That's not flying, that's just falling with style

I just wanted to post a quick update for everyone. Thank you again for everyone who has donated to my walking fund. So far I've raised $620! My training is also going well....it moves from just the weekend to training everyday beginning Monday. I'll start by pounding out 12 miles, and gradually increasing the mileage each week.

If you haven't had a chance to donate yet, please use the link below. If you are not comfortable donating online, you may print out a donation form from the link below and mail in a donation. The form is pre-filled with my name and walker number.

Again thank you so much for your support; the message I've been receiving from everyone have been so uplifting!

:)

Laila

http://08.the3day.org/site/TR/Walk/DallasFtWorthEvent?px=1567539&pg=personal&fr_id=1184&et=AIGC_kfAWePJ6kv1zKo6kA..&s_tafId=6301

This year, I'll be participating in a very special event called the Breast Cancer 3-Day.

I'll walk 60 miles over the course of three days with thousands of other women and men. The net proceeds will support breast cancer research, education, screening and treatment through Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund.

The walk here in DFW is not until November, but I have a fund raising goal of $2200, and so I'm asking for everyone's help. I started my training this weekend, with a short 5 mile walk......now all I have to is quadruple that, and do it 3 days straight and I'll be ready! :D

The 3-day walk is an event that I have wanted to do for a long time. When I was 9 I lost my daddy to a rare form of cancer called multiple myeloma. It's hard to lose a parent at any age, but when you're that young it turns your world upside down. This August will be 21 years since he died, and there's still no cure for that, or ANY kind of cancer. By walking the 60 miles, and by raising the money I'm aiding in the fight towards a cure. I firmly believe that if we find a cure for one cancer, it will lead to a cure for all forms of cancer.

I walking for me, to do my part towards research, I'm walking so that we don't lose any more loved ones to this horrible disease, and most of all, I'm walking so that no more children have to grow up like I did, missing a parent.

Please help.

http://08.the3day.org/site/TR/Walk/DallasFtWorthEvent?px=1567539&pg=personal&fr_id=1184&et=AIGC_kfAWePJ6kv1zKo6kA..&s_tafId=6301

I was chatting with a co-worker yesterday, talking about how all of our friends are married, and how most of them have children. She paused and then asked me "Don't you feel left out?" She went on to explain how she feels very left behind , not so much for being single, but for not having kids. Maybe I'm abnormal in some way but I don't feel left behind or left out at all. I feel very blessed to have friends with children that I can love on, play with, giggle with, and then hand back.:) It makes me sad for her that she feels like an outcast for being 31 and not having children.

The whole conversation made me reflect upon the way society views women in their early thirties. They "should" be married, and they "should" have at least one child. Did you know that in 2005 the average age of a first time mother was 25? (babycenter.com) It's rare to find women in their early thirties who don't have kids. It doesn't however mean that they are some sort of societal outcasts!

So for all of you that do fall delightfully in the norm, make sure to look out for your friends that don't. We're still your friends, and although our priorities in life are obviously different, we make great babysitters! :D

Since I haven't been feeling well this past week, I decided to treat myself to chinese yesterday. After I ate I got the usual fortune cookie. Tonight I wasn't hungry at all, but decided endamame sounded good. Since my local place delivers, I ordered in. Yup, just endamame. (It's yummy!) Again, I got a fortune cookie.

Yesterday's fortune said: "An enjoyable vacation is awaiting you near the mountains"

Today's said: "An airplane ride is soon in your future sending you to fun!"

:)

5 days until I leave!

Since I did well with the one resolution that I made last year, I thought that this year I would try for two. This was I'll stand a chance at keeping them.

My first one is to be more organized with my bills so that I don't have cable and electricity bills floating around in obscure places. To this end I already have a folder to place them all in as they arrive.

The second one is to walk the Breast Cancer 3 day. It's a 3 day, 60 mile walk to raise money for breast cancer awareness, and DFW's is in November this year. I crewed the one in 2001, and it was such a great experiance for me. This year my challenge is to participate as a walker, and to complete all three days.

Anyone else make resolutions?

:(

He would would have been strapped in, brace position, ready to go. Would his crew have had time to warn him? To let him know? Or would his first clue been when they started to go down? Would he have had time to warn his passengers? Even to yell out for them to brace themselves?

I've been a F/A in a CRJ in an emergency situation. But I had the time to talk to my crew, to warn my passengers, and to make a safe landing. :(

Rest in Peace Kelly. I'm sure you were a fantastic F/A who will be dearly missed.

FLYING WEST

I hope there's a place, way up in the sky
Where pilots can go when they have to die.
A place where a guy could buy a cold beer
For a friend and a comrade whose memory is dear.
A place where no doctor or lawyer could tread,
Nor a management-type would e'ler be caught dead!
Just a quaint little place, kind of dark, full of smoke,
Where they like to sing loud, and love a good joke.
The kind of a place that a lady could go
And feel safe and secure by the men she would know.

There must be a place where old pilots go,
When their wings become heavy, when their airspeed gets low,
Where the whiskey is old, and the women are young,
And songs about flying and dying are sung.
Where you'd see all the fellows who'd 'flown west' before,
And they'd call out your name, as you came through the door,
Who would buy you a drink, if your thirst should be bad,
And relate to the others, "He was quite a good lad!"

And there, through the mist, you'd spot an old guy
You had not seen in years, though he'd taught you to fly.
He'd nod his old head, and grin ear to ear
And say, "Welcome, my Son, I'm proud that you're here!
For this is the place where true flyers come
When the battles are over, and the wars have been won.
They've come here at last, to be safe and alone,
From the government clerk, and the management clone;
Politicians and lawyers, the Feds, and the noise,
Where all hours are happy, and these good ol' boys
Can relax with a cool one, and a well deserved rest!
This is Heaven, my Son. You've passed your last test!"

~Captain Michael J. Larkin, TWA (Ret.)

I'm debating on not posting to my LJ anymore. Or just making it friends only. I don't think anyone reads it anyway, and those that really want to know what all is going on in my life have access to my myspace journal (which btw *is* going 'friends only' from now on)

Has anyone seen that DisneyWorld commercial where the two kids are awake late giggling and talking, and their mother comes in to shush them? The little boy flops back on the boy and says "I'm too excited to sleeeeeeep"

That's me.

It's almost 4 am, and I'm awake...too excited to sleep.

I'm such a child!

:D

So as a woman, there are times, (guys, you're going to have a field day with this), that you do things that you realise are silly and stupid, all in the search of that 'great deal'. This morning was one of those mornings for me, but I did get 2 pairs of shoes out of it for, yes, an awesome deal.

Let me explain, (not that that will stop any of you guys laughing at me). Last night as I was watching Primetime about teenagers locked away for felonies (that's another story completely), I saw a commercial for the Grand Opening of the Shoe Carnival in JC. Didn't really pay attention, until I heard that the first 100 customers through the door got a $10 gift certificate. Hmm. Woman ears perked up, and I wonder if it's really worth getting up and being there at 9am considering I had planned to sleep in. I decided to wait and see if I felt like bothering in the morning.

So this morning I wake up, without an alarm at dead on 8am, and the first thing that pops into my head is 'Ohhhhh Shoe Carnival'. So much for sleeping late. =/ So I snooze until 0830 and get up, throw some clothes on, namely overalls (cos they're hick, but that's okay in TN), and head on out. I get there, and after been given a clown nose to wear (hey, it's not called a Carnival for nothing!) I enter the store and am presented with the $10 gift cert.

At this point, I'm ready to turn and run back to bed, but the deal sniffing side of me makes me venture into the store. (Plus the $10 had to be used today...sneaky huh?) My first thought was that someone injected the employees with waaaaaaay to much happy juice, and I wondered if I could sneak into their back room to get a shot. ;) After fighting all these overeager East Tennesse mothers with eight kids a piece, I found some cute brown sneakers and was ready to call it quits when I was presented with a ticket. For what? A $100 drawing. Sweet. But I had to be present to win. And the drawing wasn't for another 35 minutes. Dammit. Now I had to stay. Just in case. It was $100 afterall......

35 minutes later I didn't win the $100, but I had found another pair of shoes (go figure), and had been talked into chanting "I love the Shoe Carnival, I love the Shoe Carnival' as I was checking out.

Maybe I should be checking into somewhere else. Somewhere with padded walls....

So we're in class today, looking over our calendar for next week, our final week of class. Our Instructor said that we'd look it over together as there were some changes. Well me being the smartass that I am, pipe up with "I have a change we could make....how about we x-nay on the final and watch 'I am Sam' (a movie) on our last day of class?" The rest of the class starts laughing, and our Instructor pauses for a moment and then says "Okay, we can do that. All of you are doing wonderfully in this class, I realy don't need to give a final, so sure."

:D

GGS me for being the smart mouth I am!

In other news I found out what my placements were going to be for the fall. I start out in 2nd Grade for the first one, and move to 5th Grade for the second one. I went by the school this afternoon and spent about 2 hours with my 2nd Grade teacher getting aquainted with the school and being introduced to everyone. It was a ton of fun....the guidance counselor even had her dog there with her. Seems like a school that I will fit in well with/at, and that makes me even more excited.

That was about the sum total of excitment for my day. Unless you count my early morning online ordering experiance, or the trip to Wally-World.

;)

IF A MAN WANTS YOU

If a man wants you, nothing can keep him away.

If he doesn't want you, nothing can make him stay.

Stop making excuses for a man and his behavior.

Allow your intuition (or spirit) to save you from heartache.

Stop trying to change yourselves for a relationship that's not meant to be.

Slower is better.

Never live your life for a man before you find what makes you truly happy.

If a relationship ends because the man was not treating you as you deserve then heck no, you can't "be friends." A friend wouldn't mistreat a friend.

Don't settle. If you feel like he is stringing you along, then he probably is.

Don't stay because you think "it will get better." You'll be mad at yourself a year later for staying when things are not better.

The only person you can control in a relationship is you.

Always have your own set of friends separate from his.

Maintain boundaries in how a guy treats you.

If something bothers you, speak up.

Never let a man know everything. He will use it against you later.

You cannot change a man's behavior. Change comes from within.

Don't EVER make him feel he is more important than you are...even if he has more education or in a better job.

He is a man, nothing more nothing less.

Never let a man define who you are.

Never borrow someone else's man.

If he cheated with you, he'll cheat on you.

A man will only treat you the way you ALLOW him to treat you.

All men are NOT dogs.

You should not be the one doing all the bending...compromise is a two-way street.

You need time to heal between relationships...there is nothing cute about baggage... deal with your issues before pursuing a new relationship

You should never look for someone to COMPLETE you...a relationship consists of two WHOLE individuals...look for someone complimentary...not supplementary.

Dating is fun...even if he doesn't turn out to be Mr.. Right.

Make him miss you sometimes...when a man always know where you are, and your always readily available to him- he takes it for granted.

Don't fully commit to a man who doesn't give you everything that you need.

They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them and an entire lifetime to forget them.

Of being in the situation that I'm in. Tired of seeing no way out, apart from being reliant on someone to help me. Tired of feeling that there's noone to help me, or that I can ask to help me.

I'm a firm believer that you can do anything or make anything happen, and I'm tired of being trapped in a situation that I can't escape from using my own willpower.

Somedays, I'm just so sick of worrying about it and dealing with it.

Sometimes I hate the past 12 years of my life.

=/

So I'm not one for road rage, but I seriously thought about using my car to do some damage to a guy in the Wal-Mart parking lot this morning. It actually scared me that I got irate over a parking spot. I always thought people who got that annoyed about stupid shit like parking were nuts.

Here's what happened.....as most of you know, I'm leaving for PHL tomorrow with a truck of furniture for Reza and Aafke. (They arrive in the States tonight btw! YEAY!) So I needed to go to Wal-Mart to get some parts to fix a couple of lamps I'm taking them, and I decided whilst I'm there to pick up some basic house supplies to make it easier for them. I pull into the parking lot and see a guy just finishing up loading his car in a prime spot. I indicate my intent for the spot and pull out of the way so cars can go around me whilst I wait. Right as the guy was about to pull about a big white truck pulls up beside me and stops obviously intending to take the spot. I just saw red...here I am being all polite, indicating, waiting, and here's this redneck in a big 'ole truck thinking he can muscle in.....so I honked at him, pulled up super close to him, and waved until he got my attention, and then made it really clear that spot was MINE. To which he flipped me off.....I thought my head was going to explode, I was so mad. He let me have the parking spot, and took the one two down that someone was also backing out of. I sat in the car for a sec because I was shocked and scared at how mad I was over something so stupid. I got out of the car right as he walked past, to hear him say 'f-ing bitch'. I have no doubt it was meant for me, but funnily enough it was sounded more funny than anything, especially coming from someone in his late 60's or so.

I can see how life stresses can easily spill over into road rage. I think I've been so wrapped up/absorbed with the truck and Reza's move (the past few days especially), that something that usually wouldn't bother me, almost sent me over the edge.

I'm glad I'm home...

:)

I saw the sweetest thing today whilst I was out with Mac for a walk. There was a couple walking down the street, one of whom was holding a leash, the other pushing what I assumed was a stroller. As I got closer I saw that it was actually a mini dog crate on wheels. I stopped and talked to them for a few minutes, and they told me that their older dog, Sky was in pretty bad health due to a degenerative bone disease. Because of the disease he couldn't walk further than about 20 yards or so without being in pain. They devised the doggie crate on wheels so that they could still take him for a walk, without him exhausting himself. The funniest part was that when their other dog (a pom) got tired, she would jump on top of Sky's cage and hitch a ride back home.

As we walked away I wondered if I would do the same thing for Mac if something like that ever happened to him. I wonder if it would be more torturous than a human would think. After all, when a dog is outside s/he wants to run in grass, sniff around, chase squirrels. Maybe though, when you're sick and in pain, it's just nice to have a change of scenery.

is complete....

I feel so proud of myself, and so happy. But I am soooooo tired. I got to the hotel this evening and face first on the bed for a good 45 minutes until my cell woke me up. I was not so gently reminded that I should eat, and when I actually thought about it and realised that I had been awake for almost 36 hours straight with my last meal being almost 10 hours ago, I figured it was a good idea too.

Instead of the Persian food that I had been craving, I walked across the parking lot to Ruby Tuesday's, downed a 22oz beer with an ease that I think startled my server, and then licked clean a plate of szechwan spicy wings.

I feel replete.

But sleepy again.

And my legs hurt from all the walking today. But in a good way.

:)

I think it's bed time.

Gotta get my sleep in cos I'm going to Condom Kingdom tomorrow.

Yes, you read that correctly!

:)

I leave in about 5 hours for my whirlwind adventure!

Wish me luck!

:)

(Oh yeah, and call me)

:)

I was thinking today how much I enjoy singing and how much I miss it. The last week or so I've been listening to all my soundtracks, 'Rent' most especially, and just getting my stuff done whilst singing along. I get the same feeling after singing as I do after excercising...that endorphin rush that makes you feel so good. I wish there was some type of choir around here that wasn't church related. I might look into a theatre group when I move back to DFW. Even though I can't act, maybe it will at least give me a singing outlet.

Don't y'all just love my random musings.....

:)

It's amazing how much more productive I am when I have to get up and actually go to class in the morning. Take today for example. It's just after 11, and not only have I been to class, I've also scoped out my school for the fall (and figured out the very latest I can leave the house to be there on time! ;) ), balanced my checkbook, paid my electric bill, and got my water bill ready to drop off. It feels good to get stuff done.

In other news, (well not really *news*) I decided that I have the girliest male dog ever. It's tipping down here today so I didn't take Mac out before I left for class, figuring (hoping) maybe the rain would lessen by the time I came home. Unfortunately by the time I got home it hadn't, so Mac and I tromped across the parking lot to the grass in the rain. I *know* he has to go #1 and #2.......but because it's raining, and he's getting wet, he takes a quick whizz (squatting like a girl of course) and runs back to the front door.

*rolls eyes*

On another note, unfortunately The Netherlands lost their match to Portugal. Had they won, the quarter-final match would have been the Dutch vs the English. Maybe it's for the best though.....I'd like my brother and sister-in-law to still be speaking to each other when they move to the States...

:D