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Thursday, February 19, 2009

Genevieve (she's a dog, people!) & Gizmo (he a dog, too)

My niece has had her shitzhu, Gizmo, for a few years. He's a character, truly. He is the only dog I know that 1) "talks" back (he does this little bark/yowl thing when you are fussing at him) and, 2) can sit straight up on his butt for the longest time (this is usually when he is trying to beg you out of something). He's a little piece of my heart.
 
Gizmo has been an only pet for all this time, so when Gabby - my niece - got another shitzhu, Gizmo was wary - but he's trying to be nice:




Giz is the bigger, lighter-colored pup. Genna is the little brat acting like she doesn't want Giz sharing HIS bed with HER...

Genevieve (Genna, for shorts) is also a character. For one thing, she looks really sweet and timid - but she's NOT. The first time Gabby brought her over, she looked so lost and helpless (you know, getting used to the big fam and the other dogs and a cat) that you just thought, "Awwwww..." Yeah. Until one of the dogs tried to take away her treat.

You do not want to tick off this little doggie. But she is a cutie:

 
  
  
See what I mean? "Awwwwww..."


Anyway, Gabs has been going through all the minor adjustments of having a second dog in her home. Genna and Giz have their jealousy issues, they compete for Gab's attention and the toys, etc. Genna is pretty opinionated & if you think a dog can't be opinionated, you will understand when you see this pic Gab sent me the other day. She had just bathed Genna and the subject of the email the pic came with said it all: "She's pissed":


I love it.

Poor Gabby.

Showmanship vs Salvation

I saw this over at C&D and I thought it was going to be a little bit humorous. Shame on me.

I'm not sure how I feel about this "sermon." I mean, there is a message and their seems to be a lot of sincerity, but... Does it really take all that? I grew up going to the Holiness church, so I'm used to the style of preaching, but when they rolled that casket out... and then when he made his "re-entrance," all I could wonder was, was he preaching to reach people for Christ, or was he just showing out? (Imagine the conversations later when people are talking about how he "Sure did preach today!")

Lately, I've been through some major stuggles and changes in my life. I have been crying out to God and literally putting my face to the floor in prayer. When I see this over-the-top kind of theatrical preaching, I'm thinking that's not what people need in these tough times. People need a pastor who is touching them in a way that matters to their situation. If I'd been sitting in that congregation, I'd probably have wanted him to stop all that carrying on and just put his hand on my head in prayer. Or preach about getting through trials. All that acting out that he did would have probably sent my nerves right over the last edge. We have to start getting real here, folks, times are really rough and souls are in pain - even Christian souls - and if I want a show, I can go to a movie. Church is for faith and strength and encouragement to hold out in this race we are in.

I know that some of you are going to think I'm being too critical, and maybe I am. I just don't know how this one makes me feel. Take a look for yourself.



Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Lotta Laughs

I am just such a glutton for punishment. I had an old defunct blog (actually, I never posted anything on it!) and I deleted it today. Could I leave well enough alone? Nooooo, not your girl. So, I replaced it with a new one. This makes, what? My second new blog in a week?? Yeah.

Anyway, the new blog is Lotta Laughs. Because I always find something hilarious when I am darting all over the web. Lord knows, in these rough times, we can all use more laughter. So. Skip over and check out the new spot. I found a new fave blog to visit: Cake Wrecks (you'll love these guys) and I put in a nod or two at a couple of blogs that poke fun at celebs.

Please enjoy. Oh, and check out a site called Feedjit. I love that they feature blogs regionally. I found some gems over there today.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Words By Maya, Lesson By Life

I do so love Maya Angelou - she and Countee Cullen are two of my favorite poets. I ran across a piece Maya's poem, "Alone" the other night:

Lying, thinking
Last night
How to find my soul a home
Where water is not thirsty


Wow - "Where water is not thirsty." That made me think of Heaven and the promise of faith. (It's even better when recited by a skilled reader.)

And, in the mood I've been in lately, there is this one by Pablo Neruda, "Clenched Soul."

We have lost even this twilight.
No one saw us this evening hand in hand
while the blue night dropped on the world.


Indeed.

But I will go back to the main source of real comfort. 2 Peter 3:10-11, 10But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will vanish (pass away) with a thunderous crash, and the [[a]material] elements [of the universe] will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up.

I've heard it said that this was the inspiration for the following poem.

This, Too, Shall Pass Away
Author: Lanta Wilson Smith

When some great sorrow, like a mighty river, Flows through your life with peace-destroying power And dearest things are swept from sight forever, Say to your heart each trying hour: "This, too, shall pass away."
When ceaseless toil has hushed your song of gladness, And you have grown almost too tired to pray, Let this truth banish from your heat its sadness, And ease the burdens of each tring day: "This, too, shall pass away."
When fortune smiles, and, full of mirth and pleasure, The days are flitting by without a care, Lest you should rest with only earthly treasure, Let these few words their fullest import bear: "This, too, shall pass away."
When earnest labor brings you fame and glory, And all earth's noblest ones upon you smile, Remember that life's longest, grandest story Fills but a moment in earth's little while: "This, too, shall pass away."

Beautiful. This, too, truly shall pass. Thank You, Father.

Peace
--Free

Monday, February 16, 2009

New Site O' Mine

I can't believe I didn't mention it here (or maybe I did & in my recent state of craziness, I don't remember), but I have yet another site.

The new site is called Trudy's Tracks & it's nothing but links. I created it because the most popular posts I did on this site was one filled with links for writers. When I created BLinks, I didn't get the same kind of response & I figured it's because the links got lost in the posts I would do. So. I created the new site with very little posting and just a ton of links under various categories. Of course, the biggest set of links are for writers and researchers (since that is still my main love), but I included a bunch of stuff for other interests.

There are links for doing cool stuff with your PC (like tweaking some functions or getting free protection), shopping (so far, a lot of cosmetics, but a bunch of bargain sites and some tech sites too), some of my fave blogs, and lots of other stuff, including networking sites for us "older" folks.

The site is turning out to be a lot of fun for me. I get to share links of all the various places I seem to run across all the time and, of course, I am forcing myself to discover things that I might not have otherwise. One of the more interesting categories I worked on was for the networking sites. Like a lot of people in my age group, I knew about the Facebook/MySpace sites, but I was surprised to find that there are similar sites geared to different interests. I found sites for Baby Boomers and people looking to hook into family... Oh! And I added some genealogical sites. That was another favorite category.

Right now I am working on transferring some of the sites listed on BLinks over to Tracks. Eventually, I will be deleting the BLinks blog. Let's face it, I have way more blogs than I have time to deal with them! And it's not like I get a bunch of traffic on them. I figure if I concentrate on the content of one or two blogs, I will get more response because of the better content. Makes sense, right? Right!

Anyway, try to get over and take a look. Probably I need to change the headings of some categories, but I'll get to that later. For now, just browse through and check some out at random.

Peace
--Free

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Alone-ness

I thought that marriage was going to mean never feeling alone. You know - even at the worst of times, financial, emotional, worry, joy, tears, laughter - all that would be shared. I thought that being married meant having someone who understood you better than anyone had since you were a child & your mother could tell your mood just by glancing at you. I thought that I would feel somehow more complete.

I don't think I have ever felt more alone than since I got married.

When I was single, I never really felt alone. I guess because I realized I was single & didn't have the expectations of a married woman. I had friends and family and my writing - and that was all I counted on. But to count on another person only to be disappointed... I guess that's what the saying "You don't miss what you never had" means - except in my case it would be, "You don't miss what you never hoped for."

Now, these days, I often contemplate leaving my marriage so that I can be more fulfilled. Or at least have a reason for feeling lonely.

Wow.

But I am trying to hold on just a little bit longer. Mostly because I take my marriage vows so seriously, but partly because I am afraid of leaving just when things might actually get good & marriage might just become what I had hoped.

Isn't the mind a funny thing?

Peace
--Free

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Rescued on Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day almost sucked, but then a friend sent a poem written just for me.

Self-esteem is such a huge part of human survival. Lately, my feelings of worth have taken such a beating that I sometimes can't remember how joyful I used to be; how beautiful I used to feel. So I am very grateful that there is at least one person out there who cared today.

Thank you (& you know who you are).

Peace
--Free

Monday, February 09, 2009

I Can't Stop Myself

I've gone and done it again. I have another - yes, ANOTHER - blog.

I wanted to improve on my concept of offering useful links. My BLinks blog wasn't feeling right to me. Now I have Trudy's Tracks (and, yes, I know I need to improve on the name; I'll keep working on that. In the meantime, tho, I am really pleased with the content.

Check it out HERE and then let me know if you have suggestions for more links or categories.

I believe that fellow writers and researchers are going to like the new blog.

Peace
--Free

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Christian Bale Needs to Get a Grip (No matter what Whoopi says)

Apparently, Joy Behar has more common sense than Whoopi on ths subject of Christian Bale. The ladies discussed that maniac's rant & Whoopi had this to say: “If I have to jump out of character to tell you something you should know?” Goldberg later continued. “You’re in a zone and it’s crazy.”

Yeah, it's crazy all right because it's just a movie!

You can try to defend Bale all you want, Whoopi, but he's still a jerk. And if you think what he did was okay, then you're buying into a whole selfish argument that being an artist comes before being human. When anyone behaves the way Bale did, what they are saying is, "I am so important that I can disregard being mature or decent or in control of my temper. I am important, damnit."

In a zone, my a**. He's in a fog of his own ego dust.  He should try getting out of his zone and realizing that his "zone" doesn't over-ride anyone else's zone.

Whoopi, Bale acted like a jerk. You are being silly when you try to defend his behavior by calling him an "artist." Like artists cannot be expected to behave decently. And you have the nerve to talk about being "professional"... C'mon, that's such a joke. What Bale should do is put himself into the shoes of the guy he went off on. What if that guy had things going on in his life (and not just his "art") that Bale didn't know about? What if when Bale's rant came on a bad day for this guy and made him feel more depressed or despaired or worthless than he may already have been feeling?

I don't know about you guys out there, but I've had days where a smile or decent word from someone (even a stranger) is the only thing that kept me going for a while longer. I've also had days where I was really feeling good only to have a Bale-like jerk be rude and ruin my sunshine.

Here's what I want to know: does Bale just have anger and control issues? I think I remember hearing about his bad temper from other incidents. Hmmm... Maybe he was just being a professional then too - no, wait, the last time I heard about him going off, it had to do with his family. Want to explain that one, Whoopi?

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Christian Bale Needs to Get a Grip

What a jerk.

I just listened (over at Perez Hilton's site) to Bale's tirade. Man, this guy makes so much money to do something that he supposedly likes doing, but he has to act like that big of a jerk when something pisses him off? He couldn't just be pissed off and done with it? He has to rant and rave and be that self-important over a scene in a movie? It's a freakin' movie, jerk - not a cancer research project, not a world-hunger-solving problem, not anything but a damn MOVIE.

If you want to put your anger where it counts, take it to Congress and argue for better healthcare. Stand in line with a homeless person who is trying to get a life together away from the streets. Stand up to someone JUST LIKE YOU who may be acting rudely to some LIKE THE GUY YOU WENT OFF ON.

Get the hell over yourself and just be thankful that all you have to be pissed about is someone "ruining" your scene. At least you don't have to be worried about where your next meal is coming from, or how to pay your kid's doctor bills, or ... Well, you don't have anything THAT life-important to worry about. Guess that's why you have energy to bust an artery over a scene in your movie & yet you lack the guts to do something more useful with yourself...

Agh!!!

Sunday, February 01, 2009

Where the police wrong? Should this woman be compensated?

There is a local story in the news here about what happened to a woman back in 2004.

This lady was out shopping in a mall with her son. There was a robbery at a bank in the same mall. The police showed up looking for a female suspect of a certain description (a heavyset African-American female in her 30s wearing a dark blue shirt, dark sunglasses, a black headband or bandana, tennis shoes and carrying a dark bag). The police detained the female shopper (45 at the time, was smaller and wearing a white, nylon jogging suit with a light blue shirt underneath. She was carrying a purse and a white Sears bag, and was with a child) - cuffed her, searched her, refused to let her son use her phone to contact his father.

This all happened in view of one of the busiest roads in town. People gawked, there was news footage, and a couple driving by recognized the woman being detained as someone from their church.

Eventually, the police determined that the woman they had detained was not the suspect. They released her. No apology.

The woman later sued. She lost (well, she won a part of her suit and was awarded $1) and now owes court costs and attorneys' fees of over $45,000. The judge thinks the lawsuit was frivolous. The jury was an all white jury.

By the way, here is how the news describes the innocent female shopper: 
  • Anchorage businesswoman and mother of two
  • She and her family were immersed in a church conference in the days leading up to the incident. 
  • She was at the mall shopping for something to wear to a church banquet
And her husband was, at the time all this happened, on active military duty (the police found the female's military ID).

The real robber was found later that evening, dressed as she had been described, hanging out in a seedier area of our town.

So, what do you think?

Peace
--Free

Friday, January 30, 2009

Funny, Funny

Okay. So many of us have been having a crappy, depressing week that I thought it was time for a giggle or two or...Well, just to have a laugh. I found some funnies to share.

One-liners:
  • Someday, we'll look back on this nervously and change the subject... (courtesy of Hilarious Quotes- as is the next line...)
  • I don't know what your problem is, but I'll bet it's hard to pronounce.
  • On the keyboard of life always keep one finger on the Escape key (link here)
Bumper Stickers:
  • Never give yourself a haircut after 3 margaritas
  • Who lit the fuse on your tampon? (Bit o' fun)
  • If you're going to ride my ass, at least pull my hair & make me scream
  • If you're not a hemorrhoid, get off my ass
  • Eat Right, Exercise, Die anyway
  • Damned if I do, Damned if I don't...so, damnit, I will!
  • Horn broken - watch for finger
If you hate your job sometimes:
  • I used up all my sick days, so I'm calling in dead
  • Difference between the Pope & your boss: The Pope only expects you to kiss his ring
  • Work: it isn't just for sleeping anymore
  • The light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off due to budget cuts
  • If at first you don't succeed, try management
Just cute & funny:
  • Take my advice, I don't use it anyway
  • Even crime wouldn't pay if the government ran it
  • It's not how you pick your nose, but where you put the booger
Confucious Say: (Thanks again to Bit Of Fun!)
  • Crowded elevator smells different to midget
  • Virginity like bubble - one prick, all gone!
  • Man who scratches ass should not bite fingernails
  • Man who drive like hell bound to get there
  • Panties not best thing on earth, but next to it
Why...? (Bit Of Fun)
  • ...Is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid with real lemons?
  • ...Don't psychics ever win the lottery?
  • ...Do we drive on "parkways" and park on "driveways?"
  • ...Do we choose 2 people to run for President & 50 for Miss America?
  • ...If "love is blind," why is lingerie so popular?
  • ...Do you press harder on the remote control when you know the battery is dead?
And, even though I know it's wrong...
Yo Mama Jokes:

Your mama is so ugly...
  • ...When she joined an ugly contest, they told her "Sorry, no professionals."
  • ...When she tried to take a bath, the water jumped out 
 Your mama is so old...
  • ...Her social security number is "1"
  • ...When she was in school, there was no History class
  • ...Her birth certificate is expired
  • ...She knew Burger King when he was a Prince
And, okay! That's enough of a giggle for the day. I feel a little bit better - how about you?

Peace
--Free

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Undiscovered Yahoo...

I learned something about Yahoo completely by accident today.

My husband - who HATES using a computer - actually got himself an email account. Well, actually a young guy he knows set the account up for him. Tim wanted me to send him a pic of myself (get ya minds out the gutta, folks!) and since he never can access the ones I send to his phone, we decided to try the PC this time.

ANYway... when I got the email address from the guy who set the account up, it was a "Ymail" account. I was like, "What the hell is ymail???"

Ymail is Yahoo's apparent answer to Google's Gmail.

Now, I've been trying to tell you peoples about the beauty, simplicity and mostly-spam-free wonders of Gmail, but y'all are just hard-headed. I don't think one of my friends or family signed up for a Gmail account since I mentioned it. I heard excuses like, "I'm used to my **fill in name here** email account." Or: "I don't want to deal with all the signing-up hassle"... Yeah, yeah, yeah... Whatev...

Well, I guess the folks over at Yahoo were paying attention to the folks like me who LOVE Gmail because they decided to do something similiar-sounding, similiar-looking, and (though it remains to be seen) similar-acting to Gmail. They did start with the biggie that Gmail had going for it: Unlimited storage...

Ta-daaaa!!! We have Ymail.

The deal is, Ymail is Yahoo Mail, except instead of being whoever-ever@yahoo.com, a user would be whoever-ever@ymail.com.

Also, when you do get a Ymail account, you have to sign in with the whole shebang (whoever-ever@ymail.com) instead of just being able to use the whoever-ever user ID like with old Yahoo mail. That's a little tedious if you share a PC or for other reasons have to sign out and back into your email often. (Not so bad for a user who can stay signed in.)

Now, a nice little perk is that when you DO sign up for a Ymail account, you get the options to do something I never noticed with Yahoo mail where you can "Connect" with people you select via your Profile. (As far as I know, with old Yahoo, this was mainly done via Yahoo 360 - which I hate because of the inability to delete page...)

What I like about the connections/profile thingie on Ymail is that you can share (with the folks of your choosing) such things as your presence on the web in various circles: Twitter, Blogger, Picasa etc. For instance, since some of you lazy-assed boogers don't check this blog often enough, you can now see it on my Ymail Connections page (that is, IF you bother to connect!) I like that you can limit who looks at what. You do these little invites or just open up your page to "anybody."

Once I signed up for the Ymail account and "updated" connections, profile, info, etc, I signed back into my old Yahoo email to see that the Ymail changes/functionalities had transferred over. In other words, I was able to do the "connect/update" thingie from my old account also. Interesting (and kinda fun!)

It doesn't stop there. I guess when you sign up for Yahoo now (as a new user or as someone just adding another ID), you have a choice of selecting which of 3 Yahoo domains to use: Yahoo, Ymail, or Rocketmail. **shrug** (I'ma leave Rocketmail alone for now!)

So. My man - in a roundabout, accidental way - led me to something new on the World Wide Web.

Peace
--Free

Monday, January 26, 2009

Just So Sad

I wasn't going  to blog today, but this just made me so sad.

  • How is it that no one was checking up on a 93 year old man? How lonely he must have been to have no one close enough to care at least that much.
  • How is it that an electric company can turn off (oh, excuse me - "limit") power IN THE WINTER, in a place known for cold temps. How can they do that without more of a process to ensure things like this don't happen?
  • How is it that (if & when the employee went out to attach the "limiter" device to the home) that employee didn't check on the old guy? Maybe if he'd done a courtesy chat, he'd have realized the guy's age and factored that into the decision for limiting power (or passed the info on to someone in charge).
  • How is it that we have come to this kind of tragedy?
  • Will it even make a difference? Will people who have elderly neighbors now check on them more often? Or offer assistance? Share some time and a meal with the old people? Or maybe refer helping agencies, churches or other caring individuals to that person who may be in need?
Lord, Jesus, when is the misery going to end? I guess it has ended for one elderly person, but how sad that life ended that way for someone who must have survived so much else. This old guy made it past 90 years. Now he can't share anything of what he learned with anyone else. Now he can't pass along wisdom and knowledge or just observations about life. Now he can't remind anyone of a time (if there ever was one) when his tragedy just would not have been allowed.

This is the United States of America. We are human beings.

I'm just so sad right now.

Peace
--Free

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Three Spottings In Blogosphere

No real post today. I'm writing (yay!!!). But I cruised around and this is what caught my eye:

Ridiculous


Interesting & a little scary


Cute

Peace
--Free

Thursday, January 22, 2009

I Don't Disagree With Bill Cosby, But...

I watched a clip from the Rachel Maddow Show where she talks about the possible influence the "Huxtable Effect" had on the election of Barack Obama. The idea is that becuase Cosby presented this fictional family on television that the American public was better able 20-some years later to accept a black man as a leader. I guess this has to do with social trends influencing people's perceptions.

Ms. Maddow interviewed Mr. Cosby and his collaborator Dr. Poussaint. I admire both of these men a lot for what they have achieved and for the fact that they are trying to reach out and educate others. And I agree with them (to an extent) about education and conformity to positive social norms being important to success.

But.

Here's the thing: not everyone, whether from a "normal" home (that is, with two decent parents) or not, is college material. Not everyone is going to be able to fit in with the current standards and offerings of higher education. Some people would be better suited to recieve affordable and viable training in a trade or business. (And I know that it's been said that a basic college education is absolutely required to compete in our "global market." I don't now if I agree with that. There will always be jobs that people can be trained -outside a 4-year college - to do. I think that there will always be labor jobs. If not, then it's not just going to be a problem for non-college educated folks; it's going to be a problem for whichever groups of people who fall short of the very top percentage of any kind of education.)

Let's say that you are a good worker in your field of choice. Let's say that you would be perfectly happy and productive if you could just work your average job, pay your average bills - nothing out of reach - and, if you wanted, be able to send your children on to higher education (if that's what they are suited for). What's wrong with that?

Well, what's wrong with that - or has always been - is that, if you are black (or any other kind of social minority), you were often not even allowed that. Because in most organizations, those in a position to offer those jobs were so many times white people who didn't have your job security as a priority over other white people. Or - even worse - sometimes black people in higher positions were just as much your on-the-job enemy as a white person. (These black people probably feel like you should have gone to college like they wanted to and did.)

It's all about the way people feel. Someone sees a white person who is content to toil away for years at a low- or middle-level job is seeing someone "hardworking," and "reliable," They say that people like that are the "backbone" of America. But if you see a black person in the same position, you hear things about their lack of "ambition," lack of education. Again - it's all about the way people feel. We all tend to base our actions on our feelings.

If you stop and think about it, you will probably come to realize that there are a lot of people who don't yearn for a big office to work in, business cards with a nice title printed on, or the ability to talk expense accounts and corporate travel. There are a lot of people who don't care to have a large or expensive home, the latest and greatest automobile. There are a lot of people who would just like to work, feed themselves and their family, have reliable transportation, be able to go to a doctor when needed, come home, enjoy their family time, and go to sleep at night knowing that life as they know it is fairly secure. There are a lot of people who don't sit around thinking about how to live off the government without working.

See, so many people don't want anything but to have a place in life and in their society. What's that old saying? About happiness being "something to do, something to love and something to hope for?" Well, we don't all aim to do grand things or love the same people as others, and we don't all hope for the biggest and brightest. Some of us have simpler joys and hopes.

I guess I'm on a rant because whenever one group or another talk about success, they talk about it only from their perspective.

So, Mr. Cosby, I never went to college, but I (and so many other who are currently in despair) would be a success if you and the rest of society appreciated my definition. You and I are not that different in our core beliefs about human nature and responsibility. I don't have out-of-wedlock children. I worked everyday on a job that I was good at. I paid my bills and didn't live "above my means." When my nieces needed to be cared for (with no help from the State or Government), my sister, mother and I took care of them. We didn't do it because of anything other than the fact that this is what family meant to us. When my mother got sick, my sister and I took care of her (and, by the way, so did those nieces - because it's what they learned at home). When times got tough, we tightened up and stuck together. We didn't steal, lie or cheat. We didn't ask the government for any undue help - unless my mother's SSI and other benefites of the elderly, like home weatherization counts.

And you know what happened when my employer was bought out by another company? Even though I was a good worker (the better of two in my position if you looked at performance reviews and other accounts), I was the one demoted down. The other worker, a white male - who had iffy reviews at times and much less positive feedback from co-workers - was kept on in the same position and even promoted soon after.

So maybe when we talk about "bettering" ourselves, we need to address bettering the society we live in. If it helps to make the point about our society, let me tell you something interesting: I got sick a few weeks ago. Being single, child-less and uninsured, I could not afford health care. One agency I called for help explained to me that if I had a dependent child or if I was receiving "benefits" (translation: "welfare benefits"), I would be eligible for some kinds of programs to help pay for a clinic/doctor visit. 

You can make certain arguments for certain people. You can always say that some people are lazy, immoral or criminal or that they simply lack a sense of conformity to polite society. But what do you say about the rest of us? What is offered for the rest of us? I never thought it should happen that having children out of wedlock or collecting welfare would be to my advantage when I needed help to see a doctor. But maybe that's just me.

Peace
--Free

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Thank You, Jesus!

After I watched this video today, I just had to take a moment and stop to thank my Lord Jesus. I had to ask His forgiveness for my recent self-pity and despair. I asked God to give me in MY circumstances just a little bit of the faithfulness and joy that this beautiful man has in HIS circumstances.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Voices From Slavery

I do love YouTube. As a writer/researcher, I have found more information YT than almost anywhere else.

This video is interesting (wish I'd taken Fountain's advice!):





Peace
--Free

Spelman's Oral History Project

On this extrordinarily notable day of history, I wanted to mention something that's being done to record history.

Check this out:




Peace
--Free

Friday, January 16, 2009

Very Interesting Film...

I watched the most interesting film tonight: The Lazarus Phenomenon. It starts out with information about Near Death Experiences, then goes into the story of a Nigerian man who was dead for three days before coming back to life again. There is also an account of another man's experience, but the first story was the most compelling to me.

I found the film on more than one site - some loading and playing better than others - and here is the link to the Google video version. The best-playing one is found here as Part 1 and Part 2 - the only problem being the small screen size making it difficult to read captions clarifying what the Nigerian speakers are saying.

I came across the film while looking for Christian films to view online. I have seen a lot of the more common Christian videos so I was surprised that I had never heard of the Lazarus film. It's a pretty amazing story & the main effect that it had on me personally was to make me realize that I need to be more forgiving of people who have hurt or offended me. You will understand this when you watch the film for yourself.

In case you are interested in seeing more Christian films, TBN has some on their site that you can watch and/or download. Also, check out Premier TV - "Christian TV On Demand." Let me know if you find others online.

Peace
--Free