FEATURED READER: Nani OutNabout in Virginia next to the Presidents Limo at the secret service training area!
RESOLUTION( rêz’e-lōō’shen) 1. A solution. 2. A course of action determined or decided on.
2008 was a rough year. I broke up with my partner of 3 years, and my new apartment was the site of a home invasion. 2009 I vow to be a better year. To ensure this though, I made some New Year’s Resolutions. But before “determining my course of action”, I decided to seek the “solution” from THE ORACLE.
Throughout history, people have sought the advice of oracles (a wise person). One such oracle was the Oracle at Delphi- a priestess in the classical Greek world through which the god Apollo supposedly prophesied and spoke through. People went to the oracle for advice about their futures.
I had heard stories and rumors about such an oracle in Brooklyn: The Pintchik Oracle. Pintchik’s is a hardware store on Flatbush Avenue. Supposedly the oracle worked out of some hidden room from within the hardware store.
Living at the end of the D train line in the Bronx, and not wanting to trek to (the other end of New York) Brooklyn over some Urban Legend, I decided to do some research on the internet. Sure enough, numerous sites and stories appeared regarding the Pintchik Oracle. Some sites even had photographs of the phone as well as the board displaying answers to questions. I decided to do it, to go to see The Pintchik Oracle. I convinced Herbelicious and Jose to come with me.
Upon exiting the Flatbush Avenue train station, I immediately recognized the area from the pictures on the Internet. I even located (very easily) the message board, right next to Pintchik’s Hardware store. Currently it displayed a message for RICKY’S (a costume/wig/make-up variety store) saying that they were having some sort of sale. We looked for the phone. It was nowhere to be found. We crossed the street. Still no phone. The sun was setting and Pintchik’s was closing for the night so we couldn’t go into the hardware store to ask. After 20 minutes of crossing and uncrossing the streets trying to locate the so called “phone in a wooden box”, Herbelicious decided to go into RICKY’S and ask (because I was too embarrassed to go myself and ask about an oracle).
He came out with a sheepish grin. “It’s a hoax” he exclaimed. “I went in and said: This is going to be an unusual question. The clerk immediately said-- about the phone? It’s a hoax. Tons of people come in here asking about the phone and the oracle and I have no idea what they are talking about. I have been here a while now, and have never seen a phone. It’s a hoax.”
I couldn’t believe it. All the websites and all the pictures. I stopped a young man walking by the hardware store. “Do you live around here?” I asked. “Yes” he replied. “Do you know about the Pintchik Oracle or the phone in a wooden box?” I asked. “Have no idea dude” he replied. We went home disappointed.
I did an Internet search again and found an article saying that the phone was actually on a stick that Mr. Pintchik himself stood holding outside on the street. As of May 2008 the Oracle was back! So where was he when I was there?
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2008/05/07/2008-05-07_tough_times_call_for_oracles_return.html
Maybe it wasn’t a hoax. Maybe when business is slow, Mr. Pintchik stands outside with the phone to drum up some business. When we were there, the store was closing for the night. Maybe Mr. Pintchik is doing well for right now and so there hasn’t been a need for the Oracle to appear in quite some time. That would explain why no one had a clue about the Oracle or the phone. Hmmm... Maybe with this recession the Oracle will make an appearance again to bring Mr. Pintchik business, AND to help answer our questions about the tough economic times ahead. I hope so.
With no oracle to help me, I came up with resolutions myself. Here are my 2009 Resolutions:
1. I want to see my abs peek out again. I don’t necessarily need to see a 6-pack, but at least see a few of them start to peak out. I know this is possible because in the last 6 months I went from
This
To this!
2. I want to put away a nice amount into my savings account this year
(let’s say $3000 if not more). I need to stash money in case the abs plan doesn't work-- then I can get lipo! To do this I need to:
A. Eat at home more . I spend way too much money on food eating out.
B. Pack a breakfast and lunch at least 3 times a week (this will also
help me watch what I eat to help me see my abs again). I spend too much money on breakfast and lunch while I'm at work.
3. I want to take this blog to the next level (I have already purchased the domain name so you can now find it at outnaboutnewyork.com) To do this, I need to:
A. Advertise more—Tell your friends about my blog! Maybe I will have a professional company print up flyer's and cards so I can leave them all over the place.
B. Get you all to COMMENT! COMMENT! COMMENT! So that I
know you guys are out there, and so I can get feedback to continue
writing about things of interest. Even just one sentence from each of you for each blog from here on out.
C. Get all of you to follow my blog publicly (to do this all you need to
do is hit the word “follow this blog” to the right--> SO DO IT NOW!
It’s free, you won’t get junk emails, and if you have a Google
account, you can use that account --> SO DO IT RIGHT NOW (before you read any further!). It will also make it easier for you when you leave your "one sentence" comments for me.
Thank you to those of you who emailed me your resolutions. Here are a few of the interesting ones:
1. Sing Karaoke in Public
2. Learn Spanish
3. Travel out of the country at least once this year
4. NO PROCESSED SUGAR
5. Lose 10 lbs (which is doable and we all should do it!)
6. Buy my daughter a car--(Buy William a car!)
Lastly, email me pictures of you doing something fun and interesting OUTNABOUT in your own city so I can feature you in my blog. Send pictures to outnaboutnewyork@gmail.com
Now go follow my blog AND leave a comment!
RESOLUTION( rêz’e-lōō’shen) 1. A solution. 2. A course of action determined or decided on.
2008 was a rough year. I broke up with my partner of 3 years, and my new apartment was the site of a home invasion. 2009 I vow to be a better year. To ensure this though, I made some New Year’s Resolutions. But before “determining my course of action”, I decided to seek the “solution” from THE ORACLE.
Throughout history, people have sought the advice of oracles (a wise person). One such oracle was the Oracle at Delphi- a priestess in the classical Greek world through which the god Apollo supposedly prophesied and spoke through. People went to the oracle for advice about their futures.
I had heard stories and rumors about such an oracle in Brooklyn: The Pintchik Oracle. Pintchik’s is a hardware store on Flatbush Avenue. Supposedly the oracle worked out of some hidden room from within the hardware store.
The story goes that for over 10 years now, a telephone in a wooden box would appear across the street from Pintchik’s hardware store from time to time. Upon picking up the phone, a voice—“The Oracle” would ask you to tell him the question to which you were seeking an answer. After hanging up the phone, the answer to your question would appear displayed in red letters on the giant electronic board outside of Pintchik’s for the entire world to see.
Living at the end of the D train line in the Bronx, and not wanting to trek to (the other end of New York) Brooklyn over some Urban Legend, I decided to do some research on the internet. Sure enough, numerous sites and stories appeared regarding the Pintchik Oracle. Some sites even had photographs of the phone as well as the board displaying answers to questions. I decided to do it, to go to see The Pintchik Oracle. I convinced Herbelicious and Jose to come with me.
Upon exiting the Flatbush Avenue train station, I immediately recognized the area from the pictures on the Internet. I even located (very easily) the message board, right next to Pintchik’s Hardware store. Currently it displayed a message for RICKY’S (a costume/wig/make-up variety store) saying that they were having some sort of sale. We looked for the phone. It was nowhere to be found. We crossed the street. Still no phone. The sun was setting and Pintchik’s was closing for the night so we couldn’t go into the hardware store to ask. After 20 minutes of crossing and uncrossing the streets trying to locate the so called “phone in a wooden box”, Herbelicious decided to go into RICKY’S and ask (because I was too embarrassed to go myself and ask about an oracle).He came out with a sheepish grin. “It’s a hoax” he exclaimed. “I went in and said: This is going to be an unusual question. The clerk immediately said-- about the phone? It’s a hoax. Tons of people come in here asking about the phone and the oracle and I have no idea what they are talking about. I have been here a while now, and have never seen a phone. It’s a hoax.”
I couldn’t believe it. All the websites and all the pictures. I stopped a young man walking by the hardware store. “Do you live around here?” I asked. “Yes” he replied. “Do you know about the Pintchik Oracle or the phone in a wooden box?” I asked. “Have no idea dude” he replied. We went home disappointed.
I did an Internet search again and found an article saying that the phone was actually on a stick that Mr. Pintchik himself stood holding outside on the street. As of May 2008 the Oracle was back! So where was he when I was there?
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2008/05/07/2008-05-07_tough_times_call_for_oracles_return.html
Maybe it wasn’t a hoax. Maybe when business is slow, Mr. Pintchik stands outside with the phone to drum up some business. When we were there, the store was closing for the night. Maybe Mr. Pintchik is doing well for right now and so there hasn’t been a need for the Oracle to appear in quite some time. That would explain why no one had a clue about the Oracle or the phone. Hmmm... Maybe with this recession the Oracle will make an appearance again to bring Mr. Pintchik business, AND to help answer our questions about the tough economic times ahead. I hope so.
With no oracle to help me, I came up with resolutions myself. Here are my 2009 Resolutions:
1. I want to see my abs peek out again. I don’t necessarily need to see a 6-pack, but at least see a few of them start to peak out. I know this is possible because in the last 6 months I went from
This
To this!To help my abs peek out, I will have to
A. Go to the gym AT LEAST 3 times a week.
B. NOT eat white rice (I’m Asian, this is a very hard for me!),
only brown rice and in very controlled portions.
C. Little or NO alcohol- meaning that when I go out, I should not have
any drinks, or if choose to do so, then have a maximum of only
2 drinks.
D. Watch what I eat and limit carbs and junk food-- EVERYTHING IN MODERATION!
A. Go to the gym AT LEAST 3 times a week.
B. NOT eat white rice (I’m Asian, this is a very hard for me!),
only brown rice and in very controlled portions.
C. Little or NO alcohol- meaning that when I go out, I should not have
any drinks, or if choose to do so, then have a maximum of only
2 drinks.
D. Watch what I eat and limit carbs and junk food-- EVERYTHING IN MODERATION!
2. I want to put away a nice amount into my savings account this year
(let’s say $3000 if not more). I need to stash money in case the abs plan doesn't work-- then I can get lipo! To do this I need to:
A. Eat at home more . I spend way too much money on food eating out.
B. Pack a breakfast and lunch at least 3 times a week (this will also
help me watch what I eat to help me see my abs again). I spend too much money on breakfast and lunch while I'm at work.
3. I want to take this blog to the next level (I have already purchased the domain name so you can now find it at outnaboutnewyork.com) To do this, I need to:
A. Advertise more—Tell your friends about my blog! Maybe I will have a professional company print up flyer's and cards so I can leave them all over the place.
B. Get you all to COMMENT! COMMENT! COMMENT! So that I
know you guys are out there, and so I can get feedback to continue
writing about things of interest. Even just one sentence from each of you for each blog from here on out.
C. Get all of you to follow my blog publicly (to do this all you need to
do is hit the word “follow this blog” to the right--> SO DO IT NOW!
It’s free, you won’t get junk emails, and if you have a Google
account, you can use that account --> SO DO IT RIGHT NOW (before you read any further!). It will also make it easier for you when you leave your "one sentence" comments for me.
Thank you to those of you who emailed me your resolutions. Here are a few of the interesting ones:
1. Sing Karaoke in Public
2. Learn Spanish
3. Travel out of the country at least once this year
4. NO PROCESSED SUGAR
5. Lose 10 lbs (which is doable and we all should do it!)
6. Buy my daughter a car--(Buy William a car!)
Lastly, email me pictures of you doing something fun and interesting OUTNABOUT in your own city so I can feature you in my blog. Send pictures to outnaboutnewyork@gmail.com
Now go follow my blog AND leave a comment!
5 comments:
i have walked by the hardware store around a few times a week for several years....I have never seen the oracle, but sooo many people have rumoured to it. I think it's a modern urban legend. (Though I still check my backseat in mall parking lots)
OMGGGGGGG--it's ME! LOL Thanks for adding me to your blog-I feel special ;)
Ooooooooooo! The oracle! I love love love The Never Ending Story!!! I'm sorry that you trekked all the way out there only to be disappointed-that sucks. You have awesome friends if they went all the way there with you LOL ;)
I think we need to continue to seek the advice of the Oracle - it maybe that the day we showed up, it simply wasn't the right time to ask him for advice - maybe the time will be this spring...when most of us have given up on our resolutions and then realize that spring is the time to rehash those resolutions as everything around us is changing and growing anew! Count on me to help you achieve as many of your posted resolutions as possible as one of my resolutions is to help out others become all they can be! But of course in true gay fashion - I too want abs, a toned body and will do my best by monitoring all the foods that I eat! 2009 is a year of change on so many levels (GO OBAMA!)...we can do it as the only thing that can hold us back is ourselves - it is ultimately up to us to simply - JUST DO IT! SO LET'S DO IT!!!!
I have heard of the oracle too! My resolution is to lose weight as well, although now I don't have all the walking around the city to help with that, ugh.
wow..great resolutions Billy! I need to do that too..I need to eat better (just popped an oreo in my mouth..had 10 so far) and I need to go walking more (chatting on facebook instead of getting my ass out the door. Still in my pajamas and it's already 2pm). No wonder you look better than me!
Nelia
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