The Christianville Spirit: The Day of Giving Thanks

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Knows Love

November 27th, 2019-TCS # 664

Hello My Wonderful Readers and Happy Thanksgiving! 

My Friends, It is that Time of Year again, My Second Favorite Time of Year after Christmas. I Love Thanksgiving though! I mean The Turkey, The Stuffing, and The Family, What more could You want? I am thankful for Many Things and Many Things extra! The Roof over My Head, Food on The Table, and All the Basic Things that We have that We don’t realize that We should be Grateful for. So Let’s be Real for a second. What are You Thankful for? Yeah, Yeah! I know! We are asked this Question every year and usually We answer with Something simple like Your House, Your Family, or Yes, even Your Wealth. Maybe It is The Roof over Your Head, Food on The Table, and Money to pay for The Food as My Mom likes to say in Our Dinner Prayers. But, This Year, as Last Year taught us that You need to Reflect on What You are Thankful for and Realize that It is always On The Surface Things! I am Thankful for Example that Yes, Potocki-Lupski Syndrome may be Hard to say and Yeah, It’s not Perfect living with it But, Let Me tell You, It is The Biggest Blessing in The World to Me. To be Able to not only Travel via Sponsored Trips like I have always wanted to but, I get to Meet all of The Awesome and Brilliant PTLS Family Members that sometimes, up until Now have been Names on Facebook or Faces on a Computer Screen. For Example, During The Sponsored Trip to Germany, We met PTLS Family Member, Nathalie Foppen from The Netherlands. We had known Each Other via Facebook for 10 Years and This Year, We finally met! That is What I call an Accomplishment! I also got to Cross an International Border within The Schengen Area in Europe. For a Geography Lover like Myself, that is Astounding!

Of Course, I am Thankful for All the PTLS Family Members, Friends and Family! Like I said Last Week, I am thankful that I met My Lil’ PTLS Sis’, McKenna a couple years ago and This Year, met a New Friend, whom I have a Strong Friendship Connection with “M.P Twinee” I am Very Thankful for That as Well. And, Finally Always remember to be Thankful for Our Own Family because There are Several PTLS Children who will be spending The Holidays without Their Parents and/or Grandparents because They passed away these Past Couple Months. So, Always be Thankful, which I am Every Day! In Honor of Being Thankful, I am going to Rerun a Brilliant Newsletter that explains How to be Thankful!

This Newsletter was Originally Written on November 23rd of 2016 (Refer to Newsletter 521)

Happy Thanksgiving, My Readers! Yes, I know that it is technically Thanksgiving Eve but, I thought that I would wish you a Happy Thanksgiving anyway. My Friends, It is that Time of Year again, My Second Favorite Time of Year after Christmas. I Love Thanksgiving though! I mean The Turkey, The Stuffing, and The Family, What more could You want? Yeah, I could do a Thanksgiving without seeing The “Giblets” coming out of The Turkey, to me, It is Nasty. Now, I am sure that some of you would consider the “Giblets” a Delicacy or The Best Part, Nope! Not Me! Anyway, so Let’s be Real for a second. What are You Thankful for? Yeah, Yeah! I know! We are asked this Question every year and usually We answer with Something simple like Your House, Your Family, or Yes, even Your Wealth. Maybe It is The Roof over Your Head, Food on The Table, and Money to pay for The Food as My Mom likes to say in Our Dinner Prayers. and, Don’t get me wrong, Folks! Those Things are Great to be Thankful for, How about What are You Truly Thankful for? Well, as for Me, I am Truly Thankful for My PTLS Family, My Mom & Brother, The Smith Family, and Of Course, You, My Readers. I am Thankful that as mentioned in Last Week’s Newsletter and Several Times This Year that I got to Finally meet Lynee’s Family and Help them (and, Myself) in a Way find both Ourselves, and Lynee herself, in The Process. I am thankful that My Grandma Honey moved in Her New Place unscathed (Relatively, anyway) and We No Longer have to Worry about Her falling down The Stairs, and Finally, As Life has taught me Recently, You have to be Thankful for..well..Life. Funny, It is Easy to think (in Super Hero Voice) “I am Invincible and Nobody can Harm Me! (or Friends of Mine for That Matter)” As I mentioned about My Brother last week, He was feeling down. It is because One of His Best Friends, Cameron, went Rock Climbing last week and Fell 100 Feet (Yes, really 100 Feet!) without a Helmet and is to say the least, Pretty Badly Damaged, It was surprising that He survived the First Night after The Fall. Kinda sent me a Hard Reminder that One, that could have been My Brother, Two, that One time I watched My Brother Rock Climb Indoors (Refer to the “Great Wolf Lodge” Newsletter) and My Brother fell, He only fell maybe 15 Feet or so and Came out of it only with a Body Ache and a Bop on The Head. It could have been so much worse. and, Then, A Relative of a PTLS Family Member, one that We held Very Dearly as well as, She held us Very Dearly, Passed Away the other day. She was One of Brilliance, and I use the word in This Context VERY Lightly. She, Her Name was Faith, was in a Word, a Queen (A Hero of Many Sorts!) Of helping My Mom and Her Own Daughter raise Awareness for PTLS. She even Showcased a Shirt with Her Own Design, with The PTLS Logo as well as Permission to do so, at Her Church. Her Favorite, of Course, was One that was Mainly Pink with The PTLS Logo on it. Pink and Green, that was her motto! I would believe that She has Heaven painted Pink and Green by Now. Now, Yeah, I don’t like to think about These kind of Stats, but People are Born or Pass Away Everyday, even on Holidays. It sounds Sad and Depressing, but It is true. So, It shows me a Lesson that really, Anything can happen at Anytime. Hence to be Truly Thankful for Your Family, Your Friends, and Your Life as well as The Lives of Others because Everyone’s Life Matters to Someone and That is The Way it should be. Even those People who Annoy You, or Could Care Less about, Their Life Matters in Some Odd Way. And, all in all, Finally, I am Thankful to Someone who hurt me badly in The Past who extended an “Olive Branch” to Me and My Mom This Year as well I have extended an “Olive Branch” to Other People in My Own Life.  

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Be Thankful for Everything around You.

The Christianville Spirit: Christian's Best Friends' Festival Explained

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Knows Love

November 20th, 2019-TCS # 663

Happy McKenna-Faith Day, My Readers! Strange Greeting This Time! I am on a Roll apparently! So, What is “McKenna-Faith Day”? Well, If You Know Me, You have heard about This, Every Year that They have known me. For Those who don’t know what I am talking about. I will explain. So, Around this time every year, I have a Festival from November 16-20 called Christian’s Best Friends’ Festival. What is Christian’s Best Friends’ Festival, You ask? I like to tell people that It’s My Way of thanking the friends that I have. You See, In my made-up City of Christianville (Hence the name of This Newsletter and Where it is from), I have this festival in which is spread out over 5 Days, with “Days” to honor my Friends and on these days I have a theme for them which includes the things that they like. So, That explains The Best Friend’s Festival but, not about McKenna-Faith Day. Well, to be fair, Since The Beginning of “Christian’s Best Friends’ Festival”, Today was known formerly as “Steven Day”, In the Re-run of a Newsletter that I am going to Share shortly, You will see it. Well, Long Story Short, Steven was a Friend of Mine, He was actually My Best Friend from High School. For Lack of a Better Way of Phrasing This, He was Waaay into Tigger, Yeah that Tigger, The One from Winnie and The Pooh and He sort of went into What I refer to as “His Own World” and I have not heard from Him in a Long Time. So, I decided to Choose it to a lot more Solid Name that I would not have to Change. In 2017, I announced it on Facebook saying The Following,

“Official Announcement: Steven Day will now be McKenna-Faith Day (Honoring My Lil' PTLS Sis, McKenna and To honor My Angel Cabinet Member, Faith Thompson (Director of PTLS Family Members)” Today was The Day that in 2016, PTLS Family Member Relation, Faith Thompson passed away and I referred to The Day itself, not relating to The Festival yet as “Faith Day”. But, Then, I figured, why don’t I make a Fun Day. My Lil’ PTLS Sis’, McKenna loves Pajamas and Plus, She might as well be Family to Me, Literally and Figuratively. Like We have a lot of Similarities in Family background. Probably a Story for another Time. I digress. So, I thought Why not honor both McKenna and Faith, sounds like a Perfect Mixture! It was only been around a Year and It is already My Favourite Day besides Michael Day, of Course. I mean, really, Who couldn’t resist a Christianville Metro Wide “PJ Holiday”, a “PJ Party” at The Festival, and a Pink, Purple, and PTLS Event, basically Morphing both Faith’s Color of Pink and McKenna’s of Purple and Of Course, The One thing that Makes them in Common, Potocki-Lupski Syndrome (or PTLS). Sounds a Day that People would really Enjoy! Anyway, Happy McKenna-Faith Day! So, This is a Portion of a Newsletter about How The Best Friend Festival works in My Mind and Then, I will do a Full Re-Run about The Festival!  

This Portion of a Newsletter was written on November 21st of 2012 (Refer to Newsletter 326)

For You, PTLS Parents, I would like to explain how I celebrate this. First, I have it marked on all my calendars, saying either “Christian’s Best Friends‘ Festival” or the festival Name and who’s day it is. The night before, I put up “Day Markers” that tell me who’s day it is on the wall. The Morning of, I wake up and I make the announcements in my head, which is like talking on the radio, of all the festivities and the sounds that go with it (like Cheering, The Band, The Sounds of the Doors Opening as the people walk through them, The Voice of the announcer on the street, announcing “Ladies and Gentlemen...”). Again, In My Head, I listen to the Christianville Radio Station,     97.9 WPSKI (call letters meaning Potocki-LupSKI), on this Radio Station, they have a Morning Show from 7-9AM called “What’s Going On Here?!?!”, with the Tag Line, “Christianville’s News & Laugh Show”. Every Day but, Friday, they say, “Good Morning, Christianville! Today is (says Day and Date) and Here’s Your News” and on Fridays, they say in an excited way, “Gooooood Morning, Christianville!!, It’s Friiiidddayyy!”. From there, they tell you the news which includes what’s going on in the Best Friends‘ Festival.

Back to Present Day Me for Second, Here comes The Full Re-Run explaining about The Best Friends Festival!

This Newsletter was Originally written on November 17th of 2010 (Refer to Newsletter 225)

For those You who really know me, You know that I celebrate the friends annually via a made-up festival in My City of Christianville. So, For Those of You who don’t, Let me explain. You See, back in 2005 around the same time The Christianville Spirit started, I also created a Festival in Christianville called Christian’s Best Friends’ Festival which I designed to be held from November 16-20 on Friends Street in Downtown Christianville. Anyway, on each day during the festival, I made the day about that person and it would be my version of honoring them. Now, I chose those dates because it was close to Thanksgiving and The Holiday Season(which is my favorite time of year) So, the first day of Christian’s Best Friends’ Festival is called Michael Day, honoring my brother. The first thing that happens, is the City of Christianville Band comes through like a parade and opens The Festival Doors, which are big Doors below the stage, and represents the festival’s opening and closing. Following that, They introduce The US Flag, Tennessee Flag, and City of Christianville Flag, this represents Christianville’s place in Tennessee. After the City of Christianville Band has passed, They present the Friends that I made that year on the stage above the “Festival Doors”. This Year’s Friends presented includes Amy and David Taylor, JJ, Rick Garland, Pam Tate, Chris Norris, Georgette Black, Kelli (My Mom’s Boss), and Several Members of My PTLS Family. Anyway, After that comes a parade honoring my brother called “The Parade of Michael Centeno”. The next day, November 17 is Brooke Day, honoring my childhood friend, Brooke. For Brooke Day, They have a Fair called “Christian Smith-Centeno and Brooke Herrick Fair” which unlike the other days are on Friend Street. This Fair is in the city I named after her, called Brooke, which is up the road from Christianville. This Fair has ferris wheels, slides, and everything to do with Soccer. Following Brooke Day, on November 18 is Meredith Day which honors My Brothers and I’s Childhood friend, Meredith Herrick. for this day, They have a fair called “Meredith’s Fun Day”. This time, The fair is on Friends Street. This Fair has Ferris wheels, Spinning Rides, Slides, and Roller Coasters. The next day, November 19 is called Whitney Day which honors our childhood friend, Whitney Herrick. For Whitney Day, which for a lot of people in The Christianville Area is their favorite day because they have an event called “Wacky Whitney’s Play in Downtown Day” which mean they close the streets in Downtown Christianville, so people can walk all the streets and hang out. Now, if your wondering how I came up with the name, “Wacky Whitney”. Back when living at Mr. Jeff’s House(by the way, Mr. Jeff is the guy My M0m dated and was going to marry at the time) when jumping on the trampoline Whitney would be really funny and she was so funny that she called herself “Wacky Whitney” and that is how I came up with that name. The final day of the festival, November 20 is Steven Day, which is in honor of My Best Friend, Steven Vandeneyekel. For Steven Day, They close the Festival with a Parade called “The Tigger Parade” because he loves Tigger and He always will. After the Parade, they close “Festival Doors” and that’s the end of Christian’s Best Friends‘ Festival for the year. By the way, after the festival ends, Steven Day is a metro-wide holiday. All in all, Christian’s Best Friends‘ Festival is my way of honoring the friends I have and showing them I do cherish them.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Maybe We should consider having a real-life Festival like this. So, Cherish your Friends

The Christianville Spirit: An Inquiry Seen Through My Mind

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Knows Love

November 13th, 2019- TCS # 662

Happy Week, My Readers! Yes, Folks! A Rather Strange Greeting This Week! So, It is Inquiry Week and not that I want to get into Politics but, I want to Talk about an Inquiry of My Own. Let’s Call It, “Friends v. More than Friends”. There is a Girl in My Life who I have a Feeling, Likes Me even though She says that We are Friends. Truth be told, Yes I like her too. But, I figured that on a Week that is dealing with Negative Inquiries, What about Positive Inquires. So, Journey into My Mind to Where I have been Thinking about. Okay, so If You have read My Newsletters, You know that I have a Creative Imagination! So, Follow with Me here. I believe that Every Person has a State or Province with a State Capitol. Except for Me, Of Course that has My City of Christianville made up to be in Tennessee. In Most People’s Case, Their State and State Capitol sound like This My Mom for Example is Julieville, Julie. My Brother’s in Michaelville, Michael. You Get The Idea! I have come up with State Capitol Examples for Everyone I have met! In Fact, More Times than I can count I have made Maps for People including One of My Ex-Girlfriends and Of Course, My Best Friend, Karleen. So, Obviously, Then You start to ask, What is My State a part of? In My Old Mind, It used to be that Your State was Your State, that was It. It was not until I made a Map for My Grandma Honey, that I thought What do States belong to? They belong, of course to What I call a “Family Country”. In Other Words, A “Family Country” is a Collection of States that make up a Country. Of Course, If I am talking about a PTLS Family Member, Then A “Family Country” is part of A Group of Family Countries called “The PTLS Union”. Basically think of the European Union but Much Much Cooler. Anyway, Recently because the Girl that is in My Life, I have had to think about What is Beyond The Family Country? Oh Boy! This is where It gets Interesting! When It comes to I guess, for Now We can call it a “More than Friendly” Interest comes What I call, ‘The Admissions Process.” This “Admissions Process” basically means that You are on Your Way to eventually becoming Part of The Family. Right Now, I am Generally Speaking. The First Step of This “Admissions Process” is, of course What I call The “Admissions Inquiry”. Now that I think about It, because being an Old-Fashioned Guy like I am, Where You are not just Marrying The Person, You are Marrying Their Family Members and Like or it, Their Stuff. Anyway, To Explain This, Think of This like Applying for a Job. The Admissions Inquiry, which happens Both Ways, meaning to Each Other’s Family, is like Applying for A Job. The Inquiry Itself usually goes to The Admissions Official, usually a Brother or Sister, whoever is The Most Trusted of The Family. Next comes, The Waiting Period. The Processing of It All. Processing The “Application”. Now, While This is happening, of course, You can change your Mind and Turn Around but, Before Your Admissions Inquiry or Job Application goes through. I remember I applied for a Job at Hobby Lobby and Changed My Mind back after High School. I digress. Then, of Course, comes The Hardest and Scariest Part, What I call The Admissions Exam. Again, in Career Terms, This is like the Interview. Some Family Countries or Companies are Easy; Apply for The Job, Interview literally a Couple Days after, Are You Truly Interested in This Job?; and Of Course, Finally, The Hand Shake, You got The Job! Easy, right? Well, My Grandma Honey would probably join me in Saying This, ‘The Easy Things are not Usually Worth It. The Hard Things get You a Bigger Reward”. The Harder Family Countries, My Family Country, The Smith Family States being one of Them, is a lot more Difficult to get into. In The Harder Family Countries; It is like Apply For The Job, You are asked more than one time “Are You Sure?”(More than One Time), First Interview, Drug Test/Background Screening (Need I say more!); Second Interview, maybe even Third Interview; and, Finally, Okay Son or Ma'am, You did The Work! You get The Job! I have heard People tell me that Being with Someone or Even Falling in Love is like a Job Interview. Boy, Now that makes sense Now doesn’t It?! Now, The Funny Thing that You may think that The Person may Fail The Family Exam, or The Career Interview and They end up Passing and Of Course, It can go Vice Versa. You kind of have to go with The Theory that Whatever is Meant to be, will Be because that is How Destiny Works apparently, Whether You planned for It or Not. All in all, If All Else fails, that Person will always be a Great Friend and There is Nothing Wrong with That.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Just being Friends or Being part of a Family can be Complicated!

The Christianville Spirit: My Geographical Research Rerun

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Knows Love

November 6th, 2019-TCS # 661

Ciao Bella, My Readers! This Greeting is from One of My Favourite Countries, Italia (Italy in English). Italia sounds better! It sounds more Romantic! Anyway, Ciao Bella is Italian for “Hello Beautiful”. It is said in a Deep and Romanticized Italian Voice saying “Ciao Bella!” Perfect Tip for Flirting with a Girl in Italian! Anyway, Over The Past Several Years, It is No Secret that with My Geography/History/Politics mixed Together Mind that I am always Learning about Different Countries, Different Cultures, and of Course, Different Parts of The World. I think It started a lot more when I could see The World via Google Earth in High School (11th Grade or at 18 Years Old). Then again, It started earlier than that where My Mom will tell you that once I was looking at Road Signs in The US and then, later, Looking at Road Signs in Turkey. But, It really came about when I had Google Earth and Later, Google Earth became Street View and I ran like a Dog with The Gate left Open! I started out small as Google Street View did, in The United States, as It started to Grow, so did My Curiosity. Then, I started getting Interested in The Fascinating Continent, Europe. I learned about Countries I had and still dream of going to. Italia (Italy), France, Scandinavian Countries (Sweden and Norway), and Of Course, Switzerland. My Fascination of Parts of The World grew also with The Increase of PTLS Family Members around The World. I started getting Fascinated with Stats about Countries, which were The Happiest, Most Democratic, Most Free, and So On. Of Course, Later I found Interest into More than just The Capitols of The Countries. How about Currencies, Language, The People and Their Lifestyles, Flags, What Their Road Signs looked like, and Politics of The Country among Many Things. I like to Point out the Most Interesting Language is The Slavic Languages of Czech and Slovak because They, as well as Many Other Countries have What I call an “Alien Letter”, A Letter on The Alphabet that Unique to Them. I explained This is Another Newsletter, “Fun in Learning Geography” (Refer to Newsletter 596). I explain it shortly like This.

“The Letter R with a Mark over It. It looks like This (Ř) It is said that It is Impossible to Pronounce but, It is Pronounced “Aerch” and That is in The Single Form and The Ř is Pronounced Very Differently from The Single Letter.” 

That is just an Example of My Geographical Research! Speaking of That, I am going to rerun a Newsletter that explains more about My Research!

This Newsletter was Originally written on June 11th of 2014 (Refer to Newsletter 405)

So, You Know how I have told you that I Love Geography and Maps? Well, I’m not sure I have told You about Just how much and To what Degree. Whenever, I talk to People, be it PTLS Family Members, Friends, and Yes, Even Family, I love to talk to them about Things that I know or Have Learned about a Particular Area. People are amazed at How Much I know about The World, but That is something You already Know. So, How do I get all This Information? Well, besides hearing about Different Places on The News and Cyber-Traveling, There is also talking to People from Other Parts of The World and Then, I Do Research on The Place, Out of Curiosity. I do A lot of Research about Countries; to name a Few Things, Airports, Currency, Roads (and, Signs), Language, the Political View, Life Styles, Stats about The Area, and General Trivia. I was talking to a PTLS Family Member, Stefan, (If You remember, I mentioned him a while back.) I asked him, How far He lived from Stockholm-Arlanda Airport and He was Amazed that I knew what and where “Stockholm-Arlanda” was. Then again, I was Fascinated with Sweden. That happens a lot, Where I get fascinated with Places, Do My Research, and Find Out things that The Person from The Country themselves may not know. I have a Family Friend who actually lives in Stockholm who told me more than I knew about Stockholm. She told me that In Sweden, It is Illegal to Smack Your Children. Yes, Believe It or Not, They have that Law as well as a Hate Speech Law, (The Hate Speech was My Own Research). If The Child reports that Their Parents hit them, even if it was a Tap, The Government gets involved, The Children are sent to Foster Care and Parents go to Jail for Years. Needless to Say, It creates Respect between The Children and The Parents. She told me that It is so “Freeing” in Sweden, because People can do more things, Enjoy Nature, and Due to The Size of Houses there Compared to The US, You don’t have to have a lot of Stuff. From My Own Research, I have found that No One can be Better than Anyone Else. In Other Words, It is Rude to say, “Haha, I make More Money, Have a Better Job, and A Better Girlfriend!” To Tell You The Truth, Everyone has to be Employed in Sweden, So There really is No “Better Job.” Now, My Focus hasn’t always been in Sweden, It’s been to Norway, The UK (which is Interesting), The Caribbean (Hello, Future Tropical Vacation!), and Believe It or Not, A New Place I haven’t thought of before, Australia. Australia (Pronounced Aus-Tray-Lia) is Said to be “The World’s Largest Island”, It is The Only Country that is Both a Country (Commonwealth, to be precise!) And A Continent. Australia is Interesting for Many Reasons including The Country/Continent Thing. So, I have been told, It seems The Wealthy People live in Cities like Sydney or Melbourne (Pronounced Mel-Bun) and The Poorest People live in places like South Australia, Not Sure if It is all true but, It is an Interesting Bit of Trivia. Sources tell me that There are People in Australia known as Bogans. Bogans, to say the least, are Stereotyped to be a combo of What They tell me is The Bronx of White People and Rednecks. To Describe what They look like, They have a Mullet and Their Hair shaved all the way back leaving a bit of Hair of the Back of Their Head. There is a Television Show in Australia called The Bogan Hunters and I did My Research about that and Other Shows in Australia. The Best Way I can describe The Bogan Hunters is a Show about looking for “Real Life Bogans” in a Crocodile Dundee way. According to The Host of The Show, Bogans live in The Suburbs of Cities, The Rich live in The Inner City, It is reverse like a lot of Other Things compared to The US. Speaking of that, Australia is in the South Hemisphere, hence The Nickname, “Down Under.” So, When It is Summer here in The US, It is Winter in Australia and Vice Versa. This is Something that Boggles My Mind about Australia because for Example, to Me, December means Christmas and Snow on The Ground, that is My Ideal Picture of The Christmas Holiday but, I cannot get My Head around Going to The Beach in 90 Degree Heat in Australia on Christmas Day. It is like, “Okay, Let’s Open Presents and Go to the Beach!” and The Children say, “Yay!” I am going to have to Take that 16 Hour Flight and See it all for Myself!

I have had Some Wonderful Friends and PTLS Family Members who have so awesome to Send Me Maps of Their  Part of The World. I sit and study each one and Then, Do My Research. All in all, I hope to One Day travel to all these places but, Until I will continue to Learn about The World.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Learn about Your World.