The post where I discuss 2013 and make plans for 2014

2013.

I turned 27 in 2013.

I like odd numbers.

27 is my favorite number and so I decided that 2013 had to be the best year ever because I was 27 and 13 is an odd number. (Don't mess with my logic.....just roll with it.)

I am also a procrastinator....so I am justifying the fact that age 27 during the odd year of 2013 was so not the best year ever by saying I procrastinated til age 28 in 2014.

Again.....don't mess with my logic. It works for me so roll with it.

I did lose weight in 2013. A good amount of weight. February 22 - November 22 I lost 38 pounds. Not the 50 pounds I wanted to but I started late and I decided I was actually gonna enjoy the Thanksgiving and Christmas food fests.

Lets review 2013's Resolutions shall we?

Oh yeah....we can't... I found the list a few weeks ago while cleaning out the office and laughed as I read all the crap I planned on doing....but didn't. Oops.

2013...

I paid off my car.... Good!
Lap top broke.... Bad.
Adam saved all my files.... Good!
Tablet broke... Bad.
Lost 38 pounds... Good!
Have Achilles Tendonitis.... Bad.
Helped out a friend... Good!
Got so unbelievably SCREWED OVER by that friend.... Bad.


There is a long story to that last one. One I might write out and explain one day while using fake names so the identity of said shithead is protected.... because I am a nice person. Lets just say Adam and I are out roughly $4,000 for six months of trying to help someone down on their luck. Just writing that little bit makes me want to punch something. Moving on...

I wanted to finish writing a good chunk of my book and didn't. Wanted to finally choose a major and start back up with school and didn't. Wanted to be a better wife and wasn't. Wanted to have a good savings account built up and don't. Etc.

I wanted to lose weight and I did. 38 lbs. I wanted to be more social and I am trying..joined a bowling league and I do see my friends more often than last year....not by much but I am trying. I wanted to get back into coaching and I did...two fold. Two teams in one season is kid of a pain in the ass.  I was apparently voted onto the board here too.... THAT should be interesting. Wanted to figure out my finances and bills and I have...I have a ways to go before I am where I want to be but at least I have a plan.

Then there is work... Shit went down in July and that snowball hasn't stopped rolling yet.

Summary... 2013 was 75% suck and 25% good.

So....2014.... I s'pose I will make my semi-realistic resolutions in a public forum...

1. As always... the resolution I have made every year since I was like..... six... I will stop biting my nails. (I probably won't. But after over two decades of saying it every year it just seems wrong to not include it.)

2. I'll drop 20 more lbs. (Did 38 in nine months....why not another 20?) Granted I have not discovered how much I gained back during the Thanksgiving and Christmas Food Fest so it may be like....30 but I digress)

3. I will write more. I'll write a bit on my book every week. Even if it is just a sentence or two. But I will have the in depth outline done by March 1st. I'll do a blog post twice a month....about what... I dunno.... I'll figure that out later.

4. I will work on crocheting more often this year. I have 9,000 balls of yarn and the best intentions but I never actually finish anything I start.

5. More of that being social crap. Do something with someone that doesn't live in my house at least bi-weekly.

6. Keep at least $50 of each paycheck squirreled away in a savings account....or a sock...or in a hole in the mattress. Whatever.

7. Pick a freakin' major for Christ's sake....and keep it. Lucky number five. It'll be my fifth major and probably my fifth college. Sigh.

8. Be a better wife. I am a moody bitch on a good day. I need to stop taking all my frustrations about things out on Adam. It isn't fair to him but I do it alllll the time.

9. Be more of a Susie Homemaker type. I hate cooking. But sometimes you gotta do shit you hate for those you love.

10. Ten is a combination of three things I want for myself that are personal and not for public knowledge. So the most I will say is: 1. I won't.......... 2. I'll stop.......... 3. If I................


Dear 2013,

Suck it.

Love, Rachel



Dear 2014,

Let's do this.

Love, Rachel



Keep livin' the dream!

~Turtle

The post where I.....I don't know how to title this one....

Based on the previous post you all probably realize I believe in things that are a little….different. This post will follow that theme. This will probably be a rather long post. A three parter in fact. The Story. The Poem. The “Dream”.

 

Aunt Tam…. If you are reading this I am going to color code it so you don’t have to read all of it if you don’t want to. The first section (red) is about the day I found out Justin had died. The  second section (blue) is about when Mom and I got to Michigan and the poem I wrote and read at Justin’s funeral. The third section (green) is about the day leading up to and including the “dream.” I understand if you don’t want to read the red and blue sections….but please, please, please read the green section. Please.

 

**

 

My Mom has two best friends that she has known since she was in first (or so) grade… my Aunt Tammy and my Aunt Lorie. Aunt Tammy has two boys….my cousins…Justin and Jordan. My cousin Justin died in March of 2009. He had a drug problem and it killed him.

 

I will never ever forget the day I found out Justin had died. I had my advancement exam for Second Class Petty Officer that morning. I had to be there pretty much at the butt crack of dawn. I had forgotten something at work so I went early to grab it before heading over to the testing site. I was walking out of the hanger and crossing the flight line to get to the parking lot when my phone went off in my pocket. No one calls me that early unless I am late for something or something is wrong….so I looked around real quick…no one was around to see me pull my phone out on the flight line…so I did.

 

The screen said “Momma”. I didn’t think anything was wrong when I saw that. She knew I had my exam that morning and I figured she was calling to wish me good luck. I answered the phone. “Hey, Momma.”

 

She had that ‘trying not to cry even though I have been crying for a while’ voice. “Hey, Baby.”

 

My heart hit my throat. I stopped walking. I knew I had to go take a three hour long test for work in fifteen minutes. I said, “Mom… I have my advancement exam this morning.”

 

“Oh, Baby. I am sorry. I forgot.”

 

“Are you okay?”

 

“I’m okay.”

 

“Is Daddy okay?”

 

“Daddy’s fine. He is okay. We are both okay.”

 

“Okay… Whatever is wrong is gonna have to wait a couple of hours. I gotta go do this, okay?”

 

“Okay. I’m so sorry. I forgot.”

 

“It’s okay. I will call you back in a bit. Love you, Momma. Smoochies.”

 

“Love you too, me seed. Smoochies.”

 

(Disclaimer: Please don’t think I didn’t care about why my Mom was crying or about anyone else in my life other than my parents…. I did. But I needed to be able to get through the test that I had to take for work and I knew that if she was okay and my Dad was okay I could at least get through the next three hours.)

 

I went to my car. I went to the exam site. I walked in and sat down. My brain was spinning. My “boss lady” was one of the exam proctors. I told her that my Mom had called to give me bad news and I told her to wait to tell me so I could take the exam and that I was going to call her back after. “Boss Lady” told me to let her know what happened after I had called.

 

I took the exam. I read every question and I answered the first half with actual legit answers. The answers are labeled with numbers but when I tell the story I like to label them with letters instead. The second half of the exam I was pretty much done. I needed to know what was going on and I was not about to sit in that room and figure shit out for three hours. Nope. So the second half went like this….

 

:::Read the question and the possible answers::: I don’t want to BE here…. :::fill in bubble B:::

:::Read the question and the possible answers::: I want to SEE my family…:::fill in bubble C:::

:::Read the question and the possible answers::: I don’t give A flying fuck about this test right now… :::fill in bubble A:::

 

And so on…

 

Finished it. Handed it in. Went into the hall and called my Mom as I walked outside to the car.

 

“Okay, Momma. I am done. What happened?”

 

“It’s Justin, Baby.”

 

“It’s Justin? It’s Justin what?”

 

Her voice cracked. “Baby……he just took too much.”

 

I lost my damn mind. I don’t remember anything between that and when I went back in to tell the “Boss Lady”. I don’t remember what else was said or how long we talked. I remember her saying the word ‘much’ and the next thing I can recall is opening the door to the exam room and marching in all wild eyed like I owned the place.

 

“Boss Lady” saw me come flying in and put her hand up and pointed to the hall. That is when I thought, “Oh yeah, dummy….people are still in the middle of their exams.”

 

We went into the hall and she asked me what happened.

 

“My cousin died. He died. He is dead.”

 

She was quiet for a few seconds and then she asked me a question. At the time I didn’t really understand the question but later I learned about emergency leave and how it works and I really appreciated her for what she did for me.

 

She said, “I am going to ask you a question. But before I ask it I want you to know the answer is, ‘yes’. Okay?”

 

“Okay.”

 

“When you were growing up….did you live with your cousin?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Go home, Robinson.”

 

(Now…in theory that wasn’t a fib. My Mom and I spent so much time in Michigan when I was little because my grandparents were sick that in theory I did pretty much live there.)

 

So I went to Michigan for Justin’s funeral.

 

**

 

I don’t remember much about the trip other that the evening spent in the basement and the actual funeral.

 

There was an evening that my Mom, my Aunt Tammy, Joey Pants, myself and a load of other people (sorry…other than the three I mentioned I don’t remember specifics) were in Aunt Tammy’s basement talking about the service and memories and whatnot. I was curled up on the couch and I was scribbling in a notebook…. I really wasn’t participating in the conversation and  someone asked me what I was writing.

 

“A poem.”

 

“Can we hear it?”

 

“When it is done.”

 

So I kept working on it. I told everyone it was finished and they asked me to read it. So I did….

 

Dear Justin

 

During the past few days we’ve often wondered why

All we have are memories to help the time pass by.

We love you and we miss you, we aren’t sure why you went.

We’ve thought about the good times, all the times we spent.

We wish we could have helped you before it was too late

To be the Justin that we knew before that twist of fate.

We wish we had you with us to laugh with and to hug.

We wish we could have pulled you out of the deep hole that you dug.

You had your life ahead of you, your family is brand new.

It isn’t fair your moments with them were short and far too few.

We will always remember the good times but we can’t forget the bad.

We have our sorrow, we have our grief and some of us are mad.

But we will all forgive you, as hard as that may be

And we know you are watching over us, all our lives you’ll see.

So Justin, goodbye for now, our hearts will one day mend

When we see our son, brother, nephew, cousin, daddy, love and friend.

 

I got done reading it and was met with total silence. Someone said, “You have to read that at the funeral.”

 

I do not like public speaking. I can sit in a group and talk with five people and be fine but if the same five people are sitting and I am standing in a ‘official’ setting…. Game over. So when I said I would do it without hesitation I wondered what the hell I was doing.

 

The funeral was rough. Standing room only. I sat with Julie and Mom went with Aunt Tam. I remember snippets of it. I remember saying goodbye and seeing him in the casket in his jersey. I remember being semi-composed for most of it. I remember watching the memorial video and when it got to a picture of me, Justin and Jordan on Halloween I lost my mind and don’t remember anything after that until someone said something about someone writing a poem and then my feet were moving toward the podium.

 

I got to the podium….turned around and looked out at the sea of humanity that was packed into that room. So many people were in the same boat I was….utter wrecks. An utter wreck standing in front of hundreds of people that are also utter wrecks is so much easier than one nervous person in front of five people.

 

I had to swallow back the tears the whole time I was reading. I wasn’t nervous but I still stared at the paper so I didn’t mess up…. Until the last line. The last line I looked at the front row. I looked at my Aunt Tammy and Uncle Randy. I looked at Jordan. I looked at Tina and Megan and Morgan and Heather and Michelle and Britt and Afton and and and and and and and and and….. I looked at Miss Aubrey and Ashley. Then I just looked out at everyone.

 

And then I stepped away from the podium. And then I bawled.

 

And a day or so later….I went back to Texas.

 

**

I got back to Texas…resumed my Navy life and tried to make sense of what had happened.

 

The following is exactly what I wrote the morning after it happened….

 

(Disclamer…. I have tried this quite a few times since and it doesn’t always work. So please don’t try it and be upset if it doesn’t happen.)

 

5/20/09

 

Yesterday I bought a book about strengthening psychic abilities. I read a chapter on dreams and out of body experiences. In it, it said you can program what you dream about by thinking a thought until you fall asleep. Justin died a little over two months ago and I haven’t dreamed about him and I really wanted to. So I did the body relaxation thing and repeated, “I want to dream about Justin and Roxy and remember it”. (I threw Roxy in there to make sure I could still see her.) Anyway, I had a combo of a dream and an OBE (out of body experience).

 

I went from being in bed to standing in the middle of a meadow in about two seconds. I was completely aware that I was in bed though and I could still see the outlines of my furniture and the light from the window glint off the TV but I was definitely in a meadow next to a lake with a mountain next to it. It was a sunny day and the temperature was perfect.

 

Someone said, “Hey” and I turned around to see Justin standing beside me smiling. He looked young, a lot like his senior pictures and he had on a basketball jersey. He said, “Come on” and suddenly we were on the mountain on the edge of a cliff. He launched himself off the cliff and I screamed and reached out for him but to my surprise he was hovering in midair a few feet away.

 

“You can fly.” I said in awe.

 

“We all can.”

 

“Who?”

 

“The angels. Come on, you’re dreaming, you can fly too. Let’s go.”

 

I was hesitant but he took off like a rocket and I didn’t want to lose him so I jumped. I fell a few feet before something invisible caught me and I flew after him. We went across mountains covered in the greenest grass I have ever seen and I saw daffodils and dandelions everywhere.

 

“This is so cool!” I yelled at him.

 

“Check this out.” He did a nose dive into the lake.

 

I figured I was already flying around so I might as well get wet so I plunged in after him. The water wasn’t warm or cold, it was just there. I could see perfectly as if I had goggles on. Justin was ahead of me and so I went faster to catch up. (I realized then that I wasn’t swimming…I was sort of gliding through the water.) There were bright plants and water flowers and hundreds of fish. I was getting worried because I didn’t know how much longer I could hold my breath and I breathed in through my nose. I felt the water go into my nostrils and for a brief moment I thought, “Well, shit. I’m drowning” but then I realized that even though it was water I was inhaling I could still breathe fine. I laughed and a goldfish shot into my mouth and I coughed (I was vaguely aware at that point that my sleeping self had a tickle in the back of her throat which I found amusing…a goldfish was the tickle in my dream.) I went from being in the lake to being in a building in the blink of an eye. Justin motioned for me to be quiet when he looked around the corner. He came back in and told me ‘they’ were in there and I had to sneak out. (In the dream I knew who ‘they’ were but now I am not so sure. I think it was other people I care about that died.) I asked him why and he said they would want me to stay if they saw me and he knew I had to go back. We snuck past the door and I peeked in and saw a bunch of people in chairs and on couches playing games and watching TV. There were a few dogs on the floor and one looked like Bo and one looked like Dolly. I saw a white tail and thought of Rowdie too. The Dolly dog looked up and saw me and her tail wagged but Justin told her to stay. She did so she must have known I was just visiting.

 

We went back outside and we stood by the lake chatting for a few moments about nothing I can really remember and then my mouth started to feel funny like bubbles filling it up. I groaned and spit a mouthful of rocks and pebbles into my hand. As it was filling up again I said that it meant I needed to go.

 

Justin nodded and gave me a quick hug and said, “Make sure my Mom knows I’m okay.”

 

 I nodded and spit more rocks out then turned to where I could see myself sleeping and walked to my bed and woke up.

 

I stayed in bed for a few moments with my eyes open and then rolled over and went back to sleep. I loved every minute of the dream and I am so happy that I remember it with such detail. I’ve been thinking hard about who was in the room we snuck past. I remember people but right before I place a name to them they disappear. I saw young and old people in the room. I think I saw Roxy’s red hair and I am pretty sure I saw Nikki. I remember seeing an old man in a recliner that I want to say was Granddaddy but I’m not positive. I’m pretty sure it was though.

 

I think heaven exists… and I think I was lucky enough to visit for a moment.

 

Oh…and the rock thing isn’t really that strange for me. Some people dream about their teeth falling out…my mouth fills with rocks to the point of annoyance.

 

**

 

That is the end of what I wrote about the “dream”.

 

I don’t really know how to end this post…… I would end it with my usual sign off but that seems inappropriate for this post….

 

If you know someone that you think or know has a drug problem. Get in their face about it. Get them help even if it pisses them off. Seriously.


Love to my Ebs.

 

Justin….. Just Unite Someone Through Intervention Now

 

 

The post where I tell you about Rachelism

I was standing in line at the CVS pharmacy a few days ago and this lady struck up a conversation with me. We chatted for a bit and then she asked me, “Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior?”

My usual response to this question is, “No. I believe in God but I don’t like going to church.” That usually makes the person try to convince me to go to church with them. Something I wholeheartedly do not want to do. So I then have to find a way to a) not be rude and b) end the conversation before I become rude.

This time was different though. She had such a sweet smile and was such a pleasant person to talk to that I didn’t say my standard answer.

I said, “I believe in God but that is where my ‘mainstream religion’ beliefs end. I like to think of myself as believing in Rachelism. I believe what I believe and it beyond that it doesn’t really matter.”

She nodded and had a thoughtful look on her face and was quiet for a few seconds and then she said, “You know what, honey…that is a truthful answer and that is okay. You spoke the truth and that is wonderful. Thank you.”

 

So what exactly is Rachelism you ask…

 

~Reincarnation, Heaven and Hell and Karma

When it comes to religion I have always believed in God to a certain extent. (The “certain extent” is not pertinent information for this story.) My parents bought me a book of children’s bible stories when I was three or four. I still have it actually (granted it is somewhere in the attic but it counts). My parents decided that they would teach me about religion and then let me decide for myself what I believed in. They are both Christian although they are not church going. My Mom’s theory is that God created the earth so why should she have to go to a man made building to talk to Him…she would rather go out to the woods and chill by a tree. I second that opinion. My Dad…I know the reason behind his dislike for church but that is his story…not mine… Anyway….they decided it would be up to me what I believed so I was never baptized.

I learned to read at a very early age. When I was in first grade and my friends were reading Dr. Seuss I was devouring short chapter books (I am a total bookworm). A book fair was going on at school so Mom stuck some money in my backpack and sent me on my merry way. I chose a book called Number the Stars. Short chapter book, easy to read. It is about a family…the daughter is friends with a Jewish girl during WWII. The friend is staying the night at their house when the Gestapo burst in. They manage to convince the police that she is their daughter, thus saving her from concentration camps. The summary isn’t really important…whatever…anyway, I brought it home and my Mom asked me why I decided to buy that book.

I knew at a young age that I was different. I didn’t really know why or how, but I knew. When my Mom asked me that the answer came so easily. The answer made zero sense to me, I didn’t really know what I was talking about but the words were there and I knew them to be true. So my seven year old self looked at my mother and said:

“Momma, I am a reincarnated Jewish person that died in the Holocaust.”

Needless to say, my Mom was a little more than freaked out (although I give her credit, she didn’t let me know she was freaked…she just brushed it off with an, “Oh, okay.”)

I had no idea what the Holocaust was at age seven, I don’t think I started learning about it until I was in third or fourth grade. I read every book I came across about it though. Number the Stars, Behind the Bedroom Wall, Hide and Seek. Every report I did in middle and high school was on the Holocaust. I was (as someone once put it) ’morbidly obsessed’ with the Holocaust. Once I got old enough to understand what the Holocaust was I talked to my parents about everything. Why I thought what I thought, what I believed etc. I have had several conversations with them about it.

10^th grade curriculum at my school involved watching Schindler’s List. I don’t know if you have ever watched Schindler’s List before…if not you should. Great movie, really friggin sad. Anyway, due to the fact there is full nudity in that movie (male and female) we had to have our parents sign permission slips to watch it. I had no problem getting my parents to sign it. I brought it home, set it in front of my Mom and said, “Sign this, it’s a permission slip to watch Schindler’s List at school.” She signed it and said, “I was wondering when you were going to ask to see this, I’m surprised we didn’t watch it when you were 10 and not in 10^th grade.” My Mom knows me so well. Anyway, again not the point…moving on….

The day comes, it’s a long movie so it was pretty much an all day even at school. I was excited as all get out to watch it. My friends all knew about my “morbid obsession” so they were picking on me a bit, “Are you sure you’re in the right movie, Rach? The kids without permission slips are down the hall. Are you sure you didn’t sign up to watch a Disney movie?” I zoned out of life during the whole thing. Completely absorbed in the film. Near the end of the movie there is a group of people that begin praying in Hebrew. I was watching it, totally not paying attention to anyone else in the room when my friend poked me in the arm. I pulled my eyes away from the screen, looked at them and went, “Hmm?” They had this minorly freaked out look on their face so I said, “What?”

“What are you doing?” they  asked.

“Iiiiiii’m watching the movie…”

“No, no….Rachel…you were talking…in Hebrew…exactly what they were saying when they said it…you were praying in Hebrew….”

“Oh…weird…I dunno” And I looked back at the screen.

 

I’ve watched the movie since then and tried to do the same thing but I can’t. I can’t make my mouth say the stuff right, I can’t remember what they said…Nada. But apparently I did that day all zoned out.

I have gone to church a few times in the recent past.  I am very uncomfortable with being in church… I don’t really feel that is where I belong. “Jesus talk” freaks me out. I believe in God but I don’t believe in Jesus in the Lord and Savior way. I have considered being baptized a few times but never looked into it because I feel it would be lying to myself if I did. Like I told my Mom, I believe I am a reincarnated Jewish person that died in the Holocaust. My most recent past life soul was Jewish…I remember this now so I can’t bring myself to be baptized a Christian if the very core of my being is Jewish. Also, throughout my life I have actually had dreams about lives prior to WWII. I remember four, maybe a fifth. But none are as clear as the Holocaust one.

My belief in the afterlife goes a little something like this: You live a life, you go to heaven or hell depending on how you lived that life. If you go to hell…sorry the train stops there, end of the line: you’re stuck. If you did something bad enough in this lifetime you don’t get another chance (I think there are some crimes that are unforgivable…if you rape and kill a baby you are screwed. Have fun in hell…but that’s my personal opinion.) If you go to heaven I believe that you get to stay there forever if you want. If you feel you want another go around, God gives you that chance. For me there are 100 year plus gaps in the past life memories I have except for the one between WWII and now. I think that in all my other lives I chose to stay in heaven for a while. Wait until all my family was up there too, have a big blow out party…putz around for a few decades and then go again. I think that when I was in WWII I only stayed in heaven a short while because lets face it…Holocaust…Jewish…most of my family from that life was probably up there around the same time. So I chose to come a little sooner, that life got jipped (I think I was early 20s when I died) I wanted to go again.

  I’ve also met people I knew before. I meet them and there is something so damn familiar about them. The ‘magic’ happens when they feel the same too, also believe in reincarnation and can remember past lives….so a very interesting conversation occurs and you figure out when and how and….well…it is very surreal to say the least.

I don’t necessarily believe in Karma in the reincarnation sense…like if you are a horrible human being you are gonna come back as a dog (although I am 99% convinced my Pug was a human in the past life….or a cat….or maybe both I dunno…..  He is one strange dog.) I believe that what goes around comes around. If you do something shitty to someone eventually something shitty is gonna happen right back. Karma is a pissy bitch on her period….you mess with her and she will getcha. I don’t, however, believe in the flip side…that if you do awesome things you will have something awesome happen to you. I know too many awesome people that can’t catch a break to save their lives….but I know a few assholes that got what was coming to them.

 

That is Rachelism in a nutshell.

 

Keep livin’ the dream!

 

~Turtle

The post where I talk about Kidd Kraddick

Very brief background on Kidd Kraddick for those of you that don’t know who he is……..    was………

He was “the Godfather of Radio”… an absolutely amazing man with a heart of gold and the host of the “Kidd Kraddick in the Morning” radio show (a Dallas based show that is syndicated and plays all over the country).

This show that is linked below was on 7/22/13. He died on 7/27/13.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maCy7ZRqNNE

It makes me wonder if he knew he was having health problems and knew he might die soon but just didn't want to freak people out. What if this was his way "saying goodbye" in his own Kidd Kraddick way?

I have never cried over the death of someone I have never met until I found out Kidd Kraddick had died. The “Kidd Kraddick in the Morning” show helped me get through some serious homesickness and keep my sanity…..

The Kiss station where I grew up in NY was Kiss 98.5 and the morning show was Janet and Nicholas Pickle-as (not so sure on the spelling there). That morning show was what my bus driver had on the radio every morning from K-11^th grade. 12^th grade I drove myself to school and I listened to the same station out of habit. Ages 19-21….same station. At 21 I joined the Navy and left the Kiss 98.5 broadcasting area…

My first command after boot camp and training was in Fort Worth, TX. I missed music and the radio and driving and the very first thing I did after I got a car was start hunting for a decent music station that played the same music that Kiss 98.5 did. I was homesick and I didn’t know that “Kiss” was a common radio station name. The second I heard “One-oh-six-point-one… Kiss FM” I was hooked.

Every morning on the way to work I would listen to Kidd and the gang. Their show was so much better than the one I grew up listening to. Kidd wasn’t on the radio…he was in the passenger’s seat of my car making me laugh and cry as I drove to work. Listening to Kidd and the gang wasn’t like listening to faceless people on the radio….it felt like you were in your living room on a Friday night with friends laughing so hard your stomach hurt at some story that was being told.
 
Kidd founded Kidd’s Kids…an organization that raises money to send terminally and chronically ill children and their families to Disney World. He also did a segment on his show around Christmas time called Breaking and Entering Christmas. People would write in about a family that could use a little help around the holidays…they would pick one family and, while they were out of the house, Big Al and a bunch of other people would break into their house and set up a Christmas tree and pile presents under it. TV’s, game consoles,  bikes, gift cards…. Then the family would come home and walk it their house filled with strangers and Kidd would talk to them live on the air while they cried and thanked everyone repeatedly.
 

Here are some more links to show clips for you to enjoy.

A clip from a Kidd’s Kids trip

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJN1YajsJ10&feature=c4-overview&list=UU4Uog926aTE7WM-Oq8DNHYQ

Breaking and Entering Christmas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3cLJlBfhSY

And here is a “Best of 2012” Montage so you can see what a typical drive to work was like…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVpqOEjk8hI

 
Kidd’s signature line was, “Keep lookin’ up… ‘cause that’s where it all is.”


R.I.P. Kidd. Keep lookin' down....that's where we all are.


Keep livin' the dream!

~Turtle

The post where I tell you 25 random and useless facts about me

Once upon a time there was a "survey note craze" on Facebook. Those long ass Q&A things that you would fill out when you were hella bored and had nothing else better to do....and then you tagged friends that would read yours answers then fill out their answers when they were hella bored and had nothing else better to do... and then they tagged their friends....etc etc etc.  Well in January 2009 Aislinn tagged me in a "25 Things About Me" note... whiiiiiich I filled out when I was hella bored and had nothing else better to do.

I recently remembered that "notes" on Facebook existed and I read through the ones I had posted. The "25 Things" was the last one I read. Some of them are still valid.... others make me laugh and need to be changed or elaborated on....

So without further ado.... 25 Things About Turtle...

(Original in black.... edits in red and new facts in blue.)

1. I miss high school, I would never want to go back but I miss the simplicity of it and I miss band. I bought a keyboard a few weeks ago and I found that I am beginning to forget how to read music. I almost cried.

   I don't miss high school... so this one shall be replaced. I miss the memories....it was simple but you couldn't pay me to go back. I miss the memories of band. I re-taught myself how to read music so no more tears there.

  I may have got past high school but I have still kept my "social butterfly" persona. Instead of "band geeks, jocks, popular kids and loners" the "cliques" I am friend with now are "hippies, bikers, military and southerners". :-p 

2. I believe in reincarnation. I know exactly who and what I was in my most recent past life and I know snippets of lives way before now.

   This is still 100% true. I have known this since I was in first grade. High school made me afraid to tell people and express my beliefs because I didn't want anyone to think I was "weird" (teenagers are judge-y bitches)... But now.... it is who I am and I will tell anyone and everyone. I'm no longer scurred.

3. I have an intense fear of 18 wheeler trucks. I will pull my car over on the highway and wait for them to thin out if there is a lot of them on the road at once. I do have a reason though, my Mom and I were almost smashed into a cement wall by one when I was little. Lucky for us we were in her camero and the back of the truck passed right over the hood of the car.

   This is still 2,000% true. I hate driving when there are big rigs all around me....makes me wanna throw up in my mouth a little.

4. I fiddle with my necklace or ring when I am nervous. If I am trying not to fiddle when I am talking to people then I stick my thumbs in the front pockets of my pants or in a hoodie pocket.

   I also look annnyyyywhere other than people's faces. The ceiling....the floor...the wall...

5. I personally believe that people in Texas (or really anywhere in the south) can't drive...or read...if a sign says "lane ends merge right" it doesn't mean please stay in the left lane until the last possible second then get pissed when I wont let you in. Oh...and when it is 25 degrees and was sleeting the previous night "caution, bridge may be icy in cold weather" means the bridge probably will be icy...so dont go 70 mph and then wonder why your car is skidding sideways..duh.
   Truth.

6. I want to open a daycare/preschool when I get out of the Navy.

   No longer valid. I love kids but I have found that 90% of smallish children annoy the shit out of me.

   I want to open my own photography business when I get out of the Navy. Turtle's Photography. I have loved taking photos since the sixth grade Boston trip. I also want to be a published author.

7. I want to have a book on the New York Times Best Seller List.

   Truth. I am working on it too. I'm the next J. K. Rowling dammit!

8. I am addicted to harrypotterfanfiction.com.

   I don't think I have been on that site since 2009.... sooooooo nope.

   I am addicted to youtube.com. And buzzfeed.com. And of course facebook.com.

9. I am finally getting used to being away from home. It doesn't make it any easier and I still get homesick a lot but I am finally to the point where I can actually save up my leave days and not go home every few months.

   I am 100% used to being away from home. I only go home once a year now.

   The Furry Mafia...Midnight Mamma Dog, Mooshie the Squishy Face, Missy the Old Lady (R.I.P)...the temporary members, Moby and Kiara...and the honorary members, Ziggy, Annie, Noxie, Bear etc.... They are my loves and protectors. They own me. Hahaha.

10. I live with the best people in the state of Texas. I have my own little southern family. Even if they do say Ya'll...alll the time.

   I no longer live in Texas. But the people I lived with then (Megan and Brandon) are my Texas family. I lived with Vinney and her family for a while while in Texas too and they are my Palauan family.

Living in Oklahoma would scare the shit out of me if I didn't have Adam. Seriously. I like to think I am an independent person and would be okay on my own but if I didn't have him to calm me down and explain shit to me when I am in full out freak out mode ("No...the tornado isn't headed for us...this is why..."  "No...that spider isn't poisonous...this is why..." "No...that asshole isn't gonna rob us....I'll shoot him..." ) I would not be okay here at all.

11. I can't wait to have smallish chidren of my very own. I want to be a Mommy.
   Truth.

12. I used to love to entertain people and make them laugh. When I was little I was hyper and crazy and loud because I made people laugh and it was amazing to me. Now that I am older I have become such a shy person. Now when I make people laugh or have to get up in front of people I blush six shades of red and wonder what I did to make them laugh and how can I make them stop.

   Also truth.

13. I have found love and it is an amazing experience. In high school I had a lot of guy friends but never really any boy friends. Crushes...oh yes, I had crushes...but no boy friends. Adam was my first serious boyfriend and I hit it off with the first one. 5 years and still going strong :-)

   Nine years now. I love the boything.

14. I am the ONLY third class petty officer in the entire Navy that has the job that I have. I am the Command Career Counselor Assistant and in March I will be a fully qualified Career Counselor and I will get to wear the badge and everything. Normally you have to be at least a second class to be able to do that but my Master Chief decided I could handle the responsibility as a third. Go me!

   Well pin a rose on my bragging nose. I don't think many thirds were Assistant CCC but I highly doubt I was the only one. Sheesh....I thought I was the cat's pajamas back then.

   Being stationed at a NOSC has made me more (respectfully) vocal. I have never in my 27 years on earth been comfortable enough to (respectfully) tell someone they are a dumbass. Unless I outrank them....then I just tell them that they are a dumbass. (There are only so many times you can explain the same thing to a person before you just can't do it anymore.)


15. If you couldn't tell by number 14...I have no use for commas or grammatical correctness....or correct spelling. I make up words like it is my job. When I am working on my book I do...when I think about it anyway...but mostly I use a lot of... and the word and...over and over and over and over again.
   ...Sounds about right...

16. Dr. Pepper is the necture of the gods...unless it is Dublin Dr. Pepper...then I pour if out in disgust and go back to the store. I have actually pulled all the bottles of Dr. Pepper out of the cooler until I found one that wasn't bottled in Dublin.
   I still love me some D. P. but I have expanded my liquid love beyond 23 flavors. (Dublin D.P. still sucks.)

   I have a ridiculous memory if it is something I am interested in. Random ass songs from my childhood...check. Random ass poems from my childhood.....check. The entire Kings Tutorial for EAWS....check (in one night....I memorized almost all of the EAWS Kings Tutorial because I had one shot at my board before I transfered and I wanted those wings...including the phone number for the National Response Center. Dealing with an oil spill??? Call 1-800-424-8802.) The fact I STILL remember the NRC number shows you why my friends and family call me the human phone book. If I actually take the time to commit a number to memory I won't forgot it. Example... (and because some of these are still their parent's home numbers I will only write the last three digits...

Erin: 055
Megs: 361
Ray: 006
Aaron: 540
Ian: 880
Karie:586
Linds: 584

etc etc etc

And cell numbers... I have some of those memorized too...

Ashley: 710
Carrie: 556
Kerri: 242

etc etc etc

Another example of my "if I care to memorize it I will".... the TV show from the 90s... Animaniacs... Yakkos Nations of the World... a friend told me he didn't think I could memorize it.... now I can't forget it. (Seriously...if you know me call me up and tell me to rattle that shit off... I am alllll over it.)

17. I am really uncomfortable talking about religion...I have panic attacks when I go to church. I believe in God...why do I have to talk about it or go to a man made building to have a relationship with Him??? Seriously. God created Earth, yes? Well I would rather go chill by a tree for an hour on Sunday morning than go to a stuffy building. Get over it.

   Still don't like talking about religion. I have however successfully made it through some church time without wanting to throw up a little (recently too...I took pictures of my friend Carrie's baptism last month).

18. I have a tub of cut up shirts from my childhood that I am planning on making into a quilt....when I learn how to sew...which will prolly never do....so therefore I have a tub of cut up shirts from my childhood...

   Still have the tub of cut up shirts from my childhood that I am planning on making into a quilt...still can't sew well enough to make it into a quilt. Super.

19. If I make 2nd Class off the March exam I will have made 2nd class in less than 2 years.

   I made it off that exam. Boom.

20. I am an avid movie watcher. I have almost 200 dvds.

   My movie buying has decreased since I finally moved up to OKC with Adam...but I still have a ridiculous amount of DVDs and I still love watching movies.

21. I have learned not to be so trusting of people. There a lot of assholes in this world. A lot.
   Yep.

22. I wish my grandparents were still alive. I look at people my age that still have there grandparents and I think that I somehow got robbed or something wonderful. I never met my Grandpa Clint, I can barely remember my Grandma Jean, Great Grandma Catherine or my Grandma. I have more memories of my Granddaddy but they are all random and getting fuzzy. They all died young. It scares me that people in my family die young.

   When I wrote this I didn't mention Grandpa Cliff. Everything else is still the same.

23. Jon and Kate Plus Eight, Extreme Home Makeover and Greys Anatomy and three shows you don't speak to me while I am watching. I may just kill you with my bare hands.
   Jon and Kate Plus Eight...no longer. Extreme Home Makeover...no longer. Grey's Anatomy....VALID. Add Vampire Diaries and Once Upon a Time.  If we count Netflix....add Lost Girl too.

24. I have three tattoos...a daisy on my ankle, a sea turtle on my hip and a shooting star on my foot. After the shooting star my Mom said no more tattoos. After that was said Roxy passed away and I got her initials on my ankle by the daisy. It took my Mom over a year to notice. I am currently designing my fourth tattoo....getting ink is addictive...

   Still don't have that fourth tattoo. Ink is addictive but also expensive.

25. I never apply myself 100 percent to anything. I figure that if I fail at something I can justify it to myself because I didn't try my hardest. But if I try my hardest and I still fail I wouldn't let it go...ever...I am terrified of giving my all and failing sooooooooo I just don't

   Sadly.... I cannot edit this. That is still how my brain works. Bummer.









There you have it. Boom goes the dynamite. Now you know a little bit more useless crap about me. Feel special and shit.

Oh yeah.... just so you know.... if you add "and shit" to the end of anything you say it makes you an instant gangsta.

Seriously.

"I like cute and fluffy kittens."  vs.   "I like cute and fluffy kittens and shit."

Gangsta.

Keep livin' the dream!

~Turtle