Family Dynamics

I'm the youngest in my family. I have a brother that's a year older than me and then another brother that is 4 years older. After that, comes 5 more brothers and sisters, all a year apart.

One of my sisters (2nd oldest) always called us two youngest, the kids. Otherwise, we were always singled out simply as Robert and Carol.

Being the youngest, my dad always called me his baby. To my knowledge, my mom called Robert and I her babies but I imagine if she had been alive as we got older, that would have changed.

My oldest sister Mary Ann is the only person I know that teaches me something every time I see her. She always has all these neat little facts that are so interesting.

The next in line is my brother, Billy. He always has a joke to tell. Granted their corny half the time but they always make me laugh. My dad was the same way with always telling jokes. I eat dinner at his house at least once a week. He says he needs to see me at least once a week. He's very sweet.

I look a lot like Billy. Not so much any more, but growing up people always told me that I looked like Marie Osmond. To this day, my friend's mom still calls me Marie. People always told Billy he looked like Donny. I always found that to be amusing.

This guy that worked with Billy said to him one day, "I saw your sister. I never even knew you had a sister but I saw your sister". Another time, I was standing in the line at a convenience store when I heard someone say Billy's name. I turned around and said how that was my brother. The guy said, "Yeah, I was just telling him how much you looked like him".

Next in line is my sister Cathy. She is the one person whose advice I never question and always take.

Next in line is my brother Nick. I moved out of my dad's house when I was 30 years old. He and I were the only two living at home for a lot of years. He works a lot but always makes sure he calls me on his day off to chat.

Next in line is my sister Lucy. I also have two cousins named Lucy. My dad and his two brothers named their daughters after their mother. Nick was named after my dad's father. Lucy is always upbeat and lots of fun. She always has me laughing.

Next in line is my brother Vinnie. When I was growing up, I was always closest to him. I can remember him holding my hand and walking me to my first day of school. To this day, he's an easy going fun guy to be around.

Next is my very conservative Republican brother Robert. He's a talker. He calls me nearly everyday to tell me how his day went. His girlfriend has ALS and she lives in a rehab type place because she needs so much care. He's stuck by her as she was perfectly healthy went they first started going out. He is very good to her and hopes to marry her despite it all.

I have plenty of nieces and nephews but I won't bore you with them. I'll just mention my most beautiful grandniece, Kaya. She's perfect. I'll have to start training her as I used to her mother. When my niece was young, I used to say, "Who's your favorite aunt?" "Say, Carroolll". Ya got start 'em young.

I had a very hard time with the first question but I gathered my co-workers and well, 2 hours later, we had our answer. Beware; it may require genealogy charts, mathematical calculations, clinical research and/or specific case studies


- Did your parents ever have children? No, my parent didn't have children. My brothers and sisters and I were all born adults.

- Are you stubborn? No, not really. I'm pretty easy going and don't usually feel strongly enough about something to be stubborn.

- If only one book existed, which book, other than the bible or the dictionary, would you like it to be? How do I know? Who wrote these questions anyway? I'm going to pick War and Peace. It's so long; I'll get more mileage out of it than most books.

- What is something you believe is true even though you can't prove it. That Bushie dragged us into this war solely because of a personal vendetta he had against Saddam.

- Define justice. Taking all sides into consideration and then doing what is most fair for everyone involved.

- What would you do if you found the wallet of your next-door neighbor with whom you just had a huge argument? I'd probably drop it off in the mailbox when they weren't home.

CBGB & OMFUG

I had never heard of CBGB until I saw the movie 'Summer of Sam'. I really liked that movie and was in NYC one sunny afternoon with my friend who also really liked that movie. We were just walking along and we both saw the 'CBGB' sign and were stunned. We didn't know it was a real place. Yeah, yeah, I live a sheltered life, I know. Well, we both ran across the street and went on in. The place was empty but that was good for us. We got to walk around and check out all the stuff on the walls. It reminded me of Toad's Place in New Haven. They have similar stuff all over the walls of popular groups that played there. I didn't learn until afterwards how famous the place was.

I thought I had read something about the owner not paying rent and being in some dispute with the landlord. I can't remember the details now.

I'm sure if they open a new place in Vegas that it would be hard to recreate the same atmosphere.

Oh well, I may not have seen anyone play there but at least I got to see the inside of it.

Friday the 13th

Happy Friday the 13th!

1. Do you use glasses? If not, skip to questions 4 and 5. No. I got my first pair a few years ago. Jekyll, my pup, ate them within a week. Got another pair that lasted a few months but he ate those too (Yes, I do feed him). I know I'd never be able to keep a pair for long so I've given up. It could be that Jekyll has vision problems and he was trying to tell me something. That would mean he also needs a cell phone, a pager (back in the day), lots of books to read. The list is long, believe me. He and Hyde have been on a kick of eating the mail lately. As long as they eat all the bills, I'm all for it. I always tell them they have Pica. That's the eating disorder where people eat screws and nickels and crazy stuff like that. They're so nuts but I love them so much.

2. How often do you update them and what do they look like? The glasses I had gotten were very stylish. If I wore them all the time, I would update them frequently enough so they didn't get too outdated.

3. How old or what grade were you in when you got your 1st pair of glasses. I was 40 years old. I know that because I wore them to my 40th birthday party and everyone loved my new look.

4. Would you consider having lasik surgery for corrective vision?
(Did you know that you're completely awake during the whole thing? He said they peel back a flap and you smell burning skin, but it's over quickly. They did give him a valium when he first walked in, though.) If it's anything like a regular laser, I can't imagine having it done. I have some dark pigmentation on my face. As luck would have it, it's right above my lip so it looks like a moustache. I've been getting laser treatments to take it off. Even with your eyes covered, the light is so bright, it looks and feels like fire. They put this really cold gel on you that's been stored in the freezer. If having lasik is anything like that, I don't know how anyone could survive it, never mind having it correct your vision. My brother had Radial keratotomy years ago and swears it's the best thing he's ever done. That's where they put little slits in your eyes. Ouch, that sounds even worse. I'm not sure if they even do that any more. My other brother had to have his cornea smoothed out with a laser. I went with him to the surgery but I don't recall him saying it was that bad. Anyhoo, I suppose if my eyes were really bad and lasik surgery was my only chance at being able to see, I'd have to have it done. Btw, so you don't think I'm the bearded lady, I seem to be the only person who notices the dark pigmentation. I even had to point it out to the dermologist when he claimed it had gone away. If I get asked to join the circus sideshow, I'll know it's gotten worse.


5. Would you schedule a surgery of any sort on April Fool's day or Friday the 13th if other dates were available? I would definitely ask for another surgery date and would only take it if that was the only date they had for a really, really long time.

Friday the 13th

Happy Friday the 13th!

1. Do you use glasses? If not, skip to questions 4 and 5. No. I got my first pair a few years ago. Jekyll, my pup, ate them within a week. Got another pair that lasted a few months but he ate those too (Yes, I do feed him). I know I'd never be able to keep a pair for long so I've given up. It could be that Jekyll has vision problems and he was trying to tell me something. That would mean he also needs a cell phone, a pager (back in the day), lots of books to read. The list is long, believe me. He and Hyde have been on a kick of eating the mail lately. As long as they eat all the bills, I'm all for it. I always tell them they have Pica. That's the eating disorder where people eat screws and nickels and crazy stuff like that. They're so nuts but I love them so much.

2. How often do you update them and what do they look like? The glasses I had gotten were very stylish. If I wore them all the time, I would update them frequently enough so they didn't get too outdated.

3. How old or what grade were you in when you got your 1st pair of glasses. I was 40 years old. I know that because I wore them to my 40th birthday party and everyone loved my new look.

4. Would you consider having lasik surgery for corrective vision?
(Did you know that you're completely awake during the whole thing? He said they peel back a flap and you smell burning skin, but it's over quickly. They did give him a valium when he first walked in, though.) If it's anything like a regular laser, I can't imagine having it done. I have some dark pigmentation on my face. As luck would have it, it's right above my lip so it looks like a moustache. I've been getting laser treatments to take it off. Even with your eyes covered, the light is so bright, it looks and feels like fire. They put this really cold gel on you that's been stored in the freezer. If having lasik is anything like that, I don't know how anyone could survive it, never mind having it correct your vision. My brother had Radial keratotomy years ago and swears it's the best thing he's ever done. That's where they put little slits in your eyes. Ouch, that sounds even worse. I'm not sure if they even do that any more. My other brother had to have his cornea smoothed out with a laser. I went with him to the surgery but I don't recall him saying it was that bad. Anyhoo, I suppose if my eyes were really bad and lasik surgery was my only chance at being able to see, I'd have to have it done. Btw, so you don't think I'm the bearded lady, I seem to be the only person who notices the dark pigmentation. I even had to point it out to the dermologist when he claimed it had gone away. If I get asked to join the circus sideshow, I'll know it's gotten worse.


5. Would you schedule a surgery of any sort on April Fool's day or Friday the 13th if other dates were available? I would definitely ask for another surgery date and would only take it if that was the only date they had for a really, really long time.

Superstitions Indian Style

I just chatting about superstitions with my co-worker who is from India. She was telling me how the entire village where she is from uses astrology and other calculations for nearly every aspect of their lives.

When building a house, they calculate the longitude and latitude to determine the layout of each room. Every house is built facing the east to catch the morning sun.

The families of the bride and groom do the astrological calculations to determine capatibility. They also use this to determine what type of children they will have. They even calculate when the best time is for them to make nooky on their honeymoon night. All's I could think of is what happens if he sets things off earlier than expected. I was then told they're given a time frame so it's not down to the minute or anything. How funny is it if he can't get it in ...err... get it out. Yikes, let's try that again. How funny is it if he can't get it done in time?

I find Indian culture to be fascinating. They have a natural remedy for nearly everything. I always tell me co-worker she needs to write a book. If it got a decent amount of publicity, it'd be a best-seller, I'm sure.

Breakfast

Would you prefer bacon or sausage? bacon

How do you like your eggs? overeasy

Would you prefer Bacon and Eggs or Pancakes or French Toast? I'm more inclined to eat bacon and eggs, although I love French Toast. I'm not big on pancakes though.

How about juice....what's your preference? Orange juice

Do you like to eat "in" or would you prefer to have breakfast at a restaurant? Before I started working weekends, I'm used to be a regular at a place near my house. I go sometimes on my days off now but not too much.


Do you like white toast, rhy, wheat or would you rather have a bagel? Rye toast or an English muffin is good too.

What is YOUR typical breakfast meal? I usually have yogurt

What is YOUR favorite meal of the day? Dinner, I suppose.

Movie/Celebrity Daily Topic

1.) Film actor who best handled multiple roles in a movie? I have to agree with Peter Sellers. I don't think anyone can top the peg-legged sailor with the inflatable parrot on his shoulder. The 'Does your dog bite' scene is one of my all time favorites.

2.) What underperforming summer movie should have been a bigger hit? I have to go with 'Snakes on a Plane'. With all the hype over the title, I thought that was going to be a mega-hit. I've never known the title of a movie to be more popular than the movie itself.

3.) Which celebrity would you least like to work for as a press agent? I can handle someone who's wild - like Paris Hilton. I can probably handle Anna Nicole. The death of her son humanized her. She doesn't seem as nuts to me. Tom Cruise would piss me off to no end. It would be difficult for me to say nice things about him. Still, he doesn't top my list. That's reserved for Whitney Houston. She's so drug riddled that I don't think there's any coming back. She's scary crazy to me. Plus, she's divorcing Bobby which means she'll only be more needy.

4.) Which actor, initially known for comedic work, has turned out the best dramatic performances? Jamie Foxx and special kudos for not only acting but playing the piano and singing. I recall watching the movie and having to remind myself that I was not watching Ray Charles. He was that good.

Heaven and Hell

A holy man was having a conversation with the Lord one day and said, "Lord, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like."
The Lord led the holy man to two doors. He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in. In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew which smelled delicious and made the holy man's mouth water. The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful, but because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.

The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering.
The Lord said, "You have seen Hell."
They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one. There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the holy man's mouth water. The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking.
The holy man said, "I don't understand."

"It is simple" said the Lord, "it requires but one skill. You see, they have learned to feed each other, while the greedy think only of themselves."

The Stone Soup

I thought we would reenact at an old children’s story called ‘The Stone Soup’. There are different versions of the story but here’s the basic gist of it

A traveler enters a village looking for food, as he is very hungry. The villagers aren't able to offer him any food as they are too hungry themselves. The traveler takes a large cooking pot, fills it with water and places a stone in it. He then tells the villagers he's making stone soup. Although the villagers said they didn't have any food to share with him, one by one each puts in what little they do have - an onion, a bit of meat, a bunch of carrots - until they have a nourishing soup that feeds the whole village.

I will begin by placing a stone in a pot of water. Each of you can add what you can and before you know it, we’ll have ourselves a delicious pot of soup.

Since we’ll all be together enjoying our soup, we’ll learn a little about each other in the process.

- What ingredient will you be adding to the soup?

- What made you choose that ingredient?

- Is there something you prefer not be added to the soup, either because you are allergic or you don’t like the taste of it?

- Now that we’ve made our introductions to one another, did you bring someone with you? If so, who would that be? Remember, whomever you bring is now going to know about this website and that you are a part of it so you may want to choose that person wisely.
- Where do you want to eat? Inside with a cozy fireplace in the dining room or outside, picnic style. Any other suggestions are welcome.

- Are there any games you would like to play? Remember, we are poor so we have no cards or board games. We just have ourselves.

- Are there any songs you would like to sing?

- Will some of you not be coming because you’d prefer to remain anonymous? For those who choose not to come, would you reconsider if you could wear a disguise? Remember, we need all the ingredients we can get.

Mingle amongst yourselves and have a grand time.

Soldier's Letter Home

Time Magazine

Friday, Oct. 06, 2006
A Letter From Iraq
A Marine's letter home, with its frank description of life in "Dante's inferno," has been circulating through generals' in-boxes. We publish it here with the author's approval



Written last month, this straightforward account of life in Iraq by a Marine officer was initially sent just to a small group of family and friends. His honest but wry narration and unusually frank dissection of the mission contrasts sharply with the story presented by both sides of the Iraq war debate, the Pentagon spin masters and fierce critics. Perhaps inevitably, the "Letter from Iraq" moved quickly beyond the small group of acquantainaces and hit the inboxes of retired generals, officers in the Pentagon, and staffers on Capitol Hill. TIME's Sally B. Donnelly first received a copy three weeks ago but only this week was able to track down the author and verify the document's authenticity. The author wishes to remain anonymous but has allowed us to publish it here — with a few judicious omissions.



All: I haven't written very much from Iraq. There's really not much to write about. More exactly, there's not much I can write about because practically everything I do, read or hear is classified military information or is depressing to the point that I'd rather just forget about it, never mind write about it. The gaps in between all of that are filled with the pure tedium of daily life in an armed camp. So it's a bit of a struggle to think of anything to put into a letter that's worth reading. Worse, this place just consumes you. I work 18-20-hour days, every day. The quest to draw a clear picture of what the insurgents are up to never ends. Problems and frictions crop up faster than solutions. Every challenge demands a response. It's like this every day. Before I know it, I can't see straight, because it's 0400 and I've been at work for 20 hours straight, somehow missing dinner again in the process. And once again I haven't written to anyone. It starts all over again four hours later. It's not really like Ground Hog Day, it's more like a level from Dante's Inferno.



Rather than attempting to sum up the last seven months, I figured I'd just hit the record-setting highlights of 2006 in Iraq. These are among the events and experiences I'll remember best.



Worst Case of Deja Vu — I thought I was familiar with the feeling of deja vu until I arrived back here in Fallujah in February. The moment I stepped off of the helicopter, just as dawn broke, and saw the camp just as I had left it ten months before — that was deja vu. Kind of unnerving. It was as if I had never left. Same work area, same busted desk, same chair, same computer, same room, same creaky rack, same... everything. Same everything for the next year. It was like entering a parallel universe. Home wasn't 10,000 miles away, it was a different lifetime.



Most Surreal Moment — Watching Marines arrive at my detention facility and unload a truck load of flex-cuffed midgets. 26 to be exact. We had put the word out earlier in the day to the Marines in Fallujah that we were looking for Bad Guy X, who was described as a midget. Little did I know that Fallujah was home to a small community of midgets, who banded together for support since they were considered as social outcasts. The Marines were anxious to get back to the midget colony to bring in the rest of the midget suspects, but I called off the search, figuring Bad Guy X was long gone on his short legs after seeing his companions rounded up by the giant infidels.



Most Profound Man in Iraq — an unidentified farmer in a fairly remote area who, after being asked by Reconnaissance Marines if he had seen any foreign fighters in the area replied "Yes, you."



Worst City in al-Anbar Province — Ramadi, hands down. The provincial capital of 400,000 people. Lots and lots of insurgents killed in there since we arrived in February. Every day is a nasty gun battle. They blast us with giant bombs in the road, snipers, mortars and small arms. We blast them with tanks, attack helicopters, artillery, our snipers (much better than theirs), and every weapon that an infantryman can carry. Every day. Incredibly, I rarely see Ramadi in the news. We have as many attacks out here in the west as Baghdad. Yet, Baghdad has 7 million people, we have just 1.2 million. Per capita, al-Anbar province is the most violent place in Iraq by several orders of magnitude. I suppose it was no accident that the Marines were assigned this area in 2003.



Bravest Guy in al-Anbar Province — Any Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician (EOD Tech). How'd you like a job that required you to defuse bombs in a hole in the middle of the road that very likely are booby-trapped or connected by wire to a bad guy who's just waiting for you to get close to the bomb before he clicks the detonator? Every day. Sanitation workers in New York City get paid more than these guys. Talk about courage and commitment.



Second Bravest Guy in al-Anbar Province — It's a 20,000-way tie among all these Marines and Soldiers who venture out on the highways and through the towns of al-Anbar every day, not knowing if it will be their last — and for a couple of them, it will be.



Worst E-Mail Message — "The Walking Blood Bank is Activated. We need blood type A+ stat." I always head down to the surgical unit as soon as I get these messages, but I never give blood — there's always about 80 Marines in line, night or day.



Biggest Surprise — Iraqi Police. All local guys. I never figured that we'd get a police force established in the cities in al-Anbar. I estimated that insurgents would kill the first few, scaring off the rest. Well, insurgents did kill the first few, but the cops kept on coming. The insurgents continue to target the police, killing them in their homes and on the streets, but the cops won't give up. Absolutely incredible tenacity. The insurgents know that the police are far better at finding them than we are — and they are finding them. Now, if we could just get them out of the habit of beating prisoners to a pulp... Greatest Vindication — Stocking up on outrageous quantities of Diet Coke from the chow hall in spite of the derision from my men on such hoarding, then having a 122mm rocket blast apart the giant shipping container that held all of the soda for the chow hall. Yep, you can't buy experience.



Biggest Mystery — How some people can gain weight out here. I'm down to 165 lbs. Who has time to eat?



Second Biggest Mystery — if there's no atheists in foxholes, then why aren't there more people at Mass every Sunday?



Favorite Iraqi TV Show — Oprah. I have no idea. They all have satellite TV.



Coolest Insurgent Act — Stealing almost $7 million from the main bank in Ramadi in broad daylight, then, upon exiting, waving to the Marines in the combat outpost right next to the bank, who had no clue of what was going on. The Marines waved back. Too cool.



Most Memorable Scene — In the middle of the night, on a dusty airfield, watching the better part of a battalion of Marines packed up and ready to go home after over six months in al-Anbar, the relief etched in their young faces even in the moonlight. Then watching these same Marines exchange glances with a similar number of grunts loaded down with gear file past — their replacements. Nothing was said. Nothing needed to be said.



Highest Unit Re-enlistment Rate — Any outfit that has been in Iraq recently. All the danger, all the hardship, all the time away from home, all the horror, all the frustrations with the fight here — all are outweighed by the desire for young men to be part of a band of brothers who will die for one another. They found what they were looking for when they enlisted out of high school. Man for man, they now have more combat experience than any Marines in the history of our Corps.



Most Surprising Thing I Don't Miss — Beer. Perhaps being half-stunned by lack of sleep makes up for it.



Worst Smell — Porta-johns in 120-degree heat — and that's 120 degrees outside of the porta-john.



Highest Temperature — I don't know exactly, but it was in the porta-johns. Needed to re-hydrate after each trip to the loo.



Biggest Hassle — High-ranking visitors. More disruptive to work than a rocket attack. VIPs demand briefs and "battlefield" tours (we take them to quiet sections of Fallujah, which is plenty scary for them). Our briefs and commentary seem to have no effect on their preconceived notions of what's going on in Iraq. Their trips allow them to say that they've been to Fallujah, which gives them an unfortunate degree of credibility in perpetuating their fantasies about the insurgency here. Biggest Outrage — Practically anything said by talking heads on TV about the war in Iraq, not that I get to watch much TV. Their thoughts are consistently both grossly simplistic and politically slanted. Biggest Offender: Bill O'Reilly.



Best Intel Work — Finding Jill Carroll's kidnappers — all of them. I was mighty proud of my guys that day. I figured we'd all get the Christian Science Monitor for free after this, but none have showed up yet.



Saddest Moment — Having an infantry battalion commander hand me the dog tags of one of my Marines who had just been killed while on a mission with his unit. Hit by a 60mm mortar. He was a great Marine. I felt crushed for a long time afterward. His picture now hangs at the entrance to our section area. We'll carry it home with us when we leave in February.



Best Chuck Norris Moment — 13 May. Bad Guys arrived at the government center in a small town to kidnap the mayor, since they have a problem with any form of government that does not include regular beheadings and women wearing burqahs. There were seven of them. As they brought the mayor out to put him in a pick-up truck to take him off to be beheaded (on video, as usual), one of the Bad Guys put down his machine gun so that he could tie the mayor's hands. The mayor took the opportunity to pick up the machine gun and drill five of the Bad Guys. The other two ran away. One of the dead Bad Guys was on our top twenty wanted list. Like they say, you can't fight City Hall.



Worst Sound — That crack-boom off in the distance that means an IED or mine just went off. You just wonder who got it, hoping that it was a near miss rather than a direct hit. Hear it practically every day.



Second Worst Sound — Our artillery firing without warning. The howitzers are pretty close to where I work. Believe me, outgoing sounds a lot like incoming when our guns are firing right over our heads. They'd about knock the fillings out of your teeth.



Only Thing Better in Iraq Than in the U.S. — Sunsets. Spectacular. It's from all the dust in the air.



Proudest Moment — It's a tie every day, watching our Marines produce phenomenal intelligence products that go pretty far in teasing apart Bad Guy operations in al-Anbar. Every night Marines and Soldiers are kicking in doors and grabbing Bad Guys based on intelligence developed by our guys. We rarely lose a Marine during these raids, they are so well-informed of the objective. A bunch of kids right out of high school shouldn't be able to work so well, but they do.



Happiest Moment — Well, it wasn't in Iraq. There are no truly happy moments here. It was back in California when I was able to hold my family again while home on leave during July.



Most Common Thought — Home. Always thinking of home, of my great wife and the kids. Wondering how everyone else is getting along. Regretting that I don't write more. Yep, always thinking of home.

I hope you all are doing well. If you want to do something for me, kiss a cop, flush a toilet, and drink a beer. I'll try to write again before too long — I promise.

Another Daily Topic

- What's a good habit to have? Being on time (which is coming from someone who is always late).

- Are you the forgiving type? Yeah, I try to put myself in the other person's shoes and that usually snaps me out of it.

- If you could be famous (a household name), what would you like to be famous for? For doing something wonderfully humanitarian or perhaps being a great author - or singer or top model or for just being rich is fine too.


- Do you think that there is anything worth dying for? If sacrificing one life, could bring life or stop the killing of others.

- Define what it means to be sane. I'll go with being aware and having control of what you say and do.

- If you're sitting next to a priest (plane, bus, train) and you notice his zipper is down, would you tell him? No, I don't think I would tell him. I just can't imagine I'd have the nerve to tell him. I think I would try to divert my eyes if I was talking with him because when he finally realizes his zipper is down, I wouldn't want him to think I knew.

Dreams

1. Do you have dreams that you can remember? Yes, but I soon forget them. Sometimes things happen and I have to think - did that really happen or did I dream that?

2. Can you share the most memorable dream/nightmare that you ever had? I had this reoccuring nightmare as a child. I would be walking and there would suddenly be a hole in the ground. It looked like a man hole with it's cover off. The devil would be down there and he'd reach his arms up and try to pull me down. As I ran, new holes would pop up and he'd be there trying to pull me down. Every once in a while, he would pull me down and there was all kinds of fire and chaos down there. It terrified me.

3. We all daydream, what are you thinking about doing when you catch yourself zoning out? If I'm truly zoned out, I think my mind is completely blank. Otherwise, my mind jumps around to what I did yesterday or what I'm doing tonight. Random experiences from throughout my week or my life pop up. I also daydream about a certain someone....

4. Are there colors in your dreams? I suppose there must be. I'm sure I'd know if they were black and white.

Concerts

1) When was the first time you went to a concert? Who did you see? I think I was a freshman in high school. I went to see Kansas. Back then it was general admission and there were lots of people sitting on the floor (not sure why). As I was walking by them, my coat caught the head of someone's cigarette. My coat started burning - not flames but like how a cigarette burns. It was getting reallllllllly hot in there. By the time I realized it, there was about an 8x8 inch patch of my coat sizzling. My friends thought it was the funniest thing that it took me so long to notice. Hey, it was dark in there. Oh wait, the sizzling wasn't dark huh? Ok, never mind.

(2) Do you have a favorite concert? I suppose I do but I've been to so many concerts over the years that I can't think of which one right now.

(3) Which concert was the worst? if you had one did you walk out? I walked out of Steely Dan. I love their music but they played everything at like 100 mph and it was giving me agida.
(4) What was the most you ever spent on a ticket? Is there limit you will pay to see a concert? Maybe $125 - not sure but I know I've paid well over $100.
(5) Is there a concert that you would love to see? - Pink Floyd

Daily Topic

-What is the single most important quality you look for in a friend? a good sense of humor

-Do you have that quality? I think so.

-Are you comfortable with PDAs (Public Displays of Affection)? Yes, of course.

-If you were a ghost, who or what would you haunt? I would haunt the White House, specifically, Bushie, Condi, Cheney & Rummy.

-What is your definition of beauty? Wowie, that's hard. I have to start asking easier questions. I'll break it down to outer beauty - aesthetically pleasing to eye and inner beauty - the goodness in a person.

-If you could stop a bad habit that you have, what would you stop? Being late. I swear, it's like today - it's never my fault - ok, maybe once or twice it's been my fault.

-What would you do if you lost your bathing suit while you were swimming? I'm sure I'd search for a long time and then I would peak my head above water and wave my arms frantically to catch someone's attention to come bring me a towel.