.  I won!  My prize was a bottle of champagne and the famous 24 karat plastic ship on a stick.  Then we stayed in that room for a welcome show.  They showed us a sneak peek of the two comedians and the break dancers.  Then we went to a comedy show for adults only which was hilarious.  I still think comedy can be very funny without swearing.  As we were walking to get more food (yes, you can eat at all times) it was windy and rainy.  That was the only time it rained on the entire cruise.  After the comedy show, I walked around the club and casino but shockingly did not gamble.  I was amazed that I was able to stay up until about 12:30 since I was up at 3.  That's all for day 1.  I will talk about day two tomorrow.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Tomorrow!

The moment I have been waiting for since the end of February is finally here!  4AM will come very fast.  We have a flight at 6:05 going to Baltimore and then a flight to Tampa.  I know you will all be deeply saddened by the fact that you will have no blog to read from Monday to Friday.  I think you will find a way to carry on.  I might not write too much when I get back Saturday.  I will definitely have plenty to say about the cruise sometime when I get back though.  That will be something for you all to look forward to.  Until then, it's time for me to relax and have some fun!  Peace out!

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Moody

Have you ever had one of those days where anything and everything just gets you mad?  That was me today.  I have no explanation for it.  I was quite snappy with my mom at times for no reason whatsoever.  People would say hi to me and I'd be like, "What do you want?"  Ok, I wasn't that bad.  Maybe it's just because I need to get away.  The cruise is so close and I just want to get away from my normal life.  It's funny, when I tell people I'm going on a cruise, the first question they ask is, "Are you going alone?"  Why in God's name would I go on a cruise all by myself?  First of all, it would cost me a ridiculous amount of money to do that.  Second of all, I'm not that much of a loser.  Third of all, I'd be too lonely to do that.  It would not be fun at all.  So no, for the record, I am not going on this cruise alone.  I'm going with my friend who I can tolerate and who doesn't make me angry for no apparent reason.  I might grind his gears a lot on the cruise though, who knows?  I have to get up in a few hours to check in for my flight.  Good night.

Friday, August 17, 2012

Cover is done!

After probably a week off, I finally wrote another chapter today.  Only 5 more to go!  One other thing is taken care of.  The cover has been finished!  It looks very similar to the first book.  It came out really good.  Unfortunately, the objects the teacher is holding in one of her hands confuses many people that I show the picture to.  Unfortunately, I have a feeling a lot of the object will be cut off when I submit the cover on Create Space.  We will see.  I can't wait to have the finished product ready!!

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Seeing someone about 18 years later

Yesterday, I went to a school in the district to show a slideshow on the last day of summer school.  The person who normally works in summer school could not be there.  They wanted me to fill in.  While in the library showing the slideshow to one of the classes, I see someone that looks familiar and stare at her (not for a long time or in a creepy way, I swear!).  She looks at me and we say nothing to each other.  Towards the end of the morning, she sees me again and says, "I think I know you.  Are you Shane or (my brother's name)."  I said, "I'm Shane.  Are you (The correct person's name)."  It turns out we both knew each other.  She was my second grade teacher!  I find it absolutely amazing that teachers can remember students they had 15 plus years later.  They have had hundreds of students and still recognize you.  It's crazy!  You would think that since I have grown so much (taller and wider) that she wouldn't recognize me.  I can't see myself recognizing students years from now.  Who knows?  Also, this teacher is only a substitute now because she took time off to have kids.  She is looking for a full time job again.  Now she is my competition with a huge leg up on me since she has I have no idea how many years of teaching experience.  Either way, it was really nice to see her.  She looked exactly the same she did 18 years ago!  Time sure does fly!

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Trying to figure things out

It can be a royal pain trying to plan ahead.  I have a ton of things going on the next few days before no one can contact me for five days.  I trying to figure out my plans for going to the track Sunday.  I'm also trying to make plans with other friends, take care of my finances, do some last minute shopping, and make sure I pack everything I need.  Many teachers have already emailed me with computer problems.  They will have to wait until after next week.  I emailed my higher ups to see what they want me to do the week I come back.  They have not responded yet.  I would love to go on this cruise and not think about any of that.  Unfortunately, I know myself.  I'm more than likely going to be thinking about things like that even though the only important thing to think about is whether I want a Mojito or a Captain and Coke.  That's a very tough decision.  I have two hands, I might have to get both.  Should I wear sun screen, or tough it out?  Do I lay out in the sun, or do I lay out in the sun?  I shouldn't be thinking about the computer issues I will need to confront when I get back or where my boss wants me to work.  I do need to think about who I am drafting in fantasy football because that takes place the day after I come home.  I have no problem looking over the NFL magazine and thinking about that.  Hopefully I'll be able to put my mind in relax mode so that I can replenish myself and start the new year of school refreshed and ready to go!

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Patience

One of my major downfalls is that I don't have a lot of patience at times.  I had my monthly poker game tonight.  When I have to fold my cards for a long period of time, I like to say I'm impatiently being patient.  That means I want to play very badly, but I am waiting for the right time.  Tonight, when it was just down to me and another guy, I wasn't patient at all.  I made a bad play early on and that was the end of my night.  I got 2nd, which means I still made some cash.  However, I obviously wanted first place.  I will have to be patient Monday as I go through security at the airport, wait for a taxi in Tampa, and go through the long line to get on the boat.  Then I need to be patient as 2,000 people try to eat food at once.  That will be ridiculously hard for me since I will be starving at that point.  Shocking, I know.  Security shouldn't be too bad Monday since we are getting there at 4:30 AM...ugh.  The other lines will take a lot of time, though.  I just have to look at the prize at the end of the tunnel.  That prize is me laying out in the sun for five days!

Monday, August 13, 2012

Returning Bottle Deposits

Can you think of a more disgusting job than retuning bottle deposits besides bringing garbage to the land fill?  I can't!  Ok, maybe cleaning up public bathrooms.  Those are probably the top three most disgusting jobs.  I almost feel like it's not worth the five cents per bottle to go through all of the trouble.  I had a large cart full of deposits today.  This was the most returns I have ever had in one sitting.  $8.40 worth of returns.  I know, most people have a ton more than that, like everyone at the store today!  I got there and there were three other people retuning bottles.  All of them had ridiculously full carts filled with cans and bottles.  There was no room for me.  I squeezed in to try to return the glass bottles.  As soon as I put one bottle in, the bin was full.  The moment I tried to put it in the other glass machine, that one was being emptied, too. I had to wait 5 minutes for that to get cleared up.  I couldn't deposit plastic or cans while waiting because they were taken.  The store wouldn't take a specific brand of glass even though they sell those bottles!  I finally get to plastics and the same thing happens!  I put a few in and then the bin is full.  By the time I finish depositing everything, I have several slips with small amounts on all of them because of the bins being full.  Overall, it took me 45 minutes from start to finish!  I had to wait in line forever in customer service, too.  The rest of the day wasn't too much better.  Everything else seemed to be going wrong.  Once again, I didn't write any chapters in my book today.  I really really want to finish it before the cruise so that I can extreme edit it when I return.  It doesn't look like I will finish, though.  I have too many other distractions.  The bright side of today was booking an excursion for when we go to Grand Cayman.  I need this vacation ASAP because I need to get away from the people in my life for five days (besides the friend I'm going with, of course)!  Thank God I will be overseas and will not be able to use my cell phone.  That will be one of the highlights of my trip.  No text messages and distractions from my mandatory relaxation time!

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Vacation and money

I've spent a lot of today getting nervous and freaking out about my cruise next week.  I keep worrying about the money I am could potentially spend on it.  I need to stop for many reasons.  1. I know I won't go crazy spending a ridiculous amount of money on the cruise.  2. I'm going to be on vacation, it's okay to treat myself a little bit and not worry about money. 3. The cruise is already paid off, besides anything I spend next week. 4. Financially, I'm doing alright.  I just feel like I'm going to spend more money than I should.  I don't have my parents there with me telling me to stop.  I feel like that's another reason I'm nervous, because I'm not going with my parents.  I am a big boy now.  I don't need my parents to come with me.  I've gone on a lot of vacations without my parents.  I've been to Puerto Rico three times and even over seas to Germany without them.  The difference between those trips and this trip is that those trips were planned by adults and supervised by adults.  This will be my first major trip that I can think of that my friend and I have done the planning and are going together without parents.  Maybe that's why I'm freaking out over something that I shouldn't.  I'm like Kevin James' comedy show because I am "Sweating the small stuff".  I know money isn't a small issue.  I do know that it's a vacation and I shouldn't worry and that I will be fine.  Maybe after I sleep it off tonight, those feelings will go away tomorrow.  One can hope.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Hungry

After writing my fairly pathetic post yesterday, I thought of a title right away for today.  Hungry.  Why am I almost always hungry?  I have no idea.  Tonight, I went out to eat with my grandparents.  Then, a few hours later, I went out again with my friend and finished the food my friend ordered.  I'm not only always hungry for food.  I'm also hungry for success just like everyone else is.  I guess I would call having a master's degree and one book published (close to two books) being successful.  However, I'm not satisfied yet.  There is still so much more I can and will do!!!  There was also something else I'm hungry for, but I forgot.  Wait, I remember.  I'm hungry to travel and complete everything on my nonexistent bucket list.  I don't know if I will ever make a bucket list.  Who knows?  I know what I want to do.  Why should I make a list of it if I already know?  I probably should make a list because I always forget my thoughts.  I swear I come upstairs to look up something and the moment I get upstairs, I forget what I was going to look up.  It's sad, I know.  I guess that's what happens when you hit a quarter of a century.  Alright, off to bed.  Up in a few hours for my last shift at the grocery store until September!!!!!

Friday, August 10, 2012

Creativity

I need to start getting more creative with my blog posts.  I just sat here for a good five minutes thinking of a title and what to write about.  All of a sudden, the word creative came to mind and now I'm rolling with it.  Maybe I should write my blogs a little bit earlier than a few minutes before I go to bed.  My eyes are extremely heavy right now.  The last thing I want to think about before bed is what to write about.  Yet here I am, trying to think about what to write.  Trust me, when I get back from my cruise, I will have plenty to write about!

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Respect

While I was at work today, I had to ask my principal where computers went.  They were not in the room where they were supposed to be.  She told me where they went and how they got there.  She said that the room was being used by some program that is being run at the school.  A counselor came up to her and said something like, "You need to move those computers from the room because I don't want the kids to break them."  My principal responded, "Hello I'm (name).   I'm the principal here."  He then said the same thing again.  She responds something like, "You are in charge of them.  Therefore, you should make sure nothing gets broken."  She was obviously very upset.  I can't believe someone would talk to someone that way, especially someone they don't know.  He could have easily said, "Hi, I am (name) working with the (blah blah) program.  I was wondering if you could move the computers because I don't want the kids to touch them."  I can guarantee that if that person were looking for a teaching job, my principal would definitely not give him the time of day.  First impressions are everything.  I was shocked when I heard that story.  If I were to say something like that to her, I am positive I would be looking for another job in a different district.  People really need to learn how to talk to one another appropriately.  Then, everyone would respect each other!

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Todays Topic: Thoughts

Once again, I came upstairs just now to write here and I had no title or anything thought up to write about.  Then, I got thinking.  Why don't I write about thoughts!  It kind of sounds like Seinfelds show about nothing.  We all have thoughts.  We all talk in our head all day, everyday.  We probably think about anything and everything.  Unfortunately, some people don't have a filter, and will spill their thoughts right away before processing them.  Some things they say might be hurtful towards that person or people.  I tell my students that they need filters.  A filter will leave the bad thoughts on the inside and will not let them come out.  I also tell them that they can think any thought that they want to think.  It can be the worst possible thought imaginable.  However, they really need to think  about whether or not that thought should be said out loud or not.  That's the problem with social networking and technology these days.  Kids will say horrible things about people through Faceook or texting because it's a lot easier than saying it in to their face.  We aren't communicating enough in person with each other.  Unfortunately, that will get worse and worse as technology continues to grow.  So I say, keep thinking like we always do and always will do.  Maybe someone's thoughts will be a cure for cancer!  Who knows?  I know you have never heard this before... think before you act.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

You ever feel like you got nothing accomplished even though you did a lot?

That basically sums up how I feel today.  After work, I got a lot done.  Even during work I was able to complete many rooms that needed to be set up.  I even asked my principal for some books she recommended that I read to help me for interviews.  After work, I read and was out in the sun and did other things I wanted to do.  About an hour and a half ago, I came upstairs to write the next chapter in my book.  That didn't happen.  Instead, I got stuck on Facebook looking at posts from people on one of my friend's walls.  He died last November at age 25 after battling Multiple Sclerosis for over 15 years.  Although I didn't work on my book, I was able to look at all the wonderful things people said about him.  It made me think, what would people say about me?  That's what stinks about dying.  People don't say nice things about you to your face.  They only say it after you pass away.  People should take a few minutes each day and tell people what they like about them.  Will those people think you are crazy?  Probably, but the sad truth is that you never know when today could be your last day or there's.  It's a very scary thought, but unfortunately the truth.  Okay, enough sad thoughts.  My cruise is in less than 13 days!  Where has the time gone?

Monday, August 6, 2012

One chapter a day, and my book will be done before my cruise

I wrote TWO chapters today.  I can't tell you the last time I wrote more than one chapter in a day.  I now have 10 chapters left to write.  Then will come extreme editing.  I edit each chapter as I write it.  However, I have to edit it several more times because I do not want to publish a book with any typos or grammatical errors like I did with my first book.  I wasted a lot of money buying copies of my book when there were a lot of mistakes in them.  Therefore, I want this book to be as perfect as it can be before I let all of my adoring fans buy it.  I know, you are all dying to read the sequel and will be waiting outside of bookstores to buy it when it comes out at midnight like Harry Potter books used to.  You will just have to be patient.  Hopefully my illustrator will get me a sketch shortly so we can get that done.  I want him to be finished with my cover by the time I finish writing and editing the book.  We will see.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Yes, more horse racing talk

I didn't write much about how amazing Saratoga is yesterday.  When you watch a race live at the track, it doesn't matter if you bet a specific horse or not.  You will start screaming with everyone else.  The adrenaline rushes through your body, especially if the horse you bet is winning.  30,000 plus people standing om their feet, screaming for horses to run faster brings goosebumps all over your body.  The one downside of everyone screaming at once is you can't hear Tom Durkin, the guy who calls the races, yelling out who is winning and who is chasing the winning horse.  In yesterdays 10th race, I knew my horse won.  I had no idea who got 2nd.  I had 2 horses that I wanted to get 2nd.  Unfortunately, they came in 3rd and 4th and I just missed out.  Normally you can see the numbers while the horses are running.  However, they all came so fast and it was a photo finish for second.  Therefore, I couldn't tell what horse got second.  I went on the rail for the race before that to watch the race in person, instead of on TV in the park like I did the other races.  That's thrilling too because you are right there, feet away from the running horses.  The outcome wasn't good to me for that race.  Today, I made more bets and once again, feel just short of big cashes.  That's the way my Saratoga meet has been going so far.  I have at least 5 different bets that I have made that I lost by mere inches. Needless to say, its beyond frustrating.  I know I can't win every race.  But in the words of former Jets coach Herm Edwards, "Hello, you play to win the game!  You don't play to just play it!"  Every bet I make, I feel like I can win.  Sooner or later, they have to come out my way...right?  Only time will tell.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Love horse racing or hate it, there is nothing like the Saratoga Race Track

The atmosphere at the track is unlike any other.  There were probably about 30,000 people there today on a day where it was 90 degrees and the humidity was through the roof.  I started off really slow.  When I say slow, I mean after 9 races, I lost every single bet I made.  Then, I threw the last of my money on a horse... and he won!  I was up 60 cents for the entire day, haha!  I'll take it!  While handicapping the race I told you about yesterday, I got the correct winner, but missed out on the 2nd place horse by a little bit.  It's all good!  Being up money, even though it's a very small amount, is better than being down money!

Friday, August 3, 2012

Handicapping horse races

Everyone has their own hobbies.  I happen to love handicapping the horse races, not only the ones at Saratoga, but all of the big races, too.  What's handicapping horse races mean?  It means I get sheets on the horses in each race.  Each sheet has information on how each horse has performed in the past.  It has how fast they went, what their times were, how long the race was, who got 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in that race, what place they were in throughout the entire race, how many 1st, 2nd, and 3rds they have in their career, and more.  I find it extremely exciting to try to crack the code and figure out who will be on top in a race.  Obviously, I bet the horses that I think can win the race.  Even if I pick the winner and only win a little bit of money, I am satisfied because I was able to solve the problem.  Tomorrow, I am going to the track and will try to pick winners for 12 races.  That's no easy feat!  I have already started looking at the 10th and featured race.  There are 9 horses in the race.  Right now, there are 5 horses who I think have a chance at winning.  Now I have to figure out the order those 5 will come in.  It won't be easy, but I will have fun trying to figure it out!

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Approaching 1,000 page views!

Clicking into my blog, I had absolutely no idea what to write about or what my title would be.  Then, I saw that I have 902 page views!  I'm sure a lot of them are from me, but who knows.  I know I have a few friends following my blog.  They must have nothing better to do with themselves.  I have to admit, it's really difficult at times to come up with a title for the blog and something to write about every day.  If I find it difficult, my students will also find it challenging.  This is good.  Kids need to be challenged!  When I told my principal in my mock interview the other day that my students would write in a journal everyday, she loved it!  Although my writing is rather juvenile for my age, it still keeps my writing, um, sharp... I guess.  That's the goal for my students, too.  I want them to keep their creative juices flowing by writing everyday.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

August 1st already!

If you remember, my goal was to finish my book by August 1st, today.  Well... that didn't quite happen.  I have 14 of the 27 chapters finished.  My new goal is for it to come out on the first day of school.  That would be pretty sweet.  Honestly, with everything going on, I don't think I'm going to meet that goal either.  You can't rush fine art, well, um, writing.  I can't draw worth my life.  Anyways, we will see what happens.