Monday, May 30, 2005

She's Back!!!!

Just want to say thanks to everyone who e-mailed me through hotmail and cox about the TOS fiasco. Thanks, Julie and Judith for the help! Mary, thank you for taking the time to e-mail the Blogfather for me. You guys are the reason why I want my J reinstated although AOL can be frustrating at times. Thanks for your support. Glad it is over and I can blog once again... 

AOL's story is that a trojan virus hijacked one of our screen names and had been used for mass mailing. They said they have to shut us down to protect our privacy and investigate the situation.  Is there a vulnerability in AOL then that someone can do that? Is the problem taken care of  so that nobody else's AOL SN can be hijacked?

I have so many update alerts so I will have to delete them all and start anew. I'll visit you guys as soon as I can.

Again, thank you wonderful and fabulous AOL Journalers!!!!!

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

WHAT_THE_HEY????

What in the world is going on? We were booted out of AOL for a TOS violation and I am accessing my journal through MSN. I called and they will not even tell what is going on. They are suppose to fax me a paper for Power of Attorney which I told the representative that I already have and she will not even give me the fax number where I can send the POA. My account is frozen so I don't know if this will even go through. If anybody knows how to contact AOL from another channel other than a phone call routed to India, please let me know. Thank you. Contact me at dcmeyer114@hotmail.com.

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Happy Graduation, J!

Congratulations on your graduation! I love you now and always...

                                    

 For My Son

 

I wish the clock would stop

So you can be young forever

When happiness is a norm

And there’s no pressure to conform

 

 You are my philosopher

“Life is what you make it”

That is what you said

When asked why others

Live unhappy and tortured lives

 

I hope you will remember

To make your life happy

I wish you all the strength

To fight society’s negativity

And all the courage

To be what you wanted to be

 

 

Wednesday, May 4, 2005

Showing My Age

The Fantabulous 80's 

                                                                                                                               

 

 WAY BACK IN MY DAYS

 

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning uphill both ways through year 'round blizzards carrying their younger siblings on their backs to their one-room schoolhouse where they maintained a straight-A average despite their full-time after-school job at the local textile mill where they worked for 35 cents an hour just to help keep their family from starving to death! And I remember promising myself that when I grew up there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of malarkey like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

 

But...Now that I've reached that ripe old age, I can't help but look and notice the youth of today.  You've got it so damn easy.

 

I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damned Utopia.  I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't even know how good you've got it! I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet - we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves! And there was no e-mail! We had to actually write somebody a letter with a pen! And then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in a mailbox and it would take like a week to get there! And there were no iPods, iTunes, MP3's or Napsters!  You wanted to steal music, you had to go to the record store and shoplift it yourself! Try sticking an LP Album under your jacket, buddy. Or we had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and screw it all up!

 

You want to hear about hardship? We didn't have fancy stuff like Call Waiting!  If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal! And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either!  When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was - it could be your boss, your mom, a collections agent, your drug dealer, you didn't know!  You just had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

 

And we didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation videogames with high-resolution 3-D graphics!  We had the Atari 2600!  With games like Space Invaders and Asteroids and the graphic sucked!  Your guy was a little square!  You had to use your imagination!  And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever!  And you could never win the game, the game just kept getting harder and faster until you died!

Just like LIFE.

 

When you went to the movie theater there was no such thing as stadium seating!  All the seats were the same height! If a  tall guy sat in front of you, you were screwed! And sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 20 channels and there was no onscreen menu!! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on. And there was no Cartoon Network!  You could only get cartoons on Saturday morning...D'ya hear what the hell I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK, you spoiled little twerps! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy!

 

You're spoiled, I swear to God!

You guys wouldn't last five minutes back in 80’s!

 

I did not write this. I stole it from someone sometime ago because it is funny. Thought I'd share the laughs...

Sunday, May 1, 2005

Q by Rebecca & A by Dee

      I volunteered to be interviewed by Rebecca of InTheShadowOfTheIris  a couple of weeks ago and I just finished answering them tonight. My apology for the delay.  I have so much going on right now with all the packing and moving so I do not have much time to blog. I enjoyed answering the questions during my down time. Here they are!

 

 

1)       A publisher has just handed you a million dollar advance to write a book. What direction would you go? Fiction, nonfiction, love story, mystery, sci-fi, chick lit, adventure, poetry, ok this list could go on and on.......... your sitting at your computer, blank page staring bold and white at you, what would you write to earn your million dollars?

     

     I’ll probably write fictional stories for teens with lessons. Sort of Aesop’s fables geared toward teens with lessons on to how to deal with teenage problems such as peer pressure, independence without alienating the parental unit, positive conflict resolution, making sound and informed decision, etcetera….  OR  An Erma Bombeck meets Madeline L’Engle book, a funny, sarcastic and  intelligent fictional story with a sci-fi twist, and of course the target audience will be preteens and teens.

 

           2)       You have 5 Mothers of soon to be teenagers all waiting patiently for your    wisdom and advice. <Ok this includes me> What would you pass down to us to help us through these years of having teenage children? Advice, suggestions, wisdom, padded suits, HELP US.

 

Give your children a chance to grow by letting them participate in making decisions early in life. Ask for their suggestions on food purchases, travel destinations, music selections, or family activities. It will teach them how to make better/informed decisions and it will give them practice in taking responsibility for the consequences of their actions/choices.

 

Teach them the skills needed in being independent. Make them responsible for their laundry as soon as you feel comfortable that they can handle the job. Teach them how to cook dishes they like, how to handle their finances, how to clean and maintain a home. Think about the things you wished your parents had taught you before you left their home. Teach those skills to your children.

 

There will be a time when our darling babies have to fly the coop. In those times, remember that YOU ARE NOT LETTING THEM GO. YOU ARE LETTING THEM GROW.   

 

     3)       I went back and read your very first entry. It was a wonderful poem to your     daughter. Was there a specific reason you started this online journal? How has it evolved from where you thought you were taking it, to where it is now?

 

Wonderful observation. Yes, I wrote a poem to my daughter because it was her first semester in college and I missed her.  I write poetries when I have to get a perspective about what I was feeling at the moment. It was a tumultuous time for me. I was confused. I thought I had to let go of her so the pain of missing her will go away. After much retrospection, I came to the conclusion that I do not have to let her go, I just need to give her the space to grow.   

 

 When I wrote my first entry, I did not expect to have regular readers. I was writing things that I wanted to see written. I have ideas swirling in my mind and I want to put them in writing. I wanted a repository of my writing attempts to pass on to my children so they could have something tangible to remember me by. I wanted it to be more organized: an Erma Bombeckish account of the trials and tribulations of motherhood, to be exact. I wanted to showcase a funny and lighthearted approach to mothering. I wanted to present a funny and witty persona with a dose of sarcasm thrown in for good measure. I did not succeed.

My present journal is a jumble of this and that. It has multiple personalities and a schizophrenic theme. I gave up on sticking to the subject of motherhood. Sometimes I am so far from being an “Erma.” I am nearer to being “Sybil.” 

 

4)       They always say you get once chance to make a first impression. When people meet you, what kind of impression do you think they walk away with about you?

 

Good question. It depends on the situation. When I am in the work environment, I usually leave the impression that I am capable and competent. I am aware that there is no reality, only perception. I try to leave a good impression in every situation by asking myself: How would I want this person to perceive me?  When I am a social situation, I usually let my guard down and act as myself. I often walk away from social gatherings with names and phone numbers of people who wanted to talk or see me again. Those I made friends with told me that my sense of humor, listening skills, and no non-sense approach to life was what attracted them.

 

5)       I really liked this question Carly had asked in my interview so you get it too. If you were commissioned to create a painting that would best represent your life as a whole, what would it look like, what colors would it be, and to which museum would you allow to display it?

 

It would be a mix of abstract and surreal techniques. A Picasso meets Dali kind. Can you picture it?  There will be a lot of geometrical shapes and surreal symbols that will represent my past, present and future life. It will sport these bold bright primary and secondary colors: blue for balance, green for wisdom, red for passion, yellow for optimism, purple for temperance and orange for abundance.  I do not want my painting in a museum. I would liketo donate it to a non-profit organization that is near and dear to my heart. I hope I could be famous because I would like this organization to auction it to raise funds for their worthy cause.      

 

So, there you have it, now here are the rules if you would like to play along with this fun game. Leave me a comment if you would like me to interview you requesting I do so. The first 5 to ask will receive an email from me with 5 questions. You will update your journal with the answers to the questions. You will include this explanation and offer to interview someone else in the same post. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them the 5 questions. Fun and easy...right?