The decadent autumn storm

2007-12-31T11:39:00.000Z

Racing barefooted after kicking off her flip-flops, Cyndie French pushes her son Derek Madsen, 10, up and down hallways in the UC Davis Medical Center, successfully distracting him during the dreaded wait before his bone marrow extraction. Doctors want to determine whether he is eligible for a blood stem cell transplant, his best hope for beating neuroblastoma, a rare childhood cancer.

Click on the photograph above and keep clicking on the photographs.
~~~~~~

Audio: Cyndie French reflects on the life of her son

More than numbers

2007-12-27T19:35:00.000Z

IBM world community grid squeezes decades of cancer research into 2 years

Canadian researchers expect to accelerate the war on cancer by tapping into a global network of hundreds of thousands of people who volunteer their idle computer time to tackle some of the world’s most complex problems.

The research team, led by Dr. Igor Jurisica at the Ontario Cancer Institute (OCI), and scientists at Princess Margaret Hospital and University Health Network, are the first from Canada to use the World Community Grid, a network of PCs and laptops with the power equivalent to one of the globe’s top five fastest supercomputers.

The team will use World Community Grid to analyze the results of experiments on proteins using data collected by scientists at the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute in Buffalo, New York. This analysis would take conventional computer systems 162 years to complete. However, using World Community Grid, Dr. Jurisica anticipates the analysis could be finished in one to two years, and will provide researchers with a better way to study how proteins function, insight that could lead to the development of more effective cancer-fighting drugs.

“We know that most cancers are caused by defective proteins in our bodies, but we need to better understand the specific function of those proteins and how they interact in the body,” said Dr. Jurisica. “We also have to find proteins that will enable us to diagnose cancer earlier, before symptoms appear, to have the best chance of treating the disease -- or potentially stopping it completely.”

The research team now has more than 86 million images of 9,400 unique proteins that could be linked to cancer, captured in the course of more than 14.5 million experiments by colleagues at Hauptman-Woodward.

This comprises the most comprehensive database on the chemistry of a large number of proteins, a resource that will help researchers around the world unlock the mystery of how many cancers, such as breast, prostate or childhood leukemia, grow.

Approximately 150,000 Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer and more than 70,000 will die of the disease in 2007 alone.

Individuals can donate their computers for this project by registering on http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org , and installing a free, secure, small software program on their computers. The computer requests data from World Community Grid’s server when it is idle, for example a user is at lunch, and performs the cancer-related protein computations. A screen saver will tell individuals when their computers are being used.

World Community Grid, the largest public humanitarian grid with more than 333,000-plus members and links to more than 780,000 computers. However, it’s estimated that there are one billion computers worldwide, underscoring the potential for the grid and its computational power to significantly expand. Eight projects have been run on World Community Grid to date, including protein folding and FightAIDS@Home, which completed five years of HIV/AIDS research in just six months. Additional projects are in the pipeline.

News article from Physorg.com

If you have a computer and an internet connection then you have an opportunity to be a part of a global community that is working together to do what they can to help solve various health and environmental concerns. There is no reason not to join and every reason to join. To join takes just five minutes, and it is the only active action that will ever be required. Once one has completed the joining process which involves downloading a very small, wholly safe piece of software, no other action is required. Except that is to join us at Team Bravo, where we would be very happy to welcome you. To join us takes just one click of the mouse. Please join us today and help us to help us.
Step one: Join the WCG
Step two: Join Team Bravo
Although a mere 10 days have passed since the last Bravo post, Team Bravo has returned another 612 results. Personal milestones were plenty as always, some that ended on a zero included;

Bobby aka ThunderBob returning over 2000 results!
Kiley aka ariadneK reaching a staggering half a million points!
Jules aka ebzepsentme eclipsing 50,000 points!
Not far off 1000 results, justin-thyme surpassing 350,000 points!
Courtney now has 100 days of runtime!
Nate and TotalChaos are just hours short of respectively 200 days and 100 days!
Simon aka ebezp accumulating 50 days of runtime!

We also had the very great pleasure of filling spot #40

CJG aka Christopher joined us on Christmas day and has already returned 6 results!
It is a great pleasure to have you with us, Christopher, thank you for joining.

Team Bravo Stats
Member Name	Points Generated	Results Returned
tgeorge1	1,063,009	4,229
ThunderBob	578,409	2,041
ariadneK	507,468	1,170
justin-thyme	379,969	985
karen6977	231,942	690
digitaldoom	220,658	943
AutumnStorm	219,865	753
SaintlyNate	175,418	722
Sherry G	108,777	261
TotalChaos	98,525	438
Karen Mason	92,457	345
courtney42	79,201	247
ebzepsentme	55,469	181
JamieB	45,068	176
Sweet Jaine/ SweetJane	}40,665	}125
Consise10/ concise10	}40,617	}103
ebezp	30,818	73
tilde1d	18,146	43
womble 1	8,814	21
LovingAnnie	8,620	16
JOSIEW	8,551	58
djwilko1	4,504	13
CJG	1,871	6
redaster, Bavani Naidu, cheekyfaces & justawriter	}2,956	}12

Which if one adds them all together means not only that Team Bravo has returned 13,605 results, but that we have two major reasons to celebrate, namely.....

Congratulations and Thank you team mates!

Looking forward to continuing the partnership through 2008
who knows what good those results will bring
Happy New Year, xo

All welcome to join!

The time has come

2007-12-17T20:51:00.000Z

where we can celebrate our first individual member reaching...

Woohoo!

Congratulations to tgeorge1 aka Trée aka the captain and creator of Team Bravo and as such whom without there would be no Team Total of results. And so the thanks extend to introducing the rest of us to The World Community Grid. :-) Lead on, captain.

For those who do not know, to those who do bear with me as I repeat certain facts, Team Bravo is one of over 18,000 teams (comprising almost 850,000 computers) that are linked to the grid by a very small agent freely available to download from their website. It is completely safe and does not interfere with one's use of one's computer. To register, download and install takes less than 5 minutes and to join Team Bravo, just a couple of seconds more. In so doing, you will be part of a community working together to assist in research towards finding medicines and cures for a range of diseases including Cancer, Hepatitis C and AIDS. Worthy causes all and such an easy thing to do. All it requires is that one time contribution of 5 minutes of time. No other effort is needed, nothing. The device works in the background when the computer is idle, using spare CPUs to work on data that it automatically downloads from the WCG and then sends it back when completed. Joining the WCG and Team Bravo has to be the easiest way ever to make a contribution. Every result counts, join us today and help us return more. All are welcome, all that is needed is a computer and an internet connection.

While Trée's amazing achievement is the reason for a Bravo post today, as always, the team has been returning results at an impressive rate and knowing how important each one of those is, that for each one it brings us a step closer to finding what we search for, it truly warms the heart to see.

Team Bravo Stats
Member Name	Points Generated	Results Returned
tgeorge1	1,003,755	4,028
ThunderBob	537,027	1,916
ariadneK	482,459	1,128
justin-thyme	348,915	898
digitaldoom	220,658	943
karen6977	219,817	656
AutumnStorm	211,529	728
SaintlyNate	168,060	686
Sherry G	103,655	249
TotalChaos	97,295	436
Karen Mason	89,851	332
courtney42	78,216	243
ebzepsentme	54,676	179
JamieB	45,068	176
Sweet Jaine/ SweetJane	}39,622	}118
Consise10/ concise10	38,889	98
ebezp	27,488	66
tilde1d	18,146	43
womble 1	8,814	21
LovingAnnie	8,090	15
JOSIEW	7,198	52
djwilko1	3,614	11
redaster, Bavani Naidu, cheekyfaces & justawriter	}2,956	}12
TEAM TOTAL	3,802,628	12,993

2007-12-05T18:45:00.000Z

Take the link & Leave a message for Phillippa

Would you?

2007-12-01T23:10:00.000Z

Q. If you had the technology to help cure AIDS or Cancer or Muscular Dystrophy, would you use it?

If you have a computer and an internet connection then you do have that technology and can participate in finding cures for the above and other diseases/problems that effect humanity. Furthermore, you could be doing so within 5 short minutes.

To learn more, visit The World Community Grid here.
To join the WCG, go here.
To join our team (after joining the WCG), go here.
Please join us today, all are welcome!

Team members,
as per usual, you guys have been crunching away and steadily returning result after result! Although I post these statistics updates quite often, the increase each time is significant. We are now in the top 800 teams in regards to points, no mean feat at all considering our young age and the fact that there are almost 18,000 teams currently registered. This achievement is due to each and every one of you. Thank you!

There are however a couple of members who have been especially notable this week;

Our newest member Annie is already showing that she means to do some serious crunching by starting to move up the scoreboard!

Karen(karen6977) burst through the 200,000 mark!

Justin, one of our quickest climbers, now has points in excess of 300,000!

Trée is well on his way to a seven figure point score!

Over 1 year of runtime has been donated by (Thunder)Bob!

DJB(TotalChaos) and Sherry are both about to hit the grand total of 100,000 points!

Here's everyone...

Team Bravo Stats
Member Name	Points Generated	Results Returned
tgeorge1	916,880	3,717
ThunderBob	473,696	1,745
arianeK	424,381	1,038
justin-thyme	303,504	762
digitaldoom	220,658	943
karen6977	201,994	601
AutumnStorm	194,519	686
SaintlyNate	158,348	647
Sherry G	98,911	236
TotalChaos	97,295	436
Karen Mason	84,587	313
courtney42	72,956	224
JamieB	45,068	176
ebzepsentme	43,750	146
Consise10/ concise10	35,552	88
Sweet Jaine/ SweetJane	}32,702	}92
ebezp	25,505	60
tilde1d	18,146	43
womble 1	8,814	21
JOSIEW	4,705	36
LovingAnnie	3,751	7
djwilko1, redaster, Bavani Naidu, cheekyfaces & justawriter	}5,198	}17
TEAM TOTAL	3,470,920	12,034

Of all of the characters throughout history and literature, who would you most like to meet?

2007-11-26T01:01:00.000Z

Painting by Trée

My answer to that question would have to be Papa.

Papa is a character created by Trée and part of the on-going story that he writes on his (main) blog: Decadent Tranquility. Filled to the brim with characters one cannot help but fall in love with, the beauty and wonder of the writing and accompanying artwork all created by Trée really does defy adequate description, though as of today readers have been attempting to do so for....

2 years

A beautiful mind, heart and soul
An infinitely special & unmissable corner of the blogging world
Thank you, Poppet, for the gift you share
&
CONGRATULATIONS
on your anniversary
and
the achievement of this amazing, and thankfully yet unfinished,
body of work.

To commemorate the day,
I am pleased to finally be launching
the official
Story Fan Site

November Birthdays

2007-11-25T07:18:00.001Z

Happy Birthday and best wishes for the upcoming year to...

Tiffany, today the 25th

M who turned 10 yesterday

That was 10!
(I'm in shock though I had a year to prepare)

& Terry on the 30th

2007-11-22T05:11:00.000Z

Last night, Team Bravo gave us yet more cause to celebrate having reached 10 years of runtime, which to put it another way means that for every 24 hours of real time that team Bravo has been in operation, our relatively few members have contributed over 420 hours of runtime to the World Community Grid, who in turn have put those contributions to most excellent use procuring over 11,000 results.
Bless your sweet, dedicated hearts!

The grid celebrates this week too. As of November 16th, it has been running for 3 years and the total results sent back from over 800,000 computers across the globe now exceeds 128,000,000!
'tis okay, I have a lump in my throat too. To think there are hundreds of thousands of people united in an effort to find cures and solutions for problems effecting all of humanity, AIDS and Cancer to name but two of the current projects.

The good news is, yes there is more good news, anyone with a computer and an internet connection can be a part of it and all it requires is 5 minutes of setting up after which it runs automatically never interfering with personal use. Genius, pure and simple, but then those guys at IBM who donated the software that allows the individual to connect to the grid are somewhat known for it.

Five minutes, two steps to start making a change, to be a part of a global project to help ourselves, to potentially make a world of difference to the individual afflicted, the individual which could one day be you or I, someone we know, someone we love. Those among us for example who have not been touched by Cancer within their closest circles are very fortunate indeed.

5 minutes, 2 steps, easy, safe, worthwhile, please, thank you.

Step one: Complete the registration and installation process via the World Community Grid.
Step two: Join Team Bravo.

Personal milestones have also been many as always.
Just a few of those recent highlights have included the welcoming of two new members, redaster and LovingAnnie and congratulations were well deserved as Kiley aka ariadneK reached 400,000 points and days later passed 1000 results.

Team Bravo Stats
Member Name	Points Generated	Results Returned
tgeorge1	863, 244	3,522
ThunderBob	435,959	1,630
ariadneK	407,145	1,010
justin-thyme	277,477	699
digitaldoom	220,658	943
karen6977	190,797	560
AutumnStorm	187,121	667
SaintlyNate	151,347	609
Sherry G	94,292	222
TotalChaos	93,742	425
Karen Mason	79,721	293
courtney42	69,598	210
JamieB	44,562	174
ebzepsentme	39,738	132
Consise10/ concise10	}33,735	}83
ebezp	24,198	57
Sweet Jaine/ SweetJane	}23,492	}70
tilde1d	18,146	43
womble 1	8,814	21
JOSIEW	3,945	29
djwilko1	2,242	5
redaster	1,115	5
Bavani Naidu, cheekyfaces & justawriter	}1841	}7
TEAM TOTAL	3,272,929	11,416

Happiness is...

2007-11-19T18:36:00.000Z

is a daily and cherished feature over at Justin Thyme's. Today's post is especially befitting of the title and like all that went before well worth anyone's while to visit. Happy days ahead, x

Joining today could be someone's good fortune tomorrow

2007-11-11T14:20:00.000Z

Ask me what I am doing right now.
I am helping to improve the results of protein X-ray crystallography in order to increase understanding of cancer and its treatment.
Good answer, right? :-)

Now ask me what I am doing later.
Well, I might assist in the development of more accurate climate models of specific regions in Africa. Or I might join the group that are trying to identify promising drug leads to combat the related dengue, hepatitis C, West Nile, and Yellow fever viruses. Or I might work on any other one of the other projects currently being undertaken by the World Community Grid.

Innovatively defining the proverb Many hands make light work, the WCG allows the general public to assist scientists as they search for the solutions to problems that affect humanity using a very small, wholly safe piece of software donated by IBM and freely available to download via the WCG website. It takes less than 5 minutes to register, download and install and requires no further action. Currently there are over 800,000 computers in private homes and offices that whenever idle are working for the grid and returning on average over 110,000 results a day. 50 of those (on average) come from Team Bravo. Created by Trée, Team Bravo unites an amazing group of bloggers and the friends and family that they in turn have recruited and it allows us to have a little fun with it. There is the House, there has been a competition and if that wasn't enough along with the knowledge that we are doing something worthwhile, there is the chance to see...wait for it... your name in colour! :-D
Join Team Bravo here.

Team Bravo Stats
Member Name	Points Generated	Results Returned
tgeorge1	804,111	3,310
ThunderBob	405,492	1,525
ariadneK	379,709	957
justin-thyme	245,673	604
digitaldoom	220,658	943
karen6977	175,179	520
AutumnStorm	174,512	629
SaintlyNate	142,491	572
Sherry G	91,300	214
TotalChaos	87,050	406
courtney42	62,299	188
JamieB	44,562	174
ebzepsentme	33,419	108
consise10	27,605	70
ebezp	23,042	54
tilde1d	18,146	43
Karen Mason	13.382	48
womble 1	8,814	21
Sweet Jaine	6,721	19
SweetJane	4,780	10
concise10	3,726	8
JOSIEW	2,461	13
djwilko1	2,242	5
redaster	1,008	4
Bavani Naidu	845	4
cheekyfaces	618	2
justawriter	378	1
TEAM TOTAL	2,980,223	10,452

By tomorrow or at the latest the day after, we will have reached the grand total of

With thanks to everyone of those colourful names above. :-)

2007-11-03T19:15:00.000Z

Sara, blog mate, team mate, friend and animal lover has a request on her blog today. If you have a minute, please visit Sara here.

Autumn walks

2007-11-03T19:10:00.000Z

Forget Halloween, it's MTV that is truly scary

2007-11-03T13:54:00.000Z

Elizabeth Swan

Last night's Halloween party

2007-10-24T11:27:00.000+01:00

As of yesterday, Team Bravo is now in the top 1000 teams within the three categories (Total Run Time, Points Generated & Results Returned). What this means, as all the figures do, is that Team Bravo is a group working consistently and increasingly towards being idle, :-), that we as a team have made a significant contribution. Thank you, you are AMAZING!

Anyone and everyone is welcome to join our team.
Team Bravo is a part of the World Community Grid, links to the WCG, where and how to join and how to be a part of Team Bravo are on my sidebar. --->
Go take a look-see, you shan't regret it. Joining takes just minutes, the good it might do is immeasurable.

As always the activity on the scoreboards knowing every result counts has been nothing short of riveting. :-D There have been some great milestones just passed or just up ahead.
Highlighting just a few of those before posting the stats,
tgeorge1 aka Trée will hit 700,000 points sometime in the next 24 hours!
ThunderBob has been sprinting in recent weeks and is just about to slide into second place!
Justin is fast approaching 200,000 points whilst being one of our newest members, way to go, J!
200 days of runtime coming up for Karen, who also reached and sped past 150,000 points a few days ago!
Nate and Sherry reached the grand totals of 500 and 200 results respectively!
Several names have been moving up the board after returning their first or first several/many results, members such as womble 1, djwilko1, Karen Mason and Josie W!
That was just a few, here are the rest!

Team Bravo Stats
Member Name	Points Generated	Results Returned
tgeorge1	697,589	2,961
ariadneK	322,590	849
ThunderBob	322,338	1,327
digitaldoom	219,351	940
justin-thyme	194,301	470
karen6977	154,317	466
AutumnStorm	151,948	571
SaintlyNate	128,104	508
Sherry G	85,803	205
TotalChaos	79,869	392
courtney42	53,478	159
JamieB	44,218	171
consise10	23,410	59
ebzepsentme	23,176	64
ebezp	19,351	47
tilde1d	18,146	43
womble 1	8,814	21
SweetJaine	6,721	19
Karen Mason	5,264	17
concise10	3,726	8
djwilko1	1,791	4
SweetJane	948	2
JOSIEW	874	2
Bavani Naidu	845	4
cheekyfaces	618	2
justawriter	378	1
TEAM TOTAL	2,567,968	9,312

As simple as this rhyme :-)

2007-10-06T08:05:00.000+01:00

There is a reason, a simple one
That keeps me harping on and on
Just like a Christmas morning kid
About the fabulous World Community Grid
Time, as always, is of the essence
And the relevance here makes rare sense
Between work and all those other things
We must see to before midnight rings
Often we wish we could, and think we should
Find more time to do distinguishable good
By this I mean the things that come in
After kindnesses offered to friend and kin
After the habitual things that we do each day
That help send us all on a merrier way
But just imagine if there were somehow
To increase that and to do it now
Without it requiring anything more
Than 5 minutes of the time that is yours
And just the once, one single time
Added to that, it won't cost a dime
There is
There's this
First step is to sign up at the WCG
Download software that is as safe as can be
To know more spend some time at the site
and you will see over 300,000 words unite
In a promise that it really is this easy, this secure
And that the intentions behind are perfectly pure
To assist scientists as they work toward
eradicating disease and problems that cannot be ignored
By contributing unused computing power
seconds in time turn to minutes turn to hours
When you are idle, the agent will be working
Thus in doing nothing, you will actually be helping
While cooking dinner or bathing the little ones
Attending a meeting or on an errand run
If the computer is on and connected to the net
You will be helping and you cannot regret
The chance to make the real difference
That joining the WCG presents
Step one is to register, download and install
Once done, there is an open invitation to y'all
(LOL, that has to be the simplest so far)
Join the dedicated team that we are
With members from Asia, Europe and the US
A young team that has made amazing progress
As can be seen below
So,
to reiterate
Be a teammate
Register, download, install here
Join Team Bravo there

Team stats up ahead, but first the reason for posting a Bravo post today
CONGRATULATIONS to Kiley
aka ariadneK, who yesterday reached the grand total of
300,000 points and 800 results
for the grid and the team!

As always, the rate at which this essentially small team is crunching is tremendous. In just 5 months of real time, we have between us donated over 7 years of computing time. Thanks all!!!

There are over 17,000 teams and among them we are well on our way to being in the top 1000 of all three categories. The categories are Total Run Time, Points Generated and Results Returned. In the mentioning of these figures, there is the tangible proof that every minute counts and with every result, we will be that much closer to finding what we seek: cures, treatments, knowledge that could potentially help us all.

Team Bravo Stats:

Member Name ~ Points Generated ~ Results Returned

tgeorge1 ~~~~~~~~~ 594,954 ~~~~~~~ 2,677
ariadneK ~~~~ ~~ ~~ 300,132 ~~~~ ~~~~ 801
ThunderBob ~~~~~~ 245,844 ~~~~~~~~1,127
digitaldoom ~~~~~~~218,461 ~~~~~~~~ 938
justin-thyme ~~~~~~144,403 ~~~~~~~~ 367
AutumnStorm ~~~~~130,890 ~~~~~~~~ 529
karen6977 ~~~~~~~~130,684 ~~~~~~~~ 411
SaintlyNate ~~~~~~~114,219 ~~~~~ ~~~ 448
Sherry G ~~~~~~~~~~ 76,153 ~~~~~~~~ 185
TotalChaos ~~~~~~ ~~ 68,251 ~~~~~~~~ 368
courtney42 ~~~~~~~~46,005 ~~~~~~~~ 135
JamieB ~~~~~~~~~~~ 44,218 ~~~~~~~~~171
consise10 ~~~~~~~~~ 18,956 ~~~~~~~~~~46
tilde1d ~~~~~~~~~~~~18,146 ~~~~~~~~~ 43
ebezp ~~~~~~~~~~~~~16,934 ~~~~~~~~~ 41
ebzepsentme ~~~~~ ~~11,098 ~~~~~~~~~ 31
womble 1 ~~~~~~~~~~~ 8,814 ~~~~~~~~~21
SweetJaine ~~~~~~~~~~6,721 ~~~~~~~~~ 19
concise10 ~~~~~~~~~ ~3,726 ~~~~~ ~~~~ 8
Bavani Naidu ~~~~~~ ~~~ 845 ~~~~ ~~~~~ 4
cheekyfaces ~~~~~~~ ~~~ 618 ~~~~ ~~~~~ 2
justawriter ~~~~~~~~ ~~~ 378 ~~~~ ~~~~~ 1

Team Total ~~ ~~ 2,200,450 ~~~~~ 8,373

Hurray for Team Bravo!!

2007-09-26T05:08:00.000+01:00

Well done, all!

The only way is up

2007-09-21T06:01:00.000+01:00

That is the sensational number of points, Trée our Team Captain, reached today! With a figure like that, hide-blessings are not only deserved but required practise. Congratulations!

Of course, without Trée starting this team (which I should just like to highlight is less than 5 months old) we wouldn't have been able (between the 22 of us who have returned results so far) to donate close to 6,5 years and counting of runtime.

Bravo is, for those who do not know, just one of over 17,000 teams that contribute idle computer time to the World Community Grid, whose mission it "is to create the largest public computing grid benefiting humanity. Our work is built on the belief that technological innovation combined with visionary scientific research and large-scale volunteerism can change our world for the better."

With over 320,000 members world wide thus far one result is returned circa every 8 minutes, which means in the time that Bravo has been a part of this endeavour, some projects have been completed and others have come in to replace them. Most recently, AfricanClimate@home was launched joining the other current projects Discovering Dengue Drugs - Together, Human Proteome Folding - Phase 2 and FightAids@Home. To read more about these and completed projects, go here.

There is tremendous potential to make a difference and to do so without it requiring anything more than a few minutes of time to set it all up. Thenceforward, it runs automatically.
Step one --> Register, download and install
Step two --> Join our fantastic team

What is particularly wonderful about Team Bravo is that the figures keep climbing, not just the obvious ones, total points, total results, but every once in a while we exceed our daily averages, create new targets to beat, and none of that would be possible without not only new members signing up (Most recent recruit, bleyedreamer aka Sara, once again, thank you and Welcome! aboard), but the steady dedication of our 'old' members. There has, as can be seen below, been some serious crunching going on!

The One to Watch this month is ThunderBob, who has essentially doubled his scores in the last three weeks!

Team Bravo Stats:

Member Name ~ Points Generated ~ Results Returned

tgeorge1 ~~~~~~~~~ 502,841 ~~~~~~~ 2,405
ariadneK ~~~~ ~~~~ 275,032 ~~~~ ~~~~ 740
digitaldoom ~~~~~~~ 216,843 ~~~~~~~~ 932
ThunderBob ~~~~~~~192,481 ~~~~~~~~ 977
karen6977 ~~~~~~~~118,948 ~~~~~~~~ 383
AutumnStorm ~~~~~114,784 ~~~~~~~ ~ 493
SaintlyNate ~~~~~~~106,388 ~~~~~ ~~~ 417
justin-thyme ~~~~~~104,748 ~~~~~~~~ 279
Sherry G ~~~~~~~~~~ 68,930 ~~~~~~~~ 167
TotalChaos ~~~~~~ ~~ 59,841 ~~~~~~~~ 349
JamieB ~~~~~~~~~~~ 43,851 ~~~~~~~~~170
courtney42 ~~~~~~~~37,918 ~~~~~~~~ 109
tilde1d ~~~~~~~~~~~~15,893 ~~~~~~~~~ 38
consise10 ~~~~~~~~~ 15,826 ~~~~~~~~~~38
ebezp ~~~~~~~~~~~~~14,598 ~~~~~~~~~ 35
SweetJaine ~~~~~~~~~~6,721 ~~~~~~~~~ 19
womble 1 ~~~~~~~~~~~ 6,706 ~~~~~~~~~16
ebzepsentme ~~~~~ ~~~4,009 ~~~~~~~~~ 12
concise10 ~~~~~~~~~~~3,726 ~~~~~ ~~~~ 8
Bavani Naidu ~~~~~~~~~~ 845 ~~~~ ~~~~~ 4
cheekyfaces ~~~~~~~~~~~ 618 ~~~~ ~~~~~ 2
justawriter ~~~~~~~~~~~~ 378 ~~~~ ~~~~~ 1

All of which when added together shows us that we are not far off 2,000,000 points!
Team Total ~~ ~~ 1,911,925 ~~~~~~ 7,594

2007-09-17T05:30:00.000+01:00

Wishing you happiness on the day and in the year ahead, x

Bits and pieces from the last 10 months

2007-09-16T01:20:00.000+01:00

And to test out the new video feature, a clip from last week's concert

Join us

2007-08-31T15:45:00.001+01:00

The World Community Grid is a non-profit organisation that provides the safe, free software so that 321,450 people and counting across the world are able to donate their unused computer time to scientific research on a range of projects that potentially could benefit all of us.
Joining takes just minutes, costs nothing, does not interfere with your own use of your device and requires no other action.
Join Team Bravo today.

is a part of the World Community Grid.
(read on for further details on how to join the grid and our amazing team)

Recent Team Bravo milestones:

Team Bravo has exceeded 1.5 million points!

Team Bravo had it's highest ever scores yesterday with over 22,000 points in one day!

Team Bravo's average daily results is over 50!

Team Bravo currently has (just) 21 active members!
(which makes those stats spectacular)

Woohoo!
Congratultions all!

Recent Member milestones:

Daniel aka digitaldoom reached 200,000 points yesterday!

Our captain, Trée aka tgeorge1 will hit 400,000 points today/tomorrow!

Karen and ThunderBob are very close to reaching 100,000 points!

New members (justawriter aka Tina, womble 1 aka Stuey, ebzepsentme aka Jules, cheekyfaces) that joined through our competition winner, Simon aka ebezp have between them returned 12 results!

The one to watch is Justin, who has been racing up the scoreboard and who in just 37 days of crunching time has scored over 65,000 points!

Woohoo & congratulations, again!

That was just a few milestones among many. As can be seen below.

Thanks to all the members for their steady and dedicated crunching!
Together, Team Bravo is going from strength to strength.

Team Bravo Stats:

Member Name ~ Points Generated ~ Results Returned

tgeorge1 mnmnmnmn 398,256 mnmnmn 2,102
ariadneK mnmnmnmn 242,106 mnmnnmn 648
digitaldoom mnmnmn 200,001 mnmnnmn 883
karen6977 mnmnmmn 97,833 mnmnmmn 321
ThunderBob mnnmnmn 96,539 mnmnnmn 680
SaintlyNate mnm nmnn 89,588 mnmnnmn 349
AutumnStorm m mnmn 89,280 mnmnnmn 434
justin-thyme mnmnmn 65,215 mnmnmm n 175
Sherry G mnmnmnnnnn 58,319 mnmnnmn 142
TotalChaos mnmnmmn 47,828 mnmnmmn 323
JamieB mnmnmmmnn 42,833 mnmnnnmn 167
courtney42 mnmnmmn 27,333 mnmmnmn 77
consise10 mnmmmnmn 12,796 mnmnn mn 30
ebezp mnmnmmmm mn 11,874 mnmmnmn 30
tilde1d mnmnmmm mmn 8,639 mnmmn mn 19
SweetJaine mnmmmmmn 6,721 mnmnn mn 19
concise10 mnmnmmmmn 3,726 mnnmn mn 8
womble 1 mnmnmmmmn 2,684 mnmmn mn 6
ebzepsentme mnmm nmn 1,450 mnmnm mn 4
Bavani Naidu mnmn mnmn 845 mnmmn m n 4
justawriter mnm nmmmmn 378 mnmmnm n 1
cheekyfaces mnmmmmnmn 354 mnmmnm n 1

Team Total mnmn 1,504,598 mnmn 6,423

A*mazing scores!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Currently the grid is working on

Completed research includes

Also,

Help Cure Muscular Dystrophy Phase one is completed and results are being analysed before continuing with Phase two of this project.

All worthy causes and so very simple to be a part of.

To read more and/or register and download, go to http://worldcommunitygrid.org.

Once done, take this link to
Join the amazing Team Bravo.

To J (clink)

2007-08-30T09:50:00.000+01:00

There are some people that we meet in life
Where from the very first moment
One is filled with such gratitude
At what seems like a chance blessing
Justin is one of those people
Where, pointless though it is, I cannot help but wonder
what I did to get this lucky
To have this wonderful man in my life
Someone I know I can rely on, trust, who I know will be there
through thick and thin
Who will forgive me if I make a mistake
Who will always try his best to understand
Yet seems to without even trying
Someone I loved the moment I heard him speak (blog)
Who I have learned from and been inspired by
Have such a deep admiration for and
Wonder anew each day at just how golden his heart is
How that glow embraces both strangers and friends alike
The 'luck' was in meeting
The rest was inevitable
Loving and lovable
To know him is to know this

~~~

Happy Birthday, dear Ghato, x

Six pack of refreshment

2007-08-28T19:26:00.000+01:00

(Delayed due to a trip abroad etc, but here is the official..)
Thank you to Simon for the very, very kind words and award!

Much appreciated. :-)

The best part about getting one of these is that I get to pass one on to five bloggers that I find inspirational. And thanks to two of them teaming up not so long ago, I get to include 6 of my favourites.

(although I could very easily have allocated another batch. Or two!)

Trée

Justin

Evenstar&Mau

Oliviah

Tiffany

Trée has created a very special corner in the blogesphere that consists of mainly two blogs. Trebuchet is an awesome gallery of images that he has personally created, there are sketches and paintings amongst but the vast majority are fractal art. Decadent Tranquility his main blog is an ongoing sci-fi story that has currently been running for over 1.5 years. Each chapter is a work in itself, comprising an image and prose, but I highly recommend going back and reading from the beginning. I know when you have, you will come back here and thank me. Two amazing blogs that I cannot imagine not having had the opportunity of being able to follow, but more than that, Trée is quite simply one of the warmest, kindest people one could ever hope to meet. The matters he writes about, the beauty with which he writes about them, the welcoming manner in which he receives those who visit his blogs, the genuine/supportive/humorous comments that he leaves in other people's boxes. Trée inspires me to be better, to think farther, to do more.

Justin's blog, a new beginning, is a personal journal first and foremost, but his blog personifies the meaning of inspiration. He is a man who was once losing himself in a well of darkness and who through sheer determination and a belief that it was possible turned everything around. Everything he writes has a message of hope, of encouragement, of positivity. One cannot help but feel (even) better after visiting. J has become one of the friends I treasure most. Warm heart, wide arms, a deep well of understanding, to have J as a friend is to be wholly blessed.

Evenstar and Mau recently entwined their lives and simultaneously combined their talents for writing and photography. The Dreaming Track spent it's first few weeks of life in Australia and this pair of adventurous souls are now traveling across Asia. Their experiences told through words and the most astounding images so rich and vibrant, the tropics, the excitement, the sounds, the sights emanate off the pages. Two beautiful people inside and out and once again I thank goodness that I stumbled upon them here amongst the millions.

Oliviah has an ethereal beauty which shines through in every word she writes, whether it be in her posts or comments, and every image she creates. Her fractals are awe-inspiring, melodies in the form of colours and shapes, her sweet nature and eternal goodness equally so.

Tiffany embodies so many admirable qualities, her honesty being the most endearing thing about her. She is incredibly intelligent and has such a wonderful sense of curiosity about the world, one just knows that wherever she goes in life, wherever she stays, she will do so with all that she is and has. She has an aura about her, visible even through the printed word, a sense of destiny. She will touch with those qualities others just as she does the people she has met here, just as she has me.

And the winner

2007-08-22T00:22:00.000+01:00

of the Team Bravo competition and Team Bravo T-shirt is....

Woohoo!! Congratulations Simon aka ebezp.

You did amazingly well, for all of us. :-) T-shirt in the post as soon as I get that email!

Thanks to Simon's efforts we were able to welcome to Team Bravo

justawriter aka Tina

DJ WILKO aka Tim

Josie W

Womble 1 aka Stuey, and

ebezpsentme

So pleased and excited to have each of you with us!

As always, anyone and everyone is welcome to join us at Team Bravo where we endeavour to return as many results as possible for the World Community Grid thus aiding them on a variety of projects that benefit humanity. Current projects include FightAids@home.

For details on what Team Bravo is and for further links including how to join, please go here.

And speaking of just how amazingly well Team Bravo is doing, here are the latest...

~~
Team Bravo Stats:
~~
~~

Member Name ~ Points Generated ~ Results Returned

tgeorge1æøåæøåæøå 352,735 æøåæøåæøå1,969
ariadneK æøåæøåæø224,416æøåæøåæøæøå 600
digitaldoom æøåøåæ191,712 æøåæøå æøææå856
karen6977 æøåæøøæå90,802 æøåææøøåæø299
AutumnStormæøøæå 85,829æøåææøøåæø423
SaintlyNate æøåæøåæå81,762æøåæø åææøå 318

ThunderBob æøåæøåå80,158æøåæø åææøå 629
Sherry Gæøåæøåæøæå 54,313æøåæøåææøå 133
justin-thyme æøåæøåå46,410 æøåæøååæøå126

JamieB æøåæøåæøææå42,466 æøåæøåææøå165
TotalChaos æøåæøåæå39,604 æøåæøæåæøå303
courtney42æøåæøåæå 22,276 æøåæøæåæøå60
consise10 æøåæøåæøåå11,455æøåæøææååøå 28
ebezp æøåæøåæøæåæåå10,603 æøåæøåæøæå27

SweetJaineæøåæøåæøåå 6,721 æøåæøåæøø å19

tilde1d æøåæøåæøææåøå4,191æøåæøåææøåæ 9
Concise10 æøåæøåæøæå2,680æøåæøåæøææå 6
Bavani Naidu æøåæøåæøå845 æøåæøåæøæøå4

ebezpsentme æøåæøåæøå686æøåæøåæøæøå 2
justawriteræøåæøåæøæå 378 æøåæøåææøæøå1

Team Total æø 1,350,042 points å 5,977

Up for grabs

2007-08-02T23:15:00.000+01:00

Close your eyes and imagine if you will a perfect summer's day.

You have nothing to do and nowhere to be, and the thought fills you with the endless promise that the here and now has to offer. You decide to take a walk along the river. As you look out there upon it has a glistening sheen across it making it look like a bed of twinkling diamonds. High in the sky, the sun sits, alone in a vastness of untainted blue. The trees along the walkway are lush and green, flowers in every colour are in full bloom and you can hear bees buzzing contentedly around them. The air smells of happiness and you take deep, admiring breaths as you stroll along with a smile of satisfaction. You feel alive in every sense of the word, sure that everyone must be able to tell just how great you feel. Just then, someone walking in the other direction, stops in their tracks and utters an audible 'Wow!' and laughter bubbles from deep within at how spot-on your thoughts were. 'You look amazing!', he/she continues looking just like George Clooney or Charlize Theron depending on whom you would most like to see,
'wherever did you get that shirt?!'

Yep, :-D, it could happen, and here is how.

By winning one of these two Amazing Team Bravo T-shirts!

How do we do that?! I hear you shout excitedly from across the world into the flickering screens of your molecule crunching machines!

By entering the first official Team Bravo competition, that's how!

The objective is simple. Team mates are invited to recruit as many new members as possible over a restricted period of time. The mate with the most recruits will win the coveted prize.

The regulations are as follows;

contestants must be verified Team Bravo members to enter. Members of the public wishing to enter the contest can do so at any time during however no special consideration will be taken for late starters. To become a team member, see sidebar for the link entitled 'What is Team Bravo?' New members can tally themselves as their first recruit.
the contest will run for two weeks starting at 12.00 UTC on the 4th of August 2007 and run until 12.00 UTC August 18th 2007. Winner(s) will be announced as soon as the results have been counted and verified by the Team Captain. (For individual timezones, go to http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html)
Contestants must recruit a minimum of two new mates to qualify.
Recruited mates must have returned at least one result by the closing date in order to be included in the final score.

If there are any queries, you are advised to leave them here and they will be addressed promptly.
All that remains to say is good luck.

&
See you at the finishing line, team mates!

2007-07-27T13:58:00.000+01:00

Yesterday evening Team Bravo reached the grand total of

that we have reached this goal so quickly is a*mazing
affirming what a determined bunch of crunchers we are!

each and every one of you.

On such a special occasion, I am even more pleased to

new teammate and one of the great loves of my life,

Justin

Team Bravo is part of the World Community Grid, where collectively people across the world are donating their unused computer time for scientific research on a range of projects that potentially will benefit us all. The WCG enables us to take advantage of the extraordinary opportunity to help without actually doing anything. Sound too good to be true? Okay, admittedly there is a catch. To be a part requires a few minutes of time. Three or four to complete the registration process and a minute more to join the team. After that all that is left to do is watch your scores rise and know that with each result returned, you have been a part of a collective step towards changing the world for the better.

3 years 197 days

2007-07-21T14:48:00.000+01:00

That is how much run time Team Bravo has accumulated in the less than 4 months since it was started.

(pause for effect)

And when one considers that members have been joining along the way, as recent as just 2 days ago - A Big Bravo Welcome to Newest Team Member Grace aka SweetJaine - it accentuates just what an amazingly dedicated team of crunchers Bravo is.

(pause for effect, some more) :-)

~~
Team Bravo Stats:
~~
~~

Member Name ~ Points Generated ~ Results Returned

tgeorge1~~~~~~~~~~234,790~~~~~~~~~~1631
ariadneK~~~~~~~~~159,420~~~~~~~~~~ 423
digitaldoom~~ ~ ~~150,300~~~~~~~~~~~332
AutumnStorm~~~~~ 71,746~~~~ ~~~~~~ 372
ThunderBob~~~~~~ 66,430~~~~~~~~~~~541
karen6977 ~~~~~~~~64,753~~~~~~~~~~~213
SaintlyNate~~~~~~~ 62,003~~~~~~~~~ ~ 239
Sherry G~~~~~~~ ~~ 39,709~~~~~~~~~ ~~108
JamieB~~~~~~~~~~~32,334~~~~~~~~~~~135
TotalChaos~~~~~~~~28,260~~~~~~ ~~~~275
courtney42~~~~~~~~14,523~~~~~~~~~~~~36
consise10 ~~~~~~~~~~7,193~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ 19
ebezp ~~~~~~~~~~~~~5,683~~~~~~~~~~~~17
Bavani Naidu~~~~~~~~ 845~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4
SweetJaine~~~~~~~~~~724~~~~~~~~~~~~~2

Concise10~~~~~~~~~~~723~~~~~~~~~~~~~2

Oliviah
studentdk
puven10
sellrealest8
tilde1d
rsurrattjr

jillie

Which all in all adds up to an amazing Team Total of 939,436 points and 4,714 results!

At it's current rate, Bravo will be able to celebrate reaching a grand total of 1,000,000 points by the middle of next week! Even sooner, if anyone reading this decides they might like to participate. For a quick overview of what the Grid is all about and how you can be a part of it, watch this short video.
By joining the World Community Grid , there is a very real potential to make a very real difference, and all that will ever be required is a few minutes of set-up time. From then on out, whenever your computer is idle, it will be working on projects such as the current Help Cure Muscular Dysthrophy, Genome Comparison, Human Proteome Folding - Phase 2 and FightAids@Home using the ultra-safe software freely available from the WCG.
To be a part of the team, first register, download and install and then come join us here.

Plus one

2007-07-15T09:08:00.000+01:00

Happy birthday Kyra for Sunday. Love and best wishes on the day and for any other reason that you might have to celebrate. :-)
And a very happy fine wine birthday to Linny, who celebrates her 30th this Tuesday. Sure you will celebrate in style, so all that's left to do here is to wish that the year ahead will bestow much happiness.

England, Summer 2007

2007-07-06T07:06:00.000+01:00

From telegraph.co.uk

More celebrations

2007-07-02T08:35:00.000+01:00

Today, Monday, for Jodes

and Thursday, for Javajazz

Happy Birthday Bloggers!
May this next trip around the sun be a whole lotta fun,

birthday hugs, x

Best wishes

2007-06-24T20:01:00.000+01:00

Three birthdays,
that's how many Keshi has had in the time I have been reading her blog,
which says something both about the content and about the person that she is.
Most of us have been here long enough to know
that encounters here can be as fleeting as they are in the real world
and most of us have been in the real world long enough to know
that rare it is not to have a person morph, somewhat, a whole lot,
the better we get to know them.
Viva Forever, if you haven't visited yet is an absolute must.
It is a splendid potpourri of personal recollection,
humour and social-conscience to name but a few,
written by a woman, as curious as she is intelligent,
who has an opinion on eveything
and who moreover is always open not only to having these challenged as well as
confirmed but whom thrives on furthering her own outlook by way of visiting
the vantage point of all who engage her.

Happy Birthday to a very special blogger.

Half a million points reached!

2007-06-19T06:51:00.000+01:00

Team Bravo Stats:
~~
~~

Member Name ~ Points Generated ~ Results Returned

tgeorge1~~~~~~~~~~147,825~~~~~~~~~~1006
ariadneK~~~~~~~~~86,656~~~~~~~~~~~ 232
digitaldoom~~~~~~~ 74,411~~~~~~~~~~~ 332
AutumnStorm~~~~~ 51,565~~~~ ~~~~~~ 235
ThunderBob~~~~~~ 40,956~~~~~~~~~~~300
karen6977 ~~~~~~~~37,857~~~~~~~~~~~ 115
SaintlyNate~~~~~~~ 36,316~~~~~~~~~~ ~ 136
Sherry G~~~~~~~~~~ 23,971~~~~~~~~~~~~72
TotalChaos~~~~~~~~21,152~~~~~~ ~~~~~ 169
JamieB~~~~~~~~~~~20,841~~~~~~~~~~~~98
courtney42~~~~~~~~ 8,352~~~~~~~~~~~~14
consise10 ~~~~~~~~~~2,024~~~~~~~~~~~ ~5
ebezp ~~~~~~~~~~~~~1,065~~~~~~~~~~~~~4
Bavani Naidu~~~~~~~~ 202~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1
Oliviah
studentdk
puven10
sellrealest8
tilde1d
rsurrattjr

Team Total ~~~~~ 553,193 ~~~~~~~2,719
You're amazing, each of you, thank you for your dedication and contribution!!!

The last weeks saw two new members join Bravo,
ebezp aka Simon and rsurrattjr.

In Trée's words;
All are welcome to join us in fighting these horrific diseases. Takes five minutes to download a small device and join Bravo. Two steps. Five minutes. That's it. No more time. No money. No adds. No pop ups. No emails. Just a small screensaver like device that runs in the background. Absolutely, completely secure. Help us help scientists gather the data they need to find drugs and cures for everything from cancer to AIDS to MD. You choose the projects you want to work on. Pick one or pick them all. I've got over 21 years of cpu donation time. I can promise you, whatever concerns you might have about joining, about downloading something onto your computer--I promise--they don't exist. Many who join are computer geeks, the kind of people that wax and polish their computers. If there was even the slightest chance that this device could harm their computer or hurt its performance or compromise data, several million people, with the endorsement of major universities and best selling computer magazines would not endorse nor would they start and recruit teams of their own--yet, they have done both. This project is spearheaded by IBM. If there was a chance that they could get a black eye, do you think they would do it? :-)

In short. Give us five minutes today. Two steps. Five minutes. If you have questions ask. Five minutes to help science. Five minutes to help ourselves. Five minutes to make the world a better place for our children.

Joining really does make a difference.
The following is an extract from the fightAIDS@Home results update.

FightAIDS@Home has given us the ability to classify both protease mutants and potential chemical inhibitors so that the docking calculations that we do in the future will be more targeted and efficient. We will, for instance, be able to use a small set of mutant protease structures to represent a much larger set of HIV mutants in our docking analysis. This will allow us to screen much larger chemical libraries more efficiently, or enable us to use more sophisticated models of the mutant structures, that incorporate flexibility into their representation.
While this is principally a technical break-through, it means that we can get more reliable and meaningful results in the computations that we will now be pursuing. This should speed us to our goal of finding new HIV therapeutics that are effective in the face of drug resistance. These results would not have been possible without the computing resources of the World Community Grid, and the generous support of the FightAIDS@Home volunteers.

Visit the World Community Grid Homepage to download the agent and register, and then join Team Bravo here

Hey you

2007-06-15T08:15:00.000+01:00

Dearest Poppet

Love and best wishes to you on your birthday
May the year ahead bestow
An abundance of reasons to make you smile
Wishing you every happiness

Gabcast! Happy Birthday Poppet #1

The Highs

2007-06-02T12:59:00.000+01:00

~
~

Team Bravo Stats:
~
~
~
Member Name ~ Points Generated ~ Results Returned

tgeorge1~~~~~~~~~~ 88,868~~~~~~~~~~ 314
ariadneK~~~~~~~~~ 53,922~~~~~~~~~~ 131
digitaldoom~~~~~~~ 37,712~~~~~~~~~~ 140
AutumnStorm~~~~~ 33,021~~~~~~~~~~~ 79
SaintlyNate~~~~~~~ 25,009~~~~~~~~~~~ 76
karen6977 ~~~~~~~~23,367~~~~~~~~~~~ 55
ThunderBob~~~~~~ 21,799~~~~~~~~~~~ 110
Sherry G~~~~~~~~~ 15,276~~~~~~~~~~~~ 43
JamieB~~~~~~~~~~~ 13,418~~~~~~~~~~~ 55
TotalChaos~~~~~~~~ 11,809~~~~~~~~~~~ 45
courtney42~~~~~~~~ 6,028~~~~~~~~~~~~ 7
Bavani Naidu~~~~~~~~ 202~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1
Oliviah
studentdk
puven10
sellrealest8
consise10
tilde1d

Team Total ~~~~~~~~ 330,431 ~~~~~~~~~~ 1,056

June 1st saw yet another record set as the total results returned in a single day hit the all-time high of 77!
Other milestones this week included;

Kiley, our highest climber, reaching a whooping 50,000 points!
Trée, still at the top of the charts, as he raced past the 300 results returned post!
DJB, Sherry, Bob and Nate accumulating 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 and 25,000 points respectively!
And with Karen purposefully striving towards the 25,000 mark up ahead, Daniel just 10 results short of 150, Bavani having returned her first result, not to mention everyone else's FAN*TASTIC contributions, there can be no mistake, Bravo, to put it simply, Bravo Rocks!

To be a part of this team of amazing crunchers, requires just four easy steps and will take approximately 5 minutes to complete. To begin, register, download and install and then hit the Join This Team button here.

For further introductory information, visit the World Community Grid homepage.

Would You Ever???

2007-06-01T23:20:00.000+01:00

~d's current post took me to http://thatsmyanswer.com/, where I found the following;

This is the Would You Ever ??? game and this is how you play. The person before you has asked Would You Ever ??? You’ll answer their question in the comments as well as ask the next person a Would You Ever ??? question. The next person answers their question, and asks another, etc…

Being the live-for-today, super-exciting, always-up-for-it personality that I am, I thought this could be a great way to get my Friday night kicks. ;-)

So, here goes...

Dog, bone, and a carrot too

2007-05-22T22:29:00.000+01:00

Life is amongst other things a series of decisions and rarely do we know which are going to influence the course of our lives or that of other people's. There's a line from a song, one which I have quoted in these pages before; 'Turned a different corner and we never would have met.' To me, at least, it sums up in one rather abstract statement how much seems to happen by chance. A continual succession of seemingly insignificant events that lead us towards singular moments in time where for one reason of another we take stock of where we are, whom we are with, what we are doing and we wonder at how life brought us forth to that particular point. Predominanty, the decisions we make, we make easily. We make them without considering the less favoured options, without considering that at every moment there are an untold number of alternative routes we could take.

With others, the facts are clearer. Do this, and this might happen, do that, and that might. Or will. Sometimes they are even as clear as that. Clear is nice. Clear is simple.
For example, if someone stands before us asking for our help and we are willing and more importantly able to offer the assistance required, it's a simple decision to make. Few among us lack the compassion to do what we can for other people. We see a person in need and we feel for that person, we put ourselves in their shoes, we remember what it was like when we were the ones in need of help and how we felt when someone offered it to us.

The more abstract sense of someone needing our help is a little harder to identify with. Be that as it may, we willingly donate to charities trusting that the funds we award will be helpful and we do it knowing we will never hear directly of how exactly and whom we were able to help. Yet we do it, because we understand the concept of it. Others are working on our behalf, or to put it another way, we are by donating funds enabling others to offer direct aid.

The World Community Grid works on the same kind of principle.
But instead of donating cash, we are giving away only what we ourselves will never need or use. By downloading this small agent, each time our computer is idle, for a minute, for an hour, what we effectively are doing is donating that unused computing power for research purposes. Research into illnesses and environmental issues that during our lifetimes will effect us all on a personal level, somehow, someway. By being a part of this endeavour we could be not only aiding others but ourselves.
In short, it's one of those decisions, where we know what the possible outcome might be.

I can't help but want to shout from the rooftops, or at least tell everyone I know about grid computing and the potential benefits. I keep thinking about legacies, how we all want to have the space that we occupy mean something, how we want to matter to other people and how there are a million different ways to go about doing that. And how they all begin with touch, with connection, with linking, of how opportunity continually presents itself to us to make a difference in someone else's life, small or large, and how each such event is significant.

Every moment matters, every action, every inaction, every word we speak, every smile we share, our lives are our responsibility, but they are not ours alone. We impact upon each other.
It all sounds so momentous, and it is, but as the saying goes, it's the little things that matter. It's being kind, when there is no seldom any reason to be otherwise. It's loving, and letting those who want to love you, do. It's being a part of the whole.

Such a little thing. And yet, it is still a decision that has to be made. Which is why for every name I see on the list, my heart rejoices.
It's been so very, very nice to watch the stats at Bravo these past three weeks. What we clearly have is a team of dedicated individuals, most of whom were being introduced to the concept of crunching for the first time and yet each of them, as soon as they realized what it was, made the decision easily and have been idly watching their figures rise ever since. Now just 3 weeks into Bravo's existance, our members are already hitting some pretty significant milestones.

This particular shout-out goes to my dear sweet poppet, aka Trée who every single day unfailingly shows anew the beauty and depth of his heart through his blog (blogs) and comments around the blogesphere, and who has in just 3 weeks accumulated over 100 days of runtime, returned over 150 results and reached and surpassed 50,000 points!
Congratulations are a must on what is truly an amazing achievement!

And a carrot in front of my(our) nose as I(we) aim to reach those milestones as soon as possible. ;-)
Points are of course the fun aspect of crunching, propergating a little healthy competitive spirit, and most importantly letting us see in real terms how we are contributing.

It is a little thing, granted, but it's a big thing too, and I just wanted to thank again each of the teammates for doing it.

And on that note, a big welcome to new teammember ~d, who joined Bravo today. Happy crunching! :-)

Moving on up

2007-05-15T06:15:00.000+01:00

Just 2 weeks old and Team Bravo boasts not only a group of genuinely caring individuals, but some pretty spectacular statistics!
Congratulations to Trée for surpassing the 100 mark on results returned,
Daniel and Kiley for reaching 10,000 points so quickly (as Kiley wrote on her blog, there's been some serious ass-kicking going on, couldn't agree more :-D), and a big
WELCOME to our new crunchers DJB aka TotalChaos, Bavani, Oliviah, Connie aka studentdk, Puven, Karen aka sellrealest8, Desi aka consise10 and OliviahO.

Team Stats:

Member Name ~ Points Generated ~ Results Returned
tgeorge1 ~~~~~~~~~ 35,283~~~~~~~~~~ 102
AutumnStorm ~~~~~ 12,549~~~~~~~~~~~ 21
digitaldoom ~~~~~~~11,536~~~~~~~~~~~29
ariadneK ~~~~~~~~~10,961~~~~~~~~~~~39
SaintlyNate ~~~~~~~~ 9,879~~~~~~~~~~~ 21
karen6977 ~~~~~~~~ 7,413 ~~~~~~~~~~~ 14
ThunderBob ~~~~~~~ 7,877 ~~~~~~~~~~ 25
Sherry G ~~~~~~~~~~ 6,154~~~~~~~~~~~ 14
JamieB ~~~~~~~~~~~ 5,616 ~~~~~~~~~~~ 18
TotalChaos ~~~~~~~~2,676~~~~~~~~~~~~4
courtney42 ~~~~~~~~~2,621~~~~~~~~~~~~3
Bavani Naidu
Oliviah
studentdk
puven10
sellrealest8
consise10
OliviahO

Team Total ~~~~~~~~ 112,565 ~~~~~~~~~~ 290

How's that for dedication! Well done all!

For anyone interested in joining in our efforts, the process is quick and simple and once the 5 mintues set-up is complete, you need do nothing else but watch your figures grow. And grow and grow.

More details on how to go about joining can be found HERE.
Go on...in my best Dirty Harry...make my day.
;-)

So far, so fan*tastic!

2007-05-06T18:59:00.000+01:00

Not yet a week old, Team Bravo is already proving itself to be a force to be reckoned with.

A force, that is, of people dedicated to returning as many results as possible, and the best way to do that is to have an open invitation to any and all others who would like to be part of that endeavour.

Six new members recruited already and hopefully plenty more to come.

Team stats to date:

Member Name:lplplpPoints generated:lplplpResults returned:
tgeorge1plplplplplplplplplplpl10,176lplplplplplplplplpl40
AutumnStormlplplplplplplplpl4,730lplplplplplplplplpl10
SaintlyNatelplplplplplplplplplp2,435lplplplplplpl plplpl6
Sherry Glplplplplplplplplplplpl 1,291lplplplplplpl plplpl5
ThunderBoblplplplplplplplplplpl668lplplplplplplp lplpl2
JamieBlplplplplplplplplplplplplp503lplplplplplplp lplpl3
karen6977lplplplplplplplplplplpl479lplplplplplplplplpl 2
courtney422

Team Totallplplplplplplplpllp20,282lplplplplplplplplpl68

Bravo!

~~~~

In other fantastic news, I've just heard word that Oliviah has joined the team as mate #9!

Oliviah, we are so happy to have you with us. Your joining shows once again, as you do in every post you write, every image that you create and those warm, giving comments you leave about the blogesphere, what a genuine and sweet heart you have. For once, we have the unusual circumstance of being able to do something by doing nothing, what could be easier.

Welcome,

Happy crunching,

and thank you for taking the time to join. :-)

Do something amazing today

2007-05-01T05:48:00.000+01:00

Take this link and show how much you really care.

As can be seen by the post at the end of the link above, crunching is such an effortless way to make a difference. All one needs is a computer, an internet connection and 5 minutes to spare for setup. From then on out, your computer will do all the work, meanwhile we may carry the thought with us that we are taking positive action.

No reason not to join

...and just one of the many reasons to.

Derek Madsen

Follow this link to view a series of photographs that followed this brave young man and his family, and later went on to win a Pulitzer Prize Award

The gift that keeps giving

2007-04-10T00:14:00.000+01:00

Thank you, Poppet,

for always being so wonderfully you,

and a most treasured gift in my life.

(H)

~~~

Stubborn, moi?

2007-02-04T12:15:00.000Z

When I look back over the last year plus of this blog, I see a whole heap of good times in comments but not a whole lot of in the way of posts. And though I love all the chinwagging, the coffee drinking and the philosophizing, I do miss the days when I would write a post that had meaning behind it and revel in watching it be received so kindly. I've been so fortunate to have met the nicest, sweetest people here and the comments on those posts just warmed my heart no end and filled me with such genuine and pure pleasure. You guys are almost too sweet though, firstly during the summer, when I was here and hardly had time to even check in with you in return. I never thanked you properly, due I must say to the fact that those gestures reached so far in, touched me so deeply. At a time, where it seemed as if the ones who should, didn't, you did, and I thank you for your caring. It meant the world. Secondly for always stopping by and leaving such nice words, staying for coffee and a chat :-), even when posts have been almost non-existant and when they did appear were by the vast majority indecent so to speak, and not in the good way.

I was thinking about the different types of bloggers, and there are types. And how we all come here for one reason or another, at least initially. Or rather the reason we first come may not be the same as the reason we stay. One thing is certain, I never expected to fall so deeply for so many people I have never met (Terry and Isay, you guys are included too of course) and each of you has been a blessing in my life and I am so thankful to have had the opportunity (and to continue doing so) of getting to know you.

I came here to peel off the layers I had piled on, just to say the things that I didn't need for anybody to hear but myself. I came here while buried deep in the past, deep within myself and I was no longer being who I am to the outside world. Well, in truth, it was a spur of the moment thing to create a blog, so I didn't know it at first that that was what this place would be, but it soon became that way.

This place helped me find my happy and I can honestly say as I walk about the world now, I do so as I once did before I got hurt too bad for me to be able to cope, with my arms wide open to anybody who wants to walk in.

I have no need to hear my own voice, it's loud and clear in silence. No barriers between in and out, free flow.

I never was a writer. And I never was one to talk much unless I have something I really want to say. I could tell you about all the beauty I see everyday, about the smiles that are exchanged, and of all the love that I feel, but without the need to express it pushing at my words, it would sound exactly that way and about as interesting, and I hate to bore you with endless 'wonderfuls'. The expression is lived.

So, what I am basically saying is that I won't be posting any more indecent posts, at least not until I post my promised one-off HNT ;-) and that though my place is always open for coffee and chinwagging, I should like to spend more time out and about instead, so put the kettle on. I'll see you first.

The cold has well and truly set in

2007-01-24T05:42:00.000Z

London is about to get snowed in. :-)

Not quite as pretty as this picture though,

there would be a lot more noise

and people about.

Snapshot from a perfect day

2007-01-22T09:16:00.000Z

Open hearts

2007-01-09T03:36:00.000Z

With dusk upon us, the car stalled and cut out. A long way from any town or garage and in freezing temperatures, not 10 minutes passed before a man approached on foot along the country road to ask, if he could be of assistance. It was soon apparent, the only way we would be moving was behind a tow-truck, so he insisted we come and wait inside.
Within minutes there was coffee on the table along with an offer of supper, M was watching the Disney Channel with a bowl of sweets and a puppy for company and this darling couple were regaling us with tales of their life together.
We were there for a total of 3 hours plus before we got picked up. For that entire time, it felt as though we were in the company of dear friends.

This is just one example among many that I could share. The kindness of strangers never fails to touch my heart when I witness or feel it, not because I believe that most wouldn't do what they can for another, but because each time they do, it is a conscious choice born from no other obligation than the goodness of their hearts, and that is an amazing thing to do. To mis-quote, such people are not strangers, rather friends we didn't know we had.

As with all things, the only way to truly appreciate is to contrast. I've seen hearts that are open and I have seen those that are or seem forever closed. Today, I read these words: "we can win the heart of any person when our heart is open" and it made me think of all the people I have come to love so easily, including those I have met here in the wonderful world of blogs. The one common factor all have shared is hearts wide-open. And mine was won. Time and again.

Jillie shared a most excellent post today (as she so often does) and upon seeing it, I just had to 'play' too.
So, I went on a little treasure hunt. :-)

Photo and video editing at onetruemedia.com

Happy Monday

2007-01-08T12:20:00.000Z

Warning: Potential for aching sides brought about by the giggles

Space

2007-01-05T07:09:00.000Z

Almost every morning as I walk past the park, I find it and I promise myself that all I need is time. As smiles persist, it is lost and I revel in the weary silence that comes thereafter. Revel, until the contrast becomes stark once more, stifling the otherwise fervent bubbles in my half-full glass of champagne.

To all you fabulous bloggers out there!!!

2006-12-31T20:00:00.000Z

Happy Christmas your arse - part deux

2006-12-26T12:05:00.000Z

I found a version of the song that I posted about last Christmas, whomever hasn't heard it must, it's just too good. :-)

Merry Christmas

2006-12-24T10:26:00.000Z

Have yourself a merry little Christmas,
Let your heart be light
From now on,
our troubles will be out of sight

Have yourself a merry little Christmas,
Make the Yule-tide gay,
From now on,
our troubles will be miles away.

Here we are as in olden days,
Happy golden days of yore.
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more.

Through the years
We all will be together,
If the Fates allow
Hang a shining star upon the highest bough.

And have yourself

A merry little Christmas now.

May your days be merry and bright

2006-12-20T08:32:00.000Z

No snow yet in London town, which might be a good thing, since snow here very quickly turns to muddy slush. Ice and frost, we have plenty of, and white skies. Yesterday morning, as I walked by the park, there was fog lying across the ground, the bright winter sun stood just at the edge of the leafless tree tops, it was a sight to behold. Had I had my camera, that is the picture I would have posted here. It looked so wonderfully wintry.

Westminster Bridge

Happy Holidays!
(& safe journey to those heading out of town)

Breaking the ice

2006-12-13T09:42:00.000Z

If this were a dress-rehearsal, it would be alright on the night.

Tag, you're it!

2006-12-10T10:39:00.000Z

Me first though, courtesy of Terry and Jillie.

The mission: Confess to 6 weird things about yourself.

Finally, a tag that should be easy to complete was my initial thought, except trying to remember what other people have deemed weird (as Terry said, these things are perfectly normal to us) was not easy, at all. I do take my hat off to listen better, I talk to the television when agitated about what might happen or something someone did, I have the urge to be upside down sometimes and shopping for new clothes is more chore than fun to name a few off the top of my head, but anyway, here are the official 6.

1) I can cross my legs twice

2) I keep everything in alphabetical or chronological order, my books, my CDs, my photos, letters, paperwork, etc

3) Speaking of photos, I have to keep myself in check so as not to fill every surface with a picture of someone important to me, an occasion that brings back good memories, or an image that I'm drawn to (fields, forests, deserts, oceans, and faceless figures for some reason). I have drawers, plural (or boxes as is the case at this moment), of framed pictures just waiting on a bigger house.

4) I'm not the friend who calls (or even IMs first, as some of you guys will have realized). Not usually anyway. I have this thing about disturbing people and so unless I have a reason, I'm not likely to intrude on someone else's time. I am the friend who writes letters and emails, these people can read at leisure.

5) Getting lost is a chance to see something I would not otherwise have seen and I've always seen it more as an adventure than as a problem. It's my favourite thing to do when on holiday, getting lost on purpose and having to find my own way back.

6) I'm usually singing something. If not to the radio/CD player, to my internal jukebox of favourites. Just like I cannot keep still if it's a song that makes me want to dance, so to I cannot shut up (even when told to in loud, booming voices:) if I know the song playing.

Tag, you're it!
That means you, J, naturally.
Sweet K too, and
Lindsey,
Christa ,
Meg &
Sara.
Sorry guys. ;-)

(THE RULES: Each player of this game starts with the '6 weird things about you.' People who get tagged need to write a blog post of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says 'you are tagged' in their comments and tell them to read your blog.")

Woooooooooooooooo Hooooooooooooooooooo!!!

2006-12-06T21:25:00.000Z

Nuf said. For now. :-D

More birthday celebrations :-)

2006-11-30T10:51:00.000Z

My dear friend Terry,
Wishing you
A day of sweet moments to remember &
A year filled with all the things you treasure
Happy, Happy Birthday
Love always, xo

Birthday celebrations

2006-11-24T13:12:00.000Z

Happy Birthday Tiffany!!!!!

Health, happiness and an abundance of good times is what I wish for you in the year ahead. That, and first-rate celebrations on the day. (25th)

xoxo

Celebrations here today too as M turns nine. I do it each year, well, each day, wonder at how it came to be that she grew so big so fast. Another 2-3 of those and no doubt she'll be taller than I am.

3 days to go until things are back to normal connection-wise, can't wait!

Happy Friday and weekend.
More soon. :-)

Hello

2006-11-20T13:24:00.000Z

It's the general consensus that people are less open with one another in big cities. I'd have to disagree. I've found the opposite to be (mostly) true and confirmed again upon my return here, that in London at least, people chat. They chat in shops, on the street, on public transport, everywhere. Everywhere except Internet cafes of course, we all keep our heads down here, too busy doing what we are doing to bother about who is sitting next to us. :-)

A happy week to all, x

12 and counting

2006-11-15T18:39:00.000Z

Hey all, and a happy Wednesday to you.

Missing hanging out here regularly so very much and it's just not the same coming into these internet cafes, it's always so rushed and seldom do I make it the whole way around the 'sphere to see everyone.

Chista, you were right. Somehow, someway some sort of misunderstanding occured and I now have a new date, the 27th, which I am hoping will stick and not be put back again. Had I realized, there would be problems, I would have stayed in Denmark longer. ;)

I will catch up at some point, with posts that I have missed, even if it means no sleep from the 27th and through til December.
:-)

Hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week. I'll be in as often as I can, miss you too much not to, hugs all around.

Happy Thursday :-)

2006-11-09T17:30:00.000Z

There are so many wonderful messages on the two posts below that I am going to wait until I have proper opportunity to reply. Home internet was meant to be sorted by the time I got here, but we are still waiting on them. We have been promised this week, so that leaves tomorrow. Fingers crossed. And otherwise, I'll be back here at the cafe over the weekend.
For now, I'm going to do my very best to catch up with what's been going on with you.

Happy Thursday. Missing you, x

Here we go :-)

2006-11-03T06:11:00.000Z

First leg, today

We are spending this weekend in the same place,
we spent last weekend, visiting relatives and friends.

And then
Tuesday/Wednesday we sail across the North Sea

Hoping the sea will be calm that day,
so that I can get out on deck and take some pictures to post here.

Not the only reason...
It's hard getting a good night's sleep, if one keeps falling out of bed.

(that and I tend to get seasick if all I see in the window is sky then water, sky then water:)

Rambling in lieu of time etc

2006-11-02T10:13:00.000Z

As always, this place reflects the state of my life and mind, at least I think so. Chaotic, sporadic, internal, stifled and most importantly reaching, is what it has been recently. No, it doesn't reflect all of those, one would have to include my drafts box, which has been filling up at a much, much faster rate than 'current'. I don't know about any one else, but the more I have on my mind the less easy it becomes to finish any single one and let it go (or let it out).

I leave tomorrow and I have a ton of things to do today and hence I don't have the time to make this into a proper post, thus what this is (or will be, I think) is just random statements.

I got used to not talking those 3 months that I was in London, I kind of reverted back to how I used to be. I never did share very much of what I thought or felt before I started doing so here. At first to nobody, as in nobody read that I knew of. That didn't matter, what mattered was actually voicing. I learned to do that here, and it carried over into life, at least as much as I want to. It all depends on who is listening of course.

It took a while to get used to the decision that I had made to move to London. The actual decision was easy, I would not have been able to sleep at night otherwise. Guilt, there's something to think about, I feel too much of it and truthfully for no reason. No, actually responsibility is probably the word I need to use instead. I'd do anything for anyone, as long as it is within my capability (legal, morally right and all the rest of it of course), but sometimes when I am left alone at night, I can see that in doing so, I'm taking away from myself, taking myself further and further away from where I want to go, what I want to be and what I want to do. There's no time and opportunity dwindles along with time at a scary rate. Tick, tock, I hear that constantly.

I feel disappointed, I feel like a failure having just upped and quit here. I feel guilty for moving M again and I hope and fear it will not be the last time, for I do not wish to stay in London forever. Much as I love it there, it's just buildings and people and cars everywhere, noise. And it's all very well hearing the quiet, which I can, but sometimes it needs to be real too. I feel most alive, most here, most receptive, most open, when I can see the furthest. Perhaps it has to do with possibility, the possibility of moving, of knowing that one could walk (or sail) to that spot that one spies on the horizon and there would still be more to see.

So, it took a while to come around to the fact that I was moving again, moving back. It feels like back in a host of ways, -- just personally, as said, the reasons for going were never blurred or difficult to accept -- a while to think in terms of where that path might lead other than 'back'. More than any other time that I have moved, this feels like a verge, everything from here is freefalling, and I'm bound (for reasons that I would only feel comfortable talking about face to face) to hit a few visible rocks on the way down. That's fine by me, I'm not worried, I can handle those. I'll work out how, when, but I know, I can.

I'm not worried about what I know will come, nor am I worried about what is unknown. In fact, I cannot quite work out what I am worried about, but there is something, I do know that (permission granted to laugh, I am). I think it may just be fear of losing how I feel now - I've never felt happier than I do now (and have these past 1-2 years). It's a general happiness, just a good feeling that lives inside no matter what is going on. Like I finally have a place to occupy that is mine, I'm here, this is me, I matter.

I'm probably revealing more than I realize - I have no intention of reading this back before publishing. :-)

I've always lived my life by imagination, a statement easily misunderstood, I think. What I mean has more to do with intuition, if I can imagine a turn of events, the possible outcome, then it has the potential to be real, if I can't, it doesn't. How much sense that makes, I'm not sure, but it's how I know somethings, just simply know, for no reason other than that. Recent example would be my father's operation, though I feared I could be wrong, deep down I knew he would survive. Deep down I know too that this is temporary.
Naturally.

I have a post that has been sitting for the longest time in my mind and that I have begun to write. When it will be completed, I have no idea, but it is all about the links that bind us together, about how we are all bound to life, to this place, to each other, to time and how our relations to those around us shape us, our lives, and how much sense, rhyme and reason there is. In short, everything happens for a reason, everything makes sense, even if we are incapable of seeing it at times, or even most of the time.

This pull, I can see that it had to happen, it doesn't matter what I think, or feel, or thought or felt, or anything else for that matter, the direction is clearly visible. It's what comes after that, that I cannot see yet, I cannot see beyond the horizon, but that needs to be okay too, when can we ever before we move and it changes, reaches further.

There are certain things that I have a harder time dealing with than others. One is a lack of control, which in turn covers many aspects. And I'm not going to get into the question of how much control we really have and all the rest of it, because then I will not be able to leave tomorrow due to still being sat here writing this so-dubbed post. Thoughts when I think of security are multiple, at their most base, is a) a base, a place to call home that is safe and secure in every way. Money is another, I do not cope well with financial ups and downs, saw too many of them when I was a child and it effected me, as in I need to know that I can pay for tomorrow, pay for whatever may come, for whomever needs it. Sounds so base, I dislike talking about money, partly to do with how important it seems to everyone around me, it means nothing to me other than security, and if I have enough for tomorrow, anyone is welcome to the rest. My needs are basic and I tend not to splurge on myself.

What would I like to do tomorrow, I was asked that question recently, and my answer was to travel. It hit me recently, how much I desire to do that, and how seldom I do it for the reasons stated above and I need to take that and soon, cordon something off from day-to-day living and doing, to do that for myself. Though I have been on trips, lots of them, during the past many years, there was always a reason separate from just wanting to. And I do need to officially cordon, to officially make good on the promise that I make to myself and not let anything else get in the way of it, that happens much too often.

Security, to continue that, has to do also with voice, letting mine be equal, sitting down with everyone else around the table not just making sure everyone has what they need, but getting my share too. Nobody is going to serve me, I know that, unless I do it myself, at least not at this table.

In other words, and I really don't mean to sound all the things that I am probably sounding, I'm pretty much on my own, in every way, but where that used to, years ago, make me feel lonely and lost, it became a matter of pride, pride in the fact that I wasn't weak, that I could take care of myself and more than that, if need be. I make my own happy by choosing where to find it, fine-tuning that emotional equalizer.

In the end, nothing really matters, or rather few things do, and one thing is always certain, we are much stronger than we know, we are capable of much more than we imagine and there is never anything that we cannot get through somehow, someway.

When I look ahead, I cannot see very much at this point, I need to go a little farther first. I need to get to London, settle and then take another look, and once I've done that, writing for example will be much easier again, I imagine.

I miss writing posts, I just love that so much. If I do it right, it takes me to the place and lets me fly. That place, and this may be complete nonsense to anyone else, is where there is a direct flow, from the inside to the outside, without barriers of any kind, where thoughts are pure and singular, unchallenged by other inconsequential thoughts. An idea, a feeling, a thought and just running with it, that's what I like to do here, that's what occurs between the hello posts. That's what I like to do in life, between all the other stuff. I get there more and more often, not so much just recently, the four walls of the future, the four walls of my home and the four walls of me have been chaotic and I've felt out of touch too much of the time. That bothers me, now that I know how to get there, whenever I cannot for one reason or another, I feel like I am missing out, losing time, losing 'now'. And I just love being there, it feels like I'm floating, everything is easy even when it is hard, I can't describe it. The only thing I can compare it to is standing in the warmth of the sun, arms outstretched, reaching and embracing everything around, all sounds are peaceful, beautiful and feeling like everything outside is a part of me and I am a part of it, mutual and reflecting. At one, I guess, to use a cliche. In touch, touching everything, outside, within, as they should be, one and the same. Here, and here now.

Yep, really rambling now. :-)

Which shows that in the end, I do deal with me first. :-D
Find that funny, but how else could it start, the day, reality, our experience, our contribution. We are nothing else, but who we are, think and feel and receive. Giving is receiving too, much more so even.

One great thing about life is the more we carry, the more we are able to carry. To really receive, one has to really give. One thought has come to me again and again recently, we waste so much of what we have to give, by not giving it. We have a limitless capacity to love, and yet we hold it back. We may not mean to, but we do, for we could always do more. It is infinite. I feel that, intimately, at the forefront, that there is so much going to waste, that if I released more, I'd produce still more. That has to be the goal, to lavish, to ooze, to spill, in this case, paradox though it may be, anything not spilled is wasted.

The further we have to reach, the more effort it takes. That's not right, not sure I know how to explain it properly...using M as an example, she's close and I can bask in my love for her at all times, give it away rather than hoard it. Opportunity, I guess is the keyword, closeness in combination with it, willingness in the other to recieve, that's what I miss, feeling closer to more people.

Where before I had cut myself off from everyone, amazingly now, all I want to do is get closer and I feel every degree of separation. Where before I was erecting my own walls, now all I want to do is break through any that exist on my part or on theirs, and it's difficult, in a lot of cases, most cases, especially with people one has always known. Where there is history. Understandable really.

Just now that's all I know in London, people with whom I have history - I'll not meet anyone new until I get there, whereas here where I am now, most people that I know are new acquaintances, people I have met after I uncrossed the arms that were guarding my heart. Of course, I'm not being honest, I haven't done it completely, may not even be capable of it, may not even be the right thing to do, am not sure. I think, we need a little protection at least.
I wonder, as I have been doing for what seems like ages now, if I am capable of letting go of every single barrier, whether I will be able to trust in what I see, accept it at face value, and not let those questions of why enter into the equation. Those questions of 'are they seeing the real me'.

Honesty means an awful lot to me, it means everything, it's security and control all over again. I hate being lied to in any shape or form, but most of all, I hate not knowing that I am being lied to. I have someone in my life, who lies to me constantly, I can easily cope with that, because I can see it so clearly. I love them for who they are, strange as that may sound, and the lying doesn't make a difference. Serious lies they are too, things that cause pain, to me, to others, but the love I have for them remains unchallenged. There is honesty within the lie. I don't like not getting a clear picture, I guess, is what it all comes down to. Tell me what you will, do what you will, be cruel, be kind, just be honest, that way I remain secure, I won't be tricked or lose my balance.

I used to try to do my best, I needed to feel like I was wanted, that I mattered to others. I would work hard, twisting, but it felt like it was to no avail. In large part, I did in the hope that I may get. (This isn't the case any more, I don't twist, haven't for very, very many years.) I needed to touch and be touched, to love and be loved and not feeling that is what left me with certain hang-ups that I carried out into the world with me, and they were built upon there, culminating in a full wall once I took the chance of falling in love and it turned sour.
Rambles, rambles, rambles, but it's all to do with moving, with the unknown becoming so visual due to the physical circumstances. It all boils down to one thought, will I make the best of tomorrow, or will I allow barriers to get in the way, will I find that place and be able to stay there, will I be able to float, arms outstretched, will I be able to give myself 100% to the flow, will I be able to keep my arms uncrossed and that sense of inner peace and happiness that has been occupying more and more of me.

I feel so lucky, so grateful for all that I have right now, I feel happier than I have ever been, problems and what I do not have matter very little in the greater scheme of things, I could go on as I am now building upon it, moving upwards and onwards, and I would not regret my approach come what may. In short, and to finish this (have a million things to do still before tomorrow) - though now I recall wanting to mention what happened yesterday, a hug that should have been given and received and wasn't due to history - I hope I can hang on to this wonderful feeling and continue to eclipse the pains that caused the bricks to build, until there are none left and I will be wide-open at all times.

They were right!

2006-11-01T07:40:00.000Z

Fierce winds, icy cold, snow, it's officially Winter.

Now you know what I did last weekend

2006-10-30T04:31:00.000Z

In case, anyone was doubting my word ;)

Those in the know are forecasting snow this coming Wednesday!
When I first heard it a few days ago, I just could not fathom that the weather would be able to change that quickly. Spring lasted a fortnight at most, it seems autumn will not last much longer. There is a definite chill in the air, and whether or not we shall see actual snow as early as Wednesday time will tell, but I should be less surprised after witnessing the weather today.

This was at just after 1pm

Dark and cloudy is one thing, but it was absolutely freezing too. Near enough. Certainly near enough for it to be time to break out the winter coats (luckily they aren't packed too far away!).

There were visible breaks in the clouds however, bursts of sun that peaked through and lit up the land here and there along the way.

As windy as it was, we were a little apprehensive about crossing Storebæltsbroen, the bridge that links two of the main islands of Denmark, thankfully the wind though very strong was head-on and so I did not have to shut my eyes (the driver, my brother, neither - phew!), and I was able to take some photographs.

That was the drive home, not quite as exciting as the reason for the actual trip, which was first and foremost to attend a Silver Wedding Anniversary. This occasion is celebrated in style in this country and has a host of traditions that must be followed.

But before any of that got underway, I was able to spend some quality time with my two very special guys (twins).

Very early on Friday morning, in the pitch black, jumping over cowpats and the like, about 100 of us crept up to my aunt and uncles home and awoke them with singing - well, that's what is supposed to happen, but since it always does on such occasions, not suprisingly the happy couple were dressed and waiting. During the night, the doorway had been decorated with pine branches, silver bows, fairylights and flowers and after we had stood in the pouring rain for a respectable amount of time serenading them as they stood beautifully framed, we allowed ourselves to be invited (all 100+ of us) in for a traditional Danish breakfast.

In the evening, it was a proper Danish party with a capitol P, which means in short a lorra lorra eating and drinking (was enjoying both, not realizing precisely how much until everyone else shouted Hurray and I followed suit solo about 10 seconds later), speeches galore and songs-a-plenty. Songs that family and friends write themselves and present, and which we all sing.

After 5-6 hours of that, the dancing commences with the couple taking the floor first to the special Silver Wedding waltz
(with the rest of us slowly moving closer and closer, which is what can be seen here).

The night was danced away by all (some more than others - let's just say, it's possible to both twist, river dance and 'pulp fiction' amongst others to traditional Danish songs) and everyone had such a wonderful time, especially my aunt and uncle, who I know will cherish the memories of Friday along with the other very many happy ones that they have collected over the last 25 years.

Beer good!

2006-10-26T05:44:00.000+01:00

- that is the direct translation of where I am headed for the next few days. Sounds silly even in Danish, and it's by no means the only strange place-name that we have here.
Middlefart is another (which I shall be passing on route;), but worse than that is our penchant for naming towns after various bodyparts.

We have, amongst others,

Bladder
Elbow
Buttock
Widebuttocks
Instep
Throat
Nosetown
and two that I don't dare even mention! (used to live in one of them, no less)

Have a wonderful rest of the week. :-)

Thank you, Kyra, for an easy way to move me down. More me. :-D

2006-10-23T08:33:00.000+01:00

What Your Soul Really Looks Like

You are a warm hearted and open minded person. It's easy for you to forgive and forget.

You are a grounded person, but you also leave room for imagination and dreams. You feet may be on the ground, but you're head is in the clouds.

You see yourself with pretty objective eyes. How you view yourself is almost exactly how other people view you.

Your near future is calm, relaxing, and pretty much what you want. And it's something you've been anticipating for a while now.

For you, falling in love is all about the adventure and uncertainty. You can only fall in love with someone who keeps you guessing.

Inside the Room of Your Soul

~~~

I did this interesting experiment a few months ago, thanks to Terry, whereby one requests to be defined in just one word by the people that know us. The person in the real world that perhaps knows me best had this one word for me: Forgiving. At the time, I recall being somewhat surprised. Anyone who knows me, knows I had a hard time letting go of a certain period of my past, but the more I thought about it, the more sense it made to me. Truth was, I gained great understanding as to the whys of other people at the time, my problem in regard to letting the past be past was not so much a question of forgiving actions, but of forgiving the loss of what was, and moreso what never was. So, I'd have to agree based on every situation I can think of, that yes, I find it pretty easy to forgive and forget.

That second part is perfectly me, as I read it. I have indulgent dreams, but I know that there is a journey to be travelled from here to there, that the part where I am at is life and that if I make this part good, then wherever my rocking chair may be come the final season, I shall cherish sitting in it.

Objective eyes, truth be told, I probably do. That's what I see, when I look with everything. If everyone else sees me that way, then that's fine by me.

The future as it looks from here seems fated and as such I feel mostly calm about it. I wouldn't be me, if I didn't let worry have it's say once in a while, but generally, as always, I'm excited about what the future may bring me of wonders and lessons.

As for that last part, its only lack is in not being more comprehensive. :-)

Regular shots

2006-10-20T00:26:00.000+01:00

until I get to Hollywood :-)

Thank you

2006-10-17T00:44:00.000+01:00

I could use a dozen adjectives, write pages on what the friendships I have made here have meant to me, how truly and wholly blessed I feel to have met so many beautiful hearts and souls and how much my own have been enriched from knowing them. I could write a thousand words, but they'd all mean the same. Thank you and I love you.

A most treasured gift, the gift of touching, of letting your souls come out to meet mine. I could show a thousand and more examples of the moments here that touched my heart, scattered in posts and comments for all to see. For now just ONE.

Reward

2006-10-11T15:51:00.000+01:00

I'm looking for someone to come help me pack

and/or massage my aching back!

Offering all you can eat and drink in exchange.

(Terry, you are excused - still welcome to join me for beer and pizza though:)

Happy Wednesday!

"If I'm not back in 5 minutes...wait longer."

2006-10-08T09:27:00.000+01:00

A world unlocked

2006-10-08T07:44:00.000+01:00

I’m inclined to believe that souls can touch. That they reach out to each other when both parties are in a state of complete openness and that 'we' are only aware of the repercussions of this process. And, that understanding, the only kind that matters, is obtained there and then through this touch. That it is fundamental and it is unshakable, and any action or word cannot dent it or deny it. That though logical conclusions may seep in from time to time asking for consideration, things that make perfect sense, they are subjective, capable in themselves of being explained by each of us in a different way, and that none of it matters, if there is real understanding. When there is that, not everything need be understood.

The Soundtrack

2006-10-08T00:13:00.000+01:00

Tagged by Sweet K.

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?

Here's how it works:

Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
Put it on shuffle
Press play
For every question, type the song that's playing
When you go to a new question, press the next button

Opening Credits: Secret -> Maroon 5

(admittedly still a few of those left to tell)

Waking Up: Will you love me tomorrow -> the Shirelles

First Day Of School: Mmm Mmm Mmm -> Crash Test Dummies

Falling In Love: Rock you like a hurricane -> Scorpions

Fight Song: Apache -> the Shadows

Breaking Up: Crush -> Jennifer Page

Prom: Push it -> Salt 'n' Pepper

Life's OK: C'est la vie -> Bewitched

Mental Breakdown: In and Out of Love -> Bon Jovi

Driving: Get the F*** out -> Skid Row

Flashback: Born to be Wild -> Steppenwolf

(yeah, baby!)

Getting Back Together: Nights on Broadway -> the Bee Gees

Wedding: House of the Rising Sun -> the Animals

Birth of Child: Everybody's making it big but me -> Dr. Hook

(couldn't tell by looking)

Final Battle: Funky Nassau -> Blues Brothers Band

Death Scene: Libertango -> Bond

Funeral Song: Stayin' Alive -> the Bee Gees

(that'd be the only time, I could stay still to that song)

~ Tagging those wearing something blue.

Chitchat (while I finish my real post:)

2006-10-06T21:03:00.000+01:00

I live in what can only be described as a community within a suburb of the city.
There are 258 houses all occupied by families, where one or both parents are students. There is (to mention a few) a shop, a gym, a ballroom, several playgrounds, large green areas surrounding, a drinking establishment, barbeque pits and Open Doors.
And someone has always got a pot of coffee brewing.

Moreover, there is always something going on. Today, a protest. Or at least, signatures, a smorgasbord and a general show of support. Yesterday, a theatre production (of the Danish classic Frøken Nitouche), which I must say, though I’ve seen some spectacular productions in my time (love, love, LOVE the theatre), this was without doubt the most fun.
It's been fun.
Good memories.

Something that's been true of my life up until now is that I never stay in one place for long, though I do always plan to, I still always end up making the decision to move on, sooner or later, for one reason or another.
Just a tumbleweed blowing in the wind. :-)
And it's that time again, time to roll.

I'm not materialistic, at all, yet we seem to accumulate an awful lot of 'stuff' (read: I think, I may be spoiling my daughter) and it's only when it comes time to having to fit it all into boxes, that I notice just how much 'stuff' there is.
I'm drowning in them, and I've only just started!

And that's after a great big, cruel and calculated clear out. I figured, since I was not only shifting out of my house, but the country too, now was the time to prove just how much of this 'stuff', we did not really use or need. That was a revelation in itself.

So, if things go according to the current plan, I will be writing November 1st in London town.
(I may even be sitting in Harrods - more on that later, if it works out.)
In any case, there are plenty of changes ahead and, as always, unlimited possibilities.
The future's bright.
The future's London. Well, ours anyway. :-)

Hooray - it's autumn again! :-)

2006-10-03T17:47:00.000+01:00

Lynne

2006-10-02T22:06:00.000+01:00

Debra Lynne Johnson,

full of strength, optimism and a genuine sweetheart

recently lost her battle against ovarian cancer.

Dearly missed in life by friends and family

Dearly missed by friends in blogland

Wherever you go, go with all your heart!

2006-10-02T19:15:00.000+01:00

That's good advice.
After all, there seems to be little or no point in doing anything, if one is not going to do it completely. Heart, mind and body. Anything else would amount to never being in one place at any one time.
Whatever it is, something doing, somewhere going, up the rollercoaster or down, the clear path or off the beaten track, the left fork or the right, one thing seems certain,
whatever you do, don't look back!

Free Hugs

2006-10-01T20:37:00.000+01:00

For those who haven't had the pleasure yet,

you simply must watch this heartwarming video

being shared by Trée at Decadent Tranquility

Would you

2006-09-30T08:52:00.000+01:00

What would you say if I told you that there's almost nothing left
That every garment has been strewn and I am nude
In the shadows
What would you say, if I told you, I've been learning to take pride
To throw caution to the winds
That though I want so very desperately to stay where I am, I know I'll not allow it
What then
Would you still call me a coward

Eyes ahead

2006-09-29T11:22:00.000+01:00

Parallel lives I lead -
Where empty promises conspire and
I'm always going somewhere
- Especially in my dreams

Supposing somethings change, somethings stay the same and there is rhyme and reason to it, that we are who we are and that is exactly who we are supposed to be, that negatives and positives work together to create an idea of perfection and everything happens for a reason precisely when and where it should. Supposing everything up and until the point one considers those things to be true has been a worthless struggle against what is and what will be, a kind of unwitting form of self-torture. Suppose then that perhaps it is not an outside force that governs the nature of these things, at least not directly, but rather every corner of every part of what lies inside, not what we would want it to be, but what it actually is.
Nice and simple.
It's not a hard thing to let go, to place ones trust where it should be. We are everyone we ever were, we are all we'll ever be. It's just a little scary sometimes. Suppose that's okay.

:-)

2006-09-24T13:36:00.000+01:00

Christa, I did go looking for ideas for when I come have my Hollywood-style portrait taken at your studio

First I found this:

But that might be a bit much to have on full display
(though in truth, I'm game :)

So, then I searched around a little more and found this:

which I love, love, love!
Not least the dress.

However, since they are all about the face,
the winner is:

There, you've been challenged :-D

Relish

2006-09-24T08:35:00.000+01:00

When I talk to my daughter about her father, I tell her that part of me will always love him. I was saying these words long before I was willing to acknowledge there was truth to them.
I used to think that I must have loved only an idea I had of him, one that did not correspond to who he really was, and when that image shattered so too did any and all feeling, I held for him. Not so. All of me loves part of us.

I dreamed of him last night, as I do once in a blue moon, different dreams, same theme. In these dreams, I take the risk, the risk of letting myself fall back under the spell, of handing over the power to hurt, of losing myself anew but this time when I do, there's a chance I'll still be there. I would wake up angry and confused, full of unpleasant questions that I wasn't able to answer.
Why would I dream such a thing?!
The question made me feel sick, in more ways than one.

Then this morning that happy feeling lasted a little longer, long enough to blend into conscious thought, and I saw his face is the only face I have. It may not have been his entire face, but for the little while that there was only beauty, there love was in all its glory, real, mutual and growing.

That is why I dream of him. Not because I secretly desire reconciliation, but because I want to feel that way again. I want to be bled, so that I can replenish. More than I do now. I want to ride the wave of limitless as far as I can possibly go in all my relationships, not all save one.

I was afraid to do the falling. I know, I know, old and very tired news, believe me, I know!
But, even when I thought, I was no longer, it was still there all the while.

I'm going to relish those dreams from now on. They mean I secretly desire the fall.

Happy & Sleepy

2006-09-20T22:29:00.000+01:00

While in London, we stumbled across something new. Or at least new to us.

A booth that rather than take photos, would create a sketch.

Clever!

End result: Not half bad for a machine,

it captured Maria perfectly :-)

(Though I'm pretty sure, I usually look more alive!)

~~~~~

Hugs back attcha

2006-09-17T19:39:00.000+01:00

These exquisitely gorgeous and wonderfully fragrant blooms,
were a gift from
Terry and the Bear
sent with hugs from across the sea

Just wanted to say thank you again
for this sweetest gesture
full of warmth and friendship
and to tell you how much I treasure you both
and the time we spent together in London

The bright side

2006-09-17T10:49:00.000+01:00

"Remind yourself often that you live and breathe the truth of who you are"

Although it feels like a case of 'here we go again' and that there are without doubt predictions to be made, not everything can be predetermined. This is not the past, it is the future and as such it is fluid, open to any number of influences that will morph its consistancy, alter the direction of its flow, and it being mine means that today will join every yesterday and tomorrow I will be changed.
I, too, am fluid. It is when I remember this that silence comes.

I'm baaaaaaack!

2006-09-13T12:00:00.000+01:00

Hey all,
Just got back and will come say hey a little later.
For now, a very Happy Wednesday to all!

Happy, happy birthday!!!!!!!

2006-08-28T10:12:00.000+01:00

My sweet GHATO (aka Justin, link in sidebar),

wishing you a very Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!

(a little early, in case I don't get another chance to come in before Wednesday).
Hope you have a special day, full of celebration!

And a joyous year ahead!
Love you, xo

Hey and thanks

2006-08-22T20:31:00.000+01:00

Thanks all for the comments below, will reply next time I'm in! Also, only going to have a quick glance round, won't have time to leave comments, sorry :-( Like I'm missing a limb being away from the blogeshere.

Quick update for those who would ask if I didn't, my father finally woke up properly (able to focus his eyes etc) on Friday and by Saturday, he was able to understand properly what we were saying to him. Lots of downs over the weekend healthwise, but things are looking up now and though he is still in Intensive Care (and likely will be over the weekend), he is progressing steadily.
Be back asap -
Happy Tuesday!

All is well

2006-08-16T20:37:00.000+01:00

Thank you all for the very sweet messages below, very much appreciated! If I don't get a chance to reply today, I will next time I am in.
Just coming from the hospital, so if it all sounds a little stilted, that's why.
The operation went really well. The doctors were concerned about various complications especially in light of the third procedure mentioned below and how far it would stress an already weak heart, but they are very pleased with his progress.
My mother went in first for 5 hours - without babysitters we had to take the girls with us and therefore had to take turns. He was still asleep when she came out and as such had been asleep for almost 27 hours when he started coming around, which he did not long after I went in (felt very bad for my mother that she missed that moment). I stayed for about half an hour during which time he woke up enough to start tearing up. The nurses then needed some time with him and so I went back out and mum went back in, but she, poor thing - again felt really bad for her, came back out feeling faint and upset and so she stayed with the girls while I went back inside. About an hour later she returned and after a little while he fell asleep and we left.
It wasn't easy, though it was much easier than I would have imagined, if that makes sense. He wasn't in pain, which is of course the main thing, but he was very disorientated and kept tearing up. I feel certain that he just had no idea where he was, he couldn't move much and couldn't speak (due to the tube in his mouth - forget the name of it) and as said was generally disorientated and still not fully off the various drugs etc, so I imagine the tears were more from fright and worry at these things than anything else.
He has various tubes all over the place, which would be the thing to frighten anyone visiting, but knowing that each serves a purpose and will be removed over the next couple of days made that much easier too.
I guess, the tears more than anything hit me (us) - but again, though it pains me (and mum) to the core (we are the only ones to see him yet), as I said to her, it is one day. By tomorrow, by normal standards, he will be awake and aware and will not remember today and the anguish he so obviously was feeling.
Looking forward to tomorrow and marked improvement, but all in all, he is as said doing very well at this stage.
Thanks again, x

Today is the day

2006-08-15T12:24:00.000+01:00

Or at least we hope so! Unless an emergency case comes in sometime in the next half hour, the operation will go ahead today. As well as a triple bypass, they will be replasing a valve and also shutting down the damaged part of his heart permanently. I'm no expert, but that sounds to me like he will just about be brand new. :-)

Happy Tuesday all!

JB Clippings

2006-08-14T09:25:00.000+01:00

Out of touch

2006-08-03T21:15:00.000+01:00

One day soon, I'm going to do my best to get some more time online. For now, a quick update as per usual.
We are now travelling to Harefield each day, which means a longer journey and even less free time (i.e. opportunity to visit the Internet Cafe). Not being in touch is doing my head in, especially with all that is going on, but it cannot be helped.
As of tonight, the operation was postponed - could be the 5th, 6th, 7th or 8th. We will be told the night before.
Happy Friday and weekend all!

Hey all! & Happy Birthday Meg!

2006-07-25T13:20:00.000+01:00

Blogging twice in the space of 24 hours...feels just like home. :-)

Quick post again:

So, what's been going on...Not very much, i.e the usual. Hospital visits and 'normal stuff' like grocery shopping, though to be fair, when I finally get home, I should have a few things to write about that I wouldn't have had otherwise. Yippee.
My father's room is on the ninth floor which is a real blessing in this heat (temps are still in the mid to late 30s). Really, it's the place to be, we get a lovely breeze up there. Also it's somewhat up a hill (near Harrow-on-the-Hill) thus there are tremendous views, best I've seen other than the Millennium Wheel, which one incidently can also spy from the hospital.
One of his first requests was for his miniature telescope (he's a gadget man:).
Must remember to take a photo of the view.

Wednesday the 2nd, he (we) transfers to a specialist hospital and the operation is scheduled for the 4th. It is as confirmed as it can be, something else may come up, but certainly the various things that have so far, like for example the blockage in his neck have been ruled safe enough.
Really, these days a triple bypass is a common operation, one that has been performed thousands of times and although he has age and a few other medical conditions against him, the type of people requiring this surgery often have. I'm not a worrier in these kinds of situations, which is a plus definitely, not least when others do worry.
Admittedly, I'm a little freaked out by facts like: too strong a cough apparently could reopen his wound post-surgery. Not too happy receiving that type of information, but presuming this is very, very rare, so again, nothing to worry overtly about. The advice in any case is that he should hold a pillow against his chest and press hard, whenever he laughs, coughs, sneezes and so on. Do we always know when a sneeze is coming is the avenue thoughts start going down. Just a scary thought, no matter how rare it is, that one could possibly open a wound by coughing too hard.
He's not enjoying being in hospital very much, but dealing with it very much better than any of us thought he would have. The one thing that has upset him this week has been that he needs to start having Insulin injections to better control his diabetes (has been taking pills only for the last 15 years) and one of his greatest fears is needles - so he was not a happy chappy when he was given this news - but again, dealing with it very much better than one might have expected. I guess, what it is, is that he knows, he really has no choice, i.e. that he needs the injections and he needs the operation and as such, there is no point fussing or getting upset/angry/whatever about the whole thing.

Ooh, just for something else (well, just to do the 'proud mama' routine once more), I thought the following said a lot for M. She has a very good friend from Lem (where we lived before Copenhagen) that she loves and misses dearly. We had arranged (months ago) that this friend would come for a weeks holiday to our place from July 31st. When I realized, we would have to stay past this date, I truly expected if not a 'broken heart' certainly a big reaction, but no.
"Of course we have to stay for Granddaddy's operation," she said or words to that effect. I just about cried knowing how very much she had looked forward to this event and how easily she gave it up, absolutely no hesitation.

Q. What's going on in London?
A. Big Brother fever.
Even I've had to watch a couple of episodes of this programme, just to see what all the fuss is about. It's plain madness, but more than what goes on is the actual house is how BIG a part of life here it is.
This is the number one topic of conversation anywhere a person goes.
Madness! Fun though :-)

Last but by no means least,

MEG

Have a very happy birthday!

May this year bring you your heart's greatest desire.

Birthday hugs, x

Postcard #3

2006-07-20T22:00:00.000+01:00

Still can't believe we went on that thing! :-)

Hey from London town!

Hope everyone is well and enjoying the summer!

Lots going on this week and I am missing the blogeshere and chatting to you guys more than ever! These cafes close at 11pm, which is especially frustrating on nights when I feel like saying "HI" at 1am (as per normal) :-) - that's the one thing that London needs (outskirts anyway):
24-hour internet cafes!

& when I do get a chance to come in, I soon start to feel like a headless chicken :-), rushing through email and updating family regarding my father and then onto blogs, trying to get through as many as possible...I don't usually get very far
...so when I do finally get home, I will need at least a week just to catch up (actually I'll probably need a week just for J, who would have written circa 300 posts by then :).

Looking forward to going home, just for the sake of being back home - nothing quite like home, as they say :-). Looks like it will be a little while yet though. At present, the plan is that I'll be staying just past the first week of August, but that may still change (i.e. be extended a little)...in any case, I definitely won't be leaving this week as was the original plan.

(Remind me to tell you all about the Fox'es, when I get back.)

And just to finish off this 'wonderfully exciting post' - scorching weather we are having here (39 degrees celcius), absolutely loving it!

Happy Thursday all, xo

Happy Birthday Linny!

2006-07-17T19:47:00.000+01:00

Hurrah!

2006-07-15T10:16:00.000+01:00

Kyra, sweetie, wishing you all the very best for the year ahead. Hope you have an absolutely fabulous time today, much love to you, xoxo

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear all,

have a little time today, so am hoping to make it around some of your blogs. Cannot even explain how much I miss talking to you guys each day, truly, its getting rather desperate!

Not sure when I will be going home, perhaps in a week or two to return again at some point not so long thereafter. I'll likely be travelling back and forth quite a bit over the next couple of months, but nothing is decided yet, so I'll leave that for now.

A little too optimistic last post, the house isn't done just yet, but it is a big job. Has been good fun, though little bro is rather sick of James Blunt, which conveniently is the only CD that isn't packed down in boxes. :-)

M's been having fun (Lisa, Terry, thanks for asking) - she loves going to the hospital as she can lie on "Granddaddy's" bed and listen to the radio and the canteen has "nice ice cream".
Also, she and I have attended some school events this week in place of my mother (for my sister), e.g. the annual sports day, which she has very much enjoyed. :-)

My father is up for one more test to determine if he is fit enough for surgery and if he gets the all-clear on that, then he will be having a triple bypass as soon as they can fit him in.

In short, things are busy etc and I'll likely not be in any more regularly than I am at the moment (poop!), but I will try to check in as often as possible - for my own sanity! :-)

Have a great weekend!!!
xo

A very quick hello aka most boring post ever :-)

2006-07-11T10:14:00.000+01:00

Hey all,

Haven't time to write a proper post, (wish I did, am having major withdrawals) so this is just a 'hello-I'm-still-alive' post.
I haven't even been to the hospital since Saturday morning, but it cannot be helped. My parents have a new house that they need to move into very much sooner than anticipated and so my brother and I have been plastering, papering, painting, laying carpets and so forth at top speed for the past couple of days to get it ready as soon as possible. Hopefully, by Friday we would have turned it from a shambles to a palace ;-) in just 7 days. Well, minus the garden.

Will catch up more soon, more to tell, very, very much more to read.
Happy Tuesday, xo

Happy Birthday!!!

2006-07-05T13:06:00.000+01:00

Sweet Lisa, missing you tons - hope you have a day full of celebration - I'll be celebrating!
Much love to you, hugs too, xxx

A'right me mateys

2006-07-04T19:19:00.000+01:00

Hey all, George, Terry and Me saying hello from Covent Garden, London, England - woohoo!

Been melting in the heatwave all day, through our flight on the London Eye (thank goodness, didn't fall off + didn't need extra pair of pants!) and our cruise along the Thames.
Dr Watson was charming, also went past the National Art Gallery and much, much more.
Presently on route for Fish 'n' chips and lots of pints (lovely jubbly).
Thinking of you all (esp. Tracey up there in Alaska, bbrrrrr!).

Wish you were here,
love Terry, George and Autumn

PS To all the American's, hope you have a very happy 4th of July with all the hotdogs, potato salad, watermelon and fried chicken you can eat, plus fireworks! There aren't any here, but we did snap a picture of a statue of George Washington.

JB Review

2006-07-02T20:49:00.000+01:00

Apologies (T) for the delay, spent the whole day at the hospital. Had uploaded the video beforehand, enjoy!
Here's the very quick, very short version.

The hot sun softened by a lovely breeze, it was a perfect summer's day in the quaint Oxfordshire market town of Woodstock. There to see the one and only James Blunt (can I get a woohooo!) perform live, one could not have wished for a more beautiful backdrop than the slendour of Blenheim Palace and its lavishly green gardens. The 10 minute walk from the car to our seats took us past Vanburgh's Grand Bridge and the lake over which it crosses. Beautiful! - a perfect start to a perfect evening.

About 7 meters from the stage, we welcomed first a young artist named Big Runga, whom, had she not been so nervous, would have put on an excellent show, I'm sure. Her potential was in evidence, many of her songs lyrically rather nice, kind of old style, quite bluesey in places and vocally slightly reminiscent of Oliviah Newton John. Clean, passionate.

But never mind all that! ;-)

Finally!!! it was time for the main act!

The main man! :-)

In short: Oh My Effin Gosh!

Most lasting impression: It was very much more like a rock concert than I would ever have imagined a JB gig would be. It was extremely energetic from the get-go with James jumping off the speakers while strumming the guitar, and even leaping off the stage to go stand on the railing (between the stage and the crowd) to get everyone even more excited - Didn't think that would be possible :-), but it worked.
"We give you seats", he shouted, "but you aren't expected to use them!"
Say no more, James...everyone jumped up and for the next 90 minutes (save a few songs) it was party time at Blenheim.
Pros and cons to that, it was an absolutely fan*tastic concert all round, I loved it as did everyone else, how could we not! For me, the best performances on the night were clearly 'High', 'Where is my mind?', 'I can't hear the music' and 'No Bravery'. What these have in common is that they were the few that one was really able to listen to in a pure pleasure sense without the party aspect of it. But as said, all round: Fan*tastic!!!

High was just a spectacularly wonderful couple of minutes. Sitting there in such glorious surroundings, I looked up at one point and there was a bird soaring above the stage, and (giggle if you will:) the sight just finished me off turning me to complete mush. I guess, it was just everything combined, being where I was and on such a beautiful day. The sky, the breeze, the gardens, James and 'High' - that was heaven on Earth. :-)

Another one worth giving a special mention was 'No Bravery'. Throughout, video images that JB shot during his time in Kosovo, were played on the stage screen as he sat beneath it playing the piano. The energy at this concert was just astounding! and it carried over to the more quiet songs. The rendition of this song was a sight to behold to say the very least. It seemed to reach a pitch, I have not seen him display anywhere before. As he sang, he would glance sidewards up at the screen and one could just see exactly why and how this song was born. Almost painful to watch him share their pain. It was a truly amazing performance!!

In between the singing, he just had us in absolute stitches! T, one of these days, I shall email you in more detail about it all. :-)
He sang a total of 15 songs ending the show with 'You're beautiful'
and yes! - it was over much, much, much too soon!

Postcard #2

2006-06-28T11:38:00.000+01:00

Wish you were here :-)

Loving being back in London, its always good for a giggle.
One thing I have been noticing is the fashion here this summer. For the guys, the strangest haircuts since the mullet, kind of Beatles'que styles, but windswept, or rather tornado-swept where every single strand has to go in a different direction - thing is though, if a real tornado were to sweep by, I'm pretty certain not a hair would move. For the girls, last years visible g-strings have been replaced by actual cracks. No joke! They are on display everywhere and not just when they bend down either, nope, the jeans are so low cut, its a permanent show.

That's it for now, spend my time reading rather than writing about 'nothing'.
Thanks again for all the sweet comments in regards to my father.
Missing you all tons, xo

Happy Tuesday

2006-06-27T14:13:00.000+01:00

Thank you all most kindly for the sweet messages below, especially Trée, for the song :-)

Again, not much time today (should have more time to catch up with what's been happening here next week after G&T's visit), so am going to keep this very brief and rush through as many blogs as possible before I have to leave.

A combination of the distance from home to the hospital and the actual times of the visiting hours means that that is about all I've actually done this past almost a week, so nothing really to tell that would be of interest. Have seen a couple of old friends who have stopped by the hospital and that of course is always nice.

My father is doing very much better. He looks his old self, though he doesn't quite feel it, but that is only to be expected.
Silver lining: He has given up smoking :-)

Happy Tuesday all, xo

Quick Note

2006-06-23T12:33:00.000+01:00

Hey all,
Don't have much time today, but am going to try and take a quick jog around the blogeshere and see how you all are doing.

As for things here,
Had hardly been here 24 hours, when my father took himself off to the hospital with a heart attack, so I've been occupying my time to say the least. He'll stay in for a while, but he will be fine.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend, xo
:-)

Postcard #1

2006-06-20T09:34:00.000+01:00

Missing you already

(& I don't leave for another 2 hours)

:-)