Deep In The Forrest

Not much going on in the land of Jax today, the work day has been a little slow, and it is raining here in the Mid-South. I'm still holding out hoping for a bit of snow on Christmas. I heard a report that we might get some snow. If so, maybe it will be enough to make a snowman? We shall see. Anyway, today I find on the calendar three weird holidays. 1. Games Day , 2. Sangria Day , and 3. Go Caroling Day . I thought it was kind of funny, these three holidays seem to go quite well together. You can throw together a big pitcher of Sangria and get drunk, play some games and go out drunk caroling. (You can put these in any order you'd like, really, whatever works best for you. Now there are other little holidays, but those were the 3 that I found for today, December 20th. Can you imagine the hilarious possibilities? Tell you what, YOU go out and try combining these, while I stay home and play my Sims 4 game, how about that? I'm too lazy to get out in this weather a...

I'm a pretty heavy movie buff, but I don't usually go 'ga-ga' over the movies that other people do. My tastes are eclectic for the most part, yet somewhat trite and cheesy for many people's tastes. It doesn't really bother me, I am not someone who has to follow the pack. I enjoy what I enjoy, and I am the weirdo who watches my favorite "comfort movies" over, and over, and over again. One of those favorite comfort movies is "The Holiday". I have read a lot of articles and notes blasting it for thinness of plot, overdoing it by having more than one central romance in the movie, or just general complaints about "why they did this, but didn't do that" with the characters or plot. Many have given this movie a low review, one or two stars... but why? It's actually a comforting movie, one of my favorite holiday movies in fact. It's like the over-sized fuzzy sweater that you feel a little guilty for wearing two days in a r...

The following quote, which I first ran across some time ago is one that merits daily reminder, but we get so caught up in our day-to-day grind and are so busy 'white knuckle gripping' the things we are so hellbent on worrying and stressing over that we allow it to fall to the wayside. "Until Further Notice... Celebrate Everything!" Now I am not certain the origin of this quote, though I have seen it repeated many places, and also seen it as the title of published materials. No matter, the concept is one of the best pieces of advice we could receive. As most of us have experienced, or will realize soon enough in life, nothing is certain, nothing lasts forever, time flies and as Stephen King said it best in his novel '11/22/63' (which I highly recommend reading, by the way), "Life turns on a dime. Sometimes towards us, but more often it spins away, flirting and flashing as it goes: so long, honey, it was good while it lasted, wasn’t it?" So ce...

Being back to the grind is an awesome relief after another stent of unemployment. I am so ready to find a more permanent place to hang my name tag and hairnet (so-to-speak). At this time in my life, I really need job security and something dependable. Although office environments vary, one thing is usually common. Unhealthy sweets brought in by various employees, either as a treat, or for special occasions. Sometimes these are planned occasions such as birthdays, work anniversaries or going away "goodbye" cakes. The cursed evils can range from doughnuts, professionally sculpted cakes and pies to cupcakes and sweets based on various cultures and countries. The temptation is hard to resist, and there always seems to be some reason to celebrate. "Bob's Birthday", "Susan's Last Day", "Marcus's Promotion", etc. Since I am currently working in the field of Hospitality, it can be even more difficult to avoid the nefarious nom-ables, since ...

I've been unable to get to sleep tonight, although I felt very tired when I went to lay down and attempt to go to sleep. You see, I've been doing my Thanksgiving cooking, so maybe it's just all the memories preventing me from actually getting some shuteye. Me, Giving Y'all The Bird Right now, as I write this, it is 3:45 AM (Thanksgiving Morning). Those childhood feelings and memories of my parents have been woven into each dash of seasoning, every stir of the spoon or whipping of the batter. As I chopped, saute'd and pureed, all I could see in my mind's eye were visions of my Dad and Mom working together in the kitchen, days before and all the way up to Thanksgiving morning getting everything ready for our big dinner together.  Holidays were always exciting to me growing up because it was the only time that all of my siblings would pile in at the same time (mostly) and all the kids and we had a true houseful. I would wake up early to the succulent s...

Well apparently today's good for a few interesting celebrations. Most intriguingly, there is "Ask a Stupid Question Day" paired up with "International Right to Know Day". I guess that means if people ask us stupid questions today, we're pretty much obligated to school them... ahh the thirst for knowledge, and of course beer. Yesss, Drink Beer Day is also today, which is more than likely at least partially responsible for many of the stupid questions we get on a regular basis (cheers!). Thank goodness for drunk people, am I right? They provide us with comic relief due to so many burned up brain cells. Those mighty little brain cells had so much potential, yet they were struck down in the prime of their life. Can we have a moment of silence for all of the brain cells that have died for the cause of the almighty beer belly and the quest for the perfect buzz? **For a moment we can only hear crickets and the central AC blowing** Here is a hilarious vi...

In getting back to my 'muse research' for posts, I ran across today's "Fun Holiday". September 27th is "Crush a Can Day"! This is kind of cool, and who doesn't love the exhilarating feeling of crushing a can between your fingers, or even stepping on them to 'smush' them as I enjoyed doing growing up. What an environmentally friendly way to have a little fun. Then you can take all of your crushed cans to the recycling center to give them a new life! See further below for tips on how to celebrate this little-known holiday. This next song is called "Arach-NO-phobia!!" Crushing cans reminded me of course about "Crushes". I tell so many stories involving crushes I've had on others growing up, and throughout life, guys I stalked and whose lives I made a living hell. But, have I ever shared any where someone had a crush on me? If memory serves me correctly, I'll have to say... probably not often, because it was a p...

Took another Hiatus, and this happens sometimes unintentionally. I've been trying to work on a book, so I've done some writing "offline" (if you will). Things brewing, and of course it is officially fall, so I am ready to perk back up and get back to the blog a bit more regularly. Things get hectic and sometimes I get distracted by life itself, just daily struggles and trying to make ends meet and I allow my favorite things to take a backseat. "Favorite things?" you say. Yes, you know, my writing (here), my music, my art and myself. We must remember never to neglect our favorite things for very long, lest they move on and find other favorite things themselves. "Life Turns On A Dime." -Stephen King (Be back a little later, with more of my world-famous "word vomit". I know you all enjoy!) Sharing This Gorilla Drinking Coffee For No Reason Mondazed, Aunt Jackie

Well I have had a little gap, as my schedule changed up a good bit when my last contract position ended, and I've been doing a lot of work on the house, and of course trying like heck to find my next position and hopefully a long-term to permanent position. So a bit busy, and at times, lazy, but with the transitions of things in the house, I haven't had a good "computer spot" set-up which is comfortable for me to sit for long period of time so that I could spend much time on my writing and blogging. I need a new laptop or something to be honest, that way I'd be able to set myself up pretty much anywhere and write more conveniently. Yes, I used to have one, but it broke some time ago, and without my former roommate, I have no access to one. So, once I get settled into my new job (which I have faith is coming soon), I'll safe up and get me a small, cool little notebook or something. My Cat Has This Attitude I was happy with myself for getting posts up pret...

(originally for May 9th) 2017 Daily Holidays from May 9, included: National Moscato Day  National Teachers Day - May 9, 2017 (Tuesday of the First Full Week in May) Occupational Safety and Health Professionals Day  Funny that the above holidays are all listed on the same day, that they're the ONLY holidays listed on this lovely day, here in May (the 9th to be exact). Funny, why? Because they COULD be related... humorously. So no offense to anyone who might be mucking around and stumble across this. I have many friends and family members who are Teachers. So I was just thinking about today being "National Teachers Day", how they get so stressed out that they probably wanna clobber the kids, and also there are so many communicable diseases that "Occupational Safety and Health Professionals Day" plays a part in there, and then when everybody's done dealing with all of the chaos, they probably really DO need a glass or two of that Moscato (please...

Today's May 8th holidays to check out, I have included below. Since I use them often for 'writing prompts', I got a little giggle out of "No Socks Day". Interesting... Wish I'd known this morning, but alas I have socks on. Well, that's okay. And tomorrow's list includes "National Teachers Day" so I may pay homage to my nieces who are excellent teachers... and great teachers are hard to come by these days, because they just have such a hard time being allowed to do their jobs. I digress, though, let's get back to the foot coverage. Socks, ah yes... it takes me back to a time, quite a long time ago when I still worked at good ol' Wal-Mart (Wally World as we sometimes affectionately called it). The father of one of my friends whom I worked with at the time, used to wear those funny ankle socks with the little "puff ball" on the back of them. I think they may be called "pom pom socks". The first time I saw this I tho...

Been a busy week here at work, I guess you could say. Seems like the more I try to get done, the less I end up doing, however. No matter, it is FRIDAY, and also the 5th (Feliz Cinco de Mayo!)  Hopefully, most of you REALIZE that Cinco de Mayo is not Spanish for "Get Drunk America!!" though it seems as though, much like St. Patrick's Day, the sentiment of the actual holiday is lost and people just think it's time for Happy Hour and chaos... So if you don't know, Cinco de Mayo (literally "5th of May") commemorates the Mexican army’s 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War (1861-1867).  It’s a holiday not celebrated much as much though, or is it? Here the U.S., it’s become a day to celebrate Mexican culture and heritage (a.k.a. booze hounds go drinking, sadly). However, if you must use it as just an excuse to indulge in alcohol, please be safe, and try to at least think of the culture and the history of it, ev...

Happy Mayday!  Mayday can either mean "Mayday! Mayday!" (as a distress signal used by ships or aircrafts, etc) or it can be all about May Day celebrated on the 1st . For me, it's today, although we could always use a little help and support, right? The last few days, I've been in "Facebook Jail" (so affectionately named) That means I have been locked from being able to post, like or comment from my timeline. This was due to some weird incident where someone reported my profile, and they made me verify the page and some content. These types of things are ridiculous to me since I never put anything THAT offensive on my FB page, but you have people out there that just want to cause you issues, and sometimes hackers and Internet Trolls that do these things. There are also angry significant others who get mad at something in regard to their partner, and do this in an attempt to stop something they're angry about. What they're not thinking about is th...

When you're a teenager, there is this little 'magical, electrical' feeling you get sometimes when you're excited about something that, in my own personal experience, just doesn't happen later in life, or at least not past the 20s. Maybe it's just me. Crushes and fun moments always felt that way though. Originally, I started this post yesterday to recognize "Remember Your First Kiss Day", but I got busy and didn't get to finish. So we'll still say that we are celebrating "First Kisses", and you get a fun story to boot. You see, during  High School, when we got our class rings, there was some sort of ritual about 'turning our class rings', which I believe I misunderstood. I thought it was that you turned your ring when you received your 'first kiss'. How I came to this conclusion, I am still not sure. Because in searching a bit about it on the internet, there is a 'ring turning tradition' but it has nothing to ...