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 |   Life with Jody--former Soldier (medically retired), writer (in training), and lots more |
This blog tied for 3rd Place in the June 2016 "The Bard's Hall Contest"  This is a non-specific blog about me and my life, the things I do, the problems I cause, and the trouble I manage to escape. Topics that may be covered include but are in no way limited to food, animals (especially farm animals), war, the military, photography, North Carolina, medical problems and medical care, religion, writing, and examples of extreme laziness. |
| Howdy All! "Travel Blog" Well, thanks to Sally constantly including me in her 30-Day Blogging Challenge, I finally fell to the peer pressure and decided to join in the fun! In the spirit of Italy, since their flag is green, white, and red, I decided to write part of my blog in red and part in green. Sorry for those of you who are red/green color blind.  I didn't pick their flag's colors... Anyway, the prompt is in green and what I said is in red.August 10th Hello Italy http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Bassetto-Guesthouse/Florence/744?da... Welcome to Bassetto Guesthouse! We are located in Certaldo, in the belly button of Tuscany, a beautiful region of vineyards, olive groves and medieval towns. This is the place where you will find a true taste of Tuscany and the 'bella vita' in an authentic XIVth century setting. We are bringing Tuscany country living to the backpacking world. If you need a relaxing break from the busy cities, then we are the place for you. At Bassetto, you will be able to regather your thoughts while you relax next to our pool or swing the afternoon away in a hammock with a glass of wine in hand and then at night, you can take a walk through a garden while being surrounded by fireflies after you have had a dinner in our wine cellar. Bassetto Guesthouse was formerly a convent of Benedictine monks that was always open to pilgrims passing through. In 1998, our family opened Bassetto Guesthouse again to travelers with the same notion of hospitality as the monks centuries ago. We wanted our guesthouse to be unique in terms of setting and location, a place you would want to return to and somewhere to relax from city life. We accommodate everyone here, from the lovers on their honeymoon in our private rooms to the solo backpacker in our dorm style rooms. Our private rooms and dorms, are separated from each other across the yard, with their own both kitchens and common areas. Explore through landscapes sculpted by sunflowers, rolling hills and farms either on foot, bicycle, and horse. Day trips by train are easy from Certaldo to go exploring the big cities to see the splendors of Florence, Siena, Pisa which are mostly an hour away. We organise and run a number of activities from a fresh pasta cooking class with a local chef to day trips to San Gimignano and wine tour. When the weather is amazing, we can even take you out to Pisa for a day. Bassetto Guesthouse will always make you feel like you won’t want to leave and with our friendly staff, always able to help we are the perfect place to be in Tuscany. There is something for everyone here! Well, Sally found me in Monaco and invited me to join the WdC group on their European tour. What an awesome surprise to see everyone and who wouldn't rather travel with friends?!? And boy am I glad I decided to join in! What a beautiful place we went to on my very first night with them! I, along with SB Musing and LostGhost: Seeking & Learning opted for the "dormatory-style" rooms to save some cash and I'm really glad we did! Their dorms only have 4 beds in there and no one else was there, so we really saved some money in a painless way! The only real drawback is that they are pretty narrow single beds, but for the money, you can't really complain! lol We're going to take a fresh pasta making class this morning before we set off to see where Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, Foscolo, Gentile and Rossini are buried at the Basilica of Santa Croce and see the museum where Michelangelo's David resides First we took a really cool pasta making class. I'd tried to make pasta once a long time ago. It didn't go so well. Plus, it wasn't this much fun! I think we might have been embarrassing Lyn's a sly fox as I saw her shoot some looks at Sally. Poor Sally was TRYING to politely keep us in line, but we were just having TOO MUCH FUN! Fran 💜 💜 💜 is a real hoot and Fivesixer and SB Musing just constantly play off each other's jokes. But I didn't help matters at all. I joined in just as much. In hindsight, I feel a little bad. Perhaps we were a bit TOO rowdy. But, well, I'm sure they've had worse! Hahaha Plus, the instructor didn't seem bothered at all. He was really quite patient with us and seemed to be amused that we were having a great time, even if we weren't learning as much as he was teaching. lol He career is safe as long as he has students like us!  Next we went to see where a bunch of famous people are buried. I felt kind of awkward not knowing who a lot of them were, but Fivesixer was kind enough to tell me quietly without making me look stupid. What a gentleman! Then we went to a museum. I'm not really a huge museum person, but there were some really interesting pieces there and it was, how can I say this without sounding corny, an honor to see Michelangelo's David statue. WOW! And to think of how old that is! I bet he'd be SO PROUD to know people are STILL admiring his work! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_Santa_Croce,_Florence http://www.accademia.org/} after a light lunch we are going to the Boboli Gardens http://www.museumsinflorence.com/musei/boboli_garden.html We are going on late afternoon early evening horseback adventure, with our picnic baskets. We are going to see the city's beauty at sunset from an incredible advantage point. Well, the horseback riding and picnic and sunset views were fabulous! But I have to say, my hips are STILL hurting. Darn Army messing them up. I would have taken something for the pain ahead of time, but didn't think about it. By the time I realized my mistake, it was too late. It's okay. The ride back wasn't nearly as painful as it was scary. lol Funny how thinking of chupacabra jumping out of the darkness and eating me and the horse really quells the pain. I didn't like being the last of us, but at least I had the other guide behind me, so I felt like it gave me and Sparky (my horse) a fighting chance! HahahaSleep well my friends we have another busy day ahead of us. Done with my "travel blog," now on to real life... Movies I've been working on my "A Very British Challenge." I have to do 5, yes 5 product reviews. That seems like a bit much to me. PLUS I have to do some for "The Challenge" as well. What's the deal with product reviews? Personally, I hate them...mostly because I don't read that much and I don't really watch movies that much since my minor TBI. Oh well, I'm already 2 months into both. I can suffer through the rest of these two, then be free! lol Regarding my product reviews, I opted for movies. I had to google the best British movies (because I want to watch GOOD ones lol), but then I have to cross-reference what's available with Netflix. Turns out not a lot are...at least that I want to see. lol I'm going to end up having to rent some on Amazon, I guess.  Oh well. I saw "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy," which is obviously a spy movie, and "We Need to Talk About Kevin," which is about Kevin, a teen who commits mass murder. I thought the first one was based on a true story. Turns out neither was. Whatever. Anyway, both were kind of slow, but the spy movie more than the mass murder movie, but for a mass murder movie, I have to say, it was slower than expected. But if you like imagery in your movies, "We Need to Talk About Kevin" is FULL OF IT! Like the color red is EVERYWHERE! There's more, but that's the biggest one.Tonight I'm thinking of watching "Slumdog Millionaire" and maybe something else if I think I can tolerate 2 movies tonight. Nah...I think tonight is a 1 movie night. Sad, really. I used to be able to watch 4-5 movies in a day, but now I just can't focus that long. I don't even really enjoy 1 movie like I used to and I generally have to pause or just go and do something else while for a few minutes it's playing. And to think, I used to WORK at the movies. lol |
| Howdy Folks! I hope everyone is well. I'm SURE you ALL have missed my blog. (Don't bother saying you haven't, because I won't believe you! lol) Well, part of the problem is just forgetfulness. Part of the problem is that, honestly, without G.o.T., I haven't had that much to blog about. lol And partly, is laziness or "I'll get to it in a bit"-ness. 3 Prompts So, to spice things up, I've decided that today I'm going to post 3 story prompt ideas that I like. One is made up by me, to be honest. (Try to guess which one! First person to get right get 1000 GPs!) Prompt 1--Write something using the homophones Hire, Higher, Flower, Flour, Pour, Pore, and Poor. Prompt 2--Write something using the quote "That's humans for you. Cut off a limb and it will live, but leave it without oxygen for five minutes and it's done for." Prompt 3--Write something about a wolf that is struck with a curse. Every full moon, it turns into a human for one night. I found 2 of these on Pinterest, so no cheating. But after you decide which one I wrote (or after you decide not to enter the contest), I encourage you to hop on Pinterest and check things out. There's SOOOO MUCH ON THERE! There are ideas for stories, lists of hair colors, themes for romance novels, lists of words to use instead of "said," and TONS MORE! Check it out! WdC Contests I have to say, I'm disappointed in the contests on WdC. Not that I don't like them, but I thought there were more. lol A number of them are defunct or almost defunct. I wish folks would at least remove those that have been abandoned. Oh well... Folks probably wish I'd rewrite my stories after they review them. Well, I wish that too, actually, but sometimes we just can't have what we want. Hahahaha! ANYWAY, I made a list of all the contests on WdC with the intent of joining each one at least once.  I like to set weird goals for myself and this is one of them. lol I even went on "I Write in August-September-October" and read every contest entered from page 19 on forward. I'm not sure if there were 20 pages, but my tablet didn't seem to think so. Anyway, I found quite a few "invalid item" contests and several who appear to have become defunct. I only found 1 contest that I think is still active. (It's a Halloween one, so I don't yet know for sure.) I was disappointed. I thought there were probably hundreds of other contests lurking that I was unaware of. Apparently not? I'm going to check all of the entries for "I Write Romantic in Winter" but I don't hold out a lot of hope for a bunch of new stuff. The only other things are contests that you have to be a part of their secret society to enter. There were a number of those. But for all I know, they may well be abandoned too. I DO think there's still another one, though. I can't seem to find it in my list, of course, I can't remember the name, either, so that doesn't help. It was a weekly contest, I think, run by a male, I think, who was fairly new...like maybe less than a year old. If I recall, his page actually said something like FAQs "Aren't you a newbie?" "I'm glad you asked. Yes, I am. But just because I don't write well doesn't mean I don't know good writing when I read it." Or something like that. lol Does this contest sound familiar to anyone? 1000 GPs to whomever can ID this contest for me!  For anyone interested in my list of contests, here it is. "Contest and Challenge Checklist" It's not clickable. Maybe I'll work on that one of these days. lol Actually, I'm REALLY GLAD I decided to list this. I thought it would still be on my drop down list, but it wasn't. However, I saw something on there twice. HUH? Turns out I'd saved my "Modern Pentathlon Acrostic" twice! Only the other wasn't lined up for some reason. This one needs a bit of tweaking still, but at least it's not all on the left side and confusing to the reader. lol I chose this style because it's supposed to be harder. It didn't seem hard to me. Well, if I'd made it more poetic, it would have been, but it would have been harder even WITHOUT the acrostic if it was more poetic. lol I think the hardest ones are where the END letter spells out the word. Nope! I'm not there yet. lolWell, I suppose that's enough nonsense for today. Adios, Folks! TTYL |
| Howdy All! Final Game of Thrones finds...reconstructed after I lost my first list. NOOOOoooo.... SirWriteALot wrote a very funny story about two gladiators called "Invalid Item" . It's a short dialogue only piece that's certainly worth a read.Another excellent writer is Jaeff | KBtW of the Free Folk with "The Times They Are A-Changin'" about a Soldier who wonders about what will become of his life after the service. I TOTALLY felt for this one since I'm getting medically retired against my will. "WLTM IRL" was a creative story about a vampire who uses online dating services to find victims.Be sure to check out "Invalid Item" by Sparky. And at the bottom are some links...the first one is a video by a Ukrainian sand artist who depicts Chernobyl through her work. It's a must see! Then there's the touching love letter from someone at Iwo Jima in "Invalid Item" . If you like history, you'll love "Witch Trials" by spidey. She intersperses real quotes from people living through the Salem Witch Trials. COOL! She also has a link at the bottom to help us learn more.If you think YOU have nothing to eat in the fridge, check out "Invalid Item" by BlueMoon! She writes about sharing a fridge with an apprenticing wizard. Yikes! lolSqueekachu wrote an interesting story about a doctor/mentor teaching his student through dissection, back when that wasn't really allowed. Read "Invalid Item" .When I came across "Tears From the Sky" I honestly didn't think I'd dig it as I thought the title sounded to typical. But this story by Stormy Lady certainly isn't typical. It's about a storm and a man falling in love. It's really neat.If you like psychological reads, you'll love Sugaree-Serial_Writer's "Invalid Item" ! I don't want to spoil it, just read it. iluvhorses wrote a very powerful piece about her time working in a hospital for people with chronic illnesses. She worked in the ventilator unit. Please read "My time with the undead" !I don't normally put poems on here. Mainly, because I avoid reading them whenever I can. lol Not to mention, half the time I can't understand them! But "Invalid Item" was a nice poem by Ekant about a man speaking to an angel. I'm sure most of us would like an opportunity like that!Here's another poem I actually understood. Vanillafire wrote "Would-be Heros" which contains some pretty rocking images. I was very impressed with the creativity!I had more pieces that I was trying to share with you all, but my blog post I was working on accidentally got erased, so I'm just recreating it from what I'm pretty sure I enjoyed. lol Normally, I immediately write a blurb about the thing I just finished reading so I know I loved it and I know my statements about it are accurate. Oh well...you get what you get. lol G.o.T. in General Well, this month has been crazy. I stayed up more nights doing reviews than I ever thought I would (or should lol). Several times I was up past midnight. Seriously? Oh well, if it were just for me, I wouldn't have, but I had 9 other people counting on me! For those of you who don't know, I'm with House White Walkers. Our home base is "The Witch's House" for anyone who wants to join. Honestly, after G.o.T., I have no idea what will be going on in there, but Sssssh! I'm not really here. is pretty awesome, so I figured I'd plug her place. Speaking of awesome, Sssssh! I'm not really here. is the leader of the White Walkers and will hopefully be leading us into victory...or at least 2nd place--not bad for a new team, many of whom have never even played G.o.T. before, including our fearless leader! My team is wonderful...I'll introduce you! drjim is one of our MVPs or VIPs or whatever! He does TONS of reviews and is always super encouraging! I can't believe he will do 50 reviews in a battle. WOW! I'm doing good with 20. lol He also won a couple of writing challenges, so he's not just a great reviewer, but a great writer as well! Shaye was one of our lieutenants that we couldn't do without. And she won writing challenges as well. AND, she's just an all-around super sweet person...you know, for someone who is on a team of the undead. lol intuey of House Lannister and I have really bonded due to a lot of similarities in our circumstances...which are actually positive, but whatever, she's wonderful and I'm so glad she's on my team! Not to mention, she's a talented writer to, winning some of these crazy writing challenges. Paul D is another lieutenant who volunteered to help out with the team. And he's ANOTHER talented writer. I think he was one of our most prolific winners, if I recall. Smell that? That's what talent smells like! lol Anyway, great job! LostGhost: Seeking & Learning I believe won more competitions than anyone else! WOW! AND she helped organize those crazy lists for battles...amazing. I wouldn't want that job! lol On a side note, she speaks like 80453 languages. lol SB Musing was our other Super Reviewer/MVP/VIP/Caffeine and Bacon Addict...not sure those last things have anything to do with the reviews, but just noting that our 2 power reviewers both love coffee and bacon...training tip for those of you planning to do G.o.T. next year!  This woman did 30 reviews in ONE DAY! Don't scoff at that bacon and coffee thing, folks!Inkslinger is my beloved mentor! She's also a valuable member of our team...and a winner of competitions. What would we do without her? Well, we might lose, who knows? Thanks for being here with me! Antonia Ryder is our final member of our team. She also is multi-talented between winning and reviewing. And the tallies aren't all in yet, so who knows how many wins she'll end up with? I look forward to having time to read her items! We have a GREAT team! Everyone is so nice and helps each other out and no one gets mad when someone else has life happen! They are just a wonderful bunch of people! Well, that's the White Walkers. White Walkers, I'd like to introduce my readers and fans! I think everyone will get along. Other Activities Well, never one to let moss grow under my feet, I'm already diving into other activities. I'm trying to do "Invalid Item" with my entry "Hook to Book, Round 3-Sheriff Sam Rabbit" . That's just the blurb, though. I think next we have to write the first chapter. I'd better get to thinking...I also saw "Invalid Item" and wanted to enter someone. However, after G.o.T., finding a willing participant was a bit tricky. Finally, I got confused and accidentally IMed Jaeff | KBtW of the Free Folk. Well, it turns out he was willing anyway, though we didn't know each other. So, yipee! I'm sponsoring someone! (Moderator's can't sponsor themselves in this.) I also joined "I Write in August-September-October" . It SEEMS easy enough...I just enter 1 contest a week, post the contest and the entry and then review the entry just before mine. Simple? Well, there's the whole REMEMBERING to do that part...lol But SB Musing agreed to be my accountability partner, so hopefully that will help. She's such a sweetheart! |
| Howdy! I've got yet more G.o.T. discoveries for you, my lovely fans! I discovered the talented 🌑 Darleen - QoD and her entertaining story about a magical chocolate shop called, "Invalid Item" For your intellectual side, lazymarionette has some really interesting essays on how language affects us with "Invalid Item" and "Invalid Item" .Jim Hall - GoT Forest Child wrote a really funny newspaper style short story, "Santa Found Dead in North Pole Workshop" "Sam and the Summer that Wouldn't Quit" is a really cute fable from Aesop.I read a great story with a twist at the ending, "The Lab" by Chris24. Speaking of twists (which I LOVE), Atiqa Akbar wrote an interesting start to a novella (I'm assuming) with "BLOOD EYES" , "BLOOD EYES " , and "BLOOD EYES" . It's a sort of Little Red Riding Hood meets Beauty and the Beast. I really enjoy the sense of humor of kerrimiller in her short story "Young Fame Revoked" about a teen trying to become famous by winning a contest. Here's a really lovely letter from Jeannie Cheering for Martel to the military in "To a Brave American Soldier:" . As a Soldier, I REALLY appreciated this letter! SueVN wrote an adorable story called "Santa's Flyers" about two of Santa's reindeer getting sick and him replacing them with elves on bikes. lolRaising Rabbits Workshop So, I went to a rabbit raising seminar thing last weekend. It was interesting. I learned a lot! For example, I didn't know rabbits were such escape artists. Several people said they've had rabbits out of their cage or pen, but they had no idea how it happened. They also said if we try to free range our rabbits, to have a top on the pen because rabbits can climb. Really? I had no idea! One of the most amusing points of the workshop was when they were talking about cleaning their cages. One person said she used a blow torch on the cages a couple of times a year to kill germs and burn off all the excess fur and other stuff that gets stuck on the cages. But then we were told, almost as an after thought, "But be sure you take the bunnies out of the cage first. That's very important." Hahahaha! Okay, if that's not amusing, maybe you had to be there, but we all laughed. This workshop on how to raise rabbits was put on by the Livestock Conservancy. https://www.LivestockConservancy.org I love them! They are helping to conserve breeds of farm animals that are at risk for extinction. If you think about it, the chickens we eat today are all white because we created these chickens from other chicken breeds. I don't really have a problem with us creating a new breed to suit our current needs, but these aren't the chickens we ate 100 years ago, so it's naive to think these are the chickens we'll be eating in 100 years. So, in order to be able to create whatever chickens we will need next, we need to keep some of all the breeds. It makes sense to me. FYI, the chickens we eat now are white specifically because it's hard to get all the tiny little feathers off the skin, so if they're white, it's a lot harder to see them. It turns out we eat a lot of chicken feathers if we regularly eat the skin. I KNEW there was a reason I didn't like to eat chicken skin! lol One of my favorite things about the seminar was getting to see and handle all the rabbits. I thought I wanted to have American Chinchilla rabbits, but they are the rarest breed of rabbit in the U.S. today. I didn't want to kill off the last of something, but they seemed easier to take care of than many of the other breeds. I got to pet and hold one. It turns out they're not as super soft as I was expecting, but they still were soft compared to a dog. They were just more like a cat or maybe a little softer. Anyway, I talked to several people and they all agreed that 'Am Chins' as they call them, would be a good rabbit for me. https://livestockconservancy.org/index.php/heritage/internal/americanchinchilla I'll see if I can include a picture of me holding an American Chinchilla rabbit, but so far I haven't had good luck with including pictures, so we'll see... Nope. For some reason, my brain and the WdC instructions on how to upload an image just aren't matching. I simply can't understand it. (For those of you who haven't read before, I have a minor traumatic brain injury from Iraq. I'm mostly functional, except for being able to drive, but it sometimes causes issues with comprehension and other things.) G.o.T. Final Stretch! I gotta say, I'm kind of glad we're in the final stretch of Game of Thrones. There are so many other things to do, but I either don't have time or I feel totally guilty doing them. I even feel bad about none of my writing challenges being 2000 words long this time. That was what I'd done for all the others because it got us more points, even if I didn't win. But I just thought the stories I did were good enough and I didn't want to ruin them by making them 2-4 times longer than they "should" be. But I STILL feel guilty about this. Yet, as far as I know, I'm the only one who has made an effort to make all my stories 2000 words long. Our leader is just more concerned with us simply turning something in. She doesn't care if I don't make them that long. But still... Speaking of which, we have a GREAT leader! Sssssh! I'm not really here. is awesome! She's SO sweet (she must be a good witch) and encouraging, not to mention SMART! I'm VERY glad I'm on her team! She's a G.o.T. GENIUS! I should send her a Leadership MB. Okay, DONE! Actually, I think I'll get everyone on my team a MB. I wanted to be sure I'm sending out as many as I'm receiving. I'm behind. Update: Okay, I've sent one to ALMOST everyone on my team. But two members have already received one from me recently, so I have to find someone else to send them. I've actually got several things that need folks to send them...2 badges and two awardicons. I've asked some folks to help out, but haven't heard back yet. (Yes, I'm giving them the GPs. I'm just asking them to do the work. )Alrighty folks, I need to get back to my G.o.T. reviews! Adios and TTFN! |
| Howdy! Game of Thrones Goodies I've got some more wonderful discoveries from my reviewing with G.o.T. and wanted to share them with you. I really encourage you to read some of these gems! We are talking fabulous and talented writers! Robyn is PUBLISHED!   wrote a great (though dark) piece about a ghost watching others in a park. "Invalid Item" "Me And My Shadow Discover Jogging" is one of the funniest things I've read in a while. It's written by SandraLynn Team Florent!  "Mansquatch" by Kevin is another amazingly creative piece with humor I never would have thought of. It's so great that I had to go back and look for it when I discovered I'd accidentally erased my previously started blog entry."My Name Is Mud" is a a super funny piece by Winnie Kay  about an experience in Catholic School! This also took a lot of work to write, in my opinion. Oh, and it's pretty much error free!Rhonda wrote "Invalid Item" which is a cute piece where she talks to her inner self as she writes a letter to her self telling herself 2014 is going to be the best year yet. It's also kind of inspiring. Here's a funny (to me)/scary story about a girl stopping to go to the bathroom at a gas station "Who Goes There?" written by OOT™  On an unrelated note, I think Agape Novels ROCKS! He has agreed to donate his personal merit badge to anyone who donates at least 40k gift points to "Invalid Item" ! WOW! How GENEROUS! And what a great way for a group or contest who don't have their own MB to raise funds! Genius! And I know it works, because I donated! Hahaha!In Other News SOMEHOW I managed to win first place in the Week 2 Prompt 4 Game of Thrones competition with the prompt: "Tell me the whole story," he said calmly. "Take your time." I have NO IDEA how this happened to me. But congratulations go to my actually talented teammates, Paul D who got 2nd place and Inkslinger who got 4th. SWEET! WHITE WALKERS RULE!!! For those interested, here are the winning stories... 1st place--"The Truth Is..." 2nd place--"Invalid Entry" 4th place--"Invalid Entry" I'm excited! Today I finally managed to secure a ride to West Virginia to a rabbit raising seminar being put on by the Livestock Conservancy! (See https://livestockconservancy.org/index.php/what/internal/2016-rabbit-workshop for more information.) One might think I should be concerned about going 5 1/2 hrs away with a stranger, but one would be wrong. When you can't drive, beggars can't be choosers. Well, they can, but then they're really hungry beggars and I HATE being hungry, so... lol I'll just hope that since he's a fellow veteran that I met at the VA (and he works there too), he's probably safe...PROBABLY. However, if I disappear, start checking there first. Well, he's been texting me. Surely he's not dumb enough to do that and then kill me...unless he ditches both our phones...hmmm... Well, until he pulls out his hockey mask, I'll just focus on BUNNIES! It's been 8...DOH, it's 12:01...9 days since I last updated my blog, so I'll just go ahead and post this now. Waiting for more exciting things to happen could be another 8-9...or 89 days. lol |
| Howdy! Game of Thrones Finds I, as always, found some interesting, encouraging, and amusing reads while doing my reviews for G.o.T. Steve adding writing to ntbk. did a lovely piece that was a letter to a soldier in "Invalid Item" .I really liked Prof Moriarty 's piece with a surprise ending "Retribution" . FYI, I LOVE surprise endings! Happy April 2024!  wrote an intriguing series starting with "Anna's Journey Home" . If I wasn't doing G.o.T., I'd totally read more! (Update: I got to go back and read the whole thing--great work.)A FABULOUS piece about death interviewing to get another horseman is "Invalid Item" by Acme .If you want to feel better about your luck, read a true story by Scarecrow in "Invalid Item" .A touching and well-told story is written by ember_rain in "Invalid Item" .As its getting close to bedtime, I'm getting more and more anxious because I read "Shadow Man" . Gee, thanks, Legerdemain  ! CREEEEEPYYYY!!!A really fun and funny story I read by J. A. Buxton was "Fun With Felines" . Delightful!Angus  wrote a disturbing but fascinating piece called "For The Love Of Oliver" It's about child abuse, but done differently. My Army buddy, TehKnuck just posted his first piece, "Alverad's Adventure" and, as expected, I think it's awesome. That's why I invited him here! He's got talent!Joy  did a VERY interesting and educational article that had once been in a textbook. Impressive! Read "The Start of Television" to learn some really fascinating stuff.One of the most adorable things I've read lately was "Invalid Item" where Michelle M "interviews" her cat. Awesome!If you want to learn about writing fantasy and science fiction, Matt Bird MSci (Hons) AMRSC has several good articles.Visiting Cousins I have three cousins (a husband and wife and the husband's sister) who all drove 8 hours to come and visit little old me. How super sweet is THAT? They've helped me run a few errands and even took me to a doctor's appointment since I can't drive these days. (No, not from a DUI. If you haven't read, I have a mild traumatic brain injury from Iraq.) I'm SO thankful my mom married my dad. Admittedly, if she hadn't, I wouldn't be here, so I wouldn't know not to be thankful. lol (Not being here would solve a myriad of problems, though. Anyway...) My dad's family is WONDERFUL! They are all genuinely sweet, kind people and I love them dearly. My mom, in my opinion, was the best one to come from her side. When she was in her coma, her only sibling, her brother, (who took three days to get there and he was only one state over, when my brother was on the other side of the world and got there in two days) said he wasn't going to come back for the service (which, because of my military issues wasn't going to be for several months after she died). Thankfully, his wife is more sensible. I spoke with her and they came back. However, I tried to call them both about three months after the service and they'd both changed their numbers with out telling me. I never heard from them again and that was in 2007. My dad's side, as I mentioned, drove eight hours to come see me when I moved back to the mainland. And I've only been here two months. They're great! Did I mention that? lolSomething Cool in Town Oh, today I saw a wall downtown that I thought was super cool. It has permanently written something like "Things to do before I die" and in has lots of spaces on a chalk board type of part of the wall where permanently written numerous times is "Before I die, I want to _________" and then there's chalk so you can write what you want to do. Then it washes off in the rain and more folks can do it (or you can just erase one you don't like lol). Really neat idea! I'm glad I saw that! That's about all. I've had this blog open for several days as I include things I've read that I enjoyed. But I'm getting tired of those stupid blog reminders, so I'm going to save this entry. Of course, without those stupid blog reminders, I might never have written again after the contest I started this for on The Bard's Hall. lol TTFN |
| Howdy! Blogging Contest WOOHOO!!! I won (well, tied for) 3rd place in "The Bard's Hall Contest" for their blogging contest! I can't believe it! Now I HAVE to learn how to add pictures and videos in the right way rather than just as a stupid looking link! Here are links to the other winners... SPECIAL RECOGNITION IN BLOGGING:
HONORABLE MENTION (TIE):
and
3RD PLACE (TIE) ME and
2ND PLACE
and...drum roll, please... 1ST PLACE
Yea, Yeah, and Yay So, I decided to look up and define you everyone "yea," "yeah," and "yay" because decades I've noticed confusion regarding these words. It's been so rampant, that even I've started getting confused after reading everyone else's mistakes. So... Yea: noun--an affirmative answer (such as yea vs. nay votes) Yeah: adverb-- informal yes Yay: interjection--used as an exclamation of pleasure, approval, elation, or victory; adverb--so; by this amount (such as "It was yay big.") I got the above from http://www.educationbug.org/a/yea-vs--yeah.html http://grammarist.com/usage/yea-yeah-yay/ agrees saying: "In modern English, yea is an affirmative reply or a yes vote. Yeah is a casual pronunciation of yes. Yay is an interjection expressing triumph, joy, or enthusiasm." Don't like the answers? Blame Google. Actually, the dictionaries and the grammar sites tend to disagree. Interesting. I suspect the dictionaries are going by the changes in the language and popular usage, while the grammar sites are going by the original intent. It may be a while before they give up and decide people are going to write how they want. lol Game of Thrones Gems While reviewing for G.o.T., I read a story with a great ending written by Geoff . It's "Pillow Fight" mARi☠StressedAtWork had a great idea for a dialogue only piece with "Invalid Item" If you want to learn more about developing a sci-fi world, Hatesmondays is your man and "How to make a sci-fi world" is your resource! Very impressive for a 13-year-old kid! I totally forgot how old he was because his writing and ideas were so advanced!Seshat did a couple of creative short stories called "The Shivering Spider" . That's the first of the two.A powerful and true story about a boy in Africa is "I Called Him Kicky" by Joey's Spring has Sprung  ."Nightmare" is an interesting piece written by Amalie Cantor - We Got This! where the characters are emotions.A SUPER CUTE story by Finn O'Flaherty was "Too Tired" !Well, that's all for now. I have to finish that pesky Folklore story. I'm writing about the fire in the mental hospital in 1948 that killed F. Scott Fitzgerald's wife, Zelda. Supposedly, you can still hear the screams of those who had been in restraints at the time of the fire. TTFN! |
| Howdy! Well, it's been 3 days, 1 hour, and 28 minutes since I updated my blog...or at least it had been when the automatic e-mail was sent telling me to do it. It keeps coming...day after day...alright, alright. I'll update my blog. The problem is, I don't really have much to say. I've been doing "Game of Thrones" and otherwise, haven't really done anything of interest...grocery shopped, took some pictures for my photography class, blah, blah, blah. Yep, I'm just that fascinating. lolG.o.T. is going, but I suspect we won't win since we were told 2 teams had chosen to battle 100 warriors and we were only doing 40 and 50 in ours and our participation (including mine) is kind of sketchy by some members. Well, it's about having fun, right? Ummm...winning makes it MORE fun. Oh well. On the good side, I've found some interesting writers. I'll tag some here. ck1969 writes some interesting Twilight Zone kind of stuff. Check out "Invalid Item" .cmht writes some odd, but interesting pieces. "Invalid Item" still makes me wonder...DMCarroll also writes weird but interesting items. Here's a quote from the short story, "Nightmare in the home" : "The temperature was dropping and the heater was running so I did not hear anything but the news when a hand appeared in front of my face and covered my mouth and nose."Apparently I like stuff that is different. lol Well, I know I like twists and several of the pieces from the above writers have twists. Maybe that's why I liked them so much. DMT - THANK YOU WRITE.COM is working on a fantasy novel, "Invalid Item" , that I'm really enjoying. That's not the title, but that's the, well, prologue from it. I'm not actually sure what the title is...if it even has one yet. I read the first 11 chapters before I was told to move on to other writers. lol Her chapters aren't that long and are pretty interesting. She pays well for reviews, though--2,000 GPs!Ben has a nice collection of Christian writing. Something of his that I'd previously read isn't about God, but I really loved was, "The Foolish Seahorse" .Damas is another writer whose interesting stuff I've enjoyed. Here's a quote from his short story, "Invalid Item" : "He was a dirty devil in a muddy Hell, and if it meant that his brothers would sit among angels, Christian would gladly dine amongst the devils. However, Christian knew the Bible had gotten one thing wrong. Hell wasn’t fiery, Hell was muddy."Keaton Foster: Know My Hell! is a wonderful writer who has actually published quite a few things, if you're interested. He also has some true stuff listed, which I really like. Check out "Invalid Item" . He also pays 1,000 GPs per review (at least he did for my 1000+ word reviews for G.o.T.) if you're feeling poor. lolLostwordsmith writes both poetry and short stories. I tend to lean toward short stories, but both of his directions are worthy of reading. I really liked the heart in his piece "Invalid Item" .ctkevink writes some great stuff--here's an example from his poem, "Invalid Item" : "Goldfish hover motionless as if marionettes at rest, biding time" He hasn't written much, but it's real quality stuff!I should have given examples of excellent parts of everyone's writing. Sorry. GERVIC 🐉 House Targaryen  is not only a poet, but he hosts the "Verdant Poetry Contest - On Hiatus" . He also has a piggy bank where you can donate GPs toward his upgrade in exchange for MBs, ribbons, and poetry reviews. Check it out at "Gervic's PiggyBank" ! Great idea, Gervic!Earthenware_Haven has a wide variety of items in her portfolio--anything from short stories to crosswords, to an essay on budgeting. Here's an example of one of her interesting poemy-story type things that I enjoyed"Invalid Item" .keikoalvarez isn't someone I reviewed for G.o.T., but she's been extremely helpful to me and I've read some of her work and really enjoyed it. She's also published PROLIFICLY! Like Amazon only lists about half of her works. You can find a (I assume) complete list of her works at "List of Published Books by WdC Authors " . She's another one who will sometime put a twist on her work and I love that. She writes mostly erotica, but has some other works too. FYI, I was reading her regular works...I haven't worked up the nerve to read erotica yet. lolI encourage you to check out some of the above writers. There's a wide variety and they have some fascinating stuff. Well, instead of writing about what I've read, I should probably get back to ACTUALLY reading...and reviewing, rather than just writing about it. lol TTFN! (Ta-ta for now) |
| Howdy! Test Results Well, I'm tired today--too much excitement and too little sleep. lol I got some of the results of my Quantitative EEG back today. There was a LOT of info. I'm a little annoyed that I was told there's no need to take notes since everything he said was in the paperwork he gave me. First, no it wasn't. Second, his paperwork was a bit more complex than how he described it. Anyway... Turns out that whole, "not really there" and "my brain is totally unaware" and kind of the lights are on but no body's home kind of thing (quotes for actual ways I've described this to friends or doctors before) that I say sometimes happens is NOT all in my imagination. I'll also sometimes say things like, "Oh. I forgot I was supposed to be listening." Really. I did. I'll also lose track of what I'm talking about easily. I'm forgetful...more than normal. This can all probably be traced to the rocket attack in Iraq where they tried to kill me. I'm still waiting for the head of the neurology department at UCLA (yes, I'm in North Carolina, on the other side of the country) to read the rest of my EEG. But the guy who told me the results today said it was not PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) that was causing this. (There's other brain evidence of the PTSD, though. Still have that for sure.) He thinks it's the minor traumatic brain injury (mTBI) causing that lack of awareness I have sometimes. He also said that's probably what's going on with my driving when sometimes I'll "get lost" even though I'm in familiar surroundings. I'll also not be able to recognize what a sign means...or even THAT I'm not able to recognize what a sign means. There's no emotion attached, I'm not scared, because I'm not really aware. My brain, because that's a different part, is still able to drive, but interpreting the road conditions is turned off. He said this is happening about 7 times every 3 minutes for at least a second or two. I can't recognize that (he said and I agree), but when I have the big episodes, that's what the problem probably is when I'm driving. The good news is that when I do the upcoming neurofeedback (which requires different placement of electrodes since my brain isn't functioning right), he'll be able to monitor for those lapses in awareness and be better able to predict if/when I'm safe to drive. The Army, assuming it was an anxiety related thing (though I assured them it wasn't), told me to just start practicing driving in a parking lot to get my confidence back up. Not a good idea and it wouldn't have fixed the problem. There was a lot of other stuff he said. My PTSD has hijacked my executive (higher) functioning and I'm literally not able to really plan much for the future at this time. It's not just that I don't want to see a future after the Army, I really can't. Also, my reward part of my brain is underactive, which is why I have to set weird goals and have to have bigger things to make me feel "rewarded." (Sorry, folks.) He also said I'm constantly thinking. I can't do things just on auto-pilot like a lot of folks do. He said he doesn't really engage his brain until he gets to work. He can get up, go to the bathroom, shower, shave, etc. all without really thinking about it. I no longer can. I have to think about everything to the smallest detail, even how to get the top of the toothpaste, so by the end of the day, I'm exhausted. (I'm not sure if that's the PTSD or the mTBI part.) Anyway, there was a lot more, but that's some of what he said. I feel better knowing there's actual proof for what I've been experiencing since I've actually had doctors tell me I was lying! Pretty much almost every complaint I have was explained in my Quantitative EEG. If you know someone suffering from PTSD or a possible mTBI, I strongly suggest one! Insurance didn't pay and it cost me almost $1000, but it was worth it! The best part was hearing he expects I'll probably be able to drive again one day!!! Alrighty folks. That lasted longer than expected, so that will be all for today. Sorry if you were hoping for something more interesting...or at least lighter.. Well, I can give you a joke. (Let me Google really fast...) An old Native American wanted a loan for $500. The banker pulled out the loan application. “What are you going to do with the money?” he asks the Indian. “Buy Silver, make jewelry, and sell it,” was the response. “What have you got for collateral?” “Don’t know collateral,” replied the Indian “Well that’s something of value that would cover the cost of the loan. “Have you got any vehicles?” “Yes. 1949 Chevy pickup,” replied the Indian The banker shook his head, “How about livestock?” “Yes, I have a horse,” replied the Indian “How old is it?” the banker asks. “Don’t know, has no teeth,” replies the Indian Finally the banker decided to make the $500 loan. Several weeks later the old man was back in the bank. He pulled out a roll of bills, “Here to pay.” he said. He then handed the banker the money to pay his loan off. “What are you going to do with the rest of that money?” the banker asks. “Put in hogan”, replied the Indian “Why don’t you deposit it in my bank,” the banker asked. “Don’t know deposit,” replied the Indian “You put the money in our bank and we take care of it for you. Whenever you want to use it, you can withdraw it.” The old Indian leaned across the desk and asks the banker… “What you got for collateral?” TTFN! (Ta-ta for Now!) |
| Howdy! Links First off today, I'd like to give a shout out to some really awesome pages I've found. You guys probably already know about them, but still, I'm a newbie, so humor me: GabriellaR45 has been going through some stuff, but she's getting things back together and will be again working with this wonderful group soon! I look forward to the great things she'll bring about!
There's also the following and a whole lot more connected... "Invalid Item" "Invalid Item" "Invalid Item" Looking for a group to help you become and stay thin? Look no further... They're also approaching their goal to commission a MB. Help them reach their goal! They've already been encouraging me and we just met! Just drop a line to Patrece ~ if you have questions that aren't answered on their page.
For this one, I had NO idea which link to pick! Basically the Newbie Academy is totally awesome! I LOVE THEM! There is SO MUCH INFORMATION! Even if you're not a newbie, there's a lot to see and learn. Some places are great for those who are more familiar with WdC to be able to meet and greet newbies. Others are just as useful for everyone, no matter who they are. Get with ~ Santa Sisco ~ for more information. For a list of everything they have to offer (warning, it's a TON), check out "Other NAG Links" on the following page:
Sundries Am I the only one that thinks those "[NOTICE] New Notebook Reply" messages multiply faster than drunk 2 rabbits in the back seat of a...well...Rabbit? Seriously. And yes, I know I can cancel them, but I might miss something! I, like most people, hate being left out! lol Then again, if I didn't get those notices, I'd get almost no e-mail at all.  That reminds me, the Livestock Conservancy https://www.LivestockConservancy.org is doing a workshop on raising rabbits soon. Let me go look that up before I forget...okay, I'm back. Did you miss me? (Probably not, ungrateful...KIDDING!) Anyway, for anyone interested, they will have a workshop on July 23 in West Virginia. I put it in my phone. Doesn't mean I'll go, but I might. We'll see how I feel as it gets closer. Oh, wait...Game of Thrones...if I go, I'll have to sneak out...shhhh...So, I almost made a WORLD CLASS BOO-BOO! I thought today was the 28th and Game of Thrones started Saturday! OMG! I would have died (in a desperate effort to escape the VERY painful death ahead of me)! Whew! I'm safe...behind schedule, but safe! Funny, now that I changed my name to represent that I'm with the White Walkers team in G.o.T., I keep seeing my own name and thinking somehow that it's my fearless leader's, Sssssh! I'm not really here.  . Seriously, like 6-8 times now. Weird. Why, yes I am. Thank you for noticing. Well, you're certainly welcome. Polite bunch, aren't I? Yes? No? Weird bunch, if nothing else. I'm a bunch of nuts. lolI TOTALLY forgot AGAIN! (I'm adding this after I was done...like 45 min after.) Yesterday was my 1 month anniversary. THANK YOU WdC for being so wonderful! This has been a very challenging time in my life, but you've really been there to help me, even if it was sometimes only to distract me, but more often than not, to let me know I'm not alone. Thank you! Oh, and again, I DID make my 30 in 30 (30 Community Recognitions in my 1st 30 days)! Thanks for that too!!! I have a headache. Not interesting enough for you? Well you try to be interesting with a headache...AGAIN KIDDING! I'm feeling feisty tonight! HAHAHAHA BRING IT! Even WITH the headache, I'll make you regret engaging me. Even if you only regret it because it was a waste of your precious time. I'll teach you to mess with me! I can waste time like NOBODY'S BUSINESS!!! Example: today's goal was to write my CLASH story and here it is, 9 pm and I haven't even been to the CLASH page yet. TIME WASTING QUEEN...and the impressive thing is I was on WdC almost the entire time! Yep, like 10 hrs and no CLASH story. I rule. lolWell, this has been 5 minutes of your life you'll never get back. See? WORLD CLASS time waster...mine AND yours...sucker! Hahaha Oh, before I go, one piece of trivia I recently learned...the number 1 answer for the password question, "What's your favorite food?" Nah. I shouldn't say. Well, if you were a 'bad guy,' you'd probably already know. Do you even care? Huh? No answer...oh all right, I'll tell you...pizza. Now change your question or at least the answer...and start hating pizza so you don't get confused as to why you changed the answer. TTFN! |
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That seems like a waste of perfectly good chicken feet. 
