Blogging is for Everyone! Or is It?

To my surprise, I've been blogging for six years.  Really.  Since late 2005, I've been sharing my opinions, right or wrong, good or bad, wanted or not wanted, in cyberspace.  I don't even know why I started or why I continue, but it's like a bad habit: Very hard to break...even when I have nothing worthwhile to say.

Blogging has been instrumental in helping along some of the changes in cyberspace.  With Facebook, My Space, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, Triberr, and who knows what else, the world is shrinking by the day.  No, make that by the hour.  The internet has introduced us to new people and new friends all over the world.  That's a good thing!  But it's blogging that gives the broadest canvas to users, whether bloggers or blog visitors.

No one else in my family blogs.  Or did.  My oldest daughter decided to put her toe in the water and has, in only a month, completely submerged herself in it and (not surprisingly) is enjoying it.  Hey, I was the one who suggested she take a drama class in high school, and she ended up not only getting parts in plays, but earned the job of student director her senior year.  Blogging was made for her, believe me.  Her main topic of most posts?  Make-up and shopping, hence the name of her blog--Diary of a Shopaholic.  She even posted a video she made on how to apply "smoky eyes."  I manage to post YouTube videos.  What can I say?  It's a new world out there for the newer generation.  And at her age, I was the mother of a 2-year-old and a newborn.  Her daughter is 10.

Amazingly, she isn't the only one of my "inner circle" to slide into the blogosphere.  Desire author and longtime friend Kathie DeNosky recently appeared on the scene with a brand new blog.  Kathie has just started blogging and loves to give away books, so don't miss visiting her at Kathie's World.

 And then there's friend and author Kristi Gold's new blog, where you'll discover how magical she is with words.  Within minutes, she'll have you smiling, if not laughing out loud, as she looks at life with her special brand of humor.  But it doesn't stop there.  The three of us--Kathie, Kristi and myself--will begin blogging together on Valentine's Day as the Ditz Sisters.  And if you know us, you know the "ditz" label isn't a joke. ;)  More info when the big day arrives!

I'll be adding a blog list here on the blog, so if you're a blogger, send me a link and I'll add it.  If you aren't a blogger, but you visit them, be sure to occasionally leave a comment to let the person blogging know that you've been there.  Sometimes it seems pretty lonely out there.

Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things. ~ Author Unknown

Happy Friday the 13th!

Are you superstitious?  Do you think Fridays that fall on the 13th of the month are unlucky?  Do you have Triskaidekaphobia?  Because if you answer yes to either of those, this is not a good year for you.  Today is only the first of three Friday the 13ths in 2012.

While I admit to being very superstitious about many things, Friday the 13th isn't one of them, nor is the number 13.  In fact,  I like to think of it as lucky, not something to fear.  Yeah, I'm weird.  When I was in high school, many people told me I was...and it never had anything to do with *13*.  Maybe I'll share more on that someday. ;)

But what makes Friday the 13th so feared by so many? I'm glad you asked!

THE HISTORY OF FRIDAY THE 13TH

• Friday the 13th traces back to a Dutch holiday where mischievous children would sneak into graveyards at night and defecate on tombstones.

Some mischievous children needed a different hobby...and attention to their backsides.

• In France, Friday the 13th often fell on the day after the Feast of Saint Imbibecus.  Thus the day was often associated with terrible hangovers and poor choices made the night before.

Leave it to the French with their wine.  Maybe they shouldn't have Imbibecused so much.

• The Aztecs brutally killed 39,000 in one day on Friday the 13th of August, 1539.  This was done at the request of the recently arrived Hernan Cortez, who claimed to be a god seeking tribute.  The next day he overthrew their empire.

Trisky jerk, wasn't he?  

• One source says the number 13 has been unlucky since the Last Supper of Christ, where thirteen people were in attendance.

It's rumored by some that 1 of the 13 was a woman.  And the 13th was the woman, of course.

• Hammurabi’s Code, the first set of state initiated laws, omits the number 13, leading some to believe the superstition dates back to Babylon in 1700 BC.  However archaeologists agree that there indeed was a thirteenth law that was scratched out.  Studies of ancient tablets indicate the law condoned cross dressing of government officials, but was probably removed at the advice of Hammurabi’s aides.

With that in mind, shouldn't the number 13 be feared only by cross-dressers?

• Genghis Khan is said to have tasted his first defeat on Friday the 13th.  This fight between Genghis and five other larger children fueled the inferiority complex which drove him to conquer a continent.

Just goes to show that bullying isn't a new thing and can cause all kinds of trouble.

• Most skyscrapers do not include a thirteenth floor.  Gregory Johnson bravely included a thirteenth floor in his designs for the Empire State Building in New York.  Three days after its completion, on a Friday, the weight of the building caused it to buckle and it crushed the thirteenth floor.  It has been structurally sound ever since.

Not numbering the 13th floor does not change the fact that it is still the 13th floor.

• In London’s summer of 1865, seven prostitutes, two flower sellers, three secretaries and a nun were assaulted on Friday July 13th by a crazy man wearing an athletic mask.  The assailant would jump out of the shadows and present them with literature supporting the Conservative Party.  As the women screamed and tried to run away, they were asked for donations repeatedly, up to 18 times in one case.

Due to two words in this one, I'll skip commenting, but boy did I have some good ones!

• In 1881, a group of New Yorkers started The 13 Club, aimed at removing the superstitious stigma from the number.  At their first meeting on Friday the 13th, all thirteen members walked under a ladder into a room filled spilled salt and broken mirrors.  They all died in a freak accident involving a runaway truck and a rabid wolverine on its way to be put down.

Just goes to show you can only push your luck so far. 

• On Friday June 13th of 1952, Massachusetts Governor Kyle McArthur banned all private automotive transportation on the unlucky day.  Nine overcrowded city buses crashed into each other in downtown Boston.

Maybe it was because it happened the day before my 2nd birthday.  Makes as much sense.  Besides, if it was become of the number 13, wouldn't it have been 13 overcrowded city buses that crashed?

• Billy Ray Cyrus, Bobby Brown, and Michael Bolton all released albums on Friday the 13th.

For fans of the above, I'll leave this one to you. ;)

http://www.hauntedamericatours.com/HOLIDAYS/ 

Fear is the main source of superstition and one of the main sources of cruelty.

To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.  - Bertrand Russell 

'Tis the Season for Having the Nasties

I hab uh code.  (translated: I have a cold.)

I feel a lot like the little girl in the picture over <--there  and wish it would go away so I could feel better.  No fever, just a whole bunch of sneezing and blowing and just all around feeling punk.  What a way to start the new year, huh?  I guess I should be thankful that this didn't start until two days ago, so I was feeling fine for New Year's Eve and Day.  Well, pretty much.

New Year's Eve was enjoyable and spent at my oldest daughter's house.  The younger set karaoked to the Glee sing-along on Wii, while the rest of us sat back and provided encouragement.  For me, going out to a wild party to end and start the year took a nosedive years--lots of years--ago.  I don't mind.

Come New Year's Day morning, and I was awakened at 8:15 a.m.  by the guys putting new siding on my house.  It just so happened that they were working on the spot on exactly the other side of the wall from my bed.  Thankfully, I hadn't had any alcohol the night before, so there wasn't a bit of hangover, but that didn't mean it was pleasant.  They finished on Monday, and I breathed a big sigh of relief. Very little was accomplished over the four days they were working here.

Not only was there noise and a sneezy cold, but my car battery kept dying overnight.  My son-in-law was kind enough to get and install a new starter, and we thought that was the end of it...until the next morning (yesterday), when the battery was dead as a door nail again.  The battery is now replaced with a new one, but I'm still holding my breath.

The moral of the past few days is that we usually manage somehow to get through most of the hugely irritating things that come along and happen to us on what can sometimes seem a daily basis.  Today is quiet.  I spent time yesterday evening with my favorite critique group and will be talking with my bestest writing buddies this afternoon.  I couldn't ask for better friends and am blessed to have them in my life.  Car problems or no car problems, cold and sneezing or no cold and sneezing, life happens.  Somehow we manage to move on and find the sunshine.

Here's hoping everyone's 2012 is filled with sunshine and rainbows and the very best life can offer.

May you always have walls for the winds,
a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire,
laughter to cheer you, those you love near you,
and all your heart might desire.