Do you remember that song "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" by Liz Taylor? I was never really sure how she could claim this when most girls can't afford any sort of diamond, let alone quality diamonds. But she's right, and there are companies like Perpetual Diamonds to help those of us without a great amount of excess funds to own our very own diamond watch.

The brand name Rolex is so well known I'm pretty sure more people would be impressed if you were to say that you own a genuine Rolex than if you said you owned a diamond bracelet. That's why PerpetualDiamonds.com is so great. They offer genuine, used and refurbished diamond Rolex watches at a lot less than what you'd pay for a brand new Rolex.

If you're reading this and thinking, "Oh, yeah, but it's a USED Rolex. It's probably broken or something." Then I feel it necessary to add a few things: 1)each watch is inspected part by part before it's shipped out so that you get exactly what you're shown on the website and the exact watch that you fell in love with, and 2) every single transaction 100% insured by Liberty Mutual, and 3) you also have a full seven days to send back your watch if you're not satisfied with it for a full refund. If you send it back within thirty days you can exchange it for a different watch.

This company knows how important customer service is and they really want you to be happy when you purchase a watch from them. They want you to be so thrilled with your new watch that you'll dance around your house singing along with Liz Taylor.

My rings are too big
for the fingers they adorn
but I don't mind
neither to my fingers
why should the rings care?
all they are is metal and stone

when I see you walking
down the unpaved beaten dirt
what would you do
if you saw me standing there
would you even acknowledge
who I was before
what I have chosen to become

it's not a demon that drives
my soul to create
no devil lives within me
here in the dark
that we were taught to fear

could you even understand?
if I were to tell you
that it's not the absence of fear
that drives me to live
and act in blasphemous ways

I've learned to move past
the fear in my heart
learned to become responsible
for my actions

that's the trick
you don't want to learn
courage isn't the absence of fear
but acting in spite of it
but don't worry about it yet
it's okay to play pretend
for a while longer

you don't have to fess up
to giving up control
just right now
even though I've already
held the press conference
and pointed fingers
they were always pointing
back at my heart

---

The counterpart of "Before," this is what I've come to realize after having left it all behind.  Or at least trying to leave it all behind.  It's one of the hardest things in the world to give up almost every single friend you had for so long.  I have a few left, but of the few only one or two are from that organization.  And even then, we had far more ties than that.

It was easier before
when I didn't have to think
for myself anymore
all I had to do was listen

behave and stay in line
eat my garbanzo beans
beets, carrots, and peas
wear velvet dresses
that were sometimes too big
and too small
somehow I managed
to squeeze into my role

try not to see the maggots
floating breathlessly
in the day old coffee

stare blankly ahead
and always follow the rules
don't notice the looks
of other boring into your back
they don't matter

it was easy then
to live that life
easy
to know what to do
to learn the truth
and forget
just as quickly, I knew
who I was
and what I was supposed to be

But that was a world without
goblins and faeries
magick and love
power
knowledge

why did I have to go without?

be still and pay attention
this story will be told
time and time again
until those with ears
listen and understand
the power of life
the power of words
the power of truth and lies

It was easier
but that doesn't make it right

---

A poem for your consideration.  Yes, there will be an "After" poem as well.  I'll post it soon, but I wanted to see if any of you had something to say about this one first.

As any fan of Richard Dean Anderson (MacGyver, and Colonel Jack O'Neill on Stargate SG-1) knows, magnets can be very powerful little things that have millions of uses. Of course, they are also quite fun to play with. Now, I'm not suggesting that you go give any old magnet to a toddler to play with -- any doctor can tell you that is just asking for trouble, but if you're looking for a birthday present (or any sort of present) for a child that's of the appropriate age then you might want to check out the selection of magnet in usa toys that MEGA Brands has on their website.

I've posted about MEGA before, Dear Readers. What I like most about them is that they aren't trying to get you to buy the toys right there at their website, but they tell you everything that you could possibly want to know about a toy (including price range) and then point you in the right direction of where you can find it. It's the perfect way to get lots of facts without feeling pressured into anything.

My nephews and baby brother all love building things and tearing them down. Come to think of it, so does my niece. Of course, they're all too little to be playing with magnets right now, but I think for my niece's next birthday (in six months) I'll get her one of the younger sets with less pieces and see what happens. I know her parents are very good about making sure she's supervised while playing with toys that have even the remotest possibility of being harmful, so that's one less concern.

As a general rule of thumb, though, don't give a magnetic toy to a child who likes to stick toys in his or her mouth.  But for those children that don't have that issue, then magnets can be a great way of testing creativity and learning about gravity and magnetic pull.  They're great for those children that love to build things and then take them apart and try to build them different ways.

Apparently some of you out there like my poetry when I submit it to contests. I'm not really sure why, but I thank you all the same. The rest of these entries really are quite good. If you have some spare time on your hands right now you might want to check some of them out.

WOOF Contest – Top Picks:

Poetry

Khaye Cardenas - “The Woman’s Silent Prayer” - Every woman’s silent prayer.
Dragon Blogger - “Two Sides To Every Tale” - Poem about a man being wrongly accused and sentenced.
Dragon Blogger - “Why Does Mommy Cry?” - Emotional poem about parents fighting from the mind of a child.
Daisy Bookworm - “Breath” - A poem detailing the evils of wearing real, steel boned corsets for a woman.
exquisite corpse – “Great Is The Morning” – Collaborative Poetry.

Prose

Fiction

Jenn - “Worlds Apart (Chapter One)” - The first chapter of a multi-part story about a relationship doomed by the time in which it occurred.
Jennifer M Scott - “Dear God” - a woman writes a letter to god asking for her death.

Opinion / Non-Fiction / Non Fiction Rant

Harneet Singh - “Life with an Aim” - Today people are becoming more materialistic. They attach their aim of life with the materialistic things.
Amritbir Kaur - “The Yardsticks of Life - Success and Failure” - Is life measurable? Can we divide it into watertight compartments of success and failure? Find answers to these and much more…

About Writing

Khaye Cardenas – “Please Excuse Me I Am Writing Again” - The writer talks about the things that keep her from writing.

Brought to you by PlotDog Press with the Serial Suspense Screenplay “Intervention.”

You all know I've been trying to post things up here that will help us all get through this crappy time with the economy with a bit more easy and a bit more money in our pockets that doesn't have to go for bills. That's why I'm so darn excited about this new VoIP service called CallingAmerica.com. The best part about this internet based phone service is not that you can call any land line or cell phone with a broadband connection. Oh no. The best part is that it's absolutely free for the user.

That's right: free. However many phone calls you want to make is up to you, as is the time limit. The only little finger prick of pain that you have to endure is a short advertisement before your call is placed. How short is short, you ask, Dear Readers? It's not shorter-than-Moby-Dick short, but more like, guaranteed-to-be-under-fifteen-seconds short. What could be better than that? ... You're right, a free life time's supply of chocolate does come pretty close to being better. Frankly, though, I'd give up the calories in order to keep in touch with my family while my bank account is mocking me with it's two digit balance.

CallingAmerica.com is a new program that just started in mid-December but hopefully it'll continue to have loads of advertising sponsors so it can keep on running for years to come.

If you want to find out what other people think about the program before you try it, just check out this New York Times article about it. You won't be sorry that you did.

No, Dear Reader, you are not imagining things.  I really did redecorate this site.  There are a few changes to the sidebar, but the most noticeable change of all is probably the template.  Since this domain is from GoDaddy.com, I decided to go with one of the free templates that they offer, but I think it's quite cute.

Part of my deal with the whole new year thing (my sister tells me it went down earlier this week) is to brighten up my life (i.e. my blog, wardrobe, makeup, jewelry, everything) with more colors and dare I say it: flowers.  I'm not any sort of fan of floral print anything but I'm attempting to ... re-feminize myself by introducing flowers in controlled settings.  Really, I'd just as rather find myself looking at stripes and polka dots, but I hear they are quite unflattering to my figure.

Blue happens to be one of my favorite colors, so I figured the layout couldn't be too terribly horrible if it incorporates so much blue into it.  And it seems to load faster on my computer, too ... hmm ... there may be something to this New Year resolution thing after all ...

Don't be shocked if I change it at the end of January just in time for my birthday, but as of now I'm tempted to keep it.  It's growing on me in the short time since I've put it up.

If you're looking for cheap web hosting then I've found yet another directory for you to look at. This site, WebHostingReport.com, has all the information that you might need for web hosting. From a beginner's guide to articles detailing what to look for in a good web hosting site.

These people do a great job of bringing us bloggers comparisons of the different web hosting sites out there so that we don't need to spend all of our time searching and comparing for ourselves. Frankly, I've got enough to do with my time and I don't need to add spending hours looking for a good web hosting site to that list ... even if it would give me another excuse to put off cleaning up my apartment. (Not that I live like a pig, mind you, it's just ... well ... never mind.)

A good middle man (or directory site) is hard to find sometimes, so when one comes out it's important to keep your ears tuned and your fingers moving. Especially if it really is as good as all the hype says it is. Time is of the essence, Dear Readers. And apparently now I'm so busy that I've started quoting soap operas I haven't seen in years.

Together we three
Moved in with Daisy last
We bided our time
To finish off the cast

Our Daisy, she loves us
Even when we're bad
And steal all the socks
And try hard to make her mad

When she's grumpy the worst
We take out our hats
And pretend that we're humans
Or, sometimes, we're bats

No matter the time
Nor the year nor the town
We always have fun
Without even one clown

The others just smirk
And laugh at our antics
We care less about that
Than we do about semantics

---

If you thought Push, Pull, Ink, or Blot was bad, then you have no clue what these three are capable of doing.  They can make the simple task of going over to my sister's for dinner into a big hassle that has no end of trouble.

Thus concludes the goblin poems, but there are still two or three poems left: one for the gargoyles, one for Pepper, the garden gnome, and possibly one for the faerey swarm.

I've been pretty open thus far about my single status and that I'm comfortable where I am right now. I know I'm not ready for a long term commitment with a man and I'm fine with that. Frankly I'm enjoying not having to spend my money on things I don't want to do, and being able to wear makeup only when I feel like it without factoring in someone else's feelings in the matter. It's great to be able to shoot for the stars (or Maine, as the case may be) when I plan for the future without worrying if he'll be able to find work in Maine, or if he'll even like it there.

Apparently, however, there are members of my family that are no so content with me being fully grown and happily single. Nearly every conversation I have with my father somehow goes back to whether I'm "spending time with some nice young man" or not. He's in the happy-go-lucky stage of a new relationship thanks to EHarmony.com and he's been a walking advertisement for the site ever since he started seeing his newest squeeze (no offense intended).

Like any good daughter who's sick and tired of hearing the same thing over and over, I decided to find a Dating Site Directory to see if EHarmony was really as good as he's claiming and so that next time he brings it up I can tell him I've already looked into it.

411DatingInfo.com is a great comparison site if you're looking into online dating. There's a great filing system in place so you can search sites by sexual orientation, hobbies, and even age ranges. If you're ready to start looking for your other half online, or you just want to see who else is on and searching, you might want to check it out.