I miss you

Things happen. sometimes good, other times bad.

One wrong decision can have such a major impact on your life … and have a ripple effect on other people’s life.

What do you do? When do you give up? How do you fix things ?

It’s all about choosing to make better decisions, to take a different approach to situations than before, to respect yourself, to respect others .

I am trying hard every day to be better, to do what’s right, but God it’s hard and circumstances can make it so easy to slip back, but I am fighting hard …

Life is one big challenge …

THANK YOU

so much for doing that yesterday morning !

You shouldn’t have done that, but I really really appreciate it !

I miss talking to you.

My Horoscope

Mascha,
Someone you know or love could be “coming out” soon. You may have ambivalent feelings about their lifestyle, but a true friend can be supportive even if they don’t always understand what the other person is going through. Family issues will have to be addressed carefully today.

… interesting

8th Ave memories

The other day I met up with the woman who is designing/ creating my posing suit. She seems really cool and I am excited to see how this is all gonna come together. I met up with her around Bryant Park and afterward Sarah came by and we we went to this rooftop party my friend Eddie was co-hosting.  We didnt stay too long because we were on a mission to find stripper shoes. I thought it would be fun to go to 8th Ave.

Sarah had never been to a sex shop before, so needless to say… she was shocked. I happen to have been in the same shops a more than just a couple of times years ago with my ex and I couldnt help but smile and even crack up laughing when I think back to those days / nights. We used to be up till early hours … and sleep half the day away. That was years ago. I changed / became boring and my priorities in life changed.

So yeah, back to the sex shops/peep shows … Lots of toys , outfits for both men and women , viewing boots,  live girls up stairs … and … of course … dvd’s . So we are kinda looking flicking through them and I stopped at the ‘torture’ section and by torture I don’t mean some bondage or nipple clamps … by torture I mean pain, fear and disrespect.  And ‘YEAH I KNOW NOT EVERYTHING IS REAL’  but uhm, it’s kind of f*cked up that there are guys out there that get off on someone being in pain, scared and crying. I mean seriously … think about it … I just hope I will not run in to someone who gets turned on by seeing me cry, curled up, in pain and scared for my life.

*sigh*

people are weird … and I didnt find any shoes I liked ….

Guest Bartending with Alex

Here’s the FaceBook Invite for next week’s guest bartending gig I have with my friend Alex. It’s to help me raise money for one of my favorite charities and so that I can run the marathon in November. It’s going to be challenging because I’ll be in a bar … serving drinks while I cannot drink myself. Ah well … I’m sure it’s going to be hilarious ! Am finally gonna put my bartending license to use !

Time	MASCHA GETS NAKED FOR CHARITY just kidding … it got your attention though ! 14 August at 19:00 – 15 August at 03:00
Location	Dillingers Pub & Grill 46-19 30th Ave Astoria, NY
Created by:	Mascha van Tongeren
	just kidding … haha but now that we have your attention: COME TO DILLINGERS AND COME SEE ALEX AND MASCHA TEND BAR FOR A GOOD CAUSE ! Alex and Mascha are guest bartending for the night to raise money for STOKED .  Your generous tips – we’ll accept checks, cash or creditcards – will make sure that she’ll have a spot on their NYC Marathon Team – she could really use the excercise and STOKED needs the money. … About STOKED : STOKED Mentoring is a non profit action sports organization for at risk youth with the mission of developing Successful Teens with Opportunity Knowledge Experience + Determination [ = S.T.O.K.E.D get it ?? ] through the use of action sports, mentoring and coaching. For more info check out http://stoked.org/ So bring some friends and come watch us serve you your favorite beverage, we’ll play games… do some arm wrestling and at the end of the night Alex will go home with whomever tipped the most …. so ladies … bring your piggy banks ! He’s quite a catch ! He can cook very well, is perfectly groomed and smells nice. Mascha will throw in something as well … she just hasnt decided what … she’s open to any suggestions. Oh ?? You can’t make it ? That sucks … well here’s the link to the cause so you can still donate and feel a bit better for letting us down for not showing up ! *sniff sniff* http://www.active.com/donate/nymarathon2010/mascha See you on saturday August 14th ! Peace , Alex and Mascha

I am a dork and these are MY ringtones

http://www.facebook.com/v/144236747031

http://tube2tone.com/widget.swf?filename=Mascha'sRingtones

Skate Sunday ..

It was a super nice and chill Sunday. Skated with the girls, had brunch etc.

I decided that it was time to catch up with some old friends, so I called Jeff in Sac. He’s doing awesome ! I am stoked for him. Then I called Espree. I love her. Her and I go way back. We have the same passions and quite often the same dilemma’s / struggles.

She mentioned something and it made me think about myself. I always try to be forgiving, not to be angry… to see other people’s POV [= point of view for those who don't know ].

I am glad to be able to say that I have gotten pretty good at blocking the bad sh*t and just focusing on the good.

There is just one exception and it makes my stomach just turn. I hate feeling this way and I wish it would pass. It’s not that I think about it non stop, I guess it kinda comes and goes. I try not to give it so much thought but damn it’s hard.

The way some people treat other people … whoa ! There are just no excuses for that.

I wish ‘people’ would take a step back and really see the big picture and perhaps even consider the possibility that they might have been wrong. It goes a lot further than being stubborn and pretending that their rudeness and stupidity is justified.

Amen. I just had to get that off my chest !

the Flamingo, Simon Templar and my $$

OK… so the last post was a to be continued one…

A couple of years ago I was looking for a sublet in South Beach as we were renovating the one on 16th and Collins. I really wanted for us to live in “the Flamingo” and my little heart started to race as soon as I saw an ad on Craigslist temporarily/ sublet section,  from a guy looking to sublet his 2 bedroom apt. in the Flamingo for at least 3 months for a very good price.

The catch??

I’d have to take care of his fiance’s dog ’till they’d come back. Well as you know I ♥ dogs and back then I still had my dog Menno so really… taking care of his fiance’s adorable dog was just  a BONUS for me.

Anyway, we did the interview and a couple of days later he called me to let me know that they ‘picked’ me and he asked me to stop by again to go over the rules, I met the dog etc. Needless to say I was ecstatic!

The third time we met was when I had to sign the papers and get the keys. I remember it well… it was a Friday and I couldn’t really sleep the night before. I went over to Mr. Simon Templar and we took care of business. He casually asked me for cash instead of a check and I had no problems with that at all. I just really wanted the place. I got the keys and the story was that I was gonna move in on Monday morning…

We shook hands and I wished him a pleasant trip to Europe and promised him I’d take real good care of his dog. The moment I left I got this really weird feeling coming over me… and it started to rain… I just knew something wasn’t right…

So I get home and start googling his phone number [he called me from a different number that day] and low and behold a couple of new ads popped up on BackPage and Craigslist… for the same apartment! As soon as I tried googling his name “Simon Templar“  I knew I was played.

accordingly to wikipedia:

Simon Templar is a thief known as the Saint because of his initials (ST), and because his heroic exploits fly in the face of an otherwise nefarious reputation.

So what was I supposed to do? I knew my ex would have made my life hell if I would have told him what happened. He’d make me feel like an idiot and prob. call me names and yell at me for days…  That was just not an option…

I called my girlfriends and explained to them what happened and asked them to call him and try to make an appointment to see the apartment. Some of them tried others just didnt have the balls to call him. The only one he called back is my Brazilian friend Pam. Pam is the sweetest girl ever but just not the brightest crayon at times and he most likely picked up on that plus her accent made her a great candidate for his scam. They made an appointment for 7 pm that night. He casually told her to bring money if she was serious on taking it.

My heart was racing… this motherfucker had some balls!

I called G.,  told him what was going on and this is what he told me:

” M. don’t worry… I am on the Beach, I have my badge, gun and handcuffs on me and I’ll be there in 15 minutes to come pick you up and we’ll get your money back. Don’t worry”

This was just what I needed to hear. I had my friend G. behind me. So comes 6.45 he picks me up and we head over.  The plan was for me to stand in the lobby while Pam. calls Simon to come on down to meet her. As soon as Simon walked out of the elevator, I’d turn around and greet him. This would be a sign for G. that that is Simon and from thereon he’d take over.

The plan worked out perfectly… Simon walked out… I walked up and greetd him. He was a bit surprised to see me there, but the Flamingo is a party building and it was Friday night so it was packed in the lobby and I told him I had some friends living there that had a party… so he wasnt too concerned to see me. He kept on looking for Pam though, but she obviously did not show.

Meanwhile G. walks up to Simon, flashes his badge and tells him : ” We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the heard way… it’s your choice buddy ” .

G. is a 6.2 feet tall Puerto Rican with olive skin a shaved head and a muscular/ ripped body…. pretty intimidating… and I am not talking about the gun and badge he carried.

Simon chose to sit down on a couch next to me with G. facing him. All I wanted to do was yell at the asshole and ask him why?? I did not deserve that because I am really a nice person. I wanted to hit him and shake him and a lot of other things. G. saw the anger in my eyes and told me to be quiet before I could even start.

Simon told Greg he had no money on him and that they would have to go to the cashpoint. That was no problem, there was one in the lobby. I had to stay on the couch. Of course once they were at the cash point Simon changed his mind and he told G. it was in his apartment, so G. told me to stay put and be calm while they’d go upstairs.

It took long and I was scared shitless. Seriously… I am not stupid [ahumI know I might seem that way sometimes... but I am really NOT ] so I was very relieved to see G. walk out of the elevator 15 min. later with a smile on his face.

G. told me that once they were in Simon’s apt. he got  “smart” with G. and tried to pull a gun. He saw that and tried to handcuff Simon but then he realized he didntbring the keys to the handcuffs so he tied Simon to the table with some of his own socks.

Simon was scared and cried and told G. that he got in debt with some big time drug dealers and that this was his only way out to getting hurt and that he had no more money in the apt. G. searched through everything and nearly gave up… then he saw the bible and remembered how his mom used to hide her money in there so he shook it and out came the $.

I was so happy/ excited/ scared/ shakey … full of emotions and adrenaline… I cannot even begin to describe it. We went for a drink after and he told me that he was proud of me for figuring it out, setting up the bust and staying calm… it made me feel a bit better that he told me not to feel bad for being so stupid to hand over cash…

- the end -

no [ iron ] horses + top ramen

Saturday morning S. and I woke up around uh… 7.30. Excited about last night we start to catch up with each others version of what happened. Luckily, both versions were almost the same, meaning we weren’t all that gone. We were pretty disappointed in the fact that the pool was closed and there was absolutely no room service whatsoever available in the hotel.

We decided that before we would leave to go downhill biking, it might be beneficial to hae a good breakfast so we made our way down. In our PJ’s. Very classy. The receptionist shared our opinion, however, she was very helpful and sent us over to this kick ass little breakfast joint. Again. S. and I were chatting about how excited we are for snow and last night blah blah. Girl Talk.

After the most amazing morning after breakfast anyone could have wished for we made our way back. Ready to get on that bike. So we call Diablo for 2 rentals + one lesson [my neighbor wasnt there to keep an eye on me and S. had never been dhillin' b4]. The answer was NO. NO instructors and NO bikes.

That sucked.

Not ready to give up on biking quite yet we decided to go to another shop and get our IRON HORSES there. I mean, it was Saturday morning, 10 am… why would there not be any bikes? Again. The answer was NO. They only has one more bike. I guess God just didn’t want us to go downhilling.

Bummed out we decided to pack up and leave to go back home. Driving back home we passed some stables and decided to give it a shot and go do some back country [horseback] riding.  We tried at two different stables. No luck. It just wasn’t our day.

S. had the brilliant idea to go eat some RAMEN. Now, I neer ate any Ramen but TOP RAMEN, so really it didn’t excite me that much. S. on the other hand couldn’t have been more thrilled. So there we went, to Fort Lee to the Japanese shopping mall. The Ramen was good, our brainstorming sesh even better!

WE CAME UP WITH A NAME FOR THE NEW BANDANA COMPANY!

WHOOHOO!

hihi! really?

Some people must think I am stupid,  Ha!

I don’t usually play games… but this one is one I am playing for the team…

Our team is def. having a power play right now!

Strange things happen when you work on a computer all day

Can’t wait to catch up with the girls and laugh our asses off.