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kristen111

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Posts posted by kristen111

    S14.E01: Birthday Bombshell

    in The Real Housewives Of New Jersey

    3 minutes ago, RecoveringLawyer said:

    My DD is leaving for college this summer, and I don't think I can handle watching the Gabriella/Antonia scenes.  I'm already a basketcase. 

    When we left our first at college five hours away, I cried for weeks and called her everyday.  I was a nut job, and she was having a blast.  You will get used to it.


    Is 55 years old special for a birthday party?   Teresa lost her looks.  She got very thin too.  I’m still not liking Looie.

    • Like 9

    RHoNJ in the Media: Paparazzi Whore!

    in The Real Housewives Of New Jersey

    · Edited by kristen111

    On 3/6/2024 at 10:38 PM, RealHousewife said:

    Yay! I've been binging on Jersey, and it quickly became one of my favorites. I'm so happy I have a new season beginning soon so I won't have withdrawals. lol

    Today is Sunday, and I have been watching all week and enjoying.  I’m dying to know who’s coming back, who’s had more work done on their faces, and what’s new with Louie.  I’m addicted.  So many loose ends.  Melissa andJoe have no storyline.

     

    On 3/23/2024 at 3:08 AM, qtpye said:

    I think Andy has a thing for tiny little hotheaded men.

    To each his own...I guess.

    Andy LOVES the Gorgas.  I can’t understand why.  Wish the show was two hours tonight.  

    • Like 4

    Chit-Chat: What's On Your Mind Today?

    in Everything Else

    30 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

    Perhaps your mother's U.S. citizenship was considered in making the match?

    Maybe?  I’m so sorry I didn’t pay more attention when she spoke of these things.  My Sister is a Historian.  I should ask her if she knew more.  

    10 minutes ago, PRgal said:

    It sounds like my grandmother's experience during WWII.  I'm sorry I never really got to ask her more questions - my maternal grandmother grew up in Macau which was neutral territory since Portugal was on neither side (whether it be the Germans or the Japanese).  The Japanese wouldn't have invaded Macau like they did with Hong Kong.  There WERE, however, food shortages because things weren't able to get through the border from China.  My mother only knows so much since there was trauma.  My understanding is that my great-grandmother, for some reason, went back to the mainland?  I have no idea.  And I would never know the whole story.   

    Yes, it’s sad that we can’t find out more.  Too late, unfortunately.  They had such hardships in that time.  We have it so good.

    • Like 5

    Chit-Chat: What's On Your Mind Today?

    in Everything Else

    1 hour ago, PRgal said:

    Matched like an arranged marriage?  Was that common in your culture?  Mine met in high school - my mom transferred to my dad's school which took girls for the last two years.  She was one of five girls in a class of 80 or something like that.  They started dating in university (only "bad kids" dated in high school back in 1960s Hong Kong) and my mom and dad came to Canada for grad school (dad graduated, mom decided to drop out).  They married at 23/24 but didn't have me until they had a nest egg and owned a house.  That meant I came seven years later.  It's amazing how two middle class salaries could support a child and my mom's parents (well, my grandpa worked after he came to Canada, but didn't make much due to language skills) - a family of five people total!  That would NEVER work today - especially for an immigrant family.

    My Mother was born in the U.S but went to Ukraine at 3 yrs old.  At 19, she came to Canada to match with my Father who also grew up in Ukraine.  Their families apparently knew each other from Ukraine and matched them.  Why Canada ?  I have no idea.  They were married in Montrial, then came to New York and settled.  Now, I am so sorry I didn’t listen more closely when she spoke about her life and her hardships.  She mentioned hiding in the woods when the soldiers used to ransack their house during the war.  A very hard life, but she was a tough woman in mind and body.  A hard worker.

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    Chit-Chat: What's On Your Mind Today?

    in Everything Else

    22 minutes ago, ginger90 said:

    Same in the neighborhood I grew up in on Staten Island. It started as backyard barbecues, and graduated to block parties. The fire and police departments would come with vehicles. It was fun for all ages. 

    Being from Staten Island, do you watch the Jersey Housewives?  We have relatives on Staten Island still.  We all tawk the same, lol.

    • Like 3

    Chit-Chat: What's On Your Mind Today?

    in Everything Else

    · Edited by kristen111

    6 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

    Oddly enough, my mom was 21 when she had me, my dad was 22. He was in the Air Force and over in Korea for a time. I must have been conceived during one of his leaves. But they were grown ups and they stayed married for 60 years, until my mom died.

    On my whole block growing up in Queens, N.Y., not one family was divorced.  We had all Nationalities, and everyone got along.  Every year, we had a Block Party and closed the street to cars.  Even had a band playing.  Lots of food too.  It was fabulous.   People got married young then.  Like your parents and mine.  Actually, mine were matched.

    • Like 3
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    Pet Peeves: Aka Things That Make You Go "Gah!"

    in Everything Else

    · Edited by kristen111

    13 minutes ago, kristen111 said:

    Patsy Cline, “Sweet Dreams”.  So many great Country singers.  

    Dusty Springfield singing “All I See is You”.   Play it on u tube.  My very favorite.

    Sounds much better with headphones.  All I see is you has a Karaoke version which is fantastic.   Brenda Lee, “Losing you”.

    Pet Peeves: Aka Things That Make You Go "Gah!"

    in Everything Else

    4 hours ago, annzeepark914 said:

    When I was a kid, I not only listened to R&R--I also listened to my dad's (a professional musician) albums: Ray Anthony, Glenn Miller, Jackie Gleason (really! beautiful instrumental versions of Xmas music), etc.  Geez, I can't remember the other big band albums.  Every once in a while, a song will enter my brain and I'll think: wow--we late 50's/early 60's kids listened to a wide variety of music on our Top 40 stations (at least in the metro NYC area). Do any boomer New Yorkers remember the "Uh-oh" song? Our stations (e.g., WABC, WINS, etc,) played Steve & Edie, Ferrante & Teicher, various instrumental pieces. *And* each record was identified. When did radio stations stop identifying the records' talents?

    Nothing good on the radio anymore.  I have all my favorites on my private collection on You Tube.  I listen at night with my headphones.  Montovani, Ray Connif, Brenda Lee, Elvis, Roy Orbison, etc, etc.  A mix of all different types of music.  I have at least 150 of my favorites starting when I was a teen, up until now.  So many groups from the sixties and thereafter.

    • Like 2

    Pet Peeves: Aka Things That Make You Go "Gah!"

    in Everything Else

    · Edited by kristen111

    10 minutes ago, PRgal said:

    I haven't tried anything yet, but I absolutely refuse to try anything with THC.  I'm worried about the high.

    The next time I go, I’ll check it out .. if they are still selling it.  I noticed, the price kept going lower and lower.   What’s it supposed to do anyhow?  Take pain away?

    Chit-Chat: What's On Your Mind Today?

    in Everything Else

    6 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

    @Mindthinkr, it might be worthwhile in terms of future "closure" to keep track of the shooter on FB etc.
    About 50 years ago a man who I am 100% sure was a serial rapist if not serial killer abducted me when I was hitchhiking with my paintbox and easel and other equipment. I escaped physically unscathed, but had to abandon all my stuff to do so. At the police station I drew a portrait of him with a red and a black marker. I also had noted the color of the car and the model name from an ornament on the glove compartment, and that the plates were from Ontario (this was in Michigan). The police found him quickly, but he claimed I was a prostitute, and I no longer had "visible means of support." So that was the end of it. 
    But I still wish I knew his name so I could find out what became of him and/or his next victims.

     

    Yikes.  Seems like lots of us had bad encounters of something or another.  At the time it happened, you don’t know what to do.

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    Pet Peeves: Aka Things That Make You Go "Gah!"

    in Everything Else

    6 hours ago, Dimity said:

    Today's peeve: the smell of marijuana.  Yuck.  I know it's legal.  I don't care. I am sick of smelling it, it seems like almost every where I go.  Including in a hospital corridor yesterday.  My husband suggested it was being smoked outside and being carried into the hospital through the ventilation system.  

    I’ve never tried it, but when I went to Pain Management after my spine surgery, they made me try it as they were selling it.  They put a few drops under my tongue and I felt nothing.  Then 4 hours later, as I was on the sofa watching tv, I couldn’t feel my two arms.  I got so nervous, but slowly, it went away.   I’ll never touch that crap again.  It was weird and very frightening.

    • Like 1
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    Chit-Chat: What's On Your Mind Today?

    in Everything Else

    As a teen, we would sometimes hang out at the corner candy store.  One of the nice guys would walk me home.  One night this guy walked me home and showed me a gun in his pants.  I was horrified and didn’t go back to the candy store for a month.  He didn’t come often and had parents that were alcoholics and seven kids.  Later onas the years went by, I read in the papers that he was in jail for killing someone.  Then I heard he had died or something.  I think he was notorious.  A killer who grew up in a dysfunctional family.  His sister who went to my school died at 16 hanging out the window from an asthma attack.  I’m so glad my parents were very strict.  So is my husband.  He made sure our kids had after school activities and lots of sports to join.

    • Like 2
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    Chit-Chat: What's On Your Mind Today?

    in Everything Else

    4 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

    Yes, thank you, you are absolutely right about the way the teachers were back then in public school especially in NYC.  I always got the impression that none of them were very happy people and were always crabby.  I do think most of them weren't married but even the married ones were often nasty so it went beyond that.  I don't know why I was their target.  It made no sense to me then or now.  But was very damaging to me as a kid to be singled out and treated unfairly by teachers, who were people I wanted to look up to.  Not all of them were that way.  I had a few that were very nice and thank goodness, because if not for them I don't know what would have happened. 

    It's amazing that I did so well in school in spite of all of this.  Up until 4th grade the teachers told my parents I was a good student but they labeled me a "behavior problem".  I was not.  I was smarter than most of the rest of the kids in the class and the work wasn't challenging me enough so I was fidgety and bored.  But that was THEIR fault for not putting me in the right class soon enough.  They stared me off in 1st grade in the "dumb" class because I moved from another school and their excuse was they didn't know where to put me.  It wasn't until 3rd grade that I finally was put in the right class for me.  They used to have classes that were graded from "dumbest" to "smartest" back then.  I'm sure they don't do that now.  

    Yes .. there were three categories.  For reading, math and science in your homeroom class.  It was probably more work for the teachers.  When I worked, all the classes had a teacher aide to help out.  Progress finally.

    • Like 2

    Chit-Chat: What's On Your Mind Today?

    in Everything Else

    · Edited by kristen111

    40 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

    I hear you although in my case there were ways to deal with the fear of physical abuse such as avoiding places where the bullies would be and of course what they do is more obvious and criminally dangerous so there are authorities and authority figures you can get involved too.  You can't always avoid people at work or in school that will engage in mental bullying and people tend to dismiss you as a "wuss" if you complain about it or dismiss it because it's harder to see.

    I used to regularly get roughed up by bullies at the end of my block for lunch money.  I got my hair pulled in the hallways at school.  Cursed at, shoved, punched.  But interestingly I don't wear scars from that to this day the same way I wear the ones I got from the mental and emotional bullying I suffered.  It's hard to explain but that was far more toxic and harder to get over than any physical abuse I ever got in my life.  The "mean girls" that emotionally bullied me were people I wanted to be friends with, or they were in fact my teachers!  I was bullied by my 2nd grade teacher.  She would back me against the fence in the schoolyard and call me a little "snot nose".  I never did anything to deserve it.  I was a good kid and smart.  My 4th grade teacher wasn't much better.  The people that physically bullied me I didn't know or care to know.  I think that makes the difference for me, and it's a big one.  YMMV.

    I mentioned some of the stories I could tell about living in the Bronx when I was young - Here's one:

    I was once threatened with physical bullying by a woman that lived upstairs from me in the Bronx back when I was in my 20s.  She would come home after a night of drinking and beat up her girlfriend.  My husband and I were separated at the time so I was alone.  I would wake up at 3:00 a.m. to the sound of furniture being thrown across the room, cursing, yelling, and cries for help as the victim was beaten.  I was terrified and afraid to complain but after a while it got worse and I was afraid for the victim's life so I complained to the landlord.  He put them on a warning and for a while they were as quiet as church mice.

    Then one day I was afraid that the victim was being murdered because the violence was that loud and bad so I called the police.  I asked not to be named in both cases but of course the abuser figured it was me and started physically threatening me in the elevator and hallway of the building.  I was literally afraid to come and go from my own apartment building and had to take the stairs and sneak in and out the back way.  I told the landlord again and he put them on notice that the next time it happened they would be evicted.  It just so happened that my husband was moving back in with me the next week so he went up there and told them if they threatened me again they'd have to deal with both him and the police.  After that the bully backed down and they were soon evicted from the building.  As terrifying as that was it doesn't hurt me to recall it the way the mental/emotional bullying I suffered as a kid does.

    I don’t know about you, but in grammar school, all my teachers were old and spinsters.  They always were very crabby as I remember.  They actually used to pick on kids for no good reasons.  Then when I worked in the school system, I noticed the teachers were young and nice.  It was a very big difference from the old days.  School is enjoyable now, as it should be.  It’s a happier environment.   My oldest daughter just landed a job in the school library.  She’s ecstatic.  So am I.  It’s a happy place to work as things have changed for the better.

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