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amyelise
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Name: Amy
Location: New Jersey, United States
Birthday: 11/20/1985
Gender: Female
Interests: i spend my time: making song mixes, singing, loving my friends, loving my family, loving God, loving God's people, making collages, sewing, bopping, studying Greek, reading God's word, writing exigetical papers, and of course my favorite pastime: going to shows.
Expertise: mixed tapes and 80s movies. breaking stereotypes.
Occupation: youth worker
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
12/24/2002
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| A little anecdote from my friend John Fathom, creator of the Jersey City Weird List, to give my faraway friends a picture of life in Jersey City:
"If yer not from JC, this is how I can say JC is a weird place...*
Imagine you walk to the local pub that probably has 60 patrons** inside enjoying their drinks and standing right outside is a guy in a baggy lime green shirt and skinny red neck tie, he greets you like the owner of the place and even though your talking in person, you know he speaks in ALL CAPS and loves ADJECTIVES as much as he loves HOT FEMALE BOXERS., You say hello and walk in where you see there's a guy dressed up in a gorilla outfit DJ'ing...its never explained why hes wearing this outfit, nor does anyone ask. You head to the bar and order yer drink from a bartender who looks just like bartenders looked like in the late 1800's, he serves you a whisky and you sit down next to a young guy with a handle bar moustache who has a voice like if Wolfman Jack gargelled gravel.
Across the bar there are 2 rock chicks in the boothe(are they makin out or do they just want to torture the poor guys sitting next to them) You'll never find out bc just then a guy storms past you with "free sex in the mouth" stickers in his hand hollaring happy obscenities at you. He's partying like its new years and its only Tuesday. There's a woman with waist long pink dreads shouting in a German accent how artists need to own property to a 6 & half ft tall guy in matching vintage plaid and Buddy Holly glasses.
You glance over and the Israeli party boys are talking to a bartender who looks like someone out of Legend of Zelda and the Norwegian & Brazilian Cougars. I wanna know whats being said, but cant bc there's a fella who looks like if Gandolf the Great got dipped in hot pink bubblegum talking to a 7piece freak show 1/2 family band and a guy wearing a bike chain for a necklace and a fuzzy green bear hat- who happens to be warning us that our food is killing us & Bush orchestrated 911. The gristled man with blue hair and the long trench coat is NOT amused. He never is.
Take a swig of your whisky and cheers Tommy b/c the guy with all the party lights just got here with a van full weirdos who all look thirsty and just got off from working for Christine Goodman. Hurry up everyone- LAST CALL is at 120am and its your turn to host an afterhours till we sober up."
*None of this is exaggerated.
**I count more than half the weirdos referenced as personal friends or acquaintances. | | |
| today someone asked me if i do any stand-up. "no way," i told him. "it seems that people only think i'm funny when i'm not TRYING to be funny." this made him laugh a lot. see? case in point. | | |
| yeah, i know, xanga is a blog of the past. if i really want people to read what i write, i should use blogger or something more trendy. but maybe i don't really want people to read what i write... it's just that sometimes there's a thought i need to release into the webisphere that isn't quite right for a facebook status update. anyway, this is the one place i can just be "amyelise" with no extra numbers or symbols to distinguish me from the amyelise who claimed a space first. xanga has been good to me. so. xanga it is.
wow. i just googled "anal retentive" to find out whether it's the right way to describe my roommate and found this: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/top-5-signs-you-are-anal-retentive/#comment-487166 Hilarious! and, as it turns out, i myself may very well be "anal-retentive." dang.
anyhoo...
i live with a 46-year-old anal-retentive pastry chef. Jill attends GOP fundraising dinners, uses the phrase "so I said to him, I said..." every single day, and has had over 50 jobs in New York City in the past 20 years. she's got some great stories. like when she worked at Fred Leighton, fitting jewelry for stars like Nicole Kidman to wear to the Oscars. or when she worked at The Bottom Line, hosting musicians like David Poe and Betty Buckley. or when she ran the home of Julie Chen and Leslie Moonves of CBS, traveling back and forth between their NY and California homes to make sure Julie's wardrobe was in order. but what Jill really loves to do is make food. she's worked for bakeries, catering companies, and kitchens all over the city. and now, currently unemployed, her primary work space is our kitchen. :D
have you ever seen someone doing what they love? i mean really, clearly, undeniably doing exactly what they were created to do? the energy produced is incredible. now Jill is not always a 'cheery' person. she is quite serious about most things. it actually took me a full week after moving in to get her to laugh (an unusual experience for me). but when Jill is in the kitchen, be it baking hazelnut chocolate chunk brownies or whipping up her own unique porkchop marinade, the woman is absolutely radiant. she's singing along to the music on the radio. she's making small talk with whoever happens to be nearby. when i enter the kitchen to refill my glass of water, she pours me a glass of champagne, dives into a detailed description of her latest creation, holding her combination of spices under my nose to admire, and prattles on about a brilliant chef she once worked with or a fancy dinner she once catered, giggling like a schoolgirl all the while. she is transformed.
needless to say, home is a pleasant place when Jill has food to prepare. not to mention the tangible benefits! i think i'm going to go have a hazelnut chocolate chunk brownie. | | |
| maybe all grandparents are pretty special, but i think mine are particularly amazing. and i was blessed with a whole weekend to show them my life in Jersey City!
my grandmother might be a saint. i am continually amazed at how gentle, loving, patient, selfless, and fun she is. such a model godly woman. i wonder if there is any way i could ever grow into a woman like that. i hope so.
my grandfather is seriously one of my favorite people to be around. (how amazing is that?!) he is so witty and wise, each at the right time. the blessed man has been keeping a journal since his childhood, so when we sat down at the Hoboken harbor, where he first set foot on American ground, he pulled out the translation of his journal entries from May 25-June 6, 1948 and read the story of his 14-year-old self leaving the Netherlands and arriving in the United States. he was hilarious already then.
my grandparents are shining examples of engaging God's world, discerning, thinking through issues rather than jumping on a bandwagon. we talked about the differences between voting for a party and voting for issues. we talked about why the church represents rules and guilt for so many young people. we talked about living in the light despite all our darkness. and i am honored to say that my grandparents motivate and empower me to live in the light. what a gift, what a blessing!!
also, my grandparents-- of their own free will-- rode back from Wyckoff to Jersey City with me on a school bus full of singing, shouting, chanting, clapping, stomping, adrenaline-stoned elementary school children after the Spring Production. now that is love.
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