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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

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Originally posted by Brenda:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

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Originally posted by Brenda:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
I wish you luck with your book, Brenda.

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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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Thanks but it's still a couple of months away from any serious publisher hunting.

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Before I blame my self-involvement for not knowing, have you shared what your book is about Brenda? If you don't want to share I understand, but I don't recall what it is you're writing about.

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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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You know something SIX. I don't remember if I have or not. I can talk about it. It's a murder mystery and it happens at a rodeo. The owner of the rodeo is murdered.

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JEEZ!!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!!!

J/K... I'm sure the mystery is whodunnit!

I wish the muse be with you.

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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Out for my walk on a dry day with the sun trying to shine. Couple of small things to do. Found out that I didn't do all the grocery shopping I needed yesterday. So have to finish doing that today.

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We're having parallel days!

I realized that I bought 20lbs of screws yesterday that were all one size when there were two sizes that were free after rebate so I had to return half of them today and get 10lbs of both sizes.



Not a bad deal. $0.28 tax on each box instead of the $5.25 per box it would have been full price and without the rebates.

I did really great on that one. After taxes and the couple of bucks I had to pay for some cheap levels, I got just over $100 of stuff for less than 7 bucks. I think that's the best percentage I've had yet.


Took that opportunity to pick up a few other things I skipped last trip up there. I got 3 carpet knives with 2 blades each for a buck a piece (when a 5 pack of carpet blades alone costs $2.98 anyhow... so 1 free blade and 3 free knives!), and a few scraper sets and 125 sheets of various grit sandpaper. Didn't do nearly as well on that one, but after the rebates clear I'll have paid about $14 for $35 worth of stuff.




Don't know if I'll get to the post office to send them in today like I wanted to though. That was the only thing I planned to do errand wise today, but it started snowing hard on my way back and all that fresh salt is going to be out on the streets. Until I get the other two break lines replaced, I don't think I want to make them any more rusty than they already are.



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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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Originally posted by Brenda:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

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Originally posted by Brenda:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

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Originally posted by Brenda:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
I wish you luck with your book, Brenda.

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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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Thanks but it's still a couple of months away from any serious publisher hunting.

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Before I blame my self-involvement for not knowing, have you shared what your book is about Brenda? If you don't want to share I understand, but I don't recall what it is you're writing about.

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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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You know something SIX. I don't remember if I have or not. I can talk about it. It's a murder mystery and it happens at a rodeo. The owner of the rodeo is murdered.

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JEEZ!!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!!!

J/K... I'm sure the mystery is whodunnit!

I wish the muse be with you.

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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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No worries. It is. That's why I kept my statement to a minimum.

Thanks. I can sure use the muse's help on my next project. I am soooo close to why my main character is doing what she's doing. But having a tough time getting there.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
It happens for me sometimes. I think I have everything then I get back and start unbagging things and realize I forgot something. That's what happened to me.

I think I just missed some rain today while I was out as when I left the local mall to come home everything looked wet out. So far no snow but it is cold out.

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

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Originally posted by Brenda:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

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Originally posted by Brenda:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

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Originally posted by Brenda:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
I wish you luck with your book, Brenda.

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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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Thanks but it's still a couple of months away from any serious publisher hunting.

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Before I blame my self-involvement for not knowing, have you shared what your book is about Brenda? If you don't want to share I understand, but I don't recall what it is you're writing about.

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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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You know something SIX. I don't remember if I have or not. I can talk about it. It's a murder mystery and it happens at a rodeo. The owner of the rodeo is murdered.

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JEEZ!!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!!!

J/K... I'm sure the mystery is whodunnit!

I wish the muse be with you.

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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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No worries. It is. That's why I kept my statement to a minimum.

Thanks. I can sure use the muse's help on my next project. I am soooo close to why my main character is doing what she's doing. But having a tough time getting there.

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I envy your ability to do it at all. Like REALLY envy you.

I've had ideas for stories floating around in my mind from time to time, but I find it impossible to
write anything resembling good dialogue. It's truly a gift. It's nice that you're using it.



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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
It happens for me sometimes. I think I have everything then I get back and start unbagging things and realize I forgot something. That's what happened to me.

I think I just missed some rain today while I was out as when I left the local mall to come home everything looked wet out. So far no snow but it is cold out.

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I don't usually do that, but that's because I write a LOT of stuff down and have a car route planned out so I'm not making any left turns and hitting as many places as possible when I do need to go out for something.

These rebates have gotten me a few times in the recent months though. They'll only advertise one product in the fliers but there sometimes can be two or three or more in actuality, and sometimes I catch it. I'm sure I've gotten more of one thing and missed out on the other thing(s) because of this without catching it too.

I just have to be more careful when checking everything out in the future.



Do you write lists for yourself? I'd be absolutely lost if I went shopping without them. I never impulse buy or buy anything that isn't on sale.

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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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Originally posted by Brenda:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
I envy your ability to do it at all. Like REALLY envy you.

I've had ideas for stories floating around in my mind from time to time, but I find it impossible to
write anything resembling good dialogue. It's truly a gift. It's nice that you're using it.



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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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Thank you.

This first book all came about by accident. I sat down years ago with a pad of paper and just started writing. One character came first then that character brought a long all the others and the setting which includes what he and the other characters do.

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Yeah. If you write a list, it doesn't do you no good not to remember it. I did almost walk out without mine today.

The only time I buy something not on the list is if there is something I catch on sale or clearance out of the corner of my eye that wasn't in the advertisement. A few months back I bought a whole bunch of filters for my furnace that were super cheap at about $1.25 each that just happened to be on an endcap so you couldn't miss it. And the other day while walking by the front aisle I saw a 2 pack of pumice stones with handles on clearance for $2.00 that will be good for cleaning out that one rust stain from my toilet bowl that no amount of cleaner or scrubbing seems to get out.

Dollar Tree is a different story. I'll hit that place pretty frequently since it's almost always in route home from anywhere I'm going and not a big deal to go in even if I can only think of one thing to get. I get my hair bands, cheap disposable DIY stuff, shampoo/conditioner and the occasional bag of chips if I want to treat myself from there. No need for a list or looking out for sale prices when everything is the same price and the store is so small you've pretty much memorized their entire inventory after you go there a dozen times.





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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

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Originally posted by Brenda:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
I envy your ability to do it at all. Like REALLY envy you.

I've had ideas for stories floating around in my mind from time to time, but I find it impossible to
write anything resembling good dialogue. It's truly a gift. It's nice that you're using it.



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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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Thank you.

This first book all came about by accident. I sat down years ago with a pad of paper and just started writing. One character came first then that character brought a long all the others and the setting which includes what he and the other characters do.

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Accidents are how a lot of great works of art begin.


Maybe one day I will be able to write something. I haven't tried since I was around my mid-20's and didn't really have much life experience yet. And unlike your style, characters were always an afterthought for me... basically window dressing for a concept. And how are you supposed to write good dialogue between 2 people if you don't really have interesting people talking to each other in the first place?

I think maybe my concepts would be better in somebody else's hands who knows how to write, and maybe has a more outgoing personality and has had a lot more real life dialogue with other people. My writing is more analytical and better suited for office missives than for short stories or novels that anybody would pay to read.



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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Wow! Six. You had quite the day for sure.

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Wow! Six. You had quite the day for sure.

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Oh boy, was it.

Her step-sister apologized to me too and said she forgot to think of me earlier to come by and see what I wanted before some other non-family came out and grabbed stuff. I told her don't sweat it since all I thought I was going there for was to help bring the fridge back to my place. But I can only imagine what types of things were there before if the stuff I got was what was left after all the vultures took what they wanted. I heard he had a 90" TV that one of their friends took! I don't think that would reasonably fit anywhere in my house.

This was a HUGE house. One of those McMansions that must cost about $500 a month right now for heat and electricity. It was funny though because there wasn't as much "room" space as you would imagine there would be from outside because the ceiling from the first floor on 3/4 of the house was about 20 feet high with a cool staircase going up to only 3 rooms and a bathroom upstairs. Super wide open and really interesting layout, but as much as I love painting I would never try painting a house like that. I'm afraid of heights. If god wanted me to paint 20 foot ceilings he would have given me 12 foot legs.




That set of folding tables is going to be really nice when my aunt and Grams come by for lunch. I'm always bringing down these two high back wooden chairs for them to eat off of since I've yet to put together a proper dining area in my small kitchen.




The only bad part of the day? Both me and my buddy jacked up our backs. And as the night goes on I'm a little concerned that this could turn into one of the BAD ones. I'm hoping it feels better tomorrow when I wake up.


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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
You're on a roll Brenda!



Have you ever tried making something work that for the life of you, you couldn't get working, only to have it accidentally start working for you after messing around with it for hours and you have no explanation why it did?

That's where I'm at right now, regarding something I'm making for my friend and his daughter with an old, crappy laptop that I got from the old man now that he has a speedy new one that was gifted to him for Christmas.

We're in this in-between time with old and new tech again, and for whatever reason I could not get this ancient BIOS on the right settings to read a Linux distro from the internal hard drive (Somewhat similar to a problem I was talking about YEARS ago when I tried installing an SSD to an old all in one PC that wouldn't read any OS from the newer tech).

I was just about to resign myself to buying a USB nub drive and running it from that (which would be slower, but should still have worked for the purpose), but then all of the sudden on a reboot it worked just fine.

What the heck did I do right this time? It's not as if that old BIOS had a lot of options to try out.

Oh well. I won't look a gift horse in the mouth. I'm just going to make sure I lock it down so they can't screw it up and press on with the stuff I thought I might actually have finished before I went to bed tonight. I think I have one more hurdle to jump through because I'm not super familiar with Linux, but I should be able to figure it out from here, and it's always good learning new things.



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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Yeah, I am SIX.

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That's difficult question you have to answer there. But I'm sure you'll figure some thig out.

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Yeah, I am SIX.

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That's difficult question you have to answer there. But I'm sure you'll figure some thig out.

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There was a third option...

Got a little help from some old online friends.

It's still not a completely automatic process, but I've reduced my workload by dozens of hours at least just by asking for a little help!

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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Help from friends is good.

Same thing will happen with my book. I know someone who is a published author though she's poet. But we know some of the same people so she's agreed to help me.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I had to scroll waaaay up to catch up with what you guys are up to!

SIX, I can't imagine tackling anything that deep into software/firmware/hardware!
And I would never attempt anything as ambitious as writing a book, BRENDA!


Been busy just keeping up with things. Where does the time go???

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Help from friends is good.

Same thing will happen with my book. I know someone who is a published author though she's poet. But we know some of the same people so she's agreed to help me.

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Sure is good.

Most my life I was living like an island. My step-dad told me that "No man is an island", but I didn't really listen to that advice until about 10 years later and way after I sobered up.

And at first when I was helping people, a large part of it was about planting obligations on them, and a lot of times I never cashed in on them because it put me at an advantageous position. But you start doing it enough and you realize that you get a lot of satisfaction and purpose doing it, then you're not so worried about when you're going to get paid back.



That's awesome that you know somebody to help you get published. I wouldn't even know where to begin on that myself if I didn't know anybody.

Seems you're still plugging along. The muse must be with you.



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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
My problem is I can have a big problem with asking for help. I can get so stuck on trying to do everything on my own then when I need help it's hard.

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I hear ya, and I do the same. But I've found that going out of my way to help others first makes it pretty easy to get favors returned, and makes it easier for me to ask for help when I need it too. I can't really offer any direct help to the two people who helped me online the other day, but I have done things for a greater community in the past and they're happy to spend a few minutes whipping up something for me when I do ask.

But yeah... I wasted about 8 to 10 hours doing something manually that could have been done in about 1 hour with their help. And there's a lot more to be done that will be really quick now.

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Well, she's going to help me write a proposal. You have to do that first. I learned that through research.

I am. I've never gave up on my writing but this is the first time in years that I've actually been able to get things done with it. Well, the momentum for getting ready for someone else to read and help me is certainly with me.

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
My problem is I can have a big problem with asking for help. I can get so stuck on trying to do everything on my own then when I need help it's hard.

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I hear ya, and I do the same. But I've found that going out of my way to help others first makes it pretty easy to get favors returned, and makes it easier for me to ask for help when I need it too. I can't really offer any direct help to the two people who helped me online the other day, but I have done things for a greater community in the past and they're happy to spend a few minutes whipping up something for me when I do ask.

But yeah... I wasted about 8 to 10 hours doing something manually that could have been done in about 1 hour with their help. And there's a lot more to be done that will be really quick now.

Quote:

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Well, she's going to help me write a proposal. You have to do that first. I learned that through research.

I am. I've never gave up on my writing but this is the first time in years that I've actually been able to get things done with it. Well, the momentum for getting ready for someone else to read and help me is certainly with me.

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I can tell. I've heard you talk about writing from time to time, but never seen you on fire like this before.



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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Well, my other problem is that with no transport of my own. I can't really offer people I know help. Oh, well.

It's been a looooong time since I've been this on fire with it. But I am hopeful.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Back from mah jong and other stuff. No luck today. 1 decent hand and I went out 2 times. Another lady I was playing with could do no wrong. Oh well.

Other things after mah jong took a little longer than planned, so no book work today. But that's okay. I will get back to it tomorrow.

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Well, my other problem is that with no transport of my own. I can't really offer people I know help. Oh, well.

It's been a looooong time since I've been this on fire with it. But I am hopeful.

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With the car problems I've had keeping me homebound more often than not in 2022 going into 2023, I actually can empathize a bit with you on that one. I mean, not really though... My brother who also doesn't drive would know exactly how that feels, and I've only just had a little taste.

Honestly though, back in my drinking days I don't even know what I would have done. I would have had nobody to help me get around and not enough sense to even work on the car.

I tried to take as little advantage as I could over the last year, but I did have friends, family and neighbors that helped me out while I got through that, but that's only because I stopped being a worthless POS.



I know that you probably don't want to do that much inside your apartment because I think you hold boundaries in high regard as I do. When I did rent, I usually had as little to do as possible with neighbors because they could just come to your door and knock on it whenever they felt like if you get too close to them. Maybe it's different with houses, or maybe I've just got good neighbors, but without me having to state it we've got a "phone first" policy if we need anything.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Back from mah jong and other stuff. No luck today. 1 decent hand and I went out 2 times. Another lady I was playing with could do no wrong. Oh well.

Other things after mah jong took a little longer than planned, so no book work today. But that's okay. I will get back to it tomorrow.

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It's cool taking a break. I'm sure your mind is still working though... Keep that pad of paper and a pencil on the ready if you brainstorm something that you might lose in your sleep.



I had a little nap and feel better than I did this afternoon, but now I'm going to be up for a few hours anyhow so I'm going to get a little bit more done on my project.



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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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