Contentment

I am flying by the seat of my keyboard tonight. As I look around my living room, I realize how content one can be, without that much involved.

My cat, Frankie, made me think of this topic. Earlier, he climbed up on the couch, over my shoulder and plopped down to sleep on my legs while I play on the computer. Of course, he let me rub and pet him, but he is content even to sleep. On me or on any human of the house.

I am happy not to work the 2nd job tonight. It was good to exercise at tae kwon do,come home and *boom* do nothing else. I did play an episode of Stargate: Atlantis. It's been over for a few minutes, but it was nice, to sit and mess around on the comp. Also,I let Snap out of his cage to play for a couple hours.

Snap is content preening, *peeping* a bit, and sitting on his cage, sometimes flapping his wings or nibbling at a toy from above. He loves me to kiss his beak and will give me a peck, too.

I must pet the cat. Tonight, my wish to all is contentment.

A bee photo from Labor Day. The bee seems content.

Flower

Today's post will be just a photograph. A closed hibiscus bloom after a rainshower in August.

Stuff in my head

He was killed by food
that's what his tombstone read
Go ahead and stuff your face
That's what mama said
And you'll be killed by food, too.

That is the kind of stranger stuff that floats through my head. Not attached to anything. It's just there. That one made me laugh. It relates to my mom always reminding me to chew my food. Once the first line came to me, I sorta connected the dots of the 2 thoughts. Non sequiturs becoming sequiturs.

Birthday Birdies

I was to devote this post to something else tonight. Then I remembered. Snap and Peanut turned 3 on October 1st! I forgot till this morning. Happy birthday, little Quaker Parrots! And thank you for not having the birdie version of terrible two's. May you not have terrible 3's, either.



Quaker Parrots are also called Monk Parakeets, or just Quakers. The way they shake their heads is a form of greeting within the quaker parrot community. They're originally from South America but migrated to the States many years ago. They're illegal in some states, such as Pennsylvania. Some places see them as a negative species of bird, even an invader, and they are at times as despised as pigeons or crows. There are different subspecies that have been bred in the U.S. Among them are blues, cinammons and yellows. Quakers are capable of speech, but human words are more likely in a 1 bird household, which mine is not.



Here's 3 pix of the THE birds! 1st we have Peanut:



Then we have Snap:


Peanut on (L) and Snap on (R)-- happy birdies and good birdies, too.

Star Trek in My Life

Star Trek. It’s in my blood, and the other half of the reason it is in my blog title. My mother is a diehard classic, William Shatner Star Trek fan. She loves Spock the most. I grew up on the rerun of the 3 seasons. At this moment, I can’t remember all the old episodes, but I have my favorites. My father wasn’t a huge fan, at the time, but he loves Star Wars and other science fiction shows. Mom also likes Twilight Zone.

In the fall of 1987, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry gave us Star Trek: The Next Generation. That incarnation of Trek is the one that sticks with me the most, and it’s my favorite. Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes portrayed Capt. Picard and Cmdr. Riker, respectively. Two great looking men portraying two of my favorite heroes. As a teenager, nothing in my life could be better. The stories always had me captivated.

After Next Gen came Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. I believe DS9 is my father’s favorite version of Trek. We became more familiar with the Ferengi through Quark, and we also knew the Cardassians and Bajorans better, along with the Founders and a new enemy, the Dominion.

Star Trek: Voyager was a show I stuck with for the first 3 seasons and then lost interest. I saw some Season 5 episodes and liked them, and then saw some Season 7 episodes and liked those better. In Season 5-7 was the Tom/B’lanna relationship and the Borg, Seven of Nine. Chakotay always sounded like he had marbles in his cheeks, and Capt. Janeway and her husky whispers hinted at a Capt./Commander relationship that really wasn’t there. Still, it was funny to think about. I wrote my own tongue-in-cheek ending for the series.

I attempted to watch Star Trek: Enterprise. I failed. Scott Bakula was a good fit as Captain Archer, and I loved Connor Trinneer as Tripp Tucker, the engineer. T’pol was an interesting Vulcan. However, the plot wasn’t there and after season 1, I saw the final 2 episodes, which were passable.

I saw all the movies up until the last. Star Trek II and Star Trek: First Contact are my faves of the bunch. The new movie I completely passed on. They got it right at the series level with Next Gen. Stop the buck and go no further.

I have been to more than a handful of Star Trek Conventions in my life and enjoyed every one. I've met Bruce Boxleitner, Marc Singer, Nichelle Nichols, Marina Sirtis, Teryl Rothery, Amanda Tapping, Carmen Argenziano, Connor Trinneer and several others. The experience of a convention is fun, fun, fun. There is entertainment, dressing up if you want, autographing, photographing, and shopping. An art show and workshops, too.

My early introduction to Star Trek led me to love sci-fi in general and other shows, like V, Babylon 5, which my dad and I enjoyed together, Beauty and the Beast, which my mom, sister and I all watched, and Stargate: SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis.

As to Trekker or Trekkie. Trekker seems a little more stuffy, but that’s okay. Please, call me either. I wear both titles as a badge of honor, along with my geek and nerd ribbons. Trek on, friends, trek on!

The Meaning of Trek

Today, a definition. Trek, from the title of my blog.


Webster's II New Riverside Dictionary, copyright 1984 by Houghton Mifflin Company, states: Trek v. To make a slow, arduous jouney or leg of a journey, esp. when slow and difficult.

The American Heritage dic-tion-ary/Third Edition, copyright 1994 by Houghton Mifflin Company, states: Trek v. To make a long, difficult journey.

Both list "trekker" as the noun form (something of dispute among Star Trek fans, as they've been called both trekkers and trekkies). More on THAT "trek" tomorrow.

I did not know or realize that Houghton published both dictionaries. I sort of idolized the American Heritage one since I was a child and used them in school. It became the shining standard and a favorite for me among all dictionaries.

Yes, I am an English nerd. I can say this with confidence. Point in case...the fact that I HAVE more than one dictionary and I loathe getting rid of ANY. One is truly just as good as another, and from this point on I will quote one or the other, not both.

The word "trek" has not changed in definition. I like the first definition best. It describes life, does it not? Life is slow, and difficult. It is ardous and repetitive some days. And day by day, we all trek along.


Today's photo is Cat #3 (but 2 in order of adoption). He is physically blind due to glaucoma, but still, he treks on, without hesitation. I give you: Vincent.

Gaming

I am a games addict. Okay, now I have to qualify that statement. I don't go for the shoot-em-up type games. Uh uh. But puzzle games, give me a Saturday with nothing to do and I can waste hours, EASY.

I am such an addict that even when one of my cats may clamor for attention, to the point of actually jumping up and rubbing on me and getting in my way, I shoo them off. I mean, most people would greet their pet, PET their pet and forget the game. I am so bad, I decide to ALLOW my cat 2 whole minutes before shooing her away.

I look forward to the bootup of my computer and find it difficult to wait for the game to load. Even to look at a clock and sit still for 2 minutes is agony some days.

Sometimes I go days without playing, but when I am in the zone, the cats better hope I fed 'em first.

It almost calls for an intervention, but, really, I can stop any time I want!

Magic, the much shoo'd cat

Hello out there

Hi, welcome to my blog. I have many goals. First up, this is a sort of diary. If something is on my mind, it may end up here. We are all trekking through life. No user manual, just doing the best we know how. I'm definitely not an expert. Just an amateur.



I am an amateur writer/author. There are several TV shows I write fanfiction for. Don't be surprised to see it. I love grammar and the English language. I review/edit all my e-mails and posts and even phone texts. I work for a living, to get the bills paid, which leaves only so much room for writing.



I am an amateur martial artist. Currently I am loving tae kwon do, and I look forward to adding kum do. Which only leaves so much room for writing.



For the last year, I've done a lot more with digital photography. I love it, too. Which,naturally, leaves only so much room for writing. And tae kwon do.



Here I may post a piece of writing, be it poetry, fanfic, or just a blog. Maybe a writing lesson. I may post a random photo. Possibly one of my cats or birds, nature, inside, outside, or friends and fam.



To my followers, I wave at you. *WAVE* Let's get trekking through life!



Heeeeeeere's Frankie!

Test

TEST BLOG -

Just to kick things off, I am writing a test blog. Ummm.. . ha ha. Amateur writer and can't think of anything to say/type. MWA HA HA HA HA HA!!