Before I leave you friend, theres something that Ive got to say...

Theres so much I need to put here, and yet I dont really know what to say.
This was one of the best weekends for me in a long long time. It was something I really needed, especially now when my depression relapses are getting much harder to keep at bay.
It felt good to finally feel like I was apart of something. The pancake breakfast tonight was awesome, as always. I dont remember the last time I let my gaurd down like I had done on Friday night.

These last 3 days have flown by way to fast for my liking, but isnt that the way it always is? Heading back to Charlotte...I refuse to call it home... will be difficult, because I truly dont want to go. I wish I could stay. I wish I could find a job somewhere near here. Hell. I cant find a job anywhere else, what makes me think here would be easier?

Anyway, Presby, I dont know if its possible to convey how much you all mean to me. How much I love you. I dont think that a day goes by without me thinking of y'all. I hope it wont be as long as it was last time before I can come back again.

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"Tell me, oh muse..."

About a month ago, I accidentally discovered Loreena McKennit was going to be in Ashville the same weekend I had planned to be in Cullowhee. Okay, a day earlier, but whose counting?

The concert was absolutely incredible. Loreena, of course was great, and so was her band. Especially the cellist and the violinist (Not to long ago I decided if could ever go back to fourth grade and repick the instruments we had to learn in 5th and 6th, Id go with those two, instead of sax and trombone :\ ).

I had never been to one of her shows before, so I wasnt all that sure what to expect. I had heard somewhere that there were two sets, the first being music from the latest album, which the tour was for (in this case Ancient Muse), and the second was other music from previous CDs (Lady of Shallot, Mummers Dance, Highwayman, etc).
This wasnt the case tonight. She played both types on both sets.

I have no idea how often (or if) this happens at her shows, but tonight we had dancers. Other showgoers just got up from their seats, and danced. I first noticed the one during "The Highwayman". There was ample space on the side walkway, under that balcony, and she just danced, swaying and occasionaly leaping to the music. Not a care in the world, not giving a damn of what others thought. A couple of songs later, I noticed movement in the balcony of the other side of the stage. A couple others were standing along the top aisle, swaying. Every few minutes I glanced back, and almost each time another had joined them.
I was envious of them on two counts. One, because I didnt have the guts to do something like that (though I kind of felt like it) and two, even if I did, I wasnt sitting anywhere near and open spot. Just smack in the middle of a row. Yay.

The only negative aspect was the venue itself. The seats were cramped, and for someone like me, it wasnt all that comfortable. Usually, I get aisle seats. Not tonight. The seating made it difficult to just sit back and relax. Hard to do when your knee's slam into the seat in front of you.

Right when Loreena started into her second piece of the evening, "Mummers Dance" the event staff had opened the doors to allow the latecommers in. How distracting! Okay, so they technically waited til she had finnished the first piece, but still...

I stood in line at the merchandise table, trying in vain to decide between the T shirt and the Nights at Alhambra DVD. Come crunch time, know which one I ended up with?

Pah. I got em both. It was very spur of the moment. I had already been standing there with an "uhhh..." look on my face for a few seconds.

I really enjoyed this show, and I look forward to watching the DvD. Perhaps Ill write more when Im not so tired (incoming 1am here), and my mind is clearer.

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New toys

About a week ago, I broke my mp3 player. Sinse it was purchased from WalMart, I made a couple attempts to BS my way into a new one there. Heck knows it worked enough in Sylva.

Guess my luck ran out. The Zen Touch run ended months ago, and Walmart.com hasnt offered it in about as much time. The best I could do was claim that I got it this past Christmas (actually, I got it the one before). I had a receipt and everything.
Thing is, Walmart cant make up thier minds. One says 15 days, one says thirty. Someone also says x amount of months if you have this, this and this.

Screw it. Walmart can go fuck itself, and I went and got a pretty Zen Vision from Circuit City. Squee!

And I got the case. It was on sale.

When loading music, it was easier to dump everything in it, then go back and pick out the stuff I didnt want on there. What started at 3500 songs is now down to 3200. Im almost halfway through.

Now I just need to find a place to get vids.
If I have time this weekend, I have a couple seasons of MASH, Star Trek DS9 and West WIng I may fiddle around with.

Eh, are the video's on iTunes formatted for Pods only?

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Labradoodle's abound!

Im going to let this one speak for itself.

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uh oh

This morning, I spent a couple hours over at the vampires Redcross for my monthly platelet donation. This thing usually takes about a couple of hours, so I came armed with my book and my trusty Zen mp3 player to pass the time. The particular center I visit also has TVs set up for movies, but usually something Im not interested in is already playing (read:chickflick), or the other patrons are perfectly happy watching Dr. Phil do whatever it is he does.

I finished (and passed!) the pre-procedure exam (iron count), and headed to the main area where the chairs were set up. I set my book and Zen on the bench they pointed out to me, and made a quick pitstop. A bathroom break in the middle of a donation is a very. bad. thing. Or, I guess it would be.
Anyway, I came back, picked up my stuff and moved to sit down. I felt it first. The Zen had started to slide, and before I could catch it, it fell to the floor with a clatter.

Shit.

To make matters worse, I dont have a case for it. I got the Zen Touch near the end of its run a year and a half ago, and by that time Zen Micro's were on the market. All the Zen things were made for it. And of course there was iPod stuff.

Although, it didnt sound all that bad, and it landed flat, not bouncing off a corner.

I picked it up, hoping upon all hope that I didnt break the thing. Turning it on, I was relieved to see that it booted.

A minute later, when I went to find a playlist, it was still on the title screen.

Shit. again.

4 hours later, its still sitting like that.

It wouldnt turn on, it wouldnt dock to my computer. It just sits there.

At this point, Im waiting for the battery to die and shut the player down, then try again. If that doesnt work, then I have two options:

1) SOMEWHERE is paperwork and warranty stuff. Plus I got it at WallyWorld, so I might be able to weasle something. But its been to long so I doubt it.

2)Get a Zen Vision M
and yes, the Vision has a nice little skin/case thingy.


29/30

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Genesis 101: Adam, Steve and the Banana

The various ways people translate the Bible is an extremely broad spectrum. Some believe that every single thing it says is precise and clear, not up for debate and must be obeyed regardless. Then there are others who see it as sort of Guidelines (defined ala PoTC), if you will.

All that aside, the non-law based mistranslations are more fun. One of the more commonly 'known' ones would be the Three Wise Men/Kings myth.

Three Gifts? Yes. Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh.
Three king-like people to deliver them? Um, no.
Nowhere in the Bible does it ever say that there were only three people. Besides, would someone with such a high stature as a 'king' be out all on his lonesome with only a camel for company? No again. He'd have a military escort of some kind at the very least, and at the most he wouldve packed up a good bit of his household and drug them along for the ride.

Another amusing myth is the story of Adam and Eve and the Forbidden fruit. In any case that the fruit is actually named (not just called the Forbidden Fruit), its always an apple (never seen otherwise). Apple? Why apple?
Once again, the Bible does not specifically say that Eve got an apple.

For all we know it couldve been a banana. Theres all sorts of kinky things to do with a banana. Maybe God wasnt quite ready to go there yet.


Besides, if the apple really was the forbidden fruit, dontcha think it would be listed right up there with pork as 'list of things to avoid'?





28/30

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Fore!

It recently came to my attention that XM Radio has a golf channel.

...

Um, how exactly does golf get succesfully broadcasted over a radio? I occasionaly watch the sport on TV, and play (albeit not all that well) on occasion.

Sports like Basketball, hockey, football, and Ill (reluctantly) admit it, NASCAR have more or less nonstop action to report and keep you on the edge of your seat if its a good game. Baseball has its potential (I have Sirius, so I wouldnt know).

But Golf?

What would they say? "Johnson hits a drive down the fairway using the three wood, coming in just this side of the rough at 210 yards. He switches over to the 7 iron, and it looks like a nice shot, but the wind is not in his favor and the ball rolls into the left sand bunker"

Yep. Award winning broadcasting right there.

27/30

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Is it hot in here, or is it just me?

Guaranteed way for people (other than your parents) to treat you like your 7: Go out when its (sort of) cold without a jacket.

I am so fucking tired of people (some random) making some comment or another about my lack of extra layers. They either think Im nuts for not having one, or insist that I go back to my car/house/whatever and get it, sense I must have forgotten it.

Eh, 'forget' implies that my omission was not intentional.

I usually didnt bring a jacket because, to me, 50-something degrees(f) doesnt warrant the need for one. It needs to be down another 10 or so for me to consider it. Or just be really really windy.

One of the few good memories of my pre-college life sort of revovled around this. The assistant principal at my highschool was always...amused at this. Id be in school in jeans and a t shirt, jacket stuffed in my bookbag ( I couldnt get away with leaving the house without it, back then). She'd be monitoring the courtyard huddled in these heavy jackets that the football coaches had. She rarely 'told' me to put my jacket, because she knew that the weather didnt bother me. She wasnt blind. No shivering, no goosebumps...though she did get a few laughs at my expense when the wind picked up.
Ms. Perry was one of the (very) few highlights of highschool.

26/30

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MLB has cheerleaders?

As much as I love baseball, I really dont see it as a sport that includes cheerleaders. And yet, there were about 6 of them dancing atop the Reds dugout as they broke for commercial break.

So, I admit, Ive never been to a major league game, so I dont know if it's common. There werent any dancer/cheerleaders at the minor league games. The closest venue is Atlanta, and Ive never had a reason to go there, other than to catch a flight to Miami in the middle of the night. But that was in December.


Baseballs back. Its a new season, and the Chicago Cubs have a new manager. As of right now, the Cubs are in Cincinatti. Bottom of the 6th with one two outs, and the Cubs have a 2 1 run lead.

Im going to stop now, lest I jinx them further with my optimism.

and...no, the pic doesnt reflect tonights game.

25/30

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okay...ow?

I really dont know how I managed it. I was at the gym this morning doing my usual routine with the weight machines. I had barely started. Did a quick run on the elliptical for a warmup, then moved on.
All of a sudden, when I moved to adjust the seating on one, my back almost more or less gave out. It fucking hurt. And I have no idea why. I wasnt doing anything strenuos (or atleast, more so than usual). No extra weight increments yet. Like I said, I had barely gotten started.

I immeadiatly stopped and changed, and drove on to work. I figured sense I was only doing a deskjob, Id be alright for awhile.

Uhh...no.

Standing still kinda hurt. And I realized that sitting down was out of the question. I dont know how I managed to drive home.

Either way, I made copies of stuff that needed copying, and double checked that the info for the next couple days were ready. Then (somehow) managed to get home.

As of now Im alternating between my laptop and contemplating the poster that I stuck on my ceiling when I was 9 or 10.

Pain meds I found arent working. Damnit.

24/30

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Me, I got clown's feet.

You may or may not recall that I tend not to like shoes all that much, and that unless its required by law, Im perfectly fine with going barefoot.

Well, usually.

Being that its the start of 'barefoot season' and my feet have spent a good bit of the winter enclosed in various close-toed shoes, the soles of my feet arent quite as tough as they should be. I noticed this as I wandered across our yard to figure out what Lacie found this time. I can tell you where the rest of the gumballs are though. I stepped on em all.

In another month, this wouldnt be a problem. Even gravel driveways won't faze me.

There is one itty bitty problem though. When I give enough of a damn to try and land me a boyfriend (ush. I hate that term. Is there something else?). I really hope he doesnt come with a foot fetish. The bottom of my feet have various rough patches from this or that, and Im missing toenails. oops.

Yeh. Peticures would help this a lot, but I dont want them to. I was talked in to having one done once. Aside from the fact that I couldnt tell a bit of difference looking, walking over a fucking pebble hurt. Everything had been undone, and I wasnt the least bit happy. Huge waste of $30.

Atleast it wasn't my $30.

23/30

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ESP

Under normal circumstances, I wouldnt even bring it up. Its almost dumb and most people think its bullshit anyway.

But this has been getting really odd, and at 30 minutes til midnight on tonights 30 day deadline, I have nothing else to write about.

Therefore, laugh and/or scoff all you want. Here ya go anyway.

I had a meeting at work today. On the way out, as I was getting in my car "Music of the Night" got itself wedged in my head, starting with the first line. I didnt think much of it. With my affinity for music, its not uncommon for 3 or 4 different songs to be battleing out for position in whats usually an interesting medley of tunes. Anyway, I got in my car, hooked up my satelite radio, and started the engine. What does my radio play? It had just started "The Music of the Night". In the exact same place where it had wedged itself into my skull seconds before.

Thats happened before, though usually with not such precision. Usually Ill hear another song by the same artist, or pick it up in the middle of said song, or...

Yah. You get it.

When I was in college, I would mistake a person for someone else in the distance. As they got closer, I realized it wasnt the person I thought it was (not like I called out to them. Id see them, and be like 'oh, theres Tim....wait, no its not', and move along). But then, often times, within the next couple minutes, Id see whoever I thought it was.

When I was in highschool, I could accurately time my 'Now!' exclamations for when the traffic light went from green to yellow. But that more due to observations of traffic patterns and such that any dormant psychic abilities.


I think I broke the rule about no sucky posts....didnt I?

Oh well.

22/30

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