Limitless Ramblings

Have I ever stated how truly envious I am of the New Kids? Not because of the fame or the fortune or whatever... but because of their friendship. I think I have stated that once, but I never went into great detail. See... they started when they were young whipper snappers... if I remember correctly, Donnie was 15. I could guess the other guys' ages, but the first mention of the group being pieced together, Donnie was 14 or 15. If you listen to what they say on Behind the Musik and THS, you'll find out that a number of the members grew up together, and were already friends before the group was even conceived. I think only Joey was the one that was new to the group, replacing Jamie Kelly. SO - they were friends before they were the group, they were friends while they were the group, and they remained friends after the group split up. Now, 15 years later, they're back together and STILL friends. I'm fairly jealous of that.

It hit me last night when I was watching Stand By Me - I love that movie, it's absolutely hilarious, but it's also very touching. Four friends go on this "adventure" and kind of discover who they are and learn a lot of lessons about life. But what bothers me is, at the end, Gordie talks about how they drifted apart... until Teddy and Vern were merely faces in the hall.

I bring up both of these things - the New Kids and Stand By Me - because it really got me thinking. I went through a lot of stuff in high school... I really had to do a lot of searching and listening to God to find out who I was. I had to get my mind right and crawl out of a pretty deep depression before I got anything done... but through all of this, I had a group of friends that I truly adored. Best friends. By about end of Sophomore year/beginning of Junior year, we four - Cassandra, Denise, Debra, and I - had dubbed ourselves the Squishy Squad. We were BEST friends, got into oodles of trouble together, had more inside jokes than we had sense, and we even fought with eachother. Some of the biggest fights in highschool I had with these people... but we got over it. We loved eachother, and we relied on eachother. I've never had friends like them... but like the movies says, who ever does?

The problem is, we drifted apart. We had all these memories and inside jokes and little one liners that only made sense to us, and we drifted apart. Denise became nothing but a memory and a face in band... we still talked, and after graduation I tried to stay in contact with her, but it wasn't going to happen... I haven't seen or heard from her in who knows how long. Debra was a year behind us, and we stayed in contact for over a year or two, but now all she is is a contact on my AIM buddy list. We hardly talk, and when we do, it's like talking to a stranger - I have no idea what to say. And then there's Cassandra - if I were Gordy, Cassandra would be my Chris. I stay in contact with her and keep tabs on her, but even that isn't the same... I miss those days in high school.

Now, there are occasions - RARE occassions - when Debra, Cassandra, and I are able to chat on the phone or online like we were still in high school, but those moments are sooo few and far between, and it makes me wonder... why do we let people drift away? Now, I understand that sometimes, it's out of our hands, but I also have to admit that I don't try as hard as I could to stay in contact with them. I just wonder why it happens - if those relationships are nine times out of ten what keep us going through the hardest times of our lives, why do we let them drift away and become memories, like the hardships they helpes us through? How come it's so hard to keep people close to you, no matter what? And it's not just them... I had so many friends in high school that I let drift away... or that passed away. There are moments when I think of all of them... something will remind me of something in high school and I'll just take a nice detour down memory lane...

I watch my brothers as they grow up, too, and see them with their friends... sharing laughs and making trouble and being crazy, and I wonder if they'll drift away from them, too. I know that one of Steven's friend's won't be around forever... and that's heart breaking, too. I know I pushed people away so I wouldn't have to remember those I lost, and I regretted it every day and I hope he doesn't do the same - but I wonder if the drifting away thing is as universal as it seems. I just wish there was a way to reconnect with everyone at the drop of a hat... or that I could at least figure out what the New Kids did to remain friends for so long, even when they were apart... because sometimes, I just tell myself it was time to move on... but most of the time, I really do regret letting them drift away - and that's heart breaking for me, because I don't want to regret a lot.

I guess, what I'm trying to say is, as time goes on and things change, relationships may fade... so make the best of the time you've got.

Let's get this.

~Lauren



told you you'd get a worth while post! :D

It's December 31st, the last day of 2008. Tomorrow, 2008 will be history... everything that has happened is now a part of our past, no matter how amazing or horrible, it's now in the past. We can't go back, we can only remember. Tomorrow is not only a new day and a new month, but a new year - a clean slate. New opportunities will be laid out in front of us. I for one am eager to see what 2009 holds for me. Will it be the worst year ever? Will it absolutely ROCK? Who knows... 2009 is the future - but it's no longer the distant future, and tomorrow, 2009 will be the present. 

***EDIT***

OMG OMG OMG! Remember a looooooong time ago, when I posted a rant, and I said that there was an icon of an angry smilie face banging his head against a brick wall??? I FOUND IT!!!ISN'T HE CUTE?? Okay, back to your regularly scheduled blogram. :)

***EDIT END***



If you don't know the whole back story on this, go HERE.

If you do, here is your "brief taste." Enjoy, and tell me what you think!

Bored. That one word seemed to be on repeat through Joey’s mind. He leaned forward and folded his arms on the table as his eyes darted around the room. More than once they came to rest on the ceiling fan, a pang of jealousy shooting through him as he watched the blades spin around. They weren’t moving fast, but they were at least doing something, instead of sitting in the room, doing nothing, being absolutely, utterly

“Bored,” he mumbled. He felt a yawn in the back of his throat and buried his face in his folded arms to hide it. As he lifted his head, he saw a few of the other guys talking and laughing on the other side of the room. He thought about going over and joining the conversation, but he had a feeling he wouldn’t be any less bored than he was now. He put his face back into his arms and sighed.

“QUIET!” Someone shouted behind him, and Joey laughed without lifting his head.

“I didn’t say anything,” was his muffled reply.

“I know,” Donnie said, falling into a chair next to him. “I said you were quiet.”

“No, you said quiet.”

“Same thing.” Joey smiled and lifted his head.

“Not really,” he said.

“What’s wrong?” Donnie asked, blowing off Joey’s retort. Joey shrugged, his eyes once again going to the ceiling fan.

“I’m bored,” he said absently, his eyes slowly following one of the blades.

“Do something,” Donnie said, shrugging.

“Oh…. Oh that’s a good idea. Wonder why I didn’t think of that.”

“Because you aren’t me,” he shot back, his voice soaked with just as much sarcasm.

“Thank God,” Joey said, grinning wickedly as he did so.

“For what?” Jordan asked, joining the two at the table. Without hesitating, they both smiled at him.

“For not being you,” they said at the same time. Jordan mocked laughter, then smiled despite himself.

“Is anyone else bored out of their mind?” he asked the room.

“God, yeeeeeeeeeeees!” Joey shouted before he could catch himself. All eyes in the room darted to him, and his eyes quickly went back to the ceiling fan. “Any….anyone else?” Donnie laughed and clapped him on the back, then nodded.

“I am.”

“Do something,” Joey shot back.

“I vote we beat up Joey,” Donnie said without hesitation.

“I vote we stay bored,” Joey said quickly. Donnie laughed and shook his head.

“You think we’d be able to find something to do on a Friday night,” Jordan said, frowning.

“The problem isn’t finding something to do,” Jon said, looking at a few CDs near the back wall. “It’s finding something to do where we can be sure we won’t die.” They laughed, but Joey knew it wasn’t real laughter. What Jon had said was true – they were still adjusting to the being chased aspect of being a New Kid – the being wanted part. That was a big reason why they were constantly bored. Joey looked around the room, taking in each face, each expression. The mood had changed – Jon’s statement had killed any chance they had of actually doing something. Joey once again looked at the ceiling fan, it’s blades cutting slowly through the air, still tracing the same path. He decided the fan wasn’t having any more fun than he was, and he wasn’t jealous of it anymore.

“I’d get dizzy,” he muttered. Donnie looked at him, but Joey’s eyes never left the fan. They had rallied to do something, than backed down. He finally returned to look at everyone again, decide if he was making the right choice. He looked at Donnie last, jumping a bit to see he was still staring at him with a puzzled look on his face. As if reading his mind, Donnie nodded, and Joey made his decision. He’d be damned if a few screaming girls were going to keep him locked in a room for the rest of his life.

“What’s on your mind, McIntyre?” Donnie said, turning everyone’s attention to the youngest member of the group.

“I was just thinking,” he said, glancing once more at the fan. “I was just thinking – if we died today, at least it’d be by something more interesting than boredom.” He watched as Jordan, Donnie, and Danny made eye contact, smiling and nodding.

“Good point,” Jordan said, turning his gaze back to Joey. “I’m in.”

“Me too,” Danny said.

“You don’t even have to ask,” Donnie said, clapping Joey on the back again. They all looked at Jon, who had since put down the CDs but had remained against the back wall. He looked at all their faces – eager, hopeful, excited. No matter the age, they were all very much still children, and the expressions on their faces made them look like preteens again. Jon took a breath, not wanting to go anywhere outside the safety of the room. His eyes went from face to face, taking in each look – Jordan’s pleading expression, Danny’s carefree attitude, Donnie’s recklessness – and his eyes came to rest on Joey. Joey’s face held nothing but worry – he knew he could easily be overturned by the oldest member of the group, but he could also read what Joey was trying to tell him. They had been together for years, spent nearly every minute together… if they were going to die, why not do THAT together, as well? Jon let out sigh, and shook his head.

“Alright,” he said, and the room erupted with cheers and high fives. Joey turned back to everyone, excitement welling up inside him, and his lips twisted into a child-like grin that spread from ear to ear.

Okay, so... I took on a challenge as of late.

Most of you know (now), I'm a fairly huge New Kids fan. I'm absolutely THRILLED that they're back, blah blah blah. But the one thing I never got a chance to do is collect all of their paraphernalia growing up. Dolls, posters, buttons, lunchboxes, etc. etc. etc. NONE of it. The closest I came was that New Kids towel I told you about a few posts back.

But I know some people that were WAY into that... and I've been talking to one of them. She has informed me that there were NOVELS written about the band... NOVELS... see, this is where I put my foot down. Unless they were actually Top Secret US Agents, or...or ninjas... then I don't really see what the point of a novel is. Movies, I'd understand. Cartoon shows... even that I can get. But novels? REALLY?

And on top of the uselessness - the pointlessness - of these novels, they weren't even well written. I mean, if you're going to write a novel about something that isn't really all that novel worthy, you might as well make it well written, RIGHT? I mean... she was explaining them to me, and the whole time all I could think is... whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? This passed as literature?

I joked with her about reaching out to the New Kids community and pulling it's best writers and bloggers - I mean, let's face it... a lot of bloggers are EXTREMELY talented - and having them all work together to write a tolerable, readable novel. Who knows the New Kids better than the fans, right??

Either way, I blew it off... until a couple days later, when I got to thinking.

I'm not a bad writer myself - I'm not AMAZING, but I'm better than what was described to me. I've written a few fairly good fan fictions, and some little one shots that have been read quite a bit, as well as participated in collaboration fics that were absolutely fun to write and turned out quite well. Not to mention, I'm always looking for something to do, and it'd be nice to have a project to turn to whenever I was bored.

So - I've decided to attempt a New Kids novel worth reading. I have NO IDEA what it's going to be about, but I think I'll stay away from the quirks of eating everything in sight, or the crime fighting abilities. Just an interesting read of a fictional day in the life... without it being too rediculous.

There's every chance I won't follow through with this, but I'm going to try to start it and give you all a brief taste... it'll be a first draft... and keep in mind I never let anyone read a first draft of anything unless they're beta...ing... so this is a once in a lifetime thing... I'll post it here when it's finished. I don't know if it'll be a chapter or just an introduction or what... but it'll be a taste... so tell me what you think!

I'll post it when it's finished. :)

***EDIT***

Done!! Go HERE to read the introduction!!!

Dooo Dooo Dooo DooooYeah Yeah
Dooo Dooo Dooo Doooo
Dooo Dooo Dooo DooooYeah Yeah
Dooo Dooo Dooo Doooo


There was a time when all was broken, The fault was mine
I watched my bridges burning, I had started the fire
I ran out of hope, I ran out of excuses
I ran out of time, I ran into You and learned…


That your love is the one thing that I can’t run out of
Your love is the one thing that’s always been enough
And there is never a time when you’re not by my side
You’ve proven your love is the one thing that I can’t run out of


Dooo Dooo Dooo DooooYeah Yeah
Dooo Dooo Dooo Doooo


Such conviction, there’s no question that I was being chased
Goodness and mercy, both follow me, I was stalked by grace
I ran out of fear, I ran out of losing
I ran in and found you running to me….yeah…


Your love is the one thing that I can’t run out of
Your love is the one thing that’s always been enough
And there is never a time when you are not by my side
You’ve proven your love is the one thing that I can’t run out of


Dooo Dooo Dooo DooooYeah Yeah
Dooo Dooo Dooo Doooo


There is never a time when you’re not by my side
You’ve proven your love, is the one thing
Your love is the one thing…


Your love is the one thing that I can’t run out of
Your love is the one thing that’s always been enough
And there’s never a time when you’re not by my side
You’ve proven your love is the one thing that I can’t run out of


Dooo Dooo Dooo Doooo Oh Yeah Yeah
Dooo Dooo Dooo Doooo
Yeah your love is the one thing
Oh Yeah
You’re always, always by my side


Your love is the one thing
Your love is the one thing
Your love is the one thing
Your love is the one thing
Your love is the one thing
Your love is the one thing….

So - I was going to cheat and give you just a bunch of blog posts from the boys, but I decided against it and wanted to try my hand at giving you all a REAL post for once. I've been kind of lame the past few days - I used friends as an excuse but really, I just haven't had anything to blog about. Now, don't worry, I'll still share Donnie's holiday wishes with you - it was the one that made me smile the biggest. But I'll just link you to Jon's and Joe's... But before I do that, let's get this underway.

Christmas is only something like 6 days away... and I have to step back and review how remarkable it is that it's so close. I've been thinking back to years passed, and I can't remember a single time when Christmas has ever snuck up on me. As far as I can remember, it's always been me at the very start of December anticipating Christmas and it's gift bearing arrival.

It isn't so this year. I haven't done any Christmas shopping, and the gift bearing arrival is less than a week away. Not to mention, it's not like my days are empty from now till then...

So - I think it has something to do with the fact that this year, I really dove into life. In years passed, December meant the end of school, the end of responsibilities, the end of the year. December meant relaxation, it meant family visiting, it meant a new start. It meant Christmas, and I had always anticipated that season, even if I had my moments when I despised Christmas day. Not actual Christmas day; I didn't despise Jesus' birth, but I despised the Americanized Christmas, the one that meant people being insane and rushing around and buying gifts and thus buying people's love. No matter how I was feeling, though, Christmas always stayed the same, and it never snuck up on me.

This year, Christmas must have spent it's off season training to be a ninja because I didn't even see it coming till I read someone's Happy Holiday's blog and went, HOLY HAITIAN, BATMAN! Christmas is just around the corner!!!

And I'm not looking forward to it one bit - but we aren't there yet.

I think the reason it snuck up on me is, like I said, I dove into life this year. December was by no means easy - I had a lot to look forward to, and a lot I had to do. Instead of having just 1 night of an improv show I had to do, I had 2 nights of a skit show, a children's musical, and 2 nights of an adult Christmas musical. I was helping write the skit show - which happened to fall on the same night as the children's musical, so that was a crazy day - and I directed, blocked, etc. etc. for the Adult musical, as well as acted in it. The adult musical was a week after the Skit show/Children's musical, so I pretty much didn't even see December show up. I was so focused on getting everything put together and not crashing and burning that I was 2 weeks into December before I realized what month it was. ((Anyone who's wondering, everything went REALLY, REALLY well. Thank goodness - it was all God, too))

Now, like I said before, I'm not looking forward to Christmas one bit. One reason is because, like I said, I haven't gone shopping, and I don't have much money to do so even if I wanted to. Another reason is that neither my brother OR my grandpa are coming down to visit this year. I got to see my Grandpa over Thanksgiving but I haven't seen David in a while and I miss him, and I really wish he was coming down.

But the biggest reason would be, I don't want 2008 to end. Interesting conclusion, if you look back to a lot of my blogs/rants/whatever you want to call them from the middle and beginning of this year. A lot of crap happened this year that, at the time, I hated. I can't exactly talk about all of it here, but basically 2008 was filled with anxiety, disappointment, heart break, more disappointment, financial crisis, more heart break, more anxiety, and a presidential election (lol).
But if I really break it down, I had a pretty good year. I dealt with the anxiety, I learned from the disappointment, I got through the heart break, and I grew as a person.

I had a lot of questions at the beginning of this year - do I really want to be an actress? Do I have what it takes? Am I too old? What am I gonna do without my friends? Am I going to be alone forever? Is this where God wants me in life? Am I missing his signals? etc. etc. whine whine so on and so forth.

But to be completely honest, this year was one of the best of my life, not the worst, and I don't want it to be over. I don't want to have to tackle another year when I've already achieved so much in this one.

Do I really wanna be an actress?? the answer to that is ABSOLUTELY I DO. I've been through so much acting wise this year, and OMG I loved every second of it! I may have complained, ripped my hair out, lost sleep, ran from place to place, freaked out, and panicked, but it was fantastic, and now I know I can do it even through all of that. Will it get worse? Will it get more difficult? I hope so! I'm looking forward to where this will take me - even if it ends up fizziling out in the end.

Do I have what it takes? I'm still alive, aren't I? I'm actually extremely proud of myself for not giving up. Never in my life have I had something in my hands for the first time and NOT quit when things got difficult... It means something - at least to me - that I stuck it out with all that was going on. Says to me that, if I don't yet have what it takes, I'm pretty dang close.

Am I too old?? That was the hardest one to get over, to be completely honest. I was so sure that I had missed my chance. I hadn't gotten started when I should have, and now I was far too old to acquire the skills I needed to make it far... that I was too old to get started in this profession, I was too old to turn heads. It wasn't until September that I was finally able to admit that there's no such thing as too old... Sept. 28th to be exact... if that date means nothing to you, well, then... I can't help you... but I know there are people out there that know what it is. The live Boston broadcast, the one that perked my radar... the one that got me asking questions, and ultimately lead to me seeing THIS music video and crying tears of joy. Clearly, there was no such thing as "too old" when it came to talent.

What am I going to do without my friends? This question was in two parts... but it doesn't matter the details behind the two parts, because I really didn't have to ask that question. The truth is, I have some AMAZING friends, ones that I didn't even know I had, and I don't need to worry about not having any unless I go through some drastic personality changes and chase them all away. :)

Am I going to be alone forever?? Absolutely not. Even if I never find a significant other, I still have amazing friends, family, extended family, etc, that are always going to be there, and even if I chase them all away - I've learned that God will still be there for me... I'm not going to be alone forever, because I was never alone to begin with.

Is this where God wants me in this life? Am I missing his signals? I think I've experienced enough of God telling me what to and what NOT to do that, if I missed his signals telling me I'm on the wrong path, they've been REAL subtle. And it's been my experience that God is not into subtlety.

I like who I've become - I like how much I've grown in this past year, and I think that's why I don't want the year to end. In all reality, I don't want to say goodbye. As soon as this year ends, it's all a memory... it's all a memory now, but when the year ends I have to start saying last year, 2 years ago, 3 years ago... etc. etc.

I hated this year when it started, didn't want anything to do with it... but now I can honestly look back on the past year, on the choices I had to make, on the events I had to go through, and say I'm honestly glad I lived through it all. Say I'm THANKFUL for every pitfall, every tough decision, every night I cried myself to sleep or ran home angry at people that meant the world to me. I'm thankful for the chance to have to figure out how to piece my heart back together, I'm thankful for everyone God gave me to help with that process. I'm thankful for every single second I tore my hair out and got stress induced stomach aches. I'm thankful for the fact that I have no fingernails, lol. Because now I'm someone I never thought I could be; I've seen things in myself that I didn't think I had, I've witnessed myself do things I didn't think I could do. I've surpassed even MY expectations. I'm thankful for all of that, because without it, I couldn't sit here and be thankful for all that came from it.

Merry Christmas, everyone, and a Happy New Year.

Now - you may be asking why I chose to share Donnie's blog with you instead of Jon's or Joe's... and to be completely truthful, it's not because Donnie's my favorite, or because I absolutely love him, and it certainly isn't because Jon's and Joe's posts aren't as good... it's simply because Donnie's post was my inspiration. Remember? Last post I said inspiration was going to bean me in the head with a 2x4??? Well, apparently, inspiration is not as mean as I thought he would be... he instead gave me a bear hug and patted me on the head. Plus, Donnie's post just made me smile... they usually do... and... well, Kayla you know the rest... :)

So - here:

Silly little God winks make my day, no joke!!! I woke up this morning, completely exhausted - I haven't been sleeping well - and immediately, for WHAT. EVER. REASON. Started singing the banana phone song. If you've never heard it, you NEED to. It's quite possibly one of the most fun, non sensical songs in the entire world, and I've been singing it all day. I assumed it was just cuz I was tired or what not... but to tell the truth, the more I sang it, the more I laughed, and the more energy I got. So by this point, I'm absolutely hyper as all git out... lol. Here's the banana phone song for your enjoyment!!!



I KNOW, RIGHT?? lol... I love how I just responded to whatever your reaction to that song was... haha! Like I said, I'm super hyper... I kinda want a banana now...

Scientist #1: Oh shut up! What are we going to do about this monkey problem?

...Gorilla... ANYWAY... as I was saying - the song has been stuck in my head all day, and I haven't had any gripes... so I was playin' around online, just lookin' at stuff, and of course ended up on the New Kids site. There was a video posted that I hadn't watched yet, though I had seen it many times before and decided to give it a look see.

I about peed myself with laughter... watch it and see if you can spot WHY I was laughing. :)


Find more videos like this on New Kids on the Block


DID YOU SEE IT?? If you didn't... well, then... I don't know what to tell you except, watch it again and pay attention to Donnie's phone... lol. Seriously... there's no other reason for me to have 1. had that song in my head and 2. watched that video the same day I had that song stuck in my head, except that it was planned that way by someone upstairs... hahaha. I'm seriously laughing so hard right now... yay!!!

Now - what I'm thankful for... I'm thankful for the great cast I have working with me in the Christmas musical drama. :) I had so much fun at rehearsal last night, thanks you guys!!!! :)

Get ya mind right - THAT MEANS YOU, KAYLA!

~L

So - apparently there's this thing called National Blog Post Month... or NaBloPoMo... I think it's a pretty cool idea - mostly because now I'm getting stressed beyond the point of no return, and I'm going to need to blog my brains out. *sigh*

So, what you're supposed to do is post something every day of the month, focusing on a certain theme. December's theme is thanks... now, while I wrote posts on both the first and the second, I didn't get to post them because I was on the road and running around like a chicken with my head cut off... so I'll just give you a brief overview of them.

Dec. 1st - woke up sick... slept almost the entire way home and was still exhausted when I hit my bed. Hank whined a bit about his wounds but other than that he was okay... a little blah. Steven was sick too, and when we got home, Sean got sick as well. Yay. We got home safe, though. :)

Dec. 2nd - talk about hitting the ground running. I had to be at work in the morning, and from there I set things up for rehearsals... and then had rehearsal for the college show at 5. When I got there, I was tossed into two more skits, and ran around like a chicken with my head cut off. It was quite unnerving but exciting at the same time, and I received a lot of positive feed back. The show is high energy, we were running everywhere between scenes - it's going to be awesome. We then had to strike the set, and when I got home I found out that Hank was still not feeling well. :(


So - because they were written before I knew about NaBloPoMo, they aren't really centered around the theme.

Today... well... I'm going to try and count my blessings... there are a few things I'm extremely thankful for... I'll try to look at the glass as half full instead of half empty.

I'm thankful for good friends: I recently had my name somewhat dragged through the mud - some pretty mean things were said about me and it kind of got me depressed... but I've got some great friends, and they really helped me to get over it. :)

I'm thankful for iTunes: This one is going to sound weird, but... lol... I really am thankful for my iTunes. I think it's psychic... it always plays EXACTLY what I want to hear - when I'm upset, it'll either play a song that has words I need to hear, or play a song that has a voice that makes me happy... either way, it never fails. For instance, last night, when I was dealing with the rumours spread about me - it played Rumours by Lindsay Lohan and then Games (The Kids Get Hard Mix) by New Kids on the Block. :)

I'm thankful for Ana and Kayla: My "mom" and my "sister." We function on the same mind link, and they're some of the most uplifting and amazing people I know. They always make me smile and help me out when I'm upset... and they always know EXACTLY what to say to make me smile... more often then not, they make me quite literally roll on the floor with laughter. I love you guys!!!... even if you are the cause for my corruption. :D

I'm thankful for "stars" that aren't getting too big for their britches: Three people come to mind when I think of this, and I'll address each of them.

Eamon Sullivan: Australian swimmer - if you have no idea who he is then FIND OUT NOW... and join the Aussie Posse. This guy is sooooo awesome - he happens to be one of Kayla's idols and totally made her day when he CHATTED WITH HER ON FACEBOOK!! He's hilarious, and a nice guy - and he's good looking and talented to boot. The thing that gets me about him is he has a facebook, and he doesn't talk all day and night about how people love him, or how there were people everywhere he went, how he has this many fans, how amazing he thinks he is, blah blah blah. No - instead, he talks about what he did that day, or he posts videos of him bungee jumping or hanging out with friends - when he's in the water he's an olympic swimmer, but out of the water he's a normal guy and he acts like it... that's freakin' awesome.

Donnie Wahlberg: I don't know where to start - this is a guy who is never too busy to give fans what they want. The great thing about Donnie is that you won't ever hear him say "OMG I'm so amazing people love me so much" (at least not seriously lol). On the contrary, he talks about how much HE loves the people that love him. He's all about the fans - and I loooooove that I think it's absolutely adorable. I also love that he's not afraid to play around, and he's certainly not afraid cry... and like I said, he's all about giving the fans what they want. :) (Like Sullivan, he also makes silly little videos in his spare time)

Garrett Webber-Gale: Another person that, if you don't know his name, learn it and memorize it. He may not be as big as Phelps right now, but he's twice the man and he WILL be a household name soon. For the past couple of months, I've had the pleasure of reading Garrett's blog - if you EVER need to read anything inspirational, read his blog. It's really amazing... I love it. And what's more, Garrett's a pretty down to earth guy - he talks with his readers through comments, and gives us regular updates. But does he ever talk about how many people love him?? How many fans he has?? No - he talks about his training... how he feels he's doing, where he feels he needs to improve, and what he's going to do to improve. He's extremely humble, and a sweet guy - and he's going to be famous here real soon, no doubt. :)

So - as most avid magazine readers know, PEOPLE has a yearly "Sexiest Men Alive" issue, that tells you who they think the Sexiest Men Alive are. 20 people have won the honor of Sexiest Man Alive - 2 of which won the award twice. They started their contest in 1985 and have done it every year since, with the exception of 1993 (they took a break and instead gave Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford sexiest couple alive *shudders*). Here are the previous winners:

1. Mel Gibson, 29
2. Mark Harmon, 34
3. Harry Hamlin, 35
4. John F. Kennedy, Jr., 27 (Youngest winner, only winner now deceased, only non-actor winner)
5. Sean Connery, 59 (Oldest Winner)
6. Tom Cruise, 28
7. Patrick Swayze, 39
8. Nick Nolte, 51
9. Brad Pitt, 31 (won again in 2000, 36)
10. Denzel Washington (only African American to win the honor)
11. George Clooney, 36 (won again in 2006, 45)
12. Harrison Ford, 56
13. Richard Gere, 50
14. Pierce Brosnan, 48
15. Ben Affleck, 30
16. Johnny Depp, 40
17. Jude Law, 31
18. Matthew McConaughey, 37
19. Matt Damon, 36

The issue is usually full of other people who garner a noteable mention. From what I've heard, 2008's issue hits newsstands Friday - tomorrow. But if you JUST CAN'T WAIT, here's a sneak peek at this year's hotties! Here are the top 15:

1. Hugh Jackman
2. Daniel Craig
3. Jon Hamm
4. Zac Efron
5. Robert Buckley
6. Blair Underwood
7. Ed Westwick
8. Michael Phelps (go figure)
9. Blake Shelton
10. Lang Lang
11. Mark-Paul Gosselaar
12. Javier Bardem
13. Robert Pattinson
14. Joshua Jackson
15. David Beckham

There are a few of those I'm extremely upset about, especially when you look at who DIDN'T make the list (ED WESTWICK? ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME???). And you know they made Michael Phelps #8 on PURPOUSE. Also - if you go to the People website, they have a video - 100 sexy people in 1 minute. Now, I'm fairly certain they're lying - I've only been able to count 98... but - for anyone who wants to know, here are them and their names: (keep in mind, there are 16 I couldn't name)

1. Matt Damon
2. David Beckham
3. James McAvoy
4. Zac Efron
5. Hugh Jackman
6. Jon Hamm (I think)
7. Shia LaBouf
8. James Franco
9.
10. Blair Underwood
11. Channing Tatum
12. Brad Paisley (split screen)
13. Daniel Craig
14. Chris Brown (split screen)
15. Orlando Bloom
16. John Mayer
17. Patrick Dempsey
18. Ryan Reynolds
19. Usher
20. Zachary Quinto
21. Aaron Eckhart
22. Colin Firth
23. Gerard Butler
24. Adrian Grenier
25. Adrian Pasdar
26. Donald Faison
27.
28. Chad Michael Murray
29.
30.
31. Andy Samberg
32. Ben Affleck
33. Christian Bale
34.
35. Casey Affleck
36. Chris Evans
37. Clive Owen
38. Brad Pitt
39. George Clooney
40. Jamie Foxx
41. Daniel Radcliffe
42. Jeremy Piven
43.
44. David Boreanaz
45. James Denton
46. Javier Bardem
47. David Cook
48. Jared Padalecki
49. Denzel Washington
50. John Krazinski
51. Joaquin Pheonix
52. Eric Dane
53. John Stewart
54. Hugh Laurie
55. Josh Duhamel
56. Josh Holloway
57.
58.
59. Kal Penn (really?)
60. Jude Law
61. Julian McMahon
62. Justin Chambers
63. Jonathan Rhys Meyers
64. Keith Urban
65. Kanye West
66. Leonardo DeCaprio
67. Luke Wilson
68.
69. Mario Lopez
70. Mark Wahlberg
71. Matthew Fox
72. Michael C. Hall
73. Milo Ventimiglia
74. Neil Patrick Harris
75. Peter Krause
76. Paul Rudd
77. Johnny Depp
78. Michael Phelps
79. Pete Wentz
80.
81.
82. Prince Henry (?)
83. Ryan Gossling
84.
85.
86.
87. Tay Diggs
88. Terrance Howard
89. Tim Gunn (?)
90.
91. Toby Kieth
92.
93. Justin Timberlake
94. Robert Downey Jr.
95. Will Smith
96. Ashton Kutcher
97. Matthew McCaughnahey
98. Jake Gylenhaal

I'm not linking all of them... because I don't want to make the magazine lose sales... I'm not sure if I'm mad at them yet... lol. Also - there are 129 total - add that to the 16 I didn't get on the top 100 list, and the 2 that AREN'T IN THE VIDEO (I'M ONTO YOU PEOPLE), that makes a total of 47 I don't know. If the rumors are true - all my boys made it, so... yay!

I encourage you all to get it... cuz I like the contest. lol!

Congratulations to Hugh Jackman for FINALLY winning the honor - everyone knows he should have got it SOONER!! And congrats to Daniel Craig - 2nd place is nothing to scoff at! :)

I officially start my vacation tomorrow... so... no updates for a while. I'll get back to ya'll.

Get ya mind right, and have a great Thanksgiving!!!

~L

It's 11:30 at night, and I can't sleep. I was planning on going to bed, but I'm so excited right now that I don't even know what to do... I'm afraid to blog because I know the grammar will be horrible, and the whole thing will consist of few paragraphs and a plethora of run on sentences and mispelled words... but I have to do something, and dancing around the living room to Akon only lasted till the end of the song.

It's incredibally difficult to do the happy dance of grapes and awesomeness to Disturbia.

There are a number of my blog readers that won't care to read this - won't understand why I'm so excited, but there are also those of you that will dance around their living rooms with me, until Akon is done singing... lol.

Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, blockheads, DCGs, and Sweet Potatoes alike -

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK HAVE CONFIRMED THEY ARE HAVING A SUMMER TOUR!!!

Don't get me wrong - I pretty much knew it was going to happen. You may remember, in an earlier post, I noted that there was a juicy piece of information I wasn't going to release for fear it would cause an uproar and get any tour cancelled. Well, here is the piece of information:

((I'm mildly distracted because Miley Cyrus is on the tv talking about how she is an obsessive texter and right now her voice is REALLY ANNOYING... OH BRB HOT AND COLD IS ON I GOTTA DANCE TO THIS ONE...that's why I didn't want to blog...))

I have it from a VERY reliable source that the New Kids' bus drivers were signed on from June to January of next year... this tour ends in Feb of '09... so why have bus drivers AFTER the concert? ((The bus driver told them themselves... said they were signed on then said, oops, probably shouldn't have said that. :P))

BUT NOW I'M NOT AFRAID TO SAY IT! DANNY WOOD CONFIRMED IT ON A RADIO SHOW - THERE IS GOING TO BE A SUMMER TOUR IN THE STATES FOR ALL OF US THAT LOVE THEM TO NO END!!!

AND JORDAN SAID "SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!!" AT THE END OF A CONCERT RECENTLY.

IT'S HAPPENING, GIRLS! WE GET OUR SUMMERTOUR!

I'm seriously so excited, I don't know what to do with myself. I'm going to get to go to a concert!! FINALLY! IT'S HAPPENING!

I can't even think about sleeping right now, I wish they would play better music so I could dance more and get the excitement out... I'm having to pause between each flurry of typing to shake the wiggles out of my hands!

ANA!!!! SUMMERTIME IS REAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!

I CAN'T EVEN THINK RIGHT NOW!!! I'M SO EXCITED!!!

For those of you who absolutely despise the new kids, I apologize if you've read this far - you probably won't care but it's a big deal for me, I can't even begin to tell you.

This blog is probably nothing but an eye sore so I'll let you all go...

I THINK ABOUT YOU IN THE SUMMERTIME, AND ALL THE GOOD TIMES WE'LL HAVE!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

GET YA HEAD STRAIGHT, GET YA MIND RIGHT, GET AT YOUR GIRL, AND SAY HI TO YOUR MOTHER FOR ME!

~L

((finall, danceable music!! PEACE!))

Look, you guys - I know this blog post probably isn't directed at any of you that read my blog, but I do want to point out that, while it is our job as blockheads to freak out and scream and cheer and sing and love our boys to no end, it's also our job to respect them and their space, and not do anything that would endanger them, or ourselves! We can't go to the New Kids concerts if any of them are hurt! I think it's safe to say we all care about the boys - this was proven when Jordan pretended to sprain his ankle, and everyone really freaked out. We obviously don't want our boys to be hurt, so let's do what we can to keep them safe! 

I'm not saying don't swarm them, don't love them - just swarm them when they say it's okay. When they're on their bus and leaving, when they're at their hotel, when they say no more pictures and no more face time, we need to respect that. They've proven that they're more than HAPPY to oblige us with all the face time we could ever hope for, so when they've retreated to the solitude of their bus or hotel, it's time to back off and give them their time. :) Like I stated before, and Jon said as well, you aren't only endangering them, but yourselves as well. He's right, we ARE adults, and there are times when we need to act like it. 

I really respect Jon - he was never my boy of choice, but he has always drawn respect from me - still does. I've seen him on countless interviews, on stage, THS, BtM, all of those things, and know he's a sweetheart. Countless friends that have met him have told me he's a sweetheart - but I have also seen those same things where his emotions take control... but those instances, at least shown to us, are few and far between. He's really angry in his post, so I think it's safe to say this isn't another hoax, and we need to take it seriously (he won't even let anyone comment on it!). I'd appreciate it if everyone that read this, either here or on the NKOTB site will have the same respect for Jon to respect his wishes. I realize he's speaking of a certain instance, but he's also speaking to everyone when he says to not do anything that would endanger anyone's lives. 

We ALL love our boys, and don't want anything to happen to them, so please be responsible!!! 

On a happier note, I watched a special Behind the Music yesterday... I thought it was going to be an old one, but to my surprise, it was new!!! Covered a lot of stuff I didn't know, and had a lot of priceless moments in it, including a lot between Donnie and Joe. But it was absolutely a pleasant surprise to have a NEW Behind the Music - I checked my local listings and it isn't on again in the next week... but if anyone else watched it, I would LOVE to talk about it! :) 

Also, this Friday on VH1 is a "100 Biggest Teen Stars" or something to that effect. It's Friday at 1pm and it goes until 6pm.... no promises, but I highly doubt you can get through a top 100 teen stars countdown and not talk about the New Kids... I can think of 4, MAYBE 5 other teen stars... there's no way they won't garner a mention. So keep your eyes out for that. 

Finally - rumours of another tour after this one are becoming more and more realistic as time goes on. When asked, Jon Knight's response was  "Lets get through this one first! We are all open to the idea, I guess that’s up to you to make it happen." 

Others have also commented on it, and I have it from a VERY reliable source that **I'm actually not going to release this bit of information yet - don't want to spread it around because 1. don't want to get anyone's hopes up, 2. Don't want it getting out, being true, and having them decide to not do the tour cuz the surprise is ruined, 3. Don't want to get anyone in trouble** I'm sure the boys COULD come up with a reason, one that we'd be perfectly happy with, but nothing would please us more than another tour!! Especially me, so I can get my face time!! :) ((I'M STILL COMIN' FOR IT, DONNIE! NOW MORE THAN EVER!))