cornerofmadness

For the fallen. My family was extraordinarily lucky. Many of us served but all made it back.

I watched the flag pass by one day.
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it,
and then he stood at ease.
I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers' tears?
How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many died at sea?
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No, freedom isn't free.

I heard the sound of TAPS one night,
When everything was still
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That TAPS had meant "Amen,"
When a flag had draped a coffin
Of a brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, freedom isn't free. - Kelly Strong

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I cleared a ton of manga off the shelves. You know, while I know that pirating was partially the cause of the demise of Tokyo Pop (and the reason they listed) I think they are partly to blame for it. As I sat here with a half dozen or more books, almost all TP, I remember when I bought them. Borders was still alive then (damn you Borders for not being smarter) and every time I went there were more and MORE manga for sale.

TP was just shotgunning it out there hoping for something to stick. As I looked up the books on Wiki and Amazon (to see if it was something I could donate to the library without putting a burden on them) and I realized that the reasons many of them were just vol 1 and I had never gone further was that TP never put out more. There was a policy (made clear by a couple groups, like the ones behind Orange Crows which is still looking for funding. I see they have up a kickstarter) to only put out volume one and only go to volume two based entirely on sales. So rather than come out with a few titles at a time and stick with them for a few volumes to build a readership, they took the Fox TV approach, blast out a million things then cancel it immediately when it wasn't a roaring success immediately. Dumb. Seriously. So basically all of these are going to half price to sell because the library isn't going to want one issue of a series they can't furnish.

It's a shame since some are decent. However, I did learn that one of the ones that I really liked, 07-Ghost was picked up by Viz and is now out there up to nearly a dozen volumes. I've ordered number four. I remember when that was going for sale on ebay/amazon for 80$ *as if* when TP collapsed.

I also bagged up two bags of paper crap for recycling, got out the summer dress clothes though I almost don't need them since I don't teach again until fall. Still I wanted out the sun dresses. I bagged up a huge black garbage back full of clothes for goodwill.

However, I still haven't uncovered where i put the hidden object games mom wants back since her computer blew up. I hope I didn't give those away.

Wow, FINALLY truth: Got this from LJ today. We know that things changing abruptly can be frustrating, and that we don't have the greatest track record when it comes to making changes based on your feedback. We're working on changing that, and want you to know that we are taking all of your feedback on the redesign very seriously, and will be making changes based on it. (along with a list of what everyone hated). About fucking time. Better than Ebay who got hacked in Feb and told us THIS week about it. I got that letter today too.

You can find me at Louise Lyons's blog today

And I wrote a flash fic in my Kept Tears Universe. Check it out For the Fallen and if you'd like to donate for the holiday.
Wounded Warrior Project

And I'm at that depressed place again. Wishing i could get more done with my novel. It should have been turned in 6 months ago but I haven't gotten it edited. I really hate this. Especially since it's all my own fault.

declutter day 232 item tossed -3 candles with stars and glass holders why kept -I’ve had them for years but I never burned them why tossed -It’s time they moved on