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!

RIP Dream Machine At North Dartmouth Mall (1979-2010) And welcome Tilt (Dec 2010-present)

 

                                                                   

                                                                    

Back in October of 2010, a major fixture at the North Dartmouth Mall has closed its doors. This place was known as Dream Machine. Since 1979,Dream Machine was a hangout for teenagers throughout the years. I remember first going there back in the day. It had games like Pac-Man,Ms. Pac-Man, and even Baby Pac-Man. Heck, I even saw Galaga & Arkanoid there! When I started my first job at Ruby Tuesday in the North Dartmouth Mall back in 1995, I try to do frequent visits over there at Dream Machine! I played games like Super Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat 3, X-Men:Children Of The Atom, Marvel Super Heroes, Mortal Kombat 2, & Martial Champion. But I never beat an arcade game even though I can beat games on consoles at home but I NEVER beat a game at the acrades until 1997 on an early work day at Ruby Tuesday. It was a slow day over there and my manager sent me home for the rest of the day since I came in early that day. The date was March 24,1997--the time --10:40 AM. After changing,I headed up to Dream Machine to take on the newest game from Capcom: X-Men Vs. Street Fighter. I used the teams of Chun-Li & Gambit and Chun-Li & Wolverine. It tooks me a few tries but on March 24th, I have finally beat the game! I was happy and I will NEVER forget that day! I went on to beat that game for a total of 20 times! How awesome is that?!?! Then 2 more games invaded Dream Machine: Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 & Marvel Super Heroes Vs. Street Fighter. On Marvel Super Heroes Vs. Street Fighter, I beat that game as well. I did it 15 times! I used teams like Chun-Li & Wolverine, Spider-Man & Captain America, and the thunderous team of the Incredible Hulk & Zangief. But the challenge was the end-boss: Cyber-Akuma--he was a tough customer! Then when the North Dartmouth Mall Food Court was put in Dream Machine's place, Dream Machine was moved across from the Food Court. While there,I only played one game there: Marvel Vs. Capcom. I wasn't able to beat it despite the fact that I used Chun-Li & Morrigan with fighters like Megaman,Gambit, & Wolverine. The end-boss, Onslaught, is the toughest boss yet in the game. But I managed to rank #1 in high scores,that was it. But once it was removed from Dream Machine,I never went back to play there again. Years later,I changed jobs to actually work for the North Dartmouth Mall and about 3 and a 1/2 months later I got the job at the North Dartmouth Mall doing exterior housekeeping,it was gone. After being the mall stalwart for 31 years, Dream Machine is no more. I will never forget Dream Machine,so many good times there. Farewell, Dream Machine---you will be missed. Now a new arcade has replaced Dream Machine and it is called Tilt and the arcade store is like the Dream Machine of old, featuring some of the old-school arcade games I played back in 1995,'96,and '97. It also included Marvel Vs Capcom 2. 

To commemorate my time over at the Dream Machine at the North Dartmouth Mall, now called just the Dartmouth Mall, here are some of the games I have played there: 

           X-Men: Chidren Of The Atom.....my first fighter I used in this game was Silver Samurai. 

         Marvel Super Heroes....my first fighter I used in this game was Wolverine, which would help me                                         in future Marvel/Capcom collaborated fighting games.

          X-Men Vs. Street Fighter: Although, Marvel & Capcom did their first collaboration with the side-scrolling beat-'em-up game The Punisher, this was the first time that Marvel and Capcom did a collaboration for a crossover fighting game with new features that became a mainstay for future Marvel vs Capcom crossover fighting games. This was also the first arcade game that I beat at Dream Machine and I used the EGM2 magazine recommended team of Chun-Li & Gambit before I moved on with Chun-Li & Wolverine. 

Marvel Super Heroes Vs. Street Fighter: Once again, my main team was Chun-Li & Wolverine and this                                                      was the 2nd arcade game I have beaten!

Before this game moved to Dream Machine in its final years, I played this game when it was at the AMC Movie Theater at the Dartmouth Mall. I used Chun-Li with three different partners: Wolverine, Gambit, and the newest memeber of the Marvel/Capcom collaboration fighting franchise: Morrigan Aensland from the DarkStalkers series. Of all the Marvel/Capcom fighting collaboration series games, I did NOT beat this one but I DID score #1 ranked in this game. 

Before this game came to the Dartmouth Mall via TILT, I played this game at the Millennium Arcade at the Harbor Mall in Fall River. I used the team of Cable & BB Hood (who were added to the game) along with Morrigan. I also used the team of Iron Man, War Machine & Mega Man and the team of Wolverine, Felicia (representing the DarkStalkers) and Sabretooth.