The ban with no name
~ From the Chicago Sun-Times/Associated Press, June 15
Gov. Kathleen Blanco signed legislation Friday that penalizes doctors who perform a late-term abortion procedure, making Louisiana the first to outlaw the surgery since a similar federal ban was upheld this year.
The new law allows the procedure only when the mother’s life would be endangered without it. It would be a crime in all other cases, including when the pregnancy is expected to cause health problems for the mother.
The statute mirrors a federal ban President Bush signed into law in 2003 and that was upheld in April by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Lawmakers in other states are expected to consider similar bans. Louisiana is the first to enact one, according to the New York Center for Reproductive Rights, an abortion-rights group.
In Louisiana, doctors face fines of between $1,000 and $10,000, and jail terms of between one and 10 years.
Planned Parenthood argued against the ban, but received a chilly response from lawmakers. Only a handful of legislators voted against the bill.
Interesting that the AP did not name that which was banned, Partial Birth Abortion, nor describe it, nor refute that there has never been a health reason found to commit it. Nor were any pro-life groups interviewed or referred to. Par.
Good for Louisiana! I hope all other states will follow their leed.
I also hope that they start handing out life sentences for those who commit infanticide. A girl in my state stabbed her newborn son in the chest. She only received 6 years. That’s it? I don’t want to see her return to society!
Heather,
On the other post you mentioned that you wanted to ask me a question…still got it?
Heather4life,
One of the very few times I’ve agreed with Jesse Jackson is when he pointed out the two black teenagers who received far more serious punishment for fighting in the stands at a school athletic event than did two wealthy white teenagers get for killing their newborn son. At least the black teenagers didn’t kill anyone.
I am no supporter of Jackson’s, but I certainly had to agree with him on this one.
MK, I was reading a pro life catalogue yesterday. They sell pro life books, bracelets, lapels, etc. Remember when you told us all about that “Sing A Little Louder” story? I found that. Is that a book, because I’d like to order it. I can’t tell if it’s a book or a pamphlet.
MK,
While I have you here. You look much too young to be expecting your second grandchild! Congragulations to you and your family.
Mary, I AGREE too!!! Why should this girl get another chance in society? She’s a killer! I think even pro choicers would agree that this baby was murdered! It was out of her womb. Her name is Jessica Coleman, and she did appear on Oprah via satellite. I don’t know if you saw it or not.
I happen to know that “No Name” is a town in colorado. Horray for 4th grade colorado history!
As for the ban, I’m beginning to think it’s actually called the “so-called partial birth abortion ban”. At least that’s what the media would have me believe.
If this teenager had been black, I’ll bet she would have received more time.
Heather4life,
I have no doubt that being white and wealthy played a big role in giving them a lighter sentence.
I never heard of the other case you mentioned.
Adding to my list of wealthy white teenagers; Amy Grossberg. She and her boyfriend hid the pregnancy, she gave birth in a motel room, and they tossed the baby into a dumpster on a freezing November morning.The autopsy revealed multiple skull fractures. Melissa Drexler aka. Prom Mom. Gave birth at her senior prom in a bathroom stall. The baby died of suffocation.Both women are free today. Each served only 2 years in prison. I hear Amy is running her own business today. How is this fair? Both women were 18 at the time of the crime. Society is helping to send the wrong message.
Heather4life,
I was referring to the Amy Grossberg case. Thank you for the update as I had never heard anything more.
Mary, I read that book. Excellent book titled ‘Always In Our Hearts’ Author, Doug Most. Part of Amy’s probation was to speak out at schools about what she had done. She still blames the entire incident on the preeclampsia she was suffering. She accepts no personal responsibility for her actions.
Heather,
It’s a pamphlet. It’s very chilling. You might be able to get a copy online and just print it out…let me check.
Mary,
You are way too sweet. I don’t feel young. Between the knee, menopause, a 10 year old, a 7 year old, bi-polar, and arthritis I feel like I could have had a dinosaur for a pet!
When I had the knee surgery 3, yes 3, different nurses asked me about my daughter. Only they were referring to my 44 year old sister-in-law! Talk about depressing!
MK, congratulations!!!
Heather,
Here it is…
http://www.abortionfacts.com/literature/literature_909sl.asp
fter a speech, pro-life activist Penny Lea was approached by an old man. Weeping, he told her the following story:
“I lived in Germany during the Nazi holocaust. I considered myself a Christian. I attended church since I was a small boy. We had heard the stories of what was happening to the Jews, but like most people today in this country, we tried to distance ourselves from the reality of what was really taking place. What could anyone do to stop it?
A railroad track ran behind our small church, and each Sunday morning we would hear the whistle from a distance and then the clacking of the wheels moving over the track. We became disturbed when one Sunday we noticed cries coming from the train as it passed by. We grimly realized that the train was carrying Jews. They were like cattle in those cars!
Week after week that train whistle would blow. We would dread to hear the sound of those old wheels because we knew that the Jews would begin to cry out to us as they passed our church. It was so terribly disturbing! We could do nothing to help these poor miserable people, yet their screams tormented us. We knew exactly at what time that whistle would blow, and we decided the only way to keep from being so disturbed by the cries was to start singing our hymns. By the time the train came rumbling past the church yard, we were singing at the top of our voices. If some of the screams reached our ears, we
Thank you so much MK. It’s so heartbreaking! I don’t understand how people can claim to be “offended” by the comparison of abortion to the holocaust. It IS the same.
Heather4life,
Amy could have contacted a social service agency and an adoption could have been very discreetly arranged. I knew a college student who did just that over 30 years ago. The agency found a couple who would pay all expenses and adopt the child. The whole situation was very discreetly handled. She said neither her parents or her boyfriend’s parents ever found out. She went to a hospital and safely delivered, and she and her boyfriend both signed papers turning the child over to the adoptive couple. I’m sure couples would have stood in line to provide the same service to Amy Grossberg and Melissa Drexler.
Sorry, but that preeclampsia excuse doesn’t wash with me. I wonder if the two black teenagers had the option of speaking at schools about not fighting in athletic stands as opposed to a prison sentence.
MK,
This article was written as a poem being spoken by Christ and it would just move you to tears.
About those nurses! Shame on them. I have learned the hard way to always ask “your relationship to the patient is?” I’ve adhered to this rule ever since I asked a woman if she was a child’s grandmother, you guessed it, she had a menopause child. The look she gave me would have melted steel. What’s really awful is when a man is asked if his wife is his mother! Oh my goodness! You can just imagine how that flies.
Anyway, that happens. You look wonderful in your picture and certainly don’t look like a grandmother. I’m asked if I would like the senior discount at stores. Clerks have learned to do this very tactfully. “I HAVE to ask this though I’m sure you’re not old enough”. Sorry honey, I’m on to you!
Mary, actually I do feel somewhat bad for these girls. Why was Amy so terrified to tell her mother? I guess they felt that they had no place else to turn. Amy almost aborted at the same clinic that almost killed Rasheeda Dinkins, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. She feared an infection, and told Brian Peterson [the boyfriend] “I’ll get sick,and my mom will find out.” Instead she kept on trying to wish the pregnancy away. She kept writing letters to Brian: “Please make IT go away.” I wonder what on earth she was thinking. Now, the entire world knows. I’m sure her parents feel responsible in some way. However, she should have received a life sentence.
Actually, the preeclampsia is what landed Amy in the hospital. This is how her “secret” was discovered. She began having seizures in her dorm room. The ER doctors discovered the hidden pregnancy when she was brought in. Amy tried to deny it until the bitter end. Still, there is no excuse for what she did. She walked herself into that hotel room, and she walked herself out of it. She told Brian to “Get rid of it!!”
Mary is my new best friend!
Here’s the poem I think you are talking about:
THE
PASSENGER
I found myself in anger, I cried out in despair
I prayed, “Lord let them hear me! Let just one person care!”
I raised my voice to heaven as the train kept moving on
As we passed behind the church yard I could hear the worship songs.
I cried out all the louder to the Christians there inside but they raised the chorus louder not hearing me outside.
I knew they heard the whistle and the clacking of the tracks
They knew that I was going to die and still they turned their backs.
I said, “Father in heaven how can your people be so very hard of hearing to the cry of one like me?”
I shouted, “please have mercy! Just a prayer before I die”
But they sang a little louder to the Holy One on high.
They raised their hands to heaven but blood was dripping down
The blood of all the innocent their voices tried to drown.
They have devotions daily, they function in my name
And they never even realized it was I upon that train.
“For as much as you
Jill is going to be gone for a little while and things can get stagnant around here. So how about a little game?
I’ll ask you questions and you jot them down on a piece of paper. At the end everyone can post their answers all at once…
There are no right or wrong answers. This is just a little exercise to give you insight into yourselves.
I’ve seen it done a couple of different ways. The first time I saw it was in a book by Paul Zindel call The Pigman.
If you know the game, don’t spoil it for the others. Wait til the end and give us your answers anyway. It won’t hurt and it can be rather educational.
Are you guys up for it?
Sure.
yes
Excellent!
Okay, I’ll post the first question and leave it up for awhile so everyone has a chance to get on board.
Remember don’t post your answers. Write them down on a separate piece of paper so you don’t influence anybody else.
They can be as long or short, descriptive or plain as you want. The only thing that matters is that they are yours.
Ready?
First Question:
You are walking down a road that leads into a wood. Describe the road, and the wood. (ie: time of day, season, weather, foilage…etc.)
As you finish your answers let me know, so I can gauge how many people have answered and when it’s time to post the next question…
Rae, Alyssa, Erin, Mary, Heather (both), John, Bethany, Val, midnite, Danny, Less, Leah, and everyone else,
I hope you catch this as I think you’ll enjoy it.
But remember, if you’ve already played it, don’t spoil it for the rest of us!
done with 1st question
“Interesting that the AP did not name that which was banned, Partial Birth Abortion, nor describe it, nor refute that there has never been a health reason found to commit it. Nor were any pro-life groups interviewed or referred to. Par.”
OMG… the liberal press abstained from putting morally loaded and medically inaccurate/inconcise spin on it. So sorry!
LMAO
But wouldn’t you be out of a blog if the press was doing all the hyperbole and missrepresentation for you?
“”Interesting that the AP did not name that which was banned, Partial Birth Abortion, nor describe it, nor refute that there has never been a health reason found to commit it. Nor were any pro-life groups interviewed or referred to. Par.”
Thats because most of the AP “reporters” are in the mold of Cameron, ie: shills for the left-wing kooks…
MK,
done with question 1
Ooh MK, I want to play.
Done with 1st question.
Good Jen,
I didn’t mean to leave you out (or Pip or Hisman) or anyone else…the brain just hold everybodies names…
I’m gonna leave the 1st question til I get back from the movies…that’ll give the people who usually post later a chance to catch up…
You’ll like it, I think!
Mary,
Wasn’t this you way back in March? Or was it a different Mary?
I mean, if you can’t see things from another perspective, you’re not a well-rounded or very tolerant person. If you’d rather be intolerant and closed-minded, you can continue to only see things from your point of view. If you’d rather be open-minded and tolerant, you can start realizing that not everyone lives the way you do, and figure out how to be pro-life without having a religious background to it. If you cannot argue your pro-life position without the need to resort to your religious background, you were never truly pro-life to begin with, from my perspective. You were only doing as you were told and never truly examined why you were pro-life. It scares me that most of the movement I support was just described.
The point is, using Catholic arguments on non-Catholics is useless. It will do nothing except get YOU the titles of “religious nut” and “intolerant of others.” If you respect other people’s faiths, you will try to understand them and learn and NOT argue from a Catholic perspective, which can only apply to Catholics, but from a humanist perspective that all people can understand.
And this?
These are from the 3/14 post on Hannity vs the Catholic Church…
Not you?
Done with the 1st
I just checked the email addresses and it isn’t> you…that’s so wild because both of you were so knowledgeable and able to come up with facts and fantastic arguments at the drop of a hat…
Uncanny…sorry. It’s funny because since March I have tried to steer away from religious articles when conversing with you…silly me!
MK –
This week is going to be hard for me to read everything. Can you e-mail me when you post the questions….and possibly what the questions are? ;-)
When does school for the kids start again?
MK,
No problem. I’m just glad the mystery was solved. I was certain I had never made any reference to someone’s religious beliefs, since I have no issue at all with anyone’s religious convictions being used to argue the pro life cause.
Oh, and thank you for the kind words. You are addressing me, right? If not I’ll feel pretty silly.(smile)
MK,
I’m done with the first question.
Very curious to see how this turns out.
Washington Post film critic is disappointed that abortion was missing from summer movies.
http://newsbusters.org/node/14140
@MK: I read the Pig Man in middle school (so long ago!)
Anyway, done with the first question. :)
I don’t understand how people can claim to be “offended” by the comparison of abortion to the holocaust. It IS the same.
Posted by: Heather4life at July 16, 2007 08:47 AM
Have you done ANY research on the holocaust? Perhaps you need to do that. Stay away from saying that, or you might get shot.
Yes Mary,
I was addressing you. And you are most certainly welcome. I’m so happy you’re not you. And I’m so sorry that I thought you were.
Okay,
There are some people that we havent’ heard from yet, but I’ll go ahead and give the next question…
For those of you just joining us I’ll post the first question again also.
Question No. 1: You are walking down a road that leads to a wood. Describe the wood and the road.
Question No. 2: You come to an obstacle. What is it, and how do you overcome it?
So far Danny, Rae, Jasper, Jen C, HeatherB., and Rosie have checked in…
MK, I’m here. JM, Shot? I have Jewish friends who agree with me!!
Okay Heather,
I’ve got you marked down.
Mary, JM are you not in? Doesn’t matter just want to know if I should wait for you…
Where do we answer? Am I missing the answers?
No Heather.
You write them down at home and we’ll all post them at the end together…if you scroll up, you can read all the posts about it…
I could have sworn I sent you an email, no? Maybe I sent it to the old address?
It’s the 11:22 am post…and then a couple more after that…
OK. I have been gone all day. Didn’t check yet.
MK,
I’ve finished with the second, though I’m not sure if my answer is satisfactory.
Rae,
I’m glad you came on…I just wish Alyssa and Midnite would play. I’d love to see their answers.
Heather,
write them down but don’t post them.
Yikes! you beat me to it! I’m done with nuber 2
Okay I have both questions answered. :)
I’ll come back on tomorrow morning and post question 3. Whoever hasn’t answered by then will just have to catch up…
Did it.
MK,
Sorry, I’m not in.
Done with the 2nd.
I’m feeling creative today, too.
Oh, MK, I posted on the Foie Gras article. Take a look when you get a chance.
Jen,
Will do…you’ll be back tomorrow for question 3, right?
Mary,
That’s fine. If you want, you can keep your answers private. You know, don’t post them, but answer for yourself…
2nd question answered
Marked it Jasper. See you all tomorrow.
Okay, MK I have arrived… I think I’ve done this before but I cant remember. But I have answered question 1 and 2 for ya…
Heather B.,
MK,
I’ve finished with the second, though I’m not sure if my answer is satisfactory.
If it’s satisfactory to you, then it’s satisfactory. Remember, there is no right or wrong here. There is just what you see.
Don’t stress too much…it’s just for fun!
And I am glad question 3 will be later (or tomorrow, I’ve got to dye my hair tonight :-)
I’m so glad midnite! Now, where’s Alyssa?
Will you be back tomorrow for the rest?
oooops! We posted at the same time…til tomorrow then.
Or just give me 45 minutes, 10 to get in my hair, 25 to wait and about 5 to 10 to wash it out. I swear I’ve done this before, but my memory is failing me in my old age (lol). Trying to figure out my obstacle though….
MK,
Thing with this game is…it’s got me thinking about what these images could symbolize for me.
Kind of interesting what I’ve come up with…
Heather B.,
That’s exactly what it should do. Is get you thinking. But be patient and wait for it. Only five more questions to go…
Since most of you have checked in, I’ll give you question #3. You can take your time answering and I’ll give you #4 first thing in the morning…promise!
QUESTION #3: As you are walking along, you find a cup. Describe your cup. What do you do with it?
Midnite,
If you do remember, don’t let on. It would spoil it for everyone else. If you don’t remember, then don’t try too hard to. Just play and when we get to the end you can say “AAAAAhhhhhh, now I remember!”
I remember anwering questions some what like this, but it was soooo long ago, I cant really remember. So it’ll be the latter of your scenarios. I think I did it in my Intro to Psychclass in fall of 03 (which would explain why I cant remember exactly, lol)
And after I answer this, I off to dye my hair a new copper red color.
Which thread shall the next questions be on MK?
Midnite!
I haven’t talked to you in ages, at least not since I decided how I was going to modify my appearance.
I’m going back to blonde (my natural color).
This is for anyone interested in some of the new species/cryptozoological happenings that were discussed on the Lyuba mammoth thread. I’m out for the night, and I probably will be gone for most of the week. If anyone here lives in Iowa, or has friends from Iowa that are going to be bored on the 21st, send them to http://www.dirtysouthernrock.com to get details on where my band, Whiskey Rebellion, is playing. Have a good one!
PS 2nd and 3rd questions are done.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Squid As Long As a Bus and Weighing 550 Pounds Washes Up on Australian Beach
A squid as long as a bus and weighing 550 pounds washed up on an Australian beach, officials said Wednesday.
“It is a whopper,” said Genefor Walker-Smith, a zoologist who studies invertebrates at the Tasmanian Museum.
Giant squid live in waters off southern Australia and New Zealand where a half-ton colossus, believed to be the world’s largest, was caught in February. They attract the sperm whales that feed on them.
The dead squid, measuring 3 feet across at its widest point and 26 feet from the tip of its body to the end of its tentacles, was found early Wednesday by a beachcomber at Ocean Beach on the island state of Tasmania’s west coast, the museum said.
The squid was expected to be taken to the museum, where DNA and other scientific tests would be carried out before it is preserved and possibly put on public display.
For anyone thinking of a calamari feast, Walker-Smith said giant squid contain high levels of ammonia in their bodies as a buoyancy aid.
“It would not taste very nice at all,” she said.
New Zealand fishermen netted a 1,100-pound, 33-foot-long squid in the Southern Ocean in February. It is widely believed to be the largest specimen of the rare and mysterious deep-water species Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, or colossal squid, ever caught.
Experts believe the creatures, which have long been one of the most mysterious denizens of the deep ocean, may grow even bigger up to 46-feet long.
@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@
Truth or Fiction? New Loch Ness Sighting
British Man Claims He’s Captured New Footage of the Loch Ness Monster Beneath Lake in Scotland
This shadowy something is what someone says is a photo of the Loch Ness monster in Scotland. An amateur scientist claims he has captured what Loch Ness Monster watchers say is among the finest footage ever taken of the elusive mythical creature reputed to swim beneath the waters of Scotland’s most mysterious lake.
The Loch Ness monster is back and there’s video. A man has captured what Nessie watchers say is possible footage of the supposed mythical creature beneath Scotland’s most mysterious lake.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw this jet black thing, about 45 feet long, moving fairly fast in the water,” said Gordon Holmes, the 55-year-old a lab technician from Shipley, Yorkshire, who took the video Saturday.
Nessie watcher and marine biologist Adrian Shine viewed the video and hoped to properly analyze it in the coming months.
“I see myself as a skeptical interpreter of what happens in the loch, but I do keep an open mind about these things and there is no doubt this is some of the best footage I have seen,” said Shine, of the Loch Ness 2000 center in Drumnadrochit, on the shores of the lake.
Holmes said whatever it was moved at about 6 mph and kept a fairly straight course.
“My initial thought is it could be a very big eel, they have serpent-like features and they may explain all the sightings in Loch Ness over the years.”
Loch Ness is surrounded by myth. It’s the largest inland body of water in Britain, and at about 750 feet to the bottom, it’s even deeper than the North Sea.
“There are a number of possible explanations to the sightings in the loch. It could be some biological creature, it could just be the waves of the loch or it could some psychological phenomenon in as much as we see what we want to see,” Shine said.
While many sightings can be attributed to a drop of the local whisky, legends of Scottish monsters date back to one of the founders of the Christian church in Scotland, St. Columba, who wrote of them in about 565 A.D.
More recently, there have been more than 4,000 purported Nessie sightings since she was first caught on camera by a surgeon on vacation in the 1930s.
Since then, the faithful have speculated about it is a completely unknown species, a sturgeon even though they have not been native to Scotland’s waters for many years or even a last surviving dinosaur.
Article/Video Link
http://www.abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=3231769
Heather B:
I am jealous!! I wish I remembered my natural hair color to be able to go back to it!! I’ve been messing with it for so long, I dont know what color it would turn out to be if I let it grow out… But red suits my temperment and attitude so I stick with burgandy/auburn/copper tones.
Midnite,
My hair went from a really pretty dirty blonde to that mousy dark dishwater blonde bordering on light brown.
I’m going with something lighter, though. Something pretty.
It’s a huge “risk” for me to take since my hair’s been dark since about 8th grade. I haven’t seen my natural color in six years.
Of course there wasn’t much effort put into this story Jill. The AP and many others realize that Louisiana banning this one procedure will result in saving 0 babies from being slaughtered! They’ll just use a different procedure or keep on using that one because no one is around to enforce this ban.
If the language is like the Supreme Court’s majority opinion then the abortionist can still perform this procedure as long as it was done “unintentionally”.
Nothin to celebrate here Jill. Absolutely nothing. Well, unless you are a member of the Louisiana congress that voted for this ban to make yourself look better when the next election comes around. Or if you are a pro-life lawyer who wants to give the impression that you helped to pass a law that will stop babies from being aborted.
…
I tipped my hair pink and dyed my bangs pink this weekend.
I had a wee bit of fun on Friday night with my friends. Yes we were sober. :D
hehe I loved my hair when the tips were hot pink. My mother almost had a stroke that summer. So much fun. But mine was the result from a drunken girls night with whiskey…lol
Hey Jill, do you agree with Scalia that it would be just as wrong for the Supreme Court to make a federal law banning abortion as it was to make Roe v Wade?
If such a ban would prevent nearly a million babies from being aborted each year would you support a federal ban on abortion? Or do you think that each individual state should have the option to decide whether or not to legalize the crime of murdering babies?
After I go blonde, I can do funky colors in my hair :D.
I’m thinking that at some point, I might put some blue or purple streaks underneath…or something.
oooooh do some black and purple streaks…. wow I should just come do it for you!!! :-)
Hmm…Maybe.
The black isn’t likely, but I’m probably going to definitely do blue or purple at some point.
G’Mornin’ Everyone,
Question #4: You come across a key. Describe it.
What do you do with it?
Okay I have 3 and 4
Zeke, I answered your Scalia question on another post. You didn’t respond.
Cameron said, “OMG… the liberal press abstained from putting morally loaded and medically inaccurate/inconcise spin on it. So sorry!”
Cam, omitting the NAME of the ban and the procedure that was banned has nothing to do with being “morally loaded… medically inaccurate… inconcise.” It has to do with immorally loaded, medically inaccurate, inconcise journalism.
Hey Zeke,
your adamant stand displays a want to end abortion via non-peaceful means?????????????
if you eliminate any federal involvement – abortion will become the main divisive/polarizing issue in State elections. It has the make-up to ‘force’ a very large segment of society to comply to the very opposite view …. the tyranny of the majority.
Is this enough? I think that the way people are right now in American society that people will either: A) fight a new civil war; B) such a federal ban could potentially [MAYBE] also paralyze legislative and court systems.
The problem is the ‘iffy’ nature of this issue. Am I to make war/enemies on those who disagree with me? Or am I to make peace and reconciliation? The ‘enemy’ will still be there after such a battle … this kind of victory is hollow!
Gotta love it. I turned on the TV just now, and the prez of PP is speaking. She keeps referring to “Women’s health.” I’m gonna watch a bit more. I can tell that she’s being very careful about the way she words things.
LOL! Her audience looks like they’re falling asleep on her! LMAO!
Ok, question 3 & 4 are done.
“She keeps referring to “Women’s health.”
liars
Hey MK!!! Sorry I didn’t start the game yesterday. I was busy with class and other stuff last night….having troubles with my teenage brother. He’s entering that completely troublesome stage and being a real…for lack of a better word…prick….to people in my family.
just to let you know, I’ve caught up on all 4 questions. :) I’m ready for the next one. This is interesting. :D
Heather and Midnite: Even with platinum blonde hair, I find it extremely hard to put any dye in it. It’s so weird…it’s like my hair is resisting anything I do to it. I tried putting bright purple/pink streaks in it, and it came out the next day. My friend, who has naturally dark hair, was able to keep her streaks permanently until she dyed her hair again. *sigh*
Yeah,
Alyssa’s here!
I’m going to therapy now, and when I get back I’ll post question 5.
Still waitin’ on Midnite, Heather4Life, Heather B.,
Rosie, and Jen C…
Must not be morning people!
jasper, I knew she was “Going to GO there.” She said, “If abortion is illegal, it will continue.” “However, women will die.”
I’m in!
MK,
I shall answer the 4th question when I arrive at work.
Lyssie,
What kind of dye did you use?
MK, good luck at therapy. Hope you’re progressing quickly. My dad is in therapy now after surgery to repair his left rotator cuff. Not fun. He’s also dealt with bad knee problems. Really harsh recovery.
Midnite: The dye was a permanent one called “Raspberry Kamikaze”. The stuff was supposed to totally take over my hair color. It failed. Lol. Still got sand-dune colored locks.
Hey Rae,
We’re also waitin’ for you…how many have you answered so far?
Do the answers have to be very detailed, MK? Just wondering. :)
Well, I’ll be back later to check in on the questions. Talk to all of you in a bit. :)
Ok, MK 4 is finished. Sorry had to get some stuff done before I could play, lol.
And no I am not a morning person, never have been and probably never will be. I wake up at 8:30 to be at work at 9…
Jill,
Let me guess… you think they should have used the “partial birth abortion?” Let me know when you find that in a medical dictionary…. while your at it… see if you can find pre-baby, or the word murder in the abortion definition.
alright MK, I am patiently waiting for question 5…. Come on wit it!! (LOL)
done with number 4.
“Pro-choicers”
Many people have become apathetic about abortion. Since they have already been born, abortion is no threat to them personally. Why should they care about someone else
Jasper,
The last time I checked, I don’t “lack” value of human life. Try again buddy.
“You see, pro-choicers are not pro-choice for themselves. They would not even consider abortion for those they love.”
I’m missing your point I think Jasper. Most pro-choice people do want abortion legal for those they love, i.e., their daughters, their mothers, their sisters.
How about the huge number of women who had abortions, aren’t they “pro-choice for themselves?”
“I’m missing your point I think Jasper. Most pro-choice people do want abortion legal for those they love, i.e., their daughters, their mothers, their sisters.”
Look at it this way Hal:
It you could turn back time, would you have wanted your mother aborted?
“How about the huge number of women who had abortions, aren’t they “pro-choice for themselves?”
No, they’ve already been born, of course there not pro-choice for themselves. Would they have not wanted to be born?
“Jasper,
The last time I checked, I don’t “lack” value of human life. Try again buddy.”
Thats great Midnite! when did you turn pro-life..
Everybody! midnite values human life! she’s pro-life!
Thanks Jasper. I did misunderstand you.
Jasper,
Serisouly, when are you going to grow up and act like the “man/father” that you are supposed to be? Stop acting childish and twisting my words around. I can be pro-choice and value human life. In fact, I even value your life for some odd reason….
“I even value your life for some odd reason….”
why thank-you Midnite, I value your life as well, and make sure that boyfiend treats you nice.
Yeah, well he is angering me at the moment. But alas, I shall be victorious :P
MK:
5th Question, please??
Sorry I’m late, MK. I went to bed around 8 this morning, so…..
Anyway, fourth question answered.
How many are there?
Well John, we went to war over whether or not blacks could be owned as property. Why not have a civil war over something even more significant – the killing of the innocent? Or are your values and beliefs not really worth fighting for?
Jill Stanek
Your responses to my two questions that I went back and read on an older blog post were not good at all. To make it easier for you to respond to what I am actually getting at so you can’t sidestep what I am asking you I will quote Scalia directly.
Scalia said on Feb. 4, 2002 at a Pew Forum,
“I will strike down Roe v. Wade, but I will also strike down a law that is the opposite of Roe v. Wade. … One [side] wants no state to be able to prohibit abortion and the other one wants every state to have to prohibit abortion, and they’re both wrong…”
Do you agree with what Scalia says here or not?
Zeke,
What exactly are you getting at?
“Well John, we went to war over whether or not blacks could be owned as property. Why not have a civil war over something even more significant – the killing of the innocent? Or are your values and beliefs not really worth fighting for?”
So are you rallying an army of some sort to “go to war” against abortions? Are you willing to kill more innocent lives through your war? Do you support Abortion Clinic Bombings as well?
Zeke,
RE: PBA ban…
JUSTICE THOMAS, with whom JUSTICE SCALIA joins,
concurring.
I join the Courts opinion because it accurately applies current jurisprudence. I write
separately to reiterate my view that the Courts abortion jurisprudence, including Casey and Roe v. Wade, 410 U. S.113 (1973), has no basis in the Constitution.
Alyssa,
Do the answers have to be very detailed, MK? Just wondering. :)
Posted by: Lyssie at July 17, 2007 09:17 AM
They can be whatever you want Alyssa, but I will tell you that that is part of the game…Whether they are short or long will be as revealing as what they are…
ooooh 5th question please???
Ray, Alyssa, Bethany, Jasper, Midnite, Danny, Heather B., Heather4Life, and Rosie,
You have all been very patient.
Here is question #5 AND #6…
#5: In some games this is a tree and in some it is a body of water. I’ll let you pick which one you want to describe. Or you can do both if you want.
You come to a body of water. Describe your body of water. How do you cross it?
and/or
You come to a tree. Describe your tree.
AND #6: On the other side of the water you find yourself on an island. There is a nasty thunderstorm coming. What do you do for shelter?
There is only one more question. I’m going out to dinner. When I get back I’ll give you #7 and then we can begin posting our answers…
hehe, 5 and 6 are done. Although, I wont be home until like 9 or 10 tonight b/c I have class until 7:30 and then I am going out to eat at 8 for my friend Kevin. He’s going back to Iraq on Thursday, sooo it’ll be a little while until I can answer 7 and post my answers
done!
That’s fine midnite…
It will probably be tomorrow morning before we begin posting them anyway…
I’ll have up #7 tonite, and everyone can answer as they come on?
Any idea where Rae or Jen C are?
Yikes! I hear it’s very hot in Iraq right now! My husband’s uncle is there translating, he’s originally from Syria. He has a cousin there too.
Jasper
Scalia is pro-choice state-by-state. He doesn’t recognize that no level of government has the leeway to legalize crime.
We have an illegitimate government operating around the nation right now.
hmmm, I can IM Rae and see if she’s near a computer
I have #5 and #6
midnight678
If we could fight a war over the next few years that would bring an end to the slaughter of MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of innocent and defenseless babies over the next 100 years I would totally do it.
Why do you think it wouldn’t be worth fighting for? Are you so in love with your current comfort level that you refuse to fight for what’s good and right?
Now Zeke,
They’re not even willing to vote for what’s good and right, let alone fight for it.
Midnite,
Yeah, well he is angering me at the moment. But alas, I shall be victorious :P
Want to vent?
Zeke,
Apparently what you and I think is good and right differ. I wish abortion numbers would go down dramatically. But I don’t see that happening any time soon with that crap “Abstince Only” education that our Government is waisting money on.
Would I kill an adult human (innocent life) to save an unborn child’s life? NO. Absolutely Not. Would I blow up a Pro-Life organization to “prove” a point? Absolutely Not. But we do not agree on that opinion. I am pro-choice and you are apparently a fanatic Pro-lifer.
Am I in love with my “comfort level”? Not quite sure what you mean with that question. No, I am not. I am scared to death everyday that terrorists will attack our country again. I am scared to death that one of my friends will get killed in Iraq because of a fanatic Islam that thinks Allah told him to.
Does that answer your questions?
Now answer mine: Would you blow up an abortion clinic to prove a point and make your “war” a reality?
MK:
He just angers me, and I am about to blow up about it. I mean he never wants to touch me, hold my hand, kiss me anything. I know he loves me, but I feel like I am an embarrassment to him or he is repulsed by me. I cant figure out which one it is to be honest with you. I once had a guy in a bar think I was lying about him being my BF. I understand PDA (obsessive amounts) is gross but, come on, he could kiss my cheek, or just hold my frigging hand and I would be happy.
Does any of that make sense?
OK, off to class to learn new stuff. I shall return later tonight when I get home from dinner…
Midnite,
If I may poke my nose in here. You are a beautiful and intelligent young woman with a great future. You can have your pick of men. You don’t have to tolerate this. Take it from me, who due to my advanced age has been around the block a few more times, no amount of cajoling, arguing, reasoning, or patience will change him. If this is intolerable to you, please keep what I said in mind. It will not get better.
Eep! I’m sorry MK, I’m still answering questions. I’ve been busy with class and work today, I just got home about a half hour. :D
Mary, those were true words of wisdom….Midnite, I hope you will take them to heart. I’m sorry he’s putting you through that.
Urg…MK…. I am finished with the next few questions. :)
Bethany and Mary:
Thanks, he is slowly getting a little better, but I love him so I guess it is something I am going to have to put with for a little while atleast… But I must run. Being on the internet in class is a “no no”, hehe
done with 5 & 6
Okay,
Now for the grand finale!
Question #7:
You come to a wall.
The wall is as high as eternity.
As deep as eternity.
As thick as eternity.
As far to the left and right as eternity.
What do you do?
I’ll give you time to answer and then I’ll give you the okay to post your answers…
Wait for it…no jumpin’ the gun!
Got it!
Midnite,
In every relationship there is stuff that you have to “Deal with”. The trick is to decide what you can accept (and by accept I mean no whining, no trying to change them) and which things are simply unacceptable.
The second thing to consider is that you and he have had different pasts. Is there something in his that makes the touchy-feely stuff uncomfortable?
Thirdly, have you asked him. Not attacked him but asked him?
So often when we try to express our feelings to someone we go into attack mode. “You never touch me! You’re always so distant” Obviously, this immediately puts the other person on the defensive and instead of communicating they begin to posture and “fight back”.
Try talking to him by using the “I” phrasing…
Joe, when you hold my hand or kiss me in front of my friends I feel like the queen of the earth! You make me feel like I’m the only person in your whole world! It’s like you’re a big back silverback gorilla claiming his “woman”…I love it! But when you don’t hold my hand, or when you won’t kiss me, I feel like a big bafoon, like everybody thinks I’m needy and clingy and like I’m the only one who has any feelings in this relationship. Is there something about public displays that makes you uncomfortable. Because right now, I’m feeling undesirable, and I need to know if it’s me or you.
You see? No defenses. Now he can explain his side without feeling like you’ve unmanned him.
Does that make sense?
I know you know what I’m talking about because it’s exactly what you accuse Jasper of doing to you all the time. And you see how you react. You couldn’t care less what the point he was trying to make was, all you can see is red because you feel like he attacked you…
WATCH “FACE THE TRUTH TOUR” VIDEO ON YOUTUBE COMPLIMENTS OF GENERATIONSFORLIFE.ORG…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxVBb6VvrAo&NR=1
Mike
Thanks Mike,
I was in that video…I’m the one standing across the street by myself holding the “Eighth week of Life” sign, just before he pans to the driveway…
It was a great day. By far more thumbs up, than fingers pointing to heaven.
Thanks again!
MK, Mike,
thanks for doing God’s work, amen…..where was that located?
It was a 7 day tour, with three stops each day. This was the last day and the only one I attended. Jill went to one earlier in the week.
First we lined Milwaukee ave in Niles, then we hit Evanston, Illinois and lastly we did Lincolnwood which is between Skokie and Evanston.
Here’s the full itinerary…
9:00-10:30 Joliet
West Jefferson Street and North Larkin Avenue Map
11:30-1:00 Shorewood
Brook Forest Road and Black Road Map
3:00-4:30 Plainfield
Route 59 and Caton Farm Road Map
Sunday, July 8
Day Off
Monday, July 9
Downtown Chicago
Note different start and end times this day.
9:30-11:00 Chicago: Buckingham Fountain
Lake Shore Drive and Jackson Boulevard Map
11:30-1:00 Chicago: Art Institute
Michigan Avenue and Monroe Street Map
3:30-5:30 Chicago: Union Station
Adams Street and Wacker Drive Map
Tuesday, July 10
Rockford
9:00-10:30 Rockford: Swedish American Hospital
East State Street and 9th Street Map
11:30-1:00 Rockford: East Side
East State Street and Alpine Road Map
3:00-4:30 Rockford: East Side
East State Street and Perryville Road Map
Wednesday, July 11
South Side Chicago
9:00-10:30 Chicago: Garfield Ridge
43rd Street and Cicero Avenue Map
11:30-1:00 Bridgeview
87th Street and Harlem Avenue Map
3:00-4:30 Chicago: Ford City Mall
72nd Street and Cicero Avenue Map [Back to Top]
Thursday, July 12
North Suburbs
9:00-10:30 Deerfield
Waukegan Road and Lake Cook Road Map
11:30-1:00 Northbrook
Dundee Road and Pfingsten Road Map
3:00-4:30 Glenview
Willow Road and Patriot Boulevard Map
Friday, July 13
Western Suburbs
9:00-10:30 Woodridge
Route 53 and 75th Street Map
11:30-1:00 Naperville
Washington Street and Ogden Avenue Map
3:00-4:30 Aurora
Route 59 and New York Street Map
Saturday, July 14
Near North Suburbs
9:00-10:30 Niles
Touhy Avenue and Milwaukee Avenue Map
11:30-1:00 Evanston
Davis Street and Ridge Avenue Map
3:00-4:30 Lincolnwood
McCormick Boulevard and Touhy Avenue Map
“Scalia is pro-choice state-by-state.”
I agree Zeke, thats no good…..
Okay,
Here’s how you should post them…
Put all of your answers in one post. That way they will be easy to refer back to.
Number them 1 through 7. If you answered both the tree and the water question, answer them 5a. and 5b.
When everybody has posted, I’ll tell you what they mean.
John Mcdonell was afraid he wouldn’t be around today, so I’ll post his first.
READY?
done with #7
Hi midnite,
I don’t see it often but ‘shyness’ is huge for males … most act outrageous; others get loud and weird but there are a few who are very dumbfounded by extreme beauty … and you’ve got that in spades. I was (and still am) one of that last bunch. We do not understand how anyone (let alone someone so pretty) could ever be interested in me. [Being ‘gorgeous’ just does not compute in self-assessment!]
I think it comes from having a real pretty and smart Mom. Can’t give you any tips on what to do … except be yourself and let him be himself when around you.
Best ……..
done
JOHN MCDONEL:
#1 You’re walking down a road…
Is despair my path to venture,
since I cannot walk?
And wooded mount mere illusion
of yesterday’s child?
I can still taste the air crisp
and hear the yellowing leaves carpet the earth’s floor
In my dream
#2 You come to an obstacle…
obstacles are my friends I’m told,
so does this make me a popular fellow
…. strange: I thought it was an effervescent personality.
#3 You find a cup…
empty … reminds me to find thirst
#4 You find a key…
throw it away . I’m safe with trust!
#5 You come to a body of water…
calm ocean , my friend… why be elsewhere?
#6 You come to an island…
go under a tree to stay dry and wait
I’m holding off on John’s answer to #7 as it is too good and could be a spoiler…
Okay,
Everyone else…you’re up!
John,
You just made a liar out of me…
Anywho, yer post is up!
1.) Summer, about 80 degrees, sunny and the trees are green, 10am in the morning
2.) Obstacle is a raging stream waist deep, walk through it slowly.
3.) My cup I found is quite old, I throw it away.
4.) I find a key, it’s very old, I put it in my pocket
5.) I come to a body of water, a small pond, don’t have a boat, I walk around it
6.) I build shelter with branches, leaves, peat moss, etc on slightly higher ground to avoid getting wet.
7.) The wall, if it was thick, deep, wide, tall as eternity, it would be covering me. I couldn’t do anything. I turn around and walk back the way I came.
@MK: There you go. :D
1) It’s early evening and the summer air is cool and slightly muggy. The path is dirt with tree ruts popping out in the middle of the roads. Squirrels dart across the clearing, hopping from tree to tree in two short bounds. One little squirrel suddenly stops in the middle of the road and looks up dramatically as if he had just remembered he left the gas on in his little squirrel-hole kitchen. Fireflies blink through the bushes that grace the side of the path. Winking on and off like little stars that that were shining eons ago and are now no longer in existence…only not because fireflies are insects, not giant balls of gas.
2) I continue walking and I suddenly come to a fallen tree. It must have fallen during the last storm. The tree appears to be too large to just hop over, and I’m not particularly fond of getting dirty to climb over it. Unfortunately it’s a very large tree, and it goes far off of the path on in both directions and since I have a paralyzing fear of ticks, I have no desire to leave the cleared path. Instead, I suck it up and climb over the path, scraping my knee on the mossy bark. I have streaks of dirt up my shins, but I manage to make it over the tree no worse for where.
3) As I continue walking, I notice there’s a small cup on the side of the path. I lean over and pick it up and brush off some of the dirt and pour out the little bit of water that had gathered in it. It’s a small china teacup with teeny pastel pink sakura flowers dotted with little green leaves and yellow dots. I figure since my clothes are already dirty, that it doesn’t really matter to wipe off some of the more persistent mud smudges. On the bottom edge of the teacup side I spotted some lavender script that said, “To my love, Agnes.”
4) The sun has continued to set, and the atmosphere has taken an ethereal violet hue. The mosquitoes have come out and nip at my arms. I notice something shiny on the ground ahead of me; I hop over to it and investigate. It’s a key. Just a simple bicycle lock key. The little key was attached to a keychain that was a little glass jar filled with white glitter that was capped with a tiny cork, the sides of the jar simply said “fairy dust”. The key itself was not terribly intricate; it simply had a black, plastic end on it with the word, “Blister” on it.
5) I proceeded with walking along the path and I came to a stream. It’s getting late and while there is a path to go about a mile down the stream to a small stone footbridge, I don’t think I have time to go down there. I look up the stream and a ways up there is a fallen tree, I walk over to the tree and climb up on to it in order to get over to the other side of the stream. Unfortunately I’m a complete klutz and I slipped and fell off of the tree into the stream. Luckily the stream was deeper than I had originally suspected so I didn’t hurt myself on the streambed. The water was lukewarm and fast and it quickly swept me downstream towards the lake in which it emptied into. I saw the footbridge that I had originally considered taking and I cursed myself for my lack of patience and desire to walk all the way to the bridge. It didn’t take long, and soon I was flushed out of the stream into the peaceful lake. The water is calm and the moon reflected off the water’s surface.
6) I reclined in the water and closed my eyes and just floated in the water. The sky was now dark and the wind was picking up. I opened my eyes and the moon was gone. Tumultuous clouds filled the sky and a flash of lightning seared across the sky. I knew there was an island in the middle of the lake, and I quickly swam over to it as it was too dangerous to stay in the water during a storm. I climbed out of the water and the wind chilled me and the rain began to pour. Thunder crashed overhead and the trees swayed violently. I needed a place to warm up and get out of the storm. I continue stumbling through the woods on the island until I came up on a small fishing shack, and I totally lucked out because the door wasn’t locked. I let myself in and quickly close the door, and attempted to search for a source of light, there was none. Sighing, I sat down on a small, filthy cot and wrapped the moth-eaten blanket around me. As the world sounded like it was being rained away outside the shack, I whistled Christmas music to keep myself calm.
7) After the storm, I leave the shack and I continue walking around the island until curiously enough, I come to a wall, it goes on forever in every direction. It goes on forever above me; it goes forever to the left and rights and forever in front of me. I couldn’t do anything but turn around and slowly work my way home.
1. Early evening, fall,@75 degrees and low humidity. Dense woods, big thick trees.
2. A mammoth. I climb up his trunk across his back and down his tail.
3. A plastic blue cup. I save it just in case I get thirsty.
4.An old silver skeleton key. I put it in my pocket.
5. The body of water is a creek and I cross it by stepping on the stones that lead across it so I don’t get wet. I take a drink while i’m there.
6. I look for a cave or I make a temporary shelter out of branches and leaves. I may get wet anyway though, oh well.
7.I turn around and go home the way I came.
You guys are doin’ great so far…
We will probably have to wait awhile for everyone to post tho…
Sorry!
All right Rae,
And the reason you’re not going to be a writer is?
#1 My road is a highway, paved with tar, trees on either side. It leads to the woods. It morning, dew sparkling, fall, crisp but not cold, colors blazing and a sky that’s easter egg blue filled with what I call “magic clouds”…those big white billowy ones…for some reason I am always wearing a red corduroy jacket lined with plaid flannel…go figure. I can’t see them, but I know that there are magical beings about…it’s an enchanted forest. Troll bridges, hobbit houses…probably had just finished reading the hobbit that year.
#2 I did this when I was 18, so forgive my answer.
I come across a group of guys sitting on a log smokin’ a joint. We talk, we smoke, I go over the log and continue on…
#3 I find a cup like you get at the Ren Faires…hammered pewter, shaped like a chalice, covered in pewter grapes and grapeleaves. It’s filled with ice cold water and no matter how much of it I drink, it keeps refilling.
#4 I find a key that is shaped like a skeleton key but it isn’t old. Or at least it doesn’t look old. It’s solid gold and tho I expect it to be warm when I pick it up, it’s very cold. I hold it my hand, afraid even to put it in my pocket.
#5a My tree was one of those old, gnarly trees with twisty branches and no leaves. It was haunting, but not scary…
#5b My body of water was an ocean, wild with waves, crashing, and yet somehow I manage to swim across it…hey, it’s a game, okay?
#6 My shelter is a small cave, quite cozy, and I sit at the entrance and watch the storm…I love thunderstorms.
I’ll hold off on #7 as it is much like John’s and could be a spoiler.
These are the same answers that I gave back when I first read the pigman in highschool. I haven’t changed any of them. (If I was going to change them, I would have changed number 2, and as you can see, it’s the same today as it was 35 years ago…
DO NOT READ ANY ONE ELSE’S TIL YOU POST YOURS…
OR ELSE!
@MK: I can’t think of a story. :) I’ve had chronic writer’s block since I was 12. I haven’t written a fictional story since.
Rae,
PHOOEY!
You just wrote an amazing one…I know I want to walk with you!
You really just need a character, like a Dobbie, to get you started…I have the feeling the rest will flow quite easily…
Talk about talent! Sheesh!
MK,
I’ve got some work to catch up on this evening before I’m able to fine-tune some of my answers (and that means actually thinking about them and describing them well). Right now they’re just kind of in outline form….
Anyway…I haven’t read anyone else’s yet. I’ll post hopefully by midnight tonight.
When I was a little girl I read a book called TWIG.
By Elizabeth Orton Jones. It was out of publication for a long time, but you can get it again…she so reminds me of you. You would absolutely LOVE this book. It’s still one of my top 10 favorites.
|
Here’s a link: http://www.purplehousepress.com/twig.htm
That’s fine Heather…I’ll post the answers tomorrow…
MK,
“All right Rae,
And the reason you’re not going to be a writer is?”
I second that!!!
I know Rosie,
Wasn’t that amazing?
Rae, WOW, your writing really blows me away… if you write a book, please let me know so I can be your first customer!
@MK: I liked your story. :) The Pigman was an unusual book, I wish I remembered more about it, I haven’t read it in 6-7 years.
Rae,
Ooooooohhh Valerie is going to be sooooo jealous…
Rae,
6 or 7 years? Try 35! I loved all of Paul Zindels books…Effect of Gamma Rays on the Man in the Moon Marigolds, The Undertakers Gone Bananas, Pardon Me, You’re stepping on my Eyeball, My Darling, My Hamburger…Can’t remember what any of them was about specifically, just that all of the characters were quirky…might have to re-read them…hmmmmm.
Rae,
Did you link to TWIG? I swear if I had your address I’d buy you a copy and send it to you…
@MK: I’m going to look at “TWIG” right now, I’ll take a looksy at the library and if all else fails I’ll go shopping around Minneapolis, there are all sorts of weird little book stores around campus.
Those books sounds awesome, I love weird titles like that…one of my favorite books is titled “Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging”. :D
The last book I read was a really crummy memoir that I’m pretty certain was more fiction than fact (it was called “Running With Scissors” by Augusten Burroughs, I *don’t* recommend it). The last *good* book I read was “Level 4: Virus Hunters of the CDC” by Dr. Joseph McCormick and Dr. Susan Fisher-Hoch. It’s a pretty good book, a little confusing because it’s not that well-written but interesting nevertheless.
Rae,
“Now this head which I am outlining here on this 12 week child, is simply too large to be pulled in one piece out of the uterus. The abortionist is going to have to employ this instrument, the polyp forceps in an attempt to grab the head. The abortionist will attempt to crush the head with this instrument in this manner and remove the head piece meal from the uterus.”
http://www.silentscream.org/silent_e.htm
12 weeks:
http://pennhealth.com/ency/imagepages/9572.htm?articleID=002398
Rae,
These days I either read junk novels (pulp fiction?), Dean Koontz, Linda Howard, and anything else that I can read 5 pages and fall asleep,
or
G K Chesterton, books on prophecies, miracles, saints…these can be tough reads and are in sharp contrast to the “garbage books”.
I love to read…I read at therapy, when I’m cooking, when I’m walking, when I’m eating…I just spent three hours in Barnes and Noble today.
Had to get a birthday present for this guy at therapy. His mom comes for the therapy, he just sits in his wheelchair and watches. He looks like his has Cerebral Palsy but his dad says it’s something else, something really rare. I complain because I have to do the stairmaster and he laughs and laughs…and I’m so humbled because he’ll never even walk. Anyway, we’ve struck up a friendship (granted I do all the talking) and he communicates by grunting or rolling his eyes. He’s got a wicked sense of humor and is way smarter than you’d think. I got him the Hobbit (He’s read the trilogy, but not that one) and The Outsiders (another one in my top 10 favs.)
1.Early morning, cool fall weather, pretty colorful leaves are everywhere on the ground.
2.A log. I climb over it.
3. It is a white teacup with a blue stripe around the top. I drink from it.
4. It is a very large, ornate gold key. I put it in my purse.
5. It’s a little creek, and I take off my shoes and wade across.
6. Build a small shelter with branches and leaves, supposing there are any available. If not, I guess I use my clothes as an umbrella and just let it rain.
BETHANY
I’m holding her last answer back too…
Rae, I like you more and more each day! I have to post my list. Please forgive me…hectic schedule these days. Jasper, thank you for that link. I have seen it before. Very upsetting!! MK, hope the leg is okay!!
@Jasper: I fail to see your point and quite honestly, I don’t feel like dealing with you this evening.
@MK: I wish I read more. I used to read Japanese comics all the time in middle and high school. When I was in elementary school I practically used to read a book per day. I think school killed my love for reading because they used to make me read such crappy books (“Ellen Foster”, “Scarlet Letter” etc…).
Oh! Here’s a fantastic book: “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini. It takes place in Afghanistan just before the Russians went in and takes place up until about 2003-ish. It’s a very intense read but it is probably one of the best books I’ve read in years.
Rae,
I just asked my John about it…says he loved it but I’d hate it…I was so angry after seeing Hotel Rwanda that I couldn’t talk about it for weeks…I still get furious when I hear the soundtrack!
I might try it anyway…I’m tough!
jasper, the part that really makes me sick is the babies in the buckets. One abortionist’s quote; “Aborted babies are just garbage.” It looks like that’s the case.
All right Heather,
Let’s have your answers…
MK, I will have to post it tomorrow. I was just about to log off and hit the sheets. Soooo sleepy! I will see y’all tomorrow! Nite nite!
Heather,
at life dynamics, you wouldnt believe the language similiarities between PP, abortion clinics, pro-choice movement with the Nazis.
you can how they both sweet talk the killing…
###########
Talking the Talk
The euphemisms used by Nazis and abortion advocates are eerily similar. Death camps were called “relocation centers” in Nazi Germany and Nazi Occupied Europe. Death camps are called “reproductive health centers” in modern America. The Jews were described as a “parasitic race” by Hitler, while the unwanted child is described “a mere parasite” by Planned Parenthood. The end result then was “termination” of the Jews and the end result now is “termination of pregnancy.”
All right Heather,
But I can’t post the answers til you post yours, and Midnite is chompin’ at the bit…
G’night, til tomorrow then. Dream sweet!
@MK: It made me angry too, but it has a very hopeful/happy ending. I once read this really, really good Star Trek: DS9 fanfic that involved the one of the characters getting flung to earth into Nazi Poland and he was in a concentration camp while his crew-mates were searching for him. It was really good, it was probably the best fanfic I’ve ever read.
“Confessions of a Wallflower” is a really good book too, it’s very depressing, but I suppose the fact that it moved me so means it was very well written. I really liked it, one of these days I’ll have to re-read it.
1) I am walking along a gravel road close to sunset. The rocks seem to all be white in color with a few gray ones mixed in. The trees begin to get closer to together and begin to hover over the road making it look like I’m walking through a tunnel. It is the fall, so there aren’t any leaves on the tree and the light of the moon is lighting up the road. The limbs of the tree are casting a weblike shadow on the road.
2) I come to a huge rock that seems to have fallen off of a nearby cliff and is blocking my way. (did I forget to mention that the trees on the right hand side were going up a hill/cliff? hmmm… thought I did…;-) The rock is too big to walk around without leaving the road, which can be dangerous so climb over it. When I get to the top I jump off and am back on the gravel road.
3) While walking I see an old tin cup that is very tarnished. It is dented on the right side and very dirty. It is missing half of its handle. I keep the cup with me in case I need it.
4) A little way down the road I find a skeleton key that looks like it belongs to an old house. It is gold and seems to be in good shape. It hasn’t been on the road for very long. I put it in my pocket.
5) When I leave the woods the road leads me to the shore. The water is calm and is not too cold when water washes over my foot. I walk along the shoreline until I find an old dock and a wooden boat tied to it. I climb in the boat and untie it, letting the water direct where I go.
6) When I land on a island I realize that I had fallen asleep and have drifted in the boat longer than expected. It is daybreak and the sky is reddish/orange with the sun coming up. The sky to the left is dark and threatening so I find a thicket of bushes to hide in.
7) After the storm is over I get out of the thicket and wander around. I see a never ending wall. That is when I realize there is no more road or water to take me any further. I turn around and begin to follow the path that will lead me home. Back on the boat I realize that this adventure wasn’t much, quite anti-climatic, but I have an antique cup and a pretty skeleton key to take home with me.
All right all,
I’m gonna call it a night too. I’ll be on early tomorrow morning…
Can’t wait to read the rest of yours…
G’night!
Rae: “I fail to see your point and quite honestly, I don’t feel like dealing with you this evening.”
LOL! of course not….
LOL Jasper, you are so silly! You already have your opinion of me. You don’t like me. You think I’m terribly misguided/evil/whatever. I’m tired of dealing with you and your annoying questions, I do answer your questions to the best of my ability but you keep asking them.
I am never in a million years going to change your mind, and quite frankly you aren’t going to change mine, especially with your “tactics”. If I were to change my mind, it certainly wouldn’t be because of you and the idiotic websites you post on here.
Read this Jasper, I originally posted this in the “Mixing It Up” post. If you *don’t* think I consider both sides and think about things you are very, very wrong, because believe it or not, I do think about things and consider what I learn:
“A few months ago, I had a friend who thought that she might have been pregnant. Naturally, I was concerned because I had known this friend since I was 8. She had been with her boyfriend on and off since they were 12 years old and as of now they’ve been together for about two years for their most recent relationship with each other.
Anyway, so she told me she was going to go to one of those pregnancy centers that are available around campus and she wanted me to come with her for moral support. I asked her what she was considering doing if she was pregnant. She said that she was probably going to get an abortion and to be quite honest, I was really friggin’ pissed off at her. I knew she had been sleeping with her boyfriend and I knew she wasn’t on the Pill at all (I’m pretty sure she used condoms though…). I was angry at her for being so irresponsible for not even *trying* to get the Pill to prevent things like this from happening. I had been nagging her for months to get on the Pill but she kept procrastinating.
So anyway, I told her that I would support any decision that she made and if she chose to keep the baby I would help out in any way possible. In fact, I was hinting at her to just have the kid and give it up for adoption, because after all, she too was adopted. I was also telling her that if she kept the baby I would help her get to appointments, I would baby-sit for free, I would do anything to help her out.
Fortunately, the pregnancy test was negative because to be honest, I’m not sure how I would have actually dealt with the problem as she more than likely would have had an abortion regardless of my help (or her parents for that matter and she has very supportive parents) and that frustrated me. In fact, this happened 4-5 months ago and I am *still* upset with her about this.
So yeah… ”
“You don’t like me. You think I’m terribly misguided/evil/whatever”
I do like you Rae and I don’t think you’re evil.
I won’t bug you anymore tonight. From time to time I think it’s good to remind pro-choicers what choice is…
MK –
You’re right – I’m jealous of Rae’s post!
Rae –
You are great at descriptive writing. You need to harness that. Most writers aren’t very good at it. I love to write and have stories going on in my mind all the time. My descriptions are horrible, but I’m good at writing conversation and interactions with the characters.
You said you’ve had writers block since you were 12? Do you have any of your old stories? You may be amazed to see that there is probably a good plot somewhere in your early stuff. I actually wrote a short story based on three papers I had to write in creative writing class. You’ll be inspired soon. I found that just blogging has helped my writing. Not my spelling, but my writing!
If you want someone to bump idea’s off of let me know. I like to tell my husband some of my plots to see what he thinks, it has really helped!
Rae –
I hope your friend appreciates you. You are a good person and friend.
I did read that Rae from the other day and congratulated you.
“I was really friggin’ pissed off at her”
Rae, this was your consciense speaking out. Deep inside (I believe ) you know abortion is wrong….other wise you would’ve have been so pissed off.
Whee, that was fun!
Q1: The road is paved, but becomes a dirt trail as you travel further down as it leads into a Park. It is an early summer morning, so there are no people around. Everything is peaceful and still, and the weather is cool. The area surrounding the road gradually become more grassy and full of foliage as you go, turning from a city to a suburb to grass and wildflowes, and finally to huge redwood trees untouched by humans.
Q2: I come to a giant hill. I like to hike, so up and over I go.
Q3: The cup is a red disposable plastic cup, probably left behind by some careless campers. I grind my teeth in frustration with stupid people who can
@Jasper: I know perfectly well what “choice” entails. I don’t need a reminder, I’m not stupid.
1: The path is well worn, and littered with the debris from the travelers who used it before me. Broken hopes and dreams, songs of the road, memories of fun, laughter, and merriment all lay in the ground as I walk towards the woods. There is a valley shrouded in the shadow of Death, and I carry a big stick to defend myself. When I reach the woods, the trees are ancient, filled with wisdom and memories that come from centuries of being the sentinels of this place. There is light, and darkness, good, and evil, in this forest. Yet, it all balances itself out.
2: There is a large dragon guarding the entrance of the forest. I befriend him, and he turns me into a dragon using mystical dark magic.
3: An old, battered tankard that magically fills itself with whatever I thirst for. Whiskey, ale, water, anything. It is made from black onyx stone, and has chips and scratches all over it.
4: I put the key around my neck on a chain that I possess. Later, I use it to unlock the secrets of my past, my future, and the secrets of life as we know it.
5: I come to a large body of water that spans a great distance. The water is clear and blue, and you can see the life it harbors. Because I don’t know how far it goes, and if my dragon form would be able to fly that far, I transform into a crocodile and swim across.
5B. I come to an old tree. I don’t really know what trees do, but I do know it involves breezes, branches, and leaves. I turn into a dragon and torch the sucker.
6: I turn into an armadillo and burrow into the ground, about six feet under, to wait out the storm. When the storm reaches its peak, I crawl out, turn back into a human, and ride out the rest of it, laughing into the winds and basking in the sheer destructive power nature has.
7: I sit by the wall, and wait a few days. I climb it, try to fly over it, and dig under it. Finally, I decided to break on through to the other side, and that’s where I’ve been since I started 10 years ago.
Hey, MK.
Don’t worry about my answers. I haven’t even had a chance to answer…the last two, I think, and I’m still trying to get my work done for tomorrow.
Oh you guys,
You’re answers are amazing! ! !
Okay, we still need Alyssa’s, Midnites, Heather4Life, Jen C.’s (and HeatherB., there is still time)…
The problem is that once I post the answers no one else can play, so I have to wait…
Can’t decide if we should take them one at a time or just post them all at once…
Any preferences?
Mary, JM, Cameron and SoMG,it’s not too late to jump in.
These are not trick questions. At the very least, answer them for yourselves. You might learn things about yourself that you didn’t know…you don’t have to post the answers, though I’d really love to see them.
You can always email them to me…mum’s the word!
Jill, if you’re reading this, you can post yours too!
tic-toc tic-toc tic-toc
Alright, I promised I didn’t look at anyone’s answers and got to the post where MK said we could finally put our answers down. I will just have to go back up top to see what mine mean. :)
1: I’m walking down a old, dusty dirt road lined with maple trees. The road gets narrower as I approach the wood, until it turns into a simple footpath trail into the forest dominated by pines and maples. It’s a beautifully sunny, summer day, around noon-1:00. Bright and fluffy clouds are everywhere and wild morning glories and butterflies dot the landscape haphazardly.
2: I come to an old, rickety wooden fence that once looked like it was used to keep horses from going further. I clamber over it, avoiding splinters as much as possible.
3: I come across a shiny, gold-glinting chalice encrusted with rubies. I use my shirt to clean it and buff it to a gorgeous shine. I put it in my pocket to bring home and show to my mom.
4: I find an old, rusty skeleton key on the path. I look at the dilapidated old teeth on it and wonder if it would fit into the old doors in my 200-year old farmhouse. I plan to take it home and try.
5: The body of water I come to is a small pond, filled with tadpoles and water lilies. Since it’s so calm and shallow, I walk gently through it so that I don’t disturb the tadpoles. The old footpath continues on the other side.
6: The island lacks much foliage except for ferns and a few large willow trees. I grab a lot of ferns fronds and cover myself with them while huddling in the hollow of one of the willows. I know that these trees aren’t particularly tall, so the maples/pines in the surrounding forest are more likely to get hit by lightning. I use this time to examine my key and chalice. I use the chalice to catch some of the rain and drink it, since I had been walking so long.
7: At the wall, I take out my key and start walking along the side. Chances are that I might come to a door along the way. I look for cracks in the wall and admire the graffiti on the side of it. I then add my initials and the date to it by carving them with the back end of the key. I want to leave my mark on the wall like so many before me.
Oooh, Rae, I am jealous. You gave a really pretty answer. *pouts*
And Danny, very impressive. Almost felt like throwing unicorns into my story, but it wasn’t my first gut instinct. (I’m a huge fan of them, and I will be getting a black unicorn tattoo sometime in the future).
You people here are very deep. Awesome. :)
1. It is fall, and the leaves are just turning that pretty red, purple, and orange color. The trees overlay the road and no sun is shining in. All I see is the dirt road and the beautiful tree leaves. It is almost sunset as I see a bare spot in the leafy heavens I am looking at.
2. As I come to the end of the road (& at the edge of the woods) there is a huge tree that has fallen in my path. I can not walk around it and it is too high to simply step over. I have to find a way to climb over this huge tree. I find a limb that is close to the ground and I hoist myself up on it and find another branch to latch on to. As I get to the top I must now find a way to climb back down. I find more branches to lower myself back down to the dirt ground.
3. It is silver with small sapphires on it for decoration. I put it in my back pocket to keep for when I might need it.
4. The key is small and round. It is silver, but tarnished a little from the weather. It has a small hole in it (the back of the key). I put it in my other pocket and continue into the woods.
5. I come across a large creek, although it
Lyssie –
I love your answers!
Sorry for the double post guys. Been along morning.
MK, I’ve hoently tried that. I told him how “I” felt when he did those things. His way to resolve any conflict is to leave and “sweep it under the carpet”. When he getsback, he acts as if nothing ever happened. That’s one thing I cant stand. I like to fully resolve things. My mother always taught me never to go to sleep when your upset, you never know what morning will bring.
John M.
You have the medal of making me smile first today. I cant remember a time anyone (other than my parents) telling me I was gorgeous. Seriously, thank you. And I am exactly like my mother. I am a little version with red (dyed) hair. If you saw the picture of my, imagine a little taller, blonde version of me with bangs. OUr attitudes are exactly the same as well, which is why we get along now that I dont live with her, hehe.
Ok, I shall check for the answers to the questions when I return from the movie. Mi madre and I ar going to see it at the IMAX theatre @ 1:30!!!
Hope Everyone has a LOVELY Day!!
Okay,
Just waiting on the two Heathers…
Should I post the answers all at once or take them one at a time?
whatever you prefer MK,
what do the answers mean, how are they evaluated?
Jasper,
Mostly you interpret them yourself, but I’m sure there will be much discussion about everybody elses also…
That’s why I’m thinking one at a time…with everybody’s answer listed together. It should definitely get us talking…at the very least thinking!
HEATHERS, WHERE ARE YOU?????
ARRGGGHH!!! I came back specifically for the answers!!! *sigh*
I am heartbroken that I have to wait again til after my biology lab. *SIGH*
*grabs the two Heathers by their earlobes* Just kidding, ladies. Just take your time and HURRY UP!!! :P
MK, I don’t want to hold up the game. I can e mail you. Go ahead… finish up. Oh, there is still Heather B.
Heather,
You still have an hour or so…can you post by then?
Monday, 16 July 2007
By BosNewsLife Senior Special Correspondent Eric Leijenaar in the Netherlands with reporting from Iraq and Syria
Dutch Parliamentarian Joel Voordewind investugated crusifixions in Iraq.
(ADDS BOMB BLASTS IN KIRKUK) AMSTERDAM/BAGHDAD/DAMASCUS (BosNewsLife)– Militants have crucified Christians in Iraq, including converts from Islam and people involved in “mixed marriages,” a senior Dutch parliamentarian has established.
Joel Voordewind of the governing coalition?s junior party ‘ChristianUnie’, or ChristianUnion (CU), said he managed to confirm information received from a “trustworthy source” at the United Nations about the recent crucifixions, according to declarations obtained by BosNewsLife Monday, July 16.
Several Iraqi Christians “are nailed to a cross and their arms are tied up with ropes. The ropes
are put on fire,” Voordewind said.
Voordewind described how a person, who “survived” a crucifixion, “even showed holes in his hands,” apparently from nails. Voordewind said victims of the crucifixions are ?in most cases Christian converts who abandoned Islam or people who, religiously speaking, are involved in mixed marriages.”
FOREIGN MINISTER
He did not say how many Christians have been crucified in recent weeks and months, apparently not to pre-empty an official report expected shortly. The politician was due to present his findings to Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Verhagen, a Christian Democrat, within the next few days.
Thousands of Iraqi Christians flee violence, including the blasts in Kirkuk Monday, July 16, that killed dozens of people. It comes as thousands of Christians are reportedly fleeing Iraq because of ongoing threats and violence directed against them. In the latest major incidents, in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, over 80 people were killed Monday, July 16, in bomb blasts. Most of the casualties were caused by a suicide truck bomb which detonated near the offices of the Kurdish political party led by Iraq’s President Jalal Talabani.
Voordewind was part of a Dutch delegation visiting several countries in the Middle East, including Syria, where several left-leaning parliamentarians held talks with the militant group Hamas. Those discussions led to tensions in the Netherlands as the centrist government of Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende views Hamas as a “terrorist organization.”
Following recommendations from the European Union, the cabinet cut-off ties with Hamas. The group currently controls the Gaza Strip in the Palestinian territories bordering Israel, while the internationally recognized Palestinian government is in charge of the West Bank.
Why do I just know that in a hundred years or so, the christians will be blamed for this too. It’s like the crusades all over!
Go ahead and post the answers.
I won’t be posting.
I’m so sorry Heather B. If you want you can post them whenever, just don’t look at the answers til then…Are you sure?
Perhaps.
Well…it’s time for me to buckle down and get started on today’s work.
I’ll be back in a few hours!
(Hope everyone’s had a decent day so far, by the way).
Everyone,
My son needs to use the computer (job hunting) for an hour or so…so I will post the answers then. That will give Heather4Life a little more time…
So meet me back here at say 5:30…
See you then…
Oh, damn….I got all excited thinking that I was about to see the answers posted by MK (around 5:30)…and realized I’m a time zone ahead. Double damn. THWARTED AGAIN!!!
*goes and cries in a corner*
EEEEEE. Where is the formidable MK!!!??
Each question represents how you view something in life. It is amazing how the road you viewed in your own head seems so obvious that when you read someone else’s, completely different view, you’re almost shocked. I have had people tell me that their woods were dark and scary and overgrown…I’m glad to see that for the most part, everyone here has a pretty happy, healthy outlook!
Take a look at everyones answers, compare them to yourselves and each others and have fun. Be nice.
This is your chance to play amateur psychologist!
The first question represents how you see life…
JOHN MCDONELL:
Is despair my path to venture,
since I cannot walk?
And wooded mount mere illusion
of yesterday’s child?
I can still taste the air crisp
and hear the yellowing leaves carpet the earth’s floor
In my dream
JASPER:
Summer, about 80 degrees, sunny and the trees are green, 10am in the morning
RAE:
It’s early evening and the summer air is cool and slightly muggy. The path is dirt with tree ruts popping out in the middle of the roads. Squirrels dart across the clearing, hopping from tree to tree in two short bounds. One little squirrel suddenly stops in the middle of the road and looks up dramatically as if he had just remembered he left the gas on in his little squirrel-hole kitchen. Fireflies blink through the bushes that grace the side of the path. Winking on and off like little stars that that were shining eons ago and are now no longer in existence, only not because fireflies are insects, not giant balls of gas.
ROSIE:
Early evening, fall,@75 degrees and low humidity. Dense woods, big thick trees.
MK:
My road is a highway, paved with tar, trees on either side. It leads to the woods. It morning, dew sparkling, fall, crisp but not cold, colors blazing and a sky that’s easter egg blue filled with what I call “magic clouds”…those big white billowy ones…for some reason I am always wearing a red corduroy jacket lined with plaid flannel…go figure. I can’t see them, but I know that there are magical beings about…it’s an enchanted forest. Troll bridges, hobbit houses…probably had just finished reading the hobbit that year.
BETHANY:
Early morning, cool fall weather, pretty colorful leaves are everywhere on the ground.
VALERIE:
I am walking along a gravel road close to sunset. The rocks seem to all be white in color with a few gray ones mixed in. The trees begin to get closer to together and begin to hover over the road making it look like I’m walking through a tunnel. It is the fall, so there aren’t any leaves on the tree and the light of the moon is lighting up the road. The limbs of the tree are casting a web-like shadow on the road.
STEPHANIE:
The road is paved, but becomes a dirt trail as you travel further down as it leads into a Park. It is an early summer morning, so there are no people around. Everything is peaceful and still, and the weather is cool. The area surrounding the road gradually become more grassy and full of foliage as you go, turning from a city to a suburb to grass and wildflowers, and finally to huge redwood trees untouched by humans.
DANNY:
The path is well worn, and littered with the debris from the travelers who used it before me. Broken hopes and dreams, songs of the road, memories of fun, laughter, and merriment all lay in the ground as I walk towards the woods. There is a valley shrouded in the shadow of Death, and I carry a big stick to defend myself. When I reach the woods, the trees are ancient, filled with wisdom and memories that come from centuries of being the sentinels of this place. There is light, and darkness, good, and evil, in this forest. Yet, it all balances itself out.
LYSSIE:
I’m walking down a old, dusty dirt road lined with maple trees. The road gets narrower as I approach the wood, until it turns into a simple footpath trail into the forest dominated by pines and maples. It’s a beautifully sunny, summer day, around noon-1:00. Bright and fluffy clouds are everywhere and wild morning glories and butterflies dot the landscape haphazardly.
MIDNITE:
It is fall, and the leaves are just turning that pretty red, purple, and orange color. The trees overlay the road and no sun is shining in. All I see is the dirt road and the beautiful tree leaves. It is almost sunset as I see a bare spot in the leafy heavens I am looking at.
JEN C:
1. The road is a worn, wide, dirt path between autumn trees losing their leaves. It’s a crisp day. The leaves are muted yellow, light orange, and burnt rust. Faint bird noises and the crackling of twigs are the only sounds.
I’LL POST THE NEXT QUESTION AT ABOUT 6:30!
EEEEEE.Where is the equally formidable Lyssie!!!???
I am here, eagerly awaiting your next update!!
Aaaah the suspense!
Okay Lyssie! Sorry, my husband brought home $80.00 worth of steaks for me to grill and a thunderstorm rolled through right in the middle of it…as it is, they’re still eating, and I dashed back up here to do the next question…I’m as excited as you are…
QUESTION #2: This is how you views the obstacles that you come upon in life. And more importantly, how you handle them. Some of you came out none the worse for the wear, some of you came out a little dirtier, one of you feels that obstacles are your friends as you have so many of them, and one of you came out completely changed…physically. But all of you overcame them…hooray for you!!!!
JOHN:
obstacles are my friends I’m told,
so does this make me a popular fellow
…. strange: I thought it was an effervescent personality.
JASPER:
Obstacle is a raging stream waist deep, walk through it slowly.
RAE:
I continue walking and I suddenly come to a fallen tree. It must have fallen during the last storm. The tree appears to be too large to just hop over, and I’m not particularly fond of getting dirty to climb over it. Unfortunately it’s a very large tree, and it goes far off of the path on in both directions and since I have a paralyzing fear of ticks, I have no desire to leave the cleared path. Instead, I suck it up and climb over the path, scraping my knee on the mossy bark. I have streaks of dirt up my shins, but I manage to make it over the tree no worse for where.
ROSIE:
A mammoth. I climb up his trunk across his back and down his tail.
MK: I did this when I was 18, so forgive my answer.
I come across a group of guys sitting on a log smokin’ a joint. We talk, we smoke, I go over the log and continue on…
BETHANY:
A log. I climb over it.
VALERIE:
I come to a huge rock that seems to have fallen off of a nearby cliff and is blocking my way. (did I forget to mention that the trees on the right hand side were going up a hill/cliff? hmmm… thought I did…;-) The rock is too big to walk around without leaving the road, which can be dangerous so climb over it. When I get to the top I jump off and am back on the gravel road.
STEPHANIE:
I come to a giant hill. I like to hike, so up and over I go.
DANNY:
There is a large dragon guarding the entrance of the forest. I befriend him, and he turns me into a dragon using mystical dark magic.
LYSSIE:
I come to an old, rickety wooden fence that once looked like it was used to keep horses from going further. I clamber over it, avoiding splinters as much as possible.
MIDNITE:
As I come to the end of the road (& at the edge of the woods) there is a huge tree that has fallen in my path. I can not walk around it and it is too high to simply step over. I have to find a way to climb over this huge tree. I find a limb that is close to the ground and I hoist myself up on it and find another branch to latch on to. As I get to the top I must now find a way to climb back down. I find more branches to lower myself back down to the dirt ground.
JEN C:
The obstacle is a massive crevasse. I overcome this obstacle by laying some fallen tree branches across and shimmying over them to the other side.
QUESTION #3, COMIN’ UP…
EEE!!! Excited girl, right here. ;)
Sorry, MK…I didn’t mean to rush you. Speaking of steak…mom has one ready for me to grill up myself on the grill outside. If only I had a few more culinary skills. *sigh*
Lol.
QUESTION #3: In this question, the cup represents love. How you see it, how important it is to you.
We had two teacups, two cups that magically refill, two cups with gemstones, one that I’m not touchin’ with a ten foot pole (sorry Jasper), two plastic cups, a couple of you kept it around in case you needed it, and John’s answer was so poignant that it brought tears to my eye…
JOHN:
empty … reminds me to find thirst
JASPER:
My cup I found is quite old, I throw it away.
RAE:
As I continue walking, I notice there’s a small cup on the side of the path. I lean over and pick it up and brush off some of the dirt and pour out the little bit of water that had gathered in it. It’s a small china teacup with teeny pastel pink Sakura flowers dotted with little green leaves and yellow dots. I figure since my clothes are already dirty, that it doesn’t really matter to wipe off some of the more persistent mud smudges. On the bottom edge of the teacup side I spotted some lavender script that said, To my love, Agnes.
ROSIE:A plastic blue cup. I save it just in case I get thirsty.
MK:
I find a cup like you’d get at the Ren Faire…hammered pewter, shaped like a chalice, covered in pewter grapes and grapeleaves. It’s filled with ice cold water and no matter how much of it I drink, it keeps refilling.
BETHANY:
It is a white teacup with a blue stripe around the top. I drink from it.
VALERIE:
While walking I see an old tin cup that is very tarnished. It is dented on the right side and very dirty. It is missing half of its handle. I keep the cup with me in case I need it.
STEPHANIE:
The cup is a red disposable plastic cup, probably left behind by some careless campers. I grind my teeth in frustration with stupid people who can?t be bothered to clean up after themselves, pick it up, and throw it away.
DANNY:
An old, battered tankard that magically fills itself with whatever I thirst for. Whiskey, ale, water, anything. It is made from black onyx stone, and has chips and scratches all over it.
LYSSIE:
I come across a shiny, gold-glinting chalice encrusted with rubies. I use my shirt to clean it and buff it to a gorgeous shine. I put it in my pocket to bring home and show to my mom.
MIDNITE:
It is silver with small sapphires on it for decoration. I put it in my back pocket to keep for when I might need it.
JEN C:
The cup I find is dirty but has a jewel on its face. I brush it off and put it in my backpack.
Yay!!! That last one is kind of funny…cuz the first thing I thought about when I met my love was that I wanted him to meet my parents….hence taking home the beautiful chalice to show to my mom. :)
I saw that Lyssie, and thought “oh that’s so sweet, the first thing she wants to do is share her love with her mom…”
I posted question #4, but just as I hit “post” my computer crashed. We’re getting some wicked storms rollin’ through here. So I’ll try to post it again,
but I think I should wait till morning to post the rest…they take a long time…have to scroll, copy and paste everyones answers…and it really ticked me off to have lost it all…
Ready for #4?
Enlighten us, MK! :)
QUESTION #4: The key represents “knowledge”…skeleton keys usually represent wisdom, where as house keys, car keys and bike keys are more representative of mundane knowledge…
We had gold keys, silver keys, old keys, house keys, bike keys…While Rae’s key was a bike key, it was attached to “fairy dust”, Lyssie and Valerie had house keys, but Val’s was ooooold and Lyssie’s went to an oooooold house, and Midnite’s had a mysterious hole in the back of it. Stephanie hoped that she’d run into whoever owned it (perhaps hoping to gain more knowledge through it’s owner?)
Almost everyone “kept” their key. Some put it in their purse (valuable?), some on a chain around their neck (easy access?), some in their pockets…Only John, once again tugging at my heartstrings, threw his away. He doesn’t need answers. He has learned that trust is more than enough!
JOHN:
You find a key…
throw it away . I’m safe with trust!
JASPER:
I find a key, it’s very old, I put it in my pocket
RAE:
The sun has continued to set, and the atmosphere has taken an ethereal violet hue. The mosquitoes have come out and nip at my arms. I notice something shiny on the ground ahead of me; I hop over to it and investigate. It’s a key. Just a simple bicycle lock key. The little key was attached to a keychain that was a little glass jar filled with white glitter that was capped with a tiny cork, the sides of the jar simply said “fairy dust”?. The key itself was not terribly intricate; it simply had a black, plastic end on it with the word, “Blister” on it.
ROSIE:
An old silver skeleton key. I put it in my pocket.
MK:
I find a key that is shaped like a skeleton key but it isn’t old. Or at least it doesn’t look old. It’s solid gold and tho I expect it to be warm when I pick it up, it’s very cold. I hold it my hand, afraid even to put it in my pocket.
BETHANY:
It is a very large, ornate gold key. I put it in my purse.
VALERIE:
A little way down the road I find a skeleton key that looks like it belongs to an old house. It is gold and seems to be in good shape. It hasn’t been on the road for very long. I put it in my pocket.
STEPHANIE:
I see a small silver key in the dirt, probably a house key or bike key. I pick it up, and hope that I run into the person who lost it.
DANNY:
I put the key around my neck on a chain that I possess. Later, I use it to unlock the secrets of my past, my future, and the secrets of life as we know it.
LYSSIE:
I find an old, rusty skeleton key on the path. I look at the dilapidated old teeth on it and wonder if it would fit into the old doors in my 200-year old farmhouse. I plan to take it home and try.
MIDNITE:
The key is small and round. It is silver, but tarnished a little from the weather. It has a small hole in it (the back of the key). I put it in my other pocket and continue into the woods.
JEN C:
The key is small and plain. I put it in my backpack next to my cup.
Lyssie,
You appear to be the only one checkin’ in tonite? What gives?
Anyway, I know I said I love thunderstorms, but this one is actually scary! So I’m not gonna try to post anymore. I’ll keep reading, and post short things, but I’m afraid we’ll have to wait until morning for the next three questions…
Will you be able to sleep?
I’ll be fine, MK. I just find this fascinating. Besides, I have to hit the hay due to class tomorrow. :) I have a chem midterm. Joy joy joy. Lol.
I was just able to be online most of the day. :D
I’m watching too MK…off/on, had to help put the kiddies to bed..
Jasper,
If you leave $10,000 in unmarked bills on the eighth floor of the Sears Tower tomorrow at noon, I won’t tell the wife about the cup! LOL!
“QUESTION #3: In this question, the cup represents love. How you see it, how important it is to you.
one that I’m not touchin’ with a ten foot pole (sorry Jasper)”
Well thats interesting, sometimes I think I take my wifes love for granted..
Sorry, MK! I’m really enjoying this, but I just got home from work and I’m catching up. =)
Kind of interesting that the cup represents love. It just came to mind because I go out a lot, and I just CAN’T stand it when people leave their trash lying around. I hope that it doesn’t mean that I think love is trash. =(
Or perhaps, I can’t stand it when people throw away their love carelessly? Hmm…interesting.
Jasper,
Men usually describe cups like yours. I had a couple guys say a styrofoam cup filled with cigarette butts…and they squashed it! So don’t feel bad. Just buy your wife some flowers and give her a back rub…she is, after all, the mother of your children!
Stephanie,
You took the words right out of my mouth…I thought there’s a girl that will love some guy that some poor fool of a girl threw away…very sweet!
Have I mentioned my bum of a son Danny? The one I was auctioning off last month…never mind!
Whoot! I found an apartment! I move in September 1st!
MK,
CRAZY…now that you mention it, it makes sense!
I have a boyfriend, he and I have been together for almost two years now. We met in college because we lived in the same dorm (same area, different buildings).
He actually had been rejected 6 times in middle/high school (the “let’s just be friends” thing), and once during freshman year before he began to have interest in me. He’s an awesome, sweet guy and I love him to bits, and I think all those girls who rejected him were probably crazy. =)
So, in light of this information, I’m sorry to say I cannot participate in said auction. =P
Yay, Rae! Where are you moving to?
Minneapolis, a little over two miles off campus. I’m looking forward to decorating. Bwahahahaha. My mad skillz I’ve developed from playing “Sims 2” should come in handy. :D
I know everyone wants to look at their answers first…but don’t forget to look at everyone else’s. It too can be enlightening!
This game is meant to help us know ourselves and each other better!
The lights just went off here, so if I disappear, you’ll know why!
Rae,
I’m soooo happy for you! I remember when I moved into this house last June. My sister-in-law and I painted every room in the first month! It was like when you were kids opening up a new box of crayons and coloring with your best friend…except in stead of crayons it was paint (ooooh the colors!) and instead of coloring books it was whole rooms! Oh the joy!
Soooo…what’s it look like? Do you have to share? Are you already packing?
Do you need a roommate? I have this son and…never mind?
If I had your address I’d send you a gross of lemmings and a peck of mullets for a house warming present. Oh, and my son.
Stephanie,
Darn! I was throwin’ in the dog too!
@MK: It’s a teeny li’l studio apartment with barely enough room for a bed…in fact there is no room for a bed, I have to buy a futon so I can actually have some furniture to sit on! I’ll be living alone, though I think a guy I went to Century College with is moving down the hall from me…which is soooo bizarre.
It’s going to be a very small apartment, I just need to start looking for dishes and stuff as well as some uber cleaning supplies because I have the feeling I’m gonna need to go on a cleaning spree before I move all my junk in. :D
Rae,
Small is good…when it’s your own. Just paint it sunny yellow, and hang some of your art on the wall!
You better take and post before and after pictures!
I’d help you clean, but I don’t own a plane…
Guess I’ll just send 1 lemming and 1 mullet as you won’t have room for the gross and peck.
Again, I am thrilled for you! You’re such a big girl now!
(You never know…Mr. usedtogotocenturycollege might prove to be an interesting diversion! If not, I have this son…never mind!)
Rae,
Ooh! I’m so excited for you!
I’d help you clean and junk (believe it or not, I do enjoy some hardcore cleaning) if I lived a little closer…and by “a little” I mean “a lot.”
Oh Heather B.,
I wish so much you could’ve been in on our game! Have you been following along?
I’d love to read your answers…
@HeatherB: Troof, girly, troof. I do like to clean though, it’s relaxing, especially when I can blast music, but unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be able to blast music in the apartment building I’ll be in as it’s pretty quiet and stuff.
@MK: I’m not sure I’ll be able to paint it yellow…I have to get permission from the manager to even paint the walls. However, I do plan to make it very bright and sunny anyway I can. :D And I will post pictures once I’m completely set up and stuff.^_^
Rae,
Have you read the answers to Questions 1 through 4?
What do you think?
Unless you’re mind is racin’ right now and you can’t think straight…if so, then tell me tomorrow.
I’m gonna crash soon anyway…*yawn*…soooo ti-ti!
MK,
If you’d like, I can e-mail them to you later.
Rae,
Oh, cleaning is so relaxing. I love to clean everything top to bottom when I’m really stressed, and that’s usually the only time I do anything other than just tidy up. Sometimes I’ll go into uber-obsessive cleaning mode, though.
I would love that Heather.
I love to clean too. Just cleaned the frontroom and dining room this morning…like a crazy woman. I think I’ve got a little “Monk” blood in me…
Anyway, goodnite. And pleeeeeaaaaaase do email me your answers! Thanks.
MK,
I’ll type them up and e-mail them to you within the next day or so, if that’s okay. It might not be until tomorrow night that I get around to it, but you’ll definitely have them before the weekend :).
Goodnight.
Sorry MK, computer was on the fritz and I lost my charger! Here are my answers.
1. The road is a worn, wide, dirt path between autumn trees losing their leaves. It
Sorry I am so late. Had to watch Harry Potter with mi madre this afternoon, and tonight me and a friend watched a movie and made fondu. Very interesting, stuff MK, I need to rest!!
Cambam, 7/17, 10:47a, said: “Jill, Let me guess… you think they should have used the “partial birth abortion?” Let me know when you find that in a medical dictionary…. while your at it… see if you can find pre-baby, or the word murder in the abortion definition.”
Cam, with the passage and signing of the Partial Birth Abortion Ban into law, and with the Supreme Court legitimizing it, Partial Birth Abortion is now a legal term.
Further, I’ve posted several times a link to its description in a medical dictionary and that the AMA cited the term in a letter condemning it.
Logically speaking, why would a news organization avoid referring to the ban by its legal name? Why would a news organization avoid describing what was actually banned?
Zeke, re: Scalia, I’m not an attorney or a constitutional expert. In my mind, the Constitution protects human life from conception. By the quote you posted, and having no frame of reference, I conclude Scalia must think a human life amendment to the Constitution is necessary to confirm that.
QUESTION #5: (You’ll love this one…)
The body of water (or the tree) is how you view sex.
Ponds, oceans, I’ve even had people say puddles! Dirty water, clean water (someone here made sure it was clean before they went in!), swimming, wading, taking boats, crossing bridges…all very interesting…I especially love Lyssie’s answer. Taking special care not to harm the tadpoles. Do we have a closet pro-lifer here? Dan and I are the only ones he described their tree. What do you think?
JOHN:
calm ocean , my friend… why be elsewhere?
JASPER:
I come to a body of water, a small pond, don’t have a boat, I walk around it
RAE:
I proceeded with walking along the path and I came to a stream. It’s getting late and while there is a path to go about a mile down the stream to a small stone footbridge, I don’t think I have time to go down there. I look up the stream and a ways up there is a fallen tree, I walk over to the tree and climb up on to it in order to get over to the other side of the stream. Unfortunately I’m a complete klutz and I slipped and fell off of the tree into the stream. Luckily the stream was deeper than I had originally suspected so I didn’t hurt myself on the streambed. The water was lukewarm and fast and it quickly swept me downstream towards the lake in which it emptied into. I saw the footbridge that I had originally considered taking and I cursed myself for my lack of patience and desire to walk all the way to the bridge. It didn’t take long, and soon I was flushed out of the stream into the peaceful lake. The water is calm and the moon reflected off the water’s surface.
ROSIE:
The body of water is a creek and I cross it by stepping on the stones that lead across it so I don’t get wet. I take a drink while i’m there.
MK:
#5a My tree was one of those old, gnarly trees with twisty branches and no leaves. It was haunting, but not scary…
#5b My body of water was an ocean, wild with waves, crashing, and yet somehow I manage to swim across it…hey, it’s a game, okay?
BETHANY:
It’s a little creek, and I take off my shoes and wade across.
VALERIE:
When I leave the woods the road leads me to the shore. The water is calm and is not too cold when water washes over my foot. I walk along the shoreline until I find an old dock and a wooden boat tied to it. I climb in the boat and untie it, letting the water direct where I go.
STEPHANIE:
Next, I see a medium-sized lake with small streams feeding into it and running away from it. It has clear water, filled with small fish, birds, salamanders, frogs, butterfies, dragonflies, and other aquatic animals. There are plenty of green algae growing from the bottom, although not enough to cloud the water. The bottom of the lake and the area surrounding it is covered in sand and large, smoothed rocks. The water is clean enough, so I wade in, and swim to the other side where the island is.
DANNY:
5: I come to a large body of water that spans a great distance. The water is clear and blue, and you can see the life it harbors. Because I don’t know how far it goes, and if my dragon form would be able to fly that far, I transform into a crocodile and swim across.
5B. I come to an old tree. I don’t really know what trees do, but I do know it involves breezes, branches, and leaves. I turn into a dragon and torch the sucker.
LYSSIE:
The body of water I come to is a small pond, filled with tadpoles and water lilies. Since it’s so calm and shallow, I walk gently through it so that I don’t disturb the tadpoles. The old footpath continues on the other side.
MIDNITE:
I come across a large creek, although it’s not big enough to be a river. It is a clear sparkling blue. It is moving down stream, but not at a fast pace. I am thirsty from my adventure, so I dip my cup into the water to get a drink of the cool water. I wonder up stream until I find a spot that is not deep. I take off my shoes and roll up my pant legs. I then proceed to walk across the stream.
JEN C:
Ahead is a serene body of water. A small lake surrounded by pussy willows, tall grass, wildflowers, and full of fresh fish. I cross it by getting into an old wooden boat and rowing myself across.
Cameron and Jill –
In my research I discovered something about the term “partial birth abortion”. If you look at the PBA Ban Act of 1995 and 1997 the answer is clearly there as to why the term is used legally.
At the beginning of trying to ban the procedure, there was no medial terminology for it because it was a relatively new procedure and not that many doctors actually knew it excisted. Many doctors that were questioned during the initial ban hearings were in shock that a procedure like that was being performed. However these doctors agreed that the wording – Partial Birth Abortion – was accurate to the procedure.
Anywho – the two doctors that developed the procedure, Dr Martin Haskell and Dr. James McMahon, couldn’t even agree on what to call the procedure. Dr. Haskell used
Haha, nah, MK…I’m just a fan of tadpoles. Used to find them all the time in my marsh/pond out back. That’s why I thought pond with tadpoles before anything else.
And sex should be beautiful and serene. Not afraid to get my feet wet, though!! :P
Rae –
Congrats on the apartment! You must be so excited! I loved my first apartment even though it was a horrible place to live. ;-)
MK –
I find the answers a bit disturbing. I view love as old, tarnished and broken. I view sex as old but not too cold and gentle, I must have some sort of unknown foot fetish and I just untie myself and go for the ride.
wait a minute…take out the old and foot fetish thing and we may be on to something! Wait, untie?
;-)
hahah..this is fun!
And stop trying to give your son away! How’s the dog?
MK, come on, I need more explanations!! :-)
How is everyone today BTW??
Hahaha, I just have to laugh, Jasper….first you throw away your cup, and now you step around the pond. Avoiding love and sex at all costs, are we? *giggle*
You’re really giving your wife the short end of the stick, no pun intended. I say along with the flowers and the backrub, you get her a truckload of chocolates and buy her a day at the spa where she can be pampered. :)
“Avoiding love and sex at all costs, are we? *giggle*”
No, that one doesn’t make sense, but for the wife it kinda does… (not the love part, but the sex)
God, I would love a day at the spa being pampered, but alas, I have no time. Hell, I got an hour massage for Valentine’s Day, and it still hasn’t been used, now that I think about it?
QUESTION #6:
The shelter you choose on your island is how you view the material world, your home, the things you need in life to keep you happy. Looks like nobody here is too high maintenance! Jasper, Stephanie and Jen all put a lot of thought into theirs…candles, high ground, leaves stuffed in their clothing…all things that make life more “comfortable”…not quite big screen tv’s but more than the rest of us. Midnite and I settled in to enjoy the storm (probably think it was put there just for us), Rae ever the artist proceeded to create a pleasant atmosphere with her natural talents, Valerie, after her long, nocturnal “boat ride” (snicker) proceeds to hide herself in thickets (feeling a little guilty, are we?), and Lyssie uses this quiet time to be introspective, look at what she has learned and think about who she loves. Bethany and Rosie just accept that into every life a little rain must fall and Danny changes himself to meet the situation…quite the transformation…from human, to beast, to reptile, to a hard shelled armadillo and back to human again! His own private chrysalis! And our dear sweet John, as always, just waits patiently through another one of lifes curve balls…what’s he waiting for…ahhhhh, that’s the last question!
JOHN:
go under a tree to stay dry and wait
JASPER:
I build shelter with branches, leaves, peat moss, etc on slightly higher ground to avoid getting wet.
RAE:
I reclined in the water and closed my eyes and just floated in the water. The sky was now dark and the wind was picking up. I opened my eyes and the moon was gone. Tumultuous clouds filled the sky and a flash of lightning seared across the sky. I knew there was an island in the middle of the lake, and I quickly swam over to it as it was too dangerous to stay in the water during a storm. I climbed out of the water and the wind chilled me and the rain began to pour. Thunder crashed overhead and the trees swayed violently. I needed a place to warm up and get out of the storm. I continue stumbling through the woods on the island until I came up on a small fishing shack, and I totally lucked out because the door wasn’t locked. I let myself in and quickly close the door, and attempted to search for a source of light, there was none. Sighing, I sat down on a small, filthy cot and wrapped the moth-eaten blanket around me. As the world sounded like it was being rained away outside the shack, I whistled Christmas music to keep myself calm.
ROSIE:
I look for a cave or I make a temporary shelter out of branches and leaves. I may get wet anyway though, oh well.
MK:
My shelter is a small cave, quite cozy, and I sit at the entrance and watch the storm…I love thunderstorms.
BETHANY:
Build a small shelter with branches and leaves, supposing there are any available. If not, I guess I use my clothes as an umbrella and just let it rain.
VALERIE:
When I land on a island I realize that I had fallen asleep and have drifted in the boat longer than expected. It is daybreak and the sky is reddish/orange with the sun coming up. The sky to the left is dark and threatening so I find a thicket of bushes to hide in.
STEPHANIE:
I am now on an island, and a thunderstorm is coming. I gather up large branches that are on the ground to build a makeshift lean-to against a boulder. I cover the lean-to with leaves and bark I have gathered. It is not ideal shelter, but I can crawl under and keep at least partially dry. I also stuff leaves in my clothing and under my shelter to provide a little extra insulation from the cold.
DANNY:
I turn into an armadillo and burrow into the ground, about six feet under, to wait out the storm. When the storm reaches its peak, I crawl out, turn back into a human, and ride out the rest of it, laughing into the winds and basking in the sheer destructive power nature has.
LYSSIE:
The island lacks much foliage except for ferns and a few large willow trees. I grab a lot of ferns fronds and cover myself with them while huddling in the hollow of one of the willows. I know that these trees aren’t particularly tall, so the maples/pines in the surrounding forest are more likely to get hit by lightning. I use this time to examine my key and chalice. I use the chalice to catch some of the rain and drink it, since I had been walking so long.
MIDNITE:
When I see the thunder clouds rolling in, I walk a little ways into the island to see what I can find for shelter. I find a circle of palm trees that has all of the branches and leaves hanging over one spot big enough for me. I maneuver my way inside the trees, and sit down on the sandy earth to watch nature?s entertainment.
JEN C:
For shelter I hide in a small shack. I brace the windows and doors with old furniture and paper. I light a candle to stay happy.
Ahhh!! MK, you’re killing me!! I’m now on pins and needles waiting for the last question, along with anxiously awaiting the last Harry Potter book! OMgoodness, I’m a-going crazy!!
Burst into Combustion with me Lyssie?? PLEASE?
You guys are a riot…you’ve made this so much fun for me…
Okay, here it comes, but be patient cuz it takes awhile to copy and paste…like 15 minutes!
Patience isn’t one of my best qualities MK, but I shall try (just for you). All of the excitement and the NEW harry potter book, I might have a heart attack/stroke…
QUESTION #7:
The final question in our journey brings us to where else…but death (da-da-da-dum)!
In all my years doing this game no one has ever given me the same answer that I put down…until now. And it wasn’t one person, but four that made it to the other side of the wall…besides myself, Bethany and Lyssie used their key. Danny forced his way in, and John, sweet John, just trusted and walked through…Everyone else turned around and went home…sorry guys, catch you on the flip side.
The most interesting answer goes to Lyssie. When you read hers, knowing you’re reading about her death, the graffiti and engraving on the wall are eerily reminiscent of headstones. Life/death/afterlife…and she left her mark on the wall!
Jen C, you get credit for realizing that you just need a different perspective…hmmmmm…hisman, you want to take this one?
JOHN:
Ah, home … enter the wall!
JASPER:
The wall, if it was thick, deep, wide, tall as eternity, it would be covering me. I couldn’t do anything. I turn around and walk back the way I came.
RAE:
After the storm, I leave the shack and I continue walking around the island until curiously enough, I come to a wall, it goes on forever in every direction. It goes on forever above me; it goes forever to the left and rights and forever in front of me. I couldn’t do anything but turn around and slowly work my way home.
ROSIE:
I turn around and go home the way I came.
MK: I touched my key to the wall and a door appeared. I entered and found myself “in” eternity.
BETHANY:
I would either turn around and go back the way I came, or I would try to find a key hole to put my key in.
VALERIE:
After the storm is over I get out of the thicket and wander around. I see a never ending wall. That is when I realize there is no more road or water to take me any further. I turn around and begin to follow the path that will lead me home. Back on the boat I realize that this adventure wasn’t much, quite anti-climatic, but I have an antique cup and a pretty skeleton key to take home with me.
STEPHANIE:
I come to a wall, and think how the heck such a thing would be built out here. I look at it and try to determine what kind of material it is made of. I chip at it to take a sample of the wall material with me. Then I shrug, turn around, and head home because I had a good adventure and now I’m hungry.
DANNY:
I sit by the wall, and wait a few days. I climb it, try to fly over it, and dig under it. Finally, I decided to break on through to the other side, and that’s where I’ve been since I started 10 years ago.
LYSSIE:
At the wall, I take out my key and start walking along the side. Chances are that I might come to a door along the way. I look for cracks in the wall and admire the graffiti on the side of it. I then add my initials and the date to it by carving them with the back end of the key. I want to leave my mark on the wall like so many before me.
MIDNITE:
I sit and ponder for a while if there is any way to get around this wall. After a while, I lay down a snooze from my long adventure. I then get up, and go home the way I came.
JEN C:
I turn back the way I came and climb a tree or mountain to find away around the wall. I try to find a different perspective.
Hahaha, I sleep and then go home… Well that’s interesting…
So there you have…all wrapped up and ready to analyze…what did you think? Was it worth all the suspenseful waiting? Did you learn anything? About yourselves? About the others? Has it made you look at your life/selves/values any differently? Am I your favorite blogger in the whole world? Did it kill time til Jill gets back?
You know, I’ve been thinking, and since we have all become friends, it’s almost like we’re afraid to rock the boat and talk about the topic at hand.
I propose, that as a test, we go back to discussing “the topic that must not be named” and see if we can remain friends while standing opposed. Chesterton did it with Shaw. Tolkien did it with Lewis. Are we made of the same stuff, or are we going to avoid the subject forever?
Hey Lyssie,
What happened to pins and needles?
That is really interesting, what Lyssie wrote. You know, I actually read it a little differently…like , she wants to leave her mark on the world before she dies. The tombstone idea didn’t even occur to me, but it actually makes much more sense, with her adding her name and date! very interesting!
MK:
Sure lets discuss the topic that cant be named and see how quick it takes for someone to throw an insult (I got $$ on who will do it first)
One thing that is interesting is how alike most of our answer were. Our lives are radically different from one another yet life is still the same for some of us.
I’m going to pick on Midnite, who is very different from me…this is interesting. Remember that she is younger than me (I think).
Q1. Life: Both in the fall; Midnite – road is dirt which can be considered smooth with a few bumps, her leaves are bright and colorful and the branches are over the road blocking the sun but she can see a bare spot in the leaves. She can see out. Me – road is rocky mostly white with gray mixed in, the leaves on the trees have fallen and the branches cover over the road but the moonlight is coming through. I can see in.
Q2. obsticles: Midnite – tree blocking path, can’t go around, climb up and take care when climbing down. Me – Rock is blocking path, can’t go around, climb up and have no worries about jumping off.
Q3. Love: Midnite – cup is bright and colorful with jewels; representing new love and she keeps it close. Me – tarnished and dented with a broken handle; representing settled in but with some marks left from the past but still keeping it close.
Q4. Knowledge: Midnite – the key is small and mildly tarnished, but has a hole in it – new wisdom beginning to see the light. Me – Skelton key and in good shape – Developing wisdom getting comfortable.
Q5. Sex: Midnight – Large creek but not yet a river, pure in the color blue. She is drinking from the water (life) getting ready for new adventures but not moving too fast. Carfully walks through. Me – Calm ocean, no worries, at peace with the direction I am taking, lets the current take me.
Q6. Material world: Midnite – Open and airy, content enough for the entertainment. Me – Confined and small, not exactly comfortable.
Q7. Death: Midnite – not worried about death and at ease with life. Happy with the adventure. Me – Not worried about death, comfortable with life and remembering the past.
Midnite – I hope you don’t mind that I did this, I just found your answers and my answers going in the same direction, just at different times in life.
Interesting….?
Yes very interesting Valerie. I am not sure if you are older than me or not (almost 23).
But no, I dont mind that you picked me on, I am used to it :-)
Why Midnite,
I do believe it was you!
Sure lets discuss the topic that cant be named and see how quick it takes for someone to throw an insult (I got $$ on who will do it first) :)
Nah, MK that wasnt an insult, just a friendly wager, I try not to insult anyone, and the topic hasnt been discussed yet anyways :-)
Midnite –
Yup – I’m older….I’m 37 years old….
ACK!
And where the heck is Lyssie?
She can’t be off reading Harry, cuz he doesn’t come out til, what?, Friday?
I just saw the movie. Does anyone else think that voldemort looks like a blue Michael Jackson…?!?
Luna was awesome! I haven’t read the books per se, because we always buy them on tape and listen to them on our road trips…usually to the coast, 20 hours each way. Looks like we’ll have to take another vacation this year if we want to hear/read the new one! The guy who does them is awesome…Jim Dale. He does all the voices and really, really does them justice…
You know, technically, I guess we’re not supposed to indulge, but I’m from the school of thought that kids don’t know the mind frame of JKRowling, any more than they know the mindset of CSLewis, or JRRTolien (what’s with the initials?). To them, they all contain magic, good versus evil, , wizards, and children as the heroes. I was feeling a little guilty on the way home from the movie so I thought I’d test them to see if they understood that magic is make-believe…
I said that the kids in the movie used magic as their power to kill the bad guy…then I asked them who they would turn to if they needed someone powerful to help them. (of course, I expected them to answer God, or the angels or the saints, after all I taught them well). Johnny yelled out without batting an eye…YOU!
Maybe I should just let them enjoy the story and not worry about it so much…
MIDNITE,
Touche`
“Yup – I’m older….I’m 37 years old….
I beat you Valerie, I’ll be 40 next month…
Oh puhlease,
Children. All of you…I’ll be forty nine in October.
So Jasper what did you think of the game?
Yes, I thought it was pretty good. It gets you to step back and reflect your views on life…
MK,
Let them enjoy the story and the book and not worry so much about the “magic” or “good vs evil”. As long as something has children reading, I am not going to complain. She has (J.K. Rowling) has achieved something with her books that hasn’t been done in almost a century in America; the public willingly and anxiously awaiting to read her books…
I heard that J.K. Rowling was on welfare and is now a billionare…
Midnite,
The magic I can ignore, but the good vs evil is important stuff. Those kids constantly make the “right choices”, even when those choices aren’t particulary clear. And I think she is a good writer. Her characters come to life and you remember them long after you’ve closed the book. She’ll never be a Tolkien, but then who will?
Unless she writes something truly offensive, I plan on keeping up with the Weasley’s!
Actually Midnite,
I forgot to mention that I’ve played all three of the Harry Potter computer games, with number 4 at the ready. Just have to finish Nancy Drew with my daughter and it’s off to Hogwarts for us…Alahamora!
Nah, I dont see her writing anything offensive MK, but I think your kids will realize when they are a little older about the good vs. evil, just dont shove it down their throat. That’s what turned me off from religion in the begining
Really Jasper? That’s amazing! Well, good for her.
She certainly is talented.
Yeah, that game can really make you think. I wouldn’t swear by it, but very often it’s on the money. Wouldn’t you love to know what Cameron and SoMG would’ve written?
You’d be surprised Midnite. Kids understand the good/evil very early on…that’s why they all want to be super heroes. As for shoving it down their throats, there’s no need! It’s right there on the big screen.
“That’s what turned me off from religion in the begining”
well, you should look at religon for what it teaches and means, don’t get hung up on how someone presented it you.
Sorry about leaving, MK! I was all happy to wait, but then I had to go to class. Darn skool and its bothersome teachingz!!
Hehe, I kind of thought of my last answer much like Bethany did….Your analysis was very interesting, though.
Speaking of Harry Potter….
I’ve never ordered anything from Amazon.com before, and I was wondering how long before the money is taken from your checking account. If anyone knows…please tell me :).
Heather B: I’ve ordered a few things off of Amazon.com with my debit card…I’m pretty sure it’s very soon afterward. I know this because I went to use my card later that day and it was decreased by the amount of the book’s cost. Hope this helps. I could be wrong.
Lyss,
Especially since you put your name and the date…almost spooky!
So what did you think of the game overall?
I’m sure not getting much feedback…:(
Thanks, Lyssie. I checked my balance online, and the money has been deducted from my account.
I really liked the game! Really makes you reflect on how you are, and kind of interesting that my answers reflected who I am for the most part.
I thought the sex thing was hilarious. So I view sex as “beautiful, so jump in and go for it, as long as it’s clean and safe”, eh? That really made me LOL. =)
As for the last question, that’s also very typically me. I want to understand death, but I’m not concerned about it happening.
MK, if you ever have anymore of these games, I’d play!
Oh, about the dog. I already have one of my own. And two turtles. =)
Thanks Stephanie,
It took me like three hours total to organize all the posts and hardly anyone responded…I’m all better now!
@MK: I’m not really sure what to think of the quiz/game as I’m not really sure how it applies to me, you know? Perhaps I was a bit too wordy in my answers….tried to hard to make it a story as opposed to an answer to a question, you know?
Though I can say the key question is probably right, I am more into “mundane” knowledge as opposed to wisdom, I don’t feel I’d lived and experienced enough to be “wise” and instead I’m trying to learn and understand my material world. Does this make sense?
Not sure about the cup/love one…I just thought of a pretty little Japanese teacup. *shrugs*
It was interesting, though I am having a hard time applying my overly verbose answers to what the questions mean, you know?
MK,
I liked the game. It was interesting, seeing what each question related to.
And I e-mailed you late last night. I don’t know if you got it or not, though =/
Rae,
Are you still there?
@MK: I’m still here. :) I’ll be on for awhile yet.
oh MK, me and Valerie examine our answers together, I really enjoyed the game, and thank youfor taking the time to compile it all and posting them..
YOU ROCK
MK,
You’re so wise and smart, like a big sister..
thanks!
Hi MK,
the game was very interesting but it was ‘special’ to me for some other reasons. I had no idea as to how they would be interpreted, but as it turned out my very few words were right-on. As an older fellow in years, it was strange that these silly words are exactly how I see things.
Can hardly congratulate Jasper enough for daring this adventure without foreknowledge/control. It took immense courage since more than one person belittles him daily.
Rae,
Let’s take them one at a time and I’ll tell you what I see…If I’m way off, well, I’m not a professional! Kids, don’t try this at home!
Your Life: Your path is dirt, which is natural, not man-made. Anything can happen, it can lead anywhere. There are tree ruts popping up everywhere…little obstacles/annoyances, things that could trip you up. It’s summer (freedom), but muggy (oppressive), and your world is peppered with wildlife. Critters living and letting live. You even gave them personalities. The fireflies remind you a time no longer in existence…maybe your childhood? a simpler time? While the woods is the same, the air is muggy…like the world is starting to press in on you…
Your obstacles: A storm brought on your obstacle, a fallen tree. Did something tumultuous happen in your past? A fight or a “stormy” turning point? It’s too big to ignore so you’re going to have to deal with it sooner or later. You know it’s going to affect you (get you dirty and scratched) and it gives you pause…plus there might be unseen dangers, tics, icky sucky take the life out of you thingys…is there someone in your life like that? Was there before and you’re afraid of letting it happen again? or maybe you just don’t like tics!
But brave girl that you are, you tackle your obstacle and come out on the other side a little dirtier, a little bruised, but still whole.
Your cup: Do you know someone named Agnes? Agnes makes you think of old ladies, and so do teacups and lavender. Did you have a grandmother or an aunt that you loved? Did she have a good relationship and you want your “love” to be modeled on hers. Even if she’s imaginary, maybe you want someone to grow old with? Or are you afraid that if you love someone, take a chance, you’ll be discarded and grow old alone?
Your key: The sun is setting now and the world is turning magical…you find a plain key, but attached to it is fairy dust…I’d bet this represents the artistic side of you. An innate knowledge that there is more to life than you can see…you get blisters from going where you shouldn’t go…touching fire…so maybe you’re afraid to look too deeply at the fairy dust. If you’ve been burned before by trusting the “unseen” world, then the fairy dust might represent the possibility of getting burned again. And yet you keep it. One day you might be willing to look once again at this magical/unseen world and take a chance on a blister or two…
Your water: You said you were a virgin. Maybe not by choice. Maybe the opportunity hasn’t arisen. And maybe you’re not sure you’re ready…and yet, the siren song…you want to go to the bridge, (wait), but the log is so tempting! You try to cross it only to fall. Suprisingly the experience (water) is deep and not at all unpleasant. However you gaze at the bridge and wonder if you should have waited after all. Regrets or not, it’s too late and your experience leads to a peaceful lake. Like the log, you’re no worse for the wear. The moon is reflected on the water. The moon represents the unseen, much as the fairy dust. But reflecting it’s light, it is perhaps revealing a bit of it’s hidden truths. Should you have waited? Was it worth it…?
The Storm: The moon disappears and she is no longer giving up her secrets…you need shelter.
You find an old shack. It’s really unpleasant. The storm is scary. You’re feeling your aloneness. There is no light at all. Filthy cot, moth eaten blanket…do you feel that your “world” has let you down? Like you don’t get the “nice” things in life? Do you feel like you don’t deserve the nice things? Instead of feeling sorry for yourself, you accept your circumstances and make the best of it by using your talents. Are talents an escape for you? Have they always been?
Christmas songs also remind us of our childhood and happy times…perhaps this growing up stuff is harder than you thought?
Death: When you turn around you make a point of saying that you walk slowly. Like you don’t really want to go back, but have to…Do you wish there was another option. Is the past something you wish you didn’t have to face?
Of course I took a lot of liberties…and I could be so off base…you tell me. And add anything that you like…
John,
I almost called relevant radio today and read your answers on the air…except it would have taken too long to explain what the heck I was talking about.
Your answers touched me deeply. The show was on people accepting their lot in life and offering it up for the sake of others…I don’t know if you realize this, but you are one my heroes!
By the way John, don’t forget to drink…just wanted to remind you that you’re thirsty…love can come in different forms. You might be surprised to know just how many people do love you…I know I do!
John,
I know that everyone is always on Jaspers case, and I have been giving this a lot of thought.
I think he is just misunderstood.
(Jasper, do not take what I’m about to say in the wrong way. I think you’re great! I just need to illustrate something)
Everyone seems to think that Jasper is this mean, junkyard dog. Ready to attack and snarl and bite…
But you’ve got it all wrong. Jasper is not mean. He’s clumsy. He’s like a big ole labrador retriever! In his exuberance to greet you, he’s just as likely to knock you over. In his joy of playing tug of war with you, he might pull you out of your chair. And as soon as you scold him, he brings you his favorite toy to share and make friends again…except he’ll probably drool on you! And Lord, look out for that tail! He can knock everything off the coffee table and have no idea why everybody is jumping around to get out of the way of hot coffee and flying ashtrays…and of course jumping around justs gets him more excited.
He means no harm, but leaves everyone (not me, by the way) a little nervous around him…but his intentions are good! And he’s had his shots!
If you’d just scratch him behind the ears, or throw him a ball, you’d soon see that he’s really just an overgrown puppy. And who doesn’t love that?
I think he’s awesome! But then again, I have a dog that sent me to the hospital…what do I know!
@MK: Thanks for the analysis. :) Most of the things are true…to an extent. I don’t know anybody named Agnes, I just picked an old-fashioned sounding name for an old-fashioned teacup. The last sentence of the teacup analysis, “Or are you afraid that if you love someone, take a chance, you’ll be discarded and grow old alone?” describes my opinion of love to a T.
As for the water/sex stuff, yes, I’m still a virgin. Perhaps it represents the fact that I am so afraid of rejection and love, that even if I love somebody and have sex, I’ll probably *still* regret it, even if I wait until my wedding night.
*shrugs*
For the shack…I don’t feel like I deserve the nice things, which is why I am content with crappy things because I don’t feel as though I deserve more.
Growing up sucks…I miss my NSYNC Christmas album. :-p
@ MK
Are you going to try and interpret everyone’s answers? Cause I’m interested to hear your thoughts on mine.
John, you have the heart and soul of a poet. Don’t let that spark go out just yet, my friend.
Rae,
Here’s a hug…You are worth it! I like you, and that should be enough. You are one the sweetest, gentlest people I’ve ever known…I wish I could give you the gift of believing it…
Come to Chicago for a week and I’ll pamper you and cuddle you and feed you and suffocate you. With love, I mean suffocate you with love!
I wish you could see yourself the way Valerie and Bethany and I see you! You’d be mad about yourself! We see a remarkable, talented, funny, kind, peacemaking, fair, bright, beautiful young woman! I’ve said it before, and I’ll repeat it now, I would be proud to have you as my daughter. Proud!!!!!
@MK: Thank you. :) Y’all are so much more supportive of me than my own mother is, and I don’t even really know any of you and my mom has known me my whole life! Last Friday, my family went out of town to take my brother out to South Dakota for college orientation, so I was bored and I decided to tip my hair pink and dye my bangs pink.
I got a lot of complements about it from people at school and work, they said it looked cute/nice/etc. Of course when my mom walks in the door, from her trip yesterday the first thing out of her mouth is, “What the hell did you do to your hair? It looks like crap.” For the rest of the night, every time I talked to her, she’d say how bad my hair looked. So I told her that I got a lot of complements on my hair, and she goes: “Well…they probably just didn’t know what else to say.”
I seriously wanted to slap her. I really did. Grrrrr.
MK –
I agree with Danny, are you going to interpret everyone? That would be cool! I loved the game by the way and forced my husband to answer the questions. He is a boring ‘the world is black and white’ kinda guy and his answers were hysterical! No imagination!
Rae –
You need to talk to my husband! His Mom is just like that. She never got off his back and she was never positive. (I’m using past tense because they havn’t spoken in 3 years – long story). While I was dating him he was in a band and played the drums, he also had a mini recording studio in his basement and they made CD’s and gave them to everyone – including his Mom, he had been doing this for about 7 or 8 years. His Mom told him that she wished he never gave up on his musical talent. She never paid any attention to what he was doing! When he told her he wanted to go back to college and get a degree she said, “that sounds like a good idea, but are you sure you want to do that? You’ve never been very good at school and studying.” My jaw hit the ground! She would always find a way to cut him down all the while sounding like she was supportive. She was so negative it was depressing. She had me believing that I was a horrible Mom and all Danny’s problems were because I sucked at motherhood and not that he was 9 week premature!
My hubby is now back in college and has been on the Dean’s list for a year now. He decided to stop listening to her and take control of his thoughts and his life. What he did was he just let the comments go in one ear and out the other. Stopped listening to the negative and listened to the family gossip that she knew. It drove her nuts.
I guess what i am saying is try (easier said than done) to ignore the bad comments. There is a really good chance she doesn’t know that she is hurting you as badly as she is. Once you’ve been on your own for awhile things may change. My sister and Dad hated each other while she lived at home (horrible for all of us!) but once she moved a state away, they got along like she was daddy’s little girl!
I’m done babbling for now. I’m on some nifty pain killers for my arthritis and I’m feeling a bit loopy….
HIC
*passes glass of Bailey’s to Valerie*
There, this will calm things down…lol. Just kidding of course. :)
I babble a lot too…especially because my brain is literally turning to mush from…well, everything.
Good news is…I’m at 75mg of Effexor, and within a week or so I’ll be going down to the 37.5’s for a few more weeks and then no more pills! Huzzah! :D
“He can knock everything off the coffee table and have no idea why everybody is jumping around to get out of the way of hot coffee and flying ashtrays…and of course jumping around justs gets him more excited.”
LOL!!! This is not just figurately true, it is somtimes literary true, as one my favorite things to do is wrestle with my dog Jasper (my name is really Steve). And yes, I am harmless, sometimes a lot bark, but never bites.
OH MK, interpret mine please… I would love to see what you get from mine…
Rae,
I bet it looks really cute on you! A couple of years I put a pink streak in my hair. It was a lot of fun and I got a lot of good comments about it.
MK,
I’d love it if you interpreted mine as well. I know it’s got to be time-consuming, so if you don’t have the time…it’s no big deal.
But if you do… :D.
Rae –
I’m glad your getting off the effexor okay. How have things been going with that. I just got my Welbutrin pumped up to 450 mg. You’re getting off meds and I’m getting a higher dose! ;-)
Jasper –
I’m trying to figure out how MK described my English Mastiff to a ‘T’ when describing you! I was laughing my behind off!!!
MK-
Any more inerpretations?
@Valerie: Things have been going pretty well getting off the medications. I haven’t been any more moody than usual and I haven’t gotten terribly depressed. I’ve had a few withdrawal symptoms due to forgetting my meds for a few days here and there, but other than that it’s going very well, I’m quite happy about that. :D
Though I am sorry to hear you got your meds upped. :(
@Bethany: Here is a picture of my hair:
http://minnesota.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2321271&l=4104d&id=13956917
I hope the link works!
Valerie,
I love English mastiffs :D. They’re big babies.
Val,
You? Loopy? Get out of town? And the reason you’re not sharing?
Rae,
I might have agreed with your mom if you had died it say, green but as pink is my favorite color, I don’t hate it, I’m just jealous!
What do you say that when we get together for breakfast we ALL color our hair pink (or orange, or blue or whatever)…
Dear Lord, doesn’t the woman remember what it was like to be young and carefree?
Didn’t you say she suffers from depression also, or am I imagining that? If so, then I guess you have to learn when it’s her talkin’ and when it’s the illness talkin’! If not, then she’s just an ole’ sourpuss. I’m sure she loves you the best she knows how, which doesn’t make the sting any less.
Anyhow, the invite to Chicago is an open one! I mean that. Anytime. Just ask. You already have the answer!
Heather B.,
I’d love to interpret yours…BUT I DON’T HAVE ANY ANSWERS FROM YOU!!!!
Here’s the deal…I’ll be happy to interpret each of you, but you have to remember that no matter how hard I try, I can only see your answers through my eyes…so no hard feelings if I say something off or accidentally hurtful…not that I’m planning to, but you never know.
I probably can’t get to everyone tonight so I’ll start with Midnite, because she and Alyssa never left my side during this whole thing…Alyssa, my love, you can be next…
kay?
MK,
Aaaack! I sent them really late last night!
Maybe the wrong e-mail address….
Oh, well. I’ll just post ’em, I guess.
MK,
Aaaack! I sent them really late last night!
Maybe the wrong e-mail address….
Oh, well. I’ll just post ’em, I guess.
1. You are walking down a road that leads into a wood. Describe the road, and the wood. (i.e: time of day, season, weather, foliage
MIDNITE:
Your Life: Your time of year is fall, which is usually back to serious time…school, winter’s coming, so I’d say that this time in your life involves a lot of work. But happy work as the colors are vibrant…The trees form a tunnel, which can be claustrophobic but also keep you from straying from the path…there is no light shining through which could lead you to wonder if you know what you’re doing. But behold, there is a small opening in the trees. You can tell it’s sunset and this assures you that you are almost finished with this particular path. It also gives you a glimpse, tho just a glimpse of what awaits you outside of the woods…you also chose the word “heavens” instead of sky which tells me that no matter how much you protest, there is a part of you that hopes/wishes that there is a heaven…and that you will one day see it sans the trees…
Your obstacles:
Your road ends where your woods end, confirming that this was just a temporary path, and that it was close to ending…perhaps with school almost over you’ll be ready to leave the woods and enter the “outside”…but you still have the hurdle of climbing your way to the top. Whatever field you have chosen probably involves more work, of the upward kind, and you’re happy taking it one step at a time. No great leaps for you! Interestingly, after you reach “the top” you choose to come back down to earth…practical application of your schooling? or maybe you always tackle problems a little bit at a time…
Your cup:
Your cup is made of precious metal, and laden with sapphires…the sapphire means loyalty and fidelity. The color of sapphires is deep blue, so no shallow prince charmings with their phony smiles for you! Your ideal guy will probably be a deep thinker. Also very sensitive. and strong. Silver is a much stronger metal than gold. It can take a lot of abuse and still look great! You’re not ready for this guy yet, so until you are you put your dreams of him away til your in the right part of your life to meet him. Or in your words til you need him. Tho I gotta warn you, sometimes they come sooner that we think we need them and sometimes when we need them, they’re nowhere to be found. But at least you know what you’re looking for.
Your Key:
Your key is tarnished, simple, also silver. Silver, like the moon represents the unknown. While your key looks plain, it has a mysterious hole in the back of it…hmmmmm…wonder what knowledge that will lead to? Hole in the trees so you could see the heavens…hole in your key…perhaps the hole is to remind you that there is some “key” piece of knowledge that you haven’t attained quite yet. Interestingly, you do not put the key in the same pocket as your cup. You are very clear about that, leading me to believe that Midnite, is a very separate person from Midniteandmysteryman…you won’t have an easy time becoming Mrs. So and So. Perhaps he should become Mr.Midnite! Either way, you won’t let him swallow you!
Your water:
You chose a large creek, enough to be exciting and keep your interest, but not a river as this might require too much effort. And/or danger! It is clear ( no surprises for you here. you want to see what you are getting into!) and clean…It is heading downstream…which means if you want to follow it you’ll have to go downstream also. You use your cup to get a drink. This is a great image as it is what I keep harping on with that Theology of the Body stuff. Your true love, and your sex life have been united in a mystical way. You drink. But think about this. When you have had your fill, you do not follow your creek downstream. Instead you go UPstream! Hmmmm…you find a spot that is not too deep…no major involvements for you right now. Just wading and using the creek to get me where I want to go. I wish you would stay out of the water myself, until you are ready to take out your cup for good. You know, with cups made of metal, you are only supposed to drink one thing out of them. Otherwise they keep the taste of the old and contaminate the new. The first thing you put in one of these cups is the last thing you should put in. This is called seasoning your cup. Just sayin! Don’t want your wine tasting like milk!
Your island:
Again with the trees surrounding you…this time palms that form a circle. They are so closely knit together that you actually have to “maneuver” into them! You sure do like your borders. LOL. So do I. Drives my husband nuts. Borders in the garden, borders on my dinnerware. Perhaps it’s because we recognize how easily we could take a wrong path. They all look so enticing! I myself like allies…
Oops,
hit post before I did the last one!
Death:
You sit and ponder. Good! At least you’re thinking about what comes after. Unfortunately, you don’t go the extra step and “believe” that something comes after. You probably sleep to escape the fact that your journey has ended in such a frustrating way. But eventually you face facts and wake up. Perhaps, sleeping was a way to work things out in your dreams. In any event you go back the way you came…Know this: Of magic doors there is this. You do not see them even as you are passing through…”
More tomorrow as I don’t think I can do you guys justice tonite…I’m having a Dinsdale bros. moment…my brain hurts!
Alyssa, you’re next! Promise.
MK that was awesome. Interesting enough and describes me almost to a tee. I’ll explain more tomorrow, I’ve got to finish studying Chemistry if I dont want to retake it in the fall…
Okay Alyssa,
As Promised:
YOUR LIFE:
You’re road is very different than Midnite’s. Your road is old and dusty, so I’d say that you realize you’re going to get a “little” dirty taking it. Mostly your feet, but dust does blow around. The fact that it’s old means that the path you are on has been walked a zillion times before you, so it’s safe, tried and true. It is probably also dry and lacking moisture as this is what creates dust. Rain creates life and growth and perhaps for now your road takes you where you want to go but doesn’t provide much inner growth…just the “bare bones” so to speak. However the road does get narrower, so whereever you are in life now, you’re path is being narrowed by the choices you are making. Like if in school you have chosen medicine (broad), then focused on mental health (narrower) then really focused on schizophrenia (very narrow), or you studied biology, then focused on botany and are now focused on Passiflora…you see? Your path is narrowing. It leads into a woods that is lined with large maples and pines. Again, borders and a specific path, but unlike Midnites, your’s does not form a canopy, creating the “tunnel” effect, so the sky is the limit!…there are also “Haphazard” distractions (butterflies, morning glories) that you notice. You’re not SO focused on your path that you don’t see the little extras life provides.
Morning glories are a vine and have an incredible root system. Security and home are probably important to you. They can overrun a garden. But they can also hide an ugly fence. So even though you have chosen a path with very specific parameters, you’ve camouflaged your borders with flowers, giving yourself the illusion that your boundaries are not so tight as to be restricting, and reminding yourself that these borders are “good”.
The fact that it’s summer, 12:00 and sunny tells me that this is a great time in your life. Remember those summers when you were 7 or 8, carefree…never worrying about anything. Knowing you parents were just around the corner and taking care of all things “nasty”? Things were “right” with the world, and you had no worries. Endless days and exciting nights, freeze tag, fireflies, staying up late, bike riding…a wonderful time. As long as you stay on your path, this is what this particular period of your life feels like right now.
YOUR OBSTACLE:
Your obstacle is yet another example of confinement. It kept the horses safe…made sure they didn’t go where they weren’t supposed to and kept danger out. I’d say your childhood was happy, so happy that even though you have “left” it, you are willing to go back and recreate it. It was good then and it will be good now. It’s hard when you are in your twenties because you are trying to break ties with all the things that make you feel like a child, but if your childhood was good, you’ll find that once you are independent you will feel safe enough to stop rejecting it, as it won’t make you feel like a child anymore. It will actually make you feel grown up because you have chosen it, not had it forced on you. Hence, the saying “Oh God, I’m turning into my mother”…It sounds like you have reached that spot, as when you are faced with your childhood, you easily enter it again. However, this time you’ll have to climb the fence (recreating that happy past is gonna take work) as there is no gate.
YOUR CUP:
Your cup is made of one of the most precious metals there is. Gold. But while gold is tough it is also soft. Malleable. It is also glinting in the sunlight. I would say that you are attracted to men that are a little flashy,(have something that catches your eye), rough around the edges, but with big soft hearts. You like the challenge of “molding” them, though the rubies are the color of blood and probably represent that you will have to make sacrifices to get your “CUP” to look like you want it. They are also more priceless than diamonds. Only the best for you. However, you feel the need to “clean it/him up”, a phrase that many a woman has used to describe her husband (LOL). You want him/it shiny and bright…appearances count. You put it in your pocket. You don’t drink from it yet. First you want mom to see it. Again, comfortable with going home. Recognizing that what you learned there was valuable and held much wisdom. If mom approves then it must be okay. Funny how you “buff” him to “perfection” before you bring him home to mom. Even though you seek her approval, you are quite independent. You didn’t ask her to polish him. You obviously trust and love your mom very much. Because you don’t drink from it, you probably haven’t met the man of your dreams yet…or perhaps you just haven’t finished “shaping” a man that you have already met…
YOUR KEY:
Your key is rusty and old. It has been used for hundreds of years. It, like your path is tried and true. It is also a skeleton key which means it can open many doors, which is why the Skeleton Key represents wisdom. You take it with you hoping it will open what else? Your home. You obviously put a lot of stock in family, roots and history. Especially family history. You’ve climbed the fence and gotten on the property, and now you have the “Key/Wisdom” to open the door to your “future” which is actually recreating your “past”. The lessons you have learned at home will serve you well in the life you are headed towards.
YOUR WATER: Again, you like things to be beautiful in “appearance” since your pond is filled with water lilies. You don’t disturb the tadpoles, but say nothing about knockin’ around the lilies. Perhaps you are attracted to “good looks” but you’ll challenge them to get to the more important stuff. No one gets by on looks alone, though they can’t hurt! As for the tadpoles, I know you said you put them in there because you had them in your pond when you were a child (there goes the happy childhood thing again), but you probably saw a lot of things growing up and didn’t put them in. Tadpoles are pretty much fetuses minus the womb. No mama frog is required to carry them. But your fascination with them tells me that you recognize them as fully alive and functioning even tho they are in an “embryonic” state. Think about that…but I digress (can’t get away from the “topic than must not be named” sorry!) Not only are you fascinated with them, but you take great care not to disturb them. Tadpoles also look like sperm and you need to tread carefully around the little buggers. After all, this is not the body of water you will use your cup in. It’s just a diversion until you get to the real thing.
YOUR ISLAND:
You’ve reached your safe haven. Time to look back at where you’ve traveled so far. Getting ready for the next journey. You study your cup, and you contemplate your key. Maybe you’re getting ready to share your path with someone. And it’s time to use that hard-earned knowledge (school?). You have chosen ferns and willows. Two plants that require lots of water and very fertile soil! Time for the rain. Time to nourish all the things you’ve learned. Willows can also be “sad” trees. Maybe you’re feeling a little melancholy about leaving your youth behind. You use your cup now. You catch rainwater, very powerful stuff. Like catching the storm, and containing it. Again, you want a wild man that you can tame. And you want him to come in out of the rain, to the safe-from-lightening/danger place that you have found. And now it’s time to drink. The road has been long…it’s time.
DEATH:
At the wall, you immediately go for your key. Whether you want to admit it or not, you are looking for a way to the elusive other side. You say you are not a believer, but I think you are. Somehwere, deep inside you, is the priceless knowledge that this wall is important, and that you have had the “key” all along. You search for cracks. You said you were raised Catholic, and maybe you are looking for the flaws in this faith. Cracks would give you a reason not to believe…or maybe a way to peek in without fully committing. Maybe there’s a door. If not, nothing lost…but if there is a door, just like we’ve been claiming, then maybe, just maybe, you’d think about entering it. You study the graffiti, admire it, respect what was written before you (scripture) and try to learn something from others that have come to this wall. You want to leave your name and the date, so you won’t be forgotten, another soul gone with no proof that they existed.
It’s not enough that you write your name. You engrave it, ensuring that your “contribution” will remain for years to come. The world will know that Alyssa was here. You never do enter the door. You have the key at the ready, and you are looking, so kudos to you for having an open mind. You don’t turn back, so I’ll assume that you’ll continue looking for as long as it takes…I hope you find it.
All right, who’s next…or have I scared you all off!
First one to check in gets theirs done next!
oohh!! Me! Me!
Ahhhh…You’re a brave soul!
Okay, here goes…
Thanks, MK!!
The road is dusty and well-traveled, but it becomes less and less traveled as I go on (narrower and fainter). The path isn’t for everyone. What I think is most important about my road is the climate…all I can think about is beautiful, sunny, summer days. Contemplating the beauty of the sky and the clouds and the green grass and maple trees. Butterflies everywhere. The wild morning glories in my field (reminiscent of home, most definitely).
My obstacle, the old wooden horse fence…Now, I look at horses as beautiful representatives of a wild freedom. The fence may attempt to keep them in, but my horse could have easily jumped a 5-foot fence and keep going. The fence may be a deterrent, and it had splinters, but I clambered over it anyway. Can’t reign in my freedom anymore than you could reign in Cuda’s (my horse’s) freedom. I won’t let anything stand in my way of goals and the childlike freedom I had on my old dirt road.
Personally, I think I chose gold for my cup, because, while it is malleable and can be bent, it’s the strongest metal when it comes to non-reactivity. It may bend, but it will never dissolve or react with other elements (while silver/platinum are more likely to do so). That’s the way I think of love- beautiful, flexible, but never able to be dissolved. :)
I think the rubies, while the color of blood, mean less of a sacrifice than how I want to feel love…to the very last drop of blood I have in my body. Remember me telling you about the man I’m with now? You’re right, he’s rough around the edges (ex-Marine), has the most beautiful, sinful brown eyes (oh, he’s flashy and gorgeous to me), and has the sweetest heart and soul in the world (volunteers for kids at the YMCA and genuinely cares about and loves other people). I don’t need to mold him…he bends himself because he loves doing things for others (I tell you what, I’ve gotten a lot of impromptu footrubs out of him without even needing to ask. Cha-ching, girls!!). I can shine him up (although it doesn’t take much, he cleans up nicely and all it takes is a little bit of buffing with my shirt), and I’m more than happy to bring him home to my parents. But, like I said, with him, it’s different. Our love may change in shape, but it, like gold, can never dissolve.
I don’t drink of the cup yet because we’re not ready…we both have a lot of potential, and I want to see him succeed (let it shine). It means a lot to me to see him achieve what he wants before we take the drink.
I chose a skeleton key because they have character and there’s always a beautiful, homey, rustic quality about them. You can learn alot about the people who used them before you. However, I almost chose my car key because I love driving, as it’s another representative of freedom. My car and the joy of the open road, and going fast and free and feeling the gears shift in manual transmission and having the wind in my hair (hence why I love horses and fast cars). I think I subconsciously figured my love of liberty was represented in my horse fence, so I went with picking an old, rusty key with character.
I think your pond allegory is quite interesting…to me, I think tadpoles might represent “sperm” to me more…because I walk through the pond avoiding them at all costs. Not afraid to get my feet wet, but I don’t want to deal with any of the creatures in there. They’re fascinating, but I refuse to play with them until I’m sure I can handle them (in your second analysis, this might be your interpretation of birth control).
The island…yes, thinking about how I can combine the key (wisdom and home) with the love I’ve found (my love Matt). I’ve often thought about the fact that I’d want to take the drink (getting hitched) with him and combining all three in the future, so that’s why I waited til the willow tree on the island to do so, after we’ve achieved our goals. Hehe, about the storm…my boy is a tempestuous one. I won’t ever be able to “tame” him, but I can definitely harness his strength to my advantage. I think he’d say the same about me…in fact, last night, we talked and he remarked about how “scrappy” and feisty I am. To be honest, his is a quiet, deep, awe-inspiring strength (he’s gone through a lot, as his mother abandoned him and his three siblings when he was a teenager), which is just the charged clouds of the storm. I’m definitely the more flamboyant and outwardly feisty of us two. While he may be the storm itself, I’m the lightning and the thunder.
And death…yeah…I want to make a difference, leave a mark, and I don’t want to be forgotten. If I pass through, sobeit, but I want people to see that I was there. :)
Sorry about not responding until now, MK… I’ve been busy with two exams (one yesterday, one today) for my summer classes. I tried keeping up, I really did. :)
Valerie,
YOUR LIFE:
Sunset…seems like you’ve already walked quite a bit of the path already…not that you’re old, but that you’re settled. It’s like you’ve picked your path, and now you’ve got to stay on it. I love walking barefoot…it makes me feel free and wild…like a gypsy. But gravel would make this hard to do. All those little stones (annoyances) would keep me from being really freeee…your gravel for the most part is white…as in black and white, white being the color of choice. By that I mean right choice. But there are a few gray ones. I would say that while you have chosen the white path, to do so you had to give up a lot of your old ways. This new path still has some of the residual (black) stones except now they are grey. Not so obviously bad. Not so clear cut…moral issues that you struggle with? Things that you struggle to get rid of completely? You also pick fall, another symbol of passing time, but also a time of harvest. Except that it is late fall since there are no leaves on the trees. Maybe there isn’t enough excitement in your life…it looks kind of bleak these days. While the stones are little, they can add up and keep you from feeling like the wild and crazy freedom lover you used to be. The further you go, the more you feel closed in. Your trees also form a tunnel, but unlike Midnites, they don’t seem to add to the beauty providing shelter and guidelines. More like a prison. They do however, because there are no distracting leaves, allow you a clear view to the heavens. And since there isn’t much else to look at, you probably do a lot of looking upward.
Those shadows created by the moonlight, probably represent that elusive illuminator (God) who shows you all the things in your life that can feel scary, but are only shadows, not real, illusions. Reminds me of the children’s verse: I see the moon and the moon sees me, God bless the moon and God bless me. The moon represents the occult (not the pagan kind, but hidden knowledge) and it is this secret knowledge that is guiding you on an otherwise dreary path. What would make your path more colorful? Do you miss the “old life”? but don’t know how to attain it without going back to the black pebbles? Do you want the freedom, but not the irresponsible attitude? Do you miss the fun, but can’t attain it without picking up old bad habits? Do the shadows frighten you and make you all too aware of how fragile this path is, with temptations lurking everywhere? Is this a general sense, or are their specific things…gray areas that you are struggling with…Are there things that you are being asked to do that you are having a hard time bending to?
YOUR OBSTACLE:
Your obstacle is a huge rock. Like one of those pebbles is a real stumbling block to becoming the you that you want to be…You’re also a writer. Are we suffering from writers block? In order to overcome this, you’re going to have to change paths for a while. You seem to want to avoid the actual rock and get around it, not remove it. But going around it is dangerous. Is there some particular aspect of your faith that you are struggling with? Do you wish to avoid making a decision and so try to skirt the issue, knowing that this can be dangerous. After all, later on, when you get to the wall, you turn around and go back…guess what? That rock will still be there.
I sense that it has to do with a matter of faith and morals because all of your rocks are white. Are you being asked by God to do something that you don’t want to do? Or is this rock black and your being tempted by something dark?
YOUR CUP:
I love your old tin cup. It must have been used a lot in the past, or ab-used…how wonderful that you see it’s value despite it’s appearance. Is your husband one of those guys that requires looking at very closely before you see his beauty. At first glance he’s tarnished (hurt by life) and dirty (maybe when you met him, he was a mess?). But you recognize that despite it’s outward appearance, it is still perfectly usable, and still has great value. You keep it.
YOUR KEY:
Your key is new. Unlike your cup which is old and worn, trusted, this key is something new and untried. Like your faith. While it is beautiful and holds great wisdom, you haven’t worn it in yet. It takes a long time to get an old key. This new faith journey you’ve undertaken will take some getting used to. It hasn’t been on the road, or should I say your road for very long…while this can be exciting, it can also be scary.
YOUR WATER:
The fact that your water leads to a shore, tells me that it is probably a large body of water. You stay on the shore for awhile, not quite sure you trust it. You test the water with your feet. Hmmm…seems safe. Ater sometime you decide to enter it…but on a boat. Safety precautions. Not gonna go into this only to drown. The dock is like an altar, old like the traditon of marriage. Only after you stop at the altar do you enter the boat. The boat keeps you from being consumed by the water…which might have been a danger in the past (can anyone say “a little too fond of the dirty deed?”), and it also has room for more people. Anyone who wants to share the water with you is gonna have to commit to getting in the boat first…and even then there will be room for more. The boat is a receptacle, much like the womb, waiting to recieve…The boat then becomes a symbol of “home”…Once in the boat, you feel much safer and because it offers protection you feel completely comfortable letting it take you where it will…You must love your husband very much. Or at least trust him. You could also think of the boat as your husband, and once you went to the altar you are now ready to “enter” into him, heart and soul. And trust him to take you where you need to go.
YOUR ISLAND:
It’s almost like this marriage/boat has lulled you into a false sense of peace…the honeymoon is over…there are thunderclouds on the horizon! It is morning and time for new beginnings. Enough of these pebbles. Enough of this floating. It’s time for something new. Time to shake things up a bit (the storm), but the storm is threatening. If you change will everything fall apart? Will you lose what you have? The thought of all this newness scares you and you hide. In a thicket like a rabbit. A scared rabbit. But at least your safe. Nothing scary in here! Except a thicket is close and dense, and eventually you will have to leave it or lose your mind from suffocation! You seem to be struggling with the concept that what is right and good is boring or strangling…but it’s not. You can have fun without compromising your morals! Haven’t we been telling the girls just that?
YOUR WALL:
When you hit your wall you realize that there is no more road or boat to take you where you need to go. It’s time to stand alone. While your marriage and family are symbols of your faith, they do not define it. While your road led you here, what you do next has not been laid out for you…you need to take that next step…but you can’t, don’t or won’t. Disappointed, let down, betrayed even, you feel that you’ve come so far only to be kept from what you sought…or thought your were seeking. You flee to the comforts of your old life, somewhat satisfied that it wasn’t all for naught. You still have your family and home…oh wait a minute, maybe that’s where you’ll find the key to your door. Maybe you need to use the key a little bit more, stop looking at your life as a prison and realize that it is the way through the wall. Ambivalence is your enemy. You love your life, but your suffocated by it. You want change, but not at the expense of your family. You trust the moon, but not quite enough to get your through the wall…time for some deep reflection and a machete…trim those bushes…let in the light, add some color, climb the rock, and the next time you come to the wall, use the key…which by then should be well worn and clearly owned by you.
Mk, you are really good with analysis! This has been so much fun to read.
Thanks Bethany,
But let’s wait and see if Val is still speaking to me after she reads hers…
I agree, Bethany…MK kicked some major philosophical and psychological @$$ today…lol
Why thank you Lyss,
I think.
Oh, it’s definitely a good thing, MK. I’m really wowed. :) Thanks for taking the time to do this.
WAHHH!!! MK, I’m jealous! Can I have an analysis too? I’ll even take the son and dog! Oh, and throw in some cookies. =D
In short, I think your analyses are awesome!
MK = Teh awesome.
Crap, now I have to go to work. =(
I’ll check in and talk in a couple of hours when I’m home for lunch!
Since Jill’s seems otherwise occupied….
1) You are walking down a road that leads into a wood. Describe the road, and the wood. (i.e: time of day, season, weather, foliage
MK,
When you have the time, I’d very much like to see what you interpret my answers as.
I think I’m going to play the sims for a while since I’ve not had much time to in the past week. Yeah. That sounds like a plan.
That’s a lot of reading.
Looks like I have a modest appreciation for but general lack of interest in love. and OMG… I’m avoiding sex… and/or at least think there’s a whole lot of stuff between me and it that makes it tricky. LMAO!!
Everything else is pretty much on par with the rest of you all cept the end. Like Val, I thought it was anticlimactic, but I felt something of me had to come of it and continue on somehow. It’s a curious answer. I neither transcend the wall or turn back, but instead sort of become part of it. Any thoughts MK?
I don’t see an analysis for the first question… must have missed it. What’s the skinny?
OK… my life… winding long unused dirt road?? Winding makes OK sense… but unused/forgoten??? Shorter trees and mostly unobstructed view… clarity? Why does it matter what kind of trees??
I guess felt I couldn’t take the tea cup with me because I would likely break it. Rather than risk breaking it, I wanted to insure someone else would have it. I think there’s a glimmer of hope here; that I feel that now’s not the time but I do want it someday. Maybe it means what love I’ve had is now abondoned and all that remaines is a cherished but trivial artifact?
Hmmmmmmm. … what of… I can’t stop wondering now.
I guess I see why the threads so long.
Dammit MK!
OK Mary Kay,
You do know a bit about me though, think that will affect your analysis? I’m game.
MK –
WOW! You got me thinking!
I do want to respond, but I am having friends over for dinner and for some reason they actually think I need to cook for them. The nerve of some people! I’ll be back on tonight….
;-)
Everyone,
I’ll be back on tonite and I’ll do at least Heather and cameron…Can you be patient?
I won’t lie, MK, I am curious to see how you interperet mine.
Of course, MK! Take your time.
I have plenty to do to keep myself occupied until then (cleaning…reading…trying to find the perfect top to wear with my skirt and wedges…).
Okay,
Stephanie. I’m here. It will seem like I’m not because I’m typing the post, but I am…it can take a half hour or so…so keep checking back. Kay?
STEPHANIE:
YOUR LIFE:
I don’t know how old you are, I don’t really know that much about you personally, but from your answer I’m going to say between 17 and 19…Your road is paved. This is kind of like childhood in the sense that someone has done the work, laid a path, and all you have to do is follow it…It’s smooth, trouble free and leads where someone else has decided…do you see? But it slowly turns to dirt. Now, while other people may have traveled this road before, it isn’t manufactured. It isn’t man made. For all intents and purposes it’s “your” road. This is what happens when you’re growing up. You leave behind what you always did automatically and find yourself making your own choices and decisions based on what you want. Mommy and Daddy laid out the road before…but now it’s up to you. If your paved road was a highway, then chances are it had signs to guide you…speed limits, lights when it got dark, curves ahead…but now there’s no sign posts so to speak. It leads to a park which also leads me to believe that you are young. Perhaps going off to college soon. We all know that while college can be serious there is also an element of “while moms away the college student will play” …and parks definitely represent playtime! However it’s still early (both in the day, and in your new life) and there aren’t any people around yet. It’s July. School starts in September. No one is around yet because school isn’t in session.
Everything is peaceful and still, the calm before the storm? The area surrounding your path/park is full of nature. Are you studying to do something in botany. Leaving the city, passing through a suburb…ending up in nature? Wouldn’t suprise me if you wanted to be in forestry and work in a national park!
YOUR OBSTACLE:
Again with the nature symbolism…Your obstacle is a hill. Possibly school, and the reason it doesn’t phase you is because it’s not an unpleasant obstacle, just something you have to do to meet your goal…more of a challenge, and a pleasant one at that, then an obstacle. I’d guess that whatever you’re going to be studying, you like to learn and learning your favorite subject is going to be awesome! It is giant however, and even though you like what you’re going to be doing you recognize that it’s not going to be easy. I hate the first few years of college (uphill) where you have to take all the icky courses, but then the second half (downhill) you pick up momentum and before you know it, your at the bottom, with a degree in your hand!
YOUR CUP:
We’ve already sort of touched on the cup. Again. your love of the earth and nature comes through…Why anyone would just discard trash like that! Sheesh! But as we said, in this case one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Even if you don’t keep the cup, you’ll be sure to “place” in where it belongs and not just dump it on the side of the road. You must be a kind person. Sensitive enough to know that you don’t just treat peoples hearts like trash. Even though you throw it away, symbolically, you are actually placing it in it’s proper place. Not calling it garbage, but doing the right thing by it…Very nice.
YOUR KEY:
This too leads me to believe that you are off to school. The key is to a bike (no cars for you, too much pollution) or a house. You’re interested in finding the owner. This is the only time in your answers that you actually want to meet a “person”. You don’t say whether or not you want to return it, but from your tone, I sense you are more interested in the story behind ithe key. If you find this person, you’re going to have a lot of questions. Again, seeking knowledge from someone more learned. Like teachers, which brings us back to school…
YOUR WATER:
This one is really interesting. Your lake has streams feeding into it, yet you describe them as running away from the lake…I’m gonna take a guess here, and say that you have been active sexually. Each of those streams is a partner. This doesn’t mean you slept with them all, but you probably did have some sort of a physical relationship…but they all go away (or get sent away) in the end. They are part of the lake and part of your sexual history, but they are NOT the lake. The lake is something special. Teeming with life (Fertile little bugger perhaps?) Again, lots of images of nature…birds, dragongflies, butterflies, salamanders, frogs…subconsciously, you seem to understand the Catholic Teaching that sex is meant for procreation! Good for you. Now just bring that to your conscious! The water is clean, so perhaps the boy/man that you will be swimming with is not as sexually experienced as you are. You have a really healthy view of sex. It’s good. Clean. Beautiful. Full of life. You wade, you swim and sometimes you just look. The rocks are smooth (not pointy and dangerous) and there is sand surrounding you. Nothing here can hurt you. Whoever the lucky “Mr. Right” is can count himself blessed when you tell him to go “Jump in the Lake”!
YOUR ISLAND:
What a surprise! You know exactly what to do. IN NATURE! Gather the branches, make a lean-to (and I wouldn’t be surprised if you know exactly how to, too) It’s not perfect, but hey, you forgot your tool box and Eureka tent! You even know to stuff leaves in your clothes to stay warm…you’re killin me here.
YOUR WALL:
You are an absolute riot. When faced with natures last call, what do you do? Break down and cry? Kick the wall? No, you queen of all things green, take a sample. A SAMPLE! Unbelievable.! You’re going to scientifically examine this thing called death. Doesn’t even phase you. After all death is part of nature, no? Only you could get away with walking away from eternal bliss, because to you, what could be better than good old mother earth? In a twisted kind of way, considering how down to earth (pun intended) you are, you are actually very spiritual. If you could only find a way to realize that this earth and all of it’s magnificence come from God, you’d be just about perfectly balanced. Then the next time you came to the wall, you be thrilled because there would be a whole new world to explore. But until then, the whole thing has made you (Lord girl, your crack me up) HUNGRY. Let’s see, Stephanies agenda…meet death…take sample…eat lunch…
All in all, I’d say you have the happiest, healthiest outlook of all the posts that I’ve read. But hey, you’re still young…and you’ve got your whole life ahead of you…Look out world, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. And death? Take a holiday!
Cameron,
I would love to do yours…but you make me nervous. Somehow I can’t help but feel that you are making fun of the whole thing and those answers aren’t honest…I want to trust you! But you’re not exactly Joe AlwaysStraightWithYou…
If you’re really serious…Oh what the heck, I’ve been made of fool of by better people than you…
I’ll give it a try and if you fall asleep laughing at how you pulled one over on me, at least I’ll have provided you with some entertainment…
Give me about a half an hour…
Alright MK – You are very good at this. I wanted to let you know how accurate and spooky this was!
My Life: I do feel as if my life is standing still, but I have made the choice to be here. I am not unhappy, on the contrary I have never been happier. However, that is my personal life, my professional life I have left behind and miss it terribly. I cannot go back in that profession because of health reasons. When I chose to walk away from my old life, I left some friends behind. I sometimes do feel trapped in my home, especially this summer. Having a son with mild autism with developmental and speech delays can be a bit trying at times. Not to mention a very demanding 1 year old attitude, er, I mean daughter. And a husband who travels almost every week. You said:
“Do you miss the “old life”? but don’t know how to attain it without going back to the black pebbles? Do you want the freedom, but not the irresponsible attitude? Do you miss the fun, but can’t attain it without picking up old bad habits? Do the shadows frighten you and make you all too aware of how fragile this path is, with temptations lurking everywhere? ”
This freaked me out! You have no idea how close to home you hit with this! Just check the “yes” box to all questions above.
“Are there things that you are being asked to do that you are having a hard time bending to? ”
There are things that I am asking myself to do, but I am having difficulty finding the time to do it without sacraficing my time with my family.
Obstacles – Not writers block, I have writers “don’t have time to sit down and really do it” block. This is why I haven’t been on here much, but I still can’t seem to find the time. I do feel that I am being asked by God to do something, and I have been trying. But I keep getting stopped or hindered by people who are suppose to be helping me. Gee, I wonder why the rock was so big? ;-) I cannot get around these people either, because they are the ones that are suppose to be in charge.
My Cup – Most people do not understand my husband and find it difficult to get close to him. For some reason I had no problems with this. I have a hard time understanding why people don’t take the time to get to know him. His spirit was bruised and is self esteem was dented when I met him but that didn’t stop me from being with him. He has come a long way!
My Key – I have just recently gone back to the Church and am re-learning what I forgot while I was gone. Everything is making sense now, when before it was just gobblygook.
The water – You hit way to close to home with this one. Because of events in my best, I don’t trust people. It’s that simple. I put up obsticals so people have to work to get to know me. This way I know they are serious and won’t leave me. I love and trust my husband, and I never “put him to the test” in order to be my friend. My life has been very smooth since I met him, even though his family exploded apart and my family delt with my Mom’s suicide. All of it was easier with him by my side.
The Island – This is where you lost me. Nothing really stood out here. It is suppose to be your material life. I think the thicket is because of our financial situation right now. My hubby just changed positions in the company – a lateral move with better chance of moving up in the company. However he is on commission and it is a new product. Things have been very difficult for us this year. Especially with the kids and their expenses. But things are beginning to look better as he is selling more and more everyday! ;-)
The Wall –
“stop looking at your life as a prison and realize that it is the way through the wall. Ambivalence is your enemy. You love your life, but your suffocated by it. You want change, but not at the expense of your family. You trust the moon, but not quite enough to get your through the wall..”
Way too freaky that you got that right!
“time for some deep reflection and a machete…trim those bushes…let in the light, add some color, climb the rock, and the next time you come to the wall, use the key…which by then should be well worn and clearly owned by you. ”
Good advice! I’ll take it.
Thanks MK, it seems strange that you actually put some thing in perspective for me.
CAMERON:
I know I’m always teasing you about being 14, but your post tells me you’re older than that…a lot older actually! Your season is fall, and like Valerie it’s late fall. No leaves, late afternoon. Sounds kind of dreary. Deciduous trees is good, because they represent change. And hope. Palm trees bore me to tears. I like the idea of being constantly reborn. For you however, the trees are in a state of rest (temporary death?), sleeping, and not of much interest. Is this a barren time in your life? Not much goin’ on but the same old, same old? Have you forgotten that after autumn comes winter (your almost there as it is very late autumn) and then spring? Maybe you’re in waiting mode? The only thing alive is overgrown grass. And it’s growing out of ruts. (You’re word, not mine) Sounds like you might be in a rut yourself.
Your road however, is not as dull as your wood…It is winding. The thing about winding roads is that you can’t tell where they are leading, and you can’t know what’s around the next bend. Could be a gingerbread house, or it could be a grizzly bear! Could be an adventure or it could be endless winding, giving you the sense that you aren’t getting anywhere. Nothing to guage the distance you’ve traveled, no way to know how much more you have to go…wandering aimlessly, no destination in sight! And each little stretch is the only thing you can see…so you forget about the people back there, just around the last bend. Can’t look back and if you can’t look back, you can’t learn from your past…Where are you going Cam? Do you know?
YOUR OBSTACLE:
Your obstacle is a creek. And how like you to just plow through it. You don’t stop to look at it, you don’t stop to study it, you just plow through. But there is much to be gained from looking, really looking at an obstacle. Otherwise, it’s a lesson lost. Stephanies obstacle was really a challenge. Valeries posed a threat whether she went over it directly or skirted it…so she studied it first. Rae overcame hers in spite of the fact that it meant she got dirty and scratched up…not to mention the tics. But you just plowed through it. Didn’t even notice your wet feet! I guess it’s possible that you are one of those people who just breezes through obstacles unscathed, but I get the feeling that it’s all bravado. Hold your head up, don’t let them see your vulnerabilities. Your a tough guy…except, I’m not buying it…I think it’s all for show and that you’ve “trained” yourself not to care…probably because you care too much.
YOUR CUP:
Funny how you and Rae both find these amazing cups, complete with a history, beautiful to look at and sturdy enough to have made it through the elements, and yet both of you left them there. It makes me feel sad. Like you don’t know how to care for a teacup. Like you don’t deserve a teacup. What is it that has left you feeling so unworthy? I am so touched by how delicate this cup is. (Although as a tea drinker and collecter of tea cups, I can tell you that porcelain is a lot stronger than it looks). I might believe you when you say that you’re leaving it for someone “who will appreciate it” as if you didn’t, except that you ever so gently place it where it will be noticed and picked up by someone more worthy than yourself. You “appreciate” this cup very much. Perhaps too much. It’s not that you don’t want the cup, it’s that you don’t feel “good enough” for it. I’m sorry for that. Despite all your antics, I think there is a really sweet guy underneath. You play the court jester, and you wave your arms around like a buffoon, but I think that’s because you’re afraid that nobody will like you if they find out how gentle your really are. If they hate the clown, that’s cool. Cuz it’s not really you. But if they knew the real you and rejected you, the pain would be unbearable. So you wear this mask to protect yourself…except it leaves you awfully lonely. I wish you would have picked up that cup. I wish you would have believed in yourself enough to drink from it. I wish you would have given the cup a chance to show you that it wouldn’t have hurt you – couldn’t have hurt you. After all, it too knows what it’s like to be abandoned and left on the side of the road.
I like that it’s crackly…reminds me of wrinkles. So you’re really not a skirt chaser, huh, goin’ after all the young things…your cup of tea is a more seasoned women…good for you. And hey, if you change your mind and go back for the cup? Only use Barry’s tea…nothin’ else compares!
YOUR KEY:
The key you feel comfortable with. The cup? not so much…but now you’re in your element…knowledge, book learnin’, that’s the stuff! Now you’re in your own territory. Books are safe, and books can’t hurt you! Oddly enough, your key is heart shaped at one end. Could it be that since you don’t trust people with your heart, you’ve decided to love learning instead? The other end of the key is square…you know, as in understandable, reliable, stable, equal on all sides…square key fits a square lock and you’re all squared away…if only you could stop thinking about that dang teacup…no, no stop it…the keys the thing…forget about all that other stuff…but you can’t because there is that stupid heart staring at you, reminding you that while knowledge all boxed up is good, it isn’t filling you up like it used too…there’s no leaves on your trees. The only living thing in your life is grass, growing out of ruts…and that teacup….
YOUR WATER:
The few times you’ve come across water have been accidental…darn winding roads! No warning!…and these lakes were surrounded by bogs…messy, mucky, suckyouinandunderanddrownyou bogs. No this whole water thing is best avoided. Too close for comfort. You’re not able to separate and just have sex for sex. You like the idea but that soft heart of yours always comes along and you fall hard…before you know it you’re in over your head and either being suffocated by it or fooled by it…Not that you haven’t tried it. You’re only human right? But no, everytime you do, it ends up bad. If only you’d taken that teacup, now you wouldn’t mind dippin’ that in the lake…No for now, it’s best to avoid the water all together. You walk around it. Bogs are filled with dead stuff anyway. Rotting and decaying…Best to leave it be. Just focus on the key…
YOUR ISLAND:
There’s a storm brewing and you’re scramblin’ for some shelter…not a lot of options. Why is that? I’ve had people find mansions on their islands…Heck your island could have been Oahu! But instead you feel that you don’t have any options. I gotta say Cam that I think it’s time to reassess your life…You have tons of options! The only option you don’t have is the option of continuing the way you’re going. C’mon man think! Make a new Plan Stan, slip out the back Jack! Try something new…but not new like “hey I think I’ll take up sky diving”…I mean new, like “Cameron, have you met Cameron” It’s no joke when we say there are two of you…and I gotta tell, we all like the real you, the one that slips out accidentally sometimes…the one that had that great conversation with John McDonell the other day…Quit bein’ such a big baby. Take a chance. Get a scratch…heck, get tics even. But for heaven sakes man, start to LIVE! not be alive, but LIVE! oh, and go back and get that teacup!
YOUR WALL:
Cam, Cam, Cam…you think you’re such a hard-ass! You’ll show death! Just kick that walls butt with a little graffiti! HAH! I ain’t afraid of no death!…But the truth is Cameron, that you stayed at that wall. Because even scary old death sounds better than going back to the life you just left! Now that’s really scary! But Cam, you can do both. Face death and live. Whatever has hurt you so, what ever has left you terrified of making yourself vulnerable can’t be as bad as this cage you’ve put yourself in. It is far worse than any real threat that is out there. You’re in a prison Cam. The Cam prison! Come out, Come out wherever you are…wake up you sleepy head, rub your eyes, get out of bed…Ding Dong the wicked witch is dead. You’re safe now Cam. Take a chance. Relax…let down your armor, put your feet up, enjoy life, and have a cup of tea! I know just the teacup…one lump or two?
Val,
When I first went back to the church, I was obsessed. I was leaving behind so many demons that I wanted to sleep in the church for protection. I went to monthly confession, daily mass, a rosary everday, read only “Catholic” books…not because I was fanatical, but because I was seeking sanctuary.
It worked. I was strong. I was pleasing God. I was so happy. Then at 40 I found myself pregnant. I thought, okay, if this is what he wants. Then at 42 I found myself pregnant…what are you kidding me? My oldest was 19! But okay, thy will be done. As the kids got a little older I found that I could no longer take them to daily mass with me. They were animals. I felt so bad because I wasn’t able to do what I thought God wanted me to do. I was frustrated. What kind of a good Catholic was I? Couldn’t make it to daily mass? Wimp! But then a very wise lady said to me “Perhaps God is trying to tell you that where he wants you right now, is at home, taking care of the beautiful family that he gave you…” BUT, BUT, BUT…and then it hit me. I was trying to tell GOD what He wanted me to do. I’d stopped listening. I was fighting Him all the time thinking I was trying to please Him…foolish mortal! I realized that I wasn’t going to daily mass for Him. I was going for me. And now he was asking me to make the sacrifice and stop going…yikes…BUT BUT BUT…so I did. I threw myself into my family and said maybe one day I’ll get to do the things I want to do…and maybe I won’t…but nothing can possibly more important than fixing boo boos, combing out snarls, and pickin’ cheerios out of the dog’s hair…They are older now, and I thought, aaahhh now it’s my time…wrong again…along came Charlotte (Lord knows I can’t take that child to church) and now we’re getting a baby boy in October. I’m the secondary caretaker and once again I’ll be diggin green beans out of noses and ping pong balls out of toilets…
I don’t know, I guess what I’m trying to say is…let Him tell you what to do. Not other people, not your own desires…Him. You’ll be surprised that once you completely (and this means not holding back even a drop…cuz that drop will do you in!) give your will over to Him, how often He throws you a bone…and a chance to write! And bring that kid up to Chicago…I’ve worked with Autistic kids…he don’t scare me!
So, I canceled my Amazon.com order for the new Harry Potter book.
I’m kind of disappointed, but until my checking account is updated correctly (the transactions aren’t showing up for some reason), I figure I should use my debit card as little as possible.
How’s everyone else doing?
HeatherB.,
I haven’t forgotten you…Next up are you and Dan…today or tomorrow…
Oh and Rosie,
I see that you’re here too! Have no fear, I’ll get to all of you!
Heather B.,
YOUR LIFE:
Even tho I’ve been saying that Autumn usually means you are further along in life, I still get the sense that you are young. You use the words bright and vibrant. And your trees still have leaves. You express surprise that they haven’t fallen. I’d say you were in school, and surprised that it’s taking so long. You are enjoying it, and it’s almost over, but sheesh, it’s seems like it’s been going on forever. Or it could be a project that is taking longer than you thought?
Your road is also made of dirt, and again this tells me you that you have left home figuratively if not literally) and are pretty much on your way to independence. It’s winding, so you’e not really sure where it’s taking you, but unlike Camerons, yours is bright and happy. So you don’t mind the “not knowing”, it’s all part of the adventure. And once again you indicate that it is loooooong. It’s leads to a small wood. So whatever you are studying probably leaves you fewer options than other subjects. This isn’t a negative thing, just that your “world” will be relatively small. I’m gonna hazard a guess here and say that you’re not studying to be an explorer or an astronaut. Something more tame. Something more ordinary. Which is NOT to say that you can’t be extraordinary in an ordinary field! The woods might also be small, because in the scheme of things, school is just one small world withing a world. Right now your world is small because it consists of school, school, school! But the sun is shining, the weather is perfect! 3:00 in the afternoon. You passed the noon/halfway mark and the day/school is almost done. Everything is as it should be…enjoy this time. All too soon things might change. Remember your road is winding…You’re in a good place right now, take advantage of it…
YOUR OBSTACLE:
I love your obstacle…This maze also reminds me of school…like each path, even if it’s a dead end is something that you have to do to get that diploma! Math courses over here, English courses over here, that darn useless Chemistry class down that dead end path…And you make marks (grades?) as you go…ticking off each class as it’s finished. You even use a small stick to make your marks…like a pencil or a pen? You do make it to the other side, no repeat performances (I take it your grades are good?) and finally get back to the business of “living”…maybe not better, but certainly not “worse for the wear”…and you’ve got that piece of paper that says you’re finally ready to enter the “bigger world/woods.
YOUR CUP:
Your cup is crystal…a high quality glass. It’s transparent so whoever your true love is, he’ll be easy to read. A what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of guy. And, in your eyes at least, superior! Crystal is fun. You can circle the rim with your finger and make music, you can hit it with a spoon and make newlyweds kiss, you can shatter it with a high note…and crystal”s” are spiritual symbols…giving off energy. However,(there’s always a however), even though it appears that you are so enamoured with your cup that you protect it and cherish it, there is almost an element of possessiveness. You “wrap” it in your sweatshirt, claiming it as your own, maybe even suffocating it, and put it in your bag…almost like your holding too tight. You don’t drink from it, you don’t admire it, you smother it, hide it away telling yourself that you’re “just keeping it safe”…But love can’t grow that way. You can’t contain it or control it…you know the saying about if you love something set it free? I think this might apply here…Sometimes when you hold too tightly you actually have the opposite effect, and cause the other to run screaming into the night, gulping down fresh air…
Perhaps your cup is crystal, because you insist on knowing everything about your man…where he is, who he’s with…no secrets. You demand an open book! But this can border on paranoia…sometimes you just need to trust. Unless of course the cad is untrustworthy?
Crystal is also the name of a recreational drug. A form of speed. Is there drug use? Are you moving to fast in this relationship? I don’t know, just have to pick apart every word that is chosen…and you picked crystal for a reason.
YOUR KEY:
Your key reminds you of your mother and your mothers values…hope chests are used to store things for when you get married, and have a home of your own…Does it surprise you that you want the same things your mother did? Are you trying to live up to her hopes for you, instead of your own? Your surprised by this key. It confuses you for some reason. It’s made of brass. Are you thinking about polishing it and making it yours? Hope chests make you think of quilts, and doilies, and babies, and china and candlesticks…all the things that represent domesticity. Are you surprised that you actually like the idea of being a wife and a mother. Does it go against everything you profess to be? Do these ideas seem “antiquated” to you, and yet perversely draw you in at the same time? hmmmmm…another closet pro-lifer, or at least someone who likes the idea of marriage and motherhood…barefeet and in the kitchen anyone? But really, isn’t this what the women’s movement is all about. Not only are you free to choose a career over a family, but aren’t you also free to choose a family over a career? Otherwise it wouldn’t be freedom and you’d be trading one prison (have to be a stay at home mom and wife) for another one (have to get a career)? Isn’t the point of feminism that you can be whoever you want to be, society be damned? To be a true feminist in todays society is tricky…you’re kind of made to feel like raising a family is selling out. Don’t believe it…true feminism is about celebrating femininity…I whatever form that takes…be true to yourself, not some theoretical movement!
YOUR WATER:
While your body of water must be dealt with, no escaping it, you are careful not to lose sight of the road that you’re on. Would really hate to get trapped in that brook, unable to continue down the road you have chosen for yourself. So while your are willing to take on the brook, you do it very carefully…using stepping stones…not even getting your feet wet…Someday you may come back to this brook, or better yet find a body of water that you are willing to immerse yourself in. This particular body of water seems to be something you’re doing because it’s there…Are you in a relationship right now? With someone that you don’t fully trust? Certainly, not with someone that you are willing to “take the plunge”! Perhaps it is best that you steer clear, and move one. Your brook is babbling…hot air, nonsense, inconsequential…certainly not worth listening too. I say get out and don’t look back! Brooks aren’t even deep. If you did take the plunge, you’d probably scrape your knees at best, and crack your head open at worst! I agree that you should be on your merry way. You deserve better than a small, babbling, shallow brook. And you seem to know it…Good for you!
YOUR ISLAND:
You seek shelter from a “rocky” overhang. Not a sweet little, grassy overhang, but a rocky one. Sounds unstable. And to make matters worse, you are huddling! Huddling is what you do when you are very much afraid. Whatever your storm is, it’s pretty intense as it is causing you great fear. Like a child hiding in the corner because there is a monster in her closet. Your road is so smooth and happy that I doubt this storm has anything to do with your path choice…but your brook? Does the guy you’re with scare you sometimes? Does the relationship scare you? Does breaking up with him scare you? Does staying with him scare you? Maybe it’s not him at all, but everything else in your life sounds so good, everything except your brook…so….and you wait out the storm. Are you hoping he will change? Are you thinking that if you just wait patiently he will come around? Not gonna happen. I think you had it right with the brook…move on your merry way…the sooner the better.
YOUR WALL:
Boy, you sure gave up easily. One look, certainly no scientific analysis ala stephanie, no disappoint meant like Val, no spray paint like our Cam…you just give up! Why? Aren’t you at least curious? What are you going back to? I wish you would at least puzzle about the wall for awhile. Don’t you want to know why it’s there? Don’t you want to know who built it? Aren’t you curious as to what’s behind it? You sound defeated. Deflated…you’ve finally gotten to the end, and it’s a dead end. Just keep in mind that if you do go back, the leaves will have fallen from the trees by now, the temperature will have dropped, the maze may have changed and even if it hasn’t there’s no challenge to it anymore because you can just follow the marks that you made, AND you’ll have to deal with that brook again. Don’t turn back Heather. Stay there. Don’t quit until you have figured out how to transgress that wall…after all, every single thing that you have done so far, has brought you here. Surely it must be important! With this tho, I can’t help you. The wall is something that only opens when you have learned the lessons. I can’t give you the answers. I can tell you what I believe, but I can’t make you believe it. All I can say Heather, is DON’T GIVE UP!
MK,
Thought I’d reply to your analysis :).
YOUR LIFE:
Well, you’re right. I am in school (ish) and I have moved out of my mother’s house. I actually live with roommates, but am saving for an apartment of my own since the lease runs out at the end of the year (and because I cannot stand one of my roommates).
As for school…I was a psychology major, but changed my major not too long ago to English with a concentration in Literature. There aren’t as many options with that, it seems, as there would be if I had stuck with psychology. I can tell you my mother stressed that point heavily when she found out.
It is taking longer than I had originally anticipated, though. Even if I hadn’t had to re-take some classes, I’d still have to take basically all the freshman English major courses and everything. If it was just that, I still wouldn’t be graduating in 2009 as planned. No…I had to re-take classes because I slacked off, and I’m taking at least a semester off (too much to worry about right now).
YOUR OBSTACLE:
Okay, I just liked your interpretation of this one, even though the grades thing…wasn’t always true this past year. I did buckle down spring semester though, so I wouldn’t be on academic suspension, and my lowest grade was a C.
YOUR CUP:
What you say actually does make a lot of sense. I love Darren more than anything and I thank my lucky stars that he’s a part of my life. He’s the ONLY person I can stand to be around all day every day.
Now, I had thought I just put it in a sweater…and then in my bag…because I’m a klutz and wanted to do my best to keep it from breaking.
But what you said made me think (specifically the “where he is, who he’s with”). We do live together (just kind of happened that way…I’ll explain later if you like) so he tells me where he’s going before he leaves anyway. My thing is knowing what time he’s going to be home around, whether it’s because we’re going out as soon as he gets back and I need to know what time to be ready by, or…well, I guess I’m like my mother in that I can’t sleep.
YOUR KEY:
Sometimes I do think that maybe the whole college deal is just to make my mother happy. Other times I’m not so sure. I’ve spent my entire life trying to please my mother (it’s the whole “if I screw up you won’t love me anymore” thing), so I’m not sure anymore what I’m doing because I want to do it and what I’m doing because it’s what she wants for me.
I do like the idea of marriage. I don’t believe that one needs to be married to be committed to one another, but it’s something that I do want eventually…even if I do want to keep my last name.
Being a mother, though…probably not unless the child is adopted.
YOUR WATER:
This…well, I just chose the brook because like you said, they’re not deep. I have this intense fear of deep water (and drowning…nearly did in 5th grade, and haven’t been swimming since).
That and I think the image of a babbling brook with grassy/mossy banks…and water so clear you can clearly see the pebbles on the bottom…is beautiful. I know I didn’t put that in my description, but it IS what I pictured.
YOUR ISLAND:
Well, I don’t think my storm has much at all to do with Darren. Overall, things are good.
I guess one could say that my storm has to do with the fact that I’ve felt overwhelmed lately. I mean, between trying to save for an apartment (well, the things that we’ll need), trying to save for a puppy to keep me company when Darren is at work (he works nights at Logan’s Roadhouse), and wondering if I made the right decision in taking a semester off just so I wouldn’t be so stressed….and dealing with an inconsiderate roommate/former friend….
ARGH!
Or maybe it’s that I’ve been in a funk lately…the kind that usually means there’s a period of depression (hopefully brief) coming on…and I can feel it creeping ever so slowly toward me.
YOUR WALL:
Heh. Maybe the wall symbolizes school as well, because I sometimes don’t ever want to go back. I can make decent money with this job that I have and sometimes…it’s tempting just to quit school and work from home, keeping the house clean and cooking for Darren and me.
Maybe my “wall” is the fact that my mother repeatedly gets back together with her (insert vulgarity here) on-again off-again boyfriend of the past eight years when he’s proven time and time again that he is not good enough and never will be, when he’s proven time and time again that he can’t (or won’t) change. Even when they do break up, I know it’s not long until they get back together and the whole thing starts again.
So, you seem to be right on the money, for the most part.
And you know, I always wanted that key. I loved going through my mother’s hope chest, too, when I was younger.
I think what I want more than anything, someday, is the handmade armoire my grandfather made. It’s not really beautiful, but inside it’s filled with old wine glasses, opera glasses, bags, candle sticks….
Even if I couldn’t have those, I want the pictures in one of the drawers, and the newspaper clippings. The oldest ones in there seem to date back to the early 1900s.
Heather,
Ah! I know what you you mean. All I really want is the Grandmother clock my Grandfather made and carved. It has me wanting to make something that my grandchildren would want someday.
Rosie,
I also want my mother’s dresser. It’s all old and antique-y looking.
Very pretty.
All right Danny,
You asked for it, so no getting mad if you don’t like something I say…
YOUR LIFE:
First of all, you tend to turn everything into Epic Poetry. Which is a good thing, and makes reading your stuff much more pleasant. But as much as I enjoy, I get the feeling that you do it as a defense mechanism. Actually everything in your post seems to be about defending yourself in one way or another. The question you have to ask yourself is, what or who are you defending yourself against?
Your path is well worn. It’s littered with the debris from travelers who used it before you…it’s funny that you chose the word debris…because the things that were discarded are things that left these travelers hopeless, laughless and dreamless. They abandoned their hopes, dreams, songs, memories and merriment. This leads one to believe that they are now a very sad bunch of travelers. And yet you have chosen to go down this path with them…what will you abandon along the way?
You are surrounded by the valley of Death…ooohhh scary! And yet the woods that you enter are not overtaken by death. It’s just a shadow. Something that you see out of the corner of your eye…always lurking. Always threatening to show it’s face. And you carry a BIG stick to, you guessed it, defend yourself. I got news for you. You can’t fight off death with a stick. You’ll need something much more powerful than a measly piece of wood! (unless of course it’s in the shape of a cross?) The trees are ancient and filled with wisdom…but trees don’t talk and they aren’t givin’ up their secrets. They are watching, sentinels. Which means that if they know the secrets of every traveler who has past this way, they also know yours. At least you know that your secrets are safe with them…but wouldn’t you rather share them with people? Light,dark,good,evil…all balancing out. If it’s so balanced, why do you need a stick? Maybe it isn’t as balanced as your pretend it to be? Or maybe it is, but you don’t trust it? or maybe I’m nuts and all is well…wait! did you see that shadow?!?
YOUR OBSTACLE:
You kind of go backwards here…up above we were in the forest, but now we are only about to enter it. Which means you went through the forest as a dragon…but I digress…let’s back up for a minute…Your obstacle is a large dragon, guarding the entrance to the forest…this should have been your first clue that this was not a “happy” forest. Never trust a dragon. You befriend him? What does that mean? You split a sandwich and share a beer? You swap war stories? You play marbles? What exactly does one do to befriend a dragon? And whatever it was, don’t do it again! Not only did he betray your trust by turning you into a beast, but he made you think he was doing you a favor by allowing you entrance to a place where people lose their hopes, dreams, and songs! Sheesh, who needs enemies. Not to mention he uses “dark” magic, so there goes the balance that the woods supposedly had! I gotta wonder who this dragon is in your real life. Let’s see. Someone who appeared to be your friend, lured you into believing that the forest was somewhere you wanted to go, turned you into a monster, and betrayed you…yeah, that was a big mistake. I hope whoever it was is gone from your lifenow…
And don’t you think a dragon with a stick is overkill in the protection department? I keep tellin’ you, you can’t fight shadows with a stick!
Also, as we travel through your story, do you realize that everything you change into has scales? Dragon, Crocodile, Armadillo…all thick skinned! But I have read that the scale under a dragons heart is vulnerable. And the crocodile’s underbelly is soft. And the armadillo is a shy creature that prefers to hide rather than fight…but I’m getting ahead of myself…
On to…
THE CUP:
Your cup represents love. Yours is old and battered (Perhaps this describes you?) and it fills magically with whatever you need…I think you are confusing love with pleasure! How many different drinks have been in your cup? How many times have you fallen in love? Remember the scale over the dragons heart? Well yours is showing…Are you one of those people that loves to be in love? Or someone that is extremely vulnerable to the feminine mystique? You need to be careful that you don’t get drunk! It’s chipped and scratched for a reason. Some might say it has been well used, but I say it sounds like it has been abused! Careful there my friend. One day it could refill with poison. And no stick or scales will protect you from that…
YOUR KEY:
You don’t tell me what your key looks like, only what you use it for. And you don’t use it til later. Maybe too late? And why do you need to “unlock” your secrets…are they so deeply buried (another defense mechanism) that even you don’t know what they are?
In Prince Caspian there is a boy whose name is Eustace Clarence Scrub…a name he almost deserved! He was a nasty creature. Whiny, complaining, a bully…anyway, one day while staying at his cousins house (the Pevensie Children from Narnia), a picture of a boat comes to life and all five children are thrown into an adventure that will change Eustace for ever. One day, on a deserted island, while everyone else is sleeping, Eustace sneaks off…he finds a cave and inside of it, a sleeping dragon…Eustace, clever boy that he is (not) manages to steal a bracelet from the pile of gold under the dragon. He puts it on and immediately becomes a dragon himself. Terrified he flies off to find his “friends”. Of course when they see him they don’t know it’s Eustace and they try to kill him…Somehow he manages to convey to them (becaue of course he can’t talk…he is after all a dragon now) that he is indeed their rotten cousin. At that moment Aslan, the lion who is King of Narnia, (in our world he goes by the name of Jesus) appears. He pulls Eustace off to the side and has a long talk with him (of course Aslan can understand him even tho he’s a dragon because…well…He’s Aslan). Then Aslan extends his powerful claws and layer after painful layer he begins to tear off Eustaces dragon skin…until finally, Eustace is once again a simple boy. But of course Aslan knows magic, and in pulling off Eustaces skin, he also peeled away his sins and flaws, and the Eustace that stood there now was a very different Eustace than the one that put on the bracelet…
My point is, once you start layering on dragon scales and crocodile skins, the real you can become unrecognizable. Even by those who love you. Maybe even by your self. (At one point when Eustace was still a dragon, he caught a glimpse of himself in a lake, and ran away very frightened. He didn’t realize that he had been looking at himself.) And to reveal the true you, you will have to peel off layer after layer of these illusory coats of protection…much like you’d peel off the layers of an onion. You must be very careful, that while your are protecting yourself, you don’t lose yourself…
This seems to have happened to you…as you are no longer a human being, but a creature that needs a key to even know what is in his own mind and heart…
YOUR WATER:
Now here something very interesting happens. You and I are the only ones that chose a tree…notice the contrast between your water and your tree…
Both of these represent sex…and yet you seem to view sex in two completely different ways (are we back to good and evil/dark and light all balancing out? A little Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde? Wouldn’t surprise me since you seem to have so little insight into yourself…you’ve hidden it so well, that even you can’t find it…
Your water (the womb) holds life. But you don’t know if you can do it justice…it stretches for a great distance. Can this dragon that you have become possibly do the job? Will it be impossible since you don’t even know yourself, so how can you possibly take on and nurture something else? It’s overwhelming…18 years is a long time. 22 or 23 if the life goes to college…the job is simply daunting…so you turn into a crocodile, a creature known for killing anything it comes across…The water is clear and blue and you can SEE the life it harbors…but after you turn into a crocodile and begin to swim you never mention the “life” again…
Then you turn to the tree…it has all the right parts…branches, leaves, breezes…and yet it confounds you. It doesn’t act like a tree. It angers you. We both know what this tree represents, or perhaps who, and in deference to your privacy we’ll just continue to call it a tree. But you hate the tree. The tree that represents sex. The tree that isn’t who it claims to be…and your anger overcomes you. You turn back into a dragon (your evil side) and “torch the sucker”! I’ll leave you to fill in the blanks. But if the water is sex with life, and the tree is sex without it, a liar, a betrayer, something that upsets you so badly that you have to obliterate it…enough said.
YOUR ISLAND:
What a surprise! When the storm approaches you turn into yet another hard shelled creature…only this time it not a creature of anger…not the evil dragon, or the crocodile cum shadow of death…but a gentle, sweet little creature whose only defense is it’s hard shell and ability to hide. With your anger spent, you are left feeling little and afraid…you bury yourself…six feet under…now is it just me or does the term “six feet under” conjure up the same image for you as it does for me…
You are dying. Or you wish you were dead. Either way you are dead symbolically. But death is not enough and just as the storm is reaching its peak, you rise up out of the grave, human again, wild, ready to accept punishment. Death was too easy. Bring on the storm…you laugh, not because you are happy and not because you are insane, but because you are allowing yourself to be punished and purged! You deserve this! BRING IT ON!!!!!And this time you face it naked. No scales. Nothing to protect you. You accept it all and there is freedom in the sheer madness of it! If it can’t destroy you, at least it can leave it’s mark. You’re done hiding. You’re done walking around always looking over your shoulder. If you can weather this, you can weather anything!!!!!
YOUR WALL:
You sit by your wall. Probably spent from the ordeal with the storm. I can hear you panting…
After a few days, you are ready to take on this wall…You try to climb it. (You can’t climb to heaven) You try to fly over it (apparently you’re back to your old ways and have become your evil counterpart again) you try to dig under it (the armadillo strategy? will you never learn?) Finally, you break through it. Or maybe you have a breakthrough? I hope this is true. I hope some light breaks through and you finally begin to understand some things. I hope you don’t spend your life going in endless cycles of armor, attack, bad choices, destroy, hide, awaken, forget, begin again. I hope you throw away all of your false armors and turn to something more trustworthy to protect you…A dragon is just a serpent with wings…and we all know who the serpent is. But only human beings can enter the wall, and bask in the light of the one who created it…I hope you learn this…I hope your learn that the most beautiful thing in this whole story is the heart that beats under that one soft scale. I hope you learn that if you expose your heart to the right souls and not to dragons and crocodiles that you’ll never have to worry about the shadow of death again…and your heart will be protected by an invisible source that cannot be vanquished by a thousand dragons and cannot be harmed by a thousand crocodiles. If not, then I’m afraid that cloud of death will haunt your forever…It’s not that you can’t trust. It’s that you’ve been placing your trust in the wrong things…and a stick is not gonna protect you against that!
Good heavens! has an hour really passed? Writing these things is draining!!!
Rosie,
Can I do you tomorrow? I need to rest!
Aaah, MK! I loved The Chronicles of Narnia.
I was so mad when my sister got the series for Christmas one year (she doesn’t even like to read!) and I got a book I hadn’t heard of before (Harry Potter).
This was years ago, but still.
Yeah,
I’ve read all the Narnia books to my kids…that’s twenty years of Narnia around campfires…I am on the last book (The Final Battle) with my youngest two right now. Tho, I’ll probably have to read them one more time before they’re grown..
Higher up and farther in…
I think that one may have been my favorite of the books.
I never did read the Narnia books, I wasn’t really into fantasy books growing up. I read the Babysitter’s Club series like it was crack.
Yeah Heather,
me too! but it’s tied with the magicians nephew. Loved those rings!
Without putting out bad feelings…do you remember when the final battle is taking place and everyone who believed in Tash (the false god) got thrown into his tent, and you could hear screaming and wailing?
And everyone that went into Alsans tent found food and drink and sweets and breads and wine?
But the dwarves who were for the dwarves only saw onions?
That’s how I look at that prochoice movement, and atheists. Dwarves who are for the dwarves. No concern for the life that they are carrying, only looking out for themselves…and atheists, not really bad, but because they don’t believe they don’t see what is right in front of them? They see onions where the believers see toffee? They see rocks where the believers see pillows? And it’s so dark, and they are miserable and they are convinced that all the believers are trying to pull one over on them with their incessant talk of desserts and marmalade?
That’s how I feel. Like I see, because I believe, all these marvelous things, and I can’t get you guys to see them. You think we’re all brainswashed and nuts, are convinced we’re eating turnips. I wish so much that you could see the wonderful things in this tent. I wish so much that you could feel the silk between your fingers.
It’s really a frustrating feeling! Do you understand?
Rae,
The books are really simple. I wasn’t a fantasy reader either, but these books were more than fantasy. And you could probably read each one in an hour. They also make my list of top ten books. Funny how many childrens books made that list…along with the Stand by stephen king…wonder what that means?
Actually now that I think about it all of those books, Twig, Narnia, The Stand, deal with the unseen. Good overcoming evil…hmmm…do I sense a theme. Even to kill a Mockingbird, while without any other worlds, is about doing the right thing just because it is the right thing.
MK,
I see what you’re saying, and don’t worry…no offense was taken :). Back in the beginning I might have been upset by your words, but after spending some time on here, I know you really just mean well.
The thing is…even if I wanted to with all my heart, I’m still not at a point in my life where I can believe based on faith alone, you know? Maybe I’ll get there someday, but right now…I’m happy with my life the way it is, and I’m happy with my beliefs.
Heather,
I know. But I’ve had the thought about the dwarves before and when we started talking about Narnia…well.
I loved Uncle Digory and how he kept calling the Queen “A Dem Fine Woman!”
Haha, he was a creepy old man.
As for the dwarves and everything, I didn’t think you were speaking to me specifically. I just type as I’m thinking, which is probably why my posts seem kind of random for the most part.
And of course, Reepicheep.
Prince Caspian is coming out next year. I feel about those movies the way most people feel about Harry Potter…
Really!? Eeeee!
I’m excited. I didn’t know anything about another Narnia movie.
http://www.narniafans.com/movies/mov_pc.php
Here’s a link to all things Narnia…
I am personally waiting for the “Kite Runner” book’s movie to come out…I think it’ll be out this fall. Hmmmm.
I’m still thinking of reading that one…hubby can’t remember if we still have it…
I highly recommend it, it’s a very insightful look into Afghanistan pre-Taliban and comparing it to post-Taliban.
Haven’t heard from Cameron or Danny…dang. They took forever to do…oh my gosh, I sound like Alyssa!
I assume she is reading Harry?
I suppose she is. :)
I haven’t read Harry Potter, I was too lazy and just had a friend tell me what happened (I was never a real big Harry Potter fan). Most of my predictions as to what would happen were correct though. ^_^
@MK: I think I may do a little side business in designing tattoos…help pay the rent and all. :D
MK –
Ahh…The Stand. Wonderful book. My reading is very slow and I was still able to read the unabridged version. The ending was so eerie too….to bad the movie couldn’t have put in the final couple sentences from the book!
And Too Kill a Mockingbird. My Dad had me read that book and wouldn’t permit me to see the movie until I had finished it. It was my first “real” book that I read all the way through. He says that every father’s goal in life should be to live up to the standards of Atticus Finch. Only then can you be a good Dad.
I love good vs evil stories. Now adays it seems that evil always wins or good is really evil but is fighting someone who is more evil. It is really depressing. Some days I just want John Wayne back. He was a bit over the top, but at least he usually wore the white hat without question….
I think I babbled again…and I’m not on any pain killers this time. What does that say about me?
;-)
I know Val,
There are passages in Scripture and tons of prophecies (from the 1st century to now) that talk about recognizing the “signs of the times”, one of them being evil will be considered good, and good will be considered bad!
When you think about homosexual marriage, abortion, birth control, premarital sex, drug use… all things that used to be considered morally wrong (or even out of the realm of rational thought!) that are now being considered “good”, things worth fighting for while people who fight against these things…pro-life, the sanctity of marriage, openness to children, keeping drugs illegal, are considered lunatics and “bad”…it gives me chills.
Can you imagine 150 years ago, the reaction people would have had if you told them that in 150 years, people would be legally killing their children, creating babies in petri dishes just so you could experiment on them, and same sex couples were getting married and accepted as the norm? They would have laughed in your face at the thought! They’d tell you to stop eating bad rye bread. Or suggest that you get off the pain killers. It would have been so foreign to their moral standards that it would literally be inconceivable!
Just look at an old Robin Cook book. What was once fodder for a horror novel, things like cloning, considered so “out there” that they were used as a premise to scare the bejesus out of you…are now perfectly ordinary sounding. My goodness, what do people think when they read “The Scarlet Letter” today?
MK, I left you a message on the new thread.
“I think you are confusing love with pleasure! How many different drinks have been in your cup?”
If you knew the different drinks I’ve had in my cup, you’d hate me and call me a pig.
As for the rest of this… Wow. You read too much into this. Keep in mind, I have played this game before, so I came up with answers that were not normal responses. No, I’ve only been in true love twice, and both didn’t end in my favor. I do like your interpretation, and it entertained me for a bit. However, you proved to me the exact thing that I was proven to in the church when I started to question my faith…
You people tend to overanalyze everything.
Sorry to toy with you and mess up the game, but I wanted to see how you could interpret all of that, and I was correct. Kinda sad, really, but what’re you gonna do?
PS Stop hating on serpents. They’re not the Devil, nor harbingers of Satan. They’re scaly friends that deserve our respect. I’ve owned quite a few, and they’ve never once tried to get me to do something evil. So, leave’em alone and go back to puppies and kitties. We scaly peoples are happy on our side of the fence ^_^
This is an email that Dan sent me after reading my “analysis”…apparently he set me up. Glad you found me “entertaining”
Well, guys, what do you think? In spite of his efforts at subterfuge, knowing what you do about Dan, how do you think I did?
Thanks for proving my point.
You people are all the same. Over analyzing every little thing. As I posted on the site, I’ve played this before and answered in a way that would be hard for you to analyze. However, you still managed to come up with something completely ridiculous.
A for effort, F for inaccuracy and lack of attention to detail.
and this was my response:
How is it possible that I can get an F for lack of attention to detail AND be accused of analyzing every little thing. You know, you get upset at me for being honest with, warn me about crossing lines, make up rules about what I’m allowed to say or not say, and then blatantly make a fool out me in public! And what “people” are we that are all the same? Who exactly qualifies as “you people”? People who disagree with you? People who speak out at injustice? People who face the truth and expect you to do the same?
If you falsified your answers to get me to say certain things…I’m not reading tarot cards here…I only had YOUR words to work with. If I hadn’t know those were your answers, I would have come up with the same stuff. So you loaded the answers, and I answered the way you directed me…well, duh, that’s the point of the whole exercise!
I’m really hurt by this, and very disappointed in you. You go on an on about not trusting people and then you prove yourself to be completely untrustworthy!
I put my heart and soul into those analysis’ and right or wrong they took a lot of time to do…yours in particular took over an hour and a half! I didn’t have to do them, I didn’t get paid to do them and I certainly didn’t get anything out of it except the pleasure of communicating with “friends”…
Obviously, if you are capable of something like this, then I have to question every thing you have ever said to me and wonder if you’ve been “playing” me all along.
I stand by that analysis, and whether you like it or not, it was on the money! In spite of your effort to control me, the truth found it’s way out anyway…
Sorry, Dan, but I base my relationships on openness and honesty…two things you are apparently incapable of. It saddens me to find out that I was just a toy to you…but you’ll have to find some new passtime to entertain you. I’ve got better things to do…
Danny, I thought you were going to stay off of this blog. {Please note, nothing personal] I thought you said that this was ERIN’S safe haven. It seems that you have stayed, and Erin has gone. What’s up with this?
Where is Erin?
Dan –
“You people tend to overanalyze everything.
Sorry to toy with you and mess up the game, but I wanted to see how you could interpret all of that, and I was correct. Kinda sad, really, but what’re you gonna do?”
How is it that we over analyze things when it was you who overanalyzed MK in your feable attemt to make a joke out of her. Sorry Dan – Jokes on you.
PS – stop hating on Christians and being so prejudice. Christians do not hate reptiles. I have been trying for years to get my husband to let my have a Boa. It is the symbolism of serpents, not the serpent itself. YOU are the one who used the serpent in a symbolic gester of evil. It is YOU who put hate towards the serpent.
You’re right, it is kinda sad. You are proud to be a manipulator. This really changes some of your previous comments on here. Like a chamilion, you have hidden your true self until now; but your colors are starting to melt off.
MK –
I completely agree with you on the good vs evil thing. We just saw it.
This thread has been fun. We have been getting along, even with those that we usually argue with. We have been getting to know each other, sharing small parts of our lives and thoughts. I have to say that I enjoyed seeing a different side of Midnite and lyssie, and hopefully they enjoyed seeing another side of us.
I feel like I am on a gradeschool playground right now, and a bully has just stole the ball. The game won’t be the same now. Even if we get the ball back. We are going to constantly be looking over our shoulders to watch out for that bully.
Danny, it appears that you are angry because, despite your best efforts, Mk was able to analize even your deceptive answers accurately.
It was really mean for you to respond to her in this fashion when she has done nothing but befriend you since your arrival. You really did show your true colors here, and ended up proving her point, not the other way around.
Bethany and Valerie (regarding SH Dan),
Thanks guys. You’re the best ever!
After I read what Dan wrote this morning, and then emailed you, I went to mass and took my “hour” at the chapel…While I was there I told Jesus what had happened and asked Him if He had any advice…
Then I picked up my bible and opened it randomly…Here’s what it said:
9 For he satisfieth the longing soul,
and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.
10 Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron;
11 because they rebelled against the words of God,
and condemned the counsel of the Most High:
12 therefore he brought down their heart with labor;they fell down, and there was none to help.
Then I began to read Bishop Fulton Sheen and here is what he said:
The worst sinners are nice people who, by denying sin, make the cure of sin impossible. That is why those who very often deny sin become scandal mongers, talebearers and hypocritics-because they have to project their real guilt ouside of themselves to others, and this gives them, also, a great illusion of goodness. It will be found generally true that the increase of fault finding is in direct proportion to the denial of guilt.
See, I didn’t have to say anything else. It has all been said before.
MK,
While I like the survey and the loose apparent meaning, it’s pretty clear you hate me too much to give a reasonable analysis. I can pull positive, neutral, and negative aspects from every detail in every person
BTW… I love mucking around in bogs, checking out the critters, if I have the rubber waders with me.
LOL
Cameron –
One of the points of this game was to learn a little about ourselves, and if we so choose, to post it on here to learn a bit more about each other.
Even though you have been critisized, chastized etc. by many of us, including me, there must have been more to you posting your answers than just boredom.
MK may have let emotions get in the way – I don’t know – so why don’t you tell us where she erred.
It would be nice to know that this wasn’t just some sort of sarcastic adventure like it was for Dan. I think you may have a bit more class than that. When I first read your answers, I thought you were mocking the game. but then your comments underneath made me think you were being honest with us. It would be kinda nice to get to know my nemesis a little better.
;-)
Cameron,
Not only don’t I hate you, but at times, I actually like you. If you’ll notice, Valerie is one of my favorite people in the whole world, and I would have liked nothing more than to tell her her answers were happy and gay and wonderful…but if you read hers, you know that they were anything but…
All I had to work with were the words that you guys gave me. Each set of words produced an image in my head. I didn’t choose the images, anymore than I chose the words. If I did, then Valeries wouldn’t have been so grim.
When I did yours and Danny’s I actually tried to force myself to forget whose I was working on and just concentrate on the words. I couldn’t completely forget, but I really tried.
I didn’t just do yours on a whim. You requested it. While I am grateful for the “thank you”, I’m not actually surprised that you had only negative things to say about it. I honestly can’t remember you ever writing a truly positive post.
Valerie is right. If I am so off the money, then run through the whole thing with me and explain to us what you think each answer means and what I got wrong.
If all you can say is “you’re wrong” then I’ll have to assume that maybe I’m not…
Hi MK,
A friend tried a game. He’d like your thoughts too, if you aren’t too busy!
1. The road is a winding dirt path that quickly disappears into the darkness of the woods. The trees are fully leaved and green; the forest borders a large meadow dotted with softly colored flowers. It
I just went back and reread your “analysis” Cameron,
and all I can say is “I can’t win for losing”…
Apparently, your capacity to conduct these analyses is just a wee bit limited.
oh God, did I just say that…I must be nuts or a masochist…
Stephanie,
I will, but to be fair to your friend I don’t want to do it now because I need to brush my teeth to remove the bad taste left there by my last two reviews. I don’t think I could do it justice right now. I’ve read it and am already struck by something soooooo sweet…but I’ll divulge later…kay?
#1 My road is a highway, paved with tar, trees on either side. It leads to the woods. It morning, dew sparkling, fall, crisp but not cold, colors blazing and a sky that’s easter egg blue filled with what I call “magic clouds”…those big white billowy ones…for some reason I am always wearing a red corduroy jacket lined with plaid flannel…go figure. I can’t see them, but I know that there are magical beings about…it’s an enchanted forest. Troll bridges, hobbit houses…probably had just finished reading the hobbit that year.
#2 I did this when I was 18, so forgive my answer.
I come across a group of guys sitting on a log smokin’ a joint. We talk, we smoke, I go over the log and continue on…
#3 I find a cup like you get at the Ren Faires…hammered pewter, shaped like a chalice, covered in pewter grapes and grapeleaves. It’s filled with ice cold water and no matter how much of it I drink, it keeps refilling.
#4 I find a key that is shaped like a skeleton key but it isn’t old. Or at least it doesn’t look old. It’s solid gold and tho I expect it to be warm when I pick it up, it’s very cold. I hold it my hand, afraid even to put it in my pocket.
#5a My tree was one of those old, gnarly trees with twisty branches and no leaves. It was haunting, but not scary…
#5b My body of water was an ocean, wild with waves, crashing, and yet somehow I manage to swim across it…hey, it’s a game, okay?
#6 My shelter is a small cave, quite cozy, and I sit at the entrance and watch the storm…I love thunderstorms.
I’ll hold off on #7 as it is much like John’s and could be a spoiler.
These are the same answers that I gave back when I first read the pigman in highschool. I haven’t changed any of them. (If I was going to change them, I would have changed number 2), They’re the same answers today that I gave 35 years ago…
Thanks, MK!
By the way, I really loved your review on my answers. *hugs* For the most part, they are right on the money! =D Kind of spooky how right on the money you were! I was indeed VERY sheltered before coming to college; I guess it was my Tawiwanese upbringing. The only things you got wrong were:
1) I’m actually already in college, and I’m going to be a junior. So I guess my “uphill” part of the obstacle is just about over, eh?
2) I actually never had a relationship, physical or otherwise, before my current one.
3) Eh, you got my major half-right I guess. I study biology, so botany is kind of in there with it. I do have a love for the outdoors though! I did toy around with the idea of working in national parks when I was younger, before I decided to go into the medical field.
I especially loved your review on question #7. =)
Looking forward to hearing from you again!
Thanks Steph.
You know, it’s funny, when I saw all those streams leading into/out of the lake I couldn’t quite figure out why. Have guys tried to date you and you rejected them? Do you just know what you wanted and weren’t going to waste time with them?
It’s almost like you don’t want them contaminating your “lake”…
I’ll admit, it intrigued me.
I also have to say that I’m surprised (and pleasantly so) how many of you girls are sexually inactive while fighting for the rights of other girls to be sexually active! No wonder you get so uptight when you think some of us call you promiscuous! Good for you and all the girls that are saving themselves…cuz you know, you’re all worth it!
@MK: I would like to say, thank you again for analyzing my responses and I’ve really enjoyed reading the responses for other people, it’s very kind of you to take so much time to do this. :)
Rae,
That is sweet. I wasn’t at any time fishing for compliments tho. Honestly. At first no was even acknowledging them and I was confused. Then when Danny tried (and I emphasize tried) to humiliate me, well, I was stunned. Cam is not a problem. He didn’t attack me personally.
But I did do it for fun and not profit and to be told that my capacity to conduct these analyses is just a wee bit limited.…well thanks for the clue Watson!
But I had loads of fun too! I’m so glad we did it. It really helped me get to know you all, and to enjoy you without all the animosity…until the end anyway…I mean of course we have to eventually tackle the “real” reason we are all here, but it was a wonderful reprieve.
And anyway, Mom comes home tomorrow…we’ll all be at each others throats again!
(Oh and I still have Rosie, Jen C, and Stephanie’s friend to do…
Think Cam will take me up on the offer to analyze me? And I don’t think Erin has to worry about Danny anymore…he seems to have struck and run…Gee, do you think he could have proved me more right about being a Jeckyl and Hyde and always wearing scales to make himself feel invulnerable…
All I can say is…Oh yeah Dan, you did a great job selling the whole reptile thing…makes me want to run out and buy a snake. not.
MK,
I’m putting out this apology because of what happened this morning, and what I said. My defense mechanisms did kick back in, and you were on the money with most of your answers. Some I will contest, and some I agree with. I won’t say which ones, but kudos to you on that.
I’m sorry for my mean words, and for my facade of false bravado. I thought if I answered in some outlandish way, you wouldn’t be able to figure anything out. Guess I was wrong, huh?
I’m not going to ask forgiveness, nor am I going to try to crawl back onto everyone’s good sides. However, I shouldn’t have said any of those things just because I was using my defense mechanisms to try and shield myself. It wasn’t nice, and my hurtful words were not needed.
PS As to why I wasn’t here, I was in Iowa playing a show with Whiskey Rebellion, and I then drove through the night to get home. So, my apologies again
Danny,
That took guts! I’m proud of you. And apology is accepted. The goal was never to prove I was right or superior, the goal was to look into yourself and get new insights. If you were able to do that then all was not lost.
I would rather have someone admit when they are wrong than always be right. This is a very brave thing that you did. You know, exposing a certain scale?
You know you can always email me privately if you want to discuss some of the things I got wrong…or right.
Peace my friend. And I’ll go easy on the reptile…
MK,
Fair enough. I’ll analyze yours, however I feel that you knew in advance or suspected the nature of these questions before answering. Your answers, in general, come off as overly contrived, often interjecting or asserting elements (I’m virtuous, I’m happy, I’m enjoying, etc…) which are irrelevant to the question at hand but are what an analysis might attempt to deduce from the answer by inference. In other words, you’re attempting to state the conclusions you’d like others to come to about you.
Question 1: This is the weakest question in my opinion (For example, some younger people have picked fall, and some others have also picked dirt paths and your interpretation varies).
You’re life’s been a cake-walk, but you see that it could get a little rough soon, or it’s been sooooo horrific you’ve forced yourself into a delusion of cakewalk just to keep your sanity. It’s apparent that you’re not particularly interested in or concerned about the road, or even the trees of the forest, simply taking them for granted, while focusing your attention on the colors and supernatural creatures you’re certain are there even though you can’t see them. Per your methods, the season suggests that you are older, and a surfaced road that everything is provided for you by a parent-like figure. Perhaps your hubby takes care of you. I would analyze this answer as indicating that you deal with life by taking what you like from it, and celebrating that which like with great glee. That which you reject, you are unwilling to even acknowledge and possibly abhor. Your age would seem mature but it’s definitely laced with neotany… you prize childish innocence to such an extent that you’d act it out knowingly and foolishly even though your older and know better. No doubt, the people who know and love you, think that it’s adorable when you do so though. Your sky with magical clouds is difficult… I think maybe in way they may represent the aspirations that you’ve probably projected onto your children, which you, like any good parent, clearly delight in. Clouds are dynamic and changing, and extending beyond your control, like children. In general, you believe you’ve got it had it good, or have otherwise made the best of what you had, appreciated most of it, and just ignored anything else.
Question two: This is one of those overly contrived answers. You craft what you perceive to be a moral obstacle and “just say no” and move along, and I suppose you’d get the “good job/good for you” back slap from your kind. In reality, you haven’t really provided an obstacle or anything particularly challenging, just a snap shot of your virtuous past. For you, an obstacle is that wrong answer you’d never actually provide in a binary question, which suggests to me that you’ve probably never had to deal with any real obstacles in your life, or if you did the outcome was so ugly that you’ve banished it from your memory or would otherwise deny that it even happened. I find it particularly interesting that you considered them friends yet did not try to persuade them otherwise and try to show them a drug free good time, you just moved along and left them behind.
The cup: The instant refill thing sounds very contrived, rendering the entire answer suspect, but…. it seems love for you is about the accessories and novel appearance’s sake. I think you view your material surroundings, the wedding ring, the house, even the kids, etc… as the identity of the love, more so than something intrinsic that you share with another. The ren fest nature of it all suggests to me that you value and celebrate the novel to an extent but only in a controlled/safe and predictable sort of way. You fancy your love in your life is a crazy different kind of love, sort of like a 40 something accountant who rides a Harley on the weekends so he can say he’s exciting and different. The refill thing suggests a degree of hedonism, that you would never be uncomfortable so long as in love, and if you are comfortable you “must” be in love.
The Key; Again very contrived (cold, gold, and foreboding), however your contrived answer is somewhat in harmony with your antics here– not particularly comfortable with knowledge. Personally, I think the gold suggests that you view the key as an award… not unlike someone receiving the key to the city from the mayor. It’s a trophy, and you would otherwise chuck something that made you so uncomfortable. I think you have some authority with respect to some topics but prefer to invoke that authority rather than the topic itself. So the trophy is like a badge on your sleeve or a medal on your chest. In general your capacity with knowledge and wisdom exceeds your ability to convey it eloquently, and you are frustrated by that imbalance.
The body of water is the ocean and you swim in it… who wouldn’t. A curious lack of detail though. The ocean usually represents emotional or unconscious stuff that is spiritually important. It seems sex is both emotionally important to you and the lack of detail suggests it’s kind of mundane and boring.
The cave and storm. Again, there’s a curious lack of detail in this answer, except pointing out that you just love to watch storms (which, like the friends on the log smoking pot, isn’t what the question is about). The cave, like the ocean, alludes to the unconscious. The cave is also a very maternal and feminine thing, and I think the lack of detail may indicate that you are the cave to an extent. You are the shelter, the womb, the vagina, and that more so than you is what’s important. Alternatively, the lack of detail might suggest that you are mostly comfortable, never really been uncomfortable, and are taking that comfort for granted. It might be time to get the house painted though.
The wall: by far the most contrived answer, well set-up but the key-of-knowledge description; i.e. I have the gift of gods awesome knowledge, and I carry it like a burden, but with his gift can go to the other side. LMAO. I think what your answer here really suggests is that you are uncertain. This time, there’s a complete lack of detail about what happens. Your reward for having accepted the burden of knowledge is to… what… become one with the wall? It’s pretty funny given all your confidence otherwise.
Val,
“MK may have let emotions get in the way – I don’t know – so why don’t you tell us where she erred.”
Definately the first question illustrates some strong inconsitancies when you compare to the analysis of other answers. Perhaps some more detail, such as clear skies, warm breeze, and my mood (happy)exploring an old unused road, would have helped her get it right. Or how about her analysis of my storm on island. It’s suppose to be about material creature comforts but she makes it into this critique of my social life or some sort of psycologically troubling aspect that makes me a “unhappy” yet again. For some reason, the similar answers suggest to her that the person is just “low maintainance.” At the end, she also presumes I’m scared of turning around, when in fact I never say that I’m scared to go back because my life is so aweful. I really don’t get any sense of fear or unhappiness from any of my answers.
“One of the points of this game was to learn a little about ourselves, and if we so choose, to post it on here to learn a bit more about each other.”
And I did. I certainly think I’m avoiding sex and putting of a relationship right now. Apparently not particularly challenged either. That all makes sense. I’m also mocking death, but not trying to defeat it, or embracing it because I’m scared of my life and such. In general, the most damning thing is a tone of complacency, and an apparent reluctance to look outside the box and get a little imaginitive. In general, I seem to have a sense of humor about things though too.
“It would be nice to know that this wasn’t just some sort of sarcastic adventure like it was for Dan.”
No. I made a point of not even reading anybody else’s answers or the anlysis before answering them myself. I thought it was going to be one of those perfect lover constructs too… what my ideal woman should be like and such…. what I’m attracted to. Had I known it was going to be what it is, I wouldn’t have bothered simply because I wouldn’t expect a fair analysis here.
MK, thank you again. I can imagine that took some time to do and it was very kind of you.
Cameron –
I think I may know what is going on here. You are a very logical person and you put logic in your everyday thought process. MK is an emotional person and is emotional in her thought process. Talk about a recipe for disaster!
What I’m saying is that MK may have put more emotion into your answers than what you did. She was also nervous to do yours because of the rifts in relationships on here.
I feel as if you got a bit cheated on this. You did intend to be sincere, but I have a feeling you didn’t take it as seriously as some of us because you thought it was more of a superficial game than what it was. This may be why you didn’t use many adjectives and why your wording was short and for you this is an unusual thing. (kinda like me.) This might be where she got her negative feelings from. (I’m totally guessing here, MK and I do privately e-mail, but we haven’t discussed this.)
Just for fun, would like someone else to interprete your answers? I can volunteer if you want, but we have had our difficulties so I’m not sure if you would trust me. (As I would hesitate to trust you.)
“Your water (the womb) holds life. But you don’t know if you can do it justice…it stretches for a great distance. Can this dragon that you have become possibly do the job? Will it be impossible since you don’t even know yourself, so how can you possibly take on and nurture something else? It’s overwhelming…18 years is a long time. 22 or 23 if the life goes to college…the job is simply daunting…so you turn into a crocodile, a creature known for killing anything it comes across…The water is clear and blue and you can SEE the life it harbors…but after you turn into a crocodile and begin to swim you never mention the “life” again…”
Ok, I want to make some comments on some parts of you analysis, MK, so just bear with me.
When we talk of the croc, I’m not talking about nature’s most efficient predator. Crocs are also renowned for their parenting skills, being one of the most fiercely devoted and protective parents in the animal kingdom.
I view myself as both a protector and a destroyer. In a sense, yes, I am Jekyll and Hyde. However, I try to do more good than bad.
Another thing is about the key. Yes, there are parts of me and my life that I’ve buried because I don’t want to think about them, or remember them. Some of it I truly can’t remember, and there is even a point in my life where I don’t know what happened for a long period of time. However, I’m glad I don’t remember these bad times, because I’m afraid of what I may have done.
As for the storm and my creature feature, yes, thick skinned is the way to go for me. I get a lot of flack from people, and thick skin makes my life easier to live. I’m not a hateful person, and I’m not one to always fight back. Sometimes, it’s just better to let the barbs sink in and ignore them. As for the storm, yes, I actually do this. I’ll go outside and let nature pummel me. It makes me feel more at one with the world I live in, and it gives me a sense of strength from conquer. Maybe not the best thing in the world, but it works for me, and I do enjoy it.
To everyone else on the board,
My apologies for what I said this morning. I wasn’t in a great state of mind [I was running on no sleep, had gotten shafted out of $175 at the gig in Iowa, and no one would put me up for the night, so I had to drive back to Illinois at 3:30 AM and almost went off the road 6 times.] I was in a bad mood and wrote things that were harsh and unneccessary, and I apologize. MK was pretty on the money with most of what she wrote, and I snapped and reacted like a child. I extend my apologies to you for having to read it, and I apologize for acting like a jerk.
Val,
“I think I may know what is going on here. You are a very logical person and you put logic in your everyday thought process. MK is an emotional person and is emotional in her thought process. Talk about a recipe for disaster!”
I think, quite clearly, she was being patronizing.
“What I’m saying is that MK may have put more emotion into your answers than what you did.”
yes, my answers were short, but not glib.
“Just for fun, would like someone else to interprete your answers? I can volunteer if you want….”
Thanks, but I’ve got a pretty good idea of what I was initially invissioning, and what it may mean. I don’t think there would be much to gain if someone else wasted the effort to revisit it in its entirety. I still am curious about the road being forgotten and long unused though. Two parallel dirt paths hidden or obscured by tall grass…. it’s also downhill and curving with the contours some. I think it shows that I’m going out of my way to avoid adversity, the easy down-hill path, and particularly that adversity is synonimous with having to deal with other people…. the traffic. Curiously, the road feels known, like i’ve already been at the far end and back again several times… like a daily walk I enjoy and repeat. The creepy cool crooked branches of the oak trees are aparent because there are no leaves, and I can see the road further off through the trees. I swapped lush shrubery for a vista of what’s up-comming through the woods. Despite unexpected turns, I apparently prefer some warning of them in advance, and spartan and minimal distractions facilitate that for me.
Night!
Cameron,
This is the weakest question in my opinion (For example, some younger people have picked fall, and some others have also picked dirt paths and your interpretation varies).
That’s because the symbolism had to be taken in context with the rest of the answers. For instance, leaves or no leaves, cold or warm, day or night…
In general, you believe you’ve got it had it good, or have otherwise made the best of what you had, appreciated most of it, and just ignored anything else.
That was awesome! I had an amazing childhood. I was adopted by Ward and June Cleaver. And not phony ones either! And I absolutely ignore what I loathe unless it directly impacts me. As for the child like qualities? Well I have six kids and taught preschool for 12 years. My family and friends have always called me the Pied Piper…
This is one of those overly contrived answers. You craft what you perceive to be a moral obstacle and “just say no” and move along
This one you got half right. Remember that I said that these were my answers from 35 years ago? (I did that because to change them would have been cheating. These were my first answers when I read the Pigman, and I’ve never changed them. That wouldn’t have been right, since I knew what they meant)
Smoking pot wasn’t a “percieved moral dilemma”. It was a very real one. I smoked pot every single day of my life for 17 years. And that was the least of my problems! Cocaine, alcohol, guys,…I had to overcome some very difficult obstacles. The part you got right is that these “very difficult obstacles” were all self imposed.
I find it particularly interesting that you considered them friends yet did not try to persuade them otherwise and try to show them a drug free good time, you just moved along and left them behind.
Yeah well, at that period in my life, I didn’t know how to have a drug free good time..that’s kind of the point. And I left them behind because that’s what you do when your a pot head…
While they were not just “percieved” moral dilemmas,(the dielemmas were very real), I did craft them. In other words, I created the problems myself. It is true that my life has been trouble free compared to some. Other than the fact I got pregnant out of wedlock and was dirt poor for 10 years, have a son with bi-polar (that one was scary), who also got pregnant before he probably should have, and have a very, very sick father…my life has been relatively trouble free…
But I have always tried to remember how blessed I am, and extended help to others whose lives are not so easy. Because I have been given very few crosses to bear, I try very hard to help others carry theirs.
THE CUP:
Sorry Cam…on this one you only got one detail correct. First off my original wedding ring was a gift from my mother one Christmas. It was an Irish Claddaugh ring, and since John and I didn’t have 2 nickels to rub together, we used it. I had John put a ruby chip in it to “make it ours”. 10 years later he had two girlfriends pick out a new one for me. The jeweler was most unhappy when I returned it because it was so big! After I replaced it with what most people would consider a “pre-engagement” ring as the diamond is so small, I asked John how much the ruby chip had cost him from the first ring. He said $12.00. So my first wedding ring was a $12.00 present from my mother!
We also lived for sixteen years in a very affluent suburb outside of Chicago. I hated every minute of it. We lived in “Jed Clampetts” house in the what was known as the country club area. We moved last June to a very modest, typical Chicago Bungalow in the neighborhood in which I grew up. I clean my own house, mow my own lawn and shop at Walmart.
My husband is anything but exciting. He is the most stable, even boring man you’d ever want to meet. He’s somewhat of a loner, adores his family & would rather read a book than anything else! The most exciting thing about him is that he loves food and will try anything from rattlesnake to sweetbreads. Our anniversary is next month and it will be 27 years.
I did like your insight into the cup refilling. I am definitely one of those people who is happiest when I have someone to love…when I was younger (which is when I gave those answers) this would get me into trouble…
As for the Ren Faire, that was a very bad, bad, bad time for me morally…but you are right, these days I like my “adventure” to be controlled. Actually, when my husband and I first got married he used to say I was like a kite constantly trying to fly away, and I called him the rock that I was tethered to, that kept me grounded and on planet earth. When we got married, every one kept shaking his hand and saying “Congratulations John, you’ll never be bored” He told me later that this more than a little, freaked him out.
THE KEY:
MMMM…not too much is right here…at least I don’t think so. I never went to college and was a poor student most of my life…did a lot of summer school (dang math). Most of what I know I learned from reading. I didn’t feel uncomfortable with the key. It was cold yes, but I felt that it was very, very powerful. Education can be powerful, and while I was a poor “student” I have always had an insatiable appetite for learning. However when I wrote those answers I was heavily into paganism and was seeking all things occult/hidden. I have always, always, always been interested in the unseen world. Had my first “seance” under my grandmothers dining room table when I was 10. I think that key represents the opening of doors to things unknowable. More like a key that can let me see what is not seeable in any other way. It did after all open a door in my wall. Now that I am older (and wiser?) I think the key represents my faith. I’m much more interested in spiritual knowledge than mundane.
So no trophy here. Not even a diploma.
THE WATER: The body of water is the ocean and you swim in it… who wouldn’t. A curious lack of detail though. The ocean usually represents emotional or unconscious stuff that is spiritually important. It seems sex is both emotionally important to you and the lack of detail suggests it’s kind of mundane and boring.
You got some right here. Sex is most definitely more of an emotional experience than a physical one. You might even say it’s a spiritual one. But it is anything but boring…notice that description of the ocean…
“wild with waves, crashing,”..
I think sex has always been a very, very powerful experience. Almost overwhelming, mostly because of the emotions that go along with it! Turbulent, risky, wild and exciting… but never, ever, ever dull…certainly not at the time of my life that I answered those questions! (Now that I’m older it’s not quite the same rollicking experience that it used to be…)
THE ISLAND:
The cave is also a very maternal and feminine thing, and I think the lack of detail may indicate that you are the cave to an extent. You are the shelter, the womb, the vagina, and that more so than you is what’s important.
That was kind of interesting. Yes, I do believe that I am not as important personally as my ability to create new life. The idea that I could be the ” shelter” used to house/nourish/nurture a being created out of love is very, very, very important to me. I can’t think of anything that makes me feel more valuable!
I do love thunderstorms, (from a safe place as you pointed out earlier), because they remind me of how insignificant and small I am. They keep me humble and put me in my place.
Alternatively, the lack of detail might suggest that you are mostly comfortable, never really been uncomfortable, and are taking that comfort for granted. It might be time to get the house painted though.
This is true. I am comfortable and always have been. My surroundings are not that important to me except for one thing…I am most unhappy without color. I could easily live in a one room shack with no furniture, if only the walls were painted turquoise or coral! As for painting? Oh God, please no. We’ve only been in this house for a year and I just got finished painting (by myself) every room in the house! One of them I painted twice cuz I didn’t the color! So please, NO MORE PAINTING!!!!
Good job on this one.
THE WALL: by far the most contrived answer, well set-up but the key-of-knowledge description; i.e. I have the gift of gods awesome knowledge, and I carry it like a burden, but with his gift can go to the other side. LMAO. I think what your answer here really suggests is that you are uncertain. This time, there’s a complete lack of detail about what happens. Your reward for having accepted the burden of knowledge is to… what… become one with the wall? It’s pretty funny given all your confidence otherwise.
MY WALL:
Cameron, you completely misunderstood the key. It was never a burden. Mysterious, unfathomable, awesome, scary? Yes, but never a burden! Quite the contrary, it was so valuable, and so precious in my eyes that I never let it out of my sight. I knew, just knew, that it unlocked some very important piece of the puzzle. I do say what I do with it. I use it to open the wall. It allows me passage into an otherwise impenetrable place. It is the only way in. MK: I touched my key to the wall and a door appeared. I entered and found myself “in” eternity.
On the whole, Cameron, you did really good. Even where I think you were wrong, your analysis was honest and I could see where you were coming from.
Thanks. That was good fun!
ahem?…..LOL
Cameron,
I’m so sorry that you thought I was being patronizing. If I was, it was totally without my meaning to be.
You keep saying that your answers were the same as everyone elses, and yet they weren’t. If you reread Val’s “Road” you’ll see that she and you were the only ones that didn’t have any color or leaves. This left me with a rather empty, lonely feeling!
I will admit that I was really nervous doing yours because I didn’t want you to come back and say that I had projected my own bias (which of course would be impossible not to do) into my analysis. Which is exactly what you did, because it’s exactly what I did.
Let’s look at the main ideas of each of your answers.
Late fall, no leaves, winding road, grass in ruts.
creek, you splash through it.
cup that you don’t take advantage of.
key with a heart, square at one end.
murky, uninviting bog.
no options, slap something to together.
Vandalize the wall…
These are the things that jumped out at me.
My son loves drizzly, gray days. I HATE them. So if he described his woods as gray and drizzly, I’d probably interpret his answer negatively. Even tho to him it would be a perfect day.
I HATE winter. Late fall days are actually painful for me because they remind that winter is just around the corner. Where you might see, bright blue skies, sunlit paths and promises of sledding, all I can see is gray, dark and foreboding. My bias, I admit.
Splashing reminds me of making a scene and sort of plowing through things without a thought for the consequences. To you it might mean playing in puddles, great fun. My bias, I admit.
Leaving your cup? Sorry, I can’t see any other way of looking at this. The fact that your cup was so sweet, adds a sadness to the idea that you don’t drink from it.
I loved your key. Thought it was the most positive thing you described. The only negative aspect was that you tend to intellectualize everything, including love. Or as Val pointed out, maybe I tend to emotionalize everything, even knowledge…my bias, I admit.
Your water…well, maybe some people like bogs. Heck I like bogs…but not to swim in! All I could think was snails, and mosquitos and putting my toes into sinking mud…yech! I won’t even go in the ocean without shoes because I HATE when I can’t see where my feet are! My bias, I admit.
Your shelter. Slapping something together makes me think you simply don’t care. You might think it means you are resourceful. But I tend to think things through and analyze them first and slapping something together makes me think it will fall apart with the first strong wind. It also makes me think you don’t care. Plus you said you had no options. But you could have said ANYTHING, anything at all that you could pull out of your imagination and you felt you had no options. Reminded me of being in a rut.
Your wall. Spray painting to you might be an art form, but to me it it vandalism. My bias, I admit.
You do tend on this site tho to “vandalize” every comment anyone makes. You are always negative, like you can’t stand anyone being positive and feel you must rip them apart…take them down a peg. I felt this translated into your answer. If you can’t get through the wall, then do your best to ruin it.
If you can’t get through to us, (when debating) then do your best to ruin us (our arguments) You rarely put forth your own insights, and would rather tear apart ours…my bias, I admit.
Anyway, those are the reasons I saw your answers in such a negative light. I wasn’t picking on you. Really. Intellectually I think you are brilliant, but emotionally I think you are stunted. And that came across in your answers…or maybe that was my bias, I admit.
Hey Rosie,
I’ll do you next…sometime today.
What are you laughing at?
Danny,
No harm done that can’t be undone!
Dan –
“Crocs are also renowned for their parenting skills, being one of the most fiercely devoted and protective parents in the animal kingdom.”
This comment amazed me. Yes, Crocs are fiercely devoted to their offspring. That devotions begins at fertilization. After mating the male croc stays with the female, protecting her as she protects herself, until she lays her eggs. (I think about 1 or 2 months after mating) When the nest is complete and the fertilized eggs remain in a vulnerable state the male stays with the female protecting the nest until the eggs hatch. The male will also assist in helping the female crack open the shell. It isn’t until this point that the male leaves the female to “raise” the kids. Typical male behavior. (just kidding! I had to put that in there.)
Of course, most of my knowledge is on the Nile Croc, so I am only guessing that other croc’s are similar.
Cameron –
“Thanks, but I’ve got a pretty good idea of what I was initially invissioning, and what it may mean. I don’t think there would be much to gain if someone else wasted the effort to revisit it in its entirety. ”
WHEW!!! Thanks for letting me off the hook.
;-)
MK –
“My husband is anything but exciting. He is the most stable, even boring man you’d ever want to meet. He’s somewhat of a loner, adores his family & would rather read a book than anything else! The most exciting thing about him is that he loves food and will try anything from rattlesnake to sweetbreads. ”
I told you before, I’ll tell you again…stay away from MY husband!
hahahahah… Ditto on the husband with the exception of the food thing. Mine will only eat meat and pototoes. I have finally got him eating rice!
Important question though… What kind of socks does he wear?
hahahahahaha
This comment amazed me. Yes, Crocs are fiercely devoted to their offspring. That devotions begins at fertilization. After mating the male croc stays with the female, protecting her as she protects herself, until she lays her eggs. (I think about 1 or 2 months after mating) When the nest is complete and the fertilized eggs remain in a vulnerable state the male stays with the female protecting the nest until the eggs hatch. The male will also assist in helping the female crack open the shell. It isn’t until this point that the male leaves the female to “raise” the kids. Typical male behavior. (just kidding! I had to put that in there.)
Wow Valerie,
The symbolism (subconscious) strikes again!!!!
Socks: The goofy white one’s with the gray toes like your husband is wearing in the picture! I think he get’s them by the gross at Costco! You better keep your hubby away from me…when we are at a restaurant and the hubby is ordering buffalo with pasta, I’m getting the same old steak with a baked potato. What is this “rice” thing you’re talkin’ about?
Valerie,
Yes, that’s the way Nile Crocs and most other crocodilians are, but there are exceptions. Take the American Alligator. They’ll mate, and then leave, and eat the hatchlings if they’re hungry. It’s give or take in the reptile world, mainly because they don’t share the same brain patterns as birds or mammals.
It’s nice to see you have some knowledge. I encourage you to get out and read up more. It’s really interesting stuff.
Hi MK,
I am curious though, how knowledge got linked to a key and wisdom to a skeleton key, of all things. In Biblical times until a while ago knowledge had always been linked to a tree – a fruit tree!
For me a key, it symbolizes a loss-of-freedom, because a key is a symbol for false-security/comfort. [It both opens to something I-possess and at the same time locks out everything else!] I do not like any keys, so I tossed mine. It’s like most kinds of knowledge these days (though)… these too are rubbish (aka St. Paul) … a waste of my time. Time spent learning from you and Cam, Dan, Val, Jasper, Bethany, PinP, Rae, Midnite, lots of different Heather’s, Jill, Mary, JM, JJ, HisMan, SoMG, etc really is important! Zeke I have a hard time with, lol!
A key does no good at the wall, because one does not enter by magic. As soon as you posted a description of the wall’, I knew it was death …. and the only way ‘through’ is ‘in’ (again St. Paul).
John,
I don’t know who thought these up…like I said I read them in a book…but I think we often think of a key as opening up doors, and a good education can do the same thing. A skeleton key is usually old, and can open many doors.
The key itself is not what opened my wall. It’s what the key represented. Knowledge. If you have the right knowledge (ie: the TRUTH) then you may enter. See?
I differentiate between wisdom and education also.
The key you talk about is book learnin’…useful to a point. But as we’ve seen on this site, people can be really smart and yet still very foolish. Diana is a great example. What a brain! and yet sooooo foolish!
You could never enter the wall with magic, or book smarts…you entered it the best way. Never even occured to you not to enter. That’s faith, my man. And all of us could learn from your example!
MK –
Yup – Costco. What is it with socks at Costco anyway? I think most of the men I know buy socks there. Maybe it is the male fear of shopping? ;-)
Danny –
Exactly what is the difference between a crocodile and an aligator? (My son got confused that there were two and now just refers to them all as crocagators. I couldn’t stop laughing when he came up with that analogy.)
That question I just asked is quite embarassing considering my next statement. I am knowledgable because I used to be a CVT – Certified Veterinary Technician. (I think most states have done away with the certifications now and mine has lapsed so if I want to go back into the field I would have to become registered.). I did my internship at the zoo’s hospital. I loved the reptiles and amphibians, but ended up specializing in domestic mammals. And Llama’s but that’s a whole other story….
I just remember how the males helped the females guard the nest, for some reason just stuck in my memory but I can’t remember the aligator vs croc thing…..
ROSIE:
YOUR LIFE:
Let’s see, early evening, fall 75 and low humidity.
It sounds like you know exactly how you like things to be. Comfort is probably very important to you. Not opulence, but comfort. Your cup of tea, your cozy comforter, fuzzy slippers..
I’d also say that your days might be hectic and early evening is a nice time because all the chores are done, babies almost ready for bed, dinner is over and it’s time to make like Aunt Bea and kick back in your rocker with your knitting while Andy picks his geetar. I know the feeling.
The woods are dense, the trees are thick…I’m gonna guess that your plate is full these days. Not overfull…maybe room for dessert…but definitely full. Hard to see in front of you, cuz your so focused on what you’re doing now. Don’t get too overwhelmed that you “can’t see the forest for the trees” tho. It may seem “clogged” and feel a little suffocating, but there is bound to be a break in the trees soon.
YOUR OBSTACLE:
Too cute. A mammoth. For whatever reason I pictured you and the baby…all day long you put things in her mouth only to have them come out her tail. LOL. You don’t seem at all intimidated by your “obstacle”. You actually seem to be enjoying it. Almost playing with it. Makes me chuckle. Have we been watching ice age?
YOUR CUP:
Your cup is non-breakable, dependable, colorful and sturdy. You keep it in case you get thirsty.
I’m sorry to keep bringing up baby, but I remember the months following childbirth…the thought of ever being “thirsty” again seems impossible. I promise, you WILL want something to drink again.
I’m sure a lot of fathers feel like a blue, plastic cup after a new baby…It’s all about mom and the little one…but tell dad I said it gets better.
You’re lucky to have a guy that is so dependable (plastic) without being boring (blue). Of course he could be “blue” because you’re not thirsty…
YOUR KEY:
Your answer was so clipped and to the point, I almost get the feeling that you put away your “education” for now, because you have other things goin’ on. Did you go to college? Are you raising Hannah now and not even thinking of working? You don’t throw the key away, you put it in your pocket. So you may get to use it again some day. And it’s a skeleton key, so while one door may have closed, your key will help you open many others!
YOUR WATER:
“The body of water is a creek and I cross it by stepping on the stones that lead across it so I don’t get wet”…I love it. It’s like you’re not quite ready to go back to swimming yet, but you do take a drink…(maybe hubby’s not so blue now?).
YOUR SHELTER:
You look for a cave, or make a shelter out of branches. But you assume you’ll get wet anyway. Are you feeling a financial pinch right now? Own a house, but can’t afford to fix it up? Cuz you look for a cave, but then make do with whatever is laying around. Are you using old crates for furniture? Just kidding. But really, is this a crunch time for you, and while you have a place to live, it’s not your dream home?
YOUR WALL:
You turn around and go home…everybody that doesn’t enter the wall seems to go home the same way. How come nobody ever says, I go to the left and see whats down that road, or I find a different path and see where it leads? Maybe home is important to you guys? Maybe the idea of returning to family and friends after a long journey is comforting…I don’t know. But I think I hear a baby crying and it’s time to climb the mammoth again!
Is it an alligator or a crocodile?
All the species of alligators, caimans, crocodiles, and gharial together are known as
I like that word…
crocodilians…
we need jill…
this is pathetic…
Mom? Where are you?
We have been good kids, we promise!
;-)
Mom? Where are you?
We have been good kids, we promise!
;-)
“My son loves drizzly, gray days. I HATE them. ”
Oh, really? I think those are the perfect days to sit inside with a quilt, a good book, and some hot tea :).
MK,
I do enjoy comfort, more in the form of what is familiar to me. I did go to college but I couldn’t make up my mind on what I wanted to do until I realized that I just wanted to be a mommy. Don’t even get me started on this house. We could fix it up but i’d just rather light a match and watch it burn, it’s my hubby’s old bachelor pad. (We are in a sweet spot though.) I guess you could say that it’s crunch time. As for early evening, I used to really enjoy it, not lately though. I do love being a mommy though, couldn’t imagine my life without her.
Also….
Darren wears those same socks, and he’s not normally one for anything but basic “American” foods (you know, burgers and fries and such).
Ha ha, thanks MK for answering for me!
The information MK posted is correct. However, alligator, crocodile, Gharial, Gavial, and caiman are all crocodilians. That’s their title. Technically, crocodiles were the main species, and everything else [ie alligators, caimans, etc] are all subspecies and evolutionary mutations.
Harry Potpot! =D