Lost a total of 30 pounds since my highest high that I know of which was 151 pounds, and am back to 121 pounds.

I exchanged a few messages with Eileen last night. She was perfectly polite and friendly, but I didn’t sense the same eagerness about hearing from me as I felt over finding her. IDK, I just would’ve thought she’d be more excited. Who knows, maybe she was. You can’t hear tones or see facial expressions online, so who knows? This is just something I sensed.

Anyway, she simply told me that she did remember me and thanked me for considering her to have been a kind person. She’s 58 now with 3 grown kids and 1 grandchild. She asked what was up with me and I gave her the highlights within a few paragraphs.

She hasn’t accepted my friend request yet, but that’s up to her. If I never heard from her again I’d be ok with at least knowing that I accomplished my main goal which was to find and thank her. Anything more is just a bonus.

I did get a friend request from a fellow camp group member, and a message from Gregg saying it was his pleasure to have been able to help me after I thanked him for his help. He says he loves that kind of detective work. I was glad to hear that as I was worried I was burdening him.

Wow, California has definitely been the “state of reunion” for me, even if there were a few unwanted attempts to reunite with me along the way.

I spoke to my folks yesterday and I’m both glad and not so glad I bothered to call, as I knew they’d bring up the shit with Tammy and her brood. I was about to just call it quits and hang up when my dad insisted, all the while my mom’s attitude was like fine-go-ahead, that they weren’t blaming me only. Well, that’s nice that they recognize that I’m not the only one who did things she shouldn’t have, but they almost made me feel like a kid being scolded all over again. I understand where they’re coming from, but still, I don’t need this shit in my life. It’s easy to tell myself, “Just walk away. Just wash your hands clean of all of them just like you did 10 years ago. You got along fine without them and you know you don’t want/need any negative people in your life or people you simply don’t care for.”

But it’s not that easy what with how much I appreciate their saving us like they did, and all the nice stuff they sent. Stuff is just stuff, I know, and it’s not a ticket for them to aggravate me, but because it was a minor thing where they just wanted to ensure that I won’t contact Tammy, I will keep in touch for now. Besides, it’s not like these people have many years left to live in the first place, and as I assured them, ignoring Tammy and company is my pleasure. Even if they sent a million messages a day I could just ignore them. If they lived a few feet away from us, they could make me pay attention to them, but they don’t. Those people can never hurt or control me ever again. None of them can. I will never see them again and the only ones I’ll talk to are my folks, and without others in the mix to start the he-said, she-said bullshit and come between us, we should be able to get along. This won’t stop Tammy from telling them things in my journal that I might not necessarily tell them myself which they may not agree with (like looking up personal info on people, posting the message about Valleyhead, finding Eileen), but as long as they don’t get pushy, controlling or demanding in any way, I’m ok with keeping in touch with them. And I’d say Tammy definitely mentioned Valleyhead and camp to them because of the way Dad worded things when he said, “That’s what you do. You look up people and places.” Well, I’ve never mentioned places to them in past letters, just info on various people like when Al M died and shit like that.

Meanwhile, things just aren’t the same and I doubt they ever will be again. My folks almost sounded cold, especially my mother. Like talking to me was a chore that they simply felt obligated to do because they’re my parents. I’m not saying they don’t care about what’s going on with us and that they don’t wish us the best, but well, it’s like we’re strangers in a way. Then again, I think we always have been, haven’t we?

Anyway, my folks are ok. They said they’ve never seen a recession this bad in their lives and that they can’t even save. And what they do save has to go to doctors. I’m sure their definition of saving is different than mine, though. We’re so broke that a savings of $20 is a luxury to us.

We have 6 old CRT monitors and Tom brought two of them to the recycling center today, planning to eventually take two more in, then keep a couple as a backup. Well, it’s a good thing he didn’t bring them all in today as the one he was using burned out, so he’s using one of the backups till he can get his Mac back.

I learned an easier way to peel bananas. You usually peel them from the stem, but if you turn the banana around and pinch the very ends of it, it peels much easier. It’s how monkeys do it.

I have some pretty exciting news! I not only got the name I’ve been looking for but made contact, too! Yay! Her name is Eileen.

I got up this morning and found a message from Gregg, saying that one of their alums gave him the names of the unit heads from 1976 and that they vaguely remember Eileen having a dog.

Someone else said she married a counselor there.

So now I had a name. A much more likely name than ever before.

But then I ran her name and got more hits than I knew what to do with. Especially without an exact age and knowing what state she currently resides in.

Then someone named Becky was kind enough to leave a message on the reunion site saying she vaguely remembers a Jodi being in her cabin, but she couldn’t picture her and didn’t remember anyone getting kicked out. Also, there was a unit head around that time who had a dog named Sidney, who fit the description I gave of the unit head.

For some reason, the dog’s name seemed more familiar as opposed to the name Eileen. So I sent Becky a PM, thanked her for her input, described myself, and gave her my photo albums link in case seeing me would help her remember anything more since I have had pictures throughout all my life there. Then, to see if Becky remembered anything else I told her the only other real memory I have of being in the cabin and that would – uh – that would be stealing some other girl’s barrette! I told her that my bunk was on the front wall of the cabin, maybe 3-4 bunks from the sidewall heading away from the door. In the next bunk to the right, closer to the wall, was a girl whose long hair I was jealous of because my mom wouldn’t let me grow mine much longer than the middle of my back. I don’t remember anyone’s names, but anyway, she had a large brown hair barrette and a colored one as well. Being the little devil that I was at the time, I stole one of them. Yeah, I wasn’t a very nice kid, LOL, though as I told Becky, I’d be happy to replace it now!

Becky told me the name of that girl and that seemed familiar, too. Then she sent me an email saying she’d Googled Eileen’s name and provided me with a link that had a photo which she was pretty sure was Eileen. It was a picture at an education site showing her, her daughter, granddaughter and mother. Without seeing a better picture taken from around the time I last saw her, I wouldn’t be able to look at it and go, “Oh, yeah, that’s definitely her!”

We seem to have a couple of things in common from what the article said, like writing and languages. I guess she spent some time in Denmark and learned the language. She seems to be mostly into business-related stuff, though, and has kids. When I looked her up on MySpace she came up as single, though the article spoke of her as married and it’s only a year old, so I don’t know if she’s still married or not. She seems to have done quite well for herself over the years and has led a very busy and productive life.

Had someone told me in Phoenix when my first attempt to locate her came to a dead-end that some guy in Georgia would help me find her 14 years later while I lived in California of all places, I’d have laughed my ass off!

This entry is getting way too long and so I’ll finish the story tomorrow. I’ll just sign off by saying that Brandy and the puppy came down today and this time it wasn’t quietly. The puppy barked just outside the porch. Tom said he thinks something happened to scare it, but I think it was playing. It not only distracted me from my work, but it really startled me. So I called up to let Jesse know his dogs were loose. Damn, I wish that guy would keep his dogs to himself! This is the whole reason we came out here; to try and finally escape this shit.

Up to $11.59 now on MT, but I’m afraid there are not going to be as many jobs as I hoped there would be. I’m also still owed about $20 in pending payments.

Oh, I keep forgetting to mention this and then I’ll sign off – I apparently scared off whoever the hell that really was that contacted me on FB claiming to be from outside of Thailand. I don’t know what their motives were, but when I confronted them with the fact that I ran their email and found them to be just 134 miles from here in a place called Mountain View, I never heard from them again.

Wow, no barking yet, though I’ve only been up an hour. I’m impressed. It’s their kind of barking weather, though certainly not mine. At this moment it’s 46º. And people think California’s always warm and sunny – haha! Every night from here on out till March I’ll be dreaming of Florida.

Today’s my 12th quit-smoking anniversary! I can just imagine the money I’ve saved over the years. I don’t think I’d be alive today if I hadn’t quit, but in the end, I didn’t have much choice. Sometimes things have to get to the do-or-die stage before change occurs.

My weight works as mysteriously as God. Yesterday I took the day off from both diet and exercise, slammed on a good 2000 calories or so of whatever, and woke up this morning to find I’d lost a pound. I can also imagine all the weight I’d lose – and how quickly – if I could only discipline myself with the diet part as well as I can with the exercise part. If not, I’ll forever bounce between 122-124 pounds.

Work has slowed down over the weekend as few requesters are around to pay the workers for their tasks. The good news, though, is that I think I can make closer to $10 a day if I do 60-70 jobs a day. It’s hard to tell exactly what I’ve made each day until all pending jobs are paid for, and of course I expect a few here and there to stiff me. After a week of not receiving payment, I’ll jot the names down of those people/companies and make sure I never do any other jobs for them again.

I won a fairy pendant from that doll company. I asked them what it was I won. I didn’t want them sending me crap I’d feel almost insulted to “win” and embarrassed for whoever made it like in Oregon. I saw a picture of it and it’s not too bad at all.

What should I do now? I think I’ll try to get my sister sent to jail for defending me when I lived back in S. Deerfield in 1991 and the Northampton Crisis Center insisted I killed my dad in 1984 (yeah, they had my files mixed up with someone else’s, alright!). But who the hell was she to get involved? After all, I was only her little sister. Shame on her for trying to stick up for me. She should’ve never given a damn, right? Right?

I’m 19% through French 101 with a score of 95%. So far it’s both harder and easier than expected. The grammar’s not too bad, but it’s going to take a long time to get used to hearing/speaking it. It’s kinda ugly. Usually, it’s the other way around and the grammar is the hardest part for me. It sounds so different than Spanish and Italian and even Portuguese, too. But when you’ve been hearing Spanish every day for two decades as opposed to French, it’s no wonder French sounds weird.

J’ai froid (I am cold)!

Since there’s less work today, I guess that means more entries from me on weekends.

The dogs are still quiet and I can’t help but wonder, would they be this quiet if Jesse wasn’t home? I’m afraid I would not like the answer to that question!

I suppose it’s a waste of time to try to figure people out, but I just don’t get them when it comes to defending them. They crucify you if you do stick up for them, and they crucify you if you don’t. They’re never happy no matter what!

Later…

The cold is making my ear act up. Anyway, it’s just after 8am which means Jesse will be taking off anytime between now and noon. It’ll be interesting to see how the dogs are then, though it should be warming up fast as it usually does in dry climates. Then again, it’s only supposed to get up to 65º. It will be back in the upper 70s next week.

The more I work at MT, the more I can see the possibility of making closer to $10 a day. I wish he’d hurry the hell up and get up already, so he can set me up to do transcriptions that pay more. We read the tutorials and style guides yesterday. I may be bad at a lot of things, but if there’s one thing I’m good at it’s typing.

So they say the new and historical insurance plan is to cover dental and vision, but I’ll believe it when and if I see it. I’m just glad they’re keeping the illegals out of it. That would’ve really driven the population up worse than China! Besides, I hate to give things unless it’s something I don’t want anyway. That’s another human trait I don’t get besides forgiveness. Why would people want to be giving any more than forgiving? Giving is how you get taken advantage of. Forgiving is how you get screwed over again. So no, I’ll never hold a grudge against Lisa for immaturely attacking me like that without politely and calmly asking me about what I did or didn’t say to my dad in an adult manner, but I’ll never forgive her. Why? So she can attack me again without giving me a chance to explain or defend myself? Sorry, but at nearly 44 years of age, I’m not obligated to explain or defend myself to anyone.

The sick neighbors we had didn’t allow me the luxury of ignoring them for 7 years, and this has only made me more determined to cut those of negative influence out of my life. I may not be able to destroy their memories. I may write about them from time to time. But they will never ever again get the chance to victimize, abuse, use or just plain annoy the hell out of me ever again. Not if I can help it! I’m sure my sister would deem that as “threatening” if she reads this too, hahaha!

Still haven’t decided on AdSense yet or if I’m going to continue journaling. I kind of like journaling where I can have some say in who comments about it. If KB really does have those controls included with 3.0 once they launch it, I might return there. It’s easier to choose the colors from their drop-down menu, but here I have to import them.

Yesterday morning there was some barking. Nothing maddening, but I can see how it’s going to get there the cooler the weather gets. Tom doesn’t think they’ll be a problem this winter because Brandy and Whiskey are older and the puppy will learn from them and follow their behavior. Yeah, that’s my optimistic hubby for ya! Brandy (I think it was her) just went off for a few seconds yet it’s the weekend and Jesse should be home. I hope she woke him up!

There she goes again. Great. Just great. So much for hoping it wouldn’t start up till next month! I’ll put the sound machine on so I can concentrate on my work. I’ll be working more today than yesterday because I need to give myself a day off from working out. My legs are like logs!

I almost met my $5-a-day goal yesterday. I made $4.48 that I know of. Meaning that there are several other jobs I did yesterday that are still pending. It usually takes a few days to receive payment. Once everything’s all paid, I should total around $20, plus whatever I make today. Our goal is to make at least $300 a month in extra money between the two of us.

They reactivated my Facebook account yesterday.

I’m going to give my folks a call, probably at the beginning of next week right after 5pm my time when I know they’re likely to be home, but not yet asleep.

Yay, just 999 days to go till he turns 55 and we can hopefully – hopefully – get the ball rolling towards getting a house in a senior community!

Meanwhile, I’ve been working and winning. Yep, I did say winning. From 2005 to early 2008 I won nearly 20K worth of stuff. Then it all stopped right along with the economy. I’m still not sweeping regularly, but I got a win notice from a doll company saying I was their monthly winner. Apparently, if you’ve subscribed to their newsletter, you’re automatically entered into their monthly contests. I once won from them up in Oregon, but you don’t always get dolls. If I remember correctly, I got some stupid handmade craft that looked like a two-year-old made. Watch, now that I’ve quit collecting dolls, it will be a doll!

We decided to set me up with an account on MT, so now we’re both workers there. I did 27 jobs in just a couple of hours and made a few bucks. I can see where we could easily make 3-5 hundred a month doing this! Eventually, I’ll do some transcriptions. That’s where the real money is.

It’s so nice to be working and making money, even if it’s not a lot! After the hell we’ve been through, getting “rich” and having “tons” of extra money no longer is a top priority for us. Of course we’d take millions of dollars if we could. We’re only human. Yet while extra money may be nice, as long as we can pay for our necessities, that’s plenty good enough for us.

I’ve been wanting a home job that’d pay a significant amount and not just a few bucks here and a few bucks there for so long now. Working at home I don’t have to worry about schedules, transportation, uniforms, or any evil coworkers/bosses.

I decided to spend the first few hours of my day doing everything else I usually do, then the rest of the day will be devoted to working. Of course I’ll take breaks to eat, exercise, run errands, etc.

Still haven’t decided if I want to do AdSense yet. Off to work now!

I realized that what my sister did really put a complex on me and could stop me from helping those who truly want to be helped in the future. About a decade ago I was harshly reminded that you not only can’t help those who don’t want help, but they can turn on you, too. Not just refuse your help, but literally spite you for trying to help. Because of this, I had to ask myself this: If I saw a guy abusing some woman somewhere, would I have the guts to try to help her? Or would I be paranoid that she would tell the cops when they arrived that I was the one trying to attack her or something like that?

I hope I won’t ever have to find out!

She once said I deserved it when I told her Ron once slapped me. This was back in the mid-80s. Can you believe it? “You deserve it,” she told me.

Yet I, along with any other sane, rational human being, know that no one deserves to be slapped. No one. If they’re not trying to harm you, your loved ones, or your property, no one deserves to be handled that way. Violence is not love. Although I threw the bastard out before I could take a hammer to his head in his sleep, her telling me that probably hurt me more than his slap. I was only around 21 at the time.

We’re looking for a site like MT that I could work at. I should be started with something somewhere within a day or two. Tom thinks I’d be best at jobs that involve writing, LOL, obviously. Oh, and I went back and re-read that chick’s message. She hasn’t been on the MT for 2 years but for 2 months.

I still can’t believe the judge fucked over Mary by reneging on the deal. Then again, I can. When you are the law, you can make it or break it at will. I don’t get how they expect people to testify if they keep backing out of the deals they make, though. Oh well, hopefully the asshole will get hit by a bus or something.

Upping my exercise time and working at the MT is going great so far! I’m down another pound, and Tom can easily see, after a few days of working at this site, that he could make at least $5 a day. And that’s a conservative guess, too. In another week or two, if it continues going well for him, we’ll open up my own account there. To bring in an extra $300 a month between the two of us would be awesome! In fact, it almost seems too good to be true as long as this site’s been around and as much praise as it’s gotten, so I’m not even going to get my hopes up just yet. Besides, I wouldn’t be living up to my pessimistic nature if I did, would I?

I was going to burn 400 calories on the bike each day, but if 350 is making a difference, then why go for 400 and aggravate my knees even more? My goal is to lose 13 more pounds which would put me at 110 pounds. Then, since it wouldn’t just stay there on its own at nearly 44 years of age, I’ll slack off on the diet/exercise till I float on up to 115. Once I hit 115, I’ll diet and ride on back down to 110 and just kind of bounce between that 5-pound range.

Once my schedule moves forward a little more we’re going to go apply for Medicaid since no one’s gonna give us shit. I tried to tell Tom that all this talk about insurance was bullshit. That’s how politics usually works; all talk and no action. If they really wanted to give us insurance, they would have. Seriously, why couldn’t they just have done it? I always believed that whether it’s a group or an individual, the more they talk about something without actually doing anything, the less serious they are about whatever it is they “say” they’re gonna do.

It’s getting down to 47º tonight so I’ve got the portable going in the bedroom. We agreed to sic the heating on Jesse. He’s the one with money. But we don’t want it to be too noticeable on the electric bill either, so we’re just going to stall firing up the trailer’s heater, which runs on propane, till it gets cold enough that we can’t open windows in the daytime. If it’s like it was last year, it shouldn’t get too bad till December.

Later…

I can already tell the barking is going to be an issue again soon. We’re having another cool day in what’s been over a week, and sure enough, I heard a few scattered barks throughout the wee hours of the night and into the early morning. Thank God construction workers get a lot of time off! However, he does go out every single day, working or not. It’s when he’s out that I have to deal with it. Brandy and Whiskey may know me, but the puppy doesn’t. So when it becomes a problem, yelling up to be quiet may not do me any good. I just hope this guy doesn’t go adding any more dogs to his collection for me to have to deal with while we’re still here! Why does everyone out here have to have at least 3 dogs and leave them outside 24/7???

At least we have the MT to look forward to, plus a few other neat sites that’ll pay a little here and a little there. We’re thinking we may use money from the MT to start his horse program at some point, but I can’t discuss that much here. The more people that know about it, the less we could make. He’s been fine-tuning/testing it since being laid off, but it’s needed about $50 to jump-start it and we haven’t wanted to spend the money till we were doing better. If the program could generate a lot of money fast, then we would have, but since we expect it to gradually build up, we didn’t see the need to rush into it.

For a while there, I didn’t want to kill myself, but I stopped feeling like I had anything worth living for. But now, for the first time in months, I actually feel like I have a reason to get up for each day (or night in some cases). Just maybe we won’t always be so damn broke, and just maybe we will have something above and beyond this quiet, cozy, but old and dumpy little trailer in a few years, and we too, can have our own share of that so-called American dream.

Or maybe God’s just waiting for the right moment to yank the carpet out from under our feet yet again, laugh and say, “And you thought you were going to get ahead and get into the driver’s seat of your life – ha!”

I sure hope not, though, and would like to think He could never hate us that much, but only time will tell. I don’t want to be negative, but I don’t want to get my hopes up either despite the more positive feeling and outlook I’m coming to have on things.

A fellow kiwier sent me a link to what seems to be a great site. It’s not for paid emails or surveys or anything. You just play their daily game, answer the daily question, refer friends, and you can choose from a huge variety of prizes with your points. The cool part is that it shouldn’t take forever to be able to get something. I’ve been working for months just to get a lousy $10 Walmart card from Memolink! Just as soon as I get it, I’m done with them.

How frustrating! I finally got some names from Gregg yet ended up with the very problem I was afraid I’d end up with. Unfortunately, he only had names from ’77 and ’78 and nothing from ’76, which I think is the most likely year that I was at Camp Naomi. I ran some of the names, but the problem is that you have to pay to send messages on most sites except for Facebook and MySpace. So I sent several messages to people with the names he gave me, then FB decided I must be spamming and disabled my account. rolls eyes Oh well, it’s only Facebook. I almost never use FB or MS, and when I do it’s usually cuz of some contest. I have been messaging Jessie on FB, though, so I told her to go back to emails until I get the account squared away and reactivated, and I think I will. Still, they need to come up with a better way to send multiple messages to those who aren’t “friends.”

I’m grateful to Gregg for taking the time to come up with the names for me, but if any of them are the person I’m looking for, I don’t know where to begin as far as making contact goes. None of the names jumped out at me. I still say it’s someone from ’76. I already know who the unit head of ’74 was and we don’t remember each other, so it’s almost certainly someone from ’76. I wish it were the same people every year! But it’s just a summer temp job, so the unit heads and nurses change every year. I’m also almost certain it was a unit head. I doubt she could’ve been a nurse because we spent the whole morning together. It’s hard to believe we could’ve hung out together and played with her dog in the woods all morning long without her having to see anyone had she been a nurse.

Damn! I wish I still had that Polaroid she gave me! It should have a year on it. If it said something like 1971, that wouldn’t mean much if it were taken years before the earliest I could’ve possibly been there, but if it said 1975 or 1976, that’d confirm that no, I wasn’t there in 1974. And somehow I doubt she’d have taken a Polaroid of the dog to camp that had been taken years ago.

sighs Guess there’s nothing else either of us can do at this point. I’m just not meant to know who she was. All I can do is hope she gets curious enough to check for anything online like I did and happens to stumble upon my posts and remembers me. She should remember more than me. She was an adult. At least we tried! Maybe in another 14 years, I’ll come even closer.

I’m having doubts about doing the AdSense thing.

Tom’s still working at that site I mentioned yesterday. I got a comment on KB from someone saying they’d been working there for two years, but they have dial-up, so they can’t do much. Tom said he thinks he can do even more once he gets his Mac back, though that’s not looking likely till November. Meanwhile, he’s only doing small jobs to make sure he really is going to get paid for at least most of them. If so, then he’ll move on to bigger jobs that pay more.

At the end of my day yesterday I had become convinced that upping my daily calorie burn wasn’t going to help and that I should cut my calories some more (not that I want to lose more weight bad enough to actually do so), but now I’m not so sure. I awoke down half a pound, even though I should be up. I had around 2000 cals yesterday and only burned 300. Today’s goal is 400. Every hour I ride off 30. Gotta go do that now!

Later…

I thought I’d stop in and do a little update, even though it’s not much of one. I’ve got a total of 330 calories burned on my hourly bike rides, but now my knees are starting to get to me, so I might not make my goal of 400 today. When I’m able to do 400 a day, that should amount to just under an hour of riding.

It’s cloudy and cool today. We have the windows shut and the fans turned off. We’ll need to open windows later, but probably not until the afternoon. I’m just glad it’s not going down to 28º tonight like it will in K-Falls!

Let’s see, what else. I haven’t started the French course yet, but I reviewed a little Italian and Portuguese, I worked on my story, I proofread/edited old journals, plus I did my usual online work and hobbies. Listened to music for a while, too.

Later…

OK, I brought my total burn to 350 calories and now my knees are saying, “No more today!” So 400 will just have to wait.

I feel like writing, but have nothing to say. I hate coming to the end of my day and not being ready to sleep, but not awake enough to do anything productive. Guess I’ll just go play some Yahoo games.

Working at Mechanical Turk is going well, Tom said after his first day on the job. This thing’s been around for 4 years now. How it would’ve helped to have known about this back in the motel! Even when he was first laid off. He doesn’t expect it to pay what a regular job pays, but it’s looking like it will generate a hell of a lot more extra money than the paid emails/surveys ever could.

As for me, I just might get paid for journaling after all, LOL! I always did say I wanted to get paid for my work too, though it wouldn’t be the journals themselves I’d be paid for. LiveJournal has this thing where if you upgrade for $20, AdSense will insert ads into your journal and you make money every time someone clicks on them. I’m not sure I want to do this. I’m going to take my time and think about it. I don’t like paying to get paid, but if I’m going to get paid more than I paid, it might be worth it.

I’ve tweaked my diet routine again. Actually, I tweaked the exercise part of it. Rather than lower my daily calorie intake, I decided to up the daily calories I burn. I’m burning 30 each hour that I’m awake on the bike. So if I do at least 14 of these hours that’s 420 burned! About one of my two main meals. If this fails to get me out of the rut I’ve been stuck in – fine. I’m not lowering my cals anymore than I have. So if it doesn’t work, then I’ll stay in the low-mid 120s.

I have what may be some good news, but first, I was reading about how Susan Atkins died a few days ago. I was always fascinated with the Manson case. Disgusted as with any other heinous crime, but fascinated nonetheless. Andy was once in the house Sharon Tate and the others were killed in which they were renting at the time. He thought it strange to be standing in the exact spot on the lawn in which Abigail Folger was stabbed to death and looking up at the rafters inside the house that they slung the ropes over.

It makes me wonder yet again what kind of afterlife may or may not await us. Is Susan in hell? Is there even a hell? Is she having this grand confrontation with Sharon? Has Sharon forgiven her (I hope not)? Or could it be that God’s saying to Susan, “It’s a good thing you killed Sharon’s unborn child? He only would’ve grown up to rape and murder dozens of women.”

Guess we’ll never know till our own time comes.

We’re still getting our mail delivered to the UPS Store for free. This is because when they switched locations they messed up their records.

Tom went to check for messages on the cell phone and was surprised to find there weren’t any minutes left. Knowing that that couldn’t be, he called them from the landline and found he was being charged a dime every time someone would call. And with all the things we do online, that’s like every other minute. So they said that was an error on their part and they gave him more minutes than he lost, but they’re still charging him, so he’s gotta call back on Monday.

Passed Portuguese 202 with a 90%. Next, it’s on to French, then maybe German, then Romanian.

Ok, the good news that I HOPE really is good news. First, I awoke in the early evening and told Tom I had a dream where we were once again in a two-story house. I don’t get the two stories since we both agree we want to stick to small places from now on. Not microscopic like this 500-square-foot trailer, but 1000 square feet would suit us just fine. 1200-1500 would be most comfy, but we could get by just fine with 1000, and believe me, 1000 would be a luxury to us! I no longer collect dolls, and once we get a place of our own, I’m going to take what dolls I don’t end up selling and enclose them in a case of some kind so that they’re not scattered all over the place. This way I also won’t have to dust the damn things.

So anyway, I not only have this dream about the house, but about receiving insurance come Christmastime, and something about a job. Only I couldn’t recall what the job was about for the life of me.

Interestingly enough, though, Tom may have a pretty decent home job that’s actually legit and that doesn’t ask you to pay to work for anyone or waste your time seeing if you qualify for something. It’s recommended for college kids or people who are between jobs. I don’t think you could make enough to live on, but it might be a damn good way to supplement your income. Way better than any of the survey or paid-email sites. He learned about making money on Amazon through an article he read. I guess there’s a huge database with a network of companies that want everything from comments to reviews, pictures, opinions, general information, etc. It’s a bunch of companies looking to gather info that would rather pay tons of people pennies apiece to give them that info, rather than hire someone. Most of the things only pay a few cents, but there are millions of different things that could really add up. We’re hoping it will anyway. Some expire in hours, some days, some up to a year. One company was willing to pay 35¢ for posting a picture of a birthday cake that you made. Another paid 3¢ just to be told what gender you were. Some of the funnier ones asked how long it took for rigor mortis to set into a guinea pig and if you had experience talking with ghosts.

The biggest thing is being honest, taking your time, and not doing it when you’re tired. He’s going to be checking it out on his own for a while and if it amounts to anything significant I’ll create my own account. We’ve wanted a home job for ages now, especially for me who doesn’t drive and can’t keep a damn schedule. As long as I had a few free hours each day to hang with him, clean, work out, and do some writing, I’d work from the minute I got up till the minute I crashed if they were willing to PAY ME FOR MY DAMN TIME AND EFFORT!

We thought Bendejo was dying, but then he got better. Now he’s acting like he’s on his way out again. Something’s wrong with his back leg. It’s like it’s either injured or he has arthritis. Well, he and his brother are getting old for rats. I’m gonna turn them loose to explore, run around and exercise soon. For how long? I guess until they abuse their freedom. I don’t know what it is with these guys. Other rats we could leave out for hours and they wouldn’t usually be too destructive. They’re trained to a degree, but male rats aren’t nearly as smart as females. In the daytime, it doesn’t matter as much as they’re just gonna look for a place to crash all day. Puerco usually sleeps in the closet while Bendejo sleeps under the couch or on the bed.

Although I’m sticking to paid email sites, I’ve given up on surveys again. Too much time just to be told I don’t qualify. They should at least give you something for taking the time to answer the pre-qualifying questions!

Tom and I did a worst-case-scenario budget for the rest of the year, and since we’ve smartened up with money, we should not only be ok but we should also be able to get his Mac back in November. And this is without any extras. No jobs, no birthday/holiday money, no online job payments, no wins, no eBay sales, no nothing. All we have to do is hope no curve balls that we can’t see are thrown at us.

Hey, I made Journal of the Day two entries ago on KB! Cool.

Our check was mailed yesterday, so it should arrive today since it’s only coming from Sacramento.

Sadly, but not surprisingly, there are all kinds of editorials on how reviled Mary is and why, and a slew of opinions expressed for what the future may hold for her. I only hope most of what they’re counting on is wrong! They’re basically painting a picture of a woman who is still young, dumb and naïve and bound to end up barefoot and pregnant all over again. These are people who obviously have never been brainwashed and controlled by fear and intimidation. Yes, she failed to protect her kid by not getting her away from the monster she was with. She herself has never denied that. She regrets letting the fear and threats stop her. But I also don’t think she should be held accountable for HIS actions.

And as for how much she’s learned. Mary may still be too trusting in some ways, but I think she’s learned a lot and matured over the years. Her writing skills alone show that she’s not dumb. She may not be a genius, but the potential is there. Unfortunately, however, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if she did go back to having babies. It’s all she ever knew. It’s just what Mary does just like learning languages is what I do. I don’t know how the hell she’ll afford it, and I hate to see the kid suffer and be teased in school on account of its mother’s past, but who knows? Maybe she’ll surprise everyone in that department and not have any more children. Either way, it’s her life. She has to make these decisions herself. I will support her either way as a friend, but I will also be as honest as I can be, too. I’m not going to encourage her to return to smoking, for example, just because she may want to. Those things kill. They nearly killed me.

I was a little surprised to learn her lawyer’s been representing her for free. For some reason, I thought her family was paying him. I was also surprised to read she’d be let out with no financial or family support. But what about her brother? Also, I thought her family had money. I think they’ve been sending her $200 a month but can’t say for sure.

Later…

I love the cool colors the KB journals have that are so easy to access/use, but I am SICK TO DEATH of the tech issues! Millions of other sites don’t have all these problems, so why must KB? I got annoyed enough to make entries at the other journal sites, not sure if I’d get fed up with KB for the millionth time and take off for a while.

It’s been in the 90s all week. Wish it could stay this way forever!

It was payday today which means I’m eating like a pig, not working out, and just taking the day off to do whatever. I chatted on FB with Jessie and I’m not even doing any cleaning. I’ve probably had more calories today than I usually have in 3 days! I am going to get in some writing, though. I’m working on two stories at once. Hey, the ideas come faster than I can turn them into stories, even short ones. I know some people say their best writing moments take place in the daytime and that the beginning of a story is the hardest for them, but for me, it’s just the opposite. I’m a nighttime writer who’s really on a roll during the first few chapters. So when I’m on nights I let that creativity come out. It’s almost 10pm here, so my creative side will probably be flowing till around 5am, though I’ll take breaks to eat and listen to music here and there.

Uh-oh. clutches tummy Maybe I’ll be paying for all that candy I ate instead. :(

I knew it, I just fucking knew it! I always did say that when it comes to anyone in law enforcement or the media you can’t believe a word they say, and it’s so true. It started with me wondering why it’s been 3 weeks since Mary’s been released yet hasn’t contacted me. Would she have decided, either before or after the release, that she didn’t want to bother with me on the outside? I asked myself. Anything’s possible, but it just doesn’t seem like something she would do.

So then I jumped online to see what I could find and what I did find had me bursting into tears of both anger and sadness. The fucking lying, scumbag of a judge overrode her plea agreement and she’s now on her way to prison till June of 2011! What the fuck’s the point of having a plea agreement if the judge isn’t going to stick to it? And how much more must she be punished? She’s not the one who killed her kid. Isn’t the guilt of knowing she failed to protect the kid punishment enough? Nothing’s ever going to bring her kid back, and nothing’s ever going to ease her guilt about it. She’s already been punished for life and then some. And after she gets out she’ll have two years of probation.

The shit of a judge fucked up even more by giving the Monster life instead of the death he deserves which the jury had recommended. It’s life with no parole, but it’s LIFE nonetheless.

I think I know why the fucking cock overrode the agreement, too. Well, obviously most pigs, lawyers and judges love the power and feeling of control that comes with playing with people’s heads and lives and getting them all psyched up for nothing, but I think they only “agreed” to the agreement just to get her testimony, not that she wouldn’t have testified anyway. Believe me, she was more than looking forward to being Gretchen’s voice. I also think the judge wanted to keep her locked up for as many more of her childbearing years as possible. Either way, it happens all the time. They promise you this and they promise you that. Then when they get what they want from you they turn around and stab you in the back. This is EXACTLY what I feared would happen. It wasn’t a vibe either, just plain logic and knowing how twisted the system is. They always tell you things will be “fine” or make deals they know they’re not going to keep.

Just read some more where it says the State Attorney’s Office was involved in reneging on the deal, not the judge, although one report did say it was up to the judge. But it doesn’t matter as a legal deal is a deal and it should remain as is. This is why I don’t trust or believe anything they promise about medical insurance and why I’m ready to just go and apply for Medicaid, even if it means waiting all day with a million screaming kids whose mothers don’t even try to shut them up.

2011 – damn! That’s nearly two more years. I’m just as furious as I am sad for her. She’s gotta be really hurting. If I didn’t know any better I’d tell her to file an appeal, but appeals don’t work so what’s the point? And being white and female doesn’t help either. But she’s a very strong person. I don’t think I could’ve survived all she has and come as far as she has. Even if she has to pretend God cares about her as a means of coping, she’ll make it through. If she can make it through 10 years of jail, she can do a couple in prison. Prison is much easier, though it can also be more dangerous from what I’ve heard. If someone with a life sentence with no chance of parole feels like killing someone because they have a nasty old headache that just won’t quit, what have they got to lose? Strong or not, I can just imagine how scared and devastated she must be right now, the poor thing!

Meanwhile, I emailed her shit lawyer (yeah, I wonder just how much he may’ve known beforehand, although he did seem shocked in the video clip I saw) and asked that he hang onto the things we sent and give them to her when she finally is released. And of course, who knows if they’ll even let her out in 2011? It wouldn’t surprise me if they pulled another fast one on her at that time, though more than likely that would be to extend her probation afterward, not her sentence.

If Tom and I had known what was to happen in my case 10 years ago we’d have run for damn sure, and it’s not like there weren’t red flags all over the place. There were. They called me in for a little pre-sentencing interview and some of the questions asked were: Are you going to try to fight your case? And: What is your property worth?

Now what in the world does my property value have to do with the issue at hand? I thought at the time. It was like they were trying to get a sense of what they could take me for and how easily they could do it. But like a fool, I believed my lawyer when he said everything would be ok and that it was just “routine,” especially since I knew that of all the times I’d done something wrong, this wasn’t one of them. We weren’t shown any of the falsified evidence until just minutes before sentencing and we didn’t yet know that the pig on the case was friends with the people trying to screw me. It’s one scary, twisted world we live in, huh? And if what happened to me could happen to me, it could happen to anybody! So no matter what they try to threaten or bluff you with, never talk to a pig that may drag you in for interrogation. Never! If they threaten to lock you up if you insist on a lawyer being present – let them!

Still nothing from Gregg. I hope he doesn’t blow me off, but I think in the end he’ll either acknowledge that he couldn’t find out anything or will be able to provide me with a name. I think getting a name should be the easy part if they keep records. It’s making contact that may be hard.

Later…

Tom and I were discussing Mary’s case. He agrees that while she got screwed over – no doubt about that – some good could come of this. The prison may be able to line up a job for her afterward that she couldn’t normally just go out and get wherever. It may also help make the transition back into the real world easier.

He’s got a point, but it still sucks to see the courts, who are supposed to uphold laws, agreements, deals, etc., make and break the rules at will. The courts could tell me that I must either testify or go to prison for life and I STILL wouldn’t buy it! If I testified it would be because I wanted to and that’s what I alone chose to do. And no, the truth will not always set you free. You shouldn’t lie in court, but you shouldn’t admit to anything either. She gave them 10 years of her life, she gave them the testimony needed to put the Monster away that killed her baby, and she was a model inmate. And this is how the fucking judge pays her back? Way to go, Judge! May you one day soon enough be on your way to fuck up someone else’s life and drop dead of a heart attack before you get the chance to do it!

Really, how do these people play God with so many people’s lives and not be at least somewhat fearful of retaliation from either the people they’re playing with or their families? I’d never have the guts to be a judge. And have to watch my back everywhere I went? No thanks! I would think that sooner or later, whether the person deserved what I gave them or not, someone just may decide to play God with my own life in return.

I swear that poor girl is way more cursed than I’ve ever been and I’m 12 years older. I can totally relate to the frustration, depression and anguish she’s got to be feeling right now. Her trust in the system is no doubt shot to hell. I gave the state of Arizona everything. Everything. And that includes taking it upon myself to seek a therapist before I was even sentenced, even if it was mostly to deal with the stress they themselves were putting on me. But enough was never enough for that state and nothing was ever good enough for the vindictive control freaks that we’re supposed to be able to trust to do the right thing. I was white. The “opponent” was black. And I was in a city growing so fast that getting as many people as possible in jail or on probation was a major profit for it. So it wasn’t just about power and control. It was a money and race issue as well.

Tom says this is a common thing going on lately in Florida and that a lot of people are getting screwed there. This is part of why the population is dropping there for the first time ever. People GO to Florida, they don’t LEAVE it. But this is exactly what’s been happening lately. The birthrate and immigration rates are dropping, too – yay! I hope it doesn’t pick up along with the economy, but the dropping birthrate (with the exception of 2007) has more to do with the Women & Work movement than anything else. Women are getting more and more pressured to skip kids and work hard, and a lot more of them want to do so anyway, regardless of what may be hip and trendy at the time. That’s ok, though, with all the damn people in this country, there’ll still be too many people!

Some people have wondered why I’m so angry so much of the time. Well, this is just one of many reasons, and no, I don’t feel bad or wrong about my feelings/emotions. I’d have to wonder about myself if I DIDN’T feel some anger at times.

In better news, after switching to the alcohol-based mouthwash, gargling in saltwater and returning to yogurts, my mouth is much better. Yay, I can move on to a new problem now! Hey, variety is the spice of life, right? rolls eyes

Damn this entry’s long! What else? Nothing. I’d rather have nothing going on than bad things going on, but I still wish the economy and whatever’s up there would kindly let us move on and quit holding us back as it has for nearly a year now. sighs Most people would love to get paid to sit on their asses, but still, it’s time to move on!

Why oh why must I always have something going on with me? Everything else is fine, but a few days ago I noticed what felt like a burning sensation under my tongue. Then it got worse over the next couple of days and my mouth felt totally gross. My entire tongue and insides of my cheeks were aflame with irritation, even though I was brushing my teeth and rinsing with mouthwash like crazy. I knew at this point that it couldn’t be gingivitis and was worried I had some infection that would need antibiotics. Remember, I’m one of God’s oh-so-lucky ones to be chosen to be poor, on unemployment, and without insurance. You know, the one that just can’t get ahead due to circumstances totally out of her control?

So anyway, I was inspecting my tongue in the mirror and was horrified to find the entire top of my tongue was all discolored. Then Tom did some research and found it could be what’s called thrush and it could be caused by running out of yogurt like I did. It turns out that it’s nothing that isn’t supposed to be there, as we always have bacteria and yeast in our mouths. It’s just overkill with me right now. The yogurt supposedly balances these things out, especially if you’re eating it every day like I was. Then when you suddenly stop, it can cause things to get out of balance. There are things a doctor can give you to ease the symptoms faster, but it can make you more prone to having it come back because antibiotics can cause yeast infections. I used to get them all the time in my crotch when I was young. So we’re treating it by having me gargle with salt water and switching to an alcohol-based mouthwash. I’ll also go back to the yogurts.

It’s not as bad as when my ear and teeth act up, but it’s annoying enough. I also don’t understand why I just HAVE to have something. If it isn’t one thing it’s another. Why can’t I go a whole week with nothing going on??? Even the chest pains and pains in my left arm are back again, though I still seriously doubt anything’s wrong with my heart. I run or ride 5 miles nearly every day, I don’t smoke, I eat right, I got my weight under control, so I should have a healthy heart.

Last night I heard the strangest sound at 2am when I went into the bathroom. At first I wasn’t sure what it was until I stuck my ear in the open window. It was 2-3 dogs barking so hysterically as if something were trying to kill them. Then they just suddenly stopped. As suddenly as if a switch were flicked. Since when do dogs suddenly just stop barking? Especially that kind of wild, frantic barking? I couldn’t tell where it was coming from. Either far away or someplace close that was enclosed. I’d love to say it was Jesse or the renters’ dogs, but I know I couldn’t get that lucky, as quiet as they’ve been. I can’t imagine what could be out here that could kill two or more dogs in an instant if that’s what really happened. To my knowledge, there are no bears or wolves here. Just coyotes and deer and deer aren’t usually active at night. I didn’t hear any gunshots either.

Anyway, the paid emails and survey sites are really picking up. I’ve got nearly $100 racked up at about half a dozen sites. I’d gladly settle for making just $100 a month! The paid emails are better. You make more with surveys, but you usually don’t qualify for surveys, so that’s why I like the paid emails. You’re guaranteed to get paid that way.

Back down 1½ pounds which usually happens after a couple of days of having just 1000 calories and burning 200 of them working out.

I sure have a lousy bone structure when it comes to the face. The area where the cheek and jaw meet is so wide that my face looks huge and round no matter what I weigh.

Jesse came down in his truck to get something from his shit pile. I wish all his 10,000 vehicles were that quiet. I never would’ve known he came down if Tom hadn’t seen him.

It’s strange having a husband who’s 150 pounds heavier than me. I hope he can find the willpower, for once and for all, to lose some weight for the sake of his health before it causes him any problems, even though I still think the connection between obesity and health problems is hyped up. Being underweight causes more problems. I know. I’ve been there.

Got a really nice letter from Rosa. I’m not only impressed with how much English she’s learned, but how well she spells and writes it. For some reason, most people’s English in the US is terrible. They can’t spell and their grammar sucks. But she does really well for someone whose native language isn’t English.

She said that’s neat that I’ve kept a journal for so long (I might send her excerpts from County) and that I can always go back and see what has changed. Well, like most people, I’m not the same person I was 10 years ago. My attitude, beliefs, tastes and goals have changed in many ways, and I’m sure they will be different from what they are today in another 10 years, but that’s not my main reason for keeping a journal. I find it a fun way to record the good times and a good way to vent the bad times, not that I can’t vent to Tom and my friends, but writing and talking are just different. I also find it handy to refer back to certain details I may’ve forgotten, like what town in Maine Camp Naomi was in.

Then again, there is another cool thing about journaling and that’s not only to laugh at the funny times but to be glad that the bad times are just a memory. Like the noise and lack of privacy we had at the duplex, being sandwiched in like we were there by the duplex to one side, and the nut attached to us on the other. Paula laughed, not that she didn’t also sympathize with me when I said that I wished I could open the bathroom window there to let the steam out since there was no fan to suck it out, but that they were always hanging out back there and I could practically pop the screen out and shake hands with them! Well, they ended up hearing from me in return when I finally decided to stop being considerate of those who weren’t considerate of us and started blasting my music. And running around and stomping and banging on moving day was loads of fun, too!

She said I can write her in Portuguese when I finish learning it. Well, I’m not finished yet, but I can throw in a few phrases in my next letter.

Rosa’s not with her husband anymore. He’s remarried with kids. I also misunderstood when she said she gets visits from her son and mom. She actually hasn’t seen her son in 7 years or her mom in 10, though she does call them in Mexico periodically. Her only visits are a couple from a church that sees her a few times a year. Yeah, the church can be as caring and compassionate as they are hateful and bigoted. I’m sorry I can’t visit her, though I’m also not at all sorry to be out of that damn state, even if I miss a few aspects of it.

She said she can’t believe I’m down to 122 pounds and I should probably stop right there or else I’ll blow away. laughs I don’t think she remembers how short I am. I’d actually look ok as low as 100 (Tom disagrees) but will settle for 115. So, 7 more pounds to go!

She also made me a card that she wrote in Spanish which is cool so I get to read at least some Spanish. Other than that, she says not much happens there. They’re just a bunch of women in orange doing time. Hey, orange sure beats those hideous black and white stripes at Estrella!

It was a good day for samples. Dove shampoo and conditioner, shampoo and conditioner from some other company, blueberry cornflakes cereal – can’t complain there! Probably won’t be back to the mail place till check day next Thursday.

Tom said he read this article listing the worst singers around. He was shocked to find that Madonna was one of the ones listed. We agree she’s not great, but she’s adequate enough. Then Miley shows up, and again, quite like myself, she’s not great, but she’s certainly good. Between a 7-8. The biggest shocker of all was Celine Dion. She may be a little bit ugly, at least in my opinion, but I would think most people would agree she’s a fantastic singer. Her accent just sounds goofy at times. Guess it’s just a matter of opinion, though I think Paris Hilton should definitely have made that list along with Kelly Osbourne. They’re almost as bad as I used to be!

He also read that while Spanish is easier than Italian, and French is the hardest romance language, which I already knew, German is said to be the easiest language to learn if your native language is English. I guess it has some similarities to English. Maybe someday I’ll check it out and find out if it’s true.

They live inside my head. Those things called memories. And I know there’s got to be more memories of my days at Camp Naomi, as brief as they were, and as long ago as they were. I just wish I could dig them up!

Getting really sick of hearing about celebs adopting kids from other countries. Not only do I not understand why you’d want kids just so a nanny can raise them, but what’s wrong with adopting a kid who lives here? Why does it always have to be foreigners with them? It’s like the kids in their own damn country aren’t good enough for them or something.

I guess all I had to do was bitch about it in yesterday’s entry cuz now my weight’s dropping again. I’d say I was just getting too carried away with the junk and drinking too much soda. Drinking water instead of soda, even if it’s calorie-free, makes a huge difference for some reason. My goal: To bust under the 120-marker, though it may take a while to do it.

Did a variety of things throughout the day, as usual. Took the next Portuguese lesson, reviewed Italian, worked on my story, cleaned the oven and bathroom, worked out, etc.

I was going to call my folks today at 5 PT, but then I decided it was too close to my last letter to them, so I’ll wait a week or two.

If they told Charlotte I’m working on my 5th language and expanding up my 4th, she’ll think they’re joking or I’m crazy, LOL!

I hated to bring up my problems with Tammy and her brood to them. I always thought low of those who couldn’t simply go to the source of their troubles and face them directly. I used to hate it when Andy would drag others into our disputes. But it was the only way to bring up the issue of anything they may want to leave to us, not that they have to leave us a dime, and the issue of their funerals and why I wouldn’t be present. If it weren’t for those things I’d never have burdened them with petty shit like Tammy since they have enough of their own problems. Meanwhile, I’ve made it as inconvenient as I can (until she emails me) for her and her kids to contact me. I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before the cyberbullying begins again, and it really sucks to know that there’s nothing I can do about it that I know of. You can send threatening emails every day and unless you’ve sent it to someone like the president, there’s not much protection and punishment against cyberstalking. The courts often throw out anything computer-related knowing how often computers get hijacked and how easy it is to manipulate something to look a certain way. The Megan Meier case is a great example of how easy it is to get away with harassing someone on the internet. But the more ports I close, the less I have to deal with their shit.

And all because I dumped them a decade ago and wouldn’t take them back into my life when they tried to get back in it this year! My sister should’ve thought of that before she knowingly and intentionally, as she finally admitted, sought to get me jailed for letting her ABUSIVE EX know just what I wanted to do to him at the time for supposedly abusing her and Lisa. Things are different now, though. Now they can all beat the shit out of each other. I wouldn’t care. They can even kill each other. Put up with one abusive man that you break free of, you’re a victim. Seek out one abusive man after another and stay with them for years, you’re a wimp who deserves it. Especially when you spite those who were just sticking up for you.

So much for resolving to discuss negative things like them less and positive things more!

Ok, so on with the positive now. Oops, two more negative things first! My back’s been fucked up and I’m up a few pounds. I don’t know what’s going on with my back. I still do tons of ab crunches yet I have lower back pain as well as this pain that’s sort of toward the middle.

As for the weight, I guess I’m either eating more than I realize or my body just wants to “reset” itself more or less. It’s common to gain lost weight back even if you keep dieting and exercising. It could also be muscle weight gain, but I doubt it. My legs are firmer than they’ve ever been in their lives, though! It’s even starting to affect their flexibility, so it’s still possible that the more I ride the bike, the more I gain muscle. They sure feel like they’ve been worked out, especially the quads. If my flexibility is affected anymore I may let the muscles atrophy a bit.

I want to start sculpting my arms more. My shoulders and biceps are built up nicely, but I want to work more on my triceps.

I’ve fallen into a routine on the bike. I burn the first 100 cals at once, then 4 times throughout the rest of the day I burn 25 cals, bringing the daily total to 200. It usually takes about 3 minutes to burn 25 cals.

Got a quick message from Gregg today telling me to be patient, I’ve waited 35 years, in a few weeks I should have my answers. So he’s still on the case.

There are no guarantees in life, but to be able to contact this woman, be it by phone, email or postal mail would be totally awesome. I’ve always wanted to thank her and have always been curious as to why she cared that much. What made me special to her? If I wasn’t special, then she sure did a good job of making me feel that way, and as I said before, that means a lot to a kid who went through the hell I went through. My mother may not be the worst person in the world and she may not have woken up one day and decided she was going to deliberately make her kids’ lives suck, but life with her even on her best of days was quite stressful. She was just no fun at all. Even when she wasn’t being negative and controlling, she so rarely laughed or had much of a sense of humor.

The whole thing spawned a cool story idea. Tom liked it too, and agreed it’s something that I, as a suspense writer, would come up with. I was thinking I could have a person who, like myself, is looking for someone they once knew in their past. And they too, keep an online journal. Then they finally find the person they’re looking for, who knows a lot about their life already from reading their journal. Only catch is that it’s not really who the person is supposed to be! I’ve already got a title for it, too: The Reunion. Maybe I’ll work on that along with Espressioni, which now has 25 pages.