selinker
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and Mike Selinker's journal beholds a wide range of beautiful things, from the most beautiful arcade game to the most beautiful chase scene and even the most beautiful New Year's resolution.

2xcreative
Have a great idea for a collaborative project but need a partner to bring your vision to life? Whether you're into interpretive knitting or photography and writing, check out this community to find the creative partner of your dreams.

azkatraz
Harry Potter fans have a lot going on this week. Not only does The Half-Blood Prince hit movie theaters everywhere, but also the Azaktraz conference takes San Francisco by storm starting July 18. Get all the news and updates at this community.

One of the more trying parts of being a human, both for me and for everyone else, is the part where I keep making the same mistake over and over, expecting different results, or telling myself, "This time it will be different." But it never is. So obviously the thing to do is to stop doing the thing that brings on the mistake. This is basically what I tell my clients who are addicts, but my problem isn't about addiction, but about expecting different results from doing the same action. And that is crazy.

So, basically, stopping the mistake involves setting boundaries. But then I have to figure out where selling myself short ends and setting healthy boundaries begins. I could indulge myself in despair at this point, but I already did that and it didn't work, so at least I'm not making that particular mistake again.

I don't have an easy time making mistakes. I don't like to, for one thing. I am a perfectionist. I like to do everything right the first time, or as close to the first time as I can get it. When I make a repeated mistake, even unintentionally, it bugs me to no end. It bothers me, really. It'll make me stay up late at night trying to play Evony in order to distract myself from the unhelpful, morbid self-questioning that comes up, and the self-berating that inevitably follows my making a very obvious mistake.

This is a continual struggle for me: wanting to be perfect and not being able to be.

****

In other news, it appears that Dave Carroll has shamed United Airlines into providing some restitution for the guitar that they broke. We'll see how it pans out, but United ("Breaks Guitars...") is making noises about setting the situation right.

www.canada.com/business/Band+uses+YouTube+fight+against+airline/1777860/story.html

Now, I will admit that my first thought when hearing about this was feeling sorry for the guy. However, I also had the thought, "What was he doing putting a $3500 guitar in the hands of baggage handlers??" Your guitar should always be carry-on, if you're going somewhere with a $3500 guitar. Baggage handlers are well known, from time immemorial, for smashing up all kinds of instruments - violins, violas, trumpets, saxophones, guitars, and just about anything else that can be smashed. (They are also well known for stealing instruments, but at least that didn't happen to this poor guy.)

The other thing that I thought was that it's pretty well known that if you go on tour, it's never a good idea to bring an expensive guitar, period, unless you are like Eric Clapton or Carlos Santana and have well-paid roadies with big weightlifter muscles who guard your equipment and will beat the tar out of anyone trying to steal your guitar. Even in that case, thieves have been known to take off with vans full of equipment. Sonic Youth and Frank Black lost a bunch of guitars that way - the thieves cased out the band's equipment van and flat out stole it. The solution for a lot of musicians has been to take cheaper equipment on the road, replaceable equipment. I am glad that Dave is getting his just due, because the airline should have treated his instrument better, but I do wonder why he didn't take a Takamine or a Seagull or something on the road instead of his $3500 Taylor. It could be argued, "Well, the $3500 Taylor sounds magnificent, and I want to sound good," but the truth is that live sound is always a compromise. If you have your own sound system that you carry with you, that's OK, but you have to have the riches of a godling to afford that. And if you can't afford that, by the time you get through plugging into the club's sound system and having your sound mixed by a half-deaf, liquored-up former roadie for Black Oak Arkansas who has had tinnitis since that gig in 1976 when the monitors blew out in his face, you're lucky if you sound like anything. And to be honest a good chunk of the audience is not going to be able to tell the sound of a $3500 guitar from the sound of a $500 guitar, as long as you play well.

I dunno. Like I said, I would be totally pissed off if the airlines destroyed my expensive guitar, but on the other hand, I would never give them the chance to. But anyway, good for Dave Carroll; they should pay every cent of that $3500 guitar and fire the baggage handlers involved.

Hello out there :) Hope this finds you all doing well and enjoying the summer. How has everybody been? I am happy to say that we are doing well here in NY. July seems to be the month that we are finally getting settled here and putting down a few roots, so to speak. I am very happy about that because that means that things can finally get back to normal and I can get on with having fun and being naughty for you, heehee!

I am currently detoxing from splenda and equal. I am happy to say that my body is adjusting quite nicely. I never realized what kind of havoc that crap can reap on ones body! I switched to Stevia this week and I even like the way it tastes better than the others. When I am out and I don't have some stevia with me, I have been using raw sugar. That tastes quite nice. I am happy to say that on a whole, I am feeling alot better, I think my body is happy!

My Birthday Blowout is just around the corner and I cant tell you how excited I am! I spoke with Miss Claudia yesterday and I must say, I cant wait! Claudia and Jason are staying with us as well as Jade and Dan. Miss Debbie is staying across the park from us is a very nice hotel and everyone else is pretty close too! I can't wait to see everyone, share some laughs and meet new friends! If you would like to come to the party, there is still time to get your name on the guest list. Get your details here http://www.serenawet.com/naughtyinnewyork2.html
Come out and party with us girls! We would love to see you there!

Headed out to do some furniture shopping tomorrow. We are in need of a new sofa and some other things. Always fun to shop for things for the house! Oh and I forgot to mention, Big Butt Magazine is doing a feature on The Girls of Dreamnet and I will be featured in it along with Jade, Dawn Marie, Olivia, Maddison, Kristine, Faith and some of the other girls. So be sure to be on the lookout for that! I am very excited.

I think that is all I have to report for now. Wishing you all a happy weekend. Catch you on the flip side!
Kisses-Serena
We remember George!

If not, here is what you have missed.

Naughty Renovations
Work hard, play hard!
A bonus size set with 40+ pics

OK, so our new place is everything but new. In fact it is over a 100 years old. But that’s not a bad thing. It’s really pretty cool. Hardwood floors, fire places, winding oak stairways and antique fixtures. It’s actually the type of romantic environment that gets an old school girl like myself in the mood for sex more often then not … HeeHee! However anything over 100 years old needs some renovations every once in a while. That brings us to the front room! We have been avoiding it since we moved in. But today was the day! Scrubbing, cleaning, stripping wood and tearing down plaster! We even had boxes of stuff from the former owner still in there. After a hot, hard, sweaty day, I just needed to unwind and look over my days work. And what better way then to slip into something soft, sexy and maybe a little dirty … HeeHee! Pour myself a glass of wine, snuggle up with my pussy and a good book and take in my days achievements.

*Enjoy this entire set on line or via a downloadable zip file inside*




Back Stairway Honey
Or How I Almost Made It home Last Night
One of the biggest changes associated with my recent move is that I went from leaving near a big city to living right smack dab in a big city. Now the most notable thing to me about that is the nightlife. There just seems to be no shortage of hot bars, clubs and places to go out and enjoy oneself in the evening. And it seems to me that as of late, I have been enjoying myself more and more …HeeHee! Last night was one of those “enjoyable” nights. I won’t bore you by going into details about what I did or who he was but I will tell you it was pretty late (or was it pretty early?) when he brought me home. I remember thinking to myself that sneaking up the back steps would be a good idea so as not to wake my hubby. The next thing I remember is waking up on the landing outside my back door with my hubby standing over me saying “ Well look what finally found it’s way home”.

**Enjoy this set here on line or download it via zip file inside*




My Birthday Party Blowout is just around the corner and there is still time to get your name on the guest list. Get your details here: http://www.serenawet.com/naughtyinnewyork2.html 2 new webgirls just rsvp'd this week! Come party with us for my birthday!

Enjoy your weekend!
Kisses-SerenaWet
http://www.serenawet.com

For the local people -

The New Orleans Lamplight Circle Meetup Group is having a Witchcrafty Rummage and Bake Sale tomorrow (Saturday, July 11) at the Fair Grinds Coffeehouse on 3133 Ponce de Leon from 3:00 PM to 9:00 PM as part of the Bastille Day celebrations. If you are in town come down. I will be there. I made Chocolate Cappucino Cookies with dark chocolate and K. made the Pound Cake O' Doom. There will be tinctures and candles and stuff that people in the group made, there will be all kinds of oddments and endments, and I am cleaning out the book shelves and the CD rack as well.

So those of you who wish it, come to see the Witches' Rummage & Bake Sale and see!

Well today my brother from San Diego is coming to visit me so I need to clean the house. (I'm proud that way) hahahaha My house has 3 bathrooms and I almost wish I didn't buy such a big house cause it's really a pain to clean. Believe it or not but I am a non materialistic and very simple person. Do you ever see me wear jewelry??? hahaha Nope! except for my body piercings I don't wear any. And I don't wear perfuem either. I'm actually thinking about moving into something a little smaller. I suppose it has something to do with raising 5 kids. . . I've always been such a busy person that I didn't have time for complications. So keeping things simple has always been my way. I don't like a camera with a bunch of "settings" (no time to read the manual) don't like anything that requires me to take time out of my day to learn how to use it. If I can't flip a switch and turn it on I don't use it. LOL No time for fuss. If you send me an email that is more than one paragraph I will just read the first sentense in each one. hahaha  So where am I going with this? Hell if I know. I was originally gonna talk about my exciting weekend and how I plan on going to the strip club with hubby but I guess I got side tracked when I mentioned my brother was coming to visit. hehehehehe

Have a great weekend!
(((HUGS)))
Lizz

P.S. Thank you for the wonderful emails and compliments regarding my new pictures from Arizona. I am so happy you guys are liking them!!!

This is one of those days. I'm glad I'm not back to work because I deserve some time off. It's Thursday on my vacation and I've got four more days. This is enough time to have fun and do the things that I want to do, the things that I find fun.

I realize that I am a responsible, thoughtful, caring, intelligent person who is helpful to others through those qualities. I am learning to care for myself  right this minute. I think that I am actually that kind of person. I like looking at these aspects of myself. I am starting to take care of my teeth and I'm working on taking care of my diabetes, as well. I tried to set up a dental appointment and found out I have no dental insurance, through no fault of my own, and this is being taken care of.  Then I did a survey on diabetes care and came face to face with the fact that I could do better on that, so I am learning to do that.

I may not make the kind of money a 50 year old man should according to society; however, society can be (and often is) wrong, and money does not bring happiness, though it is a good thing to have.  Whether I do or do not go back to school and get my doctorate is entirely up to me; I am no less a person for not having one, and a doctorate does not endow one with wisdom, only life does. I am taking steps toward keeping up with my hours for certification. I am learning how to be more organized in general, step by step.  I have a friend who has offered to tell me about how I can get a retirement account going, for which I am grateful. I am making time for myself to have fun, and learning to judge between true obligations and necessaries and false ones that steal my time needlessly. I  am grateful to be having a vacation, because it gave me time to look at these things and see all the good this is doing me.

If you knew me in real life, if you had to live with me,  you probably would like me. I have a lot of good qualities. I am a generous and caring person. I'm actually a pretty good guy. I have done a lot of things and I know a lot and teach things well to others. I have experienced may wonderful things by this time in my life, and I haven't, luckily, made a lot of mistakes that other people have done at this stage in life. And now I complete it by being open on livejournal, letting people see all of me, both sides.

Yeah, this is a part of me. This is not all of it. I love my music and my guitars, and I would never devote myself only to work, in a sad nihilistic sense to pass away the time and make money, because there is more to life than simply work. Life is, I am beginning to think, pretty much an art, a way to take responsibility for creating beauty in this world.  I do not intend work myself to pieces in this field, or take more on myself than I should just because western society says so.  I am a person who is more than what he appears to be, a beautiful face on a carefully done picture. I am an artist and this is what it got me; many songs and many friends, which is worth more than money. I am a musician, I am an artist, I am a son and lover of the Goddess, and I am not yet done in this world - there is much more to come. 

welcome to my hometown: