Noah Today

In the year 2008, the Lord came unto Noah,
who was now living in Atlanta and said:
"Once again, the earth has become wicked and over
-populated, and I see the end of all flesh before me."
"Build another Ark and save 2 of every living thing
He gave Noah the blueprints, saying:
"You have 6 months to build the Ark before I will
Start the unending rain for 40 days and 40 nights."

Six months later, the Lord looked down and saw Noah
Weeping in his yard - but no Ark.
"Noah!," He roared, "I'm about to start the rain!
Where is the Ark?"
"Forgive me, Lord," begged Noah, "but things have changed."

"I needed a Building Permit."

"I've been arguing with the Boat Inspector
About the need for a sprinkler system."

"My neighbors claim that I've violated the
Neighborhood By-Laws by building the Ark in my
Back garden and exceeding the height limitations. We had to
Go to the Local Planning Committee for a decision."

"Then the Local Council and the Electricity Company demanded a shed load of money for the future costs of moving power
Lines and other overhead obstructions, to clear the
Passage for the Ark's move to the sea. I told them
That the sea would be coming to us, but they would
Hear nothing of it."

"Getting the wood was another problem. There's a ban
On cutting local trees in order to save the Greater Spotted Barn Owl."
"I tried to convince the environmentalists that I
Needed the wood to save the owls - but no go!"

"When I started gathering the animals PETA took me to court. They insisted that I was
Confining wild animals against their will. They
Argued the accommodations were too restrictive, and
It was cruel and inhumane to put so many animals in
A confined space."

"Then the Environmental Agency ruled that I couldn't build the Ark until they'd conducted an environmental impact study
On your proposed flood."

"The trades unions say I can't use my sons. They
Insist I have to hire only Union workers with
Ark-building experience."

"To make matters worse, the IRS seized all my assets, claiming I'm trying to leave the country illegally
With endangered species."

"So, forgive me, Lord, but it would take at least 10
Years for me to finish this Ark."

"Suddenly the skies cleared, the sun began to shine,
And a rainbow stretched across the sky."

Noah looked up in wonder and asked,
"You mean you're not going to destroy the world?"

"No," said the Lord.
" The Government beat me to it."

Melancholic Musing...

This morning, as I was rushing to work (I left home a few minutes late...again), I turned on the radio and the first song I heard was Jim Brickman and Richie McDonald's Coming Home for Christmas.

I broke down and sobbed. The initial reason was because whenever I hear songs like this, I'm reminded that so many of our countrymen and women will not be coming home for Christmas. Whether they are still on active duty or whether they are no longer here on Earth. I HATE songs that make me conscious of the fact that I am alive and well while countless soldiers are not. It makes me feel useless. Though I know that they are fighting for my (and all of America's) freedom, I still feel as if I am taking advantage, somehow, of their sacrifice. But that's another story for another time.

I hadn't even given the upcoming holidays much thought. The fact that I don't celebrate Christmas might have something to do with this. :) I usually end up covering shifts here at work to allow my co-workers to spend the season with family and friends. But that doesn't bother me much. Someone commented to me the other day, "Aww, Michelle! You miss out on all the fun!" (of Christmas) But I thought to myself, "How can I miss something I've never known?" We have our own kind of fun during the holidays. I'm grateful for the contentment and peace I feel during this time. I know there are others that miss the season, but I'm grateful that that's one struggle I don't have. (I really hope that didn't come out self-righteous because my feelings are far from that. Please don't take it that way!)

Okay, as preachers would say, let me quit "chasing rabbits" and get back to my story.

After I cried a bit for the soldiers (yes, I am a huge crybaby) then my mind went to the losses that I myself and those close to me have known this year and how there will be empty seats around the table this year. And I cried for them. :)

Bekki, Albert and the Simpson family. Nadia's cousin who died in Iraq last month. Tammy's father who died this summer. My own grandfather.

And then there are others, whose loss may not be recent, but feel the emptiness still.

Leora's mom comes to mind. My cousins, Stephanie and Beth and their families will miss my Uncle Robert when the family gathers for dinner. My grandmother will miss her husband and two sons. My dad's family will miss my grandmother. She died 3 years ago, next month. How's that for a Christmas gift?

So this holiday season will be a bit sad for me. Not only do I feel the loss of my own grandparents at this time, but I feel for others and their respective losses.

We can scream and rage at God and ask why, but even if we heard the answer, it could not change the results. Maybe the pain would lessen, but who can know?

To those who have hope in Heaven and the loved ones they will see there, the tears are bittersweet. To those of us who do not share the same hope...*insert sad, watery smile*

Hold your loved ones closer than ever this season. Smile brighter, laugh louder, love deeper. Sounds like a corny bumper sticker, huh? :)

Happy Holidays,
Michelle

NYC V

Friday morning came a few seconds after we closed our eyes. Or so it seemed.

Tante had been working so we hadn't seen her since Monday. We had pretty much had the apartment to ourselves, which was nice. We had barely woken up when she knocked on the door saying she was back.

Tante treated us to brunch at a West Indian restaurant. Jerk chicken and rice for breakfast! Then we headed off to see the Brooklyn Bridge while she went to meet a friend.

Bless his heart, people were making fun of him but he sure did pose for these pictures!

We exited the subway near City Hall and were immediately part of an audience for a Michael Jackson show. I wonder where Mike found white, ruffled socks with sparkles on them.... The sad part was that his 3 dancers were way better than him. Even sadder was that a passerby showed them all out when he "did his thing" at the urging of his friends. The young, white kid break danced better than Michael Jackson and Friends. lol

This is my favorite picture of all!

Jen's long arms come in handy for group self portraits! :)

After our photo op on the Brooklyn Bridge, we headed into Chinatown and shopped a bit. Fun times. No haggling, though. I abhor it. I just pay the asking price.

After Chinatown, we went to Little Italy.

And then to Ground Zero. Since construction for the memorial is well under way, there was not much to see. Thank God. I would so have cried. But the hard hats and construction signs pretty much removed the melancholy feel surrounding the place.

We headed back towards home. When we got back to our subway stop, Jen went on to visit some of her family, Lyda went home to rest her toesies and I went to Starbucks to blog like a good little nerd. :)

At about 7:30, we all met back at the apartment to get ready to go out for the night. Tante kept asking why we were so dressed up, if we had dates. I said yes. I don't think she believed me. Wonder why. We headed to Greenwich Village to eat at a little Cuban place that Jen found online a few weeks ago, named...Cuba. Original, huh? It was a small hole in the wall where they played loud, live Cuban music. The place was packed and noisy but it was great! Lyda and I ordered Filete de Pargo, red snapper over green plantains with black beans and rice. I think I committed a sin that night with all the food I shoved down my gullet! It was soooo good! I have not had red snapper for years and I highly enjoyed myself! Definitely a favorite place now!

After dinner, we walked back to Times Square. I think half the population in New York had the same idea, lol. Great place to people watch. We had a blast walking up and down 7th Avenue. Until exhaustion set in.

City skyline by night

This morning we slept in somewhat. We didn't do much today, much to my disappointment. lol Oh well. Next time I shall be better prepared. :)

And now here I am, on the plane back to Dallas. The pilot is announcing that we will be beginning our descent shortly. Noooo! I am not ready to go "back to reality"! All in all, my opinion of NYC has changed drastically. I've been twice before but never really enjoyed the place. My previous opinion was cold, dirty, stinky and crowded. lol None of that has changed. It's still cold, dirty, stinky and crowded. But I know now what people mean when they say that NYC has it's own vibe!

View from the plane

Some of these photos were contributed by (or stolen from) my two lovely companions, Jen and Lyda. Thanks, ya'll!

Puerto Rico next, ladies?!

NYC IV

Boston.

This morning we woke up at 5:30 am. Our bus to Boston was scheduled to leave at 7am but the Greyhound website cautioned travelers to arrive an hour prior to departure. They give away your seats if you aren't there. Needless to say, we boogied on down to the subway.

It was chilly and rainy and dark in New York that morning.

It was chilly and rainy and dark in Boston all day. lol

We slept about 90% of the way, having gotten very little sleep the night before. I did see some scenery along the way. Jen and I were excited to be traveling in that part of the country during the fall. We were jazzed about getting to see the leaves changing from green to gold and yellow. But with the rain, any photos we would have taken, wouldn't have come out good, Oh, and we couldn't exactly ask the bus driver to stop for 2 seconds so we could take a picture, I don't think he would have done so.

I made it to Boston in the fall! Eat your heart out Veggie Tales!

Did I mention that it was cold and rainy that day?

Below are the pictures of us following the Freedom Trail. I loved it!

Boston Common




Public Garden



Walking the Freedom Trail


State House

Park Street Church

Granary Burying Ground


Jen and Benjamin Franklin

We made a slight detour while we waited for the rain to ease up. We stopped in some stores that we don't have here in Texas. Marshalls, TJ Maxx and Payless. *notice the sarcasm* But like always, I found something I could not live without. The idea to stop was so we could dry out and warm up a bit. That didn't work. By the time we left the stores, the wind had also joined forces with the rain and the cold. Niiiiice.

Quincy Market

My wonderful dinner, clam chowder!



Paul Revere's House

Paul Revere Monument

"Fallen Soldier" Memorial

We hurried to the next stop on the Freedom Trail, Quincy Market, for brunch. The bowl of clam chowder that Jen scarfed down and I took my time with (lol) was wonderful! It definitely hit the spot! Lyda decided to stay at the market place while Jen and I braved the harsh conditions of the day. (dumb move on our part, lol) I really wanted to make the whole trail but when we got to Zakim Bridge (aren't I good?) crossing the Charles River Basin and saw the Bunker Hill Monument in the distance, we changed our minds on making it the whole way. I really wanted to see the USS Constitution, though, so we walked to Charleston Navy Yard. By the time we got to the docks, the ship was closed (closed at 4pm) so we went to the Museum to dry out (literally!) and walk around for a bit. After somewhat drying our skirts, scarves, gloves and hats under the automatic dryers in the bathroom, we checked out the rest of the Museum. It was very informative and super kid friendly! Jen and I plan on taking our *cough, cough* children there in about 20 years or so. (we figure we may get married in another decade or so, and possibly have kids the following decade, lololol! Right Jen?!)

USS Constitution

Jen, testing me to see if I'd make a good soldier aboard the ship...

I failed.

Bunker Hill Monument (this was as close we wanted to get!)

Anyhoo. We don our winter gear yet again and face the long trek back to retrieve our missing compadre, We decided to take a shortcut and made it back in a relatively short time.

Quincy Market at night

After meeting Lyda, we continued on to the bus terminal and caught a sooner bus back that we planned. That was the most...lively bus ride I have ever taken! Oh. My. Word. It actually started before we even got on the bus. A loud woman and her autistic child attracted the attention of everyone (no lie) in the terminal. First of all, the lady was so loud that at first we thought she was the announcer lady on the speaker. Nope. she was just gifted with an extraoidinary set of lungs that she used to speak to the child. Seated right next to her on the floor. Where is CPS when you need them? The child/animal was crawling/leaping all over their section of the terminal, pretending she was a "kitty" and eating her stuffed animal from off the floor. I guess she was a carnivorous kitty that understood English and knew how to talk on the phone (she would leap up into a payphone booth until her mother screamed for her to get down. After yelling at the child, trying to call her back, Mom finally learned that unless she called the child "Kitty", she wouldn't obey. Yeah, they made a nice, distracting side show while we waited on our bus.

Which was NOTHING compared to the show on the bus itself.

Everything was relatively normal for an hour or so. An older, male passenger seated in the row behind us was loud and friendly. He also stunk. Apparently he'd been traveling for 2 days already heading to Jacksonville to meet his buddy. After we made a short stop at a Sbarro's along the way, Mr. Hobo asked the man behind me if he would switch seats with him. They were seated across the aisle from each other. Seated in between them was a woman who giggled at everything Mr. Hobo said and shared her fries with him. The man said, "No, I'd rather not." Mr. Hobo asked why and the guy repeated, "I'd just rather not." When we were nearing New York City, that's when the drama started. I had my head phones on listening to Hawaiian music, in my own zone, when I noticed my neighbor shaking her head and rolling her eyes at me. Not wanting to miss anything (and instantly knowing who was responsible for her irritation), I took my headphones off. And cracked up. The two men were going back and forth, cussing each other out. My neighbor called them "The Rednecks". Apparently, Mr. Hobo got his feelings hurt when the other guy wouldn't "let him sit next to his girlfriend"! They went back and forth for a good 10 minutes over this. It was like being back in 6th grade! And there was a chorus of singers at the back of the bus while all this was going on. According to the lady next to me, they were singing a Prince song. I don't know what song it was but I know they sounded awful. lol I got my cell out and texted a couple people because I just had to share the moment! My neighbor confessed that she was going the same thing! I could hear Jen and Lyda cracking up across the aisle. At least we had something else to concentrate on, other than how awful Mr. Hobo smelled. Ugh.

We were slightly disappointed because there was no fight after we got off the bus. I guess one of them chickened out. lol

So, we got on the subway, headed back home, and fell into bed. Warm and dry at last!

NYC III

Okay, so this is Day 3.

We were awakened by Tante calling to talk to Jen. We all slowly came alive and got ready. Breakfast was another grande bagel. Good grief, how do you eat the whole thing in one setting?! And we have to walk for miles just to walk off all the calories from the loads of cream cheese that they slather on the thing! We headed back south, intending to see the Chrysler Building Lobby (according to Jen, it's awesome), Rockefeller Center, Empire State Building, Fifth Avenue, Central Park and Herald Square, I think we hit two of those places today. lol We so could not find Rockefeller Center! Odd, huh? I guess it would have helped if we had known the physical address. Oh well, no great loss there. Oh yes, we also hit Central Station.

We went into a store called H&M that Lyda has been wanting to visit since we arrived and BAM! Gloves! Finally! And at a very decent price, too.

We shopped for a while (I found what I went to NYC for!) and headed further up Fifth Avenue until we hit Central Park, It is so pretty this time of year! Great place to watch people. And talk about them. lol Maybe that's anywhere in New York. lol I got a sausage dog (?) and we took silly pictures and met a new friend. I don't remember his name, but he was super cute!

Some random guitar player

We walked only half of the park before we got tired and slightly hungry. So we head back to the streets and find a pizza joint recommended by Dale, called Ray's. Apparently they have real New York style pizza. We sure did stuff our faces for three chicks who were only slightly hungry! lol

A cute flower shop

And headed home. I wanted to find another Wifi hotspot so Jen and I dropped off Lyda, changed shoes and came back out, Apparently Barnes and Noble has issues with their Wifi so I am now in Starbucks.