Archived Notebook from August 22, 2002 to November 4, 2002
Hello Everyone.
Way to go Howard. I like your style.
HEATHER: Hahahaha. Green.
My husband and I have a television in our bedroom and for some unfathomable reason, hubby likes to watch the news in bed before we go to sleep. I call it his 'Nightmare Inducer' channel. I try to miss this nightly ritual, but sometimes I just have to have my spot, news or not. A girl gets sleepy you know.
SHORTIE TOPIC FOR THIS WEEK: Extra-Sensory Perception
Mary 11-4-2002 23:53
Howard -- BRAVO!!!!!
Carol 11-4-2002 23:10
Jerry - here's an idea! Take walks through town and use all the people you meet in stories!
I detest watching the news. I have it on many channels - we have 24 hour local news stations, CNN, all of them. I just don't watch them unless absolutely necessary. EVER.
I will fall into a pit of despair if I do, even if it's just the regular shootings and stabbings and thievery in the news, and not the terrorist campaigns, or global crapola. Even the weather channel depresses me, with the 'allergen and toxic smog warnings' running all the time.
I did happen to catch a bit of the latest news about the National Park with putrid black crud contaminating the virgin ice of glaciers. LOVELY. GEE. I SHOULD WATCH MORE OFTEN. I COULD FALL INTO A COMA EASILY, NEVER TO HAVE TO DEAL WITH REALITY AGAIN. FANCY THAT, FROM A REALITY SHOW.
Heather 11-4-2002 21:42
Rhoda - Oh of we only had Fox news, or any other news service, but alas, the only news service we get here is CNN and MSNBC which is all finance till 7:30 PM or so. I usually just have it running in the background as I do other things. What made this so particular is that I had the dang tv turned off then I got this email from CNN breaking news about the car being destroyed in Yemen, so I flipped on the tube to see what happened, as the news flash was so so skimpy on facts. I had to wait over an hour for the idiots on CNN to break from their banter on the upcoming election, then good old Wolf Blitzer came on with the story. Pissed me off so bad that I sent them an email but I'm sure their email interceptor software killed mine before it ever go to them.
At any rate your right, I should simply turn off the cable, but then what would I do when I got bored with the computer, reading and the computer?
Jerry 11-4-2002 20:49
I had an interesting experience today. I was headed into town to stop at the lumber yard, and came up behind a pickup truck carrying a huge campaign sign in the back, and sporting a megaphone blasting march music and campaign slogans for a candidate in our town council race.
No problem, except that it also had a large American flag flying from the back of the truck.
Again, no problem except that the flag was faded, torn, frayed, and ripped clear down the middle -- just a rag flying in the breeze.
It made me mad!
I caught up to the bozo, blew my horn, flashed my lights, and motioned for him to pull over.
He did.
I got out of my truck, walked up to his window, and proceded to ask just who in blazes he thought he was, desecrating the flag that way. He muttered and mumbled something about the flag had been there for a long time, and nobody had questioned him, and who was I to stop him anyway?
I told him that I was a vote that he had just lost, and I was going to start making phone calls to everyone I knew to let them know just what kind of unpatriotic louse we had running for council. Then I went back to my truck, and he drove away.
I stopped at the lumber yard, still seething, and picked up the stuff I wanted, and left, deciding to drive up through town on my way home.
There he was again, but this time he was parked in front of our local dollar store, tying a brand new American flag in place of the old one!
I turned in to the lot, and stopped behind him, and just said "Thank you!"
He came over and apologised, saying that he didn't realize just how bad the flag was, and that his dad had been wounded twice in WW2, so he would be the last one to mistreat the flag.
I guess it maybe does pay to make your feelings known sometimes...
howard 11-4-2002 19:28
JERRY,
So what is new? CNN has been like that for a long time, and they get away with it because even die-hard conservatives like you watch their network. Why don't you watch FOXnews or CSNBC or something else? Better yet, do what I did and cancel your cable. OK, that might be a bit radical, but I have found the less news the better especially around election time. The only time I have to see the news is when I am in the midst of PMS and I want to get mad.
Rhoda 11-4-2002 18:24
I gotta STOP watching CNN! I can't believe what they reported just minutes ago, a correspondent reported from Yemen that the U.S. Missile attack on a car carrying two EL Quida members put the U.S. In the same category as El Quida!
HE actually said that the U.S. are acting as terrorists!!!
This from what appeared in all aspects to be a citizen of the U.S. reporting from foreign shores.
Guess it goes to show how far CNN will go to make a point.
Jerry 11-4-2002 17:08
Hey - I like the green, easy to read and is the color of one of my favorite things MONEY!
Jerry 11-4-2002 13:11
HEATHER -- Nice touch! I like it! Not to worry -- it's still readable and sometimes a change stimulates creativity.
The notebook is about due for archive, no? It goes all the way back to August, and must be hellacious to load on a slow connection.
howard 11-4-2002 12:42
Heather: DON'T RUN AWAY! the sea green is very pretty, I like it! back from a long weekend in (you would never guess) my room. I don't have much to say right now. I finished another poem, it's kind of goofy, but i was in a goofy mood when I wrote it, I guess.
If you had a Pencil...
If you had a pencil
What would you do with it?
Would you twirl it in between your fingers
or twine it between your toes?
Would you do some Algebra
For the teacher who you didn't like
Or for spelling because of teachers strict?
Would you start a fire with it
(With parent supervision of course)
Or let it sit there idly?
(Idle pencils are the devil's tools)
Would you jot a bit of a story
Or a composition you forgot to write?
Would you write a poem
Or the math for your taxes?
Would you reguard it with high honor
And not chew on its eraser?
And be gentle with it in the sharpener
And not have it be eaten much?
I think the world
Would be a better place
If pencils ruled the world
Hey, it could happen, right?
I didn't think so, but it's a nice thought...
Copyright Elaine 10-30-02 @8:17 pm
Hope you all enjoy, it was fun to write.
Till Niagara Falls!
Elaine 11-4-2002 12:20
Uh.....*shuffle slouch shuffle* Sorry Jack! I turned the entire Notebook seagreen. *run and run and..... running away!!!*
SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I'VE BEEN EDITING TOO LONG?
I'm going to take a break and go upstairs to finish some Hemlocks! :oD
Heather 11-4-2002 11:53
Uh.....*shuffle slouch shuffle* Sorry Jack! I turned the entire Notebook seagreen. *running away!!!*
Heather 11-4-2002 11:51
Uh.....*shuffle slouch shuffle* Sorry Jack! I turned the entire Notebook seagreen. *run away!!!*
Heather 11-4-2002 11:51
*@*Heather*@*
Hello, beautifuls! (Sorry, Grammar is huddling under the kitchen chair, and I'm not about to try scaring him out with a utensil... "Bad Grammar! Bad!")
Sanity is simmering in the pot of plentiful edits. Will stir rapidly with final slashes of red pen in the next few days, thicken with revision until ready to stand on, and with a whoop and a dash of salt, it shall be.....ahem....quite EDIBLE! MUNCH MUNCH.... *cough* Well, if it weren't for the chemicals, I'm sure paper would have been part of my diet a few years back... *grinny grins*
Do not fear.....sanity is an ingredient I still have enough of to spare. I hope. Maybe... :oP
Heather Hemlock Bags
11-4-2002 11:49
JERRY: "Sometimes it seems the world gangs up on me to keep me from what I truely enjoy." Ditto, my life, Jerry!!
Mel 11-4-2002 9:51
It's warmed up a bit here got up to 40 today and the snow is dissapearing, so good to see it go, now maybe the rest of the leaves will have a chance to fall, most are still clinging to their branches in total shock at the early arrivial of winter. It would be nice if it drys up enough so I can pick them up before winter gets here in earnest.
I think the virus infection has been torn from my network now, at least I hope so, the good side is that all computers run so much better when they have a fresh version of windows installed.
Smokey is getting used to being a bit lighter in the rear now, he has finally forgiven us for the trip to the vet and the horror he had to undergo there. I think the worst for him was the fact that he was placed in the very top cage next to the cealing, he has this fear of hights that the wife forgot to tell the vet clinic. The vet said he cried all while he was in the cage and they couldn't figure out why.
Renn has decided to fend for himself now, tonight he came into the living room, shortly after the wife was off to bed, he climbed up in her new recliner, and began to dig at the afgan that she keeps over the back. Once he had pulled it all down to the seat, he made his nest, then jumped down and came over to inform me it was time to go outside. I let him out, and when he came back in, he ran to the chair, ordered the cat out, and settled into his nest to warm up.
Heather - I haven't had a chance to get back to rewrite my last story, but I have the intention of getting back to it very soon. I'll let you know if and when I get back to it. Sometimes it seems the world gangs up on me to keep me from what I truely enjoy.
Write on.
Jerry 11-4-2002 0:36
OK, I'll try again. Cotton pickin' internet must be wet too. dumped me right in the middle of a post.
CHRISTI,
I always remember my favorite notebookers. If I had the time, energy, and money, I'd zip over there and join the party. Only a couple of beautiful states over from here. It's that first five hundred miles trying to get out of Texas that takes a toll.
By the way, where is Hallee these days. Darn--everytime one of my friends gets married, she disappears.
I think I have just bid all my profits on more yarn on EBay. Got to go see if, hopefully some idiot has outbid me.
bye,
Rosemary 11-3-2002 19:34
=Christi=
Hello fellow bravehearts! As of late I have realized that writing can be quite the harrowing and risky business emotionally. But doesn't that make the victory all the sweeter? I wouldn't know, but I'll let you know when that happens. For now the sweetest thing is the writing itself and I have a feeling that no matter what it will continue to be its own reward, as disgustingly claptrap as that sounds. What's the matter with me right now? I think I'm in love with writing! Sick. Just sick. :)
Tina! Just got your email. I would indeed LOVE to see you! I live in Tucson, about two hours from Phoenix, but I'd drive up there like a mad hare to get the chance of meeting you. Hubby said he would be happy to watch our son for the day, so if you are able to grab the time I can too. Let me know!
Hey Rosemary, Good memory!
Hey Litter, Carol, Sunny, Randall, Howard, Americo and all you's guys. Too bad we missed Halloween. I thought (too late of course) that we could have an oldfashioned weenie roast here and tell some tall tales and ghosties around the campfire. Anyone want to take me up on it?
See you all on the next go around,
Christi 11-3-2002 18:22
*Sunny*
Carol, I can't resist giving you a little nudge in the right direction! It's so important to give yourself time and space for what you need. It's not selfish at all, and should hardly wait for time left over when everything else has been done. It's like what they tell you on an airline -- what do you do when the air pressure drops, and the oxygen mask comes down, and you're traveling with someone who needs assistance? Whose face do you put the mask on first - yours or the person you're traveling with? You put it on yours, of course, or you won't have enough air to help anyone else! It's the same way with caring for yourself. If you can't breathe -- and that includes creaatively -- you're no good in terms of being there fully for others. So make/take the time, and do yourself, and everyone else, a huge favor. :-)
Sunny 11-3-2002 17:23
Hi All :)
Litter - I have a hard time keeping up with the notebook too, so you're not alone. I keep having good intentions, but they always seem to fall by the wayside. Course half the time, I get a nice long message written and then my server bumps me off, erasing everything and raising my temper. (me? temper? oh no!)
This week has been stressful. Hubby has been in a "working" mode, wanting to get everything done at once and of course, needing my help. Hasn't left much time for writing at all. Maybe I should be proud of myself for actually getting in even one paragraph. Today, I'm trying very hard to put my foot down and get some time for myself. Not always an easy thing to do. I may have to resort to really revving up my temper and letting it fly!!! Its ....... Aarrrggghhh!!!
Carol 11-3-2002 16:11
Rosemary, thanks! I'll e-mail Christi.
Gotta love street fairs. We have one here every year in June, and I make a point of going. It's so much fun. I like the idea of a story-tellers booth for local authors.
Blue skies! (Especially for Rosemary ;-)
Tina 11-3-2002 13:49
Hello all,
TINA,
YES, it's still wet here. Yesterday was the day for the 'George West Storyfest'. They have booths, animals, large tents for entertainment, face painting and who knows what all else. They block off the streets in the middle of town around the courthouse. Most of the entertainment is the storytelling. Some really tall tales of the old west. A lot of Country music too. The rain was more on than off all day. I shared a large booth with three authors, one of which didn't show up. More room for us, she's suposed to pay her share anyway. Even with the bad weather, there were a lot of people browsing. Most of them were wet and cold and I sold over $100 worth of crocheted hats. At $5 and $10 each. That really depleted my stock. I was thrilled.
When I got home, I had to put everything in the dryer to make sure nothing molded or mildewed.
ALSo TINA,--- CHRISTI--- lives in Arizona. Either Tuscon or Pheonix. (The last one I think.) I bet she would love to see you.
Gotta go feed everybody.
Bye
Rosemary 11-3-2002 12:14
Tina - Renn is wearing his coat now when he goes outside, when I let him in, he's always under his bush, it blocks the wind and offers some protection from the cold, we don't leave him out very long. Smokey isn't allowed out of doors but occasionally he will try to make a break for it. When it's cold like yesterday though, he stays back away from the door, seems he knows better.
It's almost over now, the election that is, I can hardly wait. Last presidential election I was going to stay up till we had a winner, who'd have known. I won't hold my breath on this one, I've heard that some parties have already hired lawyers to stand by the polls so they file suite if they don't win (I'll let you guess which party, sufice to say thier leader is the great pretender).
Seems all I do around here of late is format hard drives, a friend of my daughters dropped her tower off today, said she kept getting these strange bouncing emails that she didn't even remember sending. Klez.32.H or some such virus. I ran several Klez removal programs on the machine and when they were done there wasn't enough data left for the poor old machine to even boot. Formated it and re built the hard drive, it is ready to go home again when she comes by on Monday morning.
Tried to get XP back on my main machine, but it isn't in the cards I guess, since they had some form of duel boot for the recovery partition that was lost when I fdisked it to change from NTFS to FAT32. There is a note on the HP site saying that if needed they will send recovery CD's for the cost of shipping, guess I'll get them in case I ever decide put XP back on.
Something went wrong with the first ME installation, it was crashing all night last night, that was what made me try to restore XP, but after trying several methods it was necessary to reformat this one and put ME back on. This installation is working great so getting XP back is just a matter of cost now of need.
I mentioned that the wife is going to the health club daily now to strengthen her knee, the club here doesn't charge much, jut thirty bucks a month, with the first and last month free if you sign up for six months, then she had another coupon that gave her another free month that she got from her TOPS club so it's nearly free. The place isn't the kind of health club you see on TV, it's a small gym attached to a physical therapy clinic. The folks who run it are all physical therapists, and opened the gym up so folks who had gone through therapy had a place to continue to exercise so they don't depend to much on the money they make from the Gym since they do a lot of medical physical therapy for hospital and clinic here in town.
Back when I last had therapy there, I ran into our resident well known author, she has like seventeen books published already, and has three in the works now. She writes of life here in Lemmon her youth and growing up in the shadow of her well known grandfather who brought many of the good folks here abouts into the world. I've read a bit of her stuff, not my kind of writing, but the wife enjoys her stuff. It's more spirital than adventure, lots of poetry and such too in some of her collections.
I'd drop her name but it escapes me right now, must be the pills or something, I was just talking to here a couple of months ago.
Oh well part growing old I guess.
Jerry 11-3-2002 0:17
Old work lying around that you don’t know what to do with? Try sending it to Wordsmiths; you’ve got nothing to lose.
WORDSMITHS.me.uk
Wordsmiths is a new site just opened, for the use of authors. Wordsmiths is a site for authors to air their works and publishers to view writers work. The site covers fact, fiction, poetry, screenplays, lyrics, aphorisms, jokes . . . . . if you can write it you can find it here.
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Pride Wordsmiths
11-2-2002 22:37
Hey Allein, I guess I was confused. For some reason I thought you'd gone back again. %-) And no, you're never too old to enjoy Halloween!
Did the Haunted House again this year. I was Little Red Riding Hood, but the wolf had got me. We scared many little and big humans, and raised almost $2000 towards microscopes for the Science Centre. Much fun, except today is clean-up. :-p
Blue skies!
Tina 11-2-2002 10:52
LITTER -- That error message says that it may be a temporary block against a rash of spam attacks. Try sending again.
howard 11-2-2002 8:35
HOWARD -- Just tried to email you but ny message was refused an I got this message:
For <htuckey@stny.rr.com>, the destination server said: 5.7.1 Mail Refused - 217.32.175 - See http://security.rr.com/mail_blocks.htm#security (from stny.rr.com:24.92.226.159)
Any suggestions?
I sent from the email address on this posting.
Litter 11-2-2002 8:06
Greeting and felicitations,
HOWARD – this is way late but you have my prayers that the shadow will prove to be nothing sinister.
It seems that I can never keep up to date with the notebook. Gonna have to do something about that, starting today! (Do I hear the sound of giggles and guffaws from the gallery?)
The acceleration towards the Christmas season normally inspires me, and it does seem to be accelerating faster that normal this year. (Wonder if it has anything to do with global warming…)
Now then, does anyone know anyone that would like to buy back a bit of American history from a Scots pillager? The impending commercial cost of the forthcoming season means that I have to sell one of my prized possessions – an 1881 gold Half Eagle. (The year of the gunfight at the OK coral, people.) It’ll probably end up on eBay or something similar but I thought I’d give my buddies here the first option. The coin comes with a certificate of authenticity and I can arrange for a note from Wyatt Earp that states that this Half Eagle was his lucky gambling coin, and one he used before the gunfight. (That one may not be bona-fide :o) All reasonable offers considered.
(Sorry for taking liberties, Jack.)
Now I shall go back to aspiring to adequacy…
Litter 11-2-2002 7:56
**Taylor**
Well had fun at halloween on Thursday night. A group of friends and I got dressed up in costumes... I went as Death, we had a devil, witch and wizard in our group.
No trick or treating.
Must have been funny to see a group of monsters dancing to "Lets do the timewarp again"
Had a few drinks as well... Lol of course.
Went out last night and found myself studying people as they went by since I didn't have ID to get into the pub... And trying to figure out how they arrived to that particular point... What's on their mind? and what caused them to go out at that night.
And all that jazz.
Taylor 11-2-2002 5:17
Hi all!!
Had fun last night - went trick or treating with some friends. Maybe we're a bit old but - FREE CANDY!!! :D Actually we left late because Mark had to work until 8:00 so we didn't get too much candy but that's good since I'm trying to lose weight.
I got almost all of my Christmas shopping done today too! ^.^ I dunno what got into me but at least I beat the rush.
Viv - I got the letter from Hana today, but I never did get the translations. If she still has them somewhere could she e-mail them to me. She probably did at my old address but I delete everything in there because 99.9999999999999999999999999999999999% of it is spam. The new addy is: twinkiemon@hotmail.com Thanks. :)
Jack - They forgot to sign my check too, I just didn't bother contacting them over such a small amount.
Tina - I was in technical school for dental assisting over a a year ago. I'm now out in the working world. ^.^
Allein Peachick's Gallery
11-2-2002 1:58
Hi again. I guess waiting to 'see what would happen' was pointless. An unidentified nuclear submarine surfacing off the coast would have got a more cheerful response than my last post. Oh well.
Christi, it's good to see you here too!
Howard, prayers and (((HUGS))), although slightly delayed.
Mary, how is it going?
Heather, you are an editing machine! And by the way, I will think of a better title for 'Lily and Sandra'. Thanks again for all the work you are doing on P.
Randall, good to see you found your own strength about 'historical fiction'. Hard to do sometimes, I know. And thanks for more Red Britches stories!
Viv, do you ever stop going? Where do you get the energy? Can I have some of it please?
Rosemary, hi you! What's new? Still wet?
Sunny, thanks for the quote. One of the better ones I've heard recently.
Allein, do I remember correctly that you're in school again? What are you taking?
Rhoda, are you settling in nicely? Seems that moving to a new city stimulated your muse BIG time.
Jerry, how are the kids (4-legged ones) enjoying the cold?
Mel, could you send back 'Shadow' please. Someone here in town wants to read it, and there's no point in printing out another copy when I haven't made any changes lately.
Taylor and Elaine and Mark and Jack and Teekay and Litter and Eddie and Americo and Carol and Deb... hi!
I have no memory for such things, so I have to ask; does anyone live in Arizona? I'm planning a trip there in January, so I'll be in the neighbourhood of Phoenix/Eloy.
Okay, it took my over an hour to catch up on the posts, and now I need to clean. The house is listed with a realtor now, and we never know when people will come by. I don't live spotlessly, and this constant 'show home' appearance is really tiring.
Blue skies.
Tina 11-2-2002 0:26
Howard - glad the worst is over, well the most uncomfortable, I guess the worse is waiting for the results.
I assure you I will vote, and I'll vote for those who best represent my beliefs, but the whole political thing is just getting way out of hand, and the press isn't helping much.
You know way back in the dark ages when I was in high school, they taught us that the press (as it was then) would not print a story with at least two if not three independent sources confirming the truth. Now days they not only report news with one source, but at times with no sources, just with ideas of what they think may be the truth. Then the idiots sit around and pat each other on the back for the good work they did in reporting on the story.
And your right, it seems that they should well be suing each other for liable or slander if all they are saying isn't true, but it strains ones belief structure to think that it's all based on fact.
At any rate, it'll be over soon and we can get on with the next presidential election farce the is just two years away now, or is it three? It makes no difference. If the stores can have all their Christmas stuff out before Halloween then I guess we can start deciding on who will be our new fearless leader two or three years before it makes any difference.
Saw my VA Doc today, I had a new one. She seems very nice and from what I gathered talking to the folks on the phone before I went down and waiting to see her she is one of the best doctors that the VA has snagged of late. She is a throw back from 9-11, you see she is of middle eastern descent, well the way she talked I would bet she was born there and came to America. She didn't go into it much just said that she left her very profitable private practice in New York City a couple of months ago because life in New York City was very hard after the attack.
She said she likes the VA system very much, but the weather up here has been a shock to her system. Said that she nearly had a car accident on the ice, having never driven on icy roads before, she had no idea how to do it. Said she has stopped driving completely and since there is a taxi system in Sturgis she takes the cab to and from work now. She said that the day she nearly had the accident, she came home to her son and said "that's it, I'm moving back to New York City, but he told her NO! Seems this is the first place he has ever found real friends and it's safe for him to go to the friends home to play, and the friend can come over to his house, he said he never wanted to go back to the City. I think she will get used to the Dakota's at least I hope she does and she seems very good at what she does.
I came up with a thought, an idea really, the wife said she is going to start a new book that she picked up at Pamida, it's called "the brain". This got me to thinking, say that some day down the line, they discover a method to transplant a brain.
Ok so the guy getting the brain is "brain dead" and the donor's body has to be dead, when the transplant is done, who's dead and who's alive?
Is the estate of the brain that lives to go to it's descendants, or do the property rights stay with the brain, which is, after all where the mind resides, and resulting person would indeed not wish to give up his property if the mind still lives, yet what of the body, is the brain or the body the donor? If the fellow who's body gets the brain then does his estate remain with the body? After all the body's brain was "brain dead", but then the donor of the brain must have been dead first, or would it? What if the body is that of bill gates (millions would cheer at that death) and the brain is that of a skid-row bum, who get's Microsoft? Who get's the box in the alley where the bum slept?
Should make for a good medical/legal thriller!
Saw about fifty deer, all within spitting range of the highway, sure glad they stayed in the ditch.
Write ON!
Jerry 11-2-2002 0:00
Hello all. Been a bit busy. However, the one contract that was worrying me and holding me over the coals finally folded. So, I am hopefully back and can get some time to try to get the Workbook working. Not sure which server I will finally establish it on, probably either here on webwitch or sfnorthwest using PHP/MySQL. We will see.
However, one note on Shadows In A Dream. Publish America finally sent me a check and when I went to the bank to cash it I discovered that they had not signed the check. Oh, well. Will be contacting them, but it was a small enough check that it was more symbolic that anything else.
Jack Beslanwitch 11-1-2002 21:05
HOWARD,
No, you do not need a driver's licence, but the department of motor vehicles is where you commonly go to register to vote, so I inadvertantly linked the two processes in my mind. Shame on me. I really do not have an excuse. I just did not have it on my mind until it was too late. Cannot blame Louisiana. Cannot blame anyone, but myself.
Rhoda 11-1-2002 15:11
Well, back from the scan -- and it wasn't too bad, except for the having to pee just about 5 minutes into an hour-long scan. Yes, I hit the loo right before the test, just as they directed, but it didn't help much.
After the scan I went for a light lunch as planned, at a new Mexican restaurant near here. It was very good! Chiles rellenos, black beans and rice, chips, hot salsa, and fresh guacamole! Muy bien! Now I'm waiting for the coffee to finish.
RHODA -- You need a LA driver's license to vote in that state?
howard 11-1-2002 14:56
A nice crisp morning to all,
There is a nice breeze and the temp is in the 50's. Absolutely beautiful. My sinuses hate it.
RHODA,
I was reading along, half paying attention when I noticed you said you had put off getting your LA drivers license. I had taken my first test in California so my mind immediately interperted LA as Los Angeles. I realize I had not been keeping up lately, but the fact that you had moved to California was a big thing to miss. Of course, after sitting, blinking at the screen for a minute I realized that I was an idiot and LA stands for Louisiana in most polite company. Maybe it was because you said you had been avoiding the renewal and I remembered the trauma of my first driving experience in Southern California.
As for those political adds that have swamped the TV world the last (it seems)few months, I don't understand how they can run them without being sued for slander. If half of those adds are correct, they're all a bunch of crooks and I don't want any of them in office.
Good old San Antonio is having it's share of stupid crooks lately. Two members of the city council are under inditement by both the feds and the local DA. Also one ex-councilman who is running for State Representative. And, a hand full of school administrators and assorted aids. My theory has always been that crooks are bad enough, but there is no excuse for stupid crooks. I guess if there weren't any stupid ones, none would be caught.
Enough babble from me for now. Going back to read the rest of the posts.
R
Rosemary 11-1-2002 12:42
Thanks Mel. I'd hope someone would, just trying to brighten the mood with something...how should I put it...silly? I can't talk very long I have a report to finish up and then FREEDOM! Well, sort of. I still have to work tonight. Oh well. (sigh) Long night in front of me...Oops! I meant day. Long day ahead of me... MEL, tell your muse that I thought that the Lymrick she(?) made was very much like a lymrick should be. Well until I can get back on...
Till Niagara Falls!
Elaine 11-1-2002 12:08
HOWARD,
My thoughts go with you today, as they will for some time to come.
Forgive my tirade on war. It was written about 2:30 or 3:00 in the morning and I had just been awakened by a sore hip. I am not sure what I did to set it off, but it was hard to sleep, so I took two ibuprophen and came to the computer while it took effect.
Politics are really horrible right now and not for the faint-hearted. Unlike JERRY, I do care who wins. I want the people who care the most about the country and its people to win. I want the people who will abide by the laws and who will tell the truth to win. I want the people whose word is their bond and who are not hypocrits and who do not cheat to win. I want the people who feel accountable to the folks they wish to serve to win.
As it works out people get so pissed with the political process they do not get out to vote. Well when things get mean and rough that is the time to go out and vote. And speaking of hypocrits, I am the very worst because in dragging my feet getting a LA driver's licence I missed the deadline to register, and I can spit nails just thinking about it, and I deserve every insult anyone can throw at me for doing just that.
So JERRY, and all the rest of you whatever your political persuasion, please vote. And vote with your conscience, not your emotions and not your pocket-book. And say a little prayer before you go asking God to help you decern what is true and what isn't because there is so much disinformation and down and out lying that goes on in so many campaigns.
I have come to a conclusion. Politics and PMS just don't mix.
Rhoda 11-1-2002 10:58
AMERICO -- It's good to see you here again! And thanks (to you and everyone else here) for the encouragement! I appreciate it.
The scan this morning doesn't bother me at all, except for the part about not being able to eat. :-) Nothing but water this morning. And I've been smelling coffee since 5 AM! And just to torture myself further I'm getting my flu shot this morning -- in the hospital cafeteria. O well. The test is supposed to finish at around 1 PM, after which I'll have a light lunch. Just something to tide me over until we can get up to "Doug's Fish Fry" for a scallop dinner. Or a shrimp dinner. Or maybe both. And a bowl of his yummy fish chowder. And maybe a dozen clams.
I have to go get a glass of water now.
howard 11-1-2002 6:58
AMERICO,
It is good to see you back.
JERRY,
I hear you. I too hate politics! I think I am going to have to lay off of Internet news for awhile.
War is disgusting, but tyranny is even worse. There were those who thought they could avoid WWII by appeasing Hitler. When you have an enemy who is determined to destroy you and your way of life, what do you do? Sometimes the choice is kill or be killed. Militant Islam has been at war with the United States and the rest of the western world for several years now. The US just never faced that fact until after 9/11.
So what do we do? Wait? Perhaps wait long enough for those who wish to destroy the Western World to acquire the means and the technology to kill millions of people.
It is possible going to was with Iraq is not a good idea, but then again the US has engaged in sabre rattling and has thrown down the gauntlet. This started with the 1991 Gulf War, and really what we have now is only the question of whether or not to continue that war today. When you pull a tiger's tail, how do you back off? How do you let go without being fallen upon and eaten? Sometimes you don't.
I am glad that these moral choices are so easy for some. I just wonder what Barbara Strisend, Sean Penn and all these other wise and wonderful Hollywood people would have us do if Saddam has the bomb or whatever and proceeds to use it on us. If the US retaliates and kills a few million Iraqis, does anyone think Saddam will care? If he really cared about his people he would have cooporated fully with UN arms inspectors. Actually if he really cared, he would have stepped down and given his people an actual choice in the way they would be governed.
These problems of the world are troublesome and baffling to me. I am so glad there are the Hollywood elites, the European community, and the millions of peace demonstrators in the United States who are so clear in how we proceed to protect America's and Europe's shores.
And where were all these peaceful, wise people during the 1998 resolution to go in and take care of Iraq? Of course they trusted Bill Clintin and go in there and do it right. Saddam Hussein proceeded to do what Saddam has always done, and though everyone threatened, no one did anything.
Rhoda 11-1-2002 4:12
Ah the best laid plans. OH well, I didn't get my ghost story done in time for tonight, been to busy computing.
Americo - great to hear from you again. I guess I don't understand your lament, who it's aimed at. Guess it doesn't make a difference. I hate to see a war, but on the other hand we here in the U.S. can't just sit here and take an attack like 9/11 and blow it all off to fundamentalists. Not real sure that it's necessary to bomb Iraq again but then I don't see all that our President sees, and he is a trustworthy man, I don't doubt his word when he says it's necessary. He visited our state today, in Tom Dashal's home town of Aberdeen, a good time was had by all (except Tom Dashal!)
Boy this politics is getting rough now as the election nears, I will be so glad to see it over, don't even care who wins anymore, I just want it over. I'm sick of the attack ads, mud slinging, fear mongering and all that trash. It's time for two new parties here in the U.S. Maybe the new ones can be the "haves" and the "have nots" something like that, the two parties we have now both make me sick with their rantings I guess I, like many others simply go with the party that makes me the least sick in their plans for our future.
Like the guy on TV said, this is the most important election in history, since the last one.
Poor little Smokey our cat, he had the horror of neutering, and on Halloween too. Then that nasty Vet took him off his favorite cat food and put him on a bland diet of special food from the vet clinic as he has an allergy to red food coloring, which happens to be in half the food he likes. He's been running all over the house crying since he got home at 4:00 PM, finally gave up and fell asleep atop my computer monitor, I think the heat from the monitor must feel good on his missing parts.
Warmed up to 23 degrees today, but was only 8 when the trick or treaters finally arrived. We only had six, very slow but I don't blame them, of the six all were dressed as Eskimo's. Well they had on parkas over their customs.
It is truly colder then a witches tit tonight. Have the long drive to the VA again tomorrow, I sure wish I lived closer to the clinic, or it lived closer to me. Finally settled the argument about which outfit to take, the wife wanted me to take her car, so she can take off shopping while I'm seeing my Dr. I wanted to take my pickup, since it's much more comfortable for me to ride, her car is one of those little compact outfits where your ass sits about six inches over the tar and you nearly lay down to drive it, or at least I do, at any rate she decided it would be ok to take the pickup since it's an hour and a half between my appointments so she can get her shopping done in that break if I drive her into town. She can't drive my pickup as it's a standard floor shift, and she's never used a clutch before. I should teach her, but it's a comfort to me to know that I'm still of some use when it comes to hauling out the grass clippings, leaves and such, at least I can drive.
The wife has joined a health club type deal where she can go use their treadmill and such daily, I'm thinking of joining her, I know I could use the exercise. It's sure helping her loose weight and taking the pressure off her bad knee.
Howard hang in there, I had a deal sort of like that they shot me up with die and checked my head for tumors once, didn't hurt a bit, but I was very aware of my claustrophobia when they shoved my head in the MRI machine, my nose nearly touched the top of the case. In fact that was when I learned I was claustrophobic. Took five valium tabs before they got me back in to finish the test. After taking the pills I was still claustrophobic, but I just didn't care.
Jerry 11-1-2002 0:46
RANDALL
Ditto as to Heather's remark. Nice to hear from you, Americo!
I agree Americo. The world is not pretty. Not that it is ugly, it's just a lot more complicated and confused by a few individuals whose inability to coexist and understand that there are different religions of equal value. It seems religious intolerance has resurfaced, if it ever went away, and violence to an end is state-sponsored terrorism.
The American and British and Canadian troopers (and other brave men and women) fighting the war on terror would probably be a lot happier doing other things, making babies for instance. Unfortunately, "...exploitation, injustice, misery of all kinds and ignorance of all types..." are initiated by misdirected religious fanatics who justify forward movement with the excuse "God told me too" and "If I die in the service of God I automatically go to Paradise and be in the company of dozens of virgins." A great premise, if one is so starved for sex and unable to establish a loving relationship with a woman on earth and must kill in order to hang out in the afterlife with a harem of virgins. Idiocy of the highest order!
Sadly this inability to coexist with fellow humans in a peaceful society, involved innocent men, women and children who choose one September day to fly for business or pleasure. Killing as on 9/11 to make a statement on the poor and undereducated and ignorant in the Middle East is not a high order of logical reasoning processes. But then we're dealing with human sewer trash who clog the world with outdated and confounding religious fervor. Most, if not all of the scum bags who hijacked the airliners were quite well off, indeed belonged to wealthy Saudi Arabia families. Their energy would be better served for God, at least my Anglo-Saxon God, if they had used their fortunes in other areas of the Middle East instead of plotting mass murder. An evolutionary misdirected and faulty reasoning process.
However, I suppose, when one is dirt shack poor, woefully undereducated, born into a world of blowing dirt and arid desert and hard rock, acute starvation and ubiquitous famine ... the promise of paradise (food, tree, water) and virgins, (sex with virgins) understandably could have appeal for many. I mean, what else do they have to look forward too? If this is valid reasoning then their religious leaders have failed miserably and may themselves find paradise barren and only a few shop worn, ex-virgins in residence. (Pardon my levity.)
Peace is an elusive butterfly Americo. It is honorable and just to strive for peace. But until some new "prophet" steps forward and say enough, religious fanatics in the Middle East will flourish. Diamond cut diamond. When religious fanatics kill to control, to dictate human behavior, to enslave women, keep them and their girl children ignorant and for no other purposes except to breed ... then war and terror and arrogance will continue.
Which begs the question...why are some Arab men so afraid of women? It is said that one of the 9/11 scum bags went to a federal agency in Florida to arrange a loan to buy a crop duster. He was ushered into an office, face to face with a woman. Somewhat put off by a "woman" saying ... NO! ... He supposedly said, "Then what will stop me from cutting your throat?" She said, "Try it and I will throw you out of this office myself." One wonders what that did to his overinflated macho ego? Hmmm?
Why the tone Randall?
My son is now in the Armed Forces of America, fighting terrorism and I am very proud of him. My solution to the mess in the Middle East in general and religious fanatics in particular would involve a fleet of track mounted backhoe's and commercial lime hauling belly dumps. And is too horrific for consideration by gentle persons.
Randall
Randall 11-1-2002 0:07
Howard! Hang in there, sweetie! ((((HUGS))))
Americo! SO good to read you!
Heather 10-31-2002 21:19
Hi, Howard. Positive thoughts. The injection is painless and completely inocuous. Everything will turn up fine.
I had a good laugh with your joke. Another good joke is the one of the bully who entered a saloon shooting in all directions and then asked, in a kind sweet way, "a glass of milk, please"...
The world has not been pretty lately. The campaign against terrorism is misdirected and ill-conducted because the causes of terror - exploitation, injustice, misery of all kinds and ignorance of all types — have been left untouched, and there are still men who think that you can solve problems with war and arrogance. We are all tired of that and hoping for peace so that we can concentrate on discovering new medicines for old (and new) diseases, how to contact extraterrestrials and how to write better poems. Also how to win the next European Soccer Cup without sweating too much.
Americo 10-31-2002 21:00
Randall
Hey! Good evening gang!
Great Howard! Sounds like my kind of a cowboy!
This is a repeat from last year, 2001 think. Okay, so it's a retread! :-) Still ... The post is posted intact .....
"I mentioned this tale last year and Halloween is soon to be here. Soooooooooooo... BTW Jerry was writing his tale of a phantom battle about the same time I was working on mine. Uh huh, freaky ain't it!!!!!!!! But I decided to wait a few days to post mine. Nice story Jerry. Thank you Mel and Teekay for the nice comments on the RV story. If I forgot to mention any others my sincere apologies. (Once you get past 50 the mind goes, then the body....)
As best as I can recollect a Halloween tale from my grandmother...........
"When I was a young girl we used to go up to the Jim Ned creek on Sunday afternoons to picnic. After church was out, Dad and several other men would hitch up the horse carriages and take the families to the creek bottoms where we could play and picnic in the summer. It was cool there and there were great big cottonwood trees for shade. There were several girls about my age and we played hide and seek while our mothers cooked. Our fathers and brothers played baseball and fished in the creek.
"Near where we picnicked the old Abilene stagecoach road crossed the Jim Ned creek and went on up toward Cross Plains then on to Abilene. I had heard Dad talk of the Indian raids hereabouts, but they were gone by the time we came along. He said the Indians raided the remote homesteads, killing people and stealing horses. Dad said they were of the Comanche tribe and mean.
"Well one Sunday afternoon our fathers got together and decided to spend the night in the bottoms. Someone said the ‘yellar' catfish were biting and the harvest was still a few weeks away. So it was a good time to go. Our fathers always prepared to stay overnight, carrying bedrolls, groundsheets and lanterns just in case a storm came up. We kids were excited as this was a big deal. Home was 15 miles away and spending Sunday night meant no school for us on Monday.
"Along about sundown one of the girls found a piece of old leather half-buried in the ground. We struggled to pull it out, but it was in there good. One of the boys brought a shovel and we dug it up. It was part of an old saddle. Dad and several men came over and decided to dig a little more. They lit up some coal oil lanterns as it was turning dark and began to dig.
"That was when we first heard the sound of a horse running. It seemed close to us, then and faded away. Everyone looked around but all our horses were on a picket, most sleeping. Someone went and checked but all our horses were tied up. Two men started digging again, and found more of the saddle and some horse bones. By now everyone was gathered around the hole. I could sense that something was wrong though. There was a damp fog forming along the creek bed, and I went to my mother who was standing next to my dad. They both looked scared.
"We heard a loud yell beyond the creek, then the sound of many horses running. But there was nothing around us. It was pitch dark. All the people were here. One man jumped out of the hole where he and his friend had been digging. The other man started digging again and pulled something out of the ground. I couldn't see what it was but mother told me many years later it as an old time calvary belt buckle. The kind the calvary troopers wore.
"Then I heard guns shooting, followed by men yelling, and the sound of a horse in pain. The same noise I had heard last summer when Dad's horse broke a leg as he chased a steer and he was forced to kill it. It was a high pitched screaming sound, like a woman dying with great pain. The noise was all around us, like we were in the center of a battle. There were men shouting and screaming like they were being torn apart. There were guns shooting, men yelling and running horses and barking dogs. The noise came in waves, very loud then fade away as if the battle moved away. But it always came back over us. Mother hid me in her skirts. The menfolk pushed us into the center and stood facing outward holding the coal oil lanterns high. But there was nothing to see beyond the lantern light. Nothing but the horrible sound of a phantom battle. Someone had us move to the wagons and lifted the children inside. I lay in the bottom of the wagon under a tarp and shook cause I knew we would never be allowed to leave this cursed place.The men quickly hitched the horses, and funny thing is, the horses acted like nothing was going on. They couldn't hear what we could.
"We left everything that terrible night, food, blankets, lanterns. Several men had brought their Winchesters and they rode beside the wagons as we moved away from the Jim Ned bottoms. Dad always carried an old double barrel shotgun, for birds he said, and he had it in hand as Mom drove the carriage. Slowly the noise faded and it was very late when we arrived back at the church. We stayed the rest of the night there, then everyone went home at dawn.
"I never went back there. Mom said that Dad and a bunch of the men did many days later and gathered up all our bedding and such. The old saddle, belt buckle and horse bones were reburied in the same hole. Much later I understand somebody piled up a bunch of rocks over it, but like I said, I never went back. I asked Mom a couple of weeks later what was going on and she told me to never mention the night again. Well, you know I went to Dad and asked him the next day. He said the same thing.
"I was a married woman 20 years later going through the depression when a fellar from the government came by the house. He said Washington was paying him for to write down old time stories. I told him several, then the one about that night on the Jim Ned creek. He pulled out a bunch of papers and told me he had heard the story before and had done some research on it. He said a Negro calvary patrol (Buffalo Soldiers) out of Fort Wingate had caught a bunch of Comanche Indians camping in the creek bottoms one night. There was a great battle and many men were killed. I told him of the hole we dug and what happened. He said a museum might like to have some artifacts from the battlefield. Well, he borrowed a shovel from me, though I cautioned him against it. I told him some things should be left alone and remain buried. It was late in the day when this fellar left out, said he was going to spend the night at the old Jim Ned crossing. I never heard of him again, though he said he would be around for a while. Guess he left the country."
I heard this tale somewhere in the area of 44 years ago. The old Abilene/Jim Ned trail crossing is now a hundred feet under Lake Brownwood. And I sure as hell would not like to be scuba diving there and find the remains of an old saddle on the bottom."
Randall...
Randall 10-31-2002 20:46
ELAINE: Sorry about that. My muse is most unpredictable and tries to make up for long dry spells with tiny bouts of musely meanderings... I did enjoy your epic limerick while eating my lunch! :-]
Mel 10-31-2002 13:32
Here now lives a girl named Elaine
Who thinks writing lim'ricks insane!
She's put pen to paper,
Creating a caper,
Till Niag'ra Falls through the drain--
(tee hee hee!--uh oh. MEL's through with her lunch and staring at me, glaring at me, RARing at me--i better run!!!)
Mel's Muse 10-31-2002 13:29
Well here it is folks! The thing you've been waiting for! The Lymrick II! I hope you guys are ready for this....
The Lymrick is a neat thing
It has a sort of ring
As I told you before
When you walked through the door
It makes most everything sing
Don't look at me with such surprise
I see the doubt in your eyes
And I'll tell you what
They found, (just last month)
Those walking, hilarious ties
Now what do you want me to say?
The Lymrick loves to Play
Getting the principal mad
At the poor boy Tad
Who was grounded every day
The Lymrick plays around
With people in air or on ground
I just want to say
That in every way
The Lymrick won't allow to be found
This example isn't sweet as Vermouth
About a rich man and his tooth
At the fair he took a bite
The Lymrick thought, "he can't be bright"
And now his tooth's caught in a booth
This story's about a bee
That lived in Tennessee
It's funny how he stung
The royal, 'wonderful' bun
Of the secretary of state to be
The Lymrick found a zoo
He had so much to do!
He found a fat gaiter
And gave him a waiter
Who wound up in his stew
The Lymrick turned sour
He fixed a field of flowers
So that everyone sneezed
And those who didn't say 'cheese!'
Landed on a water tower
To warn you; stay away
From a Lymrick at play
He has a lot to do
When he's baiting you
You could find yourself at Chile Bay
Before I decide to set sail
And begin to end my tale
If you have a strong mind
And not unduly unkind
The Lymrick's kindness won't fail.
End ......?
Copyright: Elaine 10-30-02
Hope you like, it was so much fun to do, it's not even funny! Okay, well maybe just a little...
Till Niagara Falls!
Elaine 10-31-2002 12:13
HOWARD: Strength and best wishes to you!! Chard? I haven't had that in two years...yum is right!!
Beth, I do too!!
Mary 10-31-2002 10:20
hi..... i love to read
beth davis 10-31-2002 9:45
*Mel*
Good Morning, everyone, and a Happy, SAFE, Halloween to all who are being someone else today. 8-]
CAROL: I know you didn't mean it, but you followed a sentence that had two nouns (deer and truck) with a sentence referring only to "it" - my mischievous muse immediately flashed me a snapshot of a damaged deer in your garage--being painted! Hah!! :-> THAT might make an interesting story...! Keep up the great work on your real story! :-)
HOWARD: Hair behind the toilet too? What was he thinking??? A great challenge for a story...! :-)
RANDALL: Your stories are hoots! :-) This last one really makes a person think; just what you intended, eh? What would I say? I think, if I got up my courage, I'd humbly ask Him, "Is it too late for me to follow you?" Of course, then He'd beckon me closer, and who could ignore that? How much we take for granted our daily life, so far removed (?) from the time He dragged His cross through the streets of Jerusalem... Your story has made me stop and look around (at least for the moment!) - am I missing Him somewhere? :-) Thanks for the inspiration!
HEATHER: I'm so glad you banned singing fat ladies! Now there's hope to finish a few more things, heh heh heh! ;-]
To EVERYONE who is someone else today: enjoy, but don't forget where home is.
To EVERYONE ELSE (that would be everyone who is not anyone but him/herself today, e.g.everyone who's normal today, unless, of course, you're normally not normal or a little bit offkey or offbalance or offcolor or just simply off...): enjoy the day, and write a little something that makes you happy (or something that's not happy but makes you happy in the writing of it, if you know what I mean...)
I think I'm going now...(maybe I've already left! Did anyone see me go by?...Hmm, where did I leave that funny-smelling brain??!!)
8->
Mel 10-31-2002 8:05
JERRY -- Yeah, hair in the bathroom is rather mundane in itself, but this was a public restroom, and the whole scenario just cried out "Something's wrong with this picture!"
RANDALL -- I just found this -- I think you'll like it:
A cowboy rode into town and stopped at the saloon for a drink.
Unfortunately, the locals always had a habit of picking on newcomers.
When he finished, he found his horse had been stolen.
He comes back into the bar, handily flips his gun into the air, catches
it above his head without even looking and fires a shot into the
ceiling. "Who stole my horse?" he yelled with surprising forcefulness.
No one answered.
"I'm gonna have another beer and if my horse ain't back outside by the
time I'm finished, I'm gonna do what I dun back in Texas and I don't
WANT to have to do what I dun back in Texas!"
Some of the locals shifted restlessly.
He had another beer, walked outside, and his horse was back! He saddled
up and started to ride out of town.
The bartender wandered out of the bar and asked, "Say partner, what
happened back in Texas?"
The cowboy turned back and said, "I had to walk home!"
howard 10-31-2002 8:01
Howard - hair in the bathroom, now there's a start to a mystery.
Ever played electronic ping-pong? That's about what the last few days have become. That damn virus that I caught from a stupid holloween screen saver infected three machines on my network. All the anti-virus software I could find couldn't seem to rid them of it, so at long last I did the ultimate virus clensing, low leval formating. That consists of software that writes 0's to every sector of the hard drive, thus eliminating everything that ever was on the computer. Did this to three machines and all are now virus free. My main machine now sports a brand spanking new install of Windows ME! Down with XP - Long live ME!
The machine seems to run twice as fast as it ever did under XP despite Microsoft's claims that XP is faster and it plays my favorite games now too!
Ok so I'm just a big kid at heart, so shoot me.
No new snow, but the cold is deffenetly here, it got below zero last night, and is headed there as I type, the weather bug says 3 right now.
Were you aware that when the temps drop below 38 degrees below zero F you can take a pan full of hot water outdoors and throw the water up in the air only to have it crystalize before your eyes and fall as snow?
I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't tried it myself a few years back when we had a long sub zero freeze that lasted over two months. Some guy on TV said it would work, and I figured what the heck, I gotta try that, it worked.
Neat stuff in the cold.
Ghosts and Goblins will be about tomorow, bet most of them will be in eskimo customes around here.
Jerry 10-31-2002 0:47
Well, Howard........if those hairs had been curly........ YIKES!!!!!!!!
Heather 10-30-2002 23:42
And I'd say you've got yourself one helluva story there.
Christi 10-30-2002 23:22
Howard,
I don't know quite what to say other than that I'll be thinking of you. I'm sending out the most positive vibes right at this moment. Stay heartened!
Christi 10-30-2002 23:17
And RANDALL -- Thanks for that! I always enjoy your Red Britches stories!
howard 10-30-2002 22:34
Thanks for all the prayers and good wishes -- you guys (and gals) are a real encouragement! There was a message on my answering machine this afternoon from the hospital. They want me to call them to go over the PET scan -- sounds like a doozy of a test! I know it involves an injection with some sort of radioactive glucose solution, and it takes an hour or so. Special diet tomorrow, then fasting on Friday until the test.
MARK -- No, I wasn't drafted. I enlisted for three years as serial RA12680411. That was before they started using the SS number as the id. But I know about that letter. A lot of the guys I served with were draftees. Their service numbers started with US. Then there were NG and ER for National Guard and Enlisted Reserve.
We were at the hospital the other night (before my mom came home) and I had to make a pit stop. How's this for story elements?
1) The rest room was a small one-holer, just a sink, mirror, towel dispenser, and a john.
2) There were paper towels all over the floor. In fact, I stepped on one when I entered.
3) There was a red SHARPIE(TM) fine point marker on the floor next to the toilet, almost behind it.
4) There were clumps of hair all over the floor, on the back of the toilet, and in the wastebin, and there was hair scattered evenly (not clumped) in the sink. The sink was dry, and it appeared that the hair had been cut with a scissors, not shaved with a razor, unless it had been done without shaving cream or water.
5) The hair was black/grey and straight, and appeared to be all the same length (less than a half inch), and was concentrated behind the toilet, and in and under the sink.
6) The towel dispenser was nearly empty, and the wastebin (attached to the wall under the towel dispenser) was overflowing.
At first I thought someone had given himself a haircut in there, but the consistent length of the hairs suggested that he had cut off a beard instead.
Enough for a story?
howard 10-30-2002 22:23
RANDALL
Evening!
Howard, my thoughts will be of you and your family. Hang in there pard!
Was going to wait till Friday to post this but my backlog is stacking up!
Had an interesting experience not long ago. FYI ...
Red Britches and I were down in the Bayou Park sipping on a bottle of wine as a long summer day simmered to an end. I had taken off work early to take care of some business. At least that is what I told my wife and my boss. I REALLY was ... but came across Red and things went slightly astray. Per usual.
We were sitting on top of a picnic table bayou watching the duck fleet patrol the muddy waters of the bayou for blind minnows.
"... course I told George that winter was coming on and just where did he suggest I sleep." Red was saying.
"Seems a bit narrow minded of his live-in," I added. "Hell, just cause you wanted to build your winter shanty in her backyard is no reason for her to get her tail in a knot."
Red nodded, "Seems the least she could do would be show a little Christian fellowship, I know..."
There was a noise behind us about then. Red turned to look and since he was already looking I stared at the ducks paddling across the muddy bayou. Red nudged me with an elbow ... "Ah, Randy boy ..."
Red didn't finish the statement. I glanced over and was surprised that he was suddenly very pale. "What is it Red?"
"Turn and see if you see what I though I just saw."
I gave him the wine and swiveled on the bench ... took a gander and ... Oh boy!
"What did YOU see?" Red whispered as I turned back around.
"What do you think I saw?"
"Some long haired, bearded guy walking behind us."
"Yeah. But Red the man I saw was dragging a cross."
Red eased his head around. "That's the one! It's resting on the shoulder, looks heavy. He's stopped now. Randy, that's a mighty big cross. Wonder what ... oh, no ... no he's walking on. Thought he might be coming over here."
We sat stunned, then both turned as one, then quickly back. The man carrying the cross was striding quickly away, passing in the shade of hundred year old pecan trees, then into the bright Texas sun. Obviously heavy, the cross left a deep furrow in the grass. The silence stretched out ... we again turned, the cross bearer was out of sight.
Red took a long drink from the Wild Irish Rose wine bottle. He handed it to me. "Ah, well could it have been Him, Randy?"
"Him?"
"Yeah, you know HIM!"
I took the bottle from Red. "Nah."
"How do you know?"
"Well, Red it don't make no sense. I mean, if it was Him, then ... well, it don't make any sense. Heck, here sits two sinners for sure and he didn't say anything to us. Wouldn't He?"
"I suspects He would. Wouldn't He?"
I turned and scanned the park. Nothing.
"Kinda gets ya to thinking don't it Randy boy. Would it better for Him to address two sinners or ignore two sinners? Which one would be good news, the other bad? I mean if He was sure we were going to Heaven, He didn't need to say anything. Would He?"
I pondered the inexplicable. "Maybe we should have said something? Isn't there something about acknowledging Him? I mean if it was, you know, Him? Perhaps, ‘How are your folks doing?' "
"Uh, no. What could you say ... I mean," Red shook his head, " ‘Hey, how's it going? or Nice day for a walk in the park.' "
"Maybe a small joke," I suggested. "Hemingway once said he might attempt a joke with Him. How about ‘Sure a hot day to be dragging that cross around, eh?' "
"NO! NO! NO! I would definitely stay away from any cross jokes! Xnay on that for sure! If it was Him he probably ain't fond of that, all things considered."
"You think, if it was Him," I said, "You reckon He saw we was drinking wine?"
Red turned and glared at me. "No shit Sherlock! If it was him? Then how the hel... oops, how the heck could he miss it?"
We sat in silence for a while, the sun was now below the horizon. I noticed Red had capped the bottle and stashed in his voluminous coat. Both of us stood and scanned the park again. It was heavy in shadow. No one. I needed to go, what was once a lark had turned into a possible religious experience.
"Where you sleeping tonight Red?"
"Guess I'll stay right here. The park sitter locks the traffic barrier at 10:00. He usually leaves me alone if I give him a couple shots."
"You can go home with me if you like. The wife won't care."
Red ambled over and sat on the ground against an old pecan tree. "No thanks on the invite. You know, He turned water into wine for a wedding party once upon a time. Maybe He'll come back this way and if it was Him we saw, I just might ask him to fill up my bottle."
"Really, Red, what would you ask Him?"
Red sighed, straightening his long legs in the grass. "Without being presumptuous, I might ask the why of it all? See what He says and take it from there."
"Night Red."
And a goodnight my friends
Randall
Okay, what would you say?
Randall 10-30-2002 20:28
HOWARD -- Thoughts and prayers.
I don't remember, did the Army get you by draft? If so then you got the famous letter that started with "Greetings."
Sounds like you just got another similar notice.
Take it with a plum.
Mark 10-30-2002 19:59
Hi All :)
Howard - tons of prayers (good thing they don't weigh much!) and well wishes your way.
Been having a couple of busy weeks around here. A blasted deer decided to end his life by smashing into the side of our truck. Nice amount of damage and its still in the garage. I believe they said they were painting it tomorrow so it shouldn't be too much longer. Trouble is, they gave me a mini van as a loaner, now I'm buying it! I had forgotten how much I liked vans. Good thing the truck is (just) paid for.
On an up side, I have completed the second chapter of my story. Didn't think I'd ever get to it, but I'm liking everything about it and I do look forward to each day and what's going to happen next. Now to make sure an editor will feel the same! (Well, when there's a few more chapters at least.)
Viv - hey lady! Good job on the argument. For feeling uneasy about it, you sure rang a lot of familar chords in my mind! LOL
Heather - let me know about Grandma Rose on the P project. :)
Jerry - think you could keep that cold and snow more your way? It's getting a little too close to me. Sure am glad I spent a couple of weeks in TX soaking up some heat not too long ago.
Hugs to everyone else!
Carol 10-30-2002 19:31
All fat ladies are now banned from singing.
Heather 10-30-2002 16:42
HOWARD - Don't get up, this hug's for YOU. (((HUG)))
You're already on our prayer list, and now you're at the top of it! :o)
Heather 10-30-2002 16:41
HOWARD,
I am praying for you. Hugs to you and your family. Hang in there, and don't let those doctors scare you. You have someone more knowledgable and caring than they looking out for you.
Rhoda 10-30-2002 15:26
Howard - Prayers and good thoughts coming your way! :D
Allein Peachick's Gallery
10-30-2002 15:13
Howard,
Good Luck.
It's not over TTFLS
Eddie French 10-30-2002 14:38
Howard -- I made pasta with white clam sauce last night, too. Great writing minds thinking alike, huh? I'll be sending light and lots of positive energy your way. :-)
Sunny 10-30-2002 13:12
HOWARD: Prayers and [[[[[BEAR HUGS]]]]] coming your way, for you, your mom, and all the family... When you get to feeling scared, take the LORD's hand and lean in His direction; He'll guide you through it. (You know that!!!) We'll all be here for you (You know that too!!!). BTW, Isn't there a song, "Comin' Through the Rye?" And as for "Som Ting Wong," all I can say is I'm still laughing! heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeHA!
JERRY: We're getting the COLD in the Northeast too. DO keep that white stuff out there, will you? :-) Thanks! What a pal! I'll send you some ACME Snow Dissolver but be warned, it may not make it through the Snail Mail until April or May... (some help I am, eh?) 8-}
EVERYONE: Have a great writing day!!! Time to catch my bus to work...
Mel 10-30-2002 6:04
Howard, I'll be pulling for you on the upcomming tests. I do think there should be a law that when the Dr. uses the C word, he should be damn sure it's there, not thinking it 'might' be there. I've had a couple of them now use that blasted word when talking of my tests, but they all come back negative thank God.
Weatherman says it will get down to 1 (that lonely number) tonight, and then whispered under his breath "I'm trying to be positive here".
It's COLD! Damn it not supposed to get COLD till after holloween, not supposed to snow till Thanksgiving, and the streets are heavy with the white crap already, atop the freezing rain from yesterday. The streets are like skating rinks where the tires have worn the now down to ice.
Sure glad I don't have to go anywhere.
Jerry 10-30-2002 0:11
I wasn't going to post this, but you're my friends, and I can't think of a better bunch to be on my side...
I went to the pulmonologist today, and he had the results of my latest CT chest scan. I knew I had emphysema, but he says it's not the worst kind. If I'm careful it won't worsen, and may actually improve. He said that the years we spent heating our house with wood, then coal, did more damage to my lungs than the smoking (which I quit in 1982), and the beryllium exposure I had did not damage the lungs as we had thought previously.
Then he told me that he sees a "density" at the top of my left lung that could be surgical scars, or it might be cancer. I wanted a third choice, but he didn't offer. He won't know for sure until he gets the results of a special PET scan, which I'm scheduled for this Friday. Then I have another appointment a week from Friday to discuss the results, and any necessary further treatment. We're not too concerned, because it seems to be early in the process, and shouldn't be hard to beat. So we're looking at the light side of things for now (it was still my turn to fix supper tonight -- pasta with white clam sauce). But I'm planning to start getting scared sometime next week. Maybe Wednesday or Thursday. Approximately. If it doesn't snow.
On the brighter side, my mom was released from the hospital this afternoon! Still in pain from the surgery, but feeling much better.
And I found a whole row of fresh radishes in the garden this afternoon that I had planted a few weeks ago, and thought they hadn't done anything, so I sowed a thick crop of winter rye grass all over that area. But there they were, coming up right through the rye (which had protected them from the frost) nice and red and crisp and tasty! I love 'em! Found some good chard too! Thank you Lord!
howard 10-29-2002 23:05
I think Yang maybe shoulda been named Som Ting Wong...
howard 10-29-2002 21:53
Helloooooooo
10-29-2002 16:34
RANDALL -- I like it! I saw some of it on the USS Geiger (a troop ship) on the way from New York to Bremerhaven in 1964. I think that was one of the last -- if not the last run for a troop ship. After that everyone got to ride on a 7x7.
howard 10-29-2002 11:52
GFO is a small fresh writing magazine looking for unpublished writers to contribute to our cause.
We are trying to promote the freedom of writing and give the chance for new and old writers to be read. Please send your short stories, music or book review, articles and poems to gfo4@yahoo.co.uk
WE ARE A NON PAYING NON PROFIT MAKING ORGANISATION
Thanks and keep writing
Patrick
GFO
FREE PRESS FOR FREE SPIRITS
Patrick Westwood 10-29-2002 11:30
Good morning, all! :-]
RANDALL: My, my; life must be VERY interesting at your house, heh heh heh! (Enjoyed the sailors-at-home scenario!) :-)
Hi, CHRISTIE! :-D
Happy writing, everyone!!!
Mel 10-29-2002 9:24
Heather - that's ok, take your time. I re read it again tonight, and there's a bunch of changes I want to do to it, if I have the time. It didn't read as good today as I thought it did last night.
Blasted weather man is threatening us with more snow this week, sure hope he's wrong, but it's been raining like hell since four pm, and now the temps are falling. If it snows on top of this frozen rain it could well paralyze the town for a time till the City get's out with their sand trucks.
Funny thing about that, they refuse to use salt on the streets here. Never have and I guess that's the reason you still see old beaters running around with no body cancer. There's this old guy who bought a 1959 rambler brand new, it was the last new car he ever bought, in fact it was the last car he ever bought. He still drives it around town up to coffee back home again, it smokes so badly that I have suggested to the City that they pay him to drive on the streets as it does a great job at keeping mosquitoes down. But having lived where they use lots of snow, I am torn between the clean cancer free cars, or the nice black tar to drive on. Here when they put down sand, it just works it's way into the ice and gives a bit of traction. Not like the eastern part of the state, or Minnesota (you can tell a Minnesota car by the body cancer) where there is so much salt on the streets that it kills the grass on the boulevards.
Jerry 10-28-2002 23:46
MARK -- Great story! Thanks for the pointer.
howard 10-28-2002 23:16
Short story in NewYorker. I couldn't break from it.
Mark ShortStory
10-28-2002 20:45
Randall
Evening!
Thought you might like this ... for all you ex-sailors, or spouses!
HOW TO RELIVE THE SAILOR'S LIFE ... AGAIN!
Buy a steel dumpster, paint it gray inside and out and live in it for six months.
Run all the pipes and wires in your house exposed on the walls.
Repaint your entire house every month.
Renovate your bathroom. Build a wall across the middle of the bathtub and move the shower head to chest level.
When you take showers, make sure you turn off the water while you soap down.
Put lube oil in your humidifier and set it on high.
Once a week, blow compressed air up your chimney, making sure the wind carries the soot onto your neighbor's house. Ignore his complaints.
Once a month, take all major appliances apart and then reassemble them.
Raise the thresholds and lower the headers of your front and back doors, so that you either trip or bang your head every time you pass through them.
Disassemble and inspect your lawnmower every week.
On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, turn your water heater temperature up to 200 degrees. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, turn the water heater off. On Saturdays and Sundays tell your family they use too much water during the week, so no bathing will be allowed.
Raise your bed to within 6 inches of the ceiling, so you can't turn over without getting out and then getting back in.
Sleep on the shelf in your closet. Replace the closet door with a curtain. Have your spouse whip open the curtain about 3 hours after you go to sleep, shine a flashlight in your eyes, and say, "Sorry, wrong rack."
Make your family qualify to operate each appliance in your house - dishwasher operator, blender technician, etc.
Have your neighbor come over each day at 5 am, blow a whistle so loud Helen Keller could hear it, and shout, "Reveille, reveille, all hands heave out and triceup".
Have your mother-in-law write down everything she's going to do the following day, then have her make you stand in your back yard at 6 a.m. while she reads it to you.
Submit a request chit to your father-in-law requesting permission to leave your house before 3 pm.
Empty all the garbage bins in your house and sweep the driveway three times a day, whether it needs it or not. (Now sweepers, sweepers, man your brooms, give the ship a clean sweep down fore and aft, empty all shit cans over the fantail.)
Have your neighbor collect all your mail for a month, read your magazines, and randomly lose every 5th item before delivering it to you.
Watch no TV except for movies played in the middle of the night.
Have your family vote on which movie to watch, then show a different one.
When your children are in bed, run into their room with a megaphone shouting that your home is under attack and ordering them to their battle stations. (Now general quarters, general quarters, all hands man your battle stations!)
Make your family menu a week ahead of time without consulting the pantry or refrigerator.
Post a menu on the kitchen door informing your family that they are having steak for dinner. Then make them wait in line for an hour. When they finally get to the kitchen, tell them you are out of steak, but they can have dried ham or hot dogs. Repeat daily until they ignore the menu and just ask for hot dogs.
Bake a cake. Prop up one side of the pan so the cake bakes unevenly. Spread icing real thick to level it off.
Get up every night around midnight and have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on stale bread. (midrats) ((midnight rations))
Set your alarm clock to go off a random during the night. At the alarm, jump up and dress as fast as you can, making sure to button your top shirt button and tuck your pants into your socks. Run out into the back yard and uncoil the garden hose.
Every week or so, throw your cat or dog in the pool and shout "Man overboard port side!" Rate your family members on how fast they respond.
Put the headphones from your stereo on your head, but don't plug them in. Hang a paper cup around your neck on a string. Stand in front of the stove and speak into the paper cup, "Stove manned and ready." After an hour or so, speak into the cup again "Stove secured." Roll up the head phones and paper cup and stow them in a shoe box.
Place a podium at the end of your driveway. Have your family stand watches at the podium, rotating at 4 hour intervals. This is best done when the weather is worst. January is a good time.
When there is a thunderstorm in your area, get a wobbly rocking chair, sit in it and rock as hard as you can until you become nauseous. Make sure to have a supply of stale crackers in your shirt pocket.
For former engineers: bring your lawn mower into the living room, and run it all day long.
Make coffee using eighteen scoops of budget priced coffee grounds per pot, and allow the pot to simmer for 5 hours before drinking.
Have someone under the age of ten give you a haircut with sheep shears.
Sew the back pockets of your jeans on the front.
Every couple of weeks, dress up in your best clothes and go to the scummiest part of town. Find the most rundown, trashiest bar, and drink beer until you are hammered. Then walk all the way home.
Take a two week vacation visiting the red light districts of Europe or the Far East, and call it "world travel."
Lock yourself and your family in the house for six weeks. Tell them that at the end of the 6th week you are going to take them to Disney World for "liberty". At the end of the 6th week, inform them the trip to Disney World has been canceled because they need to get ready for an inspection, and it will be another week before they can leave the house.
Ain't it the truth!!
Randall
Randall 10-28-2002 20:41
Awww! No whiters to be found. Must be duck season.
10-28-2002 16:36
Shhh... Be vewy vewy quiet, I'm hunting whiters... EHHHHHH!
10-28-2002 16:29
BTW - the email link in a post from the other day contained a typo, so if you joined Litter in the 'bouncing emails' jig, please accept my apologies!
The link below will work.
*saluting now, from the Tim Horton's nearest me*
Heather Hemlock Bags
10-28-2002 14:47
The 'No rest for the Editor' chant:
"Caffeine, caffeine, crafeine, choclatel, dfaj[igm;;;//////// *grab head by hair, remove from keyboard* AHEM!
Sorry, we'll begin again: "CAFFEINE, caffeine, and choco-late! So sweet, so wild, you bundle yourself as a mild brown lump, or sloshy brown funk, yet you S-I-I-I-I-NG to my neuuuuuurons; oh, sing sing sing to my synapses! Sing to me til I go plunk...."
(Sing to the 'tune' of monotone) :oD
Heather 10-28-2002 14:45
Elaine! Repeat this as often as necessary: "Caffeine. Caffeine. Caffeine. CHOCOLATE! Caffeine, caffeine, caff..."
Make that a caffeine-au-lait, please! LOL
Heather 10-28-2002 14:40
Hi everyone! Still working away.... taking a break just now as my eyeballs feel a little strained. 8-)
What was that about a nap? Aw, forget it. No rest for the editor! (No parallel between EVIL and EDITOR intended.. haw haw haw)
Christi! GOTCHER MESSAGE, and I think I did send a reply, but marbles for brain is not good supper. OOOOOOOOOOOGGGGGGG............. I know I MEANT to send it! I did get the two revised versions of 'STF' and 'Death Is A Redhead', so thanks girlie! I needed those!
:oD
Jerry - got your latest story, but haven't schlupped these eyeballs back into my head long enough to read it yet. I'll do that, and if it makes the cut it'll come up in the updated list I'll post in the coming week. THANKS!
Howard - got your latest shortie for P* too, THANK YOU!
Ok...signing off......
Have a splendid afternoon!
Heather Hemlock Bags
10-28-2002 14:37
Well, the weekends over and school's starting back up today. Yechh! I'm so tired I could fall asleep right now! Unfortunatley I have to get those projects done pretty quick so I don't have to do everything the night it's due. Working on finishing up The Lymrick II, hopefully will have it done before this week. Well on with the research! Hope your weeks are wonderfull and your Mondays the best of them all!
Till Niagara Falls!
Elaine 10-28-2002 12:11
Jerry, That was the perfect amount of !!!s. Thanks, you! Your kind offer makes me wish I hadn't quite read that book yet, but I have. :) I haven't read the second one in that series yet though, Shadow of the Hedgemon (I hope I spelled it right). Maybe whoever gets that one first can send it to the other one?
PS Your wife sounds like a hoot!
Thanks, Viv, nice to see you too!
Litter, Seems like there should be a better way doesn't there? I'll tell you what, more and more these days I realize that to be a writer you really have to WANT to be a writer. :)
I'm waiting to hear from "Deep Outside Science Fiction" on my twisted holiday story. I probably didn't get it to them in time for their Christmas issue. Why is it that you only come up with good seasonal stories when it's too late?
Going now. Good day, all!
Christi 10-28-2002 10:25
Heather - shot you off my short story tonight, I did a complete rewrite on it, as I didn't like the way it was going in my original. Too much dialog and not enough action the first way I had it, this reads much better to me at least.
Let me know and if you don't like it this way, I can revive the other.
Howard - That lock on the wrong side rings in to a movie I once saw on the boob tube, can't recall the name of it, as I was very young at the time, but the situation rings a bell. I know years ago lots of folks used to do things like that when the institutions wouldn't take their problem children. From what I've read about that many of the poor children weren't even retarded but simply had learning disabilities and were pigeon holed by some old doctor who probably couldn't find his ass with both hands in the first place.
I think we've grown as a people since those times, or at least I'd like to think so. It used to worry me thinking that my generation would one day take the helm of the nation, and I see that my worry was based on fact. We seem to have righted the wrongs of our fathers times, then righted wrongs that weren't wrong in the first place. Well what I guess I'm trying to say is that our society has gone way to far the other (liberal?) way.
It was kind of funny tonight, got one of those political calls from the democratic party, in fact that was what showed on the caller ID. I answered anyhow, and the fellow immediately asked for my wife. I gave him a hard time about being her secret lover, accused him of lots of bad deeds, he couldn't seem to find words, just stammered on the other end, as I browbeat him, but I couldn't keep it up and burst out laughing. I could hear his sigh of relief when I said I'd put the wife on.
He didn't' talk very long with her either when she told him that while she was a registered democrat, she just couldn't hold with voting for the democratic candidates this year and was going to vote with me for the Republican's. You could have knocked me over with a feather, as she loves the fact that she usually cancels out my vote every election. She must have been listening to my computer while I was listening to Rush these last few months. We can't get him very well on radio so I'd sort of given up on his show till one day I did a google search and found his website where his show is broadcast daily.
Jerry Rush!
10-28-2002 0:28
Viv - Thanks for the link and tell Hana thanks for the translations. :)
Are we still doing Short Stories every week? That was something I missed about here. :)
Allein Peachick's Gallery
10-27-2002 17:07
Oops! I suppose you'll need my email. D'oh!
Litter Again 10-27-2002 9:31
HEATHER -- I've just tried to email you with one of the links you left on this page but the email was bounced. Do you have another email addy?
Litter Again 10-27-2002 9:29
Hi all.
How much do you trust email?
A cautionary tale –
Some 18 months ago I submitted the manuscript of my novel to a publisher by email. (After sending the required synopsis and stuff.) Within the day, the publisher acknowledged receipt of the manuscript and the wait started.
I emailed them after 3, 6, 9 and 12 months (or there abouts) but received no reply to any of the emails, so I gave up on them.
I posted an open question about the publisher to an email writing/publishing that I joined recently and purely by chance a representative of the publisher (A senior representative as it happened) picked up the message and emailed me saying that the matter would be looked into.
The following day, I received another email from the rep, telling me that my novel had been accepted in June 2001, but after a month, having failed to get a response from me (???????) they had destroyed the manuscript.
I was asked to resubmit, which I did, but I’m now back where I was 18 months ago with no guarantee of re-acceptance of the manuscript, (sigh!) and no guarantee that even if it is accepted, that I will ever get the email advising me of such.
Willing publisher – willing author – unwilling ISP and/or email client.
Words fail me.
Litter Again 10-27-2002 9:24
Christi - Welcome back! Enjoyed your message.
Carol - Will upload ch.8. Can't get to 9...had to do a bunch of exercises in present progressive tense. Yuck. A week without computer, disgusting, but I'll take a notebook and pen and see if I can still operate a pen.
Viv 10-27-2002 4:59
Howard: In one house we lived in there was a lock on the outside of a bedroom door and a very bad feeling. We figured out the solution to the lock...we moved it to the inside of OUR (the parents) bedroom door. We figured all unhappy vibes would be exorcised by our good times when the door was locked. It worked beautifully! Try moving your lock and enjoy the privacy!
Viv 10-27-2002 4:57
CHRISTI!!!!!!! Welcome home!
Enough ! for you?
I have been thinking of you of late, you see I recently finnished a very good book by Mr. Card, it's a parallell book to Ender's game, called Ender's shadow. At any rate, I thought I should send it to you, but you haven't been around. You know like we did Ender's game?
Intrested?
Just got back from my aunt's 90th birthday party, the old gal is still gowing strong, and I swear she hasn't aged a day in the last fifteen years. It was so good to get together with all my cousin's, many of whom I haven't seen in six or seven years. We all grew up together, as our dad's had farms just a few miles apart, in fact the first school I attended consisted of me, my sisters, and my cousins. Oh there was this one outsider girl but she fit right in anyhow as she lived with my uncle and the aunt who's birthday party was tonight.
Laughed too hard, ate too much came home too late but it ended way too soon.
Jerry 10-26-2002 23:25
~Christi~
There's nothing like a collaboration project to bring oldsters out of the woodwork. :) HI EVERYBODY!!!!!! Gosh, I suddenly feel like I'm at home again after being on vacation for oh so very long. It's nice to sit on your own toilet seat again, so to speak! HA HA HA! Not that the Notebook resembles a toilet in any way. Well sometimes it does when I've got a potty mouth. Goodness gracious, didn't you guys miss that kind of non-humor while I was gone? Har har.
Hi Heather the Faithful and Miraculous Mary, the new mother (well almost!). I got your messages, did you get mine? Hi Howard and Jerry, you are as timeless as ever. Hi Randall the Rambunctious, Hi Rosemary of Sunnybrook Farm, and hi Rhoda, Writing Warrior (that last session was a looloo!). Hi Teekay, my bosom buddy; you're looking rather ghostly at the moment! Hi friends over the sea, Litter and Eddie, warriors in life. Hi Mel, our expressive Madame Librarian, Taylor the sweet, and Allein, Anime Queen. Hello to Americo the Great (and all your incarnations), Tina the Brave, and Jack the Creator. Hi Mark, you impressive professor! and Viv in Japan, representing the U.S. in grand form. Sunny, you're fun, welcome, and all that rot! And if your name on this list I have missed, know that I am a blonde and we tend to distract easily ... hey, isn't that Mel Gibson over there?
Have a lovely day wherever you are,
Christi 10-26-2002 19:21
Randall
Hi!
Well ... it's done. And as these things go, errors missed during of a great deal of literary hand wringing and knashing of teeth, are now blatant. But it is just a draft. In that regard I fought hard to keep the posted segment at 2,000 words ... and failed. Sorry Jack. :-) I have the opposite of writers block ... writer happy fingers. Powered by an over active brain, fingers type words and scenarios, miscellaneous and obscure thoughts that tumble from a 55 year old noggin. This rush in a literature frenzy of fingers chasing thoughts often lead to a slap dash approach, annnnnd demand rewrites and double checking ... and this sometimes fails.
When I get everything worked out in my head, (Good luck there, huh!!) and start the actual writing this segment will be greatly expanded, doubled more than likely and possibly the format changed. I'm not fond of the transcript style ... though it sometimes works.
There is some truth in my tale, though Mokia is fiction. There is in town a house where poltergeist activity was rampant in a bedroom many, many years ago. A priest blessed the bedroom hoping to settle the disturbance. It worked for a few days, then one night a couple were roused from sleep by a racket at the bedroom door. It was their teenage son trying to enter their bedroom. He couldn't, no matter how hard he tried. He simply could not pass through the doorway and enter his parent's bedroom. Conclusions? Beats the heck out of me! There is a family history of suicide and mental depression. Who knows? Maybe it was a "Vitality" like Mokia passing through the ‘hood?
Happy weekend
Randall
Randall 10-26-2002 18:16
RANDALL
Good evening!
Friends, I've been developing a book in my head for several years. This is the first attempt (DRAFT!) at putting anything on paper. (You're blessed or cursed!) So,accept this Halloween yarn cultivated between the ears of Randall. As usual in my musings the tale went a direction I didn't expect. Somehow, I seem to lose control and events develop a life of their own.
Word Count 2654
STRIKE NOT THY SERVANT
By Randall L. Henderson
Office of Dr. Andrea Mills B.S. M.D. P.H.D.
Case 141 Ms. Hewa Colorado
Transcript from surveillance camera, office recording, and private resources...
November 3, 1997
Dr. Mills ... "Good morning Ms. Colorado."
Ms. Colorado ... "Good morning Dr. Mills. I see you have a new receptionists."
Dr. Mills ... "Yes. Abagail Divanti, a medical intern from the American University in Rome. Abigail wanted to see America and spend the summer meeting real life cowboys. We are fortunate she chose Texas. Abagail was an intern last year at the Vatican. Would you like to proceed now?"
Ms. Colorado ... "Yes. I feel I must. Dan and I had a bad night."
Dr. Mills ... "We may have to use the sedative again. Do you remember I have your written permission?"
Ms. Colorado ... "Yes."
At this time Dr. Mills induces Hewa Colorado into a hypnotic state. Ms. Colorado is on a couch near Dr. Mills desk. A scream erupts from Ms. Colorado. She struggles from the couch falling to the floor. Ms. Abigail Divanti, enters the room and assists Dr. Mills in placing Ms. Colorado back on the couch.
Dr. Mills ... "Hewa, do you hear me?"
"Yes."
"Hewa, what frightened you?"
"Him."
"Is this the one you call Mokia? The intruder?"
"Yes Dr. Mills. The one who wants to go home."
"Hewa. We have discussed Mokia several times. I will ask you again. What is he?"
Ms. Colorado moans. Her features contorted. She tries to stand but Dr. Mills and Intern Divanti compel her to lie down. Dr. Mills establishes an IV transfusion, inducing a mild sedative into her arm.
"Hewa, can you understand me? Nothing will harm you here. No fear. Do not be afraid."
"I am not afraid Dr. Mills. I know you are my friend."
"Yes I am. Now, can you tell me of Mokia?"
Ms. Hewa Colorado struggles to rise. "Oh! He is here! He tries to come into our room. Dan stands at the foot of the bed with a baseball bat. Mokia wants to come into our bedroom! I am afraid for my husband!"
"Hewa. Do not be afraid. Nothing will harm you here. Dan stands between you and Mokia. Abagail and I stand between you and Mokia. Please tell me of Mokia."
"Oh, he is so terrible! A dreadful sight! Mokia wants to go home! He scares me so! A devil!"
"A devil? How do you know?"
Hewa Colorado screams and in struggling from the couch falls to the floor. She crawls under the couch. Dr. Mills and Abigail Divanti sit on the floor beside her. Hewa Colorado is sobbing.
"A demon! Mokia comes in our bedroom! I have awakened at night to see him standing at the foot of our bed! A large creature with glowing eyes! A beast! He hates us because he wants to go home and cannot!"
"Hewa. Do not be afraid. We are here to protect you. You have nothing to fear. You say Mokia wishes to go home? What has this to do with you?"
"Mokia hates us now because we ask the priest to bless our bedroom. To keep him away from us at night. Dan works in the wrecking yard and cannot sleep because Mokia wants to go home. Now he cannot come into our bedroom. He is very angry."
"I don't understand Hewa. Where is Mokia's home? If he wants to go home, why doesn't he just go home?"
Recording terminated. Transcription note ... Ms. Colorado collapses. The session ends at this point.
November 10, 1997 ... Confidential recording of Dr. Andrea Mills ... Conversation between Dr. Mills, Catholic priest, Father Andrew Aye and Father Samuel O'Donnell in Saint Mary's Hospital chapel. Ms. Colorado and her husband were admitted hours before for second degree burns and smoke inhalation.
Tape II/ Insertion...4755
"... Dr. Mills, this is Father Aye. Regarding your conversation with me earlier this week I consulted with our church historian. Following your instructions Father Aye is aware of your interaction with Hewa Colorado."
"Then we should proceed."
"Yes. Father Aye has flown from Montreal to visit with you. He is an expert in unknown activities relating to paranormal incidents."
"Good afternoon Dr. Mills. I am so glad to meet with you. Father O'Donnell spoke well of you. How may I assist?"
"Father Aye. You have been briefed by Father O'Donnell about Dan and Hewa Colorado. So I assume you know about their experience with someone or something named Mokia? Would this be reason enough for a church historian to travel so far?"
"I admire your candid observation Dr. Mills. Father O'Donnell, will you excuse us now? Ah, your assessment is accurate doctor. What do you wish to know?"
"Well, let's jump right in Father Aye. Who is Mokia? Is there a connection with a fire at the Colorado's home last night?"
"You are direct. Let us walk outside Dr. Mills."
In the hospital garden.
"As a Catholic priest, my position in the paranormal experiences of Hewa and Dan Colorado with the entity known as Mokia must be circumspect. For obvious reasons. Do you accept that conversation between two professionals in the spiritual confessor-medical profession would be strictly confidential?"
"Of course Father Aye."
"Mokia is whatever you make of him. Hewa thought Mokia was a demon. He is all that and more. But never forget, only, and I stress this, only in the eye of the beholder which is relevant to his desire. Mokia is a willful and malevolent entity. Also, called a Vitality. In our present dilemma and most important to our considerations, a wandering, elemental Vitality who has ventured from his rightful place in our Lord's house."
"Who wants to go home?"
"Exactly. Dr. Mills, where Mokia wishes to go ... is blocked by the physical presence of the Colorado home. In point of fact, their bedroom. Mokia cannot pass through the living physical vibrations of a human abode. He needed the Colorados out of a preordained and mandatory pathway. Mokia could not go around, or through, and is at an impasse. An unfortunate incident, a matter of bad luck for all parties involved."
"Father Aye, you seem to know a lot about this Mokia creature."
"Indeed. Not a lot though, just enough to get me in trouble. The Catholic Church is a ponderous bureaucratic organization dedicated to the glorification of our Lord. But there is so much more work that goes on unseen. We have made significant advances in elemental Vitality investigations in the last 1100 years. And a correction, Mokia is not a creature. Mokia is an intelligent, elemental Vitality, generated by obscure facets of God's universe. In that regard, the so named Big Bang hypothesis is a relevant consideration of God's creative and positive creation processes. So, infinite sources of matter were converted by Him into physical celestial objects, inanimate and animate. Celestial assemblies and highly intelligent life as well, but, in this instance, negatives developed. Malicious energy forms were created by random molecular interaction. We call one of many, Mokia. Not a known demon but sinister nevertheless. Like so many others we know of, he is childlike, petulant and very dangerous to humanity."
"Father Aye. Where would something like Mokia call home?"
"I have no idea Dr. Mills."
"A parallel universe?"
"As good a guess as any. You must understand Dr. Mills, Mokia has been around millions of years. We don't know his exact age. How old is God? We do know however, that when the electro/physical force generated by the human imperative obstructs his will, he reverts to something he perceives within us all. Fear of the unknown and in a concentrated form, demon tormentors of humanity. Simply put, humans are obstacles, nothing more, and he will represent anything to clear passage and pursue his activities. To that end, Mokia sought to clear the Colorados from his way."
"By scaring them? As a demon?"
"Yes. Although the threat of physical assault is possible. Call it possession and it is one instance where Vitality's like Mokia seek their way."
"Father Aye. The Vitality is a spirit? Not a physical presence?"
"Yes and no. Mokia will enter our physical world only as a last resort. He will be as real as you or I. Very dangerous. Greatly annoyed, to put it mildly."
"Hmmm. Hewa said a priest blessed their home. Was that you?"
"No, Father O'Donnell. But only the bedroom. There are reasons for this. We have limited contact with Vitality's such as Mokia, maybe once in a human lifetime and ..."
"I understand Father Aye. You blessed the Colorado's bedroom because the pathway of Mokia passed through on a different plane of existence. Despite the apparent nonreligious aspect of Mokia, it was diverted by an ancient spiritual incantation. The Colorado home, the bedroom intersected his path homeward, wherever that is. A problem. He could not go through or around. You know Mokia exists, hope to study him and intentionally obstructed his way. Is that not correct?"
"In a very broad sense you are correct doctor. We desperately seek to understand God's universe and certainly, studying all concerns relating to His creation would be relevant. God is the creator of all Dr. Mills, animal, plant, star, human or Mokia. By definition, His power commands us into intelligent inquiry.
"The last confirmed occurrence of Mokia was in 1963. We are aware of Mokia's mandatory pathway through this part of the world. If that is confusing Dr. Mills, consider comets who travel through the universe on preordained circuits. In 1963 we sought to intersect Mokia. Unfortunately, the encounter turned deadly and there was loss of life. Consequently, a secret Vatican commission ordered us to monitor this area, investigating all rumors of a supernatural aspect. To that end, we have followed your practice for many years as well. We were not surprised to hear rumors of a problem with the Colorado household. Consequently, when it was learned of your sessions with Hewa Colorado, I was commanded to communicate with Mokia."
"Why?"
"For all of his malicious propensities to evil Mokia is the least offensive of known Vitality's. Consequently, we might gain insight to the root of evil in our world."
"Root of evil in our world, Father?"
"Doctor, it means exactly that."
"Very frightening. Did you communicate with Mokia, Father Aye?"
"Dr. Mills ... I cannot answer that."
"I believe I understand what you just said Father Aye. Were you at Dan and Hewa Colorado's home the night it burned?"
"Yes."
"In the bedroom?"
"Yes Dr. Mills."
"I find this hard to understand Father Aye. First, you tell me certain things that are highly irregular. Secret Vatican commissions, wandering evil beings ... A Vitality? Also, you attempt communication with something totally unknown to science, something that has terrified the Colorados for months. Despite the obvious implications, you're telling me about it? Openly and without hesitation? Why is that Father Aye? Is this not something the church would wish secret?"
"Well, you have an oath of confidentially Dr. Mills. In addition, we are always searching for open-minded lay persons to assist us in our research. We have been aware of your professional brilliance for some time. I am telling you more than necessary hoping to tweak your professional interest."
"I'm not sure I understand. You want me to work with you?"
"You're choice Dr. Mills."
"I'm flattered Father Aye. But first I want to know what caused the fire at the Colorado home? Was it Mokia?"
"My team, consisting of two bishops, a church security force and a medical doctor arrived at the Colorado home at 11:00 P.M...."
"Guards? With guns?"
"No. Our security teams carry edged weapons only..."
"Swords ...?"
"Dr. Mills, please let me continue. We set up various recording instruments, automatic cameras, laser microphones. We waited for Mokia. Shortly after midnight the electrical power failed. Not unexpected. We found ourselves in a pitch black room. There was a brilliant blue flash of light in the bedroom doorway and the noise of something scrambling at the bedroom doorway. A series of scratching noises, talons on splintering wood, labored straining sounds as if great effort was concentrated. Loud groaning noises ... murmur of unknown dialect, something in great pain. It was, to say the least, astonishingly unsettling in a dark room. Fortunately, all priests and security force members have, as a light source backup, carbide powder/water powered lamps. We have learned that elemental Vitality's such as Mokia drain flashlight batteries as a matter of course."
"Father Aye, what was happening in the bedroom and how many persons were there?"
"Security force officers Abigail Divanti and Laura Pierce had recently forged Japanese swords unsheathed, in a defensive posture and were closest to Mokia's entry portal..."
"Abagail Divanti!"
"I'll explain later ... Bishop Andrew Zanella from Rome and Bishop Jon Abernathy from England were behind them, reciting from a controversial manuscript attributed to Pope Leo III, dated 814, The Enchiridion. It attempts to halt Vitality progression. I might add that the Colorados, the doctor and myself were against the farthest wall from the doorway. In the dim light of the carbide lamps we noted a person struggling to pass through the bedroom door."
"A human...?"
"Yes. In the carbide lamp light and highlighted by a flickering blue light from behind ... it was the Colorado's oldest son Ramon. Struggling as if a mighty force was preventing him from entering the bedroom."
"That's impossible Father Aye. Ramon died in a traffic accident a year ago."
"Mokia used the dead boy's personality frequency vibrations to affect an entrance through the church's ritual blessing ceremony."
"Did he come through?"
"Oh yes! Yes, he did! Mokia, using Ramon's, albeit weak, but still surviving life force passed right through. A horrific sight as Mokia emerged into our world, discarding the boy's personality and affecting his own chosen demonic form. Imagine an erect lizard seven feet tall, immense yellow eyes, streaming blood and matter down a massive scaly torso. He was staggered by the transmigration, disoriented, howling in pain as Earth's corrosive atmosphere reacted against him ..."
"My God!"
"My thoughts as well."
"Mokia saw us and moved forward. For a few seconds no one reacted. The guards were obedient to Pope John-Paul's defensive mandate, retreated, but could not respond until threatened. No one did anything but Hewa Colorado. She grabbed a carbide lamp from Bishop Zanella and threw it at Mokia. The lamp struck Mokia, fragmented and exploded. Powdered carbide and water ignite when mixed. Hewa was screaming ‘Leave my son alone!' or something like that. We didn't have time to review the video tapes before they were removed. But the end effect was just what Mokia wanted. The bedroom and most of the house burned and the physical vibrations of two humans ceased as their home went up in smoke. So you see Mokia won and surely found a way home that night."
(Long silence) "You do this for a living Father Aye?"
(Laughter) "More of a holy summons Dr. Mills. A family legacy. My great-grandfather died as a Vatican officer in 1897. His legion of Vatican warriors also died as they attempted, unsuccessfully, to halt passage of Dia Forsallus into the Sistine Chapel. In that respect I would not like to follow in his footsteps. Dia Forsallus is still the worst of a very bad lot."
"What did Mokia say?"
"Again Dr. Mills, I may not admit communication with Mokia. I would surmise he was pleased that an obstacle was breached and went home."
That's all for now friends, thanks for reading and goodnight.
Randall
Randall 10-26-2002 17:24
Thanks, guys. :oD
Heather Hemlock Bags
10-26-2002 16:35
JERRY -- Yes, that hidden room sounds intriguing!
When my folks bought the house we now live in we found one of the upstairs bedrooms had a lock on the outside of the door. And on the inside were grooves and gouges made by fingernails, and the window --which was nailed shut -- also had nail marks as well as teeth marks on the sill. The house had been empty for several years before my folks bought it, and we found that several years before that, the people who lived in it had a retarded daughter that they used to keep locked away in that room. Some folks said they actually kept her in chains for the last years of her life. Some of the old timers around here think the house is haunted, and we've got several stories that'll raise the hackles on your neck! They say the woman who lived here killed her husband here when she found him molesting the daughter.
I know when my folks lived here they'd wake up in the middle of the night smelling fresh coffee and cigarette smoke, and once they found a tic-tac-toe game drawn on the inside of the door, in orange chalk, right beside the hook where dad hung his robe the night before. It wasn't there then. We still hear strange noises occasionally, and the cat gets awfully nervous sometimes as she goes up the stairs. And every once in a while we can hear a deep humming sound that we've been unable to account for. I've actually turned off the main power to the house to make sure it's not something running in the house that's causing it. Still can't figure out what's causing it.
howard 10-26-2002 13:06
Allein: This one is for you. It's a translation site for Japanese to English. You paste in the text and
ping-pong it goes to English. Hana mailed off the letter today with your song lyrics. She really appreciated your website. Anyway, hope this works. If not I'll keep at it until I get it right.
http://www.rikai.com/perl/HomePage.pl?Language=Ja
Jerry: Thanks your helpful site was really great. I'm going to try Japanese on it too. I also want to check out the writer's website and about a million other things.
Viv 10-26-2002 10:54
Check out the site below, lots of helpfull stuff.
Jerry Writers Tools
10-26-2002 10:29
*Mel*
Good morning, everyone! :-)
I often write in snatches of time in whatever semi-quiet place I can find and haven't access to background music. When I get the opportunity, though, I am inspired by instrumental music - classical or Celtic or movie soundtracks (Conan the Barbarian is great for moving scenes that are heavy with purpose).
I'm so attuned to music that I have to be careful what I use for inspiration; if I'm working on adventure treks in fantasy worlds, I need LOTR-style music, music that explores the vast nooks and crannies of my imagination. If I'm working on romance, I need a softer strain in the background - Mozart's Clarinet Quintet is one of my favorites!
As helpful and comforting as the music is, however, my muse hears a symphony of her own, best heard in the quiet of the night and house, when everyone is asleep, or just before dawn. I burnt a lot of post-midnight candles while writing in the wee hours as a teen! I miss that, sometimes.
Having a family and working full-time days have their own rewards but strangle late-night inspirations!
JERRY: My parents had a ton of Tennessee Ernie Ford albums - I used to love listening to his deep booming voice, smooth as glass. I'd sing along with him -- "You load 16 tons...What do you get? A back that's weary and deeper in debt...St. Peter, don't you call me 'cause I can't go--I owe my soul to the Company store..." :-)
Lawrence Welk was on every Saturday night in our house too. There was something reassuring about his music, comforting, peaceful, light-hearted. :-)
Now, about that house where the sheet rock was removed to reveal a hidden room...WOW! What great story fodder!! :-) Why DID the people cover that room??? Maybe a horrendous event occurred there... spooky! I love hidden stairways and secret rooms...A sealed room soudns very curious indeed!!! JERRY, I bet you could write a fascinating tale about that hidden room... (Yes, that's a challenge!!!)
A busy Saturday here with the usual - laundry, groceries, housecleaning--although I really have to agree with a poem sent to HOWARD:
"Dust if you must, but wouldn't it be better
To paint a picture or write a letter...
[With] music to hear and books to read,
Friends to cherish and life to lead..."
Celebrate today and let your muses go wild on the page! :-]
Mel 10-26-2002 8:42
Never heard of Wellstone before I came home about 3 am in the morning... and had a Fox News Alert about a plane crash.
My heart still gets a little jittery each time I hear there's a plane crash
Taylor 10-26-2002 4:43
On Music: Sometimes if I'm stuck... I'll put on The Beethoven cd.
Feel like I must apolagise for my previous post... Recently started to read "Let's Roll" By Lisa Beamer... and it has kind of opened my eyes up a little.
Sorry for what I said.
Taylor 10-26-2002 4:37
Music - My favorite groups - Creedance Clearwater Revival - Blood Sweat and Tears - Three Dog Night - Erik Burton and The Animals - Favorite singers - Tex Ritter - Marty Robbins - Johnny Cash - Niel Diamond - Tom T. Hall - Kenny Rogers.
I also enjoy classic music from time to time, as well as some jazz. Old rock and roll, country and a bit of blue grass.
Ok so I like most old music, heck I even have a bunch of Tennesee Ernie Ford's stuff. Oh and I don't miss a Sunday of Lawrence Welk on PBS, brings back memories of our first TV and how the folks always had to see the Champaign Music, anda one anda two anda three. Lawrence was from North Dakota, sort of a home state boy, I guess I never made clear that our farm was in North Dakota, so I grew up most of my life there. Even when we moved to town, we only lived in South Dakota one year before dad found a cheap house in North Lemmon, which is north of the tracks, and the tracks separate North and South Dakota in Lemmon. If my memory serves me, that was in 1963, and dad paid a whopping $2,500.00 for that big old two story house located on over an acre of land. Three bedrooms upstairs and one on the main floor. Strange, there was this big archway in the living room that the previous owners put sheet rock over. We lived there for nearly two years before dad took the sheet rock down, and there was a big room with new carpet and new wall paper on the walls. The previous owners must have not wanted to heat that extra room or something. It was a grand old house though in addition to the three bedrooms upstairs there was a drop down door that covered the stairs when dropped, it led into a huge attic filled with old clothing from the previous owners, furniture, even some old navy ribbons from their son's uniform. I used to spend hours digging around in that attic, found some old MPC military payment certificates from WWII and such. Too bad I never kept that stuff, heck it would probably bring good money on Ebay. Now there is but bare prairie where that old house stood, but last time I drove by there, they were leveling out a part of the acre to put a new house on. Looks like things are improving north of the tracks, a good thing too, as they went way down hill after we left. A lot of the area is now horse pastures, blended among the few homes that still stand occupied up there. I couldn't live like that, the flies and stink in the summer and all.
Life goes on....
Jerry (again) 10-26-2002 0:51
It was no great loss to get rid of the guns, hell I haven't pulled a trigger on any of them since 94 anyhow, just parting with part of my past. The computers were not the main ones anyhow, heck I have way too many of these blasted things anyhow, I just hooked up one of the old P166's up for an internet server, all it has to do is keep the dsl modem busy and assign numbers to the other machines in the house.
The wife was glad to be rid of them, they were just in the way all the time anyhow (the guns that is) now she can hang pictures on the walls where they hung, but my gun cabinet sure looks empty, think I'll let that go on the next yard sale.
It got up to 40 degrees today, and much of our snow melted, sure glad to see it go. I went out and took the tire off my lawn mower and took it up to be fixed, just in case all the snow goes and I can start it up and pick up the leaves that are still falling from the shocked trees, who normally loose all their leaves long before the white crap comes.
Sure glad to see those idiots with guns in the DC area under wraps. I was listening to KOA in Denver today, the talk guy there is getting a bit radical, he keeps saying that these guys shouldn't get to use their rights, after all they are against what he US stands for. I think he has it all wrong, they are what the US is all about, everyone has rights here, everyone has the right to a fair trial before we kill them. Well before they are put in prison, or on death row or whatever.
It seems these times they are a changing, and way too fast and way to wrong. I guess we've had it too good for too long here in the US. I sure hate to see it all change though, but I fear it must so we can be safe in our homes, in our lives and in our day to day activities.
I wish they would quit calling these idiots snipers. I guess it sort of describes what they did, but they are just killers, calling them sniper is too good for these guys. At least in the current meaning of the word. A sniper is a well trained marksman who enters only when all other methods have failed to bring an end to a bad situation either in war or in law enforcement. What these guys were could better be described in the words of the old west, "dry gulchers!"
Sad to see Paul Wellstone meet his maker today. Sort of makes one scratch his head when something like this happens so close to the election. This could very well put the Senate back in the hands of the Republican party (YAY!) but I hate to see it happen this way. I've watched this guy on TV a lot, he was a radical democrat but at least you knew where he stood all the time, and he didn't sway with what he thought the public wanted to hear, or by polls, he just acted in the way he believed right.
Write on!
Jerry 10-26-2002 0:03
Yeah, HEATHER's doing a monster job (get it? get it?). Jokes aside, she is much to be appreciated.
I'm out of town right now, but on the internet that doesn't matter, does it?
More later . . .
Mark 10-25-2002 23:53
RHODA -- everything from Dylan to Mahler, with some Andean flute, Aboriginal didgeriedoo, Derek Bell (he just passed away), Gregorian chant, and down-home blues. Also love Chanticleer, the Cathedrals Quartet(southern gospel), Brooks Williams on guitar, Nat King Cole, Maria Muldaur, some Sting, and Meatloaf. Go figure.
Also everything else (except polkas and heavy metal) mostly.
Most of it sounds muffled now, though, so I guess it really doesn't matter.
howard 10-25-2002 21:09
Rhoda -- Music is a great topic. My tastes are wildly eclectic, but I have my CD player currently loaded with John Mayer, Cajun All-Stars, Phillip Lester's "Dreamsong", David London's "To My Love", James Taylor, James Galway, and Mozart for working. It definitely depends on what writing I'm doing, but my brain is trained to get serious when I hit "Dreamsong". I can't imagine not having music to complement or set my moods, although I do need quiet at certain times. I especially like listening to sounds of nature and bird songs with music, during the winter months.
Sunny 10-25-2002 20:17
Heather: Sounds like you are working hard for all of us. Thanks! What you are doing is amazing and appreciated.
Carol: Glad it helped. Followed your cue and did some research today. Glad I did. I figured out the bus system, where the bus terminal is located (it's not at all like the place I described.) Poo! Back to the drawing board. I also found out the number of the bus the older woman is riding and the route. It's a 4 hour trip! Maybe I don't need the station at all. I think I may have another method of getting her off the bus. During the teacher's meeting I sat and rewrote the idea in my head. Unfortunately, we didn't get out until 8:00 PM so I just got home.
Jerry: Sorry to hear about your house. After a summer of dealing with exteme estimates for stuff so dull it pains me to write about it, I now know the ugly secret of home ownership. When you fix up a home, it's not the fun stuff you pay for...it's electrical wiring, toilets that won't flush, bathtub drains that won't, and dryers that don't, chimney cleaning... ceiling fans... Well, you get the picture. The worst part, I discovered is that like cars, houses wait for the worst moment your wallet could ever encounter then have heart attacks. I'm glad you finally got someone to do the job for a decent price. Sorry you had to sell your computers and guns to do it though. Hope soon all is repaired and you can either replace or buy them back again.
One thing to cheer us all up. The Sniper is in custody. I saw a picture of him with his son. What is frightening is how nice they look. I imagined someone with two heads, horns, and a tail.
Viv 10-25-2002 11:44
The problem with being such an old timer is that at one time or another I have engaged in almost any type of discussion one can think of on the Notebook. There is one topic I would like to revisit, and that is music.
Do any of you use music to write by, and what do you listen to? I know we have discussed this topic at least once before, but it has been a long time.
I put in another long day yesterday. I now have almost 300 pages finished of the first draft. Music has been so important to this endeavor. I have been listening to a lot of Celtic music, mainly Dougie MacLean. Enya has also been a good way to keep me in the mood to write. I have also played soundtracks such as BRAVEHEART and THE FELLOWSHIP of THE RING.
I cannot wait to finish this first draft, for these characters are becoming all to real to me. I would rather sit down at the computer and visit with them than pay my bills, clean the house, and mow the lawn (Yes, Jerry, we are still mowing our lawns around here).
For those of you who are experiencing writer's block, I might have an answer. Write, write, and write some more. If you have a good story going, the characters are going to draw you in and then take over from there, but in order for that to happen, you must emmerse yourself.
I just hope I can keep this pace going until the duration of this rough draft.
I have had a lot of pressure of late. My middle ADDhD son has been struggling in school, and we are having him see a child psycologist. I am also looking for a job, and it could just be this writing spree is a last ditch attempt to justify all these years of writing and an attempt to prove to myself that I don't need an outside job. I can make whatever money we need by my writing. At this point that idea is a stretch whether I manage to publish this current project or not.
But I am afraid that a job might interfere with my ability to write. But then again there were months on end when I stayed at home being a homemaker and I did no writing what so ever.
I rented A BEAUTIFUL MIND this last week-end. What an awesome movie! That is a story that should be an inspiration to anyone enduring any sort of ongoing trial. I can see why it got so many awards.
We also rented CHARLIE'S ANGELS. If you haven't seen that one yet, don't. It was horrible. My fourteen year old daughter thought it was really stupid, and I must agree. It was tongue and cheek that went flat. I think I have given up on 70's remakes. I think it is time for Hollywood to give those old shows a break and in the meantime hire some better screenwriters.
My daughter introduced me to the fanfiction sight. She has been submitting to it and is really excited about writing her Sailor Moon stories and getting feed-back. Perhaps she has caught the writing bug. I looked the site over and was sorely tempted to try my hand at Star Trek and Zorro. But where is the time? I am trying to write "real books." and then I do need to update my web-site.
I have run on much too long. I won't finish the rough draft doing too much of this type of posting.
HOWARD,
OK, no more snipping. I promise.
Rhoda 10-25-2002 10:49
EDDIE,
I am so glad to hear that Anita is progressing well, though I realize life must be frustrating for her right now. I will continue praying for you all. Hugs for you both.
Rhoda 10-25-2002 10:26
Thanks, Jerry!
:o)
Heather 10-25-2002 4:16
22. Mummy's story by A.G. de Sousa
23. Sandra and Lily by Tina Chambers
24. I Love You Forever by Jerry Ericsson
25. No Going Back by T.K. Mancia
26. Love and Protection by Rachel Olsen
27. Waiting Room by Heather Myles
Heather Hemlock Bags
10-25-2002 4:14
Heather - I should have one more for the book in a week or so, things have been in upheaval here of late, you see our eleven thousand dollar house is quickly becoming our eleven thousand dollar basement house, the dirt walls of the basement are caving in more every day, the floors are becoming roller coasters, paneling is warping away from the walls and overlapping their joints.
The basement guy has been here five times in the last five days, first estimates were in the twenty thousand dollar range, then as I explained to him that we don't want an livable basement, just keep the house above ground it began coming down first to eight thousand, then six thousand then at last an almost affordable sixteen hundred to simply put a single block wall down the center of the house to hold up solid wood beams that will keep us afloat on this wondrous world of ours.
I gave him eight hundred to begins asap, then sold the rest of my guns, and three of our computers (two old ones and one good one) to raise the other eight so we can pay him when he's done.
Now if he'd just begging, soon I hope!...
Hasn't left me much time to do anything but work on that, in fact I even skipped my toe appointment (the swelling is down and I go to the VA next week anyhow).
HOWEVER - I do have a half written shorty that is forming up nicely to fit the parameters of the collection.
Jerry 10-24-2002 22:58
Look what happens when I hit 'enter' before proofing!
27. No Going Back by T.K. Mancia
28. should be Rachel's and
29. is mine
...grumble grumble....
Heather Hemlock Bags
10-24-2002 19:13
Sorry....
27. Love and Protection by Rachel Olson
28. Waiting Room by Heather Myles
......could I possibly be done for the day?
More than done!
Heather 10-24-2002 19:11
Ok....have added a few more stories to the list:
24. Grandma by Rosemary Croom
25. Sandra and Lily by Tina Chambers
26. I Love You Forever by Jerry Ericsson
27. No Going Back by T.K. Mancia
28. Waiting Room by Heather Myles
Heather 10-24-2002 19:09
Ah, yes, today is my day for over-posting!
Rosemary - hadn't planned on Random House at all - that's an agented only submission house.... for lack of a better term. I know the market quite well and will continue to research it for the following month or two until I am certain which are our top five best bets. I'm going to Canadian publishers first, even though many of us hail from the US and other places on the globe.
If anyone runs across a publisher that is accepting submissions (unagented) of short story collections, drop me a line as soon as you can. I will also need every one of our credentials/past publications in case I feel the need to soup up the resume, so to speak.
If everyone who has published a poem, short story, flash fiction, article, etc... (and some of your work is in Phantasium, of course) anything - please email me with the details and dates, source, etc. if it would appear in your credentials for a submission of your own, we want to have it available for an editor's perusal with Phantasium. I may not need to send this at all, but it's good to have it in case.
Litter - please email me, you silly man. I need your REAL name for the short story in Phantasium!! Unless you want me to use your alias?
Heather 10-24-2002 18:59
Actually, I'm hoping that with my editing and Mark's help as well, we'll have a collection that a publisher will not feel the urge to decrease in size if they do wish to publish it. I'm also hoping that because we are an online group, that will add an unexpected angle to our collection as a whole. Can't hurt, at the very least!
Heather 10-24-2002 18:51
Hi again - no problem, Rosemary!
I think we'll put 'Shadows' into slot 12 for Phantasium.
:o)
Heather 10-24-2002 18:47
HEATHER,
My mistake, I thought you would be using the same publisher Rachel used. PublishAmerica expects you to do the editing. They provide the cover art and set up the type. For this, they do not charge you an up front fee. They make their money on the books you sell or buy from them. If you planned for Random house to buy this book, good luck. Maybe you have an in with someone else. Great!
What I am saying is, maybe a little research on getting this thing published might be a good thing.
Good luck anyway,
bye
Rosemary 10-24-2002 17:30
Ahhhh.....wait. I knew there would be a post script.
Rosemary - A publisher may also weed out more stories than I have, so please keep that in mind.
I'm definitely not the last person with a red pen to hold this collection.
Heather 10-24-2002 16:25
lurkity-lurk. I don't want to leave yet, but it's getting close to time to go to work. That's all,
Till Niagara Falls!
Elaine 10-24-2002 16:23
It's going to start raining where I am too. We had our first few snow scatteries, they didn't stay on the ground to well, but it's turning frightfully cold now. Not the no-snow, dry winter this year! I got to see the most incredible thing last night. Has anyone seen The Georgian State Dancers? They were awesome. I'm going to try to capture it all on paper when my mind isn't so crowded. I have a long 4 day weekend ahead of me this week. (Teacher inservice) I'm going to spend the time working, watching my kid sister (one of them), keep house while the rest of the family is away for two days, go to a chiropractor (finally), and try to do two reports before next Monday. When does the shortie have to be done by? I actually have a real life experience about that theme that I haven't written down yet. That's all for now. Hopefully will be back tomorrow.
Till Niagara Falls!
Elaine 10-24-2002 16:21
Rosemary, before you leap to the conclusion that only one of your stories is accepted into Phantasium, consider that of Teek's contribution, a whopping 12 tales, I am probably only accepting 6. Maybe 7.
I am not finished compiling the stories, but thought I would at least share what I do have on the list so far, in the order I'd like them to appear in the finished manuscript.
If anyone wishes to contend the order of story appearance, feel free to email me.
Heather 10-24-2002 16:21
Rosemary - no, I don't plan on printing this book myself!!!!!
The page count is not definitive - there are still another 10 stories or so to add before the page count is tallied.
And this is no ordinary book. Short story collections rarely have the heft of average length books.
Heather 10-24-2002 16:16
A soggy afternoon to all,
We've had about seven inches of rain in the last three days and a week or so before that we had received over six inches. The rain gauge ran over. This has to be one of the wettest years south Texas has had in a loooooong time.
HEATHER,
Do you plan to print this book yourself? If not, 172 pages is not nearly enough. In book pages, that is barely over 125pages. Far too small for a good sized book.
If you are having trouble with my stories, leave them out. There is an anthology being compiled here and the editor asked me about one of them. I told him it was one of three that would be coming out in a POD anthology shortly. Looks like I was wrong. Again.
HOWARD,
Good luck and wishes for all those problems. My sister has a good bit of hearing loss from having a gun go off near her ear at target practice. Unfortunitely she refuses to have it checked. She just argues with everyone that they must have said what she thought she heard.
Got to go see if the horses are swimming yet. Even the ducks aren't happy.
Bye
Rosemary 10-24-2002 15:33
Howard - please do send it on if it can be ready for the end of next week!
Heather 10-24-2002 15:07
RHODA: Right on!
HOWARD: Right on!
EVERYONE: WRITE ON!!!
:-)
Mel 10-24-2002 13:17
And HEATHER -- thanks for all your hard work on Phantasium! I've got an idea for another short in that genre -- maybe I can get it to you in time.
howard 10-24-2002 12:17
TAYLOR -- Not intending to get into a public theological debate, I agree with Rhoda, mostly -- indeed, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, sayeth the LORD" and if I read it correctly, He has delegated authority to the state to punish miscreants for their crimes. Thoughts of torture to get back at them just lowers us to their level, and does no good. This is a hard lesson for a society who only calls out to God in times of dire need, and refuses to honor Him when times are "good."
I know it's hard to put down the thoughts of "getting even" -- that's human nature. But consider the fact that scripture says that all of human nature is flawed -- no righteousness at all -- so that anything we do on our own is tainted to begin with. He has total control of the eternal, so why not trust Him with things that are temporal as well?
The problem comes when we establish and administer laws based on human reasoning. When we leave Him out of our thoughts and actions we are bound to fall short.
And RHODA -- please don't be offended -- I can't pass this up -- It's not snipper (two P's) -- that was Lorena Bobbit. :-)
howard 10-24-2002 12:15
Ooooooooh! Great theme, MARY!
Heather Hemlock Bags
10-24-2002 11:10
Here is the current 'story order' of the Phantasium Collection. Keep in mind everyone, this is not the whole list, as there are still a number of stories in mid-edit. These will all be added onto the list shortly.
PLEASE NOTE: Some authors will have more stories in the collection than others (which I have mixed in randomly) simply because there were more stories written and/or accepted into the collection by those authors.
INTRODUCTION (2 or more parts)
1. One Red Shoe by T.K. Mancia
2. Aunt Aggie by Howard Tuckey
3. Stubborn by Jerry Ericsson
4. Urban Legends by Viv Masters
5. Skeleton Key by Heather Myles
6. Moving On by T.K. Mancia
7. Stranger Than Fiction by Christi Ritchotte
8. Annie-Down-The-Street by Howard Tuckey
9. No Way Back by Litterali
10. What Comes Around... by Jerry Ericsson
11. Dimensions by T.K. Mancia
12. ---------------(Haven't decided which of Rosemary's three stories will go here!) by Rosemary Croom
13. Magnolias by Hallee Poe
14. Vapor by Mark Lenihan
15. Daniel by Tina Chambers
16. Sweet Honesty by Mary Lockwood
17. Death Is A Redhead by Christi Ritchotte
18. Legendary 13 by Heather Myles
19. The Black Hole by Jerry Ericsson
20. Down Among the Ghost Gums by T.K. Mancia
21. Late For Supper by Howard Tuckey
22. Mummy's Story by A.G. de Sousa
There will be approximately ten more stories, give or take a few.
With just THESE stories on the list so far, we have approximately 174 pages (double spaced) !!!! ZOWIE!
Enjoy the day! Seize it 'round the middle!
(Please, don't squeeze it too close to the lower end... LOL)
:oD
Heather 10-24-2002 10:18
Tonight's shortie theme:
Unexpected Inner Strength...where you have surprised even yourself with what you could manage.
Mary 10-24-2002 10:08
MEL,
You cannot take away their guns, not as long as there is a black market. And they could have just as easily poisoned people and they would have been just as dead. The weapon is not the issue, but the souls who used them for evil.
Rhoda 10-24-2002 9:03
TAYLOR,
No! No! No! Never, never think that! You do that kind of stuff to jerks such as bin Ladin and the snipper and then you become a monster also. I realize how you feel. I have thought much the same thing, but never do I want to ever see my country torture people for whatever reason.
The primary victim in torture is not the person being tortured. This person's body is destroyed, and he endures great pain. That is all. But the person doing the torture endangers his soul and his humanity. That is the main reason torture should never be done for any reason whatsoever.
I would rather be threatened and shot by 200 serial snippers than to ever have to resort to torture. And the good news is that good police work and a fair justice system takes care of people like the snipper. Our criminal-justice system is by no means perfect, but in most cases it does its job like it just did by finding the bastards in the Washington snipper case.
The United States Constitution has provisions protecting everyone from cruel and unusual punishment, and that includes torture. The Nazis got sick on torture and that also happens to any society that practices it and condones it.
Torture is never justified. And God has claimed that vengenence is his. Justice belongs to the state, and simple justice must suffice.
Rhoda 10-24-2002 9:02
Hey there, writing friends! :-)
CAROL: Thanks for the inspiration! Hmm, stone dust...in my story... might be just what it needs! :-)
TAYLOR, HOWARD: No, no, no. Just take away their guns; take away their power; lock them, each, in a little room by themselves, all alone, for the next hundred years or so, no contact with humans; and let the Supreme Power take and judge them when He will. I know, even that treatment is too good for them.
Happy writing today to everyone of you - may prolific prophets whisper in your ears and pour profuse verbiage through your blood vessels that bursts forth from your pens and keyboards. I has spokened! :-]
Mel 10-24-2002 7:57
Thank you, Jack! That will be terrific ~ :o>
Heather 10-24-2002 4:49
CHRISTI: Hi there, hope you are at least lurking around here because I have emailed you a couple of times about that thing you emailed me about, but I am afraid that they either didn't make it to you, or that your reply didn't make it to me! I have left a link here for an alternate email address in case there is a problem. Take care and I hope all is well for you.
Mary 10-24-2002 2:48
Heather: Absolutely swamped, but will try to put something together in way of an introduction to the Notebook, the Workbook and the Phantasium and get it to you in the next two days. Take care and good luck on the editing.
Jack Beslanwitch 10-24-2002 2:12
Hello, all!
I've been busy... sorry I missed all that's gone on in the last week.
The work on Phantasium is still going well, I will send out a batch of final copies for approval in the next week.
Christi - got the latest versions now! Thanks, girlie! :oD
Well, besides one last polish on my own short story for Phantasium, I've been painting miniatures and listing them on ebay under my user id of 'Orchestrina'. Mary and I also have two Hemlocks listed under 'hemlock_bags' in case anyone's interested in having a peek at them! :o)
Should anyone have another short story to add to Phantasium, the time is now! Two weeks from now I plan to be printing them out on 20lb. blank and fidgeting around with pagenumbers. I have noodled around with another introduction, but I think the first one for the project will also need to be in there.
Anyone wishing to write part of the intro to either the collection or to the Writer's Notebook group, please do so and send me the results! Jack - this could mean YOU!
LOL
Have a great uh......is it Wednesday?
See... that's what happens when you disappear into your private space for so long.
Heather Hemlock Bags
10-24-2002 0:17
Howard: If you asked me that a couple of weeks after 9-11-01 (sorry about that but its in my answer) I would have said yes I would have happily shot Bin Laden Suddam Hussein and the sniper.
But I now believe that death for these people would be too good for them.
Perhaps we could learn one thing about Nazis/Gestapo and that is how to inflict pain on people
Taylor 10-23-2002 20:20
Hi All :)
Viv - I'm glad you had fun with the reading. And thanks for the idea for the next few paragraphs! I think it will fit in perfectly and round out the end of this chapter. Writing with the sole intent of having fun for me is definately helping.
Howard - good question and one I'm not really sure I could answer until the moment was actually at hand. And as far as prayers are concerned -- here's some for your family and all those on the east coast! How the imagination does run when trying to figure out the personality of someone like this sniper.
Eddie - I'm so glad Anita is progressing - give her an extra hug from me for all the hard work she is doing, and one for yourself. {{Hug}}
Mel - tell that muse of yours that the stones are now perfect for sitting on and its time to help you build your story. She can just sit on her pretty wall of stones and sprinkle stone dust in your mind.
Now, I've got ten minutes left to add to my own story. Oh, where did the day go????
Carol 10-23-2002 18:44
Hi all,
Anita is doing ok right now. Her pace of recovery seems to have reached a levelling out phase, this was expected. From now it will be a long haul. We're up for it though!
Yang probably doesn't know where his posts are going. He probably has a program running which posts to all of the forums within certain pre0set parameters so it's no use shouting at him.
Later
Ed
Eddie French 10-23-2002 17:44
Well, I got another four hours of work done. Much of it though was moving and reformatting. I'm working from two different documents, but I've almost reached the 100 page document, though I'm waiting on some documentation that one of my friends was borrowing. I guess I'll have to nag her until she gives it back.
Laura 10-23-2002 15:49
Question --
If you were somehow able to get this sniper (or Hussein, or bin Laden) in the sights of a high powered rifle, would you be able to pull the trigger?
Might be story fodder there...
howard 10-23-2002 14:44
I for one have had talc up the yingyang! :-)
For those so inclined, prayer and good thoughts would be appreciated for our family. My mom just had emergency surgery to relieve an intestinal blockage, and is in the ICU recovering fairly well. Also, our granddaughter (10) was mis-diagnosed in the ER at a local hospital, and the idiot doctor gave her the wrong medication. She's ok now, but we've been told to keep observing her for symptoms. The "idiot" part was another doctor's assessment, not mine. I think mine would have been a much more physical reaction, (and I probably wouldn't be typing this right now) so it's probably a Good Thing I wasn't there at the time.
On top of all that, I've been told I have a 35+% hearing loss from a loud noise trauma a month ago, and will "have to get used to it." On top of that I've got some nerve damage in my arms, a re-torn rotator cuff, and they don't like the results of the breathing tests I had yesterday.
Life is certainly interesting! :-)
Oh, and my #3 daughter and s-i-l Both got laid off their jobs, and my oldest daughter is awaiting the same fate at a local industry.
I'm glad I'm not in charge! :-)
(But I'm glad I know who is!)
Also glad we don't live in the Capital District -- those folks must be terrified! That sniper s-o-b is now threatening children. On second thought - send your prayers their way -- we're not as bad off as I thought!
Every time I hear about someone like a bin Laden, Hussein, or the DC sniper I think about the "Mule" character in Asimov's Foundation trilogy (actually five books now). He was a sort of "wild card" that disrupted everyone's plans and expectations. Turned out to be basically a poor, lonely human doing what poor, lonely (extremely gifted psychic) humans do when society offers them the chance. And now I wonder if we'll ever know who this sniper is -- perhaps another "Zodiac" killer. He was never found, and they think he's dead now.
howard 10-23-2002 14:40
Hey guys, maybe Yang doesn't speak English.
Carol, that was fun reading your work. Sorry about mine, I hope Friday gives me a chance to write. This week is double time and I am not feeling all that well. I don't know if it's jet lag or what. I'm having a little trouble keeping up with the pace.
Viv 10-23-2002 9:13
JERRY: It seems YANG was also writing last night, stacking his stones in his mine. What's mine, though, is mine; what's his...is his. Good luck with the snowblower! And you can keep all that white stuff out there, thank you very much! :-)
YANG: We don't want or need any. Thanks anyway. Go advertise somewhere else.
Hi, LURKERS! :-) Happy stone-stacking today - build great towers of words! If RHODA can do it, we can do it! :-D
Mel 10-23-2002 6:01
I see Yang has paid us another visit. MEL Be careful what you wish for, see what your wish brought upon us, more and more yang.
We only got four inches total, but that's enough for my taste, had to get the snow blower out and limbered up to clear the drive, as the weatherman says it won't warm up over 32 till next week some time. I surely hope it does as I have another of my VA appointments and driving 175 miles to the Dr. on ice doesn't sound like any fun at all.
The virus war continues, tomorrow I reformat my server AGAIN, just did it last week before the virus hit, but now with every reboot, Norton tells me it has censed my machine of the virus and it is safe to use, then on the next reboot, it says so again, and again and again.
People who write computer viruses should be hung by their toes in the nude and fed Xlax daily for two weeks.
Haven't written a thing today either except what you see here. I must get back to my Halloween story before the holiday is upon us.
Jerry 10-23-2002 0:14
Sigh.
Come along, Muse. No one's home tonight.
Everyone's writing; no souls in sight.
People's got stones to stack and no lack.
Maybe tomorrow someone will be back.
sleepy muse...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Mel 10-22-2002 21:13
tick...tick...tick...
stack...stack...stack...
10-22-2002 21:05
another hour ticks by...
stones continue to stack themselves...
10-22-2002 20:03
Where'z evrbody???
A stray title came into my mind today as I was driving through Autumn to one of our rural libraries... or maybe the inspiration was a line for a story... anyway, if you're missing one, maybe this is it:
No Matter How You Stack The Stones...
...Something will come of it
(perhaps a bit of shade,
or a place to sit and rest;
perhaps a tumble-down calamity...
...whatever stones think best.)
Hmm, that last line just came to me...perhaps my muse is stacking stones somewhere...???!!!
A good evening of writing to you all!
Mel 10-22-2002 18:57
Rhoda: That was one heck of a feat... 40 pages... WOW!
Jerry: I wish it was Winter already... The temps getting pretty high lately.
I don't blame you for what you said to your mate... I probably would have said the same thing. But I'm sure now he knows what you meant by that statement.
Allein: After I got back from a holiday last year, I suffered Writer's Block... Someone on this site, I can't remember who, told me to write a little story about what you think your muse did or where he/she/it has gone.
FanFiction... I've taken the time to do a couple of little pieces for FanFiction. Just to keep the creativity flowing... It does help and plus it's fun.
Well sorry I haven't been on lately... I gave blood last week and boy I still hate needles with a vengeance.
Another bad day yesterday news wise.
Think we had our first "School Shooting" yesterday... Over eastern States.
And Suspicious people around power plants in Queensland I think. So there's something.
Been writing alot lately. But Have not been to do major sitdowns like 40 pages though. Got a new roommate Sunday before last. And we share the computer time.
Taylor 10-22-2002 2:01
Winter has arrived here in the buffalo commons. Already we have over an inch of snow, another nine are expected by day break. It struck north first, in Bismarck, the state of ND capitol they had over eighty accidents between seven and seven thirty AM. Boy am I happy I don't have to work up there, rushing from scene to scene on treacherous roads.
Still sniffling, and the toe is still sore but I see the foot doctor on Wednesday, hopefully he'll just chop off the offending part of the toenail and toe and be done with it, the toe's better half on the other foot is nearly to that point too, wonder if he'll do both in one wack??
You know I visit the dark side of the web on a regular basis, haunting sites that offer viruses in the raw for downloading, sites that have more porn pop-ups then the Hustler site (well so I've heard) and have never had a virus infection that I could trace back to them. Last week, I downloaded a Halloween screen saver from Tucows.com, one of the most trusted sites on the web for downloads, the damn thing was infected with a network virus. Infected my entire network, I've been working all damn day trying to get the viruses removed, every time I killed one it arrived from another computer, till got smart and shut all down but the machine I was working on, then clean it and shut it down, then move to the next.
At any rate, I think I have them all cleaned now, and the main machine that got it first is the one I just put a new hard drive in, it only had the OS and Office on it, guess I should have just reformatted that one, but I took the long hard route of ferreting out the damn infected files one at a time.
So as you can see, I've been busy and haven't written a word yet today.
A friend of mine who was recently ordained a minister wrote me an email expressing his wish that the U.S. get it's tail kicked for going after all these bad guys at once!!
I had to write back, and I did hold my temper back, explaining in non-four-letter-words my disapproval of his wish, after all if we get our tail's kicked doesn't that mean a lot of our boys in green die?
One should never wish for the death of his countrymen, especially those who are sworn to defend us against all enemies both foreign and domestic.
Jerry 10-22-2002 0:17
40 PAGES!! O.O I'm envious! I have writer's block soooooo bad right now...I've written some fanfiction and I can't even continue that! My muse needs to get back from vacation. It's that kind of writer's block where I know where I want to go with the story but I dunno how to get there from where I am!
Worst of all, I have artist's block on top of it, so I can't even draw right now! URG!! Luckily my internet friends keep me entertained. :D
Ciao!
Allein
Allein Peachick's Gallery
10-21-2002 23:59
Carol: Yay! Heading over to the mailbox now. Mumbling along the way, "maybe this will get me inspired..."
Viv 10-21-2002 22:00
Hi All :)
I think some of Rhoda's enthusiasm rubbed off on me. Got a idea today for the next action in my scene and I love it. Actually, I did some research the other day that sent me on another path and I think it will work into my story very nicely. So, Viv - a few more pages are resting in your mailbox. I hope you enjoy them as much as all the rest. Maybe cleaning the house cleaned some of the cobwebs from my mind as well. :)
Carol 10-21-2002 18:25
Got your message Carol. I'm glad he's feeling better. 40 pages! WOW! I got up to ten once, or was it fifteen? With school, I have to write whenever I don't have to pay attention, so that can be from anytime from 1 minute or 44 minutes, so I usually don't get to write in bulk. Ususally it's a couple of sentences to a couple of paragraphs, though occasionally I'll get a couple of pages in before school ends. Then, if I'm lucky, i get to write after school. SOmetimes it's on the bus or waiting for the bus or sometime like that. I like to write in my room when I have no homework. Oh, no! homework! I forgot about it all weekend! I hate to leave this short post for y'all, but I have important homework to do so:
Till Niagara Falls!
Elaine 10-21-2002 12:17
Rhoda:
two and a half hours???????????????? I think I would have hair like Don King after that amount of time. YOu must still go there from time to time. Thank goodness it stopped after that.
Debra 10-21-2002 7:34
Unlimited memory! WOW, that would be super, hope they come up with it soon.
Missed last night, I was so played out I went to be very early, seemed to help the cold, but when awoke this morning, my big toe was sore, tonight it's swelled a bunch, and bright red, guess I have an ingrown toe nail, have to see the doc soon.
Jerry 10-21-2002 0:05
Well, everyone I'm back and I'm working on the novel of mine again...long haul....
Laura 10-20-2002 23:02
MEL,
It wasn't quite at one sitting. I started out at 8:30 am and finished up at 3:15 am the next morning. During the day I took a trip to Wal-mart and another one to the bank. I also fixed supper. I was so in tune with the story I could go transfer a load of clothes or take a shower and then come right back to the computer and continue exactly from where I left off. This is a very rare occurance. I hope it happens again, but I cannot go on like this every day. Saturday I was like a zombie because I was emotionally drained and sleep deprived. I could not write at all. I do not write on Sundays because that is my way of honoring the Sabbath. Tomorrow I have a doctor's appointment and a dentist appointment for two of my kids, so I don't think I will be repeating my performance anytime soon. There just has to be a balance. I would trade one day of 40 pages to a regimen of 5 pages every single day, or 10 pages five times a week, etc. Consistency is really the key.
Rhoda 10-20-2002 21:44
RANDALL
Afternoon all...
I remember Red Balloon. A foxy German chick named Nena sang it. Great anti-war song from West Germany of the 1980's... Catchy beat ... ultra hip ... in line with the times.
"You and I in a little toy shop
Buy a bag of balloons with the money we've got
Set them free at the break of dawn
Til one by one, they were gone
Back at base bugs in the software
Flash the message, something's out there
Floating in the summer sky
99 red balloons go by
99 red balloons
Floating in the summer sky
Panic bells it's red alert
There's something here from somewhere else
The war machine springs to life
Opens up one eager eye
Focusing it on the sky
Where 99 red balloons go by
99 Decision street
99 ministers meet
To worry, worry, super scurry
Call the troops out in a hurry
This is what we've waited for
This is it boys, this is war
The president is on the line
As 99 red balloons go by
99 knights of the air
Ride super high tech jet fighters
Everyone's a super hero
Everyone's a Captain Kirk
With orders to identify
To clarify, and classify
Scramble in the summer sky
99 red balloons go by
99 dreams I have had
In every one a red balloon
It's all over and I'm standing pretty
In this dust that was a city
If I could find a souvenir
Just to prove the world was here
And here is a red balloon
I think of you, and let it go"
Goodnight
Randall
Randall 10-20-2002 18:07
Hi, All! Wishing each of you a peace-filled Sunday... and writing quotas like Rhoda's!!! :-)
RHODA: 40 pages??? In one sitting???? Oh, how I envy you your opportunity to have done that!!! :-) Keep up the great work, even if the pace slows.
SUNNY: You are aptly named. Thanks for sharing your inspiring words. :-)
JERRY: Chicken soup coming your way... feed a cold... maybe DEBRA can give you some pointers, heh heh!! Feel better soon! :-)
HOWARD: Condolences on your rejected poem...and then you go right into more great jokes, what a guy! :-)
Time to shop for kids' winter coats - maybe I can sneak in a few moments of writing after that... Now, where did I leave my muse?...
Mel 10-20-2002 13:20
I remember The Red Balloon! It was (still is) excellent by any standards! Thanks for reminding me of it.
howard 10-19-2002 22:57
hi all! i put out a weekly newsletter/essay, and you've inspired me to share this week's. hope you like it.
The Red Balloon…
I think many of you would agree that the world seems scarier lately. A lot scarier. But we always tend to think that "now" is worse than "then". It's human nature to scale down the pain of the past, in comparison, so we can manage the memories.
But those times were scary, too. I have three books on my shelf that serve as reminders from the late 1950's and early 1960's of what it was like to live under the constant threat of nuclear annihilation by the Soviet Union: On the Beach, Alas Babylon, and Fail-Safe. For those of you too young to remember, it was a time of air raid sirens, bomb shelters, and school safety drills where we pretended we could be saved from attack by hiding under our desks.
But I also have another book on that same shelf: The Red Balloon. This book contains the story from the short movie of the same name, which you may recall from repeated elementary school showings. It's the magical tale of an amazingly vibrant red balloon that befriends a boy on the back streets of Paris. The balloon lifts him out of his loneliness, figuratively and literally, and the story becomes an allegory about friendship and goodness. The movie, directed by Albert Lamorisse, was released in 1956 and won the Academy Award that year for best original screenplay, as well as the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and the American Film Festival's Best Film of the Decade.
What I remember most about watching "The Red Balloon" was being transported by the music, and the fantasy of flight and ultimate freedom. Yes, it was a movie about childhood, but it tapped into the larger desire for rescue from the bullies of life, and the hope that one day we all can be loved and treasured just for being ourselves.
When life gets scarier it's usually because we feel so incredibly powerless. It seems that there's little we can do on our own and we long for rescue. Yet it's important to do the little we can, even if that only consists of finding ways to make ourselves feel a bit better. "The Red Balloon" does it for me. It reminds me of the flip side of the fear and helplessness, and the power that comes from grabbing hold and allowing yourself to rise up and see the world from a higher perspective. You're the only one that can do that for yourself, so why not go there?
Think for a minute: What can you do to pull yourself out of a fruitless downward spiral? The first order of business is to recognize that you're in one. Too much TV news can be the cause of repetitive negative thinking, for example. If you watch TV, you should balance out the negative with something uplifting or humorous. Or turn it off and put in a fun video/DVD.
Music is a good choice, if you know what selections are uplifting for you. And there is a difference between uplifting/inspiring and relaxing/mellowing. Both categories are positive, but here you're looking for something to grab you and pull you out of your slide. That might range from the spiritual classic, "I Believe", to the Beatles "Good Day, Sunshine" or Disney's "Zippidee Do Dah"; The Beach Boys' "Friends" or "Wake the World"; "You Gotta Have Heart" from Damn Yankees, "Cockeyed Optimist" from South Pacific, "You'll Never Walk Alone" from Carousel, "The Rainbow Connection" from the Muppets Movie; James Taylor's "Shower the People", James Brown's "I Feel Good".
And books, of course. Everyone has a different favorite inspirational book - know what yours are so you can reach for one the minute you sense that your thoughts are bringing you down. Know what books and music are uplifting to your children, also. They should be reminded that it can be within their power to change their own moods.
I'm certainly not advocating a denial of today's realities. But there are times when we can be our own worst enemies, and it's important to remember that. When we permit our days to be overshadowed long-term by the bad and the ugly; when we don't pick ourselves up and see what "can" be done -- what positive actions we are capable of taking; when we allow ourselves to be sucked into a maelstrom of our own creation, we are abdicating responsibility for ourselves and in fact, contributing to the very climate that's pushing us downward.
Do what you can to look up, and reach up. Allow yourself to be lifted by the positive things in life and in prayer. Someone, somewhere will ultimately be helped by your efforts. Let that first someone be you.
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THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK:
"If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself but to your own estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment."
-- Marcus Aurelius
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Wishing you all good things!
Sunny
www.SunCoach.com
Sunny 10-19-2002 17:00
Oooops! Have to copy/paste the whole line to get to it.
howard 10-19-2002 16:09
Age gauge -- check it out!
http://www.frontiernet.net/~cdm/agetv.html
howard 10-19-2002 16:08
ALLEIN,
Good to see you again.
What a week! Yesterday I wrote 40 pages of my novel, a record, and today I am mentally burnt. I do have this problem: I have almost 250 pages and I am not even half-way through the story. That means this first draft is going to be long. That is always the pattern through all three of my books. I will have to go back and cut. But at least it is getting written.
It is really strange writing like this. It is like being in a trance or existing in some different reality. It is exhilerating. These times do not happen nearly as much as they should, because I usually do not have the time to sit down and write like that. It is so different writing the middle of a book because at this point, it seems to write itself. I sit down at the computer and know exactly what to type, so much so it is scary. This is opposed to the first one hundred or so pages where it is always fits and stops.
I am afraid to go back and look at anything I wrote yesterday in the fear that I won't love it in the morning like I did late at night when I was in the midst of my frenzy.
LITTER,
I've always known you were quite a rocker. It seems your daughter and her friends keeps you on your toes.
I too have a horrible "child lost in the mall" story. Russell was always getting lost in stores when he was three and four. He was four years old when he wondered off in the big mall in Alburquerque, New Mexico the day after Thanksgiving. We searched for him two and a half hours. I was wandering through the stores praying out loud--I must have sounded like a lunatic--but I did not care. I really thought that I would end up seeing Russell's photo on a milk carton soon.
We alerted security and they eventually found him. Nothing horrible happened to him, but it scared him half to death, and I never had that problem losing him in a store after that experience. He learned the hard way, but it was tough on all the rest of us.
Rhoda 10-19-2002 15:05
Carol: I just got what you were saying! Flight or fight response. Mad enough to shake. What else happens physically when a person is mad. Field of vision narrows because eyes become slits. Heart pounds, temperature rises, cheeks get warm…..gotcha! Thanks. Sorry for earlier response.
Uh, I’m addicted to your story and waiting for the latest edits. I want to see if the village will burn or be there for when she returns as a wise woman. I also want to see if that male figure returns to lead her to his village. Also climate…cold or warm?
If this were a book I’d be reading it tonight and it would probably slip out of my hands and land on the floor as I fell asleep. You know it’s a page turner when someone gets that response just editing and giving reaction. Hope your house is soon clean and in order so your muse will strike.
Viv yet again 10-19-2002 12:41
Hey Allein: Just visited your site and loved it. Your artwork is amazing. Anyone who hasn't checked it out...should. We sure have a lot of talent in this Notebook. It's a little amazing to think what all this creativity could produce. I'm not into Anime, but you're actually getting me to enjoy it. Hana too seems to like it more and more. I showed her your site.
Viv 10-19-2002 10:44
Debra: You've got all the time in the world. Actually, you've got at least three to four weeks or more. I've got a rough week ahead. I have to teach nights once a month at a juku for kids from fifth to eighth grade. Each age group has a different class. Also need to finish off my daughter's semester, then a short family vacation and I won't be taking my computer there. It's going to feel like I broke my arm, but I will try to do without my computer for more than a day.)
Thanks for looking at it. I have a feeling you'll be able to give me the scoop on how exactly to describe that scene.
Carol: Yah, I hate it when I get the shakes. I've only done it once, with that horrid neighbor. These are the kind of kill joys who like to tear up a garden you create for fun. They also like to hurt things smaller than they are. Didn't know that people like that actually existed before they moved in next door. A pile of salt will be placed out when they finally leave this year. I will probably have to use at least three boxes to make sure their spirits are completely gone from the area. I wonder how many other people will be pouring salt out on the doorstep for them. With my husband I don't get the shakes, I yell LONG before it reaches that point.
Viv 10-19-2002 10:40
Thanks Litter:
When I finally got her back, my first instinct was to get DEEP GULPS, of alcohol that is!
I didn't but I really wanted to. I was with mother, other twin daugther and eleven year old son. So we went for a strong coffee. I had a large. I usually get a medium. Sounds tame, but it was the only outlet at the time. Of course then the eating started. So in retrospect, I think the stiff drink might have been a good idea.
I have the eating under control now. I'm back to normal. After all I did get her back. I can't imagine those poor souls in this world who don't. I can't go there in my mind.
It's always nice to see you Litter.
Debra 10-19-2002 10:03
Oops! Incomplete line in my posting. Should have been --
Otherwise, I‘m slowly wrestling my marauding alligators.
Litter Again 10-19-2002 7:12
Grrrrreetings and felicitations!
I speak to you now as one who has been officially branded as ‘cool’ and nicknamed ‘Pappa M’ by two up-and-coming rock bands that stayed with us for a couple of days midweek. (My 17-year-old daughter promoted 4 gigs in Central Scotland this past week, and likes keeping costs to a minimum…)
So, there were seven rockers, my daughter, and my wife and I, in a three bedroom house. (Sheik!) Expecting our house to be trashed, followed by the subsequent ceremonial hanging of my daughter by her nostrils, it came as a somewhat of an epiphany when they all behaved impeccably and kept me up talking rock and philosophy ‘til 4.30 am.
I’ve now learned not to judge a bands general behaviour by their on-stage behaviour. Not only did these two bands have talent in abundance, they were all genuinely ‘nice-guys’. I had a great time!
Now, it seems, I’m regarded as a father figure, patron, and guru. (I know a little about the rock music scene, from the time that these guys were all eyes in their daddies’ twinkles.) Got to go get some t-shirts printed up. :o)
Otherwise, ‘m slowly wrestling my marauding
HOWARD – thanks for all the funnies. Your jokes are, well, almost like real jokes ;o)
ALLEIN – long time no see. Nice to see you back.
DEBRA – Deep Breaths
JACK – See above. Add me to the list of patrons. Can’t afford much but you provide an excellent forum for us all – well worth making the effort for. (Doncha just hate sloppy grammar?)
GERRY – Been reading recently of an entirely different kind of RAM that would make Ram memory almost unlimited and negate the need for add-on modules. The ‘construction’ philosophy is entirely different to conventional Ram construction. I cannot remember how this was to be achieved and I can’t find the original reference in the several thousand mags I have hoarded. Anyone else heard about this?
NEWBIES – Welcome! This is a good place to be.
Alligator wresting time again.
All good things,
Litter 10-19-2002 7:09
Just popping in - got a book and CD from Japan. :) I'm ordering two other anime CDs but I think they ship from inside the US - I can't wait, anime has such great music. :)
Viv - I'll send my address tonight, Hotmail was down yesterday when I checked. :)
Allein Peachick's Gallery
10-19-2002 1:25
Ah yes, the cold and flu season is upon us. To keep up with the definition, I caught a cold and the wife went to the clinic today to get her flu shot. Haven't had a cold in some time, and this one is kicking my rear. Got in some parts to put together another computer and haven't had the energy to even get started with them, well I did pull 256 meg of ram out of my machine and replace it with a single 512 megger that I got for a song from some poor soul who's machine wouldn't accept high density ram. Just had to upgrade the machine despite the running nose watery eyes and ache all over want to sleep all week feeling.
Jack take your time, we've waited this long, another month or two wouldn't kill us, I know if I had to write HTML to do the job it would take me forever, first I'd read all those dang books I bought on the topic, then begin experimenting and when I was totally lost, I'd probably find a script somewhere that would do a better job then anything I write myself anyhow.
I used to be fairly good at writing basic programs, in fact back in the days when the XT was fighting with Apple and Commodore for markets, I wrote several programs for businesses who wanted to use their Commodore 128's for billing and bookkeeping. The software worked great, but to transfer that knowledge to Visual Basic would be quite a leap. I went so far as to buy (Yes I PAID for) Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 and began a "Learn Visual Basic in 24 Hours" book, went most of the way through it, then picked up a book by Card and forgot all I knew about it while I was immersed in Endor's Game. Never have gotten back to programming. It seems that learning isn't as easy as it used to be, probably the result of the large quantities of medications that I take every day to keep mobile.
Well I'm off to see if eight or twelve hours of sleep will ease the misery of this cold.
Jerry 10-19-2002 0:19
Hi All :)
Elaine - I did indeed feed hubby with some good old soup and he is feeling much better. :)
Viv - quarrels? Oh, boy! I think we probably all face the dilemma of writing a marital fight and worry over people seeing something of our own life there -- the same for those sex scenes. ;) Just write it best you can. I'll be more than happy to read it and if I see anything that can add to the scene, I'll let you know. Don't forget those "shakes" that run through your entire body when the anger gets so strong you can't bear it. Ring any bells? hehehehe
Howard -- thanks for the laugh! I love it!
Hubby had his own experience recently in losing his son in the store. Three clerks came a running when he yelled out his loss. One asked, "How tall is he?" Hubby, "taller than me." Two of the clerks left right away, the third just had to see this one for herself. Sure enough, the thirty year old son turned the corner and father and son were reunited. Did I ever mention my hubby is --- hmmm, I haven't found quite the right word for him yet!
My writing has stalled this past week. First I had multiple calls to make regarding a deer committing suicide with our truck. Then I got a cleaning bug and I'm still cleaning. Snow covered the ground today.
Non-fiction, fiction. You need non-fiction to make fiction believable, but can't use fiction to color non-fiction. Does that make any sense?
Carol 10-18-2002 23:02
Viv:
Got your email. Can I have a few days? I have lots of distractions here.
Debra 10-18-2002 21:51
Randall
Evening all ...
Reading past comments on WN I came across a discussion relating to the mixing of fact and fiction. The gist was not use fiction in non-fiction as this makes it fiction. The word unethical was used as well. I agree. Labels and boundaries count big time in our society and future readers might be puzzled, even disoriented to read how Paul Revere made his famous ride astride a Harley with a thong clad cutie behind him. Fun, but not accurate. (How about that mental image? Wes she really holding a lantern? Hmmmm?)
On the opposite end of the scale ... If you remember I was taken to task several months ago when I admitted I was using historical fact within a s/f novel. (Them Mark suggested that only editors could define book from novel and my ego slipped several notches.) I managed to weather the storm only after admitting that author Bram Stoker of Dracula fame paid me a visit in the night. A fine English writer who blended historical fact within a fictional framework. Bram called me a wimp that night and asked rather pointedly just how was I so sure his novel was fiction? Of course "Dracula" might NOT be a work of fiction at all ... and in that respect garlic sales should shoot through the roof and silver mines gain in investment popularity.
Howard wades in with some fine comments on creative non-fiction and reminds us all that guidelines are a part of writing. Speaking of Howard and the northeast ... Kenneth Roberts inserted fiction into historical fact and gave us a series of fine novels ... NORTHWEST PASSAGE comes to mind. Historical fiction ...
Sunny ... writers doubt? For your approval I submit Papa ... who dwelt with writers doubt each day of his life ... except when he was fishing for Marlin or smoking a cigar or chatting with Fidel.
"Writing, at its best, is a lonely life. Organizations for writers palliate the writer's loneliness, but I doubt if they improve his writing. He grows in public stature as he sheds his loneliness and often his work deteriorates. For he does his work alone and if he is a good enough writer he must face eternity, or the lack of it, each day."
Ernest Hemingway
Oh Howard? Were the 2 hunters Texas Aggies?
:-)
Outta here
Randall
Randall 10-18-2002 21:45
I remember hearing about two guys who got lost while deer hunting. They wandered around in circles for hours, before one of them remembered that he had been taught that the best thing to do in such a case was to shoot three times in the air, and wait for help to arrive. So he did. And they waited. After a while his friend tried the same thing -- shot three times in the air, and they waited. Still nothing. This went on for a couple of hours, and it started to get dark, and they were getting colder and colder. Finally one said to the other "Let's try it once more, then start walking again."
"Can't," said the second hunter.
"Why not?" asked the first.
"I'm out of arrows..."
howard 10-18-2002 12:23
I remember once when I got lost in a store. It was kind of cool. I was seven and my parents and I were in this huge, (huge to a 7-year kid) craft store. I was looking at an exhibit and Mom and Dad moved on. I wandered around trying to find them when I didn't see them. When I heard my name being called to the front of the store. I rushed around trying to find it. I just kind of lost myself again. Eventually me parents found me and we went home. I have to go a friend needs this computer.
Till Niagara Falls!
Elaine 10-18-2002 12:10
Bummed again!
Just got a letter from Capper's -- "Thanks for submitting your poem. Unfortunately....."
Back to the grind.
:-)
howard 10-18-2002 11:55
Mell:
I'm just now allowing myself to picture my daughter walking through this giant store alone and realizing she blew it. As a parent I take full blame. As a child she must have been remembering getting out of the little car attached to the grocery cart and running away from her pleading mother to come back. She finally found a woman she thought looked friendly with two daughters of her own in tow and told her "my name is Jillian. I'm lost. I want to go back to my mother" Of course this women knew which person was "her mother" already! It's starting to get funnier than it was. I am finally out of the eating phase. I have never expierence anything so powerful than the desire to stuff my mouth. I gained three pounds. It might sound like nothing, but that was in only 48 hours.
Viv:
I'd love to. Send it on over. Just remember I'm not a published author except self published. I don't know anything really. I would like to help though.
Debra 10-18-2002 8:46
*Mel*
Good morning, all!
DEBRA: Thanks, but I've made up for the hero label many times - just ask me driving directions to anywhere and I'll get everyone lost real fast!! 8-] At 14, I really wasn't that scared (I wasn't alone), although my younger cousins were scared. I can only imagine that your little girl must have felt very alone and frightened while lost in the supermarket - lost in the store would have seemed like a pretty big forest to me. (Take note, VIV!!!) So glad it all turned out well. Now stop eating! ;-]
This morning at 6:25 as I left the house to go catch my bus to work, I inhaled crisp Autumn air and glanced at the sky -star-filled heavens!! Little pictures on a black cloth...Orion, my favorite, standing tall and proud, watching over my side of the Earth as he is wont to do. I think my muse blinked sleepily and just gazed in awe - perhaps she'll be brilliant herself a little later in the day (one can hope!!!).
Happy writing, everyone! Or make it dastardly, if you must!!! Just write!!! :-)
Mel 10-18-2002 7:43
Good luck on the test Jack! I like how you make it possible for folks to experience the pleasures in life. This site is an extension of the way you find a hobby and bring it to life for more people than just yourself. I'm sure you will be a great dive instructor.
Howard, the darned duct tape doesn't work for warts. I know, we've tried that. My older daughter used to wear duct tape on her fingers for days on end! It never accomplished anything, then she went to Colorado, and zip...warts went away. I guess she either outgrew them or the dry climate worked against them. Perhaps a combination of the two factors. I sure love duct tape however. I pretty much pack a roll with me where-ever I go because it always comes in handy.
Debra: I'm trying to write a story about a child getting lost in a store. Could you read it and add your thoughts. I also am trying to "start a fight" on paper. No, not really, what I want is a woman with small children having a stressful day then a fight with a husband. It's not seeming very real when I write it. I'm having trouble expressing the words and emotions.
Carol: HEEEEEEEeeeellllp! Writing a quarrel between married people scene is harder than writing a sex scene. (Uh, maybe....I've never done the latter either. ) I think I'd be blushing too hard! Also my life isn't all that private. Someone might come up behind me or worse yet, find it on my computer. Terrible! Talk about uptight! Good grief, the kids are grown up and quite frankly, I'm pretty sure my older daughter could write the sex scene for me. I'm going to have to try doing it someday . Anyway, this requires a quarrel between husband and wife, and I'm not getting it right. What exactly is happening that isn't working?
Viv 10-18-2002 2:50
Hello all: Life has been extremely busy, so it will be a little while until I can get things rolling on the Workbook, but will be intent on making it happen as soon as I can get two nanoseconds to rub together. Partly, it is trying to struggle through diving physics and the equations related to the testing for certification that have had me bottled up with a book and a calculator when I am not trying to finish up a contract.
Howard: Re the comment about fundamentalists. I perhaps should attach the extremist qualification to the generic term. In referring to fundamantalists in the vein I meant I was thinking more about those who have interpeted things down to a point where they are the minority and are willing to use violence as a means to expanding their opinion onto the public agenda. An example of this in the "Christian" realm would be individuals who justify in their head that it is appropriate to kill doctors that do abortions. Other examples spring to mind, but at least in terms of Islam, many scholars refute the notion of suicide bombers as being valid according to the Koran. At any rate, this is the vein in which I am referring and you are right to call me on the language. Fundamentalist carries a lot of baggage with it and I may have sprung to glibly to some of the negative connotations. Your comments about what you refer to as the core beliefs of a Christian are right on target. Love, compassion, forgiveness and inclusiveness are my own list. Still, though I subscribe to a Christian path I still am inclined to subscribe to the five blind men who had never touched or seen an elephant school of theology. Whatever the true answer is, we are all struggling to encompass something that is far greater and far more a mystery than can be enveloped in one way. Add to this an article that I hold on faith in numbers, i.e., that there are sufficient planets out there that there are other intelligent beings and I wonder what their understanding and approach to the divine is. We can only speculate. At any rate, these meandering thoughts are my own and not meant to impinge too harshly on anyone else. Take care.
Jack Beslanwitch 10-18-2002 0:09
Mel:
That must have been so scary. I read between the lines and feel that you might think staying put wasn't the right choice this one time.
It was.
It might have seemed like close to everything like that episode of Golden Girls where they thought they were lost on an island but really just inches from the party, but you weren't. It would have been so easy to do anything different than your rescuers.
You are a true hero.
Debra 10-17-2002 21:31
*Mel*
DEBRA: I've been on the other side. When I was 14, my mother's relatives had a huge family reunion at Highland Forest in central NY State.
About 6 p.m., some folks were leaving, others were still yakking... so four younger cousins and I decided to kill time by hiking a nearby trail (we told our moms first, of course). We went our merry way.
The path was well-marked on the trees, there was lots of sunlight before sunset, and as a happy little group, we walked and walked. The path seemed to be a humungous circle, so I figured it would bring us about back to our starting point.
Problem was, it was getting dark and we weren't back yet.
One cousin (10) wore shoes that were now hurting her feet. The youngest (7?) was afraid of meeting up with a bear. Her sister (10) was pretty shy about mentioning anything that might be uncomfortable. Personally, I really didn't want to backtrack through a particular stand of trees that had been rather ghostly-looking in the daylight, and now in the dusky gray of evening...(shudder!!!)
The only boy (9?) among us was leading the pack. He seemed right at home in the woods, cavorting down the path and sometimes leaving the path. I had to yell to tell him to hold up; I was afraid he'd stray too far from the path.
And then the unimaginable happened. With the path barely visible in the twilight and its end nowhere in sight, the tree markers came to an abrupt end.
I was a sensible, down-to-earth --and naiive-- young teen. I knew we might get lost if we tried to keep going, so I rounded everyone into a little group and we sat down right there, near the last clear trail marker. I knew that when the sun arose in the morning we would be able to retrace our steps back to the beginning of the path. And I figured, as Dad had always told me to stay put rather than get lost somewhere, he knew that I would do that--our parents would all go home, get a good night's rest and come back for us in the morning, by which time we'd be back from our little excursion into the woods as well. No worries (except being too modest to pee in the woods, what with a male cousin present and all).
So we sat and talked and sang songs. After a long while, we thought we heard someone shouting. Don't know how much time passed--we heard an occasional shout. We finally got the idea that maybe SOMEONE was actually looking for us, and we started shouting back. The voices got nearer - we heard our names called...
At last, a very nice man and his equally nice wife broke through to us with flashlights. They led us an incredibly short distance through the woods, then briefly down a maintenance path to the nearby road (and their pickup truck), drove a few seconds and had us back to our starting point so fast, we were utterly astonished! If we had only known we were so close...!!!
And instead of our parents going home to get a good night's rest, what do you think our silly parents did? They must have been ranting and raving and screaming and crying their share, because the WHOLE TOWN OF FABIUS WAS THERE to celebrate our return! Even State Trooper bloodhounds had been sent for; the press was there and interviewed us (AFTER I used the bathroom!) and all in all, it was a memorable night.
As you might guess, that was the last humungous family reunion we ever had. :- The newspapers called me a "hero," but all I did was keep my cousins together - I really planned on walking us back in the morning. :-)
Mel 10-17-2002 14:30
Wow!
Thanks for all your responses. I am feeling a little better.
I woke up this morning and didn't think I could eat the legs right off the table.
I feel like leaving the house too.
The real fear came when I was yelling for my daughter and told the people asking to help that she looked just like this one I still had, clothes and all. So any pedophile in the store had a description of their next victim, given to them by me, her mother.
Maybe we should all write a story about that topic.
Howard yours was great!
Viv:
Thanks. That's the exact information I just gave my friend who told me that she can't stop eating. She has two boys and one is eighteen months and the other is four. I told her it's stress and to just eat. Well that was a while ago. I didn't ever experience stress eating, so I thought, until this happened. In fact I was eating for two days until I put it together. The other two days I just plain couldn't stop even though I finally put a face on it.
Jerry:
I wrote a greetings card like your post.
It goes,
I heard you have been feeling sick lately.
Here's some advice.
inside
STOP IT!
Here's another one
Well it's Spring again. I heard you had a green thumb.
Inside
Gangrene!
Debra 10-17-2002 13:55
VIV -- I just heard another use for duct tape -- removing warts! It seems that if you wrap a piece of duct tape tightly over a wart, and leave it for several days, the wart will come off with the tape, and will not return.
DEBRA -- I know that feeling! When our oldest daughter Karin was 2, she wandered away from us at the county fair, and we went frantic trying to find her. I finally found her at the far end of the midway, watching the "Pop the balloon" game.
A few years ago we were at one of oour local Malls, and I was heading from one end to the other to find my wife. I remembered seeing a little black girl about 3 or 4 walking alone, but didn't think much about it, until I got to the end of the mall and heard an older black woman screaming "Where's Kiesha!" I told her to wait right there, and did an about face and ran back to where I had seen her, and found her with a white woman who was trying to talk to her. I walked up and said "Kiesha?" She came right to me, and started to cry. I told her that her gramma was looking for her, and I would take her to where she was. The woman was suspicious, so I told her to follow along to make sure I wasn't just taking the little girl. I asked her if she wanted to ride on my shoulders (I'm 6'2") so she could look for her gramma, and she laughed at that and said "Yeah!" So, off we went, and we got to the other end of the mall in time to see a bunch of security guys starting to search, and her gramma standing there with the rest of her family, crying and praying. I told Keisha to call to her gramma and she did, and everything went nutz! Kiesha yelled "He found me and brought me back!" Her gramma started hugging her, the security guys wanted to arrest me, and it was quite a time for a few minutes, until her gramma realized what was going on with me. I think she bent her umbrella over one of the security guys and told them to leave me alone! Then she came up and gave me the biggest hug and kiss I ever got, and prayed for God's blessing on me and my family before she let go. My wife came out of the hobby store about that time and couldn't imagine what was going on, until gramma hugged her too. It was quite an experience!
howard 10-17-2002 13:25
VIV: I don't know. I never quite understood how to do an umlaut on the computer. It's a combination of numbers (I think) as for German. I took it because my great grand parents on my dad's side came from Germany to Amerika and my grandmother is pure German, while my dad is half and I'm a little over a quarter. It made me feel just a little bit closer to my great-grandparents, (who I never met) who died before I was born. As for grammer, (hah, what's that?) I'm struggling with it, but I think I should have it before next year. I'm hoping to take German in college too. Then if I ever get to Germany, they couldn't say I couldn't speak it. (maybe not with an accent, but...) Well not much is going on here, writing whise. I'm finishing off a couple of poems and still writing my fantasy/science fiction one. Other than writing, work, and school, there's not much for me to talk about, so bis dann!
Till Niagara Falls!
Elaine 10-17-2002 12:25
Howard - by the time I was in the Army,they'd changed to the auto-injecters, a spring loaded syringe, you simply pulled the protective cap off, slammed the injector against you leg and the injector did the rest, a spring loaded needle plunged into your leg then a spring loaded plunger injected the drug. Thankfully we never had to practice.
The link below will take you to a site where these things are discussed. I guess having served eight years in the Army I still feel the soldier deep within my spirit. I think I miss the military almost as much as law enforcement. Had it not been for the kids entering school, I would surely have stayed in for at least twenty but after looking at the school system in D.C. I felt it in the best interest of my kids to have the opportunity to attend school in the Dakota's where the student to teacher ratio is much better, where there are no drugs on the playgrounds, and where the only guns in school are those hanging in the back window of the pickups in the parking lot. (Incidentally the gun thing has changed here too, you can no longer have a firearm within five hundred yards of a school, except in your own home.)
Jerry Soldiers for the Truth
10-17-2002 10:15
Debra: Don't worry, it's going to stop of its own accord. You eat because you had a real fright. That takes energy and your body "ate" a lot of calories in that fright. Also it's the beginning of winter and your body has to get a little weight to keep you healthy though all the colds and flu. So relax and you'll find that urge to eat will stop when you've had enough. The more you worry about eating the worse it gets! I think it's hardest when you have young children...maybe it's because you see so many near miss accidents and tragedies. What a story that loosing a child in a store will be when you write it for us!
Maybe we all should write about that. I know I've lost both girls, and it's really something I remember vividly.
Allain: Going to your site to give you that address next. You know you are amazing with your languages. You really know a lot. Glad...no super glad... you are back with us and writing again. Encourage me a bit. I'm battling my muse and have been all month. DUCT TAPE NEEDED.
Elaine: Good for you studying German. Third year too! I wish I had your grammar knowledge. Hey, where's the umlaut key on the computer. I can't find how to make one on my computer.
Howard: Scary experience giving yourself a shot like that. I've always wondered if I could. I have asthma and carry an epi-pen, but have been lucky enough to avoid ever having to use it. Yikes, talk about reality training. Personally, in some situations, maybe I'd rather die.
Everyone: Could this sniper in the DC area be a terrorist? No one says anything of the sort, but it sure seems strange. A sniper in America? It doesn't seem like an American idea. Maybe we need to bring back bad Westerns. The hero never shot anyone from a distance,only a coward behaved in that manner. No one wanted to be a coward.
Viv 10-17-2002 9:54
JERRY -- I hadn't heard of a shortage of atropine, but it wouldn't surprise me. When I was in the army we used to hear horror stories about guys getting hit with nerve gas and reaching for the atropine syrette only to find it missing. I forget what they used to say they got traded for, but we had to occasionally demonstrate that we had adequate supplies.
The syrette was an interesting/painful thing. It was a small one-time use syringe, kind of like a little toothpaste tube with a needle on the end. We had actual training with it, using syrettes filled with a saline solution. To use it, we took it out of its protective packaging, pulled the cap off the needle (a BIG needle!), pushed/twisted/pulled out a little wire that ran down the center of the needle (to break the seal), and squeezed the tube until we saw a drop of solution at the tip of the needle. Then in one quick motion we had to plunge the needle into the top of our leg, about halfway between our knee and hip (into the thigh muscle) and squeeze the stuff into our leg, then withdraw the needle, bend it off, and throw it away. I think there was a tag we had to keep so the medics would know how many injections we'd had.
We did this one day in the theatre in CBR training. We saw the movie of guys dying from gas, and saw what it would do to a soldier in combat. Then we lined up and one at a time we had to actually use the practice syrettes in front of the medics and training officers. They only let one of us at a time into the room so we wouldn't watch the guy ahead of us and freak out. Some passed out as soon as they came out the door. It wasn't too bad afterwards, but the anticipation was pretty hard on those waiting their turn, especially with the clowns outside who had already gone through it. Some of them would scream after they went out the back door, just to scare the rest of us. They also had stills from the movie, blown up so we could see the effects of the gas, just to remind us why we were doing this. Like I said, it wasn't too painful at the time, but it did hurt afterward for a while.
howard 10-17-2002 8:25
Debra STOP IT!
Is that better? I know the feeling, sometimes food is a powerful friend, other times a horrible enemy. Kind of reminds me of Americo's round robin, all about food.
Randall my daughter used to live in Fargo, our son once made a road trip there, it was on that trip that they discovered he has a rare form of epilepsy, he had a spell, and though the fog of brain spasms, he found the police station, where he passed out on a bench. When the desk officer woke him, he ran, and was subsequently caught and placed in a mental ward, where the diagnosis was made. That was a frightening week.
Don't think all of the Dakota's are like Fargo, Fargo is on the flat half of the state, we live in hill country, God how I love those hills.
Howard, the cousin's was a fast car, the speedometer would bury out at 120, then go on past the turn signal indicator, past the temp gage, then stop. After that we judged speed by the whip radio antenna that would flatten out beside the passenger window.
Often times I wonder how we survived such tests of speed and endurance.
Jack, I'm looking forward to the change of sites, then maybe we can get some round robins going again, I found them great fun, and a wonderful challenge to keep writing.
Oh, the reason that we had to work on his car, the 59 Chevy was that he kept tearing out the torque converter on the auto tranny, by spinning his tires. A side note - we put on duel well pipes straight off the headers, man that thing would roar down the highway, yet if you took it easy in town the cops didn't bother you about loud pipes.
I've been studying on this about to happen war. Could we be on the brink of another world war? It makes one wonder since the Chinese have just test fired their new ballistic missile, it's capable of flying over four thousand miles, that makes it now possible for them to land a nuke in Denver. Their friends in North Korea are said to be bargaining with them at this very minute to purchase some of those new ballistic missiles.
I wonder if Sadam is bargaining too?
From what I've been reading, our troops are being issued inadequate protection against the very reason for our war, Chemical Biological and Radiological warfare. The antidote for nerve gas is Atrophine (sp?) however there seems to be a shortage according to some sources, only enough for half those to be deployed, the military is now issuing syringes filled with valium to "supplement" the atrophine. The only effect valium will have is to relax the soldier as he dies from the nerve gas.
According to some sources the training in our military has fallen so far that our troops may well be unable to carry the mission forward in a military manner, these training changes reflect the "me" generation being in charge of the troops, now it's "ok" to refuse to charge that hill if you don't feel like it?
Maybe it's not that bad, I surely hope not, but I do worry, probably too much.
Americo WHERE ARE YOU?? Where's Jon and Pussy?
Jerry 10-17-2002 0:44
Ilost one of my four year old twin daughters in a supermarket the other day. I ranted and raved, screamed and yelled and after I died several deaths someone found her and brought her back.
I've been eating for four days.
SOME ONE MAKE IT STOP!
Debra 10-16-2002 21:31
RANDALL
Good evening!
Been away my friends. But I thought of you guys a lot. Sadly, it was an involuntary absence. Anyway ... I'm back. Jerry, I flew over N. Dakota last weekend. Fargo, the pilot said. I was on a land buying trip with my cousin to Great Falls, Montana. She had an option to buy acreage on the Missouri River east of Great Falls. To her dismay and my chagrin the land deal fell through, but it was a nice weekend anyway. We flew to Minnesota then Montana. Cheaper that way than a direct flight. I don't like to fly. You can see a lot from 35,000 feet and cover a lot of ground at 500 MPH, but details are surely obscured.
My son graduated from AF boot camp in September. Nearly the entire "flight" was assigned to Security Force training, the AF's police and guard force. He expects to be sent overseas, somewhere in the Middle East. Oh joy...
I have a Halloween tale to post soon. Perhaps a few days before Halloween.
Goodnight
Randall
Randall 10-16-2002 21:15
Hi all!
Guess my head's been in the sky too much lately, haven't come around in awhile. I see Allein here, and Litter and Viv too! Hi y'all.
Not been writing much lately, kinda down on myself about it. Had plans on sending out querries about 'Shadow' but can't bring myself to do it.
Too many posts to catch up on, so I'll just say 'hi!' and see what happens... ;-)
Be well, and blue skies!
Tina 10-16-2002 21:09
JERRY -- I used to have a black and white 1959 Chevy station wagon -- a stick shift (three on the column) 283 V8 with positraction. Neat car!
JACK -- It's interesting to note that the term "fundamentalist" used to mean one who believed in the fundamental truths of the Bible, and who tried to live by them -- not one who tried to inflict his twisted beliefs on the world around him. I once heard a self-described fundamentalist claim that he didn't have to read the Bible - he knew what was in it, and by God, anyone who didn't believe the same as he did had better not cross his path.
Does "fundamentalist of any stripe" include people like me, who believe in the fundamentals of the Christian faith -- love, joy, peace, patience, obedience to God's commands to practice those things..?
Be careful of generalizations -- they lead to misunderstanding and intolerance. Perhaps "religious fanatics" or just plain "fanatics" would be more appropriate.
howard 10-16-2002 11:05
Well if you mean an Inspiration 8000 then no, I can't fix that,well I maybe could but I've never worked on one of them, who knows. Drop it by and I'll take a look at it.
Howard - I guess what I want to do is to turn the world back to those days HERE, where all we really worried about was where we were going to get the gas to drag main, the beer to drink, and the girls to make out with. Oh and we did worry a bit about getting caught skipping school so we could work on my cousin's old '59 black and white Chevy. (We did get caught, I spent nearly the whole damn year in detention study hall!)
Maybe I need to read a bit more, maybe some Asminov, yes that's it, I'll dive back into his works, an alternate world in my mind. True escapism can be had between the covers of a good book.
Oh and I love that old song, your right, no matter how much things change, they remain the same.
It's snowing out side, not sticking, melting as it lands but snow none-the-less. Maybe that'll purify things. One can only hope.
Jerry 10-16-2002 9:59
Hi ! I have Inspiron 8000 - my fans have dead - can yous fix such a problem ? My mobile 086 192 8887 (anytime).
Cheers.
Dmitry 10-16-2002 9:19
From 1958, as sung by The Kingston Trio:
The Merry Minuet
They're rioting in Africa
They're starving in Spain
There's hurricanes in Florida
And Texas needs rain
The Whole world is festering with unhappy souls
The French hate the Germans, the Germans hate the Poles
Italians hate Yugoslavs, South Africans hate the Dutch
And I don't like Anybody very much.
But we can be tranquil and thankful and proud
For man's been endowed with a mushroom-shaped cloud
And we know for certain that some lucky day
Someone will set the spark off and we will all be blown away
They're rioting in Africa
There's strife in Iran
What nature doesn't do to us
Will be done by our fellow Man
-- Sheldon Harnick (c)1958
So what's changed, Jerry?
howard 10-16-2002 8:49
The trouble is.... our minds tend to block out how painful and frightening 'those good old days' really were at the time. Now they seem romantic in a dusty, sun-bleached way. Compared to the most compelling, current fear; the new unknown. It's easy to look back and feel that things weren't that bad since we already know how the conflict concludes. We survived.
The cockroaches will be damned to spend all of their tomorrows with we humans, still hanging on to our dear tenacious lives. At least, that's my angle. Currently...
:o)
Heather 10-16-2002 6:33
Yang: Please note that you are banned from this forum. Post and your posts will be deleted.
Re the comment about crusade, please let me comment that having neighbors who are followers of Islam has given me a strong perspective about the distinction between terrorists and supposed religion they are adherents to. MacFey as an example was a supposed Christian. This did not make his actions Christian in nature. In somewhat the same manner, I do not believe the actions of Al Queida (sp?) makes their actions examples of Islam. The villains of the piece here are fundamentalists of any stripe, certain flavors of Christianity, Islam or even Judaism. All lend themselves at times to objectionable actions and do not reflect well on their respective religion, at least when their beliefs call for death and vengeance.
At any rate, had a good dive tonight and enjoyed one of my first night dives in a while. Take care everyone. Sorry about a bit of a babble.
Jack Beslanwitch 10-16-2002 3:41
**Taylor**
Hi guys... I just wish could turn back the clock a couple of years... When all I had on my mind was where's my next idea coming from. Or what's going to be for dinner?
But things changed dramatically and yeah I'm angry as heck now about things. Well that's off my chest.
Managed to keep writing lately though... That takes my mind off things for a bit
Taylor 10-16-2002 2:10
So much happening so many places, all bad. It makes one yern for "the old days" when all we had to fear was going up in a cloud of radioactive dust.
On the lighter side, I heard this joke today on the radio, I thought it much better then the funniest joke in the world.
It seems this fellow was driving down the street one day, and happend to pass the nursing home. He was shocked and surprised to find four very old, very wrinkled ladies laying on the lawn in front of the home.
He went into the building and reported his find to the administrator, who began to laugh, he explained: "you see those old ladies are retired hookers, they got together and decided to hold a yard sale."
Ok, well it was funny when the radio guy told it.
Are we now facing another version of the crusades? It sure looks that way, but with today's weapons, the joke that was making the web that had the punch line "daddy, what's an arab?" may not be far from the truth, I believe that once we get started over there again, with this administration, and the mood of the world, we may not stop till we have aniahlated the entire race. Echo's of Nazi Germany echo in my head as I watch the preperation for war.
Oh to be able to roll back the clock some thrity years when everything was so plain, so tried and true. The enemy was the Soviet Union, their weapons were so horriable that nobody dared to use them, the war was with their friends in North Vietnam, and half the country was for it, half against it. It was one brave (at that time) news host named Walter Cronkite who brought it all to a head when he anounced that we could never win that war.
Ah but the music that it produced will live on forever, those times echo in my mind, as I yern for a much simpeler time.
They showed a map of the killings, that last one was near where the wife and I used to go for the best Pizza in the world, a mile or two down Arlington Blvd was the turn to our appartment, Arlington Blvd was the road I drove every day to go in to the Fort, and the last victim was in law enforcement. It does sound as though they may have enough information to at least find a suspect, I sure hope and pray that they do.
As far as the terrorists, I have no idea what we can do to stop them. It seems the only way to stop them is to kill them. I hope our military still have strong stomach's. I don't envy them for the missions they face.
Are we barking up the wrong tree going after Sadam, is this going to be just a "feel good" war? I don't know, I guess the administration must have some proof, and I know that should they tell us, they would be giving information to the enemy, and that we don't need.
I think trust in the government is a thing that was lost in the 60's, total distrust came in the 90's.
It hasn't taken the anti-gun folks long to politicize this shooting rampage and increase their call for a total ban on firearms ownership, for confiscation of "assault weapons" and other firearms chambered for their ammunition.
Phesant/duck season is now in full force in our neighbor to the north, over twenty thousand out of stater's have assaulted North Dakota, with such an assault, one can expect a few casualties, the first four died today in two seperate boating accidents, as they hunted duck's from boats. Guess nobody warned them that the wind blows up there. It's too bad but I guess happens.
But I ramble.
Write ON!
Jerry 10-16-2002 0:39
That's so sad what happened in Australia - my prayers and thoughts are with them.
Viv - I'll send my address again, but I'll need your e-mail first - I lost it >.< My new e-mail is Twinkiemon@hotmail.com The old one got much too much spam.
I'm tired and I didn't even work a full day...but I don't work tomorrow so I can sleep in! Yay! I did, however lot my keys out of my car. -_-' So I had to call my dad to bring the spare key. I think I'm gonna make an extra key tomorrow to keep in my purse at all times.
I get my new computer desk TOMORROW!!! I'm so happy! I don't get the computer until January, but the desk I get tomorrow which is good cause then I'll finally clean out the rec room and Mom will be happy. I have to move all my brother's old toys out of the area...I may also swipe his shelf cause I need a bigger bookshelf in my room. He'll never miss it!! >:) Mwah hah hah hah!!
German - Took three years in high school, I have a book of the German they won't teach you in school, know enough to know that they should have paid more attention to German grammar in Evangelion, but not enough to string a sensical sentence together. >.< I read, write and hear (understand) it better than I speak it. My mom's family is German, so my grandparents speak it, Mom doesn't. I also know Japanese from a combination of high school classes, books and hours infront of the TV watching anime! ^.^ Sugoi desu ne?
Sayonara and Auf Wiedersehen! :D
Allein Peachick's Gallery
10-16-2002 0:17
JACK,
Quiet in here? You spoke too soon. Yang has livened things up with talk of sulfates and chemicals. It is like being in Chemistry class again, isn't it?
Rhoda 10-15-2002 23:12
A little quiet here. It perhaps is time to archive. However, wanted to give my condolences to all those visiting from Australia. The incidents of terrorism in Bali are maddening and continue the need to pursue the terrorists. Hope all are well.
Jack Beslanwitch 10-15-2002 17:05
Wow, watching the news, another murder in the DC area. This one is just blocks from where my best friend lived when we were stationed out there in 75-76.
You know a hundred fifty years ago, folks who tired of the danger fled this area and returned to the civilization of the East Cost. Today, those who fear being murdered in the East could well flee to this part of the country where seldom is heard a discouraging word, and murder is something you see on TV, snipers are the good guys in the Army who kill the enemy from afar. White still represents the good guys (white hats) and black is evil (black hats).
I am so very glad we moved back here, although I do miss the helter skelter of the city, the ease of shopping, and the crowds.
This is terrible, how can one or two idiots do this horrible thing to so many folks? What of the repercussions of this all, will it lead to more gun control? Probably, once the horror has worn off, once the smoke has settled and the guy who is doing this is either dead or in prison, the powers who be in Washington DC will again assault the legal gun owners with more and more restrictions until nobody but the criminals have guns.
Well maybe not.
But maybe....
Jerry 10-14-2002 23:46
Hello all: Just playing hooky (sp?) from a web design contract I have been having graphics block on (yes, there are more blocks than writers block). Anyway, Allein, glad to see here.
Yes, I am careful. Part of the reason I am going for my divemaster certification and also the reason I feel very very naked if I do not have a pony bottle. At any rate, looks like I will get my video light back today. That means Fran and I will be heading down tomorrow night for a try at getting some video of a giant octopus that has been sitting on her eggs and slowly dying. Part of the life cycle of octopus, somewhat like Salmon. She is sitting at around 103 feet or a little less depending on the current.
Re, Deutch. My grosspapa had mastered English late in his life, but as he got older fell back onto German. Given the prejudices of the time during the early and middle twentieth century, my father and his siblings did not learn German and what they did know they did not pass onto my generation. Now, I wish they had. About all I learned were a variety of German cus words.
Talk with everyone soon. Back to the contract.
Oh, and when I do put up the paypal donation button it will not have a set figure, just whatever you feel you can afford $1, $5, $10 or none at all. I do not wish to put any pressure on folks and what to emphasize that the Notebook and forwriters.com are labors of love and not intended to be commercial enterprises in any way shape or form. Point of fact, the Notebook is more everyone here rather than me of late, so please, all of you pat yourself on the back for creating a fantastic internet community. Take care.
Jack Beslanwitch 10-14-2002 15:49
Deutsch! I saw the word German! It's been a while since I've talked in German in here, or did I ever? I don't remember exactly. German is fun. I know a lot more now, (which is probably good since this is my third year) Was bedeudet ihr? Sorry, sorry, i'll stop. Okay, that's all I had to say. I'm going now.
Oh hello to everyone new. I forgot to say hi in my last post. So hi to you all!
Till Niagara Falls!
Elaine 10-14-2002 12:24
CAROL: I'm sorry. These web viruses now a days. I didn't mean for anyone to get sick. Tell your husband to drink all his soup and to get better-or else!
TAYLOR: It started about two years ago when the marching band I'm in went on a eastern coast tour during the summer. We got to stop in Niagara Falls, Canada , play a concert and tour the city. It was faboulous! When the season ended and my friends and I went back to school, we wrote notes to each other. One of my friends put 'Till Niagara Falls!' as her sign off. She stopped using it for a while, but then I picked up and have been using it ever since.
It's kind of funny how many little things make up a person or what kind of stories each person has. Funny and a little amazing. Everything has a story. One of my teacher's favorite colors is purple. Everything in her office is purple. Why does she like it so much? When did it all start? So many things to write about, which means a writer is always busy. There's a poster in my study hall room with a little girl sitting on a fence with her chin resting on her fist. She's holding a teddy bear and it looks kind of cold in the background. Who is she? Who gave her that teddy bear? Why is she sitting on a fence looking a little depressed? Why isn't she happy? I've already made a short story that actually explains the poster. It couldn't be true, but it's a story. Well that's enough deep thinking for now. It's only Monday and I can't frizzle all my brain power today. i need to conserve it. I think I was just taking up space so it wouldn't look funny when I put down my sign off right away. I'll be back tomorrow.
Till Niagara Falls!
Elaine 10-14-2002 12:19
Viv - I know what you mean about German, my Grand dad was from "the old country" Germany, and had trouble with English, the one I recall the most was "throw the cows over the fence some hay."
He was a great old guy but he passed on when I was but eight years old, oh how he loved his grand kids though, I recall how he used to put me on his foot (crossed over the other leg) and give me horse back rides, saying bumpty lumpty all while moving his leg up and down. I sure did miss him when he was gone.
Jerry 10-14-2002 10:39
Taylor: Our prayers too for the victims of the Bali attack. We find it sad and strange that so many innocent were caught in that bombing. Bali is a real paradise and it was a shock to see that anything happened there.
Howard: I know how you feel about your friend being lost in a scuba accident. We lost a friend who had children the same age through a diving accident. This happened when our children were young. It was a shock and we gave up both diving and flying small airplanes at that time. We said we wouldn't chance ourselves until the children both were on their own. We have two more years to wait and we can get back to our favorite dangerous sports. (Yay!) It has been a long wait. Jack, be careful, but keep on diving! We'll be joining you soon! It's nice to sit here, read about your discoveries and know that I'll be back in there soon. (Boy have I got to get in shape, both physically and mentally)
Allein: YAY! YOU ARE BACK! While you are writing, send me your address! I have your songs still...sitting on the little hall table waiting for you. Arrrgh! Talk about slow and discombuberated...it's been a long year. Like Litter, we've been fighting alligators. Almost have the last ones fought and we've knocked most of their teeth out. Good luck LITTER! Alligator wrestling is not exactly a sport of choice.
Carol: You sent me a wonderful read. Thank you! Could you understand the German in Pommes or did it get in the way??? Sometimes it's hard to write about Germany in English because it didn't happen in English, nor would it happen in English, but it's hard to understand what someone who doesn't read German sees or thinks. As an example when I first got to Germany, I read nur as not. All the parking places around the store said, "Nur fur Kunden....that meant ONLY for customers." I thought it meant "Not for customers" and got upset.
Viv 10-14-2002 9:15
**Taylor**
Long time no see Allein... How you been?
Sorry to hear about your friend Howard.
I don't feel on edge now... I don't feel as if I'm in danger personally... But now I know for a fact that anywhere anytime is a fact.
Teekay: If you're sitting behind a tree..... Good day
Taylor 10-14-2002 0:49
and HI Allein! Welcome back!
howard 10-14-2002 0:31
I just got word that a man I knew a long time ago -- Jon Schreck -- recently died in a scuba diving accident in Mexico. He was from here, moved to Texas and built up a hugely successful orthodontics practice. Very bright and likeable guy. I hadn't seen him in years, but he'll be missed. Jack, be careful down there!
howard 10-14-2002 0:30
Dang, forgot to say Hi to Alien, HI ALIEN!! great to see you, take some time and get back to writing dang it, can't give that up, it's part of you!
Taylor, I will keep good thoughts for you and yours, those damn terrorists, maybe Bush has a good idea after all. I don't know though somehow this dang thing has me a bit on edge, probably just the idea that terror has struck here in the US, and now it's getting closer to you good folks down under too.
Jerry 10-14-2002 0:29
Litter, nice of you to drop by, I know how that goes too, I've been on the busy side myself of late.
Sold all our old computers to a business in a neighboring town, well not ALL our old computers, the three that were reasonably fast, one 500 and two 400 MHZ machines. We upgraded so I have a 1.2 the wife an 800 and our server is a 1 gig I built out of left over parts. I still have six old pentium 1 class machines in the back room looking for new homes. Don't know for sure what I'm going to do with them, maybe try and peddle them for fifty bucks each, don't have monitors or any of that nice stuff to put with them, just the towers.
Oh and I still have to build one more machine quickly, as after I sold those three, I recalled a fellow had called a week before and said he wanted one of them, but never came, guess I could take that as a reject, but I expect him next week, I have most of the parts to throw another machine together, picked up a MB and Processor (700 MHZ Athlon) for 75 bucks on Ebay and have a case, just need to get a video card and some RAM, oh and a Hard drive, the largest I have in the back room is 4 gig, and that isn't much drive anymore.
Oh well it keeps me busy, and we all need to be busy I guess.
Haven't worked much on my long short story, but I got the urge tonight and tossed out three quarters of a new ghost story for the upcoming Halloween celebration. It's called Cell 13 and is coming together nicely, if it goes as planned I should have it ready to post by the 31st. Probably earlier, but I'll hold it till then.
By the way, since some of the old timers are checking in, where's the rest?
Americo, where are you???
Teekay??
SKS???
TOM??
Christie???
Everyone Else????
Jerry 10-13-2002 23:39
TAYLOR,
My prayers have been for the victems of that horrible bombing in Bali and for Austrailia in general. As long as these Islamist terrorists are around, no one is safe. It is not just Americans. You have always understood that. Having said all that, I will just continue to pray.
TEEKAY,
Speaking of Austrialia, you are MIA. I miss you. Hope you come back soon.
Rhoda 10-13-2002 23:23
LITTER -- I'm glad you could slow down for a visit. Verily it's hard to do that when you've an alligator chasing you! They have no time for pleasantries, for sure!
Four days homeless? Yike! Buying a house can be a scary thing. We just moved a woman in with us whose house has been sold, and closes this week, so she had to move out. Meanwhile, the people who were supposed to be moving out of the house she's buying have not, and will not, for several weeks. So she's here until things get straightened out. Life's interesting.
howard 10-13-2002 19:21
Greetings and felicitations!
Seems I don’t get here nearly as often as I’d like, and when I do I have been/am up to my ass in alligators. This most recent lot aren’t your bog standard reptiles but really big ass ol’ alligators. I’m developing an unhealthy aversion to letterboxes and phones.
Not least, was the pantomime of my daughters new house – many many many many many cock-ups culminating in her being homeless, as the paper work and keys for her new place were held up even although her bid was accepted 4 months ago…
Okay, she was only ‘officially’ homeless for 4 days, but what a four days that was. I won’t bore you with the rest but anyone waiting for replies to outstanding email – nil desperandum!
EDDIE – this is very late but my thoughts and prayers are also with you and Anita and I’m pleased that her recovery continues.
Alligator alert!
Litter 10-13-2002 12:02
Hello, all. I'm Danielle (Call me Danny...yes, I'm a girl)...and I'm new to this forum, so I just thought I'd say hi, so...hi!
Danielle Eternally Held Within
10-13-2002 11:11
**Taylor**
Well today started off terribly... Woke up to the news that Bali Nightclub was bombed... It's just seems so close to home... 40% of Injured were Australians.
Just if it is possible can you spare a prayer for the victims of this act?
Thank you
Taylor 10-13-2002 5:07
*rubs eyes* O.O
I have been away soooooo long!!! >.< Gomen!
I haven't forgotten about you all, of course, just been busy. I've been doing some writing too, but none of it good enough to let people read. *puts papers through the shredder* Maybe I should have stayed around here more. ^.^
::hugs:: to everyone!! :)
I promise to be around more often.
Allein Peachick's Gallery
10-12-2002 22:26
Mark: Well, I'm amazed. You could have been reading the story I was writing because what you wrote fit in so well. I'm going to ask you some strange questions in the next few weeks because I can't believe my luck...you have the knowledge I need. Just as I was getting discouraged about writing this, along you come with exactly the piece of the puzzle that fits. Absolutely perfect. What I don't want to do is sugar coat the experience of working with Alzheimer's patients, and that's what is going on in my story. I keep pulling back from the whole thing, looking at it and saying, "Nope, this is too full of sweetness and light. Someone who is really in the situation shouldn't have to be mocked by it."
I've always hated movies and books in which kids skip around with clean faces while their mother makes mega-bucks on a high profile career...Yah, she's the president of the United States and cooks a hamburger on demand. Her sweet faced tot smiles up at her adoringly and says, "I support your career Mommy!"
I also hate the wise,kind, barmy little old lady story because people are people. Some of those little old ladies are not kindly and were always spoiled brats. Most are just normal people who have good days and bad days. So I need to inject some reality into this tale I'm spinning. I've had little experience working with the elderly, so I'm using my own swiss cheese style memory as a basis for a story on Alzheimers.
By the way, you have a story there...college English professor gets an MBA, does computer consultation, writes books and manages an elder care home. Pretty amazing. I had pictured you up there in an ivory tower somewhere surrounded by books. Gee, how I envied that...surrounded by books. Somebody, find me an ivory tower PLEASE and fill it with books, quiet music, and a muse that stays put.
Carol: The noise level is ridiculous here and if they get any louder, I'm going to throw them all out on the street. Where can I go to get some peace and quiet so I can read your story? For heavens sake, I'm supposed to hurry up so I can get on my bike and lead an expedition. If this Columbus Day Holiday doesn't hurry up, so I can get some peace and quiet..... Anyway, once I get out on the bike it will be fun and I'll do the editing tonight.
What do you think of the coincidence I'd run into someone with experience on Alzheimers? I hope it makes my story a little better for you to edit. Well, better get moving so I can get the pack of teenagers downstairs organized. I think the refrigerator and the cupboards should be cleaned out by now. They'd go themselves, but I'm the only one who knows the sneaky way to get on that trail that cuts off about half the journey. We're riding to the beach today. Too far to go, but definitely cuts that teenaged energy in half and keeps the whole gang from getting themselves busted. Anyway, it's my turn. The other mothers pulled the load while I was gone.
Viv 10-12-2002 22:02
VIV -- I've had the privilege of knowing Mark for only a few years, and only as he said, at work. I have seen the house he describes, and it is indeed awesome, and Cate is indeed a saint! Dunno about him, though... :-)
My only connection with "university" is our local two year college. I attended the "college of hard knocks" for 53 years before getting smart enough to go for real, and I think I needed to do it that way. I think if I had been a student during the 60s I would have ended up dead by now, or as a liberal politician.... :-)
Our exposure to aging and its perils has been a personal one -- my "mil" and my dad, who both showed signs of dementia, and a few old timers we're working with now, all in nursing homes, but needing personal attention as well.
If I were to give one bit of advice to anyone who contemplates caring for an elderly person, (besides common sense) it would be to check your local agencies for education sessions, and learn how to deal with those agencies, and how to fill out all those Medicare and Medicaid forms that can be so devastating for a confused older person. I'm going with Evangeline this coming week for a meeting with the Medicaid folks, and it's not a pleasant process at all. She's scared of all the questions and "legal stuff."
I don't know what our Canadian or British friends face in this area, but it might be wise to check into it before it happens.
howard 10-12-2002 21:42
Truly, you people are amazing! Before I became a professional organizer, I worked with mentally ill patients transitioning from state care back into the community. It was challenging work, but made even more difficult by the ruling that patients did not have to take their meds in the community setting. After one of my favorite clients refused to take his medication, and as a result listened to the voices that told him to run out on the highway and kill himself, I had to resign. I love my work now, along with my writing, but I've often felt badly about my inability to stay with the agency. I have such admiration for those of you who continue to do such heart-rending work. Thanks. :-)
Sunny 10-12-2002 20:53
Hi all,
Went to a book fair today with my friend Mary Lou. I have come to the conclusion that a sale with fifty people all selling their books is not a good place to sell books. She only sold two books. At the craft shows and county fairs, she does much better.
I just went along as driver and company. I had sold five or six crocheted hats the weekend before and needed to build up my stock for the next craft show so I took along a partially finished hat and more yarn for the next project. We talked to other authors, wandered around looking at books and generally killed time. With interuptions it took me until after noon before I finished that hat. I left it laying on the table and started a new one when a very nice older (you got to be very old for me to consider you old) lady asked if she could try it on. I said sure and she liked it and bought it. Surprised me, I should have brought more with me. But I don't think the organizers would have appreciated it.
MEL,
That sounds great. We're going to try again next spring. I think I still have your e-address in my book. Will let you know when we make plans. Hope they work out better next time. This year was a big disappointment.
BTW,
Mary Lou has had her second book published by PublishAmerica. She has done really well with the first book Tarnished Honor, and just started selling the second. Texas Widow is more of a romance and should appeal to more women. She donated a book to the San Antonio Public Library system because they had helped her with her research and we just recently found out that the Library bought five more copies. A number of small libraries in the area have bought her book when she showed it to them. Her research included a lot about the 'Freedmen Bureau' and that subject is neglected in a lot of Historical Fiction.
Enough blabber from me,
Bye
Rosemary 10-12-2002 20:50
VIV -- That post was prompted by something from HOWARD about his wife's mother(MIL = MotherInLaw). Howard and I knew each other at IBM where we both worked for the same contractor. I was lecturer, instructor and adjunct at the university, the community college here and at a university in Texas. I shifted from English to Business, got an MBA instead of PhD and now work sometimes as computer support and computer consultant.
My wife and I have a big house (10 bedrooms, 7 baths [3 full, 4 half]). We do elder care. She does elder care, I support her. I could probably get a small petition filled with signatures of people who'll testify that my wife is a saint. In the last 12 years, I've had one full-time job and that was a strain on her.
But I need a job out. I can only take so much "Where's the bathroom?" We have one who needs the bathroom every 15 minutes every afternoon. From about 1:30 to 4:30 she's in motion. This just started 6 or 8 weeks ago. At first I'd say, "You just came from the bathroom." I don't say that anymore. She gets angry, red-faced, fist-clenched angry, and shouts back, "Dont you tell me I've been to the bathroom. I know when I've been, and I haven't been to a bathroom all day."
Have not read Dancing on Quicksand.I have irregular contact with the head of our local Alzheimer's Support Group and regular contact with social workers, placement specialists, doctors, nurses, and therapists.
Mark 10-12-2002 20:29
Mark that was an interesting and helpful post on Alzheimers and came just as I got stuck on something I was doing. I wondered what it was that prompted the writing, as I read through the other posts and couldn't come up with a connection. How do you work with Alzheimer's and senile dementia patients? I thought you worked with Howard at a University. Well, it's a God-send for me, because I'm dealing with a subject I don't know well, and I'm going to borrow that information and put it to good use. One of my characters has Alzheimers or Senile Dementia.
Have you read Dancing On Quicksand? It's a great book on the subject.
Viv 10-12-2002 15:12
Bathrooms and bananas. Funny how those two things become quirky in old people.
Go through the dresser drawers of your favorite alzheimer's victim and you'll find odd stuff stashed in there. Bananas are a favorite. One lady here takes about a yard of toilet paper every day from the nearest bathroom, tears off individual squares, folds them in quarters, and piles them neatly in the corner of her top dresser drawer. I don't yet know what she does with yesterday's cache when today's goes in. We check her about once a week.
Another lady here stashes fruit. We have to check her dresser (I resist saying I check the ladies' drawers) every couple of days. Our fruit-stasher was the first experience with this habit. When we found rotten apples (?) and bananas in her dresser, we knew greater vigilance was going to be necessary. Since then we've found that bananas are the number one stash item for ladies in senile dementia (not the same as, but comparable to Alzheimers).
Bathrooms are a big indicator of how people will do in a house like ours. The progression seems to run predictably from unable to remember where the bathroom is, to confusing other objects for bathroom fixtures, and unable to remember how to use a bathroom when in there.
I could tell some stories about some crazy old ladies (and since I already started, why stop?). But I want to say that it's easier for me deal with than it is for their family members. It's one thing for me to walk by an open bathroom door and see a woman sitting on the sink to pee, and another thing entirely for her children to see it. I can tell you the behaviour, but, honestly, I don't know if I have the craft to describe the heartbreak.
HOWARD's entry about his MIL and the mop bucket is familiar fare around the discussion tables of those in gerontology. I have not yet had to deal with failing parents, but with them at 85 and 80 and both in declining health and spirit, I know I'm only fooling myself when I think that Mom and Dad are still OK.
As writers, I'd say we need to be aware of how people are perceived and use those perceptions to firm up the tone of our works. Yes, old people fail. We can use the dropped glass in a restaurant as simply a mess for our busy waitress to clean or as another crack in the daughter's veil of perception that 'Dad' is just fine.
Mark 10-12-2002 14:34
**Taylor**
That DC sniper with that "I AM GOD" thing actually reminds me a little of the "Son of Sam" Seriel Killer. Well I think if that's a motive, they have to look for some strong religious group or cult even.
And then change the profiling a bit
Taylor 10-12-2002 12:39
That got sent too soon!
Anyway, we heard a crash in the night, and ran down to find her crying in the middle of the kitchen floor, in a puddle. She had become disoriented and mistook the wash pail for the commode, and had fallen off it. She was scared to death, and we had an awful time quieting her down. I don't know how Dorie got through it all -- it was a terrible load on her.
howard 10-12-2002 11:41
JERRY -- All the news coverage on that sniper is bothering me too, especially with hunting season opening. We've had copycat killers before, and if some wacko gets the idea that this looks like fun, we're liable to have a rash of these things. Too bad we can't round them all up and send them over to the middle east with pictures of saddam and osama.
MEL -- been there, done that. When Dorie's mom lived with us just before we had to take her to the hospital, then the nursing home, we had a baby monitor in her room so we could hear her in the night.
howard 10-12-2002 11:36
This sniper in the DC area is scary. I hope they catch him soon. My doppelganger lives up there, and we lived there in the mid 70's. This guy has to be a monster, or are there two of them?
It looks like they could be neo-Nazis, but that note puts doubts on that idea too.
I recall many years ago, we had a serial phone sex caller, you know the kind heavy breathing and such, but he was a bit different, he studied his victims first, learned all he could about them so when he called he had ammunition. He would call from within eyesight of the victim then have her go to a window and do sex acts for him on themselves.
He used the information he gathered on these women to threaten them that if they didn't do what he ordered, he would hurt their child or husband, telling them where the relative was at that very minute. His tactic worked.
This had most of the south western part of North Dakota up in arms, we had special meetings of our crime conference, and compared notes, then put our heads together in a special task force and traced this idiot down, when we finally caught the caller we found he was a route deliveryman who took his coffee breaks to peruse his "hobby." The local press dubbed him the "broomstick caller" based on his favorite weapon of self assault. He delivered those carpet coated rubber walk mats you see in most convince stores and gas stations.
He got the longest sentence in the history of our area for phone terrorism, eighteen years in the State Pen, one year for each conviction, but they ran consecutively rather then the usual concurrency that the courts seem to love.
Jerry 10-12-2002 10:22
*Mel*
Hi, everyone -
I've been in Syracuse, NY, all week (am now home) for the annual statewide Eastern Star convention. It was very inspiring, in the realm of charity work currently being done across our state and visions of reaching out to more needful folks in the coming year. I look forward to being a helpful link in the chain next year when I head my local chapter.
JACK: So glad to see Yang's formulas removed. I was also leary of them and felt they were out of place here. I too am most willing to donate something toward your costs of keeping this place up and running - just let us know when and where and how much! :-)
ROSEMARY!!!! Hello and SO GOOD to see you here. :-] Sorry your trip fell apart, but next time you're heading for Buffalo, NY, let me know - I'm only 3 or 4 hours from there - maybe we can work out a meeting!! :-]
Welcome, ANGELE! :-) What do you like to write? I'm into sci-fi/fantasy and a bit of romance, with an occasional children's tale on the side. Lately though, my muse has been much too lazy - I think she must have her fingers trapped in a finger puzzle again, one made with duct tape! I'll have to go hunt for the DTD (duct tape dissolver) soon... 8-]
RHODA: Glad you're safe from the recent storms down there.
VIV: Family distractions are my main nemesis to writing time at home. I like your idea of headphones in the same room - think I'll have to buy myself a set. I do enjoy being with the family, especially after being away from them for a week, but the writing hunger is slowly building once again. I will have to find a way to feed it soon.
JERRY: Earth Browser looks interesting - thanks for sharing - I'll have to explore that site further...
EDDIE: So glad Anita is doing okay. I hope "Okay" soon becomes "Even Better!" :-) Continued prayers and (((hugs))) coming your way...
My husband and I were awakened at 4 this morning by a loud crash - thought maybe something in the attic fell off a precarious stack... A minute later, our just-turned 19 son came out of the bathroom and said "I think I just passed out..." We don't know what caused his blackout - will be taking him to the doctor soon. Meanwhile, if you ever hear a crash in the night that sounds like a treelimb crashing on the roof - check on all the bodies in the house - could be someone falling on the floor!
Have a good writing day, everyone, if you have opportunity - I hope to make opportunity...maybe tomorrow or Monday (Columbus Day holiday off work).
Peace and good health to all!
Mel 10-12-2002 8:48
Here's a little program I discovered today, gives you the world at your fingertips, shows weather, web cams and interesting facts of any place in the world, it's updated every three hours so you can check on how Teekay is doing down under, drop in on Americo in Portugal, Eddie in the UK, or even check me out in South Dakota.
Jerry Earth Browser
10-11-2002 23:10
Jerry: PayPal was actually what I had in mind. When I get a chance next week, I will establish a donation button both here and on forwriters. I will also be putting a donation button on sfnorthwest.org .
However, glad to hear that others have a good experience with PayPal. Take care everyone.
Jack Beslanwitch 10-11-2002 1:55
Oh, Jack - good for you, I've had a very bad feeling about this war thing myself. Now this is strange for me, I've always been a hawk but this just doesn't smell, look, or seem right for some strange reason.
Now the UN is deffenetly not on my most favorite list either, I think they should simply move it to Paris, or maybe Frankfort and the US withdraw completely from that orginization, but that's just me I guess.
Jerry 10-11-2002 0:01
Jack, open an account with Paypal, I use that for all my Ebay stuff, and it makes contributing a breeze, I'll send a few bucks when I have some to spare. By the way, if you set up with Paypal, they give you five bucks just for signing up, or at least they used to back when I started using it.
Did I mention I recently sold an old bronze key for the City Jail on Ebay, got $58 bucks for it. That was a great deal for me, as the Jail has been closed now for many a year and the key was totally useless to anyone but the guy who wanted it for his collection.
Sure glad you gave Yang the heave hoe. His kind of writing just didn't fit in with the whole idea of this wonderful site.
Welcome to the new writers just strating with us, you have found the right place, come on in the water's fine.
Jerry 10-10-2002 23:48
**Taylor**
Angele: Welcome to the Notebook. We talk about writing anything to do with writing or just anything. We ask for advice, where possible we give it.
Carol: Sorry to hear your Hubby is sick... Something going around huh?
Elaine: I've been meaning to ask... What's the story behind "Till Niagra Falls"?
Rhoda: I tend to lean more towards you on that one... It seems gone are the days when the UN meant something like it did during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Jack: I will happily contribute with what I can. Seeing an anti war demonstration must have been an experience and a half. 5000 plus must have generated alot of energy.
Take care all
Taylor 10-10-2002 20:50
Hi all,
I'm a new writer, meaning unpublished one, and while trying to find a group of writers i could join, i found you guys. i don't know how this group work so please email me more info about it. thanks.
Angele.
angele 10-10-2002 15:38
Hi All :)
Elaine - glad to see you're feeling better! But, did you really have to send this on to my hubby? The poor dear is coughing and sniffling up a storm of his own. Guess I better concoct a pot of chicken soup tonight.
Viv - The sounds of family in the background can be soothing and inspiring at times -- other times .... well. Headsets and nice music should do the trick. I think I found where I left off in my sendings to you. I actually managed my full quota yesterday of three pages. Oh, but that felt good!
Jack - welcome back and I'm glad you had such a rewarding time.
Rosemary -- good to see you back too!
Now, where's Oyster?? I'm really missing those reports about B'witch.
Carol 10-10-2002 13:22
Howard: Could have been. I don't rightly remember if my n's sounded stuffed or not. I just know that my m's and my v's were.
Rosemary: Hello again. Long time no write, glad you're back.
Ed: Hope that Anita is doing better and that soon you're life will go back to normal.
That's pretty much all I had to say, I don't remember if there was anything important that I needed to say. I'll be getting on the Internet almost every day now so I'll be on here more often. That's it, I guess.
Till Niagara Falls!
Elaine 10-10-2002 12:16
JACK,
Good to see you back. I would be glad to contribute something to the betterment of the Notebook.
I would not have been at such a march because I have very little faith in the United Nations, but I am glad you had a meaningful time there and that you and your friends were able to protest an action you do not believe in. I only think of so many other countries where you would not have been allowed to do that, and I am thankful for the freedom this country has and pray that it will always be so.
Rhoda 10-10-2002 11:22
Ok, so it was the buttons on the main forwriters page that need to be financed....... but hey. We can't read ALL the time..... ha ha ha.
Heather 10-10-2002 8:59
Hey Jack! I'm sure everyone would love to chip in for a pass protected area! If we'd known that, we mighta chipped in already....:o)
Donating sounds good too..... :oD
Heather 10-10-2002 8:54
Yang is selling the stuff you ingest when you take a barium X-ray. Lovely! I'm with you Jack, I think he's come to the wrong place.
Glad to hear you were out protesting the recent rise in militarism. Isn't it great that we can do that in America. I wish I'd been there with you!
I am worried too about retirement. We're going to be able to hang in until we retire but it looks so scary. There sure aren't many jobs out there right now, and we're unable to just quit working and live on a reduced salary. One in college, and the other on the way in two years. At work today I got a note in my mailbox saying all hours will be reduced next semester. Everyone looked a little shell shocked this morning, we'd all counted on our salaries remaining the same. At least we all still have jobs, but I heard the echo of many nails being bit at the same time.
Carol, I'm going to have to get up very early tomorrow. It's hard to write because the tv is in my office and every night the family sits in here and watches tv. It's a recent change that took place while I was back fixing up the house. I'm going to have to get things arranged better so I get some quiet time after dinner...or just learn to tune it out and keep on writing. Maybe I should just be glad the entire family is here and sitting comfortably in the same room. We're all together, content and well...really, what more could I ask for. (A little bit of quiet would really be nice, but I think maybe a set of earphones and some classical music on a cassette tape will take care of this "problem")
Viv 10-10-2002 8:50
p.s.
BTW, I am moving forwriters off an NT server to a UNIX server and should be able to make some inroads, finally, on creating a password protected workbook. Partly this is due to having to try to economize. What with Fran retiring in January and me still being out of work, I have to figure out how to keep my various domains within the budget of social security, especially since I have not been really working in the last year. I may be setting up a pair of buttons for donation on the main forwriters site to help in paying for the domain name hosting. At any rate, I will be doing my level best and hoping that the economy finally picks up some steam here.
Jack Beslanwitch 10-10-2002 4:12
Hello all: Just got back from a 5000 plus anti-war march here in Seattle, and finally got to looking in on the Notebook. Yang definitely looks like a spammer and I have deleted his postings. When I get around to archiving I will eliminate his links and email as well. Administrative capability with tdforum prevents me from dumping that until I archive.
The march was interesting, with a lot of energy and a sense that there is a lot of doubt about the advisability of going it alone and make a pre-emptive attack. I will take Bush on his word that he will use that route as a last resort, but there is a lot of angst and anger at our illustrious leader here in Seattle. I do not go quite as far as some of anti-war people here, at least entertaining the notion that there are circumstances that we might need to engage in military action, but find it at least a moment for pause and reflection if we elect to strike first, especially in the middle east with some doubts about what the evential consequences might prove to be in terms of our real war with terrorism. Oh, well, enough of a soap box. Hope everyone is doing well and writing lots. Sorry for not catching Yang earlier. Take care everyone.
Jack Beslanwitch 10-10-2002 4:06
**Taylor**
Well Yang's brought some interesting ideas with him... Wander how coded a message can be.
Taylor 10-10-2002 1:42
I'm afraid Yang is just a Chinese entrepenure. His materials are for sale. The Chinese and Pakistanis often use web forums to list their products. They often do not know what the forum is about, just that they can post a message and HOPE someone is interested. The descriptions you see are a breakdown of the mined materials.
Sara Wright
Dr. Sara Wright Faucon International
10-9-2002 23:48
Maybe he's not a terrorist. He should explain why he's putting that formula on the notebook.
Don't you think!
Debra 10-9-2002 21:42
Sorry for the drive-by posting, but dinner interrupted, then the fellow who is going to save our basement came by to give me a quote, that was enough to take my breath away, while reasonable for most folks it was very high for us, after I explained that, he dropped it by two grand, then said he would go home and redo the whole thing to get it down to where we could afford it. Seems like a nice fellow at any rate.
The day was nice all around temps got up to 70 degrees, it was strange, had to have the heater on in the pickup on the way up, almost needed the air on the way home with the sun shining through the windows of my pickup.
The wife said I should stop at the gas station and pick up some lottery tickets tonight when we got home, but I declined, no sense in pushing a good thing.
Jerry 10-9-2002 20:27
Rosemary - I've had days like that, in fact I've had them so bad that I've returned to bed and stayed in bed for fear of what would go wrong next.
Today was not one of them however, I've been dreading today for a couple of weeks now, as I broke a tooth and today was the earliest I could get in to see my dentist. Now most folk dread the dentist, but you have to understand this dentist's husband was the attorney that screwed my wife out of her inheritance, the same attorney that I physically picked up and booted out of my police station when I was the Chief of Police in that town, the same attorney who I reffered to as "Monte Hall" in my letters to him following my move north.
At any rate, she was a very professional dentist, very friendly, and laughed off the past. She filled the tooth gentely, in fact it was the most painless dental appointment I've ever had.
Then while were in that town, we stopped in to visit an old friend who runs the furnatur store, and he happened to have the very recliner that my wife has been looking for for what seems like forever, but in fact has been over a year, and to top it off it was ON SALE!!!
Then we stopped off at the museum to look at their much talked about Vietnam Veteran's wall, and the two ladies who were manning the museum were very old, very good friends of my wife, they had a super visit.
Jerry 10-9-2002 20:14
If you click on Yang's bottom link, it takes you to a wolsonite mining company in China, explaining the many usages of wolinsite or what ever the heck it is that they make.
I doubt that it's evil, but in today's world, who knows.
Jerry 10-9-2002 20:00
I'm Back!
Thanks RHODA, you're a sweetie.
Well, we cancled the trip.
It started out with a sick horse. After two weeks we decided he was well enough for us to go. Yesterday, my sister had a flat that ruined a $70 tire on the van that we were going to drive to Buffalo. Last night we got about 10 inches of rain and it flooded the downstairs of her house.
We decided the fates were trying to tell us something, so we canceled the trip. We're thinking about trying again next spring.
Those wierd posts seem to me to be fodder for an interesting story. I agree that JACK should get rid of them as soon as posible. No telling what they are.
Good writing to all of you,
Bye
Rosemary 10-9-2002 18:11
DEBRA,
Seriously I believe that our forum is being used. YANG does not fit my idea of a trickster or a hack; he is in some sort of business and he is passing on information, and not to us humble writers here on the board.
Whether JACK wishes to allow this to go on is his decision. Personally it gives me the creeps.
ROSEMARY,
I have missed you. Good to read your posts again.
Rhoda 10-9-2002 14:32
All I know is I wouldn't want to be part of a place where terorists are picking up their instructions.
I think Jack should delete it.
Fast!
Debra 10-9-2002 11:56
EDDIE,
I am glad to hear Anita is improving. I'm still praying, though.
I think YANG might be using the Notebook to sell his products. Perhaps he is some chemical dealer from China whose business is not properly registered with his government,and so in order to do business on the Net and to hide it from authorities, he directs his customers here, to our humble Notebook. Who would ever suspect?
Or YANG might be a free-wheeler who deals with the Al Quada or terrorists organizations. Perhaps all these chemicals are actually codes for weapons grade plutonium or for black market hardware designed to deliver dirty bombs.
It is not that I am being negative about someone I do not know, but as a writer I see high drama where ever I find it. There is a mystery here, folks! I am certain about it. Someone should write a story about YANG and his mysterious chemical dealings.
Rhoda 10-9-2002 11:42
Yang - Thanks for the data of what ever the hell it's about, what are you implying that your coke is laced with some talc powder?
Now if you were my neighbor, I would happily give you a nose job (with my fist) for leaving such droppings on our lovely writers notebook.
Jerry 10-9-2002 11:02
Ok....
Now back to writing!
Who the hell is Yang and why the hell is he posting this weird stuff here?
Found a little ebook, well not really little, but an ebook none the less that I downloaded for a bit of research for my getting much longer long short story, or is it a short long story, well no matter.
The book is filled with instructions on how to be a terrorist! It's a how-to for the neo-nazi front and anyone else who wants to commit mass murder, or even selected assignations. It's available to anyone who has access to one of the peer to peer programs like BearShare, or LimeWire.
The name is a give-away, it's called the White Resistance Manual, here's the first sentence in the Goal Chapter: To exacerbate existing racial tensions to the point where a situation of open conflict exists between Whites and non-Whites.
Then it goes on to give recipes for such things as C-4 military explosives, Claymore Mines and homemade firearms. There is an extensive chapter on how to design and use an accurate silenced weapon, even where to get the ingredients to make useful things such as mustard gas nerve gas, and pipe bombs, also where to get poisons, and how to "spike" a bottle of whiskey with Methyl Alcohol then leave it in a bag with recipes and re-seal the bottle so the finder thinks it new, in a location where it can be found by a non-white.
Scary stuff, but it is giving me lots of ideas for my (what do I call it a book? A story?)whatever it develops into.
I just hope some of those guys I locked up during my career don't hold a grudge, and find that stupid ebook.
Well I'm off to type, and Yang, perhaps you can find folks interested in your potions elsewhere?
Write on.
Jerry 10-9-2002 0:20
Hi everyone,
I've been around but not much writerly going on.
We've had a sick horse that delayed our vacation for a couple of weeks, but he seems to be okay now so we're leaving for Buffalo, NY tomorrow morning. 1600 miles there, and another 1600 back. We'll spend two days with my sister's son.
I've been keeping up with the notebook and am gald everyone is either well, or recovering. Haven't noticed anything from JACK in quite a while. Or Christi.
Oh well, you haven't heard from me either. Guess it's just been a slow summer.
Take it easy everyone and enjoy your writing
Bye,
Rosemary 10-8-2002 12:41
**Taylor**
Eddie: It's good to hear Anita is getting better. I'm sure she'll continue to do so.
Howard, Heather and Jerry: It's good that you look after some people or looked after... You two are nice people.
Heather: Unfortunately it sounds like those kind of people just don't have any respect for other people's beliefs. It doesn't matter if they don't believe in it, but that's no cause for them to act like that.
Sunny: Welcome... Grab a chair, kickback and enjoy the little universe known as the "Writers Notebook"
Well I thought I would drop in to say hi and let you's all know I'm still around. Unfortunately nothing much to report on my end... Except it just continues to be one of those kind of months. It's all quiet then things happen one incident after another.
Though it seems to be a field of inspiration to draw upon. So there is some kind of silver lining in the cloud.
Keep well all.
Taylor 10-8-2002 8:38
Eddie - happy to hear things are getting better, I'm sure the trend will continue.
Howard - We once took care of an old fellow, he lived next door, and when he lost his wife, he had no one to care for him. It was either the good neighbor policy, or he was headed for a nursing home. We fed him two meals a day, had him over for holidays, and such. When at last he became so poor of health that he needed constant care, we called his wife's daughter (from another marriage) and she came to pick him up and take him home to Montana with her.
He wanted us to buy his house, but I had no use for it, he was offering a very good deal on it, but I didn't want it, and I didn't want to take advantage of him. When at last he passed on, his will left everything to a small church that he had once stopped at when traveling, as he thought it the most beautiful church he had ever seen. Come to find out the old fellow was loaded, but you couldn't have told by the way he lived. He did leave the house to his step daughter for caring for him, and when she came back to claim her inheritance, it was very obvious that she had known his worth, she was so very angry that all she got was that old house!
She sold it for a song, just to be rid of it, and we never saw her again. I was surprised at her actions, as his wife was a wonderful person.
One day before we knew them, they stopped in a small diner, and had coffee and pie. The pie was bad, but they didn't get ill from it till they got home.
When they failed to show for church both Sunday, and the next Wednesday, their preacher stopped by to see what the trouble was, and found them both in bed, covered in their own filth completely out of their heads from the poisoning.
His poor wife never recovered from the bad food, and lingered for two years before leaving him alone. He was a child like man, I don't think he had ever worked and when his wife was gone, he was nearly helpless. A lawyer heard of their troubles, and talked them into suing the diner, which they did, the diner closed and their insurance company made the old duffer a rich man.
I guess it just goes to prove that bad things do happen to good folk.
It's been raining all day, a cold dreary day with water dripping from everything, even the sky looked wet with it's color that of slate. The sparrows (my sparrows) sat on our evergreen hedge below the picture window and gave me particular hell as their food was gone, I neglected them, but will fill them in the morning.
It's been a sleepy day, and I think I will retire early, in fact as soon as I hit the Enter button, no radio theatre tonight.
Nite all.
WRITE ON!!!!
Jerry 10-7-2002 23:47
Well, Anita is home and is working hard on getting some mobility back.
We were very lucky in the sense that her speech was not affected at all as the problem was in the right brain. She is able to get around a little with the aid of a stick but she does get tired out quite quickly. I know she will fight this thing all the way, that's just who she is. I think we are going to be OK!
One little thing that happened today really got to me; When I informed the mobility department about her stay in hospital they immediately withdrew some of the financial aid which she had been recieving to help deal with her ongoing health problems. The logic in this was that since she was in hospital the state was seeing to her needs. Therefore the home did not require any assistance. Seems rather petty to me as they will be deducting about £30.00 from her entitlement for this month. I wonder how much it is going to cost to implement the adjustment. :¬)
Ed
'Till Viagra Fails'
Eddie French 10-7-2002 21:18
The beautiful marble statue of Mary that stand so regally out in front of the Church of Our Lady here has staining and so forth from people spilling things or throwing things at it. I think that's disgusting. Even though I'm not of the Catholic faith, I certainly respect the icon and image of Jesus' mother, and at the very least, it IS Church property. I take little comfort in the thought that at least there isn't any graffiti on her.
Heather 10-7-2002 16:17
HOWARD,
I have lived primarily in the "Bible belt," and thankfully things are not quite that bad here yet. But there is always a constant hassle with sports practice and school events being scheduled for Wedensday night.
It is sad not only how secular our society has become, but how profane and disrespectful is, not only in regards to a higher power, but to the people who believe in and serve one.
The main area where I am reminded that "my kind ain't welcome here" is on television. I suppose that is why I no longer watch and I have been content to be without cable for over six years.
Rhoda 10-7-2002 15:27
Some off-the-wall thoughts that might trigger some writerly thoughts -- or a scene for a story. (All actual events)
"Signs of the times" department...
Yesterday we drove down to our church as usual for a Sunday morning. My wife and I always get there about an hour ahead of everyone else so we can do the bulletin (lots of copying and folding) and make sure the church is open and cooled off in the summer or warmed in the winter.
Well, yesterday we had to thread our way through the construction cones, and cross over a closed lane to get into the parking lot. They're paving the road, and didn't think it would bother anyone if they closed off all the driveways because "Hey, it's Sunday -- who goes out on Sunday?"
They had stacks of cones ready to close off both entrances to our parking lots, and it wasn't until I went over and asked what provision they'd made for access to our morning worship services that they stopped to think about it.
I had a nice chat with the flagman, and he promised that they would make sure our access was open, especially after I pointed out that one was a handicapped access. It's a state job, and they're extremely sensitive about that.
The point is that they didn't think it would matter if we couldn't get to our church on Sunday morning. Shows how far we've come down that "slippery slope..."
It's not the first time something like that has happened. We're right across from the county fairgrounds, and during fair week they're constantly scheduling tractor pulls, truck pulls, and demolition derbies right during our evening service times. Not only is it extremely noisy and dusty, people think they can just pull in and park anywhere they please, and if we ask them (nicely) to please not park there we get a ration of crap. One guy even dropped his britches and took a leak on someone's car. It was rather comical -- one of his buddies chewed him out, and hollered "Hey, a**h*le -- it's a f***in church!"
Then there was the guy who pulled in a few years ago with his bungee jump truck, and wanted to set up the jump right in the middle of our lot! He couldn't understand why we'd object, and started to cuss out the pastor and his wife when they asked him to leave. After all, it's just a church!
howard 10-7-2002 14:18
ELAINE -- Isn't that "'Til Diagara Falls?" :-)
howard 10-7-2002 13:57
I'b still alibe although by nose is plugged up and I cant talk all that well. I think ear infection is setting in, I can't seeb to be hearing anything, though by eyesight is just fine. By head is stuffed and by throat is trying to get back at be for whatever reason. I'b alibe and wish that all of you are better than be. How is everyone by the way? I'b haven't been able to get on for a couple of days. No febers or anything like that? I thought I saw duct tape sobewhere when I was reading. i habe the official Duct Tape Book that lists 206 uses for duct tape (plus sobe funny illustrations) Well, I don't want to contabinate anyone to long or you bay just get this cold/cough/ear ache thing that I habe.
Till Niagara Falls!
Elaine 10-7-2002 12:08
And cable internet...;o)
Heather 10-7-2002 9:21
CAROL -- Thanks! but like Heather says, there's no special credit due here -- what we have to do is to make things like that so common that everyone is used to it. Don't anyone get me wrong, but wouldn't it be great if kindness and concern were so common that they could be taken for granted?
Four days? Easy! Duct tape! :-)
howard 10-7-2002 7:23
Hmmmmmm.
Upon re-reading what I posted, I cannot be totally sure I'm not sleepwalking.
Have a sensational day!
Heather 10-7-2002 3:47
CAROL, thank you. I do believe there are larger hearts not to be found elsewhere than here.
SUNNY, Glad you found us, too! See note to Carol. ;oD
Heather 10-7-2002 3:42
You should thank the cat, Jerry, for ending an exercise in futility! Hee hee
Heather 10-7-2002 3:40
I may well have the shortest length on that site, I started, and my stupid cat jumped on my lap, moving the mouse. I kept the button down but the cursor moved and the program called that lifting the finger.
Oh well much ado about nothing.
Jerry 10-6-2002 23:36
The guy who did FOUR DAYS must own an anvil to hold down the mouse button.
Heather 10-6-2002 22:52
HOWARD -- dunno. ? Bright people meet here ?
They guy who did four days must have a huge bladder. Wonder what his IQ is
Mark 10-6-2002 20:39
Carol - thanks for the welcome! and for your info. about your writing. i do non-fiction self-help, but i'm fascinated by the personal stories of people who write fiction. everything is grist for the mill, i guess! it's all very inspiring.
and i have to tell you all, again, that this is a very special site. i don't believe that there are any accidents, so there must be a reason that certain kinds of people come here. the vibes are wonderful and i'm glad i found you!
Sunny Link
10-6-2002 19:02
Hi All :)
Well, I'm finally back from TX. We had a great visit with the kids and the weather stayed nice the entire time. Now I'm back in the 40's with gray skies and rain. At least I haven't seen any snowflakes -- yet! hehehe
Between Heather and Howard, I'm not sure which has the biggest heart. You two are wonderful people and that's all there is to it! Thank you for reminding us of the truly important things in life.
Sunny - I don't believe I've had the honor of speaking with you yet, so first off - welcome. I believe you also asked for a brief bio of each of us in regards to what we write. I recently discovered I really like the fantasy genre and have been working on a story in that genre for the past few months. In the past, I managed some poetry and some flash fiction that found small markets. Small steps forward, but at least they were forward. :)
The trip benefitted my writing in one way -- I was struck by the landscape changes from hour to hour. Since my character will be doing a lot of walking from village to village, this will come in very handy. And yes, I did take a few pictures of scenery that really struck me.
Laura - if you'd like to send me your scifi, please do. I can't guarantee exactly when I'll get it back to you, but I should be able to manage within a week to respond.
Rhoda - I'm glad you made it through Lili with no problems. We missed most of it on our return home. We had rain on the last day through our own state only. Whew!
Eddie - I'll say a few more prayers for Anita for swift recovery. You two are very blessed to have each other. {{Hugs}}
Carol 10-6-2002 17:29
MARK -- I held on for four, before I stopped to think that between us there's a combined IQ of over 300 tied up staring at a stupid screen... What's that tell us? :-)
BTW -- I wonder what that thing is doing in the background while we've got our fingers on that button?
howard 10-6-2002 15:36
RL -- Welcome! What impact? Well, it seems people are hungry for that genre -- the "Chicken Soup" series is doing well, all things nostalgic seem to play well even in the urban areas, and the Bible continues to be a best-seller. I guess you have to just jump in and see! Your "Bits and Pieces" looks interesting!
howard 10-6-2002 15:31
What impact would a self-help/inspirational book for the new millennium have on an individual and a society as a whole?
R. Lance Sheridan R. Lance Sheridan's Bits and Pieces to Ponder...
10-6-2002 15:19
OK. I know ya got nothin' better to do. Go to the website in this link and follow the directions.
Oh, yeah, in case yer interested, 3 minutes and 18 seconds.
Mark Link
10-6-2002 11:24
Here's where you can download that little program, give it a try, everyone should have this little jewel on their machine, although there are those out there at this very second who are working on ways to defeat this program, and some have succeeded, it does keep the popups to a bare minimum.
Jerry popup stopper
10-6-2002 10:20
Howard - I use a program called "popup stopper companion" it works great with popups on webpages. I still use Weatherbug it only pops up one window when I close my browser so I can put up with that. I had been using Bearshare for music and such, but it started poping up windows when I first started my browser then it would give a file not found error with a try again as the only option, so I shut it down and uninstalled it. Now I use Gnuculus for music, it works great with no adds or any such madness.
Pop-up Stopper is a super program and there is a free version that works just about as well, give it a try. It also has a hotlinks button sort of an instant favorites deal that's where I keep the things I always go to, it's an easier access then favorites and if you keep it small, it's simple to find what you want.
I think you were the one who told me about weatherbug, I still love the little program even with it's advertising. I've tried several other weather programs, none were even close to weatherbug. Some had a lot more options, like weather 2000 that lets you look at all sorts of radar, satalite photo's and such, but the weatherbug is still the easiest and offers the best local radar around here.
Jerry 10-5-2002 23:15
Ok, I just finished (or at least I think I finished) a short story, and I need som volenteers to beta read it. Anyone interested in Science-fiction, please E-mail me.
Laura 10-5-2002 23:08
Those popups can be annoying. I was running the Weatherbug program until I found it was the cause of occasional uncontrolled popups. I'd try to open this notebook, for example, and it would hang for a few seconds, and I'd get the "unable to find page" message, then multiple new IE windows with the same message until it filled up memory and choked itself to death. Once I tried closing them all by clicking on the close button, and as soon as I clicked on the last one it started the whole thing over again! Had to hit reset. I don't run weatherbug any more. Too bad -- it was a neat program!
Did anyone else get a message from Melody Mehta about that "Instant Enlightenment" Ebook publishing site? I had asked for more info when she posted here about it, and she just sent it to me. It looks interesting! I can forward it if anyone is interested. Just send me your Edress...
howard 10-5-2002 17:00
A 'portal' window keeps popping up underneath other windows on my screen, with the words 'Stop those annoying popups right now!'.
The world is truly twisted.
Heather 10-5-2002 10:13
Rhoda, so glad to hear all was ok when you got home. I was thinking of you when the news was reporting on the storm but my old body kept me a bit to busy to get on the computer for very long. I think I'm over it now, lasted much longer then it has before.
Up here we are watching one of the ugliest election campaigns this part of the country has seen in many many years. Not here in South Dakota, but up north two candidates are duking it out on television. Since we get mostly North Dakota network television stations, so we must sit through the mud slinging along with our old neighbors up north. Both candidates are lying about each other, or it appears so at least, now the former governor has spoken out for the Republican challenger, backing his claims of evil doing by the incumbent. Now don't get me wrong, I don't much care for the little weasel that is the incumbent, and I do like the fellow who is opposing him, in fact his father was one of my treating physicians when I was in hospital for my back injuries. But the blasted advertising is getting on my nerves. I shall be so very happy when the election has ended, no matter the results. It could be that since the population of the Senate is so balanced right now that both parties fear the results and are pushing these guys buttons or something, but I think now is the time in North Dakota for a none of the above box on the ballots. In fact it's just to dang bad we don't have some unknown third party on the ballot, I think the good folks of ND would surely vote for anybody but the two idiots on the tube.
The weather man began his forecast by singing Christmas tunes, an alarming indication that snow is just around the corner, in fact he says by tomorrow night we could have up to three inches of the white crap. I hope he's wrong.
I do feel a bit sorry for these weather folks, they have lots of science to tell them what the weather might do, most of the time they come close but other times they are so far off, like Rhoda's experience with the two hurricanes. I recall talk of a syndrome where weatherman feel so guilty about not being right that they fear issuing warnings, such a fear was responsible for a huge death toll several years ago in Oklahoma.
I guess we have to believe them no matter what, because to do any other may very well put we and our families in grave danger.
Jerry 10-4-2002 23:42
So is yours, Heather. :-)
Sunny 10-4-2002 20:22
By the way, Howard, your heart's as big as your creative genius! :oD
Heather 10-4-2002 20:18
Howard - my mother in law will probably be moving in with us eventually, and my parents, when they retire, are moving back from the US to either this city, or one very nearby. My mother wants to be close to me in case she'll need me to care for her or dad as she gets older. She's afraid of getting cancer, as most of her relatives have died from it. The strange thing is, her mother's siblings and her father's siblings all seem to die of cancer, but her father didn't, and her mother is still healthy as a steer, walking a few miles per day, and going on 85.
My biological family does have a few male family members that have died in their 50's or 60's due to heart trouble, but for the most part, the Werners and Gasperellis live to be over 100. I'm not sure about my biological father's side, but his parents are still alive and kickin' in their early 80's.
With my nursing experience I'm going to be watching over and taking care of a number of people in my family, and certainly understand the resposibilities involved; but people are worth it. Family is worth it. And the little surprises that come from caring for others make it less work and more a joy then some may expect.
One such surprise came in the form of a stranger. I was working at a retirement home at the time, and was new on staff. I was sent to a few rooms to check for current phone numbers on the resident's private lines - hopefully the numbers had been written down somewhere, or right on the phone itself. Some of the numbers that the office had in their book didn't seem to be working, and so when there were events going on in the home or family members trying to call in, they weren't reachable unless you went up to the room and knocked in person. I had found a few numbers and had chatted briefly with the residents, and then I came to a room that was dark, the door partly open. Residents at this upscale retirement home did not usually leave the doors to their suites open. I knocked gently. Then a little louder.
I peeked in. A tiny, bird-like woman was curled up on her bed, seemingly asleep. There was a small night lamp on, and I could see her silver hair and her eyes were closed. I was about to leave and come back later when she spoke. Softly, so I almost didn't hear her. "Would you please...?" she said.
"Yes?"
"Please dear, do cover me up with my coat there."
"Of course," I reply.
Her large fur coat lay sprawling like a sleeping bear on the end of the bed, several feet from her legs, and as I came into the room the woman tried to shift on the bed.
"I've got it, it's all right." I thought she was trying to sit up to reach for the coat.
She edged over onto her back. I pulled the fur up to her chin, and as I hovered over the bed, I could see her looking up at me.
"I can see your wings," she said, smiling.
"What was that?" I'm startled, but I keep my voice calm and dim, like the room.
"Your wings are sprouting, I can see them," she said.
Her eyes were clear as she snuggled under the fur.
"Thank you," I said. "Do you want your door open?"
"Yes, thank you. Heather."
"Any time. You are very welcome."
Her eyes were clear enough to read my name tag without glasses, in the near darkness. I forgot all about getting that phone number.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I feel very lucky to have had that one short meeting with that very sweet, special lady. I went to visit her the following week and she had passed away. I would have liked to tell her that what she said to me meant a lot, and that every time I'd had a hard day at work, I'd think about what she said, and my heart would melt even in the presence of the foulest-tempered ol' stubborn resident there was.
Heather 10-4-2002 20:13
I guess I found my calling after all these years. We've been caring for Bryce for over a year now, and he really needs the attention, as it's so lonely on the nusing home. Sometimes it gets to be a chore, but it's worth it all.
Now we've got Evangeline. She's 78, her husband abused her (until they put him in a home) and now she's in the hospital with severe back pain and depression. She keeps calling us, and we go and sit with her, or run errands, just to let her know that someone cares. She has nine (her first husband died a few years ago) but they're all living over 100 miles away, and she's lonely. Now she wants me to take her car do something with it, and she wants me to be her health care proxy and assume power of attorney.
And another lady at church wants to come and live with us because she's lonely, and has nowhere else to go. We initially told her yes, but she now has another place to go.
I'm not writing all this to claim any merit (it's not my strength, but God's loving them through me and Dorie) but more to just remind us all that there are hurting people out there (MARK has experience with that as well, aned knows what it's like) and we need to be sensitive to their needs.
And what a rich source of stories and ideas for a writer! We need to listen to our older folks more -- they have so many things to teach us that would otherwise be just plain lost.
Guess I'm just feeling like an old softie today...
:-)
howard 10-4-2002 15:39
HOWARD and DEBRA,
Thank you for the kind wishes. I never did regret going. The main reason that we did was that I have been watching weather channel enough throughout my life to know how unpredictable hurricanes are. They really have a mind of their own, and just before they make landfall, they often do the most unexpected things. Also I had no intention of spending a horrible night or day boarded up in my house waiting for the walls or windows to spring a leak. Finally my husband and I felt compelled not to put our children's lives or our own in needless jeapordy. We were able to get out, and we did.
I really feel that the weather forecasters do people a disservice. Many here were lulled into a false sence of securtiy because it was said with great certainty that Lily would only build to a weak catagory 3. There was much question whether or not to evacuate New Orleans, because a direct hit on this big of a metropolitan area with a catagory 3 could be deadly. Everyone thought it would not be too bad because it was at first supposed to make landfall near the Houston, Galveston area or in the extreme western edge of Louisiana. During the day before the hurricane came in, it built in strength very rapidly. It also changed course a little. In the past hurricanes have changed course a great deal. Well, when this storm became a catagory 4, we reasoned it was much stronger than that high pressure trough that was keeping it toward the west. During this time if it taken into its mind to go to Grand Isle, the mouth of the Mississppi or even into Biloxi, it could have done it. Luckily it did not.
It is highly unusual for storms to lose so much power just before they make landfall. The experts are still trying to reason out why Lili went suddenly from level 4 to level 2. I believe I know the answer, and so does our governer and many of the people interviewed on the radio. God was very merciful.
So I agree with DEBRA. It is best to be safe. I hoped and prayed that we would learn while away that I would get that feeling of "look at all that silly preparation we did." Well, it was not silly at all because the worst could have happened, but it is nice to come home and find everything in tact, and to learn that none of my neighbors and fellow Louisianans lost their lives or were greatly injured.
Rhoda 10-4-2002 10:43
Rhoda:
Don't ever feel stupid for taking precautions like getting out of dodge. Just feel relieved for your neighbors that couldn't do the same. Some people can't you know! Always get out if you can. You never know when a lone toothpick might blow into your house through the smallest opening and get someone through the heart. It does't take a catagory 4 to do that.
You're not stupid, your smart! I'm thankful you're safe. I was thinking about you the whole time. I'll tell you the same thing I tell the people I love when they are sick, I'M NOT THROUGH WITH YOU YET!
Debra 10-4-2002 8:52
RHODA -- hurricanes are scary! Thank God it wasn't as bad as it was first predicted to be.
JERRY -- yes, "100 Pounds of Clay." But stop and think of the implications of that song --
HE (male) (God) took 100 pounds of clay and made (creation) a whole lotta lovin (a woman) for a man...
How far do you think it would have gotten in today's politically correct society? :-)
howard 10-4-2002 8:15
It was a lovely time in Fairhope, not Gulfport, sorry about that.
Rhoda 10-4-2002 7:59
We dodged another big bullet on my part of the Gulf Coast. When we heard Lily would come roaring in as a catagory 3, we decided to get out of Dodge. We boarded up the house, put all our valuable possessions upstairs, packed the cars with irreplacable photos and our insurance policies, gathered up the cats and put them in the car and went to Fairhope, Alabama, near Mobile. We returned last night. We felt sort of stupid heading out because the radio made it sound like Lily would miss us, which in the end, the full brunt did, but during that day, she built to a catagory 4 with winds of 145 mph, and her course took a more northward jog. We didn't feel so stupid then.
I prayed, and many others prayed, and I believe God heard. The storm degraded to a catagory 2 before it even hit the shore, and lives were saved. It was still a destructive, horrible hurricane, but it was not any catagory 4, and for that I am so thankful.
We had a lovely time in Gulfport. When we arrived at the motel, we were the only car there, but by that evening that parking lot was filled with Louisiana people, many who had no choice but to evacuate.
EDDIE,
Glad to hear that Anita's spirits are better.
MARY,
Thank you for the info. That is perfect!
Rhoda 10-4-2002 7:57
Yep, that was the song.
Jerry 10-3-2002 19:08
jerry -- i believe the tune was "100 pounds of clay!"
best wishes to all of you flu and cold weather sufferers out there. here in new jersey it's in the 80's this week! i miss the fall. wanted to mention that i went to hear anne lamott speak the other night at barnes & noble. for those of you who don't know, she's a wonderfully funny and irreverent writer who authored the marvelous Bird by Bird, a personal primer on the art and craft of writing. anyway, she reminds us to keep writing, bad, badder, baddest if necessary, but always to tell the truth.
have a great day!
sunny 10-3-2002 11:57
Another quote that'll mke ya think...
Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're
not. In either case, the idea is quite staggering. -Arthur C Clarke,
science fiction writer (1917- )
howard 10-3-2002 8:32
That rings of an old 60's tune, something about lots of lovin for a man!
It's cold here, right now the mecury is dropping fast, it hit 35 a few minutes ago, on it's way to 20 according to the weatherman. Time for long johns I guess, the seasons sure change quickly here.
It is nice to come here for a break from the politics of the day.
While I am agast at the actions of our good senator, I fear the actions of our good president.
Doesn't he make the U.S. look a bit like the old playground bully with the wood chip on his shoulder daring Sadam to knock it off?
I don't know, I've always been a bit of a hawk but somehow I feel a bit dovish on this matter. Maybe it's the flu, that's probably it. Can't even escape by watching my favorite show on TV, tonight's Law and Order was about an "American Talaban".
Got the camper put away for the winter, that's always a chore although it shouldn't be. We put the last of the plastic over the windows today too, so we're ready for the cold I guess, but it sure is comming fast, we usually don't get this cold till around holloween, and that's aways away yet. Can't believe that some of the stores have their Christmas crap up already. Didn't they used to wait till after Thanksgiving for that?
You ever get that feeling where you know you're going to sneeze, only to stop it before it happens. What follows is a sort of empty feeling, like something is missing.
Had that feeling last night when I was listening to my old radio show for the night. Mystery Theatre was playing and just at the climax of the entire hour long program was about to take place, the recording ended. What a disapointment! It was a good one too! What an empty feeling. I guess that's what you get when you download stuff from the web. Hope tonight's is all there.
Have a great night.
Write ON!
Jerry 10-3-2002 0:17
How woman was created.....
First the Lord made man in the Garden of Eden.
Then he said to himself, "There's something he's needin' ".
After casting about for a suitable pearl,
He kept messing around and created a girl.
Two beautiful legs, so long and so slender,
Round, slim, and firm, and ever so tender.
Two lovely hips to increase his desire,
And rounded and firm to bring out the fire.
Two lovely breasts, so full and so proud,
Commanding his eyes, as he whispers aloud.
Two lovely arms, just aching to bless you,
And two loving hands, to soothe and caress you.
Soft, cascading hair hung down over her shoulder,
And two dreamy eyes, just to make him grow bolder.
'Twas made for a man, just to make his heart sing.
Then he added a mouth.............
Ruined the whole thing.
10-2-2002 21:08
Sounds like we're all sneezing, coughing, or dripping some sort of fluid into our keyboards... Nothing like a little windex on a cloth to cure any scariness on the keys. Wish windex would work on nasal passages!
Keep writing, no matter how cruddy you feel! Elaine: I think most of us have caught the same bug! Hope it's not transmitted via the internet.... :oD
Teek, did ya hear? You gotta come back and write, even if that means SHIVERING!
Miss you, ya monster.
Heather 10-2-2002 19:23
Hi, just wanted all to know, i'm alive, though I feel like a wreck. whatever I had a week or so is back and worse than it was before, unfortunately this time I'm back in school. EDDIE sorry to hear about ANITA. Have prayed and hope that all will be well. wrote another poem, will put it in when I have it with me. luv to all and a heartfelt wish that all of you are feeling better than I am at this momemt. That's all i had to say
Till Niagara Falls!
Elaine 10-2-2002 12:34
Been a long couple of days, thought that flu was over on Sunday, but it came back yesterday, and continued a bit today, but I think I'm about done with it. Didn't get much sleep last night, nor the night before, so I feel a bit like the walking dead.
I've had that fast slow feeling several times, the first was the most frightening, although many have come much closer to death, I think it was simply because I was young, and it was the first time.
I was working for a grain bin construction outfit; the boss was our next door neighbor, so he gave me a job even though I was much too young to be working at such business.
You may not be familiar with grain bins; they are round tall steel buildings that do nothing but store grain for the farmers, so they can keep it till the price is right. They are about thirty feet around, and when complete about two stories high. They are built by bolting together sections of rings, each about three feet tall. Most are built from the bottom up, using scaffolding, and it's the scaffolding that makes them so much work.
The neighbor, a graduate of the South Dakota School of Mines and Engineering designed a system of building them from the top down. He built a steel pole small enough to fit through the three foot hole in the center of the bin, where the farmer augers the grain in, then the top was built, followed by the walls, when one ring is done, the roof is pulled up by a series of ropes and pulleys, and the next ring is completed. The whole thing is held together by a series of guy wires.
Now this was a super system, and we set records for assembling the bins, and drew orders from all over the area. It was on our third job (each job consisted of at least three bins) that things began to go wrong.
What this fellow hadn't taken into account was the fact that nylon rope stretches, and nylon rope breaks when it rubs against steel. He was using nylon ropes to hold the pole up, and this day was particularly windy, a common problem in this area. When the wind took the bin, we would all rush to the side that came in, and push it back to keep the bin from being injured. We had caught that bin several times that day, when a particularly bad gust of wind came up, and the bin began to sway. I, like the others rushed to the side, and tried to catch the blowing bin. What we didn't know till later was that one of the guy ropes had broken, and the bin already three rings high could not be stopped from its path to the earth.
The rest of the fellows backed off, I couldn't as the pole caught me in my back, pushing me under the bin, as it fell to the earth. It was my good luck that the doorway of the bin allowed most of my body to pass unharmed to the other side, just my left arm was caught under the bin. The steel drug across my arm ripping huge chunks of skin and flesh from it before it dropped off my shoulder and dug over a foot into the earth.
They picked me up and placed me in the back of the bosses old Plymouth station wagon after wrapping my arm in an old tee shirt that we used for a rag, and drove me the thirty miles back to town, where the doctors stitched me back together, but that short four or five seconds that the bin was chopping at my arm, as the pole shoved me forward, I had time to think of several things that should have taken several minutes, such as what would I do without that arm, or will I die from this accident, where are the other guys? Why didn't the bin stop when we pushed? And about a hundred other questions.
I never went back to work for that neighbor and ten years later, I talked him out of a hostage situation, after he caught his wife in bed with another man, and, in fact I saw him again last year as the wife was seeing her doctor, we had a nice visit, even talked about that grain bin.
Jerry 10-2-2002 1:01
BTW, Mary! Have a wonderful trip! And....Hope you don't get booted when you are doing the Hemlock listing next time.... :oP
Heather 10-1-2002 22:26
Rachel - WHEW!!!!!! That is a real relief that you and your sisters and everyone else in the car are all right.
I know exactly the feeling of things being really fast and really slow right when you are in a situation where you know without doubt that it might very well be the death of you - both of my experiences had to do with cars. (Though I doubt that strange fast-slow sensation is limited to car experiences)
One of those strange 'fast-slow' experiences happened while I was in a car, the other when I was almost run over while on the sidewalk. Happened to me twice in one week, actually, a few years ago. Now that I look back on it, it was as if the Universe was telling me to get out of the nursing profession!!
The first accident happened on the way to nursing college, three of us in the car. The road was full of wet, almost-frozen mucky grey-brown slush. The driver (not me) was going too fast, and the wheels of the car went off the right hand side. He pulled the wheel too quickly to the left to get us back onto the road, and we spun all over the place, several 360 degree spins, right through the other lane of traffic and into the ditch, landing a foot from a telephone pole. We were extremely lucky to go right between cars coming the other way so we weren't hurt at all. We nearly had to turn for home to get new pants on, but other than that, we were fine!
The second incident was a few days later, as I was on my way to meet a VON lady(Victorian Order of Nurses) that I would be working with for the day. I was walking on the sidewalk, and happened to be at the bottom of a hill. Frozen river beside me, with a guardrail. A small car came down the hill (and there was quite a bit of traffic). I thought to myself, "That car's going to go out of control and come right up onto the sidewalk." Because of that thought I paid attention. The car did start sliding - there was still about a foot of thick, muddy slush everywhere. I had stopped walking, watching the car, waiting for it, coming up with a plan on how to avoid it (all in a few seconds which felt like about an hour!). It was sliding way too fast for me to start running and get past where it would probably hit. It came right up onto the sidewalk, and stopped an inch to two from my kneecaps. Had it hit, I would have either been bashed and pinned between car and guardrail, or thrown over the car, or even over the guardrail onto the thin ice of the river. I'm not sure, and I don't want to know! The car was very nearly into the guardrail itself, and somehow it just came to a stop before it hit me or the rail. The driver was having a conniption (one of my favourite Bill Cosby sayings) and strangely enough, I was the one to go up to her window and ask if SHE was all right! I don't remember if she was able to say a word. I continued on my way shortly, and had a strange day with the VON. I was perhaps in shock for a while, but I think the day would have been almost as strange without the near-accident.
Anyway, sorry the blather on.....!!
I'm so glad you're ok and that your children still have a mother! That would have been incredibly tragic. (((HUGS)))
Mary! Hope you got all of my emails! I am having a yard of fabric sent to you as the seller wouldn't ship to Canada for less than a personal fortune, LOL. It's awesome and you'll peakfreen when you see it. Vintage fabric with medieval knights and maidens, based on the artwork of Sulamith Wulfing.
The little book I have of some of her works was published in 1980, Amsterdam. On the back cover it states that she was born in 1901, in Elberfeld, Germany. I believe the artist is deceased (or else she's 103). If anyone happens across her artwork on the net somewhere, it's worth the look! I'm going to be searching for links tonight. I can hardly believe I found fabric based on her amazing artwork!
Eddie and Anita - great news! I sure hope it continues!
Mark - were you able to open the wordpad file? :o)
Heather 10-1-2002 18:56
Hi all,
A much better day today. Anita seemed so much more in charge of her emotions. She smiled a lot and even joked, though she is concerned for an elderly lady in the next room who cries out in the night.
We had a pleasant couple of hours together. I got a talking to about the home finances!!
As I said, She is amazing.
I will keep you informed on her progress
Ed
Eddie French 10-1-2002 17:20
RHODA: Well, if we are talking a genteel way to do things, some way a lady or peasant woman would go about the message is to take certain herbs, tie them in a bundle with black ribbon (or sometimes red) and leave them somewhere that the intended receiver would find them. The place you put them would usually reveal who they were from. A jealous lover might slip them under a pillow, someone threatening your job might leave them in the place of business. Most often, when you get a threat, you know where it came from. If that seems like a feasible way of getting your message across, let me know and I will find out which herbs say what to the receiver. I am going by memory on that 'ill-wish' posie thing, so it might take some digging. Good luck.
HEATHER: I tried listing a Hemlock on eBay today when I listed some things for Gary, but it keeps kicking out my html. I am leaving in about an hour for Columbus for three days, so I will have to wait to try again until I get back.
I haven't read all the messages, so please forgive me if I missed anything. EDDIE: I hope that all is looking up for Anita and your family. RACHEL: I am glad you didn't get dead in a car accident. I will have to tell you about my moment of 'slow motion' waiting to die in a car wreck when I get back.
Take care all.
OH..umm...Shortie night theme for this week is: Dangerous Liasons
Mary 10-1-2002 16:25
RACHEL,
Glad to hear that you and the other ladies are OK. That would be terrifying. I am also sorry to hear about your loss.
Rhoda 10-1-2002 15:28
Debra,
Thanks (hugs). I talked to the sister who was the driver a few minutes ago. She is now angry with the driver of the truck that nearly saw us on our way. I think that is better than being shockish. Anger is a pretty natural reaction to that sort of thing. We were talking about how if we had been killed it would have left fourteen children without mothers in our family. That would have been quite an afternoon for our little tribe.
Has anyone here read "Toilers of the Sea" by Victor Hugo?
Rachel 10-1-2002 12:46
VIV,
Yes, Barbara also writes stories about Anime characters she makes up. Sailor Moon started it all for her, and I do think it is great that Barbara is being so creative with it, but she is very intent on Anime, and I get a bit concerned with it being the center of her focus, but then again I remember being much the same way about things that interested me as a teen.
I have noticed that some of the Anime DVD's she has bought do use some bad language and are occultist. Barbara tells me that much of the Japanese stuff is hard to find here in the states. The really bad stuff is sometimes cut.
I am not considering poisoning, though that is a good thought for some other part of the story. The mushrooms were HOWARD's take on what I posted. What I am thinking about is something that depicts a curse or a warning, not something to actually harm someone--just something gross and threatening to shake them up and get the point across that you want them to clear out. Perhaps a dead animal or some Celtic warning written in blood. I have found some web-sites that might help.
Rhoda 10-1-2002 11:52
Rachael:
Thank goodness you're okay. You'd be more than missed around here.
Debra 10-1-2002 11:34
Hi all,
I'm feeling strange today. Yesterday was the funeral for a member of my family. She lived well. She died well. It was breast cancer that ended her days. While my sisters and I were driving back from the funeral we very nearly joined the newly departed member of our family. You ever have a moment when you really think you're going to die? Everything happened so fast(but at the same time seems really slow), I had time to scream and strain away from where the impact looked like it would be. My sister, the one driving was very shaken up (she and my other sister also screamed, I wasn't alone in that). She kept saying how sorry she was for almost killing us. I will need to check in with her today to be sure she is okay.
I'm feeling pretty fortunate to be alive today.
Warm thoughts to all of you.
Rachel 10-1-2002 11:22
Rhoda: I'll check and see if you can get hallucinations from eating just a bit of the poisen gland of a Fugu fish. From what I've heard, it's an agonizing death that arrives quickly after the ineptly prepared Fugu sushi is ingested. I think we need to look further into fish that can provide hallucinations in small doses. Oh what fun!
Viv 10-1-2002 9:57
Rhoda: My daughter likes to draw Anime. Here the kids start doing that in grade school and it's a habit that continues all the way up through college. It's a real passion with them. They begin by copying then branch off into stories of their own. Does your daughter do this too?
I think it's kind of neat because it encourages writing and imagination.
I know she sneak reads manga at Juku. It's not really considered to be ok reading material for the kids here. It's often really obsene and violent. That's why I know they sneak read it. There is always a group of kids with a manga in the corner of about any classroom. They giggle over it for awhile, trade it around, and copy the pictures. I am almost sure if I really went through my daughter's book bag that I'd find a copy. She knows me though and hides them well!
Howard: That's a Fugu fish you are thinking about. It's expensive and I've never eaten it. There is a restaurant near here that serves it. I really should try it, but for about $100.00 for a plate of thinly sliced fish, it's not something I want to order. I keep hoping someone will treat me to it! If I ordered it myself, I'd get a stomach ache when it came time to pay the bill. Actually, I'd hope to be sick and carried out of there...with my wallet intact.
Your mushrooms sound interesting. I'd like to try them. I'm hooked on shitake mushrooms. In fact, I grow shitake mushrooms. They are the blackish-brown mushrooms you always find in Chinese food. They are good for lowering high blood pressure. I had a chunk of wood in my bathroom one year and was able to grow mushrooms year 'round, but I got the reputation for growing "funny mushrooms". I decided to curtail my mushroom production and selected a nice patch of trees in the woods. I drilled into them, set the spore in the bark and now I have plenty during the fall and spring. I dry them so I get enough for a complete season. No one has found them so almost every night we have at least two to five mushrooms. You buy the shitake mushroom spore in the hardware store, find a few hardwood trees (I use two chestnuts and a cherry).
I need to get up early so I can get out first and collect all the chestnuts that will have blown to the ground during this typhoon. If I don't go early, the other housewives will beat me to it. We cook them with rice and a little sugar. It makes for a nice fall meal. I can hear the wind right now blowing the trees around. The rain has stopped for now, and now that the worst of this has blown through there is the promise tomorrow of a clear blue sky. What a relief after two days of heavy rain. The cat, the dog and I curled up and slept all afternoon, now we're restless and needing an outing. I'll have their company on my chestnut gathering.
Viv 10-1-2002 9:53
That's fact, not face...
howard 9-30-2002 21:26
VIV,
I was thinking about you just today wondering where you have been.
Welcome back!
My daughter was standing over my shoulder waiting for me to get off the Internet so she could us it. She wants to know if your kids like Anime. She loves it.
Rhoda 9-30-2002 21:26
VIV -- Do you eat your nasturtiums? They're very good in salads! And Welcome Back!!!
We had a delicious addition to our supper tonight -- Giant puffball mushrooms sauteed in butter and garlic. Dorie came in from the bird feeders yesterday afternoon and said "Go look in the lilac hedge!" I knew immediately what was out there, just from the way she said it! So I took a box with me, and picked half a dozen very nice white puffballs. They range in size from a baseball to almost a soccer ball.
Meanwhile, out in front of the house, there were some gorgeous white mushrooms that just popped up along the edge of the lawn. These, however, are amanitas -- variety "Destroying Angel." From what I've read they have excellent flavor, and people have said they were a wonderful meal -- then they died. Horribly. I picked these and tossed them into a chuck hole so the dog (or the kids) wouldn't get them.
We're starting to see lots of exotic wild mushrooms in the local supermarket. Some go for as much as $60-70 a pound! It's no wonder people were killing one another over prime mushroom habitat out in California a few years ago!
RHODA -- You might want to check into the possibility of poisonous or hallucinogenic mushrooms in Scotland. I know the ancient Norse used hallucinogenic mushrooms in some of their rites, perhaps the Scotti did as well. As a matter of face, there are certain fish that the Vikings used to dry and eat, that were poisonous in certain quantities, but caused hallucinations in lesser doses. Dunno if it's the same fish the Japanese consider such a delicacy that they'll risk death to eat one. They must be prepared exactly right or they're fatal to eat. VIV -- can you shed any light on that?
howard 9-30-2002 21:25
Oh Eddie,
I just saw your posts about Anita. What a scary thing to deal with! Our prayers for her continued recovery.
Sometimes I'm glad I don't have a magic crystal ball so that I can see ahead to the future. Better to just deal with all this one step at a time and concentrate on the small cheerful things that happen. Can your littlest heroine visit Anita? There's nothing like a child to take your mind off big troubles.
Back from the States. I went from a chill fall day, wearing long sleeve shirts and a light jacket to wearing short sleeve shirts and shorts. Here it's "typhooning" (gusts of hot rain blowing through on a regular basis. There I was watching the leaves turn gold and praying for rain.
I still feel like I'm living as a ghost somewhere in Denver! It feels strange to spend a month in one place that is so very different, then come suddenly back and take up a completely different routine. The strangest thing of all is letting go of the worries I had in Denver. (Oh, the toilet downstairs is running, and the bathtub upstairs has a plugged drain. Need to get to the hardware shop, and I don't have a car...I wonder which bus will go there).
It feels so strange to just drop the Denver worries and put on the Japan worries. It's almost like being a different person. I prefer to be the Japan person. Why? I'm earning money, not spending it. I'm with my family not alone. I'm doing something I know I can do because I've done it time and again.
When I got back to Japan my roses were in full bloom, my basil and oregano ready to harvest and the Nasturtium spilling out of the pot. Little red Impatients were all over, and I can't remember planting them. It was nice to reverse the seasons and see my flowers again. As my family cared for the garden, I took it as a welcome home gift.
Viv 9-30-2002 20:47
HEATHER,
Yes, I am. If anything, it increased my self-confidence. I am also thinking ahead to the possibility that this editor might request to read the whole thing. It does not always happen, but just in case, I want to be somewhere near ready.
So, I am now writing up a storm. Not all of it is good, and I have had to redo some of it, but I am making progress. Really, you cannot write the first draft too fast. I really believe the most critical work is done in the second draft, but in order to have a second draft, you must have a first one, and that is the one that takes all the time.
MARY,
That information has been very, very good. Thank you again. I also need to look up some frightening, creepy way a Scottish Highland peasant might tell a rich, powerful Englishman to go to the nether regions (the ones way South of England). I read a book somewhere about leaving dead chickens about, but I don't remember if that was a Celtic thing. The way Highlanders always did it in the past was with the thrust of a sword, a shot-gun, or maybe an arrow, but I think a female peasant would seek a more subtle way.
Another hurricane!!! NOT!!! Go away, Lili.
Rhoda 9-30-2002 20:46
EDDIE,
Glad to listen. Thank you for trusting us enough to share. Still praying for you two.
Rhoda 9-30-2002 20:36
EDDIE -- Our prayers are still with you - give Anita our best.
howard 9-30-2002 20:12
Hi all.
Thanks again for the positive thoughts. Anita was a little down today. She is so scared that she may have another stroke and suffer more damage. On the positve side, she managed to walk a little distance with the aid of a stick today. I 'aquired' a mobile chair and took her for a walk around the grounds and gardens as it was such a nice day. We had a long intimate talk (the first time we had been alone since it happened.) I must admit, I am very frightened for the future. This monster which lived within her just struck without mercy and took away her strength and her mobility. It did it without warning. To be perfectly honest, it's just hitting home right now (for both of us)
I know that barring any further attacks we will get through this, but the fear is always there and so very real. I can't imagine how she is getting through each day with that fear. She is so much stronger than I would be.
Thank you all for listening.
Ed
Eddie French 9-30-2002 19:36
BTW, Howard, love the quote! That's just the type of humour to be found in excess around our house! :oP
Rhoda - Are you still cloud-walking after placing in the contest? I think it's wonderful (another Congrats!) and I hope it inspires you to keep sending your work everywhere you can!
Anita & Eddie - what's the latest news?
Heather 9-30-2002 17:20
My daughter just sent me this -- dunno if she's trying to tell me something or not...
----------------
A man is driving down a road. A woman is driving down the same
road from the opposite direction. As they pass each other, the
woman leans out her window and yells "PIG!!"
The man immediately leans out his window and yells, "BITCH!!"
They each continue on their way, and as the man rounds the next curve,
he crashes into a huge pig in the middle
of the road and is killed instantly.
MORAL OF THE STORY: If men would only listen.
howard 9-30-2002 17:19
Geez, it's so quiet in here, I keep wondering... Who farted?
Wasn't me! Honest!
HAHAHHAHAHAAAAAAAAA....
Oh, all right. I'll face it. I'm fabulously bored.
Heather 9-30-2002 17:15
MARY,
Thank you for the wonderful links. These will be a good start in my attempt to iron out those medical matters.
YANG,
Barium Sulfate for dinner. Yuck! Barium is very toxic, but Barium Sulfate is extremely insoluble. It would probably just pass right through.
I actually think YANG should take some more classes in English. Seems to me he got here by accident.
EDDIE,
Your wife and granddaughter are indeed remarkable ladies. My prayers are still with you all. I am glad to know Anita is doing better.
Rhoda 9-30-2002 9:33
Found a great quote tthe other day --
"Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and
he'll be warm for the rest of his life."
- Terry Pratchett
(Pratchett writes some real good SF)
howard 9-29-2002 20:36
Eyeball