Been doing some work on http://lauracushing.com - there's a basic layout up there now at least, if not the actual content. I'm hoping to get back to work, hoping to find some musicians who are in need of our services, build up some contacts again. I've got a few feelers out there, sent out some messages to a few folks look like they might need things done. Here's hoping some of that comes back with work. Between the economy and me having problems (that I know now were related to the blood pressure), all the previous work dried up. So I feel like I'm starting again from square one. That's why it's important to get the portfolio up, let people know who we've worked with and what we did for them and some testimonials and so forth.

Something unpleasant is going on in my lungs. Either it's just from allergy season, or I'm coming down with something which I so do not need right now. Got some allergy stuff, and we'll see if that does anything.

For those who voted in the poll - you will be happy to know that the dead possum was kicked into the road, and animal control was called. "Its not just playing" I assured them, and they came to collect the corpse. Problem solved.

So... hypothetical question. A possum dies in your yard for no discernible reason - you just kinda go outside and ZOMG DEAD POSSUM under the tree.

Do you...

Poll #1460880 Dead Possums aren't Much Fun ... or are they?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 25

Would you....

Because three is looking likely, but four is oh-so-tempting.

Clicky to see what it hatches into....

I think it is pretty. Your mileage may vary.

My new bike! It is a very girly Schwinn that my mom and brother Joe bought me for my birthday. It's so very pink - partially to help it avoid the fate of my last bike, which was that it got kidnapped by teen boys and subsequently broke. If the color isn't enough of a deterrent, it also has a very thick chain lock.

I am pleased to announce that the Holy Church of the Creepy Christ has a few new additions. Just bought a 1948 lithograph of a nun which has eerie holy glow going on, and a late 1800s statue imported from Italy of St. Rocco which has a creeptastic leaking plague sore on his leg, along with some kind of dog waiting eagerly for Rocco's blood or some such. So now in addition to praying to Creepy Jesus for all your salvation needs, you can also hit up St. Rocco. He's the patron saint of contagious diseases, so whether you've got VD or TB, give him a prayer and he'll get back to you. I am considering starting an LJ community for the church one of these days - let people post pictures of their own creepy religious statuary and post their prayer request and so on.

I'm babysitting my brother's dog today which, while the dog is cute, is a big pain in the ass. She needs to go for walks quite frequently and sniffs everything before deciding on the right spot to go. It'd be like if we, as humans, had to travel around from public bathroom to public bathroom, sniffing every toilet until we found that one magical spot that we felt like going in.This is why I'm more of a cat person - they can take care of their body functions on their own as long as you provide them with a place to do it in.

Yesterday was a very good day - we went to Atlantic City to see The 88 and B52's in concert at House of Blues. We decided to make a day of it, and went to do other things in the city before the show.



First was the Atlantic City aquarium, where I got to feed manta rays and pet all kinds of cute little sea creatures. They are a small aquarium, but have some really nice fishes, amphibians, and reptiles in the space they have. There are two floors of critters and then an observation deck overlooking the ocean on the third floor. Very fun. See more pictures on Facebook - album 1, two, three.


Next we went to Ripley's Believe it or not on the boardwalk. Admission is kind of expensive (15 dollars), but there were a lot of things to see and it was very fun. I got a little book and some sort of Ripley card game that I have to actually take a look at today - didn't have much time yesterday, too busy doing things. They had all kinds of neat things there - even the famous Fiji mermaid! See more pictures on Facebook album 1, album 2, three.

I got a psychic reading - palm reading - on the boardwalk for the hell of it. Man, that thing was actually scary accurate - don't really feel like getting into the details but a combination of good-and-bad things. Then we had some pizza, and took one of those rolling wicker chair taxis over to the House of Blues (which is in Showboat). The guy who took us over was also going to the show, and he sung some B52s songs on the way, and gave us a tour of all the boardwalk musicians we passed - was fun. We saw him later during the show and he came over and said hi - he was a little drunk by then but still funny.
Boardwalk pictures



A little worry at the show as the guest list wasn't down when we arrived, but it came down and then we got our tickets - they gave us balcony seats right over center stage. Really nice seats! First act they had on was actually... a Rockband. Really. They won some Rockband competition to get to open for the B52s. They played a video about the competition before the band took the stage - it was basically a huge commercial for Rockband. Amusing, though, in a way. Then The 88 came on - and wow, they are good live. So much energy! A lot more upbeat than some of the concerts we see too, which was really nice. Good vibes. After The 88's set, we went down to the merch table to hang with Adam while the B52s where on. He gave me a cd and some assorted such, and a poster that he had the rest of his band come sign too. Also got a picture with with him, then with everyone after the show. They're all nice folks. Concert pictures

Today woke up pretty sore from all the running about yesterday, and all three kids gave me squat for mother's day. Brenda at least has a healthy sense of self-preservation and offered to take me out to dinner later in the week. Jeanette, in her usual lack of decorum, spent most of the day screaming about how we should give her things. Steve didn't even show up or call. I got my mom a set of Laurel and Hardy statues and a roomba vacuum (which is still on the way).

Tomorrow the shed should arrive, and then we can start hauling inventory out into it, then starting the book business up again. Go books.

I killed a bird today.

I tried to stop in time, but it was thud, thump under the tire. The kids were in the car with me, and Steve commented "Whoa, you can see the blood spurting out- sick!" as we drove off. I feel so bad for the poor bird. This is the second animal to meet death under my wheels - first was a squirrel a couple of years ago who was chasing one of his buddies across the road and didn't see the car coming. I always try to break for animals, and usually I make it in time - I guess considering all the critters we have around here, two in twenty years or so of driving isn't all that bad. Still, poor bird!

Sometimes we just hang out and talk about random shit. See all the crazyfun you are missing by not hanging out with us on IRC?

(Me) holy balls
that is a big fish
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/arapaima.html
...and that one breathes air and eats birds
and is nine feet long

(Aus) It took one look at eating fellow fish and said ... 'that's way too easy'.

(Nathan) "Pssh, give a fucking challenge, fo fuck's sake!"

(Aus) It's sort of like a person who decides that he's going to eat only sharks from now on. And that he's going to kill and eat them by diving underwater with a scuba suit and stabbing them, then eating their raw bloody intestines while laughing at the other sharks.

So tired- dog and house sitting for my brother turned out to be less than simple. His spoiled dog won't sleep unless it sleeps with people - under the covers, to boot. So when we put the dog under the covers with us... he started licking our legs. Which was kind of irritating, but when I felt a cold wet nose under my nightgown and on my butt - it was definitely too much. Out went the dog into the living room - where he cried, whined and scratched at the door assuring we'd get no sleep. So we let him back in (above the covers this time) where he proceeded to take up way more space than a three pound Yorkie should possibly ever be able to take. I swear he has special spacial powers. Anyhow, when we tried to nudge him over and disturbed his sleep in the process- he growled and snarled. So he went back out into the living room again. Whine whine, scratch scratch- but finally he settled down. And just as he did... the first rays of sunlight hit. And with them came a plague of birds much like an Alfred Hitchcock movie descending on the window area where my brother keeps his bird feeder. CHIRP CHIRP TWEET TWEET FLUTTER FLUTTER.... and then the thump-swing-thump of a very ambitious squirrel who decided to swing down onto the suet holder - sending it flying into the window over and over again as he ate.

So I'm very tired and very cranky and my brother isn't due home for another couple of hours but when he gets here I'm heading home so Aus and I can get some decent sleep tonight- without dogs or birds.

Whales and Dolphins 3-D at the Imax was really visually stunning. The effects were very good- you felt like you were right there. If I had to pay for it though, I would have been slightly peeved that it was only 45 minutes long. As it was, the only irritating part was the hippie save the whales message that they beat you over the head with about seventy times in the space of that 45 minutes. Now, before you all gasp in horror, let me state that I am very much in favor of sealife conservation. I love the whales and dolphins and manatees and want them all to swim around and be happy in nice clean environments free of predation. That being said.. I don't need to be told how awful it is that everything is going to die out every five minutes. I do not have a harpoon in my purse at the movie theater - I am not the evil problem causing the extinction of the whales - but the movie made me feel like I was.

There was even a song at the end about who is going to be hunted next, and how terrible it is that we came from the sea but we drive sea creatures to extinction and so on. I don't remember the words, but the gist was 'Humans suck - whales rock, get off your ass and conserve some you lazy person. Visit our website and donate money and you'll suck less." It did detract from the experience.


Things to do tomorrow:
finish press release writing
clean the fish tank
go to post office
do something about getting Aus's stuff in to Office Team

We started a Half.com store by the way - take a look at some of the book we have for sale! Buy some, we'll love you forever. We'll be adding more as time goes on.

We also joined this neat program - a video game exchange. You can exchange games you don't want any more for points which you can use to get games from people who have the games you want available. Check it out here!

I don't want to talk about the hospital today. Too much of the same not knowing anything.

Today I want to talk about the wild turkeys I saw. There was a whole flock of them - about 20-30 birds of varying sizes. For those who have never seen a wild turkey, they're quite a funny looking bird. They have big floofy bodies on these tiny spindle legs - they look like a child's drawing up close. They do this funny little waddle, and flock all over the place and peck at the ground for food. There was a light coating of snow so they didn't have too much success. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me. I really need to start carrying it with me, just in case.

The funny thing was that we were at the diner, staring across to the National Guard building - the one with the tank out in front. And the turkeys were just strolling up the lawn past the tank, which made me laugh and I couldn't stop laughing for a good five minutes. My brother joked that they were going to get drafted if they didn't get back to the woods soon.

By the time we had our lunch, they were gone. Speaking of lunch- we have discovered the most dangerously delicious lunch ever. It is the chicken sizzler at the Golden Palace Diner in Vineland, which comes on this SUPER HOT DEADLY IRON SKILLET OF DOOM. It burnt me to the third degree yesterday when I leaned on the handle. Somehow I didn't care, because it tasted just that good. So today my mom ordered it... and predictably, she burnt herself on the rim of the iron skillet - and also commented 'but damn, it was good'. You have been warned.

Another bit of something positive- the state tax refund came today. Not the big one, but still a sizable chunk that will make things more comfortable.

Run for your lives, folks! The Jersey Devil's procreating!

This happened right here in South Jersey! What do you think this critter is?




Spawn of the Jersey Devil found in Mullica Twp. attic?

By STEVEN LEMONGELLO , Atlantic City Press

Just in time for Halloween, we present to you The Thing That Came from the Attic.

The unholy demon creature was pulled out of the Crowleytown Schoolhouse in Mullica Township by Doug Laubert, who hasn't the slightest idea of what it is.

"The general consensus is that maybe it's a deformed flying squirrel," Laubert said of the freakish mummy-thing. "Maybe it's a salamander - but it has hair! Maybe it's a chipmunk - but it has a fish tail! When I first saw it, I thought it was a mudskipper - but it has teeth!"

All he knows is that mysterious crypto-creature was found in an area where no one has set foot for at least 30 years. He had punched a hole in a panel to run some TV cable through it, and there it was in all of its glory.

He and his family have thought up some names for the ungodly fish-being, among them "The Spawn of the Jersey Devil" and his nephew's suggestion, "Herman the Vermin."

Press nature columnist Kevin Post chimed in that "Herman" could be a dried up mudpuppy, until he saw the hair and teeth. Other suggestions thrown around included some kind of bat, a rodent, or the Fiji Mermaid.

Whatever it is, Laubert - who, incidentally, is on the ballot next week for a spot as a Mullica committeeman - plans to preserve the tiny gremlin-corpse forever. It will take its place of honor in his collection, he said, next to a dead cat with a glass eye named "Sammy."

So if you see something like this in your own home, whether it's slowly crawling along your floor or simply creeping unseen into your bed in the middle of the night, just try not to look directly into its eyes.

If it starts talking to you, run.

Well, the sinuses are bad again today - to the point where I don't want to eat anything and my face is swelling. This pretty much means that I'm not going to be making it to the Ozma concerts, and I am HUGELY disappointed because I love Ozma so very much. And I was looking forward to seeing everyone again. If only the Ozma headlining show in Hoboken wasn't on the same night the RK concert in Philly was. Now I feel like I missed out on my chance to see them, and who knows when they're going to be on the east coast again? And the kids are very miserable as well because they wanted to go with us, and it was going to be their first big concert... so I really let everyone down thanks to my sinuses. Every time I think about it I want to cry, except with my sinuses swollen up like this, I can't.

If it gets much worse tonight, or if it isn't much better tomorrow morning, I'll take some of my non-existent money and go visit the doctor or the hospital or the urgent care place. I'd really like to feel better now.

In non-emo news, we saw a cute snake today right by the deck steps. I stepped off the deck and almost right onto him - poor little snake. He popped his head up and looked indignant as he slithered to a safe distance to watch us. In the morning when I was barely awake, I thought he was a hognose - but now that I look at it, his markings were too dark and his head wasn't pointed enough. He was likely a pine snake. Hognose, pine snakes, and garter snakes are our most common snake types here in the pine barrens.

This looks neat! I want to do the seagull one.

We got out flight all scheduled - so all systems go for being in MA the weekend of Nov 3rd! Yay!

Anyone have a good potato soup recipe? I really want potato soup, but the canned stuff is so high in sodium.

Two of the four drugs that I need to take are on the Wal-Mart generic four dollar prescription list, woo! That should help with saving monies. Though it would be nice if Wal-Mart wasn't screwing their associates out of their pay raises, bah.

I got my birth certificate, so now I just need to go to the DMV and renew my licence so I'm all set for flying. The lady who got our certificate had one of those horrible Betta-in-a-Vase things on her desk. It was so sad, the poor little betta barely able to get up to the surface for air with the big plant roots. Not to mention, half the time they don't tell you the betta needs food (they don't eat plants!) , so he slowly starves to death. And it's cold water, so he's slow and sluggish and just kind of lurks (not that there's much room to swim). It made me very sad.

Today I did a lot of running around helping my brother Ron get his car back from impound, and the police report from his wife's accident and such. My other brother Joe came over unexpected, so I got to hang out with both brothers today. It was nice, having lunch with both of them and mom - it was good to do a family thing in the middle of all the chaos.

At the garage where my brother's car was impounded, there was a cute garage kitty. I played with him and petted him, and he rolled around and purred. He was a black and white tuxedo cat, though somewhat grungy from living in the garage. He was pretty plump, so they must be feeding him well. And so friendly!

Then I played with my brother's little Yorkie when we went to drop off his car. I call him the little dust mop - he's all fur, and barely any dog. Ron talks to him like he's a little baby, which is really funny. "Go pee for Daddy, Spike! You're a good puppy."

Much More Scientific You have: 77% SCIENTIFIC INTUITION and 47% EMOTIONAL INTUITION

The graph on the right represents your place in Intuition 2-Space. As you can see, you scored about average on emotional intuition and well above average on scientific intuition.Keep in mind that very few people score high on both! In effect, you can compare your two intuition scores with each other to learn what kind of intuition you're best at. Your scientific intuition is stronger than your emotional intuition. Your Emotional Intuition score is a measure of how well you understand people, especially their unspoken needs and sympathies. A high score score usually indicates social grace and persuasiveness. A low score usually means you're good at Quake. Your Scientific Intuition score tells you how in tune you are with the world around you; how well you understand your physical and intellectual environment. People with high scores here are apt to succeed in business and, of course, the sciences. Try my other test! The 3 Variable Funny Test It rules.

My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 99% on Scientific You scored higher than 99% on Interpersonal

Link: The 2-Variable Intuition Test written by jason_bateman on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

You Are 67% Grown Up, 33% Kid

Congratulations, you are definitely quite emotionally mature. Although you have your moments of moodiness, you're usually stable and level headed.

Brenda took me out to lunch today with her babysitting money- she was so proud! We had hamburgers and shakes at Fuddruckers, then played some games in the arcade.

After that, we went to the pet store - which made me pretty sad, really. There were beta fish in tiny tiny cups - some of them were clearly dying. One poor fish had all white flaky scales and couldn't really even get up off the bottom of the cup to get air without great difficulty. He wasn't long for the world, poor thing- and had probably lived out his days in that little cup. So sad. And the hermit crabs were in cages with harsh bright lights and no water in their sponges. Some of them looked pretty dried out, and may have been dead. There were no shells for them to change into. Most of the fish tanks were pretty dirty, and the mice and bunnies were pretty overcrowded. It was pretty distressing. We picked up and patted some of the bunnies - a large one clawed me though, obviously displeased with me calling him a cute little bunbun.

We went to gamestop and checked out some of the games, then picked up Aus from work and came on home. Now I'm just relaxing.

I saw this in a South Jersey community - poor animals! Hope someone can help some of these poor critters...

--L

PLEASE REPOST THIS!!!!!!

The West Jersey Animal Shelter is closing at the end of this month. The Pennsauken, NJ shelter had it's license revoked due to unkept and dangerous conditions for the animals. There are currently 31 dogs and 5 cats on the premises that are in desperate need of adoption. If these animals are not adopted by the end of the month, they will be euthanized.

The West Jersey Animal Shelter is open for adoptions Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. and from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Phone (856) 486-2180

So we got our TENS machine today - and it feels pretty good. Have to use it three times a day for one hour at a time each time. It makes little pulses. It's kind of neat. On Monday, my brother Joe is taking the girls to Twinsberg Ohio for the Twins festival. They're going to enjoy that! And it'll be so nice and quiet around the house, hehe. Today we took Jeanette and Steve to have their glasses fixed/adjusted at the mall - Steve had managed to chew off the ends of his. He likes to nibble on things, sigh - and he's always hungry. And I swear if he grows any taller, he'll be taller than me next year!

After the mall and its dubious joys, we went to get some McD's on the way home- and fed an ambitious pack of seagulls. They thanked us by pooping all over the L-mobile. Also stopped at a produce stand and got some nummy Jersey tomatoes.

Tomorrow afternoon I've got a doctor's appointment (sigh), and then tomorrow night is D&D at themightydrew's (yay!!)

The IME went well enough- the guy was friendly, at any rate, and didn't seem to want to do anything too terribly painful to us. He had a nice setup- he lived in a 150 year old house in Williamstown (and like everything that's not on the main road in Williamstown, it was thus very hard to find the actual location of, but hey). So he had his office in the front of the house, then all the rest of the house behind it. His backyard was all nice and landscaped with swings and such for his kids. Must be nice to work, then just... walk back into your house. That's pretty cool.

After that, we went to see March of the Penguins very cheaply! We had a coupon for six dollar tickets, plus free soda and free popcorn coupons from my Regal card, woo! The movie was so good! Little penguins are absolutely adorable, and it really gave you an up-close and personal look at the life of penguins. Wow, it's tough to be a 'guin.


We've been seeing a lot of wildlife in our area lately - the usual squirrels, birds and turtles - the occasional bunny , deer, or chipmunk, and these adorable nearly completely round fat groundhogs.

Today I've got to take mom out for some errands and lunch, then we've got a doctor's appointment. Other than that, should be a relaxing kinda day.

Yesterday we rescued a very ungrateful box turtle from the middle of the road. We picked him up and helped him cross to the other side- but the whole time he was hissing at us from deep inside his shell where he'd retreated, and when we put him on the other side he popped out his headand gave us a rather indignant look like "I had the situation under control, thank you very much!" It was cute!

The crocheting class was a lot of fun- I'd figured out a lot more on my own that I'd thought I had, so it didn't take me long at all to learn the different stitches she showed me. I made a fuzzy pair of flip-flops and now I'm starting to make a 'market bag' (don't ask me why it's called that, but it's crocheted and cottony and pretty sweet, if it turns out right). She also taught me how to read patterns, which is infinately helpful. It takes me a while to figure them out still, but now I know what the different abreviations stand for. I'd like to take another class soon- maybe I'll go every two weeks, or once a month or so.

Brenda and Jeanette are down the shore with my brother this weekend, so it's nice and quiet around the house. Mom's heading down there on Sunday so it'll be even more quiet that day. Yay nice quiet weekends!

Tonight -D&D - rest of the weekend - absolutely nothing, woo! I hate holidays- the best part about them is that everybody goes away. I'm such a Grinch.

Your Summer Anthem is Speed of Sound by Coldplay All that noise, and all that sound, All those places I got found. And birds go flying at the speed of sound, to show you how it all began. You're out of your mind this summer, in a good way.

The legend of the Jersey Devil is part of the folklore here in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, where I live.


The Pine Barrens

This legend dates back to 1735 when a woman named Mrs. Leeds was pregnant with her thirteenth child while living in what is commonly known as the" Shrouds House" in Leeds Point, NJ.


Birthplace of the Devil

Disgusted by having yet another pregnancy, she cursed and said "The devil take this child!" .



When the child was born, it looked normal enough and she had forgotten the curse she made- but it soon mutated into a hideous beast and flew up the chimney.


The first known drawing of the Jersey Devil

Throughout the 1700's and 1800's, there were numerous tales told of encounters with the Jersey devil saying that he did all sorts of mysterious things- from just running around, to eating livestock, to stealing children.

As the 1900's dawned, the sitings became less frequent. But even up until modern times, there's still the occasional person that goes into the area of New Jersey called the Pine Barrens (it's a national reserve) that says they've seen the infamous Jersey Devil. Among those throught history who have seen him have been several Cival War vetrans, teachers, writers and other respected members of society (as well as some just plain weirdos =) ).

Whether or not we believe in the Jersey Devil, it is still an intresting part of the folklore of South Jersey. It contains several archetypical superstitions (The number thirteen, for one ) that are common in legends througout the world. Intresting to note is that there is a Leeds Point in the Pine Barrens, and a Jimmy Leeds Road. Also, there are many members of the Leeds family who appear in historical doccuments. I've never seen the actual first name of Mrs. Leeds meantioned, or the name of the child who supposedly was born as the Jersey Devil.

If you are intrested, read more about this here:

The Jersey Devil [Fact or Fiction]

Variations of the legend

Jersey Devil Hunters, E-Greetings, Accounts and Encounters- more

Jersey Devil Playstation Game

Jersey Devil on the X-Files