shishnit.org

Last Saturday for some odd reason I decided to try the Twilight series.  Ok what is the Twilight series?  I didn’t know either and I’m a huge latecomer to the Twilight insanity.  I mean I kept seeing these books everywhere but never picked them up.  They are in the YA genre of fiction and that turned me off.  I also tend to shy away from anything mainstream on a big level.  But I bought a used copy of the First in what will be Four books in this series.

Twilight.

That was it.  I was hooked.  Bell and Edward…what a sweet love story.  Also, while I giggle at some of the passages in this book were fall out funny and loopy to me, Belle is a character I can get to know and care about and that is always the thing that captures me.  I read through Twilight in mere hours and drove myself to Target the next morning to buy the next in the series, New Moon.  I finished New Moon within a matter of two evenings after work.  (I stayed up last night until 2 a.m. engrossed in New Moon).  I have the 3^rd book in the series sitting on my nightstand at home…waiting for my return after work.  I honestly can tell you I wish I could leave work early to go read that stupid ass book.  And that never happens to me.

During the height of the Harry Potter craze…I didn’t care to read it.  When they released Harry Potter #5 I tried in earnest to read the first novel.  Twice I tried and twice I failed.  I don’t like Harry and more importantly I never cared about Harry.  Not even a little freaking bit.

But this Twilight series?  OMG…where have I been?  I found out on Monday after googling and finding more information that the last book in the series comes out on Friday night at midnight. It was precisely at that point that I decided to read 1 thru 3 in their entirety so that I can sit like a looney tune in the bookstore waiting for midnight for my ever-loving fanfuckntastic copy of Breaking Dawn.  This is said to be the last book in the series but I hope that Stephenie Meyer, much like that dolt that wrote the Harry books..what was her stupid name? (yah see how much I don’t care?!) will change her mind and want more big checks. 

It should be said that she did not earn in any way as much as that Harry author did but…the big boys in Publishing overlooked her and are now shaking their heads and crying in their publishing beers about that oversight.  There is a cult following for this series of books.  Heck you can buy Edward and Bella merchandise out the wazoo.  I even want to buy a coffee cup…and I’ve never experienced this reading phenomenon before personally but I would totally wear a Edward t-shirt.  I detest Danielle Steele, Patterson, etc. etc.  All the big guys in the book world because for me they suck.  There are so many great authors out there with much to write about and Stephenie Meyer could be a better writer, seriously it’s not her writing skills that are so awesome…it’s her imagination that cannot be topped.  I resisted the hype….and then stopped just long enough to fall in over my head.  I can’t believe this is me saying this but that shiz is some good shishnit.

So…tonight I dig past the first chapter in the third novel Eclipse….I have until Friday at midnight and would like to be completed on Thursday if at all possible….Another 640 pages to go basically….

I love this so much I cannot even find words…

I entered a writing contest. 

This one—> Support your response to the question, “Is marriage still necessary?” in 500 words or less. Put “Contest” in the subject line and email me! 

WHY? I am seeking discussion on the topic of my fourth novel, which examines the institution of marriage. In response to both the Defense of Marriage Act and several reports that marriage is “obsolete in Western culture,” the novel explores the meaning marriage has to several characters—a woman going through a divorce, her gay brother attempting to adopt a child with his partner, her parents about to celebrate their fiftieth wedding anniversary, and her pregnant teenaged daughter soured on the idea of marriage entirely. The working title (which keeps changing) is Marriage Advice from the Church of St. Equine. I won 2^nd place in the contest! My prize is my choice of any two of Katrina Kittle’s titles signed to me or anyone I wish.

I won 2nd place in the contest! My prize is my choice of any two of Katrina Kittle’s titles signed to me or anyone I wish.My winning piece can be found here 

Winning 2^nd place on this topic made me especially happy.  I love my husband, truly I do.  Writing (the non-academic type) has taken a back burner for me and I have missed it greatly.  Many of my co-workers encourage me to pursue it because as they tell me I am “articulate, creative, inspiring”.  Being a full time college student and a full time employee has made it difficult for me to engage in writing for joy.  It’s nice to know I still have some talent…enough to win a contest.

Also check out Katrina’s novels, I’ve read “The Kindness of Strangers” and it’s wonderful.  She’s also inspiring because she’s following her dreams.  Her blog is great stuff too.  

Please feel free to leave a comment with your answer to “Is marriage still necessary?” 

During my first marriage I had two nephews, Michael and Matthew.  At the time that we got married and since we didn’t live in the same town as them, I never felt like their Aunt.  Strange. Then we got divorced I was oddly un-phased about losing his family.  After all I never bonded with any of them because I always lived somewhere else.

My sister has two daughters, Rena and Leah.  Shortly after they were born I moved from PA to FL, and because of family fissures, I have never felt like their Aunt either.  I hear about them but I haven’t seen pictures in about 2 years even.

Then Rick and I got married and I acquired 4 nephews in Florida and 1 niece in Illinois.  I got close to my nephew Sean (2 years older than my son) for a short period of time, but now Sean lives with his mother and two younger brother’s in Ohio in some small town and I never get to see them anymore.  I would have liked to keep Sean close.  I love him.  Once again I said goodbye to the thought of truly being an Aunt.

Then Matthew was born, and I had major infertility acceptance issues and while it took me months to accept things and be able to put my own shit aside to realize that he was a gift, he is the first child to come into my life and truly make me an Aunt.  Oddly enough he is the second Matthew to be my nephew during my lifetime but truly the first child to make me want to be a great Aunt.

All of this went through my mind this morning and I sheepishly acknowledge that I was a butthead for not getting it sooner.

I have a huge sense of gratitude.  Not just currently, but this is who I am.  I am grateful for all that I have.  While I struggle through things I still have gratitude.  When things are bad, I still feel grateful.

There have been recent cutbacks where I work.  They did away with 5 positions in the past week.  Mine was one of them.  Well, not quite but they did cut 2 of the positions with the job title I held.  The one they kept is located 40 miles from my house. I passed on the ability to keep the job and opted to work another position that I have worked twice in the past.  This means that I will be moving back to nighttime hours and will have my Friday’s off again.  I will be working from about 12:30 to 10 p.m. Monday thru Thursday with Friday’s off.

This arrangement allows me to finish college and not become unemployed in the process.  That’s about all I have to say about it.

There are 3 other’s who will lose their jobs in the next week or so and they will not be offered this alternative arrangement of working another position at night.  Sure some say the night position is bad.

I have learned about gratitude and I’m grateful to retain my same rate of pay and continue on my journey.

It’s back to pushing in chairs and unlocking doors for awhile and back to a lot of free time with few responsibilities.  Ahhh such is life.  I am ready for more, but I am taking this time to rejoice, re-energize and simply be grateful that I have a job, that I have lost nothing I have gained and that I have much to look forward to by having my own timeline to work with.

I also got an A in film class.

“Twentieth-century psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud described religion as a collective fantasy, a “universal obsessional neurosis” – a cosmic projection and replaying of the loving and fearful relationships that we had (and have) with our parents.  Religious belief gives us an external God who is so powerful that He or She can protect us from the terrors of life, and will reward or punish us for obedience or non-obedience to social norms.  From Freud’s extremely skeptical point of view, religious belief is an illusion springing from people’s infantile insecurity and neurotic guilt; as such it closely resembles illness.”

Living Religions – Mary Pat Fisher