Archived Messages from April 16, 2001 to April 24, 2001

Tue Apr 24 10:05:50 PDT 2001 Mon Apr 16 12:36:55 PDT 2001

The End of the Internet......
Now that's a thought. I loved it Howard. It also brought thoughts of a towel to my mind, and the word Artiblartfast....or something similar.
Was there a link on that page????
Yes yes.....I'm awake I'm awake. I've not finished work yet, not by a long shot. I am however, seriously considering becoming a veggie. Roast beef will never smell the same to me again.
We appear to be just over the pinnacle of the F & M epidemic. So come on all you potential tourists, get yourselves over here to our wonderful country. Great Britain is now open. (Thanks in some small part to my own personal efforts.)
The Local Tv people were after me a short time ago but I refused to give an interview. Then some local Newspapers printed up a series of articles regarding the training some of my men got to go through to help with the containment.
It's a tragic time for the farmers but it's an extremely fulfilling time for me, no matter how unpleasant, to be doing something that really counts.
It wont be too long before I can return to full participation in the notebook.
See you all soon,
Ed

Ben - Hi you. I think it would be fun to meet yah. I've posted my e-mail address above. Send me some details and I'll let you know if I can do it.

I live in Maple Ridge. We live quite close to each other. It's not a very long drive.

I have been able to meet a couple of NB people. I met up with SKS and Allein a couple of years ago. I think it is fun to meet net people.

I CAN'T believe that Detroit is out. I love Detroit. They are the team I cheer for. It is a hard time for me when they play Vancouver. I cover my eyes, ears and chew my lower lip off during these games. My son also is a major Detroit fan. My husband goes for Philly, my other sons are Colorado fans. Our house can get a little hot during hockey season. It isn't much better when we turn on the soccer games. We all have our own teams that we go for. My house is sports central in a lot of ways. You name a sport I've likely got a kid in it (grins and laughter). I didn't used to be wild for sports. It just sort of happened when all my kiddies got into them. My husband tried everything to get me to like sports, then one day I did.

Your wife sounds adorable. I have a sister who is 4'10" She is such a living doll. I can only imagine your wife is the same. When somebody (I think Teekay) mentioned that you would be late for work. I don't think she was talking about being up late drinking or anything like that. I think she was saying you might get distracted by thoughts of your wife and not make it out the door. I was a little surprised that you didn't pick up on that. That was my take on it anyway.

Heather - Hugs for yah. I pause, take a good close look at you and then give you another strong hug. I hope I will get to meet you the next time I'm in Guelph, which I think will be next summer. When I come I will be staying at the University. I had expected to come out again this summer, but due to pregnancy I'm not exactly in top form for a karate camp. It would kill me dead! I can't say I'll come out for sure. If I do I would love to meet yah:)

Allein - Hi you!!!!!!

Tina - I plan to be up your way during the summer. Maybe we can hook up at that time. Be warned, I will have many, many children in tow (grins and laughter). We will be camping. Do you like to do camp fire stuff? Maybe you could join us for a fire night. I swear, it won't get too Lord of the Flies;0)

Dang! I better get moving. Sebastian is calling my name.

Ciao for now.

Rachel

Relax Bob:

We know you're just trying to make the show interesting, but for the record can you just try to keep your hands off everything on the set. I have watched you drop, throw and break stuff for long enough.


Heather:

That explaination was great. I guess my problem is if I can't write about anything other than now times, I have to say I don't write literary. I don't want to say that. They should have another way to describe writing in other times.

Don't you think?

Debra

Hi, All -

Yes, I'm still here. Been kinda bummed, severe osteo-arthritis in one's hip will do that on and off - some nights it feels like ALL my joints are paining and it's hard to sleep. Then it's hard to get through the next day because of being so tired from lack of sleep and the lack of sleep causes the arthritis to flare up more...a vicious cycle sometimes.

But I've been enjoying the posts here - great jokes, guys! And Howard, the EOTI site is such a great ad for libraries!!
:-)

Allein and Viv - I really enjoyed the fresh perspectives in your school days shorties. :-)

Jack - Keep the parchment! It's so much easier on the eyes, and lends itself to a creative flow...

As for the literary/contemporary question, "contemporary" mostly refers to a modern day setting, and "literary" is more a style of writing, isn't it? A lot of the "classic" works are shelved in the "literature" section of libraries(anthologies of well-known authors' short works, etc) - but again, these literary works of classic authors maybe were "contemporary" when they were first written; reading them today may make them seem that "literary" refers to a different time period but it doesn't. I think of a literary work as something written with a more formal or scholarly style; but it can have a contemporary setting. I think a person's writing style is instinctive; to change it, you really have to work at it. Probably contemporary-setting/style comes most naturally to us (even sf writers, with a twist sometimes on the time setting); someone who's well-read and well-schooled probably could reel off all the literary writing he/she wants without thinking of it. But maybe that person couldn't so easily write the contemporary/modern stuff.

Teekay, while you were chilling yesterday, I was sweltering - it went up to 90 degrees here yesterday!! Sheesh! I want the Spring back - 50's, 60's, occasional 70's...now that's writing weather for me!

Speaking of writing, I only squeezed out a couple paragraphs over the weekend, darn it! - while my kids were zooming back and forth past me, in and out of the house, etc, etc, my muse was laughing her head off and not helping me write at all. Can I fire her and get a new muse??!!

Have a good day, everyone! BTW, this place and all of you are great inspiration for learning to develop characters, from knowing what your characters think about politics and religion to the very contents of their pockets and vehicles! You're all great to know. Many thanks for continued inspiration to write... :-)

Mel

Whaddya mean about my questions?

--Bob

Speaking of Harrison Ford, Tina, you would never guess where his doppleganger hangs out! At my daughter's dojo! He's a black belt, and even close up he's a dead ringer for Harrison Ford. He's about the same age, too - the only difference at ALL, is that this guy has a tattoo on one wrist. Every time I see him coming in after Hailey's class I want to hit him up for an autograph!
(Hmmm, and Harrison Ford's pretty cute - but did you see 'What Lies Beneath'? I NEVER in my life would have been able to picture him in a nasty-guy role but he pulls it off - a little too well, I think)


About experiencing death of loved ones with age - I merely meant that if Barnabus hasn't experienced the loss of a loved one yet, it will, unfortunately happen eventually. I've experienced too much death already at my age. Here with you on that, Rachel. There have been years here and there, but not too many in a row. Ok, that's the last bit on death from me for a good long while (I hope)...

Howard, loved the page! Reminds me of the 'Restaurant at the End of the World'. And a towel that has the words 'Don't Panic' on it.

Ben, an interesting Q. We don't invent unless there's a need. Things seem to fill niches without being planned. Ok, I'm going to think more about the question raised, but no promises I'll say anything even close to being intelligible. Have been writing my brain out.

Taylor, YES! YES! Post a story in Phantasium whenever you like! It should work at the present location, but if not, wait until Jack has the new Workbook up and running.

Jack - will you be re-posting the round robins intact?
And I like the parchment very much. Pure white is painful on the eyes. I dim down my monitor when I'm writing in word pro so I don't get a headache. I could change the backround colour, but I'm used to it being white there. (Ah, laziness)

Debra, the difference between literary and contemporary writing (to me, and tell me if you agree, everyone)
is this: contemporary writing is written with a definite modern time period, as if the book takes place now. It will usually contain things only identified with the times it is written in - such as lingo that wasn't 'invented' a few years ago, but is rampant today. The theme is contemporary as well - can't take place a hundred years ago.

'Literary' work is not altogether a different thing - but it's more the writing style and the presence of depth in the story than time period, possibly. (I don't know, but of the literature I've read it seems that way most of the time - not counting SF, cause Ender's Game wasn't shallow a bit!)
In literary work I find that there is more subtext, subplot, and most times a definite theme that has significance throughout the book. Now, of course, contemporaries can contain such things too. Perhaps it's just that literary works seem to have a timeless nature, and are basically more artistic pieces - but again, that may not hold water. It might be a whole lot of BS and the only difference is the pile it was put in by the editor.

There's that niche thing again.

I don't know - anyone else with a better answer for Debra?

When I first began researching publishers and the 'biz' I was thinking along the same lines: What's the difference, and where on earth will my novel fit?

Well, I still wonder. I've started my second novel, and the working title is 'Symphony'. Some of you already know because I've 'leaked' the covert information!
I have set Haven aside for a while, and it has proven to be just the break from it I needed! I've written 56 pages in three weeks - a much higher output than I ever made writing Haven. In fact, in three weeks, I've got about one-fifth of a novel already. EDITED too. I wonder why I didn't just put Haven down before, when I first had the idea for Symphony, but I felt terribly guilty. I wanted to try and finish Haven first before going onto book 2 (technically 3, but the first can't count in the closet)... but the idea wouldn't leave me alone and Haven was stuck in quicksand. I decided that I would have to rewrite Haven AGAIN from scratch, now that I've learned so much since I started it. I learned to relax! Let it flow.
Not something you can FORCE yourself to do; but you can train yourself. All it takes is practice.

Practice? Oh, man, I thought extra-curricular lessons were long gone.

Heather

I mean when you think of the questions that Bob Vila asks!!!!!!!!!

Ben:

What's the difference between literary or comtemparary?

I just thought I would ask. I don't mind making myself look stupid.

Debra

JACK: I agree. Parchment.

MARK: Jury duty. The only reason I stay on the voter's list out here is so I can get called up for jury duty. It's covered in the contract, so it's not like I'm losing any money doing it. (Civic duty and all that other crap doesn't feed the kids.)

TINA: I wouldn't mind seeing one blast off in my lifetime either. I think, with the regularity of them now, people have become somewhat complacent about it all...but to actually feel the wave of heat coming at you, the noise, the ground shaking...that would be pretty cool. I didn't watch any of the Canadarm 2 stuff going on...I think there was a hockey game on :-)

MARY JERRY : (I like the sound of that) Have either of you read ROOTS?

MEL? Where'd you go?

QUESTION:
So, Kitty said something to me in an email recently that got me to thinking. When you sit down and write a short story with the intention of selling it, are you writing literary short stories, or contemporary ones? And, not only that, do you actaully realize the difference when you're writing? Do you make a conscious choice in your writing style as you do it, or is it something that just comes out? I don't think it matters what genre you write in--or does it? I read something last week that Scientology was the result of a bet between L.Ron Hubbard and Frank Herbert who were out fishing and came up with a challenge as to who could come up with the best new religion. Hubbard came up with Dyanetics, Herbert came up with DUNE. Don't know if it's true or not, but you see what I mean? It seems half the stuff we write is for reasons we don't even consider in the first place. Comments anyone? Just talk amongst yourselves for a while, coz I gotta go to work soon.

On a lighter note. My niece wnats me to emcee her wedding. My wife told her it wasn't a good idea. I am not a public speaker. How hard can it be to stand in front of fifty or sixty people and try to entertain them with light banter? Any advice?...God, why did I say yes? Oh yeah, she was stuck. Seems her other choice was getting into an ugly divorce. Now there's some irony for you, eh? He's gonna give the speech for the bride and groom, and at the same time, wants to wring his own soon-to-be ex-wife's neck?
Ben

Heather:

Thank you for your kind words. I wish you the most healing for your loss too.

In my situation I am finding that I am the rest of my life person. I get flashes all the time about my baby Christopher. I hope to see him again in heaven.

In the meantime I have to behave myself. Not easy sometimes.

But.........!


Debra

is it too late to post something on that phantasium round robin story?

Parchment -- definItely
:-)

Hey everyone!

TINA: I'm only there for 2 days - I have a conference to attend (though I'll admit only here that I only signed up for one class on Friday...hmmm...3 hours free Friday afternoon between the one class and the welcome dinner. Wow - incomprehensible at this point (haha). And, I had to give up my spot for the back door tour of NASA hosted by one of their astronauts, because I have a 5 hour drive and my sister comes in Sunday afternoon. It was a hard decision to weigh, but I'm coming home early Sunday.

I received another rejection yesterday from an agent. That leaves one more set of letters out to one more agent and a submission to a publisher - I need to get busy - I'm slacking up. I need to get some more submissions out there. What I really need is a printer at homs so I can do it here - work is off the wall nuts right now. We got our office moved yesterday, though. Now I just have to finish two more proposals by Thursday and meet with the phone and computer guys this week to get everything up and running.

Time to go edit chapter 5 of Retribution. Fist, though, aspirin. I've had the same headache since about noon yesterday.

Happy Tuesday all!
Hallee

p.s. Actually, when I move everyone I will remove the profanity filters. Nobody really abuses that sort of thing much here, except for artistic effect. And, too, as I have said on more than one occasion. This is freedom hall. And it will remain so either here or in its new home. Take care.

OK, all. I think I have the script worked out and in the morning I will archive the Notebook here and reset the meta refresh tag so that those coming here get moved to the new site. I will employ a 10 second delay reminding people to update their bookmarks or favorites. I also am going to ask again whether people like the parchment background or would prefer a white background. It is really up to everyone here. Let me know either here, at the new site or via email. I am still trying to fine tune the script, especially to make it generate Day, Month, time and year. This may have to wait until my next upgrade, but I will work on it. Also, please note that the time displayed will now be east coast time given that the location I host most of my web pages is located in Florida. Take care everyone. And hope this will work for all. It certainly makes administration easier. Oh, one other item, I do have profanity filters in place. This should not really be a problem, but if it proves so I will remove it or, at least, prune the content I will be using.

Teekay: this is actually the second novel i have been working on. I had to shelve the first one, cause I tried to censor the bad language and violence.
NEVER EVER DO THAT!!! I found out it wrecks the enjoyment of creating

Tina: I wouldnt say its totally cooperative, during a meditation group, after a certain exercise, my muse struck, and I had to writed this poem down right there and then
And sometimes I feel like I have to kick it in the backside to wake it up

As for people enjoying Elvis impersonators, people at the show enjoy my impersonations of elvis...
I am not a professional, I cant sing good.
So I had to put in the moves to cover up how bad my singing was
They all liked that

Tina - YAY!! Someone read my poem!! *does happy dance*

*huggles to everyone*
Allein

RANDALL: I enjoy reading your laid back approach to life, and can absolutely relate with you about writing being a mental endeavour as much as it is a physical one. I have lots of reading and writing time available to me on my job. But sometimes, even with my bag of books and papers beside me, I'll sit with my feet up on the steeringwheel of my boat, reclining in the seat to light a smoke, letting the waves push me around as I stare at the skyline and the mountains in the distance--or maybe even sit on the back of the boat and watch the stars--dreaming, working stories over in my mind the way I used to do when I was a kid. When we were younger, I used to tell my brother stories when we were supposed to be in bed sleeping. My parents were always strict with bedtimes, so we were the ones in bed by 7:30-8:00 p.m. in the summertime. There was no way I could sleep listening to my friends right outside my window playing hide and seek. I told stories to take our minds off the fun we knew we were missing out on. But with six kids, I can understand why my parents wanted us in bed early. They just needed a break.

I checked out Howard's link. I've always wondered how to find that place! Thank God I did. Imagine how long it would have taken if we had to find that ourselves.

TINA: A junkie and a druggie are not the same are they? :-)?

RACHEL: Will I be meeting you if Jack sets up a time to meet him? That is, if I can wake up early enough to get the car. I will be on the night shift then. With the bus strike still on--it is still on isn't it? I haven't heard much about it lately--I need the car to get around.

Can we stop talking about death now? Please? Like most of us here, I've been to too many funerals over the years. I try to forget them (the funerals) as quickly as I can. Trying to explain death is like trying to count the stars. You just can't. My Dad's gone three years now, and my Mother's 77.

(The Los Angeles Kings have just defeated the Detroit Red Wings in Overtime.)

And now I have to go to bed because it's getting late. I always seem to sleep in Mondays, but I think I do that on purpose when the story I'm working on isn't going quite the way I think it should be going. Rather than stopping and trying to rein it in, I let it go. But sometimes I dodn't want to let it go too far...
BEN

Hi All,

Whoo hooo, it's cold here. Not horribly cold, but cold enough to light up the fire and snuggle up inside and watch crappy videos which is the only type I seem to be picking lately, omitting 'Shanghai Noon' that is.
Words of advice:
Life size: DON'T GET IT unless you're in the 5 - 12 age group.
I dream of Africa: Don't really have an opinion, bored me too much before I got to the middle. Yawn City.

TAYLOR: Ah yes, I know that place very well, - NOT! I've never really written very much of a novel before, definitely not to where it has a turning point. The furthest I've ever gone is chapter: 3. *blush*
Not this time though, and this time I mean it!!!

ALLEIN: Got the goosebumps.

HOWARD: HAHAHAHA good grief, how on earth did you find the end of the internet??? Was there a pot of gold?

General Trivia: I'm reading Agatha Christi's autobiography at the moment. I think she had something like 88 books published.

RANDALL: I have to tell you RANDALL, it's soooo good to have you back. I do enjoy your posts so much :-)
I pondered as to why I don't normally post my email address, and after a lot of analysing and soul searching I have come to the conclusion that I don't post it because Hey! What's happening? My computer's gone all funn........

Hello everyone: I am still trying to fine tune the new script so it will more or less generate the same kind of content as we have here now. Hopefully, the last of my manipulations will be done sometime tomorrow and I will move everyone there then. However, at the moment, the text is a little strange and the overall effect will take some getting used to, so I suggest that people stay here for the moment and when they find things being forwarded to the new location I will make an announcement and suggest that people change their bookmarks at that time. Take care.

Howard - I think the first time I was sent to the end of the internet was back in '95 when I was in college. It is so much more welcome now then it was back then when the internet was still new in my eyes.

Everyone should check out Jack's new home for us, it is a bit on the different side from what we have now, but it may turn out to be an improvement, who knows. Not all change is bad. I can certainly see the reason for the move, it would be hell to wake up tomorrow and find that like themestream, you are all gone. A large portion of my life would be gone. (Spoken like a true notebook addict right?)

Spent most of today moving my main computer from an AT case to an ATX case. I still don't know exactly why I wanted to do that, except the motherboard supported such a move, and I guess I wanted to see what the difference would be. My son brought back the ATX case I built his machine in, having moved it into one of those fancy clear cases for his wife. The move itself took under an hour, but trying to convince the Chinese piece of cr*p that it worked with the Soundblaster AWE 64 card in place of the built in audio card took the rest of the day. In the end I gave in to the Chinese, and let it have it's own built-in audio card. The only reason I had changed it in the first place was to have access to my old DOS games, and it seems I rarely if ever play them anymore, and if I desire to do that, I do have this machine next to my recliner where I can, as this machine, while based on a similar made in china board seems to accept the fact I took out it's sound system and replaced it with one made by Soundblaster.

Well I ramble on and bore you again with computer crap that has nothing to do with writing. As far as that goes, I am at it again, writing that is, seems to be going well, I think I found that groove I was searching for. Who knows I may again decide to drop off a bit in the workbook.

Jerry

Hi!

I knew Howard and Jerry and Rhonda nearly always posted their e-mail address as have numerous others. It's no big deal really, just the mis-firing of a writers brain too full of misc BS.

:-)

Hi Taylor! A phrase in your post caught my attention. Pardon me while I take the bit in my teeth and break for the border. It's all about writing at this point in my life. Life=writing=living. A writer needs input, constantly, daily, hourly, always. There is not one para in my novel that could not use a descriptive term, clarification or enhancement. Taking a break here on WN, no problem with that atoll (at all) :-)) (Double chin!) The term "writing" indicates a physical act, via clay tablet, pencil, pen, word processor, whatever. To ME, writing is mental first and foremost (Hey, HEY! :-) Hold down the laughter out there!) Honest. I "write" as I deliver for NAPA, thoughts, scenerios, charactors weave through my head as I manuever through crowded streets, parking lots, through school zones. Ocassionally I see something that sparks, a word, something physical, the sun reflection off an old sign laying in the weeds...and jot down a note. Various scenerios stream through my head, adopted, discarded, finalized, rewritten. Random thoughts initalized by a hint of something on the radio, a particular song verse (a word on this later) a story on the noon news, and/or Paul Harvey or good old Rush.

It's all info to be entered into the grist mill of a writers noggin for future use. On ocassion a word or term which floated through my daily life is entered as soon as I arrive home. Parts of my work I can quote because a scene has been visited so many times, changed, cursed, blessed. When I decided to write I accepted that a lot of things would fall aside, as a localized concentration of mental was mandatory. Everything related to and in life has a position in writing, a writer must find where it goes and relevance to a story.

I'm fond of Hemingway quotes....

"The good parts of a book may be only something a writer is lucky enough to overhear or it may be the wreck of his whole damn life--and one is as good as the other."

Then you must consider rocker Mojo Rising.

"We have constructed pyramids
in honor of our escaping.
Out here in the perimeter there are no stars.
We are stoned, immaculate...."

The Wasp (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)
The Doors w/Jim Morrison

Could I make a tale from that verse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 22 words that any SF writer worth his or her salt could easily turn into 100,000 plus.

"...constructed pyramids in honor of our escaping..."

"Out here in the perimeter..."

"We are stoned, immaculate."

The mind reels!!!

And so does my tired bod!

:-)

Night all

Randall

SHORTIE NIGHT THEME: Teaching or learning a lesson. Not to mean that your story has a lesson to teach, just a story about someone teaching or learning a lesson.

Been called for jury duty. If this goes for more than a few days I'll be really swamped. Still have a project due at work. Might be offline for a while. Then again . . . Someone might just plea bargain and avoid a jury trial.

Hello!

Everyone must check out the link Howard included in his post! I loved the site, Howard!

I have a cousin who's into tracing the family tree. She spent years working on my maternal grandmother's side, going through generations of Scottish sheep farmers/shearers until she reached a generation of sheep thieves. I don't know much about my dad's side, but my grandpa (whom I never knew) ran rum and moonshine during prohibition. I just love that tidbit of history! Sure changed my perception of my grandma, who helped him out!

Hmmm, I'm just thinking that with such colourful genetics, it's no wonder I write about thieves and assassins!

Rosemary, I'm sending dry thoughts your way.

Hallee, yes I watched the live broadcast of the shuttle takeoff, and the recorded broadcast of the Canadarm2 being attached yesterday. I'm feeling a little bit of well deserved Canadian pride. And I'm sooo jealous that you get to see so many liftoffs! On my list of 'must dos' is a trip to Florida to see a takeoff, and tour every facility that will let me in. I'd give an eye tooth to get into the adult Space Camp, too.

On race and enthnicity... I live in a town with fairly diverse enthnicity, and to me race is nothing more than a descriptive value I place along with 'brown hair' and 'wide set eyes'. The family across the street is east indian, but the older girl has really round cheeks and her dad has gentle eyes. The family next door is caucasian, and the older girl wears too much makeup and mom needs to update her haircut. Its all just a descriptive tool for my brain to identify people with, and has nothing to do with personality and behavior. A jerk is a jerk is a jerk, regardless of race, and I let actions define personality, not ethnicity. The druggie who lives on the corner could be purple, or look like Harrison Ford, and he'd still be an untrustworthy, unreliable jerk. Race is irrelevant.

My only beef with ethnicity is when the law treats people differently based on their race. Everyone living in the same country should be subject to the same laws. Period.

This is getting long. Me going now.
T.J.
Oh yeah, Mary, have you divined a topic with which to stimulate our brains?

Well, hello everyone. I have finally got beta 1 of the new location for the Writer's Notebook up and running. You can check it out by going to - http://www.webwitch.com/tdforum/notebook.html Feel free to try it out and get your feet wet. The current Notebook will remain here while I am troubleshooting the Workbook to get it going over on Webwitch as well. It might turn out that I figure out a way to do this in ASP, in which case it will be located at forwriters.com. We will see. As I mentioned, things are looking a bit dicy for the current location due to the management company filing for backruptcy, so please bookmark the location above for use just in case. As always, you will be able to find the present location of the Notebook and the Workbook at forwriters.com

ROSEMARY: Oddly, and this was one of the things I forgot from that post that got wiped out - our cool front hit before yours ... so I guess the weather works both ways. The rain sounds icky - especially since my sister is driving down from WV on Sunday...stay dry and safe*.

Hallee

A soggy evening to all.

It's been raining along with acompanying thunder and lightning since about 4:00am this morning. My truck is stuck in the driveway where the water co. put in a new pipeline about a week ago.

ABOUT DEATH,
I think most of us have lost friends or family members and we all work our way through it the best way we can. I've lost both sets of grandparents, both parents, a husband, and most of his family. I still couldn't give advice on how to get through it. PERSONALLY, I think funerals are torture for the immediate family. If it had been only me, there wouldn't have been one. I know some people absolutely live for funerals. Just can't wait for the next person to kick off. Those two opinions are the extreme ends of the subject. Most people fit into the middle.

HALLEE,
It's poured more than 7 inches of rain here so far. Highly unusual for this area. Floods and wrecks all over the place. The storm seems to be lingering instead of moving on in your direction. Hope it leaves soon, but it misses you.

The e-mail address,
I use to put my address in all the time, but noticed not many others did so figured that's that much less to type so why bother. Over all these years, I've only gotten one wierd message and no SPAM.

JERRY,
I'm being picky--but, Example- The man rode the horse on the road.

Evening all, Write well.
Rosemary

On the death thing - Knowing death and being old have little to nothing to do with each other. I have had stacks of people die around me. Isn't that a nasty image? I'm not sure why, it is just the way my life has been. Friends and family alike. there was a time in my late teens when I felt like I was living in some sort of nightmare land. Now I look back and know I learned much. At the time what I learned is that I have a real temper when enough people I love die. I haven't had any friendsor family members die in the past couple of years. It has been a nice break. Maybe now I'll get a rest from eternal rest.

Allein - E-mail me if your folks will go for it. Dan and I could pick you up at the ferry and drop you back off there, but that would be as far as I could go. How early is early... How late does this thing go? Hum, I better go back and look at the info.

Ciao for now:0)

Rachel

MARY: My grandfather has been tracing our heritage for several years. One thing he's come across that he says he has documentation for is that I'm the great however many's granddaughter of Pocohontas and Jon Smith on my grandmother's side. He gave me the line, but I don't know where I stored the file. He also goes back to Scottish royalty with the Poe's - but honestly, I mistrust that one a bit. The Poe's have been in the United States for so long, since pre-Revolution, and it seems if there was the royalty link, they wouldn't have been here.

My week is going to be horrendous - worse than ever before. But, the up side is that by Friday afternoon, I'll be lying by a poolside in Cape Canaveral, enjoying the peace and solitude that comes with leaving my family behind (hahaha...evil laugh). I'm tired - this is a much needed break.

Monday...Manic Monday...
Hallee

HEATHER - you wrote "...my grandmother, who has, after so many years of faithful
churchgoing (and she was the church organist for YEARS) given up her faith completely and has 'gone atheist'."

A consolation there is that it's not up to her (or you or me) to maintain that faith. God has promised that He will never let us slip out of His hand, no matter what. He's the one that's strong enough to keep that promise.

Steven Wright had a pretty good line - "Old people tend to read the Bible a lot. I guess they're cramming for the final."

At last! Something we've all been waiting for! Check the address above.

JERRY: I love tracing family lineage, but it is sure a committment to hound that trail. Luckily, on my father's side, my grandma did all the work and had her side of the family traced all the way back to a castle guard for William the Conqueror. I don't know about my grandfather's side. My mother's side hasn't been researched much at all. Just five or six generations so I guess that is my job if I don't want it lost.

I don't know how much I trust that William the Conqueror castle guard thing, though. I would imagine that guards were pretty common folk and how(even why?) c/would people keep records like that? But what do I know?

Oh, and one more note: Barnabas, the experience of losing a loved one usually comes with age.
Not that I'm looking forward to it. I think in many ways I'm like you, Mark - basically I don't want to think about life without my parents in it. Just contemplating it for a few moments has me close to tears. I can't imagine how hard it is to be without them, and what to say to those of us here who have lost parents?

I'm at a loss again

for words.

Great joke about the atheist. I should tell that one to my grandmother, who has, after so many years of faithful churchgoing (and she was the church organist for YEARS) given up her faith completely and has 'gone atheist'. I have no idea what sparked that utter turn-around in her. Might be the fact that she was diagnosed manic-depressive around the same time. SHe's also taken herself off the meds.

Heather

You three - three! Not you TWO. Mind going...

H

I tried posting last night, and to my chagrin, there was something strange going on and I couldn't get this text box to appear!

I've read some very emotionally upsetting posts, and my heart goes out to Mary and Hallee and Debra. You two have come through an amazing amount of pain and loss, though I know personally that the grief period sometimes lasts the whole rest of our lives, lessening over time but never quite leaving.
Mary, I can see how far you've come, being able to write about it in your post with such clarity and openness. I felt much like you did, thinking you were the one in town that everyone talked about as the one who lost her son. I was the girl in highschool who's best friend was killed, and after that I (maybe it was part imagining) heard people whispering about me all the time, saying things to do with my friend's violent death, and wondering aloud about how I was handling it. Not that anyone wanted to actually talk to me and extend friendship - God, I might be jinxed.
But that was all right. I didn't feel too much like having new friends. The ones I still had were there for me - just not in my classes for the most part. There were a few friends that didn't come around much anymore, too.
It's very difficult to know what to say to someone who has suffered a loss. And you're right - it's still near impossible even if we have experienced it ourselves to know what to say. Why is that?
Hallee, I think it is very hard to let yourself cry or mourn when you feel that doing so is a sign of little faith. I don't think it is at all - you trust that they are in God's soft hands. (But all the same I understand too, how you can hold something in and think that you're ok for the longest time about it! I've had that happen, almost scaring myself with the intensity of the grief bubbling up, even years later. Stuff I repressed.)

And then we have Debra, and even with what you said, Debra, I don't think your head is as far in the sand as you think!
Just coming forth and talking about it a little is a lot more than saying nothing.

What do we have now, Elvis impersonations, funeral dirges, Hiroshima poetry, and some laughs between!
This place never fails to be interesting and entertaining, and heartwrenching all twisted up together. Just like life.

Good to share it, good to express it, good to belong here.

Heather

As far as posting my email address, I guess it is a matter of being lazy on my part, although it takes so little to double click and post it. I have no problem leaving it with my posts, I always used to, anyhow. I don't think I have ever received any SPAM from leaving it here, I have another email address I use at all the other sites that might generate SPAM, I check it weekly well I should say I CLEAN it out weekly, there is rarely anything I want to read in it.

Sorry for my depressing posts of late, guess I fell into one of those purple funks that happens once in awhile, and wallowed in self pity, but I am much better now.

As I mentioned the other day, my sister found a distant relative on my mother's father's side of the family who has researched his lineage back. Seems I am a direct descendant from one of the first 47 settlers in New France (Quebec). He settled there in 1617, and that line has been living in that general area since that time. There was some inter-marriage with the Algonquin Indians, and in fact that too is documented. I think it is great that records are available on such things, guess the French liked to write things down even back then. Kind of changes my old ideals that I should not worry about what happened in North America until my ancestors came over from Sweden in the mid 1800's. Or for that matter on mom's side her dad came here just prior to WWI. I get a kick out of the way he told it, "I stole the fastest damn horse in the Kaiser's stable and road it to the coast, where I caught a ship to the States." On a side note, he kept the horse and had it shipped with him on the same ship, so he would have transportation once he got here. He had relatives in this area and road that damn horse all the way from New York to North Dakota. I bet that was a very interesting ride.

That big Blizzard that hit South Dakota, dropping 22 inches of snow yesterday missed us by seventeen miles, how's that for a close one. While the rest of this part of the state are shoveling that white crap today, we are enjoying a bright spring day. Already the temp is up over 50 degrees, and looks like it may hit 70 by this afternoon, and we got no moisture of any kind, no rain, no snow. This is strange, usually we end up in the middle of any weather that hits around us.

Jack, thanks again for getting the notebook back online!

Jerry

And then, of course, there was the atheist laid out in the casket. All dressed up, nowhere to go.

I always post my Edress - never had a problem with it.

TAYLOR - We could say that there is nothing that is not about or connected to writing. Writing has to do with describing the human experience. To do that we must be able to communicate. Communication requires understanding. Part of understanding is knowing that there are people who enjoy impersonating Elvis. Also people who enjoy being an audience to that impersonation. It's part of what keeps him memorable. It's part of what facilitates communication. It's writing.

On funerals:
Three men were standing before the casket containing their newly departed friend. Bill asked "If that was you in there, what would you want us to be saying right now?"

George thought a moment, and replied "I'd want you to be saying what a great family man I was, and how I was faithful in church and all."

Charlie nodded, and said "I think I'd also want you to be remembering that I was an honest businessman, and never took advantage of anyone."

They looked back to Bill and asked "What would you want us to be saying?"

Bill just looked at them, grinned, and replied "I think I'd want you to say 'Look! He's moving!'"

:-)

Hello!

Randall, I can't speak for everyone, but the reason I rarely post my e-mail in the NB is because some unscrupulous people have been known come in here and send out spam to everyone with their e-mail posted. I don't care for that, so I don't put in my e-mail very often. I do put it in the workbook everytime I post there.

taylor, glad your muse is so cooperative.

Not much time today. See y'all
T.J.

Hey all,
Wrote a poem yesterday but was unable to post it - glad the notebook is fixed now so I can post. :)
Here is my poem (keep in mind, poetry is not my thing and yes, I'm a history buff :) ):

Hachiji Juugofun sugi

A girl on her way to meet friends,
Looking at the flowers on the roadside,
The air around her smelling sweet,
It’s the perfect day.

A bride going to meet her groom,
Dressed in her white silk kimono,
Stopping at an alter, praying to Bhudda,
For a long, happy marriage.

A child eating rice for breakfast,
His mother baking him sweets,
Peaceful times are ahead,
That night, they will celebrate.

A plane flying over the city,
Seeing the flash, hearing the roar,
The pilot looks down, then writes on paper:
“My God, what have we done?
What have we done?”
- Heather Burgess
April 22, 2001

HOP: Lighten up a bit, will ya? :-) Try laughing at life instead of analyzing every piece of it. Try humor. Of course I know what rain forest it is you're talking about, and I even know where it is. But, since where I live we've suddenly inherited a rain forest off our west coast that wasn't there when I was a kid... well, never mind, some people "just don't look at life from both sides now, from up and down, and still somehow..." {Is it a rain forest just because it happens to rain here? Or is it because it happens to be a small piece of forested land they want to protect? Aren't the qualifications more involved than that?:-)}
Take this race and ethnicity thing? You can't teach an old dog new tricks. If we happen to call it race instead of ethnicity, forgive me, but what's the big deal? It doesn't bother me, and it certainly doesn't bother my wife (who is of a different ethnic pusuassion). Apparently the only one it bothers is you. I apologize for being that way as well...but try laughing a little. After all, is the White race the minority in the wolrd? It's just that nobody's told us.
Death, as a subject, is something you won't understand until you go through it; it can't be understood--and really, to be honest, you don't want to. Laugh while you can, enjoy life while you can, because before you know it, the life you have won't be your own anymore. You'll be married, and have children, and discover that everything you once thought about life is completely different now, completely changed, and the values you once held on to in your youth will have different meanings with added maturity. :-) So laugh while you still can; live while you still can, and let everything follow its own course.
And please, don't take anything I said here too seriously, because believe me, everything I said, I said with a smile and a laugh. You're far too young to be too serious. Or maybe I'm just too immature to be this "old". (Like forty'ish is old?)
Ben

this week not about writing...
Im doing a special Elvis Presley performance at karaoke
dressed up in a gold suit and all

just thought i would like to share something that isnt just about writing

I have now changed from Hop to Hope temporarily, for I am Pandora who opened the box of fictious characters and great sadness and hope that by being "Hope" I too will part of THE HOPE that was released at the end.

To all the funeral attenders
My life has almost never been plagued by a good friend or relative dying being so young. I guess I'm lucky but being living in a new country you have to not miss your family or friends or you'll never make it. In a few ways (note in a few ways only) that's like them dying. Thank goodness we have e-mail.

In my life my grandmother on my father's side, my grandfather on my mother's side and my great grandmother on my father's mother's side have died though none of them were close to me. Goes to show the generation gap in my family.

Perhaps we write to leave something of ourselves for those who wish to remember us. For writing expressess our concious, sub-conscious and unconscious thoughts.

Now let us remember those long pass for a moment.




I'm thinking of freezing myself but if I do die, I'm going to stick around (if I can). There's too much to do on the earth. For me death will be the beginning of a long interesting experience.

First day of school and my friends and I had a wonderfully long discussion about our lives.

Jerry
I guess the race thing depends on your definition and the connotations.
But the sinister unscientific background goes something like this:
There are certain distinguishing characeristics for a "race" and the human population is divided into races which are all INDIVIDUAL species. Each individual species has physical and genetic characteristics that correlate in a determind way with the social, psychological and cultural characteristics.

In biology, members of two species can not breed together and produce viable offspring or if they did often the viable offspring's if mated with other such offspring would create a sterile offspring. That is the new creature X if mated with another X would create Y a sterile offspring.

Of course this is absolutely out the window considering that humans can interbreed with no such sterile offspring appearing in the next few generations or in any generations in fact.

Americo
You have returned. Good to see that you are back.

Ben
I hope you know about what rainforest I was talking about now. As for rainforests here in NZ that's ridiculous!

Tuvok
Wrong. You forget that there can be differences in perceived logic. What the Klingon does is logical to him though the logic but illogical to the Vulcan.

Unless of course you believe that logic exists independently. In which case some logic may be closer to the independent logic then others.

Debra
I think you should find out more although a lot of small-time publishers are probably not listed anywhere.

Teekay
My rejection was an e-mail for an on-line e-zine and it was only a tiny note but honest.

Ima Ryder
I never once said anyone was fictional.

Death
Hey Death? Hope you're reading this. What can I say? Keep transmitting the love eminating from these people across to those in the afterlife. Send me a personel e-mail if you can, I want to be able to say in my address book lies Death. I suppose a personel visit (just to see you) would be too much would it?

teekay: well the writings been going really well, im at the major turning point in the novel
You know where everything goes up a notch, the rest should be easier to write

I cant seem to enjoy tv shows anymore though, not a bad thing, I keep on trying to describe the scenes the way I write

Now that was a bit strange. Looks like the server hiccuped and chopped off the bottom part of the form. Oh, well, hope nobody got left out. Ben and Rachel. Yes, as I mentioned I will be making an appearance in Vancouver between the 4 - 6 of May. As I stated in an earlier post, we may try to do some diving. We will see. But it would be great to see Notebookers in the Vancouver area. Of course, Rachel has indicated that she will be coming down to Fran and my NWSFS May social.

On a happier note, I have been spending more time in front of our newly augmented television than I have in years. The addition of HDTV set top box is proving an amazing revelation in what the potential of the medium is just from a oh wow sentiment. This reminds me very much of when we went from black and white television to color. My family was among the first adopters when I was a kid, so I sort of feel I am living up to the family traditions by being an early adopter of HD.

Americo: good to see you make an appearance. Hope things are going well for you, Jon, Pussy and all the rest.

Hi group!

Busy as all hell last week and unable to join in. Friday night, I would have posted something...but the only thing written would have been...so tired, so weary, asleep.

BTW, has anyone noticed that a LOT of folks do not include their e-mail address? I know a lot of the regulars don't...but they are regulars, well known and addresses are on record. For some reason I've always included mine. I figure if anyone takes exception to something I've written, they know where to find me. FYI

Hi Americo! Via La France! Long live the revolution!!!!

Been in a funk, unable to write on the novel. Sadly, I realize the literary world is greatly distressed at this news flash. The Great American novel put off again! :-) :-) But, hey, it's possible I'm a one trick Pony. Wasn't it Margret Mitchell who said. "Frankly my dear, I'll never write again." Do I delve in quality instead of quanity? Or started writing too late in life? Too many notions, but no structure? Depressing.......and along that line......

Hemingway said "That terrible mood of depression of whether it's good or not is what is known as The Artist's Reward."

Right on. Ernest should know something about depression. I've been printing some of my material to send to a lady in Canada, a regular here...and haven't found one think I've written the last 4 years of ANY value. The urge to scream, leap to my feet, and toss the hard drive through a window is difficult to surpress. "...whether it's good or not." I can not, at this moment, think of any emotion more limiting to a struggling, unpublished writer. GOOD OR NOT should be tatooed on an authors forearm, only removed upon publication, by an editor, with a knife and a bottle of Johnny Walker Red. "Good or not" has, and will again stop my writing graveyard dead and spiders cover the monitor with web and dust and melancholy.

Heard last week the Mayan calendar predicted the solar eclipse over Mexico City in 1991. They also said this world would end December 23, 2012. (Merry Christmas mother trucker!!!) Kinda scary in a way, and, honestly, coincides nearly to the day with the secenerio in my novel. Goose bumps racing up your neck? Should be because my inspiration for "Flowers" was a dream/vision in 1997. I heard a news report several months ago an unknown object was headed to the earth, but NASA said it was only a piece of space junk. "Probably a used rocket booster..." Wow, that's a relief, cause I know NASA would never lie to the people of the Earth. But...it's coming back? Why? Forget something?

Better get out of here 'fore the boys in white led by Mr. Wizard close in. Keep your nose in the wind and one eye on the sky.

Randall

Allein, your high school years sound familiar. I never fit in either, and was overweight, and none too popular. Sometimes it stressed me pretty badly. My only rewarding year was 11. I got into a programme called 'Earthquest', a programme combining school with wilderness education like rock climbing, kayaking, back country skiing and camping. It was hard to fit in academically, but sooo worth it! I learned to have a whole new outlook on *me*, and on the world, and I met my husband there. That was a good year.
Despite that, with (gulp) 12 years between now and then, I think I'd choose the 'hell no' option on the questionaire, too!

Tina

Heyo!

Ben and Jack, so so close! I'll be in Vancouver on the 2nd. Can't stay any longer. Next time maybe.
OH and Ben, I have an e-mail funny that I think you'd appreciate. If you're interested, send me your e-mail address and I'll forward it on.

Viv, your shortie made me nostalgic for college. I miss that energy, that eager desire to learn and explore.

Tina

Viv - I remember starting at new schools. I don't much remember elementary school except that kids can be really mean if you're even the least bit different. :( So I didn't go along with the crowd - that doesn't make me weird, it makes me an individual. I remember a party that all the other girls in my class were invited to and I wasn't invited. I remember when Valentine's day would come by and we would hand out those little Valentines with cartoon characters on them - I maybe got five every year. Except in 1st and 2nd grade when we had to give one to everybody.
Starting in Junior High - I was so ugly. I had glasses and I liked my hair back but my mom liked it down, so we compromised and I think everyday I had my hair back halfway. I was teased and fell in with the wrong people a lot.
In 10th grade - I joined the Notebook. :D *big grins* I found many good friends here. Some of them are still here, some aren't.
I also got contact lenses right before 10th grade so I was very happy about my appearance. I'd even lost some weight. Friends was still an issue. I had a group of people I would hang out with but I'm not sure any of them really liked me.
11th grade was bad - a guy I knew killed himself, and after that I started gaining weight because I was so depressed and I would eat. Also this one girl went around calling me names and making my life a living hell for the entire year because of a minor incident. One of my friends got pregnant - had miscarriage.
12th grade I had my first real boyfriend. Isn't that sad? Most girls I knew had already dated (even ones I didn't think were very good looking). Anyway, we dated for 6 months and broke up - he said it was because we didn't see each other very often but I later found out it was because I wouldn't have sex with him - yeah well, nuts to him. I don't need that kind of guy! One girl STILL bugging me over minor incident the year before. Got to meet Rachel for the first time in Oct. that year. I have pictures - I look fat. Met the COFFEE CLAN and became a member!! :)
The year ended with a tearful graduation. I still keep in contact with the Coffee Clan, my friends John, Cliff (who is moving in August) :(, Marissa and Michelle.
Anyway, enough of my babbling.

Ben - hopefully I'll get to come too because I asked my mom and she said "we'll see". And this didn't sound like the "we'll see" which really means "no" this was more like a positive response. :)

Rachel - YAY!! :)
*smiles*
Allein

Rachel: Are you coming out to see Jack next week when he comes up to Burnaby? Be kinda neat to actually meet someone from here wouldn't it? I think we live pretty close don't we? I guess I'll have to get up early to drive the wife to work coz I'll be coming off the afternoon shift.
Ben

Sorry about this Jack. It's too long but my business writing class is going crazy and I can't get my grades into excel. I'm trying to wear too many hats!
Spring Begins the School Year

The barn swallows are back. They dart about the small college town. They dart and swoop above the crowds of college students as they hurry toward the big buildings at the top of the hill. The swallows are constantly in motion as they swing back and forth between shop awnings and doorways. They are building their summer homes. Most search places under the awnings overhanging the shops.

Year after year they return. Usually they fly first to the place their nests were the year before. If it’s empty, they happily set about their task. Full, they dart, searching for another place to put a home. The swallows are as constant as the faces of the sensei and they get the same happy greetings from the shopkeepers. One small vegetable shop owner always moves her display slightly to the left and hangs a little bamboo curtain to shield the little nest from the sun. She also offers special prices to the returning sensei. Every teacher knows, there will be an extra cucumber or an extra bundle of spinach added to any purchase. She knows our names when we come in the shop and greets us as we return. “How was your vacation? Did you go anywhere this year?”

The old students go up the hills in groups. They stop to greet their favorite teachers. “What are you teaching this year? Should I take your class?” Even the “bad kids” from former classes stop to remember. “Yes! You were an exceptional student! I still remember you! Really, I thought your tricks made teaching interesting. Oh, you’ve reformed...glad to hear it!”

The new freshmen move like the swallows. They dart nervously up the hill. Their steps are filled with purpose and worry. They clutch class schedules in one hand, look at watches and hold tight to heavy new textbooks. Their worried faces glance at the calm purposeful groups of confident upperclassmen.

The crowd streams into the gates of the school. The short gate guard stands frowning at the clutter of bicycles left by the side of the building. He attempts to create order but the bicycles keep coming. The students are worried. They have to find their classrooms. Like small children, they abandon their bicycles and run into the building. One bicycle falls starting a domino effect. One after another the bikes topple sideways, tires spin, handlebars tangle. The gate guard stands shaking his head like an overwhelmed parent. He scolds but no one listens.

Above his head, a swallow darts then swoops low under a dark limb laden with cherry blossoms. The bell chimes. There is a last frantic pounding of feet as a single freshman searches for a classroom. A sudden quiet falls. The first class begins.
Stupid but my reaction to the shortie theme. Our year started this week. Man do I feel like I went up that hill happy and came down it on my backside! YIKES! Here comes another year and I thought I was prepared!!!!

Allein:
Is that your shortie Allein? It's neat. It did have me reading because I wondered what would happen to a kid who'd never been to school. Some tips because my daughter (age 20 now) didn't go to school much before she was 17.

She worried a lot about fitting in and making it look like she'd been in a school before. Passing period, locker combinations, lunch period and gym class were really weird experiences. (The only time she'd been in school before t was 2nd grade in Germany and those weren't factors). She also never had been exposed to a lot of people with a cold at a certain time and found it suprising that everyone caught a disease at the same time. (She was really suprised when she got the cold that was going around!) She loved school and really appreciated stuff that most kids took for granted. She got really excited about the school festivities. It was fun to read about her reactions. (I sent her to America for this!) This might be fun to write about!

Anyway, cool way to present that subject!

I'll find mine and post now too.

To those who found the courage to send in your manuscripts:
Very neat. Frame the letters in a single frame. When you get your acceptance letter, put that on top and keep the rejections beneath the acceptance letter. What a find for a collection! Can't you just imagine the graduate student who is studying your works finding this treasure! Can you see her face???!!! Wonderful! Thank God we still have a print media and snail mail!

Hallee and Debra, congratulations! Fill those nails! I hope I find the courage to do what you're doing.

Mark, thanks. It's like a dream. No, a nightmare.

Here's a wierd thing. I picked up a novel today, at a used book sale. It's a title I've noticed before and wanted to read. As I began reading it all seemed very familiar. And kept feeling familiar. After ten pages, I'm sure that I've read the book before, yet I have no idea how it turns out. This means a) I've read it already and it made so little impact that I can't remember. b) I began reading it, and disliked it enough to stop reading it. Either way, I see no point in continuing.
What it makes me see is that while I want to be published (fingers crossed) I don't want to have that effect on a reader. My book will be better! I've decided!

I've re-restructured the ending of 'Shadow', and I like it better now. I'm starting to be really excited about writing it again. My muse is back. (She's short, with a long grey braid in her hair and a kind face.)

Time to go.
T.J.

Mary:

First thanks.


Second:

I got a rejection from an agent, not the one who is considering my manuscript she still is, but one who I just sent a query to.

She said she only had time to do high interest stuff, but gave me the name of another agent who might be interested. Her name in not in the 2001 guide or on any website I have looked. I emailed her back to tell her I couldn't find her and was she a new agent and she said no, and she doesn't know why she is not listed. She also said I could use her as a reference. She gave me her address from the start, but I wanted to learn more about her first.

Does it sound hokey?

Debra

Rachel - I really REALLY want to go, but haven't been able to convince my parents yet. A ride there would help but what I'd really need was a ride back and I'd need to be sure to catch a ferry a little earlier, which means I may have to leave earlier. I'll run the idea by them again.
*smiles*
Allein

Hi All,
MEL: Not real rocks HAHAHHAHAHAHAHA good one.

BARNABAS: Wow they actually sent you a personal note with your rejection? That's great. Usually it's just a form letter. I do believe congratulations are in order. CONGRATULATIONS! :-)

TAYLOR: Hi there. I've been thinking about you and wondering how your writing was going. Glad you're back.

' was really good. 'The Kid' however was a rather tedious journey to a reasonably predictable ending. The only thing keeping it from being a total flop was Bruce Willis.

Gotta finish this later. Thunder's in the air.

MR. BARNABAS HOP: Pray young man that you wash your mouth out with soap. Fictional characters indeed!!!

Got a rejection from an agent today - wow - I only mailed it out last week.

YAY!!!! Progress....hahahaha

Hallee

Allein - Hey girl! Are you going to Jack's party? If you could get to the ferry I could pick you up on the other side. Let me know if that would help you get there.

All this talk of school daze/days has opened up a wide and wild set of writing in me. I've been having a blast. Thanks guys :0) I would tell yah all about it, but... Okay, no I wouldn't (grins and laughter)! I just came up with a new set of shorts. I can really crank out the writing from time to time. If I find that I have a new set I don't open it up. Isn't that weird? I tuck it away. I guess I like to work on my sets. Now I just have to open up enough to send them out as a set of shorts.

I think that sets of shorts are something that only well known authors can get away. Sort of like the novella thing.

Hum, I have guests due soon. I should shake a tail feather...

Ciao for now!

Rachel

I finished the short story - at least the rough draft. So if anyone has any suggestions, please inform me.

The First Day

Rean looked up at the huge school in front of him. He didn't want to go to a school – even a private school. He wanted to continue being tutored. But San Riago Private Academy had just opened and his mother decided that he would start the fifth grade there whether he liked it or not. He'd only gone to school one day in his life – in kindergarten and a girl had beaten him up. After that he never wanted to go to school. His mother thought it was important for him to have friends. It's a darn good thing I love my mother, he thought.

He said good-bye to the limo driver and walked into the school. He straightened out the top of his ugly brown uniform. The junior high level boys wore blue and in high school it was black. The girls wore red sailor suits until they were in junior high when the color changed to blue and in high school it was both red and blue. He looked at his schedule – his first class was in room 511. He figured it must be the fifth floor. He climbed up the stairs to the fifth floor.

He looked around at all the doors. All the numbers started with nine. Everyone was older than him and wearing junior high uniforms. Now he figured it out – five meant the fifth grade. And all the fifth grade classrooms must be on the bottom floor. He walked back down to the bottom floor. He found 512 with no problem, he also found 510, but he couldn't seem to find his classroom.

A girl walked up to him. "Do you need help?"

He looked at her. She was thin and had short, curly blonde hair. "Um...I’m trying to find room 511."

She pointed to a room on the other side of the hall. Of course the even numbered rooms were on one side and the odd numbered rooms on the other. "That's my first class too."

He studied her features. "You look familiar."

"So do you. But, you're familiar to everyone. You're Prince Rean, aren't you?"

"Um...yeah." Why am I nervous around her? He thought.

"I'm Allein Anderson."

"As in Anderson Enterprises, Anderson?" He recalled that Anderson Enterprises was the leading company in software technology.

"That's my father. He runs the business."

He followed her into the classroom. Many famous children went to this school because their parents could afford it but some of the children weren't famous at all and were only there for their academic intelligence. Such as the boy that Allein sat next to. "Hey Troz. This is Rean."

Rean had taken the empty seat next to Allein. "Hi."

Troz was a lemu – a species which looked to be part human and part cat. The fur covering his body was tan and he had a black mohawk. His left ear was pierced twice. "Hi. Can you get me Princess Sheena’s autograph? She's hot!"

Allein elbowed Troz in the arm. "Jerk!"

Rean didn't think his cousin Sheena was hot, but of course she was his cousin, and that would be a little weird if he did.

Another lemu – a girl with white fur and blonde hair passed by. Troz purred. "Hey there! How about you and me have a study date?"

She took the seat behind Allein. "Yeah, that'll happen," she said sarcastically. "So Allein, who is your friend."

Allein turned around. "Troz?"

"No, the cute one."

"That's Prince Rean. Are you blind?"

"I'm into that popular people magazine, tabloid whatever they put out. The last picture I saw of Rean was when he was, like, four." She bowed her head to him. "But I'm pleased to meet you. I'm Cassidy Mewin."

"She's the future mother of my children." Troz added.

"Yeah, in your wildest dreams." She told him.

What a cast of characters, Rean thought. I wonder if this is what my mother had in mind when she wanted me to improve my social life.

By lunch he was feeling a bit better about school. He sat with Allein and Troz. Cassidy was sitting with a friend of hers named Marcie. Allein told Rean that Marcie was sort of a snob.

Fortunately, the food was rather good. Sheena had told Rean all about the food in her cafeteria being really bad. Maybe that's why she took her lunch to school.

He got through the day with no problem. And he said good-bye to his new friends. He wondered if they'd liked him.

As he returned home, he heard yelling coming from the parlor. He looked in. Sheena was arguing with her father. That morning she'd been wearing a conservative outfit, but now she was dressed in a halter top, mini skirt and high heel shoes. Her make up was also fairly intense. Apparently, she had tried to sneak back into the castle without her father seeing her and the plan didn't work.

Rean passed by and found his mother.

She smiled at him. "How was your day?"

"Fine."

"How were your classes?"

"Okay."

"Did you make any new friends?"

"I'm not sure. There are two people who are nice there. Maybe we'll become friends. But I don't know if I made a good impression."

Absentmindedly, he slipped his hand in his back pocket. Feeling a piece of paper, he pulled it out. On it was written a phone number and the message: call me sometime, Allein.

Seeing the message, the queen grinned. "I think you did make a friend. Maybe even a girlfriend?"

"I don't really like...maybe girls are okay."

Rean went to his room. After he'd closed the door, he jumped up in the air and shouted. "YES!!"

He couldn't wait to go back to school the next day.

*********************
Eh, I think it's a little...I don't particularly like the end.
*sigh* I'm actually trying to get Mali and Azol done because I'm almost finished with that. If anyone wants to read it when I finish, tell me and I'll attach it to an e-mail and send it to you.
*smiles*
Allein

Mary - Thank you.

Thanks Mark. :-)

Hi all,
Had to take Gizmo to the vet this morning. It's that mat thing the groomer didn't fix.

HALLEE,
I think a lot of people get 'passive voice' and 'past tense' mixed up. You can not find a passive sentence in every sentence that has had in it. You would have to write in present tense all the time. (I'm fussing at your friend, not you.) [:+)

MARY,
I looked at those crop circles pictures. It looks like an art form to me. Kind of reminded me of grafeitti(sp?)

Got to go get the dog now. great shorties all.

Rosemary

You gotta read this!

one Ohio professor received hate mail
and even death threats for proposing to teach a course ex-
posing political correctness. Ironically, the university's
Women's Studies director said, "We forbid any course that
says we restrict free speech."

Got this from a news site.

Jerry

DEBRA: Don't let anybody tell you to do anything any differently than you are, and you shouldn't feel like you have to apologize for it either. You know what you can do and what you can handle, and its plenty. :-)

Big hugs to all of us.

All:

I find it hard to deal with death. It's almost as if I didn't get a very important gene to cope. I like to put my head in the sand and hope death doesn't see me. Of course that doesn't work. I have lost a son myself. I just hope that my silence doesn't offend anyone. I'm still putting my head in the sand. For now I'm happy there.

Sorry!

Debra

I feel like I just woke up. I haven't quite got my bearings. Conversations swirl around on topics of grievous loss, klingon humor, and lunchroom ladies.

MARY, that was absolutely eloquent. When you told us you were having your 30th birthday last year, I knew there was a well of experience in you that most 30-somethings can neither express or appreciate. Your post on the loss of your son was both touching and uplifting. Thanks again for being here.

TINA -- I don't know if we already spoke of this or not. Condolences on your loss. Apologies for my inattention. I have yet to lose a parent. I may have a resistance to such news. Mom and Dad are 84 and 79. I resist news of parents passing. I think the sharing that happens here is wonderful, even if I can't yet fully open to it, nice to know it's here. It'll happen to me whether I'm ready or not.

Mary: My husband has that site on his favorite places. The background on our computer is one of those pictures in a tile format. It looks pretty neat that way.

here is a link to some of the best crop circle pictures i have seen. Pretty nifty.

HALLEE -- Sure, happy to. Post it or just mail it to me. Here's my address.

HALLEE: I can understand how you really thought you were fine and isn't it amazing how things trigger grief? It seemed that when I was in my deepest funk over my son dying, other things which should have seemed terribly tragic to me, didn't affect me much at all. My husband left me and all I did was show up at the courthouse and sign the papers. Fine, see ya. Have a nice life. Jerk.

I don't know that I would say your situation wasn't as tragic as mine. I can't even imagine what you went through, but then again, maybe it isn't as different from how I felt at all. In any case, I am sorry for your losses, and even though I have been through the loss of a child myself, it is still very hard to know what to say.

RACHEL: Thank you very much...and that sure didn't feel shallow to me, smiles.

A warm thought to all for their loss, I had lost my father and grandfather who within a year of each other died suddenly
Its a painful thing I know
I cant pretend to know what mothers go through, or how others should feel...
All I know is it hurts
My prayers and thoughts go out to you all

MARY: My experience is not nearly as tragic as yours - but I lost a baby at 20 weeks. The sad part about it all was that I went to the doctor that day because something felt wrong. I can't explain it even now, but the doctor told me to go ahead and come in because I'd already had one miscarriage. He tried to find the heartbeat - couldn't find it, so he did an ultrasound, the entire time convinced that nothing was wrong. So, he let me see the ultrasound screen. At 20 weeks, the baby is perfectly formed and you can see the whole thing on the screen. Beautiful, perfect child whose heart was not beating. I had stared at the screen for 5 minutes before he realized it and turned it so I couldn't see. I was far enough along that he wanted to induce labor, but he decided on surgery. (I wish now I had asked him to print me a picture.)

Anyway, I never really mourned. I'm not that sort of person, and I think most strong feelings have a delayed reaction for me. Everyone kept asking me how I was, and I couldn't make them understand that I was fine. Really.

But, then one day I was driving to church and listening to the Country Gospel program. I'd lost 4 by this time, and had a surgery scheduled to get my tubes tied. Kaylee was 1, and our little miracle. But this song came on called "Jesus Has a Rocking Chair." Talking about all of the babies in Heaven and how there's more than enough room on His lap for all of them, until their parents get there to claim them. I had to pull over. I found myself at 9:00 in the morning on the side of the road with my one year old dozing in her seat and mourning for 4 babies at the same time. I had to go home. That lasted about a full week before I felt better, and I allow myself to be sad now - which I didn't before. I think I thought it meant that I didn't have a strong enough faith if I was sad.

Hallee

MARK: Do you have time to critique a short prologue? Here's my questions: A critique partner from a different group sent my critique for a prolgue. The first several paragrphas are reflection, and she said that she had no desire to read any further until I rid my work of the passive voice. But, the passive voice is just found during the reflection, and the fixes she suggested sound stupid. It's almost like she did a search for the word "had" and just wanted to wipe it out. Passive and active voice is not my strong point, but in my uneducated opinion, reflection is rather passive, is it not? So, I was wondering if I posted it on the workbook, if you would mind taking a look at it?

Thanks-
Hallee

Mary - I send you the strongest, warmest hug that I have. My heart quivered when I read your post.
My thoughts are with you.
Rachel

Just watching the History Channel, they are doing a thing on crop circles. I remember very many years ago, I must have been 7 or 8 years old, and we were over to my Uncle and Aunt's place. This was the SPECIAL Uncle and Aunt, because it was my father's brother who married my mother's sister. This made we kids "double" cousins. Anyhow it seems that my uncle was having a dispute with his neighbor over some land, and the location of the property lines. The neighbor owned the land just south of the road that lead past my Uncle's farm, and it was doing great, A huge wheat field and the field was nearly ready for harvest. My cousin Shirley and I decided to get even with the neighbor so we walked to the middle of his field and lay down, then began to roll, and crushed the wheat to the ground. I am sure that it looked much like a group of crop circles once we were through. We never did mention this to our folks, and never heard a word about it from anyone. Maybe it all sprung back up or the neighbor just figured it was some strange blight or something.

Funney the things we do when we are young.

Jerry

Sorry about my funk, I am much better now, must be the new meds the Dr. put me on. He keeps changing them, in an attempt to get me free of pain, but to no avail. This last change has worked fairly well, but I don't know if I should keep taking them, as I looked them up in several places on the web and they all say that the med should not be taken longer then five days. I have been on it now for over twenty days. Guess I should give him a call, but he did give me a three month supply in the prescription, so maybe he knows better then the web sites.

Anyway, it isn't something that needs to be discussed here and now. I just went to my web site, and read some of my stories from last year. Some of them are quite good, I am going to have to get back in that groove again, the stuff I have produced of late just doesn't make the grade.

Night all.
Jerry

My mother has always known exactly how she wants her funeral to go and I think she's got the right idea. She wants to be laid to rest in a beautiful white nightgown because, after all, it is eternal SLEEP (a really long nap anyway depending on what you believe). She wants the casket closed. No calling hours. Only the preacher and immediate family present at the funeral. Amazing Grace played by a piper at the gravesite. Lots of flowers. No big buffet afterwards for mourners. Very simple, heartfelt and private. But then, that is the way she is in life, so why not in death? It twists my heart to even think of life without her.


A little something on mourning: Everyone mourns differently and at their own pace. I remember when my son had first died and people talked to me about hanging in there, or that he was in a better place. I had one guy even tell me I should be rejoicing. I told him to come back after he had an infant ripped from his arms and tell me how friggin happy he was. That was a terrible thing to say.

Deep down I knew that he was in a better place, and not suffering, or struggling and for that I was grateful. It took me a long time to even hear what people were really saying to me. Then came anger. And boy was I ever pissed off. I made quite a few self-destructive mistakes during that time. Then came a time when I just didn't want to be mad anymore. I went to visit the Director of Pastoral Care at the children's hospital, the chaplin who had been with me through it all. He even spoke at my son's funeral.

I told him that I had been mad at God and everything I had ever taken comfort in and that I was afraid I was questioning my faith. I didn't want to not believe in Heaven. If I did that, the only comfort of knowing my son was there would be gone. He said to me that my being angry at God was a strong show of faith because I believed he was there to be mad at. He said many other things to me that day and by the time I left there I realized I had taken the next step. Then I was lonely. After that came a low lying sadness. Nothing too much on the surface to make anyone wonder about me, but it's always there underneath.

I don't know what the next step is. But I do know that people who knew me before my son died, still treat me gingerly now and it has been 10 years. They try not to, but they do. For a while there I thought I was known around town as "the woman who's little boy died."

I also think I am probably coming up on the next step, funny how people can tell that, because I am starting to open up about it. This rambling post is a perfect example. Two years ago I never could have written any of this down. Now it seems I have opened the gates and can't shut up. As a matter of fact, I should go.

JERRY: I was going to say something to you about birthdays, but I don't know how to get it out.

Have a nice night everyone...and a glorious weekend. I will be spending mine helping my father-in-law move furniture into his new house. Ok, maybe I will just be in charge of feeding the troops! :-)

Tina: I believe your dad is watching over you. My father-in-law died over ten years ago, and from time to time over the years various family members have had - experiences - that convince us he is watching over us. At first, in waking dreams, you hear a voice or feel a presence, then as time goes by, mostly in sleeping dreams you'll receive some kind of sign or reassurance - our beloved departed ARE watching over us! It's comforting to me to know that.

Allein and Viv: Looking forward to your "Thursday" additions!

Hallee: Received, read, and really enjoyed your story :-) Ill email you details soon. Can't wait to read some more!!

Viv - My Monday is what I was thinking. :)
*smiles*
Allein

I AM BORG RESISTANCE IS FUTITLE -- YOU WILL BE ASSIMALATED

WRITE ON
BORG

Jerry: Don't ever be ashamed of crying at a funeral. Never. I used to be a lot like that--European parents who didn't express their emotions when they should have, etc., etc., etc.,--and it took me years to realize it's not a bad thing to cry. When my sister-in-law had her second son at the Children's hospital up here, I didn't know the room she was in was actually the birthing room they were going to use. I'd never seen a birth before, and when the nurses asked her if she wanted me to leave, she said no, it's all right; he can stay if he wants. I was too stunned to move, or protest. So I stayed. My own wife was preggers with our first kid at the time, and I thought, hey, I've seen the movies, I can handle this. I mean, hell, I cut my finger tip off and that didn't bother me, (and it was a mangled mess too). Well, the birth came, and I just couldn't control myself. There wasn't anything in particular that crossed my mind that I can remember. I just stood there with tears running down my face, all quiet like, until one of the nurses looked at me and kinda gasped. All the nurses looked at me and started crying then. I think it was because I was embarassed to be seen like that, vulnerable and exposed I mean; they actually thanked my sister-in-law for letting me stay, saying they hadn't cried like that for a long time. Eight days later our own son was born, and damnit! I did it again. It was like I was a different person. I mean, I was never like that before. After that, I knew I was in trouble when I was watching a movie and started crying, in the movie theater. Jeez...and now, (worser and worser), whenever I hear the song DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS? by Band Aid, tears come to my eyes, without fail. I remember watching the concerts--Wimbley(?) and RFK Stadiums, and thinking Bob Geldoff was the most caring, giving, man on the planet, and that one man was able to do all of that for so many people just because he wanted to...THE LIVING YEARS by Mike and the Mechanics, too. Funerals? Strangers' funerals even! I look at the people mourning, and the thought of the loss they are going through is enough to start me going. I'm no longer embarassed about my "sensitive side", because as far as I can see, I've become a more complete person, more aware of what life means to me, as well as others. My wife likes it too, and that's all that really matters. So go ahead, cry with pride, Stoical pride if you want, and don't worry about what others may think, or what you think they may think, because you don't know them, and the only one that matters is you.
There 'nough said.
Ben

Hi Allein:
Monday will be a fine Thursday! Is that your Monday or my Monday? My Monday is your Tuesday! Let me know. Not to worry, just post and I'll keep an eye on the site and post as soon as I see yours. That way our writing will dance into the site together. This is fun isn't it? It's a little like going into an empty ballroom where no one is watching and dancing around a little on the dance floor. You get the feeling no one is watching so you can enjoy just being yourself. :-)

Hey Jack:
A friend of mine sent me directions on how to make a web page. It's pretty much step by step. There's one sad thing, our college won't accept a bulletin board or a notebook approach. Back to square one but I'm going to set this up just for my own students and keep a close virus check on my own computer. I'll give it only to my good students and see what happens. I have some real wonderful kids this semester. Most of us are very afraid of the computer so we will test our limits this way. I won't make something as nice as this but at least I have some ideas of what can be accomplished if you have the knowledge. To think that I never knew what a web page was before December last year! I'm so glad I bought this computer.

Heather: I'm really looking forward to your package. I told my students I have a suprise. Now we only have to find a video player...! There's one I can check out, don't worry! We're going to have so much fun this semester. I just have to get some sort of grading system in place because right now everyone is SO good. I hate grades.

Back to writing, I saw something...for all you science fiction people, have you ever seen a Praying Mantis egg sack open up? I DID see one. I'm trying to describe it. I'll post it because it's just what you need for an alien landing. I can't write science fiction. I should get excited about it but I'm a technological dunce! I'll give you the Praying Mantis egg description and see what you can do with it. Richard, maybe it was the egg sack that is taking over this site!

HOP

Only Jon, Sasquatch and Pussy are real.
All the other Notebookers are just shadows in a dream.
You'll know it when you wake up.

We are the Borg. Your writing and interesting life stories will be assimilated. Your articles will be adapted for our PR department. Your life as it has been is over - from this day forward, you shall service, us!

Tina,

It has been over ten years since my mother died and there are times I get overcome with emotion such as when I go through her old photos or her teaching materials (most all of which I have inherited). I have no need to keep her old lesson plans, but I cannot make myself throw them away because I do get a sense of her through them. But I love the emotion, even the tears, because that is one way I can still hold on to her.

You are right, Tina, the funeral does little except start the process of learning how to live without someone you know you'll never see again this side of heaven.

It does get better though. Time does heal. What was once overwhelming loss to me is now a time of enjoyable reflexion--like taking a break from the intricacies of present life and times. Perhaps in other moods I might feel regret that Mom could not be here to get to know her grandchildren or could not impart her wisdom to me when life gets difficult. At other times it is a dull ache, but when I am upset about something, I feel her comfort and that impression of practical common sense she always had.

Your father sounds like he was a very special guy and wonderful dad.

Rhoda

Greetings to my Northern Neighbors up in Canada. I see on the idiot box that the new age Hippies and Yippies have relocated from Seattle to Quebec City. The protests are in full force at this time, and it does look much like a college campus of the late 60's early 70's down here.

Oh did I ever mention that back in my college days I met several men and women from Canada who were attending the police program at our College. They explained that it was difficult to get the training up there, but the authorities in Canada would accept the training program offered by my college.

Could be that some of those officers in Riot gear in QC were trained at the University of North Dakota Lake Region.

Just thought I would mention that.

As far as death goes, I am not real found of it, and am not looking forward to it, but I guess we all must face it some day. I think the older we get though, the less we fear it. There are days when I sort of look forward to it, then I talk with a friend or check this wonderful place, and change my mind. The process does frighten me a bit, but the actual change over, from living to dead happens in a millisecond. I have witnessed it many times at accident scenes, and in hospitals, and in the war. Sometimes the people who die are taken completely by surprise, you can tell by that look on their faces. This happens mostly with the young, who truly believe they will live for ever, only to find it is not true. The elderly though are different. Many of them die with a look of relief on their face, as if it is a wonderful gift that they have been searching for.

Funerals are, as they say for the living, not for the dead. I am sort of embarrassed when I attend funerals, as I have yet to attend one where I haven't shed a tear or two. I have always been a bit ashamed of that I guess, here I am, an old soldier, former cop who has done and seen so much death, yet I can't attend a funeral without crying. I used to feel that way, can't say as I do anymore, I just accept it as part of me, and get on with it. Last year when our neighbors son died, and we went to his funeral, I found that the tears again came, and I felt a bit ashamed, but when his father came over a few days later and thanked me for coming, he said it made him feel more comfortable with his feelings, about his own tears when he saw mine, so I guess it isn't something to be ashamed about. My problem now is that I have been to way to many funerals lately, many for people my own age, a few much younger. It gives me that feeling of mortality, and makes me feel each and every one of my years. That must be part of growing old.

Hitting 50 years old next month has been wearing on my mind a bit, I guess because I know I can't ever live another 50, or if I can, I wonder if I would want to. It is just that I don't want it to be over, I don't want to leave, yet I realize that I have lived OVER half my life now.

I am getting a bit morbid, think this is a good time to shut up and finnish reading my book on Timothy McVeigh. Yesterday was the anniversary of the bombing, today the anniversary of the school massacre, what better time to finnish the book.

Jerry

Tina - I'm sorry about your father. I send you some (((BIG HUGS))) and I'll be praying for you and thinking about you. I hope you're better soon.

Mary - It's okay, I figured someone posted it but I'm the one who missed it - my bad.

Viv - I'll be ready by Monday. :) I mean, Thursday.

I just got a survey for the 2000 graduates and the last question was: High school was a helpful and wonderful experience. Yes or no. Where's the choice of Hell No?

I had some bad experiences in high school but I did make some good friends.

Also I go to another message board and today it wouldn't let me log in and when I looked at a post I'd make, it said my name, but didn't have a picture, my location or how many posts I've put there, which it usually does. It had my sign up date but somehow it said I signed up in Jan. 1970. That's really weird because I thought I was born in 1982, but appearently I wasn't.

The internet is weird sometimes.
I love the noteboook. I love all you guys! ((((BIG HUGS)))) to all!
*Smiles*
Allein

Kwaljak tuvok! ptahhh! klingons ptahhh! grumcchak! klingons merely terran contrivance. re'eellqod even to speak of them as being! stupid nubscHH! yar yar!

Heyo Klingons and Vulcans! Who's next, Ferengi? I'm partial to B'joran myself.

Rachel, Christi, thanks for the hugs. Hugs are awesome. Didn't mean to make anyone cry.

Hallee, I'm enjoying reading your story! I'll be sending you an e-mail one of these days :-)

Loved all the shorties! Hallee, I think I'd really like your dad! :-D

A funny thought about teachers from public school. I still know a couple of my high school teachers, through work or family, and even after all these years and casual interaction, I *still* think of them as 'Mr. Mellows' instead of 'Jeff' (for example). Yet my college instructors were always on a first name casual basis. Wierd.
Talk to y'all later!
T.J.

fnabbr'ep

Terrans are most illogical, but not so much as Klingons.

Tina - He lives on in you. His thoughts, his words, songs, memories, are all alive in you. You can share them with anyone you wish. When you do, he is very much alive.

Please don't think I'm one who can always remember this all the time. I also have times when I hurt for and miss those who have passed from life. I try to remember that they are never really gone as long as they are remembered, but sometimes that is muted by the fact that I can't touch them any more, that I can hear the texture of their voice, that I can smell their scent. You know how it is?

I doubt that helps. I just wanted to say more than "I send hugs" Sometimes that seems so hollow. I don't want to send you a hollow greeting. That said, I do send hugs for you.

Take care you.

Rachel

Mary, Maybe this is being prejudiced but I've never met a pleasant lunch lady. We had one we called the Eyelash Lady. She wore these tremendous fake lashes that were at least an inch long, I swear. And every so often we'd find an eyelash in our lunch and yell out that the Eyelash Lady had struck again. Probably it wasn't even her eyelash. Kids are so mean.

Tina, You had to go and make me cry like that. You really touched me with what you said about your dad and about greiving.
I guess to me it felt like someone took a hole-puncher and punched a hole in my heart. Eventually I stopped bleeding and the hole healed up most of the way. But the hole is still there. I send you warm hugs.

I've just noticed that there are Klingons in our midst! Unfortunately, Klingons aren't very well known for their sense of humor. There's a good reason for that.
Welcome, Klingons!

Christi

terrans! p'tahhh!

Hop,

I'm looking for something to say in response to your thoughts on memorials/funerals. Can't think clearly, though. Every funeral I've been to has been different in accordance to the person who's died. That seems to me to be the most important thing - that a memorial reflects the person. The living will grieive in their own way, regardless of the ceremony, regardless of the music, or the religion, or the clothes, or the prayers, and the grieving will not end with the ceremony. Honestly, with the hightened emotions and shock involved at most funerals, I think that the true grieving doesn't even start until afterward, when life wants to go on like normal only there's nothing normal about life without that person you loved/knew/cared for.

At my dad's memorial, we played his favourite music, and songs that reminded us of him. I asked for 'Whistling Gypsy Rover', the song he sang me to sleep with when I was wee. We played 'New Man in the Morning' by Roger Whittaker, because he always, always sang along to that song. The only hymn was 'Amazing Grace'.
I haven't yet once cried in sadness that he is dead. I know he's still around, and I know he's at peace. I cry because we've been left with a hole that can't be filled, devoid of his wisdom and humour and obstinance and everything that was DAD. I cry for my mom, and my family, and for myself because I can't call him up and ask him a question, I can't talk about our flower gardens, and I can't hug him again. I don't cry because he's dead, I cry because he's not alive.

Now I've done gone and dumped on the NB. Sorry.
Hi to all.
Time to go find some breakfast.
Tina

Hello f'trabn'ak! Have you grond the one about the Terran who sklivved at the red dwarf? Klong'reb! Klong'reb! yar yar!

Melanie:

We have been living in our home since 92 and not one drop.

This year was record breaking for wet winter. We had so much water that the clean up was as exhausting as you described. Plus our bedroom was down there and our living room. My husband had to stay up and active for 25 hours on March 23rd sucking up water with four wet vacs and one week later another 25 hours. He was trying to save our living room rug. Our bedroom rug in on the front porch rolled up and starting to smell. We are trying to figure out what to do with it.

I heard on tv that you were supposed to report first time damage to somewhere and called the station and the city hall and no one new what I was talking about. A few weeks later on the same tv station, I heard that FEMA was finished examining the damage and would be helping victims. Can you imagine? I'm really pissed. We paid over a $1000.00 to have that rug installed only 24 months ago. Now it's a total waste. We went to Home Depot and put vinyl tiles in our bedroom. It looks nice, and for only a couple of hundred. My husband put them down himself. We are putting small matching area rugs on the places we walk so our feet won't freeze, from the cement underneath.


I think we are at the end of the line of clean up. I hope.

Debra

Howdy, All!

JERRY: Loved the handcuff escapade! :-)

DEBRA: You had a flood in your house? How awful! Hope the damages are minimal and the clean-up not too mind-boggling atrocious. The closest I've been to a flood was when we hooked the moveable dishwasher to the sink in our last house, went down to the basement family room to watch TV while the load ran and later, heard it raining in the basement laundry room...! Dashed upstairs to see what-the-heck?--The kitchen floor was flooded, water pouring down a register in the floor...The sink plug had twisted shut as the dishwasher had emptied water into the sink...Well! I'm just glad my sister-in-law a block away had a Wet-Vac!

HOP: I try not to think on my phobias too long; they try to trap and enclose you, and life is too short to worry about them. As for funerals, I think they're a necessary transitional time for we the living. Yes, as Christians, we are happy our departed loved ones have gone on to a happier, painfree place. But as the ones left behind, we need to look into the rift between our worlds temporarily, knowing we will go there ourselves one day, but then we pull back to life where we are, missing the person who just left us and sharing our brightest memories. A lot of laughter also happens inbetween the tears. Both give us strength to say 'goodbye' so we can get back to living, even if it's only in New York State (all my life! but would love to do some world-traveling someday).

HALLEE: Yea, Dad! :-)

PIPER JORDAN & MORPHEUS: Careful. You may call out a much larger party...

BEN: Right on! Sometimes I go to work with relief after a weekend or "vacation" home with the kids! It's just because they pick at each other so hard, mean and cruel sometimes. Growing pains, I guess. Makes my hair gray and my husband's hair is falling out altogether!

JACK: Klingon Karaoke? That's just TOO funny!! :-) The social sounds like fun - wish I lived closer!

MARY: "Mrs. Meanie" makes me shudder! I had a couple teachers like that...

I too am enjoying all the shorties. Thanks, Jack, for a place to post them and keep us all inspired to write! BTW, I think my elusive muse has surrendered the chase...Good ideas for re-starting my novel are surfacing (yes!) at last; I needed a new POV and met a character who threads things together better than I had them originally...Am going to try to write it all down this weekend so I can see where to go from there. And if muses are friends with each other, please tell yours to stand guard over mine - don't let her get away again!! Anyone want to finish the phrase: Muses don't let muses ---- -----!!

Mary:

Whoever spawned that women must have had a lot of spwans that ended up working in the same line of work, if you know what I mean.

Debra

Hop - the race / ethnic thing - I guess I can see where it comes from. Myself, I am ethnically Swede/German/French, but I am a member of the white race. I think you misunderstand, or attribute bad things to the word race, but many use it for the purpose it was initially intended, to describe a group of ethnic peoples. For example:

The black race consists of people from Africa, and many Island nations. The White Race describes people from Northern Europe, and so on. There is a place for race, even when not intending to be prejudice. When I fill out the Harris questionnaires, they ask me what race I consider myself part of, then list white, black, and so forth. They also ask if I consider myself Hispanic.

Oh I have seen and lived with prejudice people, in fact I see them quite often here in my home town. I think this is the result of ignorance. Of never living in a multi-racial situation, or in some cases, just plain stupidity. I still hear racial slurs and racial jokes all the time up here, but you see, this is in all white area. The only minority that live here in town are Native Americans, and they are so few that I can count their names using only the fingers of one hand. Oh there is plenty of prejudice against them too, and I guess that can be expected, as it runs both ways. Many of the folks around here recall the last "Indian uprising" at Wounded Knee that took place back in 1974. That trouble caused problems all across our state, there were ambushes against police all across the state, in fact one of the officers just 30 miles east of here was seriously wounded when he stopped to investigate a fake accident and was shot by snipers who hid behind a small hill just yards from the location. I was working as a police officer here that year, and recall it vividly.

But as I said, we are still classed as black or white, not as Swede or German. Even the Census ask that question, because the Government now uses such statistics to insure that voting tracts are "fair" and reflect the racial makeup of the area.

Oh there are still