Month: November 2001

My Uncle Terry wrote a guest article for the Winona Daily News (Winona, Minnesota) about the Sept. 11th attacks. On April 26, 2000 my cousin was fatally hit by a car when crossing the street in front of their house, and Terry’s perspective on things is of course forever altered. I was brought to tears more than once as I read the article, “Now I can cry”

He said that from watching the reactions of others after Sept. 11th he has learned – grown men can cry.

“I feel as though a great burden has been lifted from my shoulders. To see male rescue workers coming out with depression on their face, to see tears coming down their cheeks brought tears to my eyes. To see David Letterman, Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather, etc. on national television with the same look and tears has made life easier.

I have the freedom to come out from behind the mask and façade I have felt compelled to stay behind as a male and head of a family. I am now free to make the statement that I miss Tyler everyday, I cry over it on a regular basis, and I hope that those two things never change. If they do, to me it will diminish the father/son relationship that we had.”

Just had to share that…

I am a sucker for a survey/test/quiz thingie, so I had to follow Lee’s example and take the Sensuality Test I scored a 74 and it said:

You seem to have found a balance between absolute asceticism and utter hedonism. You enjoy the titillation of the senses, but aren’t driven to senseless ecstasy by the smell of a flower, the taste of rich chocolate cake with whipped cream, or the touch of a lover. You are able to appreciate and even lose yourself in the sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and feel of life. But you aren’t totally pleasure-driven and you are able to keep your emotions balanced.

You are able to stay focused and to persevere, even though you might be trudging through a particularly dull or insipid period of life. Sometimes, it is necessary to relinquish an attachment to the physically divine in order to attain goals or to move ahead. Your ability to control your sensual side means that you aren’t perpetually distracted by what you feel, see, hear, touch, and taste.

As far as sex goes, you enjoy the process of lingering lovemaking. During sex, the senses are more acute, and you drink in the touch, sight, sounds, and smell of your lover. There is always room to improve this tendency of yours, and your lover will certainly appreciate your devotion to the senses!

If you would like, you can intensify your sensual side by taking note of the present moment, by using your eyes, ears, nose, and fingertips to explore all of the stimuli that whirl around you at any given time. Remember to be careful not to indulge gluttonously on physical pleasures to your own detriment (careless sex, drugs, alcohol, or too much chocolate, etc.).

You only have one life and your senses are there to help you enjoy it. So get to it!

I end up cracking up for a loooong time every time I visit Mike Brown’s site. (aka Cooties) Today it was over the The Five Stages of Acceptance of Blogaholism and The 12 Steps of Recovery. Too funny! A+ there, Mike, I’m loving it! This was me last weekend when I kept losing RoadRunner: “MY CONNECTION IS DOWN!!!! OhmyGod OhmyGod OhmyGod OhmyGod!!!!’ (writes blog by hand on a scrap of paper… twenty minutes later, writes another)” *snort* I have to go camping tomorrow night, and all day Saturday … what will I do? Whatever will I do?

Lookie! An Official Palm Beach County Voting Machine. The perfect Christmas gift! (Thanks to Michelle for the link!)

I tweaked the link color slightly on the Venice skin. Does it show up better now? Is it still “different” enough from the black/gray text that it stands out? Just wanted to make sure …