PJ's Birthday and a little on Voodoo

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO PATRICK, He's 16 today and next thing I know he'll be driving a car!!!

My sister has recently been given a Voodoo Doll as a gift from a friend, I received one once from my son. My sister's friend and my son both knew when they were giving these dolls away that they would help to direct our intense feelings toward a particular person, in my sister's case a former Boss, in mine a former Girlfriend, toward the doll and not the actual person. In my case it was great therapy.

UnexplainedStuff.com

www.vudutuu.com

After dressing my doll up a bit and naming it I followed the directions on stabbing the doll in different ways and wishing intense stomach disorders upon "her". I tired of this rather quickly and finally positioned "her" under the leg of my couch...Each day when I entered my living room I saw "her" gut being driven into the floor and "her little arms and legs"pointing up and it made me laugh...

I needed that laugh!!


Years later I threw her into the ocean just off my porch and watched her sink..It was a beautiful summer day .

I don't think about her much anymore...except when I read the Boston Globe Obituaries...Just on the slight chance that she might make the list!!

So now my sister has one and I hope she finds a place where she can impale her doll so that it helps her to laugh and makes her feel better.

What would you do to your Voodoo Doll, if you had one?

Birthday Coming Up

So my Birthday is coming up on April 6 and I thought I'd start researching the day and as it turns out lots of things have happened on that particular day. The most important to me is of course Easter Sunday, 1958....I touched down in the great state of Mississippi!! So I thought I'd spend some time listing some of the other "Earth Shattering events that have taken place on that 96th day of the year or 97th in Leap Years.

In the Year "0" Religious scholars tend to agree that Jesus was born on this day...WOW and I was born on Easter Sunday, 1958....that's quite a coincidence. I never knew there was a 0 Year I Always thought it was either B.C. or A.D. Other's with same Birthday include Merle Haggard, Henry Kissinger, Anton Fokker , Andre Previn, James Watson, Billy Dee Williams , Michelle Phillips, Butch Cassidy and still I'm thinking JESUS!!

April 6, 1789 1st U.S. Congress begins regular sessions, Federal Hall, New York City. Hopefully I won't emulate their development and just suck off the teat of American Taxpayers..Man they have the best Medical Insurance Plan..oh that's right I'm paying for theirs and I don't have one!

April 6, 1830 Joseph Smith and 5 others organizes Mormon church in Seneca Co, New York. That's all we needed another religion!!



April 6, 1869 1st plastic, Celluloid, patented , Later the Kinks would write the song

CELLULOID HEROES

"I wish my life was a non-stop Hollywood movie show"

"A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes"
"Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain"
"And celluloid heroes never really die

April 6, 1889 George Eastman places Kodak Camera on sale for 1st time, other inventions that made there debut on My birthday were Hostess Twinkies, Post - It Notes and the first electric starter for cars

April 6, 1906 1st animated cartoon copyrighted

April 6, 1909 North Pole reached by Americans Robert Peary and Matthew Henson later on April 6, 1988 Black pole explorer M Henson buried next to Robert Peary in Arlington Cemetary

It has been an explosive day, in 1917 the US Declared War on Germany and entered WWI, There were at least 3 Nuclear tests 1 on the Bikini Islands by US in 1954, The USSR not to be outdone performed Nuclear testing in 1957 and finally US again in Nevada 1n 1985. Countless other battles , really too many to mention it seems War and Religion really get busy on April 6.

In 1974 The California Jam Rock Concert drew 500,000 fans to southern CA, I was too young to go, but I made to the Cal Jam 2 in 1978 but it wasn't my Birthday.

April 6, 1980 Gordie Howe completes a record 26th season !! I'll bet you could add all the money he made over that period and not come close to what an athlete gets signed for today..There were a lot of Baseball happenings on April 6 but I'm not a big fan.Well I guess there is one more thing I have to mention and that's a resolution in congress that was introduced on March 20th' 2007:

S. Res. 112: A resolution designating April 6, 2007, as

"National Missing Persons Day"

Sponsors

Sen. Charles Schumer [D-NY]

Sen. Michael Crapo [R-ID]

That's a tough name there Senator CRAPO...

Well I guess this year April 6th will be: Happy Missing Persons Day Tom!!

One Last thing, The Best thing to ever happen in April was on the the 3rd when my son Patrick was Born in 1991 !!

Blog It.....Why do you do it?

That's what everyone is doing , including me, these days. Blogging. There are those who don't know or pretend not to know what a blog is. There are those who know but can't be bothered, to hell with them..they obviously aren't reading this. Then there are us...The Bloggers!

I'm Minnie Blue Eyes
Click ME and I'll Morph!!

"The Bloggers" Could be a good name for a Movie!

Tom's Favorite Painting

I first began to blog because I was injured and couldn't do anything else...I'm better now, physically but I still love to Blog. I tried making money but that's just a bore..all those blogs
devoted to making money from Adsense...checking to see if your pennies added up...constantly bombarded with get rich schemes, yeah, I'm done with that. I have my Amazon account because I like Amazon and I'm my biggest customer, Legal Seafood makes an appearance on my other blog, but that's because I LOVE their Boston Cream Pie. Sorry!

My name's Steve

I hate those Pay Per Post blogs...I mean really..I will not spend any time on your Blog...boring to know your theme was contrived over some product you are selling me.

I love weird news, funny diaries and photo blogs...Even if they get serious sometimes, I like Blogs about people and their stories. I have lurked around a bit wading through tons of blogs, but when I come across one that sparks my interest I comment.

I also always visit the Bloggers who comment here or on any of my other blogs.

When I comment, I bookmark the page I commented on and go back to that Blog...If I liked it once, I'll probably like it again.

I enjoy telling people about Blogs I like!!

I think ChooChoo has , as we say here in Massachusetts.."A wicked funny diary" over at Stop Looking At Me

Tom Bunny, Easter Keeps Him Busy

So why do YOU blog??

TGIF

Well I don't know if anyone out there believes in UFO's but I do. Yeah, I know it's crazy to think there could be any intelligent life forms outside of the Human Race. I mean, really...... The picture below was taken by Voyager 1 almost 4 billion miles from Earth and from there it looks pretty small..In fact the picture was dubbed "The Pale Blue Dot"

Carl Sagan, reflecting on this image said: " Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity -- in all this vastness -- there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us. It's been said that astronomy is a humbling, and I might add, a character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known. "

Well, he certainly had no faith that aliens from another planet were ready to help! I think it's a job we have to take on..and pretty soon.

There are those, including a former President of the USA, that think that Aliens have visited our little blue oasis in the universe...



How are we ever going to save ourselves from ourselves?

Detroit Breakdown-Motor City Shakedown

Searching for good real estate buys. maybe you should be shopping in Detroit..I just read an article in the China Daily News...I guess this wasn't something the American Public is ready for but Houses are selling for less than Cars in the "Motor City." This doesn't bode well for what once was the Industrial Heartland of the USA. The failing automobile industry has laid thousands of workers off. People, unable to pay mortgages, see their houses end up in auction.

"At least 16 Detroit houses up for sale on Sunday sold for $30,000 or less."

"A boarded-up bungalow on the city's west side brought $1,300. A four-bedroom house near the original Motown recording studio sold for $7,000."

What will likely happen here is that conditions will get worse and speculators/investors will feed off the misfortune of people that were unable to make that house payment. Maybe dad worked for FORD and lost his job to someone making cars in Mexico or Canada.

Another story by CNBC correspondent Sharon Epperson :Reports on the sagging prices for Real Estate in the Detroit area. She focused on the Million Dollar mansions that are up for sale at bargain prices. Her article is more like a sales pitch for a 30 room, 2 acre mansion that's been up for sale for 2 years now.

Too bad the leaders of our Government and Industry have been so hell bent on the continuing dependence on oil and the internal combustion engine that we haven't been the leaders in a much needed industrial boom in alternative energies and fuel efficient cars.

Instead we are focused on being the World Police and producing and selling enough weapons to keep that industry alive and well. In a 2006 report the USA led other nations in Arms Sales at over 97 Billion dollars worth or 36% of total arms sales worldwide. Russia only accounted for 16% and the peaceful French a mere 11%, or 30 billion.

So an American City once famous for it's cars dies slowly. It's industry, like the dinosaur, could not or would not adapt to the ever changing world. A place once alive with busy factories and where Music too once called home is now just up for auction. It's truly a Motor City Shakedown.

Gail's Benefit and Sorry St. Patrick

Well, it's been 5 days since my last post....wait this sounds like a confession!!

I've been sick and the mind has been blank,I hope all that visited in the past few days were able to craft some nice Shakesperean Insults. I totally missed any celebrating on St. Patty's day and as I'm part Irish that in itself is almost a sin , maybe this is a confession ....

I did however make it to the Benefit for the Tanzanian Hope Fund...Awesome turnout, a great time and I think a big success...A lot of mouths will be fed. The entertainers were wonderful and I can't wait for the next one...Kinda wish Gail could come back and speak about her work over there..It would be great to give her a hug too.

Reading a book by Deepak Chopra titled "The Return Of Merlin" I've never read anything by Chopra but this seems to be pretty good so far...the following really parallels my thoughts exactly:

" What society thinks of as reality is the hypnosis of social conditioning, an induced fiction in which we are all collectively participating. It is the melodrama of a humdrum existence, filled with trite obsessions and trivial pursuits, wherein our only fate is to be born, grow old, and die."

"If we could just realize it, the keys to the miracle of life lie in our own consciousness."

"Life will bestow miracles on us when we begin to see it as an expression of the miraculous. Life itself is a miracle. We are here now---that is a miracle"

Okay, can't give you the whole book but I'll let you know what I think of the rest!!

Insults Shakespeare Style

Hear me NOW! thou impertinent sheep-biting canker blossoms!!

Oh, that felt good...Yes you too can insult people with all the flair of Shakespeare. We grow weary of the same old tired sayings like "He's a couple sandwiches short of a picnic" or "Your mother wears army boots.." Hell today she may very well wear army boots. Now you can really dress up your insults. After you read this: "Go bathe thyself, thou ill-nurtured, fly bitten foot licker and visit Shakesperean Insults and you can fire off some good ones

pic listed as public domain

Tanzanian Hope Fund

I just received a letter from my friend Gail in Tanzania and she has thanked everyone for their comments on my last post...and while she told me NOT to put her joke up it seems to me everyone that read it were happy they did. Plus, she's in Tanzania and she can't stop me from doing it ..HAHA. I will probably set up a page for just her pictures and some of the things she is and has been doing since September 2006. Right now I'd just like to show you some more of the photos she's sent me and some excerpts from her letters:

Our newest Orphan, only 10 days old.

"THIS IS THE AFRICAN "HILTON" ON THE WAY TO THE ARUSHA ORPHANAGE"---and below
This IS "46TH STREET, NYC.," JUST BEFORE THE ARUSHA ORPHANAGE!!!!

JUST GIVING YOU A FEEL FOR LIFE IN TANZANIA !!



The girls cooking the Kibowa (Arusha) Orphanage

The 2 "MAMAS" at this orphanage presented Gail with a Konga, a 2 piece traditional dress, as a way for them to say Thanks to Gail and all those who have helped..In Gail's letter she said "The Mamas sewed it themselves" ..."It was such a Gift" There's a picture of her wearing it in previous post.

The Gifts people make themselves are always the most cherished ones!

There's a benefit for Gail's Tanzanian HopeFund in Gloucester, MA on Sunday..March 18th at from 3-6pm .

UNABLE TO ATTEND THIS FUNDRAISER,?
PERHAPS YOU COULD SEND A CONTRIBUTION TO GAIL BY MAIL

MAKE CHECK OUT TO THE TANZANIAN HOPE FUND.

P.O. BOX 872, GLOUCESTER, MA 01931

"I LOVE YOU ALL, I NEED YOU ALL, I THANK YOU ALL.........MAMA GAILSIE"

(THE HOME KNOWS YOU ARE ALL ANGELS....AS I DO)

More details .....
GREAT PARTY TO BENEFIT THE “TANZANIAN HOPE FUND”, ESTABLISHED BY GAIL AHERN, HELPING ORPHANS IN TANZANIA.

The Benefit :
WHEN? SUNDAY, MARCH 18. 2007 AT 3 – 6 PM

WHERE? RHUMB LINE (upstairs), RAILROAD AVE. IN GLOUCESTER

PROGRAM:

• MUSICAL GUESTS: – BARBARA KOEN

with DAVID KOEN (GUITAR)

- JIMMY LOUNSBURY
and FRIENDS

(KEYBOARDS, VIOLIN)

• READING OF GAIL’S LETTERS FROM TANZANIA
• RICH LOTTERY WITH GIFT CERTIFICATES FROM LOCAL BUSINESSES
• OTHER SURPRISES AND FUN