It's days like these that you miss them the most...

Sometimes when you're feeling down in the first place, life has a special way of adding to it.

I woke up today and among other things on my mind, I remembered today is Dad's birthday. He would have been sixty-eight today.

It's been almost a year and four months since Dad passed away and I haven't stopped missing him. I never want to forget all the simple things about my dad. I was looking at this picture and reminiscing about some of the things he always wore. That camo jacket was his favorite jacket in the winter time. It was given to him by a family friend who was in the Army and Dad wore it proudly. That was my Dad. Polo shirts tucked in with jeans or slacks and he always wore these big American Indian silver and turquoise rings. I'd never be seen wearing rings like he did, but I always thought they suited him well. My sister Tracey kept those rings when Dad died. I was happy for her to have them. My birthday is coming up next month and it's not so much the idea of getting any gifts, it's just the fact that I will forever miss the usual gifts my dad would give me. Dad, Tracey, and I have always liked Native American artwork so Dad would every year give me some type of Native American items, or something with wolves on it. I have a bunch of things he has given me over the years that are priceless to me. Maybe I put too much value on some things, I dunno.

I'm ready to move from this house. There are just too many memories here.

-S

If I were a rich man, yadda dadda dadda, crud...

When it rains it pours. The doggone water pump on my house burned up and it cost me $840.00, yeah. I had to pay the man $500.00 and make the rest in payments. My other bills were all due and if it hadn't been for the help of Terence being here and help from some other friends I'd be in deep.

I get so damn stressed out about this financial crap. I have to take a deep breath and tell myself it'll be okay. I owe so many people that it is sad. This is all at the start of my pay week so I have to wait another two weeks before I have my head out of the water. I guess I'm thankful that I at least have a job. Even though it's a job I hate.

If I get a job at Cookeville Police Department in Tennessee I'll be taking a $4,000.00 dollar a year pay cut. That makes me cringe a bit, but the cost of living in Tennessee is cheaper than in Florida and that is pretty good pay up there. The upside is that I'd be taking a pay cut, but doing a job that I actually love so I'd say it evens out.

Anyway, I'm hoping the pattern of my life will turn upward soon.

-S

Songs About Me, And Who I Am -Trace Adkins

Yeah, who I am. I'm this guy who is always wanting more out of life, but never really has a sensible plan for going about it.

Next month I'll turn thirty-two. I've never been married and I have no children. When I was younger I used to look at marriage as almost detestable. In my mind it was, you grow up, get married, have children, work a job you hate for years, then die. The thought of that just made me ill. I always felt there should be bigger better things for me on the horizon. Now I've begun to wonder what I've missed out on.

I've always tried to be a peacemaker. A peacemaker in quarrels and often just to set people's mind at ease. My niece who is a full-time wife and mom called me last night because she had gone with her husband and friends to see "The Devil's Rejects" and the movie had really upset her. She called me to make her feel better. I was taken back to when she was little and it made me feel good that she would still come to me for comfort. I've tried to be a peacemaker with my sister and her husband during their marital separation. That hasn't been easy.

I always try to treat people with great respect regardless of race, creed, or religion until they give me reason to do otherwise. I like black people. What I've never cared for is the self professed "Thug Life Niggas" that run around dealing drugs, shooting at people, and talking all the kill whitey crap, but love to get with white girls. On the same point, I have trouble with liking stupid white trash, jail bird types who keep reproducing and bringing up children that act the same way they do. There I said it. So what.

I've been really excited about the whole idea of moving to Tennessee. Cookeville Police Department is my main objective for employment, but I'll be happy as heck to get a job with any Police or Sheriff's office in that area. Joe is already working on getting me a horse. A Tennessee Walker at sixteen plus hands to be exact, my dream horse. That's one of the reasons I love the guy. He wants me in Tennessee so bad he is doing most of my leg work for me, hehe. His mom is buying twenty-one acres and she says I can keep the horse at their place.

As much as I want to go to Nashville at least on a weekly basis to push my music, I think I also want to find a nice Tennessee girl and settle down up there. Like most men, I really love women, but I've never been cool with the whole one night stand deals. I like to have at least strong feelings for a girl before I become intimate with her. It's so much more fun that way. Getting to know someone well then letting things build up. It's like getting a present you've wanted for a long time, hehe. I think I've reached a point in my life where I want to be in love again and belong to some special girl. There is nothing in the world like going places with a girl you're totally devoted to. Like having your girl riding right up next to you in your truck. Opening doors for her and buying her things just because you love her. It's a beautiful thing. Sounds like I'm a very different guy from my younger days when I thought being with someone was like being stuck. That was before I had been in love.

Well, Steve and the new puppy Buddy are getting along really well. Buddy is into everything and I forgot that about puppies when I got him. He also has a problem with not coming when I call him in from outside. I'm steady working on this one. When the dog ignores you when you call it's a touchy situation. You feel like beating his ass, but that can sometimes work in the opposite direction. If he thinks he'll get a beating, he'll never come to you. I guess I'm gonna have to get some treats.

That's about all I have for today. I hope everyone has a good weekend. I have to work, bleh.

-S

Working on it...

Yeah, I'm just working on getting stuff done. Lost for words at the moment, just doing an update here. Maybe I'll have something to write about later. Working sucks!

-S

I do alot of dumb things.

I was sitting around thinking about the stupid things I tend to do. From simple things to bad choices I've made that have eventually come around to bite me in the rear.

Like that time I got take out from Chili's and was sitting watching a movie munching on some nachos supreme I decided I really didn't want. What did I do with them? I did what any normal retard would do. I gave them to my dog Steve. Within an hour he was buckled over in the yard with the fierce trots staring at me with a "what the hell were you thinking?" look. It was only then that I thought, "How dumb is it to give a dog spicey mexican food?" Dumb!

It is also a result of my dumbness that I am working in a privately run jail verses working for the Florida Department of Corrections anymore. Yes, my dumbness combined with the "Take no crap" attitude I've had brought me here. Why is that? I felt like someone had crossed me so I got mad and quit my job. Oh yeah, I'll show those suck heads. I'll go be unemployed and lose most of my self respect. That'll teach em'. As a result, I couldn't get my job back as a state law enforcement official if I paid them. Dumb!

Another dumb story that Ryan likes to tell is the time I bought this Chevy Berretta. There was a piece of plastic stuck in the cigarette lighter hole. As I was fumbling about trying to get it out of there I got the brain dead idea of, "I know what'll get that out. This G-- D--- car key!" So just as Ryan was saying that's a bad idea, I shoved a metal key into a place with an all time hot wire and blew the fuse to my entire control panel. Nice, the whole car went dark as Ryan said, "Okay, like I was saying..." Dumb!

My mom among other people has told me that I have been a bachelor for too long and that I need a good woman to help straighten me out. The thing is, what if I marry a woman who has alot of sense and my dumbness rubs off on her? Or even worse we have children who do dumb stuff like running into sliding glass doors, or beat their heads against the wall.

I dunno, I'm gonna go be dumb and drink some iced tea.

-S

Well, I'm back

Well, my sister decided she wanted to keep Katie, my dad's Chihuahua. She said she couldn't get rid of Dad's dog. So, it's her turn to keep her for awhile.

Along the same lines, well... I got a puppy. Yeah I know I said I only needed one dog and it seems like defeating the purpose of my sister taking Katie, but well first off, I've never really been into little dogs and second off he is soooo cute. He is an 11 week old AKC registered Brittany Spaniel named "Buddy". My sister's friend was planning on selling him but I happened to be at his house while I was in Abbeville. I was playing with the puppy and kind of casually asked him how much he was selling him for. He said, "Go put him in your truck before I change my mind."

So now I have Steve and Buddy. They have been playing non-stop since I got home yesterday so I think when I send off Buddy's papers I'm going to make his registered name "Steve's little Buddy".

Well, that's about all I have to report. Joe's number is disconnected and I'll never be able to reach him at that number again. I realize that this is the first step in the splitting of our small band of brothers and it disheartens me. Since I plan to move to Tennessee I will still be around Joe, but that doesn't help much for Ryan, Kenny, Casey, and Dave.

-S

Gettin' Ready...

Well, as I'm sitting here waiting for my laundry to get done so I can head out to good old Abbeville, S.C. I decided to write about my habit of being clumsy, actually more like being a bit of an oaf, so here we go.

From the time I was very young I had a habit of tripping over things, knocking things over, or injuring my dad in some manner. It seemed my mother waited on me hand and foot in my childhood days. This wasn't so much because I ordered Mom around. It was more because she was afraid I was going to spill something. I could hardly open the fridge without something jumping out at me and of course no one had thought about plastic jars at that time so it usually meant quite a mess. My dad had to repaint the ceiling over the fridge because it had tea stains on it. How did they get there? I managed to drop a container of tea with such force that it actually splashed up to the ceiling.

One habit I had a real knack for was inadvertantly injuring my dad. It seemed like when ever I took a stumble, myself, or whatever I might have in my hand would often go flying in Dad's direction. To make matters even worse, I have a horrible habit of laughing when these things happen which would make Dad furious. When I was around fourteen, Dad was a high steel painter. He took a fall from a ladder and fell onto some pipes below him breaking his hip. When Mom, my brother, and me went to visit him in the hospital they had his leg up in traction. I should also add now that I get bored easily and tend to start looking for something to mess with. I was sitting in a chair at the foot of Dad's hospital bed and happened to notice some type of round weights hanging at the foot of the bed. I couldn't help myself. As I was saying, "What are these things for?" I picked up the weights then let em' go thereby causing Dad's leg to go down, then fly back up again! I realized that I had made a huge blunder as I saw my dad stiffen up and begin to turn red as though someone had just hit him with a ball bat. He muttered, "If you touch those again, I'll kill you." My brother actually ran out of the room.

My dad had alot of problems with that hip and eventually had to get a prosthetic replacement put in. I could've very well been the reason that it never healed right.

I was watching a home video that was filmed about a year after Dad's injury. He most often got a wheel chair or motorized scooter when we went to amusement parks for obvious reasons. Anyway, I was watching the film and saw Mom pushing Dad in the wheel chair and I thought well why the heck was Mom having to push him and not me, it seemed kind of rude to me. Then it dawned on me the reason why. He wouldn't let me push him. We had started the day with me pushing him in the chair and I kept accidently ramming him into stuff. His shins and ankles were all scraped up due to the various obstacles I had collided him with so he wouldn't let me near him the rest of the day.

My father loved me dearly, but I think he spent a good deal of time being afraid that I was going to injure him in some manner.

One time, I was going to put my hand on an ex girlfriend's face, in a gentle loving manner of course and somehow ended up clocking her right in the jaw. This is not the reason we're not together anymore, but needless to say I felt really awkward and sorry, and she was kinda pissed about it.

At times my clumsiness has actually given the appearance that I was a highly skilled warrior. Case in point. Years ago there was a small riotous situation in the jail I was working in. I ran in to help my supervisor who got caught in the middle of the whole thing. Some inmates had dumped water on the floor and as soon I my feet hit it, I lost my footing. There was an inmate fighting next to me so as I was heading to the floor I grabbed him. With what little traction I could get I pushed myself towards the inmate. My feet came up off the ground and I sort of ended up doing a pro-wrestling style flip around the inmate taking him to the ground. After everything had settled, my supervisor, who had apparently watched the whole thing told me, "Man, you are bad ass. That was the coolest thing I've ever seen!!" I just said, "yeah, thanks." As Buzz Lightyear would say, " That was falling, with style."

Well, there's a couple stories about my life. More to come.

See yall when I get back!

-S

Well heck...

Well, I'm starting to frown on the Iraq idea. With the luck I have, some suicide bomber would decide to stand right next to me and detonate himself. I'm checking into the Cookeville Police Department in Tennessee, or the Putnam county Sheriff's Office there. They're gonna send me applications so we'll see. I wish I was rich. I hope everyone had a good week. I certainly can't say I've had a bad one. It's been pretty average. Rambling on, I'm gonna start posting stories here about various events that have happened throughout my life.

Heading out to Abbeville in the morning to take Katie to her new home. Yes, I do feel a bit down about it, but everything will work out for the best.

God Bless.

-S

Angry Cooter...

Well, it seems Ben Jones a.k.a. Cooter Davenport from the original Dukes of Hazzard t.v. series is speaking out against the new Dukes movie being released August 5th (yes, the same one I've been raving about). Jones made the statement "From all I've seen and heard, the "Dukes" movie is a sleazy insult to all of us who have cared about the "Dukes of Hazzard" for so long. Unless they clean it up before the August 5th release date, I would strongly recommend that true blue Dukes fans hold their noses and pass this one up. And whatever you do, don't take the youngsters to see it."

Well, that about sums up his opinion on it. I just have this to say. It is, as we all know 2005, not the 1978-1985. Times change and the original Hazzard cast is just not gonna cut it anymore. Man, I hate to sound so doggone mean about it, especially since I have been such a die-hard Dukes fan since I was a little kid. The thing is, and I'll be the first to admit it, the show was pretty darn stupid. Most people who like the show still all know this and appreciate the show for what it was and are able to overlook the dumbness of it. I'm sure the movie will be just as stupid, but I'll be there to see it. The changes in society since the 1985 will now require more depth to the stupidity of the movie. The movie is also set in current day so what do fans want to see? A hotter Daisy, wilder Bo and Luke, etc.. I dunno what else to say about it. Mr. Jones' opinion has not swayed my desire to see this movie, or buy it when it is released on DVD.

God bless ya Ben Jones, I respect your stand, but well, it's your opinion. "Crazy Cooter commin' at ya!"

On a different note. I submitted my first application to a company for law enforcement jobs in Iraq.

-S

Heya...

Yeah, new post coming soon. Working all weekend in Retardsville. Sucks to be me.

I love you people!

-S

Saving Private Ryan...

I am dedicating this post to my dear friend Ryan Vella who for so many years has been a longsuffering friend throughout the silly crap we have put him through. I thought I'd share some Ryan stories.

First off, some years back Ryan had long hair and a full beard. Joe subsequently dubbed him the Wookie. Although today he shaves his head completely bald and has only a goatee, this nick name still follows him around along with the various other nick names we have given him such as Chumline, and Captain Blackbeard.

Ryan is a proud southerner like the rest of us, only he has always been the most refined of our group of friends. Ryan is one of the finest trumpet players I have had the pleasure of hearing. I've never been a huge fan of the brass section, but I could sit and listen to Ryan play for hours. A funny story arises out of that. As I stated before, Ryan is refined and even sometimes a bit uncomfortable around alot of people he doesn't know. Somehow he ended up at a party a couple years ago, with Joe I might add, and some of the most butt stupid inbreds this area has to offer. Somehow word got around the party that Ryan was a musician. Oh no, not the classically trained trumpet player that he is, but instead a highly skilled banjo picker. Much to Joe's amusement some nut brought Ryan a banjo and insisted he play them all a tune. Apparently it took some convincing to get through to them that he didn't play the banjo.

Among other things that poor Ryan has to endure is Joe and Dave's constant heckling of him while I sit by and laugh. Down here in the south we drink alot of ice tea. One time while Ryan and I were at Joe's house Joe was walking into the living room with a very large glass of tea. When he set it down he managed to spill it and went into a mad cursing fit that suddenly changed to hysterical laughter with "Oh yeah, it went in Ryan's shoes!!!" I then started laughing while Ryan screamed at me, "Stop laughing, you're only encouraging his stupidity!!"

Ryan also has a huge file of stupid messages we've left on his answering machine, "Yes, This is Walgreen's pharmacy. I'm calling for a Mr. Ryan Vella. Mr Vella, just letting you know your Valtrex prescription has been filled and is ready for pick up."

After a small party at Joe's several years back, Ryan was in the shower with his then girlfriend and he forgot to lock the door so I sent a raging drunk guy in to point at his naked butt while Joe and I sat outside and laughed. Even after all that Ryan still came out and tried to help tend to me when I had drank myself into a stuper.

You might ask, "Why in the hell would this guy continue to hang around with these tards?" Well that's simple. It's because we all treat each other like brothers. Ryan knows that if he is ever in need we will be there. Be it moral support, or having to go stomp the crap out of someone who crossed him.

This is just a little something for you Ryan. I felt you deserved it. No matter where we end up from here on out, you'll will always be our brother.

Check out Vella Country

-S

The List...

Well, it seems popular for people to make these "about me" lists on their weblogs. So I thought what the hell, I'll jump on the band wagon. Here goes.

Name: Scott Allan MacMeeken the middle and last name I shared with my father and I am proud of that.

Height: 6'4

Weight: Forget about it

Favorite food: Well, they have this Grouper sandwich at Margarita Grill. That is certainly in the top anyway.

Cologne I most often have on: Hugo or Cool Water

Worst Fear: losing my mother

Best times in my life: Alot of the time I was with Jennifer.

Worst times in my life: When Dad died, and of course alot of the time I was with Jennifer, hehe just kidding.

Hobbies: Playing music, horses, guns, collecting DVD's, tattoos, trying to be normal.

Strange facts about me: I sleep with a pillow between my legs. I've done this since I was very young. I call my step-dad "Uncle Dad". I'm sure there are a crap load of other strange things about me, I just can't think of right now.

Flaws I hate about myself: Oh geez, there's a bunch. My weight, the length of my face, my inability to follow through with SO MANY things I start, I could go on.

Siblings: one brother, two sisters. I'm the baby!

Vehicles: 94' Pontiac Firebird, 98' Chevy Silverado

Most expensive footwear: I have a pair of Nocona Rattlesnake skin cowboy boots I paid $400.00 for. Needless to say I don't wear them all over the place.

Most expensive hat: Black Stetson "Tyler" cowboy hat. $260.00 just cause I wanted to be like Garth.

The ring tone of my cell phone plays: the theme from the Dukes of Hazzard.

Why I'm proud to be of Scottish decent: The Scots kick ass, nuff said.

Why I'm proud to be from the south: Southern pride and values have stayed the same for many many years. I love small town country people who will treat you like a member of the family, but if you cross them will also whip your ass for you.

Who I most admire: People like myself who have been kicked in the teeth by life so many times they can't count and still have the courage to come back and go another round.

Favorite Quotes: "Who the devil are you?" "Not the devil, Mr. Sardust, but like him, I can open up the gates of hell. I'm Mordecai Sackett. You ready to go?" -From Louis L'Amour's Ride The River.

"He might never really do what he said, but at least he had it in mind. He had somewhere to go." -Louis L'Amour

"There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning." -Louis L'Amour

And the last for my Dad who helped build my love for Louis L'Amour novels, "When I die, remember that which you knew of me is with you always. What is buried is only the shell of what was. Do not regret the shell, but remember the man. Remember the father." -Louis L'Amour.

Dog: Australian Cattle Dog/Blue Heeler "Steve"

Well, that's about all I can think about for now.

Okay so it sounds drastic..

I've been doing alot of thinking about this.

Apparently there is still a great need for Correctional Officers in Iraq to train the Iraqi people how to properly run prisons. I've been told with my background and training I could go over there and make in the neighborhood of $170,000.00 for a year of service. That is approximately six times what I would make in a year in the U.S.. It is also tax free money. To add to it, all of your living expenses are paid for while you're over there.

Yes, I know that the pay is so high because of the constant danger in that area, but from what I understand the facilities that they have American law enforcement personnel working in are pretty secure. I've also been told that the officers are pretty much armed to the teeth.

It's merely one year. That would go by extremely fast. Then I could come home and actually buy a really nice house in the Nashville area outright. Hell, I'll only be thirty-three when I'm done. I've been thinking about it for a long time. If I can get one of my sisters to dog sit Steve for a year and the opportunity is as good as it looks on paper, I think I may just go for it.

Mom, of course will highly frown on the idea just as she has everytime I've brought it up, but I feel like I'm never going to be able to get anywhere with the income I've been living on. Yes, I am able to get by, but keep in mind I just have to take care of myself. If I had a family to take care of, I'd be like the rest of my married with children friends who always seem to barely make ends meet. If I had $170,000.00 in a lump sum I could invest in something that was actually mine, that was not given to me, that I EARNED.

I could OWN my own home then get a law enforcement job in Tennessee and be able to live comfortably while working on music around Nashville. That's a helluva pay off for a years work.

I say this after I just made a post a couple days ago about us needing to stay away from the middle east. Hmmm... it's pretty easy to get a blue collar guy to put a price on his own head.

-S

Ah here we go again...

What the hell is wrong with these terrorist groups that attack innocent civilians? I just don't get it. Again there is arises the possibility that we have once again been attacked by al-Qaeda terrorists because of course if you attack England, you have thereby attacked the U.S.

I'm sure the argument comes up that we have killed innocent civilians in our attacks on Baghdad. At the risk of sounding like a radical, I think we should pull all U.N. forces from the middle east and basically say, okay we're done messing with you people. You've made your point. The U.S. and Britain will no longer be involved in anything to do with middle eastern problems. Any suspected radical Muslim types living in the U.S. or Britain will be deported without issue. If you people would like to get together for tea and crumpets sometime that will be all well and good. Furthermore, if you ever feel the need to attack our innocent civilians again...we are going to blow the @#$% out of your !&*# $#% country, no holds barred, stopping for no reason until the entire country is laid to waste. Then celebrate with apple pie and room temperature beer while taking every bit or your resources. Now lets all be friends.

Like it or not that seems like a fair proclamation to me. I'm always pretty middle of the road politically and well, I think what I've stated here is pretty middle of the road. You don't mess with us and we won't mess with you either. Then if it happens again we send planes to drop propaganda flyers all over the middle east. I'm thinking pictures of Christopher Robin with an umbrella saying "Tut tut, it looks like rain." Then the next day, BOOM done.

The other speculation is possible IRA involvement. I don't even know where to start with these guys. They're no better than any Muslim threat. Extremist organizations are just !@#$%^- *& no matter where they're from. Some people would argue that our own government is an extremist organization. Hell, I'm not sure how much of an argument I can put up for that one. All I know is that it is constantly our innocent people who seem to take the punch for all these problems and it sucks ass.

So many arguments could be brought up here, most of which I don't really give a crap about. I don't have all the answers or the power to fix all these problems. I just have a silly web log.

I know I'm going to get a crap load of angry rebuttles to this post, but in all honesty I could really care less. Opinions of course, are like@#$%^&$ s, we've all got one.

-S

Sitting Around...

This is some art Kenny made out of various pics of me, and the head stock of my guitar ended up in there too. I thought it was kinda cool.

I'm sitting here waiting for the pizza delivery, hoping they'll hurry the heck up because I gotta get ready for work soon. I have to gaurd some inmate in the hospital tonight so I'm really hoping I don't get screwed over tomorrow and get stuck pulling a sixteen hour. I've had about all I can take of this crap. I hate over time with a passion and they need to stop bugging me about it.

Anyway, my mind is bogged down with way too much stuff. I think Kenny's Picasso style art work of me pretty much fits the mood I'm in.

-S

At Ryan's house

We had a real nice time over at Ryan's yesterday. Ryan grilled hot dogs and hamburgers for a day before the 4th get together. I took this picture of Ryan and his girlfriend Amanda. Our good friend Melvin stopped by and got in the picture with them. He is a bit of an odd bird, but we like him. Joe is really keyed up about moving to Tennessee. I don't blame him.

Happy Independence Day!!!

-S

Stupid things I do out of boredom...

Leave it to me to experiment with photo angles by giving the impression that I've been caught dumping in the woods.

Today was a pretty cool day. I got to meet Ryan's new girlfriend. She is very sweet and quite the pretty girl. I am very happy for him and I hope things go well.

Ryan, Joe, and I went riding around a bit yesterday for lack of anything better to do. All the rain we've had lately seems to have set the Water Moccasins on the move. We saw two good size ones smashed on the road. One was quite large and had been freshly killed. I was really tempted to skin it out, but I decided I didn't really feel like messing with it.

Someday soon I'm going to write something with more depth here, but for now I'm just doing my thing, whatever that is.

-S

My Faith Has Returned...

I am very excited about the upcoming August release of Faith Hill's new CD Fireflies. From the first time that I heard the first single Mississippi Girl I was ready to buy the CD.

Anyone who has been a fan of Faith Hill will know that she had made somewhat of a cross-over into a more pop genre. With the release of "Mississippi Girl" it is plain to see that Faith has returned to her country roots. Being a person who dreams of one day making it to the big time, the first verse of the song gave me a very excited feeling.

Well it's a long way from Star Mississippi. To this big stage I'm singing on tonight. And sometimes the butterflies still get me. When I'm in the spotlight...

I must admit that when Faith Hill's very first single, a remake of Janis Joplin's "Piece Of My Heart" was released I wasn't overly impressed. I just looked at her as another pretty face and I liked the original version of that song better. It wasn't until after the release of her second CD that I saw her in concert when she opened for Tim McGraw and realized how vocally talented she was. Now years later I am still a fan. Although I didn't like the pop stuff she did as much I still continued to buy her CD's because if you're truley a fan of someone you'll continue to support their work regardless of whether or not it is your cup of tea. When Fireflies is released, I will be at the store buying a copy and now more excited about a new Faith Hill CD than I have been in awhile.

-S

Well...

Well, I got my Celtic knot tattoo finished today. Steve Burton up at Aftershock had to fix a bunch of stuff where Lou messed up. I like Lou, but man he kinda fumbled the ball on my tat. I was a bit mad when I really got down to inspecting all the mistakes he made doing the outline of my tat. I mean, it's my arm and I gotta live with it the rest of my life. Now I had to go pay Steve money that I really didn't have to fix someone else's mistake. I trust Steve's work more than Lou's and I should've gone to him in the first place. It looks pretty sharp now and I am happy with it. Steve did the pictured tattoo by the way, I had it done last year. Lou is forgiven, but I don't think he'll be inking me anymore.

I've been working mad hours. I'm to the point now that everytime I go to work I'm afraid they're going to ask me to work over. I absolutely hate working sixteen hour shifts, but I think the world of my supervisors and I have trouble telling them no when we are so short staffed. People are quitting constantly because they hate that jail.

My dental insurance needs to hurry up and kick in. I am in serious need of dental work. Both my top wisdom teeth are bad and need to be removed. The one on the right has been acting up for days. When it starts aching, the pain is so excruciating that I have trouble concentrating on what people are saying when they talk to me.

The closing on the sale of Joe's house is the twenty-fourth of this month then he'll be moving back to Tennessee after being down here since he was fourteen. I have to make a final decision to move up there as well. Nashville has been calling me for years, but I've always found some reason to put it off. Joe moving will probably be the reason to push me across the line. I do really need to give my music dreams a fair shot once and for all. I am going to try to get at least one more friend to go with us.

In life, we all must face crossroads. We can stand in the middle and ponder which road to take, or walk forward and learn to live with the road we have chosen. I have truely reached my crossroads and it is now time to let destiny take it's course.

My feet is my only carriage. So I've got to push on through, but while I'm gone...Everythings gonna be alright. -Bob Marley

-S