Mumbo-Jumbo

Now, I really have no better way to start this than by telling you, very simply, I believe in the dumbest shit ever.

Even though I know Santa is just a story for kids, I get pretty excited about Santa around Christmas. I love the magic that Santa portrays for a lot of boys and girls. I think as adults Santa is really just the magic of Christmas that we all feel, when we find the perfect gift for a friend or family member. Or the happiness you feel when you see a house decorated beautifully with twinkle lights. I believe in Santa Claus. Or, at least what he represents.

I am a ginormous scaredy cat. I will scream if I'm walking in a hallway and someone jumps out and I didn't see them. There's a list of movies that still give me nightmares. As a kid, my mom let me watch the Child's Play (let's be honest here, She let me watch Chucky) because I was such a ham and was always doing impressions and wanted to be an actress. This is her reasoning for letting her small child watch a horrifying movie about a doll that comes to life and murders people: I wanted to act, this was her showing me a movie where people were "acting" this scary shit. To this day I am still not allowed to go to Halloween events where "Chucky" is going to be.

More movies on my Guaranteed Nightmares/Not Gonna Sleep List: The Blair Witch Project, The Ring, Strangers, Paranormal Activity (1 and 2. The preview for 3 kept me awake, as well.)

I realize theres an easy way around this issue: Don't watch scary movies. But there are so few that legitimately make me scared, and I really enjoy scary movies. Just like roller coasters, they give me a little bit of a thrill.

A big one, of course, is I believe in romantic love. The stuff of movies where music plays and everything slows down. When you see someone and everyone else in the room disappears. I believe that love conquers all. I am one of those people that would quit my life to move to be with someone if I loved them and thought it was meant to be. I'm a cornball.

I believe in psychics and psychic ability. I know it can seem dumb and hokey (and usually it is) but I really do have faith in that stuff. I'm one of those people that if I dream about someone, I will get in touch with them the next day. Once I dreamt about a friend of mine, and when I called her and said "Oh haaaay, I had the craziest dream you were moving!" And true story, she was leaving that night to move to lower Michigan. If I hadn't called her I probably wouldn't have gotten the chance to speak with her before she left.

Yesterday for the very first time I got my fortune read. It was kind of a rip off. Twenty-five bucks for the lady to tell me that my money situation was going to sort itself out (which, is nice to know. But I kind of already knew that) and that I have someone in my life that's younger than me and supports me (uh huh) and that I have a really good, supportive family (Lady, my mom paid for my reading. No shit.) I know that they use very vague information so it could relate to anyone. Like telling me when I was young I had a lot of big dreams but growing up things were hard and I had given up on those dreams. I'm pretty sure that's everyone.

She did give me one of those "In the springtime, possibly March.." readings, and we'll see if that happens. But if I have to wait 6 months to make my mom's 25 bucks worth, that'll definitely keep my belief up in that kind of thing.

One disappointing thing, though, when you're shuffling the cards the psychic lady does the reading from, they tell you to think about the questions you have. Which, I will be honest, the biggest question I have is, When will I meet the person I'll end up with. And that definitely was not answered yesterday. It was all about finances and how I have big changes coming in regards to my hopes and aspirations. Blah blah.

I guess we'll see if this lady was right. And again, maybe it was a waste of 25 bucks. But it was something different. Every once in a while, it's good to take a chance and see what someone can see in you. After all, the card that came up that portrays me right now? The High Priestess. That's gotta be a good sign right?

Edit: I looked up what The High Priestess card means in Tarot. For a woman to get this card it basically represents being independent, possibly without a man. Maybe it's not a good sign, but it is definitely an accurate one. Sheesh.

November and National Novel Writing Month

A few months ago a friend of mine mentioned a writing project that definitely piqued my interest, and I've been doing some serious thinking about as well as researching.

As of this evening I have officially signed up and am getting geared up to start this project in November.

The exact website is Here with all of the 411 you actually need, as well as the links and good stuff to sign up and participate yourself!

Basically it works this way:

November is National Novel Writing Month.

Starting as of November 1st through 11:59:59 pm on November 30th your goal is to write 50,000 words (so basically the equivalent of 175 pages) of a novel.

If you reach the 50k word goal by November 30th you are considered a winner and get, well, Internet credit for being awesome and whatever. Of course you can exceed the 50k word goal, all as long as it is within the month of November.

Some rules include: It has to be more than one word (so you can't write the same word 50,000 times and call it good), only one person can contribute to your story, and it can't be anything you've written before. It has to be something brand new from you.

I think it'll be a really great challenge for me personally, especially since I tend to be lax with my writing and my time with writing. While you're in the process you are able to post your novel-in-process for others to read and critique. And of course there's a bonus of the possibility of being published after partaking in said challenge.

In the 10+ years this challenge has been happening there has been one New York Times #1 Best Seller, a little ditty you may have heard of, Water For Elephants.

Anyone that I've known long enough knows that my biggest dream in life is to be a published author. The dream right after that is to be a best selling author. But it'd be sort of neat to end 2011 knowing that I was a winner in a writing challenge where I wrote a 50,000 word novel in a month.

And hey. Dreams do come true.

As November gets closer I'll be thinking more on what I'll be writing and once November hits I'm going to be writing like crazy and will probably be quieter than what you all are used to. I'll do my best to try and keep you up to date on my progress, and at the very least give you links to my progress as it should be posted as time goes on.

As you can probably tell, this is something I'm very excited about. I hope some of you will participate as well, it'll be fun to read different stories from different people.

Blogging While I'm Sick

As previously mentioned, I went through surgery in March to have my tonsils removed to eliminate a lifetime of sore throat misery.

And things have been pretty fantastic since then. In August I was plagued by a stomach bug, probably my first legit stomach bug since I left Michigan, if not well before then. As I tend to brag while eating, or while at a Buffet-style restaurant, I have the stomach that's the equivalent of a garbage disposal.

My entire life when I get sick, it's usually all in my sinuses and throat.

Yesterday I woke up unable to swallow and with a dry, scratchy throat. Ugh. Nearly six months after having my tonsils removed to avoid these kinds of mornings, back to square one.

So I called in sick, because let's be honest, talking on the phone for a living and having a sore throat are not conducive whatsoever. Fully intending on going back to work today, I made sure to go to bed early and get a good night's sleep.

Seven o'clock this morning, still felt like I had been hit by a truck that took time to blast my throat with gravel before speeding off. Not wanting to mess around, I made a doctor's appointment and went to see my good doctor this afternoon.

So now I'm home sick till Monday, under direct orders of plenty of fluid and rest and armed with a prescription of antibiotics to ward off these germs hiding in the back of my throat.

I am not good at being sick. Being in bed and watching tv, I am GREAT at. But the stuff that comes along with it, body aches and having a wonky head are not my forte.

Prelude to an Adventure

So, I have lived in Florida just shy of three years. I have only had the chance to go to one amusement park till now because, well, they're really fucking expensive. The only reason I was able to go was because it was for my company picnic and they paid for everything.

The last two months or so I've been helping one of my co-workers learn their new Droid phone. Until now the only phone they've had has been one of those crappy pay-as-you-go phones. I was nominated for the job because mostly 1) I have a Droid 2) I'm nice enough to do it 3) Because I'm not married or have kids I really didn't have a choice.

(Side note: No seriously. My co-worker flat out told me because I'm not married or have kids she knows I "have no one to answer to" so it's no big deal to take up a few hours of one of my days off. Which, let's be honest. It's not a big deal. I have nothing going on. I like playing around with electronics. I like hanging out with people, even if they're 30+ years older than me. But, meh. I digress)

So I've been helping my co-worker out. My colleague has a 9 year old granddaughter that I've had the pleasure of spending time with as well during these "teaching lessons". This little girl is a real life honest to goodness living version of Ramona Quimby. She looks like her, she's over excited like Ramona, she IS Ramona. I bet she'd even wear fireman pj's under her clothes to school.

As my "payment" for these training lessons they've fed me every time I've gone over there and kept me in a supply of Pepsi (which, lets be honest. All I need. You keep me in Pepsi, perhaps give me a straw and I'm good to go.)

Until they surprised me by telling me they decided to buy me a year pass parking included ticket to Universal Studios in Orlando.

The 9 year old in me started screaming at full volume.

Now, I am not going to turn down a gift. However this particular give was very, very expensive. I won't even normally let my family spend that much money on me. But as I was helping my co-worker, her husband and her granddaughter with pretty much anything they asked, they insisted. I asked them several times to reconsider. But they wouldn't budge. Plus, I really wanted to go to Universal.

I went to Universal Studios for the first time Labor Day weekend. It was a very long day. We spent just about 9 hours walking around both parks within Universal Studios. And while I'm usually pretty much down for anything, I am not used to walking or being on my feet that long. But it was the most fun I've had in a long time.

The best part is? While I've been taking my day off, using my gas, to help my coworker with something most people would find ridiculously easy, a lot of my friends and even family have been telling me not to do it. That I was too nice to be doing this. And honestly, sometimes driving 45 minutes on my day off was the last thing I wanted to do. But I knew that it made my coworker and her family feel good. When I got my co-worker's husband loaded with music from his iTunes account he walked around smiling for three days, not talking to anyone. Just rocking out.

That makes me happy. I would've done this all just for them continuing to ask me to, supplying me with Pepsi while I visited.

So, I had naysayers. Trying to talk me out of it. Now these people are pouting that I not only got to go to Universal, but now I can go to Universal whenever I want.

Again- I want to make it abundantly clear- I would've done this for ABSOLUTELY FREE. Just because I like helping people.

Sometimes, being too nice to say no pays off.