Avoiding The Hudson

MSN
CNN
Google
MarketWatch
NYC

2.18.02-3.5.02
3.6.02-3.22.02
3.23.02-4.30.02

May 29th @ 11:31 PM - Tonight was one of the difficult nights. Aimee and I watched the 9.11 special that aired on HBO this past Sunday night. Could it be any sadder or more upsetting or make the flashbacks resurface any faster? It could only have been worse if they killed off Giuliani at the end. From the second it started till the last moment, we cried our eyes out. We each had to leave the room at different points to try to pull ourselves together. In the first 5 minutes they had planes hitting buildings, explosions and death- it jumped directly into the event.

It is still sometimes weird to think about that day. I have dealt and processed and moved on and try not to think about it anymore. (If I did, I would be absolutely crazy by this point.) But when I watched that show tonight, it was like I was reliving it, every second of the entire experience. I got that taste in mouth again, I threw up multiple times in my mouth (but managed to swallow it), got the pain in my legs from running so fast and saw the fear in peoples faces that I felt that day. This all happened while sitting on the couch and watching television.

I lived. That is all I can say. I lived. I forgot that statement when things in my life are rolling and happening, but I always remember it when I am alone and walking down the street, listening to my walkman and looking up at a 50 story building. I stand there and think, if that building was double the height and it started to fall this second, would I live this time?

The most difficult thing to watch on the video, wasn’t the planes hitting or the jumpers, but when it started to come down. That was the turning point for me. I thought I was fine up until that exact moment the first tower started to fall. I never saw the planes hit each building. I was in my building when the first hit and when the second hit, I was under the explosion. I was standing arms length from the tower (on the opposite side the plane flew into it) and knew nothing. One second I was standing there and the next the building above me was exploding and everything you could image was falling on us. The people around me never saw it coming and had no chance to live. On the other hand, the jumpers will never exit my memory. That is embedded and I can still see some of there faces and hear the sound they made when they hit the ground or landed on the woman three people away from me.

I have so few words to describe the actual building falling on us. The sound of it, the screams of terror, the sight of huge steel falling on people around me and the dark, then white cloud is indescribable. I must have blocked so much of that out and watching that tonight brought it so quickly back into my life.

I lived. That is all I can say, I lived. Why, I am not sure. Out of all the thousands of people who died, why was I picked to go home that night? I have replayed every second of that entire day and how I could have done any of the thousand things different and a different outcome would have prevailed. Why was I on time that day? What if my morning WTC breakfast would have taken longer to eat? What if I was standing in a different spot? What if I would have run in a different direction? What if I tried harder to save the little girls life? What if I wasn’t as fast as I am? What if I didn’t know the district as well as I do? What stopped me from going back into Tower 1? Why did I circle that building twice? How did I get through to my mom on the phone? What if I didn’t punch out the security guard? What made me get in the elevator and go to the 27th floor? Why did I leave my friend lying in the street? How did the firemen see me? Who saved me?

That is the question I have been struggling with lately, who were those two firemen? After I fought for hours, but finally gave up and laid down amongst the collapsed buildings, fire, smoke and could see nothing or hear nobody, how did they spot me? I was completely alone and trapped between the WTC and the West Side Highway and decided the best thing would be to go to sleep. I knew I had climbed about 20 feet up the debris and I could not stop throwing up. I was so far from reality and had three things pushing me: I needed to talk to all my family and friends, I needed to make sure my roommates were okay and I would not end up like the people I was climbing over, I was going to make it. When I could see nothing but fire around me was when I decided I should go to sleep and I would wake up somewhere else. I am not sure how long I pasted out for, but awoke to two firemen yelling, kicking me and trying to get me up. The only thing I remember them saying to me, “we were shining a light up there and it reflected off your sunglasses and then we saw you move a little.” (Then I was being sprayed by a fire hose and that fuck‘n hurt.)

Small secret about me, if you ever wondered why I have been wearing my sunglasses like 24-7 since then, this is why. They saved my life once and you never know.

I can say, I will not be watching that video anytime soon. Apples to HBO for creating an amazing documentary. And to those two firemen, “Thank you, you honestly saved this guys life.”

May 29th @ 8:51 AM - I an itching to meet one certain person. I want the intro to be done immediately and get past the 5 minutes of bullshit. I am very intrigued and believe it or not, can not do it myself this time (I am scared). I will wait and be patient, but not wait for to long. I am here...

On a totally different note, I feel so bad for my mother. She is so scared for me and will not/ can not calm down. She is convinced something in the city is going to happen soon. She honestly believes the next building is coming down any day now. I talk to her all the time and at the end of every convo, she always asks me who I am with and if I am wearing my sneakers? I am always honest with who I am with, but never honest about the sneaker thing. Even if I am wearing my flops or dress shoes or sandals, I ALWAYS say, yes mom, I have my running sneakers on. She then quickly responses with, you are fast and ran away from one building falling on you and I know you can do it again. I am worried. Please just remember, run Richie, run. This time, don't take time to help anyone or crawl under the steal beams. Think about yourself and jump over everything. I am worried. Please just always wear your sneakers and run, run real fast. Okay, I can't think about this, love you, bye. And she hangs up on me. She seriously says all of that, in like one breath and shoots through it every single time we talk.

My poor mother. She is so scared and nothing I say or anyone says will help her. She lives in fear, for me.

May 28th @ 10:16 PM - I have yet to do a posting about my new best friend, his name is, K Parker. - He is awesome and so much fun and as crazy as I am. - He is a total wise-ass and always getting into trouble. Example: While Aimee's cat sleeps on the couch, he jumps off the top of it, perfectly landing on her with all four paws. He then runs away and jumps up on a ledge that Aimee's cat can't get too. - He likes to sleep with me at night and when I end up knocking him off the bed, he goes under my bed and sleeps in my box spring. - He greets me when I enter the apartment. - He sits next to the shower while I shower and likes to sit on my lap while I shit. - I am in the process of teaching him to 'sit' and he is doing pretty well. - I have trained him not to go on certain things in the apartment. - He knows what to do to piss me off, after I yell at him for doing something wrong. Example: he knows how much time I spend on working on the Jade plant and likes to pull the freshly planted transplants out of the dirt and leave them next to it. He will then sit there and wait for me to walk into the bathroom and once I see it, he takes off down the hallway. - He is always jumping around and investigating. - He can jump so high and run extremely fast. - He likes to rub his lips up against my nose. - He likes to drink my health shakes with me. - He is still ugly and looks like MJ.

K Park is new favorite buddy.

May 28th @ 3:18 PM - Things I LOVE today: my tan, my cat, taking an hour long bike ride up the highway, cold showers, carrots, my tan, the wind and yogurt.

I can not wait till July 19th. Please take notice of the crew.

May 28th @ 9:53 AM - This past weekend, Bessica and I went to see "Kissing Jessica Stein" and it was extremely funny. I am not sure if movies are generally getting better or we are getting better at picking the good ones. Anyway, I have decided this movie was Bessica. She is Bessica, I mean, Jessica Stein. The story: she is an attractive, 20 something year old, aspiring writer/ artist living in NYC. She casually dates random guys, but always immediately dismisses them for minor word misusage or small grammatical errors. Her apartment is full (floor to ceiling) with books and she highlights quotes and casually uses them in intellectual discussions or when describing people. (Do you see the similarities?) She reads a quote (one of her favorites) in the Village Voice women seeking women personals section and calls it. (I can not tell the rest because I don’t want to give the storyline/ ending away.)

I have decided that I am doing this for Bessica. I am going to take one of the quotes off her page and put it in the next Voice. I think it will be fun if Bessica becomes a lesbian, even for a little while. Even if she won’t call any of the women back (which she will, because I will make her call at least one of them), it will be fun to list to there messages to her.

May 27th @ 8:50 PM - I had the greatest, “power” day of my life today. I would give the details, but it is kind of personal and since a “power” day is different for everyone, you probably won’t understand mine. Lets just say, it could not have been better, everything was perfect (clothes, weather, people, duties, transportation, style and conversations).

Fun stories from Union Square: a spiritual, granola woman walked up to me and said, “you have a great walk." I looked at her and replied, “thanks” and turned away. She grabbed my arm and pulled my head towards her mouth and whispered, “confidence is the key to your life." I pulled away and all dumb founded asked, “excuse me?" She smiled and answered, “figure it out” and ran off. I stood there in pure confusion and thought to myself, ‘crap, was that a riddle or do I need to go buy a decoder ring to figure that out, shit, what did she - I think I should go to 'The Gap’.

Then, while in “The Gap” and trying to figure out which size t-shirt I should buy, I asked the salesperson for help. He looked at me and said, “the t-shirt you are wearing fits perfect and makes you look like one of our manikins." I was speechless and almost fell to the floor and kissed his feet. No one has ever told me I look “perfect” in anything or that I look like a manikin. I asked, “so which shirt?" With his little attitude he responded with, “well obviously go with the bigger of the two. Do you really want to look like a manikin? Why would you buy another shirt that fits like that one?” I am confused, but come back with, "you’re right, thanks." As I walk away, I throw his selection (the larger of the two) down on the ground and run to the register with the largest 'gee' smile and proudly hand my purchase to the cashier and whisper to her, "I look like your manikins." She picks her head up and said, "excuse me?" "Nothing", I replied.

While walking through the 'Farmers Market', I pass a truck that says, Goshen NY. I stop dead in my tracks and immediate call my mom. I asked her if she recognized the name of the farmer or if we even have real working farmers in Goshen? (Side note: I grew up in Goshen NY.) She of course knows the last name and goes into an hour description of who these people are and how they are connected to not only me, but my sisters. She also said that they don't live in Goshen and we have no farmers in Goshen. (Bessica later told me they live on the border of another town, but must have a Goshen address.) I march up to the table and ask if they grew up in Goshen and went to Goshen High? They all said yes and that they graduated in '97. I then asked if they knew my young sister Karen (delete), she graduated closer to there year? They answered with yes and the one kid was like, "I know who you are, I know you." He had this excited expression and the other kid looked at him and was like, "is that?" The first one said, "you are Rich (delete). You graduated a few years before us. You are Richie." I replied with, "yes I am." Blah, blah, the rest of the story isn't important. What is important, this was the first time EVER that I got looked at as the cool, older brother. The kid got so excited, yet embarrassed and stumbled over his words after he figured out who I was. I am the cool, older brother and seriously, this has never happened to me before.

Now I know what Bessica's older sister must feel like every time she calls here or comes over. She was the cool, older, senior when we were freshmen and we were all scared of her (except Bessica).

May 27th @ 9:15 AM - This is the deal, two of my friends are having sex, together. Normally, this would be 100% cool with me (since I usually push for all my friends to get together and do the deed). But this time it is different.

This has been going on for about 6 months and now they have moved in together. (I know so many people that quickly move in together here in NYC. It is all about saving money on apartments and if you sleep at the persons place every night anyway, you might as well move in and cut your rent in half.) Seriously, I typically enjoy when my friends get together, but this one is bad. The Story: They meet, they go out and get drunk and go home together (such a nice love story). They keep doing it and in time, he moves in with her and falls in love.

The Situation: she is not interested in this at all and is only doing it to have something to do this summer. See, her friends all go away to LI every weekend all summer long and she likes having entertainment. She is planning on ending it in September and kicking him out of the apartment (she is serious and not just talking).

The Problem: I know I am going to be caught in the middle and taken down when this explodes. I am already the middle-man and have to listen to them both bitch about the other. I am scared that he will find out that I knew the entire time (about the fact it is not a real relationship and she is ending it soon). I have this strong feeling that I am going to have to pick sides and will have to walk away from one. I realize this isn't that bad and so I loose one of them, who cares right? I just want to make sure I get the better of the two. My solution: pick a side now and stick with it. I will now choose the one I want to stay with after the split.

I know I have mentioned her before, she is my 32 year old, divorced, out-of-control friend. She is so much fun and when we go out, it is dangerous. I can not even describe a typical night out for us, mostly because I would get arrest if important people read this page. We drink, we meet people and end up going to these crazy places and having fun. She is not a bitter, divorced women and is pretty slooty. She will only go home with the rich, upper-crust guys named Lockwood or Biff, who live in fatty NYC apartments and belong to country clubs on the Island (believe it or not, she meets these guys all the time). We have a lot in common, the biggest being we are both train-wrecks and enjoy laughing about this.

He is 30 and is also way out-of-control and such a booze bag. He parties like a rock star and is 100 times more of a sloot than I am. He can pick up anyone, mostly because he is a race car driver and uses it all the time. Whenever we go out, we end up meeting a million people and bouncing from place to place and then splitting up. He has never fallen for anyone (till my friend) and did not know what feelings were till a few months ago. Recently, the booze bag has been sobering up and only wants to sit around and smoke.

Well, it looks like my decision has been made. Thank you for listening and helping me make up my mind. I have no time for the self-pity complaining or sitting around an apartment on a Friday night and coughing a lot. Peace buddy!

May 26th @ 2:15 PM - If anyone is in the mood to watch the saddest television show in history, please watch NBC tomorrow (Monday) @ 10 AM.

I randomly turned the TV on today and watched this hour long special and sobbed on myself for the full hour. I do not cry very often and especially when people are around or from watching a television show, but this was the most depressing show. The narrators voice was even melodramatic and the writers could be the most emotional people in the world.

They do not show the football game, just highlights from it and have voice over the entire time. Before the game they present framed jerseys to all the wives who lost there football playing husbands on 9.11. The entire show was great and totally meant to just make you cry. They showed a group of fathers that lost there sons, then they show the players with there little kids after the game, then they show a group of kids that lost there dads. They interview wives that lost there husbands and both firemen and policemen who survived the attack. It was extremely emotional and completely put there lives in perspective to the world.

PS - The song the firemen sing before the game at first made me laugh, but by the end of the show, as they sang it in slow motion and they flashed photos of guys who were lost in 9.11, I fully lost it. If you have time tomorrow (Memorial Day), and have a plethora of tissues handy, turn on NBC at 10.

May 25th @ 8:43 PM - Me and Bessica are getting ready for a fun night out on the town. We are planning on meeting up with a friend we have not seen in awhile, it should be interesting.

When my two friends and I went to Liza's wedding, I took a picture of my friend Alison with Liza's dog. I have not yet seen the pictures and recently emailed her, asking for a copy, this was her reply: "The picture of me and Liza's dog is awful. It is not for public display. Picture a close-up of 8 hours of drinking, mixed with no makeup, and "outside" NYC skin. The dog looks good though."

For the past few weeks I have been craving a night out with "The Women of the Web". The last one (which was the only time we all went out) was so much fun and I want/ need a repeat. Interested?

I realize Tara did not invite me to her sleep over, but I desperately want to go. I have not been to a real live sleep over party in like years. I don't even remember what you do at a sleep over party. Tara, if you invite me, I promise I will be fun and bring cool shit.

May 25th @ 4:45 PM - I did it again. Do you think I would learn? How old am I and how many times have I done this?

I look like a burn victim straight out of the trauma unit. I had the most amazing day at the beach and loved every second of it, but am paying for it now. The breeze was perfect and it wasn't to hot and the taste of the ocean was refreshing. I slept for the full 4 hours I was there and managed to roll over half way (equally burning both sides of my body). I need a break from the beach, we are not friends right now.

Last night Bessica was the perfect friend and best roommate. She totally helped me out and took care of me (working the VCR, going out to get me more pills and beverages, dealing with the kittens). See, I was in horrible pain and my fever kicked up to about 104 at one point and I could not function. I was on fire (inside and out) and freezing and my head was hurting and burning and I was convinced this was the end. Have you ever had one of those fever induced flip outs? While in my room, I saw snakes and Indians playing under my bed. I knew it was from the high fever, but reality was so far away that I went with what was happening. I also had the craziest and most horrible dreams about old school people that I didn't even know.

I will say, even though I am disgusting looking today (lobster red and partially swollen), in about 2 days, I will be so hot. I burn really bad and live with the pain for a few days and then it tans out perfectly and I don't peal and it casually lasts for a few months. I did make the promise to myself while laying in bed with ice bags on my head and milk towels around my body and I was trying to unsuccessfully sweat out my fever, that if I lived to the morning and was not permanently disfigured, I would NEVER do this to myself again. I am alive and so far, not disfigured, so I will be taking a long break from my one truly perfect spot on the world and when I do return, I will wear a hat, a long sleeve shirt, pants and carry an umbrella.

PS- I refuse to complain to Bessica about the pain and uncomfortable ness. I am one of those people that believes, I did it to myself and have to suck it up and pay the price. I was dumb and will now suffer.

May 23rd @ 11:31 PM - I really don't have time to be posting and need to get a good night of sleep tonight. Why you ask? Because I have decided that tomorrow officially starts summer for me and what do I do on the first day of my summer each year? Go to the beach! I will be venturing to Long Beach tomorrow morning via the LIRR (I love NY's mass transportation system). 45 minutes after arriving at Penn Station, I will be laying on the beach, baking in the sun. The Picture: my body will be oiled up and face will be lotioned and I will be laying on my one piece of urban hipster gear that I own- a multi-colored, South American, hand woven blanket and the head phones will be perfectly positioned so that the wires do not effect the tanning of the face or shoulders. Typically, I sleep there for about 4 - 5 hours and wake up all burned and crispy and exit Long Island.

I love the beach! It is my favorite spot in the world and the only place I can fully relax and let go. I am sad to say this, but it could be any beach. I would even take Seaside or some other crappy Jersey beach. I really do like Long Beach (the location) and I know it is a trashy LI beach, but I don't care and don't go for the atmosphere or people. I really enjoy going alone and relaxing in the sun while listening to my music and sleeping. That is my ideal day.

Heads up to the world: If you want to impress me one day or take me out on a date, take me to the beach. Then hand me a walkman and a pair of fresh batteries. This would win my heart immediately...

May 23rd @ 2:33 PM - My new weekly song on repeat is Avril Lavigne's - Complicated. I suggest checking it out!

If you are ever questioning your love for NYC, all you need to do is spend the afternoon walking around different neighborhoods, accomplishing random tasks you have been putting off. Yesterday was excellent. I had to go to Bryant Park to see David Blaine standing on the pole. I saw him frozen in ice in Time Square last year and where else in the world would someone stand on a pole for 35 hours and jump off into a cardboard box?

One of my favorite things to do is walk around the 34th Street area and take notice of all the random events. To list a few from yesterday: a business man with a really cool, trendy backpack; a high powered business woman talking to her secretary on her cell about buying her a new diaphragm; a 30 year old business man with blue hair; a group of tourist standing next to the ESB and looking at a map to try to find the ESB.

I took my old camera to the camera repair district and got my WTC film out of it. I proceeded to Madison Square Park and found a place that developed three rolls of film (plus doubles on each) in an hour and gave me two free rolls of film and gave me coupons for free reprints or enlargements for $20.

I then met up with Bessica and dragged her back north and all the way west. We ventured to the piers to see the large boats that just arrived for Fleet Week. This is something I do every year and don’t really like. I walk all the way out there and look for like 5 seconds and get bored and leave. I never go on them and am not sure if you are able to get that close to them. Anyway, we saw them and like 500 sailors all tried to have eye sex with Bessica, but she turned them all down.

Only in NYC and this is why I love it!!!

May 23rd @ 10:10 AM - So, I sleep with my light on. Yes, a real light and it is on all night and it is not a night-light or small Urban Outfitters, trendy lamp. It is a real light with a million watt bulb. Before I get into bed each night, I turn this on and it is about 2 feet from my face and points at my eye. It lights up my entire room and resembles Time Square around 9 PM.

I will admit, I sometimes even turn on my ultra-powerful Halogen lamp which is on the other side of my bed. I am not sure why I do this, but I like it. I have been sleeping with the lights on since I was in High School (I think it started in my senior year). I am not scared of the dark or anything like that. I have no issues with immediately falling asleep, which usually happens before my head even hits the pillow. I like to wake up with my room 100% illuminated with electric light. I like opening my eyes and it being so bright in my room that I am immediately awake. I like daytime and light the best.

May 22nd @ 2:02 PM - Well, we finally found out who is the father to Hope's baby. Let me refresh your memories. Stefano brainwashed Hope and had her under mind control for a few years and she thought she was Princess Gina (A princess in France). John Black then saved Hope and took the memory ship out of her neck, which brought her back to living as Hope. At this point she was pregnant and gave birth to a baby boy. Stefano took Hope's baby and gave it to Lexie (who is his daughter and was pregnant, but lost the baby, but never told anyone she lost it) and then took a random baby and gave it to Hope. The random couple recently came back and took there baby and the court ordered Lexie to give Hope her original baby. Because Hope was under mind control, she could not remember who she had sex with. She went back to Paris and tried to replay the events of that day. Today was the day, she finally remembered and announced it to the world.

The father is Bo. Yes, it is Bo Brady, her husband and live long love. The story (and why he could not remember having sex with his wife in Paris): he was being drugged and controlled by Stefano and can not remember a few days of his life. One of them was that day. Stefano turned him into a French street mime and had him follow Princess Gina around. They both subconsciously broke away from Stefano's mind control and she took all the white paint off him and they had sex. Immediately after the sex, they went back to being Princess Gina and French street mime. Hope remembered all of this first, and this explains why she kept having all the "white" flashbacks. After talking Bo through it and basically reenacting it, he suddenly remembered it and they decided to finish the deed and have another passionate night together in Paris.

I make none of this up, it is all true. Bo is the father to Hope's baby!

May 21st @ 6:44 PM - I need to get a few things straight. You don't know me. You think you know me, but you don't. You read about my life on the web and think this is the entire me. Trust me when I say, it is not ALL of Richie. I only post certain stories and leave out key elements. I think it is cool that you read each day and share in my life stories and journeys, but there is no need to name call and judge. I do not know you enough to understand why you feel you have the nerve to say the things you did. If you have a problem with this or me, STOP reading. (This is only meant for one certain person and not the rest of the world. If you do not understand this posting, please continue to keep reading. I am not saying I have a problem with judging people and calling them names (please, I do this everyday of my life), but if you are going to say it to someone, please make sure you are truly friends and that the person will not be offended or be ready for a fight.) Fuck off!

This is to someone else, someone completely different from the person above. Do you not understand I am not interested? How much more obvious can I make it? The story: We spent a night together. I knew I wasn't fully interested so I stopped us from having sex. In the very early morning, I did everything but twist the dagger in your heart. I wouldn't even take your number and when you asked to hang out again, I said, "I am kind of busy figuring out my life and really don't need anymore dramatic situations to get in the way". (Translation: No time!) I will say, you did know this. When we met, I made it 100% clear I was not interested in anything and the situation was exactly what it was. You call a few times and I make ZERO effort and say things like, "On Friday night I went on a date to see 'About a Boy' and it was awesome. It was the story of my life and I loved every second of it." Can I be anymore of a dick? This person calls and I am an ass, seriously, I could be the meanest person in the world. Oh well, no time for your pathetic attempts and I really don't feel bad. When you "grow a set" and "become a bitch" call me back. Till then, peace...

May 20th @ 2:02 PM - Okay, I just had this entire realization, the "Boys" song is 100% song about and for me. She is singing this to me and now I need to go find her and accept her request. I am so lucky!

Warning, the lyrics may hurt your feelings. Please read them at your own risk. Heads up: she makes one mistake, they are not brown eyes, she really means green eyes. Also, the words in ( ... ) are not song by her, they are by the sluty background singers.

May 20th @ 1:19 PM - Why didn't anyone ever tell me that Brooklyn is the largest land mass in the world? Saturday afternoon at 4:30 PM, Aimee and I ventured out to get a cat. We live in Greenpoint and the shelter we were going to was in East New York. The place closed at 7:00, which left us 2 1/2 hours of travel time. At about 6:50, we gave up and turned around. We were still no where near our destination and had already taken a bus, multiple subways and walked through unfamiliar streets. I have two points to the story, #1- Brooklyn is huge and #2- we started out fun and happy and making asses of ourselves and I loved it. The deal: For the last few weeks I have been continually making fun of Celine's new song. Whiling walking around the apartment and partaking in everyday events, I dramatically sing these few words, "A - New - Day - Has - Come". Now I have a new song in the head and am constantly humming and imitating the clapping portions of the song. This would be Britney's "Boys". (Sometimes I even combine both songs and make one dramatic, pop version of these hits.)

Basically, Saturday afternoon was filled with traveling and singing songs about boys. I sometimes wonder what people must think when they walk near me and hear me singing random ass songs or doing my little dances. As I stand on the subway platform and breakout into my latest moves and matching it up to either a Britney or N'SYNC song. A situation: Saturday while waiting for the bus with Aimee, signing the 'Boys' song and dancing back and forth from the street up to the curb with occasional wrestling moves mixed into the steps. This random man would not stop staring at me. I figured he either wanted to kill me or thought I was a total wak job. I kept up my act, while never moving to far from Aimee's side.

When it comes down to it, I don't care what the random strangers think. I have fun and am one of the coolest people in the world. If they were lucky they would be privileged enough to spend 5 minutes with a person like me and realize how entertaining it is. I sometimes wish Aimee and Bessica could spend a day in the life of Richie and report back on it the next day. I am curious to find out if other people in the world have fun music constantly going through there heads, or how long other peoples concentration levels are, or if others are always looking for some type of mischievous situation to get into?

May 18th @ 11:32 PM - A word of advice to the world - Never ever go out for a fun night (including drinking) and not eat a full dinner. Seriously, if you think grabbing two carrots and an apple to go will substitute, you are wrong. It may be healthy, but not filling enough when you add 2 mixed drinks and many, many beers.

'About a Boy' was excellent and I love British comedies. This was the story of my life and I learned a few new tricks and great, great quotes. Best one: next time someone will not stop talking about feelings and heart and bullshit like that and I am tired of pretending to listen, I will say, "Shut up, you are wounding my soul".

Biggest news of the day, I got a cat. Yes, you read that correctly. I, Richie (edited), am now responsible for a living creature. I do not fully understand what happened and how this came to be and how someone let me take one. The best part, my cat is fucked up. He is out-of-control, ugly and homely. His coloring clashes with itself, he is gray, peach and white people skin color. He reminds me of the homeless bad cat from the kids show, Garfield. Again, I need to ask, who said, “yes, this guy Richie looks like a great cat owner and I will give him one”? He is tough and running all around the apartment. I am already torturing him and petting him to hard and throwing him around and put his head in my mouth. I constantly yell at him and chase him from room to room. I own a cat and he likes me. I named him, K Parker and I really do call him K Parker. The K stands for Clark. He does already have a nickname and it is MJ. MJ obviously stands for “The King of Pop Music”. I got the nickname because of his weird and kind of ugly coloring. He looks like something is wrong with him and he has some random ass disease. He is fucked up looking and I keep telling him it is okay. One day I was butt ass ugly and eventually turned out pretty decent, so he has something to look forward to. I have also noticed he has a few brain/ mind/ head issues and will fit into my world perfectly. Before we walked into the cat place this evening, I wanted to pick the crazy and ugly one and fuck it up even more. I found him and our personalities already compliment each other. He is 4 months old and is fun!

Yes, I still don’t like cats, but it is time for me to grow up slightly and get some type of responsibility in my life. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention why I got the cat. When we went to the place, they informed us that they ONLY give out kittens in pairs and if we didn’t take two, we leave empty handed. I could see in Aimee’s eyes how bad she wanted a kitty and I thought she was going to cry when the women told us this. So, we actually have two kittens in our apartment. She has the nice, cute, chill kitty and I have the crack kitty. Another thing, my cat is a girl, but not really. She may be physically a girl cat, but I am raising her as a skinny boy dog. He will only be referred to as ‘he’ from now until he dies.

I own a cat. We have two cats in our apartment (thank gosh it is a large place). This morning the three of us were discussing getting a cat, for the 50th time, I stated, “My biggest fear is getting two cats and having two of them in our place.” I should have never opened my mouth. Not only do we have two cats, but I own one and am personally responsible for the next 10 years. Oh my, I have to deal with this for the next ten years. Relax Richie, if you stop liking it, you can get rid of it in a few months. Okay, good point, simmer.

May 17th, 10 minutes later - Okay, I need to admit something. I have not thought about and talked about "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" for like 10 years, up until the earlier posting. After I posted, I casually took the quiz below and please take notice of my results. Weird, very weird...


Who's Your Movie Sidekick? Find out @ She's Crafty


Would you survive a horror movie?
You made it through the flick, but, um, it's not a pretty picture. You're the bloody heap in the corner who everyone thought was dead until you stumble into the hero's arms after the bad guy bites it (think Jamie Kennedy in Scream). You are a smart and fiesty person, but you're also a little reckless and you tend to put yourself in awkward positions -without a good weapon. But even though you get sliced up a bit, you get to survive and that's all that matters. Who needs all those toes, ears, and arms you'll be missing by the end of the flick anyway?

May 17th @ 11:33 AM - I am in the greatest mood today. It is excellent weather outside, the Arthur twins are happy and it is Friday. We slept with the windows open, so my allergies were kicking this morning, but I popped a few pills and sprayed the eyes and am now fine. I have been dancing around the apartment all morning and blasting my music. One would think I was having a preteen birthday party in here if they walked by and heard all the noise and music. (It has been very similar to the Dance TV audition scene in "Girls Just Want to Have Fun".)

This could be one of the best things I have read in a long time.

Peace, my bike is calling me. And Aimee, just to let you know, today's shirt actually has sleeves on it and I can NOT use your product till it has been appropriately tested on the necessary group.

May 16th @ 11:52 PM - My father emails me usually twice a day and this is a typical email (notice the grammar and spelling, it will better explain me).

"Hi Rich, got home about 11PM Wednesday night. They came out of Del Friscos feeling no pain. They had a great time there. All went well. You no when you leave your apartment you can leave a radio on and keep it on the news channel 88. It always has people talking and if any body was to come in they won't because they think you are home. Very effective you should try it. Cut the whole yard today and it looks great. Going to be a cool and wet weekend, Sunday looks pretty good. How were those perogies? Well you be good. Love Dad"

I am very much looking forward to tomorrow night. The Plan: Bessica and I are going on our date and it is going to be so much fun. I am first taking her to see “About a Boy” and then we are going out drinking. I realize this movie may not be the best date movie, but I can not wait to see it. From what I have heard and read, it looks like it will be my type of movie and very similar to my life. (I enjoy movies I can relate to.)

Ya Ya...

Can I describe how broke I am? I was doing some math today and realized, I am poor. I have no touchable cash and everything is tide up for long periods of time. I screwed myself and invested and put everything away for many years and can do nothing about it. My dad told me today that one of my accounts is coming into play very soon and I freaked out. I was like a little school girl who got her first period and started to scream. I totally forgot about this and he thinks it is touchable in July. I am so lucky and very happy about this and have already figured about exactly what I am going to do with every penny. The plan: I love the stock market and am pretty good at it and have been following it day to day for the last 7 years. I use to invest very heavily in it, when I had a lot of extra cash (that was the last few years, minus the present). I typically don’t like giving suggestions to friends or family, just because of the fear of loosing them money. (I did this once to an uncle, I got cocky and made him a lot of money and then gambled and lost big time. He now doesn’t really like me and rarely speaks to me and has never mentioned “the incident“.) I will be taking a large sum of this money and playing and having fun. Basically sitting at home and reenacting scenes from ‘Wall Street’. My dad is also getting a little more adventurous and wants to match everything I do with my money. This is very odd for him, he is a long term investor and sits on things (I think it is a generational thing). He said he will only be asking for monthly updates. This is coming from the man who doesn’t understand buying one day and selling short two days later to get more. I am excited for July. It looks like it is going to be a great summer, hopefully...

Oh yeah, the two of us spent yesterday playing all day and during a convo, I said, “lets brainstorm” and he freaked out. He was like, “what, what’s happening”. I quickly rephrased my statement to, “Dad, I mean, lets talk about this”. He is awesome!

May 16th @ 10:23 AM - While I was at my rent's place a few days ago, they were filling me in on my second cousin. I do not know this person and met him once, like 12 years ago (obviously it has been blocked out). His name came up in convo when my grandmother was telling my father that my cousin was in London and met him for coffee a few weeks ago. I heard them talking about him and had to ask who this guy is, since I don't know him. My grandmother filled me in on his story. He lives in London with his boyfriend in the penthouse of a building he owns. It is a large, multiple apartment building and he owns and runs the art gallery in the store front. This is the same guy who also wrote a book and graduated first in his class from Harvard (yes, my family does have some intelligence).

I flipped out when my grandmother told me this story and could not believe I have never heard of this guy. My dad pointed out that it is not that they don't talk about him, it is that I am never around and don't do family functions. (He is correct, it is me and not him.) I have already sent the introductory email and have decided that 'Be - Fri' and "st - ends' necklaces will be purchased soon. I want to live in London. I want to live in my second cousins building. I want to work at my second cousins art gallery.

I now have a new plan for my life and it WILL happen.

May 15th @ 11:59 PM - Update: Okay, so far five of you have asked the exact same question: Why didn't I just walk away from the date once the drama in the street started?

I realize that typical Richie would do that and I have done that before. When drama explodes and it is not worth it, I walk. One would think my reaction would have been, 'No time, peace'. Trust me, I thought about walking many, many times and a few times even started to, but could not do it. There were two reasons why I stuck it out and wasted 2 hours I will never get back. #1- Everything went so well before this and I knew there was some type of normalness behind the drama. I hung out with the fun, cool date for many hours and there were a few yellow hats, but no red flags. I knew this person had some sort of understanding, somewhere. Which leads me directly into #2- I wanted to make sure this person knew it was done. I needed to get my point across and not leave anything open at all. I needed to close all doors and lock them shut.

If I would have immediately walked away after the very first wall slamming and dance, I know more contact would have been tried. The possibility would have been lingering and if this person was capable of everything that happened, who knows what else is possible. One thing I have learn in years of dating, say what you are thinking. Do NOT spare feelings to be nice and casual. My philosophies: State and act, and The less is better, in every situation...

New Subject: I 100% thought we were going to have a "Take Back The Night" march come storming into my apartment last night and join in on the 'women' celebration. There was poetry, pure determination, total gym ultra and Tori playing on the stereo. I wanted to run downstairs and make up chants like, "1 - 2 - 3 - 4, we don't need men no more" and dance around in the combat boots. I was nervous if the march did show up that a cutting of an important member would take place and candles would be waving with the leader pointing and snarling at me.

I must say, I like "the" music and listen to solo women singers. Michelle Branch and Britney Spears are awesome. Seriously, they are really talented and great singers and going to be around for a very long time. Really, they are.

My fav song of the week is by none other than, Kelly Osbourne. She fits in "the" category and this is another one to add to the group. Cross another thing off my list Bessica.

May 14th @ 10:29 PM - So I never gave the update from last Thursday and the big date. Before I do, I must state:

I like confident people. I like aggressive people. I like people who are casual and can roll with the punches. I like fun and happy people. I like people who laugh at my jokes and kidish ways. I like compliments. I like people who half listen. I like people who can make a decision/ choice. I like people with brains, but don’t always have to use them. I like easy eaters. I like people who are medium maintenance. I like strong walkers (head up, proud and powerful strides). I like height. I like no nonsense. I like fighters who know when to end the convo/ argument. I like people who take charge. I like people who have a similar taste in fun music. I like people who like to try new things. I like people who drink alcohol. I like people who are up for more fun nights out, than Blockbuster nights. I like people who like that I like to take care of my physical self. I like talkers who start the convo like 60% of the time. I like people who like when I stare at them. I like occasional silence. I like people with interesting stories. I like people who share, but do not compete. I like people who don't always have the answers. I like organized schedulers. I like people who would rather spend the day exploring and talking, than sitting on the couch. I like people who commit a part of each day to taking care of there bodies. I like people who know how to slow dance. I like people who know how to have a real kiss. I like people who are not apposed to recreational drugs, but not living each day with them. I like people who are happy and not complainers. I like loud, but not harsh voices. I like people with families. I like people who are concerned, but doesn't ask questions. I like people with secrets. I like people who will NOT try to change me. I like people who will NOT try to control me.

This is why I choose to not be with anyone of significant value. They would have to many things to live up to. I like myself and life and do not want it to change.

So, my date on Thursday was a "one and only". I barely have any words to describe the meaning or anything, so I will just give the list of actual events.
It was great! We had so much in common and talked and talked and laughed and laughed. We started out in Chelsea and I gave my tour and had a casual stroll around the area. Dinner was had at Merchants, a small, awesome place in Chelsea. I had reserved the back corner table, under the cool lighting and had a bottle of wine waiting. The music was awesome and the atmosphere could not be better for a date. (Favorite part of the dinner portion, two healthy salads - yes, I knew it would be a good night.) We then walked to Union Square and got a cup of coffee. The setting of the walk: arm and arm, except for the coffee time and a lot of looking up and pointing and laughing and very slow walking and it was dusk. It was good, and for a few minutes, felt like it was a movie. Everyone around us was all fast and blurry and we were the only people in NYC. We went past Bowlmor Lanes and I did not decide to go in, but the statement was clear. The man told us, it was an hour wait and we laughed and walked out. (Thank gosh it is always crowded there. Picture me getting extremely drunk and doing cosmic bowling.) We then stop and I do not buy a Mad Libs but we are all of a sudden doing it as we walk around. I was not happy at this point and my entire everything changed. I decided, things were overall very good and we have now had 2 bumps in the road and alcohol was immediately needed. We walk to the East Village, via Saint Marks and go directly to Black Star. It is this funky little lounge and fun music and random people and cheap drinks place. We get the window, couch seat and begin the fun part. After about 2 hours of continual talking/ realizing we have so much in common and people watching and commenting on passer-bys and a few drinks, I am very happy. One of us is starting to get drunk and it was not me. Then it starts, the aggressive side comes out. I don't mind the touching and stuff, but when the climbing and mounting and simulated sex started, come on. We are in the window of a bar and people walking by are looking and people inside are now pointing and you are the worst kisser in America. (During it, to keep my mind off of it, I created this term, "The Lizard Attack". Picture how a lizard tongue shoots out of there mouth and insert that in yours. Ill and this is what I was dealing with.) It was horrible and so not worth my time to correct this problem/ retrain. I wanted out, immediately. I stop this and run to the bathroom. On the way back to the table, pound a shot and then a drink at the table. I run back to the bathroom (for no reason at this point, I didn't have to go) and try to figure out a plan. After about an hour of pushing off and trying to unsuccessfully get drunk and getting a decent foot massage, I finally get us out of the bar.

This is where it gets good. We have to walk one block, straight down 7th street. We are standing on 7th and 2nd and have to go to 7th and 3rd and a cab would appear and I would run away. I figured I had one block to stop the date and end it completely. That one block took 2 hours to walk, I wanted to die. Everything you could imagine that could happen, completely did. I was thrown up against a brick wall and touched in many places, multiple times. I huge screaming fight broke out in the middle of the street. We attracted a nice crowd around us and a person even yelled from there apartment to “shut the fuck up and take it home”. Multiple crying episodes (none from me). I started to physically drag this person down the street at one point, because they would not get out of the street and a cars were coming. I was asked to move in together and we could create the “Pottery Barn” life together. I had to pretend to listen to excuses and reasons why this was happening (family issues, perfection and happiness). I got the “L” word. After picking this person up off the dirty sidewalk (for a second time) I laid them on the steps of a brownstone and was then clung to like a pair of super wet, jeans from five years ago. This all happened in a crazy order and wasted about two hours of my life. The entire time, I just looked at the corner of 7th and 3rd and tried to get closer and closer. I finally got there and a cab magical appeared out of nowhere. Then, the last minute plea was offered. “Please come home with me tonight Richie and you will not be sorry. It will change your opinion on everything and you will love it. Please, please, don’t do this to me.” I was pushing this person as hard as I could into the cab and they were holding onto me for dear life. The cab driver was laughing at me and then started to yell. I finally slammed the door shut and as the cabby sped off, I heard, “This won’t be the last time I see you. I will get you home with meeeeeee” and it fades out.

I kid you not, this completely happened and it was 2:15 AM and I was wide awake, so I went and got a paper and cup of coffee and sat on a bench. I watched as NY passed by and started to wake up and could not believe what just happened. I even called an ex and thanked them for being so normal and tried to explain that I just had a more stressful 2 hours of a first date, then our entire 9 month relationship was. If anyone has any comments or suggestions, please do not hesitate. I have decided not to date for at least 2 weeks. I will not be going out with anyone new or going home with anyone new for the next two weeks. The only date I will be going on is the one with Bessica. We are in love!

May 14th @ 8:07 PM - So, everyone knows how I associate songs with people and situations and this time I keep flipping back and forth between two horrible songs. I am slightly embarrassed to admit what two songs are the finalists. Okay, here we go. They are: Wide Open Spaces by the Dixie Chicks and You Were Meant For Me by Jewel. I have reached a new low and must say, I do not pick what songs make the cut, it just happens. I don't know the process, something occurs and bam, 2 songs appear and I listen to both a few times and one sticks. Oh, I am so sad with myself and currently have my head down.

May 14th @ 2:05 PM - My head is in a thousand places right now. Oh so random...

I spent the last few days at my parents house in Orange County. I unfortunately had to drive around the scary roads. It is so odd, I have no fear driving in NYC during rush hour or Times Square, but hate driving in the country. The streets are narrow and dark and small woodland creatures jump out at you and large deer-like creatures jump out at you and cops hide in the bushes to pull you over for going 5 miles over the speed limit. I really don't like driving up there, it freaks me out. I feel slightly more comfortable driving on 4 lane roads with many cars and unspoken rules. Truth: I completely HATE driving and being in cars/ cabs. The subway is my home.

News Flash: My landlords are really nice people and I have been hanging out with them for the last hour. They just left to run to the hardware store to buy many things to fix our bathroom. Yes, another thing has gone wrong in our apartment. The bathroom has exploded and water is now constantly running out of the bottom of the wall and making nice size pools on the floor. The story: The building owner fixed the entire roof this weekend and our landlord came up to make sure everything was fine with the heavy rain yesterday and new roof. I happily reported that we had NO leaks at all. The small drippy spot has stopped and the 'large raining in the aparmtent' has stopped. I took him to the bathroom and he was shocked and could not understand how the shower got so fucked up in the one month we have been here. It was brand new and as of today, it looks like it is 40 years old. He mumbled and talked slow and walked out of our apartment. He called like 5 times in a row and then his wife, Kim came bouncing over. She is the one who built the shower and did the tile walls. She explained how she has done 3 other showers and all are fine. I wanted to cry for her and she was so sad and I must have showed her the shower cleaner like 30 times. (I wanted her to know that I take care of the shower, cleaning it every time I shower.) The husband came back and we talked for awhile and then they ran off to the hardware store.

Things I have learned today: If you turn the shower faucets a little tighter, the dipping stops. Seriously, when you shut the water and turn them off, twist it a little more and it magically stops. Also, the water running out of the bottom of the wall is not from a broken pipe, it is from our broken shower walls. Since our tile is completely broken apart, it is not stopping the water from getting into the wood behind it. All of the wood is now soaking wet and draining into everyone's apartments around us (next to and below). Oh yeah, our building got broken into, again. About two weeks ago, the apartment next to us was the victim and 3 days ago, an apartment on one of the lower floors was the target. Who will be next? (Start singing "South Parks" version of, "In the Ghetto".)

I just spent the last 45 minutes cleaning and drying everything in the bathroom and shower. When they come back and try to fix it, it will now be ready. I am very curious to watch and listen to them try to fix our fucked up bathroom.

Getting back to my few days with the fam was fun. My little sister came home from Italy on Mothers Day and my mom finally had all her kids together. Besides that, I spent the majority of the time alone (rents were preparing for the arrival of my sister). I spent the entire time with my dog and had so much fun. I have a 10 year old Beagle, but he still acts like he is 2 and is out-of-control. I took him on a run and then played soccer in the back yard with him. For a few hours, I became a 13 year old boy with his dog (picture: multiple scenes straight out of "Me and My Dog Skip"). We decided to explore the back woods and go for an adventure. (These are the same woods I grew up playing in and had an awesome tree fort and multiple land forts and tree swings in. I can't tell you how many times I played warrior or challenged neighborhood kids to wars in these woods.) I put on the dirtiest clothes I could find in my house and we took off into the woods. We ran through swamps and mud and climbed rocks and hills and fallen trees and played in creeks. I found new forts that the next class of neighborhood kids have built and we even chased a fox. We ran so fast I thought my legs were going to fall off and got hit in the face and hands so many times with branches that I cut myself up. I found this carved walking stick and used it in one of the swamps to get from one grass poof to the next. Believe it or not, I found the raw sewage pit that I use to play in, but this time, did not dive in and make "mud bombs". About two hours later we emerged from the woods and I was covered in mud and shit and it was excellent. I grabbed Wally (my dad named my dog) and we jumped in the shower and spent an hour trying to clean up.

Funny story: my dad knows everyone and is friends with everyone in my town. We were walking to one of the local firehouses for a pasta dinner (I know this sounds scary) and bumped into a million people. Outside of the firehouse, my mom is talking to some woman and my dad is talking to these two guys. My older sister is talking to her husband and I am just standing there. My dad finally says, "Have you two ever met my son?" The two guys look at each other and one replies, "Rich, you have a son?" I immediately start laughing and answer, "Yes he has a son and I am it. My name is Richie and it is nice to meet you both." Neither say anything, so I take a step back. And the other guy asks my dad, "So, when is your daughter coming back from Italy?"
This is a typical example of my life in the country and why I rarely ever go and when I do, I stay in my family area.

May 9th @ 10:56 AM - I am actually feeling fine this morning. I thought I would be hung over and not happy, mostly because last night was another one of ‘those’ nights. It was suppose to be, go out with a few friends for a few drinks and then home in bed. I am usually very good at that 2 drink thing, but last night the peer pressure was horrible. After my 2 drinks, I was getting up to go and my friends kept buying me drink after drink after drink. It was one of those, "you can't leave till you finish the drinks that were bought for you", but they kept coming. We moved around pretty quickly and hit three different places and the final place was my down fall. I was introduced to a friend of a friend of a friend and within a half hour, we were walking out of the bar together. I played up the, "I never do this, seriously, this is my first time going home with someone I just met. Please don't think bad of me, I've never done this before." This story is fool proof and always works, example, last night.

I must say, I got home at 2 AM last night and was NOT the last one home. I love it! Scandals and single friends are so much fun.

I have 3 hours and I need to work-out, shower and try to make myself as pretty as possible (which will be difficult since I am looking ruff today). I have another date this evening.

May 8th @ 12:41 PM - Could my allergies be any worse today? I lived in my old apartment for 2 years and had a total of two bad days. So far, I have lived here for over a month and 2 horrible allergy days have come and gone. Living in skyscraper Manhattan protected me from the natural, outside air. While living in Brooklyn does not and I have to breathe real air all day long. Manhattan, I had an air conditioner and Brooklyn, I have a few windows. Manhattan apartment was smaller and easy to keep clean and Brooklyn apartment is constantly dirty and disgusting and in a warehouse.

I don't like breathing natural, outdoors air. I like processed, recycled, filtered air. The worst thing I am allergic to is dust, it destroys me. I could not open my eyes this morning for half an hour and my bottle of pills are my best friend today. This hurts my feelings.

May 7th @ 11:24 PM - I had the most perfect day of my life today! I went on the date and it was the best date I have ever been on in my entire life. I have been on my share of dates, some being crazy, adventurous, out-of-control or great, but this one was perfect. I can't stop smiling and really had a perfect day.

Have you ever done something that was so not you? Something that is completely unexpected and out of character? Something that you usually laugh at when see it? That was me today. I was the star of a romantic comedy and was the nicest guy ever. I was cute, touchy, nice, fun, listened, emotional, opened up and even held hands in public. I was the complete opposite of everything I really am, but had fun being this guy for a day. It was a nice change.

Just a warning about “the date”: everything we did was NYC and could only be done here, which made it so much better. If you read what we did, you may laugh and think it is cheesy, but it was so much fun and perfect. It was so surreal and a great NY adventure.
The Date: The weather could not have been better, sunny and warm, but not to hot. I was pimped out in my new, cool jeans, smaller (but not to small) t-shirt, sunglasses and the hair was lookin good. We ate lunch at this small, out-door cafe on the Upper West Side and talked for about an hour. (Great Side Note: we both had salads and I didn't even order first - good sign.) We cruised the Upper West while helping elderly people and made our way down to The Park (Central Park for you non-NYers). We took a carriage ride through Central Park and relaxed. We watched a movie being filmed and even saw a model shoot on the rocks. The random horse man occasionally slipped in unknown facts about The Park. We even made out- the slow, soft kind of kisses, while the one hand touches the hair and the other hand slightly touches the cheek and slides down towards the mouth. I was then taken to an unknown spot for something surprising. The walk led us to Serendipity 3, the restaurant from the movie. They sat us in the actual table that was used in the movie and we got one, yes one, frozen hot chocolate and shared it with straws. (The same thing they got in the movie, which I did not see and had no idea what was happening till one of the waiters filled me in on the movie and scene and meaning and drink.) We went back to The Park and sat by the new lake area, which has been closed my entire life and just opened a week ago. We sat on a bench directly on the water and talked and laughed and forgot all worries. We went back to the Upper West Side and had a romantic and passionate good-bye on the steps of the beautiful brown stone. The Good-bye: It was the whole thing- the different stairs, the stance, the angle and the looks into the eyes. The heart dropping and speeding up. The two hands start by the ears and move down the neck. It was good. (Passing by couples whispered things like, “ooohhh, isn’t that cute?” or “why can’t we have that?”)

The entire day was great and we actually talked about real stuff: our families, lives, pasts, futures, hopes, dreams, etc. I intently listened and we even opened up about personal things, things that don’t get talked about. I walked hand and hand and opened doors and pulled out chairs and smiled for no reason and caught myself starring at the eyes. It was to good to be true and can only be described as surreal.

I left it at, give me a call tomorrow and we can figure something out. While working out tonight, I already got the phone call. The “thank you for the most amazing and wonderful day and I couldn’t wait to talk to you till tomorrow and was hoping you would be around”.

Well, the next step. I know everyone is wondering, what will Richie do? My reaction: Today was perfect! To my date: you are so amazing, beautiful, wonderful, caring and I had the greatest time today. If you are looking for a second date, I am not the right guy. I enjoyed myself today and “today was perfect”, but not me and I don’t want to be this person, in this situation. This is 100% out-of-character and was fun for a day, but only a day. I like my life and don’t want it to go in that direction. I am very happy and not looking for this type of anything.

Just to let all of you know, my date does not read this page and I would never end things over the computer. I do have balls and some dignity.

May 6th @ 10:23 PM - I need to further comment on Tara‘s Spider-Man entry. I completely agree and already gave my opinion. Did you know, the final three guys up for Spider-Man were: Tobey, Leo and Freddie Prince Jr? How bad would that movie have been with ‘late-90’s star’ Leo or ‘king of the bad-teen movies’ Freddie? I also heard, they are making a second and the cast will be the same, but it probably won’t come out for like 5 years. I did forget to mention that one of the people in my theater was a 7 year old boy, dressed in a full Spider-Man outfit. He was the only child in the entire theater and was sitting on the end and every time something dramatic happened, he would jump out of his seat, screaming, with his foot in the air (doing the pretend ‘air’ fights). It added like 100% coolness to the movie.

May 6th @ 3:30 PM - I just received a phone call and the person asked me out on a date for tomorrow at 12:30 pm. I love non-working daters! We can do fun stuff all day long.

May 6th @ 10:12 AM - Happy Birthday to my little sister, you are finally 21.

Okay, I need to be simmered.
Saturday Night + Alcohol = Crazy, crazy night -- I have no idea how I got so out-of-control that evening. The Story: I went to a house party in Park Slope with one of my good friends. We wanted to get there early, but like usual - things came up. We got lost walking around Park Slope and after about an hour of wandering, we finally reached the brown stone. The party was not that fun (except for us) and like usual, me and my hot friend were the best looking guy and girl (she said this, not me, but I did agree). It was a frat party, seriously, a frat party and sadly enough - these are a group of my friends. The Layout: Roof - smoking whatever, while stoner music was playing, Third Floor - Beer Pong (I'm not kidding), Second Floor - Dance party USA with all z100 pop music (full of Britney and Nelly). I played bartender for the two of us and we were only there for at most 2 hours. We had three drinks. That is all, 3 drinks that I made. (I don't think I even finished the third.) We were wasted! I don't remember the last time I was that plastered. (I think I drugged myself.)

Story within story: I met a HOT Brit at the party and was in Richie mode (I get what I want). I approached, did the intro and after a few minutes of fun convo, I get - "I'm 28, how old are you?" I process and reply, "26". "Oh that's great. I'm so tired of meeting people under the age of 25", states the cool accent. I mumble, "yeah, me too". We then basically had sex on the back of the roof.
I need to stop doing this! This has become a serious problem of mine. Why do I always meet older people and feel the need to lie about my age. I am 24 and look young and am young. I can not count the number of times in the past year I have lied about my age (adding up to 10 years). I have told so many stories and can not keep them straight anymore.

After the roof experience, I ran downstairs to find my friend and make sure she knew the "26 tonight" deal. I found her with like 5, young guys all trying to move in for the kill. I push my way through and she intros me to this guy from New Zealand. I tell him that I know where that is and ask him if he likes "The Bushwhackers"? (This is another reason why I need to be stopped.)

I kind of remember leaving the party (with everyone) and taking a cab to the LES, well, kind of. I do remember walking down the street and yelling, I mean, screaming at my friend Jeremy. I wasn't screaming at him (in a bad way), but I was telling a story and he was across the street and when I am drunk, I can not control the volume of my voice and it was a really good story. I remember being carded at the door of this bar, but I would not show my ID. I kept saying, "I-'-m - - - 2 - 6". Inside, someone handed me a drink and I took a sip and ran it back to the bartender. I begged him to dump it out and give me straight cranberry juice. I don't think I stayed very long at the bar. I am not sure if I even said good-bye to my friends. I ran out and began my walk home (I decided I would walk to Greenpoint). I remember getting to 28th Street and giving up and getting on the 6. I blacked out and woke up on the 7, going to Queens. I jumped off at my stop and walked the bridge. I was stumbling and all over the place. I barely made it home and proceeded to mess the entire apartment up and crawl up our stairs to me and Bessica's area. I don't remember getting into bed, but woke up at 7 AM, naked, clothes everywhere and I was sleeping the wrong way on my bed.

What I have decided: stop lying about my age, stop slipping myself pills while making drinks, learn to control the volume of my voice while drunk, start saying good-bye to friends when leaving bars, obtain a tolerance (3 drinks, 3 drinks...) - - Good times, good times...

May 4th @ 1:01 PM - I can not say to much without giving it away, but Spider-Man could have been one of the best movies ever! Oh - my - gosh! I was standing up at one point, screaming at the screen. I saw it in a theater that seated 500 and it was sold out. I love opening weekend movies and especially when you have a good crowd. The movie was great! I have not been that excited, after walking out of a theater, since Fight Club. Last night, I seriously wanted to climb walls and save people and swing from building to building. The story line was great, the acting was great, Toby and Kirsten were great, they left it open for a Spider-Man 2 (great, great, great...), the fight scenes were great (not to computerized, such as X-men). This was an amazing movie, it combined two of my favorite things when I was a kid, Spider-Man comic books and wrestling (I wonder why I had no friends). It was great - go see it!

I also love movies filmed in NYC. I watched them film two days of it last summer down in Soho. It had such a NY feeling and if you have seen it, you know what part I am talking about - on the Queensboro Bridge. I will admit, there was one scene I had to turn away from and instantly got the throw-up feeling. The scene: Times Square - they flew this things at a building and then it exploded and large pieces and people were falling to there death. Also, there were thousands of people on the ground, and some could not get away and were crushed. It was a little much and the only reason I think I freaked out was because it was NYC. If it was a pretend city or out west, I think it would have not hit so close to home. But it was NYC and (no need to explain). I was not the only person who freaked, many people around me gasped and covered there faces and a few people in the theater jumped up and ran out. I did read how they had to edit a lot of the movie. A major part of it was filmed downtown (the district) and they took all the footage out. I will say, I am glad they left the Times Square scene in the movie, they needed that part and it added so much to the movie and storyline. If it wasn’t there, the movie would not have made much sense. It was overall, one of the best movies I have seen in the theater on opening nights!

PS- before the movie, they show a 10 second preview for “The Hulk”. The entire theater erupted and started screaming and flipping out. I can not wait for that movie, next summer. (I am glad that there are so many other cool adults in society that were at one point dorky kids who read comic books and watched cartoons and wrestling.)

May 4th @ 10:16 PM -
"Two trailer park girls go round the outside,
round the outside, round the outside.
Two trailer park girls go round the outside,
round the outside, round the outside." - Eminem
This is how Eminem's new single, Without Me, begins. It is awesome! He is very entertaining and could have the funniest lyrics.

So, I finally got a hair cut and it is great! I usually get one every 3 - 4 weeks and have been going to the same lady for 2 years. About a month ago, I decided to try to grow the hair out and as of yesterday, it had been almost 2 months since the last cut. That is an extremely long time for me, since my hair grows at rapid speed. I was able to comb it over to the side, not to the back, but did the side part and gel look. It made me look like I was going to my 8th grade school picture. I thought it was funny and looked kind of okay. Well, I walked into my salon and my hair dresser was like, "oh my god, what happened?" I yelled, "I - KNOW! Isn't it funny?" She looked at me and with 100% seriousness, "No, what did you do and that is horrible. I need to fix it immediately." I stopped smiling and sat down in the chair and wanted to hide.

I have crazy type hair, partially curly and when it is short, it does what it wants. She has been cutting my hair very similar for the last 2 years and asked if I wanted a change? Of course I did! We talked about Hugh Grant's new hair style and she worked her magic. I like it and it is lookin good. Next time you see a preview for, "About A Boy", his new movie, picture me. I can dig, nice...

May 2nd @ 11:41 PM - This sums up my entire life.
"Richie, JUNO is Level 3 Communications. Those are your own hits. Hahaha." - Bessica
I am one of those special kids.

On a serious note, if you missed this show on Tuesday, it will be airing again on Sunday @ 1 PM on channel 13, I think. I watched the second half of it and was unable to speak the entire time. It was amazing and so well put together and very educational. I would check it out if you have time! Side note: if you go to the website and read "The Survivor's Story", please set aside 30 minutes to read it and 2 hours to think about it and pull yourself back together. This man was one of the four survivors who got out of the building from above the plane crash. On his way down, he saves a persons life (who is the second of four) and the third is a friend he was with that morning and worked with. These are three of the four survivors. I can't fully process how casual he is about the entire thing, his walking slowly and making phone calls. He talks about the lack of chaos, right before it fell. He is completely correct. About 10 seconds before it fell, we all knew. I was standing less than two blocks from it and was pretty much trapped in the street and we all knew. We could see the top of both of them and it got pretty quiet and everyone knew it was over and there was nothing anyone could do. I remember just staring at it and thinking, its time, it coming down and before I could finish that thought, the tower stared to fall and terror broke out. It became, save yourself and hope for the best.

I have finished my story. I was told by the doctor to sit down and write out my 9.11, what I went through and saw and felt (I left out the last one, I don't have them). Well, it is just about finished. I keep editing and taking the "bad" parts out, slash lightning the intensity. He yelled at me and told me to leave everything in. One of my last steps is to send it to my family and close friends. I am not suppose to explain it before hand or pre-story it (like I do with everything). I give it to the family and tell them it is my story and if they want to read it, it is up to them and if they want to talk about it afterwards, I will talk about it. Then, I am suppose to do the say with the close friends - give it, only tell them it is my story and make sure they know they don't have to read it and then answer questions if they have them. This is the deal and what is suppose to happen. Will it happen? That is another story. I am not sure if I can give it to my family. Why do I have to give it to them, why? My poor mother has gone through enough and barely knows anything of what I went through and now I am suppose to give her a full, detailed story. No, I can not do that to her. I can't! I am not suppose to give it to the friends first and I am not sure if I even want to. The longer it goes and the more I think about it, the less I want to give it to anyone. I told this to the doctor and he said that it fine, but if I want to complete the process and take that step towards closure, I need to do this. Fuck him! What does he know about closure? Did he have a building fall on him? No he didn't! I am fine and I am sure that everyone in my life is better not knowing the full story.

May 2nd @ 4:04 PM - Why did the roof have to explode today? Of all days for this to happen. I had a great day yesterday, both in the apartment and in the neighborhood (believe it or not). Last night, as I was getting into bed, I actually did some thinking. See, this is very odd for me. Usually, as I am getting into bed, I fall asleep immediately- seriously, before my head even hits the pillow, I am out cold. But last night was different, I tried to stay awake and think and make some decisions. A new outlook on the apartment and neighborhood was drawn. There is only one thing I like about the place, the size. The fact that I can work out and then do 50 other things, all in different rooms is amazing. I love it! But that is all. Last night, I decided to give it a new chance, and maybe I was being hard on the building and apartment and it is secretly awesome. I even decided to give the lack of neighborhood a try- hang with the random Mexicans lingering the streets/ maybe talk to the people outside the ultra-scary, drug haven hotel. Honestly, I opened my eyes and had a different opinion about the entire experience. I wanted to give this a shot and make it my life and not just an experience I was going through (deal with living here and start telling people I live here and stop saying Chelsea).

As I am walking out of my room, I hear the gushing water, but think it is just the original leak. I go to the balcony and look out the windows at all of NYC and then look down at the kitchen and then the lake in our living room. I flip out and scream and take off running. I had to go down like 4 hallways and a large staircase, so it took a few minutes to get to the leak. Once I did, I realized, this was not a leak, it was a large hole in the roof and water was gushing into our apartment and everything was wet, including myself at this point. (Side note: the water was yellowish-brown, dirty roof water - I was not happy to be covered in this.) It took about an hour to get things under control and create a workable system, which included: every pot in the apartment, almost ever towel, tin foil, moving all the furniture, a lot of running and crying and me just being wet with the dirtiest water. I kept trying to dry off, but within 5 seconds I would be dripping again, so I stopped trying. The water was so gross, I felt like I had jumped in the East River (for those of you who have never been to NY or don't know about the East River, it could be the grossest and dirtiest water in the world. If you tried to go swimming in it, you would die. Plain and simple, you would have like 5 million unknown diseases and parasites swim in your different holes and instantly infect you - you would die!).

After a few hours of this, it finally slowed down to a normal leak. I have called our super spiritual landlords, but they did not answer the phone, of course. I am surprised they even have a cell phone. This is a sign! I tried to accept and take on a different perspective, but look what it did to me. I know I shouldn't let this change my mind, but come on people. My hair is still wet from dirty water and I spent the entire day playing in the rain, in my apartment. This is a sign and not a good one!

May 2nd @ 12:48 PM - I first have to ask, who is checking my page from Colorado and is using Level 3 Communications as there provider? (You may not be from Colorado, but this was my conclusion after investigating the details.) Come on, don’t be shy. I think it is time to hit the ‘email me’ button to your right and send a quick hello. I am very curious, who are you?

May 1st @ 11:33 PM - A person's life is like a TV show. I'm the star of The Richie Show and The Richie Show is not an ensemble drama.

I had the best "workout day" today. I had an upper body morning and then another total workout in the early evening and then went on a difficult bike ride. It was an excellent day; full of working out, drinking health shakes and snacking on carrots!

Earlier this evening, Aimee gave me the best compliment that anyone has ever given to me. The best part, she doesn't even realize how amazing it was and that was all I needed. I will be good for another three weeks. Thanks much!

I have this habit that I think is the funniest thing in the world, but most people find extremely annoying. Whenever a TV show is being watched in an area that I can hear it and sometimes see it, but am not into the events, I add my own dialogue. I usually end up doing it to shows such as, Dawsons Creek or Ally. What I do: after a character finishes speaking, I either add to the script or say what they really mean or what is in there head. It is 98% of the time very dirty and sexual and comments that 8th grade boys make. I laugh and laugh and laugh, usually so loud that my roommates can not hear the actual show. I do realize this is annoying, but today it was one of my good "real script" nights. I was laying it out for the crew of "The Creek" and am still laughing at some of my on-the-spot comments.

May 1st @ 2:12 PM - For all of you corporate slaves, take a break and try: Fun With Balls

May 1st @ 11:30 AM - I need to make a change. Something needs to be different. In the past 6 months, I have changed everything about myself, from the physical to the small emotional details. I have realized, it is not working and I am not feeling the way I thought I should at this point. It is now time for "the major".

INTRO: Rules for MY web page, bitch session, and WORLD: I post what I want to and about who I want to. I will only randomly be using names or pronouns, do not ask me who I am referring to, if you know me. Oh yeah, you will most definitely not be reading any intelligent postings made by me. If you like reading brain-dead sites about nothing real, feel free to check as often as you would like. I will be posting about my life, my adventures around NYC, pop trash (obviously), my nameless friends and random shit. If you know my few friends that have journal type pages, mine will not be very similar, mainly, NO poetry or intelligent revelations. If you are interested, please read on...

Have fun and I hope you enjoy!

Chalance
LittlePrince
Fishglass
Waarat
Marie

Email Me!