…live while I’m alive

I recently made the wonderful 14 hour drive from NYC to ATL (driving the girlfriend to her internship with the C.D.C.). If you haven’t already done it, I’d urge you to. And if you already have, well… hell, do it again! This was a fun road trip. I was kinda lazy and out of it so i didn’t take as many photos as I would have liked to, but I did take a few (sample on left). Unfortunatly flickr is being an e-jackass and has limited my photos to 200 viewable ones (and I’m too cheap to pay $30 a year to have unlimited space). Don’t worry though, I’ll delete some stuff here and there and let you know when I post the pics… all 7 of them lol. Anyway, I  believe I’m going to make this drive again sometime within the next three months so I’ll be sure to take a whole lot more pictures then.

The point of this post is just to emphasize the brevity of life, and to encourage you to take advantage of  the little time you have on this green (really, multi-coloured, but…) earth, to do the things you like to do. For me it’s driving, taking photos, meeting people, dancing, cooking, frying plantains, eating waffles… the list is pretty long, but I try to do as much of each as I can. This is not to say that you shouldn’t spend your time making the world a better place in whatever way you deem fit; the two do not have to be mutually exclusive.

Remember, you only have one life to live. The following song helps me get my ass out of bed and onto the couch, (and in front of my video games!) whenever I feel unproductive; maybe it can do the same for you:

New NYC Spring Charity Event

Another wet spring is here, and along with it comes a flurry of events hosted by the non-profit world, to support (mostly) noble causes. This year I’m attending an event hosted by YAI’s Brighter Futures Soceity (of which I am a member).

Last year we had an amazing event themed Le Grande Spectacle. Below are some pictures from that fabulous night of schmoozing and boozing :):

NYC Charity Event – Le Grande Spectacle

This year’s event is titled Royale. Don’t be fooled by it’s seemingly simple name. Royale promises to be one of the best, if not the best BFS event event to date. You can buy your tickets online at http://www.yai.org/bfs if you’re interested. I hope to see you there.

Hit, beaten, shot and burned…

Over the weekend in chicago, a 15 year old was found hit (with a car), beaten (with a baseball bat), shot (in the head) and burned…for no reason. This is apparently the 35th seemingly random teen murder in chicago this year (don’t quote me on the time frame). And yes, I said random because these kids apparently have NO ties to gangs. And some of them, though drop outs, were relatively good kids.

I’m posting this story because I have younger siblings and I’d like them (and others like them) to realize that there is a very crazy world out there and that simply staying out of trouble is not enough. People have to be extra vigilant about where they go, who they talk to, and who their friends are. For more on this story, please click the link below:

Chicago Teen death….

Friday Lunch

Friday has finally come after a VERY LOOONG week. We had an event this morning which took me out of the house at 7am. What? I hate leaving the house at 7am! Anyway, it was humid and 65 degrees outside and I was slightly miserable.

Our event went well. It was held at the Comix comedy club on 14th St. and 9th Ave. We had people ROFL-ing and LTFAO :). Then it was over and we, the organizers, headed over to NOOCH for lunch (I don’t particularly like the Nooch web site hence the NYmag.com link). I hadn’t been to NOOCH before– it was suggested by one in our group.

I really loved the Thai fried rice. And the chicken soup wasn’t too shabby either. I spent sometime in bathroom and found it strangely…. entertaining. So entertaining infact, that I had to take pictures of it (yes, I just happened to have my camera on me to take pictures of the restroom!). The most entertaining piece of the restroom was the mirror I dubbed the “Gay mirror-mirror on the wall”. I won’t go into detail about it– you’ll understand when I post photos in a couple of hours.

All in all, I had a positive experience at NOOCH. I’d go there again. You should too.

Photo update:

Gay mirror-mirror on the wall

Get cut, get laid!

On my way back from a wonderful dinner at Ox restaurant, Jersey City (seriously, you can’t do much better than their 4 cheese mac and cheese!) I walked by this barber shop with a completely devil-may-care arrangement of decorations in the window– It was actually quite unimpressive.

Then I saw this:

I got quite a kick out of this. Thought you might too :).

True story…

There was this little boy about 12 years old walking down the sidewalk, dragging a flattened frog on a string behind him. He came up to the doorstep of a house of ill repute, and knocked on the door.

When the Madam answered it, she saw the little boy and asked what he wanted. He said, “I want to have sex with one of the women inside. I have the money to buy it, and I’m not leaving until I get it.” The Madam figured, why not, so she told him to come in.

Once in, she told him to pick any of the girls he liked. He asked, “Do any of the girls have any diseases?” Of course the Madam said no! He said, “I heard all the men talking a bout having to get shots after making love with Amber. THAT’S the girl I want.” Since the little boy was so adamant and had the money to pay for it, the Madam told him to go to the first room on the right. He headed down the hall, dragging the squashed frog behind him.

Ten minutes later he came back, still dragging the frog, paid the Madam, and headed out the door. The Madam stopped him and asked, “Why did you pick the only girl in the place with a disease, instead of one of the others?” He said, “Well, if you must know, tonight when I get home, my parents are going out to a restaurant to eat, leaving me at home with a baby-sitter. After they leave, my baby-sitter will have sex with me because she just happens to be very fond of cute little boys. She will then get the disease that I just caught. When Mom and Dad ge! t ! back, Dad will take the baby-sitter home. On t he way, he’ ll j ump the baby-sitter’s bones, and he’ll catch the disease. Then when Dad gets home from the baby-sitter’s, he and Mom will go to bed and have sex, and Mom will catch it. In the morning when Dad goes to work, the milkman will deliver the milk, have a quickie with Mom, and catch the disease, and HE’S the son-of-a-bitch who ran over my FROG.”

Zog3…we kick butt!

I recently joined the Zog Sports family of athletes. Yes, I’m still studying for the GMAT’s and it’s hard! But I just couldn’t pass up an opportunity to try something new and fun :), so after being asked repeatedly throughout the winter to join a Zog football(soccer) team (thanks Sarah), I finally did.

Our first game was yesterday– indoor style out door soccer– and we lost 6-5. Oh and I learnt something about myself: I kinda suck at football. Oh, something else I learnt was that I am badly out of shape, despite my sexy lean look. Anyway, If yesterday’s game was anything to go by, I’m pretty sure that those two problems will be fixed by the end of the season. By the first 10 minutes if the first half, our opponents were up 4 goals to nil, and we spent the rest of the match trying to catch up. I think we did a pretty splendid job getting to 5, and allowing them just two extra goals…

If you haven’t played indoor football a.k.a small poles before, you might be tempted to think it’s a pushover– very wrong! By the end of the first half, I was ready to go have a beer. There was lots of running involved and the game kinda never really stopped because there are no out of bounds lines.

If you haven’t tried out Zog ,Sports, I urge you to. It’s a pretty sweet group of people you get to hang out with– and then you get to drink afterwards! Check out www.zogsports.com or www.zogsportsnj.com to see what they still have open. You’ll probably have a choice between football (soccer), dodge ball, kickball, touch football and basketball. Go on check it out!

Leave a comment!

A Day of Hope in Central Park.

See Photos of this day here.

By all measure, this year’s Central Park Challenge was the biggest and the best in 23 years! There were more adults, more kids, more runners, more supporters and more refreshments! Choc full O’ Nuts, one of the refreshment sponsors for the day, brought a whole new feel to the park when it showed up in it’s “Coffee Bus”– a little reminiscent of the icecream man, but for adults (though the crazy parents these days will let their kids eat anything!).

As always, the Play area was alive with hundreds of energetic little people, draped in sometimes oversized orange shirts (this year, the Central Park Challenge stayed true to it’s brand colors– the park was alive with blue, yellow and orange). Face painting , sand art, the bouncing castle and the Jr. All American Races, all staples of the Central Park Challenge, were present again this year. One new addition to the show however was Audra Rox: from my vantage point, she sounded good, but I think she recieved mixed reviews overall. Whatever the case, the Play area was a success this year, and I hope the Central Park Challenge keeps it a success each year by reinventing it frequently.

The stage area this year was amazing! It had a huge yellow stage skirt with all the event sponsors listed in blue. On the stage itself, there was a HUGE-ONGOUS sign that read “A DAY OF HOPE” that acted as the back drop to all the perfomances. Close to the end of the event, as Dr. K’s Motown review brought the day to a close with “Ain’t no mountain high enough” (can you say authentic motown?!), I stood at the back of the crowd and marvelled at the number of people who had braved the warnings of a potential “severe thunderstom”, to be in Central Park, to celebrate this Day of Hope. As the last notes of the song were sang, the towering “A DAY OF HOPE” sign on stage seemed to bolster the words of Dr. K’s music, and send a wave of excitement through the crowd which quickly rose, and then broke with loud cheers and applause…

…and then the rain finally came.

But by then most people had expended all the Hope they had been holding in for this wonderful event, for a year. And boy had they expended. Earlier in the day (7am-ish), most of these people that were now being ushered out of the park by the rain had run a 5k race, or walked and cheered a mile to show their support for people with disabilities, or both. The rain couldn’t have come at a more opportune time– people needed to be sent home to go recharge for next year’s Central Park Challenge. Will you be there?

I found some pictures of the day here for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy and leave a message.

Do something Now!

The countdown is on! 11 days from now the Central Park Challenge will happen! Act NOW to make a difference in the life of a child, an adult or a senior citizen with developmental and learning disabilities!

Here is what you can do to help:

1. Click here and make a donation of whatever you can afford
2. Form a team online and raise funds, or
3. Spread the word (by sending the URL to friends and family, encouraging them to help out too)

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment, or signing up for email or RSS updates. You can also e-mail me at pbaffour.wordpress@gmail.com. Thank you.

Can you make a difference?

Disclaimer

The views expressed below are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views YAI/NIPD Network or any of it’s affiliates, or its Board of Directors or the people they represent.

I blogged about the Central Park Challenge in the past (please click here to visit that blog post), but I don’t think I said much about the organization that’s responsible for this wonderful day: YAI/National Institute for People with Disabilities Network.

The YAI/NIPD Network has been creating hope for people with disabilities for over 50 years. Most people who know about this organization usually know one thing: that it’s a “national leader in the provision of services, education and training in the field of developmental disabilities”. What people might not know is that the YAI/NIPD Network is a leader in the fight for human rights. You can read here about a recent gorundbreaking lawsuit won by the YAI/NIPD Network, that has major implications for the future of housing for people with developmental disabilities and their families.

Please help support YAI’s great work by clicking on the photo below and:

1. Making a donation of JUST $10 (or more if you can afford it)
2. Forming a team and raising funds, or
3. Spreading the word (by sending the URL to friends and family, encouraging them to help out too)

You can also view YAI/NIPD Network’s photostream on flickr here . You can also see YAI’s video’s here.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment, or signing up for email or RSS updates. You can also e-mail me at pbaffour.wordpress@gmail.com. Thank you.