It makes me sad...

It makes me sad that today's society functions in such a way that I feel nervous being home by myself when two guys come to install a new front door.

The thought of being in the house with these two guys I don't know has been freaking me out to the point that I pretty much told a friend of mine I would be IM'ing her while they were here in case they tried to attack me or something.

To be honest, the likelihood of something like that happening is not high, but it COULD happen.  I mean, they work for a reputable company so I assume they have had background checks and all that.  But, the possibility is there so that's all I've been able to think about.

And I kind of hate myself a little bit for being nervous, because I'm treating these (so far perfectly nice and professional) men like criminals.  Or potential criminals, anyway.

But, and this conversation has been had so many times recently because of the cases making the news, our society teaches women to do what they can to not be attacked.  So,  here I am sitting in the comfort of my own home trying to take precautions against something bad happening to me.  Instead of being able to trust that the strangers I've met have been taught that it's just wrong to attack someone.

The more I write about this, the more ashamed I am about having these feelings and thoughts.  And that's just another sign of what's wrong!  I shouldn't be ashamed of wanting to protect myself.  But, as a female, I'm supposed to be nice to everyone and welcoming to people.

Ugh, I don't even know where I'm going with this.  Nowhere I guess.  It's a frustrating sign of the way society currently functions.  But, I will be online with my friend until they leave, just in case.

Thursday's Children - Inspired by Benedict Cumberbatch

This post could go in a few directions, but I’m going to stick to a direction that’s 1) clean and appropriate for all ages and 2) actually has to do with writing.

I’ve been a fan of Benedict Cumberbatch (I’m sorry, you can’t just call him Benedict – it’s all or nothing) since I first saw Sherlock on Netflix.  I’m a bit of a Sherlock purist, so I was skeptical.  Set in modern times?  Pffft.  But, I loved it.  It’s so true to the original stories and he is the perfect Sherlock.  Arrogant enough that you want to punch him, but still with a quality that makes you like him.  I’m digressing; this is not supposed to be a post about Sherlock.

I’ll be honest, while I consider myself a fan, Sherlock was the only thing I had seen him in until about a week ago when I saw Star Trek Into Darkness.  I was pretty geeked about his movie in general – Star Trek, JJ Abrams, B.C. (I guess I can abbreviate) and a whole bunch of other actors I really like.

I loved the movie, I thought it was great.  But, I was really blown away by the villain played by B.C.  (I think the fact that he is the villain is pretty much common knowledge so I hope that’s not a spoiler.)  He was intelligent, he kept you guessing at times, he used a psychological approach, and he was absolutely brutal.  Surprisingly so, in some regards. 

That’s not something that he had really done before, from what I understand, but he mastered it in my opinion.  If it's possible to be poetic and brutal in the same action, his character was.  He also has one of the best lines in the whole movie…  

Chills, I tell you.

I feel like my villain worship might be starting to sound a little disturbing, but this has a point.

Watching this movie got me thinking about boundaries, and pushing boundaries; about villains that are terrible beyond anything you could imagine.  There is a story I am working on that has a true villain in it.  However, I tend to have a hard time putting my characters through too much, I want to protect them.  This bad guy has potential though.  He has goons, there are physical confrontations, a kidnapping, even a bit of torture for information.  But I don’t just want the physical aspect, I want to get into the psychological side, too.  This is nothing I’ve ever tried before, but I’m inspired to try it now.  Because I think, if you have a villain that is the stuff of nightmares, it only makes the triumph at the end that much more meaningful.

So, I guess you could say Benedict Cumberbatch has inspired me to explore my inner villain...I'm off to see what kind of evil I can conjure up.

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Very Inspiring Blogger Award

So, I was nominated for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award by the very inspiring Chris Allen-Riley.

Chris is not only a fantastic writer, but super talented at all sorts of creative, crafty awesomeness.  Check out her blog at the link above for a sneak peek at some of her cross stitch (and to learn more about her).  Also, she's going to help me build a fort with a moat and long bow archers.  How can you not love her?

As part of the blog award, we're supposed to reveal seven interesting things about ourselves and then nominate 15 other bloggers.  I'll be honest, it took me a little while to come up with the seven things (hence the time lapse since her blog post), but once I did, I got a little long winded.  Oops.

Also, when it comes to nominating people, I don't think I'm going to.  It's not that I don't find others inspiring, I absolutely do.  But instead of nominating people, I'm going to direct you to the links on the right side of the page to blogs I read/follow.  I find each one of these people inspiring for different reasons, I think you might, too.

Okay, so seven things about me.  Here I go...

1.     I am terrified of fireworks.  Not the little ones you can light in your driveway, but the big overhead 4^th of July celebration kind of fireworks.  Terrified to the point where when I was a kid, I used to try to bury myself in the ground.  Now I just avoid them.  Instead, I watch Pops Goes the Fourth or A Capital Fourth on TV and see the fireworks from the safety of my living room.

2.     One of my dreams is to live in a house with a turret, with my office at the very top.  There are a few houses in my town like this.  I drive past them every so often and sigh with longing.

You can't see me but I'm there at the top being clever and creative.  :)

3.     I rarely (very rarely) swim in natural bodies of water.  Because…I was once caught in a jellyfish migration off the Gulf Coast in rough waters.  I was stung repeatedly by the jellyfish as well as detached tentacles that broke off in the waves.  I don’t recommend it.  However, side note, if you are ever stung by a jellyfish put meat tenderizer on it.  It helps with the pain but I have no idea why.  My aunt used to keep a spice jar of it in her beach bag. 

4.     I love anything related to Ancient Egypt.  One my of my life goals (I refuse to create an actual ‘bucket list’) is to learn Hieroglyphics.

5.     My cat, Noah, once saved me from being locked out on my balcony.  The balcony door had a security bar in the middle of it (as opposed to on the floor) and while I was outside, the bar fell and I wasn’t able to slide the door open.  My ever-curious kitty decided to see what was going on and started batting at the security bar.  I tapped on the other side of the door near the bar trying to get him to play with it.  Eventually (after less than 10 minutes), he wrapped his paws around the bar and pulled on it.  He moved it enough I was able to slide the door open and get inside.  He got a catnip reward for that one.

Noah in his Halloween costume, its a rooster hat.  Can you tell how happy he is? 

6.     I have this…thing, for lack of a better word, where I have intense reactions to certain sounds.  Usually it’s something like another person coughing or chewing, but basically I get incredibly angry and I have to bite my tongue to keep from yelling at the person.  I have learned that this is a real condition and there is a name for it, but I can never remember it (it has to do with sensory overload).  Instead, my husband has taken to calling it my “climacaphobia.”  (And if anyone knows where that is from, I’ll send you chocolate.)

7.     When I was little, I had a killer goldfish named Charlie.  He lived well beyond the normal lifespan of a goldfish and killed every other fish we put in the bowl with him.  He either ate them (we found the leftovers) or would somehow convince them to commit suicide and jump out of the bowl.  I think we went through three or four fish before we decided Charlie should probably just be a loner.

This blog post got totally out of control, but there you have a few things about me.  I encourage you to check out Chris' blog and the others I follow.  You will be inspired by them just as I am.