Big Leather Couch: Internet Friendships

Showing posts with label Internet Friendships. Show all posts

Friday, November 24, 2006

Sparks Of Insanity By Vinny "Bond" Marini Thursday, November 23, 2006 27 Of Your Sparks

"FRIENDSHIP"

THE COUCH hopes you, who live in the US had a marvelous Thanksgiving filled with family, food and fun.

We ate like monsters here and it is not after 11pm and my tastebuds are crying out for a turkey sandwich with stuffing and maybe a little cranberry sauce and we am fighting the urge!

May not be able to beat it off.. will let you know.

THE COUCH is going to make this one of my shorter posts ever...just tired and to be honest, have no clue what today should be about.

There are many subjects we want to share with you all, but do not feel today is the proper time.

Friendship
By Ray Charles
BestAudioCodes.com

Your comments fom my 13 this week made me feel so warm. Especially those of you who are out there in the bloggosphere who have just become friends.

Bud, your comment that you felt like you cared for those you did not even know made me feel that this is working. This attempt to communicate to the world...to share my life and soul is beginning to succeed.

Not in an egotistical way but in a fulfilling way. When THE COUCH began, we never cared if anyone was here. There were times we felt that was so and then we would get an email from a friend complimenting us on a comment.

That happened last week again and it surprised us to know that Tim stopped here many days.

The people we visit each day bring us into their world and share their joys and sorrows and we fel like we know them so much better.

THE COUCH is just so thrilled to have found you all...

HAVE THE BEST WEEKEND!

St. J - P.B.U.A.Q.B.

Thanks for sitting on THE COUCH, hope you enjoyed your stay.

Light A Candle For The Innocent Victims Of Online Child Pornography HERE

FIND AN OPPORTUNITY TO PAY IT FORWARD!

Remember .. Nets For Malaria - UNFoundation.org/malaria - find the big SI's Nothing But Net logo ... Or call 202.887.9040. Every cent goes to buying nets to place over the beds of children in Africa to stomp out Malaria. PLEASE HELP.

Keep that spark of insanity kids...It helps keep you an individual.

SONG INDEX: Source: allmusic.com
FRIENDSHIP: Composer: Cole Porter

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Janie B; NY Yankees; Soul Patrol & THE COUCH

Sparks Of Insanity By Vinny "Bond" Marini Friday, September 22, 2006 23 Of Your Sparks

Welcome To THE COUCH...Sit on Down and Get Comfy...

Good Morning from a chilly Northeast...the switch was flipped and the summer is gone.

I received word earlier this week that another college friend has been taken from us way too early.

Janie B. Weiss of Cleveland, Ohio was a TKE Little Sister and someone who I spent many many many days and nights laughing with and drinking with and getting in trouble with, both at school and when she and I lived in NYC.

As often happens, we unfortunately lost touch with each other the last 15 or so years.

She passed in her sleep, which isn’t the worst way to go, but sadly, left behind a husband and family and a ton of friends.

I went to the blog where one of her friends set up an area for people to leave their memories.

Today would have been Janie’s 50th birthday. Happy Birthday Janie!

Somehow, yesterday I did not congratulate THE NY YANKEES for their 9th Division Title in a row.

It is kind of funny, since in June and July the subject on sports talk radio in the NY market was whether this was the year the Yankees would be shut out of the post season. Boston would win the American League East and in the American League Central division the Detroit Tigers would be champs and either the White Sox or the Minnesota Twins the wild card entry, the talk was there was no way THE YANKEES would get in.

How things change…and in some ways stay the same.

Which leads me to a question posed by THE COUCH’S friend Tezero on her “It’s Just Tez” site.

Yesterday, Tez posed an interesting question and with her permission, I use her opening here:

Imagine, nine months ago most of us had never heard of this gray haired soul singer.

Nine months has changed our lives in so many dramatic ways. We have made new friends. Many of us have traveled more in the last nine months than ever before! We have laughed at our own foolishness, we have wept with those who have lost loved ones, and we have shared our hearts, our souls with one another.

And now here we are... nine months since our 'meeting' with Taylor Hicks.

What will you 'give birth' to from this experience??

What creation has now come of this encounter? We have books, DVDs, cds, troop support groups, jewelry lines - so many things have been spawned.

But what about YOU? What will you deliver from this gestation?? What are you taking from Taylor, mixing with a part of you and 'birthing' for the world to see?

I commented on her site and that comment is repeated here:

I have grown also Tez.

I learned some painful lessons the last nine months and I also learned some wonderful lessons.

I also learned that the underdog can win. The guy who was told ..."They will never put you through to the final round" and "You look like someone’s father at a wedding getting up to sing" - that guy who brought us together just kept looking past the negative comments and looking out at the TV camera and telling us..."Just hear my voice"

Now with THE COUCH people hear my voice...sometimes I miss a note or two...but mostly I think the "songs" I sing are appreciated.

Now, to continue those thoughts today…

People sometimes look at you funny when you talk about your online friendships. All they think of are the horrible stories you hear about – the predators out there. They question whether those people you are chatting with are truly who they say they are.

I have been traveling the Internet for over 10 years now. I have been in hundreds, if not thousands of chat rooms and met thousands of people. Have all of them been true to their word? Absolutely not.

But in the last nine months I have been a part of an incredible group of people.

What makes this group incredible?

One reason is that we were all drawn to this gray-haired guy, who stood in front of three judges and simply said, “I just want my voice heard.” Then he opened his mouth and brought many of us back to the music of our youth…when songs were sung with heart and soul…no pun intended. (To explain to those who are not aware, one of Taylor Hicks’ original songs is called “Heart and Soul”).

I remember when I first came onto the AI boards, people wondered if Taylor had Tourettes or Cerebral Palsey, due to his movements when he sang.

I laughed and tried to explain it was the way the music moved him that caused those reactions, not some illness he suffered.

That was when a woman, who went by the name of Housewife, invited me to come to the threads that honored this man, not ridiculed him.

I became a member of the SOUL PATROL that day.

For the next 5 months, each week, Taylor Hicks was told he was good, but not the best. But his fans kept him in the competition. Each week he thanked them by simply shouting out “SOUL PATROL!”

Another reason this group is different is that we have never hidden the warts we all have. As a matter of fact, in some instances, some of the people I have met have told others things they never thought they would tell anyone, including their own family members.

The stories of broken hearts, of living with depression, of abuse by family members and spouses…the nasty underbelly of life many keep holed up inside.

Some of those people have admitted, that without finding this group (again, thanks to one man), they might have done things none of us ever want to admit to.

And then there are the joys we have shared. The people who have met and have found love. Yes, there are a few instances of that in the group.

Others have looked inside and realized they were missing a part of their lives that they had pushed aside due to “real world” goals. The creativity blossoms within this group now.

I am a perfect example of that. I don’t know if THE COUCH would have existed if I did not become a member of this group of on-line friends.

Many know the story of THE COUCH and how it originated. Some do not.

The short story is, while on the American Idol boards, the moderators worked by a set of rules that seemed to morph each day. One day you could say something, the next you were not allowed.

Our main thread THE OFFICIAL SOUL PATROL thread was deleted over and over. One day, when the thread was deleted, another one was started and I posted in a joking fashion that I was getting tired moving the BIG LEATHER COUCH from thread to thread, so I was just going to start a thread where it could stay permanently.

Many posted back – "GREAT IDEA"…so THE BIG LEATHER COUCH thread was born.

Of course, even that thread was deleted a number of times…but it always came back into existence.

When I decided to find a place to- originally post my reviews of the show- there was never a doubt that THE BIG LEATHER COUCH, would be its proper name.

What about the others? Well, only a few examples are:

Our friend Dana discovered she could write marvelous little stories about the group and it’s un-official (or is it official?) mascot, Bessie The Cow.

Over the last few months she has written a story for over a dozen different people where they are rewarded with an experience with Taylor Hicks.

Now, to those of you not involved, this all may seem trivial to you. But to many people the fun these stories bring…the smiles they bring…the laughter they bring…is a welcomed intrusion into our daily lives.

Our friend Sue has begun writing poetry again and smile more then she did in the beginning.

Anndi is the softie in our group, though she insists she is not.

Travis admits to playing music and writing more since he came into our group.

We now have nine different people writing blogs.

As Tez pointed out…many of the group have flown to other parts of the country to see concerts together.

But, I have always believed the concerts were secondary. It was the opportunity to meet, in person, those people who have become second and third families to many.

I even got to experience that, with the aid of a few of my new friends.

As you read here, a few months ago, over a hundred flew into Birmingham, Alabama to catch the AI concert and then the real show afterward with Taylor and his band. I missed this trip, but got to live it through the stories that are still being traded.

There were lunches, and get-togethers and karaoke sessions that weekend…and there was laughter and fellowship and love also. And there was the Red Velvet Lounge, where Bento welcomed all who wandered in.

How many out there can say that a chance meeting online has affected their lives like it has this group?

I am a 52-year-old man who watched the show on and off over the years and two seasons ago dialed the phone a couple of times for the contestant Bo Bice.

This past season, I waited each week to hear what Taylor Hicks would sing, and many weeks he touched me with his songs.

Yes, there were weeks, I wondered why he sang what he did and I knew he was not the best, but I knew he had better in him and I voted. Often.

The world outside has not heard the real Taylor Hicks yet. Those who have heard his two self-produced albums, or those who have seen him in concert with his band, know the passion he brings to his music. The soul that is deep within his heart.

Soon, the world will hear it when he releases his first album. He is fighting the people at the record company to not push out anything. He is fighting to make the album his way. He will succeed….

You see…all he wants is for the world to "hear HIS VOICE".

And all he did for a few hundred people is allow them to rediscover their voices.

Not bad for a gray-haired guy … and I know about them!

Thanks again to Tez for sparking this discussion

Enjoy your weekends…

See you all Monday!

Thanks for sitting on THE COUCH, hope you enjoyed your stay.

FIND AN OPPORTUNITY TO PAY IT FORWARD!

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Blogs Galore And A Warning

Sparks Of Insanity By Vinny "Bond" Marini Wednesday, September 20, 2006 15 Of Your Sparks

Welcome To THE COUCH...Sit on Down and Get Comfy...

"Warning Today's Post Will Not Make You Smile"
(This warning will be explained later in the post)

Welcome to my world...

In the past few weeks, I have added numerous sites for friends who have picked up this blogging thing. I wonder if Blogger has some sort of referral program where you get credit for people signing up to their site.

I also wonder if it would be a better idea if I set up a domain and migrated all my friends there...Blogger is always causing propblems it seems as they upgrade their service...That would be a project I am not sure I can do at this time, but it is a thought for later on someday...

Today we add "It's Just Tez" from our friend Tezero and "AngellZ-Secretz" from our friend Angell. Check them both out when you have the time. Welcome ladies...

Now Angell is on "double-secret probation" because of her cutting remark about THE COUCH in the opening of her posting...so she will be watched carefully over the next months...

But it got me to thinking that maybe it was getting a bit stale here at THE COUCH. Wondering if it should be more personal...or if the various areas I cover from time to time is the way THE COUCH was meant to be formulated.

Since I began I have commented on sports, politics (I do try and stray from that), entertainment, my life, and have done some fiction and even some non-fiction type stories. Now the "my life" things have, unfortunately been down subjects due to the way my life is going right now.

Things still are not getting better. The house has not sold...no offers have arrived yet for a new job...the phone rings constantly with people looking for money that does not exist. Most seem to be understanding, but then you get those who just are plain nasty. This morning I was told "What has all that got to do with anything...when are you going to pay?"

Now, I did hear from another firm I have interviewed with and was told I would be called in for another interview soon. This firm is here in NJ and the position is one I had applied to a year ago. I never heard from them that time. The job was re-posted recently...it appears they made the wrong choice and the person they hired was let go!

So, I did something I am not a huge fan of...I went to someone who knew someone and got my resume hand-delivered to the head of HR from the executive assistant of the CEO.

Are they going through the paces just to say... "Hey, we talked to him" and to ensure they are not called on the carpet? My resume has not changed in a year...so why are they now so interested?

The house is almost totally packed...it is so barren...the wonderful bookshelves in the living room are empty. Pictures are off the walls (I have been told people have a hard time buying a home that looks like the people who currently live there have an actual life!).

My days are barren also. I wake in the morning, shower, brush my teeth (shave every few days), make my way to my computer to check the job emails that never seem to show any hope...then I come here and try and write something that might make others smile and think.

See...that was the real reason I began THE COUCH...to give others a reason to smile and to make them think. whether it is to think "What did that story mean", or "Is that really Tom Cruise's daughter", or "What does a magic number mean" (BTW, Yankees magic number is now one game), or to ask themselves "Why does that group feel that by burning down homes or destroying cars will save the environment"...

My friend Coco, who is a teacher in New Brunswick, Canada has the greatest career. Each day she stands in front of a group of kids who are empty vessels and tries to get them to accept the knowledge she is pouring out for them. She is musically trained, but this year they asked her to take a Reading Class (English Composition...) and she hated the thought...well it appears she is reaching these kids and making them want to learn...

THAT KIDDIES IS REWARDING...

OK, so you say..so get your teaching license and do something about it. You know..if financially I could I would do just that. Maybe once the house is sold, i can think of that...but right now..it seems so out of reach.

I just typed a sentence and then deleted it. Why? because it really illustrated how tight the two rocks I am stuck between are at this time...and I don't think i can be that open here and now...

So...is this what I want THE COUCH to be? Certainly not...

Is it part of what THE COUCH has to be? Certainly YES...

Should i put a disclaimer at the top of the posts when they are going to be this intense...maybe.... something like "Warning Today's Post Will Not Make You Smile"

But then again...do i have it as bad as some people? Absolutely not..there are those out there who don't even have a computer to reach out with or even a home within which they can awaken in the morning...

I sit here now, looking at the screen wondering if I should just delete this whole thing and post something about the shootings of those basketball players at Duquense, or the Pope and his controversy, or music or Pete Rose and his situation or something other then myself...

I hear from friends every single day who are wondering about Memphis or the house or how I am doing and they send their prayers and their hopes and their concerns and it certainly feels good...but it is so new for me. I have always been the one who reaches out to others to help...

It is frustrating...

One friend sent me an article about people trying to sell their homes and burying a statute of St. Joseph in their backyards. By burying a statue of St. Joseph, it is supposed to aid in the dale of your home. In fact, recently on the show "Million Dollar Listing" on Bravo, one of the home sellers who was not getting any offers buried his statue in his backyard and sold his home within a couple of weeks.

Well, I have had one St. Joseph in my backyard and one out by the realtor sign for months...nope...hasn't worked for me.

Again, I sit and stare at the screen...why am I putting this all down...and why does anyone want to read it all?

Maybe I will put that warning up today...and if you have gotten to this part of the posting, you chose to ignore it...

Thank you my friends and family for all of your thoughts and prayers and the crossing of fingers and toes and eyes and all the other body parts....

Things will change...they will improve...maybe today...maybe tomorrow...maybe next week...

Thanks for sitting on THE COUCH, hope you enjoyed your stay.

FIND AN OPPORTUNITY TO PAY IT FORWARD!

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Rainy & Gray

Sparks Of Insanity By Vinny "Bond" Marini Friday, September 15, 2006 10 Of Your Sparks

Welcome To THE COUCH...Sit on Down and Get Comfy...

Welcome to Friday. Rainy, gray and bleak here in the Northeast. Was up until 1:30am last night redoing the header...now I am almost totally satisfied...but the two tweaks I want to make will have to wait as my pictures are all packed up.

Time for some housecleaning here at THE COUCH. No, not that kind...I mean like setting the record straight on some things that we have discussed in the past.

OK, let's start with yesterday...I have been chastized by Vince, Sr., that I spoke of WWII and then Vietnam and Iraq and did not mention the war he fought in....Korea. It was not an intentional slight, it was just that I am not aware of the prisoner of war situation for that war...

YES, Dad...I know it was a war and not a "police action". Sorry about that.

Yesterday I pointed out two new additions to our COOL SITES TO VISIT listing (Dixie's Heart & Soul and MaryFly's B.S. and Recipes) on the right side of the page. Someone wrote saying I had never pointed out two of the other sites there, and though I am almost positive (I said almost), I will now make amends if that is not the case...:

Dana And Bethany's Site is chuck full of sweet stories, personal observations and just a whole bunch of laughs. And as a public service to them, if you happen to know Taylor Hicks, tell him Dana is STILL waiting for her phone call!

ACorner4Coco contains the musings of a mother, teacher and friend...she will regale you with stories of her students and her life.

The rest, I know I have told you about and if you have a few extra minutes each day...do yourself a favor and check them out.

Fred's World is not updated daily, but only when he feels like he has something to say (unlike some pieces of furniture I know).

Favorite Office Timewasters is a must read each and every day or you will miss out on some of the more unique sites out there on the web...like did you know you can write your own Puke Rock song? Yup ya can..but I am not telling you the site link, you have to go over to FOTW and find it yourself!

No Room...My Life Is Full will bring a smile to the face of anyone who has ever had kids and the trials and tribulations they bring.

Diana's Journal will bring smiles and tears as she describes her journey with her dad through a trying time.

Of course, for those always needed products, we lead you to Bento's Stuff and The Cat's Meow.

OK...so now I have mentioned them all...

If you read through comments recently, you will see that Dixie has thrown down the gauntlet regarding her St. Louis Cardinals and my beloved New York Yankees (magic number is now 6). Well Dixie, dear...I have just four numbers for you....16 and 9 and then 39 and 26.

The first set are the number of National League Pennants and World Series won by your Cardinals since 1900.

The second set are the number of American League Pennants and then World Series won by the team from 'Da Bronx...the Pinstriped Wonders...the team who have won more titles then any other team in any sport...The New York Yankees! in that same time frame.

Nuff said..... hehehehe

I have just confused the heck out of my Canadian friends, but suffice it to say that The Yankees are like your Montreal Canadiens, only with many many many more titles to their credit.

Or should I say:
J'ai juste confondu l'estacade à claire-voie hors de mes amis canadiens, mais qu'il suffise pour indiquer que Yankees sont comme votre Montréal Canadiens seulement avec beaucoup de beaucoup de beaucoup plus de titres à leur crédit.

Oh, and Coco, the magic number changes because when it gets down to zero, they have officially won the American League East title, no matter how many more games there are in the season...at that point, they can't be caught.

Tonight begins a weekend series against the Boston Red Sox...that is if the weather cooperates.

Final note for today...it appears with this template, when I put a link into my daily postings, you do not see the words underlined unless you put your mouse over them. So, if you see words in DARK BLUE, (see above first mentions of St. Louis Cardinals, NY Yankees, Montreal Canadiens and Boston Red Sox) be advised that those will link you to a site where you can find out more information on that subject.