Blogging Melodrama

What is it about this time of year that makes people want to make resolutions? Is it inherent in the festivities or is it just we have reason to feel guilt in some respect for something we caught ourselves doing that we think should be changed? I'm voting for the latter, because it isn't even Christmas yet and New Years is 8 days away and I've already started cleaning my personal house.
I've examined myself and found places I know I can be a better person and have begun my own foggy self-improvement plan.
Statistics back me on the need for attention to diet, exercise and healthier habits. It sure isn't fun. I've realized I'm the one putting the restrictions on my goals, so I have to change the way I think.
After 3 ½ hours of my mind revealing to me all these things I've not lived up to in my own eyes instead of sleeping, I gave up trying and got up to write them down.

• How can I expect something of someone else that I am guilty of myself?

My growing resentment of family's conveniently ignoring me and only coming around when they want something, caused me to make the statement "If a person can't find time for me out of 365 days in one year except for when It's gift time, they can do without a gift from me; I'm just not made that way."
I realized my guilt is between my heavenly father and myself. I've been lax in attending church. I haven't prayed for others as I should be doing. And when I look at myself from His parental perspective I stand guilty of my own words judgment. How can I expect blessings from God if I don't find time to spend with Him other than when I want something from Him; after all there are 365 days in a year?

• Why have I bought into the age limitation crap that's prevalent in these continental United States?

I've never been one to permit excuses for not doing something. I've a crippled foot and never allowed it to hold me back. I've fought against discrimination my whole lifetime and never let the status quo stop me from my dreams of whatever I wanted to do or be. I've worked 'Men's' jobs because they paid better than 'Women's' jobs and worked 2 and 3 jobs at the same time. I guess that's why I was so hard on my daughter and foster kids I took into my home. No excuses; because, like butt holes - everyone has one.
I know when it all started for me too. I can trace my acceptance of my own inability when I got hurt on the job and was laid up for 3 years. During that time I didn't have a strong enough family to stand on their own feet and I was in no condition to work; I needed to recuperate. So during that time I wound up loosing every cent of security I had worked for, my entire life, and wound up living in the street.
Living in the street isn't like camping. And it wasn't my choice to be there; my family threw me out when the money ran out.
I was devastated emotionally and weak physically. I lived in fear; cold and alone. It was then I finally looked up and asked my Heavenly Father what was I going to do?

• How can you love someone else if you can't love yourself enough to do what's right for you?

Well I'm still working on the list, but I've decided to at least attempt to be a better me than I've been.

1. I hope to make the 2005 Christian model of myself, one that genuinely cares about everyone I come in contact with. Love my neighbor as myself.
   
2. I will do and care about others welfare, doing everything I can throughout the year; not just at Christmas; because, I discovered I received true joy in doing nice things for others and I'm just selfish enough to want to stay happy all year. For it is in the giving that I receive.
   
3. I will show love to myself and others by being the best person I can be at all times and to all people; even those I don't like. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God; yet He forgave us and loved us in spite of our sins.
   
4. I'm going to try to live, eat and be healthier for me because I like me and want the best for me. The healthier I am the more I can do for others, and that will please my Heavenly Father most. For if I speak words as tinkling bells but have not love I am nothing. Actions speak louder than words.

• So here's to all who make resolutions with good intentions. May we all achieve at least a part of what we hope for and all of what we work to achieve.

There's a saying; I don't know who said it, but it's good. "You will get what you give your time too....What's coming for you?"
Happy 2005

I asked my buddy, Jeeves, what sign I was born under in the Chinese New Year, and discovered I was born under the sign of the Horse.

The sign of the horse is suppose to have a capacity for amazingly hard work. Horse people are supposed to be their own person, very independent. We are also intelligent and friendly, but have a strong streak of selfishness and a sharp cunning. We are warned against being egotistical. This sign’s success areas say we make good adventurers, scientists, poets and politicians. Basically we are cheerful and popular, impatient, know our way around money and will always wind up a winner.

Wow! I think I might like me, but then again I don’t care for the innuendo of egotistical politician. EEWW! Icky! Don’t want any of that on me. Now that I think about it, I have written in my own name several times in Presidential elections over the years.

Horse people are supposed to be compatible with Tiger and Dog people.

Tiger people are said to be sensitive, emotional and capable of great love. They also have a tendency to get carried away and be stubborn when they think they’re right, to the point of being a hothead or rebel. Tiger people are said to be excellent in four main categories: bosses, explorers, racecar drivers, and matadors. Now this makes me wonder if my second husband, a crusader, was in this category, or if it was my third husband, the lunatic mechanic.

Dog people will never let you down, or so the Zodiac says; because people born under this sign are honest, and faithful. Sad thing is they are only faithful to those they love. They are plagued by constant worry, have a sharp tongue, and tend to be a faultfinder. The suggested fields for dog people suggest they make excellent business people, activists, teachers and secret agents. On second thought my second husband has to be a dog. He has the talent of being able to turn his affection on and off like a light switch. The energy is there or isn’t, it’s that simple. Rather tough for the people around him though. I wasn’t able to explain that to a parakeet that got thrown to the curb when the power was shut off, and I didn’t understand it myself when it happened to me either.



Never associate with a Rat.

Rat people are imaginative, and truly generous to the person they love. Rats are quick-tempered and exceedingly critical; prone to be somewhat of an opportunist. If you are under this sign, you should be happy as a writer, critic, or publicist; definitely in sales.

E-Gads! Here we go again with the second husband. Salesman, entrepreneur and con- artist with light switch emotions.

The Chinese New Year starts with the second New Moon after the winter solstice, occurring between Jan 21 and Feb 19, and is a 12-year cycle; each year is named after a different animal that imparts individual characteristics to its year.

The Chinese New Year is celebrated for 15 days. The 15th day of the New Year is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade.

In the 12-year cycle, each year is named after a different animal that imparts individual characteristics to its year. Beliefs are that the year of a person's birth is the primary cause in shaping that person's character traits, physical and mental attributes and extent of success and happiness throughout his or her lifetime.

You may like to check out my main sources for information yourself. www.educ.uvic.ca/faculty/mroth...

http://www.afk.com/

www.index-china.com/index-engl...

www.euroasiasoftware.com/engli...

www.chinatoday.com/culture/zod...

Your Chinese name and what your name stands for in the Chinese Zodiac.

www.mandarintools.com/chinesename.html

As always, please remember this is just for fun; nothing is etched in stone.

According to http://www.afk.com/ ,
The Chinese calendar is based on a combination of lunar and solar movements. The lunar cycle is about 29.5 days. In order to "catch up" with the solar calendar the Chinese insert an extra month once every few years (seven years out of a 19-yearcycle). This is the same as adding an extra day on leap year. This is why, according to the solar calendar, the Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year.
New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are celebrated as a family affair, a time of reunion and thanksgiving. The celebration was traditionally highlighted with a religious ceremony given in honor of Heaven and Earth, the gods of the household and the family ancestors.
The sacrifice to the ancestors, the most vital of all the rituals, united the living members with those who had passed away. Departed relatives are remembered with great respect because they were responsible for laying the foundations for the fortune and glory of the family.
The presence of the ancestors is acknowledged on New Year's Eve with a dinner arranged for them at the family banquet table. The spirits of the ancestors, together with the living, celebrate the onset of the New Year as one great community. The communal feast called "surrounding the stove" or weilu. It symbolizes family unity and honors the past and present generations.

Chinese tradition distinguishes the creation of the signs to the Yellow Emperor in 2637 BC; a semi mythical figure in Chinese history, while other legends endorse Buddha (c.563-c.483 BC) with the creation of the 12-animal cycle.

The legend:

Buddha of the sky decided to hold a competition for the animals' places in the zodiac sequence. What would happen is that the first animal that reported to the Buddha would be placed first in the sequence and so on. Originally, the rat and the cat were friends, and agreed that they would wake each other up on the day of the competition so that they would have a head start ahead of the other animals. However, the rat was rather conniving, and decided to sleep in the ear of the ox. The rat knew that the ox was accustomed to waking up early. The next morning, the ox woke up very early, traveled across ponds and charged through valleys and just before they arrived in front of the Buddha, the rat jumped out of the tired ox's ear and gained first place in the sequence. The other animals followed, and you can see that the laziest animal, the pig, won the last spot in the sequence. The reason that there is no cat in the zodiac sequence is because the cat never woke up. This is the reason the cat and rats are enemies to this day.

The Chinese Zodiac does become much more interesting. For instance, the aspect of every other year is either Yin or Yang and is also one of five elements being water, metal, fire, wood and earth. This year, the year of the Monkey, Aspect is Yang and Element is Wood. This combination only happens every 60 years. The Zodiac is also divided 12 times a day, which would make a total of 8640 combinations. (12 animals x 5 elements x 12 months x 12 times of day)

2004 is The Year of the Monkey, which started on Jan 22, 2004, Lunar Year 4702.

Monkey people are intelligent and a very clever wit. Your extraordinary nature and magnetic personality make you always well liked. The Monkey people, however, must guard against being opportunistic and suspicious of other people. This sign promises success in any field you try.


The next Chinese New Year begins on January 21, 2005 and will be the year of the Rooster.

Rooster people are hard workers, shrewd and definite in decision-making. Because they often speak their mind, they tend to seem arrogant to others. Monkey people are dreamers, flashy dressers, and excessive to an extreme. If you are born under this sign you should be happy as a restaurant owner, publicist, soldier or world traveler.

Oh well, only 10 more years to wait for my year again. “Dong Hoy Fat Choy!�

Hope I spelled that right. Happy New Year!

PS

If anyone knows the correct spelling, please let me know, Thanks.

I live alone except for my birds: 4 year-old, Rosey, and 1 year-old, Popeye. We are a family of mix origin: I'm Pennsylvania Dutch, Scotch, German and Irish and a drop of Cherokee, Rosey is a pearl (gray & white with rosy cheeks) cockatiel. Rosey's new hubby; Popeye, is a bred white cockatiel (white with some tuxedo gray patches).
Rosey is half normal size, because her breeder's didn't feed her properly when she was a hatchling. To help fledgling birds attain their natural size and be healthy, breeders should allow the parents to feed their young and supplement with extra food when handling the young getting them accustomed to human touch; Rosey missed out on all this. As a result, she is mean to most and claimed me as her mom; in fact she didn't accept him for almost a year, then finally decided he might be okay. She had difficulty adjusting to his machismo attitude. Like most males, he wants to dominate the supposed weaker sex; however, Rosey is far from being weak. She may be a midget Pearl, but like dynamite, she can pack a wallop when overheated. Don't get me wrong, she isn't a total bitch all the time; just while she's awake, and to everyone except me. She is nice to poor, unsuspecting, gentle, one-eyed Popeye. I say unsuspecting because she seems to delight in choosing the most peaceful moments to get angry with him. I don't watch them constantly, so he might have been hogging the best treat, seed cup or hanging treat; or for that matter some favorite perch at the moment or he wants in the tent I made for them; (he isn't all innocent either).
Popeye was maimed by a rather large Macaw of the previous owner, (thus the reason for his name change from whatever it was to Popeye.
Sometimes I think they act like an old married couple and other times, call the attorney, there's a divorce in the offing. I believe they do love one another though, and tempers will flair; but they always make up in the end.
Theirs is one of those Spring and Winter romances. LOL He's been madly in love since they met (he was all of 5 months old), but she wouldn't have a thing to do with him until October of this year. I have the nursery all fixed up if and when the little egg(s) get laid. Rosey may be to small and then again, she might just be a holding her eggs.
Hay, I can relate, the fun isn't taking care of kids, it's the messing around; especially if she's got a young stud hot to trot all the time. He doesn't have a bit of problem with the one eye other than at night, and she guides him around. He is learning to trust me in the dark; Rosey walks anywhere in the apartment in the dark, unafraid. (street tuff) LOL
They have the run of the house except when they are nasty to each other or me, then they do cage time for a couple days. Straightens them right out. For the most part they share a very large cage and until recently the large door was always open so they could go anywhere they wanted.
I finally put my foot down to the open door policy when Popeye decided to start climbing the curtains to the top of the traverse rods. He was able to coax Rosey to join him and the two of them march back and forth across the top of the drapes; crapping down the drapes, sheers and vertical blinds. Too much cleaning for me, thanks; now they come out when I'm ready to allow them to crap on me. Hay what's a little bird droppings among family.
So every evening they get their personal time out with mom and run over to the edge of the chair, look down at the bag of stick pretzels and wait to be fed their nightly ration.
Popeye wolf whistles, whistles for a dog, kisses and says "Good Morning and watcha doing, huh". Rosey says,"Sweetie, please and thank you and laughs"
They both choose the times they want to do or say these things; neither will do them on request. EXCEPT for a stick pretzel once in a while.
Rosey likes to run up my chest, place her face almost against my nose and laugh when I least expect. Makes me jump about four feet every time. Ornery cuss!
Each evening I put them back in the cage I tell them good night when I shut the lights off and like most mothers when leaving the children's rooms I say I love you, see you in the morning.
Maybe one day they'll surprise me and say those things back to me; it worked with good morning, so I'm hopeful.
I'll keep you posted if there's any new additions to the odd family. Maybe in the Spring she'll feel like being a mommy.

Pick a topic any topic and ask Jeeves. It is the coolest search and answer site there is in my book. Google and the others all have their own good points but man o man Jeeves rules.
Who said, Once in a while you gotta take a chance.
What's the origin of St. John's Wort?
What is Zurtek used for ?
What is a blog?
What's the address of the Social Security office for Aberdeen, WA?
Where can I find pictures of US Sailing Vessels?
Where can I get plans for building a functional alcohol still?
Where can I get a recipe for making French bread?
Where can I get a recipe for making brandy?
How do I build a nesting box for cockatiels?

These are just some of the topics I've requested from Jeeves in the recent past, and each one I got just what I needed without having to do extra searching and hours of reeding to find what I wanted.

Now I should cop to it that my favorite dog was named Geevers. He was a my super dog. His lineage was English Sheep dog (standard), Great Dane (BIG standard Dane), Rhodesian Ridge-back and Russian Wolf Hound. This guy grew big enough my daughter could ride him like a pony. I'm not tall but at my

5 foot 2 1/4 inches he could almost look me in the eye, and did look down on me when he put his front paws on my shoulders. He was my woods dog (my companion while I worked in the woods). His breed was bread originally for hunting bear and wolves; however, he made an excellent companion and protector for a single female tramping around in the wilds of the mountain wilderness areas.

Oh, Geevers we had some good days didn't we.

I think about him most over the Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays.

You are probably wondering why I brought him up with a search engine. I guess it's just a tweak of the name; maybe it's just that like the search engine Jeeves, my Geevers was always ready, waiting eagerly and capable of getting me what I needed or wanted. Willing to go with me wherever I was going; and saved my ass more than once.

I'll have to tell you about this magnificent animal sometime, but then I'd have to reminisce of my other dear furry canine friends. Chea, my endangered species red Wolf friend. Geevers, my woods Horse dog friend. Louigi Giovanni the Tooth, my vegetarian black Coyote friend, and Crown Jewel, my Lassie double Colly friend. Until then if you haven't experienced Jeeves first hand; by all means ask a question your curious about and see if you don't get a great answer, quickly.

Happy questioning.