Alright…I was tagged (along with like 50 other people) by cyndelee to complete this quiz. Since I have little other inspiration for a blog… why not?

 

1. Grab the book nearest you, turn to page 18, line 4?

The morning light of early summer was golden as I came up out of my cave under Mount Shrak.

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can. What can you touch?

Does the air count? Technically I’m touching molecules of oxygen, hydrogen and who knows what else.

3. What’s the last thing you watched on TV?

NCIS season 1 episode 4: The immortals

4. Without looking, what time is it?

9:25pm

5. What time is it actually?

9:40 pm, but who actually knows the exact time? What is time? Just a human invention to measure the passing of our lives… On mars maybe its Bledh thirty. We just don’t really know.

6. Except for the computer what can you hear?

NCIS, Squirt filing her nails, hubby clicking a barrette open and closed. (very irritating really, if he doesn’t stop soon I’m going to be forced to take said barrette and shove it up his nose.)

7. When did you last step outside and what were you doing?

Headed for church after taking Silver_Fangz for a driving lesson. Thankfully, we are still in one piece as is my new vehicle (which we have dubbed the Yellow Submarine — in case you’re interested.. and even if you’re not, it’s my blog and I’ll type what I want in it!)

8. Before you started this survey what were you doing?

Searching the vast interiors of mind looking for inspiration…or even just a boring topic. It’s scary in there… I almost got lost.

9. What are you wearing?

What is this quiz rated?? Why do you need to know. Hey this is a first quiz…I think you’d better stop right there.

10. Did you dream last night?

Ok…now I’m really wondering what kind of pervert thought this quiz up… if things don’t clean up… I’m bailing.

11. When did you last laugh?

The easier question to pin down is when did I NOT laugh last.

12. What’s on the walls in the room you’re in?

Paint. Ohhhh.. you mean decoration wise… Why didn’t you say so?? Pictures — Medieval / Renaissance ones, a wrought iron cross, paintings of dragons and a large mirror (Who’s the fairest of them all??)

13. Seen anything weird

Ok…lately, yesterday, last year..what? How ’bout 5 gay guys dressed in drag as showgirls/polynesian dancers….does that qualify? Should I mention that they were toting my hubby around?? I have pics somewhere. I’ll see if I can find them.

14. What do you think of this quiz?

ummm….that it’s brilliant…. is this a trick question?? Am I being graded?

15. Last film or video seen?

Obviously.. you have not been paying attention to my previous blogs…tch, tch.

16. If you became a multimillionaire overnight what’s the first thing you’d do?

Hide the bodies.

17. Tell me something I don’t know about yourself?

Now isn’t my online journal revealing enough??? Ok… let’s see… I’m really a heiress, pretending to be part of the working class as research for a novel. After 21 years…I’ve just about got all the info I need..

18. If you could change one thing about the world regardless of politics what would it be?

The physical locales… why is so hard to get from place to place??? We need transporters… or land bridges… something! I need to be able to go shopping and hanging with my buds without taking out a second mortgage.

20. Do you like to dance?

YES!! It’s the best way to get high you could find.

21. What comment would you like to make to George Bush?

Ummm… loaded question.. I’ll think I’ll opt out — But Thanks anyway!!!

22. Your first child is a girl what do you name her?

Ummm…no. How ’bout …. HEY YOU!

23. Your first child is a boy what do you name him?

well, I wanted Skyler….but hubby had a fit so we settled on Kyle Patterson. (Hey, it’s better than Sean Christopher — no offense to any Seans or Christophers, just a personal thing — too many bad experiences with guys named Sean, and too many ex boyfriends named Christopher — :shudder: )

24. Would you ever consider living abroad?

nope, I’m a lady through and through…don’t call me broad, chick, girlie, sweetie or honey. (ok, hubby can use the last one).

25. What do you want God to say to you when you reach the pearly gates?

I knew you would make it, regardless of what your friends, parents or priest said, I knew you would make it.

26. Five people you want to do this quiz?

ok here comes the fun part: (muhahahahhahhhhhaaahha)

ThisIsBulDookie            Iwannaprivacy                   DiniHJ                   anirive6

jtqueenbee30                LIF1955                           vjgunkel59             luvmykidsjj

LittleLo_63                  homeschoolingthem             sunnycaligurl         Tamara1221

 

What??? — counting to 5 is more complicated than it sounds!!!!  

Seriously though… feel free to jump in and complete this wonderful, awe inspiring, breathtaking, thought provoking quiz. (OK, I think I went too far there…. you think?)

Have fun!

Sitting around watching Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back on Laserdisc. So glad that we got a new laserdisc player! It’s so nice to watch all of our old movies.

Back in the early 90′s we were stationed in Germany. The big thing at the time was to buy electronics over there because they were much cheaper. In addition to that I ended up working in the stereo department at the BX  oops… PX. (we were stationed on an Army Post rather than an Air Force Base – therefore…P not B). I got to know all the vendors from JVC, Bose, Pioneer,  Teac, Hitatchi etc. They let me know what was good and what was not. Very handy friend to have! When stuff went on sale, I called hubby and he rushed over and got it.  We were young, no kids, had little debt and both worked full time, we had money to burn….. God I miss that. That’s how we ended up with our Klipsh Chorus speakers. We had (still have somewhere) a DBX amp and pre-amp, and top of the line everything.

Most of it has been replaced, the laserdisc being the latest to move on to the electronic graveyard and need replacement. If we didn’t have so many laserdiscs, we won’t have bothered. I lucked out and found a used one in a Bookman’s in Tucson for only $30.00. Course we have to add in the cost of the new suitcase to carry it back in — another $30.00 for that (that was fun — a whole exciting packing adventure — whoo hoo).

But, got it back and lo and behold — it works and we have movies!!! Hooray! I think I’ll go make some popcorn to go with my movie.

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Question of the day:

What electronic device would you miss most if you couldn’t replace it when it died??

 

 

Thinking about music from last weekend. I was remembering my concert history. I went to my first concert when I was 12. I went with my sister, her best friend, and my best friend. We saw three bands: Mahogany Rush, April Wine, and Boston. It was a great concert and the first in a long line of musical experiences.

I have been to a variety of types of concerts: stadiums, outdoor arenas, small stages, private shows etc. I’ve enjoyed them all. I can’t remember a concert I haven’t enjoyed.

I’ve seen lots of Metal bands (big headbanger as a teen and young adult), I’ve seen classic rock bands (although they weren’t considered that at the time), and blues, jazz, and hawaiian music.

 

People like James Taylor, Eric Claypton (my all time favorite guitarist) and Joe Walsh. Groups like Rush, Queensryce, Iron Maiden, Pink Floyd (3x now, including once in Germany), Jethro Tull (Ian Anderson can rock a flute! Always inspired my flute playing), and Santana and Hapa. We also enjoy Renaissance music and have some CD’s picked up after Ren Faire shows. I’ve also been to classical concerts, choirs, and broadway musical type shows. Heck I’ve even seen Liberace play (with my mom!).

The bottom line is — we LOVE music. All music — yes even some County & Western. As a teenager I was, like previously stated, a headbanger. I loved bands like Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Rush, AC/DC etc., etc., etc. I was very narrow minded about it. I wouldn’t listen to other types of music if I could help it. I would turn the radio off and listen to nothing rather than be poisoned by that garbage. Then it happened.

I met my hubby and we began dating. He was a music lover in the true sense. His music collection was very extensive and included jazz, blues, rock and contemporary stuff. He opened my ears — and the rest, as they say, is just beautiful musical history.

So now, I listen to all of the above and have added Christian ( I love bands like Jars of Clay, Switchfoot, Reliant K, Underoath), alternative, Hawaiian,  some reggae, and now.. emo.

 

What can I say? I love it all!! Well –except screamer rock, can’t handle that, it hurts my ears — although I feel like my father when I say that, especially when I add “Nobody can understand a word he’s singing, its just a bunch of screaming noise”.    YIKES!!    Shades of middle age —

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So question for the day:

Favorite type of music and favorite band/ musician?

Sunday was a momentous day for our family. It was our daughters’ first time. We finally were able to arrange to take them to their first rock concert!

We saw Penny Lane, Hot Hot Heat, and Hoobastank. It was perfect. We had planned it in advance and bought tickets for the girls and an extra one for a friend each. The venue was ideal. An intimate outdoor setting. No reserved seating, just grass and standing. A couple of small bleachers, most situated in the Beer Garden. That in itself was perfect, the drinking was contained behind barriers with security guards at all the entrances. The crowd was just right, although we were seriously outnumbered. The vast majority of the crowd was goth/punk/emo teenagers.

We meet our daughters emo friend who is so emo he wears hair barrettes and eye shadow. We met her friend with purple hair and a lip ring.

Silver_Fangz was up front and center the whole concert. Her and her friends had an absolute blast! We brought a beach ball (we’re old rockers with a history of concerts… these things have to happen) and the kids broke it out between the first two acts and the crowd had a blast until the security guards took it away…. they are fun suckers….what can I say.

The crowd was pumped and the bands were getting off on it! There was a mosh pit and multiple crowd surfers. Lots of bouncing, jumping and yelling. Squirt roamed between the front with big sis and back on the blanket with mom and dad (although we were standing and rocking out most of it). Towards the end, she really wanted to get up front but couldn’t, so mom took her up there and were worked our way up about 10 feet from the stage and got wild. She had a blast — oh yeah, me too!

Silver_Fangz was so hyped! Afterwards she was stating that her ears were ringing a little and “it’s kinda cool”.

I feel like we’ve accomplished something. We’ve introduced our daughters to the joys of live music. I think for Silver_Fangz she will never be a back of the auditorium person.

We done good.

 

 

Latest challenge from Kween_of_the_Queens blogring. Please visit the site and join in!

“HONORING YOUR QUEENS AND LORDS”

(Challenge 10 2006)

 So I am going to suggest to pick a minimum of 5 Queens and or Lords, and a maximum of how ever many you would like to do, but basically we are going to appreciate or recognize the Queens and Lords we choose. I won’t put a limit on how many you would like To recognize or appreciate…

Next to their name make a comment of why they’re special to you on your subscriptions list or why you enjoy going to their page.

PLEASE NOTE: DON’T BE OFFENDED IF YOUR NAME DOES NOT APPEAR ON ANY ONE’S LIST… EVERYONE IN THIS BLOGRING IS MUCH APPERCIATED BY OUR ROYAL HIGHNESS I AM SURE OF IT!

 

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This is a tough one. I have a lot of subs, and I visit a lot of sites and I love all of them. I wouldn’t continue to visit them if I didn’t! I think we are supposed to stick with sites from the Kween_of_the_Kweens blogring, but I’m not real sure I could stick to those guidelines, so I’m branching out.

First and foremost has to be ThisIsBullDookie. My first subscriber that was non-family. A good friend from eons ago — due to military lives we have been separated for the past — what 4 years? I miss her terribly and miss playing poker, having coffee and torturing her husband with melted cheese dip. Her site keeps me up to date on her and her families lives and also…she’s funny! We once believed we would always be near (until retirement) but the Air Force has a way of changing those thoughts.. ok, it wasn’t a belief, it was a hope!

Ok, the rest are in no paticular order, here we go:

Sunnycaligurl: Who was a sub early on, when she shut down her site we were all sad. We were glad when she started a new one and I love stopping by and see what is new in her life.. like her latest ongoing battle with ants.

DiniHJ: a fellow homeschooler and extremely wise and intelligent. She always has interesting perspectives. I first fell in love with her blog when she was telling us stories about her darling son and his interpretations of what he learned in Sunday School.

luvmykidsjj: fun and family centered, multitalented and a fellow reality series junkie. Love the jokes and the warmth she exudes in her writing.

Jtqueenbee30: Always interesting and has the coolest drawings. Anyone who loves smiley faces, VW bugs and hippy stuff is OK in my book. Jess is a real friend and I love to chat with her when we are both online at the same time. She’s a hard worker who is dealing with a lot and still finds ways to be happy.

A new sub for me: Screaminginmyhead: subbed to Pam when she took over Featured_Grownups. I love her style of writing and the great variety of topics. Lots of fun to read.

Homeschoolingthem: another fellow homeschooler who has an amazing family. She shares their daily adventures in words and pictures.

momofjenmatt: What can I say about Laura — except that she consistently cracks me up. I can relate to so many of her experiences, but I could never tell them as well. Anyone who plots on blogging about speedos…that’s good stuff!

WineCountryGirl: Great pics, stories and insights from Wine Country. Oh yeah… and a good looking garden and plumber/nephew!

Lonelystarsabuv: Again, a fellow student who is warm, caring and a busy as a mom, student, photographer and girlfriend. She’s always on the go! I really admire her determination and will power!

vjgunkel59: What an amazing person! She has a great family (a large family) which she homeschool the children, is very active in all their activities and still has time to do crafts like sewing etc. It’s amazing! She has great insights about many issues facing families these days.

iwannaprivacy: a long time sub. I subbed to her while she was back in school as well, but she has moved on now (lucky). I love to hear about her successes and journeys in her daily life. She’s open and honest and very caring.

another new sub: LIF1955: a fellow fan of Knight’s Tale and all around good read.

anirive6: A fellow military wife, mother and Hawaiian (for a few more months anyway!) Always busy, and dealing with many of the same issues I have to deal with, such as cleaning base housing before PCS’ing, planning for vacations from an “overseas” location and a multitude of other irratating little details.

KoffeeKween: Ah! The Kween  herself! And a fellow flybaby. Right on!

There are lots more, like ERIS77869, cyndelee, queenelizzy,gabrielpeter, LittleLo_63, PlainOleMike (when he’s not busy with his new baby) and a host of others. I’m sorry if I left anyone out, it would take days to plug in everyone!

The important point is that through xanga I have hooked up with some people that I enjoy hearing from and getting to know better. I think of these people as my new friends. I appreciate all my subs and all their contributions.

Thank you my Queens and Lords!

Grocery shopping today. Costco. What fun. My dad calls it the $200.00 store because you never leave for under $200.00. Fortunately, we managed to. But we made up for it by having to stop by Safeway for the things we didn’t want by gallon sizes.

Later in the day we went to the beach. There was a south swell and we enjoyed some boogie boarding. We also suffered with some teen angst, which was relieved by finding my daughters friends that she was supposed to hook up with there.

Now we are watching Star Wars (episode IV — the original one). We watched Episode III last night. We are about to go pick up previously mentioned daughter from her friends house. Tomorrow is church and then we are off to see Hoobastank and Hot Hot Heat in concert.

In other news…. the hormones have returned with a vengeance. I feel like I’m about to come out of my skin. You know the cartoon of the the two buzzards sitting on the tree and one looks at the other and says “patience my ass, I’m going to kill something” — that’s me these days.

FUN.

Only….not.

Have a great night, and a great Sunday.

New Topic from Featured_Grownups:

AUGUST 2006 TOPIC

suc·cess ( P ) Pronunciation Key (sk-ss)

n.

The achievement of something desired, planned, or attempted: attributed their success in business to hard work.

The gaining of fame or prosperity: an artist spoiled by success.

The extent of such gain.

One that is successful: The plan was a success.

Obsolete. A result or an outcome.

This is the dictionary’s definition of SUCCESS…what’s yours?

• How does it feel
• Taste
• Smell

SUCCESS means something different and personal to each of us and in different facets of our lives as well — tell us about your success!

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My definition of success has changed many times over the years. When I was a child, it meant getting an education so that I could get a well-paying job and have all the luxuries we always wanted. We did ok, actually very well – upper middle class – but I saw those rich kids that had everything they wanted. You know, they lived in huge houses, with maids and servants; they received new cars on their sixteenth birthday…yadda yadda yadda.

As an adolescent, success meant changing my life and getting back on track. It meant getting out of rehab, and sticking with my new life direction. It meant graduating High School early, and going to college. It meant finding ways to have fun that didn’t involve mind or mood altering substances. It meant standing up for me. It meant being honest, and letting myself feel my feelings, rather than stuff them. It meant learning how to live life, on life’s terms.

As an adult however, my definition of success changes all the time. Success is when my children demonstrate their ability to think for themselves and make thoughtful choices. Success is when my husband and I celebrate our 20^th Anniversary with a second honeymoon because we are still madly in love and still best friends. Success is having friends all over the world. It’s making my parents proud and at the same time taking care of them a little.

The driving force behind my adult life however, is the image of success that began to develop as a child. My dad worked many, many years to provide well for his family. He was “successful” in his job, and worked hard. He had many promotions, awards, and prizes for success. Everyday he got up and went to work. Everyday he hated it. He hated what he did for a living, but he had a family, responsibilities and a lack of education that prevented him from getting out and doing something else.

My mom worked for years as a receptionist. She was a great receptionist. Everybody loved her, offered to employ her if she ever needed it, the bosses relied on her. Everyday she got up, dressed for success, and went to work with a smile on her face. And every day she hated it. Like my dad, she was limited by her training, education and her daily responsibilities.

I’ve done a variety of jobs; from fast food to counseling. I’ve pumped gas, and ran a cash register. I’ve sold stereos and worked with the severely mentally ill. I’ve washed cars, stocked shelves and thrown papers. All these I’ve done for a variety reasons, usually for necessity. I’ve enjoyed some, and hated others. My goal was to find what I really wanted to be when I grew up, and then get the education or training that I needed to do that job. Now I teach. I love teaching. I love learning and I love learning about teaching. I love being around children, lighting the fire, fanning the flame and making learning fun.

I want the same for my girls and my husband. I want their “job” to be something they love to do. I encourage them to experiment and find their passion. And then figure out how to make a living doing it. For example, Squirt loves horses and horseback riding. We have talked about a wide variety of ways that she can be on horseback and get paid.

Finding my passion and letting it guide me is success.

Now, for me, success feels like a job that I love.

It tastes like freedom from drudgery.

It smells sweet and peaceful.

And it looks like a smile on my face, and on the faces of my family.

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Please go by Featured_Grownups and visit the other great responses. And let me know…. What is success to YOU???

Things have been crazy round here. Both girls are back in school (we switched to year-round schedule state wide this year). Silver_Fangz in now a Sophmore, and Squirt started 7th grade. She is doing an online school through a charter. This summer she went and had her orientation and tech training. They were supposed to send via mail her username, password and email info. Guess what? Didn’t happen.

I called Thursday (6 people, left 3 messages, never talked to a human, just directories and answering machines), sent emails out Friday, and Monday at 1:00 called again. Finally got a human and got her username and password. Her classes started on Thursday, by Monday she was 3 days behind and unable to submit a bunch of stuff.

We have had many conversations with the Science teacher. We contacted all teachers, but we are still getting caught up and still getting the work submitted. She has been working like a dog and Monday night at 7:30 she was crying. She had worked 6 hours straight and was already failing science. She’s no longer failing, but we are still “deciding” whether she will stick with this program, or bail on it and go back to home schooling or try another charter that uses the K-12 curriculum (which I like, I love the Core Knowledge idea and the K-12 was based on that). So — we are in a wait and see mode.

I’m working on my Master’s online and it’s not as difficult to navigate and doesn’t have as stringent and immediated deadlines as her 7th grade courses. We’ll see.

In the midst of all of this, I decided to move our antique robe (that’s 1/2 a wardrobe) from the loft to the dining room, and move my 5 shelf bookshelf that held my scrapbooking stuff upstairs to the loft. I also went through all the school books and packed them up, cleaned up the desk area (since Squrit now only needs her laptop) and set it up for my scrapbooking. I threw away 2 bags of trash, Stored 2 boxes of books, and had 1 box of donation stuff.

Yesterday — as the sweat rolled off my face, hands arms and back — I thought to myself “Why the HECK did I decide to do this now?????”  It’s blistering hot –well since there are no tradewinds right now, and with all the stuff going on with Squirts school, I really did not need another major “project”. It looks great however, and I’m hopeful about being able to scrapbook and leave my stuff out, instead of having to put it away for meals!

Enough yapping…. off to vacuum. Woot.

 

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Your results:
You are Uhura

Uhura 70% Deanna Troi 65% Chekov 55% An Expendable Character (Redshirt) 55% Beverly Crusher 50% Jean-Luc Picard 45% Geordi LaForge 45% Will Riker 45% Worf 45% Data 42% Mr. Scott 35% James T. Kirk (Captain) 30% Leonard McCoy (Bones) 30% Spock 27% Mr. Sulu 0%

You are a good communicator with a pleasant soft-spoken voice. Also a talented singer.

Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Quiz

 

Uhhhhh….No.

But it was fun, I’m glad I didn’t end up as a Klingon —

LIF1955 said they would be interested in hearing my opinion about Knight’s Tale. Well… you asked for it!

First, let me preface this with saying that we love all things fantasy/renaissance/medieval. We attend Ren Faires (when we are not stranded in the middle of an ocean) we read fantasy/sci-fi predominantly, we collect dragons, medieval weaponry (ok, well hubby WANTS to collect that, so far hasn’t been practical with the military life) and we love creatures that are mythical or have mythical connections – like dragons, unicorns and wolves. Now, in addition to that, I’m a huge reader and love classical works — Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales being one of my favorites.

On to the opinion part:

I LOVE this movie! We have watched it so many times we could recite it word for word. What makes it great for me is the modern spin they put on this classic tale. The clothes, the music, the behaviors of the crowds….. who doesn’t enjoy watching peasants do a wave? I love the use of Chaucer as a character… “giving the truth scope”.  His sharp mind and tongue along with Heath Ledgers simple desire to make more of himself make this one of my all time favorite movies. What’s not to like when all the uppity ups at a banquet start rocking out to Bowie? Gotta be good in my opinion. I love that it’s written tongue in cheek and doesn’t take its self so seriously. It wasn’t designed to be competition for a movie like “The Passion of the Christ”, and they make no bones about it. I love that.

Ok, so there you have it.

Now that I’ve said my piece let me add this: I would be a terrible movie critic. Why? you ask — stunned? Because I like most movies I watch. I’m really easy to please. I look at movies as entertainment. If a movie entertains me for 2 hours, then it is a good movie. If I sit being tortured by boredom for two hours, contemplating methods that extract me from my pain, …. then no go. Let me also add…. I’m easily amused. So even if a movie isn’t designed to be funny, if I find it funny, that’s entertaining!! Granted, I’ll admit it was bad, but that I enjoyed it. Thankfully this ability to amuse myself with very little has saved me from long slow tedious death by boredom on more than one occasion. It’s good to have skills.

Ok, so back to you all –

Question of the day:

What makes a good movie for you? And what is one of your all time favorites?