Deep In The Forrest

Good morning! That's a simple, nice way of starting out our Monday, right? I was AWOL over the weekend. Yes, it's true. I tried to work on taxes, and still failed. Don't worry, although I hate pressure, I do my best work under pressure, so I'll get them done this week and that's my personal promise to me. It wasn't for lack of trying, I swear. I was stressed to the hilt. I know, I wasn't supposed to let anything get me that way. Still, I will feel much relief just to get them done. So along with that, and spending some relaxation time with my husband, Sunday I was shell-bound and stricken with a "tension headache" I guess?? The kind that makes your whole skull ache, and your eyes can't stand the light... I don't know if it was a Migrane necessarily, but I layed in bed for the bulk of my Sunday, while even the Cat (who's famous for napping throughout the day) gave me some strange and curious looks. Finally feeling some better late in the...

Oh and I totally forgot to tell about my 'near miss' this morning. I guess I was so busy thinking about the current issues of the day. Without starting an "official rant" on Memphis drivers, I will just begin by saying that when coming off an interstate ramp, you are supposed to "Yield" to anyone in lanes that are already present on said road/highway/interstate. First off, I was in the right hand lane having to pass some bozo who was going 20 MPH, and I was in a hurry (not that I was driving my most cautious either), but this freakazoid comes off the interstate ramp, and I have a feeling he was trying to beat me or something, he's plowing down through there, the person I am passing is on the left hand side, and I am trying to get past the exit ramp before he gets off, and he nearly causes a "Sandwich" collision. I have to honk my horn and cuss at the idiot. Guess he was determined to get off the interstate ramp at all costs, but I swear, he did...

Words can't describe my feelings today, at this moment. I feel stressed, yet I still feel my inner voice saying "don't even sweat anything, it's all gonna pan out". I know that, still I really feel the treads of this long week... I'm still sweating taxes, family's expectations of things I gotta do, trying to keep up the pace and carry on the workload professionally. Everyone's been there at some point or another, and stressing doesn't get any of it resolved faster, so I'm gonna take my deep breath and chill. {***deep breath***} O.k... good (I guess). Now, what do I blog about if I don't rant about being stressed at this moment? Because that's exactly what I was about to do! No post yesterday, I was busy at work, then busy after work helping a friend with some computer "how to's"... so I got home late, got to bed late, then woke up late. Waking up late screwed up our morning workout, Mr. J got screwed out of a good breakfas...

Wednesday really IS hump day! (from CollegeHumor )

Wow what a day, I have been going non-stop since 'take-off' this morning. I haven't had time to stop and gather my thoughts and photos until now. It is WWC Time again! The Weekly Words Challenge is as always brought to us by our very own blogging "Treasure", Tink of Pickled Beef . This week's words are "Junk" and "Treasure". I have another slideshow for you this week! It is lengthier than the last couple, but I hope you will still enjoy. Once again, captions illustrate shots. I had a very strange dream last night wherein I had uncontrollably long armpit hair. I am an AVID shaver... let me just say that. But in this dream, my armpits dangerously resembled Donald Trump's famous hairdo... I mean, I could literally lift the edge of it and it stayed together. I was highly embarrassed in the dream that my armpits were in such bad condition, but I don't remember what I did about it. I have been really working on my dream work and trying t...

Time to do the after-Easter feelings purge. I enjoyed going to Mom and Dad's, of course, I always do. However, it is stressful in a lot of ways. It seems like Mom and I always end up on the "What's going to happen once your Dad and I are gone" conversation, which I hate and dread, but I know that I have to be an "adult" and keep my head and make some decisions and hear her out. Still, it sucks nonetheless. Then there is Dad's current 'altered state of consciousness'. By that, I mean he's just in his own little world. He gets these weird thoughts in his head, and says all kinds of weird stuff now. He obsesses over certain things too... like if he gets an idea in his head, that's all he thinks about. Currently (well for a while really), he has been completely obsessed with the idea that I should be on "The Grand Ole Opry". He thinks I should go there and sing the song "Daddy's Hands" by Holly Dunn, which I did for hi...

Let's hope he's nothing like this! ha-ha! ( Click here if you can't see the video below.) I do hope that everyone had a good Good Friday ;) and hope you can enjoy your Easter weekend with good friends and family. I'm getting ready for family stuff myself, as it's a tradition down there and I don't like to let Mom down. Last time I missed a holiday at home (Mother's Day 1995, I went to Tampa to visit friends), and I have yet to live it down. So whad'aya gonna do. Don't eat too much candy and make yourself sick, and I hope sincerely that you don't find any rotten eggs from last year's egg hunt(s). From personal experience, I can tell you that it is not pleasant! :) Easter's "Best" #1 - Best Mixed Coupling #2 - Best All-Around Easter Bunny #3 - Best Dye Job Well that's all folks!!! See everyone Post-Easter!

Remember all of our old 70s shows, there were a lot of them with Super Heroes it seemed. Such as the Bionic Woman, 6 Million Dollar Man (gee he's cheap by today's standards), The Incredible Hulk, and of course Wonder Woman. I was reminded of the old Wonder Woman theme song today, and I just had to laugh!! Notice below the words in bold... lol! Here she is pictured below doing just that. In her satin tights, fighting for her rights, and that old red white and blue!! Wonder Woman by Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman. All the world's waiting for you, and the power you possess. In your satin tights, Fighting for your rights And the old Red, White and Blue. Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman. Now the world is ready for you, and the wonders you can do. Make a hawk a dove, Stop a war with love, Make a liar tell the truth. Wonder Woman, Get us out from under, Wonder Woman. All our hopes are pinned on you. And the magic that you do. Stop a bullet cold, Make the Axis ...

Hey guys, it's Thursday. I'm late posting, but oh well. Don't forget tomorrow is Friday (even though it's a holiday HERE), go to WTF Friday and see what makes ya go "WTF?!?!?!". I haven't posted over there yet, and I might not get a chance to, but go read anyways. All the cool kids are doing it. If you have ever had error messages, Microsoft complaints, problems, and Blue Screen of Death, then you will totally enjoy THIS COMMERCIAL >> Remember, 'To Err is Human, to really screw things up, you need a computer!!' LOL HAVE AN ERROR-FREE WEEKEND!!! x -AJ

Some days you just have to come in, slink into your chair, slip on your headphones and blast the volume... Drown it & them out... (Alllll the way out). Woke up to rain this morning, which is always great in my book but not the 'driving in it' part. Especially in Memphis. Every road toad slinked along or stomped on breaks, basically asking for it accident-wise. My basic personal road philosophy (I adhere to whenever possible), is to try to keep a spot to myself where nobody is Hooooovering right next to me, and nobody's in front of me playing sitting duck, going 20 MPH and stomping brakes like grapes. And of course, I try not to have anyone riding my ass either... usually that's not much of a problem since most people who ride others' asses on the roads are the ones with death wishes so they go barrel-racing through the traffic-jammed rain-soaked streets like Mario Andretti on speed. This morning was no different really, I got the people who took up the left han...

Tuesdays are better than Mondays in a lot of ways... It's one day closer to the weekend, and usually a little more relaxed for me around here. But of course, each Tuesday we always look forward to the Weekly Words Challenge, with the lovingly domesticated (I'm sure) Tink of Pickled Beef . (Tink, don't you love everyone's weekly descriptions for you? :) WWC is widespread these days, and if you haven't checked it out or participated, and you would like to, go here for details. It's funtabulous! Anyways, just a note-This week I don't have that many to report, so I will not be putting them in slide show format. But don't dismay... I will try to put up a new and exciting slide show next week. So I have only 6 entries for today's WWC. This week's Keywords are "Foreign" and "Domestic". So here you go! Reflections captured in this neon-outlined Domestic beer sign. Vikram is Foreign (although we've domesticated him quite a bit!). ...

I've been trying to make my rounds, and catch up. I bet some of you think I'm extremely neglectful, yet a big whiner when I don't get visits or comments. Well, I used to but I got burned for "overly" reaching out to friends here and there in the past, and liking people... Wasn't the liking people I guess, it was more the "letting them know" that you thought they were even remotely cool. I digress (no need to get into anything like that again, even though it was senseless and I still do not understand it). At any rate, I visited Cyndi's place (you know over the rainbow. That was a long trip!!). She stole it from Janet's so I will give it a whirl too! If you give it a Whirl, then just Copy and paste, substitute your name and first letter for the answers. See what you come up with! What is your name……..........Jacqueline 4 Letter word………………………… Jock Vehicle……………………………………Jaguar City…………………………………………Juneau Boy Name……………………………… Jack (my Dad I had t...

Are you wearing your green today?? It's St. Patty's Day, you need the Luck of the Irish. I've never quite understood that because I'm Irish (mostly), and I have usually had crappy luck. But don't let that stop YOU. If you're not wearing green today, consider yourself Pinched by your Aunt Jackie ;) Mondays can be frustrating, fuzzy and sometimes funny I guess. I just thought I would try to help make yours a little funnier. Here is something that mainly people who have been in Customer Support or Technical Support-type roles will totally understand: These calls usually come in on Mondays... Helpdesk: What kind of computer do you have? Customer: A white one... Customer: Hi, this is Celine. I can't get my diskette out. Helpdesk: Have you tried pushing the button? Customer: Yes, sure, it's really stuck. Helpdesk: That doesn't sound good; I'll make a note ." Customer: No ... wait a minute... I hadn't inserted it yet... it's still on my ...

Who's crazy?? Of course I'm crazy... what did you think? Saw this test over at Furtheron's Blog . Pretty interesting. Of course I already knew I had "issues", but who doesn't? That is if you buy into the importance of any of the psychological conditions... I think they are conditions, but just like everything else in life, it's all for a reason, and I think the craziest people in the world have an advantage, they just happen to be more enlightened! They know something the rest don't... But that's neither here nor there. Have a peek and enjoy my condition(s): Personality Disorder Test Results Paranoid |||||||||||||||| 66% Schizoid |||||||||||||| 54% Schizotypal |||||||||||||||||| 78% Antisocial |||||||||||| 50% Borderline |||||||||||||||||| 74% Histrionic |||||||||||||||||||| 86% Narcissistic |||||||||| 38% Avoidant |||||||||| 34% Dependent |||||||||||||||| 66% Obsessive-Compulsive |||||| 30% ...

It's been a long day here in the Forrest. Still going through a lot of energy shifting, and I've been studying on some things... I'll discuss maybe later. Short post, basically I cleaned up a little, we went to the grocery store to get ingredients for a cook-out, began preparations for that, I made spaghetti for dinner, sat around trying to catch up on some blog stuff. (Which by the way it's 'code bizarro' for those who understand, just FYI). Now, I'm getting ready to hit the sack, a little earlier than I normally would on a Friday night, I'm just tired and I'd like to try some Out of Body work... if I can relax and clear my head that is. Harder for me than most people for some reason, I have such a chaotic, loud mind. Any tips on quieting my mind so I could meditate would be greatly appreciated. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz... AJ

Well we have almost won the war with the week... (lots of W's huh). Things have been a little better each day this week, but it has still seemed like an extra-long hellish week to me... I've felt worn out. I'm glad it's nearly Friday. This week's Weirdness story, which I put up for WTF Friday , is a very freakish story, one of the most senseless and weird I've heard in a while, the Women who spent two years on her boyfriend's toilet, and became fused to the toilet seat . Very interesting, read it there or go over to WTF Friday and read that and more great oddities from all my buddies. People are nuts I tell you and you never know when they (or you yourself) might snap. Getting stuck to a toilet is only dangerous to oneself but still, something had to be horribly wrong with the lady. And ALSO, my legs go to sleep if I sit on one for more than 10 minutes (which would only happen if I were into a very interesting article, or playing Traffic Mayhem on my cellph...

Aaarrgh... I've been wanting to post all day, and never been able to sit down and get to it. Started to earlier, got interrupted. Just one of those days. I thought about not posting at all, since I really didn't have anything worthy to talk about, but still, here I am. Started the day, running late as usual, stuck on the interstate for a bit due to an accident that turned some sort of blue S.U.V. into an accordion. Then finally, made it in to our friendly neighborhood parking garage. Went to lunch, kind of had a meditation (of sorts) in the car, and had some sort of emotional over-spill, resulting in a mood lift and a huge energy-shifting, or release or something... I am speaking spiritually of course, something to do with my energies and my intuition. Because after that, I spent the afternoon buzzing and feeling very flushed and connected to the cosmos... My poor frustrated guides at work, as usual, I'm sure! :) And so here we are, end of the evening and I'm trying to ...

I'm still feeling bitchy today, and severely wanted to get out and kick the ass of a fellow driver this morning right near my garage. I swear, the bitch pulled out right in front of me as I was coming through a green light (nearly causing a wreck). Obviously, she did it to be an asshole. I honked at her loudly, she had Florida tags (so stupid drivers aren't confined to just Memphis). Then I cussed at her all the way down the street because at a red light, I needed to turn and she was conveniently blocking me after her assholy maneuver. She appeared to realize I was cussing her (condemning her to eternal damnation as I was), and she shook her stupid head rapidly while mouthing something apparently back at me. In turn I flipped her off as we left the light. I know this is terrible energy, but I am severely far from being grounded and positive so far this week. I will just have to plead forgiveness to the cosmos later maybe during a bubble bath. Gahd! Why does it seem that every p...

Oh I have not been in the best of spirits last night nor this morning, a melancholy seems to have set in. I don't know exactly why. Partially, it was our snow flying in and out so quickly, not staying nearly long enough. Then I've just been thinking on family, and missing old times with them again. The Daylight Savings Time phenomenon sucks big time, and screwed me up some. So Monday morning broke in like a burglar stealing my peace of mind. Went to work out, and that went o.k., but then I got back and had like barely enough time to throw together and get back to work. So there I am, eating oatmeal in the bathtub, feeling like shit and wishing it was still Friday. The normal amount of assholes were out and about on the roads this morning, so I had my share of little road rages. Got to work, and felt so totally unproductive to say the least. I managed to accomplish on thing, then I ran out to lunch (my the day passes quickly), and I decided I needed to run home on my lunch brea...

Upon waking this morning, and now, listening to the wind blow outside as I wait for this first and most likely last snowfall of the season, I feel about 5 years old again. I remember lying in bed, way before daylight, and hoping like crazy that I wouldn’t have to move and that the schools would be closed that day. Back then, we got more snow than we seem to get nowadays but still, it was a rare jewel that we treasured. So impatiently, I waited beneath those warm covers made of wool blankets and comforters (Mom always put so many covers on the bed, afraid someone would ‘catch a chill’ because it was way colder for them growing up, and she meant to make sure her children never had to be cold, or do without.) Laying there, so impatiently, I was glued to a small radio with crossed fingers, hoping to hear my school announced in the listing of School closures. I could hear the winds outside, and there was already snow on the ground. When they finally announced my school, I was too overjoyed ...

Would be better if I could say "April" in honor of the Prince song, but that's o.k. Everybody knows I have been begging and pleading with the gods of snow to bless our [fair?] City... to no avail. Couldn't have a white Christmas, nothing throughout the main part of the winter season. But now, it looks like Jack Frost has finally coordinated with his Travel agent, and decided to come visit the home of the Blues, Mud and Barbecue (yes, Memphis-I know you thought it was the home of Shootings, Stabbings and rape-and yes, it is all that and more, but for historic-value, hang with me). We are officially under a "Winter Storm Warning". It isn't scheduled to crank up until the a.m. hours, but still!!---> " Winter Storm Warning!! ...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 12 PM FRIDAY TO MIDNIGHT CST FRIDAY NIGHT... THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 12 PM FRIDAY TO MIDNIGHT CST FR...

I'm feeling so serious today, and I don't like it. I am of the ambition to never take myself or anything to seriously, and usually I do alright. But for today, I'm not sure what's gotten into me. I've been overly worried about things I have no control over, and letting things bother me that shouldn't. Things that are going to happen no matter what, and the thing for me to do is to learn the lessons from it, and to endure. Worrying isn't going to help, or get anything accomplished except for aging and stress. The best thing to do when we feel these bouts of worry coming on is to make some time for yourself to do things that bring you ultimate joy, whatever that is. For me, it's music and art, although I find it challenging to relax, calm down or meditate long enough to get into this, with so much "busyness" buzzing through my head. In thinking on that, I happened upon my Horoscope for today. "Instead of concentrating on your desire for pe...

Happy Hump day everybody... I trust your Wednesdays are going well. As promised, here is my WWC entry for this week. The WWC, is brought to us by The very glassy Classy Tink of Pickled Beef . This week's words, as you can see were "Glass" and "Stone". I'm keeping with my slide show method, which seems to be working out rather well. You must have guessed that with one of the keywords being "Stone" that it would take me back to Historic Elmwood Cemetery once more. I have so many photos from there already, but I took this batch specifically for WWC... Hope you like.

I was so busy yesterday that I didn't get to put up any Monday post, but don't worry, all is o.k. Rest assured, I am merely in Snapdragon mode this week. Right?? :) Today is Weekly Words Challenge with Tink , as is every Tuesday, but due to my impish snapdragons, I am delayed. I have photos but they are on another computer and I won't be able to access them and finish up until tomorrow morning. So I am going to be a day late with my WWC... My apologies. I don't like being late, but I find that it happens to me quite often! We got a little snow in the area today, don't be mistaken, it was barely noticeable, a few flakes here and there, and it hasn't accumulated yet. I was really crossing my fingers and begging the gods to just send it down. This will be the last chance we get you know, and albeit that it is March 4th and it's the first time I've seen any flakes this whole season (which is completely bogus and sucks), and will likely be the only one. Sure ...

Gahhd. It's Sunday. Sundays always depress me. I've been fighting a headache, and trying to get pumped up enough to go down and visit Mom and Dad today. Fact is, it takes me soo much emotional energy to go there now, but I miss home so badly every day. When I go there, though, it's not "home" like I knew it, because it's changed so much with all of the pain, illness and heartache. Once again, I guess it is totally true "You Can't Go Home Again." It's sad. So I got the house clean, went out and attempted to socialize with friends, came home and crashed out, woke up and cooked lunch for Mr. J. Now, still trying to eyeball the tax problem, and I dread it with every inch of my body (and that's a friggin lot!) Oh well. "What Day Is It?" I wish we didn't have to know that, what is this ridiculous concept of time we have scratched out for ourselves anyway? If we wanted to be slaves, we have certainly put ourselves in that positio...

As Mr. J and I were coming back from having a bite to eat last night, we were immersed in a blanket of heavy fog, could barely see the road, and of course this condition only made bigger assholes out of the other drivers. Ah well, still foggy as far as I know. Our weather sucks... at least last year we got the ONE little snow albeit in February, was our first and last. This year it looks like I am not even going to get a flake. I am living in the wrong area of the country. I know, most people hate snow. I don't though, I miss it very badly. Why can't it snow here!!!?!? All we get is shitty fog and rain. In other news, Mike Myers is coming out with a new movie, entitled "The Love Guru" it should be out June 20th. I cannot wait! I love practically everything Mike Myers has ever done! This looks to be quite funny... Check out the trailer. Oh, and Happy March everybody!