So it has obviously been a while since I was last on this site to do much of anything. Losing internet at home had a good bit to do with it and the inability to do more than check my mailbox once in a great while and clear it out while at work are my only excuses. I also haven't felt a driving need to be very verbose; a lot of my creative needs have been met lately by doing graphic design for ads, postcards and such like for the choruses I sing in and work for.
At any rate, I don't know if I'll be on regularly like I used to be, but I'd like to get back to doing personal creative writing again soon. Perhaps I'll get the inspiration and gumption to do it again soon. We'll all see how that goes when I finally get more things posted. Hopefully soon.

Until then, may the muses be with you all as you write here.

TTFN -
 

My final official entry - at least for the way my account currently stands.

My account expires noon Monday, and I won't have the ability to renew for a while. So I've just spent the past couple of hours copy/pasting all my work into Word docs so I don't loose them. I find it interesting how prolific a writer I was about a year ago - before I took my current job.

One day, perhaps I'll get back to it all. But that time isn't now. Not just yet, I think.

So if anyone reads this before my account goes bust, thanks for taking the time. Perhaps I'll be around again.

Keep Writing!
 

Try what? writing on a daily basis - or at least on a more regular basis. It's been quite a while and I really need to get to it again. It's gonna be a slow start with an attempt at some blog entries then a move on to something more on the creative side.

A lot has been going on - as you can probably tell from the last couple of entries last week. Not ready to go into all the details, but suffice it to say that the aforementioned "he" and I will be good friends (and hopefully roommates). But for now any kind of romance is out of the picture. But I'm not going to give up hope. Let him take things at his own pace and if anything develops I will be there ready for him. Provided no one else comes along.

One lesson I learned a long time ago is to not tie yourself down - unless you are tied down. Oh you know what I mean. the commitment being stated and the promises made. Being single means I can still go out with other people. Learn and explore. About others and about myself. As I said. For now, I won't give up hope that something will develop. But I won't stop something else from developing if it does with someone else.

The old "One day at a time" mentality, eh? Later.
 

... I'm still at work at 7PM CDT.
 

... and I don't seem to feel the same thrill of excitement and ecstasy that almost everyone I know is feeling today. Still, I do look forward to what the next four years may bring.

As I sit here and watch as the Obama's leave for church service, I wonder at the scrutiny of everything that is happening today. Yes, he is becoming the President today. But it would also seem that for this part of the day he would be allowed the last few moments of true privacy.

I am also forced to view the whole situation and it's similarities to a coronation - at least all the fictional portrayals I've ever seen; especially since I don't know of any coronations which may have taken place in my 40 years on this earth. I mean, Queen Elisabeth had been the monarch of Great Brittan for nearly a decade by the time I was born .

Maybe it's best that I am working today. All of the hubbub and hullabaloo is just a bit much for me anyway. Maybe I'll take just enough of a break to watch his oath-taking. That and the news recaps which will be going on all day today (and the rest of the week) should be enough for me.
 

"In the beginning, there was nothing. And God said, 'Let there be Light'. And there was still nothing. But you could see it."
-Anonymous
 

I want to go somewhere... anywhere but here...
 

My mom always used to get certain chocolates for her and which she would almost always forbid us kids to eat unless she handed out a portion of it. Otherwise, they were her special candy. It's not so much that she forbade my sister and I to eat candy at all. Far from that. But neither did she just allow us to eat whatever candy we wanted whenever we wanted it. In fact, she even steered us toward what we now know to be 'healthier' candy - dark, semi-sweet chocolates. Special Dark is still my favorite candy.

But her special candy was Toblerone and Ande's mints. And when I find these I'll still buy them and use them as special treats for myself. Other candy (SweeTarts, Hershey's Special Dark, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups) are regulars for me. But those two, which mom carefully doled out, are still to me for special treats and, somehow, still the best candy around.
 

Spike TV is showing the first two movies of the Star Wars series tonight (Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones). There's actually a couple of questions I have... especially stemming from the second of the movies. When Ben Kenobi is captured and Count Dooku confronts him, he says that the Senate is now in control of a Sith Lord. Even a casual observer of the series to that point should be able to tell that he is telling the truth. What would have happened, do you suppose, if Ben had believed him? What kind of 'alternate future' would have happened?

Dooku is obviously in league with the Sith Lord, aka Chancellor Palpatine. He makes that quite clear in his fight with Yoda. So other than obviously intending to make the Jedi more staunchly opposed to him, what did Dooku plan to get by telling him the truth? Why expose the general plan like that? He must have known - or at least expected that - Ben would disbelieve him.

And if he would so easily tell Ben the truth like that, why wouldn't he also tell Yoda in their battle. Is it because Yoda would have been able to discern that as the truth? Wouldn't that have just caused him to be confused? Something which would work to Dooku's advantage?

Something else that bothers me about Dooku, he seems to still hold to many of the ideals of the Jedi even while fighting them. He seems to hold to a measure of honor that any other Sith we have seen does not. If you watch him after he defeats Anakin, and just before Yoda arrives, a pained expression crosses his face. Enough doubt is left in the mind of the viewer to wonder if it is just exhaustion or if he is feeling a measure of remorse for having to betray his old colleagues, the Jedi.

The one thing that I really enjoy about all the various conversations between Dooku and Ben, and Dooku and Yoda it the line of Master/Padawan which is revealed: Yoda/Dooku, Dooku/QuiGon, QuiGon/Ben, Ben/Anakin. Then of course ultimately there's Yoda and Ben/Luke.

Now for the key point to this: There's a lot of lessons we hopeful authors can take from this movie and it's creator, George Lucas. The principle one being how a good author can leave questions in the reader's (or watcher's) mind even as the story is revealed to happen in a specific manner. May my writing fe as ingenius as his.

Now, who wants to take on the challenge of writing the alternate ending/history if Ben had believed Dooku? Personally, I think it's beyond my current ability to do so. It would be interesting to see what would happen though.


 

New(?) Artist: Robin Thicke
Song: What's Your Dreamworld
Rating: 5 Stars
Comments: Stunning. He has got such a smooth and easy to listen to voice. This song is also so remarkable. What a message! Highly Recommended listening. And he's cute too!
Where heard: About 12:50 AM (CST) on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve