That really great Aquarium clock in my prior post has disappeared and in it's place is a rather attractive, but unwelcome, Crystal Clock. Apparently, Widgetbox.com did not yet have permission from the creator zorazany, to feature it.

I went to see what happened when I came onto my page just a few minutes ago, and when you try to enter the page the Aquarium Clock with the worms for hands was on, you get the information, the picture, but the clock has become the Crystal clock. I looked to the left and discovered the comment from zanyzora saying that she did not appreciate the use of her teeny aquarium clock without her permission. Strangely the comment was dated August 31, and I acquired the clock on September 1st. It did not disappear from my page until sometime today September 2nd.

It also means that comment was there yesterday when I went to get the code for the clock. I think next time I'll check the page over more thoroughly and if I find any objections, I'll change my mind about using it.

So, today is Monday and they have changed the clock yet again. At least this one is a fish clock. Not as nice as the other but it'll do. Zanyzora had created a fish tank widget that another creator stole to make a clock out of. This clock is by the same creator, so who knows?

What time is it?



It's par-tay animal time. I know, it's early but these animals are just begging me to get this party started.























And this is what they're dancing to.

1. A Flock of Seagulls...I Ran (So Far Away) and Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)

2 Aerosmith...Dude (Looks Like a Lady), Rag Doll and Walk This Way

3. Asia...Heat of the Moment and Only Time Will Tell

4. Atlanta Rhythm Section...Imaginary Lover

5. Bad Company...Bad Company and Can't Get Enough

6. Bon Jovi...It's My Life and You Give Love a Bad Name

7. Bruce Springsteen...Born In the U.S.A, Dancing In the Dark and Pink Cadillac

8. Bryan Adams...Cuts Like a Knife

9. Damn Yankees...Bad Reputation

10. Eddie Money...Baby Hold On, Two Tickets to Paradise

11. Eurythmics...Here Comes the Rain Again

12. Great White...Once Bitten Twice Shy and Rock Me

13. Huey Lewis & The News...I Want a New Drug, If This Is It and The Heart of Rock & Roll

14. Jackson Browne...Doctor My Eyes
Jackson Browne

15. James Taylor...You've Got A Friend and Your Smiling Face

16. John Mellencamp...Pink Houses and R.O.C.K. In the U.S.A. (A Salute to 60's Rock)

17. Madness...Our House

18. Montrose...Rock Candy

19. Sammy Hagar...I Can't Drive 55

20. Skid Row...18 and Life and Youth Gone Wild
Best Of

21. Steve Miller Band...Fly Like an Eagle and The Joker

22. Survivor...Eye of the Tiger

23. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band...Mr. Bojangles

24. The Specials...Concrete Jungle

25. Thomas Dolby...She Blinded Me With Science

26. Tom Petty...Free Fallin' and Mary Jane's Last Dance

27. Traveling Wilburys...End Of The Line and Handle With Care

Kids that live in rural areas, like my grandaughter, are at a disadvantage when it comes to friends. Courtney's "at home" friends are the two cousins that live on either side of her. They are 4 and 5 years younger than her, but they share many of the same interests. They aren't school friends as they all attend different schools within that same school system. Down the road about 3 miles is another friend who is her same age and attends the same school.

Recently my grandaughter is very quick to anger, and it's been hard to determine if this is a teenaged angst situation or whether something is bothering her because she's become very closed mouth. Not secretive exactly, just less forthcoming with the daily newsnotes about her life. Her Mother has been assuming it's the hormonal angst thing, but something made me feel there was more to it. Mostly I felt there was more to it because of the absence of the friend from down the road. Usually if I'm driving up through to visit, I'm asked to pick up Lacey since it's right on my way, and I usually take her home when I come home. Her parents like this because she's not making the three mile trip on her bike, she's accompanied by a responsible adult, and they don't have to provide taxi service. For the last month I've gone up through 10 times and not had to stop for Lacey once, nor has Courtney gone to visit her. I assumed that Lacey and her parents were away, which has proven not to be the case.

Courtney and Lacey are both entering high school this year, and as Lacey informed Court, that meant it was time to look to the future. They were on the road to being responsible adults and it was time they started acting like it, which in Lacey's mind meant that they should no longer "hang" with "children". Lacey is concerned with acceptance, she feels that to be accepted in high school you can't be a kid anymore so to that end Court has been told that if she continues to "hang" with the cousins, she can't "hang" with Lacey. Court likes all 3 girls for different reasons and has refused to give up her nearest neighbors as friends. Unfortunately it has meant the loss of Lacey's friendship.

Last week they went for orientation at the new school. Lacey has formed a coterie of new friends that are like minded individuals and it appears that Courtney is to be left on the outside looking in. Lacey and friends refused to acknowledge Courtney's greeting and made a few pointed remarks about children who should go back to middle school where they belong. Accompanied by a few behind the hand giggles. The opening salvo to a year of schoolyard bullying? I hope not. Unfortunately Courtney now is not looking forward to high school, which she has been doing all summer long.

Courtney has other school friends from last year and from her Girl Scout troop so she isn't entirely friendless in the new school, which I pointed out to her. Unfortunately Courtney is a student of human nature much like her Grandmother, and she knows that some of her friends will side with Lacey, simply because Lacey is a doctors daughter. It doesn't help Courtney much at this moment, but I pointed out to her that if the only reason Lacey can have friends is because she is a doctors daughter, then she has no true friends. Many of her so called "friends" will be there because they want to profit from Lacey's advantages. Not much by way of comfort for my granddaughter in that bit of wisdom. Especially since she pointed out to me that life is like that. Grandma is stumped by that one. She's right, and I have no rebuttal to give her.

I could tell my granddaughter that Lacey's idea of maturity is wrong, but adults act like this too. I could point out to her that maturity and adulthood are not necessarily synonymous, and she would point out to me that it makes no difference when "adults" are the examples of maturity that kids are supposed to strive to be like. When the truth of the matter is that "adults" do all the same things that kids do, for many of the same reasons, it isn't going to help Courtney get through her first year in high school as an outcast. Which is what she's going to be as long as she includes her neighbors in any group of her friends. She has every intentions of doing that, even though she knows it's going to be rough. She has also informed me that she's going to be too busy to hang much with anyone this year. Her Girl Scout troop is planning on a trip to London next July. She has to earn much of the money to go and the amount she needs is $3200, plus spending money.

She's signed up to take First Aid classes and babysitting classes through the local chapter of the Red Cross and we've been informed that we may need to drive her to any sitter jobs she gets. She says she's just going to keep busy and try to stay out of Lacey's way, because any person who tries to tell her who she can speak to or "hang" with is no friend of hers. You know? I love that kid, she's got style. Now, if we can only get her to clean her room.



Free Graphics & Comments Codes

In music, the opening lyrics of a song combined with just the right arrangement can make the entire tune memorable... or not. I tend to believe that the arrangement is most important, there isn't a single Stevie Ray Vaughn song that couldn't stand tall as an instrumental version. Nor does 'Watchtower' need anything except Jimi Hendrix. On the other hand where would 'Hotel California' be without the imagery of it's opening line..."On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair", or without the opening bars of the music? Would that song be so widely liked if some part of the equation were changed?

Spinner.com had a list of the 25 best opening lyrics chosen by their readers. After reading this list, I find that I don't entirely agree with the placement of some of these. I also started thinking about other lyrics that I would have chosen. "Psychic spies from China try to steal your minds elation" from Red Hot Chili Peppers 'Californication" or "Nights in white satin, never reaching the end" from the Moody Blues 'Nights in White Satin'. I also might include "We skipped the light fandango, turned cartwheels cross the floor" from Procol Harums 'Whiter Shade of Pale'. All lyrics that stand out in my mind, but would they if they weren't accompanied by such great arrangements? Is it the words themselves or the combination of word and music that makes them worthy of being on this list? Do you have a favorite opening lyric?

25 "I guess I shoulda known by the way you parked your car sideways
that it wouldn't last"
--Prince's 'Little Red Corvette'

24 "You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain"
--Jerry Lee Lewis' 'Great Balls of Fire'

23 "Wine is fine, but whiskey's quicker"
--Ozzy Osbourne's 'Suicide Solution'

22 "When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, it's a wonder I can think at all"
--Paul Simon's 'Kodachrome'

21 "I made it through the wilderness"
--Madonna's 'Like a Virgin'

20 "She's a good girl, loves her mama, loves Jesus and America, too"
--Tom Petty's 'Free Fallin''

19 "Load up on guns, bring your friends"
--Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'

18 "One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small"
--Jefferson Airplane's 'White Rabbit'

17 "Just take those old records off the shelf"
--Bob Seger's 'Old Time Rock 'n' Roll'

16 "I am the son, and the heir, of a shyness that is criminally vulgar"
--The Smiths' 'How Soon Is Now?'

15 "Sittin' in the morning sun, I'll be sittin' when the evening comes"
--Otis Redding's '(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay'

14 "On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair"
--Eagles' 'Hotel California'

13 "Well, I woke up Sunday morning with no way to hold my head that didn't hurt"
--Johnny Cash's 'Sunday Morning Coming Down'

12 "Thinkin' of a master plan, 'cause ain't nothin' but sweat inside my hand"
--Erik B and Rakim's 'Paid in Full'

11 "Picture yourself in a boat on a river"
--The Beatles' 'Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds'

10 "There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold"
--Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven'

9 "I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand"
--Warren Zevon's 'Werewolves of London'

8 "You know the day destroys the night, night divides the day"
--The Doors' 'Break on Through'

7 "Wake up Maggie, I think I got something to say to you"
--Rod Stewart's 'Maggie May'

6 "If I leave here tomorrow, would you still remember me?"
--Lynryd Skynyrd's 'Free Bird'

5 "Pretty women out walking with gorillas down my street"
--Joe Jackson's 'Is She Really Going Out With Him?'

4 "The screen door slams, Mary's dress waves"
--Bruce Springsteen's 'Thunder Road'

3 "Jeremiah was a bull frog"
--Three Dog Nights 'Joy to the World'

2 "I like big butts and I cannot lie."
--Sir Mix-A-Lot's 'Baby Got Back'

1 "Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste"
--The Rolling Stones' 'Sympathy for the Devil'

With so many interesting new blogs and people joining Blogstream on a daily basis, I am finding it hard to post and read everything I want to read. Since my explosion a few weeks back, and my determination to ignore any further drama here, I have not been spending as much time in Blogstream. Conspiring to keep me out in the world is of course the move, with all of it's problems, and I will be starting tomorrow to work in the office a couple of days a week. My life is heading in a new direction, and I plan on taking my blogging in a new direction as well. Blogging should be fun, and it's become something other than fun for me. I'm running out of ideas and things that I want to say 7 days a week.

Quality, not quantity. Despite the harshness of my Sunday post about dogfighting, I enjoyed the preparation and thought I put into it. It took much longer to write than I normally take, and I searched my brain for the words to convey my point in a way that I don't normally do. Usually the words flow like a river and I don't pay much attention to which words I'm using. They make my point and that's all that's necessary for my writing habit. Imagine my disgust with myself when I read it on Sunday night and finally saw that I had spelled emperor wrong. Good thing I have a sense of humor when it comes to myself.

Writing for me is just that...writing. I conceive a topic and my thoughts flow forth onto the blank screen. Sometimes they're good and sometimes they're boring. Sometimes I reread my piece a few days later and ask myself why didn't I say this or why didn't I say that? Mostly because I don't think about what word I'm choosing, or what I'm really saying. I just say it and there it stands, as is. Lately, I'm having a hard time with the flow. I can't decide what I want to talk about, whether I should give an opinion or do research, whether I really want to post what I've written once it's done. Sometimes for me it's a matter of wanting to add a picture to my post and I don't allow myself time enough to find something I'm truly happy with. I'm always happy with cat pictures, but every time I post pictures I don't want to use cats. I also want to work more on my fiction blog. Daily posting, finding pictures, and answering comments takes up my time, time I will no longer have such an abundance of.

I thought at first that my problem was writers block, or a dissatisfaction with events in Blogstream, and my part in them. I've been very careful where I go and who I comment to and what I say. I went to The Sword of Justice and Other Stuff to find that Val is taking a break from this forum because she says there's no joy right now. It was reading that, my thoughts there on someone elses page, that made me stop and think about what was bothering me. Saturday when I had so much difficulty staying online, I shut the computer down and spent my time with Hubby, not doing anything except vegging out. It was that which made me realize that even when I'm blogging, I'm working. I want to work less, more efficiently and have a better end product. I can't experience the joy when I'm feeling as if I'm working against some sort of self imposed deadline. I feel the need to be silly, to just crack open one of those boxes inside my head and see what escapes into the light of day, or the dark of night as the case may be.

I'm not taking a break from Blogstream or from writing, I just want to take the writing in a new direction but haven't figured out what direction I need to go in. I am here because I want to be, but I'm wasting my time if I'm not exploring new ideas and concepts. Time for me to learn a few new things. Time for me to have fun blogging again.