[Gossamer's Scrapbook] The Ethereal Canyon I

[Phoenix]

Hahahahahaa I love this

[Phoenix]

The aforementioned dream

[Gossamer]

. Sometimes You Need A Break From Writing And here's a good way to do it. Free books for your Kindle. So for Christmas, our company gave us gift certificates to the retail store we supply at the DC. I opted to use mine along with a few coupons I had and an employee discount to get a Kindle Fire for all of like thirty bucks out of pocket. It was the best investment I've made in terms of advancing my reading. This was after, granted, I dissed tablets of all kinds for ages to Tarot and others who seemingly loved them. I had, being ignorant and an old foggie, no knowledge that a kindle fire was actually a tablet. Then, once I had acquired a Fire, I wanted some books to read off it. I'm a cheap scape at heart. And I'm always poor. Some call this term 'horse poor'. If you have animals, you're always paying vet bills, hay bills, farrier bills, and you never have spare cash. So... me being me, I soon discovered free books. What? Free books?!?! Sure. Wait you say... maybe these are bad books, novellas, or not the real deal? Well sure there's those types out there, but see there's this racket out there in the amazon and barnes and nobles world that's absolutely amazing for all involved. It's called 'freebies' days or weeks or volumes. You see, publishers want you to get hooked on new authors that you normally wouldn't spend the money on.... or want you to get introduced to a new series... so they put the book up for free oftentimes to get you to 'discover' the author. If there's a five volume set out there, book one goes for free, to hook you, and then you go buy the sequels to see whats going on. But that's not just for say genres like romance or fantasy. They do this for cookbooks, craftbooks, how-to books, etc. When I first got interested in beekeeping, before my bee mentor and my beekeeping classes, I got a ton of free bee and beekeeping related books off Amazon. And did you know almost all the classics are free on Amazon too? You can read Dickens and Bronte and Shakespeare all for free if you have a kindle? You can own them at no cost to you with just a click? You just download the books... that's it. So... how do you find them? You go to the kindle store on Amazon (or the nook equivalent on B&N) and type in the genre your looking for... then you go to relevants and click on lowest to highest. All the freebies for the day are displayed first. Now, if you love books of all types, this is a lot of work. But we have computer programers and volunteers out there that just want to stare at books all day. That lead me to discover whole sites dedicated to the pursuit of free books. Yea baby. Oh yea! I'm making the herbal essence commercial sounds right about now. So... here are two of my favorites. And mind you.. you don't technically need a kindle fire to read these. There are tons of programs on the net that convert from Nook to Fire to PC in all sorts of combinations. I even have one that lets me read my Kindle Fire stuff on my droid phone sans my Fire. And I have my books stored on my Amazon Cloud so all I do is retrieve with my phone, read, and delete. Yea baby.... oh yea! Okay ... so check out these two sites. OneHundredFreeBooks is great. It's my current favorite. The editor picks five books three times a day and highlights them for you so you can download. They are hand picked, but Ed also has a big cache of 'whats free currently' on his site which is what I pointed you too in the link. I have downloaded the entire Alan Dean Foster Spellsinger series, Terry Goodkin, Nora Roberts, Barbara Hambly, Game of Thrones books, etc. These aren't all just no names. Freebies are all over. The ones I took from today that looked interesting were 132 Salad Dressings and Dips, The Fountain of Eden, The photography book on correcting facial flaws, When The Devil Whispers, Lame Excuses, Brevity of Roses, Lady in White, Italian Cooking for a Week, Singapore Cuisine, Cat's Paw, and I Am Wolf. A pretty good snatch for freebies today I think. I'm going to try some of the asian fusion recipes this weekend. I also grabbed a few of Ed's handpicked thurs morning and afternoon books from those batches. It's on another link or you can find them at the bottom under his list. KindleBuffet - This is steve's site and I love it to death. He had a minor ragecation in Feb and just rebooted in March so hes back up and running but a bit truncated. I can explain the ragecation if anyone is curious. You are? Oh okay. Amazon encourages sites like OHFB and KB by letting them do click throughs so if you shop for one book, get it free, and decide you want all the others in the series to take on your road trip etc... and buy other things while you were on the site... having come from say KB or OHFB, then Amazon would toss KB and OHFB cookies of like a portion of the profits from all the purchases people would do while they were there. Say you picked up a ton of great books free but realized you were on amazon and were running low on Chai and Tapicoa beads for your bubble tea while you were there and decided to order some.... OHFB or KB would get a 5% or so cut of that amazon profit. It added up to a HUGE ton of money for Steve and Ed. So they looked even harder for more free books to get people onto Amazon to get them shopping etc. I'm a cheap scape, like I've said, and made them no money... but anyhow Amazon decided enough of the perks. We cheapos would find our freebies with or without Ed and Steve's help... so they cut off the perks. This enraged Steve... understandably so.. who dragged himself out of bed every morning at 5am so his site was good to go by seven when the east coasterners got up and wanted freebies with their morning coffee before they headed off to work. So he took a break. I don't blame him. Anyhow... Kindlebuffet shows some of the same books OHFB does. So I won't go through the list again of what I downloaded, but I will tell you I read Sandwhich with a side of Romance at work last night and it was quirky and funny and kept me entertained all night. I got it off Ed's site a few days earlier when its week long promo first started. Ed picked it so I said 'dude likes romance... I can't go wrong' and grabbed it. But anyhow, you should see my kindle library. From nothing in Dec to 2116 books as of todays date... you can't go wrong. And I have books on everything! Do you know you can make duct tape purses? I have a book on that. I have cooking books, baking books, books on herbalism and at home beauty care. I have books on how to make your own paints both with current ingredients and ingredients they had in the middle ages. I have books on medieval weapons, hand to hand tactics, dagger fighting, martial arts, and books on making boos, writing books, writing tips, writing hints, and books about anything under the sun. I have book son how to talk to your man, how to get your wife in the mood, and how to discuss sex with kids. I have books on being a site admin, how to sell on ebay, what all etsy's secrets are, etc. I have business books, marketing books, books on who invented (really!) the internet, and books on environmentalism, global warming, etc. I have occult books on witchcraft and books on poetry and grief. I have books on countering insomnia and books on making those killer little italian cookies. And omg the gardening books. I have books on how to grow almost everything under the sun outside, inside, and in containers and greenhouses. This is all true. Go forth. Check it out yourself. Be warned though. Sometimes these books are only free for a few hours or even an hour that day. So you have to catch them when they are free and you need to double check before you order that you aren't 'buying' it and that its still free... especially if your an amazon junkie like me that has a one-click purchase plan. .

[Paragon]

Thanks for the links Jen!

I use the Kindle app on my tab, and I have quite a collection of free first books of fantasy series', nice to know there are sites that point the books out rather than me hunting around for them all the time.

[Gossamer]

. Another Sign I posted this saying on Facebook a few days ago but its apropos here. I've been feeling a little lost lately. Part of it is that life has been overwhelming me with one thing after another that has left me somewhat unable to fully function or be present on Mizahar like I normally have. Things have gotten drastically better in the last day or two though. And its a breath of fresh air. Today was the last beekeeping class for the Apprenticeship program, and I am a bit sad about that. Yea baby, I'm officially an Apprentice Beekeeper according to the state and Federal government. So is Gillar. And we'll miss the gang, though we are now getting together on the thirteenth for more field experience and hands on interaction with some of the club members apiaries. Those classes have seen me through the last few weeks and really helped get my mind off things... and I've needed that. I hate not feeling at the top of my game though. You cruise along in life, doing this and that, making plans and breathing deep sighs of pleasure and then WHAM life smacks you upside the head and gives you a reality check about how quick things can change. And when they do start changing, its all you can do sometimes to put one foot in front of the other and keep moving forward. I lost my best friend last Monday of this week to death. I'm lucky that I had other friends that rallied around me to help get me through this, but its been very hard. I care less about small things these days drowning in grief. And small things, in other regards, become big things and you just shake your head and ask the universe... "What the hell?!" I'm told it gets better, but truthfully, in the last week it hasn't. This death came on top of a family crisis that had us really missing a great deal of sleep, looking around desperately for solutions to problems that weren't easily solved, and doing some re-evaluating of our lives. So in many regards I haven't been here on Mizahar like I've needed to be... like I usually am. I've been 'here' though going through the motions, answering help desk tickets, pms, and trying to make encouraging noises to Team Cyphrus and Team Falyndar (the best folks in the world as far as I'm concerned) but my heart hasn't been in it. I hate not caring about anything. I really do. It bothers me more to be heartless than anything else in the world because I am one of those people that feel everything deeply. That might surprise you, if you read this and think you know me, but it is the truth. I let things affect me deeply and whether or not I show it on my public face. You might not think that. You might think I'm a cold hearted bitch. But those that really know me know that's about as far from the truth as you can get. I've also been strangely cheered by watching some friends make leaps and bounds in their everyday lives. I have a really good friend who's become a life coach who had her huge presentation today and that made me so happy that she finally settled on a lifepath and is going for it with all her heart. Her life just feels 'so right' now that she's decided and is moving forward with the situation. Her gift is enormous for this line of work too. Every time I call her or drop by she settles me right down just with a few words. And she's a big fan of love letters. She has people write them to their spouses.. themselves... even their deities. She was, in a lot of ways, the inspiration for Divine Connections. One friend, who is a member of the site, exactly 40 days ago decided to purchase a violin and learn to play without ever having touched one. They are taking no classes, are getting no private lessons, but are learning everything they need to know online and via videos. Today I listened to a youtube video of them playing the star spangled banner and it brought tears to my eyes... not because I love the song... which stupidly I really really do. But because my friend was doing so well. It wasn't a choppy newbie type performance either. It was an amazing rendition of the song, albeit a bit off on the timing, that really warmed my cold insides up. I cant wait to see how they play on day 80 or 120. And I can't absolutely wait for the day they play one of the classic songs like twinkle twinkle little star with embellishments, soul, so the pure joy of what they have learned and the music inside of them leaks out. I'm absolutely craving that day, and I think it will come a lot sooner for them than later. Until then though, they are still making me grin a mile wide when I see them play something clinically perfect and know that just a little over a month ago they'd never even touched a violin before. Amazing. Inspiring. What else can I say about it? I have another friend irl who has cheered me to no end as well. He... no she... spent thurs night while I was at work this last week just mentally holding my hand via IMO. His name used to be David. He was a typical ripped badass Harley riding dude whom I took some second year magical studies with irl. When I first laid eyes on him I was very uncertain about studying something so intimate as magic with him and practicing with a coven he was in. But his energy was incredibly warm and loving and vast... just the type of energy someone like me who is a remarkable targeter needs. He wore black leather religiously and had gorgeous long blond hair he always hid in tightly controlled ponytails. When I met David it was interesting because he had a spirit guide with him that was a raven, but was a changeable yellow in my minds eye. His raven was very annoying to me. Sometimes spirit animals are because I can hear them plain as day and once they realize they can get someone's undivided attention without a lot of work they like to chat me up and sometimes even follow me home. There is nothing worse than some unseen magical energetic creature hounding you night and day because they need attention or are lonely... or worse yet have attached themselves to someone else who can't hear them or won't pay attention. My magical studies teacher that year had a lioness that followed me home and had a long talk with me. She was so insistent (and disrupting to my house and our own cats) that I had to drag her back to my instructors home and dump her off by telling the instructor about her and what she'd said. Turns out my instructor turned all sorts of pale when I explained she had a lioness haunting her (terrified of lions - death by one in a past life) and it ended up explaining so much about her unease in her new home. I think they've since settled down and made their peace with each other thankfully. Anyhow... back to David. My friend David's bird always confused me because of its transforming colors... bright yellow to dull yellow to almost sickly green. Yellow is a very symbolic color because it is the warmth of energy, often of sunshine and happiness. But like red, has conflicting symbolism. On the one hand it denotes happiness and joy but on the other hand yellow is the color of cowardice and deceit. It turns out this was all making sense once I told David about the bird and got him to acknowledge it. David was living a lie. Even though he rode a Harley Davidson, rebuilt engines as a career and has worked as a contractor, he didn't feel any of that was real in his life. So he made the leap and went from David to Crystal and is now a girl. She's going full fledged making the transition, and its so nice seeing her happy like that. Thurs I had a really rough day and Crystal pinpointed that and grabbed me on AIM. We talked into the night and it made a big impact on me. She made the presidents list at the community college shes' going to now... and I get the strong suspicion that it was a miracle David ever graduated High school before this. Smart people are sometimes like that... especially guys... too smart for school and easily bored and prone to fighting. But she gave me all kinds of advice about a truck I wanted to buy and reassured me that nothing was too scary so long as you walk into it prepared. I'm a nervous wreck new vehicle shopping.. and that's something we had to do this week. And truthfully, David was hot as a guy, but she's stunning as a girl now. You can just feel the lightness of her spirit when you talk to her. And that brings my spirit up lighter too. So... transgender is in my life. And I don't mind it. In fact, I like David being Crystal because she's a whole lot lighter and happier and I bet her Raven is back to black now though I don't know for sure because we haven't been to ritual together lately. So about this sign. About me. I really want to get to where these other people are. I know a lot of them aren't perfectly happy, but they are finding strong niches where they fell in control, powerful, and are satisfying an itch in their soul that has needed scratching. I want my feet back under me, to be that strong Jen again, and to have the devil say 'oh shit she's up!' once more. I'll get there. Acknowledging that this death really hit me hard.. and this series of family crisis' has wiped me out as well... is a first step. It did. It really did. It knocked me flat on my ass. We have the crisis' resolved, though we had to go into debt to do it. I hate that. And I had to sell a horse to help partially fund it. Which was sucky all around but again got the horse off the property where she wasn't doing much and into a home that really wanted her and wanted to show her. So.... that's that. Which brings me to Mizahar. When problems arise on the site, its always good for me emotionally. Having something to 'deal with' outside of real life tends to really help distract me and level me out. When things are smooth sailing, it's a great relief, but its not nearly the distraction I need to refocus away from whats going on in real life. This week was a week of drama. It wasn't necessary stuff, but evidently people felt the need to bring it on. Its too bad, but with large groups of people egos tend to get involved and stuff happens. Which is sad, but also lead me to believe that certain things others said was true. This game should not be someone's whole life and if that's said about you, don't get so hurt that you see red and can't control the other things you say or do. I'm only mentioning this because I hope, in the long run, people will think about the others in their real lives around them and take inspiration from what is happening with them and acknowledge courage where courage abounds and let that fuel them into getting started in something that will nourish them equally away from the internet. I'm sure that doesn't mean you have to completely change your gender, but you could pick up a new instrument, challenge your mind to get some further education, or even join a club or two. I know my beekeeping distractions have been amazingly good for both myself and my husband - has introduced us to new people - and got us going on a path that will bring profit hopefully to us in the future. Honey is selling here for almost eight bucks a quart. You can conceivably get a five gallon bucket of honey from each hive, and if you manage your hives you can do up to four splits a year. We're starting with two.. .you do the math. I'm scratching my scientific itch (by walking the path to Master Beekeeper - which takes a ton of work and dedication - and lots of community action/interaction and study design) and going all out in terms of making this new business venture a success. I just want all of you to feel that you can be successful too. Take heart from those who pave the way or demonstrate how not to be miserable in their lives. It was 71 degrees today where I live that its now greenhouse season. Where other parts of the country are complaining bitterly that Spring forgot them, in Washington spring has descended with a vengeance. We've never had a hotter day in March on record or in April for that matter. And this year, because bees are coming and my garden has never been in worse shape... I want my place to be a showcase. That means lots of hard work ahead. The less it rains the more I can accomplish that. And now that I have an awesome riding horse - an OTTB - I want to do a ton more riding than I did last year (mainly due to the weather being bad) and start back up in dressage. Drifter is a dream. He's an amazing horse. He even sings to me. So I have goals. Bees. Showcase garden. Improving my riding. And writing on Mizahar. So... she's back... slowly.... coming back. I've got a toe on the floor and hopefully the devil has taken notice. I haven't set both feet down yet... but I'm still rubbing the sleep and grief from my eyes. It is coming. And once I start feeling better, I'll start writing again, and I know that will make everything better. Thanks for my writing partners who have waited patiently for me to return. I know you guys all know whats going on. And you've been very supportive. I appreciate that beyond measure. .

[Echelon]

I know, the weather seems to have just stimulated the whole state. It's electric and wonderful. I haven't smiled so much in what seems like forever, though I'm sure it has just been since last year. The northwest can be so trying during the winter. The clouds come and they hang there for so long, they lure you into slothfullness, and I suppose that makes the devil quite pleased, put him at ease. I love it though, in an odd way, perhaps because I grew up here, but it's like once a year in Spring you are entirely reborn. The clouds part, and warmth and energy and sun filter from the sky and you see everything in that new light, as if you'd never even bothered to open your eyes before.

I am so glad that you are riding this wave with us, and it made me smile to read this, like most of your posts in here do. But this one in particular - it's exactly the thought I know is on everyone's mind here. I can see it when I go to the park. It's time for spring again, for rebirth.

My regards for all of the clouds that have been plaguing you personally recently, especially the death of your friend. I hope that everyone that was dear to your friend has a strong group of people that can help them through. That can help them keep from the devil's grasp, maybe even strike a little fear.

Enjoy your Spring, Jen. Thank you for sharing with us.

[Alea Davenport]

As far as life goals go, I'm aiming to get into the Electrician's union (starting with the apprenticeship, and eventually getting to journeyman in a couple years). I'll let you know how that goes, but I'm optimistic.

Fun fact: I apparently work pretty hard. But I can only do it by pretending I'm either slacking off, or playing an rpg and leveling up my skills via experience XD Something about, if I don't think about how hard something is going to be, then I can do it a little bit at a time, and then it's not a monumental effort. Or something. Rambling now x.x

[Traverse]

Thanks for sharing this, Goss. It was wonderfully inspirational, and I need all the help I can get right now as me and all my Senior Art cohorts scramble to get ready for our show next Thursday. I have been having a really hard time enjoying the gorgeous weather, because I take a deep breath, but part of me knows that I can't fully enjoy it until after our show. Every trip outside is not for recreation, but to bring me to one place or another to run errands for supplies I need or to go the lab or house to work, creating this strange amorphous cloud over my head that I can sometimes push away and other times can't. One of the things that always gets me stimulated is animals, and a couple weeks ago we got a little ram lamb on the farm. He's all black save for a white spot on his forehead, a common trait of our mutt sheep. Today I got to visit with some family I don't normally see and we talked about a name for him. By a majority vote we decided on Freezeray, and something as simple and ridiculous as that kind of thing really brought up my day. So random story for you. Anyway, I am glad you are getting both feet on the ground, and enjoying the wonderful weather, and thank you for being such a wonderful mentor to us in Cyphrus and Falyndar, I know I speak for everyone when I say we all appreciate everything you do immensely.

[Gossamer]

. Signatures Yes this is a rant.... a big bad one. What you think I see... What I really see... This is getting out of hand especially in new folks just starting out on the site. I know you've seen it... huge almost indecent avatars usually depicting lingerie models in reclined come hither and do me expressions. It's like they are in some sort of arms race as to who can have the largest and dumbest signature. Has anyone else noticed this? We have a signature page in the lore page too clearly outlining this... Signatures in Mizahar are small notations which can include banners that are present at the bottom of each user's post both in In Character and Out of Character posts. Signatures often depict something of the user's character. They might include the character's name, image, or even a quotation or saying. Signatures can include links which often lead to helpful pages on the website or a character's Character Sheet. Signatures are not required. However, if they include a banner, those banners must be no larger than 600 pixels wide and 150 pixels tall. Signatures must follow the Rules and Terms of Use and cannot include profanity or nudity. If your signature does not conform to the guidelines in this wiki page, then you will be asked to make corrections. If corrections are not made, signatures will be removed. Below and center is a sample signature of the proper size: When everyone on the site has the same sized signatures, don't you think people might suspect there's something up with everyone using the same size or smaller? But I swear some folks completely miss this fact. I can see loosing some details in the mix of learning a new site, but the truth is when you post a HUGE signature its like a cry for attention and a desperate measure to somehow stand out as a new person on a site that is as large as Mizahar. I get it. But why not stand out in your writing? Why not stand out by making friends in chat or joining a quest or an already established organization. I'm so sick of these huge signatures. I really hope they stop happening. .

[Elysium]

All of my hearts to you.