An SOS – Seeking Guidance on Spiritual Growth

I’ve come to terms that God/Source/Spirit is with me. It is not easy for me to write this. I’ve held the idea of God at the back of my mind. It was locked away and never to be discussed. I’ve always thought of myself as an atheist. All of that changed a year ago. Since that time, I have changed my views with spirituality. I have neglected my website and it has been a year since I posted anything. I actually started to write this draft about a year ago. I thought I was ready to write about my spiritual awakening but I never got past four sentences. A year later, I realize I am ready to be honest about my introduction my spiritual journey. Because I am still at the beginning of my journey, I hope whoever reads this can offer clarity and guidance.

Near Death Experience (NDE)Videos

Believe it or not but YouTube was how my spiritual awakening unraveled. My wife was getting into her spiritual journey at the beginning of 2023. I would support her but I had no intentions to join her. I was very reluctant to watch some of the videos on topics regarding spirituality. She would share with me what she learned and how she wanted me to watch them with her as well. I initially watched these with a very low level of interest. She finally got me to watch interviews of those who experienced Near Death Experiences (NDEs). When I finally gave in and started watching some of the videos, the interviewees described journeys to places beyond Earth. They would all say that those places felt more “real” than life on Earth. More “real” than Earth? How is that possible?

Some interviewees talked about popping out of their bodies and seeing their physical body. They described seeing people around them during the near death experience. They could hear the thoughts of everyone around them. I thought, “Wow, how cool would it be to hear people’s thoughts and to fly around!” Then they would talk about transporting to another place. Either by a tunnel or by some sort of portal or white light. Of course, I was very skeptical at this time. I wasn’t really taking any of this seriously. However, I was curious. That’s what would drive me to watch the entire video. I also requested that my wife only show me videos that were no more than 15 minutes long. I did not want to watch long drawn out videos. I feared these videos were trying convince me to join a church or to lure me into joining a weird group. I also had the expectation of seeing some religious text. No thanks!

During these interviews, people would talk about their journey to a new plane of existence. Some would call it heaven, others just called it a connection to spirit or “home”. I would watch their stories. Some commonalities were that they experienced a “Life Review.” They would watch and re-live an experience from their past. They would experience perspectives from everyone involved. For example, if they hurt someone, they would feel the pain that they gave to the other person. Or if they gave money to someone in need, they would feel the other person’s relief. They would also feel the joy it gave them. For the most part, they re-lived the hurt they gave someone. And that was for a reason, for them to understand that they need to change how they interact with others. In these moments of the videos, I honestly thought about my life review. I questioned what it would look like. I realized that I don’t want to go through it. I also would mentally roll my eyes about the lessons that given. In this realm, the people with the NDEs, would talk to loved ones or would have conversations with their angels. They all said that they felt this immense love that could not be described. They were given information that was necessary and were given a choice of coming back to Earth. They all came back but they all stated that they did want to stay. I would get tripped out by the fact that they wanted to stay but knew they had to come back. But what stuck with me after watching the videos is that they seemed sad to be back on Earth. They couldn’t really share this information about their experience with everyone. Even those who would talk to doctors and nurses would get a cold shoulder which made me sympathetic to them.

My wife would find more videos for me to watch. I would either dismiss them or view them after dinner. She would convince me about how good the video was when she saw it earlier in the day. So I would watch. The one NDE video that struck me was that of an atheist who nearly died. His experience was very much the same as everyone else who had an NDE. I resonated with his story when he talked about his reluctance to religion and God. He talked about how dismissive he was to anyone who would approach him with any hint of religion or God. His experience in the other realm was similar with a life review and I believe he talked to an angel. He came back to Earth with a knowing that we are all a part of God. He mentioned how he came back to Earth with more compassion. Although he did not become extremely religious, he no longer saw himself as an Atheist. He knew where we come from and where we go after this life. He had a peace with him and I immediately started to look for similar stories.

“I would like to have an NDE!”

I found the videos inspiring and I found them cool. It made me even say, “I would like to have an NDE!”. My wife would laugh and told me that she would believe me if I did have one. Later, I saw a YouTube video where a woman had an NDE as a baby. She did not realize that she had one until her brother told her about that experience. After watching that video I realized I may have had one. I felt like it may have happened to me.

There was always a family story about how I fell down the stairs twice as a baby. My brothers would make fun of me for falling down. I was learning to walk and I was in a baby walker when I fell down the basement stairs. I don’t remember any of it. The first time I fell, my mother was aware of it and had freaked out. The second time, my mother was at work. My dad covered it up so my mom wouldn’t know about it. Some time later, my older brother accidentally told my mom. He revealed that I had fallen down a second time. Of course, she was angry with my dad. While telling my wife the story, I suddenly recalled something important. My family mentioned I had passed out in one of those falls. I came to the conclusion that that I may have indeed had an NDE! This was an ongoing story that I remembered as a kid and teen. I hated hearing these stories because it made me feel like such a klutz even though I was just a baby!

I became curious about that whole event. I called my older brother and he told me a version of the story I had never heard before. He said that I passed out during the first fall. My mother immediately rushed to grab me and he saw my body limp. My mother ran upstairs and ran outside of the house hysterical. According to my brother, she was screaming and yelling outside of the house. He remembers her saying, “They took my baby! God, please help me!” At some point, while I was in her arms, I came to. My brother stated that he saw me my legs kick out and that I had started crying at that point. My mother was relieved. So it was no surprise that she would be very upset knowing that this happened again. Sidenote, there is a door leading to the basement. My parents had rented out the basement room to my uncle and aunt. Someone accidentally left the door open, hence why I fell, twice.

After talking to my older brother, I called my mother about this story. She recounted it, she got very emotional talking about it. I felt bad for bringing it up. However, it gave me confirmation that I potentially had an NDE as a child. I was just a toddler! Of course, if I did have an NDE, I don’t remember it. In the YouTube videos, people who experienced an NDE would sometimes say they felt gone for a long time. This was even though they were gone for only a few minutes on Earth. So I wonder, how long was I gone for?

Dreaming – Is it a gift?

I came to the conclusion as to why I had very vivid dreams growing up. It was most likely the result of an NDE. Becoming aware of this event made me understand some of the things I dealt with as a child. I was always confused by my déjà vu dreams. These moments from these déjà vu dreams would happen within a couple of days. They were so vivid that I couldn’t understand why I was having them.

I remember as a 6 year old trying to explain them to my parents. I would dream about myself and the people I was around. A few days later, it felt like I had been here all along. I wanted them to help me. They weren’t bad dreams but they were dreams of the near future. As I got older, I started having fewer déjà vu dreams. However, when the moments would come to fruition, there was an intense dream recall. Almost a reminder that I still had those type of dreams. I would also have odd experiences that I could only attribute to the paranormal. Yet, I always knew I had something special. It felt like I can attract more that what’s in the physical plane. I kept these things to myself. Sometimes, I shared them with my siblings when they talked about certain weird things they noticed.

I could talk more about my experiences growing up in my parent’s house but I’ll save that for another time. Fast forward to now. I only remember having had one lucid dream when I was a teenager. I’ve had four lucid dreams this year and I’m trying to figure out how to “do” it again. In all four of these dreams, an event made me realize I was in a dream. I have tried to use some of the same triggers but they don’t seem to work. I have been reading more books than I ever have. In the past, I read only when it was necessary. Now I’m reading a lot of books about spiritual growth and how to heal. I have joined a metaphysical church and am learning about gifts that people have. I want to learn more about these gifts and to find my own gift. I’m guessing that my gift might be that of dreams or dreaming. Dream Incubation has been mentioned to me. I think tapping into that would be my goal as well as others. There are so many things that I have learned over the last year and a half. I will use this time to write and share with whoever wants to read.

I am sending an SOS. This is to those who have begun their journey like me. It is also for those who have been on their journey for some time. It is for those who would like to share some wisdom and knowledge. I am a believer that we are all the same and we are of love. I am loved, you are loved, we are all loved. With that energy, everything becomes better. I just want to stay in that mindset. I also want to keep my heart open. If you’re out there and see this SOS, say hello.

It’s been over 3 years, it’s time to write something…anything…DO IT!

I can’t believe that it’s been three years since my last post. Writing during the pandemic was helpful and then…I just stopped writing. Every year since I’ve had to renew my subscription to the blog and I’ve thought about writing something, yet nothing was produced. It’s weird, recently I thought about my blog and it had nothing to do with the renewal. I logged back on and decided to dust off the cobwebs. For the last couple of days, I have been thinking about what to write and I’ve decided to write about my podcast. It’s probably one of the most fun and yet frustrating experiences I’ve had. I’m going to keep it short and sweet for now.

History of the Curbed Wheels Podcast

My friend Freddy, aka Wheels and I talked about starting a podcast as a way to get through the pandemic/shutdown and to revive our comedy goals/careers. I found the talks to be invigorating but was hesitant to even start. I finally decided to give it a shot and bought equipment for the podcast. It was exciting as I felt like, we could do something creative and something informative.

Freddy and I met because of comedy. I wish I could remember the moment I first spoke to him but honestly it all seems like a blur. I know I met him somewhere between 2012 and 2014 when I was performing three to five times a week. I eventually slowed down my stand-up career and really got into teaching comedy through the library. It was a lot of work but I really enjoyed it and fed off of the energy of the students who really enjoyed comedy. Some students wanted to perform and needed the push. Some were curious but wanted to learn more. Freddy was a guest comedian in some of my sessions and would talk to my students about his experiences, lessons learned, and imparted some of his wisdom to them. At the end of the four weeks, there would be a comedy show and the students would perform in front of a live audience. Sometimes, the guest comics would perform. Whenever I invited Freddy, he was the first to say yes and would perform extremely well.

Once COVID hit, we would chat about comedy and baseball. We definitely connected when it came to baseball. So much so that in 2018, we took a trip to Boston. I had planned it as the Mets were visiting Boston for an inter-league series then. Freddy is a huge Red Sox fan and I have always wanted to see Fenway Park. That trip gave me insight into Freddy’s world because he uses a wheelchair. There was a lot to consider going on this trip and made me realize how hard he has it when it comes to using public transportation. This would be a part of the podcast that I wanted to highlight. Something that would give Freddy a platform to discuss the difficulties of getting from one place to another. We brainstormed and discussed how the podcast would take shape.

The Podcast

After discussing the logistics, we just ran with it. We recorded our first two episodes on our first night of recording. Everyone was excited, it was great to see Freddy again, we hadn’t seen each other in person since 2019. It was a reunion and we had fun recording. We had a lot of response from friends and family on those first two episodes. Everyone said that they loved the show and were looking forward to the next couple of episodes.

Podcasts are very similar to doing stand-up. After a couple of times up on stage, your friends and family will stop showing up. Same with the podcast, after a couple of episodes, we were dropping off on listeners. We didn’t get many likes with our social media posts and eventually it just dried up.

I was frustrated and I was talking to Freddy about doing more on social media to promote the podcast. We got lucky with a few videos that were posted on YouTube but nothing was sticking. We weren’t consistent with our topics, on our recordings, and with our social media presence. We ended up taking a break as we both lost the energy to continue.

Conclusion?

We forged through it. Despite getting annoyed at each other we came back and just recently completed our first year of doing a podcast. We have tried to retool our show but the medium for a podcast is difficult. If you’re famous or have some sort of big following from something else, a podcast would already have a built in audience. We have started from scratch and my hope is that we can build a following.

We are still trying but we’re struggling to get listeners. We’ve dried up on our likes from our friends and families. We’re going to have to find a niche soon or this may be a project that was a part of my and Freddy’s life that became unsustainable. Stay tuned.

Heartbroken David Just Lost 7 Years of his life

Season 4 of 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days gets more annoying and frustrating week to week. Again, I’m stuck on this train wreck until after the Tell All. This week I’ll profile David who seems confused as to why his girlfriend Lana keeps standing him up. Why don’t his friends just tell him, “Hey David, she’s not real!” Or “Hey David, that chat room looks like it was created during the AOL chat room days and you shouldn’t trust it.” A part of me feels bad for him for traveling Pavlohrad but then apart of me is hopeful he finds Lana or some dude named Lana.

Last night’s show left us with a cliffhanger of David actually going to the address Lana had given him for their cruise that she never showed up to. I’m going to guess that it’s going to be an old lady who’s going to be like, “Who are you? No I don’t know that chick!!!” (in Russian) and slam the door in his face. Then David will go home and still try to find Lana on chat. Then say something dumb like, “I don’t get why Lana would do this to me.” Predictable right! Thanks TLC!

Here’s what should happen:

David takes a page from the movie Taken! He goes around Pavlohrad looking for Lana. He manages to find a number that’s associated with Lana. He speaks to a bad guy and says, “I’m going to find you asshole!” Then the bad guy will say, “Good luck American asshole!”. David reconnects with his tech buddies in the US who help him find the hideout of the Russian mob where he barges in with guns blazing. David finds the bad guy from the phone call, who confesses that Lana is not real and was a model he used from time to time. David doesn’t believe the bad guy and shoots him dead. As he’s about to leave the hideout, he sees a woman that resembles Lana. He begins following this mysterious woman then gets hit in the head. Fade to black. David loses most of his memory but remembers that he’s looking for his girlfriend Lana. A Russian cop helps him look for Lana. It turns out the cop uses David to kill people for him while fooling him that he’s close to finding Lana. Now if you’re like, this sounds like the movie Taken and Memento put together, it’s because it is! (Sounds like the movie Bloodshot as well)

Pretty much sums up David.

In conclusion, as exciting it would be to see David take justice into his hands, it won’t happen. Maybe he will meet Yolanda during the Tell All and they will hit it off. As sad and depressing it is to see Yolanda chase Williams, this would be a welcoming sight, David and Yolanda connecting based on their delusions! It worked in Silver Linings Playbook! Good luck David. One word of advice, next time give the roses and champagne to a couple that deserve it, don’t be selfish to wallow in misery. Be like Drake, get on the hit list first then chase her.

Dear Yolanda From 90 Day Fiancé , REVERSE IMAGE SEARCH!!!

The recent season of 90 Day Fiancé : Before the 90 Days is one of the most frustrating shows to watch on TLC and unfortunately, I’m sticking it out till the end. There are many reasons to get annoyed with the show but today I’m going to start with Yolanda. If Yolanda is not able to figure it out herself, I’m pretty sure that her daughter knows how to do a reverse image search. The problem, the producers! The producers of the show want to drag out this catfish for as long as possible. I am sure they can do a reverse image search and quickly figure out who the man in the pictures. So who is Williams and why drag it out?

Here are my two theories:

Theory 1: They are going to bring in the real person, the real “Williams” for the Tell All at the end of the season. Maybe Yolanda will finally snap out of it and realize that she’s been catfished. Reality will set in. Yolanda may not know how to handle the truth. She might go into full denial mode like Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in Shutter Island. Then TLC will do a show about Yolanda getting help on dealing with such a tragic reality in hopes of finding her a new love. Or they just might invite her back for another season like Darcey.

The real “Williams” will show up at the Tell All. Yolanda will be like, “But it’s you Williams, you’re the man I’ve been talking”, only to slapped by the host.

Theory #2: My hope is with theory #2. I hope TLC sets up Yolanda with David. They both live in Nevada, they both love emoji’s, and they both were smitten with the idea of meeting a model. These two belong together and TLC should do a spin off of these two fallen love birds only to bring them together and hopefully to marriage. If that’s not in the plans for TLC, then what are you doing???

This is the prequel to the Yolanda and David love story.
TLC’s next big hit!

In conclusion, end Yolanda’s story because there is no love at the end of this tunnel and quite frankly, it’s annoying and SAD!!! Let’s shine the light on the other couples that are becoming dumpster fires.

How Playing Roblox With My Kid Gave Me A Seizure

My step-daughter is currently obsessed with the online game Roblox.  Even when she’s not playing, I can see her envisioning what she’s going to do when she gets back online, like a chess player planning their next move.  I find it interesting that when I ask about Roblox, she immediately lights up and tells me about all of the drama that is going on in the game.

I love video games but when I first saw the game Roblox, I immediately thought of the game Minecraft.  If you don’t know Minecraft, it’s a game designed to look very pixelated and if you want a visual, Google “Minecraft” then Google “Roblox”.  Roblox is the catfish version of Minecraft.  It’s like back in the day when you asked your Mom for Oreos and she brought back a box of Hydrox cookies instead.

Hydrox
Remember Hydrox cookies???  Looks like Oreos but didn’t quite taste the same.  I don’t think I’ve seen a box of Hydrox since the mid 90’s.

Roblox gives you the impression that the game is incomplete and not very challenging.  I decided to give it a try and figure out the appeal of playing this game.  I also wanted to get involved in the drama!  I needed to see what these little punks are up to so I took the time out on a Saturday night to play the game with her.  This is what my Saturday nights have become, playing Roblox with a bunch of pre-teens!

roblox
This exactly sums up my initial reaction to Roblox.  Thank you Patrick!

And It Starts…

I created my own account and avatar.  My screen name is LittleJK41 which is a play on her screen name, LittleOG14.  I wanted to secretly surprise her in the game, just to see what type of player she would be in this Roblox world.  Unfortunately, even with my impeccable research skills, I could not find her. My wife even tried to help me out but we both couldn’t find a way to sneak into her game.  So like loser adults, we had to tell her what we were doing and she helped me get to the game she was playing in.

Now to give you a little bit of background on the game, once you sign up, you have the option to set up your avatar.  You’re avatar is very plain but you can change his or her features.  There are free items to choose from but if you want anything unique to your character, you have to buy it with Roblox money called Robux.  I didn’t really care to make my character unique because I definitely wanted it to look like a new player.  I wanted my character to be considered a “noob“, another term for a new player, usually associated with a lack of skills for the game as well.

robloxnoob
This is what my character looked like but I gave him a spiky hair dew!

In the Club! WHAT! WHAT!

Once I created my “noob” character, off I went trying to find her in a game called Club Red V4. Club Red V4 is a game where you go to a club listening to the latest beats while socializing with other players.  I joined her and immediately chatted her in the text box which all the players can read.  She was hanging out on the poolside of the club, which was funny to me. I jumped into the water and of course, I couldn’t seem to figure out how to get out.  My step-daughter sent someone in to get me out because I couldn’t figure out how to use the ladder.  Turns out my step-daughter is the ring leader of the group and all of her friends welcomed me.  I asked her, how do you dance, and she showed me the list of dance moves that came up.  So I did the dab, the robot, the sizzle, and whatever other dance moves I was able to choose from.  She was annoyed that I was dancing in the middle of her circle of friends.  She was like, “Dad stop!!!”.  What amazed me is that all of her friends believed I was her dad.  My guess, the kids believe the phrase, “If it’s on the internet, then it must be true!”  So I would say things like, “I am your father LittleOG14!“, “Help your Dad! LittleOG14!“, “I’m the coolest LittleOG14!“, or “Hello, I’m a Noob.”  I would have thought that her friends would have thought that we were being sarcastic but they believed us.  Her friends let me be part of her circle.  It was amazing to watch and see her lead her group of friends in and out of the club.

robloxclubred
“He just ran off” “lol” “YOLO” – A little bit of what to expect in Club Red V4.

The club was interesting because I found it was very depressing like a real club.  But to a pre-teen or teen, this is fun stuff.  Most people were not on the dance floor and some characters were just trying to talk to each other in private, off in some dark corner of the club.  I would interrupt their conversations.  I would say hello and tell them how new I was to the game. I thought it was funny but my step-daughter was annoyed with my antics.  Eventually, we moved on to Prison Life.

Things get real in Prison Life!

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Now Prison Life was a much better game because unlike the club game, there are guns, tasers, and other weapons involved with the socializing.  Before you start playing, you get a choice of joining the prison guard team or the prisoner team.  We joined the prisoner team and my step-daughter lead the revolution.  I kind of watched and followed her for 2 seconds then I decided to punch her out and as well as the other inmates.  I had fun punching random players but then the officers would shoot me dead.  My character crumbles to the ground and then re-spawns in a prison cell.  I then started talking smack to all the prison guards and of course they would kill me or handcuff me.  My step-daughter seemed so embarrassed by my gameplay that she would often say “STOP DAD!” “WTH DAD!” but I continued.  Eventually she and her friends escaped the prison and became “criminals“.  Apparently, they get better guns as a criminal.  When she became a criminal, she tried to get me to come out to the prison yard to help me escape.  I was so busy punching everyone inside the prison, I stopped paying attention to the text box.  They were waiting for me to come to the yard to play so they could shoot me but I never came out to the yard.  I was too busy trying to get a gun from the prison guard home base.  I kept getting killed but I was having fun.

Her friends found me to be cool, just like my step-daughter.  They all said that she likes to bark orders to her crew but they liked helping a “noob” like me out.  One of her friends helped me escape the jail only to be killed by someone else. I saw one player was constantly chatting with my step-daughter and told him that if he wants to date my step-daughter, he needed to buy her a ring.  He immediately logged off and unfriended her.  What a wuss! I had fun playing with her but after an hour, I was getting tired of getting killed and quite frankly, I felt odd talking smack to a bunch of pre-teens.  I’m too old for this.

Online Games = Old Online Chat Rooms

compuserve
Oh CompuServe. I only used you because I couldn’t afford AOL.

I now understand why my step-daughter loves this game.  It reminded me of the old chat rooms on AOL or CompuServe.  Remember CompuServe???  That was for the people who couldn’t afford AOL, the gold standard of the internet in the late 90’s early 2000’s.  Just like the chat room, you can see who’s there, pick and choose the theme of the room you want to go into and socialize.  In Roblox, same thing except you get to play games one another.  You choose different games with different rooms, and you get to socialize.  This game appeals to pre-teens as the game play is very simple and honestly, for someone who immediately thought the game was stupid, it’s easy to ignore your kid playing it because you don’t immediately see the inappropriateness of the game right away.  As a parent, I saw some games that were not appropriate for a child to play and were very adult themed.  With online bullying increasing, I can see this game as another way for kids to gang up on others.  So after a lengthy discussion with my wife, we both talked to my step-daughter on the do’s and don’ts of playing this game or anything else she does online.

By playing with her, she has opened up to me more, specifically about the game but she talks to me about her friends.  She tells me what goes on in the game and I’m glad we are able to have something to talk about it and I don’t feel like there’s a wall between us.  Hopefully, she’ll continue to chat it up with me and eventually move on from Roblox but only time will tell.

Oh and about that seizure?  That’s some good ole’ fashion use of click bait.

The Cello

I bought a cello in 2007 and have probably played it twice.  At home, in my closet, collecting dust.  I’m not a complete novice to the cello, I played the cello for 6 years growing up.  I guess the cello at home is just a reminder of when I did play the cello.  It probably would be better used as a big ass paperweight at this point.  Now that I think about it, it’s more of a reminder of why I stopped playing the cello.

I played the cello from 2nd grade up until 8th grade.  I stopped playing the cello in 9th grade for a couple of reasons.  I was never fully vested in the cello so that was reason #1, the Addams Family Values movie, reason #2, and the summer of 1994 broke the camel’s back. No more cello!

pitch

Elementary School

My older sister and brother played an instrument from elementary school through high school.  My older brother played the cello in elementary school and eventually switched over to the trumpet.  My sister played the violin and the flute.  My mom wanted me to play the cello just like my older brother.  I thought it would be cool to play an instrument so why not follow big brother. I’ll never forget the day I brought my cello home, my mom was so proud.  I remember her crying and dragging my little brother to the side door of the house, and saying how I reminded her of Freddy.  In elementary school, I had to bring in the cello once a week and it was annoying to bring on the school bus.

I picked it up really quick.  I remember my music teacher giving me homework and I hardly practiced at home.  I would practice when my mom would be like, “Why is that cello in the closet!  Get it out and practice!”  Reluctantly, I would practice.  Sometimes in front of my parents, siblings, or some friends of the family whenever my mom would want to showoff.

I remember enjoying the cello in elementary school because it got me out of my class once a week for an hour and I remember my teacher being impressed with how well I played even though I hardly practiced at home.  I liked the comradery with the band and chorus kids.  One of my fondest memories was during a practice for a winter concert, during a repetitive piece, I would play a different part of music on the sheet, only to get back in-sync with the orchestra just because the repetitions were boring me. I did it for the challenge and to make it interesting.  My partner would notice it and sometimes the music teacher would notice it but when it came down to the concert, I made sure not to deviate from the music sheet.

Jr. High School

Orchestra became one of my main classes in junior high school.  Unlike elementary school, where it was more of a one on one lesson, this was a group playing every single day.  The seventh graders practiced together, the 8th graders practiced together, and the 9th graders practiced together.  Once it was time for a concert, we all joined forces to destroy the universe.  Just want to check if your still reading.

Anyways, we practiced every day, I had one cello for school and one for home.  So I no longer had to carry around my cello to and from school.  Since we played every day in school, I no longer practiced at home.  I played my cello and eventually became cello #1, the coveted leader spot.  My teacher was impressed how quickly I rose to that spot without private lessons.  All of that would change in the Spring of 1994.  In preparing for the spring concert, all the students had to bring in their home instruments to the concert.  I didn’t think anything of it until the first day of practice.

I unzip the case and see a massive hole in the cello.  There were pieces of the cello inside the hole!  I was like, WTF!!!  I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.  I never use this instrument so how did it break???  I couldn’t believe it and was scared to tell my mom.  I had no choice but to tell her since she was driving me up to practice. I got yelled at, of course.  I would too if Nik did the same thing.  What made my mom even more upset is that I kept telling her that I don’t know how it broke.  She was like, “What do you mean, you don’t know how you broke it!”  I was like, “I didn’t break it, that’s the point!”

Either way, I was responsible for the instrument and had to come up with an excuse.  My younger brother, Kenny, came up with a nifty excuse.  He said, “Why don’t you tell the music teacher, you were walking up the steps with the instrument and you tripped and fell on top of it.”  I was like, that’s fucking good!  I was a little surprised to see him having sympathy for me rather than tease me for my misfortune.  I told that excuse to my music teacher who wasn’t buying it.  He told me that I would probably have to pay for a replacement cello.  He lectured me on how instruments are not cheap and that this was going to cost me a lot of money.

Summer of 1994

My parents got a bill of $600 for the cello.  My mom was like, now you’re going to have to get a job to pay for it.  Your fault, your responsibility, now you go to work.  My father got me a job at a local deli.  I worked the weekends all summer.  I stocked all of their fridges with sodas, juices, and 40’s.  40’s were kind of a big deal back then.  I learned a lot with that job.  I learned that you can’t spill grease on your clothes because it will never go away.  Carrying grease buckets took a lot of skill!  Even spilling grease on a sidewalk would permanently stain it.  I learned that mopping floors before closing would annoy customers, so I did it anyway. lol  I always kept the basement clean even though my co-worker would get it all messy just so I could clean it up.  My first lesson on having co-workers that don’t always pull their weight. lol   I saw co-workers brawl inside of the walk-in fridge only to be cool the next day.  Every paycheck went straight to my mom.

By the time school rolled around, I had finished paying off my debt.  I decided it was time to quit the cello.

Before I get to that part, let’s go back to the Adams Family Values movie.

Adams Family Values

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That’s my cello burning in the background. Cara Mia!

Towards the end of the school year, there were no more concerts to practice for.  The band and chorus teachers would let their students hang out during the period and would sometimes put a movie on.  These were the VHS days!  Watching a movie in school was a big deal!  Even if it was a movie you had seen before.

My orchestra teacher didn’t care.  The band and chorus kids would be laughing, eating, and doing homework during the movie, while we continue to play our instruments.  My classmates banded together against the orchestra teacher and asked why weren’t we getting free time.  His response, “We keep playing.”  Who was this Bill Belechick???  What the hell man!  Then one day, the band and chorus were watching Adams Family Values, which had just come out on VHS.  We were so bummed and I was upset because I really wanted to see that movie.  We were playing music just for hell of it.  So naturally, I kept this in mind when it was time to quit the cello.

Sidenote: The last week of school, the music teacher did give us a break and my first inkling of comedy came out.  “Yo Momma Jokes” were in at that time and I remember I was annoyed at the music teacher that I told my friends a joke.  I said, Mr. Insert Name is so fat, that when he drives his van, he can only make left turns.  lol I got some chuckles and even one kid thought about it and started laughing while repeating the joke.

In Memoriam

I quit the orchestra and the cello in 9th grade.  Carrying grease buckets, dealing with ladies from salon who were upset with me for not putting the cold drinks at the front of the fridge, and mopping floors for small paychecks were fresh on my mind.  Not watching The Addams Family Values movie, right behind it.  My teacher tried his best to convince me to play again and I just kept saying no.

Instead of orchestra, I took an art class and found it to be much more relaxing than orchestra.  I loved watercolors and drying my artwork on the rack.  It was cool and different.  Plus I now got to hang out with kids who were not part of the band, orchestra, and chorus clique.  I saw a whole new world!

I can’t say that I missed playing the cello.  Sometimes I would rib the kid who took my spot and tell him that if I came back, I would still be #1, kind of like when Michael Jordan came back.  He would laugh but I knew it wouldn’t be long before he caught up to my cello skills.  I never looked back at it and was glad I didn’t have to drag my parents to another boring winter concert.  How many times do you want to hear Jingle Bells or some other holiday song?

WAIT SO HOW DID THE CELLO BREAK???

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This sort of looks like the broken cello but just imagine a bigger hole.

Oh so in 2003, I came home from college and saw my brothers laughing hysterically.  I was like, what is so funny?  Kenny, my younger brother, says, YOU!  I was like, “Hahaha.  No what’s so funny?”

Kenny: Remember when that cello broke?  Well, Freddy and I were wrestling and he body slammed me into your cello.  The cello broke and we didn’t know what to do, so we put in the smashed pieces in the hole and let it sit.  You didn’t notice it for weeks until the concert. So now you know how it broke!

Me: You guys owe me $600 plus interest.  Not funny.  No wonder you came up with that excuse!  No wonder you were all sympathetic! You two are fucking idiots!!! I gave up playing because of that broken cello.

They just laughed.  That’s family.

So why did I buy a cello after all these years?  I was browsing on Craigslist and saw a brand new cello for $250.  Do you know how cheap that is???  I actually thought about flipping it for more money but I kind of like it as a memory piece, that is currently at home, in my closet, collecting dust.

Why I Still Use Outdated Technology

I’ll never forget the moment I pulled out my phone to send a text and my friend Matt was like, “What is that???”  His eyes lit up in amazement. I was surprised and asked why the befuddlement.  He thought it was strange that I had a keyboard on my phone.  He made it seem like my phone was a dinosaur. I guess with the way technology moves with its constant upgrades, I don’t keep up with the tech wave like most people around me do.

So here’s a list of some of my low tech favorites:

Keyboard on the phone

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Yes I love a keyboard on my phone.  I love not having to get a spell check for every single word I type.  I have control and it is similar to typing on a keyboard.  I’ve been typing on a keyboard since I was in elementary school and I’ve been conditioned that way.  I also have big fingers so it sucks when you are typing on the surface of a phone or tablet and you misspell words constantly.  I also don’t need the constant suggestions! I am a former a spelling bee champ, so I’m very confident with my spelling skills.  Just sayin’! I just love my keyboard so I’m kind of sad to see that Blackberries are now going extinct.  But are all keyboards gone for other brands of smartphones???

MP3 Player – Sansa Clip

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My darling wife bought me an iPod for Valentine’s Day 2014.  I have yet to use it.  Why? Because I like using my Sansa Clip MP3 player.  The Sansa Clip was outdated when I bought it in 2010. I know that the iPod is way better but I’m a little hesitant to pledge an allegiance to Apple.  I once owned an iPod and I had to replace it twice at the hint of mist.  It was annoying and buying a replacement was very expensive.  I guess with that experience I rather keep my wife’s iPod in its case because I don’t want to go to the Apple Store to deal with a bunch of geniuses again.  The Sansa Clip, which I have never heard of before, works and doesn’t die at the first hint of mist or a drop of water or even accidentally washing it in the washer machine.  The thing works and the one time it did die on me, it was practically 3 years old.  So wear and tear versus mist, you be the judge! So let’s just say I’m loyal to this old thing right now and I guess if in case of an emergency, I’ll use the brand new iPod when I’ve decided to move on from the Sansa.

Printing out hotel confirmations, tickets, and directions

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I could just pull up the confirmation on my phone right? I guess this one definitely ages me out.  I guess there is something about viewing a document on a piece of paper rather than viewing it on the screen of your phone. It’s tangible for one and very reliable.  I have a strong argument about printing out map directions because I’ve proved to my wife that her phone can lose reception at random times.  It becomes handy to have a printed set of directions when your phone is no longer voicing directions.  AHA!  So take that Iphone or Samsung Galaxy or whatever gizmo you have!

I’m a little disappointed that ducats for sporting events are beginning to fade away too.  There is something about keeping a ticket for nostalgia.  I mean you can go on your phone and show off the barcode right?  Yes you could take photos and post them on social media but what happens when the cloud disappears or dies.  What happens when the day comes that nobody uses Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, or Twitter, and your photos are in some sort of Myspace void?  Then the ticket comes in handy right? I believe the ticket is special because of its composition, the logos, and even the font used to describe what section you are sitting in.  I still have tickets to old Shea Stadium that I fully embrace now.  Hopefully they will be of value one day! lol

A BOOK!

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I am not convinced on switching over to an e-book.  I’m sorry but I just love touching a book and having it sit on the bookshelf.  Granted it may collect dust if I’m not re-reading it but I still fancy them over an e-reader.  I just don’t feel the need to download a book.  I’m not suggesting everyone throw away their Kindles or Ipads but it’s just not for me.  Plus my main argument with e-readers is that they also get upgraded right away.  So why buy a Kindle when it will be outdated in a year or two?  A book doesn’t get outdated.  Editions will change, the cover may look nicer but it’s still the same text.  Besides, isn’t it nice to show off how well read you are? lol

That’s it for now but if you have some outdated tech that you like to use please share!