n i c k y n a x . c o m

This is week twenty-two in my personal “If… Project” in which I answer questions from the book “If… (Questions for the Game of Life)”

There are 125 pages of this book, each with four questions. I plan to take one page each week and answer the questions as thoroughly and honestly as I am able. In addition, I invite you to answer the questions along with me, whether it be in the comments section, your own personal blog, or just within your own thoughts.

Perhaps in doing so, we will get to know each other better, but even more importantly, get to know ourselves better.

This week’s questions:

If you could decide how to spend your last day alive, what would you do?

Wow. I guess we’re not going to ease into that question this week, are we…

I’m not sure I would want to know it was my last day, but that’s neither here nor there. I guess I would like to spend it surrounded by all of my family and friends. And just sharing some final moments together. Remembering good times. Laughing (if that’s even possible considering the circumstances). Just being together. I think it would be a beautiful way to leave and would perhaps give me strength and courage to face the end.

And…just answering that question has caused me to start crying. Thanks, If Project. Thanks a lot.

If you could decide what will be written on your gravestone, what would you have inscribed?

Seriously?! Is this macabre week in the If Project? What the hell?!

“To die would be an awfully big adventure…”

If you could choose the single most valuable thing you ever learned, what would it be?

Virtually anything from Conversations With God.

If you were kidnapped and allowed to telephone one person for one minute only, who would you call?

The police? Can I call the police? They’d probably be able to trace the call and find me. But were I not able to call the police, I would call my mother and tell her I loved her in case I was not ever rescued.

Those are my answers to this week’s questions. What are yours?

This is week twenty-one in my personal “If… Project” in which I answer questions from the book “If… (Questions for the Game of Life)”

There are 125 pages of this book, each with four questions. I plan to take one page each week and answer the questions as thoroughly and honestly as I am able. In addition, I invite you to answer the questions along with me, whether it be in the comments section, your own personal blog, or just within your own thoughts.

Perhaps in doing so, we will get to know each other better, but even more importantly, get to know ourselves better.

This week’s questions:

If you could make a gift of one thing to any single person alive today, who would it be, what would give them, and how would you present it to them?

I would build a log cabin style home for my mother and it would be located in the Rocky Mountains in the Estes Park area of Colorado. My mother has always been in love with that area, and for her to have a permanent place to live in (whether it be full time or just on visits) would be something she would really love and would mean a lot to her. It would have gorgeous views of the mountains so she could sit on her balconies (heck yeah, there’d be more than one) and enjoy. I’d make sure there would be a lot of bird houses and what not as well because she also loves birds and I would want those around her home at all times as well. But not in an Alfred Hitchkock-y sort of way. That might put a damper on the gift.

To present it to her I would take her there on vacation under the guise that I had rented the home for the weekend, and after she fell in love with it I would reveal to her that it belonged to her.

If you could have composed any single piece of music that already exists, which would you choose?

Oh wow. Tough choice. I think I would forego any pop music and go to something instrumental. Perhaps something classical or from a movie score. John Williams is never a bad choice, but there are too many to choose from. Canon in D has always been a piece that I’ve loved. Rhapsody in Blue is quite impressive. Then again, there’s always the theme from The Golden Girls.

Gosh darn it! This question blows! Now all of the Disney songs are running through my brain and I want to pick those too.

I just spent a good half hour trying to pick an answer and I can’t. I just can’t choose one.

If you were invited to join one current musical group, which group would you want to be a member of, and what instrument would you play?

I wish I had answered these questions a few years ago when N’Sync was still together, because that would totally be my choice. I always secretly wanted to be in a boy band. And I wouldn’t place an instrument. I’d be a singer because my dulcet tones are not to be wasted. Or something…

If you were to receive any existing public award, what award would you like to win?

Something for the entertainment industry. Like an Oscar, Emmy, or Tony. One of those. Or all of those.

Those are my answers to this week’s questions. What are yours?

Today is my 28th birthday, and while it may be a tacky thing to do, I’m going to ask you all to give me a gift today.

The gift I would like from all of you won’t cost you any time or money, and is much easier to give me than you may think it will be.

The gift I would like from you is the commitment to go Vegan for one week.

One week. Seven days. Twenty-one meals.

That’s all I’m asking. That’s all I want.

To celebrate the passing of another year in my life, I encourage you to celebrate all lives. The gift you give to me will be a gift to all animals.

One week. That’s all I ask.

This is week twenty in my personal “If… Project” in which I answer questions from the book “If… (Questions for the Game of Life)”

There are 125 pages of this book, each with four questions. I plan to take one page each week and answer the questions as thoroughly and honestly as I am able. In addition, I invite you to answer the questions along with me, whether it be in the comments section, your own personal blog, or just within your own thoughts.

Perhaps in doing so, we will get to know each other better, but even more importantly, get to know ourselves better.

This week’s questions:

If you could bring back any past leader of your country to run the country again, who would you want?

Our economy is in a giant shit hole right now, and something needs to be done to bring about change to that situation. I believe it was FDR who did some amazing things (such as The New Deal) for our country during the period following the Great Depression in order to turn the economy around and get America turned around and back on its feet. So, I would hope that he could repeat his magic and give our country some much needed help with this problem.

If you could own any building in existence, which would you pick?

I know everyone is going to groan, but I gotta stick with Disney on this one and say I would want to own (and live in) Cinderella Castle. Architecturally, it’s a stunning building that exudes strength and fidelity while also remaining graceful and fantastic. And the magic and fantasy that it symbolizes can not be beat. And the view from the top has got to be remarkable!

If you could choose exactly what you will eat and drink for your last meal before death, what would the menu consist of?

Could I make it an unlimited buffet? There is just so many different foods that I love that I would want one last taste of them all. I adore hummus, so I would need some various hummuses (hummi?) on the table. I also love pastas, so some pasta dishes are required. Lots of tofu cooked in various ways. Mexican food is also a must. Some non-dairy ice creams would be lovely for dessert along with some pumpkin pie. All Vegan, of course.

If you could own any one existing sculpture from anywhere in the world, but not the right to sell it, which one would you want?

A few weeks ago we had a question about sculpture and I mentioned how I don’t really know much about it, and I have not learned a lot about it since, so I don’t have a whole lot to go on. But since Peter Pan is one of my favorites, it would be nice to own the Peter Pan sculpture from Kensington Gardens.

Those are my answers to this week’s questions. What are yours?

I guess they can’t all be winners.

The trip to Atlantic City was, for the most part, a comedy of errors. Minus the comedy.

The day started off badly with the rental car having a virtually empty tank of gas when we got it, thus delaying us in getting started as we now had to find a gas station and fill it. And then traffic ended up being a complete nightmare.

The total traveling time from NYC to Atlantic City is approximately two and a half hours. Two and a half hours into our journey we were just finally leaving NYC. There were construction signs, yet no construction to be seen anywhere. There were police cars and ambulances, yet no accident to be seen. There was just bumper to bumper traffic that would not budge.

We finally got into New Jersey only to get lost twice and half to backtrack. That was all due to the horrible signage. But even if we hadn’t had those two minor detours, it wouldn’t have gotten us to Atlantic City any faster, because traffic was still a nightmare. It was another two hours until it finally thinned out enough to reach the 60 mile per hour mark on the speedometer.

So, about six hours after we started our journey, we finally arrived in Atlantic City. It was 6:30pm and we had only enough time to glance at the Boardwalk and grab a bite to eat before we had to be at Harrah’s to see the show.

We ended up at a restaurant called Sonsie where the menu left a lot to be desired for a Vegan. I ended up with a plate of lettuce drizzled in a vinaigrette, and some grilled broccoli rabe and tomatoes.

Inspired.

We finished dinner and made our way to Harrah’s with the clock ticking. There were no parking spots to be found in the parking garage, so Kevin dropped me off to run inside to get our tickets from the box office before the closed while he continued to find a spot. When I tried to pick up the tickets, they needed to see ID, and since the tickets were under Kevin’s name, they needed his. So, that didn’t work. He ended up having to valet park and got to the box office to pick up the tickets about 5 minutes after the show started.

We ended up missing the opening number, which is arguable the best number in the show. And then it turned out that the show had been cut for the casino.

You see, when Broadway shows play in a casino venue, often times they are required to cut the show to ninety minutes, because the casino does not want their patrons sitting in a theatre for two and a half hours. They want them back out on the casino floor buying drinks and losing their money on the slot machines.

So, the show ended up being really short with a lot of our favorite songs cut out. Bummer.

After the show, we met up with Kevin’s friend (she was in the show) and we ended up at a bar next to her hotel. And this was the beginning of the most enjoyable portion of the trip. They had $1.50 beer, interesting locals, and some of the worst karaoke I’ve ever heard in my life.

I had a bit to drink and ended up stealing a random cup that was just laying around before capping off the night by giving a giant horse statue a rimjob.

Yes, you read that correctly.

There’s no photographic evidence of that, but it was caught on video. It may appear in an upcoming Field Trip, so keep your eyes peeled for that. I know horse rim jobs are high on everyone’s wishlist, and I aim to please.

Went back to the hotel room and called it a night. Got up early this morning and drove back to the city. This time it only took the normal two and a half hours, but even so we were less than five minutes late in returning the rental car back by noon. Enterprise closes at noon on a Saturday. Who in their right mind closes for business at noon on a Saturday?!

So, we had to drop it off at the next nearest Enterprise location which ended up being LaGuardia airport. There were issues with catching the bus and finding a cab, so we started walking in hopes of finding one or having one stumble upon us, and the next thing you know we had walked all the way from the airport back to my apartment.

And that was the conclusion to a weekend that, on the whole, ended up being pretty crappy. And even though it was pretty crappy, I’m still glad I experienced it. And at moments, had a pretty good time.

I learned a valuable lesson on this trip. It doesn’t matter where you go or what happens while you’re there. The thing that matters most is that you surround yourself with good people and enjoy their company first and foremost.

And I did.

It’s a known fact that the game of Monopoly is based on the city of Atlantic City, New Jersey. And it’s also a fact that I will rolling the dice and hoping to pass Go and get my $200 reward tomorrow.

My birthday is on Monday, and my gift to myself is a five-day weekend from work. During the time off Kevin and I have decided to go to Atlantic City to see a friend of his in a tour of one of his favorite musicals.

I’ve never been there before, and I love to travel and see new places and things, so I’m pretty excited to get out of the city and get away. Unfortunately, due to his job schedule and the fact that neither of us are independently wealthy, we only get one day there. I’m hoping we have enough time to do at least one other thing aside from the show, but to be completely honest, I don’t really anything about Atlantic City other than the Monopoly connection and the fact that it’s a poor man’s Vegas. The casinos aren’t really my cup of tea, so I’m not really sure what else I may even be interested in doing there.

I’m trying to keep myself free from any expectations whatsoever, and just let the trip happen as it happens and enjoy the spontaneity of it. Not an easy task for me, as I am one of those people who like to plan, organize, spreadsheet, color code, and alphabetize things like this to the point where even I’m disgusted with myself. And putting my trust in Kevin that he has arranged transportation and a place to sleep and hasn’t forgotten anything.

Spontaneity is a little bit scary. And a little bit exhilarating!

Other than this quick trip to the Jersey version of Sin City, I have no plans for my birthday. Kind of bummed about that. I had hoped to have a longer trip to somewhere a bit more exciting planned, but things just didn’t work out this time. I kinda held on to the false hope of some incredible travel deal popping up and being able to whisk away somewhere for too long, and now it’s verging on too late to plan any gatherings here with friends. I still have the several days off from work, and a few days of relaxation around the house without anything to do can do wonders for the soul, so I’m thinking I may just take some quality me time.

Maybe I’ll take some time to do some things around the city that, for some reason or other, I just haven’t done in awhile or ever.

Or I may just sleep until noon every day.

And it’s not as if I don’t have that big trip I was hoping for coming up.

Kevin’s birthday is a couple weeks after mine and we’re going to Orlando (obviously) for a week to celebrate. So, I may just tack on my birthday to that trip as well and make it a belated birthday event.

And you fans of Field Trips better hold on to your hats, because we have some big plans for the show while we’re down at Disney. It’s gonna be a mini-series of epic proportions!

Or would that be a Minnie-series?

This is week nineteen in my personal “If… Project” in which I answer questions from the book “If… (Questions for the Game of Life)”

There are 125 pages of this book, each with four questions. I plan to take one page each week and answer the questions as thoroughly and honestly as I am able. In addition, I invite you to answer the questions along with me, whether it be in the comments section, your own personal blog, or just within your own thoughts.

Perhaps in doing so, we will get to know each other better, but even more importantly, get to know ourselves better.

This week’s questions:

If your home were to be totally destroyed by fire but you could save just one thing, what would it be.

It wouldn’t be a “thing” at all. I would save Miss Jackson. She is a living being, so as her caretaker, I have a responsibility to put her above material possessions and show her the love and care she has shown me for over five years now. She is my non-human animal companion and I would never forgive myself if I chose not to save her from a fire.

If you were to have your friends, in private, attribute a single quality to you, what would you want it to be?

I would want them to attribute a strong sense of humor and the ability to share that with others upon me. Laughter is something that is very important to me, and I can’t imagine living a life without it.

If you had to kill someone you know, who would it be, and how would you do it?

I don’t like this question. I don’t like this question one bit. I can’t even fathom what it would be like to kill someone or having the amount of hate or fear in myself to actually do it. I’m abstaining from this question on the grounds that I just don’t even want to entertain the thought.

If a photograph of one part of your body were to be used in an advertisement, which part would you want to be used, and for what product or service?

Not often, but on occasion, someone will ask me if my eye color is real or fake. I’ve never thought of them as all that out of the ordinary, but I guess some people do. So, perhaps my eyes could be used for an advertisement having to do with something vision related.

Those are my answer’s to this week’s questions. What are yours?

That is the question.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted an entry that wasn’t about my Invisalign experiences or one of my “If…” entries.

I’ve been having a hard time lately trying to figure out what parts of my life are blog-worthy. And at the same time, trying to figure out which of those things are too important/personal to blog.

I don’t want to be one of those people who write entries like…

Today I slept through my alarm and was almost late for work. Yikes! I made it on time though. Thank goodness. I had a really good sandwich from the deli for lunch. I’ll have to get it more often. After work I went to the gym and watch Oprah while on the treadmill. I <3 her! Now I’m just watching tv and snacking on potato chips. I’m such a fattie! LOL. Peace out, guys!

And at the same time, I don’t want to be one of those people who go too far and write things like…

Today, my wife informed me that for the past year and a half she’s been having an affair with my brother. In our bed. It’s been happening while I’ve been taking our twin daughters to their weekly dance classes. I always wondered why she never wanted to take them, and now I know it’s because she would rather my brother be “taking her.”

And, oh yeah, I also found out today while the doctor was checking my prostate that I am a great candidate for anal bleaching. I’m definitely considering it! I’ll post some before and after pictures to show you what it’s like! You’re welcome!

Obviously, those are two extreme exaggerations, although anal bleaching could be fun. But I think they represent fairly well the two ends of the spectrum. Figuring out what is a bit more exciting than the first example, but not so personal that it becomes the second example is proving a bit harder than it really should be.

Mostly, it just becomes an issue when it involves someone else. I never know if I should be talking about something that involves another person without their permission, and constantly having to ask people “Is it okay if I mention blah blah in my blog?” isn’t my cup of tea.

What’s the general protocol for things like this? What’s the netiquette rule?

Anyway….

I guess there are a few things I’ve been up to recently.

I registered for the next Walt Disney World Marathon, which takes place in early/mid January. I’ve slowly started to do a little bit of training for it as well, though that’s been a bit unpleasant as the weather has been pretty hot lately. But last year I didn’t really start training until well into September, so I’m hoping that by starting a little earlier this year, things will go even smoother during this, my third marathon. But for the time being, I’m finding it more difficult than I would have hoped to get back into the swing of things.

After my first marathon I had stopped running completely until a few months before the second marathon and that lapse in training caused me some difficulty in getting back up to snuff. I had promised myself I wasn’t going to let that happen this time, but, well, old habits die hard and I fell victim again.

I made my reservations for the hotel as well, and will be staying at one of the resorts at which I haven’t yet stayed. I’m looking forward to that as I’ve always been interested in the idea of staying at each one of the resort hotels at least once.

In other news, my birthday is coming up, and I have absolutely nothing planned for it. Yet again. Last year, I had this great plan to go away for my birthday weekend, and then my flight ended up cancelled while I was sitting at the gate waiting to board, and the weekend was ruined. This year, I just have no great plan, and even if I did, I have no real funds with which to do it.

Not only has the Invisalign taken away a good chunk of change each month, but due to the horrific state of our national economy and the domino effect that has on business and personal lives, I’m no longer able to enjoy the same income I’ve grown accustomed to (and budgeted my entire life around). So I can’t really afford to do anything as extravagant or exciting as I would wish. I’m just going to have to do some creative thinking and see if I can find some cheap alternatives for an exciting birthday.

I have a five-day weekend off of work for it, and hate the idea of just spending them at home or around the city doing things I could do any time. I would love to possibly go somewhere nearby as a day trip (or a two day trip), but can’t come up with anything that tickles my fancy. I’m accepting any ideas you may have.

And in closing…

I think I’m gonna get my anus bleached tomorrow night. Peace out, guys!

This is week eighteen in my personal “If… Project” in which I answer questions from the book “If… (Questions for the Game of Life)”

There are 125 pages of this book, each with four questions. I plan to take one page each week and answer the questions as thoroughly and honestly as I am able. In addition, I invite you to answer the questions along with me, whether it be in the comments section, your own personal blog, or just within your own thoughts.

Perhaps in doing so, we will get to know each other better, but even more importantly, get to know ourselves better.

This week’s questions:

If you could have any single writer from history write your biography, who would it be?

This is where my lack of being an avid reader comes into play. I don’t really know a lot about literature. I’m going to pick someone that, at first consideration, I didn’t really consider a “writer” in the normal sense of the word, but after thinking about it, I think she’d be perfect. And that person is Anne Frank. She spoke with the voice of a real person. She was able to so eloquently put into words the things that people think about but don’t realize they think about until after someone else puts them into words. The diary entries of this child still serve as the voice of millions of people over sixty years after they were first written. I would want Anne Frank to write my biography.

If you could have one current writer write your biography, who would you pick?

Oh come on. That’s virtually the same question. And just for that lame variation of a question, I’m going to give you a lame answer. JK Rowling. Because she’s popular.

If you could forever eliminate one specific type of prejudice from the earth, which would it be?

Naturally, I would love to be able to eliminate them all. But if I had to pick just one, I think it is understandable that I would choose one that would affect me personally. So, I would choose homophobia and the inequality that homosexuals in today’s society still face.

If you could transport everyone you are with at this moment to another place, where would you all go?

I guess I can opt out of this one as I am alone right now other than Miss Jackson. And I have no clue where she would be interested in going, so I can’t choose based on her preferences. But I’ll go out on a limb and make a guess that she would enjoy a place that has a bunch of those cat jungle gym sort of things to climb on and toys to chase and play with. Although as soon as we got there, she’d probably give it one glance and lay down and go to sleep.

Those are my answers to this week’s questions. What are yours?