Of Course I Hear Voices: I Own Parrots

If I had jury duty again today, I would probably take my own novel, Life...Jump Started with me. I know it is my own book, but I'm currently looking for my next must read (don't suggest Twilight okay), and it would give me time to really look at it with fresh eyes. Well this book has all the essentials. It has the love story, life lessons and a little bit of a twist. This is actually my book, but I haven't actually read it since the whole publishing process. I know that is sad, but I just have been focusing on getting through my other book list (Most recently Pride Prejudice and Zombies), and working on other projects. I am currently working on what appears to be my next novel project. I have other smaller novellas in the works, but I see this project as being a bigger undertaking. I want to take the time to really read my first novel and see what things I did well, and where I need to be more careful this time. If I do not take the time to learn from my past proj...

When I was in fifth grade…maybe sixth grade…my parents finally caved and took us on the church’s annual Memorial Day camp out. You see we were really not campers. Actually, we had never camped as a family before. My grandparents had bought an old RV more so for travel ease, and we had a tent, but that was about as close as I ever wanted to get. My parents’ church group kept trying to get us to go, but year after year we declined. That is until the fateful year mom finally said yes…and it was miserable. It had rained quite a bit that week, to the sites were all muddy. My dad actually had to work most of the weekend, so my poor mom was pretty much on her own to do all the “grown up” work. My sister ran backwards into a parked car. My brother got his foot stuck in a snake hole. I managed to get a fish hook stuck in my ear. My sister and her friend locked themselves in the bathroom in the rv not once, but twice. It was a nightmare. We tried again at the end of my freshman year, and it was ...

I love words. I'm a writer so that is sort of a no brainer, but I really do wish more people would use their words more effectively. I listen carefully to lyrics, and I love well written imagery. I always tell my students to use their words to draw me a picture. Here are my top 5 Fabulous It is a multi functioning word depending on the iflection and context. It can be literal, or it can be sarcastic, sardonic, ironic, fun, sad,mean...you get the point Hinky It isn't a curse word, but it equals messed up, just not right, or odd in a different way. Seriously I had this one before Grey's Anatomy made it common place. I like it for the sarcastic factor. Ubiquitous This might be my favorite word of all time. It is an odd looking, and not commonly used word, but I love it. It means ever present (aka everywhere). It was the word of the day on one of my TV writing classes (Thank you Dr. Watson!) We used it while I was touring with Laredo, and now I use it wi...

The summer I turned 16, I went on a trip to France. I of course was looking forward to Paris, Mount St Michel, Nice, our day trip to Monaco, and the other big stops. I wasn't not looking forward to the other places, I just wasn't familiar with them. There isn't any big touristy trap in Saint Malo. I know some of my classmates were annoyed we stayed there. They came to France to see the big ticket items. This was just a waste to them. However, I discovered I really liked this walled city on the English Channel. There was history there. I wish I could go back now with a better camera to capture some of the great shots I remember.

Summer is always more fun and relaxing that the Spring season. It also brings cook outs, warm weather, cocktails by the pool, and of course...strawberries. Strawberries (La Trinidad, Benguet) I love strawberries. Yes I know you can get them year round, but they are in season in the midwest during the summer. That is the best time to enjoy them! There is nothing quite like strawberry shortcake with ice cream on a warm June day. It reminds me of going to the "strawberry place" in Elmore (More currently known as Klickmans these days) and picking up crates of strawberries. You could pick our own, but we never did. I'm guessing my allergies had something to do with that. However, it does not take away from that happy memory. I look forward to this every summer. Maybe I'll find a farm outside of Indy this year. I think that would be a fun Sunday drive.

Today was the day I finished the retesting report. this may seem silly, but it has been a project that has kept me bogged down for over a week now. It took patience, attention to detail and a fair amount of computer geekiness to pull this off. It was a pretty big project on its own. However, I do not have the luxury of being able to just focus on my projects. I am expected to still do all the in take and check out of our testers...and we are pretty much slammed from the time we open until the time I leave. I have to try and get my other work done between students and answering questions for advisors (on paperwork I'm not even supposed to know how to do...and I'm only half kidding). These projects that require concentration are nearly impossible at times. Still they have to be done. I really did like this project. I was collecting data that proved that students who violated the 2 week wait rule to retest did worse than their peers who waited the full time. It also helped us id...

It may sound like a silly thing, but I think everyone relates to television characters. I mean it is normal to see yourself or who you want to be in a character and that is your attachment to the show. It isn't a blurring of reality and fiction. It is seeing traits in characters that you identify with or you wish you could attain yourself. If a show is well written, it should have that appeal and human element. Alex Eames—Law and Order Criminal Intent: I know how awful this show is. I couldn't watch the Logan and Wheeler episodes (and don't even get me started on Jeff Goldblum)…not because they can't act or anything like that but because the show is so awful I can only rationalize watching it on Goren and Eames weeks. It is very much so my guilty pleasure. Eames gets the short end of the stick. Goren gets all the drama, crazies and gets to be the Sherlock Holmesish know it all. Eames is relegated to be his Watson, but she gets some CLASSIC lines off in the process. Gu...

When I was in fourth grade we put together a time capsule. We were supposed to open it in 2000. I'm not sure what ever came from it. For all I know the bronze boxes are still floating around Woodmore Elementary School...or maybe some people from my class did open them. I remember thinking how cool it would be to open it. Now I'm uncertain of what the meaning would be. If I had to make another one, I'm not sure what all I would add, but here is a start. Ninetendo wII To show them our first interactive type game console. It will so beyond obsolete, but it is always good to remember the original. A Newspaper While admittedly these have run themselves out of business, it is a dying media type. A cassette tape just for good measure A copy of Pride Prejudice and Zombies because everyone needs to read it. A DVD player This is a multi parter...but I am sure it will be obsolete by then Box set of NCIS, Blood Ties, Chuck, and SCRUBS We must never f...

So I have been thinking about a new story idea. It is still in the very beginning stages, but I think it has promise. In usual me form, I am in writing ADD mode. I've discovered that I am becoming more and more quickly bored. If my mind isn't always working on something, I am bored. It is like I have been multitasking for so long that just doing one thing at a time is too slow. If I have nothing to do, I'm obsessing about all the things I should be doing instead. In a moment of being bored, this idea came to light. I've been working with this basic concept for a while. My issue is how do you build it up without going too melodramatic? A doomed relationship lasts about two days before things go very wrong (although I'm not sure how else it would have been…you can't expect a person to throw everything she has ever wanted away after 2 days). Laying that out is pretty easy. Girl an guy have been best friends for years until he gets way into his private school buddie...

I was sixteen and I just got my license. Other parents bought their children nice reliable cars. Others of us…well we were happy to have a car that ran. Yes, my first car was a 1986 Ford Escort. The color was classified as "gold" but really it is was more of a cloudy brown. I can give you the laundry list of things that were wrong with that car. The heater didn't kick in until at least ten minutes into the drive. The colder it was the longer it took. That meant the defrost didn't work either. On really cold days, the windows would frost over before I could drive down the block. When she first started up she wouldn't stay started unless you kept your foot on the accelerator. The locks would freeze and I would have to crawl in through the hatchback. She wouldn't accelerate all that fast. However, she was great on gas, her AC was amazing. Some one asked me if it worked…I assumed it didn't, but to my surprise it worked fabulously. That car really was an eye ...

I love to shop, but there are few stores I can actually shop at. If it is quick fix, I can make Target work. If I have more time, I like Anne Taylor loft, Torrid and JcPennys. However, if I have the time and money, I would always rather shop at Vive La Femme. Yes, it is all the way up in Chicago, but it is worth the trip for great essentials. They are a great boutique on North Damen that specializes in fabulous clothes for the plus sized crowd. It is a drive, and the clothes are a little more pricey, but they are good quality and the clothes are amazing. Everything I have bought from there has been well worth every penny.

If and When I do get married, I feel for my Dj. I will be that bride requesting random music that may or not be wedding appropriate. I've never been one to plan my possible wedding, but I can think of a few songs I'd like to hear. Just Like Heaven by The Cure It is a great Cure song. It is up beat, fun, somewhat dancable, and I love the lyrics. Plus The Cure makes everything better. Blue Eyes by Cary Brothers This helps if the bride has blue eyes...but still it is lesser known song that is amazing. Great lyrics, good slow dancing song, and it may even get a tear or two. I hope tomorrow is like today by Guster This is probably one of my all time favorite songs. Really Guster + Ben Kweller is a no brainer. Great song. Great lyrics. This is so my first dance at my wedding.

I'm a huge photo editing geek. I love photography, and the editing process is many times even more fun. I love perfecting good pictures. I also like playing with the light, color and sometimes even the texture of my pictures. Even a bad picture can be modified into something interesting. Sometimes I wish I had a better camera, more time to shoot and more content to showcase on my blogs. However, I know being able to take a good photo is a great way to compliment my other media prospects. So, yes I get giddy about mini photo shoots for a web site revamp. I look forward to the cleaning and editing. My goal is to make them look flawless on that screen. You never want people to be able to tell how much work went into it...make it look simple.

How can a computer help desk ticket get put it at 7:40 am, and not get help until 3:45 Oh and the only reason that happened is because of a reminder phone call after the ticket's done by target time had passed I have this strange urge to bleach my bathroom…which I do occasionally but with my allergies and asthma at the moment that could be dangerous. Although, my bathroom and kitchen floors are not tiled, so that will save my lungs a bit. Today I was on the phone with my mom, and suddenly we are both talking some random guy who some how ended up in our conversation. Yeah that was awkward at first, but pretty funny now. I keep wondering how long it will take before Mina gets angry enough at Weddnesday to actually do something about her sitting on "her" swing. I'm kind of hoping Weddnesday out grows the swing (it is a parakeet swing) before that happens. Mina is quite the little princess (and can throw royal tantrums), and Weddnesday apparently missed that memo. I reall...

I needed to take some pictures for the P3 web site. I normally do not go to the Monday night shows, but I needed to get this done and this was the only night I had the time to get out on a night I was not working.   I ended up staying at a friend's wedding reception longer than expected, so I arrived at the Fox and Hound in Carmel sometime between 9:30 and 10. I was loaded down with my laptop and camera, and ready to get some much needed work done between snapping shots. I walk into the "karaoke room" to find the guys setting up. Everything seems in place. The speakers are up the laptops are running and the stage is up. See Fox and Hound did their variation of American Idol called Indy Icon. Most places that do these competitions put up some sort of stage. Nothing seemed strange until I discovered that the stage was not a stage at all. It was a pool table with a sheet of plywood on top of it. There was a set of very deep steps that lead up to it. Of course I'm in dis...

Sound check time Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

I have too many movies that I would love to watch time and time again. It is actually a bad habit of mine. I can sit and watch certain movies time and time again. The Crow is just a great movie. The story is moving. The soundtrack is amazing. The scene where Sarah goes back to the loft to find Eric makes me cry every time. My favorite part has to be the cinematography. I love the way the movie was shot and edited.

When it comes to friends, I'm pretty selective about who I choose. However, once you are in, you are in for life as long as you follow some basic ground rules. honesty I need to be able to trust the people I surround myself with. Once I have a reason to doubt your honesty, our friendship is in jeopardy. Sarcastic I am sarcastic. It is easier for to communicate with others who are also sarcastic. Plus it is more fun when we can laugh together. Patient I will be patient with you, and I expect the same in return. Uses common sense I'm not a huge fan of people who cannot function and use basic common sense. If you cannot grasp common sense and courtesy, I am not interested. Must at least tolerate birds I have six of them... three boys and three girls. You do not have to love them or even like them, but at least be able to be around them while at my house. Not have it be all about you I'm going to probably keep listening because it is a chara...

When my world is getting out of control, there are only two things in this world that make me feel better. One is watching a cheesy movie I should almost be ashamed to admit I would ever watch. I have a handful of them, and they make me laugh every time. The other...and the more effective method is writing. Have desk, will write I sit down with a notebook and pen or with a laptop and just write. I write about what I am feeling sometimes. It can be journaling that will become part of a fiction piece. Sometimes just blogging about it helps. Other times I just research what is bothering me, and then blog about it once I have a better idea of what the big picture looks like. Writing helps me relax, think things out and understand what is stressing me out.