For my thirteenth Seasonal Saturday, and in keeping with the theme of my birthday week, I am going to choose one of my favorite songs ever. I am going to choose one of my favorite Beatles songs too. I am going to choose their song that led off the second side of the White Album, "Birthday". 

The lyrics of this song are so fun. The only chorus goes, "You say it's your Birthday. It's my birthday too yeah. They say it's your Birthday. We're gonna have a good time. I'm glad it's your birthday, Happy Birthday to you." Then the bridge goes, "Yes we're going to a party, party. Yes we're going to a party, party. Yes we're going to a party, party."

Then the only verse goes, "I would like you to dance, Birthday, take a cha-cha-cha chance, Birthday. I would like you to dance, Birthday, dance!" Then there is a musical break, then the verse and chorus repeats, and then the song ends. 

I love this song because it is so much fun to listen to, and to sing. I have seen this song twice live, at Citi Field in 2009, and Yankee Stadium in 2011. I listen to this song every year on my birthday, and with my birthday being tomorrow, I figured let's use my Seasonal Saturday platform to choose this song. 

I hope that you all enjoy the song, and are able to use it for your birthday too!

Have you ever heard this song before? Has this song ever been played for your Birthday? Do you think that this is a fun song to sing for a Birthday?

Peace and Love,
DGS

Quotes of the Day: "Anyone can hold the helm, when the sea is calm." - Publilius Syrus
"Nothing makes one feel so strong as a call for help." - Pope Blessed Paul VI
"Love looks through a telescope. Envy, through a microscope." - Josh Billings
"Tact is the ability, to describe others as they see themselves." - President Abraham Lincoln

For my twenty-second Film Friday, and in keeping with the theme of my birthday week, I am going to choose one of my favorite films. I am going to choose a film, that I always quote all the time. I am going to choose another Martin Scorsese film, his 1995 hit, Casino.  

The plot of the film is that Robert DeNiro's character, Sam Rothstein, is connected to the mafia, and they have him be the manager of a Las Vegas Casino. He is helped out by Joe Pesci's character Nicky Santoro. The film documents their running the casino, and their rises and their falls. 

The entire film is non-stop action, and mafia action. I love to watch this film, and I absolutely love to quote this movie with my friends, curses and all!

Anyways, like I always do, I will link a few of the best clips from this movie down below, so that you all can watch them, and get a feel for the movie. I hope that you enjoy them!

Have you ever seen this movie before? Would you want to see this movie? If you have seen the movie, what was / were your favorite part(s)?

Peace and Love,
DGS

Quotes of the Day: "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." - William Butler Yeats
"Perfection itself is imperfection." - Vladimir Horowitz
"A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness." - Robert Frost

For my twenty-third Turnstile NYC Thursday, and in keeping with the theme for my birthday week, I am going to choose a place in New York City that is world famous. I am going to choose the greatest building in the world. I am going to write about my Birthday Buddy building, the Empire State Building.

The Empire State Building was opened on May 1st, 1931, just thirteen months after construction started. It is still the fastest building ever built that was over one thousand feet. It is located literally in the middle of the city, at Fifth Avenue and 34th Street. 

This building was the tallest building in the world, from when it took over the Chrysler Building in early March of 1931, and held the record until 1970, when the North Tower of the World Trade Center was completed. After 9/11, it became the tallest building in New York City, until the New One World Trade Center overtook it as the tallest building in the city, and the Western Hemisphere in 2015. 

The building has been featured in almost every movie ever made in the city, and has been the subject of so many films. Of course, its first silver screen debut, was in 1933, with the famous King Kong movie. 

It also was famous for surviving a B-25 airplane crash back in 1945. It crashed right near the 86th Floor Observation Deck, but it was easily repaired within a few weeks. I will put a photo down below, on how it looked back on July 28th, 1945. 

The building is now known worldwide for its lights at the top floors of the building. From their inception in 1976, they used to be spotlights that one man would go out on the ledge, and change the paneling on the lights to change the colors. Now, in 2012, they are using an LED system, that can produce 16 million colors at once, and that change at any time. Now they use the lights to link them up to songs sometimes over the radio, and moving color schemes now. 

And of course, there is the world famous observation deck. I wrote about the observation deck for Turnstile NYC Thursday XII, so check that out if you want to read more about that. But not a lot of people know that there is a second observation deck on the 102nd Floor, all the way up in the spire. That has some really impressive views too. Basically all I am going to say is that they both are great and I strongly suggest everyone go up and see the views from there.

So that is the Empire State Building, I hope that you really enjoyed this post, and that you consider going to see the Empire State Building, and also, an early happy birthday to this great building!

Have you ever seen the Empire State Building in person? Have you ever been up in the observation deck(s)? Would you want to go up and see the views in this incredible building?

Peace and Love,
DGS

Quotes of the Day: "In order to attain the impossible, one must attempt the absurd." - Miguel de Cervantes
"Work is much more fun than fun." - Noel Coward
"The heart is forever inexperienced." - Henry David Thoreau 

For my twenty-second Wisdom Wednesday, and in keeping with the theme of my Birthday Week, I am going to write about three principles that I have lived by through these almost nineteen years of my life. I am going to write about something that has helped me in all aspect of my life. I am going to write about the three L's in life, Living, Laughing, and Loving.

The first one is very basic, and it goes with what I wrote about for last week's Wisdom Wednesday, that you need to live life to the fullest. You need to live life, and not be afraid to make mistakes, and you need to take risks. You also need to allow yourself to not be afraid of what others might think of you, and again, you just live life!

The second one is to laugh. So many people these days, especially in my classes in college, take everything so damn seriously. People need to calm down, relax, and laugh sometimes. I try to make jokes and laugh all the time. I do take things seriously, but these people walk around like they have sticks shoved up their asses. Like take a chill pill, or two. 

​The third and last one, is my most important one, and that is to love. You need to love all throughout your life. You can't go through your life without loving your family, your spouse, your friends, and of course, yourself. 

I hope that you are able to use these three L's, and are able to make your life greater because of them!

Was this an interesting post? Did you like the style of this post? Would you want me to highlight, individually, these three L's?

Peace and Love,
DGS

Quotes of the Day: "Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts." - John Wooden
"My trade, and art, is to live." - Michel de Montaigne
"I'm for whatever gets you through the night." - Frank Sinatra

For my twenty-fourth Tune Tuesday, and in keeping with my Birthday week, I am going to choose one of my all-time favorite songs. I am going to choose another song from my fellow Long Islander, Billy Joel. I am going to pick his song, "Vienna", off of his great album, The Stranger.

The lyrics of this song are so interesting. The first verse goes, "Slow down, you crazy child, you're so ambitious for a juvenile, but then so smart, then tell me, why are you still so afraid, Mhm. Where's the fire, what's the hurry about, you better cool it off before you burn it out, you've got so much to do, and only so many hours in a day, hey-ey." Then the first chorus goes, "And you know that when the truth is told, that you can get what you want, or you can just get old, you're gonna kick off, before you even get halfway through, oh-oh. When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?"

Then the second and final verse says, "Slow down, you're doing fine, you can't be everything you wanna be before your time, although its so romantic on the, borderline tonight, tonight. Too bad, but it's the life you lead, you're so ahead-a ya self that you forgot whatcha need, though you can see when you're wrong, you know you can't always see when you're right, you're right." Then the second chorus goes, "You've got your passion, you've got your pride, but don't you know that only fools are satisfied. Dream on, but don't imagine they'll all come true, oh-oh. When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?"

Then after a musical break the final chorus comes in with, "Slow down you crazy child, and take the phone off the hook, and disappear for a while. It's alright, you can afford to lose a day or two, oh-oh. When will you realize, Vienna waits for you? And you know that when the truth is told, that you can get what you want, or you can just get old, you're gonna kick off, before you even get halfway through, oh-oh. Why don't you realize, Vienna waits for you? When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?"

This song was written by Billy Joel, after he was done visiting his father in Vienna, Austria. This song is about is here in America, we go very fast, and when we get old, we go into homes, or we just rot away, where in Vienna there were 95 year old women doing more work then the younger people. It is about how Vienna waits for you to do your own life, at your own pace. 

It really is a very beautiful song, and I hope that you all can enjoy it as much as I do! 

Have you ever heard this song before? Did you like this song? Do you like the message behind this particular song?

It Is Now, Officially, My Birthday Week!

With that being said, all the posts this week, leading up to my nineteenth birthday on May 1st, 2016, will be all flavored around my birthday celebration!

For my twenty-fourth Memory Monday, I am going to write about the best non-Disney birthday moment for me. I am going to write about something very special to me. I am going to write about when we took a Boat Trip, at night, around the city, for my 14th Birthday. 

Please, let me set the scene for the atmosphere surrounding my fourteenth birthday. It was 2011, and I was just a month and a half away from graduating the eighth grade from Sacred Heart School, and was four months away from starting high school at Kellenberg. I was scared of losing some of my friends, and was a little worried about starting high school. I was class president back at SHS, and we were having a big concert that week, so I was a little stressed out too. 

My birthday that year was on a Sunday, like it is this year also. My mother and father thought it would be nice if we took a trip into the city, got my favorite food, Shake Shack, (because remember, the Shake Shack out on the Island near the Roosevelt Field mall didn't open until 2013), and do some sightseeing, because I always loved the city. 

We got in, went to the Shake Shack around the corner from Times Square, and ate it in the car. Then we went downtown to the South Street Seaport, and took a boat ride around the city, (See I have said it before, and I will say it again, every post can tie into everything else on the blog. Those other two Turnstile NYC Thursdays, XI and XV, were written from experience!) When it got dark and all the city lights came out, the entire boat was asked if they had any birthdays on that day. No one raised their hands, but my parents had asked if they could sing to me without my knowledge. 

Then, after instruction from the tour guide on the boat, everyone on the top deck, in front of the city that I love, in front of the Statue of Liberty, sung Happy Birthday to me. It was one of the coolest moments of my life, bar none! This wasn't like people half-assed singing to you in a crowded Cheesecake Factory, this was the big time! 

After we got off of the boat, we thanked the man, gave him a nice tip of ten bucks, and then we went down to Wall Street to see Federal Hall and Trinity Church and the Charging Bull Statue, (you know all good things, that I would never write about!) Then we went home, and went to sleep on a great birthday night. 

I have always remembered that moment, and I will cherish it for the rest of my life. It just goes as another example of what my parents have done for me, to give me the best life possible!

I hope you all enjoyed reading this post, and are someday able to experience this for yourself!

Have you ever had a boat full of people sing Happy Birthday to you? Did you think that this was a nice Memory to have for one of my previous Birthdays? Would you want this to happen to you too?

Peace and Love,
DGS

Quotes of the Day: "Don't spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door." - Coco Chanel
"No one has a greater asset for his business than a man's pride in his work." - Hosea Ballou
"Love does not alter the beloved, it alters itself." - Soren Kierkegaard

Peace and Love,
DGS

Quotes of the Day: "Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose." - President Lyndon B. Johnson
"The envious man grows lean at the success of his neighbor." - Horace
"It is easier to love humanity as a whole, rather than to love one's neighbor." - Eric Hoffer
"Carpe Diem... Seize the Day boys. Make your lives extraordinary!" - Robin Williams, (as John Keating in Dead Poets Society)
"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest expectation is not to utter words, but to live by them!" - President John F. Kennedy
"Today you are You, that is Truer than True. There is no one alive, who is You-er than You!" - Dr. Seuss 

For this post, I am going to write about something that I have been thinking about doing for a while now. I am going to write about something that I have always wanted to say. I am going to write openly, about my old high school crush.

When I first saw her we were barely in high school by that point. We were still in our orientation, known in Kellenberg as Triple A. She was not in any of my classes, but she was in my chorus. I remember talking to her a little bit throughout our freshman year, but I was on the football team, so I saw her a lot there, because she was a cheerleader. But a lot of people forget that I was not really into her at that point, there was another girl that I liked who was in a few of my classes. 

In our sophomore year, I didn't have any classes with her, but I was on the football team again, so I was able to see her every Saturday at the games. Again, I was looking to go out with someone else who again, was in a few of my classes, but I was still looking at her.

It was in junior year of high school that I really started to fall head over heels for her. She was in one class of mine, our American History I class, and I'm not going to lie, I really tried to show off in that class. I remember trying to ask her out after months of deliberation, in February of 2014. She was already taken by a guy from Chaminade. I was too late. I kept on with my crush of her, stayed friends with her, and was always hoping for another shot. 

Our senior year we did not have any classes, but she was a leader on the Cheerleading team, and I was the captain of the Bowling team, so we did talk a lot because that was what the leaders of the teams in our high school did. She always said hello to me going from my first period class to my second. We had a great time out senior year, but the crowning moment came when we were in Disney together.

We spent a lot of time together as friends, walking around especially at Hollywood Studios, and honestly throughout the entire trip. The hard part was that she was still in a relationship with that guy from Chaminade, so I really couldn't do or say anything that I wanted to do. I remember that experience a lot and I always will.

After graduation I saw her once, and that was at the yearbook ceremony in August. I have talked to her a bit, and we are still friends, and I am very happy for that. Hopefully in the future we will be a couple, but for now that doesn't seem that likely. 

Anyways, I wanted to write this, because maybe someone will read this, and not do what I did, and wait for years to say how you truly feel. Be smarter than I was please!

Peace and Love,
DGS

Quotes of the Day: "Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never never were, but without it we go nowhere." - Carl Sagan 
"Much that passes as idealism is disguised hatred or disguised love of power." - Bertrand Russell
"If there's delight in love, 'Tis when I see that heart, which others bleed for, bleed for me." - William Cosgrove

Happy Earth Day Everyone!

For my twenty-first Film Friday, I am going to write about one of the funniest movies of the past few years. I am going to write about one of my favorite comedic movies. I am going to write about 2013's "We're the Millers".

The plot of this movie is very funny. A small level pot dealer in Colorado gets his stash stolen by some kids in a gang. He then gets called in by his pot boss and is told to get a large supply of pot from Mexico to releve his debt to him. He then creates a fake family, with a stripper as his wife, a runway girl as his daughter, and a lonely nerd as his son. They take an RV across the border, steal the pot, and bring it back into the States. 

But they run into some issues. They stole the pot, so now the Mexican cartel is coming after them, and now they have befriended an actual family, who's father figure is part of the DEA, which stands for the Drug Enforcement Agency. They have an RV full of weed with a DEA detective! I won't say how it ends, but it ends in a nice way.

The movie is non-stop funny, and I strongly suggest everyone going and watching it. I always cry laughing when I watch this movie, and I hope that you all have the same reactions that I do!

​I will, as I always do, link a few of the best clips down below for you all to watch. I hope you enjoy them all!

Have you ever seen this movie before? Would you want to see this movie? If you have seen this movie before, what is / are your favorite part(s) of it?

Peace and Love,
DGS

Quotes of the Day: "Forget not that the Earth delights to feel your bare feet, and the winds long to play with your hair." - Khalil Gibran
"This is the most joyful day that ever I saw in my pilgrimage on Earth." - Donald Cargill 
"Take away love and our Earth is a tomb." - Robert Bowling

For my twenty-second Turnstile NYC Thursday, I am going to write about one of the oldest places in the city. I am going to write about one of the most historic places in the city as well. I am going to write about good old Trinity Church.

​Trinity Church was first founded by a charter by the King George II of England, back in 1698. It was expanded in 1754, and was burned down in the New York City Fire of 1776. It was rebuilt in 1788 and finished in 1790. It was demolished in 1838, after it was weakened in a snowstorm, and replaced with the current one, in 1839, but did not reopen until 1846. It was added as a New York City Landmark in 1966, and as a National Historic Landmark in 1976. 

It has stood the test of time, as one of the most recognizable scenes in Lower Manhattan. It was, for a span from 1846-1890, the tallest building / structure in New York City. It survived the smoke and debris, from collapse of the World Trade Center towers, on September 11th, 2001, but one tree that stood for almost a century, at St. Paul's Church, which is across from the World Trade Center, and is also a part of the parish of Trinity Church, was not as so fortunate. Its roots were dug up, and bronzed, and now sits near the front door of Trinity Church.

Of course, anyone around my age knows Trinity Church for a different reason. It was featured as the climaxing point of the 2004 historical thrilling movie, "National Treasure". Whenever I see the church in my travels in the city, I always think of that movie, and I always want to go get some of the gold and treasure buried below the church!

But also, what a lot of people miss when they see the Church, is the graveyard that goes along with it. There are some really famous people buried there. People like Alexander Hamilton, who was the first Secretary of the Treasury of the Untied States, and is on the ten dollar bill, Ed Koch, the former Mayor of New York City, and many American and British Generals from the American Revolution and War of 1812.

Anyways, I hope that you all enjoyed the post, and will consider checking out Trinity Church, the next time that you are in the city!

Have you ever been to Trinity Church before? Would you want to go and visit it? Can you believe how many historic figures are buried there? 

Peace and Love,
DGS

Quotes of the Day: "Change is inevitable. Change is constant." - Benjamin Disraen
"I've never known any trouble than an hour's reading didn't assuage." - Arthur Schopenhauer
"A kiss that is never tasted, is forever and ever wasted." - Billie Holiday