Today's discovery is just so left field it's perfect for them. The amount of money I've lost on bets I should have taken on their asses & the bullshit they pull, I swear, I'd be a fucking billionaire.

I find out a whole 2 days before arriving back in Scotland that my mother & step-father are going on holiday for 2 weeks in October - the beginning of October. Right smack bang in the middle of my time there.

What's so bad about that I hear you ask?

Well, I can't stay in the house because they're having work done. Work that apparently they have no choice in & can't re-schedule - because apparently they didn't schedule with anyone.. they "just found out the other day". Yeah, because having the bathroom re-furbished is one of these things that simply cannot be negotiated right.

So the job I was planning to take in the village where they live is evidently not an option anymore since half way through I'm going to have to quit & move away. Perhaps as far as the next city because I have nowhere else to go. It's completely fucked off any plans I had & evidently, they don't give a flying fuck about it.

"But what's the job in the Village? What's the job? What's the job in the Village?"

She just can't help herself. Like that has anything to fucking do with it. The job is neither here nor there, especially after they've fucked it off. All that was was a diversionary tactic & that doesn't fly with me.

So tell me mother, how'd it go?

"Well, lets go on holiday for two weeks then"

"What about Aria"

"Oh, she can just go stay with her dad"

Uh huh, & the evil little Chinese woman who also lives there that isn't on speaking terms with her? Right.

So you know what, I emailed my father & I've asked him if I can stay with him. For the whole ten weeks. I've told him I will make a real effort with his wife - because I'd rather deal with that than this anymore. She may be very difficult to get along with at times, but she has never tried to exert any kind of control over me - She might be a bitch, but she's not a narcissist.

Like I don't have enough to be upset about right? It hit me pretty hard & has actually been the first thing I've ended up crying over in all this. I mean, they didn't tell me, my father did. They were going to wait until I was there, lure me into that false sense of security then they were going to drop the bombshell. Which is exactly what my mother did with her excited email about the engagement because she knew she she'd soon be fucking me off. I would still be as unaware if I hadn't emailed my father this morning.

I know fine well that this has been my step-fathers doing. He snubbed our engagement & this is his payback. I would put all my money on them going to Florida for those two weeks. Just you watch. Never mind pulling that card whilst I'm actually here though right, wouldn't want to come & visit me 5,000 miles way. He never bothered for three years when I was 1,000 miles away so why now.

So I rang my mother & tried to have a conversation with her about what the hell was going on. But heaven forbid she'll actually stop hiding behind her bastard of a husband. She pulled her usual "hang on a minute" and put him on the phone. At which point I put Bear on the line. The best part of that conversation, or what he could actually make out of what the hell he was saying was;

"Why can't her mother speak to her?"

"Why can't she speak to her mother?"

"Because she handed the phone to you?!?"

For crying out loud. So my mother comes back on & quite like my step-father did to Bear, I hung up on her. I'd had my fill of her utter stupidity. And you know, I'll be cutting off their asses - primarily my step-fathers - after Bear & I marry anyway. I'm so done with this crap. There's far too much going on right now without the petty bullshit they're pushing on me.

If we had known, we could have planned my return flight differently but apparently that's my fault since I (cue my mother's 'cutting off her nose to spite her face' voice) "wanted to be there for Christmas & your birthday". And there she goes with her "are you looking forward to coming home" bullshit. Is it any wonder I don't want to be there for those dates let alone at all?!

But it's too late now, not to mention we cannot afford to fuck things around with that. So either way, they are fucking my pay check. All the more reason to bite my tongue with my father's wife & set myself up in the middle of the city. Perfect for job opportunities, not to mention saving a long commute.

So I await to hear from my father, hopefully before I get on that plane on Monday.

It's my first day back and who comes stumbling in, but Homeless Man.  (I do not know if he really is homeless or not, but he smells and looks the part).
Homeless Man: You got my application?
me: It's on file, yes.
HM: I'm really anxious for this job.
me: The owner has your application and I do not know if he's even  hiring.
HM: I need this job... (mumbling) welfare, kids...
me: I am not in charge of hiring but your application is on file.
HM: Well, can I get a cup of coffee then?
me, lying: We don't have coffee up here[in the office].
HM: Well, how 'bout a cupcake?
me, taken aback: We don't have cupcakes either.
HM: Change?  How about some spare change?
me: No.

Okay, so, why did I lie about the coffee thing?  I had a feeling that if I caved and gave him coffee, he'd be back everyday, stinking up the place, expecting coffee.

Cupcakes?  Really?

Luckily Bear's parents have been informed of my mother & her habits, more so of her inability to do anything other than be controlled by her husband, because I know he encouraged this. No doubt because he'll be feeling the need to find a new form of control over me since I've got my return ticket back here.

It's just like when she tried to go to New York to meet Bear before I'd even got my first ticket to him. She went as far as buying the ticket, changing the ticket, then cancelling the ticket when, contrary to her belief, there "was a hell of a lot of things I could do about it". That was one of her more costly mistakes, a grand total of £800+ (back then that would be around $1,600). For me, when we were fighting to even survive let alone buy my ticket to America, to see that money go down the drain because of her (or rather, my step-fathers) pig headedness, cost her a lot more.

I do like that she's finally spoken to them (& it was just her, my step-father has a fear of new people) but hell, she should have told me. Her excuses suck a big one as usual & no, I'm not amused. But the difference is that this time, I have my return ticket, so the rest can go to hell :)

It was a beautiful Saturday and I was enjoying the company of friends at a picnic, when one of the guests showed up carrying 2 small children in his arms. One clung to his neck screaming, while the other threw himself backwards in an attempt to catapult his way to freedom.  Naturally, several of us motherly types, in an empathetic flurry, rushed to try to assist the desperate father, nearing his wit's end. 

I grabbed a nearby Whiffle ball and bat and tried to coax the older of the two into a "game".  My invitation was inaudible as he screamed only louder.  I ran into the field and proceeded to mime a solitary game of baseball, hoping to distract the little bugger.  He ignored me completely.

Several of the other guests, took pity on me and ran onto the field offering to indulge me.  (People...I don't really want  to play.....I was just trying to get the kid to shut up!)  At any rate, the game had begun.  I should remind you at this point that I am 46 years old, 70 pounds overweight, and the only consistent exercise I have had in the last 2 years was getting up from my couch. 

I pitched, I hit (fairly impressively, I might add) and then was relegated to the outfield.  Good, I thought, I can rest now.  "THWAK!" (that is the sound a whiffle ball bat makes isn't it?)  The ball was on the fly.  My chance to make a star play was upon me.  My eyesight not what it used to be, I ran forward, then backwards, then sideways to position myself beneath the ball.  Naturally, it hit the ground several feet in front of me and rolled down a hill.  In an attempt to distract the group from my pathetic lack of athleticism, I decided that to "make 'em laugh" was my only hope.  As I ran down the hill to retrieve the runaway ball, I comically flailed my arms, as if to say, "Whhhooooooooaaaaaa, loooookkkkk ooooouuutttt......IIIIII'm out of controooooooooooolllll......"  This might actually have been funny if it weren't for the fact that in a split second, I was  out of control.  I was picking up speed as I headed for the tree line below.  I had to think quickly or look like a Wiley Coyote hole in the large tree ahead.  I decided that to Duck, Tuck, and Roll, was my only hope.  However what I did instead was more of a Ram, Jam and Thud.  My triple-double chin prevented me from ducking my head, thereby ramming it into the earth as if I was planting a flag on the moon.  I no longer have a neck as it was jammed into my chest cavity upon impact.  The "thud"?  Well, that came as gravity kicked in after what seemed like an eternal headstand. 

After we surgically removed my sunglasses from my forehead and my teeth settled back into their original sockets, little Mr. Whiny-Pants shows up wanting to play.

"Sure kid.....we need someone in left field.     Knock yourself out...."

The discussion covered varying topics, and quickly revovled around the struggles here in the United States as that was the experience of almost everyone in the room.  Many of us never facing persecution as others do in other countries around the world for our faith.  We talked about how it was the standard today that all faiths were protected today in the United States but Christianity.  How it was okay that Christians could be made fun of and that was acceptable. 

As the discussion began to evolve it quickly turned to things like we have the right to freedom, we have the right to this.  And in America we do have all of these religious freedoms, and thank God for those blessings! But that got me to thinking about the difference between priveleges and rights.

Now I firmly believe that one day in America Christians will be openly persecuted like they are in a majority of countries around the world.  But when that time comes and America turns away from the one true God and accepts the God of political correctness, Christians might have a wake up call. 

In America we have freedoms, we have rights, and we have priveleges.  But we have to remember where those freedoms, rights and privleges are coming from.  Those things all come from the Contsitution, the Bill of Rights and the laws of this great country.  And while this country is a blessing from God, and was created by those seeking freedoms to worship God by their choices, it is not a country that is guarnteed by God.

America is by far the best country in the entire world, and I love her.  But I have to remind myself that the things that I have here, while given  by God, are not guarnteed by God.  Which means that at anytime they can be removed.  I am not talking about God's hand of protection here over the country. I am talking about his hand of protection over his disciplies, his children here in America.  No where in the word of God does it state that we will have the right to free speech, the right of religous freedom, the right to gather and assemble, the right to worship God without the fear of punishment or persecution.

Here is a little seceret the Bible actually says the opposite. It tells us that the world will hate us, because it hated him first.  If you think of America as a shield of protection against persecution, that shield is only as thick as a piece of paper.  The paper that the laws are written on which give us that protection.  It does not take much to destroy or change paper.  And one day when that shield is gone, Christians need to watch that they don't turn to God and say but yo gave us this freedom.

And he did give it to us, but he doesn't guarntee it!  It is a privelege and not a right!  The only right that we have is to follow Him. And His life and death was not the American Dream! But all praises be to the Lamb that His life, and His Death were enough for my salvation!

Thank God now for the blessings that we have in America.  But remember that they are only blessings, and such blessings are not guarntees for the disciplies of Christ.

On July 31, 2008, Manny Ramirez was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a three-way deal. The Boston Red Sox acquired outfielder Jason Bay, and the Pittsburgh Pirates got infielder Andy LaRoche, and pitcher Bryan Morris from the Dodgers, and outfielder Brandon Moss and pitcher Craig Hansen from the Red Sox.

From 4pm PST to 1pm the next day, eleven thousand tickets were bought to see Manny make his Friday night Los Angeles debut in Dodger blue. I was fortunate enough to attend that sold out game, even though we lost.

Ramirez has always worn uniform number 24, but the Dodgers have retired that number in honor of Hall-of-Fame manager Walter Alston. Ramirez countered the Dodgers suggestion of 28 by suggesting 34, but no Dodger has worn that number since Fernando Valenzuela. After dancing around number 66, Ramirez finally accepted number 99, but the next day asked for 28, the Dodgers' original suggestion. However, the Dodgers' marketing department had already begun producing merchandise with number 99, so Ramirez will wear that number. Ramirez has also told manager Joe Torre that he would cut his dreadlocks. So far that has not happened.

In his first game with the Dodgers on August 1, he went 2-for-4. The Dodgers still lost, however, to the Arizona Diamondbacks by a score of 2 to 1.

Surprisingly, the talentless Andruw Jones was still disgracing us with his presense in the outfield and in the batting line-up while the stronger players Andre Ethier and Juan Pierre sat on the bench, only coming in to pinch hit (in which they were both successful). Personally, I don't care how much money Jones is making, if you can't deliver, then sit down! In any other business, he would have been canned for not being able to produce results, despite how much money he is being paid. I believe he should give the Dodger fans a chunk of his earnings for having to endure his constant sucking. I have no tolerance for a man who continuously fails to perform.

Manny, however, got his 1st home run with the Dodgers last night, on August 2nd, 2008, in a game versus the Diamondbacks. It was a two-run home run to the left-field pavilion that proceeded to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead, which Los Angeles ultimately won, 4-2. This was the 511th home run of his career.

I have high hopes for the Dodgers new line-up. Manny will not disappoint, although he no longer has the big green monster in left field to assist him. But with the Dodgers current players, I don't see why they can't get themselves back into first place and have a shot at the playoffs. Unless Torre continues to pray that Andruw Jones will finally hit the ball and keeps playing him. It's not a risk I would take, but I'm not Joe Torre. But Jones or no Jones, I finally have some hope for our Dodgers.

Federline was awarded sole custody of their two sons. Earlier this month, following a bitter 18-month court battle. It means he now has to juggle being a full-time parent to his sons and looking after his two children from a previous marriage. And he is said to be adamant that Spears' should take an active role in bringing up the boys.

A source tells the British magazine Quote "Kevin loves his sons, but he didn't aim for sole custody. He wanted to be a co-parent and didn't expect Britney not to fight for custody. He never wanted full responsibility. He believes both parents should take an active role. It's tough being a single parent End Quote”  Plus he already has another two children by Shar Jackson from Moesha..

DISCLAIMER You will only see Mecca’s Comment OR opinion: on articles and or pictures >> STRAIGHT BULLSHIT/NIGGATRY/FOOL-ERY!/FUCKERY!

 Well, Well, Well, HE thought he was going to share custody, and get paid “ALIMONY OR CHILD SUPPORT, and have the privledge to ”DROP” the kids back off to mom, and go hang out and party (mind you on Britney’s Money that she earned from her CD’S, which she now will in turn have to pay the backup Dancer Kevin Federline money$$$ that she earned!) Regardless of how we feel about BRITNEY, She still earned her own money off her Talent Voice.

My ADVICE: (QUOTE BORROWED FROM MY BOOK HEAT CODE OF THE STREETS PART 1)  Conversation between Ebony & Heat..(SMILE) PLUG lol

 PRE-NUPTIAL AGREEMANTS ARE PUT IN PLACE FOR A REASON! You leave with what you came in the relationship with,and he leave with what he came in the relationship with..ANYTHING you two EARN TOGETHER  SPILT 50/50. YOU GO YOUR WAY, AND he GO his WAY, END OF DISCUSSION! POINT BLANK PERIOD END OF DISCUSSION!

(*_*) why not www.AMAZON.COM (Heat Code of the streets part 1) THANKS JASON! also www.MYSPACE.COM/SBAKERPUBLISHING (*_*)

1B- Jeff Bagwell

2B- Chase Utley

3B- Chipper Jones

SS- Nomar Garciaparra

C- Jason Varitek

CF- Ken Griffey Jr.

RF- J.D. Drew

DH- Joe DiMaggio

SP- Justin Verlander

SP- Cole Hamels

SP- Bob Feller

SP- Tom Glavine

RP- Dennis Eckersley

CP- Trevor Hoffman

I have six starting pitchers, but one could be another reliever. Joe DiMaggio is at DH since Griffey is at the CF position.

RANDOM SHOUTS TO *ALL* of our Family & Friends in Canada,Toronto,Ontario SUPPORTING THE HEAT CODE OF THE STREETS MOVEMENT/S.BAKER PUBLISHING MOVEMENT/S. BAKER MEDiA GROUP MOVEMENT!

 WHAT'S UP DRU!! AKA MR MY GAME IS TIGHT!!!!  CANADA  STAND UP!!! JERSEY/CANADA CONNECT!!!

In May of 1785 Benjamin Franklin was concluding his affairs in France and preparing to depart back to America.  He had spent several years in France doing just a litte thing like securing the alliance of France to support the American Revolution, maintaining their continued support as an American Ambassador, and then negotiating the peace treaty between America and Great Britian, which was the firt time that we were acknowledged as a indepedent nation.  Benjamin Franklin had been living in France since 1777 serving his country as an appointed representative. During his time he formed many friendships there that when it came time to return home he had significant relationships to part with.  One of those was David Hartley who had helped him in many of the negotiations between France, Great Britian and outher countries in Europe.  In a letter written to David Hartley Benjamin Franklin wrote " We were long fellow laborers in the best of all works, the work of peace, I leave you still in the field, but having finished my day's work, I am going hom to go to bed! Wish me a good night's rest, as I do you a pleasant evening. Adieu!" Benjamin Frnaklin's health was failing and he knew that he was in the twilight of his life.  Even though ti would be another five years before his death, and much work yet to be done in forming the government of America he knew that he would not return to France.

Now Benjamin Franklin was not characerizied by history as a devout Christian.  There are many indications that he merley believed that there was a God up there. And it didn't seem to go much beyond that. Now this great man, might not have been a practicing, believing Christian, but I am a Christian. Now I am no where even a fraction of the great mant hat Benjamin Franklin was, but when I hear his words I can not help but apply his parting words to my life.

I am leaving the field and leaving you behind so that I can go to my final rest.  How awesome that would be to have that said of our lives.  Taht we spent our lives working in the fields of the greatest peace ever, the salvation of Jesus Christ.  Sewing, reaping and harvesting souls to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. It is an awesome thing to think that I could at the end of my life look back and count myself a faithful worker in the field along side others. When that day comes may that be said of me!

Source: Benjamin Franklin: An American Tail by Walter Issacson

YouTube - star wars snowboard parody. As silly as it might be this is is guite hilarious!

As I listened to the first track of the album, "Something to Say", God really spoke to me and challenged me.  The first song is called Something to Say, and  it leads off with the line '7:32 and I wake up and prepare to face another day' or something like that.  (Forgive the paraphrase Mr. West.) And I started thinking about facing another day. 

How often at the start of a day do we think about another day that we have to face.  And we think that it is the worst thing. It is going to be a long day, busy, stressful, hard and difficult.  And many times days can be like that and at the end of the day you are wore out and ready to crash into the bed. 

Yet this morning God reminded me about my day yesterday.  It was a day where I was able to hear both my parents say that they were proud of me and congratulate me on being placed in a place of service in my church.  I was able to see the excitement and enthusasim of my daughter when the UPS man delivered her Animal rescuer vest like Diego's.  And watch her show me every little feature, and see the joy on her face.  I got to spend an hour playing and having fun on the new Rock Band for Wii with my wife.  I was able to hang out with a friend and meet some new people.  I was able to spend time in prayer and study, and continually grow closer to God.  That was my day yesterday.

Now that doesn't mean that yesterday didn't have its stresses, its appointments, its tasks, its meetings that had to be done.  But how pale do those thing compare to the smile on my daughter's face, the laughter of my wife, the fellowship of a friend, the closeness with my Savior. 

So when I thought of another day. I had to stop and ask God to give me another day like yesterday.  So when you think that you have to start another day, give it a minute and think about the blessings that yesterday held. And instead of thinking of all that you have to do today, think instead of all the exciting blessings that God has in store for you through this day!

If I'm lucky, I might still show up around here this week since I'm still working both gigs and will be trying to figure out how to manage that for a while, heh.

Thanks for all the good wishes and thoughts.  They obviously helped!

Crap, I still have to pay bills like I promised someone I would do.

I bought SpongeBob Monopoly today because I'm determined that my kid is going to learn to play board games.  Prepare yourself, dear; we're playing tonight.

Strawberry Whoppers are kinda good, right up to the point when you eat too many of them.

Damn do I wish I had played some Rock Band today while the kid was at his friend's house.

Microsoft has reaffirmed my faith that they are the devil.  TB will probably explain on his blog at some point, but let me just say:  Choose your Xbox Live name wisely, as it (a) change your profile name on your Xbox 360 and (b) cost you MONEY to change it in the future - even 3 minutes in the future.

Beagles do not like being left alone.  I love my mutt, but that is the biggest downside to pet ownership for me.

I hate shopping for clothes, pants in particular, and little did I know that if you want to buy decent summer clothes, you'd apparently need to be shopping for them in March since the only things left in June are scary.

My kid started jumping off the diving board today; I can't wait to go see him do it. :) Which I am going to do right now!

Have fun, babe.

Fun...?  Have FUN???  Did you just tell me to have fun?????...?

Well, um, yeah, I guess I did.  I don't know - What was I supposed to say?

I don't know, but of all the options in the pool, have fun couldn't possibly have been the best one!

Tonight, I was playing with the dog with her most fabulous toy, which is basically very tough tennis ball material in the form of a jack --of the type you played with as a child, not so much the jumping kind or the cards kind.  We were doing our patented tug-wrestle, with one arm of the jack in my hands very near my face and one arm of the jack in her mouth (because I was worried that you might think she'd grown an opposable thumb there...).  She apparently didn't have quite as good of a grip as I imagined, or she'd decided to let me have it for being gone part of the day, because she lost her end, and I took the big rounded end of the arm directly in the eye.

IN. THE. EYE.

Not the eyelid.  The Eye.  It hurt enough that I was rendered incoherent for a couple of minutes and had trouble explaining to my husband, who was just re-entering the room, what had happened.  All I knew for sure was that it felt like my eye was going to explode and that whatever liquid was trapped under the eyelid I could not possibly open felt warm.  Not a reassuring feeling.

I'm at least happy to report that not only was it not blood, but I can also see.  My eyelid is a bit puffy, and my eye is very red and irritated, but everything seems to be working pretty well so far.  I was quite happy that I'm not supposed to work tomorrow and quite bummed that I wanted to play Rock Band tonight but figured that it suddenly wasn't a good time to be keeping my eyes wide open while trying to follow the notes scrolling toward me.  Thhppptt.

Mental note:  Let the dog win more.

"Are you going to live?"

"No.  They hurt terrible."

"Do we need to shoot you and put you out of your misery?"

"NO!!!! .... Why would you put me in Missouri?"

"Oh Son - I would NEVER do that."

I dunno, I guess this is the way the day was supposed to wind up.  My girlfriend has been wanting to throw up Japanese food and Chardonnay all over bums at the crosswalk, and I gave my last two smokes away to some couple at Monkey Bar for some god fucking unknown reason.  I probably gave it to them because I just got paid and I feel rich for a day, and they were out, and why the fuck not.  Now, I'm not only wishing I had those two cigarettes, I'm wishing I had the chairs, and was at the bar, and maybe even wasn't myself right now.

I'm at that corner of Central and whatever that godforsaken street Casey's bar meets Central Avenue is.  Most natives know that sinkhole.  There is a bus stop there; usually filled by cabs, bums, drunks, people you don't want to see at any given hour.  I am in this sinkhole now, having crawled here after slithering out of the elevator of Monkey bar, through Slingapour's outside bar, and across bum park.

My usually reliable mental case of a cab driver hasn't shown up, and Faith has slid down to her ass on a traffic light pole, wanting to spew all over passers by.  I'm left with her goddamn Prada purse that I bought her on sale in my hand while her eyes glaze at the passing rims, and I have a half broken cigarette in my mouth that I've pulled from my pocket that I'm desperate to light.  I've got plenty from my paycheck in my pocket, but at this moment, it doesn't help me fix my cigarette, light it, get the cab here, fill my drink, help my girl throw up...fuck, I don't know what the sequence is.  I don't know what I want the sequence to be.  I guess I'm old now; part of me wants to be home too.  The magic mental midget cabbie carpet should be here already to whisk us home, where the girl will fall asleep in her panties on top of the covers and I'll stay up writing, drunk, to try to say something interesting about something.

So, here I am, in about that situation. My usually reliable mental case of a cab driver and I got in a shouting match in the driveway because she didn't like the puking in the cab.  But my girlfriend, it turns out, is very handy with a plastic bag and puke.  The cabbie couldn't argue with no spillage, so she decided to argue with the possibility of spillage.  Which is a pretty thin argument, but as I mentioned, all of her marbles arent' there.  So we went round and round, arguing in the driveway about the possibility of my girlfriend having puked on something in her precious cab.  I like those arguments.  Because I win them.  Even with slightly challenged people.  Maybe especially with.  Maybe only with.  I dunno.  I don't count.

I don't know what I want the sequence to be.  That's honest.  Just let me be the DJ.  Let me hold the mouse to the iTunes forward button while it is on random.  Sometimes it has fits, and those fits are unbearable.  Sometimes it chooses exactly what you want, but exactly what you want ­isn't exactly what you want halfway through.  We've all been there.  That song that's great that turns bad.  That song that has great memories that turns into something else, that turns into regrets, into streams of things that could have been, could have been paths of totally  - whoa, this is getting off on fifty tangents here.  Alright, enough left field for one post. This should come with a disclaimer but, shit.

(I took a few liberties with the assigned gender, thankyouverymuch...)

Do I have some fantastic anti-gravity boobs, or what?!?

Your results:
You are Spiderwoman
You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky, and have great power and responsibility.

Spiderwoman 85% Wonder Woman 72% Superman 65% The Flash 65% Supergirl 62% Robin 62% Catwoman 55% Iron Man 55% Batman 50% Green Lantern 50% Hulk 45%