Archived Messages from December 18,
2001 to January 24, 2002
Hi Everybody,
Sorrrry to hear about the sickness all over the countries. We're having wierd weather here. This morning at about 8:00am it was 70f. Within two hours it was down to 47f. It has stayed there and added a good bit of wind that lowers the wind-chill to levels I don't acknowledge. These up and down temps. are giving everyone fits, health wise.
JERRY,
If you're not caughing up anything with a color you can name and you can breathe fairly easily with or without nasal spray, you'll probably make it two weeks. A rattling in the chest is a bad sign. But, the good news is that pneumonia can "usually" be cured.
I'm currently reading a book of collected columns by a writer that I will name later, (the book is at the other end of the house and my program is coming on TV.) Anyway, the essays remind me of RANDALL's and JERRY's stories. Really great stories of early days of his life with terribly poor parents. A lot of humor in them. Also a lot of humorous stories about hunting.
Gotta go,
Byeeeee
Rosemary 1-24-2002 20:04
Wait - before I'm comatose...
Hobbit names not allowed! In this state I'm too easily confused.
Tina, is that you?
Heather 1-24-2002 16:41
Mary - still thinking about the Cookie Monster!
I haven't come up with any title worth mention, yet.
Barely able to sit up, (still dedicated to the NB!)
off to bed.
Heather 1-24-2002 16:40
Evening all,
Hmmpfff! Litter.......Where are you?
Hope everything is ok with you just now.
Please drop in and say hi.
I'm just a bit worried because I would have thought that Litter would have had something to say today. Maybe he will post tomorrow, on the actual day.
Later,
Ed
Eddie 1-24-2002 14:34
Okay now, where DID I put that bottle of WRATH???
Oh, the muse is sniffing it.
Never mind! (*in a sweet, little Roseanna Roseanna Danna voice*)
Tigerlily 1-24-2002 14:09
Pgr: Write the articles they want for the newsletter, and take note of the time it takes you, and the amount of research/interviewing time as well. Since it's a non-profit organization, charge them for the article itself, and the time you spent researching and interviewing (if necessary) can be a donation. Ask for 10 cents a word, and see if that adds up to be what you would consider 'too much' for an article. I wouldn't sell them the articles for less than 5 cents a word. I'm going by what I've read in Writer's Market - I don't write articles myself. Please take this advice with a few grains of salt!
If you still want to be compensated for your time, over top of the article itself, work it out using $5 an hour and see what that adds up to be. If this is only a bi-annual newsletter, they may be more willing to pay a higher price than for a monthly or bi-monthly newsletter.
Let us know how things go!
Heather 1-24-2002 13:37
Morgan - you're welcome! Just wanted to give you a hand, and protect your 'investment'. :oD
Heather 1-24-2002 13:30
Debra - I have a similar chest-head-cold-sinus thing. It's not bacterial. It's viral. Antibiotics won't do a thing for it.
What you were talking about - the mutation of bacteria - happens when people dump unused antibiotics down the drain instead of taking the medication until it's finished. You also mentioned what's called a super-infection. When the antibiotic is wide-spectrum, it will kill benificial bacteria as well as malficient bacteria, sometimes leaving the body open to a second infection, and no beneficial bacteria to fight it. This is why it's much better to prescribe target specific antibiotics.
Doctors do not always prescribe the more specific antibiotics if the infection is full-blown, and the lab tests are going to take a long time to get back. They will prescribe a wide-spectrum at first, and when the tests are back, they'll change the Rx if needed, to a more specific antibiotic.
There's no reason to panic. Sinusitis is rarely, if ever fatal. It just sucks having it for the 4 or so days it rocks the system. Trust your immune system to hunt down the viral bodies and annihilate them without added help. The body will remember that specific virus, and you shouldn't be infected by it twice. Mind you, there are many, many viruses out there.
With sinus/head colds, sometimes it is bacterial, but most of the time they're viral, and you just have to sleep them out. With a lot of liquids, and someone to tuck you in. :o)
Heather 1-24-2002 13:27
Jerry:
All I'm trying to say is this. If you were to feel like you do now and have a doctor's app. next week, it might be all right.
But
If you were to feel like you do right now and have a doctor's app. next week and have already taken antiboitics that didn't knock out the bug, then they actually made the bug stronger. Antibiotics work this way. They go through your body and kill all antibodies. They get the good the bad and the ugly. If they don't get all the bad and the ugly and they got all the good too, which they did, then the bad and the ugly take over, which they are. When the bad and the ugly take over you are at risk, high risk for serious problems, fast moving ones.
See?
Next week bad!
Today Good!
That's caveman talk for go now and run like the wind.
Debra 1-24-2002 12:54
Jerry:
Get yourself down to the ER rgith now. You have to. I think you have something serious brewing. Two weeks from now we are all going to be wondering why you haven't posted and it might be because you are gravely ill.
PLEEEEEEEESE!
One afternoon and you could save yourself months or loose everything.
I'm begging!
Debra 1-24-2002 12:23
Debra - I have an appointment with my Doc the first week of next month, that would be the earliest I could get in anyhow, so think I'll wait till then. The wife just called for an appointment, they made one for next week, then called today and told her two weeks, as the doc's are booked solid.
I'll live, so don't worry, thanks for your concern.
Jerry 1-24-2002 11:55
Heather: Cheers for the advice, after speaking to my partner in crime, we're not going to be posting anymore samples from the book online. Thanks for taking the time to read it. Take care. A
Morgan Limpit Muskin
1-24-2002 9:49
Pgr:
Show them the paper work for your out of pocket expense and ask for that. You will get more of a good feeling than anything the xtra money could buy. It will look spectacular on your resume. Any company would want a person of that calabur working for them. Win! Win!
Debra 1-24-2002 9:17
I have been asked to write and produce a newletter for a non-profit agency. They are looking for a research based, article filled set up that would come out 2x/year. They want me to name a price & I have NO idea! I am passionate about the work this agency does & know they have little money, but I also want to make this worth my wild...any help???
thank you
pgr 1-24-2002 8:51
The wrong antibiotic gives the bug the home court advantage.
Debra 1-24-2002 8:49
Don't MAKE me come down there!
Debra 1-24-2002 8:39
Jerry:
YOU GO TO THE DOCTOR NOW! I MEAN NOW. Do not give me any lip. The dentist did try to help you, but you obviously need a different antibiotic. Not only that with the penecillian not working it actually made thing worse in your favor.
NOW GO!
I mean it. This is just how Jim Henson started he's gone now. So are you in the car and on your way.
TODAY!
Debra 1-24-2002 8:37
slo-mo
hard to go
which end up?
hard to know
everyone's sick
yick...blyck...
even the muses
have no kick
tock...
tick...
clock...
sick...
ick
Mel 1-24-2002 7:45
Now I know that viruses can jump onto your computer and spread like wildfire, but cold viruses?
Ok, so I had this sinus infection that the dentist gave me copious amounts of penicillin to kill, but it seems to have done absolutely no good. My sinus infection has gone on to be a full head cold. Oh and seems to have spread a bit to my lungs. Maybe that's why I was so down yesterday.
Oh well no matter.
Jerry 1-23-2002 23:38
Heather:
No I'm pretty sure they are nationwide.
We have a sick house here too. Not good.
There are six people in this house counting me and they are all helpless except me.
So I have two choices hope they all get sick together by which I will black out and come too sometime in February or they get sick one at a time and I never close my eyes and live on straight suspense until March.
What to do, what to do!
Famous typos. I do hope that's not title that sticks.
Ya know when I win some prize for writing.
Geez one responsibilitits and you're marked for life.
Debra 1-23-2002 12:56
Oh, I don't suppose putting a Cd on either end of the toilet paper roll would serve any purpose, but it would be kinda pretty....
oh, I'm ill all right.
Heather 1-23-2002 12:34
Morgan - read a bit of chapter one, and your writing reminds me of Douglas Adams a bit! The only thing is, if I were you I wouldn't post any more of your book on the internet. Publishers won't want to publish a book that's already been read by masses of people rushing to your site! They will consider it e-published. But, DON'T PANIC (heh heh): Chapter one should be okay to have up.
Oh, and welcome to the Notebook!
Debra - there you go again with your famous typos. Genunises? Is that a local breed?
Sorry, I'm a smart ass on Sinutab.
My head feels rather buoyant at the moment. That paper cut idea for deflation might really not be good right now. There's nobody tall enough at home to catch me, should I reach high altitude.
Then again, whatever's in this Sinutab has me high by my standards. I consider a half glass of red wine my uppermost limit.
Removing the dust from my house should be an interesting achievement today. I might get a little creative and make patterns in it. Then maybe my husband will believe me that I'm really quite ill.
He has a problem with me whenever I catch a cold or the flu. He somehow gets it into his head that I'm some academy award actress, and I'm not really as sick as I make out to be. I suppose draining my sinuses onto his dinner plate wouldn't be the nicest way to give proof, hmmm?
I'll have to just forget it. No other ideas are forthcoming.
Keep your quills in motion, my friends!
Heather 1-23-2002 12:32
Yep, looking real smart those survivalists.
More uses for blown CD's when the burn fails:
Drill small holes in the top if them, then hang from a stick by fishing line, makes great wind chimes, also they reflect the light and keep birds from eating your apples.
Obvious - use for coasters
Put them on a stick and drive the stick in the ground on either side of your drive way, the light from your headlights will reflect from them and show you where to turn at night.
Frisbees
Put a hole in top and bottom, run fishing line through one hole, a fish hook on the other, makes great fishing lure for those big fish.
Tie several together with fishing line, attach line to a cat's tail, watch the fun as the can tries to get away from them.
Have a friend toss them up in the air, shoot the disks with your 12 gauge shotgun, wonderful way to relieve stress when you have been trying to burn that perfect CD from those MP3's that you downloaded from Kazaa.
Wash them, put a broom stick through the hole in the center, use the stick as a handle while you clean the storm gutters with the CD (May have to carve down the CD's a bit to make them fit)
Sharpen the edge, throw like a Frisbee at your enemies, like that big dude in 007 movies!
Attach to pieces of dowel about six inches across, tape to your shoes and skate down the street with them.
Paint swirl on them and tape to a fan blade, use to hypnotise your friends.
Put them under furniture keeps the legs from poking holes in the carpet also makes it easier to move.
Well that's about all I can think of off hand but there's got to be more.
Jerry 1-23-2002 11:54
Jerry:
You and me both think too much.
Boy those survivalists are starting to look like genunises. Aren't they?
Debra 1-23-2002 7:33
Christi: Cheers for the welcome! I hope you'll forward something you've written for me to read in my direction.
Rachel: Thanks again, it's really not a problem, email me a sample of your work and I'll take a pew when I'm having lunch!
Big 'Hello' from the UK to everyone else…
Morgan Limpit Muskin
1-23-2002 3:52
***Taylor***
I'm here again... How you all doing?
Haven't been on for awhile, been creating certain folderlike things for my main characters.
Teekay: So far I love "Ice Station" more than half way through it... It's so suspenseful.
Not much to say here, bye for now
Taylor 1-23-2002 3:47
Hey, Mary! Sorry you're feeling like crap. Only a few days left until the appointment. XOXOXO HANG IN THERE! (((HUG)))
I'm going to check out the new necklace now!
Heather 1-23-2002 2:47
Thanks, Jerry. Now I know what to do with all those cheap, buggered up blank CD's that won't work in my CDwriter.
Wish I could record over stuff like I used to with music cassettes! Don't like Depeche Mode any more? Smear two bits of masking tape over the slots in the cassette, jam it into your funkadelic 70's tape recorder, and hit the buttons. Of course, there will be a whirring noise in the background, loud snapping and crunching sounds coming from the internal workings of those depressed buttons and into the mic, and you, crooning at top volume before realizing you're being recorded along with the radio. I should have kept some of those 'homemades' just for a really hearty laugh about now.
Sorry to whinge on and on. But that's the purpose of sinusitis, isn't it? Haven't whined about my predicament enough lately. I've been sent another reason. :o]
Heather 1-23-2002 2:45
Hi guys.
New necklace posted if you wanna see it. I feel like crap. Bye.
Mary new jewelry
1-23-2002 2:44
Hebbo, freds,
My head is like the Hindenberg right now - if I look in the mirror, I'm afraid I'd find the mirror too small.
Sinutab night time bonus triple your money's worth nuclear strength sinus missiles are working... but I think my head is too big for the dosage. Need twelve hundred more.
Rachel - congrats to Sebastian! He's now a teeter toddler. :o)
Christi - heyyy, girl. I could use some brightness for this indigo funk; anything to dilute this mood. It doesn't help that my neck is a bit skinny for my cranium. If it lasts a long time, I might get a shunt installed in my upper sinus cavities. It was my little brother's birthday yesterday, and my best friend's birthday today. I left them phone messages: "Habby birt-dey doo yoo..." which will likely need translations tomorrow, when I hope to find them both home.
This head cold thing must have been coming on for a day or two - I sent my best friend in Florida a parcel for her birthday, and got it back today. I'd forgotten to write her street address on it. I've never done that in my life!
Carol - don't worry if you miss the first round robin shortie - I was hoping it might turn into another NB institution, like shortie nights are, so you can join in next weekend if you like. NB institution. Now that's an interesting thought. Those of us here the longest will get the private padded cells. The only drawback to that is there's no medication-swapping that way.
:oD
I am going to begin the process of editing/proofreading all of our P/LT contributions, and will send each one back to the author with any suggestions/edits in the mss. I will only be sending back the stories that have made the cut, of course.
Got a rejection from Glimmertrain today. Yay. It was a virtual one, so I'll have to print it out and keep it. What for, well, shit. If my head gets any bigger, I might be able to give myself a papercut with the rejection page, and deflate myself a bit.
So long as I don't go puttering about the room balloon fashion, it should be a good thing.
Human whoopie cushion, anyone?
*Sickclaimer Dis* edy ub de abub might be rung. Und I'm weezlig out ove it by zaying ebreethig in code code. Sinutab, I ode yoo.
Heather 1-23-2002 2:37
A tidbit of news from the great frozen north country:
A freight train carrying tons of Anhydrous Ammonia derailed three days ago on the outskirts of the City of Minot ND. One of the cars broke open, covering North Dakota's third largest city with a cloud of deadly ammonia gas. Because of the cold and the late hour only one person died from the exposure, however over two hundred were hospitalized.
We used to go to Minot all the time for their flea markets held at the State Fair Grounds, it is a nice City, but you know I never heard a word about this accident on the national news, the local stations are full of interviews with the firemen, police officers, one of who lost the sight in one eye from exposure, and citizens who say that not enough was done to get them out of the danger. I guess this is the price we pay for the isolation we live in.
We are still in the midst of a temperature roller coaster today it was nearly forty degrees here, but up where we used to live is below zero. That weather is supposed to be here tomorrow, but then a warm front will chase it from here and raise our temps again. Sure glad I don't have to work in it anymore.
Found another virus in my stupid computer today as I was reinstalling some of the software, guess I'll have to toss that CD too. The wife has found a new usage for those CD's that didn't quite turn out as I intended. She sets them under the hundred or so candles that she has all over the house, they make nice reflectors of the light, and serve to catch the wax as it runs down, keeping it off the furniture.
Didn't go to the casino, just didn't have the extra money to donate to the Native Americans who run the joint. Instead, I went in the back room and took a bunch of parts that were laying around, and built a 486 computer. Put a 120 meg hard drive in it, and installed DOS. It did make me feel a bit more use full although I have no idea why I built it, nobody wants 486's anymore, so I will probably tear it apart one day and replace the motherboard with a Pentium, if I can find a cheap MB and processor.
Well back to King and The Dream Catcher. It has been a long read, I just can't seem concentrate enough to read, don't know why. The book is good enough, I should have been done with it a month ago when I first opened it, yet I just don't seem to be able to stay interested in it.
The wife tells me that I have been having nightmares, these past few days, bad enough where I cry out in the night. Kind of glad that I don't remember those.
Been thinking though, they showed a special on the History Channel a while back, before 9/11, about the Spanish Flu. You may have heard of the epidemic, it was so bad that they had to call WW 1 because too many were dead from the flu. Dad used to tell tales of the bodies stacked like cord wood beside the undertakers office as they just couldn't keep up with all the dead.
Anyhow, some scientist were going up to the Artic to dig up remains of those who died of this flu, seems that if they were buried in the perma-frost that the germ responsible for all that death would survive all this time in those bodies, and can be revived now in labs. - If we have the technology to do this, don't others? What if old Sadam gets his hands on that germ and decides it would make a nice weapon, or maybe bin Laudin? Can you imagine another bout of that horror?
I guess I think to much some times.
Jerry 1-23-2002 0:54
Is that all there is? Is that all there is my friend?
You give me fever!
Peggy Lee - dead today of a heart attack in her home.
North Dakota will long remember her name and her fame.
May she rest in peace.
Jerry 1-22-2002 23:33
Hi All :)
Christi -- awww, I don mind. I wikes laffs. Tank you. :)
Mary -- ummmm -- "AAAAHHH! I just got this face framed. You want to wash it???!!!" Your "carrot" of a prize made me look at that picture immediately -- how adorable! That's a picture to keep for boyfriend blackmail some day. hehehe
Suzy Homemaker came in handy today. I've gotten most of my main work done. A few odds and ends can be done in the morning -- the rest, well, this is home, what can he expect? His chocolate chip cookies will be ready for him at least. The kid will be 30 in a few months, but since we see him so rarely, I tend to spoil him rotten when he is here.
Off to pick up a few things. I think I better pass on the round robin for the time being. Maybe I can pick it up later when the visit is over and I can stick to my schedule better.
Carol 1-22-2002 22:12
Carol, What I said to you sounded so condescending. And I totally didn't mean to talk to you in baby talk. HEE! What I meant to say was that I laughed when I read your poem. What could be better than that? :D
Christi 1-22-2002 20:59
++Christi++
Rachel, I'm so glad you're posting for real! It's great to hear what's going on with you. I know everyone's going to say this, but holy cow, how can Sebastion be walking already??? Man do they ever grow up fast.
Aysha, Hey there, and good luck! Sorry, but most writers aren't going to be able to give you a lot of advice about getting a publisher; most are either writing or are trying to find their own publisher/agent. I'll just say the typical thing and say, get Writer's Market or subscribe to WM online; it's so much easier to do it online and narrow your search within a matter of seconds. Best money I've ever spent. Just research your little heart out and then submit, submit, submit!
Welcome, Morgan! I'd like to check your writing out as soon as I have the time.
Heather, Love the idea for your shortie night round robin! I'm game! And Heather, don't be sad. :D Maybe I can catch you on chat tonight and joke you out of that funk.
Howword, That one was really nice. ((((HUGS)))))
Hey, Tina, bambina! My mom just LOVES Jack Whyte. I'm reading about six books right now, and I've got about fifteen more on my shelves that need my attention after that. THEN I'm on to Jack Whyte, and Ice Station (Can't remember the author, TEEK), and whatever else my fellow NBers recommend. I've been in this odd reading frenzy for about three months now.
BTW, apparently I'm totally, completely and utterly insane. Like you all didn't know that. I howled for about ten minutes, maybe more. Rrrrrrrrrummmmmmmumumumumumumum! My two year old thought it was pretty darn funny too.
Carol, I thought you poem was so cute! :D
Hey JERRY, They keep wanting to increase the size of MY penis as well. Nothing like a good old penis enlargement offer to make a woman feel like a woman.
Teekay, Come baaaaack!
I'm leaving now. You can all stop sucking in your stomachs. HAHAHAHAHA!
Love and caffeine,
Christi 1-22-2002 19:10
Mary, That was the cutest picture in the world! My two-year-old son saw it and made monster sounds and said, "Cute!"
I say you call the picture, "Sugar Hi!" HEE! Ain't that sugar just dandy?
Gotta catch up on the rest, but I couldn't resist jumping right in. BTW, I think "Cookie Monster" should win the prize.
Christi 1-22-2002 18:48
Mary:
I'm not worried about the prize but that PICTURE! What a giggle. I'm going to play with ideas all week in my mind.
Hope you don't mind multiple entries. Here's what first came to mind to place under that picture.
The Scream, 1893
Tempera and pastel on board. 91 x 73.5 cm.
Signed lower left: E. Munch 1893
Presented in 1910 by Olaf Schou
NG.M.00939
Viv 1-22-2002 18:03
Rachael:
Have your husband or another child distract the new walker, stand quietly at the edge of the room and take the picture. He'll be alerted to the noise turn and come at you WALKING and SMILING! At least that is how it worked with our little ham. It's a new trick, it's adorable, and those little guys know it. Have FUN!
On that class, don't thank me for being interested. It's something I'm REALLY excited about and can't wait to do again. I love a Lit survey course. The one you are taking is the absolute best! Those are the neatest books to study because you can actually see the English Language develop. You learn so many things from a class like that, Linguistics, History, and you can figure out how to write the strangest poetry. I'm looking forward to hearing about what you learn because even if you take that class once, another person knows another weird and strange set of facts and makes the class completely different. I wish we could go together. I cannot wait to get back to school. I don't mind teaching but I need a class too, and you know, this gets me all excited about getting back to America. My husband did not get extended, so maybe we'll get picked up in America this year. If not...well, maybe they'll buy him out and let him retire early.
Viv 1-22-2002 17:56
It is chocolate cookie shrapnel all over her face, if that helps.
Mary 1-22-2002 17:43
Hi guys!
I uploaded a picture of my daughter that I just snapped about an hour ago. It has inspired a contest.
Whoever comes up with the best caption for this picture wins a prize that I haven't decided on yet, but will be very good. I don't give crappy prizes! ;-)
You have until this coming Friday at midnight. Good luck.
Mary Cookie Monster
1-22-2002 17:40
RACHEL: By all means, have your friend get those pearls appraised by a jeweler. They will be able to discern whether they are dyed or natural color. Having held both in my hands, it is very difficult for me to tell the difference when you are dealing with high-quality dyed pearls. If they are verified natural, I wouldn't be surprised if the jeweler himself were interested in acquiring them or at least know of someone who would. I for one, wouldn't let such a once in a lifetime piece of jewelry pass me by, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and good, life-changing things could be done with money made from them. Good luck to your friend.
Mary 1-22-2002 17:26
I am new to the system and am looking for a publists.
If anyone can help me, please feel free to e-mail me at Enthusaim 1@ hotmail.com. Thanks a million Aysha.
Aysha 1-22-2002 14:51
*****Rachel*****
Andi - Thanks for offering to read my work. It's okay though. I know how busy it can be with writing. You keep at it. Head down, pencil moving, keys flying. That's a good way to be (smiles). As for looking at you work I was happy to do it. I know how it can be to want somebody, anybody to look at what you've done. It can bite the big one to ask and have people seem to brush you off. That isn't much fun.
Viv - It is really amazing to watch Seb grow. He is a new adventure each day. I adore him! We will need to get a picture of him walking. Right now it happens so quickly that in order to catch him at it we would need to follow him with a camera. He is such a camera hound that he wouldn't walk. Every time we pull out a camera he stops what he is doing, turns towards it and puts on a smile and pose. He is a total ham!
The readings we are doing in my class are of; Chaucer, Shakespeare, Donne, Milton, Swift and Pope. We might get to do some Marlowe but he isn't set in the course at this point. I am really enjoying myself. Thanks for asking (smiles and hugs to you).
By all.
1-22-2002 14:01
Heather - sounds like a blast, count me in on your shorty round robin.
The link below shows the damage that can be done by a typo, this is reportedly a true story that just happened in Florida. Guess we need not wonder any longer at the election mix up with folks like that setting stuff up.
Jerry Typo?
1-22-2002 12:29
Heather: I like the idea of a shortie round robin and will enjoy celebrating my first Monday off with it.
Rachael: Congratulations! Those amazing first steps. Quick get out the camera. Take a picture and stick it in your favorite cookbook. I have one of Sarah there and it's been 19 years since she took that wobbly first step. Isn't it wonderful the way the hands are held so high.
A big congratulations on your first step too. Back to school! Another person to envy. You get to study English? Lucky! Whatcha' reading?
Viv again 1-22-2002 9:33
Ooooh boy, Mary, what prices. I had no idea. Sorry, I thought we were talking in the $50.00 per pearl range. I thought for a big splurge it might be fun to add one or two to a piece you intended for special. A $600.00 item isn't much fun is it? You'd spend all your time worrying you'd drop one. Well, we'll drool together. It sounds like I ought to get those pearls appraised before we move. Yuck, now I have to worry about them. Better not to have too much and then you don't have worries.
Yikes Heather, what a shortie theme! Wrath. It scares me to think about what I might come up with. I still need to work on my dog revision. Sorry to be slow. I've got a little flu bug.
Howard, LUCKY! I envy you! You get to work on a degree. Don't worry about the unemployment check, you'll be back working but on a higher level. I'll be following along behind you because when we get to America I'm going back to school too. I need to keep my brain cells active or I'm going to be a dotty senile old person by the age of 50.
Nice Poem. Hope your learning stimulates a lot more poetry and makes you feel SMART. It should.
Carol, hope your house is full of happiness today!
Viv 1-22-2002 9:24
**Rachel** Just read you post on my site, thanks for your comments, makes all the hard work worth while! Let me know if you would like me to read anything you may have written. Thanks again! Andi (aka Morgan)
Morgan Limpit Muskin
1-22-2002 9:24
*****Rachel*****
Hi all - Wanted to drop in to tell you that Sebastian has begun to walk! He took his first steps two days ago. He hasn't worked up to a full run yet (winks). He however has taken steps more and more. It is so amazing to watch him grow. He will soon be eleven months old. His first birthday will be very soon. I am all ready excited!
I've not been around much these days. I have been kept busy with the children, reading, writing and school. Yes, I returned to school. I've decided to study English. I am enjoying myself very much.
Mary - I have a girlfriend who was just given a string of black pearls. They belonged to her mother. She has decided she is not going to keep them, but look at selling them. It sounds as if that could go quite nicely for her. You can't imagine how surprised I was to find talk of black pearls on the page after speaking of them so recently with a friend. It was kind of weird.
All - Hope you are all happy and well. Hope that your muse or your mind, or what ever it is that gives you inspiration is doing its job well.
Hugs to all!
1-22-2002 8:57
Hi there, totally new to this sort of thing, so forgive my petulance… need feedback on a book I'm working on (no surprise there) - anyhow the work is on www.limpitmuskin.com any thoughts would be appreciated… if there is anything of yours you want me to look at… let me know… Thanks!
Morgan Limpit Muskin
1-22-2002 5:19
By the way, Oyster - I love the line you wrote, '...Shouldn't look a gift Chinook in the mouth.'
!
And thank you, for saying I'm warm! (((Hugs)))
Carol - have fun with your stepchild! Hoping to send chapter 4 your way soon, so long as you're still willing to read and critique for me?
I did SOME writing today - just have to transcribe it now, from the envelope I used to jot on. Found it in the glove compartment, just when I needed it!
Heather 1-22-2002 3:09
Anyone like the idea of a shortie round robin (posted in the NB of course)?
Each person could/would add 1-2 sentences.
I was thinking this might be an interesting exercise for one of the more boring periods of the week when most of us pop into the NB, read yesterday's posts over again, and then switch off the computer for the day -- Sunday evening.
The trick is, once the round robin starts, (topic UNKNOWN!)
each contributor must write the existing sentences before adding, so it makes sense, and can be read as a paragraph or more.
The idea isn't to replace shortie night on Thursdays by any means. I was thinking more along the lines of 'warmup for Monday morning' fun drill.
That's the first time I've ever written 'fun' and 'drill' in the same sentence.
Whatch'all think?
Heather 1-22-2002 3:04
Hey everyone...
Nice to see some cheerful people here, though I think Jerry, that you might have the virus blues.
I think my blues are frozen solid. It's so cold my eyes have decided to give up producing salt water. It's frozen too.
All right, I'll try to be cheerful. If Mary can be cheerful with a toothache like a grand piano with every key hammering, then I can surely raise my face into a semblance of a grin.
I had a thought when the talk was of black pearls. I think the Japanese do not like black pearls because they symbolize something - something the rest of us haven't heard about. Perhaps it's just a superstition.
I thought of 'black sheep' equating with black pearls.
Well, if that truly does equate, all of the black sheep on this board can celebrate! We'll be very sought after. I wonder if we'll be considered odd but rare?
There have been daydreams lately, that are so vivid that time stands still. If I sit in the same place that I had a daydream, I can return to the same daydream.
The million dollar question: Okay, so the only question I would say is truly a million dollar question is this: "Would you like this million dollars?"
That wasn't the daydream. The point's here... Somewhere.
That's the way tangents are -- when you go off on them, you don't usually meet up with the original streetcar of thought until much later. Especially if my Dad's driving.
I, on the other hand, have an innate sense of direction. I use a map, if I'm really lost. :o)
This Thursday's SHORTIE THEME IS:
WRATH
Heather 1-22-2002 2:58
Been one of those days; well maybe it's been all week, I can't say for sure. I don't know why but I have been in the worst of moods, every thing I write is so depressing that I don't even want to read it myself. Guess I need to take some time off, from time off or something. Found another damn virus on my computer today, then when I rebooted, the damn boot disk had a virus. I reformatted the boot disk, and I think it's clean now.
Problem is that this is the boot disk I use on all the computers I work on, so there's a 50/50 chance that all the computers I worked on in the past few weeks have the same stupid virus on them.
It's the same virus that was on my sister's machine, now I have one of those chicken/egg questions running through my head, which came first the virus or the crash?
Have my system cleaned anyhow, the last virus check says it's clean anyhow, and I ran the fdisk /mbr on it, that should have killed any and all boot sector viruses, or at least Norton says it will.
Maybe a trip to the casino is in order, supposed to get up in the 50's tomorrow and the roads are all clear. Have to check with the wife and see if she's up for throwing away forty bucks in search of some relaxation.
Of course, I may be able to write some real scary stuff if I just sit here and let my fingers do my talking.
Speaking of pearls, I picked up some pearl ear rings and a matching necklace on my way home from Nam. Got them when we stopped over in Tokyo. They are pearls in a silver cage, kind of neat looking. Wonder if they're worth anything? Have to check ebay or something, I know the wife would never part with them, but if they are worth anything, maybe we should put a bit more insurance on them, or at least list them in the policy. I know the pearls were genuine, or at least that's what the gal at the PX said when I bought them.
And I ramble on, what with the notebook so full it can barley hold another "I".
Write on!
Jerry 1-22-2002 0:33
I just saw a natural color black pearl strand for $31,000.00 retail. It wasn't even that spectacular peacock color that is the most expensive. It was a classy, light gray.
Mary 1-21-2002 22:58
VIV: Hey! I checked out that link. Thank you very much, I bookmarked it, but only for drooling purposes. $950 for a pair of simple pearl stud earrings? Holy shnikies, that is more than my diamonds cost! They have some imperfect pearl pendants fairly low priced. I like their odd shapes.
They have a bracelet on there, with just two pearls for something like $650. Put the 60-70 together that it would take to make a whole strand necklace. OY!
Mary 1-21-2002 22:34
I'm drooling now ... black pearls in Viv's hands.
Thanks for the explanation on Daughter, there, Teekay.
And Randall, thanks for the tip on young Tolstoi.
And Carol, thanks for the tip on 21 Steps of Merlin.
And ... I'm running out of memory here, is our notebook out yet? Will it be the next time I post, telling me "this thread is way too long, come back later"??
Tina, you got snow? We got snow. More snow. More cold, I want Jerry's El Nino now, but I shouldn't look a gift Chinook in the mouth, we just had one. Getting greedy will get me into trouble.
Randall, did you say Merlin went mad? Oish! A little voice in my head said "That's what you get for messing with dark magic." Except Merlin was a Druid, and they were, according to lore and history Earth Magick practitioners!
Or was that Howard that did the Merlin speil? And Tina, too?
I give up, I'm confused. My short term memory is shot. I'm actually reading an Elizabethan Mystery about a theatre troup based in London around the time of The Bard (I think) called "Devil's Apprentice". It figures, doesn't it? The name of the Witch Character in the play featured in the Book is Mad Joan.
When I told Bwitch that bit this morning she howled with laughter and said "See, everything is connected!" We know a Mad Joan or two. And none of them are witches, just ... nuts!
Anyway, I've been so busy with 'other things' I can barely think straight to write anything to anyone here. Sorry!
I only remember that "Heater" (LOL, Mary what a good nickname for Heather, she's warm and makes me feel nice and snug!)is doing ShortyNite.
And can someone teach me how to Haiku-too? I flunked poetry in school. And you can so teach an old dog new tricks, I figure if I can learn to do emails, I can learn to do Haiku. Pointers, anyone?
Oyster 1-21-2002 21:58
Can't get this silence thing out of my mind (thanks a lot, Mary! :-))
Answers without questions.
Questions without answers.
Hear the busy-ness,
the invasive sounds
of a world gone mad.
No resolution
in the cheers
of the living,
or the hilarity
of the dying.
Deafened by the noise.
The incessant clamor
of empty minds
choking on
raw decibels of
manufactured platitudes.
Rationalizations,
Capitulations.
But under it all
a whisper.
Pleading.
Reasoning
with those beyond reason.
Hoping,
Calling.
Under it all
a still small voice.
-------------
May not be around much for a while -- school starts tomorrow, and I'll be going evenings and one class online, in case I do get a job offer. Living from check to check is even worse when it's an unemployment check! :-)
Gotta keep going though, and gotta keep telling myself that retirement is for older folks!
howard 1-21-2002 21:49
Mary,
I found a site where you can get quotes on loose pearls out of Okinawa. It's interesting. I think if you were designing something specific it could come in handy to have in your links.
http://www.wholesale-blackpearls.com/retail/retailLoose.htm
Viv again 1-21-2002 21:36
Mary: I don't know. Maybe the pinkish variety go better with their skin tones and hair color. I have a strand of very old black pearls that I love. My friends wrinkle their noses and say, "Humm, not so good."
I love them though. I also have some misshapen old black pearls and I think they are the best. I think I like odd things. I have very little jewelry, but those are special for me. I don't let what others think affect what I like.
The reason I mentioned this is maybe they aren't considered as valuable in Japan and might be cheaper. I don't know a thing about how to buy pearls but I'll check on line. Right now the yen rate is 129-130 to the dollar which makes price a little better for everything if you are using US currency.
I'll go now and check.
Viv 1-21-2002 21:23
VIV: Why don't Japanese like black pearls? What's not to like?
Mary 1-21-2002 21:12
*Tina*
Hey Howard, and everyone else who likes Merlin/Arthur, have you read any of Jack Whyte's novels? The series is 'A Dream of Eagles', and the first novel is 'The Sky Stone'. It's strongly historical look at the myth/story/truth, beginning long before Arthur when Rome began to withdraw from England. Very well written, although a bit long/slow in a few bits. I think it goes by a different name in the US; he's a Canadian author.
Hey, in fact, I'd happily put it up for the Great Book Exchange if you'd like to check it out! We need more books on the Exchange. (BTW For anyone relatively new, the Great Book Exchange is when we offer a book for exchange between notebookers, and mail it around to whomever wants to read it. A copy of 'Ender's Game' went around the world! It's fun.)
Must go do dinner. Chinese, with pork dumplings. :-D
TTFN
Tina 1-21-2002 20:57
Hi All :)
Oyster - I think I mentined the 21 Lessons of Merlin -- I know I've got in on my shelves. I'm glad you got an idea from it -- sounds like a good idea too!
Mel -- waaaay back, you mentioned the muse. Yes, I believe you're right. She sits quietly at times absorbing the details of life. When its jelled enough, she sends it out. I've been getting some real short pieces done lately. They've been different than my normal work. They are "rants" of everyday life. Some funny, some sad. I'm going to let them collect for a while and see what happens.
There are so many posts! It took me close to an hour to read them all. My congrats to all who wrote on this weeks shortie. All of them were very well written and evoked emotions.
Mary -- a special congrats! The news of your interview is exciting. This should bring even more people to your website and more buyers of your jewelry. Yippee!
I'll pop in as I can over the next week. My stepson is coming home on his vacation and the week looks to be busy. But I insist on some writing time. Which will cut on time here -- again! Pooh!
Round and
Round she
goes
Pieces of
Life
through glass
whirl in heat
Mesmerizing silence
Ohh, to pull
a shirt
put it on
warm and fragrant
I love the
laudromat
Ok - so it's terrible.... Guess I better try again ...
Carol 1-21-2002 19:39
RANDALL -- Edison Marshall has an interesting treatment of Merlin (and Art-tyr) in his "The Pagan King." I enjoyed Steven Lawhead's "Pendragon Cycle also, but got more of a feeling of authenticity from Marshall.
howard 1-21-2002 16:32
Hi all!
Gee, did I start something with the skydiving haiku? BTW Howard, some dogs love to skydive. More wind in their face than driving down a freeway at 110k/h.
Viv, do it! Do it! Do it!
And I think the nastiness of our commercials depends on the time slot, but overall Canada has tighter restrictions on advertising. We get stuck with US advertising, though, since half of our channels are US, so there's no avoiding it.
TTFN
Tina 1-21-2002 11:00
Teekay: Isn't it funny that guys with strict standards marry women with not strict standards? Maybe you are supposed to do it, and say it for him!
Tina: It's good to see you back. Someday I'm going to try jumping out of an airplane. It's that or hang gliding.
Heather: How's the toe? And the snow?
Mary: How's the tooth? Congradulations on the interview and I agree with you on black pearls. They are the only ones worth owning, but the Japanese don't like them.
Jerry: How strange to get such racy ads on television. Ours are pretty tame except for sanitary products. Those always get a little too obvious. How about Canada, Australia and South America?
Viv 1-21-2002 9:30
OK, FFoF, back atcha!
They were much surprised
Me, a blind man skydiving?
Damn! It scared my dog!
howard 1-21-2002 3:40
And now for an entirely frivilous link. If you need a laugh (or not), check it out.
http://www.essbasetools.com/instest.htm
And yes, it proved what I already knew about myself. I'm just a wee touch nutso.
Tina insanity test
1-21-2002 0:19
I keep seeing these sites that pop up when you least expect them, and like many of the spam messages, want me to enlarge my penis. Now on the internet, I guess I can understand running into stuff like that, as it has been shown that over sixty percent of the folks on the www are seeking out porn. But I don't expect to see stuff like that on prime time TV. It happened tonight, we were watching The Practice when this add ran for some herbal remedy that increases the size and stamina of the male organ.
I guess, much like Chicken Man, It's everywhere It's everywhere.
Write ON!
Jerry 1-20-2002 23:47
Had a big breakup here in town. The fellow who came to town, and breezed his way into all our lives with a reasonably speedy internet connection (only 56K but hey, all the others were offereing was 28.8), who started another newspaper, who started a new computerized printshop, who assisted in bringing revival meetings to town, has split the sheets with his wife.
Seems she took the newspaper, and all the cash she could get her hands on and moved across the street.
We are unsure what will happen next, must wait and see, but any faster high speed service may be shit-canned, in fact it some fear we may loose our service with him completely.
We hope not, I get along with him nicely, however many here don't as he likes to get technical with those who have no understanding of technology, and that seems to offend them for some reason.
At any rate, the weather is getting warmer and warmer again. The weatherman has, at long last told us that it is another El Neno (SP) year. I think most of us knew that before his lecture. Another day of pinochle and family bonding. A good time was had by all.
My old grand-dad came over from the old country (Germany), and for some reason couldn't get this English language down all that well. He used to tell his boys to "go out to the barn and throw the cows over the fence some hay!"
Nite all.
Jerry
Jerry 1-20-2002 22:32
I found a missing skydiving haiku:
Like a hawk swooping
Mastering the winter skies
Splat! No parachute.
Fickle Finger of Fate 1-20-2002 22:03
**Teekay**
VIV: Nope, I don't even think beans'd do it. Unlike me, hubby has standards he abides by :-)
OYSTER: It's hormones and that's just the way it is *sigh*, I think it's natures way for preparing them for the time they leave the nest - it doesn't make the process quite so heart rendering when it's time to spread their wings and fly, and in some case mother's are packing the daughters bags and waving them merrily off at the door.
I always wonder what it was like back in the 1700 & 1800's, were girls tamer then or were they just potrayed that way in the history books.
Quiet today, not much to say,
think I shall just slink away.
:-D
Teekay 1-20-2002 21:15
**BURRRRP!**
Notebook 1-20-2002 18:12
Had comments ... notebook too huge ... it's appetite is ... aaaaaah! *GULP*
Christi 1-20-2002 18:12
I have to agree with Tina - the notebook is up to 747592 bytes, which is a large mouthful even for a cable modem.
howard 1-20-2002 16:14
Randall
Hey!
Many thanks for you guys trying to help me with the glass percolator coffee pot and coffee grinder search... I have an avenue or two I can sniff out here...pun intended.
Oyster ... The sound you hear is me rubbing my hands together in glee. I love all things related to Merlin! Without a doubt, the best book on Merlin, well, in my mind, is Nikolai Tolstoy, THE QUEST FOR MERLIN. Yes, Mr. Tolstoy is the grandnephew of Leo, a writer of some merit. (GRIN!) Nikki explores the myth and legend of King Arthur's prophet and was featured on the Discovery channel a few weeks ago. It was a special about prophets, no doubt influenced by the success of LOTR.
I missed out on the conversation (par usual) but I believe you guys were discussing Merlin as Gandalf in the LORD OF THE RINGS. As you know, the story of Merlin has come down to us from Geoffrey of Monmouth's, HISTORY OF THE KINGS OF BRITAIN, through Malory and Tennyson, to the hip 50's novel and 60's movie THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING and, lets not forget, LOTR. Tolstoy explores the complex, mischievous Merlin, who may have been a real historical figure in the sixth century AD. Ah, a druid, living in the lowlands of Scotland. Druids at that time where under heavy pressure from religious newcomers, Christianity, and anyone possessing supernatural powers would have been notable, feared and shunned. As was Jesus when he went against the prevailing political and religious dogma of His times.
Mr. Tolstoy includes a photocopy of a page from "... Welsh annals from a copy of the Domesday Book in the Public Record Office ... are references to Arthur's victory at Badon and death at Camlann ... ‘The year [573]; The Battle of Arderydd between the sons of elifer and Gwenddolau the son of Ceidio, in which battle Gwenddolau was killed; Merlin was driven mad.' "
WOW! Driven mad!!! Heavy, huh? Chills going up and down my spine!
In another photocopy reference Tolstoy adds "... from the Book of Aneirin, containing verses from the sixth-century poem Gododdin. Halfway down (the page) is what may be the earliest reference to Merlin: ‘amuc moryen gwenwawt mirdyn'; Morien defended the blessed inspiration of Myrddin.' "
Merlin is spelled Myrddin or Merlinus in ancient texts and this could be his first or last name.... and in this context, the term ‘inspiration' needs no definition from me.
In a stunning work of analysis Nikolai Tolstoy identified and located a spring where Merlin lived (fled) ... Chalybeate spring at Hartfell Spa, after his patron (King Arthur?) was killed. Tracked down and identified the area, "The point where the River Pausail flows into the Tweed..." where according to tradition Merlin was killed ... A la, the Threefold Death, which I have referenced before ... "beaten and stoned (by shepards) ... impaled on a stake ... drowned as his head passed beneath the water."
Merlin (I referenced a lot of Tolstoys work in my own novel) is known as a Trickster and his archetype character has parallels...ready for this...even in the life of our Lord Jesus. The Threefold Death can be linked to Jesus dying on the cross, but it is a stretch...(Oh boy! No pun intended there for sure!)
A lot of what I posted is included in Tolstoy's book, so I have given credit where credit is due. It is a great work, very deep and requires more than one reading. But then, so did LOTR!
Adios!
Randall
Randall "Hob" 1-20-2002 12:56
Some skydiving haiku...
Blue sky is the gift
Tempting me beyond my fear
I step into joy
and
Low clouds, white with snow
Falling, as I dream to fly
Drifting to the ground.
Snowflakes own the sky
Briefly, until spring returns
To paint the land green.
Over verdant hills
I will join the birds in flight
Free to touch the sky.
Tina 1-20-2002 12:46
Hi all! What a lovely snowy Sunday. Yay!
Just an observation for Jack if he's lurking; the page is getting kinda big. My computer is gagging on it, and that is rare.
TTFN
Tina 1-20-2002 11:59
I checked out the voices net thing too. It is very busy-looking, but you can tell hard work went into it. I agree with Howard, it is worth a look-see and periodic read, but I can't see myself joining up.
JJ: I wish you all the luck.
Mary 1-20-2002 11:48
Hi everyone!
Haven't heard back yet from the writer who did my interview. It was completely via email, she sent me a list of questions I was supposed to expound upon.
I am now a proud member of the International Jewelry Designer's Guild. Sounds impressive, doesn't it? HA!
Heather is picking the shortie topic again for this coming Thursday. Good luck Heater!
Gotta run.
Mary 1-20-2002 11:26
I checked that voices net thingie and it's a bit to "themepark-ish" if you take my meaning... maybe nice for a visit, but here is home...
howard 1-20-2002 8:47
For some reason the link gets scragged when you do that -- the url is www.voicesnet.com if anyone wants a look
howard 1-20-2002 8:41
WWW.VOICESNET.COM - Voices Network - For Writers and Poets of all Ages
Please try out our NEW website.
Submit poetry and short stories to our "Voices" Publications, enter contests, play free games, use our free forum and ads, buy books and videos and much more...
Thanks,
JJ Namcap
ps Also, read my regular editorial articles.
JJ Voices Network
1-20-2002 5:21
Hi Everyone,
Mary: Congrats on your interview (you deserve it) and thanks for explaining about black lipped oysters and black pearls. Sitting here imagining myself with black lips ... a Gothic Oyster. Uh, not hardly!
Oh, and thanks for the shortie inspirations, too. I've been practising shorties, sneaking them in emails to friends, trying really, really hard to get here for Thursday nights, but Spouse's been hogging the computer most nights with his 'work-work' and I've been in the Dungeon pecking away on That Story!
Carol? Heather? Was it you who mentioned 21 Lessons of Merlin? Well, I finally got it from the Library today and varoom, instant chapter idea ... a college professor who decides to write a book on Merlin and his son move to Salmon Arm!
Jerry, I glimpsed you and Viv and Literary Litter (of the four novels ...yes I have been reading, just no time to post) and everyone else seems to be back on track, and my eyes are aching from a new project. I have to transcribe my own handrwiting. Ick. From meetings of the Fine Arts Committee at the Kids' School.
I love music, art and writing, but guess what? No writing in the Fine Arts at our school. And ergh, fundraising seems to be the primary focus. I hate fundraising. But I hate sewing worse. There were murmurs about doing some of that, too! I think I'll stick with the notetaking for now.
Anyone else think Writing is a Fine Art?
Teekay, Mel, question: Do girl-children turn into little (very bad word here) as early as nine? Whoa, the Daughter is giving me a run for my money! She's on full self-absorption and self-centered mode. She had the nerve to tell me she was embarrassed by my car and demanded I get a new one because mine smells funny! And the almost-as-tall-as-me Ms. Charisma was in a tear because she was tired form a not-sleepover, wanted lunch out, didn't want to put away her clothes, and, and, and! All at full volume with words she shouldn't be using until adulthood. And the eye rolling and the lip!
Terrible, punitive images flow through my mind when girl-child acts like this. And there are times when I walk away, girl-child follows me! Blink, blink!
Even Spouse is getting a bit 'peeved' at the 'tude. Now we're at the point where we let her go on the sleepover because (rather cruelly) I said "Who wants a Daughter free night tonight" and everyone including me raised their hand! Even her brother has tried to reason with her and she ravages him, too!
I don't even want to think about teenagehood! Please, someone tell me that Katie Kaboom calms down for a least a day ... oh, if not a day, an hour would be good!
Thinking it be time for a Writer's Retreat here. Hmm. How far can I get on $12.00 (canadian)?
Oyster 1-20-2002 3:27
Hi Everyone - nice shorties on silence! Interesting that most folks equate silence with negative things. Me too. Mine was so negative I didn't post it.
Mary-congratulations. I want to read that interview. They are right, you are a remarkable lady.
Teekay - Serve enough beans and your husband might learn to say the word, "fart". Mine says the dog's name in a disgusted voice. The dog generally gives him one of those all suffering Jesus looks. (Well, if you need to blame it on me...ok, just add another nail there, buddy. I love you too.)
Howard: Thanks for the silence and the angels combined.
Viv 1-20-2002 2:08
Did my interview today. I hope that all goes well, it is out of my hands now!
Mary 1-20-2002 2:03
Randall - had you asked for a glass coffee perculator before we moved down here, I could have sent one, but those idiots who moved us down here broke it, along with about everything else breakable. It was the movers from hell, I swear. They left town about an hour before we did, but I drive fast, so when we hit the interstate, (A fifty mile drive) and I saw an Allied Van Lines truck, I figured it was them. When they arrived here, I asked if it was them. The driver replied that I must have been driving over a hundred to catch them, as he never slowed under 70 all the way to Bismarck. Now that road between where I lived and Bismarck was rough as hell due to constant flooding. When he told me that, I had visions of unpacking everything broken.
Well it wasn't that bad, the wife's china made it intact, as did her antique depression glass, but the our daughter's tea pot collection suffered the worst with over half them broken, as were hundreds of other things.
In the end, the insurance company paid for the move plus, but that doesn't bring back the antiques that were lost to those idiots.
Never thought about lighting our kerosene lamps to heat the house, not a bad idea, we have about a half dozen that we have picked up since we moved down, and four or five that survived. We only use them when the electricty goes out.
Well we got our meat and it filled the deep freeze to the top. Shouldn't have to buy beef now for about eight months, and at $1.59 a pound cut, wrapped and frozen, the price was right too. The fellow we buy it from raises them just for his friends and neighbors to buy, so they are pampered, and raised seperatly from his herd. The meat is so tender it sort of melts in your mouth. Great stuff.
We ate two of the phesants that our good neighbor John brought over during hunting season, boy were they good, took them to mom's and played cards after, she enjoyed them as much as I did. She hadn't had phesant since dad died back in 73.
Our cold snap broke, the temps got back up in the thirtys again today.
Turned on my computer this morning, and it came up in black and white, 640 x 480 with no mouse or sound. Worked till dinner time and got the picture right and the mouse working but couldn't get the sound for the life of me. When we got home, I worked another hour, but to no avail, so I did the big FORMAT C: /Q thing and started fresh. I now have it up and running, but still have a ton of software to put back on. Back to work.
May your paper stay dry and your pen never run out of ink, may the words flow forth smooth as cream. May your stories reflect that dream.
Good night John Boy.
Write ON!
Jerry 1-19-2002 23:59
**Teekay**
SHHHHHREEIIIIIIKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!
Hubby just came in and I thought he was going to read the 'you know what post'.
That would have been it!
He would have realised I'm not the delicate, subdued, nice, gentle refined ladylike person I think he thinks I am.:-^
Lucky I was quick witted enough to minimise the page HAHAHAHAHAHAH OOPS, I mean :-D
~pouf~
Teekay 1-19-2002 19:15
**Teekay**
My hubby absolutely cringes at the word 'farting'. It's so good to be able to say it without fear of discrimination. I wonder what he'd like me to call it.
Pop off; I don't theeeenk so.
Fluff; hardly, people call their cats that.
Can't think of anything else, except maybe vile wind from the nether regions - but that's wa-a-a-a-a-ay too long.
As Shakespeare might have said, and probably did as he flapped the bedsheets up and down as he laughed at Flavio (his bedmate): 'A fart, by any other name t'would smell as foul.'
To be honest, I do feel a little devlish after saying it, but it's rather a delicious type of rebellious thrill.
Tee hee.
Tee hee's make me think of insipid little school girls with grey tunics and come hither eyes.
Hyuks, make me think of Archie comics.
I hope I don't hate myself in the morning - again.
What?
Oh yeah..........
~pouf~
Teekay 1-19-2002 19:11
**Teekay**
CHRISTI: Forgot to say I think donkeys are gorgeous.
HAHAHHAHAH's make me think of cheap raunchy sluts leaning across the counters at sleazy bars, reeking with the potent smell of whisky and stale sex.
HAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA aaaaaaaaah HAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHZHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA, what the.....? How did that z get in there? Is someone sleeping on the job???
really going now.
I mean it.
Gone.
~pouf~
Teekay 1-19-2002 19:03
**Teekay**
HOWARD: I'm pretty sure that happens to quite a lot of people.
Oooooooooooooooooooo don't it always seem to go that you don't know wacha got till it's gone.
Okay, you can stop cringeing now, I've finished :-)
CHRISTI: You punished your dog for farting?!?!?!??! Well then, if anybody needs the benefits of meditation it's you.
Perhaps Brambles does suit after all :-D
Poor doggy. :-(
Poor poor kitty.
BTW: Haw haw's always make me think of a donkey.
HOWARD: Or...silence is the echoing roar of an empty heart.
Too much?
TAYLOR: Now you're scaring me. I'm sure you will love it. The person who told me about it raved on no end about it and I told them to stop because they would build it up so much that it was bound to fall short. (this happened with the movie 'Pretty Woman' who everyone raved about, but I thought was a dud. Hearing all the high reviews had it built up to an unreachable level in my head, and of course it failed to meet standards) This didn't happen with 'Ice Station'.
Kick of your soppy shoes, make a nice hot cup of tea, settle back in your favourite chair and prepare to lose yourself :-)
I'll look at the book you recommend and let you know waht I thought of it.
MARY: A 'dookie bag' what a fantastic idea. Your family seems to have so many traditions, which is wonderful. Tradition is the thread in the patchwork quilt of life. It holds families together, wether they be near or far.
RANDALL: Well shooeet, if only you'd asked for that coffee percolater 2 weeks ago, before I finally got around to giving the bag of 'I can't stand this stuff lying around the house any more' to St. Vincent De Paul (charity shop)
A family friend gave it to us, but we don't like the taste of that coffee, plus we don't drink that much of it, so after sitting around for about 2 months I finally took a deep breath and got rid of it. This is a true story. Maybe I shouldn't tell you this, (what the mind doesn't know - the heart doesn't grieve) but my sadist streak is winning over.
Good news, I didn't have a coffee bean grinder :-D.
BTW: I was reading somewhere that it's perfectly normal for publishers to ask that imformation from you, which is pretty sucky.
Sunday - Lunch at MIL's day. Novel has reached chapter 15.
Going.
Teekay 1-19-2002 18:50
Randall - I think my mother may still have the old coffee percolator with the glass intact; we used to use it at the cottage, where we didn't have any electricity. We left a number of things at the cottage for the new owner, but I'm certain I've seen that perc at her house in Michigan long since we sold the cottage. I'll ask her via email and see. She might not want to part with it, however. My mom is very efficient - if it has no use or purpose, it's GONE. Out in the garbage, or given away. The only reason she never gave away our lego and some of our childhood toys is because her brother had kids a year or two after we grew out of the toys, and then he gave them back when his 4 kids were finished with them. Then she hung onto them for her grandkids. There wasn't too long a span when there weren't young kids visiting over holidays to play with the toys. Otherwise, they'd have been long gone!
I had to cordon off my hope chest when I moved away - I didn't have room for it, but I figured she'd throw everything inside it into the garbage or give it away if I didn't mount a huge Keep Away sign on it, and wrap it in Police tape. You know the kind: Police Line - Do Not Cross!
You should see my mother's attic. Not even a bat in there. :o)
Heather 1-19-2002 18:28
Randall
Hey!
Thanks Mary, sounds like what you had was exactly what I wanted. Just my luck, a day late and a dollar short! Perhaps somebody else will come through. I will trade antique for antique if necessary. BTW...I am also looking for a glass coffee perculator. Larger that a 2 cup. My parents had one when I was young. I have the guts to it, but the glass container is long gone. I remember as a child watching the water filtering down through the grounds, turning brown. I am interested in anything that does not require electriticy. I have had enough of utility companies to last me two lifetimes.
We have been using eight kersone lamps when it is really cold at night. Which isn't that often, but they help offset the cost of electriticy. A single lamp will raise the temperature in our bedroom 10 degrees F.
I have access to "core" 12 volt car batteries through the store where I work. A "core" is what the buyer turns in when purchasing a new battery. It is stunning that people will bring in a battery that is fully functional and trade it in for only 4.00! We have one now on the core shelf that needed only a complete charge to bring it up. Good battery! The problem was not the battery but something in the cars charging system. What I'm trying to say is a bank of 12 volt batteries and solar panels could make one independant of utility companies.
My cab overcamper has 4, 12 volt, Group 65 batteries hooked together.These batteries are usually on Ford SUV's where a lot of electrical power is needed, to run onboard computers and added luxury accesories. They are, oh, about 80 to 100 bucks each. I purchased these good "core" batteries through the store for $4.00 each! People had turned them in as non-functional, where all the problem was someone left an interior light on overnight, or the alternator failed or a bad connection would not allow a full battery charge! A Group 65 battery will have close to 900 cold cranking amps each. I have access to 3600 amps of 12 volt power. That is, I can run the campers 12 volt system for 40 to 60 hours without recharging. Probably longer if conserving power.
Ain't this just like a writer Mary? Expand a simple thank you to a full post!
:-)
Randall
Randall 1-19-2002 15:51
DEBRA: It is Wire Artist magazine. The writer also writes for Lapidary Journal, and has features in both current issues. Both magazines have websites, LJ's is more generous, but the subscription price to Wire Artist is pretty expensive. You might check out there Newstand Link to see where you could buy a monthly copy. If you look that up, please let me know. I don't want to sink $50 into this, but I would like to have one extra copy to give to my Mom. I have even considered just waiting til later in the year and ordering it as a back-issue, but I don't know if that is any cheaper or not! Boy, that sounds really cheap! OY.
Mary 1-19-2002 14:49
RANDALL: Boy do I wish you had asked for that coffee grinder a week sooner. I bought a box full of stuff at a yard sale this past summer and stuck it in the basement. When I went through the box, at the very bottom was an antique coffee grinder. It was a wooden box, with an iron, hand-cranked grinder on the top. There was a little drawer on the bottom that you would pull out to retrieve the ground coffee after putting the beans in the top. It still worked and everything, and was very cool looking, but I am not functional enough in the morning to grind coffee beans, and if you are doing it the night before and letting it sit all night, you might as well grind it in the store and vacuum seal it, which is what I do. Anyhow, to make a short story even longer, I gave the coffee grinder to my Mother-in-law in a 'Dookie Bag'. It is a bag of stuff that I don't want, but is perfectly good that I give to my MIL when she comes over. The next time she comes over, she will bring me a dookie bag full of stuff and maybe I will take what I want and pass the rest to my sister-in-law who takes what she wants, adds to the bag and sends it to her cousin. Round and round it goes. The term dookie bag originated from my Great-grandmother on my mother's side who, when we were kids, would send us off with little lunch bags full of cookies, candy, yoyo's and small toys to dig through in the car on the way home. As I grew older it evolved into a traveling yard sale. Way too much information, I know, but you got me started! ;-)
Enjoy your weekends!
Mary 1-19-2002 14:45
Mary"
I only need the name of the magazine and I can order it on the internet.
Let's have it!
Debra 1-19-2002 14:09
RANDALL
Hey!
Happy Saturday!
For those who work Monday through Friday, Saturday is a GOOD day. Saturday morning, perhaps the best. Its when friends gather at the local car wash to shine up the vehicle for perhaps a Saturday night on the town. There is always a crowd at local auto parts stores, hogging the stools discussing hi performance motors, paint codes, who was doing what and what his wife thought about the new "friend." Usually negative in that aspect! Sometimes one can pick up tantalizing bits of info at George's Welding and Repair Emporium. Hear the latest from Red Britches. As Red operates on the fringes of every group, at every level of society in town he picks up a lot of information. The CIA should plant Red in Afghanistan. He would sniff out whats-his-names hiding place real quick.
I was up early today. As I get older my bladder seems to shrink. Down to about a thimble size I reckon. I soaked two cups of Pinto beans during the night. Got them cooking after a quick trip for bacon (we add bacon to the beans) that is after circling the car wash, then buzzing by the parts store to hear the latest. Didn't stay to long at Georges. Red was still under the influence of a slight over indulgence last night. Wanted to discuss the downfall in world economy and the possible effects related to grape production in California, Texas and France.
"Uh, gotta go Red. On an errand for my wife."
Ground coffee beans when back home. Checked to see if we had all we needed to make cornbread later. Didn't. Was headed out the door for a quick supply run when my wife halted me. She has this knack of verbally grabbing the back of my shirt collar, from ten feet away.
"Oh no you don't Buster Brown. That last "quick trip" took an hour and one half. This time I'll go."
Women, huh? Guess you girls know all about the quick trip for groceries. Oh, the coffees done! Gotta go.
Randall
BTW...anyone have an old, manual coffee bean grinder...laying around...that you don't use?
Randall 1-19-2002 12:45
It's never too late to post a shortie, Taylor!
Snowed three inches last night. Yay! I love snow.
TTFN
Tina 1-19-2002 10:42
***Taylor***
Teekay: I have that Ice Station book... It came in today at the book store.
It better be worth it... There was a slight thunderstorm, but I walked there anyway, it got worse the closer I got, I was wet, my shoes wet, crossing the road, part of my trousers legs got wet because I couldnt avoid the puddle on the side of the road.
But I have the book!
Teekay, may I recommend to you, Tom Clancy's "Executive Orders" That is one of my favourites. I will let you know what I think about Ice Station when I'm through with it.
Working on shortie... but is it too late?
Taylor 1-19-2002 7:11
This just woke me up!
Silence is the awful emptiness felt
when one denies the singing
of angels.
howard 1-19-2002 1:28
Christi - never had a dog do that to me, however when I was but a boy, my brother-in-law once took me down and did that. I have never forgiven him for that
Mary - congrats! Do we have the beginnings of our first dot com millionaire here?
Shorty night went a bit overtime, but it did produce some great work.
Well we made the trip up to pick up our meat. I drove my old chevy pickup there for the chore. Just a round trip with no stops to visit or anything as the weather was threatening, but we made it home OK. The temps have dropped to below zero and the snow has been flying. I knew a warm winter was to much to hope for, but I welcome the cold, makes it seem more like home.
Got a letter today from my old high school. Seems they are planning an all school reunion. I was never all that close to my classmates in High School, but I may drop by and say hello anyhow. I do keep running into the old home coming queen and she insists on visiting. Back when we were in School, she wouldn't have given me the time of day. Maybe I hold a grudge too long. Her hubby is the richest fellow in town, owning a large jewelry factory that employs more folks here about then all the other businesses put together. He was in our class too, but again, he was a jock, and I wasn't. No, I ran with the rough crowd, who would rather party then anything else, got in a bit of trouble back then, but I guess it was good to get it out of my system before I grew up.
I have run into a few others from my class, all seem to want to catch up. The sad part is that many of them have never left town, never traveled, in fact several of them have never been out of town and we are all over fifty now.
Jerry 1-19-2002 0:45
Mary - CONGRATS!!! :D That's really cool!
Allein Peachick's Gallery
1-19-2002 0:15
Mary! I think the real jerks are those who tout that they're all that (plus a small package of potato crisps)
when they're actually mediocre at prime.
You're definitely NOT a jerk. :o>
I certainly don't plan to be one, either. 8-}
I'd love to order the magazine in which the article on you and your jewelry work will be featured!
I think taking some down time after your teeth are out is a good idea, to prep your site for the after-effects of the article. Just remember to take into account you'll be healing physically at the same time! (((HUGS)))
Heather 1-19-2002 0:07
Thanks everyone for the well wishes and congratulations! It feels great!
DEBRA: I wish that the magazine that will carry the article had an online version, but they don't. They said that I will receive a copy of the printed magazine when it is published, maybe then I can scan it to pass around. I am sure that is against some copyright laws, but heck, it isn't like I can just come over to your house and show you the copy, now can I? I don't plan on republishing it anywhere or anything. ;-)
TEEKAY: Actually business is slow right now, which I didn't expect to be grateful for, but am. I just placed a raw materials order tonight, so until that gets here, I am going to take a mini-vacation from jewelry making. When all my new sterling wire and beads arrive, I will be well rested. I can spend this time designing in my head and on paper, sleeping, getting rid of some teeth and working on my website so that it is ready for the visitors that the interview will send my way. I don't expect the influx to last very long, so I had better take full advantage. Most of the people who buy this magazine are jewelry artists themselves, so even though I don't expect many orders from the thing, I should at least look professional to my peers.
CHRISTI: Yes! I did receive your email today and I am very relieved. I am glad to hear that you are still loving your bracelet, wear it in good health.
LITTER: Okie dokie, hon. I just wanted to make sure that I had sent it to the correct address after all the troubles you have had with your servers lately. No rush on that reply, but when you do, I have a translation I need you to do. I think it is a bit rude, but in all honesty I can't understand half of what the guy is saying. I think that if I could catch even a few more words I would be too embarassed to ask you what he is saying. For now, I will hide behind my ignorance and beg your forgiveness if it is too raunchy.
HEATHER: I have put a call into Snow White to see if she will loan me her magic mirror mirror on the wall. It would be great to feel as good as everyone is making me out to be! Maybe not, people with big heads aren't usually well-liked. Is it possible to know you are 'all that' without acting like a jerk? I wonder. I love the work of Georgia O'Keefe, and she was very humble, at least what I know of her, so maybe NOT KNOWING is the way to go! ;-)
Well, I am off for now...it's Tylenol time!
Mary 1-18-2002 22:53
Oh, and I didn't plan on that shortie for the Silences theme. I had been thinking about
something completely different.
You're welcome, Litter! *giggle*
Heather 1-18-2002 22:47
Ewwww, Christi! As my husband sometimes says after someone's let one loose, "Did you get any on ya?"
Ha ha ha ha! I know, the dog fart happened to someone else... it was funny to me, regardless!
Of course, there's no telling for someone's sense of humour.
And our chat the other night gave way to my shortie, the first time I've really been ready, I think, to write it in a way that gives the whole setting and prelude.
I had to fictionalize small parts of the dialogue, because I don't actually remember the exact words exchanged.
But the rest? Real. Right down to the lab rat.
Sorry if I bummed anyone out, to coin a Californian phrase.
It must be the 'Sandybanks' in me. :oP
Heather 1-18-2002 22:45
All of the shorties were so insightful and a pleasure to read. Heather, Jerry, Tina, Teekay, Ben, and Howard; thanks, you guys! Very sad but grand.
Howard, You just keep crankin' em out. I laughed so hard I hurt myself, with the one about the sewing machine lady (I can still picture it), and now the news anchor. My guffaw-o-meter is going off the charts. My husband may not let me sleep in the same bed with him tonight; he's giving me that 'I married a psycho' look.
Mary, That is just wonderful. You know when you're doing the right thing for you when things happen like they have been for you (minus the broken toe, of course). :D I think you deserve it; your beading is the best I've seen. And PS, I suppose you know by now that I got your email. Did you get my email? :(
Litter, That's horrible! Those parents should be shot, and most likely will be when their kids enter teendom. Imagine, they'll have to live with it even in death, as their tombstones proclaim, 'Here lies Vagina,' and RIP St. John's Wort.
Teekay, I don't know quite what to say! You say the nicest things. But I kind of like brambles! Especially when they're attached to my hubby. XOXOXOOXOXOXOXOXOXO.
This is really pathetic, but then so am I sometimes. I can't believe I'm going to post this. On silences:
Of Kings and Queens and ...
by me
I sat in lotus position, muttering to myself. How was this meditation stuff supposed to work, anyway?
Ooooohhhhhmmmm.
Ooooohhhhhmmmm.
My thoughts wandered ... I stopped them.
My stomach growled ... I ignored it.
Was that my watch ticking? No, it was my brain, buzzing.
Finally I stopped all the exterior noise and interior thoughts from creeping in, and felt myself begin to enter a place I've never been before; a place where all is calm and focused and 'one.' I tried to fight off the excitement, as I knew my experience would end with it. And then it happened ... I went into the place of unconsciousness without having to be unconscious
... until, that is, I was jerked out with the sound of FFFFFFPPPPPPPTTTTTT, followed by a bushy blonde tail wapping me upside the face and poking me right in the eye.
My eyes flew open. "Princess! You gross thing!" I yelled, as I choked on fumes. My haughty golden retriever was positioned in front of me with her posterior in my face. Maybe dogs don't care much for meditation. All I know is, Princess went to bed without her supper and with a sore posterior.
The End
The above really happened, but not to me, though my Grandma's cat once sat on my face while I was sleeping at her house. I couldn't help what happened, it was gut reaction and I wasn't even awake yet. I drop-kicked that cat and she hit the wall, yowling to wake the dead. If ever a cat deserved the wall treatment, that one did. I don't feel a twinge of remorse.
Hi ya'll and by ya'll, must get back to (back to??? she says?) my writing. Pray for me. Haw haw haw. Haws are so ladylike, don't you think? HAW HAW HAW! I think there's something wrong with my brain tonight. Somebody flipped the switch to 'off.'
Christi 1-18-2002 21:35
TEEKAY -- the process is slow, it's the realization that can sneak up and catch one by surprise. That sudden shock of realizing that you've missed something important, and now it's too late. It didn't happen to me, but a friend who climbed that corporate ladder once opened up to me (in tears, actually) that he'd spent so much time concentrating on the wrong things that he missed seeing his kids grow up, and that realization was awful.
howard 1-18-2002 21:19
**Teekay**
MARY: That's Brilliant! You'll probably be totally inundated with orders after that interview - you probably already are, but what a boost.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!
HOWARD: Thankee, but I fail to see much in my poem, no false modesty here, but I was just sitting and knitting my 'smelly belly dolly' and I took each letter of the word silence and just sort of put words to it. I guess it's true that you really only appreciate something you've done if you've put some effort into it.
Now, with your poem I got the feeling that it wasn't just a matter of getting old and having the family move away because of the lines:
'but something is wrong
Oh God
Please come back'
Which led me to believe that things had changed suddenly and had not followed their natural path.
Which just goes to show that poetry is what you read into it :-)
HEATHER: Thanks :-). No messy divorce - messy kitchen, but.
Woah Dude! Just read your story: Fa-a-a-antastic! What an ending , it was all so real. Very well written, wonderful use of words particularly:
>I'd be sitting at the end of the cold black table in biology, waiting to dissect another stinking rodent carcass, stiff with death and yellowed with formaldehyde.<
The entire story was like a three dimensional photograph. Or is that 2 dimensional I mean? Or 4? Anyway, very vivid, touched most of the senses and very memorable with a shocker end to make it stick around and play on the mind.
Not just saying this coz you liked my poem either :-D (Just thought I should let you know incase your the paranoid type - like me)
LITTER: You certainly have a way with silence. Spoke volumes without saying a word.
Saturday here folks, and I haven't rally got a clue what to do today - no plans, but I have another shorty idea I thought of and so I might get that out of the way.
The novel is crawling along, sometimes it'll get a breath of energy and rush off, but mostly it just plods.
My quota is a page a day though, I figure that's not too much to cope with, and usually once I get my head down I can fill a page and then some.
Be well all.
Teekay 1-18-2002 19:48
Well, my PC’s fixed, faster and meaner than ever. New motherboard and processor, and some extra RAM and a new modem (freebie) just for good measure. Now if I can only sort out the chaos that is my writing life, I’d be happy.
MARY – Yup, I got it and will reply soonest. (seems I’ve been fixing things ever since Christmas. (But my radio controlled car still works!)
HEATER -- Another award, oh my... And for best form too! Strange though, I don’t remember submitting a form? Some messages, the odd few verses of poetry and/or doggerel, a story or two, but no forms…
MEL – Didn’t know about STOMP. What a turn up!
Hope I haven’t forgotten to answer anybody? Probably have, I have a crappy memory…
Now, a belated shorty.
Silence
, , ? , : ; ; .
, , ? -- , , .
. ? ! …
“ , ! , .”
End
Thank you very much.
Oh, one last thing – Hobbit names! Welcome Ponto Hamwich and Peony Hamwich of Buckleberry Fern.
That’s it! Now I have to play catch-up all over again.
All good things,
But, talking of naming children after plants, I thought it was bad enough when one of the locals (ex-mining community, lots of inbreeding, etc., etc.…) said that she planned to call her first daughter, Vagina, because she thought it sounded nice. (True story, she was interviewed for local tv for a news snippet about changing trends in names!) But when I heard about the name given to our villages latest population increase, I had to say no, enough! Welcome St John’s Wort McLaughlin to the world. (helped her through her pregnancy, apparently…)
Litter 1-18-2002 18:23
Mary! That is beyond exciting!
You deserve to have an article all about you! I know exactly why she chose to interview you. :o} You have amazing talent! It's just hard to see it yourself.
I'm not sure what kind of mirror it takes, but someday you'll know what all the fuss is about!
((((HUGS)))))))
7 days until your teeth are gone - oooh, I'm 'pullin' for you'! Hang in there.
Heather 1-18-2002 17:42
Mary:
Where will this issue be?
I'd love to see it.
You know you are worth a hell of a lot more than 2000 words. You are and amazing women and person.
I can't wait to learn more about you.
Debra 1-18-2002 14:59
Whew! I am finally able to post a message! I was getting an 'internal server error' page every time I tried to post.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How Long Is A Second?
(c) Heather Myles, 2002
The day is bright, fragrant. The ditch grass reaches my knees, and the bottom's marshy, but my boots are tall enough I can muck around in it and not get squishy socks.
The culvert is a perch, and a row of my friends sit along it, each pair of feet digging a small trench. Cigarette butts sizzle out in the echoing length of culvert, laughter reverberates all the way out to the other side. Someone yells through the culvert, and we all laugh as kids on the other side of the street, sitting on the school lawn turn at the sound.
Someone jumps on another's back, and they amble around at the edge of the empty field. The friend on the bottom breaks into a loping run, and they bounce together, like horse and rider, until they reach the fence. When they fall, the laughter echoes all the way down in the metal culvert again.
"You skipping science?" I ask Jennifer, as she and her boyfriend Dave pick themselves up from the grass, and Jennifer is grabbing at the seat of her black jeans. The grass is a bit swampish, too.
"I'm skipping everything!" she says, her laughter like birds in flight.
Her boyfriend had just transferred to our highschool.
I nodded my head, but it was more of a shake, and I nibbled at my bottom lip, thinking. Some people could get away with skipping a day of school. I wasn't one of them.
"I'll get a copy of the handouts, if you want," I offered.
"Don't worry about it!" She giggles, vaulting herself onto Dave's back again. He flicked his cigarette butt into the growing puddle at my feet. I gave him a look of vapid disdain, but he had already looked away. Cheerlessly I sit down between Trevor and John on the curve of culvert, and light up another smoke.
Lunch hour was going to be over all too soon, and I'd be sitting at the end of the cold black table in biology, waiting to dissect another stinking rodent carcass, stiff with death and yellowed with formaldehyde. Much more distasteful than drumming my toes here, and watching as my time with Jenn evaporated. It had been evaporating steadily since Dave.
They were down the end of the ditch now, probably twenty yards off. Back they barrel, laughing and screeching toward us. When they reach us, they're out of breath, and Jenn slides from his back. She waits until her breath slows to light her Dumaurier.
She stands in front of me, and when I finish my smoke, I flick it headlong into the open mouth of the culvert, and then I stand up. "Jenn, I'm going to be late."
"Skip, too, Heather, c'mon!"
I shake my head noticeably this time. I'd like to, very much so, but she and Dave would hardly notice me, and that's not how I felt like spending another hour and fifteen minutes. I'd had enough nicotine to tranquilize myself already.
Suddenly Dave was behind her, grabbing her around the waist. I got talking to John, agreeing to meet him back at the ditch between next classes. Trevor was moaning about something, and before I knew it, Jenn and Dave were calling me. "C'mon! We've got to go in for a bit anyway," she said.
They turned around together, and stepped out onto the asphalt. All time stretched out, all sounds turned off, as if there were a mute button for life. My breath caught - all of our breaths caught. There they were, all slow-motion, walking out onto the road, their faces flushed with exhilaration, infatuation. There seemed a hush, and an uplift of air, where birds never flew. How long is one second of silence?
The next sound was the bellow of air brakes. And then my world seemed silent for an awfully long time.
Heather 1-18-2002 14:30
Just went through the posts to make sure I hadn't missed anything and somewhere way down there someone asked about black pearls. I am fairly certain it was OYSTER.
Well! Black pearls are my absolute favorite and I don't see myself ever being wealthy enough to buy a strand of them. Natural black pearls are extremely, extremely rare. They cannot be cultured with any amount of reliability. Only one type of oyster (the black-lipped oyster) can produce a black pearl and even then sometimes the color can be muddy, or too light or have imperfections which reduce its value. Oyster farmers and pearl cultivators can 'suggest' a color by implanting irritants of dark shades into the oysters, but even then results are sketchy.
Because of the beauty and rarity of these pearls and the demand for them in the market, most black pearls you see in jewelry stores are dyed. So much so that you can assume they are dyed unless otherwise specified, and the cost itself would indicate that. I could buy a strand of black dyed cultured pearls for probably $100-$300. A comparable strand of natural black pearls could be upwards of $3,000.00-$4,000.00, depending on size and grade.
QVC had some lower grade natural black pearls showcased one time and I couldn't even afford those.
Hope that answered your question!
Mary again 1-18-2002 14:29
Hi guys.
Hope you all have a productive day of writing or brainstorming or whatever you need to do.
I had sent a list of questions to that writer who wants to interview me about whether or not I would be interviewed as part of a larger article, what pictures they would want and so on. I received a response back this morning letting me know that the whole entire article would feature me, my work and my favorite tools. This is so unbearably exciting.
I just don't get it. Here I am, little old me, cranking out jewelry in Nowhereville and somebody thinks I am worthy of a 2000 word article. I just started doing this for crying out loud! Some people have been doing this stuff for years and don't get articles written about them. Quite honestly, I don't think I am all that great, so it is hard for me to understand their interest in my work. That isn't mock humility either, I really don't understand it.
Because this writer has an actual assignment, I am assuming it is a pretty sure thing that the article will be published (she says in the May issue), but even if it isn't I am elated that she thought I was worth the effort. What a major compliment. Thus far, it has been mostly friends and friends of friends that I get feedback from with the occasional comment from strangers. It is quite validating artistically to be going through something like this. (If I could find my dictionary I would check if I spelled artistically correctly, but I guess it looks ok!)
OK, enough about me. You will all be sick of hearing about it by May if you aren't already! ;-)
Seven more days 'til the teeth come out...I can't wait. I wish I could just go to sleep until then.
Take care!
Mary 1-18-2002 13:56
DOH!! I forgot the title to my story: SILENCE, IN AN OTHERWISE EMPTY ROOM
Ben 1-18-2002 12:32
Mark: I apologize to you if my story hit any exposed nerves. I just got back here and didn't know you were in Buffalo attending a funeral. Had I known that, or at least read the posts before I wrote it instead of after, I wouldn't have posted it.
Ben 1-18-2002 12:23
Ben, you hit that bang on. Wow. I've sat there in all three of those roles and you nailed every one. Very moving, you got me all misty.
Mary, congrats! That's way cool. Have fun. :-)
Thanks Mark! There are more changes on the way, once I get all the pictures the same width so it all sits better, nicer fonts in the captions, and just plain more stuff. Thank you for your super help. And I LOL at your awards. :-D
Great Shorties, all!
TTFN
Tina 1-18-2002 12:17
Here's my shortie subject. I wrote it last night on the river in my spare time, but then had to work late and so didn't get a chance to post it when I got home. Of course the fact that I'm up after four hours sleep would get me killed by my wife and kids...but, they were so noisy leaving for school and work this morning. Sheesh...
Derrick stepped into the funeral parlour with the same sense of nervous apprehension he felt whenever he stepped into a hospital room for a visit. God, he hated funerals. Instead of the antiseptic smell that assaulted him though, it was the strange hush of silence that seemed to echo in his mind. Then he heard the music--and it started the moment they walked in through the huge portico, as if they were playing it just for him--the soft, melodic voice of Vera Lynn lamenting about the White Cliffs of Dover.
He held onto Katherine's arm gently in spite of himself, standing in the shuffling line that led to the coffin. There were aunts, uncles, cousins; nieces and nephews along with her brothers and sisters, and all the while he kept thinking about the eleven o'clock tee-off time he'd had to give up.
It wasn't that he was callous, or shallow, or even insensitive to the feelings of everyone here--you weren't in sales for fifteen years and not learn something about people. He was here for Katherine, and no one else. She needed him, and said she couldn't bear the idea of showing up for the funeral alone. He was here because she wanted him. There was no other reason. He told himself he should have been here willingly--a willing participant in a ritual he wanted no part of. Afterall, the man meant nothing to him. He was Katherine's grandfather, and Derrick had only met him three times in the last seven years he and Katherine had been together.
They made their way to one of the pews--and he asked himself if the benches in a funeral home were actually called that, or was that strictly a church word? Katherine took a tissue out of her sleeve and wiped the tears away gently, careful not to ruin her mascara. He wondered why a woman would put make-up on if she knew she was going to a funeral. He looked at the others seated around him--the aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews; the friends, and colleagues, and acquaintances--and tried to find a comfortable position, something where he might look like he was concerned, even though he was not. He thought about taking Katherine's hand, but again, did nothing. He sat in silence as Katherine's grandfather was eulogized by a parade of friends and relatives, and wondered what hole he'd be on right now, and what sort of approach he would be making.
When the young girl stood up to make her speech, he held back a groan, wondering what sort of parents would make a child stand up and make a speech at a funeral. He almost breathed a sigh of relief when the girl refused to take the microphone. She was a tiny girl, probably no older than seven or eight, dressed in a long black dress that ended well below her knees, leaving just a hint of her snow white stockings and bright, polished, black shoes.
"I won't need that," the girl said firmly, and looked out over the crowd of friends and relatives. "I'm sure everyone can hear me.
"Poppy was my hero. He was my friend. I loved him more than anything in the world. But I can't let myself be sad now that he's gone. He's with the angels now, and he's watching over me, just like he's watching over each and every one of us. He loved us all, as much as we loved him, and as long as we remember the smile he had everytime we visited him, and the mints he carried in his pockets for us--the love he seemed to have so much of--he'll always be with us."
Derrick saw the tears come to Katherine's eyes and looked away from her. He saw the others around him, and the tears they all spilled so easily, and closed his eyes, trying to escape into the silence of his own mind. But there was no hiding there. He reached out for Katherine's hand. She latched onto him like a drowning woman desperate for rescue. He listened, amazed, silent, while Vera Lynn crooned about seeing him in all the old familiar places. He felt the tears coming. He found himself thinking about his own father's funeral ten years ago, and his grandfather's when he was no older than the girl in front of him, and wished he'd been able to stand up in front of a room full of people and profess the love he'd felt for the man. God, he told himself, this is why I hate funerals, and he let the tears slide down his face in silence.
That's it! Now maybe I should try and have a nap...or maybe just go for it and sleep later--or at work...
ben 1-18-2002 11:59
Howard:
I really wish I had seen that! I'm just writing the response to this story twenty times removed. So I can imagine how funny it was at the epicenter.
Debra 1-18-2002 11:37
-ponto-
MARY - That's great! You'll have to point us to the article when it's published. Be sure to put a link to it from your web page too!
TINA -- Very nice! Like Heather said, I can see the place too.
TEEKAY -- WOW! You can do it all, it seems! Very good poem!
By the way - they didn't go for milk either - the idea was really that the speaker spent all that time telling everyone to leave him/her alone, be quiet, etc, and now they're grown and gone, and there's no one there, and he's missed it all.
A friend just sent me this, and whether it's true or not it's too funny:
> This had most of the state of Michigan laughing for 2 days and a very
embarrassed female news anchor who will, in the future, likely think
before she speaks.
What happens when you predict snow but don't get any....
True story... they had a female news anchor who, the day after it was
supposed to have snowed and didn't, turned to the weatherman and asked
"So Bob, where's that 8 inches you promised me last night?"
Not only did HE have to leave the set, but half the crew did too they
were laughing so hard!
howard 1-18-2002 8:21
Ooops! I almost missed Teekay's awesome poem!
Very very cool. You know how to get to the point, and rip a few hearts out in the process. ;o<
Ouch!
If I didn't know you, I'd think you just went through a nasty divorce!
Heather 1-18-2002 3:05
Mary - CONGRATULATIONS!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WOW~!!!!!!!!!!!
Tina, that is beautiful! Now, just have to give it a title!
I really got a great picture of the rocky outcropping where you sat to take in the stars. (You, meaning the main character... though from the way you wrote it, I can tell you've camped in a similar spot!)
I have to come back and write my shortie tomorrow. Just had a GREAT chat with Christi!!!!!!
And now I'm a lot pooped out. I had a good idea in mind for my shortie, but I think I'll get some sleep first, or I might botch it with my impatience.
Mark!!!!! Great to see you're back. I was worried about you. Sorry about the cold, though. Looks like the cold hasn't worn out your hormones!
Okay, okay, so I wasn't very imaginitive when writing the awards. I'll have to think of some more interesting.
Heather 1-18-2002 3:03
Here's my 'I don't know what to call this one' shortie about silence.
When I turned my back on Todd, he didn’t say a word. The trail branched, I took the one leading to Penny Lake, and he followed the one heading down the valley. The audacity of my choice to continue alone resounded with every crunch of my boots on the rocky trail, the same boots he’d criticised because they gave me a blister on my heel and squeaked when wet. But I had the tent, and the clear weather and bird calls beckoned me upwards. He left, making enough noise to scare away the mosquitoes.
The cliffs around Penny Lake act as a natural amphitheatre, echoing every small sound. No other campers were there, and I found solemn breezes rustling through my preferred campsite. My annual pilgrimage to the lake had become a solitary quest, and as I set up my camp I thought about Todd. He’d have reached the trucks, cranked his music, and be roaring down the forestry road by now. I tried not to care.
I lit a small, crackling fire, but used my campstove to cook. I’d remembered my fuel, not left it in the truck. When he’d realised his error, Todd’s foul cursing had drowned out the nearby waterfall. I’d known right then that bringing him along had been a mistake. A gentle rainfall had proven my theory; Todd refused to be quiet, refused to find silence here in the woods surrounded by the music of rain on leaves. But silence was what I’d come in search of. Silence as loud as fish jumping and ravens crying and squirrels chattering impudently. My soul had known that I couldn’t find stillness while in human company, but fear had spoken loudly and so I’d invited Todd.
Louder, though, was my need for space. As night fell, I climbed up to an open ledge and welcomed the stars. They danced to celestial music, and my heart thrilled as a distant howl brought every hair on my body erect. Such passion almost made me weep, and I longed for the song to continue. It faded and did not repeat, though I strained to hear. And in that straining, I found that I could hear the perfect peace of silence. The ever-present hum of society had faded from my over-stimulated ears, letting the whisper of wind through creaking trees and the tiny chirps of night animals reach past my wailing self-doubt and snivelling negativity. My nagging anger at perceived insults, my pounding drive for success, my ticking internal clock that said I needed to find a man; they all faded away in the pureness of a mountain evening. The lesson was renewed for another year; the trials of life will not win, when a seed of silence whispers in your heart.
© Tina Chambers
Bramblerose 1-18-2002 2:25
Well, I wasn't going to say anything, but as usual, that feeling lasted a whole three minutes. (About the same amount of time it took my browser to get me here from my email box.)
I received an email from a writer at Wire Artist Magazine and Lapidary Journal, asking me if I would be interested in doing an interview for her. She writes a monthly feature for those two magazines, saw some of my jewelry and said she would be thrilled if I would work with her on this.
At first, I wanted to instantly write her back saying YES YES YES, then I figured I had better check her out. So, I went through back issues of both magazines and sure enough there she was. Very professional, charming, informative. So I wrote her back and gave her a very sedate yes.
I might just be getting my first 15 minutes of fame. Or maybe it is my first two minutes and the other 13 are coming later. Hehe. I am pretty excited about this, but I have a lot of work to do. They will want some photographs of my work, and they will mention my site, which right now looks like crap, so I have to pull that together. OY.
I am glad to see everyone having such a good time with the Hobbit name generator. I thought it was awfully cute and knew I had to share it.
CHRISTI: I sent you an email yesterday...did you get it? I just wanted to make sure it went where it was supposed to because it got sent back to me once.
HEATHER: Big hugs for all you do. Thank you!
LITTER: I sent you an email too a few days ago. Did you get that?
Now I am starting to sound like I send hundreds of people emails and nobody ever answers me. Hehehe.
Later folks.
Mary 1-18-2002 1:40
Short huh. Well I ain't exactly short, in fact I used to be considered tall, but not any more. Not that I've shrunk all that much, only lost about an inch with my surgery, its just that all the youngsters are growing taller all the time.
Now I grew taller then dad by an inch, and topped out at 6'1" and a half to get accurate. Used to tip the scales at 225 but since I became very sedentary, I have now grown up to 265, and I now measure in at about 6'0" and a half.
The wife was 5'1" when I married her and she weighed in at around 105. Since then she has grown another two inches, and her weight is not allowed to be discussed revealed, or even spoken of.
The kids are both shorter then I, taking after their mom's side of the family. Funny, the in-laws were just the opposite, she was over six feet tall, he around five foot five. She was the dominant one in the family, that was very clear, but she really was a sweetheart once you got over the shock of her size, she must have tipped the scales around the 260's somewhere. She was one huge woman.
I will never forget the first time I met her, well both of them. It was around the 4th of July in 1969, and I had spent the night with my then girlfriend. In fact we were still in bed, quite naked, as it was hot in her second story apartment. There was a knock at the door, and the door opened. I think the wife mentioned something like "Oh my God my parents!" in a hushed scream.
We jumped from bed, and dressed as quickly as we could, we heard them coming down the hallway that led from the kitchen to the living room, in seconds they would be at the bedroom door.
I managed to get my pants on, the wife slipped into her dress (they actually wore them back then you know) and when they got to our bedroom door, we looked almost presentable.
I was buttoning my shirt when I first saw them. My first thought (I'm a dead man!) but they were so very nice about it. I know they knew what was going on.
After a short visit, they left to visit with Aunt Mabel and that afternoon we spent at the lake having a super time at a family picnic.
Jerry 1-18-2002 0:51
BRAMBLEROSE -- I see you made some web changes. Yup, improvement.
HOB BRANDYBUCK of BUCKLAND ?? Well, well. I wonder how we're related?
Let me see. Let me see. Texas. Alcohol. Writerly pursuits. (the first two of those are past tense for me now).
My, my. There is probably more, as well as less. Probably.
HEATHER -- Spent several days down with a cold. Not bad enough to stay in bed and stay home from work . . . but bad enough to make me flop listlessly in front of TV for several nights. I think the trip to Buffalo for the funeral did it. Between the Hot and Cold cycles of the truck heating system and my own sense of nerves at the whole family gathering, well, I been down. Thanks for the essay award (was there anyone else in the category?)
I need to toot my own horn more, get noticed for things like "Best Hands in the Darkroom" Award, or "Best Leg to Feel on My Hip" Award. Or maybe "Most Likely to Think a Horny Thought Before the End of a Paragraph" Award.
It's such a struggle.
Mark 1-18-2002 0:19
**Teekay**
DEBRA: HAHAHHAHAHAHHAHA of course I was trying for a feel good feeling, but you need to have something to compare it to, it makes the highs so much higher :-D
HOWARD: tsk, what a shame, it would have been so much more poignant with a car accident.
Doesn't have the same effect if they've just gone to the corner shop for milk.
Got it!
Shorty on Silence:
Since you've been gone
I've
Learnt that a day can seem
Endless and
Nights,
Can be
Eternal.
Teekay 1-17-2002 23:47
TEEKAY -- Car accident? No, I wasn't thinking that at all. They just went away. That was one of those flashes that kind of put itself together. Glad you liked it.
I had a very strange Email today - from a person I knew in school, actually since age 5. It was an apology for a Halloween prank 45 years ago, when our windows got painted a beautiful shade of blue! My folks knew who did it, but since I promised to clean it up they didn't file any complaints about it with police or parents. Now an apology for that, and for the way they treated me when I was a kid in school. Will wonders never cease!
howard 1-17-2002 21:31
Tina:
Thank you for that.
Actually although I do hate being short, I am long waisted and have shorter legs. My husband is 6 3 and when we are sitting down we are nearly eye to eye.
So no problem there and other places if you know what I mean. "Nasty chuckle"
Then again when I have on heels with short legs it (to the eye)almost looks normal. Have you ever seen someone with extremely long, "sigh" beautiful legs WITH heels. Well you feel like a good climb. Don't you?
I don't mean that in a dirty way. Most of the time.
So thank you!
That center of gravity thing reminded me of one more thing. My hands and feet are always rather on the hot side. They are always like ovens.
Can tall people do that?
I really don't know. My husband can't. That's all I've got to go on.
Debra 1-17-2002 21:19
Hi all!
Allein, send on the chapters!
Actually, anyone looking for some input, send it on! I find myself critiquingless. I'll gladly give my slow two cents worth.
Heather, the best self-confidence booster I've found lately involves airplanes and parachutes. When I'm doubting myself, I remind myself, 'I've jumped out of an airplane at 3500feet, trusting my instructors and a nylon canopy to keep me alive, while my heart topped 200 beats/minute. If I can do that, I can do anything!'
Debra, the trick to 'short' is to remind tall people about your advantages. Like, it's way easier to throw people when you're short. I can dump someone 6' tall a lot easier than they can toss me! No risk of hitting your head on doorways because you forgot to double check the height, and your legs always fit in the small space they provide on buses and airplanes. You may have to hem the legs of the long pants you buy, but they can't extend the legs on the short pants they buy. Your center of gravity is lower, so it's harder to fall on icy/slippery surfaces. See, short is wonderful!
Gotta run,
Blue skies!
Tina/Bramblerose 1-17-2002 21:02
Hob Brandybuck of Buckland
Hey!
This is a name?
"Oh Hob," Bubbles sighed. "I just love to run my fingers through your hair. If we get married we will be Hob and Bubbles Brandybuck! Isn't that romantic?"
Well, in Texas there is a saying."Played Hob with that!" It usually means a foul up.
My oldest daughters name is Brandy. And at one time I was a mighty hunter of whitetail deer. And I believe Texas has the highest population of deer in the US (in excess of 3 million) conversely there would be a large percentage of bucks, soooooooooo I could be from Buckland?
Nah!
The publishing company had my novel all of one night. At 9:30AM the following morning (Time track on the e-mail) a nice lady thanked me for the "Query letter" and requested the rest of the novel. Huh? Three chapters, a query letter? Wanted me to OUTLINE why the book was marketable? Also wanted a "bio."
Now, I am a fast reader, but unless that person worked all night or arises long before sunrise, I don't know how she could have digested 80,000 plus words.
I'm sorry, but I don't trust on-line publishing companies. There are simply too many opportunities for mis-management. I e-mailed her back and said, well, requested she read the three chapters I sent. Bio can wait. Marketing is their busisness, not mine. If they feel it is good enough to be published, it should be "marketable" Right? Whether the book has merit or not should be apparent in the first 80,000 words. Or so I would believe.
No reply as of now. Guess they do not want input from lippy authors. A shame.
See ya
Randall "Played Hob with that submission"
Randall 1-17-2002 19:32
Teekay"
Are you trying to make me feel good or bad?
First you say this.
DEBRA: When they get you up on stage to interview you about your best selling book, I'M HAPPY.
Then you say this.
they'll have to give you a crate to stand on, and only use special angles. NOW I'M SAD.
Then you say this.
just like they do with Tom Cruise :-D WELL HAPPY/SAD. I'M NOT HIS BIGGEST FAN A LITTLE ONE, BUT THERE ARE OTHERS I LIKE BETTER.
They you say this.
Don't worry about it too much though I'M BACK TO HAPPY AGAIN.
Then this.
my extra tall girlfriend told me I was short BACK TO SAD EXTRA TALL ALWAYS MAKES ME A LITTLE SAD.
and I thought I was average. STILL SAD. IMAGINE WHAT SHE THINKS UPON SEEING ME.
You're killing me.
Didn't you say you used to be a nurse?
Heeeeheeeee!
Debra 1-17-2002 19:07
I'm sorry! Did I pick a real bungjungler of a shortie topic?
Too bad!
Ha ha hah aha hah aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Just kidding.
Why, thank you, Teek! But really now, I'm all tarnish and abrasives. I don't know about nicest anything!
And I have the rotten job of deciding which ghosties to keep, and which ones have to land on the cutting room floor. Everyone, please relax. This job is harder on me than it will be on you... wait, no, ummmm
didn't someone say that just before they were beheaded?
Not Marie Antoinette... somebody (headless) else.
Oh well. If that's not a 'guillotine day' quote, that's okay by me.
Heather 1-17-2002 18:39
**Teekay**
DEBRA: When they get you up on stage to interview you about your best selling book, they'll have to give you a crate to stand on, and only use special angles, just like they do with Tom Cruise :-D
Don't worry about it too much though, my extra tall girlfriend told me I was short - and I thought I was average.
BTW: I didn't bring up my conceit, HEATHER did. She gave me an award for it
She's sooooooo nice :-D
MEL: Good news, you have no need to worry. It will only take you 32 years. I bet you're relieved huh? :-D
CHRISTI: Your Hobbit names suits you perfectly, except maybe not the Bramble-burr bit, it's a little too prickly! But you are definitely a daisy, all lovely, sunny and bright without pretensions. And Gambee-Took does you justice, unique and interesting with no hard edges - I recommend a divorce.
If I could design my own out of all I've seen on offer so far, I'm going for Bramblerose Goodbody of Lake-by-downs. It always does to have a nice address :-D
Makes me sound like a Hobbit Hooker.
RRRRRRRRRANDALL aka Hoooooooooooob (breathily, like Marilyn Monroe or the Hobbit Hooker might do): Hey! It's great to see you posting. Hope you stay around.
TIGERLILLY: I roll my eyes at you. Don't you know RANDALL is pronounced RRRRRRRRRANDALL??????
HEATHER: Geez, you have me feeling rather guilty about snatching that award off you, here, I'm giving it back and here's a packet of Cadbury's 'roses' to go with it.
Aaaaaaaaaaand here's the award for best shorties,
and the one for nicest hair,
and the one for best manners.
BUT, that's all, I'm keeping the rest.
JERRY: HAHAHHAHHAH I wonder how many deaf people you've depressed no end with your shorty.
HOWARD: *sigh* for fear of repeating myself I will not tell you your poem is fantastic.
Nor how you always know how to get under the skin to reach the deeper places.
The way I read your poem is that they all went out and got themselves killed in a car accident - maybe I'm morbid too.
Be well all,
shall mull over silence and see what happens.
Teekay 1-17-2002 18:26
Wait - H