Chicken Broth

Guys, I am sick. I have had the stomachache from Hades for the last two days. Last night I puked about three times. It was a lot of fun. I got to tell my stomach, "Calm down, spazz!"

No, seriously. I've just been sleeping most of the day. I didn't even dream at all last night (not that I remember). That's how out of it I was. I've been eating nothing but chicken broth and Pedialyte all day.

Hopefully, though, I will be able to go to Amy's party on Thursday night. That will be a lot of fun.

Letters to Santa

I dreamed this story last night, and I decided to share it with you guys. Enjoy!

Letters to Santa
by Reagan Bockhold
(2004)

It was the holiday season. Christmas lights adorned houses, and the air had that distinct, crisp smell of winter.

Deborah was concerned about her son, however. He seemed more withdrawn, less enthusiastic about Christmas than past years. At first she likened it to his age--he WAS almost eight, after all. But soon, her motherly intuition told her that there was something else going on.

Intent on solving this mystery, Deborah entered Callahan's bedroom while he was in school. At first everything seemed normal: clothes strewn all over the room, line drawings taped to the walls, basketballs in the corner. But she spotted a written note on her son's desk.

At first she hesitated, fearing that she would be invading her son's privacy. But curiosity won out, and she read the note.

"Dear Santa,
I know you either are real and like to do real nice things for people, or you are my Mom (and still do nice things for people anyways). Either way I know you work for Jesus. So I need you to do a big favor for me.

I met Jesus a few months ago, and Mom loves Jesus too. We are both going to Heaven when we die (hopefully no time soon). But I'm worried about Daddy. He never goes to church, and he's arguing with Mom all the time about God. I want him to know Jesus so he and Jesus can be best friends, like he is best friends with me and my Mom (and maybe Doug in my class, though I don't know for sure). Also so he can go to Heaven when we die (again Santa, no time soon, please).

Can you give me that for Christmas this year, instead of presents? I really want a new Nintendo and some race cars, but that can wait till next year if it means Daddy knows Jesus.

Thanks a million kajillion,

Love XOXOXO,

Callahan J. Beourk

P.S. Will you come to my Christmas play at my church? I have a small role as a shepherd, and I get to sing a solo. Please come!"

Deborah was moved to tears by her son's simple missive. She remembered the battles she had with her husband about church attendance and prayer. Joseph, though a good man, was a professed agnostic, and he felt that church was a waste of time. She had witnessed to him countless times, but to no avail.

Now, she could see another way that her husband could somehow be reached. She tiptoed downstairs and got out her best Christmas stationary. She then wrote this note:

"Dear Callahan,

Thank you so much for your wonderful letter. I am so glad that you and your Mom know Jesus. You are right: I do work for him.

You know, the reason that I know Jesus is that one of His children introduced me to Him. This dear friend of mine told me that Jesus loved me and that He wanted to be my best friend, but that I had to repent of my sins and start a friendship with Him. I did so, and I will never regret it.

I would love to introduce your daddy to Jesus. But I think it would be better if you did. You could tell him the same thing my friend told me: that Jesus loves him and wants a friendship with Him more than anything in the world. Invite him to your play. Maybe he will listen.

Don't feel bad if he doesn't accept right away. Maybe he just needs to think about things. Either way, you will have told him, and he will remember that.

Thank you again for your letter.

Santa Claus

P.S. Yes, I will definitely be at the play."

Deborah left the letter on her son's desk and went back downstairs.

That evening, the family sat down to dinner. Callahan was unusually quiet. Joseph talked about work and how stressed he was. He had recently started a new job, and he felt uncomfortable working among strangers.

"I hate that I'm so lonely all the time," Joseph stated. "If I knew anyone there, it would be easier. But I have no friends."

"Daddy," said Callahan, "I know someone who wants to be your friend."

"Really?" asked Joseph. "Who is that?"

"Jesus."

A long pause. Joseph was clearly taken aback. He quickly glanced at Deborah, who raised her eyebrows. Then Joseph replied, "Interesting. Well, where is he?"

"In my heart," replied Callahan. "He wants to be in your heart, too."

"Hmmmm....Well, thank you son. I shall have to think about that."

"Daddy, I want us all to be in Heaven with Jesus. I want that more than anything. But we have to know Jesus, now. Jesus wants to know you."

Silence. Callahan got up and left. Joseph looked at Deborah. "What ideas have you been filling his head with?"

Deborah looked straight on at her husband. "The truth."

Joseph shook his head and left the table. Deborah put her head in her hands and sighed.

Three nights later, the family pulled into the parking lot of the church that Deborah and Callahan attended. Callahan was jumping up and down in the back seat.

Finally, thought Deborah. There's that enthusiasm. She looked at her husband. He seemed quiet.

Deborah took her son into the changing room and dressed him up in the shepherd outfit. "Now son, I am gonna go join Daddy. You will do wonderful, I know."

"I know, Momma." Callahan smiled. "Hey Mom, will you tell me if Daddy comes up for the imba-tational?"

"Yes, son, I will."

"Oh, and Mom...if Santa comes, will you save him a seat? He told me he would come, but he's awful busy. But just in case."

Deborah smiled. "I sure will."

The play started, with the older boys and girls playing out the major roles. Deborah couldn't help singing along with the familiar songs. She gave a glance toward her husband. Was it just her imagination, or did he seem more attentive than at other Christmas plays?

Finally, it was time for Callahan's role. He and the other shepherds surrounded Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus in the manger.

Callahan picked up a microphone and knelt by the manger. He looked at the baby Jesus lovingly, then started singing to Him.

"Oh, holy night...The stars are brightly shining...it is the night of our dear Savior's birth..."

Tears filled Deborah's eyes. She mouthed the words along with her son.

"The thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks, a new and glorious morn..."

The other children joined in, "Fall on your knees, oh hear the angel's voices...Oh night devine, oh night when Christ was born."

Deborah stole a glance at her husband. To her shock, tears streamed down his face. She reached over for his hand. He took it, looked at her, and said, "I want to know Jesus."

He then squatted in the pew, as Deborah led him to Jesus.

"Fall on your knees, oh hear the angel's voices...oh night devine, oh night, when Christ was born."

A figure caught Deborah's eye in the back. There standing in the back was a man in a white beard, dressed in a red jacket. He was Jacob George, and he dressed up every year as Santa and gave the kids small gifts.

Deborah smiled through her tears. Yes, Santa had came. But much more importantly, so had Jesus.

Legal Stuff: This is an original story by Reagan Bockhold, the author of this blog, copyright 2004. You may feel free to reproduce it or post it on your website, but please put my name on it as the author. If you put it on your website, please link back to this page. Thank you!

Thanksgiving Weekend Update with Reagan Nealon!

(cue Weekend Update music, with my head rotating like a globe)

Well, this weekend was a lot of fun.

Yesterday we had a bunch of family over for stew and chili. My sister and uncle tried to figure out the problems we've been having with our computer. My sister downloaded a Spyware application and ran it. Turns out we had 1072 separate pieces of spyware on our computer!

Well, we deleted them, but we still had some problems. So we started to run ScanDisk and Defragmenter. Well, those kept restarting and restarting because something was writing to the disk. Sigh. Finally we just gave up in disgust. Looks like we'll have a slow Internet connection no matter what. Growl!

In other news, this is the first holiday in recent memory where we didn't have board games out the wazzoo. Sigh. Well, there is always Christmas.

Friday I went to the mall to take advantage of the sales. Now, I'm not the type to line up at 3 in the morning to grab a $25 dollar DVD player, just to have it ripped out of your hands by some old lady with a cane. I went at 10:30 a.m., and nabbed some pretty cool stuff, including a sweater that I wore Sunday to the family thing. Another thing I bought: one of those Bath and Body Works plug-ins. I had one in my room, but it was lavender, which is not my favorite scent. The one I got was Moonlight Path. I love that smell.

Thursday I spent cleaning my bedroom. In fact, I spent the whole weekend cleaning. I think this is the first time I didn't go to the city at all on a weekend. Anyway, I went to the Cracker Barrel with my family, and ordered catfish for Thanksgiving.

Yeah, I know this blog is backwards. I'm a backwards person.

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
With the kids jingle belling
And everyone telling you "Be of good cheer"
It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
It's the hap -happiest season of all
With those holiday greetings and gay happy meetings
When friends come to call
It's the hap - happiest season of all

There'll be parties for hosting
Marshmallows for toasting
And caroling out in the snow
There'll be scary ghost stories
And tales of the glories of
Christmases long, long ago

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
There'll be much mistletoeing
And hearts will be glowing
When love ones are near
It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

There'll be parties for hosting
Marshmallows for toasting
And caroling out in the snow
There'll be scary ghost stories
And tales of the glories of
Christmases long, long ago

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
There'll be much mistletoeing
And hearts will be glowing
When love ones are near
It's The Most Wonderful Time
It's The Most Wonderful Time
It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

New Directions

I heard someone say one time, "When you are the most discontent, that's when God is about to do something powerful in your life."

The last few days, I have been feeling discontent, almost jittery. (And no, it's not post-Thanksgiving loneliness.)I feel like I need to do something great and mighty for Him.

I feel like He may be pushing me in a certain ministry. I have been praying about it, because I want to be absolutely, 1000% sure that this is of Him, and not anything that I want to do. Plus, I am a practical person, and I want to see if it is even possible.

To that end, I have been researching what I want to do. Looking up certain things on the Internet, etc. Because that's what I do. I like to research everything.

But, like I said, I don't know if this is God or my own desires. So please, PLEASE pray for me.

The Obligatory Thankful List

I am thankful for:

1.) All three of my jobs
2.) Warm clothes that fit (well, somewhat)
3.) My family
4.) My education
5.) OU's undefeated regular season
6.) That OU wasn't one of the teams that disgraced itself with a brawl on Saturday
7.) Sleep
8.) Good food
9.) The Internet
10.) Homestarrunner.com
11.) Jesus Christ for saving me and for being my closest friend
12.) Brian Mays, Misti, Mel G., Mel P., Brian Booker, Leigh Ann, Rich, Scottie, Wendy, Brian Craven, Chris, Amy, Cindy, Jeff White, Ellen, Shelia, Matt, Stephanie, Memphis, Erin, Phillip, Laura, Kelley, and everyone else whose name I forgot...for being wonderful friends and providing 95% of the inspiration for this website

(Edited because I forgot to put a very good friend of mine on the list by accident. Sorry Leigh Ann! :-( )

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, I decided to go ahead and post this now, because some people may be getting off early today. (Not me...sigh.)

In honor of the holiday, I am posting the Turkey song by Adam Sandler (some lines deleted because this is a G-rated blog).

Enjoy!

The Turkey Song
Love to eat turkey
Love to eat tur-er-er-key

Love to eat turkey
Cause it's good
Love to eat turkey
Like a good boy should
Cause it's turkey to eat
So good

Turkey for me
Turkey for you
Let's eat the turkey
In my big brown shoe

Love to eat the turkey
At the table
I once saw a movie
With Betty Grable

Eat that turkey
All night long
Fifty million Elvis fans
Can't be wrong

Turkey turkey doo and
Turkey turkey dap
I eat that turkey
Then I take a nap

Thanksgiving is a special night
Jimmy Walker used to say Dynomite!
That's right!

Turkey with gravy and cranberry
Can't believe the Mets traded Darryl Strawberry.

White meat, dark meat
You just can't lose
I fell off my moped
And I got a bruise

Turkey in the oven
And the buns in the toaster
I'll never take down
My Cheryl Tiegs poster

Turkey and sweet potato pie
Sammy Davis Jr.
Only had one eye

Turkey for the girls and
Turkey for the boys
My favorite kind of pant
Are corduroys
Gobble gobble goo and
Gobble gobble gickel
I wish turkey
Only cost a nickel

Oh I love turkey on Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Technicolor Pachyderms

I vaguely remember seeing this sequence in Dumbo many, many moons ago. I must have been about six or so. It was about Dumbo getting drunk and hallucinating about pink elephants dancing and stuff. (Yes, in a children's movie!) Anyway, I kept hearing the song in my head about "techincolor something-or-other" later on in life. I didn't remember what movie it was from...until this evening, when my wonderful, heroic friend Brian Mays quoted it in an email. Well, I did a quickie web search, and found the entire lyrics from it.

Pink Elephants On Parade

Look out! Look out!
Pink elephants on parade
Here they come!
Hippety hoppety
They're here and there
Pink elephants ev'rywhere
Look out! Look out!
They're walking around the bed
On their head
Clippety cloppety
Arrayed in braid
Pink elephants on parade
What'll I do? What'll I do?
What an unusual view!
I could stand the sight of worms
And look at microscopic germs
But technicolor pachyderms
Is really much for me
I am not the type to faint
When things are odd or things
are quaint
But seeing things you know that ain't
Can certainly give you an awful fright!
What a sight!
Chase 'em away!
Chase 'em away!
I'm afraid need your aid
Pink elephants on parade!
Pink elephants!
Pink elephants!

It occurs to me that this is very, VERY similar to the song "Heffalumps and Woozles" in the Winnie-the-Pooh movie. It's about Pooh hallucinating about elephants (and also woozles) on parade. The song is even scarily similar. Maybe this is some kind of recurring theme, and we can expect Finding Nemo II to contain Nemo getting high off some seaweed and dreaming about dancing elephant-fish. Okay, now I'm hallucinating.

Oh, how cute. A pink elephant with a polky-dotted ribbon.

Turkeyed Out

I am already all turkeyed out, and it ain't even Thanksgiving yet! Sigh. I had turkey four (4) times since Wednesday. Once at my stepfather's church, once at the school where I subbed at, once at Phillip's, and once at Chris's. Oh, well, it's nice to hang with people you love.

Speaking of, Mel G. came home yesterday. A whole bunch of us met her at the airport last night. We held up a HUGE sign that Brian Mays and Misti made that said, "Wh-wh-wh-welcome home!" Hee. At any rate, Mel G. was touched by it, which made us feel good. You can read about her adventures at africajournal.blogspot.com.

After that, we went over to Chris's house for the aforementioned Thanksgiving dinner. His roommate Cordell had a whole bunch of friends over, and we got to hang out with them. We talked about many....interesting topics of conversation (some I won't post here). Cordell talked about a professor that many of us had. Seems this guy went through a whole class with his fly open. Hmmm. Sounds like me. (OK, not really, at least not to my knowledge).

Brian Mays wanted me to clog for everyone. Sorry, there were too many people in there that I didn't know well. All I need is to be the brunt of jokes for two years.

In other news, I am getting addicted to MTV again. Which is probably Not A Good Thing. I've been watching Battle of the Sexes II and You've Got A Friend.

Leanguage

Well, last night was a lot of fun. I went over to Phillip's house, and we all had Thanksgiving dinner. I had turkey, dressing, green bean casserole, corn casserole, broccoli and cheese casserole, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, and a whole host of desserts. After that, we watched A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Someone made the comparison that I was like Pepperment Patty. Now everyone is calling me Sir. I still don't get how I'm like Pepperment Patty, but OK....

)I always thought I was more like Lucy, actually.)

We also watched two Friends episodes. One was the one where Ross and Monics's parents came for dinner and the kids ended up tattling on each other for everything they could think of. Rachel also made an English dessert with bananas, whipped cream, and beef. Snerk. The other one was the one with Joey having a turkey head. Hee!

Well after that, we went over to Brian's house and watched The Apprentice. I. Was. Shocked. My jaw hit the floor when The Donald fired both Wes and Maria. Now, Maria annoyed the heck out of everyone in the room the entire evening. But Wes pretty much let her tell him what to do, and he was the project manager. Nonetheless, I was shocked.

Anyway, after that Brian put on a Christmas CD that he got from a friend of his (that I want!!!) and Misti and I started singing to that Mariah Carey song. The CD also had the B.C. Clark song on it! Yay! And, of course, I had to show off my mad clogging skills.

Subbing

Well, today was my first day substitute teaching. I taught at the local elementary school, in the in-house detention hall.

In light of my experiences, I present to you:

MY GRAND TIPS FOR SUBBING!!!!!

1.) Never let the student know you are new at this. They will walk all over you. Trust me on this one.

2.) Be Neo-Nazi if you have to. It's easier to ease up later in the day than try to get a handle on the class after it has gone wild.

3.) Never laugh at a student acting up. It will encourage them to do more of the same.

4.) Use the principal's name early and often.

5.) On the other hand, acknowledge when a student is doing a good job. This will encourage the troublemakers to act better. Well, maybe...concieveably...

6.) Remember, you are doing this because you love kids and want to make a difference in their lives.

The End.

In other news, I had Thanksgiving dinner at my stepfather's church with my parents and my sister and niece. I am going to be all turkeyed out before Thanksgiving even starts!

Tonight I am going to Phillip's house for Thanksgiving dinner with everybody. It may be the last time I see very many of these people until after Thanksgiving. Sigh. That thought makes me sad. On the other hand, most people have very good reasons for not being around, and I wish them the best in what they are trying to do. I love these guys.

Swivel Theorist

Well, Scott's put some pics of Swivel Theorist in action on his website. Scroll over the title of this entry, and see pictures of some of the coolest people I know. Oh, and if you scroll down a bit further, you'll see a picture of yours truly being serenaded by Scott.

I love living in web infamy.

Police Driving

This is in response to Scott's blog. He wrote about police driving habits.

I, too, have been the object of police driving. I seriously thought the Edmond and OKC police had my license plate memorized so that they could stalk me. One time, I had a cop follow me for almost three miles. They rode in the lane next to mine and behind me a bit. So I slowed down so they could go past me. They slowed down as well. So I slowed down more. So did they. I finally pulled off into a parking lot, and they went on past. I wonder why they did that. But I have been known to turn or pull off just so police officers would get off my butt.

Also, I thought cops were supposed to have their lights flashing whenever they went above the speed limit. Hmmm.

Jokes

Here are several jokes that a friend of mine emailed me today. I've added a little bit of commentary, as is my wont, in parentheses.

A blonde decides to try horseback
riding, even though she has had no
lessons or prior experience. She
mounts the horse unassisted and the
horse immediately springs into motion.
It gallops along at a steady and rhythmic
pace, but the blonde begins to slip from
the saddle. In terror, she grabs for the
horse's mane, but cannot seem to get a
firm grip. She tries to throw her arms around
the horse's neck, but she slides down
the side of the horse anyway.
The horse gallops along, seemingly
ignorant of its slipping rider.
Finally, giving up her frail grip, the blonde
attempts to leap away from the horse and
throw herself to safety. Unfortunately, her
foot becomes entangled in the stirrup, and
she is now at the mercy of the horse's pounding
hooves as her head is struck against the ground
over and over. As her head is battered against
the ground, she is mere moments away from
unconsciousness when to her great fortune,
Bobby, the Wal-Mart greeter, sees her and
unplugs the horse.
Thank God for heroes!

(Hey, that happened to me one time!)


(Everyone who has ever had a college professor or teacher who has ever claimed that Christianity was stupid or that they could disprove the existance in God can take comfort in the following joke.)
A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales. The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very small.
The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible.
The little girl said, "When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah". The teacher asked, "What if Jonah went to hell?" The little girl replied, "Then you ask him".


A Kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children while they drew. She would occasionally walk around to see each child's work. As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was?

The girl replied, "I'm drawing God." The teacher paused and said, "But no one knows what God looks like." Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, "They will in a minute."



A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds. After explaining the commandment to "honor" thy Father and thy Mother," she asked, "is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?" Without hesitating one little boy (the oldest in his family) answered, "Thou shall not kill."
(As someone who has several siblings, I can sympathise with the first little girl.)

**********************

One day a little girl was sitting and watching her mother do the dishes at the kitchen sink. She suddenly noticed that her mother had several strands of white hair sticking out in contrast on her brunette head. She looked at her mother and inquisitively asked, "Why are some of your hairs white, Mom?" Her mother replied, "Well, every time that you do something wrong and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hairs turns white."

The little girl thought about this revelation for a while and then said, "Momma, how come ALL of grandma's hairs are white?"

(Note to parents all over the world: This is why guilt trips DON'T WORK!)

*********************

The children had all been photographed, and the teacher was trying to persuade them each to buy a copy of the group picture. "Just think how nice it will be to look at it when you are all grown up and say, 'There's Jennifer; she's a lawyer,' or 'That's Michael. He's a doctor.'"

A small voice at the back of the room rang out, "And there's the teacher. She's dead."

(You gotta love little kids....)

*********************

A teacher was giving a lesson on blood circulation.
Trying to make the matter clear, she said, "Now, class, if I stood on my head, the blood, as you know, would run into it, and I would turn red in the face." "Yes," the class said.

"Then why is it that while I am standing upright in the ordinary position the blood doesn't run into my feet?"
A little fellow shouted, "Cause your feet ain't empty."

(Ouch!)

Sleep Issues

I think I have a sleeping disorder. No, for real.

First of all, I'm still exhausted after getting 8 or 9 hours of sleep. I have slept upwards of 14 hours in a night and felt fine.

Second, I have weird dreams. And I usually remember them well enough to talk about them to anyone that will listen and some who won't. I have even talked about them on my wonderful blog.

Third, I have had a recurring dream of sorts...one where I want to wake up, but can't for some reason. I feel like I am awake and trying to see what time it is, but for some reason I can't look at my clock. Like...my eyes will close again at the crucial moment. In another version, I had held up my alarm clock right to my ear as it was going off...and I could barely hear it.

That's weird to me. Thing is, I have been dreaming some variation of that dream every night for three weeks now. And it's bothering me.

My Name is Sponge Bob

Well, I am officially an addict of Arrested Development. As well as American Idol, and Big Brother, and the Apprentice...the list could go on and on. Brian Booker has a DVD set of the whole first season of the show, and we watched several episodes of it. Too bad it airs on Sunday nights, when I am usually in church.

Well, I took a quiz this weekend on what cartoon character I am, and it said I was Spongebob. BAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! It said I was a loyal friend. Well, I try to be.

Nothing else has happened this weekend. At least, nothing I wish to type about. Moving right along....

The Boring Page

I think the title speaks for itself...

In Response

Oklahoma City, OK (A.P.): Reagan Bockhold, the woman whose typographical errors on her blog caused major controversy last week, is on the front pages--again.

A photograph of her has been circulated in many tabloids, wearing an Oklahoma State University shirt and carrying a defaced photograph of University of Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops.

"I am appalled, dismayed, and stunned by the slanderous pictures and videos that have circulated about me in recent days," Bockhold said in a statement released Friday. "I have never defaced a photograph of that man, Mr. Stoops. I have never worn an OSU shirt. Not a single time. Never. These allegations are false. And now I'm going to return to serving the American people. Thank you."

The photograph was thought to have originated by a tabloid site titled BrianMays.com. The proprietor of the site was not immediately available for comment.

Additionally, the same site release a video of Bockhold dancing to Michael Jackson's song, "Thriller."

Jackson stated, "I am thrilled--no pun intended--that such a talented young woman with such lovely taste has chosen to use my dance in a talent show. I wish her all the best, and I send my condolences that she did not win the competition, as she was clearly superior to that guy with the lipstick."

My First Crush

He was a little cutie. I was an awkward little girl with a shy nature and a big imagination.

I remember the first time I ever saw him. He was in my homeroom and my second-grade reading class. I remember thinking how cool he was, how he would actually talk to me, play with me in the sandbox, how he would offer me a cookie from his lunch pail.

Valentine's Day was a very important event in elementary school. We would make mailboxes out of shoeboxes and decorate them with shiny red heart stickers and crayons. Then we would fill them with candy, stickers, and cards with cartoon characters on them. I put lots of hearts on mine--crayon drawings, construction paper, and stickers of all kinds. I think I even stuck some glitter on there.

I was especially proud of my cards that year. They had Care Bears on them. I wrote my name on all of mine myself. I was so proud of them.

The day of the party arrived. I put a card in each of the boxes (we made cards for ALL of our classmates, not just our friends, so that no one would have an empty box). My little boyfriend opened his card from me. It was a cute one with Sleepy Bear on it. I don't remember what it said, though.

I wished him a Happy Valentines day and kissed his cheek. Then I blushed as red as a beet.

He seemed to like it, though. For the rest of that year, we remained friends (as only second graders can).

Well, we grew up and moved on. But I have never forgotten him. Our senior year, we exchanged senior pictures.

Those were the days, my friends.

Beautiful Day

Well, I figured out how to add title tags to my links. Just scroll over the links to see more of my creativity.

In other news, I read some of the blogs that people have given me. A lot of them are very interesting. I'm gonna have to look more at some of these.

Since I don't have much to talk about right now, I will post one of my favorite songs. No, not a Christmas one (yet).

Beautiful Day --U2


The heart is a bloom
Shoots up through the stony ground
There's no room
No space to rent in this town

You're out of luck
And the reason that you had to care
The traffic is stuck
And you're not moving anywhere

You thought you'd found a friend
To take you out of this place
Someone you could lend a hand
In return for grace

It's a beautiful day
Sky falls, you feel like
It's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away

You're on the road
But you've got no destination
You're in the mud
In the maze of her imagination

You love this town
Even if that doesn't ring true
You've been all over
And it's been all over you

It's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away
It's a beautiful day

Touch me
Take me to that other place
Teach me
I know I'm not a hopeless case

See the world in green and blue
See China right in front of you
See the canyons broken by cloud
See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out
See the Bedouin fires at night
See the oil fields at first light
And see the bird with a leaf in her mouth
After the flood all the colors came out

It was a beautiful day
Don't let it get away
Beautiful day

Touch me
Take me to that other place
Reach me
I know I'm not a hopeless case
What you don't have you don't need it now
What you don't know you can feel it somehow
What you don't have you don't need it now
Don't need it now
Was a beautiful day

Staff Day

Well, today was Staff Day at my work...thus my absence from my computer. It was a very interesting day that started way too early (5:45). I rode to work at about 7:15 or so, then decide I need something to drink. So I pull into a Quick Trip and grab some beverage. I come out to see a HUGE Budweiser truck behind my car. This is at 7:25. I have to be at the library at 7:30.

So, I politely ask the guy sitting in the truck to kindly move his vehicle. He refuses, saying that I have plenty of room. Sure, if I drive a MicroMachine. After a brief argument on the advisability of me backing into a Mack truck, I asked him to help me move out, as I could hardly see. Well, I got out safely, and I head to the library.

Well, we all drive to Norman for staff day, where I promptly encountered the smallest bathroom stall known to man. It has a slanted ceiling that slants almost down to my knees. Interesting.

Well, it was a fun day, much to my surprise. We had several guest speakers to speak about the library's new awareness campaign, "Just So You Know." We ate pretty much all day, and like a good little Southern Baptist girl, I had my fill: pizza, cake, popcorn, bagels, M&M's, and too much soda. I also got a free T-shirt, book bag, coffee mug (that makes my current collection 3), stickers, and other free stuff. We also had to come up with several public service announcements. I came up with a few serious ones about the Information Services department. I also came up with a cute one: "When you need to learn how to breed hedgehogs, we're here for you." Needless to say, that one didn't make the final cut. Ah, well.

They also showed a video that they made about the library, called "Material Girl." You can imagine what that would be like. A lot of people dancing around and being wacky. My kind of video, in other words.

Bloggin'

Tonight I have gone blog-hunting.

I want to find blogs that are meaningful, realistic, and touching. So much of the blogs I find are either lists of news stories, political propaganda, or else just "OMG, LiK wHeR Iz MaH Nu BeAu, 696969!!!" nonsense. I want my blog to be a little bit more than that. I want my blog to have "soul."

Now, I realize that sometimes I ramble on a little bit on my blog, and sometimes I write about nothing of interest to anyone. But I want this blog to be a little slice of my soul. You know what I'm saying? I want people to read it and find out things about myself that they didn't know before. I want my blog to have life...not just a series of words that may apply to ninety-eight percent of the American population.

There are some things I can't write about, out of respect of other people involved. But what I do write about, matters to me. I want to portray it in a way where it will matter to other people as well.

I think that I found a few blogs that I may follow, to see where they head. If I like them, I may add them to my sidebar, so others may enjoy them as well.

Boundin'

Well, I found a sneak preview of "Boundin'" (that short with the clogging sheep that I'm so enamoured of) on Pixar.com. Now I'm entertaining myself by watching it. I love that clogging sheep!

Sadly, I don't think a stuffed sheep is a good idea for Christmas, considering anything resembling a sheep registers to my dog as "chew toy". Oh, well.

At lunch today, we had a potluck dinner. Some of the ladies bought dishes. I had chicken alfredo, pizza, and pumpkin pie. Mmmmmmm. Trouble is, I ate it way too fast. Now I'm in trouble.

Where is Thanksgiving?

I need some good Thanksgiving-y songs to post on here. I know of only one...the Adam Sandler one. But I'm not gonna post it because it has some..."nice" references, if you know what I'm saying.

I heard on Jack and Ron today that Channel 4 is gonna show a special on the commercialization of Jesus. Now, most of the stuff they talked about I have no problem with. But some of it I feel is crossing the line. I can't even type some of the stuff that they talked about that has Jesus's image on it. Well, at any rate, I am looking forward to seeing that tonight.

G

Well, tomorrow Melissa G leaves for Africa.

I'm really, really happy that she's getting to go. I think it's awesome that she's gonna get to share the Lord with people in Togo. (BTW, I once knew a couple of girls from Togo. They went to the BSU once in awhile for ESL classes.) I think it would be absolutely amazing to get to go there. I bet it's beautiful there.

And although I'm gonna miss my primary hangout buddy (sigh), I am absolutely thrilled that she's gonna go.

I know this is kind of early, but I'm gonna go ahead and put this song on my board, in her honor.

Do they know it's Christmas?

--Band Aid

It's Christmastime,
there's no need to be afraid
At Christmastime,
we let in light and we banish shade
And in our world of plenty
we can spread a smile of joy
Throw your arms around the world
at Christmastime

But say a prayer,
pray for the other ones
At Christmastime it's hard,
but when you're having fun
There's a world outside your window,
and it's a world of dread and fear
Where the only water flowing
is the bitter sting of tears
And the Christmas bells that ring there
are the clanging chimes of doom
Well tonight thank God it's them
instead of you

And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmastime
The greatest gift they'll get this year is life(Oooh)
Where nothing ever grows
No rain or rivers flow
Do they know it's Christmastime at all?

Here's to you raise a glass for everyone
Here's to them underneath that burning sun
Do they know it's Christmastime at all?

Feed the world
Feed the world
Feed the world
Let them know it's Christmastime again

Feed the world
Let them know it's Christmastime again

Different

Many times in my life, I have wondered what it would be like to be normal.

No, stay with me here. I grew up in a small town, full of cookie-cutter blond girls with perfect green eyes and cute dresses whose moms would enter them in pageants and enroll them in dance classes. And I wanted to be like that.

I was the kid with coke-bottle glasses and bad coordination. From the time I was about three, everyone knew I was "different." My understanding of that was that it was a Very Bad Thing. So I tried my hardest to be like everyone else. I copied the styles of the other girls in my class, wore my hair the same way, talked the same way.

But in spite of that, there was something different about me. And everyone knew it. As a result, I didn't have that many real friends. Oh, I knew everyone. And generally speaking, I was kind of well-liked...although I did have a bully or two.

I'm just now beginning to realize how cool I am. I mean, I'm the only one I know who can entertain herself for hours on end by reading up on Pixar animated shorts on the Internet. I come up with pretty cute things to say...even if I'm the only one who thinks it's funny. And let's face it, I'm the only one who's not embarrassed to have a parachute on her car. (Hi, Brian M.!)

And despite everything I have done in my life (and believe me, there's plenty), I have many great friends who love me, often in spite of myself. And I have a Lord who loves me as well. After all, He made me.

Just as I am.

Star Wars and Other Stuff

Oh, I almost forgot. When we went to see The Incredibles, we saw the trailer for the new Star Wars movie. I think it's gonna be awesome. I need to see the first two (the most recent two), uh...not sure what I am talking about here.

Also on the Incredibles, I saw the cutest cartoon. It featured a dancing sheep. It was the cutest thing I ever saw. I'm gonna buy the Incredibles DVD when it comes out, just for the dancing sheep. Anyway, the sheep is down because he got shorn, and his friends were laughing at him. But a jackalope comes along and encourages him. I love cute stuff like that. Maybe that's why I'm still so enamoured of Homestar Runner. Maybe whoever drew my name for Christmas could make me a stuffed sheep that dances like that.

Bork Bork

Vhet un eferege-a veekend. Nutheeng boot joost vurk, vurk, vurk. I deed gu see-a "Zee Incredeebles" Setoordey neeght veet iferyune-a. I'm steell undeceeded oon vheech sooperheru I em, iff I em oone-a. Eh, vell. I'll feegoore-a thet oooot suun. Soondey ves oooor drema. It toorned oooot reelly vell, I theenk. Et leest, I deedn't fell oon stege-a. Efftervurds, ve-a vent tu Benneegun's tu hefe-a a meeteeng ebuoot Breeun's noo Chreestmes cerd. He-a vunts tu du a CD veet ell ooff us oon it. I theenk it veell be-a a cuul pruject. Nut mooch tu repurt beyund thet bork bork bork bork.







What an average weekend. Nodin' but plum wo'k, wo'k, wo'k. ah' dun did go see "De Incredibles" Saturday night wid everyone. What it is, Mama! I'm still undecided on which sdownerhero ah' am, if ah' am one. What it is, Mama! I'll figure dat out soon. 'S coo', bro. Sunday wuz our drama. It turned out really shweet, ah' dink. At least, ah' dun didn't fall on stage. What it is, Mama! Afterwo'ds, we went t'Bennigan's t'gots' some meetin' about Brian's new Christmas card. He be hankerin' aftah do some CD wid all uh us on it. ah' dink it gots'ta be some cool project. Not much t'repo't beyond dat.


What an average weekend. Nothing but just work, work, work. I did go see "The Incredibles" Saturday night with everyone. I'm still undecided on which superhero I am, if I am one. Ah, well. I'll figure that out soon.

Sunday was our drama. It turned out really well, I think. At least, I didn't fall on stage. Afterwords, we went to Bennigan's to have a meeting about Brian's new Christmas card. He wants to do a CD with all of us on it. I think it will be a cool project.

Not much to report beyond that.

She Works Hard For the Money

So, here I am hard at work. Except not.

I'm busy setting up several wish lists on Amazon, etc., so I know what to buy myself if/when I get some money. I'm also looking over my Creative Memories catalogue that I got at Sherrie's party last night. I'm trying to decide what I really need to buy whenever I get some money, which will hopefully be soon.

We had drama practice last night. I think it's gonna go really well on Sunday night. At least, I hope so. I'm kind of nervous about it. But I'm sure it will go really well.

I think I'm gonna grab me a hamburger for lunch today. (Well, I don't have much of a choice...Hamburger King is the only place around here to eat.) Here's hoping that they're good food. Everyone at the library seems to think that they are.

Books and Stuff

Okay, so I just read the most recent installment of Publisher's Weekly. What I did was jot down three books that caught my eye, so I can look them up on Amazon.

One of them is a book by Bill Rancic, the winner of the first Apprentice! He has a book now. So I'm looking forward to reading that one.

The other two are:

A Redbird Christmas by Fanny Flagg
Exuberance: A Passion for Life by Redfield

Crazy

Well, yesterday got a little crazy with the commenting (see "Postmortem") Not that I mind too much...it gave me a chance to be creative.

Other than that, little happened yesterday. I watched election stuff all day, then took a nap. I went to Sonic for a Frito chili pie, then to the grocery store, then home again. Today I have work, then drama practice, then...who knows?

Useless Trivia #1

This is a new feature of my website. I'll try to add these once in awhile...as I come up with them.

Today's bit:

Did you know that every Disney-Pixar movie contains the Pizza Planet Truck from Toy Story?

You can impress your boss and his wife with this at your company Christmas party.

Useless Trivia #1

This is a new feature of my website. I'll try to add these once in awhile...as I come up with them.

Today's bit:

Did you know that every Disney-Pixar movie contains the Pizza Planet Truck from Toy Story?

You can impress your boss and his wife with this at your company Christmas party.

Woo-hoo!

George W. Bush was officially re-elected!!!

Postmortem

Well, as of now, we're still not sure who our next President is going to be (although I'm still confident Bush won). There needs to be a quicker way to process those provisional ballots, so we won't have to wait so long.

As expected, I was up until 2:30 a.m. last night. Good thing I'm off today, otherwise I would be nodding off. I think I'll take a nap or two today.

In other news, I'm sick of rain. Good thing I got my car door fixed, huh? Anyway, I just wish for the glorious sun to come out. That way the ground will dry off and I won't be sloshing in mud every time I leave the house.

(Edited because "althought" and "leavc" aren't words yet, and "cone out" and "come out" are NOT interchangeable, despite what others may say)

Go Vote Today

Well, I cast my election ballot on Friday, so I already voted. There's a lot of heavy issues on the ballot here: the lottery and the definition of marriage thing. So I expect there will be a large turnout at the polls today.

I'm looking forward to this evening. It will be a long night. Thankfully, I'm off tomorrow (unless I'm called in to substitute, that is).

????? Wireless

Q: So Reagan, what wireless service do you subscribe to?

A: To tell you the truth, I'm not sure.

See, I did have AT&T Wireless. Then Cingular bought them out, so now I'm a Cingular subscriber. But get this: Cingular has to sell their holdings--including their customer contracts--in Oklahoma City within four months.

I've never been more confused in my life. I mean, I guess it may be a good thing, but I can't tell, since it will be about four months before the Mystery Company buys my and others' contracts. Which means that I don't know to whom I'm gonna write my bill in the future.

I hate the unknown. And I'm tired of this confusion. I had already resigned myself to being a Cingular customer somewhat against my will, and now I'm gonna have to go through the entire process over again, it seems like.

Sigh.

Just a Thought to the Subways of the World

In response to Scott's blog today:

If it has "avocado" in the name, wouldn't one assume that it CONTAINS avocados and that it would be INCLUDED in the price?

And the "just an example" thing. That excuse would mean that you could make it any way you want it and charge whatever you want for it. So you could be just getting a turkey sandwich and be paying a premium price for it. Which makes no sense to me, but then again, I don't work there.

I never did understand Subway, anyway.

A Big Kiss to the One Who Comes Up With a Title for This Blog!

This weekend has been very...different. Almost quiet in a way.

Friday night was a lot of fun. I went to the Coffee House at my church. This time we played a whole bunch of games: tag (which I hadn't played for years, as my bones told me for the next three days), Hide and Seek (I was NEVER found!), Taboo, and Mafia. We played Mafia a little differently from in the past, as we had TWO killers instead of just one. Which made it interesting...

At any rate, Saturday I worked, and watched the amazing OU-OSU game. I was scared there for a minute! But yay.

Saturday evening I went to Brian Mays' house and watched two movies: Raising Helen and Jaws. I've been seeing lots of movies that I haven't seen before recently. I have never seen Jaws before. Now I think I'll take a swim in the ocean. :-) Thursday I saw Psycho for the first time. Whoa. THAT was scary. Especially scary considering that I know that that kind of person exists somewhere in the world.

Sunday I went to church, then we all ate out at Applebees. I had some spinach and artichoke dip. Mmmm. I then went to Barnes and Noble and read some of the Gossip Girl series. Don't ever read them. You'll start to lose faith in our teenagers. After that I had dinner with Mel G., then went over to Brian's house and watched some Bill Cosby.