As far back as I can remember, my mother was fascinated by angels. This is many years before they became a new age trend in the 90's. At the time, all I knew of angels was the little bit I had learned in church. The arch angel Michael defeated Lucifer in the war in heaven, then the angel Gabrielle appeared to Mary to tell her she was pregnant with the Son of God. They always seemed to be singing in choirs or sitting on the top of Christmas trees, which cannot be very comfortable. When I was stationed in Germany, I found the most beautiful angel tree topper I had ever seen so I bought it for my mother. It was very detailed and ornate, and most importantly, the angel did not have the top of the tree shoved up her gown. There was a piece of cord on the back of her wings that held her to the top of the tree. I did go on to research angels just before they became the "it" thing in spirituality. I was very amazed to find out that other than the concept of one higher power, they are one of the only thing most religions have in common. And not just the ideas of angels, but the actual arch angels are the same across many cultures. I have an angel tattoo on my arm that I'm actually getting redone this winter. She's what I imagine my guardian spirit looks like. Long red hair, pale skin and bright green eyes. How do I know what my guardian spirit looks like? I don't know, I think I've always just known. About 7 years ago, I was at a BBQ with a friend. She was the only person I knew there. I was standing by myself outside smoking just after sunset when another guest arrived. Her name was Lisa. She came in through the back gate. She introduced herself to me and we chatted for about 5 minutes. She kept looking past me like there was someone standing behind me. It gave me the creeps, so I finally asked her who she was looking at. She hesitated a minute and then told me that she's always been psychic and can see spirits. This was pre-"The Sixth Sense" so save your "I see dead people jokes." I just nodded and said, "Go on." Then she said, "Who's the woman standing behind you with the long red hair?" I said without hesitation, "It's my guardian spirit." Lisa asked me what her name was and I said I didn't know. So Lisa told me that all I had to do was ask her. She said that when I got home and was laying in bed, just as sleep starts to take over, ask my guardian spirit her name. I did just that and when I woke up the next morning the first thing I said out loud was "Hi Ahren."Last Tuesday, the women from work went to Blackstones with me on my birthday. We shot some pool and everyone had a beer. It was really fun. The only person missing was Eleanor, who had a Dr's appointment. The rest of last week, she kept asking me when I was going to write about it in my blog. I never got around to it because I figured writing about my birthday the day before my birthday and then writing about the festivities the day after would be overkill. Still, I knew I had to write something for Eleanor. This is where all this angel stuff is leading to.
Eleanor collects angels. More importantly, Eleanor believes in angels with all her heart and soul. She is, by far, one of the nicest people I have ever met. On top of being nice, she is selfless. She has a house full of kids and grandkids that she takes care of. On Friday evenings she goes over and cares for her elderly parents. She also babysits for people evenings and weekends. So, now you're wondering, when does Eleanor have time for herself? She really doesn't. Other then when she's sleeping, Eleanor spends all of her time helping others. As a housing officer at Portland Housing Authority, she is overworked and underpaid like the rest of us. Regardless of how busy she might be, she's always has an extra moment to help someone out. Or in my case, an extra week. When Marilyn, the housing officer I assist, was on vacation for a week, Eleanor stepped right up to the plate and helped me make it through that week. Working at PHA can be incredibly frustrating, but Eleanor never takes it out on anyone else. Even her most frustrating clients are greeted with smiles and cheer. Eleanor is a woman we could all learn from. She's the woman that Ty Pendleton should build a house for. She's the woman who should win the lottery. She's the woman who, I hope and pray, someday will be rewarded for all of her selflessness over the years. If I ever win the lottery, I'll most certainly give her anything she wants.
I've been thinking about writing this blog for a few days now. Today, I was sitting on my couch, flipping between two train wreck reality shows (I'll get to them in a minute) and this commercial came on television for the ASPCA and the theme song was "Angel" by Sarah Mclachlan. I knew that was my "sign" to come in and write this for Eleanor. So Eleanor, this is for you.
Now lets talk TV. What the "F" is "I Love New York"? Haven't we had enough of people being famous for nothing? Her show is disgusting at best. She is nasty, unattractive and vile. She calls her mother "sister" and they basically prostitute her out to all the men in the house vying for her attention. The men are trash. They're too stupid to be exploited by the show, they're just happy to have their ugly mugs on television. I watched one episode of it today and all I could think of is that this is the example of the lowest common denominator of our society. As my mother would say if she watched it, "Don't these men have mothers?" And she would be disgusted by the fact that New York (what a stupid nickname) has her mother on the show with her and she's even worse than New York. Her bad hair weave and 3 inch fingernails. And she has the nerve to be horridly judgmental of the men on this show. The men are given these horrible nicknames like "It" and "Cheezy." As I'm watching the show today, I wondered, why does someone as vile as New York have her own show and all this money when she admittedly is only in it for the money? Then you have someone like Eleanor who makes a life for herself with very little and spends all her time helping others? It blows me away.
The other train wreck reality show I watched was "Making Menudo." Do we need another Menudo? I mean, really. I only caught a few glimpses of this show, but it's beyond bad. Most of the young latin boys aren't that skilled at singing or dancing and I'm sure a few of them are gay. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I mean Ricky Martin was in the first Menudo. The problem is, these boys are marginally talented at best. Their singing voices are high and whiny. Their music director comes off like a bitter has-been fag bossing these boys around. This one boy asked him for his note during music rehearsal and the guy started yelling at him, "You NEVER tell me what to do. GOT THAT? NEVER!" Mommie Dearest anyone? Seriously, grown men should not be yelling at young boys like that. Especially not on television. The poor kid just asked for his note. And do we need another manufactured singing group covering the songs of other marginally talented manufactured singing groups? What next, "Menudo Singing the Hits of B2K" or "The Backstreet Boys Singing the Spicegirls Greatest Hits!" Do the producers of this show really think these boys will take the world by storm? Aren't we tired of this crap yet? O-Town anyone? How about anyone one of P-Diddy's singing groups? This is just ridiculous to think it's going to work. These boys range in age from 13-17 and they were sitting around talking about their looks and personal style and how some of them aren't attractive enough. WHAT???? Most people who are attractive adults were not attractive as kids. Do we really need to impose these horrible ideals on these boys? I'm boycotting this show. I think there should be a children's advocacy group not only watching this show, but on the set the entire time. This show also caters to the lowest common denominator. Pimping out marginally talented boys so the managers and agents can get rich. It's digusting.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm part of that lowest common denominator since I gave the shows even a minute of my time, but at least I don't enjoy them. I hear people talking about the "I Love New York" show like it's even the slightest bit real. Haven't people caught onto the fact that most reality shows are scripted, staged and planned? With YouTube and reality TV, I don't think we've actually seen a true spontaneous moment on television in years.
Now onto the Red Sox. First I loved that Denver beat Phoenix because I don't have much affinity for the state I grew up in (AZ). I loved it even more when we beat Cleveland because I could rub it in my Aunt Datie's face. Now we're spanking Denver and I can rub it in the faces of my relatives there. Not only me, but Andi's family lives in Denver too. They were at last night's game. Tickets to the World Series must be amazing except when you have to watch your team lose. And yes, I realize they're the Boston Red Sox and not the Portland Red Sox, but they're a New England team. And besides, Beckett came up from our farm team. Go Sox. Go Sox. Go Sox. I now have a lucky Sox cap--thanks Kate--and my dog is named Jacob "Manuel Ramirez." We're all the luck they need. Congrats SOX on an amazing run. Winning all four games in a row is quite the feat! You done good. :-)
Happy autumn everyone!
