678 Christmas, call from Karen, Disney on ice, stadium 25 26, bye 2014 12-28-2014

12/28/2014

678 Christmas joys call from Karen Disney on ice stadium 25 26 12-26-2014
(Sorry this is a bit long, and my thoughts were not as focused as I usually am when writing.)

(I just wrote about my Christmas, I forgot to write about my phone call with Karen. So now I’m going back and adding it at the beginning here)

Karen called me on Christmas Eve morning, on her way to work. She told me that there was a yellow package in the mailbox. She saw it was for her and opened it.
J: wait wait wait!
K: what what what?
J: Who was the package addressed to?.
K: Karen and Mogi
J: ok, good. I wanted to make sure my father followed direction.
K: mmhhmm, and I got this very nice card with a cute little doggy on the front. I got a GC for Michaels and one for Petsmart. Thank you so much. You shouldn’t have but thank you. I’m going to definitely use some of those coupons that came with the Petsmart GC.
J: I know I didn’t have to but I want to and you are welcome.
K: I got the picture of you with the kids. It was sooo adorable. And, I didn’t forget to send you pictures. I’ve just been so busy. …
…
Then she told me about this heart-breaking story about her family.
Her uncle passed away last week. He had some med issues but in short, just let himself go. He was in a deep depression for 3 months and I’m surprised he lasted that long.
His father passed away in March then 3 months ago, his 19 year old son died of a heart attack. Karen had tears in her eyes as she was trying to choke them back as she was telling me. I wanted so bad to hold her at that moment.
I don’t remember my side of the phone call. That’s what happens when I wait a few days to write and have all this other excitement too.

(and since it’s taking forever to write this entry, you get to hear about another day)

My mom and I took my nephew Devin to his first Disney On Ice. I was super excited my mom was too. Devin was when we were going in. This Disney on ice was definitely for the modern ADD-ADHD kids. They had 4 movies in one show, Toy Story 3, Cars, Little mermaid and one that, I’m not sure was an actual movie, if it was, I would love to listen to it. About tinker bell and how she got the ferries in trouble but used her abilities to save everyone. That doesn’t include the MC’s of the show, Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy.

Devin didn’t like when the lights went out. He was crying. He didn’t like when there was fire. He never clapped or sang along. Uncle Jonathan did though. He was too busy analyzing things. Trying to figure out how the characters were flying, where they were coming from…he had a serious expression on his face the entire show according to my mom.

When it was over, my mom asked him if he had a good time and he said “NO”. But, when his mom asked him if he had a good time, he told Lindsay “Uncle Jonathan, Grand Ma and I had fun.” He was telling Justin and Lindsay everyone he saw. (with a lot of prompting)

My mom was trying to buy him something, anything but either he didn’t want things or he was afraid of things. Totally opposite from any other kid I ever knew. We got him a buzz cup with lemon aid…I drank the juice. A guy was selling light up snowmen outside, mom asked if he wanted one of those. He said yes. I think it was to shut my mom up lol. Smart 2 year old.

Oh where oh where to begin… I’ll start with the end because I’m just TOO EXCITED!!!

My BFF TX Lisa has been sick the last few days and she went to the doc to find out it was bronchitis. (No, I’m not excited about that) We talked on the phone… oh, lol, I guess I can’t start at the end because that is talking about things that already happened that day. Now, I could just delete and start all over or just hold you in suspense and start from the beginning of my Christmas day.

It was an unseasonably warm Christmas, if I recall correctly, it started in the mid 40’s with the high of 62. It had rained the day before and was suppose to rain all day-night on Christmas day but by mid morning, the rain has gone away and the sun actually broke. It was a heat wave! 60’s! in December in Massachusetts.

I had my day planned out and it worked perfectly.

With some gifts wrapped, and others placed in bags, they were all placed in a big box to make it easier to carry. I was going over my best friend John’s house to spend a few hours with him and his family.

Lisa and I (TX Lisa is John’s sister) planned that when I got to John’s house and settled in, they’re mother would facetime Lisa so she could see everyone open gifts and we could see her open her gifts.

Gifts were starting to be passed out and they Facedtimed Lisa. Her mom talked to her for a couple of minutes and she handed the phone to me. Since the phone was in front of my face and not next to my ear, I couldn’t hear well. She said she would call me on my phone. So she did.

I sent an envelope with cards and she read the cards out loud. After the one for her she said “aww you always pick out the perfect cards” well, if you know someone, don’t you try to find one that fits them? She opened her Devin’s card and read it to him. I got him a gamestop GC so he can buy another game. He seems to understand-like it. We talked for a few more minutes and I said “I think I should get back to your family now” She facetimed her mom back but her mom only talked for a few more minutes and then said “we’re opening gifts here, I will talk to you later.” … My heart absolutely broke at that moment. I know her mom and her have not been getting along the best, but Lisa didn’t get to see her niece and nephew open their gifts and they didn’t see her or Devin open their gifts. I told Lisa how I felt later about this and she said that she’s use to it. It is what it is.

I got Holden (John’s son) a gift card to a train store so he could pick out his own train or tracks to go with what he already has. I never seen a kid so excited about a GC. He literally skipped across the room shouting “yes yes yes!” I got Grace (John’s daughter) a singing doll of Elsa and Ana. She’s big time into frozen and knows all the songs so I thought this was a perfect gift. I got John’s mother and her husband a Stonewall set that has jellies and pancake mix. She said that Ray (her husband) loves these (the jellies) and she’ll make the kids pancakes when they come over next. John… he bitched to me that he wasn’t going to get anything he wanted for Christmas, just things he needed. He got things for the house and clothes but nothing that would be enjoyable. I went with my dad to a cigar shop, my dad told the guy what brand John smokes and they guy put together a simple package for me of 8 cigars and I got an amazing deal. John opened the gift from me and said “wo cigars. This is the best gift today” (later on, I learn her did get a better one but I’ll get to that later)

John was invited to his step sister’s house for Christmas-Christmas dinner but he didn’t want to “She’s not going to serve anything I like” So the plan was we would take the kids for Chinese food. So once all the gifts were opened and cleaned up. The kids were both showered and dressed, we said our good byes to his mother and we were off to the restaurant while his mother and her husband went to his daughter’s for dinner. At the house, the kids watched despicable me. Definitely not a movie for me. There wasn’t much dialog. Unfortunately, they were brats, spoiled brats. They had both asked a few separate times if there was more gifts and they were fighting-arguing-trying to stop other from playing. Holden actually had a time out… on the top step so John didn’t have to see him.
I was having a nice relaxing conversation with Ray, John’s … mother’s husband, about sports. I knew he watched sports, I didn’t realize how much he actually knew. He knew a lot. However, since John isn’t a sport fan, he yelled at us that the kids couldn’t hear the movie (not that they were really listening) Ray say “we’re talking sports” Joh said “ya, something that doesn’t matter.” (or something like that) so we dropped the nice conversation and sat back and pretended to watch the movie.

At the restaurant…it was packed, we had to park in the 3rd row, but apparently we got there at the right time because we were seated right away. The place was packed and very loud but it was good. We didn’t know there was a limited menu so we didn’t get everything we normally ordered and were not satisfied and will try a different restaurant next year. Granted, the restaurant doesn’t have crayons or things for kids to do and John didn’t let the kids have their Ipads …they didn’t have any toys with them at all… so what is a 5 and 3 year old to do? I tried to help entertain Holden by singing Christmas songs but he would put in words that didn’t belong, that were inappropriate and John yelled at him for that. He would put in words like “poopy pants” and “stinky” when I tried to get him to sing Rudolph with me. I wouldn’t have yelled at the kid but John did. Holden also put his hand in his water glass for no apparent reason. He was slouching in his seat, John yelled at him a few times for that as well as making “silly sounds” which to me, is normal for kids but John wants him to act like a grown adult…I guess. I brought the left overs home and my dad ended up having it for a mid-afternoon snack.

WORK…yup, I chose to go to work on Christmas. I wouldn’t have anything else to do. I got paid double time and my regular coworkers were there anyways.
I got back to my house in time to quickly use the bathroom and take out my computer before my ride came. I got to work and we had some fun. I was playing Christmas music. One of the others was cooking and baking. Everything was going fine till… “EE-ee EE-ee EE-ee” the front down chime we have to let us know when people come-go, got stuck on and we couldn’t stop it. We had to call our supervisor on his Cell, he called the maintenance guy and he was down ASAP… but for 45 long, head-banging minutes, we had to listen to the high pitch chime. My clients were talking over it so they were basically yelling. I got a head ache…so didn’t my coworkers.
I did bring in a nice assortment of cookies which everyone enjoyed. I actually got two “thank you” from clients. One of my coworkers baked an eggnog custard pie. Apparently I’m not a fan of eggnog. It tasted…funny to me.

My ride came and brought me home…with my pounding head ache still ringing.

I got home, hung with my parents for a good while and I also heated up some leftover baby hotdogs for my dinner. I told them about my time with John and his family. Told them how the kids were not good. Told them the reaction to the gifts I gave them. They asked what else they got but I didn’t know because they weren’t descriptive, they just said “this is nice” or “I like this” … I know Holden got a remote control car and Grace got the Frozen castle but that’s all I know about.

While I was at work, I sent Lisa a text that said something like, I’m at work so can’t write too much but first chance to tell you, I could not believe how your family treated you. I felt sorry for you. My heart broke for you. She replied with something like, thanks, I’m use to it. I can’t worry too much, I have my own little family here to take care of.

I called her when I got to my room. She told me about her Christmas day and her doc visit and we talked about our SF trip a bit more… after a 90 minute conversation, where she left me with “If the Red Sox are playing in San Francisco, I’ll go anytime” …


When I was 14 years old, sitting in my Freshman English class, that day’s assignment was to “write down 3 of your goals” I sat there and expanded that thought. When I went home I wrote that I have 3 life time goals.

1. To obtain a doctorate degree. I didn’t know at the time what it really was except it was the highest level of education you can obtain. I didn’t know all the education-hard work one has to do to obtain this goal but still, I prided myself on education.

2. To visit all major league baseball stadiums. At the time, there was only 28 teams, with the bran new Rockies and Marlins added the previous year. That summer I would get to go to Shea Stadium, the home of the NY Mets. It would be the second stadium I would get to. Little did I know that teams would move and new stadiums would be built. They can’t all last 100 years like Fenway Park.

3. To get married.


So when someone tells me they will go to a new stadium with me, I am like a hawk. I am determined. I will make it work from my end.

I go to the Red Sox schedule. I see they’re playing the National League east so they won’t play the National league west meaning, they won’t play the Red Sox. HOWEVER, the Oakland Athletic, who play in the American League with the Red Sox, do play the Red Sox every year. Let’s see when they’re playing. May, awesome, that’s when I usually visit Lisa. Hmm let’s see when the Giants are playing… wo, the day before. I wrote to Lisa, saying I know I’m crazy but will you do this? She called me and said of course I would. She said it would depend on flight cost. When she saw how low it was for her right that second, she said “I’m 99 % sure now” I was going to have my father contact one of his best friends, who has a Holiday Inn card, to get us our rooms. He got me the ones for MN and Hou, and did it with a smile. He has over 1 MILLION points anyways. A few hundred wouldn’t bother him. So Lisa doesn’t have to worry about paying for that.
3 hours worth of phone calls, about 10 text messages and 3 emails each way, we were 99% sure we were going to pull this off. I was so excited. I was sitting on my hands so I wouldn’t shake too much. I also did my best to not give a “fan girl scream” or even talk loud since by the end of the last phone call, it was just after midnight.
Saturday I spent looking up-narrowing down, figuring out which Holiday inn we should stay at. I ended up calling to find out which has free parking. There was only one and it’s 12 miles from the stadium but the reviews were very very good and it’s not one of the luxurious Holiday Inns but it has everything we need. We’ll rent a car so we can do a bit of sight-exploring.

I thought it was very strange-ironic, 3 minutes after I hung up with Lisa for the last night Christmas night, her brother, John called me. He called me to tell me that he went on a date with this 37 year old, Jewish woman who is 5-4, and after a 3 hour date, she was following him back to his house… That pissed me off but I tried not to let it show. I was happy for him. Even if I haven’t got anything in over 4 years. Not to mention, the lady is my age, is Jewish and about my Height…
I refocused my thoughts the best I could back to heading to SF.

Here it is, the early hours of Sunday, writing this because I only got 2 hours of sleep. I got too much the night before, Christmas night I got a solid 8 and my body only requires 5-6 hours. I was over-excited I got 8 when I woke since the two previous nights I got 3.5 and 4 to combined for less than I got Christmas night but now I got 2 and still wide awake at 6AM. My alarm is going to be going off in 3 HOURS…. I’m excited. I’m taking my nephew Devin, with my mom to see his first Disney on Ice. I started going when I was 3 and went for many many years…it’s only been the last few years I have not been able to find people with kids to go with. I’m glad I have the next generation to take, to see Disney on Ice.

If this is the last entry for 2014…It was certainly a bipolar year. I had many ups, (going to 7 stadiums altogether, 4 new ones for me) and meeting some bloopers along the way. I had people taken from me and given to me. (My sister gave me a nephew). The frustrations of work and on the line of quitting…it got so bad. They hired a pretty cool supervisor and some nice coworkers for me to work with. I went to a few concert, most notable, Billy Joel at Fenway Park with a family friend Rachel. I Help my best friend deal with his nasty divorce from last year, and saw him change jobs and buy a new house on his own, 0.6 miles away from me. Then the pain of not having Karen in my life. Now that she’s back in it, even if just part-time, I don’t feel the mental and physical pain every day, like I did for more than a calendar year. I cannot express the pain in words no matter how much I try. I feel sad when I don’t hear from her but I don’t feel that pain. I got in contact with my first on line friend and went out to meet her and her little family, but it didn’t workout between Dominique and I. In some ways, she is an amazing person. More amazing than anyone else I know…other ways, she is the most selfish person. I am glad I met her and her kids but … IDK. Then …then there are friends, on line or off, you realize what and who real friends are. Although John is my best friend, it is his sister, TX Lisa, who is my BFF. It is a two way street, even though we don’t even realize it. We talk for hours, well, she does most of the talking, and we complain-bitch about everyone and everything and in the end, we’re laughing about something crazy. I love Lisa for all she is and all she isn’t and I look forward to making new memories in 2015 with her. Another amazing friend is one who will read this. Just like Lisa, Olivia will listen to me, no matter what I say to her and will tell me things I both need to hear and don’t want to hear but unlike John, she’s say it in a nice way. She has vented to me about just about everything as well and it makes me feel good that she let’s me, she chooses me to be there for her as a listening ear. Her work, her husband, her child or that scum that isn’t worth me mentioning…It gives me the ability to open up to her about anything-everything and I hope she truly understands how much I appreciate her and her friendship. I also kept my goal for the most part this past year, workout every day. I even went up in lifting weights. I was curling with 25 dumbbells and bought a set of 35 and got back to benching 120, I can do more but without a spotter and unsure how much that 20 year old piece of meddle junk can hold, I rather not test it. I will keep the same goal of trying to workout every day and keep the hope that I will find a special lady and a fulltime job in 2015.
Till then… have a happy, healthy and safe new year with your friends and family, or whomever you bring in the new year with. I’ll be with my college roomy and his family.

GOOD RIDDEN’S! I HOPE YOU HAVE THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE!