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Birthday [Aug. 16th, 2007|10:21 pm]
Thanks for all the birthday wishes - you guys are the best :o)

It was a nice day and I have a new camera AND a bread maker to play with!
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(no subject) [Jan. 14th, 2007|10:08 am]
Happy Birthday Gilly!!! Mega Jim hugs and hope it's a good one :o)
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happy new year!! [Jan. 1st, 2007|11:32 am]
Just want to wish you all a joyous new year filled with all things good and nothing bad :o)

2006 was an interesting one wasn't it - it started with Gilly and I bewailing the fact that we'd never get to meet Richard or Garett, and ended with us reminiscing about our wonderful days with them *sigh* can 2007 hope to top that? I guess we'll have to wait and see.......

It was awfully nice meeting some of you lot as well - of course :o)
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sorry, these are too funny [Dec. 29th, 2006|11:00 am]

One morning I shot an elephant in my Alibongo. How he got in my Alibongo, I don't know.

Which movie was this quote from?

Get your own quotes:
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Not sure about this one..... [Dec. 29th, 2006|10:52 am]

Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to Alibongo.

Which movie was this quote from?

Get your own quotes:
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Betagoddess [Dec. 29th, 2006|10:49 am]
I'm so very sorry to hear your news and I wish there was something I could do to take away your pain. I shall be thinking of you and sending hugs and support your way.
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Happy Christmas!! [Dec. 26th, 2006|11:11 am]
Hello all of you lovelies
It's Boxing Day - I survived this far, so am doing well :o)
Worst is yet to come with three whole days of my parents *aaaaaargghhhhh!!!*

I hope you all had a lovely day yesterday. I got very spoilt by my kids - they gave me a Shaitsu massage thing, so I can sit with a silly smile on my face while strange mysterious invisible hands massage my back - it's like having Bev around, hiding in my sofa
They also gave me a proper copy of Firestorm - hmmmm, Richard in a fireman's outfit, dirty and sweaty - enough to shake the baubles on my tree I can tell you ;o)

Well, this a brief respite before I re-enter the fray,
Love to everyone, massive mega sized Burgi hugs to you all :o)

Hope you are all having a super time XXXXX
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(no subject) [Nov. 9th, 2006|05:19 pm]
[Current Location |My sofa]
[mood |lethargiclethargic]

The Richard Burgi fanclub asked me to do resume of our time spent with Richard at the golf in August. I thought I'd put it up here as well for those of you who are not members *shakes head in wonderment* It's just a potted version of the one Gillyp and I did for her website, but those who don't want to plough through the minutae might find it interesting!

This is just an attempt at a resume of the amazing and serendipitous events that took us down to Wales for a wonderful three days shared with Richard Burgi, we have written a much longer version which can be found at http://www.templeofthesentinels.com/events.htm.

It all begins one miserable morning as I was reclining on my sick bed with a nasty dose of flu, idly flicking through my e.mails. Noticing a post from Bert on Sentinalia I started reading about Richard’s latest project; being most decidedly below par it took a couple of seconds for the words I was reading to sink in – RICHARD BURGI! GOLF! WALES!
I was instantly hammering away on my keyboard to my partner in crime Gilly needing confirmation that this was actually true and I wasn’t having some sort of fever-induced hallucination!

Sure enough, after some frantic internet research looking up the Celtic Manor golf course and the All Star Golf Tournament we were convinced it was all real, and literally a couple of hours after hearing about the wondrous event, we were booked into a local bed and breakfast and our tickets were winging their way to us.

Saturday morning found us crawling out of bed at 3 am so that we could be there at the tournament as the gates opened, and we had a very excited, nay semi-hysterical drive down there. The most notable part being the glorious sunrise we witnessed as we were passing over into Wales; the whole landscape was bathed in a wonderful golden glow, and we came to the conclusion that we were now in Burgi space and The Beautiful One had just opened his eyes.

We arrived at the tournament in good time and set up camp on the practice range next to a sign that said Richard Burgi; it helped just to get confirmation that he was really there, although part of me was still convinced that there was some other Richard Burgi kicking around that we’d never heard of.

We waited patiently, getting very excited every time a celebrity golf buggy arrived, but began to despair of seeing our man, especially when we overheard a steward behind us comment, “I notice the ones who were out drinking last night haven’t showed up for practice!” On looking there were distinct gaps by Meat Loaf, Alice Cooper, Aiden Quinn and of course Richard! Disappointing, but good that he was having a good time!

Eventually we wandered away and down towards the 18th green where we stood, peering into the crowd of celebs and their caddies, still desperate for a glimpse. Suddenly a caddy moved to one side and lo and behold, The Godly One came into view. He was a long way off, but the shape and stance was so obviously him; we bobbed around and waved every time he so much as glanced in our direction but couldn’t attract his attention and eventually he left the course.

I however, was a woman on a mission; I had the scent of Richard Burgi in my nostrils and shot round to the side gate where I had seen him leaving. Sure enough he was still there surrounded by autograph hunters. He seemed a little rattled by the crowd but cheered up instantly when I thrust a rather beautiful picture of Jungle Jim under his nose! “Oh look at that!” he laughed and of course I instantly went all shy and muttered “it is rather lovely isn’t it!” He asked if we were Sentinel fans at which we both began to gush about how we’d set of at 3 am in the morning to meet him etc etc. He put his arm round me for a picture (a wonderful but deeply embarrassing picture that I have had a hard time living down since!) which Gilly so kindly took, but while we were trying to sort all the things out so she could have hers taken he had moved on and the moment was lost.

We wandered a while, enjoying the atmosphere and processing the first meeting, before hearing the order of play and heading off down to the 6th hole, where Richard was teeing off with Alice Cooper and Aiden Quinn. It was a bit of a sprint and I still feel mildly guilty about the number of celebrities we snubbed on the way, but we arrived there just as Richard drove by on his golf buggy (I tried to hitch a lift but he just laughed and waved).

We settled down on a grassy knoll to watch; when it was Richard’s turn he shouted up “better watch yourselves ladies!” but he did a good shot and they all moved along to the next hole, Richard on foot. At this point it just seemed really odd and uncomfortable to keep following along behind, so we decided to give him his space and let him enjoy the day without us stalking him.

We camped out at a hole further along and waited patiently, clapping politely as celebrities came and went but with only one true person in mind. Eventually he arrived and we shyly approached him again, just worried about being a nuisance really; but he was open and welcoming and just lovely! Gilly had made us some rather clever T shirts taken from the Daily Mail (having a Prime Minister called Blair gives some great headlines at times) and Richard openly admired them, said he loved them and signed them for us, along with yet more patting and arm and back rubbing; he really is one of the most tactile people I have ever met) We got the chance to chat briefly but some autograph hunters came over and he began signing, but with my pen, which obviously I wanted back because He had held it! There is a good foot in height difference between Richard and myself and so I didn’t stand much of a chance when he started teasing me and holding it out of my reach and twiddling it in his fingers, but I am a quiet but determined soul and got it back in the end.

We began to make our way back to the golf club, our report on Gilly’s site tells more about our adventures on the way; waited until the end of the day when Richard drove away in his Audi and headed off to our bed and breakfast, exhausted but happy.

The next morning we bounced out of bed, the day before had been perfect but there was more to come. Sue, Rae and Geri were joining us as well and although we were a little late (having got lost somehow during the one mile trip from our B & B to the golf course!) we all met up successfully and once again wound our way to Richard’s sign on the practise range.

Eventually he arrived, practised a little and then tried to make his escape. “Your Sentinel girls are here!” we all yelled and he amiably sauntered over, commenting, “You girls are lovely!” He signed the items we had brought for him, adding an odd little (apparently meaningless) Chinese symbol on to Gilly’s Sentinel disc box! And posed for some photos sans his shades (man those eyes!!), but then his game was announced and he had to go.

We followed him down to the first hole; there were a lot of people around so we felt we could follow him without looking like stalkers this time.
If you want to hear about the golf read Rae’s report, the golf meant nothing to me, I just had eyes for The Godly One, he could have missed every shot as far as I was concerned and still been the winner.

However, eventually even I became aware that his game was perhaps not as good as it could be and he seemed to be getting a bit upset about it. At one point I told him to turn his cap round like Jim does in a crisis situation and he laughed and said “What, change the mojo?” flipping his cap as he walked, to which Gilly answered “How about a hunker and flip?” which made him laugh all the more.

We continued to support him enthusiastically but his game continued to go from bad to worse. As he walked from one hole to the next, I went up to him and said “don’t look so sad, you look like you need a hug” (being more than willing to oblige I have to say!), to which he just went “aaaaah” and threw his arm round me. We walked up the slope together arm in arm, me struggling to match his stride and chatting, at that point I officially died and went to heaven. When we reached the top of the slope he commented that he needed someone to prop him up on the other side and so Sue, (moving faster than the Flash on a good day) nipped under his other arm and with Gilly squeezed on the end next to me we all had our photo taken by a very kind young girl.

Richard then decided that he was too tired to stand up anymore and dropped his full weight onto us! The three of us tried desperately to hold him up, but boy was he heavy!
Sadly he then had to go and play some more golf and after thanking us, saying “thanks ladies; that helped a lot” he went on to play a really good shot.

Sadly it didn’t last and his golf went downhill again fast – one very surreal moment occurring at the 16th hole when Gilly and I stood clutching each other, watching one of Richard’s balls heading straight for us! Having decided there were worse ways to go we stood our ground but it landed a few feet behind us, to the sound of Jane Seymour commenting “you nearly hit my mother!”

The last couple of holes on the course were always very difficult to get to see anything at because the crowds were always biggest there and we are rather short so we gave up and headed on round to the hotel entrance in the hope of another chat with him there. However, sadly after waiting quite some time, Sue had to leave and we felt guilty about sending her off on her own and so tore ourselves away, knowing that we still had another day yet!

Having waved off Sue, Rae and Gerri it was back to just the two old faithful ones, Gilly and myself for the Monday.

We had been so sad for Richard the day before, as although he had taken his bad form with good humour and grace he had seemed a little upset at times. So, having read that he was interested in Feng Shui, we talked our interesting psychic medium landlady into giving us a crystal to give to him for luck.

Thus, there we were, camped out as usual by his name on the practise range. I have to say, he is one of the few people in existence who can wear beige and still look good! Initially he was called away for an interview and we thought we weren’t going to get the chance to talk to him, but he blew us a kiss and promised he would be back and of course we had faith in him and stayed put. Eventually he arrived back and practised a few shots before coming on over for a chat. I gave him the crystal and Gilly gave her practised spiel about where it came from and it’s power etc, and we instantly discovered it was a powerful crystal indeed in that it earned us a lovely hug and kiss, he even said we were sweet *giggle*

He put the crystal in his pocket and headed off for the game. We followed on behind but had little hope of so much contact with him that day as he had been paired with Meat Loaf and there was a huge crowd following the game round.

However, it soon became apparent that the crystal wasn’t working for him; his game was even worse than the previous day! After one particularly bad shot, I looked across at him and shrugged an apology, at which he laughed and wandered over. Gill then commented that we wouldn’t be offended if he wanted to throw it away, But he just gave it back to us and asked us to give it some good mojo.

Getting rid of the crystal made no difference at all however, his next shot went backwards and I told him that maybe he should have the crystal back as at least he was going in the right direction before!
This was the point I decided to tell him about the beer I’d brought for him, saying that I’d been concerned about him not being able to get any decent beer that far south. His eyes lit up when I showed it to him and I said I’d hang on to it until the end of the day, (the things you do for love, it was flipping heavy to carry round all day)

The joke with the crystal continued pretty much at each hole, until Richard decided to give up on the golf and swapped places with Chris Evans’s caddy! At this point he asked for the crystal back and slipped it into his pocket. It seemed that he suddenly began to relax and enjoy the game, really winning the crowd over with his antics. We were stood behind him when I muttered “Oh Richard, This is wrong on so many levels” to which he turned round and said, “I thought I’d better demote myself before I kill someone”

I also teased him about how much it would be worth, knowing what a good player he is, not to tell Garett about his awful game, at which he became all serious and sincere and told us what a good player, even pro level, Garett was. (We have since met Garett as well, and when I defended Richard’s game and said he was most likely jet lagged, Garett roared with laughter and said “No man! His game is always horrible, just horrible!”)

Waking further along Gilly had a lovely moment down in the same glade as I received my hug the day before; when for some reason he reached down and chucked her cheek, it was very sweet!

At the 15th hole there was a nice scene that showed what a really lovely man Richard is. There was a boy in a wheelchair, obviously struggling to see, and unnoticed by the other celebs. Richard stopped to talk to him, tried to get them in closer but couldn’t and then shot off, to return a few minutes later having got all the other players to sign his team cap which he gave to the boy. We heard afterwards that he had managed to get the whole family tickets for the party that evening - what a sweetie.

That was pretty much it for us on the golf course really; the light was drawing in and they decided to head off to the last hole. We managed to squeeze in to watch a joke tee off where they all hit at the same time and the balls went literally everywhere – Richard picked up the green rake and joked that perhaps he’d be able to hit the ball with that!

There were some lovely Jim Ellison moments in general during the three days. Whenever Richard made a mess of the green teeing off, he would replace every blade of grass with loving care until you couldn’t tell anyone had been there, and when he hit the ball into a bunker, he would rake it afterwards with painstaking detail until the sand was perfect – it was a joy to behold.

Knowing we wouldn’t be able to get near Richard again at the golf course, we stationed ourselves once again by the clubhouse exit, in the hope that we would at least be able to wave goodbye to him.
We stood for a long, long time, occasionally splitting up so we didn’t risk missing him at the other entrance, but eventually he came out and Gilly called out Richard quite softly. He instantly dropped his bag and came right over smiling and saying “There you are my angels!” Gill said, “We just wanted to say goodbye and thank you for such a fantastic weekend” to which Richard reacted by sweeping her into a huge hug and kissing her cheek, saying, “Well thank you too”
Then it was my turn and I was also swept into a breathtaking embrace and smacker of a kiss. I managed to squeeze out breathlessly “Thanks, you’ve given us a great weekend,” to which he replied “Yeah, you’ve made it great for me too, giving me that goddamned rock and all that trouble...................... just kidding!”
I asked him if he would come back and see us again, and he said he would really like to, then I gave him his beer and Gilly got him to sign an autograph for someone who couldn’t come, and then parting became such sweet sorrow as he had to go, the car had been waiting for him all this time.

We sadly waved him away before wending our way back to the car, exhausted, emotionally and physically, but very, very happy.

The 3 hour drive home was over in a flash, thrilled and excited as we were, I really don’t know how I managed to get us home in once piece to be honest! And even when we were back at my house, we just had to watch some Richard on the TV before we could even think about sleep!
It truly was the best weekend of my life so far, I can’t imagine anything topping it! And I think Gilly is close behind. I now have a magical place to go to when real life gets too bad; I drift back to that fairy glen, walking in the sunshine arm in arm with Richard.

All that remains to say is thank you Richard, for a fantastic three days. We were bowled over by your good humour and generosity and sincerely hope you’ll be back to see us again next year.
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my Sister [Nov. 1st, 2006|08:47 pm]
It has been ages since I added anything to my Journal. Things have moved on a lot with my sister who last time I wrote had just been diagnosed with breast cancer.
She had one operation, but believe it or not they took a huge chunk of healthy tissue out and left the cancer behing - but now she has had a second, succesful op, and has been given the all clear, she just has to complete a course of chemotherapy.
It's been a long few months, especially for her, but it looks like there may be a happy ending!
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(no subject) [May. 3rd, 2006|09:06 pm]
[Current Location |My kitchen as always]
[mood |anxiousanxious]

I'm really shocked here - I've just had some awful news from my sister - she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. I really don't know how to help her here, have any of you had any experience with this in any way? She's worrying about telling her youngest son because he sits his degree finals over the next fortnight and she doesn't want him to be worrying when he should be concentrating, but she will have to tell her eldest as he lives at home, so she's worried the younger will be hurt if he finds out that she has told his brother but not him... She's obviously in shock at the moment, and will be going in for surgery asap.
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Saturday, 31 October 2015

The Borderline Press Blog #34: The Future is Coming - But My End is Nigh

Before I even reached double digits I'd been exposed to the wonderful world of comics. I was about 5 when I first noticed some of my brother's lurid four colour pamphlets. My first real personal interest started in 1969 when I discovered British comic 'annuals' and then in June 1970, aged 8, I discovered Cor, ironically the comic where my one-time employer, mentor and (in his head) nemesis Dez Skinn started his own comics career - some tenuous synchronicity there if ever I saw some.

It seems odd, especially given how slow time tends to move when you haven't got much experience of life, that it was over two years before I was to rediscover the illuminating world of American comics. It was late November 1972 and our local newsagent, Forbuoys, run by a dour Scottish chap called Gordon Dow (who employed my mum in the shop and later became her insurance man - and that isn't a euphemism) took a gamble and decided to stock some different types of comics, as opposed to your usual Beano, Dandy, Beezer, Topper and Bunty. He stocked the new Mighty World of Marvel comic and also some American comics by a company called DC.

The first 'US' comic I ever bought was actually British, the aforementioned Mighty World of Marvel #6 (finding #1-5 proved to be considerably more difficult than I would ever have believed) and the following week when I returned to buy #7 I spotted something staring back at me from the spinner rack. It was an American comic called Swamp Thing #1, drawn by Berni Wrightson and written by Len Wein. I had no idea who these guys were, all I knew is their comic was the most outrageously unbelievable thing I'd ever laid my eyes on; and in that moment my life was changed inexorably.

Me in comics has been well chronicled. Yes, there's a rambling, poorly-edited mess, on this blog and in a Kindle, which tries to be educational, emotional and honest and probably only really works if you know me and can put the way I talk to the way it was written (and serialised). I liked some of it, but probably from a cathartic perspective rather than anything else. By the time I sat down to write that comics autobiography, initially in 2005, I never thought for a second that I'd end up back in comics, again, within 10 years, despite pretty much forecasting it by having an entire chapter on why I keep getting drawn back to comics despite it never having been particularly kind to me, even when I probably, on balance, believe I deserved it to be.

What A Life in Comics doesn't much do is admit to my having become an incredibly egocentric individual; someone who for long periods of time believed I was actually the centre of some comics world where my name, my opinion and my words were important. There wasn't really ever a point in my comics career where I was overtly important; covertly most definitely, but by virtue of the term 'covertly' people had to take my word for it. I did little ego promotional stuff until I worked for Skinn and then any ego I might have harboured was beaten frequently to the point where it hid and only the lure of money helped it reappear.

My 'day' in the sun was between 2001 and 2003 when, briefly, Borderline Magazine proved that as an organiser, producer and 'print' manager I was okay - punching above my weight. The problem was Borderline came along without any financial support which meant for it to be a success, in a far more naive time, I needed to work harder, be even more innovative and not rest on my laurels. The 'success' of my internet comics magazine woke up my ego and it was ignited by the chutzpah I'd absorbed via osmosis from Skinn. However the reality was simple, it might have been great, it might have been read by hundreds of thousands of people, but it was too far ahead of the game to make any money. Try to run a PDF internet delivered comics magazine like a print magazine highlighted the limits of my innovation - I developed a great idea but had no real idea how to market it; to make it work. In a world where internet start ups were now selling for millions, I was being shafted by desperate men who saw the potential in my project and saw we weren't exploiting it. Sadly for everyone involved, the desperate men had run out of money and goodwill by that time; no one inside the Borderline Magazine team saw it as something that was almost brilliant; we saw it as yet another kick in the teeth.

Working for Dez Skinn gave me a kind of siege mentality that has always been difficult to lose. Skinn made every day feel like us against the rest of them, especially given the bizarre way comics have always worked, the strange relationships that wouldn't or don't exist in other forms of retail, such as the comics companies' lack of promotional budgets or the expectancy that fans and fan websites/fanzines etc do the bulk of the promotional work, because, after all, comics has only ever sold to comics fans - it's all about preaching to the converted, etc. So when things didn't go even remotely close to the plan, it was like the world was against us - against me.

I pretty much knew after a year of relentlessly producing Borderline Magazine that it was destined to fail, but we persevered at a time when most, if not all, of the people who worked on it deserved to be paid for their efforts and contributions and we could barely scrape together £100 to pay for all the web hosting costs. There might have been ways to make it work, to make it pay, I simply wasn't clued up enough nor did I know the right people to steer us in the right direction. Remarkably (or perhaps not) despite the amount of people who saw it, no one else came along and said, "You should be doing this..."

By the end of it, I simply had had enough of comics. If I never saw another comic again it would be too soon. Yet within a couple of years, there I was, writing a column for a new website and only because they let me tell it straight. I think I wrote some of my best columns for The Comics Village, but it didn't take me long to realise that my few years away from comics was longer in technological advancement time than I could have anticipated, plus I hadn't actually read more than a handful of comics since 1999, so I was increasingly out-of-touch and lacking in product knowledge.

I had also grown tired of the proliferation of tossers on the internet - of which I counted myself as one. There really wasn't any need to be involved in comics any longer. I'd sold all my comics to buy a new boiler and I really couldn't care less who played Batman, the Joker or Spider-Man, that was all something from my dim and distant past.

And then shit happened...

I like to kid myself that I meant something, so when I took the (personally) ridiculous decision to start a comics publishing company up, I really believed, despite having been gone from comics for 10 years, that everyone would remember me and remember that I was pretty good at spotting a hit and I knew a good thing when I saw it - Movers & Shakers was popular in many ways for this simple fact. I believed I surrounded myself with the right people; made the right choices, did the right research and had the right person to back me. I had actually spent a couple of months trying to dissuade my business partner away from this venture, but in the end the lure of money, especially in a 'job' I knew well and the opportunity arriving just as I was being shafted by another employer embracing the Herr George Osborne school of slash and burn economic politics like their existence depended on it, proved too much and here I was, back in the world of comics - never say never say never again.

I could quite easily spend 50,000 words talking about events from early May 2013 to the meeting with my business partner in August 2015 - some of which are considerably more exciting and humorous than anything I wrote in the book - and maybe one day I will, but at the moment we're heading, as quickly as we  can, to the here and now and the exit sign.

The now is October 31, 2015. Borderline Press hasn't had a book out for a year and the official, and true, line is we're on hiatus. The hiatus was a mixture of enforcement and planned consequences. My partner, who has invested a sizeable quantity of money to both produce our back catalogue and help me keep my head just above the surface of despair, quite rightly said we need to sell some of the books before he would commit to any more investment - he didn't want to throw good money after bad if that was how this idea was going to pan out. We had a distribution deal in place; we were no longer thought of as new boys or a here-today-gone-tomorrow publisher and slowly, but nowhere near enough, sales increased. The problem was that the money coming in wasn't being used for anything other than running the business and as the spring turned to summer it started to look really poor on my part that all those scheduled books were still unscheduled.

I had a bad year. One of the worst I can remember in my 53 years. I thought 2014 was poor and it couldn't possibly get worse but I'd swap 2014 for 2015 in the blink of an eye. I've spent best part of the last 9 months trying to find a decent job, something to help me rediscover my self-esteem and get a bit of positivity back into my life; but so far I've fallen short (and the prospects during a Tory government are always bleak). I've spent time in hospital, been diagnosed with depression, lost a loved one and watched the country vote for more misery and now it's the autumn and my least favourite time of the year...

So in August I opted to do something I've done throughout my life. I cut off my nose to spite my face, as my mum would have said. Faced with no life-raft from Texas and with no real way forward for the publishing company in its current situation, I told my partner I was resigning from the business and giving up my directorship at the end of October. There is no money to keep me afloat either way. He felt I was being rash, possibly throwing the baby out with the bathwater, that there was still a way forward and I agreed. There was still a way forward, it just doesn't involve me.

A few things need to be understood, if you so please. I have pretty much hated comics and most everything about them since 1999. Like Pavlov's dog, comics seemed to be a constant reminder and a painful one that this was where I'd put all my eggs and it was how I fed myself. What was intended to be my last foray into comics - at The Comics Village - ended up feeling like being in a mutually abusive relationship.

Also a relatively large proportion of my friends became so through comics and it wasn't easy staying friends with people when one of the main subjects of discussion was now taboo. It was difficult but not impossible and eventually I realised I could talk about comics, but through knowledge, wisdom and a slightly detached (and morally superior) air.

As much as I hated comics, in 2001 I was still a gregarious and socially adept human being. The groundwork for Borderline Magazine was done, remarkably, mainly through a burst of enthusiasm I hadn't felt since that day when I found the Swamp Thing comic. In 2001 I was not as I am now. I'd argue that in 2015 I'm a considerably nicer and compassionate human being than I've ever been, the problem is the last couple of years the last thing I've wanted to do is talk about something I don't really enjoy in a fake way.

I discovered very quickly upon my return to comics that 10 years is a very long time when you're not part of something. Had I never left comics I might have been better prepared; had I shown more than just a passing interest in technology since 2003, I might have been better prepared. Had I not forgotten how to pretend to be a nice, approachable human being, I might have made a better impression. I've had more than enough time to sit and dissect all the things I probably did wrong or could have done differently.

Promotional events should have been the pinnacle of our push for an identity, but the first was so badly organised - by both the organisers and us - that our big splash barely caused a ripple and this probably would have set a tone had I not gone there with such a miserable, pessimistic and blindly optimistic head on... I know, that contradicts itself, but the thing was I took 500 copies each of 566 Frames and Zombre expecting to shift most of them; but I went with fear, trepidation and the feeling that it also would all go wrong - it did. This made me miserable before it happened and despite the venue and my never having been at the table for more than half an hour, I still felt like it was a massive blow and with hindsight probably down to me.

I went there thinking we were a professional new publishing house and there were unemployed geeks with comics I wouldn't touch with a bargepole in displays that made ours look very 1980s. Our gimmicks weren't even gimmicks and while I still believe had we been in a prominent place it might have been different, it was Thought Bubble 2013 that imprinted on me so much it was like a dial had been switched back to 1999. From that point on, subconsciously, I think I felt we were on a hiding to nothing and the shows in 2014 were so poor that by the end of the year I realised that we needed to do something else.

Leamington Spa's amazing entrance into the comics convention world was in many ways the antithesis of Thought Bubble 2013 - we had nearly a thousand people walk past our table on the day and we took about £30, which was about £470 less than the next worse take on the day. Either I was producing the wrong books or I was scaring away the punters by looking like a bored and angry old man with a look of resignation on his face.

I could probably come up with excuses for why we struggled at every convention, but the truth was with just one exception, when I wasn't there we took more money and generated more interest. It wasn't that I was just miserable and under enormous pressure at these events, I didn't actually like being there and that probably showed in my body language and inability to smile. There were very few people I could have a conversation with about something I was interested in and if people tried to engage me about comics I had to admit to being out of touch or I would have just come across as ignorant.

Why would someone who doesn't think of himself as a masochist keep coming back to something that physically and mentally makes him ill? It's like the man who repeats the same thing over and over in the hope that just once the outcome might be different - it's insanity and I've probably joined that exclusive club this very year.

So, you need to know that even if I'm moving towards the exit sign, the publishing company - actually a good thing with some superb books - is going to continue and it will probably be more successful without me. My (now former) partner and the distributor Fanfare have discussed a way forward; I've agreed to do some freelance stuff and identify possible future projects until someone else can do the jobs no one else here can at the moment. I've identified two possible projects on verbal commitments which I hope will come out in early 2016 and without me being a drain on resources then it will all probably start to make money for the people involved.

Don't expect a massive output. Many publishers of Borderline's ilk release things as and when and that is the new model for this publisher - the same quality, but even less frequent.

A couple of things will happen between now and next week. This comics blog will effectively close down and I'll hand control of the @BorderlineEU Twitter account and Facebook page over. What Borderline Press does from that point is up to a man called Adrian, but expect a much slicker and professional approach now that real businessmen are handling things.

I'm going to tentatively say that that's me done. Obviously I have form where this is concerned...

I'm sure if someone came out of the woodwork and offered me money to do something in comics again I probably would, but it depends on what else is available - as a committed vegetarian I could still have a career in abattoirs.

I'm going to make some sweeping changes to the way I interact with comics in the future and at the moment those changes involve me running away, trying not to scream, and hoping something doesn't come back and haunt me. Fortunately my true comics friends can talk about other stuff.

Thanks to every one that helped me through these tumultuous two years, special thanks to Will and Glenn and honorary mentions to Shipp, Mark, Dennis and Knut.

Stay safe and be nice to people.

Phil Hall 31-10-15

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How to Respond to Your Church Planting Call: An Aspen Podcast Featuring Patrick O’Connell

By September 19, 2017 News No Comments

The tug. The calling. The spiritual tap on the shoulder. However you describe it, you’re certain that God has laid it on your heart to plant a church. But you’re less certain on what to do next.

Where would you plant it? How do you gather a team? Do you have staff ready to launch these new churches? And if so, how will they actually do it? Who’s going to pay for it? What kind of budget is even needed?

Or maybe you’re on the other end of the spectrum. Maybe you’re an experienced church planter who now leads multiple campuses. How do you not only hold it all together but also maintain energy as you try to keep your organization moving forward?

In episode 4 of the Alignment Conference podcast, Patrick O’Connell, director of NewThing Network, answers several key questions about church planting and expansion strategies. Whether you’re brand new to church planting or a seasoned veteran, Patrick shares a wealth of information for church planters and leaders who are eager to answer God’s call to plant a church.

Read the Full Transcript Below:

Evan McBroom: Welcome to the Aspen Group Alignment Conference podcast where we’re talking about launching your next church. Whether you’re looking at multisite or planting a church, a merger with other churches, or something completely different this conference is for church leaders who are thinking strategically about expansion.

I’m Evan McBroom, the founder of Fishhook, and it’s our pleasure and honor to be a co-sponsor at the 2017 Alignment Conference along with Aspen Group, who really completely leads the way on this. I’m joined by Marian Liautaud, who is the director of marketing for Aspen Group. Marian, how are you?

Marian Liautaud: Hey, Evan. I’m good today.

Evan McBroom: I’m glad you’re here. We’re having a great time having this conversation. Really focused on what’s going to take place at the Alignment Conference on October 17 at Thrive Christian Church in Westfield, Indiana, which is just north of Indianapolis. Marian, set the stage for us about the conference for people who aren’t familiar with it.

Marian Liautaud: Yeah, Alignment Conference is a one-day event for senior pastors and ministry leaders who are really thinking strategically about how they do church. Every year the theme is different. This year, we’re gonna be looking at launching your next church, for churches that really have an expansion plan. They’re really working to move into some new locations and just expand.

Evan McBroom: This is somewhat built off of a big research project that you led the way on with Barna Group, tell us about that.

Marian Liautaud: Right, so last year we released a new study with Barna called, More Than Multisite, and it looked at all of the many ways that churches are expanding — whether it’s church planting, multisite, or any hybrid variation of it. That study really takes a deep dive into it. At this conference again this year, we’ll take another look at what the data says and then what experts and practitioners who are doing multisite, what they can share with us to learn how to do it better.

Evan McBroom: Awesome. Bringing into that conversation, More Than Multisite really leads to the question of planting and other strategies. That’s why we have with us Patrick O’Connell, who is the director of NewThing Network out of Chicago. Patrick, good to have you with us today.

Patrick O’Connell: Great to be with all of you.

Evan McBroom: Tell us a little bit about the NewThing Network for people who aren’t familiar with it.

Patrick O’Connell: Yeah, we are really interested in multiplying God’s kingdom. We call ourselves a catalyst for movements of reproducing churches. We’re global in scope, and we’re aligned around the mission of God. We feel that’s essential. That is what can call us all to the table of collaboration, if you will. It’s really centered on four values. (1) Relationships . . . we believe that the right relationships catalyze reproducing. (2) Reproducing is at the core of what we do, and we talk about reproducing the micro and the macro. I’ll talk about our cultures of reproducing in our churches, leadership development, things like that. (3) Resources . . . I’m a big fan of I Corinthians 12. God talks about the whole body of Christ working toward the goal of the unity of Christ and the body. We really stress that. We really put some effort into that. It’s all about sharing the kingdom resources that God’s deployed into our churches and into our networks. Then finally, . . . (4) Residency is all about raising up the next generation of church leaders to go out and start new churches. We call that a church planter apprentice. It’s a 9-12 month experience at a NewThing church where reproducing is caught more than taught. That’s an opportunity for them to do that. We’re working all over the world at this point, and I’m just trying to keep up with all of the great things that God’s doing.

Evan McBroom: Awesome. I love your enthusiasm. You spoke at the conference last year. Marian, take us where you want to go on the conversation with Patrick, if you would.

Marian Liautaud: Thanks Evan. Well, Patrick you were one of our most highly-rated breakout speakers. We have really been looking back at the transcripts from your session that you did, and you have a wealth of information to share with planters and just people who are really thinking strategically about church.

>What I’d love to start with is, you actually participated in the More Than Multisite study with us. You were part of the qualitative interviews. We videotaped you, interviewed you out in California, and asked you all about — for church planters and people wanting to expand — what are some of the challenges that you see with . . . especially first-time planters as they’re thinking about how to launch a new church. Just walk us through a couple of the biggest challenges that you see planters facing.

Patrick O’Connell: Thanks for the kind words, by the way. That’s very kind of you. The good news is that more people are thinking about church planting. I think we have really done well — collectively as the North American Church, in particular — inserting into the conversation about mission that new churches need to be started if we’re going to achieve the Jesus mission. That’s the good news. Lots of churches and leaders that I speak to want to plant new churches.

I think they get stuck in the how and the challenges that they face come down to really two core issues for me. Number one is leaders. They don’t have leaders at the ready to go out and start these new churches. Then there’s always, what I call, the finance/nuts and bolts challenge. Exactly, how do I do this? How do I gather a team? What kind of a budget do I need to do this? Frankly, who is gonna pay for all of this? That’s what we try to lean into and answer those questions when we’re talking to church planters.

Marian Liautaud: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Good. Do you see church planters struggling over facilities or do you find that’s just a future topic for them?

Patrick O’Connell: Well, of course facility is essential to the starting of a brand new church. We’re very careful about helping our church planters identify the right facility to launch in. Most of the time, if I can just broadly speak, most of the time that’s in some sort of a school or public facility where they are going to gather community together and then hopefully raise them up to go back out and be the church.

We do, interestingly enough, have conversations about facility really day one. Where are you gonna launch? What’s that gonna look like? What are some of the major community centers in the location where you feel God is calling you. Then of course, more of a longer-term facility strategy is something that I think that all church planters need to be thinking about, because at some point, God willing, they’re going to grow a church. If they’re going to start new churches, they’re going to need a great place to do it. I love the idea of sending centers. That our facilities can become places where we send people out for the mission of God. That’s at least one of the ways I think about it.

Marian Liautaud: Good. Leadership is a huge component for being about to plant well and then plant multiple churches. Can you talk a little bit about the place that leadership plays in being prepared to launch? What prepares somebody to be a church planter? What do they need?

Patrick O’Connell: I think it really does start with calling. It’s a highly mysterious and spiritual phenomenon, if you ask me. I still get goosebumps when you’ve got somebody before you who said, “Hey look, I think God’s calling me to do this. I really don’t know what this is supposed to even look like, but I want to be faithful to what God is doing.” There is that spiritual tap on the shoulder, if you will. Then really what it does is, it’s a conversation that begins, and for us context is really what is most important here. If that person is not . . . they don’t have a ministry background of any sort . . . you’re going to have to have a certain set of conversations with them that you would otherwise have with somebody who, let’s say went to Bible college, who had served some time in a church, or been on staff at a church. I look at that between the . . . I call it the free and the farm system.

The free agents are, let’s say, former youth leaders or pastors or ministry leaders who have been on staff at a church. They kind of know the landscape, but they feel God’s calling them to this work. And they want to go out and plant. Those are our free agents. There’s a whole group of people in our churches, and I’m a big fan of Ephesians 4. The gifting is there in the body. It’s latent in the body. Our challenge when it comes to leadership is really how do we unlock that gifting, that potential, that latent potential within the body of Christ? I call that the farm system. I’m always advocating that churches and/or church planters or networks, they need to be thinking about both of them at the same time . . . the both/and.

The good news is that — through conferencing, through training, through coaching — I think we’ve done a really great job of attracting the free agents. I’m speaking specifically of the North American context. If God calls you to plant a church, there are great networks and conferences and training that you can hitch your wagon to. I think we’re only gonna see movement if we really tap into the body of Christ — that farm system, if you will.

That’s really my story. I didn’t grow up a Christian. I was very far from God. But when I found my way back to God here at Community {Christian Church} in Chicago, I found language and license for the mission. Language to get on the mission, and license to go out and do it. Of course, I didn’t have any ministry experience. I have since gone back to Wheaton College and gotten a Master’s in theology. My point being is that we have a robust farm system here at Community {Christian Church}. It’s not perfect, however, it’s intentional.

It has produced a great many leaders to go out and plant churches. That was part of my story. I ended up leaving a business — a lucrative one at that — and going out and planting churches in Kansas City with a team of people. And it was a great, wonderful experience. Free and the farm . . . I think churches and networks need to be focused on both.

Evan McBroom: Then if someone responds to that calling, you said they’re looking for resources — hungry for resources — and that you make them available. What are some of the most sought after resources that church planters are looking for? How do you answer the call for those?

Patrick O’Connell: I can really describe what we’ve done here in terms of NewThing at Community in our leadership training center. But there’s three rails, if you will, or three lines that I think that the church planter has to take on his journey. Number one is relationships. You have to build networks of relationships as a church planter. You just need to be good at that. Being a resident at a large church that plants churches is a great way to network with people. Second is really the nuts and bolts track, if you will. How do you start a launch team? How do you balance a budget? How do you know what to go after in the community? The nuts and bolts of what it takes to launch a new church, which is obviously very much similar to what it takes to launch a new business.

Evan McBroom: That’s what I was just thinking, with your background it’s perfect.

Patrick O’Connell: It’s perfect, it’s perfect yeah. There is a monster amount of detail that needs to be addressed by at least the church planter, who should be delegating some of this. It needs to be addressed by the church planter. We call that the “nuts and bolts.” Then, there’s more like a theological track. What is the mission of God? How does that get realized in the world? What is my personal calling? How is God calling me to lean into that?

Wheaton built a leadership development pathway, if you will, that is really in three parts. Track one, we call it: Learn to Lead Yourself. You just got to be good at self leadership. That’s what track one is all about. We help you do that. Track two is:  Learn to Lead a Team. If you can’t lead a team well and reproduce that team, chances are you’re going to struggle to actually plant and reproduce a church. That’s what we talk about in track two. Then track three is:  Planting a Reproducing Church. I do put the emphasis on “reproducing” because I think, as you set out as a church planter, to plant a church you have to ask yourself a set of questions. How am I going do that? Who’s going to go with me? How am I going to pay for it? If you set out to plant 10 churches, you’re asking a whole different set of questions to accomplish that.

We’re dreamers at NewThing. We’re visionaries, I hope. The planters that we work with, we’re pushing them to think and dream big, because we think God’s capable of doing all of that.

Evan McBroom: What do planters tend to underestimate?

Patrick O’Connell: How much time and energy it takes to actually lead people. It’s a really good question. You have to be a great leader of people. I don’t mean that there is a dearth of that in the world, you just have to learn how to lead people well. At the end of the day, it’s about people. Ministry is about people. I think they tend to focus on what needs to be done, rather than who needs to be involved and who I need to be connecting with and who is God calling to be a part of this team. So it’s the people part. Then, the proverbial ongoing joke is, “I never realized I’d have to raise that much money.”

Evan McBroom: Which is kind of like a business also.

Patrick O’Connell: Correct. Of course, I’m only speaking in North American context in our model of church planting, but money is certainly a challenge.

Marian Liautaud: I asked you first about first-time church planters, but because you are really focused on helping churches reproduce, what about churches that have five, six, seven or more campuses — or not necessarily campuses but churches — that they plant. Does it ever get easier and are there specific challenges that you encounter when you’re at that level where you’re really reproducing quickly?

Patrick O’Connell: It’s a fantastic question. Let me speak of NewThing broadly, and then I’ll drill into the multisite. At NewThing we have elected to be what we call a centered-set organization. If you think about the difference between a bounded set and a centered set, a bounded set is you’ve got your four walls. You’re either in or out. Here’s what the organization is about. Here’s our mission and values. Are you in it or are you out of it? That’s great, and that accomplishes a certain aspect of the mission.

We’ve elected to be a centered set. We’re aligned around those four values that I gave you. We have great diversity in NewThing. We have Southern Baptist churches, AG churches, independent churches, whatever, as long as they’re kind of confessing Evangelicals we’re good with it. I have opted that we’re going to be a centered-set organization.

I think in a different way, multisite is similar. It’s really what’s going to accomplish the mission. If the mission is to reach people with the gospel, that’s the first question. How are we going to do that? Well, if multisite allows us to do that — better than planting new churches — then one should elect to be a multisite church. I think frankly, it’s a combination of both. I think multisite is a good step toward planting, and then there are some churches who never hit multisite and go right on to planting. I think it’s a both/and.

To your point Marian and to your question, the larger and the greater number of campuses you have, it just gets that much more difficult to . . . I shouldn’t say difficult . . . challenging to lead. You have to hold the center together. Your energy is diffused as you try to keep this thing moving forward. It often produces great results, don’t get me wrong. I’m a huge fan of multisite, but you have to be honest about the amount of energy that it takes to keep that thing moving. It’s the difference between being able to sail around the ocean in a battleship versus being in an armada. An armada is going to just be a lot of firepower, but it’s got to move in a different way. It’s going to move slowly and differently than if you were just a single ship. That’s the way I look at it anyway.

Marian Liautaud: That’s a cool visual, I love that. Patrick, for NewThing where are you guys headed? What’s coming up? Then, how do leaders plug into NewThing if they’re interested?

Patrick O’Connell: Yeah, thanks for that. Well, we’re visionaries. We’re just a bunch of apostolic leaders who are wondering how do we plant more churches together. We have a plan to conquer the world.

Marian Liautaud: I love it.

Evan McBroom: It’s not evil. It’s good, it’s good.

Patrick O’Connell: With love, with love that’s for sure. We have nine regions of the world. We have a goal to plant 10,000 reproducing churches by 2020. As I speak, I’m leading various teams in various regions. For instance, I was just on the phone with our African team this morning. I was speaking to our North American director this afternoon. I spoke to our global residency director yesterday. I had a conversation with some planters that we’re sending to Johannesburg, South Africa. It’s just this wonderful medley of the global church coming together.

For your listeners who want to be a part of NewThing, I would love to chat with them. is where you can go on the web. Because we’re official, we have an app you could download the NewThing app and that is another great way to connect with us.

Evan McBroom: Patrick, thanks so much for joining us today. Love your enthusiasm and your energy. I’m just grateful that you’re using all of that to further and build the kingdom.

Patrick O’Connell: It’s my pleasure to be with you. Thanks so much for the time.

Evan McBroom: You bet. Marian, anything as we close to point us towards the conference. Anything you want us to know?

Marian Liautaud: Yeah, we would love leaders to sign up for the Alignment Conference on It’s Tuesday, October 17 in Westfield, Indiana.

Evan McBroom: Awesome. Marian, thanks for being in the studio today. Patrick, thanks for joining us. That brings to a close this edition of The Aspen Group Alignment Conference podcast.

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Packaging (SaudiCAN)

Founded in 1979, Saudi Can Co., Ltd is now owned by Haji Abdullah Alireza & Co., Ltd and Abdullah Hashim Co., Ltd. Initially the company started with the manufacture of three-piece printed tin cans for the lube oil industry in the Kingdom. In recent years, substantial investment in the state of the art machinery and equipment has enabled it to develop into a fully diversified packaging company.

Today, Saudi Can is the leading supplier of tin, plastic and composite containers to all major lube oil marketers in the Kingdom. Its product range also includes tin cans for food products, aerosol cans for insecticides and air fresheners, plastic containers for fruit juices, cooking oil, as well as various other household products and multilayer coextruded containers for agrochemicals. Located in phase III of Jeddah's Industrial Zone, its manufacturing plant is one of the most modern, self-contained specialty packaging plants in the Middle East.

The year 2006, saw the commissioning of Saudi Can's second plant located in Yanbu Al-Sinaiyah's Light Industrial Park. The Yanbu facility is a purpose built plant specifically designed for the manufacture of plastic containers catering for the growing demand in the market for these types of products.

Saudi  Can is a ISO 9002 certified company which continues to invest in new equipment and facilities to ensure that products produced consistently fulfill customers' specifications.  It also exports its products to many countries in the Middle East and Africa.

Identifying a niche for quality plastic closures in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Can Co. Ltd. in partnership with Bericap Holding GmbH, of Germany, one of the largest manufacturers of closures in the world, formed Saudi Can Closures Co Ltd, in early 2002. Saudi Can holds 74.8% of its shares and Bericap 25.2%. State of the art equipment has been installed for the production of a range of plastic closures for a growing number of customers in the lube oil, water, dairy, household products and soft drink industries in the Kingdom and abroad.

Alireza October,2017


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Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Albertson's Printable Shopping list - 11/11-11/17

HERE is this week's Albertson's printable shopping list! The Sara Lee promo I told you about is a GO! I would start printing your coupons NOW, just go HERE.

I haven't heard word of doublers on Sunday, yet...not sure I'll wait this week. At least not for the pie and ice cream! :)

I'll update this later with some of the deals I plan on doing this week. Go check it out!

If you're not sure what to do with this printable shopping list, click HERE to learn about using GrocerySmarts. If you're new to couponing, click HERE to go to the beginning and learn how you can save 60-90% off your grocery bill!

  1. Are you able (or have you tried) to print coupons for the Beech baby food jars off the PYP list? I tried but the link is not working for me!

  2. They worked just fine for me just now. Are you using IE or FF? I used IE...

Feel free to leave a comment! :)


text:
Sunday, April 10, 2011

AnnaSophia Robb Biography News Profile Relationships Boy friend Imdb authobiography Family Pictures Wallpaper Online Video.

Date of Birth : 8 December 1993, Denver, Colorado, USA
Height : 5' 2" (1.57 m)

Mini Biography
Five years ago, a blue-green-eyed blonde named AnnaSophia began her career on a church stage in front of 500 people in Colorado, USA. Soon, she will be seen by millions in the lead role of Opal, opposite Jeff Daniels, in the 20th Century Fox film Because of Winn-Dixie (2005), directed by Wayne Wang.annasophia robb 2011 annasophia robb annasophia robb nude sex race to witch mountain annasophia robb 16 annasophia robb feet annasophia robb bikini.

"Because of Winn-Dixie" isn't her first film, however; she made her movie debut playing Anna in the soon-to-be released Christie Eckert movie "Daddy's Day". Then there's the just-completed television guest-starring role for Nickelodeon, where she plays Liza in "Drake & Josh" (2004).

AnnaSophia was on location in Toronto playing the lead in An American Girl Holiday (2004) (TV), a TV movie for Warner Bros. In the summer of 2005, she began filming Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) portrayed the role of the gum-chewing Violet Beauregarde starring opposite Johnny Depp.

Of course, AnnaSophia was ready for her busy life before the camera. She has competed in gymnastics since she was five, has won awards in Irish dance as early as seven, landed a national recurring radio voice-over at eight, and got her first TV and print commercial in Denver six months later (the ad is still in use).

You might say that AnnaSophia has danced her way to the movies, since she started by excelling equally well in jazz, hip-hop, break-dancing, and the Irish jig. But, she's also pretty terrific at swimming, skiing, running, and modeling. And when she's not working with animals, she's telling jokes and doing a bit of singing. AnnaSophia is managed by Gem Entertainment Group Inc. and represented by Cunningham, Escott, Dipene, & Associates talent agency.

For some actors a career in film seems to be in the cards from the very beginning; such was the case with early bloomer AnnaSophia Robb. The only child of an architect and an interior designer, Robb knew from the age of five that she was destined for a career as an entertainer.
A Denver, CO native who never wavered in her determination to succeed, Robb convinced her parents to let her take an acting class before setting out on her first round of L.A. auditions in 2003. It was during this time that her new manager and agent team would help young Robb successfully navigate the Hollywood audition scene, her family living in a modest guest house as her father worked and her mother took Robb to auditions during the daytime hours. By the end of the summer, Robb had attended no less than 42 auditions and had landed her first role as a Bratz-loving Happy Meal fan in a McDonald's commercial.

Due to the success of her first voyage west, it didn't take much to encourage Robb to come back to Hollywood in the spring, and after receiving notice that auditions were being held for Wayne_Wang's Because of Winn-Dixie, it was time to gas up the car for the long haul once again.

Fate seemed to play a curious role during the trip when her father pulled out a stack of librarian-recommended books on tape that he had rented only to find the recorded version of the best-selling Kate DiCamillo novel sitting right on top, and before long Robb was preparing to help bring Dixie to the big screen. Having previously played the lead in the made-for-television movie Samantha:_An_American_Girl_H

oliday, it didn't take Robb long to find her place in front the camera, and she frequently credits Dixie director Wang with providing the advice she needed to advance as an actress.

A subsequent role as bubblegum-chomping brat Violet Beauregarde in the Tim_Burton film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory allowed the young actress to cut loose and have a bit of fun on film, and in 2006 Robb could be seen fending off the forces of evil in the apocalyptic horror thriller The_Reaping.


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This program is but one version of the Ex Recovery System. The key target of their is usually to discuss about training relationship. to assist users to acquire a good look better and help users can synthesis each of the useful information , Adam splited this software into 4 main parts .

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On this part, you’ll be provided the principle causes which can lead to the failure in relationship. besides, the part also gives your all possible causes that may be viewed as the main cause resulting in failure in relationship. through this part, you’ll be able to find out about underflying causes that will make your ex leave you. Along with the basic target of study and understanding part would be to enable you to determine and pay attention to the best answers for the reason him or her make you. So, the solutions within this part, Adam desire to allow you to see the reason your companion ended up with you.

Part 2: Getting your emotion and feelings in order

This speicially section, Adam demonstrates to you efficient and helpful how-to’s which demonstrate exactly how to deal with your hurt and misery efficiently. Beside, Adam also reminds you that you ought to remember your primary target is your lover go back along. So, within this part, Adam explain to you how to control your own feelings efficient, and how to you are able to overcome every one of the hurt after breakup, and how to turn back the traditional life. With this part, Adam provided that you simply array of short quiz which assist you to check your feeling and specify whether you are to create a efficient plan in order to get your spouse back with you.

Part 3: Build an effective plan

On this part, you’ll be provided key elements which can help won by you him or her and get he or her get back along. Adam provides you with great tools that can assist you build an effective plan to acquire your exback. There is certainly special element of this part may be the solutlions shown in this part specifically designed in order that users can get a new methods to suit power they have.

Part 4: doing so

This part is recognized as the most important part given it assist you to reach your main goals in order to get the back together with you quickly. On this part, Adam teach you how to make your partner have commitment together with you and the ways to your partner ex. You’ll know how to keep experience of your ex by written correspondence and more.

The program is a customized guide as well as an interactive program which shows quizzes and test that may help you evaluate your feeling and emotion at the same time frame, it help you monitor your progress.
The Obsession Formula System feature a full refund policy.

For each person has different situation, therefore, the final results of each scenario is various. Depending on the situation of each person, how much time to rebuild relationship differs from the others.

The Obsession Formula System is an excellent guide for training relationship and saving your relationship beyond breakup. Every one of the step-by-step strategies within the program will help you overcome feelings of hurt after breakup and turn back the standard life before. Besides, you will get the best solutions which will help you obtain your companion turn back with you and also enhance your relationship better. Cheapest price for the obsession formula system.

cheapest price for the obsession formula system


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Fabric Button Earrings Tropical
Earrings Backs - Butterfly

Tropical Yellow & Pink Fabric Button Earrings

Fabric covered button stud earrings. Be unique with these earrings designed by A Little Bit of Prettiness.

Measuring 12mm in diameter. Made with the highest quality hypoallergenic surgical steel posts and butterfly backs. Great for those with sensitive ears.

In stock


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Saturday, March 24, 2012

Lavshuca Dual Prism Eyes Part II

While using Kate Dual Carats earlier in the year, I got nostalgic and went to hunt down some more of these Lavshuca Dual Prism Eyes, if there were any left since they were discontinued a couple of years ago. There was a particular color, PU-2, that I was curious about, but things were a little chaotic with my living (or rather moving) situation back then so it wasn't exactly my top priority get a hold of it. Luckily, I found it, along with another color I don't have, BR-1. I couldn't wait to play with these, but I actually haven't use either of them, only swatched, so this is just a preview post.

BR-1 and PU-1. All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

- BR-1: a lukewarm brown combo that I'm only lukewarm about. Ha. What can I say, it's kind of bland -.-' At the very least, it's unoffensive and suitable for work, and the color combo isn't as awkward as the other Dual Prism Eyes in that the base/highlighter is actually a light color and not too dark.

- Top: base/highlighter, semi metallic, low intensity. Pale marzipan.
- Bottom: crease/liner shade, satin, medium intensity. A cappuccino brown that looks taupey in the pan but swatched with a lot more chocolate on me. I haven't tried lining my eyes with it, but from the swatch I think it won't be dark enough for a liner color.

- PU-2: love this combo! Unlike PU-1 which paired a warm champagne with a true purple, this is a much cooler duo, though gorgeous all the same. Can't wait to wear this!

- Top: base/highlighter, shimmer, very sheer. Beautiful lavender.
- Bottom: crease/liner shade, shimmer, high intensity. A deep periwinkle with a bluish purple sheen.

BR-1 (left) and PU-2 (right)

See my previous Lavshuca Dual Prism Eyes post.

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Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Pardon the dust!

I just wanted to comment and say please pardon our dust, we have been playing with the layout and some of the buttons and such are askew at the moment, but hopefully we will be working on it tonight. :)

Hugs and Kisses,

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Monday, October 23, 2017
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Turkey Tries IDF Commanders in Absentia

Mavi MarmaraOn May 31, 2010, Israeli commandos lawlessly interdicted Freedom Flotilla vessels in international waters. They were bringing humanitarian aid to besieged Gazans.

They attacked and murdered nine Turkish nationals aboard the Mavi Marmara mother ship. Dozens of others were wounded. Everyone on board was arrested, imprisoned in Israel for days, harshly treated, and summarily deported.

What happened was a well planned premeditated attack. Unarmed, nonviolent humanitarian activists were targeted. Cold-blooded murder followed.

In September 2010, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) issued damning findings. They described "a series of violations of international law, including international humanitarian and human rights law, were committed by the Israeli forces during the interception of the flotilla and during the detention of passengers in Israel prior to deportation."

Israel's interdiction was lawless "since there was no legal basis for the Israeli forces to conduct an assault and interception in international waters."

In doing so, Israel was "obligated" to respect international law and its own "international human rights obligations."

Israeli force "was unnecessary, disproportionate, excessive, inappropriate and resulted in the wholly avoidable killing and maiming of a large number of civilian passengers."

Israel made "a deliberate suppress or destroy evidence." It fabricated its own version of events. They included fake videos and other falsified materials.

Despite indisputable crimes against humanity and high-seas piracy, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed his own pro-Israeli commission. He spurned justice in the process.

Former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer chaired it. Notorious human rights violator Alvaro Uribe was vice chairman. Formerly he was Colombia's president. He ranks among the region's worst scoundrels. He should be in prison, not impaneled to judge others.

His resume includes horrendous human rights abuses, murder, corruption and scandal, along with close ties to drug lords and paramilitary death squads. He also supports the worst of US and Israeli crimes.

He, Palmer, and two other Ban appointees absolved Israel of cold-blooded murder.

Under Fourth Geneva's Article 146, each High Contracting Party is “under the obligation to search for persons alleged to have committed, or to have ordered to be committed, such grave breaches, and shall bring such persons, regardless of their nationality, before its own courts."

Key also is Fourth Geneva's Article 33. It prohibits collective punishment. Gaza's blockade is illegal. It violates Fourth Geneva and other international law.

Isolating Gaza is a war crime. Prosecutions are warranted. High Contracting parties are obligated to enforce binding laws. Failure means complicity.

Last May, Turkey issued arrest warrants for four former IDF officers. Named were Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, military intelligence head Amos Yadlin, naval commander Eliezer Marom, and air force intelligence head Avishai Levi.

Charges include voluntary manslaughter, attempted voluntary manslaughter, intentional injury, incitement to assault with a deadly weapon, robbery, abduction or confiscation of maritime vessels, property damage, false arrest, and mistreatment of prisoners.

The indictment included hundreds of testimonies from Mavi Marmara passengers and relatives of those on board killed and abused.

Israeli commanders were accused of ordering the massacre. On November 5, Haaretz carried a Reuters report headlined "Turkey indicts IDF commanders over Gaza flotilla deaths."

On November 6 in Istanbul, four ex-IDF commanders went on trial in absentia for murder and related crimes. Doing so is largely symbolic. Strained Turkish/Israeli relations won't be helped.

Israel called Ankara's action a "show trial" and "political theater. A Foreign Ministry statement said proceedings have "nothing to do with either law or justice."

(It doesn't) qualify under any facet or foundation of a lawful judicial system, and is merely a propaganda display. It would be in Turkey's interest to deal with this issue through bilateral dialogue."

Israel holds itself above the law. It believes it's entitled to kill, torture, abuse, intimidate, harass, and humiliate with impunity.

For months, Ankara demanded a formal apology and restitution for families of victims. Israel offered inadequate compensation. It refused to apologize. It never says it's sorry.

Relations became strained. Diplomatic ties were downgraded. Israel's ambassador was expelled. Military agreements were suspended.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry declined comment on Israeli remarks. Its judiciary is handling the incident, it said.

Prosecutor Mehmet Akif Ekinci seeks multiple consecutive life sentences. Proceedings aren't expected to be televised. They will be videotaped.

Last May, Netanyahu defiantly condoned cold-blooded murder, saying:

"I would like to say clearly to the soldiers and commanders of the Israel Defense Forces: the state of Israel will always stand beside you, wherever you are and in any situation. You defended us; we will protect you."

As head of state, Netanyahu controls Israel's military. Chain of command authority is similar to America's. Israel's Minister of Defense replicates Washington's Secretary of Defense. Military commanders report to them. They serve under chief executives.

In both countries, heads of state appoint top officials. Netanuahu bears full responsibility for Israeli crimes of war and against humanity. They include Mavi Marmara assassinations.

Indicting him for high crimes is warranted. Perhaps testimonies will cite him. Plaintiffs should demand that he and others in his chain of command be held accountable.

Respect for international law is fundamental. No one's above the law. Israel's gotten away with murder much too long. Istanbul proceedings won't change things. At most, they represent a small symbolic step. Maybe others will follow.

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Week in Pictures

Diwali: The festival of lights

Is it autumn yet in Europe?


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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Four more days until we start moving! Yesterday and today the wood floors were being sanded and sealed. Then the carpet is laid and the half-bath plumbing is completed. Then the fridge and stove are delivered. Then we have an inspection. THEN our family room furniture arrives Saturday (Happy Birthday to me...for the next 10 years.....plus anniversaries).

I just can't believe we are this close! I'm making headway at our current home too. Selling small things right and left on Craig'slist, packing boxes...and still managing a load of laundry or two. We donated our washing machine and it will be gone on Wednesday....so I'm trying to get as much laundry done as possible!

Lauren is excited to move to the new house - but man-alive has she been having a had time with the busy schedule/less attention! (or else that's not the reason and sh'es just naughty!). She's been getting into things - dumping shampoo bottles when no one is looking, wetting her pants (no way is this an "accident."), sassing - just being VERY difficult! She's also a little jealous of Grant lately too. He has started walking. Of course we make a big deal out of that....and she is clearly jealous. She wants us to watch HER walk...and then she proceeds to imitate Grant's toddles. We play along...."Great job, Lauren!"

I really think all of this has to do with how chaotic it has been lately - getting ready to move, etc. Plus she's fighting a cold - and that never helps. I'm trying to stop what I'm doing and spend time with her - coloring, dancing - whatever....but it doesn't seem to be helping. Let's pray this is a phase that passes SOON!

Today I'm off to Bed, Bath & Beyond to return a shower curtain....and then to Target to return a shower curtain. (of all of the decisions I've made in the last month - how ridiculous that the one I'm struggling with is a SHOWER CURTAIN?! ha).

Ok - better get crackin'

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Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Bed of laundry?

I mean, I know I have some laundry to do and all, but really?

This is what I found a bit ago when I went upstairs to get the name of the cleaner I use to give to hubby.

Grabbed my camera.

Took this:

And never did get the info for Meryl!

ρομπερτ said...

Feeling safe.

May time and life continue to treat him kind.

Chris O said...

Isn't it amazing how children can sleep just about anywhere? Wish I had that ability! Beautiful photo Lynn.


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As we are nearing the end of September everyone starts talking about Fall and cooler weather. Unfortunately we still have warm weather for a while but I am thinking about getting out some of the fun Fall things we have made in the past.

My fave the Duct tape banner

and then there’s the cupcake liner banner

or this cute pumpkin mobil

and the first time I sewed something

Click on the images to go to the posts with the tutorials.

I’m also thinking about all the amazing things I’ve been inspired to try on my Halloween Pinterest board.

What are you working on?


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Through the Vintage Eye...

Vintage cameras - in vintage colour

Growing up with my dad as a photographer/cinematographer, I have many memories of cameras from my childhood....all sorts and sizes.  Getting my picture taken was definitely not my favorite thing in the world but looking back I am very fortunate to have a lot of things documented on film!  My dad has quite a few wonderful vintage cameras which he has accumulated over the years and I really think they are just art in themselves!
Not only is a camera fascinating for what it can create but looking at vintage cameras now they are pretty amazing just as they are!  (If I had a bigger apartment I would contemplate starting a mini collection... but perhaps a collection of great 'photographs of vintage cameras' will do...)

Here are some photos of the amazing cameras from my dad's very own collection (and this is only a selection of them)...these photos are art in themselves:

(I added a bit of post editing, but photos below are courtesy of my dad himself, Kent Nason)
Graflex 4x5 (exact year unknown but between 1920-1930s I think)

No.2 C Autographic Kodak Jr. (produced between 1916-1927)

Kodak Brownie Target Six-20 1946-1952

Magazine Cine-Kodak (1945)/Zeiss Ikno Super Ikonta/Brownie Target Six-20

Harvey Exposure Meter made in USA in 1917

No.2 C Autographic Kodak Jr. manufactured between 1916 and 1927

Zeiss Ikon Super Ikonta circa 1937

Graflex Super Graphic circa manufactured between 1958 and 1973

Rochester Optical Universal Camera manufactured from 1888 to about1911

I came across this wonderful illustrator Christine Berrie who does pencil art...she is a Glasgow based artist and has some amazing pieces... I happened to run into her illustrations of vintage cameras!!
She has worked in association with Magma to have her vintage camera designs printed on tote bags and in poster form... and also Blue Q created bags with her designs on them as well (made of 95% post consumer recycled materials).  She draws everyday items in such detail and beautiful colours that I couldn't help but include her cameras here!

photo credit: Christine Berrie (copyright)

You can find her blog here: http://christineberrie.blogspot.com/
And on Etsy here: http://www.etsy.com/people/CB78

I hope you have enjoyed this look at vintage cameras...I just think vintage designs are so neat to look at.

1 comment:

  1. Very, Very, Very cool!!
    I love all of them. I collect vintage cameras as well. Some work, some don't, but they are all beautiful to look at.


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Product returns are a necessary evil in our business.  We gladly handle all types of returns and prepare them for resale, repackaging or disposal.  Initiate returns online or let us set up a custom return program for use with your company and our staff.

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