April, 1998 Updated, November 22, 2005
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April 3 April 10 April 14
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Just My Imagination
Ugh.
It's 1:30AM and here I am. This is the fourth night in a row I've been up this late. What is the matter with me? Why can't I sleep anymore?
I'll tell you why- AOL. IRC. AOE. AOE? What does that mean? Let me explain.
AOE is the acronym for Age Of Empires. It is a conquest-type game by Microsoft. It is extremely addicting!!!!!!
Mind you, I was never the type for this kind of game- I was never a "Dungeons and Dragons" gamer or anything like that. But this thing hooked me fast. It is so cool- building empires, wars with enemies, building things, destroying things... I feel like such a macho boy when I do it.. LOL ;-) Anyway seriously it's the latest addiction of mine. I played it two times today (only because my roommate Scott left the disc here when he left for Iowa-- foolish boy ;-) and am dying to play again- though it's late now and I shouldn't since I have to get up tomorrow for work.
I guess I'll just have to deal with the withdrawal ;-)
Poor Poor Pitiful...
Chris. He has had the flu all week, the poor guy. Today he had laryngitis... He's a mess. :/ Luckily I had my bout already and have been feeling fine- except for a nagging cough. I have some drugs to take for that now. They're working-- slowly.
With all the wonderful weather we've had lately, it takes its toll. I always get sick when the weather changes. Last week it was in the 70's (and it was GORGEOUS), and of course, I got sick. This week it's cold and now Chris is sick. When will it end??? I really have to see that Allergist.
Speaking of the weather- GAWD Great America opens soon! I have been telling clients we open in April all this time- and guess what? IT'S APRIL! Yikes! Sneaks up on me now that I'm working there full time. When I was seasonal, I'd work until November, terminate, then come back in April. It always seemed like a lifetime. Now that I am there all the time (or at least working for them all the time), it seems like a few days in between. It's quite a different world being on this side.
Work is going well for the most part. I got talked to after the last car towing, which I was not happy about-- but, what could I expect? They had to be suspicious of something, I suppose. But enough of that- I signed one of my biggest accounts this week (WHEEEE!) 5,000 tickets- that's a lot. So it was a very good week for me :-)
GREASE is the WORD!
Well if you saw the front page of my website, you know that I love "Grease" and that you should all go and see it while it's in the theatres! I did! Beth and I went to see it last Sunday in Kenosha's new multiplex theatre they built. It was great! Stadium seats and surround sound- I've never seen Grease in such a setting. It was a great time :-)
It really brought me back to being a kid. I remember seeing the movie when I was 7 years old, at the Roosevelt Theatre in Kenosha. We went as a family- Mom, Dad, Beth and I. We haven't done that in a very long time. I miss those days. It seems like a lifetime ago. I only remember seeing a few movies with my family. I can probably even list them all, but I'm sure I've missed a few others. Let's try:
Grease, Saturday Night Fever (The PG Version), Snow White, The Rescuers, Charlotte's Web, Mary Poppins, Swiss Family Robinson, Every Which Way But Loose, On Golden Pond (The LAST movie I saw with a parent), Tootsie, Annie, Chu Chu and the Philly Flash (GAWD what a bad movie), Popeye (I remember sleeping through it), Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back (Another one I slept through- Weird eh?)...
That's about all I can remember. At least those were the most memorable ones. Aren't you glad I shared this with you? ;-)
READER OF THE WEEK:
At this time I am going to honor a reader who is very faithful and bugs me for new material every time I chat with him. And now I'd like to say... HI MIKE! :-)
Wanna be the reader of the week next time? Tell me who you are! :-)
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Haven't Got Time For The Pain
I'm sure I used that one before.
These days the days run into each other and the monotony never ends.
These are days you'll remember... the song by 10,000 Maniacs rings through my head a lot, and sometimes I wonder "Why will I remember this? There's nothing so great about this that I'll want to remember." But then, a few months down the line, something reminds me of the time this happened and the time that happened.. and then I laugh... or cry.. or smile. I guess that's why we remember so much...
I'm blathering on.. just random thoughts... Isn't that what a journal really is? A place to express your thoughts and desires, hopes and dreams? Sounds like an ad for a Soap opera... or else a really bad dime store novel. Oh wait, no, that's my life I'm talking about. Same difference.
Am I depressed? NO! In fact, I've been in a great mood today-- went to work in Gurnee, got trained on The Demon, one of the oldest coasters in the Park... it was fun, and should be when I actually get to run the thing. There were no managers present today, only the sales staff, so we kinda took it easy... yeah we worked, but not as diligently as we normally would. :-)
So the day was good, the night before was alright-- I went home to my parents' place to spend the night, and my mom was making Easter Bread. Easter Bread is a family tradition that has gone back for years now... I imagine my great-grandmother made it.. .I know my Nana made it.. my Aunt makes it, and now my Mom makes it. Even I have made it. I have the recipe in my tin in the kitchen. Will I make it this year? LOL yeah right... Like I have the money to buy all those ingredients.. ;-) But I helped Mom make a batch... and took a loaf to work with me today. It was a hit, as it normally is. :-) I just love pleasing people.
I could go off on a tangent from what I just said.. "Pleasing people", but too many people read this now. ;-) I'll let you gather your own conclusions for that... I've had an interesting life lately, let's just say. I went hog-wild for a while, have been relatively tame for the last couple months though... but even still, it's just been full-on with me compared to my usual life.
...whatever that is... AAUGH!
Everything Old Is New Again
Would you believe I'm hosting an AOL party again? YES I can't believe it... I actually VOLUNTEERED FOR IT TOO! Now that's pretty sad. Well for anyone that cares (and those that don't- too bad!) here is the information about it:
AOL Party at Spin
Friday, April 24th at 9:30
Click HERE to send your RSVP to RcktManIL (me) ;-)I was going to put some lame-o line about "host with the most" but UGH how overdone and boring. So forget it. :-)
So let's catch up with some of the characters in my life story previous to now.
Kenny: Kenny moved to Seattle just a few weeks ago. He is VERY happy in his new locale, living close to his family in San Francisco... and I believe he has finally met someone wonderful out there as well. Thank goodness for Kenny- he finally has some good luck in his life!!! He wants me to come out there soon-- I'll have to take him up on that offer very soon ;-)
Elle: Elle and I have become fairly close lately... We do things together a lot- usually at her place. One night we made cookies, another night we ordered out for pizza-- and we always end up watching "Frasier" and chatting til midnight. The other night one of her friends dropped by while we were eating and dragged our butts out to Sidetrack. There we met another friend of hers and had a pretty good night... Elle's a blast, and it's been great getting to know her.. even though she will probably be moving to NYC this summer. :-(
Chris: Chris and I don't really talk much anymore... lots of reasons why, none of which I care to discuss here.
Tom: I ran into Tom at the Chicago Auto Show- the first time I'd seen him in quite some time. He looked great, but couldn't chat long. Seems that's the case most every time I run into him or see him online or even try and call him. I guess he's just too busy for me. Oh well... who knows?
Dave R.: Dave and I still hang out a lot... like I said once he's about the best friend I have, and I mean that completely... Even though we live pretty far from each other now, we still need each other once in a while. I'm glad I have someone like him. He's still looking for a place in the north burbs of Chicago. I hope he finds one soon!!!
Joe: Joe is the guy I met at Fusion who I really liked and who I was with the night my car got towed (the first time)... He called me out of the blue one day saying he just got back from Mexico or something and wanted to return a phone call I'd made to him just after he had left (which was more than a week prior).. .and he said he wanted to get together soon. That was over a month ago now. So, I've pretty much given up on blue-eyed-Joe. :-( Such a shame... he was a keeper, or so I thought.
I think that's about it really... time to add some new characters to the canvas right? Yeah sure, but who? We shall see, as time marches on. Til then, keep reading ... ;-)
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Hello, Old Friend
I got an interesting E-mail today.
But first, I need to tell a story.
Back in 1994, my sister and I took a trip out to New York City to meet a friend of ours that we met on Prodigy (Yes, I said Prodigy). Back then we used to hang out on this chat board called "Name That 80+ Tune". It wasn't like chat lines of today; it was more of a Message center setup, where everyone would post a line of lyrics to a song from the 80's and above, and everyone else had to guess what it was. It was fun... a kind of silly thing but we enjoyed it.
Well sometimes the system would be running extra fast (and that was rare) allowing notes to be posted almost immediately. These times would allow us to chat almost in real time... so we would have chat sessions called "Utter Chit Chat", and this is where we really got to know each other.
So we started to get together. One guy, Scott, lived in California, another girl, Lynn, lived in Chicago, my sister and I lived in Wisconsin, and Tony lived in New York.
Tony and I had a pretty cool relationship... not only because of our love for retro music, but also because he was gay. And I helped him out a lot through his coming out process, both to himself and to his parents. I also was there for him when he had problems with his boyfriend. I was even there for him one night when I noticed how depressed he was... then later found out he had taken a bunch of pills and tried to commit suicide.
We were very, very close for a while.
Then, my sister and I flew out to New York in 1994 to see him. We were staying at his house, and he was taking us to all kinds of different places. We were there for nearly a week. It was a great week, and we enjoyed it a lot.
On the last day, we were in his friend, Jen's car, and we were coming back from Great Adventure in New Jersey. I had taken a book of CD's with me to play in her car. However, when I left the car, I also left the book of CD's. There were nearly 24 CD's in the booklet.
I didn't realize I had left them until we had begun to pack to go home. Tony said he'd get them back from her and send them to me ASAP. I said that would be fine.
Four years, countless E-mails, phone calls, and other reminders later, he still has my CD's.
So today, my friend Scott, who used to live in California, but now lives in Oregon, sent me an E-mail saying that Tony had moved to Ft. Lauderdale, and is now going by XXX Screen name. He also sent another letter saying that he had another screen name. Then he sent a letter from Tony:
Hey Scott!!!
How the heck are ya!!! Its been ages since I chatted w/ you! I'm glad to hear things are going well! I graduated from Stony Brook last year with my Masters ... But, while I was in college, I took a part time job with Old Navy (a division of The Gap). While I was in Grad school they promoted me to management. I make way more money with Old Navy than I would in Social Work, and plus, its more fun!
Last October Old Navy transferred me to South Florida, and I now manage a store outside of Miami. I moved to Fort Lauderdale, and would never in a million years consider moving up north again!! .... Anyway, I gotta get going, so keep in touch and I'll talk to you soon!
Tony =)I read this letter, and for a second considered forgetting about it, figuring what's done is done. But then I thought, "you know, what he did was just downright rude, and I would never do such a thing to someone else.
So I sent Tony this letter. It was cruel, but it definitely explained how I felt.
Well it looks like Scott found you... that's good, I guess.
Too bad I really don't want to talk to you. I'm sure you know why.
Friends don't steal friends' things. You stole something of mine. Therefore, I no longer consider you a friend.
However, should you wish to reconcile our friendship, you may send what is mine to:
Rick Aiello
**ADDRESS**
Chicago, IL 606XX
Thank you.
Rick AielloCold? Yes. To-The-Point? Yes again. Did it suck writing it?
Yes.
I hope we can be friends again... but he really pissed me off.
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