This is probably going to be a two part post. The first part being about the Wedding. the Wedding has taken up my consciousness for the better part of a year and a half and I can't believe that as of Saturday, it will be over. So much hype, so much drama, so much planning, and so much prettiness and all will be over once my father, the ceremony officiant says, "I now pronounce you man and wife..." and then it's over. Then I must shift gears from this the Wedding to the other the Wedding, which will take place in February. I really don't know when I will be myself again or how I shall be once both are over and my life is back to normal but for the change in my friends' marital status and last names. I think that I shall go through wedding withdrawal far more than the brides if only because my whole existence has been in this mode for so long. Things to think about. Have to fly so part duex will have to wait until later.

It's a funny thing... I work in an office full of women. There are no men except for the financial advisor and he's only there for 2 days. As a result, we are pretty intune to each other. Yesterday, I was informed that it was extraordinarily obvious when my menstrual cycle is going to begin. Now, I've always known that the week before I turn into the queen bitch of the universe. I get so mean and snappish and nasty that I can't stand to be around myself. It kind of builds up to this big hormonal climax and then the period begins and I'm back to my sweet, seemingly normal self in a couple of days. Now, I know that my co-workers also know. It's funny because it happens so gradually, builds so slowly that I don't even notice what's going on until I either realize my own bitchiness and then look at the calendar and correlate, or someone else points it out to me and then I feel really bad. I don't know if there's anything I can do about it but if you think about it, there must be a reason for it as it's fairly universal, at least amongst the women I know, that just prior to the menstrual cycle beginning, we turn into emotional, hormonal nightmares! If you are female that that doesn't happen to, you don't know what you're missing! I haven't decided if you're lucky or not.

I read a headline on the BBC news that disturbed me greatly. I am an animal lover, in the extreme. My brothers and I even have a special "voice" that we talk to our cats in, and other people's cats, and dogs, and pretty much anything that's living and breathing that isn't a human. We even make up songs to sing to out cats. I read this headline and knew I couldn't read the article itself because it would make me very upset. A puppy, an innocent, little puppy, had to be put to sleep after some teenagers decided to use it like a soccer ball and kick it around the park. It was left blind and brain dead. I just don't understand why someone would do that. It was like a pack mentality and those evil little shits did that to a helpless, little puppy. In England, people are very rabid over animal rights, far more so than here. I hope those evil children are dealt with very, very harshly!

Do you ever wonder where the hell you are going in life? I'm sure you do,we all do at some point, but I never used to. When I was about 19, I was arrogant enough to KNOW where I was going and what I was doing and well, of course it was going to happen because that is what I willed. 7 years later, I'm no where near I envisioned that I would be and it's hard because there are times when I look around at people I know or people that are my age and I think to myself, "Why didn't I do THAT instead of THIS? And then I would be THERE instead of HERE." Obviously, that wasn't meant to be. And everyonce in a while, I ask myself if I would really change any of the decisions, or lack of decisions, that I've made in my life, if I could, and the answer is No. My decisions, or lack of decisions,have made me who I am today, a person just trying to figure out what the hell is going on in her life. I'm scared and excited and no where near as arrogant as I used to be, although some people might disagree with that last one, but it is true. I think about that girl I was at 19, and although I am her, she is not me. I think if I could meet her, I would probably slap her and tell her to get over herself!

Paul asked a question on his blog, "Why do You post?" and it got me to thinking, Why do I Post? I like to write. Actually, "Like" is a HUGE understatement, I Love to write, I live to write. Writing is like breathing for me, which is how singing is for me, too, but that is not the question at hand.

I think I like to post because when I have odd, random thoughts, or ideas, or feel like I'm going to explode and there's no one else to talk to, but there's always the Elmwoodstrip. I'm not a traditional journaler. I enjoy it, and there is something about putting pen to paper and purging what's going on inside one's brain, however, I'm just not one of those people who can do it every day. It's seems to be too much resposibility. But this is different. And probably because I journal at work, A LOT! It's often not busy, and it's in times like those when the thoughts start to flow and I have to get them out and low and behold, There's the E-Strip!

It's sort of like "Old Faithful" except that it's not that old.

And that My Friends, is why *I* post!