Saturday, April 27, 2002

The Journey - Chapter 1

A simple architect, a simple man name Al, had lived a nomadic life. Traveling from village to village, even occasionally spending a short while in city or two. He had many skills, but generally worked as a carpenter and home builder. It was quite satisfying for Al to fix and build things for people. He loved to see the smiles and looks of amazement on their faces when they gazed upon his handy work.

Not only was he a good architect, but he had an artistic eye and used that skill in his work, giving people beauty as well as functionality. Occasionally this lead him to one of his less desirable traits, perfectionism. From time to time he would get caught up in the details and forget the big picture. Spending a week painting a mural on the wall of one room, while neglecting to paint the rest of the house. Deadlines were often ignored and customers were not always interested in "art".

This bothered Al. It didn't bother him that occasionally his customers didn't care about his art or skill, but that he would loose himself in his own thoughts and tasks, neglecting the desires of those around him.

Often unable to sustain a reasonable living doing odd jobs Al would seek employment with a local architect and do lower quality, faster work. Al would still get to express his creativity from time to time, so he was generally happy, though working under someone like this was often a dead end. Al would move on after a time, but he would never regret his time with those various employers. Each job Al would pick up a new trick or two and take with him more skill and experience.

After many years of time in one large village, Al decided it was time to move on. For much of his life he stayed in one region. It was not a bad land, in fact it was rich in agriculture and trade, however the need for an architect that could design more than a simple house or barn was not much use. The area guild has refused him membership due to his unconventional techniques. His ideas were simply too wild for those simple farm folk. The guild felt that he would bring a bad name to the guild.

Al was disappointed but young and his ideals strong. He took a chance and headed east, beyond the great rivers and over a large snow capped mountain range. Growing up Al had heard many tales about the people that lived beyond in this land. It was said they were backwards and uncivilized. For most of his life he believed those tales, until one summer he met a man traveling with a trader. He was a short balding man with a large belly and a larger smile. Al was drawn to this strange happy man. They shared a table that afternoon at the local tavern. The man explained he was from the east on a journey. When Al asked the man, Dunrik, about his quest, he became very quiet and suspicious. Dunrik simply said he had to find something. Suddenly, as if the topic never came up, Dunrik's smile beamed from his face again and he began to reminice about his home land.

Later Al remembered that mans tales about the land to the east. It would be a long journey and he would be scorned for making the trip. Family did not understand why he would want to leave. Friends tried to reinforce all the negative stories he had heard growing up. Al heard none of it. He had made up his mind. It was time for a change.

More to follow soon...Almond

Friday, April 19, 2002

Dream

I was standing in a small ocean inlet. The small river was clean and cold. The rocks were tan and earthen. I remember standing on a boulder near the mouth of this river. The water churned as it mixed with the sea water, as if there was a horrible chemical reaction. Behind me was other rocks and boulders, redish brown, leading to a low spot in a cliff. and indention in the ground. The cliff arched and became steep again to the left and right of this small dent. There was a path leading to the boulder I was on. I must have walked that path, but now I was standing there, cool but oddly calm air. And quiet. The ocean is never quiet like this and there is always a breeze, but this was empty. Ahead was aonother cliff. This one MUCH higher. At least twice that of the one behind me. The river cut right next to this cliff. The walls looked to be tan sandstone, but stronger and more ragged, like granite.


I walked back up the rocks to the path. I noticed a small foot path to the left, heading towards the ocean. Suddenly I was very far out on this path. The path was only about 2 feet wide at the most. A loose dirt path cut into the side of the cliff. The top of the outcropping was too far above me to climb up to safety. I felt safe unil I looked down. I was about 40 feet up on the cliff. The small bay was below me and very blue, though darker in the middle and as the water receded into the ocean, indicating just how deep it really was.

My heart lept. I backed as far from the edge as I could. Suddenly there was a woman to my left. She had come up the way I did. i could see that where she was, the path was wider and there was a small path up and out onto the top of this stange place. She never said anything nor helped me, but her presence helped me see the way out of the danger I placed myself into.

I climbed out...

Eye Opener

Open your eyes

See all the love in me
I got enough forever

Don't be afraid
Take all you need from me
and we'll be strong together

Almond

Thursday, April 18, 2002

Zing!

He hit the road out of nowhere, had to jump in his car and be a rider in a love game following the stars. He doesn’t need no book of wisdom, he gets no money talk at all.

She has a train going downtown, she's got a club on the moon and she's telling all her secrets in a wonderful balloon. She's the heart of the funfair; she's got him whistling her private tune.

He says, “she's a flower, I can paint her. She says, “ He's a child of the sun”

We're a part of this together, could never turn around and run. We don't need any fortune teller to know where our lucky love belongs.

And it all begins again when it ends,

Tuesday, April 16, 2002

Thinking about school again

I think I may have found another choice for furthering my education. It’s a local school. Belmont University. They have Computer Network Technology course that will prepare me for four different certifications, which I'll still have to test for after the classes (costs not added in the tuition).

The classes will dive into the aspects of computer tech that I'm already using and some that will help me further my career later. Not it's not a degree, but it's better than an Associates by far.

The program is only 14 months long too. That's a nice bonus. I can take my certification tests any time during the program, so I don't have to wait until the very end to take all the tests.

The cost is lower too, mostly due to the shorter duration though. It's $340 per credit for a total of 36 credits. ($12240). This is much more reasonable. I can get roughly $10 or 11K student loans, so I'm going to be a little short still. I've not discussed with them the tuition situation in-depth.

I don't like the idea of adding more to my student loans, but I should see at least $10K or more in additional pay for getting the certifications that this program prepares you for.

Is this the "traditional" way of education? Not in the least, but I tend to buck traditions don't I?

This program sounds more promising to me than the other, plus this is in town. I would go to class one night a week, so I would be meeting people and getting out of the house.

Almond

Flowers!!

Very pretty. Now is that competing with my herbies?? :) I don't think I'll have any playtime today. I gotta work!

Monday, April 15, 2002

A special woman and flowers


How did I get so lucky as to fall in love with a woman so sweet? Our love is so perfect and innocent. It's timeless. We could be Vikings in a Nortic village or simple plains indians. The fact we live in a modern world means nothing. It does not effect how we love each other. Sure we use technology to help us communicate but that doesn't change the fact we share ourselves so selflessly.

I'm excited Cashew has found this new "play". Actually it makes me really happy. I'm not entirely certain of the full ramifications of this, but I'm sure they'll become more clear as time goes on. I'm just happy she is so happy. I'm a little worried that she'll get TOO excited and push herself, but she's gotten a lot better about not doing that so Im not real worried. :)

Well I was SUPPOSED to go grocery shopping tonight. Uhhhh...well....ummm... I bought plants instead. I know, kinda sounds gay, but I've been wanting to try my hand at flowers and I have a small deck, so I can have them. So I got some. Here are a few pictures. Enjoy...




Almond

GIFTS


Gifts for me come free but always com e from the important people or part in you life. I played yesterday, for 5 years I never really believed I could play or should play. When I did I was always seen as "your cured". A diabatic laughs, jokes and has fun, does that mean they are cured? No. Not many people in my survivor life gave me a chance to put my troubles aside for a bit and just be happy. I was made to believe I wasn't facing reality, I was painting on a "happy face'". And the other side of the coin I was ignored viewed apond as un reachable, unloveable etc. But I played yesterday, I really played!! For first time in years! I played! Yeah I am excited over something so simple as playing. But wasn't me playing, it was Almond too! Almond let me be what ever I wanted, let me be stupid, silly, queer , down right weird. with out think oh good she's cured! He took it as a day, a day we shared a day we goofed off together. WHAT A GIFT!! What a wonderful thing to do
Monday mornings are the worst mornings off all for me. Why can't work week start on Tuesday? Its raining here and that just yucky. I forgot my rain coat too. I thought it was in my car. I wonder where it is? I think I giggled to much in my sleep, now I am bone tired. Laughing is good for you. Even if it does make you sides hurt and it is even better when you can laugh with the one you love. : )

Cashew

Sunday, April 14, 2002

When someone said "love is blind". I don't think it was meant as a joke as we all seem to take it that way now a days. Love IS blind. Seems logical to me that it would have to be. How else would this world be inhabited by so many if we at times were not blind? Blind to the other ones faults, habits, yes even looks. I think love makes you blind for that very reason. Love is all of that and more, love is the worst of times, love is the best of times. And at times you can blame the dumb things you do on love. Even though love can make you blind doesn't mean you are not resposible for your actions. You have a person who loves you for you. Not because you do things for them not because of the things you have showed them. Simple because they love you, the good the bad and the ugly. Its ok to let love blind you. But don't blind yourself to the love.

Cashew

Sleepyhead Screw-up


Ya know, telling someone you'll meet them at 8 and then showing up at 8:40 and wondering why they are mad is pretty dumb. I made two dumb mistakes. 1. Staying up later than normal watching TV. I usually go to bed at 10 not 11, sometimes earlier. Mistake number 2: I didn't reset my alarm when it went off at 6:50.

I woke up and thought I'd doze like I did yesterday and be able to get up in time. Should have known better than to rely on a half awake brain.

Now I am in trouble and rightly so. What sucks the most is that we just spent the last few days going over this. Over my responsibilities and how my actions effect her and others. And now my over sleeping has made her mad and damaged the already fragile trust we built yesterday.

I dont know how long she can put up with my crap. When will I see how much my actions effect everyone around me? That's the million dollar question.

I feel confident we can mend things again, but it's still frustrating for both of us, no doubt.

Almond

Saturday, April 13, 2002

Well I've got the blog up. I've played with the colors. I'm happy with the look of things. I hope my sweety is.

I'd done some cleaning and jamming out to some cool imported digital music from who knows where, some from England, that's about all I know for sure. Now I'm done with setting up the blog. What to do next...

I could watch TRON. I keep thinking about that. I was considering going to the movies, but i'm low on cash and I didn't really see anything that I HAD to see. My buddy John said Blade 2 was exciting and action packed, but lacked any plot at all. I love a good action flik now and again, but I prefer to save my theater experiences for movies that really deserve the big audio and screen treatment. Some movies are still good on the small screen, but not as good as 20-30 feet tall! Especially when all you have is a little 19" TV!

I could play the Playstation. I've been really enjoying a game I got from my mom for Xmas. The Legend of Dragoon. Its 4 CDs long, that shocked me. I figured they'd be full of movies or something since its an RPG. We'll I was pleasently surprised that I spent about 18 hours on just disk 1. Since I don't play every day for a few hours, that's a good amount of entertainment value. Especially since I have only been on disk two for a total of 2 hours (game time).

I kinda cheated though. I went online cuz I got stuck, then I saw all the stuff I missed. I'm not going to start over from the beginning, but it's kinda a bummer. Oh well. I've found the game isn't really too hard actually. I've had 2 of my 3 characters "die" in a fight and I still won. After the battle they had 1 life point. So I went and got them healed, cheaply, and they were good as new. Not much punishment for dying. Ah well.

It's the story that I like. It's kinda twisted, in the sense that there are many story lines interwoven, with all the characters coming together at different points. Typical of Japanese stories there are some "life lessons" that the characters learn. It's a bit cliche, but I like them anyway. Kinda like me liking Digimon.

yea yea...I like Digimon, so what. it's a good cartoon with good, creative and responsible writers. It's not all about blow this up and blow that up. Though there are certainly plenty of instances when that is going on. But they temper that with heart and love. Anyway...if you watch and really watch, you'll see what I mean. If you think I'm being dumb for liking cartoons...oh well, I'll still watch them! :P

Almond
I really hope this works
First post...to get things started