This is a repost of an entry in my other blog that was “taken away” from me by the previous blogging gods…

It was from July 17th…a very significant night in my world…the  night I met Stephen…

“I had drinks with Paige, last night. She told me I was her Cougar. How cool! It was so good to see my friend. She looks so good. Perhaps it is because she is in love. She has a beau that lives in another city so it is difficult to see him all the time. She has travelled to see him quite a bit lately and falls more in love every time she sees him. He feels the same way about her. I couldn’t be more tickled for her. She deserves the best.

We met at the bar where I met Cutie-Pie, last week. We figured we would hang out around men with money! Hey, you never stop being a good golddigger, right?

She and I talked for about an hour before the boys started coming up to us. Suddenly there were two “camps” of guys vying for our attention. In fact, I had one rubbing my hand while I’m talking to the other. I also had my hand on Paige’s soft legs when they all figured out that we might be more than friend-friends. She and I love to tell the boys that…after they start questioning why we touch each other like we do.

I find two of these guys, one from each camp, that I like and I proceed to flirt and exchange numbers with both. (Such a slut!) The party broke up and everyone started to head home and I asked one of them to walk me out. We walk outside and the other one is sitting in his car. I walk over to him to kiss him goodnight and then turn around and kiss the other one goodnight. Both are yummy…both are good kissers…and both think I’m “amazing”. A good night, I’d say.

Paige had to drive me home because the third glass of wine was a little too much for me to drive home….and she actually got to meet Hubby for the first time. Wow. That was huge! I had drinks with Paige, last night. She told me I was her Cougar. How cool! It was so good to see my friend. She looks so good. Perhaps it is because she is in love. She has a beau that lives in another city so it is difficult to see him all the time. She has travelled to see him quite a bit lately and falls more in love every time she sees him. He feels the same way about her. I couldn’t be more tickled for her. She deserves the best.

We met at the bar where I met Cutie-Pie, last week. We figured we would hang out around men with money! Hey, you never stop being a good golddigger, right?

She and I talked for about an hour before the boys started coming up to us. Suddenly there were two “camps” of guys vying for our attention. In fact, I had one rubbing my hand while I’m talking to the other. I also had my hand on Paige’s soft legs when they all figured out that we might be more than friend-friends. She and I love to tell the boys that…after they start questioning why we touch each other like we do.

I find two of these guys, one from each camp, that I like and I proceed to flirt and exchange numbers with both. (Such a slut!) The party broke up and everyone started to head home and I asked one of them to walk me out. We walk outside and the other one is sitting in his car. I walk over to him to kiss him goodnight and then turn around and kiss the other one goodnight. Both are yummy…both are good kissers…and both think I’m “amazing”. A good night, I’d say.

Paige had to drive me home because the third glass of wine was a little too much for me to drive home….and she actually got to meet Hubby for the first time. Wow. That was huge!”

Four months have FLOWN by…!!!

Aaahhh…..it’s been a while since I’ve sat down to just think.  And write.  As I hit enter and my blog page came up, I felt a rush of comfort, peace and serenity.  Oh, how I wish I could, or rather would, take the time more often to sit and write to you.  Whoever you are.  Actually, it doesn’t even matter.  I’m writing to myself.  It helps me clear my head and bring clarity to the busy-ness of my thoughts.  I have so much I want to tell you about. So much I want to just reflect on.  Let me first begin with my most pressing thought from this weekend.  This past Thursday was Thanksgiving………….

Thanksgiving.  Oh, definitely one of my most FAAAVorite holidays!  It’s always been a stand out holiday for me, but over the past 5 years, it has been even more monumental than before.  I remember Thanksgiving growing up, eating at my grandmother’s with EVERYBODY in the world, it seemed.  Of course it was just family, and compared to the size of our family today, it really wasn’t even that many of us, but boy did it feel like close quarters!  This day seemed surrounded by lots of busyness in the kitchen.  Lots of doing.  We kids would play while the grownups cooked and talked, then we would eat.  Afterwards, there would be a ballgame playing and I seem to remember the women going shopping or going somewhere.  I don’t think I went, or at least I don’t remember going, so to me, what I remember is lots of preparation and then nothing.  No presents to open like Christmas or birthdays.  No eggs to hide like at Easter.  No parade to go to, or flags to fly, like 4th of July.  Just having the day.

Fast forward to today, and the doing nothing part of Thanksgiving is exactly why I love it so much.  When my husband, son and I moved to another city about 60+ miles away from my parents and siblings, we began to have Thanksgiving at our house for my parents and anyone else that wanted or could come.  Our family had grown so large that we were no longer getting together on Thanksgiving.  Myself and my two sisters, with families of our own, it became harder and harder to arrange schedules so we could all be together on Thanksgiving.  My mother then began having a Thanksgiving meal on Sunday before Thanksgiving, just so we’d all be together.  That lasted a few years, but eventually that dwindled down, too.  So, once we moved, I wanted so badly to cook my own Thanksgiving meal.  The works!  I’d never done it before, but wanted to start our own tradition as other traditions were falling by the wayside, and we lived far enough away that we couldn’t come home every other weekend for a birthday party or holiday celebration.  It was too much.  So, our new tradiition began.

What a joy for me to have my parents over, cook for them and try to pamper them on their stay.  We jokingly called it a bed and breakfast, and I tried to make it feel as such.  Last year my mom had just had surgery and so I brought everything to their house and cooked there.  This year, my dad had surgery, but was well enough to travel, so we took everything down to the beach Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and spent our Thanksgiving at the beach.  So this year I was able to truly enjoy a restful Thanksgiving.

We were already at our destination, so there was only waking up and beginning the festivities.   I had it all planned out the night before.  We woke up Thanksgiving morning and I made us some pumpkin muffins for breakfast.  I then informed my “must always be busy mother”, that I was not going to go shopping or do anything today but relax, reflect and cook.  So she and my son went shopping.  Aahh, more time for relaxation.

After breakfast had settled, my hubby and I went for a run.  Or what I call a run.  See, I’m just beginning and trying to run.  I do run/walk intervals.  Sometimes I do better than others.  My husband on the other hand, runs.  He has ran numerous marathons in the past and makes running a part of his lifestyle.  So, he babysits me on my runs, so I will do them.  He knows if left to my own discipline, I will talk myself out of it.  So, Precious, goes with me.

What a wonderful run it was!  I felt so carefree.  The sun was shining, the roads were clear. Everyone was in their homes, no busyness here.  The few people we did see, smiled and seemed carefree themselves.  It was like a Hallmark special.  Meeting my expectations fully!  This day was definitely getting off to a great start.

We came home, showered and yes…I took a nap.   With a smile on my face.  I woke and began preparing the evening meal.   THE meal.  Not as spectacular as if I’d had it at my own home and had time to contemplate my menu a little more, but wonderful, nonetheless.

As the evening came to a close, I couldn’t help but smile and think how much I love this holiday.  I love the ease it represents.  Even though we try our best to make it a chore.  The part of it that requires no gifts to exchange, no eggs to hide, no flags to fly…that’s my favorite part.  The only thing THIS day requires is that you stop.  Stop what you are doing and think.  Think, reflect, and be thankful.  Oh, so many things to be thankful for.  Did we actually make it through another year? You mean we’re healthy enough to sit around a table with our loved ones, and have a gracious plenty of food to eat?  And those are just the big ones.  What about the everyday things we have to be thankful for?  Waking.  Homes.  Transportation.  Our families.  Our jobs.  Money to buy food, clothes and not only necessities, but so many other things we didn’t really need, but wanted.  The rise and fall of the sun, the beautiful sky above in the day and the star lit sky in the night.  Beauty at every turn.

With all of that beauty, inside and out, surrounding us….well, that’s why Thanksgiving is one of my most favorites.  It ends the month with thanks, and prepares us to begin a new one with giving.

Blessings to you all…….wherever you are.

guest post by sweetie o’leary

I.

I will reveal
that I am here,
that I am indeed building
a canoe
out of brown bargain thread
and that I am not
who I used to be.
all the rest,
is not worth
concealing
any longer.

II.

it’s not uncommon,
to live to 68.
this means, I have
34 more years.
I am back
at the beginning
and none of this
has happened.

III.

it will all start
with me
nude
scars
nipples as garnish
the only one
with this kind of crotch
and this kind of life
at a men’s naked yoga retreat
on black sands
with a checklist from my therapist
of possible triggers
and the first thing
I ever wrote
on my 100-things-to-do-before-I-die list
when I was a little girl
back in the bronx:
“dip body in see-through water”.

Ahhh yes, the month of my birth. November has come to its end.
December has finally arrived–well in just one more hour anyway.

December, December, December, how I’ve missed thee. Hmm…I wonder if I should write an ode to December. No, I’m not conceited. I’m just excited to see another birthday. I am excited to see another year. I am excited to dream of the many things in store for me within a few days, weeks, months, and even years.

I feel as if I am embarking on a new journey that will forever change my life. I have but two weeks to wait and then my big day will finally be here.

2010 has to be my year. It has to be the year when things happen for me. 2009 was the absolute worst, but you can’t get the best without first going through the worst, right?

So I pray that God take the helm of my life. I pray that He guides my every step. I pray that He pushes me to reach for only the best and attain levels that I wouldn’t have reached on my own. I pray that He watches over me now more than ever. I pray that God uses me more than ever, because I feel the change that is due unto me.

Someone’s life is going to be changed because He intervened through me. I hope that 2010 will be remarkable, memorable, unforgettable, inspiring, life-changing, exciting, and so much more.

The countdown to my 24th birthday starts in under 60 minutes. December 16, 2009 is the day. Are you ready, because I certainly am. YES, Lord thank you for bringing me this far!

I woke up to the sun streaming into my eyes. I have no drapes. It’s mornings like these that make me realize that although i may feel there are bogey men hiding behind the dark spaces that curtains give, they do have their benefits. I miss curtains. On mornings like these when leaping out of bed is just plain impossible. Mornings like this one make me groan, rollover and pull the covers over my head.

I’m an artist, print maker if you want to specific. Just graduated this fall and love to read. I usually spend most nights curled up with a good book and my glasses slipping down my nose. Nothing like a good book to make me smile and burst into song. It’s usually the absence of good reading material that makes  me rollover and reach for the covers.

The love of my life, my best friend  B;   has been spending the last few days hanging out with his guy friends and chasing goats. Yeah you heard me right. Eid -ul- Azha is a special occasion for us. The highlight for this occasion is the sacrifice and guys who were normal all year, turn into these crazy, moronic barbarians. They constantly go to the cattle markets with friends and relatives. Ponder for hours over what animal to get. And then spend countless hours washing, cleaning, feeding and preparing the said animals for the sacrifice.

Religiously, this enthusiasm and zeal is admired and appreciated but as far as being in a relationship or remotely involved with said morons is a difficult for females. Every guy is a nut for this entire week before Eid. You see goats, camels, cows all over the place. Special makeshift shelters are erected all over the city for these special animals. The guys spend most of their time debating “mine’s bigger than yours…” (boys will be boys) and to them size does matter. Actually the entire world revolves around size. For them.

B, usually around pretty much all the time and it’s not a headache to listen to him. He and i share the same interests and we’re pretty immature so we get along really well all the time. Except this time of the year. We’ve been friends for the last 4 years and in a relationship for that last 9 months. I usually can spend hours discussing his next documentary or the new script he’s working on but around this time of the year i hate him. He’s just so annoying.

Back to this morning, I woke up groggy and disoriented and all i really cared about was getting my hands on some really good reading material. Enter one Aunt from London, 4 annoying siblings and 2 nieces. Under one roof. All of that just makes you wish you’d never have to leave the bed. Actually the poor souls are actually quite nice and usually i don’t have issues with them but the last few days i’ve been hating everyone and everything. What gets to me is how can a man’s obsession with animals can turn a rational woman into a raving lunatic? i hate men. The power they have over you.

I miss my girls over the holidays. We talk stuff, listen to music and eat chocolate. Basically my girlfriends are my soulmates. H and Sid. The sisters i never had. H is like the best friend anyone can have. Lovable and fun and talks way too much. I love her because it literally takes no effort to love her. She’s the easiest person to like and be friends with. You could never hate hate her. I mean of course i hate her but i love her too much to hate her.

Sid on the other hand is a completely different character all together. She’s funny and talented but the only way you could know that is if she ever unwinds. She’s like a spring all tightly wound up. She enjoys life only has an insane fear that she’s doing something wrong to be having fun. She’s so afraid of over doing something that she rarely does anything else you push and shove her into doing it.

They keep me sane, my friends and i love them.

Everyone has commented this year especially that every year there seems to be a concerted effort to extend the Christmas shopping season. I don’t know if there’s anything concerted about it or not. I don’t mean to imply that there is something necessarily sinister about it. It’s just that every year it gets longer. This year it seemed to me that as soon as Halloween arrived we were asked to think of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas as the holiday season.

Now, I understand that merchants and shopkeepers certainly rely on the income from Christmas to support them business the whole year. And, I know many of them and they are not evil people. They are people who are simply trying to make a living.

Sunday, November 29, the season of Advent began with the lighting of the first Advent candle. Advent is the church’s way of saying: “slow down, take it all in, think, pray, reflect.”

Advent marks the beginning of the church’s year when we begin telling the story all over again. The color is purple and is about majesty, royalty, and repentance. The king is coming to visit; get ready. Make preparations. And, keep your eyes open for where he might appear to you.

I imagine that this year will be a little different for most of us. For one, we are given permission to think of this season and how to celebrate it with less concern for gifts and more concern with giving.

This year, some of my church folk, asked if we might do something to help children. We investigated and found that last year in Spartanburg County the Salvation Army had care for 1300 children’s Christmas needs. This year, they have some 3000 to care for.

So, we put out an angel tree with fifty children’s names and they were all picked the first Sunday. We got some more and people are still pulling them.

The problem for all of us is not that there is crass commercialization out there. We don’t have to wait for Christmas for that. There are always those out there who are simply out to get to your money.

The problem is when we don’t say anything more or give anything more or share anything more at Christmas so that the real story of Christmas is not displayed and preached and shared. So, pray, and love, and share, and give as you always do, all to the honor of the one who comes among us as a baby.

Blessings!
Dave Nichols

The process to eleminate the mounting frustration James experiences has already begun through the use of the SETT framework.  The following is summary of James’ SETT, which will inevitably provide context to the proceeding steps. 

Every time exams rear their ugly head, I sign up for an account on the Internet.

It’s pretty consistent behaviour. Midterms pushed me to Tumblr. I discovered Twitter during finals last year. I’m positive my Neopets account sprung from an elementary school spelling bee. In short, I will do anything, anything, to prevent actual studying. Ergo, a blog.

It’s not like I haven’t been interested in writing a blog before; I’m pretty sure everybody in recent history has an old Myspace riddled with introspective musings (guilty as charged). I think I’ve been late to the blogging party because of the haze of pretentious self-promotion that surrounds the smoky virtual rooms of bloggers. However, the Internet has been known to occasionally cough up a nugget of genuine emotion once in a while, so here I am.

Will I update this blog regularly? Will I ever start studying for exams? Will I eventually finish off the ‘Family-Sized’ box of Cheerios I’ve been slowly eating since 4:00 this afternoon? Nothing is certain, but I hope for all three.

Around 5pm last night I actually started working on my story. Yay me! I only have two and a half pages, but that’s better than nothing right? I’m not sure what the word count is, but It’s over 400 at least.

It started last night as well. I’m sitting down writing, and then the most amazing masterpiece storyline pops into my head. I debate on leaving my current story behind and following that one down the road. After much insistence from my inner *guide* I safely put that plot back into my vault for later use. I know that if I go with a different story now, it will happen again and again.

The whole point of this challenge is for me to finish the same story I started with. So the first speed bump is over. So back to the pen and paper for another day of forcing myself to be creative!

Word Count – somewhere around 500 I think.

Not that I intend this to be some sort of novel but I think that maybe my endeavor deserves a bit of an explanation for anyone who might be interested.

This blog, this journal of sorts, is a life work.  I am already very far behind but the road ahead is long.  As is explained in the “about” section, the current (2009) average life expectancy (in the world) is 66.57years.  Also, I have noticed that every day that goes by does not go without some new idea popping into my head.  These ideas are quick and without warning really.  They happen, are thought about, and disappear within the same instance.  They are here then gone.  Present then past.  I have come to the conclusion that those revelations within my day to day life should no longer be ignored and lost.

Most of the time these thoughts come about because I am frustrated at something that could be done better:  “Gah! Why don’t they invent this!” I think.  Then the thought is gone as I click to the next song on my iPod, look at the next bit of scenery, and continue about my day.  This may occur many times throughout any particular day but for the life of me at this present moment I am hard-pressed to remember even just one of them!  Why is that?

Are these ideas simply a waste of our mental capacity?  Was that problem only in our head?  Are we yelling out for change but really not expecting anything to be done about it?!  Why??

Granted, there are personal things that cannot be given and there is no such thing as a genie in a bottle that will grant our every wish.  Still, there must be a way to come together and pool our individual ideas.

Another conclusion that has been made is that I will seldom have the time, resources, or know-how to invent the invention that the idea calls for.  After all, if I was given a dollar and asked to make a bottle of water on my own I would simply sit down and cry.  There is simply no way that I alone can make a bottle of purified water from scratch!  Think about it, making plastic!? How many people know how to do that? Many people, working together and pooling ideas and resources combined with those who have the know-how and the money to make it happen…made it happen.  So now I can buy a bottle of water for a dollar (and it takes less than that for the companies to make it!)

The same goes for anything:  The laptop computer like the one you may be using right now.  What did it cost?  Now for that same amount of money could you right now and on your own build the very same computer?  Make a screen? No. Operating system?  No, most all of us would undoubtedly fail big time.

So this blog will begin with Idea#1 and end with Idea#24,298.  Each one will be unique.  Each idea will stand as a current obstacle in my life; a picture of that moment in time. Maybe the idea will be a possible answer to some sort of inconvenience or it may simply be a cool/entertaining idea that came across my idle mind one rainy Tuesday.  Whatever the case, the best part will be seeing these ideas become reality.  Imagine one day going back through the archives and being able to check something off the list!  Just the thought of it makes me excited to get started!

On the same note, I am sure that one day (or many days) I will look back at my early entries and think: “What was I thinking?  Was that really bothering me back then?”  No matter, it will be interesting.

I highly encourage you to begin you own idea blog and watch as time goes by for any of your ideas to become a reality.  It will make us excited for the future and keep us sharp as we look out every day for that idea, the oh-so-elusive idea that glows as brightly as the sun then is blown away by the ever-blowing and thought-eroding wind of daily routine.  Blown away like a candle we had only just lit.

Trust me, some of my ideas will be stupid.  Other ideas may already have been thought of (and I am sure that many of my ideas will be like this) but that is part of the process.  It is our own road to personal discovery through daily contemplation that must be the base of our reason for existence.  What is revealed to all of us in our daily lives is revealed at random perhaps but there is no first and last but only the happening.  The thought.  The idea.

As was mentioned at the beginning, I am already very far behind.  If the average person in the world today is given only 24,298 days to live, then I am already at day 8,210 (approximately).  Just over one-third of the way through, haha.  At this point, I might have to phone a friend for help every third day and double up!

Thanks for any support.  Your comments are always welcome.

Dorian

Every good beginning needs a good quote:

Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get,the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Never stop counting your blessings.

Nourish beginnings, let us nourish beginnings. Not all things are blest, but the seeds of all things are blest. The blessing is in the seed. ~ Muriel Rukeyser

Three of my favourite things regarding winter. I love how the build-up to Christmas is the one time of year that my Dad actually bothers to clean the living room. It’s like ’spring cleaning’, but in winter. It’s only because my Dad uses Christmas to see his sister, and we actually clean the dining table so that we can use it.

Besides this, I don’t enjoy winter much for too many reasons: the Christmas buzz begins in November with far too many people fretting unecessarily; it’s always cold in my bedroom; it’s dark when I leave the house for college, and dark when I get home; I’m too lazy to bother with tights so I rarely wear skirts; the weather is particularly unpredictable, and there’s floods; Christmas is an over-animated holiday with a three-year-old in the house and centred around not what I believe it is; I just feel moody and complain all the time, more than I do in summer.

I feel this has just become a list for ranting, which I guess it has, but there are some things I do enjoy about winter. I am particularly looking forward to New Year’s this year; whether my plans form into action, I do not know, but I like the whole idea of new beginnings. I’m a selfish girl, and need many markings for a new start. New Year is one of these, long overdue from my last failing ‘new start’ which was ‘going back to college’. I never think it’s too early to devise a plan of action for change, something that I shall plan meticulously this year and follow through: things have got to be better next year.

So, do as I do and leave your Christmas shopping until the Saturday before Christmas, write stupid letters to long lost relatives who you shan’t even see, and stop lying to your children about Father Christmas (teach them about family as opposed to a fake man of whose background you know nothing of). Also: start thinking about what you want to change next year, then write it down, then pin it up somewhere and get on with life.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  I had a lovely one with friends and family.  I even went out on Wednesday with a few friends.  I did go shopping yesterday.  I got an electric blanket, some containers and a new laptop!  The laptop I was waiting till January but found one that worked for me for a reasonable price.

So it is now back to work.   I would love to put up my Christmas tree this weekend but I have no space for it yet.  I didn’t put it up last year since I was on vacation the 12 days leading up to Christmas.  But maybe next week.  I took the last few nights so now it is time to work.  I made a big brunch this morning so I might run the dishwasher twice.  So the game plan for today is:

1. Hot Spot in the front room
2. Sweep and Wash the traffic area in the kitchen
3. Hot Spot in the back room
4. Work on my Control Journal and cleaning playlist

But first, I think I am going to put on warmer clothes.  It’s chilly!

Hi everybody! Now as you have probably noticed, this blog is very new, it has just popped up from the internet, and there it is! So now here I am, running this blog, and telling you stuff. Weird stuff. And weird stuff is the very point of this. So let me tell you about my very first experience of the paranormal:

I woke up, it was a normal morning. I got out of bed, and decided it’s time to test my paranormal skills. I lied on the bed very calmly, and relaxed. At this point I felt a force flooding my body. It was unknown to me, but I decided to test it. I looked at a paper figure of a dragon, which was hanging on the other side of the room. I urged it to move, I glared at it. And then, as I felt the force getting stronger, the figure began to sway, the more I thought about it, the more it did. Then I told it to stop, and it did! The next object was my window blind, it was down at the time, I also managed to move this with my mind. The same effect occured with the lamp hanging over my bed.

So that’s that. The first paranormal. A while later I began learning how to blog, and that’s how this all began! Keep reading, and I’ll keep updating!