Melina--An Awesome WWE Diva!

On August 5th,2011--the WWE has released,in my opinion,one of the most electrifying Divas in sports-entertainment & pro wrestling today--Miss Melina Perez. Needless to say,I was shocked & heartbroken,when she debuted on SmackDown in April 14, 2005 and when she did what is now called her signature ring entrance,I was in love with her. I always thought she was the most BEAUTIFUL WWE Diva in that company's history and,in my mind & personal opinion,I still do think that to this day,no matter what anyone else says. Now,there was a lot of talk about how Melina is a bitch,Melina sleeps around,Melina this & Melina that. Now,I am going to defend her by saying that after chatting with Melina,I believe that she is only human,like all of us are. She makes mistakes like we do in life. Melina is the sweetest person I have had the honor of following on Twitter. Melina has worked very hard to achieve her dream of making it to the WWE. She has fulfilled her dream but I do not believe she is done yet. I think she has a lot more to offer. She added some spice to the Women's/Diva's Division when she arrived on the scene! Her trademark primal scream makes her opponents cringe in fear,her awesome finishers can knock out the toughest of contenders. Her beautiful smile can light up a room! She is the most wonderful person I have ever seen in the ring and I thank Melina for what she did for the WWE and I am proud to be a Melina fan aka Melinquent! I am honored to be a MELinquent! Her rivalries with Mickie James & Trish Stratus are classics and,later on with Beth Phoenix & LayCool. When she debuted,she was a manager of a high-octane tag-team known as MNM,which consists of Joey Mercury,Johnny Nitro(John Morrison) & Melina,then as their manager. Their gimmick was cool,being A-Listers that claim to hobnob with celebs like Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes,Nick Lachey & Jessica Simpson,Ashton Kutcher & Demi Moore,Britney Spears & Kevin Federline,and even Paris Hilton. In their in-ring debut match on April 21,2005--they defeated then-WWE Tag-Team Champions Rey Mysterio & the late-WWE Hall Of Famer Eddie Guerrero to become the 1st tag-team in WWE history to win the Tag Team Championship in their debut match. After 3 title reigns,the team split up and Melina & Nitro headed over to RAW where both Nitro & Melina had success when Nitro captured the Intercontinental Championship and Melina captured the Women's Championship during their time on RAW. During that span,MNM reunited to do battle against another high-octane tag-team in the Hardys (Jeff & Matt). It was an awesome matchup and rivalry. Afterwards,MNM parted ways again and Nitro continued to work his way up the ladder on RAW while Melina continues to be the queen bee of the Women's Division until she ran into a buzzsaw named Beth Phoenix. An ankle injury kept Melina out of action & out of the title picture for a while and in the meantime,Beth Phoenix has taken Melina's position as the Queen Bee by capturing the Women's Championship from then-champion Mickie James. When Melina came back,the fans rallied behind her as she picked up where she left off by targeting Beth Phoenix. At the Royal Rumble 2009,Melina dethroned the Glamazon to become the Women's Champion for a 3rd time. Then she was drafted to SmackDown,where she lost the title to Michelle McCool but thanks to RAW guest host Nancy O'Dell in a tri-branded trade,Melina returned to RAW to unseat then-Divas Champion Jillian Hall,who defeated Mickie James a few seconds before Melina knocked her off. But during her title reign,she suffered a torn ACL that kept her out for the better part of 2010,but she returned at Summerslam,dethroning Alicia Fox to become a 2x Divas Champion only to lose the title to LayCool to unify both the Divas & Women's Championships at Night Of Champions. Since then,she stood in the background of the Divas Division until her release this past Friday. I hope Melina reads this so I can let her know that you are SWEETEST person and NO MATTER what anybody else says about you,I ALWAYS believe that you are a great person and a great wrestler in the WWE. I believe all of the WWE Universe WILL see you again someday,whether it is in TNA or back in the WWE,it doesn't matter. Know this,Melina: You are ALWAYS & FOREVER WILL BE the shining star in our hearts! :)

Paulette Vieira (née Costa): Once A Good Friend

This next blog would prove to be very difficult to write. The 1990s decade was a decade that changed my life forever. But there was one individual that changed my demeanor as a teenager, this particular individual has, in a way, made me change my outlook on everything. When I first met this girl, I never thought much if her but when she started attending our church's youth group at the time, I started developing a crush on her. Her name? Paulette Marie Costa. Needless to say, little did I know, I was going overboard in my crush on Paulette but I was too stupid and ignorant to realize what was going on. My parents were upset about this, her parents were upset about this ,my friends were upset about this ,and I was being, for a lack of a better term, a total jackass about the whole entire thing. At this rate ,I wasn't thinking about the consequences of this whole fiasco at the time. People started making jokes about this, I kept on running my mouth about her, and my attempts to impress her were too Urkelesque. One time, the youth group had a youth dance and I was having a good time and waiting for the right moment to ask Paulette to a slow dance. Once the time came, I asked her--but she turned me down and instead slow-danced with another friend of mine named John Kiess. I was not too pleased about this obviously and people asked me if I wanted to talk about it and I refused to do so. My night, to me, was ruined at that point. But, like a stubborn mule, I refused to give it up, however. 

But in 1995,a lot of things has happened in that year that put me in a lot of stress and it effected my behavior. In April of that year, I moved from the West End to the North End of New Bedford, in June of 1995,I landed a job as a dishwasher at Ruby Tuesday. Then at church, there was a new couple--Paulette & a friend I made at the Christian school, Ruben. Ruben used to give me rides to Bible studies but since he started dating Paulette at that time, I accused him & her for stabbing me in the back. I basically snapped! It was almost to the point of hatred towards the two of them. I was forced out of work by my parents to see a psychiatrist about this situation but I didn't like it at all. To me, work was the thing to keep my mind off that situation. After the shrink visit, I went back to work and started crushing on my female co-workers instead in order to get Paulette out of my system for good and it was working for almost 6 years. 

But during one Sunday church service, in 2001,my pastor called Ruben & Paulette up to the podium to make a special announcement and that announcement was that they were engaged. Needless to say I had a feeling that day like this would come. I sat there & said nothing, my father wanted me to go and congratulate them and I refused. When I got home, I decided that sitting at home in my room and sulking wasn't gonna help me out, so I decided to hop in my car and head to my then-workplace Ruby Tuesday at the time to order a Blondie & a root beer, then my original plan was to head to the Millennium Fun Center Arcade at the Harbor Mall to play some Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 to get my mind clear but I missed the exit while singing the Power Rangers Time Force theme song along the way down Rt. 195 westbound and ended up taking Exit 3 to the Swansea Mall. After I visited the Swansea Mall, I headed back to the Harbour Mall to the play Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 at the Millennium Fun Center Arcade. My mother commended me on getting out of the house and clearing my mind instead of sitting at home in my room and sulking about the situation, I told her "I needed to get out of the house." My father didn't understand. 

Months went by and I started to accept the fact that they are in love with each other and they are getting married until December of 2002 when Paulette's mother, Isabel, announced that Ruben & Paulette ended their engagement and broke up. I was shocked and I wanted to say something to them but I was thinking they still don't want to talk to me. So, fast forward 2 years later, Paulette met another man in college, got engaged to him and eventually they got married in October 2004. I was depressed but I had to move on, the Red Sox ended up winning the World Series weeks afterward, as a result, I did not care about anything else, I was happy. The name of the man Paulette met was Daniel Vieira and they have 2 beautiful children-Nicholas & Emily. The reason why I wrote this blog is at one point I was angry at Paulette, I blamed her for my bad luck with women, I cited her as the reason why I do not have a girlfriend. Ever since 1995 I have not spoken to her in 16 years, I started being Ruben's friend again via Facebook. I tried adding Paulette as a friend on Facebook, hoping to put all the crap that we went through away and bury the hatchet once and for all but she rejected my friend request yet again. Unfortunately, it is sad that she still hates my guts & won't forgive me to this day. She does not understand me at all. All I want is to be friends--JUST friends with her, that's it. But she holds that grudge against me to this day. She needs to understand that I am NOT looking to have a crush on her again because she is married now and she has a great life and a great future. I just wanted to be friends again, I don't care if we speak to each other again.  I consider Paulette a friend, a sister-in-Christ, and someone who has a heart for others. Whatever the reason, I am sure she has her reasons. Besides, I look back at this and I will say this: All that happened between myself and Paulette was MY fault. I was being way too obsessed with her & I outright disrespected her and I was being selfish and that is why Paulette is the way she is towards me to this day. I wish I had behaved differently around her but it is what it is now. This is unfortunately the price I paid for all this. 

But if I decided to talk to her now, I would tell her that it was all MY fault, I blame myself for this friction between myself and her. But I see this situation this way: If it is God's will for me and Paulette to be friends again, then great. If not, then we remain our separate ways and go on with our lives, simple as that.  I hope she reads this one day and comes to an understanding that I am not the same idiotic teenager who had the puppy-dog crush on her. I am the man who is trying to make his future bright and trying to live the good life each and everyday possible. I just want to let her know that I have changed for the better and I hope that Paulette & I would once again become good friends. 

I sometimes talk about this situation to help others who have been obsessed with someone they like as a warning to them to BE CAREFUL because it could hurt the individual they like AND themselves but, unfortunately, there are some not-so-nice individuals who still think that I still have a thing for Paulette, which , obviously, I do not anymore and these not-so-nice individuals would attempt to mention this situation just to make me look bad when I already learned my lesson from this situation. Because of those individuals, I have decided not to talk about this situation anymore on my YouTube channel because the idiots will make jokes of this and I do not appreciate that at all and I am sure neither does Paulette, nor her family and my family & friends as well and as a result, I had to ban Paulette's name from being mentioned on my YouTube channel. I have moved on from this and also I have learned a lot from this situation as well. Nothing wrong with learning from your past and people like the internet trolls, bullies and haters need to understand that, if they don't, they won't be able to understand me anymore because I will block them. Finally, I see this situation as this: This was God's way of telling me that I should be more focused on praising & worshipping Him, instead of chasing Paulette. This whole situation has helped me to learn that there are more things in life than just Paulette. To this day, I never worry about Paulette because I believe that she is doing fine and she is safe with her husband and family. I never necessarily needed her to make my life "whole" nowadays, per se. I'm just having fun being me and doing my show and chatting with my new friends! 

Whaling City Festival

Well,it is almost that time of year again! In July,it will return---the Whaling City Festival!! Since I moved to the West End Of my hometown of New Bedford,I have always enjoyed the Festival when I was a young'un,collecting Garbage Pail Kids cards & playing cards--you know,the whatnot. I also bought baseball caps & other stuff while with my family UNTIL 1999,that was when I got my license and with that in my hand,I am now able to go to the Whaling City Festival solo! The lone wolf rides alone at the Festival,woot! Up until now,I had the tradition of taking 3 days off from work just to attend the Festival. Now,with hours I got from my job,I do not have to worry about that! Well,what is there at the Festival? Well,since you people out there who are reading this wanna know,I will be happy to tell you! For starters there is a "food court" there,there is also a carnival with rides that reek of awesomeness!! Wrestling shows are there as well as a car show on Sunday and a flea market and stages with entertainment like music and magic tricks and crazy animal races. The cool thing about the Festival is you never know who you're going to run into there. People that I have not seen in YEARS,let alone months,pop in there from time to time. I have always going on the rides,especially the Scrambler & Tilt-A-Whirl,especially when I have my Walkman and sing my brains out until my voice goes hoarse,lol. I always aim to have a great time there and I am looking forward to going there again this year! It is gonna be great! Plus,I will be wearing my "I Bring It" t-shirt this year! And my little nephew will be attending his first Festival this year! I can't wait! :)

Missing My Ruby Tuesday Family

I am approaching the 1 year anniversary of my departure from the job that I worked for 15 years as a dishwasher at Ruby Tuesday. June 25,1995 was the day that I got hired by the restaurant,a young energetic manager named Kenny Woodrow interviewed me and I was greeted by then-server at the time,Toni Barra--who was the first RT employee to greet me. I got the job thanks to my church friend and then-RT cook Jason Esposito. He trained me about the basics of the dish machine and the dishpit and I took it from there. Over the years,I have worked with so many wonderful & awesome people(aka co-workers). They were so cool! The managers there prior to February of 2010 were awesome. There were times where I had my bad days there but I forged on,being happy and doing the best job that I can. There are female co-workers I had a crush on over the years but about 99.9% of them were taken(shucks). But they still remained my friends and they are still very sweet! As a tribute to them,I am posting up pics of them to show that I will NEVER EVER forget them as long as I live! :)

Millennium SuperMix

Well, music has been part of my life since I got Michael Jackson's Thriller cassette album when I was a kid and always listened to songs on the radio and recorded them on my cassette tapes(yeah, I STILL have cassette tapes, I am totally old-school). But whenever I go somewhere or be with friends and whatnot,I would hear a song playing somewhere and then whenever I hear that song at home, it would remind me of that person, place, or thing. I really don't know why that is but it just does, I am weird like that. So here my top songs in different categories/situations I went through, remember some lists may vary between top 5 & top 10. All these songs I have decided to name the Millennium SuperMix! 

Top 5 Songs That Remind Me Of My Childhood

1) Steal Away- Robbie Dupree

2) Little Jeannie- Elton John

3) Rock With You- Michael Jackson

4) Arthur's Theme(Best That You Can Do)- Christopher Cross

5)We're In This Love Together- Al Jarreau

Top 5 Songs That Remind Me Of The North Dartmouth Mall In The '80s

1) You Should Hear How She Talks About You- Melissa Manchester

2) More Love- Kim Carnes

3) I Can Dream About You- Dan Hartman

4) Turn It On Again- Genesis

5) Take Me Home Tonight- Eddie Money & Ronnie Spector

Top 10 Songs That Remind Me Of My YMCA Latchkey Days

1) Search Is Over- Survivor

2) View To A Kill- Duran Duran

3) Good Enough- Cyndi Lauper

4) Into The Groove- Madonna

5) I Feel For You- Chaka Khan

6) Rhythm Of The Night- DeBarge

7) Walking On Sunshine- Katrina & The Waves

8) Borderline- Madonna

9) Thriller- Michael Jackson

10) Rock Me Amadeus- Falco

Top 5 Songs That Remind Me Of My Days In Dennison Memorial

1) Wipeout- Fat Boys

2) La Isla Bonita- Madonna

3) True Blue- Madonna

4) Papa Don't Preach- Madonna

5) Greatest Love Of All- Whitney Houston

Now the next 2 top 10 lists I am about to present to you are songs that remind me of a friend of mine that I once HAD a crush on: Paulette Costa. She was cute when I first met her and my methods of impressing her was too Urkelesque and then in 1995, she started dating my good friend Ruben Pimentel. Needless to say, I was heartbroken & angry at her. Imagine my reaction when I found out about their breakup in early 2002, after being engaged in 2001--I was shocked. She ended up getting married to someone else in 2004 and now has 2 children. She found her man, she has her happiness. As for me when it comes to women, I will have to be patient but maybe having a woman in my life is not meant to be for me, I don't know. Being single might not be all that bad, I can be totally myself without embarrassing any woman who decides to date me. 

Top 10 Songs That Remind Me When I First Had A Crush On Paulette

1) Just For Tonight- Vanessa Williams

2) Rush, Rush- Paula Abdul

3) I Don't Wanna Cry- Mariah Carey

4) Can't Let Go- Mariah Carey

5) That's What Love Is For- Amy Grant

6) Hooked On You- Sweet Sensation
7) Baby, Baby- Amy Grant
8) My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)- En Vogue
9) Saving Forever For You- Shanice
10 ) I Wish I Was Your Lover-  Sophie B. Hawkins

Top 10 Songs That Remind Me When I Was Heartbroken By Paulette

1) Someone To Love- Jon B/Babyface

2) I Can Love You Like That- All-4-One

3) Thank You- Boyz II Men

4) Don't Turn Around- Ace Of Base

5) I'll Be Loving You- Collage

6) I Wanna B With U-  Fun Factory
7) Keep Their Heads Ringin'-  Dr. Dre
8) For Your Love- Stevie Wonder
9) Total Eclipse Of The Heart-  Nicki French
10) (I Just) Died In Your Arms-  Intonation Feat Joee

Now the final list I am going to present is a top 10 lister here.

Top 10 Songs That Remind Me Of My Days As A Ruby Tuesday Employee

1) Macarena- Los Del Rio

2) Dare To Fall In Love- Brent Bourgeois

3) No Diggity- Blackstreet

4) Say You'll Be There- Spice Girls

5) Fly- Sugar Ray

6) Tubthumping- Chumbawumba

7) All Mixed Up- 311

8) Two Princes- Spin Doctors

9) Gangsta's Paradise- Coolio

10) California Love- 2Pac

The last Top 10 songs list were played on the radio in the Ruby Tuesday kitchen under 2 radio stations: FUN 107 & 95.5 WBRU. Plus, one of the songs on the list was heard by me once over the P.A. system in the front of the house in the restaurant. This was when Ruby Tuesday was a fun place to work at. 

Well, when I quit Ruby Tuesday back in April of 2010 and went to work for the Swansea Mall in May of the same year, I never liked it over there. What made the experience worse over at the Swansea Mall is the songs that mall played and here are the Top 5 songs I hated and will always remind me of the nightmare of working at the Swansea Mall: 

1) Need You Now- Lady A
2) Hey,Soul Sister- Train
3) Bad Romance- Lady Gaga
4) All The Right Moves- One Republic
5) Impossible- Shontelle 

2010--An Altering Year

Wow, in about 3 days 2011 will be upon us! I am looking forward to that! But before we get to 2011,I'm going to take a quick look back on 2010!! Let's start with the tremendous changes that have occurred in 2010--2010 started off the same as always in January of 2010 but on February 2 2010, when I entered Ruby Tuesday (my workplace at the time) ,there was startling news the shook the very core of the Dartmouth Mall's resident restaurant: Christopher Vieira, the RT GM I have worked for & respected for 8 years was fired from there. I was shocked & saddened to say the least. He was replaced by a gentleman named Bao Huynh. Not long after, another manager--Toni Barra, got the ax as well. I was devastated because these two great people, who I have the honor of calling them my friends, has helped me during my days as a RTD Team Member. Toni was replaced by another manager named Tim Cabral. For the next 3 months, I tried to do my best at Ruby Tuesday but one by one, everyone I knew there started to leave & my hours were getting cut down to one day a week. I could not take it anymore so I got a job at the Swansea Mall doing housekeeping work full-time, I started May 1st and worked there for a while. During my time at Swansea, I felt very uncomfortable & unhappy there as well, as a result, my hours were getting cut also. But thankfully, the company I work for--SMS--also runs things at the Dartmouth Mall, so I went there & they needed someone for exterior housekeeping, so I took the job there on a part-time commitment until the full transfer can be complete--which occurred July 3,2010! After that, I am now a full-fledged member of the Dartmouth Mall team! At the same time, however, Bao was transferred to Taunton Ruby & was replaced by an old friend, Allen Frazier & another old friend, Anthony Martone, was on as kitchen manager. I hope they can help out Ruby Dartmouth get back on its feet again. Now, I am happy at the Dartmouth Mall, feeling no more stress & feeling more relaxed than I have ever been! Outside work, however, changes occurred at the home as well. My brother-in-law & sister, Brandon & Korah Haskell ,have returned home with a baby on the way in May. I was excited about that. Then I have made new friends on a chatroom known as Tinychat--props to my peeps there! My new job was great, no worries unless I make a mistake though and I made a few, but they are minor ones that can easily be fixed however. Then during this year, we added a new room addition, which looks awesome!! This means more room in the house & possibly more company, let's see what happens in that situation! Plus, this year was a year of moving up in the technology world for our family--I got a new phone! And this holiday season was a memorable one for me! We have held Thanksgiving & Christmas in our house for the 1st time in years! Oh, I am a proud uncle to Trustin-Cruz Cory Haskell, who was born on Dec 7,2010! Plus, another sign I am moving up in the technology world: Unexpectedly, I got a Wii for Christmas!! To me ,this tops Christmas of 1990,when I got Super Mario Bros. 3 for the NES at the time! Plus, I reunited with my former co-workers at the Waterstreet Cafe in March & at the Inner Bay Restaurant on Dec 11,2010--that place was where I broke my camera. Henceforth, I have bought new camera so I am back! Also, the Red Sox acquired first baseman Adrian Gonzalez in a trade with the San Diego Padres & signed outfielder Carl Crawford to a 7-year,$128 million dollar deal! They also added closer Bobby Jenks, and set-up specialist Dan Wheeler to contracts as well & they even brought back Lenny DiNardo! I also witnessed changes in the Dartmouth Mall, Dream Machine has been replaced by Tilt (which has better games than the Swansea Mall Tilt) & at the end of this year, McDonald's will no longer be there. Plus, the original creator of the Power Rangers, Haim Saban, bought back the franchise from Disney and is now opening a new season on February 5,2011 called Power Rangers Samurai, I can't wait for that!! So, that was what happened in my life in 2010! 2011,here I come!! :)

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!

Why is Christmas my all-time favorite holiday of the year? I'll tell you why! First and foremost it is the birth of Jesus Christ,our Lord and Savior! But I also love Christmas for many other reasons as well! First,it is the decorations!! Every year sometimes I ride with my family to go to a get-together or party,we usually check out which houses are decorated for Christmas and we get amazed every year! It really rocks! Then we got the music...man,I gather up all my favorite Christmas songs together in a cassette tape(yeah,I'm old-school!) and put them in it and call it a Christmas Supermix! I recently got Mariah Carey's new Christmas CD called Merry Christmas II YOU. Haven't listened to it yet,but I'll get around to that! Then,there are the movies! Hey,Home Alone and Home Alone 2:Lost In New York are my Christmas favorites but the cartoon Christmas specials that I watched back in the day--too radical!!! I liked Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales,Fat Albert Christmas Special, and the DVD I just bought fron Best Buy a few years back and it was one of the coolest Christmas Specials I have ever watched in my life:He-Man & She-Ra:A Christmas Special. Now we move on to the parties. When I was young parties were okay I mean getting together with family & church friends is pretty cool! But when I started working for Ruby Tuesday in North Dartmouth,we had Christmas parties that were pretty awesome! I was one of the few sober people there but I tend to liven things up with my dance skills! I had some crazy times with my Ruby Tuesday peeps. Plus,I also look forward to getting together with my relatives on my father's side of the family-they always have this big buffet full of food and that's rad in my book. Alas,however,since I now no longer work at Ruby Tuesday,those parties I once enjoyed will no longer be there. Okay,enough of being bummed for 3 seconds,the final thing I wanna touch base on why I love Christmas is the gifts! Giving gifts are important but it's tough on what to get your loved ones sometimes and you want to get a very nice gift for them and with the economy the way it has been,you couldn't. It's rough. But the gifts I got were cool as well from cassette's to CD's and one time I got 3 games from the Nintendo Entertainment System : Tetris,Tetris 2, and my all-favorite games for the NES : Super Mario Brothers 3! That game I just mentioned was the highlight of my Christmases! I was really excited about playing it and that reinforced my love for Christmas! Well,this holiday season will be a special one this year,I am about to become an uncle for the 1st time in my life and I am honored by that distinction! So,I wish everyone who reads this a Happy Thanksgiving,Happy Holidays, and a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!