"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense." -Emerson
"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing about." -Benjamin Franklin
Alma 26:30 "And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some."
It is cloudy here tonight. There is no moon outside my window, looking down on me. It is comforting in a way, my moon. I am a night owl through and through, and so he accompanies me on my walks and wanderings. Tonight I find myself alone. Cate is still on her trip, and so my thoughts wander aimlessly. The walk to town square was a quiet one. The season here has yet to start, and so I am free to walk in the middle of the road (which happens to be my favorite place).
Have you ever had a time when all you wanted to do was walk for hours on end, and listen to your own thoughts? Thoughts about everything. To become reaquainted with yourself and you life; free from the noise and influence that usually encroaches itself upon you. That is my mind patturn tonight. Just me, and my thoughts, no people, no man on the moon.
The rain has come to Jackson Hole. I almost forgot about the rain here. Every spring we have a definate rainy season. A month or more of mostly rain - at least once a day. Being from the Seattle area originally, the rain usually makes me feel good, clean, and wanting to go for walks. It is May though and Winter here is just now leaving. I was ready for Summer to just jump right in. But it rains.
One thing I do love about this season is that it is the transition period from winter to summer. It's still chilly out but not enough to keep me inside all day. The lakes are all slowly unfreezing, which makes me want to go swimming (even if they are almost too cold to swim in even in the summer).
I still want to go for walks and breath in that fresh mountain air. Nature just seems so much more inviting in the rain... no idea why. I really don't know why, but a hike in the rain is one of my favorite things to do.
It was announced last night that a small team from the US military has caught and killed Osama bin Laden.
I was at work when this was announced last night. I may have mentioned this before, but I work at the front desk of a hotel in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. At the moment it is super dead, we have over 150 rooms to rent and last night we had people in 10. The hotel bar is basically in the lobby, and last night it was empty. Then the president got on TV and made his announcement. Every single solitary guest came down to the bar not ten minutes after he was done talking. Shots were given out, kids were getting chocolate milk shakes at 10pm. They were disappointed when our employees wouldn't let them buy us any shots. The rejoicing was immediate, spontaneous, and infectious. They were not alone in the sentiment. ...
There were many images of people singing "God Bless America" all over the news. Hopefully not all of them were as bad as the one above.
For at least a night the nation was united again. People from every corner got together and celebrated.
As for me.... not gonna lie, I immediately was sooo excited for this victory. I realize that this war on terror has been gong on for almost ten years now, but for some reason this feels like the first thing that has happened that was not a senseless act of death and destruction. I support our troops, and understand the sacrifices they are giving to help keep our shores free. I also feel with all my heart that with out our troops abroad that our country would have been a different place after 9/11. Some how though, that does not negate the feeling that young men are going to a strange land and never coming back, or the images of the bombings and of kids walking around covered in blood.
Last night though, that was a sweet justice. The celebrators, at least in this country, were thinking of one thing - September 11th, 2001. They were thinking about how we finally got the justice we deserved for that heinous act on our citizenry. I remember writing in my journal about how much anger I felt that day. I agreed 100% with Bush that we should go and find the people that did this to us. I felt relief last night. Relief because in a way I suppose I see it as a step in the right direction to end this war. There are men to take his place or course, apparently one of them is even his son. It felt good though, to have the one that planned the attack gone from this earth. My sister-in-law pointed out how cool it would be to be able to watch that judgment as he passed to the other side. I would have to agree.
It is with pride though that I point out that seemingly small group of people that are not celebrating Bin Laden's death with the rest of us. I really only do this, because a little while after Obama spoke I was online and my best friend got on as well and we were talking about it. She happens to be in that minority. They have some good points, moral points, points that make me feel a little ashamed of myself. He was evil, but he was a child of God. One more for Satan's army - what's to celebrate there? A life is a life, no matter how terrible he was. We should have waited at least for a trial of his crimes (I pointed out on this one what a kangaroo court that would be). I understand their points, I even agree with them (well not the trial one). I, however, am not a perfect person. Not even a little bit. So, if I had not been working when it was announced, I probably would have hit town square and joined in on the festivities.
So, I currently have my friend Cate's MAC computer while she is otherwise disposed so that I can help her with some work that needs to be kept up. Now, I have a PC myself, always have. Other than the few times that I have used her internet I am pretty sure that I have not used a MAC since like middle school. That was about 11 to 13 years ago.
Anyway, I was working and I noticed the photo booth icon at on the bar at the bottom of her screen. I had heard of it, but never played with it myself. These pictures are some of the results. Let us all just remember that I am weird.
This is me in my true alien form.
This would be the result if I were to show you my second tongue. Cute right?
Cyclops Tami.
Slightly creepy, and yet has an eerie beauty to it.
I just like how this one turned out.
This is what I would apparently look like if I randomly had a sketch artist sketch me and I was happy.
Ofcourse, there is always the possibility that I will be afraid of the sketch artist, so I guess this would be the result of that. Or maybe I am about to melt like that guy on Indiana Jones.
"River Marked" by Patricia Briggs is the latest installment into the Mercy Thompson series. It would most definitely go under the Urban Fantasy genera.
For those of you not familiar with this series: Mercy is a coyote "walker" (even though in this book they talk about how that is not exactly the correct term because she is not evil - she is more of a shape shifter). Mercy was raised by a pack of werewolves in Montana, but has moved down to the Tri Cities area of Washington state, where she makes a living as a mechanic. She is a magnet for trouble from everything possible it seems, and has found a new family in the local werewolf pack.
I personally love this whole series. They are all really fun reads. This particular book is set on the Columbia River. She and Adam are camping and they of course run into a monster that is killing people, and they have to figure out how to kill it.
I'm not going to say that one needs to be some sort genius to read this book, but I love how she inserts all of the Native American legends into the story. You can tell that she did her homework, and she presents it in a way so that the reader does not have to.
I recommend this book to any one who likes a bit of adventure, and the paranormal. Briggs also happens to be pretty witty. I laughed out loud reading it a few times, and so did my friend Cate.
The spring thaw started the other day here in my beloved town. I was wearing light sweaters and even busted out my chacos. Two days ago, when I decided to wear said chacos to work, it started snowing again - it has not stopped. I had gotten my hopes up so so high. The promise of spring and summer was placed before me and ripped away. Melowdramatic, I know this, but as one of the few in this town that pray for the snow to stop even before the ski slopes close I feel a little justified. Once the slopes do close down ofcourse, the rest of town will be onboard. But for now, I am in the minority.
Life here seems to have slowed down. In anticipation for the much needed summer I am still reluctantly staying mostly inside. Spending more of my time at the gym to get in shape for all of the hiking my friends and I are planning on doing. I think with all the time that I think about summer and the things I will be doing I may be setting myself up for an anticlimactic start. That's okay though. Whatever gets me through.
I recently finished reading the first book in the "Fablehaven" book series by Brandon Mull. I have to say that really did like it. It kind of reminds me of the kind of book that the Harry Potter series is. Not the story, because they are very different. It is more that this is the kind of book that can get an entire generation reading actual books. It is original and "fun for the hole family".
The book is about Seth and Kendra (brother and sister) who have to go stay with their Grandpa Sorenson while their parents go on a cruise. Neither of them really want to stay, but as usual the children have no choice in the matter.
Through a series of events, they discover that the attic is not so bad for a room, that the housekeeper has more to her, that their pet chicken can do something other lay eggs.
Most of Greek mythology seems to be represented in this book, meeting fairies and naiads and centaurs. They learn that the land Grandpa Sorenson is in charge of is actually a protected habitat for these dwindling creatures.
Through out the entire book there are morals and lessons being learned. Mull does a good job of showing both immediate and eventual consequences. I also particularly liked how Kendra learns to be brave instead of having a character that it comes naturally to.
It really is a good read all around. Remember the age it is directed to though. I give it an A+ and recommend it to anyone, exspecially if you have kids.
In the turn of events that has brought me to Jackson has also managed to remind me that it is almost impossible to get a box of Girl Scout Cookies here. I keep an eye on the grocery stores and street corners where one can normally find said contraband- nothing. So what do I do? I wait patiently for my lovely mother to send me a package with a couple boxes inside.
Now imagine my surprise when I go to work and and find that everyone is coming in with boxes of Girl Scout cookies. Where did they get all the cookies? I asked my self, and them. THEY GOT THEM AT THE BAR! Yes, apparently the only place to get these beloved cookies is from a bar.
It makes sense in a way. This is a town where very few of us do not frequent the bars. It's probably the one place that the you can actually get to the majority of people here. Beyond the good business sense though it is a rather annoying arrangement for me. Only because I am one of the people who never goes to the bar of course.
So, until I can come up with a better idea... I will go on importing my cookies.
Well, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I had originally bought the book at a random book reading that Kathleen Flinn did in a book store in Seattle that I happened to be at when she was there. I had never heard of her, and certainly never heard of her book. I remeber thinknig at the time that She was really cool and I wished that I could do something similar in my life someday. I honestly do not even really like cooking, but I am a sucker for good titles. Plus she had read enough at the reading event that I was intrigued by her story so I bought a copy - I even stood in line and had her sign it.
Almost two years later now, and I am on the hunt for my next book to read. You wonder why it has taken me two years to read said book? Well, I have one addictive habit in my life and that is buying freaking books. I buy them in stacks of ten (sometimes multiple times in the same month) so it takes me a minute or two to get to some of them.
Anyway, I am perusing through my own library of unread books and I see this one. "The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry", by Kathleen Flinn and I remember my random night at Third Place Books and thinking to myself that she had guts. Now I know at this point you are wondering why I am telling you these things, but it will become clear. You see I had never read the inscription she had written in the book when I had her sign it, or if I had I did not remember it. When I read it this time though- it hit a cord. "To Tami, Remember life is not a dress rehearsal - Bests, Kat" Really it is just the time in my life and the things that I am doing and deciding to do at this time (hopefully with in the year) and I realize that she writes that in probably all of the books that she signs, but to me it means something, and to me it made her book worth reading.
Now, I had read "Eat, Pray, Love" and watched "Under the Tuscan Sun" and "Julie and Julia" - this book is way better. I had to tell myself that I could only read it for such and such amount of time because unfortunately I chose a particularly busy time in my life to read it. I liked how she laughs at herself but shows you the courage that it took her to go and change her entire life to do this one thing with out saying "hey look at this really brave thing that I did". It's funny, and great writing. She definitely focuses on the education that she had in Paris and just glazes over her personal life, but that is one of the things that I loved about it. She has a major personal event happen two thirds of the way through that she sums up in a paragraph.
Mostly, this book is about a journey. Her own journey and life's journey in general. She is an American Woman working in the corporate world in London when she comes home from vacation to find that she has been let go. Instead of heading back to the states to get another job immediately she moves to Paris with her boyfriend and attends the Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. She hones her skills as a chef, and as a person. I found it to be inspiring, funny, well written, and above all open-ended. As I stayed up late to finish the thing I closed the back cover with the filling of "this is a little snippet of my journey here that you just read. I am not done. I hope that you are making the most of your journey as well." coming from the book. What can I say, I love books that make me want to do something more with my life. I like to be left thinking. Whether it be thinking about a life philosophy or the endless possibilities that I have before me - To make a stranger think is an accomplishment in itself I would say.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes nonfiction life stories. She has a good one.
Riddle me this.... Why is it that for the past week everytime that I walk into work and stand at the front desk of the hotel that I work at (at the front desk) do I almost immediately get a raging head ache?
It has only been happening for the past week and a half and no one else seems to have this problem - Just me. Aren't I just special?
So, I am now reduced to popping pain pills every few hours. I past time that I really hate. Sometimes, I have to say, I really hate my brain.
