Minor Frustrations and Positive Thoughts - Real Idol, Etsy and Cooking

This week's story for my writing challenge group (Live Journal Real Idol) was limited to votes from contestants only. But, we had to read all of the stories submitted and comment, if we felt like it. We also had to rate each story and send the rating we had given to the moderator. It was a LOT of reading - almost 75 stories - and originally Gary gave us 2 days in which to accomplish this. I was one of several who said "No way". So he extended the review/vote time but will cut down on the amount of time we have to write our next story. That was fine with me. I finally finished reading and reviewing yesterday morning and sent off my results. Now I'm waiting for the new prompt. I'll have to push a story through quickly, but I rarely have a problem writing to a deadline. 

There's nothing quite like having a dead mouse for a 
computer. They've become so essential in our lives over 
the past decades. Fortunately Voodoo has a touch screen 
and a built-in pen, so I was able to finish and submit 
what I needed. But it was more stumbly than it would 
have been if my mouse had been working. I'll buy 
a new mouse today! 

Of course, as I opened Voodoo up yesterday, ready to finish reading and submit my votes, my mouse was suddenly malfunctioning. I changed the battery, and it was still a no-go. Fortunately, it's a touch-screen and it also has a built-in pen, so between those two, I was able to get my list completed and sent off. I'll be buying a new mouse today, though. I use a mouse most frequently and really can't do without it for long. 

I found this lovely recipe for baked salmon 
in foil. My piece is smaller than this, about 
half the size, but it should work just fine. 

We're in Lent, of course, so Hubby prefers fish on Fridays. He'll probably ask for McDonald's fish tonight, but if not, he has some frozen fillets. I'll try to ask him his preference before I head to the store today. I bought a lovely piece of salmon for myself which I will oven bake in foil with fresh herbs and sliced lemon. Maybe some Brussels sprouts in the oven on a sheet pan as well. I'm already looking forward to it. LOL. 

I've been a part of Eric Edmeades's "The 
Abundance Challenge" over this week, running 
one day behind since the Zoom calls are during 
my work hours. It's been a fascinating 
class, very eye-opening. I know I'm a very 
fortunate person in general, and I embraced 
a lot of what he proposes long ago, but I'm 
still learning new things, so that's great. 

I suspect today will be a very busy day. I need to catch up on my latest Master Class - I haven't been able to attend the live Zoom classes, they have been while I've been at work. But I've been catching the replays the next day. It's a class in Abundance and it's been fascinating and educational. I'd also love to get to Half Price Books when they open at 10:00 am today. I have two boxes of books that I'd like out of my house and into their recycling system. So, as usual, it's going to be a busy day. 

I'm a bit frustrated with Etsy right now. I'm ready to 
go live, but something is stopping me from doing that. 
I did what I could yesterday without results, so I sent 
an Email off to their Customer Service department 
which promises 2-3 day response. I guess it'll be next 
week before I can be operational. Oh well, one more 
delay isn't horrible. 

Oh, and Etsy is NOT live yet. I'm having some issues with them and sent an email off to their customer support yesterday. I'm not expecting an answer for 24-48 hours, so it'll be next week before I'm up and running (or growling at a long email exchange between a customer service agent and myself). I'll be sure to let you know when I'm live, though. Hopefully sooner rather than later. 

Think positive thoughts and do positive actions today. The 
actions you do will influence those around you, and their 
actions will spread to others as well. Positive thoughts and 
actions can cause positive reactions in turn. Let's spread 
peace and love today. 

Have an excellent Friday. Try to stay calm, think positive thoughts because that positivity can be contagious, and focus on peace in your life. Be that stone that starts the ripple that brings peace to one small part of our world. I'll be back tomorrow. 

Happy New Year and Peace on Earth

Every year the wheel turns and we greet the upcoming year with hope, cheers, parties, noise and romance. We turn our faces toward the future with determination to mold it to our liking, to make a kinder and happier world, to treat strangers as friends and friends as brothers and sisters. Every year we resolve that "This year will be better."

I wish each of you a Happy New Year. 

I have one simple wish for 2017 - PEACE.

I realize it is unlikely that PEACE will ever truly happen in my lifetime, despite my hopes. If full-scale wars aren't being fought, then battles between people on borders, or neighboring tribes will. If tribes finally manage to find common ground, then individual heads of family will fight. If the family heads finally come together, then small groups of people or people within the family unit will fight. Fighting and loving - it's human nature. So let me amend my New Year's wish.

I'm not looking for PEACE, I'm looking for every person, throughout the world, to step away from violence for 24 hours. Then for another 24 hours, and then another 24 hours, and so on, and so on. I'm bringing it down to a personal level, because holding your own responsibility for your temper and your actions is really all that you can do. I'm searching for PEACE in the microcosm and hoping that ripples into the macrocosm.

Have a safe New Year. Spread joy and happiness instead of anger and conflict so that when you look back on the upcoming year next December 31st, it will be with a feeling of joy, not regret. HAPPY NEW YEAR and GODDESS BLESS.

When Did We Become So Angry?

So yesterday's news - another school shooting, this time in Nevada with at least one teacher dead and two students in the hospital. The shooter took his own life. What a waste. It was the thirteenth school shooting in America this year.

Michael Landsberry, a teacher and former Marine with
tours in Afghanistan and Iraq behind him, died as he attempted
to wrestle the gun from the 7th grade student shooter. The
teenager later shot himself. 

Twitter comments about Mister Landsberry from the students he touched.

I have to wonder - when did we, as a society, become so angry? When did "Make Peace, Not War" morph into "Firearm Justice"? Have we moved back in time, deciding to have personal disgruntlement and arguments solved by walking towards each other at high noon, guns blazing? What the hell is wrong with us?

Love the entire imagery of this picture. 

I don't know of many religious beliefs that do not espouse peace between peoples, no matter what angry or vengeful god they may portray. I do know of many interpreters of divine will, however, who narrow their focus so much that they close off the majority of the world's population as "unworthy". Unworthy of what? Who knows. I don't know of many people who don't have a better time hanging out with friends than with people with whom they feel uncomfortable. But it's become too easy to point fingers at those who are different, to bully or physically abuse those who are perceived weak, or to take out aggression and perceived slights upon others in a mechanized and violent way.

Stop bullying. Stop allowing one person to feel good at the expense
of another. Celebrate diversity and individuality.

This is America, and as much as I love my nation, I know the issues of gun availability in this country. In fact, I remember discussions with friends over the years where said I felt sorry for any foreign nation which might want to take over our country. The US would become a guerrilla war fought from house to house and town to town because in any given block, there are hundreds of firearms. Are you frightened yet? Maybe we all should be!

"Call of Duty" is one of the more popular 'shooter' games for
video players with a new version due out soon.  Will
it become real on the streets where you live? 

Somewhere, somehow, something has gone terribly wrong and we're losing a generation. They are feeling forgotten, ignored, and abandoned. When my generation felt that way, we banded together with love-ins, music that is considered classic today, drugs (some not so good, but others generally positive) and mostly passive anti-war demonstrations. We put flowers into the end of rifles and mourned the dead of Kent State. We gathered at the Haight and at Woodstock, had love-ins and sit-ins, and as we aged, we become responsible for the laws and running of the nation.

I remember this picture from when I was young. Although protesting was not always
directed in a way that helped in the long run, the protests were peaceful, not
violent in nature. They were flowers and sit-ins with guitars and marijuana, not
secondary school students coming to school with semi-automatic weapons to shoot
as many people as possible before committing suicide.  

Ooops! Did we f__k up? The generation before us, those who fought in World War II, is often referred to as the "Greatest Generation". Will we look back on the heritage of the baby boomers and see that we took that great promise handed to us and threw it behind us into the nearest trash container? I'm amazed that we seem to be focusing on nothing more than our material wealth, our retirement incomes, and our insular lives. Something is drastically wrong in this country right now. These school shootings and the general anger that seems to simmer just below the surface of our society are only small, visible bits of a much larger illness. Is there a cure?

Four young people were shot in what is known as the Kent State
Massacre.  The Ohio National Guard shot 67 rounds into a student
crowd protesting the Vietnam War killing four and injuring 13. 

I believe that all cures begin with a single step and a single person reaching out to others. I'll continue to try affecting people in a positive way, hoping that the stones that I throw can help overcome the storms out beyond my horizon. Will I be successful? Maybe, or maybe not. All I know is that I cannot stop the fight for common sense, mutual respect, and kindness - above all, kindness.

Never Forget - Holocaust Remembrance Day

Sunday is Holocaust Remembrance Day, but even with calendars all over my house, it is only listed on 30% of them. What's up with that? The Holocaust was and remains one of the most horrific, government sponsored acts of genocide that the world saw in the 20th century, but it only rates mention on 30% of calendars? There's just something wrong about that.

My grandparents didn't survive the Holocaust. My father's older brother was shot in the forests of Europe while fighting with the resistance. My mother's brothers and sisters, all twelve of them, died in the camps or with the resistance fighters. My cousins, other relations, and their friends were gathered, transported, and murdered in one of the most efficient killing industries that modern history has developed. To be completely clear, it wasn't just Jewish people who were killed in the various killing camps. It was also the Roma, homosexuals and a variety of political nay-sayers who were in the boxcars, the trucks, and the showers. The fact that the majority of the murdered were Jewish, however, means that this crime against humanity will never be forgotten and will never be unmentioned.

History works its way into the heritage and ceremony of the Jewish people. Hanukkah celebrates eight days of light from a single day's oil supply in the days of the Maccabean Revolt (165 BCE). The celebration of Passover celebrates the release of the Jewish people from slavery in the time of the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt. These events of Jewish history are still celebrated today. Jewish memory is long.

Light a Candle for Peace

Someday there will be a ceremony for the millions slain in the death camps and work camps of Hitler's Germany. Those things are still to come because it takes time to develop and codify ceremonies that will be celebrated and memorialized throughout the Ages to come. But it will happen. Until that time, remember the slain tomorrow while the full moon shines above us. Never forget.