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| | A Dog's Prayer... | | | Thursday, July 17, 2008 (6:49 PM)
(I'm feeling sad) | | A Dog's Prayer
To Those I Love & Those Who Love Me
When I am gone, release me, let me go-
I have so many things to see and do.
You must not tie yourself to me with tears,
Be happy that we had so many years.
I gave you my love, you can only guess
How much you gave me in happiness.
I thank you for the love you have each shown.
But now it is time I traveled alone.
So grieve awhile for me if grieve you must,
Then let your grief be comforted by trust,
It is only for a while that we must part,
So bless the memories within your heart,
I will not be far away, for life goes on,
So if you need me, call and I will come.
Though you can not see or touch me, I will be near.
And if you listen with your heart, you will hear
All my love around you soft and clear.
And then, when you must come this way alone,
I will greet you with a smile and "Welcome Home".
Dedicated to Sierra, my sweet baby puppy.
You will always be in my heart.
09/12/01—7/13/08 | | | 30 Views | 8  Thumbs Up | 6 Comments |  |
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| | Taking Things For Granted | | | Saturday, July 12, 2008 (11:52 PM)
(I'm feeling thankful) | | | I tend to do that when everything in my life is going well…I take every gift or opportunity for granted. I don’t even acknowledge all that I do have. I have a lot. I have a good family, good friends, an okay job for now, shelter, food, transportation, clothing, and all these other extras that I enjoy on a regular basis like the internet, cell phones, movies, music, etc. What I have realized is that the biggest thing that I take for granted is my health. See, in the past couple of weeks, I have had no voice. I am not talking figuratively…I mean literally. At first, I found it rather amusing that when I tried to talk, all that came out was a gravelly whisper. Even after clearing my throat, the sound resembled a very high pitch noise like a donkey bray. No joke. Yes, it was great fun for everyone at work to poke fun at me. And forget about talking on the phone. I thought it was funny too until one day, as I was driving home, a great song came on the radio…and I couldn’t sing along. Totally. I couldn’t sing at all. Tears came to my eyes. This was another thing in my life that I took for granted. No, I don’t do it for a living. It isn’t something that is important to get by financially and socially. The world will not come to an end if I can't belt out a Bonnie Raitt song, but it is important to me…it is a stress reliever and something that makes me happy. Without getting into too much detail about my illness that lead to my squeakiness; a combination of my stress level, lack of sleep, and already existing allergy issues somehow turned into an all-out war on my respiratory system. For the past three weeks, I have battled a cold which developed into bronchitis….which in turn played havoc on the rest of my body. So, not only have I lost my voice…I have lost my spunk. Yes, spunk. I have taken my spunk for granted, as well. Unbelievable. There is not enough medication in the world to give me my spunk back. That is one of the reasons I haven’t been making videos in the past few weeks. I have been around but my heart has not been completely in it. I am starting to feel better now but not completely. I can talk but it will take a little longer for my singing to come back. Coughing, sneezing, and wheezing can really do a number on those chords. I have realized how much I took singing for granted. It gives me joy, and when it was taken away briefly, it made me really sad…even if it is just singing along with the radio on the way home. How many more things do I take for granted? I need to make a list so that I can make a point of being thankful everyday. Maybe not right now. I need to try and get some rest so I can kick this thing. Now that I am relaxed enough to sleep, I better take advantage of it. Hot honey lemon tea and Vicks VapoRub...another couple of things I have taken for granted…good night. | | | | 28 Views | 8 Thumbs Up | 4 Comments | |
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| | One Time In JR High | | | Monday, June 30, 2008 (10:28 PM)
(I'm feeling thankful) | | When I was in JR. High, I had to deal with a bully. Yes, that's right...a bully. It was a socially exasperating point for me as a teenager. Up until then, I got along with all types of people whether or not I completely understood them. Never really had conflicts or fights with the exception of my family...but outside that, people liked me and this brought on an unusual confidence in me. I was not overly smart but had a good sense of humor. Was not outstanding in anything...only average. Had a handful of close friends but not “popular”. Dabbled in sports and music but I was never really labeled as either a “geek” or a “jock”. I coasted by and stayed under the radar when it came to conflicts because it wasn’t my style. I was never very confrontational or argumentative and so life seemed easy for me when I interacted with people in general. Except for this one instance while in the 8th grade. A new girl in school named Laurie Briley decided she did not like me and was going to torment me in every possible way. To this day, I still don't know exactly what it was about me that set her off, but she evidently hated me and made sure that I knew it. It started with very ridiculously catty remarks in the hallways to class. There was the occasional shove or trip in the lunchroom. When she was not getting the reaction from me that she wanted, she turned it up a notch with physical threats of the utmost kind from her and her cohorts...it was so very “after school special”. It was that kind of “beat you up after school” nonsense that really seemed so peculiar to me. I had a hard time believing that people would really talk to me like that. I never retorted or pushed back in any way because I didn’t feel like wasting my time and besides, our school had a "no tolerance" policy towards fighting so I really didn't want to embarrass myself by getting caught up in that foolishness and get suspended or expelled. I felt that ignoring her was the best way to handle it and hopefully she would get bored and move on. Unfortunately, my aloofness actually fueled the fire. I avoided her every chance I could but she stepped over the line one day when she hid my clothes while I was showering after class in Phys. Ed. Stepping out of the shower with just a wet towel and trying to find my underwear hidden somewhere in the locker room while all the other girls sat giggling out of fear instead of coming to my aid just totally turned my switch on. She had gone way too far this time. I could deal with her rude comments and childish antics, but you don’t mess with a girl’s underwear. I didn’t consider her a bully but rather a nuisance. I wasn’t afraid of her or any of her threats of physical harm…I grew up with four older brothers and could hold my own. I was more afraid of the negative things she might bring out in me. Growing up in a house of adults made me learn to be very quick with the tongue. I could really throw out some verbal zingers when tested. But she didn’t know that about me…I sure didn’t want that to come out of me from anger. What bothered me the most was why she hated me so much. She went out of her way to find me and call me names (which made no sense) and make up things that I was supposed to have done to her. I never said or did anything to her. In fact, we never really interacted and she didn’t know me at all nor did I know her. How could she know me when she was so busy trying to hurt me and I was trying to avoid her? Nothing she said really did hurt me because it was all so untrue and anyone that knew me also knew that she was just spewing lies to get attention. Then I began to realize that she assumed things about me and the fact that she couldn’t put me in a category really bothered her. I don't know for sure if she was jealous of me but she assumed things about me by the people I interacted with and the way I dressed. The fact was…she knew nothing about me or my life. I felt sorry for her but I was tired of having to deal with it so I decided to confront her. Her time for bullying me was over. The next day at lunch, Laurie and two other girls walked near to where I was sitting with my friends. I stood up in front of her so she couldn’t get by, looked her right in the face and said, “I don’t know what your problem is with me, but I am tired of the way you are treating me. If you really want to fight me, that is fine but I don’t think you really want to because you can clearly see I am not a wimp. You seem to be picking on me because you think you that you have me all figured out. I am tired of your threats but most of all, I am tired of dealing with your ignorance, so just back off. I have done nothing to you. This is all going to stop right now.” About that time, a couple of teachers that were within earshot started to walk our direction. She looked at me and then looked at the teachers coming toward us. “Fine”, she said and walked away. The teachers came up to me and asked if everything was alright. I said everything was okay. Laurie never bothered me again.
All this time, my friends were very aware of what was going on but stayed out of it. There were moments when I was very upset that they did not get involved. Now as I look back, I am glad that they stayed out of it. The fact is, I knew what needed to be done and their silent support was enough. There was no real reason for them to get involved. It would only have brought trouble for them, too. It wasn’t their fight and nothing they could have done would really have changed that. The whole situation wasn’t about our friendship and whether or not they “had my back”, it was about my struggle with this insecure girl that I had never experienced before. It was a learning experience for me and I even knew it back then.
I know that there are times when you see someone you care about struggling and you want to jump up and get on the band wagon to support them because they are your friend and you want everyone to know it, but I learned even back in JR. High that ignorance only has the power that you give it. Real friends will allow you to fight and win your own battle if it is worth fighting. Friends are there to listen when you need to talk about it but most of all, laugh with you when the absurd situation is all over. Otherwise, the more people needlessly involved can turn it into nothing more than drama to entertain the masses.
| | | | 34 Views | 4 Thumbs Up | 3 Comments | |
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| | Sunday Funnies | | | Sunday, June 8, 2008 (7:21 PM)
(I'm feeling happy) | | This one always amused me...
| | | | 31 Views | 4 Thumbs Up | 2 Comments | |
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| | The Summer | | | Monday, May 26, 2008 (1:53 PM)
(I'm feeling rejuvenated) | | So, I haven't been on LiveVideo for about 4 or 5 days. As much as I am happy to be here and interact with my online friends, I definitely have missed out on real life in some respects. I almost hibernate every winter from any social interaction and choose to stay in the comfort of my own home in my flannel pj's...alone. LiveVideo has been a good thing to occupy me because I could still socialize, in a way, without leaving my comfort zone. But now, since the weather is warming up rapidly, there are so many things I want to do this summer that don't include sitting at home. In just a matter of weeks, I have come out of my winter slumber and started making plans. The most interesting thing is that I have become the social planner of my group of friends. In the past, I usually just tagged along with whatever other people were doing without really making any plans and just show up to when I felt like it. This summer is different. I am the planner, the ticket buyer, the reservation maker...the social butterfly, so to speak. I think it must be some type of metamorphosis from being the poor single divorced girl that usually went nowhere to being the one in the middle of the action. It is sad to admit, but I have been divorced for almost two years and since the separation, I have still been living like a married couple....but all by myself. I woke up one Saturday morning about a month ago and realized that wasn't me anymore. It was time to get out there and enjoy life. I know the summer will keep me busy if I allow it, so I won't be on LV as much for the next couple of months. I do have a couple of video projects I am still working diligently on, but other than that...I will be around less this summer. I have lots of baseball games to watch, concerts to attend, karaoke bars to visit, and rivers to canoe down. For the first time in a long while, I am excited about the summer again. Hope your summer is great, too!! Take care, my friends.
This picture was taken from a scenic overlook not far from my house. The trees were beginning to turn green.
| | | | 40 Views | 6 Thumbs Up | 3 Comments | |
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| | More midweek fun | | | Wednesday, May 14, 2008 (3:50 PM)
(I'm feeling cheerful) | | FUN QUIZ!!!
The average person only gets 7 correct.
This is based on U.S. info, so use all lobes of your brain.
This can be more difficult than it looks - it just shows how little most of us really see!
There are 25 questions about things we see every day or have known about all our lives. How many can you get right? These little simple questions are harder than you think-- it just shows you how little we pay attention to the commonplace things of life.
Put your thinking caps on.
No cheating!
Can you beat 23?? (The average is 7)
Write down your answers as you go.
Check answers (on the bottom), AFTER completing all the questions.
REMEMBER - NO CHEATING!
That means no looking at your phone or anything on your desk...
LET'S JUST SEE HOW OBSERVANT YOU REALLY ARE.
FEEL FREE TOO LEAVE A COMMENT TELLING HOW MANY YOU GOT RIGHT.
OR NOT....IF YOU ARE TOO EMBARRASSED...LOL.
Here we go!
1. On a standard traffic light, is the green on the top or bottom?
2. How many states are there in the USA? (Don't laugh, some people don't know)
3. In which hand is the Statue of Liberty's torch?
4. What six colors are on the classic Campbell's soup label?
5. What two numbers on the telephone dial don't have letters by them?
6. When you walk does your left arm swing with your right or left leg? (Don't you dare get up to see!)
7. How many matches are in a standard pack?
8. On the United States flag is the top stripe red or white?
9. What is the lowest number on the FM dial?
10. Which way does water go down the drain, counter or clockwise?
11. Which way does a "no smoking" sign's slash run?
12. How many channels on a VHF TV dial?
13 On which side of a women's blouse are the buttons?
14. Which way do fans rotate?
15 How many sides does a stop sign have?
16. Do books have even-numbered pages on the right or left side?
17 How many lug nuts are on a standard car wheel?
18. How many sides are there on a standard pencil?
19. Sleepy, Happy, Sneezy, Grumpy, Dopey, Doc. Who's missing?
20. How many hot dog buns are in a standard package?
21 On which playing card is the card maker's trademark?
22 On which side of a Venetian blind is the cord that adjusts the opening between the slats?
23. There are 12 buttons on a touch tone phone. What 2 symbols bear no digits?
24 How many curves are there in the standard paper clip?
25. Does a merry-go-round turn counter or clockwise?
SCROLL DOWN FOR THE ANSWERS
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HERE ARE THE ANSWERS
1. BOTTOM
2. 50
3. RIGHT
4. BLUE, RED, WHITE, YELLOW, BLACK & GOLD
5. 1, 0
6. RIGHT
7. 20
8. RED
9. 88
10. CLOCKWISE (NORTH OF THE EQUATOR)
11. TOWARDS BOTTOM RIGHT
12. 12 (no #1)
13. LEFT
14. CLOCKWISE AS YOU LOOK AT IT
15. 8
16. LEFT
17. 5
18. 6
19. BASHFUL
20. 8
21. ACE OF SPADES
22. LEFT
23. * #
24. 3
25. COUNTER
| | | | 36 Views | 4 Thumbs Up | 3 Comments | |
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| | Midweek Silliness | | | Wednesday, May 7, 2008 (5:58 PM)
(I'm feeling silly) | | Crack open the fortune cookie for today's message.
Hope the rest of your week is great!! | | | | 45 Views | 4 Thumbs Up | 2 Comments | |
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| | Insomniac's Paradise | | | Sunday, April 27, 2008 (9:21 PM)
(I'm feeling optimistic) | | Is there a song with that title? If not, we should write one.
Saturday night was one of those nights that didn't show much promise for me getting any sleep, so I opened a live show on a whim. We had a blast! I played music, we laughed, we had some interesting conversation, shared trivial tidbits...even danced. So, if I am going to have one of those nights where I can't sleep, then I would much rather be doing something like that. Hanging out with friends. That is one of the best ways to spend a sleepless night, in my opinion. The room was full of energy until the last hour and my eyes couldn't focus on the screen anymore. Where else can you go and hang out with people until 4 in the morning and everyone is still happy to be there? Not many places. Nights like that make me glad that this site is here and offering more for us that are willing to stick it out even when we see a lot of stuff that we don't agree with. I was content with it just being a video-sharing site, but a person needs to try new things if the opportunity arises (as much as I hesitate around new opportunities). My experience Saturday night reminded me that this site is what we allow it to become in our lives. It can remain a positive place where creativity, talent, love, friendship and fun is around every corner....OR...you can let it become everything else that causes chaos and negativity. I choose the first option. An insomniac's paradise. | | | | 42 Views | 4 Thumbs Up | 2 Comments | |
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| | LiveVideo In The Ranks | | | Saturday, April 5, 2008 (5:24 PM)
(I'm feeling indifferent) | | LiveVideo seems to be creeping up in the ranks of web traffic. So what does that mean for us, the community? Well, it means we will have to either endure the fact that people that are constantly "live" on the front page are going to be the ones that get the most exposure...OR we are going to have to deal with a ridiculous amount of no faced users assuming that everyone on this site is here to entertain them with adult content. I had a live show Saturday afternoon and while I was hanging out and playing a trivia game with folks that I interact with regularly because I have my liveshow set to "friends only"..I during that time, had 17 friend requests. Only one was actually someone that had a fairly updated profile with a face and several familiar users already on their friends list. The other 16 users were older males, had no face, no profile info to read, and the only friends they had to date were thinly clad ladies with a pound of make up on their face (or body...who really knows). So, I am thinking...no, I don't think I would be interested in being your friend at this time. I am afraid that this is what is becoming of my video site...the one where my internet family hangs out. I don't want it to be a place that I don't feel comfortable at. I hope that I am not alone in this.
| | | | 64 Views | 2 Thumbs Up | 1 Comment | |
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| | What A Dog Can Teach Us | | | Tuesday, March 18, 2008 (8:08 PM)
(I'm feeling content) | | Remember, if a dog was the teacher you would learn things like:
When loved ones come home, always run to greet them. Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride. Allow the experience of fresh air and
the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy. Take naps. Stretch before rising. Run, romp, and play daily. Thrive on attention and let people touch you. Avoid biting when a simple growl will do. On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass. On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree. When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body. Delight in the simple joy of a long walk. Eat with gusto and enthusiasm. Stop when you have had enough. Be loyal. Never pretend to be something you're not. If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it. When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently. Be always grateful for each new day.
| | | | 64 Views | 4 Thumbs Up | 2 Comments | |
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