Spanish Taking Over

I live in South Florida- I'm surrounded by Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Columbians, Peruvians, you name it. Especially the Cubans. Considering it's 90 miles from Cuba to Key West so many of them have arrived here by boat. I remember being in high school, the joke with Row Row Your Boat (a child's song) to Row Row Your Raft. And of course, I hear the spanish language everywhere I go. South Florida is Northern Cuba (Raphie May wasn't kidding when he made that joke in one of his comedy specials)

I get that America is the land of immigrants. My own family's orgins are from Italy, Scotland, and Ireland.

But here's what pisses me off the most: being looked down upon by these Cubans (especially) for not speaking their language. Excuse me? No I don't have to learn Spanish because I have to. Last I checked, the United States of America's main language was English. Last I checked, Florida was part of the U.S., therefore it's an American state. Last I checked, I'm an American born who is speaking the right language: English.
Now, if I was living in France, or even Spain, or China, then you bet that I'll be trying my best to pick up their native language to survive! I can understand the elderly old people who are too old to pick up a new language- I've heard that learning a new language is much more harder on adults than it is for kids.
My great great grandmothers were Italian immigrants. One of them (who was quite a tyrant) was too old to learn the new language- however she encouraged her children to learn English. They adapted the American lifestyle of hamburgers and hot dogs into their life of pasta. Another example is that my friend's father was from Lativia who spoke 5 languages before coming to the U.S. including perfect English; his daughter was taught Lativian and German first then English and speaks better English than most Americans. Why? Because they had to speak English in this country.

I'm all for keeping in touch with your native country's heritage but if you're going to live in a different country, you're going have to adapt to it and make it work.

With the spanish/Cubans taking over, it's getting very very hard to find a job, especially if you only speak English. These days, it's a requirement to be bilingual. Ad-billboards, stores are getting all hispanic on me. Last year I had a bad craving for a gyro (Greek food) and at the time I only knew one place to get it so I drove 45 minutes in morning traffic and found out that this Greek diner suddenly became a Latin diner. I was MAD!!!!
With these spanish people refusing to learn their new country's language, I have to wonder: what are they going to do when they get transferred (by a job) to Iowa? Or Wisconsin? Those states are english, english, english. They'll be screwed! They'll be wishing that they had taken the time to learn the english language.

In Our Eyes

Our eyes tell everything
the person can see something
They look deep down
even without sound
They could read something about you
they know something that is true
We don't even know about it
of what kind of information they could get
We may be telling the truth or a lie
we could either walk or fly
They could easily find out how we are
they could see us, even if we are far
People could read eyes from long ago
from what I found out to know
It is hard to believe in such a thing
it sounds like a poisonous sting
There's a mystery in all of us
from the evening air to morning dusk
In our eyes
show personality and the truth that lies

originally written in 1998, revised in 2002.
I remember reading this in high school English class and after I was done, I heard my fellow students say "whoa". It was written for a guy I had a serious crush on and he would look right into my eyes whenever I talked to him. Unfortunately (or maybe it's fortunately?) he did not share the same feelings for me as I did for him. So he missed out!

A Peaceful Night

Everything is so quiet at night
birds prepare for their morning flight
Clouds seem to look like they are not there
there's a cricket somewhere
Everything is so peaceful
so dark and very successful
People dream about their fantasies
ships and boats are at high seas
Water acts like it's not there
looking like a giant mirror
Past times are over to the present
some things are very pleasant
Pressures are off of everyone's shoulders
some are afraid to get older
Time pass by the hour of a minute
days goes by, doesn't it?
A new day to look forward to
a young child will learn how to tie a shoe
At night we get to see what space looks like
under a peaceful night

originally written in 1998

Fire of Passion

The precious moment
from the simple touch
bringing shivers up and down
the spine tunnel
Praying for the moment to last
the heart is pounding
the heat flared with wild
Sweat pump against the veins
Unspoken words are bonding
the heart becomes a sponge
soaping up the passion
the fire of ice melting away
the celestial tension
vaporizing into the breath
deep down into the soul
filled with fire of passion

originally written in 2002
It was written for a guy I had fallen in love while in college

Pretending

For quite a number of years (basically since I've had the internet), I have seen many profiles- in Yahoo Groups, Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, everywhere!- of celebrities. Except they are usually not celebrities, but 'regular' people pretending to be that celebrity. Even dead ones! Now some are humorous, a parody of sort- and that's okay but to actually say "yes I did that movie" is going too far. I do understand obsession, believe me I do as I do have quite a few of my own, but I also have a limit.
If you are a fan: then do a blog, a website, fan page on Facebook or Myspace or Twitter to post news, pictures, whatever you get your hands on. You can display your love for them that way while being yourself. I can live with that.
But to pretend you are Marilyn Monroe? Or Princess Diana? That's going to the extreme.
Another thing is character profiles. People who actually make twitter or facebook or myspace or whatever as a character from a TV show or movie. These people actually pretend to be that fake character. Easy does it now! It may be a little cute at first but if you keep going at it, then something may be wrong with you

It's unfortunate that celebrities do have a hard time- when they have twitter they have to be 'verified' or post a picture of themselves with their profile so that normal regular people wouldn't have to fall into that scam/trick to think that they're chatting with Jeremy Piven when they're actually not. It's sad really.

Idiot of the Year (or all the time): Donald Trump

Source: Donald Trump's Twitter
Truthfully I don't care who you voted for- Mitt Romney or President Barack Obama- after all it's YOUR choice so seeing Donald supporting Mitt is not really my problem. I do have two problems with him however:
1) his proud ego that his building suffered very little/no damage from Hurricane Sandy
2) his sudden pick on on Richard Belzer (Comedian and Detective Munch on Law & Order: SVU)

1- Hurricane Sandy was a category 1 Hurricane, something that I've been through plenty of times as I do live in South Florida. While New York, New Jersey (especially), and all the other New England states have been suffering with no power, The Donald with the hair that does not have any movement whatsoever (not even when the wind blows) boosted that his building was still standing strong. Blah blah blah. I wonder what exactly he's been doing to help the unfortunate victims who weren't so lucky? Probably saying a lot of talk of charity but keeping his wallet and checkbook tight closed in his pockets. I do know that Donald has a building here in Miami Beach. I've passed by it a couple of times and it sits right at the Atlantic Ocean (as do lots of hotels), it's also the main entry way of Hurricane's path. I wonder how he would feel that his pride and joy Miami building would falter under category 4 or 5 Hurricane? He's lucky- New York rarely gets Hurricanes. They are very capable- as proven with last year's Irene and now Sandy- to go up North but at this time of year Winter is starting to move in with snow which weakens the Hurricane (they need warm/hot water to be a monster like Katrina or Andrew) and typically North Carolina/Virginia would be the highest it would go during the summer before drifting up even more north but in the Atlantic Ocean where they would disappear. With all his ego, I can't help but pray to have a category 5 Hurricane (risking my own life) just to have his Trump building fall down. I know it's evil but the way he goes on and on, I want karma to kick him in the ass.

2- on his twitter, Donald decided to pick on Richard Belzer. I guess he caught an episode of Law & Order and thought to himself (after having 'wars' with Rosie O'Donnell and President Obama with the issue of his birth certificate) that he needed to have someone to pick on. Bully. He claimed that Richard has no talent. Excuse me? Richard Belzer has been in the entertainment business (as a comedian and actor) a hell of a lot longer than Donald has been in the real estate business. Luckily other tweeters have been stepping up to Richard's defense and I'm sure Richard will use this as his advantage. After all, he's a comedian and you can get comedy out of tragedy...or stupidity. I can see Richard having a field day with this. Go Richard!

Donald, do us all a favor and stick to what you are good at: Real Estate. Leave the comedians alone or else they would rip your butt to shreds (if they haven't already).

The Dark Haired Woman

Originally written in 2001

Mary (Maureen) Cox Starkey Tigrett

1946-1994

She seemed to be the wild one
but all she wanted was to have fun.
She was just a young girl
with an unlimited time for the World
She was a down-to-earth, shy
who would never tell a lie.
She would keep a secret till her death
even after her last breath.
She was educated
who didn't need to be separated
because she knew that her Prince will come
living in her own choice in her Kingdom.
Knowing full well of what she was getting into
facing the challenge of the zoo.
Caring about her man
being the wife who understands.
Raising her children with a gold heart
she didn't want them to feel torn apart.
She found a path to survive
with pressures to stay alive.
Until her life turned to tragic
she disappeared like magic.
She had the best with her love
which she mostly thought of.
She will be missed, but fondly remembered
to those who still love her.