Progress Page

I have started this page on January 11, 2006. This page was last updated:Saturday November 22, 2008 23:51

On Monday evenings we are [WERE] having a Bible study at a friend's. It is supposed to be a Bible study with weight loss in mind. My goal is to just eat better. If I loose weight in the process that will be very good. We are using the books from the "First Place" program. I don't agree with their use of the food pyramid as their dietary guidelines. So I am endeavoring to do what I know to be a sound diet. It is very difficult to do this. I am also endeavoring to study more and do some other things. (See "Goals" below)

This page is basically where I am writing about my goals, and efforts to accomplish what I want to do.

If you have any suggestions that might help me with my goals, please let me know. If you have any comments about all of this let me know as well.

"The vigour of our spiritual life will be in exact proportion to the place held by the Bible in our life and thoughts." George Muller (1805-1898)

Sir John William Dawson wrote in 1860 that, "a godless view of nature would lead to the degradation of man."

"God is the brave man's hope, and not the coward's excuse." Plutarch

With God's help...
These are in the order that I thought of them, rather than the order I wish to accomplish them. To see the goals I have accomplished, please see the "Attained:" page.

Daily Goals

I am trying to get to bed earlier. I am trying to get up in a timely manner. I want to study some type of Bible study every day. I want to grow in the habit of studying and reading God's Word every day. I want to keep the house more decently and in order. (less clutter and mess) I am endeavoring to eat more fruits and vegetables. I am trying to increase my calorie intake during the day. The goal is to increase my daily calorie intake from good foods. Another goal is to not spend all day on this machine! Sometimes that is unavoidable. That by writing on this journal page it will help me to see where I am and how far I have come---so that I can keep going and not give up after a few days or weeks. If I stop for a while, that I will remember and get back to working on the goals. ~~Work towards getting a ham license so I can use the EXPENSIVE radio that was given to me.~~

Shorter Term Goals

Be more Biblically inspired when I write to Douglas' brother. Put together a prayer book so I can remember to pray for all those on my list. Find something that gets me out of the house and around people (strangers). (Something that involves walking or moving.) Finish projects that I start. Put more Bible based things on this site. Work on the scrapbook/notebook that I promised to send to my friend in Australia. ~~Finish cataloguing the "medical" books on the shelf behind me, so that I can put some of them downstairs.~~

Long Term Goals

I want to have a garage sale in the summer. We wanted to do that this past summer. Finish my radio drama for the BBC World Service competition---if they continue with the competition. (not a drama that is on this site) (Go to school and study Botany to see if I can handle the math and science courses?)

Attained:

Goals that I have accomplished.

January 11, 2005... Today I did get up earlier than I have been. I did start on this journal page. I haven't eaten any fruit or vegetables yet. I am currently listening to Schweizer Radio DRS. They are playing a song by Elvis Presley. ("For The Millionth and the Last Time") Which doesn't have anything to do with my goals does it... It is rather pleasant though. Aloha Oe... Ok, I will try to write more tomorrow.

March 11, 2006... Didn't write anything, "tomorrow". The ham radio class is supposed to start March 22nd. That is the "tentative starting date". Listening to Air America. That isn't the best thing I could be listening to, but it is coming in. The stereo by the computer here, needs a better antenna on it in order to get interference free AM (medium wave). They are advertising, "Good Night and Good Luck". Very politically correct movie from what I understand. I already ordered the, "ARRL Tech Q&A" book that I need for my class. I have been buying some of Granny's dishes on eBay. You can read more about that in the Journal Entry, "Dish Saga". I won an auction of six cups this week. I hope to bid on some cups and saucers tomorrow. The two sets of cups are different shapes to the cups I have already. Each are different shapes or I wouldn't be bidding on them. We start the dieting "for real" soon. We may not be having it on Monday nights now. I was watching the video that comes with the kit. I have to finish it soon. I need to clean some space so I can study for my dieting, and for the amateur radio class. I am trying to get in the Grand Ol' Opry on 650 WSM in Nashville. Turning the monitor off really improves the reception. The computer monitor produces a horrible hum. I think it might be raining (storming) between here and Nashville. I can hear that distinctive crackle of lightning with the monitor off. I can't have the monitor off and do this. I want to add another page to this journal. I will write more on this page as soon as things progress hopefully.

March 31, 2006... The class is going fairly well. I have to study harder. I want to read some of the "Now You're Talking" book. I also want to listen to the first two lessons in the podcast. I downloaded a ham radio class onto my iPod. Some questions are easier than I thought. 60 hertz is NOT 60 ouches! It is 60 cycles a second. Some things I knew from listening to short-wave for so long.

I recently ordered a book for my sister. My mother had taken an art class in college. She went to Texas Tech for a time. I don't know if it was a full University at that time or not. I don't know if she got a degree either. She did take some art. I know she was into music while she was there. She may have taken some decorating (interior design) classes. I don't know for sure. I have her art text book. I bought one like it so I could give it to my sister. I can't wait until it arrives.

Ok. This is it for now. I am working on the "Amateur Links Page" right now. I want to finish it quickly. I will have to write more to this again soon.

April 05, 2006... I had another class tonight. The next one is on Thursday this time. I am having some tea, going to finish my cookie. I hope to be in bed soon. The studying is difficult. I hadn't done enough for this weeks class. The class I downloaded explains a lot of stuff. It makes a good amendment to the class I take weekly. It is not that I am trying to learn things that are impossible for me to learn. It is just that I need to buckle down and learn it. We were studying resistors and such things today.

It has been increasingly more difficult to hear the BBC of late. The reason being that they stopped broadcasting to South and Central America. We can still hear African transmissions apparently. I listened to the Christian ham net on Saturday. I hope to do it again soon. They are on in the evenings too, but I wasn't able to hear the info. fast enough. Hope to write again soon.

June 23, 2006... [Friday] This entry is basically what I sent to the Yahoo! N.P. fan list. I will have to write up the long version of the story [via the radio pages] some other time.

I can tell you how many cycles a second = 60 hertz; but for the life of me I can't remember if any of these were sent out already. [then I put some URL's to articles relevant to the list] Test was Wednesday. Computer acted up a bit. Thought it might have been a
virus in an E-mail Wednesday morning. Managed to get one last practice test in before I turned it off for possible storm coming. Went and took the exam. You can miss nine and still pass. I missed 10. I paid the fee again and took another test. This time I passed it. The first test had some questions that were in the book, but I didn't have them in the practice tests for some reason. The second test had some unfamiliar questions too, but it had mostly ones I knew. Yea!!!! Now I have to wait for the paperwork to clear and then I will have my "call sign". While I was taking the test, Douglas checked his E-mail and couldn't do it properly. So we took the computer into the shop yesterday. I was paranoid I would loose the web site, and all these nice E-mails. (pack rat---and I have yet to reply to some.) The guy at the shop, said I probably didn't loose anything. He called today. I heard something about a virus. Couldn't make out if we got infected or not. I scanned the E-mail before I opened it on Wed. No virus was found. And the attachment was as promised. The guy said we were
clogged with tons of spy ware and ad ware. I had put off searching for them as I was trying to study. We are sorted now. I got a portable hard drive and I am going to save things on it as a back up. Now I feel better.

Going to save stuff to the new portable hard drive. I want to finish this and finish the radio log page (see radio pages). Will write again soon hopefully.

August 12, 2006... Actually it is still the 11th to me.... I can't believe it is "Saturday" already. We went to the Family Reunion in the Word this past weekend. I have been doing lots to this site. I put on here the old "blog" entries. I am adding to this page now. I hope to write to the "novel" stories soon. I printed out some photos of diners as inspiration to the "Chicago" story. I wonder if you can guess why I want to call the "diner" in the story the "Jupiter Coffee" shop and have a bull dog for the logo? Clue: there is this critter in Texas that is supposed to be a surviving dinosaur. The "diner" in my story isn't a true diner as it wasn't purpose built in a factory. True diners were purpose built structures. This is just a diner like restaurant. In England they call them a "caf". It is short for "cafe". My grandfather called those restaurants, a "cafe". He pronounced it sort of like, "k'fay".

Anyway it is very late since I want to be up "early" tomorrow. Early is relative. We want to go to Ikea again and look at their bathroom sinks/cabinets. I like the one that is silver (steel?) colored metal doors with glass. They are white cabinets and white sinks. We want a new one for our bathroom. This one is very similar to chrome. Our bathroom is vintage 1939. They did a lot of chrome in the 1930's. I don't want modern exactly. Modern technology maybe. But not necessarily a modern look. I like the 1930's look. That isn't always available. We are going to see what we will find. Will let you know what we end up with. -30- --- 73

September 12, 2006 I found a bathroom cabinet at Ikea that I like. It has a modern almost "clinical" look to it. It isn't really 1930's, but I think it would go in our bathroom. Don't want to buy the first one to come along. Their stuff seems so "chintzy" for some reason.

We tried the big box store "Home Despot". Oops! "Home Depot". They had very ordinary brown wooden things. Not what I wanted at all. Can't figure out what Douglas wants exactly. I want to find some other home decorating stores that have bathroom stuff in them---not the big box stores that have bathroom stuff. I don't know what stores are available. Will have to look some up.

I want to harvest some sage soon. I read how you are supposed to harvest it before it blooms. I hope that isn't a safety issue. It wasn't really available to harvest it that way this year. It bloomed early. It didn't really die back this winter.

Tried to bid on an old Zenith radio. I knew it would go for a high price. When it got past $50.00 I didn't even bother to bid on it. Maybe I will find one somewhere like a garage sale or estate sale.

I hope to get to the big book sale this year. There is a charity book sale every year here. I like to go an buy a box of books. Trying to get some "mess" cleaned up so I can go. Hope to find some presents.

Speaking of reading... I need to get some reading glasses soon. It is getting difficult to read such things as the TV book. I already have glasses for seeing far away. I don't want bifocals. I only wear my current glasses when I need to see at a distance. If I wear them for close up work, I get sea sick. I want a pair for each "job".

Well, I am going to do some more sorting. Will write more some day I'm sure. Will probably have more books to catalogue.

January 21, 2007... Just letting you know what's up. Went to the book sale. Had books to catalogue of course.

I discovered this in November 2006. My "original" radio drama was pulled out and I was going to finish it. The problem is, I have been stuck with "Eleanor" in a beauty parlor for several years now. I know she needs out. I just haven't figured out the proper way to do it. I know what comes next etc. I last worked on that story, October 21, 2005.

I really needed to work on something fresh if I was ever going to finish something. A big goal I have is to finish something!! It seems like if I get some momentum going, it works better. I seem to finish things that way.

I was heavily inspired to write something else. (See Bagpiper @ Ate and The Impossible Place) So I changed the focus, and started another drama for the competition. I really have momentum for this story. It involves Lums Chapel like the last one. Well, it doesn't take place in Lums Chapel, but it is there none the less--in the background. (I recently discovered that I have been misspelling Lums Chapel for a long time now.)

I started the new story on November 14 and 15, 2006. It was a nice story, but I didn't know where it would lead yet. Then my sister called. It was on December 3, 2006. She said "they" were going to be selling my grandmother's house. All these emotions came to me. It was very similar to grief. At one time visiting that house was like crawling back into the womb. So I sat down Dec. 3 and wrote out these paragraphs, that got incorporated into the new drama. It was this woman telling of the emotions she felt as they sell her matriarchal grandparent's home. After I wrote those paragraphs, I started incorporating them into the new drama. That was December 4.

I have been steadily writing it since December 4, 2006. It is now January 21, 2007. I have written about 22 pages. (from 12 to 22 need some editing as of now) I am editing as we go along. I will be needing about 75 pages in the end. That would be too much to edit all at once.

The original germ of an idea for the original drama came to me in September 1989. I was in the area where they were filming "Texasville". I went with my sister to have her hair done in Wichita Falls, Texas. I listened to all the movie gossip while I was in there. That was the inspiration for the original story. I still hope to finish it some day. There is a good story there and very likeable characters. But here it was November, 2006 and I had only done about 12 pages to the original story. Part of that time, was spent reading up on how to do radio drama. Before I had the Internet, I had no good resources on how to write radio drama. There is a format to it. Plus there is a special way to write stories for radio, as opposed to Television.

Now I have 22 pages done of the new one. There has been tons of good inspiration.

I just don't want to loose my momentum. I also do not want to start thinking that what I have is "lame". If I do that I will get discouraged, and won't finish. I just have to do my best.

February 9, 2007... Prayer works! Was having a bit of "writer's block" this evening. Prayer unloosened it. I have finished what should be the final draft of-- pages 1 to the top of page 23. I just finished the rough draft of pages 23-27. Yea!!!! I am pinching myself. Maybe I will get it done after all!!! I have about 48 pages left---to make 75. (I was hoping to do around 80 pages to be on the safe side.) And I have 80 days left (to have it IN London).

I just have to keep doing the best I can. If they like it they do, if they don't, they don't.

Bought an interesting book on eBay recently. "Littlefield Lands Colonization on the Texas Plains, 1912-1920" by David B. Gracy II. This is about the settlement of the town where I went to high school. My grandparents lived there most of their lives. The family has "long" roots in the area. My grandfather wasn't in Littlefield in 1920. He probably knew a lot of the "pioneers" written about in this book though. I even recognize some of the names. David Gracy is a grandson to Arthur Pope Duggan, whose house is now the local historical museum. Inside the book, there is an interesting panoramic photograph of downtown Littlefield, taken in 1921. The "streets" are merely dirt paths people made as they drove through town. Very near the few brick store buildings, is a "demonstration farm". Can you imagine a "farm" within walking distance of "downtown"? That farm was to show the immigrants what sort of land they could buy in the area. It was there, to show how good the crops would grow etc. Eventually some of the "paths" were paved as streets. I would assume that this is pretty much how Littlefield looked, when my grandfather moved there in 1927. There might have been "more" to town by then. I am not sure. It would be nice to know who owned my grandfather's farm before my great grandfather. This book lists early land owners of the region. I bet the original owners of the farm are listed in this book.

Oh yea! I also ordered this other "neat oh" book. "Write His Answer" by Marlene Bagnull. ("A Bible Study for Christian Writers".) It is an incredible book. Through it, I have discovered other resources for Christian writers. I have gone to Christian book stores before and asked for books for Christian writers. The sales clerks have usually looked at me with a very puzzled look. They then shake their heads and frown. I found this book online. I highly recommend it!! Writing is a very solitary job. A writer needs all the encouragement they can get. It is very easy to doubt and become discouraged even during normal every day living. But if you are "holed up" for long periods by yourself thinking, it is easy to start listening to the "wrong" voice.

It takes wisdom to recognize which "voice" to listen to for inspiration. It takes strength (fortitude/endurance) to keep the mind from listening to the "wrong" voice. The wrong voice will not only be speaking "bad" inspiration for writing; but it will be speaking words of discouragement which will bring on doubts.

Well, I need to upload this and get to bed. Will probably write more as I progress. You can check back here from time to time to see if there's anything new. I won't always send out an E-mail if I update this page. Chow? NO!!!! Ciao!

We went to Douglas' father's yesterday for cake. Happy Birthday Douglas! (Not that he reads this...)

On Feb. 27, 2007 I got the 60th page done. I have 15 pages left, if I am to have 75 pages done. I re-read the rules and the limit is, 75 pages or whatever comes to about an hour when you read it aloud. I am pinching myself---it is difficult to believe that I have 60 pages done. Wow!

I have to finish typing in the corrections I red penned into the draft of pages 52-60. I have an outline for the rest of the drama. I have to try and fit it into 15 pages. Shouldn't be that difficult. The rough part will be to stick to the 15 pages. There are a few points from my notes that won't make it into the drama. Who knows, I might write about Josephine and Nigel some other time.

Actually, Nigel will eventually be in Lums Chapel to film, another "masterpiece" by Henry Dullard. ("At the Other End of Rhubarb" by Arthur Miles) Now that I know I can do this. I want to finish that story. I still keep wanting to call Josephine, Eleanor. When I get a round tuit, I'll have to finish the story with Eleanor, Margaret, Doris Jean, and company. They live in Lums Chapel. There's going to be a parade down Oak Street, leading up to the big bar-b-que. (I just got the idea for the parade. I have to figure out how to fit that in to the scheme of things.)

I still have to read this aloud with Douglas. I have a friend who might be able to read it over and point things that need correcting. "They" say that spouses don't make good editors. There should be enough time. It only has to be in London April 30.

As usual I have to go to bed. I will write more as events happen. (That is if I remember to do that. Hey! You could always remind me to write to this. --- That way I know if you are reading it.) Allfeetarethesame! (A corruption of "Auf Wiedersehen!" or Goodbye! in German)

Spent Sunday afternoon working on the drama with a friend. She had read it over ahead of time. She read every word out loud on Sunday. We were able to fix a lot of the dialogue that was "written" text rather than spoken words. I have to go in and put in the changes now.

My friend heard "Nigel" as sounding like Hugh Grant. I guess she watches his movies. Hugh Grant's voice is definitely not the voice I heard for "Nigel"! We are giving "Nigel" at least one "Hugh Grant-ism" phrase. Well, it was a phrase she remembered Hugh Grant saying a lot. I needed "something" to replace what I had, so that I would NOT be using this one phrase over and over and over and... I have to un-repeat myself. I thought I was doing well, but the "stuff" kept piling up. Ha! (see below)

I did have three pages left. For some reason I "developed" a good case of writer's block. I did so well getting this far! To get writer's block at the very end was very irritating!!

I have to stuff the "stuff"---get all the incidences of "stuff" out of the drama. "There's that word again". Then there were too many "ok's" in the telephone conversations.

It was determined that Josephine's sister Emily needed a voice in the first telephone conversation with her. In the opening of the conversation, it was not clear where she was. Was she home or what. Emily is a house mother in a home for troubled girls. The noise of such a place, that would be in the background, did not come across as I originally wrote it. I heard it mentally, but the audience didn't. The dialogue did not covey the location either. Thus, the dialogue did not make any sense to begin with. Josephine asks for Emily. Then she says, "This is her sister Josephine". Why would she say that in a phone call to Emily, if Emily was at home? It made more sense to have one of the teenage girls answer the phone. "Emily! Your sister's on the phone!"

If I have the teenager answer the phone, then I almost have to include Emily's half of the conversation. I did a sample conversation including Emily's voice. What was originally a good sized paragraph a little less than half the page, became two and a half pages.

If I put Emily's voice in this one conversation, I would have to add it to the other one. And wouldn't this mean I have to add the voices to the other telephone conversations? I can have a maximum of 75 pages. Adding all the voices would make it too many pages.

Well, I am going to try and leave the phone conversations alone for now. I will read finish all that needs doing to it for now. (corrections and the final part of Josephine reminiscing.) As I go, I will make sample conversations with all the voices to them. I will see if I have any room left to put those in. Then again, I might do up only voices for the two conversations with Emily. I might leave the others the way they are.

There are a few places we can take out some dialogue, but we are adding a line here or there which makes up for what we can take out.

By the way, I recently got a "new" (to me) "how to write" radio drama book off eBay. "How To Write For Radio" by Katharine Seymour & J.T.W. Martin. The book is from 1931. In the front is some "history" of Radio drama. In the preface the authors were writing about the "few men and women" who had grown up writing for radio, then considered a "new form of writing". According to this book, these "men and women" would have considered radio writing "ancient" by 1931. That seems almost funny since they had only been writing for radio since about 1926. I would assume that radio drama didn't reach it's peak in the U.S. until the 1940's. I was considering this an "early" book about writing for radio. When I bought this book, I also bought a book about one of the earliest commercial radio stations in the U.S. "Commercial Broadcasting Pioneer The WEAF Experiment: 1922-1926"; William Peck Banning. 1946 If you consider that regular broadcasts of radio dramas on commercial radio, got their start sometime around 1926, then you will know why I laughed when I read that by 1931 the "old timers" would have considered radio writing to be "ancient".

Am waiting on the mail. Hope we get something good. I am waiting on a package from a seller on eBay. I ordered a ledger book. This is the kind with "pins". It is adjustable and you can stick in there as many pages as you want. These make good scrapbook covers. I think I just heard the mail truck.

Can you believe it is snowing out? Global warming strikes again. Ha! If I understand correctly, it is "normal" for it to snow this time of year in Michigan. What I mean is, I believe Douglas said, that it isn't unusual for it to snow this time of year in Michigan.

I spent the afternoon of March 18, 2007 with a friend of mine. She had read over what I had of the drama "so far". I was down to three pages left. That means, I was at page 72. Of all things, I had been having writer's block for some time. It was around March 8, and March 9, 2007 when I got down to three pages left. I don't know why these last few pages seem the most difficult to write. Is it psychological---saying goodbye to Nigel and Josephine? Is it that I don't really want to finish it? Is there a fear setting in, now that I have gotten this close to finishing? Or better yet, maybe I have "Alfred Hitchcock" syndrome. When he went to direct a movie, he knew how it would end already. In his mind the movie was made. He just had to direct it for real. It was sort of a chore then. Maybe since I know how the story ends, that is why the last few pages are being such a "chore". There isn't any excitement or anticipation left. Actually, I am changing my attitude. There is some unknown to these last three pages. I don't know exactly how they will go yet---I won't know that until they are finished. I keep praying about it. I got a good bit done yesterday.

Ok, on March 18 (Sunday) I sat with my friend who read over my story so far. She had made notes as she went along. She had a really good suggestion. She read the story aloud, and we discussed the dialogue. She wanted me to "hear" the dialogue as someone would read it. It was a great idea!!!! We went over it basically line by line. She pointed out places where, "people don't talk like that". My friend is originally from Georgia. She was able to help me with the "Southern" dialogue. There was a time or two when I had Nigel say some very, "Southern" [American South] sentences. NOT GOOD! She had me cut out a thing or two as well. Not a lot though. Another thing, she was "hearing" Nigel as "Hugh Grant" for some reason. I put in Nigel saying "well then" a time or two as per her suggestions.

(I could have "sworn" that I had a sentence with the "Hugh Grant-isms" in this document, OR in an E-mail that I wrote. It was down near the end. "For the life of me", I can't find it. Don't know if I had written about going to my friend's on here, and then had the computer re-boot on me and then it didn't recover what I wrote--- or what. Might be "or what". It could very well be that I thought I wrote it out, even imagined that I did it, and then in the end, it didn't get done. If I find it I will stick it on here. It is very baffling!!!!!)

We got mail, but nothing like I was hoping for. Credit card application which we really need. Ha! An envelope of advertisement coupons and a catalogue from a Christian book shop. We also got a postcard from our Veterinarian reminding us yet again, that Dubhghall (Dougall) needs her shots (injections).

I am just now (yesterday) writing the last three pages. I had started this section before I went to my friend's. I did have a paragraph written and some notes as to how I wanted to proceed with the section. Josephine's grandfather just died. She is summing up her grandfather and her family's life together. After that she is summing up her time working with Nigel. It shouldn't be all that difficult. It shouldn't take too much time to do it. I do have 23 days left. It's just that it is difficult to feel "inspired" lately. Don't know what happened to the momentum!! I did do a few paragraphs yesterday. You don't know how many times before in recent days, I sat down with my notes and inspiration photographs, trying to get more notes down. I was hoping that re-reading what I had for this section, would cause a spark of inspiration to happen. I was trying to jog something loose. What happened yesterday, was rather than "try to think of something", I just "did it". I sat down at the computer with my notes. I did what I had written down in the notes to do. I went to the original three page version of this story with Nigel and Josephine. It was the version I abandoned. I took the first paragraph the one that Josephine was thinking to herself. I was able to incorporate a lot of that into the summing up of Nigel. I just changed the tenses a little and rearranged the sentences some what. I didn't get much done on the "Grandpa" part yet. I did get a paragraph or two done though. It was a good start if you think about it.

Today, I did re-look at how many pages I had left. It helps to know that I have just three left. I was thinking I had four for some reason. I thought I might have to add back in this one paragraph I took out. At one point, I thought I was going to have difficulty squeezing the ideas I had left into 15 pages. Now that I am down to three pages, I am having difficulty trying to fill them nicely.

It's not like there's any pressure either. I have to finish these three pages fairly quickly. The drama has to be on their desk in London April 30, 2007. I not only have to have the three pages done in time to get the package mailed in time; I also have to have time to read it aloud with Douglas. We have to make sure it is at least 60 minutes long. Whew!

I have been trying really hard to get to bed earlier. I have good days and bad days on it. I am extremely excited that I got this far. I can't wait to have it sent in already. I need to keep praying and keep focused. I don't want to "think" that I have it written already, and then let my deadline slip past me. Another thing that is apt to happen (but it WON'T happen!!) is that I will keep saying, "I've got time" and then let the deadline pass...

OK, I am off to re-read and upload this. Hopefully I get to bed earlier tonight.

You wouldn't believe how late it feels. It isn't too far past midnight, but it feels as if it is May 1, 2007. I still have time to send in my story, but the sensation is "How Dry I Am". "Desert" doesn't quite describe it. I will keep praying about it. God will give me the words. I know what I want to say. I know pretty much how I want to say it. It is just that the "inspiration" isn't there. I don't think Douglas understands. If I write it without the inspiration it will seem "forced". It won't be as good. I plan on working on it after fellowship tomorrow. There had better be no phone calls or anything! (from someone we know who likes to call us at odd times---someone we can't call back and they can't leave messages) Maybe I will have a quiet afternoon with not much going on. (i.e. distractions) Douglas will be off doing some tax work for a friend. I have no idea how long that will take. So long as I don't get onto iTunes, I should be ok. I had better leave off CBC Radio 2 then. (I hear something I like on there, and then try to find it on iTunes---not always successfully.)

You wouldn't believe it! I had all this nice text here. It was several long entries. It was saved on the hard drive and it was on the server where the web site rests. But it was overwritten when I went and hit "yes" instead of "no" in Microsoft Front Page, the program I use to build (make) this site. Urgh! There is no way to re-construct it. I was writing about how I couldn't find the March 19 post. I mainly remembered the text at the end of the post. I thought it was either at the end of an E-mail I had written or it was on here. I also thought I had written about visiting my friend to work on the drama.

I hunted in the E-mails and I hunted on this page. I even searched the whole computer. NOTHING! Evidently Front Page was holding the post in abeyance. I normally hit "no" and do not overwrite anything. There are a ton of things I can't overwrite because they disappear. I have videos on the web site, but not on my hard drive for example. So the other day, I went and hit "yes" and it put on here an older version of the site. I went to "History" and tried to look up the version with the text I lost. Of course for some reason it wasn't in there. I had done a disk cleanup recently, and that may have deleted the version I was hunting.

I was summing up my radio drama writing experience. I thought I wrote some interesting stuff. All the hopes I had for the drama etc. It took several hours to write. I am so disappointed!!!! Hopefully Douglas is sending off the letter I wrote to my brother in law. MAYBE I sent him a print out of what I wrote. I don't think I did, but maybe he has a print out of what I wrote. AND maybe he hasn't re-used the sheets of paper, or thrown them away. Paper is a premium where he lives. He re-uses paper sometimes. Hopefully the letter gets there while he still has it, that is if I sent it in the first place.

I will reconstruct some of what I wrote maybe. I have to find some of the stuff first. I am going to save each version of this page somewhere else on my hard drive. That way I don't loose anything (hopefully).

Ok as it sits now, I have from March 19 post to the current May 16 post. I managed to find the April 7 and April 15 posts as Google had them in their "cache". I am adding them on here now. The Google "cache" went from March 1, to April 7, 2007. And yes, I am saving this page elsewhere so it won't get overwritten. It's just all the "newer" stuff that I am really missing that I don't have. Darn!

You don't know how much grief it caused my loosing the text that was on this page!!!! It pays to back things up. Don't know that the mail has arrived to my brother in law yet. It should have arrived by now. But he keeps sending letters asking for an item I sent him along with my request. Yesterday, I re-sent my request and the item he wanted. Hopefully he gets it. You see, if the people where he lives don't want him getting certain pieces of mail, it won't get delivered to him.

Ok. Back to Josephine and Nigel's progress. I got the certificate from the BBC World Service today. Yea!!!! "This is to certify that _____ (me) has submitted a radio play to the BBC World Service & British Council International Radio Playwriting Competition 2007". Now all I have to do is wait for the short list to show up on their web site.

Part B: My brother in law, called today. He happened to mention that he was sending what I wanted. I am not entirely sure it is exactly the posts that belong here. Hopefully it is. He talked like it was. He mentioned it as a side note. He said he was sending back what I asked for. I won't know for sure if it is a print out of this page, until I see it. I could have given him similar information in a letter. He had gotten the print out from the post office he was hunting. Our letters were missing each other. As I sent him the one from us, he was sending me a letter saying, "I need____". Then as our letter was in the mail (post) he would become impatient and re-send the request. That happens.

Got the letter with the parts of the "Journal" that my brother in law said he was sending. It was another part of the "Journal" and it was very old. It wasn't what I wanted. I wanted from this year not a couple of years ago. Anyway...

Sorry but this is a long one. I am writing about the day I had on November 13, 2007.

I know I haven't written to this in a long time. I was so grieved at loosing that text that I couldn't bring myself to write to this page.

It was some weeks ago, maybe a month or two that I got this form to fill out. Wayne County wanted me for jury duty. I filled out the form and sent it in. I almost forgot to send it in. There was a deadline. I had filled these out before. I tried to indicate that I didn't drive. I don't know if it asked about transportation or not. Maybe it did. It was a shock when I got the "Jury Summons" in the mail. I didn't make note of when it came. It said I had to be in Detroit at the court building November 13, 2007 at 7:45 AM. That is, if my group was picked. There was a number to call the night before which would tell us if they need our group.

I dreaded having to be there so early. The summons said I couldn't be late. I prayed for what seemed like a month or more that I wouldn't have jury duty. I hoped that my group wouldn't be called.

Douglas had gone though this before. He said that it didn't look good that my date was at the beginning of the week. It didn't help that the 13th was on a Tuesday after a Monday holiday. Naturally when we called the number, all groups were to report in.

Douglas made a point that he wanted to drive to Detroit a day or two early in order to reconnoiter where to go and what to do. He wanted to familiarize himself with the streets, and figure out where to park. On Sunday afternoon, November 11, we made a trip down there. We were nearly at our destination. Like most U.S. urban "down town" (city center) areas, the streets are almost every other one, one-way. The one street we turned on went beside one of the casinos. There were cones down the middle of the street. We got in the right lane like you normally would. There was a bus and an SUV in front of us. Apparently the SUV didn't realize that the bus was stopped there for a reason. It was a shuttle that goes to and from the casino. Douglas probably didn't realize that either. After a few minutes, the SUV went between the cones to get out from behind the bus. We had no choice but to follow suit. It was around this time that we ended up missing one street we needed. Then we went in what seemed like circles trying to find the road we started down. By some miracle we accidentally got going the way we came in. That was a wonderful thing! Douglas was so turned around mentally. It wasn't available to stop and look at the map he printed off the computer. Of course it is best to look at the map yourself if you are driving. At some point we were off the map, so he had to make a guess as to how to get back on the map. The second run through, we found a better way to go, so that we wouldn't miss that one street. (There's an alternative street we can take.) By doing that, I got to see the police station that's always in the news on T.V. It must be the main one. It's next to the building I go in. (Very near it anyway.)

I took a camera to get photographs of some of the architecture. I managed to get some photos of the buildings (sky scrapers) in downtown. The traffic wasn't so bad on Sunday. There was one time when Douglas was able to stop in the middle of the street long enough for me to try and get a good shot. An incredible group of buildings was before us. If you looked at the group and didn't see the individual buildings, the scene was like an abstract painting of different colored rectangles with small squares in them. Of course I was using old-fashioned 35mm film.

I hope the pictures come out. They should come out ok, if I didn't get the car mirror in the shot. I don't know how many pictures I have of me taking a photo of myself in the car mirror. I try to get pictures of various things as we drive along. If the one picture looks like what I saw through the windshield, the photo will be nice blown up really big and framed. But since I didn't hang my head out the window to see through the viewfinder, I have no idea exactly what the camera might have seen. I could have aimed too high and gotten nothing but sky. I should have had the camera settings on outdoors. I didn't have time to monkey with it, nor would I have been able to view the settings. I need to get reading glasses.

When Monday the 12th , arrived we called the number on the summons. There was a long list of things I couldn't take with me. We both couldn't make out everything they said. If only I had looked up their website. That long list of items is listed on their website. https://www.3rdcc.org/prohibiteditems_110804.htm There's more stuff on the website than they could ever get onto the recorded message and yet have room for letting us know who should arrive and who should stay home.

I went to bed and tried to get some sleep. It was much later than I wanted to. I had gotten a shower before I went to bed. In the end I might have gotten 2 hours of sleep. I had gotten a good amount of sleep the day before, so I figured it would be ok. Even though we left later than we wanted, I arrived on time. They had a dress code, with business attire being preferred. I wore a skirt and "ensemble" that Mom helped me pick out for her funeral. This and another set, were the last clothes she helped me pick out.

We didn't get lost this time. He didn't park either. There is a parking lot in front of the building. It costs $10.00 a day to park there. There was a mentally ill man with a red flag directing people through there. He was perpetually in a very loud conversation with the "voices", as if they were someone walking beside him.

They called me up to a court room. The case was going to be a felony gun possession case. This man, a convicted felon, was accused of being in possession of a gun. They drew names to decide who would sit in the "jury box". I was one of the ones called for the first group. The judge asked us questions to determine if we would be able to give the man a fair trial. I had to tell the judge that because of a family matter, I would be prejudiced. I had helped someone in the family, with their own gun case, by looking up 2nd amendment law on the Internet. I was excused. I had to go back down and wait until they learned if they would need me or not. It was around 11:30 AM, that they let me go. Since cell phones (mobile phones) weren't allowed, they let people use the phone in the office for the jury staff. The lady giving orientation said that the payphones were like playing the slot machines at the casinos. Sometimes the phones worked, and sometimes they didn't. But they always took people's money.

You wouldn't believe what a relief it was to get out of jury duty!! Prayer works!!!! I won't get "summoned" by this court for a year. If I get "summoned" by another court in the area, I have a letter that proves I had jury duty this year. The lady said it doesn't always work in Federal court though. Douglas and I had the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted. First stop was to eat. I wanted to eat at this place called Currents. Currents is or was a British pub. Currents, was supposed to be near the RenCen. (The Renaissance Center, or General Motor's World HQ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_Center) The address was one block east of the RenCen. Of course I was in such a hurry that I forgot to bring the magazine that had a review and an address for it. Another reason I forgot the magazine was, I didn't think Douglas would want to brave the extra driving around Detroit to find it. We drove around hunting the RenCen. We just found it above everything else and followed that. (It is the tallest building in Michigan.) We drove past it twice, once going one way, and the second, going the other way. I didn't remember the name of the place we wanted let alone how close it was supposed to be. Needless to say, we either missed it, or it isn't there anymore. Maybe we can try again sometime.

Steppin' Out: Currents Detroit by Eric Harabadian May 4, 2006
http://www.goanddomichigan.com/stories/050406/pla_steppinout002.shtml

Wednesday, 22 March 2006,
Detroit Free Press Sylvia Rector Restaurants Column
By Sylvia Rector, Detroit Free Press
http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/438289/detroit_free_press_sylvia_rector_restaurants_column/?rfp=dta

Douglas got us going in a direction towards home. He asked what I might want for lunch. I told him that I wanted something "off the beaten path", since our normal path was very beaten. He said he

knew of a place like that nearer to home. We ended up having lunch at a place called, Village Cafe-The 19th Hole. They had a lot of Middle Eastern foods on the menu. I ordered a fish sandwich. It was fish like you get with fish and chips. They put two very small pieces on a largish bun with lettuce and tomato. I just ate the fish. It wasn't much lunch. They did serve French fries with it. I didn't eat many of them either. There must be an art to making them.

While we ate, we discussed the rest of the days events. The first thing I wanted to do, was get home and get out of my dress. I couldn't wait to see what mail I would be getting. As I have been on an "eBay binge" lately. We wanted to drop in and make me a doctor's appointment. We wanted to drop in and make me an eye appointment. As I mentioned before, I really need glasses.

We went home and messed around a little. I turned on the computer. I checked the mail for the first time that day. On Monday, I had won this auction of some magazine clippings (pictures) about this television show that appeared recently in England. I wanted them because the actor I like is in this. The pictures include different members of the cast. I goofed and broke a rule I have. I bid on something from England where the seller doesn’t take Paypal. I wanted the item and forgot to look to see if they took Paypal. Right now, it is very difficult, if not impossible for me to get British Pounds to someone over there. The seller was surprised to see my address. They had no idea a person from the U.S. would bid on these. I was told I could carefully wrap $10.00 and mail it to them. I said it might be a day or two before I got it in the mail, and explained jury duty and driving in Detroit briefly. They said it was ok, as they knew what it was like to drive in unfamiliar cities. At the end of the E-mail they asked if I was a fan of the actor. I replied and said that I was a fan. When I checked the E-mail after jury duty there was a reply to my reply. The seller said she had just gotten in another set of clippings. They were of just the actor. She was offering me first refusal. Wow! I said I wanted them. She said that for $5.00 more, I could have both sets. That was a bargain! I can't wait until they arrive.

While we were in the house, two books I ordered arrived. One was this old leather book I rescued from possibly getting destroyed. And the other one was a brand new blank notebook I got a deal on.

After we did the stuff at home, we did some "running around". We went to the doctor's office. We had his business card.

Douglas wasn't too fond of this doctor the last time we (I) went to visit him. We found the building. It looked empty. Douglas went up and read the "NOTICE" on the door. It said that no one could legally occupy the building without a certificate of occupancy. That didn't help Douglas like this doctor any. This situation caused us to renew our desire to change doctors.

From there we went to the eyeglasses place. I got an appointment for next week. We had a photocopy stop, which was in the same shopping center as the post office. We mailed the payment for the clippings to England. We did the photocopying. Douglas and I are teaching our Bible Fellowship on Sunday. I wanted the photocopies for my part of the teaching.

As we drove around we got stopped by a train. Yea!!! That was one of he highlights of the day. I don't know if it was the sound or what, but I knew it was a short train before we saw it. Douglas wasn't "disappointed" that we got caught by it. It was a freight train three cars long. It seemed hardly worth the trouble. He nearly drove a different way, which would have made us miss it. Later on, I saw a bumper sticker that said, "I break for trains". So cool!!!!

All through the day I was laughing at the silliest of things. As the day wore on I got more "punch drunk". As I got more "punch drunk", the harder I laughed at things. Over dinner we discussed the rest of the week. An amazing thing happened on Sunday the 4th of November. Douglas bought me a leather sofa and loveseat. We were discussing how we were going to get rid of the loveseats we have. We can't find anyone who wants them. Even some charities don't want furniture. We decided to put them out with the trash. There's usually a junk person with a truck that comes along and picks up stuff he can re-sell or fix up. Our trash is normally on Wednesday.
We thought that the trash would be a day late because of the holiday and that we would just put them out then. That should give us plenty of time to call a friend to help Douglas move the love seats out to the street. The new sofa and love seat are supposed to be delivered on Friday. Hope they can get them in through the front door. Douglas was saying that he would have to put in a slip at work and take Friday off. [He meant that he would turn in a slip of paper saying that he needed the day off.] He saw this flash of expression come across my face. It was the one I get when I think of something out of the blue that I think is funny. I then said that he could turn in the slip I was wearing earlier after we had washed it. I was referring to an undergarment. Then I laughed hard again. He groaned as usual and said that he knew what was coming when he saw the flash across my face. When we got home Douglas looked at the calendar and discovered that the trash wasn't late this week, but would be on the normal day. So he has to call and try to re-schedule the delivery of the sofa and loveseat. It might be too late by now. We hope not.

That was my very long and eventful day. It is surprising how much you can fit in one day. Ok, I could have told you all this with fewer words. But would it have been as interesting?