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Connections...Updated June 26

This entry won't deal with my usual drivel. No stupid fictional stories or subtle coded secret messages in this entry. (Except for this one...Hello mothership. Come in mothership. These humans appear smarter than they look. I haven't been able to entice a single one into the multi-chop n' dice/flaying & gutting machine. Perhaps I'm using the wrong kind of bait?) I haven't written a "nonfiction" type Thumbsucker entry in quite some time. It's still gonna suck, but at least it should be chaulk full of nonfictional Thumbsucker related goodness. Enjoy.

I see Farah Fawcett died today. (Best wait until a bit later in this entry to start enoying it) It's sad she's gone. She was a symbolic, iconic figure for an entire generation, but more importantly, a special person in her right. It's also very sad the way she died. I suppose everyone has been touched by cancer in some way or another. What a terrible, terrifying disease. The good news is, although it's still terrible and terrifying, it's often not the death sentence it might have been years ago. There have been advances. Day by day pieces of the puzzle are falling into place. Hopefully within our lifetimes cancer will be beaten.

I also felt sad the day I learned Freddie Mercury had died. What a fantastic voice and stage presence he had. He's still sorely missed. When I'm gone and all is said and done, I hope I added to this world more than I took from it. I hope I caused more joy than suffering. In a next life I hope I come back strong and healthy again...like I have been in this life. I don't know if we get a choice of what we come back as. I doubt it. Who would want to come back as a tape worm? Eeeeew. I wouldn't expect to see a lot of people lining up to become sponges either. Sponges look like plants growing on the ocean floor but they're not plants, they're animals. Did you know that? Sponges don't have any eyes, ears or even a mouth. You could be the most talented sponge in the entire world...excelling at whatever talented sponges excell at...but who would notice? Who would even give a damn? It must suck to be a sponge, regardless if they're talented or not. (The words "talented" and "sponge" aren't heard together nearly as much as they should be. I'm proud this journal entry is doing something about that)

I happened to see a late night movie on the TV the other night. I don't watch a lot of movies, (even though I own several hundred). I just don't make the time to watch them. I have other stuff I should be doing, but I watched that one the other night because I found it very interesting and because I felt a connection to it because of various things in my life/past. I didn't catch the start of the movie so I don't know what it was called. I take it was a true story, about a Jewish couple and their daughter who fled Nazi Germany just before World War Two. They went to Kenya. Most of the dialogue was in German with English subtitles. It was weird hearing Kisumu, Kenya mentioned, (a city I didn't know exisited before 2005, thanks to another connection). It was also nice to hear German spoken again. I was born in Germany. We lived all over the place, going back to live in German two more times. My mum is English and my dad is Canadian. Apparently for my first three years I heard German spoken more than English. My dad was in Sardinia for 6 months at a time and that left my mum and my brother and me living among Germans, miles away from any other English speakers. Mum got on great with the German landlady and they spent a lot of time together. speaking mostly German. I certainly wasn't fluent in German by any means growing up and even less so now as I haven't heard much German in quite awhile, but it was nice hearing it again.

The movie also connected with me because a couple weeks ago I bought the World at War DVD set. I've wanted to get it for sometime as I've always been a huge history buff. I've been hearing German again from the DVDs as well. I wonder what anyone passing by must think if they heard anything coming from my open windows of Hitler giving one of his irrate, fanatical speeches or the Nazi rally songs that are sometimes featured in the DVDs. Maybe they'll think I'm a closet racist Nazi lover? I hope not. I've also viewed the DVD's about the holocaust, some of which I found VERY difficult to watch even though I've seen many of the same clips before. It saddens me deeply to dwell on how cruel and sadistic people can be to one another. I've been to Dachau concentration camp and seen the ovens and gas chamber with my own eyes. I can't even imagine what sights and sounds must have taken place in Dachau and other places like it when they were up and running. It makes me feel very lucky I've grown up and lived my life in peaceful times, in peaceful places. I've truly been blessed that way.

We've been having a lot of rain around here so far this spring. Usually it's not nonstop rain, the rain that goes on all day and night, (although we've had that as well). It's been mostly the kind of rain like today, with the sun out and shining brightly one hour, while the next it's all clouded over and everything's soaking wet. The skies are completely overcast as I write this and thunder is rumbling in the distance. We haven't had much thunder and lightning so far this spring but today has been especially muggy...our first muggy day so far this year. (Yesterday was the first time I turned on a fan) All this wet weather hs been ideal for breeding mosquitoes. I don't recall them ever being this bad in past years. I'm not able to sleep properly because of the pesky little bastards. I find their high pitched whining will wake me, even if they're across the room. All winter long I've looked forward to working on my art stuff outside. I set up several wooden benches and my tools and supplies in the driveway on nice sunny days. The other day was perfect for it. The weather was ideal, beautiful sun, but not too hot, with a wonderful refreshing breeze that kept all the bugs away and helped dissipate the smoke and dust that's created with some of the tools I have to use. Years ago I intend to add a workshop/studio onto my garage. I poured the foundations but didn't go any further with it. I was already holding down two part time jobs as well as my art. Back then I had little time for anything not art or nature related. That's what eventually cost me my marriage. I wasn't home much and when I was, I was usually up in my studio, but at least that studio was in the house and not out in a studio attached to the garage. Back then I mostly painted so my studio in the house was enough, but over the years I've gotten into different things and now have lots of tools, some of which can cause quite a mess and are noisy so they're better not used indoors if I don't have to.

Oh oh. It's started raining again but the thunder is really picking up now. Looks like it will be lightning soon so I better sign off. Bye.

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PS...Thank goodness for nice, caring people. This world can use all the nice, caring people it can get. Give the nice caring people in your life a hug. They deserve it.

Update...Oh my Lord. I just heard Michael Jackson has died!!!! I hope not. If so this will go down as one of those days I'll remember for a long, long time. The world is poorer today with his passing, but a lot richer for the legacy he leaves behind. RIP Michael and Farah.

Also forgot to mention something that was said in that movie I saw..."In every couple, one loves more, and that one is vulnerable". Interesting. (I'm taking it the love isn't totally one sided, otherwise I wouldn't consider them a couple anyways) After giving it some thought I was inclined to agree, even though it's kind of depressing. I guess the moral is, not to be the one who loves more...NOT!!!!...I don't agree with that statment. Love is at its best when its given, not when its being withheld. It's meant to be shared and shared often. It should be given unconditionally, but never given simply with the expectation it will be returned in kind, and it must never, ever be abused. The vulnerable one is the one who has received the most love, for they have the most to lose.

Another Update...I'm still in shock about Michael Jackson. I suppose that's to be expected when any prominent person dies suddenly. Like him or hate him, Michael Jackson made a HUGE impact. Not many of us do.

It's raining on and off yet again today. Seems fitting.




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