Miles from Fenway

I'll be honest, I haven't been in the best of moods lately. I've been working almost constantly with no end in sight, I haven't been sleeping well, I've just been sort of ... I don't know ... blah. It's not to say that I haven't had some great nights out the last few weeks, or that I haven't had any stories to tell around here, I just quite simply haven't been up to it.

But this morning - for no particular reason other than I was fast asleep by 9:45 last night - I woke up with a smile on my face. It was a smile that persisted through my commute. As I stood on the 4 train, with Gomez flowing through my ear buds, I kept smiling at random moments. I'd be subtly mouthing the words to the songs and not realize it. Well, I didn't realize it until a man sitting in front of me caught my eye and smiled. I was a little embarrassed then, but that didn't stop it from happening again just a few minutes later.

As the guy got up to get off the train a few stops later and I moved in to take his seat, he looked me straight in the eye and said " It was so nice to see someone in a good mood on the train. Thanks for starting my day off with a smile - have a good one."

I rocked out a little bit harder to the music after that.

Labels: misc., music, NYC

posted by FINY @ Friday, March 07, 2008 3 comments

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Welcome Back

I've got no excuses to make, no explanations to give, but I do sort of wish I could see the looks on some of your faces as you read this, because that's right - I'm back. So much has happened! The Red Sox have won the World Series (I've got pictures from the parade to prove it), The Patriots went 16-0 in the regular season (got photos from that one too), I've travelled up and down the East Coast for all sorts of reasons. Hell it's an entirely new year! To those of you who have been giving me a hard time (yes I am looking at you) you can quit it now. To those who have been checking in - thanks for not giving up on me (and there really are a surprising number of you. I checked my sitemeter for the first time today since August, and I have to say I was a little amazed). And to those of you who have commented, emailed, etc. I sincerely apologize. Especially to Mattysox - sorry I missed your trip to NYC.

So let's just jump right back into it, shall we?

Labels: blogging, misc.

posted by FINY @ Wednesday, January 09, 2008 5 comments

Monday, August 27, 2007

I Miss The Innocence I've Known

I'm a pack rat. There are no two ways about it, I save EVERYTHING. Ticket stubs, programs, cute pictures small children have drawn for me. Eventually they all end up in shoe boxes stored under beds, in closets, behind chairs. Occasionally as I'm cleaning or trying to find something I'll root through them, reminisce a little, and then promptly put them back to once again begin gathering dust.

A few weekends ago, while I was at home in Rhode Island, I was given an ultimatum. There was an entire closet filled with evidence of my sentimental nature taking up space in my parents home. I was to go through it all, throw out what I no longer remembered the significance of, and indicate what deserved saving so it could be sent to its new home: the attic.

Some of the oldest stuff dated back to middle school. All those self-important diaries in which my apparent hatred for my mother, and love for some kid I don't even remember, was splashed across the pages. I found a small Happy Meal toy a guy I liked freshman year of high school gave to me. I found prom photos, knick-nacks, a red sox themed soda can from 1995, all of my sheet music from All-State choir, a flower Steddy brought me my sophomore year of college from his sister's wedding.

What amazed me was how vividly I remembered almost all of the items in these boxes. Each layer revealed something I had thought once long forgotten, when in fact it was actually just deeply buried - awaiting some visual cue to come crashing back to the forefront.

One of the items that gave me the most pause was a stack of letters written to me by one of my best friends in high school. Matt had been a few years older than me and the only way to describe my feelings for him is to say that I loved him in a way that only a girl who's never had her heart broken can. Innocently, naively, and completely. The letters were filled with what we then thought were hugely important issues. We were yet to be jaded then, untouched by the real world.

This trip back through childhood continued this weekend when I attended a Brooklyn Cyclones game out on Coney Island, which was immediately followed by hours of riding the Cyclone and various other vomit inducing rides and playing games to win a small stuffed gorilla that I probably could have bought at a toy store for a buck. Sure I didn't grow up in Brooklyn, but it reminded me an awful lot of Rocky Point. (To all of you Rhode Islanders out there - tell me you don't still remember the theme song ... "Come with your family, come with your friends, that's the Rocky Point tradition 'cause it's summer time again!").

As my friends and I were flung about like rag dolls on a ride called the Break Dance, I laughed with an abandon I hadn't in what felt like ages. I may only be able to vaguely remember the innocence that came along with the younger years, but it's nice to be reminded of a time when you absolutely believed in the good in the world, and your biggest concern was whether you were going to lose your lunch on the Music Express.

side note, title of this post borrowed from the lyrics of Wilco's "Heavy Metal Drummer"

Labels: misc., NYC, Rhode Island

posted by FINY @ Monday, August 27, 2007 1 comments

Friday, July 27, 2007

My Name Is Zoom ...

I've talked before about the song that my mother plays for me on my birthday each and every year. The song, which has lodged itself into a loop in my brain, was played yet again this morning, over the phone, as my family finished preparations for a weekend long trip down to NYC to help me celebrate my birthday.

And after much searching, I finally found a youtube video in which the song can be heard. Which means I FINALLY know all the words. I literally try to find these every year, so this is a pretty big discovery for me. So of course, I clearly need to share them with all of you:

All systems are go for your message to Finy

Hey Finy, it's your birthday
I'm in charge of the stars and I'm here to say
Hey Finy, you're the big start, today!

My name is Zoom and I live on the moon
And I came down to earth just to sing you this tune
Cause Finy, it's your birthday, today!

A present for you I wanted to find,
An outerspace creature, a one-of-a-kind,
A wild wop or a kookoochoo
An applethwop or a buzzardsnew
Or maybe a three eyed tickleshnay
For your birthday

Did you ever ask, "Ah what's a kookoochoo?"
Well up on the moon it's nothing new.
But that won't do for you!
On your birthday

I've searched behind the clouds and stars
I even Zoomed my bike to Mars
And met my friend, the Saucer man
And he said "Hey Zoom, I've got the bestest plan,
What your friend needs, is something new!
So how about a song, just from you!"

And so tonight, when you're in bed
I'll be singing to you as I zoom overhead
Singing Finy, Happy Birthday
Singing Finy, Happy Birthday
Singing Finy, Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Finy, see you next yeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Labels: family, misc.

posted by FINY @ Friday, July 27, 2007 8 comments

Monday, July 23, 2007

Pieces of Me

The two thin white lines on my ankle were courtesy of a cat whose name I can't remember. A cat owner myself now, I realize that all she wanted was to play. She was lonely and I hadn't stayed with her long enough on that particular trip to refill her food bowl. But as a youngster who had never lived with a pet before, I was terrified. I left so quickly after her teeth sunk into my skin that I didn't even lock the door. I ran the three blocks to my house with tears streaming down my face and blood trickling into my sandals.

The raised skin on my knee came from the pavement of Robin Christy's driveway. She and her family had recently moved into a new house just blocks from the previous one that had been two doors down from my own. I was anxious to be with my friend again. My bike was not as anxious as I, as if it was confused by its new surroundings.

The bubble-like mark on my left side is a reminder of my struggle with the chicken pox. And it was a struggle. As a fifth grader I developed a secondary infection and was only hours from being hospitalized when my fever finally broke.

The discolored circle on my left elbow I blame entirely on Ms. Hayes. She was the teacher in middle school that everyone was afraid of. When a particularly heated game of dodge ball found me gushing from an open wound she denied my need for a trip to the nurse. The doctor later said I should have received stitches.

On my left hand you'll find what looks like the beginnings of a wart, but is instead what is left of an extra appendage. I was, technically, born with six fingers on my left hand. It didn't have any bone or muscle tone, but it was there none-the-less. They tied it before I left the hospital and told my mother to expect it to fall off. It did, but the weirdest part is she never found it.

A little below each of my ears, right where the jaw bones connect, two small incision marks can be found, the only outward remnants of the jaw surgery I endured when I was seventeen. It is still amazing to me that there are six screws in there, holding together a jaw that was unhinged, broken, had pieces removed, and then completely realigned.

There is a faint line in my right eyebrow where hair still will not grow. While riding around the neighborhood on bikes with some of the girls who lived nearby, a few of the boys decided to start chasing us. One of them stuck his foot in front of my front tire, meaning, no doubt, to scare me. Instead, the front of my bike stopped short sending me headfirst into the pavement and my glasses frames straight into my eyebrow. The ensuing concussion was so bad I threw up into the phone that night while trying to tell a friend what getting stitches felt like.

In reality, the reason most of those scars are there is the psoriasis I was diagnosed with when I was young. My scar tissue builds up faster than most people's. But in an age when scars are removable, wrinkles are hidden, and imperfections erased, I feel a certain warmth towards each and every one of these physical memories. I pass a walk-in Botox clinic on my way into the office every morning and think "Maybe it's because I'm still so young, but why would you try to hide your age? That you've lived a life worth living, no matter how seemingly insignificant the memories attached to the wrinkles, scars, and marks are?"

Maybe one day I'll get it, but I doubt it. Bring on the laugh lines.

Labels: misc.

posted by FINY @ Monday, July 23, 2007 4 comments

Friday, June 15, 2007

Life Blood

Coffee falls into the stomach ... ideas begin to move, things remembered arrive at full gallop ... the shafts of wit start up like sharp-shooters, similes arise, the paper is covered with ink...
- Honore de Balzac

I've spoken before about the important role NYC coffee carts occupy in my life. But really what makes them so great is finding those carts that if you go to them every day, you get to know the people working in them.

The woman on the corner of 59th Street and Lexington Avenue is one of those women. No, I don't know her name, but every morning I am greeted with a huge smile and a steaming cup of hot coffee made just the way I like it (without so much as asking for my order). How can that not be a great way to start a day?

But today I received devastating news. Today is her last day. Her mother is ill and she'll be taking an undetermined amount of time off to care for her. To be honest, I am going to miss her. If only because I've actually had three separate coffee cart guys ask me out on dates over the past five years, mistaking their knowledge of my coffee preferences as a knowledge of me as a person. This woman not only was a sweetheart, but I could also be fairly certain she was harboring no feelings towards me that would then create awkward interactions and then force me to find someplace new and start all over again training someone else on the intricacies of my coffee (you know ... three sugars with half and half).

Maybe I'll go down for a second cup of coffee today. As a matter of fact, I'm going to go do just that.

Labels: misc., NYC

posted by FINY @ Friday, June 15, 2007 3 comments

Thursday, May 31, 2007

I Just Asked Myself For Money

I loved college.

Ok, we all did. The freedom from parents, the lack of real responsibilities, the underaged drinking without thinking about the ramifications, wandering into an early morning class in your pajamas. Oh yeah, and the carte blanche to study basically anything you can imagine. What's not to love?

But I REALLY loved Emerson College. I could go into a long list of why, but you'd all just end up getting bored. Let's just say I was that student. The one that by the end of her senior year was teaching a leadership course, running the school literary magazine, working for Student Life, serving as the class treasurer and a member of basically every committee the school had.

What I didn't realize was that when you build up that kind of reputation at a school, it sticks with you even years after you've graduated. So when I got a call from Emerson's Alumni Department about a year ago asking if I'd be willing to serve on my reunion planning committee I felt almost like I couldn't say no. Especially since one of the reasons given for asking me was BECAUSE I was so involved while enrolled.

And that's how I ended up asking myself for money. I just received a letter in the mail that began "Dear Finy" and ended "Sincerely, Finy". With my position on the committee, and my experience writing direct mail campaigns, I became the one to write our "class giving" letter. I didn't think about what that would mean when I received the letter. And I laughed out loud when I saw it.

And then I promptly gave myself $50.

The small side note to this is that I leave tomorrow for Boston to attend the reunion. If I don't get a chance to blog before then, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Labels: Boston, college, misc.

posted by FINY @ Thursday, May 31, 2007 4 comments

Saturday, May 19, 2007

You Know What I Hate?

When, for the first time in weeks, you actually have the opportunity to sleep in - but instead are wide awake by 7am and there's not a damn thing you can do about it.

At least there's a Sox double header to look forward to today.

Labels: misc.

posted by FINY @ Saturday, May 19, 2007 1 comments

Thursday, May 10, 2007

The Lessons Not Learned

I think I missed a day in health class back in middle school. Perhaps it was when I was almost hospitalized with the chicken pox? Or maybe it was even younger than that, maybe they taught this lesson when I missed a few days in elementary school when that mean boy from down the street chased me on my bike and I flipped over the handlebars and landed on my face.

Whenever it was, I seem to have missed a lot of the "How to Be a Girl" lessons. Sure I got the "How to Wear Your Emotions On Your Sleeve", the "101 Ways to Increase Melodrama". I especially enjoyed the "The Art of the Chick Flick" class. I even took some cross over courses. "The Art of the Infield Fly Rule" was a good one. As was "Across the Line: The Evolution of Icing in the Game of Hockey".

But as I sat around my office today, chatting with fellow coworkers about the sample sale going on 14 floors below and comparing purchases, I felt like the kid who skipped a grade because he did well on one test only to realize he should probably be in remedial reading. I'd been so proud lately that I'd finally been wearing heels on a consistent basis. That the occasional eye shadow would grace my lids. Hell, I even felt downright sexy in the dress I wore to the gala last week!

Then the comments started coming – in the friendliest fashion possible of course.
"You do have the right brushes to apply that eye shadow, right? And that you should probably wear eyeliner with it?"
"You should wear more belts they'd give you much more of a waist."
"That lipstick probably isn't the best color for your skin tone."

Now, who knows, they're probably right, but here's my question: Where the HELL are you people learning this stuff? I have no idea what kind of skin tone I have or which eye shadow will accent my blue eyes well. I've figured out that black is slimming, but damn, how much black can one person wear? (Ok, I live in New York, so actually, quite a bit).

So is there some sort of summer school I can go to to catch up on this shit? I'm a pretty hard studier, I am sure I can make up for the lost time. Or maybe a cheat sheet I could get? Is there a Cliff's Notes out there somewhere?

I never did like feeling behind at school. Now I just feel behind at life.

Labels: misc., work

posted by FINY @ Thursday, May 10, 2007 5 comments

Monday, May 07, 2007

An Exercise in Pictoral Excuses

Yes, I have been absent over the last few weeks, months, etc. But really, I've got some pretty good excuses.

First, I went to a Sox game at Yankee Stadium where I watched Dice-K pitch and the Sox win:

And ate a lot of peanuts:

After the game, I got way too wasted when the Twin showed up at Prof. Thom's after a 6 month absence. But he wasn't alone, he had the new-me with him. I held it together while at the bar, but the evening ended with me crying on the sidewalk in the Welshman's arms. Look for a post soon about the rules of post break-up behavior. I think The Twin needs a memo.

So the next day I was hoping the Sox would cheer me up when I attended the second game in the series. That didn't happen, since they lost, but at least I got to watch Wakefield pitch.

The third game in the series was watched at Thom's. Much beer was imbibed during the day. And into the night. 12 straight hours of drinking does not a good blogger make:

After a few days break in which I recovered from said weekend, I went to a very swanky and very successful Alzheimer's Association Junior Committee gala:

At which I was the PICTURE of decorum:

Two days later I was at a Cinco De Mayo party in Boston:

That didn't end until the sun was rising:

Long story short? I'm such an ass that I am not even going to promise that I'll be blogging more now (even though I will, no really, I swear).

Labels: Alzheimer's, baseball, blogging, Boston, dating, drinking, misc., NYC, photos, Red Sox, sports, travel

posted by FINY @ Monday, May 07, 2007 3 comments

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Words Are My Weakness

It was a good thing I brought my most recent Time magazine with me. Typically, my subscriptions to Time and Sports Illustrated serve as reading material for my breakfast in the morning, occasionally my commute. I'll get an article in here and there. I hardly ever have the time to sit down and read through an entire issue in one sitting. But Saturday was a bit different.

Two hours, two subways, and a bus ride later, I found myself in the far reaches of the Bronx, having read through the entire issue I had brought with me, and walking towards a Barnes and Noble just blocks from Co-Op City.

I was on my way to meet Dave Copeland, an online friend who, one of his recent posts reminded me, I've "known" for a little over two years. Having just released his first book, Blood and Volume, Dave was doing a reading and after having heard about the project for so long on his blog, I was excited both to finally meet him, and to get my hands on a copy of the book.

Neither disappointed. Dave's just as friendly in person as I expected him to be, and the book? Let's just say that it's a good thing I had finished my magazine on the way to the event because there was no chance I was reading it on the way home. The two hours flew by as I was completely drawn into the world of the Israeli mafia members that populate the pages of Blood and Volume.

Now normally, I'd feel a little bad about overly praising the work of someone I consider a friend. It ends up sounding just so incredibly biased. Mainly because it is. But when you think about it, this one makes sense. I mean, I got to know Dave online through his blog, so really - it was his writing that drew me in the first place. What can I say, I'm a sucker for someone who can string a sentence together.

Of course there were a few awkward moments in the afternoon. Dave not being able to remember my real name when going to sign the book for me (though in truth, I've had that problem with others in the past - if Dave blogged under a pseudonym the way I do I am sure my first inclination would have been to call him by it). And I would have loved to have been able to hang out a bit longer, but with Dave surrounded by actual friends, I ended up feeling like the would-be online stalker girl or something. And nobody wants to be that girl.

So off I went, having picked up a great book, a new "real" friend (as Dave's inscription in the book so aptly put it), and an interesting start to what turned out to be a very packed Saturday.

But more on that later ...

Labels: blogging, books, misc., NYC

posted by FINY @ Tuesday, April 17, 2007 2 comments

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Slacker

There are a million things I should be doing right now. Not the least of which being that I should be at the bar watching the Sox game instead of listening to it on the internet. Or putting away my laundry. Or, I don't know, eating dinner.

But thus far, this job has been sucking the life out of me. I'm too tired to do shit. Now don't take that the wrong way, I am still enjoying it, and it's challenging me in all the right ways. But I was thrown into the very end of a project that I had no part in planning, and that I am now heading up. It's taking ten hour days and an assertiveness that I didn't know I had in me. Like I said, challenging, but in a good way.

It has, however, adversely effected my blogging, as some of my friends have mentioned to me more than once (and I love that I am hearing from my friends ... who see me all the time, and yet are still giving me shit about not updating). I didn't realize how writing for, editing, and revamping a website all day would make me less than enthusiastic about hopping on the internet as soon as I got home. So bear with me folks. Hopefully this weekend home (yay Easter!) will do me some good and I'll get back into the swing of things when I return.

Labels: misc., work

posted by FINY @ Wednesday, April 04, 2007 2 comments

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Dressing the Part

Business Casual. It can mean so many things. To most of the places I've worked it's meant just that. Look presentable should a client, author, or executive come in, but wearing a blazer to work would be taken as a sign that you were looking elsewhere and had an interview that day.

Not the place of new employ. Oh no. They say business casual, they mean business. I've somehow managed to find a nonprofit organization that is more corporate than most major corporations I've worked for.

At first, it kinda irked me. Mainly because it meant I had to go out and buy new clothes (thank God for that raise). Suddenly I'm wearing more skirts than I thought possible. I've had to relearn how to walk in heels. I've been digging dress pants I forgot I had off the top shelves of closets.

But you know what? There might actually be something to this dress code thing. I'm feeling more confident, more competent, more, I don't know ... dare I say it, professional. Like I actually deserve the sweet office with the amazing view that somehow got bestowed upon me.

At first I thought this newfound energy and excitement were from simply, you know, finding employment. But I really do feel great walking out the door all dressed up every day. Sure, I am positive that a few months from now I'm really going to miss wearing jeans on Fridays. But then again, in the last two days, I've had four different men actually tell me I could be a movie star/actress/model. And who wouldn't love that?!

(and no, I am not going to mention that three of them were over the sixty mark and the fourth was one of our cafeteria food service guys ... a compliment is a compliment, damnit!)

Labels: misc., work

posted by FINY @ Tuesday, March 13, 2007 6 comments

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Blogging From Starbucks

I am currently watching the NESCAC Men's Hockey championships online. In Starbucks.

This is interesting only because my little brother is playing in the game. And are down 3-1 at the beginning of the third period.

And I am trying DESPERATELY not to scream at the computer screen.

While at the same time, trying to flirt with a relatively cute guy who sat down with me at the table, happens to be from Maine, just a few miles from where my brother goes to school, and is a Sox fan.

Talk about multitasking.

Labels: misc.

posted by FINY @ Sunday, March 04, 2007 3 comments

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Happy Hearts Day!

Well, I made it back from Boston in one piece. The 36 hour trip was tough but worth it. The interview went VERY well, and they've already been in touch via email to let me know that they are trying to figure out when everyone would be free to see me for a second interview. But now I am just trying to finish prepping for my interivew here in NYC in a few hours, so you'll have to excuse me while I change the subject.

So Happy Valentine's Day everyone. This is one of those holidays that whether I am in a relationship or not, I always completely forget about it until it's almost here. I've got plans tonight with my buddy Ryan to play pool. We made the plans last week, and until Monday, I hadn't even realized we had made the plans for Valentine's Day. Oops. Luckily we're going to a tiny little dive bar that is not exactly going to be packed with VDay dates so it shouldn't be too crowded.

Anyway, I hope you all have a very Happy Valentine's Day. Update later today on how the interview this morninng went.

Labels: dating, misc., Unemployment

posted by FINY @ Wednesday, February 14, 2007 1 comments

Monday, January 29, 2007

It Really IS A Small World After All

It's a small, small world.

The song has been running through my head lately (and now probably through at least a few of yours). It's easy to think that in a city of a couple million people it would be easy never to run into people, never to have that kind of random coincidence type of moment. But in the last week, I've had more than my fair share. Luckily, all of them were in a good way.

Thursday of last week, I went out to drinks with my Philly Fan Friend (Let's call her PFF for short) for drinks. While we were out playing darts we ran into a guy that works at the company that I had my first job out of college. In and of itself, not random, right? Thing is this guy is based out of Boston, is rarely in NYC and just happened to be staying at a hotel across the street. Add to that that he is about four rungs up on the corporate ladder than I was when I was there, and just happened to be handed the resignation of one of his team members just hours before seeing me, and you've got a very productive coincidence. He asked me to send him my resume, which he has since passed on for consideration. Small world episode number one.

The other two both happened on Saturday night. The Midwesterner, The Guy Magnet and I went out for a night on the town that night. Just out of the relationship with Barnard Boy, wearing my glasses, and not feeling all that up to trolling for men, I was going along as the wingwoman. I just needed to get out of my apartment.

A few hours into the evening we're leaving a bar and I run into an exroommate, her boyfriend, and their friend (hi guys!) who I hadn't seen in ages. I had never been to the bar we were at, and we were just leaving as they were coming in, but it was fantastic to see them and remind myself that I really should give them a ring to hang out soon. Small world occurrence number two.

Number 3 is really the most bizarre though. That same night, at our third bar of the evening, I am starting to get sick of this scoping men out thing. Since I wasn't in the mood to meet anyone for myself and the girls were pretty focused on it, I was getting a bit bored. So I separate from them for a few minutes and head out to have a cigarette where a guy asks me for a light. We start talking, and yes, ok, kind of flirting, and he and his friend join the girls and I for a drink inside. As this guy and I are talking I ask him where he's from.

Guy: Rhode Island.
Finy: No way, me too. Where in RI?
Guy: Barrington.
Finy: *Stunned Silence*

He's from my hometown. No joke, we went to middle school together. We don't remember each other, but MUST have had some of the same classes because we had all the same teachers, and we're the same age/class (though he went to private high school while I continued on in the public school system). We know some of the same people, and our houses were probably a mile and a half apart. We spent the next THREE HOURS talking about home, who we knew, retelling stories from middle school, where we go when we go home now, etc. etc. etc. I left the bar that night and still couldn't believe it.

Moral of this story: "Though the oceans divide and the mountains are wide, it's a small world after all."

Labels: dating, drinking, misc., NYC, Unemployment

posted by FINY @ Monday, January 29, 2007 4 comments

Friday, January 19, 2007

Why Netflix Sucks

Because on top of the fact that anxiety has caused me not to sleep in the last three weeks, I am now just finishing watching Discs 2, 3, AND 4 of Season 2 of Grey's Anatomy, and I CAN'T. STOP. WATCHING. It is now 3am. This is a problem, people. A serious, serious problem.

Labels: misc., Unemployment

posted by FINY @ Friday, January 19, 2007 5 comments

Tuesday, January 16, 2007