Category: my life

my life, my voice, omens, The Printed Blog

The Next Step

I have talked about omens and how we need to learn to see them and act upon them and yet this is hard to do for some of because the possibility of failure. However, I think what makes it really hard for people to follow their gut feeling because of success. It is hard to imagine that one can be afraid of success but it does happen. Fear has a funny way of making us change directions.

I think about the emails that people send me about writing opportunities for money and I think to myself, “can I really do this?” Do I have what it takes? This blog started out so humbly for me and yet I take great satisfaction on writing right. I do not nearly have as many followers as other blogs do, so I am not sure how anyone can really measure how good my blog is. After all, I really have not published anything. Sure, I have written over 50 poems and over 300 blog post in my time, but how do I really know that I am ready for the big time?

The answer is that I do not know, but that does not mean that I cannot take that chance anyway. I have applied to places that are looking for writers to either enhance a website or contribute to a larger blog. I have wondered what it would be like to write to a larger audience. Most times, I do not hear anything back and it is ok to me. When applying to positions for writing, I have to feel it. So this last opportunity I was asked to write in 2 paragraphs as to why my voice is important. Here is what I wrote:

One thing that I really had issues with as a kid was silence. I needed to make sure that there was some sort of noise around me. Even at night when it was perfectly silent I would be afraid, not just by the darkness, but by the silence. I was often soothed by my dad’s voice when he got home. Even if he didn’t say anything his presence was what made me feel safe. Sometimes, I would hear him late at night talking to the dog and just knowing he was there made me safe.

As an adult, I have come to realize that silence is a very bad thing and I have lived through rough times in my former marriage, I felt that I lost my voice somewhere. Once that part of me was lost I felt just like a scared little boy waiting for dad to come home. That is why I started my blog. I need to get my voice out there. I needed to be heard because the voice of a single Latino man in his 30’s, struggling with life, women, and the lack of a child is something that is not heard very often in this day an age.

I felt so good when I wrote this. If I get any type of feeling that my voice is being stifled I get so upset and angry. Even in a relationship, if you cut me off or feel that my opinion does not matter…we will have a serious problem. Needless to say…I am the newest member of The Printed Blog!

I am so very happy and honored for the opportunity. This is a publication that prints selected blogs from selected bloggers. I have never had any of my work published before and I am certainly on my way to that. This was a long term goal that I set for myself and I had no idea that this could possibly be met this soon. So please visit that site. I encourage you all to subscribe to this not just for me but for the vast amount of talent that will be featured on this publication. The website explains everything.

I wanted to take time to thank my dear and darling friend Michelle for forwarding the ad to me on Craigslist. She is one the few people that believe in my talents so much that they forward me writing positions. So to all of you who look out for me…thank you so much.

I am so very humbled. I can see the changes have been fighting for coming to me. I will not change how I write. I will remain the same writer that brought me to where I am right now. In the next few days I will make a few changes to this layout that will cater to The Printed Blog. I have seen it and it a great publication. I guess it is true what is said… “Good things come to those who wait”

inspiration, my life, the alchemist

Inspiration is Fuel

I realize that I have reached the age (not that I am old) that I can aspire to inspire. With the fact that I work at Syracuse University, I know that most of the things that I strive to do is looked at by many in either a good or bad light depending on the perception. Although, I do realize that my actions have impacted students in a more positive light. Don’t get me wrong, I do not live to inspire people. I think that I have far too many things to still learn in life.

I know my strengths and my weaknesses. I try to capitalize on those traits that I can while learning to improve on the others. Being that I feel that at times I am far from a role model, I try my best to stay as humble as I can because life will always be a struggle. No matter how good we think we have it, life has a way of throwing curve balls that completely changes our approach to life. There is also the fact that I have mentioned that we also do not have it as bad as we think either. Everyone deals with adversity differently thus the perception we normally have toward our troubles is negative.

However, I have always found that getting inspiration from people or things around me has helped me get out of any funk that I have found myself in. I have come to realize that most of my inspiration come from writers. I have mentioned in the past how my blog has come about and who I can thank for that. But, there are other people who have given my the inspiration to keep writing. I have named Juno Diaz in the past as man I have met and came to understand though his books. There is also Willie Perdomo, whom I also met, that has lead me to believe that I can write a poem at anytime and anywhere.

Lately the person who has really put many things in my life into perspective has been Paul Coehlo. I really didn’t know who he was until a friend of mine point some books out to me, namely The Alchemist and Eleven Minutes. For that, I thank Zulay for putting his writings out there to me. Having read three of his books (The Devil and Ms Prym being the other), I have been told by some that a need to check out The Fifth Mountain.

I have never been one to outwardly say someone is complete awesome (unless you are Alicia Keys), his writing has done something for me that others have not. It is the ability that he has a good story to tell that makes me think about life from an inward perspective. I have been able to find a common theme and a connection with each story. Believe it or not each book seems to connected in a very small way that I will not discuss here because, honestly I think people need to read these books for themselves.

Now, he is not the only author I will ever read. As a matter of fact, I am currently reading Eat Pray Love. However, I think that I now look at books and novel differently because I am now looking to be inspired in someway. Whether it is making me think about life or just making me feel that I can be a better writer.

To be honest, I think that we all need to find something that can inspire us to be better. When we get older we tend to just fall back to our old ways in either being lazy or doing the things that we think will get us where we need to go without asking for help. That is not the way to go. We need to make sure that we are always on our game and the best way is to find our inspiration.

Artists thrive on inspiration to make art. Musicians use is it to compose songs. So why can we not use inspiration as our fuel to get through life and meet our goals? I just hope I do inspire some of you the way I have been inspired.

my life, self worth

I Am Good at What I Do.

 
This should be a mantra that all of us need to adopt. This is more than just feeling valued or feeling that we are worth more. This is something that we need to acknowledge within ourselves. Let’s face it, each one of us are good at something. I would hope that whatever it is that we are good at, we are making a success in that area or field.

Yesterday morning when I got to work there was a letter in my mailbox. I usually get campus letters about workshops or various things that may happen. I opened the letter and it was a thank you letter from a client that expresses, very warmly, how much of a great job that we did on an event that happened a few weeks back. This made me feel real good about myself. I know how much work and effort I put into my career and it is always good to get confirmation on how good I am.

This is very important to me. With the job search not going as well as I had hoped, the very idea that I am still good at what I do is a blessing. Something like this can restore lost confidence. I have made it a point to channel those positive vibes into the new version of my resume. Last week, I decided that I need to blow up my resume and start from scratch. I feel that I just need a new fresh approach to this job hunt. Perhaps I need to concentrate on the quality of my work instead of the quantity of all the things that I have listed.

No matter what I do, I need to let people know that I am good at what I do. I have letters and customer appraisals to prove it. We should never be afraid of keeping and saving the kudos that we get from other people. The reason for that is because we will always remember, with no proof, the bad things that people do. There are people that will constantly harp on the mistakes of other people and thus what we do wrong will never be forgotten. However, as a society we seem to be pretty forgiving and we all tend to enjoy a good come back story. But, even the most harshest comeback stories all revolve around the person knowing and believing that they are the best at what they have chosen to do. Once any of us thinks this way, we tend to be unstoppable.

So what am I good at? I am good at my job. I am a people person that can convince any customer that we can accommodate them no matter what they ask for and 99 out of 100 times I do exactly that. I do not panic in any situation which mean I am good in a crisis. I am always determined to solve any issue at hand. On the phone I am great with words and will convince clients that I am 100% competent in events and scheduling. I am good with working under pressure and I am never throw my employees under the bus, which makes me a great supervisor.

I am good at writing and I am good with words. This is something that I have seen myself get better and better at. I am good at making people feel what I feel. I can channel joy and despair in the same blog post. I am good at humor and can make you laugh on Facebook and Twitter at any point. It makes me feel good to do that.

It also makes me feel good to know what it is I am good at. There aren’t many times in which I can toot my own horn, but I think it is something that we all should do more often.

inception, love, my life, women

Projections (Inception)

“Dreams feel real while we’re in them. It’s only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange.”

One thing that I have always been fascinated with are dreams. I feel that this is the one thing that I have always had in my life. When I was a kid, most of my dreams were outlandish and vivid. I also feel that I have had more nightmares as a kid than normal dreams. In taking dream courses in college I have learned a few things about how the mind works when sleeping. I really believe that the answers to all of personal problems are locked away inside for us to figure out. Our subconscious feeds us these answers bit by bit until we can understand.

I have been a bit obsessed with the movie, Inception. I do not plan on shedding details for those who have not seen it, I will say this, to me, Inception is a must see movie. Sure, there is a lot of action and the special effects are off the chain, but the concept of the movie is what gets me. Essentially, we are talking about the birth of ideas and human thoughts. Do most of these things manifest themselves through dreams? I am not really sure but how many times has someone has said, “sleep on it” before you make a decision? Perhaps there was a time when a situation became clearer after a nap.

Dreams are just as important as sleep itself. We always dream. Many people will say they do not dream, but that is not true. We do dream but our minds do not always remember them. I know that I have come accustomed to interpreting my dreams and the dreams of others but, only we know the true meanings of our dreams if we break them down. The funny thing is that we may dream of specific people but dreams are rarely about specific people. Often times, the people we dream about are projections that represent something else, we just need to figure out what that is.

Projections and the acting of projecting are psychological in nature. In dreams, we project our own characteristics and natures onto other people. So we may see them for what they really are or what we may want them to be. Other times they are just a mirror looking back at us and portraying the things we least like about ourselves.

What makes projections unique is the fact that we can do this when awake. I have often talked about the ability that people have to lie to themselves. When people project their fears and undesirable qualities on to other people, this makes for this type of fuel. Many of us know people who think that nothing they do is their own fault and will blame others for their failures. Although many of us will say that they are completely honest with themselves (and indeed some of us are), keep in mind that we all project. A good example is telling a story in a certain way to make someone look good or bad. We are projecting whatever qualities to create a desired outcome.

We can project based on our own insecurities. Ever see a man who is known to cheat on his women be completely jealous of all the attention she may get from other guys? This person is the type to believe that because he cheats that everyone must do it. That all the things he has done is not his fault because that is the way life is so, no matter how honest the woman, she must have those same qualities and will thus do the same thing he did. Clearly he is living in pure denial that he is doing anything remotely wrong.

This is also very similar to the woman who thinks that certain men are a challenge. Because he is a bad guy, she can change him because she sees the good qualities in him. Not to say that a man like that does not have any good qualities, but often times she is projecting the qualities she wants him to have in order to justify her attraction to him. This may in fact play to her insecurities that she is simply not good enough or worth the affections of a good man.

How we view people in our dreams becomes very important. I know that when I was a little boy, I had dreams of meeting a woman that would complete me. She had a golden brown skin tone and the most beautiful hair that I could ever imagine. I think that I may have placed my projection of her in some of the women I have fell in love with thus placing some on a pedestal they may have never deserved. That is my issue and I own it. The problem with this is me not imagining the complexities and imperfections that make a woman so flawed and yet so very sexy.

We just need to manage our expectations of people and ourselves before we place the wrong projection on the wrong person. If you have not seen Inception, you need to and perhaps what I just said…will make more sense.

my life, roommates, self worth

A Matter of Perspective.

I was talking to a friend today about how good my roommate situation is right now. What I am amazed about is how much he likes the room and the house. I did work hard enough to make the room and the house look decent enough for any man to move in, so it wasn’t like he was moving into a disaster area. He just seems to be pretty content since he moved in and I hope to continue that.

The thing with me is that when I see this house, I see all the things that is wrong with it. I see every last thing that needs to be touched up or fixed. I could run down a list of things that I know I need to get done once I have enough money to do it. So, it is quite a surprise to me that I can get someone to look at this place and like it. Not to mention that I would have a second roommate coming in September.

Yet, it is all a matter of perspective. My roommate loved the fact that he woke up to sun this morning. He has plenty of windows and gets a great cross breeze. What he also told me his last apt was in a basement so the windows are a change he has wanted for a long time. Let me not forget that he has a dog. A Labrador, so the fact that I have a big backyard is something that he loves so that his dog can run around. These are things that I did not think about.

It is very much reflects my thoughts on what I believe to be valuable. I have been so used to this place that I failed to really see it’s beauty. I do notice that this house is something that other people would like to live in given the chance. Of course I am asking for the right price, but to think about this house as something of value again made me smile.

This is yet another thing that brings me back to my current thought process. I am worth more that what I am getting right now. I have been working hard at not looking at my life at the way I looked at my house. There are things that a perfectly fine with my life that I do appreciate, however, do I really stop to notice how beautiful I am? How beautiful my life is? How beautiful life is in general? Of course not because, like everyone else, I am so engrossed with the toughness of life that I fail to stop and smell the roses.

Life is all a matter of perspective. A man’s trash could be another man’s treasure. So I will leave you with this quote:

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it” – Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

My Goal, my life, roommates

Roommates At Last!

I had the idea of getting a roommate to help me with the bills last year. What I do not understand is why it took me so long to finally get one. Clearly, I am not complaining, but I am amazed how everything happens when it needs to happen. I wont get into the whole fate argument, but I do believe things happen for a reason.

As of yesterday, I have my first official roommate. Yes, I had a buddy live with me earlier in the year, but I always knew that was going to be temporary. Here I have a legit person who signed a lease AND paid the security deposit as well the rent for the month. I feel this is a major win for me here. I have goals that I have set out for myself and I am trying to scratch them off the list one by one.

It gets better. It turns out that by next month I will have a second roommate! This is another big win for me. I set out to rent two rooms all along, I just had trouble renting one. My current roommate’s friend just so happen to be looking for another place as well. So it looks like I was able to catch 2 fish with one bait. I am very pleased with this stage of my life. I feel that I now can accomplish the other goals that I have set for myself.

I am really starting to think positively about how things are going in my life. I consider my struggles to be like the pain I feel when I started running. It was so hard to keep at it, but I had to pace myself at a rate that I knew I can maintain a certain amount of consistency. Once I really got into it and used to it…I started losing the weight. This is a great metaphor for my life right now. I need to be consistent and steady and my goals will eventually be met.

Being discouraged is only counter productive because as I mentioned before, my life does not suck. I just have a rough patch based on my own circumstances. As I get accomplish each goal and get out of my rut, I get stronger and more confident. Life is so much easier when you know what you want.

Right now, I see the light at the end of the tunnel.

music, my life, salsa

Salsa Lessons?

My appreciation of music has been increasing more by the day. During my drive down to New York City I listened to a playlist that I created that morning. I usually put together songs that are upbeat combined with new songs and old favorites. I never stick to one genre as it. So in a particular playlist of mine you can hear house music, hip hop, rock, and bachata.

I had a feeling that I should bring my laptop just in case. I find myself in situations where no one has good music and it seems to be left up to me to provide music. But, I decided to leave the laptop behind anyway and just deal with the music I had in my iPhone. The funny thing is that I do not use my ipod much anymore although it is fully updated with all my current music. I think I need to look into doing that more because my music appreciation skills were needed at the family barbecue.

My mother and aunt, who live together, have the old school salsa hits. I have no issue with this because I LOVE the old school salsa. The problem is that this is they have blaring from a Radio/CD player. That is just no bueno because after 12 tracks we need to hear the CD all over again. So, one of my cousins brings her Bose iPod player and rocks out her music. But, still this is just not good enough for me (although I really do love her – in case she reads this lol). Toward the end of the night I decided to use my iPhone to blare my collection in which I am so proud of!

Which got me thinking that night, as I downed my endless bottles of Corona, I really need to take Salsa lessons. I mean, I am ok, but I could be better. I realized that dancing is yet another thing that has suffered over the years because of my lack of confidence. To be perfectly honest, I would rather dance any form of Latino music before I do hip hop, R&B, or house music.

I think this would be a perfect way for me to come back to NYC. I should take these lessons to get really good and just dance my weekends away. Besides, I can dance Bachata and Meringue because quite frankly, they are pretty easy. But, I grew up with Salsa music and I use to love to watch my dad dance and if you give me a few drinks, I think I can come close to emulating him…lol

This is all sparked from my cousin Karen, who has deemed me as her official dance partner. She took lessons and gave me a few pointers and I thought to myself…I need to do this. My brother/cousin has also taken some lessons and I have seen his improvement as well. So I think this will be a good investment of my time and money. I must admit that I kinda thought of getting Salsa lessons as being a little embarrassing since I am Latino and my parents have been dancing for a lot longer than I have been alive.

Yet, I consider the whole notion of me having to know how to dance Salsa in the same way I should know Spanish. My parents never really taught me. I would assume they either thought that I would learn through osmosis or that I simply wasnt interested. I can remember being dragged to dance with my mother or my aunts, but I never once remember being told my foot work was wrong or being shown to do whatever it is I needed to do.

However, I must have picked up something by the time college came around because when La LUCHA did a banquet at Syracuse University and the music came on…I was dancing with a hot chick. So, I must have been doing something right. However, I have seen real Salseros do there thing on the dance floor and I truly cannot mess with those. One day, I hope at least get close enough to dance with any woman.

happiness, My Goal, my life

Do We Know What We Want?

I was asked this weekend If I knew what I wanted and of course I said that I do. I want to be happy. I know that this is a very vague answer but it is so very simplistic in nature. Not that I consider myself old in any way, but I think that with my age and level of maturity I can really say what it is that I am searching for. I also believe that my fellow brethren who are about my age know exactly what I mean when I am vague enough to say I just want happiness.

Happiness to me is an all encompassing thing that I want to achieve in which my life is as close to bliss as possible. I realize that there are smaller goals that I need to achieve in order to work my way up to this. However, to truly achieve happiness we must first admit that we are unhappy. I think that most people in general hide the fact that they are unhappy and will deal with life because it is what it is. Of course, life is hard and there is no mistake about that.

The other thing is to understand and realize that our lives are not as bad as it could possibly be. Sure, I have my issues. I struggle everyday to survive with bills and the trying to maintain a healthy life as a single man. Not to mention the job search is not all that great. However, I have a roof over my head, I know that I can eat everyday and I have luxuries like a phone and a car. There are people in this world that cannot say that, which is why I try in my heart not to complain too much.

What it really comes down to is that we are not taught how to be happy. We are taught to be ruthless in a job market. We are taught subjects in school that we may or may not use later in life and we are definitely taught that we need to earn that money. Here is the thing: Money cannot buy love nor happiness, but it can destroy both (I am tweeting that as I write this).

Think about this and I may have said this before. We expect 18-22 year olds to decide on a major and what to do for the rest of their lives. What sucks about this is that most us do not find our true selves until our 30s. How are we supposed to manage that? What happens is that anyone us in our mid 20’s can end up in a job we went to school for and end up hating it after the first year. Why? Because as soon as we graduate we are told that we need to go right into the workforce to get that money to support our habits of buying things that we ultimately do not need to survive.

This is also effects relationships as well. How many people do you know have married their college for high school sweethearts? I know of one couple who are now married and they were in love since college. That is very rare these days. People will then tell me…”well our parents have been together for so long…why cant we?” Well, genius, it is different generation and different time. Using my father as an example here, he graduated high school and went into the navy which allowed him to travel the world and see things that I never have because I went to college. What that means is that he had 4 more years of actual life experience then I would ever have.

Take that into consideration when thinking about parents who have been together for so long. When we got out of college we had to figure a way to survive at 22-23, our parents were doing it at 18-19 (and sometimes younger). Those are critical years we are talking here. Now, what makes things worse is that when I graduated in the 90s a bachelor’s degree was good enough. That isn’t the case now, a Master’s degree is what we will all need to make the serious money. So imagine now being a college student having to stay 2-3 more years in school for something you may or may not like later in life and having to learn to survive at 24-25.

I bring all this up because I am 36 years old and I think I finally found myself. I think I am at a point in which not only can I make myself happy but I know what it will take to make another person happy. I have come to accept my own faults and deal with my place in this world. I am perfectly imperfect and I am ok with that. I spent my 20’s thinking that all I needed was a woman to make my life complete only to find out that only I can fix me. Once you get to that place, fear is just an emotion you can control just like the rest.

my life

Refreshed!

It has been a while since my last post. I took a self imposed break. Much of this had to do with my recent trip to New York City. I needed to unplug in many ways. While I was on twitter and facebook, I specifically took some time from this blog. In many ways, I feel I have been a little too deep even for me.

While I have been thinking so much about how this blog is definitely about my journey at this particular part of my life, I feel that much of this search for a better meaning in life is very much personal. I think that 4 hours of driving each way has a way of making anyone think about life. My drive down was so very refreshing because I was able to clear my head and focus on what this weekend was really about.

This weekend was very much about family as much as it was about me just going with the flow of life. The only descions I had to make this past trip was when I was getting to NYC and when I was leaving. Everything in between was just me going with whatever the days take me. I can say that the days took me to great places.

I went to Six Flags Great Adventure with my brother, nephew and a few of his friends. It was a a real good times to see Justin go on these rides for the first time. He showed no fear like his uncle and I am quite sure it is something that he will not soon forget. He turned 11 this past weekend and it just makes me shake my head thinking about how fast he is growing. I still remember when he was in the hospital on the day he was born.

I also felt that I was all over the Bronx with my cousin, Karen, who is about to leave NYC to start her PHD over at Harvard. We went to City Island, which I have not been to in such a long time. The family had a party for her this weekend as well to send her off. It was good to be with family on such a blazing day. I was on the grill, which made things hotter. I was ok with it, I had Coronas to keep me cool.

What made this past weekend complete was seeing Inception. I think this is definitely the movie of the year and a must DVD buy for me when it comes out. I do plan on seeing this movie again. I do wish, however, that I had more time to see people and old friends. I will be planning my next trip to NYC sooner than anyone will think. The drive coming back was just as good as my arrival.

I feel very refreshed. While I still have my goals on my mind, I can say that this past weekend was truly enough time for me to do me. There was no worries and no concerns for me at all. I feel refreshed and ready to take on what come next.

Brooklyn Dodgers, Mi Abuelito, my life, New York Mets, New York Yankees

How Am I a Met Fan…from the Bronx?

A friend of mine asked me the other day, how can a man from the Bronx be a Mets fan? She has known me for a while and wanted to know how this was possible because I should, of course, be a Yankee fan. I guess in some ways that should make sense. I grew up in the Bronx. I call it home. I feel total comfortable when I am there and would love to move back. I never let anyone forget that this and where I am from. Plus, my father is a Yankee Fan. So why am I a Mets Fan?

Well, since the second half of the season begins tonight, I figured I would answer this question. It all stemmed from my late grandfather. Mi  abuelo came to this country from Puerto Rico and moved to Brooklyn. I often heard stories about how he had to hustle to survive. Back in those times, there were immigrants from all over the world and they were all looking for the same thing, a piece of that American Dream. I remember him telling me that he was able to communicate with the Italian immigrants because Spanish and Italian was so similar. But, the one thing that really united many people in Brooklyn was the Dodgers.

The Brooklyn Dodgers was one of 3 baseball teams in New York and was loved by the people, particularly after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. My grandfather was just as dark as I am so I am quite sure he was delighted to see someone of our complexion running around the bases. One thing for sure was how much he disliked the Yankees. More than any NY rivalry now, the competition between the Dodgers and the Yankees was fierce and throw in additional team…the Giants…and you have a city filled with baseball freaks who have a unique love/hate thing going on.

Oddly enough, when thinking about this, many people of color loved the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants because they were some of the first teams to have black players. Jackie Robinson was the crown jewel for the Dodgers and Willie Mays was the man on the Giants. However, the Yankees were very slow in signing black players. People picketed Yankee Stadium in the early 1950’s because of this. By 1955, the Yankess finally called up Eliston Howard to play in for them.

Sadly, in 1958 the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles and mi abeulo, like the rest of Brooklyn was heart broken. But it was not just Brooklyn that had their hearts broken, the New York Giants left for San Francisco that very same year too. So up until 1962, New York was a only a one baseball team town. My grandfather refused to root for the Yankees, so when the Mets were created he was loving baseball again. He did still root for the Dodgers when they moved, but he was a New Yorker.

Mi abuleo raised all his kids to be a Dodger/Mets fans. That was just the way it was. I am not sure when the family moved to the South Bronx, but clearly a location change did not matter. By the time I came around, being a Mets fan was just apart of life. My brother followed the Mets and I followed him. Sure, there were other family members who followed the Yankees but it was my grandfather who would watch the games with me and my brother. It was the one thing that him and I could talk about. I remember him yelling in Spanish at the TV for whatever reason. He had a passion for baseball and the Mets that I still have.

Growing up in the 80’s just made it easier. I remember the Yankees always seems to play the Dodgers in the World Series and even lost to them in 1981. So, by 1984 the Mets were relevant with the their rookies like Strawberry and Gooden. By 1986, the Mets owned New York. Looking back at it, I am very glad we was alive when the Met’s won it all that year considering that my grandmother died that year and the demise of my parent’s marriage happened shortly after that.

In his remaining years, baseball was his life and I will never forget how much he loved it and how much I loved him for it. He never judged me or my father (my abulelo is from my mom’s side). I remember him coming by with sandwiches for lunch to talk about the Mets and even watch the game. He died in 1992 right before I was set to come up to Syracuse. I miss him and I will say that his love for the Mets will always be in my heart.

I wanted to add something else. I have thought about this for awhile and with the death of George Steinbrenner I had to asses any hatred for the Yankees. While I dislike them, I cannot say I hate them as I used to because, after all, they are from New York (sounding like my dad right now -_- ). I know all the Yankee players by name and how good they are. But, there isnt really anyone one player that I detest, unlike the Philadelphia Phillies, in which I can write a whole blog on Jimmy Rollins alone.

I think a lot of it comes from the fans I have come to know who just love to be assholes about everything Yankee. I am not one to believe in entitlement, but most fans do. However, some of my dearest friends are Yankee fans and I find it hard to hate something that my friends love…

P.S. I really dislike the fact that most women I am really attracted to…are Yankee Fans (go figure…I will deal though! lol)