Viewing the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Balloons and The Rude, Inconsiderate Parents Who are Setting Bad Examples for Their Children.

I made it! I actually made it to view the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Balloons. Honestly I didn't think I would. It all started when my boyfriend picked me up from work and he gave me that look, the look that shows me he has no desire to go but he doesn't really know how to say so and since we have been together for nine years he didn't have to. The look said it all. However, after we left my job he went to the gas station and then started heading west instead of east. I questioned him and he basically told me I gave him the I'm-not-happy-but-I'm-not-going-to-press-the-issue-look which I had no idea I did. Supposedly I get this look whenever I don't get my way and trust me it is not intentional. I guess my disappointment just shines through. Either way it got me to the city the day before Thanksgiving to cross one thing off of my list of things to do before I am 30.

I should have known that the crowds would be insane. I don't know why that never crossed my mind at the time. We parked on 67th and walked to 81st. Of course two blocks in I had to use the bathroom, damn my 80 year old bladder. Luckily being in the city you are guaranteed a Starbucks every other block. So as soon as I saw the glowing green sign I ran. Unfortunately when I got in there was a line and not just a line a LINE! Nine people in front of me. Five of which were kids and I'm sorry, but kids take forever in the bathroom. I mean what can they possibly be doing in there? Anywho after twenty minutes of waiting I was finally ready to continue our adventure to the balloons.

You knew you were getting closer as the size of the crowds grew and grew until you could barely walk by a single person without making some kind of contact with them. Across the street from where the balloons were on display was a road black and I waited for a spot right up to the barrier to try to get a better look. No more then two seconds later a lady pushed in front of me placing her three kids in front of me. First off I am not a rude person I was taught to say excuse me, please and thank you, so when someone with bad manners crosses my path I see flames. Secondly, this lady was so rude and completely unconcerned that I waited my turn to get that spot and that wasn't even what bothered me the most. What bothered me the most was the fact that she did this with her three children. You as a parent are supposed to be setting an example for your children and by doing this she is showing them that it is okay to cut in line, push your way through until you get what you want and to not utter a single courtesy. Great she's creating three more rude, inconsiderate and obnoxious people that will one day be showing their children that acting that way is okay. I know I am ranting and I apologize, but somethings just get under my skin in a way that I cannot let it go.

My boyfriend saw the line of people waiting to get up to the actual viewing area and he was like hell no, but I gave the look again didn't even realize it and then said that we drove all the way why not. So two minutes later we were walking up to the never ending line to get to the viewing area. Once in line we were like sardines, jam packed, unable to move unless the person in front of you moved a leg or an arm. Now again we are all in line there really is no where that you can go. Everyone is waiting their turn and then comes along a lady with a stroller. The family in front of us also had a stroller and they were like everyone else going with the flow waiting their turn. Now this lady with the stroller came off the curb where she was standing (we were standing in the street) and rammed her stroller into the other people's stroller, both might I add had children in them, and was scremaing out "Excuse Me, Excuse Me, Excuse Me!" with the dirtiest look on her face. As if they were in her way and not the other way around. My boyfriend looked at me and I could tell he wanted to say something but he didn't get involved. I said hey at least she said excuse me. Sometimes you have to look on the bright side. Still the audacity of this woman using her child as a bulldozer to clear a path for her and her impatience left me completely flabbergasted.

Once in the viewing area the rudeness died down and the excitment started brewing inside of me. I stayed to the right so I could be right up against the fence and be as close to the balloons as possible. It was still crowded and cramped, but with the excitement of the balloons being right there I didn't seem to notice as much. I was expecting pushing and straight up craziness, but it wasn't. I got up close and when there was a balloon I wasn't as excited about I was able to step out of line go around and get back on line for one that I fancied more.

What I found funny were the mom's who were freaking out about losing their children and the dad's who had their watchful eye on every move they made telling the mom's to calm down and relax. However, there was also several announcements for missing children which makes me wonder, how do you lose your child? Seriously how do you lose your child? When I was young and my parents would bring me in a crowded area my dad would not let go of my hand and I mean this was up until I was like 13. After that he would not let me out of his sight and if he for a single second thought that I was missing he would start screaming my name and usually I was just beside him. It might sound crazy, but no, he was a responsible parent and because of that my name was never announced over a loud speaker for him to find the closest police officer so they could bring him to where I was. Honestly, parents your children are the most important things in your life whether you think so or not so if you can't view the balloons without taking your eyes off your child then don't. After all it is not about you anymore and that happened the day you had your child. They are number one so please treat them that way.

When we came to the end of Columbus we had to go left to the next viewing area and if you did not want to go to the next viewing area you still had to continue left until the road blocks were open for you to get to your destination. Once again I got to witness parents acting like immature bratty children who did not get their way. One lady was arguing with a NYC cop that her car was right there and why couldn't she just go under the barrier. Now all I have to say is God Bless these NYC Cops because what they were dealing with would have sent many others over the edge. The cop politely told her that she was not allowed and she needed to follow the crowd. You would think that he just told her she was stuck in the crowd for all of eternity by the look of death she gave him. Didnt she understand that if he broke the rules for her he would have to break the rules for others and it would start a string of chaos? Everybody else was following the rules what made her think she was so special? There is a reason these barriers are set up. There is a reason there are rules that need to be followed. These cops are doing their jobs and their job is to keep you and your family safe and to make sure that everything runs as smoothly as it possibly can so the tradition of viewing the balloons can continue.

The second viewing area was a hundred times better. Most people must have got disgusted by the crowds and had enough, walking straight to the exit, instead of the viewing area. My boyfriend was almost one of those people, but I said let's just go in we can even stay on the outside perimeter away from the crowds. I'm so happy we went in. There really was no crowds and we were able to walk without getting elbows in our sides and hands accidently grazing our behinds. I got to run up to the barriers and take pictures of the balloons and with the balloons. I was in my glory. In the end it was worth it. However, it was something that I will never do again, but at least I can say that I did it once.

Now the fun part. The pictures:

And Let the Querying Begin

Now that I have completed and revised another book I am back to querying. In the beginning I was very optimistic especially when after my brutally honest mom finished reading my manuscript and told me "this is it, this is the one" but after already recieving four form rejection letters my optimism is dwindling. This is a rough business to try and break into and each day it gets harder and harder. If it's not a rejection it's the waiting and the waiting and the waiting. The waiting is by far the worst. I don't know how my computer has not exploded from my countless refreshing of my mail page.  However, I am so confident in this book that I will not allow the rejections to knock down my spirit. It's just all part of the game. I just need to wait for the right agent to come along. Fingers crossed that it will be sooner rather than later.

Now that I have finished my newest book I want to start on something else. I have gone through my notebook of book ideas and several have stood out, but I'm not sure where I want them to go. So I think for now I'm going to do what I hate, wait and see what idea randomly pops in my head one day since that has always seemed to work best for me in the past. I am also still working on two other books, but they have always been the books I work on when I have writers block with another book. I'm all over the place, but for me it works. Also I am thinking about crossing over to paranormal romances since I have several ideas and even though have never written one love to read them. Again we'll see.

Really what I have to do is spend some time catching up on reading. I had to have Crescendo when it came out and regret to say I have only read thirty pages. However, my mom read it and told me it ends pretty open and I know there is going to be a third book so I'm hesitant because I know I'm going to want more and will have to wait forever to get it. These series are driving me crazy but I love them. Hush Hush was a great first book and going into a second book there is always that fear that it will not be as good as the first one.

That's all for now. I hope to have some good news in the future. My fingers have been crossed for so long that I am scared they will become permanently stuck and if they do so be it. A small price I'd have to pay for achieving my dream.

Where has the time gone? I blinked and some how when I reopened my eyes I was in the middle of November. For some reason it does not feel like Thanksgiving is next week. I'm not ready because once Thanksgiving comes and goes Christmas takes over. You all know I am Little Miss Christmas, but this year I am so scared it's going to fly by so fast I am not going to have time to enjoy it. Luckily the week after Thanksgiving I took vacation that way I can decorate, bake, shop and wrap and have a Christmas filled week. I can't wait. I haven't taken vacation since last summer and it'll be nice not having to get up and go to work for a whole week. Just the thought alone is bringing a smile to my face.

This year the night before Thanksgiving I want to go into the city and watch as they blow up the balloons for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I hear it's like watching paint dry because it takes like three hours to blow up one balloon, but whatever. I just want a picture to say I was there. It's one of the things on my list of things to do before I'm 30 which is also coming way too fast for me. In two and a half weeks I will be twenty six. Argh! Scary, especially since I still feel like I'm eighteen. Anywho my boyfriend's thoughts on driving in "You want to drive an hour to an hour and a half to take a picture and leave?" My answer: "Well yeah." He just shook his head at me and because he is awesome I know he will do it. Most of the time he is not really hard to persuade into doing things. Which is great for me because I always have crazy ideas. It's nice to have someone who just goes with it. So hopefully I will get there and I'm saying that because for three years I have been saying it and I always wind up getting side tracked and never have made it. So fingers crossed for this year and of course if I do I will have tons of pictures.

I haven't been reading too much lately. I think it's because school work is kind of over taking me at the moment, but I did finish a book a coupke weeks ago. If I have a Wicked Stepmother Where is My Prince by Melissa Kantor. I've had this book on my bookshelf for a very long time and one night when I was a little paranormaled out I picked up and started reading. Ninety pages later I was hooked. I don't know if I was just so excited to read something about a girl who didn't have a vampire/angel/werewolf/warlock boyfriend but it pulled me in. Unfortunately after muy initial ninety pages it took me a while to finish the rest of the book. I think I suffer from ADD at times because I couldn't focus on it for the life of me. However, I finally finished it and I really liked it. It was also great that it took place on Long Island since hello that's where I live. Once I got to the middle of the book I figured out the plot I knew exactly where it was going and I think that is why it took me awhile to read. The excitement was gone because I knew where it was heading. Either way the characters reminded me of being fifteen/sixteen and it's nice to go back there. The story as I'm sure you can tell by the title is about a girl who compares her life to Cinderella. At times I laughed out loud and I really liked Melissa Kantor's style. If you are looking for an easy, fun book I would really recommend it.

In other Theresa news, my boyfriends cousin came to visit this past week. Since I've been with my boyfriend forever (nine years) I consider his family my family so I was so excited to see her. She is stationed in California so we only see her once or twice a year usually for Christmas. This year she will be on deployment for Christmas so unfortunately we will not be able to get together. So she came home to visit and brought her boyfriend with her who has never been to New York he was born and raised in Texas. Of course we brought him to the city, we had to. It was so awesome to be with someone who has never seen NYC and who actually appreciates it. I feel I've become jaded to a point. I've been there so many times that my mouth doesn't drop open at every corner which his did. At one point he even said to me my jaw is going to hurt tomorrow since I keep opening it so much. I couldn't stop laughing. The best was when we went to Toy's R Us in Times Square and we were on the escalator going up when the T-Rex and Legoland came into view. His mouth dropped open, his eyes widened and it was like a little kid in a candy store. It was Awesome. In this past week I have done more things then I have in the past year and it's funny because the week seemed to go by so slow. So I think that is my problem by not having plans, going out and going to new places my days are blending together and flying by. So I'm going to try and keep my active social life that I discovered I still could have if I wanted. Okay I'm going to stop babbling, but I will leave you with pictures from my day in NYC.