Today's writing was done for the Themiscyran Amazon role-playing forum. (Like Xena? Love Amazons? Love writing? Join up!) Word count of 349. Okay, not a lot, but better than a big zero. I spent a lot more time looking through the archives for an obscure reference for the Latra (Queen).

I also invented two more Amazon words, "daksoz" which means "dance" or "dancer"; and "archila" which will mean "master/mistress, leader". Pretty much gave myself a bunch to do on the site. Have to go change all the titles that have the word sister, "Athelfi" and change it to the new "Archila". That's what I get for cheating in the first place. You always get caught! LOL

In other news, I discovered the reason I hadn't been hearing much from my buddy, Eden. I had her blog bookmarked on a specific date, instead of the update site. LOL @ me. I wondered why it seemed she never moved past December 11. Color me embarrassed!

I did clean the carpets today, but it just didn't take. Now it kind of smells like wet dog. *sigh* I guess I didn't let it set long enough. But it's SO HARD not to sit at the computer for a few hours. LOL.

OH! And thanks to Jadea and Celosia, I have a Bizarre Quiz of the Day today. Here:


What Lord of the Rings Male and Mood Do You Desire?
brought to you by Quizilla



The answer there did NOT shock me whatsoever.

Have a good weekend!

Yesterday I was pretty busy. I decided to wash the bedding and towels and do the dishes. The blanket was in the dryer, all but 2 of the towels in the washing machine, and the dishwasher purring away. Suddenly my son yells out. "Mom! There's water everywhere!"

Sure enough, water filled the kitchen floor and had spread under the carpet in the office. It was everywhere, and it was DEEP. So I slam off the washing machine, the dishwasher had finished and log off the internet. Unknowing about the carpet yet, I'm making foot prints all across the room as I sink the carpet into the water underneath.

The good thing is, it was easy and cheap to repair. Basically a clog in the pipe and a hose that came off. The bad thing this carpet back here is STILL wet (all the towels were in the wash, remember? I couldn't get the water up.) and smells TERRIBLE. (I have carpet cleaner for when it does manage to dry.) The kitchen floor is sticky and will need cleaning, too. Kind of a DAY yesterday.

So, last night I was checking out some other blogs. Queen Jadea's had an interesting question I thought I'd answer. She asked just what a modern Amazon is and does.

IMO: She's a woman who understands her own inner strength. She recognizes her own weaknessess, but overcomes them. She doesn't "require" a man to make her life "complete". She understands that it is already complete, but that love is always welcome to enter.

That's my take on it, anyhow. Just thinking aloud. When I'm out and feeling a little fearful or timid, I tell myself, "I'm an Amazon. What do I have to fear?" Then I start thinking of the Amazon Dance Song, which usually springs instantly to mind after that. It puts the bounce back in my step and helps to banish the timids for a while.

And I realize that I'm an old married person. But I've watched and listened closely to my unmarried women friends and quite a lot of them seem to think they'll be unhappy and unloved if they don't find a man. Sometimes it seems that ANY man will do, too, which gets everyone into trouble. I'll tell you, I stopped looking and there he was. Literally. I was happy with me, and joyful in my own life, pleased to be on my own. I didn't have a boyfriend, hadn't since high school. I wasn't sleeping with anyone, hadn't for a couple of years. It wasn't a big loss, and my DH appeared when the time was right. I think learning to love yourself and be strong in and of yourself and FOR yourself is a big part of being an Amazon.

Anyhow, two unsolicted cents from a Tae'nah athefi, I suppose. ;) Herete!


Ti'Sa of Artemis
Primus Ti'Sa of Themiscyra
Caliah Istoria
Delu Abacha

This is about a dream I had. It might not make a lot of sense, but I'll try to explain the characters as we go. What I remember of the dream follows:

Gregg, this guy I knew a long time ago, had come to town. I introduced him to my husband, to the kids, to my best friend Q'adon, to my friends Babe and his wife. Why all these people were in my house, I've no idea. Anyhow, then I took him on a tour in some kind of open vehicle, more like a golf cart than a convertible.

During the tour we picked up a trailer. The trailer had a bunch of potted flowers and trees. I think it's possible Gregg was a groundskeeper or something for a nearby hotel. I know hotels come into this in a minute. Anyhow, so I'm riding along, talking about the area and pointing things out and he's getting plants and "oo"ing and "ah"ing a lot.

We talk about the past very little, he's not that kind of guy. We talk more about my DH and the kids and what I do and so forth. He's engaging and fun, but I can see he still loves me. I find it sweet. I can tell that, as in the past, he won't act on his feelings unless given a reason to do it, so I keep to myself and smile a lot.

He talks of his life for a bit, and I have the feeling he's lonely. He hasn't changed since those years long ago. He's comforting, supportive, loving, caring, and kind; all the things I remember about him.

We drive past this really TALL hotel on the side of a mountain. We're looking up at it through the pine limbs and Gregg asks if that's some kind of Star Trek vehicle he sees. I say yes, this hotel is Star Trek themed, and has holograms of the Enterprise and Voyager and DS9. He just HAS to see them, so we go into the courtyard and kind of sneak around (In the golf cart) looking at the holograms. (I have NO idea if Gregg likes Star Trek. He is a tech geek kind of guy, but I dunno if he's a ST geek.)

Afterward, we arrive at the house with the trailer of plants and DH just goes nuts over it. He thanks Gregg a million times over and starts hauling things into the shed. (We don't have a shed like this one. Ours is one of those small metal jobs. This was DH's dream shop, huge and building-like.) The kids come out and make friends with Gregg, as does Q'adon. I mention how Matt share's a name with Q'adon, for some reason this pleases Gregg. I'm not sure why, maybe it's his middle name.

Babe doesn't like Gregg. You can see it right off. There's nothing definably wrong, but you can tell he doesn't like the newcomer. Gregg is friendly anyhow, ignoring the sarcarstic remarks and shaking Babe's hand.

Gregg takes my hand and returns to the now-empty golf cart to say goodbye. I hug him and he hugs me then he's gone.

The next day (it was kind of "instant time pass" moment, like on TV) Babe, his wife, Scott and I were in this ranch-style home. I was in a back bedroom, they were in the front room. (I just realized, I think it's my parent's house.) Gregg arrives and Babe's wife just goes nuts! Gregg sounds all excited about something and I have the feeling they're discussing how things 'went' with me yesterday. Finally someone shushes him and mentions I'm in the bedroom, hearing every word.

He enters the room and the happiness of being with me is just all over him, plain as day. He moves toward me and I smile.

Then I woke up. Well, I was awakened. I'm left with this strange feeling of Gregg now. Ever have that happen to you? It's not anything specific, it's more an echo of the person you remember. Like you caught their scent and now can't seem to shake it. Usually with me it happens when I dream about Dream Boy, so this was at least not that. That's why I wrote this, to try to help me shake the residue feeling.

Details:

Gregg. Well, I guess the easiest thing to say is to read First Kiss. If you already know what I'm talking about, you have an idea of who he is. I have to honestly say that I don't remember a lot about those years. (I'm kind of grateful.) But when they included Gregg, they are warm and comfortable and safe and loving. He always seemed to understand me, knew what I needed just at the right time to make me feel better about everything. At a time when all any one did was TAKE from me, he GAVE.

Dad went on a trip to Nevada last year and renewed his friendship with Gregg. I have a picture of him, taken by my father last year. I can't look at it without smiling. I mean, it's the same smile and the same face under all that white hair. LOL. Gregg didn't ever marry. Dad goes, "He was serious about waiting for you." and I'm not sure it was a joke. You can't tell with comments like that. Dad also mentioned Gregg would probably love to hear from me in a letter or whatever, but I haven't done that.

Babe and his wife. There's a post about this all somewhere, although I think I refer to him as KING or something. Maybe Arthur. I can't remember now. Basically, these are a couple of really good friends who moved out of my area and up to Seattle (sort of).

Q'adon. This is my kids' godfather. Sal knows him as the G-A-Y Klingon. There's even a whole "Pink Klingon" empire I didn't know about. He took me to see LOTR: Two Towers a few weeks ago. (Thanks again, Q'adon!)

If you have more questions, or want to do a dream interpretation, you can comment!

Until next time, keep your sword sharp and your bow strung! Herete!

Well, good grief. So, I start a good writing resolution, and then try to sabotage it. Kou got me into the Avatar MUD. I know, I know. But if all holds true, I'll play for a while, and then suddenly stop for no reason. Besides, its way more fun when you've someone to travel with and she's losing her computer access in about...oh, 8 hours or so.

Haven't done much since Sunday in the way of writing or editing the archives. (Sorry, Jadea.) I did do a lot of stuff at the Amazon site, however. And to my credit, did finish the saga that is Mizera. Man, that was long thread. Sad part is, I don't think it's even 1/4 the size of the war we just finished in the rpf. So I'm looking forward to all the future threads! HA! Want to read Amazon history?

My son's tutor is going to arrive here in about 20 minutes. This should be good. Mr. I-don't-need-to-do-THAT-part-of-my-homework ought to have a fun time. He did finish the reading, to his credit. But the art homework, some of the math homework, and all of the Social studies work is just sitting around.

Had someone ask me yesterday what the POINT of a blog was. I mean, there isn't one! I guess she never heard of journaling. It's been done for CENTURIES. And it's considered a treasure now, finding an old journal. Even if you didn't know them, it was interesting to see how their lives were the same or different or interesting (or not!). Heck, historians take a lot of information from journals, even boring ones like store inventory. It tells you a lot about what kind of winter they had, or what kind of person lived there. So, there isn't a point NOW. There might be one day. Then again, the internet could blow a fuse and we'd all be SOL.

On a personal note, I want to give a shout out (BOO YEAH!) to Sal. Hope everythings all right, gal. Keep taking care of yourself! But I do miss yakking about NeoPets. hehehe

As usual, you can comment if you want.

Until next time, keep your sword sharp and your bow strung! Herete!

As you can see, I've made some changes. I'm only going to post quizzes when I come on them, instead of every time. It's part of what was keeping me from posting as often as my readers (all 4 of you!) might like. I'm also abandoning the whole rants and raves theme because it was keeping me from posting too. Please be warned, I'm posting often, and horrible, and angst, and whatever else I feel like from now on. If you don't want to hear me whine, you know where the door is. But that shouldn't happen TOO often.

Part of my resolve this year is to write. I consider posting to the blog writing, so that should really get me posting in here more freqently. But I'm also going to post other writing. Things like really GREAT Amazon posts, or writing prompts from Sunday, or old stories maybe.

Speaking of, here are the prompts I did at Sunday Brunch over at Toasted Cheese. Yeah, it's Amazon stuff. I'm on a roll with the Amazons right now, so I went with it. Got a problem? Comment.

-----

Tell the story of an outdoor encounter between two or more characters.

-----

She stood precariously on the log floating in the water. Both arms went out instinctively as the log rolled and turned beneath her booted feet.

“You can’t fight with your arms that way,” Samsara commented.

“And I fall in with them down.”

“Then you get back up and try again. Here,” the Teloan turned the staff lengthwise and threw it at the Priestess who managed to catch it on her way down into the shallows of the Thermadon.

She came up sputtering, water streaming from her long dark hair. Choking, she coughed as she scrambled to her feet and ran for the riverbank. “You . . . you did that on purpose!”

“I did, yes.”

“I can’t swim!”

Samsara sighed. “You can’t swim either?”

“What did you think? I could magically see under water, but nowhere else? I was blind! I can’t do much of anything!” Deoris shouted, her usual respect for the Queen’s niece vanishing in her anger.

“I suppose we’ll have to learn you that, as well, then,” the Amazon advanced on the Priestess, who was still wringing water out of her hair. The Teloan hefted the smaller figure easily and strode into the water until she was waist deep, then she lowered Deoris. “Swim,” she said, shoving the girl.

Deoris staggered, stumbled over the slick river stones under her boots and tumbled into the water. Her heavy leather gear dragged her head under instantly. Her eyes and mouth opened, sucking water inside her mouth and stomach, nose and throat. Bubbles escaped her and floated away toward wavering sunlight and the air her body now demanded.

She pushed her legs, following the bubbles, her hands flailing around in the water uselessly, trying to grasp hold of anything that would pull her back up. Her body moved enough to shove her head over the edge of the river, allowing her to gasp, choke, and suck in precious air before she went back down.

She shoved with her legs again and pulled with her hands. She cleaved through the water, her body moving into position lengthwise. She shoved again with her legs and pulled with her arms, and moved faster and easier this time. One more, and her knees scraped the river stones and she stood up out of the water, coughing water and sucking down air.

“I . . . don’t . . . like . . . you . . .” she choked, her eyes on Samsara.

“You’re going to like me less when you learn to use a sword.”

-----

Now, tell a similar story, with completely different weather.

-----

She was sure she was going to drown. Rain poured down from the heavens in great sheets, lightning flashes illuminated the ugly black clouds over head.

Artemis was unhappy with her Priestess’ chosen activity. Deoris chose to ignore it.

“Left!” Samsara ordered, swinging her mother’s sword hard to the right. Deoris brought her up from the left to counter, wincing as the blow jarred through her arm and up into her chest. “Right!” came the next command. “Up! Down! Left!”

Her arm began to ache as she countered blow after blow from the Teloan. She put her other hand up on the pommel of the sword she’d been given and Samsara stopped.

“You can’t do that, Deoris. You tell your enemy that you are weak, failing. He is winning the battle! He will press you harder and faster than before and he will win,” she circled around the panting Priestess. “Instead, grasp it with both hands often. You will balance the pain of the blows between both arms. Eventually I will teach you to use both hands, so you can move the blade from one to the other in battle, confusing your opponent and giving you the advantage.”

“Both hands?” Deoris sighed. “You mean after you build up the muscles in this arm I must do them in the other?”

Samsara nodded. “And then I teach you to jump, roll, tuck, spring, dodge and weave. And your sword will never leave your hand.”

Lightening flashed overhead, a blue-white light that dazed the Priestess. “Can we go in now? The thunder,” which rumbled from the east to the west as she mentioned it, “is giving me a headache.”

“No. You must learn to fight under all conditions. Storms can happen at the worst time,” she looked up at the glowering sky. “And your goddess sends you many signs of her displeasure at inopportune moments, doesn’t she? You must be prepared.”

-----

I'm not sure why I used Samsara in these. Valkyra would be more likely to teach young Amazons to fight. But Samsara was more likely to toss me into the river than Valkyra is, and she and I have this really troubled relationship. As in, I'm in trouble and she gets me out of it. Okay, and she was online when chat started and the name was fresh in my mind. LOL.

I like the first one better than the second. Not sure why. Haven't ever drowned and I rarely go swimming anymore. But it flowed a lot easier than the rain one. I also didn't feel I got the storm across good enough. I did like Samsara's advice and warning for the future. It does take a lot of training to learn to wield a sword. :)

That's all for today. As I mentioned, comments welcome. My little comment pop-up still isn't working right, however. Just post in the forum, okay? Comment.

Until next time, keep your sword sharp and your bow strung! Herete!