I meant to post this almost a week ago, but it took me longer to get the holidays sorted out than I thought it would – you can thank my mother and her ever-looming presence for that, as well as my disorganized life which is getting in the way more than I can stand at this point.

At the moment I’m in the midst of re-reading chapter twelve of The Sitting Swing, a fantastic biopic novel by Irene Watson. She talks in the book about her childhood, a very sheltered and even scary time that eventually led to severe problems later in life that landed her on a journey of, what I think can be called, rehabilitation.

I was really drawn to the concept of this novel, having been a child of abuse myself I understand how it can lead to a mess of personality and psychological problems later in life. I wasn’t in the same boat – cut her 5 miles to school in half and place me in Utah and it becomes obvious that my problems were different. My parents weren’t over protective, I wasn’t sheltered – they were hands-on abusive with my stepfather being so violent that he’d happily turn an oak dresser over on a child because they had a messy room, a room which they then had to clean or they weren’t fed ( no bathroom, no water and no sounds of any kind) until it was done.

The author writes at length about everyday worries and the urge for freedom from an oppressive and sheltering family. Stories about feuds with her mother over friends, school and everything in between and her relationship with religion.

Irene recounts the urge to flee, the hanging on for dear life of a single friend (Margie) and the undeserved vilification of that friend, the put downs and beatings. I over identify with so much of it. Of course, unlike Irene’s mother my stepfather wasn’t worried about whether my sister Laota and I were being poisoned against my parents by a friend, they were far more obsessed with whether or not we’d tell the police what was happening. As crazy as it sounds, we were always too afraid to. Looking back on it, now, I wish we had. I didn’t understand at the time that it couldn’t get worse by involving child welfare.

In The Sitting Swing, Irene also talks about her inspiring road to recovery and the somewhat normal life and easier relationships that people like us strive for.

Throughout the story you come to empathize with Irene. It’s so well and simply written, the story is so easy to immerse yourself in. Her story is very inspiring, I hope you check it out – I can’t recommend this book enough!

Tagged with: Author • Child Abuse • Children • Irene Watson • Recovery • The Sitting Swing

Posted by Faith on at 6:55 am

That makes it sound like I’m a corporation, doesn’t it? Lol! Click on the image below to get to the animated holiday card – Happy Holidays, everyone!

Tagged with: Christmas • Hanukkah • Kwanzaa • Solstice • Yule

Posted by Faith on at 8:16 pm

This post brought to you by LG DoublePlay™. All opinions are 100% mine.

I have no idea how many text messages I send in a month – I know it's not many. And I don't spend any time playing or networking on social networks via my phone, either. But it's not for lack of want, it's for lack of phone. See, my phone is a piece of crap. It's a pre-paid, which usually doesn't have a lot of downsides but this particular phone has a real call clarity problem and, on top of that, has zero social network capabilities. Just loading the Facebook mobile site takes two minutes on this thing! So I can't tweet photos, I can't update Facebook with any kind of ease. I can't even check in. What a hunk of junk!

On top of that, the camera is awful and I need the camera more than I need the phone, to be honest. And doing anything at all on that small screen is a pain in the butt.

I’ve been shopping around for another one, seriously thinking about spending all of my mad money on an Android but I honestly wouldn't know what to look for in an Android.

The LG DoublePlay™ has caught my eye recently, which has Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and the ability to access the Android market, but it's also got a feature that tells me I'm absolutely out of touch because I've never heard of it before. I'm sure you've seen those slide out QWERTY keyboard things, right? Well this bad boy not only has one of those, but it's actually got two separate screens – and both of them are touch screens. Am I out of the loop, or what? There's seven home screens on this thing and touchscreen shortcuts – nine of them. Makes it easier to get where you're going with one touch.

It has messaging capabilities with options ranging from Group Text to Cloud Text, so you can use a tablet or a PC to send/receive. And you can have group chats, but I'm not sure when or if I'd ever use that. The messaging, definitely. I'm a bit of a messaging fiend!

The deal sealer for me is that camera – that buxom, sexy 5-megapixel camera and HD video recorder. It's got one of those LED flashes and records in 720p, plus has the ability to share your media on social networks and via messaging. Combine that with that split QWERTY and….mine! Mine, dang it, I want it! Of course, I likely can't have it because I can't afford to get a new phone just yet and these things are exclusive to T-Mobile so I'd have to try online.

Of course, that doesn't mean I won't get it – it's Christmas time, after all. And I can't be separated from…my precious….

What about you guys? How often do you mess around on your phone? You know texting, Facebook, Twitter? Think the LG Doubleplay is a good deal, or that it would help/hinder your social networking? Sound off in the comments – LG Doubleplay: Worth the price?

Tagged with: LG DoublePlay • New android cell phone • T-mobile cell phone

Posted by FaithBowie on at 9:00 pm

As I’m sure you can tell, my updates are a bit random and all over the place tonight, but at least I got something done! I’ve uploaded 769 blu-ray HD screencaptures of Smallville season one, episode ten entitled, “Shimmer” to the Screencap Archive:

Tagged with: ) Allison Mack • Annette O'Toole • Blu-ray • Bluray • Chloe Sullivan • Clark Kent • DVD • Episode 10 • Erica Durance • HD • Jensen Ackles • John Glover • John Schneider • Kristin Kreuk • Lana Lang • Lex Luthor • Lionel Luthor • Michael Rosenbaum • Pete Ross • Photos • Screencaptures • Season One • Shimmer • Smallville • Superman • Tom Welling • Whitney Fordman

Posted by Faith on at 6:52 am