Prior Silence

Thoughts on Public Speaking

2012-01-27T00:06:00.000-05:00

I was recently talking with someone and the conversation turned to public speaking. The entity of this particular conversation isn’t so important, so much as it allows me to launch into my real purpose for blogging today.

Public speaking is a widely feared activity. There are many would rather do just about anything to get out of standing in front of a crowd of people, be they familiar or strangers, and speak. It is both a persistent and staggeringly paralyzing fear.

I’m sure there is some psychology-based reason for this fear, but quite frankly I am not hosting a lecture on psychology here and so I’ll spare you that conversation.

Moving right along, I don’t fall into the category of people that fear speaking in public. While I do become obscenely terrified in the presence of spiders, I don’t mind getting up in front of a crowd of people. Give me a room full of people as opposed to one itty-bitty spider any day.

Regardless of any of the above ponderings, my true point in writing this evening is that the conversation I originally mentioned has lead to my recalling an essay that I wrote, and later spoke about, my senior year of high school. The essay was written as a creative piece for my Advanced Placement English class, presenting it happened purely by chance.

We were scheduled to have a Senior Academic Awards night, and at the last minute, quite literally a couple of day’s prior, they decided that they wanted to have a student speaker at the event. Naturally they turned to the AP English class. When they pitched the opportunity no one immediately jumped at the chance, which now that I think about it is a bit strange, even stranger though was that I found myself raising my hand and volunteering to speak at the event in a room full of fellow seniors, their parents, and several staff members.

At any rate, this is the piece that I ended up sharing with those at the event:

The following is based on this prompt: What is your favorite word and why?

“Spoken Definition”

Words are exceptionally powerful. While we have all heard some variation of the saying “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”, I can guarantee that no matter how many times you repeat it, the saying will never come any closer to the truth. In fact, the things that we say are often more powerful and, depending on the situation, have the capability to do more damage or good than our actions. This is why when speaking we must choose our words carefully; it is also one of the reasons why choice is my favorite word.

Choice is important to me because the ability to choose allows me to control certain aspects of my life, whether it is as simple as what shirt I wear in the morning or something larger, such as my future career. After all, it is the choices that we make that not only determine where we end up, but more importantly define who we are. I rely heavily on my ability to make my own choices in order to establish who I am and to allow myself the opportunity to become the person that I want to be.

The importance of choice also comes into play when I am speaking with other people or trying to express myself in some way. If my words are ill chosen, then the message I am trying to convey is more susceptible to being misconstrued or lost completely. Choice becomes increasingly important when people’s ability to understand where I am coming from and what I am talking about is left hanging in the balance.

Choice is my favorite word because it embodies the idea that I am in control of the direction of my life it is a powerful word that, to me, signifies that my choices define who I am, despite the opinions of others. In another respect, words are powerful and they should be chosen carefully. Word choice, and good choices in general, become increasingly important when I am attempting to convey a particular message. Ultimately, choice is my favorite word, because the choice’s that I make are the largest reflection of who I am, and who I one day wish to become.

What about you? How do you feel about public speaking? Is there a particular word that resonates with you?

BTW

If you have, by chance, made it this far, I’d like to let you know that this year’s blogging goal is to blog once a month. I fully intend to hold up to this goal better than I did last years. Please feel free to keep me accountable.

Oh, hello.

2011-12-14T22:39:00.001-05:00

Just so you know, I didn't happen to stumble into a black hole or anything like that. Though, I suppose that would be a far more interesting tale concerning my blogging absence than the actual reason for my absence.

I want to be honest with you here, and in all honesty my absence can't even be attributed to a lack of things to say... because I have plenty to say even when I don't feel like I do... and it can't be attributed to a lack of time, because while time may always be fairly scarce when you have as many things going on as I do, I still find the time for facebook, so blogging should be simple enough.

No my dear blog, it seems that I fell into that 'funk' that I find myself routinely falling into every couple of months. You know the one, it's when you feel as though you have been boxed into a corner, and no matter what you do you cannot escape that corner. I find that in those quiet moments in which I am left to myself I begin to feel a kind of suffocation that can only be attributed to too much introspection.

But I couldn't even bring myself to put words to the feeling until I happened to come across a letter of sorts that I had written to a friend when they were feeling a bit bummed out, and in that letter I happened to quote this verse: "Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him." - Isaiah 30:18

It was that verse that brought me away from the overwhelming introspection that I have lately been indulging in and brought me back to the present. It reminded me that patience is the key to calming my heart.

At any rate it is a bit late, and my day starts early tomorrow. I hope my ramblings here have made some sort of sense, and starting tomorrow I plan to dive in and begin where I left off on the 30 day challenge. I may not have stuck to the schedule but I plan to finish it reguardless.

I'll talk to you soon.

Week 46: HP Challenge Day 12 and 13: Favorite ship? Least Favorite movie?

2011-11-13T19:28:00.001-05:00

Question Day 12: What is your favorite 'ship'?

As far as the core books go, I don't dispute any of the original pairings, they all work and make sense and are just generally the way that things are in the series. Probably my favorite ship in the core series is Remus and Tonks. They are such opposites and yet they make so much sense.

Going outside of the core series, I really enjoy reading fanfaction that ships Hermione and Fred. There really isn't any basis for this pairing in the books, but I've just read some excellently written fanfiction that ships these two and in that context it just works. Besides, if you've been following along this month, you also know that Fred is my favorite male character.

Question Day 13: What is your least favorite of the series movies?

Earlier in the month I noted that the third movie is the one that made me "angry" because it left out a lot of the details from the book. It's the least true to the books because there are a lot of important details that are glossed over due to time constraints.

For these same reasons it is my least favorite movie in the series, even though I've since taken to recognizing the movies and books as separate entities.

I'll talk to you soon.

Week 45: HP Challenge Day 11: Most like what character?

2011-11-11T22:39:00.001-05:00

Day 11 Question: What character are you most like?

I am Neville Longbottom.

Neville is a character that doesn't necessarily make the biggest impression early in the series. I mean really he's just known for being extremely forgetful and a bit clumsy. He's not the most popular guy in school, and definitely takes a fair amount of teasing from his peers.

But Neville really emerges as a leader as the novels progress. In the presence of other leaders he knows how to follow and take direction, but when a leader is needed he's able to step up to the plate. He also has a strong sense of loyalty, and of right and wrong.

Neville truly is a courageous character, and he's willing to stand up for what he believes in even as he recognizes the danger that standing up can create.

Neville is the quiet one that you have to look out for... just like me.

What character are YOU most like?

I'll talk to you soon.

Week 45: HP Challenge Day 9 and 10: Least Favorite Male? Horcruxes or Hallows?

2011-11-10T21:15:00.001-05:00

Question Day 9: Who is your least favorite male character in the series?

Much like answering the similar question of who my least favorite female character is, this is a tough one to answer. While it may be easy to pick out one of the "villains" or more disagreeable characters as a least favorite... it's not really because it is those qualities that make them interesting.

Each character serves a greater purpose to the plot.

If I absolutely had to name one of the male characters as my least favorite it would have to be Luna's father, whose first name escapes me at the moment. Yes, I could look it up instead admitting that I don't recall it, but I don't feel like looking it up so for now we're sticking with calling him Mr. Lovegood.

He would be my least favorite because while he shows the promise of standing up, and serving on the forefront of the 'rebellion' through his magazine he doesn't show the resolve to stand by that stance by the last book. I understand they took Luna and he was seeking to save her... but does he really believe Harry Potter of all people wouldn't aid Luna?

See why I said this is difficult. I would choose him as my least favorite for the reasons that I've listed, and yet even as I've listed them I've managed to rationalize why he would do the things that he did.

Question Day 10: Which concept did you most enjoy, Horcruxes or Hallows?

While the background on the Hallows was interesting and kind of cool, I think that tidbit would have been a little more interesting if some of the ideas had been sprinkled in the previous books so that there may have been more of a basis for them. They introduced a little late in the game I think.

The Horcruxes though, I found really cool. While it's true the term is made up, so there was no way you could learn the term prior to the final book, you may have been able to puzzle some of it out ahead of time.

I was interesting to learn near the end how some of the destroyed objects from previous books linked back to Voldemort's final undoing.

I'll talk to you soon.

Week 45: HP Challenge Day 8: Favorite Lesson?

2011-11-08T22:35:00.000-05:00

Today's Question: What do you think would be your favorite lesson?

I think that my favorite lesson would be Defense Against the Dark Arts. Now, to specify this, because the class takes many forms through-out the books, I would specifically most enjoy Remus Lupin's version of the class in book three.

I like how in that book, of all of them, the class is the most practical. They are actually learning and using spells that they will eventually need in their fight against Voldemort in the coming years. In many ways that year of Defense Against the Dark Arts serves as a kind of basis for Dumbledore's Army in later books.

The two are very similar on comparison. As a side note Transfiguration is a quick second.

I'll talk to you soon.

Week 45: HP Challenge Day 6 and 7: Dream House? Favorite Female?

2011-11-07T22:41:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was an exceptionally long day. By the time I finally got home all I really wanted to do was get some sleep, in preparation for today, which turned into a moderately long day... At any rate, I chose to skip posting a mediocre entry last night in favor of catching up with a more thought out entry today.

You deserve better than something that's just been thrown together for the sake of something having been posted. So without any further delay...

Day 6 Question: What house would you want to be in?

There isn't a doubt in my mind that my first choice would be Gryffindor. I mean, it's a house that prizes bravery, daring, nerve and chivalry. I've never imagined myself in any other house, never really considered the other houses all that much. For my part, this may be largely because the bulk of the major main characters in the novels ARE in Gryffindor...

Although, as I've pondered this question further, Ravenclaw would most certainly be my second choice as far as houses that I'd want to be in. I mean they're all about intelligence, knowledge and wit and I consider myself a HUGE bookwork. I'm constantly seeking out new information and learning new things. In fact considering the characteristics that are most valued in Ravenclaw, I probably more strongly personify that house than I do Gryffindor...

Diverging slightly from the question however, in all actuality, I'd probably end up being a Hufflepuff because the characteristics most associated with that house are hard work, patience, loyalty and fair play. Each of those are things that I believe deeply in and try to practice daily, with more success some days than others. While none of these are bad things, I don't know... I'd probably be a Hufflepuff, but I'd prefer to be a Gryffindor or Ravenclaw.

Day 7 Question: Who is your favorite female character and why?

I love Professor McGonagall. I just really think that she is amazing. It's such a fun progression in the books going from 1-7, because you learn so much about all of the characters, and she's one you're introduced to very early in the book.

She's tough and sticks to her guns, and she's the ultimate Gryffindor. I just really love some of the contrasts that you see in her character. She's that professor that every once and a while surprises you with her wit. She disarms you.

Week 44: HP Challenge Day 5- Favorite Male?

2011-11-05T22:00:00.001-04:00

Today's challenge question: Who is your favorite male character in the Harry Potter series?

My favorite male character is definitely Fred Weasley. Now that I'm really thinking about this choice though I can't pin-point whether he is my favorite based on the books or ALL the fanfiction that I read while waiting for new books in the series to be released.

I mean, I can easily state that I really enjoy the Weasley twin's in the series itself. They bring a lot of necissary comedic relief to some of the darker moments in the books. I mean, if you really consider some of the pranks that they pull, they're geniuses, and just because they're pranksters they aren't often recognized for that genius.

I takes a lot of talent and ingenuity to come up with some of the things that they do. I certainly wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of that duo...

So as far as the series goes, I can't really pinpoint what it is about Fred that makes him my favorite as opposed to Fred. Truly, the only reason I can find for the preference is some of the fanfiction that I've read (and loved) through the years that has truly fleshed out Fred as a character.

Who's you're favorite male character from the series and why? (Come on, you know you want to answer!)

I'll talk to you soon.

Week 44: HP Challenge Day 4- Least Favorite Female?

2011-11-04T23:04:00.001-04:00

Today's Question: Who is your least favorite female character and why?

I have sat here for a good twenty minutes trying to figure out my answer for this question, and I'm honestly not certain that I have one. Obviously there are many female villians in the Harry Potter books, but i wouldn't say that any of them are my least favorite because they each serve their purpose. Each of them bring something to the table and are interesting in their own right.

I guess the most honest and accurate answer to today's question is that I don't really have a least favorite female character, and least not one that currently stands out in my mind.

Week 44: HP Challenge Day 3- Skipped Details?

2011-11-04T00:18:00.000-04:00

So I just realized that in yesterday's post I forgot to post the actual question, but I think it was pretty obvious what the question was so, for now, I'm not going to go back and edit in the question. Anyway, I'm merely pointing out the fact that I forgot to include it yesterday, so that I can get to introducing today's question, which is: Is there any of the film adaptations that have made you angry because they’ve ignored important parts of the book?

Truly I was a little disappointed when the third movie came out. Having read all of the books it was easy for me to understand why certain things were the way that they were, but you definitely got the sense that someone who hadn't read the books would be a bit lost.

Honestly, it's been a while since I've even watched the third film at this point, but if I'm recalling correctly it just seemed like there were a lost of key plot elements that were thrown in with very little (or no) explanation on how exactly they fit in.

But ultimately that is generally the biggest issue when a book is translated into a movie. Too many of the minor details aren't able to make it into the film due to time constraints and then the film is left lacking for those that love the book.

Since that movie though, I learned to really separate the 'book series' from the 'movie series' in my mind. Were I asked to truly pit the books against the movies, I'd always say the books are better.... but the movies, as they stand alone, are good in their own right. As movies, I enjoy them.

Week 44: HP Challenge Day 2- Favorite Movie?

2011-11-03T00:03:00.002-04:00

Of the Harry Potter movies, I would have to say that my favorite is "Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix". It definitely marks the point in the series where things begin to get darker, and you become very aware of Voldemort as more of a sinister threat. You become more aware of the fact that Voldemort is gaining strength by the day.

Also, this marks the true introduction of Dolores Umbridge. Oh my goodness, her character in this movie is portrayed exactly as I imagined her when reading. When she clear her throat? It's EXACTLY as irritating as imagined. They nailed everything about her in this movie, at least so far as I imagined her to be.

Luna also, amazing! Perfect casting, absolutely astounding portrayal. So yeah, that's my favorite of all the movies.

I'll talk to you soon.

Week 44: HP Challenge Day 1- Favortie Book?

2011-11-01T20:12:00.002-04:00

Welcome to Day 1 of the 30 Day Harry Potter challenge. Today's question is: What is your favorite book?

My favorite of the seven Harry Potter books in all honesty is the last one, "Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows". While it's hard to narrow down a favorite just because I love the series as a whole, to a question such as this one that would be my definite choice.

I love the way that the final book really wraps up loose ends, and it has such a different feel to it. I love the road trip aspect of the book. In previous books Harry and the gang have always been, in a way of speaking, protected or sheltered by the walls of Hogwarts and the professors there. In this book you really get the sense of how much they are really on their own.

They are finally striking out on their own to accomplish things that they can't when they're adhering to the strict schedules at school, not that they always followed those... but still. It's the idea.

This book really embodies the idea that sometimes it's important to stray of the everyday path, the traditional one that you're expected to follow, because sometimes if you want to achieve the greatness that you are capable of you need to forge ahead on the less traveled path. Sometimes calculated risks are necessary.

I'll talk to you soon.

Week 43: Project and Challenge Announcements

2011-10-29T23:53:00.000-04:00

It is SO cold already. There was snow on the ground when I came home from work! It's still October.... Is it obvious that I am thoroughly unprepared for winter? I really dislike being cold.

Moving on however, it is very nearly November. November, is quite literally, just around the corner. Of course, this means one very important thing, and that it that NANOWRIMO is nearly here. I have made attempts at NANOWRIMO over the past few years. Not once have I successfully, or even NEARLY successfully completed it but each year I tell myself "this is the year, I'm going to finish".

If figure, eventually, this goal will blossom into an actuality. Until then I would like to announce that I once more plan on attempting to complete NANOWRIMO. You guys, this is the year! I don't really have any idea yet as to what I want to write, but the intention to write is there...

In addition, I would like to announce that I will be blogging EVERY DAY in November. Several months ago I was searching the interwebs looking for new blogging ideas/prompts, and I came across a 30 day Harry Potter blogging challenge that looked like fun. So, since there are 30 days in November, I've decided that November is the month that I will complete this challenge. Plus, it's a good source of accountability. Not only can I complete the challenge, but I can also update my NANOWRIMO progress so that this year I just might stay on track.

It's going to be a busy, crazy month, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I'll talk to you soon.

Week 42: Rough Week Ends With A Nail-Biter

2011-10-23T00:21:00.000-04:00

I am so incredibly thankful that this week is over. The last several days have been a little rough, and that's putting it mildly. But I don't want to delve into that.

At least I got to end the week by seeing the MSU Spartans defeat the Wisconsin Badgers. Oh my goodness, did you watch that game? Talk about a nail-biter!! In general I think that close games are the most interesting to watch, but that game was even a bit too close for me. While there is something exhilarating about being driven to the edge of your seat and something equally captivating about the suspense of the potential to lose... let's be honest, everyone prefers to win.

But the Spartans really pulled through tonight. What a spectacular win!

I just started reading Scott Westerfeld's "Goliath" last night, and the goal is to have it finished by Monday... roughly speaking. Maybe Tuesday, but we'll see. The point I'm coming to here though is that basically in the last two weeks or so I've devoured this trilogy and while it's cool to be able to read it straight through without waiting a year or years between installments, it also leaves me thinking WHY didn't I start reading it sooner?!

Scott Westerfeld's latest Steampunk trilogy, which began with "Leviathan" is SO good. It's late, and I can't formulate a proper review at this point, though hopefully eventually I can begin communicating in effective sentences, but I'm telling you that you need to check this series out. It's such a fun read!

On that note, I'll talk to you soon!

Week 41: Online Degree, The Future

2011-10-15T20:06:00.000-04:00

I'm not really sure how it is that I managed to really start looking into finishing my degree online. I mean, I've considered it, but I haven't really taken the opportunity to sit down and investigate the options that are out there. It's definitely something that I need to continue considering and investigating.

It's just, I'm not really sure what it is that I want to do. There is an extent to which I'd like to finish what I've started as far as my degree in Journalism, and yet there's another part of me that wonders if that's wise when I'm not 100% sure that's even the direction that I want to pursue anymore. I mean, yes I really enjoy writing, but as I found during my year at MSU being a Journalist is about SO much more than writing. Anyone can write, and being a Journalist isn't about being a stellar writer anyway (although it certainly helps).

Do I even have what it takes? I know I do, that's a challenge that I can rise to. But... It's just such an investment of time and money, and the future is so uncertain no matter what choice I ultimately make. This isn't anything I'm going to be making a definitive decision on right now.

I guess the point that I'm coming to, or at least my original point before I became mired in all this inner dialogue, it that if I can find a legit online program then it would serve my interests at the moment, because I don't really have the time or the flexibility to take 'traditional' classes. Working full time doesn't allow me the flexibility that working part time did, but I can't afford not to be full time. It's the catch 22 of life really.

For now I'll continue to look into the whole online degree thing. Do you know anyone that's ever completed a degree online? What did they have to say about it?

I'll talk to you soon.

Week 40: Lost For Words, Just Trust Me

2011-10-09T00:12:00.000-04:00

Last night I finished reading Maureen Johnson's latest book, "The Name of the Star" which is the first book in her new series "Shades of London". It's such a good book, and I'm SO excited for future books in the series.

I have just spent a solid ten minutes trying to find the proper words to explain just how good this book is, and quite frankly I've found that in that department I am a little lost for words, so until I figure out how to effectively sell you on the series you'll just have to trust me, the books awesome and you need to check it out!

Aside from that I'm on disc 2 of the fourth season of 'How I Met Your Mother' and LOVIN' it. I wish I had gotten into this show when it originally aired because it is hilarious.

At any rate my day has been uneventful but productive and relaxing, and that's ok because you need those kind of days every once and a while.

I'll talk to you soon.

Week 39: Early Mornings and Lazy Days Part 2

2011-09-25T12:00:00.000-04:00

Let's pick up where we left off last night shall we?

So, we got my car to the Ford dealer. Once we got inside we let them know that we were looking for a second opinion after having taken it to the independent place down the street. They asked for a description of what exactly it had done before refusing to move, and so we once again explain the whole situation that had occurred in my sisters driveway Saturday night.

Based on our description they seemed to be inclined to think that it was a timing issue. They took my information and promised to look it over the following morning and give me a call. Before heading home dad and I went to look over what used cars they had available, particularly what Ford Fusions they had to offer.

Since it is impossible to look a cars in a dealers lot when they are open without being approached by a dealer, we were approached and asked if there was anything in particular we were looking for, so we let him show us the used Fusions that they had.

The had one that was kind of a shimmery tan/gold color just marked down. It was a 2007 and had brand new tires. It was right in my price range. We ended up taking it for a test drive, and once we got back sat down to fill out the paperwork to at least see if I'd be able to get financing on it either on my own or with my parents. It never hurts to at least see. Right?

By the time we left there the dealer that I had spoken to had promised to call me the next day and let me know if I had been approved for financing, and the man in the service department had promised to call and let me know what was REALLY up with my Ford Focus.

Thursday morning, I was STILL on the 6am shift, but even by my lunch had not heard anything about either car. By the time I got out of work I called my parents, who had found out that it wasn't the engine that had gone bad in my Focus. Rather it was the timing belt, suspension belt, and the water pump which all amount to less than $700.00.

This sounded much more reasonable then a blown engine. It blows my mind that that guy said my car had a blown engine, it really does. Guess who won't be getting any more business from me...

By the time I got out of work I also had a message left from the dealer that dad and I had spoken with. I was approved for financing on the car, and all by myself too! I wouldn't need my parents to co-sign! The question then boiled down to what I wanted to do.

In all honesty, I've been drooling over the Fusion's for a while. I've really wanted one, but haven't had any reason to get one. But this one was perfect! It was the right price, in great condition and would help me really built my credit history. Plus, this whole situation really showed us all why it would be useful to have another car.

It made it difficult to keep up with four adult schedules when we only had one car between three drivers. It wasn't impossible, but definitely difficult.

As it turned out, we decided that the perfect solution would be for me to go ahead and buy the Fusion, and then my parents would repair the Focus and keep that because in all honesty it would be cheaper to fix the Focus than to buy another new used car later and my Focus is in fantastic condition, considering.

So that's what we've done. I bought myself a brand new used car and am absolutely loving it! It's funny sometimes how seemingly bad situations work themselves out sometimes. This past week has been such a strong example of the blessings that God can create in our lives, and we don't even realize it until we look back later.

It's fascinating to take the chance every once and a while to take a step back and look back at where you've been, and just see the blessings that God has created in your life. He is so good, all of the time.

But anyway, I spent the early hours of Thursday afternoon on the phone with the dealer and our insurance company ironing out details, and then that evening I went in to the dealer and signed all of the necessary financial paperwork. While I had been there when we signed the papers on my first car, this felt so different. It's strange to encounter these situations that you've never before encountered such as buying a car on your own for the first time. It's such an "adult" experience. You know what I mean? There was just something very surreal about the whole thing, but surreal in a good way.

By the end of the night Thursday I drove away in my new Fusion.

Friday, thankfully was the last day of my 6am shift, at least for last week (it starts all over again this week), and by the end of the day I was pretty tired.

Yesterday I spent most of the morning catching up on sleep and just generally lazing around. At noon I watched my Spartans beat the Central Michigan Chippewa's (45-7!!!) and then proceeded to catch up on YouTube videos in my subscription box along with my other usual Internet travels. Like the title implies, yesterday was my lazy day, and I'm sure today will include a fair bit of laziness as well. Perhaps today will be the day I finally finish reading my latest book...

I'll talk to you soon.

Week 38: Early Mornings and A Lazy Day Part 1

2011-09-24T22:48:00.000-04:00

When you work in retail you spend a certain amount of time, at a certain time of year, preparing for the busy holiday season which basically begins on Black Friday and lasts through the first few weeks of the new year. This prep time is important, because if you don't spend the proper amount of time prepping you'll never catch up once business starts really picking up.

At work we have hit that point in the year where we begin preparing. We've started making the proper layout adjustments to the setup of our floor, adjusting the placement of product and moving out the old to make room for the new. This kind of preparation means that I've been working the early shift all week, as in 6am early...

Now, of course, there are perks to working such a shift such as getting out in the early afternoon and getting the entire weekend off. These things, of course, are nice. The thing to remember here though is that by the end of that shift, not only are you tired because you've been up since 6am (and probably didn't sleep much the night before if you're like me), but you've also got the rest of the day ahead of you.

This week, most of my days after work were filled with various errands and most importantly hashing out the debacle of my car. As you may recall, last Saturday my car mysteriously died and we were therefore forced to push it from my sisters driveway to the parking lot of a local mechanic.

Seriously, Saturday was only the beginning of the craziness that was going to take place this week.

So Monday, since I was at work as of 6am, my mom called into the mechanic and let him know that my car was in his driveway and the key in his drop box. She also filled him in on WHY it was there, obviously. Of course, he had a pretty packed schedule for the day and said he probably wouldn't be able to get to it until Tuesday, which even though it wasn't ideal for us, mom said it was fine because really what else could you really say?

Within no more than an hour the mechanic calls back with a diagnosis. According to him the engine was blown and it would cost nearly $3,000.00 dollars for him to replace it. Obviously, I was a bit stunned with this diagnosis, and dad was a bit hedgy as to the veracity of it. How could it possibly be the engine? There hadn't been any oil when we popped the hood, it hadn't been leaking oil, and I take really good care of it. I get oil changes regularly. How could it be the engine?

Then of course it was down to weighing the options. There was no way I was paying this guy nearly three thousand dollars to put a new engine in. There is just no room in the budget for that. So then I started researching what it would cost to buy an engine myself and have my cousin install it. That would be manageable, but do I want to put that kind of money into this particular car? It might be better to get a new used car.

The more we considered the guys diagnosis and how quickly he had come to it the more unsure of it we became. It just didn't sound right, you know? By Tuesday night we determined that we wanted a second opinion, and that if it was the engine then it would be best to buy a new used car as long as I could get financing one way or another.

With this plan in place, my mom called in to the mechanic on Wednesday, because once again I was working the 6am shift, and asked if we owed anything for him looking at the car and let him know we planned to come in that evening and pick up the keys/car. He said that there was no car, and asked what we planned to do with the car. Rather than say that we planned to get a second opinion, we told him we were going to push it to the Ford dealer down the street and see about a trade-in. He said that with a blown engine they probably wouldn't offer us much and asked if we'd let him know what they did offer.

This, again, made me a little suspicious. We think he probably wanted to buy the car to fix it up and re-sell it.

So we get there, and he had told us my car would be moved out of the back lot and we'd have access to it, but we don't see it anywhere. Dad and I go inside and tell the woman at the counter we are there to pick up my car, and she at first has trouble finding the key. She does eventually hold up a key and ask if it looks like that one and would be untagged.

I tell her that yes, that is my key and she hands it to me and says that we are all set. But then, we remind her that we actually need to know where the car is... So doesn't know either, so she heads out into the back to ask someone else, having re-taken my key.

She tells us it is probably in the back lot and they will drive it around, and as she leaves dad and I look at each other and wonder how they are going to drive a car with a blown engine around front. We wait a few minutes before heading outside to wait by my dads van. As we are waiting and looking towards the back lot, she yells over to us that the car won't start and they have to jump it. How do you jump a car with a blown engine? Of course it won't start, that is why we brought it here. That is why we PUSHED it here....

We wait another minute or so, and then head back inside thinking she and this other guy don't know the real deal with my car. She isn't at the counter, but we stand there and wait in case she wanders back so we can clue her in to why the car may not be starting. I'm looking out the front window when all of a sudden I see my car drive out into the front. HOW DID THEY DRIVE A CAR WITH A BLOWN ENGINE AROUND TO THE FRONT!

I tell dad that they've just driven my car around, and we both go out to investigate. The guy that drove it around has popped the hood and is looking under it when we approach. He says that it's "running rough". No, really? He says that in order to keep it from stalling out, you have to drive it with your feet on the gas and brakes at all times.

With this tidbit duly noted I jump into the drivers seat and put the car in gear. I drive out of the driveway with my feet on gas and breaks. Dad is right behind me in the van as I turn onto the road. The car stalls out halfway to the dealer, and so dad pushes it the rest of the way just like Saturday.

And that is where my tale stops this evening. But I promise there is more, and if you click back tomorrow you to will know the rest of this fascinating story. Until then, I have some reading to catch up on and a desk to finally clear off.

I'll talk to you soon.

Week 37: In Which I Apparently Have A Lot To Say

2011-09-17T22:47:00.002-04:00

It’s been an eventful two weeks. This is not an excuse for failing to blog last week however, it is merely a statement of fact.

Last weekend Sarah and I drove up to Clarkston for three days, to go to two concerts. The first one we went to was the Uproar Festival on Friday (9/9/11). We didn’t go see all of the bands that were playing, but we got there around six and saw the four bands that we were most interested in seeing: Bullet For My valentine, Seether, Three Days Grace, and Avenged Sevenfold.

That concert was so much fun! We’d previously been to a concert at the DTE, but last time we got general admission tickets, which essentially is lawn seating, which isn’t really seating but more standing in a hill outside the cover of the pavilion. That was crazy, and we determined it was an experience not worth repeating. This time we paid the extra and got seating in the pavilion. It was so worth it!

There just aren’t words that do the experience justice. Each of the bands were great, and if you ever get the chance I definitely recommend seeing Avenged Sevenfold live. They were phenomenal.

I took a few videos that give you an idea of the experience, but really don’t do it justice. (Seriously, you just have to go!)

Here’s my playlist:

Saturday was a free day, since we opted to get a hotel room and stay in Clarkston rather than making the drive up and back home twice within the span of one weekend. We checked out the Great Lakes Crossing mall, which was huge, and made a stop in to best buy to pick up larger memory cards for our cameras.

Then, because we had the time and it sounded good, we went to Steak and Shake. Mostly we went to try their shakes, which we had heard were really good (And they are!!) but we also each got cheese fries (or chili cheese fries in Sarah’s case).

Then we just kind of drove around the area. It was a nice day and we didn’t have anywhere to be, so why not?

But there was some excitement early in the morning on Saturday. We had each set alarms on our phones to go off between/around 11:00-11:30. There was no need to be up SUPER early after all… So, we were both surprised when the hotel provided alarm clock started BLARING at 5:30am.

We each startled awake, Sarah turn on the lights and we haphazardly tried to read the teeny tiny directions on how to operate the clock that were located on the tray attached to it. After a minute or so I noticed there was a button on the front of it that said “Alarm OFF”.

I hit that, and then we each attempted to catch a little more sleep.

So, right. That was exciting. But that brings us to Sunday. We had breakfast/lunch in the late morning. We had to be checked out of our room by 11:00am.

After grabbing something to eat we drove up to Birch Run to check out the outlets up there. It was gorgeous out, though admittedly a bit warm. Overall it was a nice day, and the trip involved a lot of walking. We just spent the day generally hanging out and relaxing until heading to the concert around seven.

Sunday (9/11/11) was the 89X Birthday Bash and featured My Chemical Romance and Blink 182. Again, so much fun! This was the first time that I’d seen My Chemical Romance, and they were SO good live. I’d previously seen Blink 182, but I must admit, I really don’t know many of their songs aside from those that have been singles on the radio…

I did take one video of My Chemical Romance performing, and again it’s SO much better when your actually there. You’ve GOT to go, I’m telling you!

Here’s the video:

So, that was LAST weekend. This week, was not nearly as exciting, well that is, until today. I worked until three this afternoon, so my day started early and was rather uneventful, aside from you know, working. The exciting portion of the day started once I got home.

I got home just in time to catch the Michigan State v. Notre Dame game, which I was fairly excited to watch. It was actually, as a Spartan, a bit painful to watch. It’s not so much that they lost, it’s just…. I mean did you watch the game?

So, yeah, obviously, watching your team lose isn’t exactly the most fun in the world. But, wait, it gets better. Literally the minute the game ended my dad gets a phone call, from my mom, who had borrowed my car to go get my niece.

My car died. It would not start, and since everything was working, the lights weren’t dim or anything, it’s not the battery. I mean, anyway, the battery is brand new. Or, practically brand new. We don’t know why it wouldn’t start, but it wouldn’t. You put the key in and turn it and all it would do is make this awful sound.

So, they left my car in my sisters driveway thinking maybe it had overheated and just needed to cool off. About an hour later dad and I went with the intent to retrieve it one way or another because for reasons I’m not going to get in to there was no way that’s where my car was staying.

Of course, we first attempted to start it again, to no avail. Instead, we put it in neutral and pushed the car out of the driveway. Once we got it to the end of the driveway, we made sure it was positioned correctly on the road and then I quickly jumped in and hit the break so it wouldn’t take off before we wanted it to.

Do you like bumper cars? I don’t mind them, but I prefer not to play bumper cars with my ACTUAL car. So, most of the way was downhill, which actually worked in our favor since, you know, my car wouldn’t start. But every so often we would have to go up hill. This was interesting because I’d be coasting along and then my car would momentarily stop and begin rolling backwards. I’d hit the break to slow it down a bit and then once it made contact with the front bumper of my parents van dad would give me a little push.

Thankfully the garage that we’ve previously taken it to, to be worked on was just around the corner. So, for the moment my car is hanging out at the repair place, and Monday we’ll put a call in to see about having them look at it and see what’s up. Thankfully we’ll be able to work things out so that we can all make it to the places that we need to be on Monday even though we’re down one car. (One car of two that is.)

But, things always seem to work out one way or another. I mean, really, what can you do? While this whole thing is kind of crazy, you can’t help but laugh and take it all in stride.

By the way, did you notice the new “logo” header thing? I made that this afternoon. Well, I started making it last night, and then finished it this afternoon. What do you think? It was time for an update, the other one was just a tad out of date.

I’ll talk to you soon.

Week 35: The Book Talk Tag

2011-09-02T22:55:00.005-04:00

The other day I watched this video on YouTube, and thought it'd be interesting to answer the questions here, so I'm going to. I've pasted the video in for reference, and my responses, as you can see appear below.

The video that inspired this post. Click here to see, because I couldn't figure out how to embed videos now...

1. What are you reading right now?

Right now I am reading "Department 19" by Will Hill. I'm about 100 pages away from the end and loving it so far. I'll probably finish it before bed tonight. I definitely recommend checking it out.

2. What's on your to-read list?

There are a TON of books on my to read list. In fact, I have a whole shelf dedicated to books that I have yet to read. We'd be here all night. A great place to see what I have read, or intend to read though is my Good Reads Account.

But, for the sake of answering this question, the very next book I intend to read is "The Girl in the Steel Corset" by Kady Cross.

3. What genres do you prefer?

I always feel like it's a cop-out to say that I read everything, or just about everything, but it's true. I guess really what I read the most is fantasy. About 80% of the books that I own or have read are fantasy/sci-fi.

4. Must-have books in your library?

Again, there are a ton of must haves in my library, but I'll limit myself to two authors. Tamora Pierce and Jane Austen are most definite must-haves in my personal library.

5. Three of your favorite authors?

Oh dear, these questions are so hard! Only three?!

Ok, so the first one would definitely be Maureen Johnson. I am always so captivated by her characters and the crazy situations that they find themselves in.

Number two, Patricia Briggs. I absolutely ADORE the Mercy Thompson series. It's just so incredibly good, and each time I finish one of her books I impatiently anticipate the follow-up.

And, ok, my third favorite... Libba Bray. She is such a great story teller. I love spending an afternoon (or the better part of what are supposed to be sleeping hours) getting lost in her books. She is simply astounding.

6. Guilty pleasure books?

The twilight series. I will not lie, I was completely captivated by them, and have a feeling if I were to pick it up again would be captivated by it all over again. I don't know how to explain what the appeal was... But in the moment of reading them I definitely had moments where I thought that they were just SO good, and then immeditely after finishing the final one I began to wonder what I had been thinking. *shrugs*

7. What do you think about current trends in literature?

When thinking this question over, the major trend that comes to mind is the way that certain authors/publishing houses seem to be jumping onto trend bandwagons. What I mean here is when a certain book, or general plot seems to be doing well, you suddenly see a TON of books that all seem to have a premise similar to that original.

The thing is, is that eventually you find that the writing isn't stellar enough to keep you interested as the plot devolves into the same plot that you've read lately in several different series, and that each of the series show no signs of coming to a conclusion anytime soon.

I hate it when a series doesn't know how to end, because as much as you can love a set of characters within a story, eventually enough is enough. I'm sure you all know which books I'm talking about. There have been a few series already that I've started and stopped reading 3 or 4 books in because it seemed like there was never going to be a resolution.... (Each of those series are now up to at least 6-7 books now, and STILL show no signs of stopping...)

So, yeah. Those were my responses to The Book Talk Tag. You should leave you're answers in the comments, or on your blog and leave a link for me in the comments... you know, if you want to. Anyway thanks for reading!

I'll talk to you soon.

Week 34: Taxidermy lamps, A Kayaking Adenture and A Contest

2011-08-26T00:55:00.004-04:00

I work in retail, and in my particular retail department we sell lamps. We sell a wide variety of lamps, but today I would like to talk about a particular kind of lamp that we have sold in the past.

At this point I can’t remember exactly what the name of the lamp was, but it was essentially a taxidermy lamp. The base was made out of a (rather large) glass jar, and inside was a diorama featuring a taxidermy bird.

I know there was one that had a Quail in it, and I want to say that there was one featuring a duck…

So anyway, the other day I had a customer who was looking for floor lamps that my store carried aside from the ones that I actually had in store. I pulled up our website, and as I was browsing for floor lamps I noted some of the rather… odd lamps that we currently have to offer.

Later in the workday I mentioned some of the lamps to a co-worker, who recounted a customer having recently come in seeking the taxidermy lamps that we used to carry. Since we can no longer get those, she offered to search Google for possible leads as to where they could potentially seek out a taxidermy lamp to complement those that they already have.

Have you ever Googled “Taxidermy Lamp”?

Probably not, because let’s be honest, why would you? But let me tell you, some of the results are truly bizarre. So I have told you all of this, so that I could show you this, because quite frankly now that I have seen it, how can I possibly keep the image to myself? That would be selfish of me.

Now that I’ve, in all likely-hood, horrified you completely I’ll tell you about today’s completely awesome adventure. Despite initial fears that the lovely Michigan weather would once more annihilate our plans, several friends from work and I finally got to go kayaking, and we had a blast.

I actually turned out to be a gorgeous day out on the river. Because none of us had been out on this particular river before, and two of us hadn’t ever been kayaking before, we took the shorts trip, which was about an hour and a half long.

Once we’d paid for the trip and signed the necessary paperwork, we loaded up in the of the parks vans and they drive us to the launch point. After having us strap into life vests the staff gave us a hand getting into our kayaks and we were off.

Not too long into the trip we were joined by a rather friendly duck who was content to float along-side us. She stayed close to Sarah for quite some time… We figure she probably thought that we had food for her.

We kept a pretty leisurely pace, chatting and taking pictures and just generally enjoying the scenery. At one point we noticed what was either a Crane or a Heron hanging out over by the bank, and near the end of out trip we spotted a swan.

The first swan sighting wasn’t too bad, since that one was a ways away from us. The second one was hanging out under a bridge that we had to go under to finish our course. It was a little close for comfort, I think for both us and the swan. But everyone (including the swan) kept cool and there were no swan incidents… so that’s a plus.

The tail-end of the trip was probably the toughest, because though the water was really fairly clean, the water near the landing dock really wasn’t. The water there was full of these plants that made it super hard to paddle. It was a real work out trying to navigate through them!

All in all it was a lot of fun, and next time we go we’ve got to take one of the longer trips because it was over way too quickly this time around!

I rounded the day off by entering a contest over at Claire Legrand's Blog to win “Steampunk”, an anthology that a lot of totally awesome authors contributed to. If you are so inclined you should definitely check it out!

I’ll talk to you soon.

Week 33: Vivacious Lady

2011-08-15T23:08:00.004-04:00

My weekend was amazing, largely because I did absolutely nothing. It was nice to take a few days to just kind of relax. I didn't leave the house much, I read a few books, and I watched a movie or two. It was bliss. Pure and simple.

I spent much of Saturday reading "Eona" the sequel to "Eon" by Alison Goodman. Oh. My. Goodness. SO GOOD! There really aren't words to convey how engrossing, and just generally amazing these two books are. I was completely captivated by the first, and was hard-pressed to put the second one down. If I were to describe these two books in one word it would be Epic.

If you're looking for something new to read I definitely recommend this duology. It's absolutely fantastic!

It was near noon or so when I originally sat down to read. The house was completely quiet since the rest of the family was out and about for the morning. It's not often that I get the house to myself. So just out of curiosity I flipped on the TV and shuffled through a couple channels.

This is when I ran across the Turner Classic Movie channel. It just so happened that this month they are featuring a different star everyday, and Saturday they were featuring James(Jimmy) Stewart. When I flipped to the TCM channel the 'Vivacious Lady' was just starting, and within the first few minutes of the show I was hooked. What a cool movie!

This trailer that I found on YouTube gives you an idea of the film if you're not familiar with it:

I watched that, and then returned to my book. By the end of the day I finished reading "Eona", and once again I want you to know I was blown away. I mean, what are you doing? You need to read this book! SO GOOD!

Having finished my book, and yet too caught up in what I had just read to even think about starting another book right away, I began obsessively searching the Internet trying to find 'Vivacious Lady' on DVD, or maybe even on netflix. As it turned out this was no simple task.

I couldn't find it anywhere... until I finally did late Sunday night. A copy is now on it's way to my house. I'm excited! In between searching for this DVD and beginning a new book, which I may talk about in a later post as I haven't formed too many opinions of it yet, I watched 'Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation' on netflix.

Again it's an old black and white James Stewart movie. It was a cute/funny movie and I thoroughly enjoyed it. That put's my current James Stewart movie count at four. In addition to the two that I've previously mentioned here, I've also seen 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and "The Shop Around the Corner", each of which are absolutely delightful.

So that's what I've come away with this weekend, a handful of book/old movie recommendations. Have you read/watched anything particularly great lately?

I'll talk to you soon.

Week 32: Missing Flash Drives and Memory Lane Therapy

2011-08-12T22:55:00.004-04:00

After a week of working 4am's, getting a full night's sleep last night was heavenly. I don't know how people that regularly begin their day at 4am do it. They say your body adjusts to it, but I don't know... not mine I guess. All I know for sure is that there is no way I could work that shift long term.

as you may have ascertained today was my day off, and if you didn't, well now you know I guess. It was a glorious day of doing absolutely nothing, at least nothing that I had to think too much about. Sometimes it's nice to just be able to sit back and not have to think. You know? Am I right?

It's been quite a while now since I moved back home from my year at MSU. A little over a year in fact. I distinctly remembered bringing three flash drives home with me in the move, but of course could not recall where I had stowed them upon getting home. Let me remind you, more often then I'd like to admit my memory fails me. The point here, is that I've been missing these flash drives since about the time that I moved home, but I knew that they made the move with me because I distinctly remembered packing them to make the trip home.

I have remembered them off and on over the course of the past year, vaguely noting to myself that I was sure that they were here, and also that each of them was loaded with information that I wasn't really interested in losing. You know, stories and poetry, essays, music back-ups, photos... those sorts of things. The drive I was most interested in finding was the one with all the things that I have written/am in the middle of writing.

There are YEARS worth of writing on that drive. It would be no small tragedy for me to lose it, because stupidly, that data isn't stored anywhere else.

So yeah, I cared that I hadn't been able to locate these drives, but determined that I didn't care enough to go to the trouble of really undertaking a search for them. That is, until today, because what the hay, I had the day off.

Early this afternoon I began my search.

I began by sifting through the boxes at the top of my closet, which to be honest, I should have known that would be a fruitless search because it wasn't all that long ago that I went through and organized them all. Had these drives been in any of those boxes, I would have found them a couple of months ago. But I looked anyway.

This of course led to me coming across a box full of cards that I have received over the years. Birthday cards, Christmas cards, Thank you cards, Thinking of you cards... I have a plethora of cards. Is this strange? Do you hold onto the cards that people send you?

Even though I don't often look over them, I still like to keep them, just in case I might ever like to look at them, because sometimes I do. Sometimes I like to lose myself to a moment of nostalgia, to take a moment and reflect on where I've been in relation to where I am. When I find myself feeling like I'm stuck in a stand-still it's important for me to look back to see how far I've come in order to remind myself how far I have to go. When I was younger I used to feel stuck in a stand still a lot, so when I start to feel that way now I can remember those times and remind myself that it takes time to move forward and I just have to be patient even if that hard to do, especially when that's hard to do.

So, right. The flash drives where not in my closet. So I moved on to my filing cabinet. This has a ton of stuff that I've filed away from Elementary-High school as well as the mission trips that I have participated in. Once again, it was time to take a moment to traverse memory lane. But like I said, for me, moments like this are therapeutic.

Going through my "files" also gave me an idea of what to do with all of my cards. At one point in time, for some purpose now unknown, I bought a mini binder and mini plastic sleeves. I unearthed this bind in my hunt for my flash drives and it just clicked, that binder is the perfect size for cards!

At some point in the fairly near future I plan to organize my cards into binders. A kind of card scrapbook/ memory thing. It's a step up from storage in a box at the top of my closet anyway... Searching through my closet and filing cabinet took most of my afternoon, and though I wouldn't call it completely fruitless, I did not find what I had ultimately been looking for.

Rather than search further though, I took a break, and I told you all of that, so that I could tell you this... I FOUND THEM! About a half an hour or so ago I decided it was time to sit down and blog, and that I was going to tell you all about my failure to locate these flash drives, but before I sat down to write I took a second look at a cabinet I have hanging near my door. I had looked at the tin that I have sitting in this cabinet earlier today, and considered looking in there for the drives, but then discounted that idea. Why would I have put them in there?

Indeed, why did I put them in there? I have no idea. I will never know, except that I did and that is where I found them. My advice? Never make assumptions, if you think you put something somewhere, check it out no matter how crazy you think it would be for you to have placed it there, because that's probably where it is.

Oh, and just to dispel the elephant in the room, no I did not blog last week. Yes, I was supposed to, and I have no excuse for not following through last week. I will try to do better in the coming weeks.

I'll talk to you soon.

Week 30: A recap, a return... no excuses.

2011-07-26T22:06:00.005-04:00

One might perhaps call my long absence an epic fail as far as my blogging goal this year… and I am not here to disagree. I am not even here to offer an excuses, because I happen to abhor excuses. But perhaps I may renew my attempt for what remains of the year, and begin that renewal by relating to you what exactly I’ve been up to in my absence.

It would be pointless, for one to even attempt to recount point by point my time spent away from blogging, not to mention boring. However, here are the highlights, the cliff notes version if you will.

There was a span of roughly a week that I spent in Texas. It was a spur of the moment trip that I took for work. I was asked to travel there to assist a new store in opening. It was a quick turn around in that within only a few days after to agreeing to it I was boarding a plane an on my way.

This was my first time flying, and I must say that I was initially super nervous about it, but it wasn’t bad at all. Each flight went really smooth, and ultimately I really enjoyed the experience.

While the hours we worked while we were down there were long, it was a lot of fun to be able to help a store get ready for their open. I really enjoyed working alongside the people that would be working down there, and giving them ideas as to how we run things in our own department here in the MI.

Plus the weather there was gorgeous! The locals thought we were a bit crazy, because for them the temperatures were a bit cold, but considering we took this trip during the first week of April, their weather was much preferable to our freezing temperatures.

The next notable event of my absence was the All Time Low concert that Sarah and I went to at the end of April at The Filmore in Detroit. It was so much fun, and such a great show! All Time Low was the headliner, but The Summer Set, Hey Monday, and Yellowcard were also at that particular date.

There just aren’t words, I’m telling you…

I took a photography class this spring.; it lasted ten weeks, and just ended two or three weeks ago. It was a lot of fun to finally take the time to really learn how to use my Digital SLR camera. I bought it when I graduated (4 years ago, can you believe it? I can’t!) and just haven’t taken the time to really play with it.

I mean, yeah I took a photography class my senior year, but a manual camera is a lot different than a digital. More so than you would think… But ultimately I'm glad it's over. It was a bit much taking a class two days a week, considering I had to fit it in with a full time work schedule. I'll finish my degree, eventually.

I have all the time in the world after all.

But really, at this particular point in time, the most exciting thing is that I went and saw the final Harry Potter movie last Friday. I can hardly believe that it’s done, that the final movie has come out…. Let me tell you, it was SO good. I loved it from start to finish.

I didn’t find it quite as emotional as the book, but I’ve never found the movies to play on my emotions the same way that the books did. That’s not to say that that is a completely bad thing, it just means that there is no way to really accurately compare the books to the movies. It’s best to consider them to be separate entities.

Anyway, this is my lack luster reemergence into the world of blogging. I’ve taken the moment to give you a brief catch-up, if you’re out there, what have you been up to in my absence?

I’ll talk to you soon.

Week 9: Rainy Days

2011-03-05T00:19:00.003-05:00

My wish from last week may be coming true as I type. It's been raining steadily for the last few hours. Perhaps by morning there won't be anymore snow in sight? One can only hope...

Although, the absence of snow equates to mud everywhere. We are still in for a bit of snow according to reports, though nothing substantial. Winter is finally starting to give way to spring. It's a slow, steady transition.

For tonight it's raining, and there are rumors of potential thunder. I love a good thunderstorm. The rain is calming to fall asleep to. At least in my opinion.

I need to get into better blogging habits. Every week when I sit down to blog I can remember times earlier in the week when I had ideas of things to write about, but didn't sit down then and write, or even take notes on my thoughts. Then I sit down to actually blog, and wouldn't you know it, I have no idea what my ideas previously in the week were.

Ah, the life of the absent minded...