|
So for the fourth time on this blog, I am going to write about how people in my life see me, but instead of family and friends, I am going to have a few of my old high school teachers give their input on how I was back in Kellenberg. I thought that this would a very fun thing to do, and I was totally right! "Dylan was one of the most engaging students to have in class, and why not, he's a bowler, he hands out free pens, and he met the President of the United States. He'll tell you and show you too. He has a certificate. I've seen it. What other person can say that. Truly a pleasure to have in class!" - Mr. Douglas Cioffi "Two things about Dylan Sandas that set him apart from most students that I taught. First was his wide range of interests, and secondly was his ability to laugh at himself. While many teenage kids identify a passion and pursue it, Dylan was knowledgable and engaged in several pursuits at once: History, Music, Sports, among many other things. He is a very well-rounded young man, and it's fun to talk to him about almost anything. Secondly, he never took himself too seriously that he couldn't laugh at the situations that he found himself in. This perspective and sense of humor made him mature beyond his years." - Mr. Kenneth Frank "I would say that you are a very energetic, determined young man, who is not afraid to face a challenge. You always look to better yourself which each failure, and you always look to what is next, so you can take on a new challenge. You are a very humorous individual with a dry wit, like Steve Carrell." - Mr. Ryan Champney Also, because he was left over since the last time I did this almost half a year ago, one of my friends comments still had to go... "Great guy. Very supportive. Intellectual. Made physics senior year funny and interesting with his, 'Sheldon Cooper-like', personality." - Tom Tobin So again, like I said above, I love doing this segment, and I wish I could this piece every single day! I love doing this, and I hope that you all enjoy reading these comments. Even though there aren't a lot to do, it is still a fun thing to do. Did you like these comments? Have you ever asked people close to you how they feel about you? Would you be excited or afraid to do so? 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 So on April 11th, it was my mother's birthday, and to celebrate it, we did something as a family with other people who share the birthday as well. We went to the Mets game, as they were started on April 11th, 1962, and celebrated it with a family friend whose birthday was also April 11th, and their family as well. We went to Citi Field, and had great seats, as we were sitting right next to the foul pole on the third base line. The Mets were playing the Miami Marlins, and the Mets had the Long Island kid Steven Matz going on the mound. The game was good for the first inning, and the Matz's world, as well as all of ours, collapsed, as he let in seven runs in the second inning, in an eventual 10-3 loss. But that was what made the game so fun. There were no lines for food because there was no one in the stadium by the fifth inning. For the first time ever, I was able to wait on line for Shake Shack, get it, and be back in my seat in about fifteen minutes. By the eighth inning there was no one left except us and a few people on the other side, so me and my dad started just shouting "Whoo" and eventually the whole stadium was doing it, and it was so much fun. They tried to do the wave, but when you have a whole side of the stadium empty, it is very hard to pull the wave off. After the game the 10-3 loss was not so bad again, as we were able to drive out of the parking lot and be home in twenty minute's because there was no traffic at all, because everyone was gone. Even though my beloved Mets lost, it was still an enjoyable time with friends and family, and we had a good time, that will be shared and remembered for a long time. Once again, Happy Birthday Mom! How do you celebrate your mother's birthday? Does your mother's birthday fall on another special day? Did you think that the way we celebrated was nice? Peace and Love,
DGS Quotes of the Day: "You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water." - Rabindranath Tagore "To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts." - Henry David Thoreau "The degree of loving is measured, by the degree of living." - Edwin Louis Cole Yesterday, I went to the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum with my small religion class of five people from Hofstra. It was very breathtaking, and I wanted to share my experience with you, and show you some pictures. We got on the train at Hempstead, and we got into the city at around 4:45 in the afternoon. It was really incredible, because I had seen these buildings be constructed for years, and then I was at the base of One World Trade Center, and I looked out on the reflecting pools, and I looked at the familiar scenes, and I got very emotional, for the first of many times on this trip. We then entered into the museum, and the first thing you see are the old tridents that used to line the base of both towers. We then walked down the large ramp that takes you down to bedrock. The first artifact that you see is the dedication plaque that survived the collapse of the towers. It shows you some steel, some pictures, and all of the missing person posters. The ramp itself overlooks the large sitting area underground, that has the Slurry Wall, which holds back the Hudson River, and the "Last Column", which I will talk more about later in the post. Then you arrive at the 'Survivors Staircase', which was connected to the plaza of the World Trade Center, next to Five WTC, and it helped in the evacuations that saved thousands of lives that day. We then saw the Virgil quote on the wall with blue tiles, made to look like the clear blue sky on that day, with each tile representing a person lost in the attacks. Then we saw some artifacts, like the half of the ball that dropped in Times Square on December 31st, 2001, with the victims that were known dead at the time names inscribed. Then there was some paintings, some murals, some more steel, and then you see the actual pieces of steel still in the ground that were the beginnings of the columns that used to stretch a quarter of the mile into the sky. There is a flag that was made up of other smaller American flags from around the country. Then, there is some brief history on the construction of the buildings, and what they used to be like, and what the site was like, before the construction even began. Then in the base of the fountain of the South Tower, there are the pictures of everyone lost in the September 11th, 2001 attacks, and the six people lost in the February 26th, 1993 bombing. There are some artifacts from a few people in there, including the man that I knew from my father and two uncles company in Hempstead, Durrell V. "Bronk" Pearsall Jr. After that you walk past the Virgil quote, you will see three artifacts, you see a part of the Antenna of the North Tower, then you see the mangled Ladder 3 truck, and right behind that a mangled and crushed up elevator motor. Then across from all of that, in the base of the North Tower reflecting pool, is the main exhibit, which describes 9/11 in detail, with thousands of artifacts. I lost it a few times in here, not going to lie here. Remember, there are thousands more artifacts in this museum that what I wrote about. I am just writing down here, the things that I remember, and that struck me as important. The exhibit starts off showing what the city was preparing for, on Tuesday, September 11th, 2001, Primaries Election Day for the Mayor of New York City. It then shows 8:46, when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower. It shows things like the Naudet's camera that captured the famous footage of Flight 11, some radios, and some bags. Then it shows some tickets for the South Tower Observatory that were sold for 9:00 A.M. Then you hear some phone calls from passengers on the plane and some from workers in the North Tower. It then takes you to 9:03, when United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower. It shows the pandemonium, and how the climate changed from accident to purposeful. Then it shows you 9:37, when the Pentagon was hit by American Airlines Flight 77, which had artifacts, like some children clothes recovered from the scene, a clock frozen in time, pieces of the Pentagons facade, and two airplane windows. Then came the hardest part for me, when there was a short film about the 'Jumpers', the people that had no other choice, but to jump a thousand feet to their death, instead of being burned alive. There were these totally optional short films all throughout the exhibit. Then it goes to 9:59, when the South Tower collapsed, and it shows all the shoes that were left behind in order to run from the cloud of debris. It then talks about the brave passengers of United Airlines Flight 93, who took the plane back, and made it crash into a field, instead of a target in Washington D.C. It then goes to 10:28, when the North Tower collapsed, and it showed all the personal remnants of people, like badges, and ID's of lost souls. There is also an ambulance and another firetruck that was destroyed. It then shows the rest of that day, and then goes an interesting way. It goes to a section about Pre-9/11. It shows the only remaining construction model of the World Trade Center in the world. It then shows all the times that the World Trade Center was featured in pictures, or a film, or a music video, or any type of media for that matter. There there is a section on the February 26th, 1993 bombing. It remembers those six people, and one unborn child that was killed that day. Then there is the only piece that was ever found of the old memorial to those victims, that was found on the old Austin J. Tobin Plaza of the World Trade Center. It then winds down through the times after that and the planning of the 9/11 attack. It very lightly highlights that touchy subject. It then winds down time back to 8:46, when it then shows a still of the Naudet film right at the moment of impact of Flight 11. Then it goes to After-9/11, which focuses on the cleanup efforts, and the coming back time of New York City. It has a lot of steel artifacts, including the famous Ground Zero Cross. It shows a small part of the old sphere sculpture, of which they have a small Pre-9/11 model in the lobby of the museum on display. There are things like an old store front that used to be in the underground mall of the World Trade Center, still covered in soot, and signage from those stores. It then ends with the now times, showing the sign that used to be in front of Ground Zero, that used to read the time since 9/11 that Osama Bin Laden was still alive, and on it, you have a one word sign, duct-taped to it, that simply reads 'DEAD'. It then very lightly mentions the conspiracy theories that surround the day, and the ludicrous nature of them. Then when you exit that exhibit, you walk right out and are greeted by the Last Column, but a huge wall behind it, with one small display case. In that case, is the shirt that the Navy SEAL was wearing, when he killed Osama Bin Laden. I clapped for that shirt, and got real types of emotional there. Then came the last column. It has spray painted on it, the numbers of civilians, NYPD, FDNY, Port Authority, and certain fire and police companies, that were lost that day. It also has some pictures of people still taped on it. Then came what I thought was the coolest thing in the museum, which was the "Single Pane". The only pane of Twin Tower glass, out of over 40,000, that survived the collapse of the World Trade Center. It was from the 82nd Floor of the South Tower. After that, there was nothing else to see, so we went up the escalator, with the sounds of very peaceful music, and walked back out onto the plaza, and stood at the reflecting pools for a while. Since everyone was so depressed, I started cracking jokes to get people to laugh, and it worked. We then got back on the train to Brooklyn, and went to Juniors for dinner and cheesecake. It was a great time, and I want to thank my Professor, Dr. Julie Byrne, and my classmates, Chris, Ben, Caitlyn, and Tyler, also with the help of her two aides, Venae and Melody, for a very memorable trip! It was so breathtaking! Also it goes without saying, that I want to thank all those who made the ultimate sacrifice that day, and that they showed the world the immense amount of courage that this city has to offer. And also, I want to remember all those that were lost in the entire attack on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, Shanksville, PA, and all those on the planes. They will never be forgotten! I hope that this was a good read, and that you all 'enjoyed' it as much as possible! I will be putting a lot of my photos down below, to show you what I mean about how powerful this place was. You are not allowed to take photos of the main exhibit under the North Tower, or of the faces exhibit in the South Tower, so there are none there. I will be covering this again, during 9/11 week, for a Turnstile NYC Thursday later on. Would you want to go to the Memorial and / or Museum? Would you be able to handle going there, or cry like I did a few times? Did you lose anyone that you knew during the attacks, or were you affected in any way?    Peace and Love,
DGS Quotes of the Day: "No day shall erase you, from the memory of time." - Virgil "Quality is never am accident. It is always the result of intelligent effort." - John Ruskin "A man must not deny his manifest abilities, for that is to evade his obligations." - William Feather "The best proof of love, is trust." - Joyce Brothers "Freedom of the Press, is only guaranteed, to those who have one!" - A.J. Liebling Happy Six Month Anniversary to this Blog!
I can't believe that it has been six months since I started this blog! I remember creating this blog in the late night of Tuesday, November 10th, 2015, writing about one of my friends sisters who passed away from an brain aneurism. From that sad event, came my first post, and from that has spawned a great blog in my opinion. In the week after that, on Monday, November 16th, 2015, I started writing the staples of this blog, which began with Memory Mondays, then the next day, I started Tune Tuesdays, the next day I started Wisdom Wednesdays, and then the next day, I started Turnstile NYC Thursdays. On December 4th, 2015, I started Film Fridays, and then the next day, I started Seasonal Saturdays. I have enjoyed writing almost 140 blog posts so far, but I will tell you in order, my favorite subjects to write about. It goes Tune Tuesday, Memory Monday, Film Friday, Other Topics, Turnstile NYC Thursday, Seasonal Saturday, Wisdom Wednesday Now for my Blog's Six Month Anniversary, I am going to choose for you, the top ten posts, in views, from each subject. Also Included is the date that they came out on. I hope you all enjoy them, and check them all out. Memory Mondays...
Tune Tuesdays...
Wisdom Wednesdays...
Turnstile NYC Thursdays...
Film Fridays...
Seasonal Saturdays...
Other Posts...
Were some of your favorite blog posts included in these lists? Which one(s) have been your favorite(s) so far? Can you believe that it has already been six months on this blog? Peace and Love, DGS Quotes of the Day: "The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled." - Plutarch "To rule is easy, to govern is difficult." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe "Pains of love be sweeter far than all the other pleasures are." - John Dryden So for a Sunday post, I am going to write about something very exciting happening to me tomorrow. It is also something directly related to yesterdays post about me voting for Donald Trump in the New York State Primary on April 19th. I am going to write about how I am going to see Governor John Kasich tomorrow, give a town hall at my college, Hofstra University. I am very excited to go see a Republican Presidential Candidate, and I am very excited that it is John Kasich. I would love to see Donald Trump, and I hope that he does come to Hofstra, but for now, I will gladly go to see John Kasich tomorrow. He has one of the best records in the election, on certain things like balancing the federal budget, and he also is very strong on certain policies, like foreign policy, and more state and local government power. He is a strong guy and a strong leader. He is a well liked, well respected Governor of Ohio, who won in two landslide elections in 2010, and again in 2014. He has balanced the budget four times, and he has worked in politics since he was 18 years old and met with President Richard M. Nixon. I really admire the qualities that Governor Kasich has. I admire the fact that he has no quit in him, and that he is not about to give up and throw in the towel, even when the times don't look so good. The only hope he has, is that there is a contested convention. Now the problem for him is, Trump is more than likely, make it to 1,237 delegates, or if he doesn't then he will be in first for the nomination for the convention. Senator Ted Cruz is probably not going to hit 1,237, and would need the convention. Governor Kasich is in fourth place right now in delegates with 146, behind Senator Marco Rubio's 170. He would need it to go to a convention, and a second ballot for him to have a shot at this nomination. The problem is with that is that he has not won as many states as Trump or Cruz. Rubio won Minnesota, Puerto Rico, Washington D.C., Kasich won his home state of Ohio, but Cruz has won nine states, and Trump has won 21 states. Kasich is not a proven winner in other states, although he came close in Massachusetts, and came very close in Vermont. Anyways, I am very excited, like I said, about getting to see, and hopefully meet him too! That would definitely be very cool to happen! If I take any photos at the event, I will put them down below! Would you be as excited to see him as I am, even though you maybe would not vote for him? Who is your favorite Presidential candidate? Do you like Governor John Kasich?   Peace and Love,
DGS Quotes of the Day: "If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." - Wayne Dyer "Necessity dispenseth with decorum." - Thomas Carlyle "Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore, we are saved by love." - Reinhold Niebuhr 'There are only two seasons in life. Winter and Baseball!" - Bill Veeck. For a random Saturday post, I am going to write about something that is on my mind greatly these days. I am going to write a post about something huge in my life right now. I am going to write about how this almost 19 year-old kid from Long Island is going to vote for Donald J. Trump, in the New York State Primary on April 19th, to be the Republican Candidate to be the 45th President of the United States.
Here are the reasons that I am voting for him. Now trust me, I know what I am talking about, because I have watched every single debate, and every single town hall, and every single interview of every candidate. What I am about to list and talk about, I know as a fact...
So those are a few reasons why I am choosing Donald Trump as my candidate. I think he is a winner, and the United States needs a winner after the past few years. He knows how to make people work, and bring the economy back up. I have total faith in him, and cannot wait to vote on Tuesday the 19th of this month! I hope that this was an interesting read. I hope you all see it my way and vote for the Trump Train two Tuesdays from now! Who are you voting for in this election cycle? Are you a Republican, Democrat, or Independent? Who is your least favorite candidate? Peace and Love, DGS Quotes of the Day: "Great things are done by a series of small things brought together." - Vincent Van Gogh "If you can't feel a hundred people, then just feed one." - Blessed Mother Teresa "A man is already halfway in love with any woman who listens to him." - Brendan Behan "Tell us your phobias, and we will tell you what you are afraid of!" - Robert Benchley |
Proudly powered by Weebly