1. Who was the last person close to you that passed away?

My grandfather.

2. Whose funeral did you last attend?

A cousin of JT’s then before that my grandfather.

3. Are you planning on being cremated (Keith Richards jokes aside)?

I am not sure yet… I have this weird fear of cremation.

4. Do you have any special concessions for your funeral/wake, etc.?

My family gets together and makes or purchases lots of dishes and brings it over to the house of who passed away or someone else. Food soothes the soul in my family.

5. Are you sensitive or allergic to anything outdoors?

Mold, pollen and ragweed.

6. Do you share an allergy or condition with a close member of your family that the rest do not have?

My brother and I are allergic to penicillin, but oddly enough, no one else in the family shares this allergy.

7. When was the last time you were woken by a bug or spider?

Eek.. I have no idea. I probably blocked this from my memory.

8. How’s your weather going lately?

The weather has been beautiful this week. Low 70s, a little windy and very sunny. I love it.

http://sat-8.blogspot.com/2007/04/sat-8-spiders-and-funerals.html

The day finally arrived. Forrest Gump dies and goes to Heaven. He is at the Pearly Gates, met by St. Peter himself. However, the gates are closed, and Forrest approaches the gatekeeper.

St. Peter said, “Well, Forrest, it is certainly good to see you. We have heard a lot about you I must tell you, though, that the place is filling up fast, and we have been administering an entrance examination for everyone. The test is short, but you have to pass it before you can get into Heaven.”

Forrest responds, “It sure is good to be here, St. Peter, sir. But nobody ever told me about any entrance exam. I sure hope that the test ain’t too hard. Life was a big enough test as it was.”

St. Peter continued, “Yes, I know, Forrest, but the test is only three questions.

First:

What two days of the week begin with the letter “T”?

Second:

How many seconds are there in a year?

Third:

What is God’s first name?”

Forrest leaves to think the questions over. He returns the next day and sees St. Peter, who waves him up, and says, “Now that you have had a chance to think the questions over, tell me your answers”

Forrest replied, “Well, the first one — which two days in the week begins with the letter “T”?

Shucks, that one is easy. That would be Today and Tomorrow.”

The Saint’s eyes opened wide and he exclaimed, “Forrest, that is not what I was thinking, but you do have a point, and I guess I did not specify, so I will give you credit for that answer. How about the next one?” asked St. Peter.

“How many seconds in a year?

Now that one is harder,” replied Forrest, but I thunk and thunk about that, and I guess the only answer can be twelve.”

Astounded, St. Peter said, “Twelve?

Twelve? Forrest, how in Heaven’s name could you come up with twelve seconds in a year?”

Forrest replied, “Shucks, there’s got to be twelve: January 2nd, February 2nd, March 2nd… ”

1. How are you stereotypically female?

I am very emotional. Sometimes it even gets on my own nerves.

2. How are you stereotypically male?

I am an analytical thinker, sometimes over thinking scenarios and I am assertive.

3. What parts of you do you consider unclassifiable as either gender?

I like to help people, I show great empathy to people in need and I am a caring parent. I seek knowledge everywhere I go. I like to know why things are the way they are and people are the way they are. I am also impatient when it comes to certain things in relationships and events at work.

4. Do you think you are primarily male, female, or neither in characteristics?

Neither. I am who I am.

5. If you could be born as any gender, knowing the gender prejudices as they are now, which would you choose to be?

I wouldn’t change who I am. I am proud to be a woman.

http://www.livejournal.com/community/thefridayfive/1466.html

“It’s going to take time,” Regina Rohde told Matt Lauer on TODAY. “People are living minute to minute, not being able to cope with anything. Eventually it becomes hour by hour, week by week. It takes a lot of time.”

Rohde knows. Eight years ago, she was a freshman at Columbine High School in Colorado when two classmates, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, came in armed to the teeth and bent on murder.

She was in the cafeteria, the epicenter of the attack, but was one of the lucky ones who managed to escape the building even before the first calls went out to police. Twelve students died in that assault.

For the rest of the story, see the link below.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18173672

I cannot imagine what the victims, family and friends are going through at this time. But here you have a young woman who had survived the Columbine shooting and eight years later is a student at Virginia Tech where another mass shooting occurred on Monday. Thankfully she was not in the direct line of fire, “but she knew that a gunman was on the prowl, and she found herself experiencing the same emotions as she had in 1999.”

On Monday, April 30, 2007, the Blogosphere will hold a One-Day Blog Silence in honor of the victims at Virginia Tech.

Found the link from: http://mattluria.com/2007/04/19/april-30th-a-day-of-silence-for-bloggers-and-the-world/

http://www.onedayblogsilence.com

BLACKSBURG, Virginia (CNN) — The gunman who killed 30 people at Virginia Tech’s Norris Hall before turning the gun on himself was student Cho Seung-Hui, university police Chief Wendell Flinchum said Tuesday.

However, Flinchum said ballistics tests show that one of the two guns recovered at Norris Hall was used at Norris and at the dorm.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/17/vtech.shooting/index.

My thoughts and prayers go to the family and friends of the victims from the horrific incident that took place yesterday in Blacksburg, Virginia at Virgina Tech.

At work, unless I check the news on my cellphone or on the computer during lunch and breaks, we are pretty sheltered from news. I definitely do not like not knowing what is going on outside of this building. Yesterday evening, while I worked out, I was somewhat distracted by the news on the big screen television in the gym. I could not hear everything though with my iPod on. I later checked the news online and watched local news this morning.

Very sad.

Monday Madness… how appropriate. Today was absolutely crazy. Work and home stuff really wore me out. On the bright side of things, I did work out in the gym at the end of the day.

1. Who do you think is cuter, the host of Survivor, or the host of Amazing Race?

WTH aren’t they the same guy?

2. Have you seen any movies in a theater recently?

The last movie that I saw in the theatre is 300. I really enjoyed this movie.

3. Do you read manga?

Manga wha? Okay let me google to find out what that is…

4. For people living in the US: Have you ever traveled outside of the state you were born in? For people living outside of the US: Have you ever traveled outside of your country?

Yes, I have travelled out of state, but not as much travelling as I would like to do.

5. Do you have a Yahoo! 360 page?

I have a Yahoo profile that I have had since like 1998? but umm thankfully no Yahoo! 360 page.

6. How many blogs/online diaries do you have total?

Only this one gets update regularly, but I also have a journal at Last.fm, Live Journal, Xanga, SoulCast.

Week 219

I say … and you think … ?

Freeze :: Pops
Naturally :: Speaking
Painting :: Dali
Merits :: Nobel Prize
Ironic :: Coincidence
Survival :: Grave conditions
Cow :: Slab of beef
Anchor :: USS Enterprise
Sisters :: Something I don’t have
70 :: Plus seven equals Grandma’s age today

http://subliminal.lunanina.com/um/ind/week_219/

1. Does solitude help or hinder your creative pursuits?

Solitude usually helps my creative pursuits, but in the last few years I have noticed sparks of creativity in small group settings.

2. What relative do you most resemble in personality?

Overall my mother… in the last two years my personality has gradually turned to resembling my father.

3. List one good thing about being you.

I am blessed with being the mother of two beautiful and healthy children.

4. What’s the first thing you think about in the morning to get you going?

“Can’t wait to see the babies” …and if it is a weekday, “Ugh… work.”

http://satspecial.blogspot.com/2007/04/april-14-2007.html

Another hot production from the R. One of the pairs of glasses he is wearing in the video is kind of creepy though, making him look like a fly. Other than that, I’m digging it. T.I. is fine too, kthx.

Download this song.