SO WHAT SNUWITCHU?

Poopy Do just grabbed my nose in a Three Stooges grip and pretended to rip it off with his other hand. Such is the mood at our house on this cold and rainy Friday night... All because I ripped Carl Douglas' Kung Fu Fighting into Window's Media Player and not iTunes... That's okay. If he's acting silly at least I know he's feeling half decent.

So I survived my first week of working the days away. Next week, the dreaded Over Time. I think I have been more tired this week than I ever was working nights. It wasn't so bad getting out of bed at 5:45 am every morning, but around 10 am, I was a zombie. The first couple of days in the new environment was chaotic to say the least but by Wednesday things settled down appreciably. They moved 4 or 5 new people in later on Wednesday and it was like all hell broke loose. I can't wait until they get everyone integrated in the there. I will only be too lucky to fall asleep every day at 10 am...

I got nuttin' else to report. Where the hell did I put the bottle opener???

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WHATEVER IT TAKES

I was having a conversation with a friend today. I can never remember my cell phone number. Said friend sent me this site after I confessed that I had to make words out of my phone number since I couldn't remember it. The words don't really make sense and there is a number 1 in the number which has no corresponding letters on the keypad. But if I have to call myself or give the number to someone, at least I can. Here is a site that will do that for you. If I had known such a thing existed, I could have saved myself a nice chunk of time...

I must tell you that the daylight working hours have not been as bad as I expected they might. There are only aboot 15 or so people working in the new area, not counting supervisors and engineers that wander in and out all day. So it's not terribly crazy or noisy. If I could get past the debilitating fatigue that hit me yesterday at 11am and today at 10am, it wouldn't be so bad. Maybe tomorrow it will hit me at 9 and then 8 and in a couple of weeks, it will hit me at bedtime like it's supposed to... Anyway, I didn't want you all losing sleep over me losing sleep.

I was thrilled reading comments to yesterdays post to find out that Mark actually knew who Paul Westerberg is. That just tickles me to no end. And Jeff A. liked the song. :-)))))

I had lots more to say, but I am so freakin' tired. I am going to go take a nap.

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NEW MUSIC FROM MY IDOL

Go here and check out Paul Westerberg. Click on the Stream by the red arrow.

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WHAT IS YOUR SPENDING LIMIT?

I'm in one of my deep-thinking modes. Uh-oh, you say. Well, this is important to me and I didn't realize how much so until I spent the last hour or so on my swing in the rainy darkness, eating a bowl of Breyer's Coffee ice cream and pondering a post Anomie-Atlanta shared today. Please check that out real quick, including the ensuing comments. Give it a bit of thought, forgive my thievery and come back here and read.

I've been searching in vain for a relevant definition of Currency to suit my purpose here and decided to invent my own...

Currency: The means by which one survives; The medium one uses to trade for one's needs and desires.

Now, let me ask you this, Reader. What is your currency?

Before you answer, ask yourself a couple questions. . . "What is my greatest need?" and "What means do I use to have that need satisfied?"

Lots of people "spend" their reserves in a myriad of ways. Some people use money to get love. Some people use humor to get attention. Some people use dishonesty to get power. Some people use money to get sex. And vice-versa, no pun intended... Some people use (other's) fear to get power. Some people use sex to get love. Some people use knowledge to get wealth. Some people use animals to get sex. (Oops, did I really type that?) Anyway, my point is that people use lots of different means to get what they want or need. And often, in searching for what it is that they need the most, will exhaust every means available to them. Someone who craves attention for example, (I, personally, cannot identify with this particular neurosis... wink wink) may go to great extremes using humor, innuendo, etc, to the point of feigning ignorance or relying on feminine wiles or shock value just for a crumb of attention to be tossed her way. Can you imagine that sort of pitiful desperation??? Nor can I...

Back to the serious side of this. I'm not a person of great wealth in the monetary sense. Plying unsuspecting victims with cash and gifts to get what I need is not an option, and if it were I would not be one to avail myself to that sort of shallow attempt at procurement. I am way more into "genuine." In addition to the comment I left over at A-A's, (which as I check presently and find that due to comment moderation, does not yet appear...) my currency is what I find in my heart; kindness, understanding, compassion, faith, humor -such as it is, and whatever else seems to do the job, depending on my needs of the moment. The cool thing aboot this currency is that it not only satisfies my needs but that of others, often. Unlike cold hard cash which is not only cold and hard but dirty and often in short supply, my currency is always available and not limited to banking hours or whether or not you have a balance. More like automatic withdrawal, if you will. No PIN necessary. No paybacks expected or inferred, often. An IOU, maybe, depending on circumstances. An overdraft? We all know what it is like to be emotionally drained, but even then, one can always force at least a smile or a wink that says oh-so-much.

To interject here, before I am misinterpretted- The word "use" can have negative connotations. I do not mean to imply here that I "use" anything inside me to "get things"... I'm referring to a simple give and take that just usually happens in everyday life without much conscious effort.

I know people who are real tight-wads with their currency, I guess that is their prerogative. But I believe you get what you pay for. I know people who are downright philanthropistic (?!) and I tend not to take them too seriously for they seem a bit frivolous in their spending...

I meant this post to be more serious and soulful than it's turned out to be. Dammit. I'm not even sure I'm conveying exactly what I want to say. I hope I'm at least making you think. I think a person's currency that they chose to spend says an awful lot aboot their character. It is a great indicator of how they see life and what is and isn't important to them. I don't want to hang with someone who uses money to get attention. I wouldn't trust my life to someone who uses dishonesty to get much of anything. I would rather be loved by someone poor in a monetary sense who is rich in kindness and faith any day.

The quote I love from Lester Bangs that you see up there by my picture means this to me: Even when I am down and out, fearful, depressed, on my last nerve or at the end of my rope, if I can reach down into my soul; into the reserves of my currency and still afford to reach out to another person with even only a smile or a kind word, then I am rich beyond all definitions. That is my truth.

Love, friendship, and smiles are like currency. If they are hoarded, no one gets the benefit of them. — Nellie Revell.

$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

MY TURN...

Voila! A miraculous resurrection in Blogland. Jeff A. performed some voodoo magic and, in the words of Bill Murray in Stripes, "It's A-li-i-i-ve!" Or was it Igor /pron: Eye-gore/ in Young Doctor Frankenstein? /pron: Frawnk-en-schteen/... I think Bill Murray. Maybe it was in Caddyshack??? Anyway. I'm back here posting and thanks to Jeff, we'll be seeing some outstanding examples of what is and is not a paragraph. You know what I mean, that didn't come out right.

Today's post material is borrowed from JuJu, which I think is an interesting AND therapeutic exercise in an emotional house-cleaning kind of way. The idea here is to say to ten people what you would like to say but for whatever reason, will, in all likelihood, never say. Ten separate things for ten different people. As I was considering what I would like to say and to whom, I realized that while I do not have a whole lot left unsaid, I think I have enough material in that capacity to consider myself not overly repressed but nicely tactful. However, this revelation does nothing to nullify the fact that I am so often misunderstood. That, in itself is COMPLETELY unnerving to me. I wish I could get to the bottom of this. It's almost as if I speak some foreign language sometimes. I realize that my sense of humor is on the sarcastic side, people who know me in real life pretty much know that but not always. It pushes me sometimes to the point of frustration where I want to say (Oh, here's one for my list!!!) "For gawdssake lighten up; just because you're serious all the time, doesn't mean everybody is!" And I am seldom serious... A good rule of thumb for dealing with me is just to assume that I'm joking. Aboot 85% of the time, you'll be right. That's not so difficult, is it??? The odds are better than 3/1!!!

So here goes with my list. Please don't assume this is all aboot you. I know I'll probly get somebody's knickers twisted but I'm getting used to that... WINK WINK WINK

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1. I realize that our lives are busy and we haven't been as close lately. I have not always been there for you, especially very recently and I sincerely apologize for that. I really don't have a good reason except that when you probably needed me I was drained from other things. It's not a good excuse I know, and there is no good excuse. I don't know how to tell you this.

2. Although I don't blame you in any way for the situation we find ourselves in, I think you could be more sympathetic to my needs.

3. I wish you could feel what you are doing to those around you and feel the pain you've caused.
You have the strength to change your behavior. Trust yourself.

4. Why did you have to turn all judgemental and righteous on me? You assume too much.

5. Please don't try to make me feel responsible for your happiness. It is not my responsibility.

6. I am sorry that things turned out the way they did. I gave it my best shot. Sometimes love just ain't enough.

7. Look at your life and what it most likely will be like 5 years from now if you keep on this path. Use that image to start making changes now. It would hurt me to see you go on like you are.

8. I have spent most of my life trying to be the person everyone around me wanted me to be. Now that I am finding the parts of myself that are still intact, I wish you would accept and celebrate me instead of trying to dissuade me. It's something I need to do and I need you to trust me.

9. I miss you more than you could ever imagine. I need you now more than ever.

10. You don't have to try so hard. You are one of the most lovable people I ever met. Relax and let us love you. You will be too tired to care someday if you keep this up.

Okay. I'm exhausted now. Have a good Friday :-) And if you are so inclined, say a little prayer for our friend Jeff A. He's got his hands full right now and still finds time to be there for everybody else...

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SORRY FOLKS, NO BLOG TODAY

I SHOT IT. YOU WERE WARNED...

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GET THE MESSY STUFF OUT OF THE WAY

Let's get this over with...

It appears that, effective Monday - five (yes, ONLY five) days from today, I will be returning to the ranks of the normal people who work from the time they get up in the morning until sometime before they go to bed at night. Despite all the whining and complaining I've done these past 6 or 7 months, I cannot say that I am thrilled with this prospect. The reasons are varied and numerous. Do I want to get into them here in this forum? Ahhhhhh... I dunno.

Let me just say that I will truly, deeply miss having my morning coffee on the back porch with the birds and bees and the sunrise. Especially with the wonderful Fall days coming, I will hate being stuck at work and missing out. Not just stuck at work but in a roomful of chatty, gossipy, nosy, catty women. (Did I really type that? Uh-oh, the truth is coming out now!) And there will be management types lurking all over the place and pages blaring out over the PA all day and interruptions and having to deal with morning and afternoon traffic... parking... a crowded cafeteria... phones ringing... Oh gawd, I don't think I can do this !!!!!!!!!

And I would be a complete idiot to think that my sleeping patterns would just revert back to the way they are supposed to be. I'll be awake at one and four every morning eating sandwiches and pudding and fruit and granola bars and brownies and shit. That is, of course if I go to sleep long enough to wake up at those hours... Oh, and the coffee withdrawal. That should prove tres interesting... Poor Poopy, he's gonna have his hands full with me for the next few weeks.

Oh, did I forget to mention the one GOOD thing about working the day shift? Aside from losing the shift differential that I was getting used to on the old paycheck, I will be working R. O. T.
Translation: Required Over-Time. Do I like OT??? No, I do not. I HATE OVERTIME. Period. End of Story.

>>If this stupid entry comes up with no paragraph separations, I'm shooting my blog. << ************************************************

I'M GONNA DREAD THE SEARCH STRINGS...

When tooners tagged me to post my purse contents, I wasn't imagining I would generate so much interest in my "stuff". What's ironic aboot the whole thing is that when I started working the night shift, it quickly became evident that I was lugging the thing (purse) to and from work every night for absolutely no reason. So I kind of retired it. Hence the expired "free panty card" from Victoria's Secret courtesy JuJu. She had a bunch and decided to treat me. Well, I forgot aboot it so, as it stands, all my underwear is bought and paid for... Jeff A. was jealous he didn't get any free panties, either. I swear, if it wasn't expired, I'd send it to you... With the surgery coming up and all, you deserve to lay around and recuperate in free panties... Oh. And the Altoids seem to have congealed into one rather yummy-smelling clump of raspberry goo :-(

When I started dumping stuff, I found all kinds of stuff I haven't seen in awhile. Adrienne, you are very observant to notice that Waldenbooks is no more. That card was probly expired way before I stopped carrying my purse. Not a big deal really, since I haven't had time to freakin' read at all since I started this shift. And what you thought was a thimble, was a cork from a wine bottle. I need to get a better camera.

Mark wonders why I carry (carried?) a microcassette recorder. Because, Mark, recorded on it is a precious and lengthy message from my grandson congratulating me for stopping smoking last Christmas. The intention was that I would listen to his recording when I would feel the urge for a cigarette. Initially, it worked pretty well... After aboot 2 1/2 months, though, I started back up again, unfecking-ortunately. He does not know that. I have not had the nerve to listen to it in awhile. If I should ever have the need to feel unbelievably guilty for some reason, I will then. And I assure you, it will do the trick. I wish I knew how to post audio clips, I would share it.

The cell phone and the iPod however, have not been in my purse all this time. They were retrieved from my coat pocket for the sake of the photo, for they travel with me always. Along with my MAC card and my driver's license. (...you didn't think you were going to get a look at that did you??? Oooooh nooooo.)

I remember making the comment on tooners purse post that a person's "stuff" can reveal a lot aboot that person. What does this reveal aboot me? Number one, (and Poopy will whole-heartedly agree with this...) I hang on to too much shit. Number two, if I have been able to survive without all this stuff all this time, what was I doing lugging it all over creation in the first place???

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PS For some odd reason, my post printed without paragraph separations. Being that I harbor an inimitable terror of html, for as difficult as this was to read, I apologize. But it's stayin' as is...

I'M GETTING A WORKOUT

... practicing posting pictures. This one only took two tries :-)

Tooners tagged me, curious aboot the contents of my purse. Here's a pic. I have not included my 9mm, the condoms and feminine products, my glass pipe and my stash for obvious reasons. My copy of FHM (the large print edition) was lookin' pretty ratty, I just threw it in the trash.
So here's what's left. No, you're right, I don't usually do "girly" things here. So don't get used to it. ;-) BTW, putting this stuff back in (the hard part) I noticed my free panty card expired.

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END OF THE WEEK WRAP-UP

Friday, wonderful Friday. It finally stopped raining. Two things to be happy aboot. JuJu and the kids are coming to visit today. Another happy thing. I can hardly stand it!!! :-)))

I am going to take a Friday morning nap after I do coffee on the porch and then wake up PD and take him to his doctor appointment and find out the results of the MRI taken last week. Yes, it's kinda far away and no, I don't know why this couldn't have been done over the phone.

Speaking of phones... Poor Poopy Doo has been playing with the phone lines in our house for two (maybe three) days to accomodate DSL. Yes, I am anxious to have DSL and yes, I hope it's worth all the trouble. That's a whole 'nother post but writing it would be better left to PD. That is, if he could type. Faster.

So, folks, I'm outta here. May be back before Monday, may not. Have a good one ;-)

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I DOUBT IF THAT'S WHAT THEY MEAN BY "COMBO"...

I would like to recount a conversation Poopy and I had a couple of weeks ago at a rest stop on the Turnpike coming back from JuJu's...

We were dining at MacDonald's (if you can call that dining.) He was facing the long line of hungry travelers waiting to place their food orders. I had my back to them, enjoying my fruit-yogurt parfait without the damn granola. I thought that granola came with it. I swear, in Massachusettes, you get granola on your parfait. Anyway, Poopy says, kind of to me and kind of not, "Hmmmn. That tattoo looks Japanese."

I turn in the direction of his gaze and see aboot 72 people in assorted states of impatience and hunger. I finally locate a short-haired blonde woman with some black writing imbedded in the back of her neck. Too far away to see what it might be/say.

I reply, "She must like it from behind." Poopy does not flinch at my supposition, he knows how I am... but I suspected maybe he thought I said it because I know a little Japanese.

"What does it say?" he asked, confirming my suspicion.

"Hell, I don't know, it's really far away," I say.

Confused, he starts, "Then how..."

"I only say that because in all probability, it's there for her lover to enjoy when they are..."

"Ah, so... I wonder what it says?" (Me, I'm thinking it's a cheat sheet...)

"Go ask her," I dare.

"Yeah, right."

Then I say "If I were to get a tattoo, I think I would get it on the back of my neck."

"Why's that?"

"It's sexy as hell," I say.

"What would you have it say?" he asks.

"I want one just like hers."

"Well, you'd better hope you're not standing in line in MacDonald's in front of some huge Japanese guy..."

My turn to speak, trying not to smile... "Yeah." *looks down, absently stirring granola-less parfait*... "REALLY."

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FEELING A LITTLE LIKE NOT BLOGGING TODAY...

Can you guess where and what I'd rather be doing??? C'mon, take a wild guess...

WHAT'S GOIN' ON...

... with me lately? Hmmmn...

• I'm still reading The Alchemist. Correction; I have not yet finished reading The Alchemist. I will, just ain't had time.
• I've been eating a lot of nuts and fruit and berries and cheese.
• My favorite beverages of late have been Purple Haze and Pepsi Jazz (strawberries and cream) with rum.
• I've been listening to a lot of Collective Soul, the Cure and the Amandla! soundtrack.
• Trying to get my mind in gear to go back to working daylight hours. Should happen next week or the following week. Forget trying to get the body in gear. No sense in that...
• Have been severely neglecting my friends and getting together. Need to remedy that.
• I have been scribbling notes and ideas for some poetry. I've really gotten remiss with my writing. I will probly continue to also...
• I'm mourning the passing of what was to have been a great summer. I thought working the night shift would afford me the opportunity to get out and enjoy more of our summer days. Instead we had an inordinate amount of rain and sweltering temperatures. Now, here it is, September already. I LOVE Autumn. Let's hope we have a better Fall than the Summer we had. Can't quite bear the thought of winter coming.
• Been fighting some new sleeping patterns that aren't exactly working for me. Yawn. Might as well go try some of that now.

Y'all have a good day. There was something I wanted to tell ya but I forget what it was...

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THE LITTLE CHILD IN ME...

... still can't walk past or around a mud puddle without feeling a slight urge to leap into the very deepest part to see how big a splash I can make.

... has been known to drink the left-over milk from a bowl of cereal- right out of the bowl.

... still has to push the TRY ME buttons in a toy store.

... feels the excitement on Christmas Eve and opening cards and presents on birthdays.

... loves, and I mean LOVES to play in the sand.

... gets just a little antsy in the face of authority. Just a little... So don't tell me what to do.

... loves to draw on the sidewalk with chalk.

... gets a rush from an honest-to-goodness Snow Day. And...

... misses chomping on a snowball, or sucking all the water out of a wash cloth. (I know.)

... hates to go to bed. What if I miss something good?

... misses my Gram making finger curls in my hair.

... loves peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwiches. Or pb and Marshmallow Fluff.

... seriously loves a bubble bath.

... would love, love, love to crawl up on my daddy's lap and let him nibble on my cheek.

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LADIES AND GENTLEMEN...

May I have your kind attention? I would like to introduce you to my handsome son, Michael whose 30th Birthday was celebrated last week. I tried in vain to post his picture then, to no avail. As is evidenced by the image here to your right, I'm having a bit better luck in my "photo posting" endeavors as of late. I'm not sure how the quality of the photo will show up on my blog, it looked great in My Pictures, but appears a bit fuzzy here. Anyway, you got a picture. And I can sleep now.

This was a yearbook photo taken at Gannon University when Michael was a student there. Wow, that was longer ago then I realized! He still looks pretty much like this but his hair is bleached out and longer.

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I DON'T KNOW MUCH

I've been rather reclusive in a social sense this week. Not sure what's going on in the Family, in the neighborhood or in the world in general. I do know that Steve Erwin is no longer hunting crocodiles. But, while I have a small, nagging sense in the back of my subconscious that maybe I am missing something important, I'm not terribly concerned. Less clutter, less clean-up.

What do I know? Hmm...

• In aboot two months, my second grandson will be born. And I know that Ju will be elated to have this pregnacy over with.
• I know that summer is aboot shot in the ass and I'm none too happy aboot that.
• I know that a small portion of my basement is clean because I just spent an hour and a half down there toiling.
• I know that our garage door is broken and only because a neighbor came over to borrow a torque wrench the other day and I kept hitting the button and nothing happened...
• I know that PD is becoming addicted to Collective Soul. I made him watch my new dvd on the weekend and he's been on eBay and at the mailbox ever since.
• My plants are looking a little sorry and I must make time very soon to repot and fertilize.
• I know that walnuts and Craisins make a great snack.
• There is a rumor at work that our new work labs will be ready for our group to start work on the 18th which means I will be back working the day shift then. Don't ask me how I feel aboot that yet...

Well, that's just aboot it for what is sloshing around in my head. Not a lot, huh. I had a picture for you but when I was typing my title, I hit [delete] to get rid of three periods (...) and the picture and the periods exitted stage right. Screw it.

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MY FAVORITE ARTIST IS...

John W.Waterhouse. The picture here *** supressing severe enthusiasm for fear of retribution of gargantuan proportions*** is The Lady of Shalott and hangs over the fireplace in my livingroom. Yes, it is an original and I paid 2.4 million dollars for it. Yes, you can have it for 2.5. ;-)

Nah, it's a print, matted and framed nicely and I love it. You can check out John and some of his other work here. He's awesome, no? My awesomeness pales in comparison, but you DO see the picture here, do you not???

I can't get the "John" down where it belongs, of course. This was looking like it had the potential to be my most beautiful post of all time. Ah well. Have a good day.

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BACK UP ONCE MORE...

I have some unanswered questions from some very patient members of my more caring, curious crew. As I recall, there were two or three I didn't get to before I took a break.

Hazel Hazel asked, "If you could have plastic surgery (without considering cost or pain,) what, if anything, would you have done? This one is very easy. There is only one thing that I really would truly love to change and that is my teeth. I'm not sure what they do but I'm sure I would need crowns, bridges, caps, you name it. I know sometimes they grind them down and put caps on, but that sounds time-consuming and painful to me. How do they keep from grinding nerves??? But I've seen some dental make-overs and they make me cry. I think a beautiful smile full of shiny, white, straight teeth would make me incredibly happy. And way less self-conscious. And attractive and sexy and intelligent and funny and rich and powerful. ;-)

And tooners wondered what the most embarrassing thing was that I'd ever done. My goodness, the hard part aboot this question will be narrowing it down to just one most embarrassing thing. While I'm pondering that, which will take aboot an hour or so, I will attempt to fulfill my promise of posting yet another picture (without cheating this time) which will probly take aboot that long.

Okay, I put a picture in. I don't see it do you? Of course not. I went through that lobotomy reversal for absolutely NOTHING and now there is not one, but TWO ugly scars on my forehead. Sonofabitch.

Ok, tooners, this was fairly embarrassing. I just broke a promise to the WHOLE FREAKING INTERNET. Just add this to my ever-growing list...

Stay tuned, tomorrow I will try to redeem myself... *shakes head and throws up hands in defeat and mortification*

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SOMETIMES YOU JUST GOTTA SAY, WTF...

Yeah, you all think that I finally got my lobotomy reversed and posted a picture on my blog. Well I didn't (the reversal) but I am (posting a pic). I am a little concerned though, for the picture keeps moving down every time I type a line. Before I finish this post, it will be down there by my sitemeter icon...

But what I need to say is that "I cheated." (Shhh!) This weekend when I was at JuJu's, she was advising me on how to do this. She imported the picture and I saved it. WTF, not a big deal. If I had to do it again without assistance, I could do it. I'll prove it tomorrow. This damn picture will be in every post I write for the next ten years if it keeps descending like it is now... Grrrrrrrr!!!

Oh wait! I figured it out. Cool. I love when I can actually demonstrate that I AM NOT A TOTAL FAILURE. I'm crossing my fingers and refuse to exhale until I hit the [Publish Post] button.

In case you're wondering what this pretty scene is, I took this picture at Gay Head (really) when I was on vacation on Martha's Vineyard in June. The Clay Cliffs at Acquinna. Of course, they are more beautiful and colorful than I was able to capture... But while there, I learned that years ago, the cliffs were actually bleached out by the sun and appeared white for several years before regaining the beautiful golds and pinks which you can see now. There is also a beautiful lighthouse off to the right of the cliffs on a bluff which I have managed to crop out somehow. Ah, whatever. You got a picture, just be satisfied. :-Þ I'll work on the placement thing later.

Ok, I'm turning blue and it's freakin' hard to type with your fingers crossed...

Later.

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