Bottle Shock (2008)
★★ / ★★★★

I decided to watch this movie because I was interested to learn more about one of the landmarks of the wine industry (even though I don’t know much about wine). That is, the creation of the perfect Chateau Montelena chardonnay. Alan Rickman stars as Steven Spurrier, the owner of Academie du Vin, who traveled to the United States in order to collect wine for the Judgment of Paris wine competition. One of the places he visited was Chateau Montelena which was owned by Jim Barrett (Bill Pullman), a man who was buried in loans and frustration with the fact that his son (Chris Pine) failed to show interest or enthusiasm when it came to the family business. The weaker and less interesting part of the film was the romance triangle among a Hispanic worker (Freddy Rodriguez) in Chateau Montelena, a new intern (Rachael Taylor), and Jim’s aimless son. Another negative was that even though the story was supposed to be set in 1976, it didn’t feel like it was because of both the actors and the script. That sense of authenticity was important to me because I really wanted to be sucked into the time period. I also felt as though the picture played everything a bit too safe. With each scene everything just felt nice and breezy instead of revolutionary, which is a problem because the core of the movie was how the events in the vineyard impacted the wine industry. Randall Miller, the director, should have taken more risks instead of resting on the romance between the three younger characters. In fact, I think the movie would’ve been better off if about thirty minutes were cut off because it would have been more focused and the pace wouldn’t have felt as slow. Still, I don’t consider “Bottle Shock” a bad movie because there were moments of true wonder for the audiences, especially when the wine suddenly changed from clear to brown. I had no idea whether that was a positive or a negative thing prior so I certainly learned something from the film. And the exciting competition scene was quite amusing because the French judges tried so hard to discern which wines were from France and which ones were from the United States. The looks on their faces after the competition was priceless.

This is the time where I say to myself,
Don’t take a bite,
Just sleep off the tears,
And swear to the rest will be gone by morning.

Yet I hear a voice that begs me to stay awake with it,
It screams: Wait! Don’t leave me here alone inside!
It cries: Please God kill me here!
Why should I have to awake with such fear!

Yet I hear a quake of a sound nearby,
Below the floor,
Or outside my door.
And I take a look,
And notice I am awake.
Only from another escape,
That was planned to drown the pain,
Yet only seemed to smother in the rain.
And as I wake from such a quake,
I see the snake slither out my door and as it passes,
The flowers, they whither,
The grass, it dies,
And the bushes, they burn.
All dead within an instant.
I say to the snake goodbye forever,
I don’t want your fruit,
I can see it’s diseased,
Be gone! Never to return!

But this is the third day,
Of the third month.
And this is the third song,
And the third time,
That i forgot the third hour of the morning is not mine.

And I lie on my couch,
As I lie to my friends where I am,
And say with a grin,
“Yes, I’m okay.”
As I lie down with sin.
Again and again.

And the apple lies on the ground,
Covered with bites,
Covered with lies.
Because wearehound,
And i whither with the thought that I’m safe and sound.

Let go of the wheel,
Jump out the back,
Land on the soft grass,
And stand there with me safe and sound,
And we’ll watch those feelings burn to the ground.
Together we’ll talk,
Talk all night,
Talk for talks sake,
And wait for the talk to break.
Then we’ll wake,
And walk away from these problems.
That you couldn’t face.
But together we burnt them without a trace.
Because wearehound.
That feasts these problems into the ground.

 Hello Everyone, Im back from the dead, just kidding! My computer got a virus from a stupid hacker, and I couldn`t update, so Im back now, so get ready to feel and experience the awehomesome OKU pleasure you crave! =) Were back and bigger aand better! So get ready! =)

 - Kooki, Leader!

If you are looking for a storage space for your furniture, Edmonton Storage units might do the trick for you. It is necessary to ensure that the storage space you hire is good enough to provide protection from inclement weather, Sun, and moisture.

http://spauldingwendyf.bravejournal.com/

So sorry but my human is so busy with our “moving overseas” thing that she hardly has any time to help me do blog stuff and I’m finding it really hard to keep up with visiting my friends at the moment – so please forgive me if I don’t manage to comment much in the next few weeks!

I’ve got lots of things I wanted to post about from ages ago which have been sitting in a queue but I keep having so many new adventures that I’ve had to tell you about those first and so my catch-up list keeps getting longer and longer!

But now that we are leaving NZ, my human thinks we should quickly tell you about all these things before we leave – as I’m sure I will have even more adventures to post about after we move to Australia! So I hope you won’t mind me bombarding you with posts about “old stuff” for the next week or so (whenever my human can get time away from all the packing and “moving overseas” stuff!)

OK – so I wanted to tell you about a lovely walk I did on St Heliers Bay beach back in July. My human, Hsin-Yi, says that we are very lucky because Auckland is a “harbour city” right next to the sea and so there are many “inner-city beaches” that we can get to in 10mins with the car machine, to enjoy.

Enjoying the sunshine on Tamaki Drive

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In fact, there is a beautiful long road called Tamaki Drive which follows the side of the sea and there is a row of “waterfront suburbs” along this road which all have beautiful beaches.

View Larger Map

Tamaki Drive

Lots of humans like to walk, jog or cycle along Tamaki Drive and it’s REALLY busy on Sunday mornings!

 (Hsin-Yi says: I think this is one of the most beautiful city drives in the world, with the sparkling blue sea dotted with yachts on one side, and on the other side – the pohutukawa trees (aka. the ”NZ Christmas Rose”) with their bright red blossoms fringing the road and the sleeping volcano, Rangitoto Island, looming on the horizon…

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Rangitoto Island

You can get lovely views of Waitemata Harbour, from anywhere along Tamaki Drive and also beautiful views back to the ‘City of Sails’ with the Sky Tower dominating the skyline…

 

Our favourite, of course, is Mission Bay where there is a beautiful fountain and park and lots of people sit at the cafes out on the street and it feels like you are on holiday all the time!

(Mission Bay has more young humans living there and is more “trendy and happening”, with lots of bars, restaurants, cafes and an art-deco cinema)

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Mmm - my special treat!

I love the beach at Mission Bay and often meet my friends there (check out my post: “A Walk with Chobe & Breakfast at Mission Bay“)

- and sometimes, after our walk, my humans will take me to the ice-cream shop to get me a special treat!

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But all the other beaches along Tamaki Drive are also really beautiful. Kohimarama is smaller & narrower and lots of people who live in the waterfront suburbs like to walk their dogs there but we don’t go as often ‘coz Hsin-Yi doesn’t like the way some of the other dogs (or their irresponsible owners!) behave and she says lots of uncontrolled, aroused dogs in a small space is just asking for trouble…

We learnt this the hard way because when I was younger, she used to take me to a dog park called Madills Farm where lots of humans like to stand around and gossip and just let the dogs play around them, instead of walking them…and while I was playing nicely with a Border Collie pup, a Husky-Shepherd-cross suddenly arrived at the park and ran up to me and tore a strip out of my shoulder! And his owner wasn’t even sorry – he just laughed and said proudly, “Look at that! Going for the biggest dog in the park!”

I was bleeding very badly and my humans had to rush me to the vet for stitches. I still have the scar – ouch! That was one of the ‘bad experiences’ which started me getting grumpy with strange dogs…and Hsin-Yi has had to work very hard with clicker training and “re-conditioning” to get me friendly with strange dogs again.

So now, Hsin-Yi avoids taking me any place where people  just want to gossip and be lazy and hope their dogs will exercise themselves - unless the dogs all know each other really well and (more importantly!), the owners are all sensible and responsible and have good control over their dogs – because even best friends can have an argument sometimes or accidentally hurt each other during play and of course, us doggies argue with our teeth! And if you have a pack of dogs together all highly aroused, then what started as a little argument can quickly turn into a nasty dog fight!

So the best thing is to always keep moving when out walking – this is much more natural for us doggies anyway and we get to see & smell more things and the exercise is better for our health and our humans’ health! Even if people want to socialise with a group of friends, they should keep moving because a group of dogs walking together is usually a happy, peaceful pack.

Oops! Sorry for that long story! Anyway, back to the beaches: after Kohimarama is St Heliers Bay beach which is bigger and quieter, so we like it better. St Heliers Bay also has some nice cafes and shops but it has more older humans (who are not working anymore) living there and feels a bit different to Mission Bay.

Me at St Heliers Bay beach

When we arrived that day, it was very exciting because some killer whales had just been passing by that morning, hunting sting rays for food in the sea, and now there were hundreds of birds coming to check out the “leftovers’!

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A lot of the half-eaten sting rays had washed up onto the beach…

They smelled deliciously fishy but actually tasted quite leathery and not very nice at all!

So I left them alone and contined my nice walk along the beach…

…until I found a stick!

Oh! But then a black spaniel came out of nowhere and tried to steal the stick from me!

But I won – ha! ha!

We had a nice play together, though, because Hsin-Yi is always very strict about teaching me to share my toys with other doggies. Then some more doggies arrived to join the fun!

Hmm...if you lost a lot of weight, you might look like my friends, Cookie & Cinnamon!

The sun was setting as we started walking back to the car machine but there was time for just one more picture!

I didn’t know then but that was actually the last time I could enjoy the beaches on Tamaki Drive!

See, usually dogs are only allowed on the “inner-city beaches” in the winter months (from Easter until end October) and even then only before 10am or after 4pm…so in winter, my humans usually take me to Mission Bay and the other Tamaki Drive beaches a lot for my daily walks.

But this year, just shortly after this lovely walk in July, a terrible thing happened! Five dogs died from eating something poisonous on the beaches and there were also some dead dolphins washed up on the beach, so they shut all the beaches along the Waitemata Harbour coastline and told all humans not to swim in the sea, until they could find out what it was.

Very sad – they have been shut ever since and now it has passed October which means we doggies can no longer go on the beaches anymore…so I have missed my chance this year and since we’re leaving NZ now, I will never get to go again!

They are still not sure what the poison was but they think it was “tetradotoxin” which was in some sea slugs washed up on the beach that the doggies (and other animals) ate…

The good news, though, is that it is still OK to go to the beaches on the West Coast ‘coz they are next to a different water. I love these beaches too, like Bethells Beach (Te Henga) which was my first ever beach when I was 3 months old, and dogs are allowed on them all year round but they are about 1 hrs drive from Auckland centre. Still, my humans have promised to try and take me there for a last walk before we leave NZ - if they manage to finish the packing in time!

View Larger Map

* For more information about Auckland’s beaches, check out the Auckland City Council website: http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/whatson/outdoors/default.asp

* For more information about the West Coast beaches, check out the Waitakere City Council website: http://www.waitakere.govt.nz/cnlser/pbr/prkgrnsp/index.asp

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

BLACK FRIDAY HERE I COME!!!!

Hey everyone. Sorry I haven’t posted in a few days. It’s been hectic here getting everything ready for Thanksgiving which for me is technically in a few minutes. Well almost an hour. Just realize that Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for what you have. If that’s your family, your health, your freedom, etc, don’t forget to be thankful. Please be careful on this day. I read that out of the holiday days, Thanksgiving is the most dangerous day to be driving. People get so flustered because they forgot something and they head out at the last moment. Just stay safe and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Not much was done last night as I spent time researching and also having some fun. I created two 4m square blocks of land in what will be the small new resident area outside the building. One of the blocks is set to only allow residents with payment information held of file (or used) to enter and the other will only allow adult verified residents to enter. These will if course be backed up with informative text on why each exist and what that are and have historically been used for in Second Life.

Not much else was done – all work and no play makes for a dull life.

Please know you have profoundly helped me grow to who I am today (I hope that’s not a bad thing!). I apologize off the bat for the bad grammar. This is a very stream of consciousness letter. I am thankful for so many people this is going to sound like an acceptance speech. If only I had an award to go with it!For some reason, I feel more thankful than ever. Going through a transformation of sorts puts everything in perspective. When I lost my job this past June, I would have never guessed I would have felt more alive and have met some of the most amazing people. I never dreamed I would be on television/radio and also have a blog, which has had to date over 15,000 hits. I am grateful for EVERYONE who visits day after day!

Thank you for following the journey.

If I could tell you one thing –change the world. Go out and make a difference. Stand up for what you believe in. Change someone’s life. We all have amazing stories to tell. Share them.

My blog wouldn’t have gotten off the ground without a few people. My publicist, George, whose idea it was to really go forward and create the blog. He always has a way of staying positive. A special thanks to ALL the people I have interviewed thus far: the wonderful Marti C., single-licious Melissa B, exceptional Jerry Mitchell, incredible forced to be reckoned with Frenchie Davis, life changing activities Ryan Janek Wolowski and Randy Wicker, and uber talents Richard and Dana. Elisa, Will, Angelo and Renee thank you for one point or another for being my camera bitch! There are many more people, so I apologize if I have forgotten you.

Liz S, you are an amazing woman who constantly gives me the chance to do what I love! You always astound me by the types of events you have me cover. Thank you for taking a chance with me!
Julie H. you have such an amazing heart. I never thought in a million years I would be on the Pat Field website! You have really made my year. You see things in me that I have overlooked. I can’t thank you enough for the dream come true it has been and will keep continuing!
Meagan H. – WE WILL GET KATHY!! You are such a joy to know and you never make my crazy idea is well…crazy! You are a great visionary at what you do!

My family has always been my rock. A special shout out to my relatives in PA, who are not only amazing, but I am so blessed to have reconnected with them on Facebook. Though sometimes we seem miles apart, BENNINGTONS know we are NEVER that far. Thanks guys for all the kick ass support!

My other “family” -my friends who have seen my light and my dark, I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to see each of you grow and become individuals who make me proud in the way you contribute and choices you make. Each of you has such a special gift. I truly love you all and you have been a place to look for advice, support and unconditional love. You have no clue how much I value all of you (though sometimes my sarcasm may make it seem otherwise)

My Old Tappan friends, it’s been a while but let me know when you’re around the NYC/NJ area. For me to see us all grown up seems a little freaky! It was only yesterday we were singing to Mr. Boscia’s music, seeing Mr. Rossi throw a desk, cutting class, going to the prom. Now some of you have your own families. Keep me in your heart, as I do with you.

Wagner College gave me amazing inspiration to find myself and meet professors and life-long friends who inspire me daily. There are many ways you can gain an education as I learned in my years at Wager!

Thanks to all the RENT friends I have made. Measure in love. We can always be grateful for Jonathan Larson’s lasting treasure. Thanks for all the RENT road trips!

Thank you, all the new friends I have made. I look forward to knowing you more and more (that DOES sound kind of creepy)

THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU OUT THERE WHO INSPIRE!

This year, remember those who are not as blessed and keep them in your thoughts and prayers. It’s important for us –as teachers, friends, parents, lovers, brothers, sisters,-you name it, to go out there and make a difference. Anything small can help. We can be the change.

Please have a safe, healthy and happy Thanksgiving this year.

The best is yet to come,

Neal B
www.nealbinnyc.wordpress.com

I have found aromatherapy to be an invaluable tool with our pets. We have miniature horses, an adorable dog, cat and 2 silkie chickens and our latest edition 5 big chooks, whom are laying almost every day. you cannot beat  your own chickens eggs, they are so yummy & of course their diet will have an impact on the quality.

I find that our horses respond very well to alternate medicines. I have personally treated our horses for wounds, punctures, agitation( when they moved from the city to the country), ticks, and colds.  Horses are easy to work with as they will soon let you know there likes and dislikes when working with essentials oils .

Because many essential oils have the same therapeutic properties we will always have a few to choose from when treating specific condition’s.

One of my horses at a young age developed warts on his nose! Poor darling when one first appeared I thought it was a tick and tried to pull it out! you can imagine the response I received. Well once he had forgiven me which didn’t take to long I was able to apply tea tree directly on to the wart. I applied tea tree a couple of times a day and approximately 2 weeks later they were gone.

www.aromatiqueessentials.com.au

I had a thought earlier today.  Being alone again… there’s nobody to tell me, “Mary, that’s a dumb idea.”  Not that John ever quite said it that way or ever treated me like that– I’m a little more blunt.

But at the same time there’s nobody to tell me “Mary, that’s a dumb idea.”

With John it was more the gentle reminders that I needed to get some sleep.  Or “did you feed the horses yet?” (which by the way, I haven’t yet).   Or “we need to remember to…”  Or the “what do you think about…” Or “don’t forget to…”

Confiding in a soul-mate and sharing a partnership together are some of the things I miss the most.  I miss them everyday, but I miss them most when it comes to matters of Nathaniel.  I don’t want to be the person that decides if it is safe for him to get vaccinated for H1N1 of if it is dangerous for him not to get it.  (He has gotten his first shot and is scheduled for dose number two.)   I want to be one of two parents who decides together how to best raise their child.  You know the way it ideally is… in a perfect world.  But, in a perfect world your beloved spouse doesn’t die of cancer at 35…

Everything is now my decision to make- for wrong of for right.  In a way it’s nice to know that there won’t be any conflict in parental matters- it’s my way or the highway.  (Practicing for the teenage years.)  I can do things that I want to do- if I want to go take Nathaniel somewhere, I just do it.  No, “not now… maybe later”… “I’m tired…”  or “I don’t feel like it,”  or “why don’t you just go (aka I’m not interested and don’t want to join you).”  I’m tired of learning things the hard way.  Hoping I’ll be making more right decisions, but I’m fully aware that I’ll make wrong ones too.

All that being said, I think I’m doing mostly okay on my own.  I ask for opinions when I need them and make my own decisions.  I’m pretty good at researching and collecting data.  I’m an adult and quite capable of making my own decisions.  I just wish John was still here to help me make up my mind.

Happy Thanksgiving from Flat Stacie!  Have a fun and safe holiday!

Before You Tie The Knot is for the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) couple that wants to go deeper in their relationship. This workbooks deals with the top issues that couple talk about concerning marriage – children, finance, etc.

Take a moment to make your marriage sound.

Straightforward talk.

By Dr. Brent Lipke DC

If you are pregnant one of the best healthiest things you can do is see a doctor of Chiropractic. 

Another great reason for Chiropractic care during pregnancy is that it is drugless and has no side effects, unlike drugs which can cross the placenta and harm the growing baby. 

Research has shown Chiropractic to help maintain pregnancy, control vomiting, reduce back pain and back labour, reduce premature contractions, shorten labor time by 60% , and reduce drug use by 50%.

To learn more about how a safe, gentle and scientific, Chiropractic adjustment could TRANSFORM your health contact your chiropractor.  If you are interested in a complimentary consultation, CALL  The Family Chiropractic Centre, 519-837-1234. 

I’m Dr. Brent Lipke, educating you to help you educate others !

The “sky” was adjusted so that blue stars are now visible – much better than a flat, black sky. The ground floor has had the store vendors installed and also has demo models of the products.

I took a concious decision to make use of an excellent online resource for the gay leather fetish history part if the build. It is a simple display which takes you to the online site. It would be foolish of me to try to replicate such a wonderful resource. The display will be joined with “life sized” historic leathermen images.

The ground floor also contains the leather venue board. Unlike the more common ad-boards these will be populated by invitation only. The community will guage what venues should appear – those that focus exclusively to the community will be invited first. This is more about promoting the community rather than any commercial venue.

There is still a lot of open space outside and this will be given over to the memorial garden as well as a new resident information station. I do not aim to replicate the great new resident services that the infohubs like NCI provide but I will hopefully give some form of help and guidance for those who mat be new and interested or curious about the community. Freebies are of course going to be sought and I’ll be contacting merchants later on for promotional items.

That leaves the upper floor of the building. I’m in two minds about this at the moment. I could use it as a build studio or give it over to an informal meeting place. At the moment I’m more inclined towards the meeting place as I’d rather keep my work in progress builds private.

Do you know that duck quacks are very important? This is how they try to get your attention. They may have sensed trouble and would like you to know about it. Smaller ducks quack because they are hungry or they need to go outside and play. Simply put, duck quacks are normal.

However, you also do not want your duck to quack non-stop. It will piss off not only you but also your neighbors and even guests. If you are planning to live in an apartment or condominium, tenants would be reluctant to accept you just because your duck cannot be kept quiet.

That is why it is a good thing that you already have an ally to training your duck quacks, and it is not human. It is simply a birdhouse.

Safe Birdhouse

You can call this product as Safe Duck quack Detection Birdhouse. As its name suggests, it looks like the usual house you have for those tiny birds that happen to find home in your garden. It is dainty, sweet, charming, and definitely undetectable by your pets.

These birdhouses are well-designed that they can go perfectly with the landscape you have in your lawn. You can hang it on a tree or simply mount it in a place that is no higher than five feet. You will not have any issues on how you will do that as the product already comes with mounting and hanging provisions.

But the magic of birdhouses not lies on their design but how they train your duck to control their quacks.

How They Work

These birdhouses have 50-feet range. This means that any quak that goes within such limit would immediately be detected. If your duck quakes and the device happens to pick the sound up, the device will automatically send out ultrasonic sounds. These types are not heard by humans. Thus, you do not have to think about disturbing your neighbors or guests by such sounds.

However, because ducks have sensitive ears, they would be able to hear the sound. The high-pitch noise will be enough to capture the attention of your ducks and stop quaking. As time goes on, your pet will also realize the relationship between his or her quacks and the sounds produced. Eventually, he or she will stop quaking uncontrollably.

The Advantages

The main advantage of using the birdhouse is you do not need to attach duck quack collars to them. Your duck can still move freely and would not be bothered by any equipment attached to their necks. The device also does not harm your or your neighbors’ other pets.

Moreover, the outdoor duck quack control detection birdhouse runs on a battery, so you can still save on electricity. You will just know when you need to change them by looking at the 2 LED indicators.

Since the level of correction your duck needs will improve during the course of time, it’s essential that you can also adjust the operational and sensitivity level of your device. This birdhouse has 4 and 3 of them, respectively.

http://love-mypets.com/petducks

gegen Schnitzelhusten…

Impfung 18.00: kein Problem…

Nachwirkungen: noch keine

Und ihr???

Recently I met with Yamada Yoriyuki (山田順之), Manager of the Office of Global Environment at constructino company Kajima and a leader in bringing biodiversity ideas to Japanese corporations. He showed me the new interactive illustration Kajima created of an integrated sustainable city, where bees pollinate community gardens, school fields are mowed by goats, falcons provide crow control, rivers support animal life, hospitals have healing gardens, and plants and animals contribute to a better environment.

Yamada’s vision for new urbanism is holistic, with the widest variety of wildlife improving human life. Contrary to the government’s minimal regulations, Yamada boldly states, “I am not interested in greening.” Instead of applying green to existing projects, Yamada emphasizes habitat and culture. Habitat requires links between insects and birds, bees and food, trees and birds, clean water and fish. As an anthropologist, I was also pleased to hear Yamada emphasize culture as key to creating social change in cities. Yamada cites the importance of “eight million kami“ (ya-o-yorozu no kami or 八百万の神), a Shinto belief in animism and the presence of spirits in an infinite number of natural beings and materials.

In addition to working with Kajima and the Japanese Business Initiative for Biodiversity, Yamada is very hands-on. He explained how he monitors honeybees on Kajima’s Ikebukuro dormitory using GPS and biking along a 2 kilometer radius. From his observations, he sees urban honeybees avoiding park and street trees because pesticides have made them unsafe, and preferring instead small gardens grown by residents.

Yamada also cites the Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker as a key indicator species. Because it travels relatively short distance, urban habitat requires a series of interconnected parks and street trees creating a green web. I find this idea of the ecological connection between large public spaces and individual gardens very inspiring.

I also highly recommend the article he co-authored: Kumagai, Yoichi and Yoriyuki Yamada. “Green Space Relations with Residential Values in Downtown Tokyo: Implications for Urban Biodiversity Conservation.” Local Environment, Routledge Press, Vol. 13, No. 2, 141–157, March 2008.

Things started off fairly well last Saturday.  The sun had set and the evening was going great.  I met with some friends and went down to Blue Frog Cantina in East Atlanta to dig Quad Control and co’s Atlanta Bass Wars night.  The place was rammed, and I was really feelin’ the old skool jungle vibes blasting from the system.  I even had to politely reject a lady at the bar by telling her that I was not single and def had someone at home.  It was a good laugh, nonetheless, until we decided to try to get over to an after-hours elsewhere in the city.

That’s when the trouble started.

After finding that the group of people we were looking to meet up with where not there yet, the doorman insisted that we leave the parking lot, and as I tried to get my Jeep moving, albeit hastily and fairly frustrated at the fact that it would not idle but instead turn off completely if I did not give it any gas, I threw the bitch in gear and BAM!! My drive shaft fell right out from underneath the m**F****.

To make a long shory stort, we took a cab 20 miles out of the city, I slept on the floor, and woke up seriously hungover.  I made arrangements to have my vehicle towed 2 miles from the corner of Juniper and North Ave in Midtown over to a service station at Ponce and Moreland.  It would have to wait until Monday.  So it is, and now I’m waiting on a rental car to come pick me up from home so that I can sort everything out and get back in the mode for Thanksgiving.

Safe driving everyone, and make sure you’re cars and trucks are in top shape before you take a trip this holiday weekend.

“Be strong now because things will get better. It might be stormy now, But it can’t rain forever”

Recently one of my few friends from my childhood took his own life. We used to be friends but we had not talked in about 7 years. As we, both attended different high schools.  I was not particularly close with him or anyone until I went to high school. 

I do not remember him being depressed in middle school. Nevertheless, he could have been, as I do not remember much of anything.

I think many people are never seen as depressed because it may manifest itself differently in some. I know that childhood depression looks different that adult depression. I think when you’re in a high school your at that awkward stage and depression can be manifested with childlike symptoms.

During high school, a few of my classmates committed suicide. I always never really thought I felt any feelings about it. However, when everyone was talking about how much their suicide must have hurt their families, I had different feeling about that.

I always was jealous of the person that took their own life, as they finally were free. They did not have to living a life of hurt, sadness and pain. They did not have to hide their depression from everyone.

I went to a catholic school from when I started school formal school in 4^th grade. I never thought about suicide as a bad thing, but I never saw it as good. Suicide was always just indifferent to me.

I feel like I hide many feelings and I try to minimize my abuse. When I was twelve, I attempted suicide and I did not plan it. I was just something that I somehow already knew how to do…I really never understood it.

 My parents knew that I had tried to commit suicide but they did nothing to help me. The same thing happened in 6^th grade when they were told I was self-harming. They “talked the talk” to the school counselor and pretended to care.

I think that some parents might really care about what other people think of them. In addition, they may view getting help as something ugly. I think what is ugly is that sometimes people that are really hurting never get the help that they truly disserve and need.

Anyone who feels suicidal please seek professional help. Your life is worth it.

Rest In Peace..