Have you ever wanted to know...

What really happens when you die? Warning: This article does get a bit graphic. It is very informative though so please do read it and skip over the parts that may bother you. I thought this was a great article that gave a lot of information you don't normally get to hear about. Enjoy!

PS: The pic on the right is one that I took in the cemetery referenced in this post.

May I have this dance?

I stumbled upon Tom Lehrer's "The Masochism Tango" awhile back and loved it right away. It surprised me that a song with this theme came out in the 50's. When I looked into who Tom Lehrer was, I got another surprise. Among other things, he earned his BA as a mathematician when he graduated Harvard at the age of 18! He received his MA the following year and went on to teach at MIT, Harvard, and Wellesley. Music was a big part of his life starting at the age of seven when he began to play the piano. This guy has to be a literal genius. He's talented, smart, and funny. I found a version of The Masochism Tango that included The Addams Family and thought they went wonderfully together. Let's dance!

Worse than bowling shoes.

You've got to check out this contraption from Honda. There's a video and everything. I'm thinking this would be uncomfortable, yes? Seriously, I would feel violated. Not only for having something grab my crotch all day but who wants their ass to say Honda?

Alright kiddies...it's time for a ghost story!

I guess you could say I'm your stereotypical goth who occasionally likes to walk through cemeteries. I find them peaceful and intriguing. I had heard a rumor that a nearby cemetery was haunted and I had to check it out. This happened last summer.

The story goes that there is a stairway to hell and that, on some nights, you can see a "blue" man at the top of the stairs on Ferry Hill. I wanted to check the cemetery out during the day, as I like to take pictures and although I love the moon, my camera does not. The cemetery is about a half hour's drive away. What I didn't know was that it is absolutely huge. It's 80 acres! So when I set out to find the infamous stairway, it took a bit longer than expected. There was no map so I just wandered until I found it.

At this point, I should tell you that I can pick up on spirits. Creepy? Not really. Most cemeteries are surprisingly quiet and by quiet I mean not a lot of activity from ghosts or spirits or whatever you like to call them.

So there I am walking along, taking the occasional picture, and something tells me to go a certain way. Lo and behold, there's the stairway. As I approach, I'm not hearing much noise around. There was a lawn crew at the entrance to the cemetery but you couldn't hear them where I was. There wasn't anyone around, which seemed normal for an afternoon during the work week. Everything seemed normal until I got to the stairway. As I started walking up, my stomach began to cramp and I could hear crows cawing. I looked up and there were about five crows flying in a circle over Ferry Hill. Hmm, that was strange. I kept going to the top and my stomach cramps kept getting worse. The crows were circling overheard and I had a bad feeling about the place but I didn't come this far for nothing so I decided to stay for a bit and check it out. Eventually the noise from the crows got to me and I began to descend the stairs. By the time I got to the ground, my stomach cramps had vanished and the crows had too.

While I was up there, I did sense a man in his late 30's or early 40's dressed in a brown suit with a bowtie. When researching the cemetery and who was buried there, I came across a Web site that had some pictures and one of them looks eerily similar to the man I sensed on Ferry Hill but he died in his 70's. He did have a son who died in his 40's but the only picture of his son was from when he was probably around 10 years old. There wasn't much information to go on.

I plan on going back there once the weather warms up and this time I'll go at night. Who knows? Maybe the blue man will make an appearance?

The picture shown below is one that I took that day. Looks harmless, yes? Sometimes the creepiest things do.

Humbled and outraged.

I chose the above picture because so many people see the kitten but don't realize that inside is a lion ready to get out. If you haven't read about the latest chimpanzee attack, click here to catch up. They say that one of the reasons for the attack could have been because Travis the chimp didn't recognize his owner's friend because she wore her hair up that day instead of down like usual. Chimps are smarter than that and you can't possibly use that as an excuse for his behavior. Another article said that Travis had taken the keys, unlocked the door and let himself outside. They aren't dumb animals!

Travis tore the hands off of his owner's friend and then bit her face off...literally. She has no eyes or nose and most of her teeth are gone. I heard the 911 call Travis' owner made and you can hear the chimp "screaming" in the background while he was attacking her friend. That was not the sound of a domesticated animal.

I don't understand how people think that it's okay to keep a wild animal. No matter how much you think you've domesticated them, they are still wild and will have their usual animal tendencies from time to time. This isn't even the first time that Travis bit someone yet the owner was allowed to let him freely wander around town with her.

This owner was irresponsible and naive for thinking that Travis was completely domesticated. She let him drink wine and eat dinner with her and her husband at the table. Other sources said that the owner used to dress up Travis in clothes and drive around town with him the backseat. Cute, yes, but this was a 200 pound wild animal and it doesn't matter how much time you've spent with him, he is still a wild animal and you need to keep that in mind.

I feel so bad for the lady that was attacked. Travis' owner had called her over to come help her get Travis back in his cage and when she arrived, the attack started. The owner hit Travis with a shovel and stabbed him with a knife to try to get him to stop. This bothers me even more because if you're going to have an animal like that for a pet, you should have a tranquilizer dart or something that would be effective in subduing it. I doubt that she owned anything like that.

Please remember the potential for danger when dealing with animals whether they be domesticated or not. They are typically faster than you and smarter than you realize.

Atonement

I just saw the movie Atonement. I normally only watch movies that are scary and/or movies that have a vampire but occasionally I'll watch something more mainstream and I'm glad I chose to today. This was a phenomenal movie. The library scene was exquisite (pictures shown above). The ending was a total shock. If anyone can watch the movie and see that coming, then they must be one hell of a psychic. To see the trailer and get more information on this movie, click here. Even though it was a love story, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Speaking of love, a MySpace friend posted a bulletin today asking, "What is love?". My answer was influenced by the movie I had just finished watching, of course:

Love is a feral tiger. Never giving in until it is satisfied and even then, it only settles down for a moment until the hunger takes over again, wanting more each time. Ripping apart it's prey until the victim can take no more and then the tiger licks the wounds with it's healing tongue making the victim lose themself in the bliss of the kiss.

Happy Valentine's Day to all you victims! : )

Somebody call the paramedics!

I've discovered today that there are people out there having a passionate love affair with...bacon. I ran across a blog post from a guy who is going to eat nothing but bacon for February. Yuck! Somebody posted a comment about how he should take along a shaker of bacon bits for a quick snack on the go. ha ha

Check out instructions for a bacon & cheese roll, a bacon man, and a bacon explosion. I don't know about you but I feel ill just looking at the pictures and thinking of what side effects a bite of one of those would have on my digestive system not to mention my arteries. Did you know that there is bacon flavored bourbon??

At this time in my post, I'd like to have a moment of silence for all the pigs out there. I'm not a vegetarian but I have tried multiple times to be one. I don't think I'm doing it right though because I get all weak feeling and then have to go get a chicken sandwich. Sorry animals...I do try. : (

UPDATE: OMG...they make bacon candy too. What is this world coming to? How are there all these bacon lovers and I had no idea?