I was supposed to have left here by now. I was supposed to be long gone, with not even a second glance.... ....and as you all can tell, I'm still here. I feel like a fraud.  I feel like I wound you all up for nothing, that I made empty and idle threats. I didn't.  I had every intention of splitting.  I emailed all the right people and asked them to do all the things I had requested....and they asked me if them taking care of a little business would change my mind. I...

Despite my ability to mentally compartmentalize, I used to find myself taking things that happen here with me when I got up and walked away from the computer. Good things, and bad things.  Things that made me laugh and smile, and things that made my heart pound and my stomch knot itself up in ire and angst.  I used to wake in the middle of the night sometimes with my pulse racing, the event that had caused me such sorrow in the forefront of my mind. I've had to stop doing that.&n...

This was going to be an article about how JU has seemingly become a haven for hormonally charged teens, name slinging conservatives and small business owners who use it as free advertising and how those three things have made it not-so-much-fun for me to write here anymore. But, I decided that pointing fingers is not the way to go, and that I am in no position to judge anyone, so I deleted all the bitchiness I had written and decided to just state very simply and plainly that for me, blogging...

I've been blogging for almost a year now, and during that time I've seen some questionable stories told in order to demonstrate the writers point.  Stories that are passed off as being factual, but have such big holes and discrepancies in them that it becomes obvious to most readers that it can only be fiction.  Wild accusations are made against all kinds of people and agencies...accusations that, with a little research, are proven to be untrue, yet the writer still claims that the...

This has been coming for a few days now....and I simply can't keep it in any longer. SPELLING CORRECTLY IS IMPORTANT. I'm not talking about the odd slip here and there, we all do that.  I'm talking about a lack of basic spelling skills we all learned when we first started writing.  I'm talking about teenagers, highschoolers not being able to string a sentence together without making a mistake.  I'm also talking about finding it funny and insignificant that you can't spel...

As an act of goodwill, I have decided to rescind my decision to allow only registered users to respond on my blog.  It's open for all....anyone who wishes to comment may do so. I have made my peace with those I formerly described as trolls, and they are welcome here.  I stand by my 'zero tolerance' policy....any troll-esque remarks will still be deleted, but I honestly don't expect too many now.  May 2005 usher in a new era of understanding and mutual respect.  Let...

*this is slightly jumbled - i wrote as it came to me.  Hopefully it makes sense...if not ask and I'll try to clarify* Does my telling you things about myself mean that you know me? Does my telling you negative things about myself, things that I'm ashamed of....does that mean that you know me? Could it be that I'm playing my cards close to my chest?  That you really don't know me at all....you just know what I choose to show you?  That I'm playing the hand that I've been d...

I had written a whole long piece about how I'm angry and why I'm angry...... ...then decided to delete it all.  Fuck it.  It's not worth it.  Oh, and fuck you.  Yeah, you.  You know who you are.   I'm going to go chant you away now.  You no longer exist in my world.  You have joined the ranks of non-entities.  You'll be in good company there.

Here at JU we are incredibly fortunate to have amongst us some real American heros.  Men and women who give of themselves every day to protect this great nation.  This blog is a tribute to them and what they do. Hyperborean Wanderer Link and Life Happens Link (I'm going to include their S.O's, they support this country as well): HW is in Iraq right now.  His blog has some pretty graphic accounts of life over there...including car bombings and shootings.  LH, his ad...

I've made a blogging resolution for the upcoming year. In the past, I've tried to be tolerant of everyone, even if they were nasty or mean to me or others.  I've failed a few times, yes, and I've let me anger get the better of me more than once.   It's only bought me misery and angst.  I've gone from trying to not rock the boat to blogging on the attack.  Neither of those approaches (and everything in between) have worked.  They've caused upset, not onl...

My good friend Rob, who reads my blog everyday (but who has yet to comment....*cough cough*...hint) has an online diary of his own Link   that I visit occasionally (yes, I know I should be better about it). Rob's a single parent.  He has a boy, AJ, who's Jake's age, and a daughter who's 6 now, I guess.  AJ has ADHD, and is on the same meds as Jake.  Rob's a wonderful guy (if there are any single Pagan chikkies reading this, I'm telling you he's a catch...)...and he's...

Isn't it funny how you can go through life without really seeing things as they really are?  How one day you wake up and feel like you've had the veil lifted from in front of your eyes because you see things differently? The things I see differently today are things that have been there all along...I just never really saw them for what they truly are before.  I saw parts of them, yes, but.....I never saw the whole thing.  I cannot place the single event that made me see thi...

I do my best to stay away from you. I don't talk about you, I don't write about you, I don't even think about you most of the time. I don't like you...actually, I detest you...but I still respect you enough to not mention you or gossip about you. You apparently cannot do the same for me. You take everything I say and you twist it.  You mock me and my lifestyle, you take great delight in manipulating my words and my actions and using them for your own selfish gain and self-amusem...