A blog about Personal Journals, Neighborhoods, and Relationships.
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Apparently some people think killing others is fun. I just read this article that made me want to throw up. The loss of the value of life amazes me. Seriously. click here to read the article Apparently this dude posted an ad for a babysitter on Craigslist (a popular online bulletin where people sell and buy stuff, kind of like the classifieds in your local paper.) When the lady showed up, him and his friend shot her. "When confronted with evidence, Anderson admitted he was present during Olson's slaying but said the killing was committed by a friend of his who "thought it would be funny," according to the complaint." ~MSNBC I was at my mom's house this past weekend and the kids were playing Pac Man and she gave me the usual lecture about buying my kids those type of games and not the violent kind because YOU KNOW that's why there is so much murder and mayhem. Kids play these killing games all day and they become jaded. And while I would like to think she's wrong and video games have nothing to do with an innocent child become jaded and numb to death and chaos and mayhem I'm beginning to wonder. Maybe there IS something to it? What do you think? A gentleman walks into a bar, gets drunk. Then he goes home and beats his wife. He gets arrested but only given "a 16-week suspended sentence after magistrates heard how he was in the process of beating his alcohol addiction, said to be the cause of his aggression." click here to read that news article In another part of the world, another gentleman gets in a fight with his girlfriend. In a fit of rage, he tosses their dog OFF THERE BALCONY. The dog suffers head trauma and is therefore put to sleep. He is "sentenced to five years, suspended to three years in prison and two years of probation." The gentleman, "who will be eligible for parole in 20 months, also was ordered to get anger management counseling." click here to read that news article What kind of world do we live in where it's ok to beat your wife. In fact you'll just get a slap on the wrist. Maybe. But heaven forbid you beat your dog. You're doing jail time. Big time. More than a D.U.I. offender, in fact. Don't get me wrong. I have a puppy and she's like my daughter. I love her bunches. It just seems to me like lately you get more time in jail for animal cruelty than for beating a human being and to me, that's a little crazy. Neither is right. And I'm not saying one is worse than the other. I guess what I'm saying is they should be equal. At least equal. Do either sentences seem right to you? Please explain why. I went to bed last night with no worries in the world. Well, I mean, my back hurt a little but not a big deal. At least not as bad as the night before, where I had to take a muscle relaxer that knocked me out till the next day. Thank goodness I had a good mind to take it at 7:00pm the night before or I might have missed work, and not taking my kids to school.
So anyways, as soon as I lay my head down, I knew I was gonna be in for a long night. First of all, the noise outside just seemed louder than usual. It was like listening to a “nature CD” on BOSE surround sound. Is it cricket mating season or something? Because DAMN!!!
Of course normally the noise is soothing but last night it kind of freaked me out. MY mind immediately filled itself with thoughts of a swarm of crickets invading my room and walking all over me in my sleep. Yeah, not a good thought to have right before slumber, right?
I thought about watching T.V. for a while until I got so sleepy that the noise would stop bothering me. But it was already late so I decided to “tough it out.” Big mistake! BIG! HUGE! I fell right to sleep. Good right? NO! Why? Because then, the nightmares started.
It’s the dreaded demon dream that I have once in a long while. In my dream, I’m in my bed, sleeping, but a red eyed demon is lurking, waiting for me to close my eyes. As soon as I do, he attacks.
Sometimes he just messes with me. Pulls my hair. Tries to open my eyes. Other times him and his friends toss me around like a pillow. Sometimes, however it’s worse. They smother me, they choke me until I feel my very life slowly get drained out of me.
Last night it was the latter. I couldn’t breath and as I tried to yell out for help I could feel them holding me down and covering my mouth up so I wouldn’t make a sound. I would then yell at myself to WAKE UP. It’s just a DREAM. Don’t let them win. You can snap out of it. It’s all in your mind, Twinkie. WAKE UP. Don’t let yourself get all caught up in this stupid dream. WAKE UP. I try and try but I can’t. I feel my eyes opening and think I’ve won but then they use their clammy fingers to pull my eyelids back and close my eyes for me. My eyelids feel so heavy, from the pressure they’re putting on them. I try to open them back up, this time putting more effort into it.
Finally! I wake up. And usually that’s enough but last night the dream kept coming back. I keep looking at the clock and see my sleeping time is slowly being wasted, trying to battle these demons. Finally at about 4:30 this morning I thought to myself, “If you go to sleep now, you’ll have gotten at least two and a half hours in before you have to get up for work. So I attempted to close my eyes again and get some restful sleep but as soon as I did, I could hear the demon laughing, and waiting for his next chance at sucking the life out of me.
So I did what anybody else would have done! I went and climbed in bed with my 8 year old. Because I knew if anybody could protect me, it would be him, with his little kid super powers. Sorry Mr. Twinkie, you are my lover, my friend, my protector of all that is evil in the world. But for the underworld, ANNEQUIN my super Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle is the only man for the job!
Our Twinkielicious evening of artistic fun started at the Chalet Basque with a drink. It was really nice to see some old friends again and of course it was awesome making some new ones. -
- There we talked about random things such as Halloween costumes of past and present and parties and tattoos and the pain we endure just for the permanent ink that tells a story. Oh yeah, tattoos ALWAYS tell a story. Don't they? We shared a few tattoo stories then headed out. - After the Chalet Basque we quickly drove down the street to the Empty Space Theater for the Burn the Witch art show. Here, we were going to witness an awesome collaboration of 33 women artists. Between them all they were showcasing 150 pieces of artwork. Our own Latina artist, Lisa Small had several pieces she was showcasing that night. Now, yes I know what you're thinking. BURN THE WITCH? Is this a Halloween art display? eeeeeek!
Actually, NO! The title refers to America's colonial days when any woman whose ideas or behavior were different from the norm was branded as a witch. So what did we do that day? We embraced our witchy-dom!! We showed up to the art show in witches hats which I had put together for everyone that RSVP'd to my invitation. I'd stopped at the MAS office and picked up some t-shirts and then bought the witches hats and put some MAS treats in them along with some candy.
- My favorite art piece? This one! "It's called Electric. A painting to inspire strength and femininity through brilliant colors and full womanly shapes." ~Lisa Small
- Some more of my favorite art? Jen Raven's "But Where Will They Make Their Home." This piece was actually BANNED from Myspace.com because of the boobies. YEAH! I know! Mermaid boobies? Offensive? HU? Oh well. She fought back by putting it right back up and daring them to take it down again. They didn't.
- Susan's ceramics were pretty cool, too!
After looking thru some of the art and eating some food and drinking some wine we went in to the main theater/room, grabbed a seat and waited for the poetry to start. I say "poetry" but WOW! It was so much more. A soul cleansing. -
Julie has that effect on people. As she should. She is a LIFE COACH, after all! Anyways, it's hard to explain the effects she will leave in you forever if you ever get a chance to watch her perform. The only real way to describe it is by using her own words, A SOUL CLEANSING. A soul CLEANSING. She read a lot of poetry but the one that really stuck is the one that she had (us) the audience participate in. I WANT. She said. Then she asked us to blurt out things we wanted while her buddy Joe wrote everything down. In the end, she recited back everything WE the audience wanted. It turns out we wanted to get out of debt, we wanted to move to South America, we wanted sex, we wanted a hug, we wanted to be left alone, we wanted our children to stop hurting, we wanted chocolate. We wanted so many things and as silly as some of those wants sounded at first, when she recited them in her own words, with her own passionate soul it's almost as if.. It cleansed our souls. You need to experience Julie Jordan Scott in PERSON soon. She will transform your life. Seriously! *Thanks to everyone who accepted my invitation to this event. I had a lot of fun and hope to see you at the next one!
- Click HERE for Nick Belardes' (of Noveltown) review of last years Burn the Witch. or click here for Matildakay's (of Noveltown) perspective!
I remember when I was in the 6th grade a few of my classmates were dating "older" guys. They were making out at a time when I hadn't even HELD HANDS with a boy yet. By seventh grade a few were already pregnant and dropped out of school. By eight grade, I thought I was the only virgin. And still, hadn't even KISSED a boy. Or held hands with one. Now, according to MSN NEWS you may not have to worry about YOUR preteen kids getting pregnant like my friends did because they are offering birth control to them. YES! You read right! Birth control. A school in Maine has recently approved the dispersal of contraceptives to their preteen students. In fact, "The plan, offered by city health officials, makes King Middle School the first middle school in Maine to make a full range of contraception available to students in grades 6 through 8, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services." click HERE to read the whole story. Then leave me your thoughts below! I always try to think the better of people. Even when I don't. What I mean by that is... I'm human. So YES sometimes I will sit there and prejudge you, it, the situation at hand, whatever... But then later on when I have time for reflection I think back at all of it and I reassess my initial judgment. Do you ever do that? Do you know what I'm talking about? My mother in law was the same way TIMES TWENTY. When I first met her. She loved me. (How couldn't she, right? tee hee) But then when she found out TWO WEEKS LATER that my husband and I were engaged she had her reservations. With good reason, of course. I mean HELL! 1. We'd only been dating TWO WEEKS. 2. I'm older than my honey. 3. AND I had two kids already. 4. He wasn't done with college and he'd just gotten his first real job with good pay. 5. HELLLOOOOO we'd only been dating two weeks. Didn't he want to enjoy his freedom for a while? It wasn't easy to reassure her that we were meant to be together. THEN we informed her that we wanted to elope. That's when she sucked it up and decided to go with her son's wishes. She asked us not to elope. She said if her son was gonna get married, she wanted him to have a real wedding. Well, we couldn't afford a "real wedding" so she planned it out for us. She organized, decorated and hosted our wedding for us. Well, mostly for her son. But I was part of the package. I could sorta tell she was unsure of me but I ignored it. I'm not sure how. And she ignored the fact that she felt the wedding was all wrong and that we shouldn't be getting married. Thinking back I don't think that I could have done a better job "sucking it up." And with the help of friends and family, she hosted the best wedding I've EVER been to. Of course I'm biased but even people people that were there always bring it up and say how much fun they had, and how GREAT of a wedding it was. Yeah, my mother in law had a knack for throwing great parties. The best part of that wedding, besides my WHITE HAIR and besides the fact that my sister was my maid of honor, and my two best friends since the third grade were also by my side as part of my wedding party was when my mother in law came up to me, HUGGED ME TIGHT and whispered in my ear, "I am so sorry I ever doubted you. As I look into my son's eyes today and I can see how happy you make him and that makes ME happy. I just want you to know that I love you." I didn't know what to say. I still don't. Do you think you could have? Do you think you would have? Or have you been in a similar situation? How did you handle it? Why is it that people will take a week off, travel cross country and spend money they don't really have to bury a dead family or friend. But they would NEVER think to do the same for a living one? ha. I crack myself up sometimes. Ok no, but really... Why do we go to extremes to visit when there is a wedding or a funeral. But never "just because." Hey all! I'll be in Bakersfield October 20th to take my teenagers to a Dirty Spanglish show at 8:00 at Studio 99.
Before that, however I will be headed to the Empty Space Theatre to the ALL WOMAN GROUP ART SHOW called Burn the Witch.
Is anybody interested in going to it with me? Click HERE for a male review of last years Burn the Witch. or click here for a female's perspective! Ok now that you've gotten as excited as me about the show, YOU WANNA GO? Do you dare participate in the FIRST Twinkielicious MAS BAKERSFIELD fie ld trip? You all know how much fun the first one was! I organized it through my OTHER blog home, Bakotopia.com and we had a great turnout and I'm hoping for an even better one this time. Let me know soon. Thanks!
*click on the blue writing above for some extra info! Have you ever heard the phrase, "Killer legs" or a "Killer body?" Well you're about to hear a new phrase! "Killer lips" but this time it might just be literal. Or is it? This morning's MSN News page has an article running titled "Lipsticks Contain Lead." In part it reads like this: ATLANTA - Lipsticks tested by a U.S. consumer rights group found that more than half contained lead and some popular brands including Cover Girl, L'Oreal and Christian Dior had more lead than others, the group said on Thursday. click here for the rest of the article. So what do you think? Do you think this is real reason for concern or do you think it's just the new "it" story to talk about? We've been applying the same lipsticks for years and we've been ok so far, right? Or have we? Read the article and then sound off right here! I'd love to hear what you think!
After a few intense, grueling, exhausting days,Mr. Twinkie and I took a walk for some serenity and silence. He'd spotted the fountains the day before and knew that was the perfect place to sit and reflect and get away from the chaos for a while. We weren't sitting for too long. Mr. Twinkie was making a few phone calls, I was resting my eyes. I happened to look up towards the fountain and I saw it! A beautiful, magnificent, bright colored rainbow. I turn to him and tell him, "You know they say that when God let's it rain, he's always got a rainbow up his sleeve." He looks up, sees the rainbow, and smiles. A calmness came over us. At that moment we both knew everything was going to be O.K. And it was, for a few days. Little did we know that was just the calm before the storm. Now I keep looking at this picture and thinking, "When God lets it rain, he's always got a rainbow up his sleeve." It's our new mantra. It keeps us sane. And it gives us the energy to move on because we know things will get better. - - -
Do you ever have those moments with a stranger .. a brief but significant moment that sort of just stays with you long after it's happened? My friend Julie Jordan Scott mentions her connections with strangers from time to time but I never could relate. Not because it's never happened. It has. I think it's more of because I never took the time to embrace it. Or enjoy it. Or put it into words. It could be an accidental brush of arms as you walk by each other. It could be a sideways glance. A look accross the room. A smile meant just for you. No, I don't mean a flirtatious smile, either.. *calm down, James Brown!!! In fact those don't count. I mean a genuine, "I just looked into the windows of your soul and I saw beauty" type of connection. Well, today at work I was talking to this customer and she was asking me to read something to her because she'd forgotten her glasses. As I started reading she made it a point to casually mention her eyesight again so I stopped to pay attention. To really pay attention to what she had to say. "Ever since I turned fifty I've had problems with my sight. I never had any problems before that! It was so weird," the customer said. "Really?" I replied. I leaned in and made it a point to let her know I was interested in what she had to say. "Yes, and it sucks because I love reading. I read about five novels a month. Of course now it's harder because of my eyesight." she smiled and shook her head in disbelief. "Oh NO!" I said and I really meant it. Then I asked her a few questions. The conversation continued for a little bit longer and in the end she looked at me. She really looked at me, and smiled. Somehow our conversation seemed to lift a big burden of her shoulders. She needed to talk about it and I was willing to listen. I could tell by the twinkle in her eyes and the big smile on her face that she felt the same way I did. I was able to open up my heart for her and listen. And she was able to open up her soul to me. We connected.
~click here if you're interested in reading Julie's poetry, blogs about love and life and theatre Well, my goodness gracious. I knew it was coming. Work has been slow lately. It gets like this from time to time so I'm used to it. I have survived the past three lay offs and have felt fortunate each time. But each time I was actually surprised I made it to the "next round" so-to-speak. I'm fortunate to be at a company where I love my boss(es) and my coworkers. And even MORE fortunate that they love me. Well, at least most of them do. tee hee. But seriously.... It could no longer be avoided. I didn't get laid off. BUT I did get a job change... same place, just different position. It's one of the several positions which I cover from time to time when the girl is out sick or whatever. They let her go. And got rid of MY position and moved me to hers. Which bites but whatcha gonna do right? Gotta go with the flow. Ah well. I just feel fortunate to have a job right now. They let go a few people and moved me and someone else to a different position so that they could keep us around. It can't get any better than that, right? At least for now until my dream job comes true! What dream job is that? Well, to be the bearded lady at the circus OF COURSE!!! I mean HECK... I've already got the *hairy chin*. Now I just have to let my beard grow out.
I wonder if they offer good benefits at Barnum and Bailey??? So now it's time for you to tell me, what is YOUR dream job?
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