[Matty]

An Introduction to the Road:

I've always wanted to start one of these things and I think right now is a good time! Basically in here I will be a lot more upfront about things and whether you folks here read along that would be great, but if not that's fine too.

I really don't think many here have been able to know the real "Matty." Basically all my friends call me Matt and my good friends call me Matty. So when I made my name at Goldderby I just used Matty_B because I thought it was a bit "hip." I joined Goldderby when I was 14(!!!) years old, but was reading the boards a few months before I actually joined. I am now 16 years old and this is actually the first time I'm really revealing my age with ya'll officially. I have always felt like if I said that I was a teenager that I would be viewed differently and my posts wouldn't be taken with any seriousness. But I really feel like it's right to be open and honest with everyone because everyone here is like another family for me. I really like to read everyone's posts and blogs, but I haven't posted in them, sorry guys.

The year I was at Goldderby was great in that I was interacting with total intellectuals, well not total, there were some idiots. But there were people actually discussing the entertainment business, a business that fascinates me to no end. I actually was looking for early Oscar predictions because I was really eager to see what everyone had to say. I remember my first Oscar's being the Shakespeare in Love season, but I can't really remember watching anything past the early awards because I had a bed time then. But I have been watching since with all the shocks (Marcia Gay Harden! That was a huge surprise as I thought Kate Hudson had it in the bag.)

Then the spring of 2005 came and my favorite posters were kicked off the site I went to every day in hopes of reading a new post. I was completely bummed, but never voiced my concern after they were kicked to the curb. I'm so grateful for jonny for being in part of creating the glorious Backstage and Big Ted for sending that huge email out invitng me and others to the new site. Now when I come online everyday at 2:10 The Backstage is my first stop as opposed to the once Goldderby now The Envelope.

Overall I would like to thank all of the posters here for making me want to continue following the entertainment business.

Some things people here might not know is that I was born on March 10, 1990 in Worcester, MA. I still live in MA, but not in Worcester, but a local subburb. I'm the youngest of 3; my oldest sister has just graduated UPENN and my middle sister had a baby 8 months ago. I'm such a proud uncle and godfather of little Michael Joseph.

Being a sophomore in high school can be stressful at times and I'm really starting to see a bunch of the hard stuff now. My class is so competitive and at 400 students or so gets pretty tough to stand out. My school is so overcrowded its almost funny as they just bulit us this multi-million dollar high school and was first opened the 02-03 year and has been getting overpopulated already. I try to live with it and continue on.

I'm starting my driving lessons on Monday with my good friend Jill who I have a bit of a crush on, but gosh I'll never tell her. (We did go to the Semi together though.) And I'm so nervous because the most I've driven is like through the center of town.

Overall like this thread starts with, this is sort of an ïntroduction and I hope everyone here can stay in my journey through life. (That sounds cheesy doesn't it?)

[Denny Crane Crawford.]

Hi

I enjoyed reading that. I will continue on to follow your blog. Good to hear some personal things about ya. And here I just assumed that all I would ever know about you was that you enjoyed Carrie ALMOST as much as I do
_________________

[Big Ted]

Huh. I thought you were older. Glad you came over with us during the, um, Exodus. It's always interesting to read your posts.

[TitsMcGee]

Welcome officially!

[Matty]

Thanks you guys! And Ted, yes I was trying to seem older than my posts suggested because I didn't really want them to be looked upon any less because they were coming from a kid in high school. But now I really think it's about time for everyone to know.

[Big Ted]

I think some of our best posters (from when we started over there in the early 00s) where younger folks. I know a lot of us were in high school but dug and Matt were like in jr. high. Impressive.

[Matty]

I think that is so cool that a lot of our greatest posters started out young. Thanks for sharing that bit of info Ted!

So....I really don't feel great right now as I have an awful cough, but I'm going to try and get passed it. I saw The Break Up last night with some friends and it was ok. I liked the cast and I liked the premise, but I feel that a lot of it was executed poorly. I loved that one joke about Tonya Harding or something like that. The audience I was with ate it up though. And Aniston's brother was hilarious in this too.

But yeah, I really hate Sundays. With only 3 weeks of school left I'm really starting to feel the pressure. In English we are having two assessments on Julius Caesar. Our first is a written test with a bunch of short answer questions and quotes that we have to write down who said it and a paraphrase of it. Another assessment is a memorization of Antony's speech after Caesar's murder which comes out to like 25 or so lines. After memorizing them we have to say it in front of the rest of the class. I'm really nervous for both of these things as I have those two assignments, plus I have to prepare for the final which she says is like an essay that details how we have changed as writers, or something like that. Not only that, but I still have all my other classes. In my Foods class we have a little performance assessment where she is going to randomly pull two names out of a hat where we are given a recipe and just cook it. We are going to be graded upon preparation and the final product. I have that plus the written final which is going to be a bitch because a lot of the information is harder than people realize about food. And in my other classes I'm just worried about preparing for my finals. Bah!

So then we had class elections on Friday. Normally I run for Student Council, but have yet to win in high school. But I did win twice in middle. But the past two years I have lost and didn't feel like running as normally there are 5 slots per grade and normally like 12 people run. Only 6 people ran this year and I am pissed. I knew I would have won that and everyone was telling me that I would have. The speeches that a lot of people gave were awful (I only liked maybe 3 of them), so I feel really distraught, kind of like "what if?" For next year I'm thinking of running for class marshall for senior year and see how far that gets me. Basically in September I'm gonna whore myself around and try and be friendly with as many people as possible so I can garner up future votes. LOL. But yeah everyone in house is disappointed that I didn't run and of course I have to live up to my sister who graduated from high school salutatorian and Student Council President. I'm glad that I'm following my middle sister though because she definitely followed the "middle child syndrome" and has an eight month old to show for it. I know that sounds awful, but I feel better following her.

Well that's it for today I guess and hopefully I can get over this little cold I have.

[Matty]

Lesson One: I didn't check my mirrors

So, my first road lesson was today with my friend Jill. The instructor picked us up from school at like 2:10 and I wanted to drive first and did for a hard hour. I would say that the route he made me go was a lot harder than the way he made Jill go. I first drove out of the school and a bunch of roads later led me to Worcester where the streets need to be repaved and the hills are like San Francisco. I drove on the highway for the first time and did my first lane changes (!!!) and he showed me the different ways to park on a hill and the all so important 3 point turns. Things that I need to work on is looking in all my mirrors at the right times and when I have a red light or something like that to stay far enough away from the car in front of me that I can see their tires. I don't think I was that bad and actually improved from when I practice with mis padres, but I just need to go out more and practice. Overall, it wasn't bad and I can't wait for these lessons to end. Our last one is on the 29th I think, so that's a ways away.

Also today we got the results of out class election and all of the main people I voted for got it and all the student council people I voted for got in, so I'm pretty pleased.

[Matty]

I'm so glad this week is over because I cannot stand another minute. Bah! So, the seniors just graduated on Thursday, which is a bit sad, but the school is a lot less crowded, so that makes things pleasing. Thursday was an awlful day regarding tests and quizzes as well. Basically the day started easy with foods, but then I took a pretty tricky math quiz which took the whole period. We were able to use a tool kit with a bunch of notes, etc. on it, but even with every piece of information I knew, I still had trouble with the quiz! Then I took my final in P.E. which was a lot more difficult then some people can imagine. It was basically question after question regarding machines in our gym like the overheard shoulder press or stuff like that. I could really care less though because my semester grade is like an A+. After I took my HUGE test of "Julius Caesar" which was pretty hard. My teacher put 15 random quotes from the play which we then had to pick ten to name which character said the lines, what they mean, and the significance in the play. Then there were 10 short answer questions, but we only had to answer 6. Those were so hard and I basically mentioned the same answer over and over again. Last, I took a quiz in spanish and I did pretty well getting an 87 on it.

Tonight I went to Wrights Chicken Farm with my best friend Lauren for our friend Matt's grad party. His whole family was there and his friends were too. Me, Lauren, and Matt all grew up together on our street, but in January Matt and his sister and their parents moved like 20 minutes away which sort of ruined everything, but whatevs. And what is weird is that Matt was a senior this year, Lauren a junior, and me a little old Soph.

So after a lot of chicken, fries, pasta, salad, and bread we left. I hung out at Lauren's for a bit, but came home now because I am so freaking tired.

[Matty]

Lesson 2: Fuck You, Asshole

So...my second road lesson was on Monday and it didn't go so well for either Jill or I. I mean I saw her grades and the guy gave her a bunch of B's and B+'s and I got a lot of C's, but the instructor was so effing intimidating. I drove first and had to do a lot of 3 point turns, back ups in a straight line, etc. And I do my 3 point turns great when I'm with my parents or sister, but I just wasn't having it on Monday. Also when I was doing one of my turns this huge truck was coming up and looked frustrated that I took so long. I really need a bit more practice though before my next lesson, so that I will be more prepared when they aske me to do things like 3 point turns. And both of us really hope we don't have this instructor again because he was a massive tool by putting his seat back and basically mumbling to us the whole time. Hate.

Last night was an awful night for me. I was dreaming about it being like 100 degrees and out and we had no A/C which made things extra hot and sweaty. Then I wake up from my dream and the sweat is all over me and like my shirt is sticking to me. It was just awful. What makes it worse is that I had my A/C on in my room. And I don't really feel good now and it seems like I get cold after cold. I've been slowly getting over a cough when now I have this awful sore throat and my whole body feels like it is shutting down. But yeah waking up at 3 am to be hot one second and freezing the next back and fourth all night is not fun nor is it pleasant.

That "Julius Caesar" test I took on Thursday makes me want to kill someone. We get it back and I got a D+ which makes me sad because I studied for like 2 hours for it and now when I look back I could have just not studied and it probably wouldn't have made any difference. Boo. So now I'm trying to memorize Antony's 9 stanza funeral speech, which is a bitch. What pisses me off is that we are her only honors class that is doing it while her period 2 class doesn't have to do it. I blame MCAS. So I just need to get though this memorization (close to 6 stanzas being done!) and I'll be ok.

[Matty]

I'm so thankful for the weekend and I'm thrilled that it is my last of the school year. In one week it will officially be summer. Yay. However I've been so sick this week, which has been awful because I had to go to school everyday so I could get all the review possible due to finals next week. My throat is literally aching and physically hurt me this morning, so bad that I thought I needed to go see a doctor, but with 4 motrin the pain is subsiding.

The weekend is a nice thing and today is my cousin's high school graduation party. Congrats Jill! And tomorrow I plan on using the WHOLE day to study for my American History final. 3rd quarter I had an A and 4th I got an A- so this final is critical in deciding if my semester average stays in the A range or if I do terrible it can bring me to a B+.

Earlier I was playing with my little nephew and he was so adorable. He is in the stage of thinking he can walk when all he can do is crawl. He tries to pick himself up and stuff, but it is nearly impossible for him to do more than that. So cute.

[Matty]

Finals Suck.

So, I'm pretty much done with most of my finals as I've already taken American History, English, Spanish, and today I just finished Chem. And just foods and math left. But I think I'm doing ok so far on all of them; I won't for sure know until Friday when we get grades back and it's coincidentally the last day that I will be an underclassman. I was so pissed though in chem today though because the bell rang and I still needed like 10 minutes and it was a half day so I was going to miss my bus. Thankfully my friend Amanda was still taking hers and she gave me a ride home. Speaking of Amanda, she was on our school's Varstiy Girl's Softball team and they just won the state. I'm very proud. So on the way home this cop followed us like the entire way. It was really strange. And she kept repeating "Matty, don't look back!!!" LOL.

And then on Monday I had my third road lesson w/ Jill. The guy was much better than the one we had last week as he was more chill and approachable. I then noticed that after talking with him and sort of sucking up my grades turned from C's to B's. Yay! I'm such a grade whore and I'll do that in school too even if it is only one point.

[Matty]

Finals are finally over!! The last couple days I was especially nervous because of chem and math. But I had math and foods today and I really don't think I did good on the math one. It was really hard where I could get multiple answers many different times. That is not a good sign. I was over my firned Lauren's house and we just studied til like 2:30 and so then I crashed there for the night because it was easier to just tell her all the chem. stuff in person. So I slept only like 4 hours last night so I got home and had some chocolate cake my mom made me for finishing and then I slept for 3 hours. It was really nice. Although school ends tomorrow it is going to be really bittersweet because I enjoyed most of my teachers this year and I had friends in all my classes so now I have to wait til next year to see my teacher's and hopefully I'll have friends in some classes.

[Matty]

It's the last day of school! Finally. I've wanted summer to come so bad andI don't have to go back officially until the 30th of August. I do have to go back twice in the summer though for the mentor volunteer program I'm in.

I got my finals and some were good and others weren't. The breakdown:

Foods - Final: 83 Semester: A-
Math - Final: 61 Semester: C+
Chemistry - Final: 73 Semester: B
Honors English - Final: 86 Semester: A
Spanish - Final: 87 Semester: B+
American History - Final: 90 Semester: A-

Overall, I didn't do terrbily, but I could have definitely done better. What sucks the most is that I got a B in math both quarter 3 and 4, but the damn final brought me down to a C+. I was also one point from a B+ in Chemistry too. I'm going to be really sad when I have to apply for colleges next year and I have to turn in my transcript with these awful math grades. I'm in the lowest math too. I really need to push myself junior year which is coincidentally the hardest year. I'm going to have to pull myself together and do well on that and the SAT's.

[Matty]

This has been such a relaxing and nice week since school ended that I'm just resting comfortably. On Saturday I went to my friend Trey's house and had like 20-25 people over which was fun. The only bad thing was that I decided to walk which is like a 3 minute car-ride, but for me it was like a 15 minute walk because I was wearing the most uncomfortable sandels. Never again. At his house there was a definite imbalance (but good) of boys and gals. That made games like Pocky and Suck and Blow a lot more fun as I was always next to a girl. It was disappointing though as I was never exactly next to the girl I wanted. I still had fun anyways and I'm glad no one contracted mono after that.

While that was going on my best friend Lauren was at a friend's house, which seemed perfect as it's a huge house, no parents (Europe), long ass drive way, hidden by woods. One would think a big party could be thrown without anyone knowing. Apparently everyone was drinking and having fun until someone invited a couple kids from a different school who picked a fight with two of Lauren's firneds (not really friends anymore after what would come). So after these random kids show up they start fighting with the two kids Lauren was friends with and were seriously punching each other hard core. It was really messed up. So they were so loud that cops came and brought Lauren and a bunch of her friends to some sort of garage where they had to sit in the early morning hours. Lauren was lucky and got only 2 weeks grounding, which is fair because she lied and was drinking. However at the station she was probably the least drunk and really not even drunk according to her and the police. Then when you compare that to Amanda who is grounded for the rest of the summer. Remind you that this was only the second night of summer. So, since Lauren has been grounded I;ve just been going over her house every day to keep her company. And technically she's only grounded for one week as she's going to TN on Friday.

On Monday and today I had my 4th and 5th road lessons. Monday's went a lot better than today as I had a better instructor and I was able to do a lot more. Today I was basically doing errands for my instructor. Sweet. Then Jill and I had skid school which was one of the scariest things I've ever done in my life. We had to go on a course and basically practice what NOT to do on the road. I had to practice drinving while talking on my cell and I couldn't even concentrate and we could have got in a serious crash. Now I know not to use my cell when driving.

Tomorrow's my last lesson () and hopefully I'll get to the Cape by the weekend.

[Matty]

My last road lesson went pretty good except I almost crossed a double yellow line which is a huge no no. Other than that my instructor told me that if I was able to get my license this weekend then I would most definitely get it. Yay me! Today or not even today, but in a few minutes I'm supposed to go to my friend Angeli's party where I'm assuming there will be some sort of water balloon fight? I don't know. But I'm really pissed off because I wanted to go to the Cape, but apparently my cousin's don't like to tell me they aren't driving me down. It was my cousin Kristina's 20th birthday yesterday and I understand a bit of family time, but c'mon I'm fun! Hopefully I can drive down Monday with mi madre, but the only problem is we have my nephew, so if I can go down we can hopefully get a babysitter.

And I was watching a few episodes from season 1 of Friends and I love how they totally screwed up Joey be the last 2 seasons. He was so sharp and had great one-liners. Like in the Pilot when Ross enters Central Perk and sounds depressing when he says hello and Joey says the funniest line, "This guy says hello and makes me want to kill myself" or something of that effect. He was so great then.

[Matty]

I'm going to the Cape! Yay! I'm not sure if I'll be able to post for a few days, but hopefully this site doesn't crash EMMY morning after they announce Conchata Ferrel for Two and a Half Men.

[Big Ted]

Nah, it'll happen when Boston Legal leads the nominations. Ugh.

[Matty]

Boston Legal didn't lead!!!

So...I went to the Cape on Monday and came back yesterday afternoon and overall I had a lot of fun. We only went to the beach once on Tuesday because Wednesday and even Thursday was a bit crappy. I was really excited to be there for the Forth of July because any beach you went to at night there were fire works and drunk teenagers!! LOL. I basically spent the night with my cousin Jill and her two friends Michaela and Brenna. It was fun them letting me come out with them, but I'm not surprised as I'm really close with Jill. It was also the first time I found out my 18 year old cousin whom I always thought was a saint has been drinking since the beginning of senior year! *the more you know. And we were supposed to go to Main St. in Hyannis which is usually the big hang out spot to go, but there was seriously no one there except old people and families. We followed my cousin Katie and her friends to a liquor store who bought my cousin and her friends vodka for this weekend when they have the cape house to themselves. Note: I haven't had 1 drink in my life even though my cousins friends wanted to get me drunk, but that is besides the point. After our Hyannis trip failed we drove to a really dark beach where Brenna's guy friends were sitting and basically drinking. We were going to go back their place for a while, but my cousin though I'd be uncomfortable and they had a curfew of 11. I'm astonished they had such a small curfew as my aunt is pretty strict and let us stay out til 1. Overall it was a bust and after a few fire works and a few police busts of people we decided to go back home to my aunt and uncle playing scrabble while watching a fourth of July special. Sweet. So we bascially just finished all the dessert from dinner which was a trifle with whipped cream, vanilla cake, and strawberries with blueberries. And nothing was on tv so the night was even more of a bust. It was 10:30 and we were really bored. Not good. Then on Wednesday night we played on the playground a few blocks from their house and then we watched Wedding Crashers. I'm sad I'm gonna miss their girls weekend because 1. the weather is supposed to be awesome and 2. I want to see how wild these girls get when left alone.

I hope I get back to the Cape before I go to Disney!! Woot only 19 days!

[Matty]

OK, so I know I'm gonna be embarrassed, but whatever. I went to the "American Idol" concert tonight to a basically sold out crowd. This was there second stop in Worcester and next they head off to Hartford. The first performer was Mandisa who started the concert with "I'm Every Woman." This girl had so much energy and her voice was booming. She was really great. She followed up with another song and then a duet with Ace. Ace then actually gave a good performance of "Father Figure" and a manic version of Maroon 5's "Harder to Breathe." Following Ace was Lisa Tucker whom I believe was the best of the night, surprisingly. When she sang tonight it was like she was a whole different performer. This was not the same girl who appeared on the show week after week. After doing "Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)" she played the piano for two songs; one was an Elton John and one was something I couldn't quite recognize at the moment, but she was teriffic. Following her piano playing Paris came out and the two of them did TLC's "Waterfalls." Lisa was again, phenomenal, but Paris was highly disappointing. Lisa left and Paris followed the duet with "Midnight Train to Georgia" and Beyonce's "Crazy in Love." After each performance I could not wait for her to leave the stage. I absolutely loved her audition and a few performances on the show, but really her act was tired and her singing was weak because of it. Following Paris was Bucky who gave a lively rendition of "Superstition," but left me cold after singing one of my least favorite songs, Uncle Kracker's "Drift Away." The Kellie Pickler came out for a duet with Bucky which was "(Your) The One that I Want" for Grease. Pickler was surprisingly strong, but Bucky could not keep up whatsoever. Kellie then sang "I'm the Only One," "Walking After Midnight," and "Something to Talk About." Overall she was good and sad to hear that just this morning, her grandfather was in the hospital from a heart attack. She said he nis recovering and things are going well which was positive to hear.

Intermission

Chris came out like some rock superstar. He was definitely the most popular and I can't imagine him not being so. He sang such songs that I honestly forget the names, but he had awesome stage presence and when I look back I think she shoula won. Elliott was next and was absolutely awesome and even better than he was on tv. He sang a bunch of songs from the show and he got a great reception from the crowd. In honor of Katharine who couldn't be at the show due to laryngitis the guys minus Taylor came out and sang a song for her. Behind them was a montage of McPhee's greatest moments. It's a shame she wasn't there as she was one of my sole purposes of going. The girls then a "girl Power" medley like the one from the finale, except not as good. Taylor came out and that's the brute of it. My friends and I really couldn't stand him, so we just left as he was about to do his third or fourth song.

Overall I'd rank the performers of the evening as...

1. Lisa
2. Elliott
3. Chris
4. Mandisa
5. Kellie
6. Ace
7. Bucky
8. Taylor
9. Paris

Then we wnt to the only 5 star hotel in Worcester to seek the Idols after the gang and I went to Friendly's for a bit. Suffice to say they checked out that afternoon and were there Friday evening. It was not like last year when we met them. This year we got nadda. However we did meet a rousing little hick famiuly who is seriously stalking the idols. They said too much to be able to put in this post, but it was hilarious. My friends and I got in the car and could not stop cracking up. They were like "AI" fiends, but did conjur us some gossip. They said every single idol was nice and willing to sing stuff and take pictures EXCEPT Taylor. They say he was so demanding and apparently kept complaining about his room, etc. even though he had the nicest room in the whole entire hotel.

[Matty]

I was in the Cape last week from Saturday-Tuesday. I went to the beach on Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday and I must say it was so beautiful. Nice and hot, sunny, but we got a nice breeze throughout. Sunday was really nice too, but everyone was just so tired for some reason that we just stayed in. I slept in Sunday morning til 11 and took 2 naps during the day. It's really said if you think about it.

I'm going to Pennsylvania in a couple minutes til Sunday as we are visiting my grandparents. My Opa was in the hospital for a couple days as he was having a bladder problem and he's having trouble with his medication, so we are visiting and trying to boost spirits. I'm gonna miss watching some Emmy tapes, but when a family member is in pain nothing seems to matter anymore.

If the damn nephew of mine cries like he is doing now I'm gonna have a throwdown! <3

Going to Walt Disney World in 5 days!!! WOOT!

[Matty]

Heading off to Disney World til August 4 and then I'll be able to post back again! Usually, EVERYONE in my family goes, but this year it's gonna be more low key. It's gonna be my uncle, aunt, my cousin Katie who just turned 21, my cousin Kristina who just turned 20, my cousin Jill who is mentioned in this blog elsewhere and then my somewhat annoying cousin Daniel who is 14. (!) But anyways...it should be fun and we are staying at the Shades of Green where we usually stay except for the one year we stayed at the Contemporary. Apparently the flight is like 6 or 7 am., but we should be there between 9-10 am so that is good. I don't know much else to say is that I'm gonna miss posting here, but I'll be back soon enough!

[TitsMcGee]

[Daniel]

Have a Good Time.
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[Matty]

Thanks you guys!! <3