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I am being released from Federal Prison in a few days time. This will be the very last blog that I write from behind the wall. In fact, by the time this is posted and most of you read this, I will already be a free man.
I still can't fucking believe it…to be perfectly honest. The mere thought of being free seems somewhat surreal to me. I know it's in a few days and all but it's almost unbelievable. I used to dream of the day I would have my freedom again and now it's going to be a reality. My journey has come to an end–I made it. Even writing this and realizing the validity of what I'm saying is kind of bugging me out. Like…I am really getting out in a few days?!
I think the toughest part to wrap my mind around in all this good news is the fact that three years has passed me by. I don't care what anyone says, that's a long time. Three whole years have gone by without me. Not three days. Not three weeks. Not even three months for that matter. Three fucking years! That's one thousand ninety five days…all of which I've spent behind bars and away from the world. Now all of a sudden I'm about to get out? Just like that. Shit, put yourself in my shoes for a second, you would be bugging the fuck out too. Just sayin'.
Don't get me wrong, I may be buggin' out a little, but I am fucking elated to be leaving this shit hole of a prison. These past few days kind of remind me of how I used to feel when I was a little kid waiting on Christmas morning, except way more intense. My release is pretty much all I think about, even though I try hard as fuck not to. It's actually all I've thought about since the day that the alphabet boys came through, slapped the cuffs on me and tossed me in the slammer. I feel like I've been waiting on this moment forever and now my time is finally up. I guess all of the waiting, the excitement and the nerves I get from thinking of what's to come, mixed with the thoughts of all I've been through and all I've missed out on over the past few years, is kind of getting to me. Like I said, it feels surreal…overwhelming even. It kind of makes me think like, damn, three whole years passed and it's finally over. Looking back at this journey the time flew by…but when I was looking forward…not so much.
Truth be told, I didn't always feel the overwhelming sense of joy and excitement that I feel inside right now…far from it actually. Some, if not most days of my incarceration, I felt an overwhelming sense of hopelessness, sort of a desperation…especially when I first got locked up. I thought that the world had simply given up on me and forgot all about me. I thought my time would never come, as if I was destined to spend the remainder of my days locked in a fucking cage, stuck in a living nightmare while life passed me by on the outside. I never thought I would make it down the seemingly endless tunnel of darkness with no sign of light at the end. It was definitely bad at times for me mentally. I'd be lying if I said otherwise…
When I first got tossed in jail with no hope of freedom in the foreseeable future, I was a fucking disaster. Sure, I had been very much clean from drugs for quite some time by that point, but my mind state and priorities were all out of whack. My world was crumbling around me at a rapid pace in every possible aspect imaginable. I was thrown unwillingly into a highly unfamiliar and extremely unpleasant situation. I went through the whole spectrum of shitty emotions at first…from fear to sadness to hopelessness to whatever…but what sticks out primarily in my mind is that of anger. Let's face it, I was mad as fuck at everything that was going on in my life at the time. I honestly didn't think that I belonged in prison.
I was still blaming everyone and their mother for my problems. I can't even begin to count how many times I said "those fucking rat fucks!" (or something along those pleasant lines) while speaking with a loved one or a friend via telephone or letter. I was bitter….but in my case I had a lil' reason to be mad at rats…or at least I thought I did. I probably would've never been exposed to any type of criminal prosecution without the help of multiple informants. Remember, I had quit hustling many months prior. I was out clean. I cleaned up my entire life and was working on cleaning up my soul. I honestly don't even think I was on the Feds' radar. But let's face it…this was no one's fault but my own. I am well aware of this. I just wasn't at that point.
Let's be honest here for a second. I'm no saint. I'm no innocent victim who was wrongly accused. I fucking smuggled and sold drugs–lots of them at that. I'm a fucking idiot if anything. I broke the law. Shit, I broke the law over and over, letting greed and addiction blind me of consequences or repercussions of my actions. I simply didn't give a fuck. Nobody forced me to do any of that shit. Therefore I have NO ONE to blame but MYSELF. Regardless of who told whomever what..its all moot. I fucked up. Not them…ME. I am here because of ME and ME alone. I hold no grudges. I'm honestly over it. I've moved on and I've let go…
Letting go of all that anger and resentment that I held inside of me for so long was tough and it took some time, but I did it. Another really tough feat for me at first was realizing that the world simply does not revolve around me as I once firmly believed. Only child–don't judge! When I first got locked up, everything was me, me, me. Do this. Do that. Send me money. Send this guy money. Call this one. Message that one. Get me this one's address. Call the lawyer. Call him again. Send more money…and so forth (you get the idea). I acted as if life stopped once Matthew McDonald was incarcerated. I didn't take the time out to think about the massive amount of pain, shame, and embarrassment that I had caused my loved ones. All I was worried about was my being comfortable in jail and more so that my pretty little life was being ripped from underneath me…not about how any of them felt inside. Sad…but true. While I was making the load heavy, I was bitching for more commissary. I was such an asshole back then…a selfish fucking asshole. It kills me inside when I look back….
I guess now that my journey is coming to an end, I can't help but keep thinking back to the very beginning of it all. Even though it feels as if three years went by in the blink of an eye, it also feels like it was a lifetime ago since I first walked into prison (if that makes any sense). When I look back, I honestly cant believe the type of person that I was back then. It's really quite embarrassing. I definitely had a lot of growing up to do…that's for sure. I was in desperate need of a wake up call and a major reality check. What better place for such needs than in prison?
Regardless of however I happened to be feeling when I first walked into jail–whether it was anger, selfishness, despair or whatever the fuck else I may have been going through–I learned quickly that I had to check all that shit at the door. There was no room for tears, me-me-me, or walking around angry in jail. I had to learn how to carry myself without showing any type of emotions at all. Most importantly, I had to learn how to be humble…especially when I was facing some serious prison time.
If I was going to survive in this new world, I only had two choices. I could either continue being angry at the world, caring only about myself, blaming others for my problems and continue to be the immature cocky little asshole that I've been accustomed to being… or I could man the fuck up, accept the fact that I wasn't going home any time soon and use the situation as both a learning experience and a chance to grow. I could work on my body, my mind and perhaps most importantly my soul, so hopefully I could come out of this a better man all around. I knew it wouldn't be easy, but I chose the latter. Thank God I did…because who the fuck knows if I would've made it out of this shit alive if I was walking around with a chip on my shoulder for three years. That wouldn't have been pretty.
I realize that there will be some skeptics out there…and that's to be expected. I'm sure there's people reading this right now claiming this is all bullshit….thinking I'm going to get back out there in a few days and be the same old Matty that I was before I went in. That's fine. Think what you want. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Some people believe that human beings are incapable of change. Shit, maybe they're right. Who really knows…I sure as hell don't. The only thing I do know is that when I first came into jail, I had a long road ahead of me–both figuratively and literally. I really needed a kick in the ass. I needed to get over myself and whoever the fuck I thought I was. I simply needed to grow the fuck up…
I'm not claiming to be a changed man. On the contrary, I'm still very much the same person that I was before I came in. Prison didn't suck all of the life and all of my personality out of me–thank God. So what I will say–and proudly I might add–is that I have grown a great deal since the day I first walked into the unknown world of prison. I may not be a "changed man" or any of that bullshit, but I have definitely learned a lot, I've matured greatly and my perspective on things has changed dramatically over these past few years.
The most important lesson among the multitude of others that I've learned in all of this is that freedom is a privilege and it should never be taken for granted. Losing mine made me realize that life is way too fucking short to be spent rotting in a prison. I learned that time is a valuable and precious commodity and should be treated as such. It should never be wasted. I now know that I have to cherish every moment when I'm out, no matter how seemingly insignificant, because who the hell knows which one is going to be my very last…
I learned that family comes first–no matter what. Because at the end of the day–when push comes to shove–they ALWAYS have my back–no questions asked. No matter the situation, I can always count on my family. That's a fact I'm so fucking thankful for. I can't even put into words of how much I love, respect and appreciate every member of my family for all that they've done for me. I may not have the biggest Italian family on the block but I have the best family that I could possibly ask for. I've learned that its quality–not quantity–that truly matters in life. Without them I honestly would've never made it through this shit. Their love and support over the years is what kept me going every day. When I thought of giving up or that I couldn't make it…they were there to lift me back up and push me to keep going. I wouldn't be the man that I am today without them. I owe them my life…that's the fucking truth right there. To my family–if any of you are reading this (you guys better read my blogs btw lol)–I love and thank you all from the bottom of my heart.
This whole ordeal has taught me a few valuable lessons about friendship as well. True friends are a rarity in this world. A couple of years ago, I quoted Queen of the South when I said "you learn who your true friends are when you're in the hospital, in prison or in the ground." The saying remains true three years later. I'm lucky enough to be able to say that I have a few great friends that stuck by me through all of this. When I was at my absolute lowest and all my chips were down, they were there for me. Whether it was sending me letters, pictures, taking my phone calls, visiting me, sending me money or whatever… they were there–no questions asked–just like my family was. In fact, those few friends are part of my family now. My mom got a few more sons and daughters…and that's alright by me. Because their love and support during my dark days is something that I will never ever forget and something I appreciate more than any of them will ever understand. They may not know what it's like to be incarcerated, but they bidded with me… they laughed with me… they cried with me. I'll never be able to thank you guys enough. 143!
What I came to realize is that since I made it through this fucking nightmare, I can make it through anything that life throws my way. They say if you can make it in New York then you can make it anywhere…try Federal Prison…then get back to me on that one. I've been to six different jails and prisons in four different states over the past three years. I've met all walks of life–both good and bad–some of which I'll remain friends with for the rest of my life. You know what I've learned… that prison is a bad place. It is literally a hell on earth. It is certainly not a place for the weak or the weak minded. Those types don't survive… but you know what…I fucking did… I'm out of here!!
P.S. Even though I'm being released…I will continue writing my blog…thanks to everyone!!
Finding the hidden stash of blueberries in the back of my freezer was pretty fucking awesome after my relentless searching. Mission accomplished. Sadly…it's my last somewhat clear memory I have of that particular morning of madness. What events ensued exactly…your guess is as good as mine. I definitely must have went hard though, considering the fact that everything goes black after that in my memory bank. Even to this day I wonder what went down. All I can tell you for certain is what happened when I woke up (for the second time) later on that day.
I managed to regain consciousness later on that morning, around 11AM. I woke up even more confused than the first time around. I was on my couch…alone…with the TV on…yet set to mute. My living room was bright and I remember it hurting my eyes. I literally had no idea how I got there…or to quote my boy Alessandro: "wha, what ha happened?" Confused is an understatement. I was fucking lost in the sauce and apparently hung the fuck over.
I laid there for a few moments, wallowing in my hungover state, wondering what the hell was going on. As I tried to gather my thoughts to perhaps help me fill in the blanks, I realized that I was one hurting unit. My head was pounding. My body felt as if I got ran over and left for dead on the side of the road. My mouth was dry. I was so fucking thirsty but I didn't have the energy at that moment to get up and search for liquids. On the whole…it's pretty safe to say that I once again I felt like shit.
I must say, rehab really did a number on my tolerance levels. I hadn't blacked out like that morning in ages…and that was when I was really going hard with the partying. I guess rehab really works after all….the cleaning up my system part…not the keeping me sober aspect. As you can clearly see…I failed miserably there. Less than twenty-four hours after getting released from rehab, I was already hungover, left with nothing but questions. Perhaps staying sober was going to be a bigger challenge than I had first assumed.
Still laying there on my sofa completely confused, hungover and thirsty as fuck…I tried to remember exactly what the fuck I did…what went down…something…shit…anything at all…which was no easy feat considering the fact that my head was still pounding hard as ever. I fought through it…at least I tried to anyways…and I thought back…….. (cue the thinking back music LOL)
Okay. Let's see here…I came home completely stoked about being out of rehab (pffff…that clearly went well)… I ate take out… oh yeah, carrot cake (which in turn caused me to realize how hungry I was on top of my growing thirst)… I watched a movie… then I had some sex (quickly I might add–damn you rehab!)… wait, where the hell is my girl? And why am I alone–on the sofa no less? Was my performance that bad (causing me to laugh to myself)… no, there's more… we went to sleep in my bed…then….uggghhhh this fucking headache sucks! Wait, yeah, I remember… I got up in the middle of the night… I couldn't sleep… I was sweating… I thought I had withdrawals again (which caused me to realize that despite how shitty I felt at that moment, I no longer had withdrawal symptoms of any kind)… okay, okay, I remember wandering around my apartment… looking for something…. oh shit. (light bulb decides to finally go off in my head) fuck… I was looking for oxys… did I find them? nah…. couldn't be…. well the withdrawals are gone Matty (yes, I talk to myself frequently)…. fuck… I can't remember….. shit. This can't be good (guilt kicks in hardcore)……
Everything pretty much goes black after that… kind of anyways. I tried my best to remember more but couldn't. I had random flashes (as I mentioned in my last blog entry) of me downing vodka and orange… mischievously hunting for pills… finding them… but beyond that I couldn't (and still can't) remember shit. However, I would fill in a few blanks (i.e. how much did I drink, did I sniff any pills–if so, how many, where was my girl, did she know what I did…and things of that nature) later on that day based upon some clues…or should I say evidence…that I left behind at the scene of the crime.
Truth be told, I'm pretty happy that I can't remember much more than I already do of that morning. Because let's face it, I clearly failed the whole staying sober thing. I didn't even make it a full twenty-four hours without fucking up. It's rather embarrassing if you ask me. So for once, in my many blackouts, that particular one was a blessing on my conscience. As the saying goes…if you can't remember something…then it didn't happen.
Frustrated, feeling guilty as sin and partially angry with myself, I gave up trying to remember what happened. I assumed the absolute worst. It's pretty safe to say, that even to this very day, I still assume the worst. I mean…I had an obvious hangover and my withdrawal symptoms were magically gone. It doesn't take a rocket scientist (although there is one here in the room next to mine if you want me to confer with him) to figure out that I drank and sniffed a few pills. The only thing I could do that day was realize that I fucked up…pick myself up and try again….and that I did.
After a little while, I decided to get off of my lazy, hung the fuck over ass to finally start my day–or what was left of it anyways. Despite still being a tad bit fucked up (drunk..high..who knows), I managed to get some things done. I wolfed down a big breakfast. I drank an obscene amount of water along with a few Motrin for my headache. I cleaned up whatever remnants remained from earlier in the morning that I might have left behind. You know…bottles…powder residue from crushed up pills…things of that nature. I showered. I shaved. I got dressed. I looked in the mirror to check out the finished product. Once again, I didn't particularly like the man I saw staring back at me.
The last time and coincidentally the first time I looked in the mirror and didn't absolutely love who was staring back at me (sickening huh? mentioned in I THOUGHT I WAS THE MAN) was when I was really heavy on the drugs and deep into drug dealing. That was more guilt mixed with stress mixed with one too many nights of partying–causing me to literally break down from all ends. This time was different…kind of. This was more vanity than guilt. I looked…well…I looked different.
I was standing there, inspecting myself ever so carefully in my full length mirror, not pleased one bit as to what I saw. I realized that (while in rehab) I had definitely lost some weight and a lot of my size. I was pale…at least pale by my standards. I looked like Michael J. Fox in Teen Wolf…in dire need of a haircut. I looked tired and worn down. Damn you hangover…you ruined my life! In essence I looked like a fucking hot mess…minus the hot. I knew just what I needed…
So what do you do after you've flooded the city with pills, presumably ruined countless lives in the process, got high on your own supply, lied about it, cheated, partied, ended up in fucking rehab and once you got out–after making countless promises to stay clean and sober–you get drunk and high again? Shit…what else…you spoil yourself with a day all about you! What else would a selfish asshole like yours truly do? What? Were you expecting me to personally deliver thank you notes and apologies to all those who stuck by me? Then you clearly don't realize what a fucking selfish person I was back then. Change takes time folks…not 24 hours and a hangover.
I hopped in my luxury sedan, lit up a cigarette (my new addiction after rehab…and in case you're wondering I quit months later), called up my mother and headed out to start my day. It was great to talk to her. She was happy and seemingly relieved to hear from me, since I hadn't spoken to her since a few hours prior to checking out of rehab. I'm sure she was worried, so I calmed her nerves by telling her that I was good, ready to be back in the world, and that I was planning on spending the day pampering myself. She was actually really supportive of my idea. She wished me well and told me to come visit her the following day to which I agreed. I didn't mention what had happened earlier that morning since I didn't want to worry her and I had truly planned on that being a one-time mistake.
As I made my rounds to various places around the city and beyond, I noticed that with every stop I made I started to feel better and better. Whether it was for a mani/pedi (don't hate!), a haircut (at the Barber Shop in Everett courtesy of my boy Brian), a trip to the tanning salon, the massage parlor or wherever else, I noticed the same results. Perhaps a day of pampering is just what the doctor ordered…or perhaps as the hours passed my hangover was finally wearing off…who knows. Regardless, I was feeling brand fucking new. There was just one thing left…
The gym…my home away from home. I certainly couldn't waltz in there after so much time away, especially after losing all my size and presumed strength, and think that I'd be right back to where I was. I needed some help so I did the next best thing. I went to ANC and bought a boat load of supplements (vitamins, proteins, sleep aids, pro hormones–you name it). I told the guy behind the counter that I had just gotten out of rehab for oxys, and before I stepped back into a gym of any kind, I needed to get my health right. I needed my size, strength and energy back ASAP. Needless to say, I walked out a happy man, smiling and ready to get back into the gym game. Little did I know my smile wouldn't last too long.
As soon as I got back into my car, I noticed I had a couple of missed calls and texts from various people. The only one that stood out was a missed call from my former friend/connect in Florida. This immediately caused my stomach to knot up. Reality kicked in hardcore and I didn't even know what he wanted yet. He left a message (something he rarely ever did) which I checked immediately. The message was something along the lines of–yo doggie, I just talked to your girl. She told me what was up and where you've been. Why didn't you tell me dude?…yada yada…hope you're all good. You ready for me or what? I'm sure you could use some sun…yada yada…end message.
I'm not one to read between the lines but in this case I did. I knew what was up. He knew I was all cleaned up and probably figured I'd want to pick back up where I left off…back in the game. Maybe he was right. The only thing was I didn't really know how I felt at that moment. I was torn. I mean, I didn't want to get back into selling drugs after all I'd been through and after all I'd put everybody through, did I? Could I? I made all those promises. I just couldn't…could I? Shit. This was going to be a long day after all.
Some of you may be wondering where the hell I've been…or why I haven't written anything since ONE YEAR LATER. Well…keep wondering…cause I'm on vacation!! LOL…I kid I kid!
Sadly, I haven't gone anywhere. I'm still very much down here lampin' (or should I say sweating my balls off) at good ol' Ft. Dix Federal Correctional Institution–finishing up payment of my debt to society. I'm almost paid in full. Too bad this place doesn't accept checks or credit cards instead of time…PFFFFF!
With this nearly unbearable heat and humidity situation that I've had to endure down here with no fans or a/c over the past month, I've honestly had no drive or motivation to write. I know, I know…I'm sorry! Hey…relax over there Gary! If you're that mad call any Federal official and tell them to install some air conditioners down here…then we'll be in business. I'm sure the other 5,200 inmates here would really appreciate it!! The natives are definitely getting restless down here with this heat and no relief in sight. Shit…I'm fucking sweating as I type this…lol.
Every time I sat down with my iced beverage in hand, headphones in my ears tuned in to my favorite station, in the frame of mind to write, I would immediately get hot, start sweating and then I'd get aggravated…which in turn caused me to put my pen and pad away until the next day. Rinse. Recycle. Repeat. Finally after multiple failed attempts at writing due to inclimate weather conditions and lack of interest in sweating my balls off more than necessary, I got to the point where I was like fuck this shit. I needed a break…so I decided to take one month off and come back fresh and motivated….so here I am. I'm still definitely hot as balls, but I'm fresh and ready to make miracles happen…LOL. So I'm all yours…at least until the next heat wave. Now… where the hell was I again? Oh yeah………
Some time between the early hours of three and four in the morning, I woke up from a coma-like sleep in a groggy haze…confused as to where the hell I was exactly. I was laying on a seemingly familiar and comfortable bed, engulfed in a plethora of sheets and down comforters, and I was ass naked. I glanced over and noticed that there was a woman sleeping soundly beside me, facing the opposite direction. Still confused, I partially sat up…quietly as to not wake her…and curiously looked around the dark room. As I slowly began to gather my bearings, it all came back to me in an instant. I was home…I was in my bed…I was out of rehab.
Even though I was still half asleep, I smiled to myself. I carefully sank back into my bed under the covers, rolled over, closed my eyes and tried to fall back asleep. The only problem was…I couldn't…and believe me when I say I tried. It's not that I wasn't tired, because I was still very much so. It's just that something didn't feel right….not with the situation of me being back home in the comforts of my apartment, in my bed, with my lady no less….no…it was something else. It was me. I felt kind of shitty…and as the minutes passed, while trying to get comfortable enough to fall back asleep, I noticed it more and more.
For starters, despite the air conditioning clearly being on, it felt like the heat in my apartment was set to South Africa. I was sweating a little and laying in a large area of wetness….which might have also been sweat…presumably my own…or so I had hoped. Unless of course the woman sleeping ever so soundly next to me was dreaming of toilet bowls and oceans LOL…and in that case I was literally swimming in whatever the hell she had going on. Nope…thank God…lol…the wetness came from me. I was perspiring lightly all over. The sweat was just enough to make it really sticky and uncomfortable under the covers, making it impossible to fall back asleep.
Naturally, I removed the covers from my body to try and cool off–and did I ever. It felt as if I flipped a switch. The cool air felt really nice at first, almost refreshing. Then it got a little too cold for my liking, so I slid back under the covers to warm up a little, in yet another attempt to fall back asleep. Only thing is it didn't work. Despite the abundance of covers I was swimming in, I still felt slight chills all over. I had goosebumps everywhere…and I'm talking everywhere. Places I didn't think were possible to get them had goosebumps. Laying in the small area of wetness wasn't helping my situation either. If anything, it only made me feel more cold and uncomfortable. I didn't like where this was heading.
After a few minutes of tossing and turning, going from slightly hot to cold, I decided to get out of bed, towel off the sweat and put on some clothes to get my body temperature back to normal. That's when I noticed how shitty I really felt. My body had mild aches all over…not sharp pain per se…but achy. I also noticed that I felt kind of drained. At first I chalked it up to lack of sleep, but dismissed that idea quickly since I had experienced all these symptoms together before. I was beginning to get a sense of deja vu. My body felt like it was going through a very mild version of what I went through before I had gone to rehab…. opiate withdrawals. Pffffffff! Fuck my life!
Yes…the withdrawals were back….the only thing is I had no idea how or why. I was really confused as to what the fuck was going on. I even went as far as pinching myself because I thought I was stuck in some sort of twisted dream–a nightmare even. I wasn't. Sadly, it was real. Now all I had to do was find out how to fix my problem.
I realize this whole opiate withdrawals bullshit sounds rather redundant. It seems like every other blog I'm talking about hot flashes, chills and feeling like shit. Well…that's because every time I looked…it felt like opiate withdrawals kept creeping back into my life somehow. So imagine how the fuck I must have felt. You have to sit through reading it over and over in my blogs, and here I was going through them over and over in real life….pffffff.
I mean, I went to rehab–dealt with all the nonsense there for however long–cleaned up my act and checked out. I thought I was well past the point of physical withdrawals. I definitely wasn't expecting to go through them ever again. I guess I thought wrong.
I didn't take into consideration that I was on pills for close to two years…along with whatever other party drugs I added to the mix. A few weeks away in a rehab isn't the end all be all cure all as I thought it was. I guess my body still needed time to fully adjust to not having opiates in my system. They say the biggest reason that most people relapse after their first time getting out of rehab is because you leave there with a false sense of security. You leave there thinking you feel great and it's all over…like Matty – 1, Blueberries – 0 …all the while not realizing that the medication they put you on to detox off of pills will eventually wear off and you'll inevitably have to go through feeling like shit for at minimum a couple more days…and at worst several more weeks…depending how bad your habit was. Don't get me wrong, I felt great compared to withdrawals before I checked into rehab, but it still sucked just enough for me to consider using pills again…as I almost did.
What happens next is a little cloudy in my memory–so bear with me. I'll try my best to describe what happened the rest of that morning as far as I can remember…
Still feeling like shit, I decided to shrug it off and take action. After getting dressed, slipping into a pair of Jordan shorts and a loose fitting tank top, I prepared myself for a scavenger hunt around my apartment. Operation blueberries (or anything equivalent for that matter) was under way. I went on a fucking mission to make the shitty feeling go away…one way or another. I had several squirrel stash spots all around my apartment…for just such an occasion. Sad…I know…but also very true. The only thing I wasn't sure of was which spots my girl had cleaned out in my absence.
I started my quest in the bathroom. Yes…the bathroom. I told you I hid shit everywhere…no pun intended…lol. I looked in the three places where I would've hidden pills….the linen closet…way back engulfed among old bath towels…nope. The medicine cabinet…mixed in with a bottle of Vitamin E capsules…nope. Finally I checked the box of wet wipes on the shelves next to the toilet. I mean who would look in there…right? Fucking nope. Either she got to all my hiding places while I was away or I sniffed them a while ago and forgot to replenish the stash. Regardless, the bathroom was all clear…no pills.
Next I ransacked my living room…and believe me when I say I looked everywhere…even in places where I normally wouldn't have hid shit. I tried to convince myself that perhaps in a drugged-up haze, I must have found new hiding places. If I wasn't sweating and going through mild chills, semi-feeling like death, this would've probably been a fun game…like an Easter egg hunt when I was a kid…lol. I looked in pillows, under pillows, in the couch, under the couch, under the coffee table, on shelves, in books, under the book case, in picture frames, on the window sills, in closets, in clothing in closets, in jacket pockets, in jean pockets, in shoes, in the DVD player, under the DVD player….you get the idea.
Shit, I almost wished I had someone there rooting me on saying, you're getting colder… you're getting warmer…lol. If you think about it, that part was kind of true. I was getting hotter and colder every few minutes…but like physically…not just in regard to finding my prize…lol. I was on a fucking mission, which as it appeared, I was failing miserably, finding nothing….
After rummaging through the remaining areas of my apartment–all of which while trying to be as quiet as possible–as to not wake up sleeping beauty in my bedroom, I hit up my kitchen…in a last ditch effort to soothe my pain and discomfort.
This took a little time…seeing there were so many fucking places where I could have possibly hid pills in a drugged-up frenzy. I literally emptied my cabinets…looked in glasses, bowls, cups, pots, pans, and all dinnerware was searched thoroughly to no avail. I even went as far as looking in the dishwasher–only to realize how stupid that was because even if I did have something in there at any point in time–it would've been ruined by a single wash…lol. I opened up my food closet. I tore open boxes of cereal, cookies, crackers…anything that was already open. I looked in a bottle of whey protein. I searched drawers, in the stove, under the stove, in the sink and under the sink. I even decided to move out my refrigerator to see if perhaps I might have dropped a pill under there at some point. Nothing. Not a fucking pill. I was clearly getting desperate.
Although I did find a few hundred bucks hidden in a box of Kashi GoLean cereal underneath the bag at the bottom that I must have forgotten about….so all was not lost…lol. Seriously though, I looked everywhere and found nothing. I failed miserably. If this were a real Easter egg hunt, all the other little kids would've been enjoying their prizes and I'd be off in a corner sulking. Fuck it. It seemed as if I was going to have to tough it out til the withdrawals passed. Who knew how long that was going to be? At least they weren't that bad.
By this time, I'd say it was roughly four thirty in the morning, perhaps closer to five. This is where it gets cloudy. Feeling defeated, sweating lightly, I decided to look in my fridge for something to drink. I was in no mood to eat. I was drained. I had no energy whatsoever. I was overtired. All I wanted to do was replenish some fluids lost and lay down…not that I could sleep even if I tried. Did I mention that insomnia was a big factor after getting off pills? As I'd later learn, I wouldn't be sleeping much in the next coming months. I'll get to all that later down the line.
Upon looking in my refrigerator for a cold beverage, I grabbed a bottle of Simply Orange (no pulp) and cracked it open. Then I got a bright idea. I opened my freezer. What I found there kind of saved the day. Guess who forgot to get the alcohol out of the house? I found a few open bottles of random alcohol…mostly vodka…which is all I really used to drink. I made the executive decision to drink myself into a coma with high hopes of eventually waking up without withdrawals. I figured it may not have been the pills I was so desperately seeking, but it would do the trick. So I did just that…I drank…not even 24 hours out of rehab…and I was getting bombed at five in the morning. Nice…huh? Mom must be real proud…LOL.
After I finished off one bottle, which I'm assuming only gave me two or three glasses of vodka and OJ, I remember stumbling back into my kitchen to retrieve another bottle…figuring this would be the one to put me over the edge. I reached in my freezer for the bottle and I pulled it out…and low and behold…look what I find chilling (literally) behind it…. a mini ziploc baggie (picture one that could fit a nickel) containing five 30mg roxicodone pills. I was drunk. I smiled. This day was getting better by the minute. I won the Easter egg hunt after all! Yippieeeee!
To Be Continued….
Today is a very special day. Well…it is to me…for it is the one year anniversary of when I…along with the help of my editor and favorite Auntie Christine…started this blog. Wow…I must say that year went by in the blink of an eye. It has been quite a ride…both literally and figuratively…and I'm almost home. Well…not home-home as in Boston… but my soon to be new home…the sunny land of ….. =)
I have to admit when I first started this blog I was really fucking nervous. I'm talking waiting on an aids test–what's the results–type of nervous. I mean it's not every day that I wake up and decide to bear my soul–my inner most thoughts–to even my closest friends and family…and now here I was about to put my shit show of a life on blast for the general public to read…
Remember, this was the very first time since I had been arrested that I was going to publicly address all of the nonsense that had happened. The real story…not just some made up bullshit that the media got a hold of and ran with. It was pretty nerve-wracking for me. I didn't really know how the public would react to what I had to say. Shit…I didn't know if people would even take the time to read what I had to say for that matter.
The only thing that I did know for certain was that once I plead guilty and was sentenced to prison…all bets were off. I no longer had to bite my tongue regarding everything, as I had so patiently and unwillingly done at the request of my attorney. I had so many different thoughts and emotions bottled up inside at the time–for some 15 months–I just had to get them all out. I didn't care who the fuck heard what I had to say…just as long as someone did. So I finally said fuck it…what have I got to lose? Here goes nothing.
Despite my fuck it attitude, it certainly wasn't easy at first to put my life on blast by any means. Truth be told, I didn't sleep one bit on the night of my first post. I remember laying there, on my pathetic excuse of a bed, imagining the absolute worst. I must have played through every negative outcome possible in my mind that night…it was awful. I even woke up my cellie in the middle of the night to ask him if he thought I made a mistake. I certainly had regrets…that's for damn sure.
Imagine you have something you've been dying to get off your chest. So you decide to confide in a friend. Imagine putting yourself out there… I mean really out there–like butt-ass naked–to someone you know well and trust. You're telling this person something about you that no one else knows. Your semi-embarrassed with a slight hint of shame–fearing the outcome. You have no idea how whatever it is you're telling this person is being perceived…yet you continue to let it all hang out…then you suddenly realize that the very person who you just straight-up told your whole life to…now looks at you differently because of what you told him or her…judging your every word perhaps. How would that feel? Or even fucking worse….the person wasn't even fucking listening to what you had to say at all….like you just poured your heart out to this person and they were preoccupied. Yeah…imagine that? Shit…that's how I fucking felt that night. Except I didn't bear my thoughts to just one mere person who I knew and trusted. I laid it out there for the world to read…think it over.
I will say as time passed, however, nothing was ever as bad as that first night. The more blog entries I wrote, I found that it became easier and easier to just let it all out…no longer fearing the consequences or the possible reactions of others. I just wrote what was on my mind–not giving a fuck. I found that as long as I kept what I had to say raw as hell…real…and most importantly honest…it was nothing to put my shit on blast. I guess I figured that if I just came clean with all of the nonsense that I had done over the years without implicating others (I'm no rat) then I'd truly be free. I'd have no more skeletons in my closet. I'd have nothing left to hide. So when I walk out of here…I'd be me…take it or leave it. I could carry my head held high, knowing I owned up to all my bullshit and I didn't point the finger at anyone else. And maybe…just maybe…if I shared my story in a way that didn't glamorize anything…it might prevent someone else from making the same poor choices that I had made along the way…and that would be the greatest reward of all.
So many people ask me how I'm able to put myself out there in the way that I do… BALLS!!! haha! … I tell em' I have big fucking balls…that's how! haha! … I kid, I kid…kind of. Truth be told, I honestly don't know the answer to that question. If I had to guess I'd say (since I'm currently locked up) I find my freedom in writing. I've come to find out over the past year that writing has been very therapeutic for me. It's given me an opportunity, not only to let out my skeletons, but to come to terms with how fucked up I was living when I was free.
They say that hindsight is always 20/20… I couldn't agree more. It wasn't until I started traveling down memory lane…writing these blogs and really soul searching…that I finally became honest with myself about everything. Not just with my addictions to drugs (both selling them and doing them), women and the fast life…but in the way I was living my life in general. The truth hurts…I'll say that much. I was a real asshole…a selfish fucking asshole. They say that assholes finish first–pffffff! Whose first? I'm in fucking prison. Tell that one to Tucker Max. Sure I can say I was young and reckless, but it's no excuse. I fucked up…plain and simple.
But all of that nonsense is in the past. Not to be forgotten of course…but to be used as a lesson learned….a major wake up call if you will. I've come a very long way from the person I once was…again both literally and figuratively. I can say that proudly…and it's in part because of this blog…and the people who take the time out of their busy lives to read what's on my mind. Without this blog and the people who read it, I may not have grown into the man that I'm fast becoming…and for that I'm grateful. Which is why I feel that this day is a special day to me….
With that being said…I want to take this opportunity to give thanks…to YOU…the reader…whomever you may be. THANK YOU!! Whether I know you personally or not…thank you…thank you all for taking the time out of your hectic lives to read my stories. To those out there who share, re-post, re-tweet, or re-anything having to do with what I write–THANKS! To those who comment on my thoughts, whether it's positive or negative feedback…I thank you. Regardless of what you may think of me or how I've lived my life thus far, I owe you all a great deal of gratitude. Without all of you reading, posting, and/or commenting on what I have to say, this would be a blog with no audience… a tree falling in the woods with no one to hear it… so I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. As much as I'd love to sit here and thank everyone personally, I'd be here all day. I DO want to go home sometime soon LOL.
Also…the most important thanks of all…
I want to say thank you again to the person who makes this all possible for me. Without her time, effort and insight…this blog wouldn't even exist…and I may not be the person I am today. I'll keep this as brief as possible, for she has to edit for spelling and grammar errors and I certainly don't want to add to her work load…lol.
Auntie Christine,
I've grown a great deal over the course of this past year…moreso than in any one particular year of my life. I've had ups. I've had downs. I've learned so much about myself. You gave me the opportunity to help me to help myself grow as a person…if that makes any sense…lol. And…I know it wasn't easy for you to overlook all my f-bombs (even though I know you deleted some…lol). I know that I've expressed my overwhelming gratitude and thanks to you for creating and running this blog on my behalf in my absence many times before, but I'll say it again…and with pleasure I might add….THANK YOU SO MUCH.
I hope you realize just how much I truly appreciate everything that you've done for me…not just with this blog and over the course of this past year…but over the course of my life. You have helped and inspired me in a way that I could never repay…although someday I will surely try. Everyone tells me all the time how lucky I am and how my Auntie Christine is the best. I couldn't agree more…you are the best and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Remember that….
Love ~ Matthew
NEW BOOK ALERT!! "ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME" by Jimmy Blue Eyes
As you are well aware, I am incarcerated. In my free time…when I'm not working out or writing…I'm reading. I've had the pleasure of reading tons of books since I've been down. All sorts of genres. My favorite genre has to be crime fiction. Non-fiction autobiographies or memoirs come a close second. Okay, I'll admit it…I love the Twilight series as well…LOL. A few of my favorite authors include, but are certainly not limited to: Chuck Palahniuk, Stuart Woods, Sidney Sheldon, Lee Child, Stephenie Meyer….I could go on for days.
Even though I am such a fan of all these authors…and many more…I've never had the pleasure of meeting any of them. Recently I had the pleasure of reading ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME by Jimmy Blue Eyes. Needless to say, I loved it. It's well written, captivating, intense and utterly raw….the very type of reading material which I love. Without giving the story away…. it's about three lifelong friends who are involved in a series of crimes spanning 25 some odd years. Afterone of the three friends gets caught and turns informant for the FBI…it all goes sour…. picture "Goodfellas" in a Las Vegas setting. It's great…I promise.
Until recently, I have yet to meet an author of a book in which I've not only read, but very much so enjoyed. Jimmy Blue Eyes is not only a great first-time author, but a personal friend of mine… so check out his book. I promise you wont be disappointed.
And don't worry, my book will be on shelves as soon as I'm out of this shit hole! Stay tuned…….
You can purchase the book at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/All-Roads-Lead-Rome-Volume/dp/1475136994/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1337038970&sr=1-1 or at his website: www.jimmyblueeyessouthphilly.com
A bomb of epic proportions exploded in my luxury sedan on that warm evening in late September. Just how much damage was caused exactly…I didn't know. I really didn't want to know. I didn't even let my former flame get another word in before I absolutely lost it.
I immediately went into an all out panic. Full on, flip the fuck out mode. It was almost as if a real bomb did explode in my vehicle…instead of a metaphorical one…and I was the screaming, crying, raving lunatic of an innocent bystander that got his leg blown off. Yeah…I was that bad…lol.
Try and picture if you will….
Who the fuck got arrested? What happened? When? Tell me everything! What the fuck do you mean there's more? Am I fucked? I'm fucked aren't I?! Are the cops after me? Did they come by the house? Fuck! fuck! fuck!!… did you tell them anything? Shit. I knew I shouldn't have left rehab. Fuck! Drive faster will ya! I need to get the fuck home right now! Where's my phone? I'm getting the fuck outta here! Go around this guy! Can you fucking drive kid!? (I yelled to an innocent driver out of my passenger window). Fuck! Babe, how did this happen? Do you think I'm fucked? I can't go to fucking jail! I'm alright, right?– I stopped. They've got nothing on me. What the fuck is up with this fucking phone like?! (as I started to slam my phone repeatedly on my dashboard as if that would help the situation). Why doesn't my fucking password work!? Fuck it! (as I throw my phone off my windshield in disgust). Give me your phone! Where is it? I need to get in touch with so and so…fuck! I don't know his number! Why is my fucking phone locked!? (as I throw her phone the same way I threw mine). This isn't happening right now. I'm going to lose it. This is why I fucking sniff pills…for times like these! I'm fucking going to jail? fuck. my. life….worst day ever……………… and so forth.
Embarrassingly enough, that was just a small preview of what went down after I heard that news. My little tirade of non-stop questions, swearing, answering my own questions and accusations lasted a good fifteen minutes. Out of control I was… I was sweating. I was punching things. I was spitting. I was cursing as if I didn't know any other words…awful. I probably looked like a fucking maniac. Yep… that was me, Matty the maniac. I was fresh out of rehab, but I'm pretty positive that my ex thought I was very much still on drugs that night.
If I would have just stopped and taken a breath…calmed the fuck down and let my ex continue on with whatever it was she still had to say…instead of acting like a drugged up maniac…I would have found out that I may have jumped to conclusions a wee bit too fast. Lesson learned. This is why I made those rules from my previous blog DO NOT PANIC…so no one else repeats my mistakes.
In my defense (and I don't have much to go on here…lol) I had literally just gotten out of rehab. I was a nervous wreck to begin with before I even got into my car that night. I was due to snap about something. It was inevitable. But it's not all my fault… OK…well it is my fault I mean…but I had been on those fucking pills every single minute of every day for two years. That's not even counting the many other years of heavy recreational use of other party drugs. I was fucked up. Just because I went into rehab and was technically "clean" doesn't mean I was fully back to normal by any means. In fact I wasn't even close. That would take some time. My mind was still definitely all over the fucking place…clearly.
When I heard my ex mention "friends arrested", I automatically assumed the worst and I panicked. I thought it had something to do with me and the business I had previously been involved in. Paranoid much?… you have no idea. Chalk that up to one of the many side effects of coming off of drugs…more of which I'll explain later and in future blogs to come. This is why I can't stress enough about how badly drugs fuck your whole shit up.
I ended up finding out (after my little episode) that I was way off in my assumptions…well kind of. Yes, two people (that will remain nameless–pffffff) that I know–not that I was friends with–did get arrested…and yes…it was for selling roxies–the very same drug that I had been selling in mass quantities before rehab. However, thankfully enough, I had nothing to do with either of those two guys. Therefore (at the time) no police, feds, or any other law enforcement agencies knew my name or what trade I had been involved in…so I knew I was good…at least for the time being.
Don't get me wrong, it wasn't all sunshine and butterflies once I realized I had been wrong in my assumptions. On the contrary, I was still slightly worried, but it wasn't to the point where I was yelling obscenities out the window of my car to other vehicles on the highway. Sure…I was so relieved to hear that it wasn't anyone I was close with…but deep down I knew that both of the jokers that had gotten pinched knew of what I used to deal in. So I was a little nervous that they may try and throw up a hail Mary to help save themselves by tossing my name around in conversations with law enforcement officials. The only solace I had was that I knew neither of them had any proof or credibility for that matter. But even still, I didn't want my name out there like that.
As worried as I may have been, I tried my best to put the new information at hand in the back of my mind and try relaxing a little. One episode was certainly enough for that evening…and I didn't see my ex holding up a lighter for an encore performance…so I played it cool. The two of us drove home in silence for the most part, enjoying the radio and the warm evening…until I asked her what she meant when she said "there's more?"
After receiving what appeared to be a look of bewilderment…followed by a semi-smile from my ex…I came to find out a few more answers to some questions that I had…
While I was away, basking in the glory of drug rehab, my ex was hard at work. She took it upon herself to go through my blackberry (which is never a good thing) and make some adjustments to my social life. She decided it was in my–or her–best interest to call, text, and/or Facebook everyone and their mother who could possibly have any ties to roxies and all things drugs. I guess she told, or should I say threatened, all these randoms to stay the fuck away from me, to lose my number and to never give me drugs under any circumstances. I was fucking mortified to hear this.
I see now that her heart may have been the right place, but at the time I was not the least bit happy. I was trying to keep my drug addiction and my rehab stay under wraps and away from the general public…and here she was telling everyone in my phone. Her calling, texting, and fb messaging threats to an unknown…yet probably very large…amount of people really threw a wrench into my plans of secrecy. pffff.
Then, to add insult to injury, if that wasn't bad enough…I came to find out that one of the people she called and messaged was none other than…YUP…you guessed it…one of the two newly arrested idiots that she had mentioned earlier…THAT was the "there's more". I can't even begin to explain how badly I wanted to flip the fuck out when I heard this. I wanted to go home, pack a bag, and get as far away from Boston as possible…for good. It was if she turned on the panic switch. I was now certain that I was on the radar of the feds…and I was probably going to jail…awful.
I didn't yell. I didn't start to panic. I didn't even show cause for concern when she told me what she had done. I honestly had no energy left to snap. I couldn't argue even if I wanted to. All I really felt at that moment was a hopeless sense of despair. I just wanted to get home, eat, unwind and put the day behind me. That might have been the longest and most emotional roller coaster car ride in my life. Food and sleep–that's all I wanted.
When we arrived back at my apartment I had kind of a fuck it attitude. I realized that everything was out of my hands and there was nothing that I could do. Tomorrow would be another day. I tried my hardest to forget what I had just heard and just enjoy the moment. Sure, I acted like a fucking lunatic, but I was free…I was with my girl…pfffff lol…and I had my favorite carrot cake. It wasn't so bad after all.
The remainder of the night went off without hitch. We enjoyed our food and each others company. I'm pretty sure I ate the whole carrot cake myself. Then we showered and went to bed…yada yada wink…forty five to sixty seconds later I was on my roof smoking a cigarette while she slept…or laughed at how quick I lasted LOL!. Another side effect of coming off of pills…need I say more about how bad drugs can fuck your whole shit up? LOL
Finally I came back inside after enjoying my cigarette and I went to bed…or tried to anyways. I had a lot on my mind. So much had happened and I was pretty sure this was only the beginning. I didn't know what the future held for me. It had definitely been a long day…one which I was extremely glad was over… I slept….
Only to be woken up about four hours later… I was in a pool of sweat… I had the chills… I felt like… like shit… it was almost as if…. wait… nah it couldn't be…. it was almost as if the withdrawals were back….. FUCK.
To be continued……


text:
CRESTVIEW � Famous Krystals, Double Krystals or even the 12-burger Krystal Sackful might soon be on the local menu if the City Council approves plans for a Krystal hamburger restaurant on South Ferdon Boulevard.
CRESTVIEW � Famous Krystals, Double Krystals or even the 12-burger Krystal Sackful might soon be on the local menu if the City Council approves plans for a Krystal hamburger restaurant on South Ferdon Boulevard.
The council will consider the proposal at Monday�s meeting, 6 p.m. at City Hall. If approved, the new restaurant will open about the end of July and employ approximately 30 workers, Krystal spokesperson Andy Derryberry said.
The site at 2385 South Ferdon Blvd. is on the east side of Juke Hill across the highway from the Dunkin' Donuts shop. The location, between a Regions Bank office and the Family Vision Center, currently contains a gas station that closed several years ago.
Krystal officials said the heavily traveled location perfectly fits the company's "trade area and customers" profile.
"We are excited to open the Crestview Krystal location," Vice President of Development and Construction Brian Blosser said. "It is a high-potential market for the Krystal brand."
According to site plans approved by the Local Planning Agency, the Technical Review Committee and the Planning and Zoning Board, the development on the approximately 1-acre site would include a 1,702-square-foot Krystal restaurant and a future 3,198-square-foot retail building across the parking lot.
The retail building�s site would be sodded until Krystal is ready to build, according to submitted plans. Underground fuel tanks from the closed gas station have been removed, the developer's agent, Robert Ziegenfuss, told the Planning and Zoning Board at its March 19 meeting.
Krystal offered to construct a cross connection between its property and Family Vision Center, but the gesture was declined, Ziegenfuss said. City planners encourage cross connections between adjacent commercial properties to relieve traffic congestion in heavily traveled commercial areas.
The Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Krystal chain operates nearly 370 restaurants throughout the South. Its menu includes breakfast selections and the square burgers for which it is best known.
Juke Hill, named for a series of "juke joint" nightclubs that flourished on the stretch between either end of present-day Redstone Avenue West, has long had a local reputation as "jinxed property," with multiple businesses closing soon after opening on the hill.
However, the opening of the successful Dunkin� Donuts on the site of a Lee's Chicken restaurant that lasted less than a year, as well as a professional office plaza behind the donut shop, apparently broke the "jinx."
Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or email@example.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
People were told that the investment in their house was as solid as a rock:
Unfortunately, millions are now upside down, because the housing bubble - fed to a large extent by fraud - has burst: And the people who supposedly verified the accuracy of mortgage documents never did so, and - in many cases - weren't who they said there were:
The foreclosure scandal will likely depress the real estate market, as clear title for millions of homeowners comes into question.
This is obviously a huge problem.
But the largest problem for the economy could be - not from mortgages themselves - but from the securitizations of those mortgages:
Joshua Rosner - noted bond analyst, and Managing Director at independent research consultancy Graham Fisher & Co - told his clients Tuesday, that the impact from foreclosure gate on the securitized market could be huge. As Shahien Nasiripour reports:
[Rosner] said he believes the paperwork problems regarding foreclosed properties will ultimately be resolved, he wrote that "We have a larger and more significant concern, which, if proved out, could call into question the validity of nearly all securitizations." ***
Rosner said, the current scandal "may give investors an opening to challenge the legality of deals, threatening to unnerve financial markets."
Those challenges, which would result from the revelations unearthed during the foreclosure process, could then be used to investigate the documentation practices that occurred when these mortgages were first given to borrowers. Inflated income levels, fake home appraisals and other lies inserted into mortgage documents -- something Wall Street and Washington have long suspected, but never truly investigated -- could then be used to force big banks to buy back the garbage they peddled in the first place to unwitting investors.
Another possibility is that trustees, who oversee the flow of documents from the originator of the mortgage to the vehicle that holds those documents for investors, may not have properly performed their role, either.
Just four firms dominate the trustee market for mortgage-backed securities in which the mortgages aren't guaranteed by Uncle Sam: Deutsche Bank, U.S. Bancorp, Bank of New York Mellon, and HSBC serve as trustees for 70.5 percent of all such issuance since 2005, according to Asset-Backed Alert, an industry newsletter and data provider. An additional four firms -- Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Citigroup -- control 29.1 percent, Asset-Backed Alert data show.
All told, these eight firms have served as trustees for 99.6 percent of all private-label mortgage-backed securities issued since 2005.
Were the document errors now cropping up in a handful of cases "to be found to have resulted from [the] widespread failure of issuers and trusts" to properly handle and transfer documents, "there would ... appear to be a strong legal basis for the calling into question [of] securitizations," Rosner wrote.
Joshua Rosner On Foreclosure Fraud
As David Faber notes:
The worry centers on the mortgage loan pools created by many of the big banks as they fed the seemingly endless desire for mortgage-backed securities and CDO's (collateralized debt obligations) made from them.
It appears the mortgage content of many of those pools—created when the banks were dominating the mortgage securitization market in 2005, 2006 and 2007—may have been misrepresented. For example, an underwriter may have maintained that 80 percent of the mortgages in the pool were for primary residences when in fact far fewer were for that purpose. Or the underwriter stated that only 10 percent of the pool would be made of of "no-doc" loans—those that include less documentation about the borrower—when in fact the percentage was far higher.
That could be fraud, and if so, the creator of the mortgage pool could be liable. Given that the market for private label RMBS (residential mortgage-backed securities) was $1.5 trillion, the potential liability may be considerable. And while most of the originators of these mortgages are long gone, the securitizers are not.
Joshua Rosner agrees. Rosner told Elliot Spitzer, the banks and rating agencies knew that 28% of the loans which the banks securitized and sold to pension funds and other investors didn't meet underwriting standards. And yet they turned around and processed them into sausage (securitized them) and sold them to investors, representing that they did meet underwriting standards. Rosner said that the rating agencies apparently intentionally avoided looking into this, since the more deals they approved, the more profits the rating agencies got. [For background on the financial incentive of rating agencies to give high ratings to literally anything, see this.] And Rosner points out that - knowing about the high percentage mortgages which failed to meet underwriting standards - the big banks then bet against the housing market. Spitzer called that trading on inside information: The potential securitization problem is why bank stocks are now in trouble. See this, this and this. And as former Managing Director of Goldman Sachs Nomi Prins points out, the Bernanke and Geithner are terrified of a meltdown in the securitization market as well:
The free-market, let the banks do what they do mentality was what allowed them to create a $14 trillion mountain of securities backed by precarious mortgages to begin with.
But the real reason for Geithner's reluctance about a foreclosure moratorium is that he's scared stiff about those securities – because even if he won't admit it, he knows that the bailout wasn't just about TARP and Bernanke isn't just an economic savior.
If foreclosed homes couldn't be sold because of fraudulent paperwork or had to wait for more detailed inspections, you can imagine how difficult selling assets stuffed with faulty loans might be. If it's tough to find a title for a foreclosed home, think how tough it is to back the related loan out of a pyramid of securities sitting on top of it.
See, the loan that might be analyzed in a foreclosure situation could be part of a chain connecting the underlying home to 20 or 50 different securitized assets, all depending on it for either the interest payments the loan was supposed to provide, or the value of the foreclosure property if those payments stopped (in Wall Street speak, the "recovery value"). If a foreclosed property isn't selling, it's not recovering any money back to any asset waiting for it. Think what that can do to the value of toxic assets living at the Fed and the Treasury Department. Kill it.
The reason TARP and all the other subsidies happened was that Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke, Tim Geithner (the pillage gang) and the most powerful Wall Street CEOs were scared. Banks had stopped trusting each other (no one cared about the person who couldn't pay their mortgage, or had their home taken, whatever the reason). When there is no confidence in the market, there is no bid for securities, no matter what the reason.
The banks couldn't pay for all their leverage and they were facing bankruptcy if the system remained seized up. So the gang paid to keep the securitization market going, by finding a home or back-up home for the assets. They did not propose any remotely effective plan to help individuals at the loan level .... They merely enabled the worst practices and excesses to keep going in the name of saving the country from a greater depression, by shifting them to Washington and providing the illusion of demand for them.
Foreclosure fraud is not new. Many sane people and organizations have been talking about fraud for years -- you don't manufacture $14 trillion worth of mortgage-backed securities and all their permutations and mega leverage out of $1.4 trillion worth of subprime loans in five years without cutting a lot of corners. Banks knew that. But when the value of their assets plummeted, unlike individual borrowers, they got to dump them on the Fed and the Treasury department, while receiving cash injections and guarantees, and cheap money subsidies in return.
See this for more information on the government's ill-conceived effort to prop up the prices of securitized assets. As Congressman Brad Miller told Dylan Ratigan, failure to use subpoena power to audit the quality of the mortgages in the securitized pools held by Fannie and Freddie and to pursue all available legal rights to protect taxpayers from getting stuck with the bill for toxic securitized assets would constitute yet another stealth bailout of the big banks:


text:
This rich, dark chocolate, berry treat is not only delectable, but is also a good low-fat, low-calorie source of flavonoids.
Preparation Time: 10 mins
Yield: 1 x 1-cup serving
Mix the cocoa powder with the yogurt. Stir well until smooth.
Add sugar and vanilla, and stir into the cocoa yogurt mixture. Lightly stir in berries. Serve.


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Hi. Remember me? It�s been awhile. I�m the guy who writes a weekly column that goes in this spot, but I haven�t been available lately.
Hi. Remember me? It�s been awhile. I�m the guy who writes a weekly column that goes in this spot, but I haven�t been available lately.
For you, perhaps it was a refreshing break. Or maybe you missed me.
It�s not like I took the last month off from work, but I was away from my desk several key days, days when I usually write my column.
Some of those days were due to illness (don�t worry, nothing serious, better now). One time I accompanied my wife to see specialists about her Huntington�s disease (she�s doing OK, according to this six-month checkup). The clincher was two weeks ago, when my sister Patty died suddenly after years of declining health.
Patty was married to Jamie, a Vietnam veteran who I�ve written about before and who died of Agent Orange-related complications three years ago. Patty was my oldest sister. We hated each other as children, but were probably the closest of my siblings in the end.
I wasn�t able to immediately travel to California, where she lived, and the first few days after she died put me in a deep funk that I still can�t describe and which still creeps up at unexpected times.
Sarah, Mark, Blake and I flew out for four days around last weekend, during which Mark first met his grandparents, his remaining aunt and uncle, and a cousin, Joshua, who is Patty and Jamie�s only son.
With a bicoastal family, it�s hard getting the family together, but I am ashamed that it took a death and a decade to pull it off. Though we were there four days, time passed quickly. As we departed California early Sunday morning, I formulated ways to make another visit soon, preferably not scheduled around a memorial service.
Just days before we went to California, a colleague who is the editor at a sister paper in North Carolina traveled there to celebrate his wedding anniversary. His Facebook updates showed many of the places my family and I were about to visit.
As his trip wound down and ours began, we came within just a few miles of each other but didn�t connect.
We were on a tight schedule that Mark, 8, insisted include us crossing the Golden Gate Bridge (which we did) and visiting Alcatraz Island (which we saw it from afar). We also stopped at Fisherman�s Wharf and had a fusion lunch that combined California and Vietnamese cuisines, then tested our stomachs further with a drive down the steep and winding Lombard Street. By 4 p.m., we were a world away, checking into a hotel in the foothills east of Sacramento.
It struck me how at-home I felt driving on California�s busy streets and freeways. On one onramp in The City (which is what Californians call San Francisco), two lanes merged into one. �Watch this,� I said to Sarah, as two rows of cars became one as smoothly as a nylon zipper.
Californians have a hive mentality when they drive. As long as you don�t show any fear or reluctance, you�ll do OK.
Something that struck Sarah was how often strangers smiled at her. We wandered through a Costco with my father, my wheelchair-bound mother, Blake and Mark, and stranger after stranger stopped to exchange a few friendly words.
Our long flight home ended at Coastal Carolina Regional Airport, and five minutes later we pulled into our driveway, thankful that we didn�t fly out of RDU.
The only evidence remaining from our trip are the memories, the photos, a few gifts from grandparents to grandchildren, and a nasty cold Sarah caught on the flight over.
Thanks for letting me take up some of your Sunday morning.


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Spring IoC - Inversion of Control. DI - Dependency Injection.
Spring IoC - Inversion of Control
IoC pattern is defined as "A software design pattern and set of associated programming techniques in which the flow of control of a system is inverted in comparison to the traditional interaction mode." which means instead of the application calling the framework for services (as is the case with traditional patterns) it's the framework which calls the components as specified by the application.
DI - Dependency Injection
As you can deduce from the above para that IoC is quite generic in nature and perhaps not used by the Spring framework in entirety. The aspect of IoC used by the Spring framework is usually termed as DI or Dependency Injection as it focuses on injection of dependencies (required resources) into the dependent components at run time.
There are three main ways through which dependencies are injected into the dependent components. All these forms are supported in Spring either directly or indirectly. These forms are:
- Constructor Injection - as the name suggests, in this form the dependencies are injected using a constructor and hence the constructor needs to have all the dependencies (either scalar values or object references) declared into it. Though, this form of DI is directly supported by the Spring IoC Container. But, Constructor Injection is mainly used by a highly embeddable, lightweight, and full-service IoC Container named PicoContainer. Read more about how do we actually code Constructor Injection using Pico in this article - Implementing CI using Pico. How CI works?
- Setter/Mutator Injection - this form of DI uses the setter methods (also known as mutators) to inject the dependencies into the dependent components. Evidently all the dependent objects will have setter methods in their respective classes which would eventually be used by the Spring IoC container. This form of DI is also directly supported by Spring IoC Container. Though Spring framework supports both forms of DI namely the Constructor Injection and the Setter/Mutator Injection directly, but the IoC Container prefers the latter over the first.
- Interface Injection - in this case any implementation of the interface can be injected and hence it's relatively complex than the other two where the objects of specified classes are injected. It's not supported directly by the Spring IoC Container. Interface Injection is used by The Apache Avalon. In 2004 Apache Avalon project closed after growing into several sub-projects including Excalibur, Loom, Metro, and Castle.
Setter vs Constructor Injection. Why Spring prefers the former?
- Hard to manage a large number of constructor arguments: Spring framework prefers Setter/Mutator Injection over Constructor Injection because a large number of constructor arguments can become really hard to manage especially when many of them are optional. The Spring IoC Container will of course not have any such problem with Setter Injection type.
- Re-injection or Amendment: One important thing to note here is that in case of Constructor Injection the dependencies are handed over at the time of object instantiation of the dependent objects whereas in case of Setter/Mutator Injection the dependencies are injected after the dependent object has already been created. Now if a re-injection or re-configuration of a dependent object is required , it can be easily done by calling the respective Setters in case of Setter Injection, but not the same in case of the Constructor Injection. So, should you need any re-configuration of the dependent objects, you would be better off with Setter Injection.
Why at all do we have Constructor Injection then? Any real need?
Well... by saying that Spring IoC prefers Setter/Mutator Injection you should not deduce that the Constructor Injection has no real uses. Constructor Injection has its own benefit(s). This form of injection is preferred by the purists for the reason that the dependent objects are always handed over in a completely initialized state and no less than that. Right?
The obvious disadvantage in this case is that the dependent object becomes less flexible and hence any re-configuration becomes difficult.
How has the IoC pattern (or DI) been implemented in Spring framework?
Spring framework has two packages supporting this core functionality. These packages are: org.springframework.beans and org.springframework.context and the two interfaces which are the building blocks of Spring IoC are: BeanFactory and ApplicationContext.
ApplicationContext interface is actually a sub-interface of the BeanFactory interface. The top level interface, BeanFactory takes care of supporting an advanced configuration mechanism to manage objects of any type. ApplicationContext interface on the other hand is responsible for functionalities like integration to Spring AOP, message resource handling, event prorogation, and other enterprise-centric functionalities.
There are other specialized sub-interfaces as well which are targeted to add the specific set of functionalities on top of the the functionalities provided by ApplicationContext and BeanFactory interfaces. One such example is WebApplicationContext which is sub-interface of the ApplicationContext interafce and is responsible for providing enterprise-centric functionalities to be used in Web Applications.
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Statement of the American Sociological Association on the U.S. Government Vetting of Scientists to Serve on International Advisory Bodies
August 18, 2004
The American Sociological Association (ASA), an organization of nearly 14,000 scientists, has grave concerns about reports from a number of affected individual scientists as well as in the press about the U.S. government's vetting of eminent scientists who have been asked by international bodies such as UNESCO and the World Health Organization (WHO) to contribute their scientific expertise on matters vital to health and related concerns in communities in the United States and around the world.
On behalf of the Association, the ASA Council strongly urges the President of the United States to advise his appointees—such as the U.S. Representative to the United Nations and the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)—to ensure that the U.S. Delegation to UNESCO, the Director of the HHS Office of Global Health Affairs (OGHA), and other such U.S. government representatives, do not interfere with the choices made by international bodies seeking expertise and input from recognized U.S. scientists. As a professional and learned society, the ASA believes that demonstrated, peer-recognized scientific expertise rather than adherence to particular policy positions is the criterion of selection that will ensure international bodies of importance to the United States receive the most useful knowledge available from our country's scientific community.
The ASA urges the President through his Secretary of HHS to suspend the unique and unprecedented interpretation of Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and Civil Service regulations (as described in an April 15, 2004, letter from HHS OGHA Director William Steiger to Denis G. Aitken, of the WHO, announcing that the Director of OGHA will now determine, in consultation with federal agency leadership, which scientists will be approved to participate in WHO's expert panels). The clear implication of this directive is that scientific expertise of U.S. scientists is destined to be, at best, a secondary criterion, and, at worst, an ignored criterion, yielding its critically important value to the inappropriate influence of "preferred" policy or political considerations.
Similarly, we urge the President to direct the U.S. Delegation to UNESCO to refrain from vetting U.S. scientists—duly selected by UNESCO for their expertise—based upon whether the delegation views their presumed policy or political views to be consistent with current U.S. policy. The ASA views this as dangerous position because the U.S. scientific community at large has worked for many decades to build, bolster, and protect the longstanding international scientific credibility and leadership of the United States. Even the impression that U.S. scientists chosen as experts are only providing knowledge that supports existing U.S. government policies on WHO panels, in UNESCO or other such venues, at the expense of sound science, would initiate an intolerable descent of American science's heretofore unmatched prestige and influence on the international scene. The inevitable result will be fewer invitations for U.S. scientists to contribute to scientific discourse at the international level and the consequent lessening of U.S. influence and relevance.


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The Attributes of the Arts with a Bust of Mercury: Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, c. 1728, oil on canvas (Pushkin Museum, Moscow)
Oh when Mercury came to London
they "had him fixed".
It saves him from so many undesirable associations.
And now all the Aunties like him so much
because, you see, he is "neither, my dear!"
D. H. Lawrence: London Mercury, from Nettles, in Last Poems (1932)
The Attributes of Painting and Sculpture: Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, c. 1728, oil on canvas, 64 x 92 cm (Private collection)
Alan Young: from Positive Refusal, in Poetry Nation No. 4, 1975
Among [Squire's] contemporaries ... his reputation was variable. Many of them, such as Virginia Woolf, found him coarse; they thought, with reason, that he drank too much; they had little confidence in the group, known as the Squirearchy, which surrounded him.
Alan Pryce-Jones [J. C. Squire's editorial assistant on the London Mercury]: from The Bonus of Laughter (1987)
By 1920 Squire was well on his way towards establishing a literary coterie of the Right just as partisan, as militant and as dedicated as the Leftist coteries.
Robert H. Ross: from The Georgian Revolt (1967)


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Gordon's eggs Benedict
Prep: 5 mins Cook: 15 mins
Gordon Ramsay's breakfast classic is the ideal way to begin an indulgent weekend
Nutrition and extra info
Nutrition: per serving
- kcal705
- fat64g
- saturates36g
- carbs16g
- sugars0g
- fibre1g
- protein18g
- salt1.34g
Save to My Good Food
Bring a deep saucepan of water to the boil (at least 2 litres) and add 3 tbsp white wine vinegar. Break the eggs into 4 separate coffee cups or ramekins. Split the muffins, toast them and warm some plates.
Swirl the vinegared water briskly to form a vortex and slide in an egg. It will curl round and set to a neat round shape. Cook for 2-3 mins, then remove with a slotted spoon.
Repeat with the other eggs, one at a time, re-swirling the water as you slide in the eggs. Spread some sauce on each muffin, scrunch a slice of ham on top, then top with an egg. Spoon over the remaining hollandaise and serve at once.
Recipe Tip
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Comments, questions and tips
26th Feb, 2016
The white wine vinegar IS essential as it binds the egg white, giving it a 'ribbon' effect. You will find that ALL good restaurants do this. However, the method I tend to use it to crack the egg into a saucer full of the vinegar, swirl the water to create a vortex and slide the egg off the saucer and into the water. It will bind immediately. A good quality bought hollandaise sauce is just as good too.
16th Apr, 2014
I make poached eggs every morning and have never used vinegar as I can always taste it. It is totally unnecessary, however I do swirl the water before adding the egg and this works. It is essential that the eggs are at room temperature and as fresh as possible. The rest of the recipe was excellent just don't put the vinegar in the water.
24th Sep, 2014
The vinegar is used to help coagulate the egg as it's poaching, it helps the egg to set faster and you get a more teardrop shape if done correctly. It helps to temper the egg in the egg in the ramekin by slowly dipping it in the water before dumping the whole egg in, if you're tasting the vinegar, you're adding to much.
30th Mar, 2013
I tried the hollandaise and poached eggs for the 1st time ever ... it was absolutely wonderful. I usually order this for breakfast when out to restuarants but never tried making it myself. The sauce is definitely a work-out ... but well worth it in the end. Unfortunately there's so much left over and unlike mayo, I'm not sure whether one can actually refrigerate/store it because I imagine it will not re-heat well and probably form a layer. Next I'lll have to try my hand at a Bernaise sauce although I might just have the Hollandaise over steak as well ... it just tastes to delicious.


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For the third consecutive season, we are proud to introduce the Deadspin Baseball Season Previews. Yes, baseball is awfully close now; it's spring training, after all.
Every weekday until the start of the season, a different writer will preview his/her team. We asked a gaggle of writers, from the Web, from print, from books, to tell us, in as many or as little words as they need, Where Their Team Stands. This is not meant to be factual, or dispassionate, or even logical: We just asked them to riff on why they love their team so much, or what their team means to them, or whatever.
Today: The New York Yankees. Your author is Amy Blair.
Amy Blair is a former columnist for The Black Table and now writes a weekly column for Eater. Her words are after the jump.
My parents divorced in the early 1980s, and my father, seemingly having no idea what else to do with me when he had me for weekends, carted me off to the Bronx in a Ford Pinto with no air conditioning every other Saturday for a ballgame. The custody agreement granted me the Yankees and all the hot dogs I could eat, which seemed like a perfectly fair trade-off for, you know, domestic tranquility and what-not.
Back then the upper deck was vacant save for a spattering of old drunks and Yankee traditionalists. You could buy a ticket for $1.50, yet it was frequently so empty that I would be sent halfway around the stadium to fetch foul balls hit into sections where no one was sitting. This is difficult to imagine now. Of course, all I could think about was catching a homer off Dave Winfield. I don't mean to veer off too far into sentimentality; I am after all, the same person who punched a Red Sox fan outside of Yankees Stadium once, but this being the last year in the Stadium and all, well, it's getting me a little ... misty. (Isn't that precious; a sad Yankees fan!)
Not only is this the last season in Yankee Stadium, but it's looking to be a pretty big transition year for the Yanks all around. A lot hinges on Joe Girardi, since for the first time in eleven years someone other than Joe Torre will be managing the team. This is scary shit for Yankees fans, especially because I am still not entirely convinced that letting Torre walk away was the right decision (I know, I know, but we did, after all, see the postseason every year while he was coaching, along with that neat little prize of four World Series titles). But, like everybody else, I am completely over that debate (been there, done that). Not to mention the fact that I actually LIKE Girardi and think that New York is a great town for him as a manager. And anyway, if he shits the bed, we can always rely on the fact that the Steinbrenners will just buy us somebody better (ha haaa).
Our pitching staff is also in a major transition this season. Part of me is really excited about the possibilities, and part of me weeps when I think about the uncertainty. We are starting off a year in which, in a nutshell, half of our pitchers are too young and half of them are too old. Among the young ones, Philip Hughes looks like he should be flipping burgers at the Amarillo Checkers, Joba Chamberlain once weighed 290 pounds and looks suspiciously like he might decide to eat Latroy Hawkins (I have no idea who that is either), and Ian Kennedy is described as having all the tools of a — woohoo — #3 or #4 starter. The rest of the pitching staff is seemingly made up of a bunch of sixty-five year old retirees whom the Yankees scouted during a Bocce Ball tournament in Boca Raton. (Strangely, they're fan favorites). All that being said, it's the most promising and exciting (and yes, unpredictable) pitching staff we have seen in years.
As for the rest of the roster, nobody is really certain what the hell Robinson Cano is saying when he speaks, so who knows what's going on with him. And as we have all been told over and over again, there are a hundred other guys out there just as good as Melky Cabrera (lies, blasphemous lies!). Bobby Abreu, despite a slow start, still finished with his usual strong stats last year, and was deceptively solid and consistent over the second half of the season, providing every reason for the Yankees to exercise an option in his contract to bring him back. Jorge Posada had a career year, consistent from April through September, and shows no signs yet of slowing down, an amazing feat for a thirty-six year old everyday catcher. Johnny Damon showed up last year out of shape and was a mess for most of the first half. But he regained his place as one of the league's most effective leadoff men the second half of the season, and even reasserted his running abilities. Hell, even Shelly Duncan put on an electrifying display of power, and became a solid pinch-hitting option during the course of the year. And of course Jeter and A-Rod who are, and remain, Jeter and A-Rod. Everything should be fine and dandy, as long as Girardi doesn't let Giambi anywhere near first base.
But seriously, there is a youthful energy this spring that I have not felt since 1994 when Jeter, Williams, and Rivera were virtual unknowns. A large dose of uncertainty? Yes. But even so, it is undoubtedly nice to hang our hats again on homegrown young guys, and not the Kevin Browns and 'Roid Rockets of the world. Sure, the pitching issues, the new manager and the preseason brawl in Tampa Bay (didn't I mention that?) would probably equal very bad news for another team, but come on, this is the Yankees we're talking about. And wouldn't it just be so...Yankees-ish for us to win the World Series in our last year in our glorious old stadium? (Cue the booing, I can take it).
And if you aren't a Yankees fan, you can at least sleep well at night knowing that it wasn't your team that played a preseason game this year with Billy fucking Crystal. I'm still hurting from that one.


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Elephants Don't Dance Ballet. Photo by Ariel Beshor.
I've received some requests throughout the year for recommendations about dance performances that are designed for children. Sometimes I'm able to suggest a work by one of the many top-notch companies and choreographers who occasionally present works aimed at the whole family (some notables: Batsheva Dance Company, the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, Noa Dar, and Anat Danieli).
Now, though, there's an entire festival for children at the Suzanne Dellal Center – and many of the offerings are dance-based. From August 17-21, the Kesem Shel Agada festival will feature a series of performances and events that are fun for the entire family. Read on to find out about some highlights!
This article was originally published as "A Magical End to the Summer" in the Jerusalem Post.
* * *
A Magical End to the Summer
As the summer draws to a close, some parents may think they have exhausted their options for keeping their children entertained. But Michal Mor-Haim, producer of Kesem Shel Agada (the Children's Fairytale Festival) has a suggestion for weary parents: "From August 17-20, from 4:30 from 9:00 in the evening, when you don't know what to do with the children, you can come to Suzanne Dellal and have fun."
With generous support from the Suzanne Dellal Center, the arts and culture branch of the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, and the Yaron Yerushalmi family, Kesem Shel Agada has grown into a beloved end-of-summer tradition. Mor-Haim notes,"People tell me, 'We used to come with our children; now we are coming with our grandchildren.'"
Now in its 19th year, Kesem Shel Agada boasts four days of programming which wondrously transform the Suzanne Dellal Center into an artistic playground for children. Mor-Haim elaborates,"When you come to Suzanne Dellal [for this festival], it's something else. You come to see a show in the hall, and then you get out and you can see a lot of things outside, because we have creative workshop, outdoor performances and even a gymboree."


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Hull's best selection of comics, graphic novels and manga. Amazing Fantasy has been trading in the city of Hull since May 2002.
The Amazing Fantasy shop in Hullis located at:
Amazing Fantasy
19 Anlaby Road
Please send emails to email@example.com.
Hours of business:
Monday CLOSED
Tuesday 10:00am - 4:00pm
Wednesday 10:00am - 5:00pm
Thursday 10:00am - 5:00pm
Friday 10:00am - 5:00pm
Saturday 10:00am - 5:00pm
Sunday CLOSED
Bank Holidays CLOSED
View Amazing Fantasy in a larger map


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Photo: Jason Merritt / Getty Images
George Clooney and Stacy Keibler joined Ben Affleck and his wife Jennifer Garner on Thursday, October 4, to celebrate the premiere of Affleck's new movie "Argo," which the actor also directed. The hot celebrity couples weren't the only famous faces to walk the Beverly Hills red carpet. Bryan Cranston, John Goodman and Clea DuVall, among others, also came out to promote their new film.


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The unbelievably prolific Thomas Park returns to us once again with a rather lovely full-length offering (as Mystified) on Hypnos Secret Sounds--Primal Mystification. Mr. Parks more free-form (or perhaps it is more appropriate to refer to it as formless? I refrain from using the genre terms ambient or drone as they have been over-referenced for decades) work often touches on something powerfully inexplicable and nebulous--magickal. This particular release would be no exception. The album starts out with a piece entitled Massive Turning. Its a bit deceptive if one thinks they have the Mystified sound pegged--as one expects gassy, shimmering atmospheres. It delivers just that
only it is coupled with an organic percussion that is unheard to me in the work of Mystified! An instrument such a tabla would have been too obvious, so what sounds like bongo is appropriate and more enthralling. Layered along with these sounds are also piano chords. Massive Turning seems to be literal--a massive turning POINT in the direction stylistically. And it works like a charm. Next is Departing Certainly. And that it certainly is--a departure from the banalities of life into an almost hallucinatory, emotional transcendence. The piece feels like walking in someone elses shoes of their past , blurred and fading melancholia. Not Knowing Where is the apex for this gem of a disc. This is the most potent track of all--and the one I am the most familiar with (seeing that I produced the video for it). Every time I hear it I get the sense of being lost BLISSFULLY in the cosmos
but full of wonder. Music for lysergic inner-space travel. Concluding this release is Back to the Primal. Despite an almost electronic feel at times, it is re-entry music for returning to the mundane tribe/masses perpetuated by consensus reality--the primal of the flesh prison we are born into. Or is it vice-versa? Either way, it is a trip beyond this world (and beyond genre traps) you wish would NEVER end! But until we leave this mortal coil and its restraints of the physical body, it is only possible to touch on these realms with the aide of such ART as that of Mystified
--Allan Zane, musician and video artist, January 5, 2010


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Weekend Cook and Tell Round Up: Picnic
Last week we asked you to dine in the great outdoors with our Weekend Cook and Tell: Picnic challenge. The only prerequisite for this challenge was to eat a meal al fresco, and with last weekend's summery weather we've gotten some great picnic-related responses. Here are some of our favorites:
Always a wealth of great recipes, Orchidgirl shared some wonderful picnic-worthy salads, including potato, egg, cucumber and dill salad, and cucumber and radish salad.
Kalajo put together a pretty idyllic picnic at a Washington winery with a bottle of Viognier and these summer crab rolls.
Malecki used the leftovers from the previous night's homemade sushi to come up with this creative picnic pita.
A simple bacon, tomato, and mayo sandwich with some potato salad and snap peas from the garden was lemonfair's summer lunch in a community garden.
Both missjess and mr guy shared two great pieces by Mark Bittman, 101 20-Minute Dishes for Inspired Picnics and 101 Simple Meals Ready in 10 Minutes or Less. Both of these are filled with wonderfully simple summer meal ideas.
Cantaloupe Alone shares my feeling that no picnic is complete without a summer cocktail. Here's a sangria recipe concocted for just that occasion.
A poolside picnic was on last weekend's agenda for MadelynRodriguez. She made a babaga-hummus to go along with grilled vegetable kebabs and corn.
Kirbie hosted a patio barbecue. The menu included grilled corn, drumsticks, hot links, brats, sausages, cheese and garlic biscuits, cornbread pudding, chocolate chip cookies and guava mousse cake. Check out the spread over at Kirbie Cravings.
Thank you to everyone who participated in this week's Weekend Cook and Tell. We hope you enjoyed this summer challenge and we love to see what all of you are cooking up at home. Make sure to head over to Talk to read about next week's challenge, Tomatoes!
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