Today, a friend came to visit me here in NYC. She wanted to do something free-ish, so I had figured out some places where it didn’t cost money to go to. Also, by the way, I know some of you are thinking this, and no, there’s no opportunity for a spark here; she’s my lesbro (a lesbian that’s a bro).  Anyways, we walked all of the Highline (which is about 1.45 miles long), walked up about 38 blocks to Rockefeller Plaza to check out the Lego and Nintendo Store, then headed to Queens for some White Castle. Sweet sweet White Castle. Afterwards, we went to Central Park and walked about a good 1.5 miles in it before trekking to the Met to check out all the awesome ancient armory and weapons. We then walked back to the bus stop for her to take the bus home. And MAH FEEEEEEEETTTT. THEY’RE ON FIRE. THEY FEEL LIKE BURNING.

I guess it’s really coming to that time, huh? I’ve heard rumors here and there about the possible end of Xanga, but never really thought that the day would come. And yet, here we are. Staring in disbelief at my screen this morning reading from someone else’s post and then eventually heading over to the Xanga Team’s post. If you are unaware of the situation, you can read the post here and cry along with me.

I know that there are other blogging sites out there that many people use: Tumblr, WordPress, Blogger, Blogspot, etc. But, really, the reason I’ve stuck with Xanga is because beside having a history here (I wished I could have made it to at least 9 years here on Xanga), I’ve also met a bunch of wonderful people on here. Some that I’ve been friends with for a long time; others only recently that made a great impact on my life. I’ve met some in person and they are all awesome people. I was wishing to meet more. And, well, that fate has yet to be decide by the Xanga Overlords. I stayed for the community because that was what really made Xanga what it was. I kind of just don’t really want to make a Tumblr because, when looking at some, it just feels a little too…. impersonal. It’s not intimate where people really do know each other or have the initiation to meet each other. I have a WordPress, but I haven’t used it since college (which is a good 4-5 years). It might be time to scrounge it back up and start using it. You can find me at WordPress. It used to be my old design blog, but you saw how that turned out. I’m not sure how the subscriptions work, so give me some time to figure everything out. It turns out that you can see people’s emails and IP address on WordPress. So, I’ve disabled that link and instead will be post my Writerscafe one here. 

Xanga is also holding a crowdsourcing fundraiser as an attempt to help save Xanga. It would require that members go on a yearly membership fee, and with the money, will be moved onto a WordPress server, but built to be reminiscent of Xanga. I’m actually thinking about contributing to the Save Xanga! Fundraiser with a one-year membership ($48). I hope that you guys would consider too. The deadline for the fundraiser is July 15th, and their goal is $60,000. I know it sounds like a lot, but you have to remember that they have to pay the programmers to move, reset, and maintain the site. I wish it can be done for free too, but people need to eat and support themselves. You can donate to the fundraiser here.

Just in case, however, that they do not reach the goal of $60,000 and will have to shut down, I’m opening my other forms of connection here for you guys:

My Facebook – (If you can’t find me through this link, you can find me through Alex’s (@roadlesstaken) Facebook. Just look for Ben Tsang living in New York, New York. My profile picture should be the same as my Xanga’s.) If you still can’t find me through this link, find me through my Art page here and find me that way. I am also in the Xangaville Facebook group that @MyxlDove have set up; you can find me there as well.

I know that a lot of people are abandoning ship at this moment, but I’m still going to be here until there is no longer a Weblog box to write in. After all, we still have until July 15th. So, I’ll still be here.

Today was the second time since I’ve been in NYC that I had to transfer to another train because of a “sick” passenger. Sick is in quotations because “sick” is code word for “dead.” Standard procedure is that they alert the passengers that the train is no longer in service and that they will have to move to the train across the platform. My first time, I had to walk 6 blocks to get to another train station. As I left that station the first time, I saw an ambulence crew waiting at the top of the stairs with a stretcher and a body bag. This time, they were taking a while so I didn’t see an emergency crew.

I also guess it’s a common occurence that they came up with a code term for it.

Every Memorial Day weekend, my dad’s side of the family always held a family reunion. We have been doing this for 8 years now and we continuously are excited for the next one. We rented the same houses from last year’s reunion since we really liked the area and the houses were really nice. One house has a lake and small beach behind it where a lot of the male cousins would could fishing. I don’t really fish as much anymore, so I skipped rocks instead (or I at least tried to skip rocks). The other house was about a mile down the road in the woods. A nice family based house with a good entertainment area, huge kitchen, and plenty of rooms.

This weekend, I may not be as active on here. I’ll be headed to the Poconos with 30+ family members for our annual family reunion! I might pop in for a few minutes here and there. 

@mellywelly15 @olwd

Singing The Lion Sleeps Tonight is always just a whim away….

A Whim Away, A Whim Away, A Whim Away, A Whim Away, A Whim Away….

Most of you know that I’m a graphic designer at a local nonprofit organization. Sometimes, I do have a bit of difficulty explaining what my organization does. We just had our annual fundraiser honoring some staff members for their tremendous work to our cause. I actually made a video for the event, and awesome to say that it was a success! My boss got around to making a YouTube channel for the organization. My video was the first to be uploaded. Check it out below! Everything except the music was done by me. Hopefully, this will also explain better what my organization does.  :)

I just read an article where golfer Sergio Garcia made a racist joke towards Tiger Woods. When asked if he would invite Woods over for dinner, Garcia responded, “We will have him around every night. We will serve fried chicken.” Of course, it was met with some shock from guests and eventually some backlash as it spread through various news sources. Garcia later “apologized” by saying:

“I apologize for any offense that may have been caused by my comment during the European Tour Players’ Awards dinner.”

It wasn’t really the joke that bugged me, but more so the disturbing trend of “apologizing.” It’s in quotes because there is the false pretense of apology in the way they say it. The way I view an apology (and give one if I ever do wrong) is that I actually say the words, “I’m sorry.” These “apologies” given by these figures in the media never utter those words. They only say, “I apologize…” but never really apologize. Does it make sense?

It’s as if somehow they are trying to say they did something wrong without saying they did something wrong, as if it will make them appear weak. It is as if now the words “I’m sorry” put together is now taboo. Sure, sometimes when people actually do say “I’m sorry,” they don’t actually mean it. This is the same way I feel about saying “I apologize…” when you didn’t actually apologize at all.

Put on your big people clothes and own up to your mistakes. Saying you’re sorry does not make less of a person, but in fact a bigger person who recognizes their errors.

One night after work, two men were at the bar drinking. Both were pretty inebriated as they already had 10 beers each. Suddenly, one man threw up on himself and got vomit all over his shirt. “Oh, man! When my wife sees that I’ve been drinking and puked on myself, she’s gonna kill me!” said the one man. “Not to worry,” replied the other guy. He slips a twenty dollar bill into the other guy’s pocket and said, “When your wife asks, just tell her that another guy vomited on your shirt, felt bad, and gave you this twenty for dry cleaning.” The first guy replied that the second was a genius, and both continued to drink for another couple hours.

As the first guy stumbles through his front door, he was met by his obviously peeved wife. He began to tell the excuse given to him by the second guy at the bar and hands her the money. The wife looks down at the money confused and said, “Wait a minute. There’s forty dollars here, though. Why is there an extra twenty?” The man then responded, “Oh yeah. That same guy that vomited on me, he crapped in my pants too!”