If anyone hears someone running their mouth off about me and a decision I had to make recently please tell them to check their facts. What I had to do was the most difficult thing I have ever had to do. This was something I have been agonizing over for days and not something I did to be vindictive or petty. This is about somebody's life. I did the right thing regardless of whatever this person THINKS they know about the situation. Sorry for being vague, but I think it is necessary for me to protect the privacy of those involved, unlike the person that doesn't quite have their facts right.

To be praised by fools --- that is the greatest shame. ---Nichiren Daishonin

PS. This doesn't have anything to do with anyone on the site, but some of you know this person. Just in case they haven't finished with their ugly gossip yet.

I'm doing my best to hang in there. These days have been terribly sad for me. Everything I have had to deal with lately is making me much stronger. I'm not going to let other people's hateful selves ruin me. I have seen enough of people's dark side (Not anyone on this site) in a period of less than two weeks to last a lifetime. It really makes me suffer, but I guess I can say that I am not blind and I would rather see the reality of the world instead of closing my eyes and pretending that it is something it isn't.

Take care everyone.

Hello (e:peep) friends and (e:voyeurs),

In case you haven't noticed I haven't posted in almost two weeks. That is cause I am on estrip sabbatical right now. Maybe I'll come back in May. Time is moving faster than it ever has in my life.

One thing I couldn't resist looking at was (e:metalpeter)'s great pics of the st. matty's day affair. There is one pic where it looks as if I'm going to slap the shit out of (e:terry). Really I'm just leaning against a wall and am not winding up to unleash my wrath on terry.


Lator Gators,

call or send an email if you want to get a hold of me.

peace in the middle east ya'll

Today for the first time ever I changed a tire. WOW

A friend of mine just reminded me of how I also changed a car battery.

And I also put in a new DVD burner into the computer too. WOW

I can do it!

This is completely random and I feel like posting it even though you are all sick of me bringing up Cuba. Really I haven't seen any of the people that I went there with since we got back. So now all in the same week I see 3 out of 7 of them. This guy I ran into day was only with us for a month, but we all got to know him pretty well considering we were on a bus together for twelve days traveling the country. Anyways he came to a Buddhist meeting tonight that I was emceeing! I didn't recognize him because his hair was all long and he looked compltely different and he was introduced by the english pronunciation of his name. All of this is bringing up so much in my life. Actually amazing thing is that the Buddhist organization i belong to JUST became officially recognized by the Cuban government and they are now compltely official. Daisaku Ikeda, the president had met personally with Fidel many years ago. The revolution has seriously impeded religious freedoms in the past and they are now slowly opening up. This is such a great victory. To share one of my biggest regrets, not trying hard enough to connect with other members in Cuba. I had a chance to meet these people and be a part of something truely historical, but didn't. Regrets suck.

It was so good to see all of these people. Wish I could say more about all of this, but......It's top secret.

Peter Wagler 18 years and no more. His body was buried on his nineteenth birthday.




Back in August I posted the names of all of the US soldiers who died in the Iraq war up to that point. I was thinking about posting the rest of those who have died since then, but decided that no, I think the point was made. If you want to browse the names in the three journals they took up go here

Anyways I happened to come across this website after having a conversation with (e:jenks).
It has a list with pictures of men and women who have died while over there. (Over there is so far you can't even see it)

Here is an article by the Associated Press re: his death:

HUTCHINSON, Kan. - The family of a Kansas soldier who died in Iraq remembered him as "the most gracious young man."

Cpl. Peter Wagler and another soldier, both members of the Army's 4th Infantry Division, were killed Jan. 23 when a bomb exploded near a tank they were riding on patrol in Baghdad.

Peter Wagler was buried Friday on what would have been his 19th birthday.

"When he was a little kid, he butted heads with everyone in the family," said a sister, Rochelle, 29. "But when he got older, he became the most gracious young man."

Wagler, one of eight children, was home-schooled and studied nursing at Hutchinson Community College before he enlisted in the Army at age 17.

His father, David Wagler, said his son had dreamed of enlisting from the time he was 5 years old, but he allowed him to enlist only after hearing a Sunday school lesson on the prodigal son.

"We need to hold Peter with an open hand," he said.

He also read a letter his son had written, to be opened only after his death. He called it a "typical Peter letter."

"Well, you probably opened this because I died or because I'm involved with a girl you disapprove of," the opening line read.

More than 500 people, including an Army honor guard from Fort Riley, took part in a memorial service that lasted nearly two hours at the First Church of the Nazarene in Hutchinson.

Afterward, a long line of cars passed between two rows of large American flags held by a group of more than 150 motorcycle enthusiasts and others. The caravan proceeded to Partridge Cemetery, a few miles from the family's rural home, where Peter was buried with military honors.
"We will continue to miss Peter," said Vanya Wagler, a brother. "His absence leaves a big hole, but we rejoice because he's with Jesus."

Goodbye Peter. Say hello to Jesus for me. Tell him he was hot in Jesus Christ Superstar.






Here are some associated press quotes re Felipe Barbosa from Brazil. 21 Years old.

A Marine from North Carolina who became a U.S. citizen less than a year ago was killed in Iraq when the Humvee in which he was a passenger overturned, family members said.

Family members, including his wife, Christina, 19, gathered Monday in High Point to remember Barbosa, who was born in Brazil. She had last spoken with her husband Jan. 23 by cell phone.

"We just talked a minute; they were having a sandstorm and the phone was breaking up. He said he was doing fine. He had told me not to worry about him; he was going to come back home; he wasn't going to die," said Christina Barbosa, who was married to her husband for 18 months.

Barbosa, who became a U.S. citizen in February 2005, had joined the Marines on Dec. 31, 2002. His interest in the Marines dated to his years in Brazil, where his father and grandfather had served in the military, said his mother, Iraci Dunbar of Greensboro. The family moved here in 1994.

"He loved all human beings and he never wanted to hurt anybody," said Cpl. Felipe Barbosa's uncle, Dean Charlton.

"It is burned in my mind: The last time I walked with him, he said 'Don't worry about me. I'm walking with Jesus,"' Charlton said.

"He believed in the cause, but he knew there was a better way of doing things," Duarte said.

"Felipe was a follower of Christ with great distinction," said the Rev. Marcus Campbell, Barbosa's pastor at Conrad Memorial Baptist Church.