Is it love?

Wow, I have to say that things have changed!

Long distance relationships are now made simple thanks to the invention of internet and cell phones. But sometimes I wonder if we havent' taken it a bit too far!?

Sure the internet helps to broaden our social base. It lets us befriend people who we might never have a chance to come in contact with. It opens up doors and opportunities that might never have existed when our network of friends was limited by the time it took to deliver a letter or make a drive for a visit.

Remember when the 'emergency of the day' had to wait until you got home and found the message on the answering machine? Now it's only moments away, and what we call emergencies are simple what used to be a matter of convenience. Remember when you forgot your gym clothes at home and couldn't reach mom or dad because they were at work? You had to do without! You had to either sit out the class on the bench, or spend time in the health room watching a movie while the rest of the kids played volleyball! OH the travesty of it all!

How did we live with the inconvience of it all?? (please note the dripping sarcasm here! ;) )

But I think that the most unusual thing I've seen is the fact that through internet and cell phones we can carry on long distance relationships just like they were with the boy/girl next door!

However, I have to put my foot down and say that I have seen the most rediculous thing that I've ever seen in my life. I'm privvy to the ins and outs of a long distance relations between my daughter and a nice young man that lives some distance away. Bear in mind, they met on the internet, they talk on the internet, they talk via cell phone and they talk A LOT... and they have never met in person...

But... just so that they can 'spend time together' they sleep together. Not literally of course since they have never met in person... they leave an open cell call between them WHILE THEY SLEEP!!

I repeat... both parties are ASLEEP...

What are they doing? Listening to each other snore??

And if they lose connection, one or the other will call back just so they can hear each other...

once again....

SLEEP!!

I'm at a loss... Am I that far behind the times that I just don't get it??

Someone please enlighten me!!

Very confused in the mountains!

DragonLady

Arrested???

Can you believe it? I got up this morning thinking I'd spend a nice day playing Warcraft and the next thing you know there's a confrontation with my idiot brother-in-law and both my husband and I ended up arrested.

It's a bunch of he said, she said b.s. if you ask me, but evidently I said that I'd shoot him through the window in the eye. Wow, I wish I'd been conscious to remember that! LMAO and in that terminology too? For heaven's sake, I use better grammer than that!! Who the heck is he kidding???

But... as with any threat of violence, the court system must take it seriously, and I applaud them for their unbiased treatement of the situation. It situation was totally stupid and got completely out of hand, but in the end, I have no doubts that it will sort itself out because I NEVER said any such thing to him. Hell, I never even implied it for that matter.

The extent of what I told him was to leave my property and don't come back. I don't want him dead, just gone. That's all. He has no respect for anyone, and I'm not about to let him run over me, especially not on my own property!

Yes, this is a soapbox, and I'd love to rant and rave about how "hoppin' mad" he's made me, but I have to be honest, I don't care to air that dirty laundry and I'm sure y'all don't care to hear about it. If you do, call me... and I'll tell you in person.

Actually the whole process of being arrested was quite interesting. I actually got handcuffs put on me! Not that I'm exactly thrilled about it, but considering that my educational persuit is Criminal Justice... it's ironic! I was even patted down by a female officer to make sure I wasn't carrying any weapons into the jail! Quite an experience, if I do say so myself.

Most of you know this, but I've never been arrested in my life. The most trouble I've ever gotten into is a speeding ticket here and there! So this 'communicating threats' was quite a change for me, and even moreso when I am charged with saying something so obtusely out of character and composition for me!!

Just goes to show how trumped up charges can be put on the record by a lying individual bent on being vindictive.

Falsely accused in the mountains,

Dragon

"hoppin' mad"

You know, I used to wonder what my mom was describing when she said she was 'hoppin' mad' about something, what was really her emotional state at the time.... But now that I've taken some time and gone back to re-read the blogs that I've posted over the past year or so, I realized that I have in fact experienced that 'Hopping Mad' feeling more than once, and most of the time it prompted an entry to this blog.

Although now as I think back, I realize that I missed a few tales of 'Hoppin' Mad"...

Like the one a couple of weeks ago at my favorite grocery store....

I drive a little yellow 1992 Geo Storm. A small car... a semi-sports car... that needs body work and a new muffler, but it runs...(Hey it was a trade of two non-running vehicles for one that runs, so who am I to complain!!)

Anyway, me and my little Storm had just dropped off my daughter to college and was stopping by to pick something up to take to lunch with me... or something... I can't rightly remember at the moment what brought me to the store... but I digress...

I come into the parking lot in my Storm and most people turn and look. I can't help it... it's loud... it needs a new muffler, but at over $100.00 for the part, I find I have other priorities (like food, insurance and necessary bills) before I worry with a hole in the 'sound suppressor' on my car.

A woman was just getting into her Escalade in the parking space in front of me and grimmaced at my car, annoyed with the noise as I soon found out... and being the sarcastic soul I am I gave her a grin and a shrug. (Heck, I figured she was grimmacing with that snobby grimace of 'how can you stand to show your face driving THAT?' look... )

and she says to me... "How can you drive that thing in good conscience with all the pollution it puts off?"

I stopped and stared at her open mouthed for about half a second before I flew mad.

"My catalytic converter works, thank you very much." I retored, not bothering to hide my ire.

"Doesn't sound like it. You must burn a lot of gas with no exhaust." she sneered.

I gave her the "oh please" look and shrugged. "Compared to your gas guzzling SUV, mine's a little sipper. I'll bet you don't get ten miles per gallon in that gas hog, do you?"

"I get 26, if it's any of your business." she replied opening her door. (She clearly didn't want to continue the argument now that she found someone that would fight back!)

I laughed... (literally out loud!! Guffawed if you will..)

"What's so funny?" she demanded.

"Given that you get 26 and probably have at least a 30 gallon tank, you run though about $100 bucks a week. (That was a statement, not a question... I know because I have a Chevy Tahoe too... lol... why do you think I drive the Storm??) I put $19.00 in mine and it lasts three weeks on a ten gallon tank. I get 40 miles per gallon. Now who do you think really does more damage to the environment? My sipper or your guzzler?" And I flounced off into the store hearing her slam her Escalade door behind me.

Yeah, I was hoppin mad then too... but not quite as much as with PETA (from my last blog), but at least this time I had a vent for my anger...

By the way... thanks mom... Now I know what hoppin' mad really means!

Retrospective in the mountains,

Lady Dragon

At it again... maybe...

Well, I'm at it again, this time maybe with better results than last year. I promised myself that I'd find one thing each week to write on. Whether it be to bash it or brag on it, it doesn't matter. But my goal is to try to get myself up to speed with my writing outside the normal arena of which I write. (i.e. an online RPG based on Star Trek.)

and so, I write... and today I found something that just got my dander up as my grandpa used to say...

A 140 year old lobster was released from a New York seafood restaurant to live out his days in 'freedom and peace' according to Yahoo news.

Ok, that wouldn't be so bad really... except that me and my bright ideas had to see the name PETA in there and as much as I hated myself for doing it, I had to investigate the blogs that went with it. Big mistake.

OH MY GOD... I have never seen so many people pissed off because of a lobster release in my life. But it wasn't the release that had them pissed, it was the pro and con argument on PETA that got them riled.

And that got me to thinking.... (hey.. you came to hear it... let me finish... LOL... then you can comment... )

Why in the world do these people think that animals are on the planet in the first place? I mean, maybe they weren't raised like I was, and they might not have the same religious beliefs and such... but even if they don't, they are still missing the point.

Animal cruelty is one thing, yes. I abhor it. I see you kick a dog, mistreat a cat, kill some creature without necessity and I will be one of the first to hop up and kick your tail back to the hole you crawled out of! I share the idea that animals were not put on this planet to be abused for human gain.

HOWEVER... and this is a big butt... I don't think that we need people out there to tell us the common sense things about animal treatment. Is animal testing in laboratory science wrong? Not when it's done with humane efforts. Is it worth the risk to give up vaccines and drugs that benefit mankind just so a lab rat won't suffer from a migraine? I think not.

I've had my run in with PETA and they pissed me off. A cop hit one of my Siberian Huskies with his car as he was on the way home from work. My husband and I weren't home at the time, but my oldest daughter got him to the vet that the cop said the police department used and he survived. A bit banged up, and yes it was touch and go for awhile, but with love and care and devotion he's lived. And didn't even lose his tail like the vet said he would!

Now, my run in with PETA came from a nosy neighbor who called them and said we wouldn't take care of him. So they called, they called, they called some more and then they sent the cops to my house to check on the dog. Not the cop that hit him, although he came by himself to make sure Niko was ok. They demanded that our law enforcement come by and insure that we took care of him.

I can understand that. I know that there are people out there that don't take care of their animals, but I resent being lumped in that same group with the bear baiters and dog fighters that don't give a rats hind end about their animals as long as they get the money from the bets put down on them!

Did you know that if you have a case with PETA regarding one of your animals, you will not be allowed to purchase papers for your animal? Did you know that if you've already spent the money on the blood tests and other required tests and papers needed to get the pedigree, you will not be refunded your money because of that report to PETA?

How is it that a non profit organization like this can make someone's ligitimate life miserable and yet no one can do anything about it?? What gives them that power? What gives them that right? And why in the hell can't anyone do anything about them except just bitch??

Pissed off in the mountains,

Dragon Lady