robyn302's Journal

American Idol
This is the most frustrating show on the air. The point of the show is to vote for your favorite singer. So how come America is getting rid of girls with talent (excluding Makilia)? Jessica gave a pretty good performance last night. enough to keep her on the show, and she was booted. Anwar seems to never be on key. amd yet he stays? Hmmmmm. Maybe Mike's right. Maybe I could be the next American Idol. I sing as least as well as he does.

Anyway, so how is everyone? I've been good. Had a good, fun Easter. Ate too much, but that's to be expected. It's a holiday, and more important it's a religious feast. I am totally justifying by the way. Anyobdy wants to know anything about what's going on in my life, just ask. I look forward to seeing your comments. More to come soon.

Have a great night, all!

Snow, Go Away!
Well, I don't know about anyone else, but New England weather is terrible. It was good all weekend, and the last three days have been great, but we're expecting snow and rain tomorrow. Give us a break here! No more snow! Snow is the devil! :). Where's the beautiful 60 degree weather of April and May? If I could go to bed tonight, and wake up and have it be April, that would be wonderful! Shirley and Wayne, send some sunshine my way, please!!!

Oh well. I guess these are the breaks when you live in New England. At least the Patriots won! YAY! Good trade-off.

Talk to you all later. Have a nice night!

Superbowl
Mike hates when I talk about sports. But I have to do it. Today (as if you all don't already know), is Superbowl Sunday. New England Patriots against the Philadelphia Eagles. I don't like the Eagles myself, and it's not just because they are playing my team. I lived in PA for about 3 or 4 years when they were terrible. So they weren't much to root for. No offense to any Eagles fans. I think the Eagles have a good chance of winning. I don't know if they will. They didn't get here by luck, but by skill. So did the Pats.

It drives me nuts when fans or players from any team put each other down. There's no need for it. Play the game, and whoever wins is the champion. Simple. Why complicate things by insulting each other? An Eagles player, (and forgive me for not knowing his name), trashed Rodney Harrison last week. If anyone has seen Harrison, you know that he's dangerous enough without making him mad at you. Not a good move on that guy's part.

Anyway, good luck to both teams, but I hope that the Pats prevail. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO PATS!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. This is my second to last sports related entry until April. I may want to talk about the game tomorrow depending on the outcome.

Mystery Book Club
I belong to a mystery book club. We have monthly meetings at the library the first Wednesday of every month. Next month's selection is called "Body of Lies" by Iris Johansen. So far it's pretty good. I'm only on page 10 though.

Yhe last two selections were not my cup of tea. January's book was "O Sacred Head" by Nicholas Kilmer. Disturbing book. This novel is not for the queasy. So I suggest, if you read it, don't read it during a meal. It is set in Boston during a blizzard. The main character is Fred Taylor. He is an expert in art. Two very grotesque murders occur and paintings are involved. That's all I will say in case anyone decides to read it.

The second one is better. It's called "Without Fail" by Lee Child. The main character in this one is Jack Reacher. He is an ex Army officer. He is asked by the Secret Service to help figure out how to asssassinate the Vice President of the United States. Someone is trying to assassinate the VP and the Secret Service has to find ways to protect him. It keeps you on the edge of your seat at places, that's for sure.

Just thought I would share those two with you. I'm optimistic about this month's though. I have started early enough that if there are any parts I'm not crazy about, I can put the book down, walk away from it for a day or so, and come back to it with a better attitude.

I'll talk to you all later! Good night.

Best In Show
Does anyone reading watch American Idol? What I'm about to tell you is probably the funniest line I ever heard come out of one of the judges' mouths. You know how they show the worst singers in little clips, and then show the judges' reactions? Well, at the end of one of the clips, they showed a young woman who was pretty. She was dressed as a cow. Literally, dressed as a cow. Anyway, she sang a horrible rendition of some song. (I don't even remember what she sang). It was so horrible that all three judges naturally rejected her. Paula said that it wasn't right for this competition. Simon asked her what competition that rendition would be right for? Randy answered that question with the reply, "Best In Show." For those of you who don't know, "Best In Show" is a movie about dogs competing in a best dog show competition. I haven't seen the movie myself, but I know that much about it. It was very funny. Mean, but funny. The poor girl leaves the audition room, holding her udders. LOL! It was hysterical!

I felt bad for her, but come on. Some of these "wanna-bes" are so ridiculously bad. Someone with real talent does not dress up as a cow for the audition. They practice the song, and then go there and show their stuff. They don't need gimmicks. I bet that she just went there to get on American Idol, and on TV.

If nothing else, she was a comedienne. Well, gotta go to bed. Good night. Talk to you all tomorrow!

A Day Late
I don't normally like to toot my own horn, but yesterday was my birthday. I am now 25 years old. God, that sounds old. LOL. I went to work, as usual, and then my parents took me out to dinner. Then we came home and watched the tryouts for American Idol. We had a party on Saturday because two of my cousins had to go back to college on Monday. It was a very nice day.

P.S. I found something to discuss until May: American Idol! YAY!

Five People You Meet In Heaven
This title refers to the book by Mitch Albom. He turned into a movie of the week for ABC, which is great. I was reading this book a week or so ago, and I could picture every scene in my head. Mitch is a very good writer. He describes things beautifully, and the story was wonderful. It explored what happens when someone dies. Eddie is an 87 year old maintence man working for an amusement park. He has been fixing rides his whole life. I'm not ruining any of the story when I tell you he dies, and meets five people in heaven. All these people were in his life previously, and/or affected his life in some profound way. It is an amazing story. Now to the movie. If you haven't seen it,or read it, and are going to (this means you, Mike), stop reading.

Ok, first of all the scenery was beautifully done. Mitch apparently wrote the screenplay as well, so he nailed the scenery. It was exactly what I pictured when I read it. The acting was great also, with the exception of Jon Voight as Eddie. I don't know, but i just thought they needed someone older. Like Jmaes Garner. I think he would have nailed the performance. But everyone else was awesome. Especially Ellen Burstyn as Ruby. She was fantastic. And the war scenes, as graphic and disturbing as they were, were gripping.

I think the main problem I had with the movie was that it was exactly like the book, which is usually a good thing, and one of the reasons why I loved "Tuesdays With Morrie" so much. Like Morrie, this had a lot of flashbacks. Unlike Morrie, they weren't explained very well. I didn't read Morrie until after the movie, and I didn't have any problem following the plot. However, with Five People, you really had to read the book in order to understand the movie. And at one point, there was a flashback in a flashnck. It was very confusing.

So all in all, I would give the movie an A for visual effects, and a C for plot. Sorry Mitch. I was really looking forward to it, and I was disappointed.

But that is just one woman's opinion. I'm sure that it will come out on video or DVD eventually and you can judge for yourself. If anyone else has read the book or seen the movie, and would like to comment, please feel free.

This Weekend
Ok let's talk about it because I know you all are dying to know how it went. It was the most wonderful weekend. Everything went perfectly, except when Mike had to drive. LOL. He got lost in Boston a couple of times. Oh well. I tried to tell you, Mike, but you wouldn't listen to me. Boston driving and drivers are like no other in the country. And if you don't drive like them, you're going to get yourself in a lot of trouble. And no offense to Yahoo, but those directions were no help. The best directions to get are from people who live here.

Except for the driving, it was perfect. We went out to dinner with my parents Friday night, and then came back to the house afterwards. We watched tv, and hung out. It was relaxing. Then yesterday, we wnt out for lunch, to a little Italian place in town. We had a very nice lunch. Then we went back to my house, and my dad put "The Day After" into the DVD player, and we watched that. I couldn't really follow all of it, so Mike patiently explained it to me. Then we went to the library, where I work, and I introduced him to one of my co-workers, and showed him around. Then we went back to my house, and had shrimp mariana. My dad made it, and it was delicious. Mike didn't want to stop eating it. Then my family came over for coffee and dessert. That went perfectly as well.

This morning, Mike came to church with my Mom and I. That was so great because every week I go, I always think to myself, "I wish Mike was here, so he could see all this." And this weekend, he was! And then we stopped by my grandmother's apartment so he could meet her. She liked him a lot. And then we came by here and had lunch, and then took some pictures, and then he had to leave.

That was hard, because we had barely left each other's sides all weekend. However, it was necessary. Hopefully, somehow good-bye will get easier. Or maybe we don't want it to get easier. I'm not sure. Anyway, we enjoyed each other's company immensely. I'm so glad we did this. Now I know you're real! And so does my family, which was a concern of mine, originally. But that concern flew out the window last night. You were awesome the whole weekend, Mike.

You have a wonderful son, Wayne and Shirley. I want to thank you, because if it wasn't for the two of you, I wouldn't have met him.

I'm done gushing. I'll talk to you all later! Enjoy the rest of the weekend, what's left of it.

I Have Speakers!
I know you're going to kill me, Mike, when you read this, but my Dad just installed my speakers. I know, but I needed a reason to install them. The reason was I wanted to listen to my MP3 player. So I don't have to listen to my Dad complain. Plus, I like the music I have downloaded on it. So that's what I am doing now. So, the next time I chat with Mike on AIM he can play Concerto de Robyn for me.

I had a great time this weekend, Mike, and I miss you already. Have a good flight tonight, and I will talk to you later! ;)

Ken Jennings
I know considering I have much more important things to think about this weekend that I shouldn't be talking about this. However....

Every night at 7:30, I watch the game show "Jeopardy!" I've been watching it since I was a small child. My mom loves the show as well. So we watch it together. It's a fun game because it makes you think and reember certain facts and figures. It's a very competitive game. Well, it used to be until last season. The beginning of last season, Jeopardy changed the rules. There used to be a five win limit, and then the champion was asked to leave. However, now they changed it so that the champion stays for as long as they win.

With these rules, it was inevitable. They got a champion that could not lose. His name is Ken Jennings. He is a software engineer from the Midwest. He could not lose! He was annoyingly smart. It seemed like he knew everything about every category. He accumulated over 2 and a half million dollars. It was incredible.

Well, he lost Tuwsday night, and I missed it. That's right: I missed it. I have seen almost every show he has been on, and I missed his last one. I was working late Tuesday night at the library. Oh well. They showed the final Jeopardy a million times. I don't think anybody anywhere in any game show will ever beat his record. He was a one and a million.

Good job, Ken. And even though he was annoying, he helped the ratings of Jeopardy without even realizing it.

Anyway, just wanted to share. Talk to you all later!

Hey Guys!
Hi everyone! I know it's been almost a month since I last posted a blog entry. Sorry. I just haven't had anything interesting to talk about. I could talk about my upcoming weekend plans. What are they again? ;)

Oh, right! Mike is coming to visit! I am very excited about that. Nervous too. However, I am sure that everything is going to work out this weekend. I was nervous through every step of our relationship so far. The first phone call, the sneding of my picture, asking about December. And all those things worked out well. So I am sure it will go smoothly. I don't want to get too nervous because then I might make Mike nervous and I don't want to do that. I really can't wait! To see his face, and talk to him in person! I'm giddy just thinking about it!

Did everyone have a good Thanksgiving? I did. It didn't snow here like it did in Ohio, thank God. It snows enough in Massachusetts. Thanksgiving is too soon to snow anyway. We went upstairs for it, to my aunt and uncle's apartment. It was nice. We had eighteen people for dinner, which may not be alot to some people, but it is a lot to us. But it was relaxing and fun. And after dinner, all the cousins (myself included), participated in a grab bag selection. There are 9 of us getting a particular a gift. We did this last year, and it was fun because now we don't have to get every person a gift. Takes the pressure off, plus none of us have a lot of money anyway.

Well, once again I apologize for not posting until now. I promise to post more frequently in the future. I hope you all have a nice day. Talk to you later!

I Have Nothing to Say
I'm sorry. I know I haven't posted in a couple days. I was kind of angry and sad that Bush got reelected and Kerry lost. But what can you do? All I know is, I didn't vote for him! Haha. And Mike is so handsome.

What else happened last week? I worked, went to a Mystery Book Club meeting at the library last Wednesday. It was fun. And Mike is so handsome!

And the Patriots won against the St. Louis Rams yesterday. We were ahead 24-14. Adam Vintari, the field goal kicker, came out to kick the field goal. Instead of kicking the field goal, he caught the ball and threw the ball into the endzone to Troy Brown for the touchdown! No, you did not read that incorrectly, the field goal kicker become the quarterback for a while, and went for the touchdown! It was awesome! I love being a New England fan! And Mike is so handsome.

Sorry, I went into sports again. It's a sickness. LOL. Talk to you alll tomorrow! And did I mention, Mike is so handsome?

Poltical Ads
Ok baseball season is over. Let's move on to politics! YAY! The election is almost here, and done with. The one thing that is bugging me this year, and previous years as well is the political ads for all the politicians. They are all over the place! And they play the same ones, over and over and over.

One of the ones that I question is the one of Bush and 9/11. Have any of you seen it? It talks about this family losing the mother in the 9/11 attacks, and how her daughter closed up emotionally afterwards. That is, until Bush held her in his arms. I hope that that story is true. I don't know if it is or not. But if it isn't true, and those people are actors, they should be ashamed of themselves. Now, if they were doing a reenactment, that's one thing. But if that ad is false, I am even more disgusted with Bush, than I was before. To exploit a family's pain, or to pretend that this family was traumatized when it wasn't, is unspeakably cruel to all the families that truly were affected by 9/11.

And something else that bothers me about that ad. When Mr. Bush is holding this girl in his arms, he is looking directly at the camera. Excuse me, but if I was comforting someone, I eould look down at them, and not see if I was getting a good photo op. I'm sorry if I seem overly critical of Bush. He just doesn't seem very sincere toward niddle-class people. It seems like he is using people and once he gets reelcted, he will go back to helping the rich, and not caring about the rest of us that are not in that upper 1%.

Not that Kerry is overly senstive either to our needs, because they both come from money. Maybe he's just a better actor. I don't know.

I just want a change! I want our troops out of this war. I want the economy to improve. I want better health care, and a better education system for kids. And I want the man who wins the election to listen to the people that he works for. Maybe I'm living in a dream world, but I thought the President worked for us. I think we should be able to vote on not just the president, but on the issues he has to deal with. Such as the war. Maybe if we could vote about that, he would be more willing to listen to us, and work harder to achieve dipolomacy inatead of jumping into a war that we don't want. What good is it voting for a man that doesn't care what the American people want? That's how it feels with Bush. He does what he wants, regardless of who gets hurt, or inconvienced. I may be wrong, but I hope that if Kerry gets elected, he will listen to us, and respect us enough to do what we want him to do. Otherwise, what's the point of voting?

I am going to vote tomorrow, and I hope everyone else does too. Otherwise, you have no right to complain! ;) Have a nice night!

Well, the Series is Over
What can I say? Oh wait, here's something. The Boston Red are the 2004 World Series Champions!!!!!!!!! Wow! I can't hear that enough, that's for sure. It was wonderful. Now I realize that I have not been as long a fan as most the Boston fans. However, after last year, we had this coming. I think last year was a wake up call to the whole Red Sox organization. We had it, and we let it slip through our fingers. Not this year though! We had it, almost lost it to the Yankees, and got it right back. Everything was great. The pitching was amazing by all four starters. The Boston media like to give the last three starters, Curt Shilling, Pedro Martinez, and Derek Lowe, all the credit. They are forgetting one person though. Tim Wakefield! He got the ball rolling on Saturday! They were all amazing.

The best part about it, is that we never panicked. Even when it was tied in the first game, Bellhorn just came up to bat and got a 2-run homerun, like it was a regular game. And Johnny Damon last night. First pitch, first hit, and what does he get? A homerun! Incredible! We wanted it badly enough, they worked hard enough, and it paid off big.

It is so nice to be able to win the big prize not by luck but by skill. That's what it was. It was skill. And good teamwork. This really was our year. I am so happy to be a Boston Idiot! LOL. They rock!!!

Ok, this is my final post about baseball for the year. I hope I haven't bored anyone with my obessiveness with this team, and this series.

I want to throw out some thank yous as well:

Thank you Mike for putting up with me during this series. I appreciate it ;)

Thank you Shirley, and Wayne, for watching and rooting for my team even though you haven't even met me yet. Mike and Laurie are so lucky to have the two of you for parents!

And last of all, thank you Bill for rooting for the Red Sox. I'm sure you really wanted the Yankees to win, but the fans in Boston appreciate it more, and deserve it more than the Yankees do! (No offense to Yankee fans!).

Talk to you all later! Have a great day!!

I Was Wrong
Ok, I admit it. I was wrong. The Red Sox can win in someone else's stadium. We won 4-1. Manny got out of his hitting slump and hit a single homerun in the first inning. Then Bill Mueller hit a couple doubles. And Manny hit another RBI (Runs Batted In). Nixon hit a double. Cabreta got on base, Damon got on base. And Pedro walked to a base, shockingly enough!

And I have to give Pedro his props. After a shaky first inning, he really got into his groove. It was a beautiful thing to watch. And I can't end this post without telling you how wonderful David Ortiz played defense. I completely misjudged him. He threw a ball from first to third in order to complete a double play. It was great!

All in all, besides the ninth inning homerun made by Larry Walker, it was an awesome game. Fingers crossed that we win tomorrow night. I don't know about anybody else but I want this over with! I want them to come home World Series Champions!

Gooooooooooooooooooooooo Sox!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. Thinking of you Laurie. Good luck tomorrow!

2 Down, 2 to Go!
Well, they did it again. 6-2 Red Sox! YAY!! Now we're on our way to St. Louis. That is kinda scary, because it is a different ballpark, plus it has different rules. For instance, in order for David Ortiz to be able to hit, he has to play a position on the team. (Right now, he is the Designated Hitter. All he does is hit for the pitcher.) Whioh also means that the pitcher has to hit as well. Hopefully Pedro can hit because he is starting on Tuesday.

But hey, just because it is going to be more difficult does not mean it is not possible. We can do anything, as we have proven already in this series.

Goooooooooooooooooooooo Sox!!!!!!!!!!!!

1 Game Down, 3 to Go
Wow! The Cardinals are tough! However we were able to pull off a 11-9 win, thanks to Mark Bellhorn. Another homerun from him. Good job, Mark! Now I can relax until tomorrow night's game! lol.

Talk to you later! ;)

The Empire Has Fallen
I know it's been a couple days since I last posted, and you were probably waiting for an immediate post considering what happened Wednesday night. I think I'm still in shock.

They did it! We beat the Yankees! YESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!! What an incredible game. When Jesus (Johnny Damon), hit that geandslam in the 2nd inning, the whole game changed. It was beautiful. I've never actually seen one of our players hit a grandslam, so I think I was stunned for a moment. Both my parents were in the kitchen at the time, and didn't see it first-hand, so I wasn't sure exactly what had happened. The best part about it was that he did it again the next time up, and increased the score to 8-1, instead of 6-1.

The pitching was phenomenal as well. Derek Lowe once again proved himself as a dynomite pitcher. He had a tough year during the season, but he pulled it together in the post-season. I was just amazed. It felt so good to see the Sox play the way that everyone in New England knows they can. To top it off, they broke records. They are the first team in the history of sports to come back from a 3-0 deficit and win it all in the post-season. Ok, I have to admit that when last Sunday came around, I thought we were done. I never thought they could pull it off. I have never been so happy to be wrong before. LOL.

So we're going to the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. I really hope we go all the way. The Cardinals have won the World Series more recently than us. It's our turn! This is our year! So Saturday night at 8:00, I will be watching rhe Sox play the Cardinals at Fenway Park.

Here it comes. Get ready for it.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SOX!!!!

We Won!
We won! Yea Red Sox! It was a great game! Curt Shilling pitched 7 innings, giving up a couple of hits and 1 homerun. The poor man was in pain though. He was awesome, and played like the pro he is. So we ended up winning 4-2.

Ok, I have to tell you the funniest moment of the game (if you haven't already seen it). Bottom of the eighth, Arroyo is relief pitching. He pitches a ball to A-rod, who grounds it. Arroyo gets it, and then tries to get it to the first baseman. A-rod, meanwhile, is running to first. He grabs the ball out of Arroyo's mitt, and it falls to the ground. Then, to top it off, he tries to prevent Arroyo from going aftrr the ball. Derek Jeter is on second, and he tries to run home with all this going on. He makes it, but then the umps decide that move by A-rod was illegal, and take back the run. I was so mad.

Afterwards, people in the stands start throwing things at the players. So they had to involve the New York City Police Department. All the police are manning the stands. It looked like New York was preparing for a diaster of some sort. It was funny. And the Yankees have the nerve to complain that we are street thugs. HA! We've never needed the Boston Police Department as guards in a game before!

I know I've said this before, but I really do not care if we win tomorrow night. Don't get me wrong. I would love it if we beat them, and made it to the World Series, but the fact that we came back so beautifully, and fought hard is good enough for me. Course, if history repeats itself, and what happens in rhw 7th game last year, happens again, I will be very upset. I don't mind losing if we were never aheaf. But it bugs me so much when we lose, and we were ahead the whole game.

So I'll say for the final time in this series, GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These Games Are Wearing Me Out
Holy crap, we won! To be honest, when it hit 14 innings, it was like, "WHEN IS THIS GAME GOING TO BE OVER?" LOL. Well, I didn't have to wait long. David Ortiz once again hit a double with 2 men on base (I think) and 2 outs. He hit the double, and Damon was able to run home! Thank God! Jesus won the game for us. (HaHa, Mike!) Hey maybe that's why we won! Don't cut the hair, Johnny! It's working for you! LOL.

I love the Red Sox, but I am sick of watching games. However, I despise the Yankees. The problem is they are cocky. Even the fans are. My mom said to me and it's true. Yankee fans are not true baseball fans. They don't know what it's like to watch a team for years, and be disappointed. I don't know what the players problems were earlier in this series, but we can do this! With the right playing, amd managing (that means you, Francone), we can actually win these two games. Wow! I know it's never been done before, but that doesn't mean it can't be done, does it? The Red Sox have been in jams before, and come through, so why not now?

The problem is, they make you believe, and then somehow, something gets messed up and we lose. Cross your fingers. I'm tired of always coming up short, and I haven't been watching nearly as long as most of the Red Sox fans in Boston. I don't know. It's all in God's hands now, His and the players.

Talk to all later! ;)

Goooooooooooooooooo Sox!!!!!!!!

Advertisement