Nice to see lawbreakers treated like heroes. Things like this piss me off. Who gives them the right to be treated like heroes? They broke that country's laws.

Decluttering My Mind

Decluttering my mind began with cleaning off my desk.

I had felt crappy all weekend, with migraines and in a totally bad mood. The voices in my head would *not* shut up, no matter how I tried to think positive.

Then today, I saw a PBS show with Julie Morgenstern, the author of "Organizing from the Inside Out." It might sound silly that I changed my whole attitude after watching her show, but she had a good point: organize the stuff lying around first, because it's your life at the present moment. Forget about that stuff in a long-forgotten closet. Make the present stuff easily accessible. Put the stuff where you use it most often; for example, if you had built a special office but you still use the kitchen table to make out bills, that's where you're most comfortable and that's where you need your bill-paying stuff. She said that once you get the stuff in order, you can begin to live the life you've always wanted to live.

And it makes sense... I needed to clean off my desk so that I would have a clutter-free area to write in. Perhaps I was procrastinating from writing by having all that clutter on my desk. Who knows? At least cleaning it off helped clear up my bad mood. It was like a window had opened in my mind. One little act for the better made a huge difference in my day. I feel so proud of myself for accomplishing one little thing. Not only that, but the change is visible. It's easy to get discouraged when the change is not visible. It makes me feel like I didn't accomplish anything.

So with that little bit of action, I can stop procrastinating and get some writing done.

...maybe

That whole Red Cross situation pisses me off. The donations should go to all the victims. I'm glad to see that they have changed their minds and are going to give all the donations raised to the people who need it. Why were they planning on keeping some of the money? Just so they could pay their leader $450,000 per year? Screw that. Those people are suffering. The Red Cross is supposed to help people in time of need. I'd like to see that $450,000 spent on helping people. Sometimes I think that charities are a big ripoff anyway. They want our money, we give it, and then they pay their staffs huge amounts of money. IMHO, nonprofit should mean that the staffs are nonprofit, too. Whoever works in a charity should volunteer and not get paid. But I suppose that some people who work at charities see it all as free money.

Can't we just let Princess Diana rest in peace?

Ken Kesey died today. He wrote "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."

Today was a do-nothing day. Saturdays are good days for that. It was a day just for naps, and curling up in front of the tv. This week passed so quickly. It's hard to believe that tomorrow will be Sunday and then another Manic Monday.

I am so sick to death of whiners! Why can't people stand up and take responsibility? Why do people insist on butting into other people's problems? A little sympathy is ok, but I don't want to hear "oh gosh, that person's been struck with all these horrible problems. Isn't it awful?" Yes, it's awful, but those problems are theirs, not mine, and I don't want to hear about them. Get a life!!!

This CBSNews article says that women will save the world. All right! I knew someday people would realize that.

People are cashing in on the Sept. 11 events like there's no tomorrow. They didn't wait too long, did they? Patriotism is fine by me, but I get disgusted by the fly-by-night "patriots" who only fly the flag when everybody else is doing it.

Disney fairytales don't always come true.

Lost White Tribes

Now this sounds like an interesting book. I had no idea such "lost white tribes" existed.

Journaling Links

Do you enjoy journaling as much as I do? Here are some good journaling sites since About.com took theirs down.

A Creative Journal
Inspired to Journal
DailyWriting.net
Google search

Aurora Skies

Ah, the wonders of nature...

Aurora Borealis

Holocaust Movie

Last night I watched the 2nd half of the miniseries "Uprising" on NBC. Before Sept. 11, I would have viewed this miniseries as just another Holocaust movie. But after the events of Sept. 11, for me to say "just another Holocaust movie" would be a great mistake. Those people were willing to die to be free, to stay alive. Would you?

View more links here:

Uprising
U.S. Holocaust Museum
Anne Frank
Yad Vashem

New Book

Diana Gabaldon of "Outlander" fame has a new book out. Check it out here. It is the fifth book in the series. Years ago, when the first book in the series came out, I read it and loved it--until the end, when I realized it was going to be a continuing series.

So of course, I read the second and third books, which, if I recall correctly, ended the story of the main characters. I never did read the fourth book, and this fifth book now holds no interest for me as it has more to do with the children of the main characters. I don't like when authors try to stretch stuff out like that. Create something new! Don't rehash the same old stuff all the time.