hankrules2011

A polymath rambling about virtually anything

Posts Tagged ‘blogs’

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A New Music Blog Post Today!

Posted by Scott Holstad on May 1, 2018

Hi! I wrote a blog post on Scott’s Music Shak today. It’s about buying online music from independent dealers vs. Big Box sites like Amazon, eBay, and the like. I think I make some good points, but I’m biased. If you get a chance, go read it. And please, feel free to leave a comment. I’m not getting enough comments from people, and can’t figure out why. They’re emailing me, just not commenting on my blogs. And by the way, I implemented a new promotion today which you’ll see if you visit my site. If you sign up for my email list, found at the bottom of any page, you’ll receive semi-regular email newsletters containing a discount code for 10% off your first purchase over the next week. I intend to do this regularly. Newsletter subscribers will also be the first to hear about sales, new items, new collectibles, new blog posts, and more. So, please consider signing up for the email list and joining in that way. Thanks! Without further ado, I leave you with “The Benefits of Buying Music from an Independent Online Dealer vs. Big Online Stores.” Cheers!

Scott's Music Shak

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Scott’s Music Shak: My New Music/Audio Shop & Website

Posted by Scott Holstad on March 30, 2018

Hi all! It wasn’t too long ago that I wrote about my newish music selling business (Feb. 21), letting you in on some of the stuff I’ve been doing for the past six months, and providing links to my then-seven online shops. Well, I’ve made some changes. I’ve closed down two of the shops (on Bonanza and e-Record Fair) and I’ve created my own new music and audio website! I’m very excited about it. It’s called Scott’s Music Shak and it’s now open for business! If you don’t want to click the link I’ve supplied in this sentence, the URL is: https://scottsmusicshak.com/. It’s mainly a shop, and features a number of “Collections,” where most music lovers should be able to find something that interests them. I’ve only put in some initial inventory, but I’m going to be adding more on a near-daily basis. The Collections are “Vinyl,” “CDs,” “Cassettes,” “Accessories & Components,” “Rare & Collector’s Items,” and “Under $10.” I also display some Featured items at the top of the homepage, while I have a live Instagram feed at the bottom of the homepage. The Collections are toward the bottom of the home page, while a link to my entire Catalog is in the menu at the top of the homepage. At this point, I have 63 items in my Catalog, but I’m going to adding hundreds. It’s very time consuming to do so, so I can only add so many per day.

In addition to my catalog, there’s an “About” section, a section on the Goldmine Grading Standard, my Terms, and a “Blog/News” section, where I posted something today (“Are You Truly An Audiophile?“), as a matter of fact. Indeed, I’d be grateful to anyone who headed over there to check my Blog/News section out and possibly leave any comments, should they wish to. I’d also be grateful to anyone who wanted to suggest things I should add or delete or change or create (if possible), etc. I’ve done most that I can, but I could always potentially do a few other things. Finally, I’d love a couple of sales, if anyone feels extra supportive or inspired. I’m still learning how these transactions work. On my other shops that I’ve had (and I still have a few, though I’ll probably be closing or changing 1-3 others), the platform/website I’ve used has always handled the transactions automatically, sending me emails and texts when a new sale came in. This system is a little different and I have to be more proactive in how I go about things, so there’s a bit of a learning curve. I guess you could say I need and would appreciate some practice. LOL!

 

Scott's Music Shak

 

Anyway, I just wanted to announce the opening of my new website. I’m pretty excited about Scott’s Music Shak, and I have high hopes for it. I’ve done fairly well in a couple of my shops and I’d like to transfer my success to this website. Please come visit and feel free to leave comments or email me or do anything you want there! Cheers!

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A Great New Food Blog

Posted by Scott Holstad on March 26, 2018

Hi! This is a bit of a plug, so please forgive me, but my wife, Gretchen, has started a new food blog called “Vital Vittles – Food Trends: culinary finds for foodies,” and I think I lot of people who are “foodies” or into food and/or cooking might enjoy it. In case that link didn’t work for you, you can find it at: http://www.vitalvittlesfoodtrends.com/.

On her homepage, she writes “I’m Gretchen –  a food enthusiast and part-time blogger. It seems like every time I go to the grocery store, I find more and more choices! The choices we have today are almost overwhelming. Food trends come and go and with these trends, major food companies compete for our hard earned dollars. I provide some help in this blog with my unbiased reviews and comparisons. Comments are always appreciated, especially if you have anything to add to help others decide if that new food product is worth the money.”

So she reviews various food products, with plenty of photographs so you know exactly what she’s writing about, how it looks, how it might look partially cooked even, and occasionally she’ll get a “picky eater” taste tester to compare to her own observations. Among the items she’s reviewed lately are DelMonte Fruit & Chia, Green Giant Veggie Spirals – Zucchini, Forager greens pressed vegetable chips, Hostess Bakery Petites, and more. For whatever reason, she’s been getting a decent amount of “Likes,” but not too many comments, so if you visit her blog and read some reviews you find interesting, I’d encourage you to comment, leave a question, anything really. She’d like to make this more of a two way conversation, I believe.

Well, I’ve always known she’s a darn good cook, and I’ve been encouraging her to write a book or at least some articles for publication for awhile now. She’s one of the most creative people in the kitchen I’ve ever met, taking recipes and modifying them every time, a little different, always experimenting, always good outcomes. She may not have written her book yet, but this is at least a foray into writing about various foods, and the reviews seem good to me, so again, hop on over to her site and read a few. You may learn a few things and find it interesting in general. She and I certainly hope so! Thanks a lot for reading this plug, and please consider helping her out with more readers, likes, and comments. One note: her blogging platform doesn’t allow for followers, which is a major annoyance, but it does have an RSS feed, and you can always bookmark her blog if you like it. And if you do like it, check it several times a week, because she tries to write new blog posts 2-3 times per week, which keeps her busy. Okay, that’s enough from me. Go check her out, with many thanks. Have a good one!  — Scott

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Subtle Changes To My Blog

Posted by Scott Holstad on March 2, 2018

Hi All,

I haven’t written a new blog post since the last one, but I’ve been working on updating my blog. I was nosing around some of my PAGES (as opposed to Posts) and was horrified at how out of date some of the information was. For instance, my beloved wife of five years was still listed as my “girlfriend!” Geez. That’s bad. So, I spent some time updating some of my sections, and I thought I would key in any of you who might be interesting in seeing or reading over the changes.

First of all, I changed the About section at the top (upper left) section of the page. While I retained some of the older material, I both updated it (from one cat to two) and added some newer relevant material (entrepreneur, audiophile, etc.). So, if you want an updated bio to find out where I’m at these days, there you have it.

I also added some books to my Favorite Books section. Two new novels, one new work of nonfiction, five new science fiction novels, and one I call a “Straggler,” that doesn’t fit anywhere else. I don’t have links for all of these books to Goodreads or Amazon, and maybe I should, and I really don’t think I have the time to do so, but it’s a good idea I just thought of, but in the meantime, there are some good books listed there that might appeal to a lot of people, so feel free to check them out.

One of the biggest changes I made was to my Find Me Here section. First of all, some of the websites and social media sites were outdated to the point of no longer existing, so I had to make some edits. Secondly, I had sites listed followed by hyperlinks. So 2013. I thought why not make the site words themselves the hyperlinks? That’s only the obvious thing to do. So that’s what I did! Check that page out, please!!! You’ll notice two Instagrams and two Twitters. That’s because I have an individual account for each and a music business site for each. They’re both listed separately to make it easy to know which you’d be accessing. I have 13 links/sites listed there at the moment, and while there are more I may add in the near future, I thought that was a good place to start. And I need followers on my Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter music business pages, so please feel free to drop by and follow me in those places. Also, feel free to make recommendations or requests, because I’m totally open to all.

Next, I briefly updated my Penguins Fan Page, although not by much. It essentially takes you to my website, to my Pens fan page there, but it also admits that it’s not up to date, and that I want and need to update it, and I plan to as soon as I find the time. Not too much there, and I won’t blame you if you don’t feel like visiting that page, although I’d be grateful if you would, obviously.

Finally, as far as my PAGES went, I made substantial changes to the My Sports Teams page. I made a lot of additions, with links to all of the teams I follow. I added an MLB team, three NCAA football “teams of interest,” two NCAA men’s basketball teams, a second women’s basketball team, a second women’s softball team, a second women’s volleyball team, and two NFL “teams of interest” as well. All in all, there are 25 teams listed for 10 sports, ranging from high school to college to the pros. If you enjoy sports at all, by all means, check that page out and feel free to leave comments!

Okay. Those are the changes I made to my PAGES at the top of my blog. But I didn’t stop there. I made more changes to the lists and widgets on either side of my main blog wall. On the left, I changed my Twitter feed from @scottholstad to @scottsmusicshak. So too, I changed the Instagram feed from @scottholstad to @scottsmusicshak also.

On the right side of my blog, I deleted some obsolete blogs in the Blogroll, added a couple of Bookstores, and made some significant changes to the Music section, where I deleted over a half dozen groups, such as Hungry Lucy and Unto Ashes, while adding over a dozen new groups, such as KMFDM, Rammstein, Pet Shop Boys, Within Temptation, Flora Purim, Neal Schon and others, AND I added a number of audio companies, largely audiophile-quality companies for those interested in such things, such as Bryston, Klipsch, Pro-Ject, Krell, Rega, and others. If you’re willing to spend the money, you can find anything from affordable entry level audiophile-quality turntables from Pro-Ject for $500 to Bryston amps for $6,500 to a Rega RP-10 turntable for $7,000 all the way to the new McIntosh XRT2.1K loudspeaker system for a small, little $130,000/pair. Yeah, you read that right. But hey, if you’re a REAL audiophile, you find ways to feed your obsession, right? Heh. Finally, I added a new section called Boutique Computers, listing some of my favorite custom designed and built computers and the companies that make them beneath the heading. It’s a long story and the subject for a blog post some time, but suffice it to say that after experiencing some unexpected tech disasters in the spring of 2017, I decided to go high end with the idea of very high end for a very long time with the goal of expandability, so I had a “boutique” computer custom built for me, realized I had been short sighted and that it wasn’t sufficiently expandable, returned it, had another with 34 drive bays started being built by the same company, but work on it got bogged down, I grew impatient with what I viewed as their ineptitude, so I cancelled our contract, and I went elsewhere. I ended up with a Xidax X-8 Glacier, the specs of which are pretty awesome. I could have gone even more awesome, and maxed out some rigs to see how much it would cost to go uber awesome. The Falcon Northwest Mach V maxed out at $24,000 while the Digital Storm Aventum was just about $30,000! For a tricked out PC. One that would still be tricked out five years from now. But the Xidax I got cost a great deal less and will still be a quality computer five years from now and has enough storage capacity to last me at least 10 years or more, and that’s what I was looking for after a quality processor and quality GPUs. Anyway, like I said, a story for a different blog post….

And I guess that’s about it. For now. Next, I’m going to have to write another “real” blog post, eh? I’ll try to do so sooner than it took me last time. By the way, in my last post, I mentioned that I have seven online shops at the moment, although I’m trying to close two of them. I’m also considering opening my own e-commerce-based website, my own shop, and shutting down all but one of these shops (because this one, on an audiophile site, gives me lots of sales), but that would be a major commitment, both in time and money, and I’d lose the global audience that’s built into some of these sites for the uncertainty of people not ever knowing about or ever finding my own new site. So, it’s a bit of a gamble. But I wouldn’t have to pay all of these fees for transactions, I wouldn’t get banned from listing items because I’ve allegedly listed “too many” of a certain type — when I’ve never listed ANY of that type before! — I’d have complete control over my inventory and pricing, my marketing and promotion, and my social media sites could all point to my website instead of my Facebook site — which has not translated into sales at all — and ideally, if I could get people to jump to a “landing page” on my site and enter their email for a discount or a promotion of some sort, I’d be able to send out email newsletters on a semi-regular basis, maybe weekly or bi-weekly, offering both tips and promotions, which is what you’re supposed to be doing to get sales, according to all the data. So, if anyone reading this has any opinion on this gamble, I’d love to hear it. I think longterm, the good outweighs the bad, but upfront, it would be a massive timesuck, a hell of a commitment, and I’d have to work very hard to get people to notice this site. But it couldn’t be any worse than several shops I have right now, so I don’t see what I have to lose in that regard. I really only have 2-3 sites where I’m selling anything, really only two, and I’d be glad to dump the rest in exchange for full control over my own inventory, pricing, shipping, listings, promotions, everything. Lemme know your thoughts and thanks!

Okay, have a great weekend everyone. Cheers!

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Selling Music Online…

Posted by Scott Holstad on February 21, 2018

Audiophiles

McIntosh XRT2.1K Loudspeaker System: $130,000

 

Hi! Sorry it’s been so long. Obviously, per my recent posts, my life has changed a lot, and I have a lot less time and energy to blog. It’s not that I don’t want to; it’s just that between extremely poor health and other projects, it’s fallen down my list of priorities, unfortunately.

I thought I’d update you on one of my recent projects though. Among other things, I’ve turned my passion for music into a … business (?) … and I have opened a number of online shops where I’m selling new and used vinyl LPs, CDs, and cassettes, as well as audio components and accessories such as turntable mats, turntable cartridges, preamps, and speakers, among others. In addition, on a couple of my sites, I’m also selling a few “vintage” books and planning to add more. Furthermore, I have a couple of social media accounts at Instagram & Twitter where I post pictures and links to articles, posts, sales, & the like, so all of this keeps me very busy. I currently have seven – 7!!! – online shops, plus Instagram & Twitter, so thank goodness I can do all of this on my own schedule, eh?

 

Vinyl LPs

 

Seven shops are too many & I’m in the process of shutting one European one down right now. I then plan to shut another one down after that, leaving me with five. I may even trim it to four later, but for the time being, I have to get it down to five. I’m contemplating creating an e-commerce-based website for all of it, but that would be such a major time suck, PLUS I’d be on my own competing against the big boys and the littler ones, that I don’t know how feasible or wise that is.

I have been doing fairly well recently on one site that’s more audiophile-oriented: Discogs. I’m getting several sales a week there now, although at first it was hard to get going with no feedback. Now I have some, and I have orders out in the mail that should generate more when they arrive, ideally, so that’s been paying off. eBay has allowed me to sell some albums, as well as a few components & accessories. The site is really strange, though, because as soon as you’ve had a successful sale in an area, they WON’T let you list another related item for THREE MONTHS to penalize you (?) I guess, although they’re also penalizing themselves too, financially. How stupid is that??? So, when I went to list some preamps recently, because I had sold one, the site wouldn’t let me. More bizarrely, when I went to list a set of Klipsch speakers, the site said I was past my limit, although I’d never listed and obviously had never sold speakers there before! WTH? So, eBay isn’t making me happy these days, although I just sold an LP from there yesterday. Thus, I’m actually using more than one account with them.

 

Scott's Music Shak & Shop

 

My main site, although NOT my main selling site, is a Facebook Page: Scott’s Music Shak & Shop. I’m trying to get it known as a music and audio resource, a place people can come to for good content, photos, videos, polls, and yes, a Shop. While the Shop has not taken off, for whatever reason, some of the articles have gotten quite a few hits, or “reaches.” Some of the things I’ve posted about, whether writing them myself or sharing other posts, have included how to clean your vinyl, the top 30 goth albums of all time, how to rip your vinyl to your computer, Jeff Beck’s only Top 10 album, the Goldmine Grading Standard (the most hits of any post to date), cork turntable mats, the top “smooth jazz” albums of the ‘80s, what a preamp is & why it’s important, what a DAC is, etc. Possibly for budding audiophiles & the like then, as well as most music fans.

Meanwhile, what kind of music am I selling? Both new & used, as I said. On Discogs, the majority of my inventory is industrial, followed by goth, hard rock, electro, alternative rock, blues, classic rock, EBM, techo, experimental, funk, indie, pop, synth-pop, jazz fusion, & so on. In my inventory, I list over 40 different genres. I also have a variety of rare & hard to find items, such as an Australian promo copy of Nitzer Ebb’s Showtime, a very scarce (especially in the U.S.) Russian copy of The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night with the text in English and Russian, mostly Russian, with the labels virtually entirely in Russian, and an incredibly rare unreleased Czech promo copy of Iron Maiden’s Killer LP. I’ve only found one other dealer in the world selling this one, & it’s very valuable. I also do custom searches for people for specific titles or groups. I’m doing one now for a customer in Italy who’s a Linkin Park fan. I’ve found him a couple of Russian titles he doesn’t own & a couple of Australian titles, one quite rare, he doesn’t own, so that’s good. Meanwhile, I’m searching for some Japanese titles for him that are proving difficult to find.

 

 

If you know anything about online selling, you know that it can be slow going. I’ve done a lot of research, read books, even signed up for a class, and I know the stats, the standard thoughts & beliefs, etc., so I’m thinking long term strategy, but sometimes it’s hard to be patient. The good news is, I’ve only been doing this for three months, and all the research I’ve done on Etsy, for instance, has indicated that it’s common to go six, nine, or even 12+ months before you get your first sale. Well, I just opened my shop there about a month ago, & I’ve had two sales there now & hope to have more as I learn more online marketing strategies. And at my more “established” (a whole additional month – wow!!!) shops, I’ve been getting more sales, particularly at Discogs, over the past month, so things are trending upwards. This is good & necessary, because I sank a lot of money into acquiring a lot of cleaning, packing, & shipping supplies, as well as some inventory to supplement my existing inventory. I’m determined to provide the best shopping experience possible, and that means I pack better than anyone, I use the best, thickest, most protective outer sleeves on my vinyl, I ship within 24 hours, I communicate well & respond to any communications quickly & effectively. And I offer additional services, such as the accessories & components & custom searches (the searches are free) for anything & everything. I can’t get anything, but I can get many-to-most things for customers. So far, my feedback has been 100% positive & my only frustration has been that not everyone who has bought from me has left me feedback, which hurts me & my reputation as a seller, & I know it’s not because they were dissatisfied, because if they had been, they would have contacted me about it, but they didn’t, so obviously, they were okay-to-pleased with their purchases. So, that doesn’t make me happy, but there’s nothing I can do about it. In any event, I really enjoy doing this & I’m doing this not only to earn a few dollars (and that’s ALL I’m earning – a few…), but because I really love it. I love making other people happy with music & being able to act as a resource for others when possible.

Naturally, I’d love it if any of my blog readers were to visit any of my shops. I’d love it if any of you liked or followed me at the sites that allow that, & of course, I’d be grateful for any sales too! But by no means feel obligated. I doubt any of you will, but I had to put that in there. However, if you do visit my shops, you may notice some crossover in some of them, i.e., some postings of the same item in a couple of the shops. Most of the time, that’s because I intend to be shutting down one of those shops in the near future and am trying to get all of the inventory at those shops listed elsewhere before I do. But you should encounter original items at each shop too, especially at Discogs, Facebook, & eBay, to a lesser extent. So, please visit. Also, please follow me on Instagram & Twitter. Let me know you’re coming from my blog to ensure I follow you back, and I’m thinking of the best way to give out a promotion to my blog readers on purchases you may make. How about this: I’ll refund my blog readers 15% off any item they purchase UNDER $100!! In order to get that refund, you’ll have to email me to let me know what you purchased when, & provide this blog post’s URL, as well as the item’s URL, title, cost, etc. You’ll also have to provide me with your PayPal email address, because I only take PayPal everywhere except Facebook, which only allows me to take Stripe. I’ve never refunded anyone on Stripe, but I’m sure I can learn how, & I now know how on PayPal, so send all of this info to me at scottsmusicshak AT gmail DOT com after you’ve made your purchase, and I’ll refund you, ideally, within 48 hours. Sound good? Sound like a deal? Cool. I am now going to post links to my shop & my social media accounts. Once again, I’d be grateful to anyone who visits any of them. All of them have some to many original items, so overlook any cross-posted ones you may see. And feel free to offer suggestions too! I’m all ears. Thanks everyone. Cheers!

 

 

ACTIVE Online Shops

  1. Facebook Page: Scott’s Music Shak & Shop 
  2. Discogs
  3. Etsy: Scott’s Shak 
  4. eBid: Scott’s Shak
  5. eBay

Current Shops I Intend To Close

  1. e-Record Fair 
  2. Bonanza: scottsshak’s booth  

Social Media

  1. Instagram: scottsmusicshak
  2. Twitter: Scott’s Music Shak  — @scottsmusicshak

 

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My Fifth WordPress Anniversary

Posted by Scott Holstad on June 26, 2016

WordPress was kind enough to notify me a few days ago, on the 20th, that it was my my fifth anniversary with them, blogging away the whole time. It’s hard to believe. I had come over from Xanga, a blogging site I had been on since 2004 and one I loved desperately. It’s just that friends were leaving that site in droves — I didn’t know why, no one told me — and I felt like the site was going to hell, so while I didn’t delete my Xanga account, I started searching for a new blogging home. I had friends on this place, Blogger, and TypePad, but it was WordPress that really stood out for me, and besides, this online literary journal I had recently become poetry editor for had an account here, so I decided to open my new site here. I did and never looked back. My first posts were unusual and designed to introduce myself to new people, let people get to know me. I didn’t start writing book reviews until about three years ago or so. I wrote about writing, creative writing, sports, health, politics, publishing, published some memes, some lists of favorite books, songs, bands, etc., had quite a few posts which weren’t easy to categorize, etc. But then I started to find my niche with my book reviews, which, much to my surprise, became my blog posts with the most hits by far, as well as the most likes, and even the most comments, when I got any, which is rare. Since then, most of my posts have been book reviews — I published hundreds — interspersed with some sports posts, the occasional political or spiritual/religious post, an occasional creative writing post, some health posts, and a few others that are hard to categorize. But it’s the book reviews that people read. I’ve tried to figure that out but I guess it’s as simple as that’s what people want to read. That simple, right?

Well, anyway, in honor of my fifth anniversary on WordPress, I’m going to provide a link to my blog post from five years ago today: 20 Questions. I hope some of you find it interesting and enlightening. Actually, now that I think of it, I’m just going to post the whole blog post here. It’s short and probably easier than having to click on the link and go to another page. Remember, this is from June 26, 2011. Here it is:

 

20 Questions

Delete my answers and substitute your own. Enjoy!

I’ve come to realize that… I have taken far too many things for granted in my life, even when I thought I was not doing that. It’s a tragedy & I’m trying to remedy that.
Reconciliation is… ideal, but not always realistic. This is exactly the opposite of how I have felt my entire life, but I have wasted way too much time over the years trying to reconcile (or even simply remain on the same friendly terms…) with various people for various reasons and I can count on one hand quite easily the number of times it was worth the effort. Move on.
I talk… more than ever, if you can believe that. I have a lot to say. I spent the last 7+ years living with someone who really didn’t like to hear me talk much, but who preferred watching TV. Like 24/7. For years. Yeah, good times. I’ve got a lot to say and a lot stored up, so sorry….
I love… one special individual more than anyone I ever have at any time in my life, to a shockingly higher degree than I ever knew was even possible. Yeah, I admit it. I also dearly love my parents, my kitties, and several of my good friends who have stood by me over the years. My list of friends I “love” has diminished greatly over the past two years. Pity.
My best friend/s… are fewer than I thought in number, but are critically important to me and people I feel confident I’ll remain loyal to forever and who will be there for me forever. I’m blessed in this regard.
Love… is a newly important word to me, as most of my life it was largely an abstract concept, outside of my loving family. In my middle years, I have been blessed to discover what I now believe “love” is and is meant to be, and I had no freakin’ idea this was a possibility.
Marriage is… hit and miss. Usually a mistake. Usually entered into too soon and without sufficient forethought. A business partnership. Yeah, I’m jaded.
Somewhere, someone is thinking… “I wonder what that whining, bitchy drama queen Scott is going on about now.” Seriously. You think I’m joking….
I’ll always… remember times, places and the special people who have gone out of their way to save my ass in the biggest and worst of situations. Foremost among these are my parents and my best friend, Marcy. Emily, Jim & Eunice, Arnold & Sarah, and Ami have been there for me too. Many thanks.
I truly relax… nowhere. I stopped being able to relax years ago and now I no longer know how to, which is pathetic, and I even feel tremendous guilt if I even make an attempt to relax! Therapy is clearly in order.
My cell phone… is my life. I store everything in my iPhone. I’m not kidding. If that ever disappears, I’m more screwed than if my wallet disappears.
When I wake up in the morning… I now thank God for allowing me to see the sun rise once more, to be able to draw a breath, to have friends and family (and kitties) who love me. I no longer take these things for granted.
Before I go to bed… I talk to my special loved one for as long as possible in order to end each day on a positive, loving and blessed note.
Right now I am thinking… that I have a lot more to be grateful for than I – or most other people – would typically realize, looking at circumstances.
Babies… make me break out in hives. I’m horribly allergic to them. Always have been, always will be. I find them quite distressing.
I am committed to… doing everything possible to survive. And to love and live more strongly and sincerely than I ever have in my life before now.
I miss… my cat Rocky, who died in August 2007. I also miss seeing and hanging with my best friends back out west, including Marcy, Celeste, Marc, Emily and Rachel.
Tomorrow… is a hope and a goal, but not a guarantee.
I really want to be… healthy enough to live long enough to have a quasi-“normal” life and a happy one, to whatever degree that is possible.
I hate… people who don’t understand and who don’t even try to make a serious damn effort to understand.

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