January = negative energy, mixed emotions, bad feelings

January has been a weird month all in all. Just too many “little” things here and there that brought around negative energy, mixed emotions, bad feelings, you name it. So last week-end I found myself buying Dragons Blood Incense and a Rose Quartz Heart… No, I don’t believe in witchcraft people, but I do believe in negative energy and I have the love of certain gems, just turned out that the Rose Quartz Heart caught my attention!! PC even asked if I was ready to cast a spell? LOL… Here is a little information on each item to explain his question... HEH!!!

Dragons Blood Incense - In African-American folk magic or hoodoo, it is used in mojo hands for money-drawing or love-drawing, and is used as incense to cleanse a space of negative entities or influences.

Unbeknownst to me the:
Rose Quartz is the love stone! Adds positive love energy to relationships. Compassion and forgiveness. Calming, helps clear stored anger, resentment, jealousy, fears. Replaces negativity with harmony. Helps to balance upper four chakras and eases sexual/emotional imbalances. Enhances self-confidence and creativity. Aids kidneys and circulatory system, promotes release of impurities.

Corresponding Astological Signs: Libra and Taurus

Well, for christmas my daughter asked me what I wanted, I don’t like to ask for anything, the love and happiness of my family and dear ones is all that is ever wanted, if I get anything aside from that, it’s a bonus ( but I have to add that I loved my Smith and Wesson 642 (Lady Smith) and Tennis Bracelet)… HEH!

Anyway, I told my daughter that I wanted a Devotional Book, something that I can start my day with every morning. She went to the book store and called me in the process to ask me exactly what I was hoping for; she ended up giving me Over The Edge Devotions To Jump Start Your Day.

With the way things have been this month, this devotional reading for the day, seemed perfect to ending my month of January, so I’m sharing…

Expecting God’s Blessings

My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Psalm 23:5-6 NKJV

Face the facts: pessimism and Christianity don’t mix. Why? Because Christians have every reason to be optimistic about life here on earth and life eternal. Mrs. Charles E. Cowman advised, “Never yield to gloomy anticipation. Place your ope and
confidence in God. He has no record of failure.”

Sometimes, despite our trust in God, we may fall into the spiritual traps of worry, frustration, anxiety, or sheer exhaustion, *(this is me at this time in my life, exhausted and a heavy heart) and our hearts become heavy. What’s needed is plenty of rest, a large dose of perspective, and God’s healing touch, but not necessarily in that order.

Today, make this promise to yourself and keep it: vow to be a hope-fulled Christian. Think optimistically about your life, your education, your family, and your future. Trust your hopes, not your fears. Take time to celebrate God’s glorious creation. And then, when you’ve filled your heart with hope, share your optimism with others. They’ll be better for it, and so will you. But not necessarily in that order.

*All I can say is; my heart is filled with hope and optimism...

The Many Faces of Porta's Cat

I love it...

'Nuff Said...

Maxine Monday

I will strive to up-hold "International Goof-Off Day"!!!

Weekly Picker Upper

A weary mother returned from the store,

Lugging groceries through the kitchen door.

Awaiting her arrival was her 8 year old son,

Anxious to relate what his younger brother had done.

"While I was out playing and Dad was on a call,

T.J. took his crayons and wrote on the wall!

It's on the new paper you just hung in the den.

I told him you'd be mad at having to do it again.

She let out a moan and furrowed her brow,

"Where is your little brother right now?"

She emptied her arms and with a purposeful stride,

She marched to his closet where he had gone to hide.

She called his full name as she entered his room.

He trembled with fear--he knew that meant doom!

For the next ten minutes, she ranted and raved

About the expensive wallpaper and how she had saved.

Lamenting all the work it would take to repair,

She condemned his actions and total lack of care,

The more she scolded, the madder she got,

Then stomped from his room, totally distraught!

She headed for the den to confirm her fears.

When she saw the wall, her eyes flooded with tears.

The message she read pierced her soul with a dart.

It said, "I love Mommy," surrounded by a heart.

Well, the wallpaper remained, just as she found it,

With an empty picture frame hung to surround it.

A reminder to her, and indeed to all,

Take time to read the handwriting on the wall

--- Author Unknown

*Ebyjo, you think your son was trying to tell you something with his actions?

MODEST PROPOSAL

So, I'm late on this one, but it was shared by Tejano this AM... I've been so caught up with the new job that I don't do much of watching news or surfing the Internet and catching up with my favorite blogs. Starting my day at 5 am and getting home at 6:30/7 PM, doesn't give me much time to do much of anything these days. And oddly enough, the week-end doesn't allow any Internet access, but I"m not complaining, I really don't miss it as it gives me time to take care of the things that I don't have time to do between 7 PM to 10 PM, M-F. So... in saying that forgive me if you've already blogged about this, but being a hardcore supporter of all our VETS, and after doing a bit of research, I just had to post the piece and share some view points that were out there in the blogosphere.

Thanks Bro...

Apocalypse again -- call up the Vietnam vets

Where else can Bush get 21,500 trained soldiers for his 'surge'?
By Paul Whitefield, PAUL WHITEFIELD supervises the editorial pages' copy
desk.

January 21, 2007

LISTENING TO President Bush's speech on Iraq earlier this month, my first thought was: "Where the heck are we going to get 21,500 more soldiers to send to Iraq?" Our Reserves are depleted, our National Guard is worn out, our Army and Marine Corps are stretched to the limit.

Then it hit me: Re-up our Vietnam War veterans and send them.

They're trained. They're battle-hardened. Many already have post-traumatic stress disorder. Also, some have their own vehicles — Harleys mostly, which are cheap to run, make small targets and are highly mobile. I'll even bet that lots of these guys still have guns (you know, just in case).

OK, some vets are a bit long in the tooth (or don't have teeth — because of Agent Orange?). Or their eyesight isn't what it was. Or their reflexes have slowed. But with today's modern weaponry, how well do you have to see?

Too out of shape, you say? Listen, if Rocky Balboa can step back into the ring at age 60, all these Vietnam War vets need is a little boot-camp magic and they'll be good to go. I mean, who doesn't want to drop a few pounds?

Don't want geezers fighting for us? Well, let's face it, our young people have greater value right here. Most of us want to retire and collect our hard-earned Social Security, and we need those youngsters here, working and paying taxes — lots of taxes.

Finally, these Vietnam War guys are hungry for revenge. After all, they fought in the only war the U.S. ever lost. And they didn't even get a parade. So this is their chance. We can throw them that big parade when they come marching home.

Just a few responses to this article read the following:

Paul Whitefield's Essay in The Los Angeles Times
Military
The L.A. Times’s Definition of Irony Is Different From Mine
2007-Jan-24 - call up the Vietnam vets?? WOW!!!
Carol Platt Liebau

Emptying Our Cup

This is a re-post of sorts, with some things excluded (such as the “Bathroom Duty” that was assigned to me at the time this was written…

As I go through many of life’s little curve balls, I’m learning a few things. I can always learn how to deal with something old in a new way. I’m learning to see the difference in what I can control and what I can’t. What is worth my energy and what isn’t… I had been given a book to read some time back when I was really struggling with a few personal things in my life at the time and the following really stayed with me.

All of us need to know more about ourselves and the world around us in order to better learn how to deal with the many adversities that life always seems to throw at us. We need to understand our lives as they fit into the universe as a whole.

“The meaning of life” is that it has no meaning at all.

All that we can be certain of are the observable facts of existence.

We remain a culture that is beset with worries.

Ironically, many of the things that people worry about or consider to be major problems are simply the result of viewing life through the filter of an invalid belief system.

If we first learn exactly what things are in fact actually open to our ability to control (and therefore worthy of our thoughts and concerns) and which ones are not, our lives suddenly become far less problematic.

The need to prove a particular point of view correct, supersedes that persons’ desire to seek truth.

A person as such effectively shuts himself/herself off from experiencing anything new or different about the subject at hand.

While we would rather that disagreements not disrupt our day, they are never the less indispensable to the growth and well-being of the planet upon which we depend for our very existence. People as such, their minds are made up on specific subjects well in advance, and therefore, they are quite unmoved and unaffected by the view points of other individuals however accurate or well reasoned such positions may be.

Disagreements or arguments often serve to sow the seeds of understanding and to cultivate fresh ideas and concepts from the garden of our mind, resulting in new insights, concept relationships, and spiritual awareness.

These people thereby lay the foundation for dogma – a position of close-mindedness that will stifle and eventually choke out any possibility of true learning.

Bruce Lee points out the fallacy of such close mindedness with one of his favorite stories;

It was obvious to the master from the start of the conversation that the professor was not so much interested in learning about Zen as he was in impressing the master with his own opinions and knowledge. As the Zen teacher explained, the learned man would frequently interrupt him with remarks like “Oh, yes, we have that, too” and so on.

Finally, the Zen teacher stopped talking and began to serve tea to the learned man. He poured the cup full, then kept pouring until the cup over-flowed.

“Enough!” the learned man once more interrupted. “The cup is over-full, no more will go in?”

“Indeed, I see,” answered the Zen teacher. “Like this cup, you are full of your own opinions and speculations. If you do not first empty your cup, how can you taste my cup of tea?”

The need for an empty cup, or an open mind, shall serve as our meta-physical starting point. Let us assume for the moment that we do not have all the answers. Let us begin with a blank slate, with no pre-conceived ideas, biases, opinions, or prejudices that will influence our judgment or impede our attempt at acquiring a new understanding on the ways of the world.

I foresee the future for Useless...

Maxine Monday

It's been a while since I've posted anything for "Maxine Monday". Since starting my new job, I have not had much time to get on here during the day, and by the time I get home, it's almost 7pm (if I'm lucky) and I have to work out, eat dinner, catch up with Useless (or clean his mess) and attempt to get something done in the apartment cleaning wise. By the end of all of this "routine" I am ready for bed.



So... I found this to be the most perfect posting for reinstating my Maxine Mondays!!! I think "someone" will agree with this one... lol...

Spider research

Check out this Canadian research on the affects of drugs on spiders!

In the 1960s, Dr. Peter Witt gave drugs to spiders and observed their effects on web building.

MEXPSYCHAN LOGIC

'NUFF SAID...

A Good Ole' El Paso Texas (Mexpsychan) Song

Left to right: Randy Meisner, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh, Don Henley, Don Felder (circa 1977)

Hotel California



On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair

Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air

Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light

My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim

I had to stop for the night

There she stood in the doorway;

I heard the mission bell

And I was thinking to myself,’

this could be heaven or this could be hell’

Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way

There were voices down the corridor,

I thought I heard them say...




Welcome to the hotel california

Such a lovely place

Such a lovely face

Plenty of room at the hotel california

Any time of year, you can find it here




Her mind is tiffany-twisted, she got the mercedes bends

She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys, that she calls friends

How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.

Some dance to remember, some dance to forget




So I called up the captain,’please bring me my wine’

He said, ’we haven’t had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine’

And still those voices are calling from far away,

Wake you up in the middle of the night

Just to hear them say...




Welcome to the hotel california

Such a lovely placeSuch a lovely face

They livin’ it up at the hotel california

What a nice surprise, bring your alibis




Mirrors on the ceiling,

The pink champagne on ice

And she said ’we are all just prisoners here, of our own device’

And in the master’s chambers,

They gathered for the feast

They stab it with their steely knives,

But they just can’t kill the beast




Last thing I remember, I wasRunning for the door

I had to find the passage back

To the place I was before’relax,’ said the night man,

We are programmed to receive.

You can checkout any time you like,

But you can never leave!

A Salute To The Eagles

Hotel California Urban Legends

Because its lyrics contain an ominous undercurrent, many have appeased their sense of disquiet by finding in the words literal and figurative meanings that just aren't there. Theories abound as to what the song means. Some see the devil in the lyrics. Others see a madhouse.

The All-TIME 100 Albums

"Life in the Fast Lane" drew a line between the band's country-tinged past and rock and roll future, but the big hit was the title track, a sprawling epic with Satanic undertones that might have been subconsciously cribbed from Jethro Tull's "We Used to Know" when the bands toured together. As for the warm smell of colitas, fans are split on whether the word is Spanish slang for cannabis buds or an easy lay.

For those of you bored

Just in case your work was closed down, the kids schools or daycares were closed down and you find yourself at home, climbing the walls with the kids... here is something you might find interesting or just to distract you from the bellowing of the kids in the background.... "I'm bored"!!!!! Or for those moments of boredom, especially if you are the only one that showed up at work here in the Texas area.

Me? I'm at work, I forged on at my normal time 5:55 am. I did see some accidents on my way in, there are some idiots that just feel they can drive in any weather condition. I also saw some roads closed off until they got sand laid out. I drove like a Grandma... (Ok, a grandma that shouldn't be on the road... Don't want to offend those women out there that are grandmothers and still very capable of driving. No, I'm not a grandmother yet!!! I repeat Yet!!! I'll be there some day.)

Floppy disks are becoming somewhat extinct now that we have the options to save data, pictures, etc... on CD's, Flash Drives.... Well, here is a use for the floppy disks that you have formatted and don't know what to do with.

How to Make a Starship Enterprise Out of a Floppy Disk

Floppy disks are a thing of the past. However, that doesn't mean you have to toss them in a garbage can. Pay a tribute to another thing of the past (or, the future?)--The Starship Enterprise--and you can reminisce and recycle at the same time!

• Steps
  
  
  

1. Find an old floppy disk. You've got them somewhere at the bottom of a dusty drawer. For this project, it has to be the kind with the metal shutter - not plastic.
   
   *An old floppy disk
   
   
   
2. Take the old 3 1/2" floppy disk and break it apart so you can use the metal shutter and the hub of the magnetic data disk.
   
   *The dust cover and magnetic disk of an old floppy disk
   
   
   
   
3. Snip the tabs of the opening of the shutter on the wider side of the two sides of the opening.
   
   






4. Fold the wider portion of the shutter at 90 degree angles to just above the shutter opening.



*The dust cover, bent to form the warp nacelles



5. Fold a portion of these pieces back up (again at 90 degrees, but opposite the original folds) to form the warp nacelles. (Note: For more realistic looking nacelles, place a no. 2 pencil on the edge of the dust cover and roll the metal around it instead of bending it at a 90° angle. This will create a tubular shaped nacelle. Slide the pencil out of the metal tube and repeat on the other side.)
   
6. Make little snips halfway through the narrow sides of the shutter to facilitate placement of the disk hub (the saucer section).
   
7. Place the hub on, putting the neck up through the hole closest to the edge of the hub, and inserting the edge of the hole in the hub through the slits you made.
   
8. Fold the portions of the neck protruding through the hole in the hub down and around the hub to secure.

Tips

• With a little patience and extra love, your Enterprise will look a lot better than the one you see here.


• To give your Enterprise the genuine "floating" appearance, use the spring that held the shutter closed to fashion a nearly invisible stand that will amaze and confound your peers.


• Use a various color sharpies to add markings to the nacelles and the saucer such as "NCC-1701", lights, etc.


• Hum the theme song to the original Star Trek as you build your model to help pass the time and to take this geek project to the next level.

Warnings

• The edges of the metal dust cover and disk hub are extremely sharp. You can cut yourself on them, so be careful.
• Doing this will destroy all data on the disk.
• Do not attempt to place your new model into a floppy disk drive.

Things You'll Need

• An old floppy disk with a sliding metal dust cover. Say "goodbye" to your data.
• Scissors or sheet metal snips.

Related wikiHows

• How to Make SIM Card Earrings
• How to Design a CD Coaster
• How to Create a Flashlight
• How to Safely Get Rid of an Old Computer
• How to Fix a Scratched CD
  
  

NEW WORDS FOR 2007

I'm sure this one has made it rounds, but with the way my day is going... I had to post!

Essential vocabulary additions for the workplace (and elsewhere)!

1. BLAMESTORMING : Sitting around in a group, discussing why a deadline was missed or a project failed, and who was responsible.

2. SEAGULL MANAGER: A manager, who flies in, makes a lot of noise, craps on everything, and then leaves.

3. ASSMOSIS: The process by which some people seem to absorb success and advancement by kissing up to the boss rather than working hard

4. SALMON DAY : The experience of spending an entire day swimming upstream only to get screwed and die in the end.

5. CUBE FARM : An office filled with cubicles.

6. PRAIRIE DOGGING : When someone yells or drops something loudly in a cube farm, and people's heads pop up over the walls to see what's going on.

7. MOUSE POTATO : The on-line, wired generation's answer to the couch potato.

8. SITCOMs: Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage. What Yuppies get into when they have children and one of them stops working to stay home with the kids.

9. STRESS PUPPY : A person who seems to thrive on being stressed out and whiny.

10. SWIPEOUT: An ATM or credit card that has been rendered useless because magnetic strip is worn away from extensive use.

11. XEROX SUBSIDY : Euphemism for swiping free photocopies from one's workplace.

12. IRRITAINMENT: Entertainment and media spectacles that are Annoying but you find your self unable to stop watching them.

13. PERCUSSIVE MAINTENANCE : The fine art of whacking the crap out of an electronic device to get it to work again. (Often feel like doing this to my computer--)

14. ADMINISPHERE : The rarefied organizational layers beginning just above the rank and file. Decisions that fall from the adminisphere are often profoundly inappropriate or irrelevant to the problems they were designed to solve.

15. 404 : Someone who's clueless. From the World Wide Web error Message "404 Not Found," meaning that the requested site could not be located.

16. GENERICA : Features of the American landscape that are exactly the same no matter where one is, such as fast food joints, strip malls, and subdivisions.

17. OHNOSECOND : That minuscule fraction of time in which you realize that you've just made a BIG mistake. (Like after hitting send on an email by mistake).

18. WOOFS : Well-Off Older Folks.

19. CROP DUSTING : Surreptitiously passing gas while passing through a Cube Farm.

Letter To Dr. Phil

Content (pic) a bit racey...

I found this over at This That And Frog Hair 2 and felt that I just had to share the wealth of information to all men that make it by here on occasion and who love fishing. All I can say is I'm DAMN Glad that I love to go fishing!!! REEL THAT BABY IN!!!!


Letter To Dr. Phil

When I retired, I could hardly wait to spend time enjoying my favorite pastime -- bass fishing. I got my own little fishing boat and tried to get my wife to join me, but she just never liked fishing. Finally, one day at the Bait & Tackle Shop, I got to talking to Sam the shop owner who it turned out loves bass fishing as much as I do. We quickly became fishing buddies. As I said the wife doesn't care about fishing. She not only refuses to join us she always complains that I spend too much time fishing.

More here




But to make sure you do go over and stop in for a read...here's the incentive... Stop in and find out what Dr. Phil suggested as his solution to the problem.

Enclosed is a picture of Sam with the two bass we caught

Computer History

Ok, so... I am looking forward to a bit of a more peaceful week here at work this week. I won't go in to details, but with that in mind... here is a bit of computer history for you, I'll try and add some more links later in the day for other similar sites.

The use of emoticons is invented in 1982. Emoticons are the symbols from the characters on a computer keyboard used to convey emotion or tone in an electronic message, such as the sideways smiley face. :-). Emoticons are first used in 1982 on the CMU bulletin board system. They are suggested by CMU's owner in response to users' inability to distinguish jokes from serious text content on the system.

Nerd Times


Angel winking - female
0*-)
Angel winking - male
0;-)
Man
:-) :-
Female
>-
Female
O+
Female
( y )
FlatTop Loudmouth
l:-O
Cat
}:-X

DeviantArt

High-Tech Dictionary

$-) Won the lottery, or money on the brain
:-p~ Heavy smoker
[[ ]] Hug Insert a name in the brackets of the one who is being

Recommended Emoticons for Email CommunicationFor AIM, AOL, MSN, Yahoo and Others
^5 high five
\_/ "my glass is empty"

A Room With a View

All of us could use a bit of encouragement in our daily lives...

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation. And every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window. The man in the other bed began to live for those one-hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside.

The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color of the rainbow. Grand old trees graced the landscape, and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance. As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.

One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man couldn't hear the band - he could see it in his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words. Days and weeks passed. One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away.

As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone. Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the world outside. Finally, he would have the joy of seeing it for himself. He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall.

The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window. The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall. She said,

"Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you."

The Invitation

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living

I want to know what you ache for

and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are

I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool

for love

for your dream

for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon...

I want to know if you hae touched the centre of your own sorrow

If you have abeen opened by life's betrayals

or have become shriveled and closed

from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain

mine or your own

without moving to hide it

or fade it

or fix it

I want to know if you can be with joy

mine or your own

if you can dance with wildness

and let the exstasy fill you to the tips of your finger and toes

without cautioning us to

be careful

be realistic

rememer the limitations of being human

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me

is true

I want to know if you can

diappoint another

to be true to yourself

if you can bear the accusation of betrayal

and not betray your own soul

If you can be faithless

and therefor trustworthy

I want to know if you can see Beauty

even when it is not pretty

every day

and if you can source your own life

from it's presence

I want to know if you can live ith failure

yours and mine

and still stand at the edge of the lake

and shout to the silver of the full moon

"Yes"

It doesn't interest me

to know where you live or how much money you have

I want to know if you can get up

after the night of grief and despair

weary and bruised to the bone

and do what needs to be done

to feed the children

It doesn't interest me who you know

or how you came to be here

I want to know if you will stand

in the centre of the fire

with me

and not shrink back

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom

you have studied

I want to know what sustains you

from the inside

when all else falls away

I want to know if you can be alone

with yourself

Giggle For The Day

A cat died and went to Heaven. God met her at the gates and said, "You have been a good cat all these years. Anything you want is yours for the asking."The cat thought for a minute and then said, "All my life I lived on a farm and slept on hard wooden floors. I would like a real fluffy pillow to sleep on."God said, "Say no more." Instantly the cat had a huge fluffy pillow.

A few days later, six mice were killed in an accident and they all went to Heaven together. God met the mice at the gates with the same offer that He made to the cat.The mice said, "Well, we have had to run all of our lives: from cats, dogs, and even people with brooms! If we could just have some little roller skates, we would not have to run again." God answered, "It is done." All the mice had beautiful little roller skates.

About a week later, God decided to check on the cat. He found her sound asleep on her fluffy pillow. God gently awakened the cat and asked, "Is everything okay? How have you been doing? Are you happy?" The cat replied, "Oh, it is WONDERFUL. I have never been so happy in my life. The pillow is so fluffy, and those little Meals on Wheels you have been sending over are delicious!"

I think Porta's Cat found that fluffy pillow for the Kitty...

and there might be a dog following right behind. LOL!!!

Guns, Toys, Kids, Growing Up, Life....

As posted by Porta's Cat, this post is a reflection started by this posting at Xaviers" and continued by Porta's Cat.

I found myself leaving a comment, but as I was made to go back in time, I found myself re-living several childhood memories. Oh God! I couldn't leave this comment on his post, it needed a blog of it's own. I'm probably taking this post in a different direction than even PC and Xavier did, but in going back in time, this is where my mind goes...

I can't speak too much or hardly, on the topic of Guns, more like Barbies lol....andI can speak of other Toys, Kids, Growing Up and Life.

"And, mostly, we are probably the last generation for a long time, maybe ever, that knows what it is like to both "have to and want to" stay outside all day long in the summer and not come home till we heard our own special whistle, yell, car horn morse code, cow bell, or whatever signal mom used to pull us back in for supper."

This...brings to mind a back bone chill of hearing my mother screaming in her strong Mexican voice:

"SYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYLLLLLLLVVVVVIIAAAAAAAAAAA"

She tended to drag the Y in my name and stress on the A. If I didn't hear her, the whole neighborhood did and I was hunted down and warned (with a fear of God in their eyes) how long she had been yelling!!! God the nightmares that can cause... ooooooooohhh!!!

I'm afraid I've blocked most of my childhood years, I don't remember much at all, little to nothing at all. I don't know why, but for some odd reason, I'm afraid to open that door.

For what I do remember, I remember being able to go outside right after breakfast til late night, playing in the rain as the street flooded (and I'm talking about knee high water at times), walking to school down the railroad tracks, playing kick ball, baseball, hide and seek, late in to the night in the street, no cell phones to keep track of us.

Toys, well... don't get me started on that one. I really don't remember too much, I can say two things of what I remember the most, I will never forget the chalkboard with pegs. Since I was a little girl, I have had the passion of drawing. That little chalkboard with pegs went everywhere with me. I also remember (and have a scar to remind me of) how I was not allowed to have a bicycle throughout my childhood and teen years. To this day, people, I have never owned my own bicycle (I feel like Phoebe on Friends)! I remember being so upset that I couldn't have a bicycle as all my friends did and one day I decided to ride my friends. I couldn't let mom find out so we went to the end of the street where she couldn't see me. Well, upon getting on the bicycle, I immediately fell off and skinned my knee. I was too scared of what mom was going to do that I didn't even cry. I had a large gaping hole in my knee, I knew that I was going to have to go home and get it looked at, you could see the knee cap cartlidge. Well, upon getting home and going to mom, she asked the inevitable question "How did this happen?" I couldn't lie, I just knew better. So.... she went and retrieved a bottle of rubbing alcohol and "poured" it on my knee, right over the gaping hole. No kisses, no hugs, no tender words.... "This will teach you not to go against me!" I remember having lots of barbies, those were lost after they were handed down to my niece.

On a bad note:

I remember walking to my Elementary and as we kids walked to school, there was actually a house that we all had to pass by and we always knew there were "bad" people living there. Why do I say "bad" people, well, that's how they would be labeled in those days, actually today they would be known and labeled as Pedophiles and Exhibitionists. Rumor had it that it was a mid 20's, late 20's couple that lived there. Oddly enough no-one ever really saw them out of the house. I remember them coming to the window and having the curtains drawn close enough to hide upper torsos and knees down on the man and enough to show the chest and lower extremities of the woman. These days, they would have been hauled off to jail in a second. This went on for what seemed all of my elementary years.

I also remember being jumped by a gang of cholas (20+) on the last day of school right before transferring to High School. I'm still here, I survived all of it, but gangs were very visible, the guns weren't, it was all fist fights and ofcourse your Cat fights.

As for guns referred to in this post, I was never exposed to guns growing up, I'm sure my dad had his share stored in the house, from when he served for our country, but I was exposed during high school to the damages guns can bring about from carelessness. That was the extent of my exposure to guns.

What it boils down to in reference to "my days" growing up, we were your average family, or atleast in my mind we were. My mom was tough... my dad was the quiet and more passive one. I have a different recollection of growing up than my brothers and sister do. It's not all good, unfortunately. There are memories that I prefer not to dig up, nor open the dark, cobwebbed closet doors to. All in all, I survived... I'm still here, alive and kicking... I just wish that my kids could use their wisdom to benefit them in a positive way. My kids are smart, I allowed them to some degree the same type of growing up as I did. They were allowed to go out, they were not kept indoors, they were allowed to go out and explore. I've learned of days when they would go out in to the fields behind our subdivisions, late in to some nights. I'm glad that I was able to pass that on atleast, I just pray that the chain can be broken when it comes to the negative things I experienced or their father experienced, and that they break the chain of ignorance that comes from todays blinding and distracting world events, technology, etc...

"I just want my son to be able to grow up as I did, in many respects. But he won't be ble to."

I'm with you on this sad, but very real and true fact! My kids are as ignorant and as blind as a TV and a video game can make a child.

Todays Birthday - Jimmy Page

For New Years Eve, PC and I went to Fitzgerald’s to ring in the New Year, there were two separate bands performing that night,

Us and Them- the Pink Floyd Experience

and

Black Dog – A Tribute To Led Zeppelin.

So as you can see, the New Year was brought in Rockin’!! A total new experience for me and it was great! Awesome to say the least!!

New Years Eve brought me to realize that I'm a Led Zeppelin fan more than I ever gave thought to it. Ok, so, not so much more of a fan, but I remember the music on a clearer level than I do Pink Floyd. There were a few songs that I remembered (in my mind) as being classics from Pink Floyd, but the Led Zeppelin section was definitely something to take me back to my high school years. I know little of such Bands, I wasn’t your hardcore fan. I just grew up loving all types of music and if I could shake my A$$ to it, I liked it! LOL…

With all that being said, I thought I’d share today’s birthday.

Led Zeppelin, 1969, from left to right:

John Paul Jones, John Bonham

(Top),

Jimmy Page and Robert Plant

James Patrick "Jimmy" PageJames Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE (born January 9, 1944) is an English guitarist and producer. He was the founding member of English rock band Led Zeppelin. Prior to that Page was a member of The Yardbirds from late 1966 to 1968. Page began his career as a studio session guitarist. Page was born in the west London suburb of Heston, which today forms part of the London Borough of Hounslow. His father was an industrial personnel manager and his mother was a doctor's secretary. In 1952 they moved to Miles Road, Epsom. Jimmy Page first picked up the guitar when he was 12 years old, and although he took a few lessons in nearby Kingston, was largely self-taught. His early influences were rockabilly guitarists Scotty Moore and James Burton, who both played on recordings made by Elvis Presley, and Johnny Day, who played guitar for The Everly Brothers.

More here…

I knew HE was evil!!!

But then again we all did... didn't we?

By "HE" I mean Saddam, even after his last breath, he manages to touch lives. God Help Us All!

Boy, 10 Dies After Mimicking Saddam Hussein's Execution

Webster, Tx. - Police and family members said a 10 - year - old boy who died by
hanging himself from a bunk bed was apparently mimicking the execution of former
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

More here:

My prayers are with the boys family. Even if it's proven, not tied to the viewing of Saddams execution, the news in itself and the possible connection in the family's mind, is heartwrenching!

Robertson: God Warns Of Mass Killing In '07

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- In what has become an annual tradition of prognostications, religious broadcaster Pat Robertson said Tuesday God has told him that a terrorist attack on the United States would result in "mass killing" late in 2007.

More here:
Religious Broadcaster Predicts Terror Attack

**This is a sign!!! Anyone know where I can order monogrammed towels in a camouflouge print to go with the gun motif going in the new house???

CALL THE PREACHER!!! Now where's the Flower Girl???

TRUST

Stop second-guessing yourself. You know what you know, you know? That inner tickling is your highest truth. It will serve you well; the backfire comes when you deny or discount it. Take in information from all sides and yet trust, in the end, that you - and you alone - know what's best for you. If all day you pine to paint then that is what you must do. If you ache to walk beside the ocean, find a way to get there. Trust your own instincts against the education of any doctor, any lawyer, anyone who spouts facts and platitudes and absolutes. Learn to listen to your gut. Without complete trust, you are left only to rust.

I THREW IT OUT ~

Last week I threw out Worrying,

it was getting old and in the way.

It kept me from being me;

I couldn't do things my way.

I threw out those Inhibitions;

they were just crowding me out.

Made room for my New Growth,

got rid of my old dreams and doubts.

I threw out a book on MY PAST

(didn't have time to read it anyway).

Replaced it with New Goals,

started reading it today.

I threw out childhood toys

(remember how I treasured them so)?

Got me a NEW PHILOSOPHY too,

threw out the one from long ago.

Bought in some new books too,

called I CAN, I WILL, and I MUST.

Threw out I might, I think and I ought.

WOW, You should've seen the dust.

I ran across an OLD FRIEND,

haven't seen him in a while.

I believe his name is GOD,

Yes, I really like His style.

He helped me to do some cleaning

and added some things Himself.

Like PRAYER, HOPE and FAITH,

Yes I placed them right on the shelf.

I picked up this special thing

and placed it at the front door.

I FOUND IT - its called PEACE.

Nothing gets me down anymore.

Yes, I've got my house looking nice.

Looks good around the place.

For things like Worry and Trouble

there just isn't any place.

Its good to do a little house cleaning,

get rid of the old things on the shelf.

It sure makes things brighter;

maybe you should TRY IT YOURSELF.

~Author Unknown~