Once upon a time there was this girl. She had an attitude. And a spirit nobody could tame. She was tough and attacked each new day without fear. She went by my name and spoke with a voice only I could hear. She lived in my mind. But now...she's coming out.
Archives:
30.10.01 ( 9:20 AM ) Val I received my e-newsletter "850 Words of Relevant" today. It started a discussion about the church (as in the one we attend every sunday, not Church:the Bride of Christ) today. I picked up an amazing quote: "I'm tired of hearing the bold commands and uncompromising calls of the Messiah swept under the rug with saccharine platitudes, and shrugged off with anything less than a painful crucifixion of my whole being."
I was going to include a link so you could all check out the most current newsletter, but I didn't find it...so...maybe another day.
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29.10.01 ( 11:35 PM ) Val Today is my birthday!
Mom gave me a *gorgeous* watch and the fabric for a pair of pants and a skirt for her to make me. Albert gave me a jewelry box/musicbox (plays "Favorite Things"). Aunt Melissa made me one of those ukranian painted egg ornaments--that thing is stunning. PJ gave me a Scooby-Doo book "My First Words" (gotta love it). Dancer Girl gave me a Betty Crocker easy chicken recipe book and a very pretty tealight candle holder. Ron stopped by with a stuffed animal (thus continuing a three year tradition) and chocolate truffles (he knows me well). My father called. Aaron, my friend in Buffalo, called. Joel called. It was a very good day.
And tomorrow it just gets better...I get to go out with My Fave Gal after work. :o)
I gave PJ my blog site addy today, so he'll be checking it out: HI PJ!!
I decided I want buff arms like Demi Moore's in G.I. Jane or Janet Jackson's. So, I decided the easiest thing that I could start right away and be consistent with is push-ups. Be proud of me, I did three regular straight leg push-ups, then I couldn't get up off the ground anymore. So, I did 8 using a table for arm support instead of the floor, then 10 against the wall...and today I am sore. I will persevere though. I'm all about the buff arms (and buff abs too). :o)
I saw Dancer Girl and Her Very Special Boy in church this morning. They are very cute. I also started a good conversation with My Fave Gal but then we had to stop talking since church was starting. Hopefully, we'll get to finish on the way to Sweet Aroma tonight.
I'm about to send out an e-mail to Righteous Babe...about time I got around to it! I better stop procrastinating and get to it. :op
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27.10.01 ( 2:40 PM ) Val 2 Days To My Birthday
I got my first birthday card today (in electronic form) from one of my guy friends who lives in Buffalo. It was very cute and featured a cat-like animal doing a little groove dance to a spiced up version of "The Birthday Song"...gotta love it. And then I got an e-mail from one of my girl friends who's at school out in Ohio (I miss you, hun). Plus, I'm making plans to go out with My Fave Gal on Tuesday night (on Monday, which is my actual birthday, I've got to rehearse and teach class)...life is good.
I wanted to go out with My Fave Gal today (I don't have to be to work until 5pm), but she's going to a wedding with her sister.
Dancer Girl's Very Special Boy is in town for the weekend, so she's incredibly ecstatic. She's in love with him and that is a very good thing. :o)
Anyway, I'm done for now. I have to write a letter to a girl friend from Buffalo (I haven't written her in ages!), and a letter to my Dad (because I'm still not sure if he ever got my e-mail with my blog address in it). I'm also going to try to write to My Best Bud and The Sweetest Girl either today or tomorrow.
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( 12:10 AM ) Val You know that BMW I drool over before going to work each day? It must have had an accident because there was a dent in the passenger side door. A medium size dent which (on such a small car) takes up most of the door...very distressing. The owner has got to get that fixed.
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25.10.01 ( 10:35 AM ) Val I told PJ about my issues with Christian journalistic writing and hip-hop writing, and I expressed my joy at
re-discovering G-Natural's work. In return, he told me about a new-comer Relevant Magazine, and forwarded me the latest installment of their newsletter: 850 Words of Relevant. Excellent stuff. I highly reccommend checking out the site and signing up.
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( 10:22 AM ) Val Winks are like off-the-shoulder tops and fishnet stockings. Little things, but incredibly effective when used properly.
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22.10.01 ( 4:55 PM ) Val One of my issues with Christian writing (especially journalistic) has always been that so much of it is lame. Some people don't pay any attention to developing their skill...and when you read it, the article just comes off as wack. (Note: I'll be the first to admit that I am not at all concerned about the principles of "good writing" when I'm posting. However, read anything that I'm writing for a purpose other than rambling and getting issues off my chest; you will discover that I always try to hold myself to a high standard)
That's why half the time I detest Christian magazines. It seems like unless the budget is kickin' and the layout looks real slick, the writing is shoddy. I don't mind a low-budget look (any kind of magazine/newspaper I put together would definitely be low-budget), but the writing needs to be consistently excellent. Secular Hip-hop stuff is similar...the journalists seem to forget that slang and good grammer can co-exist. So, when I went to Kingdom Bound this past August and received a free Christian magazine about hip-hop...I was not thrilled.
I opened it expecting more of the same substandard dribble I had seen before. However, the writing was amazing...it used slang, had good grammar, didn't waste words and managed not to lose any flavor. Then, I opened to a column by G-Natural and he instantly became my favorite Christian journalist (and not just for things concerning hip-hop). I was surfing the web today and read his latest column, In the Mix: One Love, and I was astounded. He broke down one of the arguments that I always here being discussed and addressed it in truth and love...and his article can apply to so much more in the Body of Christ as well. I loved it. Check it out!
Well, I got to blaze. I have to teach my class and go to practice for the Christmas family night at my church. Hopefully, I'll have the opportunity to post again later.
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( 11:10 PM ) Val The Princess and I are dancing tomorrow in church...the singers from the House of Prayer team (the older sister, mom and dad of the Princess...I'm the only one not related-"the chocolate daughter" is what My Best Bud's family calls me) are singing a song that Little Miss Sunshine (the older sister) wrote: "The Throne Room Song". Beautiful song, beautiful song. The Princess and I struggled to choreograph a dance for that one--wanted to make it as simple and powerful as the song itself is...
Then after church, we're all going out to lunch and going to try on the dresses that The Princess wants us to wear for her wedding. "We" refers to her bridesmaids. I have to be to work by 4...
I have to go wash dishes and put clothes in the wash now.
P.S. I'm planning a surprise for someone special...can't give any more details because they might end up reading this :o) hopefully, I'll be able to do it this next week--so, I'll reveal all then...*winks*
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18.10.01 ( 8:24 AM ) Val My neck is getting better, I can now tilt it about fifteen degrees to the right. Definite progress. I'm not going to take a muscle relaxant before I go to work, I think I'll be okay (especially with the hot shower I am about to take). However, I am about to go take one of the painkillers---it'll keep me from screaming in agony, if something happens to make me whip my head around too quick today.
11 Days Until My Birthday!!! The grand age of 19...I can hardly wait. :o)
I need to go shower, get started with my morning.
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( 8:20 AM ) Val At 1:44 am this morning, I was up...decided to write in my journal with the plan of posting it on my blog later (which would be now):
I can't sleep-I don't want to wake Mom up by turning on our rather noisy computer. I wrote a couple short fics, started a third...I'm not sure how much I like writing in someone else's voice though.--Train's going through, I was up to hear it last night too.--I was hungry, so I went into the kitchen: 2 slices of whole wheat bread and chocolate syrup squirted straight from the bottle down my throat (my neck doesn't hurt to tilt back)...I'm not sure if that actually constitutes a meal though-the chocolate syrup was fat free (!) and brand name (Smuckers) if that helps...
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17.10.01 ( 11:16 PM ) Val I'll be back to work tomorrow-yeah! I would have gone back today but I wasn't scheduled...I have too few hours this week, some nonsense like 23 or 24...not cool...I'll see if any of the part-timers needs someone to pick up a 4 or 5 hour shift, cause I'll definitely be happy to oblige.
My neck is still stiff, but at least I can hold it straight. I also didn't take any muscle relaxant pills today and only one painkiller (about 4 hours ago). I will take a muscle relaxant tomorrow morning, just to make sure my newfound mobility lasts through my work shift...
I'm checking out dance classes in the area (beginning ballet and int/adv modern) that I can take in my spare time...it is most def time for me to get back into dancing shape...
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16.10.01 ( 12:30 PM ) Val Yesterday was an adventure...to say the least.
I walked up to the bus stop to catch the # 3 to go downtown...fortunate me, there was a # 9 just pulling up. I ask if she's going downtown, she says "yes". I get on the bus, and the next thing I know we're zooming down Buffalo Rd away from downtown! I figure that I must have heard wrong, so I say "you're not going downtown, are you?" and she says "yes i am...eventually"
When we finally start heading towards downtown, this dude gets on the bus, decides he's going to sit down right next to me. I am holding my head and trying to massage some of the kinks out of my neck. He says (in this low, attempting to be seductive voice) "You look tired" I answer "No, my neck hurts." He says, "You must be tired" I say, very loudly, "No, my neck hurts!" He keeps trying to talk to me, but I'm through with him now. If you're gonna try to pick up girls on a bus (and you're not cute...at all), you need to have something else going for you-like intelligence and ingenuity. I say, "No, my neck hurts." He could have at least altered his (very lame) remark into "Do you want me to massage it for you?" I still wouldn't have talked to him, but he would have earned 10 points for boldness and creativity.
I get to my appointment about fifteen minutes late. This is my first appointment with this doctor, he's cool-laidback, sensible. He didn't try to yank my head back into position like a Nurse Practioner tried to do once. He hooked me up with muscle relaxant pills and pain reliever (and he wasn't talking about tylenol either!), gave me a prescription so I can get some more muscle relaxant pills. He told me I should take three days off of work (fat chance! as soon as my neck is on straight, I'm going back...), told me to schedule an appointment for next week. I took off today because my head was still skewed, I have a liitle more mobility though so it's working. Mommy made me a pillow thing out of rice that I can heat in the microwave, but I burnt it by accident cause I left the thing set on toast by accident. There are only a couple holes though, so I'm going to try to sew it back up.
15.10.01 ( 10:16 AM ) Val It says my BlogBack feature isn't properly setup...I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to do. I am just going to leave it alone for now...I'll figure it out later. Be warned, however, that if you try to click that comment link, I probably won't get whatever you tried to post.
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( 10:03 AM ) Val I had to call in sick to work today :o( not cool
I got a bad muscle spasm in my neck this morning at 7:30, so I can barely move my head...it is also tilted, so I have a 30 degree angle between my head and my left shoulder...it hurts. I called my doctor, and I have an appointment for 3pm today...I'm hoping he'll give me some muscle relaxant pills...hot compresses and ibuprofen ain't helpin!
Well, I get to update my blog-I logged on today to discover a new feature called BlogBack, soI'm going to see if I can add that to my blog.
I also talked to My Best Bud last night for a bit...that was nice.
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13.10.01 ( 9:51 PM ) Val I think I'd like to go to Morocco. Just a thought.
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( 2:37 PM ) Val My Best Bud, her younger sister (another good friend of mine)-she's The Sweetest Girl, are still in Texas with their Mom and Dad. Just found out that they'll be chillin' down there for awhile longer-they've got stuff to take care of...I MISS THEM!...a lot...
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( 2:28 PM ) Val So, I was reading my NextDraft newsletter from yesterday. I found the transcript from Thursday evening's press conference, as well as some very interesting commentary about President Bush:
"History has met George W Bush. This moment in time, as dark as it is, may be tailor made for the man currently living in the White House...here's the thing about W. It seems to me that the guy never lies and he never changes his mind. In the normal course of politices, these traits (especially the latter) don't always make for a good politician...when the seams begin to split, and the setbacks begin, George W will be challenged like never before. That is what the terrorists are counting on. That the US can't take the punches and this will eventually become a political battle not a military one. But in those moments, somewhere hiding in a cave, it may occur to these thugs that a guy who doesn't lie and never changes his mind has dedicated his life to their demise." --NextDraft {10.12.01} Right Here, Right Now
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12.10.01 ( 12:06 PM ) Val I watched most of President Bush's primetime news conference last night. He uses some rather strong language when he's speaking off-the-cuff...he called Bin Laden's people "parasites" and "thugs". He said some other stuff too that Mom and I were wincing at. It's almost like our President has no sense of diplomatic language when he's speaking, he just says what he needs to say in the plainest and strongest terms. No flowery stuff for him. I wonder what his advisors had to say about the words he used when he was no longer using the pre-written material? It's actually incredibly refreshing to have someone who just says what he's thinking without much editing...I'm gonna see if I can hunt down a transcript of the speech...can't find it right now, but I found one of the quotes I was looking for: "In order to avoid punishment, they should turn over the parasites that hide in their country." Now, you know there is no way any speechwriter wrote that sentence!
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( 11:39 AM ) Val Well, that was definitely an...adventure. I was trying to tweak the blog template and I ended up with some horrendously ugly results. I guess I'll have to learn some more html before I try that again! I ended up just changing my template back to the "Rounded Stretchy Corners" and making the format of the blog posts more like the one from "Cranberry Socks"...that's all that's going to happen for now. Oh well, at least I tried!
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( 10:52 AM ) Val So, I've been planning on updating for the last week...I'm finally getting to it. :o)
I chilled at My Fave Gal's house after work on Tuesday night. Loads of fun, she put up glow-in-the-dark stars in her room while I played games on her computer. We also listened to a teaching tape on Proverbs 31 from this messianic synagogue she went to a week or two ago. Then her roommate Dancer Girl came home (fortunate me to have two of my favorite people living together!), so we all talked for a bit and ate homemade applesauce. It was a good night.
I did go shopping as planned last Saturday. I bought two pairs of pants, two shirts, a pair of boots (they make me three inches taller), and two pins (one for me and one for My Best Bud). I was happy-there's another shirt I'm gonna go back and snag sometime soon.
The new SPG at work started yesterday, so I started training her. :o) She's cool. 'twas a fun night. I have to talk to Matt about exactly what I need to do to be a Certified 2-Star Trainer.
Okay, I'm going to mess with my blog a little, see if I can change the colors on that one template.
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6.10.01 ( 1:16 AM ) Val I'm going shopping tomorrow!...or today actually. Wow, it's after one, I need to go to sleep!! Maybe I'll have some Raspberry Zinger tea before I go to bed. Anyways, back to shopping, one of the SPGs at work also works at Wet Seal, so she gave me a coupon for a friends and family 20% discount. So, I'm going shopping tomorrow. I need some new pants and such.... :o)
Yeah, well it's late and I need to go to sleep. Good night. Sleep tight. Don't let the bedbugs bite.
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5.10.01 ( 10:14 AM ) Val Good morning! I'm drinking Raspberry Zinger tea right now and that means this is a happy morning already.
Albert has requested that we read the book of Daniel in the Bible together as a family. That's cool, I always loved that book, and I'm interested in delving into it once again. Personally, one of my fav parts comes right at the beginning when they're discussing the types of youth the Babylonians wanted: "Youth without blemish, well-favored in appearance and skillful in all wisdom, discernment, and understanding, apt in learning knowledge, competent to stand and serve in the king's palace-and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans." (Daniel 1:4) Whenever I read that I always think that is what Vanguard Ambassadors should be in this world...oh, no I need to finish Plumbline and soon!
I also have to go now, so I'll have to explain about Vanguard and the Plumbline later. Oh, and on Monday I got to see the real engagement ring of The Princess. Gorgeous...Her Prince Charming has excellent taste but then we all knew that already. :o)
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( 12:55 AM ) Val All right, it's all fixed now...a quick jaunt into "safe mode" solved that problem. The link was bad--I had misspelled a word and forgotten to close the quotations. All better...and I'm all smiles again. :o)
I best go to bed, I think I might be keeping Mom awake with all the noise the computer and printer are making. Ooops :o\
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( 12:46 AM ) Val So...wonder of wonders I messed up...again! I wasn't even trying to do anything special, just posting a normal entry...now I have to try to figure out how to delete it or something...
I so do not want to be dealing with this before I go to bed.
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( 12:42 AM ) Val I checked out Web Monkey and it turns out that it was really easy to understand. It's an excellent basic HTML tutorial and I definitely learned somethings (but considering the fact that I didn't know a lot...that isn't really saying much, but still...), so I'll be attempting to tweak my template and make it the way I want it soon. :o)
I would do it now, but guess what? It's after midnight and I want to go to sleep. (Big surprise, eh?)
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4.10.01 ( 11:06 PM ) Val So, today I come home to discover I received a package. I love mail! It was from Tremor, some focus tryout stuff group for teen girls that I signed up for a month or so. In the package was this great long-sleeve black shirt with the "Tremor" logo on it, stickers, a notebook and a pen...I like this thing already. None of it was stuff I had to review, just "thanks for being part of our team" gifts...great stuff.
Thinking more about the whole "19 is the drinking age in Canada" thing and I will admit that if I was in Toronto or something and I was out to dinner, I would probably get something alcoholic to try. And that wouldn't be a big deal. I'd especially do it if we were at a Ruby Tuesdays, so I could try one of those Raspberry Mango Margaritas that we're promoting now. They look excellent. I just wouldn't be trying to get drunk. Okay, now I'm done with this whole "19 is the drinking age in Canada" thing.
Almost missed the bus this morning...Okay, maybe "almost" is too much...I had a bit of a scare and walked super fast to the bus stop. I got caught up reading the Pooh Bah's blog, which was super interesting, and lost track of time. I made it though. Oh, and across the street from the bus stop is this bowling equipment shop and every morning I notice this dark metallic blue BMW Z3 in the parking lot. And every morning I drool...the car is gorgeous...! *happy sigh* I have no idea who owns it, but I like them already. :o)
Oh, wow, on a tip from one of my guy friends I'm checking out the Aston Martin web page...*pauses to wipe away drool*...beautiful beautiful cars...
With some effort, I have torn myself away from the site...I'll get lost in it another time.
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( 10:28 AM ) Val I have to leave to catch the bus in about 8 minutes, but I have enough time to update my blog-so I figured I should. Except for the fact that I don't have much to say.
25 Days To My Birthday!!!! It's on the 29th of this month, and I'll be the grand old age of 19. As every single one of my school friends points out-that is old enough to drink in Canada. Except they're all talking about drinking to get drunk and that is definitely not something I am into at all. I'm not against alcoholic drinks. I do think you should follow the drinking age laws of whatever country you are in at the time. However, it seems that a lot of people as soon as they hit Canada's legal age (at least here in upstate NY where its only 3 hours to the border), go jetting over there for their first taste of legal binge drinking--not a smart thing at all.
2.10.01 ( 5:43 PM ) Val So, its Tuesday. Work was decent today-we actually went on 15-20 minute wait for a bit (like half-an-hour), decent (it is Tuesday). Tomorrow starts my week of continual mid shifts! *a cheer is heard from the peanut gallery* Tomorrow is also payday! *a much larger cheer is heard* I worked 35.07 hours this week, so I shall have a decent check next week. Well, my check is always decent...anyways...
I have no idea whether we have House of Prayer tonight or not...I'm not being bad if I say I hope we don't because I want to stay home, right? I'm just tired and my throat feels scratchy but at the same time I know if we have it and I go, I definitely won't regret it.
I bought a book yesterday called Boot. This journalist went to Parris Island and followed Platoon 1036 all the way through their training; it was excellent. The best thing about the Marine Corps is that it doesn't feed you a bunch of junk about it being a great place to learn skills that are easily transferrable to civilian life, or being a great way to see the world, or the best way to get scholarship $ like the other forces too. Marine Corps recruiters get right in your face and say "Look, this isn't easy. You might not make it. But if you do, you'll be the best...you'll be a Marine." Check out the site! Oh, I had a quote I wanted to say but I can't remember it. Guess I'll have to post it later (along with that latin website when I finally find it again).
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