* Duh!!!* I don't even want to tell you the stupid error I made. Anyway
the point is I discovered it, and now I'm over the hump. The next tackle
is transferring my own photos. I'm going to see if *White Christmas*
is available at Blockbuster. I'll have five days to view it anyway.
I've noticed that many Bloggers are out last minute Christmas shopping.
(No one is making any comments anywhere, on any Blogs) This Holiday
busy-ness is sucking my creativity dry. I feel scattered like tinsel
on a Christmas Tree. Hope you are faring better, and that you will all
be with some (or someone's) family for the next week. Feliz Navidad
and Boun Natale! Peach

Well I guess you can see I am in the process of learning how to
construct a Blog. After all these months I got frustrated with not
knowing how to do things for myself. So unfortunately I have to err in
public. There is no use in redesigning this Blog with MT if I can't even
do the basics. Maybe in the next entry there will be a real photo. For
now the 'mistake' will have to suffice until I get it right. I probably
should have taken a computer class a long time ago. But when I got my
computer I sort of learned what I had to know by the 'seat of my pants'.
The blogging was discovered by accident and luckily it was just a matter
of picking a 'Blogskin' from Blogger and poof! Instant Blog. The rest
was easy. The few photos I had up were done for me. Of all the Bloggers
out there, I know no one, except for myself, who is as ignorant as I
about the technology of simple computer stuff. If I had had the time I
needed I am sure this would have been taken care of several months ago.
Hey, anything can be learned . I just need patience and commitment
and............ time!?? P.s. Thanks to Troy and Ken for their attempts
to help the 'tech-less' wonder.

This is so frustrating. My 'Holiday Picture' was scanned very badly. It
looks decrepit. I am so disappointed. If I get MT, can I upload pictures
easier? If you have some answers, please let me know. I have some
pictures at Kodak Center.com. That's easy. But this picture was before I
had my pictures automatically sent to the web. I was thinking of going
to ebay to get a used digital camera. But who do you trust? Ironically,
what is so frustrating, is this is one of my favorite pictures and looks
so different on the real photo. By the way Luigi is not a dork and does
not have a balloon body. I'll have to get another picture.

There are many things I do not understand. One of them is how people
post to their Blogs if they are so busy. The last two weeks, especially
have been over the top for me. I am assuming that most bloggers make
their posts a priority and try to 'make an appointment' with their
computer on a regular basis, maybe even the same time of day. I keep
saying I will get up earlier and Blog the very first thing..........but
something always seems to come up. This subject has come up more than
once on on my Blog. I am suppose to have a 'Guest Blogger'. But he was
very busy yesterday. I am hoping that he can Guest Blog in the next day
or two. I also will be putting up a different, Holiday picture. As far
as not having any time, I really think if I had a regular 9-5 job, I
would have more time. Because I would just come home and go directly to
the computer. I would have nothing else to do. As it is, having your own
business involves some bookkeeping, servicing clients, reading trade
journals and recording all your checks. That's only part of it. And your
evenings are not always your own. I don't really miss the T.V. But I do
regret my precious reading time being eaten away. Music I do not give up
for anything. But that's easy. Just slip in a C.D. in your computer or
have a radio near by. For a while I completely forgot that I could do
that. Right now I am listening to *The Long Black Veil* by the
Chieftains. (look it up on towerrecords.com). They are an Irish group ,
and I do like Irish music. But is a bit of a different C.D. Most of it
is traditional Irish Songs, but a bit is contemporary. Every song has a
guest artist; the likes of Mick Jagger, Sinead O'Connor, Van Morrison,
Ry Cooder, Marianne Faithfull, among others. It was released in 1995,
and I haven't heard it for a long time. Makes you wonder some time where
all the talent has gone. Now its just Hotties in low-rise jeans who have
great mangers and strong breaks but no talent. I was commenting on
someone's blog the other day, about whatever happened to people like
Fiona Apple and Joan Osborne. Now we have Cristina Aguilera and Britney
Spears. But then again, they mainly just appeal to the pre-teen set. A
quick note. My sister and Mom and I rented a DVD yesterday. My sister
had already seen it a while back but said it was something we should
see. I am not a Brad Pitt fan but I think he came through very well in
this film. It's called Seven Years in Tibet
I did not know too much about the
Dalai Lama, and had not heard of this young Austrian mountain climber
who had written his own story that the film was based on. It's a story
of a people, a culture, and a way of life that had existed for hundreds
of years. The Tibetans were paranoid of any foreigners who entered their
land, and could only poorly watch their Indian Tibetan borders in
minimal ways guarded with unarmed farmers and shepherders. Their fears
were not unfounded. Ironically they were taken over by a very strong and
powerful nation who wanted to see their religious and spiritual ways
destroyed. And ultimately this powerful nation of China decimated
thousands of villages and monasteries. Many people had to flee for their
lives. That was almost 60 years ago. Today the Dalai Lama lives in
exile. By the way I totally disagree with 'reader comments' in IMDB. I
think the commenter was sleeping. I have also heard that the Austrian,
Heinrich Harrar was a nazi, but it was NOT revealed in the movie at all.
In fact they sugarcoated it and alluded to the fact that he really
didn't care. Hmmm........not really a quick note. This post should be
called "Fleeting Thoughts" . I took out my lunch time to write this. I
couldn't just let my Blog become an antique, now, could I?

I received some dreadful, vituperative 'rants' on my Comment section
yesterday. When you think how wide the World Wide Web really is, I
suppose I shouldn't be surprised. After all in the real world there are
kazillions of First rate jerks out there. I was just surprised to see
it...sitting here in my tight 'secure' little cocoon. My innocence and
unsullied view of Cyberspace is no longer there. I sit and watch and
wait. I e-mailed a couple of my friends to get some feedback. It appears
others have incurred derogatory and malicious remarks and defamation on
their websites via Comment Tools. It would be nice to have a Trash File
where they could be instantly deleted and blocked at the same time. You
have it in your e-mail , I am sure there is a way to do it on your
comments as well. Someone is getting back to me on that. We all have to
regularly take out our trash. We can't keep it forever in our house. But
trash builds up again, and in real life you gotta take it out to the
dumpster and get rid of it. I will just make sure that as watchful as I
am that I take out my 'trash' on my Blog, on a daily basis , if
necessary. There really is a lot of trash out there and the little
Weenies who leave the trash trails have nothing else to do. After all if
you are 'small', there isn't a whole lot you can do about it , except to
roar and do adolescent things to get attention to make up for your
'deficiency'. Do you think these guys believe the email ads they are
getting of promises for enlargement of their organs? You gotta feel
sorry for guys with deficient genes. Peach

Looking at the last entry I see that I haven't blogged since November
19th. It has been a very upsetting and trying week with many goings on
and problems to plow through.

Thanksgiving Day I was with my family. It was at this time that I started to grasp the importance and meaning of what Thanksgiving is really all about.
Despite my problems I actually was very happy, and had all the nice, warm, snuggly, holiday emotions of being together with people who love me and have known me all of my life. Being alone during the holidays must be a very sad place to be. So being surrounded by family was only one of the blessings I counted on Thursday.

The problematic week
was not finished at Thanksgiving. I continued to have stress related
situations throughout the week-end. Bad Day at Black Rock was a good
movie. And although the guy in the movie had only one 'bad day', I had
the whole week. It's interesting how that title popped into my head this
week as I was pondering my problems and how to get out of them. I
figured that life is like the Stock Market. It goes up and down. When
it's down, we all holler and whine and cry over our 'losses'. But then
again the Stock Market will go back up and we're in Hog Heaven once
more. They say over time if you invest in the Stock Market and balance
well by diversifying correctly in different securities and Mutual
Funds(not everything all in one place) that over the long haul you will
reap rewards. If we all hang in there, over time , the sum total of our
life is also rewarding. I say this with complete candor......I mean it.
This past week has been proof to me. That in one week I have seen both
sides and realize that another door always opens. I remember a quote,
actually I think it was a title of a book but I cannot remember the
author. The Title was "Been Down so Long looks Like Up to Me." Thank
God, that has not been the case for me and I would not wish that on
anyone. The point is for most of us, no matter how bad something seems
at the time, there is always something or someone around the next corner
waiting to ease us along.

Another minor problem has just 'popped' up. On
the black border below my post window has appeared this line: "Sorry,
publishing is temporarily unavailable. (why?)" I wonder if Blogger has
gone belly up or will have technical problems for the next several hours
or maybe days. Who knows. Well, whatever. Today I feel like I can tackle
anything.

Sunday was a nice day. I went down to Tokyo Town in late
afternoon , specifically to buy a pair of Zori's. My old ones were
falling apart. But I had a great time browsing through the stores and
the shopping village. I felt like buying Luigi a gift. It was a little
black lacquer box to possibly keep his bills or other things inside, to
organize his poor messy desk. I told him it was a Hanukkah gift for him
, even though he is not Jewish. I strolled through First Street and
ended up having an early dinner at Suehiro. It was a great experience
and reminded me a little of being in Japan again.

I left the restaurant and then went to the ATM. While waiting for a crosswalk
signal to change I watched a strange, disturbing person cross the
street. It was a homeless dwarf, pitifully crippled and dirty, with
raggedy hair and bare feet. He was limping along and his skin was so
dark it was hard to tell if it was natural or from baking in the sun. My
Mom says there are no coincidences. I felt very sad for this hapless.
individual, and was reminded how all my 'problems' seemed so entirely
trivial as not even worthy to mention in this Blog. I am eternally
grateful to a power that is higher than me and try to remember not to
take anything for granted.

Your Friend,
Peach