Sunday, August 27, 2006

Oh, No! Not Again!

There's no rest for the wicked.
 
2004- Ivan
2005-Dennis
2006-Ernesto?
 
 
Heavens help us!

Friday, August 25, 2006

Ain't dis da truth?

This made me smile today. I stole the idea from Ms. Sugar's entry and  the outcome is not so far from the truth. How apropos!     

 

The University of Blogging

Presents to
Dee

An Honorary
Bachelor of
Ranting and Raving

Majoring in
Bad Poetry
Signed
Dr. GoQuiz.com
®

 

Monday, August 21, 2006

What?! Three Already?

Happy 3rd Anniversary!
 
                
 
AOL Journals (and its bloggers) survived the terrible twos and now in the sassy know-it-all third year. 
 
I would like to thank all my J- Land friends for all the love, hugs, support, postcards, e-mails, memories, emotions, jokes, and other intangibles you shared with me.
 
You guys are the best !!!
 

Monday, August 14, 2006

Fact or Fiction? You Decide.

The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.
~e e cummings

                         

                                                                                 Guaranteed to make you smile. Especially since it’s a true story.  
       

On July 20, 1969, as commander of the Apollo 11 lunar module, Neil Armstrong was the first person to set foot on the moon. His first words after stepping on the moon, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” were televised to earth and heard by millions. But just before he reentered the lander, he made the enigmatic remark, “Good luck, Mr. Gorsky.”

          

Many people at NASA thought it was acasual remark concerning some rival Soviet cosmonaut. However, upon checking, there was no Gorsky either in the Russian or American space programs.

         

Over the years, many people questioned Armstrong as to what the “Good luck, Mr. Gorsky” statement meant but Armstrong just smiled.

       
On July 5, 1995, in Tampa Bay, Florida, while answering questions following a speech, a reporter brought up the 26-year-old question to Armstrong. This time, he finally responded. Mr. Gorsky had died, so Neil Armstrong felt he could answer the question. 

 

In 1938, when he was a kid in a small Midwest town, he was playing baseball with friend in the backyard. His friend hit the ball, which landed in his neighbor’s yard by the bedroom windows. His neighbors were Mr. and Mrs. Gorsky. As he leaned down to pick up the ball, young Armstrong heard Mrs. Gorsky shouting at Mr. Gorsky. “Sex! You want sex? You’ll get sex when the kid next door walks on the moon!”

 

Friday, August 11, 2006

To Josie

"Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear."
 
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

Ophelia Framed Art Print by John William Waterhouse
 
                   Ophelia- John Waterhouse
 
 
To Josie
        (By Dee)
 
Noble gestures unsung
Silent desperation
Veiled with a smile
 
Noble intent gone awry
Strength drained
Heart withered and dry
 
Sleepless nights
Nary a dry eye
Cannot bring back time
 
Move on, my child
Up ahead, he is waiting
In shiny armor plating

Wednesday, August 9, 2006

Timeless Wisdom

 
"Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life."
 ~Immanuel Kant
 
       Soft Watch At Moment of First Explosion, 1954 Art Print by Salvador Dali
       
                    Soft Watch At Moment of First Explosion, Salvador Dali, 1954

Remember the song below? Well, it is really not a song, rather, it is a speech written by Chicago Tribune columnist, Mary Schmich, in 1997. It was set to music by Baz Luhrmann, read by Australian voice actor Lee Perry, and was released on the 1998 album Something For Everybody by EMI Records. Urban legend has it that it was the 1999 Massachusetts Institute of Technology's commencement speech given by famed author Kurt Vonnegut.
 
Its uncanny similarity to my favorite poem,  Desiderata , made me love this song/speech.  Both contain timeless wisdom.
 
 

Everybody's Free
(to wear sunscreen)

 

Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '97.

Wear Sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blind side you at 4 PM on some ideal Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy.

 Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.

 Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year- olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium.

Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary.

Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody's else's.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't' be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on.

Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before itmakes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths. Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 

 

Monday, August 7, 2006

Bye, Pikachu!

                       

We chose you.  Goodbye. You will be missed.  We love you more than you will ever know.

Wednesday, August 2, 2006

It's That Time Again!

I am afraid it is hurricane season again in the Sunshine State and we are carefully tracking every tropical storm and tropical depression so we can get out of the way if any of them turn into hurricanes.

After getting an Ivan/ Dennis double whammy, we are much,  much wiser.  We're not staying this time to take the pounding. We will be packing and taking mini vacation somewhere where we will not have anxiety about the wind velocity and flooding possibility.  

We're hoping Someone up there is going to spare us this year but we still need to be hypervigilant  until the hurricane season is over.   

 Fresh from the Weather Channel:                           

                                

"On its current path, Chris is tracking just north of the Virgin Islands and will also pass just north of Puerto Rico tonight and during the early morning hours. Radar out of San Juan, Puerto Rico is showing the outer bands of Chris sweeping through the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. These squalls will be accompanied with bouts of heavy rain and gusty winds. Total rainfall amounts of 2 to locally 5 inches is possible for the islands.

Tropical storm warnings remain posted for Puerto Rico and the U.S. and British Virgin Islands. A hurricane watch has been posted for the Turks and Caicos along with the southeastern Bahamas. A hurricane watch means that hurricane conditions are possible during the next 36 hours.

Residents of the Bahamas and south Florida should monitor the progress of Chris closely. As the projected path suggests, please be aware that it is quite possible that Chris may be nearing the Straits of Florida some time this weekend and may impact northern Cuba to the Florida Keys with heavy rain and squalls".