Highlights and Lowlights from the Year of 2013

High Points:

 

1. I Made a New Friend from the Philippines and Made Another One Locally

 

2. Continued Writing one of my Novels

 

3. Gotten My One Novel to 73,000 Words So Far, which makes it # 2 on my List of Longest Manuscripts I’ve written

 

4. Wrote a Short Story

 

5. Continued to Send out Queries to Literary Agents

 

6. District Convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses was closer to Where we Live this Year

 

7. Got a New Stove after 2 years and 5 Months Without a Stove at All

 

8. Got 18 inches of my hair cut off and donated to Locks of Love

 

9. Had my Sister Lorinda, Brother-in-law Karl, and Nephew Jakob come for the first visit in 6 Years…BTW we had a BLAST!

 

10. Successfully grew 14 Blueberries and ate 7 of them

 

 

 

Low Points:

 

 

1. 2013 wasn’t that Good of a Year for Me but I won’t Stick to the Bad I will Plan for the Future and Await the Good
2. Sick Cat
3. Car Trouble and Home Air Conditioner Troubles
4. Health Concerns, Sickest Year Ever for Me
5. Still Not Published Any Novels nor gotten a Literary Agent

 

 

 

More High Points than Low Points, as it Should Be! :~)

 

 

 

Finishing Quotes for the Year of 2013:

“Every problem has in it the seeds of its own solution. If you don’t have any problems, you don’t get any seeds.” - Norman Vincent Peale

“The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem.” - Theodore Rubin

Ask yourself this question:
"Will this matter a year from now?" Richard Carlson, writing in Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

 

 

Quotes for 2014:

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery. And today? Today is a gift. That’s why we call it the present.” - B. Olatunji

Every morning you are handed 24 golden hours. They are one of the few things in this world that you get free of charge. If you had all the money in the world, you couldn't buy an extra hour. What will you do with this priceless treasure? - Author Unknown

 

If you can DREAM it, you can DO it. - Walt Disney

 

Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. Christopher Robin to Pooh - A. A. Milne

 

As long as we have friendship, today is beautiful.
As long as we have memories, yesterday remains.
As long as we have hope, tomorrow awaits.

 

Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.
- Benjamin Franklin

 

We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open. – Jawaharlal Nehru

 

“The Best Journeys are not always in Straight Lines.”

 

 

 

See Ya in 2014!!!! :~) :~) :~)

Think About It!

If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter. - George Washington

You know, there are some words I've known since I was a schoolboy: "With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." Those words were uttered by Judge Aaron Satie, as wisdom and warning. The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. I fear that today... - Captain Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation 

Update on Fear of Public Speaking….I Did Well Last Night!!

The post below ties in with this one. Last night I was an assistant (householder) at my Kingdom Hall. As you will read in the post below I am crazy scared of public speaking. I was a bit nervous and sick feeling before but I managed to calm a bit and when up there I did well and didn’t get sick or faint, thankfully, LOL! I didn’t feel too warm or hot either, which again is thankful.

The sister whose talk it was did really well in working up the talk, so I was glad I didn’t mess it up. :~)

The other Brothers and Sisters told me I did well and the sister I had the talk with told me I did well too. So for now until my next speaking engagement I am fine, I shall see how I am next time, LOL!

The Fear of Public Speaking….*Screams*

I have never liked public speaking. I get terrified. In school years ago when I was forced to do reports in front of the class my legs felt like jelly, my heart beat like a jack rabbit, my face felt hotter than the sun, and my hands sweated like a leaky radiator. It took all I had to force the lump in my throat down and to not get distracted by the pounding in my ears.

Well most know I am one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. As part of the Theocratic Ministry School we often have parts or are the assistant (householder) for the one with the part. I am as nervous now giving parts or helping with parts as ever before.

Recently I have had a problem which as best I know from self diagnosis from the internet is heat intolerance. Lately I have gotten so hot even when it is just remotely warm. I feel like in that situation that I want to escape and get cool. I feel my face getting hotter and some tell me it is red. I get blotchy spots on my arms and I feel often like I am having an anxiety attack or something. I have to run cold water over my face, neck, arms, and hands. The last few months it’s gotten worse. I can’t go to a doctor until I get insurance, unless I co-pay. I am scared about why it has been happening. It gets worse when I have to run around and get ready to go somewhere. It has gotten bad at the Kingdom Hall in winter when it is warm in there. I am so tired of this condition. I think this might have something to do with my hyperhydrosis (excessive sweating of body; I only have mild on hands and feet.) I also fear the over heating may be from an overactive thyroid, which scares me a lot…..ANY one have this or know what it may be? I would be very thankful to know….I intend to go to the doctor very soon anyway.

Here is the thing that has me scared to death. Tonight I am an assistant (householder) for another Sister at my Kingdom Hall and I am terrified. It doesn’t even matter that I am just an assistant and she works up the talk and I just read my part. I am so scared of being next to the hot seat, so to speak, or being in my very own hot seat, lol. I am especially scared because I am convinced I will get too hot at the Hall and get sick or have an Anxiety Attack or something. Which is the last place you should ever feel that way. I love being at the Hall, I am just scared about my health condition (heat intolerance). Which is made worse because I am scared it’s going to happen, I think I almost make it come on by stressing about it happening. I know I am not the only one who hates public speaking or has this condition but I feel like I am and I feel worse that it often happens at the Kingdom Hall, but not always (It happens at the store a lot too.). Also no body I speak to that I am close to really understands my feeling this way, which makes me feel bad and crazy or something. Which I have only brought this up to three people.

Please pray that I do alright and don’t faint or throw up! LOL! I am quite a mess aren’t I? LOL! :~)

I think in general people are afraid of a lot of things. I use to be more accepting of change and new situations, which is right and what should happen. I am not sure why now I am more nervous. I may have to delve deeper into this and find out WHY.  

 

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Does anyone wish to share a moment where they were scared of public speaking? If so how did you handle it? Any theory’s on why people are afraid of public speaking?

 

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P.S NOTE: It is not the Kingdom Hall that makes it happen. The Kingdom Hall is a wonderful place full of warm and inviting individuals. I do love the Hall and the Brother’s and Sister’s there. I just want it to be noted it is not a location that brings on what ever my condition is, as it happens at a lot of places I frequent.

I don’t want what I say to scare anyone away from a Kingdom Hall. The heat intolerance is my weird condition inside my body and it’s not contagious, lol! :~)

So feel free to check out any local Kingdom Halls, they will welcome you with open arms and help you learn about Jehovah God, his son Jesus Christ, their will for the earth and all of us, if you like.

A Winter Wonderland….nee Nightmare to Some!

I live in Missouri so it is has been snowing buckets full on and off. I am going to try and add a few pics of what it looked like when it started and when it got finished. So far there is 9 inches. It is really pretty though. If you are affected too then bundle up and stay warm until this storm passes. Take in the simple beauty of the harshness of the snow and ice.

 

A Few Winter Quotes worth Adding that May change your outlook on Winter:

 

He who marvels at the beauty of the world in summer will find equal cause for wonder and admiration in winter.... In winter the stars seem to have rekindled their fires, the moon achieves a fuller triumph, and the heavens wear a look of a more exalted simplicity. ~John Burroughs, "The Snow-Walkers," 1866

 

It is the life of the crystal, the architect of the flake, the fire of the frost, the soul of the sunbeam. This crisp winter air is full of it. ~John Burroughs, "Winter Sunshine"

 

 

What a wild winter sound,— wild and weird, up among the ghostly hills.... I get up in the middle of the night to hear it. It is refreshing to the ear, and one delights to know that such wild creatures are among us. At this season Nature makes the most of every throb of life that can withstand her severity. ~John Burroughs, "The Snow-Walkers," 1866

 

The sunbeams are welcome now. They seem like pure electricity—like friendly and recuperating lightning. Are we led to think electricity abounds only in summer, when we see in the storm-clouds as it were, the veins and ore-beds of it? I imagine it is equally abundant in winter, and more equable and better tempered. Who ever breasted a snowstorm without being excited and exhilarated, as if this meteor had come charged with latent auroræ of the North, as doubtless it has? It is like being pelted with sparks from a battery. ~John Burroughs, "Winter Sunshine"

 

We feel cold, but we don't mind it, because we will not come to harm. And if we wrapped up against the cold, we wouldn't feel other things, like the bright tingle of the stars, or the music of the Aurora, or best of all the silky feeling of moonlight on our skin. It's worth being cold for that. ~Philip Pullman, Northern Lights

 

Winter is the season in which people try to keep the house as warm as it was in the summer, when they complained about the heat. ~Author Unknown

 

Brew me a cup for a winter's night.
For the wind howls loud, and the furies fight;
Spice it with love and stir it with care,
And I'll toast your bright eyes, my sweetheart fair.
~Minna Thomas Antrim, "A Night Cap," A Book of Toasts, 1902

 

Let there be a cottage.... a real cottage... a white cottage, embowered with flowering shrubs, so chosen as to unfold a succession of flowers upon the walls, and clustering round the windows through all the months of spring, summer, and autumn—beginning, in fact, with May roses, and ending with jasmine. Let it, however, not be spring, nor summer, nor autumn—but winter, in his sternest shape. This is a most important point in the science of happiness. And I am surprised to see people overlook it, and think it matter of congratulation that winter is going; or, if coming, is not likely to be a severe one. On the contrary, I put up a petition annually, for as much snow, hail, frost, or storm, of one kind or other, as the skies can possibly afford us. Surely every body is aware of the divine pleasures which attend a winter fire-side: candles at four o'clock, warm hearth-rugs, tea, a fair tea-maker, shutters closed, curtains flowing in ample draperies on the floor, whilst the wind and rain are raging audibly without... ~Thomas De Quincey, Confessions of an English Opium-Eater

 

It is a spur that one feels at this season more than at any other. How nimbly you step forth! The woods roar, the waters shine, and the hills look invitingly near. You do not miss the flowers and the songsters, or wish the trees or fields any different, or heavens any nearer. Every object pleases.... the straight light-gray trunks of the trees... how curious they look, and as if surprised in undress. ~John Burroughs, "Winter Sunshine"

 

Winter, then in its early and clear stages, was a purifying engine that ran unhindered over city and country, alerting the stars to sparkle violently and shower their silver light into the arms of bare upreaching trees. It was a mad and beautiful thing that scoured raw the souls of animals and man, driving them before it until they loved to run. And what it did to Northern forests can hardly be described, considering that it iced the branches of the sycamores on Chrystie Street and swept them back and forth until they rang like ranks of bells. ~Mark Helprin, Winter's Tale, 1983

 

 

Male Stalker like Character…Weird or Hot?

Whose thinks writing about an obsessive male character is a good hot idea. I have seen this in a few books and heard of a few like that. There is one being turned into a movie right now and the author is like excited about the scene where the guy follows the main female character across the country and is like obsessive about her, before their relationship gets hot and heavy. This concept was in Twilight as well.

 

 Like who says oh ok this character is getting stalked but you know that’s hot so I’ll have the female character jump in bed with that guy. That would not end well in real life, so why in books.

 

I think if a guy were to follow A.K.A Stalk a person across state lines or even around town that is reaching odd levels and someone should get a restraining order. I am sorry but a dude no matter how good looking shouldn’t be all stalkery *not a word sorry*. I don’t think demanding a woman to do what they *male characters* want or something is right or entertaining.

 

Anyone care to weigh in on this topic?