The Parent Curse

Once, along time ago, lived a little girl who had been given a special assignment at school. The little girl was very proud of her assignment on Florida History. It was a big girl project just like they would get in high school. She sent off for all of the brochures like her teacher told her, she took many notes,and borrowed lots of books from the library. She only forgot one little detail.

To write the report. So the weekend before it was due, she wrote and she wrote. But it still wasn't right. The little girl did the only thing she could think of and went crying to her mother for help.

"Mommy, I got all my research done and I've written my draft but it has to be typed and put on the board and it's due tomorrow", the little girl wailed to her mother, at 10 pm at night. The mother loved her daughter, so she tsked at her and hugged her, and said,

"It will be all right. I'll help you." Mother sat at the typewriter (i said long ago,no there was no computer, now hush and listen) typing up the paper, correcting the daughters spelling and grammar mistakes, until the early hours of the morning.
At last they were finished and the little girl hung the finished report on her poster board.

"Good night, sweet heart. Let this be a lesson to you. Never put off the writing of the report until the last minute." The Mommy hugged her daughter and tucked her in bed.

"oh I learned my lesson." The little girl solemnly swore and she snuggled down to sleep. And she meant it.

Until her first Science report a few years later when she forgot again. "Mom!" the cry went out. Again the mother sat up most of the night with the daughter.

"Learn from this." the mother warned

"I will. I did." the little girl answered.

Until a few months later when her History report was due.

"Mom!" "Learn from this." "I did."

and so the cycle repeated its self for a long time.

Never once did the Mother complain or carp on the girl. She just helped and then said learn, and she would smile this secret little smile that the little girl could never really understand.

Years later the little girl was all grown up and had children of her own.

"Mommy!" the little child cried "I have a report due tomorrow and I have all the research but it isn't written! Can you help me?"

And the little girl's heart froze in her chest. She should have listened to her Mommy and learned. Because she now understood the secret smile and that her Mothers curse for her had come back quadruple fold. How many nights would she lose sleep helping her children to learn a lesson she never did?


sorry Mommy, but can we talk truce here? I learned my lesson I really did!

A reminder....

Some times life starts throwing things at you and causes you to get bogged down in doubt, self pity, and confusion. This had been happening to me lately. My sister sent out her christmas cards early this year. The one she sent me had a handwritten note in which she reminded me...



"Rebekah- If God saved Ruth from being a poor widow, Easter from being a self pitted poor girl and Daniel from the lions den, just when they began to question...what makes you feel so bad? Just step out and feel that solid yet invisible ground under your feet. God is everywhere.



Thanks Rachael...I love you!

Lions and Tigers and Bears...Oh My!

Those of you that know me, know that normally I hate when stories are "retold" or "adapted" because inevitably they will screw something up. But so far this month I've been impressed not once but twice.

First time? See below post. Second time was Sci-fi's "Tin Man". I wasn't really holding my breath or having high hopes, because lets face it, it's sci-fi. More times than not it's going to be cheesy and jukey and make me curse the gods that let it make it to the air waves.

Boy was I wrong. Some may disagree and claim that it is all of the afore mentioned things, but not since the "Tenth Kingdom" have I loved a retelling so much. Not even a retelling really. Anyone who read any of the other Oz books after Dorothy knows that there was much more to Oz then the first book told.

This story is stand alone; If you never even saw or heard the first one. But don't think your old friends are gone. It's like meeting new friends that remind you of old friends. The Scarecrow, the Cowardly lion, the Tin Man and Toto are all there, just in a different way.

And for the die hard Wizard Fan, plenty of inside jokes, like how Glitch can never find the right direction.

The story itself is compelling and spell binding for the fantasy fan, and for those of us that started loving Fantasy as little girls on a black and white 13" Quesar TV in their living room, this mini-series is enough to make us fall in love with it all over again.

Does that mean I know longer love the original? Well, that's a horse of a different color.

Hello, Insomnia, My Old Friend (sung to Simon and Garfunkle tune)

You have to love the bouts. No story brewing that would be to easy. No, it's the kind where you run through your head what you should have done or should have said. How you should spend your money, which only leads to what you still have left to purchase. Which will of course lead to where the kids should go to college. My personal favorite, how will you pay for college.

I know these moments of self doubting are normal. I understand it's slings and arrows to make me doubt the decisions I've made in my life lately. I know where they come from and how to fight them. I know that they will pass in time. I just hate going through them.

It's the time in the evening when the house is all sleeping and I am forced to be still with only my own thoughts

Beowulf

We've all seen the reviews. The highest I've seen the movie get is a B, and this leaves me a bit perplexed. For once they actually stuck to the story line! I know. I couldn't believe it either,but I was impressed. As for the graphics, any online gamer will tell you they did a really good job. The best part of the film for me?

Normally when I watch a 3d movie, I'm left wondering what the big deal is. For what ever reason I do not get to enjoy the same effects as everyone else. This time I actually got to see the stuff popping off the screen! I must say this new "REALD" is awesome. Even the upcoming movie previews popped. Looks like they are going to do more movies with this technology. I for one am all for it. Brandon Frasier will be delighting me this summer in a remake of "Journey to the Center of the Earth", and really, any sci-fi/fantasy fan worth their salt will be checking this one out.

The worst draw back to the new REALD will be the glasses. No longer are they paper and films red and blue lens. Now you either look like Drew Carey or Buddy Holley. But I much prefer that look to the old style glasses.

As for Beowulf and his group of fighting thanes? Well as soon as the DVD goes on sale, I shall invite them all to live with me.

Beat'n by technology again.

This must not be my week for electronics. Yesterday I get home from work, and all I want to do is have a cup of coffee and check my e-mail. Only to discover that my computer wigged out and my Internet is down. Fine, I'm a big girl. I can handle one little night with out the computer. I had a book to read. Somehow I managed to make it through and bright and early my sister was on the phone with the cable guy, trying to reset our modem. Thirty minutes it took us to get the guy to find and fix the problem, while trying to convince him that we weren't moron's!
(stop laughing)

My computer had no problems connecting, the other two systems apparently were on the outs with the router and would not talk to it period. I mean, it sent flowers, candy, sweet little poems..nothing. Oh, the other systems could see the router, they knew it was there. They just refused to talk to it. Finally we get that lovers tiff worked out, and everyone is happy. A joyful evening was spent by all checking myspace and e-mails.

Until I decided "Hey, wouldn't it be great if I put a picture up on my blog, like everyone else?"

(stop laughing, I mean it!)

As you can see by my updated profile that was a great success. Twenty minutes of reading and rereading the instructions...computer 25, Me 0.

But that's okay...tomorrow is another day.

Dating in the Modern Era.....

So you look around and find yourself single, again. Never thought it would happen to you, but here you are. Your older, wiser, and a bit more self confident than the last time around, but you realize (after a fateful night in an old favorite stomping ground) you've out grown the bar scene. All of your single friends..well they went and got married. Now your also out a wing man. And any of the eligible single friends your friends would have had? yep they aren't single either.

What ever is a girl to do?

There are a few options. Everyone has seen the commercials for Matchdotcom or Eharmony right? These sights want you to pay a membership fee to get hooked up with other singles. Yahoo has a personals service too. However of all the choices out there for dating sights..So far I like Singlesnetdotcom the best.

Most of these sights let you "flirt" for free. Or as yahoo calls it "send an icebreaker" the catch comes in when if your not a member you can not respond back.
Oh you can send a return flirt or icebreaker, but that's it.

Singles is different. If either the flirter or flirtee are members you can e-mail each other for free as often as you like. So if your just starting out and not wanting to make an investment..this is a good way to go.

Fair warning though...the rules of dating have changed..that's for another post.

Writers Block...

Working evenings now, I have come to really appreciate that I can watch most of my favorite shows on my computer. Yes we have the cable box that records shows, but they only have so much space and the some of the shows I like the rest of the family isn't into. I love that just like tuning in on show night, I don't have to pay to watch. To me it's like catching the show in syndication. To that end I don't understand the writers strike.

As a writer, I understand wanting to be compensated for the work one creates. But do writers on staff get royalty fees every time a show re-airs? If not then they have no business complaining when a network re-airs on-line. They received payment when they first wrote the script. That is now property of the network.

I could be completely off base, maybe I don't have both sides of the story. If that is the case please someone enlighten me. As I see right now though. These writers are just whining for something that isn't theirs to whine about anyway.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some TV to catch up on.