Ask You

Go here and check out the song. (Then, you should probably leave a comment and let him know what you think. Chances are you'll help make his day.)

My Life Prediction (summed up in songs courtesy of my Scrubs playlist)

Can you tell Relay's over? I spent way too much time playing around with this. But here she goes:

Everybody's Changing - Keane (Played while I feel like I lose half the people I thought would be there forever.)

Ain't No Reason - Brett Dennen (Played while I'm questioning life and relationships and why things suck.)

Surrender - Cheap Trick (Played when I give up and try to go with the flow.)

Be Yourself - Audioslave (Played while I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing.)

Boston - Augustana (Played when I reach the bottom and decide to drop everything and move to the other side of the country. Note that instead of wanting to leave the west coast and go to Boston, it would be the opposite. Some snow would not be nice, and I'm tired of the sunrise. Although I wouldn't mind finding a lover and flying her out to Spain.)

Little Victories - Matt Nathanson (Played while I'm trying to talk myself out of tucking my tail between my legs and running back to the comfort zone.)

Beautiful World - Colin Hay (Played when I come into my own... find myself... and find her.)

Overkill [acoustic version]- Colin Hay (Played when I'm half there, half not, what do I do boyo, what do I do?)

Mother We Just Can't Get Enough - New Radicals (Played when I start to get crazy about her.)

Brick House - Commodores (Played at the weddings I might be invited to. I will probably dance to this if I'm drinking too.)

Fix You - Cold Play (Played when we help each other overcome whatever bullshit we allow to beat us down.)

Learn To Fly (Played when I'm traveling, learning, living... undoubtedly a montage.)

Blue Eyes - Carey Brother (Played when I realize I fell in love with her.)

The Book of Love - Peter Gabriel (Played when we get married.)

These Photographs - Joshua Radin (Played when I can't imagine being happier.)

Snow (Hey Oh) - Red Hot Chili Peppers (Played when something's wrong.)

Wonderful - Everclear (Played when she stops loving me and breaks my heart.)

Come Around - Rhett Miller (Played when I try to get over her.)

A Bad Dream - Keane (Played because without a doubt this will pop up somewhere in my future. Here would be good, so I can get it over with.)

In The Sun - Joseph Arthur (Played when I finally let her go and make peace with myself.)

Waiting For My Real Life To Begin - Colin Hay (Played when it all falls into place.)

Missed The Boat - Modest Mouse (Played on the shaky ground... but it's not really so bad.)

Miracle - Foo Fighters (Played because, after all, it is.)

Beautiful Day - U2 (Played because I know it is, and when it comes down to it that's what counts.)

100 Years - Five For Fighting (Played at the end. Predictable, but fitting.)

Damn... I should get started, huh?

[Of course, this is just something I played around with after some job hunting burnout... If my life does wind up needing some sort of soundtrack, I would branch out beyond a Scrubs playlist... There's always a Sweetness moment. Or a Parachute. And Here You Me. Plus you can't forget Subtitles. Or Breath Me. Two Points For Honesty? Hometown Glory? And the stuff GB hasn't introduced me to yet, or the stuff that hasn't been written yet. And maybe some original stuff by some original people...]

$10,000.00

We did it. =)

Relay For Life 2009

Yesterday was the big day, and I'm still recovering today. My drenched butt didn't get home till after 4 this morning, and I'm tired as hell and sore all over. But it feels good.

We got rained out once again (although, I actually wasn't responsible for calling it... and it stopped raining around 1 maybe? 2? And by 3 there was nothing. I was sort of disappointed). Yet, even with that setback, we managed to get almost everything in.

The sun actually came out for a while, and most of the afternoon proved to be beautiful. Survivor/Opening Ceremony went off without a hitch, laps and activities went as smoothly as could be expected. There were people playing football and volleyball. Our DJ was awesome. There was singing, laughing, food, fun all over. I didn't get to partake in too much of that, but it was good to see everyone else enjoying it.

Around 8 or so, my uncle told me the weather didn't look too good. I pow-wow'd with my Luminary committee, and after JUST telling them how great they were, and how much pressure they took off the rest of us, and how my co-chair and I never for a minute worried about what they were doing, I told them to do the ceremony at 9:00 instead of 10:00. By this time it was 8:30. The look of shock didn't go any farther than that, and with the help of half the stadium, we got all those bags--almost 1700--out around the track. 20 lighters and some sprinting around the field later, those bags were all lit. The speaker was even able to make it back and we started pretty much right at 9. It was awesome, and the Luminaria Ceremony, as always, perfect.

[If there is one thing you must experience, at least once, it would be this ceremony. It's one of the most touching and emotional things I've ever taken part in. And that sensation, those emotions, are never dulled no matter how many I've done.]

Then the rain came. And some thunder and lightning. And more rain. And everyone left. Well, almost everyone. My ACS chair and I were the last to take off after finally getting some ghetto children to vacate the premises. (Yes, we actually got some participation from "kids" this year! But now this means we're going to have to really stay on top of those chaperone forms, because said kids should not have been there by themselves. And I don't do babysitting for strangers.)

So now it's over, and I'm left feeling a little... I dunno. Hah. At first, I had this feeling of accomplishment. But there's something tarnishing that, and I'm not sure what it is. I had many people come up to me yesterday and thank me. Not only Committee Members or Team Captains, but some perfect strangers. Friends and family congratulated me for a job well done. One of my teammates informed me that if given the option, she'd have a son just like me. (Hehe, how awful would that be, the poor boy!) I had people thank me for bringing them together, for introducing them to new friends, for helping them through difficult times.

And here I am, with a team that has raised $10,000.00 (okay, we're like $400 short, but I've got 3 months so you damn well better believe I'm going to find a way to make it happen), in charge of an event that's raised over $49,000.00 ($6,000 more till our goal!! Granted, a little tougher to raise in 3 months, but still doable). A good 85% of the program got done! Smiles and all, despite the weather...

I should still feel proud right now, ya? I should smile (haha, okay, well I am smiling), and feel like I did as great a job as I keep telling everyone else they did.

I wanted to help people, to make a difference. I guess I did...

And I want to do it again.

Rain?

Probably. Bastards.

Crossing fingers for a good event...

4 days!

I keep getting a different weather report than everyone else. And that's a good thing based on the ones I've been getting! (I suppose a battle between Channel 12, The Weather Channel, and whatever miscellaneous Boston source are going to have to duke it out. If my guy wins I'm going to be pissed.)

It's exciting! I sorta can't wait. There's going to be people from all over too, which is awesome. I hope my responsibilities won't prevent me from being able to hang out at all.

Okay, so are you with me!? Are we going to rock this thing?

Oh yes. Yes we are.

"I can say I hope it will be worth what I give up"

I wonder what's going to happen this year. What sort of ups and downs the next 365 days will hold.

Lost in thought. But not in a wholly bad way...

Pink Flamingos

As I opened the shades this morning to get some light for ironing, I was greeted by a sight which actually made me laugh out loud. Upon our front lawn sat not one, not two, not three, but FIVE pink flamingos. (Okay, so not REAL flamingos, but still.)

It was awesome. It's actually a fundraiser for the ACS Strides Against Breast Cancer event in October. One of my former Relayers, a breast cancer survivor, left us this year to concentrate on that event. I played around with the idea of getting involved in that too, for my mom, but it might be too much...

So now I have pink flamingos! We'll have to pay some money to make them flock away. Although I sort of like them there.

It's funny too because we were going to do a similar thing for Relay (except with purple flamingos or some other lawn decoration). I wasn't sure how receptive people would be or how easy it would be to get off the ground. With a small committee it's hard to get spearhead so many different things. But based on my reaction this morning, I'll think we'll have to do it next year. Maybe dueling flamingos?!

Awesome.

Moo-vays

Some thoughts.

Wolverine was okay. Not great, but not awful. I guess I'm uber-sensitive about my merry mutants. And I probably had my Wolvie fix with his first 3 movies (Or, the X-men trilogy...). It's just... how do you stick Cyke in there? There was no point in having Emma Frost in there (If you saw the trailer then you know exactly what her role consists of). And Gambit? Man. What a way to try and cram all this stuff--all these characters--into a movie. Story be damned.

Terminator actually looks pretty sick. I feel I'm sort of drawn to that post-apocalyptic thing, whether it's Age of Apocalypse or Logan's Run or Matrix or I Am Legend (I'll stick with Matheson, you can have Will Smith) or whatever. I would like to see it. I wonder if John Connor will be surprised when he meets a Terminator for the first time. He probably shouldn't be.

Up is probably going to be another Pixar smash. Considering the only Pixar movie I didn't really get into was Cars, I should see this.

Last but not least, I should actually go see Star Trek. Those are words I never thought I'd string together before, but damn it looks pretty awesome.

Haven't seen Watchmen yet, so I'm not sure that I'll actually get to any of these. And an $11.50 price tag stings. But we shall see...

Saturday, May 16

SHOWERS?!?!!!!!! ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH..........


wtf dude. really.

this kid is tryin not to stress.

Saturday, May 16

MOSTLY SUNNY!!!!!

Keep those fingers crossed.....

$1,868.92!!

That's how much money my team has to raise to make $10,000.00 for this year's Relay For Life.

I have made it my personal mission to see this happen. Of course, I have no idea whatsoever on how to make it happen. But here's my thing.

First off, if we raise $10,000.00 we become a flagship sponsor for next year's event. So long as we follow a couple rules (like sign-up before March 1, 2010), our name and logo will be on next year's shirt. For the entire region. (I designed our logo. =))

Secondly, what better way to publicize the library and show our community and the surrounding ones that we aren't just some place for free movies for seniors to complain about and a building where middle-school hoodlums can come to get arrested by cops after school (more on that another day). This wouldn't be our consortium. This wouldn't even be our city, per se. This is US. And we (will have) kicked ass.

This, in turn, would make it more fun to stick it to our anti-library mayor and library board. (How is a library board "anti-library", you ask? Good question! Maybe because the mayor has to appoint the board. You know, said mayor who doesn't like us.)

Plus, I don't know how much longer I can do this. Have so much responsibility with all of this. I don't want to be at my job forever, and when I leave, what happens to the team? This is our best chance. And to be the TOP fundraiser in our BEST year. There's a certain amount of pride in that. Okay, that's a little selfish...

Maybe it just boils down to validation. A desire to be part of a bigger picture, to take part in a stride for change. To fight back against a disease that has threatened my family and friends. To strike out at the illness that has stolen them.

I want to make a difference. So I'm going to.

$36,628.85!

That's how much this Relay has raised so far!!! That is more than TWICE what we raised online last year, and if memory serves me correctly, scant hundreds less than what we ACTUALLY raised last year.

I can hardly believe it. With all that's been happening and with the event barreling down on us... Holy crap! Haha.

I want to push for $40,000.00 by the weekend... Maybe even $45,000.00 by the event? Is it possible?

(That's not to mention the $10,000.00 I'm pushing my team to raise. We're at $7,337.57 right now. If I can sell all those t-shirts, that'll give us another $1,200. Another bake sale, maybe another $400... Who's got $1,000 for us?!)

WTF cancer?

One of my good friends was diagnosed with melanoma, a "serious" [but we're not going to worry about it because it's going to be okay] type of skin cancer. She should be "comfortably" in Stage 1 and after removal and all that everything should be fine.

I was going to say that perhaps I'm more sensitive to it all now that I'm sort of involved so heavily. But that's not it. My mom having breast cancer is pretty much "in your face." My staff partner's dad (how could you even be more involved than working for the ACS?!) passing away last week. Not to mention my grandmother's and father's small bouts with skin cancer. Or that so many of my friends and coworkers have lost people this year alone.

And now my friends.

I'm not going to worry for my friend too much, because as mentioned, it's early and it will be fine. Plus, she's a very strong person and has uber amounts of support. And sarcasm is not foreign to her! That coupled with the sense of humor... she's going to kick its ass.

But seriously, Big C. Lay the f**k off, huh?