Cooler than You: Stupid Things I Say and Do

When I was a small child my brother and my father took great pleasure in freaking the hell out of me. Yes, a child of single digit years being tormented by her family members is not necessarily something to make light of, but in this case I think it all stands in good fun. The brother and my Dad used to tell me the skybirds were going to come and get me. As to what they were going to get me for none of us knew, and as to what they were none of knew that either. Those two would look to the sky and point and start yelling “Nessa, Nessa, the skybirds are coming. You better run and hide!” Sometimes I would run and cry, usually I would run around a corner iinto another room and then yell for Andy. “Andy, where’s my Andy?” my panicked voice would bellow. He would run around the corner to me and say “What Nessie? What’s wrong with my Nessie?” I would belt him in the stomach. Everytime. Andy was gone for a long time, and at one point we thought he died. That is another story for ano...

I'm not feeling terribly inspired at the moment. Not to mention, I'm in the middle of an article on Sacco and Vanzetti and another one women's lives. I'm still in the proverbial waiting game of academia, and in the meantime I'm freelancing again. Well, putting out bids . . . So, here's something to keep you occupied in the meantime. Another part things I like and do. I'm finally braving the waters and entering contests, or something like it. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/myshot/gallery/194993

Last week was a shitter. Here are the accounts . . . 1. A friend who had made plans with me months ago, and canceled them just days before I got to NY, sent a text message asking if I wanted to go camping last weekend. I was a little rebuffed, but I initially said okay. Then her boyfriend started with comments, and I got uncomfortable. Mostly, I was uncomfortable because I could already see that their weekend was based on two people, and I would only be a third wheel. Perhaps things wouldn't have gone so badly if he hadn't posted two messages on FB that I have "no sense of adventure" and "no sense of humor." Also, note that he misspelled my name. Anyone who knows me knows I hate that shit. I know better than to ask a friend to choose, I don't do that, and I no longer allow people to treat me like that. I have no beefs with her, and I'm a bit upset that I can't talk to her anymore. The problem is I never know if her boyfriend is reading ...

Dear ESPN, While I am a self loving and unabashed Yankees fan, I must tell you that your coverage of the 9 August game was deplorable. I only watched your station as it was my only option. Next time, I'll tune into my long time friends on CBS 880 with "The Yankees Radio Network." Your announcers may be legends of the game, but I do not want to listen to their constant idle banter that completely overtakes the game. They are there to give the calls and plays of the game, with baseball facts and stories along the way. Instead, this crew rambled on and on so that watching the game was cheapened and (at times) a chore. Seriously, and this game stood as the fourth game in a Yankees-Red Sox series. It should have not been annoying. Take some clues from your competitor stations like YES, Fox, and My 9. Those announcers do not over run a delightful and tense game with Chatty Cathys in ties. They may mention their kids and own ball playing days, but I never missed a play from th...

Sometimes you lay awake at night and nothing will stop the echos. You try to close your eyes, but flashes and glimpses of the past creep in to haunt you. That is where I am at tonight. Sad, but true. I will never understand the motives of people, but I will say this. Most days I feel like the majority of my life decisions have blown up in my face. Yet, I go on. I carry on with my work, my hunt, and what I call my life. I am not miserable in this forage through the days of my path. Instead, it is as I have said before, I believe things will somehow get better. The more I work toward the end goal things will fall and things will rise. Unfortunately, in the meantime I have to deal with a whole lot of shit along the way. Clearly, someone got to me today. I was torn down, for what I can only believe was to make himself feel better by destroying someone's relative happiness. I am shorn, bruised, and kicked but I am not destroyed. That part I know to be true. As to when the wrenching will...

I've been up on Long Island for about a week now, visiting and job hunting (yea, go figure on the latter), and several things have hit me. The first: I knew that I missed the north, but I didn't realize just how much of my identity can now be called "northern." Little things from delis, coffee shops, the style of clothes I wear, the large amounts of dark colors in my wardrobe, shoes, to just being very comfortable in the skin and soles of an urbanite and northerner. I do realize LI is the burbs, but going into the city reminded me of more than the island did/does. As for this recession . . . well, my first two days here I drove to some of my old favorite and "unfavorite" spots. I wheeled my car to Montauk, rolled down the windows, smelled the LI shore, put my feet in the sand, and rubbed my toes along the rocks. I closed my eyes as I walked along the boat docks in Montauk and remembered many a summer's day spent taking in the view and character of thi...

I can't sleep so I'm watching crappy late night movies, and as you would guess the commercials are just as bad. Aside from the standard offenders for Booty Call Dot Com, personal vibes, penis enlargement, and breast enhancement my favorites are for drugs. Aciphex, with it's orange colored branding, is for belching and intestinal issues. Guess what it sounds like when said? Ass effects. Yes, yes, I am forever the jackass.