Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in yngtakibbutz's LiveJournal:

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Sunday, August 10th, 2008
12:33 pm	Just for Vicki An Ode to Lou (music from "Dancing Queen" by ABBA) You are the Catching King, young, dreamy, and you're in Beijing Catching King, hear the ding from his homerun swing! You can bat, you can slide, all for your New Jersey bride Ooh, see that boy, teeth like bling, diggin' the Catching King! (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, April 9th, 2006
11:24 pm	be sorted @ nimbo.net (Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 9th, 2005
10:29 pm	And I just noticed. Add the last two surveys together, and I'm a 16 year old in 1963. That's swingin'! (Comment on this)
7:25 pm	Stolen from Tax You Belong in 1963 1963 If you scored... 1950 - 1959: You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in! 1960 - 1969: You are a free spirit with a huge heart. Love, peace, and happiness rule - oh, and drugs too. 1970 - 1979: Bold and brash, you take life by the horns. Whether you're partying or protesting, you give it your all! 1980 - 1989: Wild, over the top, and just a little bit cheesy. You're colorful at night - and successful during the day. 1990 - 1999: With you anything goes! You're grunge one day, ghetto fabulous the next. It's all good! What Year Do You Belong In? Yeah, I'm 1963. Which means that almost all my favorite musicals, except Man of La Mancha (1964) and Hello Dolly! (also 1964), have come out, so I can deal with that. I seem like more of a 50's guy to me, but who knows! Even more than all of those, 1963 is the year my mother and her family came to this country. It works!!! (Comment on this)
Sunday, February 6th, 2005
11:05 pm	Stolen from Brooke when she was at the diner. Haha! You Are 16 Years Old 16 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax. What Age Do You Act? (Comment on this)
4:24 pm	Stolen from Teri Beri, in turn stolen from Rebecca THREE THINGS I AM WEARING RIGHT NOW 1. my sweater (unfortunately not one of my favorites, can't take nice clothes to college because there might be problems with the wash) 2. white socks 3. sneakers THREE THINGS ON MY DESK (computer desk) 1. a recording of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin 2. a mouse 3. a whole stack of music books next to my elbow--Prince Igor, Turandot, Nabucco, Sleeping Beauty, Man of La Mancha THREE THINGS I WANT TO DO BEFORE I DIE 1. Live in Rome and Pacentro 2. publish books 3. learn a few Italian dialects, Latin, Russian, Hebrew, Greek, German, THREE GOOD WAYS TO DESCRIBE MY PERSONALITY 1. pensive and ponderous (that's two things, but they're in the same boat, so I count them as one) 2. musical 3. bibliophilic THREE BAD THINGS ABOUT MY PERSONALITY 1. too quiet 2. easily angry 3. slow to do things on my own THREE PARTS OF MY HERITAGE 1. Abruzzese (Pacentro)--my mother's side 2. Sicilian (Modica)--my father's mother's side 3. Friulian (Udine)--my father's father's side Yes, these are all the different regions (with town names in parentheses) from which my family comes, and they are all in Italy. THREE THINGS I LIKE ABOUT MY BODY 1. the hair on the top of my head 2. my eyes 3. my voice THREE THINGS I DON'T LIKE ABOUT MY BODY 1. I can't stop growing hair! 2. the snot in my nose 3. I wish I were a little bit taller. THREE THINGS MOST PEOPLE DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME 1. There is a very deep side that is usually only seen in my writing, my own writing, not the requirements for essays. 2. Every now and then I draw on the computer. 3. I met Captain Lou Albano the pro wrestler (and Mario from the Super Mario Bros. cartoon) when I was like two. THREE THINGS I SAY THE MOST 1. "Hello, Dolly!" 2. OOOOOOOH! 3. Preciousss! THREE PLACES I WANT TO GO 1. everywhere in Italy 2. the ruins of Babylon 3. the Pyramids of Egypt TEN NAMES THAT I GO BY 1. Robert 2. Robert Ottogalli 3. Robert Ottogalli III 4. Robert Ottogalli 3rd 5. Rob 6. Robbie 7. Bob (Tom K calls me that.) 8. Bobby O 9. Sire (Dan Bernardo's occational name for me) 10. Hobbit (a friend in Players knows me as this) THREE SCREEN NAMES I HAVE HAD 1. Nabucco539 2. CAdreamstp 3. Lizzieluva51003 x. I am: Rob Ottogalli x. I want: ♪the world, I want the whole world♪ x. I have: books on my shelves x. I wish: I had a watermelon x. I hate: people who complain x. I miss: the wintry smell of Bayville x. I fear: not finishing my work before I die x. I need: to go to Italy like right now! x. I hear: the humming of my computer x. I search: for words in the night x. I wonder: ♪I wonder, I wonder why each little bird has a someone.♪ x. I regret: many things x. I love: love x. I ache: when I'm hungry x. I always: make allusions x. I am not: crazy..... x. I dance: frequently in my own way x. I sing: every day x. I hope: to have many friends who don't go away x. I cry: when Sam tells Frodo, "I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you!" x. I am not always: in the mood for leaving when I have to leave x. I write: EVERYTHING x. I win: yes, I do x. I lose: weight, actually I've lost weight, like a pound, over the last year x. I confuse: Macbeth and Macduff in the scene where they're dueling each other x. I should: write my paper for tomorrow WHEN YOU SEE THIS NAME YOU THINK OF x. Ryan: Biczo x. Rob: Me! x. Stephanie: my cousin x. Heather: Clark x. Aaron: Moses's brother x. Amy: Amy Chicken from MSU x. Eve: Adam and x. Jon: Garfield the cat's owner x. Alex: Nicky and Alex from Full House x. Justin: 6/9 of the name of Justinian, the Bysantine Emperor x. Ricky: "Can I be in the show?"--"No, Lucy."--"Aaaah!" x. Jack: Captain Jack Sparrow, or Jack and the Beanstalk (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, January 9th, 2005
11:43 am	Oh, I forgot to mention yesterday. This is for my group of Seventh Heaven watchers at Montclair. When I got to the Seventh Heaven of Paradiso, I found it reserved for the intellectuals........Seventh Heaven full of intellectuals--ironic relative to the show, no? (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, January 8th, 2005
7:50 pm	<td>You are Windex. You are a neat freak. Quite plain and simple. If you walk into an unorganized area, you go insane. Most of your free time is spent cleaning and organizing, when you aren't having fun with you friends. Even though many are annoyed by your constant organizing, some see it as a quality of neatness, and that is something most people envy about you. The opposite sex sees you as clean-cut and pure, though you are too shy to express your true feelings for them. You keep a list of goals and priorities in your life, and in almost all cases, accomplish them. You are the over-acheiver, most intelligent in your class, and strive to do all that is in your ability. Some people may try to take advantage of you, however, so don't let them make you clean up their messes. "Just put some Windex." Most compatible with: Toothbrush. Click here -- What Random Object Represents Your Inner Self? </td> *Sigh!* How true! I'm not that neat, but there is some underlying organization to my life as long as I remember where everything is. When I forget is when it's messy! So forward for honor, for order, for autarchy! (Comment on this)
1:10 pm	Okay, I definitely started a live journal so I could keep in touch with my friends, but that did NOT happen this time! I would first of all like to inquire as to everyone's holiday so far and secondly to apologize that I have not posted an entry or replied to one since the wee hours of December 20. The good news is that I am finally being paid to work at my parent's gas station (under the table, so don't say anything to the IRS), but at such hours that when I get home, my mother is on the computer with the internet, so...pastavasul. I had a wonderful Christmas. My dog got me Julie Andrews' Cinderella! Actually, my parents got it for me, but something told me that that present was special, so I put the dog's name on it. I'm sorry, Trina, that I saw you once and, Tax and Cliff, that I saw you nonce (my invention for not at all). Happy belated birthday, Cliff, when you get this. I didn't know until today! I work until 2-2:30 pm so I haven't been able to go to Central since the first week I was here. Happy Upcoming Birthday Tax! I saw Chase and some others at Dan Bernardo's party. Katie, Courtney, and Brooke, I hope you're having a nice time, and I'm glad you got together! Katie, I've been using that pillow ALL THE TIME!!! Nuova eccellente!!! I finished The Divine Comedy!!! New Year's Eve. Considering that I read the Vita Nuova last January, I dubbed 2004 "The Year of Dante." I realized last night that he became my personal mascot this year, replacing Shakespeare. That's not so bad, because Dante's major works are not so numerous as Shakespeare's, and I've already gotten a few under my belt! I intend to: check my grades when the website is up, fill out Tax's questionnaire, and do something else. Whatever! I'm up for get togethers, as many as possible before I go back on the 16th-17th. When are drama rehearsals? Love, Rob (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, December 19th, 2004
11:40 pm	Beethoven is the only thing that can drown out dead broken record of the decline of Western Civilization known as rap that is occurring next door. Such majesty! Joy, beautiful spark of the gods, Daughter of Elysium!... All men become brothers Where your sweet trumpet sounds! Freude schöner Götterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium, Wir betreten Feuertrunken, Himmlische, dein Heiligtum! Deine Zauber binden wieder, Was die Mode streng geteilt. Alle Menschen werden Brüder, Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt. And no more of that frickin' schlock from next door for another month! (Comment on this)
9:03 pm	Ok, this is the last journal entry I'll write before I go home! I've been reading this article from the Netscape home page. It's kind of creepy. http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa010101a.htm (Comment on this)
Saturday, December 18th, 2004
11:08 pm	I'm going home on Monday. YAAAAAAAAYEEEE!!!!! (1 Comment |Comment on this)
3:09 am	(By the way, the preceding entry is translated below the picture.) (Comment on this)
Friday, December 17th, 2004
2:22 am	Ho deciso d'essere italiano. Ecco! È finalmente successo. Basta del tradimento! Io sono italiano e io parlerò italiano. Benché io non conosca il proprio dialetto antico della famiglia, trovo un mezzo d'esprimermi nella nostra lingua comune. Ho un sacco di dolori di cui gridare. Ben pochi hanno capito che sono italiano, e vi ringrazio tutti, amici miei, che l'avete compreso. Per voi, traduco questo scritto. Ma "l'ultimo grado è fatto!" (Abigaille del Nabucco, III.1). Rispondendo a Kristin pochi minuti son, mi è rientrata in mente qualcosa, e me ne sono impazzato. Non mi piace niente che tanti e tanti in quest'anno passato hanno cantato ai cabaret e così via delle canzoni italiani, come se non lo facessi io di prima! Cantavo e ascoltavo l'opera e la musica italiana prima che ne avessero mai pensato! Lo credete? Allora, non c'è male quando le ragazze cantano italiano perché hanno posto appresso al mio cuore. Ma altrimenti, no! Josh Groban non mi piace e Chris Hensel ha navigato in periglio sull'acque profonde. È tutta la colpa sua. Dopo lungo tempo della forza implicita e passiva d'intorno a me di "americanizzarmi," non ne posso più. Sono contadino, semplice, solo nato parlando inglese, e lo farò sapere a tutto il mondo. Sono cresciuto in casa abruzzese, et Dieu défends le droit! Ora mi sento dal principe ignoto dell'opera Turandot quando decide risoluto di trovare il destino a dispetto della morte.   "Questo, questo, o mia povera Liù, al tuo piccolo core che non cade chiede colui che non sorride più, che non sorride più!" --Turandot, Atto primo                                                                     * * *                                                                                                                      * * * Behold!  It finally happened!  Enough betrayal!  I am Italian, and I will speak Italian.  Even though I don't speak the old dialect of our family, I find a means to express myself in our common language.  I have a sack of griefs to shout about.  Few have understood that I am Italian, and I thank you all, my friends, who have understood it.  For you, I translate this writing.  But "the last step is taken!" (Abigaille, in Nabucco, Act III, scene 1).  Replying to Kristin a few minutes ago, something came into my mind again, and I went crazy over it.  I don't like it at all that so many this past year have sung Italian songs at cabarets and so forth, as if I had not done it first.  I was singing and listening to Italian music and opera before they had even thought of it!  Can you believe it?  Well, there's no harm done when girls sing Italian because they have a place close to my heart.  But otherwise, no!  I don't like Josh Groban, and Chris Hensel sailed in danger over deep waters.  It's all his fault.  After a long time of passive and implicit pressure to be "Americanized," I can't take it anymore.  I am a peasant, simple, only born speaking English, and I will make the world know.  I was raised in an Abruzzi household, and God defend the right!  (The old French motto.)  Now I feel like the Unknown Prince from the opera Turandot when he, resolute in spite of death, decides to find his destiny.  "This, this, oh my poor Liu, is what is asked of your little never-failing heart by the one who smiles no more, who smiles no more!" --Turandot, Act I (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, December 16th, 2004
9:32 pm	From Kristin (A) First, recommend to me: 1. a movie: 2. a book videogame: 3. a musical artist, song, or album: (B) Ask me three questions, no more, no less. Ask me anything you want! (C) Then I want you to go to your journal, copy and paste this allowing your friends to ask you anything. (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 14th, 2004
2:58 am	You know, I never noticed the Mood and Music facets at the bottom of my updating page, so I'm going to use them now. One of the choices for emotions is exanimate, which reminds me of "Su me, morente, esanime" from the end of Nabucco, which I was listening to earlier. It's the leading lady's death song. And I LOOVEED my Secret Santa gift. It's one of those squishy stretchy bean bag pillows, but for some reason my group here calls them breast cancer. So naturally I make jokes that I'll give everybody real breast cancer. All I got here is a smiley face. I like people's suns. You know, it seems that my live journal has been running out of vital things, like it no longer has the force within me in it. This is probably because I am writing for a larger audience and am not quite comfortable with it. And my grandma is coming back from Italy...permanently! I really can't believe it. It's ten years since my great-grandmother died. I thought the lawyers would be fighting over all the property over there forever. I felt like I lost two parents when grandma and grandpa went to Italy, and I felt so deprived that when my grandfather died he became a saint for me. And I had just gotten used to the idea of studying in Italy and going to grad school and getting a doctorate possibly over there and getting to know my grandma again as an adult and not being so alone while doing all of it, and I wanted to go spend a month with her this summer and was making plans and everything, and now it's all over. And my family is in a shambles. I'm ashamed, I really am, that it's been split up the way it has been for three years. It's like the parable in the Bible. The master is coming home, and the maidens have fallen asleep and run out of oil. I just hope grandma will slap some sense into some people! Ahi a sant! I can't believe this stupid, stubborn self-righteousness. I don't know where it's coming from, except I think it is a cultural trait. The Romans were very snotty people, and we Italians, they're descendents have inherited that fault. Yes, if anyone can set things right, grandma can. But really, a trip to Italy would be harder without my grandma. I would have a home base in her house, good company, excellent food, friends I already know in the town, and that's the most important part. All the Scavi and Renaissance art and Medieval architecture are worth nothing without friends to enjoy them with. But I can manage that. I still have an aunt and friends who would put me up for a while, but I don't want to impose too much. And even if I take a tour, I'll get around somehow and see my people. And really, it is a good thing that my grandmother is coming back. She lives all alone right now. I mean she has friends and her daily routine, but she just really likes to take care of people. She's 76, and she has as much energy as I do at 20. And my aunt lives 4 hours away from her, so they don't get to see each other too much. But when spring comes, grandma will be living with Aunt Carla in Pennsylvania. This will guarantee the succession of something I feared very greatly would die away. My cousin Gabrielle spent, I think, the most time out of all the girls with grandma and grandpa since they went back to Italy. I spent the most time with them before they left. That's where my strong identity as an Italian came from, that environment. Now Gabrielle will have that. And since she is a girl, she will be able to carry on the woman's traditions of the old ways. I can make spaghetti and sauce, with a little help from my mom, but the mother is the one who takes care of the children and the family and feeds them all with the love from her heart. It is not that the woman belongs in the kitchen but that the kitchen belongs to the woman. In the Old World where roles were more defined, the women did not see cooking as oppression by male domination; it was their sacred right, and no man could outshine an Italian woman in her kitchen. Even here in America, the Italian mothers in my family chase my father and uncles out of the kitchen. And I have been so afraid that this spirit of the Italian woman would be lost in current and future generations here, but now Gabrielle is going to have OUR grandmother with her every day, and as she is a young woman, she is going to pick up those things that belong to a woman these next two years that she is living at home. "And tell Rudolf, tell Rudolf that...Dolly's coming back." Temere morire è temere vivere. Current Mood: Weee! Current Music: The Storm Scene from Rigoletto (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, December 10th, 2004
4:50 pm	FIGHT STUPIDITY! "Lack of faith in humanity Guy on bus: "Wait isn't Christmas on the 30th?" He actaully said it seriously too. Insanity" Thus begins with Rebecca's journal entry my quest against idiocy.  Maledizione!  At first, my reaction was, "I can't believe it!"  Then I said, "Perhaps the Orthodox Christmas is December 30."  It is not.  It is January 7.  Which means one thing:  someone somewhere is ______.  I have no words to fill in this blank.  He is ignorant.  How many people are like this at home?  They bring shame to the name of Bayville and to Bavilians everywhere.  How many people are like this in the world?  They bring shame upon humanity, the noble race that God Himself Almightily created in His Own Image to be like the angels.  Ignorance is a denial of the use of reason, one of the greatest gifts to mankind.  Animals do not have it.  If there is one thing I cannot stand, it is ignorance, in all its forms.  And there is one decision left for me now:  I am going to fight ignorance.  I am going to become a professor.  I am going to drink in all the knowledge possible, "soul-hydroptic with a sacred thirst."  And I am going to share it.  This is the only way.  As there is "no end to learning," we are all responsible to continue in scholarship until the day the Lord calls us.  There is no reason to be ignorant when the world is full of everything. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 8th, 2004
4:45 pm	You're independent - and a logical analytical thinker. You love learning and ideas... and know things no one else does. Bored by small talk, you refuse to participate in boring conversations. You are open minded. A visionary. You understand the world and may change it. What number are you? (Comment on this)
4:11 pm	Che fiero costume d'aligero nume che a forza di pene si faccia adorar! Oh, Santa Cleopatra! Che voglio parlare italiano. Però, lo vedo, nessuno mi capisce. Ahi! che peccato. Strana cosa. "Strana pietà, strana pietà," or ecco le parole di Azucena la zingara e comincio a cantare "Mal reggendo," quell'aria che segue quelle parole. Ho visto la fine del film "Una sera all'opera" dei Marx Brothers in cui il tenore canta questa canzone e poi tralascia un atto e mezzo per continuare con "Di quella pira," e Harpo salta e vola per l'aria coll'aiuto delle corde dietro il palcoscenico. Che comico! Oh, un'altra strana cosa. M'è nota, m'è nota. (E sì, so bene che potrei cantare un'opera intera al sol dire una parola italiana, ma beh, non lo comincio. Starei cantando e scrivendo notte e giorno per tutta la vita.) Ma per tornare a questa cosa, è finalmente successo. I vecchi amici ed io non siamo più insieme. Cioè, non ci siamo più legati. Ma, è ovvio. Abbiamo trascorso delle vite diverse. Camminiamo sull'altre vie. E sia. Quel ch'è fatto è fatto. E poi.....c'è un'amica, e sempre saremo così! Va bene! La nostalgia mi fugge, e sono contento! Ed ora, la traduzione! Non so se tradurrò questa brana. Forse sì, forse no. Vedremo come vanno le cose, ma ora! Devo leggere Dante! Devo scrivere! HO FINITO IL PURGATORIO ED ORA A PARADISO!!!! Roberto (Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 23rd, 2004
8:35 pm	Impossible....Old Woman-Caribbean style It feels so good to listen to the sexy, jazzy Barbra Streisand "Hello, Dolly!" I took it out just now as I adapted a quote from it in Teri's LJ. Lately I've been listening to the original Dolly with Carol Channing. I could listen to it for hours, but it is definitely all Barbra for me. And I'm coming back! Today is the birthday of somebody from my past, the past that is over forever. Do you know what? I do not mourn it at all! I am half writing this entry and half dancing to the music! The past is over, and I am glad. I found this afternoon another resemblance between Maetro Dante and me. He was too aesthetic to be a pure artist, but he was too artistic to be a pure professor. He was a mix of both. I am very much the same way. So...Cinderella! To start with, I know Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella very well, so I went just to see Renée Taylor (Fran's mom on The Nanny), one of my favorite people EVER who coined the ever-cherished line, and Dick Van Patten because when can you get a chance to see two stars like that? Almost never. And I walked out of the New York City Opera in Lincoln Center, one of my old haunts as a former aspiring opera singer, where the musical was held, having just seen the most beautiful Cinderella I have ever seen in my life! The musical was what made me love the Cinderella story, but this was more than anything I had ever dreamed of. It was so colorful, everything looked alive, Lincoln Center had put all the costumes and scenery onto the stage with the quality of their opera productions, that's what it was. I was enchanted. I knew that Disney's Sleeping Beauty was my favorite fairy tale, even more than the movie musical Cinderella, but this was infinitely more than the movie. It put Cinderella on the same level as Sleeping Beauty. They were both equal in their vividness in color and music. I don't even know what to say! The costumes and setting were in the style of France during the time of Louis XIV, which is when Perrault, who wrote the standard Cinderella lived, and captured the perfect essence. The Stepmother was played by a guy--which was hilarious!--and the Stepsisters were fantabulous comedy reliefs. Renée Taylor walked out in the First Act as the Queen in a huge dress and big poofy hair, and I learned that the voice she used on The Nanny was her real voice! And she and Dick Van Patten were just like a modern aging couple, rather than snobby aristocrats, so they were faithful to R & H's designs. She was just like her role on TV but without the Yiddish and the food fetish. The Prince was just right. Cinderella, oh my gosh! Katrina, when she was wearing her gown to the ball, she looked just like you at your Sweet Sixteen! The Fairy Godmother was a delight! Eartha Kitt, Catwoman from Batman the TV show, played her with the funniest voice! It was a cross between a Caribbean accent and an old woman's voice. It was even funnier to hear her sing my song that way too! She was funny. I took so much out of it. I poured forth a whole bunch of ideas for my Cinderella when I got back. I want to get it on video, I so hope it comes out! But GUESS WHAT!!!! JULIE ANDREWS' CINDERELLA, THE VERY ORIGINAL PRODUCTION, IS FINALLY COMING OUT!!!!! I bought the soundtrack to it in Feb/March of my junior year, when I first got into Cinderella and wanted to buy the show on DVD or video. It was in the search for that that I discovered that CBS never released it to the public since it first aired on TV March 31, 1957. I even signed an online petition to have it released, and now HERE IT IS!!! It comes out December 14, and you can reserve your copy now on amazon.com. I told my mom many times about it since then. I hope I get it for Christmas. But I still want that NYC Opera version that I saw! It was so charming....Here comes another online petition. And I also saw Renée Taylor after the show. I was sitting on the bus back to Montclair, parked by the back of the theater, when she came out the back door. She was smiling as she talked to the people outside, which is good because it means that she's not snotty about being a star. Her hair is very very BIG! And it was gray, combed down, kind of, which was weird because I'm used to seeing her with platinum blonde hair. Then she turned away from me and walked off to wherever she was going, and since she's rather plump and acquiring venerability of age, it was a little more of a hobble than a walk, and she just seemed like anyone my grandma hangs out with. Hope to see you all at home very soon! Love, Bobby O (Comment on this)