a real glimpse inside...

I can't sleep... its 4 am and I am supposed to go to church at 10 tomorrow. I'm miserable. I can't help feeling like I've screwed up my relationships. I lie there and wonder. At the very beginning, I tried to put God at the steering wheel of all my relationships. I turned away a really sweet boy because I thought I heard God saying no, he was meant for someone else, not me. I was meant for someone else, not him. I tried to listen to God in every decision I made regarding my heart, who I allow myself to love. But somewhere along the line, I think my voice got mixed into the chaos. I can't remember what God's voice sounds like. I can't remember if He approved of the guys I've dated, or the one I'm with.

A friend of mine told me once her parents offered to arrange a marriage for her (her culture accepts the practice) and she turned them down adamantly because she wanted to decide who she would marry. I'm not a history major, but I am also not an idiot when it comes to history. I know that a lot of marriages sealed alliances between houses, or countries. Marrying for love was only a recent thing. Why should I bother with relationships when thousands of women years ago just got married when they had to? They didn't need love in order to be happy and have children and comfort their husbands when things were hard.

I once thought the reason I haven't been happy in a long time was the fault of someone in particular. But I've been pushing the blame on someone else. I'm the reason I haven't been happy in a long time. I have not been true to myself. I have not been listening to God but I have not been asking God, because somehow, I managed to convince myself that God wasn't enough. That there was so much more out there.

I told myself once that no matter what happened, no matter how much I burned myself, that I would never regret the things I did because there's still something beautiful in the burning, in the experience, in the learning and growing and even making memories from it. But right now... I almost ALMOST regretted not rekindling the first fire because it meant the second and third would not have happened. But then I thought about what my life would be like with that first fire warming me, and I felt so cold and alone, and kicked myself for coming so close to regret.

But still, I can talk and ramble all I want here and it won't change the fact that going to church doesn't help me hear God's voice any more than it helps me hear the tooth fairy. Somewhere, deep down inside, there's a shred of me that still holds fast to the old days. The days when I visited heaven in my dreams, and walked with angels, and heard God telling me when and where and what to pray for. But surrounding that shred, are a hundred thousand sides of me that can't remember God's voice, that doesn't know if He exists, that has despaired so long it no longer cares.

How I miss the old days.

random thought

People spend so much time complaining about how they can't stand country music, but then they turn on the popular hits station and sing along to people like Tim McGraw, Sheryl Crowe, and Leanne Rimes. Hellooooo? Country musicians...

weird mood

I'm having a strange day... I feel simultaneously happy and melancholy.

I woke up and went to pick up my film, then wandered around because I didn't feel like going home on my day off and doing nothing there. I figure its better to do nothing in a new exciting location than at home. I walked down Easton Ave and picked up some bubble tea and met Steve at the hospital as he got off work. He thought I was extra cheerful, which is unusual on a Thursday, with all my confusion and frustration about jujitsu.

But today the kid's class was testing for their next belts levels, and Ben in the adult class would be testing after that. Maybe it was the anticipation of seeing these kids test after they've worked so hard. My group had three that got new stripes on their belts, which was exciting.

Ben tested too and passed, so congrats to him. Or I guess I should say Bengee, which is the name he has given himself to differentiate him from the other Ben. Jujitsu on my end, while he was testing was frustrating. I can't seem to take falls anymore without getting a pounding headache. At first I thought it was a fluke thing but now its every week... every time I fall, it gets worse. I'm not doing anything that I can think of that could be causing it. My head is staying off the mat, and I'm not getting that whiplash feeling... I thought it was dehydration one week but I'm not dehydrated EVERY week.

And then when Ben's test was over and we started working with a black belt on stuff, I got a little distracted and unfocused. I started thinking about Barb saying that everything you do on the mat should be done like your life depends on it, even walking and sitting. I wondered if she would say the same thing to someone who didn't really value their life that much. Then I kind of snapped back into focus, and wished for a second that I could be somewhere else. Matt started doing Tenada Jime on me, and when he was sitting on my stomach, I felt a bad twinge in my sacrum again. It was almost the last straw. When I stood up again my head was pounding and my sacrum twinging, and I got angry. I told my head, and my sacrum, "you know what, I no longer care if you are hurting. I'm doing jujitsu right now and for some odd reason, I want to do this better than so-and-so can do it, and there's no time to do that and simultaneously make you two stop hurting so you know what, I'm just not listening anymore so shut the heck up." They didn't, but I felt better about telling them off. And I think a couple of my techniques improved, or at least the body memory came back a bit.

My head is still sore from getting kicked Sunday so maybe that's a part of it. Or maybe that's the reason I have so many opposite emotions inside. When jujitsu was over, I kinda got melancholy again, but then when I was walking to the student center with everyone Steve commented that I was still so cheerful, even after jujitsu when I could have been really exhausted or something.

Anyway... I should go to bed soon. I got sheets for my college dorm beds- they told us to get twin longs instead of twin regular but they never fit. I'm still using the same sheets and they still don't fit because my matress is not a twin long. So I got tired of them coming off in the night so I went out and got some new ones (took me long enough). I opened the package and they were so soft and ripply. I took another look at the package, and lo and behold the sheets are not made out of cotton, or satin, or flannel, or any of the usual bedsheet material. They are made out of bamboo fibers woven together. Amazing! I didn't know they did that with bamboo. It makes me want to buy lots of bamboo clothes because it is so soft.

Anyway, I'm gonna go try out my new bamboo bedsheets. G'night!

not even in the mood to cry.

I'm tired of this. I'm tired of talking to walls, things were more interesting when I was the fly listening in. Maybe I should give up. Maybe its time to go back and be the wallflower girl whose friends have no idea what's going on in her life because she puts herself down on paper instead of the internet.

Social interactions can be so hard sometimes. Why anyone even deals with the hassle is beyond me. Its like driving in NJ. I haven't gotten my license because the hassle of taking the bus everywhere is less than the hassle of trying to predict which idiot is going to cut you off or run a red or rear end you out of nowhere and drive away. I simply don't want to deal with it. And for a long time I didn't deal with the crap that comes out of social interactions either.

Ironic that this happened now, since I just watched the movie Crash tonight. Its a movie that combines car accidents with a bunch of people who, socially have no tact whatsoever, or downright disrespect. Funny how they are two things I just don't want to deal with. Cars and opening yourself up to another human being who has the power to make you feel important, or the power to turn everything around, and make them the one with the problem instead of you.

I hate dealing with it. I hate putting up with crap I don't want to do. I hate growing up, and I hate realizing things about myself that should not be so. I hate change.

more randomness...

I wish musicians would enunciate their words when they sing. I am listening to a Casting Crowns song (Christian worship) and could swear I just heard "he slips quietly into a bathrobe." There's also a Michael W. Smith song that is half in Latin and half in English but the English pronunciation is so bad you can't tell which is which. And its not just Christian music either. There's a popular hiphop song whose artist I have forgotten but the words not only make no sense but they are barely intelligible anyway. And those songs that involve spelling out the word you are trying to say... wow. Just wow. Don't get me wrong, Garth Brooks has proven its possible to do it and sound good (example: "B-double E-double R-U-N"). But sometimes... especially when you are spelling complicated things like "G-u-y-s-a-r-e-m-o-r-e-t-r-o-u-b-l-e-t-h-a-n-a-r-a-c-o-o-n
-o-n-a-g-a-r-b-a-g-e-n-i-g-h-t."

It gets to be hard to follow.

Yard sales are evil. I just spent (some) money at the one down the street from Steve's place. I now have to make at least 5 home cappucinos for friends in order for the home espresso machine to be worth while. I guess that would be pretty simple. And you can do other stuff like chai and hot chocolate so I guess that's cool.

And I bought the recipe for "perfume that smells like flowery medicine" from two ten year olds. In my day it was koolaid and iced tea, but I guess the ten-year-olds around here are smart enough for perfume. Funny, it has the same ingredients I used in my Death Soup when I was that age. Minus the yew berries. Which made for the "death" part. Ironically when I got to college I discovered the actual reason yew berries are the key ingredient in Death Soup: the seeds in the yew berry contain a toxin that induces cardiac arrest. Lucky for me I stuck with selling koolaid and left the Death Soup in the back room just for kicks.

One of the ingredients on the recipe I bought included "the flowers that smell like fish." Funny cause I immediately knew which ones she was talking about.

I went to church today and Steve very ungracefully fell on top of one of my jujitsu kids. That was... well there's no good adjective. Lets stick with "memorable."

I wasn't in much of a good mood yesterday or today. Well, last night, into today. But I think once I ate lunch, I felt better. I don't know. Maybe I'll still go take a nap and try to start the day over. Despite the beauty of today.

Jujitsu tonight. I guess I'll talk about that after it happens. If there's anything to talk about.

puzzled...

At first glance, the quarter I found today appears to be counterfeit. It feels too light to be a 1967 quarter, and appears to be two sides of a quarter (no mint mark) sandwiching some sort of fake quarter. But it could also be that it is simply very beat up. Then I looked up the quarters on a website and found that 1965-1967 quarters did not have mint marks because of the transition from silver to the copper-nickel alloy.

I am thinking about all the chemistry experiments I have observed in which a coin combined with such-and-such chemical burns a certain color because of the metal the coin is made of. I also know that to mint the coins purely, there's some sort of chemical that when electricity is passed through it, causes the metal to release any impurities or something like that.

I am wondering (because I don't know anything about chemistry) if it is possible that someone tried to extract one of the metals and leave the other. And if they did, did they profit from this stolen metal? And wouldn't that destroy the appearance of the quarter beyond recognition?

Yeah... maybe its just counterfeit.

PS... In one moment, a customer gave me a tip that nearly doubled my total for the day. That was interesting. I felt like a pole dancer. Just kidding...

country music...

So I love country music. Most of you probably know that about me already but just in case you didn't, there it is.

Sometimes its a problem for me... on those days when I'm feeling especially down, it seems the only thing the radio plays are references to alcohol:

Alcohol, Alcohol of Fame, Ten Rounds of Jose Cuervo, Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off, Straight Tequila Night, Two Pina Coladas, and of course, Its Five O'Clock Somewhere.

But today, while the east coast is being bombarded with an 800 mile wide storm, and both my city and my county are issuing flood warnings, the radio station is only playing songs with references to the elements:

Come On Rain, Raining on Sunday, Seminole Wind, Kerosene, The Thunder Rolls, Every Time That It Rains, Georgia Rain...

Ok I'll admit Kerosene was a stretch but the music video was awesome and fire is a wild element... and yes, something did catch on fire in the video. Very cool.

Ok I really have nothing much to say here. The rain is saying it for me. The weather can be pretty expressive sometimes. Cool. K I'll go now.

cool little thing...

I put this somewhere else, but I thought I'd share it with you all too. Its fun. And more interesting than the vent I could put in here about my day at work today.

So, here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool!
7. I added this one myself- make comments on how well they fit… cause I'm like that and love to explain things…

MY LIFE AS A MELODRAMA

Opening Credits: Sign From the Hills by Maire Brennan
Ok, I guess that fits as an opener.

First Day At School: If I Had The Things I Wanted by Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band
Young, innocent dreaming, guy singing to his girl about castles and flying horses. I think it fits.

Fight Song: To Where You Are by Josh Groban
Nope… he's singing about someone who's dead and in heaven. Doesn't fit. Unless they died in a fight.

Breaking Up: Oh Holy Night by Pavarotti
HAHAHAHA.

Prom: Molloy's Favorite and the Earl's Chair by Mick Moloney
SOMEONE's prom music, but not traditional American prom… its an Irish jig.

Life: Dajcovo Horo by Unknown.
Its an Eastern European Folk Dance, fitting to describe my life because my heart is in dance, but at the same time its really fast paced like life and hard to keep up with, but the steps are mostly simple so when you don't quite get it you just feel stupid. Like life.

Mental: Auf Geht's Und Geht by Unknown. (from an album I bought in Austria of German volksmusik)
Another instruMENTAL. Humph guess that fits haha. Badum-tschhhhhh.

Driving: Man of Constant Sorrows by John Hatrford
Instrumental, I really have to cut those out of my playlist. But yeah when I'm driving I do feel constant sorrow that I am driving and not doing something more fun.

Flashback: From the Chicago Soundtrack
It's a historical play… so the music does kinda take you back.

Getting Back Together: Something in the Way by Nirvana
Weird song… but could be appropriate.

Wedding: Lonesome Valley by the Fairfield Four
HAHAHA yes it is lol.

Birth of Child: Announcing Roxy Hart and Velma Kelly From the Chicago Soundtrack
About how to live your life… don't want these new stars giving my baby advice haha.

Final Battle: I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In from the album Jazz on Christmas Eve
Yep… doesn't say what kinda ships.

Death Scene: One Day I'll Fly Away by Nicole Kidman (From Moulin Rouge)
If I remember correctly, that IS her death scene.

Funeral Song: Canyon Breeze by Paul Horn (Native American music)
Nope its too pretty. And I gotta do something about this lyric-less music.

Remembrance Song: Get On by Third Day
Hmm… what a way to remember someone. Get on get away from me, you're trying to bring me down…

End Credits: Peaches by the Presidents of the United States of America
That fits. Nice random way to end things. Movin' to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches… peaches come from a can, they were put there by a man… millions of peaches, peaches for me

Thankfully, that is not the way they pick the music for most movies. Although sometimes its hard to tell.

interesting

I keep finding interesting internet articles.

"And as research in the wild becomes more and more forensic, even animals we counted in our small alliance for fidelity have recently been proved fallible. Swans, that elegant emblem of faithfulness, glided away from the hallowed statistical minority; it has come to light that they cheat and divorce too. Red-winged blackbird couples thought to be devoted surprised scientists that had given vasectomies to the males for population control; the females kept laying eggs that hatched. Somewhere, there's a blackbird Holiday Inn with a discreet parking lot."

LOL.

groan...

I couldn't resist...

There were three Indian squaws. One slept on a deer skin, one slept on an elk skin, and the third slept on a hippopotamus skin. All three became pregnant, and the first two each had a baby boy. The one who slept on the hippopotamus skin had twin boys. This goes to prove that the squaw of the hippopotamus is equal to the sons of the squaws of the other two hides.

Badum-tchshhh...

Today...

... not really an exciting post.

I made a 7-shot latte today. It took a while, but I didn't mind because the last time he came in and ordered it, he left a $5 tip.

I found a silver quarter. That was exciting.

I had an awkward convo with my mom. What was in my head wasn't coming out my mouth so I ended up feeling like a bragging slut when I later reviewed in my head what I said.

I ran into someone I haven't seen in years. She seemed to be like me. Happy outside, something disturbing inside. Only I knew her well enough before we fell out of contact that I knew right away that she had carefully wrapped herself in a shroud of secrecy, whereas, I won't hide the fact that I have secrets. I just won't tell them to you. I'm so glad I got to see her again, but so off balance now, because I guess this is it- I'm worried about her.

Ok that's it. I think getting it off my chest makes me less off balance.

More randomness

Espresso sometimes smells like smoked whiting.

I had a what if situation for Scott but I forgot it. It involved someone getting tripped. Darn.

He is a smoker. Oh well.

I went to the police station today. The officer who called to say they found my three-years-missing bike was the kind of guy my mom would have talked about later. Given the choice, if she could choose a match for her daughter, there is one type of "look" she would choose. Its scary cause Scott fits those requirements too except for the ring on his finger. I guess she has good taste. I am just not as picky I suppose.

I am not using apostrophes because this keyboard thinks the apostrophe key is actually control+f and the computer puts up a find window instead of an apostrophe. Its annoying.

I closed by myself today, which gave me a lot of time to reflect on things. The mall was dead today so it also gave the guys in Shoes time to come flirt with- I mean BUG- me. So in my moments alone I started thinking about the Jean Grey comments. Do guys idolize Jean Grey? I mean, is it a compliment or not? Cause I didnt like her that much in the third movie. Dont get me wrong, I love the concept of a Phoenix. But too much went wrong because of her. From the point of view of the other X-men, she was a downright nuisance. Any guys out there reading this? Should I be offended when the guys in the shoe department call me Jean?

Its almost 1 am and I just got a text message from my mom. Shes delusional.

I am reading a novel, A Game of Thrones. Its a medieval kinda thing, telling the story of this kingdom where- you guessed it- everyone is trying to play the game of thrones without dying. Instead of the hack, slice, and dice of some medieval novels, and instead of the magic and dragons of other medieval novels, its political. Unusual for me to enjoy, since I hate politics in general, but it is kind of eye-opening. I mean, everyone complains about our president or the president-wannabes who are going to be running next year but if they could see what goes on in this throne room, there would be no comparison. It makes me feel like everyone in this world is just whining too much when things could be as bad as they are in this medieval world.

Mom just sent me another text message. "Guy crotches are good!" I swear, some day she is going to learn that stuff can be taken out of context. (In case anyone was wondering, she was talking about a pair of pants.)

Alright bedtime before mom goes over our texting limit on the phone plan.

National ICantConcentrateToday Day

Espresso grinds smell like morning breath. Or maybe the two smells just hit my nose at the same time every morning so now I can't smell one without thinking of the other.

Henna is derived from the leaf of the henna plant, therefore it smells leafy. This is increased by water, so when I take a shower, my hair smells like the feed room at the goat farm where I used to work.

Today I used Herbal Essence on my hair, the old kind, not the post-bottle-change. So it also brought back memories of spring time, and cleaning the house with my mom, and sunshine in the fall, bike helmets, and cozy blankets.

The wrestling room at the gym smells faintly like battleships. Not that battleship-dieselly-paint smell like the elevator of my freshman dorm, but the smell of men working their bodies to the limit for something they believe in.

Steve smells like french fries.

There actually is an explanation for why I'm exploring the world in smells.

Today I went to waltz lessons. The instructor was explaining how to turn in the dance. As you step, you don't just move your feet, but you turn from the hips, letting your hips send your body where it needs to go, and face in the direction it needs to face.

Anyone with even a couple classes of jujitsu will think that sounds familiar, so that got me thinking about jujitsu and how it seems that everything is integrated when it comes to moving the body. Letting my mind wander to jujitsu effectively got me completely lost when it comes to waltz. I couldn't remember which steps we were doing in which order. Was it box step then travel then quarter turn? Or was it just the quarter turns followed by a direction change? I didn't even know which foot we were starting on.

That's ok, I can solve that. Jujitsu has taught me that people telegraph their future intent, whether its winding up an arm for a punch or simply leaning more weight on one foot than the other. So all I have to do is look at my partner to see what he's about to do and step accordingly. Ok that works I've stepped on the correct foot, but I'm so excited about integrating jujitsu into this that I'm not really learning the answers to my initial questions.

The whole class was a big snowball of not paying attention. The instructor demonstrates his points sometimes and needs a partner to do it, so he'll randomly select a girl to help him. Once he picked me and since I had no idea what we were doing, I stepped on the wrong foot. He readjusted his hand position, and suddenly, it didn't matter one bit what I did, his hands and arms provided enough weight on the correct side that I HAD to step on the correct foot. It was like some of our jujitsu moves where we want our partner to step back on their left foot so we push their left shoulder while holding their right arm stationary. We don't do anything to the left foot, but we still acheive our goal. This was just like that- he was shifting my weight for me so that the foot he wanted me to have free would be free.

Then I felt bad, one that I wasn't paying attention to him and two that it forced him to do my work in addition to his.

Thankfully that class is fairly short so it was off to the wrestling room for jujitsu. When Scott was explaining to the white belts how we can tell where to stand when we're lining up by rank, he used Dan and me as an example. "You'll notice they both have blue belts with one stripe, but Red tested before Dan."

I think I like Jean Grey better. Scott's other comment was that I did it just in time for Saint Patrick's Day, which is a good point. I should find an Irish pub somewhere.

Back to jujitsu, Steve took the colored belts and Scott took the white belts. Steve had us work on foot work, practicing turning 90 and 180 degrees, and looky there its a 1-2-3 step just like a waltz.

By that time I was pretty fed up with my brain because it wouldn't stay in one place, ideally the wrestling room in the College Ave Gym but if not there it could at least have picked ONE place to go. But when Steve asked me later what was wrong, I listed all the places my mind had gone. The list started on Louis Street and didn't come to a complete stop until we got to Livingston, which would be maybe 3-4 minutes.

Anyway, I'm usually not that unfocused on the mat. I don't know what happened today. Oh right, so the reason for the smells was because when I got fed up I sat out on the side of the mat and let my mind go. For some reason when I did that, I could feel my body more strongly, could feel where my aches and pains are, could hear all the voices in the room louder, and the red of the mats got brighter. But my nose was stuffy so I didn't smell anything. It felt vacant somehow, so I decided to sit here and think about all the smells I have come in contact with recently.

So yeah that's all I suppose. I'm gonna go chat with Steve for a while. Goodnight.

Photos...

Ok, so unfortunately, I can't find a good before picture with my hair down. Some were taken recently, however my hair was tied up in a clip. You will all have to just rely on memory.

Here are the after pictures:

HAHAHAHA

So I came across one of those websites that tells you anything you want to know about the Chinese zodiac. For those of you who don't know, yesterday was the "Pan-Asian Lunar New Year," as one politically correct flyer called it. I say Chinese New Year. Its easier. And majority rules.

Anyway, quick explanation for those of you who don't know. There are 12 animals of the zodiac representing the years in which you are born. I was born in the Year of the Rat, that makes me a Rat. Works just like the whole Cancer, Virgo, Saggitarius zodiac, except that we can all pronounce them (amazing for something coming from Asia). Every New Year, they produce horoscopes based on how your animal is supposed to fare during this year (the Fire Pig).

Curiosity killed the cat, so I clicked on the rat. In my case however, the cat died of laughter. "Rat Careers: Work life should proceed relatively smoothly. Merchants, bankers and salespeople could have a banner year." Smooth!! Hahahaha. That's hilarious. I'm probably quitting my job in the next month. Smooth enough for you?

The other comments were Rat Health and Rat Relationships. Apparently, Rats are supposed to be a bit run down this year, and a passionate romance might be non-committally stimulated. Heck that kinda describes every year of my life since junior year in high school, so maybe we're all just stuck in the Year of the Fire Pig without realizing it.

Funny cause I've been sniffling my nose all day, not because my body is burned out but because I'm allergic to pollen and we currently have 6 Valentine's bouquets in the living room. Woohoo, poor health and relationships joined as one already!

Don't over-exert yourself...

It's ok. You don't even have to try to hide it anymore. Don't bother pretending unless you're an excellent actor.

And don't hug me for the sake of hugging me. I'm not a chore. If you don't want to don't.

Right now, it doesn't have any meaning the way you are doing it.

Sorry for the language...

...but its the name of the town.

Germans Not Amused

British tourists have left the residents of one charming Austrian village effing and blinding by constantly stealing the signs for their oddly named village.

While British visitors are finding it hilarious, the residents of Fucking are failing to see the funny side.

Only one kind of criminal ever stalks the sleepy 32-house village near Salzburg on the German border- cheeky British tourists armed with a sense of humor and a screwdriver.

But the local authorities are hitting back and with the signs now set in concrete, police chief Kommandant Schmidtberger is on the lookout.

“We will not stand for the Fucking signs being removed,” the officer said. “It may be very amusing for you British, but Fucking is simply Fucking to us. What is this big Fucking joke? It is puerile.”

Local tourist guide Andreas Rehmueller said it was only the British that had a fixation with Fucking. “The Germans all want to see the Mozart house in Salzburg,” he explained. “Every American seems to care only about The Sound of Music (the 1965 film shot around Salzburg). The occasional Japanese wants to see Hitler’s birthplace in Braunau. But for the British, it’s all about Fucking.”

Guesthouse manager Augustina Lindlbauer described the village’s breathtaking lakes, forests and vistas. “Yet still there is this obsession with Fucking,” she said. “Just this morning I had to tell an English lady who stopped by that there were no Fucking postcards.”


Sigh. I am American to the core. I went to Salzburg... and they're right... I didn't care about the Mozart house, I took a tour visiting every location involved in the Sound of Music. In fact my bedroom in the bed and breakfast where I stayed faced the mountain Maria danced on, and the family fled over in the film. It was funny because in real life, Hitler's Crow's Nest was on the other side of that mountain, but in the movie it was a safe place to go.

Yeah.... ok then. That was amusing.

Blogger made me update my blog to their new Google format... I don't know the difference but it was a pain in the butt when all I wanted to do was copy and paste a news article.

And thats all I have to say. Goodnight!

Sigh...

The person who sent me this email apparently never read my blog rant.

PAY ATTENTION !

"Ya Gotta LOVE THIS"

Rules for the phone.

How ALL business phones SHOULD be answered!

GOOD MORNING, WELCOME TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Press "1" for English.

Press "2" to disconnect until you learn to speak English

And remember only two defining forces have ever
offered to die for you,

Jesus Christ
and the American Soldier.

One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.

First of all. Colors = font size 3000. Save it for your storefront.

Second. Random patriotic stuff added to info about telephone answering systems.

Third. Random patriotic stuff AND religion added to something to which neither have any connection.

Bad email, BAD. Go to your box and hide!

YEAH

So, last night, I don't think I was coherent enough to be writing a blog entry. I am pretty sure it didn't come across the way I wanted it to.

Anyway... when I'm at work I'm usually cleaning something with a wet towel, so my hands usually get very dried out and chapped. Today, I didn't do any cleaning, because it was so cold that we didn't really get any substantial customers. But the skin on my hands actually broke open all over, simply because it was so cold. I think the mall heaters couldn't keep up with the heat loss out of the skylight domes. I thought my hands were just red from the cold, but I looked closer, and I could actually see into the miniscule cracks in my skin, to the open blood.

FUN!

ten-dollar words...

I don't know if that's the correct colloquialism.

Anyway, I used the simple terms to describe the engineer-jujitsu theory. Here's what the engineer said, stolen from his blog:

"I also wanted to write about my thought about relating shockwaves and drift velocities with a kiai and if a kiai can physically knock the person off balance. In theory, if the kiai was strong enough to create a large enough drift velocity behind the shockwave, then as the shockwave passes you by, the wind will hit you at the drift velocity. so basically you will be hit by a gust of air traveling really fast because of some pressure difference created in a short amount of time."

Just so everyone knows I wasn't TRYING to misquote him hahaha.