Day 25 - January 25, 2012 - Tears in the tiolet

Back to taking the trains again so soon. I thought I was going to be fine, and I'm not bitching about the fact that I have to be on the trains again because I'm grateful that I'm okay from the accident. But when I went to buy some train tickets I just didn't handle it too well, I felt the tears coming at the ticket machine and went into the bathroom to cry after I got through purchasing my tickets. I may have inadvertently found a cheaper option with train fare for now. Apparently I can buy a weekly ticket, which is still expensive but it's actually just a little bit cheaper then buying tickets for 5 to 6 days of commuting, the weekly tickets help because if the car can be fixed and the insurance takes the claim and fixes it then when I'm ready to drive to work again on local streets only, no more parkways I don't have to worry about the possibility of losing money on a monthly ticket. If I do get the car back I'm not driving it to work again right away I'm taking a week or two and just driving it local, driving it to the train parking it and driving it back home after the train. I didn't give myself enough time to build up on a long distance drive, so if I get a second chance with Garnier I'm taking it slow even though it's going to be a more expensive and time consuming option.

Day 24 - January 24, 2012 - Back to waiting...

So this week is kind of rough. Of course the day after my accident I get to take session 1 of the defensive driving class I signed up for. Kind of comical but not at the same time. It seems like only situations like this work out for me. Poor Shawn is now stuck picking me up from the library for 3 nights this week,  Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. So I sat on the library bench and took up waiting position until he was there to get me, I wish I didn't fuck up the car so soon but it happened and this is the aftermath for both of us. It will get better in time, next week will be back to one night at least, and in three weeks I'll be off on a staycation and he will not have to pick me up, unless I cover something for the beacon which will be close to home.

Day 23 - January 23, 2012 - After so much time and effort it's all gone!

Today was possibly one of the saddest, worst days of my life but yet still good somehow. After getting a car, after spending so much time and money to look for one and buy one....not even a week of driving on my own and I got into an accident. I was so sad, I was crying I couldn't believe I already got into an accident, I couldn't believe I did this to Shawn after he put so much faith into me. If that wasn't a traumatic enough experience, my mom flipped out and called Shawn's mother. She said all these crazy things to her, things that had nothing to do with the accident, things against Shawn that I couldn't believe she'd say. So I get into a car accident with my new car and you just go kick me when I'm down mom, real nice of you! At this point I'm very angry with many members of my family, beyond livid. I have no idea how they can be against Shawn so much, this man has been nothing but be the greatest partner I've ever asked for. I haven't done anything to make my family think he was bad, I never said anything bad about him to them, they see how happy I am with him, they see the things he does for me and they have to act out and try to ruin what I have with him. It has to be them, because none of my friends seem to feel this way or anyone else who has seen my relationship with Shawn. Even my friend Glenn who did get mad at Shawn had the decency to tell me that even though he was angry he sees how happy Shawn makes me and how good he treats me so he's happy in the fact that I'm happy. So why can't my own family support me instead of making things difficult?!?! I took this sad self portrait after I got home and showered when the accident scene was cleared and we spoke to the police. I was full of anxiety in this photo because I thought I was going to lose Shawn after what my mom had done. I ended up talking with Shawn and thankfully he was worried about me leaving him, so at the end of the day after a traumatic accident as a brand new driver and horrible actions from my mother I still had lots to be thankful for. I still had my love, at least his family is accepting of me, we've got a lot to deal with because of this accident but we'll handle it and eventually it shall be solved, we've also got the wedding plans to rethink but we'll manage that too. At least I am also alive and here to solve these problems instead of on a morgue slab somewhere. There are problems but they will be solved and I am eternally grateful to be alive because the accident could have been worse and I could have been dead. I am not bitching about the MTA even though I have to take it again until we see if the car is fixable, I am not bitching about my job because I'm happy to have one, my paychecks will help me get myself out of the debt that I've incurred, also I've woken up more to the pale value of material goods vs. intangible things that are worth so much more, it's definitely helpful to avoid the shopping trips and stores until I pay off some credit cards to work my way out of debt.

Day 22 - January 22, 2012 - Dish vacation

So normally I do the dishes and Shawn does the laundry. These are the only chores we actually keep up with on a regular basis. We mean to clean the house but with full time jobs and pressing time limits it's pretty much impossible. I think after we get ourselves together financially if we can afford it, we might consider a cleaning lady to come in once or twice a week. When I'm off work though I normally take mini dish vacations, which means the dishes pile up in the sink. It happens but they get washed eventually so it's alright.

Day 21 - January 21, 2012 - Nonny is 85

It was Nonny's 85th birthday last week. Terry got sick so we couldn't throw her the party on her actual birthday as planned, so we threw her a surprise party a week later. We didn't think we fooled her but apparently we did because she still thought we were eating at a restaurant and meeting at the house until she walked in the door. I'm really grateful for Shawn's family, right now his family is being family enough for us both. Sadly most members of my family are completely flipping out and it pains me but I'm keeping my distance from them again, they are only going to hurt me if I try to make an effort to be close to them. My brother is alright, so are a few of my cousins but I've barely spoken to anyone, maybe things will get straightened out but until the lunatic family members I have actually make a move to grow up I have to take major space from them. Thankfully we had a great party for Nonny with lots of happiness, I'm so glad I'm marrying Shawn and that his family is pretty sane and very welcoming to me.

Day 20 - January 20, 2012 - Soda

I'm going through a period where I find I'm not really shooting too much, I am at least taking one photo for the day even if it isn't exciting or a great photo. As long as I get something for a daily. I don't drink soda too often, or at least coca cola, usually I will go for sprite or ginger ale. I craved coca cola for some reason and we had some on hand to quench this rare thirst.

Day 19 - January 19, 2012 - The brief period of owning car keys

I can't believe I had car keys for a brief time. Well I still have them but we have to find out if the car might ever be driveable again.

Day 18 - January 18, 2012 - The Spoon

I met my friend Michelle at The Spoon in Lindenhurst. It's around the time of her birthday so some of our mutual friends chipped in together to pay for a romantic room at The Garden City Hotel for her and her husband. Tonight I gave her the card with the reservation slip explaining what everyone bought her.

Day 17 - January 17, 2012 - Garnier is here

We bought Garnier home, I'd love to write more but after what's happened my heart's not into describing the excitement right now.

Day 16 - January 16, 2012 - Mr. and Mrs. Sock Qureshi

Had the day off from work because of MLK day. Most of the day I hung out with Shawn's mom, I had stuff to do but we just ended up hanging out and talking. She took me to Marshall's (I've come to the conclusion that Marshall's is better then Loehmann's) therefore if I end up working elsewhere at some point in my library career I will not miss Loehmann's in Hewlett. She made me pick out a new jacket because her and Yosef both felt that my favorite red plaid jacket wasn't going to keep me warm enough on a cold winter's day. I found a really cool Jacket that sort of fit my style but was pretty warm, with down material inside of it. Of course now that we bought the jacket today ended up being 42 degrees and if I did go to work I would have been fine in my plaid jacket. I stayed home from work today because I had a bad runny nose yesterday and I wasn't sure if it was going to run like a faucet again today. I didn't want to go to work spreading nose snot and germs all over the place, I figured my co-workers wouldn't want that either so I stayed at home to rest. Pretty sure I'll be able to go back tomorrow. Anyway even though I had these adventures for the day I was clammoring for a daily photo and decided to take a picture of the sock monkeys we got for Christmas. Shawn's aunt and uncle bought them for us. They told us that they are a sock monkey couple in love and soon to be married. Even though I put most of the Christmas decor away in the garage I decided to leave the sock monkeys out for the winter on the bookshelf.

Day 15 - January 15, 2012 - This car search has come to an end

Since right after Christmas on some off days I have taken a spot in the back of Yosef's jeep while Shawn sat up front. We've been car hunting! This car hunt felt like it was frustrating and eternal. We drove from spot to spot, from used car dealer to used car dealer, to various private sellers, to creepy shady people who posed as private sellers, looked at car after car after car only to realize that each car we saw had some kind of problem. We became frustrated. We wanted to throw in the towel and give it it all up. I was so ready to just accept a fate of commuting and think about getting a car another time. And then........

Doug called us after we got home! Doug was helping his parents sell their Hyundai Sonata. What a gem this car is! The car is white (the only color I had a potential car name for), it only had 57,000 miles on it, it was from 2002 with a sun roof, an automatic start and leather interior. We spoke with Doug, then Doug's parents. We took a look at the car, we test drove it, we were all impressed. Doug's parents seemed really nice. They were Irish too. Sadly they have to sell the car because Doug's father has Alzheimers and can not drive anymore. After the test drive we called Doug for negotiations and bought the car!!! So finally I have a car! Shawn and his brother are going to pick up Garnier (the name I picked for the car, named after Charles Garnier the architect of the Paris Opera House) later on tonight. I'm posting a picture of Garnier after this writing, it's not my picture it's the picture that Doug must have taken or maybe his parent's took it. I will have my own personal photos of Garnier after he comes home. I'm going to have to phantomize him, eventually I will get a personalized license plate too as long as the one I wish to have is still available when I'm ready to pay for it (I'm figuring if I get any birthday money I will use it to buy this personalized license plate). I think I might put PE in the car since I have stopped toting him around for location shots. I might also create a phantom bumper sticker!

This is Garnier! 

Day 14 - January 14, 2012 - Sunrise in Lindy

When I met Shawn he inspired me in many ways. One of the things he inspired me to do is to take sky shots with my camera. He always takes the most wonderful sky shots, I was never in the mood to really look up at the wonders of the sky until I met him. Now I realize the beauty of the sky, each day is different, different clouds, different sunlight, different weather can affect the tones of the sky. Now because of my love I take an occasional sky photo. When I was heading to work on the train I thought the sunrise looked gorgeous. I didn't get a chance to snap a photo in Babylon so when the train got to Lindenhurst Station I took a photo of the sunrise with my camera from the train when the doors opened to let Lindy passengers in.

Day 13 - January 13, 2012 - This should last me about two weeks

It was my off day today. Went to BJs with Shawn's mother. I love that place, now that I have a car I might make a monthly grocery trip there. We went to pick up things for a birthday party that we are going to throw for Shawn's grandmother. The party was supposed to be Sunday but it's going to be rescheduled. Shawn's mom was sick so she wasn't up to having the party on the scheduled date. I picked up a few things for us, Shawn loves Rice Krispie's treats (he now has 54 of them lol), I got some milk the organic milk is so cheap, much cheaper then when we get it in Pathmark, picked up some soda for him, bread, cat treats and the most important item we could ever have on hand, COFFEE!!! BJs has a 2 1/2 lb bag of Starbucks for $21. Definitely gives me the amount of coffee I need for awhile.

Day 12 - January 12, 2012 - Treated to a soothing string performance

Attended Plainedge High School's board meeting. I usually go to the Tuesday Night Public Works Sessions but I called in to work because I needed to see an eye doctor for an ongoing eye problem I've been having that seems to be a mystery for the two eye doctors I've seen so far. After my appointment which yielded two possible leads for the problem I'm having I had to cover the regular board meeting since I missed the Tuesday's public works session. Before the meeting started the Plainedge Middle School Quartet performed two pieces. This board meeting was kind of a big deal because it took place in a new athletic and community center that was just built by the district. The center is energy efficient as well.

Day 11 - January 11, 2012 - There's a liberty bell in the middle school?!?

I had to cover an assignment for the Beacon tonight. Usually for some reason my stories I have to cover end up being back to back. Tonight I went to Farmingdale's Board of Education meeting at Howitt Middle School. I was waiting for Shawn to come collect me after the meeting was over and spotted this bell. Figured it would make an interesting daily. 

Day 10 - January 10, 2012 - Monthiversary mini cupcakes

Shawn and I celebrated our 18 months together! I don't know yet what we are going to do after the wedding. If we will still celebrate monthiversaries or just yearly anniversaries on our wedding date. He cooked dinner and I made some dessert, I busted out a mini cupcake maker he bought me for a monthiversary present because I didn't get to use it yet. These cupcakes ended up being yellow cupcakes with chocolate icing. I impressed myself greatly with the cupcake maker, it was easy to use and very successful. For a very long time I've been doubting my baking abilities. When I was in High School/Early College I actually baked pretty well. Then I must have had some slump because I tried out a few recipes and they were pretty much fail. So for many years I gave up on the idea of baking figuring it just wasn't for me anymore. The cupcake maker has restored my confidence so perhaps in the future I'll start trying out some recipes from scratch again.

Day 9 - January 9, 2012 - Lighted Village

Okay my commuting by train and bus is almost at an end because we finally found a car! Normally to get home I take two buses to Rockville Centre and one train. I liked the lights on the trees so I snapped a fast photo before I went to the train platform in Rockville Centre. I think I actually caught what Shawn and I like to call the spiderweb effect in this photo. The spiderweb effect is when there is a bright street lamp behind tree branches. If you look closely and focus on the light, the tree branches look like spiderwebs.

Day 8 - January 8, 2012 - Remnants of an office break

Had to go to work today. When anyone works a Sunday at Hewlett they get paid double time. I used to work every Sunday possible to earn double time, now I only work one Sunday a month. I might change that and offer to work more Sundays now that I have a car that I'll soon be able to drive. I could use the double time to pay off bills or save money for the wedding. We have 20 minute breaks on a Sunday. I went into my office and downed a can of TJs ready made coffee drinks and had a luna bar. Luna and Cliff bars are now my go to for a quick breakfast or sometimes lunch. I used to have pop tarts but when I to go to work in the morning I have no energy to put any effort into my breakfast. I know it's important to eat something but sometimes I'm not even too hungry until lunch or dinner time. So these bars are even better then pop tarts when I'm in a rush because I can just grab them after I have my two cups of coffee to come alive and eat them during my commute. I used to eat them sometimes on the train very soon possibly by the end of this week I'll be eating them while driving!

Day 7 - January 7, 2012 - A bit of history with your car hunting

We had a busy day today. In between what was about Day 6 or 7 of a fruitless car hunting process I had to cover a tour of Conklin Cemetery for The Beacon. Shawn and Yo dropped me off then picked me up again, they had some noms while I was covering the tour. This is one of the foot stones by the grave of Eunice Conklin.

Day 6 - January 6, 2012- Epic Yummies

I love junk food! Mainly I love sweets. Baked goods, chocolate, cookies, sometimes cake I definitely don't object to eating it. Today when I was heading back from the train I had to walk. There's a new cupcake store by the train station. I popped in to check it out and bought three cupcakes for myself, Shawn and Terry. We enjoyed them immensely. Terry is a junkie of junk food like myself so we devoured our cupcakes. Shawn waited and ate his last night.

Day 5 - January 5, 2012 - Thursday mornings with Vincent

Shawn's cousin Anabel gave birth to this adorable baby boy in April of last year. He's baby Vincent sometimes known as binks, binky or baby boy (I'm sure he's got a slew of additional baby nicknames that I'm unaware of as well). 

Every Thursday morning Shawn's mom usually ends up watching Vincent while Anabel goes to work. I love these Thursday mornings, right now it works out that I work Thursday nights. So even though I probably could sleep a little bit later I still wake up by 9 to get ready and spend some time with my future mother in law and this very precious baby. It's good for her as well because she gets to do a couple of random quick tasks that she wouldn't get to do if someone else wasn't around to keep an eye on Vincent for a second. 

I took this photo while he was in his walker. He looks a little scared, he was smiling right after though when I showed him the camera and he saw himself on the screen after the shot was taken. 

Day 4 - January 4, 2012 - Death of the burger bun

Shawn and I met up with his friend Dave. It's funny about Dave because I went to high school with him, Shawn met him in a comic book shop. Shortly after I met Shawn he kept mentioning Dave and I didn't know it was Dave that I went to HS with until all of us ended up hanging out the night of my birthday (my last drunk night - it was the day after I seriously pondered quitting drinking - a few weeks later I quit all together). Since then Dave is still mostly in contact with Shawn but he's become a mutual friend of ours.

When this photo was taken we were with Dave and his girlfriend (Patricia - who flew in from Cali to visit) and another friend at the Baldwin Coach Diner. I don't quite remember who decided to stab the uneaten burger bun but I thought it might be a good opportunity and possible daily photo.

Day 3 - January 3, 2012 - Wii fit = Wii fun

Sometime late 2011 I realized that I absolutely had to exercise for numerous reasons. I think when I first started I was just trying to do once or twice a week but somehow that turned into doing some kind of exercise every other day. 

Occasionally I'll miss a day but I make myself get right back on track if I do. I need to do this, if I don't I have noticed I'll get minor body pain (mostly in my back) and I'll also feel less confident about myself. I won't lie I am not a healthy eater and I adore my junk food so I'll never be a skinny minny (that's not really in my genes or body type to be one either), and I'd probably be at least ten to twenty pounds lighter if I just ate mostly fruits and veggies but since I like to eat mostly crappy food I figure the exercise will help me to hopefully at least maintain the weight I have now. 

My current routine is mostly based on nintendo wii games. I alternate between the wii fit game and just dance. Sometimes I'll throw in a Richard Simmons DVD because I absolutely love him and love how he makes exercise fun. Another thing is I have to have fun while I exercise I don't want to do it if it's going to seem like a chore. The gaming makes it fun. 

So my photo for the day is the wii fit yoga screen I took while exercising. 

Day 2 - January 2, 2012 - Semi-downward spiral already!

I'm currently feeling a little better but most of the day had me in a negative frustrated upset mood. I felt that the New Year was taking a minor downward spiral for me.

Yesterday the day started great, I had a wonderful brunch with Shawn's family. Everything was fine until Shawn and I were faced with a rather unpleasant dinner with a few people we went to dinner with. We came home really shocked at the events that occurred during dinner but we should have expected them to happen. This morning we were going to go car shopping but it was cancelled. That kind of made me more upset. I was worried that I'm never going to get a car now because we haven't found one and I'm worried that I'm going to be working too much to even have any time to go look at cars. So resigned and upset I took a walk. I went to Babylon Bean then to the cheese cellar (which was closed), then to the LIRR. I bought train tickets for the upcoming week. They were pretty expensive (fucking MTA). I probably should have gotten my usual monthly train pass but the car thing is still semi-up in the air and I really don't want to get a train pass and then find a car which results in a semi-wasted train pass. So tomorrow it's still the trains and a new bus system for Nassau County called NICE which I'm thinking may or may not be so NICE. The bus fare is supposed to stay the same, if we have metro cards (which I don't) we are still able to use them. The times for the buses I want to take still seem the same, but the big question is will they be on time or will I be stuck waiting and waiting and waiting for a bus after work.

After I bought my train tickets I decided to go back home. I wanted to go to NY& Co to return a dress but hte walk there was going to be a little long and my cell phone battery was dying. So I came home, Shawn woke up and I cried on his shoulder and talked to him a little. So now I feel a little better.

Day 1 - January 1, 2012 - Burn out!

I'm back at it again! In late 2010 I heard about a challenge titled the 365 day challenge. So from late October of '10 to late October of '11 every single day for a year I completed this challenge and took a photo. You can see my work from that challenge here.

Shawn thought it would be cool to go on with the project and do it again even though I did complete one year. So I decided I would take a break and then continue the project again starting January 1, 2012. I explained this all in an introductory entry that I wrote a few months back, so since I've been semi-repetitive I'll get on with the project. 

This first photo of my project was taken after midnight on January 1. Shawn and I went to celebrate New Year's Eve and ring in the New Year with the same crew we did last year, except instead of being at Lefty's we were at Broadway Bar in Amityville and instead of this being Resurrection it was just Rich spinning for Broadway.

This guy was a complete burn out. He was a little funny but he's a sad dude. It's actually interesting I'm posting this now because I'm reading a little article about addiction. He kept asking everyone if they had any drugs. After some time I got the courage to approach him for a photo. He complied and according to the little world he's got going on in his mind I'm going to get a free Lamborghini for this photo. That's not true, I just have a nice blog entry that people may or may not care about.