Some of you love my silly surveys, others love my Lexx posts. Now you can love my kid's new book, SAVING MR.s THOMPSON, available now online at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and Xlibris. Also available in the UK.
My favorite part- the secrets...
Month: October 2012
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I Worship His Shadow- part 5- The Time Prophet
I want all my Lexx readers around the world to know that Xanga is THE BEST. Their servers are housed on the 8th floor of a building in New Jersey, and they've got Xanga running on generators and diesel fuel while the city is so flooded from hurricane Sandy that no one has utilities. If you can't pull up my Lexx posts in the near future, it means they ran out of fuel and we'll have to wait till they get more or get electric hooked up. Please know I support Xanga with four paid sites and will continue to do so to infinity *especially* after I was able to get this Part 5 posted during a hurricane.
This is part 5.
Go back to part 4.
Go on to part 6.
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Go to main blog.Images from photobucket.com/lexxpix. Thumbnails click to original size.
Ok, so the purple essence from the old guy is in the new guy now, and his brain isn't working right anymore because he's been lobotomized. Those Devine Clerics don't mess around, so I hope you never become a prisoner on the Cluster! And remember I was wondering how this could catch them so flat footed at the last minute, well, changing hosts might be a once in a lifetime event for them. These Clerics had probably never witnessed a host transfer, but had been firmly exercised in protocols on how to handle this situation, so they stepped up and did everything they were supposed to. Almost. Um, not exactly...
The once viciously struggling prisoner is now docile and gives the Clerics no problems while they untie him and remove the tube from his mouth. He looks pretty out of it, doesn't he?
The essence must be taking over, because it's doing weird things to his eyes. It's like he's not even human anymore.
That essence, though, seems to occupy more than his body. The hooded robe gathers itself up from the old body and transfers itself to the prisoner's new host body and completely shrouds him in the same robe and hood. (BTW, I know this is way off, but I couldn't help noticing that His Shadow's chaotic swirliness is like the "Rainbow of Darkness" from the original 1984 My Little Pony. I think, like Plato, that symbolism has its root in something real beyond our realm, and I hate to creep you out, but that means His Shadow is a real dude... And before you say anything, there is some discussion over whether Stan Lee is a Bronie, so back off.)
He walks over to a pedestal and rises several stories up to join the waiting brains.
His Shadow takes arguing with one's self to new heights, and I'm not even going to apologize for this one. Sitting with the Divine Predecessors on pedestals high above everyone else, all derived from his own essence, His Shadow is surrounded by his own evil genius, a sort of storage for millennia of memory overflow. What super villain wouldn't love that?
And I love his robe. Did you click the thumbnail and get a better view? All the segmentation, and the glittery dark red in the crevices, he's like a giant creepy roly-poly...
So he arrives at this surreal height, a weird mystical monochromatic platform over all the other life crawling below him on the Cluster, and the brains greet him. "Divine Shadow, may your reign be long and orderly." In the fashion of a ruler following court etiquette, he answers, "Divine Predecessors, I thank you for your gift of selection. I will serve Order, I will serve you, and I will serve myself." A collective quick gasp of shock didn't stop the brains from plunging forward into their unified address. "Divine Shadow, today is a dark day for heretics and infidels throughout our universe. The Lexx will soon be fully grown, and you will be able to send it on its voyage bringing destruction upon all those who would oppose the League of 20,000."
Yeah, I know, what was that gasp all about? I think we're about to find out. I don't think the Predecessors quite realized the portent of that revelation of 'self'.
"And how will we know which planets shelter enemies of Order, which planets are to be chosen for destruction?" "That will be your task." "Then my task is complete. I choose to destroy them all."
Um, THAT one is getting a reaction. "That has not been our plan!"
I gotta stop here a second. ALL these brains are previous incarnations of the same guy, right? This is apparently the first time ~ever~ that he has argued with himself like this, and it's really catching them by surprise. What in the world happened?!?"Divine Predecessors, I am formed from you, but my host brain was not fully cleansed and therefore I am also formed of humans. I will choose my own path, and I choose that I, myself, will command the Lexx on its voyage of destruction."
Got that? The essence is definitely non human and apparently hive minded... For some reason His Shadow has concocted his own hive mind, and this is a huge hint about more history coming in season 2, because the next obvious question is why in the world is he alone among humans like this. But back to the brains freaking out. It's kinda funny how you can have this scene of utter shock and dismay going on with beings who can't even animate themselves.
"But the prophecy!" I think they glow harder when they're exhibiting shock. Or maybe not, but it looks cool.
"I have no patience for your ancient superstitions! (Spoken like a true recently lobotomized human, almost wanna root for the guy.) The Brunnen G have been extinct for over 2000 years!"
"The Divine Shadow must never leave the Cluster unless there is great peril. We need each other's strength." (Now the question arises why the host essence is that much more important than the collective preserved essence that they actually fear his peril; perhaps His Shadow's essence is the only part that can move along and animate successive hosts, so be on the look out for what actually keeps the brains themselves going in the 4th movie.)
"I agree, Divine Predecessors. I will not risk being separated from your wisdom and guidance, as you will join me on my voyage." His Shadow casually lifts a hand and all the pedestals lower. If the brains could noticeably fidget at this point along with their gasps, I'm sure they'd have been jumping up and down having spasms. They are terrified at this sudden huge change in a core plan that's been in place for many years.
We see a cargo vessel fly out of the inner sanctum, carrying all the Predecessors.
"The prophecy is upon us!" some moan in fear. "It's impossible!" others counter. "The prophecy is fake! The Brunnen G are extinct!" I guess it takes a botched lobotomy to bring all those underlying self doubts to the surface, because these brains of one essence are still arguing amongst themselves. One thing I've really liked about this movie is how the lighting and color is used, and this scene especially, all black and red and stark light flashing over, you really feel like you're riding along with them.
"Brethren, I was the one who killed them all, but I did not destroy them all. One specimen was preserved!" "Impossible!" "Predecessors, look into me..."
And here we get the story all over again about how His Shadow killed Kai and took his memories...
...but now we get to see what the most crucial memory was.
This is the Time Prophet. Not just any time prophet, THE Time Prophet. The swirly symbol on her headpiece represents the Cycles of Time.
Kai asks, "Will the forces of His Shadow destroy us?"
She says, "Time, as you know, had a beginning, and time has an end, and then time begins again, as we shall each live our lives again, exactly as before. I have been gifted to see into the old cycles of time, not very clearly, mind you, but I have learnt that in the future-past, the Brunnen G, the great victor in the war against the Insect civilization, shall be destroyed at the hand of His Shadow. But after His Shadow leaves the Cluster, they will be destroyed at the hands of the Brunnen G. This has happened before. It will happen again."
And at that memory, the Predecessors fall into a panic. "We are boarding the Lexx! We will all be destroyed!"
Well, the guy has been dead over 2000 years, maybe these brains still know something we don't know yet...
This is part 5.
Go back to part 4.
Go on to part 6.
Return to The Lexx.
Go to main blog.autumn peak in the Ozarks
I can always tell when my regular readers get frustrated that I haven't updated, some of them start doing frenzied dances all over my weblog and every Lexx tag I've ever made. I know! I'm sucking! I need to update! I love you guys! You look so cute dancing all over my stuff like that!
You'd think this whole being allergic to autumn thing would deter me from frolicking out in it, but I installed a scaffold framework under my left eyeball so it couldn't ooze down my face (loaded up on benadryl, I'm still floating) and spent the last three weeks running around all over the place. (I know! It's not a Lexx update! But that's right around the corner!)We took off for miles two weekends in a row, one to Stockton Lake and one to Silver Dollar City, both during what turned out to be a lengthier than usual peak autumn foliage in the Ozarks. We have the potential for spectacular color around here, but so often get cut short by sudden sheering winds and nasty cold rains that the leaves get stripped off before we have the chance to bask in their glory. THIS year, autumn walked in casually, hung its coat and hat on the rack at the door like a gentleman, sauntered to a comfortable seat and quipped with the waitress before ordering a pot of coffee, settling itself in to regale us with made up tales of courage and daring do. We got more than two weeks before most of the leaves even thought about the oh-why-not leap into whirlygig freedom around my parts, and it turned into a slow almost choreographed Disneyish promenade that is still happening on my street. Because the last several autumns have been so disappointing, I had my camera *ready*. There is no "I'll go back and get that tomorrow" in Missouri. And now, true to nature's ways, here come the cold winds and rain, and tomorrow the magic part will be all gone, just in time for the spooky Halloween part.
The hardest part is trying to catch the real magic on camera. Some of the trees around here go through more than one color change that slowly dots through the trees until you see everything from green to yellow to orange to red to bronze and brown all at the same time on one tree, and it's stunning, but it keeps changing so quickly that the next day the variegated colors are done. Another tree might turn a bright yellow, then shade to an slightly oranger yellow, kind of like peaches, and then get a burnt sienna overlay that makes it look delicious when the sun hits just right. And while some of the tamer red maples go red all over and lose their leaves quickly, the wilder indigenous ones will flame up more slowly, with the red creeping through the green and then the edges of the red leaves crisping up like the edges of a berry pie in the oven, until brown laces all the red leaves. When the bright sun comes out, the trees glow, and I've never been able to truly catch that quality on a camera, even an expensive one. The pictures will come out brighter and more colorful, but you have to be *in* the woods under the canopy while the sun comes out to be part of the glow, like the magical Elven wood Lothlorien. In the upper left corner of this first one you can see a little leaf sticking up that is yellow AND red with the slight brown edging that I was talking about.
Persimmon trees remind me of peach pie.
By now, regular readers of my silly survey blog are recognizing my aspie 'train spotting' quirk as a tree obsession that goes into synesthesia overload when all the colors come out. Since I grew up in the desert without a lot of trees, and now I'm surrounded by them because I live in the woods, it's all magical. I LIVE IN MIRKWOOD, guys. Yeah, *spiders*. The Ents around me may not be fully awake, but the whispering never stops.
People living along the coasts might be surprised to know that we get some of your seagulls coming through the heartland. Hundreds of them circled in while we were at Stockton.
No idea what this was about. We get a few fun loving eccentrics hiding out in these hills.
happy birthday!
Happy birthday to meeee!
And to whoever else whose birthday is today.
And to everyone else, have a very merry unbirthday!
I Worship His Shadow- part 4- His Divine Shadow
This is part 4.
Go back to part 3.
Go on to part 5.
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Go to main blog.Images from photobucket.com/lexxpix. Thumbnails click to original size.
Meanwhile, deep in the Cluster, the Divine Clerics are freaking out, rushing a gross looking old guy to a weird inner sanctum.
I'm sure, in retrospect, the Ostral B heretics coming up later had no clue they'd be timing their incursion with His Shadow's direst setback in many decades. I know, I'm hashing up future past tense like crazy, but it works, so just go with it and notice that this inner sanctum is rife with symbolism. Please also note the upper ceiling stories above them and remember that when you see the fourth movie. Anything and everything that looks circular and segmented is important.
"Faster, we're losing him!"
Inside the sanctum, a prisoner is waiting. He's been made comfortable and the atmosphere is pleasant and jolly. Not! The guy is tied so thoroughly that you wonder what in the world could he possibly do or has done, and what is the tube in his mouth for??? Yeah, you can see he's wondering the same thing himself, his eyes are bugging like he's seeing ghosts, but what he sees are some tools you haven't seen yet. It's not helping his mood one bit that he's being prepped for a lobotomy. He struggles with all his might when he sees the Clerics rush in, to no avail. "The sedative!" "No time!"
You're having a *really* bad day when you get a lobotomy with no sedative. That looks like it hurts, and the prisoner thrashes so hard that one of his arms rips free and knocks a Cleric off balance, giving him a dose of his own electrocution. That Cleric is quickly replaced with another.
This time it works.
Time is of the essence, though, and just because the lobotomy works doesn't mean the Clerics properly finish.
Ok, what just happened?! And why??? We'll get to that in a minute. Right now I'm intrigued by these priest looking guys. The Divine Clerics all wear hooded robes of purple and netting on their faces to look shadowy, in keeping with the theme of His Divine Shadow. I've noticed the only vibrant red you ever see is on His Shadow's robe in the linings, so I wonder how far we can carry the symbolism, like fresh blood is red, old blood in a bruise is purple, the Clerics wear purple... Death overshadows the human race, basically. Note the Cluster symbols on their robes, you'll see those all over the place as the movie progresses. In all these scenes, especially if you are watching live, you notice a LOT of shadows lying across everything. There is no clear lighting source, and shadows move around from every direction almost like they're alive as light flickers or gets blocked. If YOU were tied up in there like that prisoner, you'd be terrified enough, but now it's time to see what that prisoner was able to see...
Ok, unpausing- This time it works, cool pix, yada yada, ah, here we are. Time is of the essence, though, and just because the lobotomy works doesn't mean the Clerics properly finish.
"He fought well." "A truly vicious human being." "He will prove to be a good host." Wo, wait a minute. Host? Human being? The Clerics say it as though they represent something apart from humans.
It's hard not to notice throughout I Worship His Shadow how much societal structure revolves around the constant moving around and processing of prisoners. It seems there is an endless supply of humans to make nearly pointless examples of or use in a variety of ways, and in the end, all wind up as useful additions to the protein bay. But how about the prisoner that His Shadow uses as a host body? We never find out who he is or was, what his story was about. We only see the horrible end for him, after obviously being mishandled and abused. Why was he chosen? Later on we see he's not even as tall as Kai, and he winds up being completely enrobed, so he wasn't chosen for any particular physical features that we can tell. I think he is chosen because he's fighting fit, and his body will be able to withstand a long occupation of whatever wear and tear His Shadow puts it through. I would also add that he chose it for irony, but His Shadow doesn't appear to care about making the point of mocking, as some evil villains would (at least not very well), as much as simply just efficiently using. His mindset is very different.
"The second vac!" "We do not have time, one will have to do." "But he may not be fully cleansed!" "We will have to risk it."
I think priests probably argue like that everywhere you find them, but in this case, they really don't have time (don't let the still fool you, they were constantly moving), and they do have to risk it. Risk what? Protocol is a hard rule with them, procedure was set up millennia ago to ensure the continuity of His Divine Shadow's societal rule over the League of 20,000 Planets. Surely they don't mean...
The prisoner's frame is tipped forward while the crusty old gross guy is moved underneath him. More like, their faces are kind of lined up, and now we see what that tube was all about.
"Divine Shadow, you must perform the Kiss. Divine Shadow, the Kiss."
And then the old crust goes into a spasm and wheezes out this purple... essence?
And then the old body lets go and presumably dies. Suddenly all is calm, the Clerics wheel the body over and raise the new host up, and as this new host slowly regains consciousness and looks blandly on, the Clerics prep the old body for a new procedure. It isn't pretty. Cover your eyes...
Oh, and cover your ears. After the old host's head is reverentially exposed, the next sound you hear is like a nightmare from a dentist's chair.
An odd little pedestal with tubes in a little case is rolled forward, a tool is handed over, and a nasty whining sound begins.... Then another tool is handed over and you get an icky sucking sound.
These are teaser scenes, you really don't see what he's doing until in a minute.
This guy can see everything the Cleric is doing.
Yep, *gag*, it's the old guy's brain...
For those of you who get the creeps watching this kind of stuff and might suddenly feel your brain has a precarious hold on existence, don't worry, they really don't just pop out that easily. I do like that sucking noise, though, that was real cute. But the rest is realistic enough, especially the steam. As soon as I saw the steam coming off the brain, I felt like the room they are in must be a little bit cold.
Why in the world did the Cleric take the old brain out? It seems they've got quite a collection going, and this is how they collect them over a very long period of time. Every brain they save has once been a host to His Divine Shadow, who never really dies. It's a mystery how simply plugging it into that little case is going to preserve it, but we find out how preservation is done later.
This next part fascinated me. If you watch closely, the Clerics make the Cluster symbol with their hands as they are saluting the brain before they send it up to the others on its pedestal.
Taking a big risk at the very last minute just in the nick of time... I wonder why they waited so long in the first place. Surely they didn't get caught by surprise, but alas, that is one thing we just never find out. Can't wait to see what His Shadow does with his new brain.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The guy playing the prisoner (the Bound Man) is Lex Gigeroff. He wrote some of the shows and guested in several of them, as well. If you would like to leave a message, there is a Lex Gigeroff Memorial on facebook.
This is part 4.
Go back to part 3.
Go on to part 5.
Return to The Lexx.
Go to main blog.how to give to charity, Charlie Brown
I have wrestled for years with how to 'give to charity'. I've donated to food pantries and barrels, clothing and other goods gathered for fire victims, helped with fundraisers, donated to charity auctions, dropped money into collection jars, volunteered my time manning booths, tables, and events. So many ways to help, right?Through all that, I noticed my own contributions were about evenly matched by other helpers 'scalping' off the top. I learned that it's quite acceptable for full time volunteers to take a percentage off for their personal costs, so while a woman I worked very hard helping wasn't out a dime, I was out nearly $100 for buying an industrial sized coffee pot and all the fixins for hot beverages for early morning walkers, plus t-shirts I designed and had printed (was awesome finding a stash of t-shirts on sale for $2 each at a hobby store!), plus other various and sundry costs to me personally, and then her 'take' off the top was nearly identical to the dollar amount I'd managed to pull in from donations. And that was only one charity event. I felt all the dis- words after that, like disenchanted and disillusioned. Likewise, I've noticed volunteers in food pantries taking home food, or volunteers in clothing drives taking home clothes. I have nothing against people doing this if they really need it and can't afford it, and I know some volunteers who really did. But too many times some of them were people I knew personally, people who *could* afford it. As you can imagine, I eventually burned out and lost my enthusiasm for 'charity' work. I began to wonder if some of the antiques I'd donated to a radio auction that would pay for a woman's surgery had also been skimmed. Maybe I should have looked into making a payment on her bill myself....My mother used to drag me around with her taking Meals On Wheels to the homebound, elderly, and very poor. Excruciatingly poor. Mom was a natural talker and made friends with everyone we met, and all those people were so happy to see her walk through their doorways. I think her happy yappiness and personal interest in their stories was probably as big a charity as the food for them, if not bigger. Some of them actually began to improve their capabilities because they'd get so excited to see her, it inspired them to get up and do their laundry, or get outside and show her a garden or hobby they used to have, and they'd even keep in touch with her outside of the program. She started seeing those people more often as personal visits, and even took a couple under her wing as real friendships. And it was like that all her life, even long after she moved on from volunteering for Meals On Wheels. She always found people to help in some way, always took the time to chat about their lives. One scruffy bum of a guy walked into church off the street one day and begged for someone to help his wife, they couldn't afford her medication and she was very sick. My mom wrote him a check on the spot, no questions asked. She was a turning point in that man's life, and he and his family became forces of good themselves with that church. It would take a book to give proper attention to just how compulsively giving my mother was. Ironically, she wasn't that great of a mom, and I often got left behind or used as a pack mule, certainly got volunteered for many a clean up job or babysitting for other people. Even after I graduated high school and got my own life going, she would regift holiday and birthday presents from me to people who thought she was wonderful for being so thoughtful, or tell me she didn't have any money to help me out because she just gave $2000 to someone else my age who needed it. It was hard not to be jealous when I was younger, but now none of that bothers me, and I think about how 'famous' my mom got for being so kind and thoughtful to everyone around her. Personally, I'm just not capable of being a happy yappy person, I'm all the wrong personality for it, so I kind of feel like I'm in a conundrum when I want to pitch in to charity stuff.I've been on the down side of life, grinding through several years of illness and disability, and I learned a lot of things about people from that side of the coin. For one thing, the reason you don't see more truly disabled people running around is because it's so extremely difficult, even with handicapped accessible parking and doorways and bathrooms and whatever else. I had so much difficulty just simply walking from spinal injuries (and too much pride to use a motor cart for a long time) that I nearly stopped getting out of my house at all, and that severely impacted stuff like depression and anxiety, not to mention my health standards. For another thing, you find out just how kind strangers can really be, and I was humbly blown away every time someone went out of their way to make something even minutely easier for me. Simply being spoken to with kindness and smiles made my struggle to keep getting out of my house worth it, and over time helped me make bigger and bigger decisions to set higher goals for myself. I'm a recluse, not a phone person, not the sort for keeping friends very well because of my asperger's, so the tiniest kindness from strangers meant whole worlds to me, whether I was able to effectively show that or not. Thankfully, I'm coming out the other side of that long, dark tunnel, and I look back on what I went through and appreciate every person who unwittingly and unknowingly 'saved my life'. And I realized THAT is what my mom did for other people.Scott and I have been tossing around the idea that we'd like to help someone personally going forward, as opposed to going through organized charities and volunteering for generic donation sites. We've heard the stories about people sneaking sacks of groceries onto porches, or sneaking envelopes of money into mailboxes, and we're wondering if that's really the right way to do it. What if they're allergic to the food we buy for them? What if someone in the neighborhood steals out of mailboxes? Everything we could think of, we could find flaws with. And we looked into paying on hospital bills for others, sometimes you can't just walk up and say I want to pay $100 on this patient's account, partly because of patient confidentiality, partly because sometimes accounts have to be set up for gift payments so it won't screw up insurance, etc. It's a mess. And on the rare occasions that we have given money as presents, we've been disappointed to learn that it all went to a new tattoo or something, instead of a bill or basic needs. We've been scratching our heads for a couple of years over how to really help someone.While I was so very sick, there was a woman named Sandy in my favorite grocery store who mostly bagged groceries, helped people out to their cars, and brought carts in. I think she's about my age, but her hair is already all white. I've seen her out in all kinds of nasty weather doing her job, and often wondered why she didn't move on to a different sort of job at her age. I got to know her over time because she was one of the kinder people I've met. I had so much difficulty even lifting things out of my cart about 3 years ago that she would unload for me, and then bag and reload. Then she'd walk with me shuffling out to my car while I hung onto the cart for support. She seemed intuitive to my physical disabilities, and eventually we started talking and I learned that one of her good friends had developed a nasty case of Guillain-Barre
after a flu shot, and spent a couple of years in and out of a hospital and care facilities. Since we see each other for less than 5 minutes 2-4 times a month, it took nearly 4 years for me to learn other things, as well. Her son and my son-in-law (about the same age) were both out of work at the same time for about the same length of time. She originally came from another state and doesn't have any family around here. And over the last year her husband had the kind of heart attack that required extensive surgery and created other problems, and she's been the sole source of income through all that while he lost his job and insurance. I have to interject here that she's one of the most matter of fact people I've met. Nothing she's ever told me was said with self pity or victimized attitude. That's just life, you plug away at it doing the best you can, and you shake your fist at the forces that are bigger than you, like the government for taking away his benefits and now it's all cash and the bills are tight, despite everything you hear on tv about hope and change and health care for all. This woman is remarkably grim and tough, and suddenly tells me a joke and laughs about life. She has no idea how much she helped me through the dark side of my own stuff.I got an idea last month. I told Scott about Sandy and asked him what he thought of maybe helping her out this year, as a more personalized charity. He agreed that would be better than dropping food off in a bin or putting coins in a bucket, for sure, but the next step was how to go about approaching it. I mean, it could get weird. Having relationships with people is like walking a tightrope, and I know from past experience that sometimes being too nice can make everything oh so awkward. Scott and I both suck at being personable and chatty, and I really don't want to make it weird for Sandy.So this week she was walking with me to my car (nowadays I'm more like a break for her to escape out of the store for a couple of minutes), and I finally worked up enough courage to just say, "Can I ask you a personal question?" Ug, that could get so weird. But she said sure and kind of shrugged. So I told her I had talked to Scott about the stuff she'd told me this year, and we were wondering if maybe this year, instead of helping faceless generic charities for the holidays, we could slip her a Christmas card. I told her I didn't want it to be awkward, and I especially didn't want to get her into trouble at work, and it's not like we have a LOT of money, but we can certainly share, and we'd rather know what we share was really helping someone. And Sandy was uber cool about it, no gushing (the potential 'hug' moment thankfully passed without any awkwardness, as far as I could tell), and said sure, she would slip the card into her jacket and no one would know. And I said "Great, I'll tell Scott then." And that was that.So I guess this is going to get a little more fun than simply putting a sack of groceries into a bin. I'm thinking maybe a gas card, maybe a Pizza Hut gift card, maybe a little cash, maybe a gift certificate to a store, little things like that. You know, stuff that will fit into a card and be fun to get. I think the most awkward part for me is I got lucky. I walk out of that grocery store with salmon steaks and fresh raspberries, and I'm pretty sure she'd never dream of wasting that kind of money on food. Sometimes it's awkward knowing that she's my 'servant' coming out of that store, helping me to my car, and I'm financially better off, thanks to my own husband being in good health. I can't even imagine how hard it must be at her age to do such menial work in miserable weather for so little pay, having to smile and be nice to sometimes arrogant people walking out with all kinds of food she can't afford.I think the biggest charity we can have is noticing other people, and asking them if it's ok once in awhile to be nice to them. I know I have a lot of pride and don't like people making a big deal out of my stuff, and I think she's like that, too. Some people need the 'oh you poor thing', but sometimes they just need 'wow, that sucks, see you next week, thank you for helping me.' Sometimes they just need to know that someone cares about their story.Incidentally, my mom used to call me Charlie Brown, because I was always confused as a child what to do about how I feel. Maybe it comes easy for some people, but this one took me awhile to figure out.John Deakins- Barrow
Was rummaging around a picture folder and ran right into this one, me in my youngers days with John Deakins, author of the Barrow series. Yours truly in my 20's.
I wrote another post back in 2008 on another blog, the Barrow series- John Deakins, and was friended with him on facebook till I deleted my old facebook. I'm a terrible person and fell out of contact, even though we don't live that far apart. In fact, this blog is named after a Chinese restaurant in his town, isn't that funny?
Anyway, one of those nolstalgic mornings. His son writes music, which I quite enjoy. Mysty Blue Productions
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My first tracker was installed in 2004 and broke several times before moving to a new server, which lost a few months of stats, and then Xanga moved to new servers and I lost more stats for more months before the page came back up, so I've lost a total of about two years' worth of stats. The second was installed 2-22-14 and is considered very conservative by business owners who use analytics, which itself is very conservative, estimates being that roughly one third to one half of hits by real live people aren't even counted, most likely due to javascript discrepancies. Actual hits on several posts here are in the thousands now, and the Lexx Index in the ten thousands. I've got pingbacks turned off, so spam isn't counted at all within the Xanga internal tracker, and most direct post hits can be correlated to my real time linking activity on twitter and other social media. When I did Google Analytics beta testing I got to see how search engine performance compares to tracking. I believe live feed linking sources to various social medias are key to a future where search engines are more about performance than cataloging, which has been confirmed to me by coders who create bot algorithms as I was beta testing paper.li. I've fought hard through redundant age-old stacks to make my way to the google front lines again, so my Lexx work shows up faster on Chrome searches now. This has been a really interesting ride. At any rate, my point is, I can still go back 6 years on my original tracker and I can still see that in 2013 just before the last big blog server move, I was getting traffic like this (and since then, the tracker may have been abandoned, we can't tell). Click the thumbnail to see full size.
My original tracker also still lets me see the latest 500 visitors on a map. I once counted over 80 countries among the total visits. You guys are not alone. Click the map to see it better.
Besides Lexx, the most common search phrases that bring new visitors here are variations on 'huge spaceship'. The most seen post from a phrase search is How Big is the Lexx? My biggest Lexx referrer is Lexx Domain. Most of page views per person count comes from the Lexx tag on Tumblr. Visitors who stay the longest come through URLOpener and are pinged through the Google translator server in Mountain View, CA.
