Daily Random Ramblings with Briar

A Sister's Mutation

2008-06-19T01:12:00.004-04:00

It has been happening slowly, subtle at first, then picking up speed. A gradual mutation from one entity into another. My persona has twisted and I have morphed into.....a mother!

No, I am not really a mom, I'm still a little too young for that (in my opinion anyways), but I have been acting like one more and more. I'm kinda tired tonight, so I'll keep the explanation quick. You see, this summer has been different than any of my other summers. Usually I head down to the Florida heat and bugs during the summer to visit my family down there, however, this year I decided to stay in Virginia. My Mom is working this summer for the first time in around fifteen years, and she desperately needed someone to watch the kids in the mornings. This is where yours truly comes in.

I figured, hey, they're just my siblings and my mom is willing to pay me, not much, but any additional income is welcome (college kid remember), so I can watch them in the mornings and work in the afternoon. Little did I know that I would be giving up my identity. I no longer feel like their big sister, I feel like their mom. I wake up and cook them breakfast, spend several hours doing various activities with my brother (My sister is withdrawn. It''s a phase.), cleaning the house, and cooking them lunch. I am also the one who has all of my siblings friends and parents phone numbers to contact them by. I am the one talking to all of the parents, setting things up, getting to know them, and making sure it is okay for my siblings to come over.

My mom comes home, I go to work, and when I get back the kids are usually still awake. So I then proceed to read my brother his bedtime story and say his prayers with him. After that I go and talk to my sister and watch TV with her for a while, before she crashes and I do this blog. Do I sound more like a sister or a mom? I feel more like a mom. -sigh- Oh well, at least I'm getting in practice. So much for keeping it quick, huh?

~If there is any specific topic you would like me to write about, send me an e-mail at BriarBlack@hotmail.com~

Bloody Mary

2008-06-18T01:27:00.002-04:00

There is a legend which every child has heard. It strikes fear into the hearts of many, and nightmares are inevitable. It is the legend of Bloody Mary.

I'm pretty sure you already know how the tale goes, but let me give you a brief recap, just in case. A woman named Mary was murdered somehow, the legends all vary on the method, but it is always a brutal murder. Now they say if you go into the bathroom, turn off the lights, and say Bloody Mary three times (sometimes while spinning), Mary will appear in the mirror and scratch your eyes out!

Now, most of us human beings of average intelligence or more pretty much agree that going into a bathroom and chanting some woman's name three times, isn't going to do much. If your spinning, you might make yourself dizzy, but that's about it. Try telling that to my sister.

My little sis has a friend sleepover last night, and about midnight it starting storming. I mean thunder, lightening, wind the whole nine yards, so they decided to tell ghost stories. Well, one thing led to another and we ended watching a creepy Supernatural (TV series) episode called Bloody Mary. Which is obviously about the legend of Bloody Mary. Anyways, we watched that, it spooked my sister a little (so I thought) and we went to bed. Today, my sis and her friend decided to say Bloody Mary three times in the bathroom with the lights off. Smart move after scary yourselves senseless the night before, right?

Since then my sister has been taking paranoid to a whole new level. She refuses to be in a room with the door closed alone, lights on or not. She jumps at the slightest sounds and is convinced she keeps seeing/hearing people outside our doors. Of course, my brother and I aren't helping the matter, but come on, she is making it way to easy for us not to antagonize her. Even our Mom pulled a joke on her. It is just that easy. Hopefully she'll mellow soon, because she is not getting in bed with me tonight. She is a cover thief. Till next time.

~If there is any specific topic you would like me to write about, send me an e-mail at BriarBlack@hotmail.com~

A Woman's Metamorphosis

2008-06-17T00:02:00.003-04:00

There is a certain time that comes upon every woman, oh lets say, once a month, when something causes her to change into an entirely new, much more terrifying creature. You know what I'm talking about. Something snaps and that lovable, sweet woman you used to know suddenly grows fangs and tries to take your head off!! Well, the worst of that time of change is upon me right now, and while I am in this state I tend to come of as mean instead of humorous. So, just for tonight I'm going to skip a formal blog and by tomorrow night I'll be feeling just like my old sarcastic self again. Please bear with me folks. See you tomorrow night.

~If you have any specif topic you would like me to write about, send me an e-mail to BriarBlack@hotmail.com~

Ancient Argument of Global Importance

2008-06-16T02:08:00.003-04:00

There is an argument raging through our world. It spans contents, divides families, and destroys all who cross it's path. The ancient argument is..........Batman verses Superman!! Yes, yes I know. This is a dangerous subject to touch upon, but that is a risk I am willing to take.

The answer to this all-encompassing question should be clear to every sane person on the face of this Earth, and perhaps Planet Bob (Titan A.E.) as well. Batman takes Superman stomps him into the ground, continues to pound until he is a fine powder, and then scatters him in the wind. Needless to say, Batman wins hands down. Batman is clever, a genius really, he is ambiguous which makes him interesting, and the man is 100% human and still manages to kick some serious bad-guy butt! Not to mention he has the whole "cool factor" going for him.

That and the outfit. If you're going to wear tights (not something I'd recommend) which would you prefer: bright red and bright blue or dark gray and black? Ummmm......let me think........dark gray and black please! Batman also has a distinct and, well, dark personality that people can connect with better than straight-laced Superman. Batman shows the gray areas of a superhero, while Superman only shows black and white images.

Everyone Superman is a complete and utter boy-scout. In fact, he makes boy-scouts look bad. The man is just that perfect and strait-laced a.k.a. "stiff". Seriously, what kind of personality does Superman have? No, obsessing about Louis is not a personality trait. Besides fitting the role of the "good guy" what is his personality like? Any takers? No? That may be because besides being the stereotypical "nice good guy" he doesn't have much of a personality!! Much less a personality flaw! Uh, Mary Sue anyone?

While Batman is a human, an extremely tough human mind you, but still human that beats the bad guys at a personal risk, Superman is like typing the "God Mode" cheat into a video game. The man can't be beat. Think about it. He is indestructible against everything from fire to bullets, he can fly, he is "faster than a speeding bullet", shoots laser beams out of his eyes, has super hearing, and only one teeny tiny weakness: kryptonite, and they had to make that up.

Did you know that originally Superman had no weakness? They had to event one for him, a sucky one at that. The man is still the "God Cheat" of superheros. Which, really, really, really annoys me. Louis isn't all that great either, and personally I think she should file stalking charges against Superman. His obsession with her is kind of weird. Perhaps that is just me though.

Bottom line: Batman is awesome, Superman should be shoved into a corner somewhere. Thank you and have a nice day.

~If there is any specific subject you would like me to write about, send me an e-mail at BriarBlack@hotmail.com~

Heaven is at.....Brewster's?!

2008-06-15T00:31:00.003-04:00

It started out as a perfectly normal day. Nothing unique had happened, unless you count grocery shopping at Sam's Club for over two hours unique, which it is definitely not in my family. I never expected to find out where the gateway to Heaven was from this little planet of Earth. Then I went to Brewster's. I walked casually up to the window, decided I should step outside of my plain chocolate comfort zone, and ordered New York Cheesecake ice cream. The angels began to sing.

I couldn't believe it, one taste of that delicious ice cream and the angels let out of chorus of beautiful song, light fell from the sky to shine upon the ice cream and I, and for a moment I was lost in its wonder. I don't know how Brewster's managed to steal some of Heaven, but they did. Oh, how they did. I yammered on and on about the magnificence of the ice cream for an hour after the last of it's celestial taste faded from my mouth. My family threatened to gag me. I ignored them, as I usually do. My life has been change from that moment out. I have found Heaven and nothing will ever be the same again.

~If there is a specific topic you would like me to write about, send me an e-mail at BriarBlack@hotmail.com~

Computers=The Devil

2008-06-14T01:25:00.011-04:00

Yes, yes everyone knows us bloggers are in love with our computers, but do our computers love us back? Or do our computers lay in wait for a chance to make our lives more difficult, and as soon as they sense weakness they spring!! Then they laugh at us. That's what those beeps and occasional whirring noise are, it's laughter. Mocking laughter.

At least that's the conclusion I've come to with my computer, in any case. I'll be sitting there typing away at my Sunaku (My computer's name. Don't ask.) and she will have been working perfectly all day long. Not a peep out of her. Not a glitch or a slow load. Then all of a sudden BAM!! She freezes without warning. Just as I'm going to hit the save button. Then she beeps at me with her mocking laughter beep. Or she will wait until I'm just about to do something online that I'm really excited about and looking forward to and she starts to move incredibly s-l-o-w and whirs at me as she does so.

The only reason she does these things is because she knows she can do it and get away with it. I am.....errr......slightly dependent on my computer, and I can't afford to buy a new one, so throwing her out of the window is not an option. Not that I haven't thought about it anyways.

Now, I know you're tempted to claim "It's just a computer, it's not doing anything on purpose, you're just being paranoid", but don't let them fool you. They are smarter and much more devious than you can possibly imagine. Here is a warning for computer lovers everywhere: You may love your computer, but your computer is just waiting for a time when they can take you down. It's a conspiracy. I just know it, and deep down, you do too.

~If there is any specific topic you would like me to write about, send me an e-mail at BriarBlack@hotmail.com~

Apology and TV Shows

2008-06-12T23:01:00.004-04:00

Guys I am so sorry for not posting last night!! You see the thing is, I sat down on my sister's bed around 10:00 to watch a few minutes of TV with her, and the next thing I know I'm waking up at 4:00 a.m. Figures right? Then I was a busy little bumble bee all day so early posting was not on the agenda. Well, I'm back now anyways with my deepest and humblest apology. No more watching TV at night for me before I post.

Speaking of television, has anyone tried watching the new children's cartoon out there? I have a twelve year old sister and a nine year old brother, so of course cartoons are constantly on in my home. I swear if I hear one more Spongebob "Who Lives in a Pineapple under the sea?" theme song I may have to do something drastic. Something truly heinous. Such as hiding all of the remotes in the house. That should break them in about fifteen minutes flat. I really and truly hate Spongebob Squarepants, but for that matter I'm not a big fan of most of the cartoons shows out there.

You know what cartoons I remember watching? Cartoons such as X-men, Spiderman, Batman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Hey Arnold, Rugrats, The Wild Thornberrys, Rocket Power, and I'm sure there are more I just can't think about them at the moment. Now what do kids watch? They watch Spongebob Squarepants -shudder- a cartoon about an incredibly stupid Sponge. I mean a Sponge? Come one now, someone, somewhere could have thought of a better creature to base the show around. That and he lives in a pineapple. I won't even start on that one. So they watch Spongebob Squarepants and The Fairly Oddparents. Yes folks two so-called fairy godparents think it's fun to masquerade as a fish and live in a tiny aquarium. I can see they are mentally stable. I say "so-called" fairy godparents because any sane kid that watches that show would probably run screaming if they though that they might get fairy godparents such as these. I seriously think that buck-toothed kid is way better off without them.

What has happened to my beloved Nickelodeon? I loved The Wild Thornberrys, Hey Arnold, Rocket Power, and yes, even the Rugrats to a certain degree. Did you notice that Nickelodeon had multiple shows back then? Not just those four either, they had Doug, Ren and Stimpy and a few others I' m sure I'm leaving out. What do they have now? Spongebob Squarepants and The Fairly Oddparents. Those two, with the occasional Jimmy Neutron thrown in, are the only shows I ever see Nickelodeon playing these days and they're not any good.

The really sad thing about it is, they had two good shows on Nickelodeon Danny Phantom and Avatar The Last Airbender and those are the two they choose to cancel. Oh, Avatar is still technically running, about one new show every three month, and Danny Phantom is over for good. Oh lovely Nickelodeon how the mighty has fallen. Well, it's back to re-runs for me. Thanks for tolerating today's rant. Later.

~If you have a specific topic you would like me to write about, send me an e-mail at BriarBlack@hotmail.com~

Freelancing (again) and Fire

2008-06-10T23:41:00.002-04:00

Well it finally happened. I was mundanely checking my e-mail account, not expecting to find anything other than spam, when I came across it. My eyes widened, I nervously clicked on the message. Then it happened..........I got my first freelancing job!!!

It's nothing major, mind you, but like I said in a previous post, once you get your foot in the door getting freelancing opportunities becomes much easier. Not that I'm going to stop steadfastly applying for all of the freelancing jobs that might hire me on. Slow and steady wins the race. It may take time with things like freelancing, but if you keep at it eventually you will get somewhere. You just can't get discouraged.

Now, onto a completely different subject.

Since the recent heatwave my area has been in, I've made it a point to keep any unnecessary ventures out of my home to a minimum. At least until late evening, because if you don't, you die. You would just spontaneously combust after 3.5 minutes outside. Poof. So, because I am thoroughly enjoying life at the moment, I decided to wait until late evening to go out for a walk. I walked out the door, quietly singing to myself, and almost choked. At first glance it looked like I was standing in the middle of a cloud. A very bad-smelling and dark cloud. Although it didn't take my aching lungs long to realize that I was standing in dense smoke. Now, this was not you little "a bonfire got out of hand" or "someone burnt all of the burgers on the grill" smoke. No, this was "run for cover, oh my eyes" and "should I be calling the fire department, the police, Smokey Bear, anyone?!" smoke. Needless to say my anticipated walk didn't happen. Once I got over my shock at seeing my neighborhood looking like the inside of a chimney, I retreated back indoors like the wimp I am.

Apparently there had been some forest fire nearby (once again, call Smokey) probably caused by this killer heat wave we're having. It had better be caused by that. I swear if it was some brat playing with fire, I will hunt them down and.......do nothing anyone can prove. Luckily we're expecting heavy rain tonight, so by tomorrow the smoke, fires, and heat wave should be gone. YaaY!

~If there is any specific topic you want me to write about, send me an e-mail at BriarBlack@hotmail.com~

Vampires, Sleep, and Caffiene

2008-06-10T00:25:00.003-04:00

This morning I was peacefully sleeping, curled up in my nice soft bed and catching up on some much-needed REM. Completely unaware that sometime during the night my whole family had apparently morphed into vampires. This morning I was woken up from my innocent dreaming by loud hammering noises. At first I thought that neighbors were working on their house again, since they always manage to do that when I'm trying to catch some shut-eye. Then I realized, the noises were coming from inside the house. By this point my curiosity has been peaked and going back to sleep is out of the question, so I drag myself out of bed and go to investigate. I proceed to find my mother in the living room, nailing a black bed comforter in front of the main window, a dark red blanket already covering the side one.

At this point I probably should have beat a hasty retreat back to my room, making a detour to pick up some garlic from the fridge. Instead, I stood there dumbfounded with my jaw hanging open. I suppose she felt my stunned gaze, since she turned around and noted that I was up awfully early for me. Like I could sleep with all of that hammering. She then begins to explain that the house was simply getting to warm during the day with all of that sun coming in through the windows. According to her, she does not want to put excess stress on our air condition. Yeah right. We know the truth. My mother has become a creature of the night and is turning our previously sunny home into her dark lair. That's the only rational explanation. Right?

Needless to say my now vampiric mother had cut in on my seriously needed sleep. So I stumble to the kitchen to make coffee. Yes folks, I am a coffee addict. I will proudly admit to that fact. I am also a sleep addict, but I never seem to be able to get enough of that. Sleep. Sometimes it seems like a distant illusion to me, for when I finally get to bed, more often than not I wind up lying awake with all of the day's activities running through my mind. I get so caught up thinking, that I forget to sleep, and when I finally begin dosing off it's really late, or early, as the case may be. Then when morning rolls around, I am inevitably woken up early by my sister getting up, our large black rat barking (previous post explains), or my vampire mother hammering. Obviously getting the recommended eight hours is out of the question.

That's when I turn to my best friend caffeine for help. It sustains me through the day, and makes mornings bearable. No I don't have a problem, and I'm not jumpy. Stop looking at me like that. Sleep is just a low-cost substitute for caffeine you know. Really. I'm leaving now.

P.S. Here is a link to a funny video that I thought suited this topic well. Enjoy.

Coffee Addict

~If there is any specific topic you would like me to post about, send me an e-mail at BriarBlack@hotmail.com~

Books with time warps and homing beacons

2008-06-09T00:48:00.005-04:00

Sorry about the brief post earlier guys, now here is the real one.

On a side note, before I go into the topic I had planned, my preteen sister found the blog I wrote about her. The scary thing is she didn't get mad. On the contrary when she read the part where I called her conniving, she just shrugged and said it's true and she's not going to deny it. My mind promptly exploded.

Have you ever sat down with a book you were particularly excited about reading before going to bed? You find a nice quite, comfortable location, and curl up ready to lose yourself for a few minutes in another world. Then suddenly you look up and it's one o'clock in the morning!! You stare at the book in horror, realizing it has claimed three hours of your life without your knowledge. Just leeched it away to who knows where.

I have had that happen to me on numerous occasions. I'll sit down to read and hours of my life disappear before my very eyes. Sometimes I think all good books come with time warping devices. Those and homing beacons. I know this is a cliche saying, however, it is applicable in this case: "Sometimes I swear I would lose my head if it wasn't attached to my body." I misplace keys, papers, clothing, jewelry, my purse, but if there is a book I'm interested in reading I couldn't lose it if I wanted to. I'll walk into my room with the every intention of doing something productive, and it will be sitting there. Looking oh-so-harmless, ready to snatch away precious hours of my life as soon as I let my guard down. I'll be searching frantically for my keys, and while the keys have managed to vanish off the face of the planet, everywhere I turn there it is: the book. At times it even seems to follow me. Oh, my family members will claim that I just left it out the last time I was reading, but we know the truth. It's stalking it's reader, waiting for a chance to pull them back into it's time warp.

Luckily for me, I' m a fast reader, so the ever-present sirens call of the book, does not hold sway over me for long. I finish reading it relatively quickly and then run for my life, praying it doesn't have a sequel.

That's why I was so late putting up the latest post, a book had thrown it's time warp over me. See, it wasn't my fault, it was the book's fault. I promise. Really.

~If there is any specific topic you would like me to write about, send me an e-mail at BriarBlack@hotmail.com~

Filler- I'll write more shortly

2008-06-08T23:49:00.002-04:00

This is my very short post explaining that between working on my first freelancing job and getting rather caught up in a new book I lost track of time. I will have a real post up in a just a short while.

Music and Earthquakes

2008-06-07T23:28:00.005-04:00

Have you ever been riding down the road, minding your own business, and sitting peacefully in your car, when suddenly you feel............ an earthquake?! The steering wheel begins to shake in your hands, noise is everywhere, and your car is vibrating. You look around panicked, watching for collapsing buildings, and then, all of a sudden you spot the real culprit: a small red sports car sitting next to you in traffic. The feelings of fear dissipate and two new emotions emerge, annoyance and wonder. How can such a small car blast out music at a volume that makes your teeth chatter? More importantly, why do these individuals feel the need to destroy our eardrums along with their own. I like my hearing the way it is, thank you.

The loosely defined music doesn't bother me all that much in and of itself. I can grit my teeth to keep them from breaking, and last the two minutes or so until the red light turns green. That I can handle. What I can't handle is the lyrics that go along with it. It seems to me that eight out of ten times I can distinguish words amongst the music, they seem to be very derogatory rap songs. I'm sorry, but I dislike having every cuss word under the sun blasted at me against my will. If I had wanted to hear that I would it playing on my station, which I don't. Not only are they blaring cuss words at me, but most of the songs are very degrading towards, well everybody, but especially women. Yeah, yeah, I know that the content of rap songs is an on-going debate about music today and I don't want to start that here. Personally, I believe you should be able to listen to whatever you want. However, just because you want to listen to it, doesn't me that everyone within a two-mile radius wants to listen to it as well. Save your eardrums and turn down the volume.

I do occasionally hear the random country or pop song playing while I'm ducking for cover in my car, and that's not a problem for me. As a general rule, the lyrics to those songs won't be cussing me out while I'm trying to have a good day, so I can let it roll of my back, and even in the rarest of moments bob my head to the beat.

Now, my rant is over and I have about five minutes to post this before I miss my midnight deadline. Like I said in my first post, I am hell bent and glory bound to get at least one post up before midnight every day. Talk to you tomorrow.

~If there is any specific topic you would like me to write about, send me an e-mail at BriarBlack@hotmail.com~

When Anime wasn't cool.

2008-06-06T22:57:00.004-04:00

There is a country song titled "I was country, when country wasn't cool", well, at times I feel like I should rename it "I was anime, when anime wasn't cool." Yes, I admit it. I enjoy watching anime and reading manga, although my obsession has waned in recent years. I just don't have the time for it I used to, or the money. However, in years past, starting when I was around eleven, I was completely obsessed with anime.

I was that dorky kid that got laughed at for pulling out an Inuyasha manga after finishing my work in class, and heaven forbid that you join the anime club. The anime club was minuscule, maybe ten people showed up meetings. Maybe. Then they were mocked for it. Face it folks, anime was not popular. It was not even really socially accepted. I remember my mother asking my why I liked "those witchcraft promoting shows", and my non-anime loving friends rolling their eyes every time I mentioned it.

Now, anime is taking off like wildfire!! Just go to any movie store and you will find that their anime selection is huge, and quite frequently, in large bookstores the anime section is larger than the youth fiction! Talk about a one-eighty turnaround. It's quite common to see people reading manga, and the anime clubs are ridiculously large, and don't even get me started on the cons. When there is a con in town anime lovers come flooding out of the wood work. Quite honestly I don't know where there hiding the rest of the time. Probably under rocks somewhere.

Yep guys, anime has become a popular thing to be interested in. Kinda scary, huh?

~If there is a specif topic you would like me to write about, send me an e-mail at BriarBlack@hotmail.com~

Common Sayings

2008-06-05T22:37:00.000-04:00

Have you ever heard the saying "A doubting Thomas"? I'm pretty sure almost everyone has at one point in time. It is just one of those American idioms that everyone knows. Now, I have just one question: What do Thomas's think of that saying?! I mean, does that saying give them a complex? Do they think that because their name is Thomas they have to doubt everything they hear? I can hear Thomas's everywhere now:

Random Person: Hey what did you think of that movie we just saw?
Thomas: I don't know. I'm doubting.

Honestly, these poor individuals don't stand a chance, and how about the saying "A New York minute"? What makes New York minutes any better than, lets say, Chicago minutes? Are Chicago minutes somehow inferior to New York minutes? Jeez, talk about a superiority complex.

I was also told recently "Close but no cigar". I don't like cigars. I don't want a cigar. If I had gotten the answer right, would they have forced me to take a cigar?! Then I'm glad I answered wrongly, thank you very much.

Then there is the saying "Who let the cat out of the bag"? In that case, I have another question for you: Who put the cat in the bag? Just what was that cat doing in that bag, and does the local SPCA know about this? Somebody alert PETA because people are walking around with bags full of cats! That can't be ethical.

Someone asked me the other day if I wanted "A cup of Joe". No I do not, and exactly what part of Joe is in that cup? Did Joe consent to this, or should I be calling the police? Don't even think about telling me to "to hold my horses" because I have no horses to hold. So good day.

~If there is any specific topic you would like me to write about, send me an e-mail at BriarBlack@hotmail.com~

Preteens: Are they human?

2008-06-04T22:12:00.001-04:00

Looking at my home, you wouldn't think anything scary could possibly exist there. We live in a decent neighborhood, where absolutely nothing exciting ever happens, our home is clean, our yard is neat, and we even have roses growing beside the front door. You would never suspect that there was a monster secretly lurking behind that seemingly innocent front door. Unknown to you, however, there is preteen skulking withing, ready to strike at the first unsuspecting passerby!!

Okay, perhaps that was a tad bit melodramatic, but at times I have serious internal debates about whether or not aliens have abducted my real sister and replaced her with an evil clone. Well, maybe not serious internal debates about alien abductions. My sister, however, has gone through drastic personality changes in these past few months. I really don't know what happened to her. When I went back to college after Christmas break, she was the same sweet, err, semi-sweet girl I had known since childhood. After college let out for the summer and I came back, it was like a stranger was sharing a room with me. A temperamental, over-dramatic, conniving stranger. The scary part about this, is that she behaves as if nothing is different. She raises cain, has crying fits, and then walks around the rest of the day as if nothing happened. Maybe she thinks the whole family has short term memory loss and doesn't remember her craziness. I'm not quite sure.

Don't get me wrong, I love my sister very much, despite her insanity, and I know this is just a phase. So, I'm going to go all sentimental on this blog and say that I suppose I will just have to stick with her through all of this, and help the parents out the best I can. Since they are the ones really lost on how to handle her, but they are getting better at it. As the first child I was the guinea pig, so to speak, so with past experience they are taking her.....ummm......."difficulties" in stride.

As for the title question, "Preteens: Are they human?", the answer is a resounding NO, but eventually their humanity will eek back into their system and you can have a rational conversation with them again. Hopefully. If not, maybe my brother and I can sell her and get a cat. Everyone goes home happy.

~If you have a specif topic you would like me to write about send me an e-mail at BriarBlack@hotmail.com~

Freelancing and Dog Groomers

2008-06-03T22:31:00.000-04:00

Freelancing sounds simple doesn't it? You go online, look up writer wanted ads on various websites, apply and start writing, right? Wrong. Maybe it is that way for experienced freelancers, but for mere beginners such as myself, it is a slow and painful uphill battle. I keep going from freelancer website to freelancer website, looking through all of the advertisements, and applying to any that might be willing to except an unexperienced freelance writer, no matter how hard or redundant the job is. That is the only to get your foot in the door from what I can tell. I just need one person to give me a shot and then I'm in. From that point on I can claim experience and my likelihood for being hired shoots way up. However, for now, I will just keep plugging along and eventually things will work out, and that is the advise I will give any beginning freelancer.

On a less frustrating and more amusing subject, I, the unsuspecting college student come home for summer break and find that my family has decided to buy a dog. I do not like dogs. I do not like dogs at all. I am firmly a feline person, and I want a pet dog about as much as I want a pet slug, but I had no say in the matter. So home I come, and am promptly greeted by this little black ball of matted hair that thinks licking me to death is the proper manner of greeting. Needless to say, I was not impressed. Very quickly I realized that the dog has two distinct hobbies: barking all night and chewing up everything he can find.

After two days I suggested selling the mutt (or dropping him off on the nearest corner) and adopting a cat. My suggestion was quickly shot down. Well, despite my obvious dislike for the yapping creature, it fell to me to take the family pet for his first grooming. So I walked him to the PetSmart right up the road, handed them the dog and asked them to get rid of all of the matts the canine had collected. It seems my family is incapable of brushing his fur. What I left at the groomers was a small black furball, that looked similar to a black teddy bear. What I got back from the groomers was a large black rat. They had shaved his hair down to the skin, and he was quite possibly the ugliest thing I had ever seen. I tried to leave it there, explaining to my mother that he was likely to scare our neighbors. She forced me to bring him home nonetheless. Now we have a destructive and barking rat running through our house. Lucky me.

~If you have any specific topic you would like me to write about e-mail it to me at: BriarBlack@hotmail.com~

My Writing Process

2008-06-02T23:20:00.001-04:00

The writing part is easy, it's the sitting down and getting started part that's hard. I once told that to my English professor when she asked me about a particularly nasty writing assignment I had just turned in. You see, I am the type of writer that will try to do just about anything to keep from sitting down and actually writing. I'll be sitting at the keyboard, poised, ready to challenge my subject head-on, and suddenly I'll decide that it's time for dinner, or I have to go to the rest room. I mean, who could properly write with all of that commotion taking place right outside their window? Basically, if there is an excuse to keep from writing, I have used it. Probably multiple times.

That being said, I am hell bent and glory bound to have at least one new blog up every day. Hopefully more, but that will depend on how busy I am with other activities. Now, because of "my little problem" there is no telling when I will get the blog posted, or how long it will be. There is every possibility that I will post a three-sentence blog five minutes before twelve ranting about why I couldn't/didn't post earlier. Those will be a rare occurrences though. For the most part, I will have a two-to-three paragraph blog up, rambling about whatever subject comes to mind. So stay tuned, I'll be back soon with a new post that will probably much more interesting than this first introductory one. Talk to you then.

~If you have a particular subject you would like me to write about send me an e-mail at: BriarBlack@hotmail.com~