Archived Messages from September 7 to October 9, 2001
RANDALL: Funny as always! Thanks. My kids are angels now.
RACHEL: I know just what you mean about being fine during the crisis and then falling apart afterward. Isn't is amazing what a human is capable of? And turn that right around...isn't it amazing how delicate we are?
DEBRA: My dog really is a sweetie. Dumb as a rock, but sweet. The cat is like a rag-doll; if she didn't purr and crap you would think she's dead.
JERRY: I don't have anything against spanking. I have had a few myself, some more memorable than others. I just have to pick my battles around here. I am way more lenient than I should be, I recognize that, but I can't help it. My mother says that when she calls me on the phone, it sounds like a carnival in the background. I don't have the heart to tell my kids to be quiet too sternly because, quite frankly, I know how the silence sounds and I don't like it.
I revel in the toilet paper trails down the hall, the jelly-prints on the tv screen and the crayon on the walls. Wet streakers and dirty sneakers.
They are quiet in church and they don't hurt anything or anybody...those are pretty much my rules. I am relatively certain no animals were injured by the bungee cord incident but the dog is too dumb to tell me and the cat just don't care. ;-)
This discussion reminds me of a story I heard growing up about a young boy who stole something from a grocery store. He was brought home by the police officers who kindly handed him over to his grandmother who had raised him since he was a baby. The store owner didn't press charges against him. After the police explained to the grandmother what had happened, they left. The grandmother went out into the side yard and cut a switch from one of the trees and handed it to the boy and told him to wait for her in the woodshed.
The boy waited and waited, dreading his punishment. When his grandmother came into the shed, he extended the switch out to her but she refused to take it. "My boy, I have failed you miserably if you believe that it is all right to take things that don't belong to you and I need to be punished for that."
The grandmother insisted that the boy use the switch on her for his own wrong doing.
Mary 10-4-2001 3:37
***Rachel***
Randall - Thanks for the story :o)
Take care you.
10-4-2001 1:05
Ok now Randall - you have this wonderful ability to keep us laughing with your wonderful stories. Put them down in book form and I think you would have a best seller. I know I would pay good money for a collection of your great tales.
This one was super.
Jerry 10-3-2001 23:56
Randell:
Thank you, my day is complete. That was one fantaboulous
story. I think I know that kid.
Debra 10-3-2001 23:21
Rachael:
I know what you mean about joking on one hand and on the other feeling like your stomach will come right up thinking about it even months later.
I have learned it is all for the greater good of making them know that it hurts to bang your fleshy body on hard stuff. You did a great job saving him from a really horrible injury but I think the lesson he was supposed to learn was installed. Just think of it that way.
Debra 10-3-2001 23:16
RANDALL
Hey!
What's happening gang??
John Fogerty sang a song in the late 60's.. BAD MOON RISING. "I see a bad moon rising, I see trouble on the way......" Heard it? My wife and I were coming back from buying groceries only minutes ago when she called my attention to the moon a'rising. It was great big, orange and a cloud pierced it horizontally, left to right.
Gave me the shivers. I felt it was a portent of impending doom....Boys and girls, we're in for a world of trouble on this terrorist thing......
I noted some discussion on children.....Deal me in!
Have I related how my brother and I scared our cousin, our stark naked cousin so many years ago? No? Well, goes like this.
Our cousin from Kansas City, Ronnie was a holy terror when he was 6. Perhaps not the anti-Christ, but darn close. He reviled in plugging bare wires into wall outlets and giggling at the sparks. That he wasn't killed early on might relate to the anti-Christ thing, who knows. He took my Dads hand drill and planted every bit Dad had in the back yard one summer day, and some of these were a foot long or better. Then pounded screwdrivers in the yard with a hammer. After one visit from the KC terror Mom's cats had to undergo weeks of feline therapy. The family dog had to have it's tail surgically untied and we didn't see the canary for days, then found it hiding in the hamsters cage, featherless.
A favorite trick of Ronnie's, after a raucous bath was to run screaming through our house bare beamed and buck naked. His mom would chase him down, attempt to insert the lad into PJ's but this usually failed and he was sent to his room sans clothes. The first streaker I ever heard of. I mean the boy was years ahead of his time, in a social sense.
One October night our cousin and his parents were visiting, staying several nights at our house. Ronnie was his usual self, a demonic Dennis the Menace run amok during the stay. He had discovered our collection of model airplanes and melted holes in them with a soldering iron. My brother and I spent an hour retrieving the beleaguered housecats from a pecan tree in the back yard. The family dog had taken to fits of mournful howling, followed by prolonged scratching. This could be because Ronnie had dumped a gallon of bleach on the animal..."To make him blonde."
To paraphrase Winston Churchill..."Never have so many, been tortured by so few, in such a short time."
It was bedtime and my brother and I laid our trap carefully. Ronnie was in the tub, indeed everyone in the neighborhood knew by his mothers frantic shouting.
"Put down the bubble bath bottle Ronnie!"
"Not there!"
"Wash behind your ears. With the washcloth, not the towel!"
"Hand me the canary!"
"Don't pull on the shower curtain!"
"Now see what you've done Ronnie!"
The previous Halloween my brother and I had purchased a poster of a large, door sized, human skeleton. The kind that glowed in the night after being exposed to a bright light. We placed it on the inside of a closet door just outside our room. From inside the bathroom we knew the nightly bath was ending. Sure enough Ronnie burst from the water drenched room and headed to our bedroom. He streaked through laughing with only a towel on. Now Dad's house was built so you could move through it in a circle. Ronnie streaked through our room, past a closet door as my brother and I sat in our beds. We heard him blast through the living room where our folks were playing 42. His giggling was infectious, he wasn't mean or cruel, just a rounder. He entered the bedroom with a full head of steam, laughter on his merry faced. Now completely naked he shrieked in pleasure as we sat in our beds watching. My brother jerked the closet door open with a string, when Ronnie was only a few feet from it...and there it was. The nightmare of every child, a grinning human skeleton....glowing with a spectral light in the dark room.
Our cousin, Ronnie, executed the finest about face at full throttle I have ever seen. NFL running backs Emmitt Smith or Barry Sanders would stand mouth agape at the maneuver. With a flash (no pun intended) he reversed course and ran screaming into the living room, and from what I have gleamed from conversations at family reunions, leaped into his mothers arms from 10 feet away. Collapsing the card table, bottles of soft drinks, ashtrays of cigarettes, dominoes, etc., Ronnie was one frantic, terrified kid. Of course both sets of parents immediately came to the bedroom to see what had caused all the uproar. But all they saw were the sleeping forms of 2 young boys, all clothes hung on the bed posts, toys picked up, closet door shut.
It was months before Ronnie dared to enter our room. Claimed he saw a skeleton in there.
GRIN
Good night
Randall
Randall 10-3-2001 23:15
***Rachel***
With the flying baby thing. That really freaked me out. I was fine when it was happening. Just took care of my baby. After the fact I shook for near to an hour. It not fun stuff. I make light of it, but there is not really any light point to a baby doing flips in mid air. I wish Sebastian were not in such a rush to do everything. He climbs, her walks along everything. He can even walk from one thing to the other as long as he is holding on. He can and does climb everything. The only problem is he isn't any good at getting down safely yet.
10-3-2001 23:10
Mary:
I have pulled some strange ass shit out of our VCR on many occasions.
Jerry:
I am in favor of spankings. I like the one quick one on the butt. Yes, I have resorted to that. The stuff I complain about is the kind that is just uncivilized stuff, not really bad. Well it's bad. I like calm and quiet I always have. For the past tweleve years I have not had that. My first child Curtis, was a good little boy. He is a remarkable man too. I got lucky and take some credit too. I have learned to write and think around all the chaos but I stil don't like it. I sift out all the annoying stuff which one hundred percent and react accordingly to the stuff that needs dicipline. I don't like them playing with the water in the bathroom sink, they use the hot. That was stopped. I don't let them out the front door for a second, we needed contraptions for that one. I don't let them say bad words or use violence towards each other or others. But make no mistake, all the noise they make is annoying. I don't sit here like Mary Poppins and smile thinking those little dears. I'm more like a grumpy old man who just got used to it and would miss the little buggers.
Debra 10-3-2001 23:08
Mary:
Bookcase yes bracketed to the wall.
The eighty pound dog thingie. It adds up if the dog is an absolute sweetheart and it sounds like that has to be so.
The cat I can't explain. I think that the dog now owes him a big favor. My dog pepper is a huge old man. I always say he was an angry old man died and then became my dog pepper. My dog Max is a sweetheart, but the girls are too rough. I always make them stop whatever it is they are doing just for his sake. He would never do anything. The funny thing is he gets this look on his face if I take too long getting there.
I did dodge the chair tieing bullet for one reason, my mother didn't, with me. From what she tells me my father had to put up one fence after the next and I kept getting over them. She kept getting calls from her neighbors that I was blocks away chatting with strangers in the center of town. NO matter how high or where they put the candy I would get it, that included the fridge. She told me she found me teetering on a makeshift ladder made of many flat and some not so flat toys all before I was five.
She and my father finally moved more into the suburbs close to this place that is a shrine and has wonderful light display at Christmas only to find me hand in hand with one of her new neighbors telling her I was found in their daughters bedroom getting a new pair of panties. Apparently mine were in some sort of soiled state. I was three at the time. So I dodged that bullet, but my kids won't when they start to have kids, that is if we don't die of the plague. I won't start again with that.
Mothers are special aren't they? My husband would be coiled up in the fetus position at the end of the first week. He can't stand having a job well done, undone for no reason at all, except the fact that you can't help it because you're a kid.
Debra 10-3-2001 23:01
***Rachel***
Mary - Try baby surfing down the stairs. That will give a new spin on that idea... Sebastian tried that the other day. I surprised myself, my friend and my husband with just how fast I can move. I can catch a flying table and a baby at the same time. Damn I'm glad I'm and ambi!
10-3-2001 22:52
Anyone else hear that there is over a half billion dollars stored in vaults somewhere in the WTC? Also lots of highly classified documents in the CIA office that went down with the WTC?
Oh and on the child rearing problems, has anyone ever heard of spanking? I know it worked well when I was a child, and both my children knew what the spanking was, in fact they acutally experienced it once or twice each. It only takes one or two of them for the kids to get the idea that mom and dad are the boss, and that they mean what they say.
Maybe I am just old fashioned, but I do know it works much better then time outs and such. It also prepares the kids better for the outside world, where there are rules and laws that must be obeyed, or you are punished.
Jerry 10-3-2001 22:46
Here is the answer to the bathroom problem:
If you have one of those doors that has a hole on the outside into which you can poke a pointed object to pop the lock, put a wooden barbecue skewer on top of the door frame. It's octagonal shape prevents it from rolling off the edge of the trim, you can keep the door locked all the time, and only adults can reach the 'key'. But no matter what you do, never let your kids see where you get the key down from.
I also have creative ideas on preventing whole boxes of graham crackers being dumped down the back of a fifty gallon aquarium and how to keep your kids from opening the glass doors on your entertainment center and using the 500 Disney tapes as Barbie surfboards down the steps.
Just ask, I share. ;-)
Mary 10-3-2001 22:40
Are your bookcases anchored to the wall studs?
Mary 10-3-2001 22:35
Yesterday I found the dog and cat bungee corded together. Here is the equation:
1 four year old girl + 1 three year old boy = 1 eighty pound dog tied to 1 half-pound cat
Even now it doesn't add up to me.
Mary 10-3-2001 22:33
DEBRA: You aren't getting any kid sympathy from me until you say you had to tie the kitchen chairs to the table legs to keep the twins from climbing on top of the fridge. Oh yes, it's true. My chairs are tied to the table and my mother is mortified.
Mary 10-3-2001 22:31
Carol:
You could send him to the dog and cat groomer with the dog and cat of course, and give him bogus directions.
No that's just mean.
Actually I love my dogs, and my husband too, but they do need a little something in the way of discipline once and a while.
With my husband, I just make really good points that cannot be argued with. I don't do that unless I'm really angry.
Usually I let him think he got me. It really works better than you think. You need to really think of what you want to say and practice it a few times before you say it.
Watch out for flying feathers. The way you know you won, is when he says "I don't know what you're talking about" Then you win!
Debra 10-3-2001 20:17
Hi All :)
Mel -- thanks for explaining the haiku form so nicely. I had a vague idea, but really needed your words to clarify it for me before I would give it a shot. Never tried this form before.
Debra - I love your punishment methods. Killing two birds with one stone and all. Now, got any ideas on how I can do something similar with dogs, cats and husband??? hehehe
Randall - keep posting! I get so wrapped up in your stories. Thank you again and again for sharing them like this.
I got the inklings of a verbal picture coming ..... later! :)
Carol 10-3-2001 19:39
kids
10-3-2001 19:10
Rachael:
It sounds like we are living paralell lives.
I think we will be telling people we miss these days when the kid get older.
Debra 10-3-2001 18:55
Teekay:
You'd think so. I was watching CNN and they did not. I was struggling, especially when one of the reporters asked if they brought the evidence to the Pakistan government and the person to whom he always does business with and he said no. He wanted to meet face to face, and I think he said with Bush.
Imagine, he might be trying something like a killing on international TV?
Debra 10-3-2001 18:34
**Teekay**
DEBRA: Yeah, but don't they dub what the Taliban people say?
That's what I thought you meant.
Teekay 10-3-2001 18:26
Teekay:
I have been able to lip read since my daughter was born back in 89). She was just like the twins, but she was just one person. I always told people if I was an indian squaw I would have named her "Tweleve People" and called her "Tweleve" for short.
When my son was born I extended the joke by telling them he would've been named "Another Tweleve People" and I would have called him "Another" for short.
The twins I would just call Prozac and Refill Please.
Debra 10-3-2001 18:20
Teekay:
I wasn't really out on a limb. I didn't have to pay up, unless I wanted to of course.
Debra 10-3-2001 18:07
**Teekay**
Yo'!
RACHE: It seems BILLY DEAN spotted the poet in you before you even knew it was there :-)
CAROL: I read 'Chicken Soup for the Writers Soul'. I didn't cry though.
Composting - what a fantastic term. :-)
SASQUATCH: Now where have you been? Rummaging in the forest eating berries no doubt :-). Welcome back, and please stay a little longer this time.
That was a really good horrible haiku.
After reading MEL's post I conclude that it was the perfect haiku.
JERRY: I'm so happy for you. I'd feel the same way if they put on 'The Darling Buds of May' or replayed 'The Little House on the Prairie.
I've never in my life watched star trek before, so I don't know what I'm missing there.
JACK: That sounds absolutely fantastic. I'm so glad you had a wonderful trip. And I'm so glad you're back too.
I adore the sea, I am a definite sea person.
MEL: HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
And on the Jihad front, I guess there are probably all different sorts of meanings put to it. I'm fully prepared to believe the guy I was speaking with didn't have a clue as to what he was talking about.
DEBRA: 'he can have what ever he wants you know where'???????????? You don't mean...........?????????? :-*
'Lip reading the Taliban people' HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA
Gotta go, I can hear a coffee calling my name. ( I'm out if tea bags.)
Thursday haiku:
crystal lights bounce up
rainbows of shattered colour
driving in the rain.
I had to hold my chin AND count my fingers for that one. Looked like a right toddy I did. :-)
Teekay 10-3-2001 17:52
Jerry: Yes, when I get back later this afternoon or early evening I will archive the Notebook.
Jack Beslanwitch 10-3-2001 16:43
Mel:
They are awfully cute though.
Here is a webpage that Mary made me with their pictures some time ago.
http://www.geocities.com/notdotcalm/Debras_pics.html
I pasted it everywhere. I don't really know how to work that page paste thingie.
Debra http://www.geocities.com/notdotcalm/Debras_pics.html
10-3-2001 16:25
*****Rachel*****
Mel - I get a little more than arguing. As I said in past, the children in my home tend to have some pretty hairy behaviour issues. That is the least that they will have. My biological children have learned much about life that many other people don't learn in a life time. I in truth have been feeling a little short and our of sorts the past few days. I hope it has not reflected in my posts. I'm making every effort to be nice. One of the girls has been screaming for about four days. It has begun to wear on my patience. I will think that she is done with the tantrum. Everything will be going well enough, then it begins again. I am quite certain of what is at the root of these tantrums and after consultation with the professionals involved the issue in question will not come up again for a length of time. If I am lucky, it will be quite a length of time. I hate to think that I will just have her stabalized and all will be smashed down again. That really does make my work harder. It also makes her life much harder. It is work and trauma enough to have lived the life that she has to this point.
10-3-2001 16:07
Jerry:
Thanks for that. I'm starting to feel better. I'm not ready for round two.
For anyone who's now wondering how I got so much done yesteday that's easy to answer. I got lucky. My oldest daughter broke a major rule and got herself grounded for three days. I made a deal with her to drop two of the days for one day watching them outside. The catch was if either of them even got so much as a scratch on their little finger she was getting an extra four days.
She is forbidden from saying "A duh" to me. She slipped. Lucky me!
Debra 10-3-2001 14:06
Mel - the dirty face thing, I remember that from when I was a kid. My Aunt Margret (Clarance's wife) used to look us over when we came to visit, should one have a speck of dirt on one's face, she would take care of it by grabbing us by the ear, dragging us to the wash stand, and scrubbing our faces with a wet wash cloth, hard enough for one to only show up there once with a dirty face.
Jerry 10-3-2001 13:42
Jack - welcome home, any chance of an achive soon, it is taking a very long time now to load for those of us with modem connections.
Debra - sounds like the FBI is on top of this thing, they are saying it is an isolated occurance and not part of the terrorist attack. I guess we can wonder, but I wouldn't get too excited over it. It is sad to see those deaths but even with the terrorist threats, there are still a bunch of kooks out there, and many of them travel by bus. I think the cooperation between Greyhound and Amtrack was a good thing, anyone holding tickets on a Greyhound can trade it in for a train ticket if they desire. I tell you what, I would be first in line to trade up to rail, having traveled by both types of mass transit, I find the train much more relaxing then the bus. (of course this based on travel many years ago back in the '70's I understand train travel as well as busses have changed since that time)
Jerry 10-3-2001 13:40
DEBRA: Good Lord, you need to duct tape those twins to something stable, like an anchor! It would be "time-out chair" time in my house or "Can you say GROUNDED from everything you want to do?" Ee gads!!! (((((HUGS))))) No wonder you're having a melt-down! :-)
RACHEL: Arguing? In my house? Only the daily "your face is dirty" "no it's not" "yes it is" "no it's not" and the supper table arguments (they'll even argue over what color carrots are, if you let them!) And yes, my 17-yr-old and the 11-yr-old are ALWAYS right, even when they're arguing with each other, of course. My oldest son would make an excellent lawyer, he's been practicing the argumentative spirit for so long! They'd rather argue with each other than any other cooperative venture - hah!
Mel 10-3-2001 13:35
Howard:
Thank you. Since we can't bring those people back, let's just hope it's a case of a mental break down and not someone wanting to die before something big happens.
They should do a background check on this guy, just to be sure.
Debra 10-3-2001 13:33
SASQUATCH! -- Welcome back! I remember your haiku from several months ago -- who is the hunter again? And you said that Yeti and other creatures feel that the One will not wait much longer. What other creatures? Tell us more, please!
DEBRA -- According to latest news reports the man on the bus carried a Croatian passport and "sounded like a foreigner." He was killed in the crash, but the bus driver is in stable condition following surgery.
howard 10-3-2001 13:16
Rachael:
My two older kids would fitht to the death if we didn't step in. They don't even know what they are fighting about most of the time. Mostly it's not moving over enough when they are getting into the car, or taking the other's seat at the table.
Debra 10-3-2001 12:59
***Rachel***
Mel and Debra - You guys are making me laugh. I love it. My kiddies do these same things. Here is a new spin. Yesterday evening my 13 year old got into an argument with my four year old. She told him she had lost her toy at McDonalds. He said she did not. She stood in the parking lot without her coat (also inside) and empty hands. She pulled up her shirt enough for him to see she had no pockets and said. "Can't you see? I am not holding a toy. There are no toys on any part of me. I have lost my toy." The 13 year old replied "No you didn't." They got into a "did too, did not" deal. Mean while my 10 year old had returned to McDonalds to get the coat and toy. Upon his return he handed the things to the four year old who ended the fuss with "I did too." holding up the toy in her hand. The 13 year old responded with "did not." ARGH! My poor husband thought this was about the most foolish engagement he had seen in quite some time. Told the 13 year old to knock it off. The 13 year old responded by telling him that he was "debating a point" with the four year old. He always thinks he is debating. I think it is something else... I'll not say what here (winks). Does anyone else get that sort of fuss and bother in their home? That is the sort of thing that just makes me shake my head. Why would anyone argue a point that they are so clearly wrong in? It blows my mind. He didn't even argue, he contradicted. Makes me think of a Money Python skit (grins and laughter).
I better go.
Take care all.
10-3-2001 12:44
Also, they sometimes take the toliet paper right out of the bathroom and in doing so slam the door open. When they slam the bathroom door open they hit the lock up against the door behind it,thus locking the door. The they run out of the bathroom with their loot, toliet paper, and shut the door when they leave and that leave what?
Unsuspecting people rushing to the bathroom for you can imagine, first finding the door locked and finally getting in shutting the door only too late to find the paper gone as well. Of course your question is why at this point are they still unsuspecting, well who can answer that question when we have to use all our brain power to figure out what is going to happen in a world when druglords are calling for a holy war to protect their drug trade.
Debra 10-3-2001 12:43
So if you think about it the big kids want money, food and freedom, they are really refugees. What does that make us?
Debra 10-3-2001 12:31
God made little kids cute for a reason.
Debra 10-3-2001 12:26
Mel:
They rip up toliet paper and flick the lights in evey room they enter on and off until we all go nuts. The thing is there are two of them. They seem coordinate their efforts and that's how they can get the chaos to continue.
while I'm trying to hear what the leader of the Talibon is saying they are flinging their arms around my neck and yelling in my ear. You can't lip read with those talibon people, it just doens't work.
Debra 10-3-2001 12:25
Mel:
Plus if I get the mail and leave it on the table they rip it to shreads like a pack of dogs would do to a caucus.
I still count every minute a blessing though. They grow up fast.
Debra 10-3-2001 12:20
Mel:
Yes, the older kids always want money and food. They want food for their friends too.
They want to go places without us all the time too.
We are in a constant battle with them and even when we win we lose, because they punish us by fighting with each other relentlessly.
The twins rip everything out of drawers in the kitchen bathroom, and bedroom. The only room they have no interest in is the toy room, which is always a mess anyway. I can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they hate a clean house. I will clean it up and they seem to have a meeting and the crashing starts. While I'm inspecting that, more crashing happens in the room I just left.
My husband is funny when he gets home he usually asks me what I have been doing all day, and I tell him I have been getting the girls dressed and making the beds. When he doesn't believe me I tell him that he can have whatever he wants you know where if he can get the beds made and the girls dressed for one straight hour.
He usually gives up after the first 35 minutes or so. They are quick little buggers. Yes, they go outside in a fenced in yard, but for a month before the attack on America they were both afraid of planes and I had just gotten them calmed down about that when we all became afraid of planes, now they need someone to go out with them, they are that scared. I don't understand it either. I haven't shared what is happening with them. They are only three. I would need to be jailed if I did, and they still wouldn't understand.
So if I want them outside I have to stop all work in here or wait for my oldest daughter to come home from school and she has a meltdown about staying in the yard when she had been planning on going two houses down to her friends. My twins don't leave my sight so they can't go with her.
Debra 10-3-2001 12:18
Good morning everyone,
Gosh, it's hard to keep up with this forum. The last posts I saw yesterday are already scrolled down a mile!
Thanks for the haiku history, Mel. I'm not sure that the tanka is a haiku, but it is a bit interesting, too. Made of 31 syllables in five lines: 5-7-7-7-5.
Your comment that the haiku is almost like a photo of some specific moment of nature reflects my view that word pictures of any kind and photographs have lots in common. Sometimes a few words can be worth at least one picture...
Billy Dean Link
10-3-2001 12:16
DEBRA: My 4-yr-old doesn't know about spitballs (shhh!) but she casts off used clothing in similar manner in her room! Clothes everywhere!!! The older ones always want money or food, imagine!
Mel 10-3-2001 12:02
Mel:
Maybe we can find out if we are more than cousins.
Do your kids take every piece of paper or book or mail
and rip it up and turn it into spit balls, subsequently trashing the place with little white pellets?
I'm talking about the three year old twins, my older ones,
would never do that, they like their freedom too much.
Debra 10-3-2001 10:17
*Mel*
G'mornin, everyone! Another day to write good stuff! Here's to all your fingers being nimble and inspired today! :-)
CAROL: With all that stowed garden food, maybe we should have an NB Thanksgiving at your house. :-) A spooky with ladybugs sounds challenging! Go for it, girl! But someone else will have to proof it for you - I can't stand suspense!!! I like your idea of stories "composting" in your mind. :-) My novel is composting a lot these days - all I need is a pitchfork to start throwing it where it's needed!
TEEKAY: Um...that "your mission is..."-thingy? It self-destructed before I could absorb it and I haven't a clue to what you're referring. (hum de dum...um, it must be time to go to the new pen store now, can I go, Mom, can I?) :-) I'm an expert only at distracting myself, heh heh! And tell your kids you'll be "just another (Mommy) minute!" re: Jihad - I recently processed a new book on Islam written by a Sufi and he explains that Jihad really means--not a holy war against other people you deem evil but--a holy war WITHIN ONESELF to rid yourself of all the evilness in your own thoughts. Hmm! I like his definition better than the terrorist version.
DEBRA: Your day sounded like a cousin to mine; I planned quality time with family, then reality struck - insurance wars at the pharmacy, late supper that took too long to prepare and then half the family didn't like it, tv-time turned into Buffy the Vampire Slayer and I was out of there like a speeding bee-bee, only to read the 4-yr-old a story with a witch that scared her, then found a quiet corner to write and the hubby came to practice his trumpet...Arrgghhh!! Sigh. Some days it doesn't pay to plan. Distractions win and fill the evening.
TAYLOR: Hee hee hee! Your boss has a smart idea! (Probably not his first, of course!)
SASQUATCH: Beautiful Haiku! :-)
And now, as resident librarian, I have done a brief research on "Haiku," for inspiration for Thursday's shorty theme, taken from several websites:
Haiku is a contemplative poetry popular in Japan that valorizes nature, color, season, contrasts and surprises. Haiku writers are challenged to convey a vivid impression in only 17 Japanese characters. Usually it has 3 lines and 17 syllables distributed in 5, 7 and 5. It must register or indicate a moment, sensation, impression or drama of a specific fact of nature. It's almost like a photo of some specific moment of nature.
In Japan these poems are valued for their lightness, simplicity, openness, and depth.
People have tried to translate the Haiku into an English form, using no more than 17 syllables, arranging these often in lines of 5-7-5 syllables, avoiding similes and metaphors, and retaining Japanese values.
"More than inspiration, it needs meditation, effort and mainly perception to compose a real Haiku". (Rodrigo de Siquiera)
History of Haiku:
Renga (15th century Japan) is a poem several poets create cooperatively. Members alternately add verses of 17 syllables (5, 7, and 5 syllables) and those of 14 syllables (7 and 7 syllables), until they complete a poem generally composed of 100 verses.
In the 16th century, instead of renga, it was haikai - humorous poem - that became popular. Haikai (haikai-renga) is a poem made of verses of 17 and 14 syllables like renga, but it parodies renga introducing modern vulgar laughter. Haikai poets used plays on words and treated preferably things of daily life renga hadn't found interesting.
The first verse of renga and haikai is called "hokku". Haikai poets sometimes presented their hokkus as independent poems. These were the origin of haiku.
It was traditionally demanded to adopt a kigo (season word: word referring to a season) in the first verse of renga and haikai. Therefore, they demand to introduce a kigo in a hokku (and in a haiku) too. -- Ryu Yotsuya
Mel 10-3-2001 9:30
Am I an idiot, but why hasen't anyone said what nationality that the man was who crashed the bus?
Could this be the bio attack and we just don't know it yet?
Debra 10-3-2001 8:38
Hello all: Just finally getting back to some semblance of reality. The main thing I wanted to recount was the awesome level of diving that both Fran and I experienced while we were in Fiji and the subsequent comittment to diving here in the Seattle area. Perhaps the one dive that exemplifies it all was the Great White Wall. We entered this dive via a tunnel that dropped us from 40 feet to eighty feet and out along a sheer wall that spanned in all directions that our perceptions could tell and in reality went from 20 feet to 240 feet below. On this wall with the help of a rather precipitous current was an unending array of soft coral that was flowering, all iridescent lavender to our pink colored Sea Vision masks. Others would likely see white flowers, hence the name the Great White Wall. After some Oh Wow factor I realized that I was at around 94 feet and put some air in my BCD and went neutral at about 81 feet. It was at this point that I realized that Fran was slowly flowing down the wall well below me and made the spot decision that I wanted to discourage her of this. By the time I got to her and tapped her on the shoulder and gently tugged at her elbow, she was at 117 feet. We made it up and after some disorientation met up with our dive master and entered a second tunnel that put us out on the top of the reef at about 42 feet or less. All in all, a thoroughly riveting experience and one of the more extraordinary dives that I have made so far. I know something of what has been described to me about wall dives. I include three pictures to give a taste of our experience.
Jack Beslanwitch 10-3-2001 7:15
I don't know about the rest of you, but this wonderful five day mission of the Starship Enterprise is having a super effect on me, it puts the horror of the last month behind, if just for the few hours I spend watching, and allows me to relax just a bit. I was shocked that my lovely wife has joined me in my mission watching, as this was once one of her favorite shows also. (something I seemed to have forgotten.)
Jerry 10-3-2001 0:50
Rachael:
Your hiku was so good I pasted it here just in case
some people missed it.
This is Rachael's about the terrorists.
anger, hate, devotion,
is the locomotion drive,
cause a moral dive.
I hope you don't mind!
BTW
I was in a store shopping a few days ago and the twins saw
some costumes that they wanted. I told them no. I guy came by and said you know I hear that they will be having Bin Ladin costumes this year.
I told him we would be chosing something more family friendly this year.
He looked at the twins and nodded in agreement, but before he could say a word I said " like Jack the Ripper"
He laughed in complete agreement.
10-3-2001 0:07
***Rachel***
Sasquatch - Hey you Yeti you. It is nice to have your fuzz covered backside on the site again. May the ground under your feet be steady and the sky over your head be filled with dreams and tender memeories. I like you Sasquatch. You are a very interesting individual. Hope you scrunch about in the underbrush of the site for a time.
Hugs to yah.
10-2-2001 23:59
hello again humans persons. i sasquatch have been lurking quietly. i try to understand how it is that some humans persons can hate so very much. in Yeti memory there is not such a happening. some yeti and other creatures feel the One will not allow very longer but will make ending soon. but then i sasquatch come and watch here and see love is not gone. not all humans persons are alike with these bad feelings. and i sasquatch am still to have hope. long from this time when we are not there will be Yeti memory of the good that is here.
it is again time for this that i sasquatch have written before about this time of change to season. perhaps it does fit with other poems now here.
hunter returning
drags prey over autumn hills
stained with summer’s blood
i must go
sasquatch 10-2-2001 23:45
***Rachel***
In honour of the evening I will try another.
Desire, fire, passion,
Niether willing to lose face.
Ugly pride lacks grace.
These things don't need to really rhyme do they? I've got a thing for rhyme. I don't even mean to do it. It just sort of happens. Sometimes I'll go on a rhyme rampage. My husband will plead with me to stop. I however have no mercy!
Dang! Give me more poetry structure. I'm gonna go wild! This is kinda fun. Usually I just sit down and do my rhyming couplet deal (I think that's what I get up to most of the time, and I do get up to it, for pages and pages and pages). I guess I've done some free form stuff to. Hum... Bet I've been writing structured poetry and didn't even know it.
I think it is time for a cup of tea.
10-2-2001 23:39
HOWARD: You post that haiku about the geese every fall and I absolutely love it. It has become quite a harbinger of the season, at least for me. Love your humor and can honestly say I wish I knew you in real life.
I think that a Haiku shortie night is an excellent idear. If nothing else, it should bring LITTER out of hiding (he is an expert). C'mon big guy, we miss ya.
It's official: SHORTIE NIGHT THEME: HAIKU
This is gonna be great.
Mary CeltiCreations
10-2-2001 22:40
***Rachel***
Debra - Ahhh, so you have the no worries approach. Extra fun (wide wicked smiles).
Teekay - I have to admit that I have beige burbur in the family room. That is the only non white carpet that I've got. Even the freaking tiles are white. I'm lucky in one way. The stuff between the tiles is this lovely rich burgandy colour. I don't mind that at all. If it was white between the tiles, well... That would be too much!
Now I must run. I have a fliet-o-fish about to be delivered to me. YUM!
Take care you.
10-2-2001 22:25
Okay wait, I did wash the bread pans, but they were that teflon stuff so they actually looked clean, but I still washed those.
Debra 10-2-2001 22:06
Teekay:
Don't feel too lazy. I ground up the zuchini yesterday. I put it all in a bowl and today I only needed to mix ingredients. If you take three bowls and have a dry mix, and a wet mix and a third bowl mix them into, you can bang out the loafs without batting an eyelash. You don't have to keep washing them inbetween mixings if you have three. See it takes 47 minutes to cook. I only have two pans. It takes a few minutes to slam all the ingredients together so thats it.
Every forty-seven minutes I drop the breads out, mix up another batch and pour them in. Then forty-seven minutes later I repeat. It's nothing. I promised my husband I wouldn't let one thing he grew in his garden go to waste. I spent weeks boiling tomatos so now I have enough sauce made to last until next August. We have an extra fridge downstairs. The zuchinis were in it for a while, but today was the day. Rage created energy. Poof many loafs of zuchini bread!
Debra 10-2-2001 22:04
**Teekay**
RACHE: 6 kids? White carpet?
I am banging my head against the wall at the madness of this world. :-D
How can you be sane?
I would love to take a wander through your files.
I tried to make up a haiku on what MEL said. I stared at the screen awhile, I counted on my fingers a bit, and then I gave up.
One of the reasons I don't have white carpet. :-D
I love letters to the editor, and it's no big deal, they publish anything. :-D
DEBRA: Good girl. You're making me feel positively lazy though :-D
Teekay 10-2-2001 21:20
Randall
Hey!
I mentioned this tale last year, and Halloween is soon to be here. Soooooooooooo... BTW, Jerry was writing his tale of a phantom battle about the same time I was working on mine. Uh huh, freaky ain't it!!!!!!!! But I decided to wait a few days to post mine. Nice story Jerry. Thank you Mel and Teekay for the nice comments on the RV story. If I forgot to mention any others my sincere apologies. Once you get past 50 the body goes, then the mind, then the sex drive, it's all over :-))))))
As best as I can recollect a Halloween tale from my grandmother...........
"When I was a young girl we sometimes would ride up to the Jim Ned creek on Sunday afternoons to picnic. After church was out, Dad and several other men would hitch up the horse carriages and take the families to the creek bottoms where we could play and picnic in the summer. It was cool there and there were great big cottonwood trees for shade. There were several girls about my age and we played hide and seek while our mothers cooked and our fathers and brothers played baseball.
"Near where we picnicked the old Abilene stage road crossed the Jim Ned creek and went on up toward Cross Plains then Abilene. I had heard Dad talk of the Indian raids hereabouts, but they were gone by the time we came along. He said the Indians raided the remote homesteads, killing people and stealing horses. Dad said they were of the Comanche tribe and mean.
"Well one afternoon our fathers got together and decided to spend the night in the bottoms. They always prepared to stay overnight, carrying bedrolls, groundsheets and lanterns just in case a storm came up. We kids were excited as this was a big deal. Home was 10 miles away and spending Sunday night meant no school for us on Monday.
"Along about sundown one of the girls found a piece of old leather half-buried in the ground beside a dead cottonwood tree. We struggled to pull it out, but it was in there good. One of the boys brought a shovel and we dug it up. It was part of an old saddle. Dad and several men came over and decided to dig a little more. They lit up some lanterns as it was turning dark and began to dig.
"That was when we first heard the sound of a horse running. It seemed close to us, and faded away. Everyone looked around but all our horses were on a picket, most sleeping. Someone went and checked but all our horses were tied up. Two men started digging again, and found more of the saddle and some horse bones. By now everyone was gathered around the hole. I could sense that something was wrong though. There was a damp fog forming along the creek bed, and I went to my mother who was standing next to my dad. Dad was a big man, big enough to throw a steer down, but he looked scared.
"Suddenly we heard a yell beyond the creek, then the sound of many horses running. But there was nothing around us. It was pitch dark. All the people were here. One man jumped out of the hole where he and his friend had been digging. The other man started digging again and pulled something out of the ground. I couldn't see what it was but mother told me many years later it as an old time calvary belt buckle. The kind the calvary troopers wore.
"Then I heard guns shooting, followed by men yelling, and the sound of a horse in pain. Everyone jumped. The noise I had heard last summer when Dad's horse broke a leg as he chased a steer and he was forced to kill it. It was a high pitched screaming sound, like a woman dying with great pain. The noise was all around us, like we were in the center of a battle. There were men shouting and screaming like they were being torn apart. There were guns shooting and running horses and barking dogs. The noise came in waves, very loud then fade away as if the battle moved away. But it always came back over us. Mother hid me in her skirts. The menfolk pushed us into the center and stood facing outward. But there was nothing to see beyond the lantern light. Nothing but the horrible sound of a phantom battle. Someone had us move to the wagons and lifted the children inside. I lay in the bottom of the wagon under a tarp and shook cause I knew we would never be allowed to leave this cursed place.The men quickly hitched the horses, and funny thing is, the horses acted like nothing was going on. They couldn't hear what we could.
"We left everything that terrible night, food, blankets, lanterns. Several men had brought their Winchesters and they rode beside the wagons as we moved away from the Jim Ned bottoms. Dad always carried an old double barrel shotgun, for birds he said, and he had it in hand as Mom drove the carriage. Slowly the noise faded and it was very late when we arrived back at the church. We stayed the rest of the night there, then everyone went home at dawn.
"I never went back. Mom said that Dad and a bunch of the men did many days later and gathered up all our bedding and such. The old saddle, belt buckle and horse bones were reburied in the same hole. Much later I understand somebody put up a marker, but like I said, I never went back there. I asked Mom a couple of weeks later what was going on and she told me to never mention the night again. Well, you know I went to Dad and asked him the next day. He said the same thing.
"I was a married woman 20 years later going through the depression when a fellar from the government came by the house one afternoon. Mom and dad were dead then and I was just married. This man said he was a writer and them fellers in Washington was paying him for to write down old time stories. I told him several then the one about the Jim Ned creek. He pulled out a bunch of papers and told me he had heard the story before and had done some research on it. He said a calvary patrol had caught a bunch of Comanche Indians camping in the creek bottoms one night. There was a great battle and many men were killed. It was late in the day when this fellar left out, said he was going to spend the night at the old Jim Ned crossing. I never heard of him again, though he said he would be around for a while. Looking for more stories I suppose. But I guess he left the country for we never heard of him again."
I heard this tale somewhere in the area of 44 years ago. The old Abilene/Brownwood/Jim Ned trail crossing is now a hundred feet under Lake Brownwood. The old cottonwoods are now host to catfish and bass. But I'll tell you one thing my friends. I sure as hell would not like to be scuba diving there late some afternoon, and find the remains of an old saddle on the bottom.
Randall
Randall 10-2-2001 21:18
Rachael:
Not the kiddie, just the practice.
He can't make any more. I'm still a bulls eye. But since he's all set I can't make any more either. It's just that simple.
Debra 10-2-2001 20:38
Tina:
I wouldn't sky dive if my life depended on it. If I did dream about it, I would think I was having a nightmare.
Mel:
Nice catch on the Hiku with Howard.
I wonder if that's how they originated. I'd like to find how they did orginate.
Debra 10-2-2001 20:37
****Rachel****
Teekay - Hey again. I've more to say. So yah think that was poetic... Hum, I should let you wander through a few of my files. They are loaded with stuff. I feel a great wave of poetry coming on. I don't know how much I'll share. The stuff today was just tongue in cheek. I wrote it all in as long as it took to count the syllabas.
Debra - You go for it! Be wild and wicked ;o) Hum, is she going to try to go for six kiddies? Hope I haven't got the wrong idea about what you are going to be up to (laugher)!
Take care all.
10-2-2001 20:34
Teekay, eekay, beekay (smiles),
Sooooo, that is what those bits of paper are for... I had thought those were for making boo ghosts with;o) As for carpets and such. Just think mine are all white (merry laughter). Yes, they really are white. I am the queen of getting out stains. I've had red wine dumped on my rug and had it up and clean. The only stains I can't seem to get out are those that have sat for years. Those were in place long before I ever came to this home. Had I been on the spot when they were made I would have been done with them too (winks).
Rachel 10-2-2001 20:28
**Teekay**
TAYLOR: I think we should take in refugees too, but I think first they ought to be processed and does it matter where they're processed so long as their needs are met?
I was reading in the paper today how Australia only takes a certain amount of refugees and it's heaps smaller than England say, now I don't know what the economic climate is over there, but over here where you have all these bloody left wing activists who are all for peoples rights to the extreme, we have a country that is going totally nowhere.
So there goes economic growth. And our taxes are sucked from what we already have here. Sure we have some exports, but hell, we could have heaps more, but you have your labours who want every bloody thing, and you have your liberals who would like to see the country grow, but don't want to take the risk of having shoddy workers they can't get rid of and all the horrors that unions bring, and you still have these activists who have the luxury of only thinking with their hearts and not their brains.
Let's not mention the mind states and the religious beliefs of these people.
I found out what Jihad really means from a Lebanese person the other day.
What it is is a call for all people of a certain race to band together against a common enemy. Now even if you don't want to, if you want you and yours to get to the promised land you just gotta, and if you've been brain washed long enough, well, you know what you've got to do.
God do gooder left wing activists give me the shits.
I am a nice person, only I think with my head as well as my heart.
Sorry, I feel another letter to the editor coming on.
Must go and compose.
Should have left that darn paper alone.
Teekay 10-2-2001 19:55
Oh I forgot my husband's redeeming one of his coupons tonight. That shouldm't take even as long as it took to wash the dogs. heeeheee!
I always tell my friends, always say yes. It takes nine hours to say no.
It takes, insert number of minutes here, to say yes!
It's cost effective time wise to always say yes.
Then you can get on with your evening.
heheheeeheheh!
Debra 10-2-2001 19:19
teekay: I did hear about the Air Marshalls last night...But I dont think I can fully trust the Air Marshalls, unless I know that they would be totally Untouchable
This is totally unfair of me I guess...But anyone whos has been closely associated with obl should be watched carefully
I am still trying to think about the fleeing Afghanistan people...Part of me says Australia ahould take in son, but another part of me thinks we shouldnt because of security reasons
A funny not...well in a way it is...My boss at work is convinced hes cursed...When he went to the gold coast this time, this happened...Last time he went to the gold coast, Princess Di died, he told me of a couple of other things too
as a joke, he said next time hes going away hes going to ring up the secratary of defence or whoever and warn them
taylor 10-2-2001 19:15
Teekay:
I know just what you mean, give em an extra squeeze for me when you do it next time. Will ya!
In fact, today I did all the stuff I didn't want to and that made me feel good.
I took my daughter to her dentist
then to school
Came home gave the twins lunch
they unmade the beds for the second time
today, so I made them again,they got undressed
for the fourth time I just let them run in their
undies.
I washed the two dogs down to the bone and
tied them on the warm front farmers porch
to dry. I put their doggie bed in the washer.
I cleaned the tub after them
I made six loafs of zuchinni bread.
I washed all the floors, kitchen, bathroom and tiles in the front of the house.
I made a good supper for my family.
I made a few phone calls to keep in touch.
Now I have to clean the kitchen and the twins.
and put them into bed.
Then I have to make lunches.
Then it's my time.
Wait that will be technically tomorrow,
but who cares.
Debra 10-2-2001 19:10
My last was of the sun--here's one of the moon. Comments are very welcome--just email them off list. Thanks! Hope everyone enjoys it...
This Lady is a Moon
The stars,
Hiding in the sputter of their own glitter,
Put on the same old twinkle, twinkle every night
But she entertains lovers and insomniacs.
Curve by curve,
She takes off her velvet wrap
And stands in the spotlight--
Still, iridescent and nude.
This public face winks at her fans,
But her smile is a thin disguise.
Can you see the scars on her soft cheeks
Where critics have thrown hard things at her?
Wise old owls ask “Who? Who are you?”
Wolves and maniacs beg to see,
But she keeps her private side for only me.
She sends me love notes, too--
Not in tossed bottles,
But riding waves kissing sand.
I read her ebb and flow in the tides
Lapping code upon the shore.
She followed me home last night
Quietly as smoke drifting through the trees.
To light the street?
To tease my dreams?
Who can tell?
But I liked walking,
Wrapped in her big-eyed glow...
Billy Dean Link
10-2-2001 18:57
**Teekay**
Hi All,
DEBRA: No, not really, but you know on those days when you'd rather do anything than what you really should be doing, I sort of flick around then to see what I might find, and I haven't found any other place like this.
WHOOO HOOOOOOO I am so glad to see you have moved on to angry.
I've found it simply doesn't pay to read or listen to the news, most times I do I just want to race screaming down the street, find the first lefty, do gooder, peoples right activist and choke them-slowly.
And I see my self as a very compassionate person.
RACHEY POO: That's what paper towels and baby wipes are for :-) And please let's not talk carpets. I don't want to go there.
GARIESS: Don't diet, just walk more.
I actually went to the vidoe store yesterday afternoon, and guess what I did? Thanks very much!
TAYLOR: Did you see that talk about air marshalls on Orstraylyian planes last night? The guy reckons it's only so the passengers feel secure. Said the real security should take place before people get on the planes.
Did you read about the guy they found here who was at one time connected to ObL? They interviewed him and feel that he's no threat. He's over here on some type of visa. What a joke huh? Don't THINK he's a threat. What? Did he have a nice face?
MEL: Ah, now I know why I always wanted to live in America. Over here it's the kiddies who dirty the floor and the Mummies who clean them. Hot dog!
Today your mission is to go up the attic, pick up that cross stitch of the dust mice and bring it down stairs. You don't have to begin on it today, just look at it and contemplate it and then put it where you can get to it easily.
RACHEL: Not a poet? I think you have a great talent for poetry. Especially haiku. I even found this quite poetic:
'You have to say what you want to say
in a strict and measured way.
That is kind of fun. '
Hubby's home with the newspaper, bust go and get my daily dose of antagonism.
I'm sure there's more I want to rant about, but it's school holidays dontcha know and the kids are doing the 'MU-U-Um, how much longer are you going to be' thing.
So I'll catch you guys later when the chilun's have had their allotted hour.
Teekay 10-2-2001 18:37
Hi All :)
A productive day for me so far. Broke my back digging and filling four five gallon size pails of russet potatoes. That should last us most if not all the winter. Did I mention we grow a VERY large garden? hehehe I've got enough corn frozen for all winter too -- 79 bags in all. Hand cut from the cob, another ouchee day.
Teekay -- ever try Chicken Soup for the Writer's Soul? Lots of tears to fill up the kleenex in there too.
Howard -- No, I don't mean she omniscient POV. I enjoy reading that when its done well. This was straight out telling and not enjoyable to read at all. It also made the characters flat and hard to care about.
Jerry -- Watch a few NG for me. Hubby has sat through so many episodes over the years with me, he's got me on a diet -- mainly late night airings when he's in bed. :)
Tina -- ok, where exactly are you finding Enterprise? I looked all through my satellite guide, every FOX listing and a few others. I just can't find it listed! Hubby can't argue with a new series. hehehe
Mel -- regarding my lady bugs. Actually I was thinking of a horror story with them. One bathroom curtain hides the bugs and when the sun shines through there is quite a strange looking moving mass there. Whatca think? Regarding your POV challenge -- it sounds highly interesting. Sounds too like its workable given your POV character. I'd love to see it sometime. Have fun with it!
Hubby gave me a story idea the other night that is composting in my mind. He found one that will put my experience with dogs and their unique abilities to work. I'm looking forward to working on it and the first sentence has finally appeared. Now, to find the next sentence. :)
Carol 10-2-2001 18:34
Well pook!
Oh well, click on the link thing below and it should take you there.
Allein Flush
10-2-2001 16:30
http://www.theunholytrinity.org/cracks_smileys/contrib/edoom/Flush.gif">
10-2-2001 16:29
[IMG]http://www.theunholytrinity.org/cracks_smileys/contrib/edoom/Flush.gif[/IMG]
10-2-2001 16:28
http://www.theunholytrinity.org/cracks_smileys/contrib/edoom/Flush.gif">
I love Haiku!!
Very kakoii
boy. But when he gets wet
He becomes a pig.
Those who are anime/Ranma fans will know who I'm talking about.
Anyway, just checking in.
Allein Peachick's Gallery
10-2-2001 16:28
***Rachel***
I think that abusive parents and terrorists have a lot in common. They are both hard to find, hard to stop, will not accept any consequence and always claim that it is done in the name of one thing or another. They say it is not them but something that made them do it. Argh! I do not hate them, not any of them, but I do so hate what these sorts of people do to children.
Just a moment of frustration from me. Sorry guys.
10-2-2001 15:04
JERRY: Another HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! :-) (First one was for MSLINUX.org) If you can't spit on the tv for me, then just leer at "Q" for me, okay? Thanks. GOING!!!
Mel, last time 10-2-2001 14:06
JERRY: Hahahahahahahhahahahahaha! :-D But it really wasn't a hacker - check the URL: MSLINUX.org (I'm at a .org so I noticed, and .orgs are not for business but for nonprofit organizations). The REAL Microsoft page is still there where it should be: at MSLINUX.com (.coms are for business/commercial sites).
RACHEL: See! You are TOO a poet! And a very talented one by the looks of these nice Haikus you're spinning in your web. :-)
DEBRA: :-) Kinda like the movie WHAT DREAMS MAY COME - what a depressing thing that was! But the guy went into HELL to pull his wife from there so they could be together in Heaven. :-) Thus do-eth your NB family for you-eth. Now, pull your ears and make that grin stick! :-D
Um, I have to get back to work now. :-( You guys are so much fun! 'Bye.
Mel - I'm back! 10-2-2001 14:04
Mel - you would not be enjoying the marathon then, the I have seen three episodes so far with Q in them. Had I spit on them, I am afraid my television may have shorted out, and then where would that leave me for the rest of the week. It would require a quick trip to Dickinson, or maybe Bismarck, where I could find another TV. No, Wait, I could use a new wide screen HDTV.
Just a second.
No, that didn't work and the wife is looking at me like I am crazy.
She is picking up the phone.
Their coming to take me away, ha ha, their coming to take me away, he he.
To the funny farm, where life is happy all the time, and every one is joyful and gay.
Back to the TV.
Jerry 10-2-2001 14:03
Thank you guys for diving into the depths of dispair to rescue me.
I'm lucky to have friends like you.
God Bless you all!
Debra 10-2-2001 13:10
***Rachel***
Haiku is kinda fun. I like that I can sit down and do one of these little buddies in as long as it takes me to count. Well, provided I don't get kid pounced. If that happens I could easily make a mistake (winks).
Webs
Silvery, silken,
shimmering, crystalline strands
a web, a new day.
Think thats right. I like these. You have to say what you want to say in a strict and measured way. That is kind of fun.
ALL - With all these posts and poems you guys will think I've nothing but time on my hands. I assure you that is not the case. I just type very quickly. I can sit down and crank out a post or a poem in no time. That is about how much of it I have. My poetry and posts sometimes suffer from great poverty due to my time constraints. I hope that you all can forgive me for not always being an active person on the page. I can't say I'll stay as active as I've been the past day, but it could happen (winks). Kind of depends. Ahhh and now I am sure that Billy Dean will understand very well that I am no poet (merry laughter).
10-2-2001 12:41
Need a chuckle, I think we all do right about now, (except me, I am sitting in my recliner watching the 2 Capt. Piccard episod) Check out Microsoft's MSLINUX page. It appears someone not all that happy with Microsoft has hacked in and replaced just a bit of the text. Read it very carefully and you will see what I mean.
Jerry MS Linux
10-2-2001 12:30
Oh, I give up! Rachel had to talk about food. Guess I'm on early lunchtime today! Hmm, maybe I'll take Ms. Muse with me somewhere, a nice quiet cubbyhole inthe public library next door... :-)
Hungry Mel 10-2-2001 11:33
RACHEL: "Autumn Thoughts" was a nice haiku! :-) However, the anger one, first line a syllable too long (remove "hate" maybe and it's a.o.k.) - hold your chin when you're counting syllables. (And watch for the Candid Camera!);-) Also, "Mommy moments" sound even nicer than Mommy-minutes. A Mommy-minute is when a kid calls "MOM!" and you say "Just a minute!" Knowing they only want to know what is for the next meal or why their siblings keep getting into their stuff or hitting them, etc, etc, you finish reading the chapter of your book and then, ten clock-minutes later, you reappear from the bathroom, heh heh! :-)
JERRY: The NB, ST:NG, and your recliner...you sure do have a nice relaxing life today. :-) ENJOY!
Mel should be working 10-2-2001 11:26
Well saw the first three NEXT GEN episods then went to bed, but I am right back at it this AM. Strange, I have new (to me anyhow) computer parts sitting on the dinning room table, untested, my wife thinks I am ill or something, until she sees what is on TV then she understands.
I did get my $16.00 motherboard and stick it in an old case I had laying around, I allready had an extra 166 processor, and lots of RAM. Have the unit almost completely together, maybe after the NEXT GEN is over. I did have the good sense to remove most of it from the dining room, but as the Next Gen was begining, this lady brought me her old monitor for fixing her new machine, and that sits untested on the dinning room table. Maybe during a commercial break or something.
Back to the Marathon.
Jerry 10-2-2001 10:42
***Rachel***
Mel - Mommy moments. I like that. It sounds nice. I love hugs. Thank you (big smiles). I about wet myself when you posted about the book in water and the microwave.
Take care you.
10-2-2001 10:21
***Rachel***
Debra - I do not want to win. I want you to win (hugs). I want you to win/take/claw back what you used to have.
I will try this 5/7/5 thing.
anger, hate, devotion,
is the locomotion drive,
cause a moral dive.
Hum, that wasn't so bad. At least the writing of it wasn't (winks).
Autumn thoughts 5/7/5 style;o)
autumn cool and crisp
beauty of golden light sighs
red gold leaves fall, die.
Garries - Diet food... Your post made me smile. Damn I'm feeling cheeky this morning...
Frozen entre in a box
I dream of cream cheese and of Lox.
Not so good for my ass.
This poem, it lacks class.
Still yes, still yes I will go on
If I do can I make a song?
I would need to create a chorus.
No, no died food for me.
No diuretics in my tea.
Healthy eating, less t.v.
That will bring a tight ass to me ;o)
Hugs and some kisses.
It is time for me to go.
A new day as dawned.
10-2-2001 10:12
Oh, lordy, lordy, we just got back a library paperback that a patron dropped in a sinkful of water; he then put it in the microwave to dry it off...heh heh...ohhhh noooooo, Mr. Bill! It looks like Custer's last stand. What the patron's kitchen must have smelled like, only the patron knows. But I think if GS smelled that, he'd never eat-anything-again!!! :-)
Mel again 10-2-2001 10:11
**Mel**
Hi, all! Okay Lurkers, report in! HALLEE, HEATHER, HOP, BEN, MARK, AMERICO, WHERE ARE YOU??? EDDIE, RHODA, CHRISTI, LITTER, ANITA, RUTH, JOHN??? More recently, ROSEMARY, ALLEIN, MARY, VIV??? Have we lost BANKY, KITTY, LESLIE, LIZZIE, MARY LOU, RICHARD, SHERWOOD, SUSAN, TRUDY??? All others I have forgotten to remember??? Come on back to the table! There's second helpings and dessert yet to come. :-)
Now we know who's out there REALLY writing their stuff. See, you guys are inspiring even without reporting in here, heh heh! You go, girls and guys!
DEBRA, TINA, RACHEL: It must be a guy-thing (my hubby too), to make up incredible one-liners and make little kids believe them...or at least make them smile. :-)
RACHEL: From one mother to another, (((HUGS))) and many MOMMY-minutes (as long as you want a minute to be) for you! :-)
GS: Hahahahaha! :-) Next time you want to diet, remember it's not how much you eat (or inhale!) but WHAT! Try lots of fresh fruits and veggies and whole grain fibers - yum! You won't starve. BTW, what an interesting hobby for a writer, going to the video store and retitling movies. :-) Inspirational!
TEEKAY: Um, you wash floors? Isn't that what kids are for? (Hey! Did you spill that soda on the counter? Well, look, it's splashed all over the floor too - get the mop!) :-) BTW, that bad-ending book reminds me of FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON and the movie "Awakenings" - characters evolve wonderfully then devolve back to where they were - definitely, Kleenex stories. Um, handcrafts? heh heh - look in my attic; there's a nice little cross-stitch picture I started before my first child was born, a nice little poem about a mother telling the dust-mice to hush because she's rocking her baby and babies won't keep...I've rocked five babies and chased a lot of dust-mice since I started that fine little handcraft, never got back to it! BTW, your intended haiku could fulfill the line-count if re-arranged, but the sense of it may be lost:
"Bees drunk with nectar, (5)
sweet voices calling me home, (7)
raise (their) sleepy heads" (5)
and "Piggy Sue" reminds me of a Quantum Leap episode where "Sam" encourages a budding guitarist/singer to change his lyrics from piggy suey to Peggy Sue ... hee hee!
CAROL: Yep. The NB family is quite a nice, chit-chatty bunch. :-) BTW, maybe those ladybugs have called a convention on your ceiling...could be a story in there, somewhere... :-)
HOWARD: To heck with archives! Tell your muse to help you write some NEW stuff! :-) We're listening! Mouths agape--hurry now, before we choke on our drool...BTW, nice writer's link (Pam McCutcheon's site) about POV... I have a POV challenge in my novel as I am determined to use an unconventional omniscient POV - the character is psychic, has foresight, can mindread, and has empathy too. I begin each chapter with his first person POV (present tense, as he's discovering things) and then zoom, through his consciousness, into third person POV (past tense) as he interprets with his extrasensory senses what's happening/happened with his loved ones and others affecting their lives. It certainly is tricky but I really think I can make it work.
JERRY: Enjoy the ST:NG marathon! :-) If you see "Q" you can spit on the TV for me! I hate that character!!! ;-[
DEBRA: I understand your empathic gifts and tendencies, but don't let the evil suck you in. There is a Power STRONGER than evil - loving, peaceful, and mighty in justice and grace - that enfolds us all, if you will let it. You have freedom to choose: outstretched hands of confidence and encircling arms of security...or a swirling whirlpool of negativity and chaos... You choose. We all choose. I choose the Higher power. BTW, you have, I think, written an unintentional Haiku to Howard:
"I can't write my name. (5)
I (am) having a melt-down. (7)
I should try to sleep." (5) Heh heh! :-) Peace to you.
Y'all go write something inspiring today and then share it here, will ya? Thanks! From one who hasn't nearly enough time to write the stories swarming in her head...
Mel 10-2-2001 9:50
scary thought today...there was a plane crash north of the capital of Western Australia, it was an indonesian jet...
someone started the rumour it was 2 jets...but it wasnt
TG the plane crashed short of the Airbase, the pilot ejected but is in a serious but stable condition...I tell you, my first thought when I heard about it that it was a terrorist here...Think I am a little paranoid
Nobody else hurt...Luckily
taylor 10-2-2001 6:51
Deb: its a long story...ended up landing on my rifle
Unfortunately I have only recurring dreams at the moment
Dont know if this is good or bad thing...Australian Government talking about putting Air Marshall on Australian planes as well
taylor 10-2-2001 1:53
Did you ever eat one of those frozen "Diet" meals? I got a few on my last shopping trip. I had one tonight. Inside that rectangular and narrow carton there was a tiny shapeless mass surrounded by a lot of empty carton space. I threw the box away, but I think it stated the calorie content to be about 15 or 16. I bent over to smell the damn thing and I accidentally inhaled it. The sensation of it thawing in my nostril was exquisite, but I still felt unsatisfied and empty somehow.
Tomorrow I will try to get a refund for the rest of the "Entees." Why in heaven's name people will pay a store $3.29 not to feed them is beyond me. From now on, if I want to diet I will go to the local lunch counter and when I get my plate, I will scrape four fifth's of the contents onto the counter. That, or I may invite four other dieters to join me. I will get the same nourishment for less money and my friends will share in the experience. I am still unsure how to decide. On the one hand I can split the tip five ways, and the other I get a slap from the waitress for messing the counter. Hmm. I have to go now, I have four phone calls to make.
GS
gariess 10-2-2001 1:03
Hey Debra, if I manage to dream about anything other than skydiving, I'll let you know! :-D (You'd think I enjoyed it or something.)
My solution: find something wacky and full of life (ie: skydiving or another suitable activity) and do it. Immediately. I know the truth and facts of what's going on in the world around me, I acknowledge and worry about it, but refuse to be defeated. Yes we will ALL take appropriate action - the US is not alone in opposing those people! But you and I and all the rest of us need to keep living.
Now let's see, we need an activity that's very involving... interesting... are you an adrenaline junkie?... Take you and hubby to out of the way romantic spot and - well - you know :-) Or do a culture day. Nothing but museums and galleries and good food for one entire day, to remind you what it is we have here in N.A. that makes us such 'infidels'. Or make friends with someone's horse and lose yourself in the landscape for a day. (((HUGS)))
Jerry, a marathon of N.G.? Count me in! I get TNN, I hope it's the same here. Yay! Just watched the 'Enterprise' pilot tonight. It was great! A way better first effort than NG, or DS9 or Voyager! It can only get better. I like the doctor. must go check the guide.
Tina 10-2-2001 0:23
Howard:
I don't know who invented Hiku, but I'm very thankful.
It's short and sweet, and we have time for one more, always. Well not me. I can't write my name, I'm having a melt down, for some reason. Maybe I should try to sleep!
Debra 10-2-2001 0:03
Taylor:
Okay wait, you wanted to get into the trench, but fell in instead.
Good one. Maybe it's one of those you should watch out what you wish for, you might get it.
You know!
See you wanted it, you went for it, then you ended up landing on your head, figuritively of course.
Debra 10-2-2001 0:01
DEBRA - That link is very nice, but it's not haiku in the classic 5-7-5 pattern. Thanks, though, for posting it. I like the work very much.
Here's an old one that I wrote some years ago:
Geese honking southward
One arm of vee is longer
More birds on that side
howard 10-2-2001 0:01
Taylor:
Since they're vaired, can you think of another one? If I start to think about your being thrown into a ditch, I'll just start ranting like an idiot again.
Got another one!
Debra 10-1-2001 23:58
Rachael:
You win. I'll consider that a verbal slap in the face, the kind I need. You know the kind that wakes you up after you start to rant like an idiot and can't stop.
I like the dream. The way I figure it you got published, good reallll good.
You have a guy named Jeeves and a closet full of white dresses.
Debra 10-1-2001 23:51
Deb...well my dreams are ver varied
for instance about just over a month ago I had a dream about falling into a trench I was trying to get into...I have dreamt of glass compounds and other stuff...keeping a dream diary
taylor 10-1-2001 23:50
***Rachel***
Debra - Okay, how about a change of topic (hugs). Another dream... My dad's wife called me up to tell me she has dreamed of me. She says in the dream she comes to visit. I look fantastic and am wearing the beautiful white gown. There is a strange woman in my house who keeps telling her how she can and can not do things and how she should and should not handle Sebastian. What do you think that is about? I like the part where I'm looking great in a white dress. If I'm in white dress it must mean that I'm getting to have a little R&R. I never clean in white dresses (winks).
Howard - Hi you:o) Uh, er, it wasn't me who helped you out. I would love to say it was and get some big hugs from you, but nope, it wasn't me.
Carol - I wouldn't mind having eight arms. That would be wayyyy cool. I could get more done in a shorter length of time. Maybe I could even write while I did the dishes!
Teekay - My life is an adventure everyday. I have friends who joke that my life should be one of those reality shows. I kid you not. Three times a week sounds fine to me. I wish I could do that. It's just that somebody is always splashing something or tracking something or splashing then tracking something, or the dog runs in with mud on her paws, then I get to scrub the rugs and the floors. Ohhhh the joy of it all (winks). Okay, I admit it the top ten thing was cheeky (smiles).
Debra - Yup, I'm a split ass too ;o)
Take care all.
10-1-2001 23:42
Just a note NEXT GENERATION IS ON RIGHT NOW ON TNN THE NASHVILLE NETWORK!!!
They are advertising a 5 day mission, in other words the next 5 days nothing but NEXT GENERATION ALL THE TIME.
Ah did I mention that I may be very busy these next five days, well I might, something important just came up, you know how it is with us old disabled folks.
Jerry 10-1-2001 23:37
Rachael:
I know you're right, but is that what you are going to be saying when you see the video tape of journalists in yellow suits taping the whole country of dead bodies? Are you going to say I will just take my children to the playground because that will just show them?
I hope you will, but your country has art and free women. Right? Do you think terrorists will snuggle in their bed when we are gone finally happy? NO! They will be feeling another round of the plauge coming on for the next country with art and free women. And who do you think will be next? Well that depends on how much plague they bought.
This whole thing is getting so sickening. I just can't stand it a minute more.
Rachael:
I'm not upset with you, you're are right as rain. It's just sometimes I go through the cemetery and see all the people and wonder how many of them died being right. No one can say not one. I don't want them to win, by making me afraid, but just because others hide it better than me, doesn't mean I'm the only one. On some level they have one one of the battles, we as a nation are afraid. We are.
We are Rachael! I'm just the only one saying it out loud.
Debra 10-1-2001 23:29
***Rachel***
Debra - That was supposed to say "suicidal heretic". Sorry about that.
10-1-2001 23:00
***Rachel***
Debra (hugs) - I'm going to respond to a post of yours before I even read the others. I do not think you should apologize to your children for anything. You have brought them into a world of love and of hope. You have brought them into a world of hate and despair. You have given them life, what they do with it will be up to them. Perhaps they will be the ones to make a difference. Maybe one of them will formulate an idea that will change he world. You must not and can not allow yourself to fall into this sort of thinking. Just give yourself a mental smack and move ahead with your day. If the terror attacks come to other places then people in other places will deal with them. I am still living with deep worry for many of my US family members. I think about them each day. I hope that they are safe and well. That no suicidal herreic is going to shatter my family. If that were to happen I would go on and I would continue to live. That is how we win against these ones. Each day that we all get up and carry on, each day that we do not fear one another and look upon each other with the "evil eye" we have won against them. Each day that we celebrate the life we have and the life of those that we love we win. I don't hate the people who did these things. I hate what they believe in. That is what you need to hate. You need to hate their actions, not them. To hate them is to give them another victory.
Well, I think that will be enough from me.
Hugs to you.
10-1-2001 22:57
Pheeew!
I wish I felt better.
Debra 10-1-2001 22:22
Hello notebookers especially you notbookers in other countries.
I have been watching every second of information and everything there is on this new scourge and I have one thing to say, is anybody paying attention. They have said that they don't like our artists, or our free women and the list gets scarier from there. America is every country mixed. If they get rid up us, the next counrty on the list that has artists and free women who is not standing in the middle of Isreal and Palistine is next, that's the rest of you.
I can't imagine why we are even trying to prove we are good people. No country should have the right to stand up and hey you other country we don't like you, you must die.
I'M SICK TO DEATH OF THE WHOLE THING. I'm especially sick of the countries who have people of the same nationality who claim that we cannot do anything about it, just because they look like them.
HOw would the world like it if we started to do the same thing. Yeah, I know they said we do it all the time.
WELL SHOW US PROOF.
I've been contemplating on apolgizing to my children for even bringing them into this world.
I might be PMSING but so what, I'm still right.
Have we all lost our minds? You must die. What is that?
We need to look like we care, what is that? They came here.
They are killing us and tell us that the rest of us will die, men women and children, and we are the moral decay.
Am I sleeping? Did I die and this is hell?
Debra 10-1-2001 22:21
Howard:
The long one is all Hiku press it not the one with the family thing on it. I don't know what that is.
Debra 10-1-2001 22:01
http://www.family-net.net/~brooksbooks/ggayweb/ggayindex.html
Howard try this.
Debra http://www.family-net.net/~brooksbooks/ggayweb/ggayindex.html
10-1-2001 22:00
http://www.family-net.net/~brooksbooks/ggayweb/ggayindex.html
Howard try this.
Debra Link
10-1-2001 21:58
MEL&RACHEL -- thanks! I've been looking through my archives for some other haiku that I've put together, but for some reason I can't find some of my files.
CAROL - welcome! By "telling the story" do you mean she used "Omniscient" point of view? Sterling Lanier uses that quite effectively in his "Heiro" books. Not exclusively, but he does use it quite a bit.
howard Link
10-1-2001 20:58
Teekay:
Are you looking?
Debra 10-1-2001 20:57
I found 'Chicken soup for the woman's soul' at the library the other day, and I started reading it last night. man, talk about cry.
I do so hate to cry. Maybe it's just seasonal.
CAROL: Yeah, isn't this place great? You know you're meant to be here when you get that feeling like you've come home. I'm sooo glad I discovered this place. I hadn't found anything like it before and haven't found anything like it since. :-)
Teekay 10-1-2001 20:01
I know now why I liked the feel of this board -- with all the various topics of conversation taking place, I feel like I'm at the family table during a holiday trying to listen to everyone at once. hehehe And before anyone wonders -- I have a family that is close, loving and very supportive. Even the ex-in-laws attend funerals with complete acceptance and appreciation.
Regarding the good/bad books subject. I've read my share of both. We have a local writer who has self-published her series of fantasy novels. Of course I had to buy a copy, now I only hope I never meet her. She has a wonderful story idea but that's as far as it goes. She broke one major rule that I don't think anyone has found a way to successfully break yet -- she told the story. I did read the first book all the way through. I kept hoping she'd turn it around but nope. I glanced through the pages of her follow-up novels and could tell that she had kept up with her same style in them. That is one lesson that I hope I've learned from and if anyone ever sees me "telling" my story please yell, shout, scream, kick me! I would deeply appreciate it. :)
Another subject brought up was dreams. Sounds to me Rachel that your dream described you. A busy spider enjoying her work and its rewards.
Aargh! I'm currently going a little nuts here -- my house is invaded with flys and Asian beetles (lady bugs). I'm bombing my house on the 12th when we've got a long road trip and will be out of the house long enough. I can't wait! If I sound disjointed in this post at all, blame it on the bugs.
Spouses, friendship and cracked bums -- yep, that sounds familar. :) I don't think a marriage can survive for long without friendship, without the acknowledgement that each person is going to grow and change. I think its necessary to be aware that such things are going to happen and to enjoy the process no matter how frustrating it feels at times. Anyone ever notice that when you get angry at a spouse, its usually for something that you thought adorable when you were courting? Just one of life's curiousities that I enjoy. Kept me from getting divorced a few times too -- once I noticed. :)
Mel -- thank you for your words about "Chrysalis". I want to sit down soon and see if I can work out a general outline and flesh out the characters. It feels like something I can get my teeth into though and I'll try to keep you posted.
Randall -- your story about your RV really took me back to my youth. We also had a Chevy truck which hauled the cab over homemade camper to the fair each August. The boys would sleep in the bed above the cab, Mom and Dad on the table bed and me -- I had the honor of sleeping on the floor under the table bed. I cracked my head on that thing every blasted morning! We didn't have a potty inside though, much less a shower. I also agree with your sentiments about Chevys. They'll last years past the loan, do whatever you ask of them and just keep on going.
Well, the lady bugs have repopulated my ceiling, its time to take the vacuum to them again. Sheesh!
Carol 10-1-2001 18:44
**Teekay**
GARIESS: That be one sad block buster shop you be hangin' out at boy.
At our one's here in Orstraylya we got ones like:
The wedding sanger (sausage)
What flies bequeath. (Well that was one letter each word)
Spend.
Piggy Sue gets married.
And many many more other titles at yer faverit store.
Teekay 10-1-2001 18:24
**Teekay**
Mornin' y'all,
RACHEL: well I told a bit of a porky pie in one of my last posts. I said I read to escape and after thinking about it I've decided that's not quite true. There was a time when I did read for escapism, but when I read these days is more for an alternate adventure.
I don't just read the top 10 you naughty girl, where did you get that idea. Although I do only read things that interest me, including the classics.
Sometimes I get unlucky, or lucky, depending on how you want to look at it and find I've spent time or money on a dud, but then if it teaches me anything, well, then I guess it's not entirely wasted.
For fear of sounding like a dreadful slob, I wash my floor maybe 3 times a week if I can get away with it. :-)
TINA: You lucky thing. We don't celebrate Halloween here. I wish we did, it would be so much fun.
JACK: JACK!WELCOME BACK!!!
MEL: No it wasn't a sequel and it wasn't at all badly written, in fact it was brilliant, but the fact that the main character ends up in worse than the same position she bagan in was just too depressing.
There was this girl who was having problems she needed to work out so she went of and had this adventure thing and it was all very exciting and she learned more about her self and made some discoveries and the whole thing was just brilliant.
In the end, and this is the last 3 or so pages, the girl ended up with less than NOTHING. She went back to where she came from in the same position she left, only now she had lost everything she had gained throughout the story.
It was just awful.
It was like it was a non-story.
And you don't have to have a green thumb and a packet of seeds to hide behind, just take up handsewn patchwork, or some other meditative process. :-)
About haiku, I read somewhere that haiku was Japanese poetry and it was difficult to fit the english language into those ummmm, numbered thingees. (My poetical knowledge shining through :-D) I'd best get back to the garden. HAHAHHAHAHHAHAHA
I can't remember what it said was acceptable, but yes, it was a rather desperate attempt at haiku :-D
'NIce 3 liners' indeed! Don't choo know choo nuthin' bout poetry gel? :-D
DEBRA: I can't remember the last time I had a dream.
RACHEL: Wow, you really get into reading a book. It reminded me of what MARK said in one of his posts. Something like, he reads it once for enjoyment, and then again for analysis - or something like that.
I do mine all at once thank goodness, which can be a bit of a bummer because that way I can't completely lose myself.
JERRY:
Ten years ago I never would have said a prison bus smelled good. That was before I did time bunked up with Willie down in Lovelock. Willie could make a camel's nose hairs curl and I was sure as hell glad to get away from his whistling. All day, all night he whistled. Some days I actually wished I had been in solitary. Well, I would be solitary soon. There is nothing for me to go back to when they let me off this bus. Nobody waiting. I just hope the sixty bucks in my pocket is enough to get me to Carson City, as good a jumping off point as any.
I look out the big glass windows, out at the desert and the stunted shrubs and red dirt and see the night crawlin' in over the hills, I haven't seen that sight for a good many years now, but it looks the same as it ever did, guess there are somethings never change. Behind me someone is snoring fit to burst, would that I could just close my eyes and let sleep take me away for a bit.
Teekay 10-1-2001 18:11
Rachael:
Do you mean.....................Your bum is cracked too?
Gariess:
If you do need a life, I shamelessly hope you don't get one.
I like having you here.
Debra 10-1-2001 18:07
Debra,
About your remark, "I keep telling him that's not nice and try to explain that everyone's bum is cracked, but
you know how powerful dad's words are."
It would seem that your husband would know this by now, but the idea of you explaining it to him is really quite amusing. Sometimes the only fun I have all day is reading things like this. Do I need a life?
GS
Gariess 10-1-2001 17:52
Things got so dull that I went to the video store to see how many titles I could mess up with one letter. It was a slow day; all I came up with were the following:
The Legend of Bugger Vance
Attila the Hung
Rules of Engagment
Spice Cowboys
Well, not much, I know, but it gives you something to think about when you go to Blockbuster and you wonder what that old guy is thinking when he looks through the choices.
You say you never wondered about that? Silly me.
GS
gariess 10-1-2001 17:44
***Rachel***
Billy Dean - I like your quotes. Consider the misnomer forgiven. Not that it really needed to be forgiven, but thanks ;o) I just didn't want you to sit around thinking I'm some wonderful poet. I simply am not. Maybe one day I will be. For now I sit in admiration of all the poets.
Mel - Friendship is essential for a long term relationship. At least i think it is.
I am lucky I'm ambi, it works for me getting things done.
I take pictures while I walk, though I have taken pictures while out on runs. If I know I'll be passing something I want a shot of then I would do that. I do stop to take the shot (grins and laughter).
My children are 13, 10, 8, 4, 3 and 7 mos. the 13, 4 and 3 year old are my foster children. They 10, 8 and 7mos old are my biological children. It makes for a busy and loud home.
One day you will have uninterrupted time to write. When it does come along I bet that you'll miss the distractions (winks).
Another thing that I do when I'm reading is to keep notes. I like to write down my preconceptions and prejudices that I walk into a read with, then when I am done I like to write about the book again and mark the differences between what I thought and what I discovered between the covers.
Some of my books I do not wish to mark up (ie highligher). With those books I make notes. I will mark down the page #, line # and ...start of text in question... so that I can return to look at and consider it later.
I also like to read books by the same authors. I like to look for differences in style. See if they try new things. How they change as they go along.
Debra - I love that! My kiddies were told the very same thing;o)
Take care all.
10-1-2001 17:04
Tina => You are so right about poems and music. It's probably not true, but it always seems to me that most songs now a days rhyme and that most modern poems do not. I think it was Robert Frost who said that "Writing freeverse poetry was like playing tennis with the net down..." Structure of one sort or another does seem to sharpen the craft of any writing...
Rachel => Please forgive the misnomer--I wasn't trying to nail you into a box labeled "Poet" Maybe you're a poet and don't know it! :)) Perhaps there is something about you and your writing that is poetic? Reminds me of Rilke's comment to a young poet struggling with his life of writing (I can tell you are not), "If your life seems poor, perhaps you have not yet become poet enough to call forth its riches..."
Mel => Glad you found something of value at my site. It is a work in progress. I am trying to make it a family affair without compromising my web design business or chasing potential customers away with what looks more like a totally personal front page. Right now, it is a kind of portmanteau...
Billy Dean Link
10-1-2001 15:17
Tina:
He's messing with your head too huh?
How's that going?
Debra 10-1-2001 14:53
Debra, that sounds like something my hubby would pull, if we had kids.
Oh wait, he does that to his nephew already. I'm always saying, 'Don't TEACH him that!'
I think he'd be like the father in 'Calvin and Hobbes'... always concocting silly/crazy stories to mess with the kid's mind. I mean, he tries it on me all the time. :-)
Tina 10-1-2001 14:20
DEBRA: Hee Hee Hee Hee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-)
RACHEL: My hubby and I are also a team, best friends through thick and thin. YEA! :-)
Mel 10-1-2001 12:54
Lately, Dan has convinced our twins that their bums are cracked. They both think something is wrong with them.
He's only said it a couple of times when they are getting out of the tub, for instance, uh oh, girls your bum is cracked.
I keep telling him that's not nice and try to explain that everyone's bum is cracked, but you know how powerful dad's words are.
So now we we are just leaving it alone. I hope they don't bring it up in a store or anything.
Like:
Hi! My bum's cracked.
NOt good.
He's handy at causing trouble too.
Debra 10-1-2001 12:48
***Rachel***
Debra - No, I don't think we have ever talking about the both of us having a Dan of our own. I adore my husband. He is tall, dark and handsome. I met the guy when I was 15 years old and that was it. No need to look any further (okay, maybe we both had a little sniff about in the first couple of years but only when we were on breaks from our relationship). We grew up together. We have watched each other develop, change then develop and change some more. I like that we did stupid kid things together. That is pretty good stuff. Better than being my husband, Dan is my friend. The fact that I married such a dear friend is wonderful. When times are rough we always have the base of our friendship. Dan is an amazing father. He is very involved. He stayed home with our first child while I went to work. He told me that one day I would get to stay home. Now that has happened. He is a man of his word, a man of honour. We are a team. That was our agreement from the start. We approached parenthood and life together as a team. It works well for us. Again, likely more of an answer than you were looking for. Thank goodness that I type quickly. Now I must set the girls up with some colouring. I've typed this note to you while making sure that Sebastian is off to sleep. He is. Now I have no excuse to stay here any longer (smiles).
Hope you are having a good day.
10-1-2001 12:42
**Mel**
Howdy, you-uns! Wow! Look at all the posts on writing! :-) You guys are keeping the sparkle in my muse's fingertips!
TEEKAY: Was that bad-ending book meant to have a sequel, perhaps, to tie up the loose ends? And how about bad-beginning books? It took me three tries to get into Stephen Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant as the main character is a pessimistic, short-tempered leper and I didn't want to identify with him! But once I got past that base reaction, I was ABSORBED fully into the series and had a great time. BTW, watch out for the "niggly bits" - they're the very sort that plague me now in my own novel, all needing revision - yikes! And I don't have any plants to hide my black-writing-thumbs either, oh woe is me...(may my tears of despair water your plot-growing plants nicely.) :-)
RACHEL: You're certainly ambidextrous! Do you take pictures while you run? :-) 6 kids! There but for the grace of God go I, heh heh! What ages are they? Although any age is noisy and potentially distracting, I seem also fated to the combination of early/late or write-where-and-when-I-can schedule. If I'm not rested, that crazy combination also doesn't work! So much for Writer's Clock.
RACHEL & BILLY: re: Writer's Block and the coming and going of muses - Most of my "block" comes from outer distractions, the distractions come, the muse goes. I dream of uninterrupted muse-time (I know it will never happen) when I will be able to write, write, write to my muse's content; there will definitely always be an unending supply of ideas to whittle and words to sculpt!
BILLY: Your poetry is lovely! I loved your variety of sensory images. :-) Your website is also very nice. :-) Still exploring it...
DEBRA, JERRY: re: nursing home fog of sadness - I know that feeling first-hand as my mother has been in a nursing home for five years now, a stroke victim, can't walk or talk. So many lives there, once were full...It's so hard to visit, the frustration is tangible on both sides, ours and theirs. But as writers, maybe we can steel ourselves long enough to go in there sometime, not just to visit but to write their life stories for them? Those who can tell us, that is - it might be as close to a cure as they can come in this life, and we could share their joys and life experiences with so many others... A noble goal but where is the gumption to start such a project?
JERRY: re: your "Fog" shortie - LIKE it! Keep at it. :-)
RANDALL: In case you haven't counted, there are several of us here who want to buy a book written by you. So, where is it?!! :-) You could be hauling in the dough and stuffing your retirement rocker pillows with crisp dollar bills (you rock, write, sell; we buy, read, demand more. A happy team effort.) :-D
VIV: re: church choirs - When the Spirit moves you, there's no holding back, in tune or off pitch! :-)
HOWARD: NICE haiku. :-) More! More! Meanwhile, the Wingdings-thing was - um - spooky! 8-o
DEBRA, TEEKAY: Nice 3-Liners on the seasons. :-) Hope you both intended them as non-haiku's (the 5-7-5 syllable approach for haiku as Howard wrote his).
RACHEL, TEEKAY: When I read, I notice style and classify it for myself: #1 - I could write better than that! or #2 - Wow! Wish I could write like this! :-) A lot of books fall inbetween these parameters, of course, with bits and pieces of both styles or something approaching middle-of-the-road status.
TINA: Sometimes, "block" happens so you'll WAIT for a new inspiration to come that's needed to improve your plot or characters. Then you say, "Oh yeah! Wow, no wonder I was blocked without this new stuff!" :-)
CAROL! "Chrysalis" was lovely! :-) DO write Part 2...and SHARE! :-)
STEPHEN A.: My sf writing is more in the fantasy arena, but
a couple suggestions for you to get your sf novel going:
#1 - Take your storyline, expand it into a chapter-by-chapter plot summary (list all the basic plot events you have so far imagined to occur and in the order they should happen). Then take your chapter-by-chapter plot summary and annotate each one in greater detail...at some point you'll probably feel the "pull" to convert the chapter annotation to story-form (e.g. expand it further).
#2 - Don't feel pressed to start at the beginning, one of the hardest parts, sometimes, to write. Start ANYWHERE, write any scene, any piece of the plot, large or small. You can connect your scenes later as your pile of scenes increases.
My advice, however humble and in-expert, I offer for free. :-) Have fun with your novel!
And a great writing day/eve/night to you all! ;-]
[And a great big "HOWDY!" to everyone else I didn't mention above here. :-D ]
Mel 10-1-2001 12:40
Rachael:
Did we ever talk about the fact that we both have a Dan for a hubby?
Mine is definitey a handy Dan.
Pick a topic, he's handy.
Yours?
Debra 10-1-2001 12:08
***Rachel***
Debra - I don't think my dreams have anything to do with the U.S.
10-1-2001 12:01
****Rachel****
Debra - I like spiders. I like that they play a role in keeping my house tidy (winks). We have a lot of spiders. I back onto parkland. I think that all the spiders climb the ridge and take up residence in, on and around my house (merry laughter). Don't get me wrong, I don't pick up and stroke spiders, nor do I run screaming from them. I like to watch them work. Once when I was very sick I lay and watched a spider spin a web. It was fantastic. I suppose that find spiders fascinating. I'm as apt to crush one with my bare hand as I am take it outside by its web. It all has to do with my state at the time that I encouter the thing. I don't like to have some big freaky spider sit over my head while I sleep. Those are the sort that end up dead. I won't kill them when they reach a certain size. That is when I call on Dan (my hubby). Is that enough info on my feelings around spiders (smiles)? Likely more than you expected (laughter).
Take care you.
10-1-2001 11:58
Rachael:
Do you hate spiders? Or do you find them to be necessary even though lots of people find them awful.
If it's the latter, then the spider could be us or should I say US.
HOw do you feel about spiders.
How weird is this, just seconds ago I was going to press submit and my twins brought me a book of my son's to show me a flying sauce that looks like a spider. It is supposed to be a kite now but they have information about planes that look like spider tht were made in the 1930s and a jet powered one that was made in the 1950s that couldn't reach a very high altitude. It took off and landed like a helicopter.
So I ask again, how do you Rachael feel about spiders?
WE could be on to something here.
More bits and pieces needed.
Debra 10-1-2001 11:43
***Rachel***
I've been dreaming of a very large black spider who spins a web and kicks back to enjoy some R&R. What is that about? Nothing freaky about it. Just kind of weird.
10-1-2001 11:34
Taylor:
Say them. Maybe we are the international meeting place of dreams. Mine didn't make much sense either. But maybe in time it will, then we could all have more faith in the drips and drabs and post them. We could all get together and finally form a complete picture.
Debra 10-1-2001 11:02
Deb: I could say alot about my dreams...But mine never seem to make much sense...But I get alot of base ideas from my dreams
taylor 10-1-2001 11:00
Hey guys!
I made a decision. I'm going to share my drips and drabs of information that I dream about with you. Who knows maybe this is the place I was meant to share it with.
My new dream is in little pieces.
It is a white building with a little black window. That doens't mean only one window, but one of the little black windows is where something is. I don't konw.
Any way, there is a possibility that the building is oddly shapped. I'm not sure about that. Sometimes I get the feeling it's a goal post, and sometimes I get the feeling that that's just the part where the window is.
If you know of such a building you should call the police in your area to check it out.
Weird huh. Not much either, I know. I've been here over a year and gotten less that makes sense way too late. So consider this the first of the weirdest messages you will ever read from me.
Another thought, is so many of you have experienced the same thing that you should put it in here too. Maybe we can together form a bigger picture.
Debra 10-1-2001 10:07
Teekay:
My husband's way ahead of you. He forced me away from the tv for the weekend.
Anyway, I can start off the storyline on the two murderers.
They both act, I mean bad acting normal. Then they can both simutanously wait for the other to let their guard down. Of course it never happens on either side. That when it can get funny.
Debra 10-1-2001 9:19
I am back from Fiji and this is being written after most of twenty eight hours of traveling. So, a little out of it. I will attempt to get the Workbook up this week along with a number of other responsiblities. Take care all. I will have more tomorrow or whenver I get enough sleep to rub two neurons together.
Jack Beslanwitch 10-1-2001 4:10
*me again*
Just thinking about how most of my favourite songs are also good poetry. Part of the evolution of poetry has been into popular music. Sneaky, in a way. People who 'don't like poetry' rarely even realise that they're getting a good dose every time they say, 'Hey, I like that song!'
Tina 10-1-2001 1:14
Jerry, people either say 'Are you absolutely crazy? Why on earth would you jump out of a perfectly good airplane?' or they say, 'Oh! I've always thought about doing that!' Me, I'm doing it because I refuse to stop living for even a day, and this seemed like a good way to do so!
I was just listening to some music and a song came on that sort of captured the feeling I get skydiving. The song is by Mary Chapin Carpenter, called 'Almost Home'. The verse goes...
I'm not running, I'm not hiding,
I'm not reaching
I'm just resting in the arms of great wide open
Gonna pull my soul in, and
I'm almost home.
How so! That's it exactly!
With any luck, I'll get out again next weekend. I sure would like it if it becomes less extrodinary for me to do this! Of course, once winter sets in very few people go. Only the true addicts. :-) I don't like cold, so that won't be me!
Tina 10-1-2001 1:07
Tina, sound like fun, but I think I shall pass on jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. They used to have a saying in the Army, something like "only bird shit and fools drop out of the sky!" Now don't get me wrong, I do think it is great you can and do jump out of planes, and I think if I were in better shape, it is something I would enjoy too, however I am a bit afraid of heights.
Bad books, I have picked up a few. I hold that if Chapter two isn't better then the weak opening, then I simply won't read any farther. Well not all books, if it is by Gresham, I give it till chapter four. He has put out a few that aren't exactly barn burners but I guess we all have our bad days, and his failures are selling much better then anything I will ever write.
Pinochle was good today, I even won one game, but the pizza was absolutely horrid. Oh well you can't win them all, but I much prefer mom's old fashion fried chicken that we usually get for Sunday dinner. I think everyone agreed, in fact mom promised no more pizza.
Jerry 10-1-2001 0:48
It was nearly Christmas, the year was 1974. My kids were two and three years old at the time, walking and getting into trouble seemed their only occupation. I was working on the Police Department, right here in good old Lemmon SD. It was my first cop job and I loved it. It was a tradition with this PD that the Chief, who loved wine making, would give each officer a bottle of his home brewed apricot wine. Oh how I loved apricot, still do but that's a different story. I brought the pint bottle of wine home and placed it in the refrigerator. I dropped it but the carpeted floor kept it intact. I chuckled to myself at my good luck, what with the wife always complaining about that kitchen. "Who in their right mind would put carpet down in the kitchen!" she used to say when cleaning. I had worked the night shift, and slept for about four hours, then as usual, I was up and about. My first trip was to the kitchen to see if the wife had left me any coffee in the thermos, as was her habit. The sight that confronted me, stopped me in my tracks.
There in the center of the room were my two kids, the wife was out hanging up laundry in the back yard. The kids decided to cook, or so it seemed. They had the egg carton out, and a dozen eggs lay broken on the floor. Mixed with the eggs was my bottle of home made apricot brandy, and topped off with the bottle of tabasco sauce that I loved so much on my fried eggs. The kids seemed no worse for the wear, except my daughter had one eye watering a bit must have had some of the tabasco sauce on her fingers and rubbed her eye. It did, however make a very colorful design against the bright green carpet. (We had no choice in carpet color, it was a rental)
Now the clean-up was a nightmare, but the Chief, who just happened to drop by while we were in the process, brought us another bottle of my favorite wine, this time a quart, so we could relax a bit from our chore. The wife swore she would NEVER live in another house with carpet on the kitchen floor, and we didn't until I bought this house. (She wasn't along when I went house hunting, so I take the blame for this one.) But I think our kids are now old enough so it shouldn't happen again, John is thirty, Joanne is twenty eight.
Jerry 10-1-2001 0:39
Anyone up for a shortie round robin right here on the Notebook? Add whatever suits you; here's the start:
Ten years ago I never would have said a prison bus smelled good. That was before I did time bunked up with Willie down in Lovelock. Willie could make a camel's nose hairs curl and I was sure as hell glad to get away from his whistling. All day, all night he whistled. Some days I actually wished I had been in solitary. Well, I would be solitary soon. There is nothing for me to go back to when they let me off this bus. Nobody waiting. I just hope the sixty bucks in my pocket is enough to get me to Carson City, as good a jumping off point as any.
9-30-2001 23:53
*Tina*
I Did It Again!
Better this time. Looked up at the plane, counted right (kinda) did my stuff... and didn't fall over when I landed (For those just tuning in, I just took up skydiving :-D )
About bad books...
I can't say that I always finish a bad book. It depends on the degree of badness. I sent a novel back to the library after only 40 pages, it was just too bad. And by an author I usually love! BUT if it's just not great, I'll try and finish it and consider it an educational project in 'What Not To Do'. I've learned a lot about writing just from those books, but it is a chore to get to the last page.
I find I'm getting pickier about what I read. I try to ingest a few classics every year - 'The Oddessy' and 'Great Gatsby' happened in the last year. I guess it's time for another. Maybe I'll try and finish 'Moby Dick'... again. Other than classics, I recently found myself sticking only to the authors I know well. I purposefully went out and found a few titles by writers I don't know, and it was a good move. I was getting too hidebound.
Busy busy weeks ahead. I went and volunteered (silly me) to help with a haunted house project for Halloween. So much to do, and no one wants to make decisions. sigh. So much for my spare time. But if it comes through it will be so cool! It's in a big old brick schoolhouse, in the basement and attic and lots of great fun and scary stuff going on. I think I'll be the witch.
See y'all!
Tina My pics (skydiving and stuff)
9-30-2001 22:38
***Rachel***
Teekay - I do things to escape too. I run, or walk or take pictures and I do go to karate twice a week. That however is part of my research for a couple of books I'm working on. Its funny. I thought I would just take a karate class and be able to write about fighting. Uh, guess again (grins and laughter). Now I love it. It however is part of my research. Just a part I happen to have integrated into my life in more ways than one. I've done a good hunk of reading on martial arts and will continue. I tend to lump things together. I don't really have time to do something just for the sake of escape. The running works as fitness. The only thing I really do that serves no purpose other than the pleasure that it gives me is to take the odd picture. I'm not expert on it either. Don't think I am. Still, I wouldn't go out just to take a picture. I would be out doing something else, walking to pick up or drop kids off or help out at the school or, or, or. I think you get the idea.
It is now time to rinse the conditioner from the girls hair. I must go yet again ;o)
9-30-2001 22:29
***Rachel***
Teekay - You only have to mop the floor once a day? Lucky girl. I am forever cleaning, mop, wipe, sweet, wash, dry, sweep, mop, bath, sweep, bath, wash, dry, cook, cook, cook. Did I say sweep? Argh! Often these activities are done with a book in hand. I kid you not. Oh and let us not forget -- play with the kiddies :oD Today I was doing back bends and attempting these walk over things. YIKES! No wonder my back hurts...
9-30-2001 22:20
***Rachel***
Teekay - Reading should be for more than escape. Yes, that is a nice thing to do sometimes, but there is more to the world of reading than that. At least I feel that there should be for a writer. It is important to read the classics. Not just popular/best seller stuff. You will find some great escapes and not be left feeling you have been shorted if you look to something besides this years top ten.
9-30-
