My graphics below my post are broken. It's a sign from above (or below?) that a new layout is needed...I should do that today then.

I just edited a free class for PST on dealing with head lice. As most anyone who's ever delt with it, or anyone like me who deals with it quite often when they work with children, they know how absolutely disgusting, creepy crawly nasty lice are.

I itched through the whole thing.

Did you know 'eat your own head lice' is slang for liking someone? You didn't? Now you do, aren't you grateful? Or like me, completely grossed out.

I'm on week three of The Artists Way, it was given to me for Christmas and I didn't start it until, well, three weeks ago.

The Artists Way is like a twelve step, with twelve weeks of activities and things that encourage you to get past any blocks, hesitations or whatnot that may keep you from doing whatever art (or anything it is) that you do.

My biggest problems are that I let what people say ("that's great...but", "that's almost perfect", ect) get in the way of creating things or showing my creations to other people because I start to doubt my abilities. I also guilt myself when I work on anything at all that is purely for myself, because I feel like (once again thanks to people around me who think I should be more 'adult') I'm not being responsible enough to my life when I'm doing art, even though I know better.

You can't be a happy, healthy productive person to yourself or others if you're entirely selfless, you have to take care of yourself and do things that improve, empower and inspire you and make you happy in order to be a complete person, and doing so does not make you selfish or irresponsible.

The course requires you to take a once a week artists date with yourself, where you spend time with yourself doing things your inner artist (mine being a total gooby kid) likes to do. I used to do these types of things naturally, it was just part of my personality, and although I still do at times, it's rare that I do it without a slight nagging guilt for doing so. Just complete and total abandonment of responsibilities to act immature and do things on impulse for fun. Not because I have to, but for absolutely no reason at all.

The dates are what I have the hardest time with, partly because I have no time (and you've got to make it) and because I'm broke, also, because I feel extremely guilty over taking time for myself and not allowing anyone else to intrude on this time. (Which causes angry people, because I am not talking to them, doing things for them, ect)

I used to spend time every day fiddling with whatever projects I may have had, my MUD, my graphic design, Mister Sticky (a web movie/comic guy I draw), webpages, writing, just stuff that totally made me happy. There was no reason behind making layouts, I just made them to make them, but I was constantly getting 'why are you making that, if it's not being used for anything?' and sooner or later it wore me down. What exactly was the point of putting time into any project if it wasn't for something productive?

It also requires you to write three pages of anything every morning, aside from any writing projects, ect that you may have. This part is easy, it was just getting past the feeling that if I was writing it should be something productive (there it is again, the whole 'You must be adult' thing) but once I told myself I could write three pages of 'I'm writing three pages of crappy crap crap' over and over and it was ok to do that, that I was fine with it. Slowly I find stuff emerging from the brain drain, odd poetry, bits of stories, and it's fun.

It's definitely helping me get over the feeling like I have to spend sixteen hours a day working, and then take a ten minute break and go right back to work. This is not me, and this is not how I want to live my life, so why am I doing it to myself? Art is not synonymous with childish or irresponsible, and I'm not going to let anyone make me think otherwise.

It's awful when you've done something wrong, and you knew it was wrong when you did it, but your brain is separate from your body and you watch yourself in disappointment from some odd-shaped glass box far away do it anyway.

Ah..

And then later, when you apologize (because you will, because you're a good person and good people don't do things like that, and when they do, they apologize) the person doesn't listen to a thing you say.

So, then you're left with a doubt. Maybe you're not a nice person? Maybe you just think you're nice, but you're really this irresponsible, judgmental, horrid person some people you know like to accuse you of being. Then you really start to kick things around, are you too angry? Too bored? Too stressed? Maybe you're snapping at everyone and don't mean to, maybe everyone does hate talking to you like those people say. Even when your rational mind is screaming "Crazymakers" at you, and you know better then buy into that hokey crap that these people have tried to label you as, you find yourself doing it anyway.

Over, and over, until all that's left to do is choke on it all and take a nap.

Happy Valentine's Day to you. :)

My dog has figured out how to dislocate her shoulders, pull a David Copperfield and get out through the cat door.

This is not good. Any suggestions on how to keep the dog inside without having to play doorwoman for the cats at the front door?

I'm moving furniture around in my room tonight so I can set up DDR. I miss it. I'm having withdrawls, I'm doing the steps when I dream. It's driving me crazy.

Anyone wanna come over and dance with me? It's fun, I promise.

I need new pages for my day planner. I've been using Outlooks planner and it's just not the same, and since I don't have a PDA to put that information in and take it with me, I'm not quite sure what's when if I have to make apppointments outside of being here to put them on my calander. Unfortunatly, I don't even know where in the world I'd find them. Last year it took me a week of searching office supply stores and drug stores before I finally found them. Hopefully this time won't be as difficult. One of these days I'll finally learn, and buy two of everything and then I won't have to go searching so much.

I should go get that today. Right now, even.

I love Quizno's new commercials. They're just not right, and so I find them beyond amusing. Little odd spongmonkeys with goggle eyes, one playing a guitar the other screaming bad songs at you that have nothing to do with sandwiches whatsoever but still manage to catch your attention.

I love it.

If you haven't seen them, you can catch a few clips of what they're like on Quizno's website (the two on the front page are the same in the ads), and even download a screensaver (yes I did, you can also view a part of them singing there) that has random clips of the singing thingies. I'm trying to find a place that has the whole commercials for download, if I find it, I'll post it here. If you're anything like me, you'll find it amusing too.

With the new year for me has come an oddly serene new feeling that everything will work out. With so much on the horizon (trips, classes, more classes, work things, and the like) it's hard to feel anything but positive about the opportunities that are coming up.

Good stuff, this is. All of it. Everything from the YCC to school to all the education classes and organizations I'm a part of outside the college, to restarting my writing program and my stupid exercise program which requires getting up before God even cracks an eye. I like it, I like being busy. It's fun. It keeps me out of trouble, and as much fun as I am in trouble, I just can't afford another bench warrant.

And isn't this just the cutest baby ever?

Something's shaking with Blogger. Sometimes it loads IBOM sometimes it doesn't, it says half the archives are missing too. What kind of two bit joint are they running here? I pay good money for this! I didn't stuff all those envelopes with all those pretty blue and yellow bills and ship them Priority Overnight for nothing.

I think it's time for a layout change. I keep saying this, but I haven't found the time to put one together. I'm not sure what I want here either. Something fresh and new. Or, if time is lacking, something stale and moldy or un-original and stolen...

It's odd how things you never think will move along do, and things you think for sure will, don't. Just when I think I've got it figured out, something new (and not necessarally bad) comes along that gives all my marbles a good toss and I get to once again crawl around on the floor and gather them all back up.

It keeps things interesting though I guess.

Yesterday, in the series of two back to back meetings, I got the green light for a bunch of huge projects that are competely insane, and I can't wait to get them going. I'm a planner, and I love to take on big projects, and (contrary to what some people believe) if the project doesn't involve me, I always get them done and do them well. This is especally true with other peoples projects, or projects that involve work. (My priorities are simple, if it's work or a responsibility to someone else, it gets done first. If they're mine, sometimes I finish them and sometimes I set them aside until I know what direction I want them to go. And sometimes, I just get bored with it and have to take a breather until I'm ready to move the project along.)

One of the largest one involves PST (for those of you who don't know what PST does, our company teaches courses for people in Early Education fields (childcare, centers, administration, preschool teachers, ect) so they can get their yearly licensing hours so they can keep their certification) and the implementation of live courses (currently we do mail order and on-line courses) in the Oregon area. We've secured a lovely classroom and the most amazing timeslots to use this classroom so it's just perfect. Our first series of live trainings are set for April, and I'm really looking forward to having them moving along.

The second one, is one that has made everyone who's heard about it, save three people, call me completely insane. I teach a children's class once a week at a Center, and more and more (especally since spring and summer are not all that far off) I've slowly introduced alot of activites and structure to this class to keep it something that builds week on week, not just a bunch stand alone weekly classes. I've even started the planning of extra weekly classes for summer so that the kids who attend can feel like our activites span throught the entire week, not just when we have them, so that they feel like they're part of the rest of the activities in the Center.

My goal is to make the kids feel like their just as much members as their parents are, and have them really want to come back. So far I've been doing really well. I started with three kids a class, and I now average about 20 kids a class, with about 50 enrolled. What really tops it all though, is the parents tell me that the kids say they have to go, because they can't miss the class. That right there makes the not so great parts of it all worth while.

Anyway, one of my major ideas for expanding the class into a 'Center Program' of sorts if you will, is the plannings of some major trips. Normally my classes are set up in three month season blocks. Every three months there is a party, a field trip, a voulenteer session, a game day, a movie day, and a free play day. The rest of the days are filled with art, science or some other activity that fills up our hour. (Like next week, where we're blowing stuff up...it should be extremely entertaining.) But twice a year I'm going to start throwing a major field trip (major being one that either takes us out of the state, or includes an overnighter trip somewhere) and I got the green light to start planning some very big ones.

The first is for this July, for a summer camping trip, which isn't very major but does include an overnight so it becomes one of the bi-annual major ones. I haven't picked a place to camp yet, and I'm tempted to either make it a camping trip at a local state park, or a camping out in the Centers backyard as a test of how the kids will handle an overnighter so I know how the next one will go. Either way, this should be fun.

The second is in August, I've recieved a nod from the Aquarium for a private sleepover in one of their exhibits (this one, tell me that is not just awesome). I'm extremely excited about this, and have already started to do a bit of planning to make it a weekend trip to the beach that will include some other stops on the way.

The third, is next March, and is currently causing me to wonder if I got myself into something that will make me go grey. I got the basic go ahead to start the kids on thinking up ways to raise money to take them down to Disneyland. (Yes, me, a few adult voulenteers and nearly 50 kids going to Disneyland. I love it.) Unfortunatly I have absolutely no idea where to start with this thing. I contacted their group information line and requested information, and I'm thinking of talking to a (nice) travel agent who might be able to either help me set this up or point me in the right direction.

Sooo, all comments about me being insane aside, if anyone knows anything about planning a trip to Disneyland I could use some pointers right about now. Also, some fund raiser ideas, I already have a huge list of basic ones (yard sales, bake sales, car washes, ect) but I could use some ideas on some really creative ones.

And maybe let me borrow a few of your marbles.

After busting my rump all week long, pulling 12+ hour days sitting here staring at my computer being pulled in sixty directions at once and the majority is customer service (80% of that thanks to the live customer support script I added which keeps me thinking I should make a pretty template for the chat room to make it more cozy, because I'm spending an awful lot of time in there) I am completely ready for a nice long day off. However, since it looks like that won't happen until Jevus finally comes back to take us all to be shooed away from the pearly gates, I'll have to settle for a nice long evening reading a book.

So last night as I was digging through a box of stuff I had packed, I came across this book which I didn't even know I owned. Campy Sci-Fi novels aren't something I generally buy so I was surprised I had it, but lacking anything better to read (also known as being too lazy to drag out any more boxes to find something) I sat down and read it.

It was interesting, it definitely made for an amusing evening of reading for sure. Now all I need is one to read tonight. Hopefully I'm done with work before it gets too late. Once it starts getting dark outside I start getting really drained. I've been pulling 6 to 6 (and sometimes 10) nights alot lately, and it's just going to get more busy, but this is alright because 'more busy' not only equals bad grammar, but it also means that I'll have money to pay off all those friends of Guido's who just don't love me like he does.

For those of you looking (like I was) for the translated lyrics to Cho (Fatal Frame 2's theme song), here they are. Got to love it.

Just because I decided to be a sheep for a minute, I retook this test I took ages ago:




Why do I feel oddly ashamed?

For those of you who are currently looking for a Live Help program that won't cost you an appendage and your first born child, I give you (a link to) Help Center Live. Not only does it cover Live Support, it also has e-mail support, FAQ support, and trouble tickets. It has everything alot of those programs are charging $300.00+ for. Top it all off? It's free.

Holy jezum crow.

The program installed without a hitch on one of my business sites (something which never happens and was terrifying in itself) and the next release (which comes out in Feb) includes fun things to make it more easily customizable and efficient. So, if you've been looking for one, there you go.

Also, my wickedly naughty cat, Ewok, who's been missing for the past five days and presumed kidnapped has returned home. I suppose I can put in that call to tell the National Guard they don't have to come out here now.

According to 'people who know' 23 is some sort of odd turning point year for me based on my numerological score or some woohoo type stuff I didn't quite get. Although numerology fascinates me, it also bares a vague resemblance to math (I think it's the numbers) and so I have a heck of a time not behaving like a distracted two year old when someone is explaining to me how it works.

Although, I have to agree with them, it's only been two months since my birthday and it's already been a weird year, but not in a bad way, and that's alright with me.

I'm hoping though that this year turns out better then last year, which was just one of those years that make you rig an eye poker with cotton on the pointy end so you can have the glee of poking yourself in the eye repeatedly without the pain. It was a frustrating year. A year that oddly resembled a paper-cut, but I giggled at it and moved along.

This year I decided will be good. Really good. Really really really good. I've got loads of nifty (and sometimes slightly naughty) stuff lined up for the next eleven months, and hopefully it all turns out....well, good.

Maybe even sailor good.

Today I officially unofficially officially turned in my apartment keys. I had over a week ago, but my landlady called with another one of her 'could you for me' and I got conned into repicking up the keys and not only bug bombing the apartment for her, but cleaning it again and sorting and cleaning out all her ruined items (Probably.....40 boxes and a dozen bags of stuff, mainly books that were moldy and sogging) that got wet from the water heater that she stored in the garage while I lived there.

I've been moved out for nearly two weeks now and she's still calling Multiple times daily and taping notes to the front door of the apartment when I haven't been there in almost two weeks. I'm glad to be out of there and done with it.

Oh well, my next place will be better anyway.

Since February is fast approaching (the quickness of this is startling) it's time for a new layout here.

I expect good things from all of you in my mailbox before the first. Chop, chop.

When I got home from my long morning of running around like a headless chicken doing errands I made tea in this huge 64 ounce insulated mug thing I've got that I normally use for water.

Now, two and a half hours later it's still hot.

I love this thing.

I got a Paperwhite kit for Christmas. Although some people I'm sure would think it was a present only a few steps up from a Chia Pet, I thought it was really cool. They got planted and are currently over the kitchen sink in two pretty pots. They've even started to sprout already.

Once they root I'll move them to my desk, and then in a few weeks it will be like Springtime next to my lamp, but without the bugs and Daylight Savings Time.

I dragged my zombie like carcass to a party last night. (Happy Birthday Joe) It's the first time in a good month that I've done any sort of socializing that didn't have children or work or a current event in my life attached to it. It was a shame that I was too out of it to really enjoy it. I spent most of the night trying not to fall asleep or drool on the person sitting next to me.

I managed a bit of yacking it up with a fellow author, who hinted that she's got a new book on the way, but wouldn't really tell me more then that. I ment to ask her about her writers group, to see if I could still get back in it (I was invited once before but never made the meetings). I know that she was involved with two others one critique and one normal type writers group. I'd rather be a part of the latter then the first, I'm not quite prepared enough with any manuscripts to have them blown to bits. Unfortunately, my moronic-like state left me being a total airhead and I didn't remember about wanting to ask her until I was halfway home.

Other then that I mostly wandered aimlessly and stared off into space. Ate some good food, had a piece of cake (Which is surprising to me, because I never eat it), listened to people say some really touching things and cry. Luckily, I was too night-of-the-living-deaded out to cry. All in all, it was a nice quiet evening.

Today I plan on doing one last clean of the apartment (sans garbage in the garage that doesn't belong to me. I refuse to pay the money for a dumpster to throw away things that were ruined when the water heated exploded that belong to the owner. I'm nice, and I feel horrible about leaving garbage in the apartment, even if it doesn't belong to me, but my niceness in this situation is slowly evaporating) and returning the keys. Then I think I might just spend the rest of the day goofing off, maybe I'll make a new layout for IBOM or just be completely irresponsible. It is, after all, Saturday.

I found my frog charm bracelet last night. I know it's boring blog material, but nobody reads this anyway, so what does it matter what I post here?

A few months back I thought for sure that it got accidentally thrown away, and I was developing a twitch at the idea of having to rebuild it from scratch. So, off an on I spent some time surfing charm shop webpages, visiting bead shops and watching E-bay to see how much it was going to cost me to remake the bracelet. Last time, for those who care, it ran me about fifty dollars.

This time, from all the prices, it looked like it was going to run me around seventy. Seventy dollars for fifteen charms and a bracelet! That's nearly eight dollars a charm. For charms that half are smaller then your finger nail. It's disgusting, especially since I used to work in jewelry and know exactly how much all those charms really cost the sellers to purchase. Making a profit is one thing, ripping people off is another.

Lucky for me, last night while I was unpacking a box I found the bracelet. In the same sandwich bag it was in when I lost it. (It was in one, because one of the charms had pulled off it's jump ring while I was at a meeting and I had to stick it in something so I could fix it later. Yes, I have baggies in my purse, no it's not because I keep drugs in them. I keep those in a lipstick case.) Now, I can fix the charm and be on my merry way. Now, I can start a new charm bracelet. I'm thinking, something cute. I have a frog one (this one), a sesame street one, and a moose one (yes, mooses, I couldn't help it, the charms were too darn cute). I built those ones, I have my eye on a pre-built zodiac one, but I'm not sure I'll get it.

Whee! You can never have too many, you know.

Since I'm bored, here are all the charms that are currently on the frog bracelet. This is not including the gemstone drops I've got on there, I can't find those anywhere else. Those deffinatly would have been a pain in the butt, I would have had to order stuff to make them.

Froggy on the Moon

Frogs playing leapfrog

Frog on a lilly pad

Frog on a rocking horse

Just a cute froggy

I also have some others including two frogs hugging and a frog holding a teddy bear. Yes, I'm obsessed, but I can't help it, the cuteness, it's blinding.

"Mommy, when I grow up, I want to be a professional mover."

I'm almost all done moving. The only things currently left are large piles of things that don't belong to me in the garage. The more I stare at it, the more I'm convinced it's secrectly breeding when I turn my back. It's trying to breed enough to reach the step and get me. I think it overheard me mention the words 'trip to the dump' while I was wildly gesturing at it through the garage windows.

If I don't come back today, you know why.

So far I've managed to pin three owners of the Stuff in My Garage That Doesn't Belong To Me™ to come and get their stuff, or at least tell me what to do with their stuff. Unfortunatly other peoples things still remain, including the Landladies (whom, really was very illegal to store things in my garage) who asked me to just see if I could store it in someone elses apartment, which is something I'm not going to do.

I think I'm just going to have to leave it there, since it belongs to her. This eliminates nearly half of the stuff in the garage. This is wonderful, because it means that I'll be completely finished a good two or three hours earlier then I thought I would be. That is, of course, if I don't get smothered by disgruntled yard sale junk first.

Anyone have the translated lyrics for Tsukiko Amano's song 'Cho'? It's the theme from Fatal Frame 2 and I'm completely addicted to it's J-poppy goodness. However, I never got a chance to beat the game so I didn't get to see the translated subtitles of the song at the end.

If you haven't heard it, you can go to this site and it loads as the background music. It matches the game very well, and it's disgustingly catchy, even if it's in Japanese.

For those of you who are wondering, I managed to get to Chapter Seven. That means I had a couple chapters left before I beat the game, which makes me sad, because I never get to beat anything before the PS2 is removed from my house.

So, here are a couple questions answered for you and some of my mindless comments:

* No it's not scary, but there are a couple of spots where I giggled because something startled me. It's good clean creepy lights off after dark fun. Don't be a wuss, play it.

* It's gorgeous as all get out. Even if you don't like horor genre games, it's worth picking up just because it's so dang pretty.

* The ghosts in this one are harder, mainly because they show up in groups insted of just one at a time. Since they're harder in this game (although some people disagree with me on this, because of the way the camera works differently) they show up less often. I've heard people say they repop, but I've never had any repop on me. (and trust me, I spent a heck of alot of time wandering around the same areas) In the last game by the time I was finished I had shot more then 300 ghosts, in this one, by the time I finally had to let it go (crying and snivvling the whole time) I had only shot around 35. Not including door or unhostile ghosts. See, lots less.

* The storyline is pretty good and it's got a couple of nods to the first game that I really appriciated. Plot, got to love it.

It's good fun, and I suggest you go down and pick up a copy and give it a whirl. I actually rented mine, and I still have it. Thanks to the weather, I haven't been able to return it when it when it was due. Isn't that just the way it goes? I don't have the PS2 anymore and I've still got the game and I can't play it.

Mean, just plain mean.

Well, the lovely odd weather continues with three to five inches of ice on the ground for the last two days. It's like the whole neighborhood is my personal skating rink. Anyone want to race around the block?

Unfortunatly, along with this lovely looking 'Silver Thaw' comes fun things like power outages and million mile an hour falling shards of ice that have it out to puncture me in the top of the head. Luckally though the power is back on, and so is my internet connection. I don't much care about the `Net, I was more worried about the frost that was forming on the stuff inside my house because nobody had power.

It is pretty at night though, with the moon shining down on it. Everything looks like crystal. There is another weather system moving in tonight, that is supposed to bring rain. Hopefully rain of the non-freezing sort. The kind that won't knock out my power, or me if I cross the street.

I've been getting nudges from a couple friends about moving to Florida, and believe me, I've been thinking about it. I don't think my fingers will ever thaw, and if they do, I'll probably cry from the terrible burning needle-like pain that will follow.

Kelly is back posting to her blog! Hurray! I really did miss you posting, and I'm glad you're going to be posting lots and lots more. Kelly and her husband James are doing the Discovery Weight Challenge, and I've tossed around the idea of doing it myself, but the fact that the nearest place to do it is in Portland and I have no car is a serious lump in the road. So I think insted I'll just be doing what I'm doing, but more often, and posting more here and in CTF about the whole weight thing. Promise, post more...must....

With the weather the way it has been, digsusting, and the holidays and this gunk with moving, I just haven't been walking and dancing like I normally do. I've got to start doing it again though, however, I think since there is currently a blizzard warning for my area, walking will have to wait. We'll make up for it by adding an extra 40 minutes of being a klutzy dancin' foo a day. Sound good? Good.

My hair froze on the way to work today, it was like straw. How cool is that?

They're closing schools four hours early, and telling people if they have to work past three to get off early because they're expecting a huge storm tonight.

Weather in Oregon, is as usual, very odd.

It started a bit over a week ago. Snowed over night (when they said it wouldn't, of course) a good four inches and over the next two days melted and turned into nasty ice. Then, when it was about completely gone, it snowed again, another five inches, and melted and turned into more nasty ice. Then, when it rained, and was about completely gone by yesterday, it started snowing this morning.

The serious side in me takes over for a sixth of a second, stares out the window and thinks "I'm not going to be able to get anything done in this."

The normal me, the happy, the silly, dorky me. The real me. The one that can make the best situation out of anything, takes it all in stride, and sees the humor in it. The one that has no problem with moving boxes in the heavy falling snow with six inches on the ground because it will be a great challenge and probably quite fun. The me that is perfectly fine with 9 P.M. snowball fights that span the whole neighborhood. The me that is cool with not being able to go anywhere because the UPS man can get anywhere and she'll just order her office supplies off the `net and becides, UPS guys are usally cute anyway. The me some people seem to want so badly to have me pack away in a box and put up on a high shelf somewhere and never take out again because they believe that me being honest and true to who I really am isn't 'adult' or 'responsible' enough because I'm not like them, because I deal with my situations differently then they do, and for me it gets things done, so what should it matter how it gets there?

That one? The real me? She stares out the window, giggles, finds her gloves, and goes outside.

Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas.

I love this time of year, and I love you too. :)

Current Christmas Song: Bela Fleck & Bob James - White Christmas

Well, I've given notice. In two weeks I shall be offically homeless. Not for the first time either, fun stuff.

No I haven't posted about it, or even explained it to alot of you, and I don't think I'm going to. I might go into it in detail, but then again I'm awfully tired of the whole situation so I might not. Maybe when it's all settled I will. Although, it will be hard to blog from my brand spanking new stove box under a bridge.

This should be fun. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

For those who were worried like I was and didn't hear, Persa, a fellow blogger who went missing is safely back at home.

Very, very good news. Glad you're back, Persa.

Current Christmas Song: Reel Big Fish - Mele Kalikimaka

I got The Fountainhead today in the mail as a present. I will read it, and then return to you my baffled and shallow thoughts on it.

Sound good? Good.

Yay! Sheep time! Let's do the Friday Five, cause everything else I have to post about is serious, and I want to pretend it's not there for just a little while longer.


1. List your five favorite beverages.
Root Beer
Russian Tea (which kills me, but it's worth the pain)
Green Tea
Vanilla Coke
Water!

2. List your five favorite websites.
I don't really have any favorites. The ones I visit on a daily basis are blogs.

3. List your five favorite snack foods.
Green Olives
Soy nuts
Those weird freeze dried fruit
Hard candy
Lately, jerky

4. List your five favorite board and/or card games.
Candy Land
Candy Land
Candy Land
Candy Land
Candy Land

5. List your five favorite computer and/or game system games.
Oh it beats me, anything horror themed I love.

Wow, I'm so boring. Nevermind, let's not do the Friday Five anymore, it's just going to prove how very shallow I am.

Current Christmas Song: Eugene Maslov - Come All Ye Faithful

The conversations I have when I'm bored, and avoiding work.

Saetan SaDiablo: We're gonna have tuna for dinner!

Saetan SaDiablo: I was playing the bum and hangin' in the kitchen

Rhea Rhyolin: Ewwwwwwwww

Rhea Rhyolin: Tuna is gross.

Saetan SaDiablo: Is not, it's good.

Saetan SaDiablo: Fish is gross though.

Rhea Rhyolin: No, it's nasty.

Rhea Rhyolin: Tuna is fish, mook!

Saetan SaDiablo: Is not, it's fake.

Saetan SaDiablo: It's dolphin.

Rhea Rhyolin: ::laugh::

Rhea Rhyolin: It's baby

Saetan SaDiablo: baby dolphin?

Rhea Rhyolin: Baby people!

Rhea Rhyolin: Tuna is baby people!

Saetan SaDiablo: Ew.


Make me get back to work somebody, and do it quickly.


Current Christmas Song: The Beegie Adair Trio - Let it snow

Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to mee-ee. Happy Birthday to me.

You want a Christmas card from me? Even if you don't celebrate Christmas? Yeah, I knew you did.

Pop me by your address so I can stalk you as l send you one. I have five left, so hurry hurry hurry before they're all gone and you don't get a sappy folded cardboard greeting from yours truly.

Current Christmas Song: Jimmy Durante - Frosty The Snowman

We're avoiding the inevitable meeting that slowly approaches this morning at work, so we're doing the Friday Five and talking about ourselves in the plural.

1. Do you enjoy the cold weather and snow for the holidays?
I love snow, I'm not a huge fan of the cold, especially not when I have to drag myself out of bed at 4:30 AM to go walk/jog in it. Snow around Christmas is perfect though, it can snow the day before, melt the day after. Tada, perfection.


2. What is your ideal holiday celebration? How, where, with whom would you celebrate to make things perfect?
Anywhere that's all decorated up, with all the people I love in one spot (actually tolerating each other for once) is my ideal holiday celebration.


3. Do you do have any holiday traditions?
I get my Christmas tree on my birthday, and usually finish decorating then too. Last few years Christmas has been at my house, I suppose that's the new tradition. Always watch the Grinch (cartoon, not the dumb movie) at least 100 times a season, and the holidays haven't started until they play it on T.V. for the first time.

4. Do you do anything to help the needy?
I do what I can when I can, and then daydream that I'm rich and can do so much more.

5. What one gift would you like for yourself?
I want all of my friends in one spot in a cabin in the woods for Christmas. That would be the perfect gift.

Current Christmas Song: The Frogmen's Chorus - The Twelve Frogs of Christmas

I'm taking a break from work to post. Actually, I'm avoiding work by using the excuse that I'm taking a break from work to post. Either way, here I am.

It's not raining today, as much as I love the rain, I am kind of glad for the lull in spittle from above. The reasoning is not because I'm tired of it, but because my living room is slowly turning into an indoor pool. Pretty soon it will be full enough that I can switch on the base board heaters, throw in a gallon or two of chlorine and open it up to the public.

Christ.

The leak, which started a little over a week ago in one spot, has slowly but surely spread itself over a good two foot by two foot area. However, it's not leaking in that entire area, just in certain places that systematically change overnight to miss the saucepans thus ensuring the thorough saturation and ruining of my living room carpet.

If my landlady asks me why I haven't paid rent yet, I am not responsible for the words that come out of my mouth.

Current Christmas Song: Low - Silent Night

Today, as I was walking through the grocery store, I turned the corner and there sat Santa. Decked in his fuzzy white and red suit and settled in a not-so-cozy looking chair next to a table where children were happily decorating gingerbread houses with oozing gooey substances and colorful flecks of sugar.

"There's Santa." I said, shuffling the groceries around in my arms.

"Yep, there's Santa. Why don't you go over and sit on his lap?" She said.

I thought it over. Yes, sitting on Santa's lap would be something I would do. I was after all, wearing a quite flattering pair of belled raindeer antlers. I've got nothing against the man. He's Santa, you've got to love Santa.

"Ho ho ho, you want to sit on my lap? Is that what you said?" Eyeing us walking by, Santa gave another laugh.

"No, I meant she can sit on your lap." She said, gesturing at me with a grin.

"Oh, it's Christmas!" He said, spreding his arms with a really quite naughty glint in his eye. "I think you can both sit on my lap."

Oh yes, Santa. Got to love the man.

Yay! As you can see, I changed the layout for the holidays. This is an older layout I used a couple years ago, but with a few minor changes. Fun stuff!

For those of you wondering, I once again didn't finish NaNoWriMo but I've decided to keep writing on it. When I get it transfered to this computer I'll put a link up so you can read it.

(Reposted from The Pevert Club)

Many of you know Persa, the awesome girl from FearlessZippy.com and a frequent reader of my blog. She's done the Blogathon for the last couple of years and everyone who knows her adores her. This is serious stuff, a couple days ago she went missing and her family needs help in finding out where she went.

More information on this can be found at this page http://www.zulas.com/persa.htm if you've seen her, IMed with her, E-mailed with her, anything lately or might know where she is please please contact her family.

Also, for those of you who know Persa or even those who don't, please post this information to your blog and ask others to do the same so that it can get out and she can know that we care and we want her to go back home. Thanks, and Persa, if you do read this, go home hon, they miss you.

Happy Turkey Day. :)

I haven't posted in ages, this means I should be flogged, however I ask that you save up your floggings till after November so that I'm not incapacitated by said beatings and rendered unable to write.

Good? Good.

I'm up to nearly 30k, I've been writing on a terribly old Laptop by Zenith. Yes, it scares me too, but it makes a very comforting heavy clacking noise when I push down on the keys. This is either helping me to write or entertaining me, possibly a combination of both. I'm easily entertained, so you never know.

Hopefully I get time to transfer it to this computer (I'm pretty sure I'll have to retype it all by hand, that should be fun) within the next couple of days so people can read what's going on. (or, find out what happens to the envelope, which amsuingly enough, will make a handful of you very angry with me.) I haven't done it sooner and I'm sorry, thanks to those of you who IM (or send e-mail, or call, or show up at my house in the middle of the night) and support me or bother me about the story and why I haven't posted. The encouragement is greatly appriciated, the dead mice and blood written letters are...eh...not so much.

Anyway, I'm off to write some more. I promise to update daily from now on, like a good little girl should.

Happy Birthday Lane. Love you.

If anyone who runs the Ornament Exchange reads this, I've sent my real address to you three times now, if you don't get it, IM me at RheaRhyolin or leave a message here and I'll post it to my blog. `Cause, taking me down would be mean. ::sniffle::

Rhea Rhyolin: Make me write, man
Saetan SaDiablo: ....
Saetan SaDiablo: write
Rhea Rhyolin: I made myself chocolate milk, as a bribe. "Self," says I "If I make you chocolate milk, you'll write three thousand glimmering words of perfection tonight"
Rhea Rhyolin: "Yes Self," I said "I will"
Rhea Rhyolin: So I did
Rhea Rhyolin: And I'm not
Saetan SaDiablo: lol
Rhea Rhyolin: and I'm so disappointed in me
Saetan SaDiablo: Bad girl.
Rhea Rhyolin: Yes!
Rhea Rhyolin: Now I'm just full of chocolate milk
Rhea Rhyolin: and still avoiding work!
Rhea Rhyolin: Perhaps I need more?
Rhea Rhyolin: Perhaps a second glass will motivate me?

Perhaps.

I've been writing, it's just been so sparse that I don't have enough to justify a chapter post. The guilt has gotten to me and I am writing right now, and there will be a chapter post by the end of this evening. Hopefully a long one, one that isn't as achingly mind numbing as the last.

Is anyone even reading this? If you are, you should leave me comments. Better yet, leave me presents.

Mmm...oh yes, presents will motivate me.

Chapter three is up, my progress is quite slow. Chapter three also sucks, I apologize for this. Oh well. What can you do right? Becides steal someone elses....
hm...

There is an idea.

Words Written Today: Roughly 1300

Total Words: 4320 or some nonsense

Today is our scrumptious Prana's birthday, so in honor of Pran's birthday (Happy Birthday Dahling!) I will be taking a day off of writing to pay humbled homage to the wonderfulness that is my mentor and hero, Prana and reflect on how I too can be more like Prana.

I will also be hiding from said wonderfulness so she can't beat me for this post. If you need me, I'll be under the bed.

Happy Birthday Prana!

Currently writing. I'd write faster if people left me sweet, glowing, and support laden comments about how much they worship and adore me, but they don't, so I don't.

Mores the pity.

Quick update. Chapter two is up, chapter three will be up tomorrow by evening at the latest. Remember, chapters aren't chapters, just what I've gotten done in a day.

Current word count, incase you're wondering, is just a smidge over 3000. Hopefully I can hit 6000 tomorrow and then work towards the 15000 I want by Saturday.

Until then, I'm heading off to go rot my brain in front of the T.V. and steal plot ideas from the shows.

Day four of NaNoWriMo, finally got IBOM back open to chronical my horridness. I'm still working on redoing the pages to match this years, since for those of you following my novel exploits you'll recongnize this layout from two NaNo's ago.

I'm lazy, what can I say. I apologize for the stinkyness of this layout, I just didn't really have the gumption to do anything more creative.

Anyway, it's all up, editing and putting up of what I've got so far of the 'novel' to follow.

NaNoWriMo has started once again, so this post will be short and to the point. Watch this space for cursing, small sample postings, word counts and pleas to have you tell me to quit because I write rubbish.

I've got a tiny heads up from last year because this year I've got most of the novel outlined, however, I'm not sure if that'll help.

Anyway, first goal? 1000 words by tonight. Let's see if we can do this, shall we?

I was in The Dollar Tree (I heart) the other day buying cheap and worthless items for the YCC Party the other day. Cheap and worthless because to a bunch of 2 to 12 year old kids the cost of the item doesn't matter, all that matters is that it tastes like refined white sugar and resembles severed parts. Oh, and if it makes noises that resemble human bodily functions, the more the better.

While I was there, I ran into (almost literally because she's nearly blind) my Great Aunt. I was holding the door open for all the people coming in and going out, like a polite girl should, when she walked by me. My Great Aunt is the type of person who reuses plastic wrap, feeds her guests ten year old frozen left overs, and goes to places like The Dollar Tree to buy off-brand German Chili for twenty cents a can. She also turns her hearing aid off whenever you talk to her.

Yeah, one of those relitives.

"Hi Darthee" I say, ever the nice tolerant neice, "How are you today?"

Yes, her name is Darthee. Spelt just like that. Don't ask me, I can't tell you.

She squinted at me for thirty seconds before saying, "And who is it I'm speaking to?" Which is exactly what I figured she'd say, after all, I'm the invisible one in the family.

"It's Jamie" I reply.

It's here where I am highly thinking of tracking down the services of a good clergy man and begging for forgiveness. Because, when she asked who I was, I, with horrible glee honestly debated the idea of telling her that I was Jesus, landing in the parking lot of the Keizer Dollar Tree on my sparkly white cloud, come to whisk her away from worldy sin, and take her home.

It was mean, and I apologize.

I will go down with this ship,
I won't put my hands up and surrender.
There will be no white flag upon my door,
I'm in love and always will be.

Congrats to Robin, who on October 18th gave birth to a 13 pound, 23.25 inch boy. Let us all now cringe in pain, for poor robin. Congrats also to Robert, the proud father.

Love you!

Stolen from Fred's journal, and then done because every now and then it's fun to revert back to Jr. High. `Corse, all people mentioned herein are people who read this journal, and since only my darling net met friends read it, only people mentioned are you! Aren't you special? Yep...you are. Now, you fill it out.

[My name is]: Jamie
[In the morning i am]: Quiet
[I dream about]: Novel ideas and a man who's face I can't see

-W I T H .T H E. O P P O S I T E. S E X-

[What do you notice first?]: A guys personality. You can tell right away if a guy is a good person or someone you just don't want to be around by the way he behaves. And hands...I like guys hands.

[Last person you slow danced with]: My ten year old brother.

-W H O-

[Do you have a crush on?]: You! Yep, that's right, I have a crush on you.

[Easiest to talk to]: Michael, Fred, Ally, Melissa, Robin, Kelly, James...um, everyone.

-H A V E .Y O U . E V E R-

[Fallen for your best friend]: Yeah. Every time I've ever fallen for a guy, he's been my best friend at the time. The whole friendship thing is important to me.

-W H O . W A S . T H E . L A S T . P E R S O N-

[You talked to on the phone]: Selene
[Hugged]: Lane
[You instant messaged]: Caleb
[You laughed with]: Fred

[Could you live without the computer?]: Yep, because I have everyone's phone numbers.
[What's your favorite food?]: Bocca burgers
[Whats your favorite fruit?]: Peaches
[What hurts the most? physical pain or emotional pain?]: Emotional. I have a seriously high physcial pain threshold, but I cry at dog food commercials.
[Trust others way too easily?]: Why shouldn't I?

-N U M B E R-

[Of times I have had my heart broken? ]: Oh a few
[Of hearts I have broken?] : I've made mistakes and hurt people, everyone does.
[Of boys I have kissed?] : Lots! Because I'm a total flooz!
[Of girls I have kissed?] : Define 'kissed'? Friendly? Greeting? Changing teams?
[Of drugs taken illegally?] : None. Wait, that's not true. I took someones Vicodin once because I was hospital bound and they take too long to get to you. Lock me up!
[Of tight friends?] : I adore all my friends, not only because they put up with me, but because they're themselves.
[Of cd's that i own?] : Slues, before the evil record companies got more evil, now I only buy independent bands CDs.
[Of scars on my body?] : Four. Left hand where I split my palm open with a butcher knife. Right knee where I sliced it open on construction cable. Right big toe where I sliced it open on brick. Forehead, from chicken pox.
[Of things in my past that i regret?]: Nothing. I handled situations to the best of my ability at the time, and that's good enough for me.

-O T H E R . T H I N G S-

[I know]: things. About you. Lots of dirty, dirty things.
[I want]: to really believe that 'I am fully equipped for the divine plan of my life' like the card says.
[I have]: everything I need.
[I wish]: I was comfortable financially. - You and me both brother!
[I hate]: nothing.
[I miss]: certain people. Sometimes.
[I fear]: that I'm not smart enough, or good enough.
[I hear]: the ever so sexy Perry Mason.
[I search]: for the perfect taco salad.
[I love]: where I am.
[I ache]: noplace.
[I care]: for everybody.
[I always]: want it better for you, because you deserve it.
[I dance]: like a chicken.
[I cry]: because it's good for me.
[I do not always]: believe in myself.
[I write]: because if I don't practice, I'll never dethrone Stephen.
[I confuse]: myself, more often then not.
[I can usually be found]: being me.
[I need]: scary, sin invoking material things. A car, better money, an ice cream cake for my birthday. Maybe someone who loves me, that would be nice.
[Have you ever played a game that required removal of clothing]: Ha!
[If so, when and with who]: Hmm..
[Favorite place to be kissed?]: Wrist. Why did I blush typing that?
[Have you ever been caught "doing something"]: Ha!

- A R E . Y O U . A . . . -

[Wuss]: When it comes down to the grit, no.
[Druggie]: No.
[Gang member]: No.
[Daydreamer]: It's a curse.
[Alcoholic]: No.
[Freak]: Yep.
[Brat]: In a good way.
[Sarcastic]: Yes, but it's tasteful!
[Goody-goody]: According to Fred 'Kind of...yeah.'
[Angel]: Yes! And you can't prove different!
[Devil]: Sometimes all you need is a little naughty.
[Friend]: Till the end, like a good Care Bear should.
[Shy]: More quiet then shy.
[Talkative]: Once someone pulls my test tab, I don't shut up.
[Adventurous]: I love adventure. I once got someone lost in downtown San Francisco purely for the adventure. She, however, did not find it as exciting as I did.
[Intelligent]: I try hard.

- C O N C E R N I N G . T H E . F R I E N D S . Y O U . C L A I M . T O . H A V E . -

[Impacted you the most spiritually]: Ally
[Wish you saw more often]: Ally
[Wish you could meet]: All of them!
[Most sarcastic]: Fred, but Caleb pulls a close second
[Wish you knew better]: Ben
[Knows you best]: Ally, Fred
[Best outlook on life]: Michael
[Most paranoid]: Fred
[Sweetest]: Kelly


- S E L F . A N A L Y S I S . Y O U . P R O B A B L Y . D O N ' T . W A NT . T O . D O -

[Your best feature [personality]: I try really hard to be understanding of everyone, no matter what is going on.
[Your biggest flaw [personality]: I don't do good enough.
[Most annoying thing you do]: Apologize. I'm sorry about that.
[Biggest mistake you've made this far]: Never mistakes, just learning experiences.
[Describe your personality in one word]: Dorky.
[The physical feature for which you are most often complimented]: My hair.
[Height]: 6'2"
[A smell that makes you smile]: Rain
[A city you'd like to visit]: Paris
[A drink you order most often]: Dr. Pepper
[A delicious dessert]: Peach pie
[A book you highly recommend]: Any book. Reading is good for you.
[The music you prefer while alone]: Opera
[Your favorite band]: I don't have a favorite band. I like lots of bands.
[A film you could watch over and over]: Alice in Wonderland. It's a film, it is!
[A TV show you watch regularly]: Dead Like Me
[You live in a]: Triplex. In the middle one. Two bedrooms, a garage, a whole backyard to myself because my neighbors don't use it. I like it.
[Your transportation]: Bumming rides because I'm car-less.
[Your cologne or perfume]: None, but I do use orange cream hand lotion because it smells like heaven. I'd eat it, but it doesn't taste as good as it smells.
[Under your bed or in your closet you hide]: Boxes of stuff I haven't unpacked after almost four years.
[Something important on your night table]: My paper journal

Had a fundraiser for my YCC yesterday. It was an ice cream social, we turned the classroom into an ice cream parlor complete with wait to be seated signs and waiters and waitresses. The kids did an amazing job with taking orders and delvering orders, they even handled all the billing (done at the patrons table, of course) it went really great.

We served about seven different ice cream dishes (including these monster ice cream cookie sandwiches which nobody could finish..lol), and with only two of us in the 'kitchen' (the back half of the room where it's screened off) it was totally hectic. I also only ate a banana split yesterday so I was completely sick. I should have known better but it was sooooo nummy.

Unfortunatly, after expenses (because I was too wimpy to set the prices any higher) we only made $34.00 which wasn't as good as I needed it to be at all. So I'm going to put out a donation container and plan another fundraiser for January. I do hope that the small amount of money I made combined with the money I get at the first of the month as payment (I always put it right back in the class) it will cover the next couple months worth of activities until I can do another funraiser.

Next weeks class? Pumkins. Pumkin pie, pumkin seeds, pumpkin punch, carving and painting pumpkins. In the Salem area and have kids? Drop them on by the H.O.M.E Center next Sunday starting at 11:00. We're upstairs in the EASL/YCC room. It's an hour long, it's fun, it's free, and we'd love to see them.

Also next week we will be voting on our spring YCC feild trip and sending off information about our fall feild trip and Harvest Party which is at the end of the month.

After months of waiting for each episode, and cheering for the characters and being really freaked about being left hanging by the Fansubbers (I heart!) Scrapped Princess finally ended.

It was perfect.

Today a tiny factoid dawned on me a great bit thwack upside my already addled little head while I was in the middle of a conversation that had nothing to do with it (this just goes to show how absolutely spaztic I really am).

I've lived in my place for four years.

I've HAD my place for five years this next June, I've only lived there for four. It's a long story that involves lots of laziness and unwilling foreign bathroom fixtures.

Anyway, as I sitting in sort of a shocked shockness I baffled over how fast time goes by, how really little time people have and how important it is to me to accomplish everything I want. I also realized something else that completely soured my mood and is almost as sad and pathetic as not living in my apartment but still paying rent for almost five months.

I still haven't unpacked all my crap.

I love fall. Not for the changing colors, or the crispness of the air. Not for the back to school sales where in you can buy darling shoes and a matching handbag for less then got for selling your sisters used retainer on E-bay. No, I love fall because it is the only time of year you can get large quanities of candy corn without having to pay two bucks per ounce.

Mm. Candy Corn, how I love thee.

Being bored, I decided to amuse myself by seeing what was brought up when using 'Brighterskyte' in a search. Among the things brought up (every single one in referance to me. I'd grow an ego, if I could just get up the energy.) was the Googlisim on 'Skyte'.

My favorite? "Skyte is in for a serious beating in the near future"

Promises, promises.

I admit that I am one of those people who isn't lazy in the sense that they don't do anything, but I'm lazy because I do far too much and my other projects sometimes get kicked into the dusty corner of shame for a period of time. I don't abandon them forever. I come back sooner or later, dust them off, give them a kiss and keep on truckin', but some things just get neglected and then I have to beg for forgiveness. This ritual is not pretty, and does nothing for my self-esteem.

I haven't done a layout (and thus, this post is not being read by anyone but me, and the stalker who's figured out my password so he could read my posts that aren't getting posted) and I feel badly about this. Not because nobody gets to read my asinine thoughts, but because I enjoy my blog and feel it deserves more then the Kick.

I haven't made a new layout because between working, and planning events, and all the other things going on, I just haven't been able to staple my eyelids open long enough to get past the guilt that is injected into my brain whenever I work on something that is purely mine. Stupid, but sadly true. Topping it all off? I have no idea what I want here.

I want something good, something unique, something that will make me feel like I've got some kind of semi-decent skills insted of feeling like I'm some mutated cartoon character pounding away at the keyboard with my four huge white sausage fingers.

Maybe something autumny.

Finally! After years of getting the run around and turned down I managed to swindle a Pell Grant out of the college, and I didn't even have to sleep with anyone. I managed to land a pretty decent hunk of money for Spring Term. This gives me a little under five months to find a car and figure out how I'm going to swing everything I do every day and going to school full time since I have to go full time to keep the grant.

This should be fun.

I'm going back to schoooool, I'm going back to schoooool. Everybody do the happy shuffle with me now! Shuffle...shuffle...shuffle...


shuffle.

To the sweet older gentleman who had the heart attack while waiting in the Doctors office and had to be taken away by the ambulance, and his wife who was very worried. I hope everything works out for the best for you, and that you feel better soon sir!

To the mechanic who sliced his finger to the bone working on a rental car and needed eight stitches. Please forgive me for not telling you they called you but you didn't hear them because you were in the other room and on the phone yelling at someone. I feel guilty. I was torn. I am extremely sorry, and I do hope that they fixed your finger.

Thank you, that is all.

Today is officially Summers final wheezing last stand for me. It is both sad, and wonderful.

Hurray for fall! Hurray for back to school! Hurray for rain! Hurray for longer hours of darkness in which sleeping in like a bag of lazy flesh is almost justified! All of this of course also means I'll have to do my morning mile in the dark, cold and wet.

Oh well, I guess no matter what the season, you just can't win them all.

"Hey, spare me some change." He said, a foot away from them, waving his sign in their faces. His body language spelling out how he deseved all the loose silver in their purses and he deserved it right now. Maybe the copper too.

It was a pretty typical afternoon walking across the strip mall parking lot. Upper 80's, sun was shining, and the obligitory homeless man was accosting customers on the sidewalk. Shabby clothes, cardboard sign, sporting brand new nikes on his supposedly weary feet.

And they ignored him.

"You've got your whole lives ahead of you, you fat cows!" The three girls just sidesteped him and walked on. He walked on as well, in the other direction. One of those huffy angry walks, where you walk far fast and the red dosen't always let you see where you are going. Turning and twisting all the while to shake your fist at the object that made you so very livid. He turned completely around just as we stepped on to the sidewalk.

"Someday you could be in my situation! Homeless!" He screamed, his face red and his arms making wild, innapropriate gestures in the general direction of receeding backs. "Someday you'll be homeless just like me and that will teach you. Fucking bitch cunts." Still screaming at people who were long gone about how he deserved it, and muttering to everyone, and maybe even God, just how egocentric the people who had it all truly are, he turned and stormed down the sidewalk.

Pushing the door to the sporting goods store open I couldn't help but comment. "Nothing invokes a sense of charity in a person like a mouth full of slander."

I conciter myself a decent person. I can empathize with people who are in bad situations and I have no second thoughts or tiny voices asking me what in the world I think doing when I help them out. I don't ask what I'll get from it, it's just instinct. I like to help people, I like doing things for people. I don't do this to validate anything deep seeded nurosis or as a pathetic plea for friendship and I get highly offended when that is eluded to me. I enjoy it, and it is who I am, and if someone dosen't like that, then they don't like me being myself, and that isn't my problem.

I've worked hard on developing myself into what I think is a good person, a strong, well rounded, decent person who enjoys who she is and what she does. I don't feel I have to apologize, make exscuses, or explain myself to anyone about anything I do. I've still got weird things I'm working through, like letting people make me feel like I'm not good enough, or feeling like I have to apologize for every time someone else takes something wrong. I don't, I don't think anyone elses thoughts, I don't threaten their lives or leech on to them with my amazing psychic powers to force them to react the way they do, and I'm not responsible for how they take things in situations. I know I handle every situation to the very best of my abilities, and that's all I can do. If someone dosen't like that, well, that's just too bad for them. Maybe they need to work on their ability to handle situations, insted of questioning mine.

I still worry too much about hurting peoples feelings by speaking up for myself, which leads to me taking alot of oozing worthless verbal vomit off people because I still believe on alot of levels that letting them rip me apart with steely words is akin to respecting their opinion. That because they're my friends, and I respect them as people, that what they have to say is important enough for me to ignore the fact that it's innapropriate, cruel, or in most cases, wrong. I just let them have their say and change the subject, I don't take it to heart, because nobody knows me better then I know myself, and I don't lie to myself about how I am and what problems I do and don't have. I also don't defend myself when I'm attacked, and that in itself is almost as bad as lying to myself would be. Thus, I have a deilema.

Do you defend your own honor at the risk of potentally hurting a friend, which is breaking a cardnal rule in itself, or do you forsake yourself for someone elses opinion, just because they're a friend?

Of course, if they were really friends in the first place, they wouldn't be doing these things. That's always a good point.

What's the proper Elizabethan torture to implement for a neighbor that points a sprinklers stream directly into your open bedroom window for roughly five hours thus soaking everything inside your room to the core, including electronics and your matress? While we're at it, what is also the correct form of agony to mortally wound a health insurance company that says you have 'till the 20th of the month to pay your premium and you pay it over a week before it's due and they cut you off anyway four days before your payment deadline?

Thumb screws? Boiled? Iron Maidens? Presses? Hot pokers to gouge out their eyes while giggling with horrific glee?

Just curious.

Rhea Rhyolin: I posted about my latest evil deed as a sister
SaetanSadiablo: Which was?
Rhea Rhyolin: Scaring the crap out of my brother by giving him a family heirloom ring to give to his girlfriend as an engagment ring. He keeps bringing up marrage to me on the sly, all casual like, no big deal right? But he hasn't given her a ring. He about had a heart attack when I told him I was giving it to him today on the phone...he was like "WHY??!?!?!" I could feel the male race cringing in horror. It was amusing. Then I told him because he needed to give her a ring (what kind of freaking boyfriend was he anyway?) and then he was all 'Yeah yeah, bring it over she'll be soooo shocked, and blah blah blah' so I packed it up in a velvet ring box and took it over. The man better give it to her in a nice way, or I'll shoot him.
Rhea Rhyolin: Hence, I am an evil sister! He never would have done it himself, I know my brother
SaetanSadiablo: lol.
SaetanSadiablo: That is evil.
Rhea Rhyolin: I know...I'm so happy!
Rhea Rhyolin: lol....I don't get to do evil often
SaetanSadiablo: I bet you are.

She's not really here, it just looks like she is. What you're seeing is actually just a cardboard cutout that's been crudely scribbled on with a Sharpie to imitate Skyte's likeness. If you look closely, you'll see the smelly marker hair and the squiggle mouth are actually more attractive then the real Skyte.

I'm actually Skye's Evil Twin, Mr. Kumquat. Normally you only see me hanging around the smelly TPC basement (and when I manage to escape my lock-clad clubhouse basement room, the Forums) but today I managed to wheedle permission out of that good for nothing waste of skin Prana that dosen't let me have any fun, and she begrudgingly let me have the computer to post for Skyte. Skyte managed to get a bunch of sleep yesterday and now she's back at work slaving like a good girl. Oh alas, poor pathetic Skyte. :( Let's feel sorry for her while we snicker behind her back, shall we?

I just wanted to let everyone know that you can STILL sponsor Skyte (although I, myself wouldn't know why you would want to) until 6 AM tomorrow morning. So if you've got a couple extra bucks laying around, go on over and pledge it to a good cause would ya? It's damn better then what you were going to spend it on anyway. Kids these days. Why not forgo her and give me your money? Better yet, tell those damn girls to let me out of the Basement more often.

Also, prize announcements will be posted here tomorrow at noon. Winners will also be notified by E-mail. I've seen the prizes, and I wouldn't bother, but hey, if you want crap...by all means.

IBOM will be on hiatus for a tiny bit longer then Skyte thought because of what she called 'new and fun changes that have needed to happen for quite a while around here'. Never fear however, I'm sure she will be back being her disgustingly annoying self in no time. Oh, how I just can't wait.

-- Mr. Kumquat, Skyte's Evil Twin (Posting for Skyte because she's such a lazy twerp)

Well boys and girls, dawn has decided to finally show itself and all good little spooks and spirits are in bed for the day, so that concludes our little trip into the Paranormal during this years Blogathon. I've been your host, Skyte, for this lovely trip and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Please make sure to keep hands and feet inside the ride until the tram has come to a complete stop. Trashbins are located near each exit, so please remember to recycle. Visit the gift shop on your way out, to purchase some fabulous merchandise.

Thanks much to the people who kept me company during this whole thing, James, Kelly, Fred (You poop), Michael and everyone else, like Pranie, Jackie and Kim who popped in and out to check on me. Thanks also to my lovely sponsors whom if hadn't sponsored me I wouldn't be here typing incoherent garbage at you now. Thank you sponsors! We love you sponsors, and the ghosties love you too. Also, thank you to those of you who sent in questions, photos, stories and other fun things. You absolutely made posting go tons faster.

Once again I apologize for not being able to do this from the graveyard, but I hope you enjoyed yourself regardless.

Big grats to all the other bloggers who made it, I'll deffinatly be circling the ring as soon as my hate of this computer chair goes away. It might sound bonkers, but it is always so sad when this is all done. I absolutely can't wait until next year. Corse...now that the `Thon is done we can all prep for NaNoWriMo! MUHAHAha...ha....er...sorry.

Winners of the prizes will be announced here in 48 hours as well as getting a notice in their E-mail.

That's it, we're done. Finished. Kaput. Fin. Outta here. I'm headed off to take a nap before I have to go teach a class. I'll be on a short hiatus for the next couple days, so until I come back you take care, ya hear?

One last ghost story to give you something to do as the Blogathon slowly draws to a close.

Don't forget! Sign up to win a prize, if you don't sign up before 6 AM PST (when the thon ends) then you can't win.

One more post after this one boys and girls, just one more post.

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From: nldd@msg.ti.com (LeAnne)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Our ghost - TRUE STORIES
Date: 11 Sep 1995 19:51:03 GMT


(c) 1995 Leanne Davis

My family moved last October into a Queen Anne victorian house that was built in 1894. The previous owners swore there were no violent deaths in the house (required by Texas law to divulge that info these days!) Actually, they claimed there were no ghosts that they were aware of either.

Two days after we put the Christmas tree up in the foyer, it was knocked over while my husband & I were at work & our son was at school. We lost all of our antique glass Christmas ornaments that were on the tree, many were family heirlooms. We were lucky the tree didn't fall when the space heater across the room was lit. I guess she didn't like where we put the tree & she didn't want her house to accidentally burn down. I just wish she'd made herself clear the day before I put all the ornaments on the tree. Yes, we think our ghost is female, and I'm still upset about my ornaments.

Very frequently last winter, I would smell apple pies baking, you know the strong smell of cloves & cinnamon - I haven't even had any cloves in the house yet & I haven't baked an apple pie in 4 or 5 years.

A couple of days later, we had an open house & the wife of one of the guys my husband works with swore we had more than one spirit in the house. There are photos of the people who built the house, hanging in the stairwell. Someone made the comment at the open house that she (the wife) was homely. So my husband spouted off also saying that she was ugly & that she had no right to knock our tree over & break the ornaments.

Not long after that, my husband was taking a bath in the upstairs bathroom (he's too tall for the claw foot tub downstairs). Anyway, he heard the door to the bathroom opening while he was soaking. His thought it was our son messing with him, so he hollered him. Our son was not upstairs, he was not even in the house. And, then my husband heard the bathroom door close and footsteps running down the hallway.

Then, one day they were watching TV and the dog (a cocker spaniel) went nuts barking. My husband followed her into our bedroom. The bedroom door (which normally tends to open & stay open - has to be pulled tight to latch as a rule) slammed shut and the dog lay down & hid her face with her paws & whimpered.

One of our pictures from Christmas morning shows a light blob where no light was present in the room in the pre-dawn (you know how kids get you up early to open presents.)

My husband apologized for calling the lady "ugly". And the "incidents" have stopped except for the apple pie smells (which we don't mind cause it smells good) and the dog barking at nothing we can see. We won't put the Christmas tree in the same spot this year - it will go in the cupola instead.

It's been interesting. We're hoping to do some more research on the house. I just found out recently it was empty for 25 years. The previous owners had it for 30. And the ones before that for about 6 years. We're the fourth family.

Here is another user submitted video.

Kwinana Cemetery Myst[MPG]

Only two more posts to go!

A ghost story for you to read while you're trying to stay awake.

------

From: Elena Gillespie (agillesp@umich.edu)
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 1994 16:37:45
Story-type: Haunting
Location: Detroit MI, U.S.A.
Source: Email Submission



THIS STORY IS TRUE. Not one item about it has been changed or exaggerated. I have related it exactly as it occurred to me.

Due to a paranormal experience that happened to me about five years ago, I spent two years as an apprentice to a psychic.(What do you think, we're all born this way?) I'm really a normal person,other than this particular eccentricity, I work in medical research, and I'm actually quite happy at it. But that's another story, if anyone would like to talk about it, (the apprenticeship, that is) I'd be glad to, but this is about ghosts.

It seemed like, frequently, that whenever we would have a lecture in class on a particular topic, I would have a practical problem presented to me through no effort on my part, and very little option available to me as to whether I wanted to turn it down. It was almost like having a laboratory to the lecture, only in metaphysics. Very weird.

We had had a lecture on ghosts (entities, as they're known in the trade) and what to do about them. I remember being buggy and disinterested in class, thinking that I would never have a practical use for this stuff. I just figured nobody got haunted anymore. I came to find out differently that very weekend.

That Friday I had taken off from work as a vacation day, intending actually just to hang out and do nothing. An older friend of mine dropped by, and off the cuff asked me out to dinner. During dinner, he mentioned that he would like to visit his daughter and her family, who lived in an older section of Detroit.

He mentioned that his daughter had since remarried, but that she had had a bad time the last 2 years. Apparently, her first husband, David, had become increasingly mentally unstable, with the usual scenario of threats, physical abuse, kidnapping the kids, the whole nine yards. Sounded like a fun guy. She managed to finally divorce him, but as you can guess, this only escalated the situation.

His enduring fixation was his son, who just now was turning 3 years old. Attempts to kidnap him and/or threaten to kill the child and himself were things they had to deal with everyday. Police and injunctions proved irrelevant. He was finally diagnosed schizophrenic and hospitalized a number of times. There wasn't anything that had much effect on him. The whole thing finally culminated in his breaking into their house one day while they were not there (they were supposed to be, of course), putting a .44 magnum in his mouth and pulling the trigger. End of story.

Or so I thought. When we arrived there, the house was in a uproar. The house itself was one of those huge houses they used to build in the suburbs of big cities that was so big that it had been split into a duplex. Nothing particularly creepy, just lots of wood, cabinet space, 2 floors and an attic. Maybe built in the 20's.

The neighbor(next door) had just that morning left the house in her nightclothes. She had left all her belongings, including her kids, inside the house, and absolutely refused to go back.(She left her kids? Sounds like the elevator doesn't go all the way to the top with that one, I thought.) She said she had seen a blond longish-haired man at the top of the stairs. The main problem, however, is that he had a hole in his head. A big hole. With his eyes all sunken back and what looked like blood all over him.

Apparently, this had not been the only occurence, only the last in a long list of incidences. The little boy claimed to have seen his father a number of times, next to his bed, always at night. Things had been broken, as if thrown, and worse still, small fires had broken out under mysterious circumstances. In one instance, a portrait of Elvis had been torn off the wall and thrown across the room, shattering the glass and leaving holes in the wall. Apparently her ex had been incredibly jealous, but I couldn't say I blamed him on that one. The family was in a panic. They were planning to move, but could not move yet. (I would have been out of there so fast I would have broken records.) The Catholic priest the daughter had just talked to had just laughed at her when she said she needed an exorcist and hung up on her.

Suspecting what was going on,the daughter had taken a picture of David to the neighbor, who was at a hotel. The woman went into hysterics and had to be taken to the ER and sedated. It was the same man, of course, just without the ventilation job he'd done on his head.

She asked me if somehow I knew of anyone who could remove this whatever this was. Oh, for Pete's sake, I thought, somebody up there really has a sense of humor. Well, yes, I told her, fully intending to recommend her to my teacher. I really had no intention of getting involved with this. I was just a student, and this was not my specialty, anyway. It sounded to me like this guy was dead serious (sorry) and far more powerful than I wanted to mess with. My teacher had impressed this on us. You had better know what you are doing, and be completely confident in your ability. I was not convinced that I was either one.

I was about to give her my teacher's card when she told me that there had been further complications. Her little boy had come to her after a nap that afternoon in hysterics, bleeding from the mouth or gums. He gave a garbled story about his father wanting him to go with him and the child refusing to go back in his room for any reason. (Showed the most sense I'd seen in the family yet.)

That did it. I reasoned that if this a------ had this much balls, then there was no accounting for what he might do between now and the time my teacher could get out there so I was sort of beholden to do something NOW. Great. I'm shaking just remembering this story, so bear with me.

One of my strongest abilities lies in feeling (sensing) the presence of spiritual entitities. It's kind of like passing a magnet through iron filings, I just kind of get oriented towards it. So I knew I would be able to locate him, the big question, of course was removal.

The power to do these things exists in the mind, which can be as powerful or weak as you tell it to be. Building up the energy and keeping it pumped up can be difficult, and I had never applied it to this kind of problem before. However the thought of that little boy being harmed forced me to try.

The trick is this. Essentially, what you do is try to make it as uncomfortable for the entity to continue "living" there, and then persuade it to go "to the light". At this point, it has to make it's own choice as to whether it should "go across" or whether it wants to stay here. Sometimes, they just don't know they're dead. Other times they are so bound to unfinished business that they stay to finish it, like this guy was. The fact that this guy was severely mentally disturbed when he died didn't help my confidence levels any.

The first thing we did was have a prayer vigil in the kitchen while I went around and mentally covered everything with ultraviolet light. This is God's color and He is Light, so nothing can penetrate such a shield. I covered everything, the house and family, the pets, the appliances, their cars, all of it. We then went down to the basement (which was open to both apartments) and blessed all the doors and windows, ALL of them with olive oil in Jesus' name. Whether you believe in Him or not, he was one extremely spiritually powerful person, and negative entities DON'T like Him, and cannot withstand Him. So we went through the entire house, both sides, laboriously blessing every door, window and mirror in the house. All the while I was building up the energy to make the place as light filled as possible.

The place seemed "cool" to me in the basement even though it was kind of old and creepy. But as we went farther and farther upstairs, the I started feeling more and more aware of the "energy" being pulled into the attic. I knew where he was and he definitely knew where I was, and that I was coming to get HIM. I was fervently hoping he'd split before I got there. But the thought of that little boy really forced me to stay with it.

How can you tell this without sounding crazy? I'd come to the conclusion that I had come there that day for a reason, and to just go with it. The sense of "presence" was strongest of course in the little boy's room, which had a trapdoor in the ceiling up to the attic. The whole front of my body was tingling, particularly my face and nose. I could palpably sense the misery, hatred and insanity from just above me.

How I managed to get up there and that trap door open I have no idea. I was running on adrenaline but I really wasn't frightened. I had gathered my guides and angels around so tightly I think I nearly glowed in the dark. At this point I think I really was in an altered state.

Something fell or flew from somewhere and landed at my feet. It was a headless, naked child's doll. I remember thinking coolly, how cliche'. At another level I was wondering how I had gotten myself into this. In the corner was absolute blackness, and what I was looking for, this I KNEW. Someone began speaking. I realized it was me.

"Now, David, you know that you really have no place here. You're dead, and your family needs to go on with their lives, particularly your little boy. Let go, David, I know you're miserable, let go and go to the light. There is peace there, wouldn't you like that? My guides and angels are here to take you there, go with them. This house is completely protected now, everything, and I'm sure it's very uncomfortable for you. If you don't go, you know who I'll invoke, so go with them."

Ultimately, my feeling for this poor lost soul was one of pity, I cannot express to you the level of misery and pain it existed in.

Suddenly, I got a sense of release of tension, almost like a wind blowing, and the room became somehow less menacing, less dark. I stayed there for a minute longer, just until I was sure I wouldn't fall down the ladder trying to get down. My analytical mind kicked in, and responded by wanting to pass out. When I came back down, I just told the family that he was gone, but that they would have to believe that he was gone, and reinforce that daily, or all my lightwork would disintegrate and he would come back. That's the thing about this kind of work. If they don't go "to the light", and you don't reinforce your shields, they can come back.

They had no more problems in that house for quite some time, although I had heard from a friend later that David did come back, so he still has not found peace. The neighbor never set foot in her house again.

So you said you wanted a ghost story. There you are. Sometimes I wonder if it actually happened, and uncomfortably the answer is always the same. Other strange things have happened to me as a psychic student, and the thing is, I'm not even half trained yet. Makes me wonder what's next.

New photos and a new featured sound. This one is another one which I couldn't identify. I'd be more then happy to hear your suggestions!

Congrats to our winner of the 4 AM drawing, James Hall. He just walked away with a taper candle set. Woo!

You have until 6 AM PST to get in your entries to get a chance at winning the rest of these prizes, so don't forget! Either fill out the form above (get to it by clicking on the 'junk' graphic) or by sending an email to me@kiddlets.com with your real name, postal address and e-mail address.

Good luck and only four more posts to go!

Fixed the weird noises wav...now it should work fine. Sorry about that.

Here is an awesome video of a moving orb that was sent in by a viewer.

York Orb[MPG]

We've got some new pictures and a new featured sound coming up, as well as the 4 AM drawing. If you want a chance to win, don't forget to submit your name, e-mail address and postal address to me@kiddlets.com.

This hails from Prana over at Pranagraphy, it's a 'weird' sound. Unfortunatly I didn't get any details about it, but it's interesting sounding anyway!

Weird Noises[WAV]

Not enough ghost stuff for you? Here is a user submitted photo. This one comes from Clay and it's way interesting.

Ghost Photo

Clay says that the only two people in the room were himself and the other person in the picture, and the house in which this was taken has a history of activity such as lights turn on and off and doors banging.

Thanks to you both! If you have a photo, sound, or story you want to share just send it my way me@kiddlets.com and I'll feature it here.

Up next, some really awesome viewer submitted video!

A ghost story for you. Next post? User submitted sounds! Woohoo!

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From: myers@netusa1.net
Date: Fri, 22 Mar 1996 14:53:33 -0600
To: obiwan@netcom.com
Subject: ghost story


I have lived in my house for 20 years. The house was built around 1950 and sits in a housing development that was built on, what was, farm land. As far as I know, no one has died in this house (I did check the history). But for some unknown reason we have unexplained happenings in the house. They seem to revolve around my son and myself.

The first scary experience I had happened shortly after my son's birth. He started crying around 2:00 a.m., I got up, went into his room, picked him up and then went into the kitchen to warm his bottle. My kitchen is a galley kitchen with a door at one end that leads to the garage. I fixed his bottle, then went back into his room to feed him. I was rocking him and not thinking about much, other that I wanted to go to sleep, when I felt a cold breeze behind me. I looked up and saw nothing. Then I felt this terrible presence in the room. I jumped up and turned....the cold and the presence were gone. I was shaken for a bit, but then convinced myself I had imagined what had just happened. I finished feeding my son and put him back to bed. I walked into the kitchen to put the bottle up and the door between the kitchen and the garage was standing wide open. I was truly frightened. My husband was working midnights at the time, so I was alone with my infant son, in the house. I, being very brave, ran to his room, picked him up, took him to our room and locked the door. When daylight came and my husband came home we searched the house and of course could find nothing missing, broken into etc. My husband thought I was one brick short a load.

Over the next few months we would hear thumping on the walls, (my husband heard these noises too, but believed the house was settling). We would hear something fall and even make a crashing sound, but would never find anything on the floor or broken. But nothing really scary happened until my son was around 2 years old. From the start he never liked to sleep in his room. I realized that wasn't unusual for a child, so I would try things like leaving the hallway light on or playing music in his room, etc. But he would always come into our bedroom in the wee hours and say he was frightened. When he finally reached the age where he could put sentences together I asked him why he was frightened. He said a lady was at his window. I assured him he was probably dreaming and explained how our imagination could fool us. Well, a few months later I was asleep and something woke me. I lay there a minute listening for my son and when I didn't hear him I opened my eyes. Standing at my bedroom window looking out was a woman. She had on a dress like someone would wear in the 1800's, not a fancy dress, but one that a person would wear for everyday. Her hair was pulled back into a bun. I closed my eyes and opened them several times before I realized I really was seeing someone/thing. She turned and looked at me and then vanished. Needless to say I believed my son from then on. The interesting thing here is, I wasn't afraid of her, unlike the first experience I had when my son was a baby.

After that night, unusual things happened more frequently, although it wasn't unusual for 3-6 months to go by and nothing would happen. We would go in cycles where lights would go off and on, the phone would jingle every night around 9:00, the smoke detectors would go off, the dryer door would fly open, I would come home from work and hear music being played on my son's keyboard (he would be at school). And many other happenings that would be too much to write.

This has been going on for years now. It is interesting that I've only been frightened 2 times, the 1st time I mentioned when my son was little and the 2nd time was when my son was around 9 years old. My husband and son were watching TV after dinner, I had just finished the dishes and decided to take the trash out into the garage. I carried it out, but didn't turn the light on in the garage because the kitchen light was bright enough to light my way. I emptied the trash and when I turned to come back into the house I heard a voice, as clear as a bell, say my name and I felt that terrible presence. The hair stood up on y neck, I ran into the house and told my husband there was someone in the garage. He ran to the garage and of course nothing was there.

After I thought about that incident, I remembered a time when I was little and I heard the very same voice call my name. My father use to wake up at odd hours and not be able to go back to sleep. He had a reading light over his bed and would read until he could go back to sleep. We had a game we played. If I awoke and saw his light on, I would run into the livingroom and hide, I would call out to him, he would come find me. Well, on one of those nights (the last time I hid), I found my hiding place which was about 5 feet from a window. I looked up and an old man was looking at me and called my name.(I remember it as being the same voice I heard in the garage). I honestly thought that incident had all been my imagination until the night in my garage.

My sone is 19 and in college. I asked him a couple of years ago exactly what he saw in his room when he was little. He said first there would be a bright orange ball of light in his window, then the light would come into his room and spread out like a line. Then the lady would appear from the light. He said she never said anything to him, but just stood in his room. I'm wondering now if the lady was a protector for my son. There were/are two beings in our house. One that was frightening and the other was not.

Things have slowed down some now, but ocasionally a thump or a crash will remind me we aren't alone in our house.

:)

Only four hours left boys and girls! Can we do it? Yes we can! ::hums the Bob the Builder theme song::

New pictures and a new featured sound.

My wrist is killing me, so that's all you're going to get from me for right now. Up for the rest of the `Thon, a few more ghost stories, a few more new pictures and sounds, a drawing or two, and finishing up the questions that have been laying around here waiting patiently. Good times.

Unfortunatly hunger and madness has forced me to this.

I, and the bits between my teeth, are so ashamed.

Congrats to Kane Ford, our 1 AM winner who walks away with a lovely set of vanilla pillar candles.

Next drawing will be at 4, get your entries in. And hurry it up, I'm running out of things to entertain myself with.