There are many ways to kiss that are just fine, but whenever I see people kiss straight on, crunching their noses together, I know they have no idea about how to kiss. The correct way is to tilt your head to the side, so that the noses do not interfere with the kiss. Either side is fine, but my natural inclination is to the right side. Some people also say that you must close your eyes, but I believe either open or closed is fine, though closed is better for a longer kiss.

I like Katy Perry. Some of her music is very good, and she looks like the only girl I ever really loved.

But what is going on with her arm?

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And let us not grow weary while doing good,
for in due season we shall reap
if we do not lose heart.

I had a relationship with a girl that was totally out of bounds of any type of regular relationship you might think of. I could write a book about it. It was one of a deep connection and trust. But in a moment I got jealous over some minor thing and acted in a way that was unkind. Events happened that took us away from each other so I didn't have a chance to make it up to her. But then several months later I ran into one of her close friends and sent a message to her that I was sorry for what happened. I never did hear from her again, but I am glad I apologized, so that her last memory of me wasn't how I acted in a hurtful manner, but my apology.

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I had an interesting thing happen last night. I belong to a message board where we mainly talk about sports, but we also have a small thread on music. One of the members there posted a youtube of his favorite rock song, and of all the millions of youtubes that must be out there, he posted this one that I had uploaded. Pretty cool IMHO.

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Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes

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I really liked the TV show Modern Family when it started last year. The first episode was great, and the next few were very good. The last few I thought were average. Last night the show wasn't funny at all. Ed O'Neill was in the show very little and he is probably the best one on the show. And a thing annoyed me in that they tried to play up the gay couple not for laughs so much, but seemingly to support the lifestyle. There were several scenes were the gay couple were holding hands, giving a kiss on the head, and calling each other "honey". Nothing wrong with that per se, but these scenes weren't done for laughs. It would have been just as out of place for the other couples to do those acts if there wasn't a laugh or joke associated with that, or if it was important to the plot of the show. They weren't.

The videos and music I have posted to youtube have now been viewed over 30,000 times, which is a very happy surprise for me. I like sharing music I enjoy and it is rewarding to have so many views. This video has the most individual views, over 2,200 in about a month, and it is Van Morrison singing about being happy cleaning windows.

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This year I started seeing oppossums in my yard here in Queens, which I had never seen before. There was an article in today's paper, and apparently some geniuses in New York City decided to bring oppossums to Brooklyn to hunt rats and mice. Except they look for food in garbage cans and leave the rats alone, and apparently have migrated into Queens.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/rat_bastards_f5onjzgcqxm0fu3RFz3ySL

Every person you meet and every experience you encounter is a potential genie in your life. All you have to do is be open.

Open your mind to see the opportunity.

Open your heart to hear what you want.

Open your mouth to ask for it.

Open your arms to embrace the gifts you will receive.

Decide to do at least one good action a day,
If not several, or innumerable ones.
Talk to God every morning and ask Him,
"What good can I do today?"
He will answer you and guide you, for He is in you.
And you will have given Him life by asking Him.
He cannot manifest Himself without being asked.
God speaks to you through your soul which is the
true guide of your life.
Ask God, talk to God, dialogue with God and you
will be the source of many miracles.
You will produce them all around you.
Do at least one good action a day until the very end
of your life.
Just think of what a huge amount of good that
will represent!

- Dr. Robert Muller

I was kind of a later bloomer with regards to learning how to kiss, but when I did I have to admit I got pretty good at it. I met this girl named Soraya in my magical year of 1996, and she liked to kiss. She told me that she had been in a nightclub in Europe once and Meat Loaf was there and tried to pick her up. She turned him down. I have no reason to think the story was not true. But Meat Loaf's loss was my gain, and she kissed magnificently. Which brings me to this song by Meat Loaf, which I think is the best song ever about kissing.

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This event happened in 1996, which was a pretty good year in my life. I was in a good place I think in how I was living. One day during my lunch hour I was walking up Broadway near Wall Street. I saw a crowd of people in a circle on the sidewalk. That is not so unusual because often there are street performers or other things happening in Manhattan. As I got closer, I saw that some guy had collapsed, face down on the sidewalk and was shaking. He may have been unconscious, but in any case he wasn't able to get up or even get his face off the sidewalk. Now I have no medical training whatsover, but I had this strong feeling that I could help this guy. It wasn't like I thought about what I could do, I just felt like I could help. I eased my way through the crowd and kneeled next to the guy. He was fairly young so I didn't think it was a heart attack or anything like that. Again without really thinking, I put my hand on his back and gently rubbed it. Almost immediately the guy stopped shaking, and a few seconds later he got up and started walking. Just then the police and an ambulance came. The guy didn't want to go to the hospital but I told him he should get checked out, then I continued on my way. I don't know what compelled me to do what I did that day, but it may have been my finest individual moment in my life.

Mouth and MacNeal - How Do You Do

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They changed the whole show which is good and bad. Good because the old show was getting very routine. Bad because it no longer is the same game. Now there is no more "hot seat", and the contestants and host stand. The game is divided into 2 rounds. In the first round, the order and dollar amounts of the questions are random, so the first question and dollar amount could be a tough one with a high dollar amount. The money for each correct question goes into the "bank", and if the contestant chooses to stop rather than answer a question, they get half of what is in the bank. If they answer a question wrong, the only get $1,000 regardless of what was in the bank. Also, they took away the clock so now they can take all the time the want. The lifelines have also changed. They still have ask the audience, but there is no more "ask the expert" (which had replaced "phone a friend"). A new lifeline is "jump the question" where the contestant can skip up to 2 questions, but they also lose out on whatever dollar amount was associated with those questions. All in all, the game is more complicated and doesn't resemble the original game.

When I started high school, there was a kid named Billy who, for whatever reason, couldn't stand me. Actually, it was like he detested me. Billy was not a bully as far as I could tell, but he seemed to have contempt for me and I don't know what I could have done to deserve that. He even had a name that he called me to make fun of me. I remember once on a class trip, we were coming home on the subway and I remember the glare that he gave me when I got off the train, like he hated me.

Then a year or so later, Billy stopped coming to class, and one of the instructors mentioned that he was very ill with cancer. A few months later, Billy died. Now I certainly never in any sense gloated or was happy that happened, but I did not feel any sympathy either. Looking back, it looks like an unfinished chapter in my life. I didn't hate Billy, but it hurt me to be detested for what he thought I was. But we are supposed to forgive, not just for the person who we think wronged us, but for ourselves to heal. So today, September 15, 2010, I proclaim that I forgive Billy for any hurtful actions directed my way. I send him a blessing and wish him peace, and entrance into whatever concept of heaven is meaningful for him.

I am convinced that many, if not most bicyclists, are out to cause trouble. The ones in my area almost never seem to try to co-exist with cars. When they have a whole right lane to bike in, they hang a foot or so in the traffic lane forcing you to change lanes. They have a tendency to swerve, at random, into the traffic lane, or also at random, cross over three lanes of traffic. I think many of them get a thrill out of playing chicken with cars. I have no other reasonable explanation for such behavior. If they miscalculate, however, they will lose.

but sometimes they do, even for just a moment or two...

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I am referring to this great song, "I Melt With You" by Modern English. The closest I ever came to this was with a special friend of mine. She wasn't my girlfriend as that term is usually defined. Nor was I trying to make her my girlfriend. But she was someone who I spent endless hours with in my arms, talking, laughing, sharing feelings, secrets, kisses, and hugs. Not trying to impress her, just being maybe my most authentic self. I won't say who she was, but maybe I have already.

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This goes back to something that happened one summer when I was in my mid 20s. I had a new Camaro, and in on many evenings I would just go for a drive. No destination, just driving my new car and observing the world around me. One evening I was driving and I see this car coming up fast behind me. My initial reaction was annoyance, but that soon changed. It was another Camaro, with 2 girls in it. The driver pulled alongside my car and we soon started talking about our cars. The girls were young and sexy, and for the next 2 miles or so we drove side by side, with our windows open, just talking. Maybe not the safest way of driving, but one of the most fun times I have had driving. Finally, after a few miles, we said goodbye, and they turned off the road.

Now that was fun enough for me to remember for a very long time. But there was more. The very next day at work, I took a late lunch because of some meetings that day. I just about never took lunch that late. So I was driving on my lunch hour, and as I am driving I hear a car honking at me from the opposite direction. What do you know, the same girl from the previous night was on the other side of the road! I see her pulling over to the side of the road, but the traffic was very heavy on my side of the road and I really couldn't pull over or turn around. But that was more than a coincidence.

I did see her car a time or two over the years, but always from a long distance. But that moment was one of the most fun things to happen to me. Totally unexpected, no pretense, just having a good time. Now as far as how I chose one of my main passwords, well I took somethings related to that event and combined them to form a password. It is unique enough that I don't think anyone could figure it out, but I will always remember the combination of characters. And everytime I use it, it reminds me of a moment of pure magic.

On September 11, 2001, I was active on a message board that was kind of like a chatroom, with the entries being posted on a website. I found the archive for September 2001, and the entries read from the bottom of the page up. September 11 is in the bottom half of the page, and it reads as a real time commentary of the posters as the events happened.

http://www.neighborlink.com/guestbook1/september2001.htm

Yesterday I heard this song on the radio "Mama I'm Coming Home". I liked it but didn't know who made it. I found it on youtube and was surprised to see it was Ozzy Osbourne, as I never thought I liked anything he did. I posted the video on my blog as well. The video had about 2,300 views in a year and a half. Now, a day later, it has 600 more views. That is in one day! What the heck is going on?

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It used to be easy replacing wiper blades, because it was just the rubber blades that could be removed and replaced. Now the whole assembly must be replaced. I figured it should be something I could do myself, so I bought some new wipers. It took awhile, but I figured how to replace the wiper on the rear window. But I couldn't get the front ones off the car. I tried but they wouldn't come off mainly because the wiper arms did not move much off the windshield. So I took it to a gas station to watch so I would know how to do it in the future. It turns out, it wasn't just my lack of skill. It took the guy about 15 minutes of twisting and turning to finally get the blades off. Probably a quirk of the car's design.

I got a bit of inspiration a couple of months ago about how to put stuff on youtube. Now about 2 months later my videos and music uploads are now approaching 17,000 views in total. That makes me very happy, that people on the internet have searched for, found, and viewed my videos that many times. I think deep down, we all like to make contribute something that others like and enjoy.

My channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/martinjsxx?feature=mhsn

I am not Jewish, but living in New York City, I have had many Jewish friends. Today's Jewish New Year reminds me of a story that happened in 1996. The first week of January that year there was one of the largest blizzards we ever had in NYC. It snowed for most of 2 days, probably more than two feet of snow. My office was closed for 2 days. Finally, a day after the snow stopped, the plows came down my street. I dug my car out and took a ride to see how the roads were. There was only one lane open on most roads, and very few cars were out. Since the roads were empty, I drove a bit down Union Turnpike in Queens.

I was approaching a bus stop, and there was an old man there standing in the street. He motioned at me, and while I have never picked up a hitchhiker, I stopped. He was an old Jewish man and he said there were no buses, and asked if I was driving near the subway station. I wasn't, but I had nothing else to do, so I said sure, get in. I drove him the several miles to the subway. Then when I dropped him off, he said there was an old Jewish saying that the kindness I had displayed to him would be repaid to me many times over. I said it was my pleasure to have been of help to him, and I didn't think much of what he said.

But that year was probably the best year of my life. I had things, people, events happen that were truly amazing. Could these events have been related to that day in early January when I extended a kindness to an elderly Jewish man? I don't know, but maybe...

I heard this song this morning and I liked it but didn't know who made it. Looking on youtube, I see it is Ozzy Osbourne. I never would have guessed.

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I wrote this story last year, but it came to mind again reading about someone losing a pet. I had a pet cat for 15 years that I was very close with. We got especially close the last 5 or so years of her life. Everytime I came home, or even into the same room or floor where she was, she would run up to me and wait for me to pick her up. If I didn't, she would jump into my arms. She died a couple of days before one Christmas. I wanted to give her a proper burial, so I got her a plot in a pet cemetery and even bought her a headstone. The cemetery even held a mini-service for her, which I unfortunately couldn't attend because of work. But my mother and a couple of neighbors went, which was nice.

After the headstone was placed, I went to the cemetery. It was very nice, and after a few minutes I started walking back to my car. I heard footsteps behind me after I had turned away, which I thought was odd because I hadn't seen anyone else in that part of the cemetery. I turned to look, and a cat was running toward me from the general vicinity of my cat's grave! Now I thought that was odd, but not completely unusual because a pet shelter was in a building adjoining the cemetery. But those animals were inside the building, and not many strange cats come running up to a random person. This cat acted like they had known their whole life and after running up to me, started rubbing his or her (I don't remember) head against my leg. So I walked back to my pet's grave. The cat followed me, then proceeded to lie down on top of the grave of my cat, and roll over several times on the ground. It then got up and rubbed its head repeatedly against my cat's headstone. Sometimes I am a bit slow at picking up cues about things, but there was no clearer sign to me. I was, and am convinced now, that was the spirit of my cat communicating with me once more.

This is the latest viral video on youtube. It's from a real interview about a girl who was the victim of an attempted assault. It's bizarre, but catchy.

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I live in a residential neghborhood and today a blimp flew over the area advertising DirectTV. I am guessing that it was probably heading over to the U.S. Tennis Open in nearby Flushing Meadows.

It sounds as fresh today as it did when it was new. I listen to it everytime I hear it on the radio. It never fails to bring back good memories and put me in a good, optimistic mood.

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This song would probably not be able to be made today with all the sensitivity towards other lifestyles, but this is still a funny song.

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For the most part, I didn't enjoy high school all that much until the last year or so. But I had one moment that was one of the greatest in my life. I think it was probably the Spring semester of my junior year. and it involved a sports moment in gym class. There was a park across the street from my school, and the gym teacher took us there to a concrete softball court. We chose teams, and being skinny and probably not considered athletic, I was chosen near the end to play second base. Actually though, for the last year or two, I practiced catching balls in my basement for hours many days. My basement at the time was roomy and had concrete walls so I would throw a ball against the wall and practice catching them.

Anyway, I am standing near second base, and a kid named Paul Nowak came up to bat. He smashes the ball deep to centerfield, so deep that it hits high off the chain link fence. Now the guy playing centerfield just happened to be Rich Stuart, the varsity shot-putter at my school, probably the guy with the strongest arm in the whole school. I knew a play was going to come my way. So Rich fields the ball off the fence, and throws it directly to me standing next to second base. My only thought was that I was hoping it would come in on a bounce, as that is how I practiced catching most of the time. Sure enough the ball comes in on a short hop to me at second base. I caught the bounce and turned around with the ball in my hand at the exact moment that the batter was arriving at second base and tagged him out. The following moment or two was surreal. I knew I had participated in a great play, but the reaction by everyone on the field was like nothing I have ever seen. For the next minute or two, everyone was stunned and it seemed like time stopped. Even the gym teacher paused for what seemed like a minute before he got the game going again. I was trying to act nonchalant like I did that everyday, but it took a few moments for the game to resume. The only other moment that seemed that surreal involved a girl, but I won't get into that now. :)

So that was my greatest moment in high school, and it involved a sports moment. It was sort of a perfect storm, with a guy hitting a ball off the fence, the centerfielder happening to be a shot putter, throwing a strike to me at second base, and me fielding the throw cleanly and tagging the guy out the second he arrived at the base. Probably not unrelated, the rest of my high school time seemed to be much more enjoyable.