Thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday: 10 Things I'm Grateful for this Week

1. caring friends
2. special memories that I cannot forget
3. feeling pain, because it means I'm not numb
4. starting my blog up again
5. had a couple surprise days off work
6. writing
7. reading
8. virtual hugs
9. my kid's smile every morning
10. getting up every day, even though I'd rather sleep


Um, yeah, it was hard to find ten things.

Truth vs. Fiction 1

I cannot make these things up (both titles are my own):

Temple Hair Offerings Become Wigs for Rich Westerners

Internet Guy Changes His Name

Truth really is stranger than fiction. :)

Life sucks

Life sucks.

From a huge loss comes some small gain.

Tarot Reading

Tarot Reading for 10/31/03:
Past: The Three of Cups, reversed
Present: The Nine of Cups
Future: The Seven of Pentacles

Past: Overindulgence.
Present: Satisfaction. A wish fulfilled.
Future: The beginning of great love and contentment.

Message for the Weekend:
As we find balance in our lives, our dreams and desires become attainable. Many of us are about to enter into a time of great happiness and fulfillment. New love relationships hold great promise.


Reading for 11/03/03:
Past: The Magician, reversed
Present: The Two of Swords
Future: The Eight of Pentacles

Past: Weak will.
Present: Indecision.
Future: Skill in material affairs.

Message for Monday:
Our own lack of determination is the only thing holding us back. We are skilled and talented, now all we need is a little motivation! We are advised to make a firm choice and stick to it.

(Both readings from Dawn Stevens)


It shall come to pass. I have the motivation and the determination to succeed.

Abandoned???

LOL Yeah, I guess I've partly abandoned this site. But I still return from time to time. :)

Goddess Quiz

One of the best known Celtic goddesses is Aine, Goddess of fertility, who is exceedingly friendly to men and worshipped for her powers of bestowing fertility, abundance and prosperity. She is said to have mated with several humans, having created a magical fairy/human race. Aine once stole an Irish Earl's cloak while he swam in a river, and would not return it to him until he agreed to marry him. You like guys, and love having them around. You love the high life, and have the tendency to judge a book by its cover.

What Celtic Goddess are You? (With pictures)
brought to you by Quizilla

Friday Five

Friday Five

1. What vehicle do you drive? maroon 92 Mustang

2. How long have you had it? since 1994

3. What is the coolest feature on your vehicle? I love the comfortable seats.

4. What is the most annoying thing about your vehicle? It's getting old and the mileage is high.

5. If money were no object, what vehicle would you be driving right now? a GTO, of course.

Starting Again

Oh, and if you want to read my latest journal entry, go here.

Contact me via the guestbook, or make a comment! I got rid of my email links. Too much spam.

I really hope to post more often in here.

Anniversary

Two years of (not)posting in this blog. Time has flown.

Lots of thinking, not much doing.

Do you ever feel like you just settled, because at the time there was nothing better? Do you ever contemplate what could have been or what might be? Have you ever met someone who seems to be truly your other half? Have you ever met someone who desires you and feels passionate about you? Have you ever ached so bad to be touched that you could die from the want of it?

I'm wondering these very things.

I cannot live my life wishing for something. I have to decide what I want and achieve it, no matter what the cost. I have to be true to myself. I cannot continue to lie to myself. I am content with the choices I made, but being content doesn't mean I'm truly happy.

Happiness is relative, I guess. It is awesome to be desired--that much I do know. We all desire to be desired. Is it possible to find love the way love is found in books? I thought not, but now I think perhaps it is possible.

Then again, maybe I'm just deluding myself.

Just another Wannabe

I've been away so long. I am a whiner and a wannabe. ugh.

Ok, enough self pity!

I'm so sick of the ranting and raving in the press. I feel like I've been lied to. I know I've been lied to, and I feel helpless to do anything to change the world. Like Rodney King said, "Why can't we all just get along?"

People are still reading this blog, and for that I thank you, even though I have been away for awhile. I do update frequently at my online journal, she utters not a sound, so you can always catch up with me there.

As far as my ongoing writing struggle: ugh. I guess I don't want it bad enough. How hard that was to admit! I just feel so uncreative. As a reader said, just sit down and do it. Write 'til there's nothing left--at least for that day. That is wonderful advice. I will practice doing that this week.

I have let other obsessions overtake me. I am interested in learning Welsh, doing altered books, stamping, reading voraciously... a neverending struggle to get my butt in chair. But as I said before, maybe, secretly, I don't want it bad enough.

BUT THAT'S A LIE!!!!!! My Monkey Mind says that. I do want it bad enough. A writer writes. I've been writing a lot in my paper journal. If the only writing I do is for myself, I will be happy with that.

Crazy News Articles

Since when are drugs good for you?

If only all authors could have their unpublished novels shoot to the top of the best seller lists! JK Rowling must be so proud.

This guy is just a moron!

Yes, cochlear implants should be covered by insurance, just as birth control pills and condoms should be.

Is this flimsy excuse going to be used to invade Iraq?

Journal update notice

Good, Blogger's working today. I've been busy with work and posting to my journal. Go check it out.

Journal update

Hrm... not much going on in my life lately. I've been posting quite a bit to my journal. I just don't know what to write about here. I guess I'm going through a phase.

One Year

Hrm. I've been posting to the blog for almost a year. Wow. Time flies.

Do you hate the insta-patriots as much as I do? Why are people making a buck off of other people's misery?

Today I was talking with my mom and she and I agreed: we're both insurance-poor (meaning we'd be rich if we didn't have to pay for insurance!).

Sometimes it sucks being a grownup.

Journal update

Check out my latest journal entry. It is titled "Avid Reader Seeks (Good) Journals to Read." I mourn the decision of Judy to discontinue her blog.

Bloghop rating

Wow! 68% rating on Bloghop! Thank you for rating me!

Journal update

I just posted a new journal entry. Its title is "Summer Camp," and it's about my recollections of summer when I was growing up.

Reading OLJs

I'm addicted to online journals. My name is Cassanndra and I'm an addict. Too bad that really good ones are hard to find. I wish there was some kind of index to journals, but with one new blog or journal or diary being created every minute, that would be a superhuman task to keep up with. (I should know: I have to keep a little notebook with my passwords for my myriad email addresses and also for my journal sites.) :)

Journal update

Hello! I just posted a new journal entry. Go read it!

Stupid News Story

WTF??? The lawyers are just looking for their next big payoff. This is so ridiculous that I don't have words. (BTW, I thought suing the tobacco industry was stupid, too.)

Magical Style Quiz

Your magical style is Druidic.

What type of Magic do you work?. Take the Magical Style Quiz by Paradox

Stupid News Stories

It's apparently ok to sexually molest children.

I cannot believe that people are researching a smoking vaccine. That is just plain dumb.

Diary Bitching

If anyone wants to bitch about other people's diaries, check out this message board: Bitchfest

Annoying Blogger Problems

I'm glad that I can actually get into my blog tonight to post something. For quite awhile now, whenever I've thought about posting, the site takes forever to come up (especially since I have a dial-up connection). A few weeks ago, when i was posting the last entry, it took like an hour to post and publish—which was basically because the pages loaded soooooooo slow. Yay Blogger for fixing the problem!

Finding Forrester

Last Sunday, I watched the movie "Finding Forrester." It's about a high school student from the ghetto who discovers that a world-famous novelist lives down the street from where he plays basketball. Guess what the title of Forrester's book was? —"Avalon Landing" Can you believe it? I hadn't seen the movie before I created this blog. I have no idea if I saw a preview where the scene of the cover of the book was shown, and the title stayed in the back of my mind, or if I made the title up myself. I'd like to think that I made the title up. Anyway, I couldn't believe the title. It was strange; I felt like I had copied from the movie, but I didn't.

Dog Update/Drug Mule/Porn Star Dies

UPDATE: THE DOG HAS BEEN RESCUED!!!!!!!!! My faith in humanity has been restored.

Maybe I spoke too soon: here's a story about a 5-year-old drug mule.

Linda Lovelace, the famous "Deep Throat" porn star, is dead at the age of 53.

Dog Rescue

To attempt to rescue this dog, it cost $50,000, and the ship had sunk by the time they went to get the dog. Why didn't the rescuers allow the owner of the dog to take the dog with him when the humans were rescued?! It would have saved the dog's life---and the $50,000. It makes me sick to think of that poor dog waiting to be rescued, only no rescue ever came. Our animals depend on us for their survival. I'm so sad now. I wish I hadn't read the article.

Faery Quiz

Go Faeries!!


Take the What Faery Are You? Quiz!

This quiz was made by lia

Nothing Doing

What have I been doing lately? Well, everything but posting to my blog! I've been trying to keep a journal entry a day going. I've been working overtime at work—now that the season has started again, I've been too busy to blog, the way I did when I first started my blog. I've been thinking a lot about creativity, and how I've been copying a lot of what other people post, and adding my own spin. I want to be more original. The only problem is that I feel I have nothing to say! The thing is that when I began to write for this "audience," I feel more pressure to write something "fantastic." I don't even know if anyone is reading. I guess all writers feel that way sometimes. I like the interaction with readers. I guess I just want a huge audience or something, but my writing is sssssssoooooooo boring. Time to put ye olde thinking cap on and get more creative!

Cheating

Cheaters never prosper—eventually. It sickens me to think that all these "historians" have prospered off the works of other people, who aren't as famous. Why do the "name" people get all the breaks?

Body Bags

And so the body bags start coming home.

National Craft Month

It's National Craft Month. Now I have an incentive to get my cross-stitch project done.

Site updates

I updated the BlogSnob code, my journal link, and my email address.

Spamlink deleted

Ok, I think I was getting spam from this address so I changed the email link. You can no longer just click on the email link to email me. If you want to send me an email, please remove the "remove this" part of the email address, over on the "Tell me" link. Sorry for any inconvenience but I hate spam!

News Stories

Here's an update on Winona Ryder. Looks like she's facing hard time.

More weird tales from the scientific community: this time, a monkey embryo has been cloned without sperm. Does this mean that someday men will become obsolete?

Interesting Sites

This site for V-Day is not what you might think. (I thought it was some kind of Valentine's Day link.)

Check this out: The Miniature Earth. It may take a a little while to load but it's worth it.

Greek Goddess Quiz

See which Greek Goddess you are.

"You are Hestia. Hestia was the sweet Goddess of the Hearth. She never married, but only because too many people liked her and she didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. She was the most gentle of the Greek pantheon, and she was way cool. Like her you make the people around you feel content and loved. Go you!"

Hestia, huh? I should have known...since I am a homebody and Hestia is the Goddess of the hearth.

Pen Pal

I have had a snail-mail pen pal for 14 years. She finally got Internet access. Now we can email! No more going six months between letters. Yay!

If anyone wants to read about companies that have closed down, check out this site.

Today is a gorgeous day! The sun was out. It must have been 60 degrees. Quite an unusual temperature for this time of year. Oh well. I'm not complaining a bit. After the funk I was in last week, this gorgeous day has definitely improved my mood. And the days are getting longer, too. Spring is just around the corner.

I used to watch "Entertainment Tonight" and read "Star" magazine. When I was a teenager, I was obsessed by stars. I gave that up when I went to college and didn't have a tv for awhile. That broke my habit, and I never followed Hollywood as much as I did back then. Now, especially, I have a different perspective. After Sept. 11, the posturing of those video gangstas and divas seemed childish and stupid. When there's so much grief in every living day, why do we look to them for guidance? We should look inward--to our families, or to our friends--and most of all, we need to look inward on ourselves.

Another article about the jihad.

What people don't get is that as long as there is famine and poverty, there will be war. It doesn't matter if it's in the name of God or not. The jihad clothes, feeds, and takes care of these people---even their families. Somehow, and I don't know how, they need jobs and the chance to live out their own dreams, free from persecution and from debilitating poverty.

I got my hair cut today after work. It's much shorter. I usually get my hair cut twice a year. I wait until I can't stand it anymore, and then I get it cut. I had a good 2 inches cut off. There's nothing like a new haircut to make me feel like a new person!

I love our dogs, but why can't they bark when they need to go outside?

One of the dogs just peed in the kitchen. I am NOT cleaning it up. DH can do it. He was the one who wanted the dogs. I always have to clean up their messes.

Killer pretzels attack the prez! Apparently, he got so excited while watching an NFL playoff game that he choked on a pretzel and passed out for a few moments. Too bad he can't get that excited over the whole India-Pakistan situation.

The tangled web of maternity/paternity and the brave new world of conception technology is getting even more tangled.

No one is perfect, not even Prince Harry.

Trying a new commenting system. Seems to work pretty well.

Someone's in biiiiigggg trouble.

Whoopi's back to host the Oscars! Yay!

A whole week has went by without me blogging! EEP!!!

WHO CARES!?! "Survivor" sucks. If I wanted to play a game for a million dollars, I would play something other than "How to be a Concentration Camp Victim for Fun and Profit."

This is just sad.

Nevada is not only Sin City, it's also Dump City.

First it was a sucky forecast for holiday sales, but now that the data is in, it's not so bad after all. I wish they'd make up their minds.

Work was so freakin' dull today. At least I finished my project, although I'll probably have corrections tomorrow.

I got the invitations for the kid's b-day party mailed today. I also received a late notice for the car payment, and a copy of my alma mater's alumni magazine. A friend of mine was featured in an article. I had no idea she was so involved in alumni affairs.

Ugh, I'm in such a writing funk.

For all you women who blog or keep an online journal or diary, and want to join a new webring, join mine: JournalGoddesses. Thanks!

Waylon Jennings has had his foot amputated due to diabetes.

I have no idea why this kid thought he needed to commit suicide in this way. Thank the gods no one else was hurt. And flight schools can't prevent these kinds of things from happening.

Apparently, shock value is popular in museums these days. I'll never understand art.

I love dogs, but was the death of Buddy really newsworthy???

Why can't the media let McVeigh rest in peace? Why is he still considered newsworthy? I'll answer that question: because he sells papers or books or whatever. I think that giving more publicity to people like him will make more copycats like the first item above. That kid mentioned in item #1 had sympathy for bin Laden. Hello!?! Individuals will continue to copycat until the media stops glorifying their actions.

Everyone needs to check out this site: Quackwatch.

Japan might get a female ruler—someday.

Zoos are supposed to help preserve endangered species, not kill them.

I am addicted to Neopets. I have 4 virtual pets: Arquatiss, HappiBuddyBoy, HappyBuddyBoy, and Nena_Lobo10101. How pathetic am I?

I kind of thought I would turn out to be Alice in the quiz. I love that book. I reread it every summer when I was a kid. We read it in high school in English class. I wish I had an annotated version of the book: a copy that explains all the chess moves and all the political jokes. Maybe someday.

You're just a girl; you tend to get frustrated easily, you daydream quite a bit, and you try to avoid making trouble, though curiosity always gets the better of you. Even under tight circumstances, however, you put aside (some of) your fear and figure out what's the best thing to do. You want a better understanding of your world.

I'll never complain about the weather again.

This news story reports the funniest joke as discovered by scientists in the UK. Don't they have anything better to do?

This CNN review declares LOTR a new classic. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, but I had never read the books. I was disappointed and surprised by the ending, so now I'm reading the books to find out how the story is going to turn out. Yes, I skipped ahead to the end in the "Fellowship" book to see if it ends the same as the movie, and it does. Since I know that they end the same, I'm no longer disappointed.

Is this fair? I don't think so. A person who committed a crime is going to profit from the crime. I guess crime does pay. He only spent 22 months in prison and his last job contract was for $950,000. Yeah, that's fair.

Hello from vacation-world! Yep, can you believe I've been offline all this time? I had a happy holiday with my family and I'm really looking forward to the new year. There are unlimited possibilities, all within my reach. Anything seems possible. Next year has to be better than 2001.

Ok, I don't know what's happening with Bravenet and the images for the guestbook service, but you can still sign my guestbook, even if you can't see the button. It's in the right-hand column, above the words "View and sign my guestbook!" Click and go to my guestbook.

TGIF! I'm on vacation all next week. I haven't had a vacation since the beginning of 2000. However, if this week is any indication, the vacation will fly by, and I'll be back to work before I know it.

EEP! Didn't check that last entry after I posted it. Sorry for the mistake. I fixed it now.

In Ft. Lauderdale, the dead can't rest in peace.

You can still post a letter to a military serviceperson: Operation Dear Abby is up and running online.

Let the lawsuits begin.

Windows XP apparently has some serious flaws. Get a fix for it here.

The media is finally sure the country is in a recession, or so they say.


For those of you contemplating tongue-piercing: Piercing Causes Brain Abcess

Yet another reason to save the rainforests: AIDS Fighter

When Good Stars go Bad: Winona Ryder in jail? Who woulda thunk it?

NBC must be very hard up for advertising, since it lost the football league and all the ad revenue it generated. Guess they figured the exclusive Olympics contract wasn't gonna cut it.

More greed off a national tragedy.

Unruly fans aren't just watching soccer. Isn't football only a game?

If you want to make your Archives show months instead of date ranges, try this site. I took it from the main Blogger page in case you didn't see it. Don't forget, though, to change your archive settings to monthly. You may have to republish your archives as well.

Turkish women are now allowed to wear pants.

How'd I miss this little gem? Geraldo Rivera totes a gun in the Afghan war zone. Smart or stupid?

How can Texas claim that the last execution for 2001 is scheduled? Aren't people still living in Texas????

Another epublisher bites the dust.

As if the tragedy of Sept. 11 wasn't bad enough, repercussions are still being felt. This article is about a woman who recently committed suicide because she couldn't live without her husband. He died in the WTC collapse.

Ok, I was having trouble with the comments. For some reason, they were not working properly. I got rid of the comments, and added the Guestbook. Please feel free to sign it!

Not only is the Pope online, so is the Virgin of Guadelupe. Went to the Virgin's site, but it was in Spanish. No comprendo espagnole. (Or something like that!)

No wonder the signs near prison work camps say "Don't pick up hitchhikers." A prisoner in a work camp escaped under the fence, walked to the local convenience store, bought himself some beer and cigarettes, and then returned to the work camp.

In defense of Andrea Yates? I don't know what to think. Personally, if my spouse ever hurt my kid, I would not defend his actions, nor he for me.

Arson for fun? You've got to be kidding.

If you're into self-flagellation, submit your diary/weblog/journal site to the Diary Critic. Good luck.

Generation X is nostalgic for its youth? Already?

Fortified water? What is the world coming to? I guess what P.T. Barnum said is true: there's a sucker born every minute.

People at CBS News can't spell. Duh, it's "inadvertent," not "inadvertant." Makes me wonder if Dan Rather writes his own material.

****12/9/01---Ah, they have it fixed now. Wonder how long it took.

It's ok for thousands of Americans to lose their jobs due to the current state of the economy, but Congress can vote themselves a pay raise. How is that fair? Sometimes this country sucks.

Has Atlantis been discovered???

Today is the 60th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack (Dec. 7, 1941). See this page of the NY Times. USA Today has an article comparing Sept. 11, 2001 and Dec. 7, 1941. Did you know that Pearl Harbor veterans are dying at the rate of 1,000 a day?

Time: 9:05 am (CST)
Listening to: computers humming around me
Reading: "Dune: House Harkonnen" by Brian Herbert
Beverage: Diet Mt. Dew
Mood: bored and tired
I should be: working
I wish I could: surf the Internet all day
I anticipate: taking off work the week between Yule & New Year's
I dread: Yule gift shopping
I love: doing nothing
I hate: having to work for a living
I risk: not having enough time to do the things I want
I want: my husband to find another job–soon!
I dream about: being financially comfortable
I settle for: second-best
I laugh when: almost all the time
I cry when: I have PMS
I just started: this blog
I just finished: this entry

Thanks to Nancy of OnlyMyWorld for her survey!

Which Evil Criminal are You?

If I were a work of art, I would be Piet Mondrian's Composition A. I am rigidly organised and regimented, although my cold and unapproachable exterior hides a clever way of thinking and a rebellious and innovative nature. A lot of people don't understand me, but I can still affect them on an emotional level. Which work of art would you be? The Art Test

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.