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 |   My thoughts/experiences/feelings/beliefs, depending on my mood. Blah, blah, blog. |
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** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only **  Winner of "Best Blog of 2011" for "The Quills"  . Previous winner of "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Round 1. A big, heartfelt thank-you to all of my fans and supporters!  Welcome to the randomness, silliness, craziness, and all-around tomfoolery – what a great word that isn't used nearly enough – that is my blog. Don't get me wrong, it isn't always silly and crazy. Sometimes it's serious or sad but, more often than not, it's comical. Nonetheless, it is always entertaining. I try to see the fun in life. I'll add to it as much as I can so make sure you check back often.  Feel free to leave a comment or review to let me know you stopped by.  DISCLAIMER: If you are someone who gets offended easily, then you shouldn't go any further. I'm up-front, to-the-point, sarcastic and honest (sometimes brutally so). I tell it like it is, or the way I think it is. If you don't get offended very easily, then you've come to the right blog. All are welcome. The fun is free! My life is an open book blog. Hilarity and chaos ensue... ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
This entry is brought to you by, "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Meet the challengers  "Invalid Entry" Blogging Challenge Day 27 Prompt: Open Mic Night Prompt  I got some good suggestions for things to write about for today’s open prompt. Here goes… Suggestion #1: From 30DBC Creator/Founder  - "how about writing your ups and downs with this challenge?"This challenge turned out to be a lot tougher than I thought it was going to be. I signed up for it thinking it would be the kick in the ass I needed to get myself writing every day. Therein lies the challenge. Believe me folks, it’s quite difficult to write something prompt-based each day. You have to know your subject matter and your target audience because (1) you have to be able to speak intelligently about each prompt and (2) you don’t want to bore your readers to death. Wait, is that why there’s only 1 comment on yesterday’s entry?  Have I killed you all by boring you to death? I’m just kidding. I know we are all extremely busy. I certainly don’t expect people to comment on every entry. As I’ve mentioned before, I appreciate the support. You guys are the best! All kidding aside, this challenge taught me a lot about myself. I learned that I can write every day, I just need to actually do it. I made a lot of new friends along the way. Old friends stuck by me and cheered me on, too.  I not only learned things about myself, I also learned some stuff about all of you through your comments, ideas and suggestions.As challenging and demanding as this has been, it’s been a truly wonderful experience. I wouldn’t change it for the world.  Suggestion #2: From Andy (Jakrebs  ) - "just tell us about your day."I’m not even sure where to start. Today was one of those days. Wednesdays are, by far, my worst day of the week when it comes to the problem client I’ve been working on the last few months. To say they are a thorn in my side is the understatement of the century. I won’t get into all the details around that because it’s entirely too much to put in a blog entry. Let’s just say I was asked to help “save” a client that was threatening to leave. The main reason they were going to leave? The team that was working on them was incompetent and kept screwing up. All along I’ve been told that this would be a temporary assignment for me. Here we are 4+ months later and it’s not looking so temporary. I’ve also been told that the main person responsible for 99% of the screw ups would be dealt with. Again, 4+ months later and nothing has happened there either. As we approach our busiest time of year (the fall) I’m concerned for a number of reasons. One is that he keeps fucking up and it’s not doing a damn bit of good to help improve the relationship with this client. Second, I’ll be gone for 2 weeks in the fall. I’ll be in Europe visiting my family. I do not feel that a permanent fix will be in place by then and that has me concerned. It takes a lot to upset me and piss me off. I reached that point today. He messed up something so bad that created a shitload of work for me (we're talking HOURS of work) that, at one point, I stood up and said, “I need to go for a short walk before I end up losing my temper and putting my own job in jeopardy.” It could just be that I’m a little more sensitive than usual today. My best friends had to have their dog, Mickey, put down last night. He was 14 and he was such a good boy. He’d been sick for a while now and we all knew he was on borrowed time. I loved that dog…and you all know what a sap I am for animals. When they told me this morning, I burst into tears.  It, of course, got me thinking of my dog, Kelsey, that I had to have put down 2 years ago. When I got home from work today, I gave Jamee a great, big bear hug. Rest in peace, Mickey. Have fun playing with Kelsey and please give her a kiss for me.  Suggestion #3: From Justine (Riot ) - "What does your bookcase look like? Do you keep it bare with just books, or decorate it? What books have priority on your bookcase?"I have to say, Justine, after your description of how organized your books and bookshelves are, I feel ashamed.  My bookshelves are boring in comparison. There’s really no rhyme or reason. Some are in alphabetical order, others…not so much. I do have some writing (and other) awards intermingled on the shelves, just hanging out with my books. There are also a few knick knacks here and there. Like I said, nowhere near as nice or well thought out as yours. Well, as I mentioned, it’s been a rough day. I need to decompress a little and hopefully get some sleep tonight. I hope you’re all having a good week. I hope you enjoy the song.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itydwcyywBc&ob=av2e |
This entry is brought to you by, "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Meet the challengers "Invalid Entry" Blogging Challenge Day 26 Prompt: Today’s prompt is courtesy of challenger, A thinker never sleeps .“Describe your favorite fairy tale, myth or legend from your childhood. Discuss why it’s your favorite and how it has influenced your beliefs and morals throughout your life so far.” I am a HUGE Disney fan and that was the first thing that came to mind when I got this prompt. What little girl doesn’t grow up dreaming of being a princess? There are so many Disney princesses to choose from but, for the sake of this prompt, I’ll go with Cinderella. As a little girl, I always dreamt of meeting my Prince Charming. My girlfriends and I would play dress up and each of us would take turns “marrying” the man of our dreams. For me, sometimes that was Prince Charming…other times it was Luke Skywalker. Yes, even as a child I was a complex paradox. Hey, just because I’m a girl, it doesn’t mean I can’t like Star Wars. You all know I’m a nerd. I happen to love Star Wars. But I digress…It’s nice to believe in fairy tales, but they do nothing to teach kids about the harsh realty that life is. Unfortunately, that’s something we find out the hard way. Let’s face it, the “happily ever after” in fairy tales comes a lot sooner (and sometimes easier) than it does in real life. There are some that never find their happy ending. As for how Cinderella has influenced my beliefs so far, I guess I’d say it made me believe that true love exists. Fairy tales are probably part of if not the reason I'm such an incurable, hopeless romantic. Each one of us has a soulmate somewhere out there. However, finding our soulmate is a lot more difficult than any fairy tale would have you believe. How has it influenced my morals? Well, the whole good-always-prevails-over-evil thing, I suppose. I’m a good person…usually. Just don’t try to talk to me in the morning before I’ve had any coffee/tea/soda/IV hookup of caffeine. It's actually kind of a shame I'm not royalty. I think I'd make a good princess, don't you?  I'd probably be the coolest princess. Ever. Just sayin'... ****************************************************************************************************************************************************************  Useless Info  So that web demo I had to do this morning for that potential client? Apparently, I did a damn good job. I impressed some of the bigwigs in my office. I must have impressed the Hell out of said potential client also. After my demo ended, I was told I “nailed it” and was given a few pats on the back and high fives. One of our directors told the client that they could think it over and if they liked what they saw, to let us know and we’d get our sales team to get some pricing over to them. They said we’d hear from them no later than the end of next week. Shortly after my demo ended, one of our directors tracked me down and said, “Jul, I wasn’t even in my office for a full 5 minutes after the demo ended when they sent over the request for pricing info. Great job!” ****************************************************************************************************************************************************************  Wednesday's Prompt Tomorrow is the “open prompt” day. I’ve received some good suggestions so far. If anyone has others, send them on over and tune in tomorrow to see if I end up using any (or all) of them. I have a feeling open prompt day is going to be like "open mic" night at your local restaurant/bar/coffee shop, etc. You may end up getting a good mix of everything! Which is pretty much what all of my blog entries are like. ****************************************************************************************************************************************************************  Sports Update  Who hit an inside-the-park home run in tonight’s Phillies game?  This guy! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** That’s Chase Utley, also known as Mr. “World Fuckin’ Champions!” I was at the World Series Parade and ceremony and got to hear him say that firsthand. It was awesome…and quite hilarious, too! My Fightin’ Phils beat up on the Giants tonight and I loved every minute of it. I hate the Giants…and all their really bad hairdos. OK, I don’t hate Aaron Rowand, but only because he’s a former Phillie and he’s hot.  Are you ready for some football?! HELL YEAH! We're going to have a football season, folks. I laughed my ass off at the cheapshot the owners took at Congress. Here's more info on that http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/41889623.****************************************************************************************************************************************************************  Trivia  Speaking of Disney, does anyone want to guess my favorite Disney character? I’ve been told it describes me perfectly. There’s a merit badge up for grabs for the first person to correctly answer. If any of you say Dopey, I’ll smack you…or whatever the virtual equivalent to smacking is. ****************************************************************************************************************************************************************  Music & Stuff  You guys get a bonus tonight - 2 songs and 2 quotes! Who wouldn’t want two princes to choose from? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsdy_rct6uo This song has nothing to do with this entry. You’ll understand why I chose it when you see the name of the band. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-qG6o5N7oQ&feature=artistob&playnext=1&list=TLAA... "When I was a little girl I used to read fairy tales. In fairy tales you meet Prince Charming and he's everything you ever wanted. In fairy tales the bad guy is very easy to spot. The bad guy is always wearing a black cape so you always know who he is. Then you grow up and you realize that Prince Charming is not as easy to find as you thought. You realize the bad guy is not wearing a black cape and he's not easy to spot; he's really funny, and he makes you laugh, and he has perfect hair." ~Taylor Swift I’ll be damned. I don’t think I’ve ever come across a better quote in my life! Here’s another good one, "The idea of my life as a fairy tale is itself a fairy tale." ~Grace Kelly |
This entry is brought to you by, "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Meet the challengers "Invalid Entry" Blogging Challenge Day 25 Prompt: Today’s prompt is courtesy of the blogging challenge’s “secret judge” who is (apparently ) challenger, April Sunday .“Fukijima, Japan --- Mar 12, 2011” First I’d like to start off by saying it’s actually Fukushima, not Fukijima. I’m wondering if it’s a trick to throw us off? Hopefully everyone else has picked up on this also. Hey judges, do I get extra points if I am the only one that picks up on this? On to the prompt of Fukushima, Japan on March 12, 2011. The day before was a horribly, sad day. I had surgery in January and was out of work on disability for 2 months. I didn’t go back to work until Monday, March 14, so March 11 (the day of earthquake and tsunami) was my last day at home. When the news of the earthquake, tsunami and subsequent nuclear disaster broke, I was riveted…glued to the TV. The pictures of the devastation were like something out of the movies. My heart just broke for the people of Japan. Can you imagine how awful that was? When they woke up the morning of March 11 to go about their day, they had no idea what was in store for them. They had no idea when they said goodbye to their loved ones, it was really goodbye…for the last time. I can’t wrap my head around what that must feel like. I hope I never have to. I hope none of us ever have to. On March 12, the water from the tsunami had receded. The ground still shook with numerous aftershocks. As if they didn’t have enough to worry about, they were on the verge of a nuclear meltdown. The disaster at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant stretched far further than the shores of Japan. Radiation was showing up in spots all over the world. Proof, once more, that our world is a lot smaller than we all realize. Japan will rebuild. It will take time. It will take tons of money. It will take determination. Most of all, it will take an undeniable spirit but, more importantly, it will take hope. They can do it with the love and support of their nation and the world behind them. What’s a sign that they’re on the road to recovery? The Japan Women’s Football (soccer) team beat the US in the women’s World Cup in Germany last weekend. It sucks that the US lost, but I’m glad it was Japan that ended up winning. It was a much-needed boost for a country that took such a devastating blow just a few months ago. Here’s an article on it if you’d like to read it. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iZrWJJzSEnuRFaCIVSfnwDAtxMhQ?... Go Japan! The entire world is watching and we’re all rooting for you. **************************************************************************************************************************************************************** Well, folks, 30DBC Creator/Founder has already told us that Wednesday is an “open prompt” day. I thought I’d throw it out to you guys. Is there anything you want to see me write about on Wednesday? If not, I’m sure I can come up with something. I just figured I’d ask. **************************************************************************************************************************************************************** I'm going to watch the rest of the national address on the budget deficit. I have an easy fix for Congress to consider. Give all of this to a single parent raising kid(s) alone and trying to squeak by on a minimal, fixed income. I'd bet they'd have this budget balanced in no time without all the name calling and finger pointing going on in Washington. Politicians need to stop being so damn political! After this is over, I'm going to watch the rest of tonight's episode of The Bachelorette. Hey, it's my guilty pleasure show. Don't. Judge. Me. After tonight's episode, I want to go to Fiji. Now. Once this is over, I'm going to go to bed and try (hope) to sleep.  I need to go into work even earlier than usual tomorrow. I was asked to do a web demo for a potential client. It'll be an all morning thing and I definitely need to have my game face on. **************************************************************************************************************************************************************** I will leave you all with this song. It’s dedicated to the people of Japan. After the tragedies they endured on March 11 and the pain they've been through in the weeks and months since, I’m sure they were all thinking they “could really use a wish right now.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn6-c223DUU&ob=av2e |
This entry is brought to you by, "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Meet the challengers "Invalid Entry" Blogging Challenge Day 24 Prompt: Today’s prompt is courtesy of challenger, Hypermommy .“You've won the lottery! No, not that lottery -- the Goodbye Lottery. For some reason, as Death comes to collect you, he gives you leave to write a farewell letter to your family and friends. What do you write?” Well there’s a cheery thought for a Sunday morning. Talk about depressing! I also feel like I’ve done this in prior entries…several times over, so I apologize (again) for being repetitive. You guys know I almost died twice. I won’t go in to that again. The first time it happened, I did write letters to those I love. It was over 14 years ago so I don’t remember exactly what I wrote, but they went a little something like this.“Dear family and friends, I’ve had an opportunity to re-evaluate life, my life, and how I’ve lived it up until now and how I will live out my remaining days. There are some things I want you to know. I’m writing them down so you’ll always have a little part of me. We’ve had our fair share of hard times, arguments and disagreements. That’s a part of life, but we’ve always made up in the end. If there is anything I’ve ever said or done to hurt you, it wasn’t intentional. I hope you know that. I would never do anything (purposely) to hurt you. Remember that always. I love you with all my heart and I always will. Remember that, too. Death may keep us apart, but we’ll see each other again. I’ll save a seat for you. Think of me as your guardian angel. I’ll watch over you as long as you live. I’ll miss you each and every day that we are apart. I know you’ll miss me too. Try not to dwell on the fact that I am no longer here. The grieving process is necessary, but life, your life, must go on. Live your life to the fullest, be kind to all, take some chances by doing things you never thought you’d do. I look forward to hearing the stories of your experiences when we do meet again. I will leave you with this. Grieve, but don’t be too sad for too long. I want you to remember me, but I don’t want you to stop living your life. When you’re celebrating a success, don’t be upset thinking I’m not there. I will be there, cheering you on. When you hit the rough spots and wish I was there to comfort you and listen, I will be. Talk to me. I’ll hear you. Just think of me and I'll be there. Know that my life was awesome because I had you in it. You have made a difference in my life...more than you'll ever know. There aren't enough words for me to be able to express how much you mean to me, so I will simply say, I was a better person for having known you. I will love you for all eternity. I’ll miss you until we meet again.Love always, Julie P.S. I'm looking forward to seeing you on the flip side...someday! ”Oh, and I’d make sure that each letter had a copy of this included. It’s valuable advice for everyone (in my opinion).
*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** Well, folks, after today’s entry, there are only 6 left in the blogging challenge. It’s ends Saturday. I think that’s good and bad. On one hand, it feels like the time has flown by. I have enjoyed doing this immensely. I’ve learned some things about myself…and my writing. The biggest thing I’ve learned is that I have it in me to write every day. On the other hand, it’s hard as Hell to write something, especially something prompt-based every day.  Like I said, good and bad.Thanks to 30DBC Creator/Founder for this awesome challenge. You ROCK Earl!! *************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** As I mentioned yesterday, Jamee went to Doggie Day Camp yesterday. She loves it so it's a nice treat for her. When she comes home, she's very tired for a day or two. Here's a pic of my little "sleepy girl". She's currently napping on the couch. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Here is Jamee’s Pawgress Report from Doggie Day Camp. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Since it’s hard to see in the picture, here’s what it says. Under “Play”  Romp ‘n roll was checked offUnder “Friends” Made lots of friends was checked offUnder “Nap” Napped like a champ was checked offUnder “Potty” Took care of business was checked off (probably because she took care of her “business” on their floor when we dropped her off as I mentioned in yesterday’s entry )Under “All Day” One happy camper was checked offThe notes say: “Hey Mom & Dad, today I played with Indy in camp and loved my snack kong!” No, I’m not one of those crazy dog people. I can’t have kids so she’s our child for all intents and purposes. And she’s so damn cute and loveable, everyone that meets her falls head over heels for her. *************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** My heart goes out to the nation of Norway as they are dealing with the horrific events that occurred Friday. The whole nation is in mourning, but I especially feel for the family and friends of the victims. It’s such a terrible, senseless tragedy. Thoughts and prayers are being sent their way. http://news.yahoo.com/norway-suspect-deems-killings-atrocious-needed-013354792.h... With all of the bad news we see and hear every day, it’s nice to hear some good news. This is a local story of an off-duty volunteer firefighter that saw smoke when he was driving down the highway. He got off the highway and followed the smoke to the scene. He and his girlfriend were the first to arrive. He had his girlfriend call 911 while he went and rescued a family. Major props to this hero! It’s so nice to see there are still good people out there.http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Off-Duty-Firefighter-Saves-Family-.htm... *************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** I love all kinds of music. You can see that from the music I post in just about every blog entry. It’s all over the place because I have such a diverse taste in music. For the most part, I like everything but country and rap. There are, of course, exceptions to that rule. The song below is one of them. It’s a country song, but it’s excellent because of the message within. I’m big on lyrics…I know Fivesixer  will agree with me on that one. This song also happens to be by Tim McGraw, son of the Phillies late, great pitcher Tug McGraw. This song was #1 on the charts for a long time. Having been “there” this song really rings true with me…and it definitely fits this entry. Even if you don’t like country, I hope you take the time to listen.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSE8NJHn7ss ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
This entry is brought to you by, "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Meet the challengers "Invalid Entry" Blogging Challenge Day 23 Prompt: Today’s prompt is courtesy of challenger, Little Luigi  .“Write about what you think about the moment before you go to sleep.” I’ve never really been a good sleeper. My surgery in January messed that up even more. My doctor has changed my hormone dosage 3 times trying to help at least get me back to where I was pre-surgery. It's getting slightly better but it would be so nice to actually get a full night's sleep like normal people do.I think the reason I’ve never been a good sleeper is because my brain just never shuts down. I have often wondered if I have ADHD that was never diagnosed. When I’m in bed trying to sleep, my brain seems to go into overdrive. I think about that day, the next day, upcoming events, to-do lists, family, friends and usually this is when inspiration strikes. I keep a notebook and pen by my bed. As writers, you all know that when inspiration strikes, it’s best to write it down immediately or you run the risk of losing it. There are so many other things that go through my mind before exhaustion finally takes over and I get to sleep for a few hours. I’ve always been an extremely analytical person so, before I sleep, my mind tends to start analyzing anything and everything. It could be something I heard, read, saw on the news or just a random (there’s that word again ) thought that popped into my head. My brain is just always “on”. Now do you see why I think there’s a chance I had/have ADHD but was never diagnosed? There are a few areas where I do not fall into the criteria for the disorder. Most diagnosed with it are poor students. I got straight A’s my whole life. They also have poor performance in their jobs and/or change employers frequently. That’s not me either. Not only do I love my job, I’m good at it. I’ve been told point-blank that I’m the best they have and they’d be screwed without me. Some of our competitors have also been “after” me because I have an excellent reputation in my industry. Obviously, I’m not a poor performer. I’ve been at my job for 7 ½ years. I was at my last job for 6 ½ years. Clearly I don’t change employers frequently either. Those seem to be the only areas where I deviate from the symptoms of ADHD. So, this is a really long way for me to say that there’s a whole lot going on in my brain all day long and especially right before I go to sleep. ************************************************************************************************************************************************************* My husband and I wanted to do some steam cleaning today (even though it’s 100 friggin’ degrees outside). Our dog, Jamee, is terrified of the vacuum cleaner for some reason and she’s even more afraid of the steam cleaner we have. She’s literally petrified…traumatized for hours. I called last night to see if there was any room at Doggie Day Camp for her today. It’s through PetSmart and she absolutely LOVES it! They’re pretty crowded this weekend, but they had room for her. We dropped her off first thing this morning. Every time we take her there, she is so excited that she literally spins in circles and then ends up crapping on the floor! Every. Damn. Time. This morning was no different. They love her there so they always make a fuss, which, I’m sure, is part of the reason she gets so excited. We walk in and they’re like, “Jamee's here!” That’s when the whole spinning in a circle and pooping on the floor thing happens. That’s the only place she does it. I don’t understand it. We apologize profusely every time. They just laugh it off, say it happens all the time and not to worry about it. Jamee loves everyone she meets. We're always saying that if someone were to break in our house, we're screwed. She wouldn't be a very good guard dog because she'd just give the burglar a million kisses and she'd try giving him her ball so he'd throw it for her. Anyway, since she was at camp today, we were able to do the steam cleaning we wanted. I did the rest of my “weekend” cleaning stuff and went to the food store. We’ll be picking Jamee up from camp around dinner time. She’ll be in a coma for the next 2 days. They run around and play all day long at doggie day camp. They give us “parents” a report card every time too. It’s so cute. Her report card is always excellent, of course. Yes, she’s spoiled rotten, but she’s our kid. It’s just too hot to do anything today. Ugh. Those poor people at the Phillies game right now. That’s gotta hurt. It’s too hot to even cook today. I’m making a smoked mozzarella, tomato and basil pasta salad for dinner. The only thing I have to cook is the pasta. And the salad is delicious. It’s a great summer meal! ************************************************************************************************************************************************************* Is anyone surprised by the news of Amy Winehouse’s death? http://news.yahoo.com/singer-amy-winehouse-found-dead-164948160.html It’s really sad. Having been the daughter of an addict mother, I was not surprised to hear about the singer’s death. I won't be surprised if we find out that her death was drug/alcohol related. What a shame and what a waste. ************************************************************************************************************************************************************* Here’s a song that has to do with sleep, actually talking in your sleep. I don’t do that, but my husband does. We're talking full on conversations. Some of them are pretty damn hilarious. He’s talked in his sleep about everything from playing a game of poker, fighting with his brother and even a fantasy football draft. Is it any wonder I can’t sleep with this shenanigans going on? That’s not even taking his snoring and leg kicking into account …and the 85 pound dog that practically sleeps on top of me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwT9ltDBG14 And, of course, in honor of Amy Winehouse, here’s another song for you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUmZp8pR1uc&ob=av2n Stay hydrated and stay cool everyone! My ass is going back in the pool. |
This entry is brought to you by, "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Meet the challengers "Invalid Entry" Blogging Challenge Day 22 Prompt: We had another challenger not send out their prompt so 30DBC Creator/Founder had to send one out for us.“If you have nothing else to do, look at yourself and see if there isn't something close at hand that you can improve. It may make you wealthy, although it is more likely it will make you happy.” - George M. Adams Oddly enough, I have a Powerball lottery ticket in my hand. Well, actually I had to put it down next to me so I could type this entry. If it ends up being the winning ticket for tomorrow night’s drawing, it will make me a very wealthy and very happy girl. I’m not even sure what I would do if something like that ever happened. I suppose (after I regain consciousness from having passed out), the first thing I’d do is put the ticket in a safe place. Then I’d call my lawyer, get some advice on next steps and find a reputable financial advisor. I would absolutely keep my mouth shut until everything had been confirmed. Once all the legalities and financial aspect was taken care of, I’d let work know. You guys are going to think I’m crazy. Wait, you already know I’m crazy. I wouldn’t quit my job. I honestly love what I do and I adore the people I work with. I would take some time off and see about making some changes. Hell, maybe I’d buy the company! Things would definitely change, that’s for sure. If I didn’t buy the company, I’d probably work on a consulting basis so I wouldn’t necessarily have to go into the office every day. Technically, I don’t have to now. I can work from home if I want, but it’s a pain in the ass because everything is so much slower from home. I’d take care of my family and friends. I’d buy a house in Florida (because I’ve always wanted to live there). I’d buy a house in Germany so that I could visit my brother and his family whenever I wanted. Or maybe I could persuade them to move back to the states. I’d also buy a house in the tropics. I love the Caribbean SO MUCH, but I’m not sure exactly where I’d buy it. There are so many awesome places down there, I‘d have a hard time choosing. Wouldn’t that be a nice “problem” to have? (*sigh*) Then I’d buy whatever I wanted whenever I wanted because I could do it without having to worry about money.What would you guys do if you won the lottery? ************************************************************************************************************************************************************ I’m all about summer. I love it, but even I have my limits. This is a little excessive. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** I snapped that this afternoon while I was walking to my car after I left work. What really sucks is that our air is not working right. We bought our house in March 2005. The house was only 3 years old. That summer our AC died and we had to have it replaced ON A 3 YEAR OLD HOUSE!! The reason was because the builder did not put in the right size air conditioner for our house. The unit they put in was too small. We, of course, tried to go after the builder, but since we were not the original owners of the house, the warranty was null and void.  There is no reason that the new unit we put in during the summer of 2005 should be acting up. We’re waiting for service. We called last night and they gave us a “window” of when they’ll be here. They said it would be some time between 4 and 8. Not exactly how I envisoned spending my Friday night. Oh well, thank God for the pool! Plugs and Props Has everyone seen/heard the story about what happened at the Brewers/Diamondbacks game the other night? If not, check out this story (and watch the video included). http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Play-of-the-day-Selfless-y... Good for him for doing that! There’s hope for our youth yet! Major props to his parents, too. They’ve obviously done a good job raising him. Huge props and heartfelt thanks to The StoryMaster  and The StoryMistress  for listing "Invalid Item" on the Angel Resources page. If you go to “Gift Point Tools” on the left menu, click it and then select Angel Resources, you’ll see that we’re one of the groups listed there. We (all of the group leaders) are so very proud and honored by this. Our members should be proud as well. Our group is 3 months old and this is such an honor to know that our inspiring, good deeds are recognized. Keep up the great work everyone! ************************************************************************************************************************************************************ Well, I’m going to leave you all with a song to get the weekend started right. This song is funny, but the video is downright hilarious! This was the first time I saw it. Enjoy and I hope you all have an awesome weekend! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlyXNRrsk4A&ob=av2e |
This entry is brought to you by, "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Meet the challengers "Invalid Entry" Blogging Challenge Day 21 Prompt: Today’s prompt is courtesy of challenger, Jacob .“Difficulty is the excuse history never accepts.” ~Edward R. Murrow These comments were made by Edward R. Murrow after President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address on January 20, 1961. Here’s a little bit of trivia/useless information for you. Edward Murrow’s first name was actually Egbert. Can’t blame the guy for changing his name! Anyway, back to today’s prompt. There are so many different things I could talk about in reference to this quote. Life is difficult, but we still live it. Think about history for a minute. Let me be more specific. Let’s think about American history for a minute. Do you think President Roosevelt wanted our nation to get involved in World War II? No, but after the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, he had no choice. If he hadn’t made the difficult decision to enter World War II, there would have been an enormous shift in the global balance of power. How different would our lives be today if Roosevelt had done nothing? How forgiving do you think history would have been then? Not very. Having difficulties is no excuse for anything, but we all do it every day, don’t we? My schedule is too difficult/demanding to be able to call/visit my parents/siblings/friends/whoever every week. It’s too difficult to work out when it’s this hot out. School is too difficult, I’d never be able to finish it with passing grades anyway. It’s difficult for me to find the time to write. Apologies. Coverups. Cop-outs. Defenses. Evasion techniques. Call it what you will, they’re all excuses in the end. It's something we're all guilty of too. ****************************************************************************************************************************************************** Today was a lot better than yesterday, thankfully. No freaky weird happenings in the office and all of our equipment, networks and phones were back up and running at 100% today. The training class I conducted today went off without a hitch, too! I started off the class with a joke to get the blood flowing to everyone’s brains. Then I eased in to the training. Hope everyone’s week has gone great so far. I’m looking forward to Friday! I will leave you all with a quote and a song. “It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that things are difficult.” ~Seneca When it comes to life and making difficult decisions, sometimes you just have to go all in. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1odkjJCA10c&ob=av2e |
This entry is brought to you by, "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Meet the challengers "Invalid Entry" Blogging Challenge Day 20 Prompt: Today’s prompt is courtesy of challenger, kristiana. "Write about the good times (without bringing up the bad) of a past relationship that went wrong." It's a shame I can't bring up the bad because, after the day I've had, I could use a little bitch-fest. Anyway, I do actually have a good example of this. It was my last "serious" boyfriend before I met my husband. Since I am not allowed to bring up the bad (i.e., why and how the relationship ended), I will say that he came into my life for a reason. This doesn't exactly qualify as "good times". It's more good timing, I think. He and I had been together for a while. He was a police officer. I thought he was a nice guy and I actually thought I loved him, too. He had lost his mom at a really young age. He was 11 when she died. I know that really affected him and we had talked about it quite a bit. For my 25th birthday, he took me on a 4-day trip to Boston. The Phillies were playing the Red Sox that weekend and I had always wanted to see a game at Fenway Park. We had a great time! Boston is an awesome city and I highly recommended visiting there, especially if you're a baseball fan. Seeing a game at Fenway is amazing! Since I was away the weekend of my birthday, my parents decided to have a little family party to celebrate that and Father's Day the following weekend. We had the party that Saturday night. Two days later, my dad had his heart attack. It was so severe that he was brain dead and we had to make the decision to pull him off life support. Let me rephrase that, I was the one that had to make the decision to do it. My mother and brothers said they couldn't make the decision, even though they knew my Father's wishes. I felt like I was hitting a brick wall because, at first, they were fighting me and telling me we shouldn't take him off life support. My boyfriend took me out of the ICU to talk to me. He told me that "sometimes you have to pick and choose your battles" and that arguing over it wasn't going to get anything resolved. He told me I needed to calm down before we could all talk it through rationally so they would see why that was what needed to be done. Those were my dad's wishes and I have enough medical training to know that there was no way he'd ever wake up. I took my boyfriend's advice and we all talked again. It finally came to a point where, although my mom and brothers couldn't make the decision (i.e., they couldn't bring themselves to tell the doctors to do it), but they knew it needed to be done. Finally my mom told the doctors to just "do whatever she says" ("she" as in me). I gave the OK to take him off life support. We were all there with him - me, my boyfriend, my mom, my brothers, their wives, our priest and my aunt and uncle. The days and weeks following were a blur and very difficult on me. My boyfriend was my rock. He had been through it. Although things didn't work out for us, I know that's why he came into my life. I needed someone that could not only support me through a difficult time but also understand what I was going through. Believe me, it made a difference. *********************************************************************************************************** I apologize that this entry wasn't exactly "cheery". I will also apologize that it doesn't have my typical flare...I guess that's the word I'm looking for. This day has been absolutely INSANE for me! I know the full moon was last Friday, but you'd think it was actually today. We had some really violent storms overnight. My house was OK, but my office suffered. I work in a highrise building in the city. I'm on the 10th floor of the building. My company has the entire 10th floor and part of the 3rd floor. The storms last night knocked out power to the whole building. Apparently, they were already having some issues with the water pumps in the building before that. The power outage not only caused the pumps to fail, but it caused the back-up to fail also. The result? The building flooded from the 9th floor down. I came in this morning and there was water running down the stairs in the stairwell. It was crazy! Up on the 10th floor, we didn't have the flooding, but we still had no water. No water = no coffee and no bathrooms. Not good! Also, the flooding on the floors below us caused issues for us because the portion of the 3rd floor we have was affected. All of our IT folks are down there. Water and electrical equipment do not mix. Our servers were down for most of the day. I have a "problem" client that needed something to go out today. The deadline was 3PM. I missed it by a little more than an hour. They were told it would be late and why, but it still did not make for a very good day for me. No song today either. Sorry folks! My day has not ended. I have to go to my husband's softball game and I still have to work on some materials for a training session I'm conducting tomorrow morning. It's for the whole office. Awesome. I would love nothing more than to be able to relax with an adult beverage (or 5 ).I hope you all had a better day than I did. I promise that tomorrow's entry will be better. Actually, I guess I can't quite promise that since I have no idea what the prompt is. You guys will stick with me, right? I will reply to all of the comments on yesterday's entry as soon as I can. It will either be later tonight or tomorrow. With the events today, I wasn't able to do so. I hope you all know how much I appreciate your support. Your comments are very much appreciated! |
This entry is brought to you by, "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Meet the challengers "Invalid Entry" Blogging Challenge Day 19 Prompt: Today’s prompt is courtesy of challenger, Finn O'Flaherty ."In all or any of its forms or uses- What does the sea mean to you?" Well, I live 40 minutes from the Atlantic Ocean. Around here, it’s always referred to as the ocean, not the sea, so that’s how I’ll refer to it in this entry. Unless someone is talking about the Black Sea or the Caspian Sea, which…uhhh…rarely ever come up in conversation, "sea" is not a word that is frequently used. Where do I begin? Hmmmm, for starters, more than 2/3 of our planet is covered by ocean. It gives life to everything. Ocean temperatures determine our climate, wind patterns and even the crazy ass weather we’ve been experiencing all over the globe. Ever hear the terms El Niño and La Niña? You guys don’t really care about the scientific aspect of it though, do you? I find that stuff fascinating, but it’s not exactly blog-worthy unless I’m trying to put you all to sleep. Since that is not my goal, I'll share a little of what the ocean means to me personally.I am a summer baby and, to me, the beach/ocean go hand-in-hand with summer. The ocean makes me think of the following:  Hot, sunny days  Even hotter lifeguards  Snorkeling   Swimming Catching some rays  Volleyball The smell of suntan lotion The boardwalk A kiss by the sea  Funnel cake Seagulls Heat lightning Beautiful sea shells The calming effect the salt air has (and it’s good for people with sinus issues, like me ) Sailing  Warm nights The most amazing sunrises and sunsets I’ve ever seen Gentle ocean breezes A moonlit stroll along the beach  I have several pieces I’ve written that are about the beach, the ocean and/or summer in general. The poem below definitely describes my love of the sea/ocean and the islands. It was written for the Poet’s Paradise group 3+ years ago. This poem won the competition, but the group is no longer around.
These 2 are pretty self-explanatory.
This one was a lot of fun to write. Unfortunately, a lot of the items I had linked to have since been removed. I took out the links and just put them in quotes.
This one doesn’t actually mention the ocean, but it’s still a favorite of mine that speaks of all other things summer.
I’m an incurable (or insufferable? ), hopeless romantic that would love to be living on the beach somewhere in the tropics. ((**sigh**)) Oh well, maybe in my next life. ******************************************************************************************************************************************************* My blog hit 1,900 views today!  WOOHOO!!!  As of 10PM WDC time, it’s at 1,902 views. Do you think we can get to 2,000 before the end of the blogging challenge?With today’s prompt, how could I not leave you with a song by the Beach Boys? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_5_AD9wXuY&feature=relatedI even have this beachy/oceany image for you to enjoy. I hope everyone is having a great week so far!** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
This entry is brought to you by, "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Meet the challengers "Invalid Entry" Blogging Challenge Day 18 Prompt: Today’s prompt is courtesy of challenger, me/moi/mi/mé/mich or, in other words, yours truly. “The title of my blog is "Life is random...and so am I". Write about how you've experienced the randomness of life. It could be any (or all) of the following:  A random act or experience A random encounter/meeting with a friend of a friend of a friend (like the Six Degrees of Separation theory) Synchronicity that you've witnessed”Random Experience(s) I work in the city so the walk to and from my car every day (about 6 blocks each way) is very entertaining. I see random acts every single day. I seem to be a fan favorite (or an easy target, depending on how you look at it) among the homeless guys and construction workers I see along the way. I guess the weirdest, most random experience recently was a proposal I got. I was walking in to work one day a few weeks ago and one of the aforementioned construction workers proposed marriage to me. I thanked him, raised my left hand to show him my wedding band and said, “Thanks! That’s a really sweet offer, but I don’t think my husband would approve.” As I was walking away, I heard the guy mumbling to the other construction workers that “all the good ones are married.” I just laughed. ****************************************************************************************************************************************************************** Six One Degrees of Separation I have quite a few "Six Degrees of Separation" stories, but I'm only going to tell you about one. After all, I'm writing a blog entry, not a novel. This particular story has to do with the night I met my husband...and it's more like One Degree of Separation. When we met, I was working full-time and putting myself through night school. One night after a mid-term, some of my classmates and I went to a TGI Friday's to get some drinks. Now, I will tell you that we all hated this class. Actually, we hated the professor. The class wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been for her. It turns out, she was not only a horrible professor, but she was a horrible person also. Several years later, she was on the news. She had been indicted on child neglect charges...but that's a story for another day and another blog entry. My classmates and I went to the TGI Friday's after our mid-term for some drinks so that we could vent a little. We were chatting away when in walks my husband. He had been on his way home from work when he decided to stop in there and get dinner to go. We started talking and asking the typical “getting to know you” questions. He told me what he did and where he worked. Then he mentioned where he used to work. I told him my brother and his wife worked there. All of the sudden he said, “Oh my God, are you Keith and Heidi’s little sister?” I told him I was and he said, “You’re that Julie?! Wow, small world! I’ve heard so much about you.” He never got his dinner that night because we ended up talking for hours. He asked me if I wanted to go out that weekend. I told him I’d let him know. After we parted ways, I immediately called my brother and his wife to check his references. The rest, as they say, is history. Pretty weird, huh?****************************************************************************************************************************************************************** Synchronicity The last time I witnessed synchronicity was on May 1. That was the day Osama bin Laden was killed…or, as I like to call it, Osama been Deadened Day. I was writing this, "Invalid Item" while watching the Phillies game. While the game was on, they broke the news about Osama bin Laden being killed. It was the 9th inning of the game and the score was tied 1-1. 9-1-1 or 9/11. The synchronicity does not end there. The game was being played here (in Philadelphia). It’s not only the City of Brotherly Love. It’s also the city that is the birthplace of America. My Phillies were playing the Mets, a team from New York City. The city that lost the most lives and endured the most devastation and destruction on 9/11. How’s that for synchronicity?When the news hit about bin Laden’s death, the crowd at the game started chanting, “USA! USA! USA!” It was amazing. Here’s a 30 second clip if you’d like to see it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35pfllMiLag. You can also see the inning (9) and score (1-1) at the bottom right. I wrote more about all of it in my blog entry, "Invalid Entry" .I’m not one to celebrate the death of another human being, but he was not a human being. He was a monster that was responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent lives. His death wasn’t just a victory for America, it was a victory for all of us. The world is a safer place without him. You’d be hard pressed to find a country that has not suffered because of something he has done. As I said, we are all safer. Unfortunately, there will always be evil in this world, but I feel a lot better knowing this evil monster is now burning in Hell. ****************************************************************************************************************************************************************** Bonus Round Here’s a fun random fact for you. This is courtesy of Brooklyn  and her blog entry, "Invalid Entry" . Do you know what the loudest animal in the world is? It’s the water boatman. Why is it the loudest, you ask? Because of its singing…penis. Yep, no lie, folks. Its singing penis registers at 99.2 decibels. That is some penis! Brooke has a link to an article about it at the end of her blog entry. I can’t believe I forgot to mention this before now. It is HILARIOUS! Definitely go check that out!****************************************************************************************************************************************************************** And the winner is... Kaylee (aka MumstheWord )!!  YAY!!!!  ((**throws confetti**)) Kaylee wins the merit badge for today’s prompt. I had an idea, but couldn’t quite pinpoint where I wanted to go with it. Kaylee’s wonderful suggestion to talk about life in terms of the title of my blog, “Life is random…and so am I” was the piece I needed to tie it all together. Thanks Kaylee! I just gave her a merit badge last week so I’ll either wait until the 14 days are up or I’ll recruit someone to send it to her on my behalf. I have several ideas for which one to send her, there are quite a few that are relevant. Kaylee, do you have a preference or would you like to be surprised?Thanks to everyone that submitted their ideas! You guys are all very creative and it was a tough decision to make. You never know, I may somehow fit those suggestions in other blog entries. If I do, you’ll get a merit badge. ****************************************************************************************************************************************************************** I will leave you all with this song. I'm taking you all back to the 90's with this one. Remember, put a smile on your face, it will make the world a better place. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vgAMSmFmTo&feature=fvst |
This entry is brought to you by, "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Meet the challengers "Invalid Entry" Blogging Challenge Day 17 Prompt: Today’s prompt came from the “secret judge” through 30DBC Creator/Founder (at the last minute), because the challenger that was supposed to provide today’s prompt, didn’t do so. Tsk tsk!“Choose any and enjoy:  ARE YOU A SKIRT OR A PANTS PERSON? HOW HOT IS IT WHERE YOU LIVE? HAS ONLINE RESEARCH CHANGED?”I think I’ll answer all 3. Why not, right? ARE YOU A SKIRT OR A PANTS PERSON?The short answer is…both. I love my jeans but, in the summer, it’s way too hot to wear them. I wear shorts and capris quite a bit, but I end up wearing skirts to work. I work in a very casual office. T-shirts, shorts, tank tops and flip-flops are all allowed in my office unless we have client and/or corporate visitors. Despite how casual my office is, I just can’t bring myself to wear shorts to work so, I usually end up wearing skirts when it’s hot out. And, thanks to many, many years of being a dancer and cheerleader (when I was growing up), I have decent legs, if I do say so myself. I have a feeling none of you will be surprised to hear that I was a cheerleader. HOW HOT IS IT WHERE YOU LIVE?I can answer this question with a picture (and a question). Does anyone else feel like a fried egg? ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** In other words, it’s damn hot here…or, as I like to say, it’s Africa hot! It’s going to get hotter, too. The forecasters are calling for temperatures of 100°F with 100% humidity this week. For my non-US readers, 100°F is 37.78°C or, as I said before, damn hot! HAS ONLINE RESEARCH CHANGED?It has absolutely changed! I think the biggest reason for that is the social networking boom. There are two examples of this recently. I’d bet there are even more that I haven’t heard about, too! There’s a little boy that was diagnosed with a very rare, and life-threatening, disease because his mom posted a picture of him on Facebook. Here’s the story. It’s pretty crazy but, thankfully, he’s going to be OK. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20079834-10391704.html Here is a story of someone that found a kidney donor through Facebook. A woman posted something on her Facebook page about her husband needing a kidney and that his blood type was Type O. One of her Facebook friends, someone she’d only met briefly through her job, sent her a message saying he was Type O. He went to get tested and guess what? He was a match. He donated his kidney. Here’s a link to the story. http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/health/seen_on_tv/warren-husband-gets-transplant... Neither of these may actually be considered research, but I think it’s a good example of how the internet, and social networking, has changed our lives. It has even saved lives so I wanted to share those stories. ******************************************************************************************************************************************************* Well, folks, tomorrow is my prompt.  YAY!!!! Make sure you tune in to see if you are the lucky winner of a merit badge! I will be sure NOT to make the same mistake today’s prompter made by not sending hers out. She said she got confused by the time zone difference. I hope she's not so confused that she sends it out for tomorrow instead because that's my day...and I think my prompt is EXCELLENT! ******************************************************************************************************************************************************* You’re probably wondering about the title of today’s entry. Well, that is for my good friend, Fivesixer . In his blog entry, "This one's about local music and a lil heritage." , he said, and I quote, “There's some creepers that inch my views up daily. Out yourself, lest I take some poetic justice into my own hands! Better yet, don't….”That cracked me up! I know exactly what he means by that. There have been quite a few days this week that my blog views have been up around 30 every day, but you don’t see 30 comments on my entries, do you? Nope! I understand though, especially since I’m participating in this challenge. I know 30DBC Creator/Founder and whoever his “secret judge” is are checking blogs regularly. I know there’s no way they’d have the time to comment on every single entry for every participant. That’d be impossible! Plus, I suspect some spies among my fellow competitors. I’m sure they’re dropping in (silently) to check out the competition. Lots of super secret covert ops going on around blog-ville. Soooooooooooooooooo, the title of today’s entry and the song below are for my buddy, Fivesixer . Enjoy, my friend! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlZydtG3xqI&feature=artistob&playnext=1&list=TL4G... |
This entry is brought to you by, "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Meet the challengers "Invalid Entry" Blogging Challenge Day 16 Prompt: Today’s prompt is courtesy of challenger, eyestar~* .“In terms of your artistic/writing craft, comment on the following idea: “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious". ~Einstein and "What shakes the eye but the invisible?"~Theodore Roethke” Hmmmmm…I’d much rather write about Einstein’s Theory of Insanity, “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” I have PLENTY of stories for that one! I’d even love to dichotomize Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, but that would probably put you all to sleep. Albert Einstein was not only a genius, he’s also one of my heroes. If you haven’t figured it out yet, I am, in fact, a huge nerd. Anyway, cool pick today for the prompt. I’m going to put my anal retentive hat on for a moment and channel my inner geek. That quote by Einstein is actually, “The most beautiful and deepest experience a man can have is the sense of the mysterious.” He’s speaking mainly of religion as it pertains to art and science.I’d like to first point out that I have no artistic ability whatsoever. I’m a writer. I use that term very loosely. Beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder. Something I’ve written may be beautiful to me, but you might think it sucks. Any type of creative talent is interpretive at best. This is the reason there are different types of music, movies, TV shows, writing, art and anything else you could categorize as creative. Our minds are the most mysterious, complex and intriguing part of us. They hold the key to the mystery of who we are. Not only each of us as a person, but mankind as a whole. Each one of us is “wired” (for lack of a better way to put it) differently so, therefore, we interpret things differently. We’re enigmas and so is the world around us. I’m going to generalize all writing for a moment and say that writers write what we know and/or experience. Personally, I have several pieces I’ve written that are personal to me and based on what I find wonderous and mysterious. "Invalid Item" and "Invalid Item" are two pieces I’ve written about the sun. I also find the moon and the stars fascinating. I have yet to write about them, though. My point is that although I find these things mysterious and interesting, you may not. It’s all up to interpretation.Everyone still awake? Go grab some coffee  before I move on to part 2 of today’s prompt.Roethke’s quote also has to do with religion as he speaks of “running from God’s longest race of all.” So, “What shakes the eye but the invisible?” Take a look around you. Can you see the air you’re breathing? No, but you know it’s there. Why? How? Since this prompt asks us to comment on these as they pertain to our writing, I will say that this quote is similar to the first, and not just the fact that they both refer to religion. They’re also both about interpretation. Think of a bad review you’ve received because the reviewer didn’t agree with what you wrote. There’s a hidden, or invisible, meaning behind every single thing we write. That bad review could be due to a disagreement in subject matter and/or it could be that the reviewer is unable to see what you do. They can’t see into your mind or your soul in order to determine where it came from. Does any of this make sense or are all of you comatose at this point? *********************************************************************************************************************************************** I hope everyone is having a fabulous Saturday! I’m going to go back out to the pool as soon as I’m done this entry. Did you guys catch that full moon last night? It was unbelievable. It was so bright, you could see the rays of light in the night sky. I tried taking a picture of it, but it didn’t turn out so well. Since it was such a nice night last night, my husband and I decided to take advantage of it. We had the firepit going and sat out there with the dog. It was a beautiful night. Apparently, it was a bit too relaxing (or I’m a bit too boring) because I was talking and thought he was listening…until I heard him snore! Men! Another fun fact for you is that we got engaged 7 years ago today. I told him that this morning and he said, “Really? No way! Has it really been that long?” Again I say, MEN! Well, I’m going to leave you with this song. I thought the song was fitting. Not only were they in town the other night, but the song fits this entry. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxcDTUMLQJI ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
This entry is brought to you by, "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Meet the challengers "Invalid Entry" Blogging Challenge Day 15 Prompt: Today’s prompt is courtesy of challenger, janice48 Have a Nice Day!! .“If you had six weeks to live, what would you do?” This prompt really hit me personally, because I’ve been “there”. I have almost died twice. The first time happened when I was 20 years old…just 3 months shy of my 21st birthday. The second time was recently (in January). Both were caused by the same thing, endometriosis. These situations were both different than this prompt because the first time, I was told I was going to die. The doctors did not think they could save me. I was taken in for emergency surgery. Before that happened, my doctor told my parents and my brothers that, if there was anyone they thought would want to see me one last time, they’d better call them and tell them to get to the hospital as quickly as possible. They did not think I was going to survive the operation but, if I didn’t have it, they said I would have absolutely died. Obviously, that didn’t happen. In January it got very close to that point again. I was told to have another operation that would get rid of the endometriosis permanently, because the situation was becoming dire. My doctor said that it almost killed me once before and, if we didn’t act now, I probably wouldn’t survive a second time. I’m all healed up now. That surgery was 6 months ago yesterday. I’m alive and I’m thankful for that every single day. Due to the severity of both of those situations, I wasn’t given a 6 week timeframe but, having had those experiences, this is obviously something I’ve thought about. A lot. Nothing in this world can prepare you for that. If I was told I had only 6 weeks left to live, I’d begin planning immediately. I’d try not to dwell on the fact that I had such a limited amount of time left, because, well, that would be wasting that time. I would make sure all of my finances were in order. I have a Last Will and Testament already. I’d take care of my funeral arrangements, etc. I was 25 when my dad died. My mom was completely useless. I know those are harsh words, but she had issues. I’ll leave it at that. My brothers helped as much as they could, but I was the one (even though I’m the youngest) that had to take care of final arrangements and all of the legal aspects of his death. Three years later (when I was 28), my mom died. I was the one that found her in her home. She had died in her sleep. Again, I ended up taking care of everything. She died 6 months before my wedding. I was busy enough with that planning, but things needed to be taken care of and guess who stepped up? Neither of my parents had a Will. It was a little easier when my dad died because my mom was still alive. By law, she was entitled to everything. So, I was able to do all of the paperwork, etc. and just have her sign it. I tried getting her to get a Will and she would just shut down because she didn’t want to think about it. Not doing that made things so much more difficult than they needed to be after she died. I planned the funeral. Once that was done, I had to take the steps to become declared the administrator of her estate. There’s a whole legal process involved there, but it has to be done. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to sell her car, sell her house and take care of her finances until everything was settled. I did all of that, while planning my wedding. Most of it was taken care of right away, but I had some trouble selling her house. It was on the market for a while, but finally got a buyer about a month before my wedding. The closing was the Monday after I got married. I was on my honeymoon. I signed over Power of Attorney to my attorney so that he could take care of it for me. It’s hard enough losing someone you love. Taking care of settling an estate after they’re gone only adds to the emotional hit you take. The struggles/hassles I endured because my parents didn’t have Wills, all could have been avoided. I still would have run into problems, I know that. It still would have been hard as Hell knowing once I had finalized everything, that was it. There was nothing left of them. But it would have made things a little easier on me if they had planned better. That is something I never want to do to the people who love me. It would probably take me no longer than a week to get everything in order for myself, which would mean I’d have 5 weeks left to live. I’d go to Europe to spend the rest of my days with the family I have left. My oldest brother has severed contact with everyone. I don’t want to get into it because it’ll just upset me. My other brother, that I’m so close to, moved to Germany in October. His wife is originally from Germany. They have 2 little girls. Here in the States, all they really had was me. In Germany, they have his wife’s whole family. I miss my brother, sister-in-law and my nieces so much it hurts. My heart actually aches. I would spend the rest of my days with them. My advice to all of you is to take care of what you can while you’re still here. Death is not a pleasant thing to think about, but, unfortunately, it’s a part of life. Even if all you do is get a Last Will and Testament drawn up and make sure you have enough life insurance to cover your final expenses. Neither of those will bring you back, but it will help ease the process of taking care of your estate for your loved ones after you’re gone. Wow, this is a real cheery entry, isn’t it? Sorry about that.*************************************************************************************************************************************** Has everyone seen this?
A little while ago, I got the following review of that letter. I have gotten many great reviews over the years, but I have to say, I’m proudest of this one. I wanted to share it with you. The review is set to “private” so I’m just going to copy/paste it for you guys. Review from Michael I. Thompson  :“Dear Julie, I just wanted to let you know that your letter was a tremendous boost to my morale. I’ve currently been deployed to Afghanistan for the past four-and-a-half months, but it feels several months longer than that. I need a word of encouragement from time-to-time, and you have given me just that. It’s good for soldiers to know that their work is deeply appreciated by some; not all, but some. I fight for the freedom of the opposite opinion, too. = ) I just wanted for you to know, that your letter was received by a soldier, and has encouraged him tonight. Thank you, Mike” No, thank YOU, Mike! Your review blew me away. It’s so nice to know my letter made an impact. I can’t thank you enough for what you do for our country. God Speed Mike! I’m going to come up with a clever reply for him and maybe send him a little something special. I need to think this one over a little. For my American readers, I hope you'll consider dropping him an e-mail to thank him for his service. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** *************************************************************************************************************************************** Well, folks, 15 down and 15 more to go. Once again I’d like to thank each and every one of you for your support. I’m beginning to feel a little out of gas. I’m hoping it’ll pass. I’d like to be able to keep up the momentum and finish this challenge with a bang! It’ll be nice if I win, but I doubt I will. The biggest part of this for me is completing the challenge without missing any entries. That, I think, will be the coolest thing ever…not to mention, quite an accomplishment. I, of course, had to find some pictures to celebrate reaching the halfway point. Thank you all for being here to cheer me on and hand me some water comments as I’m rounding the curve to finish this race challenge. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** When I did the Google search to find the picture above, I came across this…and couldn’t stop laughing, so I thought I’d pass it along for your enjoyment (entertainment) also. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** I'll leave you all with this song 'cuz, well, it's Friday, I'm in love. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa2nLEhUcZ0Happy Friday all! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!! |
This entry is brought to you by, "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Meet the challengers "Invalid Entry" Blogging Challenge Day 14 Prompt: Today’s prompt is courtesy of challenger, blainecindy. “Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.” If ever there was a prompt written just for me, this would be it. My buddy, hcb88, commented on yesterday's entry that he enjoys my blog so much because he's an optimist and so am I. I hope you like this entry, my friend! I’m a big believer in the power of positive thinking. I know that life isn’t always sunshine and flowers , but it’s how we weather the storms that define our true character and strength.I try to be a “glass is half full” kind of girl. That’s not to say that I always am, because I’m not. I have my "off" moments or even entire days that I feel down or sad. Just yesterday, I was having a really bad, really stressful day at work. I ended up snapping at my boss’s boss. As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I realized what I said and how it sounded. I apologized immediately and we both laughed it off. Everything is fine. He’s very cool and the two of us get along very well. He’s actually the one that hired me 7 ½ years ago. I’m going to go completely off-topic for a minute, but I do have a point. At the time I was hired, he was the manager of my team, my current boss was the senior on the team and I was hired as one of the analysts. Our structure is so that we’re all broken out into teams. Each team has a manager, a senior, 7 or 8 analysts and an associate analyst. While he was the team’s manager and my (current) boss was the senior of the team. They both saw very quickly that I’m pretty smart, good at what I do and our clients love me. Sorry for tooting my own horn there for a minute, but sometimes I need to remind myself of this, especially lately. They both started leaning on me a little more and would give me special projects that none of the analysts had to do. The 3 of us ended up getting promoted at the same time. He was promoted to the director that oversees all the teams in my office, my (current) boss was promoted from the senior to the manager of our team and I was promoted from one of the analysts on the team to the senior. Everyone with me so far? I no longer report to him, but I report up to him...and, technically, he's in charge of all of us. I guess you could say he's one of my bosses. He and my boss still give me special projects. I’m the one that does all of our training, which includes training new hires and giving several “refresher” training sessions a year for everyone. I’ve been told (off the record, of course) that I’m the best senior they have and that they’d be screwed if I were to leave. That’s all a really long way of saying that, I had a lapse in judgment and wasn't being my usual, jovial self yesterday. Even though I lost my temper with an executive yesterday, I’m still OK. He’s the one that asked me to take on this colossal pain in the ass client when I came back from disability. He tells me every day that he owes me big time for it. They are in a MUCH better place now. They’re no longer threatening to fire us. They do make my life Hell on a daily basis, though. Wednesday’s are the worst day of the week, by far, because of the very specific things that are needed each Wednesday. So he asked me the wrong question on the wrong day of the week yesterday. No worries, we’re cool. I shared that story to show you guys that I do have my moments. I have also had my fair share of problems, troubles and personal tragedies. And, if you’ve gone to my table of contents, "Invalid Item" and wandered through my port, you’ve probably seen some of the pieces I’ve written about things. I still try to remain positive.By now, you’re probably all familiar with this, "Invalid Item" from the other day. #18 on that list is “alter your attitude and you can alter your life.” I really, truly believe that. I have my days that I’m down, but I try not to dwell on the bad stuff. There’s always someone that is worse off than I am.Well, I think I’ve rambled on and bored you long enough. *********************************************************************************************************************************** On my way home from work tonight, I saw some guy getting a sobriety test from 2 state troopers and a local cop. From the looks of it, he was going to fail it. Miserably. Dumbass. I’m all for the “it’s 5 o’clock somewhere” mentality, but it wasn’t even 5:30 yet. I was like, really dude?! Then I drove past his car. The front end of it looked like an accordion. He’s lucky he didn’t kill himself or someone else. He ran into the guard rail. I guess it just jumped right out in front of him. I repeat: dumbass. It’s worth repeating! I’m all for having fun, but don’t drink and drive. That’s your public service announcement for today. *********************************************************************************************************************************** U2 is in town tonight so I’m going to leave you with one of their songs. I love them! I chose this song because I heard it twice on the radio on my way home from work. Two different stations, of course. All the Philly stations were playing blocks of U2 music since they’re in town. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8FAO2-cHaE&feature=related Today is SHIT! SHIT = Sure Happy It’s Thursday. I’m so glad tomorrow is Friday. TGIF! Have a wonderful evening all! |
This entry is brought to you by, "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Meet the challengers "Invalid Entry" Blogging Challenge Day 13 Prompt: Today’s prompt is courtesy of challenger, In Your Dirtiest Pants .“ Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. -Mohandas Gandhi Do you think this to be true? What brings you the greatest happiness in your life? What is one of your happiest moments?” Q: Do you think this to be true? A: Yes and no. There’s definitely something to be said about living in harmony. From that aspect, yes, I think it’s true. However, life has a way of sneaking up on you occasionally and turning things inside out and upside down. Sometimes you need to do things for the greater good. For example, you might be fighting with your spouse/parent/sibling/friend/whoever. You may be saying one thing, but thinking another. In other words you could be thinking, “you’re an asshole”, but you might say, “we can agree to disagree on this”. You choose to take the “high road” because you love this person and don’t want to jeopardize the relationship. Human relationships are tricky that way. Our minds are telling us one thing but, in our hearts, we love these people and don’t want to hurt them and/or risk losing them…especially if the argument is over something stupid. Q: What brings you the greatest happiness in your life? A: There are so many things. My family and friends, my dog, laughter, summer, the beach, vacation, sports (especially baseball), a beautiful, starry night, doing something nice for someone, surprising someone I care about with something they want/need, reminiscing with friends/family about “the good old days”, reading, writing, music, swimming, watching the sunset, getting flowers (I am a girl, after all, and chicks dig that sort of thing ), rainbows…I’m sure there are other things that I just can’t think of right now.Wow, I think that’s the longest run on sentence ever. Q: What is one of your happiest moments? A: This is not just one of my happiest moments, it is the happiest moment. It was when the Phillies won the World Series in 2008. It was a little bittersweet for me, but still the greatest day of my life. I’ve talked about this before so, for those of you that have been around a while, I apologize. If you’re new to my blog, this story is new to you! I’ve been a diehard fan since…birth, probably. My dad and I would always watch the games together. In those days, the Phillies were not the championship team they are today. Oooohhhhhh no. They SUCKED! More often than not, they were in last place. But we still cheered them on. Every. Single. Game. That’s what true fans do. We always imagined the “what if” scenario. What if they won the World Series? How awesome/cool/exciting would that be? They did it in 1980. I was 4. I was happy because I knew something good happened. My dad and my brothers were happy so why wouldn’t I be happy too? I didn't quite understand it enough to truly appreciate it though. It took until 2008 for the Phillies to win another World Series. My dad didn’t live to see it. He died in 2001. But I knew with absolute certainty that he was watching from the best seat in the house. The Phillies won the World Series in Game 5 part 2 in 2008 (they had to stop Game 5 part 1 because of a really bad thunderstorm). My husband and I were at the local bar with some friends and his family, watching the game. When they won that game, it was the greatest moment of my life...and also one of the saddest. It’s something I’ll never forget as long as I live. After all of the celebratory hugs/kisses/high fives and a brief champagne and beer shower, I had to take a moment. I stepped outside the bar, looked up at the sky and said, “They did it, Daddy. They finally did it.” And then I burst into tears. As bittersweet as that was, it was the greatest, happiest moment of my life. The team I had cheered on my whole life was the best team in baseball. They were the World Champions. There was no other team that was better than they were. I can’t even begin to describe the pride I felt. It was amazing. The parade 2 days later was a blast, too. I actually wrote about it a little in an entry last week. There are some pretty good pictures, too. It’s entry, "Invalid Entry" , if you’d like to check it out.I’m going to mix things up a bit and leave you all with a quote instead of a song. Enjoy! “We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.” ~ Frederick Keonig |
This entry is brought to you by, "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Meet the challengers "Invalid Entry" Blogging Challenge Day 12 Prompt: Today’s prompt is courtesy of challenger, Happy May 2024!  .“It's hotter than Hades in August and you're at the beach. You run out into the ocean waves, jump to get over that big one, and on the way back down, something bumps against your leg. What would you do? Would you dive under the water to see what it was? Would you yell for help? Would you swim toward shore in the same direction as the bump? Or something else?” Is anyone else having flashbacks to the movie Jaws? No?? ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Now you are. I am a summer baby through and through. I was definitely born at the right time of year. I love all things summer, especially the beach. I’m only about 40 minutes from the Jersey shore, so I enjoy going to the beach when I can. The Atlantic Ocean is rough up here, which stirs up a lot of sand and makes the water cloudy. You can’t really see what's in the water because it's not clear, so I never, ever venture out too far. I try to stay in shallow water so that I can see what’s there. I don’t want anything bumping against my leg! If that were to happen, chances are it wouldn't be Flipper the Dolphin, which means it’s something that could pinch, bite, sting or eat me. Get your dirty minds out of the gutter, you perverts! I meant being shark food! Now, here are my answers to the questions in today's prompt: Q: What would you do? A: I’m fairly certain that if something did bump my leg, I’d scream and cry like the girl I am that something slimy touched me. Q: Would you dive under the water to see what it was? A: Do I look stupid to you? Hell no! Q: Would you yell for help? A: Please refer to my answer to the first question. Q: Would you swim toward shore in the same direction as the bump? A: I would get as far away from whatever bumped me and do it as fast as humanly possible! Q: Or something else? A: Yes, I think it's safe to say that all of my answers above qualify as "something else". I much prefer swimming in the clear water of my pool or anywhere in the Caribbean. If I can see where I’m swimming, I have less chance of something bumping into me. *************************************************************************************************************************************** Plugs and Props It’s been a while since I’ve done this, huh? Plug #1: Who doesn’t love a good game of Scrabble? Head on over to
Everyone has a chance to win some great prizes of either a portion of the total GPs raised, or you can Scrabble for donated packages. It benefits some great groups! Plug #2: For those of you that enjoy the darker side of writing, go check out Jeff  ’s
Props: To my friend Andy (aka Jakrebs ). He e-mailed me today about the new prompt for the Listography contest. He said I should submit the list I had in Friday’s entry, "Invalid Entry" . I did just that with a few minor adjustments.
Thanks Andy! *************************************************************************************************************************************** As I write this entry I’m watching the 82nd Major League Baseball All-Star Game. You guys know how much I love sports…and baseball is my favorite! I like the Mid-Summer Classic, but it’s a little sad, too. It means the baseball season is half over.  Two of my Fightin’ Phils were the first 2 pitchers for the National League. Although my boy Cliff Lee just gave up a homerun, both he and Roy Halladay pitched well.Here’s something you guys might find interesting. Some of you may already know this, actually. I dated an MLB player before. It was when I was 21 and, obviously, before I met my husband. Anyway, this particular baseball player was one of the starters in tonight’s All-Star game. It’s not his first All-Star game, either. He’s a good player and easy on the eyes. We only had a handful of dates because...what’s the polite way to say this? Let’s just say he wasn’t exactly a Rhodes Scholar. When they did the starting line-ups for tonight’s game, my husband said, “Oh look, there’s your ex-boyfriend.” Smartass. My co-workers were tormenting me about it in work today also. They were like, “If you had played your cards right, you could have been at the game tonight!” Everybody’s a damn comedian. In honor of tonight’s MLB All-Star game, I’ll leave you with this song. I know this was the theme for the NBA, but it still works. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5YJfPBqPNE |
This entry is brought to you by, "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Meet the challengers "Invalid Entry" Blogging Challenge Day 11 Prompt: Today’s prompt is courtesy of challenger, April Sunday .“YOUR CHOICE --- 1. MTR or MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL 2. GAS FRACTURING or Fracking 3. A tale of taking down the Christmas Tree in July …” ((*scratches head*)) Huh?  I’m speechless for (probably) the first time in my life. When I first got the e-mail about today’s prompt, I thought, WTF? (or DUBYEWTEEEFF?, like my title says ). I mean, seriously, what the holy fracking Hell is going on here? I really thought this prompt was a joke at first. Looking at some of the other entries written so far, I am not alone. Obviously, I’ll be going with what’s behind door #3. I’m proud to say I’ve never had my Christmas decorations up past the 2nd or 3rd week in January. I try getting them down not that long after the New Year. However, we have neighbors that have never taken down their Christmas lights or any of their other outdoor Christmas decorations. We’ve lived here for 6 years now! As for the lights, I’m not talking about the little Christmas lights that you may not see unless you’re reallllllllly looking. Oh no, we’re talking those enormous colored-bulb Christmas lights like we had as kids. Big. Giant. Huge. The development we live in is sort of weird. We live in a nice area, but no one talks to anyone else. It’s the most anti-social place I’ve ever lived in my life. Every other place I’ve lived, I’ve been friends with the neighbors. That just doesn’t happen here and it’s the strangest damn thing I have ever seen. SO, since we’re not “friendly” with these people, I can’t really speak to how long it takes them to take down their Christmas tree. Since they’ve never taken down the outside décor, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say it’s very likely they’re not exactly timely in taking down their tree either. Who knows, maybe that’s been up for 6 years (or more), too! ************************************************************************************************************************************** Some humorous advice for April Sunday . Note: this is all in good fun. I’m a smartass and joke around with everyone. First, it is not polite to mess with a blonde. (I'm a strawberry blonde, reddish blonde, whatever you want to call it.) We can get confused on our own, thank you very much. Second, I do not turn into anything resembling a likable human being until I've had at least 2 cups of something caffeinated. I read this prompt before that happened. Be very, very thankful you were not nearby. I've been known to make grown men cry. Once I have 2 cups of something caffeinated, I'm a nice enough girl. From now until the end of this challenge, I will wait to read the daily prompts until after I've had my morning coffee.  ************************************************************************************************************************************** Cool Story of the Day Here's an uplifting story for you guys. Have you heard about the marine stationed in Afghanistan that asked Mila Kunis to the Marine Corps Ball via a YouTube video he posted? She said yes...after a little nudge from her Friends With Benefits costar, Justin Timberlake. Here's a link to the story, which has a link to the YouTube video. http://www.usmagazine.com/celebritynews/news/mila-kunis-accepts-marines-invite-t... I love this story!! I think it's absolutely awesome! Not only the way he asked her, but the fact that she said yes. That is excellent! I hope they have a great time. That's your celebrity gossip for the day. You can just call me T JMZ. ************************************************************************************************************************************** I will leave you all with this song because it is a Blue Monday. Just for the simple fact that I hate Mondays. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAt9QTmVc7Q ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
This entry is brought to you by, "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Meet the challengers "Invalid Entry" Blogging Challenge Day 10 Prompt: Today’s prompt is courtesy of challenger, very thankful ."Who are the authors who have inspired your work?" “Enthusiasm is excitement with inspiration, motivation, and a pinch of creativity.” ~Bo Bennett Besides blogging, most of my writing consists of poetry. I’ve written some articles and editorials, but poetry seems to be my "thing". It’s where I’ve found my niche. Refusal Beloved, In what other lives or lands Have I known your lips Your Hands Your Laughter brave Irreverent. Those sweet excesses that I do adore. What surety is there That we will meet again, On other worlds some Future time undated. I defy my body's haste. Without the promise Of one more sweet encounter I will not deign to die. ~Maya Angelou How beautifully bittersweet is that poem of lost love? If you haven’t figured it out, Maya Angelou is one of my favorite poets. Her writing is so…real. She’s such an inspiration and I’ve never read a poem of hers that I didn’t like. Some of my other favorite poets are William Shakespeare, Shel Silverstein, Walt Whitman, Edgar Allan Poe, Jane Austen, Emily Bronte…and, of course, the many wonderful, talented poets of WDC. I can’t really say that there’s any one poet that has inspired me more so than another. I enjoy all poetry and knew from an early age that I wanted to write it. The majority of my work is based on my own experiences, but there are some pieces I wrote based on prompts, etc. I’m such a hopeless romantic, I guess it’s no surprise that I love poetry. I also recently wrote my first short story. It’s…not so good. For a first attempt, I suppose it’s not terrible. I’d like to get into that a little more, but I need to figure out how to do it. It’s definitely something I need to really learn and focus on before I can actually write a story that doesn’t suck. My friend Andy (aka Jakrebs ) and I are going to try to co-author something. I’ve already told him I’ll be relying on his expertise in short story writing. I hope he doesn’t mind being my tutor. Who has inspired your work? ********************************************************************* Princess Jamee loves to sunbathe! My dog’s name is Jameson, but we call her “Jamee” most of the time. She's quite spoiled also so we call her things like "princess" or "her highness" quite a bit, too. How cute is she? I was outside in the pool and she came out for a little while. I came back in to grab something to drink and snapped this picture of her on my way back out. Her Royal Highness is a sun worshipper like her Mommy. I wanted to share this picture with you all because it put a smile on my face. I hope it puts one on yours also. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ********************************************************************* Here’s a cool song for you guys. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRtd8ArvH_s I hope you’re all enjoying your Sunday! It’s beautiful here…pretty hot, but thankfully, we have a pool! (*tap**tap**tap*) Is this thing on? How about some prompt ideas for when it’s my turn to provide one? I’ve mentioned in prior entries that I have some ideas, but I’d like to see some ideas from all of you too. If I use your idea, you’ll get a merit badge out of it. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
This entry is brought to you by, "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Meet the challengers "Invalid Entry" Blogging Challenge Day 9 Prompt: Today’s prompt is courtesy of challenger, Prosperous Snow celebrating  ."December 21, 2012 is supposed to be the end of the world. Do you think it will it be a cataclysmic shift of Earth itself, a transformative shift in human consciousness, or something else?" Damn! Damn! Double damn! When I first got the e-mail about this prompt, I thought, grrrrr, what the crap?! and did one of these . I knew someone was going to pick this prompt. Mainly because everyone has an opinion about it. It was a good pick by Prosperous Snow celebrating for that very reason.Anyone else having flashbacks to the last time the world was supposed to end on May 21? I immediately thought of this entry, "Invalid Entry" . For those of you that are new to my blog or missed that entry, definitely go check it out. It’s about a rather interesting encounter I had the day before the world was supposed to end the last time. I had some nut come up to me on the street and tell me he needed to save my soul. Read the comments on the entry, too. They are so funny you will be laughing out loud!The short answer to today's prompt is: something else. Is the world going to end? Yep. I hate to break to all of you, but the world will, in fact, end…someday. Will it be on December 21, 2012? I highly doubt it. I don’t believe the world will end in our lifetime. I think good old Mother Earth has a few million, or even billion, years left in her. I’m not a scientist, physicist, theorist, or any other word ending in ist, so I have no credentials to back me up. That’s just what I believe. Take it or leave it. And, uh, I invite you all to read my blog entry that I’ll write on December 22, 2012. One additional note I’d like to add. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT watch the movie “2012” with John Cusack. It’s awful, horrible…so bad, I’d put it up there with one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. We made the mistake of renting it shortly after my surgery. I was housebound while I was recuperating so we couldn’t go to the movies. We decided to rent that movie because, even though neither of us believe this end of the world bullshit, the movie looked like it would be entertaining. We also thought the special effects would be cool. Wrong on both counts. This movie can be described in two words. Epic. Fail. I’m a huge John Cusack fan and I am disappointed in him for taking the role in that movie. It’s that bad. Don’t waste your time or money watching it. When it was over, my husband said, “Well, that’s 2 hours of our lives we’ll never get back.” As always, I am curious to see how you guys feel about December 21, 2012? All of you are just as vocal as I am. Have at it, boys and girls! ********************************************************************* Once again, I’d like to thank you all for your support during this challenge (and always ). I have no idea why you guys are even remotely interested in this drivel I write, but I’m extremely thankful you are. Here are my blog stats since the challenge began:Friday, July 1st, Day 1 - 11 views, 6 comments Saturday, July 2nd, Day 2 - 14 views, 7 comments Sunday, July 3rd, Day 3 - 11 views, 10 comments Monday, July 4th, Day 4 - 19 views, 7 comments Tuesday, July 5th, Day 5 - 9 views, 10 comments Wednesday, July 6th, Day 6 - 17 views, 4 comments Thursday, July 7th, Day 7 - 16 views, 6 comments Friday, July 8th, Day 8 - 13 views, 11 comments  This one was a particularly good entry, if I do say so myself. It was pretty good advice, right? And there are 10 views so far today and I haven’t even posted my entry yet! That is 61 comments in 8 days and 120 views in 9 days! WOW. You guys ROCK! I can’t tell you that enough. If you write it, they will read. Sorry, I couldn’t resist a really bad play on words from one of my favorite movies, "Field of Dreams". ********************************************************************* Well, it’s official. My enshrinement into PatrickB ’s "Invalid Item" ’s "Invalid Item" is complete. The image below is the one he created for me as part of my enshrinement package. He’s doing an awesome thing and I encourage you all to go take a look at "Invalid Item" and maybe even consider throwing some GPs his way. He burns through a lot of them to reward good reviewers. Every single one of you reading this blog (myself included) have been the recipient of bad review(s). We all know how much it stings to get one. Patrick rewards the good reviewers to inspire them to keep writing good reviews. By doing that, he’s ensuring that the good reviews will outweigh the bad. You’ve probably all benefited from a good review by those he’s highlighted. I have no doubt about that. So yeah, drop him a note and some GPs to say thank you. If you want to see my responses to the interview for my enshrinement, go to the "Invalid Item" .Thank you, PatrickB ! You’re doing an awesome thing!! ********************************************************************* I will leave you all with this song. Yes, folks, it does have to do with this entry, especially since the very first thing in the video is the date, December 21, 2012. I may not be dancing until the world ends (because who the Hell knows when that will be), but I will be blogging until this challenge ends! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzU9OrZlKb8 Speaking of the blogging challenge, I've only gotten an e-mail from one of you with some suggestions for the prompt when it's my turn to provide one. C'mon guys, if I end up using your idea, you'll get a merit badge out of it. I need to get my prompt to 30DBC Creator/Founder in the next few days so get crackin'! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
This entry is brought to you by, "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Meet the challengers "Invalid Entry" Blogging Challenge Day 8 Prompt: Today’s prompt is courtesy of challenger, Lonewolf  .“Since today is my birthday, my prompt is this: If you could give yourself a call on a past birthday of yours, what would you tell yourself?" Well, first and foremost, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Lonewolf !! I turned 35 last month and it hurt a lot worse than 30 did! Do we have any scientists in the house? If so, could you find the fountain of youth and/or figure out the time/space continuum thing? I’d like to be 35 forever so if you could work on that, I‘d really appreciate it! This might be asking a lot, but if you could make it so that it would shave a few years off, I wouldn’t mind being 29 permanently. Thanks! Now that we got that out of the way, let’s get to today’s prompt. It would be pretty cool if we could actually do this. I have a list of things that I’d tell myself. These are in no particular order. Happy Birthday! (I would probably even sing happy birthday to myself because I‘m a dork like that. ) Don’t sweat the small stuff. Life is too short to waste time doing that. Don’t ever let anyone make you think/feel you’re not good enough, smart enough or pretty enough. You are fabulous! (Yes, this has happened to me more times than I care to remember.) Even at your lowest low, remember there’s someone who loves you.  You can never love someone too much. Life isn’t like the fairy tales you read as a child. Write your own fairy tale, live it and be proud of it. Always respect yourself and those around you. Love yourself and have faith in yourself. If you don’t, no one else will either. Sometimes you just have to take a chance and go for broke. It could end up being a mistake, but it’ll teach you a valuable lesson in the long run. Life does not come with guarantees, time outs or “do-overs” so, when you do make a mistake, suck it up. Own up to it and apologize. Don’t try to blame others for your mistakes. Make every second count. Find your soulmate. You will kiss a lot of frogs (and toads, snakes and other reptiles) along the way. Try not to get too discouraged. Boys are just dumb sometimes. Love deeply, passionately and with your whole heart. Never be afraid to show someone how you feel and be sure to tell them how important they are to you. Express yourself. We’re all different. Instead of being ashamed (or afraid) of it, show it off a little. You’ll hit some rough patches. Well, let’s not mince words here, you’re going to go through Hell, but you’re a fighter and you’re going to pull through because of it. Laugh every day. It’s very therapeutic! Making others laugh is an added bonus because you’ll feel good about putting a smile on someone else’s face. Work to live, don’t live to work. Good work/life balance is vital. Family is not only your blood relatives. Family is also the important people in your life who stand by you through the good, the bad and the really bad, regardless of any familial ties. Love your family and your chosen family with every fiber of your being. Use your words wisely. They are your greatest tool in showing the world who you really are so WRITE ON! That’s what my future self would tell my past self, if I could. I hope everyone is having a great Friday! I’m going to leave you with a few songs to start the weekend off right. This song relates to this entry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnQ8N1KacJc This song has nothing to do with the entry. It’s just a good song that I wanted to share. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YuSg4mts9EAnd for the birthday boy, Lonewolf , this one is for you. It isn’t my birthday, too, but you get the idea. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztoSUhbNntQ ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
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