Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving happens to be my least favorite holiday of them all. I think it is terribly boring and dull. I have felt this way my whole life. Thanksgiving is at my house every year and only my grandpa and his wife come over to eat with us.
Every year I have to wake up and help my father cook. We are the only people who cook the whole Thanksgiving meal. During this we watch the parade. The parade has never excited me. After the parade the dog show comes on and my mom gets all jerked up cause she loves it and you cannot bother her until it's over.
Around 3 my grandpa and his wife come over. During the time before we get to eat I sit and watch TV. The actually eating of the meal takes forever. I don't know why. After we finish I make a fort out of the pillows and take a nap on the short couch. After that we have dessert and everyone goes home.
Thanksgiving = Boring.

Times Square

I went to the city again this week for another Discover New York project I needed to do on Times Square. I needed to go there to take pictures and than I have to do research on the area. Again my boyfriend came with me because he didn't want to stay home alone.

When we first got off the ferry and headed to the subway I was really nervous because I read a book in Discover New York called The Mole People that was about the homeless that live in the subway system. I was scared I'd see them and they would try to get me to come into their underground community. My boyfriend told me that was a rediculous fear.

When we got to Times Square we walked around for a bit and I took pictures of some of the more popular places. Then we went into M&M World, Hearshy World, and Toy's R Us. I was really surprised to see how big M&M World was, it's like 3 floors all of M&M suff. We also saw the workers from the Broadway shows that are on strike, I think they are being selfish. We also went to the Virgin Megga Store. I've never been there before, and when we got to the DVD section with all the Disney DVDs it was like having two 5 year olds running around. After that we went to eat. Afer we ate it was getting dark so I took some more pictures for my project and we headed home. This trip was a lot better than the last time we went for my project, at least this time I didn't feel that much like a tourist.

SING 08

Even though I'm out of high school my friends and I went to go see our high school's SING performance. Since it was such a big part of our lives we decided we wanted to see how our younger competitors were this year now that we weren't there.

First were the juniors. They had a circus theme and their moral was to make new friends but keep the old ones too. I really enjoyed their show, the only thing that could have been better was the music. The highlight of he performance was when they clowns danced to soulja boy.

Next were the seniors. Their theme was candy land and their moral was to not lose your inner-child and to keep your friends as you grow up. I really did not like their performance because they took everything from our performance of the year before. The advisers should have told them they had to come up with their own ideas instead of stealing and using ours. They were not as good as they could have been and hey defiantly weren't as good as us seniors were last year.
Last was the sophmen. Their theme was Disney and their moral was not to grow up to fast. Their show was really cute but really immature. they had the heart and they were really trying but their writing was too juvenile to win. Even though I think everyone felt this way I think everyone found them really entertaining. i really liked their show, even if it was immature. They had the best songs and the best band. I was really surprised how great the band was and how much better they were than the other bands.
Overall SING was not that great this year. Yes i was entertaining but no one really blew the audience away as we had done he previous year. They should just all keep trying really hard and the sophmen will learn that if they make their show more mature, they can win SING next year as juniors.

Next Semester

The other day I went for my second meeting with my advisor to pick my classes for next semester. My advisor gave me a bunch of classes I can choose from to make my schedule. Since I am sill undecided they are mostly core classes. I am going to have to take math and science again. I have not taken math since my sophomore year in high school when I was in Math B and I haven't taken science since my junior year. Since I haven't taken these classes for so long I am definitely not looking forward to it. I also have to take a music or an art class. I am not artistic at all so art is out of the question.
Unlike this semester I do not wan any big breaks in between my classes. I live really far away and it is a hassle to travel back and forth.
I really hope that my schedule for next semester is better than his one. I hope that I am happy with it.

RENT

Last night I went with other freshmen in Discover New York to see RENT. This wasn't the first time I have seen it. I have seen i on Broadway once before and I've seen the movie many many times. Although I've seen this before I was still really excited.

When we got to the city we had about an hour before we had to be in the theater so a few of us girls went to my favorite place on earth ... the Toys R Us in Times Square. People must have been looking at us like we were crazy. We were a bunch of 18 year olds running around Toys R Us taking pictures.

When it was time for the show I was really excited. I loved every minute of it. A lot of people cried at different parts. I even cried even though I've seen it so many times before.

RENT = LOVE

Christmas Is Comming

This weekend I decided that I would start and try to finish all of my Christmas shopping. That didn't happen. I wound up helping my 22 year old sister buy everyone there Christmas presents.
Usually for Christmas my father makes me buy all the presents for my mother. He sends me out and says o make sure i get enough. Now she usually ends up with the most presents because we each get her one, i go and get her ones from Santa, and than she buys her own "thinking" no one will get her any.
Now my dad is the worst to shop for. He returns everything. There is no use buying him anything we all might as well give him an empty box.
My sister is really easy to shop for. She just tells me everything that she wants and I go out and buy her everything. I keep one thing to give her and my mom gives me he money for the rest and those are from Santa.
My brother is 14 and he is the same way as my sister, except he doesn't want any clothes (he thinks i is a waste of a gift). But yet again I go out and buy all the presents for him too.
Than lastly there is me. I buy my own Christmas presents from Santa too. I am never surprised on Christmas unless my sister buys me something unexpected.
Christmas is my favorite holiday, not for the getting of the presents bu for the giving, the smell, he decorations, and he music. I cannot wait for Christmas.

Common

Saturday was the Homecoming Concert for St. Johns. When I found out about it I got really excited because Common was going to be there. I told my boyfriend and he said we had to go. I soon found out that only 2 other people from the Staten Island campus had signed up to go ... i guess they don't know about real hip-hop, urban hip-hop.

So the day came and we drove into Queens and had o wait 2 hours to see Common, but it was worth it. He puts on a really good show and everyone was really enjoying it. He even picked a girl from the audience and sang on of his songs to her. Now not to sound rude but it should have been me, in the song it says "are your eyes still green girl" now my eyes are green, hers were not. Overall it was great and i loved every minute of it.

Prom

Prom was like 5 months ago yet my friend Christina decided she would finally put the pre-prom pictures on facebook. This is where I saw, what has to be, one of my favorite pictures ever. It is of me and my friend Michelle kissing each other hello. Whoever took this picture is a genius and I can't believe I never saw it before. I feel like we both look so pretty and you can see how much we love each other as friends.

Prom was a good night, it could have been better though. he actually prom was nice but than after prom was a disaster. My friend Alex and her boyfriend got in a huge fight right as we go into the club and all left running down the block about 5 minutes later. The rest of he night was all of was looking for our limo and her boyfriend. I'm actually really grateful to my boyfriend for this night because him and my friend dean really got the situation under control and really where there for Alex.

SING

It's SING time! SING is a show in my old high school that is put on each year. It is 3 different shows. There are the seniors, juniors, and sophmen (sophomore & freshmen). You have to do everything, write the script, write the music and lyrics, direct, everything is on the students. Its a competition. There are 3 performance nights and he judges judge and come up with the winner on the last night. Generally the seniors win because they are the mos experienced.

This is the thing I miss the most about high school. This is were I became really close to my friends. As expected we won our senior year, we were really good though. I miss it. I miss working together with my friends to put on a great show.

Although I'm not in high school anymore I am still going to see SING. It's just a really good show and a great experience whether you're in the production or just watching.

Vaseline

My dog Max is a disaster. He's into everything. You can't leave anything around because he'll eat it. But I think this time he learned his lesson.

I made the terrible mistake of leaving a Vaseline container on my bed the other morning before I left for school. Max went up the steps onto my bed and decided to chew the container, eat the Vaseline and play in the Vaseline. When I came home his whole butt was covered in it. I had no choice but to give him a bath. Now he's only a 5 pound Yorkie, but he hates baths. I must have washed his butt 15 times and it just wouldn't come off. I had to take him to the groomer.

All the Vaseline is off now and i hope he learned his lesson.

Triangle

Last night I went on the required trip to the Queens campus to hear the author of Triangle. Now I, unlike many people, read the book. It was a good story, although I thought it was poorly written because it repeated the same thing every other chapter. I had no idea what went on until it was explained to me. After I was told I thought it was a good story but bad writing. I went with this feeling to hear the author speak only to find out she made it up. It was a fake story based on a true event, like the movie Titanic, only with Titanic it is put across that it was fiction, unlike this book. Needless to say I was completely disappointed and feel like reading that book was a total waste of time.

Thoughts in the Night

Last night I was thinking why do people intentionally hurt people and does everyone let you down at some point or another?
I can't figure out why people do things on purpose they know will upset someone. If you promise something, keep your promise. If you say something, do it. Why deliberately not do something and hurt someone? Or why hide something that will eventually be found out? Isn't telling the truth now easier than the person finding out later? I was speaking to my friend Justine about this one day and she said this "people hurt people to see if they'll come back, to see if you'll give then another chance, to see if you care enough". Is that true? I don' really know but that is the best answer I've found in the past few years.
As I was reading my book for Discover New York, one of the people in the book said "everyone always lets you down at some point". I have come to realize that although not everyone has yet, they probably will. It might not be major, but it will happen. I think the thing you have to do if figure out who is worth it.

I Can't Stand The Rain

I hate the rain. The only thing I hate almost as much as the rain is the snow. Although it is for different reasons. The rain does nothing but make me grumpy. You can ask anyone who knows me, when the rain is falling Breana is crabby.
I hate to drive in the rain. It didn't always bother me until my boyfriend got into a car accident driving home from work in the rain and then about a month after that I got into a car accident driving home from school in the rain.
I also hate the rain because I have naturally curly hair, i just happen to straighten it just about everyday. So what happens when straightened hair gets wet? It gets curly. This makes me not a happy camper.
I want to live in a place with a constant climate and no rain, like San Diego. I'd be so happy there. The only thing is, the people would have to learn to move as fast as I do.

Memories

Some memories are good, some are bad. Some you never want to forget, some you wish you could forget. Both of these kinds of memories shape the person you are. And both of the kinds of memories can be brought back by something you smell, something you hear, something you see, something you touch, or something you taste. Out of all these senses, smell is the greatest sense tied to memory. It always seems like the bad memories will never get out of your head and you don't think of the good ones enough. The bad memories stay with you a lot longer than good ones, even if you wish it was the other way around.

Shea Stinks

I am not a Met fan, I am a Yankee fan. My father loves the Yankees so I grew up watching them. His security company happens to do the security for Yankee Stadium so I have been to many Yankee games through my whole life. Although I am a Yankee fan, i do not dislike the Mets. Unlike many Mets fans I hope the Mets do well. If the Yankees can't win I want the Mets to.
Friday night I went to Shea Stadium for the game (i got the tickets for free for giving blood). After getting lost on the way there, twice, i finally go there and thought "why do people come here?". I'm sorry to all you Mets fans but that stadium is terrible. Thank God they are building a new one. I couldn't help but compare it to Yankee Stadium, which I've been dozens of times. And I must say there security is terrible compared to Yankee Stadium.
Not only was I in a horrible stadium but the Mets played a horrible game. Never in my life have I witnessed a pitcher walk someone home and hit someone with the ball to bring yet another person home. The pitcher hit about four players within the first three innings. I was ashamed to be there, i could only imagine how real Mets fans felt.
I can honestly say I don't believe anyone will ever catch me at that stadium again.

Rest In Peace

Today is a very difficult day for me. Today is the one year anniversary of the death of one of my best friends in the word. His name is Robert D'Amato. He got killed outside a club on Bay St. at a friends going away party. He was only 18 years old.

I met Rob when I was in the 6th grade, he was in the 7th. He had a crush on my best friend Brittany, who I've been best friends with since we were about 7 or 8. She was 12 when they started going out. He wasn't only my best friends boyfriend, he was my best friend. I was always able to go to him for anything, there was nothing I didn't talk to him about. He always said I was his favorite besides Brittany. And he always said it was like he had two girlfriends, a two for one deal. They were boyfriend and girlfriend up until the day he died.

Needless to say I've had a very hard time with this. I've come to realize that you can't take people like that for granted because you never know when you'll lose them. I love him, miss him, and think about him everyday. I know he'll never really leave me, I know he's up here watching us, and i know he listens when I talk to him because he always did. Rest In Peace Robbie.

"I'll keep you locked in my head until we meet again ... and time makes it harder, i wish i could remember, but I keep your memory, you visit me in my sleep" R.I.P Robbie 8/27/88 - 9/24/06

Long Lost Twin

Today while I was at work I read the New York Post. In there I found a really interesting article that caught my attention. This article was about two twins that were separated at birth. Their mother was psychologically unstable and gave them up for adoption when they were born because she knew she couldn't take care of them. They were put into a Jewish adoption agency that is no longer in business. This adoption agency placed them into different homes for a psychological study. Neither of them knew they were a twin until 2001.
Now I might not have a twin but I do have an older sister and a younger brother, and i can not imagine how i would feel if we were separated at birth for a psychological study. I might not appreciate them as much as I should, and i might complain about them but he fact is they are my siblings. I could never imagine my life without them.
I don't understand how people would think it would be okay to separate children at birth for a study. I don' believe they should be separated under any circumstance, especially one as selfish as a study.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/09232007/news/regionalnews/dual_lives_of_twins_separated_.htm

Native New Yorker

New York. I've lived here all my life, first Brooklyn than Staten Island. I've just realized I am one of those "native New Yorkers" who take this city for granted.
Thursday I went to Manhattan for about the millionth time in my life, but this time was different. I was going as a tourist, not a native New Yorker because I had to take pictures of Manhattan for my Discover New York class. As I was taking the ferry I turned to my boyfriend, who also happens to be a native New Yorker, and asked him if he had ever been to the Statue of Liberty, Eilis Island, or any other big tourist attractions. He flat out said no and i should have expected that considering I wouldn't have the slightest idea how people even go to the Statue of Liberty.
When I got to Manhattan I walked around taking pictures of all the things most tourists take pictures of like the bull outside the stock exchange, Trinity Church, St. Paul's Chapel, Times Square, Broadway, and Radio City. These are all places I've seen hundreds of times before, but it is different when you actually stop to look at them and appreciate how great they are. Even though I felt like an idiot because i felt like such a tourist.
The only thing that bothered me was Ground Zero and he World Trade Center Memorial in St. Paul's Church. I can understand why people want to go there and see these things, but you shouldn't gawk. Sometimes I feel like this shouldn't be an attraction because if you're a native you know exactly how devastating 9-11 was.
I'll never go to Manhattan as a tourist again, but I will start to appreciate what a great city I am lucky enough to live in.

Get Over It

For the past week all everybody can talk about is Britney Spears. Since her disastrous "comeback" at he VMAs. I personally feel bad for her and believe people should just LEAVE HER ALONE! It's obvious the poor girl has problems in her life, people should stop giving her so much publicity and leave her to work out her problems without them being every ones business.
This week was also the focal point of the whole Kanye record sales and rant. What i think is that Kanye needs to get over himself. After his rant at the VMAs about how he is done with MTV because "they never let a black man win" which is untrue. He needs to realize the world does not revolve around him, and neither does MTV. Just because he's "done" with MTV doesn't mean that because they don't have him now there will only be 9 videos on TRL, there will still be 10. They don't need him, they are a network, he needs them.

Why I Write

I write because it is easier for me to express my feelings on paper than any other way. When I get upset or need to express my feelings to someone instead of saying them or talking about them I write them in a note. It is so much easier to express myself this way and to get my point across. It’s easier for me because this way I can collect all my feelings and thoughts and be able to express them. Writing my feelings is a good way to no be interrupted while trying to get my feelings and point across. I also won’t forget some of the things I wanted to say.
I also write to tell people how I feel about them. In the past year two of my best friends died. I never got to tell them how much they meant to me. Since there is no other way for me to tell them I wrote a letter to them saying everything I never got to tell them. This gave me a piece of mind and I felt that even though I never got to tell them these things when they were alive I still got to tell them.