Animal Planet too Close for Comfort

This was hanging in the draft folder.. so I think it should go in here...sorry I didn't get it posted sooner.

I think Dell kinda stole all my headwind.. ah. so to speak.  I had a horrible cold and I think my body clocked me out harder as punishment for sleeplessness.  Strep throat stinks!

I am currently hanging out in Massanutten, VA with my family plus extras.  It will be an interesting week.  I am sitting here while everyone else goes to the pool.  Asthma and closed in pools just don't work for me.  I am happy to report that I have the perfect pillow to blanket ratio and that the curtains here make the room a wondrous cave.  I plan on visiting antique shops and finding a beautician and have no guilt in saying the idea of separate lodgings was wonderful.  How did we ever share a space with six other people?  Oh yeah, that's right, I hated it.  Moving on.

While I am gone, my fish tank guy is supposed to be getting my Cannibal Skunk Cleaner shrimp out of my tank.  He could not believe it attacked and ate a Peppermint shrimp... Alive..

And I'm sobbing as the brittle stars are trying to pull half the still live carcass into a crevice.. it goes on so long that I turn on the lights and capture some video, because I just know my fish guy was going to be in disbelief.

So why not share? 

Just When I Thought .. I should Quit Doing That

Where has the time gone?  Where have I been?  I know.  Its been too long since my tediousness has graced my very own blog page and I feel that same old sputter coming out of me.  I'm sorry, but.  Oh hell people, I'm not sorry.  I've just been preoccupied with juggling all the other facets of my life and duplicity forbids me to waste time without completing some other testament to my existence.  So here I am.

I guess I need a list of things that I've been aspiring to put into this blog, but haven't had time to make myself write it down .. (on a side note, writing is a serious business to me, so partitioning time to write is truly meaningful)  My list of topics of interest happens to be pretty hefty, so lets get down to it.

First thing:  My fish tank
1.  Mr. Secret Reef
2.  The skunk cleaner that went cannibal
3.  The twenty five dollar rule
4.  Things that plop in the night
5.  I didn't know fish get depressed
6.  Dexter's Lab
7.  The protein skimmer incident
8.  That made me puke

Computers

1.  I discover torrents
2.  I discover I am smarter than I look
3.  Time Warner Cable
4.  I held my mouth right and BAM!  Results
5.  I decide to tempt fate and brave Best Buy
6.  My new phone is not really smart, its a genius
7.  My new phone and its fear of removing clothing
8.  Anyone else afraid of losing pictures, but hating duplicity?
9.  What do I do with this network drive now
10.  When head in cloud becomes a different thing
11.  Who knew Dora the Explorer was teaching me Swyper?

Relationships

1.  Youngest sister called
2.  The other sister called
3.  Yes they did, does this mean I am dead?
4.  Man periods do exist, manpon anyone?
5.  Ever OD on friends?
6.  Does anyone else have a friend that involves a chicken incident four out of five visits?
7.  Wherein I realize my kid is being bullied at church

Philosophy

1.  Where my kid learns about charity at school and it becomes a contest, and I want to tear off head of dogood people with estranged values.
2.  I realize being a good parent makes me restrain myself from telling family what they think they know as truth in reality is a load of horse shit.
3.  A child has the best words at the best time, just about every time, and I'm glad I listen.
4.  Ear plugs and sanity.
5.  When things seem bigger than me I should put the telescope away, or grab a stool.
6.  The day I gave the OK to my daughter on using the last part of our handshake in reality.
7.  When my bubble burst on inventory control.

Yes, its a bunch to cover.

End of Desktop Sobs and on to Funny

So I now have dual monitors running, my DJ equipment and my speakers all directly plugged into my computer!  So what did I do?  Leave?  Nope!

An incident where I fell asleep and a forgotten candy wrapper made me jump up and decide to laugh and enjoy myself.  (about that laffy taffy... I rolled over it and thought it was a spider)

I pulled out To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar.  I proceeded to watch it between surfing and googling.

I spun records.
THEN.. I let the extras on the video play...

I decided to watch Wong Foo's deleted scenes and OMG!  Funny!!!  I wonder how many people have heard this part of the movie!  I've owned it for years and didn't know.. I got creative to edit this to the point it is at, but it is not personally mine.  Thank you Universal Pictures, for Miss Vida, Miss Noxeema and Chi-Chi!!!

One MUST hear blasphemy of the most insane at times.

It cancels out the people around you and balances the equation.

At least I think so.

:P

My Side of the Mountain

I told my daughter about one of my favorite stories I read over and over as a child. And how I always wanted to run away and live in a tree. Just like Sam did in My Side of the Mountain a book written by Jean Craighead George.  We are reading it together.

An hour later she gave me this picture. Here is my tree..



Nattie's Painting of my Treehouse

 I love my child because she listens when it hurts the most, and I never knew until I saw she made a dream come true.

Brushing away the years .. and tears.. I thought ..

Forever she has asked me to paint or draw something for her. So late, late, late in the night, I picked up a brush and told her this was my nightdream for her, and it helped me go to sleep.  I haven't painted in watercolor for 25 years. I like charcoal and pastels.

Her happiness over finding this blob on the kitchen table makes so many things possible.

It takes one little girl to make another little girl realize it doesn't hurt anymore.



Moving Away from the Technical into the Eccentric

I've been letting my daily frustrations rule many of my blog posts when I have a wealth of other topics I wish to touch upon and ponder over.

I've been out of touch with a side of me that I don't share with a lot of people.  Sharing some experiences has led people I've confided in question my state of mind and pretty much slammed the door on actually talking about it.

Spirituality.  How does that define a person?  I don't fall into any category that has some huge equation or knowledge base... or better said, the knowledge base may exist, but I simply haven't stuck myself into a single one.

What do I mean?

I know nothing about astrology other than the fact I'm a Virgo.  I know nothing about numerology except that dates seem to be something significant in my life.  I was raised Catholic.  I've never been confirmed.  To beat all that, I have a degree in Anthropology.  I believe in magic.  I believe in the unexplained.  I think dreams reveal much.  My dreams sometimes make me not want to sleep.  Other times I can go in and out of the same dream.  I have that inner sense of self that says:  Do or Do not that seems to never be wrong.. even when I choose to ignore it.  I believe there is more in this world than meets the eye.

Summed up I've had some strange things happen over the years that have been too powerful to ignore.

I've dreamed so powerfully I've shocked my husband, who I'm not sure believes in anything but what he can see and feel.

He woke me up one morning and I cried horribly because God told me something and I forgot what it was.  I wasn't fully awake, and he said I was so upset because I forgot.

Is it so terrible to admit I would know God's voice if I heard it again?  *sigh*   I don't think I'm crazy nor have I been one of those that can quote you any huge part of the Bible, so where did this come from?

I've had other moving things happen, but that one seems to spark the most questions and inner turmoil.  Connecting the dots of what I hold as spirituality is difficult ... and I wonder if other people dream like I do...

and doubt where it came from, but feel that it was real..