So, as of yesterday I’ve had like 25 people visit me from a vegan community on LiveJournal.  I’m intrigued, but the referring link is a protected entry, so I have no idea why I have been mentioned there.  Right now, I’m really, really hoping that I haven’t offended a bunch of vegan people somehow.

Other than that, it’s pretty slow here.  Hopefully will have some form of interesting news to post soon, but it’s been very quiet lately.  Still working on getting the vintage site up and running.  Also, Matt gets peevish at me when I try to take adorable photos of him to post here.

Next weekend, the grandparents of my half-sisters are visiting from Texas to pick up some of their inheritance from me (I need to sign over title and such things) so that should be interesting, and a slight change of pace.  Found out from the half-sisters’ mom that my mother is aware they are coming out, so right now I’m really hoping I don’t have to deal with my mother tagging along, as she generally tends to enjoy being vengeful or otherwise unpleasant and I just don’t have room in my life for that kind of negativity.

So… yup yup.  If anything interesting or otherwise exciting comes up, I’ll post it 

Hey mom,

Guess you discovered tGGtH yesterday…  You spent all of an hour on my site, right after someone from Flagstaff (yes, Britt, I’m looking at you) spent a nice chunk of time here too.  Welcome to the madhouse.  Does this mean you’re going to be a regular reader?  Not that I mind, every visit from you just drives up my traffic and reduces my bounce rate.  I’m just saying, the boys in charge might take issue with you “misusing” the internet to read *gasp* opinions outside of the WTBTS and all.

…What, no congratulations on my impending nuptials to a nice slice of smexy English hotness? 

Matt’s home!!!!!  I’m so excited    At LAX, there were a ton of paparazzi hanging around the international arrival gate – David Beckham was supposedly arriving.  Also, Eric Dane (from “Gray’s Anatomy”) and Rebecca Gayheart (from “Dead Like Me”) got off while I was waiting.  I didn’t recognize them, because they were wearing sunglasses and scarves and things, but jillions of flashbulbs went off and people were following them around.  Then Matt came out and I hurled myself into his arms and it was all very cute-ness, once he figured out that the blurry ball of redhead bouncing at him was me and that I would indeed stop just before knocking him over at full speed.  I am soooooo happy he’s back.

We’re staying in a trailer on the property where Fezzik is being boarded, so that’s exciting.  It’s a farther drive to work for me, but it’s slightly more practical for two people and we get to spend time with Fez.  We have a camera now (not just my crummy, fuzzy, pixelated phone camera) so I will try to post pics and video of Matt, Fez, and the area we’re staying.  Work changed their mind about using Fez in a commercial (this is the third time they have asked me to participate in a commercial and then backed out, so I don’t think I’ll say “yes” next time).  This means I just get to relax and spend time with him now instead of trying to get him to do things for the camera, which is something of a relief.

Spending the next three months fundraising; ideally, we’d like to purchase our house right before Matt has to head back to Scotland (he has to return every 90 days due to visa waiver reasons, and stay for a week or two before returning).  That way I could move in, get things settled and all, and then he could come back the next time to a real, legitimate home for us.  So, my retail site should be going up soon.  Besides my very cool vintage clothing collection, we may also be looking into selling vintage books, as well as the trailer and my car.  So, if you need/want any of these things, they will soon be available.  We are currently building my new website and I’ll post linking to it hopefully sometime this week once I’ve got it a bit more established and polished 

Also, I’m very excited about all the discussion going on over at Matt’s site, Homeless Tales.  There are several new authors and comments have really picked up lately.  People are having some really thought-provoking ideas and, even when they don’t agree, some really respectful and healthy debate, which is awesome.  It’s so great to see so many homeless and formerly homeless individuals from such varied backgrounds and perspectives coming up with plans and approaches with which to combat the problem.  Please go check out the new articles there – I was blown away by the depth and preparation that obviously went into each of them.

Matt’s plane lands approximately 5 hours from now.  I’m stoked!!!!!  This time at the airport I get to hurl myself at him and be all mushy and adorable.  The first time I was too nervous about whether he’d like me as much in person, whether I’d be invading his personal space, etc.  Now I know that all signs are go, so woot!

Also, Fezzik is going to be in a commercial for www.makeastar.com, which is pretty awesome!  I knew my pooch had star quality    Actually, he’s just going to be representing the “talented pet” contest they have going on, so it’ll probably be an hour or so of sitting around trying to coax him to actually DO something in front of a camera.  You know dogs, they’ll do everything you tell them to until it actually matters, haha.  I’d better stock up on meat treats this weekend and try to get him to put together simple concepts in his head:

“me + jump through hoop = MEAT!”

“me + stand on hind legs and slobber on Bri’s cheek = omg omg omg MEAT!!!!!!”

“bwahahahahahahhahahaha MEEEEEEEEEEAT!!!!!!!!!  IT’S RAINING MEAT!!!!!!!!!”

So… yeah.  We’ll see how that works.  He’s totally gonna be the most famous Neapolitan Mastiff EVAR.  Not that I can actually think of any other Neapolitan Mastiffs in entertainment.  But I bet there’s one or two out there somewhere.

That’s right, Beethoven!  You ain’t got nothing on my blockheaded dog!  My dog will whip your arse with his superior lumbering skills!  And his laying there and snoring/drooling on command skills!  Hell, yeah!!!!!!!!

The photos are from when I first got Fezzik (he’s filled out a bit since).  You can click to enlarge them.  The video is at the dog park, before I became homeless.  I filmed it as an update to Karma Rescue, from whom I adopted him.  Sorry for the poor/blurry quality, the video camera on my phone is, as on most phones, über-suck.  And yes, the baby-talk mode into which I lapse in the presence of my ginormous lug of a dog does embarrass me a bit.  But I don’t care.  I luuuuuurve him.

[Edit: Sorry, had to remove video for the time being. Didn't realize that by using a video from my Facebook page, my full name and link to my profile would be shown on the vid. Couldn't figure out how to remove just the name, so had to scrape the whole thing.]

So, if you follow my Twitter stream, you probably already know that my retroactive UI checks DID finally show up last week in the P.O. box (wooooooot!)

Some of it went towards practical things such as paying bills, but I have reopened one of my old checking accounts (the credit union one, with the great interest rate) and shoveled the rest in there, to hopefully accrue and amass enough to buy a house.

Ah, there’s the other thing.  The house that I had been working towards was pulled off the market (not sold); I’m assuming due to the California 90-day foreclosure moratorium that recently took effect.

Oh, well 

Matt and I have found another house that we absolutely adore.  It is still a fixer, but it is in much better condition and it costs much less (Asking price is in the $190K range).  If we can just get a mortgage for this, we’ll be set.  I have a few thousand already; we’re on our way!  I’m not going to post pictures of/info on this house because I’ve started getting paranoid that someone else will see it, think “ooh, that’s a great deal!” and it’ll get snatched from under our nose like the last one did.  So, sorry… if we get it then I’m sure I’ll be posting pics galore!

Other than that, Matt returns to Cali on Friday evening and I can’t wait to see him.  He’ll be here for 3 months this time, which is awesome.  We’re going to be spending a lot of time with Fezzik, and taking on extra work to bring in extra income, because right now we are super-focused on this house thing.  It’ll be a major bummer if we lose it, so we’re really gonna be cracking down.  It’ll be interesting to see how it all unfolds.

~Bri

P.S.  I am wearing a pretty, sparkly, antique Edwardian/art nouveau diamond and platinum piece of jewelry on the ring finger of my left hand…  Hmmmmm…  What could that be?  Pictures soon, I hope.  Actually, I may soon go looking for an affordable Wal-Mart camcorder/camera in order to document my life with Matt, since the one on my phone sucks.

P.P.S.  “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader” is holding open auditions.  I have decided that I should totally do this, because:

a) I need money for our house.

b) I have watched this show and have a hunch that I am at least as smart as a 5th grader.  Hell, I was one not too long ago…  Maybe 13 years ago?  And I was a smartass, too.  I was the kind of kid who looked down my nose at all the other kids reading fluffy young adult novels, because I was busy toting around “Gone With the Wind” and “Shogun”.  Hell, “A Wrinkle in Time” was my first novel.  I was 6.

…if you don’t understand the post below, it’s because a lot of it contains the obtuse religion-specific terminology I grew up using, and it is unfortunately the only way to communicate with anyone else inside the cult (any who are fellow survivors and have successfully deprogrammed might even get a nostalgia kick out of reading it).

Obviously, I’m having issues with my family members seeking out my personal business and spreading my “shocking tale” like wildfire… which I guess I can understand; when you’re a fundamentalist religious zealot there’s nothing better to do than dig up and spread the juicy gossip, even at the expense of your own flesh-and-blood.

Main point being, sorry if it freaks anybody out    I’m so lucky to have found a “family” of kindred spirits (I love Anne of Green Gables!) who does love me and care for my well-being.

~Bri

P.S. I should probably mention for the benefit of anyone religious; my personal beliefs, whatever they may be, do not include a grudge against god or religion in general.  Religion has its place, and many feel the need for it in their life, in some form.  My beef is with any human (in any religion or non-religion) who  intentionally lies to their followers, deceives them, or exercises mind-control techniques to keep innocent victims under their thumb.  My beef is also with those who refuse to think for themselves and use religion (again, any religion) as an excuse to plug their ears, close their eyes, shout “la-la-la, I can’t hear you!!!!!” and ignore blatant contradictions, misbehaviors, and atrocities.

Hey Brittany,

You’re not welcome at this site.  Never mind how you found it, why are you reading it anyway?  At this point, this site would be considered “apostate literature”, right?

I mean, you wouldn’t want to read this site and find out that, say, your beloved Watchtower Society was a registered member of the U.N. for 10 years, from 1992-2001 (the same U.N. that they have preached for about 80 years is the loathesome “wild beast” of Revelation).  Or that your beloved Watchtower Society has the names of 23,000 accused JW child molesters on file, and has attempted to cover-up the pedophilia rampant in the organization for years, even flagrantly flaunting laws that require accused crimes to be reported to the police.

You would not want to know that perhaps if you were to be raped, the first question the ‘elders’ you’ve loved and trusted since you were a child would be:  “Did you scream?  Were you wearing anything that could have provoked it, brought it upon yourself?!”  You wouldn’t want to know that if you had a knife to your neck and were paralyzed with fear, you would be considered to have submitted to and even enjoyed “fornication”, and thus have sinned.  You wouldn’t want to know that your trusted elders are provided with a handbook from the Society called “Paying Attention to Your Flock” which is not allowed to be seen by rank-and-file JWs (guess who has a pirated copy, complete with WTBTS copyright on the index page?), and which provides them with such similar gems of love and understanding for those under their care.

And I’m sure you’ve never heard of Beth Sarim, although it’s common knowledge to the rest of the world outside of the Society, but few JWs know about it because you’re discouraged from ACTUALLY delving into your religion’s history.  Because it’s lies, all lies!  Right?

There is so, so much more but the point is, you’re anxious to see me shunned because your Watchtower Society (I’m not going to say your god, because I can’t see a loving god heading something as sick as this) is more important to you than your family.  And that’s fine.  To an extent, it’s all I could expect of you.  You always were the type who would rush headlong to shun me at the first sign of “sin” so that you could be a martyr and show family members that you were the perfect little JW china doll.  Asking no questions, doing as you were told, at the expense of all that you are supposed to hold dear.  Jesus said that he wanted mercy and not sacrifice, but boy do those JWs offer up their families on the altar of Jehovah pretty quickly once their eyes are opened to what’s been going on behind the scenes.

It makes me sad for you.  I do pity you, because you will never venture beyond your veiled-off life to discover the real truth behind what you’ve been taught.  You’ve been taught that it’s heresy, apostasy to question the Society, even as they spout hypocritical rhetoric in the July 2009 Awake such as “No one should be forced to worship in a way that he finds unacceptable or be made to choose between his beliefs and his family”.  Really?  How exactly do you reconcile that, Britt?  And for that I feel for you, and for Dad, and possibly even for Mom, despite everything.

I challenge you to research your organization fully.  Not just what you are told in the Society’s history books (although these help prove my point, as they contradict themselves all over the place as well), but real history books, court transcripts, legal documents, everything.  Not “apostate” websites, if you so consider them, but legitimate, unbiased sources.  Then justify to yourself and to your god the atrocities and lies that have been committed in the name of the Watchtower, Bible and Tract Society.

But do not come here looking for reasons to spout off righteous indignation to my family, my friends, or myself.  I am not the one who is too far gone to be saved.  I have finally found freedom, and life, and a man who loves me in all the non-warped, healthy ways my family and the Society will never love me.  I would rather be homeless living in a trailer, homeless living on a park bench – hell, I would rather be dead (and according to you, I will be) than waste one more second  of my life working for an organization (a BILLIONAIRE PUBLISHING COMPANY, not a RELIGION) of GREEDY OLD MEN who are in no way inspired by any god, and have desperately changed their lies so often and all the way up to the present day, it is blatantly obvious to any who would take an hour to research it rather than accept a lifetime of dogmatic spoon-feeding.  If your Jehovah is a god who would choose a band of liars and hypocrites as his mouthpiece, a group of chauvinists who have misled and deceived their followers for over 200 years, then why would I want any part of him?  If you can answer this for me, then my hat is off to you.

Cheers, and please leave now.

~B~