The Crypt of Dawn

2010-11-15T00:13:00.003-07:00

Since I began my ongoing quest to completely find myself, I have discovered that the reason I have been having such a hard time is because I have so many "faces". Of course I don't mean that literally and even though I am doing a lot and being a lot of people at once, I am still remaining true to myself and absolutely enjoying the ride. Since I really have so much going on in my life, the subject of this blog will change as my days and "faces" change.

Hello...my name is Dawn, let me introduce myself.

First and foremost I am Mom, also known as Mommy. I am a single mom of two teenagers and they keep me pretty busy. My daughter is 17 and my son is 12. Since they always seem to say and do things that make me laugh, cry, or think-I will most likely be writing a bit about them.

Secondly, I am a girlfriend. I have been dating my boyfriend (Julian) for just over 5 years and have been friends with him since 1996 (you do the math). We don't live together and he is a single dad of two girls so trying to squeeze in time for him-or just the two of us-is difficult but we manage. We fit well together and make a good team but we are both stubborn and set in our ways so we don't always agree on some things. We don't fight and argue about them but I think since we both had bad relationships before dating each other we do have certain expectations from our relationship that we may not agree on all the time.
Monday through Friday, I am a full time student at University of Phoenix working towards my Associates in Psychology. I am currently in my second block of classes, taking Personal Finance 101 and enduring Communications 155. I plan on obtaining my Bachelors in Psychology, then my Doctorate of Industrial and Occupational Psychology

I am attempting to make some extra money online as an Auction Listing Agent on Ebay and Facebook. I just started this endeavor so I can't really say whether I will be successful or not yet but I am sure I will be talking a lot about this newest opportunity.

I also have an inner nerd that insists on breaking through and I enjoy allowing her to come out and play.
I am a level 80, Blood Elf Hunter in World of Warcraft who raids every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night. I play on the Velen realm and am a high ranking officer of my boyfriend's 10-man raiding guild Zeitgeist. Even though this is just a video game online, anyone who plays or knows someone who plays realizes that it can become a lifestyle because of the real-person-on-the-other-end factor. And since I am an officer in a guild, I have at least 15 other people depending on my signing on and playing. I will try not to bore you too much with my WoW stories but I make no promises once the expansion (Cataclysm) comes out in December.

I must admit I do enjoy playing WoW, for the most part but after three years of playing, it has lost its enchantment. So after hearing about how my boyfriend wanted to start a campaign in D&D, we finally got a group (of 5, including my son) together this last Friday and rolled level 1 characters and started a new adventure. I rolled a Star Elf Druid who has White wolf companion. My name is Nimara Moonshadow and I am a True Neutral. I didn't get a chance to truly flesh out my character on Friday night but since we are planning on continuing our adventures in the Forgotten Realms just outside of Cormyr.
I enjoyed myself so much Friday night playing Nimara that Julian took me and my son out to a hobby shop and we bought our own set of dice. Mine are a mix & match set that are mostly speckled green & blue. Chase (my son) got a small Onyx set.We then went back to Julian's house and rolled new level one characters. My second character is Tamara Prince, a human unarmed Monk. We spent Saturday rolling our new characters and had time for a mini-adventure in which we cleared out a small cavern of goblins with a hobgoblin leader. I HAD A BLAST!! I hope Julian, Chase, and I continue these side characters weekly as well.

So as you can see, I lead a very busy life...but wait there's more!

I do find myself with some free time in between all of this and I have several hobbies and interests to fill that time.

I am an avid Cross-stitcher. I have been cross stitching for well over 17 years now and have created countless projects that I have either given away as gifts or have scattered around my apartment. I am currently working on Christmas Ornaments (24), finishing a Winter project, and I am going to be creating birthday gifts for the immediate family (meaning Julian, his two girls, and my two children). My first one coming up is Julian's oldest, Monica.

I am currently rereading Stephen King's Nightmares & Dreamscapes and am more than halfway through. I absolutely love to read and if I have a chance to read, I take it. Right now, I am so busy that I usually only have a chance to read at night before bed so I am going through books a lot slower than I usually do.

I also have two cats, Teagan and Casey. I love them both as though they were also my children and I have always had cats in my house since I was a baby. I love cats! I'm not a crazy cat lady, but I do love pictures and stories about cats. So this being said, I might have a lot of funny stories about my crazy furballs.

And through all this, I am trying to get down to the weight I was before having my son, which meant I needed to lose about 40 pounds. I started eating right and cut out all the crap. I have lowered my caloric intake to 1100 calories and follow a program set forth by LoseIt.com. So far I have lost 20 pounds...halfway there.

Well, that is the insight to my life. I am going to try to write here daily but I am not making any promises. I will try to at least post once a week.

Good night interwebs....sleep well....tomorrow's another day.

This Past Week (08/30 through 09/05)

2010-09-06T15:04:00.002-06:00

What I learned this week:

I learned that no matter how positive your opinion of a person upon initial meeting, they can surprise you by being completely opposite and this discovery can negatively affect your mood.
I also learned that the more organized you are, the better your time management and productivity becomes. Well, okay, I've always known that but I did discover easier organizational utilities.

What I accomplished this week:

I have set goals and outlined sub-goals and a plan of action to supplement these goals. I am feeling positive and excited about these implementations.

How I have felt this week:

I have generally felt very positive and motivated this week. I started my nutritional goal implementation and lost 6 pounds so far. I am feeling confident about next week and the beginning of my implementation of my educational and fitness goals.

What I have to be thankful for this week:

I am very thankful for the support system I have. My children and my boyfriend have been very helpful about starting to help more around the house (children) and helping me find several organizational tools (boyfriend). They are all very pleased with my progress thus far and have shown emotional support by allowing me to vent my fears and frustrations about starting school again after all these years and in a completely different medium than I am used to (online classes) as well as sharing in my excitement and not minimizing the little things I am excited about.

And now let the show begin...

2010-08-11T12:01:00.004-06:00

I am 37 years old and have very little to show for it. Of course I have my two beautiful children and they are well behaved and respectful of the lives around them and our species in general, but personally my accomplishments have been meager.

I am not posting this as a "feel sorry for me" moment, just as a basis of where my mind is at this time.

So I have decided to drastically change many aspects of my life.
1) I am currently unemployed. I was quite successful in the mortgage/real estate industry while the going was good but since the economical crisis began (ironically because of the industry I was in), I have not been very successful and have since lost my job. My goal here is to go back to school to start fresh in an entirely different industry and begin a career in said industry. So I have enrolled in school to obtain my AAS in Medical Management and begin my courses on August 25, 2010. I have also applied for several entry level medical receptionist jobs.
2) My health is atrocious. I am over weight, I smoke, and I am generally *always* fatigued. My goal here is to lose weight, quit smoking, and eventually start exercising. So I am beginning a 1300 calorie diet on August 16, 2010 with a goal to lose 35 pounds by December 31, 2010 (my 38th birthday).
3) I have no control in my relationship with my current boyfriend. We have been dating for almost five years and I am beginning to question how much I have brought to the table in this relationship. I want him to love me unconditionally and show it. But how can I expect that when I don't love myself? We are very good together, we "get" each other and have the same values and morals. There is just something missing (at least in my mind). My goal here is to find happiness within myself, figure out how to boost my own self-esteem, and once I have found that healthy place within myself share it with him. This is a tough one. I think with the plans I have above I can begin to heal and hopefully the rest with fall in to place.

And so I begin. This is a lot of things to try to take on at once and I think my best refuge will be to write my feelings as I go. I am going to try to write at least 3-4 times a week, but we'll see. Wish me luck interwebs....but I don't think I will need it. I have made up my mind, and stubbornness and perseverance tend to be my strongest assets (and faults).

"Where the Streets have bad names"

2009-02-10T14:23:00.001-07:00

Doesn't this make you happy to be living on Elm Street?

LOL!

2009-02-10T13:30:00.001-07:00

Great Quotes by Comedians (condensed by me originally posted by NetScrap)

2009-02-10T10:56:00.002-07:00

"If you ever see me getting beaten by the police, put down the video camera and come help me." --Bobcat Goldthwait

"In elementary school, in case of fire you have to line up quietly in a single file line from smallest to tallest. What is the logic? Do tall people burn slower?" --Warren Hutcherson

"I have six locks on my door all in a row. When I go out, I lock every other one. I figure no matter how long somebody stands there picking the locks, they are always locking three." --Elayne Boosler

"Ever wonder if illiterate people get the full effect of alphabet soup?" --John Mendoza

"Today I met with a subliminal advertising executive for just a second." --Steven Wright

"A study in the Washington Post says that women have better verbal skills than men. I just want to say to the authors of that study: Duh." --Conan O'Brien

"Did you ever walk in a room and forget why you walked in? I think that's how dogs spend their lives." --Sue Murphy

"My grandfather's a little forgetful, but he likes to give me advice. One day, he took me aside and left me there." --Ron Richards

"I was a vegetarian until I started leaning towards sunlight." --Rita Rudner

"I always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific." --Lily Tomlin

"I planted some bird seed. A bird came up. Now I don't know what to feed it." --Steven Wright

"I think that's how Chicago got started. A bunch of people in New York said, 'Gee, I'm enjoying the crime and the poverty, but it just isn't cold enough. Let's go west.'" --Richard Jeni

"Why does Sea World have a seafood restaurant? I'm halfway through my fishburger and I realize, Oh my God....I could be eating a slow learner." --Lynda Montgomery

"There is probably no God. Now enjoy your life and stop worrying"

2009-02-10T10:27:00.002-07:00

As I was scanning my daily RSS feeds, I noticed this article. The attitudes of the two sides are interesting.

Atheists:
Hanne Stinson, chief executive of the British Humanist Society, said the society supported the right of religious groups to post their messages but said the advertisements were "dogmatic and declaratory, leaving no room for reason and debate.""Our ads were undogmatic and funny, with the addition of the 'probably' in line with the continuing openness of humanists to new evidence," she said in a statement on the British Humanist Association Web site.

Christians:
"The atheist campaign has been something of a red rag to Christians and was begging for a response," said George Hargreaves, the head of the Christian Party, a religious group that fields candidates for elections to the European Parliament. "I got tired of seeing these messages on buses driving past my window and want to give people the chance to read something with hope."

Fear of rationalism sure makes some people upset.

Another Christian group has also joined the campaign, with a more confrontational message from Psalm 53:1, which reads: "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God."

That Psalm passage (btw) fully reads: The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity; There is none who does good.

No wonder the Christians are scared of the atheists.

New Blog

2009-01-13T14:35:00.002-07:00

Welcome to my blog. This is a place where I will occasionally talk about things that stand out in my day to day life. They might be websites I have found interesting, funny, thought-provoking, downright infuriating, etc or they might just be random thoughts. Please feel free to browse, comment, and/or check back periodically.