Heroes

Summer of 2006 was a rather interesting time for me. I was single, learning how to deal with my wandering spirit without picking up and moving to the East coast. I've always lived near the ocean or another large body of water, except when I was in Denver or Phoenix. So it was only natural that I migrate towards the coast again for my own mental and emotional health, to center myself in certain ways. After watching the Hitchcock classic "The Birds" and realizing finally after having seen it for the umpteenth million time, that it was filmed in the cities of Bodega and Bodega Bay. It was a natural choice to start the centering of myself, so I picked up and headed to the coast. I did this for nearly 2 full months of weekends, it wasn't until probably the 3rd or 4th trip to the coast that I came across a little turn out that had a couple of cars in it.

I decided to stop to see what it was all about, it was a nice warm day with a light breeze coming from the sea, the salt in the air always a welcome scent. The grasses were golden, and the sun was near the horizon, but still allowed for an hour or so of day light. I found the dirt path that slowly turned into sand, on this path there was a stone monument with a brass plaque on it, with flowers, toys and all sort of gifts setting on and around it. I stopped to read and found out that this was a monument dedicated to Nicholas Green of Bodega Bay, for those of you who don't recognize his name, he was the 7 year old boy who was shot by highway robbers in Messina Italy, he died a couple days later from his injuries, and his parents Reg and Maggie decided to donate his organs. This was nearly unheard of in Italy at the time, and I remember how much of an impact this made to the people in Europe, especially to the 2 people who gained eyesight, and the 5 who gained a new lease on life, 4 of which were teenagers. The Italians were astounded that this family who had just lost their 7 year old son to robbers in their country and would be willing to donate his organs so that others might live, that the country opened it's heart to the family raising donations for the family.

In the wake of the events, the Greens have done a tremendous amount of work to raise awareness for organ donations, writing books and articles, made a video, gave interviews, answered letters and started a group called The Nicholas Green foundation . Today the foundation gives out their Nicholas Green Distinguished student award to 1 student from each state, they also award 1 Italian doctor a grant to come to the states to study the most advanced organ transplant techniques.

I digress though.

The plaque went on to tell of The Children's Bell Tower, the tower was built in 1995 by artist Bruce Hasson, this monument is about 18' tall, consists of 3 towers stacked on each other, and has 140 bells which were gathered from all over Italy, some of which are over 100 years old. These bells were donated from schools, churches, mines, ships, and some were even family keepsakes. There's even 1 cowbell. Some were forged specifically for this monument, the largest and most prominent being a 30" bell which was forged by the Marinelli foundry which has been forging Papal bells for nearly 1000 years now. Nicholas' name is on this bell, as well as the 7 people who received the transplants and Pope John Paul II blessed the bell before it was shipped to California.

This just absolutely blew me away when I saw it. The bells sing when the wind blows and you can hear them from the parking lot on a nice quiet day with the nice summer breeze blowing. This is a very powerful monument, it's amazing that one act of selfishness cowardice on the robbers part could lead to a moving experience for an entire country if not the whole world. So my question is this, who are the heroes?

Phenomenons

So Mie and I were watching the God box last night and we came across a program which was about the North American "Upright Hairy Creatures". That led to a rather interesting conversation which covered everything from the North American Upright Hairy Creatures, which by the way looks allot like a werewolf to UFOs.

We postulated about the origins of these Upright Hairy Creatures, could they be part of some sort of genome splicing project testing? Creating some sort of super wolf that our government will use to hunt down people who they're looking for in wilderness areas? Some sort of super weapon which can communicate through speech and take orders like a soldier? These things have been seen through out the wilds of Wisconsin, not so much in Northern Illinois, I guess these Upright Hairy Creatures aren't that much into corn.

Then there were other sightings of larger Upright Hairy Creatures which look more like giant ape people. Could these Upright Hairy Ape People be another genome splicing project which was created to police the other Upright Hairy Creatures which are more werewolf like. Which in itself is scary because they're making a policing force of Sasquatches.

Then they covered UFOs and Ufologists (yes, that's an actual science). I was telling Mie that there is no such thing as UFOs, she asked how I came to that conclusion. I told her that since 1947 at the Roswell NM crash site, they were no longer Unidentified, that the powers that be now knew what they were and where they were from. So when the government tells you that there is no such thing as a UFO, they're telling you the truth. I do believe that there is intelligent life outside of our solar system. It would be kind of silly, in my opinion, to know for a fact that there are other Earth-class planets or for those Trekkie's out there M-class planets and there not be any intelligent life forms of one form or another. I have a friend of mine who even stated that if it's not an alien race, it could very well be us from the future coming back into time to tell us that we're fucking it up, stop fucking it up. That they're tired of dealing with the ramifications of the crap that we are doing to our planet right now. Which makes a certain amount of sense.

So whether it's Upright Hairy Creatures which look like wolves, apes or just plain old Sasquatches, or Aliens from another planet or another time, I don't think that we've discovered all there is to discover about this planet and all of it's fun little nooks and crannies.

In conclusion, we finished our night watching about real Fight Clubs, when she promptly turned to me and asked if I would be interested in something like that. It sounds interesting, but no... Something about being beaten with a 30 oz stick repeatedly sounds about as appealing as being woken up by someone beating me in the crotch with a toaster.

Been tagged

I've been tagged (by Sybil sorry Mie)and cataloged, with any luck I'll be released back into the wild. So what am I suppose to do here? Go through each of the traits for my month? ok, let's see what I've got:

FEBRUARY:
Abstract thoughts= Here is an abstract thought, Fred Durst and Limp Biz-quick singing a George Michael's song "Faith"... I still think that he needs to have his head shoved into a pool of liquid poop. Is that an abstract thought or are we thinking along the lines of Salvador Dali or would that be more along the line of Surrealism?

Loves reality and abstract. HAHAHA!! I live in the land of Denial, somewhere in the state of Confusion, on Tequila Gum drop lane.

Intelligent and clever, yes I am, but shhhh! Don't tell anyone, or my job as a computer janitor would be in jeopardy

Changing personality... What? Like a chameleon? OoOoooh, I can be like that guy on Pretender, I could be a doctor one day, then a race car driver the next day. That would be cool... :)

Attractive~ If I could do a smiley face with the screwed up concentration look, then I would. I would have to venture a guess and say that's a definite maybe, I mean, Mie puts up with me, so I can't be that horribly disfigured, which leads into the next question...

Sexy, I'm as sexy as anyone can be with a 3rd arm jutting out of the back of their head can be.. You should see how I can scratch the glutes... That's right Bay-by.

Temperamental- Oh yeah, I'm angry all the time. grr..

Quiet, shy and humble- Without a doubt, I have a hard time opening up and letting people in. (honest)

Honest and loyal-- Absolutely, without question. I would help any of my friends with what ever they need, except with the whole hiding the bodies, I can't do that... well maybe, if they really deserved it.

Determined to reach goals Well DUH!! You don't make it to co-assistant head janitorial engineer in training without being determined. But on a different note if you're passionate enough about something, when you hit a roadblock you will find a way to go through, over, under or around it, and yes there are plenty of goals which I would do any of those things to achieve them.

Loves freedom // yes... can't live with boundaries, well I can, but not for long.

Rebellious when restricted \\ I'm rebellious when I'm not restricted too, just ask Mie about the glass doors at the restaurant.

Loves aggressiveness ~ There is a time and place for aggressiveness, like when some dork fish is trying to take the last Twinkies off of the store shelf, in that case that bastard is going down. Or when it comes to knowing what is the best course for something that is important to you and your family and putting it into play.

Too sensitive and easily hurt !~! I AM NOT!! WHO TOLD YOU THAT?!?! I HATE THEM.*sob*.. no not really, I don't get butt hurt about things too easily.

Gets angry really easily but does not show it. Only when MG is in the car do I hold back any sign of anger, other than that let the obscenities fly while driving and when I'm angry, you'll know it.

Dislikes unnecessary things. 3 words Jeet Kune Do. Bruce Lee's martial art, which strips away all the unnecessary and unneeded movement from other martial arts, I think that most things can benefit from removing the unnecessary things, trimming the fat, making things more efficient.

Loves making friends but rarely shows it. This I do agree with, I like meeting new people, I don't know how you show you like making friends though, so that part is a little confusing. : \

Daring and stubborn -0- Stubborn without any question, daring though is another thing, I can't think of anything more daring than driving through a blizzard in near white out conditions going down hill to work at 5 in the morning, but that's a daily thing lately. Maybe ordering puffer fish sushi made by a sushi apprentice, is that daring?

Ambitious. Yes, I want it all and will soon rule the world MUAHAHAHA!!!

Realizes dreams and hopes (-) On occasion, it all goes back to that passion thing, if you have passion about something you'll realize dreams and hopes come hell or high water.

Sharp, Dull as a crayon used by a 3 year old pressing down with all their might.

Loves entertainment and leisure @# Who doesn't? Have you ever heard someone say "Science dammit, I have too much entertainment and leisure in my life? F* the peas, I need more strife and stress" I mean, besides the ones who are trying to be starving artists?

Romantic on the inside not outside -- I'm romantic on the outside, just as much as the inside, I've been coined as being addicted to romance. :)

Superstitious and ludicrous... Spiritual, is that different then Superstitious? I don't do any of the "Step on a crack..." stuff, and the only thing ludicrous would be "Barf! Ludicrous Speed" 5 points for who ever tells me where that's from. :)

Spendthrift - Only when it comes to people I care about.

Tries to learn to show emotions _-_ I use to try, but not any more, I just smile a lot now... That's more to keep them guessing than anything else. :)

Ok

So I got to meet Aunt Tuna and Uncle Heinz this past weekend, along with Mother, Daughter, Grandmother sibling. I have to say, they're a nice seemingly normal family. Apparently though, because I'm a fan of the "other" bay area football team, I'll have to see if I can redeem myself in the eyes of Uncle Heinz by farting in B Flat... :) I like them, they're good people.

Ok I received 2 suggestions on topics. First would be how men think. It's really simple, we're not complex creatures at all. I think that it was Jeff Foxworthy and Ron White who said we want to drink and see something naked. If you think that there are ulterior methods outside of that, you're giving us WAY to much credit. I would have to say though, your husband doesn't forget to take out the trash, he just likes to get your ire up by "forgetting" to take out the trash on trash day. Women tend to do stuff and don't really expect to get praise for doing them (This is my experiences, not any kind of scientific methodology behind it) where as if a guy cleans out the ash tray, he'll go outside to where the woman is building a fence or repaving the driveway and tell her that she doesn't have to worry about cleaning the ashtray, he's taken care of it for her. There are other guys too though, the ones who can't sit still. They'll have their hand in a cast from just having their arm reattached after just having it gnawed off while fighting off a dozen starving crazed weasels, they'll be going completely stir crazy from sitting more than 14.5 minutes in the same spot. So they'll go out and start to pull weeds with their good hand or build an addition to the house, I've noticed that there might be some in between the extremes of having their butts fully rooted to their chairs with the remote surgically attached to their hands, and those who can't sit still for longer than 14.5 minutes in the same spot, but I don't have that much time to cover them all or the space.

The other topic was to tell how Mielikki and I met, I'll give you 3 scenarios and you decide which one is more true:

1)There I was, strapped to the whipping table at the Exotic Erotic Ball in CowTown, 10w-50 all over me, welt marks raising up on my butt and back when in comes this Super hot woman dressed in Ren Fair garb, she broke out the little leather whip, went to work with that whip and won her way into my heart. :)

2) We met in a local concert, Violent Vengeance Festival of Death (Kind of like Day on the Green for death metal bands) I was in the pit, when I took a fist to the face which loosened my teeth in front and broke my nose, I looked over and there was this beautiful woman with the total destruction of mankind in her eyes and a growl of rage and fury on her lips. I couldn't resist, after I had my nose reset and the blood stopped flowing, I had to get her name and number so that I could see her again, when I could see again.

3) We met like more Geeks do everyday, online. We talked on line for a little while, then on the phone and finally met in person at a restaurant with no name, She sat in the restaurant watching as I walked past 3 or 4 times, until I finally asked a store clerk 2 doors down where Podunk Eats was. We spoke for a little while, which ended up being a couple of hours, then walked down to Downtown Podunk to a little creamery with a cold stone in it, where I made a complete mess of myself by spilling ice cream down the front of me because I was trying to act cool, then we went to see a movie, and afterwards she drove me back to my little Jeep, and after all that, she even felt sorry enough for me that she agreed to go out with me again. :)

So you choose which scenario best fits the Mielikki that you know. :)

Oh and Merry Belated Christmas and for my Jewish friends, Happy Belated Hanukkah.

Just stop and Think

I stopped to think the other day, and I forgot to start again.

I don't have any topics that sound interesting. So I'll let you come up with some ideas on what you'd like to hear about, and I'll do what I can with the topic. :

Heaven help me....

Nothing like a forehead with Blue Bawls.

Some Christmas Memories

I've noticed that the past couple of posts I've made have been pretty down. So I've decided to go through some of the things that I like about this season over the past thirty-*cough* years.

1) The anticipation of kids who are looking forward to Christmas day, their enthusiasm can be contagious at times. When they're just old enough to get out of bed by themselves and they sneak out into the front room, then you can hear their little feet come running down the hall to wake you with their little excited "SANTA CAME!! SANTA CAME!! GET UP!" and you get out of bed with all of 15 minutes of sleep after wrapping and putting all of their Santa presents out not more than 20 minutes ago, you get your coffee and watch them circle the tree in sheer excitement, not knowing which present to dive on first.

2)When I was a kid, we use to take the wrapping paper rolls and have roll "sword" fights, which I would be beaten within an inch of my life. We'd break the first roll each then go running into the house asking mom where she stashed the other rolls. I think she use to hide them from us just to torture us and make us tear the place apart to find them, after we found them, she would make us put everything back before we could go outside and beat each other stupid with the rolls again. "ARGH!! MOM!! Don't you know that the fate of the intergalactic empire is at stake? Can't we clean the room up after? " Darth Mom- "No" Jedi force super imperial special interceptor trooper MM and The Evil Darth Older Brother "Ahhhh man...." as we slunk back to the room to clean, which would always turn into yet another inter galactic duel to the death with the pilfered wrapping paper rolls.

3) Sleeping with my brother and sister in my sister's room on Christmas eve, lying there trying to figure out what Santa was going to bring for us.

4) Going to the store with my dad on Christmas Eve to get my mom a huge bottle of $5 perfume, because if there's more of it, then it surely must be the best stuff, right? Then my mom's look of hidden horror as she opened it, gave me a kiss, then while looking at my dad and saying through gritted teeth "Thanks HON-EY" I know for a fact that you could probably have powered a tug boat with the fuel that was in that perfume bottle, but she never made a "stink" about it, pun intended.

5) Playing with my slot cars that Santa brought, when our dad would relinquish the controller. He showed us how to take the little cars apart, configure them for the best speed and then put them back together, he'd also show us how to put a little bump in the track so that the metal contacts would still touch, but which enough speed they'd jump the track, if you put enough speed on the car and enough of a bump in the track we found out that you could get the cars to jump up onto the coffee table and nearly take out mom's coffee cup. Well until she put the tissue box in front of the cup to protect it.

6) Putting up and decorating the fake tree every year. Mom would pull out the ornaments to each of us kids and we'd put them on the tree in clumps, bare spots be darned. That whole process would take what felt like an eternity, with lights, tinsel, the ribbons, bobbles, and little hanging decorations, and I miss every second of it.

7) Going over to my aunt and uncle's for dinner with the rest of the family, the noise of the older kids playing their music and laughing, my dad and uncle on the couches snoring away and my mom, aunt and the older girls in the kitchen talking about everything under the sun.

8) Thinking that I was going to be a hero when I found a Tickle Me Elmo in a Toy's R Us during the great Elmo drought of 1996, I was so proud of myself for getting one for my little girl, I took it home, wrapped it extra specially, put a huge bow on it with ribbon, I spent nearly 2 hours wrapping Elmo to be just perfect. I made sure that it was going to be the "big present" for MG, when the other presents were done and the paper melee settled down, I pulled out the "big present" so that MG could tear into it. Now here's how it went in my mind 'MG would open the present, after admiring the perfect wrapping, the ribbon and the just right bow, the would look at the Elmo and tickle him, giggle with extreme joy then jump into my lap and give me the biggest hug her little arms could muster, saying Thank you daddy, it's the best present in the whole world, I'm the luckiest little girl EVER!" What actually happened was she ripped into the wrapping, with a total disregard to the perfect wrapping, grabbed Elmo which went off, laughing giggling and jiggling, at which point she dropped Elmo, climbed into my lap as if Elmo was coming at her with a immunization shot, crying. She wanted absolutely nothing to do with Elmo, he scared the crap out of her. If I remember correctly, her favorite toy that year was a cardboard box that held a quilt that her mom received, so we took out some crayons and decorated the box for her and took Elmo back to the store the next day.

9) The look on my parents face when it was all over, tired, exhausted to be exact, but a look of pure joy at watching their kids enjoying the hard work and effort that they poured into getting each and every gift, each one hand picked and selected for just us. Or it could have been the pure joy of not having to clean up the mess that we made, because that's what we as kids had to do for our real present to our parents.

10) Going back and thinking of things for this list.

I may be Grinchy sometimes, but I do love this time of year, it tends to bring out the best in most people. Sometimes I wonder why we can't make it last throughout the year, but if we did that, than this wouldn't be the most wonderful time of the year, would it?