Guest Post: A Late Christmas Wish

This is a guest post by Brandy, who writes It's like I'm... mmmagic!. I read it first on Stylish Handwriting, and am following the request for reposting. Saying prayers for Brandy and her Hot Awesome Dude.

~A~

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My name is brandy. And I have a blog.

And a plea.

I use my blog to showcase the crazy I meet everyday, share the stories of the kids I teach and document my love for tequila, dairy products and the abdominal muscles of Ryan Reynolds. Rarely do I talk about personal issues on my blog- as personal as the dude that I adore (who I actually met through my blog- single ladies, let that be a very good reason to blog, the possibility of meeting someone as wonderful as my man), but I need your help. And it involves my dude.

He’s a guy who made math comics for my class, so they would love learning about addition. He’s the kinda guy who sends my friends gift cards when they are having hard times, who remembers every story I ever told him, who was the first person I celebrated with when I got a teaching job. He’s the guy who sent flowers to me at school- dozens of my favourite pink roses just because he loves me. He’s a guy who has spent a year patiently explaining (and re-explaining) everything there is to know about football during the important games when silence is preferred. He’s made me word puzzles and comics and stayed up late playing Scrabble with me (even though I beat him almost every time). He’s listened to me cry about school and family and jobs. He is everything I never knew I needed and everything I always knew I wanted.

The holidays have hit us hard. He’s recently been told he may have something called multiple myeloma- an incurable cancer, that gives a person an average of five years of continued life. Though this news has came as a shock, he continues to be exactly who has always been- spending his time worrying about me, rather than worrying about himself. He’s the most selfless individual I know- (he stayed late on Christmas Eve to work, so his co-workers could leave early) and a post like this would never be something that he would promote or encourage but when I’m overwhelmed and feeling helpless, the blogging community has always given me tremendous support and comfort, two things I desperately need at this time.

As I write this, the future is uncertain and we aren’t sure what’s happening. He’ll need to see an oncologist soon, to verify what’s going on in his body. My hope is that everyone who reads this think positive thoughts and if you are a person who prays, could you add him to your list? (You can refer to him as ‘brandy’s hot awesome dude’). If you don’t pray, please keep him in your heart.This cancer is only a possibility and I believe that the prayers and positive thoughts of people can make sure it never becomes a reality.

I want to give a big thank you to the blog owner who scraped their original blog plans and graciously put this up. My goal is to get as many people as possible to see and read this post. If you are reading this and want to help, copy and paste my plea into your blog or send a link through twitter, so more people can keep him in their thoughts. I would be so very grateful (even more grateful than I am to my friend who first showed me the picture of Ryan Reynolds on the cover of Entertainment Weekly. If you haven’t seen it, Google it. You. Are. Welcome).

I realize this all sounds dramatic, a Lifetime movie in the making- but this is life. Right now. And I’m throwing away any hint of ego and am humbly asking for you to pray or think kind thoughts. If you are able to pass this on, thank you and if you know anything regarding MM- please email me (my email is on my blog). This isn’t a call for sympathy or a plea for pity. It’s just one girl hoping you can think positive thoughts for the person she adores. If my current heartache provides you with anything, let it be with the reminder that life is short, love is unbending and no one knows what could happen next. Maybe it is silly, but I really do believe that positive thoughts can make a huge difference. Thank you for reading this and if you haven’t already? Please tell someone you love them today.

I did.

Lady MacBook's Wild Ride

I guess it's not really "guest-posting" when you're writing for another blog, but it feels like this post belongs on this blog, too... Unfortunately, I signed a contract, saying that I wouldn't duplicate any of my writing elsewhere... So I'll just have to give you a link...

Click here to read the post.

~A~

Posted

I anonymously guest-blogged, as I mentioned that I wanted to.

If you want a link, e-mail me at angelaboration(at)gmail(dot)com

~A~

Ask Brian: Part II

Brian probably won't be happy with me for including pictures with this post, as he was sick when they were taken. Oh well. I think they're fun.

I know that many of you (especially those who have declared friendship to me on such lovely platforms as Facebook and Twitter) are anxiously awaiting details of my visit to Nebraska over this past holiday weekend, but you'll have to wait a little longer. I've already written most of what I want to say, but I thought it best to post Brian's answers first so as to have them be less tainted by the events that transpired during my stay.

In case you missed the set up, this is a sort of quasi-guest-blog, written by Brian. The questions are a mix of things asked by me, and things asked by my readers in the comments to a past post. He was kind enough to type some replies during my visit, despite having an illness that he kept referring to by various inappropriate titles (including "The Bubonic Plague", "Ebola", and "Lou Gehrig's Disease"). Enjoy.



From me:

What were your first thoughts when I suggested interviewing you?
A lot of people are going to be forced to listen to everything that’s about to come out of my head. Excellent.

If someone I'd never met asked about me, what would you say to describe me?
Energetic, driven, diverse. I would say that your theater study is indicative of the greater you – focused and eccentric, but something beautiful.

I know you've mentally blocked most of high school from your mind... Do you have any memories involving me from back then? Do you remember anything about what I was like?
Just this and that from Chemistry class, obviously. I don’t remember a whole lot about you or anyone else. In your case, I think it’s because you were too thin for my eyes to spot you.

Can you reference a private joke between the two of us that might make other people roll their eyes?
Anything in a blackcent.

If I had let you guest-blog in a more normal fashion, what do you think you might have written about?
I’d probably write about my perspective on current events and life in America as a member of the armed forces – heavily interspersed with the nonsensical and dry, sarcastic observation, Or I might just write about how great Metal Gear Solid 4 will be. Those are equally important.

What are my best qualities?
You adapt and deal well with change – you’re also willing to bring it into your life in order to get what you want, instead of being unable to let go of what you’ve had before. You also don’t spend a lot of time idle. You accomplish quite a bit, whether you realize it or not.

What do you wish you could change about me?
I don’t think anything about you should be different.

What do you think your life will be like in 25 years?
Happy, wealthy, married – the three things I want out of life, long-term.



From Jenn:

What would you say are your best and worst characteristics?
My best is that I have a great deal of ability and capability, and that’s served me very well through my life so far. My worst characteristic is that I’m sometimes prone to ignoring what it is that I want and need to do. My problem has never been knowing what that is.

Do you see yourself moving to Iceland any time in the near future? Do you have any intention of ever living in Iceland?
I have hoes in different area codes.

If the Michael Keaton Batman and Christian Bale Batman got into a fight, who would win?
I think the idea that Michael Keaton could beat anyone in a fight is a little ridiculous.

What are your goals as a blogger?
To remember things that are important to me, to share the important things that I’ve learned, and to work out my own thoughts in writing.

What inspires you?
Good storytelling, everyday miracles that masquerade as coincidence, and the beauty you can find in almost anything.

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
That’s classified. Ask again and you will be reported to your local information security officer. Move along, citizen.



From Katelin:

How did you meet Angela?
Probably in high-school Chemistry, taught by Mrs. Ciszewski. We probably discussed why she had the strangest name out of all the faculty.

What is one of your weirdest quirks?
I say ‘are you serious’ a lot – enough to get made fun of at work for it. I also have a compulsion for lining things up. All the hangers in my closet are evenly-spaced. My brother tells me that he’s going to mess up all my hangers when he comes to visit. On that day, I shall end him.



From Kateless:

[Angela Note: Kateless went to high school with Brian and me. Hence why one of these appears to be a private joke.]

What are your top three TV shows of all time?
Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, and Shoujo Kakumei Utena. These should all be mandatory viewing.

Can you roll your tongue?
Yes. I can also turn it upside-down. On a side-note, I’m not entirely sure why this question is so popular. Can I start a social caste system based on this capability? Sorry, I can’t talk to you. You’re not a ‘roller’.

What was your dream job when you were 10? What is your dream job now?
When I was ten, I wanted to make kickass videogames for Squaresoft. Now, I want to be an Optometrist.

Can you drop an egg from two stories and protect it's fall using only the following: Six slurpee straws, two cotton balls, a roll of scotch tape and soap on rope?
I can do it better than the Mason team!

Did you have a parrot growing up? All my memories of the inside of your house seem to have a parrot.
I can’t believe you remember that. Yes and no – we did, but it was a stuffed parrot. It was red, remember? We always used to catch hell for playing with it, because mom was worried it would fall. As we all know, stuffed animals suffer permanent damage when they fall on the floor.



From kristens81:

What did you think of Angela in T&T?
She was pretty fantastic, don’t let her be modest.

Are you commitment phobic?
No, but I’m not the kind of person who needs to be in a relationship, either.

Cologne?
Eternity by Calvin Klein, or Cool Water from Davidoff. Great stuff.



From Alexa:

Who is your favorite musician/band?
Kara DioGuardi. Google her. She’s the greatest singer/songwriter you’ve heard of and yet know nothing about.

Do you prefer mangoes or coconuts?
The coconut’s tropical. This is a temperate zone.



From Zonder:

Who do you think you are?
Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya.

What gives you the right?
You killed my father. Prepare to die.



From CK1

If you are the child-having type, which would you rather, a boy or a girl, and why?
Probably a girl, because even though it would cause me all kinds of anxiety later, I can’t pass up the opportunity to terrify the living daylights out of whatever boy comes to date my daughter.

If you could only eat one type of fruit for the rest of your life, what fruit would it be?
Bananas, because they’re delicious.

What is your favorite drink?
I’m a sucker for citrus of any kind.

What is your favorite physical Aiea feature?
Her hair. Isn’t it great all the time?

What is your favorite non-physical Aiea feature?
The way she can be open about all the things that she’s feeling.

What annoys you the most?
1) People who complain about being cold, and then do nothing about it.
2) When other people’s motion sickness stops me from having a good time.
3) Girls that lie with cameras.
These are the only three things in life that make me really upset.



From Jes:

[Angela's Note: Jes went to high school with Brian and me as well.]

How's Deb doing? I haven't seen her in forEVER.
Mom’s just fine. How’s yours? ;)



So there you are, cats. There's a little dose of Brian. Enjoy him while you can.


~A~

P.S. I lost my cell phone somewhere between the Omaha airport waiting area and my seat on the plane. If you would like to get in touch with me, feel free to write an email to angelaboration(at)gmail(dot)com. Additionally, if you have any further questions for Brian, you may send them to that address and I will forward them on.

Ask Brian: Part I

See the handsome guy on the right? That would be Brian. (Try not to be too jealous, ladies.)

Several weeks ago, Brian expressed an interest in guest-blogging. But meh... I'm still not sure how I feel about having a guest-blogger. I like my blog being mine... you know? Someone else coming here and doing their own thing would feel like graffiti. Or like the blog had been invaded by foreign powers. Or contaminated. I think I'd want to erase it and make my blog clean and pure again.

But the concept of guest-blogging is also intriguing. I wonder what he'd write. He keeps a blog, but it's private, and even I can't read it, except for a couple of posts he has e-mailed to me. Aside from those, the only writing of his I've really read is from e-mails and facebook messages. But from what I can tell, he's an excellent writer and has a long-winded streak to him (no wonder we get along so well). Besides, I like him so much that I'd like to share him with all of you.

So he's sort of going to guest-blog for me. But it's really kind of fake guest-blogging; the type that I have some control over. (It's my blog, so I see nothing wrong with making this all about me.)

Brian has agreed to a blog-form interview (quite like D did with his friend Alexis back in February).

And, being the sort of indecisive person I am, I actually asked him what I should ask him. And he suggested opening it up to my readers.

So there you are.

Most of you only know me from the internet. And now, you have a chance to learn about me from someone who knows me pretty damn well in real life. I have a few questions I'd like to ask him myself, so I'll probably slide those in as well.

Or if you wanted to know more about this enigmatic Brian character that I mention so frequently, you could always just ask him questions about himself. I'm sure he'd answer those as well.

Please submit all the questions you'd like to ask Brian in the comments section of this post (or e-mail/facebook them to me). I'll send him a bunch of them, and his responses will be featured in a later post.


May you start trusting others with the reins from time to time.

~A~

Guestblogging #2

I know, I know. So soon, I do it again.

I guest-blogged for my friend Renee over at A Beautiful Day in the Reneeborhood (I helped come up with her blog name, just so you know).

And, I have to say, I think this is one of the funniest things ever. And you should read it. But then again, it's like 2:30am and everything is funny to me right now... I don't know. I still think you should read it.

Guest Blogger Angela: Eavesdropper Extraordinaire

Much love!

~A~

Guestblogging #1

I guest-blogged for my buddy Jenn (aka FreeAndFlawed) today. Guest-blogging, for those who aren't familiar, basically means that I did the same thing I usually do here, just over there. And I know how much you love what I do over here. So you'll want to go there to see what all the fuss is about. Yes? Yes.

Go check it out!
Guest Blogger Angela: Going the Distance

Ciao!

~A~