So Dad thinks that instead of trying to self-ID my strengths, I should ask others about them and see what they think, then use those to attempt to narrow - or broaden - the occupation field. For instance, Dad thinks maybe I should be a mediflight nurse or surgeon with a certification for Canine Search and Rescue, since I love animals, am prepared for just about every situation, like adventure, have something of a healing instinct, and am nearly unflappable by injuries or what-have-you. What about you?

A song from my harp-book -

I once loved a lass, and I loved her so well
I hated all others what spoke of her ill.
But now she's rewarded me well for my love,
for she's gone to be wed to another.

When I saw my love to the church go,
with bride and bride-maidens she made a fine show -
and I trailed behind with my heart full of woe,
for she's gone to be wed to another.

When I saw my love sit down to dine,
I sat down beside her and poured out the wine;
and I drank to the lassie that should have been mine...
But she's gone to be wed to another.

The men of yon forest, they ask it of me:
"How many strawberries grow in the salt sea?"
I answered them back with a tear in my eye,
"How many ships sail in the forest?"

So dig me a grave, and dig it so deep,
and cover it over with flowers so sweet,
and I will lie down there and take a long sleep;
and maybe, in time, I'll forget her...

If you are running over a field of broken glass, and trip, and start to fall - do you throw out your hands to break your fall, or run faster and try to recover your balance?

This site is absolutely amazing. And yes, it is meant to be humorous!

My current favorites:

9. MORAL ARGUMENT (I)
(1) Person X, a well-known Atheist, was morally inferior to the rest of us.
(2) Therefore, God exists.

18. PARENTAL ARGUMENT
(1) My mommy and daddy told me that God exists.
(2) Therefore, God exists.

23. DORE'S ARGUMENT
(1) I forgot to take my meds.
(2) Therefore, I AM CHRIST!!
(3) Therefore, God exists.

27. ARGUMENT FROM AMERICAN EVANGELISM
(1) Telling people that God exists makes me filthy rich.
(2) Therefore, God exists.

34. ARGUMENT FROM MANIFESTATIONS
(1) If you turn your head sideways and squint a little, you can see an image of a bearded face in that tortilla.
(2) Therefore, God exists.

38. ARGUMENT FROM SHEER WILL
(1) I DO believe in God! I DO believe in God! I do I do I do I DO believe in God!
(2) Therefore, God exists.

39. ARGUMENT FROM NONBELIEF
(1) The majority of the world's population are nonbelievers in Christianity.
(2) This is just what Satan intended.
(3) Therefore, God exists.

58. ARGUMENT FROM ARGUMENTATION
(1) God exists.
(2) [Atheist's counterargument]
(3) Yes he does.
(4) [Atheist's counterargument]
(5) Yes he does!
(6) [Atheist's counterargument]
(7) YES HE DOES!!!
(8) [Atheist gives up and goes home.]
(9) Therefore, God exists.

72. ARGUMENT FROM INSANITY
(1) No sane person could have thought up Christianity.
(2) Therefore, it must be true
(3) Therefore, God exists.

73. ARGUMENT FROM EXHAUSTION (abridged)
(1) Do you agree with the utterly trivial proposition X?
(2) Atheist: of course.
(3) How about the slightly modified proposition X'?
(4) Atheist: Um, no, not really.
(5) Good. Since we agree, how about Y? Is that true?
(6) Atheist: No! And I didn't agree with X'!
(7) With the truths of these clearly established, surely you agree that Z is true as well?
(8) Atheist: No. So far I have only agreed with X! Where is this going, anyway?
(9) I'm glad we all agree.....
....
(37) So now we have used propositions X, X', Y, Y', Z, Z', P, P', Q and Q' to arrive at the obviously valid point R. Agreed?
(38) Atheist: Like I said, so far I've only agreed with X. Where is this going?
....
(81) So we now conclude from this that propositions L'', L''' and J'' are true. Agreed?
(82) I HAVEN'T AGREED WITH ANYTHING YOU'VE SAID SINCE X! WHERE IS THIS GOING?
....
(177) ...and it follows that proposition HRV, SHQ'' and BTU' are all obviously valid. Agreed?
(178) [Atheist either faints from overwork or leaves in disgust.]
(179) Therefore, God exists.

104. ARGUMENT FROM FORMATTING
(1) Behold, foolish Atheists, I present you with an incontrovertible proof of the existence of God.
(2) [Christian posts 10,000 word document without a single paragraph break.]
(3) [Atheist's eyes implode.]
(4) I see that nobody can refute (2).
(5) Therefore, God exists.

127. ARGUMENT FROM CHOCOLATE, a.k.a. MRS. POPE'S PROOF
(1) Chocolate is God's gift to humanity.
(2) Therefore, God exists.
(3) Now class, would anyone like to attempt an Argument From Beer?

167. ARGUMENT FROM COLLEGE FUNDING (usable by parents only)
(1) You believe in God.
(2) If I ever find out that you don't believe in God, you won't get any money for college!
(3) Therefore, God exists.

175. ARGUMENT FROM STAR TREK
(1) You will be assimilated.
(2) All your salvations belong to us.
(3) Resistance is futile.
(4) Therefore, God exists.

I am officially speechless.


Link

I'm not a huge addict of modern medicine. I don't take it for headaches or cramps; I really could care less about a stretched muscle or six; I wait through the nauseating symptoms of the flu without complaining. I don't really bother with fancy pain-deadening stuff for nasty bruises or cuts or scrapes: open air is good enough. When insomnia threatens, I don't run for the sleeping pills. But if there's one thing I can't stand, it's a bad cold.

I'm relatively sure that the reason I hate colds so much is that they sit in my throat and won't let me talk, sing, eat, drink, or sleep. Plus they give headaches and make my eyes and ears and nose hurt. And, now I've got Saiwe, I can't be completely certain it's not influenza instead of a cold - and influenza is transmittable from humans to pet parrots. Potentially lethal, too. Poor guy probably thinks I've abandoned him because I haven't been handling him...

I hate head colds.

I got Josh to show me some basic exercises with the weights last night. Apparently I am to do those four days a week and aerobic exercises the other three. I was personally glad that I could bench forty pounds for 15 reps and not the 25 I expected: I'm not starting from quite an awful position as I thought I was. (Still pretty lousy, though.)

In other news, I fear I am coming down with a cold, and am probably going to be constantly drinking tea so as to let the steam relieve my sinonasal cavities.

I was listening absent-mindedly to the TV when I heard something so ludicrous I felt compelled to share it.

Hillary Clinton, speaking of the election: "I want people to make an informed choice."

My resolutions for this year:

• to be able to bench at least 50 kilos
• to play the harp at a journeyman's level
• to finish drafting and redrafting that thrice-accursed novel, and submit it to at least five editors

Anyone else?

Homosexuality and Bisexuality

Still not sure where I am on this entire thing...

You know - a lot of people don't like this as a potentiality for me. They think that it is a waste of my potential and a blatant violation of what I should do with the gifts that have been given me. But there are so many things I could do with those gifts, and so many places for blame - if I could be the one who develops an interstellar drive, thus relieving humanity of the growing population concerns, would I have done wrong in neglecting the calling of medical research, wherein I might have discovered the cure for cancer? And what if both of those would be wrong, because I should have been a psychologist, healing minds, or a pastor tending to the minds and souls of hundreds, perhaps thousands of people, or a musician who composed songs that swept the world, or an author whose stories were cherished by children for generations, or a politician who engineered peace within the world, or the cessation of starvation...?

There are so very many glamorous - aye, and needed, I'll not deny that - things that I might do. And then I say, perhaps I should simply be a mother and a wife, and none of those others - and that is held up in parity with those others, even though it is not something I would choose before all of them. I think I would become far too tired, even resentful, if I chose that, and only that.

But I think I could do that and train and breed animals. I think I would be content. Not - stretched, perhaps, in some areas, but happy. I think that more and more these days. I want it to be true; I want it to be mine. But somehow that is not a wise use of my "gifts"; if I am to do anything in addition to being a mother, it must be something bigger.

Why?

I have noticed that fussing with Saiwe is rather like fussing with a toddler. As an example, he decided this morning that he wanted to chew on the computer cord, though he has never done so before. I held my finger up and told him no; he backed off. Ten seconds later he was back again for a repeat performance. The third time, he hung onto the cord, requiring me to pry his beak off it and tell him no again. After about six repetitions, he left it be - and then moved to the rest of the computer. At least he knows better than to nip me - most of the time!