Fun things I found on the internet....

I don't usually do a lot of links and things but today was just chock full of stuff.

I made a post at the Old Place a while back about how they are teaching in schools these days. I think this article shows my concerns are justified.SAT Scores

WWdn:in exile, produced these little beauties:StarTrek vs The Simpsons and Spock's Ode to Bilbo . For more fun with Wil go to his sight and look at the cute picture of himself he posted. ;)

Beav was not to be left out of todays "crazy but true" links. If you like pate' don't try to get any in Chicago(or at least not Duck pate'). I am tired of making links now so you will just have to scroll down to the very bottom of this page and click on ol' Beav's link.

Uh..can anyone help me get my links back to the top of the page where they are supposed to be?
(Bk looks down) I'm not sure how they got down there in the first place.... I have other site links I want to put in my list, but I'm scared they will start running into the blog next door- at the rate they are moving south.

There are things I like about Blogger, the fact that everyone can post is the main thing, and things I don't like -mainly because I'm old and stubborn and don't like to 'learn' new things.
And Blogger-they make me learn!

I am a product of my time: simple, easy, and fast is how I like things. When I see something someone else has on their site, I don't want to have to read tons of tech jargen to get it on mine.
I just want to copy, paste, done.

Today is filled with more questions than answers.

Give me a blog chain and I will kink it up. I had originally posted the wrong link at the end of my entry to blog chain#5. In going back to correct my mistake, I was able to stop and look around the next stop in the chain. I found one of the most moving pieces of film I have seen in a long while. That I could not understand 'the words' wasn't important, the emotion in the voice, coupled with the imagery and the music touched my soul. The entry following the piece causes my heart to ache. Please take a moment, go watch the video, read the entry and come back. I'll wait.
India

Today also marks the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina (in case you missed that in all the coverage it's been getting). As a someone from the south, this is really getting on my nerves. I don't really know how to express myself when it comes to this topic because I get so upset. I understand that the city of New Orleans was devastated by effects of the storm. I get that I really do, and the lives lost are a tragedy. I do not use that term lightly. What about the Mississippi Gulf Coast, or Alabama, or the rest of Louisiana? Lives were lost, homes destroyed, things will never be the same again. New Orleans was a matter of bad government at the local and state level, and it cost lives. Remember folks the levy broke after the storm had past!! What about the rest of the area's that where affected by the storm! If you must make us rehash this every few months, can we at least dwell on something other than bad city planning!!!!
Sorry, I told you I get emotional about this. One of my best friends lives in Biloxi, Ms. For weeks I could not get in touch with her, had no idea if she had lived or died. I do not like being reminded of that every time I turn on the flipping TV!!

I saw a reporter today standing in front of a house in New Orleans, the yard had been cleaned up, and except for the spray paint tag on the door, everything looked normal. When they did a close up of the window you could see furniture shoved around the room and up against the window. This scene captured two things for me. 1) the pretty lawn was New Orleans and the stuff in the house is everyone else. 2) That's how the south is. We paint a pretty picture to distract you from the pain we really feel. That pain belongs to us. It is us. We absorb it to make us stronger.
Maybe that's just me and I will get a 100 angry posts about how insensitive I am.

AW Blog Chain #5:

The AW cooler blog chain has made it's way back to me. This round the theme has been food...to many late night postings I think. We all know I love food, next to sleep it is one of my most favorite things. The last post Tienci, spoke about health foods she wants to try..someday.

I am not into "Health" foods or exercise as "exercise". Nope, you want this girl to get active you better mask it as something else. You want me to walk? Say "hey lets go spend the day in the woods and have a picnic." or "Gee, it sure is nice outside how about a bike ride? or would you rather take the dogs out?" An offer of a day at the beach will rouse me from my stupor.

Take me bowling, tell me you want to play volleyball or badminton, just do not point to a gym and say "Doesn't that look like fun?" No it does not look like fun. It looks painful. It brings to mind the Spanish inquisition(and I don't mean the song and dance number from one of my favorite films) and medieval torture devices.

I do exercise, I just don't 'work out'. I don't join 'clubs' or 'classes'. That maybe to somes liking and hey more power to them, but not me. I never have been like that. That I recall, none of my friends growing up were like that either. We thought nothing of walking all over the place or riding our bikes to get to where we wanted to go. We spent hours on the bayou swimming , and goofing off, or playing volleyball. We never thought of it as exercise.

I don't get much in to diets in general, they cut into my 'joy' of foods to much. I did once go on a carrot eating spree. I didn't do it to loose weight, but because I wanted to try and "fix" my eyes. So I ate carrots for breakfast, lunch, snack, and then had a normal dinner. My mother didn't say anything. She kept buying carrots, until the day my fingers turned orange. Yes, I had orange fingers. I think that is when Mom realized my sisters were not getting any of the carrots. Was a good thing to, my eyes did not improve and I didn't love carrots as much as I once had. Also the reason I don't like real butter. I have to have margerine. I liked butter growing up, so much that I ate an entire stick, by itself, yeah not one of my smarter moves.

There are very few foods that I don't like. A few I couldn't stand as a kid that I like now. I have very few rules for food. Really only two.
1) I don't eat anything that goes down faster than I can swallow i.e. raw oysters
2) I will try something at least once, then tell you I don't like it

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next up on the chain is:
At Home,Writing
And for those of you who missed it here is the list of who in this round of the blog chain.
A View From the Waterfront
Curiouser and curiouser
South Asia Biz
The Road Less Travelled
Fireflies in the Cloud
Infinite Vanity
The Secret Government EGGO Project
Mad Scientist Matt's Lair
Even in a Little Thing
Beyond the Great Chimney Production Log
Kappa no He
Tiffany's Smorgasbord
Just a Small town girl
At Home, Writing
Southern Expressions
BCom
earthshoes
Peregrinas
Writing From Within
Sounds of Serenity in Mayhem

Flash Fiction Friday

Yes I am aware that this is monday, but I have a lot comming up this week. The blog chain #5 is rolling and only one person is in front of me, so that will be up soon, if not sooner.

This is Flash Fiction Friday. Flash fiction is a story told in 1 scene, kind of like a 1 act play.
We are using this as an exercise for the grey matter. Two entries are already up and wow, don't think mine will even pale in comparison, but I have to try :)
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Paul walked around the ruins of the old garden.
“Don’t you love this? You can feel the history of the place can’t you, in every stone, crevice, and crack?”
Linda was tired, tired of walking, tired of bugs flying around, tired of seeing every old building and site on the tourist map,” You’re the one ‘cracked’” she mumbled under her breath.
Out loud she said “Yes dear.” Smiling at him as best she could to hide the boredom she was feeling.
The trip had been Paul’s idea. “We need to get away, just the two of us. Away from the kids, the house, the jobs. I feel like we are drifting apart. All we do anymore is go to work, come home, deal with the kids or the house or what have you. Then I do my thing and you do your thing. We hardly ever do ‘our’ thing.” Linda snorted at the memory.
He had made this grand speech after yet another fight. She couldn’t even remember what the last one had been about. That’s what they really did anymore. Fight. She knew she could not take it anymore and had begun making plans to leave. Then he sprang this trip on her; a waste of their savings as far as she was concerned.
Paul interrupted her musing by taking her hand.
“Come look at this!” he tugged gently to get her to follow him. With a sigh she relented. Linda was surprised that even though everything he did got on her last nerve anymore, when he touched her, her skin still tingled and the warmth from his body would still fill her.
“Do you see this tower?” Paul pointed to a dilapidated gate tower sitting just off the path. The tower listed to one side. Part of the building seemed to have been shot with a cannon or repeated gun fire, the outer part of the brick was gone.
“Yes dear, lovely tower.” Linda tried to feign interest.
“That tower makes me think of us.” Paul pulled her into his arms. Her back nestled into him so naturally. He wrapped his arms around her holding her close and kept them both looking at the tower.
“Look at the tower. See how time, weather, even war have attacked it. How through everything that has come at it through the ages it still stands? Oh it may not be as majestic as it once was, but it is still beautiful. Still strong. That tower is us. We aren’t as young as we were when we started out, but through job changes, kids, life, everything, we are still standing. Still strong.” Paul turned Linda to face him. “ Still beautiful.” He took her face into his hands and kissed her like it was the very first time.
When he finally broke the kiss, Linda slowly became aware of her surroundings again. Suddenly she wasn’t tired of it all; she was full of life, energy, ready to once again face anything. Linda leaned into Paul, “You know dear, I think you were right. This trip is exactly what we needed.”

Starting to get comfortable

Well we are moving in nicely aren't we? Put some paint on the walls (thanks to the Beav), added some links. Just a few more 'things' to hang up.

I allowed myself to play DAoC tonight. It is Sunday and I worked hard all week, I figure I deserve it. I could sure tell I hadn't played in awhile. Although we did play in Thidranki tonight, which is a lower lvl battleground(call it baby RvR), and only the second time I have ever played a healer. My response time is way down though.

I just realized I had not done a "what I'm reading now" in a while. I am currently reading Agatha Christie Death in the Air. A Herucle Poirot. Next to Ms Marple, Herc is my favorite. Funny but true, this book has a copyright date of 1935 and one of the suspects is addicted to coke! I know that cocaine has been around for forever, and that in other books veiled references are made to the use of it and other drugs. Just not something I was expecting in mainstream print in 1935, a drunk I could accept, that the murdered person was a loan shark okay, but drug addiction talked about so freely during that time, just strikes me as odd. Now, if I could just figure out how the murderer managed to shoot a blow gun in a plane with no one seeing....I'd be one up on Mr. Poirot, but I have my suspicions that the "blow gun" found isn't the actual murder weapon...we shall see gentle reader..we shall see.

What a difference a day makes

No cool text color today folks. I am too proud of myself, for finally figuring out how to post a link that works(see right of screen), to worry about using a mood related color.
I learned all sorts of interesting things while learning how to do this. Did you know that 5-10% of all men are color blind to some extent? They can not read something if it is printed on a yellow background. I did not know this, to bad for you(those that play trivia games with me), I do now LOL. Ah learning is FUN and fundamental ...oh wait that's reading, bah, it's learning too. Especially when I finally NAIL IT!! Now all I have to do is: figure out how to make room for more links, create another sidebar for my blog, and insert a book list. I also want to change the background on my blog to tan and the words in my title to Navy blue, but one thing at a time.

I read, today, of a short story contest that is being held here. The Emerald Coast Writer's Annual Sandscript Contest is underway. I have a month to get a submission in, so I guess I'm going to shoot for the moon, or at least, the inner coastal water way bridge. There is also a writers workshop being hosted by Bob Mayer on September 23rd. The fee for the event is $85.00, but I still hope to be able to go. Kind of nervous though, if I do manage to scrape up the cash to spare, I'll be going alone. Let's face it, I usually don't do stuff like this alone. I go if someone else I know is going, but by myself HA! I have a hard time sitting in a restaurant and eating by myself even if it's a fast food place. Let alone sit through a day long workshop. One thing I've learned growing up around water though: if you try to wade in you'll chicken out, better to just jump feet first, and let your body get used to the shock.

Today was also my nephews birthday party. Hard to believe he is about to be three! It seems like just yesterday I watched him come into this world. He got a swing set from his Mimi and Pappy. I didn't get to see his expression when he saw it though. All I saw was a little streak as he ran past me. During the party, we had been keeping the children corralled on the breezeway, not letting them into the backyard. When we released the horde, my nephew ran straight for the LITTLE TYKE (tm) play slide he has had for a while. One of the other children saw the new Swing Set and called out "No, over here". My nephew is no dummy, his head whipped around and boom, off like a shot, straight for the see-saw. He eventualy tried out the carriage swing and the regular swings, he also tried the teeder totter(this is what we call the two person swing that looks like bicycle seats or saddles-to me- attached to a pole hanging down from the main beam, the object of this is you lean foward and the other person leans back, and you swing-although I have ridden it by myself before-). Watching as 11 preschoolers swarmed over this "new" toy, we parents talked about our first swings. I smiled as the memory of my Dad and Uncle putting ours up in the backyard and my sisters and I spying out the bedroom window(it was supposed to be a surprise). Steph and I both commented that our swing set lasted for years and it did too. We spent so much time playing on it, watching Rachael do her spins and flips on the main beam(she never had any fear) and swinging while singing silly songs together. Steph knows what's she is in for. She had already arranged her chairs over by the swing set in the shade of the huge oak tree that dominates her back yard.

After seeing the swing set, other presents seemed to be the last thing on his mind. Somehow his mother convinced him to go in and open them all up. As a special treat he also had a pinata'. Unfortunatly is was hung a little to high, so we had a line of little kids armed with a broken broom handle swinging up over their heads, to pelt this poor thing. Lots of jumping was involved and screams from adults of "back up, everyone back up." and " let so and so have a turn now."
I think we went through the line about 3 times. The girls dropped first and the older boys kept giving it all they were worth. Finally my sister took pity and ripped it open. Ever seen cockroahes scatter when the light comes on? picture that in reverse..pretty much what it was like when the candy started to flow.

Between the swing set, the countless action figures(teenage mutant ninja turtles(tm), Hot wheels(tm) and Cars(tm) items, the boy had quite the haul. He knew it was his party too, while we were attempting to sing Happy Birthday, he practised his blowing. He knew his big scene was comming up and he wanted to get it just right! Over the song I could hear his uuuhhh and whoooo, uuuuuhhh,whoooo . When it was time he got all the candles out(with a little help from his best buddy of course).

Now I am home and completely beat, but that's how my weekend is going. How are ya'll?

Act 1: Scene 1

Chris returned to school today from his suspension. Did I forget to mention that he was suspended for 3 days for having cigarettes on him at school? That he, now has to take a class on how smoking is bad for you, and pay a $25.oo civil fine, as well as $25.oo for the class? Oh, and that they will not make this a criminal charge, unless it happens again. The boy dodged a big ol'bullet on that one, Maybe now he'll listen? HA! we know better don't we.

The good news is he landed the lead in the school play. Yes, welcome to the roller coaster ride called 'LIFE WITH A TEENAGER' that is my life. He will be playing Newton Fuller in George Washington Slept Here.

David attended his first school dance today (Ashley was unable to attend due to being grounded for missing curfew). David did have a companion for the event and he says that he asked her to be his girlfriend. The girl then replied that he would have to ask her father. David relays the story this way:

" So I went up to her Dad and said can I be your daughters girlfriend? and the dad and she both laughed and I got all confused. She said "No, ask him what you asked me.", But I couldn't remember what I said. So her dad told me to write it down and give it to her and she would give it to him. Then they left and I left and walking home I remembered I should of said Can I be your daughters boyfriend!"

That was one breath ladies and gents! How do they do that? I talk fast, but at least I breath. I think. According to David they didn't dance, they just sat around and talked. He claims that he asked her if she wanted to dance,but that she kept saying no.

This event made me remember my first school dance. It was in 6th grade. The dance was held before school in the cafeteria. I was so disappointed, I had read in books what a school dance was supposed to be like and this was definately not it. We had the kind of tables where the benches were connected to the table top by hinges. You could fold up the tables to form rows of benches sans table. This was how they would arrange them for school assembilies, and how they had them arranged for the dance. No colorful streams decked the ceilings, just the plain white tile ceiling as always. The doors to the kitchen where shut thankfully, and a sign reading "WELCOME 6TH GRADERS!" was taped to the metal bar that formed our lunch line. On the stage a teacher was manning a boom box with a microphone in front of it, to supply the music we were going to "Jam to", as that teacher put it. Personaly, I thought the teacher had seen one to many episodes of the cosby show. It was just so lame comming out of the mouth of a teacher, no one really talked like that, at least no one that old. The smell of old grease filled the air. Boys were on one side and girls on the other and never the twain to meet. The dance was scheduled to last for one hour. Thirty minutes in to it, and I was out of the cafeteria and on my way to the library. I refused to go to another school dance until my 8th grade year, but that is a different memory.

Looking at my blank walls

Okay I moved some furniture around at the old placeWINTER HOME. Moved my pictures to where my blog used to be and my blog to where my pictures used to be. This away anyone from this place can still pop over and look at my pics and old entries. I also made a permalink at the old place to this place(for those like me that are let's say 'tech challanged').

Ever tried to say everything and nothing in under 200 words? It's bleep'n hard! But I am trying. I will keep trying until ..my fingers bleed, my eyes explode, or I get my first query letter just like I want it. Which ever comes first.

I thank God everyday that he gave me my woobies, and my Mom, and the other wonderful people he keeps putting right in my way, just when I need them most. He's smart like that ain't he? The fun part is when he gives me one, I don't even know I need, until I need it.

Not many things on the home front to share today really. It rained again. Mutt has made and assasin in the game. Every now and then you hear "Take that Saracen scum" "Woot woot crit strike" "I love climbing keep walls". This self imposed exile I am going through kinda sucks. I know that if I load the game to play, I will sit there for hours and not do what I need to do.
It's called will power, but my name isn't will so I have to work at it.

I did play on Sunday night for the guild event. That was fun. We did a trollheim run, sucessfully I might add. By itself not a big deal. However we did it with less than a full group. That is a big deal and I demanded that it be written in the guild books for prosperties sake. That freak'n worm took an eternity to die though. The thing looked like Kahn's earwig from 'STAR TREK ll'(great I don't have underline) on steroids. *Afore anyone corrects me, on which movie the earwig was actually in, I MAYBE WRONG(there it's down in print, somebody copy it quick before I take it back.) Thankfully the creature stayed in one spot. We sent in the tanks, I stayed back and shot from a distance, and the healers hugged the fonts with the caster. The whole thing went very smoothly, it just took for- ever. I have seen dragons go down faster than that worm did!

Houston WE HAVE LIFT OFF!!!

Wow, being tenacious does pay off how about that! I kept trying and trying to get access to my own page. Finally! success! I somehow managed to not only "find" my account information,but actually send me to the page I needed to change it. Woot Woot.

Now I shall endevor to play with my template and see what other stress and meyhem I can cause myself.

On the plus side of this little adventure in password discovery, I managed to increase the story I am working on to over 1,000 words(according to my ms word counter). Yeah Me!

On the home front: Ashley just peered over my shoulder and said "Mommy, what does teen-a-cious mean?" Mwwaahhhaa, "Gee, I don't know Ash, let's find out." and I handed her the dictionary :), that'll teach her to read over my shoulder. So she looked the word up and read the meaning and said "so why didn't you just say stubborn?"

David came to me this afternoon and asked if boys could be secretaries. I said sure if a guy wants to be one he can. He says 'I thought so Ashley told me that was a girls job.' and he walked off. Later Ash comes to me and says "Mom, I want to run for school secretary." oh she is a devious little wench ain't she? I still gave her the lecture about how boys and girls can have any job they want to which I got "I KNOW MOM. I just don't want to run against him." I think I am buying stock in GOODIES(asprin powder).

As Promised the list for the AW BlogChain #5
A View From the WaterfrontCuriouser and curiouserSouth Asia BizThe Road Less TravelledFireflies in the CloudInfinite VanityThe Secret Government EGGO ProjectMad Scientist Matt's LairEven in a Little ThingBeyond the Great Chimney Production LogKappa no HeTiffany's SmorgasbordJust a Small town girlAt Home, WritingSouthern ExpressionsBComearthshoes PeregrinasWriting From Within Sounds of Serenity in Mayhem

Okay then, again in my defense I just copy and paste people. I promise I will study Html, but I haven't had it in me lately.
I need to learn it soon too, cause this chain seems to be moving as fast as the last one.

Welcome to the new home.

Okay, here we are. Please feel free to look around. I know its not very exciting or even very 'me', yet, but give me time to get the feel for the place and that may change. I decided not to ditch the old digs completely at this time. I probably won't be posting there much, but I want to keep my old entries and photo's and such.

I remember when I built the old place it took me awhile to get it just the way I liked it, and I imagine the same will happen here.

Now, I have it set so that EVERYBODY should be able to post with out having to sign up for anything! For those that are familiar with this space, skip on down, for those that aren't (mom, I'm talking to you, and you too Steph) let me tell you how to comment so you don't get confused.

Click on the link that reads comments (yes just like the old place). Now all the comments other people have made are on the left, you can scroll down and read them(I believe this site does oldest at top and newest at the bottom.Less confusion that way). On the right, you see that empty box? That's where you type out what you want to say. Don't let the box fool you, you can make your comment as long,or short as you want. Look just under that box. See where it says: blogger O other O anonymous O? Okay, if you don't have a blog here(at blogger) click your mouse on the OTHER O . Yes, you can pick Anonymous if you want, jeesh , let me finish okay?

Where was I ? Oh yeah. Once you select Other (or anonymous), the box's below those words will change. If you picked OTHER (like I told you to) you can put in the name you want to appear by your post. Mom, for you this would be 'mom', unless you'd like to make up a tag for yourself and thereby be able to deny(in public at least) that you are my mother. For example K likes to change her handle on Beav's site by quoting lines from Billy Joel songs, but we all know it's her :) . If you chose anonymous it will just say 'anonymous'. Once you have completed those steps all that is left to do is click 'publish'. At least I think that's what it says. You will also be given the option to 'preview' your comment if you want.

I will put a link on the old place to connect to this place, so no one gets lost until we are used to the move. To make things a bit easier, I was blessed in being able to keep my name with one little change, from justasmalltowngirl1 to justasmalltowngirl2, isn't that nice?

I don't mean to cut this short, but I need to go change my signature and update the changes to the old site. Don't forget the Blog chain#5 is up and rolling. I will repost those links here soon.