A Li'l Sum'pin for BOBBIE and Other De Kelley Fans

Click on the following links and feast your eyes on photos galore of De:


http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=slv1-mdp&p=DeForest%20Kelley

http://www.starbase972.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=291 (This is an Israeli website; you wil scroll down from the LEFT, not the right)

http://www.klhalliday.com/DeKelley/Index.htm


If you know of any others, please leave a comment and direct fans to the other websites with lots of photos of De. Thanks!

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Tomorrow night it's likely I'll be at my church showing other ladies how to create home-made greeting cards with stamps, stickers, and other stuff, so it behooves me to write something tonight, or you'll think I'm a flake. I feel like flaking tonight, but cannot countenance it since I'll be flaking tomorrow...

Therefore...

I shall blog!

Alison Winter is about to sally forth on her pilgrimage walk in Spain for a number of weeks. Let's all pray for her while she's away. She'll be on her own and the weather can get awfully hot (and cold, nights) where she'll be walking... so I'm sure prayers are greatly appreciated.

Rosie O'Donnell has left The View (I haven't watched the show in years, but the news is all over the Internet and therefore unavoidable -- like Lindsay Lohan's and Britney Spears' troubles) and I've decided I should be her replacement, if the show is out of Hollywood. (If it's out of New York, fuggettaboutit.)

Why? I'm sure that with just a little bit of effort I could become as big a pain in the butt and just as big a ratings booster as she was. :)

Why? Because I'm the opposite of an Elisabeth Hasselbeck politically . Does that surprise anyone? Probably, since I'm a born again Christian... but I'm a former Democratic liberal leaning more conservative but definitely nowhere near Republican (if Bushies reflect current Republican ideology, count me OUT!) as I get older... sorta wobbly, you see, but once I catch my balance, I think I will be in just about the right position to make some sense, at least to myself if not to others... (Don't I sound entertaining already?!)

Why? Because I would like to make a ton of money (which I will need in order to retire when I'm 70) so, why not a television gig?! I have an interesting background, a brain...

Okay, I'm joking. Really. About the TV gig idea, I mean -- not about the interesting background and brain.

I would just like to get off dead center financially in the near future. I now have a job I absolutely love -- why not also find something that brings in some real money? Sorry to disappoint, but being a copy writer in Tacoma does not allow many of us in this city to acquire substantial money toward retirement, which I seriously need since I'm 56. In fact, I could be making more money as an executive secretary than I'm making right now, but I have "been there and done that" for too many years already, so I will be a copy writer until... God only knows ... what... when...where... I only know it'll be in Tacoma near my family, because they'll always be based here and I came back to be near them!

The sky's the limit, really. "Bloom where you are planted." I realize now (belatedly) that I can do anything in the writing/presentation realm that I set my mind to doing. It took thirty-five years (and being born again, and this stint as a wage-earning writer) to realize I really can do this for a living, but now that I do realize it, I'm going to reach out for the brass ring! I need more money in order to retire for at least a few years before I croak, and my worth is superior to the compensation I'm currently receiving ... so... who's the only person keeping me from acquiring more money? (Surprise! It's not my boss -- it's ME!!! It has always been me -- settling for "good enough; barely scraping by is adequate as long as I'm happy.") No longer!!! I will say "Yes!" to more abundance in my life from this day forward and see where it leads!

"Do what you love -- the money will follow." Old axiom. It worked for Walt Disney, for George Lucas, for Steven Spielberg.. it even worked for (Tiptoe Through The Tulips) Tiny Tim and brainless George "W"! Why not me? Why not YOU!?

If you know of anyone in need of a good writer (part-time, telecommuting evenings and weekends), let them know about me, will you? I'm not eager to leave my place of employment, but am aspiring to work after hours and weekends to make extra money unless a better-paying full-time writing or presentation opportunity presents itself here in Tacoma (or virtually, in telecommuting fashion.)

Thanks!


"For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you hope and a future."


http://www.frontiernet.net/~jimdandy/specials/blessed.htm

OKAY, WHO TURNED UP THE FURNACE?

It's in the mid-80's here in the Pacific Northwest today and that's too hot for me! We have humidity off Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean here, so mid-80 is like 99 in Arizona and I didn't move to Arizona for a sterling reason: TOO D_____ HOT!

The saving grace around here is that this kind of weather usually only lasts a day or two at a time from May-September, so we know it isn't going to do this to us all summer long. As mentioned before, I love four seasons and this is the major reason: No matter how uncivilized the weather becomes, we know it's not going to stick around long enough to become a pain in the pa-toot.

One of our copywriters at On-Hold Concepts (www.onholdconcepts.com) is out for surgery on a knee this week (Ow-ee! Get well soon, Keith!) and while he's out Brian and I are handling a few of his accounts. (He worked ahead so most of his accounts are taken care of. Super thoughtful man, is Keith!) So far, there haven't been many of his clients needing help. I've handled two quick things and one slower/still pending thing. Two days to go until the weekend;I think we'll be fine...

I walked twice yesterday, morning and evening, for a total of almost five miles. I was planning to do that today, too, but the heat is too intense this evening for this wimp-ster. I'll walk when it's close to eighty, but not when it's 85. This morning when Vernita and I walked it was 60 degrees already at 6:45 a.m., so I knew it was gonna be a scorcher...

Yesterday's blog elicited a comment from someone who claimed to be the One personally responsible for the coming End Times. Needless to say, I didn't allow his comment to come to light. I have quite a secure feeling that God is not going to communicate with me (or you) through this blogspot in quite as blatant a manner as this post-er was suggesting! It's nice to have control of who gets on here. This is the first time I have ever turned down a comment that someone wanted to post, however. The people who visit my blogsite are largely De people or church/synagogue folk, and De people are good people, and good people are quite often godly people... so the party we have here is generally lovely and lively... and we'll keep it that way. Even the Inquisitor keeps his questioning peaceable, respectful and friendly. He's a keeper, for sure! His last comment on "Bring on the End Times if I don't have to hear any more about Lindsay Lohan!" nearly put me on the floor -- and I was at work when I logged on for a moment to check e-mails and ran across that, so it was NOT the time to fall on the floor!

"What's with you?"

"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

"Want to share?"

"The End Times! Linday Lohan! HA HA HA HA HA!"

Somehow I just don't think it would have translated well at work -- do you?

The Inquisitor Is Back -- FUNNY GUY!

The Inquisitor writes:

You wrote:
"Without the re-establishment of the Nation of Israel, the end times would be delayed even further... and I don't know too many people who want to see that happen. "

Um, I think I would be one of those people! Do we really want an "end of times"???!
Is that what it's all about, just reaching this point? Then, what is the point?
Enquiring minds want to know!

I responded:

The end times have to come before heaven on earth is established. According to the Bible. Of course we want the end of THESE times to come, so that the present prince of this world (Satan) and all the people he is stroking, arming and directing are taken out!

The end times aren't the END -- they are the beginning of the new heaven and new earth -- a re-establishment of the earth God planned. That's why evangelists are so eager to get unbelievers under the banner of the SAVED so that when the end times come, they are protected from suffering the consequences owing to the fallen prince and his minions in the world...

Evangelists are trying to save lives for eternity. That's ALL!

It will happen -- the end times. The question is: Who will be onboard bound for glory and who won't?

I hope you and yours will be onboard. That's the HOPE! Got it, now?

Me

The Inquisitor Followed Up With:

If I don't have to read or hear about Lindsay Lohan getting drunk anymore, then yes, I'm all for it. ;-)

Thanks Kris.





Funny guy! I can't wait to meet him in Vegas in August!

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Trust in abundance (from "HIGHER AWARENESS")

"Once, when we were discussing a world peace project with my teacher somebody asked him, ‘Where is all the money going to come from?’ And he replied without hesitation, ‘From wherever it is at the moment.’"

Fear, doubt, anxiety and disbelief all serve to repel abundance from us. Faith, love and gratitude for the gifts of our lives keep energy and abundance flowing. The more we trust in our well being, the more it will be realized.

"Manifestation is an act of trust. It is the soul pouring itself out into its world, like a fisherman casting a net to gather in the fish he seeks; with each cast properly made, we will bring what we need to us, but first we must hurl ourselves into the depths without knowing just what lies beneath us." -- David Spangler

Top O' The Morning!

...and boy howdy, is it ever TOP of the morning! I've been awake since before 6 a.m. Just went to H&L Produce for some fresh fruits and veggies for me and for a pound of cheddar cheese for Aunt Tod. Before that I went through all of her stored boxes (oh, joy..) looking for a few items she wants brought to her. I didn't find all she wanted, but found enough extra things that perhaps she will be satisfied.

When Wal-Mart opens (if indeed it's open today -- Memorial Day) I need to go there and get Equate and baking soda for her. This time I'm getting enough for three weeks and she will need to find a place to store it, because with gas prices the way they are, I am calling a halt on weekly trips. I shop strategically for myself for that reason and need to get her into the habit of thinking that way, too. (She hasn't driven in eight years and probably doesn't realize what it costs to go galavanting for two items every single week.)

I didn't sleep well last night -- at all. I think I'm experiencing a modified "dark night of the soul" -- MUCH modified from past years (pre-born-again) when I would get into a blue funk for weeks on end.

At certain times I will focus on what's wrong with the world (did you notice a change in my blogs recently? You can almost pinpoint the day!) and that will blot out for a time almost everything that is RIGHT with the world, which is really almost everything except for what human beings bring to it in their all-too-frequent unconscious/unconscientious moments. In these darker moments, I am always reminded of a quote by Mark Twain. In his early 70's someone noticed that his writings were becoming darker, more cantankerous, more gloomy than before. An interviewer mentioned the change to him and he later wrote, "People call me a pessimist in my old age, but I'm not. I am an optimist -- who did not arrive."

God, I pray I won't ever become what Mark Twain became! I want to arrive at the promised land (this side of heaven), not just always be headed there!

I always cut Twain a lot of slack that I cannot cut for myself. By his early 70's he had lost his entire family, and his entire fortune at least once in speculative adventures such as an early prototype of the typewriter. I'd say he had serious reason to be a little less chipper than he was as a lad when all lay before him and he was in love and had a family he loved who loved him...

Late in his life he wrote such things a WHAT IS MAN? (a diatribe against the human tribe, and quite instructive if you have the stomach for it -- although not entirely fair, I don't believe) and a few other things that really rag on humans for being as fallen as they are. I could do that... but it's going to get us nowhere. WE know we're messing things up royally. It is only through forgiving ourselves and others that we snatch enough strength back from powers of darkness to fight the battles that need to be fought. Every moment we sit and self-flagellate and condemn and criticize others is a moment we can be spending turning the world around by offering a kindness, a blessing, a moment of sanity into the environments surrounding us.

I have always been peaceable and joy-filled at base. I have often been driven (or allowed myself to be driven) into manifesting "righteous indignation" at the unfairness and callousness of some people or policies, but then I always return to "center" and realize I need to resign as General Manager of the Universe and send out what I WANT (shalom in its entire, truest form), not more of what I am so good at RAILING AGAINST: impatience, condemnation, bitterness, etc.

Accentuate the positive. "“Whatever is true…whatever is noble…whatever is just…whatever is pure…whatever is lovely… meditate on these things.” Philippians 4:8 In these things we find God. All else is chaff, and should be blown away with a breath of kindness. It's God's province to judge it, not ours.

I love MAN OF LA MANCHA. I am Dawn Quixote. I usually see what is possible, not what is. Robert Kennedy often quoted George Bernard Shaw: "Some men see things as they are and say, 'Why?' I dream things that never were and say, 'Why not?'"

Why not try living and loving the way we want others to live and love -- with gracious attitudes and forgiveness evident in abundance? Why not mend fences rather than building higher walls?

It always seems so possible inside my heart. Why is it so hard outside? Is that because the Holy Spirit lives in my heart and the world is in enemy hands (powers and principalities of darkness), as the Bible states? It seems that way.

The only way to transform darkness is to switch on a Light. Darkness must flee when Light enters the room.

Let's do all we can to bring light into every life, into every room... Let's light up the world with God's Love!

Ooh-Whee! I Seem to Have Opened a Can of Worms!

Gee, based on Alison's response to my last blog, now it seems even our allies are ticked at us and have been for some time! Can't say I blame them a whole lot. I just hope the citizenry of this world understands that our elected officials seldom reflect the true nature of America... nor do most movies... That's why I'm glad Alison is coming over to stay for a while. She needs to be here long enough to get a glimpse of the REAL America. It's isn't perfect by a long shot, but it's better than the press it has been receiving... and much, much better than its present leadership.

We need to keep voting to keep elected officials accountable, no matter how disappointing the results may be even when there is a regime change. At some point they will figure out that American policy -- foreign and domestic -- is best when it's focused on lifting people up instead of putting them down.

As for Britain giving Israel Palestinian land in the mid 40's -- I think LEARN THE BIBLE IN 24 HOURS will show that it was God's plan for Israel to be re-established within its historical boundaries on the exact date that it was re-established (I'm sure without the knowledge of the English politicians who put the measure through!). I won't argue with God. He knows what He's doing -- He has been doing it since He created all that is and set it in time!

Without the re-establishment of the Nation of Israel, the end times would be delayed even further... and I don't know too many people who want to see that happen.

From HIGHER AWARENESS...

"God has no other hands than ours."
-- Dorothee Solle

"One act of beneficence, one act of real usefulness, is worth all the abstract sentiment in the world."
-- Ann Radcliffe

"Past the seeker as he prayed came the crippled and the beggar and the beaten. And seeing them... he cried, ‘Great God, how is it that a loving creator can see such things and yet do nothing about them?’... God said, ‘I did do something. I made you.’"
-- Sufi Teaching

I'm sitting here trying to decide whether to go to church today. Isn't that odd? Here I am this hyper-spiritual, almost evangelical type (most zealous, yes, most zealous!) and I am noodling skipping church this weekend! I didn't go last week or the weekend before, either -- but those were for better reasons. I didn't go on Mother's Day because I'm not a mother and my mother is gone, so it's a rough day for me; and I didn't go last weekend because I was exhausted and needed a full weekend to really catch my breath.

I could claim the same this morning after working my buns off Friday night and most of yesterday getting the condo ready to show. But the actual reason I'm thinking of skipping is that this is Memorial Day weekend and there will be an honor guard and salutes to the military lost in all the wars. This annual ritual always puts me in tears -- and I just don't want to go through that today.

It's also because I will be reminded in a stark way once again that there is a nasty war going on in Iraq, a war I find objectionable; that men, women and children (Iraqi men women, and children and U.S. servicemen and -women) are in harm's way and dying and our country no longer resembles a Liberator of Iraq as much as it resembles a scrappy, ill-advised bully. It turns my stomach.

God bless our military men and women who truly felt called at the start of this mis-directed action against "terrorism" and those who, daily, still feel the call to serve. I just wonder how many of them still feel that way... I'll bet they'd rather be in Afghanistan looking for the masterminds of September 11th than in Iraq... but now Iraq has become a magnet for terrorists of all nationalities and the Iraqi people are innocently caught in the middle of a fierce, 24/7 battle in which a few high-level U.S. government officials chose to engage. At the beginning, I heard two friends say, "Well, better to fight terrorists over there than over here in our own streets!" How nationalistic and egocentric is that?! "Let's fight our battles in other peoples' countries so we won't be overly inconvenienced by it." I can understand why so much of the rest of the world thinks we're spoiled rotten colonialists.

Our terrorism battle didn't have its genesis in Iraq; Iraq had nothing to do with September 11th. So we are fighting in a THIRD country a battle that should have been confined to two -- the U.S. and Afghanistan. I think we would have received additional military support from other countries had we focused on the job at hand and not diverted our military might to Iraq. We would still have created a "terror magnet" but it would have been in the "right" country: a country that has been a base of operations for and a training ground for terrorists for decades. It would have been the right target and the better strategy.

Yeah, Saddam Hussein was a bully. There are also many other bullies, some with real capital and instinct for regional domination and weapons of mass destruction. How many of them can -- or should -- the U.S. take on unilaterally to make the world safe for democracy or -- let's face it -- for continued global-population existence itself?

I'm not an isolationist, either. I just feel in my gut that we have let the military industrial genie out of the bottle and where it will take us is closer and closer to global annihilation. Congress has now authorized more spending, once again allowing the Bushies to continue to engage Iraq militarily (even as Bush's own people jump ship every other week and write books about what a disappoinment the President became to them over time) -- a Congress we voted to secure because we felt it was time for things to change! I'm beginning to wonder if Democrats are as stuck in the muck and mire as the Republicans! Perhaps it's time to start voting Green and Independent to see if that strategy provides office-holders who give a rip for something other than "politics as usual" as presently exercised on Capitol Hill.

That said, I think a Clinton/Obama or Obama/Clinton ticket would be a breath of fresh air. Let's see how a woman and a black man guide the country and put to rest once and for all the prejudice that the American Presidency is the sole province of Male White Anglo Saxon Protestants.

But back to church-going and Memorial Day. As I age, ritualized remembrance (on such and such a date) means less to me while unscheduled moments of remembrance mean much more. I have recently been getting the mental impression, "Moderation in all things." Even church activities. God is everywhere, not just in church! Confining Him to four walls is strait-jacketing Him!

But one thing I don't want to become is a pain-in-the-hind-end proselytizer -- in this blog or anywhere else. Where spirituality naturally works and fits, fine. De did that and my Grandma did that, but at no time did I ever hear from either of them that religion should become the be all and end all of most conversation. It was De's and Grandma's gracious love and personalized attention that lassoed me in; it was only later that I realized that what I was seeing in them was God's love: pure, agape blessing, mercy and grace. That's Who I want to reflect... the God I love and serve... but without any underlying pressure (self-willed) to convert everyone I meet!

Conversion is the Holy Spirit's province. I am charged only with tilling the soil and planting a seed.

Is Million Dollar Baby A True Story? Val Barrett Does the Research!

My long-time friend Val Barrett (nee Chase -- we were acting buddies and aspirants in high school) has done some research to the burning question above -- and we're still a little unsure! But here is what she uncovered...


The screenplay is by Paul Haggis, who has worked mostly on TV but with this earns an Oscar nomination. Other nominations, possibly Oscars, will go to Swank, Eastwood, Freeman, the picture and many technicians -- and possibly the original score composed by Eastwood, which always does what is required and never distracts. Haggis adapted the story from Rope Burns: Stories From the Corner, a 2000 book by Jerry Boyd, a 70-year-old fight manager who wrote it as "F.X. Toole."

Rope Burns: Stories From the Corner," a collection of short stories based on the experiences of long-time fight manager and cut-man Jerry Boyd, writing under the pen name F.X. Toole, was published in 2000 by Harper Collins. Toole was 70 at the time and had been writing and battling rejection letters for forty years. "Rope Burns" was his first published work. Soon after its publication he was commissioned to write his first novel, an epic story set on the Texas-Mexico border. He died on 2 September 2002 at age 72, just before his novel was finished. "Rope Burns" was dedicated to Jerry's partner and longtime friend Dub Huntley.

The movie is based on three short stories from Jerry Boyd's book: "The Monkey Look," "Million $$$ Baby" and "Frozen Water." Some parts of the introduction were used as well.

I haven't seen the movie yet, but.......sounds like perhaps a compilation of people the author ran into over his course of years. Val

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There you have it... clear as mud! I guess I will assume, from this, that the story is derivative and may or may not be true regarding an actual individual woman fighter. That happens a lot in Hollywood! Sure would like to know if the ending was real or fabricated (paralysis, euthanasia, disappearance of fight trainer). If fabricated, I'm still ticked!

Great job of research, Val! Thanks for taking the time!

Gadzooks! One Tired Lady Here... But In a Good Way!

I spent four and a half hours after work last night cleaning my carpets. To quote our favorite doctor: "Oh, joy..."

Before I did that, of course, every single item that didn't need to be in the house was placed into the garage because at some point I will be listing this condo for sale and I want it to be House Beautiful uncluttered when I do that. Of course, now I will need to spend Monday in the garage putting all the stuff into boxes... but hey, once I do that, it will all be ready to MOVE to a new duplex... whenever the good Lord decides it's time for Jackie and me to find the perfect duplex!

Okay, let's fess up here: maybe not every single "unnecessary" item went out into the garage yet (I am living here still, after all!), but I did make a serious dent and will slowly simplify even more. I'm looking around my den right now (where most of my stuff is, usually) and I realize I still have a couple boxes' worth of stuff that COULD go out: decorative vases, small gifts from a De fan in Holland, some photos of De, three copies of Terry's book, none of my own (they're in the garage already), stationery, envelopes; five super-special stuffed animals...

I don't collect stuffed animals but during my life have found just a handful of ones I couldn't leave on their shelves in the store: a post-September 11th bear that sings AMERICA in its entirety (proceeds went to the Sept 11th Fund for the families of victims); a pastel multi-hued Easter bunny that I chose as my souvenir from Vegas the year my sisters and I met there for horseback riding, a few shows and a walk in a cactus garden; a serval that one of my bosses, Al Foitag, got me not long after Deaken passed away (I screamed and hugged it tight right in the office at Warner Bros); a Year 2K Happy New Year bear; and a llama with real llama fur... There is one more bear, but he's at work. (He holds my "remember to call this client back" note when I reach someone and they want me to call them back at a later time the same day.) I also have a little angel that plays music that I gave Mom when she was dying; I got it back after she passed away; and I have the bear Dad gave her during that time, too.

OK, so I have eight stuffed animals. All are mementos of special occasions. You know I used to work for an animal welfare agency, don't you? And that I rehabilitated orphaned wildlife many times? You KNOW I'm an animal nut, don't you? Well, now you do, if you didn't before...

Back to carpet cleaning. I have three cats -- all aging, all rescued -- so carpet cleaning involves vacuuming thoroughly and then using a dry compound and an orbital machine. As the orbital machine does its thing, it digs out any cat hair that has embedded itself into the carpet.

One of my cats -- Ashley -- is a gorgeous long-haired Persian-looking guy. He's sweet as sugar and has the IQ of a donut. Luckily his hair is the non-matting kind, but it is wispy, so when it comes off on its own (not into a brush), it can quickly waft to a hidden location and embed itself in the carpet, usually along a wall or behind a couch (because otherwise I see it and grab it as it's wafting by).

Well, I got about half a handful of embedded long hair out of about 850 square feet of carpet. I consider that pretty good. With three cats, I try to stay on top of vacuuming and grooming, but it's when I clean the rugs that I find out how well I have been doing. I feel pretty proud of myself this time!

The only areas that really needed cleaning were the entryway and the carpet just off the kitchen (part of the entryway), but I always do the entire expanse every time, because dust happens, and dander happens, and -- no, s--- doesn't happen, thank you very much. My kitties are litter pan fans, for which I am immensely grateful, and I too am housebroken as of this writing (I hear this sometimes changes as we age, and in the interest of accuracy, I wanted to mention this, in the event someone reads this blog in twenty years and things have changed by then)! There is the occasional upchucked hairball or the occasional "I ate too fast" barf (okay, too much information here -- I know) , but I always hit those right away with a pet store product so there are zero stains on my light-color carpet ... except for a few dots in front of the washer where someone (who else? I live here alone!) spilled a few minuscule drops of bleach when she put bleach in the washer... They are hardly noticeable, and I learned my lesson...

Later this morning I believe Aunt Tod wants to take a trip to Wal-Mart for some baking soda, not because she's baking, but because she washes her clothes in it. It's hypo-allergenic (she's sensitive to most cleaning products) and it keeps her clothes looking absolutely new, even the ones that are 20 and 30 years old, so I think I will try it, too. (Then again, she has so many clothes that maybe she only wears an outfit once every 20 years and that's why they look brand new... Dunno... but she swears by baking soda and I believe her.)

Bobbie Bobstein tells me a simcha is a "blessed event" in Hebrew. (Those of you who read the blog about the tree planting in Israel in Mom's memory remember that I asked her, "What's a simcha?") Bobbie also tells me that MILLION DOLLAR BABY is a true story. I will not argue, but... I will not argue... but...I think she is mistaken there. Will someone do some research and prove it to me? I spent about five minutes looking and didn't see any reference to it being true. I will hate the movie less if I find out it was based on a true story... because the lady fighter did realize her dream in the movie, and then she died. I hope we all realize our dreams before we die!

I hate to relinquish this blog for today, but it seems I'm out of things to report! If that changes, I'll return. If not, hey! I'll see you tomorrow!

Ciao for now!

Dreams and Spankings...

Last night I had a dream I was moving back to a home I lived in when I was 30 (on my parents' property). When I walked in the front door and into all the rooms, I found all of Dad's work shop stuff stored in every nook and cranny of my house to a point where there was a small path leading through every room and no room for anything else!

Now, there’s a message! I was pretty miffed, to say the least, and going to require him to move it out.

I think what stopped me from moving forward for so many years was Dad’s “stuff” that invaded my life: his assertion that I would fall flat on my ass, etc. Had I insisted earlier on moving that crippling prophecy out of my psyche, I would have progressed faster (without as much fear and trepidation) toward the kind of life I am now living – in the spirit, with the muse – living the goal I always had for myself.

But even in the dream I had a hard time feeling mad at Dad for more than a few moments… In the dream, his shop had burned down and the only place he had left to keep anything was with me. That, too, was a metaphor of his life. He needed to have his stuff in our lives because his own life had pretty much burned down around him before he was ten. (He was an unwanted fifth child and photos of him even as an eight year old show a very sad-looking little guy who looked pretty lost and alone.)

I think my compassion has enabled me to forgive many unpleasant aspects of the way Dad lived and treated those he loved. If I had missed the experiences I had being raised under his roof, I would perhaps never have known emotional hardship, and without that, I may not have learned compassion for others and ultimately for him…

When Melody (Jackie’s best friend from childhood) was here last weekend, we were discussing birth order and she mentioned that the middle child is generally the peacemaker and peacekeeper. (I am a middle child.) Jackie looked at me and said, “Not in Kris’s case!”

I was taken aback, as was Melody. Melody insisted, “Yes, she was!” and Jackie said, “No, she wasn’t!”

I kept silent, since this was about other peoples’ impressions of me (which can be painfully instructive if you’re strong enough for it!). Melody said, “Kris was always peaceful, in her bedroom writing or out with the animals.” Jackie said, “No, she wasn’t! There were times when she was very UNpeaceful! The time she took ______ on for holding a knife to my throat, and another time when she almost pummeled ______ for being a tormentor.” And Melody said, “There you go! She was being a peace-keeper at that point. Peacekeepers aren’t always peaceable, you know!”

And Jackie got it. She looked at me, mouth a bit open, experiencing an “Aha!” moment.

Whenever I was belligerent as a kid it was nearly always because someone else had overstepped the boundaries of civilized interaction with someone else. (I will usually allow someone to trample on me pretty good before I’ll call a halt; I am much quicker to react when someone else is in harm’s way.) In childhood and teenage years I was usually in my bedroom doing my own thing (writing or reading) – engaging my mind in some mythological noble pursuit.

I used to wonder why solitude was so compelling to me, but looking back I certainly understand it now: Outside my bedroom door was utter emotional chaos! Dad was the personification of the Tasmanian Devil. Big sis was all too often engaged in calling her sisters “Fatso” “Retard" and the and other equally-negative appellations. Jackie, the baby in the family, hit both of us over the head with a wooden spoon when she was a toddler (with Dad’s help -- he carried her on his shoulders so she could catch and bash us) and developed a bossy attitude -- which I actually treasure most of the time these days! No one else can say "Kris" to me the way she does and make it sound like a reprimand! Any time she disagrees or thinks I'm all wet, I'll get a "Kris" that sorta corrodes the lining of my stomach... What she's saying is, "I am trying to be peaceable here, but you are so far off base you are on the moon!"

In the Smith family, Mom and I were two peaceable types existing in a tornado alley of related lunatics! (I say that with a laugh and a lot of love!)

(Mea culpa -- there were many times when I too engaged in cruel verbal jousting; but usually only because it seemed to me almost impossible to be truly heard in our family when I was peaceable and quieter. I remember thinking one time, "The only time Dad really listens to me is when I'm riled to the boiling point or so freaking upset I can hardly breathe I'm crying so hard...")

I love my sisters with all my heart, and I loved my mom and dad (and still do). None of this is intended to belittle anyone. It’s just amazing what looking back in love does to one’s perspective. We were all just “out of control” – the others all-too-often launching verbal assaults and Mom and me off in our little cocoons of stolen moments of solitude, temporarily escaping the stress of chronic emotional uprisings.

I just wanted to be left alone. I still do when people start to get dicey and unpleasant. That’s no way to live, really – at the end of two extremes: unmitigated tension and sublime meditation. But it was so at our place.

Yet other kids often told us they wished they lived in our family – so others had it much, much worse. I have since heard horror stories of other childrens’ lives. My childhood may have left scars but no gaping wounds that refuse to heal… There was no sexual or physical abuse. Oh, I was spanked a few times as a child, and swatted well once as a teenager, and deserved every one of them!

I don’t consider spanking abusive; sometimes it was the only thing that could capture my attention and make me STOP and LISTEN to what Mom was telling me! I think kids who are never spanked don’t realize that there are actions and activities that are wholly unacceptable. Spanking should be reserved for those moments: e.g, when a child is tormenting an animal or another person, or running headlong toward a busy street. “YEOWCH!” is a wonderful, effective way to instill vital lessons!

Matters of safety and decent interaction need to be enforced physically the FIRST time (and any subsequent times they occur) so that a child has a Significant Emotional Experience and SEEs that THERE IS A VERY SERIOUS CONSEQUENCE FOR DISOBEYING THIS PARTICULAR RULE. Time outs and time in the corner should be for minor violations (failure to put toys away, interrupting, having an attitude, etc.). Stuff that can get a kid killed or actions that willfully injure another living being (animal or human) should be met with the strictest form of discipline – a heated up hind end! In my opinion. I’m not trained as a child psychologist and I’m not a mother, but this is how I would raise up a child in the way he or she should go… My Mom did it for me (spanking), and I’m no worse the wear for it – and probably a whole lot better than I would have been without strict limits on the parameters she set for me.

Mythology and Reality Are Cousins...

Last weekend I began working on the Las Vegas presentation. I'm about three pages into it and will worry it to death and resurrection before I feel it's just right. But now that I have begun to re-read THE POWER OF MYTH (by Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers), I feel compelled to pull some mythology quotes from the book and add that to the mix. After all, for the Vegas audience, STAR TREK is perhaps its most prevalent and precious mythology…

In the book (and PBS television special, I presume) Campbell and Moyers explain the difference between two words that we often use interchangeably in this AMERICAN IDOL-addicted culture: celebrity and hero. There is actually a significant distinction between the two terms.

A celebrity does what he or she does out of a need to express him or herself and out of a need to be recognized for it. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that because the result is a blessing, regardless of the celebrity’s focus or intention (mainly upon self).

A hero does what he or she does for others, sometimes to the point of death (physical, emotional, or symbolic).

A celebrity can also be a hero -- but usually not simultaneously.

It’s when a celebrity truly transcends the limelight aspects of their creative lives and enters the realm of service, not for his or her own need for adulation or adoration (and, again, we all have that need), but because there’s a genuine compulsion to bless, support, help, or validate other human beings. Heroes are far larger than the egos and neuroses that inhabit them.. They truly believe that “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.”

While it’s customary in our society to say that we believe in the Vulcan philosophy just quoted, our individual actions often betray our proclamation and reveal it as largely lip service. "If it ain’t about us, or ours, it ain’t all that important," is a common perspective out there in the world.

To find today’s heroes, you have to visit

• a place of worship where people are working hard to learn, to absorb God's essence into the core of their own being , and then to step into the gap as the potent and merciful image-bearers that their God says they are (this is the environment in which De grew to adulthood; his father was a preacher)

• or a police department

• or a military base

• or a home with a sick, feverish child -- or even a perfectly well one! --

....to find more than a handful of everyday heroes, people whose daily lives are being poured into others as a matter of intent -- as a goal, as a blessing, and for no reason other than to protect and serve.

If they receive attention or notoriety for their heroic deeds, they discount it. True heroes know that what they do should be the norm, not the exception, and so they don’t consider it anything unusual or extraordinary. It’s just "what they do" because anything less is just not enough…

Of course the rest of us recognize how blasted special most of them really are, but if we treat them the way we feel they should be treated they will have none of it.. not comfortably, anyway.

When I first met De, he was a celebrity to me. It didn't take many meetings with him before I realized that I no longer viewed him as merely celebrated -- he was absolutely heroic.

We - STAR TREK FANS - made De a celebrity. The Holy Spirit made him a hero -- a man to whom extending grace and blessing was second nature...

We all know how extraordinary we think he was... and he was... but he never "got" that, which is why he was able to remain as humble and unaffected as he was by the notoriety thrust upon him during and after the television series made "Bones McCoy" a household name.

What those of us who met or knew De remember most about the man is not that he acted -- but that he reacted.. he responded... He listened, and cared and blessed everyone with whom he came into contact.

I never, in all the years I knew him, saw him do anything other than accept and bless those with whom he shared moments: at a convention, at work, in the market, or in his home. He was the personification of the quote,"Everyone you meet is experiencing some sort of trial. Be kind."

He was an inspiration to me.

I Have To Pass Tonight... Much More Tomorrow!

Jackie and I took Aunt Tod to IHOP tonight to celebrate her 94th birthday. She had a wonderful time and the servers at IHOP treated her like a queen -- free meal, free ice cream strawberry sundae, hugs all around. It was glorious. She was beaming like a kid.

Jackie brought her a lovely plant and I bought our dinners (had planned on getting all three dinners, but IHOP blessed Tod with hers, since IHOP is her favorite resaturant.) No, this is not a commercial for IHOP, but I do think we will be taking her there about once a month to watch her enjoy a meal. It really made her day, which of course made our day!

It's 8:30 and I just got home and have a headache (actually have had it all afternoon except during the meal -- or if I had it then, it was forgotten in joy), so I'm going to wish you all a good night and will resume this tomorrow.

Do something terrific for an elder who isn't accustomed to being fussed over if you want to find something to smile about. It's as big a treat to the giver as it is to the receiver!

"The Power of Myth" by Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers

Terry Rioux gave me an autographed copy (autographed by Bill Moyers) of THE POWER OF MYTH several years ago and I got started on it but then put it away. Just pulled it out again last night and started reading it again. It is a truly remarkable book. I encourage you to read it.

The back cover of the book reads, "To Joseph Campbell, mythology was "the song of the universe, the music of the spheres." With Bill Moyers, one of America's most prominent journalists, as his thoughtful and engaging interviewer, The Power of Myth touches on subjects from modern marriage to virgin births, from Jesus to John Lennon, offering a brilliant combination of intelligence and wit.

"The symbols of mythology and legend are all around us, embedded in the fabric of our daily lives, and the Moyers-Campbell dialogues are a welcome guide to recognizing and understanding their meaning." Cincinnati Post

"The Power of Myth" is a glittering explanation of a literary world of the spirit... Scintillating conversations and provocative ideology are rampant in this book, as they are in the broadcasts themselves." Pasadena Star-News

Newsweek wrote: Campbell has become the rarest of intellectuals in American life: a serious thinker who has been embraced by the popular culture."

It's worth the read and the wonder. Try it! You'll like it! Especially you creatives out there! This book should convince you that what you do is important to our mental, emotional and spiritual well-being in many instances.

Without our mythologies, we are aimless wanderers, understanding not where we are going or what the goal of the wandering should be.

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Terry Lee Rioux Will Be In Vegas, Too!

Just received an email from Terry Lee Rioux (author of FROM SAWDUST TO STARDUST, The Biography of DeForest Kelley, Star Trek's Doctor McCoy). She wanted to know if I have room on my floor for one more. Hey, I'll FIND room on my floor (or somewhere else) for one more! I haven't seen her (except in pictures and magazine articles) since Sept 2001. That was the last time she was in Hollywood to do research on her book. She and I experienced the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon from the same living room couch... It will be nice to see her in happier circumstances!

I don't think Terry will be appearing in Vegas, but those of you coming to see me will probably get to meet her, too. Perhaps she'll bring some books and join me at the book table. (You'll have to buy my books ahead of time or buy them at the Creation table, because I won't be bringing any along this time.) If you want to meet Terry, just let me know and I will see what we can do to get an evening time gathering of some sort, perhaps around a common dinner table on Friday or Saturday evening, with everyone paying their own bill, if there's enough interest in doing something like that...

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The certificate from the Jewish National Fund arrived in the mail today. It reads: Trees for Israel: (then in Hebrew and in English a quote from the Bible) "When you shall come to the land you shall plant trees." Leviticus 19:23

The certificate reads:

A tree has been planted in memory of Dorothea Hope Smith. Reflecting on Your Dear Mom for Mother's Day. May this serve as a living tribute to her memory, Bobbie and Joel Bobstein.

The back of the certificate reads: For over 100 years, Jewish National Fund has been the caretaker of the land of Israel, on behalf of its owners -- Jewish people everywhere.

Today, after planting over 240 million trees, JNF is continuing to fulfill its mission through the Blueprint Negev initiative, supporting Israel's newest generation of pioneers in developing the Negev desert. Together, we will continue to strengthen the land of Israel and improve the quality of life for all Israelis in the next century and beyond.

By planting trees in Israel, you have helped curb global warming. Trees help to offset human carbon dioxide emissions by absorbing CO2 -- the primary greenhouse gas and a main cause of global warming -- from the atmosphere. On average, a single tree will absorb one ton of CO2 over its lifetime.

For more information about the work we do in Israel, or to make a donation, please visit www.jnf.org or write to Jewish Natonal Fund, 42 East 69th Street, New York, NY 10021.

To plant more trees, or to learn how you can use tree certificates as invitations for your next simcha (okay, Bobbie and Joel, what's a simcha?), please visit www.jnf.org/store or call 800-542-TREE (8733). Contributions are tax deductible.

What a great way to memorialize a loved one -- by contributing to the natural environment in Israel! Someday, God willing, I will travel to the Holy Land and look upon a vast grove of living memorials and know that my Mom's tree stands among them...

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I am inordinately weary this evening and it's only Monday! I stayed up to watch MILLION DOLLAR BABY last night on television (I n-e-v-e-r watch television but had heard enough about this movie that I decided to watch it and see what all the Oscar hoopla was about.) Must admit, it was very well done. The acting was exceptional, especially Hilary Swank, her "trailer trash relatives," and of course Morgan Freeman.

It was a very upsetting movie in a lot of ways. I sometimes wonder why stories like this are written unless they're based on a true story. I don't think this one was. PAY IT FORWARD was based on a true story and so the ending (the death of the young man played by Haley Joel Osment) was unchangeable -- the rest was noble.

In MILLION DOLLAR BABY, we have a tragedy and a euthanasia that are scripted, not historical. Both are well-executed.. but I was left wondering, "Why did the writer want us leaving the story feeling the way we left it feeling?" There is so much real tragedy in the world. SCHINDLER'S LIST, I get. BOBBY, I get. History, I get. But creating a fictional story that engages our emotions and then rips us to shreds -- that's entertainment?! I dunno. Had I known how it was going to end -- with the defeat of the Swank character -- I would have gone to bed sooner. But then, I have never been a fan of boxing movies. Too much great, gruesome make-up work. Violence.

I am so sick of violence. I want Hollywood to make films that reflect some good news without it being directed always at people under 10. The world needs hope and encouragement. MILLION DOLLAR BABY's message is, "Go after your dreams with all have inside you but don't expect them to come true. S--- happens, baby."

I grew up hearing that message at home. Hollywood (back then) is what gave me the hope that got me where I am today as a writer. It's a shame that "success" to the Swank character resulted in trailer trash relatives who didn't appreciate her in any way except as a cash cow, and a devastating injury in the ring that left her paralyzed and wanting to die...

It's almost as depressing as THE BOOKS OF ECCLESIASTES AND JOB IN THE BIBLE! But in the Bible in both instances, there was a happy ending: "God's grace is sufficient for you."

In MILLION DOLLAR BABY we don't even know what became of the Eastwood character. He just disappeared, never to be seen again? Did he commit suicide because he felt he violated God's commandment, "Thou shalt not murder?" Did the priest ever see him again?

What happened? I care and it wasn't even real. That's why it feels like a rip-off to me.

I guess there's a reason why I so rarely go to the movies... so many of them leave me feeling worse than I felt going in!

Jamie Lee McNiven is THREE!

We will be celebrating the third birthday of one of my grandnieces' (Jamie Lee McNiven) this afternoon at her parents' home. Another grandniece, Elizabeth Foxley, turned nine on Monday and I still have her gift in my car, unable to get away all week to give it to her, so she will get her gift today, too!

I got Jamie Lee a couple of little things -- a 24-piece Care Bear puzzle and a Songs Of Jesus book with buttons she can push to play the songs as her mom or dad and her sing along and look at the words in the book. She is a music lover -- has been from the beginning (as if three isn't "beginning" enough!) so I think she will really love it. I'm glad there are eight or nine different songs on it, well-performed, or her folks might have to bury it under a pillow after a while!

Jamie and her family and Lizzie and her family attend (and serve in) churches regularly. A few years ago I also bought the Nest Publications cartoon Bible series (videos and cartoon workbooks/coloring books created by former Walt Disney cartoonists and theological Judeo-Christian masters) for all four grandnieces. Lizzie (nine), Casey (six) and Isabella (almost 4) have been enjoying them for some time now, but Jamie is still with Veggie Tales, Barney, and the rest of the junior set gang. This particular cartoon Bible series is probably the best legacy gift I can give the kids. They really dig them. They are equal parts Old and New Testament stories -- the history of the people who God claimed as His own, led, protected and blessed (and also disciplined strenuously at times for willful disobedience and for failing to live up to His most basic standard of holiness, the Ten Commandments).

I have watched several of the DVDs and have been impressed by how well they follow the Bible stories in language that expresses the awe and reverence with which people in Biblical times considered their God (or G-d, in Hebrew expression) to be. To the Hebrews, the name of the Almighty is, to this day, so holy and revered that they are forbidden to say the name or to write it in its entirety since even G-d's chosen are unclean (sinners) and unable to approach a holy (perfect, unblemished) G-d . That's how we got the universal praise word HALLELU-YAH -- HOLY IS THE NAME OF YHWH -- or YAHWEH.)

Our Judeo-Christian background is BEYOND fascinating -- it's CAPTIVATING when studied, adopted, and reverenced! It sure gives one a deeper sense of our origins and destiny than the thin theory of Darwinism (an "educated guess" appearing less likely every day as fossils and other archaeological artifacts come to light) that we came from apes. Everything everywhere came from God -- even apes, animals I have a great affinity for because they are so much like us mentally and physically (but so are elephants and dolphins like us mentally!) -- so I consider all animals placed under our dominion by God to be worthy of the protection and respect that God expects us to show toward them and our environment.

Mark Twain once joked, "I think God invented man because he was disappointed in the monkey." Nothing God makes disappoints Him except us -- and even we seem to exasperate Him more than we disappoint Him! Like a good parent of toddlers, he just keeps considering us unfinished, lost but running headlong with great joy toward a busy freeway with a razor blade in each hand! He seems to regard us as willing participants in our own unwitting self-destructive aspirations.

But He wants to redeem us because we were created to be his image-bearer and we are (it's obvious by now, isn't it?) incapable of reflecting him perfectly. Occasionally we see glimpses of Our Father in heaven in our mirrors or inside our hearts, but not repeatedly, not reproducably at each and every turn the way we were designed to be. That's why He sent His Son (a perfect reflection of Himself; "in Him I am well-pleased") to live the sinless life designated to (and failed by) us so that we would have a role model and a release (redemption, salvation) from our inability to get the job done right in our own strength.

Not long before Jesus ascended to heaven forty days or so after His resurrection, He told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the Paraclete -- the One Who would come alongside them and give them power and the ability to resist demonic influences and be as He was on earth. Right on time, the Paraclete (Holy Spirit) came at Pentecost and since then there's been a spark of the divine taking up residence in our bodies, giving us spiritual insights and tendencies that we wouldn't otherwise spend much time paying attention to.

Those who come to know and to love the Living God did not get there by choice so much as they did by divine intervention. The Bible says, "You did not choose me. I chose you." Boy howdy, is that true in MY case! I was just stumbling through life the best I knew how until that week in early September 1999 when the Holy Spirit began to beckon me with the sweetest, most compelling, unconditionally loving voice I had heard since De: "You need to be baptized..."

I needed WHAT!? Weirdest interstellar communication I ever received in my life! Over and over again, a time or two a day, for over a week...

"You...need...to...be...baptized."

Me?

"YOU...need...to...be...Mine."

Oh...my....G-d!!!!

I made a card not long after and framed it. It reads:


"Father God... You spoke the universe into existence... and ... you spoke to me... Unfathomable... Incredible! AMAZING! I BELIEVE!!!"

I never, ever, ever, ever, ever want to "get over" that sweet sweet experience... that invitation to enter into His Kingdom,which God has been ushering and adopting His children into over four and a half millennia!

If He ever calls you.. if He has ever called you and you didn't respond... RESPOND!

He wants you! I know it sounds absurd... why would He care so much about one individual soul? BUT HE DOES!

The answer to all success in life is this: "Seek ye first the kingdom of G-d, and all these others [necessities and blessings if life] will be added unto you."

If you seek the cart (success) before you harness the horse (the power of God), you are going to be pushing that sucker yourself!

Apologies... I'm Blog-Challenged!

I got so wrapped up in a private email conversation with Bobbie Bobstein yesterday and today that I totally spaced on writing a blog yesterday... and here it is 4:36 Saturday afternoon and just realized I hadn't written one today yet, either! Hey... writing is writing! As long as I'm writing, I'm totally happy! I just have to remember that others can become totally UNhappy if I don't keep my commitment to blogging.

I hereby recommit!

It isn't like I have missed a lot of blogging days since I started this in February, is it? Perhaps three? That's pretty good!

This morning I took my 93 year old aunt to Wal-Mart, the Dollar Store and Safeway for some essentials and then my sis Jackie and I went out to drive by some duplexes a realtor friend told us about. We looked at four and chose two to actually make an appointment to see sometime this week. One was built in 1998, the other (a two-story converted home) in 1956. We both like both (to drive by). The yard is very small at the older place, so Jackie is not keen on it, although its location is just great commute-wise for both of us. The newer one would involve a commute, but not a too-hairy one... so we're going to take a look-see and make a decision: pick one of these two or keep on looking! We're in no hurry, but we are motivated to find something that will give us both grins and a feeling of "we're home!"

Anne from Australia called this afternoon. She says it's cold there (near Adelaide) today. It's cool and rainy here in Tacoma. Well, rainy off and on, as is usual with Tacoma-area weather this time of year.

I enjoy the variety of weather we receive. I got awfully tired of desert weather when I lived in North Hollywood for 13 years. There are self-proclaimed "desert rats" who love desert weather, but they usually weigh 99 pounds soaking wet and are thin as reeds. That does not reflect my characteristics. I am okay with 75 degrees Fahrenheit, but not much above that. And if it's humid and 75 degrees Fahrenheit, that's too warm for this kid... The fans go on and if I'm at home I'm in my underwear... Heat and Kris are not friends.

I've been praying for some people this week: Barbara Hendrickson, who (as you know) lost her husband Rick a couple months ago... Mark Ballard, a teacher in Texas who lost his wife several months ago... Alison, who is beleaguered in a number of areas... When I have what I consider a rough day, I think about people who are going through loss the way I was seven years ago when I lost my mom, DeForest Kelley, and my dad in a 14-month period and whatever is bugging me that day seems picayune and at times even childish. My mom was a great one for telling me, "If this (whatever I was going through at a particular time as an angst-ridden teenager) is the worst thing that happens to you in your whole life, you'll be lucky." At the time she said it, I thought it was a pretty indelicate thing to say to me, but you know what? That piece of advice has stayed with me and it works like magic almost every time I am in some kind of situation where I think life stinks or something isn't fair.

Even when Mom was dying of brain cancer she was counting her blessings: "I'm just so fortunate that I have this kind of cancer rather than so many other kinds. It isn't particularly bothersome [pain management worked in her case] and when I go in for chemo and radiation I look around at little bald-headed children or at bald-headed moms with young children at their knees and it's impossible to feel terribly sorry for myself. I've lived my life and my children are grown and on their own..." When you have a blessings-conscious parent like that, you are blessed! I am one child richly blessed by a Mom who always reminded me of the silver lining attached to every cloud.

Rick Hendrickson is being memorialized by Yuba County at Animal Control for his lifetime commitment to the well-being of animals. Barbara sent me photos of the reflection point where a plaque honoring her husband is displayed. There's an ornate bench there. Rick was truly Yuba County's Steve Irwin -- a truly dedicated animal advocate...

Mark Ballard's wife will be memorialized and remembered during the dedication of the Shelley Sullivan-Ballard Reading Center in Mark's (and Shelley's) school library soon. My Mom is being memorialized with a tree planting in the Holy Land very soon, compliments of Bobbie and Joel Bobstein.

The best thing about the above is that all of the people being remembered truly LIVED -- and not for themselves alone. Rick lived to alleviate and eliminate suffering in animals. Shelley lived to educate, inform and inspire students, as does her husband/widower Rick. My mom lived to serve and to come alongside people who needed grace, help and mercy (my Dad among them).

None of us have a clue what our ultimate legacies will be. We may think we do, but I have a feeling we're pretty far off the mark. We're really too hard on ourselves in some ways and not hard enough on ourselves in others! An example: My dad could be a real bear and as a result didn't like himself much (nor did we like him much on hundreds of occasions), but what we recall most, seven years after his passing, are the times he was sober, reflective, vulnerable and honest -- the times we recognized his woundedness and were able to fully and completely forgive him. Despite the damage a dysfunctional upbringing inflicted upon him, we know he would have given his life to save ours.

Our legacies are probably more secure than most of us believe -- and will be better than most of us believe we deserve. That's one very noble aspect of our humanity. Moments of love and connection are what's remembered after someone dies -- the rest, the chaff of their imperfect actions, is expelled from the memory while any essential, un-damaged goodness of the person remains. In the same way that a beautiful pearl is formed around a source of irritation (a grain of sand) inside the shell of an oyster, our legacies are formed... At the end, the grain of sand (the source of irritation) becomes invisible and impotent, safely sealed inside the pearl of great price and we treasure what was most real about the person. Their love. God's love made manifest in a human soul.

Yes, I Did It Again....

I just invested in another Bible -- probably my fourteenth or fifteenth. I have different versions to keep the Word fresh and new and because most of them are Study Bibles or Life Application Bibles and the sidebars and mini-articles in each of them give me fresh new insights... I want to grow in understanding every time I dive into one, so this is how I keep it always before me without every feeling I've truly memorized it or become an expert. I have in NO way become an expert - but I am decidedly an expert at remaining in love with the living Word because I invest time, money and effort to "Make It So!(to borrow a well-worn phrase in Trek fandom)

My newest acquisition is Charles F. Stanley's Life Principles Bible. If you're at all familiar with television evangelism, Charles F. Stanley is someone you probably already know and enjoy. In many ways, he reminds me of De in appearance, so I sometimes imagine "De would have been similar to Dr. Stanley if he had gone into the ministry the way his preacher father wanted him to." Of course, De would have been different -- he didn't come across the way Stanley does; he would have been a little more "fun", I think (no denigration to Dr. Stanley intended; he's a phenomenal teacher and preacher; no two people are ever that much alike unless they're twins or imitators)!

I went to Amazon to read the reviews about the Stanley Life Principles Bible and came away convinced that perhaps it should have been my FIRST life application Bible had I known about it sooner... but then, no... I just checked and it was published in 2005. I was already well on my way by then, having bought an NIV Study Bible and begun Pastor Alan Meenan's live Word Is Out Bible Study while in Hollywood in 2001 (http://www.thewordisout.com/; http://www.churchforthenations.org/).

Thumbing through this new volume, I can certainly recommend it to people new to the faith. It's designed, says the back cover, "to lead believers into a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ. "

Key features include 30 Life Principles articles to highlight the essentials Dr Stanley has gleaned from 50 years of ministry for successful Christian living; What the Bible Says About... articles derived from Dr. Stanley's teaching to bring scriptural insight to your life; Answers to Life's Questions...about the challenges you face every day; Life Examples articles that show you people in the Bible who have "been there;" and hundreds of God's Promises in the Bible are highlighted to encourage you, strengthen you, and fill you with hope; and thousands of Life Lessons help explain key passages as you read them.

It's a good one. If you don't have a Bible yet, this is a good place to start. I also love The Message by Eugene Peterson -- a paraphrase of the Bible in today's colloquial English, for people who want the Bible to "come alive" before them and make sense for today's world.
But the Bible always makes sense, so find the version that doesn't cause an aversion (one you can easily read and comprehend and enjoy) and you will be on your way...

I can't recommend anything more highly than I do Pastor Alan Meenan's sermons and Word Is Out study, however (website URLs above). Pastor Alan introduced me to the Living, Loving God, explaining Him and the Bible in such a way that I was often in tears at the immense love our Creator has for us. How we must disappoint Him at times... but that has never stopped Him from remaining head-over-heels in love with us. I encourage you to visit Pastor Meenan's websites and hear his teachings. I also encourage you: In lieu of getting me gifts for birthdays or holidays, make a donation to The Word Is Out so Pastor Meenan can get the Word to all the nations of the world in the way he has brought it to those of us fortunate enough to have spent time as his students. I don't think anyone who sits under Meenan's understanding of the Bible will ever fail to flourish as a child of the Most High God.

My aim in life is to discover how to love God and others as much as God loves us. I reckon I won't achieve it until I'm Over There and have been transformed to His exact likeness, but while I have breath in me I will continue to try to re-make myself in His image, to shine so brightly that others will also want to become reflectors of God's infinite mercy, grace, peace and Love...

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Bobbie Bobstein writes:

Loved yesterday's blog message (We are the only people we will spend our entire lives with. Who would we rather disappoint at their end of our lives, people who are out living their lives the way they see fit, or ourselves?)

Also, Tuesday's part about what others think of creative people "Because artists love what they do, the rest of the public considers it frivolous AND people thinking actors, writers and musicians are taking up valuable space and ought to get real jobs." I DO believe, as you do, that we need creatives to TEACH us, encourage our own imaginations and bring art and beauty into our lives. They are as necessary as the air we breathe.

But when you said "When we do take jobs as a necessity to stay afloat financially, we need to put a deadline on them and we need to spend a few hours every day (before or after work hours) working on our REAL goal: taking steps to segue from the "necessary" service to the "sublime service."

THAT is what reminded me of Robert Frost's poem "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening"... you sure do have a great memory for so much of it!!! Where it speaks to me in relation to what you said is this:

The big-shot who owns the woods, lives in town and does NOT know of the beauty he possesses ... he's only doing the business, paying the bills.

The trespasser on his property, though, has seen the beauty of G-d's creation and has been mesmerized by watching Nature work its magic.

The pony, like the owner in town, also does not SEE - he impatiently shakes his bells, wanting to move on and do the business at hand. Practicality and the call of the Present keep him blind to the treasure all around him.

Ultimately, the trespasser succumbs to the needs of the day and trades his awe for the necessities he must cover in the miles before day's end. BUT, unlike the other 2, the LAST LINE REPEATED shows that the trespasser is also aware that the constant battle to balance the "necessary service with the sublime service" will follow him all the miles in his life to come, until his FINAL SLEEP.

And one more thing - perhaps in imitation of life, the apparently lyrical content and easy flow of Frost's poem is actually governed by a rigid rhyme-scheme. In each quad,(except the last) the 3rd line's last word does not rhyme with the rest in its group ... but DOES form the sound of the next quad's rhyme pattern:

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.


Anyway, thanks for plucking this jewel out of my misty memory and putting it on the FRONT PAGE, where it belongs!

And, when you say "Methinks you needs must come to the con " METHINKS, you have a hint of Shakespeare in your verbiage as well as in your pen! I will do my best.

We watched "the Law & Jake Wade". Seeing De take an arrow at the end is only what I imagine will be basic training for his scene in "Apache Uprising"!!! Before Joan returns to NY, we have more in De's mini-film-festival to see.

Enough blather for now. Oh, got the May-June issue of ST mag. Have not had a chance to really look thru it well but I don't think I see your interview in there! If not, I will try the next issue ... but it's too expensive to be looking further.

Bye 4 now.......... Bobbie

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Bille Rae Walker will tell me as soon as she learns in which month our STAR TREK MAGAZINE interview will appear. I will keep you posted. It has been such a long time since Billie Rae interviewed me, I don't remember a single question she asked, so the interview will be as big a surprise to me as it is to y'all! I'm looking forward to finding out what she asked and what I said! In the meantime, in case you missed the podcast interview at Treks in Sci-Fi, here's the link again. http://www.treksf.com/podcast/Treksf.com_79_Real_McCoy.mp3

(Hey! It was my first-ever radio interview: Put on your grace face and deal with it!)

FROM INNER JOURNEY.... For All Creatives Everywhere!

Intuit and do it.

"If doubt is challenging you and you do not act, doubts will grow. Challenge the doubts with action and you will grow. Doubt and action are incompatible."
-- John Kanary

To reap the greatest benefits from intuition, we need ACTION. Be in motion. Act as if your highest expectations have already happened. Be in front of more opportunities and people. Let go of any blocks or attachments. Create mental space and physical space. Plan your work and work your plan.

Miracles rarely happen by doing nothing. Most miracles happen through other people.

What actions can you take that will move you towards your goals?

"Never forget that life can only be nobly inspired and rightly lived if you take it bravely and gallantly, as a splendid adventure in which you are setting out into an unknown country, to meet many a joy, to find many a comrade, to win and lose many a battle."
-- Annie Besant

"Raise Up a Child In The Way He Should Go..." REAL MEANING

I was surprised and very pleased to learn that the Biblical passage, "Raise up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it" does not, as is usually stated, translate to, "Make your children aware of their faith background and when they grow up they will remain faithful." Oh, it means that, of course -- but it means more than that even though that is obviously of great importance in and of itself.

What the passage means in its essence is that parents are supposed to discern what it is about each of their children that uniquely energizes them. They should find out what their children are passionate about -- and as long as it is of good repute and beneficial to society, the child should be encouraged to pursue it and possibly even to make it a career.

So! If a kid loves building things he might decide to be a builder; if she likes to take things apart, she might decide to be an analyst or a fixer of equipment and machines; if s/he likes to sing and dance and make people laugh, s/he might decide to become an entertainer. WHATEVER a child finds joy and personal expression doing, parents and elders are advised to encourage them to keep doing it! It is when we are passionate about something that we dedicate extensive time and heart so that we become excellent at it.

Words can bless and they can curse. God created the universe with his words. We create ours with ours, too. Out of our mouths and hearts come life and death. Do you think that's an exaggeration? Consider this:

How many children have been given a morbid sense of their place and worth because an adult carelessly placed into their minds (in moments of frustration or exhaustion) that they are slow, sloppy, unattractive, lazy, a dreamer, stupid? Far too many!

Just because a child doesn't want to be a mirror of his or her parent as an adult does not make him or her "stupid" or "lazy." Nor does it suggest that the child is going out of his or her way to show disdain for a parent.

It is simply a matter of "Which life do I want to live -- the one God gave me a passionate vision to do, or one my parent or someone else thinks I would be a better fit for, to satisfy their criteria rather than my own?"

We are the only people we will spend our entire lives with. Who would we rather disappoint at their end of our lives, people who are out living their lives the way they see fit, or ourselves?

It's a no-brainer.

Life the life God gave you the passion to live. He gave you life that you might live it abundantly. Don't squander it wondering what other people think of your vision.

They're so busy with their own visions for themselves that you very rarely enter into their thoughts, anyway. That's a fact of life!

"The Wisest Follow Their Own Direction." Euripedes

Alison wrote an email earlier today to thank me for last night’s blog. She is very sensitive to others’ worries for her, as I was. I need to help shake her loose from her sensitivity to it; it isn't good for her. We are not responsible for other people’s mental states.

Her sister sounds quite dear. She also sounds like a micro manager. Sis needs to let Ali go. She’s 27 years old.

Yes, she will make some mistakes but she has a good head on her shoulders and needs to depend on her own intuition and God. She will probably never be rich since money and the things it buys don't float her boat (any more than they float mine) so she might as well be happy. (Lots of people are rich and terribly UNhappy, and that stinks, too. Perhaps their ladder to success has been leaning against the wrong wall and they are just finding out. Sad.)

God doesn’t make junk. Actors are just as valuable as any other profession – they make people think and make them laugh and feel things. They inspire and inform. They are like teachers in many ways – and teachers aren’t paid very well, either, but no one smacks them down for doing their job.

Because artists love what they do, the rest of the public considers it frivolous. Many people all-too-often bust their butts at jobs they don’t enjoy as much. Some of the flak against artists is jealousy, I think. “How dare they enjoy their work!”

Everybody should be enjoying their work! We as a society have bought into the “No pain, no gain” ethos – not just in exercise but in so many areas! Work is probably bigger into this than exercise is. Exercise is backing away from the saying.

What we do forty hours a week should not hurt. It should feel good and it should bless others. (Not all jobs are feel-good jobs but all are vital!!)

It bothers me that creatives are supposed to “get real” and live the lives the rest of society is living. NO, THEY SHOULDN’T! They should live lives that energize them and give them a feeling of fulfillment.

Nothing feels better than creating (unless it’s procreating)! Creating feels powerful and important and is necessary for the vitality of the planet.

I do get tired of people thinking actors, writers and musicians are taking up valuable space and ought to get real jobs. I can’t imagine life without books, music and dramatic and comedic seasoning! I would prefer to die if all one could expect is all the rest that life has to offer.

Creatives help us take a break... how important is that?!

Was De's life frivolous because he was an actor?

Alison and the rest of you creatives out there, LISTEN UP! You have your marching orders! God gave them to you. Don't let anyone tell you that what drives you doesn't matter. You are probably more driven than most people, in fact, because you'd gladly do what you want to do 24/7 if your eyes didn't snap shut at night!

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I feel that perhaps Alison needs to go to Ireland to live -- or Hollywood (Ireland is less expensive)-- to get with the many creatives who live there and find out it isn't fairy dust the way her sister tends to think it is. It wasn't until I took a tour of Paramount that I truly realized, "Hey, regular people work here! There is nothing other-worldly about them. They aren't sporting wings. They're regular working Joes..."

Getting thick as thieves with other creatives may be just what she needs to stop worrying about what her sister is going through because Alison wants to create magic. Someday her sister will be proud of her -- but not if she succeeds in extinguishing the spark that animates Alison! Big Sis needs to turn her loose to fly. It isn't showing off; it's intrinsic to who she is, who God made her to be. She's an I (in the DISC Personality Insights world) -- she needs to be seen and to express as an actor or God wouldn't have made her want to be one! It's all very clear to me.

She won't be happy as anything else unless her passion segues into some other form of service that allows a full expression of her actor to flourish. (And there are jobs like that, but there's no need to fall back on them yet!)

People (family especially) need to live and let live. No one has anyone else's answers.

Busy Day!

What a day! Didn't even have time to do my arm/neck exercise more than twice today. My neck is getting better so I can claim that the exercise Alison gave me works. Try it if you have neck problems. Instructions are found in the comments section a few blogs back where I mentioned having a sore neck... Go hunting! She explained it perfectly. I'm not sure I can do it as well.

I just took a half hour or so and caught up on Alison's blogs (http://senoritainvierno.blogspot.com/). Gads, she has more experiences in a week than I have in a month!

Youth has its rewards -- lots of adventures. But alas, it also feels terribly unsafe and insecure. And if I had lost my mother at age 25 instead of age 47, as Alison did, I can't even imagine what I would have felt or done. Can the world ever feel "right" again after something like that?

Yes, I suppose it can, and will, but not in the short term. Looking back from years hence, it will all make some kind of spiritual sense (I pray), but from where she stands at this time, it seems as though the rug has been pulled out from under her and sent her sprawling...

I wouldn't want to be 27 again. I have learned to live with the uncertainties of life now -- I just give it to God and let him handle the details -- but when I was 27 I was still under the bizarre impression that it was all up to me to make my life go the way it "should".

I totally empathize with Ali's sense of not wanting to live a life of quiet desperation; I was and am the same way. It has only been recently that I have achieved the kind of job I always wanted, and I'm 56! I wasn't sure it would ever happen -- but there was no way I was going to just roll over and give up the quest for it, because communicating (writing or speaking) is what gives my life meaning. I'm passionate about communicating the deeper (and some of the sillier) things of life. (On the other hand, I'm hopeless and unmotivated when it comes to small talk -- the day-to-day nodding approval and strokes that we give to others in our orbit is not native to me, although I have learned to do it so people don't think I'm a desolate loner.)

Ali is learning that another's dreams for her (home ownership, etc.) are not as fulfilling as her own dreams for herself. That's a great lesson to learn at a young age. I waited almost too long to go after my own dreams because my parents told me they were so unlikely to happen.


I didn't have any Biblical training back then and wasn't aware that if you are passionate about something that isn't harmful to yourself or others, and sincerely ask God for help in attaining it, He will open the way. He doesn't want any child of his living a life of quiet desperation. Life is meant to be lived with a passion for something that you can share with others.

Taking a job simply to make ends meet is necessary at strategic times in life, but only for a season, and for gosh sakes even then make it something you enjoy (which will probably translate to providing a service of some sort to other living things)! God doesn't want us to "settle." He wants us to shine! When we do take jobs as a necessity to stay afloat financially, we need to put a deadline on them and we need to spend a few hours every day (before or after work hours) working on our REAL goal: taking steps to segue from the "necessary" service to the "sublime service."

I didn't do that until just last year. As was my habit, for 35 years I spent 105% of my available energy serving on the necessary jobs to the best of my ability. I wanted to do a good job, and to impress. I can live for a week on a compliment and there isn't an employer in my past that didn't give me a glowing letter of recommendation as a result -- a glowing assertion that I could and would provide the same exemplary service to a future employer in the same or in a similar service sector. (Compliments and kudos certain to continue to remind me I was great at THAT and could make a living at THAT, but what about my REAL goal? Satan works in countless ways to get us to doubt ourselves so that we won't risk reflecting God's light -- enthusiasm and joy -- too brightly.)

But the downside of energetic dedication to others' goals is that I didn't hold enough energy in reserve to pursue my real objective (to write) after the work day ended! Even worse, I let my parents' poor prognosis about the likelihood of succeeding over-ride the prognoses of the many teachers, writers and actors who assured me that I had what it took to make it as an artist! I had passion. I was a bulldog. I never stopped writing! 267 journals of several hundred pages each over 40 years attest to this fact but all too few article submitted for publication. The old tapes, spawn of Satan, kept running in my brain, reinforcing doubt: "Why bother? You're no James Michener!")

And it's true! I am no James Michener. But James Michener was no Kris Smith, either! And there is no other Alison Winter on this planet who can offer what Senorita Invierno has to offer.

In her pain and struggle -- and ultimate success -- is a story that others need to hear.

If the creatives ever give up, the world as we know it will not be worth living. We're the people most madly in love with what could be. What is, is not enough. It can always be better.

God wants us all creating something special. And we all can! Put that in your pipe and smoke Satan right out of your life!

We are all here to be a blessing.

From Alison -- Point System for Making Your Woman Happy

This is just great!

For thousands of years, men have tried to understand the rules when dealing with women. Finally, this merit/demerit guide will help you to understand just how it works. Remember, in the world of romance, one single rule applies:

Make the Woman happy. Do something she likes, and you get points. Do something she dislikes and points are subtracted. You don't get any points for doing something she expects. Sorry, that's the way the game is played. Here is a guide to the points system:

SIMPLE DUTIES
You make the bed .............................................+1
You make the bed, but forget to add the decorative pillows....-1
You throw the bedspread over rumpled sheets...................-2
You leave the toilet seat up..................................-5
You replace the toilet paper roll when it is empty............+5
When the toilet paper roll is barren, you resort to Kleenex...-1
When the Kleenex runs out you use the next bathroom...........-2
You go out to buy her extra-light panty liners with wings.....+5
In the rain...................................................+8
But return with beer..........................................-1
And no panty liners..........................................-25
You check out a suspicious noise at night.....................+1
You check out a suspicious noise and it is nothing.............0
You check out a suspicious noise and it is something..........+5
You pummel it with a six iron................................+10
It's her cat.................................................-40

AT THE PARTY
You stay by her side the entire party..........................0
You stay by her side for a while, then leave to chat with a school Drinking buddy................................................-2
Named Tiffany.................................................-5
Tiffany is a dancer..........................................-10
With breast implants.........................................-20

HER BIRTHDAY
You remember her birthday.....................................+1
You buy a card and flowers....................................+ 2
You take her out to dinner....................................+5
You take her out to dinner and it's not a sports bar.........+10
Okay, it is a sports bar.....................................-10
And it's all-you-can-eat night...............................-20
It's a sports bar, its all-you-can-eat night, and your face is paintedthe colours of your favorite team.............................-30

A NIGHT OUT WITH THE BOYS
Go with a pal................................................ 0
The pal is happily married................................... +1
The pal is single............................................-10
He drives a Ferrari..........................................-20
With a personalized license plate (GR8NBED)..................-30

A NIGHT OUT WITH HER
You take her to a movie.......................................+2
You take her to a movie she likes.............................+5
You take her to a movie you hate..............................+8
You take her to a movie you like..............................-5
It's called Death Cop III....................................-10
Which features Cyborgs that eat humans.......................-20
You lied and said it was a foreign film about orphans........-30

THE BIG QUESTION
She asks, "Does this dress make me look fat?"
You hesitate in responding...................................-10
You reply, "Where?"..........................................-35
You reply, "No, I think it's your ass"......................-100

COMMUNICATION
When she wants to talk about a problem:
You listen, displaying a concerned expression.................+1
You listen, for over 30 minutes...............................+5
You relate to her problem and share a similar experience.....+50
You have fallen asleep......................................-200

IT'S THAT TIME OF THE MONTH
You talk....................................................-100
You don't talk...............................................-10
You spend time with her.....................................-100
You don't spend time with her...............................-100
You are seen enjoying yourself..............................-100

The Bobsteins Have Made My Mother's Day!

This morning I received a "hurried" email asking for my snail mail address from Bobbie Bobstein, saying she wanted to send me a letter the old-fashioned way. I sent it off to her with a "whimsical wondering" about what it might be to be worth a 41 cent stamp when email is so happily free... then told her not to tell me because I want it to be a surprise...

Got an email titled, "Must tell..." and the following, which has me in tears STILL:

Dear Kris,

On this Mother's Day, we were hoping, in some way, to add to the warmth of your memories by taking the liberty of planting a tree in the Holy Land in honor of your Mom. Please keep a lookout for a certificate from the Jewish National Fund that will be mailed to you in a week or so (or let us know if it is unduly late).

Thanks for sharing your address with us so that we could do this small thing for you. I know you thought we were, perhaps, going to send you something whimsical - but there's plenty of time for that - today is different.

Love, Bobbie & Joel

Today is indeed different because two new friends have taken this loving, heartfelt step to celebrate the life and legacy of the unrepeatable Dorothea Hope Smith in this wonderful way...

They are planting "Hope" in the Holy Land. My mama would be so happy to know this... and I think she does!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, MOM!

Almost Mother's Day...

Tomorrow is Mother's Day and I miss my mom most on Mother's Day. Those of you who "met" her in DeFOREST KELLEY: A HARVEST OF MEMORIES or FLOATING AROUND HOLLYWOOD can imagine, to a degree, what an amazing mom she was. She and De Kelley were two of the finest people I have ever met in my life... I so want to be like them when I grow up.

Today I picked up Aunt Tod (Evelyn) and took her to Wal-mart, Lowe's and Office Depot looking for small items she wanted. We found and purchased most of what she wanted to make her new abode (residential care community) seem like home to her. I put up her new curtains (bought at a real steal of a deal price -- $3.97 each instead of the usual $14.79), then put together her new Dirt Devil electric broom, and then visited with her until it was time to get her across the street to dialysis. As soon as we got there she got hungry so I dashed across the street to Baskin Robbins for what sounded good to her: a pineapple milkshake. Then I went back to Wal-Mart and bought her a new radio/CD player combination because the one I got her several years ago was skipping and misbehaving - she said she has been playing it almost non-stop since receiving it from me, so it has certainly earned its retirement! I will swap it out when I go pick her up at 5:20 to take her back across the street to Maple Creek.

She is a dear lady -- very appreciative of all that people do for her. Jackie has carried the lion's share of getting her to critical first medical appointments and banking issues arranged weekdays because she has been in her job for 30 years and has lots of vacation time she can take to drive Tod around and get the preliminary (paperwork-intense) appointments squared away. I am at a new job and have no time accrued, so I've designated myself the weekend warrior: I make sure the list of things Tod wants gets purchased and try to visit at least an hour and a half as well. She so enjoys the company of family.

I've been really listening to her. She says she feels almost like a refugee: taken out of her home without so many of the things she had around her for so many years. I had to bring her a needle and some red thread today so she could sew a rip in a sweater. "I used to have everything I needed, like a needle and thread, right at hand... It's the littlest things you miss when you don't have them anymore, even if you only use them twice a year."

It must be an awful feeling to have to rely on others when she has relied only on her late husband and then herself for seventy years. Her memories are often poignant. On the drive up from Oregon, she was telling Jackie and me about her dear Johnny: "He was such an innocent, innocent man when I met him..." I was driving when she said this; she was sitting behind me in the back seat. I joked over my shoulder, "So, then you corrupted him, right?"
and she said, "Oh, I tried! But he was such a sweet, sweet man. He was incorruptible..." (Sounds like a young man named De Kelley... also described as an innocent young man by his wife Carolyn when she first met him.)

I remember another time when Tod was talking about John's last days in a nursing home. She was at the end of her rope emotionally, and has never been terribly easy to live with, I guess, and she asked him, "I bet there are times when you just hate me for things I say or do, don't you, Johnny?" John looked at her with immense love (as always) and told her, "I adore you, Evelyn." Those were the last words he said to her, and she treasures them in her heart, because she knows he meant it... and that he completely forgave her trespasses and remembered them no more...

Now that I know her a little better, I know why he adored her. Smiths (our branch, anyway) aren't always the easiest people to like, but once you get inside their well-fortified walls of self-protection, it's pretty darned hard to avoid loving them. My dad's (and aunt Tod's) father was a verbally and physically abusive alcoholic, so their upbringing was horrendous. Of course they carried scars and buttresses against further harm into their adult lives, which at times made them seem brusque or callous or self-absorbed (self-willed and self-directed to the detriment of others in their orbit). But like so many of us, they were living in fear and wondering if good people actually existed in this world, people they could trust who would love them despite their emotional disfigurement. Dad found Mom and Tod found John. Carolyn found De. It's almost poetic how people attract into their lives the people they need to heal them...

I'm glad Aunt Tod is close now. It has been eight years since I have been in a position to truly bless an elder as I was able to bless Mom and De and Carolyn. It feels wonderful to be someone's strong right arm again.

Pastor Alan Meenan's Teachings In Streaming Video Now!

From Pastor Alan Meenan at Church For The Nations In Studio City...


Dear CFTNers,

Ever blown an opportunity that you will never have again? Have you ever lost your "cool" when antagonists push you to the point of retaliatory anger? And when you do explode and people point their scrawny fingers and pontificate that you are just as bad as they imagined, when you provide them with the ammunition they were looking for, when life sucks so much you want to crawl into a hole...then Sunday's message is especially for you as we continue our series on the Acts of the Apostles, Being Real in an Unreal World.

Arguably at the lowest point in his life, the apostle Paul experiences an incredibly splendid thing. His dark prison cell is transformed and his life refocused. Sunday's story is about prisons becoming sanctuaries and dark nights being shot through with the golden glory of the dawn. While he does not escape his imprisonment, God's Word tells us that the plots, the protagonists, the peril, the pettiness and the uncertainties of life are not the last word for those of us who follow the Christ. Ours is the way of glory and of grace. Chuck Swindoll has put it well: the grace of God can overshadow any guilt within us, and the power of God can overshadow any plot against us. I have found that to be exquisitely true in my own life.I want to encourage you to come and be part of our exploration this Sunday. As you know, we will be celebrating Mothers' Day during our time of worship and the children who have graduated from the BEAT class will be presented with Bibles in their own ceremony as part of the Church service. It promises to be a very special day.

You will also want to be aware that Sunday's messages are available, not only on iTunes, but a video recording is accessible now through our website (www.churchforthenations.org). It is not the same as worshipping with us, but in the event you are unable to attend for whatever reason, it may represent the next best thing. Sunday's message is always up and available for viewing within a day or two of Sunday's worship. Thanks for being part of our advance of the gospel.

For the Nations,

Pastor Alan

Do You Own a Business? Why You Should Consider On-Hold Concepts...

I have been asked by business owners what are some measurable benefits of having on-hold advertising of their own products and services on their phone systems for callers to listen to while on-hold. And I'm always delighted to explain, because there are so many measurable benefits.

Consider being put on-hold yourself. You don't like it, right? You especially don't like it when there is nothing but dead air to listen to while you wait, because you never really know for sure if you are still connected. Time seems interminable when you are just waiting... waiting... waiting... for someone to come back on the line and answer the questions you need to ask.

Music on-hold is okay, but it's still impersonal and sometimes jarring...

And if you hear a radio station on-hold where you consider doing business you have to wonder, sometimes, why the business you're calling violates re-broadcast laws (and will they violate other laws pertaining to your interests in the same cavalier manner any time it suits them?) or you wonder why they would place a radio station on their phone system that may at times advertise their competitors' products and services...

If a business is running CD's they are probably violating the rights of the artists and musicians whose CD's they are playing, because getting ASCAP or artist approval is very expensive...

But WHEN a business uses On-Hold Concepts (and thousands do) they are being legal, astute, and practical, because the service costs just pennies a day and the messages target the people most likely to listen, to learn something new, and to come to an appreciation of all they have to offer as a business.

Consider this:


It's cheaper to license music through On-Hold Concepts than it is to pay the appropriate licensing fees to the various agencies that are required.

Music that's 'out there' for public use which does NOT require music licensing is generally of poor quality and typically doesn't sound as though it belongs to the contemporary age. Why would any business want to put poor-quality, out-dated music on their phone system? To save a buck? What does that say about their consideration for the people who are calling in to find out more about them? "We're too busy and cheap to make you feel valued and welcome as you wait. We just hope this pathetic attempt at entertainment will keep you from hanging up on us until we can get back to you..."

Some unscrupulous companies simply steal music, assuming (incorrectly) that if it's on the radio or on a CD they purchased, they can use it. Not so. Fines are steep for stealing music and/or for not paying appropriate licensing fees. Why would any reputable company take the chance? Wouldn't a bust for copyright and ASCAP violations and the accompanying heavy fines look dandy on the "local business" page of your newspaper? Gadzooks... NO!

Most companies that purchase music from an artist (i.e., bring a guitar in and record their own music) usually end up with an anemic result or with a short, repetitive program that irritates a frequent caller after a very short time. After all, can an "in-house" person create music that sounds like it belongs to this generation? If so, they're probably making their own music and licensing it through ASCAP and BMI, and don't have the time or inclination to make you a powerhouse on-hold musical recording that will mesmerize your on-hold caller.

Music, advertising, anything you have running on-hold should be changed frequently to keep things fresh and vital--just like your business!


How many businesses create on-hold music and advertising programs themselves? And those few that do: Does it really save them money? What are people's time worth? What is the business owner's time worth?

The bottom line is: Why lose any sleep over creating a professional, welcoming result on-hold when you can have On-Hold Concepts -- a company that specializes in the whole thing -- do all the work for pennies?

Go to http://www.onholdconcepts.com/ and take a listen. We can create a program for your business that will throw a spotlight on your products and services and that will create for your on-hold callers an experience that reassures them that you know their time is valuable, and that they are valuable to you. You can address their needs even as they wait. Perceived wait time is much shorter; and perhaps best of all, the caller is happy and already quite well-informed when you get back to them...

So -- really -- what's NOT to like about being placed on-hold by a business that uses On-Hold Concepts as its on-hold service provider?

Oh, we also offer sparkling, contemporary all-music and mostly-music on-hold programs, as well as offering Music Choice and DirecTV to businesses with public waiting areas and showrooms.

We make a customer's waiting time feel wonderful and well-spent, so there are fewer hang-ups and there is much less annoyance. Wouldn't that make your day as much as it makes your customer's? All for just a few cents a day.

I'm sold on the products and services we offer. In my opinion, there is none better, which is why we have been in business for twenty years. We're the great granddaddy of the on-hold industry but still as contemporary and cutting edge and tomorrow's headlines.

Don't take my word for it. Read and hear the testimonials on-line at http://www.onholdconcepts.com/.

Walking and Thinking...

Vernita Porter and I walk four days a week at the Tacoma Mall just before I head off for work. I sometimes also walk at lunch time, as was the case today. The weather is just right for walking now -- not too warm, not too cool -- here in the Pacific Northwest. The temperature at 7 a.m. is about 52 degrees and by noon warms up to 71 or 72 many days, so I take advantage of it! (Usually. Some days I just roll down the windows in my car, push the seat back and take a half hour nap in the warmth of the sun. Either way, my lunch hour is a lovely time-out during the day and I can pray, read or nap, whatever my spirit seems to require most...)

My sister should be calling any minute to tell me what she found out about the resort hotel I won a weekend trip to yesterday. The plan is to see if Big Sis can get away at the same time we can so that we can have a sister weekend, I think. If Laurel isn't available (which is probable; it's very hard to blast her out of her law practice), Jackie's trying to decide if Phil and Wendy and she and I and the grandkids can all get into the resort for the $500 in lodging I won. If we can, we have to go before July 1st or lose out altogether - and the weekend freebie isn't available during Memorial Day.

Freebie. I use the term loosely. We will need to cover all the other costs -- food and gas, but we have a system: we'll pack food and take it along and share gas costs. So it should be a lovely weekend sometime soon in the next two months. I'm looking forward to it -- especially because this time I get to be the bless-er instead of the bless-ee... It has been many, many years since I could do something "big" for my family. Finances just haven't allowed it.

Does that surprise you? I wonder if it does.

You may think that since I'm the author of four books and have a full-time writing job I'm just rolling in dough, but boy howdy is that a fallacy. If you've been with this blog all along you know I was down to $38 in liquid assets in January when I landed my present job. The past four years since leaving Warner Bros. have been very, very lean and I had been going steadily backwards in available (non-retirement) savings. So this job was a real God thing!!!

My book about De came out just weeks after 9-11-2001 so there was zero interest in it as far as mainstream media was concerned -- and to tell you the truth, my own heart was so devastated by the events of 9-11 that the debut of the book, while a thrill momentarily (the first week I was able to hold it in my hands and thumb through it), didn't last long. I was hurting, as was the rest of the country. Except for a few TREK websites that expressed interest in the new book, there was not a frenzied rush to my doorstep to find out more about my thirty year association with DeForest and Carolyn Kelley. The book finally broke even (from its publishing costs) in February, 2006! It was a very long four and a half years waiting for that to happen, especially since I was so underemployed during most of it. But sometimes one's investments take time to become a blessing. This was certainly the case with DeFOREST KELLEY: A HARVEST OF MEMORIES. (Not that I wrote it for the money, really. I wrote it because my first book had to be about De, the man who encouraged me to believe in myself. I owed him that book... and every second of help I was able to give to him and Carolyn during the last months of his life and the first several months of hers as a widow. That book is my ode to a man whose life lit up all of our lives in a major way, whether we ever really met him or just cherished him from afar.

The other three books have not come even close to breaking even. I may let them lapse at the end of this year , so if you are thinking of getting any of them for yourself or for others as gifts, now is the time. Don't delay. If they don't find an audience the way the De book has, there's no point in keeping them "live" to buy at Authorhouse. The title of the other three books can be found in the heading at the top of my blog and you can access the website to purchase them here:
http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail~bookid~17024.aspx

To those of you who have bought any of my books, THANK YOU! If you enjoyed them (and gads, I hope you did!) please write reviews at Amazon and other on-line retail outlets. If you hated them, please be a wee bit more circumspect (kinder) than the few others at Amazon who trashed me and tried to trash my reputation at the same time! I was so touched to see happy readers rushing to my defense in tags whenever a vitriolic review would appear. It took the edge off the sense of having failed a few readers. No writer ever wants to fail a reader, but I suspect no author can escape that... People are either looking for the book you wanted to write and finding it "everything they hoped for" or they find it disappointing. Most of those who seem disappointed in mine were looking for De's biography (FROM SAWDUST TO STARDUST) and thought mine was it. My book fails utterly as a biography of De because it was never intended to be a biography -- I left that one to a pro, Terry Lee Rioux! My book is the faithful recording of the evolution of an acquaintanceship that became a close friendship and then a lifeline for all three parties involved (De, Carolyn and me). Comparing the two books are like comparing lions and leprechauns. They are different "animals" entirely.

It bothers me to have disappointed some readers. Luckily, based on the preponderance of 5-star reviews at Amazon, it seems likely I DE-lighted many more fans than I disappointed, so I consider the attempt a success.

Which reminds me:

ANNOUNCEMENT, ANNOUNCEMENT, ANNOUNCEMENT!

I am extending the deadline of my next Kelley book, THE ENDURING LEGACY OF DeFOREST KELLEY: ACTOR, HEALER, FRIEND to March 5, 2008. I haven't received the number of submissions I expected to receive. Pass this blog along to all your De/TREK friends and associates: This next book will be at least half filled with other fans', friends' and colleagues' reminiscenses of De as an actor, healer and friend. If you are in touch with any of the TREK casts, give them my email address (KRISTINEMSMITH@MSN.COM) and let them know I am looking for personal memories of De to place into this book as a keepsake tome for De's newest fans who never had the chance to meet him up close and personal. Put De's personal-to-you legacy in writing and send it to me. And don't worry if you're not a writer. I am and will edit and get the final draft to you for your approval.

Be aware that these submissions must be contributed without any expectation of monetary reward. You will receive a by-line stating your name, city and country and your work will always belong to you, but in order for it to make it into this keepsake book, it must be a freewill offering without expectation of financial reward.

When you submit your reminiscense also submit (at the bottom) the following: "I grant Kris Smith the publication rights for this original work for her book THE ENDURING LEGACY OF DeFOREST KELLEY without any expectation of financial reward. I retain all other rights to this document" and sign your name and date it.

If you have any questions or comments, email me.

Oh, by the way: You do not have to have known or met De personally to write something for this book. And of course be aware that I have final say when deciding which essays or reminiscences will be published in the book.


Fair enough? Ready -- Set -- GO! Tell the TREK folks and fans you know that the deadline has been extended to March 5, 2008!

Maya Angelou's Wisdom -- Every Woman Should ...

MAYA ANGELOU'S WISDOM POEM

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...enough money within her control to move out and rent a place of her own,even if she never wants to or needs to...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...something perfect to wear if the employer, or date of her dreams wants to see her in an hour...


A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE .. a youth she's content to leave behind....


A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ..... a set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black lace bra...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE one friend who always makes her laugh... and one who lets her cry...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE .... a good piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in her family...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...a feeling of control over her destiny

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...how to fall in love without losing herself.

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW..how to quit a job, break up with a lover, and confront a friend without ruining the friendship...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...when to try harder... and WHEN TO WALK AWAY...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...that she can't change the length of her calves,the width of her hips, or the nature of her parents..

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...that her childhood may not have been perfect...but it's over...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...what she would and wouldn't do for love or money...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...how to live alone.. even if she doesn't like it...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW.. whom she can trust,whom she can't, and why she shouldn't take it personally...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...where to go...be it to her best friend's kitchen table... or a charming inn in the woods...when her soul needs soothing...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...what she can and can't accomplish in a day...a month...and a year...

The Great Commission -- Leading Someone to Christ and Eternal Life ...

For those of you with saving faith but still saddled with enormous reservations when it comes to proactively leading someone to Christ, here are a few scriptures and a pretty nifty way to make it happen as easily as you would talk to them about the weather, American Idol, or STAR TREK:


After developing any kind of friendly rapport with someone you meet or know, ask them this question, and ask in such a way that they know you are truly curious to find out if they know the answer:


"If you should die today, are you 100% certain you would go to heaven?"

If the answer is yes, ask them:

"If you stood before the Lord tonight and He asked you why He should let you into His heaven, what would you say?"

After they have responded, you ask, "Do you know there is a way to be absolutely certain that you will go to heaven?" If they say, "No," open your Bible, let them know that this book, both Old and New Testament, is the Word of God, and read these scriptures in this order (Note: Do not recite the passages, even if you know them by heart; point out the passages to the person you are leading to Christ):

1 John 5:13
Romans 3:10
Romans 3:23
Romans 6:23
Romans 5:8
Romans 10:9,10,13


Then if the moment seems right and you have someone who has said they are in total agreement with all they have seen and read in these passages, ask if they are ready to pray the prayer of salvation. If so, here it is:

"Dear Jesus, Forgive me of my sins. Come into my heart today. I trust You to take me to heaven when I die. Thank you for saving me. In Jesus name, amen."

Give them a Bible. (You can usually get free ones at your church to hand out; ask the receptionist for several if you plan to do this repeatedly; churches usually have a stockpile of them.) Encourage them to read Romans 10:13, John 10:12, Hebrews 13:5 and John 3:16. Then let them know that they are on a journey now. Let them know, "A person is saved through a personal experience with Christ; it can't just be by intellectual assent."

Encourage them to get LEARN THE BIBLE IN 24 HOURS BY Chuck Missler and to find a church they resonate with. Suggest that they join its Bible study so that their new knowledge of Christ can grow into a relationship with Him and with other believers.


You can also hear a practice witnessing session here: http://www.thewordisout.com/audio.htm

Scroll to the bottom on the page and listen to THE WITNESS SEMINAR Parts 1 and 2.

Incidentally, this website (The Word is Out) is from my former pastor in Hollywood, Dr. Alan Meenan. I took his Bible study for six years and am finishing up the last course in the next few weeks via audiotape and workbook. It's phenomenal. You might want to check it out on-line.

Abundant Blessings... Mini Bothers...

My Mini Bother:

Hello, I'm back again despite a sore neck. I can't figure out if the new soreness/tiredness is because I moved so much stuff last week (my aunt and myself) or if it's because I re-arranged my work space at work to place the monitor and keyboard on a higher part of the desk. I need to find out, because whatever it is, when I get home at night my neck wants to do anything but sit in front of a computer monitor some more... and I love blogging! So I need a cure, pronto!
Evening is my only time to blog, so my neck must co-operate!

Blessing One:

My friend Vernita gave me a delayed gift this morning after we walked for a half hour. I love it beyond words; wish I had found it to give to HER and others! It's a daily devotional calendar in full color and has a passage from the Bible each day. I read all the way through it at lunch and thought, "I will start today and memorize each passage that appears.

Today's passage is from the Book of Job: "As long as I have life within me, the breath of God in my nostrils... I will not deny my integrity." To the uninitiated, Job sounds like one arrogant dude, doesn't he? Not so. Job was a good guy whom God allowed Satan to wreak havoc with for a season in order to show Satan that Job would not deny God no matter what happened to him. He lost his prosperity, his family, and his health during the test but refused to curse God -- although he sometimes cursed his own birth and his rotten "luck"! Three friends came at first to commiserate with him, but after a week of wailing, sackcloth and ashes they undertook to educate Job on where he must have gone astray in order for God to have forsaken him the way He had. They went through the list of common sins and missteps and temptations that many people succumb to, but Job assured them that he had fallen victim to none of them and that his integrity was still intact -- hence this quote from the Bible.

The end of the Job story is --- hey, if you don't know it, I'm not going to tell you about it! Go get the Bible and read it for yourself. Heavens, that's what any devoted child of God would suggest. The Bible is a treasure trove. Dive in!

Blessing Two:

This afternoon I was creating my third-ever Production Sheet at On-Hold Concepts (http://www.onholdconcepts.com/) which meant I was F O C U S E D!!! I had to be to get it right so that I don't cost my company money -- and I had to do it all within one hour... not a lot of time when there are 20 on-hold programs to place on the production sheet (including all the written copy, a.k.a. scripts for the voice artists to rehearse this evening) and when other clients keep calling in to finalize their programs. Thank God (and I mean that!) I wasn't frantic in the least -- I was simply FOCUSED, because without focus I would have created utter chaos...

Marlene came into my office and smiled, "Congratulations!" Still focused, I looked up briefly, startled, and asked her, "What for?"thinking perhaps she had just found out about my STAR TREK gig in Las Vegas in August. But that wasn't it. She said, "Read your email!"

So I briefly (and I mean briefly!) opened up Outlook and found out that I had won a luxury weekend at an Ocean Shores resort from the owners of On-Hold because employees had been asked to do some research they had requested and I had come up with the best (or most) ideas after researching the topic.

So there I was, trying my darndest to create an error-free document (and hallelujah! I did it, too!). Every few minutes someone else would read their email and come in to proclaim, "Congratulations!" "Thanks!" (Now, where was I?)

One of the bosses came in grinning and said, "Congratulations! Why aren't you dancing? This isn't like you! You're usually so energetic!"

I told her, "If I focus on that right now, I will cost you a mint! I will dance later. Okay?"

I think they were a little disappointed that I didn't whoop and holler and carry on like a banshee. (It's so unlike me not to, you see, over any good thing that happens at On-Hold!)

By the time the production sheet was finished, and I actually read all the way through the congratulatory email, everyone was back at their desks, it was the end of the day, and whooping and hollering would have given them all heart attacks, so I decided to send an email instead: "Thanks! Congrats to the runners-up..."

Sometimes I think I am out of step with the whole world! I'm always focused on the thing at hand even when I should take my focus off it and dance while people are dancing!

I never will get the socialization thing down pat... My shyness and desire NOT to be pointed out or made a fuss over trips me up every single time.

And Vegas is coming up... More notoriety. If I were a drinking woman, this would put me in my cups!

Oh, God, have mercy on this wallflower in Vegas, who cannot even look up from her task when people are wishing her well...

And now, I owe an email to Bobbie Bobstein and I WILL write it before my head hits the pillow tonight... I wrote one to her about ten days ago that was at least an hour in the making -- answering one of her terrific emails -- but cyberspace gobbled it up and sent it into oblivion just as I was hitting, "Send."

I cannot tell you how that frustrated me. It takes time to write the perfect hour-long email....

Apologies....for AdSense Ads on This Blogsite

I want to apologize and make a disclaimer. I signed up for AdSense on this blog and at first the ads they placed (the big mysterious, anonymous "theys" who decide these lofty things) were about God and finding Him, which I didn't mind, since this blog is at least partly about finding Him! I was expecting some STAR TREK-themed ads as well when I signed up, but recently the ads that have popped in here along the lines of, "Are you super bad? Come here!" I object highly to these ads and will try to find out how to get AdSense taken off my blog as a result. It isn't easy or I would have just done it and you wouldn't need this explanation.

While I highly suspect that none of you are "super bad" and, as such, none of you will be clicking on these sleazy ads (which will drive more of them to this site), please only click on ads that will point you to "whatever is pure... whatever is of good report.." as commended in Philippians. As far as I'm concerned, these putrifying ads can go bury themselves in satanic blogs -- there are plenty of them out there -- they have no place here, and I apologize. I just want you to know I don't decide on the content of the ads that are placed here, and I am trying to find out how to get AdSense removed altogether because they obviously don't make any "ad sense" to this blogger. If they want to place decent ads, I don't mind. But when they start this crap, and other fleshly-minded topics, I've had enough! AdSense must go! The ads have gone from "Do You Know God?" and "Visit Casey Treat's church in Seattle" to "Are you super bad?" and "Are you Gay?" Matters of the flesh, not of the spirit. Isn't that just like the devil? I should have known he'd try for a toe-hold in this blog.

It's too bad the supposedly astute purveyors of ads who decide what goes where didn't travel the high road and keep with the godly, uplifting ads coming to this site. Now they will all have to go away because of the powers of darkness of this planet...

In the meantime, please don't click on any ad that God wouldn't want you clicking on. There be satanic influences there! Pray that the AdSense people "get a clue" and come to Christ and start placing only godly ads on godly blogsites that will edify and glorify something other than their own twisted lives and desires.

They may want you to turn from your godly ways and follow your flesh, but you know better. Stay safe. Satan lurks everywhere, waiting to devour you. All it takes is one click in the wrong direction and a little bit of free time and curiosity and he will have a new victim. Don't let it be you!

P.S. to gay people, many of whom enjoy this blog and are friends of mine! I love you! This isn't about "to be or not to be" gay! I mention the "Are You Gay?" ad as just one example of where the AdSense people have mis-placed an ad. This blog is not at all about mating patterns, desires or orientation. It's about spiritual matters and otherwise it's about a lot of fun with other De people! My objection is to ads that do not point people to "more of the same": pro-Judeo-Christian websites and or De/TREK websites. That's all!

Saturday and All Is.... Well???

Today I'm doing a spring cleaning thing in a major way. The curtains are even down and I have donated about five car loads full of stuff to Goodwill. After seeing all the junk (er, treasures) my aunt had that had to be given away, donated, tossed or somehow "stored" until she passes away (for some of it is too precious to her to give to a stranger or a good cause and none of her relatives want or need it) it has given me a wake-up call to end all wake-up calls: "How much of the stuff in your garage, closets, bedrooms, den, front room do you really use or need?" The answer was quite revealing: "Not much!" And someone with less could be putting it to good use and could be feeling blessed and lucky. Which is not to say that I don't feel blessed and lucky to have extra "stuff", but hey -- the rule of thumb is, if you haven't used or worn it in a year, donate it!

For example, I have utensils that are almost as old as I am, because I "inherited" them from Mom! You know those old-fashioned rubber and metal bottle stoppers from decades ago? I have two of those. I have a metal ice cream scoop that has that flange-y thing that runs around the mouth of the scoop to dislodge the ice cream from it. Know what I'm talking about? Probably not if you're under 40! I rarely cook, but have numerous cooking and baking utensils.

I'm giving it all up. (Well, except for the bottle corks and the metal ice cream scoop. I'm going to wait another ten years or so and e-bay them or find a museum that will want them!)

I was going to take Aunt Tod to Wal-Mart this morning, but her back is hurting and she can't find the $50 or $60 that Jackie left with her -- we looked everywhere logical before I gave up -- so I left her there still looking and drove to Wal-Mart alone and picked up what she wanted.. she can write me a check later if the money is well and truly lost and gone for good. What she needed me to get only cost $12 and change...

I took a box of china to her and will take her another one this afternoon, then took out of there a box of old, chipped dinnerware she had. I tossed it. At 1:45 I'll go back there and drive her across the street to dialysis and then will go back and fetch her at 5:30 when she finishes, because the shuttle service messed up big time on Thursday and it took her two and a half hours to get back home (just across the street) because she hadn't taken our numbers along and so was unable to call either of us to come get her when the shuttle didn't show. Jackie is calling to raise Cain with the shuttle company and with dialysis, because dialysis has both our numbers and they could have called us to let us know she was waiting for Godot... and had Maple Creek known she was waiting all that time, they assured us they would have driven over and picked her up themselves.

I couldn't even believe her story at first-- that she had waited two and a half hours for the shuttle -- thought she had to be exaggerating or delusional -- but Maple Creek confirmed it, so Jackie is going to knock some heads together at the transit company. An 80 pound, 94 year old dialysis patient should not be waiting two and a half hours for a shuttle that is supposed to respond to a "will call" within 30 minutes... ya know?!

Jackie, Phil and Wendy went to a home show this morning to look at modular homes. They wanted me to go but I felt a commitment to be with Aunt Tod this first weekend morning after her arrival here. As it turned out, she wasn't feeling well enough to go out, so my morning with her became a morning for her, instead (shopping in her stead). I may go get her just before dialysis time and bring her by my condo if her back is better, because she has never seen it and wants to... after dialysis she will probably be too tired.

What else?

Alison (Senorita Invierno) has decided to stay in the good ol' U S of A for a time following the August STAR TREK convention in Vegas (where we will meet face-to-face for the first time), so she will be flying home with me after the convention and staying here. We'll have to share this PC to keep both our blogs going! She can blog during the day when I'm at work, and I'll dash one off in the evening just after I return home from work. You'll get "both sides of the same story" at that time -- from two perspectives -- or maybe we'll blog together, taking turns at the keyboard -- and post both blogs in both places. Now, there's a concept! Has that been tried before?

It should be a lot of fun -- two creatives sharing the same abode for up to 90 days. I'm looking forward to it.

Friday! Hallelujah!

Thank God it's Friday!

Loving my job the way I do, it is rare to find me shouting the above sentiment from the rooftops, but I am weary to the core tonight and am very glad I have two days without a schedule except for church on Sunday morning. (I am looking forward to that, of course. I had to miss church last weekend because my sis and I were in Oregon moving my aunt to Washington that day.)

There isn't a lot to report. One of my co-workers has been sick all week so I have had many more calls to make every day than I usually have (and I usually have at least fifty to make). It got to be a drag toward the end of the week, especially because this was a particularly heavy week writing-wise, so I was scrambling every day to stay caught up. Combine that with moving my aunt and moving my own bedroom to the master bedroom, and it's easy to see why I feel like a dish rag tonight...

My newly-arrived aunt wants her best dinnerware china to be brought to her new abode. I hesitate to do that because her meals are provided downstairs and she doesn't have cupboard space enough to store a six piece dining set. But she insists she will "entertain" in her room at times and will need dishes.

Frankly, I think it's dementia creeping in, because she also wants her end tables and a couch -- none of which will fit in there even using a shoe horn! She will think I'm denying her what rightfully belongs to her if I don't take the dishes, though, so I will take her two of the six boxes and let her put their contents away into the two small cupboards she has. If there is still room, I will bring her more dishes, unless she is satisfied she has enough. (If more than two people visited her at one time, they'd all feel claustrophobic so having four dishes and plates and cups on hand is overkill)

I sometimes think getting old is harder on the people on the periphery than it is on the oldster! You walk on eggshells to keep from hurting their feelings because they ask for such illogical things. And yet you realize, "If I live long enough, someday I'll be that compromised," so you try not to get exasperated, because they aren't trying to be difficult...

She wants to make her new room feel like her home. I can't fault here for that and will do what I can to be sure she can settle in well, feeling heeded and respected.

Someday perhaps someone else will go out of their way a time or two and do the same for me...

It's Official! Las Vegas, Here I Come! August 11th is my Appearance Date

Just received official confirmation that I will, indeed, be speaking Saturday August 11th at the STAR TREK convention in Las Vegas. (The date has been tentative all this time, not the appearance itself.) Those of you from far away who have been noodling the idea of coming to see/hear/meet me, now you have a date to aim for. Go to the Creation website at this URL to learn more about the Las Vegas convention weekend:

http://www.creationent.com/cal/stlv.htm.

The celebrity lineup is, in a word, vast! If you are a Trek fan, I can't imagine you not having a wonderful time at this event. 12K to 15K fans attend it usually -- so you will meet a lot of kindred spirits and will make friends that will last a lifetime. Go!

Get my book ahead of time and avoid the long line in Vegas to buy it! Order it here at a discount, too: http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail~bookid~7780.aspx

Okay, I'm getting nervous again -- eating junk food to compensate like it's going out of style tonight...

My friend Val says not to worry a bit -- just imagine the audience naked. HORRORS! Naked Klingons and Andorians? Naked Ferengi? Naked Vulcans? Hopeless.... I'd need CPR!

Come to Vegas -- you may have to hold me up!

One Exhausted Gal....

Will keep this short tonight because I'm zzzzzzausted.

Last night I stopped by my aunt's residential community to have dinner with her and spent about an hour after that helping her put the lion's share of her clothes away. I took a huge 3' x4' x 3' box of winter clothes out of there to hang in my closets to make way so she could hang spring and summer clothes in her closet.

When I got home I had my own project. The two ministry students I have been hosting for eight months moved out (one is getting married in July and she and her fiance bought a house; she'll live in it until they marry; the other found a house to rent with a number of friends to share expenses, so both are flying free for now) so I spent from 8 pm to 11 transporting all the beds, dressers and clothes out of the guest room (where I have been sleeping) to the master bedroom (where the gals have been) and getting it set up for myself again. Of course, it took hours and by the time my head hit the pillow my legs were sore and unhappy... so I got up and took aspirins, heated a blanket in the dryer and wrapped my legs. Ahhhhh... fell asleep about midnight with the alarm clock on because I had to be up at 6 a.m. to get to a dental appointment at 7 a.m. for a temporary crown to be placed on a front tooth.

Funny story there. The temporary crown was matched for color against the other, movie star-white front teeth and looked so great it was impossible to tell which tooth had the temporary on it. I ate at Subway and had a sandwich with mustard on it. When I finished it, I smiled into the rear view mirror of my car to see how my temporary had done during a meal, AND IT WAS AS YELLOW AS THE YELLOWEST MUSTARD! I shrieked! I drove back to work and scrubbed and scrubbed with my toothbrush to see if I could get the offending yellow to go away. It was an effort, but now it looks just barely off-white... THANK GOD! I will hesitate to eat anything with color now until the permanent crown is placed in two weeks and two days. Live and learn. They told me not to bite into an apple with the temporary but they didn't tell me to lay off the mustard. Not divulging information like that could give a person cardiac arrest!

Today after work I picked my aunt up from dialysis and took her back to Maple Creek, where she ate a little and gave me the rest. Then we went upstairs to her apartment again and I managed to wrest yet another box of clothes from her (winter time), assuring her they will be safe here at my place and she can come by and reassure herself any time she wants to. She smiled and said, "Krissy, I trust you," but I don't think she really trusts anybody... so it was an act of faith that she let me take them away. I'm sure her hubby of 65 years bought her all these clothes and parting with them is liking parting with him all over again. (Johnny passed away eight years ago.)

Had a busy day at work. Tomorrow I get my second shot at creating the production sheet, which is a jigsaw puzzle of sorts that right now is making me sweat bullets because there is so much to think about when creating it, and if I don't get it right it will cost my employer money. (No pressure, huh?) I did the first one without a mistake but it was an easy, straight-forward one, and they usually aren't, but I have to get proficient with them within the next four weeks because one of the other copywriters is going in for knee surgery and that will leave only two of us to carry on until he can get back -- and he usually does the production sheet at least two days a week... so I will be up to bat in his stead in four weeks and have to hit a home run every time out when I do. It should be interesting, to say the least. The head copywriter will keep an eye on me and twist me into shape before then, I'm sure. These gents are superheroes of mine. They'll help me get up to speed well in advance of my moment on stage, I'm sure.

That's it for now. My neck hurts. I need to shut this down and stop looking at monitors for the night!