21st Century Love Letter

Today, seems like everything revolves around business, even relationships. Below is what a love letter in this day and age looks like...

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MODERN LOVE LETTER

Dearest Girl :
I am very happy to inform you that I have fallen in love with you since Tuesday, the 03th of April 2001. With reference to the meeting held between us on the 31st of March 2001 at 1500 hours, I would like to present myself as a prospective lover. Our love affair would be on probation for a period of three months and depending on compatibility, would be made permanent. Of course, upon completion of probation, there will be continuous on-the-relationship training and relationship appraisal schemes leading up to promotion from lover to spouse.

The expenses incurred for coffee and entertainment would initially be shared equally between us . Later, based on your performance, I might take up a larger share of the expenses. However I am broad-minded enough, to be taken care of, on your expense account. I request you to kindly respond within 30 days of receiving this letter, failing which, this offer would be cancelled without further notice and I shall be considering someone else. I would be happy, if you could forward this letter to your sister, if you do not wish to take up this offer .

Thanking you in anticipation.

Yours sincerely,
[Boy]

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MODERN REPLY OF MODERN LOVE LETTER

Dear Boy :
Please refer to your letter dated today. I am pleased to inform you that I hope to accept your proposal for romance.However, you should be informed that there are certain conditions of acceptance. Promotional prospects are to my satisfaction. However, please enlighten me as to your retirement benefits. Gratuity should be generous. I also need to be assured that there is sufficient security with regards to this commitment.

If there is any chance at all of retrenchment or consequent disinterest on your part, then I should receive monetary compensation according to union standards. Due to the nature of my position, I am sure you will agree that an expense account should be arranged for my access in light of the 'VIP'. I shall be entertaining. In addition, housing and transport allowances should be in order and nothing less than a placed luxury condo and a Jag are in order. Please also note that there should be no moonlighting restrictions on myself.

If you are still interested in the relationship, please reply on an urgent basis as other prospective lovers have sent indications of interest . Please also note that my sister is happily employed.

Yours perhaps,
[Girl]

Seatbelts Shmeatbelts

I don't wear seatbelts. I haven't for many years now ever since a friend of mine, who had her seatbelt on, died in a car accident, while the driver, who didn't wear his, lived. That was enough proof for me that I'll die when it's my time, seatbelt or no seatbelt. I know research states otherwise but I'll take my chances.

I know there are plenty of people in America who feel the same way as I do. I also believe there are plenty of people who would agree that seatbelt laws are dumb. If I want to risk my life by not wearing a seatbelt, that should be my decision, not that of the state.

I thought about this some more the other day. I think it's strange that people, myself included, fuss about seatbelt laws and fines despite the odds that about three to one in case of an accident, seatbelts would help prevent injury or worse yet, death. On the other hand you never hear an airline passenger complain about being asked to buckle their seatbelt. Hardly ever happens. Let's not forget that if the plane indeed crashed, there's a pretty slim chance that the little piece of fabric and metal is going to do you any good.

So with this new-found outlook will I begin wearing my seatbelt? Nope, and I'll still complain about seatbelt laws. However, I'll start NOT wearing my seatbelt on any plains. Haha!

Wesley the Tax Fraud Guy

Looks like Wesley Snipes is being indicted on 8 counts of tax fraud, allegedly filing false tax claims in total of $12 million, and if found guilty could spend up to 16 years in prison. Yikes! But before you get my take on it here is the scoop.

So apparently Wesley Snipes, the famed actor of "Blade" and "White Men Can't Jump," tried to pull a fast one on the IRS by filing false tax claims and in addition hasn't filed a tax return in seven years. He also hired someone to do his taxes who has a history of filing false claims. Snipes' former agents, United Talent Agency and William Morris, have both sued him for not paying commissions; William Morris settled out of court. Too add to the drama, Chase Manhattan has sued Snipes several times for not paying the mortgage on his Florida mansion. And just when it couldn't get any worse, in 1997 Snipes claimed an income of $19.2 million but later amended his tax return stating he had zero income!

You KNOW I'm going to comment. Why would an actor, making millions of dollars per movie (Snipes made about $13 million for Blade: Trinity) want to fool the IRS (which you'll never get away with) so he can make even more money? Hmmmm. That one baffles the mind. It's not like he's poor and NEEDS the money. Or maybe he does? I'm guessing he's accumulated so much money in debt and spent millions on useless crap that he NEEDS more money. You don't neglect your mortgage because you just don't feel like paying it. The bank could take your house! You don't pay your mortgage because you don't have money to pay your mortgage. So it begs the question once again, why does a multimillionaire NEED money? Seems like the richer you get the broker you get, if that even makes sense.

I doubt "Blade" will serve any jail time and probably end up paying some fines. I guess as the millions start piling up you forget that you can't spend money if you don't have money. Hmmm.

Floyd Mayweather Highlight Reel

This is the first installment of the NellyNandes.com Video of the Week. This week's video features the best boxer today, Floyd Mayweather. "Pretty Boy" will be going up against the Welterweight Champion Carlos Baldomir, November 4th.

Leaving Comments

Hey folks. If you could please leave your email and name when posting I would definitely appreciate it. You don't have to, it's just a request on my part. I know some readers expected a response from comments they have left me, but there is no way of contacting you without an email address. You do not need to be a member of Blogger to leave your name or email address, I know I've gotten that question a few times.

But I will answer one reader's question regarding my post "Passion or Career?" Reader asked had I been exposed to someone from Disney would my outcome have been different? I don't think so. The classes I took were pretty much how life at an animation studio would be. My Intro to Animation instructor was a cartoonist; he worked on Dharma, Beavis and Butthead, and Ren & Stimpy. Had I stuck with it my hobby of drawing would have turned into a routine, thus killing my liking for it.

Thanks for the comments folks and keep them coming! If you would like to email me: nellynandes@gmail.com

Honesty Is The Best Policy

It's a strange thing...honesty. You want others to be honest with you, but not too honest as to say something you might deem too bold, or rude. You'll take the compliments, because it makes you feel good about yourself but God forbid someone says something you don't like. That's not fair now is it? Either you want people to be honest with you or not; it's not a case by case basis.

If you want my honest opinion, I will give it you. It may not necessarily be what you want to hear, but I wasn't brought into this world to make you feel good about yourself, unfortunately that's not my mission in life. How you react is up to you. All I can be is honest and leave it at that. But no matter how carefully you choose your words, you can pretty much guarantee you will fall on either side of perfect honesty. Don't let that hinder your intentions. People won't always react the way you'd like, but that is ultimately out of your control. Take responsibility for what you say and speak the truth. The reaction is the responsibility of the person you are speaking with. People will react according to their personal biases, which may not coincide with yours. Understand, you are not failing in your communication; it's merely a facet of human existence that must be accepted. Assume 100% responsibility for your own words and others should retain 100% responsibility for their response.

Honesty serves your own self interest because it keeps your understanding of reality from becoming corrupt by inaccuracies. The more honest you become, the more accurate your model of reality will become. Honesty also serves others well because it reflects their own nature back to them. Too much inaccurate feedback and people will suffer a false sense of self-security; it hinders one's own personal development.

I think people hold themselves back from being too honest because of the fear of coming off as arrogant or rude. Personally, I don't care because your response has nothing to with me. I can say to a girl "Hey, you look lovely today," and she can take it as a compliment or as harassment, or react to it a variety of ways. Her reaction is merely a reflection of her than it is of me.

So I say to you, be as honest as possible, with honorable intentions, while freeing yourself from the fear of an undesirable response and simply accept whatever response you get.

Passion or Career?

We have always been lead to believe that the perfect job is doing what you love and getting paid for it. Kids growing with a passion for music or sports dreamed of becoming a pop star or an athlete; get paid to do what you love, right?

Growing up my passion was art. I knew since age five that I would grow up to be a cartoonist, work for Disney and become a millionaire. There was never any doubt in my mind. I even have my first drawing saved! Once I got to high school and realized that my school had a building dedicated to fine arts I knew I was on the right track and meeting other students who shared my passion further fueled my desire. I won art competitions, had a nationally recognized portfolio and earned a scholarship to the largest art school in the country. I was on top of the world!

But something happened once I got to college. I remember having two art classes that changed the way I looked at art; Life Drawing and Intro to Animation. These were intense five to six hour long classes of non-stop drawing. Up until college I absolutely loved drawing; I loved it so much I would skip classes in high school and head to the art studio. But college art, a whole new ball game. I have never hated drawing more than when I was in college. It wasn't fun anymore; I lost the zest that I'd had since pre-school. Second thoughts about making art a career had started to settle in. I ended up dropping out of that school, took up graphic design at another school and dropped out of that, too. A career in art was killing that drive I'd always had, killing my motivation!

What does this all mean to you? That all depends. I am not saying you should never make a career of your passion, but you do need to put it through a reality check. What you love may not make the greatest job in the world; it may even be tough making ends meet. This is perfectly okay and shouldn't necessarily discourage you from pursuing it as a career. But you need to assess yourself and your goals and come to a conclusion as to what means more. On one hand you may love what your doing but struggle trying to support yourself with it; but you're happy. On the other, you can opt for a stable career, however, may not be totally passionate about it. What means more to you? One is not necessarily better than the other so no answer is the wrong answer. It all depends on what makes you comfortable, what you can live with. So pick one and go with it full steam ahead. If it doesn't work out for you then you'll always have that other option to fall back on. And, throughout this whole experience you'll definitely learn something new about yourself.

I love what I do now and I have no regrets. If I had known then what I knew now would I do things differently? Absolutely not. Life is all about experiences; great ones and horrible ones. That's what builds character and makes you a great person. What will you do?

Beckham in Hollywood???

Rumor has it that international soccer superstar, David Beckham, may head to the US to play for the Major League Soccer. If so, this could be big news for US soccer tantamount to Pele playing for the New York Cosmos back in the 70s. Nothing has been confirmed yet but a few things are certain.

After losing to Portugal in the World Cup this past summer, David Beckham shocked the soccer world when he decided to relinquish his captaincy. Last month, new coach of England, Steve McClaren, called Beckham to tell him he had no use for the soccer superstar on the national team; he was cut! To make matters worse, Spain soccer club, Real Madrid, is asking Beckham to take a pay cut if he extends his contract, which expires next summer. Also, new coach for Real Madrid, Fabio Capello, has bench Beckham in Real's last 4 games. Bad luck with new coaches.

So where does that leave the world's most recognized athlete? Why not the US? David Beckham already owns a few soccer academies in the US and I'm sure his wife, Posh Spice, wouldn't have any issues living in Hollywood or the Big Apple. The only possible problem would be signing him. Beckham currently makes $8 million a year with Real and even taking a $7 million pay cut to play for the LA Galaxy or New York Red Bulls (two teams said to be after him), it would still make him the highest paid player in the MLS, which with MLS's strict salary cap no team would be able to afford him. Unless, as sources say may happen, MLS modifies its rules to allow for an exception.

If you were a soccer star making $8 million a year to play, would you take a major pay cut to play in a country where soccer has yet to bloom? Hell yeah! So what that Becks will take a cut; he makes over $20 million a year in endorsements alone, not to mention that his biggest sponsors are US companies. Also, he would be the face of the MLS compared to playing in Spain where soccer stars are a dime a dozen, especially with Real Madrid, the New York Yankees of Spanish soccer.

I say do whatever it takes to get Beckham over to the US. The MLS needs him and he needs a new beginning. It's a match made in heaven!

Review: The Departed

The Departed is the first Scorcese movie I have seen in theaters and it not let me down. It has taken in $27 million over the weekend to top the box office (a little less than I had predicted). The cast was phenomenal and the action was top-notch.

I see quite a few Oscar nods for this movie: Best Actor, DiCaprio; Best Supporting Actor, Jack Nicholson; Best Adapted Screenplay, William Monohan; Best Director, Martin Scorcese; Best Film Editing and Best Picture.

Everything about this movie was great. The character development for the all the main characters were on point, the writing was true to Boston (count how many time they say "prick" and call each other "faggot"), and the action, although not so graphic, was indeed spontaneous. This movie was so good I saw it twice and the interesting thing I realized is that every part that needed a reaction got exactly the reaction that was intended. People laughed on cue, they gasped on cue, and the Oh-shits were on cue. Can't forget about the Brockton mention in the movie too (one of Nicholson's goons lived with his mom in Brockton).

Watch this movie! Watch this movie! You will not be upset especially with the climactic ending! Watch it and let me know what you think.

My Poor Yankees :-(

As much as it hurts to write this article I think it's only fair. The Yankees, although making the playoffs 11 years in a row, have failed to win it all. I don't have any excuses for them and I don't plan on making any. We had a great season, winning the division by 10 games, but unable to come through in the playoffs.

The worst thing about this postseason is that Yankees manager, Joe Torre, will probably get fired. He doesn't deserve the boot but figuring that The Boss, George Steinbrenner, has a patience problem I see him, however unjust, firing Torre and replacing him with his pal Lou Piniella. The problem isn't Joe Torre. As a manager you can only do so much. No other manager will win you an average of 98 games a year over 11 years. No other manager will win you 9 division titles in a row. No other manager will take your team to the postseason for 11 straight years. As a manager you can only do so much, the rest falls on your talent.

The Yankees have a very talented team but what they suffer is chemistry. I do think they need to shuffle up the team a little bit, get some youth in there especially in the bullpen, that way they will have a consistent team year in year out. They actually do have a decent farm system and that will prove itself in the next couple years. They shouldn't pick up the options on Sheffield or Mussina, they shouldn't resign Bernie Williams. Let those guys go play somewhere else and get a guy like Barry Zito in the rotation along with maybe one more pitcher via trade. As far as A-Rod, well, I love the guy but I'm starting to realize that he may not be a good fit on this team. If he can be traded for a top pitcher I'd go for that. If they do keep him then I would trade Giambi for a younger version of himself, even if less powerful. Giambi still has life in him and can be a great first baseman or DH on a number of teams.

But keep Torre, George! Keep him. Torre is the best thing going for you. He is one of the greatest managers in the history of sports and I hope you realize that and keep him around. Replacing Torre won't better your team. Fielding a better team will better your team (if that makes sense, haha). I want to see Torre in pinstripes next year and I think most people agree. Hopefully Steinbrenner agrees.