Day 14: A Hero That Has Let You Down

This is a weird one...don't know really what to put here. Don't know that I have ever labeled anyone specifically as a hero...there are people I admire and there are those that have disappointed me but no one like a Superman or Woman in my life that would have let me down.

I think we all make choices and have to live with the consequences of those choices...some are good and some are bad. For instance, my biological father hurt me in a couple of ways, but when I was old enough to really look at the situation, I realized that it had nothing to do with me, he was just making bad choices and the consequences ended up being that we didn't have a close relationship. I never considered him a hero necessarily but when you are a kid all "grownups" are larger than life and it is hard for them to live up to that over time.

We all find disappointment in those around us that we consider friends, or family. Accepting a person's faults and either deciding we can live with them or not is the choice that we then get to make.

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Four Years Ago on In My Words...Busy

Day 13: A Band or Artist That Has Gotten You Through Some Bad Ass Days

Well, I guess this would depend on the days....in high school, I think Journey, Depeche Mode, and old school Prince would have been on my list that has gotten me through (not exclusively but I do remember listening to them when I was going through tough high school drama).

Then in college, it would be Sinead O'Connor, James Brown, and EnVogue, that helped me through stressful days, lonely times, or being homesick. Oh, and I remember one particular drive to clear my head that required some James Taylor and UB40 (how is that for a mix?)...

Over the years since college, I have had some Sarah McLachlan, Anna Nalick, Norah Jones when I need to sing the blues away, then some Green Day, Violent Femmes, and Beastie Boys if I need to get going, and finally some CCR, Beatles, and Allman Brothers if I want a walk down childhood memory lane. Can't forget some Disturbed and Papa Roach when I want to get pumped at the gym...

You know, obviously, there is no way to answer this one with just one artist or band...I don't think I have had the bad times that this question is referring too yet, and I love so many different artists and listen to them all for different reasons...so this is really just a broad brushstroke of the things I have listened to over the years....definitely not inclusive off all my tastes musically....since we didn't even touch on Classical and Scores that get me going for school or morning wakeups...

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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Beautiful Moon

BBC Book List 2010

Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here. Instructions: Copy this into your NOTES. Bold those books you've read in their entirety, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read an excerpt. Tag to me and others.

1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22- Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch – George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath- Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina –Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
34 Emma – Jane Austen
35 Persuasion – Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Berniere
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Willaim Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
41 Animal Farm – George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving
45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47 Far from the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martell
52 Dune – Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
60 Love in the time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66 On the Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula – Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson
74 Notes from a Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal – Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - Charles Mitchell
83 The Colour Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare
99 Charlie & the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

Looks like I have read 53 of them so far....but really that is only half. Guess I better update that reading list at the library. Thank goodness for AP English in highschool or I wouldn't have half of what I do on here...haha

Day 12: Something You Never Get Compliments On

Wow, this one is hard...this means that I have to think of something that I like about myself that no one else notices....hmmmm.

Okay, I have thought of it....my feet. I really like my feet and no one else really seems to notice them...haha. The only thing anyone really notices is that I look like I am standing on my toes when my feet are relaxed due to the high arch I have...other than that...no admirers...

Everything else I like about myself has had at least one compliment so I can't say "never"...heehee.

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Five Years Ago on In My Words...In A Pinch

Day 11: Something People Seem to Compliment You the Most On

This one is two fold....physically, I think it would have to be my curly hair and my eyes...at least those two are the ones I hear the most about. Amazingly enough, they are both things I like about myself physically too so it works out...haha.

On the nonphysical front, I think I get complimented on my knowledge of various things. I don't know everything obviously, but of the things I am interested in, I try to be as thorough in my knowledge as possible. I know a lot about computers, for instance, and that is probably the one thing that comes up the most...and I love being able to use what I know to help others so it is a benefit for both them and me.

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Four Years Ago on In My Words...She's Off

Day 10: Someone You Need To Let Go Of or Wish You Didn't Know

I don't think this one is an issue for me. I am pretty good at letting go of dead weight.

I realized a long time ago that who you choose to have in your life affects who you are and what you are able to accomplish. I tend to cut loose those that have TOO much drama, are not honest, or are TOO negative...I just don't need those kind of people in my life.

High school is over and I can't stand to be surrounded by high school antics in people that should have outgrown that activity years ago.

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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Blanket Woes

Day 9: Someone You Didn't Want To Let Go Of But Just Drifted Away From

This is an interesting one. I have always had a hang up about drifting away from people and a lot of guilt when it does happen. Reality is that there are only a few people in anyone's life that remain a part of it for the length of it. Generally this is family (but not in all cases) and the closest of friends.

I have been very lucky to have some very good friends in my life that have filled the "family" requirement for me when my family has been far away (distance-wise). Those friends will be my friends forever even if we don't talk for ages. I know that they feel the same way about me.

I do have a couple of close friends that I had in high school, that I desperately tried to stay connected with after we all went our separate ways and I have managed to really only stay in contact with one of them. We will continue to be friends until the end of time even though we rarely get to see each other. I felt a lot a guilt when I felt the others slipping away but this is mostly because I assumed it was all my fault. Truth is that it takes two to maintain a relationship and all the effort can't be on one side. So while some of the fault is mine, not all of it is.

The same thing happened in college. I really only have one or two people that am close to from my undergraduate years even though I had a lot of friends, teammates, and sorority sisters at the time. As our lives went in different directions, we drifted apart and other people came into our lives. This is normal...and I have learned to not put so much on myself about this anymore.

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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Walmart Tramplers

Day 8: Someone Who Made Your Life Hell or Treated You Like Shit

This is a hard one as I don't think that anyone completely fits this bill....I mean we all had relationships in school that did or didn't turn out for one reason or another, but none of mine were so bad that I would label them as the above.

I guess I feel some resentment towards my biological father for some of the things he put me through...but he is no longer living and I really can't speak badly of him now. He made some really bad choices in his life, and unfortunately, I was affected by some of them, but in the end, his life was shortened because of some of those choices so I don't know that anything I would say would make a difference in that outcome. I wish sometimes that I had been able to get to know the amazing part of him better, but he kept that part of himself hidden behind the bad choices most of the time, and that seems sadder than anything else.

Overall, I have had a pretty good life, hard sometimes (like everyone) but still pretty good without a lot of tragedy in it. I am one of the lucky ones.

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Four Years Ago on In My Words...Playstation Mayhem

Day 7: Someone Who Has Made Your Life Worth Living For

This one is easy....everyone in my family...my husband, my sisters, my brothers, my moms and dads, my grandparents, all the aunts and uncles, cousins and friends that have been family for me for so long...I don't know what I would do without you!!!

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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Caching It High

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Just wanted to wish you a happy birthday and so looking forward to seeing you over Tday weekend. You are the best and I am one of two lucky daughters!!

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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Happy Birthday Mom

Day 6: Something You Hope You Never Have To Do

Wow...what a question. I guess I would have to say off the top of my head that number one, I would never want to have to okay the "pulling of the plug" for anyone, but I know that if I needed to do it, I could...I just wouldn't want to. Putting down my cat of 19 years a few years back was very traumatic and I know that obviously "putting down" a person would be so much more terrible.

I would also never want to put one of my parents in a nursing home, although I know that this is necessary sometimes, the idea of it just makes me cringe.

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Five Years Ago on In My Words...Steve Terrill

Day 5: Something You Hope to Do in Your Life

I definitely want to travel some more. Even though I have been to a lot of places, there are tons more that I would love to see.

I want to spend more time with my friends and family...being away as much as I have been really gives you a good perspective on how short life is and how much we need to appreciate every moment.

I would like to study some more things in school, like Japanese, Spanish, guitar, piano, computers (of course), and photography.

I would like to have enough courage and self confidence to teach classes in some of the things that I know well.

There are tons of other things I hope to do in my life, but these are the things that pop to the top of my head right now.

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One Year Ago on In My Words...Muy Feo

Day 4: Something You Have to Forgive Someone For

I was just recently wronged by someone that I would have never expected it from. I was completely blindsided and it has affected me in the most horrific way. I am devastated by the actions and words of this person. I have lost confidence in who I am and how I see the world. I feel as if everything I ever knew was right and good is completely the opposite. I am sure that I will never be the same.

Having said all that, I know deep in my heart that given some time and much explanation, I could come to forgive and trust this person again. We have known each other for a very long time and that counts for something. You don't throw people out of your life when you have so much history. I hope that there will come a time that we can meet half way and come to an understanding and perhaps eventually a renewal of our relationship.

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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Mission For Fitness

Day 3: Something You Have to Forgive Yourself For

I need to forgive myself for not upholding my end of a deal I made with someone I care for very much. Overall, it probably doesn't seem like a big deal but I know that I hurt that person by not following through on my promise, and I also damaged my word for them to believe in me for any future promises. I am not ready to forgive myself for making such a huge mistake but I know that at sometime, perhaps after they forgive me, I will forgive myself as long as I do not allow myself to repeat my mistakes.

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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Blanket Woes

Day 2: Something You Love About Yourself

I love that I have a soft heart and am not afraid to show that I have feelings for others. I know that it makes me more susceptible to getting hurt by others, but I have come to the realization that the only thing that matters in life is THOSE THAT YOU LOVE AND THOSE THAT LOVE YOU. All the rest of the cr@p doesn't matter....not in the end.

When I die, it won't matter how much money I have in the bank, or how many cool things I have in my house, all that will matter is the lives I have affected and those that have affected me. There is nothing else.

I love that my travels around this world have opened my mind (more than it already was) to this amazing planet we live on and all the amazing things we can experience and affect. My travels have allowed me the opportunity to love more and have more love me and that is something that I will always have!!

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Four Years Ago on In My Words...Books

Day 1: Something You Hate About Yourself

Starting a new blogging task to see if I can get myself jump started into my writing again. I have a ton of stuff going on, but most of it too personal for posting on here. I need to get motivated to write regularly and then the creative juices will start to flow...so on that note, I am going to do this list of 30 topics...don't know that I will get them all done in 30 days but I think it is still a good place to start. I found this list on Poppycede's blog...not sure who she might have gotten it from.

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Something You Hate About Yourself

Honestly I don't really hate anything about myself but I definitely have things I would like to change or that I dislike about my personality. One of those things would be my tendency to over-think things on occasion. Turning off my brain these days is one of my biggest hurdles. I have found that exercising regularly helps me keep my brain clear and focused and definitely helps with the over-thinking issue. Only problem is that sometimes the over-thinking occurs in the middle of the night or early morning when exercising is a bit difficult.

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Five Years Ago on In My Words...My God, It's Full of Stars

Sad to See

We have a state population near 4 million (and of course some of these can't vote) but to only have 1.4 million vote in the midterm election is really pathetic.

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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Google Reader and iGoogle