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All of the signs were there ; had been for some time , but for various reasons they hadn 't registered on me . The biggest reason being my job . My company had been bought out and the new management had come in , reorganized and I was scrambling to re - learn that I thought , up until then , that I had down cold . I concentrated on work and as a result I didn 't notice what was going on at home . " I want to make more money Rob . I 'm scared right now . You hear all kinds of horror stories about what happens when one company buys out another . You are busting your ass to try and fit into the way the new company operates , but what if they suddenly decide that you aren 't doing it fast enough or the way they want it and let you go ? The promotion will give us the extra money we will need wh
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ile you find something else . " But I did learn to do my job the new way and I did it well enough to get a promotion out of it . With the job pressures gone my mind was freed up and I began to notice things . Things like phone conversations that ended abruptly when I would come into the room . Things like answering the phone and hearing the other party hang up . Things like Beth still working late and on some Saturdays for a promotion that never seemed to come . The biggest thing however , was the change in our sex life . It had always been good and we usually made love three or four times a week . That didn 't change , but what did change was the way it occurred . Our usual practice had been " anywhere , anytime " the mood grabbed us , but that gradually changed . It wasn 't spontaneous a |
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She pulls the white envelope out of her backpack on the walk home from the school bus . Look she says . She flaps the envelop in the air while I try to grab it . I herd the kids up the stairs and into the house while simultaneously peeking at the pictures stuck to the back of the envelope . Her first school pictures . In each one she smiles . Wearing a white shirt against a blue background , we had forgotten it was picture day , she smiles . Each of her smiles are different . In the first picture her smile is tentative . It looks a bit forced , as if she is unsure why she is sitting in the gym in front of a strange lady and being asked to smile . She relaxes in the second picture . Learning forward , she looks directly into the camera and smiles sweetly . In the third picture she sticks he
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r neck out , tilting her head slightly to her left and the cheeky grin she wears on her face is mirrored in her eyes . When she got off the bus there were no tears . I didn 't cry she said . Yay I said . I wanted to ask more but she was distracted by the dogs waiting at the bus stop with us . She pet them and they licked her . Everyone was thrilled . We walked home . I went to drop off the boy 's push car on the porch and when she saw me she yelled . I want to go to the restaurant ! she hollered . She had not forgotten the promise I had made her yesterday . No crying at school or on the bus and we can go to the diner for lunch I had told her , not really believing that the bribe I was offering would work . The three of us sat in a booth . She ate her grilled cheese sandwich and he ate his |
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Every Wednesday Lawrence comes in to sit with Bow so I can run some errands . Bow and Lawrence are very good friends . Bow eagerly waits for Lawrence to arrive . He knows that Lawrence is coming , and he looks forward to that . He even makes eager , impatient sounds of happiness when he sees Lawrence 's car arrive in the driveway . However , you would not know any of this if you saw how Bow behaves when Lawrence first comes in . Bow 's hair stands on end . He makes himself look twice as big as he actually is . He makes threatening sounds and throws himself against the glass and the walls of the pens , in some cases even injuring himself through the violence of his own aggression . Lawrence knows better than to go in while Bow is in the middle of such a display . If he did , he would stand
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a very good chance of being injured . But all Lawrence has to do is wait until the display peters out . Eventually , Bow settles down , and then he may even gesture to let Lawrence know it is safe to come in . Then , when Lawrence does come in , Bow greets him happily and starts to groom Lawrence . This pattern repeats every single week , unless Lawrence has been here a day earlier . Bow does not feel the need to display if the two have just seen each other . But if a whole week has gone by , the display must take place . There is no way to get around it . We just have to go through it . Some people tend to say things like : well , of course , he 's a chimpanzee . What did you expect ? But I don 't think it 's just a chimpanzee thing . The more I get to understand Bow 's peculiar and inevi |
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What Brock doesn 't expect is finding two scared children in the trunk of a Corvette . He 's also surprised to learn the kids ' mother is Vincent 's sister . But his immediate concern is the safety of the two children , Abey and Penny , and he offers to comfort and care for them when their mother is taken into custody . Vincent is also shocked to learn what his sister has done . For the sake of the kids , he and Brock bury the hatchet - and soon find they have much more in common than they realized . With Abey and Penny 's help , they grow closer , until the four of them start to feel like a family . But Vincent 's sister and her boyfriend - an equal - opportunity jerk - could tear down everything they 're trying to build . I love Andrew Grey 's Carlisle Cops series , they 're fun , dramat
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ic , loving , sexy - basically everything you hope for in a contemporary romance . Throw in some kids and it just adds another layer of realism that tugs at your heartstrings . Abey and Penny are absolutely adorable , how can you not fall in love with them as much as Brock does ? You definitely should have a box of tissues handy , you don 't want to short out your ereader from falling tears . And you will have a few tears , tears of heartache , tears of sadness , tears of laughter , and tears of joy . Former loves reconnecting can be tricky to convey , especially when the breakup might not have been for the best . You need to understand and believe why the connection is still strong as well as why it took so long to meet up again , the balance has to be just right and Andrew Grey has creat |
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What Brock doesn 't expect is finding two scared children in the trunk of a Corvette . He 's also surprised to learn the kids ' mother is Vincent 's sister . But his immediate concern is the safety of the two children , Abey and Penny , and he offers to comfort and care for them when their mother is taken into custody . Vincent is also shocked to learn what his sister has done . For the sake of the kids , he and Brock bury the hatchet - and soon find they have much more in common than they realized . With Abey and Penny 's help , they grow closer , until the four of them start to feel like a family . But Vincent 's sister and her boyfriend - an equal - opportunity jerk - could tear down everything they 're trying to build . I love Andrew Grey 's Carlisle Cops series , they 're fun , dramat
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ic , loving , sexy - basically everything you hope for in a contemporary romance . Throw in some kids and it just adds another layer of realism that tugs at your heartstrings . Abey and Penny are absolutely adorable , how can you not fall in love with them as much as Brock does ? You definitely should have a box of tissues handy , you don 't want to short out your ereader from falling tears . And you will have a few tears , tears of heartache , tears of sadness , tears of laughter , and tears of joy . Former loves reconnecting can be tricky to convey , especially when the breakup might not have been for the best . You need to understand and believe why the connection is still strong as well as why it took so long to meet up again , the balance has to be just right and Andrew Grey has creat |
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Bill and Olivia have had the flu shot . Ping will get hers when they restock her pediatrician 's supply . I needed to still get mine though . I called to cancel an appointment today and asked about the flu clinic dates . There happened to be one tonight , so I decided to go and get it . I thought there would be a line , but there wasn 't at all . I was in and out . Bill actually drove me and parked right outside . Ping insisted on going in with me , so the two of us went in and back out in 15 minutes . This is the second year I have gotten my flu shot . It 's because Ping picks up everything from school . I don 't want to risk it like I use to . Today was an okay day . I started the day of with my social worker coming to the house to check on Olivia . She hasn 't been here since Olivia has
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. She thought Olivia looked like a happy baby . I tried to discuss her leaving , but I seriously didn 't have my emotions under control and so I told her I could not discuss it . I wasn 't sure when Olivia was leaving , but I assumed it was Thursday or Friday . She said she would have O 's social worker call me with the day . She called this afternoon and said it was going to be at 9 : 00 am on Friday . I spent an hour or so after the call gathering up all of the toys , clothes and food that we had for Olivia and put them all in the corner so they will be ready to go . I woke up with the worst headache this morning and couldn 't shake it . After putting O 's stuff together , I took a few more Tylenol and sat down and closed my eyes for a little while . Olivia was sleeping and Ping was col |
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Not Alone - A PNR Short Story October 23 , 2014October 23 , 2014 ElleLainey Not Alone is an accompanying short story , to follow the journey of human foster kids Phil and Ella , from the Evanders Trilogy . Book 1 is available to read here . This short takes place after Book 1 , but can also be read on it 's own . Phil tied his last shoelace and listened carefully to the sounds of the house . All was quiet . He glanced at the clock on his bedside table and noticed that it was right in the midst of that sweet hour : it was almost midnight . His foster parents , foster brother and little Ella would all be asleep by now . He lifted his bag and walked to the window , quietly opening the shutters and fastening them back on the inside of the walls so that they didn 't clatter in the night breeze
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. He slipped out the window , stepped over to the thick tree branch and pulled the chord . The shutters slowly closed , thanks to the mechanical pulley system he 'd built and prepared for such outings . His foster parents thought he kept running away , but he wasn 't that stupid . He knew if he was reported as missing too many times children 's services might come looking for him and send him away to another foster family . He couldn 't do that to Ella . But he needed his freedom too . Phil dropped to the ground quietly and ran off into the night . It took him an hour on the bus to reach his final destination , but he didn 't care . He just sat there with his headphones in his ears , texting on his phone to let Logan know he was on his way . When the bus finally stopped he was just a five |
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The The population of Australia is about 20 million . The first inhabitants to live in Australia were Aboriginal people . After that people came from all over the world . The main language is English , however many other languages are spoken . Indonesia was covered by rain forests , but many of its forests have been cut down . Some fire also destroyed the Indonesian forests , especially during the dry se ason . It is hard now to reforest the bare land . Diposting oleh KOMODO DRAGON Do you know what is the largest lizard ? This lizard is called komodo . It lives i n the scrub and woodland of a few Indonesian islands . Komodo dragon is the world 's heaviest lizard , weighing 150 pounds or more . The largest Komodo ever measured was more than 10 feet ( 3 meters ) long and weighed 366 pounds (
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166 kg ) but the average size of komodo in the wild is about 8 feet ( 2 . 5 meters ) long and 200 pounds ( 91 kg ) Komodo has gray scaly skin , a pointed snout , powerful limbs and a muscular tail . They use their keen sense of smell to locate decaying animal remains from several miles away . They also hunt other lizards as well as large mammals and are sometimes cannibalistic . The Komodo dragon 's teeth are almost completely covered by its gums . When it feeds , the gums bleed , creating an ideal culture for virulent bacteria . The bacteria that live in the Komodo dragon 's saliva causes septicemia , or blood poisoning , in its victims . A dragon will bite its prey , then follow it until the animal istoo weak to carry on . This lizard species is threatened by hunting , loss of prey spec |
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Also this week we are also very excited about next week . Week 30 of Great Hites . Let Everyone know that it is a special week and that we are trying to get an many people as possible to come out and write next week . Maybe I will even get a guest voice or two . Anyone ! ? ! Anyone ! ? ! Alvin positioned the speakers to face the first recorder , then faced the second recorder opposite the first one . He hooked up the mike , then positioned the single chair in front of it . The room was empty otherwise . Alvin proceeded with the recording : The door opened and Joan Minskey walked in . " I 'm having a problem with the recording equipment . Can you please help me ? " " Sure , no problem . " Alvin stopped the recorder , rewinded the tape and went over to the faculty 's state of the art recordi
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ng studio . This new equipment was supposed to be the best in the field , but the students kept complaining and for some reason , they always came to him for help , not that he minded though , he loved helping out , but sometimes it was an inconvenience . He locked the room and went over to help her . By the time he finished , he had a class to deliver , so he didn 't get back to the room until much later . He repositioned the two recorders and the speaker and started the recording again : The door opened and Ian Tablenkov walked in . " Can you help me ? I 'm having some problems with this composition . Something about the meaning of those harmonies is not quite right . " Alvin sighed . It looked like he wasn 't going to finished this recording now , so he locked the room and went over to |
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An Ideas Box is proposed during a Market Knowledge session in a company . But the box goes missing because it is believed to contain much more than ideas . Who has the Ideas Box and why ? But the main question is : What is really in the box ? " Let 's have one voice and work towards a common goal . Let 's adopt the support system strategy , master it and use it , until it becomes our culture , " Mr . Charles Mo - Uboh concluded on the speech on Market Knowledge he had been giving for about an hour . He waited , but no one commented or clapped . Everyone stared at him … those who were awake . Mr . Charles was the founder and MD / CEO of Inflygroovics Nigeria ; a fast paced design services company that employed mostly young people , and it wasn 't new to him that no one clapped or commented
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whenever he gave speeches or organised interactive sessions . It wasn 't as if he lacked the congregation , because some of his staff members were present for the much - awaited session . Clara Orlu , the HR Manager was there ; Chinelo Anigbo - Tewogbola , the Marketing Manager was present ; two Technical Support Analysts , Evangeline Ottah and Eugene Isaiah Nwajesus , didn 't miss the session . Two Research Officers Nichole Oshodi and Abu Osman had come prepared with their laptops , android tablets and two smartphones each . A Technical Administrator , Otito U . Otito happened to be passing by and joined in . And then finally , there was Enoh Ernest , the Admin Officer . All the other staff members were either out of the office , on leave or in other Inflygroovics offices around Nigeria . |
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An Ideas Box is proposed during a Market Knowledge session in a company . But the box goes missing because it is believed to contain much more than ideas . Who has the Ideas Box and why ? But the main question is : What is really in the box ? " Let 's have one voice and work towards a common goal . Let 's adopt the support system strategy , master it and use it , until it becomes our culture , " Mr . Charles Mo - Uboh concluded on the speech on Market Knowledge he had been giving for about an hour . He waited , but no one commented or clapped . Everyone stared at him … those who were awake . Mr . Charles was the founder and MD / CEO of Inflygroovics Nigeria ; a fast paced design services company that employed mostly young people , and it wasn 't new to him that no one clapped or commented
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whenever he gave speeches or organised interactive sessions . It wasn 't as if he lacked the congregation , because some of his staff members were present for the much - awaited session . Clara Orlu , the HR Manager was there ; Chinelo Anigbo - Tewogbola , the Marketing Manager was present ; two Technical Support Analysts , Evangeline Ottah and Eugene Isaiah Nwajesus , didn 't miss the session . Two Research Officers Nichole Oshodi and Abu Osman had come prepared with their laptops , android tablets and two smartphones each . A Technical Administrator , Otito U . Otito happened to be passing by and joined in . And then finally , there was Enoh Ernest , the Admin Officer . All the other staff members were either out of the office , on leave or in other Inflygroovics offices around Nigeria . |
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ArchiveRemembering the KingBy Kent DemaretPosted on August 21 , 1989 at 12 : 00pm EDT ShareTweetEmail When Elvis Presley died 12 years ago this week , few lives were affected more profoundly than Rick Stanley 's . After he became Elvis 's stepbrother , he joined the Presley entourage at 17 to become one of the singer 's aides and an insider privy to his personal life . In the years that followed , Stanley 's own difficulties often mirrored those of his famous relative ; the younger man 's early drug use , which had started with alcohol and hallucinogens in high school , escalated to heroin , morphine and other narcotics as his days and nights came to revolve around the man he knew as King and kin . On the night of Elvis 's death on Aug . 16 , 1977 , Stanley was one of the last to see the s
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inger alive . After a near - suicidal bout with depression , Stanley underwent a religious conversion two months later and now , at 35 , is a licensed Baptist minister living in Mary Esther , Fla . , with his wife , Robyn , 33 , and their two children . His years with Elvis remain pivotal in his life , and in an interview with correspondent Kent Demaret , he talked of the experiences that began with their strange , first meeting . Then 6 , he and his two brothers were living at a Virginia boarding school and unaware that their mother , Dee , and Elvis 's widowed father , Vernon , had met in Germany during Elvis 's tour of duty . One afternoon my mom pulls up in a beautiful Continental with a guy who 's a perfect stranger to me . I come out of the boarding school , and my mom 's sitting in |
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He was born like many other children , filled with love and innocent . He had caring parents as he recalls , they use to hold him and protect him in his first years . They taught him how to walk and how to talk . They used to run towards him and wipe his tears when he fell , just like any other parents would do for their child . He 's the youngest in the family , his brother was 12 years old , and his sister was almost 10 when he born . He used to wait for them , for when they come back to the place where they all sheltered under the bridge , to play with him . Usually they left that place early in the morning while he was still sleeping , and often they came back late after he was asleep . His mom was so special , she was the only person who was always around , his dad used to disappear ,
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sometimes for weeks . As a little baby , all that mattered to him was to play , eat and sleep . He was too small to know what 's going on with his family . Newly arrived to life , he didn 't know yet that there is lot to go through , didn 't know that his life will be a battle , that he 's just one new fighter in this family he was born into . He didn 't know yet the name of the place he lives , he used to think it 's home , but his family name it hell … That became clear after he turned 6 years old . It was a sunny day when his mom told him to put on his dirty torn clothes and be ready for a long walk . " A long walk where ? " the boy asked , “… but mom I want to stay here and play " . With a strict look , his dad ordered him to obey his mom . The boy kept silent and bowed his head . His |
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Ghostly Mr . Tooley November 16 , 2016November 17 , 2016 / brandipayneliteraryworks My name is Regina and I am an African - American woman with two young children , Brianna and Jesse . They are the love of my life and I want to provide the very best life for them that I can . We used to live with my mother in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania until I earned enough to get our own place . My mother looked after my two children while I work as a personal assistant to a fashion designer . I work long hours and sometimes I have to miss school plays or homework , but I love my children very much and they know that I would do anything for them . I am thirty - five years old with a curvy body that makes a man beg for it . I have a caramel complexion with brown eyes and long braids down to my waist . I w
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ear glasses which do come in handy when I have to do a lot of reading for my boss . I love my job and wouldn 't trade it for the world , except for my kids . I love watching television , going to the clubs every blue moon with my girlfriends , and I am an avid reader of books . I especially like fictional books which have you on the edge of your seat . My daughter Brianna is the oldest of the two and is seven years old while my son , Jesse , is only four years old . Brianna is a skinny girl with dark brown eyes and loves to have her hair in pigtails . My son is completely the opposite where he is a little chubby boy with a shaved head and he wears glasses as well . They are a handful but my mother loves her grandchildren to death . I have been working as a personal assistant for about nine |
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I was sitting in my office looking out the window at the little park behind our hardware business . I had only been at my desk a few minutes when I saw this young girl sit down on the park bench . She laid a backpack on the ground between her feet . I wasn 't that close but I 'd swear she was crying . I got busy for the next couple of hours and paid no attention to the world outside . It was nearly eleven that morning when I had cleared my desk of the accounts that had come in overnight . I could now take on today 's reports that were trickling in from the offices up on the top floor . I worked alone undisturbed here in the rear of the business . My boss 's office was down the hall and I could occasionally hear the rumble of his voice on the phone or when someone was with him . I glanced o
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ut the window and was startled to see the girl still sitting there . She appeared to be half asleep or maybe just letting the time go by . Suddenly she straightened and stood up , walking over to the water fountain to get a drink . This hadn 't been hooked up for the summer yet . She just came back and slumped on the bench again . She looked around and saw me watching her . She was young , maybe sixteen - or - so . Her long hair was a pretty shade of brown with little highlights in it , but it hadn 't been combed today . Yes , she had been crying . A brave , " screw you " expression crossed her face and then she put her head down resuming the original position I had seen her take when she arrived . She stayed that way until it was time for me to go to lunch . I walked out and sat on the fa |
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Okay , this whole balloon hoax thing is ridiculous . I was trying to figure out how it was possible for a 6 - year - old kid to be trapped inside a helium balloon and 1 : be light enough for the thing to lift off the ground , and 2 : be able to get inside the thing in the first place and 3 : breathe . The whole situation was fishy from the beginning , and I 'm sure maybe the authorities thought so too , but have to follow up on claims involving children . The Heenes are media whores and disgusting human beings . They deserve any charges that are brought against them along with any bills the police send their way , and probably even to have their children removed from the house since they were told to lie to the authorities and neighbors , ( presumably ) left the youngest child at home by h
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imself , as well as taking resources from other potential real - life emergencies . These guys are just top - notch , grade - a DBs . Too bad they won 't rot in prison for longer than 6 years at the most . . . on the other hand , they kinda need to hurry up and get out of prison so they can get off the state dime and start repaying the county for their hoax . And no , they should not be allowed to file bankruptcy in order to get out of it . Psychos . I know this is old news , but it 's been eating at me for some time , and here 's what I think . Everyone knows that President Obama went to Copenhagen to personally campaign to get the Olympics to Chicago in 2016 . Everyone also knows that the USA was the first one cut from the running . Major embarrassment to President Obama . I personally d |
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I don 't know why you can 't leave any comments on the inspirational story pages . You need to go back to the original post or to the home page to leave a comment . Thank you for understanding . There had been vague reports of a cougar in the area , but Angel , his lab , was suddenly in a fierce do - or - die fight with the intimidating cat . " I was terrified . My dog saved my life , but now the cougar had him , " he told a reporter from the Vancouver Sun on Monday as word of the true - to - life horror tale spread across Canada . Austin ran in the house , screaming , and his mother quickly called her husband , who was nearby visiting at his father 's house , and then called 911 while the two animals fought ferociously outside . Understand , the cougar is about twice as large as Austin 's
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dog . Constable Chad Gravelle of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police just happened to be at the station , not far away . But before he could get there , the noise of the fighting eerily stopped . Austin 's sister , 17 - year - old Holly , later recalled , " All we could hear was the heavy breathing of the cougar . He had Angel 's head in his mouth and was trying to suffocate her . " That 's when the Royal Mountie roared up . " I got the call a cougar was mauling a child and that it was Austin , " the constable said . " He 's a good little guy and I was just hoping nothing was happening to him . " As the officer rushed to the house , the daughter came out on the porch sobbing and said the cougar had the dog . My first thought was , ' Thank Christ it doesn 't have the boy . ' " Constable Grav |
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by Andrew JoyceAugust 20 , 2013August 20 , 2013 The book is out today . Here are some links to help you find it . Pease share them with your friends . by Andrew JoyceAugust 17 , 2013August 19 , 2013 I once had a girl , her name was Karina . She was from Norway , but we met in New Your City at a jazz club on the West Side . My friend Lane had dragged me there ; he told me that the sax player would really send me . I know , that is 60 's lingo , but Lane was a good friend , so I went with him that warm August night . It was a night that changed my life . Lane and I were from upstate New York , we were friends in high school . We were both going to be writers and write the Great American Novel . And here we were , Lane wrote copy for an ad agency and I wrote short stories that no one would bu
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y . I was twenty - years - old , I had just dropped out of college . I wanted to be a writer and I did not think college was the way to go about it . I thought that the only way to be a writer was to write . So I headed for the big city , found myself a roach infested apartment and opened my laptop . I got lucky and sold my first short story to a weekly newspaper . It was a free paper , but they did print fiction . They paid me all of $ 25 . 00 for it . After that , I figured it would be only a matter of time before I had The New Yorker knocking at my door wanting me to write my genius fiction for them , and if not the New Yorker , then at least the Village Voice . Well , things did not work out that way . Six months later , I had not sold another story . The newspaper that had bought my f |
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I was born in Ottawa , Canada , then moved to Burbank , CA when I was about two . I entered kindergarten there . One noon - time I didn 't feel well so I walked home and ended up spending the next six months in bed with double pneumonia . I lost a whole term of school but soon made it up . We moved to San Jose not long after and I lived there through high school . I had three brothers and four sisters . We had a big family . I had an older sister , an older brother and then me and then the rest . In about 1936 my mother died from cancer when I was in school . I think I was about 13 . My father was an accordion player . His whole life was predicated on playing the accordion . He put up a 2 ft . by 3 ft . sign in front of the house advertising lessons . He wanted to teach people how to play
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but he never really promoted himself and so I don 't think he ever got a single job . Not even an inquiry . He used to do odd jobs but nothing steady . It was difficult for all of us with very little to go around . I always worked . When I was about 13 or 14 I was hitting a tennis ball against the side of a warehouse and I hit it up onto the roof . I put a ladder up against the gutter to go get the ball . Just as I reached for it , the gutter came loose and down I came . I broke my heel and my ankle . It never healed correctly and I had problems with it later when I was in the Army . A neighbor woman who liked me saw what happened and took me to the county hospital . After I got out of the hospital they took me in . She put a bed in the garage for me so that I wouldn 't have to climb any s |
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Its that time again . . . time to look back at what has been and look ahead at what will be . Every year on New Year 's Eve , Trevor and I go out to dinner and have our year in review . We talk about our favorite parts of the year , least favorite parts , what we look forward to next year . Every year I make goals for the coming year . I have been looking back at my list for 2012 and I can proudly say that I achieved just about NONE of them . Here 's the list : So . . . . am I disappointed that I went just about 0 for 8 . Not one bit . This year turned out way different than I had expected , so much happened that was not on my radar , not planned for and turned out to be WAY better than anything I could have thought I wanted . In January , I got a call from Rev3 , a triathlon company out o
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f Virginia that was looking for a volunteer coordinator for their local Portland event in July . Trevor and I had been planning to participate in it , but the opportunity to work it seemed much better ! This one call would change the entire direction of our year . . . . we just didn 't know it yet . The first half of the year was really a blur for me . I was in denial about how much time and energy Asha was going to continue to take from me . We spent January , February and March dialing in her medication . This post called Trial and Error details just some of that . It was a really tough time on all of us . We were getting no sleep , we were stressed , tired and I was angry . . . . all the time . In April , we started going to see Dr Hope Valentine who practices Chinese Medicine . She put |
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Now and then , at really aimless moments , I still look for a trace of Geoffrey on the internet . There is nothing except some comment he made on a Bob Dylan fan site almost 20 years ago . Otherwise nothing . I have even wondered if he was a threat to his two young nieces , born after my time . I have seen Geoffrey 's sister 's profile on Facebook - a lifeless profile , so constrained - and seen the profiles of the two adult daughters . Even from this great distance I can tell that one is more troubled than the other . I remember Geoffrey liking white cotton underpants and small breasts and I have made the leap to wondering if what he really wanted was a little girl . In those harsh summer months back in 1977 when he had started his out - in - the - open affair with HB , a writer much olde
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r than either of us whom he 'd met in a writing class , I took to reading his black and white copy book journal that he kept in the bottom drawer of the tall black bureau brought from - and still smelling of - - his childhood apartment . I read Geoffrey 's awkward stick - figure handwriting , pages of it , looking for clues to who he was , always with the approach of admiration . Geoffrey was an enticing mystery to me then . I wanted so much to enter and be at home in his world . I 'd been trying for years . Though sometimes I gave up , preferring my own world more and more . In the journal I read of a memory of his of being a child and being in bed with an older boy who showed him how to jerk off . Something like that . Sexual . With an older boy . He had never told me this story . I used |
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Now and then , at really aimless moments , I still look for a trace of Geoffrey on the internet . There is nothing except some comment he made on a Bob Dylan fan site almost 20 years ago . Otherwise nothing . I have even wondered if he was a threat to his two young nieces , born after my time . I have seen Geoffrey 's sister 's profile on Facebook - a lifeless profile , so constrained - and seen the profiles of the two adult daughters . Even from this great distance I can tell that one is more troubled than the other . I remember Geoffrey liking white cotton underpants and small breasts and I have made the leap to wondering if what he really wanted was a little girl . In those harsh summer months back in 1977 when he had started his out - in - the - open affair with HB , a writer much olde
### Output:
r than either of us whom he 'd met in a writing class , I took to reading his black and white copy book journal that he kept in the bottom drawer of the tall black bureau brought from - and still smelling of - - his childhood apartment . I read Geoffrey 's awkward stick - figure handwriting , pages of it , looking for clues to who he was , always with the approach of admiration . Geoffrey was an enticing mystery to me then . I wanted so much to enter and be at home in his world . I 'd been trying for years . Though sometimes I gave up , preferring my own world more and more . In the journal I read of a memory of his of being a child and being in bed with an older boy who showed him how to jerk off . Something like that . Sexual . With an older boy . He had never told me this story . I used |
### Task: Continue the story
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" The old house . " My siblings may have other names for the beloved , big house in Stanton , but that 's what I call it : the old house . It was almost a hundred years old when we moved into it . It was over a hundred years old when the folks moved out of it . It was well over a hundred years old when a June tornado swept it away . I call it " the old house " because the house that the folks eventually moved into seemed like their new house ; although , it was neither new nor a house when they moved into it . I call it " the old house " because it 's where I grew up . I spent all but one year of my childhood there , all of my adolescence , and quite a few years of my adulthood living there . A lot of years drinking coffee in the kitchen of that old house . My mother 's kitchen was rectang
### Output:
ular . At one end , a window opened to the neighbor lady 's massive flower garden that , I like to think , my mother enjoyed , wishing she had the time and the energy to cultivate one of her own . She had too many children , too much to do to spend her time whiling away in a flower garden . My mother was practical like that . At the other end of the kitchen was the make - shift coffee mug shelf where a door used to lead into a bedroom . When my father made the extra bedroom into a over - sized bathroom , he closed the door in from the other side with a piece of faux blue marble wood paneling . When in the kitchen , the door frame was left , but the opening was covered by the drab brown back of the paneling . My mother had Dad nail some left over 2x4s horizontally , making the doorway into |
### Task: Continue the story
### Input:
Years and years ago at the very beginning of time , when the world had just been made , there was no night . It was day all the time . No one had ever heard of sunrise or sunset , starlight or moonbeams . There were no night birds , nor night beasts , nor night flowers . There were no lengthening shadows , nor soft night air , heavy with perfume . In those days the daughter of the Great Sea Serpent , who dwelt in the depths of the seas , married one of the sons of the great earth race known as Man . She left her home among the shades of the deep seas and came to dwell with her husband in the land of daylight . Her eyes grew weary of the bright sunlight and her beauty faded . Her husband watched her with sad eyes , but he did not know what to do to help her . Her husband at once called his
### Output:
three most faithful slaves . " I am about to send you on a journey , " he told them . " You are to go to the kingdom of the Great Sea Serpent who dwells in the depths of the seas and ask him to give you some of the darkness of night that his daughter may not die here amid the sunlight of our earth land . " The three slaves set forth for the kingdom of the Great Sea Serpent . After a long dangerous journey they arrived at his home in the depths of the seas and asked him to give them some of the shadows of night to carry back to the earth land . The Great Sea Serpent gave them a big bag full at once . It was securely fastened and the Great Sea Serpent warned them not to open it until they were once more in the presence of his daughter , their mistress . The three slaves started out , bearing |
### Task: Continue the story
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Earlier today . . . when I was much less tired than I am now , at 9 : 35 10 : 18 pm , I had the thought that I should record the little things that happen throughout our summer days . At the start of most summers I worry about how we 'll get through the summer with all the kids home all day and what I 'm going to do with them to fill the time . This summer has been different . I didn 't dread them being home , I looked forward to it . And even though there have been plenty of days where Jeremy has come home from work to find me in tears ( blame pregnancy hormones and my introverted nature that just NEEDS some quiet ) , I have really enjoyed our summer all together . We 've been on a few trips that will be easy to remember , but I know that I won 't remember what the day to day of summer lo
### Output:
oks like if I don 't write it down . 1 . This morning , a little before 10 am , I noticed Connor laying on the couch snuggling a stuffed dog . He typically doesn 't stop moving if he 's awake , so this was a red flag for me . After taking his temperature and seeing that he had a fever , I gave him some Tylenol and left him alone , thinking that if he wanted to fall asleep there that would be fine . A few minutes later Alexis and Tyler noticed that he wasn 't feeling well and soon started to fuss over him . Within minutes Connor had ( in addition to his stuffed dog ) a pillow , a blanket , a toy car , a sippy cup of water and an ice pack for his head . And withing minutes after that he was sound asleep . Their love and attention continued all day and I was very touched that they care so muc |
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Today we are featuring Inklings Book Contest 2017 finalist , Phoebe Clifton ! Phoebe finished 7th grade this past school year . The story she submitted is called " Shadows In The Moondlight " We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we did ! + + + + + When baby Kamaria was born , she looked just like the moon . She had pale skin , nearly white hair , and dazzlingly blue eyes . Her parents , Ayo and Jelani , were surprised to see her because she looked so different from them . Soon after Kamaria was born , Ayo and Jelani took her to the town healer to see what was going on . + + + + + " Don 't give us pity about our daughter . Do you think we care what she looks like ? Do you think it will bother us to have to get her in the moonlight on the full moon ? " Jelani 's voice was rising and the h
### Output:
ealer was beginning to look unsettled so Ayo put her hand on her husband 's shoulder and turned to leave . + + + + + Kamaria grew to be a strong and well loved woman . She had always stayed close to home and Ayo and Jelani looked after her unique needs . One full moon when Kamaria was 23 , she was outside , running and enjoying her powers to make inanimate objects come to life , a power she had discovered only a few years ago . Her powers only worked while the full moon was up and it 's effects died away soon after . Even though Kamaria had to stay outside all night on the full moons , she always felt stronger and more excited at night . Sometimes a child would come up to her in the dark and they would play oh - so - quietly with the rocks and pebbles she made come alive . However , tonigh |
### Task: Continue the story
### Input:
Today we are featuring Inklings Book Contest 2017 finalist , Phoebe Clifton ! Phoebe finished 7th grade this past school year . The story she submitted is called " Shadows In The Moondlight " We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we did ! + + + + + When baby Kamaria was born , she looked just like the moon . She had pale skin , nearly white hair , and dazzlingly blue eyes . Her parents , Ayo and Jelani , were surprised to see her because she looked so different from them . Soon after Kamaria was born , Ayo and Jelani took her to the town healer to see what was going on . + + + + + " Don 't give us pity about our daughter . Do you think we care what she looks like ? Do you think it will bother us to have to get her in the moonlight on the full moon ? " Jelani 's voice was rising and the h
### Output:
ealer was beginning to look unsettled so Ayo put her hand on her husband 's shoulder and turned to leave . + + + + + Kamaria grew to be a strong and well loved woman . She had always stayed close to home and Ayo and Jelani looked after her unique needs . One full moon when Kamaria was 23 , she was outside , running and enjoying her powers to make inanimate objects come to life , a power she had discovered only a few years ago . Her powers only worked while the full moon was up and it 's effects died away soon after . Even though Kamaria had to stay outside all night on the full moons , she always felt stronger and more excited at night . Sometimes a child would come up to her in the dark and they would play oh - so - quietly with the rocks and pebbles she made come alive . However , tonigh |
### Task: Continue the story
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I enjoy peace and quiet , usually . But today I find it grates . In a house full of people I should be hearing something . Well , other than just the sound of pages turning . I blame Jes . She took my journal the other night . She made copies of it and handed it out to the family as they arrived . * sigh * She 's read it already but has yet to say a word to me since she got home . I was first here . I came earlier than usual . I wanted a chance to talk to her , warn her that I had things to discuss tonight . I got the hand . She 's said absolutely nothing to me . I guess I know how this is going to go . Hopefully I won 't lose everyone , but I 'm guessing my time as family is at an end . " Other room please . We need a few minutes to discuss this . " Raven didn 't even look at me as she sp
### Output:
oke . I left the room , into the kitchen with me . I might as well have a drink while they discuss my fate . There 's an iPod sitting on the table . I peek back into the living room only to have one of my sisters catch me . I sit down at the table , a glass of whiskey in front of me . I 'm fidgety , and I catch myself playing with the unfamiliar iPod . I can hear them talking quietly but I can 't make out the words . I consider leaving , after all it 's what I figure is going to happen anyway . So why wait ? I get up and grab my purse , slip quietly out the door to my car . I go to put the key in the ignition and realize I 'm still holding the iPod . * sigh * I 'll have to go back inside , I can 't take it with me . I might be a killer but I 'm no thief . I reach into my glove box instead |
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In my dreams of a little girl , cute little dresses were included with the pretty long hair . Laci has phases where she likes the dresses and other times where she refuses . Laci is starting to be a little picky with her clothes . She has what I call " thunder thighs " already and denim has never been her friend . She refuses to wear any denim or anything similar to denim . She also has issues with long sleeves too . Every morning she complains that her clothes " don 't feel good " . Fortunately , she has learned that she just needs to get used to it . Lately , she has liked to wear dresses and leggings . But jumpers " don 't feel good " . She only has one dress and one jumper right now . So this fall , she has worn the same dress to church every week . I am tired of the dress , even if sh
### Output:
e isn 't . I asked my mom for some more dresses - but no jumpers . She came through with a few jumpers and dresses . My MIL gave Laci the cutest Christmas jumper and asked her to wear it for her Christmas card picture . I pleaded with Christmas to wear it - if only for a few minutes for the picture . Laci has a mind of her which I normally encourage . The best I could get out of her was just the jumper - no shirt and no tights . She loves the jumpers as long as she doesn 't have to wear anything with it . At least she is cute and the weather was warm enough this weekend to get away with it ! After we painted Laci 's room , I was inspired to do something else . We decided to paint the downstairs bathroom , mostly because it is a small room and would be easy to do . We decided on green . I p |
### Task: Continue the story
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I went to see Crazyheart tonight . I always liked Jeff Bridges as an actor . He was so sweet in Starman ! I enjoyed this character too and found his singing and the music quite good . Good lyrics . Richard of course can 't like it as much as I do because it isn 't as good as Tender Mercies , one of his all time favorites . This movie alluded to that one , but he 's right . It isn 't as good . Liked it anyway . There are plenty of bizarre people out there . When I was driving my mom to the doctor , I stayed behind a pickup with an alarming bumper sticker for almost the whole ride down Chapman Ave . . Apparently , this was a snuff rock fan . His bumper sticker read , " Dead girls don 't say no . " Needless to say , I wished he would just go away . When I returned home and checked my answerin
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g machine , there were three recorded calls from the Irvine police , advising me that there was a dangerous armed man loose in my neighborhood , and I should lock my doors and windows and simply stay inside . I was wandering around oblivious to all this when I dropped off at home to feed the cats about 5 . Luckily , the fellow was nowhere near by , and we went about our business safely . The open door would have been quite an invitation to intrude if that guy had been anywhere near by . Maybe , as Marly says , I was deluded about it being spring for everyone , not just the freakishly fair weathered folks in Southern California . But I was also deluded about my plans for yesterday afternoon and evening , unfortunately . Yesterday I worked until 1 at the Center , and had a good day . There w |
### Task: Continue the story
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Hi . My name is Paul . I am fifteen years old , a college student ( full - time ) , and I wear diapers . Now that all the vital stats are out of the way , let me give you the details . Yes , I wear diapers . No big deal . I have wanted to wear diapers ever since I was six years old . I can 't tell you why , but I have . I think part of it stems from the fact that I have encopresis , which is a condition that causes partial or complete loss of bowel control . My parents are understanding now , but they weren 't when I was younger . They called me lazy and made me sit on the toilet for an hour each night until I was about eight . Accidents were cause for tantrums on my parents ' part , and I tried not to have them . However , that 's just the beginning of my story . . . The last day of final
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exams . The exams themselves weren 't too bad , but they put me under a lot of stress , which aggravated my encopresis . That day , I had two exams , both in math classes . My parents didn 't know it yet , but I had nearly failed one of the classes already , and finals were my last chance to bring my grade up in that class . Since I knew that I would have problems that day , I grabbed a plastic bag and a few extra pairs of underwear . As I expected , during my first exam ( in the course I was failing ) , I had an accident . I was on the last problem of the test , and I had made sure to sit in a secluded area of the room . I quickly put my jacket on to make sure that no stains would be visible , and I walked up to the professor 's desk to hand in my test . " You 're telling me . Thanks for |
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The following two pictures were taken from the inside of my car when we pulled up to Lomngeletjane . The kids just swarmed my car . I actually had to tell some of the kids to " hamba " ( go ) in an attempt to get them to back away just a bit from my car so I wouldn 't drive over their toes ! And then there were so many hands for me to touch as I said hello to each child . And of course there was the other Nothando . She always comes up and stands quietly by me with a big smile waiting for me to say " Hi Nothando " to her . She thinks it is so great that we have the same name . Oh to be loved and wanted . I am going to miss all these kids while I am in the States but I can 't allow myself to think of that yet . Nomile has hit her goal weight of 8 . 6 kg ( almost 19 lbs ) ! Normally she woul
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d be released tomorrow , but we have to find a place for her to go . Please keep praying that they don 't make her go back to her grandparent 's house or surrounding area , and that the social worker can get her into ABC House in Bulembu . Thoko gave me a pair of sandals to take to Nomile . They were a little big on her but she loved them . Most of the time she was trying to take them off and then put them back on again . She was making sounds even more today than yesterday . I swear she said " down " one time after I said it to her . And Nomile is no longer afraid of the camera . When she saw the flash when I took the first picture she laughed out loud and then wanted to come closer while I did it again . She also liked looking at herself on the camera . Oh , but she cried so when I put h |
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Posted on August 28 , 2013 by Who I am 2 Walking down the dirty streets , hands in pockets . Kicking a few pebbles to see how far they could go . Paid his debt to the run - down rooming house he had taken up space in the night before . He 'd been transferred home due to a medical injury . A back injury . An actual stupid mistake . Tripped over his own two feet ; coming down hard and twisting the wrong direction . He could still walk but the column in his back was like a bomb getting ready to explode . The wrong direction , and bam , paralysis could be a new word in his vocabulary . From the diagnosis , he was packed and titled useless , and sent home . Jim had run a way from home once before now being forced to return to his roots . But what roots were there to return to ? He had been a ki
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d when he left . He got a girl knocked up and got scared . His parents said , " marry her " but he didn 't want to . He wasn 't ready to get married , so he ran . He enlisted , he planned to wipe out those bad things he had done and replace them with heroism . For years he hadn 't given a thought to his past . Now with money in his pocket and nowhere to go he wondered the streets . Walking past his folks home he stopped . Looking at an x - ray of what once was years ago . He hadn 't stayed in touch with his parents . He didn 't have any real reason . He just wanted to put it all to rest . Pretend it had never existed . The shame he carried of what he had done to that girl 's life haunted him now as he saw himself walking out the front door and heading down the street to see his girl . He p |
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The world is so different . Like all people who are getting older I seem to remember a much simpler world than the one my children and grandchildren have experienced . Some things are definitely changed for the good but there are some things that make me shake my head with dismay . I am certainly in favor of things like air conditioners and indoor plumbing for instance . All the hatred in the world can be done without . I am sure that I just did not experience the hatred so maybe it was just the cocoon I was raised in that sheltered me from it . There were no computer printers that make as many copies of whatever as one wishes . For a test at school the teacher had to use special mimeograph paper to type it up . Then she would fill the mimeograph machine with its special ink and place her
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typed copy on a cylinder . She would turn the crank that turned the cylinder to make the copies she needed of the test . Eventually they were powered by electricity so the cranking was not needed . Howdy Doody . We could not get The Howdy Doody Show in the town where I lived but we always watched it when we went to my grandparents ' farm . The characters on that show are the stuff of history . Besides Howdy Doody and Buffalo Bob there was Clarabell the clown who was played by Bob Keeshan who went on to become Captain Kangaroo . Other characters were Mayor Phineas T . Bluster , Heidi Doody ( Howdy 's sister ) , Dilly Dally , Inspector John J . Fadoozle America 's number 1 private eye , Captain Windy Scuttlebut , Sandra the Witch , and the curious Flub - A - Dub . ( Deep breath ) J Cornelius |
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Carolina . Where have I been , what have I been doing for the past two months . It was a time that went by in no time . I don 't know what I was doing , where I went or whom I saw . At the time , I thought I was getting my life back . I said at a meeting that I was happy . Happy , but I kept looking over my shoulder for what was going to happen next . I couldn 't just be glad in the day , I worried . It has been a long time since I was really happy . This felt real , it felt like I was moving on , getting over it , getting on with it . Carolina started to refuse food two weeks ago . We all know what that meant . I didn 't need a diagnosis and I won 't write a eulogy . Bob and our vet said it was time to let her go . I wasn 't ready . I was done grieving . I grieved for two years . I was mo
### Output:
ving on . But in the end , it wasn 't about me , it was about Carolina . Sweet Carolina . She loved everyone and everyone loved her . I started writing about two years ago and stopped about two months ago . It occurred to me that maybe I can only write when I am grieving . Or better , writing is something I do only when I spend most of my time wrapped in a blanket on the couch . I am the happiest when I am making something or doing something . Writing doesn 't feel like that . Writing fills the time in between . When I was in my 40 's I learned that no one hires menopausal woman . Seriously , who would invite that into the workplace ? It is bad enough having the ones that already worked there . It is like having a house full of adolescents . So when I knew I had to go back to work I decide |
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Go go go don 't stop don 't look back . If you look back they can get you , the demons , the shadows , the ones who never slow down . Keep running they 're catching up . They 're always catching up . You said to me once that the truly terrifying thing , what makes you prickle cold with sweat at night and shakes your bones all day , what scares you is that you can go a long way pretty fast but they go slower they do they plod on but they never ever ever need to sleep . You slowed down and they got you . If I keep going fast enough they won 't get me . If I keep running I 'll be okay . That 's what you told me . Your words go in my head keep going keep going keep going run run run and one syllable with every time a foot hits the ground so I 'm saying the words as I go even when I 'm walking
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because my legs might fall out from under me . Those words keep my feet forward , keep my bones working and my blood churning and my face turned up and ahead of me so I don 't look at the ground so long that I just sink right onto it . Sometimes the dirt looks so inviting . There 's no way I give up , you have to know that , you might be gone to me but I can still talk to you in my head . It 's not like there 's anyone else to talk to either and I 'd always rather talk to you than anyone . You know . You always know . Now when I have to do all the knowing when my brain has to work all the time and my body has to go go go all the time and I 'm without you and all I have is your words that keep me going because I have to keep going . Now that it 's like this , I still talk to you in my head |
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After months and months of testing , we have a diagnosis . I have fibromyalgia . I 'm so torn about this . I 'm glad to finally have a name for the pain and fatigue I 've experienced for the last year . I 'm so very sad that it is something that I will be living with for the rest of my life . I 've only known for 5 days , I 've started taking medicine 2 days ago . I 'm in shock and denial . I 'll discuss it more later , but for now , I have things to do . Thanksgiving was wonderful . The moment we got back in town , we hit the ground running to get ready for the Christmas party we host every year the weekend after Thanksgiving . I 'm off to do laundry and decorate some more ! Buying a hobby farm was a threat to that love of ours . We can 't put chickens and pigs in a kennel like we would t
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he dogs . It became quite a problem . The first time we went on a trip , we hired our dentist 's son to come down once a day to feed and water everyone . He did it once , then something came up . When we got back , we found out that our dentist actually took care of everyone . Not exactly what we were going for , nor was it his dream for a second job . That is when God intervened . The family with whom we carpooled mentioned their neighbor who watches dogs left at home to make extra money . I called her and found out that she used to live on a farm . Not only does she know how to take care of chickens and pigs , but she could milk a cow for us if we ever decided to go that route . The set - up has been perfect . She and her husband will come over with their grandchildren and stay for hours |
### Task: Continue the story
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After months and months of testing , we have a diagnosis . I have fibromyalgia . I 'm so torn about this . I 'm glad to finally have a name for the pain and fatigue I 've experienced for the last year . I 'm so very sad that it is something that I will be living with for the rest of my life . I 've only known for 5 days , I 've started taking medicine 2 days ago . I 'm in shock and denial . I 'll discuss it more later , but for now , I have things to do . Thanksgiving was wonderful . The moment we got back in town , we hit the ground running to get ready for the Christmas party we host every year the weekend after Thanksgiving . I 'm off to do laundry and decorate some more ! Buying a hobby farm was a threat to that love of ours . We can 't put chickens and pigs in a kennel like we would t
### Output:
he dogs . It became quite a problem . The first time we went on a trip , we hired our dentist 's son to come down once a day to feed and water everyone . He did it once , then something came up . When we got back , we found out that our dentist actually took care of everyone . Not exactly what we were going for , nor was it his dream for a second job . That is when God intervened . The family with whom we carpooled mentioned their neighbor who watches dogs left at home to make extra money . I called her and found out that she used to live on a farm . Not only does she know how to take care of chickens and pigs , but she could milk a cow for us if we ever decided to go that route . The set - up has been perfect . She and her husband will come over with their grandchildren and stay for hours |
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The people who win are the runners . Seriously , they do the run more than an hour faster than me ! How are people so fast ? ! If I want to get any better , I really need to become a real runner . I think that 's what I want to work on next . What I don 't know is how long I should focus on running . Should I just work on it during the winter then come back into full triathlon training in the spring ? Or should I lay off triathlon for a season and really just focus on running for a whole year ? I 've thought about signing up for the St . George Marathon in October of 2012 , and giving that a shot again . Since it 's at the end of the tri season , I could still do a tri , possibly even Utah Half , along with it . Or should I focus on shorter distances to get faster ? I 'm also worried about
### Output:
getting burnt out if I run too much or getting injured . I really don 't want to get to the point where I hate running . I also want to have time to do other things this winter , like snowboarding so I don 't want anything too big too early in the season . I missed it so much last year and am excited to get back into it this year ! The other question is , what distance do I want my next big tri to be ? I know I want to do another full some day , but is next year the right year or should I just do a half again and keep working on getting faster while George is little ? If I do decide to do a full next year , it will be Vineman , and I 'd love to do the buy 2 get 1 free deal they have on registering for that . If 3 of us signed up , we 'd each just have to pay $ 233 . 33 which is an amazing |
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Bible - times people in robes and sandals walked along a dusty road toward Bethlehem . Joseph led a donkey carrying Mary up to a Roman soldier seated behind a rough table in the shade under a tree . Then scenes of the Nativity filled the screen as a voice told us that Judea had been ruled by Rome for a hundred years , but the prophets said that a Redeemer would be born to bring them salvation . I was watching Ben Hur with my Mom 's friends , Mr . and Mrs . Stewart , who sat with me between them in the dark theater . I was eight years old . It was weird that these two grownups would take me to the movies , especially the night before Christmas . They were nice folks and everything , but I figured my Mom must have wanted me out of the apartment for awhile . Maybe she knew my stepdad was goin
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g to be in a bad mood . She was always telling me to go to the store or go outside and play when she saw him starting to get mean . Maybe that 's why she sent me to the movies on Christmas Eve . I tried not to think about anything but the movie . The voice in the movie kept talking about Jesus times and the Romans . I knew the story of Jesus , of course , we talked about it all the time in Sunday school , but I didn 't know what he had to do with this Ben Hur guy . The posters showed four white horses pulling a chariot in front of an ugly statue with a bunch of Roman soldiers and people in robes and stuff standing around . There wasn 't any cross or anything else about Jesus in the poster . Finally , the Nativity scene ended and there was a Roman riding through the streets leading a big ar |
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This is a one - chapter excerpt from " Finding Roland McCray " , book 3 in the " Adventures of Roland McCray " series and is fully copyright protected . Use or reproduction of any part of this is prohibited in in form , electronic or print , without the author 's written permission . Use for educational purposes is welcomed , but please contact the author before doing so . " One imagines the birth of happiness to be accompanied by some great spectacular upheaval . One can imagine it flowering in the most luxurious setting . Yet happiness is born of a trifle , feeds on nothing . " Mariama Bâ " No , but thanks anyway . The lane is dusty and full of pot holes . " I grinned and patted the dashboard . " I wouldn 't want you to mess up the suspension or get dust all over your car , " I said . Bu
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tch was proud of his ' 66 Impala and he kept it in perfect condition . He 'd even bought a vanity tag : " MY66 CHVY " . I looked in the same direction ; with no moon , it was a dark night but I could only make out the even blacker tree line because the stars were above it . " Yeah , " I said , " it is . But I walk this lane every day so I know where all the holes are ; I can walk around them . Besides , I 'm not afraid of the dark , Butch . You know that . " " I know , Roland , you 're not afraid of the dark . All I 'm saying is that I wouldn 't to be out here when it 's pitch black , " he said then looked at me . " I like to at least be able to see the ground right in front of my feet . " " There 's starlight , " I replied . " My eyes will adjust . And there 's nothing between here and my |
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When Kelsey and Sean went to his grandmother 's house to have sex , she assumed that no one would be there , but when Sean got to the front door , his aunt opened it . His grandmother wasn 't dead , as Kelsey had assumed , but in a home , and the aunt was getting something for her . Aunt Lillian . She had a cup and saucer in her hand . " Damned if I know , " she said when Sean asked her what grandma wanted with it . She couldn 't always understand what her mother was saying , she said . She held the cup and saucer out on the palm of her hand to show Kelsey . " Lustre ware , it 's called . It could have been duster that she said or mustard , but why would she want those ? " She tucked them into a bag . " What are you kids doing here ? " But she didn 't seem interested or suspicious . When S
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ean said he was just showing the house to Kelsey she nodded . She 'd been in a convent , Sean explained after she left , and when she decided not to be a nun anymore it had made her weird in a number of ways . It didn 't make sense to Kelsey , but she nodded . They were sitting on the bed stripped to their underwear , damp and sweaty in the overheated room , eating saltine crackers with jam , all they had found in the cupboards . The jar of strawberry jam was balanced on a pillow between them . Was it the grandmother 's bed ? Kelsey wondered . They hadn 't had sex yet . She got up and went to the dresser to look in the mirror . It was the grandmother 's room , she decided , looking at the fancy , old - fashioned hairbrush and the mirrored tray . She picked up the brush and examined it , th |
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Love or rather being in love is a beautiful but deadly force . It goes into the very depths of your soul . Your spirit holds on and your body yearns for that one touch . That daily dose of closeness and intimacy that is only yours . And when you don 't get your fix , you have chilling episodes where you can feel the pain crawling on your skin like a caterpillar leaving a trail of allergens all over you . I 'm not making sense I 'm I ? And such is the concept of love . But lust , well lust is much simpler . It starts with the eyes . Sometimes with a voice in the next room . Sometimes with a scent that whiffs past you on the street and somehow sticks to your clothes . Sometimes with a touch , even just a slight graze . He sat too close to me in the matatu . Maybe on purpose ? I don 't think
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so . The PSV was packed to the brim with a few people standing on the aisle . It was raining and water was sipping through the hinges on the window and onto his seat . He shifted to my side slightly and some water dripped from his wet umbrella onto my grey pants and some onto my black boots . He apologized . I said it was fine . It was more than fine . He paid my fare , citing the ' inconvenience ' he had caused me . Wawili ( two ) . He said to the conductor . He held up two fingers , left hand , his index and his middle . There was no ring on the third . Don 't ask me why my mind chose to emphasize that fact and write it in bold but I think you know . Veins , well defined , criss - crossed the back of his hand and disappeared under his black Calvin Klein watch and then under the sleeve of |
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This is the main entertainment at our house these days . The boys have discovered the fun of light switches . There happens to be one light switch that is located above the first step on the staircase . When they stand on that step , they can reach it on tip toes . At first , I fought this new - found entertainment . That lasted for only a few days and then I came to my senses and realized the futility of that battle . After discussing it with my friends in KC over the weekend , I came home prepared to deal with it differently . So today the boys were pleasantly surprised when they were allowed to turn the lights on and off and on and off , over and over and over and over again . They also get on and off and on and off the first step , over and over and over again . It is really cute actua
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lly ( see pics below ) . The only issue is that they both want to play with the switch at the same time and then someone ends up falling off of the first step and crying a bit . They have not really gotten hurt yet and the falls have not been that bad so far , which is good . But the fighting and falling is not a very good thing so , when this starts , I make the steps off limits for a while . On and off , on and off go the lights . This is a double switch . One side controls the light above the staircase and the other controls the light above the fireplace and two small lights between the kitchen and living room . And then I wipe my hands all over the wall . For some reason , he likes the feel of the wall , so he rubs his hands around on it . Fortunately , the paint has a bit of a gloss o |
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all american bulldog Another Amazing Tripawds Three Legged Dog Blog Always on my mind …… Post on March 19th , 2013 by michele Tripawds is a user - supported community . Thank you for your support ! Tomorrow will be one month since we said goodbye to Cadence . Its been such a painful time in our lives . Letting Cadence go was one of the most difficult things we have ever done . In our hearts we know we did the right thing , but that doesn 't make the loss any easier for us . There is not a day that goes by that I don 't have tears in my eyes . The pain is still so very raw for me . I try to keep busy but it is only a temporary distraction . At the end of the day , Cadence is still not here with us and there is nothing I can do to bring her back . When I was having a bad day , Cadence would
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make it better . When I was having a good day , it was made even better because Cadence was around . Its so hard for me to put into words how much it hurts and how angry I am sometimes . I know that everyone that reads this knows the same pain . I feel pain because she is not here with us anymore , that she had to endure the bouts with cancer and she was cheated out of growing old gracefully . I 'm angry because I don 't get to hold her , get to cuddle with her in bed and how little time we got with her after the amputation . I know that these are all part of the grieving process , so I 'm trying to take it all in stride . I in no way regret the amputation or the chemo . If I had to do it all again , I would not even hesitate to do so . I just wish we were given more time with her . I am b |
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Christmas Eve is tomorrow , it feels like it was just yesterday we were celebrating Christmas 2009 ! This will be our fifth year celebrating without Peter , so far it 's the hardest one . I am no longer just going through the motions of raising a family on my own . I am a part of life and I 'm feeling once again . Everyone is different when it comes to mourning , but we are all the same when it comes to the difficulty of going through the process . I am enjoying life and all it has to offer once again . I am also open to the idea of finding someone special to share it all with . My kids have said on several occasions they wish to have a step dad . I wish it were that easy ! Dating is also a process , and I for one need to proceed with caution . . . my heart is still fragile . We are ready
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for the holiday to begin , the only thing we have left to do is clean the house so Santa doesn 't trip on anything while putting presents under the tree . Thank you Santa , my kids have never been so eager to help clean the house before . It only took me saying , " You wouldn 't want Santa to hurt himself while at our house , then he couldn 't deliver gifts to other boys and girls . We would be all over the news as the family that stole Christmas ! " We baked yesterday , actually , we made more things on top of the stove , than in it . My goodies are " kid " friendly . . . scotcharoos , rice krispie balls , fudge , and some cookies . I remember when I was younger I would make a ton of holiday cookies . That was before I had kids and instead , had my mom 's influence as to what her favorite |
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The firing of all the talk show people on KGO must have been instigated by the far right . The conversation was almost always very fair and the only one - sided commentator was Dr . Wattenberg ( sp ) who , I heard had been rehired . The far right must be scared that Obama will win a second term . I wish I could remember who all the companies were who advertised . I would shun them all . Except the radio out fit from Los Angeles . Luckily I remember their phone number so I can call them and tell them to stop advertise there . One day when I was young and eager to get established as a portrait painter I called Don Sherwood , the five to nine am host on KSFO , if I could come in from Contra Costa County , to paint him while he was anchored by his mike . He said yes , maybe by the urging of He
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rb Cain . I would drive across the Bay Bridge , scared breathless . The four young children were well taken care of by their father , there we re not too many cars on the road that early . So what made me so scared ? Where would I park ? How would I get along with Don Sherwood . If you want to find out what happened to Don 's portrait , google it , and an old , old blog should turn up and tell you the story . On my advent calendar , it was Anna 's turn with her red wrapping paper . I was mystified for at least five minutes . What could be the meaning of those two items . They were intended to be used as stoppers for a bottle who had lost his cork . I immediately went to my larder and corked my Olive Oil bottle . Thank you Anna . ( I bet she had seen my corkless bottle last time she made sa |
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My name is Sisla , and I am a dog . You are probably wondering how I can be writing this if I am a dog . In fact , I am no ordinary dog , for my master is an elf , named Bardin . He has taught me to speak in the languages of animals and fairies ( just yesterday I finished learning the language of humans ) and he has magic paper that will write down whatever is said to it . That is how I am writing this . Even though humans do not often meet the people of fairyland , it does happen sometimes . Not all the ones here are friendly , and I am writing this just in case a human may one day face the same danger that we faced that time last summer . I 'll tell you how we survived , so that you may know what to do should it ever happen to you ! I 'll begin by telling you about Bardin the Elf and me
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. I started out as a normal little dog . I was abandoned as a little puppy . My first owners were mean . My mother had a litter of puppies , and they only wanted to keep the prettiest , so that left me out ! I am not a pretty dog at all . They tied me up in a bag and dumped me in the woods , and left me there to die . I almost did die , but then Bardin found me . He took me home , and took care of me . His cat helped too , my friend Firl . Firl is a pretty little cat ( much prettier than I am ) , and we 're best friends . And because we 've been taught by an elf , we can talk to each other . Firl and I are both very small ; I 'm not even quite as big as Bardin ! Elves are much smaller than humans , remember . Bardin , who is pretty big for an elf , would hardly be as tall as your knees ! H |
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After the risky surgery with Abbigail , Joliet was still worried . The pregnancy had been unexpected , and certainly high risk . She was well past her prime for birthing pups , as evident with the delivery . Joliet shook her head as she cleaned up , trying to clear her mind . It was lucky that both she and Cheyenne had backgrounds in veterinary medicine for situations like this . Once everything was cleared and Joliet was sure that Abbigail was settled , she decided it was time to make her rounds in the rescue . Joliet called out to Cheyenne , " Chey , I 'm going to make the rounds and check on all the animals and staff . Call if you need anything ! " Joliet faintly heard Chey 's distinct laughter followed by a male 's , then heard Chey 's response . " Got it ! " Joliet first began her rou
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nds by checking on the rest of the dogs in the dog palace which was one of the first buildings ever built on the rescue . Once she was satisfied that everyone was cared for properly , and she stopped to say hello to the corgi / husky mix Jack , she decided to head out . The rescue was laid out unlike most others , which made it unique . Next door to the dog palace was the cat cabana . Not far from the dog and cat facilities were the horse pastures , and aviary . The rescue even had an area designated for small animals ( rodents / rabbits / etc ) . There was also a lot of area designated for trails , and dog pens . Because of the layout , Joliet headed to the cat cabana and checked on them before heading off to the rest of the rescue . Once finished with the cat cabana , Joliet set off on a |
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I enjoy peace and quiet , usually . But today I find it grates . In a house full of people I should be hearing something . Well , other than just the sound of pages turning . I blame Jes . She took my journal the other night . She made copies of it and handed it out to the family as they arrived . * sigh * She 's read it already but has yet to say a word to me since she got home . I was first here . I came earlier than usual . I wanted a chance to talk to her , warn her that I had things to discuss tonight . I got the hand . She 's said absolutely nothing to me . I guess I know how this is going to go . Hopefully I won 't lose everyone , but I 'm guessing my time as family is at an end . " Other room please . We need a few minutes to discuss this . " Raven didn 't even look at me as she sp
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oke . I left the room , into the kitchen with me . I might as well have a drink while they discuss my fate . There 's an iPod sitting on the table . I peek back into the living room only to have one of my sisters catch me . I sit down at the table , a glass of whiskey in front of me . I 'm fidgety , and I catch myself playing with the unfamiliar iPod . I can hear them talking quietly but I can 't make out the words . I consider leaving , after all it 's what I figure is going to happen anyway . So why wait ? I get up and grab my purse , slip quietly out the door to my car . I go to put the key in the ignition and realize I 'm still holding the iPod . * sigh * I 'll have to go back inside , I can 't take it with me . I might be a killer but I 'm no thief . I reach into my glove box instead |
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I 've been writing stories for years . I think I 'm a good writer and I 'm willing to bet you 'll feel the same way . So here they are . Enjoy them , comment on them , tell your friends about ' em , reblog them , retweet them , reread them . I have four stories in my archive so far : " One day on the Mountain " , a story of Lycanthropy , a father , and a son . I have more stories tucked away ; they just need editing . There 's even a few novels . There will be more to come . PS . Feel free to leave a comment . I love comments . Tuesday , 26 April 2011 Anthony Caden Lewis was a fifth grade student at Kerrisdale Elementary . Each morning at seven thirty his nanny took him to the school care program . For a modest fee , five young men and women watched the kids and fed them snacks before and
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after school hours . That year Anthony was the oldest and largest child . Tag was forbidden because he hurt several children the previous year . So he made the third and fourth grade kids play poker for dollar bets . He got twenty dollars off Ryan Ling before Ryan 's parents complained . After he had to give the money back ( he 'd had to borrow from his dad because he 'd already spent half ) he played for toys , comics , and pokemon cards . At the end of the game - a bastardized form of poker with changeable rules - he 'd reach across the table and rake in his winnings . Sometimes the smaller kid tried to keep it from him and he 'd gash the kid 's ankle with his foot . He made a point of winning Ryan 's DS in two hands . He kept the loot in a schoolbag by his coathook and never checked it |
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The branches of the tall pines and maples swayed back in fourth in the powerful wind . They reached out over the water , leaving a nice shadow for us to park our little fishing boat under . " Damn it ! Almost had him ! " Jerry shouted aloud . " That 's the third bite you 've had today , yet you still can 't catch anything , " I laughed in response , pulling my rod back before whipping it forward to send the bait flying . It was a nice and sunny noon , aside from the dark towering clouds rising over the horizon . We only had one bass in the cooler in the middle of the boat , one I had caught about 40 minutes earlier . The wind was growing more and more powerful , making it hard to cast and making the waves rock the boat . Thunder rumbled in the distance , and Jerry turned to me with a frown
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. " We better get back to the cabin ; we don 't want to get stuck out here in a bad thunderstorm , " he said to me , his shaggy brown hair waving around like a flag . I laughed at the sight and nodded my head in agreement ; as Jerry started up the trolling motor . We were decently far from his house , so it took about 15 minutes to get there from our fishing spot . It was sunny in the direction we were heading ; but behind us , darkness loomed . Once we arrived I saw Jerry 's brother Robert relaxing on the porch in front of the cabin , reading a book . This surprised me , as I had always known Robert as the less intelligent one , and not one to read books . He set it down and came to help us dock the small vessel in a little slip . " Any luck ? " he asked . " The only bite I had was a nic |
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We went away this weekend to NYC and Sleepy Hollow . We try to take a Halloween Weekend every year to somewhere either " Halloweenish " , Spooky , Historical or where costumes are involved . We will be going to a ComicCon the weekend after Halloween ( that counts ) so we decided to do just a quick overnight to Sleepy Hollow this weekend . Our usual Halloween destination is Salem MA , but we 've switched it up the past couple of years mainly due to the fact that Doug is < insert colorful metaphors > of going to Salem - I , on the other hand , never tire of it . We had already done a weekend in Sleepy Hollow a couple of years back . We did just about everything there was to do with the exception of the BLAZE . I did not know that in order to do anything in Sleepy Hollow in October , tickets
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must be purchased on - line ahead of time . Fortunately , once I discovered this and by the skin if my teeth , I was able to get tickets for everything else . Knowing his propensity to over - pack DVD 's for the sole purpose of stacking them next to him while he watches YouTube on his computer , and knowing full well there would be a visit to a bookstore at some point during the trip , I told him that he could only bring 5 DVD 's and 2 books . I said it more than once . I just didn 't want to have to keep track of a bunch of unnecessary stuff and try to carry a bunch of unnecessary stuff . I just wanted to pack light and get this over with . ( I did forget my jacket in the room , so I really couldn 't manage to keep track of the necessary stuff - turns out , they don 't ship forgotten thin |
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We went away this weekend to NYC and Sleepy Hollow . We try to take a Halloween Weekend every year to somewhere either " Halloweenish " , Spooky , Historical or where costumes are involved . We will be going to a ComicCon the weekend after Halloween ( that counts ) so we decided to do just a quick overnight to Sleepy Hollow this weekend . Our usual Halloween destination is Salem MA , but we 've switched it up the past couple of years mainly due to the fact that Doug is < insert colorful metaphors > of going to Salem - I , on the other hand , never tire of it . We had already done a weekend in Sleepy Hollow a couple of years back . We did just about everything there was to do with the exception of the BLAZE . I did not know that in order to do anything in Sleepy Hollow in October , tickets
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must be purchased on - line ahead of time . Fortunately , once I discovered this and by the skin if my teeth , I was able to get tickets for everything else . Knowing his propensity to over - pack DVD 's for the sole purpose of stacking them next to him while he watches YouTube on his computer , and knowing full well there would be a visit to a bookstore at some point during the trip , I told him that he could only bring 5 DVD 's and 2 books . I said it more than once . I just didn 't want to have to keep track of a bunch of unnecessary stuff and try to carry a bunch of unnecessary stuff . I just wanted to pack light and get this over with . ( I did forget my jacket in the room , so I really couldn 't manage to keep track of the necessary stuff - turns out , they don 't ship forgotten thin |
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The woman kept to the shadows , avoiding the torches that lit the streets . A hood concealed her face and black cloth was thrown over the basket in her arms . Little whimpers came from the basket , but the woman shushed it , moving through the unfamiliar village slowly . She avoided the men walking home from the pub and went farther to the outskirts of town where there were smaller houses stuffed with squalling children . Fog rose up from the ground in the cold night air . The streets were tracks of dirt that the recent rain had turned into mud , and it sucked at the woman 's boots as she struggled to keep herself unnoticed . A pitiful cry came from the basket in her arms . The woman paused to reach her hand in and stroke the baby 's cheek . She was rewarded with a happy gurgle . The woman
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was caught off guard . She looked at the baby , so sweet and small and innocent . Had she gone far enough south ? The king would be hunting her , she knew . It had been a foolish thing to take revenge on the king , but she hadn 't counted on getting pregnant . The baby 's father had no idea where they were , or that the baby existed , but it was for the best . The babe could live out an anonymous childhood away from the chaos of her own life . A child 's cry rang out in the night , but it wasn 't her baby . The woman froze and listened hard to find where the noise was coming from . The child called out again , and the woman determined that it was the little house across the street . The roof was crumbling and the door was hanging at an angle . As the crying continued , a light was lit . T |
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On the last day of each month , I 'll take a story from the previous month , clean it up a little , see if I can make it better than the first time it appeared , and post it up . This time I 'm taking another look at A New World from Day 76 , wherein a man comes back from some time in a mental hospital in order to deal with delusions of a fantasy world - only to realize that it was real . I didn 't make any radical changes to it , but just put in a few sentences here and there to fill in some cracks . It 's an idea I 've had in my head for a while , so I want to figure out how to do it well . Adam let the door swing open and stood on the front step , looking into his house . His sister had kept it in good shape for him while he was … away . He wasn 't sure how long he 'd been gone , though
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. A few months in the hospital , but the time before that was indistinct . Cloudy . He touched that space in his memory like it was a sprained ankle , a bone - deep bruise , and then left it alone . He stepped inside and took a deep breath . The air smelled dry and flat , unused . He dropped his suitcase by the door , which he then shut and locked . The lights seemed too bright , but they were still working , so his sister must have been paying for the electricity . He felt bad , what she had been through . She didn 't have a lot of reason to be so kind to him , and they both knew it . There were too many years apart , too long between just a simple phone call and a chat . But when he asked why , she said , " Because you 're my brother . What else could I do ? " The water in the kitchen s |
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I tell this story because the one who experienced it will not . He 's my future brother - in - law . I 'll call him " Danny . " The story takes place in King , North Carolina , a small town near here . It 's common knowledge that the southern United States was at one time infamous for slavery - - and this particular area wasn 't any different . During this era , a southern plantation - type home was built in King . At the time , the land that accompanied the plantation encompassed about all of what is now King , North Carolina . This plantation was owned by a doctor . During that period , travel was difficult , therefore a lot of the doctor 's patients stayed at the plantation with the doctor - - and no doubt some of them passed on there , too . The house had become known as the Old Chigge
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r Farm - - why , I don 't know - - but Danny told me of the night that he and a friend of his were standing on the rear porch . They were , well , there was no indoor plumbing . You get the picture . All of a sudden , Danny notices the shadowy figure of a young black man with real white eyes staring at him from just behind the house . His friend looked , and there it was , plain as day - - a black man watching them and then suddenly made a break for the woods behind the garden . He cut right through the garden to get there . Danny and his friend ran after him , but when the he reached the edge of the woods , he simply vanished . Danny and his friend searched for a sign of him everywhere , but there was none , not even a footprint in the garden . Thanks for the story . From this chapter in |
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I had planned to sweep the floors and dust the furniture when I came home at 3 pm this afternoon , but I got waylaid by Jesker , who needed lots of attention and food and a walk , and then I got distracted by checking my bank account , which was surprisingly low and I was expecting some money to be deposited into it , which wasn 't there , and then I got absorbed in reading my mail , which looked very important , but after reading every piece of it , it all turned out to be a popcorn fart , so I filed it away and was left , for now , with one bill to pay , which will have to wait until I am more solvent . Men , do I live an exciting life or what ? So , then the computer was on and I had a choice , do I sweep and dust in the heat , or do I park myself behind the computer at the end of the d
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ay and ignore the dust and dog hair ? I chose the latter as you can see and I feel good about the choice and am glad to sit down here and unwind for a bit and let my fingers do the walking across the keyboard . I can sweep and dust tomorrow when I 'll be home at 12 : 30 pm , just before the " cleaning person " gets here and he better not expect me to wash windows with him , because it is way to hot for that and all house cleaning should really be suspended until the temperatures drop . Everybody 's idea of a summer afternoon right now is to sit in their gardens with refreshing drinks and I 'm keeping relatively cool in the apartment where it is four degrees cooler than it is outside . Luckily , I have a well insulated place and the back is in constant shade , cooling things down a bit . I |
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I had planned to sweep the floors and dust the furniture when I came home at 3 pm this afternoon , but I got waylaid by Jesker , who needed lots of attention and food and a walk , and then I got distracted by checking my bank account , which was surprisingly low and I was expecting some money to be deposited into it , which wasn 't there , and then I got absorbed in reading my mail , which looked very important , but after reading every piece of it , it all turned out to be a popcorn fart , so I filed it away and was left , for now , with one bill to pay , which will have to wait until I am more solvent . Men , do I live an exciting life or what ? So , then the computer was on and I had a choice , do I sweep and dust in the heat , or do I park myself behind the computer at the end of the d
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ay and ignore the dust and dog hair ? I chose the latter as you can see and I feel good about the choice and am glad to sit down here and unwind for a bit and let my fingers do the walking across the keyboard . I can sweep and dust tomorrow when I 'll be home at 12 : 30 pm , just before the " cleaning person " gets here and he better not expect me to wash windows with him , because it is way to hot for that and all house cleaning should really be suspended until the temperatures drop . Everybody 's idea of a summer afternoon right now is to sit in their gardens with refreshing drinks and I 'm keeping relatively cool in the apartment where it is four degrees cooler than it is outside . Luckily , I have a well insulated place and the back is in constant shade , cooling things down a bit . I |
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Tag Archives : mother 9May2017 A Prologue in Darkness Posted in Fiction by Jesse Colton So let me explain what this is . I 've wanted for a long time to try and condense my thoughts about Christianity into one place , and I doubt it 's something that I could ever encapsulate within one project . But I 've thought of an idea for a book , in which I go through the major points of the Bible and talk about my perspective on those stories and characters , and how they 've influenced the world today , and basically just try and deconstruct Christianity , to understand something that has caused me so much heartache and which I feel is such a powerfully harmful force in the world . Truthfully , I 've always found most of Christianity 's central mythos incredibly uninspiring , at least when told fr
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om the point of view of God as the protagonist . There 's not a lot of magic and adventure , and it 's mostly concerned with farming and deserts . As for the players of the story , Satan is by far a more interesting character who seems to have a much more moral stance , and God consistently behaves in ways that are irrational and inexplicably cruel . Earlier today I wrote down a conceptual outline for the chapters of the book , with each chapter being focused around a certain character or character . For instance , chapter one would be called Adam and Eve , chapter two would be Satan , chapter three would be Cain and Abel , etc . And I could go chronologically through the Christian Bible and touch on the things that interest me and that I want to talk about . The final chapter would be foc |
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My father 's Christmas presents are still wrapped and waiting for him under the tree . But it will be a long time before he sees them . My dad had a seizure a week ago and it looks like he 'll be going to a nursing home for another period of rehab . He just got home in November after being away for a month and now he 's back on the chain gang . Only this time its worse . As one of the doctors explained to me , my father 's condition has come down a notch for good . They can help him in rehab , but he will not have the same mental and physical abilities he had before . I saw him yesterday and I have to say he looked terrible - - like an ancient infant , helpless , confused , drifting between sleep and consciousness . We 're heading into a new year , but for my father every day is the same .
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I had come from the Patient Relations ( hah ! ) Department on the first floor , where I had gone to look over several sets of dentures that had no owners . The hospital managed to lose my father 's own pair while we were at the Emergency Room on last week ( God , it feels like a hundred years ago ) and , to their credit , they were doing their best to find them . I 've never had to ID dentures before . I thought it would be like one of of those old cop movies where they pull the sheet back from the body and the victim 's family starts sobbing . However , this was more like someone cleaning out their attic , as one of the staffers came into the office with a cardboard box fall of false teeth and proceeded to put down several pairs for my inspection . My father 's was not among them , but I |
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John decided to ride Zak first thing yesterday morning , so he tacked up and set off . After last week 's episode I thought I 'd let him go by himself , and boy am I glad , as on the way back he kept leaning towards the grass verge and once he got a foot on it , he bolted . They always tell you , if your horse bolts , to haul on one rein and turn the horse in a circle . That 's all very well if you 're in an open field , but if you 're on a narrow track , what are you supposed to do ? The bad thing is that Zak didn 't stop at the top , but shot across the crossroads . Thank goodness there were no cars up there , as it 's a 60mph road . John just hauled on the reins and finally got him to stop . Add that to our episode last week , and I am not impressed . Fortunately John was unhurt , just
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badly shaken . We think Barnaby and Max are fast , but Zak moves at a phenomenal speed , and you 've got to have your wits about you . But on the other hand , you can 't ride a horse once a week and expect them to be immaculately behaved , can you ? We went and bought two new batteries for the lorry , after John managed to wrench the old ones free after a great deal of struggling . I can 't even tell you what the new ones cost , but it 's not what we need just before Christmas really . But then , the highlight of my day , spending the evening with my eldest daughter and son - in - law , and their three wonderful children , Christian , Jake and Caelan , as it 's Jake 's third birthday . It 's a fair journey back to Worksop , so we can 't go very often , and I haven 't seen the boys since Ca |
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I 've been writing stories for years . I think I 'm a good writer and I 'm willing to bet you 'll feel the same way . So here they are . Enjoy them , comment on them , tell your friends about ' em , reblog them , retweet them , reread them . I have four stories in my archive so far : " One day on the Mountain " , a story of Lycanthropy , a father , and a son . I have more stories tucked away ; they just need editing . There 's even a few novels . There will be more to come . PS . Feel free to leave a comment . I love comments . Wednesday , 22 June 2011 When rehearsal ended , Dennis ran downstairs to the Halloween party . There were plenty of sexy nurses and sexy cats . One guy had shoved dirty clothes into a garbage bag , strapped the bag to his pelvis , and walked into the party dragging
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a misshapen black dick across the floor . Dennis had no costume , but he had a twenty and beer was two bucks a piece . In front of him in the beer line - up was a girl dressed as a pirate wench . Long black hair , a red handkerchief on her head , puffy blouse unbuttoned halfway down her waist , and best of all , she 'd used make - up to invent a bloody gash in her outstanding cleavage . She caught him looking and he didn 't particularly care that she 'd caught him . He could read girls . Sometimes he felt like he wasn 't much good at anything , but he could read girls . This one had put a bloody wound on her cleavage like she was both proud and ashamed of her fabulous hooters . She was probably in general Arts , which meant she was a little aimless , unlike the girls in Sciences who had li |
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Jace was standing there waiting for his younger brother to show up . Just like Lucian to be this late . This meeting was important and someone 's life hung in the balance . He just had to find away to convince him to go with this . Might not be as easy as he thought . Lucian walked into Jace 's uptown office exactly one hour late . Traffic was bad , calls from the oldest boy 's teacher , and god forbid should their mother leave him alone about setting him up with some ' sweet young lady . ' Damn that was getting pretty old . So what if Jessica has been dead for nine years . . . That thought hung with him while he stepped onto the elevator and the standard crappy music played . He groaned at the sappy 70 's sounding instrumental piece that was assaulting his poor ear drums and his sense of
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music . He knew his brother , Jace worked pro - bono , but . . He couldn 't afford better music for the elevator systems ? He 'd have to donate some money for that . The doors swished open right about the time he considered how much to donate . How much would something like that cost ? He had not a clue . Without much though on where he was going , he managed to find his way down the office building corridor directly to his brother 's office . " Sorry I 'm late . . It 's been one of those days . " " Mom ? " Jace laughed as he rose from the waiting room lobby and escorted his younger sibling directly to his private office . " Yeah , yeah . Don 't let it happen again . " Jace waited for Lucian to take a seat in front of his desk . " Look , the reason why I call you was I need a huge favor . |
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Incirlik AB I 've started transcribing the copy of the " Zero Journal " we intercepted . It 's been through a few generations , and of course , due to its nature , passed through many , many hands . Apocryphally the Zero Journal was started by a Turkish soldier who was party to the Incirlik response . It has been passed from individual to individual since then , with each adding their own experiences before passing it on ( often posthumously ) . The questionable translation and amount of blood and other damage are making the project slow - going . grndsnjrnl . zip My grandson brought me this notebook . He 's been very good to me , since my daughter died . She tried to keep me from watching the TV the weeks before she was killed . She was sweet , but she treated me like a child since I brok
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e my hip puttering in the garden . She was nice enough to ask me to move in after that , but she couldn 't accept I needed autonomy , too . And she couldn 't protect me from the truth : the world is ending . I don 't know if I should believe Brother Smith , that it 's the judgment come down from God , but the dead have reason , and they 're hurting the living , and not for nothing that is in Revelation . My daughter , Rose , not my grandson 's mother Sharon , worked at the Woolen Mill until she retired , and then she started working at the Walmart as a greeter . She loved her job , but I wanted her to quit . It wasn 't safe , with monsters wandering in the streets . My grandson wanted me to write about my experiences . He told me , " You 've seen so much history . I don 't think the world |
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Incirlik AB I 've started transcribing the copy of the " Zero Journal " we intercepted . It 's been through a few generations , and of course , due to its nature , passed through many , many hands . Apocryphally the Zero Journal was started by a Turkish soldier who was party to the Incirlik response . It has been passed from individual to individual since then , with each adding their own experiences before passing it on ( often posthumously ) . The questionable translation and amount of blood and other damage are making the project slow - going . grndsnjrnl . zip My grandson brought me this notebook . He 's been very good to me , since my daughter died . She tried to keep me from watching the TV the weeks before she was killed . She was sweet , but she treated me like a child since I brok
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e my hip puttering in the garden . She was nice enough to ask me to move in after that , but she couldn 't accept I needed autonomy , too . And she couldn 't protect me from the truth : the world is ending . I don 't know if I should believe Brother Smith , that it 's the judgment come down from God , but the dead have reason , and they 're hurting the living , and not for nothing that is in Revelation . My daughter , Rose , not my grandson 's mother Sharon , worked at the Woolen Mill until she retired , and then she started working at the Walmart as a greeter . She loved her job , but I wanted her to quit . It wasn 't safe , with monsters wandering in the streets . My grandson wanted me to write about my experiences . He told me , " You 've seen so much history . I don 't think the world |
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Sunday , September 25 - We , of course , went to church . Our friends came , and we enjoyed introducing them to some of our church family and friends . They say that they really enjoyed it . I hope they did . After church , we came home and took several pictures by the oak tree in the front yard . Grammy fixed a delicious lunch of crock pot roast , mashed potatoes , green beans , salad and rolls . We all ate until we were full . It was wonderful . Before we knew it , and way before we were ready , it was time for the Oldest Princess to head back to school . We told her goodbye , and of course , we stood on the porch and did the wave as she drove away . We were able to visit a few more minutes with our friends before they too had to leave . We all prayed together , and then sent them off wi
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th our signature wave as well . It was sad to see them all have to leave . Especially after such a great weekend . Hopefully we will all be able to get together again before too long . Then we went to church . My small group went well . I have really enjoyed our time together and getting to know one another and share with one another our struggles and victories . I also love that we are able to encourage one another throughout the week . I had fun memorizing my verses this week knowing that I would get to say them to my group , and that they would say theirs to me . It is fun going through it together . Bible Drills went well also . I love those kids , and I love seeing them get excited about learning God 's Word . They work so hard , and they are so eager to get it right . It is a great w |
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It 's hard to write about what happened next . I 'm reminded of all those interviews we did - the ones we didn 't share , the ones we sent back to Mister Boots to do whatever he wanted with - and all the people we met and all the stories we heard . I 've told my story to you . And now it 's time to share Frank 's story . It was weird , sharing a truck with my father , the father I couldn 't remember . He sometimes looked at me like he knew everything about me . I don 't know what Frank thought about it ; he was mostly silent as we drove day after day . During the nights , Richard tried to tell me a bit about my childhood ; Frank would sit in his chair and read as I tried to fill in the blanks of my past . On the third day , we arrived in Pasadena . The next city in the book . Richard was s
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till a little unsure of why we were going there , but we don 't him that we owed somebody something . We told him about interviewing survivors , the flotsom and jetsom of incomprehensible abominations . He still didn 't quite believe , but he wasn 't willing to let go of me . On the freeway , however , there was a popping sound and suddenly the truck was losing gasoline . Richard said that the gas tank must have broke . We pulled over to the side of the road and Frank tried diligently to call AAA or a tow - truck , but the cell service was bad . So finally , he said he would just walk to the next gas station and set off , leaving Richard and me alone . I was looking at the truck , wondering why it had suddenly decided to stop working , when I saw it . A hole right in the gas tank , where t |
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by deatheater » Thu Feb 25 , 2010 1 : 20 am This is a repost of the first chapter . It 's just one of many chapters that I will rewrite . Sorry that it doesn 't fit with the second chapter but I will fix that soon . Warning . . . Contains Blood Chapter 1 : Mayday Mayday Mayday I knew Private Dunham didn " ™ t mean any disrespect by his comment . That was just his way of speaking . Same with the others onboard : Private Christopher Jones , Private Daniel Hopkins , and Lieutenant Eric Holms . We were all about the same age , around twenty - five . All graduates of the same space program . We had been together for almost six months on our space ship and we grew kind of fond of each other , but I still liked to keep things professional . My daily routine of engine checks , hydro core temperatu
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re checks , and habitat checks were done for the day , so I decided to put the ship on auto pilot and head back into the galley . " I , was just married before we went on this trip , and I recently found out that my wife " ™ s pregnant , so I can " ™ t wait to get back home , " Daniel said with a huge grin on his face . " What about you Private Dunham ? " I asked , looking at him from across the table . " Well , I guess that just leaves me , " Eric said looking around at everyone . " I don " ™ t have a family , but I just recently accepted a new job offer to help train other people go into space . I " ™ ve always wanted to be a trainer , so once we land I " ™ ll be able to start . " " Don " ™ t be , I love this life . . . this is my dream , and I wouldn " ™ t trade it for anything . So don |
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Driving away from Daddy 's house was so hard for me . I knew I 'd never be welcomed back and he 'd never trust me again . He felt I had betrayed him and his trust of me was gone forever . There was never any gray areas with Daddy . You were either on his side or not on his side . That saddened me . I loved Daddy and I needed him . OK , I wanted him . I wanted to have a parent . Why did this have to be my life ? Had I done something so terribly wrong in another life to have deserved this ? What lesson was I to learn over all of this pain I was feeling ? It all didn 't make any sense to me . And even more so , why would my own father want to hurt me like he had done ? As the professor 's wife drove me to her home she graciously allowed me the time to sit quietly as I stayed deep in my though
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ts . I was so hurt . I was angry beyond words . I wanted my Daddy . I wanted him to go to hell . So many emtions rushed in and out of my thoughts . What broke my heart more than anything was I knew from that point forward my father would see me as another one of his enemies . I knew what my fate was going to be when I left because I saw what he had done to so many others when they had no choice but to leave . He threw people away like they had no worth as he 'd continue his life with no regards for who he left behind . He did it to his own mother , brothers , wife , his eldest daughter and countless friends . And here I was the next in line . Knowing that was my fate and I was going to be tossed out with the others devastated me . It was what I had been trying to prevent and there I sat al |
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I was invited to spend nine weeks , more than two moths , of my summer vacation with my cousin Frank who lived at his aunt Laura 's house in a small town down south . He was the same age as me , eleven years old . Our birthdays are just one week apart , he is the oldest . I was met at the railway station by aunt Laura and Frank . It had been a year since I last saw Frank the last time and he looked great . It was the first time that I met aunt Laura , she was a big , strong woman , almost frightening . When we arrived at the house in the evening . Aunt Laura told Frank to show me to his room . We were going to share his room and I was looking forward to that . Frank and I had always enjoyed each others company . This will be really great I thought . Here we would have a great time . Just t
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hink of it , two months of playing , swimming in the nearby lake and doing all sorts of fun together . Aunt Laura called us down to the kitchen and served us a great supper . She was a tremendous cook . As a teacher in a cooking class what would you expect ? Later that evening we sat around the big kitchen table and talked while aunt Laura was knitting . Frank and I made up the wildest plans , fantasizing about what we were going to do during the coming 9 weeks . It felt so homey . I had been traveling almost all day and it was to soon 9 pm . and it was time to go to bed . A little early I thought , but I was tired so I didn 't mind . So up the stairs we went and I got undressed and hit the sac . Aunt Laura was coming to tuck us in as soon as she had done the dishes . I crawled under the b |
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I was invited to spend nine weeks , more than two moths , of my summer vacation with my cousin Frank who lived at his aunt Laura 's house in a small town down south . He was the same age as me , eleven years old . Our birthdays are just one week apart , he is the oldest . I was met at the railway station by aunt Laura and Frank . It had been a year since I last saw Frank the last time and he looked great . It was the first time that I met aunt Laura , she was a big , strong woman , almost frightening . When we arrived at the house in the evening . Aunt Laura told Frank to show me to his room . We were going to share his room and I was looking forward to that . Frank and I had always enjoyed each others company . This will be really great I thought . Here we would have a great time . Just t
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hink of it , two months of playing , swimming in the nearby lake and doing all sorts of fun together . Aunt Laura called us down to the kitchen and served us a great supper . She was a tremendous cook . As a teacher in a cooking class what would you expect ? Later that evening we sat around the big kitchen table and talked while aunt Laura was knitting . Frank and I made up the wildest plans , fantasizing about what we were going to do during the coming 9 weeks . It felt so homey . I had been traveling almost all day and it was to soon 9 pm . and it was time to go to bed . A little early I thought , but I was tired so I didn 't mind . So up the stairs we went and I got undressed and hit the sac . Aunt Laura was coming to tuck us in as soon as she had done the dishes . I crawled under the b |
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At tennis , I made some good shots , but I also missed a lot and even whiffed a few . It was a friendly round robin , and at least I was able to joke that I pitied the person who ended up with me first . Everyone was good - humored about my mistakes , but still , I did ask myself , in a not very helpful way , " How am I going to continue being 3 . 5 if I play like this ? " From there I walked over to Mass General and caught the shuttle that goes to Brigham and Women 's , and then went to Dana - Farber ( basically across the street and around the corner ) for my 9 : 30 blood draw . I had a 10 : 30 appointment with Dr . Alyea , who pronounced my counts good ( except for platelets , low but not worrisome ) ; due to blood work a couple of weeks ago , I knew I was fine , but it was great to hea
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r it from him . He told me I could go two months until my next appointment , a little more loosening of the leash . Next I ran back to Brigham and Women 's for a quick lunch at Au Bon Pain with Margaret , who was in the area , and then returned to Dana - Farber for a 2 p . m . appointment with Dr . Goguen , aka the tongue doctor . As I waited for her , I leaned my head back against the wall and fell asleep . When she came in , she said , " Sorry to wake you . " Well , she was just doing her job . She said my mouth looked good . On the way up , I had seen them preparing for a dessert reception in the lobby for staff and patients . I wasn 't going to miss that . I got on a humongous line that snaked around to tables laden with amazing - looking layer cakes , cookies and a token amount of fru |
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" The old house . " My siblings may have other names for the beloved , big house in Stanton , but that 's what I call it : the old house . It was almost a hundred years old when we moved into it . It was over a hundred years old when the folks moved out of it . It was well over a hundred years old when a June tornado swept it away . I call it " the old house " because the house that the folks eventually moved into seemed like their new house ; although , it was neither new nor a house when they moved into it . I call it " the old house " because it 's where I grew up . I spent all but one year of my childhood there , all of my adolescence , and quite a few years of my adulthood living there . A lot of years drinking coffee in the kitchen of that old house . My mother 's kitchen was rectang
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ular . At one end , a window opened to the neighbor lady 's massive flower garden that , I like to think , my mother enjoyed , wishing she had the time and the energy to cultivate one of her own . She had too many children , too much to do to spend her time whiling away in a flower garden . My mother was practical like that . At the other end of the kitchen was the make - shift coffee mug shelf where a door used to lead into a bedroom . When my father made the extra bedroom into a over - sized bathroom , he closed the door in from the other side with a piece of faux blue marble wood paneling . When in the kitchen , the door frame was left , but the opening was covered by the drab brown back of the paneling . My mother had Dad nail some left over 2x4s horizontally , making the doorway into |
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Happy New Year ! ! ! Have a safe and happy holiday . We had a quiet day . We had rented movies from the library yesterday , so we watched them today . I put plastic on some of the windows . If we don 't move by this spring , I may replace another window . The kids didn 't have any New Year 's resolutions this year . I usually have a lot . . . but this year I just want to help the kids and move . This is the last full night of 2008 . The year has gone by so fast . I bought calenders for next year today . It is amazing how many appts . we have already . The weather has gotten relatively warmer , it is thirty degrees . I need to put plastic on more of the windows . I think that the next big project for next year is to paint the living room ceiling . I have been putting it off because the couc
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h will need to be moved . William has downloaded a new computer program , Linux , I think that that is it 's name . He is going to try to start programming in that language . He really wants to learn to program . This is a good time to try , since he is out of school for a while . The girls had the neighbor girls over for a while . The group never sat still . They started a movie and then went to another room . There was a lot of laughter . The snow has melted , and the rain has stopped . I have started crocheting hats . I was getting board making blankets . These are the fun days . . . between Christmas and New Years . The kids are out of school and get to play , the world seems more magical . We have shared with others at Christmas , and will celebrate the past and what is to come on New |
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On the first day of school , Nola Mae and I took a bike ride to town to run errands . I needed to do lots of things this day , grocery shopping , library , bank , post office , drop something off at school and most importantly get exercise and get away from the house so I wasn 't thinking about missing my boys . Our way home was a lot of work for me … 27 pound child , 15 pound bike trailer , 75 pounds of groceries and library books . I have planned to dye my hair a non - traditional color ( purple ) for many months . I finally got around to doing it and it faded to pink ( not one of my favorite colors ) . In the last month I have considered chopping my hair just twice to get rid of it . When my mom first saw me after I dyed my hair , she joked with me that my fabric dyes got in my hair . N
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ow , I am feeling like I will keep it for a while . Next , I will attempt purple and maybe more colors . Charlie turned a bowl with Jack . He took his unfinished bowl to school to show his teacher . Charlie was eager to finish it and then took it back to school . One day I was looking for Charlie 's bowl to take a photo . He told me he gave it to his teacher . We got together with all the Vater cousins this month , unfortunately because Grandpa Neil passed away . It was wonderful to see our kids having a blast with their cousins , and visit with the cousins we don 't see very much . Nola Mae and I missed out on the last family gathering because she was sick . I am not interested in doing the math on when I last saw Jack 's cousins from CA , it was sometime when Ben was still a little boy . |
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He woke up because of the movement the train made when it came to a halt . People started to get up from their sits and reach for luggage that was safely stored over their heads . The sun went through the curtained windows in the whirl on glowing dust . Outside there were delicate arches of Grand Central in New York and bustling crowds of comers and goers . He bent over to pick up the newspaper he dropped while asleep , when he saw an envelope lying on the table . Inside there was a piece of paper with just one line " I know who you are " . Of course , he understood what it is about . After all it was extremely difficult to hide under the guise of a simple trader . But now it was much easier " to be just a simple trader " than to be the person he was in fact . He turned over a new leaf ; h
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e did away with what he had been doing before … he wanted to believe it . Once started with petty theft , eighteen - year - old Jerry Korvez decided to play at large . And he paid the price for the five years of his life . The world changed slightly when he had regained freedom . There was nothing to do , and he was never going to return to normal life . But maybe . . . take a chance again ? So , he did it . He found his old childhood friend with whom they were engaged in petty thefts . Jerry asked him to give him a chance . Marty decided not to refuse him , he had expected it . Marty knew his friend better than others . He was sure that Jerry would return . Now Marty Hiell had the authority which had been acquired during the absence of his friend . He could give Jerry another chance . Is |
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" My body is like a hollow reed . Troubles blow through me like the wind " . ™ Balki Bartokomous Growing up , my sons were not big TV watchers , but every now and then we enjoyed a sitcom together . Perfect Strangers was one of these shows that we laughed about long after it was over , even now more than a decade later . Balki Bartokomous had hilarious catchphrases that we repeated to make a point or just randomly . The boys played many different sports but settled on tennis in high school . They were on the JV and varsity teams and played against different high schools in the area . I , of course , was at every single one of these matches . They were after school and often ended close to dinner time . I had the family 's dinner cooked , my hat and sunglasses on and ready to cheer . I volu
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nteered to drive , bring bagels and juice , or whatever else was needed . I enjoyed chatting with the other parents too , and naturally I wanted my boys to win ! There was a problem , however . Tennis is not a " cheerleading " sport . Tennis spectators sit or stand politely , don 't make a sound and every now and then do a little " royal " clapping . This was not football . Parents did not coach from the sidelines , did not fight , just waved perhaps once or twice . This was going to be very difficult for me . Sure enough , trouble was ahead . The match was at our high school that afternoon , behind my backyard , right past the baseball field . I was late getting there and found Mike struggling a bit in his game . Being my son 's mother , I knew he was losing focus because he was behind . |
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When I went to get the boys from their cribs this morning , they were both asking to go to the mall . Nick also said he would not cry . I reminded him " no fits " and he agreed . We had a very good time at the mall play area and even met a man from Russia who was there with his son . His son was born in the U . S . but currently only speaks Russian . The Russian man spoke English pretty well and we had a nice chat . He and his wife have three kids and they moved here from Russia about 5 years ago . I really enjoyed visiting with him and there were lots of kids for the boys to play with ( or around : ) . We came back to the house after about two or two and a half hours and the boys wanted to draw and color for a little while and then it was time for lunch . After lunch we played with blocks
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for a while , then put together one of our large floor puzzles and then they played with their barns , animals , trucks and tractors on top of the floor puzzle , which has a picture of a barnyard on it . Then we played with some small letter puzzles ( put ' A ' together with ' a ' , ' B ' together with ' b ' , etc . ) for a little while and then it was nap time . When I was putting the boys down for their nap , I was rubbing Nick 's back . He was real sweet and got up to hug and kiss me . I found this quite touching . I forgot to mention what we did for the Memorial Day weekend . Two of my nieces graduated this weekend . On Friday we drove the 1 . 5 hours up to where my sister lives . We had a hotel room just across the street from my sister 's house , so we would not have to tote the boy |
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I am going to pick up where I left off on meeting the man of my life . I know every one is busy with the busyness of Christmas cooking and preparations enjoying the spirit of Christmas . I am enjoying a Christmas Blessing with grand children and my youngest daughter . The first picture is the man of my life . I left off telling you C . C . came to town every chance he could when he did not have duty at the naval air station . I met him in June and the summer passed quickly . Between work at the restaurant , and my free time with C . C . no one else mattered and before you know it C . C . got his orders to attend air control mans ' school in Olathe Kansas . We laughed because he said , " Are you proposing to me ? " I replied , " You can call it what you want , because I am not letting you g
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et away from me . " We talked about how the Lord brought us together . We did not have much time to arrange a wedding even if it is just family . This caught him off guard because I then told him that he had to go and ask my dad if he could marry me . And ask for his blessing . We both knew it would be okay because C . C . was always there but nevertheless he had to ask . One Sunday dad was playing solitaire at the kitchen table and C . C . asked him if he could talk to him . Uncle George was still living with us and was at the table kibitzing while dad played cards . C . C . saw he was not going to leave so he just sat down and spilled out his plans . Now my father was accustomed to C . C . being around and was kind of expecting it so the answer was yes . I was 19 years old and the baby o |
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When you do not have a telephone , how can you call up your friends , parents , etc . , most of whom do not even know you have a boyfriend , that you have decided to get married ? Alright , my old room mates whose couch I had warmed all weekend knew I had a new " friend " and that we had been been together for the time he had been in town that weekend . It was a week before I was back in town for my church meetings . They were still shocked that it had happened so fast . My parents did not have a phone yet , but I wrote my mother a letter as soon as I got home on Monday night . There was a phone in the hall , but it was long distance , although I was only ten miles out of town . I decided not to tell my classes yet . So who was the first to know ? My PRINCIPAL , Mr Spears , whom I disliked
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and who would have been the last person I would have told . This is how it happened . Before school was out the next day , I got a note from Spears asking me to come to his office as soon as school was out . He had often asked for favors , usually to have me sub on my free period for some teacher who was out sick . I thought it was something of that nature or to make refreshments for some meeting he was having . His first question was , " Where were you this weekend ? " I wanted to ask , " Who wants to know ? , but I proceeded to tell him about my activities . Then he shocked me with , " The townspeople wondered who was bringing you to school early in the morning . It did not look good , and they wondered where you had spent the night " . I explained that Ted , the fellow who had helped m |
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Just want you to know that I am honored to be your second Mom . I never had a daughter , but if I did , I would hope she would be just like you . You are a kind , honest , considerate , intelligent and loving woman . I am so proud of you , and I respect you for how you have adapted to a new city , job , and home this past year . Not an easy task ! 4 Comments Posted on July 11 , 2012 I have thought a lot about shunning recently . The definition of shunning is " to avoid deliberately ; to keep away from . " The act of shunning is common in some religions . It 's also common among middle school girls . Various forms of shunning are used among family , friends , neighbors , or co - workers . For shunning to have any meaning , an emotional or social connection needs to be present . Shunning is
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a form of bullying . Shunning is also one of the most insidious , passive - aggressive forms of abuse . Continue Reading » 8 Comments Posted on February 5 , 2012 " As T and I sat on each side of her bed , we talked quietly of the other deaths we have witnessed together . There have been too many . I looked at him and I thought , " One of us will be here in a bed like this while the other sits in a chair holding a hand . " Just as I had that thought , my mom opened her eyes . It was the first time all night that she was aware of our presence in her room . She turned her head and looked at T . A big smile lit up her face . She reached for his hand and said , " You are a good man . " She asked him where I was , and he said , " Right here by your side , " and he gently turned her head . She sa |
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Posted by One Gay at a Time in Gay Dating on April 16 , 2013 Two years ago , I started this blog . I began writing because I felt alone . I knew there had to be other gay men out there who were looking for the same thing I was , and I wanted a way to connect with them . At the time , I just ended my first gay relationship , and I found myself in very unchartered waters . I was already out to close friends , but not publicly . Because I had so few gay friends and a strong aversion to gay bars , I had to find a mate digitally . I began serial dating , at one point going on four dates in four days - And thus , One Gay At A Time was born . Since the beginning , I have gone on MANY dates and put myself in many situations well outside my comfort zone . I have not only grown more comfortable in m
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y own skin , but I 've also grown up as a gay man . I got all the hookups out of my system and began searching for a meaningful , long - term relationship . The time has come for the next chapter of my life and for this blog . For quite some time I 've been blogging about CK ( aka Clark Kent or Superman ) . You 've gotten to know him through my eyes in the early stages of our relationship . It 's been some time since I 've blogged , and I apologize for leaving you , my readers in the lurch . I do not mean to abandon the small community I 've worked so hard to foster , but I 've been struggling with the next chapter of the blog . I had to make a choice between the blog and my man . It 's quite obvious which I chose . As a result , I will no longer be blogging about the specifics of my relat |
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How could he come back after hurting me so badly ? After breaking my heart and leaving me to pick up the pieces he thinks he can just walk back into my life with no problem . He 's an audacious ( adj . ) adversary ( noun ) coming back not knowing what he was coming back to . I guess I was poorly prepared though . I thought I was over him , all the great times and all the heartache , but I guess that 's not true . How could I be so stupid , thinking I would never run into him again ? He had to come back sometime . I guess a year later is the time to do it . He was my whole world , the paragon ( noun ) of what I was looking for . He was smart , funny , and kind . But he left . I came home one day and realized he wasn 't coming back . See he was a basketball zealot ( noun ) and he had taken a
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ll his memorabilia . I was overcome with fervor ( noun ) and fell into a pit of depression . My entire life had been taken away from me . He was the whole reason I had done anything anymore . He had wanted to move here to go to New York University so I came with . I made sure I got into NYU also . I couldn 't bear to be separated from him . When we first came here he was so ebullient ( adj . ) , I thought this was perfect , that we could live our entire lives like this . I couldn 't picture anything else . But the excitement started to wear off and that original levity ( noun ) went with it . Soon he only seemed to get angry , instead of our old love where he only wanted us to be happy . I wanted to alleviate the anger , so I decided to embellish ( verb ) our small apartment , thinking tha |
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November 12 , 2000 1 : 27 am \ by elegant Multiple dream night . First dream was about Maynard James Keenan from Tool / APC . I had gone to a hotel room like place where Maynard was teaching a class , or lecturing about some kind of experiment or something . I didn 't know it was Maynard , but I went in to listen to him , and I sat on the floor next to the bed . He had long hair , and it didn 't look like a wig that 's why I didn 't know it was him . Something with the experiment , caused him to have to pull out some hair that needed to be used in what he was doing , which added to my confusion if it was Maynard or not . I kept trying to decide if it was him or not by looking at the hair to see if it was real or a wig . Then I remembered that he has the APC logo tattooed on his arm ( which
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that isn 't true in real life ) , so I kept trying to look at his arm as he was doing this experiment . Finally I got a glimpse of the tattoo , and I knew it was him , and I was all happy that I recognized him . So then Danielle came into the room , which was really our room where we lived . And so I 'm trying to mouth to her that it 's Maynard . Then she gets into bed to go to sleep , and Maynard was bald again , and he had left his jewelry on the bed , so I went to move it , and still the whole time I hadn 't let on that I knew he was Maynard . So then I guess the experiment was over , because now he was bald , and he sat on the bed with Danielle , and was talking to us . I was still sitting on the floor , and I can 't remember now what we were talking about , but then he kissed me . It |
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In waking life , I generally have neat handwriting . However , when writing in my dream journal in the middle of the night , I write messily . This time , it was largely illegible . I really need to fix that . Slept about 7 . 5 hours last night . Dream 1 : During my hypnagogic imagery ( so WILD I believe ) , I very quickly became lucid ! I was standing in a green field . The dream was a bit hazy , and I forgot to demand clarity . I remembered my first goal for the three - step thingy , to use technology . I figured I 'd use an iPad , and made one appear in my hands . For some reason , my hazy brain decided to use Numbers , and a spreadsheet appeared . Then I figured that that was pretty boring , and tried to boot up a racing game . I was able to play it for a few seconds , and then the dre
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am faded and I woke up . I wrote down some non - lucid dream fragments , but they were so messy that I can 't read them . : / Due to a lack of recall , I will only count the 2 that I can actually read : Dream ( Fragment ) 3 : My family had gotten cast out of . . . civilization ? Our hometown ? Can 't remember , but I think it was out of some sort of fictional civilization that we had been living in . We were placed out into the bitter cold . And someone got bitten by something . I was some Kirby - like figure returning to a city . The tyrannical ruler and my arch - rival met me at its outskirt , on a cliff overseeing the city . He was apparently deposed , but the new ruler was even worse than him , and he 's explaining things to me wanting me to help him get his throne back . Someone who I |
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And it did . It took a week or so and the first week back was not good . I felt so ashamed of my behaviour in London . So much so that I even wore clothes in our apartment . Ryan slowly pulled me round and it wasn 't that long before I was bouncing round our apartment totally naked . A couple of weeks later we looked for a place to get my nipples and clit hood pierced . We managed to find one that looked clean and hygienic and was a member of the British Body Piercing Association . We made an appointment for the next Saturday afternoon . I was hoping that it would be a woman , but it wasn 't . It was a big man with tattoos all over . He was quite nice actually , and very professional . I suspected that my nipples would be painful so I took a soft cotton top . The man talked to me before ha
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nd and explained what he was going to do . After asking if I still wanted to go through with it he told me to undress and lay on the couch . I was nervous and embarrassed as hell when I was naked and getting onto the couch . Ryan was stood beside me holding my hand . The man then told me that he 'd have to inspect my nipples and clitoris to make sure that I was suitable for piercing . As he closely looked at my nipples and clit , and pulled them in all directions , I have to admit that was getting turned on . When he pulled my clit hood all over the place I could feel that I was quite wet . Satisfied with what he saw , he again asked me to confirm that I wanted to go ahead . He then got some cotton wool and rubbed my nipples and all around my clit with some alcohol , then local anaesthetic |
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Arrived just after half two , and settled into the cottage . It 's decent , a small bungalow , one of those old shepherds ' cottages that pop up all around the countryside , everything that I need for a couple of weeks of writing . The place is so quiet , the one thing that I 've got here is time . God knows , I need it - the Knowles book is never going to get done , and April has been getting pushier . The mobile signal 's pretty poor around here , so that should keep her off my back for a few days , anyway . But I 've got to get something done - that advance is spending itself pretty fast . There 's a small old - fashioned desk in the lounge , and I 'm sitting there now , writing this . It 's a good sized room , so it serves as lounge , dining room and study . The telly is five channels
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only , but there 's nothing on anyway . From the window there 's a lovely picturesque view of the railway line and motorway . Still , I suppose nothing 's perfect , and the joys of double glazing mean that peace and quiet are pretty much assured . There 's an open log fire against the far wall that 's enough to keep the place heated , and some very odd art on the walls - there 's a picture above the fireplace that 's just a random mass of colour . No accounting for taste , but this stuff is just nasty . Tebay isn 't much of a village - nice enough , but little more than a couple of long streets . The local shops are actually in the motorway services , so I 'll be able to get a paper every morning , and eat breakfast in the company of lorry drivers and sulking kids . There 's a bizarre loca |
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Arrived just after half two , and settled into the cottage . It 's decent , a small bungalow , one of those old shepherds ' cottages that pop up all around the countryside , everything that I need for a couple of weeks of writing . The place is so quiet , the one thing that I 've got here is time . God knows , I need it - the Knowles book is never going to get done , and April has been getting pushier . The mobile signal 's pretty poor around here , so that should keep her off my back for a few days , anyway . But I 've got to get something done - that advance is spending itself pretty fast . There 's a small old - fashioned desk in the lounge , and I 'm sitting there now , writing this . It 's a good sized room , so it serves as lounge , dining room and study . The telly is five channels
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only , but there 's nothing on anyway . From the window there 's a lovely picturesque view of the railway line and motorway . Still , I suppose nothing 's perfect , and the joys of double glazing mean that peace and quiet are pretty much assured . There 's an open log fire against the far wall that 's enough to keep the place heated , and some very odd art on the walls - there 's a picture above the fireplace that 's just a random mass of colour . No accounting for taste , but this stuff is just nasty . Tebay isn 't much of a village - nice enough , but little more than a couple of long streets . The local shops are actually in the motorway services , so I 'll be able to get a paper every morning , and eat breakfast in the company of lorry drivers and sulking kids . There 's a bizarre loca |
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In his seventy - eight winters - from his youth in the Black Forest of Germany to his old age in the White Mountains of New Hampshire - Cornelius Fischermann had split hundreds of logs . But the log in front of him came , evidently , from the petrified forest . The log sat crooked and defiant on the chopping block . Cornelius ' ax glanced off , leaving superficial scars . It was 4 : 15 pm , dusk in New Hampshire on New Year 's Eve . On a typical holiday Cornelius could reach his cabin by lunchtime , but that required leaving Boston before 9 am , and today his son Carl hadn 't picked him up until 11 . The passenger 's seat was empty when Carl pulled up in his Volvo , and Cornelius felt it unwise to ask why Carl 's wife Millicent wasn 't in it . The answer , he felt sure , would tell him mor
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e than he wanted to know about why Carl was late . Cornelius slipped into the back seat and made conversation with his eight - year - old grandson , Corey , who was trying to decide which Christmas gift had been his favorite . The conversation made Cornelius feel guilty , since he hadn 't thought to buy Corey anything . His wife , Ingrid , had always taken care of that . Carl drove silently until the New Hampshire border , where he made the superfluous remark that , if they 'd left Boston earlier , they could have beaten the holiday traffic . They could have beaten the snow , too , which fell heavily , then turned to freezing rain , so that they had to stop at a friend 's house and wait for the state plows to clear the last stretch of mountain road . When they finally arrived , the dirt ro |
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Dick and I continued on in our relationship . Despite the fact I had just turned 15 and he was 4 years older we had a surprisingly mature relationship . I 'm sure it had to do with how fast I had grown up and the fact Dick was an old soul . When I turned 15 my Dad had bought me my first car . Not that I needed it then , but owning a Service Station , he was a man who loved the automobile and he was really excited to have me living there . I have to back track a moment here . When my Mom and Dad divorced my Dad went out and bought himself a new car , it was a ' 67 Charger . If you are not familiar with this body style , it was only made for 2 years , ' 66 and ' 67 . They were a really neat looking car and you rarely see one on the road anymore or even in a car show . I just loved that car a
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nd when I was 5 I made him promise me he would save it for me until I was 16 . He said he would . . . lol Of course it and many other cars passed through our lives , but interestingly enough when I turned 15 and he decided he needed to start looking for a car for me he found a ' 66 Charger . We went to go look at it and I must say it wasn 't pretty . Of course it had theh beautiful body lines and the neat features , but it also had rust , ugly wheels and someone had painted it baby blue . He got me to see past those things and he bought the car for about $ 600 I do believe . He was like a little kid , he was so excited . So while he had not saved his ' 67 , he had delivered on his promise . More to come on the car . There was something else I had always wanted in my life and that was a hor |
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I was introduced to Riley 's Tavern on my first day at Woodbine Industries . As I was dropping my time card into the slot to punch out one of the guys asked me if I was going to stop for a beer with the guys . I felt no crying need to hurry home so I said okay . He told me that the group usually stopped at Riley 's and if I didn 't know where it was I could follow him . I wasn 't that familiar with that part of town so I followed him and it turned out that Riley 's was only three blocks from the plant . From the outside it looked like any neighborhood bar , but looks were deceiving . Inside there was an " L " shaped bar the ran the length of the west wall and part of the south wall . The rest of the south wall was taken up by a small bandstand and a jukebox . Booths lined the north wall an
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d part of the east wall . Part of the east wall was a recessed alcove where there were four pool tables and a hallway that led back to the restrooms . In the center of the room there was a fairly large dance floor surrounded by tables . My new co - workers had pushed four tables together next to the dance floor and I wondered why they had put four tables together for only six of us . I took a seat at the tables and looked around as I got to know my new associates better . There was a sexy looking busty redhead behind the bar . The waitress , I found out later that her name was Tina , came over and took my drink order and as she walked away I commented on the fact that the place sure didn 't match its outside appearance . " The women who work in the office over there are real party animals |
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A number of years ago , just after our son was born , my parents came to visit and see the new member of the family . My dad wanted to see what we 'd made . My wife handed our son to me , and as I put my dad 's grandson into his arms , I could feel how he 'd held me when I was that age . I could sense the love , the care , the overwhelming urge to protect this little bundle of life with every fiber of his being - and see he knew that he would not be able to do that , all while he struggled , in that moment , to understand the balance of holding on and letting go . So without writing much more ( hah , it 's me … 😉 I 'm gonna take you through a little guided tour of fatherhood , and my experiences with it … I just went through this blog - and found myself smiling , laughing , and tearing up
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just a bit at the stories I 'd written over the last few years . See , my Dad left us about 16 years ago . He no longer lives with us on this earth , but lives with us in our memories … That transition , for those of you who 've not gone through it , is astonishingly hard . Cindy 's dad did the same thing a couple of years ago , and the transition for her , her family , and us , is ongoing . I think that 's the little bit where you find yourself laughing at things they might have said , memories you might have shared , and then crying at the same time because you miss them and can 't share the story the memory brings forth with them . … I realized early on that keeping a straight face when you 're being a dad is something that comes with time … In this case , I had an adventure in plumbing |
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Ever since I was a little kid , I didn 't want to be me . I wanted to be like Billy Windledon , and Billy Windledon didn 't even like me . I walked like he walked ; I talked like he talked ; and I signed up for the high school he signed up for . Which was why Billy Windledon changed . He began to hang around Herby Vandeman ; he walked like Herby Vandeman ; he talked like Herby Vandeman . He mixed me up ! I began to walk and talk like Billy Windledon , who was walking and talking like Herby Vandeman . And then it dawned on me that Herby Vandeman walked and talked like Joey Haverlin . And Joey Haverlin walked and talked like Corky Sabinson . So here I am walking and talking like Billy Windledon 's imitation of Herby Vandeman 's version of Joey Haverlin , trying to walk and talk like Corky Sa
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binson . And who do you think Corky Sabinson is always walking and talking like ? Of all people , Dopey Wellington - that little pest who walks and talks like me ! I was working as a consultant in a beer company , helping the president and senior vice - president formulate and implement their new strategic vision . It was an enormous challenge . At the same time , my mother was in the final stages of cancer . I worked during the day and drove 40 miles home to be with her every night . It was tiring and stressful , but it was what I wanted to do . My commitment was to continue to do excellent consulting during the day , even though my evenings were very hard . I didn 't want to bother the president with my situation , yet I felt someone at the company needed to know what was going on . So I |
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Category : Short Fiction Shared Empathy - Chapter Eight April 26 , 2017April 26 , 2017 NooryaK1 Comment He was fairly anxious before entering the O . R . The scrubbing brushed off some of the nerves , with it came the realization that he missed it and was surprised by the automatic curt nod upon Dr . Sullivan 's welcome . It was natural , professional like he hadn 't been away from surgery for five years . After that , there was a mask to hide the face and besides no one was actually looking . Relieved to know all the steps to the procedure there were a few moments where it felt like all he needed to do was pick up the scalpel and everything would be normal again . It was until he walked out of the O . R , that the gloom began to set in the pit of his stomach and the relief was replaced by
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doubt again . By the time he came home , he was sure that this is the farthest he should go and if he actually picked up the scalpel again something would go wrong . He would forget a step or his hands wouldn 't be steady enough . A part of him knew this was just doubt speaking and another part knew he was losing the battle . Take the plunge , move to the other side , jump off ; all those metaphors kept making appearances as well . But that was the thing ; despite knowing everything , here he was still standing at the same point . Alan spent the rest of the day doing nothing . Nola came by to cheer , during which time he deliberately kept steering the conversation towards something other than the supposed small victory . He didn 't want the attention and the praise because he still felt t |
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I opened the registered letter after signing for it . It was from the family court clerk requesting my presence before a judge two weeks hence at 9 a . m . on a Tuesday morning . The purpose was for a hearing about a change of custody . Maybe , just maybe , I might be getting back a little of what I had given away . I parked in the driveway of my former home . Elizabeth had kept the place in fine shape . I could see the pool sparkling out at the side of the house . Not for me to go in through the front door , so I went in by the garage and the entrance into the kitchen . Madie looked up and dropped the pot she was washing , rushing to me . I was always a favorite and a friend . It was not just a hug I received , but a kiss as well . She wasn 't old enough to be my mother , but I loved her
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as if she were . " Land 's sake , Mr . Rheingold , you do startle a body . It has been forever since I have seen you . " " Simple . The Missus has a new fellow and wants to go to Paris with him . They plan on being gone for six months . She knows it would not be right for me and Will to watch over the boy for that long . What you fought for is finally coming true . She wants you to take Jimmy to live with you . " " I suspected that might be it . It is still all about her isn 't it ? " There was a noise of someone behind me . I turned to face my ex - wife . " You 're still bitter , aren 't you John ? Well , I am not surprised . Maybe a little bitterness will help you get over me . Personally , I think you have no reason to be bitter . I picked you up in college and you will have to admit I |
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The very first time my husband and I entertained together , we had only been dating a few months . It was New Years Eve . We went to the grocery store together to buy food and soft drinks , the package store for alcohol , then to his apartment to get ready . As soon as the groceries were put away , Bob said he had to run an errand and would be right back . I didn 't ask any questions and kept cleaning as he walked out the door . A few hours later he returned , more excited than I had ever seen him . He found a vintage guitar and wanted to buy it . As he paced around , I encouraged him to go back and get it before someone else bought it . When he came back a few hours later , the apartment was clean , the prep work was done on the food , and all that was left to do was cook . Seventeen year
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s , fifteen guitars and countless parties later , Bob still disappears on the day we have company . Each time he says he will be there to help , and each time he comes rushing in just an hour or two before company is expected to arrive . He does the cooking and he entertains as he does it . This Christmas Eve while I was home preparing a Feast of Seven Fishes for twelve people , he was at the galvanizing plant watching zinc melt . I could hear myself yelling above the sound of the vacuum cleaner , " seventeen years and he is never here to help me get ready for a party , why should this party be any different … " I was so mad . Then I stopped . The next voice I heard was my oldest brother saying the eulogy at my mother 's funeral . He was telling the story of how my father would always come |
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I can imagine as within the realm of possibility , that me , John , Mary , and Sara could be sitting around in my living room , sitting on the couches , cooking something in the kitchen , playing songs , getting stoned , and just having good conversations where you 're actually saying something . Or going out and planting a bunch of vegetables , some kind of deal where people have a group of friends . A lot of people actually live that way , as surprising as it may be . I wrote this quite a while ago : the idea that something happened in my old student co - op at Berkeley . I tend to get hung up on this when I get manic , but I think I 'm talking about good friends connected through experience or living in the same house , or listening to Public Enemy 's " It Takes a Nation of Millions to
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Hold Us Back " ( that was big in 1989 - 90 in Berkeley ) . There were great artists and musicians , mostly great musician friends , from whom I definitely learned a certain kind of sound . But I guess the idea is : doesn 't seem to be much happening with that . Or any way to explain it : I guess life can get strange at times . Or blame it on the Grateful Dead and Pink Floyd . " What is man to do in the few days of his life ? There are the relationships that form the basis of day - to - day reality , but there are the impressions received that seem to indicate some greater meaning or understanding , flashing of true knowledge , or at least a path that should be perceived , a path of thought perhaps , a thing so powerful in nature that the full recollection is difficult , the the memory of w |
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Marriage . Infidelity . Divorce . Infertility . Baby . Diabetes . Insulin Pump . Not necessarily in that order . My life 's better than a soap opera . After many e - mails , Nemo and I agreed that we would meet at the mall for his Saturday visit . I would put Lucian down for his afternoon nap early , and we 'd meet at 2 : 00 . Sounds simple , right ? At 1 : 35 , Nemo called and said that he was still at work and would be for another hour , and what did I want to do ? Normally , I would have cancelled the whole thing but I needed to get some things at the mall . So I agreed we would meet at 3 : 00 instead . I let Lucian sleep until 2 : 15 , and I was happy about that . ( more sleep = easier child ) At 2 : 50 , we were just outside the mall when Nemo called again . He wouldn 't be there unti
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l 3 : 30 . Already there , I said that we would be there then . Lucian and I did a bit of shopping , and then scoped out the play area . I then figured that I better go to the bathroom because I might not get a chance if Nemo was even later and Lucian was playing . I decide to use a bathroom in a store that I never go in . As I 'm walking , who do I see ? Nemo 's dad and grandmother . What are the chances that they would be in the same store that I was in ? They saw me , and I didn 't have a chance to escape . Jabba and Sophia talked to me briefly . They didn 't mention Nemo and I thought that maybe they didn 't even know that Lucian and I were supposed to be meeting him . They left , and then I took Lucian with me to the bathroom . It was a very tight squeeze with his stroller , and a hug |
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The clock quietly ticked , the only sound in the room . Danny Mason looked around the table , seeing his relatives , all waiting quietly as the lawyer gathered his materials , getting ready to read the will . The others didn 't want Danny to be there , thinking that he was too young at 15 for this , but he was closer than any of them to his Uncle Benny . Danny almost smiled , fondly remembering Uncle Benny . He had always been a bit eccentric , and had been the black sheep of the family . He was always cheap , the kind of guy who would eat dog food and never throw anything away , but everyone suspected that he was secretly rich . Unfortunately , now they were about to find out for sure . Danny was the only one that was really upset about this , having really liked his odd uncle . The lawye
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r cleared his throat , and started reading from the will . Almost everyone was disappointed , secretly believing that a great fortune would be revealed , but finding instead that Uncle Benny wasn 't that rich . He only had a couple thousand at most , which was split between his brothers . Danny hadn 't expected anything , or at least not any money , but he 'd at least hoped that Uncle Benny would have remembered . Once the reading was finished , everyone started leaving , and Danny started to follow out behind his Dad , but the lawyer motioned for Danny to stay for a minute . Curious , Danny waited until everyone was gone . The Lawyer , an older man picked up a small wooden box , and placed it in front of Danny . Curiously , Danny remembered seeing it on Uncle Benny 's table . The lawyer s |
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