P.E.B.K.A.C.

Oh no!

I think I may have to start to call myself a (DUN DUN Dunnn) a Southerner!

I was born up in Wisconsin. Yeah I did not live there all that long, maybe 6 months, soon to move to Florida then soon after moved to the heart of the south Atlanta Georgia. Even though I do not recall living any place but Atlanta, I have always called myself a Yankee, Cheese Head, rooted for the Packers if a game was on even if they were not playing <Yeah I am nuts & know nothing about football> & I feel more comfortable in the snow then the heat of summers. I got Northern Blood flowing through my veins; both my parents have long time family roots in the north. As I grew up & travelled the world I baffled foreigners with my lack of a southern accent. I did feel the need to have read Gone with the Wind before heading off for school in England.

Well here it is the big step in me becoming a “Southerner” I have found that I crave Sweet Ice Tea!

ACK! Quick think of something Yankee like Dairy Cows, Snow, Ice Fishing, Brautworst.

Oh No I think I my Northern Blood is thinning!

Pass me that pitcher of tea and lets watch some Packers! What? It’s Baseball Season!

I have found a new genre of books that I would have never thought that I would read, I am admitting a major secret here that only my husband knows about till you read these words. I am going to put the blame of this shameful secret on a friend whom I will change his name for safety reasons (Ha ha like anyone is going to hunt down the person who got me hooked on more books. ok maybe Jason would )

Years ago while I was going to school in England Kevin would send me off to the long flight with a book he read that he knew I would like or send me a care package with a book or two.  Two of these books are the first books in a series of books, one was by George R.R. Martin called A Game of Thrones and the other was Larell K. Hamilton called Guilty Pleasures.

A Game of Thrones grabbed me so tightly that I read this 704 page book, which by others have been called a door stop, in what felt like mere moments. I had a hard time putting this book down at night cause I just had to know what happened next to my favorite characters, with chapters devoted to each characters lives in different areas I would find myself trying hard to rationalize reading all the chapters between just to see if they made it out of the castle alive or what not. I was lucky that I had Kevin to send me the next book in the series. I am still on baited breath waiting for the next book.

But due to me finding myself lost in this story it helped me find other books that I would have passed by. Some by George R.R. Martin Fevre Dream & the Wild Card books, some just found me The Postman,

Guilty Pleasures showed me a world about vampires, magic detective work and assassination. Once again I found myself having a hard time putting the book down. Laurell K. Hamilton has put out 16 books to this date in the Anita Blake series. I did find that as the books went on that their was abit more of the sexual element then I would like so I stopped reading them somewhere in the single digits.

Even thou I did not stick with this series to the end, I did find other book series that pull me into a new world. Dead Until Dark, Grave Sight, Shakespear’s Landlord all first books in series by Charlaine Harris. Undead & Unwed, Sleeping with the Fishes, The Royal Treatment, Jennifer Scales & the Ancient Furnace all first books in series by MaryJanice Davidson. Moon Called first of two so far by Patrica Briggs. California Demon: The Secret Life of a Demon-Hunting Soccor Mom first in a 3 book series by Julie Kenner.

So what is my secret? I read what my husband calls Paranormal Romance. Ok ok they are paranormal and some have romance in them, but so do 90% fiction books out there & they do not call them crime romance novel or action romance novels. Grrrrrrrr. Just cause there are people in the story that date one another does not make it a Romance Novel. Anyways that’s the secret. Some may think it is nothing & others may laugh, but what they heck!

I read do you?

I enjoy the off beat, be it stories, places or people. I used to be clearly off beat person, but as of lately I have outwardly become normal so to say. Today my off beatness is hidden from the everyday person. To those that are strangers that pass in the night here is a view into my interest.

I love stories of crime be it true to fictitious, ancient to today, solved to unsolved, written to TV I find it all fascinating.

The first crime to ever capture my imagination was the death of King Tut the child Pharaoh, the thoughts as to if it was murder or accident, if murder was it due to want of power, politics, money, or return to old religion. This complex story lead me down the road of wanting to be an archaeologist so that I might be able to answer a question of “who done it?”. It was a simple thought process for a young child to want to know “who done it” but as I have grown I want other questions answered. With a unnatural death what was the catalyst, what was seen to have great enough value to take someones life, be it present, past or even ancient past. My questions are not limited to just the one on one crime but that of a large collective. As seen in societies it is found to be OK, if not needed, for the death of another to cause change or to provide examples. Change in politics, god’s favor, purity of race, power, territories, trade, greed, religion/morals or law can be seen as sanctioned reasons by Societies for unnatural/murder of others deaths through out history.  

I guess this is all to give some understanding as to how my seemingly macabre interest just comes around to the simple idea of knowing how a we all tick be it on our own or as a collective, what is our value?

With all of this said I hope that by stating that one of the main places that I want to go to if I should ever visit Los Angeles will be understood. A must visit stop for me is L.A. Morgue gift shop.

There is a movement that has been started to help people make reading a part of their every day. The Idea is to read 52 books in 52 weeks. I do not think that I will have a problem with this goal seeing as I devourer books. I even joked with Jason about trying to do 104 books in 52 weeks, but the look on his face told me that I should not make it my goal. I Love you Honey!

The problem that I may come to is complicated. My desire to read a series of books one after another which in turn means I quickly get to the end of the series. At the end of the series I curse the Authors for writing such good books but yet not writing the next book fast enough. Well I really can not blame them, I have found that I will read a book by a favorite author in as little as 6 hours. It made me oh so sad, I waited months for the book to come out & WHAM I am done. ^%*&^(#!@*&! Then I silently pout & sludge though other books till the Next Favorite Author comes along or a Past Favorite Author puts out a new book & the cycle starts again.

Maybe some of you will understand & maybe others will think “Man she is N.U.T.S.”. But as my husband does when I ask him if he thinks I am nuts, he looks at me lovingly and says “Honey I don’t think your nuts, I know your Nuts”!

I have my Explorer page set up still with my defalt DELL pages. I am not really sure as to why I have not changed it but for the fact that I have no clue as to what would I change it to? The page is just a mish mash of links to news being on diffrent news sources, what the date & time is & most helpful is a window that lets me know what the weather is like in Our Favorite Vacation spot Cancun (which by the way is 78 & sunny, mmmm nice). Everyonce in a while I look to the far right corner at the bottom & it helpfully lets me know what the most looked at or interesting Youtube videos are. Mostly I find that they are not worth the brain cells that I use to watch them but I try them every now & then. The other day this one caught my eye & I can not seem to get the visual out of my head. No it is not sick or of stupid people doing some trick with cinnamon. The music is good & the idea behind it was maybe something of an art project but I love to watch it.

Tell me what you think… Too much time on someones hands or were they artistic in their idea?

The Death & Life of Ice Cream

This years party we attended was sponsored by Rick & Langley as well as some of their lovely neighbors. It started at 7 at Rick & Langley’s town home for drinks & some appetizers & then moved slightly down a few doors. We missed all the fun at Rick & Langley’s but arrived to a lively party underway. Food spread was complete from Ham to chocolate fountain. Drinks available a keg outside on the deck to all things needed to mix your own drinks. The hostess loved making group shots for everyone which suspiciously became heavier with the alcohol as it neared midnight. Midnight hit with the party gathered around the TV to watch the New York ball slowly fall to the count down to 2008. 2008 entered with kisses & hugs passed out to friends & strangers alike, amidst cheers of “WOOOO 2008″ and “Happy New Years”! Cell phones came out so that calls could be made to friends & family that were at other parties or just in other time zones so we could go nah nah nahha to them that we got to 2008 first. Through the drunken haze of cheers Fireworks were brought out & the real noise & light show began on the deck. Even though smarts seemed to have been toss over the deck with the first firework no one was hurt, well Jason some how had some arm hair singed off.

The Party raged on, but after 2 am Jason wanted to get a move on for our long drive home. As Jason headed off to find our coats the guitar for Guitar Hero was being held up looking for the next to play. Oh Why not the alcohol has dulled any pain that my poor mangled finger may have and I have missed playing Rock Band over this past month. I took a hold on that there guitar and picked some song & went to town on playing. I did well with it but messed up in some part of the song but got back on track. In the end they cheered & said I rocked while Jason slipped my coat on me & we headed out.

Blast had by all!

So 2008 is here & what are you going to do with it?

I was not planning on making ANY New Years Resolutions, cause by just making one makes you bound to breaking it. I am hoping that I am wrong on that thought cause here I go making one. This Blog has been created so that I can gather my thoughts & intrests so that others can learn more about what makes my world go around. An effect of this will be that I will work on my writing skill. I hope that you will forgive my fumbles as I put words to the internet and stick with me while I as well as you may see the corners of my silent mind.

Come on in & sit awhile.