A Missing You kind of Day

When I was younger, about 17/18 I believe, I had a cat named Forgiven. I was going through a very serious Christianity phase during that time, trying to reclaim some semblance of faith as my world was falling apart. Which is how he ended up with the name "Forgiven." He was one of the few beautiful things in my life at the time.

He was a black and white cat, with a light pink nose that had one black spot on it. He had the brightest blue eyes and he was the cuddliest cat I'd ever met. Sometimes when I would be walking home from school he would run up and want held. He was so comical sometimes, we often joked that if Charlie Chaplin was a cat he would be Forgiven. He was my world, really.

I'll have to find the one picture I have of him and post it, he was the most adorable kitten and then the sweetest cat.

Five years ago this month, two months before he turned a year old, Forgiven was hit by a car and killed. We discovered him one morning, on my way to school. I remember feeling paralyzed as I stood by his little lifeless body, crying, on the side of the road. Of course this isn't the most traumatizing incident in my life, for I have had many, but it is an incident that makes my heart ache sometimes.

Last night, possibly because the day he died is rapidly approaching or because I miss him just as much now as I did then, I dreamt about him. At first he was biting me and scratching me, something he never did in real life. Then he turned into his normal self, cuddling and "kissing" like a loving cat does. He seemed frightened by another cat that was lurking the darkness. A cat I couldn't see, except for the eyes. It was understood that the cat in the darkness belonged to Donnie, but it wasn't Lovey (Donnie's cat that lives with his grandmother currently). It was something bigger than a normal cat, but it was a cat nonetheless.

This isn't the first dream I've had with large cats or cats attacking me recently. In fact the past couple of days all I dream about are cats. Have I angered Sekhmet or Bastet, the cat headed Goddesses of Egyptian mythos? Have I become afraid of the feminine side of myself as the "Dream Moods: Dream Dictionary" suggests?

I also dreamt about car accidents. The roads were lined with crashed cars and I was dazed and wandering amongst them. The police officer kept asking why I had left my van, but I couldn't explain it. I couldn't remember.

Then I was dreaming about Barack Obama and I hugged him. I felt guilty because I got snot and tears all over him because of my crying. And I wasn't just crying because of the car accidents everywhere, I was crying because I had been forced to chop off my hair and because of all the accusing eyes watching me. I was surrounded by women, all of us struggling for air. Trying to find our voices in the deafening crowds. It was as if President Obama heard our voiceless screams and he spoke for us. Saying what it was we were trying to say. It was a glorious moment, terrifying and bewildering. But so very true. I have often felt that Obama has been a voice for the women of this country who are still very much oppressed though there are those who would try to convince us otherwise.

And when I woke up I missed my Memere (French for Grandmother) more than anything. It was a deep throb as I got dressed. I looked in the mirror and just wondered what she would think of me if she were still alive. Would she love me as much? Would she be proud of who and what I've become? Would it matter?

I suppose it doesn't matter to think about those things. To think about a cat that hadn't even reached a first birthday. Or a grandmother who has been dead for almost thirteen years now. But today I miss them. And I miss them more with every breath I take. It doesn't help that I have had a new song by Jason Derulo stuck in my head, echoing the ache in my chest.

In honor of my cat, in honor of Memere, in honor of all those that I feel an ache for on this day.
"Today I miss you.
It gets easier, so they say. So why do I feel like this hole in my heart gets bigger whenever I think of you?
Its because I only miss you when I'm breathing."

Fairy Tales

As a child my favorite fairy tale was "The Little Mermaid". I had the Disney movie and it was my security blanket. I took that movie with me everywhere. I watched it all the time (My second favorite movie was "The Wizard of Oz", which should've been obvious from my "J-Rock Wizard of Oz" tribute) and had it memorized. I have a picture of me watching it with my father on the couch at my Memere's house. My mom even got me one of those tents. If you grew up in the 90's you know exactly what I'm talking about. Those plastic play tents that your mom or dad would set up in your room or the living room and you would play with your toys in there.

However, whilst I love "The Little Mermaid" (both the Disney movie and the Hans Christian Anderson story), I love a few other interesting fairy tales. Not all of them happy. So, here is my Top 5 Favorite Fairy Tales list. Just to be random! (Since "The Little Mermaid" is a given it will not appear on this list)

1. The 12 Dancing Princesses (Germany)
This story is kind of weird. Which would probably be part of the reason that I love it so much. The Twelve Dancing Princesses was originally published by the Brothers Grimm (unsurprising to be sure) and since then it has seen many different places and things. Including, Faerie Tale Theatre (Shelley Duvall!) and Barbie (ugh!).

The tale goes that a king becomes incredibly suspicious as to why his daughter's dancing shoes are always worn out every morning. Especially since they all sleep in the same room and their door is locked every night! They can't possibly be going out dancing! Or so he thinks. Of course, one can't blame him. He has to pay for new shoes for TWELVE DAUGHTERS every day... I'd be a little suspicious too.

He decides to give a reward to whomever can figure out what is happening to his daughters' shoes each night. A soldier arrives and decides he is going to try his luck. After meeting an old woman (who gives him an invisibility cloak and some good advice), he eventually discovers what is happening. I won't spoil it for you, but as the title suggests, it has to do with dancing girls.

If you are interested you can read the story here: http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/TwelDanc.shtml
As far as I can tell it is the full story, at least as close to the version I have always read as I can get on the internet.

I always enjoyed this story just because I loved the idea of these princesses escaping their father for one night and dancing it away with handsome princes in an enchanted forest. Who wouldn't love to do that?!

2. Bluebeard (France)
"Bluebeard" was written by Charles Perrault, also known as Mother Goose. Bluebeard is not your typical fairy tale. It doesn't feature princesses or ghosts or anything like that. In fact, it is one of the most disturbing fairy tales I've ever had the pleasure of reading. And, something I didn't know before now, it may have been based on a couple of real people.

Bluebeard is NOT Prince Charming. No where near it in fact. He is described as hideously ugly because of his horrifically blue beard. Hence the name. At any rate, he has been married several times, but no one knows what has happened to his wives. (I'm sure you can see why that would be a little weird and somewhat frightening to any future wives) According to Monsieur Bluebeard, they all left him. But none of them returned to their families.

Eventually, after throwing many lavish parties, Bluebeard marries again. This young woman decides that under all that blue facial hair is a handsome and refined man that she wants to marry. And she does. After all, his beard isn't really all that blue. (<--- That is almost a verbatim quote from the story, just sayin')


So, this beautiful young woman moves into her husband's ridiculously huge house (I mean, the man has a key for every room, every closet, every cupboard, etc...) and is content with her lot. That is until the day her husband decides he has to go on a business trip. Because he knows that his new wife is young and because he knows she will miss him, he leaves her his keys and tells her to throw a huge party. To invite everyone she knows and have them stay with her for a few weeks while he is gone. His only stipulation is that she not open the little closet in the bottom floor of the house. He is even kind enough to show her the key that opens said forbidden closet. Of course she swears her loyalty to her husband by promising to not go anywhere near said forbidden room.


As soon as he is gone, she invites over everyone that she knows for a huge party. However, being a curious girl and a poor hostess, she quickly goes to the bottom floor of the house and opens the door to the little closet. What she finds there so startles her that she passes out, dropping the key. It is this little key that leads to her undoing.


Of course, you have to find a copy of the story to find out what happens, 'twould be a tragedy for me to spoil it.


3. The Girl with the Rose Red Slippers (Egypt)
I found this fairy tale not that long ago (about a year ago) while looking for stories from Egypt. This story is considered to be one of the first "Cinderella" stories every told.

A beautiful girl is bought as a slave. Except this owner is quite nice to her and somewhat indulges her, even giving her a pair of beautiful rose red slippers. One day, while she is bathing, an eagle comes out of nowhere and steals one of her rose red slippers (of which she was particularly fond) and makes off with it. The beautiful girl weeps bitterly over the loss, but resigns herself to it.

In the meantime the eagle (Horus' sacred bird) flies toward Memphis, (Egypt, not Tennessee) where Pharoah is currently. The bird swoops down over the courtyard and drops the slipper where Pharoah can see it. And, for some reason, because he thought the slipper was SO beautiful it MUST belong to a most beautiful woman. Which doesn't make much sense, because ugly girls like beautiful things too... Anyway, he determines to find said beautiful woman and issues a decree that they sure all of Egypt to find her.

For the rest of the story go to http://saraicrazyblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/few-interesting-bits.html (My previous blog post! :P)

4. The Old Hag's Long Leather Bag (Ireland)
This story never fails to amuse me. Partially because of the repetitive and exhaustive rhyming and the crazy. Mostly the crazy.

This story starts with a young widow who has all of her money stolen by an old woman passing herself off as a maid. Because of this the young woman and her three young daughters are forced to live hand to mouth for many years. When the time comes for the oldest of the three daughters to go out into the world she tells her mom to bake her a bannock (or at least that is what my version says, the version I found online definitely does not follow my story as closely) and send her on her way. Her mother asks if she will take a half of the bannock with her blessing or all of it without. Being greedy, the eldest daughter takes the whole without.

The oldest daughter goes into the world and meets up with an old woman. The old woman says she needs a maid and asks if the daughter will work for her. The daughter agrees and the old woman says, clean everything, but on your life do not look up the chimney (does that sound familiar?). The daughter promises. And for a few weeks she refrains from looking up the chimney. One day, however, while the old woman is out (playing bingo or attempting to cook Hansel and Gretel perhaps) the eldest daughter looks up the chimney. Inside she sees a long leather bag. She pulls it down and discovers her mother's entire fortune!

Well, obviously she takes off immediately with the long leather bag to go back to her mother and sisters. Along the way, however she meets many interesting things. Including a horse, a windmill, a goat, a sheep, a cow and a kiln.

Each one asks her for a favor and she refuses each time. When the old woman finally comes home and discovers her bag is gone she asks each animal/item the same question. The question goes like this (though not in the link I will give you, because as aforementioned they didn't follow my version):
"Horse of mine, have you seen this maid of mine? With my tig, with my tag, with my long leather bag and all the gold and silver I have earned since I was a maid?" And because the eldest daughter was not nice and helped out the Horse would reply with she went that way.

She eventually catches the girl (she is asleep inside the windmill) and she strikes her with her cane turning her into a stone (the old woman isn't called a hag for nothing!).

Cut to the second daughter. Its been a year, so obviously her sister must be doing well and she decides she is going out into the world too. She also takes the whole bannock without her mother's blessing and meets up with the old woman. She also promises not to look up the chimney and eventually does. She also discovers her mother's fortune and takes off with it. And, just like her older sister, she isn't kind to the things she meets along the way.

Because of this she, too, ends up turned into a stone inside of the windmill.

Its now been two years since the eldest daughter left and a year since the middle daughter left. Obviously this is a sign that they are doing so well that they don't have to write home. The youngest daughter decides to follow their idea by going out into the world. Except, she takes the half a bannock with her mother's blessing, unlike her two greedy sisters.

So, because she is obviously different from her sisters, when the time comes that she is running back home with her mother's fortune she naturally stops to help those along the way that ask for help.

When the old woman follows suit, she asks: "Horse of mine, have you seen this maid of mine? With my tig, with my tag, with my long leather bag and all the gold and silver I have earned since I was a maid?" and the horse basically says, "Do you think I have nothing better to do than to keep track of your maids?"

To find out what happens to the nice daughter and the two stones in the windmill you may follow this link: http://www.fantasy-web.com/kidskorner/bag.htm

5. Marya Morevna (Russia)
The story of Marya Morevna starts off with Prince Ivan. Prince Ivan has three beautiful sisters and he just inherited the kingdom of Russia. His sisters are, one by one, married off to some awesome shapeshifting princes and Ivan finds himself incredibly alone.

One day, while walking around on a battlefield, Ivan encounters the beautiful Warrior Princess Marya Morevna. He immediately falls in love with her and they get married. They live happily for a long time, but one day Marya decides that she must leave to fight someone or other and she makes Ivan promise not to go into a closet (or the upper turret, depending on which version you read. Also, doesn't that sound really familiar?). He promises, however, as soon as she is gone he totally opens it.

Inside he finds Koshchei the Deathless in chains, except Ivan doesn't know that. He just sees a withered old man who is begging for food and drink because Marya hasn't given him either in 10 years. Obviously, Ivan gives him water. Once Koshchei drinks up all the water he breaks his chains and vows to kidnap Marya. He takes off and poor Ivan realizes what an idiot he has been.

Not deterred by the creepy deathless dude that just escaped his wife's closet, Ivan vows to go after Marya and save her from Koshchei. On his journey to save his wife he decides to stop by and visit his three sisters as well. He explains to them and his brothers-in-law what has happened and each brother-in-law asks Ivan to leave something of his behind. Presumably to remember him by.

Anywho, eventually he finds Marya Morevna. He tells her that they should leave and that she should forgive him, though I wouldn't blame her if she didn't, since god only knows what Koshchei has been doing to her since he captured her.

However, Koshchei is not only Deathless, but he has a magical talk horse as well that stumbles when there is trouble. So Koshchei asks it what's going on? and the horse replies with one of my favorite lines in a story (partially because it is totally unnecessary and partially because it is ridiculous):

"It is possible to sow wheat, to wait 'til it grows up, to reap it and thresh it, to grind it to flour, to make five pies of it, to eat those pies, and then to start in pursuit - and even then to be in time."

So obviously, Koshchei catchs them. He tells Ivan that because he gave him water, he will spare him this time. He will even spare him the second time. However, if he attempts to rescue his wife a third time Koshchei will personally chop him into itty-bitty pieces.

Un-dettered by this threat. Ivan obviously rescues his wife again. The horse once again says something ridiculously impossible that they could do and still catch them and Koshchei once again says he will forgive Ivan. However, next time he will cut him up.

And again Ivan rescues Marya, so Koshchei chops him into little bits. Not only does he chop him into little bits though, Koshchei puts those bits into a barrel, covers the barrel with pitch and iron hoops and drops it in the middle of the ocean.

Now, as soon as that barrel falls into the ocean, the items Ivan left with his brothers-in-law turn black. Obviously this is a bad thing and the brothers-in-law set off to rescue their slightly derpy brother-in-law, Ivan.

The rest of the story can be found at http://www.horrormasters.com/Text/a3085.pdf

There you have it, my top 5 favorite fairy tales of all time. Expect more fairy tales sometime in the future, as I am a huge lover of fairy tales and fantasy. Nothing like a story where a little girl has her hands chopped off by her own father (which is apparently a parable about incest).

Disgusted

* Mood: Outraged
* Listening to: the reports on MSN.com
* Drinking: Coffee

I cannot understand why someone would break into a museum and destroy the priceless histories within.

For those of you who don't know the Cairo Museum was broken into and several (I don't know an exact number) artifacts were destroyed, needlessly. Even two mummies did not escape the desecration.

I agree, wholeheartedly, with Dr. Zahi Hawass "My heart is broken and my blood is boiling".

Who does that? Who goes out and ravages history's final remnants? We have only this one life and it is spent reaping the rewards of History's lessons and we choose rather to destroy it than to preserve it! Who cares about history? Who cares about some dead guys wrapped in cloth in a museum somewhere thousands of miles across the ocean?

I CARE! We are the products of history! We are history in the making! Why would we ever choose to destroy rather than to protect?!

It is ridiculous! I have completely lost faith in a humanity that robs the dead and desecrates a house of History.

A Few Interesting Bits

MATTHEW ERIC WRINKLES
December 11, 2009

Last Meal: Wrinkles had a final meal request of a prime rib with a "loaded" baked potato, pork chops with steak fries, two salads with ranch dressing and rolls.

This Website promotes T-Shirts of people's hairstyles.
http://hirsutehistory.com/

A great Website with ALL sorts of Recipes for every person. I love Tastespotting!
www.tastespotting.com/



A rather Drunk Australia careened through the continents and has ended up upside down and wedged in the North Atlantic Ocean.
http://www.satirewire.com/news/jan02/australia.shtml

When you think about dying, how do you picture yourself going? I kind of hope it is in my sleep so I don't know it happened. That's just me personally.

Well this guy, Bernd Jürgen Brandes decided that dying in your sleep was just too passé. Instead he opted for the getting stabbed multiple times, having his penis cut off and eaten, and partially eating some of his penis himself. Its true.

Armin Meiwes was a murderer and a cannibal. Now he is a vegetarian. Oh the irony.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armin_Meiwes

The Girl with the Rose Red Slippers (An Egyptian Myth, possibly the first version of Cinderella ever told)

In the last days of Ancient Egypt, not many years before the country was conquered by the Persians, she was ruled by a Pharaoh called Amasis. So as to strengthen his country against the threat of invasion by Cyrus of Persia, who was conquering all the known world, he welcomed as many Greeks as wished to trade with or settle in Egypt, and gave them a city called Naucratis to be entirely their own.

In Naucratis, not far from the mouth of the Nile that flows into the sea at Canopus, there lived a wealthy Greek merchant called Charaxos. His true home was in the island of Lesbos, and the famous poetess Sappho was his sister; but he had spent most of his life trading with Egypt, and in his old age he settled at Naucratis.

One day when he was walking in the marketplace he saw a great crowd gathered round the place where the slaves were sold. Out of curiosity he pushed his way into their midst, and found that everyone was looking at a beautiful girl who had just been set up on the stone rostrum to be sold.

She was obviously a Greek with white skin and cheeks like blushing roses, and Charaxos caught his breath - for he had never seen anyone so lovely.

Consequently, when the bidding began, Charaxos determined to buy her and, being one of the wealthiest merchants in all Naucratis, he did so without much difficulty.

When he had bought the girl, he discovered that her name was Rhodopis and that she had been carried away by pirates from her home in the north of Greece when she was a child. They had sold her to a rich man who employed many slaves on the island of Samos, and she had grown up there, one of her fellow slaves being an ugly little man called Aesop who was always kind to her and told her the most entrancing stories and fables about animals and birds and human beings.

But when she was grown up, her master wished to make some money out of so beautiful a girl and had sent her to rich Naucratis to be sold.

Charaxos listened to her tale and pitied her deeply. Indeed very soon he became quite besotted about her. He gave her a lovely house to live in, with a garden in the middle of it, and slave girls to attend on her. He heaped her with presents of jewels and beautiful clothes, and spoiled her as if she had been his own daughter.

One day a strange thing happened as Rhodopis was bathing in the marble-edged pool in her secret garden. The slave-girls were holding her clothes and guarding her jeweled girdle and her rose-red slippers of which she was particularly proud, while she lazed in the cool water - for a summer's day even in the north of Egypt grows very hot about noon.

Suddenly when all seemed quiet and peaceful, an eagle came swooping down out of the clear blue sky - down, straight down as if to attack the little group by the pool. The slave-girls dropped everything they were holding and fled shrieking to hide among the trees and flowers of the garden; and Rhodopis rose from the water and stood with her back against the marble fountain at one end of it, gazing with wide, startled eyes.

But the eagle paid no attention to any of them. Instead, it swooped right down and picked up one of her rose-red slippers in its talons. Then it soared up into the air again on its great wings and, still carrying the slipper, flew away to the south over the valley of the Nile.

Rhodopis wept at the loss of her rose-red slipper, feeling sure that she would never see it again, and sorry also to have lost anything that Charaxos had given to her.

But the eagle seemed to have been sent by the gods - perhaps by Horus himself whose sacred bird he was. For he flew straight up the Nile to Memphis and then swooped, down towards the palace.

At that hour Pharaoh Amasis sat in the great courtyard doing justice to his people and hearing any complaints that they wished to bring.

Down over the courtyard swooped the eagle and dropped the rose-red slipper of Rhodopis into Pharaoh's lap.

The people cried out in surprise when they saw, this, and Amasis too was much taken aback. But, as he took up the little rose-red slipper and admired the delicate workmanship and the tiny size of it, he felt that the girl for whose foot it was made must indeed be one of the loveliest in the world.

Indeed Amasis the Pharaoh was so moved by what had happened that he issued a decree:

"Let my messengers go forth through all the cities of the Delta and, if need be, into Upper Egypt to the very borders of my kingdom. Let them take with them this rose-red slipper which the divine bird of Horus has brought to me, and let them declare that her from whose foot this slipper came shall be the bride of Pharaoh!"

Then the messengers prostrated themselves crying, 'Life, health, strength be to Pharaoh! Pharaoh has spoken and his command shall be obeyed!'

So they set forth from Memphis and went by way of Heliopolis and Tanis and Canopus until they came to Naucratis. Here they heard of the rich merchant Charaxos and of how he had bought the beautiful Greek girl in the slave market, and how he was lavishing all his wealth upon her as if she had been a princess put in his care by the gods.

So they went to the great house beside the Nile and found Rhodopis in the quiet garden beside the pool.

When they showed her the rose-red slipper she cried out in surprise that it was hers. She held out her foot so that they could see how well it fitted her; and she bade one of the slave girls fetch the pair to it which she had kept carefully in memory of her strange adventure with the eagle.

Then the messengers knew that this was the girl whom Pharaoh had sent them to find, and they knelt before her and said, 'The good god Pharaoh Amasis - life, health, strength be to him! - bids you come with all speed to his palace at Memphis. There you shall be treated with all honor and given a high place in his Royal House of Women: for he believes that Horus the son of Isis and Osiris sent that eagle to bring the rose-red slipper and cause him to search for you.'

Such a command could not be disobeyed. Rhodopis bade farewell to Charaxos, who was torn between joy at her good fortune and sorrow at his loss, and set out for Memphis.

And when Amasis saw her beauty, he was sure that the gods had sent her to him. He did not merely take her into his Royal House of Women, he made her his Queen and the Royal Lady of Egypt. And they lived happily together for the rest of their lives and died a year before the coming of Ambyses the Persian.

Snow Ice Cream (A Recipe)
First, bundle up and go outside to gather up some fresh snow. Make sure that it’s not yellow! (There are a lot of dogs in my neighborhood so I have to be extra careful).
Ingredients:
• 8 cups snow (lightly packed)
• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Sprinkle of cinnamon
Lightly pack snow in to serving bowls. Mix the condensed milk and vanilla in a separate bowl. Pour on top of your snowballs, mix to combine, and add a dash of cinnamon if you wish. Serve immediately!

Crazy Picture of the Day!