DON'T Grin and Bear It

I have just recently began reading a new daily devotional. At first, I was kind of leery about reading it because it was written by 4 slightly older ladies. However, I have been pleasantly surprised by the content and the humor contained in each devotional.

It never ceases to amaze me how on time God is. For those of you who don't know, my Granny, has been battling with breast cancer for the last 4 years. Up until just a few months ago she was in remission. Now, however, the cancer is pretty much everywhere. It has been difficult to watch the gradual ebbing away of her life. Yesterday was an especially tough day, as we began to see, for the first time the effects the cancer is having on her brain. I've decided to include a few paragraphs from todays reading. You'll understand why it spoke to me. I hope it helps you as well, World.

You can tell it's going to be a rotten day when...
- you call suicide prevention and they put you on hold
- you put your bikini top on backward and it fits better
-your blind date turns out to be your ex-boyfriend

But just remember, every flower that ever bloomed had to go through a whole lot of dirt to get there. And with the dirt, a lot of watering was needed.

Scientific research indicates that tears--real, wet, human tears--may be the body's mechanism for flushing away harmful chemicals produced during stress. A study at Harvard University showed that people who cried more in response to grief were less likely to suffer heart attacks after losing a loved one. (Previous studies showed that the risk of suffering a heart attack after a loss is fourteen times greater than normal.) Imagine: tears can break the chain of chemical events that lead to heart disease and brain damage.

Crying is the only physiological process that is experienced by humans that animals do not share. Doctors now say that shedding tears is one of the most effective performances of the human body. And there are may uneducated people who know the therapeutic value of a good old fashioned cry: sobbing, wailing, howling, just letting it all out.

You don't have to grin and bear it. You don't to be holier than thou, keeping up a spiritual front that equates tears with weakness and doubt. No, scientists now confirm, what the Bible has said for thousands of years: tears are God's gift to His precious children. When we cry, we allow our bodies to function according to God's design--and we embrace one of the perks He offers to relieve our stress.

Someone said, "God will accept a broken heart, but He must have all the pieces." As He stitches those pieces back together, the moisture of tears softens and makes flexible His strong thread of healing in our lives. Big wet tears are part of the the rich human experience. The people who weep unashamedly are the same ones who live and love with their whole heart and soul. Those who mourn are those who have allowed themselves to feel real feelings because they care about other people.

Do you realize what a gift it is to feel, even when it hurts?

Sometimes allowing yourself to cry is the scariest thing you'll ever do. And the bravest. It takes a lot of courage to face the facts, stare loss in the face, bare your heart, and let it bleed. But it is the only way to cleanse your wounds and prepare them for healing. God will take care of the rest.

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves [with him]. Psalm 126: 5&6

(c) Joy Breaks: Barbara Johnson

Goofy Glasses!

Did you know that one of these burns up to 6 calories? That engaging in this particular activity inreases your circulation, heart rate, stimulates the immune system, as well as improves the muscle tone of the abdomen?

I know, you must be thinking...she must be talking about doing crunches or push ups or something of the like. Well, World, you would be wrong. I am referring simply to laughing. That's right ladies and gentlemen...laughing. In addition to the facts I've listed above, the magazine Psychology Today reports that laughter increases creativity. It has been found that indiciduals who have a vivacious sense of humor tend to have a more creative point of view when it comes to problem solving than individuals who are more solemn.

Can you believe, that there are even studies that show that companies that advocate their employees bringing a sense of humor to work are more profitable, than those companies who only stress business as usual.

I've said all of this to say the following: " You don't have to be happy to laugh. You become happy because you laugh". I've found that laughter takes even the worst sting out of the most painful situations in life.

There is an age old saying that says, "Laughter is the best medicine". I've found in my limited experience here on earth that this is indeed true. The fact of the matter is that it is God himself who gives us this capacity to be tickled down to the very depths of our being. In fact, in scripture it says, "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh..."

I've been blessed with a lovely group of friends with whom I laugh probaby more than I breathe. I've been blessed with a family with whom I can do the same. So, I encourage you today world, when life seems a bit too somber, too serious, and too painful to handle...take a moment and take a step back, dig around in your purses ladies, or in you pants pockets gentlemen, and pull out your goofy glasses. Then take another look at your situation. I guarantee you will find something to laugh about.

Laughter gives us distance.  It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on.  ~Bob Newhart

The most wasted of all days is one without laughter. 

 ~E.E. Cummings

Scripture Verse Found in Psalm 2:4 KJV
Laughter Statistics courtesy of Psychology Today
Article Topic courtesy of Barbara Johnson Women of Faith Joy Breaks

mAnIFestO!

*Sigh*

What can I say? I love music that makes me wanna move. Don'tcha just love it when you're in the car just riding along, minding your own business, when all of a sudden you catch the sound of a song that you've never heard before, and there's just something about it that immediately captures your attention? Ah. I love it!

Anywho, the song that has most recently caught the attention of my musically inclined ear is Manifesto by City Harmonic. Awesome lyrics with a piano introuduction that brings to mind one of my favorite Coldplay songs, Clocks. Enjoy! ( This is a two-fer...click on "Clocks" to hear the song.)

Vacation Time

I have just arrived back from the first vacation I've taken in over a year. To say that it was much needed is a huge understatement. Where did you go, you may be thinking to yourself. Hawaii, Florida, Cancun? I went as a youth chaperone to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Not exactly a good time by most people's standards, and at first I wasn't exactly gun-ho about it myself. Yet, as the trip approached, the kid's excitement began to rub off on me, and by the night before we were to leave, I was just excited as they were.

I'll admit it, the conditions of the camp were less than ideal. The cabins wreaked of mold and mildew, the walls sweated because of the humidity, and the beds, floors, and bathrooms gave us all the heebie jeebies. But, as cliched as this will sound, it was worth it all to be able to spend time with those kids. As you may have gathered from other postings, I'm activively involved with my church's middle school youth ministry. We meet each Sunday evening, starting out with a small group time, followed by a worship service, and sermonette. Although each service is special and a great time to connect with the kids in my small group, as well as the others, a few hours on a Sunday night, is a only very small amount of time. These kinds of trips are a great way to connect with each child on a greater, more personal level. I know that this week I formed bonds that will last a long time.

Yes, there were a few girls I had some problems with, but the thing that I had to tell myself on a continual basis is that these kids just need to be loved. Some of these kids come from broken, or dysfunctional homes. Some of these kids are bullied at school. Some of them are even bullied at home, by their parents, the very people who are supposed to be their greatest protectors. For 4 days, I was mom to these girls, and bottom line, I love each one of them, smart mouths, attitudes, weird quirks, and all.

We spent a total of 12 hours on the bus together, we ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner together. We rode rides at Dollywood and shopped together. There were fights and the drama that goes hand in hand with being in middle school. We tubed down a river and braved the rapids together. We prayed and cried together during worship, and we laughed almost constantly. I learned  more about those girls in 4 days than I have in a year. I went on this trip to be a blessing, yet, I was the one who was blessed. 

It wasn't Hawaii or Florida. We didn't stay in a four star hotel or have the best tasting food in the world. But...I HAD A BLAST!

More of Alice Dear

Hello world! I bring you more of Alice...!

CHAPTER II

The Pool of Tears

`Curiouser and curiouser!' cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English); `now I'm opening out like the largest telescope that ever was! Good-bye, feet!' (for when she looked down at her feet, they seemed to be almost out of sight, they were getting so far off). `Oh, my poor little feet, I wonder who will put on your shoes and stockings for you now, dears? I'm sure I shan't be able! I shall be a great deal too far off to trouble myself about you: you must manage the best way you can; --but I must be kind to them,' thought Alice, `or perhaps they won't walk the way I want to go! Let me see: I'll give them a new pair of boots every Christmas.'

And she went on planning to herself how she would manage it. `They must go by the carrier,' she thought; `and how funny it'll seem, sending presents to one's own feet! And how odd the directions will look!

ALICE'S RIGHT FOOT, ESQ.
                HEARTHRUG,
                    NEAR THE FENDER,
                        (WITH ALICE'S LOVE).

Oh dear, what nonsense I'm talking!'
Just then her head struck against the roof of the hall: in fact she was now more than nine feet high, and she at once took up the little golden key and hurried off to the garden door.
Poor Alice! It was as much as she could do, lying down on one side, to look through into the garden with one eye; but to get through was more hopeless than ever: she sat down and began to cry again.
`You ought to be ashamed of yourself,' said Alice, `a great girl like you,' (she might well say this), `to go on crying in this way! Stop this moment, I tell you!' But she went on all the same, shedding gallons of tears, until there was a large pool all round her, about four inches deep and reaching half down the hall.
After a time she heard a little pattering of feet in the distance, and she hastily dried her eyes to see what was coming. It was the White Rabbit returning, splendidly dressed, with a pair of white kid gloves in one hand and a large fan in the other: he came trotting along in a great hurry, muttering to himself as he came, `Oh! the Duchess, the Duchess! Oh! won't she be savage if I've kept her waiting!' Alice felt so desperate that she was ready to ask help of any one; so, when the Rabbit came near her, she began, in a low, timid voice, `If you please, sir--' The Rabbit started violently, dropped the white kid gloves and the fan, and skurried away into the darkness as hard as he could go.

Alice took up the fan and gloves, and, as the hall was very hot, she kept fanning herself all the time she went on talking: `Dear, dear! How queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is, Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle!' And she began thinking over all the children she knew that were of the same age as herself, to see if she could have been changed for any of them.
`I'm sure I'm not Ada,' she said, `for her hair goes in such long ringlets, and mine doesn't go in ringlets at all; and I'm sure I can't be Mabel, for I know all sorts of things, and she, oh! she knows such a very little! Besides, she's she, and I'm I, and--oh dear, how puzzling it all is! I'll try if I know all the things I used to know. Let me see: four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and four times seven is--oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at that rate! However, the Multiplication Table doesn't signify: let's try Geography. London is the capital of Paris, and Paris is the capital of Rome, and Rome--no, that's all wrong, I'm certain! I must have been changed for Mabel! I'll try and say "How doth the little--"' and she crossed her hands on her lap as if she were saying lessons, and began to repeat it, but her voice sounded hoarse and strange, and the words did not come the same as they used to do:--

`How doth the little crocodile
              Improve his shining tail,
            And pour the waters of the Nile
              On every golden scale!

            `How cheerfully he seems to grin,
              How neatly spread his claws,
            And welcome little fishes in
              With gently smiling jaws!'

`I'm sure those are not the right words,' said poor Alice, and her eyes filled with tears again as she went on, `I must be Mabel after all, and I shall have to go and live in that poky little house, and have next to no toys to play with, and oh! ever so many lessons to learn! No, I've made up my mind about it; if I'm Mabel, I'll stay down here! It'll be no use their putting their heads down and saying "Come up again, dear!" I shall only look up and say "Who am I then? Tell me that first, and then, if I like being that person, I'll come up: if not, I'll stay down here till I'm somebody else"--but, oh dear!' cried Alice, with a sudden burst of tears, `I do wish they would put their heads down! I am so very tired of being all alone here!'
As she said this she looked down at her hands, and was surprised to see that she had put on one of the Rabbit's little white kid gloves while she was talking. `How can I have done that?' she thought. `I must be growing small again.' She got up and went to the table to measure herself by it, and found that, as nearly as she could guess, she was now about two feet high, and was going on shrinking rapidly: she soon found out that the cause of this was the fan she was holding, and she dropped it hastily, just in time to avoid shrinking away altogether.
`That was a narrow escape!' said Alice, a good deal frightened at the sudden change, but very glad to find herself still in existence; `and now for the garden!' and she ran with all speed back to the little door: but, alas! the little door was shut again, and the little golden key was lying on the glass table as before, `and things are worse than ever,' thought the poor child, `for I never was so small as this before, never! And I declare it's too bad, that it is!'
As she said these words her foot slipped, and in another moment, splash! she was up to her chin in salt water. Her first idea was that she had somehow fallen into the sea, `and in that case I can go back by railway,' she said to herself. (Alice had been to the seaside once in her life, and had come to the general conclusion, that wherever you go to on the English coast you find a number of bathing machines in the sea, some children digging in the sand with wooden spades, then a row of lodging houses, and behind them a railway station.) However, she soon made out that she was in the pool of tears which she had wept when she was nine feet high.

`I wish I hadn't cried so much!' said Alice, as she swam about, trying to find her way out. `I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by being drowned in my own tears! That will be a queer thing, to be sure! However, everything is queer to-day.'
Just then she heard something splashing about in the pool a little way off, and she swam nearer to make out what it was: at first she thought it must be a walrus or hippopotamus, but then she remembered how small she was now, and she soon made out that it was only a mouse that had slipped in like herself.

`Would it be of any use, now,' thought Alice, `to speak to this mouse? Everything is so out-of-the-way down here, that I should think very likely it can talk: at any rate, there's no harm in trying.' So she began: `O Mouse, do you know the way out of this pool? I am very tired of swimming about here, O Mouse!' (Alice thought this must be the right way of speaking to a mouse: she had never done such a thing before, but she remembered having seen in her brother's Latin Grammar, `A mouse--of a mouse--to a mouse--a mouse--O mouse!' The Mouse looked at her rather inquisitively, and seemed to her to wink with one of its little eyes, but it said nothing.
`Perhaps it doesn't understand English,' thought Alice; `I daresay it's a French mouse, come over with William the Conqueror.' (For, with all her knowledge of history, Alice had no very clear notion how long ago anything had happened.) So she began again: `Ou est ma chatte?' which was the first sentence in her French lesson-book. The Mouse gave a sudden leap out of the water, and seemed to quiver all over with fright. `Oh, I beg your pardon!' cried Alice hastily, afraid that she had hurt the poor animal's feelings. `I quite forgot you didn't like cats.'
`Not like cats!' cried the Mouse, in a shrill, passionate voice. `Would you like cats if you were me?'
`Well, perhaps not,' said Alice in a soothing tone: `don't be angry about it. And yet I wish I could show you our cat Dinah: I think you'd take a fancy to cats if you could only see her. She is such a dear quiet thing,' Alice went on, half to herself, as she swam lazily about in the pool, `and she sits purring so nicely by the fire, licking her paws and washing her face--and she is such a nice soft thing to nurse--and she's such a capital one for catching mice--oh, I beg your pardon!' cried Alice again, for this time the Mouse was bristling all over, and she felt certain it must be really offended. `We won't talk about her any more if you'd rather not.'
`We indeed!' cried the Mouse, who was trembling down to the end of his tail. `As if I would talk on such a subject! Our family always hated cats: nasty, low, vulgar things! Don't let me hear the name again!'
`I won't indeed!' said Alice, in a great hurry to change the subject of conversation. `Are you--are you fond--of--of dogs?' The Mouse did not answer, so Alice went on eagerly: `There is such a nice little dog near our house I should like to show you! A little bright-eyed terrier, you know, with oh, such long curly brown hair! And it'll fetch things when you throw them, and it'll sit up and beg for its dinner, and all sorts of things--I can't remember half of them--and it belongs to a farmer, you know, and he says it's so useful, it's worth a hundred pounds! He says it kills all the rats and--oh dear!' cried Alice in a sorrowful tone, `I'm afraid I've offended it again!' For the Mouse was swimming away from her as hard as it could go, and making quite a commotion in the pool as it went.
So she called softly after it, `Mouse dear! Do come back again, and we won't talk about cats or dogs either, if you don't like them!' When the Mouse heard this, it turned round and swam slowly back to her: its face was quite pale (with passion, Alice thought), and it said in a low trembling voice, `Let us get to the shore, and then I'll tell you my history, and you'll understand why it is I hate cats and dogs.'
It was high time to go, for the pool was getting quite crowded with the birds and animals that had fallen into it: there were a Duck and a Dodo, a Lory and an Eaglet, and several other curious creatures. Alice led the way, and the whole party swam to the shore.

Retraction

Today, another of my very close friends, got married. The chapel where the ceremony was  held was beautifully decorated in pink and black, the bridesmaids were arrayed in the same, and the bride was beyond radiant. She glowed.

I have been very vocal this past week about how much I hate weddings, that when it's my turn I'm going to elope...blah, blah, blah. Well, folks...I take it all back, because I realized that I do not hate weddings...I just don't particularly like weddings that aren't mine. Yeah, it sounds horrible I know, and perhaps hate is too strong a word, but as I've stated in previous postings, I have been in at least one wedding for the last 4 years. With the news of each new engagement, with each picture text received of the engagement ring, with each dress fitting, rehersal dinner, and ceremony, my despair would grow as what I ultimately want is once again waved before my face, only to remind me of what I do not have. So, to protect my soft heart that breaks a little bit more with each passing wedding, my mouth utters the hard words "I hate weddings". I don't, actually. At the risk  of sounding cliched, I'll say that they are beautiful events that capture the beauty of newfound love. Corny? Perhaps. True nonetheless? Yes.

So, to all of you who have heard that phrase uttered from my mouth these last few weeks, please disregard them, and know that I've said those words to shield myself from my discouragement and the fear that while my  friends start their married lives together, have families, etc, I will forever be alone...You have your coping mechanisms...I have mine.

I know what colors I want. I know what songs I want sung. I know who my bridesmaids will be. I know that I want it to be very small, with only our closest friends and family attending. I know that I want an evening wedding, and a reception area with a dance floor, so that I can dance with my dad and hubby in turn. Yes, I have very grandiose schemes and plans...I only lack one thing...the Groom. Teehee. It's ok. I know he'll get here in time. I've often joked with my  friends, that my husband is in Africa, he's walking, then he has to get in a row boat, then he has to walk some more...I could very well be 30 before he gets here. LOL. But of this I am sure, he IS coming. Ha.

In Honor of Alice

You'll probably remember from previous posts that I'm an unabashed lover of books. In this vein, I've decided to dedicate several postings to some of my favorite chapters from this blog's name sake, Alice in Wonderland.

Now, I'm sure most everyone is basically familiar with the story line, probably from the various movie productions of this book that have been made over the years. What, however, the movies have been unable to capture, in my humble opinion, is the absolute zany-ness of the story and the language. The dry humor is enough at times to make me literally laugh out loud. This is perhaps one of the most  nonsensical of nonsense stories, and it is for this precise reason that I love it so much.

So sit back and enjoy the first chapter of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.

Chapter I

Down the Rabbit Hole:

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, `and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice `without pictures or conversation?'
So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.
There was nothing so VERY remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so VERY much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, `Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!' (when she thought it over afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural); but when the Rabbit actually TOOK A WATCH OUT OF ITS WAISTCOAT- POCKET, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before see a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.
In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.
The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well.
Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was going to happen next. First, she tried to look down and make out what she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything; then she looked at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with cupboards and book-shelves; here and there she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs. She took down a jar from one of the shelves as she passed; it was labelled `ORANGE MARMALADE', but to her great disappointment it way empty: she did not like to drop the jar for fear of killing somebody, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as she fell past it.
`Well!' thought Alice to herself, `after such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling down stairs! How brave they'll all think me at home! Why, I wouldn't say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house!' (Which was very likely true.)
Down, down, down. Would the fall NEVER come to an end! `I wonder how many miles I've fallen by this time?' she said aloud. `I must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth. Let me see: that would be four thousand miles down, I think--' (for, you see, Alice had learnt several things of this sort in her lessons in the schoolroom, and though this was not a VERY good opportunity for showing off her knowledge, as there was no one to listen to her, still it was good practice to say it over) `--yes, that's about the right distance--but then I wonder what Latitude or Longitude I've got to?' (Alice had no idea what Latitude was, or Longitude either, but thought they were nice grand words to say.)
Presently she began again. `I wonder if I shall fall right THROUGH the earth! How funny it'll seem to come out among the people that walk with their heads downward! The Antipathies, I think--' (she was rather glad there WAS no one listening, this time, as it didn't sound at all the right word) `--but I shall have to ask them what the name of the country is, you know. Please, Ma'am, is this New Zealand or Australia?' (and she tried to curtsey as she spoke--fancy CURTSEYING as you're falling through the air! Do you think you could manage it?) `And what an ignorant little girl she'll think me for asking! No, it'll never do to ask: perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere.'
Down, down, down. There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began talking again. Dinah'll miss me very much to-night, I should think!' (Dinah was the cat.) `I hope they'll remember her saucer of milk at tea-time. Dinah my dear! I wish you were down here with me! There are no mice in the air, I'm afraid, but you might catch a bat, and that's very like a mouse, you know. But do cats eat bats, I wonder?' And here Alice began to get rather sleepy, and went on saying to herself, in a dreamy sort of way, `Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?' and sometimes, `Do bats eat cats?' for, you see, as she couldn't answer either question, it didn't much matter which way she put it. She felt that she was dozing off, and had just begun to dream that she was walking hand in hand with Dinah, and saying to her very earnestly, `Now, Dinah, tell me the truth: did you ever eat a bat?' when suddenly, thump! thump! down she came upon a heap of sticks and dry leaves, and the fall was over.
Alice was not a bit hurt, and she jumped up on to her feet in a moment: she looked up, but it was all dark overhead; before her was another long passage, and the White Rabbit was still in sight, hurrying down it. There was not a moment to be lost: away went Alice like the wind, and was just in time to hear it say, as it turned a corner, `Oh my ears and whiskers, how late it's getting!' She was close behind it when she turned to corner, but the Rabbit was no longer to be seen: she found herself in a long, low hall, which was lit up by a row of lamps hanging from the roof.
There were doors all round the hall, but they were all locked; and when Alice had been all the way down one side and up the other, trying every door, she walked sadly down the middle, wondering how she was ever to get out again.
Suddenly she came upon a little three-legged table, all made of solid glass; there was nothing on it except a tiny golden key, and Alice's first thought was that it might belong to one of the doors of the hall; but, alas! either the locks were too large, or the key was too small, but at any rate it would not open any of them. However, on the second time round, she came upon a low curtain she had not noticed before, and behind it was a little door about fifteen inches high: she tried the little golden key in the lock, and to her great delight it fitted!
Alice opened the door and found that it led into a small passage, not much larger than a rat-hole: she knelt down and looked along the passage into the loveliest garden you ever saw. How she longed to get out of that dark hall, and wander about among those beds of bright flowers and those cool fountains, but she could not even get her head though the doorway; `and even if my head would go through,' thought poor Alice, `it would be of very little use without my shoulders. Oh, how I wish I could shut up like a telescope! I think I could, if I only know how to begin.' For, you see, so many out-of-the-way things had happened lately, that Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were really impossible.
There seemed to be no use in waiting by the little door, so she went back to the table, half hoping she might find another key on it, or at any rate a book of rules for shutting people up like telescopes: this time she found a little bottle on it, (`which certainly was not here before,' said Alice,) and round the neck of the bottle was a paper label, with the words `DRINK ME' beautifully printed on it in large letters.
It was all very well to say `Drink me,' but the wise little Alice was not going to do THAT in a hurry. `No, I'll look first,' she said, `and see whether it's marked "poison" or not'; for she had read several nice little histories about children who had got burnt, and eaten up by wild beasts and other unpleasant things, all because they WOULD not remember the simple rules their friends had taught them: such as, that a red-hot poker will burn you if your hold it too long; and that if you cut your finger VERY deeply with a knife, it usually bleeds; and she had never forgotten that, if you drink much from a bottle marked `poison,' it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later.
However, this bottle was NOT marked `poison,' so Alice ventured to taste it, and finding it very nice, (it had, in fact, a sort of mixed flavour of cherry-tart, custard, pine-apple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered toast,) she very soon finished it off.

*       *       *       *       *       *       *

         *       *       *       *       *       *

     *       *       *       *       *       *       *

`What a curious feeling!' said Alice; `I must be shutting up like a telescope.'
And so it was indeed: she was now only ten inches high, and her face brightened up at the thought that she was now the right size for going though the little door into that lovely garden. First, however, she waited for a few minutes to see if she was going to shrink any further: she felt a little nervous about this; `for it might end, you know,' said Alice to herself, `in my going out altogether, like a candle. I wonder what I should be like then?' And she tried to fancy what the flame of a candle is like after the candle is blown out, for she could not remember ever having seen such a thing.
After a while, finding that nothing more happened, she decided on going into the garden at once; but, alas for poor Alice! when she got to the door, she found he had forgotten the little golden key, and when she went back to the table for it, she found she could not possibly reach it: she could see it quite plainly through the glass, and she tried her best to climb up one of the legs of the table, but it was too slippery; and when she had tired herself out with trying, the poor little thing sat down and cried.
`Come, there's no use in crying like that!' said Alice to herself, rather sharply; `I advise you to leave off this minute!' She generally gave herself very good advice, (though she very seldom followed it), and sometimes she scolded herself so severely as to bring tears into her eyes; and once she remembered trying to box her own ears for having cheated herself in a game of croquet she was playing against herself, for this curious child was very fond of pretending to be two people. `But it's no use now,' thought poor Alice, `to pretend to be two people! Why, there's hardly enough of me left to make ONE respectable person!'
Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under the table: she opened it, and found in it a very small cake, on which the words `EAT ME' were beautifully marked in currants. `Well, I'll eat it,' said Alice, `and if it makes me grow larger, I can reach the key; and if it makes me grow smaller, I can creep under the door; so either way I'll get into the garden, and I don't care which happens!'
She ate a little bit, and said anxiously to herself, `Which way? Which way?', holding her hand on the top of her head to feel which way it was growing, and she was quite surprised to find that she remained the same size: to be sure, this generally happens when one eats cake, but Alice had got so much into the way of expecting nothing but out-of-the-way things to happen, that it seemed quite dull and stupid for life to go on in the common way.
So she set to work, and very soon finished off the cake.

To be continued....

Alice in Wonderland
(c) Lewis Carroll

Technical Difficulties

Hello World!

I'm happy to inform you that I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. As you know, I've been having some technical difficulties regarding my internet, as well as actual computer equipment issues. On top of my continued no internet problem, a few weeks ago, the power cord to my Macbook broke in half. Yes, ladies and gentlemen...it just snapped in half. As if this wasn't bad enough, when I logged on to the Apple website a few short days later, I found that the necessary replacement would cost me about 80 bucks. No bueno.

As I bemoaned the situation to my dad, he suggested that I check Amazon.com to see if they had anything cheaper. Voila! They did. So, I ordered the part for 30 dollars instead of 80 and happily waited to receive it. And waited. and waited. Finally, almost 2 weeks, later it came.I excitedly tore open the package and hooked the cord into the wall and my laptop. It worked! Then, however, I noticed that in the top right hand side of the screen where usually there is a picture of a battery charging, it said instead the words, NOT CHARGING. What was the deal? It was plugged into the wall. I called Apple and spoke to a very helpful guy who informed me that my battery was depleted and that I needed a new one. *SIGH*. Could this get any worse I wondered. Apparently, yes, because 4 days later my "new" power cord also stopped working.


So...I've said all this to say, that the reason why there haven't been many updates of late, is because I only have access to a computer if I'm at someone else's house. So I am now in the process of returning the "new" power cord and contemplating whether I will again use Amazon to purchase another one, or just bite the bullet and pay an arm and a leg for one from Apple.

Wish me luck!