Know thyself, by seeing through another's eyes

If I was able to leave a specific legacy for others to remember me by, it would be for people to understand thy self by seeing yourself through the eyes of others.

The analogy goes that each person lives in their own world, almost trapped in a box of their own making when they can only see what is inside their own mind. Beyond that box is a whole other world, always unknown, sometimes scary and can hurt you but more amazing than ever imagined. But the person only sees what is in their box and not the space outside until sometimes another person comes along and taps, taps the box. The person inside can either box the self in by reinforcing their own world and refusing to believe there is something outside the box or they can let the other person inside. The two people can share stories, get to know one another and become friends. Thus, they open the box together and see a bigger world. This doesn't happen just once but happens each time you let someone enter your life. Sometimes it's ok to stay in a box for a while because the world does box you into a place of hurt but never stay in there too long or you miss out on too much.

From religious intolerance, insecurity and so on, it's more important than ever to let people into your world, not to box yourself in so much and to experience and understand what others can share with you.

It's my wish for myself. It's my wish for the people I love. It's my wish for everyone. It's my wish for the world.  As they say, open the curtains, let the light in.

Sing, sing this holiday song

I admit it--I love Christmas songs.  I'm not a religious person at all and it's better for all that I don't step into such a building on a regular day but I adore the holidays singing programs and have been known to sneak into the back of a random church to listen in and hear the songs.  I adore the reverence in respect of the holiday season, whether the song is religious or secular or just plain fun.  It puts me in that awe and joy of that time of the year to give and get and spend time with the loved ones with trimmings of tradition and mixing of the new.  

So I give you this song to enjoy . . .

Education takes more than 1

I had an appointment to go to my child's parent/teacher conference.  To be honest, I don't feel it's very relevant for me to go to this particular meeting.

Don't get me wrong and believe that I have no concern for my child's education.  I volunteer to help in my child's classroom every so often, put money into fund raisers and such and try to come to all the little special programs.  I'm not an official home room parent but I'm there a good bit of the time.  Also, I talk with my kid.  I ask her how her day went, what she did during different times, who she plays with sometimes.  I'm involved with my best effort to not be smothering at the same time.  

With that fact established, my kid is in kindergarten so I'm not really sure what more can be said besides what has already been said to me about her, her attitude and her education and for the record and nor am I trying to brag or exaggerate, I only ever hear good things about my daughter.  

I went to this parent/teacher conference, not for my benefit but for the betterment of my kid.  I do feel it's important to be involved and you either are in or not.  For my kid, I'm there for her always.  It takes a community to raise a child so here I, as a parent, talk to the teacher of my child.

Plus, it's always great to hear how awesome my kid is.

proud parent!

It's my blog and I'll cry if I want to

If there is anyone who actually reads this, feel free to ignore my post.  I'm going to take advantage of the fact that this is my blog and gripe about my own life.

I'm not perfect.  I have never claimed to be anything near perfect and I do not even try to be perfect.  I do however try my best in everything I do and try to always do the right thing.  In my life, that gets thrown into my face, that I try to be perfect and that I throw my perfectionism into people's faces.  

Example, as of today:  I fell into a really bad cold last week and I'm actually still dealing with the congestion with bouts of a dry throat that lead into coughing fits.  It knocked me out last week so I still get easily tired but I do my best to trudge on.  Life doesn't stop just because I fall il.  I have always had problems falling asleep so it's always been difficult for me to wake up on time in the mornings.  With the lingering side effects of being sick mornings are even rougher.  My husband has always been an early riser though so he usually takes it upon himself to get up and makes sure our 6 year old gets to the bus stop on time.  He usually encourages me to sleep in when I can because he knows there are nights that even though I lay there 8 hours I am still unable to fall asleep.  Today he got up with her.  No problem until she comes home from school wearing just a short sleeve shirt when it is no more than 40 degrees outside.  I get so angry about this for several reasons.  She should have known to keep that sweater on.  I know she had gym and I have no problems with her taking her sweater off during gym class but I harp on her all the time about staying warm so she doesn't get sick so she should have known to keep that sweater on afterwards.  Hubby should have known that his daughter is just like him and she will take her sweater off at the drop of a hat.  It's something he gripes at her right along with me, even if he doesn't always do so himself too.  He defends that she should have known better but I throw at him the fact that he is an adult, he knows the situation and should have made a better judgement call and just gone with a long sleeve shirt on the child to avoid her coming home with sniffles and coughs.  Instead of accepting his partial responsibility, he throws at me that if I want to avoid the situation then I should just wake up on time myself and make sure the child is dressed to my specifications.  

My feelings on this are anger, disbelief and acceptance that people's emotions are important to them than their logic.  I am angry at the fact that this situation repeats itself on a daily cycle.  I love taking care of my child but for her to fall into sickness as soon as I get her feeling better is just demoralizing.  There is disbelief at the situation happening again.  I don't want to see the cycle repeating itself and yet, here we go again.  The acceptance is the fact that even though people, even my hubby, say that even though I can't do everything myself, when I try to allow others to step in and when things go wrong, fingers are pointed right back at me and they demand why I haven't already fixed things.  It hurts when this situation happens all too often and it just reaffirms the fact that I can't rely on anyone but myself to get things done but that is my lot in life. I can do nothing else but accept it.  

It doesn't change.  If things are going to get done I must do it myself as there is no guarantee anyone will do it but whether it's my responsibility or not, the blame will fall on me.  No point in crying about it but I'm allowed to complain every so often.  

Harvest Moon comes and goes

It's the last week of October and just 3 days until the 31st, which is a day that has a different meaning for all.  For most, it is a day of fun and scary costumes with the passing out or collecting of treats.  For some of Mexican descent, it is the Day of the Dead.  Of those with Celt roots, it is the time of Sahaim.  For stores, it marks the start of the holiday shopping.  Shelves are already being moved around to make space for more merchandise.  

I worked retail many, many years ago, so I understand the pressure to make sure a sale is made so the stuff has to be put out early but too many stores were putting out the Christmas stuff right next to the Halloween stuff at about the same time.  I feel insulted for the holiday of Halloween that it couldn't even have a week to itself before Christmas was pushed up front and center.  Poor Thanksgiving may as well be skipped if you went by how much decorations stores use to signify the importance of each holiday. 

I give each day its due respect.  The night will end and the new day will begin in its due time, no sooner or later.  Autumn is ending and winter is coming.  It is time to give thanks to the earth who provides for us, blessings to those who are no longer with us and love to those who are with us everyday.  

  

growing older does not equate growing up great, no matter how bright the star

Child stars are an interesting phenomenon that no one really seems able to comprehend.  They're cute, talented kids but then they grow up and no one quite knows how to handle them.  America wants them to stay the perpetual child but no one wants to stay a kid forever.

There are 3 routes that can be taken.
1. Too much, too fast, not enough parent--The one thing that a parent stresses to a child is that success leads to a fulfilling life so go in order of get an education, get a job and then get married to have kids.  What does one do with his or her life if they become success before they hit puberty?  How does one fulfill their life then?  It's the parent job to instill ethical values to their child because without a direction in life, it leads to boredom and an empty life, which can lead to the drugs, the party and so on.
2.  Too much, too fast, too much parent--It's a parent's job to guide their child, point them in the right direction for success.  In the case of a child star, what if the parent is making all the choices, pushing the child to do things?  As with any kid, whether rich, famous or dirt poor, he or she rebels.  Unfortunately, their meltdowns are public and once again, alcohol, illegal drugs and so on.
3.  Goldilocks area of just enough work for success but enough childhood milestones and caring parents--This area is few and far between but occasionally, the successful transition from child star to success adult happens.

The point of this post?  A person needs goals and values beyond the materialistic point of view.  A child needs to know there is more to life than how much a person makes.

http://wonderwall.msn.com/movies/where-are-they-now-child-stars-16771.gallery

serenity of mind

I once tried to count the stream of thoughts that constantly run through my head.  I actually got up to about 16 and decided to stop as it seems like my brain continues to work on levels that even I'm not completely aware of.  I have scenes of movies or tv shows that constantly play through random scenes, bits of music from different genres that like to make themselves known along with random melodies that  my mind is making it up come out of nowhere.  There are of course random passages from books and stories that like to stream right with the different flashes of stories that I'm personally working on.  I don't even have a number of how many observations I've apparently made of people and their actions and never realized I had paid attention to at all.  That's just the background thoughts.  There's the constant planning of budgeting, to dos, preparations and contingencies.  I've been known to multitask 7 things at a time and not drop the ball of quality at all.

No wonder I'm a pretty severe insomniac.  I can't shut off my brain.  Switch off one thought for it to just be replaced with another and it's a never ending process.  Like any other beast, music seems to tame my mind.  It doesn't turn it off but the right music can speed it up and even slow it down.

Just to share, here's one of my current favs:

and there are more cries heard

I don't understand why asking for help or offering help seems to be the hardest thing a person in modern society can do.  By everyone’s use of common words of 4 letter length, whether the words is appropriate or not, help is a 4 letter word and shouldn't be difficult for people to use it.  Yet, asking for help or giving help without prompting seems like a monumental task of epic proportions, and somehow the act of grabbing a gun, walking into a crowded area and shooting people until they are out of bullets or dead is an easier task.  I wish I could say that I was being witty or any other reason at all by making such an unfortunate comment but I can’t, and you may have no idea how much I wish this is indeed a sarcastic observation. 

It seems to be a common thing these days to turn on the news or open a news website to see a journalism piece of another person who has decided that life is so horrible that they feel the need to take it out on others.  What do they feel they accomplish when they carry out these atrocities?  Do they feel better inflicting their pain onto another person?  Are they trying to get people to notice them or feeling something with them?  Do they really see such a choice as the only choice left?  What has driven them do this? 

Nothing is accomplished from such actions.  There is only an instant gratification of pride when inflicting pain onto another person but it doesn't last, it doesn't fix things and it doesn't make the bad things go away but makes things worse later.  People notice such things being done, when they are involved, but there are a million different ways to make a person take notice of another person in a much more positive way and with that, there are many other options to take that don’t involve inflicting pain on people who have done nothing to harm them.  I imagine pain and suffering has driven them but from such things people can learn compassion and caring.  They just need a little help to be pointed in the right direction. 

Asking for help is not a weakness.  It takes strength to realize that a person cannot always stand by his or her self.  It takes courage for a person to reach out for the help he or she needs.  It takes empathy to remember that everyone needs help and that each person has a time when it needs to be asked for.  Giving help is not a flaw either.  It is bravery when a person puts his or her self out there to be able to give something whether big or small to another person.  It takes understanding to know that everyone needs help and that each person must give help when they can. 

I don’t always succeed but I hope I have helped enough people in big and small ways to put some good out in the world.  My thoughts and prayers are with the people who have been affected by such evil doings, past, present, future and with the most recent deaths in the Navy Yard shootings.  

Back to the Future or something like that . . .

September--it's back to school, which I've mentioned just a week or 2 ago, it's fall and for personal reasons it's beginning of rebirth.  Autumn is my favorite season.  I adore the changing colors of the tree leaves, the cooling of the hot weather, the smell of pine and cinnamon in the air.

This year, my daughter started her first year of school.  Putting her on the bus for her first day of kindergarten was more than nerve-wracking but it's a rite of passage and she loved it.  Of course I was thrilled when I saw her getting off the bus at the end of the day.  It's the beginning of everything and it always gets better, ever since the beginning of my days and now for her.

From school to college is the hope

Speaking of school, I am taking free online courses from https://www.coursera.org/

It's a pretty awesome website if I'm allowed to share.  Courses that are taught from prestigious universities and colleges from not only around the United States but all over the world are offered for free.  There are no current credits to be transferred over but they're working more and more on it and will hopefully be able to do even more in the future.  There's a whole mess load of different subjects that anyone might be interested in from medical to philosophy to music and history.  You have the option of simply sitting in on some high level intellectual lectures or actually joining in on assignments and discussion boards with other students from all over the world.

In case you can't tell, I love it.  I'm currently enrolled in Introductory to Human Physiology.  I can't even begin  to tell you how much I have learned from this class and it's only 3 weeks into it.  Please, check it out, sign up and learn something.  Only a stupid person doesn't try!!

A to Sh--school

It's just the beginning of August and so we begin the Back-to-School era and this year I get to experience it as a parent.  My daughter is heading to Kindergarten.  Not only do I have to the hunt for school supplies, I get to partake in the consumerism of school uniforms.  My head hurts.  That is all.



:(

From Eve to Steve?

I've touched on one "controversial" subject so I suppose it's time that I share my views on an a really controversial topic--gay marriage.

Homosexuality is the current hot discussion of this generation with too numerous side to name.  There are those who believe that it's completely wrong as it goes against the Bible, those who call themselves Christian but are gay and live the life, others who call themselves Christian and are gay but believe it's wrong and refuse to act on their desires and others who say live and let live.  I basically fall into the live and let live category for the most part, which is another way of saying I do indeed support any person's right to live the life they choose to live so long as it does not harm another person's life.

To be honest, I see only positive things in allowing gay marriage.  It's a boon to the economy.  They got money to spend, so let them spend money on weddings.  Yeah, that was the most superficial reason I could think of.  But seriously, you can't help who you fall in love with, it's been said to straight people so why the hell does it not apply to gay people?  It goes against the Bible, you say?  It also says no sex before marriage and that you should only wear one type of fabric, that it's perfectly acceptable to have slaves, women during menstruation are unclean and so on and so on and that's all from the same section that says to lay with another man is wrong.  If you're only picking parts to follow, that's called hypocrisy and thanks for playing our game cause you just lost any right to continue the argument.

The main reason why the US should allow gay marriage is the main reason why the US was created, which is freedom to choose to live life the way you want to, as long as it does not harm another person.  I have a whole mess of arguments that I can whip out to continue to drive my point across but really, I've said what needs to be said.

From Eve to Eve

It was bound to pop up sooner or later. . .I am one after all but I also fit into a couple of categories. I make it a personal goal of mine to break as many stereotypes as possible.  I'll focus on just one tic that always pops into politics--women's right.

You think after thousands of years on this planet, people would realize that people are people, that we have our strengths and we have our weaknesses.  Seriously, some of the things I have briefly glanced at that politicians have said about women and their rights are ludicrous.  I do say briefly glance because if I were to actually keep up with politics my blood pressure would be sky high and my faith in humamity utterly lost.  

In a lot of Asian cultures, males are more valuable than girls. In India, it's not uncommon when a women is pregnant for families try to find out the gender ASAP so that if it's a girl they try to force her to miscarriage whether she wants to or not.  That way of thinking is followed enough that there is a pretty large shortage of girls for each boy. I have heard it goes as high as 10 boys for each girl available but don't quote me on that as I have yet to check those numbers for fear of hearing it is true.  Of course, in the news there were those stories of young females being gang raped, which only reinforced my feelings of not wanting to know how bad it is in that country.  Please understand my desire to hide my head in the sand is not from not caring but from knowing that there is little I can do to change what has happened.  Continuing on with that vein, the gang rapes here in the United States of teenaged girls as they passed out drunk have headlines.  There are continued stories of sexual harrassment of women in the military.  Seriously, women are not the play things of men.  Women are not there for the taking, not to use for the sole pleasure of men.  Women are your sisters, your mothers, your daughters, your family members, whether yours or someone else's.  You wouldn't want another man to brutally violate your mother or your sister or your daughter.  You wouldn't want it to happen to you if you were the victim.  It doesn't matter if she's passed out drunk, or if she started out being ok with the situation. If she says no, it means no. If she can't say no, that is not permission.  

Women are thinking, feeling creatures, as people are.  We do not need to be put in binders.  We do not need to be told what to do.  We can make up our own minds, choose education, make decisions about our own bodies.  Rape is not a choice.  A woman does not choose to be raped like that.  Birth control is a choice.  She does not automatically become a second class citizen the moment she becomes pregnant, whether by choice or not.  I'm not saying that abortions should happen a dime a dozen but there are situations unique to each person and should be considered carefully.  A little bit of logic with a good bit of compromise goes a long way.  

I could go on and on but I've made my two major points and I hope it's been food for thoughts.

Learn Your History, Man . . .

Or you'll be doomed to repeat it!

The problem is what do you do when you can't learn your own history.  It's a situation that not many understand.  After all in this day and age, people are living longer and longer and in some cases having kids earlier and earlier so history is within easy access of simply calling up grandmother or in some cases great-grandmother.  Sometimes, a person doesn't have that though and there's no records of familial history.  The question stands how does one learn of their history if they know nothing of it.

Unfortunately, due to different circumstances, I'm one of those few.  I have never met my own grandparents.  I have uncles and aunts who I have no idea what their names are and likely more cousins than I might ever know what to do with but because of how secretive my parents are and thanks to a cultural barrier, I'll likely never meet them.  It's bothersome to enter a new doctor's office and have to fill out those patient history forms as it's just a reminder that I don't know any of that info.  At this point for all I know I could be susceptible to every disease imaginable and yet I'm forced to live in ignorance about it.  

I may never know my family history but my child doesn't have to remain that way for at least half of her family.  I'm in the process of researching family history.  www.ancestry.com

Curvy, stick . . .am I a road?

I wore a dress a few weeks ago. Yes, it was indeed a miracle of all miracles that I wore a dress but well, I got to shake things up every so often and not let people start thinking I'm all predictable.  Besides, it was my daughter's preschool graduation and my husband's birthday soon. Anyway, I was actually happy with my appearance. It was a nice color, covered everything while still showing that I am indeed a female. I even posted the pic on FB, sort of a proof that I can be a girly-girl just once every couple of years or so. I got a few compliments but honestly, I was posting more for the shock value. One of the comments was something along the lines of: "You go, girl and show off those curves!" I know she meant it as a compliment of being proud of my body but the statement made me really think about such things as body image and all that.

First off, to set the record clear, I'm fairly neutral about my self-image. I don't believe myself to be beautiful but I don't believe myself to be ugly either, but nor do I believe myself to be plain. I'm me and that's easy and more than enough for me.  There is no one else like me, looks or personality-wise and honestly, I take comfort in that. Anyway, the point is that I'm not fat but I'm no way near skinny. Weight-wise, I'm average with being able to wear Medium sizes for the most part. I used to have less weight on my frame but I had a kid and I would rather focus my time and energy on other things than worry about being a smaller size. What I'm saying is that I wouldn't say no to losing weight but it's just not a priority. 

The point of what I'm trying to say is that why is an average sized woman considered to have curves? Shouldn't an average sized woman be considered just simply looking good? When did being stick thin start being called not curvy? Why is being considered above average sized as curvy or big boned? They're overweight. The human body has a limit to what is considered healthy. I just find it completing that body image has no bearing on healthy. Perhaps I'm missing something on this topic?

frenemy, be gone!

Did you have that moment when you realize that this heavy weight on your chest, that you never knew just how much it weighed you down, is suddenly gone?  This weight happens to be the mass of a certain person that used to be in your life.  Yeah, it's like that, but I'm not actually going to talk about any one person or specific situation.  Contrary to popular opinion, I don't trash people behind their back so there won't be details or any even mentioning of things that have directly happened to me.  No matter how vain the other person may be, I'm stating outright that this isn't about them, but about me and this is my blog so I'm allowed to talk about myself.  If I have something to say to someone, I say it to the person.  I actually wish the person the best in their life, as long as this person's life doesn't impede on my own.  What I'm here to talk about now are my own personal feelings about toxic people in general.

To be honest, I'm surprised how much lighter I feel, like I've been released from this trap that I hadn't even known had latched onto me and was squeezing the life out of me.  I hadn't realized how much weight I had given to such a bad situation, how guilty I felt over things that I knew made no logical sense but still worried about other people's feelings.  It was stupid of me really.  It wasn't my fault that my life didn't revolve around these other people and I felt bad about it, but no longer.  I'm free and it feels wonderful.  

The point to this post is an affirmation to myself and about myself.  I started this plan to a "Better Me."  It started out with the turtling myself for almost the past year as I contemplated what I thought of myself, what others think of me and what I thought of them.  I came to the conclusion that others may not be happy with me but that's fine as I'm happy with the choices I've made so far.  It's time that I focused on myself.  I have projects that I want to finish so that's what I'm going to do as I continue to take care of mine.  It's time to branch out again, open myself up to new experiences and all that.  At the end of the day, as long as the most important people around me are happy, that's what matters.  

& yup, here's some angry chick music.  

this is the song that never ends . . .

It goes on and on, my friend . . .No, I'll stop there.  There's no use in torturing you with that song.

I'm suffering enough.  I do indeed have a song stuck in my head.  I usually do have a song, a movie, random unwritten scenes and such running my head on top of my usual thought processes but this singular song seems to have the ability to almost drown everything else in my head.

So that I don't suffer alone, here ya go . . .

Again . . .

We're back here again. Bombs in Boston. . .why? I can only say that I have no words for this tragedy. My grief that this keeps happening is bottomless. My faith in humanity is shaken once again but it is never broken.

For that one person or group of people who caused this heinous act, there are more people who rushed in the destruction to help others who were caught in it. It is those people who reminds that there is indeed evil in this world but good will always endure. It is with those people that I stand with.

My thoughts and prayers are always with those who have been touched by the bad in the world but continue to be kind to all.

God bless you, Boston.

Dream within a dream

Cause that's how I feel. I recently just finished writing my second novel.

That's right second. I did indeed write a first novel, which if I could have my own way, it would never see the light of a printer. It was a story that I needed to get out of my system--part personal fantasy, part semi-auto graphical, part confession. It was therapeutic to get out of my system, even if it took forever to get out, almost 10 years. Once it was done though, it was like lifting a burden off my chest and I was able to move on.

My recently finished second novel took just under 2 years to write. It could most likely be considered a young adult fantasy novel. I adore the story, the characters and the plot. At this point, it needs major editing. I plan on taking a break for a week or more or less to try and catch up on other projects such as finish up a crochet project or 2, play a video game or 3 or even just catch up with some DVD that need to be watched. I doubt I'll actually wait too long before I jump back into the project but maybe a different path on the creative mind scape will appear so I certainly never know what my brain will throw at me. Once the major editing is done, I'll actually allow, maybe even encourage, others to read my work. Hopefully, they can give me some honest critique that will help improve my story in anyway possible. The last step is to actually send out queries to book agents and publishers. I have no idea if my story is good enough but I want to try.

So my dream of writing is just one step in a bigger dream of being published. As they say, go big or go home.

Photo evident

After about 2 years of searching and finding everything else under the roof, the photo album that I had last been working on has finally been found deep in the mines of the storage unit. I spent most of the weekend looking through all the pics that I have taken over the last 4 years, printing them out and arranging them in a semi-chronological order. After finishing that photo album, filling out another 2 albums that had been given to me a long while ago, I still had to go out and buy another album to catch up to the current year. I estimate I spent over $125 on ink, maybe more, and printed about 500 pics. That's a lot and a lot of work. It was totally worth it.

I adore photography. I'm an amateur at best but I really enjoy taking a snapshot of that moment in life so that you always have a visual reminder as it will never be as clear in the muddled human mind.

Vain like me?

It was Valentine's Day so to spend the day with my hubby, I had put my hair into braids while it was still wet the night before so it was all crimpy the next morning and put on some make up that morning. Also, I had recently gotten a new pair of glasses and it was 1 of those few and far away moments when I wasn't feeling completely blah about the way I looked. I thought to myself, 'Why the heck not?' I posted a pic of myself on FB. It's honestly one of the best pics ever taken of me. In fact, the hubby commented that it almost doesn't look like me. I got a lot of compliments. Honestly, I feel weird about getting so many compliments as it's just not something I'm used to.

That's not to say I don't get compliments at all. I have never based my self worth on my appearance. I make sure I am presentable with clothes that are comfortable but not too shabby and not at all revealing. I rarely wear make up. I actually didn't start wearing make up at all until my mid 20s. When I get compliments, it's usually over my intelligence or attitude or creativity and I prefer to be complimented on those things. I base my worth as a person on my skills, abilities and my willingness to work on and for things. I don't see myself as being vain or acting vain and do my best to not come across as vain, so it bothers me when someone even hints that I am.

1 of the comments I got after posting my pic was something along the lines of 'look at you all about pics.' I was like, 'wow, really?' I couldn't figure out why anyone would say I was 'all about pics' in relation to posting a singular pic of myself after I made myself pretty to spend Valentine's Day with my husband. Photography is a hobby of mine and I take tons of pics of people, places and things around me but it is rare that I am in front of the camera. The last pic that was taken of me was about 6 months ago and it was a pic of me shooting a bow for the first time and as it was such a momentous thing to me, I wanted a memento. The funny part is that I never asked anyone to take a pic of me shooting a bow for the first time, a person was simply kind enough to volunteer after hearing me say to myself it would be nice if I did get a pic. Anyway, I just felt it really out of place to have said I was 'all about pics' over 1 pic of myself in 6 months.

So the question is put out, am I vain? Are you vain? Who's vain like me?

Shoot for the moon; if you miss you'll still land amongst the stars

A bit of a corny title but something I believe holds a ring of truth and seemed quite fitting for the topic. I got my archery set. All thanks to my hubby who just a few days before Christmas handed me a wad of cash and told me that with the cash I had saved up so far and the cash I would receive for Christmas, I should have more than enough for the items I want and so still recovering from flu symptoms, we traveled out to Lancaster Archery Supply Store, where I proceeded to pick out my bow of choice, arrows and other such supplies. I chose a lovely single piece Sammick Volcano recurve with a 30 lb. pull back. I also grabbed an inexpensive quiver and just 6 arrows.  I got to test it in the store and it was perfect.



With my lingering symptoms and with it being January but thanks to the wackiness of the weather's temperature, it was less than a week before I could take my bow and really shoot with it. It was cold, slightly windy and drizzling rain but it was still an awesome experience to target practice with my very own bow. I'm not all that good but I can hit the target with semi-accurate intent and I need to build up arm strength but I found the thing that makes the weight of the world fall from shoulders. When I hold up my bow and drawback my arrow, there are no other stresses or worries in that single moment as I focus on getting the arrow to hit the target.  It's an amazing feeling to see that arrow stuck right into the target and I can't wait til it really warms up and I can shoot some more.

fooey the flu!

Honestly, I have no idea if I spelled that first correctly and I doubt that it's in the dictionary for me to even look up so you'll just have to figure out that one on your own.  hee hee.

Anyway, back to the point, I am still getting over the flu and as you can tell I hate being sick.  It's entirely too inconvenient to be sick--taking medicines, carrying around tissues and all that other business about sick just drives me crazy when I've got things to do and not enough time to waste.  I can deal with a regular cold though.  The flu is an entirely other monster, as I was out for the count for 3 days.  I was just lucky that it hit after Christmas and before or during.  It was entirely unacceptable situation as I couldn't focus on anything.  It felt like my brain was oozing out of my nose and my lungs were being coughed out.  What makes the situation even more unbearable for me was that it took over a week for me to get back into shape.  Feeling better was great but having no energy to do what I knew needed to be done was just horrible for me.  

Also, yes, I just spent this post complaining but to be fair, I'm not often sick so I figure it's not so bad if I want to complain about being sick.  I promise a more interesting post next time.